Hey! Thanks for all the reviews! They made my day! Here is chapter eight!

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-GoneLoverMM

Chapter Eight

Caine

Caine was about to head back to won when he heard the ear-splitting scream. Sam had heard it too. Half the town probably had. Both boys ran at a hard sprint towards the sound. The person was still screaming, making it not difficult to find the source of the sound.

"Oh my god," Caine said aloud, "It's coming from Diana's boat."

The brothers stared at each other, eyes wide. Caine was horror struck. Diana was tough, she didn't just cry over nothing. This was definitely not crying though. These were terror filled screams. They made Caine's skin crawl. It wasn't like Caine wasn't used to screams of fear, he usually caused them, but these were agonizing. These sounds were coming from his girl.

Caine blew the door open, nearly knocking it off its hinges because of his haste to get inside. It was like a scene from a horror movie. Diana was lying on her lumpy cot in the corner. Her roommate, Brianna, was not there. That wasn't the only thing though. Diana had her shirt pulled up, exposing the small bump that was her stomach. However, a neon green light was emanating from that bump. Caine knew that light and what it represented. The Darkness was here.

"Diana!" Caine called rushing to her bedside and grabbed her hand. Sam stood in the doorway.

"I'm getting Lana." He said and then bolted.

Caine had forgotten that Sam was even there. He was only focused on Diana.

"Diana, Diana!" Caine called, his voice getting more and more stressed when she didn't respond.

She threw back her head then and screamed. Caine had to cover his ears because he was so close. The sound choked off suddenly. Diana was sobbing. "Caine," She said through the tears, "Help me, Caine! Help me, please!"

Caine felt useless. He couldn't help her. He had no idea what to do. Sure he could handle a hoard of man-eating bugs with ease, but this… He was lost. "Sam's getting Lana," Caine said trying to soothe her, "Just sit tight."

"It's that thing right," She said, "The Darkness. The gaiaphage."

"I think so." Caine answered honestly.

"What does it want?" Diana asked.

"It wants him. He is the Pure Light." Caine told her. It all made sense. Caine connected the dots with the information Sam had given him.

"What?" Diana nearly screamed, "I don't know if you can tell, but I'm not in the mood for riddles Caine. It feels like my head is going to explode. There are voices in my head. Am I going crazy?" She grew hysterical towards the end.

"Our baby, the Darkness wants it. It needs it. It needs a helpless body that cannot fight back. A baby is perfect, and this one is going to be powerful. What are the voices saying?" Caine tried to remain as calm as possible even though he was falling apart on the inside.

"It's saying that we only have so much time. That the baby isn't normal, it will grow fast. It says that I need to go to it one week from now." She said.

"What if we don't?" Caine asked.

"I think you know the 'or else' Caine." Diana said bitingly with some of her old bravado.

Then the light went out. The cabin was dark again. Diana lay panting.

"How's your head?" Caine asked after a moment.

"Fine actually," Diana said sounding surprised, "No more voices."

"That's good." Caine said relieved.

He didn't really know what to do then. He wanted to be with her, but she didn't want to be with him. Caine had to go back to town. He couldn't stay here anymore. He was about to leave, he had his hand on the door when she called to him.

"You said him." She said.

Caine was confused, "What?"

"When you were talking about the baby, you called it him." He could see the whites of her teeth in the near total darkness.

"Yeah," Caine said embarrassed, "When I picture him I always see a boy."

"Oh." Diana said, "You can leave now."

She turned over onto her side, exhausted. Caine was going to leave, but he wanted to make sure she fell asleep first. Within a few minutes he could hear her gentle snores. He walked over to her bedside and moved her cropped hair off her forehead. He placed a gently kiss on her brow.

"I will get you back." He said before leaving.

Sam

A day or two had passed since Diana's incident. Sam had gotten Lana, and she had checked Diana over. Lana said that she could feel its presence. Astrid said it was like what had happened to Little Pete. The babies mind was more susceptible for some reason. No one knew the reason, but at least they had a hunch.

It was still dark. Sam knew the sun wouldn't shine in the FAYZ unless they destroyed the Darkness once and for all. He didn't know how they were going to do it. From what he was able to pick up form Lana, it was impossible. She had tried. However, there had to be a way. Maybe he could burn it…

Kids had grown more and more cynical the longer they sat in dark tents and homes. Sam understood where they were coming from, but he didn't give a damn anymore. Let them be unhappy, Sam thought, it's not like they were helpful when they were somewhat happy. Luckily they were still working. The fear of hunger was stronger than fear of the dark.

