Chapter 15

Stephen Hart stormed through the streets, trying to get as much distance between himself and Cutter as he could. He wasn't sure what shocked him more. The entire conversation or the fact that his best friend had punched him in the face. He knew Cutter would respond with anger, that's why he didn't tell him about Helen, but he never expected Nick to get violent, it just wasn't his way.

Stephen didn't pay attention to where he was going, taking random streets as he went. His mind was too preoccupied with his argument with Cutter. He thought back to everything they'd yelled at each other. He realized that he really did mean what he said about Helen, he really did love her. Stephen didn't know how he could explain it; she just made him feel important.

The more he thought about Helen, the more he wanted to see her. Stephen checked his watch.

"Damn." He muttered angrily, "It's only ten thirty, she won't get out for hours."

Stephen pulled out his phone; he needed some form of contact with her. He sent a quick text.

We need to talk as soon as you get out of school, it's about Cutter and it's important.

Stephen sent the text and sighed; now he had to find a way to occupy himself until school got out. She responded immediately.

I skipped school so we could spend some more time together. I'm at my house and nobody's home, come see me.

Stephen grinned as he read the text. Classic Helen, she barely needed an excuse to break some rule or another. He began jogging to her house, eager to get there as soon as possible.

When he got to the front of her driveway, Helen walked out of her front door to greet him. Without waiting for her to say anything, Stephen grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her. She returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as he moved his to her waist. They stayed locked in their embrace for a few minutes before Helen broke away.

"Come on," She said coyly, taking his hand and leading him inside. "The neighbors will be watching."

XXXXX

Helen sat on her couch, snuggled up against Stephen, listening to him explain what had happened between him and Cutter. She allowed herself a small smile; everything was going exactly to plan. Helen suppressed a twinge of guilt. She did feel a little bad using Stephen like this to get back at Nick, but it was all necessary for the end goal. Stephen had just finished telling her how Nick punched him in the face. She inwardly smiled again, Nick wasn't usually a violent person, he must have gotten angrier than she would have thought.

"Aww" she cooed, turning to look at the mark on his face. "He shouldn't have done that to you." she added, lightly kissing the bruise. Stephen smiled and looked at her with adoration. She mentally shook her head, he was way too easy to manipulate. Helen knew exactly what buttons to push to get him to do what she wanted.

"Tomorrow," she said, cuddling closer into his side, "we should really make this official, make sure everyone at school knows." Stephen seemed pleased with the idea and smiled as he held her closer.

Helen wanted everyone at school to know they were dating, even though she barely thought of it as that. Even though he couldn't realize it, going public with her would ruin Stephen. Almost everybody at school knew about Helen and Nick's rocky past, and seeing Stephen date his best friend's ex would turn everyone at school against him. It hadn't even been that hard to convince him to start seeing more of her. Helen knew what made Stephen tick and knew how to use it to her advantage.

Having been Nick's best friend for their entire childhood, Stephen had spent some considerable time in Nick's shadow. There was nothing malicious about it, Helen knew Nick didn't mean anything by it, but he was just naturally more talented than Stephen. And Stephen had no shortages by way of talent. He consistently finished in the top ten percent of any class on every assignment, was a better athlete, and had much more luck with women. But his drive to achieve in everything was to beat Nick in something. Helen had noticed that trait when she first started hanging out with the pair. It was the reason Stephen practiced football as much as he did, and why he focused on being in such great shape, his motivation was to be better than Nick in anything. And now she'd given him his chance.

Stephen finally had the chance to step out of Nick Cutter's shadow by keeping Helen as a steady girlfriend and proving she loved him more than she loved Nick. Helen fought the urge to laugh, Stephen was so gullible and naive, he really should have listened to his friend.

XXXXX

Nick Cutter sat slumped against the alleyway wall, panting for breath and trying to soothe his aching throat. He looked over his handiwork in the alleyway. Trash bins were strewn everywhere, the bags of trash deposited on the ground. Some of the bags had been stamped and crushed, others were opened, their contents broken apart and thrown against the brick walls. Cutter looked at his bleeding knuckles, he'd punched the walls until his hands bled and shouted himself hoarse, and his rage was finally starting to subside.

Cutter felt drained; after the argument with Stephen, he'd wandered around blindly, his anger rising until he couldn't contain himself anymore and he began destroying anything he could get his hands on. His mum called them his Jekyll fits, and he could see the similarities. He felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep, and his last conscious thought was how unwise it was to sleep in the middle of an alleyway in the middle of the day.

Cutter looked at Helen and Stephen.

"The controls are on the other side," Helen said, "but whoever gets to them will be locked in"

Cutter slumped back against the wall, defeated. "Then one of us has to go back in." He looked the others in the eyes, Helen averted her gaze, but Stephen stared back firmly. Cutter knew Stephen would volunteer, and he couldn't let that happen.

"I'll go." Cutter said finally. Stephen looked at him in shock.

"You'll never make it out of there alive." He insisted. Cutter looked at him with a stern expression.

"Get out of here." He said, wincing internally at how harsh he sounded. Cutter stood up and leaned into to Stephen, giving him a one-armed hug.

