Day Thirty Eight
*Chapter dedicated to Napier!

Tori fell into father's embrace. Just fell. It had been twenty four hours since rescue had arrived – but that also meant that it had been twenty four hours insomuch as Cat had passed away – since Jade had run off to carry through with vengeance and for whatever reason, her own sister had gallivanted on after her. And she, even the morning after, could not stop the tears from falling, could not stop her heart from pounding against her ribcage or her lungs constricting with each heavy sob that made her body tremble and shake so violently she hadn't known that it was possible. The simple fact that they had lost two people on this god forsaken island; one considerably very close to Tori's heart, tore her apart as if she was a thin, piece of paper; as if it hadn't mattered that her heart was shattering each time she even recited the names in her mind; or heard them from her companions gathered around her, who were just as sorrowful.

Rescue professionals were planning to move Cat's body onto the helicopter in which they had come within a body bag; the very same helicopter in which they were going to be traveling home in. However, by this time, they had managed to gather a signal to notify a rescue boat to come to the island, just by tracing the call – and when Jade and Trina had come back, or if they had found them, they would be leaving upon that. Tori was sure she was not going watch when they delicately reallocated the petite girl's physique, because if she had watched, then it would seem all too real to her, and she couldn't bring herself to truly believe that she was dead, even if the truth was right in front of her face. Perhaps it was just that she had known it was real, but didn't want it to be so.

"It's okay, sweetie." Her father cooed, holding his youngest daughter close to his chest with his cheek pressed against the side of her head, eyes focused upon the forest beyond. He was contemplating ways to find his eldest child; to bring her and the Gothic girl back, to take them back to Los Angeles before they too had gotten themselves killed. "We're going to find them, and we're going to go home. Okay? Everything's alright – you're going home."

Erwin Sikowitz, half-heartedly sipping on a fresh coconut he had found, was sorrowfully glancing at the frantic pair of boys pacing the perimeter of the shore. Beck and Robbie were not taking the run off of Jade and Trina as well as one may have thought; his calmest student was in a state of panic and shock, fretting over the safety of his lover and mourning over the loss of a close friend of his; Robbie the same, scrawny build flailing as search party members, as well as his own father, attempted to hold him back from running off into the forest to do something foolish. It was almost painful for him to watch; two of his best students become frantic and out of control, while the other was off doing something he had not caught, Tori a spiral of emotions, Andre a shell and one, though as much as it hurt Sikowitz to say, or think, deceased not even fifty feet away from him.

He, figuring he as a respectful adult albeit drinking the juices from a fruit through a bendy straw, should do something useful while he was here. When David had asked him to participate in the search for his six favorite students, Trina and another boy he hadn't ever seen in his life time before, he had not hesitated to rush, barefoot, out of his classroom with his day plans left behind him – he did not come here for nothing, after all, and he wasn't about to do just that. And so, fingers fidgeting with the straw prodding from the coconut within the palms of his hands, he casually made his way to the father and daughter pair, cringing slightly at the sight of one of his favorite student's broken down so much. Sikowitz was by no means sadistic; he disliked seeing people so sad, and hated the feeling himself.

"Perhaps" He announced loudly as he neared them, sipping loudly through the pink straw he had injected into the coconut, "we should take helicopter there and search for those two hooligans. Hmm?"

"We've considered that, Erwin." David said with an exasperated sigh, and Tori, who hung onto him as if he was all he had, stared up at Sikowitz with tear filled, wide eyes. "But it's very foggy out and it'll be hard to even catch the slightest of movements if we did. There's no promises made that we would find them that way if we looked."

"But…but can't you at least try?" Asked Tori with a sniff, pulling away from her father and wiping her eyes with the palms of her hands as if the gesture would stop the tears from falling. If she had just focused on something other than Cat and Brent, she believed she would be fine. For now.

"Mr. Vega, please" Begged Beck as he drew near, long ebony hair wild about his skull and in need of a trim, mottled and knotted as he ran his hands through it. "We need to stop Jade before she does something stupid and get's herself and Trina killed. It's dangerous out there; there are people, a lot of them that are sick and twisted and made Cat and I work, locked us up in cells and beat us if we did something out of line. I have a mark, see?" He tugged at the corner of his sleeve, pulling it from his forearm to display the red rimmed "D" that had been carved into his tan skin. "They killed Brent, killed Cat and they won't hesitate to kill Jade and Trina too. For the sake of your daughter if not my girlfriend."

As for the other two, they had reached the all too familiar camp in which Jade had once spent her time running away from, in now time. It had been such a quick trek there that she almost found it comical; it must have partially been because they, after she discovered she was unable to sleep, had gone back to walking almost thirty minutes after she had started the fire and read Cat's letter to her. Trina was exhausted, she could tell by just glancing at her demeanor and the subtle lack of complaints or whatever stupid thing pried itself from her tongue – but this did not stop her. She could not waste several more days on foot if she had stopped another time; she was beginning to get anxious, and she wanted this over and done with already. She was about to kill someone; murder someone, and as wrong as it had sounded she wasn't feeling the slightest bit of guilt over it; no remorse, just numbness.

