Here's the second part of 19. Just so you all know this is also the intro into my next story.

1. Carina 19b
(you left me)

"What happened to you Maxie?" she asked defensively. She recognized Max's mannerisms when she pouted. No ones pout was quite the same. "You were suppose to leave Seattle a long ago. You've grown soft. What'd you do shack up with some civilian." Max narrowed her eyes and Jade knew she hit a nerve. She laughed in real disbelief. "Rollerboy in there is yours."

Max lunged at her but Jade caught the flying fist and used it to spin her around. She pinned Max's arm behind her back and brought her other one under Max's chin. Max struggled but the grip was too tight. As Jade spoke the wicked bite to her voice was gone.

"I just give me whatever you stole Max and I'll just forget I saw you."

"And how you going to explain it to Lydecker? Daddy'll be pissed there's no body count."

"I'm not on a mission so he doesn't have to know. You two were just lucky enough I'm the one who saw you." Max suddenly got leverage and flipped Jade over her. Jade landed on her feet and turned to find Max's foot planted square on her chest. She fell to the pavement and before she could stand a foot was pinning her neck to the ground. She could have gotten out of it, could have buckled Max's knee and flipped her off but brute force isn't the only way to win a battle.

"Somehow I don't believe you," Max spat out waiting for the next attack.

"Send the little blue bird inside to get Zack," Jade suggested. Max didn't even turn away from her as she barked out the order and Jake slipped inside. A moment later Zack rushed out and took in the situation. The second Jade saw him something in her snapped and Max found herself dropped and pushed aside. It wasn't meant to hurt her so Max, indignate and a little shocked, just watched as Jade rushed him.

Jade was trembling with pent up rage and something dangerous was flashing in her eyes as she attacked him. He blocked punch after kick after punch easily. Her punches became more desperate and her technique disappeared as she was just throwing out punches and kicks.

"You son of a b*tch," she screamed at him. He grabbed her and pinned her arms between them. She kept her eyes down and continued to struggle against him.

"Jade stop," he ordered.

"You son of a b*tch, you left me," she said beating his chest with her fist once more. She let her head fall against his chest. "You left me," she said as she started to sob.

Zack lifted his head from her and looked at a completely stunned Max. He motioned for her to go inside and she at first refused. Zack glared at her, she glared back but ultimately went inside. If he was going to be that tactically stupid she would just let him deal with the consequences. When she had gone he looked down at the girl against him.

"Jade look at me," he said gently. She didn't but instead pushed away from him. She hastily wiped the tears out of her eyes and stood expectantly. They stood in silence for a long time before Zack spoke up. "Are you going in to see her?" he asked.

"I shouldn't," she said making eye contact again. "It would just make it hard on her."

"Don't you mean on you," Zack said aggressively.

"I don't want her to see me Zack," she spat out. "She doesn't need to see what I've become."

"She's your sister. It won't matter to her." Jade stared at him for a moment.

"Still having your moments of weakness huh Zack."

"She'd want to see you Jade, I know her well enough to say that for certain," Zack said very seriously and he saw her deliberate for a moment.

"I will if you tell me what you stole," she finally said.

"It was the disk with Carina's schematics." Jade opened her mouth in disbelief.

"You're a God d**n idiot Zack," she yelled at him. "Did you forgot every f*cking thing Manticore taught you?"

"What are you talking about?" Zack retorted.

"Oh God," Jade said and as she realized how much he had screwed her over, the blood drained out of her face.

"What?" he asked, suddenly on alert.

"The tracking device, it'll lead them right here," she said as she began to pace.

"What tracking device what are you talking about?" he said as he placed himself in her path.

"The tracking device in me," she said as her eyes grew sad. "Don't you think I tried to escape again? After the first few times they put a tracking device in somewhere during one of their experiments. And think Zack. Remember Lydecker always said know your enemy Zack. He's the kind of sick f**k who would review those disks every night before he went to bed. So he would know their weaknesses. Especially Carina because she just slipped through his fingers," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He'll think it was me," she added. Zack's mind raced.

