Wrath of Poseidon...

Or

In Which Hell Hath No Fury Like Melissa...

...

Yeah. Anyone ELSE remember what the Typhoon's name was? :3

Camp...

"Guys, get up!" Lex shouted.

"No time to explain, get up!" Jackson added.

"Get up!"

Thunk!

"OW!" Nathan shouted.

"Come on, come on!"

"What is it, you two?" Daley demanded.

"No time to explain, guys, let's go!"

Nathan stood up, weakly, looking at Jackson, blearily. Taylor was half slung-over Melissa, who was looking around, obviously quite confused. Daley looked as mad as a hornet who's nest just got the business end of a baseball bat. And she seemed to be glaring at the kids holding said bat: Jackson and Lex.

Lightning struck approximately 100 feet away from them.

Then the thunder ripped through the shield of happiness their peaceful home enveloped them in, leaving them out in the cold realm of fear.

They all quailed in fear for a few moments, then Jackson straightened up.

"We have to go," he said.

This time, there was no hesitation.

Hotel Tango...

Abby looked up to see the storm whirling in, holding naught but death and doom for any foolish enough to stay unprotected and face the brunt of its wrath. The wroth god would rend them to shreds if she didn't do anything. The game was survival, and she would win.

She swiftly shook or prodded everyone awake, then stood up.

"Into the hole!" she barked.

First was Ian, obviously, and he was set in the middle, for convenience's sake. Gently, they let him down, until he sighed in relief, his back touching ground once more. Abby jumped in next, and Eric slid down. They laid down, close together, with Abby in between Eric and Ian. Jory took a final glance at Captain Russell's body, shuddering, as she crawled into the hole, taking her place next to Ian.

Forest...

"What the hell is going on, Lex?" Daley demanded.

The group rushed through the forest, ducking and diving around the trees as best as they could.

"It's a typhoon! It's been coming in for the passed few days!" Lex started.

"Duly noted; where are we going!?"

"To shelter!" Lex shouted over the winds, "Jackson and I have been working on it for a few weeks."

"WHY THE HELL ARE WE JUST NOW KNOWING ABOUT IT!?"

"Because then you guys might have panicked or done something stupid!"

Nathan shook his head, snorting.

"You need to trust us, Lex. We're family and families crumble when secrets are kept. And right now? Crumbling equals death," Nathan barked.

"Can we argue over this at the nice, warm, dry, non-windy cave, instead!?" Jackson barked.

The words stopped, but the rain and wind only fell harder.

Cave...

Lex had always been fascinated by storms back at home. They were the focus of many a school project and both the storms they had been through so far had been equally awesome. But this lighting did not twinkle in his eyes, instead the bolts grew larger, and came closer to hitting their small sanctuary. Threatening them with each flash. They caused the cave to glow as if he had installed fluorescent light.

Despite that the thunder clapped so loudly it felt as if the whole world shook, and that the waves crashed relentlessly on the beach in the shorter pauses in between, the island had never felt so quiet to Daley. She had grown increasingly in tune to the sound of the wind snaking through the leaves, the melodies of tropical birds catcalling and singing in the distant jungle. There was a gentle hum to the island, like a person breathing in and out. But the rhythm was broken as if the island itself had passed on.

The word howling was perfect to describe the increasing wind. It sounded like a person in pure anguish, or the horrifying sound of war films where bleeding, ripped open soldiers were left to die. The 'screaming' tore at Melissa even more than the biting cold as their soaked clothing and bodies dried painfully slowly in the dropping temperatures.

Nathan focused oddly on the smells. It was the only part of rain he had ever enjoyed. The rest of it, the driving conditions (as if left hand turns weren't hard enough), the extra clothing, the being wet, never appealed to him. But this smell wasn't of fresh greenery and clean air. It was mucky and murky like an algae filled pond. His own skin and hair caused the scent to follow him even though the cave had been dry. He noted it's smell, too: salty and metallic. The combination was almost sickeningly familiar like the sweat of the opposing team on the football field. But this time there was no shower to take the smell away.

Tension had coated everything. Tension that had been there since before Eric left. Tension that had built up and built finally crescendoed like a Beethoven's symphony. At least that's what Taylor saw. She wanted to say something, anything, reassuring but she felt so walled off from everyone, especially now. Her head roared louder than the storm without thousands of words unspoken.

Jackson knew the storm was about to reach it's worst. If he was with his old friends he would have likened to a first punch in a fight. It was something you just knew. He also knew the analogy would have been on the lost on the people here, and that his declaration that the worse was almost upon them would only serve to create more stress. Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to finish contemplating it, as a particularly strong gust of wind slammed him against the cave wall.

