They found Sam just as he was about to enter the building doors. Actually they might have met him down the street or missed him completely but the three of them spent at least half an hour arguing on the stairs as they struggled to come up with a reason as to where to go first and who to look for. Astrid wanted to find Sam immediately since he had Toto (or that was her excuse for wanting to find him first). While Roger wanted to find Edilio (at least he didn't lie and simple stated he wanted to make sure he was okay). And Diana didn't care either way and just wanted to get moving so she could get back and they could avoid Ripley.

When they finally did get moving they agreed to just wander to the closest place and let fate decide who they found first. After that, Astrid almost ran into him in the doorway and immediately stopped, staring at him in shock because she could see the misery behind his eyes without either of them having to say a word. As soon as she was in front of him he threw himself into her arms and she hugged him, noticing that blood was smearing off of his arms and onto her clothes but she didn't push him away. Instead she wrapped her arms around his naked torso, rubbed his back and waited for him to tell her what happened. The others stood behind her, she could feel their inpatients but they didn't say anything for a moment, giving Sam the silence he so clearly needed. And then Sam was pulling back to stare at her.

"Kevin's dead." He whispered, only loud enough for them to hear. "Gaia... Her mutant got him. She cut him up and he bleed out before the ambulance got there in time."

"What?" Astrid gasped. She covered her mouth with both hands and shut her eyes, feeling tears building. "He... She... Oh... Oh poor Kevin."

Now it was her turn to throw herself against Sam so she could sob against his shoulder while he held her. Diana and Roger watched in silence, both showing similar signs of shock and sorrow in their eyes. Kevin hadn't been especially popular or a close friend but he was still human, he was still apart of their team and now he was gone. Now he had been killed and by Gaia...

"What was she?" Diana asked. "Gaia... What was she?"

"She looked normal." Sam mumbled, still hugging Astrid. "She just... She just had wings like a fairy and weird features but she still looked like the baby or toddler version she was in the FAYZ. But I don't think this one had the Gaiaphage in her, it was just a completely mutated dead mutant child."

Diana nodded. She was surprised by how much this information hurt her. Well, maybe it didn't hurt her but she felt a sudden hatred for herself and for the Gaiaphage for dooming that child and not giving her a chance to live. That child died the day she lived.

"How are we supposed to kill her?" Astrid sobbed.

"I don't think we can." Sam admitted, feeling sick.

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Diana snapped, suddenly feeling panic rise in her chest until she felt hysterical.

With everyone else suddenly growing panic and frightened, Sam found his earlier strength pulling him in and he turned to look at Diana, hugging Astrid slightly tighter as he watched the others.

He started to say something encouraging when Astrid pulled away and faced them. "We find the others before anyone else can get hurt."

Sam was surprised to find out that the only people who had returned were Diana and Caine before Astrid showed up. Then, before they went out, they dragged Sam to the corner and Roger went to keep an eye out on the streets while they filled him in on how Ripley had been sneaking around and now knew the truth about Caine. The longer he listened, the more infuriated Sam found himself getting. He growled and clenched his fists, sick of Ripley. He didn't want to deal with Ripley now, not after what happened to Kevin, but at the same time he wanted nothing more than to run into him just to burn a hole through his heart!

"Holy hell!" Diana shouted.

"What?" Sam blinked and looked down, realising his fists were glowing as the light tried to fight free from his palms. He wasn't sure what surprised him more. That his hands were lighting up the whole room or that he wasn't even burning through his fingers with intense heat like normal, when he opened his hand two twin lights lifted up from his hand, lighting up the room.

"You... You're power!" Astrid gasped.

"Oh... I... I got it and... And I defeated my animal... It was a dog... I beat it and... And that was when Kevin died." Sam croaked. "If we hadn't been dealing with the dog then maybe..."

"No, Sam... You can't blame yourself." Diana sighed. "It does no good, it just drives you crazy. Let it go, at least until we know what we're doing."

