Halt woke up. Had he fallen asleep? Bright sunshine streamed through the open window. His lips felt cracked and dry, and when Halt remembered his dare, he sulkily got out of bed to check the clock. He had spent seven hours asleep. He did the calculations in his head. One hour was equal to sixty minutes, which meant seven hours was equal to four-hundred twenty minutes, which meant that now he only needed to wait two-hundred eighty minutes for a drop of coffee.

Suddenly, those dry lips were nothing compared to what he felt now. It felt as if they were on fire. He felt like they were too dry to move even a millimeter. Halt felt like if he moved his lips, they would crack and fall apart.

Halt knocked quietly on Gilan's door. There was a groan from inside and then the door opened a crack. "Go away," Gilan muttered, rubbing his eyes. "It's three in the morning. Let a Ranger get some sleep!"

Halt forced his mouth open. "Go make breakfast."

"Make Crowley or Will do it." The door shut with a loud SLAM! and Halt was left staring at a wooden door.

Halt sighed. He knew one thing for sure: he hadn't taught Gilan some manners. Halt rubbed his eyes and went to get some cold water.

As Halt drank, it was like he had finally come to life…it was so refreshing. But Halt knew that something could never taste as good as his coffee. The water was good…but coffee was better. He could almost smell the coffee in the air. Halt longed for a nice cup.

Then Gilan, rubbing his eyes, and still wearing pajamas, entered the kitchen and gave Halt a suspicious look.

"It's water," Halt said innocently. He showed Gilan his cup of water. Gilan looked crestfallen, as if he had wanted to catch Halt drinking coffee.

"Go make breakfast." Halt said. He sat down, put his feet on the table, and continued to drink his water.

Minutes later, Will and Crowley came down.

Will looked excited. "How much time have you got left?" he asked Halt.

Halt replied gloomily, "Two-hundred eighty minutes."

Will looked even more excited. "That's a little over four hours! That means you skip breakfast coffee and mid-morning coffee!"

Halt flinched. He would have to wait a long time before he could have that precious coffee…

The next four hours went by very slowly. Halt stared weakly at the other Rangers drink their coffee. He watched as Gilan purposely prepared four cups of coffee, and then realizing that Halt couldn't have coffee, drank it all.

It seemed like all Halt did for the four hours was watch the clock. Two hours left…one hour left…twenty minutes left…ten minutes left…

Halt felt a growl in his stomach. Coffee… he thought. Must…have…coffee…

Halt's stomach growled even louder. Unfortunately, Gilan and the others heard it, too.

Gilan grinned. "You can make it, Halt, only two more minutes!"

Crowley smiled. "Gilan, you should've made Halt go a full day, that would be interesting…"

Gilan replied with a broad grin. "Well, I didn't want to starve the poor chicken…"

Halt stared at the clock. One minute left. One minute. One minute. A second seemed like a minute.

Halt's stomach growled again, this time more fiercely. I'm dying…I'm going to die…must…have…coffee… he thought , there were only three seconds…

Two…

One…

"YES!" Halt shot up in the air and grabbed Will's half unfinished coffee. He gulped it down like a madman, and then took Gilan's and chugged it down also. Crowley, who adored his coffee, quickly drank his cup of coffee before Halt could drink it.

Once Halt had drank about fifteen cups of coffee, he settled down. He seemed to be in a better mood now that he had finished his dare.

Gilan, Crowley, and Will, however, looked terrified that the fun was over.

"You're right, I should've made him go a full day," Gilan said miserably to Crowley.

"Let's go continue this game of Truth or Dare, shall we?" Halt said to the others.

Though still sad the fun was over, the others nodded. Then they walked out and resumed their cross-legged position.

Halt smiled. "Who's the brave soul? Which one of you will be my victim?"

Nobody answered. Nobody wanted Halt to dare them or ask them a question that they had to be truthful on.

Finally, Will made up his mind.

"I'll go," he said in a quiet voice.

He figured that nothing could be that bad, but oh, was he so very wrong.

I have a very interesting dare in mind...you'll have to wait until the fifth chapter to know what it is...:) Please review!