The five cries of his name made it clear. The storm was here.

Hotel Tango...

Rain.

It poured through the foliage and pattered upon the tin roof of the Hotel Tango, sounding like gun shots.

Wind.

It ripped through the forests, making odd screeching sounds.

Lightning.

It pierced the woods, illuminating with Hotel with the horrifying half-light that somehow seems scarier than the darkness itself.

Thunder.

It pierced their hollow of silence, the monotony of rain and wind, like the roar of a lion.

Rain. Wind. Lightning. Thunder. The orchestra of storms. It surrounded them, singing of pain and rain and wind and storms and threatened their very lives.

Jory twitched at every thunder boom, shivered at every monster created by that wretched half-light. Ian stayed calm and still, as he had learned to do over the passed two weeks. Abby seemed to examine the horrifying storm with something resembling that of a stare-off, as if the storm had challenged her, and she was now determined to win the battle of survival. Eric's eyes were as misty as the storm; he had already exited reality.

Cave...

Jackson felt himself being dragged across the cave floor, while his vision blurred in and out. He groaned, as he looked up at Melissa.

"Yo."

Melissa resisted a giggle. She then sighed, as Jackson sat up.

"Sorry about that," he muttered.

Nathan slapped him on the back, and Jackson stiffened up, moaning lightly in pain.

"Hahaaaaa! That's okay. Just don't do that ever again, and we'll be totally cool!"

"No. Prob. Lem."

"Oh, whoops."

"Hey, Nathan?" Jackson asked, with a dangerous edge in his voice.

The hand was retracted.

"Yeah, Jackson?"

"Don't ever do that again, and we'll be totally cool."

"Cool."

"I'm serious. I'll break off your arms if you do it again."

"Hahaaaaa! That's okay."

"Hey, guys?" Lex asked.

"What's up?" Daley asked in reply.

"We forgot the... chicken..."

Melissa half-shrieked, bolted to her feet, then ran from the cave. Jackson made a stumbling attempt to get up, but Nathan held him down.

"Shit!" Jackson shouted, "I have to go after her!"

"Jackson, you'll be killed in that storm, in your condition!"

"What are you talking about!?"

"You are bruised, bonked, and possibly concussed. Melissa will be fine. For once, you've been shot in the knees, and we haven't."

"Lovely."

Jackson hit the cave floor, then asked God why he was so stupid as he winced and felt his hand begin to bruise.

Forest...

Melissa ducked back and forth, darting in zigzags. The first several hundred yards had been blind sprinting. A half possessed desire to get to the chicken somehow, someway. If the chickens, whose generations stretched by to the 1940's, couldn't make it through this storm, how could a group of teenagers? The chicken just had to survive, to stay with them as a symbol of hope, of endurance. It would be reached.

By the time she paused to catch her breath, Melissa was almost spent. She was cold, miserable, and worse yet, alone. The soaked sand was a burden to trudge through. Whether it was physical exhaustion, or the slow weakening of her spirit, something caused Melissa to miss seeing the large piece of shelter which came careening toward her. It collided with her right side splitting on impact, covering her with sharp, stinging cuts. Unprepared, she slammed into the sand, landing awkwardly with the majority of her weight forced onto her left arm. Instinctively she rolled herself free. Ignoring the sharp jolt of pain from changing positions, she ran her other hand over the damaged arm.

''Good... it isn't broken,'' she said aloud if only to reassure herself with her own voice.

However, the sound of it so small and shaky in comparison to the pounding rain only made her more afraid. She tried pushing up and with a small yelp crashed back into the sand.

Ten of the longest, most terrifying minutes of Melissa's life passed as she tried unsuccessfully to reach an upright position. After a kickup, HBK style, she was back on her way. Despite being more vigilant she was coated by leaves, and whacked by several more branches. By time she reached the beach her clothes were fully caked in her own blood. She wanted to collapse, just allow herself to fold under the heavy weight of life itself. She wanted to melt straight into the sand, to just sleep. She dropped to her knees and started to cry.

''I quit!'' she screamed to the blackened skies.

As if on cue, one of the articles of clothing left behind, Jackson's yellow t-shirt was picked by a calmer gust. Twisting and turning it landed with a wet slap on Melissa's face. Breathing in deeply she could still smell him under the heavy layers of dirt and salty water. Jackson. She had forgotten about him, about all of them, about why she had even left. The chicken, that's right. She rose with a renewed strength and searched.

