A.N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed from the last chapter! Just a random question: If you had to pick anyone to play Fang, who would you pick? I know a lot of people (including myself) are partial to Avan Jogia as Fang, but I'm just curious!
Enjoy!

Chapter 4: The Caves

"Maybe if we can take out that desk, the rocks will be loosened enough to clear a path?" Dylan suggested, pointing towards a broken metal desk buried in chairs and loose stones. A huge wall of large rocks was situated on top of it, and the desk seemed to be supporting its weight.

"That would be really dangerous, though," I said, kicking over a toppled chair. Dylan and I were in the caves with Jon, trying to figure out a way to get past the giant rocks towards the tunnels, and ultimately, the room that held the files. "Take the desk out, and the rocks could collapse on us."

"Max is right," Jon agreed, stroking his brown beard in thought. "But first things first; we need to clear these desks and chairs away before we do anything else.

"Gotcha'," I replied, moving next to Dylan and lifting a desk from the pile of mangled metal in front of the wall. It was about seven in the morning, I guesstimated, since the sun had risen a little less than a full hour ago. When the Fracture happened, it messed up all of the radio frequencies and clocks. It sucked for trying to keep records, but Ella was making due all right.

The caves were designed to look like a facility, as much as I hated it. There were many hallways and rooms, and the walls and floors were a white tile. Halfway through the main hallway past the atrium, or central room where the cave opened to the sky, was the largest cave-in. The ceiling had collapsed on the small space, blowing debris and desk chairs out of one of the central monitoring rooms and into the hallway.

The rocks that were held back by the ceiling had fallen at an angle, shattering some of the white tiles and distributing them across the floor. We had set our flashlights on a couple intact chairs that we pulled from other rooms and pointed them towards the collapsed wall, helping us see a little better. Although Dylan and I had enhanced vision, courtesy of our bird genes, Dr. Abate did not.

A lot of the fluorescent lights had been broken in this area, and the ties from the generator to their outlets had snapped with the destruction of the ceiling. It was dusty in the hallway. Dusty and dark. It seemed like we were in some kind of horror movie- I half expected a zombie to jump out of one of the many doorways any moment now.

You may wonder why we're trying to access the back area of the caves now, just hours before my big assignment meeting in front of the whole island population. I had talked it over with Fang last night, and this morning with Jon and Jeb. If we had those files, we could categorize people based on skill sets, and we could make sure that everyone was accounted for. In a big meeting that would set the whole foundation for the rest of our lives on this island, it was definitely needed.

Plus, another definite perk of clearing the cave-in: the tunnel to the underground city beneath the cave system would become available again. Not that I'd ever want to live my life away from the open sky, but just in case of another huge storm or epidemic, the city would come in handy.

So long story short, the two men had agreed, and we had set off to the caves before Mom stole Jeb away to help her operate on a mutant who was still in critical condition. The medical wing was down another hallway in the caves, closer to the entrance than the cave-in was. The injured were held there, as well as most of the medical utilities we had at our disposal. Dylan had witnessed the whole thing and had decided to come along, wanting to help out as much as he could so we wouldn't be pressed for time.

I was thankful that I had these two guys with me. Nudge had wanted to come along as well, but Ella pulled her aside to help with her records. Iggy had been helping hand out food rations with Angel, and Fang had already headed out to scavenge for building materials and set up some housing plans by the time we decided to go.

I wiped my eyes tiredly, moving to pick up another chair. Fang and I had flown back late last night, landing back at camp at around two-ish, I assumed. The time together had definitely been welcome. After we had broken apart from our lip-locking session, we had launched ourselves out of the water and into the air. We had flown out over the ocean, letting the cool night breeze dry us off, and we had talked and laughed, just like old times. It had been nice.

Okay, maybe a lot more than nice. I just wished we could have times like that more often. But I kept reminding myself that once the new world was structured and in order, we could. We would have all the time in the world to be together. The time might not come for a while, but it was definitely in our future.

