Ok, a few more chapters and then I'm going to do an epic climax, don't worry, the second book will come soon after.

CHAPTER 25: MEMORY

When 9 and 6 walked back to the group, 9 had expected everyone to be looking at him, wondering what had been said. Surprisingly though, everyone was just talking normally. Once 9 and 6 had come back, Dylan got the stitches attention with a clap. Everyone looked to see what he was going to say, even though they already knew.

"Okay guys, now that the F-series are all done, we need to go back up to the lab and get these guys up and moving."

Dylan whistled and Caleb got up from his spot in the corner and walked over to his master. Dylan readjusted the saddle on the dog and motioned for the stitches to get on. Dylan then carefully picked up the F-series and walked up the stairs. 9 was the only one who wasn't riding Caleb. Instead, he sat on Dylan's shoulder, lighting the way with his staff. When they reached the top of the stairs, Dylan pushed on the trapdoor, but it didn't move. He pushed harder and harder, his brow begining to sweat, but still it didn't budge.

"Damn!" he said, "The machine must have knocked down some rubble from the ceiling and now the door's stuck!"

9 talked quietly, since he was so close to Dylan's ear.

"So what do we do now?"

Dylan walked back down the stairs to the room.

"You guys can use the tunnel network to find another exit."

9 thought about Dylan's words for a moment, then said.

"What do you mean, 'you guys'? Aren't we all going?"

Dylan took 9 off his shoulder and put him on the desk. The other stitches climbed off Caleb and stood in a line behind 9.

"I can't go with you, I'm afraid." he said, "The machine caved in the human's tunnel network a long time ago to flush us out. But my dad and some others made a network especially for you guys, and the machine didn't know about that one."

9's face grew sad, as well as frightened.

"But what are you going to do! You're trapped down here!"

Dylan didn't seem afraid of the situation he was in, and no fear was heard in his voice.

"Im going to use the talisman and get the F-series working, and I'll be gone afterwords anyway."

9 would have cried if he could at this moment, but he just nodded his head and said,

"Okay, let's get started."

Before activating the talisman and bringing life to F1 Dylan said,

"It may be a while before they can speak and use their motor functions, so just carry them over there and wait untill they can manage on their own."

Dylan motioned to an area where the twins had been making little things out of the items around the room, one in particular was a tent made from books with little beds of fabric underneath.

No one spoke during the soul transfer. Although the stitches didn't need oxigen, they held their breath. The room lit with the familiar white light, and as Dylan made contact with F1, sparks emitted from his fingertips again. The light died down, and the stitches carried F1 over to the tent. 9 looked Dylan over, he was already sweating profusely, could he truely get all ten stitches complete?

Dylan continued with F2, then the female twins. F1 just began to open his half-moon optics as the twins were brought in. He looked around, but could neither speak nor move. 7, 2, 5, and 6 cared for the waking stitches, telling them that everything was alright. 9 continued to monitor Dylan's health while 8 and the twins carried the F-series over to the tent. 9 didn't see where 1 had gone, but he knew he was watching. F2 was just begining to wake as F1 attempted to speak, and Dylan was starting on F5. He was getting tired very easily, and was taking longer breaks between each stitch. 9 kept on asking him if he wanted to stop and every time Dylan said no. 6 came out from the tent as the new twins began to wake and F1 was going over his basic movements. 6 approached Dylan telling him that since F6 would use the strongest part of Dylan's soul, he would also be the most draining. F1 and F2 were just getting to their feet, asking questions as Dylan finished F6. He nearly lost his footing afterwords, but stood his ground. He did fall, however, after making F7, and he layed on the ground taking deep breaths. All of the previous stitches were now wandering about and asking the originals questions when Dylan got back up. He quickly stormed through F8 and F9, fighting through the pain. He collapsed again, and was slowly dieing without his soul. 18 pairs of hands were pulling him up, telling him he needed to finish. He stood again, gripping his chest. He held F10 in his hands, shacking uncontrolably, it took everything he could just to keep breathing. He was just activating the talisman for the last time when the claw broke through the ceiling.

Everything was in slow motion, rubble fell from the hole that the machine had made, obviously attracted to the use of the talisman, just like when Dylan had used it to bring 9's friends back. One of the claws pierced Dylan in the back lower right torso, and it came out the other side red. 9 had never seen blood before, for stitchpunks and machines did not bleed. Caleb barked and snarled, but could not scare the machine away. Dylan grabbed his wound, his hand coming back bloodied. He was loosing his grip of the talisman and F10, who still wasn't awoken. As the body and the talisman fell from his grasp, one drop of blood landed on the chest of F10, then Dylan was sucked up through the hole, leaving the morning's early light flood into the underground.

In what had only been seconds, Dylan was gone.