I'm sorry chapter 11 took so long for me to update. My computer was updated and in the process all my fanfiction was erased, but luckily I had it all on a thumb (usb) drive, the only thing was that I had changed some stuff in this chapter and the updated one wasn't saved on the usb drive, so I had to rewrite it agian.
Runaway: Part 1

Annie watched the group play football/soccer. She was still thinking about what Shelby had said. Annie didn't want Scott as a boyfriend, but just as a friend but no matter what she had said wouldn't convince Shelby of that. She just wouldn't listen. She was so determined that she, Annie, wanted to take Scott from her.

Annie felt empty inside; a feeling of deep loss and that she was unloved. She felt so alone in the world.

Tears started to form in her eyes as she thought about it all. She figured no one would ever care about her and that she'd never be totally happy. Even her walk alone hadn't cheered her up like it always did.

Annie went into a clearing of bushes, allowing herself to sob out loud. She sat with her head on her knees, closing her eyes.

Just then the round soccer ball/football came out of now where and hit her head. It bounced away as Annie rubbed her head. Then thinking someone would come retrieve it, wiped her tears away.

Scott ran though the brush, searching for the ball. He spotted it and then saw Annie. He studied her.

"You okay?" Scott asked.

"I'm fine," she answered.

"You sure?"

"I'm fine. Leave me alone." Scott opened his mouth to respond, but turned to leave.

Annie heard Scott leave and started to cry again. Scott heard her and hesitated, but she had told him to leave her alone, so he continued to the game.

Annie got up and ran off to the woods; away from the school, people, and everything that made her unhappy.

She choked as she ran, but kept going. Even when her legs and lungs hurt, even when her head started throbbing, she didn't stop. She stumbled once, twice, and a third time. Then once more and fell to the ground, still crying her heart out.

She pounded her fists against the moist ground and gave a loud scream of mental pain. Annie got up and ran again. This time when she stumbled the first time, she fell.

After a long while she stopped crying and looked at her surroundings. She had no clue where she was. Slowly and quieter then before, she sobbed. She got up, but suddenly got dizzy and felt sick. She went to sit back down and ended up passing out.


Thunder sounded over the mountainside as the clouds turned thick and gray. A bolt of lighting stuck a few miles away. Peter looked around and then at Sophie.

"I think we should gather everyone in the dinning area," He suggested.

"I think your right."

They rounded the six groups of teenagers into the dinning area.

"Peter," called Sophie, "Juliette, says that Annie's out walking."

"Ok, get some of the kids to help you bring in the sleeping bags."

Sophie, Scott, Auggie, and two other boys went to fetch the sleeping bags, while Peter went to get Annie.


"She's not were she usually walks," Peter told Sophie at the shed, his voice sounded concerned.

"She probably saw the storm and headed to the dining area by now." Peter nodded. He checked the girl's cabin, before heading to the cafeteria .


"Have any of you seen Annie?" Peter asked the Cliffhangers.

"Last time I saw her was when you invited her to play with us," Daisy said. Scott came up and handed her a bag.

"Have you seen Annie?" Peter asked him.

"Um during the ga- wait I saw her when I went to get the ball."

"Where?"

"In a clearing of bushes. Wh-"

"Show me." Scott led him away.

"Why do you need to know?"

"She's missing; we can't find her anywhere." A flash of lightning struck, followed by thunder. Scott sped up a fraction. They got to the clearing and searched for her.

"Where can she be?" Peter's voice was all concern now. He spotted faint footprints on the ground.

"She took off."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Look, footprints. She went up the mountain." Peter started back.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be going after her?"

"I have a whole school to take care of. Anyway, she could be long gone by now. I'll have to send a rescue crew." Peter wanted to look for her, he really did, but he had other things to do at the moment.


Annie opened her eyes, feeling groggy. She felt soaked and could feel little droplets hitting her skin. She started to shiver violently.

Slowly, she tried to rise, leaning against a tree for support. She began to feel dizzy, but continued to rise, closing her eyes to make it go away.

Feeling better, she opened them and glanced around. It was pitch black, except when lightning struck. She let her eyes adjust, as she tried to figure things out. She remembered having an argument with Shelby and telling Scott to leave her alone, then taking off into the woods.

A bit steadier on her legs, she let go off the tree and saw lightning flash a few more times. Looking around once more, she headed to the right.


Peter entered his office, with Scott right behind him. Quickly, he called a rescue team, Curtis.

