Astrid's P.O.V.
I fluttered my eyes open and stretched out my arms on the bed. As I groggily turned over on the bed I realized that Drake had carried me here last night. I immediately sit up on the bed and look around.
Obviously he didn't care enough to put blankets over me since they were still hanging over the edge of the window.
I swung my legs over to the side of the bed to get up and go put on my jeans that were sitting on the floor next to the bed. After I put them on, I opened the door and slowly walked downstairs.
I heard the sound of a bag rustling as soon as I got downstairs, and I caught sight of Drake putting all of the guns into this traveler's backpack that he had probably found in one of the closets.
"What are you doing..?" I quietly asked him, before crossing my arms to try and provide myself some warmth from the coldness of the room.
He zipped the backpack once he finished loading the guns, and briefly glimpsed at me. "Finally, you're awake." He muttered. "Just get in the fucking car and stop asking questions,"
"So we're going to Perdido Beach, then?" I moved forward, irritated with his insults.
He gave out an irritated snarl as he slung the backpack over his shoulder and placed the hood of his grey sweater over his head. "Isn't that what we decided last night? Jesus fucking Christ, do you even listen whenever I talk to you? Or are you too busy obsessing over your pretty hair?"
I glared at him. "Maybe I would listen to you more if over half the things you say weren't so insulting,"
"Shut up and get in the car already," He spat, his eyes blazing with annoyance.
I frowned and made my way outside the cabin, with Drake following close behind me. It was almost as if he were closely watching me to make sure I didn't try to run away again.
"I'll drive," I decided. There was always a checkpoint near the entrance of Perdido Beach guarded by several kids to keep lookout and make sure no enemies got in. If I was driving, I knew they wouldn't ask any questions and let me in. Even if Drake was hiding his face under his hood, they would figure out it was him and then chaos would break.
Drake saw no objections to that, since he tossed me the car keys and got inside the passengers' seat.
I opened the car door and got into the drivers' seat beside Drake, before turning on the engine with the keys. I quickly pulled out of the driveway and proceeded to drive away from the cabin that we'd probably never go to again. It was nice to have decent food and drinks, and I had hoped that Drake had packed some of the food and drinks that was left.
We sat pretty much in silence the entire ride towards Perdido Beach. I knew Drake wasn't one for small talk, and I didn't really have anything to say to him. He rested back against the seat with the hood pulled over his face as he gazed out into the window.
Once we started to reach the checkpoint, a boy around the age of twelve stepped out of the booth and held an armed weapon with him. I was slightly surprised that it was only one kid keeping watch, but I instantly realized that lately kids have been slacking off work.
Drake gave out a scoff as soon as he saw the scrawny boy come out from the booth with his armed weapon being a machine gun. There was no way in hell that kid could use a gun, since he was already having trouble holding it.
Nevertheless, Drake pulled his hood down some more and made his whip crawl inside his sleeve so he wouldn't be recognized. He slouched against the chair and watched as the boy came over to his side of the window.
"Stop the vehicle. Name yourselves, now. Did King Caine authorize you two to come?" The boy began as he continued to step closer to the car.
Drake tried his hardest not to burst out laughing in the boy's face. So Caine was considered a king now? He thought Caine was pathetic before, but this reached a entire new level of stupidity.
Even I thought it was ridiculous.
"Excuse me, did you say King Caine?" I raised an eyebrow at the boy, who immediately recognized my face as soon as he walked up to the window.
"Astrid! Is it really you? Oh, wow. I heard so many stories about you, but I never got to meet you in person. So they call you Astrid the Genius right?" The boy took a closer look at me. "Wow, they really weren't exaggerating when they said how beautiful you were."
Drake curled his lip in disgust.
I blinked at him, feeling taken aback. "Um, yeah. I'm Astrid. Thanks, I guess." I replied, not really knowing what to say.
