Author's note: I cannot express how sorry I am to leave you waiting for a whole month for an update. I certainly planned to post this chapter earlier, but do to some difficulties in real life, it just got postponed and postponed. But here it is at last! Hope you enjoy it :)

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Chapter 13: Death in Darkness

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Oh my God. Oh my -

Something wet struck her in the face, like a whiplash, but she kept pushing through the vegetation, not daring to stop.

He was going to - going to kill - I had to - oh God -

She was half running, half stumbling along, her only thought the urging need to get away from that beach, away from that man, who was now lying motionless, bleeding from the head -

Did I do that? But he was going to -

The jungle was dark, and Melissa had no idea where she was going, other than that they were going away from that man, and that Jackson was behind her, his hand was in hers, and she was practically dragging him along.

He was going to kill - did I - did I?

She was so tired, her breath was coming out in hard painful gasps, but they couldn't stop, the man might be following them - he had been so lifeless - might be chasing them, and they had to get away, they couldn't stop, couldn't -

A sharp tug at her hand and Melissa was falling down, crashing down to the hard ground.

There was mud in her mouth, and her heart beat widely in her chest, the blood rushing in her ears, drowning all other sounds and why had they stopped?

Her right hand was twisted painfully backwards, something relentless hanging on to it, and the sudden rush of memory - Jackson! - left her gasping for breath. She turned awkwardly around, crawled forwards, and squinted her eyes in the darkness. Her eyesight was oddly blurry, but she could see his shape right in front of her, their hands still joined.

Jackson lay on the ground, his laboured breathing wheezing loudly.

Was he hurt? The haze of overwhelming panic thinned, and for the first time Melissa realised the shape Jackson was in - and the state she herself was in. They couldn't go on anymore. They were both too tired and God, he could be really hurt and I did not notice.

"Jackson? Are you hurt? Jackson!?" She winced at her own voice - it was shrill and sounded too scared and loud amid the rustling jungle.

To her utter relief, Jackson raised his head from the ground, looked at her, and managed to say between hacking coughs, "I'm good - I - have to stop…can't…"

"Okay, we'll stop, we should hide and wait until -" Melissa had no idea what they should wait for. Who was going to come to their help? What was their next plan? She did not know.

"Yeah, hide." Jackson dragged himself to his knees, and Melissa found herself mirroring his deep, slow breaths. Her breathing grew more regular, and she felt some of her control over her own body return. They would hide. They could do that. No one was going to find them. She looked around for a good hiding place and realised with horror -

"I don't know where we are!" It was dark and the jungle was everywhere around them, and she couldn't remember in what direction she had begun to run from the beach.

"It's okay. We'll just wait for daylight." Jackson sounded calm, and she couldn't help but marvel at his nerves, for not long ago they had been at the beach and the man had - and she had -

"It's okay. We're okay." He repeated and squeezed her hand, and she tried to swallow her tears.

"There - let's go over there." He pointed to his left, where the jungle seemed more impenetrable, and she followed him as they stumbled the few meters that took them under a thick canopy of twisted branches. Melissa collapsed to the ground, drained. There was no strength left in her.

Jackson sat beside her, leaning his head to a tree trunk, his eyes closed.

"Jackson…you're sure you're not hurt? It - it looked really bad when -" She couldn't finish, the image of the man beating and strangling him fresh in her memory.

He was quiet for awhile, and Melissa guessed that his thoughts were also back on that beach, and what had happened there, not so long ago. When he spoke, his eyes stayed closed. "I'm fine - I mean it hurts like hell and I'll have some nasty bruises but - but I'll live."

"Do you - do you think I killed him?" I think maybe I did.

More silence, then just a whisper "I don't know."

There really was nothing they could say after that. Melissa felt relieved and horrible at the same time, and she did not want to cry, she would not cry, but she had - the man had been so motionless, and bleeding from the head and she had done that, she had took that oar and hit him and there had been this crack and a thud, when he had fallen to the ground.

