I don't own HM or any of its characters. If so, the game wouldn't be NEARLY as non-linear and it'd actually have a somewhat linear story! Save the Homeland doesn't count!

Chapter 16: Frantic

Jack burst into his house, surprised to find that Cliff wasn't at home. He didn't know whether to sigh in relief or tremble in terror of being found out. Instead, he decided to do his chores quickly. That way he'd be able to hook up with Karen and they would be able to talk about what had happened the night before.

"What am I supposed to do?!" Gray roared from his position on top of Moon Mountain, his head raised to the cloudless sky.

After seeing Jack leave the ranch, Gray had decided to go for a walk in the meadow to clear his mind. He had ended up on top of Moon Mountain, his thoughts more jumbled than ever. All that was about to change as he heard a quirky voice behind him ask, "I don't know. What are you supposed to do?"

Gray's mind emptied itself of nearly all thoughts, and he focused completely on Popuri, who had snuck up on him. He probably focused more than he should of too, because, at that moment, he had forgotten the days events.

They all came rushing back, though, when Popuri asked, "What were you screaming about?" as she sat next to him.

Gray groaned and put his head in his hands. Popuri just put a comforting arm around Gray's shoulders and waited for him to tell her what was wrong.

Finally, Gray raised his head to look at her. "I saw… I saw Jack leaving the ranch early this morning… He… well, I think he slept with Karen." Popuri was silent for a few moments as old anger and frustration entered her life once more. She pushed the thoughts away as she focused on Gray, who obviously was lost at the time.

"What will you do?" She asked barely above a whisper. Gray shook his head, "I don't know. I don't know if I should tell Cliff. It'd tear him apart. Same for Ann. I mean, it's not really my business and…"

"Stop." Gray stopped talking at Popuri's stern voice. "Just stop, Gray. If you were in Cliff or Ann's position, wouldn't you want to know? I know that it may not be any of your business, but they have to know! Would you rather they find out the hard way?" Gray sighed heavily and rose to his feet. "You're right." He said. God has not given me a spirit of fear… He included within his thoughts.

He began walking back down the path toward the tree that he'd climb down to reach level ground. "Wait!" He stopped at Popuri's voice. She ran up to him. "Are you leaving now?" Gray shrugged, "I don't see why not." Popuri smiled, "Let me come along with you." Gray raised an eyebrow at her. She had been acting kind of weird ever since the horse race the day before.

"I could come along for moral support!" Gray frowned. "I don't know, Popuri. I mean, I kind of want to tell them myself." Popuri smiled, "You will be telling them. I'll just be there just in case Cliff decides to deck you in frustration!" Gray grimaced and Popuri guessed that she wasn't helping. "Come on, it'll be easy if you have someone by your side." Gray looked at her for a moment, contemplating her words. Finally, he nodded curtly and continued down the mountain, Popuri trailing right behind him.

Gray and Popuri arrived on Jack's farm fifteen minutes later. When they got there, the only person they saw was Jack, who was busy tinkering with his sprinklers.

As soon as Popuri and Gray entered the farm, they quickly turned around and began walking away, not knowing if they'd be able to hold their emotions in around Jack. Their movement was cut short, as Jack called out. "Gray!"

Jack ran over to the two, and asked. "Gray, my sprinklers aren't working right. Could you help me with them. I know that you use the same type at the ranch and—"

"I'm kind of in a hurry. I'm looking for Cliff, is he here?" Jack paused for a moment, surprised at the curtness in Gray's voice. "No, he's not… are you going to help me with the—"

"I don't have time right now. I'll be back later, right now I need to find Cliff." Jack frowned, "Why do you need to—"

"Good-bye, Jack. I'll be back later." Gray walked off leaving Jack and Popuri standing there, surprised at Gray's reaction.

"What's eatin' him?" Jack asked Popuri. Popuri turned towards Jack. From there, she just looked into Jack's eyes as if she was searching for something. An answer to a silent question. "Hello? Anybody home?" Jack persisted. Popuri sighed, "It's personal business. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to catch up to Gray." She said in a pseudo-sweet voice. Jack just nodded slowly, surprised at both of their actions.

Jack went back to tinker with the sprinklers, one question on his mind. Is it possible that they know?

Gray roared in frustration. "Where is he?" Popuri and he had searched throughout the town and surrounding area and had come up short. Nobody had seen Cliff that day.

Popuri put a hand on Gray's shoulder, "Calm down. He's around here somewhere! In fact, he's probably at the ranch with Ann! Let's check there again!" Gray sighed then nodded. They began back in the direction of the ranch.

When they got there, they were surprised to find Ann waiting impatiently for someone. "Have either of you seen Cliff?" She asked when Gray and Popuri came within earshot. Gray shrugged, "We've been looking for him. Couldn't find him anywhere."

Ann's former determination and frustration immediately turned to worry and anxiety. "Where is he?" She wondered aloud. She sat down on the grass and Gray walked over to her. "What's going on?" Ann sighed heavily, "He was supposed to meet me here a long time ago! Three hours, in fact! I too have looked everywhere for him! I searched the meadow, town, vineyard, Jack's farm, and even the mountain! I can't find him anywhere! I'm really getting worried…" She said quietly.

