Anna's mum dropped them off at the apartment building just as she promised though she certainly wasn't happy about it and seemed a lot less warm to Edilio when he said goodbye and thank you. Anna took a small portion of the take out food they had collected to eat and said goodbye. It was hard to ignore the glare that Emma gave them but soon she and their mother was gone, heading down the road back home, leaving them in peace.

"Your sister won't tell her the truth will she?" Edilio asked, suddenly worried her mother would come back slamming on the doors and drag Anna away.

"No. Emma's just thinks I should stay out of it. Normally I'd agree but... Never mind, do you have no idea how lucky you really are?" Anna noted as they turned to the doors.

"I figured that out already, what were you and your family doing up so late getting food for?" Edilio asked.

"It's this tradition me and Emma have. We buy take out at night so we can walk under the stars and we head home and spend the night watching movies together. Only things were different now because of all the stuff happening so mum said she'd drive us instead. I think that's part of what has Emma so upset about, because I'm not joining her today but there are more important things. Did you see the news early?" Anna gasped.

"Not lately." Edilio admitted.

"There's something in the water not far off from here. No one knows what it is. Just that it's a monster, some people are even calling it the Loch Ness Monster." Anna explained.

Edilio fell silent and held back for a moment, then shook his head and led Anna back up to the room once more. There was no way of telling if that was related to what they were doing and even if it was there was no way to find the creature, nor tell whose animal it would be without seeing its powers against them and they didn't have time to worry about that anymore tonight. He didn't have a key so he was forced to knock gently and wait for someone to answer. It was Roger who finally opened the door, he was the only one left awake and threw himself against Edilio the moment he saw he was safe.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Roger moaned into Edilio's shoulder, actually shivering.

"Sorry!" Edilio mumbled, wrapping his arms around him.

Anna watched them for a moment. No one else had woken up to Edilio's knock. They walked over to the many mattresses still laid out on the floor and settled down, explaining the recent events to one another. It was late and they were all tired so they didn't go into much detail about it before they lay down, curling on the floor and slipping off to dreamless sleeps...

They were all woken the next day when Sam's alarm clock was turned on by accident and they were all thrown up from their seats by the loud band screaming through the rooms. When he finally turned it off, everyone was wide awake.

Sam climbed from the bed trying to ignore the hunger in his stomach that growled loud enough for Astrid to hear. He was too tired to worry about Emily and Dekka and Quinn and Caine as well as keep a clear mind for normal things such as food. It was just too much. For now he needed to worry about food, then he could worry about Emily and Dekka. They were his top concern at the moment. He was glad that Edilio was back and safe and even more happy to see Anna had changed her mind and come back to help. For a moment he didn't actually believe they were kneeling in the living room before they both turned and waved at him.

Now that they were here Sam felt better with the plan. They were going to find the others, then they were going to stick together as they killed off the rest of the mutated animals.

But first they might need to split up one more time... Sam didn't want to but he knew they might not have many other choices. They were searching for four different people, some of whom might have split up due to stubbornness which would make things even more complicated if they weren't together. Only they were not going out blind and dumb like last time. This time they were going with a real plan.

"We're going to go out, Roger, Edilio and Anna as one group, me, Astrid and Diana will go as the other." Sam explained when they were all sat on the floor once more after eating breakfast. "Only now we're going to all call in every hour to let everyone know that we're okay."

"That sounds like a plan." Anna nodded. She was happy to be finally be helping rather than just passing useless information.

"We'll look for the morning, then meet up and try again in the afternoon." Sam explained.

"And if we don't find anyone all day?" Diana demanded.

Sam wished she hadn't asked that question. He really didn't want to have to answer that one, he really didn't. Because they all knew the real answer of what would happen if they didn't find them by the end of the day. They could not spend the rest of their lives looking for a couple of people that could very well be dead, at least not while there was an even more important job to be taken care of. While the mutated animals were about they had to give up. If only because after another day of searching, they had to be either dead or at least badly injured and in someone's care out of the way.

