Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 03:38:40 EST
From: Phaedrus57@aol.com
Subject: Isle of Refuge (Gay, tt/bb, consensual, Young Friends)

Caveat: This is a story of love and adventure among a group of teenaged
boys.  It contains scenes of sexual activities between boys.  If this
offends you, do not read the story.  Please go to some other site.  If the
laws of your country or locality say that it is illegal for you to read
this type of story (i.e. that you are too young to have erotic thoughts or
sexual questions and your innocent little mind shouldn't entertain such
possibilities as are portrayed in this story), you should obey the law.  If
you read this story nevertheless, don't get caught!  Hide your downloads
and delete your history.

Enjoy the story, which will go on for many chapters.  I hope that it will
appeal to your minds and hearts.  It isn't primarily a sex story, although
it has its erotic moments.

Comments are welcome and strongly requested.  Flames will be ignored.
E-mail me at phaedrus57@aol.com.

Isle of Refuge
by Phaedrus57

Chapter I: The First Day

	"Wake up, Richard!  Please wake up--"
	Miguel's panicky voice, almost sobbing, slowly penetrated Richard's
dreamworld as he felt the 13-year-old's hand on his shoulder.  As he opened
his eyes in the bright morning sunlight, Richard at first saw only fine
white sand.  Sometime during the night the Pacific surf had deposited him
face down on this beach which partly encircled the now calm lagoon.
Disoriented as he regained consciousness, Richard remembered struggling to
stay afloat in the darkness and the raging sea, holding Miguel and Kevin as
all three were swept from the schooner's deck by he mountainous waves.
	Now Richard felt the hot sun on his back as his vision cleared.  He
looked up at Miguel's tear-filled brown eyes as the younger boy's slender,
naked, brown body knelt over him.
	"Are you OK, Richard?" Miguel asked softly.
	"I think so.  Are you?"
	"You saved both of us..." Miguel said, as he burst into tears and
threw his arms around Richard's neck.  Richard slowly turned over and sat
up so that he could hold the sobbing boy in his arms and stroke his back.
	"Shhh, it's alright!  We'll be OK!  Where's Kevin?  What about the
others?"
	"I'm right here," Richard heard Kevin's voice respond as he saw
Kevin's red hair and slender form appear walking toward them across the
sand.  "I need a hug, too!"  Kevin knelt down and threw one arm around
Miguel and the other around Richard, and Richard moved his right arm from
Miguel's brown back to clasp Kevin to him as well.  Kevin's lightly tanned
fair skin glistened in the sunlight.  Like Miguel, Kevin was naked.
	"I found some fresh water down the beach.  There's a stream.  Some
of the palm trees seem to have fruit," Kevin said after a few minutes, "and
I think that Joey, Mike, Francois, and Terry are waking up down the beach.
Tommy and Angelo have gone to check on them.  They're OK."
	"What about the Venture?  What about Captain Tucker? Any of the
Staff?"  Richard asked.
	"Stand up and look out at the reef.  Can you get up OK?" Miguel
said, sniffling.  He got to his feet, smiling at Richard through his tears,
and held out his hand.
	Richard and Kevin disengaged and stood up, looking out across the
lagoon at the surf breaking on the reef a half mile away.  At 16, Richard
was a head taller than the two younger boys.  His medium-length blond hair
was bleached by the sun, and his smooth, well-muscled body was deeply
tanned.  He wore only the remnants of a pair of once- white briefs.
	"See her?" Kevin said, pointing to the dismasted hulk of the
schooner Venture, her deck tilted at a crazy angle toward them.  "I thought
I saw something moving out there a few minutes ago.  But this sea will
break her up soon."
	"Did anyone save any of the boats?" Richard asked.
	"Tommy and Angelo got the life raft inflated.  That's how they got
ashore.  See it down there?" Kevin said, pointing at a bright yellow shape
about a hundred yards along the beach.
	"If the raft still floats, we should take her out to the Venture to
see if anyone's still aboard and to salvage whatever we can," Richard said.
He had been a "junior counselor" on the schooner, whose mission had been to
provide a growth and learning experience for ten "at-risk" 12 to 14 year
old boys from several east coast cities.  In the two months they had been
at sea, the younger boys had come to trust and respect him.  He had played
well the role of intermediary between the crew of skilled
sailors/counseling professionals who were the Venture's permanent staff.
The boys responded to his empathy and love for them.  The adults came to
rely on his insight and sense of responsibility.  He was a natural leader.
Richard had graduated at 16 from a highly respected New England boarding
school.  When he had decided to take a year off before college to work on
the Venture, he had not anticipated the intense feelings he would develop
for the younger boys as he shared the big cabin with them at night and
worked and played with them each day.  As the Venture had entered tropical
waters, everyone had shed all but the most essential clothing, and Richard
had been disturbed by the attraction he felt for the boys as most of them
cavorted about the boat nearly naked.
	"Before I do anything else, I need a drink of water.  Kevin, where
is that stream?"
	"Follow me!  I'll show you," Kevin said, taking Richard's hand.
Miguel followed, quiet as always, staying close to Richard.  Richard
