"I'll give you a daisy a day dear, I'll give you a daisy a day. I'll love you until, the rivers run still. And the four winds we know blow away."

I listen to Zach's quiet voice as I scratch into the dirt floor of the cage with my finger. For the past half an hour, he's been singing the same song to Lauren's unconscious form. She stopped babbling, and now is barely breaething. I think that's why Zach hasn't stopped singing. It's eerily quiet without her ramblings echoing in the cavern.

"Ace, do you remember anything about your trip in?" I ask my cousin as I tilt my head side ways to get a better view of the poorly drawn map I've created on the floor.

"Nothing more than what I've already told you," She looks up from where she, Sam, and Dez are conferring. Sherises to her feet slowly, pointedly not looking at the small window that conjoins our room with Ally's. I don't blame her. It's sickening to see them constantly taking tissue samples from her body.

She comes over to where I'm sitting, pointing at the three entrances we have drawn out, then moving her finger in between the two.

"I think that there might have been another mine entrance here," She muses, "But I'm not a hundred percent sure. It might've just been a shadow."

I scratch an X into the dirt where she points, and then I draw a halphhazard line to the nearest tunnel. I frown, trying to remember if I saw any branch off tunnels from the main one.

"I think-"

A scuffling noise cuts me off.

A flare of panis surges through my chest, as I quickly rub my hand over my meticulouisly drawn map, sending dust flying, and my hard work disappearing. Acacia quickly scratches a tic tac toe board into the dirt, taking the seat opposite me. Sam and Dez relax their postures, and Elliot closes his eyes. Zach continues singing to Lauren.

The footprints grow louder, and my palms grow sweatier as scenarios run through my head. Was Dez wrong? Could there actually be surveillance? The thought makes my stomach clench. I cast a quick glance over to Ally's window, to see if anything's changed over there. The only colours that meet my eyes are still white and red. I look away just as fast.

A procession of six guards enter the cavern, weaving amoung the boxes and crates. They're silent other than the soft click of their boots on the hard dirt. Their faces are covered in masks, and M16's line their shoulders. One carries a small bag.

They stop just outside of the cage door, and I feel more so than see Acacia tense up beside me. I catch her eye, and subtly shake my head. She doesn't relax.

With several different keys, the main guard opens the door. The other guards point their guns, before storming the cage. We all just watch as though there's nothing we can do about it. And in actuallity, that's kind of true.

The guard with the bag tosses it towards Zach. It lands beside me, spewing dust into the air. I cough and bat it away, careful not to let any get onto the fiery red welt on my neck. It's spread and worsened, although I don't know why. Well, I know why, but I try not to think about it.

Before any of us can protest, they grab all the adults, dragging their chain groupings. I wince as I see my Uncle Ethan's head hit a bump, and am actually thankful that they're unconscious. I try not to think about where they're taking them.

Until they grab my grandfather.

As soon as the guard's hand touches his skin, I spring into action. Using my good hand, I drag myself up, latching onto the guards leg.

"Stop it!" I beg, seeing my grandfather wince in pain. The guard grunts and kicks me off, before dragging his body through the cage door. Another guard shuts it and locks it before I can even move. "Hey!" I scream again, before I feel a hand on my arm. I look up and see Acacia's eyes.

"Don't push it Austin," She warns. I scowl at her through the tears I feel building.

"Why not?" I challenge. "They took Grandpa. They took your father. Our uncles and aunts. Those innocent town people. Why shouldn't we?"

"Because they gave us medical supplies."

"Her words take a moment to process. "What?" I blink, confused.

"They brought us needle and thread," She reiterates, grabbing onto my arm. "Just let them go. There's nothing worst that they can do."

"Except kill them," I mutter, but turn my back on the door anyways. A fresh wave of pain lolls through my starting at my neck, and I turn my head a bit, trying to alleviate it a bit. Acacia notices and frowns.

"Is your wound still sore?"

"It's getting worse," I wince. "Your 'Squeeze the Puss Out' idea sort of backfired."

"Strange," She murmers, her hand ghosting over her own injection site. But unlike mine, her's is virtually non-existant, her pale flesh hardly red under the dirt she has yet to wipe off. No infection either even.