The sight she came upon was horrifying. The chicken was skewered through, firmly rooting it to the ground where it had died. Both wings were broken and it had deep gashes along it's spine. If it had been plucked and cooked you could have called it butterflied by the way it was split. The wounds had been washed in the rain so the pool of blood had all but dissolved minus a few feathers that been stained a permanent shade of red brown. For a brief moment, Melissa considered that eating it would have been less cruel, at least then it would have died for something. She picked it gently, wrapping it in the t-shirt. It was more than time to head back.

Hotel Tango...

The rain ripped through the air, making gunshots on the roof. Four teens laid in an ex-grave, some more disturbed by the thought than others.

"Hey... wanna pass the time?" Jory asked.

"Sure," Ian said, "How?"

"I Spy?"

"..."

"Okay, umm... show tunes?"

"...I can't say no hard enough."

"Well, do you have any ideas?"

"How about the "Name Random Facts About Yourself to Pass the Time" game?"

"...Perfect."

"Sure, I see no negative repercussions in this," Eric said.

"My leg's broken," Ian said.

"No shit," Eric said.

"I'm just playing the game."

"You fail," Jory said, "That's like me saying 'I'm a geek'. It's too obvious."

"Okay then... I have never won a surfing competition."

"Really?" Jory asked, "Ummm... I have never watched or read Naruto."

"I regret never watching wrestling," Abby said.

"I regret never buying a hooker," Eric said.

"...I regret starting this game," Ian said.

"I regret nothing!" Jory declared, laughing.

"I cheated once or twice, on my vegan diet, back when I still believed in it."

"I wonder how my hair sticks up the way it does."

"What? ...Never mind. I've never kissed a girl."

"What about a boy?" Jory asked, teasingly.

"Disco Jesus does not date boys, and neither do I."

"That didn't say anything about kissing them."

"Bah! I don't kiss boys!"

"I'm part-Native American," Jory said, chuckling.

"You and every other white person in America," Abby said, "I've never been out of the States, before now."

"I hate my parents," Eric grumbled.

There was a brief silence before Ian piped up, "I have a hatred of driving."

"I once wrote a sex scene with Ichigo, Cloud, and Zoro."

Utter. SILENCE.

"I named my son after my grandpa!" Eric declared, happily.

"Somehow, I knew this would happen," Ian said, "Jory, identify! What crazy delusion is it this time?"

"What's your son's name?" Jory asked.

"Bulma, I told you only yesterday; he's named Gohan."

"Ah. Of course, Goku, I'm so forgetful."

"Oh. Great. Dragon Ball Z," Abby said, snorting.

"Shall we continue the game, anyways?" Jory asked.

"Sure, should be fun, even if the Abyss is rearing its ugly head," Ian said, shrugging.

And so they did.

It only got weirder from there, I assure you.

Cave...

Melissa stumbled the last few feet into the cave. She had the chicken cradled still in her arms as if she were holding a swaddled infant. Time slowed down for everyone as they looked her up and down, murmuring in soft hushed tones the terror they each felt at her battered bleeding state. Nathan was the first to notice.

She was tilting.

Falling.

Her caught her. Barely. And lowered her softly to the floor. For this everyone scrambled to make room in the center of the enclosure. Having encircled her, they all took different approaches. Daley had started muttering ''oh no'' repeatedly, while Lex cried and begged for forgiveness. It was more than apparent that the small boy saw this as his fault, and Taylor while still silent had wrapped him in a hug. Nathan had taken to checking Melissa's injuries. His inspection of her newly wrenched arm was enough to rouse her from the fog with a fresh jolt of pain.

''Ow!'' She shrieked and Nathan set her arm down with an apologetic smile.

''Thank god,'' he said breathlessly, ''you're still alive.''

''Guys... I am okay. Really. Just a little dizzy and tired from the walk.''

She gave them a weak smile. It was enough to reassure some, at least for now. Lex's sobbing had ceased to a weak sniffle and he tore himself away from Taylor to ask, ''And the chicken?''

His brown eyes shown with hope and each word crushed Melissa to an utter pulp.

She had no words, as she pointed to her right the group followed the direction of her finger to the bundle she'd been carrying earlier. In their worry they had dismissed it and thoughts of the fowl, but realization dawned and Lex began to cry once more.

For a few moments all that could be heard was the sound of one little boy's pain. The blunt hammer of mortality swung down on him, on all of them, and he was broken. Daley and Taylor had switched places wordlessly so the former could better comfort her brother. Meanwhile, Jackson was digesting the scene. For most of his life he had run on two basic emotions: apathy and anger. The first was his autopilot, his everyday, but there was no way he could ever stop caring for the girl in front of him. Which left...