remembered what a breakthrough Kevin had made when he recognized one night
in a group meeting that he needed to touch and be touched.  His
hard-drinking and often violent father had touched him only to hurt.  Now
Kevin hugged, stroked, and held hands as if making up for the affection he
had missed.
	As they started down the beach, Tommy and Angelo bounded up to them
and threw their arms around Richard, almost knocking him down.  "Take it
easy, dudes!"  Richard said, laughing.  "Did you find any other guys?"
	"Mike, Joey, Terry and Francois are just wakin' up, but something's
wrong with Francois.  He can't get up," Tommy said breathlessly.  "Am I
glad to see you, Richard!"
	As Richard looked down the beach, he could see three boys just
getting to their feet and a fourth, darker form still lying on the sand.
"Angelo," he said, "go tell Francois not to try to move, and stay with him
until I get there.  First, I'm going to check out Kevin's brook."
	The beach ended at a rocky outcropping.  Palm trees and smaller
vegetation that continued up an increasingly steep hillside fringed the
beach.  The hill reached a peak several hundred feet high.  Richard could
not see what lay beyond the rocks ahead of him.  Behind him the beach
curved to the far end of the lagoon where another ledge sloped into the
sea.  There appeared to be a narrow channel between this ledge and the line
of whitecaps where the sea swell broke upon the reef.  Perhaps Captain
Tucker had been seeking this channel to bring the Venture to a sheltered
anchorage in last night's ferocious storm.
	Just before the rocky outcropping a stream flowed from the edge of
the trees making a channel about twenty feet wide as it emptied into the
lagoon.  Richard could see its water cascading down the rocky hillside to
the beach, but he couldn't see its source.  He could faintly hear a distant
roaring over the sound of surf crashing on the reef.
	"Try the water up by the rocks.  Its fresh!"  Kevin said, and
Richard did as he was told.  Tommy meanwhile was scampering up the rocks
following the cascade toward its source.
	"Don't go too far, Tommy," Richard shouted as the small boy
disappeared into the trees.  "Kevin, let's put some water in that big shell
and take some down to Francois."
	As they turned to do so, Richard saw Tommy's wiry, naked body
half-running, half falling down the rocks.  He landed on the sand and ran
toward them.
	"Richard, you've got to see this!" Tommy said breathlessly.
"There's like a huge waterfall, and like a big pool at the bottom of it.
That's where the stream starts!  It's so kewl!"
	"Sounds great, but I want to see what's wrong with Francois first."
	All four walked back up the beach to where Francois lay, his dark
brown skin contrasting starkly with the white sand.  Black-haired,
olive-skinned Angelo knelt beside him, while Mike and Joey stood over them
both.
	Richard could see that Francois was conscious, his face contorted
with pain.
	"What's the problem, Francois?" Richard asked as he knelt beside
the dark- skinned boy.
	"My leg -- it hurts like shit!  I can't stand up!"
	Remembering the first aid training he had been given before the
voyage, Richard felt along Francois' right ankle and calf.  He quickly
found the spot on the boy's calf where a bone was broken.  Francois groaned
when Richard pressed on it.
	"Feels like a simple fracture.  It'll heal itself, but until it
does you won't be able to put any weight on it and we'll have to keep it
rigid.  Kevin, will you go up into the trees and try to find two straight
pieces of dead wood that I can use to make a splint?"
	Kevin sprinted toward the trees and returned a few minutes later
with two sticks of the right length and thickness.
	"This is gonna hurt for a few minutes, Francois, but you've got to
stay still," Richard said.  "Kevin, hold his shoulders down, and Joey, you
hold his foot up under your arm.  I've got to have something to tie these
on with, but only three of us are wearing any clothes.  Kevin, did you see
any vines up there that I could use?"
	"Not really," Kevin replied.
	"Mike, can I use your boxers?"
	Mike was a brown-haired, muscular, broad-shouldered 14-year-old,
the most physically mature of the boys.  He looked at Richard with horror.
"Fuck you, Richard!  I ain't gonna run around bare-assed like some faggot!"
he said angrily.
	Richard quickly stood up and removed his tattered briefs.  "Terry,
can I use your underwear too?" he asked.  Terry, a cinnamon-skinned boy
with kinky black hair, quickly followed Richard's example.  Soon Francois'
leg was crudely but securely splinted.
	"Now, Francois, we're going to move you up into the shade of the
trees beside Kevin's brook.  Keep your right leg up and don't put any
weight on it.  Kev and I will support you by your arms."
	The move was soon completed, and Francois lay in the shade of a
palm tree with the others standing around him.
	"Mike, Tommy, Miguel, and Angelo, and Terry, see if you can find us
some edible fruit, while Joey and Kevin and I try make Francois as
comfortable as possible here."
	Soon the ravenous boys were wolfing down mangoes and papayas.
Tommy had found some breadfruit trees, an even better source of
nourishment.  When they had eaten their fill, Richard said, "We have a lot
to do today and not much time to do it.  By tomorrow, the Venture will
probably break up.  We need see if anyone is still alive aboard and to
salvage what we can, and we need to find the best place to camp until we're
rescued.  We'll be safer if we can get off the beach.  Tommy, can you show
