Title: Choosing His Pieces
Setting: Perdido Beach
Summary: "He would have to choose his pieces. The best that he could find. The Gaiaphage and Nemesis were finally ready to face off." Perdido Beach's big three are sent to battle foes chosen by the Darkness.
Rating/Warning: T - Very little language, decent amount of violence and fighting, some romance...T just in case.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Gone series by Michael Grant. But I do own the chess board in front of me which gave me inspiration for this story. Score.
Authors Note: As afore mention, this story will have some themes of a chess game. I'm hopeless lost without a theme to tie through a fic. The first chapter is always dry but stick with this story, and I swear you guys will love it. At least, I hope you will. Sorry for OOCness.
"I nominate Astrid the Genius to be on the town council."
"I second that!"
Quite dumbfounded, Astrid looked up from her spot in the plaza. She stood up slowly and managed to catch Sam's eye. He shrugged at her and looked over at Edilio. He shrugged as well and glanced at Dekka. This caused a sort of chain reaction between all of the standing kids—the ones who had also been nominated. It had been right after the poof of Mother Mary and they needed to reelect two spots for the missing chair seats. After Astrid had left, only six more people remained on the council. John Terrafino had taken the poofing of his sister the hardest and resigned from the council. "I've gotta watch all those kids now myself…" he had told them with a sad smile. The remaining council members had nodded sympathetically and expressed their heart-felt condolences. They all were burdened with the loss of Mary. With two-sevenths of the council gone, they called up an entire town meeting—with food of course, supplied by Albert and Quinn—in the plaza to elect the next members of council. As expected, Sam, Edilio, Dekka, Howard, and Albert were all quickly nominated. All five took the position with not so shocking expressions. Sam only nodded; Edilio and Dekka took it with impassive faces; Albert had a cool, calculated expression while Howard had on his trademark smirk. A surprising twist led Quinn to be standing up among the crowd. He smiled modestly and accepted the honor with red-faced thanks.
More and more kids shouted their assent for Astrid to rejoin the council. She looked around the crowd, as red-faced and flustered as Quinn. "Do you really want me back…?" she asked.
"Just as long as you don't lie again!" a voice shouted from the middle of the crowd. Laughter broke out and Astrid nodded, humbled by the remark.
"I promise I won't," the blond genius told them, holding up her hands. "No fingers crossed." This caused more laughs and a few claps. The residents of the FAYZ were much calmer now that the problems were generally fixed. Though some prejudice and fear remained, there were no more false prophets, no more threats from Coates, no more fires and Human Crew attacks, and best of all, no more Drake. The crops had taken an excellent turn and unique newcomers on the island told of potential sources of real, honest-to-God food. No more asparagus stalks and relish jars. For the first time, a normal human could be friends with a freak.
With the council nominating meeting over, the seven new—and not so new—members made their way slowly back to the Town Hall. A procession of kids followed, congratulating Quinn on his entry into the council and Sam and the others on their reelection. As soon as Sam and the rest of his council reached the large wooden doors, dagger sharp rocks were chucked through the crowd. Cries of pain rose and Sam jumped off the steps, hands blazing. He almost laughed as the speed the council all reacted. While Edilio, Dekka, and Astrid looked alert and ready, Quinn was frozen in place, and Howard was quickly calling for his 'Orcman' for protection. Sam couldn't find where Albert had drifted off to. Sam threw the thoughts from his mind and focused on the rising action.
What the heck is that Human Crew trying to do now? He saw who had made the cry and breathed out in relief. They were only scratched a little—nothing too bad for Lana. And they were normals. Definitely not something the HC would pull. As much as this should comfort the leader, it only made him feel worse. Sam now knew the cause of the flying rocks. He snapped his gaze back around the buildings of the town, searching for freak that was responsible for this. It seemed nearly impossible that he could have gotten off of Sanjit's island this fast. More rocks flew through the air and one nearly brained Edilio. He needed to stop this as soon as possible. A particularly blunt rock flew straight at him, too slow to actually be lethal, which he disintegrated instantly in the air. Sam frowned, confused by this. What was Caine playing at?
Another rock was tossed over at the large crowd. Sam reacted quickly and destroyed it. Despite the weird mildness of the entire situation, Sam wanted it over. Already the kids were starting to panic. Astrid was trying furiously to try to stop an impending stampede with Edilio's help. She seemed to have taken her promise to turn things around to heart
"Caine! Stop this now!" Sam shouted into the crowd. Any covered face could be Caine's in disguise. And there were a lot of covered faces trying to escape the debris. He watched the arms of all of those who seemed suspicious. Nothing. Sam cursed and his gaze darted around the abandoned shops. How easy would it be to hide there? He shot a warning blast into the decaying hardware store. The wood groaned loudly but no cries from Caine.