"So, where have you been this entire time? Aren't you usually with Sam, I mean you guys are still dating, right? I saw him when he left Perdido Beach to go to the lake. He seemed pretty crushed that you weren't there with him. So, I'm guessing you guys probably broke up then, huh?" The boy questioned.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Sam left? What?"
Drake rolled his eyes, since he thought this conversation was completely useless. I knew he was itching to just kill the boy.
"Oh.." The boy frowned at me. "You didn't know he left? Yeah, he left with a whole bunch of people. Caine rules Perdido Beach now, that's what they decided."
I suddenly felt my heart sink. Why would Sam leave Perdido Beach?
"Basically all the freaks left with Sam. Like the Breeze, Dekka, that one boy called Toto, Lana, and that other guy with the super strength. But what's weird is that there's been rumors going around that Diana went with all of them too. I think they're true, since I haven't seen Diana with Caine." The boy shrugged.
My gaze instantly shot up, and Drake seemed to be suddenly interested as well.
"The hell..?" Drake muttered. It seemed like everything was getting weirder and weirder.
"Why would Diana go with him?" I asked, feeling slightly frustrated and hurt. I didn't really feel so much as jealousy, more like confused. Anyway, I knew it was a silly idea to think that Sam could possibly ever hook up with Diana.
"Nobody knows. But there's been even worse rumors going around that she might be pregnant with Caine's baby." The boy blurted out.
Drake gave out a scoff under his breath. Now that didn't surprise him. He always knew Diana was a whore.
However, I still remained surprised. "Really? Does Caine know?"
"I think he does. He just doesn't act like he knows. And nobody's brave enough to ask him. Caine can be really scary sometimes. But not as scary as…" The boy leaned over the window, causing Drake to keep his gaze down.
"Drake, the one with the whip hand." The boy nearly whispered, his body trembling as he did. "I've heard horrible stories of him. He gives everyone nightmares, including me. I hope to God that I never meet him."
I opened my mouth to say something, but just found it awkward. Here he was talking about his worst fear, and that worst fear just happened to be inches away from him. I honestly couldn't blame him, though. Everyone in the FAYZ was scared of Drake, there was no question about it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I briefly saw Drake giving off a menacing grin under his hood.
"You haven't seen him, have you? I mean, while you were out in the desert." The boy asked me.
I shook my head. "No. Luckily, I haven't." I lied.
The boy breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good." He then averted his gaze over to Drake, who was sitting beside me. "You're sort of quiet, aren't you? I don't think I've ever seen you around before. But then again, I can't see your face when your hiding it under that hood."
Drake sat still, but his whip itched to strangle the kid for talking so damn much. His whip began to uncurl inside his sleeve, threatening to reveal itself.
I immediately decided to speak out before Drake acted out, but the boy interrupted me.
"It's alright, though." The boy laughed. "Since you're with Astrid, you must be her friend. So quiet or not, you're probably a nice person."
"Yeah…" Drake managed to mutter, despite it sounding deeply irritated. I was pleased that he managed to contain himself, though.
"Anyways, you wanted to pass though. I'm really sorry about this, but I don't think it's a really good idea to go to Perdido Beach. You guys should head over to the lake, since that's were Sam's at. I'm positive that he's waiting for you, Astrid." The boy gave me a reassuring smile.
I bit my lip to try to keep from frowning. I really wanted to go to Sam, but I knew I couldn't. "I can't right now. I needed to get to Perdido Beach." I tried to think up of a good excuse. "I, um, left some of my belongings there."
"Oh, I could get it for you. It's just, well, I don't really think Caine would be too happy with you staying in Perdido Beach. And he'll probably be mad at me if I just let you guys go in without his permission." The boy calmly explained.
"I'm sure he'll understand, I'll make sure you aren't punished-" I tried to insist.
However, the boy merely shook his head. "I'm really sorry, Astrid. I'm going to have to put my foot down on this one. You're aren't going to be allowed in, and I think it's better for you to go to Sam. Imagine how upset he'll be if he found out that you went to Perdido Beach first, anyway?"