"We all know what we have to do." Sam mumbled.

They had lived in the FAYZ. They all understood things needed to be done in order to survive and save others. None of them were happy about it, least of all Sam, but they understood it.

"Let's get going then," Edilio nodded.

They once again packed a small bag each with water, food and a weapon of some sort that they could use in case they came across any mutated animals. When they were ready they stood up and left the building together. As they stepped outside they noticed it was barely morning, a chill in the air and hardly anyone was out. It was an odd day, meaning they might get some privacy in their search for the most parts of the town.

"Call in every hour." Sam reminded Edilio. "And be back here by twelve o'clock today."

"Got it." Edilio nodded.

With one final glance at one another, the two groups turned and began to walk in opposite directions. The town was too big for them to check every inch but they were going to try. Edilio, Roger and Anna walked side by side with their eyes peeled open.

They had been looking for just a few hours - calling in as promised - when they wandered down towards the posher part of the town. It was the kind of area where people like Edilio wouldn't have been allowed to cut the grass, let alone live there. But it was one of the few places that they had yet to search properly. As they walked down the pathway Edilio and Roger couldn't help but notice how all the houses looked alike and how all the houses were so clean and big. It was amazing. While Anna couldn't help but notice how the buildings and the street seemed so quiet...

"Is it..." Anna began to ask when something slipped out in front of them from what looked like a children playground.

It was a phoenix. A bright red and golden feathered phoenix floated down to land in front of the three of them, turning strange human blue eyes and even stranger little colored orbs that floated around its body coming in different sizes and shades. It turned to look at them with frighteningly sharp features and feathers like someone had drawn them with a thick marker pen so the outline would stand out more than normal.

"Is that a mutated animal?" Anna whispered.

"I think it is..." Edilio whispered back, suddenly nervous. He slowly reached into the bag and pulled out the large kitchen knife. Anna and Roger quickly picked up their own weapons, a smaller kitchen knife and the remains of a length of wood that was broken from the fence.

"Do we know who it is?" Roger asked quietly.

Edilio shook his head, trying to think but the creature hadn't shown their power yet... Unless that was what the orbs were but who had the power to create little colored balls? Then he looked into the eyes and realised so quickly his head snapped back slightly. He saw who the phoenix was straight away when he looked at his strange human child blue eyes and understood why there were little orbs around the bird. Sam and Astrid had both explained about what they were, well mostly Astrid had - these avatars - but he hadn't really thought about them or this particular mutant since getting out of the FAYZ. Edilio glanced around, feeling sick to his stomach as he took a step back, pushing Roger and Anna back as he moved. There was no way. There was no way they could beat this mutant. Maybe if it was someone else, anyone else, then they might stand a chance but there was no way they could beat this one.

"Who is it, Edilio?" Roger hissed as he began to push them back.

Edilio swallowed and glanced back. "It's Little Pete."

Anna and Roger's faces dropped as they all looked back at the creature in front of them. It was definitely the young boys eyes. And then they understood Edilio's fear. There was no way to beat the blood thirsty animal version of Little Pete.

G*O*N*E

"Who are we looking for?" Diana asked, she looked nervous, glancing around constantly and gripping her own hands tightly.

"Whoever we find." Sam shrugged.

"I want to go to the police station and see if Caine is anywhere near there." Diana announced.

"Diana we shouldn't split up." Sam explained. The truth was he would have been fine with that but he felt he should at least pretend to put up a fight for Diana to stay with them.

Diana saw the lack of resistance in his eyes and nodded ever so slightly as a thank you. "I'm going." She announced.

Astrid looked up just as Diana turned and ran down the down street, Astrid shouted after her but Diana paid her no attention. She had to find Caine. That was all she cared about.

Sam sighed as Astrid turned to look for him, probably looking for answers as to why he hadn't stopped her. He stared back at her and shrugged. Truthfully he might have tried to stop her but he knew just as much as anyone else that if it were Astrid or himself that was missing then the other would ignore everyone else and go off on their own to find them. Sam didn't feel like he had the right to demand she stay with them. He checked his phone, he had plenty of credit and battery so when Edilio called him next he would remember to give Diana a call and make sure she was okay. That was all he could do for her.