The thought made me giddy.

The screeching of metal against stone jarred me out of my thoughts as Dylan tried to move a desk from under a heavy pile of debris by himself. I rushed over to him, lifting up some of the ends and platforms of the chairs to help him, and he smiled at me, maneuvering the desk out. Once he had pushed it out from under the pile, I let the weight of the metal drop. Some of it clamored to the floor, while others hung suspended, attached to other pieces.

Dylan stretched, his back popping. I noticed that the dark circles under his eyes had grown even deeper than last night- he looked disheveled and sickly.

"Hey, Dyl?" I asked, walking over to him. Jon raised his head, then went back to moving chairs.

"Are you alright?" I whispered, trying not to alert Jon again.

"I'm just peachy-keen," He mumbled drowsily, grinning tiredly at me with his perfect pearly whites.

So a little back story on Dylan, if you're not caught up: Dylan was created by Whitecoats, just as we were. But instead of being born from actual human DNA, he had been cloned from the original Dylan, who had either died or been retired in the past. He had to learn a lot over the past couple months- he was only four years old age wise when we were first introduced to him. This had been in Africa, where I… well, I learned that he was designed to be my "perfect other half."

Which caused tension between me and Fang, and Fang and Dylan, and me and Dylan… And it was a huge mess of a love triangle. When Fang had ran off to start his own gang, Dylan and I had gotten close, even dated each other for a while. And although Dylan is uber sweet, has looks that can rival any Abercrombie and Fitch model, and is as close to perfect as one can get…

He wasn't my soul mate. He wasn't Fang. And although Dylan and I have a special connection… Fang and I have something that goes beyond any of that. We just belong, somehow. We always have. But things have been really rocky between me and Dylan, ever since I had chosen Fang. It's understandable, really- growing up, believing you're in love with someone, only to have them choose someone else. I felt terrible that it had to happen that way.

But it had, and I couldn't change how it went down.

"Are you sure?" I asked again, scrutinizing his features. "Are you sick? What do you feel like?"

He chuckled breathlessly, spiking his dirty brown hair back with his hand.

"Honestly, Max." He said, moving past me to get some more debris and place it along the cave wall in a pile like he was doing the other ones. "I'm fine. Just tired."

"Have you not been sleeping lately?" I questioned, helping him untangle some of the metal chair arms. Dylan sighed, hesitating. "Dylan, come on. You look like crap. What's going on?"

Dylan barked out a laugh, looking like he was going to fall over.

"You don't sugarcoat it, do you?" He observed, his eyes glinting in humor.

I grinned at him. "Never have, never will. Now what's up?"

He wobbled a bit, and I steadied him with my hand. He glanced down at where it rested on his arm, entranced by it, before meeting my gaze with his ocean blue eyes.

I slowly removed my hand, feeling uncomfortable as Dylan searched my eyes. He smiled regretfully after a few moments, rubbing his head before stepping away from me and walking back towards the pile.

I shook off the awkward tension, trying hard to keep my leader face on.

"Look, if you don't want to tell me, fine." There was no point trying to force him. "But at least tell my mom or one of the other doctors so you don't end up keeling over."

I could feel his eyes on me from where he stood a few feet away, but I didn't meet them. I had seen the longing in his eyes when he looked at me a few seconds ago. We hadn't broken up that long ago, after all- it was hard for me too, knowing that I had hurt him. I felt guilty, and he felt like it was his fault. If only there was some way that I could fix our friendship without encouraging him.

"Great job, guys!" Jon called, moving one of the last sections of chair away from the pile. "Now we can see what's going on with that cave-in."

I smacked the dirt off my hands after I dropped off the last of my pile, walking over to the now accessible desk in the center.

"Yep. It's definitely supporting the rocks," I commented, confirming what I had guessed all along. The desk was wedged under a round chunk of the cave ceiling, the weight of the stone bending the desk in the middle. I looked to Jon, unsure of what to do.

