A/N: SOMEONE PINCH ME, OVER FIFTY REVIEWS? THANKS!
I usually write down all the people who have reviewed so far but...f*ck, I'm too tired right now. Thank you all, I'm a bit too busy right now to reply to all the reviews but please know that I always read them. And re-read them. And then read them again.
Anyhoo, here's the update that took forever to write!
Disclaimer: If I owned Gone, jack would die. Or rather, he would just disappear, and it's Gone so he can do that without it being a real shocker. So, since Jack is still kicking and hanging around, getting in the way of my hopes for a Dekka/Brianna relationship, I must conclude that I don't own Gone. Honestly, Edilio contributes far more than Jack-ass does, and he doesn't even have a power and Jack gets way more attentioin. I realize I have been using this disclaimer space for my own personal ranting. Bear with me, It's therapeutic.
Chapter Twelve:
Unwelcome Familiarity.
Brianna, Jack and Sanjit:
"It won't even ring now, it just goes to the dial tone,"
Despite the best efforts, Jack just ended up slamming the home phone back down of the table - with a lot more force than he had intended - and to show for it, there was a sizable dent in the coffee table beneath it. Jack inwardly cursed, it had been a while since he had lost control over his ability and actually caused damage to the furniture. He, in some ways, had never really become accustom to his own power partially because he had never learned how to control it. He was just extra careful with the way he handled objects around him but - and this would be due to the excessive work he paid to his various computers - he had never bothered to really get a handle on the power he had. It was also partially due to the fact that Jack had never really liked his power very much, it wasn't him, it wasn't suited for his personality and he had basically ignored that aspect of his life.
Instead of further frustrating him with any more attempts to locate Astrid via tracking her cell phone, Jack picked up the phone - this time dialing another number. After conversing for a few short minutes with no one other than his girlfriend, Brianna, Jack hung up and surveyed his companion for the first time in hours. Sanjit just stood, leaning against the wall, staring into space, seemingly thoughtless.
"Brianna hasn't found her,"
There came a grunt from the usually smiling, carefree man.
"Clearly," Sanjit said bitterly. There was a time when he could spare a smile for everyone and everything. There was a time when Sanjit would find the bright side to every situation, when his optimism reigned free. Several factors in his life currently were causing a blockage in his sunny behavior. It had been almost a year since he had heard from Lana. He waited every day for her call, it kept him happy, helped him get up in the morning. She had said she would call him when she was ready to, she had promised she would, and Sanjit trusted that eventually she would fulfill her promise. So he waited, being the patient, calm person he was, he would have waited many years to come.
But now, with the situation with Astrid getting nowhere, he was beginning to slip into a more secluded state, trying to block out the fact that he was indeed very anxious about his friend. Astrid had run away from them, after they had promised to protect her. Her note left no clue as to where she was, only that they shouldn't worry, that she was going someplace safe. Well, news flash, they were worried! Brianna had been nearly invisible she was running around the house so frantically looking for her, and after they had concluded that she was no where in the house, the Breeze barely stayed long enough to say goodbye before she ran as quick as lightning out to try and find her - the old fashioned way; looking. But even the Breeze had to admit it was a wild goose chase, trying to find one person in the whole of LA, even if you could run at 600 miles an hour.
What hurt was that Astrid didn't trust in their abilities to protect her, not that Sanjit could really blame her. Brianna had once taken on Drake and won, but his regenerating abilities caused an uneven fight, and she had eventually escaped with barely her life. No, the people who had the most chances of taking on the psychopath and winning were very limited. Sam and his estranged brother being top on the list. Orc may also have come to a standstill with the whip armed boy but Orc was dead, a fallen victim of the giant bugs. Both the four bar twins were either estranged beyond imagination or as close as you could get to evil, so approaching either of them was an unstable thought.
Just then, Sanjit felt a cool breeze rush by him succeeding a loud-not to mention lightning fast-opening and closing of a door.
Brianna's home, he thought to himself.
"I've. Looked. Everywhere." the breeze said as she frantically paced around the small living room. To Brianna, pacing was more of a blurred image of clothing and hair moving in sync with the rhythmic clacking of her shoes on the floor.
