Day Thirty; Continued

"It seems like you have company, Beckett." Vincent pressed on when no one answered him, and Cat, panicking now that they had been caught, squeezed her eyes shut and shuffled closely beside Brent, who, much to her relief, stayed rooted in a protective stance before her, hard glare searing right at the other man.

"What do you want, old man?" Jade snapped at him, her voice nothing but a harsh growl that made her wince.

"My machine to be reconstructed, workers. You two will make excellent additions…" He smiled blatantly to himself, nodding at his own suggestion.

"That's too bad," She said, shaking her head and holding tightly onto Beck's arm, "because we're leaving."

"And what makes you think you'll do just that, may I ask…err…Jadelyn, is it?" Vincent inquired, raising a bushy, dark eyebrow at her friend with his lips tugging downward in a thoughtful, yet somehow smug frown.

"Wipe that pout off of that ugly face and stop being a creeper. How do you know my name?"

"He knows all our names." Cat squeaked, and, as soon as she had spoken, her eyes traveled to the doorway in which another figure appeared – the same boy, who called himself 'Richard', and had kept appearing everywhere she went, was standing behind Vincent with a lazy smirk, pointing his index finger to the left of him as if he was telling her to make an idiot move and run for it. She pointedly averted her gaze; no one else in the room appeared to have seen him.

"Victoria, Andre, Robert, Katrina, Caterina, Beckett, Brent…I just have my ways of knowing things, you see." He continued on, beginning to take a few steps forward.

"Okay…well let's make a deal."

"A deal?"

"Yeah, like a bargain," Jade deadpanned with a roll of her eyes, her hand entwined with Beck's. "He fixes your stupid machine and you let him go. With us. Same with her – you don't need her here."

"I fixed already it," Beck said tensely, and, almost upon impulse, Cat observed as his arm wrapped around Jade's shoulder blades, "but I can break it just as easily. It's all we ask."

Vincent stared at the four of them, his expression blank. "I can't guarantee you'll make it out alive." He murmured, his words barely audible, but she had heard him just fine. Her heartbeat was beginning to quicken and she was of course, scared and nervous, and her finger nails dug into Brent's forearm subconsciously. They dwelled into an awkward silence, not one of them speaking – it had appeared like the man she had learned to obey orders from was strongly considering, and it was as if no one had wanted to disrupt him, not even Jade, who looked thoroughly furious.

"You have five minutes."

The panicked group did not have to be told this twice, and the moment the words left Vincent's chapped, tense lips, the quad of them were already rushing from the door and through the corridors in which led to the upstairs. Cat's hand was firmly grasped within Brent's much larger one, and she felt as if she was losing all circulation – if she had bothered to look down, though she knew she wouldn't have due to their current situation, she would have suspected it to be a dark purple – and the two were in the lead, speeding down the hallway so animatedly that she wasn't quite sure if her feet could keep up for so long. Beck and Jade were right behind them, tailing them, and she could feel the thumping of the four feet upon the stone ground.

It wasn't long after they had exited the building after pushing numerous unaware people out of their way and into the walls (for once, she did not feel so bad for being cruel), that the shouts begun, and several men were chasing after them, just as Vincent had said. Cat's heart was pounding in her chest as she pushed into the woodland, slamming furiously and quickly against her ribcage in stuttered and faltered beats in which ricocheted to her ears, drowning out all else. The obstacles within the forest was enough to make them separate hands, yet the quad stayed as closely as they could to one another, dodging bullets and other items thrown at them by the men not far behind. Rain, cold and fleeting against her creamy skin, barreled down upon them in bucketfuls, causing the dirt to convert to mud and evidently provoking them to lose their footing and slip. She could hardly see where she was going, and already a natural klutz, her she toppled into a pool of mud. Jade, who was right behind her, was unable to stop herself and fell atop of Cat in the sludge in a fit of profanities.

She knew that she would have giggled and begun to throw the mire at her comrade, but in this case, with her and her friend's life on the line, she struggled to bring herself and Jade to her feet with a squeal. The much taller and coordinated, grabbed her by the forearm and tugged her upwards, and, drenched from head to toe in the mud screamed "Come on, hurry!" whilst beginning to sprint once again, before they were caught, or even under worst scenarios, killed.

Although she a many of times, had wanted to take her life (specifically when she was back at home, sitting in her room all alone whilst her mother and step father argued down stairs and promptly came up just to take their turn on her), there were times like these, where she didn't. She treasured life away from home just candidly because it wasn't her own personal hell, something in which she was supposed to call a safe haven but couldn't, and attempted to get out as much as possible. Her grandmother had once told her, before her death, that she should keep smiling and carry on, even through the hardships. Cat figured this was much easier with a cigarette, which were still in her back pocket, and her meds.