us your waterfall?  Miguel, will you please stay here with Francois?"
	Tommy led Richard and the others up the rocky slope.  Rather than
struggle through the thick vegetation, they waded upstream from the top of
the ledge.  Soon the pounding of the surf was drowned out by the roar of
falling water ahead.  Suddenly the bushes opened up and they found
themselves in a large pool bordered by tall trees.  Ahead of them was a
cascade about fifty feet high falling from a rock shelf on the steep
hillside.  There was a narrow sandy beach sloping into the pool on their
left, and the forest floor was clear and smooth for some distance beneath
the trees above it.
	The boys were quiet as they took in this scene.  Finally Kevin
said, "This is awesome, Tommy!"
	Several other boys exclaimed, "Whoa! Incredible! Kewl!"
	Excitedly, Tommy began to point out the leading features of his
discovery.  Interrupting him after a few minutes, Richard said, "This is
our campsite, just above the little beach over there.  It's sheltered, but
close to the lagoon.  There's water to drink and wash with, and we can
sleep under the trees."  Richard put his arm around Tommy's thin shoulders,
gave them a gentle squeeze, and added, "We should call this place `Tommy's
Falls'."  Tommy laughed and appeared ready to burst with pride.
	They made their way back to the beach by walking along the edge of
the rocky slope, clearing a path through the underbrush with their hands as
they went.  When they reached the beach, Richard divided them into groups.
Tommy and Miguel would accompany him in the life raft to the Venture, Kevin
and Joey would stay on the beach to organize any salvaged materials, and
all of the others would carry things up to the campsite at Tommy's Falls.
Richard's salvage crew would look first for medical supplies, then for
communications equipment, tools, nonperishable foods, blankets, hammocks,
and building materials such as timbers, planks, and sails.
	As Richard, Tommy, and Miguel approached the Venture, they saw a
slight movement on her deck.  When they drew closer, they saw the body of a
thin, black haired boy waving at them weakly from the deck amidships.  As
soon as they reached the schooner, they ran to him.  He was Chris Nguyen,
the only boy who had not made it to the beach.  His thin body was covered
with cuts and bruises, and a trail of dried blood led from the corner of
his mouth down his chin.
	"I don't know what's wrong with me," Chris whispered weakly when
Richard knelt beside him.  "Every time I try to get up, I have this
terrible pain and I can't breathe."
	"Don't try to move, Chris.  We'll get you in to the beach.  Is
anyone else aboard?"  Richard replied.
	"I don't think so.  Captain Tucker and the crew were all washed
overboard.  The mast fell on me, but Captain Tucker lifted it off.  Then he
disappeared.  Who else made it to the beach?"
	"All the other boys.  None of the crew, though.  Francois has a
broken leg.  Everyone else is OK."
	As Richard stood up, he saw that the sloop's dinghy was still
fastened to the bulkhead of the main cabin.  He sent Tommy and Miguel to
release it from its davits, and they soon had it in the water.  Tommy then
located a canvas stretcher, and they placed it beside Chris.
	"Let's slide Chris onto this and carry him to the dinghy," Richard
said.  He could see that Chris's injuries were serious, perhaps a punctured
lung and other internal damage.  His first aid training had not prepared
him for anything like this.  For the first time since the storm, he felt
frightened.
	Chris groaned with pain as they moved him, then lay on the
stretcher gasping and coughing.  Leaving Miguel with him in the dinghy,
Richard and Tommy went to the first aid locker fastened high on the inside
bulkhead of the forward cabin, where the crew's quarters had been.  There
was water flowing into the cabin through a large hole in the lower bulkhead
where the rocks had punctured the Venture's hull.  The contents of the
locker were intact: painkillers, antiseptics, bandages, a few antibiotics,
even a proper splint for Francois.  Tommy located a wooden box big enough
to hold everything.  He and Richard carried the box back to the dinghy.
Richard dispatched Miguel to row the life raft back to the beach, and he
and Tommy rowed the dinghy with Chris and the medical supplies.
	Very carefully, they carried Chris up the beach on the stretcher.
Richard noticed fresh blood trickling from Chris's mouth.  His breathing
was labored; his pale face was a mask of pain.  As soon as they put Chris's
stretcher down on the sand beside Francois, Richard sent Tommy and Miguel
to retrieve the box of medical supplies.
	"There's some morphine in the box, Chris.  I think I should give
you some to make you more comfortable.  OK?" Richard said.  Chris nodded
his head weakly.
	Chris seemed to breathe more easily after the injection, and his
face relaxed.  "Francois, keep an eye on Chris and try to keep him company.
He shouldn't talk and you shouldn't move, but if he needs anything, tell
Kevin," said Richard.  In a louder voice he added, "No one should touch the
first aid supplies unless I'm here.  Kevin, can you make sure that no one
does?"
	"What's so special about Kevin?" Mike taunted.  "Is he your
loverboy, faggot?"
	The other boys made disapproving sounds.  Mike had no support.
	"Would you like the responsibility, Mike?" Richard asked quietly.
	"I'm setting up the campsite at Tommy's Falls," Mike replied.
	"That's why I asked Kevin."