"Did you really expect to find her that..." Sanjit began, but was cut off by a startling death glare from the twenty one year old, who's own boyfriend was scared to approach her at this time.
Rrriiiinnnnnggg!
Brianna blurred for a moment due to super-speed flinching at the sound of the home phone ringing. In a flash, she was at the phone, and had answered before it hit the second ring.
"Hello?"
Sanjit watched her reaction carefully, knowing all too well that even in a split second, Brianna's expression could change three times. She first appeared anxious, perhaps she expected it to be Astrid, maybe even Drake. Then her expression changed into a frown.
"What the fuck do you want?"
Sanjit almost chuckled, thinking about the last time she had used that particular phrase, it had been when Sam called her, right after the news about Drake had reached them. Sanjit wondered if it was the light-producing twin that was on the other line.
"How the hell would you know something like that?"
That response confused Sanjit, a frown of his own appearing. And his confusion only worsened with hearing more of Brianna's end of the conversation.
"How the fuck and I supposed to believe I word you are saying to me, Caine? It's not like it wasn't you who cemented my own hands together and left me for dead, tell me how can I trust a word that comes out of your mouth, with all of the things you've done-" Brianna kept talking a mile a minute but somewhere along the way she began to talk so fast her words became indecipherable. Then she stopped, looking scared-no, scared was putting it mildly, Brianna looked petrified.
"O-okay, We'll be there,"
With that, the Breeze hung up and disappeared in a haze. Sanjit and Jack exchanged dumbfounded looks, but they weren't left in the dark for long, for soon Brianna returned to the room, carrying none other than the small nine millimeter pistol.
"That was Caine, he said..." She stopped for a moment, seemingly trying to process the information at the same time she was explaining it.
"He said that...Drake has her...He has Astrid."
"WHAT?" Came the response from both shocked males.
"That's what he said and that he wanted our help taking him down,"
Sanjit could tell Jack was having a difficult time finding words at the moment, so he pushed himself off the wall he had been resting and strode into his own room, found his own precious pistol in his bedside table, and returned.
"Let's go," was all he said.
It was time to get Astrid back, he decided.
Lana:
Lana sat in the corner of the living room, hands on her lap, observing everything.
She had made her way to Caine's house right after his phone call, but upon arrival, Caine had told her that they had to wait for "the others" to show up before they could head out on their rescue mission. He had provided her with some food, and basically left her be, opting to stay glued to his cell phone trying to reel in more recruits. So far she had hear him speaking to Edilio, Dekka and Brianna and she assumed Jack would be with his girlfriend so that made six people so far seeing as none of them had refused to help. She liked the idea of six against one but it was Drake they were talking about, so she had forced herself not to get cocky. Plus, Jack and herself could really fight so it was more like four against one. She wasn't counting Sam, Astrid or Taylor because she had no idea what shape they would be in when they arrived to their aid. If Sam could still fight, that was a major plus, and Taylor could only help as well. Lana didn't see much for fighting in Astrid but it had been a good four years since they had crossed paths and Lana didn't want to make assumptions-
"Do I need to arrange transport for you?" She heard Caine say into his phone. "Okay, half an hour, don't be late."
One question that had bugged her for a while now was how the others would get here? She had made good time, driving for a few hours, but as far as she knew, Edilio lived in San Diego, and Dekka wasn't even in the state. What was this "transport" that Caine offered?
Her question was almost immediately answered, however, by what could only described as one of the strangest occurrences Lana had ever seen.
A patch of air, plain, ordinary air, suddenly transformed into an opaque circle of darkness. It wasn't like a cloud or fog, it was more like an impenetrable darkness. Not black, it sort of had a blueish tinge to it. It wasn't spherical, it was more disc shaped and about two meters in diameter, the bottom just grazing the floor. Lana didn't even have time to react to this obviously supernatural occurrence before something far stranger happened. Someone walked out of it. Lana was frozen, in her seat, her heart pumping like track runner, as she watched none other than Edilio Escobar walk calmly out of the...whatever it was.
