Oh dear…it's the chapter I've been dreading. THE TENTH CHAPTER IS HERE!

In this chapter, we finally solve the problem with the creatures. But will it be with the virus or not? I apologise in advance for people who hate mushy-ness and chick-flick moments because there is a lot in this chapter. Hey, what can you do? Miles couldn't just say 'goodbye' and go could he?

Well, I hope you all enjoyed the adventure so far and will enjoy THE TENTH CHAPTER!

Disclaimer: I do not own Surface. Can I go now?

---

Goodbyes.

"What did you do that for Rich? The vial could have broken!"

"Sorry Laura, but if you didn't noticed one of those things just jumped out of the water and tried to kill us! If Miles hadn't jumped, we could have released the virus!"

Laura took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. But if that had broken, we might have been making a big mistake" she picked up the vial and watched as the liquid inside rolled around, "One drop of this stuff could spread something bigger than the plague. And there is nothing to stop it"

Rich nodded. He glanced over to Miles, "Why the hell did he do that anyway?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said Caitlin, "He doesn't want any of them to get hurt"

She glanced at the vial, "How did you know the code was lamb?"

"It was simple" said Laura, "The poem was referring to the Lamb of God. And the first thing the firm cloned was a lamb. It actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it"

Caitlin nodded, "Clever"

Laura studied the liquid in the vial, "The question now is, what do we do now?"

Rich frowned, "What else can we do? These creatures are going to sink the world, and they are getting faster. We have to release the virus"

Miles lifted his head and growled. Caitlin felt a knot tie itself in her chest, "What, just release it like that? Without trying anything else?"

"We can't afford to have the creatures sink us all" said Laura, "We have to release the virus now"

"No!" said Caitlin, now starting to panic, "You can't!"

"We have to Caitlin" said Rich, "It's the only way"

Miles hissed and Caitlin felt the air fill with static. Her hair stood on end.

"But what if we got Miles to negotiate with the creatures? He…"

"Caitlin, those things are about fifty times bigger than he is. If he does anything they might tear him to pieces!"

"But we can't kill them!" said Caitlin. The argument was quickly getting out of hand. She didn't want to release the virus, she had just planned to keep it as a backup. Why had she been so stupid?

"Caitlin, if we don't millions of people will die!" shouted Rich, "If we release the virus at least we can save them!"

Caitlin glared at him, "This isn't about saving people" she said, "This is about your brother. You can't bear the fact that the thing that killed your brother could change"

"Rich!" shouted Laura, "Caitlin! Stop it! We won't get anywhere fighting like this!"

"What if you were one of them!" said Caitlin, "Would you want to die because you did something you didn't know was wrong!"

The suddenly it dawned on her. It came to her in a blinding flash, and she felt like she was going to be sick

"And what about Miles?" she said, "If we release the virus we'll kill him! And what if there are others like him? What if we kill them too?"

Laura and Rich were silent. They hadn't really thought about that.

"But what else can we do?" asked Laura, "If we don't release the virus then everyone else will die. Either way we're stuffed"

Caitlin frowned and bit her lip. Behind her, Miles was staring at something in the water.

---

Miles heard something behind him and turned around. Nimrod had popped his head above the water and was talking to him.

Are you coming?

The voice was nothing like he imagined Nimrod to sound like. It was young, but it had a hidden intelligence that he knew was way beyond him.

Coming where?

Home. Are you coming home?

Miles stared at him. Where is home? He thought to himself, home is buried under miles of water. Home was with my family.

He thought of Virginia. She'd never get to see her family again unless someone stopped these creatures. But how? Laura was right, one wrong move and Miles would be torn to bits, and he didn't want Nimrod or anyone to get killed either.

Sometimes life screws with us, he thought, and when that happens there is only one way out of it. He turned to Nimrod, Yes. I'm coming home.

---

Caitlin heard Miles behind her. She turned around and Miles squawked at her and gestured to the water. Laura and Rich stared at him, "What's he saying?"

Caitlin stared at him, "He wants to go after the creatures" she said after a moment, "He wants to negotiate"

Miles nodded. Rich frowned at her, "How do you know that?"

Caitlin turned to him and stared him straight in the eyes, "Because I know Miles. And Miles wouldn't want anyone to get hurt"

She took a deep breath, "I say we let Miles go. If he is successful, we won't need the virus. If not…" she gulped, "…we release it and save the world"

Laura cast a worried glance at Miles, then turned back to Caitlin, "Alright. But if anything happens to him…"

Caitlin shivered. She knew perfectly well what would happen if Miles never came back. But she just had to put on a brave face and live with it, because she knew Miles would be going whether she liked it or not.

