Chapter 9:

Allison stopped walking for a minute and looked around at her surroundings. It was so dark. She couldn't even see anything. The tears were still coming. They wouldn't stop. She knew it was stupid. It was such a stupid thing to do. To tell Adam how she felt. He was 10 years older than her. How did she THINK he would react?! Stupid. Just stupid.

She sat down cross-legged on the ground and wiped her eyes. It was pitch black out. There was no point in wandering around in the darkness. She'd just get lost. Or worse, run into trouble. She gulped. She still hadn't seen anyone else yet. Where were they all? Were they okay? Was Adam okay? Another tear ran down her cheek. She shouldn't be thinking of him now. But she couldn't help it. What if something had happened to Adam? How would she live without him? That is, if she lived herself.

Almost is if reading her mind, she heard footsteps in the distance. And heavy breathing. Very heavy breathing. She slowly stood up. "Hello?" Allison called out shakily. The footsteps got closer, and sped up. She froze.

"Adam...?" she called out quietly. "Please..." she begged quietly, more to herself then the person approaching rapidly. She screamed. Someone crashed into her, sending her flying backwards. The person landed on top of her, breathing heavily as if he'd just run a marathon. She squinted her eyes to see who was on top of her. "Oh my God, Kris!" she said after finally realizing who it was.

"Allison?" he asked, lifting himself up but still hovering over her. He quickly got off of her and helped her up, then engulfed her in a tight hug. "Thank God you're okay! I was so worried! I thought...I thought everyone else was dead..."

"I did too!" she said, burying her face in his shoulder. She pulled away a minute later, looking around. "Is Matt..." she said quietly, trailing off. She couldn't say it. She didn't even want to think it.

"Yes..." Kris said quietly. "He's dead. And so is Danny." Allison let out a quiet sob. Kris hugged her again. "I know. I know. I'm sorry. It'll be okay..." he said, trying to soothe her.

"What about Adam? Is he..." Kris asked her, trailing off as she had. "I...I don't know..." she studdered. "I'm so stupid!" she said, getting all worked up again. "Me and my stupid teenage angst, and I just had to storm off like that. Now I don't know where he is! He's gone! And I don't even know if he's alive!" The tears started falling again.

"Don't cry Allie. Of COURSE he's alive. He's Adam. Adam can take care of himself. You know that..."

"No, I don't know that!" she said, cutting him off. "Matt and Danny are dead, and who knows who else is! They could ALL be dead for all we know! Including Adam! We could be the only ones left..."

Just as she said that, they both heard a noise in the distance. Allison opened her mouth to scream. Kris quickly covered it and forced her to crouch down. He put a finger to his lips. Allison nodded fearfully, breathing heavily. He grabbed her hand and the both crawled over behind a couple of metal fold-up chairs. If it wasn't so dark it would've been a horrible hiding place. Thankfully they had the darkness to cover them. They sat there silent. Waiting. Watching. Praying.

They heard voices now. Getting closer. Three burly men approached them, making casual conversation as they walked. "So dude, did you see that one guy's face when I killed him? He was SO scared it was almost funny!" The other two men laughed.

"Yeah, I thought this was supposed to be hard! That's what that one dude that hired us said," said ones I mean, he's paying us so much, I figured it would be a difficult job, but no! Easy. They're dropping like flies. And only three more to go..."

Allison let out a gasp. Kris quickly covered her mouth again, holding her close to him and pulling her head into his chest.

"Hey, what was that?" the first guy said.

"What was what?" one of the other guys said. The taller, more muscular one.

"I think...I think one of them Idols is here. Close..." said the first man. The guys began looking around. Kris and Allison held their breaths.

The men were silent for a few minutes. Kris and Allison waited. And waited. For what seemed like an eternity. "Dude, I think you've been smoking too much of that pot lately. I don't see any of them Idols anywhere..." said the third man, now finally speaking. The second man nodded his head in agreement. They mumbled a few things under their breath.

"Okay, I still don't see anything. Let's just go..." said the second man after about a minute. "Fine, whatever bro..." Allison and Kris heard their footsteps start up again. Finally they faded away. All was silent. Kris and Allison were too for about 2 or 3 minutes. Waiting to make sure they were safe. Finally, Kris breathed a sigh of relief, figuring it was safe. He removed his hand from Allison's mouth; who was still breathing heavily. She sighed too. "That was close..." she said.

"Hey, you were right Smasher," said a voice not too far off. Allison gasped. The three men approached them; weapons raised in the air. "They really were here..."