A few hours passed. Everyone put effort into rebuilding the house. It took a while for Isaac to contribute as much as the others were because half of him was working and the other was scolding himself.

Stupid Isaac, he rebuked. It wasn't her fault. She can't seem to control that thing. You, though, need to control yourself. You did the right thing, sure, but you should have seen your face. You were insane. Yes, I understand, we're not living much of—no, we aren't at all living a normal life. But that's just more of a reason that you need to stay sane. You scared the all living heck out of your friends, and now they're not going to trust you as much as they did before. Now, you need to commit yourself to making them believe you're still sensible.

Then he'd repeat it just to make sure he got the point.

Finally they finished the house. Albeit not as elegant and natural, it had the same structural integrity, or at least they thought and hoped.

"Now, I think we all need a rest, right?" Isaac chose to point out the obvious; the more he did, the more sane he would appear as if he was making difficult decisions.

They all nodded. They were over the fright that happened several hours ago, but they were still tired from it. "I'll take first shift," Judas volunteered. "I'm not as tired as the others."

Isaac and the others gladly went to sleep.


Everything was pitch black. Isaac tried to turn around, but he was stuck. He couldn't more or see. Maybe he was paralyzed and blind in real life, but he didn't think so. He knew this was a dream. He felt ready for anything coming at him, but at the same time, he wasn't.

The ground below him suddenly brightened. He became unstuck, and immediately looked down to see fire. His breathing quickened, but then it all swirled up into an egg shape diagonal to him, and it became a glass bulb. A lightbulb. He sighed.

The light was extremely sluggish, however, and his surroundings were revealed one by one. The ceiling was bumpy and slanted, and a tan color.

A house?

Finally, the glow reached the walls. It was smoother, yet also tan.

Definitely.

The phosphorescence seemed to be peeling the darkness to reveal the wall, and finally it came to his floor. It was a carpet, not the same color as the wall and ceiling yet still lively.

Then it crept up to him. He was laying in a soft bed with the blankets felt thick and bushy. The pillow had small, slacking tips and was about two times the size of his head. It was silky and comfortable. For once he felt like he was actually in his house.

Before he could truly get into a good sleeping position, everything turned dark again. He was ripping apart again, and it felt just like before. He screamed a silent scream—this time he hadn't even seen his friends before he was torn, he was abandoned.

Instantaneously the hurt ended. His vision was covered with purple particles, blue lights, occasional red flashes, tons of colors bursting in his face.

Then he was in his cell. His rough, hard, metal, depressing, dismal, wet, disgraceful cell.

Then...he was awake.

"Isaac?"

It was Maggy. For some reason, as soon as he woke up, he felt adrenaline rushing through him. His veins pumped with energy, and he felt like he would never have to sleep again.

"Yes?"

"It's almost your turn for your shift, but I wanted to talk about something before I went back to sleep." She sounded solemn.

"Tell me anything you want. I'll listen."

Suddenly her eyes bursted with tears and she cried on his shoulder. It startled him and he flinched, but he understood—it was just sudden. She tried to make as little noise as possible, she didn't want anyone else waking up, but she needed all the tears out, and she needed someone to know.

He pat her back, and let a little tears out himself. "I hate this too," he began. "But we can't just teleport out of here. We need to stay strong."

She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I know," she sobbed, "but...I just...it sucks! Why are we even here!? I just want to leave! We never did anything, and if we did, we should know about it!" She vented all her sadness to anger, then back to sadness. She hugged Isaac tightly, and it became hard to breathe. He realigned her so they were face to face.

Then instinct took over again. He kissed her on the lips and kept it there.

They stayed that way for a while. They needed someone to love, someone to listen, and they had that now. They didn't want the kiss to end, but they were both tired and Isaac needed to do his shift. He finally separated his lips from hers.

"I love you," he choked out with a somber smile.

"I love you, too," Maggy replied. She settled down and went to sleep quickly.

He took his first shift without any troubled thoughts or feelings...just happiness.


Isaac woke up again. His eyes were dried from the crying, but Maggy's whole face was stained with tears.

"Are you okay, Isaac?" Cain asked with sincere concern.

"I'm fine now," he assured. "We all have to let it out eventually."

Cain had more to say, but he said it quieter and they inched away from everyone else. "Is something going on between you and Maggy?"

They would notice sooner or later, he thought, and he wanted to smash his head with a rock. He didn't even know how to answer, and he tried to make a look like he wasn't in the mood, but Cain waited patiently.

"Ugh, okay, I'll tell you." He took a long breath. "We..." He murmured as quietly as possible. "We're in love."

He nodded knowingly, then looked straight at him and smiled mischievously. "Did you guys do anything involving...y'know...action?" he pressed, nudging Isaac's chest playfully.