"What if you leave? They'll just follow that signal until they find you," Zack said.

"But I've been here for hours. They're too smart to just pass this place by. Especially with the information they think I have. We have to get everyone out now."

I've been rewritting this for about three days with all sorts of alternative endings(it's not the final ending so don't go getting your panties in a bunch lol) I hope you like it or are in complete shock, either one is good ;) -puppy

1. Carina 20
(100% operational)
Strapped to a bench seat, her head was resting on someone's shoulder. Before she opened her eyes Carina could hear the crunch of the tires under the Aztec's wheels. They were traveling down a dirt road and the air smelled remarkably clean, they were definitely out of the city. What had happened while she was out? It must have been Lydecker, he must have followed them somehow.

She was about to open her eyes when Logan suddenly hit the brakes. The seatbelt held her, as everything in the car suddenly shifted forward.

"Way to go mighty protector you almost killed an endangered species," said Max with her unmistakable bite. Carina put her head back on Jakes shoulder and opened her eyes to see the priceless look Logan graced Max with.

"Hey," Jake said softly in her ear. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hey," she replied. She reached her hand up and touched the stubble on his jaw line. "You look like you haven't slept in days." Her eyes switch to night vision as she studied his face and for the first time she noticed that there were dark circles under his eyes.

"I haven't," he said with a slight smile. She felt her heart melt at his words. She thought of the irony; big tough trained killing machine turned to mush by a civilian. Daddy would be so disappointed. A sudden feeling of guilt passed over her and she averted her eyes from him. Lydecker would never let them go. How could she put him through that? Max had done it to Logan but Carina was different than her. She had too many lives to put at risk. She wasn't like the others who could simply forget things. In her Manticore could take literally access the information if they wanted.

"Jake I…" she was suddenly stopped as he leaned in and kissed her. She was so lost in it that she didn't even hear Logan.

"Is everyone…." he stopped mid question as he turned in his seat. "oh okay I guess that answers that question." He turned back to the front and looked at a smirking Max. "I think they're fine."

"Yeah," Max responded. "Let's keep going. We want to make it there before dawn."

Jake pulled back to look at a stunned, yet satisfied, Carina.

"You can rationalize to death tomorrow. But I'm too tired now to put up a good defense." Carina nodded and leaned her head against his shoulder. Waiting till tomorrow wouldn't make what she had to do any easier.

Max had made Logan take a zig zag route and it was another hour before they pulled up to Logan's dark cabin. Carina assured Max, despite her exhaustion, she was fine and the two of them checked out the perimeter. After they were sure it was all clear she woke Jake and, although he assured he was wide-awake, he stumbled inside and to the bedroom Logan directed him too. It was announced that was the other bedroom had the only computer so Max and Carina both had eyes for the couch.

"Don't even think about it," Max snapped. She hadn't slept in a nearly a week and the thought of Logan sleeping beside her wasn't the complication she was looking for right now.

"Arm wrestle you for it," Carina said half jokingly. If Max was in the main room Carina couldn't slip out, that is if she decided to leave. She took Max's deadly glance as a no and headed off towards the guest bedroom. She would think everything again tomorrow. Everyone needed some rest, even her.

She found Jake passed out on top of the cover. He at least had the decency to hang his boots over the side to keep the bed clean. She sat at the edge of the bed and slipped off his shoes before heading off to the bathroom to wash her face. With a blanket found in the closet she covered the both of them.

Sometime during the morning she awoke to a pair of arms reaching around her. For a moment she froze and almost panicked but Jake whispered a hush in her ear and she relaxed. Soft yellow light drifted through the window and the room seemed to have a heavenly glow. She turned and met his dark brown eyes.

"Are you recovered?" she asked. He chuckled in response.

"I think that's my line," he said grinning.

