While Aragorn drove through the wild streets of the deserted city with the Hobbits in their Mini and Legolas riding alone on his BMW, Gandalf told his story about the events of that day.

---

The warehouse door flew open, not to any of the Fellowship's surprise.

Turret gunfire from the rooftop was heard just as a group of Neos and Orcs poured through the doors. The amount of Dark creatures rivaled the swarm that they had fought in Balin's Tomb in Moria.

This time around, the Hobbits did exceptionally well. Frodo had developed a strong, quick stroke that made Sting leave a bright streak of blue in the air when he fought. Because he attracted so many Orcs, Sam was by his side with his own sword bared and with the same fierceness.

Merry and Pippin were also doing remarkably well, but Merry's skills were expected since Gandalf and Gimli had seen his comfort and grace with his beautiful scythe.

But it was Pippin who really showed his courage in that battle. Out of range of Merry's scythe, he showed no hesitance in slicing open an Orc or decapitating a Neo. All the while, he kept a determined face and kept his fear behind him for none to see.

Gandalf was near the door, killing as many as he could to give the Hobbits a greater chance of survival. Every now and then, he would see one of the Hobbits in trouble with a few particularly nasty Orcs and sent a powerful charge of magic in their direction before going back to using Glamdring and his staff in combination.

All of a sudden, a resounding thud echoed into the room from outside. The turret gunfire still fired, but another thud came. Then came another.

A gigantic Hunter crashed into the warehouse, sending Gandalf sliding across the floor.

Merry ran over and protected the wizard from the remnants of the swarm of orcs and Neos. Every now and then, a lone creature would come in behind the Hunter, but nobody took too much notice.

The Hunter let out a tremendous roar and swung one of its huge arms to swipe away a group of Orcs to get to Frodo and Sam. Each step it took shook the floor violently. Unlike the Hunters that Merry and Pippin had faced in the school, this Hunter could move more like an Uruk-Hai but was still with the terrifying strength of the Hunter breed.

"Come on, Frodo!" Sam yelled as he grabbed Frodo's arm and ran down the building.

Unfortunately, the Hunter stomped towards them, snarling and growling. Each swing of its humongous arms brought down more and more Dark creatures. With each swing, the Hunter came closer and closer to Frodo and Sam.

Soon, the Hunter had the two Hobbits cornered with nowhere to go. It looked down at them with disdain and raised both its arms to crush them like insects under a hammer. Frodo and Sam could see the fierce flame of hatred that burned in its eyes and their eyes widened as it faintly grinned in preparation to bring its mighty fists down upon them.

A huge surge of magical light cam towards them and exploded on the Hunter's gigantic back. It let out a pained roar that shook the entire building.

"No Hobbit or any other being of goodness shall perish through the likes of you," said Gandalf, his staff faintly smoking. He watched Frodo and Sam scramble away from under the monster.

"Come and face me," declared Gandalf, "and show us your true worth."

The Hunter snorted and began stomping towards the White Wizard, face distorted and eyes full of malice. He was standing before it, equipped with nothing but his magical staff and his sword. To the Hunter, they seemed like twigs and the wizard was just another body waiting to the thrashed. Because it was so focused on defeating the wizard, it didn't take notice to the small being a few meters behind him.

Pippin whistled to get its attention. With a smirk, he threw his Hobbit- sword as hard as he could at the Hunter. The sword embedded itself right between the monster's eyes and through its whole head. Sam, who was behind it, saw the blade sticking out.

"Still not dead?" exclaimed Frodo, when the Hunter still stood and glared at Gandalf. "Now, we can't have that."

Holding Sting with its point towards the ground, Frodo ran to the Hunter and jumped onto its back, making it lean slightly forward. The Hunter sluggishly tried to grab him, but he continued to walk up its back unharmed until he came to the base of its neck. Without any hesitation, he drove Sting down the Hunter's neck and leapt off.

The Hunter let out a garbled snarl when Sting impaled its nervous system. Black blood and plasma flooded its respiratory system and slowly drained out of its wound. Its eyes rolled back and it started to spasm. The Hobbits and Gandalf backed away, trying not to get hit.

It crashed to the floor with an echoing thud, landing right at the feet of Gandalf and Gimli. Frodo and Pippin tentatively approached the corpse and coaxed Merry to make sure it was dead. He prodded it with the end of his scythe with great care. When a pool of black blood spilled onto the floor from the Hunter's head, they were satisfied that it was dead.

As Frodo and Pippin worked on getting their blades out of the corpse, Sam and Merry decided to inspect the wrecked room. Gandalf stayed behind to advise Gimli about his sore muscles from using the turret gun.

"Uh, Sam?" Merry said, slightly nervous.

"What?"

"I think you should see this over here."

Sam went over to where Merry was standing. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Merry just looked at him and held up a long piece of rope. "Gollum escaped."

"Oh, no," whispered Sam. "When did he get out? I could've sworn he was here before."

"He was. But look more closely at the rope; it's been cut. That means that the Orcs and Neos were probably sent here to get him back. And that means..."

"They know that we're here," Sam finished for him.