				**********

	With two boats, the salvage operation went rapidly.  By late
afternoon, the mainmast, a large amount of deck planking, and all of the
nylon sails that were left, had been floated across the lagoon.  The boys
had a good stock of woodworking tools, fishing lines and hooks, shovels,
and axes.  Blankets were spread out to dry on the beach.  They had salvaged
most of Venture's rope, and some canned goods.  There were even three
hammocks.  Most of the salvage had been carried up to the campsite, and
Richard directed two boys to dig a latrine downhill away from the pool and
the stream.  Finally, Chris and Francois were moved.  Chris had slept
through the several hours since his injection, but he awoke in agony as he
was carried up the slope.  He begged Richard for more morphine, and Richard
reluctantly complied.
	Joey and Angelo had rigged lines and gone fishing from the rocks at
the far end of the lagoon.  They had hooked several sizable fish, and Mike
had made a crude fireplace and laid a fire.  As the sun set, the tired,
hungry boys cooked and ate the fish along with more fruit that they had
gathered.  When they had finished, Tommy shouted, "Let's go in the pool and
get cleaned up!" and Richard and the other able-bodied boys did, splashing
each other and scrubbing each other's backs and, as darkness gathered,
other places too.  Richard made a mental note to add "sex" to the agenda of
the meeting he was planning in the morning.  But what should he say about
it?

Chapter II: The First Night

	With little discussion, the boys worked out sleeping arrangements.
The hammocks had been hung between the trees.  Each was large enough for
two boys, but Mike insisted on sleeping in one alone.  Joey and Angelo
shared one of the others, while Terry and Tommy shared the third.  Francois
lay on one of the salvaged blankets on one side of Chris's stretcher, while
Richard, Kevin, and Miguel shared a blanket on the other.

	Chris was now very restless.  His skin seemed to burn when Richard
touched it, and he glistened with sweat.  He seemed to wake up
intermittently, groaning and breathing with difficulty.  By the light of
the dying embers of the fire, Richard gave him another injection, but it
seemed to have little effect.  Not knowing what else to do, Richard lay
down between Kevin and Miguel.

