A/N: Here I am with yet another chapter for my lovely readers! I hope you still like the story so far? I'm trying my best, I have so much fanfics to update and I've been going through a serious case of writers' block so I'm really sorry! Anyways, here's the new chapter! I hope you enjoy!

We've been out here for a week now, searching for any sign of Lourdes or Karen. We didn't know how far we've come already nor do we know the way back to the Sanctuary. The only time we actually made progress was when Ash found footprints. They were human; at least some of them and the others were Skitter prints. The prints weren't much of a help since it disappeared a couple miles away from where Ash found it. It did lead us to a cabin though.

It was old and it looked like it was abandoned even before this all happened. There were only three rooms in the cabin, the bathroom, one bedroom and a room that served as the kitchen and the living room. There wasn't much furniture in the room left, just a scrawny old sofa, a busted tv, a wooden dining table and four wooden chairs and the kitchenette which was too disgusting to even use. It didn't even matter since we spend most of our time searching for Karen and Lourdes.

It had been a week but we still haven't found them, nothing to hold on to but the footprints that we hoped was theirs. I wasn't going to give up though; I'm not going to stop until I found them. I've already failed Karen once and it would pain me to fail her again. And Lourdes, she's been there for me when I needed someone, she took care of me and she didn't give up on me; and I will be there for her, I will protect her and I will find her.

"Hal, you haven't slept for days." Maggie glared at me, her eyes obviously showing concern "You need to get some sleep."

"I'm fine." I replied, my eyes focused on the map I held

"You're not." Maggie spoke, her tone stronger now "You need rest, Hal. We'll find them but right now-"

"I don't need rest!" I exclaimed "I told you I'm fine."

I didn't expect it to come out like that. It was just that it's not like I don't want to sleep, I couldn't sleep. There were these thoughts, these dark thoughts bugging me every hour and every second I rest. I couldn't stop them, I wanted to but I couldn't; they were too strong to ignore.

Maggie sighed "I'm just looking out for you."

I turned my attention to Maggie "I know. I'm sorry."

"The sun's rising, we best be heading out." Ash spoke as he leaned against the wooden table in the room "The town's our best shot and it's not far from here, if we go now we'll probably be back by sun fall."

Maggie nodded then she patted my shoulder and gave me the best smile she can show amidst her weary state "We'll find them."

I could only shrug in reply.

This was the second town we've went to this week and I could only hope for the best. The town was the same as any other place we've been in; abandoned and wrecked. We went into several houses and stores, looking for supplies and any sign that a person has been in it recently. We finished searching every structure in one block and we didn't have luck on both the supplies and the signs. We decided to round up another block. It was a small town and some of the structures were too broken down to search through so it wouldn't be too hard.

It was afternoon when we finished searching every structure we can and yet we had found nothing. Not one thing we could use, not one thing that might have helped. By now, I was more hopeless than I was before. Maggie walked out of a store, her eyes cautiously on me "Nothing."

"I had nothing too." Ash said as he jogged towards us.

"Fucking nothing" I hissed

"We'll find something." Ash said, trying to calm me down "Try to see the better side of things I'm sure-"

"Where?" I asked, anger welling up inside me "We have been looking at all the wrong places and we have not a single clue of where they are, not one! Where are we going to find something, Fisher? They might be dead by now and we're-" I tried to continue but I couldn't, the realization crushed unto me. The single thing I've feared.

"What if they're dead? It would be on my hands. I promised to protect them." I thought to myself "It's been a week, they're gone. They're dead, who are we kidding."

I was pushed back into reality when a pair of hands clenched my shirt and yanked me back. Ash was looking at me, his eyes dark and angry. "She's not going to die; do you hear me, Mason? Don't you ever say they're dead." He growled "It wouldn't hurt to have a little hope, would it? We're going to find them and right now your drama isn't helping."

I stood there for a while, under his gaze. I waited for him to calm down before I shoved him back. I glared at Maggie who was standing there, her arms crossed. "Fisher is right, Hal." Maggie shifted her gaze to Ash then back to me "It's no use losing our hope now; we're going to find them."

Suddenly, there was a sound. The three of us were quiet, trying to find out what it is and where it's coming from. The sound came closer and that's when I realized what it was.

"Hide!" I hissed just loud enough for both Maggie and Ash to hear. They quickly obliged then ran towards the nearest alley and I followed behind them. The alley was too small and for a moment I thought we wouldn't fit but thankfully, we did.

The footsteps came closer and closer. They were people as much as I could tell and people are more dangerous than Skitters. They had the power to do unspeakable things as much as Skitters can. We remained hidden under the darkness of the alley, trying to be as quiet as we can. The sounds came closer and closer until they were close enough for me to see the figures.

