Disclaimer: I certainly do not own Zero ((but he's sooo cute)) nor do I own many other things Louis Sachar and Walt Disney have made up. HOLES belongs to Mr. Sachar, THINGS-YOU-DO-NOT-RECOGNISE probably belong to me.

My Angel, My Only

Chapter Twelve ll Marya Lou

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Zero ran as fast as he could, dragging the shovel behind him. He didn't know where he was running to. Just away.

It was all Mr. Pendanski's fault. If he hadn't kept twitting about how stupid he was...

Zero wasn't even aware that he was making vicious movements with the shovel. He ran until he couldn't run anymore.

He looked behind him, and couldn't see the compound. Amazing.

He wondered how long he had been running for.

Zero stopped and leant on the shovel for support. He was still about a fragment of an inch shorter than it, but still... he was exhausted. That was completely off the subject but Zero didn't care. Of course.

He was probably going to die out here... He didn't have his canteen.

Just the shovel.

Taking a deep breath, and inhaling the dust, he walked... and walked... and walked...

Meanwhile, the sun just kept getting hotter and hotter. It was his enemy.

Zero's legs felt like they would give way any second. But he managed to stay standing up.

He was stupid. Not in the way Mr. Pendanski had taunted him, but still stupid.

Why had he ran away?!

Zero knew it was stupid. Camp Green Lake was the only place for a hundred miles all 'round that had water and food. That was why no one ran away.

But he hated digging holes. Hated being held captive. That was why he hadn't liked living in the homeless shelter.

Hated watching the others blame Stanley, when it was his, Zero's, fault.

He hated how people asked stupid questions.

Hated a lot of things.

Hated not knowing what had happened to his mother.

Hated Mr. Pendanski. Mr. Sir. The Warden. Zigzag.

Hated...

He was running out of things to hate.

The shovel dragged behind him, making a scraping noise. He walked for about an hour, before collapsing onto the ground.

He hated the sun.

It was getting too hot for him. The dust whipped into his face, making it hard to see and breathe.

He coughed, and staggered to his feet, because he knew that if he got too comfortable, he would fall to his death. He used the shovel for support.

Zero walked, thinking about how much he hated everything. On a few occasions, he had almost walked into a hole.

There was a noise. A rattling, hissing noise.

Zero jerked up, immediately alert. It was a rattlesnake. He stared at it. He remembered what Barf Bag had done.

Did he have the guts to do it, too?

It was giving Zero his rattle, warning him to stay away.

Zero took a step closer. He was going to die anyway...

If only, if only.

A clear image of his mother suddenly exploded in his mind. Zero gave a cry and dropped to his knees. The shovel fell with a clang beside him, making the earth vibrate. The rattlesnake hissed and slithered away.

"Why'd you leave me all alone," Zero whimpered, his eyes stinging. A single tear fell from his eye, and he licked it up hungrily.

His mother smiled at him.

"I love you, Hector. I'll never let go of you. Never."

Zero didn't remember his mother saying that to him, but he knew she had said to him at one stage in his life.

I'll never let go of you.

He wondered why she did let go of him. Left him all alone.

Breathing heavily, Zero got to his feet again. He had to keep on walking... Because he didn't want to die. Because he wanted to see Stanley and his mother again.

It was impossible.

His throat was dry and felt like sandpaper. The air was thick with heat and dust. It made him feel that death would be better than this.

When he collapsed for the third time, Zero didn't get up for a long time. Then with a groan, he looked up and thought he saw an angel.

He was hallucinating. That was for sure.

Then he blinked and looked. There was something in the middle of nothing. A fallen over tree trunk?

Get up. Don't lie here and wait for death to happen.

Zero coughed, and ran his dry tongue over his even more dry lips. He retrieved the shovel.

Then he stayed there.

He kept a visible image of his mother in his mind, and managed to stagger to his feet.

The sun was setting.

And the thing was still visible. He took a step forward, and it didn't run away.

Maybe it was real.

The shovel was so heavy. Heavier than it usually was. Maybe because he was so tired and exhausted.

Grimacing, he dragged his heavy, heavy body and his heavy, heavy shovel towards the thing.

