Author's Note: Sorry about the gap. I had a migraine and couldn't really write, then my little guy is pretty sick right now. But I managed to get this chapter up and posted! I hope you are enjoying this one so far. It's a little slow going right now but I wanted to build a few things. Anyway. As always, happy reading, dark rolling sea.

CHAPTER FOUR

Tom Chandler

Tom had lost track of what day it was. It didn't really matter he supposed. Nothing changed. He didn't know how long it had been since he had eaten, and his stomach was gnawing. He stumbled to his kitchen and found enough supplies to make a sandwich. He ate. Felt his stomach revolt. Managed to keep the food down. He reached into the cabinet and took out the last bottle of alcohol. He frowned. He'd have to sober enough to make it to the store.

He wondered where his kids were for a fleeting moment, then remembered Slattery had them. Fuck Slattery, Tom thought. He had a brief moment of thought that he should go get his kids back, but then…then…maybe…damn it. He wasn't in a place to take care of them anyway.

He stumbled back to his couch. He rubbed at his eye that was still caked in dried blood. Some of it flaked off. He gingerly probed around the cut. It had scabbed over; the bleeding had finally stopped. He probably had needed stitches. Oh well. He opened the bottle of whiskey.

He had hoped the alcohol would shove the faces from his mind, the memories, the horrors. But it didn't. He was hoping the alcohol would make him numb, but it didn't. He drank more. Chasing that oblivion from black out drunk. He'd achieved it twice, but everything always came back. He wanted the blackness. He wanted the numbness. He wanted to be whole again.

But that would probably never be possible. Not ever again. Too much had been taken from him. Too much had been asked of him. Too much had broken him. And he feared it could never be fixed. It was the middle of the night. Early morning, he supposed. Three…maybe four…he should sleep. But sleep brought the demons. Sleep brought the memories. Sleep brought the dead. Sleep brought the guilt, the anger, the pain. More alcohol. That was the only answer.

He missed his kids. He missed his dad. He missed his wife. He missed himself. He thinks that maybe if one of the two had survived…his wife, or his dad…that maybe he wouldn't be…here. Life was cruel. He'd sacrificed so much for a world…that just took it all away anyway. He had fought to save a place…that just didn't give a fuck who it ran over. And they had cracked him. He had done something that he never would have done. Or would he have. No. If things had not spiraled so quickly. If there had been one other person on that plane with them…he wouldn't have done it. At least he thinks. His mind was spiraling still. He was broken and he didn't have any hope that it would get better.

Ashley Chandler

Ashley woke with a start. Sam had screamed. She rolled over and saw him thrashing in his sleep and she wrapped her arms around him, leaning close into his ear.

"Sammy, you're okay, it's just a dream. I'm right here."

He started to calm down and still next to her. His eyes blinked slowly as he trembled. She held him against her as he whimpered. He buried his head against her. She rubbed his back and felt the tears come to her eyes.

"It's okay. You're okay, Sammy," she whispered.

"It was a bad dream," he whispered.

"Yes, just a bad dream," she answered.

"It felt real. It was scary."

"Want to talk about it?" she whispered.

"I want Mom," he whimpered. She felt her tears fall.

"Me too," she sighed.

"I miss her…and grandpa. And…the bad men keep shooting him."

"Is that what you were dreaming?" Ashley asked as more tears spilled down her face.

"Yeah. I couldn't get away. He…they…" Sam whispered as he burrowed deeper into her.

"It's okay, they're gone now."

"So's grandpa," Sam said as a shuddering breath escaped him. Ashley didn't know how to make it better. It was the same reason she didn't want to sleep. There was a light knock on the door. Ashley looked back at the door.

"It's okay to come in," she said. The door opened and Uncle Mike stuck his head in the room.

"Everyone okay?" he asked. Ashley felt anger rush through her. She felt despair run over it, she felt like laughing. It was quite the mix of emotions in a short span of time. What a dumb question she thought, but wouldn't say, because she knew he meant well. He seemed to come to the same conclusion. "Sorry. I know that's…I know you're not."