Now, she didn't want to die. She was surrounded by her friends, the boy she fancied the pants off of, and she was given the chance to live and god damn it she would rather live the rest of her life on this island (away from them, but also all sources of civilization) if it meant that she could stay alive. And it seemed odd, all things considered, and didn't make much sense even to her – but really, when had things ever made sense?

Cat didn't know how long they had been running for but her legs, she had discovered the hard way, sullen with sludge, were beginning to sting and tense and she was getting increasingly exhausted. She felt as if she couldn't run any longer by the time they had lost track of their captors, but none of the other's had stopped for a break; they continued on, and so did she. She had just assumed, like the other's might've as well, that those at which were chasing them were stalling and breaking out a plan like the horrible blemishes to the world that they were, attempting to find ways of finding them and killing them all. However, she had only stopped once they had reached the shore, and she could not help but muffle her squeal.

She halted at the edge of the forest, not taking another step out of line, and her dirty hands flew to her mouth (every inch of her, like Jade, was covered in mud; this did not make any difference) in absolute shock. Filling the shore like mounds of sardines were bloody, dead and decaying bodies, overlapping each other and sprawled out like carpets – and each and every one of her friends were nonchalant stepping upon them, getting as far from the forest as remotely possible. They had slowed down however, all out of breath and panting, hunched over as they pursued to catch their breath. Cat's, was hitched in her throat, and she couldn't believe what she was witnessing. Everywhere she looked, beside the ocean, more and more bodies lay.

"Hey!" Brent called to her, and in shock, she blinked. Where the bodies were, there was nothing but sand, and two packs in which were essentially Brent and Jade's.

"My god I am crazy" She whispered to herself as she unsteadily walked forth, breathing ample and uneven.

"Why'd you stop?" Asked the Australian whilst pulling her over to him by her upper arm, away from the forest in which he, along with Beck and Jade, were warily glaring at. She too looked over her shoulder, but for just an instant, before glancing up at the towering male's handsome face and chewing her bottom lip uneasily. She, however, was not able to answer him. Just as she had opened her mouth to unreasonably tell him the truth of her predicament, a figure burst through the topiary guarding them from the forest, gun at the ready and pointed at the four of them. Immediately, being the closest, Brent stepped into foolish action, knocking the other mans arm from the 180 degree in which it was placed and spinning it so the gun was pointed in the opposite direction.

However, a gunshot sounding of thunder rattled the ground.

And then, there was nothing but pain.

With what appeared to have been a rather strangled, torturous gasp, Cat fell to the soft grain that made up the shore, her knees still, even through the heavy downpour, covered in the mud and immersing into the sand as her body fell slack. She, with one arm curling around her rapidly bleeding abdomen, reached out with her other hand to stop herself from falling completely, weakling holding herself up – the pain, however, was swelling and searing through her like millions of pins and needles, prodding each noodle thin nerve throughout her. She could barely hear her heart was pounding so rapidly, but soothing, cold hands found her back and she could hear distant shouting – two males, Beck and Brent, were those screaming angry nothings, so it must have been Jade at her side.

She fell willingly into the other girls embrace, wincing only slightly as she was pulled into her lap but curling inside of it, her head just slightly beneath her shoulder blade and Jade's arms wrapped protectively around her, one hand on her forehead, pushing back strands of brunette hair gently. Cat whimpered at the waves of foreign pain and clutched onto her gothic friends hand as tightly as she could, tears streaming down her cheeks and her breath coming in quick and impetuous pants. The amount of blood she was losing, she could not tell, but Jade had removed her over shirt and pressed it to her wound to slow it down – no matter though, the feeling of her own blood gushing from her was enough to make her want to throw up. And, try as she might, she could not keep her thoughts in control, and therefore, could not think of happy thoughts like one may tell her.

"You're okay, honey. I got you" Jade whispered in her ear, hugging her closer to her body and her words just above a whisper; at least, Cat thought, the soothing words of her best friend were calming her down some, and when she looked up, she could see that the former wasn't bothering to hide her own tears like she normally would have.

"I-it hurts" She squeaked, barely finding the will power to utter the two words; she was getting outlandishly tired already, and it was getting harder to keep her eyes open. But, strangely enough, she felt…alive. She didn't feel like she was dying at all.

"I know, I know. But you're going to be alright, okay? Just stay awa-"

A second shot rang out.

Cat watched, mortified, as Brent fell to the ground, motionless.