"How'd you know it was me?" A cool voice echoed around the now deathly silent opening. All crying had ceased and the townies looked around expectantly.
The oldest member of the FAYZ forced his voice into a light joking tone. "You don't think I'd know my own brother when he's trying to mess up our town?"
"Don't you mean your town?" Caine's voice has a snarl to it. "Sammy the King, Sammy the Overlord."
Sam grimaced. "We don't have one leader for Perdido Beach."
"So you're telling me you aren't the boss? I wasn't aware that this was a democracy! You still seem to have the upper-hand. Apparently no one wants to argue with Big Bad Laser-Hands Sam!" Caine shouted. This pulled a snicker from Howard. Sam shot him a glare and tried to get an accurate read from where his brother was hiding. He shot another warning blast into the also abandoned flower shop. The dried flowers exploded and burnt to a crisp but no Caine. He was rewarded for his troubles with more rocks being thrown into the now panicking crowd.
"Caine!" Sam shouted, lifting his hands up in a peace gesture. "Are you really that desperate for food to hurt innocent people?" He assumed it was food that Caine wanted. Either that or to kill him. Given the choice, Sam would rather provide the former.
"I don't need food, brother. I want something else!"
"What?" Sam cried. He was starting to get desperate. Now tougher things than rocks were being hurled into the screaming crowd. An uprooted tree barely missed a brother and sister pair who was shoved out of the way by the Breeze and Dekka saved a group of toddlers from being crushed by an abandoned Post Office mailbox.
"I want to talk!" Caine shouted. Suddenly he was behind Sam. Sam spun around, his laser hands pointed at Caine's stomach and head. Caine raised his hands in a surrendering way, pulling something up as well.
"Sam!" Astrid's voice took on a slightly hysteric quality. Sam looked at her quizzically. She pointed desperately at a hovering Little Pete. "He has Petey!"
The young boy was still in his comatose trance. He neither squirmed nor reacted to being hoisted high into the air. The lights at the end of Sam's hands glowed brighter. He didn't know what could happen if L.P. got hurt and he didn't plan on finding out.
Caine's eyes never left Sam's face. "Don't think you can burn a nice clean hole in me, Sam. As soon as you do, this little monster is going for a fast trip into the FAYZ wall. In case you haven't noticed, my powers are growing. Neither your gravity freak nor your Energizer Bunny will be able to stop him in time."
Sam sighed loudly. Slowly the lights in his palms faded out. He looked over at his brother and shrugged. "Fine. Let's talk."
"Not here!" Caine's face twisted up with an unidentifiable emotion. "By the FAYZ wall. Only me and you."
"Then let Little Pete go, Caine." Sam tried to placate his brother with his most soothing voice.
It didn't work. "No!" Caine snarled. Petey was still rising higher and higher. Sam was amazed at the amount Caine's powers had grown. He had had no control last time to lift things up gently. They usually went high into the air and that was the end of that until they crashed into the ground or the FAYZ wall a few minutes later. "He comes with us until we talk. Once we've…talked…he can go free."
Sam nodded at these terms. He wasn't exactly optimistic that they were just going to 'catch up' and swap stories. No doubt fighting would come from this upcoming chat. But whatever happened, Caine needed to be put down. He hadn't stopped Zil in time and innocent people died. They lost half the town to fire and Edilio was never the same. He couldn't let Caine be a problem like that. Ruining people's homes or their lives. He either stopped Caine or died trying.
Caine seemed to understand this and nodded as well. He spun around and stalked away from the town, Little Pete bobbing away feet above him. Sam threw one last wistful look at Astrid and followed his brother like the pied piper. What Sam didn't see—had he seen it, no doubt he would have flipped—was Astrid trying to be as stealthy as possible and following the three. And Sam didn't see Dekka shoot a knowing look to Brianna. He also didn't see Edilio grab his gun which resulted in Quinn instantly feeling that he had to come along as well unless he wanted to be put to shame by the Honduran. So Sam definitely didn't see five other people following him and his brother with L.P.
