Joe had not been fully alert in hours. He was once again shivering violently, and had begun to mumble incoherently.

"Joe? Can you hear me?" Vanessa asked worriedly. "Oh, Joe, please talk to me!"

Hearing the panic-stricken voice of the girl he loved, Joe slowly opened his eyes to find Vanessa quietly sobbing.

"Don’t …cry…" Joe rasped. It was all he could manage to say before he began coughing so hard, that Vanessa saw a tear slip down his cheek. She held Joe’s wounds tightly while he coughed, praying the bleeding would not start again. Once the coughing subsided, Joe reached out and touched Vanessa’s arm.

Joe was trying to comfort Vanessa, but the gesture only served to further ignite the feeling of hopelessness Vanessa was now feeling. Joe’s hand was ice cold, and Vanessa knew he couldn’t hold on much longer. The blood loss and shock were bad enough…now, she had to worry about hypothermia too. ‘Frank, where are you?’ Vanessa thought once again.

As if he had read her mind, Joe choked out "Frank will…find…us."

"Yes Babe, Frank will find us soon, and we’ll get you out of here." Vanessa knew Frank would be searching for them, and would not give up until he found them. But in their haste to get away from the gunfire, she knew they had run deep into the woods. Would he be able to find them before it was too late for Joe?

"Joe, do you think you can take a couple of sips of water?" Vanessa asked, thinking it might help. "I have a bottle right here that was in your pack."

Joe didn’t try to speak; he simply shook his head and tried to sit up.

"NO!" Vanessa yelled, not meaning to. "I’ll help you…I don’t want you to start bleeding again." She had finally managed to effectively control the bleeding. Slowly, she removed her cramping hands from Joe’s chest and held her breath. Reaching for the bottle of water she had found, she let out the breath she had been holding. The bleeding had not started again, as it had the last time Vanessa removed her hands from Joe’s wounds.

Joe had closed his eyes again. Vanessa gently touched Joe’s face, praying that he had not lost consciousness again, and gasped. Joe’s face was just as cold as his hand had been when he touched her only moments ago.

"Joe?" Vanessa said softly. "Please try to take some water for me." Joe opened his eyes and weakly raised his head. With Vanessa’s help he was able to swallow a couple of sips of water.

"Cold…" Joe rasped.

"I know you’re cold Joe. I’m sorry…" Vanessa began, but stopped mid-sentence when she realized Joe was shaking his head.

"What’s wrong, Joe?" Vanessa asked puzzled.

"You’re…shivering. Cold…where’s your…jacket?" Joe whispered weakly. He remembered that Vanessa had been wearing a denim jacket earlier.

Vanessa hadn’t even realized she was shivering, but Joe was right, she was freezing. But she didn’t have the heart to tell him that she had covered him with her coat after the bear ripped his shirt from his body.

"I’m fine Babe, I’ll just see if I can find a few more pieces of wood to throw on the fire. Now that the bleeding isn’t so bad, I can concentrate on the fire for a minute," Vanessa replied. But Joe never heard her, he had lost consciousness again.

Vanessa knew she needed to stoke the fire to keep them both warm. She took a deep breath and tried to steel herself to leave Joe’s side and the light of the fire to head off into the woods. Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, Vanessa took the first tentative steps, and with each subsequent step she took, she started to feel weaker and weaker. Just when she was sure she couldn’t manage another step, she froze…hearing the rustle of leaves, she whispered to herself, "Oh no!"

*****

Once the Hardy’s and Chet reached the area where Joe and Vanessa had been attacked, it didn’t take Frank very long to pick up on the trail left by Joe and Vanessa while they were fleeing for their lives. The trio quickly began following the broken and bent tree limbs and trampled grass and leaves. The fog was still hindering their progress, but each man now had a renewed sense of hope that maybe, just maybe they could find Joe and Vanessa.

It seemed like they had been walking forever when Chet suddenly said, "Frank, I think I smell smoke!"

"I think you’re right Chet, I smell it too!" Mr. Hardy exclaimed.

"Yeah, but with all this fog around, we’ll never be able to see the smoke," Frank replied dejectedly.

"It’s okay, Frank," Fenton said trying to calm his son. "We’ll find them soon. At least they were able to start a fire to stay warm."

‘I hope they’re warm…it’s freezing out here. God please let them be okay,’ Fenton thought to himself.

The late October days were pleasantly cool, but the nights could turn bitterly cold without warning, and tonight it was just that…bitterly cold. Frank seemed to be on autopilot; forging ahead determined to find his brother and Vanessa. He was terrified that time was running out. He remembered that Vanessa was wearing a denim jacket, but was almost certain that Joe had not brought a jacket along.

"Frank, slow down!" He heard his father yell. "I think we’ve lost their trail."

Looking around him, Frank realized his father was right. The trees and brush had grown so thick that Frank knew when they found Joe and Vanessa that he would not be able to lead them to safety until the light of day. ‘I’ll deal with that when the time comes. I can deal with anything once we find my little brother and Vanessa.’

"Listen boys," Fenton began. "I think we should split up. We can stay in contact by walkie-talkie. I just think we will have a much better chance of finding them if we each head off in a different direction."

Chet stood there winded, thankful for the chance to catch his breath. He had been struggling to keep up, but vowed to himself long ago, that he would go to the ends of the Earth for Frank or Joe Hardy; his fatigue simply did not matter. Besides, there was no way he was going to face Cassidy and tell her Vanessa was still missing.

"I agree, Dad," Frank replied, now looking towards Chet for his opinion.

"Which direction do I take?" Was Chet’s enthusiastic reply.

Frank smiled at his devoted best friend and silently thanked God for Chester Morton. Soon all three men were headed in different directions, each praying they would find the young couple.

*****

Frank had just stumbled into a clearing when he stopped dead in his tracks…there in front of him, stood Vanessa. She looked absolutely terrified, and he realized she was covered in blood. Frank covered the short distance between himself and Vanessa in seconds, just in time to catch Vanessa as she crumpled to the ground. Fearing she had been shot, He forgot about his brother momentarily. He gently laid Vanessa down, concerned at how cold she felt. After a quick once over, he breathed a sigh of relief. Vanessa had not been wounded…just then, he felt Vanessa jerk as she came to.