Author's Note: Due to some graphical violence the next two chapters will be rated R. Advance at your own risk…

Chapter 7

"Mr. Carter!" Mike shouted and for the first time since William Carter had met him the other man wasn't perfectly composed. Which was why he turned around and left the elevator he'd just gotten in, wondering what could have his assistant in such a state.

"Mike, what is it? Is everything alright?" he asked, walking towards his assistant and glanced at the clock on the wall. He had a press conference to attend, another one where he'd have to tell everyone they had no news.

"Mr. Carter," Mike panted and braced himself against the wall. He'd sprinted all the way over here from his office, where he'd just gotten off the phone. "Mark Black, the lead investigator on Flight 2133, just called. Sir, they've found something strange."

This caught Mr. Carter's attention and he urged Mike to continue, leading the other man back towards his office, "What exactly did they find Mike?"

"Sir, they say that the inflatable slide the plane comes equipped with is missing. First they thought it didn't deploy, but it is no longer in the plane, so they assumed it'd gotten damaged and sank…"

"And?" Mr. Carter could feel himself starting to get nervous. Maybe they'd finally get an answer what'd happened to those passengers and give everyone some peace about this.

"Well, according to the crews on scene everything in the area was recovered and the investigators say they never even received even a tiny piece of the slide. Mr. Black informed me that they're almost certain that it was detached from the plane by human hands."

William Carter blinked in astonishment and then let out the breath he was holding, "Mike, that's amazing news. If the missing passengers were on that slide they could've drifted off somewhere. What did Mr. Black suggest our next course of action should be?"

"According to Mr. Black they believe that the slide would retain enough buoyancy to still be visible by air even now. I also talked to McKenzie, who was heading the rescue effort at the crash site and he mentioned a medium sized island nearly a mile from the site. We believe the slide might've washed ashore there. It wasn't included in the search area up to now, because we thought it too far, but maybe…" Mike trailed off, leaving his boss to make his own conclusions.

Trying to take all the information, William Carter nodded slowly and turned to his assistant with a stern look, "Mike, call McKenzie and tell him I want him on the next Coast Guard ship on their way to the crash site and tell him to immediately dispatch two helicopters to search the area by air, and make sure they know to fly over that island!"

Mike nodded and scurried off quickly. William Carter sank into his chair and sighed heavily, the press conference all but forgotten.

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Her lungs burned with every breath she took. Branches and thorns on the brush she ran through left tiny cuts on her skin. More than once had she nearly tripped over a tree root or barely avoided some obstacle. But Bianca didn't care. All she could think about was Greenlee, the scream she'd heard and the fight they'd had.

Bianca generally wasn't a very bold person, but the fear that had tightened around her heart at hearing her friend scream, edged her on. She knew Blake was behind her, she'd heard him take off after her shortly after she'd started running. Hoping that Turtle and Amelia were staying behind at camp, like Blake had shouted at them too when taking off, Bianca closed her eyes for a split-second, willing Greenlee to be okay.

She was certain that whatever had taken Rachel, Joe, Father Abe and Jan now had Peter and Greenlee, and Bianca surely wasn't going to let them get away with that. After all, she was her mother's daughter and Erica Kane surely wouldn't let some invisible monster mess with her.

Totally engrossed in her thoughts, she jumped as a hand closed around her shoulder. Turning around she sighed in relief when she found Blake standing behind her.

"Blake, what're you doing?"

"Uh following you, I thought. But Bianca, you've got to slow down. What do you think you're going to do if you find them, huh? Something, or someone, obviously took them and we can't fight anyone," he explained and Bianca grimaced at the fact that he was actually right.

"So, what do you suggest we do?" she asked, now feeling pretty stupid for just taking off.

"I say we follow them slowly for now. They're not covering their tracks; I doubt they expected anyone to follow them. Meanwhile we can catch our breaths and figure out what to do," he grinned at her, obviously proud of his accomplishment and she smiled back warily.

"Why are you helping me?"

He shrugged and began walking at a brisk pace next to her, "Well, you might have a boyfriend, but that doesn't mean I can't prove myself worthy and make you fall for me."

Bianca suppressed a groan as he winked at her and almost told him she was gay. However, she decided against it, figuring that if he was helping her it was only in her best interest for him to think she was straight. They walked in silence, following the tracks left in the dirt by the kidnappers.

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"Coast Guard One, this is Alpha Two, please come in," the voice came over the speaker cracking and static-y, but still audible and Al McKenzie snapped up the microphone quickly.

"Alpha Two this is Coast Guard One, what do you have?" He felt nervous, staring out at the vast ocean and hoping for some good news. For over two months now he had headed up the rescue effort for Flight 2133 and although they had done everything possible, ten passengers were still missing. It wasn't that he thought them in danger, McKenzie knew there would be no survivors, but he prided himself in doing his job well and recovering all the bodies of crash victims for their families to have closure.