	Miguel snuggled up as close to Richard as he could and put his head
on Richard's shoulder.  "Thank you for taking care of us, Richard. I love
you," Miguel whispered.

	"I love you, too, Miguel," Richard whispered back.  Richard could
feel Miguel's penis harden against his leg as he stroked Miguel's soft
brown back.  Miguel drifted off to sleep, breathing long, shallow breaths
against Richard's neck.

	Meanwhile, Kevin pulled himself close on Richard's other side and
put his arm across Richard's chest.  "I want to be your `loverboy'," he
whispered, "no matter what anyone says."  He caressed Richard's smooth
chest and lightly kissed his cheek as Richard pulled him even closer.
After a few minutes, Kevin whispered, "Just hold me like this, and I'll
stay awake to watch Chris.  You need to sleep.  We all depend on you!"

	Richard felt his eyes fill with tears.  He had never felt so
frightened and uncertain, but he had never felt so needed or so loved.  The
physical pleasure and emotional sustenance, which flowed from the two boys
lying beside him, made him profoundly joyful.  Miguel's quiet, unabashed
affection was a new and wondrous experience for him.  Kevin's inner
strength, sensitivity, and spontaneous concern made him feel that he was
not alone, that he could carry the burden that fate had placed upon him.
Richard had no brothers or sisters, and his wealthy, high-living parents
had never had much time or love to give him.  He had been materially
privileged but emotionally deprived.  Was it possible that Kevin and
Miguel, whose lives had been so difficult, were teaching him how to love?

	Then there was Chris, whose death he could not accept and probably
could not prevent.  He had no one to turn to. His elite education and
brilliant intellect gave him no resources to use in this situation.
Richard had not known failure, and he wasn't sure he could cope with it.
Chris's death would be his failure.  Even though no one else would say so,
Richard would know that it was.  But he had to keep all of the others
alive.  He thought about how much he cherished each of them, even macho
Mike.  Would he fail them as he had failed Chris?  What would he say to
them in the morning?

	Kevin stirred beside him.  Raising himself on one elbow, he
whispered, "Are you OK, Richard?"  With his other hand he reached over and
wiped the tears from Richard's eyes, then kissed his cheek tenderly and
reached across Richard's chest to embrace him.

	"Kev, you make me feel that I can do this and that I'm not alone,
but I feel so helpless sometimes!  You guys are great; no one knows how
great you are.  But you need some super dude to get you through this, and
I'm not even Clark Kent."

	"You are the super dude, Richard.  We all know that you love us and
care about us and respect us.  Most of us haven't had anyone do those
things before.  You're the only person who could make us care enough about
ourselves and believe in ourselves enough to survive this.  Leaping tall
buildings with a single bound or performing major surgery with a jacknife
isn't going to save us.  There's no one who could do this better than you!"

	"I..I..don't know what to say, Kev, but I love you more than I can
ever express!"

	"I hope that sometime soon you'll try to express it," Kevin said,
with a little laugh.  "Meanwhile, go to sleep, loverboy, and let me keep
watch."

	Richard slept.

				**********

He awoke twice during the night.  First he felt Miguel stir at his side,
and he became aware of Miguel' rock hard penis pressing into his thigh.
Miguel was moaning softly, and his hips were moving gently up and down
against Richard.  Without thinking, Richard caressed his chest and belly,
enjoying the feel of his warm, smooth skin over the hard muscles of his
abdomen.  With his other arm, Richard held Miguel close to his side and
stroked his back and buttocks.  Miguel's moans became articulate.

"Richard, Richard," he murmured.  His eyes were still shut, but his
breathing grew rapid and ragged.  He moved his hips and penis faster and
faster against Richard's thigh.  Suddenly he heaved a great sigh, and
Richard felt a warm wetness flow from Miguel's penis onto his own leg.

Suddenly Miguel's eyes opened.  He looked at Richard's face and then felt
what he had just done.  He started to cry.  "I'm sorry, Richard.  I was
just, like, having this dream about you, and then it was, like, real ... I
didn't mean to do anything nasty.  Please don't be mad at me, don't hate
me!  I don't know what I'd do if you hated me," he sobbed.