Day Thirty One

Fist curled around the peel of an eaten banana, in which she had just recently devoured, Tori Vega allowed for herself to bask in the interior of the plane, enjoying the moment of shade while it had lasted. The previous night's rainstorm had made the air oppressive and sticky and everything gross, and though the huts (at which, in mere boredom, both boys were improving on) were admittedly, a great source of shade, she supposed that this was even better. Albeit, it did bring on terrible memories of the night the plane had crashed not long ago, she figured if she had just stared outside the window, watching Robbie construct the huts by himself, all such reminders would just…ebb away. And that they did, though not for long.

As much as she didn't want to keep telling herself, she could not help but think of what was going on back home, and she was homesick. She wanted to see her mom and she wanted to see her daddy (yes, daddy. She was a daddy's girl, what can she say?) and even Hollywood Arts. She wanted to see Sikowitz and how he was holding up without his favorite six students. She missed everything she had left behind, and she was regretting getting so excited over the trip that turned into a 'Vacation From Hell'. If she could stop Andre and Robbie from suggesting that they all should go to Tahiti, she would in a heartbeat. At least, she thought, she had Trina here with her.

Though the two might not have seemed like it, the siblings were rather close. Sure, Trina would get obnoxiously annoying and she was sometimes forced to blackmail her (more than sometimes, actually), but when it came down to it, Tori couldn't have asked for a better sister. When she had come home one night, devastated over a new girl Andre was talking to and obsessing over, Trina was there to help her out when Cat wasn't able to. She defended her, made her feel better in the oddest of ways, made her laugh and protected her – Tori did the same, just in a slightly different way. Always, she attempted to make things better by actually doing something, conjuring up a plan that would somehow work.

Which, in the end, never did.

She didn't know what she would do if Trina wasn't here with her, if she had left just like the rest of them. Still, even after eleven days since the other four (the runaways, she would call them) departed ways and left to find civilization, couldn't believe that Cat, someone who was supposed to be one of her best friends, had went along with Jade. She knew the two were close, but she never thought something like that could happen. It made her feel slightly bad about herself, if she was completely honest – and that would not do. Tori was a very insecure girl, even though she seemed like she wouldn't have been, and the simplest things like that would make her stop eating and attempt to perfect herself. Because, after all, she was an OCD Perfectionist at its finest, and anything that was anything but could indeed, become very emotionally damaging.

Of course though, attempting not to let her thoughts wander to negative things she'd rather not recall, Tori shook her head and stood from her spot, her fingers toying with the banana peel absently. "Time to get rid of you. Sorry" She said to it with a small, fake frown as she dangled it before her eyes and walked from the leaning plane unsteadily, and into the oppressive air. She could almost hear her wavy, brown ringlets frizzing already, and the thought made her grimace. She hated weather like this.

"Hey, Tori!" Robbie called out to her as he came into view, waving a sunburned arm in the air. "Come on over here, I want to show you something! It's neat, trust me."

"I don't know, Rob" She sighed, but nonetheless walking over, "this banana peel is starting to get sticky, and it's gross and I need to get rid of it."

"Won't be long, promise" He smiled over at her, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his slanted nose. When she had reached over to where he was, slightly unwilling to be there, he shoved a round, metal item into her arms and plucked the peel from her grip. "Guess what it is?"

"Um…a big round thing?"

He chuckled, "nope – it's something used to start fires easily. I just used things from the plane to make it – if you hold it in the right kind of light…" He sat down on his beach chair, grabbing the item back and holding a stick beneath it, adjusting it so the sun's ominous rays were beating fantastically upon it. Tori watched in half amazement and boredom as eventually, the stick began to catch aflame in a light blaze of orange fire. "See? We can use this instead of doing it manually now."

"How'd you think of that?" Tori asked him, thoroughly amazed as he sprinkled sand atop of the stick in order to prevent the fire from spreading any further. She couldn't believe she was reluctant to see this.

"My Imaging Technology class back in Jr. High." Robbie explained with a shrug of undernourished shoulders. "I figured I might as well do something right this time - you know? Since Beck isn't here to do any mechanic work and Andre's always busy trying to fish and all…"

"You're a genius, Shapiro." She shook her head at him.

"You're so pretty."

"Robbie! You're dating my sister!"

Just then, as if it was timed or played out, Trina came rushing up from the shore, waving her arms in the air with an excited gleam upon her face, squealing incoherent nothings as she barged passed the duo, promptly shoving the two of the onto the sandy terrain beneath them. "Trina! – What the hell?" Tori, baffled, yelled as her skinny figure hit the terrain of the shore, a whoosh of sand erupting from underneath her and her flailing, stick limbs. Robbie appeared to be just as bewildered from his own spot upon the ground, glasses tossed from his face and beach chair, in which had fallen with him, dropping atop of his scrawny build.

