Disclaimer: Plague is pretty awesome. I'd suggest you guys go read it. Wait... Maybe since I'm advertising for Mr. Grant, he'll lemme have the Gone series. Please please please, Mr. Grant! No? All right then. They still belong to Michael Grant.
Time Frame: Post-Lies as if Plague hasn't existed yet.
Author's Note: Here we are, chapter 5? Yeah. This one will be pretty long but FINALLY the story starts. Yeah, 35,000 words later and we still haven't gotten anywhere until now. I hope you enjoy!

One minute there was no one in front of her. The next thing the girl knew was a very dazed and rather cute boy was sprawled on the ground in front of her. She blinked and blushed slightly. She was just out picking berries for her baby brother and now she had company.

"Hey, sweet thing," she giggled. The boy jerked suddenly to his feet. He stared at her with wild but very nice eyes. She smiled and giggled again. "You must be new." The girl didn't care that this new kid seemed to be several years older than she. He was adorable. Almost looked like her brother's friend before they disappeared. Before almost everyone disappeared.

He nodded slowly and turned away. "I have to, uh, go…" he murmured in a soft voice. The girl smiled and waved.

"See ya 'round soon!" she called after the boy. She laughed and shook her head. Must've been one of the ones who took the disappearance of all the adults the hardest. Luckily she wasn't affected by the blink out as much as the others. Still, he was pretty cute. The girl wouldn't mind if she bumped into the guy again.

Weird was an understatement for what was going on. Even the term understatement was a bit of an understatement. Sam scratched the back of his neck and tried to make sense of what happened. All he remembered was that fight with Caine—Good grief! I still don't believe that happened—before passing out. The few seconds before passing out he remembered feeling vaguely exhausted and…in pain. Sam rubbed at his temples. It was a searing pain right in his mind before he blacked out. Falling into unconsciousness felt like something pulled a shroud over his entire body and mind. Something or someone, Sam noted, thinking of how L.P. had stared at him before. He just assumed that Petey had transported him away from the danger. But when that strangely perky girl a little short of attacked him, he knew he wasn't in Perdido Beach anymore. Perky had been his first tip off. No one was excited in the FAYZ without a good reason. Then the fact that he hadn't recognized her made his skin crawl. He shivered and rubbed his bare arms. He was pretty far from Perdido Beach. Back in California, it had been mid September but rather warm. In this new place, the air was unnaturally cool. He briefly wondered if he was dead. And then maybe Orsay was right and death got you out of the FAYZ. He opened and closed a fist. He didn't feel dead. Sam sighed and looked around. He was just probably…somewhere else. The next question after the obvious 'Where am I?' was 'Is this like the FAYZ?'. Usually the boy wouldn't have questioned it, just happily accepting that he was away from Perdido Beach. But now he wasn't as grateful as he should have been. He was about to go after the other girl when his twin appeared right in front of him.

"What…?" was all Caine got out before Edilio almost landed on top of them. Sam and Caine narrowly leapt out of the way as the Honduran materialized right where Caine and Sam were standing not a minute ago.

"Dios Mio!" breathed the last one to join the party. Sam nodded slightly while Caine backed away from the spot. He waited, wondering if Sam's brainiac girlfriend would show up or if Brianna or Dekka would appear. He stretched his fingers just in case. The others obviously had the same idea since they too stepped back and watched, Sam's gaze constantly flitting back to his brother just in case. After five minutes of nothing, Sam sighed and stepped back to where he had been. Edilio reached towards the sky then held his back. His gun had traveled with him. He slid it into the case around his hip. Caine let out a cross between a moan and a sigh and flopped to the ground. Things weren't going as planned. He wasn't dead yet.

"What is this?" asked Sam, glancing over at Edilio.

The Honduran shrugged. "I have no clue, man. But I don't think anyone else is coming to join us."