Sam turned to stare at her and nodded, he allowed the light to die off in his hands and slowly breathed. Now it was his turn. They told him what had happened, it was up to him to explain what had happened with him and how he had been there with Edilio and Kevin when... When it happened. Only he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to do it, and so instead he shrugged. "You guys know the basics of what happened with us. I think we need to go and find the girls."

Neither Diana nor Astrid looked happy with the lack of detail he gave them but they didn't push for answers either.

"We should go. Where about's did the girls go to look?" Sam asked, trying to change the subject as the tension made the room seem so much stuffier than he liked.

"What about Edilio?" Roger said, frowning from the doorway.

"Yeah, where is he? Wasn't he with Kevin?" Astrid asked and fear began to draw in her eyes.

"He's fine!" Sam said quickly, looking from the girls to Roger. "He is perfectly fine. I promise you he is fine. It's just, one of us had to stay and say we stumbled on Kevin to avoid any trouble and to make sure they found him for his family and that. He told me to come back and that he'd catch up with us later tonight."

"I hope he's okay." Astrid mumbled.

"I'm sure he's fine." Diana shrugged. "Let's go find Dekka and Emily. It's already dark."

G*O*N*E

Caine didn't tell Quinn what he had just dreamed about. Of course he didn't, if he didn't tell Diana everything why would he suddenly tell Quinn. But he did feel cold and nervous as he slowly climbed to his feet and wandered over to the kitchen, needing a cold drink to calm himself down. Quinn barely looked up from where he was still watching the TV. There didn't seem to be anything else about animals, or even freaky accidents though someone had crashed and caused a massive pile up, it was said he was drinking coffee and spilled it onto his lap, distracting him enough to cause the accident. That didn't seem like much of a serious mutated animal creating chaos. Just idiotic people.

Caine glanced over at the back of Quinn's head. He had sat down on the sofa against the wall, even though it meant he had to twist around at an awkward angle to see the screen. He sneered at the other boy as he drank his water and leaned against the counter, watching his sandy hair and frowning. Why on Earth did they leave Caine alone with Quinn? Out of anyone they left Quinn behind. No, he knew why Quinn had stayed. It was because Quinn was the cowered that volunteered to stay because he didn't want to face those mutated animals. Just because Quinn became handy in the FAYZ didn't make him any less of a cliche coward.

He didn't like Quinn. Maybe it was because of the strike he had in the FAYZ after the incident with Penny and Cigar or maybe it was just that he was a normal human but Caine did not like him. Of course he didn't hate Quinn. He hated Albert, a normal that somehow controlled him and then wimped out and left him to die. He hated Sam, the one Connie had chosen to keep and the one that had not only lived but lived with his girlfriend and rivaled Caine's power. He hated the darkness for controlling him and taking over his daughter's body. He didn't care too much about the daughter but it had hurt Diana and whoever hurt Diana was on Caine's hate list. That was why Drake was there. And that idiot Brittney. But he didn't hate Quinn, just seriously disliked him.

Maybe it was sick, or selfish, or just horrible not to care about what happened to his daughter. But Caine had no delusions like other people did. Some people were not meant to be parents or have kids and Caine was one of those people, plus she wasn't even really his by the end. You couldn't force feelings on someone. If he didn't care for his daughter then he didn't care and nothing anyone said would change that.

Caine set the drink down gently on the counter and continued to stare at the back of Quinn's head. He knew he promised to stay inside, well he didn't promise, that was the point. And he was sick of hanging around...

"Right, I'm heading out." Caine stated.

"What?" Quinn yelped, startled, spinning on the spot to face him.

"I'm heading out." Caine smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now this ought to be fun. Are you actually going to try and stop me?"

Quinn blinked and stuttered. He didn't know what to do. He needed to stop him but how was he going to do that? Caine had power, he could easily throw Quinn away and pin him long enough to charge out from the building.

"You. I thought. What about Diana?" Quinn snapped.

"Changed my mind." Caine grinned, shrugging.

