Author's Note: I am now a high school graduate. My band has been very busy and we are in the process of recording. I spend 13-17 hours a week at church with my band. I also just got a job. Thus, these are my excuses for not writing. Sorry! Also, this chapter is why A23 is rated PG-13. I might have to change it to R; we'll see.

Replies.

Apparently we aren't allowed to do these any more, which makes me ever so annoyed. I enjoyed doing this, as well. –sniff-

What Happened Last?

"Eric?"

I looked up to see that Audrey was walking next to me instead of near the front of the line, where she always was.

"Will you tell me about her?" she asked. "About Lane?"

Chapter Fifteen – Rebecca

(Day Three continued.)

After we stopped for lunch, we set off again in search of the center of the island. Once I had told Audrey about Lane, she understood me that much better. She realized why being here was so difficult for me and it seemed as though she understood my want of silence. This was where Lane had died. Where so much had happened between the two of us. Where our love had blossomed and within a few minutes, it was brutally wrenched from me. No one deserved to die here. Lane especially, but there was nothing to be done about that. I needed to protect these people. I needed to make sure they all got home safely. They all had things to return to. I didn't. They had their whole lives ahead of them. Mine was spent. I thus decided that being indifferent was no longer an option. Thinking of myself and myself alone was not going to cut it. The reason I was here was to protect those around me, not used them as a shield.

I watched the back of Rebecca's head as we walked, wondering. Why were she and her brother here? I had been getting along with Bret, but hadn't yet taken the time to get to know his sister. "Hey Becca," I said, walking up beside her.

"Hello Mr. we have to be quiet," she replied, smirking. "How are you holding up?"

"My feet are trying to murder me," I declared.

"We might just have to put them in solitary confinement for a while, then," she joked.

"Yeah but that would make walking rather difficult," I said, grinning at her.

"This is true," she said.

We continued to talk as the day wore on. After only a few minutes of playful banter, we moved into more serious things. At first she was hesitant to open up, but once she saw that I wasn't afraid to, she seemed more comfortable. Her life turned out to be a jumbled mess. Her mom had died from drug overdose when she was fifteen and her father committed suicide within the same year. Instead of going to live with relatives, as her parents' will was nowhere to be found, she had taken on the arduous task of raising her brother. She quit school, began her working career, and attempted to hide the fact that she was merely sixteen years old and she and her brother were living on their own. "A few people found out but they had the decency to keep it a secret," she said. "But anyways, I soon found out that working forty hour weeks at Save-N-Go wasn't going to provide enough money for Bret and I. That's when I got into doing… this."

"What is this, exactly?" I asked, finally speaking after my long silence.

"You know… this!" she answered, gesturing at the jungle around us.
"This is wandering through jungles on dinosaur inhabited islands with the goal of destroying it?" I followed.

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Enough about me," she said. "I want to know more about you."

"You're avoiding my question," I teased.

"So what if I am?" she snipped. "I out-rank you; I can do whatever I want."

"Oh I see how it is," I quipped, but decided to drop it. "But… anyways, about me. Is there anything you don't know?"

"Well… I heard you talking about some girl with Audrey earlier. Who is she?"

"Oh… Lane. That's quite a long story, actually."

"We've got time."

I sighed. Did everyone need to know?

An hour later, Rebecca and I had stopped talking but had not ceased walking next to each other. The heat was too unbearable to waste any energy in conversation.

Walking to the center of the island seemed to be taking way too much time. This was our third day and we hadn't reached it yet? I felt very inclined to ask Knight whether or not he was sure of the location of our final destination, but he didn't seem to like me much. He was one of the few on the team I wouldn't necessarily mind the death of. But thoughts like these made me feel ashamed, thus I pushed them to the back of my mind and attempted to think of them no more. Wishing for the death of a fellow human being was not acceptable, not when I had given up my resolve to be indifferent and to stop using people as a shield. Knight was a jerk, certainly, but he was also a living, breathing individual. I had no right to dictate his future. Well, no power to dictate his future, that is.

