"Dam it!" Josh said angrily. He bent down on his knees and covered his face with both hands. "Now what the hell are we suppose to do?!" Kyle tried looking around, but trying to find anything through the rain in the growing darkness was proving useless. He looked over at Josh, who was now sitting on the wet ground with his head lowered, "This is all my fault... my fault. Dan... I'm sorry..."
"Josh, we need to move under some cover till we can think of something." Kyle looked away for a moment, then turned back to Josh, "Josh?" He hadn't even lifted his head, and guilt was written all over his face. "Josh! Hey!" Kyle stood in front of his brother and bent down so he could look eye to eye with him. Josh seemed lost in his own crumbling world, and Kyle needed to find a way to bring him back. Kyle took a deep breathe and let it out slowly, he knew what he had to do. "You're right, this is all your fault." Josh lifted his head a bit and looked at Kyle, "All of it! Dan, out here. Stuck to someone else in the pouring rain. All... You're... Fault!"
This got a reaction of of Josh, who shoved Kyle hard enough to make him lose his footing and land on the ground. Kyle propped himself up on his elbows, with a small evil grin at Josh, "Oh what, did I make you angry? Are you mad you let you're friend down?" Josh lounged at Kyle and pushed him back down in the mud. Josh was hovering over him now, one knee on either side of Kyle's legs, his face a foot away from Kyle's. One hand pinned Kyle to the ground, while the other one was raised behind Josh, about to strike his brother. Kyle's plan had worked, but he needed to see it through. He looked at Josh with a straight face, and spoke calmly, "I take it you're mad at me?"
"Screw you." Josh hissed, his fist growing tighter.
"Good." Kyle tried to stay calm, "I needed you to snap out of it, and that's the only way I know how to get your attention." Josh seemed to let his anger go a tiny bit. His fist relaxed, and he lowered his arm, but didn't move off of Kyle. "If we're going to find Dan, I need you to focus. I know you're worried and feel like crap, but we can't have that now." Josh moved so he was now sitting on Kyle's thighs, his hand no longer pinning Kyle down. Kyle lifted himself up and rubbed the back of his head. Even with the mud, it still hurt being pushed to the ground. "I think our best bet... is to get out of here."
"What?!" Josh shouted and glared at Kyle, "How can you say that?! I bet if it was Kevin out here, you'd never stop looking!"
The words stung, but Kyle had to ignore, "It's pissing down rain, we're soaked, it's getting dark, and we don't have a flashlight. I want to find Dan too, but we're no good to him if we can't see where we're going, and if we wind up getting sick." Josh really wanted to punch Kyle square in the face, but he knew his little brother was right. "We'll go home, change, grab a flashlight, and come back and search, ok? Maybe Kevin will be able to help too." Josh really didn't have any other choice but to agree. He stood up and helped Kyle to his feet.
They were half way back to where they entered the forest when Kyle caught his left foot on a root and fell. He yelled out in pain, and rolled onto his back, bringing his leg in close. Josh bend down to take at look at his ankle, "Are you hurt?"
"No... I screamed because it felt like little white fluffy bunnies rubbed against me. Of course I'm hurt!" Kyle had been keeping his cool, but the pain had made him snap. Josh ignored it, and gingerly touched Kyle's ankle. He cursed at the top of his breathe.
"You must have sprained it, come on..." Josh crouched down and put Kyle's left arm around his shoulders. On the count of three, Josh stood up, lifting Kyle with him. "Just try not to stand on it, all right?" Kyle nodded, his face wrecked with pain. Kyle leaned on Josh as they walked back to the car together, having to time his steps in order to avoid putting pressure on his left foot. What should have taken them about five minutes was now taking a lot longer.