Hey, guys. Look, this is kinda getting really discouraging. I've gone a while without getting any reviews except for one. I told you guys before that I thrive on reviews (or if I didn't, and that was a different story, then sorry XD). And this total lack of reviews has driven me to decide something that I'm sure a lot of you would catergorize as bitchy. But, hey, I'm the author, I get to do this , anyway, on to my decision:
I AM NOT GOING TO POST THE REST OF THIS STORY UNTIL I GET SOME MORE FEEDBACK.
That's it, guys. This is my ultimatum. And, just so you guys know, I'm getting close to the end. And I am REALLY, REALLY proud of the ending I have chosen. Anyway, enjoy this kind of short chapter, and know that if I don't get more feedback, this story will have no ending. Thanks for reading.

"I'm not like you, your faceless lies, your weak dead heart, your black dead eyes. I'll make it through, but not this time. Your hope is gone, and so is mine..." –Breaking Benjamin, "Crawl"

Luc stumbled and crashed through the forest, his uncle pulling him along by his arm. His clothes and hair were soaked, clinging to his skin. He shook with cold and exhaustion; he didn't know how much longer he could last.

Luc's foot caught on a tree root, and he fell to the ground. He was too exhausted to get up.

"Luc, get up!" David growled, pulling on his nephew's arm. "Let's go!"

"I can't," Luc panted, his expression helpless. "I'm sorry. I can't."

"Lucas Andrew Hale, I am not going to go to prison because of you! Now get your ass up and keep moving!" David yanked Luc to his feet, forcing him onward.

A few minutes later, the pair came across a hunting cabin. They saw a man inside, washing dishes. David got an idea.

"Ok, Luc," he sighed, turning to the younger man. "Go up to that cabin and get the people inside to open the door."

"What?" Luc knew what his uncle was planning, and he didn't want to be a part of it. "No!"

David, desperate and angry, grabbed Luc's sopping wet hair and yanked his head back. The teen winced in pain, but kept his mouth shut.

"Do not argue with me, Luc," he growled through clenched teeth. "Now go!" David pushed Luc forward, and the two of them made their way up to the front door. David hid behind a small evergreen tree by the house before Luc rang the doorbell.

A few seconds passed before the door opened, and a woman in her mid-forties with shoulder-length brown hair and a kind face stood before him. She took one look at the soaking-wet, shivering teenager, and instantly became concerned.

"Are you alright, son?" she asked, her expression worried. "What happened to you? You know what, why don't you come inside and dry off?"

"Thanks," David chose this moment to appear, his gun—damp, but still functional—aimed at the woman's head. "We'd love to." The woman looked terrified as she moved aside to let them in.

"Karen, who's at the..." the man from the window, who was a little older than the woman, with dark hair and green eyes, stopped drying his hands and trailed off when he saw David, or, more specifically, the gun in David's hand.

David smiled at the man. "Karen," he said, turning to address the woman, "is anyone else here? Before you answer, I want you to know that if I find out you lied to me, everybody dies."

The woman, Karen, hesitated, then nodded in confirmation.

"The kids?" David guessed. Again, Karen nodded. "Why don't you get them down here?" the killer suggested, although it really wasn't up for debate.

Karen hesitated, then made her way to the stairs. "Kevin! Angela! Get down here!"

Moments later, Luc and David heard footsteps pounded down the stairs. A boy about Luc's age with a thick mop of brown hair and matching eyes led the way for a girl of about thirteen with long light brown hair and green eyes. Both children froze when they saw David and his gun.

"Hello, Kevin and Angela," David smiled wolfishly. "Just stay calm and do what I say, and everything's going to be fine, ok? Good. Luc, go find some duct tape, would you?"

Luc hesitated, looking from the family before him to his uncle and back. Finally, he did as he was told, heading into the kitchen and pulling open drawers and cabinets, looking for duct tape. While he looked, David forced the family into the living room and made them all sit down against the wall. When Luc found the tape, he made his way back to the uncle.

"Make sure they can't go anywhere," David ordered. "Get their mouths, too; I don't want them yapping."

"No," Luc refused. "You want it done, then do it yourself."

David's eyes burned with rage. He brought his arm across his body and pistol whipped the teen. Angela screamed as Luc fell flat on his back, not having the strength to remain on his feet after the hit.