"Lucky them…" Caine muttered, rolling his eyes. Still, the boy was intrigued by the entire situation. He might possibly have the chance for a new start. It would take some work. A lot of work but Caine felt like he could re—

"I don't think so either." Sam rubbed at his skin again. Goosebumps were steadily rising on his forearms. "D'you think that there's another wall like the FAYZ wall here? Do you think we are in a type of FAYZ?"

Edilio frowned. "I hope not. If there was, then that'd me—"

"That would mean the Gaiaphage survived." Caine shuddered, his eyes suddenly growing large. The whites in his eyes seemed to glow around the faded brown iris. "Impossible though, right? Goose took care of him."

Sam exchanged glances with Edilio. Apparently no one had told Caine about Nerezza and Drake. Neither of them wanted to break the news either. "Yeah or there could be someone like Little Pete to blast us back to Perdido Beach." Sam said slowly, wondering if he really wanted to go back to the FAYZ.

"The Genius's stupid brother?" Caine asked, tilting his head. He knew the boy might've had some power...but enough to throw them out of the FAYZ? Maybe the rumors were true about the kid being higher than a four bar.

Edilio nodded slowly as well. "But how do we know that this place has a wall like Perdido Beach did?" He glanced up then back at the other two.

Caine felt a snarl grow on his face. "Let me throw you as far as I can and then we can see if you hit a wall."

Edilio held out his hands. "Cool it, man. We outnumber you two to one."

"Thanks for the math help."

Sam groaned and pinched at his nose. "Why don't we head for the nearest town and find out what happened and where we are? Maybe get some food."

The two bickering boys glanced at each other and nodded slowly. "I guess," Edilio said. Sam smiled brightly at the two and led the way to where he thought was civilization.

"I cannot believe we let the idiot who's scared of the dark lead us to a town."

Sam glanced sharply over at his brother. "I'm going the right way and I'm not scared of the dark." At least not anymore…

Caine rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered. The boy gnawed on his thumb and stopped suddenly. He had sounded exactly like Diana there for a minute. Would he ever see his short-haired witch again? Caine pulled his thumb away. It's not like it really matters now. If his original plan had worked, he wouldn't have seen her again anyway. He adjusted the collar on his shirt and lurched forward with odd steps.

Edilio and Sam watched him with mixed expressions on. Sam looked concerned while Edilio just looked confused. "Are you okay…?" Sam asked, eyebrows raised.

Caine glared at his brother. "I'm fine. I'm leading." He snapped. The usually calm and confident boy stalked away, temper barely contained.

Sam and Edilio swapped gazes again and followed after the stewing telekinetic. They were debating whether or not telling Caine they were going back to where they started would get them thrown into a wall.

In the end, it was the Honduran who got the wandering group to civilization. After trekkifng through woods and fields for about two hours, the three collapsed by some blackberry bushes. The berries were tart and very buggy but they ate the entire patch. There were no more berries at Perdido Beach. Sam warily watched as Caine began to twist his fingers and various trees began to quiver. He cleared his throat and looked around pointedly.

Edilio got the hint. "Time to go!" he said, jumping up to his feet. He stretched quickly before heading off. "My turn to lead," he told Sam and Caine. Sam only nodded weakly while Caine pretended not to hear him. In under an hour, Edilio had brought them to the edge of a medium sized town. It was bigger than Perdido Beach but it sounded emptier.

"Let the wetback show you where people are. Because we are such good navigators," he muttered under his breath sarcastically. The other two looked blankly at him. "Y'know, crossin' the border and all…? Where is Quinn with his jokes when you need him?"

Sam almost responded but his eyes caught onto something glowing. "Look!" he whispered, pointing at it. It was a glowing and buzzing wall. They were trapped in just another prison.

Edilio saw it and sighed. "It's just a FAYZ," he shook his head and turned back to town. "Should we go on and see what happened?"

