Disclaimer: I do not own the Gone series by Michael Grant. I am not feeling particularly witty so no funny disclaimer either. And that wasn't supposed to be a joke. (-but that one was!)
Author's Note: I cleared out that top section. It was too bulky and kinda gettin' on my nerves. It's not like you guys don't know the title of this fic.

Malachi squeezed his eyes shut and tried to remember the way he had come into the asylum. He backtracked through the juniors' wing with Jeffery in tow and passed the girl who had lost Teddy. He paused between two hallways and debated on which one to go down when Jeffery started wailing.

Malachi looked blankly at him. "What did I tell you about staying quiet?" he asked in a painfully clipped tone.

Jeffery blinked at him with runny eyes. "That's where they give me my medicine. Don't go there!" He gestured furiously at the darker hall.

The older boy narrowed his eyes and looked at the hanging sign, almost unreadable in the shadow. Jeffery was right; it was the pharmaceutical hall. Malachi nodded a brief and rather insincere thanks to the red headed kid and went down the forth, unnamed hallway. It never occurred to him that Jeffery knew which corridor Malachi was about to take before he knew himself.

A bright light came from the end of the hallway and Malachi was reminded by a famous phrase the nurses and staff used to joke about. Go towards the light and you're gone to somewhere better. Malachi got a weird feeling in his gut. Hope. Was it possible that after seven years of torture, he was finally to be free? He picked up the pace and walked down the hallway a bit faster. Jeffery had to jog beside him, a goofy grin on his freckled face.

Malachi gasped. The staff was right. At the light of the 'tunnel' were the exit doors. If you were right enough in the head or if you had a rich donor, you'd be shipped through those doors and into society again. And the nurses and staff would never have to see your face again.

He smirked. Yeah, go to the light is what they say. And we'll all be somewhere better. Malachi felt a silly smile grow on his lips. He quickly bit at it and tasted blood. Don't smile, Malachi. It's not over yet. The older boy walked slowly towards the cause of all the light. Hundred upon hundred of panes of freshly cleaned windows framed the large mahogany exit doors. Malachi was positive he had never seen a sweeter sight.

"There's your candy, Jeffery." He told the boy. Malachi glanced beside him, expecting to see the little boy's goofy smile. Jeffery was gone. Malachi twisted around and saw that Jeffery was cowered behind the front desk, whimpering about glass shards and his medicine. Malachi tilted his head and looked at him.

"What's got you so riled up, Pup?" he smirked again, gaining confidence. The only sane person in the asylum was breaking out. It sounded a little ironic to him. He decided to take Jeffery with him. Despite the boy's annoying tendency to never stop talking for more than a few minutes, he had a weird intuition that Malachi had seen promise in. Plus he could always do the grunt work. "Come on," he said, twirling his left hand again.

Jeffery got up and slowly walked towards Malachi with a blank expression. He was at Malachi's side and the freak saw something glint in the corner of his eye. He spun around and ran towards the hundreds of windows. Then he saw it. A black Chevy Escalade heading straight towards the two with no one in the driver's seat. It had traveled in a straight path all the way from the interstate and was about to slam into the many window's of St. Johansson's House for the Dangerous and the Delusional. Malachi took a step back but that was he could manage before the black vehicle slammed into the glass…shattering it all into millions of deadly shards.

"Where's my mommy?"

"I'm hungry!"

"I'm sick!"

"Why is it so loud?"

Dozens more of similar cries sounded around the main square of Pilot Spring. Brian rubbed his forehead. When that new girl had suggested he help take a stand, he hadn't understood how hard it would be. He glanced beside him at Raynold and mouthed 'help'.

Raynold shrugged, oblivious to the cries of help in his quiet world. If Brian was right and he'd disappear in a few more days, why did he have to worry about everyone else? Brian pointed at Ray's ear buds and pointed to his mouth. Ray made a face and pulled them out. Instantly the siren started up again and loud childish calls filled his delicate ears.

"What?" he snapped.

"I wish I had a megaphone!" Brian shouted back, having a hard time being heard. Though he couldn't stop the sirens, he could have everyone else shut up which would help greatly. Ray agreed on this and decided to experiment.

"Dude!" He shouted at Brian. "Promise not to tell?" Brian nodded uncertainly. In his mind, Raynold pictured the megaphone he had seen on a TV ad not even a few hours ago. It instantly appeared in Brian's hands.