"Good luck, Diana." Sam whispered, then took Astrid's hand and continued to walk down the town.

Astrid and Sam had planned to search around the more public places to find the others in case they were hidden from the crowds somewhere. It was Astrid's idea go door to door and actually asked people if they had seen them on the way. Most people said no but a few seemed to have to think which gave them some sort of hope. They had walked down the busier streets asking people but even those that did recognized the descriptions they couldn't say where or when they saw them. Astrid thanked them and then they went to the next house. A few people were much less polite and told them where to go before slamming the door in their faces at the early hour... These were the people that had Sam worried for if Caine might run into them with powers.

"Let's try the town center," Astrid advised. "They might have stumbled there."

It was thin and extremely unlikely but they were clinging to thin ideas at the moment. So they started down towards the town center, the one closest to their home that also happened to be the most popular. Already in the morning there were people running back and forth with bags full and arms clinging to children and siblings. Sam hesitated but then let Astrid begin to pull him along, asking occasional people if they had seen anything while looking in and out of the gaps in between each of the shops. Once again it seemed like they were coming up empty...

And then the screams came. This time it was a little girls so Sam was slow to react. He started to ignore it when they heard more screaming, this time from a lot of people at once.

Astrid glanced his way before they both ran towards the screaming. It was coming from the large shopping building at the end of the street, one of those serious shopping centers that held about fifty other shops on the inside. If the outside was crowded then the inside was full. Most people were running away, pushing Sam and Astrid with no care as they trampled friends and family in their attempt to leave, most were unharmed but Sam saw one or two bleeding badly from various wounds.

"AH!"

Sam glanced back as Astrid fell to the floor, people stomping on her as they ran for the glass doors. Immediately Sam turned and began to battle his way through, kicking and punching those out of his way as he struggled, falling down beside of Astrid and trying to pull her to her feet. Every time he tried to stand someone else knocked him down and half a dozen people began to stomp on him. Sam threw himself over Astrid, protecting her and tripping a few more people up so they lay on the ground with them before the crowds finally slowed long enough for Sam and Astrid to climb to their feet and push themselves against the shop walls as the crowd rushed in front of them.

Sam glanced at her. Astrid's hair looked like it hadn't been brushed, her denim jeans were torn along the knee and her light blue long sleeves t-shirt was now stained with muddy footprints. Her lip was bleeding and she would probably be bruised completely in the few next days - so would Sam - but other than that she was okay.

"Are you ready?" Sam gasped.

"Let's go!" Astrid nodded sharply, wiping the blood on the back of her wrist.

They started moving again, this time keeping close to the shop walls and windows further into the shopping center. Luckily it was on the ground floor, still clear due to the screams still coming loud as ever that they followed. As they got close Astrid grabbed her weapon, a rusty kitchen pipe, while Sam lifted his own kitchen knife, the largest that they had. Weapons wouldn't do much but they could slow whatever it was down.

All hope of slowing it down drained from Sam as soon as they turned around a shop and saw, in the very center of the mall, Gaia stood.

She looked exactly the same as before only now her front, hands and feet were covered in fresh dripping blood. At her feet were three bodies, two grown men in their thirties, one with a missing arm and another with a hole through his chest, and a young girl no more than six with her body cut diagonally in half by the shoulder down to her hip. Standing just a few feet away from them was a ginger eight year old girl and a brown haired four year old backing away slowly but they were cornered under a set of escalators with no where else to go. There was also a black woman dressed Starbucks uniform that was trying to stand but only making it onto one knee, waving a plastic chair in front of her, trying to protect the two children as Gaia advanced on them but one of her legs were missing and she already looked faint.

The young girl screamed and sobbed, hugging the boy behind her as she tried to push them both into the escalator in hopes of pushing through and escaping. The young boy was pale and too shocked to even cry or cry for help. Gaia stepped forward and raised her hand, a burning light already building as she touched the eight year old girls eyes and burning through them, turning her blind like she had Kevin.