Vincent was not to live another day, and she would gratefully die trying to make this possible, even if that meant leaving Beck. If that had been the case, to the point in which she knew her death was coming (though surely, she didn't feel anything to unsettle her), leaving him alone would only prompt the guilt. Killing this bastard that had basically murdered both her step brother and best friend, would not. And in her time of walking, only insulting or demanding things of Trina when she needed too, Jade contemplated very carefully how she would do this; it was difficult, all things considered, she was no murderer – but it hadn't took long for her to figure something out.

Fingering the crinkled paper within her back pocket, making sure it was still there and she hadn't lost it, she, alongside the eldest Vega sister, kneeled down within the grass behind the bushes cautiously, in the same place she had with Brent the day that they had rescued Beck and Cat. Beck's gun was wedged uncomfortably in the back of her pants, sticking out through the fabric of the ebony shirt she had been wearing for quite some time now, and feverishly she shifted, attempting to ignore the nausea twisting and churning within her stomach. She wasn't nervous, but rather anxious – and still, she was sick; that was by no means, making anything better and rather worse than it had been already. Her hands found a thick branch beside her, and with a sharp tug, she pulled it off from its host, shoving it over at an unexpecting, scowling Trina as she sat within the dirt.

"Make a fire; we'll use that as a torch. Got it?" Jade demanded through a clenched jaw, pulling the gun from her pants and holding it firmly within her hands. "Be as quiet as possible; we'll move when I tell you."

"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean seriously, as much as I want to get back at this dude I don't think we should become murderers." Trina argued, beginning to start a small fire from a pile of gathered sticks surrounding her, looking skeptical and annoyed.

"Having second thoughts Vega?" She scowled and rolled her eyes, biting her tongue from any other remark she would have made; she was following what Cat had told her, though not exactly nice, and not exactly in the way the redheaded girl probably would have thought her to do. "And you won't be doing anything, so shut up."

"Wait, wait. What do you mean I won't be doing anything?"

"Exactly that; you won't be killing anybody – I will. So if you want to back out, go the hell back to rescue." Jade snarled, "I already told you that I won't be coming back."

"Uh, hello! You might be a bitch to my little sister…and me…and everybody else, but I'm not going to run away and let you die or do this on your own!" Trina retaliated with a shake of her head, and from the corner of her eyes Jade saw her look over with an expression of disbelief marred upon her features. "Not even I'm that selfish, okay? God; are you trying to kill yourself?"

Jade did not answer her; it wasn't that she had refused to, it was that she had candidly found herself unable to. She didn't truly know if she was attempting to kill herself or not; simply being out here, with a plan to kill a powerful man in charge of an entire campsite or armed men was as if she was signing her own warrant to death. But, every fiber in her being was telling her that he deserved to be dealt with in the same fashion that both Cat and Brent were, and it felt like the right thing to do, whether she wanted to or not. She wanted to, so, did that mean she was killing herself and possibly Trina as well? Yes. Had she wanted to die at this point? Yes. So the answer might as well have been the very same to the Vega girl beside her.

Still, she did not say a word beside: "Just make the fire and shut up, okay?"

Not long after Trina had successfully managed to start a fire, with a little bit of difficulty and fumbling hands, had Jade suggested they go in for it. She and the older girl cautiously stood from where they had been kneeling, knees covered in dirt and the torch crackling loudly from beside Vega Senior's head. She held her gun firmly within her slightly trembling hands, her heart hammering within her chest, pounding against her ribcage in beat so furious she swore she could feel her body throbbing along with it, and hear it within her eardrums.

As you can see, the first part of the chapter's a little bit "wonky" because it wasn't particularly set in one person's mind but rather basing the reactions of everyone. So sorry if that was a little weird for you; it was my first time writing like that, it was weird for me too. I didn't even really know what prompted me to write like that to begin with. However, that won't be the case for the next installment; it's going back to one person's mindset.

Crappy chapter, but that's okay. The next one is going to be a lot better, being the last one and all. So I hope you weren't too disappointed in this one…

Songbird341, Cece, Vampira Hannah, Jeremy Shane, Lily Jess, Jadie, Napier, Andrea1301 and Kikudog6: Thank you for reviewing! Love you all (:

The last chapter is up next guys! D: The showdown's gonna happen then too, so be prepared!

Preview;

"Hey!" Jade shouted loudly, voice escalated to the loudest octave she could muster, drawled out some near the end as though that in itself would draw the attention of the man not far from her. The rain pounded down upon her, drenching her within seconds as she stood upon the flat roof of the building, her gun at the ready and her posture rigid.

The female sitting near the edge jumped and turned around, hastily pulling herself to her feet. "You." Was all she said, her voice venomous, as if the word alone, was a sin.

All she did was smirk in response.

If she couldn't have Vincent, she'd settle for his wife instead.