"DEC STOP" Ant shouted out suddenly as Dec was about to shove Ants head under the water again for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"What?" Dec asked surprised.

"THE BOAT" Ant called out as he started swimming frantically towards it as it drifted away.

"Shit" Dec exclaimed as he started to follow Ant,but Ant was a much stronger swimmer,so he was already pretty far ahead.

"I'LL COME BACK FOR YOU DECS" Ant yelled,as the distance between the two friends became even wider.

Ant swam on as fast as he could possibly manage,battling the waves that were against him,until he finally caught up with the stray boat.

"Thank God for that" he muttered to himself and climbed into the boat exhausted.

He sat there for a few moments,trying to catch his breath.

"Declan" he suddenly announced to himself.

He started pedalling furiously back towards the area he'd just swam from,but all he could see was ocean.

Where was Dec?

Ant looked around desperately,just trying to find a clue as to Decs whereabouts...the top of his head,a small ripple in the water,anything to help Ant find him before it was too late.

"DECLAN" he shouted repeatedly.

"DECLAN,WHERE ARE YOU?"

Without even realising,tears were now streaming down Ants face as he searched and searched.

"Where are you?" He repeated.

Then he saw it.

A small head bobbing above the water in the distance,then disappearing for worryingly long periods.

"Dec" Ant muttered and started pedalling frantically towards him.

By the time Ant reached Dec,he had disappeared from the surface yet again.

"Come on mate" Ant said as he looked around desperately "where are you?"

There was no sign of Dec anywhere.

By now,he had been under water for way too long,even if Ant did find him,he wasn't even sure if he'd be alive.

There was only one thing for it,Ant stripped off his clothes,until he was in nothing but his underpants and dived into the sea,going as deep as he could possibly manage,although the salt water stung his eyes and it was very difficult to see much of anything.

He looked around desperately for any sign of Dec and for a terrifying few moments,he saw nothing,not anything he wanted to see anyway,just the occasional sea creature and the like,but no Dec.

But then Ant noticed something.

A dark shadow a few metres away,sinking lower and lower.

'Dec' he thought to himself and swam back to the surface and taking a deep breath,before making his way over to where he had seen the shadow.

"DEC,DEC" he shouted out,in a futile attempt to get Dec to hear him,while looking around constantly for any sign of his friend.

"Ok" Ant muttered to himself "I'm coming"

He dived back down into the water as far as he could manage,searching frantically in the murky depths.

Then he saw it.

Decs lifeless body up ahead,still sinking.

Ant swam over,trying desperately to not have to go up to the surface for another breath just yet,he knew if he did that,he would more than likely lose sight of Dec again,probably for good this time.

As he caught up to his friend,Ant found a surge of energy from somewhere and dived down further,reaching out and grabbing Dec by the hair,pulling him upwards while resisting the urge to take a breath.

Finally,Ant reached the surface and took what was probably the deepest breath he'd ever taken in his life,taking a rush of air into his lungs,the relief was indescribable.

"Dec" he whispered to himself and looked at his friend.

Ant still had a tight grip on Decs hair,so let go of it and placed a firm arm around Decs chest to support him and after much difficulty,managed to push him up into the boat.

Ant was so weak by now and barely had the strength in his arms to pull himself up,but he had to.

After a few attempts,he gave one final heave,lifting himself up and collapsing uncomfortably onto the tiny deck of the boat that was already overtaken by fruit and other stuff,that's if it could even be called a deck!

But at that precise moment he didn't care about the fact he was laying on their supplies and had God knows how many avocados and mangoes poking and squashing into his back,he was just glad to be back on board.

But there was no time to rest.

He looked at Dec with concern,he'd been under the water for quite a while,that's how it seemed anyway.

So Ant leant down and put his ear to Decs face,listening carefully.

Ants worst fears were soon confirmed

Dec wasn't breathing!

"DON'T FUCKING DO THIS TO ME DECLAN" Ant shouted out in despair.

He attempted to roll Dec onto his back,but there was so little space and that damned fruit was everywhere,just getting in the way.

So Ant quickly got up and started kicking everything overboard,it didn't matter what it was or how important it was,nothing was more important than Dec,so it all went into the sea,

The fruit,the first aid kit,the blanket,the ponchos,Ants clothes,that he'd discarded so rapidly...everything...gone.

Ant then laid Dec on his back,there was still very little space for them both and their positions were far from ideal,but Ant just had to do his best with what he had.

How he now wished he'd found time to do a first aid course,it wasn't something that had really crossed his mind before,but Dec was 'dead' and CPR was going to be the only thing that might save him right now.