Completely disarmed and overcome by his affection and empathy for this
gentle, beautiful, small brown boy, Richard swallowed the lump in his
throat and whispered, "It's OK, baby. I'm not mad.  I love you more than
ever.  It makes me really happy that you feel that way about me.  I feel
that way about you, too!  I love the feeling of your cum on my leg and your
body so close to me.  You didn't do anything nasty.  You're a beautiful
person.  Nothing that comes from you could be nasty.  Now let me wipe away
those tears!"  Richard kissed Miguel's eyes and cheeks.

Miguel put his arms around Richard's neck and kissed him passionately on
the mouth.  "No one has ever treated me as good as you, Richard.  I've
never felt so happy in my whole life!  I wanna be with you forever!"

Richard pulled Miguel even closer.  "Me too, baby!" he whispered in
Miguel's ear.

He heard Kevin's voice on his right.  "You two could make a guy jealous.
When do I get do that stuff with you, Richard?"

"You can kiss me right now, loverboy!"  Richard responded, still embracing
Miguel tightly.  Without hesitation, Kevin leaned across and kissed Richard
hard on the lips.  Their mouths opened; their tongues found each other.
For good measure, Kevin then did the same to Miguel, who sighed
contentedly.

"I wanna kiss you everywhere!" Kevin said, moving his lips to Richard's
smooth chest, armpits, and nipples, and then down his well-muscled belly.
Richard's penis, already half-erect, sprang to full attention.  Richard
moaned softly as Kevin licked his testicles, then took his penis in his
mouth.  Richard had heard about things like this and fantasized about them,
but the experience was new -- and wonderful.  Richard ran his hands through
Kevin's fine red hair as he began to move his lips along Richard's penis.
Kevin's technique strongly suggested that he was not entirely new to this
activity.  Richard noticed that Miguel's hands were stroking his chest and
belly.

After a few minutes, Richard whispered, "Kevin, I'm going to cum!"  Kevin
sucked harder and moved his head up and down faster.  In the most intense
orgasm of his life, Richard exploded into Kevin's mouth, feeling as if he
would never stop and never wanted to stop!  Kevin managed to take every
drop of Richard's semen into his mouth.  As Richard finally started to
soften, Kevin pulled his head back up beside Richard's and kissed him on
the lips, opening his mouth so that Richard could taste his own semen.

When he could speak again, Richard whispered, "Kev, that was awesome!
Where did you learn to do that?"

"That's a long story.  I'll tell it to you sometime.  But I've never done
it with someone I really loved before.  That was awesome for me, too!"

Suddenly, Richard asked, "How's Chris?"  "He's breathing OK, and he's still
asleep from the morphine.  But he's hot as hell.  I've been sponging him
down every few minutes with water from the pool," Kevin said.  Then he
leaned close to Richard's ear and added, "He's dying, isn't he?"

Richard whispered back, "I don't know.  I can't help him.  I feel so
powerless.  I feel as if it's my fault.  Captain Tucker gave his life to
save Chris's during the storm, but now I can't bring him the rest of the
way."

"Did you push the mast down on him?  Are you a doctor?  Did you volunteer
to be shipwrecked with a bunch of boys younger than you?  Is there an
ambulance somewhere out here that you didn't call?  You can't save
everyone, loverboy.  We're lucky you care about us enough to try!"  Kevin
said, holding Richard close and stroking his back.

"Thanks, Kev!  I love you.  I'd be lost without you.  Do you want me to
take over the watch so you can sleep?  Can I suck you off?"  Richard said
softly, causing Kevin to giggle at the absurd juxtaposition he had just
heard.

"Why don't you sleep a little longer?  Then you can suck me off and take
over the watch!"

"OK, loverboy!"  Richard said, settling back down between Kevin and Miguel,
pulling them both close to him and quickly dozing off.

Richard didn't know how long he had been asleep when he became aware of a
small, warm body crawling on top of him.  As he awoke, he heard Tommy's
voice whisper, "Richard?  I'm scared; can I sleep with you?"

"Sure, Tommy," Richard said sleepily, putting his arms around the little
boy and pulling him up so that they faced each other.  "Did something
happen?  What are you scared of?"

"We're all alone out here.  No one knows where we are.  We don't even know!
We don't know what's around here!  We're just a bunch of kids--" Tommy
began to cry.

"Tommy, you were so great today, so brave and adventurous.  You're the
youngest one, but you led us here.  This is your campsite!  With guys like
you, we can survive here forever!"