I will not think about it. She closed her eyes, and tried to think of other things, happier things, something else, anything else.

The shot echoed through the jungle, loud and sudden, and she startled violently, her whole body twitching. No sound came from her mouth, but everything in her was screaming please god someone fired a gun shot somebody please please -

please don't let anyone die.

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Lex knew a lot of things. How to built a durable shelter, how to scan radio frequencies, how to design an obstacle course and get people to participate. He had won his school science competition - twice, and had gotten the highest marks in all the math tests.

His classmates didn't really like him. They either ignored him for he had no social standing in the school hierarchy of importance, or they tolerated him because he could help them with their home work and was no threat to anyone. They were not his friends - but it was okay. Lex understood why it was so, saw the barrier his age and intelligence created, and did not blame anyone.

Besides, Daley had been there, first as a new big sister and then also as a friend, and now he had five more friends. He had helped them to built the best camp he could, and he was fairly sure that they liked him.

Lex knew a lot of things that he had picked up from books and documentaries and from just listening to people talk. However, he did not know how to get this to stop. He did not understand.

The men had come to their camp and had threatened them with guns. They were after the drugs and the money, and Lex knew that there were people who wanted those kinds of things and did bad things to get them, but he could not understand why they had to hurt others. Why they had to make Daley and the others cry, and why they had to take him away from his sister? Couldn't the men just leave them be? They hadn't done anything bad. At least he hadn't done anything bad - but he had found the bunker and had led the others to it and maybe that way it was all his fault.

He wanted the men to go away. He wanted to get back to Daley. He did not want to die.

Eric had dug up the money and now the man had what he wanted. The man had promised that Lex would get back to Daley as soon as he got the money, and Lex really wanted to leave now.

He tugged at Eric's hand, to tell him that they really should go now, but then there was another man in the clearing, pointing a gun towards the leader, and this became even scarier. He still didn't know what to do.

The Asian ordered the leader to drop his gun, and the leader did, and then he had to let go of Eric's hand, for the Asian was telling Eric to bring him the money. Lex did not understand why the money was so important that people wanted it so bad they pointed guns at other people, and he was afraid that the man was going to shoot them.

He stood and watched as Eric walked to the leader, and the leader gave him the plastic bag looking really mad, and he just wanted to run away, but the Asian would see it and then point the gun at him. Lex didn't like being pointed with guns. In television, the heroes always mouthed off to the criminals who were going to shoot them, and it didn't feel anything like this at all. But they had fake guns, and Lex knew that these were real, although they looked the same, and he could not say a word.

Eric walked to the man and gave him the plastic bag, and then started to come back to where Lex was standing, and he was glad when Eric grabbed his hand.

"It's okay." Eric's voice sounded gruff, and he could tell that Eric was afraid, but still the words made him feel a little better.

He stood so close to Eric that their sides brushed together, and he watched as the Asian man clutched the bag in his left hand, and the gun in his right, and what was going to happen to them now? A small smile spread to the man's wrinkled face, and as his eyes shifted to the bag, the man looked happy.

Something moved in the corner of his eye, and he turned to watch the other man - the leader - and it happened so fast that he could barely register that the man was drawing a gun from the small of his back and then there was a loud cracking sound, so loud it hurt his ears and the Asian man lay on the ground.

Eric shifted and started to move, dragging Lex with him, but the leader turned the gun on them and they froze, and it was hard to breath and hard to see through the tears that blurred everything.

"Stay where you are! The party isn't over yet."

The leader walked towards the man on the ground, and Lex did not want to watch, he wanted to close his eyes, wanted to leave, wanted Daley so badly, but he couldn't take his eyes of the man on the ground. The man looked so small and he must have been hurt really bad, for he made these horrible croaking sounds and his hands tried to clutch at the bag that had fallen beside him, but he couldn't reach it, couldn't move, and Lex knew the man was hurt badly.