He gave me a reluctant look. "We can't risk it, Max. There's a great chance of it collapsing." I groaned, looking up to the ceiling.

"We don't have to move it." Dylan said, crouched in front of the desk. "The desk is holding up the rock, right? But if we can kick out the back of the desk, it might make a small crawl space that we could pass through to reach the other side."

"I think you'd need to be superman to kick through that plank of metal," I provided, gesturing towards the back of the desk. The desk had a metal back, where the leg-space was supposed to be.

"Well, we kind of have super strength, Max," Dylan explained, "since we're half bird and all."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." I deadpanned.

"Smart aleck," he mumbled, and I shot him a friendly smile.

"That might actually be possible." Jon agreed, kneeling beside Dylan. I bent over their shoulders, seeing what he meant. We didn't know how extensive the damage to the caves was on the other side, since the rock ceiling had fallen towards us at an angle. But if we kicked out the back, maybe we could get an idea…

"But if we kick it out, wouldn't it lessen the support?" I asked. In some desks, the back portions supported the top ones even more than the legs did.

"There's a risk." Jon said, looking at each of us. He settled his gaze on me as if to say, 'hey- It's your call'. I looked at Dylan, who was staring at me intently.

I let out an even breath, standing up and brushing my hair back from my face. I needed to think. This was a dangerous decision. Yet we needed the equipment from the back portion, as well as the files and medical books. We needed them. And to have the caves open? We'd have an alternative place of shelter and safety.

But dying wasn't an ideal option either.

"Max," Dylan began, sitting on the floor with his feet under the desk. "I'll do it."

I shook my head at him. "No. Not until we know it's safe."

"It's safe enough." He dismissed, positioned his legs so that one of his feet was braced against the back of the desk, ready to push.

"Dylan, stop!" He looked up at me, one eyebrow raised. Jon was watching us, his gaze flickering back and forth between us. "Just… Wait, okay. I don't want you getting hurt." He rolled his eyes, leaning back on his arms.

"It's a little bit late to be thinking that way, isn't it?" He questioned seriously, his eyes sparking.

My mouth parted as I realized his words had a double meaning to them. Guilt tore through me as I remembered how I had welcomed Fang back with open arms when he had returned. How I'd pushed Dylan to the side of my heart, making room for Fang again. Part of me knew we would have to talk about this sooner or later.

But unfortunately, I wasn't as prepared to handle it as I thought I was.

"Dylan, I'm sor-"

"No. You don't get to be sympathetic. Not anymore." He hissed, his mood suddenly changing like the flick of a switch. Jon opened his mouth to say something, but Dylan wasn't having any of it. "Poor little Dylan, right? An idiotic clone, a waste of space. A setback to you and your little birdie romance with Fang."

His words stung badly, and the guilt only intensified as his feelings were thrown out into the open.

"I know we need to talk about this, but now's not the best time-"

"Then when will be the best time, Max? There will be no good time. You're always busy with the flock. Fang. Leading the whole freaking world." I swallowed thickly as he continued, his usually warm blue eyes now icy and cold. "Plus, even if there was time, you'd just avoid me. Set me back for later, not caring about how I'd have to wait."

fists clenched as his words soaked in. "Admit it, Max," He whispered coldly, his eyes boring into my own. "You knew that you'd chosen Fang way before you even broke up with me."

"Stop!" I snapped, glaring at him. My chest ached, and my throat felt thick. "Just stop! It wasn't like that, Dylan, and you know it! I didn't just use you. I'm not some heartless person who likes to play with people's hearts!"

His face remained unemotional as he stared at me. We were both lost in our anger, in our frustration.

I held his stare, continuing. "I know that I hurt you. It hurts me to see that I'm the one who caused you pain. But I can't change what happened!"

He looked at me, jaw clenched. "No," He agreed after a short pause. "You can't."

My breathing was coming fast as I looked at him. Why couldn't he understand that I was sorry? That I didn't mean to hurt him? We remained locked in our stare down, each refusing to look away.