Before Sam could do anything Astrid was screaming and running forward ahead of him. He quickly followed, knowing it was crazy but unable to stand by and watch the two children die so painfully. Astrid hit Gaia around the back of the head, distracting her before she turned to face them. She was more annoyed than hurt. The woman had somehow managed to drag herself over and pulled the boys arm, shouting at him to run. Soon the boy dragged the girl away from the scene towards the doors with everyone else. The girls eyes were bleeding, she covered them and sobbed, stumbling blind and following the younger boy. The woman looked up at Sam, tears in her eyes. Sam nodded at her. It felt important to let her know she did good, she saved the kids, just before she slumped to the ground, bleeding out the rest of her life.

G*O*NE

Her injuries were obviously not naturally but thanks to Taylor she was able to move without passing out because they were healing naturally. Lana walked into the hallway - or limped and stumbled - where the Sekhmet was on the top floor just wandering around with no purpose. Lana was carrying two guns now and a shotgun she saved for special emergencies on her shoulder and strapped to her hips. She stepped carefully, standing in open sight and lifted the gun up to aim. One fire and the Sekhmet was hit square in the back of the shoulders, forced down onto one knee. It looked up at Lana just as she fired again and hit it in the face, this time she was prepared and didn't flinch. Once again the bullets did nothing but Lana hadn't expected them to this time and prepared to fire again as the creature climbed onto it's feet. It moved towards her, slowly. Lana's heart began to race as she swallowed and lifted the gun to fire again, hoping to at least slow her down but every hit was like a spec of dust that the creature easily brushed off and barely reacted to.

Lana shivered from fear and took a breath to calm down, lifting the gun and firing quickly three more times before the Sekhmet was on her. She brought the gun around and hit it with the handle on the chin but it merely turned it's head to the side at the force before looking back at her. Lana wanted to scream but instead she done the next stupidest thing. She tackled the Sekhmet down onto the ground, trying to pin it down, gripping its wrists to keep from being touched again.

Then Taylor appeared standing over her. She lit a firework and stuck it behind the Sekhmet, then disappeared again. Lana hesitated just long enough for the light to go right down before she jumped up and ran down the corridor as fast as her broken body would carry her. She was still thrown forward when the firework went off with a bang and hit the ground hard, opening old wounds and nearly making her pass out from her newly broken and bandaged arm. When she next looked up Taylor was standing over her. They both glanced over to where the carpet and walls were now burning with scorch marks but the Sekhmet stood, no mark on her.

"No..." Lana croaked. She stood, grabbing a firework off Taylor's belt, lighting it and throwing it at the Sekhmet. The creature deliberately caught the firework in her hand, holding it while it went off and burned more of the corridor, filling the area with smoke. Once again she was unharmed. "NO!"

The Sekhmet looked down at the fire burning the wallpaper and the carpet and then up at Lana and Taylor, this time she looked angry, like she was upset at them for destroying the walls and flooring of the place. Then, she charged and Lana jumped to the side to avoid her. Taylor disappeared and the Sekhmet turned with furious eyes. No more pain, she was going to kill Lana.

G*O*N*E

Jill and Derek both tried to run away but it was useless, as soon as the siren started to sing they both were frozen and forced to listen to it sing. They had tried to capture it but the creature had easily spotted them and even if it was Jill's power it still attacked them. As soon as it began to sing its new song, something dark this time, they felt the power over them, then it began to tell the two of them to hurt each other. Jill cried openly with silent tears as she moved to Derek and they wrapped their hands around one another's throat.

But before they could squeeze the life from their sibling, a shriek filled the air and broke the pavement and walls around them. They fell to the ground painfully hard. Jill screamed as Derek covered her body with his, protecting her like he hadn't in the FAYZ. When they next looked up the fox was back and this time it had gotten the upper hand on the other nimal. The siren was lying on the side of the road, badly injured from where the foxes sonic waves had hit her but she was somehow still alive and stood, turning to glare at the the fox and opening her mouth, ready to sing again.