"We have to get out of here, then," said Frodo. He had been listening since Merry picked up the rope. "We can't stay here much longer."

With great effort, Pippin managed to pull out his sword out from between the skull bones of the monster. With a yell and because of the sudden change of balance, he fell back with his sword in hand.

"Wait." He scrambled to sit up and looked around behind him. "Where are Gandalf and Gimli?"

---

The whole Fellowship came to the border to the slums of the city. An unseen but sensed barrier met them. They noticed that two imposing statues had been erected on both sides of the road. All three vehicles came to a stop in front of the gate.

Frodo could almost hear the Nazgul's cry as he looked at the gate. It resembled the gates of the Tower of Angmar so much that he had to take a few shuddering breaths to calm himself. Behind him, in the backseat, he could hear Sam trying to calm down.

"Relax, Frodo," said Pippin beside him. "We've got the others now to help you go through." He patted his shoulder in hopes of comforting him and himself.

Legolas steered his bike to in front of the Mini and directed Pippin down a side street. Pippin glanced down the street and saw the backlights of the Mercedes trailing away.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Pippin drove the Mini down the side street, following Aragorn.

They spent the night in the small, dark alleyway, hoping that nothing would cross their paths. Gandalf continued his story with Aragorn, but there was little of interest to mention after they separated with the Hobbits.

"Gimli and I had tried to pursue Gollum, but we had failed," he sighed. "He was simply nowhere to be found. We wandered the city in your Mercedes until we saw the Hobbits in their Mini Cooper and heard your explosion." He looked at Aragorn and Legolas very sternly.

The two young boys just quietly chuckled nervously. If they weren't in such a nerve-wracking situation, they would have attempted to redeem themselves. But their minds were on other things. They asked about the Hobbits' small adventure.

"Well," Merry started, "we tried to go after Gandalf and Gimli..."

---

The hobbits had run out into the deserted street to search. The sun poured a quiet, subdued light through the city to try to help them. Unfortunately, the sunlight seemed to be a half-hearted attempt, like the sun was tired and dispirited about the city's situation. Despite the sun, the Hobbits continued to search for their companions in hope.

They dared not raise their voices too loud so they wouldn't attract any attention. Their Hobbit feet muffled their footsteps so they could distinctly hear the ringing, sad silence.

"Do you see anything?" Sam asked after a while of walking and searching.

"No," the others replied.

"Not unless you count a lot of pieces of bodies," said Pippin. "They, I would say yes, I have seen something."

"Pippin?" said Frodo.

"Yes?"

"Shh."

"Okay. Sorry."

Frodo slowed his step and suddenly stopped on the sidewalk. He winced and held his left shoulder, where the Morgul blade had pierced him in his previous life. The other Hobbits stopped and looked at him with concern.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked quietly.

With a twinge of pain, he stared down a shadowy alley near them. His sight became sharper as he looked into the darkness and as his shoulder began to ache more. A group of Neos were curled next to the dumpster with their bony ribs slowly rising and falling in sleep.

Carefully, Frodo tried to push his friends down the road without the Neos noticing.

"What are you doing, Frodo? Stop pushing us!" They kept asking him questions and complained, drowning out his attempts to keep them quiet.

The dumpster in the alley loudly rattled and Frodo said to all of them, "Run!"

The Neos skidded out of the alley just as the Hobbits turned the street corner. They chased after the boys, looking for fresh meat.

They boys ran for their lives through downtown, between concrete buildings, under fallen street lamps and over wrecked cars. All four Hobbits were particularly good at weaving through the destruction that had occurred during this sad time because of their smaller frames and their frequent trips out for food.

They came to a high wall that barricaded their way. By the poor construction, they could tell that it was made by the damned humans that were controlled by the Parasites. There was a door in it, hardly big enough for one of them to fit through.

"It's locked!" Sam said angrily after he tried opening it.

Frodo listened carefully and looked behind them. "Somebody better do something quick. Otherwise, we're going to be a nice dinner for the Neos."

Merry looked back and he didn't see or hear anything but he trusted Frodo's word. He backed up until he was about twenty meters from the wall. "It'd be good if you all moved to the side a bit."

The three of them moved aside and anxiously waited.

"Let's hope nothing's waiting for me on the other side," he muttered. He gripped his scythe tightly in one hand and ran as fast as he could towards the wall. Sliding his grip to the very end of the staff, he balanced himself carefully and pole-vaulted over the wall. He soared over but left behind his scythe.

The Neos gave a wild screech when they saw the Hobbits and began sprinting towards them. They bared their claws in attack mode and their teeth shone in the weak sun.

The door flew open beside them and they all ran in, Pippin carrying the scythe. Just as Merry closed the door behind them, they heard a couple Neos slam into it and slump to the ground.

"This wall's probably for Neo control," observed Sam.

"Are you okay, Merry?" Frodo asked as Pippin gave him back his scythe.

"My ass," he moaned, "it's going to be sore for a week." He rubbed it to try to make it feel better.

