Hey! Thanks for all the reviews! They made my day! Here is chapter nine! Only two more days till fear comes out! Deep Breaths everybody! Deep Breaths!
Review and enjoy,
-GoneLoverMM
Chapter Nine
Caine
Diana's stomach was huge. It had nearly doubled in size in only five days. Diana had never been a very big girl, and since the coming of the FAYZ she had gotten even smaller. The huge bump looked unnatural and out of place among all of the skin and bones.
Diana usually wasn't very pleasant and her situation didn't really help much. This only made Caine love her more. After all, if he wanted a nice, normal girl he could have found one easily. Diana was different, she had always been. Somehow she had her hooks in him just like the gaiaphage had and still did. Only with Diana, it was different.
He wanted to be with her because he wanted to. He wasn't acting on someone else's wishes there. He truly wanted to be with her and his baby. She didn't always want him there, and so he would leave. However, he would always come back soon. Sam had even been nice enough to let him stay in Perdido Beach for the week. Sam wasn't a bad person, he is actually a really nice person, but that didn't mean that Caine had to like his estranged brother. He just had to put up with him.
Whenever Caine wasn't with Diana, he was with Sam, Edilio, and Edilio's soldiers. They were desperately trying to come up with a plan, but so far nothing was really working. They were running out of time, and Astrid the so-called Genius was of no help at all. She seemed kind of lost. Dekka and Brianna were in on the plan, but they refused to come in the room when Caine was there. Apparently he made them wickedly uncomfortable.
Caine, Sam, Edilio, and three of Edilio's soldiers were still talking strategy when suddenly Sam's eyes glassed over. He had stopped talking mid-sentence, and the rest of the boys stared at him.
"Dude, what's wrong?" Edilio asked worriedly.
Sam looked at him without really seeing. "Do you remember where you hid those things I told you to hide?" Sam asked.
Edilio's eyebrows knit together as he tried to remember. A concerned look crossed his face when he did. "I don't know, Sam." Edilio said.
"What is going on?" Caine asked.
He was both confused and furious at the same time. Confused because he didn't know what they were talking about, and furious because no one was telling him. When neither of the boys responded, he picked up the pen sitting on the table and flung it into the wall just two inches from Edilio's head. It stuck into the wall. All eyes turned to him, now he had their attention.
"I asked what was going on." Caine said.
"We found missiles out in the dessert. Big ones." Sam said finally.
Caine was shocked. Missiles had just been lying around in the dessert somewhere?
"What does it matter though?" Edilio said, "It's not like we can use them without blowing up the entire FAYZ."
"How many missiles were there?" Caine asked, intrigued.
Sam and Edilio exchanged nervous "Should we tell this guy the truth" glances. Sam shrugged and started talking. "Several. Didn't count the exact number."
"If we used one or two," Caine began, "We could just blow up a small area."
The idea started to weave it's way through Caine's head. They could blow it up this time, not just bury it alive. They could take out Drake and then blow up the gaiaphage. Caine doubted that it could survive that. He wondered how it would look as it exploded into even tinier pieces. Maybe it would just incinerate right away. However, there was one problem with the plan.
"How do we set them off though?" Caine asked.
"I don't know…" Sam answered. No wonder kids had gotten annoyed with Sam. "I don't know" is all he ever said.
Caine didn't have much experience with missiles. All he could think of was the cheesy, Saturday morning cartoons. The little cartoon character would connect a stick of dynamite to a box with an infinitely long wire. Then they would press down the leaver, and BANG! Caine didn't think it worked like that in real life.
"We need to ask Computer Jack." Caine said, "He would know."
Caine didn't really want to include the little worm in the plan, but as always Computer Jack was necessary. After all, they didn't keep him around for his super human strength.
"Okay," Sam said. "Brianna!" He called.
She materialized half a second later. She ostentatiously turned her nose away from Caine, refusing to look at him. "What can I do for you?"
"Go get Jack, we need him." Sam directed.
"Got it!" Brianna gave Sam a kind of half salute and zoomed out of the room.
Astrid
Astrid tried to stay out of the planning. She had learned in the past that she wasn't that helpful in the end, and being there only added friction between her and Sam. In the end, it wasn't worth it. The six boys were more than capable of coming up with a plan. If they really needed help, she knew that Sam would ask.
No one really seemed to like Astrid anymore, that or everybody was much too busy to talk to her. She spent most of her time wandering around the Lake community. When people saw her, they avoided her like the black plague. It made her uncomfortable to say the least. However, what could she really expect?