"Hi, Curtis you think you can get someone up here to look for a dirty blond with blue eyes around 15 years-old?" He paused.

"Yeah, one of my kids took off. It was before the storm on what I've gathered from others.'

'As soon as you can then? Thanks, Curtis. Bye."


"Where's Annie?" Sophie asked when Peter and Scott came into the warm cabin.

"She went up the mountain. I called someone, but everyone's busy. Curtis said the storm was going to be bad and that there's a chance we'll get some snow."

"She probably found shelter somewhere and is fine." Sophie tried to higher Peter's spirit. He gave her a smile, and then said, "I hope so."

Juliette noticed Scott seemed down as he walked toward them.

"Something wrong?" She asked him.

"Where's Shel?"

"She and some others went to make sandwiches," Auggie answered, "So what's getting you down, Meat?"

"Annie's gone."

"In this storm?" Juliette asked, while Auggie said, "What do you mean?"

Scott nodded, "Yes, out in this storm, and Curtis is tied up so no one can go find her."

Shelby came up to Scott, hugging him from behind.

"What's going on?" She asked and the others sat on their sleeping bags.


"All groups stationed?" Peter asked Sophie.

"Yep, Wind Dancers to the right, Trackers to the left, Sundogs and Ridge Runners in the middle, Night Crawlers by the door, and Cliffhangers by the fire place," Sophie answered. They, along with Jeff, were handing out the sandwiches for everyone.

"Lets play a game with the kids. They're getting bored," Peter suggested.

"And what game is going to interest all these kids?" Just as Sophie finished the lights went out, leaving the fire as the only source of light.

"Just a black out," Peter assured them all, turning on the flashlight in his hand.

"I think we need light before we can play a game."


"Ok, Cliffhangers and Night Crawlers, form a circle in the middle of the room and everyone get where they can see them," Peter ordered the school. The room was now lit with candles, lanterns, and flashlights.

"Now, my selected groups are going to demonstrate a game, that has already been explained to them. I'll tell you the rules and then we'll all play.'

'This is a counting game," sighs and groans came from a few students, "We can all go to bed if you'd like.'

'As I was saying. A counting game, you go one, two, three, etc., but for one of the numbers you say something else. Such as for five you say bee. Every time someone gets to that number you say bee. If you came to 15 you say bee teen of if you get to 55 you say bee bee. You go around the circle and go up to a hundred. After that you add another substitute for a number. 2 is . . . cat. You go on and on.'

'If you would start out with 5 as bee, please," Peter mentioned to the groups. The two groups started out with one of the male Night Crawlers, "One."

"Two."

"Three." They went around the circle. Auggie forgot to say bee-teen.

"Your out Auggie, go sit out of the circle," Said Peter. It went on until a Night Crawler got out.

"Now then, each round is 100 long. Once one round is done, the person after who ever said 100 picks another substitute and so on.'

'I want the Trackers and Wind Dancers to form a group.

Ridge Runners and Sundogs for another. In 15 minutes you'll all switch. The person who wins one round will get a treat." Peter watched solemnly as they obeyed.

"What's wrong?" Sophie asked.

"Thinking about Annie. She's so young and in this storm," He answered. A clap of thunder echoed in the room.

"Let's go check the radio," Sophie suggested. Peter left the kids in Jeff and Roger's hands while they did.

Scott watched them leave and purposely got out. He followed them to the office.

When he entered, they stared at him. Peter was already off the radio.

"Have they found her?" Scott asked before they could question why he was there.

"No," Peter shook his head; "Their very busy and some rescues have back fired." Scott looked worried.

"Come on, let's get back to the game. Get your mind off her, she'll be fine." Sophie pushed them both out.

Scott sat behind Shelby, who was still in. Juliette moved beside him.

"Where'd you run off to?"

"Peter's office. They haven't even attempted to find Annie."

"What?" Shelby asked, now in the conversation.

"Yeah, apparently they're too busy and it's too dangerous." Shelby looked out one of the windows, starting to feel a bit guilty.

"Peter said not to worry. Well Sophie did," Scott assured them.

"Shelby!" Ezra yelled.

"What?"

"Your turn."

"Oh, where were you?"

"Bee-fish," Ezra answered.

"Bee-seventy."


Shelby, Bob from the Wind Dancers, and Tony from the Ridge Runners won a candy. They switched groups three times and then settled down for bed.

