Author's Note: All right, I know you all have wanted this chapter, or at least, LeMoNsOuR said she did, so here it is, chapter 3. I hope you like it; it's taken me along time.

Disclaimer: I own only Elizabeth Azalea and Zack; all other characters of this story are held to ownership of Louis Sachar! GO LOUIS!

Chapter 3:

Elizabeth slipped into a deep awkward state of mind. It was almost like a dream, but looked more real. She was alone, and everything around her was black. She strained her eyes for any speck of light to help her escape this place. She had never been one to cringe in the dark, but now, she was afraid, afraid from being alone and surrounded by darkness, thick darkness. She tried to run, but she was suffocated by the black that encircled her. The invisible barrier muffled her scream and her cries could not escape even her throat. The tears were even choked by the dark fog. She knew very well if she was not out of here soon, it would engulf her, and she would become the darkness.

Suddenly there was a light above, and some strange forced pulled her away from her struggle and brought her to freedom again. She looked up, expecting to see that her savior was Zack, as was common in her dreams, but instead, she seen another. His hair was messy, jetting out in random directions, his eyes, an unusually bright green, looked into her pale silver eyes. He was tall and smiling handsomely at her. She knew in an instant who it was, it was the boy who she had mistaken for Zack, her Zack. He was an imposter, and she felt supreme hatred toward him for it.

She stood, ignoring the hand he reached toward her, and ran from him. She ran as fast as she could, until the ground beneath her disappeared, and she dropped fast into oblivion.

Her scream echoed through her own head as she awoke, writhing and soaking with sweat. Her breath came fast and short and she struggled to quickly untangle herself from her blanket. She screamed again, waking all of her tent mates. There were groans at first, and then panic hit all of the boys. Elizabeth still struggled, even as Squid and Zigzag tried desperately to hold her down. They had wrestled the blanket from her, but she kept screaming, fighting against them.

Zero and Magnet came running back into the tent followed closely by Dr. Pendanski, Mr. Sir, and the warden.

"Hold her still!" Dr. Pendanski shouted as he hastily tried fiddled with a tranquilizer gun. Zigzag and Squid tried, Caveman and Armpit even held down her legs, but she refused to remain still. Her body struggled against them, but they finally won when X-ray and Magnet helped hold her steady. Pendanski quickly went to the head of her cot, and reaching around Zigzag, pulled the trigger, releasing the tranquilizer into her upper arm. In a matter of seconds she fell motionless, lying on her cot, twitching. The boys stepped back away from her cautiously, not wanting to rouse her again.

Pendanski and Mr. Sir turned to look at the warden, who stood at the foot of Elizabeth's bed. She looked at the two of them, and then spoke softly.

"We'll talk about this in the morning." And with that, she turned and left the tent. Mr. Sir followed after her, and Pendanski looked at the boys.

"Well, good night boys, get some sleep." He smiled awkwardly, and with one last glance at Elizabeth, left the tent, walking quickly after Mr. Sir and the Warden.

The boys all went back to their individual cots and sat awhile, then Zigzag broke the hovering silence.

"What do ya thinks wrong with her?" he asked slowly, then looked to each one of them for some answer.

"Don't know." X-ray spoke up when no one responded. "But whatever it maybe, it can't keep happening, or else they'll send her away."

"Well, that wouldn't be so bad." Caveman said, and then added, "I mean, she'd get to leave here, right?" X-ray shook his head.
"True, but she wouldn't be going somewhere pleasant."

"Where do you think they'd send her?" Magnet asked, looking to X-ray for the answer.

"Probably the loony bin." Armpit answered instead, and many nodded.

"But I bet you that's air-conditioned." Squid commented, and they all laughed, all except for Zigzag, who wasn't paying attention. He was staring over at Elizabeth, wondering what was really wrong with her.

The next morning came too quickly for D-tent, as because of the night's events, many had went without sleep. Yet, drowsy and tired, they dragged themselves out of bed and were surprised to see Elizabeth cot vacant. Her blanket was tangled as it had been the previous night, but she was nowhere in sight.

The seven boys exited their tent to find Elizabeth sitting on the wooden steps. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she hugged them tight as she stared off into the distance. None of the boys made any notice that she was there, but they seen her. Her eyes stayed on the horizon, until Zigzag walked by. Her focused jumped immediately to him, and for a split second, she stared. She showed no emotion, just stared. Then, in an instant, she looked away, back to the horizon she longed for.

What was it about him that made him so…intriguing? How had he been in her dreams? How was it that it was he that had saved her from darkness? Why did she fall when she refused his hand?

The question would not stop forming in Elizabeth's mind as she followed her tent mates to the "library". She denied the "breakfast" they offered her, for she only had one hunger, and that was answers. Answers to the questions that ceased to be silent, and an answer for why the boys of D-tent looked at her so strangely. Yes, she was a girl, and by the looks of it, there weren't any girls here. But that wasn't how they looked at her. There was fear in their eyes, caution, and concern.

By high noon that day, Elizabeth was exhausted from digging. When the water truck came with their lunch, she couldn't pull herself up from her hole. Her arms were weak from hoisting the shovel full of dirt up and out of the hole and her legs were tired from standing on the uneven ground all day.

The boys passed by her, some glancing at her and some ignoring her, but one stopped. She only noticed him because of the shadow he cast over her. She looked up to see that boy, the one who haunted her dream, the boy she had mistaken for Zack. Her Zack.

He squatted down by her hole and held out his hand for her.

Just like in the dream.

She stared, eyes wide, looking at his hand. She looked up to his face, expecting to see some grimace or smirk, being the evil exorcist or whatever he was, but instead, he smiled. His smile was warm and kind, not too happy, but a smile nonetheless. After she did nothing, he whispered to her in a deep, whole voice.

"I'll be back."

His voice was crisp, yet soft, like his smile. He stood straight and walked toward the truck, which Mr. Sir stood by, impatiently waited for all of them to get their food so he could leave.

Elizabeth shook herself, trying to relieve her mind of the thousand new question and thoughts that now swam through it. When she failed though, she decided to dig again, forcing her shovel into the dirt as hard as she could, and scooping the dirt back out of her hole. She began to feel better, her mind easing, when she heard the voice.

"Here."

That's all he said, and by the time she turned around, the boy was gone, and all that was there, was his lunch. She looked up out of her hole to see him walking away, digging in his hole again, with nothing to eat. She clutched her hand to her head as it pounded with more thoughts and question, screaming unbearably loud.

For a while she ignored the food, but finally, when she started to feel faint from heat and lack of nutrients, she dropped her shovel, and grabbed the sandwich. A few holes away, Zigzag looked up from his work, and smiled.