TWENTY-FIVE|

40 Hours, 17 Minutes

SAM DROPPED TO his knees, feeling utterly defeated and exhausted. Everything that was happening around him made him feel sick. Nerezza's burning body lit up the mine shaft and her screams made Sam's stomach knot. Turk's body lay still on the floor, a result from Caine slamming him against the ceiling of the mine shaft. Penny was also on the floor, passed out, holding her shoulder, trying to stop the blood. Brianna was knocked out on the floor because Drake had choked her earlier. And, the worst of them all, Caine stood behind Orc, who was sadly trying to revive Howard by pounding onto his chest. Even though Sam's team was in far better shape than Drake's, he felt he had lost because it was evident that Howard had died. Drake was the only person standing out of all his allies, laughing as he watched Orc mourn over the loss of Howard.

"Orc, stop pumping his chest," Caine said. "He's gone."

Giving up, Orc slumped forward and laid his head on Howard's chest, crying. "My best friend," Orc sobbed in a whisper. "Please, don't leave me. Please, please, please. Don't!"

A few feet away from the scene, Drake stopped laughing, realizing Nerezza's dire state. He ran over to her, taking his shirt off. With it, he managed to put the fire out. It took a second, but it worked. Nerezza moaned, the amount of pain now reduced with the extinguishing of the fire.

Although the battle seemed to be on pause for the moment, while both teams tried to regroup, Sam didn't want to risk being in the dark, fearing that Drake would capitalize. He let fire fly from his hands quickly. It set the walls of the mine shaft on fire and provided it with light.

Standing to his feet, Sam walked a little closer to Drake who was examining Nerezza's burns. Caine noticed and followed behind him. "Drake," Sam approached, "just give us Cassandra and we'll be on our way."

"Is that what you named her?" Drake asked, shooting a smile to Caine.

"Listen, Drake," Caine said. "Me, Sam, and Orc are all in fine condition. You're the only one on your little team left standing. We can kill you easily. So just give her to us. You have no chance."

Drake laughed. "I have no chance? Really? You don't know what you're talking about. I'm immortal, idiot! The Gaiaphage gave me immortality. I could kill every single one of you right now. Plus, Orc is too busy over there, crying like the pussy he is. Now, make a move. I've been waiting for this."

Caine stepped forward, but Sam stopped him. "No, Caine. Not yet. Let's at least try to come to an agreement."

BAM! A gun went off. Caine fell down.

The school bus pulled out of the Perdido Beach School parking lot. It drove down Access Road, made a right onto Brace Road, then a quick left onto the highway. The bus filled with Perdido Beach teens were on their way to the Stefano Rey National Park for a field trip. Quinn Gaither and Sam Temple were in the row behind the bus driver.

"I don't why we're going to Stefano Rey for a field trip. Almost every person in Perdido Beach has been there before," Quinn said.

"True," Sam agreed. "But at least we're hardly going to be doing any school work."

Mr. Trentlake, Sam and Quinn's teacher, who sitting on the row beside them, joined in on the conversation. "That's right, Sam. If you really want to know why we're going here, Quinn, it's because our school is ahead of schedule as far as academics. This is kind of like a reward. Now, just remember that when you're staring out the window and not paying attention to the lesson, boys; hard work will be rewarded."

"I will," Quinn said.

Suddenly, the bus driver in front of them started making noises.

"Are you okay up there?" Mr. Trentlake asked.

The bus driver gave a final grunt and then fell out of his seat, onto the floor. Everything was quiet for just a second, then when the bus started slowly swerving, they screamed. Sam hopped out of his seat, rushing to the steering wheel. He held it so it wouldn't swerve, then put his foot gently on the break, slowing it to a stop, and moving it to the side of the road. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911, explaining the situation.

It didn't take long for the situation to be cleaned up; the cops came, another school bus was sent to pick all the students and teachers up and drop them off at their residences.

As soon as he walked in the front door of his house, his mom grabbed him and hugged him. "Oh, Sam. I was so worried when I heard what happened. Mr. Trentlake called me and told me how you saved everyone. He told me you acted right away, without any hesitation. My boy, I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks, mom," Sam said, giving her a half-smile. "I'm gonna go lay down. I feel exhausted."

"Get some rest. I'm sure you need it. Oh, and the news wants to interview you tomorrow. How does that sound?"

Noticing that his mom looked excited, Sam resisted saying no. "Okay, Mom. I guess that's fine."

Sam went up to his room, lay down, and thought about what had happened. He felt good about himself. He was happy that he was able to save everyone, even if none of those people cared about him.

"I just hope the bus driver didn't die," Sam said to himself.