"Derek... Derek I change my mind." Jill sobbed into his chest. "I... I want to go home!"

Derek hugged Jill and they began to crawl away from the animals on their stomachs. The fox shrieked again and the pavement broke away as the sonic wave burned through the concrete, ripping it up, hitting the siren and throwing it back once more as its body was attacked. Jill screamed and clutched her own torso, she knew it was just her imagination but when she watched the siren get hit it felt like her own body was being beaten.

This was a bad idea. This was a bad idea! She sobbed and clung to Derek as he tried to pull them towards the nearest house. They needed to hide, they needed to hide!

The siren began to sing quickly now and the fox hesitated as its body was frozen once more but so were Jill and Derek. The siren couldn't hold them like that forever. And once it had killed the fox, it would have Derek and Jill kill each other too.

"Why isn't anyone helping us?" Jill sobbed. For some reason, even though the siren sang, it only controlled their bodies and not their minds. "Someone help us."

"Someone..." Derek whispered, he clung to Jill and tried to shout but the sirens spell kept his body ridiculously relaxed while his mind continued to panic. "Someone help us. Where are the adults? Why won't they help us?"

"SOMEONE!" Jill somehow screamed and sobbed as the siren began to move towards them, deciding to finish them off first.

Seconds before she was close enough to do any damage, the fox broke free of her hold and screamed their way. The wave once again crashed through the road and pavement, tearing it apart like an animal. Derek grabbed Jill and they rolled out of the way just in time but still his back was burned and his top torn to pieces before they were out of the way in time and watched the siren get hit once more and thrown away. They glanced back and Jill screamed. The siren had stopped moving and now the fox was moving on them.

G*O*N*E

Halfway back to the town a police car followed though she didn't know what she could have done to give them a reason and Dekka had to use her powers to make it crashed into a tree. She hoped the officer was okay but knew she had no time to worry about him or to stop and get told off for driving without a license. Even if she had it, she still wouldn't have stopped because that would have wasted time. What she needed to worry about was getting back to the others now. Dekka speed up slightly but not much since it was late and she was beyond tired from lack of sleep. She didn't feel it much, somehow her adrenaline was keeping her awake so that she couldn't have slept even if she wanted to but she was still worried about drifting off.

By the time she made it to the town it was morning, she was still not tired and moved even faster through the town heading for the apartment buildings. She didn't get very far before she spotted someone she thought she recognized heading in the same direction as she was. It was Diana.

"Diana!" Dekka shouted out the open window to call for her.

Diana blinked, glancing over at the car. She hesitated but then she saw Dekka's face and hurried over to where the car parked. "Dekka! Where the bloody hell have you been?!" She demanded, not even waiting for an invitation before climbing into the car passenger seat.

"Long story." Dekka said, driving again. This time she drove to Diana's instructions without question, moving in and out of the streets at random while Diana stuck her head outside the window. She was just glad to found someone who she could warn to about Drake. "Basically Emily and I found Drake slash Brittney's mutated animal. If that's what you could call it. It wasn't an animal, it was a hydra like from the old Hercules shows? Emily managed to lure it to the ocean while I got my powers back but she was hurt and I got her to transport us back to Connie's home. Sam's mum. She's taking care of her and I had to drive back."

Dekka noticed that Diana really was distracted for whatever, she hadn't questioned why Dekka didn't just let Emily teleport her back. Or maybe she knew she just didn't think Emily could. Or maybe she just didn't care.

"Drake? Drake and Brittney?" Diana asked distractedly.

"Yeah! I don't know how the hell we're supposed to beat them?! I mean what are we supposed to do?! What are their fears? And how do we put them on something their size. I think it's near impossible." Dekka shouted, angry.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Diana growled.

"What are you looking for?" Dekka scowled when Diana refused to bring her head back into the car.

"Caine!" Diana hissed.