Shelby held Scott in her arms and Juliette put wood on the fire. Daisy and Ezra sat close to each other.

The group heard Peter come back from the radio. Scott saw him shake his head to Sophie, and she got sorrowful. Everyone around them was getting ready for bed. Peter came up to them.

"Bed time," He told them.

"What about Annie?"

"Nothing yet. They'll send something in the morning."

"She could be dead by then," Scott augured.

Sighing, "We'll have to take a chance."

"Wh-"

"Scott, I really want to go find her, believe me I do, but I have a whole school to take care of and I might get struck by lightning. It's just too dangerous right now. Curtis has five rescues out; two stuck in the mud; one slide down a hill and one got crushed between a tree.'

'Lights out in ten minutes." He left with that.

The group got ready for bed. Auggie had to stay up to watch the fire.


For what seemed like the millionth time, Annie saw lightning strike and thunder crash in the sky. She thought she saw something in the distance.

Lightning streaked the sky again, and it was the top of a roof. Her heart leaped, and she ran toward it.

She started choking, but didn't dare to stop. Suddenly she did stop; not because of all the pain she felt, but there was a ragging river. She couldn't see a bridge anywhere.

Should I try to cross it? She asked herself, walking up and down the side of the body of rushing water. Looking ahead, she noticed something that seemed to cross the river. Maybe there was a bridge after all.

She started for it, and getting closer she realized it was the bridge. Without any second thoughts, Annie began walking across it.

The mass of wood, bolts, and rope swung to and fro while she trudged to the other side. It frightened her when the wind changed directions, causing the bridge to suddenly shift.

In front of her was a broken board, so she went to step over it.

In the process of stepping over it, the wind violently reversed its direction and knocked her off her feet. She tumbled over the railing, but luckily was quick enough to grab onto the bridge. Steadily, her hand began slipping and she grabbed on with the other one.

Heart pounding, Annie attempted to pull herself up. Her muscles strained with the effort and collapsed after a failed attempt. Again, she tried to save herself from the freezing water's grasp. This time she was able to pull half of her body up.

Then somewhere on the bridge, the rope split, causing half of it to plunge into the river.

Annie choked, releasing the water that had entered her mouth and began trembling once more. Her grip still clenched the rope with all her might, but the only thing that crossed her mind was how freezing cold the water was.

After a bit, the cold went away and she got very sleepy and warm. Annie wanted to lay right there in the water and take a nap. She almost did, but when she relaxed and dropped into the water, she choked, waking her up.

If her hand hadn't have been still gripping the bridge, she would have fallen down river.

Without really thinking about it, Annie began slithering toward the other side of shore, using the rope as support.


Scott had just fallen asleep and somebody was already waking him up.

"What?"

"It's your turn for the fire," Said Daisy.

"I'm up, I'm up." He went to the fire, sitting down.

His mind soon drifted to Annie. He shouldn't have yelled at her that one day she was following him. She had said she was lonely and that no one would talk to her, but he had told her to back off. He had thought she was going to break Shelby and him up. Shelby had started on her first. It had been that way with others that had gone to the school. Now some were dead, having committed suicide. He didn't want that to happen to Annie.

He saw the fire die and saw Annie's face in it. Scott snapped out of it and put more wood in the fireplace. He glanced at Peter as he walked in.

"I'm going after her."

"Peter-" Sophie was interrupted.

"The storm has settled down. If I'm lucky, maybe I can find her before it starts up again."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"I'm coming with you," Said a voice. They turned to see Scott.

"No, Sco-"

"I saw her in the clearing and I knew she wasn't okay. I should have stayed with her. I should have been there when she didn't have any one else to talk to that one day instead of yelling at her to go away." Peter opened his mouth, but couldn't find anything to say to Scott.

"If he's going, I'm going," Shelby said.

"Shel," Peter started.

"No, I told her to back away from Scott because I thought she was going to steal him from me. We had an argument the other day."

"I'm coming, too."

"Me, too." All the Cliffhangers now wanted to go.

"You all can't go," Peter said.

"We should have listened to Annie when she needed someone," Daisy spoke for the group.

"I'm defiantly going," Scott told them all.

"Me, too," Shelby said.

Peter sighed, "Pick a number from one to twenty. The two that are closest comes with Scott, Shelby, and me.

"12," Juliette said.

"8." Daisy.

"20." Auggie.

"15." Ezra.