After a few moments of silence, she looked back up at the solemn two and asked, "Why are you looking for him?"

Cliff groaned slightly and opened his eyes. What he saw didn't help much. He was in a nearly pitch-black room, lying on the floor hands and legs tied together hog-style. He was lying on, what felt like, rotting wood.

"Hello?" He called out hoarsely. No answer. "Hello?!" The following silence was deafening. That's when it clicked in Cliff's mind. I'm alone… totally alone inside of a dark room. I've been… kidnaped!

Immediately, fear sliced into Cliff's heart like a knife and he began hyperventilating. Old fears and feelings that he had long ago gotten rid of slammed back into his mind, now threatening never to leave. One of these fears was claustrophobia, which was quickly taken over his mind, leaving room for nothing else.

The claustrophobia was followed an innumerable amount of what if's. What if I don't get out? What if I starve? What if I die? What if I never see my friends again? But the most prominent in his mind was, what if I was wrong?

Ann moaned in frustration and grabbed some dirt from the ground just so she could close her hand around it and squeeze. And squeeze she did until her hand ached from the pressure. Finally, she threw the dirt into the breeze, watching the dust particles float away into the sky. Karen… why?

Her frustration soon turned to worry about how Cliff would take the news. When her mind returned to Cliff, she realized that they still had no idea where he was.

She sighed sadly and got up, brushing herself off. She looked toward Gray and Popuri. "Come on. We need to find Cliff." The two nodded and they walked out of the ranch in search for Cliff…

…Or they would have, if Popuri hadn't stopped halfway.

Jack had a bad feeling. Something big was about to happen and he didn't like it at all. He looked up into the sky for an answer, but found nothing but the sporadic puffy clouds.

After looking around for a few more moments, he shrugged it off as nothing and decided to continue on with what he was planning to do, and that was to go to Green Ranch and buy a chicken! While he was there, he was also planning on seeing if Karen was around.

"I…" Popuri said shakily, as if she was in unbelief. Gray and Ann stared at her in confusion. "What?" Ann snapped, obviously peeved that they were not on their way to finding the missing Cliff. "I…" Suddenly, Popuri's eyes lighted up and terror seemed to shine through them. "Cliff's in trouble! We need to pray!"

There was a silence that followed her statement, then Ann cried, "What?! What do you mean he's in trouble?" Popuri sighed, "I… I don't know. I just know that he's in trouble!" Ann's eyes widened as belief entered her mind. "What are we waiting for? We need to find him!"

"No!" Popuri's shrill voice surprised both Ann and Gray. "What do you mean no?" Ann hissed. Popuri sighed, "No, we can't look for him. We have to pray! I don't know why, but I just know!" Ann stared at Popuri in disbelief. "Pray? Pray?! Now's not the time to pray, Popuri! We need to find him!" Popuri didn't move and, instead, put her hands on her hips. "Prayer will help us a lot more than, looking around for him in vain will! We've already tried looking for him! It did us no good! God knows where he is, Ann! He will show us!" Gray cleared his throat and caused two sets of eyes to focus on him. "I'll round up the others," He said simply. Ann smiled in victory, but then Gray said the second part of his statement. "To pray."

"I can't believe those two! Cliff could be in serious trouble and they want to join hands and pray! What was that little weasel thinking?" Ann grumbled as she trudged around the mountainside searching for the lost Cliff. "Pray! What's that supposed to… get us? I mean… she's just trying to get out of ruining her clothes… right? Yeah! That's it! It must be! But… she doesn't even care about her clothes anymore… then why would she…"

Ann raised her face to the sky in frustration. "What do you want me to do?!" She roared in anger. There was no booming voice directing her steps. There was no one there to guide her. Instead, her only answer came from her heart. Pray.

"God. You see everything. You know where our brother, Cliff, is. We don't know what is wrong or why this is happening, but, Lord, we know that he is in trouble in some way. Wherever he may be, please help him and give him strength." Basil prayed. "And please guide Ann steps. Protect her and give her the direction to go. Amen." The nine out of ten people who composed the Army dropped their interlinked hands.

Anna cleared her throat, "I'll get Thomas to form a search party."

"And Gray and I will ride around the outskirts of town on horseback." Doug added. The others agreed and the emergency meeting of the Army was ended as quickly as it had begun.

Cliff's eyes had become slightly used to the darkness, and instead of pitch-blackness, he was able to see dark shapes. There wasn't much to see though because the only thing in the dark room was him and a solitary chair. But the minuscule sight he had gained helped calm Cliff down to the point where he could actually think clearly. Okay. Who could have done this? Do I have any enemies? He winced at that thought. He had enough enemies to worry about, but the odds of them managing to find and kidnap him successfully were very slim.

So who could have done it? Cliff's mind wandered to a familiar scene.