Rumors spread quickly in the FAYZ, and by the time the fifth or sixth person had heard them they weren't even true anymore. She tried not to think about it, she tried to be a logical and calculating person, but deep down she was still just the insecure and awkward teenage girl.
Astrid usually stayed somewhere else, but tonight she made her way towards Sam's cabin. She knocked politely on the door. No one was home. He must have still been busy planning, but he was still human. He had to sleep after all, so he would be home soon. Astrid didn't really know what time it was, but she felt tired. It must have been night. It was impossible to tell though because it was always dark in the FAYZ now.
Astrid decided to wait for him, she needed to talk to him. It was completely dark in the cabin, and it was warm and stuffy. The atmosphere made Astrid very sleepy suddenly. She laid down on one of the beds and closed her eyes. Before she knew it she had fallen asleep.
Sam
They had finally devised an acceptable plan. It was crazy of course, but then again what wasn't these days? Blowing up a radioactive monster from space with missiles seemed like a perfectly acceptable plan. Wow, how things had changed. Sam was exhausted by the time they had finished. As they were leaving, Sam saw Caine walking towards Diana's boat. She would probably just kick him out, but the kid was definitely persistent. He would not take no for an answer.
Sam rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly. Edilio and Dekka were on watch for the night, so he had the entire boat to himself. It was kind of nice, but otherwise it was lonely. The company of other people, especially ones with machine guns was comforting in a place as crazy as the FAYZ.
Sam stripped off his clothes down to his underwear, kicked off his sneakers, and fell into bed. He rolled over onto his left side, and his body came in contact with something. Sam yelped and shot straight out of bed. What the hell was going on? He held his hands out in front of him, ready to shoot.
"Who or what are you?" Sam called. He felt a bit ridiculous, but he would rather be prepared than dead.
"It's just me." The voice said.
Sam immediately dropped his hands to his side. "Astrid?"
"Yeah." She said. He could see her now that his eyes had adjusted. Her blonde hair was messy and covered most of her face in tangles.
"Why are you sleeping in my bed?" Sam asked. He was very confused.
"I'm like Goldilocks." She said laughing.
Sam was not yet sold. "Why are you here?"
"I needed to talk to you." She said.
Sam was worried now. Whenever Astrid "Had to talk" it meant that she was mad. Sam didn't see this going well. When she didn't receive an answer from Sam she went on.
"How did the planning go?" She asked.
"Fine." Sam said.
There was silence before she interjected. "Are you going to tell me the plan?"
"I thought you didn't want to know anything." Sam said.
"I want to now." She said.
"Uh okay," Sam said. Here mood swings were giving him whiplash. He laughed coldly at his own joke. Not funny. "Jack said that the missiles have to be manually turned on. The person who does that then has thirty seconds or so to get away before –" He pantomimed something blowing up with his hands.
"So you are going to blow it up?" Astrid asked. Her tone was slightly disbelieving, but it didn't hold its usual condescension.
"Yeah." He said relieved that she was going along with the plan.
"Who is going to press the button?" She asked.
Sam didn't answer. This had been the question of the night. Everyone obviously assumed that it would be Brianna, however the gaiaphage would just read her mind and know the plan. It would stop her before she even had a chance to press the button. Brianna was fast, but the Darkness would see her coming. It had the advantage. Sam explained his frustration to Astrid.
"So then get Diana to do it." She stated simply.
Sam stared at her blankly. Had she really just said that? Had Astrid the Genius just suggested that they send a very pregnant girl to do this job? Sam was at a lost for words. "Wait what?" He said stupidly.
"It won't hurt her," Astrid said, "She has something it wants. If she tells it that in return for Little Pete she won't blow it up, it will probably listen."
Sam wasn't too keen on the idea. Too much could go wrong. There was too much at stake. However, the plan did make sense. As Astrid said, the gaiaphage wouldn't kill Diana because it needed the baby that was still inside her. Kill the mother, and you kill her unborn child.
"I'll talk to Caine." Sam said. He doubted that Caine would be down with the plan anyways, so it avoided a pointless fight with Astrid. After all, she was in fact here in his bedroom. He might as well take advantage of that fact. She was looking away, so he leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. She kissed him back at first, only to pull away with her usual rebuke.
"Sam," She said, "Just because I am here alone in your bedroom doesn't mean –"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Sam said, "But I can't help trying." He smiled in the darkness.
"I know, maybe one day." She kissed him one last time. Just a quick one, but it left him wanting more just like it always did.
"Goodnight Astrid." Sam called.
"Bye Sam, sleep well." She said closing the door behind her.
As if Sam could fall asleep now…