I silently tried not to explode in anger. I wasn't Sam's property, and everyone was acting as if I was. If I wanted to go somewhere, then I could go.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Drake immediately beat me to it.
"Alright, fuck this." He spoke, which alarmed the boy.
The boy quickly raised his gun as a warning to Drake if he tried anything, but soon stared in horror as Drake cracked his whip out and placed it around the boy's neck to strangle him.
"Oh my god! I-it's you!" The boy realized, as Drake's piercing gaze met his. "Please! Oh, god! Please don't kill me!" The boy sobbed as he begged, but Drake just tightened his grip around his neck.
"You should've just let us through when you had the chance, now you're going to be sliced until there's nothing left of you but shredded skin," Drake grinned.
The boy trembled even more, peeing his pants a little. This made Drake grin even more with psychotic glee.
"Drake, let him go!" I insisted, but he ignored me.
Drake threw the boy against the ground, who proceeded to crawl away and yell for help. His cries for help were instantly silenced by his screams of agony as Drake whipped him over and over again.
"Drake, stop!" I yelled again, this time opening the car door and running over to the other side of the car. The poor boy's cries for mercy were too much for me.
Drake continued to whip him against his back, which was currently covered in blood and left severely scarred. The boy stopped sobbing as soon as his head fell unconscious on the floor due to the loss of blood and immense pain.
I stopped inches away from Drake, my eyes threatening to spill tears as I stared at the unconscious boy on the floor covered in blood.
Drake stopped whipping him, before kicking him against his side to roll him over. He raised his head and glared at me, his whip covered in the boy's blood as it rested against his side.
"You didn't have to do that," I choked out, my voice laced with anger and sadness.
"Get over it. At least I didn't kill him," Drake sneered at me, before pushing past me and making his way towards the car.
I sympathetically stared at the unconscious boy on the floor. Even if Drake didn't kill him, he was going to die from blood loss or infection if he didn't get to a doctor soon.
"We should take him to Dahra," I quickly suggested.
"We're not going to fucking take him to go see Dahra," Drake narrowed his eyes at me.
"But if we don't, he'll die-" I began to walk towards the boy.
"Astrid, if you take one more step closer to him, I'm going to finish him off and kill him myself. I said fucking leave him." Drake hissed at me, his whip beginning to slither forwards.
I glared at him. He was probably the most horrible person who has ever walked this planet. I couldn't comprehend what made Drake so unbelievably evil.
I begrudgingly turned away from the boy and slowly made my way back to the car where Drake was impatiently waiting. I climbed inside the drivers' seat as Drake got in beside me. He was muttering curses under his breath, something about me being so damn difficult.
I continued to drive forward past the checkpoint, and into Perdido Beach. I was still slightly uneasy from watching the boy being nearly whipped to death. My hands were trembling with frustration and I tried to take small breaths in order to calm myself down.
I drove through several of the roads in Perdido Beach, until I reached Sherman Avenue. I parked the car beside one of the houses, before glancing around and seeing a couple kids walking up the street, eyeing the car a few times, but then looking back and paying no attention to it. The houses on the street all looked abandoned and ransacked. Most of the windows of the houses were cracked or broken, and there was trash on the front yards.
Drake pulled his hood up and peered out the window. "This place looks like shit. Not like it already did when I first came here," He snorted and opened the car door.
For once, I agreed with him.
I got out of the car and walked up the street with Drake, who had his face hidden underneath his hood and had his whip retreated inside his sweatshirt. As I continued to walk up the street, I heard kids murmuring my name or wondering what I was doing there.
Once we passed Sheridan Avenue into San Pablo Avenue, we started to reach the town hall, where Caine presumably resided.
More kids started to pop out and make a circle around the both of us, which made me slightly uncomfortable. Some of them were smiling, happy to see me, and others were not so happy. The last thing I wanted was to cause attention, but it seems that's what I managed to do.