Ant had seen enough programmes where it had been performed,even if that was only acting,it would more than likely be based on how to do it in reality and he also vaguely remembered the 'Staying Alive' campaign that was televised a few years ago,where the public were informed that chest compressions should be given to the beat of the song Staying Alive.

So after checking Decs mouth for any debris,Ant did just that,pressing down firmly on Decs chest with his two hands while singing the song to himself.

He couldn't remember how many chest compressions he was meant to do before giving breaths to Dec,but he assumed as long as he was doing something and getting some air into Decs lungs,then that would at least give him a chance.

"Come on,breathe damn you" Ant whispered,after what seemed like an eternity,but in reality was probably no more than a couple of minutes.

Ant was already exhausted,he had no idea that giving CPR was so physically draining,but as he had lived on a very basic variety of food for weeks and lost lots of weight,it wasn't surprising.

But there was no way in the world he was going to give up,he'd never give up on his Declan,no matter how long this took,he was determined to see it through,he wasn't going to let Dec die,no way in the world.

"Please Dec" Ant mumbled in between giving the treatment "don't leave me"

Tears were now beginning to flow freely down Ants cheeks once again,only adding to the difficulty of what he was doing.

It had been too long...even if he did manage to bring Dec back now,would he be ok?would he be the same?

Or would it be better just to let him go?

Ant stopped what he was doing for a moment,rubbing his tired hands together and staring at Decs motionless body.

"I'm sorry Dec" Ant wept and lay his head down onto Decs stomach "I'm so sorry"

How could this be happening after everything they'd been through?

This was the last hurdle...just finding any sign of life out in the ocean,a ship,some inhabited land,anything.

But not this,this wasn't how it was supposed to end.

"NO" Ant suddenly shouted "YOU'RE NOT GONNA DIE"

He sat up and resumed the CPR,alternating between chest compressions and mouth to mouth,he still had no idea if he was doing it correctly,but at least he was trying.

After a couple of minutes,Dec finally made a sputtering noise and water sprayed from his mouth.

"DEC?DEC?" Ant stated,relieved "come on mate"

He quickly rolled Dec over into the recovery position,surprising himself at just how much he was actually remembering from what he'd seen on telly.

That didn't matter now anyway,Dec was breathing again,that was the main thing.

"You're going to be ok now" Ant soothed,while rubbing Decs back comfortingly.

Ant did his best to squeeze into the small gap next to Dec,he just wanted to hold him,feel him in his arms,feel him breathing and know that he was going to be ok.

"What happened?" Dec managed to mumble with a weak,croaky voice.

"You nearly drowned pal" Ant informed him "stopped breathing,I had to bring you back"

Dec attempted to sit up,but felt dizzy,so immediately laid back down again.

"Woe there" Ant smiled "you need to take it easy,just relax"

"But you're squashing me" Dec pointed out.

"Oh yeah,sorry" Ant smiled,getting up to give Dec a little more space "I'll sit here"

He got back into one of the seats,but turned round,refusing to take his eyes off Dec.

"How do you feel now?" Ant asked concerned.

"I'm find" Dec nodded.

"You're fine...d?" Ant laughed.

"Great" Dec sniffed "now I've got a cold"

"Dec" Ant laughed "you know very well near drowning is not how you catch a cold"

"Why am I all blocked up then?" Dec frowned.

"Who knows with you?" Ant smiled "probably still got some water swishing around inside your head or something,but you'll be ok"

Dec just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"What happened?" Ant enquired "I thought you were a better swimmer than that?"

"So did I" Dec frowned,trying to recall exactly what had just occurred "think I got cramp,then tiredness just got the better of me and...and...I just don't remember anything else"

"Well,you're back with us now" Ant smiled "with no side effects either by the look of it"

"I want to get up" Dec replied "I'm not very comfortable"

Ant immediately helped Dec into the other seat and as they both sat down,Dec became acutely aware of something.

"Um...Ant" he exclaimed "where are all our supplies?the fruit and everything?"

"Well" Ant answered "I had to kick it all off the boat to make room to lay you down and do CPR"

"Oh" Dec replied "even your clothes?"

"Yeah" Ant nodded "I threw them off to dive down and get you...you know?so they didn't drag me down"

There wasn't a lot else they could say on the subject,Ant had just saved Decs life after all and not for the first time,but Dec was worried.

They both were.

They were now in an even more dire situation than ever before,no food,no blanket,only a tiny bit of water in the bottle at Ants feet and still no sign of rescue.

They really couldn't see how they could survive much longer!