Sam nodded once and the three stumbled into Pilot Spring. Edilio made sure to hide his gun from view. He didn't want anybody there to start freaking out. They probably were frazzled enough.

A few kids were checking houses for food when the three strangers wandered into town. All three gave of vibes which caused the group to gravitate towards them. The boy in the middle was tall and tan and looked like a classic Hollister model. He had the skater boy hair and the surfer looks from some beach. Without really knowing why, many of the kids felt that he shone with leadership and a somewhat high level of confidence. A few of the gazes drifted towards the shadow of a boy in the back. He too possessed some looks except his were buried behind the thin skin and gaunt eyes. Like models after spending too much time in Hollywood, one particularly witty person had thought. This tired boy also reeked of leadership except his was more drained—again as if it had already passed. Then all the eyes slowly turned to the Hispanic boy beside the surfer who had just finished tucking something away. Pilot Spring was a very northern town. Not many people from Latin America came to visit. To see this boy in Pilot Spring was a sure sign that these three weren't from another town or from another county. It was a dead give away they were from somewhere far away. The group watched the three boys for a while before surrounding the group. The Mexican and the surfer looked like they were about to panic while the shadow boy just kept his gaze on the ground.

"Who are you?" asked the surfer in a surprisingly steady voice. It didn't match the darting look in his eyes.

"Where are we?" added the Mexican in a voice slightly tinged with a Spanish accent. A few of the kids blinked at him, never hearing an authentic Spanish accent that wasn't on a movie screen before in their life.

"Hey, Alejandro! Are you lost? Mexico's a couple hundred miles away." A boy's voice shouted from somewhere in the crowd. This earned a few snickers.

"Great, a Quinn." The Hispanic boy exchanged glances with the surfer. "Was that directed to me?"

The surfer shrugged. "It sounded like it was."

"I hope it wasn't an insult," the 'Mexican' almost growled, looking back at the crowd.

"It wasn't…at least I don't think he meant it to be." one particularly brave girl said. She took a step toward the boy and placed a hand on his tensed arm. "I love foreign boys. Tell me Mexxy," she stroked his arm with thin fingers. "Where'd you get such muscles?" He jerked his arm away and was shocked into silence. The girl was not fazed by his attempts to escape. She tried again to get cozy. "Will you talk in your accent for me again, Mexxy? You're a sexy Mexxy," she giggled in a slurry voice.

Edilio's eyes widened so that the whites were easy to see. He pushed away the twelve year old once more and she finally seemed to get the hint. He took several steps back and almost ran into Caine. Sam made weird choking noises that almost sounded like laughter. Even Caine looked slightly amused with the ghost of a smirk playing on his face. Edilio's face took on the hue of a cabbage farmer—Perdido Beach didn't have sunscreen. "I…I don't understand," he said in a garbling tone. "What do you mean?" he asked, completely flabbergasted. He rubbed at his burning neck. "What's a Mexxy?"

"Mexico. Duh! 'Cause you're from there, silly!" The girl crossed her arms and put on a pouty expression. "What's your problem? I was just flirting!" The three from Perdido Beach exchanged glances. With problems such as starvation and Drake, there wasn't much time for shallow flirtation. "God, did you escape from a nunnery or something?" She looked annoyed and kept flicked her tongue.

"Where the heck have you guys been?" asked another kid, peering at them suspiciously.

"You have no idea…" murmured Sam, glancing around at all the faces. He still didn't know where he was the past year let alone know where he had appeared. If this was what the real world was like, he wasn't sure he wanted to know where he and his comrades were.

"Are you aliens?" another asked, poking at Edilio. The Honduran jerked away from the crowd now turning mob and scooted closer to Sam. "Did you guys come from another planet?"

Caine smirked at the group. "You can say something like that." He muttered, staring at each kid. Could they possibly have powers? He was now starting to feel uncomfortable with the stares the group was giving them. It reminded the boy of the stupid 'Human Crew' back in Perdido Beach. He was slightly worried to see the mob close tighter around his trio.