"So what's our plan, exactly?" I murmured, glancing at Drake.
He curled his lip at all of the kids who were whispering and talking amongst themselves. "We demand to see Caine, wherever the hell he is." He replied.
When I looked around to ask someone where Caine might be, a familiar face popped out from the crowd and beamed at me. As I turned my attention towards him, I instantly recognized him as Quinn.
I was both happy and confused to see him there. I thought he might have gone with Sam, for sure.
"Astrid! Boy, am I happy to see you." Quinn grinned at me, and he immediately went towards me so we could embrace.
"It's nice to see you too, Quinn." I returned his smile. "This place has sort of changed ever since I left, huh?"
"Yeah man, it sure has. Where in the world have you been, anyways?" He questioned.
"You don't want to know," I sighed. "I just wanted to go off by myself for a little while, but that was probably not a good idea to do, now that I think about it."
"Well, I'm glad you decided to come back. I'm sort of surprised to see you here, actually. I thought you might've gone to the lake with Sam. He seemed really disappointed when he didn't see you anywhere before he went to the lake with the others," Quinn explained.
"I know. I thought you went with Sam, too." I raised an eyebrow.
Quinn sheepishly shrugged. "Yeah, but I told him that I wanted to stay because of my fishing business."
"Oh," I blinked at him, suddenly remembering that Quinn had his fishing business.
"So are you planning to head to the lake?" He asked.
"Maybe, I'm not sure. Right now, I want to talk to Caine first. Do you know where he is?" I decided to ask, since Drake was somewhat growing impatient beside me.
Quinn seemed taken aback over the fact that I wanted to speak with Caine. "Uh, I think he's probably inside the town hall. But, why do you want to talk with him in the first place?"
"I just need to ask him something," I quickly decided.
"Alright," Quinn shrugged, deciding that my answer was sufficient enough. Anyway, he knew not to get involved with important people like Sam, Lana, Edilio, and Astrid. He was only a fisher, after all.
"See you later, Quinn.' I slightly waved, and he returned the wave. "Good luck, Astrid." He spoke.
I proceeded to make my way towards the town hall, ignoring most of the comments or stares that I continued to receive from most of the kids around the plaza. Drake followed close behind me, still keeping his face hidden.
When we got to the entrance of the town hall, I took a step forwards, but not before I was met with a young boy popping out of nowhere from using his invisibility camouflage power. He appeared inches away from me, which made me nearly jump back with surprise.
I slightly recognized him as being one of the kids who worked with Caine. His name was Bug? I think.
"No entries are allowed inside the town hall, unless Caine…um, I mean King Caine authorized it," He glared at me.
"I don't care what Caine wants," I argued. "I just have to talk to him."
"Ask him what? Caine could kill you in a second if he wanted," Bug threatened. "You should just run back to the lake with your little boyfriend, Sammy."
I clenched my teeth in anger as I tried to keep myself from yelling at him. I had to keep my anger under control, and keep calm as much as possible.
Drake was still behind me, curling his lip in annoyance. He should've expected that Bug would get in the way, like he always did.
"Can't you just tell Caine that I'm here to talk to him? He might change his mind-" I explained.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Because you're so important." Bug quickly interrupted. "Astrid the Genius. The one who everyone loves, because you're so special." He waved me off.
"Listen-" I angrily began to say, but was quickly cut off by Drake lunging out at Bug and catching him by the throat with his whip.
Bug gave out a surprised yelp as he was shoved against the wall and picked up by the whip around his neck. He stared at Drake with frightened eyes. "Oh man, Drake. Ha, it's you. Come on, we're still friends, right?" He tried to greet him with a frightened smile, which was returned by Drake's sadistic smile.
"You're such a pathetic little shit. I would've thought you were dead by now. I guess Caine decided to keep you alive since you kiss his ass all the time," Drake laughed.