Quinn stood up as Caine began to walk around to the door. He stepped in the doorway and held his arms out, blocking his way.

"Just... Just listen a second! If you leave, I call the others and then they-" Quinn began.

"Can't do a buggering thing about it." Caine shrugged and lifted his hands to point their palms at him. "Now, do you move my choice or force?"

Quinn hesitated and then relented. He lowered his arms and stepped to the side and Caine strode outside, still dressed in clothes slightly too big and shoes slightly too small. Quinn had a feeling he was using power to make it easier on himself or otherwise his injuries weren't that bad because he walked without even a slight limp now.

"Wait!" Quinn shouted after him, snatching his jacket from the floor.

If Caine was going to go there was nothing Quinn could do to stop him, but maybe he could chase after him and keep him from doing anything stupid. And if he was lucky he would be able to hide Caine if Ripley were to get in the way before he saw him.

G*O*NE

"This is completely unfair!" Edilio shouted, he was shaking. "I found a body, I found the body for a friend and you're seriously going to drag me into to ask me questions! I... I need something! I just saw my friend..." Edilio broke off and buried his face in his hands. Acting came in handy. He was in shock, just not as much as he was putting on. He just didn't want to be dragged down to the police station by Ripley to be asked questions on how he found Kevin's body. He knew he might have to be taken by he wanted anyone other than Ripley to ask the questions. Luckily Ripley wasn't alone, there was a second officer with him who seemed to be more understanding.

"It's okay, calm down. We just need a statement as to who he is, how you found and anything else." The officer named Tricks smiled. "Come on, we'll get you a hot drink and wrap you in a blanket at the station and then call someone to come and pick you up."

Edilio hesitated, knowing there was no way out, then nodded. He glanced at the body which was now being covered up and put in a body bag on a stretcher. He swallowed and shivered at the sight and allowed Tricks to take his arm and lead him towards the car. He couldn't help but glance up to find Ripley watching him closely. He had hoped that Ripley wouldn't be the one to come and find them and while he hadn't been the first on the scene he was still here which was bad enough.

The two of them took him down to the station and found him a room. It felt uncomfortably like an interrogation room but the seats were more comfortable and there didn't seem to be any of that mirror one way glass stuff they used in films. But still, he took no risk and kept his face still. Though Edilio was starting to wish he could switch jobs with Sam rather than be here on his own.

It took them ten minutes before Tricks came back and sat down beside of him, holding a blanket and a hot drink. Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the other guy?" Edilio asked, accepting the drink and being careful not to mention Ripley by name.

"His job center's around patrolling the streets." Tricks explained. "He just came with us to ask a few questions he was curious about."

"What kind of questions?" Edilio asked, feeling sick.

Tricks frowned at him but, trying to gain Edilio's trust and comfort, told him the truth. "Just if anyone else was with you when we came, how the boy had been killed and stuff like that. Normal curiosity."

Or maybe Ripley knew more than they realised. Edilio was suddenly in a hurry to get out of there and tell the others but knew he had to bid his time to avoid looking suspicious.

"Can you tell me how you came across the body?" Tricks asked kindly, a recorder in hand.

"I... I was just walking." Edilio shrugged, trying to stay calm and just show the look of someone terrified rather than guilty. "I was heading back to a friend's. I'm staying at his, me and... me and Kevin." He shivered and kept going. "And I heard something and I followed the sound and just found him there."

"What did you hear?" Tricks asked.

"Like an animal or something, probably running through the rubbish or maybe that's what attacked him." Edilio mumbled.

"Okay and what time was this?" Tricks asked.

"I dunno a few minutes before I called you guys." Edilio shrugged.

"A few minutes?"

"Yeah. I was... I was checking the body to make sure... I hoped he might still be..." Edilio lowered his head. He didn't have to fake the tears now. Poor Kevin...

"So you moved the body?" Tricks asked.

"Only a little. Just... Just to see if he might still be..." He trailed off again and quickly set the drink down on the table in front of him, worried he might spill it if he didn't set it down.