He didn't know what he meant at first, but then he got the picture and his eyes widened. "Oh, no no no no no. Nothing further than kissing. Don't get into that...other kind of stuff." He closed his eyes and shook his hands, trying as hard as he could to not put any of those kinds of images in his head. Although he knew Cain was just having fun, he replied, "That's a bit too far."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Cain apologized smugly but truthfully, then scratched the back of his neck. "Good day." He walked away.

Ugh. I'll have to try harder than I've tried for everything I've ever done combined to keep that out of my head.

He found something to take his mind off of it. "We're moving out today," he proclaimed.

The message earned mixed feelings. Maggy and Cain smiled, yet Judas and Eve were uncertain.

He looked at Cain. He still was covered with bandages from the encounter they had with the monster. "You should take those off," Isaac instructed. "You don't need them any more, surely."

And he was right. Once Cain finished pulling the strips off, no injuries showed. "Okay, we'll be moving out in a few minutes. Pack all the stuff you'll be taking with you."

Everyone accumulated their belongings and the group took off.

As soon as they left the stone, the message about the two lovers spread as fast as it came. However, no one made a big deal about it; Judas thought of it as a 'very sensible thing any human would do in this position,' and Eve shrugged. She's not very talkative, he observed. Any time Isaac looked at her, he was smothered in guilt, so he tried not to as often as he could.

The pair was joyful that no one objected to their relationship and they held hands as they walked.

Abruptly Eve stopped and put her ear to the wind. "What's the matter?" Cain requested.

"Shh," she responded. "Listen."

Just then, a single boom disturbed the air, then a far away voice.

"It's a survivor," Judas identified. They all increased their pace.

As they got near, the voice said, "Oh no."

The crowd slowed down. "Is he worried about the thundering we're making?" Judas whispered.

"Don't worry," Isaac assured loudly. "We're just survivors."

They heard steps, then saw him. He was the tallest out of all of them, with long brown hair and a red headband. His skin was a slight red, and it was easy to assume that he was healthy and strong, aside from his limp as he came towards them.

They watched as he viewed the whole group, then he rubbed his eyes. "Am I dreaming?"

A few people laughed. "Nope, we're all here, tough guy," Cain promised.

"I'm Samson," the robust man said. "Could I join you?"

More laughter. "Of course," Judas approved.

Samson's hard to explain, Isaac analyzed. He's...childish, I guess, but he's nice. Either that, or he's been desperate for company for a while, and suddenly five sane, smart people walk over to him, saying "Hey, follow us." He's obviously going to have a different first impression.

They walked much more leisurely as the group lashed Samson with questions.

"What's your limp for?" Cain asked.

"I fell and hurt my leg. I think it's broken, but I don't take medical school."

"What did you find in your cell?" Maggy questioned.

"This tattoo." He pulled his shirt up halfway, showing an emblem of a blood drop. "Whenever I get hurt, my skin becomes redder and I become stronger. After a while, my strength gradually returns to normal."

Isaac dug out a perfect query. "Have you dreamed of anything in your past life?"

Samson's face went wistful and distracted, until he answered his question. "One," he answered. "I'll tell you later."

The chatter continued for a while. They all became preoccupied, and finally Isaac noticed Judas wasn't with them. He twisted his head to see him a few feet behind the group, still walking, but with his head down and slower than the rest. Isaac cut himself from the rest of the crowd to talk to Judas.

"Judas, what's the matter? Don't you want to—" he began, but Judas abruptly stopped and looked straight at him. His eyes were pure white.

"...Judas?" Isaac breathed.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Maggy coming towards them. "You guys?" she inquired.

Judas' eyes returned back to normal.

Maggy was now right beside Isaac. "Is Judas okay?" she asked cautiously.

All of a sudden Judas pushed his feet with all his might away from them. "I'm sorry," he called back. "Good luck."

Isaac was about to call him back when a giant wall of rock slipped down from the ceiling, crashing down and spraying dust everywhere. He closed his eyes and turned away, and when he sensed it was okay to open them, he looked back around. He was alone with Maggy—his friends were at the other side of the wall.


Wow, this chapter is loooong. And that's not a bad thing, at least in my opinion. Speaking of which, from now on the chapters will all be longer than the early ones by about 33%! :D

Also, sorry for releasing this chapter late. I had to wake up early to clean up the new house we'll be moving to so I had to wait a long time to submit this.

Have feedback? Tell me through a review/PM. Enjoying the story? Press the Favorite/Follow buttons. If you really like the story, it would make me extremely happy if someone sent me a new cover image I can use within the site guidelines.

Thanks for reading.

- SF