Soundtrack: What Will Become Of Us - Passenger

(Chose this song for the chapter four months ago, yet I didn't realize up until two days ago that they actually mention gasoline and burning and stuff. Then again, I didn't analyze the song or anything, so for all I know, they're just using metaphores to describe a relationship...:P)

Be prepared for what I hope will be a sad chapter! ;)

THE TOUCH OF THE DARKNESS

Lana wrenched on the ground, splattering the last intents of her stomach onto the ground before her. She pushed herself up by her arms, but they kept shaking uncontrollably. Losing her balance completely, she fell onto her bum and stayed in a sitting position on top of a big boulder.

From where she was sitting on the rock, over the mineshaft, she could see all the commotion happening bellow her, but she tuned her attention to the rising sun instead. Away from the people, away from the reality.

Her heart was throbbing painfully inside of her chest even when she sat silently out in the desert, staring off into the distance of the horizon. Every limb of her small frame hurt, even after she had healed all radiation out of her body as well as the others. Every inch of her mind hurt, even after the others had convinced her that Caine alongside the sacrifice of Duck had officially killed the Gaiaphage.

In fact, it only made her feel worse that a life had been taken just to save her. Sam tried to explain that it hadn't been her fault. That they needed the monster dead, for Caine not to pull off another dangerous move like the previous one. Yet his message had been said half heartedly and Lana was having a hard time letting it sink in properly.

She could hear the sound of a pair of sneakers crushing rubble underneath its soles, the sound growing stronger by the second. Even when the intruder stood in front of her, she didn't bother with acknowledging the presence of the intruder, not until he extended his arm to hand her his half emptied water bottle. She took it obediently, opening the bottle and taking a small sip which she gurgled and spit out onto the ground again, rinsing her mouth of vomit, before drinking the rest of its contents in one sip.

'Are you okay?' he asked her.

'No,' she replied. What an understatement. Through the past couple of days, she had burned her own skin off, in an attempt to burn a monster that was inside her very own head. She had shot the sweetest allie of hers who had been nothing but a loyal friend to her since the first day they met. Then her whole mission ended up as a complete failure when they had to come to rescue her and Duck sacrificed himself. Worst of all; she could barely remember half of it. Instead, she had gotten the entire story vividly replayed in Sams words, disapprovement tainting the corner of his eyes every once in a while. So not being okay didn't even begin to cover up how devastated she was at the moment.

He sat down next to her.

'Caine and Diana, they took off, probably on their way back to Coates. And Sam is getting bet-' he was cut off.

'What about Drake?' she asked, looking at him for the first time. Her brows were wrinkled out of curiosity, wondering wether he'd left him out by accident. Or maybe he'd stayed at the power plant as a distraction or something? But she'd seen him! He had been right there! She had touched his chopped up arm, acknowledged his heartbeat, felt his breath. That couldn't possibly be another one of the Gaiaphages dirty tricks...

Could it?

She shook her own head, whispering to herself, letting her palms slide across her face. No, Drake had been there. And he was fine. He wasn't caused by the Gaiaphage! They had destroyed the Gaiaphage!

Sam had told her... Obviously he couldn't have been mistaking such an important scene.

Their eyes locked, and staring into Quinns tense eyes, the answer was technically written there. And when the color of his iris' softened, she felt a huge lump build up in her stomach. Her entire body turned tense as she realized what was going on.

What felt like a century of crushing silence embraced them like a carpet, laying unimaginable weight on Lana, bringing her down.

'He's dead,' he said as a matter-of-factly. It was predictable, it was, but knowledge is never fully confirmed until someone does said; confirm it. And the way that he did just that, as if it was good news, amazing ones actually... 'He attacked Diana, so Caine finished him off.'

She felt her heart - more like every fibre of her body, really - being crushed beneath an intense weight. Almost like when she broke her arm in the desert; as if the very core of her bones were being squeezed between two metal plates. Her teeth cupped the inside of her cheek, the same she had done that time with Drake, and she bit down forcefully. And just like the time before, she did not hesitate, even when blood was drawn.

'But I saw him.' she whispered, staring at the grass with eyes as empty as the void.

'I thought you said you couldn't-' he was cut off again.

'I can't. I can't remember much of it, anyways. It all comes in waves, making the memories unclear. Making my mind all foggy. It's hard making out what happened and what I'm just making up.' she admitted in a low, husky voice.

'You were down in a mineshaft filled with radiation. You're... uhm, you're braincells might've, you know...' he replied, making sure not to look at her as he scratched his neck insecurely.

'I'm not mad.' she stated fiercely. Her head shook in small, abrupt motions, in a bigger attempt at convincing herself rather then anyone else. 'I'm not, I- I saw him.'

Without being able to help herself, she started weeping hysterically, leaning her head on his shoulder, facedown in his shirt. The tears wouldn't stop flowing from her eyes, staining his t-shirt.

Quinn awkwardly laid an arm around her and tried calming her by making "relaxing" hushing noises and saying supposedly calming things such as 'It's over. We're safe,' and 'We'll get you healed, somehow,' something which concluded in her weeping even harder. He even added a careful 'Everything is going to be okay,' in there, something which just pissed her off, but she was drained of energy, and had no power left within herself to hit him or scream or sob louder then she already was.

The pain of her empty stomach wasn't even noticeable compared to what was going on inside of her. She wasn't even sure of were the pain came from, but she felt the weakness of not having eaten in a long time, being dehydrated even when she just got to drink, being drained from the memory of shooting a friend, feeling as dead as the boy she once abandoned.

She had defeated the Darkness, yet it was still there. In this hellhole of a dome, there was no win. Only survival - if you were even that lucky. They all lost, even those that didn't realize it. Everyone lost in here, because they were overpowered by a greater force then all of them together.

As her sobs turned into hiccups, her mind stayed unclear, obscure even. The world was spinning around about her free falling frame. There was a gap inside of her, were the pain of the stabbing daggers once had been located. The harrowing feeling had left her, but it had taken with it whatever was there before, leaving her even more exposed and vulnerable then before. More inhuman.

The arm Quinn wasn't holding Lana in, extended in her direction, to cup her trembling hands in his own. It should've been a considerate gesture. An action of care and admiration, one she should appreciate and enjoy. However the heat of his body made sweat break through to the surface of her skin, his soft voice making shivers of pure rage crawl up the back of her spine.

She sensed the anger washing over her, before she felt the wet tongue of her loyal dog brush her cheek. Lana halfheartedly let go of Quinn, turning around to let her arms cling around Patrick instead, as if he was the only thing tying her to sanity. Her sobs had returned, but were muffled by Patricks thick fur coat, and soon decreased to heavy, steady breathing as she fell asleep in tears.

Well, reading through it one last time, it wasn't really all that sad, just depressing...:P

So I know what I said about updating within a week, but this chapter clearly needed some further development and I'm still not feeling a 100% happy about the result, but I was drained of ideas for how to make the chapter longer, more reliable and exciting, etc.

But I've got so much school work on my hands, and I'm already late at delivering in some shitty presentation for arts class which i gotta go write some more on now. So I hope you at least enjoyed it the slightest and hopefully the next chapter will be better!

And thank you, thank you, thank you Kyle3698, AncientSTORM and FAYZlover101 for your wonderful reviews! Reread them today and they still make my day wonderful! Hope I'll see more of your reviews soon, because they're really sweet!

And this Authors Note is turning longer then the story... I'll just go now then! :P