When he finally reached it, it was barely visible. Zero's eyes had grown so heavy they had closed over his eyes.

It was a boat. An upside-down boat half-buried in the dirt.

With the last of his strength, Zero crawled under it and let himself lay down, closing his eyes. The boat shaded him, and it was nice and cool.

"If only, if only,
The moon speaks no reply,
Reflecting the sun and all that's gone by.
Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly,
Fly high, my baby bird,
My angel, my only."

---

Zero didn't know how long he had slept for. All he knew was he opened his eyes to find himself under the boat. It was very late afternoon, perhaps early evening.

His throat was very dry and parched.

Then it hit him. He was still alive.

Rubbing his eyes, Zero sat up a little bit and looked around. He found a wooden crate in the corner of the boat.

With the shovel, Zero banged against the wooden crate. Nothing happened. After experimenting a bit more, he uncovered hinges. Zero fiddled with them a bit, and managed to open the box.

He peered in. With weak hands, he took out a jar of what looked like mud.

Without thinking, he unscrewed the lid of the jar. It came off easily. He brought it to his lips and drank. It was sweet and tangy, and felt wonderful as he hungrily drank all of the jar's contents.

It tasted a bit like peaches.

But Zero didn't care. He felt moisture return back to his mouth.

Panting a little bit because he had drank so quickly; he crawled out from underneath the boat. He tried to look for the camp compound, but he had walked for a few hours so it was impossible to see anything.

He felt dizzy, and was about to crawl back underneath his shelter when he saw peeling red letters painted on the boat.

The letters looked nothing like what Stanley had taught him.

It took Zero a little while to figure out they were upside down.

He twisted his head a bit, and tried to read it.

He sounded it out to himself.

"Mm--ar--yuh. Luh--oh--oo."

Zero scratched his head. He had never heard of that before.

He was too tired.

Zero crawled back under his shelter.

He was going to die.

He stared up at the sky, through the cracks and holes of the boat. It was getting dark.

Dragging the crate over, Zero licked his lips. He peered into the box again, and began to pull out all of the jars, one by one.

"Fifteen," he said to himself, setting down the last jar onto the dirt ground.

There was low, painful rumbling in his stomach. He groaned and clutched it.

The moment passed, and he took several deeps breath.

"Sixteen," he said again, looking at the empty jar in the corner.

Sixteen jars of black slush peaches.

He smiled.

He didn't know why he was smiling.

Zero carefully placed the jars of whatever in the corner. He took one jar, and tried to unscrew it. It was sealed tightly.

He felt so tired.

With a sigh, Zero brought up the jar to the side of the boat and banged against it. Nothing happened. He smashed the top open on the second try.

Zero quickly brought the broken jar to his mouth, and drank it down quickly. It felt so good.

When he finished, he set the broken jar aside. There were now fourteen jars left.

I wonder what it is, he thought vaguely. It was slushy, bubbly and slurpy. Everytime he took a gulp of it, it made a little 'sploosh sploosh' noise.

"Sploosh," Zero said suddenly, with a smile. He wondered what was wrong with him. He was smiling at the most ridiculous things.

He set his small head comfortably in the corner of the boat, and drifted off to sleep.

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---- A/N: I hope that wasn't too angsty or somethin'! Yeah, you just so have to love Zero. ((squeezes him to death))

Zero: ((gasping)) Need -- air!

Oooh! ((releases)) Sorry. Hehe. So... any last words?

Zero: Wast words?

Oh, you're not going to die or anything. I just said that to add effect. Okay: any words?

Zero: ((nods))

Well, say them!

Zero: But if woo forgwet to come bwack for Madame Zewoni, woo and wur famiwy will be curthed fwor alwayth and eternithy! ((giggles hysterically))

HAHAHAHHA! I just love that part of the movie. Mad. ((smiles))

Zero: ((boredly)) Eat cookieth... or elthe. Eat wowwipopth...

Yeah, yeah. Go eat a DVD, will you?

Zero: ((chews on MSQ's Holes DVD))

=O NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

(BEEP. The end of the chapter comes with MSQ wrestling her precious DVD from little Zero's mouth.)

--MSQ.