Tricks nodded, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. He let Edilio compose himself before he sat up and looked at him again.

"I know this is hard, but can you tell me exactly what position the body was in and what it looked like when you found him?" Tricks asked.

Edilio hesitated then nodded his head and spoke in slowly. He really didn't have to act any more. It was hard to speak anyway. It was hard to work his mind and imagination as well as think back to his body lying there, bleeding.

"He was... Sort of on his front, arms and legs kind of spread out and... And his eyes were shut and he was pale." Edilio said and froze, knowing he just made the biggest mistake.

"How could you tell?" Tricks frowned. "He had a bandage over his eyes. And his arm."

"Um. Yeah. I... I checked. I lifted the bandage up." Edilio said quickly.

"And it just came up? We've checked, it was tied pretty tight. Took us a while to get it undone long enough to check his face." Tricks explained, frowning at Edilio in a new way now. More suspicious.

Shit. Edilio cursed. Calm down. He told himself. Just stay calm and try and get a hold of the situation again. "I only lifted it up a little to see and then I let it go..."

"And his arms were both spread out?" Tricks frowned.

"No. Not both. Just one. The one without the t- the bandage around it." Edilio stuttered.

Tricks nodded, watching him closely. Edilio tried to remain calm. Only he was nervous now and wondered if he was too calm or not calm enough. Surely it wasn't unusual for innocent people to screw up what they were saying. Maybe he wouldn't think anything of it and would just let it go... Edilio hoped.

G*O*N*E

"I thought you couldn't get a drip..." Dekka blinked.

She had returned, told Connie the blood type and then been forced to take a nap as she looked ready to collapse at any moment. It was late when she woke up and she had stumbled back into Connie's room from Sam's old room to find Emily was hooked up to a drip with blood entering her body.

"I met a friend when I was getting blood. They're good. Trust me." Connie smiled patiently.

"Oh..." Dekka mumbled, staring at Emily.

"Did you get some sleep then?" Connie asked.

Dekka nodded, barely paying attention as she walked over to stand beside of Emily on the bed. She looked better. She was asleep now, properly, with a healthy peachy glow coming off her and the blood had all been cleaned up, her body covered with a clean blanket. She mumbled slightly but that didn't seem all too different. If anything she looked better now, much better.

"I'd like to know what's happening." Connie said. It wasn't a demand but not a question either.

Dekka stared down at Emily and then moved so she was sitting on the edge of the bed, turning to look at Connie. It was weird just being the two of them and she wasn't sure if Sam would mind but by now Dekka didn't care. Connie had just saved Emily's life. She could ask anything she wanted.

"Caine's back." Connie's eyes widened but Dekka kept going. "Somehow he is alive and we don't know how but when he came back so did these animal like creatures that have the power of all the freaks in the FAYZ. A slug could teleport itself and people like Emily. A leopard could stop gravity like me. And so many more. We have discovered whatever these creatures fear the most is what kills them. So we have been going around and killing these creatures with their greatest fear before they could harm anyone else." She shrugged. "Emily and I got caught by a big creature and the truth is that we don't know how to handle it. I'm going to need to call the others and let them know..."

Connie stared at her as they fell silent. They were both silent. Dekka returned to watching Emily, relieved she was getting better and worried she might still have a sudden problem that could kill her at any moment. She was giving Connie time to process it but it was probably a lot to handle in one go.

"Can I take a shower?" Dekka asked suddenly. "After that I'd like to call Sam and the others."

Connie nodded, barely listening any more. As Dekka stood and went to the doorway she looked back and found herself feeling sorry for Connie. Not just Connie, but all the adults. They had no idea what was waiting for them, they had no idea what they were up against and were probably going to be the ones who had the most problem with this. It was almost amusing.

But mostly it was pitying.

Dekka sighed, shaking her head and leaving Connie to think about her dead son coming back and monstrous animals killing people with super powers.