"Whoa! Man! What was that?" Brian asked, eyes wide with wonder.

Ray shrugged. "Keep it a secret!" he shouted back.

Brian nodded and flipped on the megaphone. "Everyone!" He shouted into it. One by one, the cries for help and screams died down. All eyes turned expectantly towards Brian. Brian gulped, now a bit nervous. He took a deep breath and continued. "Hey everyone. I bet you guys are wondering what the heck just happened here. Yeah, we all are." He looked over at Raynold who gave him the thumbs up. "This thing may have happened a few months ago in a place near California's coast. We just need to keep calm."

"What happened to those people in California?" asked an unknown voice. There was silence apart from the screaming sirens.

Brian pursed his lips together. "We don't know. They most likely are perfectly fine. And the reason they are OK is because when the youths of those places were trapped, they did not fight. They worked together peacefully." Brian wasn't actually sure what they did or even if they were still alive but decided a little white lie wasn't going to hurt anyone. "We have to elect a leader who oversees everything."

Raynold grabbed the megaphone from Brian. "I vote for Brian…who's with me?" he shouted at the crowd and lowered the loudspeaker. Just as long as I don't have to do anything. The rest of the crowd cheered as well. Some didn't know who Brian was but a few remembered him from school or the debate team. "I guess you won," Ray said out of the megaphone at his friend. Brian nodded, red faced with pride and embarrassment.

Suddenly Nerezza was beside Ray. The crowd gasped. How could she just appear like magic? And who was she? She took the megaphone from Ray and flipped it back on. "And of course we need someone to react in emergencies. Someone brave, strong and…resourceful." Nerezza stared pointedly enough at Ray to cause him to squirm. "That's why I nominate Raynold Marshall to be your new emergency action chief!" This too was met with loud applause. Just as long as someone seemed confident and willing enough to help, the crowd was satisfied. As Brian continued talking about his emergency plan, Nerezza led a slightly irritated Ray away.

"What exactly does an emergency action chief do?" Ray asked Nerezza as they walked back towards the fire house.

"An EAC makes sure that when problems arise, it is taken care of quickly." A dangerous glint sparked in the girl's eyes. "You're like the emergency crew…I have a friend who may be able to help you soon." She smiled at him and walked a few feet away. She paused and turned back towards Ray.

"And you may want to check the mental hospital a few miles from Pilot Spring if you know what's best."

Ray nodded uncertainly and went to go find someone who could drive. If he was smart enough to know what was best, he'd still be in his quiet house watching the movie.

Malachi opened his mouth to scream and tried to get back as far as possible from the glass wall. He ended up tripping over a wailing Jeffery. Of course! Malachi was able to think before crashing to the ground. He knew this was going to happen and I was being rash and ignored it! Malachi cursed loudly as the SUV crashed into the glass. In a tremendous roar, the glass imploded and rained down shards as sharp as knives on the two boys. Malachi could barely hear Jeffery screaming above the howling of the wind outside and the screeching of the metal frames. It must be a windy day… thought Malachi weakly before he felt a stab of pain across his forearm. He hissed and twisted his head to look down. A gash about two inches long was carved into his arm. The wind blew harder and pushed some pieces of glass in on the boys. Malachi couldn't hear Jeffery's screams but could faintly register his own racking sobs. More knives rained down on Malachi and scratched his face and legs. As soon as he could think straight, Malachi pushed himself towards the mangled form of Jeffery. Clearly the boy got the worst of it. Malachi was about to shake the chubby ten year old awake when a horrible groan sounded from the blown out wall. Malachi's neck cracked as his head spun around fast enough to see the metal frame around the impaled car begin to tremble. Another roar and the metal broke free. It whistled through the air and landed on Malachi's left leg with a sickening, bone splintering crash. Malachi screamed until he finally nodded into unconsciousness on his bed of broken glass.

Ray wasn't sure for what he'd find when he and his 'team' got to the place Nerezza had told him go to. He certainly wasn't expecting to see half a car and tons of glass. Ray jumped off the back of the fire truck and gestured for his guys in the fire engine to come closer. The two who were working the ambulance jumped out as well and pulled a gurney behind them. Ray cautiously maneuvered himself inside, careful to dodge extra pieces of free falling glass. What he saw next almost made him lose his lunch.