Bug squirmed against the whip, which tightened around his neck. He clenched his eyes tight and opened them, desperate for an escape. "No! I only pretend to! Caine's an idiot, I never liked him! I liked you way more than Caine, I swear!"
Drake narrowed his eyes at Bug. "Shut the fuck up, Bug. Don't try to cheat your way out of death. That kind of shit you pull might work for Caine, but it doesn't work for me." He sneered.
"Please don't kill me! I'll do anything!" Bug struggled to break free. "I promise! I'll take you to Caine!"
"Where is he, then?" Drake hissed, growing impatient by the second.
Bug quickly pointed up the fancy looking stairs. "Up the stairs, in the biggest room. That's where his office is."
"You better not be lying to me, Bug." Drake squeezed his neck even tighter, staring at him with his icy cold gaze.
"Why would I lie to you?" Bug struggled to breathe, but still managed to keep on a fake friendly tone.
"I've let you live too many times. I should just kill you right now," Drake curled his lip.
"No..!" Bug choked out, his lips now turning a purple color. His eyes almost seemed like they were going to bulge out.
I bit my lip and decided to speak out. "Let him go, Drake. He's not worth it," I muttered. Sure, Bug was probably a greedy, lying, individual. But he was still a kid. He probably had parents or siblings who cared about him back outside the FAYZ. He shouldn't have to die.
Bug went silent and stopped sobbing for a few moments to stare at me and Drake, confused. He seemed to have now realized how odd it was for me and Drake to be together.
"You're right. He isn't worth shit." Drake snorted, and surprisingly he weakened his grip around his throat.
Bug breathed in heavy gasps of air as he finally received some amount of oxygen. "Oh, thank you! The both of you! Screw Caine, I'll do anything you guys tell me to do."
Drake scoffed. "Really? That's nice, because right now you're going to come with me to see Caine." He coldly smirked.
Bug's eyes widened. "W-what?" He tried to say something else, but was quickly interrupted by being thrown on the floor and Drake dragging him across the floor by his neck with his whip.
"Come on," Drake gave me a sideways glance, while holding a withering Bug.
I blinked at him and slowly followed him up the stairs into Caine's office. The doors were white, and the handles of the door were gold. Only Caine would insist to live in luxury.
Drake didn't even bother to knock or open the door, instead he kicked it open. With Bug still dragging along behind him, he entered the room and came face to face with an alarmed Caine, who immediately sat up from his chair and gave Drake a bewildered stare. He remained strong and confident, however I knew there was obviously fear in his eyes.
"You," Caine spat, as he narrowed his eyes at Drake. "How did you get in?" He gulped, averting his gaze towards Bug.
Drake released Bug and tossed him aside. Bug stood up and stared at Caine, who appeared to be very angry. "I'm sorry, Caine! I tried to keep them out, really!" He cried, before running to hide behind me.
I gave Bug a disgusted look. I couldn't believe how much of a coward he was. One minute he was talking bad about Caine, and once he was actually faced with Caine, he pretended like he was still his loyal servant. I nearly regretted letting him live.
"Don't piss yourself, Caine. I didn't come here to kill you." Drake gave an irritated reply.
Caine narrowed his eyes at Drake, keeping his hands ready to use his power in case Drake tried to do anything. "What do you want?" He demanded.
"I just want to talk, Caine. Can't we do that? Just like old times," Drake gave him a menacing smile, while curling the tip of his whip.
Caine hesitated to reply, but then his gaze averted to me once he caught sight of me. "Why is Astrid with you?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Is this some sort of plan that the Gaiaphage told you to do?"
"I don't work for the Gaiaphage anymore," Drake hissed.
Caine blinked, surprised. "So, now that you don't work for that hellish god, you came back to work for me again, is that it?" He glared. Although Drake was a sadistic psychopath, he knew he was a powerful henchmen, or rather ally, to have. However, he still hated him.