"Gee, you really think so, Richard?"

"Yeah, I really think so!  Just remember that I love you, and so does
everyone else!  If I had a little brother, I'd want him to be you."
Richard said, kissing Tommy on the cheek.  "Now, why don't you snuggle in
here between me and Miguel?  I'm going to stay up and check on Chris so
that Kevin can get some sleep."  Maneuvering Tommy into the arms of the
sleeping Miguel, Richard stroked the little boy's back as he dropped off to
sleep, grinning.

Richard turned toward Kevin.  "Ready for some fun, lover, to help you go to
sleep?"

"Thought you'd never ask!" Kevin replied.  They held each other close for a
long time, kissing passionately.  They could feel each other's heartbeat.
Their penises hardened, dueling with each other.  They felt as one person,
all barriers down.  Neither boy had ever been as close to anyone else as
they were to each other at this moment.

Finally, Richard broke the kiss and began to work his way down Kevin's
smooth, fair 13-year-old body, licking and kissing.  Kevin sighed and
moaned softly.  Richard had never done this before.  He was surprised at
how good his young lover smelled and tasted.  As he came to Kevin's fringe
of pubic hair and began to lick his testicles and hard penis, he heard a
sharp intake of breath from Kevin.  "Did I hurt you, baby?" Richard
whispered.

"No!  It just feels so fuckin' good.  No one ever did this for me before!"
Kevin replied.

Richard took Kevin's penis in his mouth and tried to do as Kevin had done
to him earlier.  He slowly moved his lips up and down the length, caressing
the penis with his tongue.  As he found Kevin's sensitive spots, he was
rewarded by Kevin's moans as he gave them special attention.  He felt
Kevin's hands on his head as he stroked Kevin's chest and belly with one
hand and held his testicles in the other.  For a time, Kevin's pleasure
became the entire purpose of Richard's life.

In a trembling voice, Kevin said, "I'm cumming!"  He immediately began to
pump semen into Richard's mouth.  Richard managed to catch most of it.  As
Kevin's orgasm ended, Richard moved back up to hold and kiss him.

"Did I do OK, loverboy?" Richard asked.

"Wow!  That was stupendous!  You were stupendous!  I didn't want it to end,
ever!" Kevin said breathlessly.

"Are you ready to go to sleep now?"

"Yeah!  I'm as weak as a kitten.  But please don't let go of me!  I want to
go to sleep in your arms, Richard, I love you so much!"

"I love you more than life, Kev!"

Richard was overcome by tenderness as he watched and felt his young lover
drop off to sleep.

He heard a weak cough from Chris's stretcher, and saw that Chris's eyes
were open.  "How're you feeling, Chris?" he whispered.

"Can't move. Really hot. Gotta take a piss," Chris said with great effort
in a raspy, weak voice.  His smooth, golden skin was covered with sweat.

"I'll help you," Richard said, and went to find a plastic container
salvaged from the Venture.  When he returned, he said "Don't move," and
held Chris's limp penis to the top of the container.  As Chris urinated,
Richard could see by the light of the flashlight (also salvaged from the
Venture) that his urine was blood red.  He emptied the container in the
latrine and returned to Chris's side.

"Do you want more morphine?"

"Not right now.  Richard, am I gonna die?"  Tears welled up in Chris's
eyes.

Richard took Chris's hand and stroked his burning forehead.  "I don't know,
Chris.  I can't do much to help you.  Something's wrong inside you, but I
don't know what it is or what to do about it."

"Richard, what happens when you die?  What's it like?"

"Nobody knows that, Chris.  I think it may be like falling into a deep
sleep, with no more pain and no more danger.  What religion are you?"

"My parents were Buddhist, but they were killed by pirates escaping from
Vietnam when I was little.  I lived with my aunt and uncle, but they don't
have any religion."

"Buddhists believe that if you die free of anger, hatred, fear, and desire,
you can become enlightened like Buddha and know the meaning of everything.
Then you can have total peace forever and ever."

"Will I see my parents?  I still miss them."

"I hope so, Chris."

"Will you stay with me, Richard?"

"I won't leave you, dude, and the guys won't either."

Feeling more inadequate than ever, Richard held Chris's hand and stroked
his forehead.  "I'm going to get some water and try to cool you down,
Chris," he said.  When he reached the pool, Richard looked up to see
brightness growing over the top of the falls.  The second day was
beginning.