The shower was meant to be quick but instead it was long. Part of her was resentful to going back and facing Connie, now that she calmed down a million questions had probably popped into her mind that Dekka would have to answer, but she was also reluctant to call the others and give them the bad news that Drake was back as some kind of monster Hydra. It was all too much and she found herself sitting down on the floor was the water rained on her. It was hot, beginning to burn but she didn't change the temperature.

Poor Brianna was in that room... Emily! Emily was in that room. Not Brianna. Brianna died in the FAYZ and she couldn't bring herself to start worrying about that now. At the moment Emily was the one in danger and she could have died if Dekka had been a moment later or if the claw that had hit her had just been a few inches up towards her heart. Poor Br-Emily! Emily! Emily! Emily!

"God damn!" Dekka hissed, squeezing her hands into fists and slamming the against her eye lids. "This is not the time! I can't worry about the dead. Even Brianna. I need to concentrate on keeping Emily alive and figuring out a way to kill the Drake Brittney hydra!"

She hated how weak she was. It had been years now and she still couldn't move on! She still couldn't go on a date with other girls and she couldn't even watch a female friend get hurt without automatically thinking about Brianna. It was ridiculous and she hated herself for it. Most of all she hated herself for not being able to protect Brianna. She should have been there. She should have saved Brianna, she should have been there to save her and then they wouldn't be here now. Dekka wouldn't be in the shower feeling weak and pathetic. Brianna probably would have rounded up half the animals in a day and then the rest in the next day. Brianna would have taken a chainsaw and cut Drake's legs off and chopped him up and fed him to starving people in Africa with his remains just to make sure he stayed dead.

Dekka started crying. It was quiet so Connie didn't come searching for her because the downpour of the shower drowned her out but it still hurt. She was weak. She was pathetic. And oh God she missed Brianna!

"I miss her." Dekka croaked. "I miss her so much!"

G*O*N*E

She couldn't kill people. Neither of them could which was why they had somehow banded together and hid away from the other animals that really could cause damage. However they did still feel the intense urge to protect what area that they called their own, which turned out to be an area in the woods that had a high tree and a small burrow side by side that was easily hidden from and defended from intruders. That was how it worked with them. There were two groups of people with one single exception from either groups.

The first group was those that were territorial. They normally woke up or found a place they chose as home as they killed anyone or anything that dared approach their area, keeping them away and making sure it stayed safe. The other group were those that were restless and didn't care for a place of their own, only wanting to feel excitement as they caused others pain and killed them in the worst way possible. They were normally the ones that had something missing which made the that way. Then the one exception, no one knew about just that it had been a dog that wasn't part of the territorial group, nor the blood thirsty group. It would kill just like anyone else but it was a dog that seemed to be searching for something or someone in particular.

They, a snake and a starling, were an odd pair and not very frightening when first looked at. But when someone, for example a couple that had been hiking through the woods, had stumbled upon their home and hadn't left even when Starling had kicked up a fuss, they moved into action. So then it was Snake's turn when Starling failed to get rid of them. She crawled out from her burrow and moved close, then bit the girl's leg through her jeans. The girl shouted and the snake quickly moved away before she could touch it. Of course they left after that but her poison was already sinking in, it wouldn't do much but the girl would end up sickly in hospital.

Their power's were both to do with stealth and information rather than power of defending but they had other parts to them. Snake was strong, she could choke someone and then there was her poison in her fangs. She could bite and make them sick or - if she bit them enough - kill them while Starling just pecked at their face, sensitive areas to cause them great horrific pain. Shortly afterwards they left them alone and the two were able to rest.

They didn't do much in between defending territory but they didn't need to. They would rest, they would defend, and then they would be happy. That was who they were.


41) Any guesses as to who the snake and starling are?

... I just realised. I am close to the end! Omg! I enjoyed writing this story, be sad when it's done. And sorry for those who wanted other characters back but I couldn't do that and stick to the story. Maybe I can write another story about those in the FAYZ who died in the FAYZ didn't really die... Something like that maybe.