He'd received the call just a few hours ago and had immediately called up the Coast Guard with the news. Although the crash site was far from any national borders and was located out in no-man's land, since the plane, passengers and crew had been American the Coast Guard was directly involved in the recovery. The closest ship that was equipped to deal with the recover of crash victims, however, had been over a day away from the site and McKenzie had grudgingly taken a chopper to board the ship. At least the choppers he'd dispatched to look over the larger crash area were having more success than him, or so he hoped.

"We've been flying rounds in the crash area, but found nothing. However, we just did a sweep over that island and saw something. We went to take a closer look, but the trees keep us from getting too low. From up here it looks like a big, yellow tent and there's some smoke from a fire," the man's voice said over the speakers and McKenzie narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Alpha Two, you said a tent?"

"Yes. Sir, on the side of it are the numbers 0693478."

McKenzie nearly dropped the microphone in his hand at hearing the pilot's words. Those were the numbers of the crashed plane and he knew that for safety precautions the plane's numbers were stenciled on all removable material. He knew, without a doubt, that this 'yellow tent' had to be the slide missing from Flight 2133.

"Alpha Two, can you land on the island?" he asked, his voice shaky. The fact that the pilots had reported there being a fire made him wonder if somehow there had been survivors after all.

"Negative sir, the brush is too thick. Rescue crews will have to come by boat."

"Alright, thank you Alpha Two, you can return to base. Over and out," he said and immediately reached for the satellite phone. He had to call William Carter immediately.

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She only barely managed to open her eyes, but when she did she wished she hadn't. The stinging pain in her wrists told her they were tied up, behind her back. She tried to crane her neck to look around her, but the pain that shot up in her head at the action made her groan instead.

"Greenlee," came the soft voice from her side and she turned slowly, looking into Peter's face. He sported a black eye and several small cuts on his face and was tied with his arms behind him around a large pole.

"Peter, what happened?" she questioned and turned quickly as she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes. She couldn't do anything but stare open-mouthed at the two men in front of her, one wearing a loincloth and a large headdress, the other nothing but a loincloth and a feather necklace.

"They ambushed us and then brought us here. I think they're preparing for some kind of ritual or something," Peter mumbled as the headdress man advanced on them, yelling in a weird language.

"Well, at least now we know what happened to the others," Greenlee remarked, grimacing at the pain in her wrists and head. The restraints were tight around her wrists, leaving her no room to move and the grim look on the headdress man's face made her afraid.

As Greenlee looked around she realized they must be in a village, because of the dozens of huts that were built around the parameter of the circle they were in now. Within a few minutes plenty more people assembled around them, all dark-skinned and wearing weird feather costumes; it seemed the whole village was there.

"Oh, this can't be good," she mumbled as the headdress man, who she figured was the chief, raised his hands and everyone fell quiet to listen to him speak. He repeatedly pointed in their direction and every time he did, the people all cheered. After a short while the people directed their attention towards the two poles Greenlee and Peter were tied to and they watched as several women walked towards them, bowls in their hands.

Greenlee at first expected them to cut her open and take her heart or something equally disturbing, but the women just dipped their hands in the bowls and began drawing weird symbols on Greenlee's and Peter's bodies with a dark-red paste. When they finally stopped and walked back to the other villagers, they all fell to their knees and seemingly prayed to their two captives. Grimacing, Greenlee tried fervently to undo her restraints; she was getting extremely creeped out by the tribal people.

Suddenly, three large men who looked like warriors were next to Peter, untying him. Greenlee watched, horrified, as they led him to a large stone slab in the middle of the circle and tied him to it. Somehow she had a feeling they weren't planning a tea party and the thought of them doing something to Peter made her sick to her stomach. She struggled with the restraints, but they wouldn't budge even an inch, only further cutting into her wrists.

The tribal chief stood next to Peter, who was also trying to break his restraints to no avail. A warrior walked over and knelt in front of his chief, a large dagger in his hands that he was presenting. The chief nodded and took the dagger, speaking a few words in his language before raising the weapon high over his head.

"Hey! What're you doing? You bastards, let me go! Peter!" Greenlee screamed, but everyone in the village pointedly ignored her, instead watching their chief with the weapon.

The chief in his headdress gripped the dagger tightly and with a swift stroke stabbed it downward, directly into his victim's heart. Peter's eyes bulged at the shock, but he was dead within a second, his body now hanging limply in the restraints. Greenlee watched the red blood drip from his chest onto the stone, feeling her stomach rebel at the sight.

And the tribal people cheered.

What do you guys think? Let me know! Oh and the next chapter is also rated R, just to be safe…