"It was Sammy," she said. Sam rolled away from them and buried his head under the covers. She could hear him still crying. "He had a bad dream. We'll be okay."

"Okay. Try to get some sleep," Uncle Mike said gently, and Ashley could see the sadness in his eyes. She nodded and placed her hand on Sammy's shoulder. Uncle Mike left the room, closing the door behind him. Ashley rolled onto her side and closed her eyes.

She hoped her dad came around soon. This was torture. They had lost everyone in a short span of time and now they were stuck, terrified and lost. It had really scared her to see him like he was. His spirit completely broken like it was. There was nothing there of her strong hero dad. These were her thoughts as she slipped back to sleep.

Mike Slattery

Mike closed the door after checking in on the kids. Sam had had a nightmare and Ashley was doing her best to console him. It was obvious Sam didn't want Mike in there, so he closed the door and sighed. When he turned, he saw Garnett standing outside her own room.

"Nightmare," he said with a shrug. She nodded.

They both stood staring at each other for a moment. Mike then felt a little self-conscious. He smiled weakly then walked back towards the living room. He stretched back out on the couch and turned when he heard Andrea coming into the room with him. He smiled a little. Maybe she didn't want to be alone either.

"Sam didn't want me in there, so I let Ashley handle it. I feel for those kids."

"Makes you want to hug them."

"Makes me want to hug…" Mike started to say then caught himself as his throat closed up a little. He was going to say hug his own kids. Andrea sat down in the recliner across from him.

"I know. I'd give everything to be able to hold Lilly again."

"I didn't mean to stir up…" Mike said. He thought about their late-night talks on the Nathan James while they were the command team. He missed those moments with her. He was speaking before he realized what he was saying. "I've missed our late-night talks," he breathed out. She smiled at him.

"So have I," she whispered. Mike nodded. "They helped me a lot."

"Same," Mike said. They had started as they both sought relief from the grief. Late at night when the demons would come, they'd find each other on the deck. It had been unintentional at the beginning, but it didn't take long for them to seek each other out on sleepless nights. Then it just became their thing.

Since they had returned to Norfolk, they hadn't really spoken to each other before Mike called her about the kids. He shifted a little on the couch, pulling the blanket over his legs. Andrea was staring at him.

"How are things going since we got back?" Andrea asked. Mike could hear the sadness in her voice. He sighed.

"Not great. I'm not sure I want to be…here…anymore."

"I'm torn," Andrea replied. "I'm close to them here. But they aren't really here. It hurts…but I'm close to them. I don't know. It's complicated."

"I couldn't stay in the house anymore. It was too quiet…and too loud…all at the same time," Mike breathed out. Andrea tilted her head, her face showing her confusion at his statement. He thought a moment on how to clarify it. "The ghosts and memories were too loud in my head…the house itself was so quiet it hurt my ears."

"It's been harder since we don't have anything to do. When we were on the ship there was always something else. Always something to distract. Now. I'm just…"

"Sitting in the dark thinking about them."

"Missing them." They were both quiet for a moment. Mike felt the darkness tug at his mind. Andrea shifted and then stood up. "I'm heading to bed. Good night, Mike," she said softly then walked off towards her room.

"Good night," he said as he settled into her couch.

Kat Nolan

Kat was dreaming. She was lost in a world of empty buildings. She couldn't find her dad. Everywhere she turned stood Tom Chandler. Every time she tried to hurt him, he disappeared. Someone else screamed.

Kat sat bolt upright in her bunk, skimming the ceiling with the top of her hair. She ducked instinctively and looked around. The screaming was coming from one of the lower bunks. The other girls were all sitting up now, startled awake as well. Kat hopped down from her bunk and walked to the screaming girl. She realized it was Ginger.