Jon pushed up his glasses, clearing his throat. "I'm aware that you two have some emotions to work through," He reassured softly, his voice echoing around the enclosed space. "But we're burning daylight down here, and we have the meeting in a few hours. We need to focus and work through what's happening now, and leave what's happened in the past for later."

I swallowed again, hesitating. Dylan kept his eyes on me, his stare icy, but a helpless look hid behind his eyes like a scared little kid. I looked away, ignoring my urge to talk this out and nodded at Jon. Out of the corner of my eye, Dylan closed his eyes, turning away from us.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Dylan said, the strength gone from his voice. Then without warning, he lifted his legs and thrust them hard against the back of the metal desk.

The metal banged as he dented it, the force of his kick reverberating through the room, making some of the plaster fall off of the portion of the fallen ceiling.

"Dylan…" I cautioned, fear rising in my stomach. But he continued as if he hadn't heard me, kicking the metal with all of his strength. Dust and small pebbles rained from the barrier of the cave-in, making the hallway seem more foggy than it had when we had entered. And just as I was about to grab him, the back of the desk clanged to the floor and he stopped, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Piece of cake." He panted, trying to sound like it was the easiest thing in the world, although his perfect features reflected how tired he was. Jon and I rushed over to him, and he scrambled his legs out from under the leg space after removing the metal. "And we're in luck- the debris aren't completely blocking the other side."

Jon rubbed his hands together enthusiastically, a large grin splitting across his face.

"That was really stupid, Dylan. But now we're getting somewhere." He exclaimed, and I nodded at him.

"Now we're faced with the next question: Is it safe to go through?" I asked. Jon's grin faded a bit as he calculated. "There was a lot of dust coming from the ceiling when he was kicking. That means that it's pretty loose, right? What if it comes down on us when we try to crawl through?"

"Hmm…" He thought, probing his beard again. He really needed to shave. "Excellent point. Sadly, there's not much of a way to test it, except if someone were to go through-" He suddenly paused, then resumed with new urgency. "Dylan, we're still talking about this!"

I whipped my head around to where Dylan was supposed to be, only to see the back of his jeans as he crawled through the opening.

The sound of bending metal reverberated from under the desk from where he was trying to slip through the small place between the floor and the bent metal desk ceiling. Little pebbles fell from the rocky space between the roof and the desk, plopping on the ground. Dust began to form, and a sinking feeling pooled in my stomach.

Suddenly, Dylan tensed up, going stock still. Unmoving. Frozen.

He was having a vision- seeing the future. A power that he had developed a few months back.

"Guys," Dylan cautioned, panic undernoted in his voice, "I think-"

Then the ceiling began to crumble.

And now there was nothing to stop the rocks from crushing him.

"Dylan!" I screamed, reaching out to grab his legs as the rocks fell from the ceiling and down towards his body.

But it was too late.

With a loud 'CRUNCH', the rocks fell on top of the metal desk and to the ground. I scrambled back in time to avoid being smashed by a stone the size of a kitchen refrigerator, narrowly missing it. The cave rumbled, and I fell to the floor, curling into a ball and shielding my head with my arms, the way I'd been trained to do my whole life.

The shaking seemed to go on forever, and I squeezed my eyes shut tight, trying to block out the sound of falling rocks.

And after the crashing stopped, I lifted my head, immediately inhaling a thick cloud of dust. I coughed, doubling over and lifting the front of my shirt to my mouth, breathing through the material. I blinked my eyes rapidly, trying to regain my eyesight.

"Max?" Jon croaked from somewhere to my left, his figure partially illuminated from one of the flash lights that had fallen in the floor due to the rumbling.

But my attention was riveted elsewhere.

My eyes were locked on Dylan's unmoving sneaker-clad feet.

Which happened to be the only part of him that could be seen from underneath the two ton wall of rocks.

A.N. Review! :)