OK, I know I said one more chapter, but this one ended up longer than I thought it would, so I had to split it up. So the NEXT one is the last chapter.

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For the first time since landing on the island, Sydney regretted coming here. She regretted planning against her mother; she regretted trying to stop her at the expense of the people's lives she cared so dearly about. Sydney clutched her fists tightly and bit her lip, trying to focus on her mother and shutting down the machine someway.

"Face it Sydney," Irina told her. "There is no fighting destiny, and mine is to fulfill Rabamldi's endgame."

"Which is?"

Irina smiled at her. "You'll know soon enough."

Sydney shook her head…she didn't have time for this. "There has to be some way to shut that machine down. You wouldn't build it without being able to shut it down."

Irina only smiled and nodded. She really has no idea, she thought.

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"Everyone alright?" Michael pushed off a piece of the rumble and stood up, looking around him for signs and Julian and Nadia. Bruised and cut, Michael started digging around him in the debris of the collapsed walls.

"Vaughn," Julian coughed.

"Sark…you alright?"

Julian slowly stood up and nodded at Michael. "In one piece…I guess that counts."

"Have you seen Nadia?"

Julian shook his head, and his eyes widened. "Nadia!" he yelled out.

Michael heard a faint cry and walked over to the sound. "Nadia?"

"Here…" he heard.

Michael dug into the debris as a hand reached up. Relieved, he grabbed it and pulled Nadia up. Nadia grabbed Michael's shoulder to study her self and smiled at him. "Thanks."

Michael smiled. "You're welcome." Michael turned to Julian and frowned. "So what happened?"

Julian shrugged. "A bomb went off. I guess Irina was one step ahead of us."

"Now what?" Nadia asked. "If there is no way of shutting down here then…"

"Then Sydney would have to destroy the weapon herself…then run like hell," Julian finished.

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Sydney shook her head and stared down at her mother. "How did you do it?"

Irina blinked at her daughter. "Do what?"

"Turn the people into zombies."

Irina shrugged. "Just poisoned their water supply with Rabamldi's fluid."

Sydney narrowed her eyes at her mother and looked at the machine. If Julian and Michael truly could shut down the weapon, they would have by now, she thought. The only way to stop Irina is to destroy it myself. With one swift motion, Sydney reached behind her and pulled out her gun, aiming it at the red ball.

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A few minutes after escaping the tunnel, Michael, Nadia and Julian had made it back to the surface of the island and were now looking for their rendezvous, but having no luck finding Jack and Eric. Michael held out the computer map of the island and its small cities in front of him, and then looked at their surroundings. "I think we've already been here," he muttered.

Julian threw his arms down. "Great! We're going around in fucking circles!"

"Try your radio again," Nadia told Michael.

"It won't work," Julian said. "The energy pulsing from the machine interferes with it. Trying it for the hundredth time won't change that."

"If we can't find Jack and Eric," Michael said, "Then we should find Sydney. She might need the backup."

As Michael finished his sentence, they heard several low growls and behind them, came another group of the human population that once lived on this island…the now turned zombies.

Julian raised his weapon and looking past his barrel at the growing zombie group, cursed under his breath. "Shit…there's too many."

Michael and Nadia took the same stance Julian did and nodded in agreement with him. Groups of thirty or so were quickly surrounding them, until they had no way of escaping, slowly approaching them even closer.

"What do we do?" Nadia asked fearfully.

Michael's answer was cut off as the air quickly changed direction and the sound of a helicopter came closer. Julian and the others looked up as their helicopter dropped down closer to them. Julian smiled in relief as three ropes were dropped down to them. Julian, Michael and Nadia grabbed a hold of the ropes and climbed up as the zombies reached up to them. The copter quickly rose up and away from the zombies as Jack and Eric helped Michael, Julian and Nadia into the helicopter.

"It's so good to see you guys alive and un-zombie like," Eric commented.

"You're telling us," Michael joked.

Jack turned around and looked at them. "Where's Sydney?"

Michael's face dropped. "You haven't picked her up yet?"

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Irina's eyes widened. "Sydney…what are you doing?" she cried. Sydney studied her mother and serenely smiled. For the first time in her life, Sydney saw fear in her mother's eyes. Sydney now had the upper hand. "If you destroy the machine like this Sydney, you will kill us and everyone else on the island!" Irina went on.

"I don't have any other choice," Sydney said.

The fear in Irina's eyes suddenly turned to rage, as if shifting colors as well, from brown to red within seconds. Irina leapt at Sydney and tackled her. In the mist of the contact, Sydney lost her weapon, and watched it slid across the floor. With a grunt, Irina kicked Sydney in her stomach, causing Sydney to double over in pain. Irina's eyes fell upon the gun as Sydney watched her mother pick up the weapon and aimed it in her direction.

But Sydney was no longer there anymore. Irina's eyebrow raised and she quickly looked around, her arm extended out and the gun in front of her. "Where are you Sydney?" she whispered. "You can't hide forever now. Within the next few minutes, this machine's power will double and kill all of my enemies."

Irina smiled at hearing the slightest sound in the far corner of the room. Irina turned in the direction of the sound as she found her face come into contact with her daughter's fist. Painfully, Irina hit the floor, losing grip of the weapon and holding her jaw, her eyes teary. Sydney quickly reacted and grabbed the gun just as Irina was attempting to reach for it. Sydney and Irina made contact and Irina looked at her daughter sadly. "Sydney…if you destroy the machine this way, you will kill us both."

Sydney looked at her weapon, then at her mother. For a second, Irina believed that Sydney wouldn't do it. That quickly changed when Sydney raised her gun at the ball and fired. Irina's last cry was drowned out by the sound of the bullet connecting with the red ball. In the next instant, the ball busted open unleashing an influential blast of water and shattering the machine apart into millions of tiny pieces. Sydney braced herself as the blast of water came rushing in her direction.