"Halt!" Kevin suddenly called from behind me.

Everyone stopped in their tracks. I knelt down behind a bush and took a look around. The only reason we would stop was if there was some danger, as it was too early to set up camp.

I saw a flick of movement behind some of the trees nearer to us. Everyone was quiet as they looked around. A warm wind blew through the leaves, making the trees and their branches creak.

"Raptors!" Audrey called.

My breathing stopped and my sweaty hands tightened on my gun.

"Eric, what do we do?" Rebecca whispered.

"Wait," I said. Geez, I was stupid for coming to this island. Stupid beyond reasoning.

Another flick of movement came from the trees. The Velociraptors' attack was no longer going to be a surprise, but I doubted this would keep them from attempting to make us into a meal. It was just a question of where they would strike from first.

This question didn't go unanswered. After only a few seconds of tense waiting, the first Raptor emerged from the trees. His attack was at lightening speed. Before I knew it, Rebecca had fallen to the ground and the reptile-like creature was sitting on her chest. The rest of the attack was only seconds behind.

I cocked my gun, lifted it to my shoulder, and blasted the face off of the Raptor who had cut Rebecca. Everyone else let loose with their guns as well. Audrey let out a scream. I shot the Raptor in front of her with my last shell. Without having time to re-load, I pulled my gun back and hit the nearest attacker in the skull as hard as I could. The butt of my gun was now covered in blood. I took a knife from my shoe and cut the throat of the Raptor I had just injured, just to make sure I hadn't just given him a really bad headache.

I turned from him and looked around, my knife in one hand, my gun in the other. Five Raptors lay dead around us. The rest had fled.

"Eric, are you all right?" Audrey called from nearer the front of the line. "You're covered in blood!"

I looked down at myself. Both of my hands were dripping blood onto the forest floor and my whole front was splattered with it.

"Rebecca!" I heard Bret yell. I turned around in time to see him reach his sister's limp, bloody form and fall down next to her. Her wound was so grotesque I couldn't bear to look at it.

Bret desperately felt around on Rebecca's wrists and her throat, searching for a pulse. I walked up beside them and gazed down at Rebecca's blank face.

Lane's hair was matted with blood. I couldn't bear to look at her eyes; her beautiful green eyes. "No, Lane, no!" I whispered.
"Eric," The woman with curly red hair said. She set Lane's wrist gently on the stretcher. "She doesn't have a pulse. She's … gone."
I looked at the woman, not believing … not wanting to believe what she had just said. Brad was sitting on a seat a bit behind her, holding a crying Tina in his arms while stroking her hair and crying a few tears of his own.
I looked back down at Lane's pale face and her unmoving emerald eyes. I reached over and closed her eyelids. She didn't bring up a hand to stop me; she didn't smirk or smile; she didn't do anything. Not even breathe.
"Lane, come back!" I wanted to yell, but instead it came out as a whisper. "Don't do this to me! Please, Lane!"

"Rebecca, no!" Bret yelled. "Don't do this! No!" He picked up his sister in his arms. Her head fell limply away from his chest as he attempted to hold her close. His body shook with unbelief. The tears came soon after. Everyone gathered around. I watched in silence as drop after drop fell from Bret's chin onto his sister's neck. His sobs were loud and uncontrolled.

"He's going to attract something," Knight said. "Those blasted Raptors are going to come back. We need to move."

I raised my face to look at him. Knight stared sternly back at me. "He doesn't care," I replied. "He wouldn't mind dying himself, right about now."

Without waiting for a reaction, I leaned down and with Kevin's help, we pried Bret away from his sister. All three of us were covered in blood. Bret kicked and screamed until he had no strength left. He then fell limp against me. I held him in my arms and felt tears begin to form in my own eyes as his body shook from sobs. Audrey had tears running down her face as she watched the two of us.

Author's Note: Short chapter, I know, but I wanted to end it there. Please review!