Albert had told Sam about the whole fishing issue. Apparently Quinn and his crew could not get the fish to bite. Sam had told Albert to deal with it. Stuff like this was out of his league now. It was almost a relief not having to deal with it. However, it still weighed on his mind. Soon the kids would only be eating vegetables, nasty ones at that. After all, how many cabbages could a kid eat? It became very monotonous, very quickly. However, no one complained. Food was food. You couldn't be to fussy if you wanted to survive in the FAYZ.

Sam had been toying with an idea for a while. What if he were to create one giant Sammy Sun? It could provide light for the small Lake community at least. It would cast a creepy, greenish glow over everything, but at least the kids would be able to see where they are going.

The dark was scary, but Diana's pregnancy, if you could even call it that, was much scarier. Everyday her stomach grew larger. The rate was scary. Only two days ago she had a small bump. Now it looked like she had shoved a smallish birthday balloon under her shirt. Luckily the Darkness had not made another appearance.

Caine commuted back and forth every single day to be with her. He didn't exactly sit by her beside, she had sent him away, but he hung around outside just waiting. Sam was surprised by how much of a trooper Diana was. After all though, this wasn't exactly random. It was her who had gotten pregnant in the first place.

Astrid had made the Lake her permanent home for now. Sam had offered her his own boat, but she had refused. Instead she bunked with Taylor. Sam could imagine that being awkward. The girl's didn't really like each other, but then again, both enjoyed beds over the ground.

Sam was happy that Astrid was back, but he knew it would be difficult as well. They still fought, and Astrid could still be cold and removed, but it was better than it had been. Not perfect, but better. She did return her kisses, but they went to further than that. They still talked normally, but he could tell that she was reserved. She was thinking about something. He could tell that she was distracted. One day he finally asked her.

"What's going on up there?" He said as he stroked her hair.

She smiled at his touch, but then her eyes grew sad. "I was just thinking about Petey."

"Oh," Sam said, "I'm sorry."

Astrid's intelligent blue eyes held his. "We can't hold onto him anymore. We need to surrender him to the Darkness."

Sam was so shocked that he couldn't say anything remotely intelligent. "What?" He almost grunted.

"The Darkness is holding him hostage." Astrid began, "If you, Caine, and Diana go to it, it said that it will release Petey."

"Yeah," Sam said, "We know that, we can handle it."

"But Sam," She cried, "It's not worth it. His death isn't worth how many countless lives will be and have already been lost."

Sam held her close. "Astrid, don't say that. It will be okay."

She wiggled out of his grip. "I have a plan."

"Well let's hear it." Sam was interested in what she had to say.

"I think that if somebody in the FAYZ dies, they end up on the other side of the barrier." Astrid said, "If we can somehow, I don't know, tape a note on him it will get to the other side. The parents will know what is going on!"

"Oh," Sam said, "But how is that possible? We've buried bodies."

Sam wasn't that impressed with the plan. He was actually shocked. This was not an Astrid type plan. It wouldn't work; it was deeply flawed and somewhat scattered. What had happened to the logical, calculating Astrid? Sam was worried about her, very worried.

"I don't know!" Astrid shouted. "I'm just worried. You can't go there! You can't fight it Sam. If you fight it you will die. It will win."

"Astrid," Sam said trying to comfort her, "I have to try. I at least have to try."

Little Pete

Little Pete was content for the first time in a long time. It was quite, just the way he liked it. His loud sister had come with her too bright eyes and too loud mouth. She had yelled at it, at him. She had yelled at his master. When she had come, it felt like needles were stabbing Little Pete in the brain. Too bright colours assaulted his eyes, just like too loud noises assaulted his ears.

Finally she had left and he was mostly alone in the darkness. There was still the neon light far below, but it didn't bother Little Pete. At first the Darkness hadn't bothered him, it had left him completely alone. However, eventually it had started searching. It prodded inside his brain, learning. He was teaching it creation. Little Pete didn't want to teach the monster, but he had no choice. He couldn't fight it, so he allowed the searching.

It really wasn't that bad. It felt like rivers of cold, fresh water were running throughout his brain. It felt nice, it was numbing. It dulled everything. However, sometimes Little Pete didn't have the answers. The Darkness would roar then and Pete would scream. He hated when that happened. Sometimes he could make it stop though. He would use his power and silence the noise, just like he had that day in the power plant.

Please teach

It would say

Darkness must learn

Little Pete never had to answer. The Darkness always knew what he was thinking.

They are coming soon

The darkness said

Soon I will use you and the Pure Light to form one organism. It will be unstoppable. It will be deadly. It will be the gaiaphage.