At first all he saw was blood. So much blood. Ray suppressed a violent heave in his stomach and called his guys inside. Next he saw the body of a ten year old that was so cut up and shredded there was no hope that it was still alive. Ray bowed his head at the poor boy and kept surveying the scene. There! He saw another small boy—though this one looked about his age or maybe a year younger. Blond hair was splayed haphazardly around the boy's head like a blood soaked halo. He had several deep cuts on his arms and face but nowhere near as bad as the other kid's. Ray's eyes traveled down the boy's body until he got to his legs. Ray gasped. The right leg looked reparable while the left leg looked like it had been practically ripped to ribbons and was currently pinned under a heavy beam. At that moment, Ray's crew—three boys and a girl—came through the glass trapped entrance. Ray covered up the two bodies as best he could by standing in front of them. He sent the girl and the youngest looking boy to keep looking for others. With a sad expression, Raynold called over the two other boys for help.

The moment the thicker of the two saw Jeffery's body, he cried out and ran back down the halls. The thinner one ran to the side, threw up, and then came back though looking no better.

He nodded towards the body of the ten year old. "Is he…?"

"Yeah. He's dead."

Then he pointed towards the blond one with the twisted leg. "What about him? He doesn't look as bad except for the leg."

Ray studied the older boy. He smiled grimly when he noticed a struggling rise and fall of the boy's chest. "He's alive—but barely. We have to get him back to town as soon as possible." He turned to his help. "Can you drive?"

The kid shook his head ruefully. "We'd probably end up like that SUV if I did." He said pointing towards the still rammed in black Escalade. Ray frowned. That was something he would not want to try.

Just then the girl came back into the room, leading a small three year old boy by the hand. She caught one looked at the two mangled up humans on the ground and nodded tightly. "I see," was all she said. She quickly covered the little boy's eyes and led him outside. The two boys inside the lobby could see her buckling the boy into the fire truck and watched as she came back into St. Johansson's.

"Are either of them still alive?" she asked, no unnecessary emotion in her voice.

Ray was impressed. She was taking this the best out of all of them but he still noticed a slightly green tint in her cheeks. He told himself to remember her for future missions.

The thin kid responded. "The blond one, Mina."

Mina nodded. "Alright then. What're we going to do then?"

Ray turned to her. "Can you drive?"

She smiled thinly. "Yeah, a bit."

Ray nodded his own head. That's good…That's good… he thought. "We got to get him back to town. He needs help. The only probably is his leg. We can't get it with the iron beam in the way."

The three of them stared at Malachi until another kid came back with a whimpering girl, whining about Teddy. He took her into the fire truck, buckled her up next to the little boy and came back in. The boy frowned as he stood next to Ray but was still taking it better than expected.

The bad driver broke the silence. "How heavy is it?" He asked.

Ray kicked at the metal support beam which caused a metallic sound to vibrate around the lobby. "I dunno. Probably several hundred."

"Pounds?" asked the younger boy who had just come back. Ray blinked at him.

"Uh, yeah, several hundred pounds."

The boy breathed out in relief. "Good thing it's not several hundred tons."

The EAC shook his head at the kid and turned back to Mina and the older guy. "Have any ideas?"

Mina looked over at the fire truck. Then she turned back around, eyes wandering across the gruesome scene. "Let's pull it off of him using chains or rope."

The older of the two male volunteers nodded. "Yeah, we should have something like that in the back. What fire truck wouldn't have any?"

"You guys are brilliant," Ray concluded after thinking about their plan for a while. He assigned himself of getting the chains. He looked in both vehicles and noticed with a slight pang of worry that there were no chains. Raynold thought back to what Nerezza had said. He was resourceful wasn't he? Instantly chains appeared in front of the EAC. At first the sudden appearance of the item caused him to jump and look nervously over his shoulder. Then he smiled and hooked them up to the metal and the back of the fire truck.

After a few minutes, the youngest boy—much to Ray's concern—sat in the cab of the fire truck and waited for his signal. Ray gave him the thumbs up, the fire truck revved ostentatiously, and slowly the metal beam slid off Malachi's leg. The injured boy shuddered but did not wake. The four of them picked up the boy gently and placed him on the gurney. After much cursing and strain, they got him safely in the ambulance.