"Where is he?" Dekka asked and then winced. Stupid question. Thankfully Diana didn't bring her up on it. "I mean what happened to Caine?"

"He ran off the idiot! We have to find him before Ripley does!" Diana snapped.

Dekka didn't argue with her, she just picked up speed and hurried down the street, now keeping her eyes open for any sign of movement. She knew she needed to warn the others but even just warning Diana was enough to put some of her nerves at ease.

They wandered around the town before passing the apartment just once when they spotted him about to head inside. Caine was strolling down the street, not bothered in the slightest by it being daylight or that everyone was looking for him. Or that he wasn't even covered so if anyone saw him then they would instantly know who he was. In fact he didn't even see them until Dekka stopped the car on the side of the road and Diana jumped out before it had stopped moving to jump in his way.

"Caine you-!" Diana began but couldn't think of anything to say and instead shoved him backwards hard.

"Oh... Hey... Diana, where did you come from?" Caine asked casually, blinking at her.

Dekka climbed out the car as Diana opened her mouth to say something - scream something more like it - but nothing came out. Instead Diana was staring at something that had he looking terrified. Dekka frowned, turning slightly, expecting to see a mutated animal but instead saw Ripley. He appeared and slammed her car door shut behind her so she couldn't get back in and run, smirking at them. He looked like he hadn't slept all night either, but he looked so pleased anyway, beaming down at them and even laughing after a moment as Diana tried desperately to hide Caine behind her back.

"Now are you really going to try and hide him?" Ripley chuckled. "I mean now? This can go the easy way, or the hard way? And yes I just said the easy way or the hard way. We could all get in this car, I'll drive you to the station and you just make a statement answering all our questions, or I could arrest you all forcibly and then bring everyone else to you and your friends as well as scientists and news reporters."

Diana blinked. He didn't know Caine had powers then. Before Caine could blow it for them she gave him a nudge to keep him quiet and nodded her head at Ripley. "We'll come." She announced before hissing behind her. "Don't use your powers. Find a way to make it look like an accident while we're heading to the station and we can get away."

Caine glared at Ripley but nodded slowly and allowed himself, along with Diana and Dekka, to be herded into the back of the car, Ripley taking the drivers seat and locking all the doors. He continued to grin and laugh like Christmas had come early. For the whole way he continued to either laugh aloud or talk to them about how easy it was to catch them and how they were only freaky little children that should have been killed as soon as the anomaly came down. Caine was itching to throwing him through the windscreen but Diana grabbed his hands and made him wait. They needed the perfect time to make it not just seem like an accident... But to also make sure it killed him.

Diana didn't like when Caine let children die when they were in the FAYZ, she didn't even like the idea of letting good adults die but Ripley was not a good adult. He was evil. And he deserved death when it came for him. And it would be coming soon, Diana would make sure of that.

They were halfway there, Diana nudged Dekka to get ready. She had written the plan onto her phone for Dekka who immediately agreed. Even Dekka didn't seem to care about Ripley's life. They were close now. Dekka would stop gravity on the car, lifting it up just slightly enough for it to bounce and jump, leaving Ripley to think something was wrong with it and hopefully the banging might actually get him to either slow or stop. Then Caine would stop the car completely and throw Ripley forward at the same time like the car was faulty. If it came to it they could damage the engine before any other officers showed up and claim it was a tragic accident...

Yeah, Diana thought with a sneer, real tragic.

However before they could go through with the plan something else entered the playing field.

"Oh no... No..." Dekka croaked, staring at something in front of them as Ripley slowed to a stop, also shocked into silence that he finally stopped asking how Caine faked his death. For a moment Diana didn't know what it was. It was too big to see without leaning forward but then she realised... It was the Drake/Brittney Hydra. It was back! And it was heading right for them!

43) What theme song would you give for the fight scenes?

While writing this I listened to "Rise" by Skillet... For some reason the music just seemed to go perfect for the fighting scenes. Is it just me?

Also, sorry if updates slow. My computer broke so I have to share my mums and had only get on it for so long.