Her sister snatched her items in movements so quick that she was afraid she would have missed them if she blinked, and turned her gaze upon her, light brown eyes lit up and her words enunciated as she shouted at the pair of them.

"There. Is. A. BOAT! We're getting out of here! Hollywood, mama's coming home!"

Instantaneously, with more energy than she thought she would have, Tori was rushing after her sister and Andre as they sped off, excitement and relief washed upon her face. Her feet took her as fast as they could go, taking long strides as she sprinted down the shore directly behind the other two and Robbie trailing awkwardly, stumbling upon his own feet and lacking round spectacles behind her. She burst into the open clearing, nearly running into her sister in the process of doing so, her eyes glued upon the vast ocean, glistening azure waves crashing down upon the surface line. Sure enough, there was indeed a large white boat, albeit it seemed much smaller due to the distance. Her arms automatically flew above her head, flailing wildly as she screamed a wordless shout, hoping, praying that they could hear her. The other's followed quickly in suit, their yells ringing out along the shore, and Andre had even grabbed a towel and begun to wave it in the air like a flag.

"We're here! Hey, we're here!" She shouted, her voice straining due to the octave in which she was using – she had, though she didn't like admitting it, a vocal ceiling and it was harder for her to sing, or say, long or high notes. Unlike Cat, who belted out notes and pitches so high and stretched that it didn't seem possible. However, this was not to say that she wasn't loud.

"Guys, it's turning around!" Andre yelled suddenly, frantically waving muscular arms above his head, his voice twice as loud and elevated.

"No, come back! COME BACK!" Robbie bellowed, running forth and ankle deep into the ocean's water, screaming at the top of his lungs and seeming desperate, which was admittedly, nothing out of the normal. His scrawny arms were flapping wildly, very much so resembling that of a birds wings, and Trina was right beside him doing the exact same thing. Tori was surprised, though not as much as she was upset and devastated, that the people on the boat did not hear the shrill vociferations the four of them were giving off. It must have been, she concluded, too far away – for all they knew, the people on the boat could barely see the outline of the island they were stranded on.

"It's useless" Tori dropped her arms from above her and to her thighs, desperation and denouement heavily marring her cheek-boned visage, displaying everything she was feeling all at once. "They can't hear us. They're turning around." She continued, feeling utterly terrible. Her hope, in which was slowly diminishing by the day, disappeared completely.

"Jade was right" Said Robbie suddenly, storming passed both Tori and Andre whilst simultaneously shaking his head, "I should have gone with them. I bet they're better off there then we are here."

Oh Rob, no they aren't.

Now, I'd just like to get out of the way that I hope you guys don't come after me with pitch forks and knives because of what happened here O.o, with Brent dying (which I really don't think would be much of a big deal, considering he's an OC and all) and Cat being shot and then their boat turning around all "lol at ur lyf."

So, after this fic is finished I'm going to be starting a new multi-chap story and I don't know what pairing I should do. I'm strongly, strongly considering Candre because I love them together so so much. But then I love Cade…and, gah. I just don't know who to pick! Really, this is like the hardest decision ever. What do you think?

Well, as always, thank you all for the reviews! They mean so much to me you have no idea (: I love you guys!

Here's TWO previews!:

"You killed him" Beck deadpanned, neatly tucking the gun underneath his shirt and into the back of his pants, "one of your own, for us. Why?"

"Now who's to say that I was ever one 'a them?"

2

"I won't stop searching until my daughters and their friends are found!" He slammed his fist upon his kitchen table, shaking everything atop of it, with a look of pure rage upon his features.

"Mr. Vega, I'm sorry but…by the odds, there's no way they would have survived that long." The other man said with a frown. David's glare was enough to send another man cowering, however, the one who he had willingly let into his home did not falter and remained staring at him with the same expression he was giving all night: pity, sympathy.

"How long will it take to put up another search party?" He asked through clenched teeth, pointedly averting his gaze to stare outside of the windows – he wouldn't allow his eyes to travel to the stairs leading to their second story, where his wife would be, where she had been for the last thirty two days, saying nothing, doing nothing but the necessities. It was also where his daughter's rooms would be, and as a father, he hadn't had the heart to walk past them, knowing his precious children were…possibly, dead. He'd been sleeping on the living room couch; he didn't dare step a foot on any one of those stairs. He just couldn't.

"About…about another month."