Eric's fingers dug deeply into his palm, but he didn't mind. Vaguely, he realised that he was sobbing hard, felt the tremors shaking him, could hear his own wheezing mixing with the man's, and somebody had to help the man, for he was hurt and had to be helped, but it could not be Lex, for he couldn't move and he didn't know what to do.

The leader stooped over the man and picked up the man's gun that lay next to him on the ground, and tugged it into the waistband of his jeans.

"Jin…I have to say I am kind of disappointed in you." The leader's voice was even and impassive. "You know…I would have shared the money with you."

The man on the ground grunted painfully and tried to move. There was a large dark spot in the front of his shirt, like a stain from a spilled coffee, and Lex could see it grow bigger and bigger.

"Shame really." The leader looked down at the man. "But more money for me - I have no objections against that."

Lex jumped as a loud bang invaded the clearing, and the man slumped like all air had been drawn from him and he did not move anymore. The shot continued to echo in his ears, but everything else was still and silent around him, and the man's eyes were open and staring at him.

Lex knew the man was dead now.

The leader picked up the money bag without even glancing at the dead man, and there was an awful grin on his face that made Lex shudder.

"Put the gun away." Lex's heart stuttered hearing Daley's voice, and he turned at the same time as the leader did, and Daley! was standing behind them, she had come for him, was really there, and Lex tried to stifle his cries for everything would be alright again.

He tore away from Eric's hold, and dashed to Daley, but before he could launch himself on her, someone grabbed him and he struggled and kicked, trying to get to Daley, before he heard breathless words - "easy Lex, it's okay, settle down" - and recognized Nathan's voice. He did not understand, but he obeyed and stilled in Nathan's arms.

"You're going to shoot me honey?" The leader sounded amused, but he was standing still, almost as motionless as the dead man by his feet.

Only then did Lex notice that Daley was holding a gun pointed at the man, and he felt sick in his stomach and what if the leader shot Daley like he had shot that man?

"I want you to leave. Take your money and leave us alone." Daley's voice shook, but she was holding the gun steadily, and her whole attention was on the leader, and Lex hardly dared to breathe.

"You know how to fire that gun?" The leader stared at Daley, his words sinister. "It's not a little girl's toy."

"I know enough. Leave and stay away from my brother. Stay away." Lex knew that tone of voice. It was Daley's I-am-determined-to-do-this voice, and he was in awe of her bravery, but he was also so very afraid.

It seemed that the leader also recognized that particular tone of voice, for he snorted under his breath and lowered his gun, and with slow movements put it behind his back, under his shirt. Then he raised his hands towards them, his fingers empty of the weapon, but still holding the plastic bag.

"You have some balls there darling." The leader grinned his approval, and then continued, "Don't worry, I'll be leaving now with the money. Keep the gun - you might need it one day."

"Don't come back." Daley's voice was serious.

"Oh, believe me, I don't intend to." The leader's eyes strayed to the dead man, and as if sensing Lex's stare, the cold eyes turned to look at Lex, and he had to shift his gaze to the ground.

"Sorry about the mess. But no harm done." The man turned then and without looking back strode away from the clearing, disappearing into the surrounding darkness.

The man was gone.

Daley dropped the gun to the ground, and Lex was already halfway there, and then he was hugging her, squeezing her middle, and it was going to be alright, for Daley was there, she had come for him, and was squeezing him right back.

It's okay now, she said and Lex believed her, for she had come, and her arms shielded him from the eyes of the dead man, who continued to stare at his back.

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This chapter was hard to write, for I was not sure about Lex's voice. I tried to keep in mind that although he is a genius, he is still just a frightened child. I also deliberately made his narrative a little confusing to follow, for in that situation he doesn't register everything that is happening. For this reason, it was maybe a little hard to keep track of all the guns. So just to be clear: Jin had one gun, and Cole had two. Cole dropped the gun he was holding when Jin ordered him to, put he had another one hidden at the small of his back. The gun he first dropped was the one Daley later picked up.

So, what we'll have in the next chapter? Things are coming into closure, and we'll see how well Cole took the latest turn of the events.