"Remember, Lester's not the enemy." He whispered, glaring pointedly at Helen. Cutter let go and walked towards the door. As he walked, he heard Stephen's heavy boots rushing up behind him. As Cutter turned to see what Stephen wanted, he was knocked flat on his back as Stephen punched him square in the face. Cutter got up dazedly as he heard the heavy door closing. He stood up in shock as he realized what had just happened.

"Stephen!" He yelled through the door. Stephen's face appeared on the other side of the glass.

"Sorry, mate." He said with a false tone of apology. "I'm doing this one."

"No!" Cutter shouted back, "Open the door! Open it!" Cutter could feel himself slowly beginning to lose his sanity. "Open the door, Stephen!"

"Can't do it, Nick." Stephen said as he walked backwards into the room. Cutter could see predators of all kinds, past and future, swarming into the room. "Tell Connor and Abby to stay out of trouble," Stephen continued, "and look after yourself Nick."

Cutter could only watch in open-mouthed horror as the creatures surrounded Stephen. Now standing in the center of the room. As a future predator leapt from the top of one of the cages directly towards Stephen, Cutter turned around and slid against the door, his eyes filling with tears.

He noticed Helen leaving the room, but he didn't care, all he cared about was the fact that he just lost his best friend, a man who was like a brother to him. The man who was there for him when he first lost Helen, who was there for him when they found anomalies, the man who was always just there, ready to take on any challenge. Cutter thought back to everything they'd faced together, the raptors, sand scorpions, carnivorous worms, and everything else that had come through the anomalies, and how Stephen had always been prepared to risk his life to save Cutter, or Connor, or Abby. And now he finally had, he was gone. Cutter felt the tears falling and the grief welling up inside him until he couldn't take it anymore. He had to get the sorrow out of his body before he drowned in it.

"Stephen!"

Cutter awoke with a start, looking around groggily as he tried to remember where he was and how he'd gotten there. As he blearily rubbed his eyes, his thoughts strayed back to the dream he'd had. Cutter struggled to remember it, he was vaguely sure that Stephen was there, and Helen as well, but definitely Stephen. That was important for some reason, but he couldn't remember why. Cutter stood up and checked his watch. He did a double take. The watch read four fifteen, he'd been asleep for hours. Cutter felt his stomach rumble with hunger and decided to go to Jenny's house, it was closer and he wanted to talk to her about Stephen anyways. She was good with relationships; she'd know what to do.

As he walked, Cutter tried in vain to remember more of his dream. He knew he'd yelled Stephen when he'd woken up, but he couldn't be sure as to why. Cutter thought about the vague feeling of sadness he'd felt when he'd woken up, he was sure it had to do with Stephen, but he still couldn't remember what the dream had been about. Cutter gave a sigh of frustration; it would come to him eventually.

As he was walking down the road to Jenny's house, Cutter caught sight of her walking down the street from the opposite direction, clearly just arriving home from school. He waved at her, and after a moment of confusion, she waved back. Cutter jogged up to her, closing the distance between them.

"Here, let me take that." He said as a greeting, indicating Jenny's large schoolbag. She still looked surprised at his arrival.

"Oh, OK," she said, handing him her bag with a curious expression. "What brings you here? Not that I'm not happy to see you Nick, but what's up?"

"I just needed someone to talk to," Cutter admitted, "it's been kind of a rough day."

Jenny gave him a sympathetic smile. "Ok, let's get inside and we can talk."

Cutter nodded and followed Jenny into her house.

XXXXX

"Has it occurred to anyone else how completely whipped we are?" Danny asked the others. Connor looked down the line of the three other guys who were standing with him, waiting across the street for school to get out.

"I was just thinking the same thing." Matt agreed, staring steadfastly at the front doors of the school.

"I'm just wondering why we got here so early." Connor said to the others, "I mean, it's three forty, school won't get out for another twenty minutes.

"It never hurts to be early." Becker commented, restating his belief that had gotten the others to wait with him outside the school.

"All I'm saying," Connor continued, "is the park had benches, and now we're standing outside, waiting on our respective girlfriends. We could've been sitting, that's all."

Danny checked his watch again, "Connor does have a point Becker, we could have waited a little longer."

Becker didn't say anything, but Matt scoffed, "C'mon Danny, it's not that bad. I expected this from Connor, but I thought you'd be tougher."

Connor looked down the line at Matt, "I'm very tough," he insisted, "I just don't see the need to stand for another twenty minutes, especially since we've been here since three twenty."

"And I don't mind standing," Danny added, "I'm just saying, tomorrow, let's give it some more time before we come wait across the street."

Becker nodded, "I can live with that."

Matt shook his head, still looking across the street, "I guess we will be doing this all week." He gave a low sigh and bent his knees slightly. They all stayed quiet for a few minutes, watching the school intently.

"They're worth it though." Danny said, breaking the silence, "Completely worth it."

The others all made noises of agreement.

"We still could have been sitting." Connor added wistfully.

AN: A few things to cover real fast.

1). This was supposed to just have Cutter and Stephen, but the idea for the other guys to be waiting outside was too good to pass up.

2). I promised myself I wouldn't do another dream sequence with a scene from the show, but this one worked out so well I couldn't resist.

3). I wrote something from Helen's perspective, I feel dirty inside.

4). Please review, they make me so happy I cry a little on the inside. And thanks for sticking with this story for fifteen chapters.