''What the hell were you thinking?!''

Anger.

Lex stopped crying immediately. Taylor stiffened. Daley mouthed his name. Nathan stared wide eyed.

When he got no reply he continued. ''That.'' His eyes shifted momentarily in the direction of the lifeless bundle. ''Could have been you.'' He repeated it then. ''That could have been you.'' Quieter. As if it had been said by someone else and hadn't had time to sink in.

Melissa reply was calm, even toned, though with a matching unbendable force of will.

"You should know exactly what I was thinking. I am not the only one who needed to be more careful, who thought nothing bad could happen."

She paused and for a moment, each mind was turning. Though her remark had only one intended audience, somewhere down the line it seemed everyone had taken an unnecessary risk. When Nathan climbed that tree, Daley lying about the rations to gain Taylor and Eric's votes as leader, the raft.

"You felt the same sense of duty when you took that first sip of unboiled water."

Jackson felt stuck. He wanted to point out the difference between humans and animals, the difference between his possible risk and her guaranteed one. But all of that would be admitting he lied days ago.

Instead, he said, ''I told you I was just thirsty.''

''Then maybe I just felt like taking a walk.''

With that reply there was nothing more to be said, and an uneasy silence reigned again.

Hotel Tango...

After a while of The Name Random Facts About Yourself, Ian decided to have fun. He started slipping into the role of Vegeta. Jory tagged along as the role of Chichi. Things got out of hand, and it ended with all three of them getting smacked by Abby.

"Oh, Bulma, same old, same old."

"Shut up, Goku."

"Goku, wha?"

"Eric?"

"Yeah. What's with the Goku?"

"You are nucking futs," Ian said.

"...YOU'RE A TOWEL," Eric shot back.

After a strange back and forth round of insults that included "YO MOMMA" jokes, which ended with both parties getting smacked again, an annoyed silence rang through the ex-grave. Abby's lip curled for a moment as she stared at the roof.

"Let's just get to sleep... it's the only thing we can do," Jory said.

A few murmurs of agreement later, silence reigned again, as some drifted, and others merely let their thoughts run wild.

Cave...

Taylor never realized how easy being silent could be. In the past few days she had said only a few words to anyone. She now understood how Aly made it the Day of Silence every April. That's another resolution, she'd join her this year. Taylor was facing the wall, gently tracing it with one of her fingertips. She imagined a world where she stayed like this forever, lost in her thoughts, her world, just watching everyone else pass. It sent a lukewarm shiver through her as though someone had poured tap water down her spine. But who was around to break the shell? No one wanted the old Taylor back, she was certain of that. Besides one by one they had decided rather wordlessly to fall asleep, and although she couldn't see them, she was pretty sure that she was only one awake.

Or was she?

"Melissa!"

That was Jackson's voice. Even at a whisper she could tell.

"Melissa!" He tried again and continued, "we should talk."

"Why? We only end up fighting or making back up," Came Mel's annoyed reply.

Taylor had to give it to her, this thing between them was getting a little old.

"I'd rather die having done the latter."

"We aren't going to die."

''We've both come close today alone,'' Jackson retorted.

Mel sighed. "Point made, but if this is another lecture on how I should have-"

''No. I only got angry because I care about you.''

Jackson realized how pathetic that was and opened his mouth to try again when Taylor spoke up.

"Just kiss her already."

"What?!" Mel and Jackson asked, almost in unison.

"We're trapped in a lethal storm, the no relationship rule has been shattered by the fact that we are in quarters so close we might as well be doing it, and even I can see you may not get this chance again. Half this island, the readers and the author who's writing my dialogue have waited long enough."

Mel and Jackson paused for a moment, wondering if Taylor's advice was truly what they should follow. Then, all thought was loosed from their mind, as they both decided that maybe she had a few good ideas every now and then.

Their lips met, and the fanbase went crazy.

Hotel Tango...

They had no way to tell time. Their watches had long since stopped or been lost. They drifted out of a strange haze of gunshots and monsters, ate a fruit when they felt hunger gnawing at them, and drinking a sip of water when thirst was overwhelming.

Eric drifted in and out, too. Jory had identified him as Sasuke (while she hadn't read or watched Naruto, she had heard plenty of it from her friends), Tsuna (from the 6th most popular anime/manga that Jory called "Reborn"), and George Bush Jr. After all the anime themes, that one really threw them for a loop.

"Wow, never knew Eric was such an anime freak," Abby said.

"Hey, they're pretty perverted sometimes. Suits him just fine," Jory said.

