Chapter 3 - I Can't Move on… Not Without Aren…

Jack's Point Of View

"Aren's gone… He's really gone… and I'll never see him again…" I place my head in my hands and cry looking up at the building in front of me as I hear Amber murmur something…

"You know he would've wanted this… it's the best for the both of you."

// Best?! \\

I stand up slowly and turn to look at her… "Best?" I wipe the tears from my cheeks and give her a sneer and spit to the side, "Don't you dare tell me that this was for the 'best'!" I dig my nails into the skin of my palms and the blood begins to emerge, I feel it trickle down my knuckles and fall to the ground.

"This I… is all your fault… I could've saved him… he would be with ME." And with the last word… I let out a cough.

"No he wouldn't, you would've died with him."

I look up at her and more tears fall from my eyes, I quickly wipe them away and close my eyelids tight, "NO! I COULD'VE SAVED HIM! HE WOULD'VE BEEN ALL RIGHT!" I yell and cough again.

***~~~ Third Person ~~~***

"No you wouldn't have, Jack listen to me." Amber walked over to Jack and pulled him into her arms, "It's over… we can't save him now… let's go home… ok." She suggested and smiled at the boy crying in her arms.

Jack pulled away and shook his head a little.

"Let's go…"

***~~~~~~~*** The Mall ***~~~~~~~***

Patsy looked up from her spot in the café as she heard someone walking up the stairs of the mall, "Aren? Jack? Amber?" She guessed.

"It's us." Lex said walking into the café with Tai San and Ryan behind him.

"Ryan!" Selene yelled running over to the three of them.

"Selene!" Ryan said wrapping his arms around the red head.

"Did you find the antidote?" Bray asked peering out of his room.

"Yup." Lex said smiling and lifted up one of the jugs in his hands, "Are Jack, Aren, and Amber back yet?" Tai San asked walking over to the tables and sitting down.

"Nope… not yet." Trudy said walking out of her room holding the baby in her arms.

"That's strange." Ryan said looking worried.

***~~~~~~*** Jack and Amber ***~~~~~~***

"Amber!" Jack yelled running over to the blond-headed leader.

"Yeah? What is it?" She asked turning to him.

"There's a man over there… he need sour help…" Jack said pulling in gaps of breath and pointing behind him, "He's stuck."

"Show me." Amber demanded.

Jack shook his head and they ran off in the direction that he pointed in before.

***~~~~~~~*** The Mall ***~~~~~~~***

Lex walked over to his room and sighed… "Well this sucks… we find the antidote and Jack Aren, and Amber decided not to show up… It's 9:00 in the morning!"

"Be calm Lex." Tai San said walking by, "They'll show up."

***~~~~~~*** Jack and Amber ***~~~~~~***

"What's your name?" Amber asked the guy as Jack helped him to some of his water.

"My name's Jade…" The guy said smiling at Jack.

Amber smiled at Jade and rolled her eyes, "Well… Jade… my names Amber and this is…"

"He already told me his name." Jade said cutting Amber's sentence short, "Jack…" He said still smiling at the young scientist.

Jack blushed and looked at Aren shyly and smiled back.

"Well. We better get back home." Amber said standing up and helped Jade up as well and they began to walk home.

***~~~~~~~*** The Mall ***~~~~~~~***

"I wonder when Jack, Amber, and Aren are gonna show up." Patsy said taking a sip of her soda and slowly setting it down on the table and looked over at Dal.

Bray walked into the room and spotted Danni in the corner talking to Selene, "Hey Selene, can I um… borrow Danni for a moment?" He asked pointing over to miss. mystery.

"Oh sure." Selene said giggling a little as Danni stood up and walked over to him.

"What do you want?" Danni asked as they walked into Bray's room.

"Have you seen Lex soon?" Bray asked looking a little concerned.

"No… why?" Danni said with a sigh.

"Well… Jack might be coming back soon and I'm just a little concerned for his safety."

"Hold on." Danni said putting up her hands, "Who is this 'Jack' and why are you so concerned for him?"

"Jack is our little genius, inventor, and scientist, I'm concerned for him: one, because we need his brain power and two, because Lex blames him for the explosion on eagle mountain and the death of his wife AND is out to kill him." Bray finished and then sat down on his hammock.

"So where is Jack right now?" Danni asked sitting in a seat beside Bray.

"He's with Amber and Aren, their looking for the antidote."

"But we already have the antidote." Danni pointed out.

"Yeah… but they don't know that." Bray also pointed out.

"Oh." Danni said leaning back in her seat.

***~~~~~~*** Jack, Jade, and Amber ***~~~~~~***

"So… Jade… what are your interests?" Jack asked watching Amber as she walked off to find some food.

"Well… I like to research on stuff, I always enjoy a good challenge, I like to fight, I like to write… I want to be a story writer one day." Jade said smiling at Jack, "Hey I got a question." He said looking down, "Why do you always look sad?"

"Sad?" Jack gasped and then looked down, "Well do you know that bad explosion yesterday?"

"Yeah…" Jade looked at Jack oddly.

"Well… my boyfriend died… in that explosion." Jack said looking down as tears fell from his eyes.

"Boyfriend?" Jade said looking at Jack sadly.

"Yeah he WAS my best friend and then he… sorta became my boyfriend." Jack said looking up at Jade.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Jade said looking at the ground, "I shouldn't have asked."

"No… it's ok… you would've found out anyway." Jack said wiping the tears from his eyes.

Jade smiled and looked up at Amber as she walked towards he two boys, "Did you find anything?"

"Nope… we have to get back to the mall… and quick… before this day ends… the gangs probably worried about us." Amber said picking up her stuff.

"Jade… do you want to join out tribe?" Jack asked looking at Jade as he stood up.

"Sure… ok." Jade said as Jack helped him up.

"Great!" Jack said giving him a smile.

***~~~~~~~*** The Mall ***~~~~~~~***

Dal walked into Chloe's room and smiled at Patsy, "Do you know where Chloe is?" He asked with his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah she's in the café…" Patsy said looking up from a pile of jewelry, "Why do you want to know?"

"I need to ask her a favor." Dal said smiling, "Thanks Pats." He said and with a slight wave, walked out of the room.

"Chloe!" He called out walking into the café.

"Yeah?" Chloe asked and looked up at Dal.

"I need you to do something for me." He said and smiled evilly.

"Will I like it?" Chloe asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, you will… that is… if you like doing bad things to weak and sensitive scientists…" Dal said with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

***~~~~~~*** Jack, Jade, and Amber ***~~~~~~***

"We're almost there." Jack said as the mall came into view.

Amber looked up and smiled, "Well Jade… that's gonna be your new home…" She said pointing at the tall building.

"Wow…" Jade said as they came closer to it.

"Yup… that's where we first found Jack…" Amber said with a sigh and closed her eyes.

~~~******~~~ KC ~~~******~~~

"KC?" Dal said walking into the thief's room and following closely behind... was Chloe.

"Yeah?" KC asked walking out of his closet.

"I need you to help me with something... I think your going to like it..." Dal said and looked over at Chloe.

***~~~~~~~~~~~***

Yeah, yeah… I'm mean… looks like Jack's gonna have a ruff time… WATCH OUT MY LITTLE SCIENTIST! DAL'S HERE! I always thought of Dal as having a secret life… kind of like Trudy… so here it is peoples… Stay tuned for the next chapter… -^.~