It's a short chapter, but all I could fit in a busy day.

--

Just as Flint was told, Lucas was missing. He was not in his bed, in his room, or even in the hospital. Kumatora said she already scoured every inch of the building, but there was nary a sight or sound of Lucas. Upon further investigation, they found a make-shift rope out of the blanket Lucas was nestled under, and they figured that Lucas may have escaped with that.

"Even in a blank state, that boy's pretty smart" Kumatora said to Duster, "But … why would he wonder OUTSIDE of all things?"

Duster shrugged "It did seem like Lucas was looking for something, and he probably found out that 'something' wasn't here …"

"So he though it may be outside?" Kumatora asked, skeptical.

Duster Shrugged again. "It could be out there …"

Wes was about to strike his son when Flint spoke up "Lucas couldn't have gone far then. He may be out of it but he has to have some instinct that says 'stay away from the water'. But still …" Flint trailed off, looking at the banks of the river to see any sign of his son. But the only thing he saw before were the pieces of scattered wood. Thomas had already confirmed his house was okay, so what was causing all that wood?

Flint turned around "Gather all the people you can, we're going out there again." Flint said sternly.

Orders followed, Flint and Kumatora had gathered as many people as they could find, including Lighter and Thomas. Reluctantly, Lighter brought Fuel along when he said he'll assist in any way. There was an argument, but Flint quickly ended it with a death glare.

"We'll split up in two groups. One group will go up river, the other will venture down. Some one will need to stay here … just in case." Duster commanded.

Lighter immediately raised Fuel's arm, and he quickly took the spot. Annoyed, Fuel pulled his arm away from his dad and glared at him "What was that for?!" Fuel yelled at his father.

Lighter kneeled down to Fuel "Son, I don't want you to get into any danger like Lucas. You stay here and keep watch."

"Keep watch of what?! There's nothing interesting here!!" Fuel said, agitated.

Lighter turned and faced Flint "Well, tell us if anything interesting DOES show up."

Fuel was about to say something, but his father was already out of ear's reach. He sighed and sat on an outcropping rock. "I doubt I WILL see anything even remotely interesting."

While Bronson and his group headed up river, Flint, Kumatora, Duster, Alec and Lighter headed down river. The more they ventured, the more scattered wood there was.

"It looked like some house may have been washed down with all this rain." Duster commented.

"I hope Lucas wasn't caught up with all that …" Kumatora said softly. She then turned to Flint, trying to decipher what he was thinking. Unfortunately, nothing was giving any clue as to what.

As the group walked past a few trees into the dense forest that the river ran into, the Group was met with a horrible and somewhat confusing surprise: the wood that was washed downriver now piled up high to make a mess of a dam. Because of it, it started to prove difficult to venture any further.

They were about to turn back when Kumatora saw something: on top of the whole wood pile-up, a familiar face was recognized. Kumatora saw past the rain to see it was Lucas!

Kumatora gasp "LUCAS!" She called out. She then started to step on the wood, only to find out it would break under her weight. She was cursing to herself and wondering how he ever got up there in the first place.

Duster sighed "We can't climb up there to get him … There has to be a way to get him down."

Flint sighed "There's no way he'll listen to us. Plus, knowing him, he may get too scared to come down again."

"Then there's no choice but to come up to get him." Kumatora replied, "But what if the dam breaks under one of us?"

Duster snapped his fingers "I think I may have an idea!" Duster said excitedly "Lighter, We'll need you. Cut down the biggest tree you find!"

Lighter did as commanded and found a 10-foot tree. It wasn't big enough to reach across the river, but it was just what Duster needed. Then, with the help of Flint, he and Lighter laid the tree up against the make-shift dam, diagonal from the bank. Duster then grabbed a roll of rope, tied himself to one end and the other end to a tree.

"I'll just use this Tree to climb up the dam. Flint, Kumatora, and Lighter, hold the other end so it doesn't slip." Duster commanded.

"Be careful, Duster." Kumatora said in a small voice. Slowly, one foot after another Duster climbed up the tree, inching closer to Lucas. Thankfully, Lucas seemed very affixed on the river, and he didn't seem to move anywhere. Just a few inches more and he would be able to reach Lucas.

The wood had reached its limit. Under the pressure of all the rain and the water and finally under the weight of the tree, the wood started to splint. Duster felt the wood breaking and hurried up the tree. He then reached Lucas, who gave him no greeting what so ever. Flint tied some rope around his waist, thankful he gave no resistance towards it.

Duster sighed: One phase down, now all he had to was get down the tree.

CRACK! The Wood spilt under the two, leaving them falling into the river. Both Flint and Kumatora ran to the bank, their eyes scanning the waters for any signs on life. Alec and Lighter pulled on the rope that the two were tied to, and fortunately, the two surfaced. They were scratched a bit, but to the naked eye, they were both fine.

Duster held Lucas tightly to his chest, making sure his head was above the water. He was breathing okay, that was good, but it looked like he was knocked out from the impact. Doing his best, he swam to the bank.

Flint went to Lucas's side. All he wanted to do now was make sure Lucas was okay and shield him from the rain. But on a second scan, he noticed that Lucas wasn't knocked out … he was … sleeping. Sleeping as if nothing had happened …

--

Fuel was getting impatient. Watching the river after a while does get rather boring. Finally, almost driven by madness, Fuel got up and decided to search around. I mean, going only a few feet from where he was, he couldn't get in much trouble, right?

He decided to venture upstream. By this time, the rain was starting to die down, making the river a little bit safer to cross on a log. As he thought, Fuel saw nothing of interest. At least, not at first glance.

He had spotted a bush … a very oddly shaped one. He approached it, stick in hand. He poked it a few times, and on the 3rd poke, he felt the stick poke something … hard ... He had thrown his stick aside and parted the leaves in the bush, and couldn't believe his eyes on what he saw …

A person he thought was dead. A Person he thought he would never see again …

Claus.