"Maybe so but you looked awful last night," She smiled and planted a quick kiss on his lips before he could protest. "What happened last night?" she asked, growing very serious. Jake hesitated. He didn't want to be the one to tell her because he didn't really understand it himself.

"Max and Zack were followed from Manticore," Carina froze in his arms. "But it's okay," he said trying to reassure her.

"How could it be okay?" she said as she pushed away from him. She swung her feet off the bed and reached for her shoes. "If they were followed from Manticore we shouldn't even have stopped.

"But it was your sister," he blurted. Instantly she stopped and swung around to face him.

"What?" Her mind was going through summersaults of emotions. It was all making no sense in her head. She couldn't come up with a plan of action. She turned away from Jake before he had a chance to respond. "Sondra," she said as she stood up and started to pace "what's wrong with my though processes?"

"You are 100% percent operational."

"But this isn't right. I can't think correctly." Jake watched her continue to pace hoping that he would soon be told why she was talking to herself.

"All nonmilitary applications are running."

"Can you activate the military ones?"

"Whoa, hey what are you doing?" Jake said as he jumped out of the bed. Carina only gave him a "back off" look as she listened to Sondra's response.

"Affirmative."

"Can you deactivate them after wards."

"Affirmative." Carina looked at Jake and took a deep breath.

"Activate military programming." He gave her a look that she couldn't quite interpret. Was it sorrow, resignation, understanding or maybe something else? It didn't soon matter because when the program ran and the percentages were figured she knew what she had to do. She would have to leave.

"Are you alright?" Jake asked her as he brushed her hair aside.

"I'm 100% operational," she answered, inwardly shivering at the old familiar edge to her voice. Jake looked confused at her sudden change in personality. "Sebastian used AI technology. Sondra controls my programming," she answered simply. She turned to walk out of the room but Jake grabbed her arm. Jake went to say something but his mind was so over loaded he simply blanked. "I'm fine. Really," she assured him as she removed her arm from his grip and walked out.

Okay so I wasn't going to post this now and even contempted trashing it but it's got another piece of the Forest puzzle.

1. Carina 21
(something cracked)

She walked through the house. Numbness had set in and the cold calculating part of her ran the numbers again. No matter the input the result was the same. She would have to leave.
Love was calculated to be 100%,
Longing to stay 100%,
risk of capture if staying 75%,
risk of harm to civilians if captured 95%,
necessity of leaving 100%.
It had to be wrong and she almost had Sondra run another check but reality decided to rear it's ugly head.

She walked out the back door and gripped the wooden railing with both hands. It was doing it again, calculating possibility after possibility without stop. It was grinding away at her nerves.

"Sondra shut off all military programs." As she spoke everything suddenly grew eerily silent. For a long time the numbness continued but then something cracked. The stillness was broken but not by anyone one coming to give her a Dawson's creek talk or by black helicopters coming over the treetops. The silence was broken as Carina began to sob. And it wasn't a romantic, tears trailing silently down her cheeks, sniffle but full blown uncontrolled body wracking headache causing cry fest, something she had never experience in her life. She let the feeling of helplessness wash over her and soon she was sitting on the wooden porch hugging her knees and rocking.

"Aren't you going out there?" Logan asked. Max stood looking out the kitchen window. She had woken early this morning but lay thinking until she overhead Jake and Carina's quiet argument. She was watching to make sure her sister didn't leave.

"No, sometimes the best thing to do is to break down. Makes it easier to move on," Max said knowingly. She paused and looked down at Logan. "She's got to make hard choice."

"So did you," Logan said provokingly.

"Maybe I made the wrong one," Max said truthfully but knowing it would annoy him, "Life's easier when you can just run away and start over." They stared at each other for a moment. It wasn't an ultimatum or an attempt to make him see how little time they might have. It was just a truth that she knew in heart was true. She looked back out the window.

There was a crinkle in her pocket and Carina reached in and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She looked at it curiously, wondering how she could have missed it before. She unfolded it and skipped to the bottom.

