Living a Nightmare

Disclaimer – I do not own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody… Although if I had the chance, I'd take it:)

A/N – Please review…

Chapter 1, The Nightmare

Zack crept into the darkness of the jungle. He had one mission. Save Maddie. He thought, "Once I save her life, she'll thank me and—" His thoughts were interrupted by a shrill scream. It must be… "Maddie!" Zack hissed.

He slashed the wild, untamed grass and his eyes bugged at what he had encountered. There Zack stood, little, puny, innocent. And in front of him was a humongous temple, huge, enormous, and uninviting. It was covered in vines and had an eye engraved at the point of the temple. Zack shivered at the sight of it. "Maddie must be in there." Zack whispered. He took another step forward, and another, and another. "What am I doing? The love of my life is being tortured and I'm hesitating to save her?" Zack shook his head and ran inside.

As he entered the mysterious place, he could smell fire and heard the sound of... Boiling water… "Boiling water? Oh no." Zack ran, he didn't even know where to go. Looking through the cracked doors he passed by, there was no sign of Maddie. "You there!"

Zack turned around to see a bulky man about six foot three pointing at him. "Ahh!" Zack yelled. "Hey, come back here!" The strange man screamed after Zack. Zack ran and ran until he entered a room with a huge boiling pot sitting in the middle of the room. "Zack!"

Zack looked up and saw Maddie, tied with rope and slowly sinking down into the steaming pot. "Maddie, what happened?"

Maddie's eyes looked stung and seemed like she was about to cry. She shook her head and said, "I'll tell you later, just get me out of here!"

"R-right." Zack stammered and stepped beside the pot. "But how do I free you?" Zack asked. "I don't know, Zack! Please hurry up, I know you'll figure out a way, I know you're smart!"

That comment from Maddie pushed Zack into working faster. "Hey, what do you think you are you doing?" The big man that was chasing Zack earlier stood at the doorway. He rushed over to Zack and picked him up, to him, Zack was a feather. "Zack! HEEELP!" Maddie screamed.

"Shut up, little lady!" The big guy yelled at Maddie. Now that made Zack really mad. "Nobody… Tells Maddie… To SHUT UP!" Zack yelled in clenched teeth and stabbed his two fingers into the huge man's eyes.

"OUCH!" He yelled. Zack freed from the stranger's grasp and continued to look for a way to save Maddie.

"Zack! I'm sinking faster! I'm almost touching the—OUCH!" Maddie started and her shoe touched the boiling water.

Zack found the end of the rope of which wrapped Maddie. 'How do I free her? If I untie it, she'll fall into the water, but if I try to push the pot, it's too heavy!' Zack thought.

After that thought, he entered blackness.

Zack awoke in the hospital. The room was white, his bed was white, and the nurse that has stepped into the room wore white. "I see you are awake, Mr. Martin. Are you well yet?"

Zack didn't know why, but a rush of madness fell over him. "I don't know! You tell me, after all, you're the nurse!" The nurse backed away. "Doctor! He's ready."

'Ready for what?' Zack thought. A man walked into the room and sat in the chair next to Zack's bed. "Hello, Zack."

He grunted. "How do you feel?" The doctor asked. Zack grunted again. "Why do you guys keep asking me that? I'm fine. Got it?"

The doctor nodded and scribbled something on the clipboard he was carrying. "Okay, we have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Zack didn't really think about it and said, "I don't care."

Surprised, the doctor began talking. "Well, I'll give you the good news first. But, before I tell you, just tell me if you remember anything before you awoke."

Zack was almost asleep but tried to remember. "I was in the jungle…" He shot up. "Trying to save Maddie! Where is she? Is she alright!"

The doctor smiled and put his hand on Zack's shoulder. "Yes, Mr. Martin, she's quite alright. That's what I was going to say. You see, when our paramedics found you, you were lying on the floor in the pyramid with Maddie who had been bruised in many places. She was the one who called the hospital. She's conscious, but very hurt, you see the man who was chasing you—"

Zack opened his mouth and came, "What happened? He was the one who hurt Maddie wasn't he? Huh? That stupid butthole should be arrested. Did you know he tried to strangle me?"

By then the doctor was shaking his head. "Now that's the bad news. You see, that man is dead."

Zack smiled. "Good."

Again, the doctor shook his head, "Let me talk, Zack. See, that man was trying to save you and Maddie. He was chasing you and trying to free Maddie, too."

Zack frowned. "Oh… OH."

"Yes… Now, here's the bad part. Cody was—"

"OH NO! I totally forgot about him, where is he?" Zack asked.

"Hold on, hold on. You might not want to hear this but Cody was the one who tied Maddie up."

Zack opened his mouth. He couldn't believe it. "Wh-why? How could he?" The doctor AGAIN shook his head. "He was jealous of you because he found out Maddie was in love with you and Cody was secretly in love with Maddie."

"No… No. No, no, no…" Zack was confused.

"I'm not done yet. Also, Cody.." The doctor started, and gulped. "Cody killed that man, too."

Zack couldn't believe it. "No! Cody wouldn't do that… Would he?" The doctor put up his finger.

"There's one more thing, Zack."

Zack shook his head. "There's MORE?" The doctor nodded.

"That man, the stranger, you say. You're savior… Was your… Father."