(Untitled)

[im_chuckbass]

Chuck had the vague impression that a full day had gone by since he'd found his way to the empty hut, bottles in hand - it'd been getting dark when he'd left the compound, he remembered that, and it had been light when he'd woken the first time, slumped in the corner, the newspaper splayed on the floor from where it'd slipped from his hand when he'

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[throw_it_off]

Missing the birthday party wasn't that big of a deal. It stung, but it was something Nate could forgive; it was Chuck's birthday, after all, and he could do what he wanted.

But the next day he had expected to see his friend smugly nursing a hangover, mildly apologetic but not regretful. Instead he was nowhere to be found. Okay, maybe he's just sleeping it off at someone else's place, Nate thought. But morning crept into afternoon, the sun dropped out of the sky and still Chuck hadn't shown his face. It was Chuck. He couldn't survive an entire day in the wilderness, even if the 'wilderness' was semi-settled.

"Chuck!" Nate called out, eyes scanning through the rapidly growing dark. Serena and Eric, equally worried, had gone out to search with him. It could be nothing; no need for a full island, IPD powered search.

But what if it wasn't?

[turnthebadinme]

If there was one thing Serena could cling to, it was the fact that all Chuck's things remained in his room. If he were gone, she told herself, all his property would have disappeared right along with him. That was the way it worked. That had to be proof he was safe.

Except it didn't always go like that, not always, and even one exception was enough to make her worry. "Chuck!" Turning slowly around, she peered out between the trees. Soon it would be too dark for them to do much good, and she didn't know what they'd do then.

"Over there," she suggested, gesturing to a hut not far off. "Let's try that one." They'd looked in a few already, but that didn't keep her from getting her hopes up.

[up_off_thefloor]

Eric bit his lip and nodded, following the others toward the hut without much hope. They'd been looking for a couple hours already and hadn't found any sign of him. His worry was quickly edging toward despair despite the presence of all of his stuff in their room. Maybe Chuck really was gone--or worse, hurt or dead somewhere on the island.

[throw_it_off]

Nate didn't like all this checking in abandoned huts, even if it was the best option. It meant Chuck had gone off somewhere to be alone, to lick some wounds Nate didn't even know he had, without any kind of company. Things would have to be really bad for Chuck not to want to be around anyone.

He reached the hut first and, not expecting to find anything, shoved the door open without preamble.

"Holy shit, Chuck!" He dashed inside, forgetting about Serena and Eric following him, and knelt down by Chuck's side. An arm wrapped around his shoulders, holding him upright as Nate tried to wake him. "Chuck? Chuck, wake up, man."