There were three men holding guns not far from us. Their eyes were scanning the road as if they were searching for something. We carefully stepped a few paces back, hoping that the darkness was enough to hide us. One of them, a guy with red hair started walking closer. I held my breath, if he walked any closer he would be able to see us and who knows what they'll do. The man stopped, his eyes straight ahead then he spoke "We know you're here, come out." The man spoke in a seemingly southern accent.

"Fuck." Ash whispered behind me

"What do we do?" Maggie asked

"We stay down." I whispered without taking my eyes off the man.

The man was silent for a moment. He disappeared from my view for a while and I heard whispering. He was talking to his men. I tried to listen but I couldn't understand a word he was saying. Then, after a few minutes he reappeared into view. He dropped his gun on the ground then kicked it away from him "We're not going to hurt you. Just come out."

We didn't really have a choice. He must have known we were really here and I doubt it he'll go if we don't come out. He probably even knew where we were hiding. I tried to think of different options but I ended up with none. We can't waste our time hiding from these men; we still had to look for Lourdes and Karen. I took a deep breath before standing up and walking towards the light. I kept my focus on him; gun in hand ready to shoot if he so much as made a wrong move. He was watching me, no he was studying me. He looked like he was learning my every move; his eyes were on my feet as I walked as far away as I can from him.

"Who are you?" I asked

The man grinned in a way that made me cringe. "I'm not too comfortable giving you my name, boy."

I looked behind him and saw the other two men; their guns were on the ground away from them too.

"Tell your friends to come out." The man commanded

"I didn't bring any friends."

The man laughed "You don't expect me to believe you were talking to yourself, do you?"

Before I could say anything, Maggie and Ash were already making their way towards me. Their guns were drawn up as well. The man frowned "I don't think it's fair that you get to have your guns with you when we don't."

None of us moved.

The man sighed. He raised his shirt up, high enough for us to see that he didn't have any more weapons. He turned around slowly then faced us again "See? Nothing, it would make us more comfortable if you put your guns down."

"And if we don't?" Maggie spoke

"Then, we would also take our guns and point it at you." The man smiled politely "Now that would be more uncomfortable, wouldn't it?"

I signaled both Maggie and Ash to put down their weapons. They were reluctant but they still settled it down. We never took our eyes away from them, knowing that they might just make a move. We kicked our guns lightly so it wouldn't be too far away from us.

"And your other weapons?" The man raised a brow

"We don't have anymore." I spoke

The man sighed again "We're not stupid, boy. We know everyone carries extra weapons, knives especially."

We gave up and settled our knives down on the ground and slid it towards our guns. We stood there, unarmed and fragile. I tried to remain as calm as I could possibly can. We're not completely unarmed; we're pretty good at hand-to-hand combat. It wouldn't be too difficult putting these guys down.

"Why are you here?" The man asked

"Looking for supplies" Ash answered

The man crossed his arms over his chest "Well you would be pretty disappointed to know that there aren't any more stuff in this town. We already cleaned this place up and took everything."

"That's too bad then." I spoke

The man smirked "Too bad, well, I guess you folks have to look for another town to search stuff for."

"I guess so." I replied "It's getting dark; we should probably go search that next town out."

The man shook his head "No time now, you wouldn't make it out alive. There are them critters everywhere. How about you visit our camp? It isn't far from here. Safer than the streets, that's for sure."

"No, I think we should probably head back to our camp." Maggie answered; her eyes narrowed "Thanks for the offer."

"Come on now." The man grinned "We haven't had our share of company for months. It's just always been the three of us. We would like to have some guests."

"No, thank you." Maggie forced out a smile "Maybe another time."

"But we insist." The man's eyes widened and there was something in them that I couldn't read "I think you should visit us today."

Suddenly, there was a piece of cloth pushed against my nose. I tried to move away but there were arms around me. I started feeling dizzy and everything was spinning. I could see the slurry figures of Maggie and Ash, they were on the ground. Fear hit me then, I was scared not for my life but for theirs. Then, everything was just a slurry mess. The last thing I saw was the red-haired man's grin before everything went black.

A/N: I want to thank you guys for sticking to this fic so I'll be posting the next chapter very soon (I promise). I need you guys to enjoy the cliffhanger-ish ending in this one. Oh and don't forget to tell me what you think! I'll be running on reviews now. I want to know if you guys actually like it. The less I think you guys are tired of this fic, the less inspired I get :(

So please! Tell me what you guys think!