The thing Caine wanted most after stopping the helicopter was to run back to the mansion and stuff his face with more Cheerios. Maybe he could apologize to Diana and have it all worked out between the two. That's what he wanted. But what he did was totally different. Before he was drugged by Sanjit and his lying cohorts, Caine was able to snag some untainted food. He pocketed it, not knowing he'd really need it later. Now Caine really wanted to rip into the chocolate granola bar and the bag of Mini Lays in his pocket. But he couldn't. He needed to find the boat. For that he needed his powers. He tried to pull up a nearby tree. Nothing. His thin arms sagged. Of course. He needed more food. The snacks in his pocket grew more tempting and he had to fight the urge by chewing on his thumbnail. Caine wandered around for a bit longer and finally found what he was looking for. A fresh fruit orchard. The watermelon and grapes were wilted from lack of watering but Caine could see a barely ripened pear hanging from a gray twig. The salt spray allowed it to barely survive. He pulled it towards him with his powers that remained and attacked the pear. It hurt his teeth to chew and the sour juice stung his parched throat. But he could still feel energy flowing through him. He debated about swallowing the rest of it down, stem and all but stopped. Somewhere he heard it wasn't good for one to eat the stem. He tossed the rest of the pear out and his eyes caught onto the pear tree. To test and see if his powers where back, he swept his hands across the wild fruit garden. The pear tree erupted out of the ground and flew over the cliff. Caine grinned. Not only was he stronger than ever, but he could also see the red glint of apples. It seemed someone on this island went to great pains to ensure the apple trees were watered before they left.
The next thing that had happened was of pure luck. Again out of a phantom feeling, Caine traveled to the edge of the cliff again. He debated about whether or not throwing himself off. What did he have to live for? He chewed on his lip and forced himself to push away the thoughts. He had something he had to do first. Caine looked down to see what he could spy. At first he saw the white yacht. Then his eyes caught on something drifting towards the shore. Caine squinted. Was it possible? Yes, it was. Caine rocked back on his heels, letting out a whistle between parched lips. The boat he and his crew had jacked from Perdido Beach's marina. Caine looked down at his hands and flexed his stiff fingers. Time for a little experiment. He pulled out a spare apple and chewed on it thoughtfully. Again he could feel strength coming in. His fingers twitched and he could imagine sparks jumping. Caine tossed the apple core towards the boat without using his powers. His throw was probably about twenty-five feet length-wise. It splashed about a fourth of the distance to the boat. Then the boat's about a hundred feet away, give or take. Caine chewed on his thumbnail again. He could only get 80 feet without bailing but with food in his system, could he push more distance? Caine looked at the boat again. It was only going to drift farther. He spotted the rope Sanjit and his family used to get down to the yacht. He sighed and pushed his hair back. If his crew was still on the boat, he sure needed a good story to get them to follow him again. His mind spun for a confident reason why he stranded the two versus tossing them to a food-filled island. With another cocky smile to get into the mood, he grabbed the rope and lowered himself onto the marooned ship. His ratty gym shoes hit the top of the yacht and Caine let go of the rope cautiously. He feared too much weight would cause the vessel to slip back into the ocean. Stop worrying, Caine! He scolded himself for be scared. If this old thing could hold a yacht, it can hold your eighty pounds.Still he slipped off the boat with wide eyes and after a few slowed seconds of free-fall landed on the firm sand with a grunt. He glanced around the sandy bank. Either this must've been on the other side of the island or it was covered with water because he didn't recognize it. He shielded the sun away from his eyes and looked for the little boat his crew had taken. Feelings he was not familiar with sloshed in his stomach—guilt and something else. Suddenly Caine got a Pirates of the Caribbean flash. The last time he had seen that movie was in the mayor's—Mayor Temple'soffice now, he fumed for a moment—office almost a year ago. Was this how Captain Jack Sparrow had felt when his crew mutinied? Caine shook his head. It was more the opposite. He abandoned hiscrew. He briefly wondered if either Tyrell or Paint were still alive. Doubtful but it had only been one day since they started drifting. Anything was possible in the FAYZ. Caine reached out his fingers and tried to pull the dingy towards the shore.
Urgh, there's the official start. Part 2 will be soon. I hope you like it and thanks to all of my reviewers.
Kate of Carlay - Thank you for the review. I know I already thanked you, but I'm doing it again. The characters will definitely become deeper. How deep? I don't even know.
Unlucky Word Shaker - Wow. Thanks. Writing from the Gaiaphage's point of view was definitely something to write. You guys will definitely see the straitjacket boy again-and don't worry...he's going to be as psychotic as Drake.
futurecullen26 - Thank you very much! I love it when people like my work xD