"Hey," she said gently as she kneeled down next to the lower bunk. Ginger thrashed around. Kat reached out and took hold of the girl's shoulders. "Hey," she said a little more forcibly. "Ginger, wake up," Kat said as she shook her slightly. Ginger's eyes snapped opened and she gasped, then struggled against Kat.

"No! No! No!" Ginger screamed at Kat as she tried to get away.

"Hey, easy, it's me, Kat," Kat continued in a calm voice. The girl struggled a little more before she seemed to focus on Kat's eyes. "Yeah, there you go. It's okay. It was just a dream."

Ginger's eyes darted around the room as the other girls started losing interest in her and headed back to bed. Kat held her hands gentle but firm. Ginger slumped back against her bed and squeezed her eyes closed tightly. Kat released her grip on the other girl.

"Want to talk about it?" Kat asked. Ginger worked on calming her breathing. "My dream was pretty shitty too." That seemed to get Ginger's attention. Kat gave her a small smile.

"The men were getting me again," Ginger whispered. Kat frowned.

"What men?" Kat asked quietly as she looked around to see if anyone else was listening. No one appeared interested.

"The men that came before I found this place. It was me and a bunch of girls. We were orphans and kind of stuck together for protection and stuff."

"Then what happened?" Kat asked.

"Well, we were living in this abandoned house and then like these guys came and pretended to like want to help us find our families and stuff."

"I thought you said your family died."

"Yeah, mine did, but the other girls, some of them didn't know what happened to their families, I guess. I'm not sure. Like the one girl was in college or something? She was older. And then there was a girl my age, then her older sister. Then there were two older girls like high schoolers, and another college girl, then two younger than me."

"And you were all living in an abandoned house?"

"Yeah, we kind of just all found each other and helped each other like find food and things."

"Then the men came?"

"Yeah. They followed Hannah, she was my age, and Quinn, she was a college girl, back from the store one day. Quinn didn't know they followed them."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, they talked to Quinn and Reece while the rest of us went inside the house. I guess Quinn and Reece trusted them enough to let their guards down."

"So, they let then inside with you all."

"Yeah. That's when the other guys showed up," Ginger said as tears slid down her cheeks.

"Fuck," Kat breathed out. "They hurt you guys?"

"Some of us. Quinn, Reece, and Jamie fought them off so Abbey could get us younger girls out. But the guys were strong, and we saw what they did to them before we got clear."

"So only those three were…hurt?"

"The guys caught up to Stitch too, but the rest of us got away. Abbey was like fifteen or something…she was Hannah's older sister. We headed towards here, but we all got separated in the woods when we heard those guys coming after us. Abbey, Hannah, and Kins disappeared. I stuck with Nat and BJ."

"What happened to the others in your group?"

"Nat and BJ are here. BJ is in the other room down the hall, but Nat is over there," Ginger said pointing to a younger girl. Kat nodded.

"And the other three?"

"Never saw them again. But I still dream about those guys coming to get me."

"I know, but you're safe here."

"It's still scary."

"I know. But if anything happens here? I'll protect you. My dad taught me a bunch of stuff before he died."

"Okay. Are you really trying to get out of here?"

"Yes. Tomorrow. Now try to get some sleep."

"Think I can come with you when you leave?"

"I…I don't know, Ginger. Get some sleep."

Kat then got up from the floor and climbed back into her bunk. She was just settling in when she felt a thump from the bottom bunk. She rolled and looked over the edge of her bed down at the bottom occupant. It was a girl maybe around the same age as Kat…maybe a little bit older.

"I'd steer clear that girl. She's a looney."

"She's had it tough."

"We all have. She's batshit crazy."

"And you've got it all figured out, huh?"

"I do. I can show you the in crowd tomorrow. Otherwise, you'll have to fend for yourself."

"Don't bother. I won't be here that long anyway."

"Suit yourself," the girl replied with a smirk. Kat sighed and rolled back up on her bunk. She really wanted to blow this joint, even more so now.

TO BE CONTINUED…