I shake my head. "Leter. Let's save Lauren."

I follow her to the small bag, which she has already opened. Sure enough, glistening blue thread is in abundance, as well as a small plastic container. Inside are three sterile looking needles, a scalpel, and some clean gauze.

"Quick," I murmer, moving closer to Lauren, before raising my voice. "We're going to need everyone's help on this. I don't know how consciouis she actually is, so she's going to need to be held done. Firmly."

Everyone obeys immediately. Zach claims Lauren's head, while Elliot, Sam, Dez, and Trish all grab an arm or a leg. I meet Acaica's eyes.

"Can you...?"

My question dies when I see her wither. And I know that I can't subject my little cousin to that.

Steeling myself over, I grab the longest needle, and the end of the thread, stringing it through like how I used to watch my grandma do. Using my teeth, I bite off a sufficient amount, before tying the end deftly into a knot. I reposition myself so that my useless leg and arm is out of the way, before I meet Dez's eyes. He nods once, before pulling the hoody off of her stomach.

He and Elliot take turn removing the layers of clothing we put upon her, hoping to staunch the bleeding. Each layer comes away stickier with red then the last. No one speaks.

when they remove the last layer, I have to look away.

Her normally tanned and bright flesh is sickly pale. The cut across her stomach starts about her belly button, but just a bit above, so that it rest beneath her rib cage. It's jagged, and runs down her side where it stops at the protruding piece of her spine. Cut white nerve lines are vivid in the red, reaffirming my fear that she'll be paralyzed if she sirvives.

The cut although it's deep, only pierces her skin. Where it's pulled apart, other shapes threaten to spill out of the seam. A tentacle of coils. A dark purple stone-sized organ. The flesh along the edges is green in some parts, others completely black. Blood coats everything.

"Oh my God," Trish looks away. Sam vomits behind himself although his hands never leave her arm. I swallow thickly, making sure I don't do the same.

"We'll have to cut away the rotten flesh first Austin," Acacia says monotonously as she hands me the scalpel. I meet her eyes briefly, only to see them hollow. She's withdrawn into herself. I can't say I blame her.

I nod once, not trusting myself to speak. I try to block out everything else, before carefully pressing the scalpel to the top of the black flesh. It even smells bad.

She jerks several times, resulting in me slicing her accidently in some spots. Sweat trickles across my brow, but I don't dare take a moment to wipe it off. Once all the black is gone, and the rotten flesh is wrapped up in one of the bloody pieces of clothing, I grab the needle and thread.

At some point, Zach had started singing again. It was a quiet mumble at first, but with everyone else silent, it echoes in the large cavern. I let the soothing words guide me as I stitch.

I'm not sure how much time passes. Hours seemed to stretch by, but at other times, it seemed like mere minutes. When I finish, my hands are stained red. A red that I have a feeling will never quite go away, no matter how many times I wash them.

As soon as I'm done, Acacia takes over again, which I'm grateful for. I sit back in a daze, staring at the glistening red while the others wrap her in the majority of the gauze. When they're done, she's deathly pale, but doesn't look as bad as before. Her face is devoid of any colour, but other than that, one could mistake her as sleeping now.

Elliot, Trish, and Dez dig a hole in a corner and bury the rotten flesh and bloody clothes. Acacia properly wraps Joella's head wound, before taking a look at my neck.

"I don't know what it is," She finally admits as she sits back on her heel after prodding the swollen flesh. "It's like your infection flared up."

"How?" I murmer, rubbing at the constant itch, knowing I'm making it worse, but not really caring. "I did exactly what you did."

"I don't know," She reiterates, rubbing her own injection site. She rubs some of the dirt and blood off, but I can still tell it looks nothing like mine. I shake my head, diverting my attention.

"It doesn't matter. What matters right now is figuring out that cure," I cast a glance through the grimy window, to see that for once, Ally's room is empty. A sheet is completely covering her body on the table, and the only indication that she's alive at all, is the steady heart moniter beside her bed. But even that's been slowling down slightly.