---

Miles crouched in the middle of the group as they gathered on the edge of the building.

This is goodbye, he thought, the real thing this time.

Laura leaned down and hugged him, "Miles, It's been great. I hope you make it"

Suddenly, he remembered the braclet. They'd forgotten to take it off at the ferry, so now he gripped it carefully in his teeth and pulled it off. He handed it to her, and her eyes widened with surprise. A few tears escaped from her eyes and she took the braclet back.

"Told you that I'd get it back" she whispered with a grin, "Good luck Miles"

Miles turned to Rich. Rich looked at him uncomfortably and cleared his throat, "Look…I'm sorry about before…Caitlin's right. I was just mad because of my brother. Don't forget about us man."

Miles nodded. Rich grinned at him and lightly punched him on the shoulder, "You're a fighter. It'll work out"

Miles felt like his heart was breaking as he turned to Caitlin.

---

Caitlin was almost dreading it as Miles turned to her. She kneeled down and ran her hand down Miles's spine.

He's gone. This isn't Miles. My Miles is gone.

But then she looked into his eyes and saw the Miles that she knew and loved, and she knew that no matter how much he changed, he was still Miles.

Nothing would change that. Not even a bunch of mutant sea creatures.

"I knew you had something special" she whispered, "Ever since I met you. And I want you to know…" She tried to gather her words, "What I mean to say is…oh hell with it!"

Caitlin leaned forward and kissed him. Right on his big, scaly lips.

Wow…thought Miles as Caitlin kissed him, THAT was a bit unexpected…

Caitlin pulled back and her eyes filled with tears, "I love you Miles. Don't ever forget that"

I love you to Caitlin. If only I could tell you that.

Caitlin stood up and joined the group once again. Miles surveyed the group.

We've come so far…

He couldn't bear it anymore. He turned around and jumped into the water. Nimrod sidled up next to him,

Are we going to stop them?

Miles nodded, Yes.

Before he swam away, Miles cast one last glance at the church.

Goodbye guys. He thought, Goodbye Caitlin.

Then he turned around and swam off. He had a few things to do.

---

Caitlin jumped as the words entered her mind.

Goodbye Caitlin.

She glanced at the others in case they had heard. They showed no sign of hearing it. She could have imagined it, but Caitlin didn't find that very likely.

He spoke to me…she thought…he spoke to me…

It made her sad to think that this would probably be Miles's last gift.

---

Savannah was quietly sitting in a corner of the camp, thinking. The place was very quiet, most people sleeping in the various tents scattered around the area like a child's building blocks. But she couldn't sleep.

After the tsunami had hit, she had taken refuge in this camp for victims of the tsunami. It made her sad to think that most of the people here had lost their families and their possessions in the disaster. But that wasn't why she was awake.

She hadn't been able to contact her family for days. She was worried about them. She was especially worried about Miles. The poor kid had been through so much lately and the thing with the mob must have scared him to death. Now he was probably huddled on the ferry with their parents without a clue what was going to happen and scared out of his wits. At least he had that little lizard to keep him company.

She looked around at the trees surrounding the camp, then she looked up at the stars, Where are you?

Suddenly, she heard a hissing sound. Fearing a snake, she turned around and saw a small face peering at her through the bushes. It squawked at her.

"Nim?" she whispered.

The creature turned and started to run through the trees. Savannah got up and followed,

"Hey! Nimmy! Come back here Nimrod!"

Maybe he knew where Miles was. Miles never went far away from him, so it makes sense Miles would be around here. And if Miles was around here….

The creature darted though a gap in the trees. Savannah burst through the foliage and looked around. She was at the edge of a beach. She looked around for a moment until she saw the creature. She almost screamed.

This defiantly wasn't Nimrod. It was way too big to be Nimrod, and in the moonlight she could see its skin was a bit darker too. She started to back away, until the creature looked up.

Its face…there was something familiar about its face…holy crap.

"Miles?" she whispered.

The creature nodded. Savannah stared for a moment then kneeled down and touched his face, "Oh god…what the hell happened to you? Nim did this didn't he?"

Miles nodded once more. Savannah hugged him, "Oh my god…I was so worried about you. Are Mom and Dad okay?"

Miles pulled back and made a bizarre gurgling noise. Savannah caught on and her face fell.

"You can't talk. Oh Miles…I'm so sorry…"

Miles flexed one of his claws and wrote something in the sand. Savannah leaned over and frowned.

BYE

"Bye?" she looked up, "Why are you saying bye?" Miles rubbed out the word and wrote something else.

STOP CREATURES

"You're going to stop the creatures?" asked Savannah. Miles nodded and she frowned, "So why…"

Suddenly it dawned on her, and she hugged him again, "You can't go" she said, "What about your family! You have to stay with us!"