"Provided we live that long," Frodo said darkly. He felt the pain in his shoulder fade and his sight into the darkness dull. "Let's try to find out where we are and where we're going."

They had been walking for barely ten minutes when Sam noticed something interesting.

"Ooh, cars!"

Quietly, they entered the private car showcase room underground and Sam switched on the lights.

"Oh, I like this."

A dozen shiny, brand-new cars sat in the large room. All the cars were expensive high-class machines in beautifully sleek colors. Jet-black Jaguars, bright red Ferraris and lots of other fantastic cars sat quietly in the showcase room. One glance around the room told them that it was a strictly exclusive showcase for a select group of people.

One side of the room was splattered with blood and a distinct trail leading away and out another way. Just looking at the blood and the shadowy corridor sent chills up their spines.

Sam went directly to one of the Lamborghini's to admire and examine it while Frodo and Pippin inspected a few of the newer models of the BMW roadsters. Merry busied himself at the dealers' desks to find some keys for a car.

"All of these have full tanks, don't they?" observed Frodo. He sat in the driver's seat in a dark metallic green BMW Z3. "This is a nice fit for a Hobbit."

Pippin laughed and confirmed that most of the cars had gas in them.

"Having fun, Sam?" Merry called out to him from the desks.

Sam was enjoying the feel of the plush seats of the Lamborghini's and trying to picture driving it through the city when it was still populated. But it was difficult to remember the city as it had been before the Darkness threw its shadow across the land. He kept seeing Neos and Orcs roaming the streets of his mind. He gave up trying to picture driving through the city and sighed.

"I was trying to," he replied.

Merry gave a sad chuckle because he knew what Sam was thinking about and knew that it had happened to him many times before. He shook the idea out of his head and continued searching through the desks.

The final desk, which was quite larger than the other desks, was the messiest of them all and hardest for Merry to search through. Papers were strewn around, files were stacked in huge piles that threatened to topple over if Merry even touched it and the only thing that was organized was the mug with several pens in it.

While looking around the desk, Merry accidentally brushed his hand across a small panel of fiberglass embedded in the desk. A great mechanical thumping and whirring was heard immediately. The Hobbits glanced around nervously to see what kind of danger was coming.

The far wall trembled and slowly rose up into the ceiling and the rays of mid-afternoon spilled in from the outdoors down a road ramp. They felt the breeze of spring come in and gently play across their faces.

"Well," said Merry, "that's how the cars got in here." He continued looking through the desk. "Now, if we can find the keys, we can get them out of here."

All of a sudden, a crackling sound came from a dark navy blue Mini and its engine came to life. Pippin stood casually at the driver's side and put on an innocently curious expression. "I didn't do anything."

The Mini revved up, being tested for its capability. Merry and Sam stared at the car and the motionless Pippin.

Frodo's head popped up from under the steering wheel and stared back at Merry and Sam's bewildered faces. "What?"

"You know how to hot-wire?" Sam asked incredulously. "You? How the hell did you learn? Where did you learn?"

"Too much time, books and lessons from TV," replied Frodo. "With that combination, one can learn to do anything." He grinned and leaned against to door to mock Sam.

In one fluid move, Pippin opened the door. With a yelp, Frodo toppled out of the car and glared at him from the ground. Pippin responded to that with a peaceful smirk that he knew annoyed Frodo.

"I'm driving," said Pippin as he got into the driver's seat.

"Fine. But I get shotgun!" Frodo raced into the front passenger seat before Sam or Merry knew what had just happened.

Sam sighed with resignation and got into the backseat. Merry pulled out a set of keys from the desk, grabbed his scythe and got into the car. "Even if you're already in the habit, I'll have to ask all passengers to please buckle you seat belts for this trip. Our driver may not keep a stable hand at all times."

"What?" yelped Pippin. He looked at his friends and saw that everyone already had their seat belts on with mildly frightened looks on their faces. "Oh, come on! I don't drive that badly."

Pippin put the chic Mini into gear and pressed the gas pedal. Unfortunately, the car was set in reverse and they all shot backwards.

"Aaah!" Merry, Frodo and Sam screamed.

It was lucky that there weren't a lot of things behind the Mini for it to hit and it was indefinitely lucky that Pippin had good reflexes to stop the car before it crashed into the wall.

"Ah..." Pippin chuckled nervously and switched the gears to drive. "Sorry about that."

As the car rolled onto the ramp leading up to the street, Merry muttered under his breath, "Idiot."

---

"... and we basically drove around downtown looking for Gandalf, Gimli and even Gollum," concluded Sam. "When we heard your bomb going off, we were a few city blocks away and raced to get there. We saw Gandalf and Gimli cut in front of us while we were coming."

"I'm never riding a car with either Pippin or Gandalf behind the wheel ever again," Frodo said bluntly. Many of them agreed with him.

As night drew on, the members of the Fellowship succumbed to a fitful sleep. Legolas stayed awake, summoning as much Elvish magic as he could to keep him awake. He kept a sharp eye out for any disturbances and for the first light of day. Even when dawn came, he wasn't happy because he wasn't sure if he'd live to see another one again.

--- ---