"How though?" Ace asks me. "Yes, we have the minerals. But how are you planning on getting them or even injecting them once we have them? There's too many variables in this situation Austin. You can't solve an equation with multiple variables."

"You can if you know how," I argue back. "Think about it Ace. There has to be a reason why our family line is immun in the first place. Even if it has nothing to do with mineral injections."

"Yes, well," Acacia shoots me a wary smile, "The worst time I've ever been sick, was that time I puked in your guitar."

I crinkle my nose in disgust at the memory. "Yeah, ew, no. Serious. Do you remember anything strange?"

She rubs her neck again, smearing more dirt. I want to lecture her about diseases and infection carried in the earth, but she answers before I get the chance. "Not really, no. I don't even remember getting immunizations or shots. Dad always preferred for us to naturally overcome illness, from Measles to the common cold. Said it was better for the immune system."

I nod in agreeance. "My folks were the same," I recall.

Acacia lets out a small chuckle. "I'm actually surprised wwe're not all dead right now. As kids we were always rolling in the dirt. And then when we started missions, well, I can't think of one off the top of my head where we maintained personal hygiene for the entire trip," She smirks.

I chuckle. "Yeah, we were always playing in the dirt. My grandpa says it runs in the family. We've always..."

I trail off as something clicks in my mind.

Dirt.

We've always been exposed to dirt.

The thought stops me short. I turn to Acacia with wide eyes, my sight landing on her dirt covered injection site, before raising my hand to my own perfectly clean one. "That's it," I murmer.

Acacia shoots me a strange look. "What's it?"

My fevered eyes meet hers. "Ace, when minerals are found in igneous rock?"

She looks startled for a minute, before listing off minerals on her fingers. "I don't know. Quartz. Biotite. Feldspars..."

"Pyroxenes, olivines, amphibole,and plegiocase," I finish firmly. Her eyes go wide.

"No ways," She mumbles as she stares at the ground. "You think that the cure is in the rock?"

"It makes sense," I reply. "Think about it. Your wound is covered with the diurt. The infection goes down. Grandpa has been in this cage for months, yet his infection never took off. We've been in mines and caves since we've been little, being exposed to different minerals. And Ally's been cut off from the dust, in that pristine room. The dirt is what is saving us."

"You're right," She murmers, eyes going wide. She flings her arms around me, and pulls me into a hug. "By God Austin, you're right!"

I hug her back in excitement, forgetting about my bad arm momentarily. The others look at us curiously. We relay the information to them.

"So you're saying that the reason we haven't been infected like Ally has," Trish clarifies, "Is because we're covered in dirt?"

"Precisly the minerals," Acacia explains. "The ground is filled with minerals, and because this region is mostly igneous rock, it's the proper minerals we need."

"So if we expose Ally to the dirt," Elliot sp[eaks up, "You're saying that she will be okay."

Ace shares a look with me. "There's no guarantee," I take over, "But a good chance. She'd have to injest the minerals, as well as have them rubbed on any open wounds. It's a long shot, but so far the only shot we've got."

Everyone's quiet for a moment.

"I'm in," Trish says. "Ally's my bestfriend. I'll do what it takes to help her."

"Same," Elliot and Sam say.

Acacia and I turn to look at Zach, who's staring pointedly at Lauren. We wait in an awkward beat of silence, before he sighs.

"I'll help," He finally says. "But my first priority is Lauren."

I slap his back in a goodnatured sort of way, a smile on my face. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"So," Ace speaks up again. "We're all ready to do this?"

"Do what?"

The voice is soft, and there's a slight slur to the normally perfectly articulated words. I stop, my head pounding, wondering if I'm imagining it. By the look on everyone else's faces, they're wondering the same thing as well. I turn around slowly.

She's hardly moved from her slump position, but unlike before, her bright blue eyes are open. Her usually blonde curls are a mess of red and tangled knots, and the white bandage on her forhead contrasts her filthy skin. But she's still the same.

Joella.

She's awake.

"Joe?" I ask tentatively, as though if I speak too loud, she'll close her eyes again. I see a weary smile dance across her lips.

"Who else would it be?"