"Juliette got it, and Ezra is closer than 20 or 8.'

'All right you four, let's go get some gear."

"I'm coming with you as well. Roger and Jeff can take over," Sophie said.

"Scott, did Annie have a jacket on?"

"Doesn't she always?" Scott asked.

"Well, today it was warmer . . ."

"Yeah, come to think of it, she did say it was nice out, but I think it was wrapped around her waist. "

"She could possibly have hypothermia," Peter guessed and grabbed some extra blankets.

They all headed out into the darkness.


Annie struggled to crawl toward the building in the distance. She felt very weak, as if she was going to pass out any moment now.

She kept nearing the building, knowing she had to get to it. Knowing shelter and safety lay there. Her vision blurred, but she kept going on and her muscles hurt from the struggle. It was like they were going to fall off.

After the long exhausting crawl, she collapsed on the floor of the building. She kicked the door closed, and her eyelids fell shut.


Peter led the way up the mountain. He was followed closely by Scott, Shelby, Juliette, Ezra, and Sophie in the rear. They hadn't found any clues to where Annie would have gone. The storm had washed them all away.

A cold wind blew. Each wore a warm thick jacket, but each felt it. A clap of thunder and lightning struck the sky.

"Ten minutes apart. It's coming back," Sophie told them.


Annie barely opened her eyes, seeing lightning flash. Her mind felt too groggy to reregister anything. She rolled over onto her back, staring at the ceiling. Her breathing was rough and she couldn't feel the cold at all.

Slowly, Annie looked around the building. She noticed a heater along the wall. Crawling over to it, she studied it; she turned the one switch on and turned the temperature to 100 degrees, expecting it to turn on; it didn't though.

She glanced around, confused. She looked out the window and saw that it had stopped raining.


The thunder got a lot closer together within 15 minutes. So the group started searching for a place to temporally put up camp.

Sophie eventually found a clearing and they put up the tents. Peter, Scott, and Shelby shared one tent. While Sophie, Juliette, and Ezra were in the other.

Just as they settled down for a quick nap, the wind picked up and the rain began again. Scott stared at the tent's ceiling as the lantern was turned off for bed. He listened to the howl of the wind and the thunder while watching the lightning flash across the sky. Scott sighed aloud, closing his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

"We'll find her," Shelby whispered to him reassuringly and took his and in hers.


Getting to her feet, she headed for the door. She tried to remember where she had came. Annie was extremely bewailed and couldn't remember anything, but for some reason, she just felt that she had to move.

Hearing a river, she decided that she didn't want to go that way: not remembering that she had crossed it earlier. She went in the opposite direction, wondering cluelessly in the total darkness.


The storm had kept everyone awake, so when it settled down a bit, and after a little snack, the group started out.

They all felt the urge grow to find Annie now that they had experienced what it was like.

Annie looked at the sky, admiring it. She loved the color it made when lightening lit the sky.

Abruptly, a raindrop hit her arm. Another and another until it was pouring again. She shivered as a chill went up her spine and she started coughing roughly.

Thunder roared, closely followed by lightening. The wind picked up around her. Annie picked up her pace. Startled, as another loud clap of thunder enveloped the sky, Annie began to run in panic.

Her throat hurt even more as she ran. Her ribs cried out for her to stop and her heart raced as fast as it could.

Suddenly, it felt like someone took a knife and stabbed her chest. She fell down in pain. Annie held her breath, hoping the stabbing pain would go away. Instead, she ran out of breath and breathed hard, which made it worse. She lied on the muddy ground, wishing it would go away.

After what seemed like an eternity, the pain stopped. Annie carefully got up, incase movement would bring it back.

A bolt of lightening struck a tree ten feet ahead of her. She screamed in horror as it was engulfed in flames. Annie started to cry and watched as the fire brightened. Her brain wasn't thinking straight and she was now in shock.

The fire got bigger and warmer. Annie felt the warmth and wanted it. She stepped toward the fire, not thinking. She got closer as it got bigger, but then it got smaller, the rain, snow, putting it out.

"No . . . No!" She cried.

A sound broke her away from the fire. Her heart raced at the thought of what it could be.

A deer and her fawn ran out to the bushes and away from the drying fire. Annie looked at the fire, where the deer had gone, and around herself.

She began to follow the deer, thinking she could catch up to them. Annie ran, imagining the sound of their running. She tripped over a small bush, trembling to the ground. She lied there, dazed.