"Good job," Raynold told his team. They were back in the lobby. He looked down the hallways for the remaining two members and then looked over at Jeffery's mangled corpse. "I'll take the hurt kid with me in the ambulance. Mina, you drive." The girl nodded once. He turned to the other two boys. "Help the others find more. They may or may not be the bravest so help them out a bit, okay?" Someone—Ray had a feeling it was either Nerezza or Brian—had sent more help down via bicycle. They nodded as well. He was all the way through the door when the driver of the fire truck asked a question.

"What do we do about this kid?" he asked, pointing to Jeffery.

"Leave him."

The boy frowned. "It may make some of the kids upset though."

Raynold stopped. "Is it bothering you?"

"Well, kinda actually. I mean, its just a little kid." The younger boy made a face, he himself being only a year older than Jeffery.

"Then cover him up."

And with that, Ray slipped inside the ambulance and slammed the door. To survive in this new prison, he'd have to lose his past softness. Ray hated to admit it, but he knew it was true. And he was the softest person he knew.

Brian smiled comfortingly at the two young children and sent them away with a cookie and a doll. Their older sister had been 16. The appointed leader turned to the next group of kids in need of something and tried to help them as best he could. He couldn't fix every problem for them but what he was doing was helping the younger and more panicked children out an incredibly large amount. A lull in the tide of terrified kids allowed Brian to catch his breath and give the reins to a nearby volunteer. He slipped away as quietly as he could and avoided any confrontations with others seeking help. He ran a shaking hand through his messy light orange curls. Only a few hours ago they had been perfectly in place, ready for his part time job interview. Brian suppressed a bitter laugh. He had been so terrified. For days his only problem was if he could impress the interviewer. Now I have quite a few more problems, he thought ruefully. He scratched the back of his neck and started to really think about this predicament. Until then he had not had a chance to think. He was just reacting as fast as he could in the ways he thought could help the most people. Genuinely reflecting about this rather dreary future made Brian feel even worse. He didn't even want to attempt to think about the potential radiation problem. They probably already lost ten years off of their dramatically shortened life due to radiation poisoning. And it's starting to change people too,he thought, reminded of Raynold and his megaphone. Brian shivered and switched to another train thought.

Nerezza…she seems to kn—speak of the devil itself. Brian was cut off in his mind wandering by the sudden appearance of the girl in front of her. She had a cold but polite smile on her face.

"Brian, would you like to take a break from all of this stress? I know just the place." Her voice sounded eager, sounded dangerous.

The boy tactfully declined and told her he needed to go help the kids. 'Leader's duties' he used as his excuse. Brian told her he'd have to take a rain check, ran another shaking hand through his hair, and walked away. Quickly.

Nerezza gritted her teeth hard enough to feel her jaw ache as she watched him leave. That kid Brian was going to ruin the whole plan. He needed to be disposed of as soon as possible. She walked back to her spot in the forest. The sirens screamed louder. Nerezza smirked. How come in all of my plans, we have 'sirens?' The olive skinned girl suddenly froze. Was it time yet? She closed her eyes and strained to hear a faint murmuring. Her green eyes flicked open.

It was time to make the Nemesis choose his pieces.

Nerezza quickly crossed into town, ignored all greetings and questions aimed towards her and stopped in front of the main nuclear detector siren. She placed an olive toned hand on the cool metal and closed her eyes. Instantly the wailing of the sirens died down. All around her people sighed in relief. Nerezza grinned darkly. Somewhere in Perdido Beach, Nemesis would receive the challenge.

He would have to choose his pieces. The best that he could find. The Gaiaphage and Nemesis were finally ready to face off.

So there it is. We meet the kids from Pilot Springs. Are they good? Are they bad? Are they dementedly confused? Only time will tell!
You reviewers are the BEST! Do you all know I'm at two pages of review? That is awesome. I love you guys. You make my week.

HungryInTheDark - Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for telling me that. I've gone around for the longest time labeling anyone who can do stuff with their minds as a telepath. And about the Dark name, I had a really bad writers cramp and was too lazy to be creative. Thank you for the reviews!
Atchair - I'm not completely sure on what you mean about canon and pairing up but I can tell you this will be focused mainly on action and adventure. I'm horrible at romance so I'm not even going to try to put any of that in. Thanks a ton!
Unlucky Word Shaker - Thanks for your review! I've been a little reluctant to describe them in great detail due to the fact that they are my first OCs but I will definitely add more!
futurecullen26- Can I just say that your review made me smile a lot? Thank you!