"Then why do you read them...? Watch them...? Whatever!" Ian asked, his question ending in mild frustration.

"Because of deep plots and the utter awesomeness and satisfaction that comes from seeing the bad guy utterly decimated."

"Oh no...," Ian muttered.

"Seriously. Luffy punching Bellamie in the face like that was seven levels of epic."

Here she goes.

"Jory, please shut up. I'm trying to sleep."

"...Yes, Abby."

A heavy kind of silence, a mixture of near-defiance and self-assured command, hung over them now.

Beach...?

The sun was shining brightly as it dipped into the ocean, causing waves of colors to cascade across the rolling waves. It was at the edge, where land, sea, and sky all touched, that Nathan and Daley sat.

They sat there, feeling the cool breeze, the warm sand, and the cold water lapping at their feet. A union of the three elements, and a different kind of union was laying thick in the air, as if all thoughts were focused towards though, as if the thought was layered into those very elements.

The two turned towards each other and kissed, gently at first. They spoke gently, neither really hearing anything, as their hands began to wrap around each other. Slowly, they began to lay back, as their kissing turned passionate, almost animal-like.

Clothes were thrown asunder with more ease than was physically possible. The two lovers kissed, moaning, as the second union became complete. It was the perfect form of romance and pure passion. The two lovers screamed as the sex reached its climax.

Cave...

"NATHAN, WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

"Huh-wha?"

"The horrors, oh dear sweet god, why!?" Lex muttered.

Nathan blearily looked around to see Daley blushing furiously, Jackson just plain furious, Melissa wide-eyed, Taylor cackling, and Lex curled up in a ball.

The dream, half-wavering in his mind, still lingered. He looked down at a dark spot, and his eyes widened.

"Oh dear sweet vampire Jesus Buddha, I didn't-"

"Yes! YES YOU DID!" Jackson shouted.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Taylor snickered delightfully, "Great one, Asta."

For a moment, the lightning made the light last a bit longer than physically possible, and the clouds outside were that of a teen boy giving a thumb's up.

"Hey... umm... you c-can't blame me! I mean... seriously! It's not like I meant for that dream to happen... it just sort of..."

"Came?" Taylor suggested, as she went into another fit of giggles.

"You horrible person," Melissa said, as she started grinning too.

Daley remained silent as the grave. Nathan looked down, torn between laughing and crying. Jackson and Lex looked at each other, then shook their head.

"We'll uhhh... forget this happened," Jackson said.

"I still hear it," Lex whined.

"You can not imagine how sorry I am," Nathan said.

He looked at Daley, who was looking down, the blush still bright red.

"Umm... D-Daley...?"

She looked up, biting her lip.

"Please don't be mad?"

"Not mad... embarrassed... but not mad."

"Sorry."

The others had settled into light snickers or an awkward silence, as they tried to ignore. It was a good thing Eric wasn't present, now, seeing as how he would've made as many jokes now as possible. Taylor thought about taking up the slack, then decided to do something better upon deciding to break her unintentional vow of silence.

"Not your fault..."

"I can totally understand if you decide to ditch me after I-"

"Nathan McGorrill, if you ever say something about us breaking up again over something stupid and out of your control, I will slap you."

Daley was back to normal, and Nathan smiled.

"Sure thing," Nathan said.

And thus a wet dream turned into a sweet moment. All under the typing fingers of the same author and you better be able to tell which one.

"...This whole thing? Yeah, it classifies under 'weirder than that time Wendy and her friends spammed my MySpace account with the word "orgasmic"'," Jackson whispered.

"How so?" Melissa asked.

"Let me put it like this. Normal life is being at home, complaining about school. Right now, we're in a cave, weathering a storm, and I just heard the orgasming screams of one of my friends as he dreamed about another friend of mine, both of whom are in the same cave as me. Life just turned for the really screwed up," Jackson replied, still whispering.

Taylor was the only one close enough to hear, and she was sent into another cackle-fest.

Light talking kept going on for a while, most of it forgettable. Taylor and Lex eventually fell asleep. Jackson and Melissa stayed close, on one side of the cave, while Daley and Nathan were huddled on the other side of the cave. Melissa gently slid her hand along Jackson's cheek, smiling lightly as she felt the rough beard beginning to form. Daley laid her head on Nathan's shoulder, the two gazing at space for a few gentle moments that they wished could've lasted eternity.

The skies outside remained black as pitch, an eternal night. But to the couples inside, it was a new dawn, and the storm was nonexistent, as they leaned in for their own, private kiss.

End of Chapter Seven