"Joella!" Acacia pretty much screams, as we through ourselves on her in a hug. I hold her close, mentally promising to never let her into a situation like this ever again. With her awake, a slight burden is gone from my shoulders, that I didn't realize was there.

"Good to see you awake Joella," I tell her with a soft smile as I pull away to give her some room to breath. She lets out a weak snort.

"Speaking of seeing, how come the lights are off? Is this some fear tactic of theirs or something?"

Panic immediately settles back in me, burning in my chest, and spreading down to my toes. I feel Acacia stiffen beside me. I look down, just to make sure I can see everything perfectly. The flourescent lights are almost too bright in my opinion.

"Lights are off?" I say, trying to clarify what she said while hiding the fear in my voice. I look at her once again, and that's when I see it. It sends a trickle of fear scampering up my spine, as my horror filled eyes find her unfocused blue ones.

"Yeah," She says with a slight frown. "Isn't it pitch black in here?"

BAM!

Woo-hoo, Joella's up and about! But, she's gonna have couple issues... as you will all soon find out. You have to remember she's been out for quite a few hours, and that doesn't do wonders for your brain. I'll try to explain it best I can when we get there.

Speaking of which, I figured I'd answer a couple of questions that I've been asked multiple times by different people. For all those curious people out there who would like to know, I'm only sixteen. I'm currently in eleventh grade. When I started writing this story, it was supposed to be NOTHING like this. I swear. I just wanted to do a fun, ten chapter short thing with Auslly in High School. But it kind of morphed into this instead.

Also, I do do quite a bit of research for this fic. Most of the stuff are things I've learned in classes, or read elsewhere, but I do lot's of research for clarification. For example, I've memorized the periodic table, and I've studied rock formations, but I've had to research for clarification the exact types of minerals and elements in igneous rock. Stuff like that. Unlike most of your claims (Which have left me VERY flattered by the way ;) ) I'm no genius/scientist in any sort of way. I actually want to become a paleonlinguist, which is an expert on dead languages. And then I'd move onto archeology and be like Indiania Jones :)

As for my inspiration, as I said, this story was supposed to have a very different - very BORING - plotline. But it kind of morphed into it's own thing. I seriously had no idea of what the cure was, until I wrote the last chapter. I had no clue as to how they were going to figure it out, or anything. I didn't even know how the paintings tied in. I still don't know how they're going to escape. I have the gist of an idea, but nothing more than they need to escape within the next two chapters. I'm kind of a hopeless case when it comes to planning. It drives my teachers crazy. So when it comes to inspiration, I don't exactly have a 'muse' as some would put it. I just pull a bunch of things from my crazy life, I base characters and personalities off of my friends, and my plotlines usually form from my dreams. All in all, not very exciting.

But I'm sooooooooo glad you all are enjoying this so far! It's certainly been a pleasure to write for such supportive readers. Speaking of which, over 500 reviews? You guys are amazing! Also, this chapter is dedicated to Brennan1299R5! Sorry it's a day late, and I was too lazy to get around to replying to you, but I hope this makes up for it! Thanks so much for the compliment by the way :)

As for the sequel... yes I think I shall be planning one. But it would be pretty different from this one I'll say right now. They'd still have all the spy stuff (Which I totally make up by the way. I'm pretty sure half of the stuff I write is bologne, but whatever) but it won't be the focus of the story like it is in this one. I'm thinking of setting it about eight years in the future... putting Austin around 25. Cause I'm thinking, and let me know if this is ridiculous, but that it would be pretty funny to see how Austin deals with Ally when they're married.

And she's pregnant.

I just get this picture in my head of him totally over reacting at EVERYTHING. You know what I mean? Like, he's the greatest spy in the world... but has no idea how to handle a hormonal woman. Did I mention the fact that His cousins will live with them? (I'm not saying which ones cause I don't want to give away the end of this story.)

Anyways... it's just an idea for now. If you guys have any suggestions, I'm wide open. Thanks again. I should probably go water my plants now. Did I mention my mom took me and my little brother to see R5 last week? They were amazing! It was my first concert ever. And I met Ryland and got a pic!

Haha. Well, thanks for everything again guys. You truly are amazing readers. I hope you all have a marvelous day.

Cheers :)