"Oh my God," she exclaimed as she saw who it was from. As she started to read the letter she could almost hear her sisters dark voice.

Hey runt. I stopped by but you were kind of indisposed. That's okay, it would have made what I had to do harder. Lydecker doesn't know about Max and Zack but since I disappeared at the same time as that God d**n disk he's gotta know about you.

The kid is cute. I assume he's yours because he won't even leave me alone with you and he's pacing on the other side of the room doing his best scowl. I could teach him a thing or two about that. *Carina smiled.* It probably didn't help that I pulled out the psycho tiger bit when I first met him. Messed with his head a little but not too much. *She could almost see Jade smiling wickedly when she wrote that*

Deck is coming after me soon so I won't be here when you wake up. If I make it out we'll meet at the place. If don't, Zack will be there instead. *"She always was short spoken when it came to the hard things," Carina thought to herself.* I know he's going to try to follow me when I leave but you know that you can't hunt the hunter. He'll know where to go from last time.

And for some sisterly advice, don't push the kid away. He's got that look in his eyes that makes me think he would face down all of Lydecker's minions for you. He might have to someday but you can't give up that kind of happiness because you might lose it one day. Okay enough of the philosophical b*ll s**t. Take care or yourself baby sis.

Jade

Carina folded the letter up and placed it back in her pocket. She reached up and pulled a chain out from under her shirt. She opened the attached locket. Inside was a picture to the two of them smiling at the camera. Although Carina had auburn hair and green eyes and Jade had black hair and almost black eyes they were obviously related. The picture was taken when Jade was 15 and Carina 13. They'd grown up with completely different families. Carina lived on a farm with two parents and a whole litter of brothers and sisters. Jade lived with a retired officer in Chicago. He was from Manticore, trained them in evasion and tracking. Carina sometimes wondered if he might have been Jade's real father or at least some of his DNA. Zack didn't like it but the man's love for his adopted daughter was obvious.

Before she was recaptured Jade would spend the summers with Carina. Zack used to visit with her sometimes; but he was easier in those days. Before then he hadn't lost any of the 12 that escaped and he had them all under his protection.

Carina closed the locket and looked out into the trees. Jade always loved to drag her out in the middle of the night to play in the woods. She sighed and sniffled. If Jade hadn't come to visit her that summer she would have never gotten captured. Carina didn't want to loose anyone like that again.


This is short but it doesn't fit with the rest so I'm making it it's own scene. More in just a little bit. -puppy

1. Carina 22
(silent but unchanged)
Carina marched into the kitchen and up to the table where Max and Logan were having coffee.

"When are we leaving?" she asked Max.

"We're not?" Max said defiantly as if they had been arguing this same problem for years.

"What do you mean you're not?" she said exasperated. "Lydecker is probably all over the city by now and Jade might be wrong. He may be looking for you too."

"Then I'll deal with that when I get there." Carina frowned in confusion. Max lifted her coffee cup and Carina slammed it back down, ignoring the hot liquid that splashed on her hand.

"I don't understand." Max looked up at her with impatience. It was like staring at the female version of Zack.

"I've told Zack this before and I'm only going to tell you once. I'm not leaving. Just before Deck decides to stroll into town doesn't mean that I have to give up my life. I had friends here and I'm not about to give that up."

"Is your happiness worth their suffering down the line? It's my friends I'm trying to protect, what are you?" With that Carina stormed out leaving Max silent but unchanged.


Carina 23
(The End)

1. I have to say that was the longest shower I've ever taken. The words rinse lather and repeat will forever be associated with bad memories. I made myself stay in this shower until I knew I could face her without grabbing her by the shoulders and yelling 'What are you doing? How can you just walk out on me like this?' I could never be selfish enough to say the last part of this but I know she's going to try to leave. I can feel it. Even if I she couldn't kick my a** I could never physically make her stay. I'll just have to give her a really good reason not to run.