The kids' mouths and eyes grew to impossible proportions. "Aliens!" the youngest in the group whispered. Sam shot a Caine a withering glare which the boy ignored.

One of the guys stepped forward. He was acting like the unofficial leader of the group. "What are your names?" he demanded.

"Sam Temple," Sam said, smiling slightly at the group.

Caine scowled. "Caine," was all he said. He didn't want the others knowing his last name. Sam looked oddly at him. It's not like they're going to know who you are, Caine. As much as you'd like to think, not everyone knows who you are and not everyone worships you.

Edilio had finally seemed to recover from his previous embarrassment and opened his mouth. The girl who had a little less than attacked him before stopped him again.

"I wanna guess!" she said in a giggly voice. Edilio closed his mouth and threw desperate looks to Sam. The previous mayor of Perdido Beach shrugged and Edilio turned painfully back to the girl.

Her face was the epitome of pure concentration. She tilted her head and made overdramatic 'hmm' noises. Finally she and a few others burst into a stream of Hispanic sounding names.

"Fernando!"

"Roberto."

"Antonio…?"

Edilio shook his head furiously. "No! My name is—"

"Shush! Don't tell us yet!" The girl giggled again, thinking this was the most brilliant game ever created.

"Carlos."

"Chico!"

"Diego?"

"Fabian!"

"Have we got it yet?" the girl asked.

Edilio blushed again. "No. It's—"

He was interrupted by the thickest response the Honduran had ever thought he had heard. "Is it Taco?" asked the youngest with very loud giggles. This quite stupid name caused many more laughs from the entire mob. Edilio's face grew red than flashed to a blank expression. This was almost as annoying as being in the same room as Quinn for too long.

"It's Edilio!" Sam burst out angrily. He didn't think screaming out names was going to help them out anymore and Edilio was looking miserable.

"Finally, we have a winner," muttered Caine, completely unaware that it was his twin who had shouted out the right name. He was too busy plotting to really pay attention. Could he make a new place for himself in this new world? A life without Diana? As far as she cared, he was already dead.

The girl who had led the contest frowned again. "Why'd you have to spoil our fun?" She pouted again, showing big eyes surrounded by way to much mascara. It seems, Sam mused, this girl can only cry and try to seduce. I wonder if she can do anything else.

Sam sighed. "I'm sorry. We have to, uh, go." He stepped backwards.

"Yeah, Temple, Mexxy, and I all gotta run." Caine muttered again, stepping backwards with his twin. Edilio quickly followed. They were out of the mob but not quick enough to hear more Hispanic names float around. Even though Edilio was gone, they still were deciding what his name was.

"Javier!"

"Mario!"

"No, you idiot! That's Italian! You know, the plumber?"

"Burrito!" Loud giggles erupted from this one. It now sounded like someone was screaming off the menu at a Spanish restaurant.

The Perdido Beach three had gotten a good distance from the mob by then. Sam glanced at Edilio. "The people here certainly are more..." he struggled for a word. "Um, provocative than those at Perdido Beach."

Edilio glanced up towards the top of the FAYZ-like barrier. "Dios Mio…" he murmured. These poor people are already going insane.

So, who else thinks Edilio and Caine are too out of character? I do. Sorry about that but they are so much fun to write when they argue. It just hit me that the females in Pilot Springs have a lot of suggestive motives o.O. Whoops. I had some comedy before things get more serious.

HungryInTheDarkForNachosLOL - Can I just say I love the new username? Thanks for the review. The whole confusing thing about 'cruel' boy and Drake was a plot hole I missed. I couldn't think of any description for Caine other than that...then I realized Drake was the exact same. I guess I should say that Ray's looking for Caine too.
toolazytologin - Aww! Thank you so much for your review! I just adore it when people say they love my story and when they match it with comparing it to Michael Grant's writing style, it just makes my day.