"What did I say about arguing with me, Luc?" David growled loudly. "Now get up and go!"

Luc, his injured head aching, the fresh cut on his cheek throbbing, forced himself to his feet. He glared at David, nothing but hatred in his eyes, and began taping each family member's feet and hands together, adding an extra piece to seal their mouths, muttering apologies as he worked. When he was done, he stood back up and turned to face the murderer keeping him there, who nodded his approval.

"Good," he said simply. "Now go upstairs, get changed, and dry off."

Luc glanced apologetically at the family behind him, then headed upstairs. He found Kevin's room without much difficulty. Before long, he had dried off and was dressed in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, and a dry pair of socks; he couldn't find any of Kevin's shoes.

He was about to leave when he spotted Kevin's cell phone on the dresser. The teenager glanced into the hall and closed the door, cursing to himself when he found that there was no lock on the door. Luc picked up the cell phone and quickly dialed Peter's cell phone number. It seemed like forever before the FBI agent answered.

"Hello?" Peter sounded weary.

"Peter," Luc's voice was a whisper.

"Luc?" Peter was shocked. "Where are you?"

"I don't know," Luc shook his head. "After we got out of the lake, we just started running. He broke into a cabin..."

"Luc, were there people in the cabin?" Peter asked urgently.

"Yes," Luc confirmed.

"Where are they now?" Peter demanded.

"They're downstairs," Luc told him. "They're fine. Uncle David made me tape their hands and feet and mouths, but he didn't hurt them."

"Good," Peter sighed. "What about you, Luc? Are you alright?"

"Well, I'd kill for a cheeseburger," Luc admitted. "But I'm fine, Peter, really."

Peter laughed softly.

"Peter," Luc's voice was tentative. "What happened to my dad? Is he ok?"

"Your dad is fine, Luc," Peter assured him. "He's a free man. He's got an apartment in New York, now. Collin is going to go live with him as soon as he gets settled in. He hasn't stopped looking for you since he got out of the hospital."

"Really?" Luc smiled slightly.

"Really," Peter confirmed. "He's the one who told us where to look for you today."

Luc was about to reply when he heard David coming up the stairs. "I have to go," he whispered.

"Ok, Luc, stall if you can. We're going to find you, kid. We're going to get you out of there."

Luc didn't have a chance to reply. He simply hung up and tossed the phone into the drawer, then sat down on the bed and pretended to be putting on his sock when David opened the door.

"Good, you're ready," the murderer approved. "Go downstairs and wait with the others. I'm going to get changed and then we'll go."

Luc nodded, then headed downstairs while David went to go find a change of clothes. When Luc made it to the ground floor, he saw Angela crying beside her brother. The teen felt a pang of guilt when he saw how terrified they all were. He walked over to them, squatting down in front of them.

"Hey," he said softly. "Listen, I'm sorry about all this. But don't worry. Everything's going to be fine, ok? I promise." Luc glanced at the stairs for a moment before he continued, "I called a friend of mine at the FBI. He's on his way. You're all going to be fine. I'm not going to let him hurt you, ok?"

No one answered him, but he didn't expect them to...mostly because he knew they couldn't. But the relief he saw in their eyes, mixing in with the fear, was good enough for Luc. Moments later, David came back down the stairs. "Let's go, Luc," he called. Luc let out a sigh, then stood up, walking over to him. David grabbed the keys to the truck from the hook by the door, then opened the door, turning back to the family in the living room. "Thanks for your hospitality," he smiled. Then he and Luc left the house, closing the door behind them.

"Where are we going?" Luc asked as he got into the passenger seat of the truck.

"I guess you're just going to have to wait and find out," David muttered, turning the key in the ignition and pulling out onto the road.

Luc sighed, settling into his seat, staring out the window as the trees flew by. In the side-view mirror, the teenager watched as the cabin got smaller and smaller, until it finally disappeared, and he was left completely alone with a murderer in the driver's seat...

Peter and Neal, accompanied by several squad cars and FBI vehicles, silently approached the cabin. They had traced the cell phone Luc called from back to it. As the cops and FBI agents began to move into position, Peter turned to Neal.