Jake walked out of the bathroom to find Carina searching the room. She stopped at his entrance as if suddenly realizing something and breezed past him into the bathroom. She emerged holding her boots.

"Had to be sure you didn't try to leave while I was in the shower," Jake said as he watched her sit down and slip them on.

"Do you really think I would have left without saying good bye?" she snapped. Inwardly she cringed at her tone but outwardly she was ice. Her voice wasn't telling her to leave now but her heart was. If she stayed any longer she might not be able to go at all.

"In a second." He jumped as she suddenly broke one of little metal loops on her boots off. She swore and threaded around it. "I think if that computer told you to do something you would do it. Probably told you that leaving would give you the smallest harm to civilians." She stopped and for a split second he thought that he almost had. "Carina that computer program can't tell you the right action because it's just military." She finished and made for the door without looking at him. "It doesn't consider love." He had struck a cord and she stopped suddenly. Slowly she turned around to face him.

"Are you saying you love me?" the cold expression on her face had melted away and suddenly she looked as lost as he felt.

"Yes…I do" he said as if it were the most obvious thing.

"But you've only know me for a week," she said in confusion, "How could you love anyone some one so fast?" Jake took this opportunity to advance on her.

"I know. How could a guy like me fall for some one who's so annoyingly kind and sweet and don't get me started on how intelligent you are cuz you know I only go for the ditz blond hair twirlers," at this Carina couldn't help but crack a smile. Jake stepped right in front of her and brushed her hair back as he spoke. "And you know that gorgeous bright red hair and those mysterious green, do absolutely nothing for me. And those lips…"

"Jake I can't stay," she said derailing him just as he was leaning forward to kiss her. He didn't back up but only hovered there, his breath blowing across her lips making her shiver.

"I wasn't asking you to stay," he said as he looked her in the eyes.

"Than what do you want?" she asked quietly.

"To go with you." Carina's heart suddenly felt as if it had dropped to her feet along with her jaw. She tried to speak but she was unable to form a coherent thought. Jake took advantage of her stupor and kissed her. She soon recovered her wits and kissed him back with all of her heart. The moment became more heated and Carina suddenly realized she was loosing control and pulled away suddenly. He could see the confusion on her face. She was going to run.

"I have to go," she said as she backed away from him.

"Where are you going?" he asked desperately.

"Away, I have to go now." She turned and walked out. He followed her down the hall and out the front door.

"Carina wait…stop," she whipped around to face him.

"This is good bye Jake." She said trying to bite back tears and keep her face neutral.

"But it can't be. I want to go with you," he pleaded.

"But you can't," she said her lips starting to tremble betraying her composure. "You'll get killed or something worse." She turned to leave and he reached out to grab her arm impulsively. He found himself tossed to the ground. "Good bye," she said sadly before she turned away and ran across the field and into the woods beyond.

Emptiness filled him as she disappeared into the trees. He had failed her some how and he didn't know if he would ever see her again. Whatever the answer was, he would miss her and he would wait for her to come back.
THE END

He feels her smile when he's afraid,
it reminds him of his life before she went away
He might crumble, but he'll not fall,
if the memory of his only love can stay that way
Still has his dreams, they will get him through,
till his life means something more than to lose
Cos he's still wondering when she's coming home
and he'll tell her what he's done today
He doesn't want to lose this memory
of the only part of life to him that's safe.
Still hears her key, turn in the door,
disappointment running through him,
she's not coming anymore
He sees his friends, turns on that charm,
but his heart's not in it, doesn't want to move on
He has his dreams they will get him through,
till his life means something more than to lose
Cos he's still wondering when she's coming home
and he'll tell her what he's done today
He doesn't want to lose this memory
of the only part of life to him that's safe.
He's missing out on life,
because he doesn't know how long to keep her in his mind
His life's been hers too long and now he's picking up the pieces
just to stay alive
And he's still wondering when she's coming home
and he'll tell her what he's done today
He doesn't want to lose this memory
of the only part of life to him that's safe.