Chapter ten, ye-yuh! I was in Barnes and Noble and I read LIES! And I had like thirty-five pages to go and my mom made me leave :(

DISCLAIMER: See other chapters if you really care.

DEDICATION: To Caris! I promise I'll pull off DRAKE\(CENSORED)!

WARNING: I don't think I have much to warn about in this chapter... Yay me!

Chapter Ten: Tidal Wave

"All my life I wish I broke mirrors instead of promises,

'cause all I see is a shattered conscience staring back at me...

I wish I had covered all my tracks completely,

'cause I'm so afraid, is that the light at the far end of the tunnel, or just the train?"

-Owl City, "Tidal Wave"

"You're not touching Petey," Astrid screamed, hustling her brother to the far corner of the church. The group of kids followed, led by Caine Soren, his eyes sunken with hunger.

"We have to," he rasped. "She said that if we don't give him up by tonight, one of us is going to die. And Diana's already near death." He gestured to the black-haired girl, who was sprawled on one of the church's pews. "Just give me your brother; he doesn't know what's going on, anyway."

"No," Astrid protested, choking back tears.

"She's right," a bleary voice uttered from behind Caine. He spun around and came face-to-face with Drake Merwin, his face bloody and bruised from his encounter with Nala. Caine sneered and raised his palms, about to blow Drake to oblivion, but then, to everyone's astonishment, the psychopath raised both his whip and his good hand in surrender. Caine's eyes widened, but he didn't lower his hands. "Just shut up for once, Soren, and hear me out."

Caine raised an eyebrow. "Make one wrong move, Merwin, and you'll be dead five times over." Drake sneered.

"You're so weak, I doubt you could kill a fly. But whatever. The point is, Nala can't get her hands on the retard. She wants him for something, and if that something gets completed, I can pretty much guarantee that every single one of us'll be dead five times over." He glanced back at Astrid with his cold, grey eyes. "Agree?" His voice was full of malice.

"Yes." She matched his tone perfectly, and stared right into his eyes with her cool blue ones. "And don't call him a retard.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Day one, Astrid scribbled into the blank pages of an old hymnbook she had found, Nala finally gave us some food, and took one of our kids in return. He had to be only seven or eight years old, and his sister was screaming and crying the entire time. It was horrible. He didn't come back.

Caine and the rest of the Coates kids took the lion's share of the food, which they ate slowly, as Lana advised them to. She also healed the injuries Drake had sustained from his skirmish with Nala, getting only a grunt of what might have been thanks in return.

I think we're split up into little cliques all over the church; Mary, John, Orsay, Nerezza, and the prees on the steps and around the altar, Orc, Howard, and people like them, along with Zil's crew, on the balcony, the Coates kids huddled around the door, Dekka, Brianna, Jack, Albert and a few others lounging on the pews, and myself, Petey, Diana, Caine, Lana, Edilio and Drake in this corner. It really is an odd alliance.

"Why're you writing?" Drake asked in a contempt-filled voice from his place between Caine and Little Pete. Astrid graced him with her best scathing look.

"Because it exercises my brain, something you don't have," she spat back. "Murderer."

"Don't be bitter," he retorted, smirking. "Sammy had it coming to him." Caine looked up, surprised, from the food he was eating.

"Sam's dead?"

"Well, you don't exactly see him here, do you?" Astrid hissed, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. She swiped at them furiously as Edilio put a comforting arm around her and Lana's dog, Patrick, nosed at her leg. She ruffled his fur and smiled weakly at Edilio.

I don't know how I feel about having Drake this close to me. On one hand, he (sort of) defended Petey against Caine. Well... Telling myself the truth, I do mind. I mind a lot. I hate it; I hate him. And I miss Sam.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Day two.

I think that this is hell. But who would have known that they devil would have the face of a little girl?

Gah, this story's so weird. And you can kind of see where I'm going with the pairing, if you squint :)

And I think it's a kind of macabre mix of Gone, LOST, and Maximum Ride... Haha. But I know where I'm going with it, thankfully. I already have the next two chapters written out, and all you have to do is...

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