"Stay in the car," he ordered before moving into position. Neal had no choice but to watch as Peter and the others rushed into the cabin. It felt like hours before his partner appeared in the doorway to wave him in. Neal quickly jumped out of the car and jogged inside.

"Looks like we just missed them," Peter sighed when Neal got inside. In the living room, the family Luc had told them about was sitting on the couch while some officers gently helped take the tape off of them.

"Think they're up for talking?" Neal asked, nodding at the family.

"There's only one way to find out," Peter shrugged, making his way over to them as the cops began to clear out.

"Excuse me," Peter's voice made the family look up at him. "I'm Special Agent Peter Burke. I'm with the FBI, and this is my consultant, Neal Caffrey."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Neal asked compassionately.

"I heard someone ring the doorbell," the mother—Karen Princeton, according to Peter's notes—spoke up, her voice shaking. "I opened the door...and there was a boy standing there...he couldn't have been much older than Kevin. He was soaking wet, shivering...I invited him inside to dry off...and then that man appeared behind him with a gun. I let them in..."

"I was in the kitchen," the father, Aaron, spoke up. "I saw the gun. He made Karen call the kids down, and then he moved us all in here. He told the kid to get some duct tape and make sure we couldn't go anywhere. He refused, so...the man hit him. He fell, and the man yelled at him, forced him to do what he said..."

"He just kept apologizing," the little girl, Angela, said, not looking up from the floor. "That's all he said when he was taping us up, 'I'm sorry'."

"The man told him to go upstairs and get changed," Aaron continued. "Once he was gone, he went over to the computer and looked up something up. After a few minutes, he went upstairs, and then a few minutes after that, the kid came back down. He told us that he called you guys, and then the man came back down, and they both left."

"About how long ago did they leave?" Peter asked.

"I don't know..." Aaron shook his head. "An hour, maybe an hour and a half ago."

"Ok, thanks," Peter nodded. "We'll let you know if we need anything else."

"Agent Burke," Peter stopped when Karen spoke up again. "Who was that boy? Do you know?"

Peter hesitated for a moment. "His name is Luc," he said at last, "and he has a father and a little brother who are really missing him right now." Karen nodded, looking down.

Peter forced a smile, and then he and Neal made their way over to the computer in the office, dying to know the answer to the question they were both thinking.

"Alright," Neal sighed, pulling on a pair of latex gloves and taking a seat at the computer, opening a browser window. "What were you looking for, David?"

The conman pulled up the browser history and clicked the most recent entry.

"He was getting directions," Peter muttered, looking at the page.

"Ok, where to, David?" Neal asked no one in particular. He clicked the button on the page that read 'My Last Search' and watched as a red line highlighted the route from the cabin...

"Oh my God..." Neal muttered. "Peter...isn't that...your address?"

His partner didn't answer. He was already calling Elizabeth. "Call Diana," Peter ordered. "Tell her to bring Jones and get over to my house."

Neal nodded, grabbing his phone.

"Hi, hun," Peter could almost see Elizabeth smiling when she answered the phone. "How's DC?"

"El, where are you?" Peter asked urgently.

"I'm out shopping," Elizabeth told him. "Why?"

"Don't go home, ok, El?" Peter warned. "Just, whatever you do, don't go home. Go to the office. Go see Reese."

"Peter, what's going on?" Elizabeth sounded worried.

"Elizabeth, I promise you, I will explain everything when I get back," Peter assured her. "I'm on my way."

It is important that you read the author's note in the beginning.

These quotes preview what will be happening next. Think you know what I'm planning? I'll bet you don't. Enjoy:

"I'm becoming a monster, just like you. After it all, you'll try to break me too..." –Breaking Benjamin, "Crawl"

"I keep holding onto you, but I can't bring you back to life. Sing the anthem of the angels, then say the last goodbye..." –Breaking Benjamin, "Anthem of the Angels"

"All I have is one last chance. I won't turn my back on you. Take my hand, drag me down. If you fall, then I will too. And I can't save what's left of you..." –Breaking Benjamin, "Without You"

"I have nothing left. I can't face the dark without you. There's nothing left to lose, the fight never ends. I can't face the dark without you..." –Breaking Benjamin, "Without You"

"I wanted to forgive. I'm trying to forgive. Don't leave me here again. I'm with you forever, the end..." –Breaking Benjamin, "Without You"