Well, I decided to simultaneously be nice and mean at the same time. I will give you chapter seven, but I want my review counter to say 15 before I put up chapter 8.

P.S.: Get used to my cliffhangers, because they are both what keeps me thinking on what to do next, and (hopefully) what keeps you reading and giving me ideas. (Like Erin asking me not to kill Qullen.)

SHATTERED MEMORIES

CHAPTER 7

Zane's POV

I opened my eyes to a dark, unfamiliar room. I slowly picked my head off the simple pillow it had been resting on, followed by my upper body. I was lying on simple, somewhat comfortable bed, and for a minute I wondered where I was.

Then the memories of the battlefield, the mangled corpses, my friends lying in ashes, Joma's face on Udzir's body, and Tally's head being squeezed into a powder came rushing back to me like a dam shattered by high explosives.

I quickly jumped out of the bed, throwing myself at the single door, expecting it to be locked. It wasn't, and I hit it so hard I ripped it off its hinges. I frantically scrambled to my feet, and screamed "TALLY!" at the top of my lungs.

For three horrifying, world shattering seconds, there was nothing. And then, just as the feelings of doom start to crush me like an icy vice, I heard another door open. I turned toward the sound, and almost didn't believe my eyes when I saw her standing in the hallway. Her face was twisted in fear, no doubt worrying about me and my manic cry for her just a few seconds earlier. I would have explained, but at that moment I had to hold her, to make sure it was really her.

I rushed toward her like a receiver about to make the winning touchdown. I slammed into her with enough force to send us both sprawling to the floor. She took it all in stride, not uttering any sounds of complaint as I assaulted her with kisses, my arms wrapping around her like steel cables, my mind letting slip a constant stream of 'thank you God's and 'I'm so glad you're alive's.

For what felt like months but was probably no more than a few minutes I just held her, inhaled her scent, made sure I was awake and she really was there, in my arms. Finally, when I was certain that this really was my Tally, I slowly released her from my death grip and stood up.

I offered my hand down to her, which she took. When she was back on her feet, I once again wrapped my arms around her in a bear hug. "Zane," she said, and the sound of her melodic voice sealed my confirmation. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!" A playful smile then caressed her face. "But I'm more than happy to be your security blanket if it scared you!"

I smiled, and I looked at her like a man who had found his long lost daughter would. The mention of ghosts reminds me of the nightmare I had just had, and I couldn't stop the demonic image of the Joma-Udzir crushing her head into powder.

The image springs from my mind to hers, and her gasp of realization has me realizing that I'm freaking her out. "Tally, I'm so sorry…" I begin, but she presses a finger to my lips, effectively ending any interjections from me.

"Zane, it's ok. You weren't freaking me out, I was just shocked." I looked at her with a puzzled expression before it dawned on me. "Tally, I don't know who it was, but it sure as hell wasn't me that dreamt that horrible nightma…"

Again her index finger silenced my thought. "It's not even that, Zane," she said, her face looking a little worried. "It's that I had the exact same dream, just with you in Udzir's arm and me in your position."

I let that sink in. I suddenly swivled my head, and saw we were in a long corridor. "Where are we?" I asked, honestly having no idea. "The barracks of the NWO complex we blew to hell," Tally replied. "So is everyone else in here?" "Everyone except Bella, who we asked to be Qullen's suicide watch."

My train of thought was interuppted at that comment. "Suicide watch? Why the hell…" But I stopped as I remembered Edward's single comment, folowed closely by the loudest example of pure agony I had ever heard. Namely, Qullen's Earth Shattering wail. I was sure the only thing on her mind after losing Joma was where to get matches and lighter fluid.

"Ok, we're going to gather everyone up. And I mean everyone. I really doubt it, but if we had the same dream and neither of our minds dreamt it, it could mean we have a mole."

Ten minutes later, and we had everyone gathered in what seemed to be the rec room. "Ok everyone, here's the deal. I'm pretty sure you heard me rip my door off it's hinges, followed by a manic yell for Tally." Everyone nodded. I then proceeded to tell them about the nightmare, and one by one their faces lit up.

"Hold on, don't everyone tell me you had the same vision!" But seven nodding heads told me that they had. "But then who…" I stopped again, and did a quick recount. Seven? Plus Tally and me, that was nine, so where was Qullen?

The thought had only crossed my mind for half a second before a banshee wail cut through the air like a chain saw through a tree. Bella flew from the room, cursing herself for leaving Qullen behind, and we all followed on her heels. As we neared the room where I assumed Bella had been keeping watch over Qullen and the body of Joma, I was half expecting-but thoroughly hoping against-the smell of smoke and something burning.

We burst into the room, and sure enough, Qullen was laying on Joma's corpse, apparently dead. But something didn't seem right. There was no sign of anything that she would have used to commit suicide. No guns, no knives, no matches.

Slowly, we all approached the two seemingly dead lovers. In some bizarre twist of fate, we all had the same idea of connecting to their minds at the same time. The resulting blast of energy and force behind the thoughts was like a nuke going off in my head. My entire body shut down, and I buckled, Tally still gripped on my side. I sensed us all being affected in the same way.

The sheer severity of the thoughts seemed to be almost…pulling our minds out of our bodies. Slowly but surely, I could feel my consciousness slipping from myself to someone else.

The last thing I remembered before I completely blacked out were two separate voices; one familiar, the other foreign. The familiar one sounded pained, but relieved. "Zane, everyone, thank god you're here!" Then the foreign whispered, "yes, now, we can fully begin."

All right, I have a small confession to make; this is the last chapter of shattered memories. Once I get 15 total reviews, a good enough idea, and the motivation to actually write it, I'll put up the first chapter of Symbiotic Relationships 2.0. Until then, read, rant, review, recommend!

Jomahawk2694