Miles was touched. He knew his sister cared about him, even if he had been a pain in the ass most of the time. He felt her tears falling down his back as she let go of him.

"I guess you're going to go no matter what I say" she said, "But I want you to take care. You are my brother after all"

Miles drew a love heart in the sand. Savannah smiled through her tears.

"I'll tell them" she said. She looked up at him and her bottom lip wobbled, "Goodbye Miles"

Miles smiled at his sister (at least, what looked like a smile) and waded out into the water. In a second he was gone.

Savannah stared out to sea for a while, and then sadly returned to the camp ground.

---

Miles swam behind Nimrod as he led the way to the 'clan'. He was nervous as hell, who wouldn't be if you had the fate of the world in your hands, but he also felt fairly confident. Samantha pulled up beside him.

Where are we going?

The clan. We are going to stop this once and for all.

They won't stop Miles. It's in their instincts.

Then we'll have to change their minds, won't we?

Samantha looked at him skeptically, I created these things. I think I know what I'm talking about.

You obviously haven't been one for long enough then. I stopped a whole bunch of babies from killing people; maybe I can change the others.

Samantha still looked skeptical, but she continued on regardless. Because somewhere in there was the hope that this would work.

Soon, Nimrod led them to the clan. It was huge, hundreds of creatures gathered together in one big area. And they were all digging, causing sand and dirt to come up from the bottom of the ocean and swirl around in giant clouds.

Miles suddenly got the urge to join them. He could feel the heat under the ground and he wanted it, he wanted to feel it coursing through his bones. He shook himself and tried to focus on the task at hand.

Stop! He shouted, Stop digging!

It seemed like the whole planet had frozen. The creatures stopped and the dust began to settle. One of them, a very large adult, turned to him.

Why?

The bluntness of this question stunned Miles for a moment. He tried to gather his thoughts.

Um…ur…you can't dig! You have to stop or you'll destroy the humans!

The adult snorted, the land crawlers? What use are they to us? We are far more superior.

Miles could see this was going to be a hard argument. But what about their technology?

Their so called 'technology' is nothing but trouble. The world is dieing because of their 'technology'. Why else is there so much filth in our waters?

But not all humans are bad. Some are good and trying to help you!

Nimrod spoke up, he's right! You can't keep digging!

The creature narrowed its eyes, keep silent hatchling. You have no place here. You have turned to the side of the strange ones.

It surveyed Miles, you cannot stop what is in our blood. And you have no one to help you but a strange one, it turned to Samantha, and a hatchling. You yourself are still a hatchling and so cannot understand the decisions you make. I suggest you join the rest of us, or you can perish with the land crawlers.

The creature made to turn around. Miles quickly grabbed at the next thing that came into his head.

But they'll kill you!

The creature turned back, What?

That's right. You heard me. They'll kill you.

The creature seemed to laugh; We are far stronger than the humans. We could kill them in the blink of an eye. Even if they could hit us with their measly weapons we would regenerate.

Miles grinned, that's not all they have. He, he gestured to Nimrod, may have survived a gunshot, but what about a nuclear bomb?

The creature froze, what is this weapon you speak of?

It is large and ferocious. It could kill one million people in the blink of an eye, and burns like a thousand suns. You'll be blown to bits before you can heal yourselves.

It's trickery. You are just trying to stop us. It didn't sound so sure.

And if you destroy them before they can do that, they have a virus. Unless we turn back now, the humans will release it and we'll all die.

But how…? The creature glared at him, You are working with them! You helped them! Traitor!

I'm trying to save you! Besides, do we really want to stoop so low as to kill off an entire species? Please, I beg of you, stop digging or we are all doomed!

There was a moment's silence, and then slowly a couple of creatures came over and swam beside Miles. Then another. Then another. Soon, the whole clan were swimming beside him.

The creature looked around him, what are you doing? This is trickery! Can't you see he is lying!

Miles grinned triumphantly, Sorry man, but we want to live.

He began to swim away, come on. Lets all get out of here.

Gradually, the others followed. Finally, the lone creature sighed and joined to group as they moved on.

They had some work to do.

---

When scientists made the creatures, they thought they had a perfect plan. But there were a couple of things they didn't count on.

One: That if the creatures were strong enough to follow their instincts, they could be strong enough to go against them.

Two: That one, ordinary teenage boy could change these instincts for them.

---

Now, before you all get you knickers in a knot, the story is NOT OVER! I still have eight chapters at the very least.

Thank you peppaoceangal, 2footnim and Spastic Basket Case, your reviews ensured that I got this far.