"I won't work for you, Soren." Drake spat. "I just want revenge on the Gaiaphage. And I know you want him gone as much as I do,"
"So you're saying that you want us to work together to get rid of the Gaiaphage?" Caine questioned, intrigued. He was definitely considering it. There was no way just one person could get rid of the Gaiaphage. And having Drake on his side would just make him more powerful as a ruler. No one would stand in his way, not even Sam.
"Yeah, yeah, did you not just hear me?" Drake coldly glared. He couldn't believe that he was actually asking Caine to work together when he was itching to kill him.
Caine raised an eyebrow. He knew he couldn't trust Drake, but for the meantime he decided it was a good idea to have him as an ally. Drake was the biggest fear in the FAYZ, next to the Gaiaphage. Having Drake as an ally made him have one less frightening enemy to worry about. "Alright, Merwin. You've got yourself a deal," He calmly agreed.
"Good," Drake replied.
"I still don't get why Astrid is with you. I thought you hated her. Well, actually, you hate everybody, never mind. So is she your hostage or something?" Caine sarcastically asked, while glancing at me.
Drake was about to say something, but I quickly interrupted.
"It's a long story," I admitted.
"How did you guys get in? I thought I had a kid over at the checkpoint-" Caine started to irately say, but stopped when Drake raised his whip that was still covered with dried blood.
"I roughed him up a bit," Drake casually replied with a smirk.
"He's not dead yet. Maybe you should send someone to get him?" I suggested.
"Nah. That kid was useless, anyway. Since he failed me, I'm going to leave him for dead." Caine shrugged.
I gave out a frustrated sigh. I forgot how mean Caine could be as well, even if he wasn't as evil as Drake. I watched as Caine turned his attention away from me to glance at Bug, who was still quietly hiding behind me using his camouflage ability.
"Bug, don't pretend I can't see you. Stop cowering behind Astrid and show them to their rooms," Caine rubbed the bridge of his nose with annoyance.
"Yeah, Bug." Drake sadistically grinned at him, while raising his whip.
Bug immediately showed himself and dipped his head towards Caine. "Uh, yeah Boss!" He replied.
Caine glared at him.
"I mean, yes, your majesty!" Bug nervously corrected.
I raised an eyebrow at Bug, before following him and Drake out of Caine's office. I had mixed feelings about the whole monarchy that Caine had over Perdido Beach. I wondered how he managed to make decisions and rule things around here. I really wanted to find Albert and talk to him about starting up the Council again, but I knew it would probably be a waste of time, since Caine wouldn't agree to it.
Then again, I don't think I'll be following by Caine's rules too much for the meantime that I was here.
Caine's P.O.V.
I silently watched as Drake and Astrid left the room, confusion still written on my face.
Working with Drake felt like the beginning of the FAYZ all over again. However, I knew that I had eliminated one less threat by working with him. I was using Penny to scare the kids into doing what I wanted as a replacement for Drake. Penny could definitely be frightening, but she was nowhere near as frightening as Drake.
I wasn't scared of Penny. But Drake, even though I would never admit it, I was scared of a little. And I wasn't easily scared.
Penny is a sick individual. She makes nightmares come into reality.
Drake is the nightmare. He reaches a whole new level of twisted and psychopathic. He is the definition of evil itself.
Which is why I couldn't comprehend why he was keeping Astrid around. He wasn't even treating her like a hostage, more like someone who accompanies a person. I would've thought he would've killed her by now. However, I was glad he didn't.
Astrid was an important person to have as well. I could definitely use her. I knew Sam wouldn't be too happy if he ever found out she was staying here. Likewise, I wasn't too happy with Diana staying with him. So I guess we were even.
Sam has Diana, but I have Astrid.
And I planned on keeping her here for a while.
A/N:
Yay! Sam has Diana, and Caine has Astrid! So they're both even, and everyone's happy! Well, not really. ^^' So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I made it longer than the others. Review and tell me what you think so far. Thanks everyone! :)