Cliff looked thoughtful. "They all just died off, huh?" Ann was silent for a moment, "Yeah. They all seemed to die from some incurable disease. It was like old age, but teenagers don't die from old age!" Cliff looked at her. "Teenagers?! You're right, teenagers don't die from old age… Do you think that they were killed?"

Cliff felt the need to escape more than ever. He began squirming and wiggling around to try to get free of the ropes. It was of no use though. Whoever had tied the ropes had tied them well.

Cliff's struggle was brought a close when the sound of a door opening filled the silence. A shaft of light appeared on one of the walls. The beam of light grew in size until it was in the shape of a large rectangle. Somebody had just opened the door that led outside. A silhouette of a large man cut off part of the light though…

"Where is everybody?" Jack wondered as he walked around the ranch in search of someone.

When Jack had arrived at the ranch, he had tried to enter Ann's house, also the ranch shop. The door had been locked although according to the shop hours, the shop should have been open. After that, Jack headed over to the house that Karen was staying in, but that too was locked. From there, Jack began wandering around the farm in search for anybody. So far he had failed in his search.

He looked at his watch. The small hand was on the two and the large was on the twelve. It was two o'clock.

After searching around some more, Jack finally gave up and headed back in the direction of his farm, only to be nearly trampled by Doug and Gray Green. "Hey!" He cried out barely avoiding the two. "Sorry, Jack!" Gray called out before the two sped across the expanse of land in the direction of the large barn in the distance. Jack followed them.

When Jack arrived at the barn, he was, once again, nearly run over. This time it was by two large horses. The riders were Gray and Doug. Before Jack could get them to explain their hurry, they were off, across the field, in the direction of Moon Mountain. Doug had a shotgun strapped to his back…

The heavy man kicked Cliff once more in the ribs just for the fun of it. Cliff cried out from the sharp blow.

Although Cliff could hardly see in the light, even with the door wide open, he could just make out the man's features. The man was very large, at least six and a half feet tall. But it wasn't his height that made him large. No, it was his bulk. The man was practically obese. Not only that, but he also wore a thick fur overcoat, only making him seem larger. There's no way this guy is the one that kidnaped me. He'd never make it through the town without being noticed! Cliff thought to himself in between blows.

After the kicking had ceased, the man sat down heavily in the wooden chair and pulled out a hunting magazine from the folds in his coat. The chair creaked under his weight. The man opened up the magazine and began reading it, leaving Cliff to his thoughts. Cliff didn't think much though.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He asked in a strained voice, still hurting from the beating. No answer. "Why are you keeping me here?" The man didn't even flinch. Cliff grew frustrated. "Hey! Answer me!" He yelled in anger. The man looked up in annoyance, rose from the chair, and delivered yet another kick to Cliff's stomach. Stars exploded around Cliff's head, and everything went black…

"There." Doug said, peering through his hunting binoculars. He pointed at a small wooden shack in the distance.

Doug and Gray had ridden around the mountain and had stopped when they had seen the large man enter the shack. The man, obviously not very smart, had left the door wide open, giving Doug the chance to look inside of the shack. He had watched sadly as Cliff was kicked repeatedly, but had decided against doing anything just yet. "He'll live through a few kicks. Don't worry." He had explained to Gray, who was ready to just storm the place and take Cliff back.

After waiting a few more minutes, they had figured out that the man probably wasn't going to be leaving for a while. Doug sighed and pulled the shotgun from its position on his back. "I'll try to scare him off."

Doug moved quickly, and ended up maybe just fifty feet from the small shack and the danger inside.

The sound of shotgun fire filled the air and many birds flew from a nearby tree. The man inside the shack lumbered outside to check out the disturbance. He was surprised to see Doug level a shotgun at him. Needless to say, he raised his hands into the air to signify that he was unarmed.

Gray quickly ran over to the shack and shook Cliff awake. He moaned at first, but soon he had regained full consciousness and was surprised to find Gray looming over him. "Gray? Where am I—" He groaned and gripped his stomach. "Ow." Gray just smiled and shook his head, "Come on. Everybody's worried sick."

Gray and Cliff stepped out of the shack, not surprised to see Doug and the man in the same position as they were when Gray first went in there. Doug looked relieved when he saw Cliff step out. The man, on the other hand, wasn't. In fact, he was downright angry. Angry enough to do something extremely stupid…

Cliff watched in horror as the man reached into the folds of his jacket and pulled out a small handgun. The man leveled the gun at Cliff and a shot rang out…

"Gunfire!" Ann cried out after hearing the shots. She rose from her place at the altar in the broken down church and ran out, heading towards the path that led down the other side of the mountain.

Cliff opened his eyes slowly and found that the unknown man was lying on the ground, face down. The handgun was a few feet away from him. Cliff looked to Doug slowly and could just barely see the smoke rising from the barrel of the shotgun.

Cliff looked back at the man then to Doug and back again. Then… he broke down and wept. He wept in joy and in sorrow. Joy of being set free and sorrow of the life that had to be taken in order for it to happen.

That's when he heard Ann's voice ring out. "Cliiiiiiiff!"

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HA! Yet another cliffhanger! HAHA! :-)

God Bless! R&R!

--Ben