And Edilio, why he just smiled nonchalantly and waved at her like he hadn't just appeared out of thin air right in front of her!
"Hey, long time no-"
"What the fuck is that?"
Edilio turned to the blue-black disc, but a second later, it disappeared.
Poof.
Leaving no sign that it ever existed. Lana's jaw dropped.
"Don't worry, it's completely safe-"
"What was that?" she asked, was it a new power? She thought she basically knew all the powers of the FAYZ kids, but she had never heard of one like that before.
"Stephanie. She's a kid from Perdido, was only nine when the FAYZ went up, I don't know much about her, she's...quiet."
Lana was about to inquire more about this Stephanie but before she could open her mouth, Edilio was walking out of the room, heading towards the semi ajar door to Caine's study, where his voice could be heard talking on the phone.
Lana sighed, slightly perturbed at Edilio's lack of explanation. Well, at least one things for sure, she thought, with that kind of travel, grouping together was going to be a lot faster.
...She just hoped that it would be fast enough to save Sam, Astrid and Taylor.
Just then, Caine and Edilio re-entered the room, Caine with sporting a huge, cocky grin.
"We got them all. Lesbian, the Breeze, Geek and that Indian dude, their all in."
Lana couldn't hold in a grin. She felt much better with the security that numbers brought, Brianna and Dekka were powerful fighters in the FAYZ for sure, she hoped they hadn't lost their edge.
"Not cool, man, he's Thai."
"Thai? Oh, good thing you told me before I started making racist jokes about the wrong culture."
Sam:
"Sam! Sam, remember what you promised me!"
"Astrid! NO!"
The terror. The reality. It was all so...Familiar. It was like the past seven years had been a dream, as if Sam Temple had woken up, fifteen years old, scared. As if he had never left this twisted never ending cycle of cat and mouse, terror and relief, every sense pushed and emotion maxed. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins as the anger surged though his entire being like electricity. His skin burned with the fury as he screamed over and over again to Astrid, calling out her name, if she could just hear him, wherever Drake had taken her, if she could know that he would never abandon her again. Small dots of blue white light appeared near Sam, like they did the night of the thunderstorm seven and a half years ago, but they were all but useless. It wasn't the dark he feared now, light would not drive away the demons in his heart.
"Would you shut up?"
Sam jolted. Who was that? His breathing ragged, but he managed to refrain from shouting.
"Who is that?" He asked into the dark night. Then he felt something, tugging on the ropes binding him.
"It's me, just stay quiet while I get these ropes undone!"
Sam recognized the voice when he spoke the second time immidiately.
"Edilio?"
"Hey man, long time no see,"
Sam felt the bindings on his hands go slack, and he roughly pulled them away - not helping the rope burns in the slightest, but at the moment he didn't care. Once his hands were free, he brought them to his side and blasted the rest of the ropes holding him to the tree.
"Edilio, man, what are you doing here?" He asked while untangling himself from the mess of rope.
"Your brother,"
"Caine?"
"No, the other one." Edilio joked dryly, before reaching out a hand to help his friend up. "I'll explain everything later,"
Sam could only nod, his gratitude to Edilio was overwhelming, only matched by his adrenaline, his thoughts focused solely on Astrid, he ran wildly, leaving Edilio behind, he ran towards the screams.
He flew through bushes, his sore, undernourished body resenting the sudden movements but Sam paid it no mind, he just continued his wild rampage.
He had to get to her before anything happened he couldn't take back.
In this moment, nothing else existed except Astrid and her screams.
A/N: Just so you know, I am fully aware that Orc survived the bugs in Plague, but for the sake of this fiction - fiction being the key word - we have to pretend that Astrid was too late in her actions to save him, kay?
I can't believe the way this story has turned out, I fear it's nearing its end, my dear readers :'( I will try to prolong the writing but I can't see it going beyond seventeen chaps...
Yeah, expect delays in updates due to a busy schedule. But reviews always help. Always. Oh, and I started a new fic, Caine/Diana centric called "Laws of Chaos"...M rated...Go read it. *Insert comment about shameless advertising here*