Turk got off the floor as quickly as he could. There was strong pain in his back. He closed his eyes shut as he got to his feet. He looked around, saw Orc kneeling over Howard, crying, and Sam and Caine standing face-to-face with Drake. He took a single step forward and stopped when he felt his shoe touch the gun. He bent over, picked it up, and smiled as he took aim at Caine's leg.

The gun jerked in his hand as the bullet went flying from it, crashing into the back of Caine's leg. "Ah!" he cried out and fell to the ground, his leg giving out on him.

"Oh, shit," Sam said, quickly bending down to observe his wound.

Drake gave Turk a thumbs up, turned his attention to Sam, and swung his tentacle arm at Sam's head. Sam slammed onto the ground, blood already spilling from the cut.

"Looks like they're both passed out. Turk, go help Penny up. A shot to the shoulder isn't all that bad. She'll be okay enough to help us. Tell her to carry Nerezza since she's the lightest, I'll carry Sammy boy, and you'll carry Caine. The Gaiaphage is going to be proud of us once he sees how big we've scored."

"Yeah, he will."

"Anyway, go help Penny. I'll take care of Brianna and Orc."

"Okay."
Drake walked over to Orc slowly. "Hey, Orc. Looks like Nerezza got to Howard. Don't worry, though. I don't like that slut either."

"Shut the hell up!" Orc bellowed, standing up to stare into Drake's cold eyes. "Don't think for one second that I'm gonna forget all about you and attack Nerezza. It looks like she's dead anyway. So, right now, you're the one I want."

Before he could reply, Orc swung his giant, solid fists in Drake's direction. Drake ducked Orc's punches and whipped his tentacle arm at Orc. "Stop it, you stupid ass motherfucker."

"No, not until you die!" Orc screamed. He continued his attack, but his heavy hands made him too slow.

"Look, Orc. The battle is over. Go home, get help for Howard. Take Brianna with you. I'll take Sam and Caine. You're already defeated, Orc. There's no way you are going to do anything but get yourself killed.

Orc stopped. "All right. I'm gonna take Brianna and get Howard healed. After I do that, I'm going to come back and I'm going to kill you myself. Do you hear me, Drake? I'm going to kill you."

Drake winked. "I'll be waiting."

Holding his anger back, Orc turned around and walked over to Brianna. He threw her over his shoulder, then did the same with Howard, as if they were as light as a towel. He exited the mine shaft, feeling extremely angry.

Although Orc knew that Howard had no chance of being revived, he started to run, desperate to get to Town Hall as quickly as he could.

With Orc gone, taking Howard and Brianna with him, Sam and Caine unconscious, Drake had zero threats at the moment. Now all he had to do was take Sam and Caine to the Gaiaphage and all of his tasks would be fulfilled. Penny carried Nerezza, Turk carried Caine, and Drake carried Sam, just as planned. They headed down the mine shaft, to the Darkness.

"You know, carrying Nerezza with one arm isn't easy," Penny complained. "I'm shot in my fucking shoulder and here I am, carrying a person with one arm. It's hard as hell. I can't believe you're making me do this shit, Drake."

"Shut up already," Drake snapped. "Ever since we left, you won't stop talking about how hard it is. Turk is struggling to carry Caine, but you don't hear him complaining. I saw how hard he hit the top of the shaft, I'm sure he's in pain right now, too."

"Well, I'm taking a break. My arm that's not shot is numb now!" Penny pouted.

Drake spun on his heels, walked up to Penny, then with his tentacle arm, snatched Nerezza's body by her waist. "I'll carry both of them, you whiny ho."

They continued the rest of their walk in silence. Turk was putting in a lot of effort, ignoring the desire to drop Caine and rest his back. Drake pushed on, working his muscles to the limit, carrying Sam over his shoulder and holding Nerezza with his tentacle arm. He wasn't made out of rock like Orc was, so this was no easy task.

"Who the fuck is that?" Drake demanded. A girl who looked to be about 10 years old was standing at the end of the mine shaft, where the Gaiaphage usually was. Fire similar to Sam's lit up the cave walls around her.

Author's Note: I know it's been a long time since I've updated - the last time I added a chapter was Chapter 24, on January 3, 2013. That's 363 days ago - but I decided I want to keep this story going. There's been a LOT going on since I last updated, which is why I have't been able to write anything new. I apologize to all of my readers who spent a lot of time reading this story and I'm determined to make sure your time was not wasted. I was going to add three chapters as a little surprise to you guys on Christmas, but the site was down. Either way, I wish you all a Happy New Years, my awesome readers!

FEAR