Chapter 4:

The silence that surrounded their white little room was soon broken with the sound of an alarm. Immediately everyone turned to Nyssia who was still sitting on the table spinning the pistol in her fingers. "Nyssia…..Where did you get that gun?" Samantha said as he heart sank. She sensed that she already knew but was hoping for a better alternative than what the usual answer is.

Nyssia stopped spinning the pistol and paused for a moment. Her eye suddenly rolled up and twitched. "Uhh….I found it."

"Where did you find it?"

"In the hallway."

"Where in the hallway?"

"On the floor."

"Damn it Red! Where did you get that gun!?" Io snapped.

"From the sleeping man you knocked out of course." Nyssia said with a smile. The remaining group then turned to Io who was a bit appalled at the accusation but then subsided on remember the guard she decided to punch in the face after leaving the room and being question by some random kook wearing a strange mask. It was not her day and it was most defiantly not his day either. By which point this was the exact moment the same random kook wearing the strange mask busted through the door and was instantly met by a bullet in the leg. Blood squirted on the floor as the random kook grabbed his leg and fell to the ground in agony. Everyone stared at Nyssia who was facing the rest of the group with her arm extended behind her holding the pistol. "Reflex…" is all that Nyssia said as she was suddenly tackled by the group and had the pistol removed from her clutches. Before they could tie her up and stuff her somewhere, a few more guards ran in from the same door and were not met with bullets in their legs. It was certainly a fine day for these gentlemen. One examined his fallen comrade while the other held a rifle at the others with orders of standing up against the wall and 'no funny business'.

While the group was facing the wall, a familiar gentlemen in a suit and a fancy tie walked in. "I see you have talked it over with your friends and are pleased to know that you have graciously accepted our offer." The gentlemen said in the fancy tie. They didn't say a word and were led by an arm escort towards the end of the hanger where a familiar vehicle was discovered. Nyssia's one and only eye lit up with joy. "Busbus!" she shouted at the top her of lungs. The gentleman with the fancy suit and tie stood in front of Busbus and with a heavy sigh said, "I will allow each of you to take one item. Only one will enter the craft at a time and will leave with only one item. You will have five minutes inside. Once you leave consider everything else lost." Samantha's eyes grew wide, she instantly knew what she had to get.

The first one in was Nyssia. She hopped and hopped up into the bus. From outside the bus the group could see her running back and forth throughout the bus. Stuff getting tossed around and papers flying in the air. Finally emerging with a bazooka strapped to her back. She had her typical smile on her face as she once again hopped down from the bus. The sight of the weapon on her back make a lot of the other guards uncomfortable especially the gentleman in the fancy suit with the fancy tie. The next person allowed inside the bus was Io who ran in and ran out pretty fast. Attached to her hands were a pair of metal gauntlets. This eased up the tension on the guards as they were expecting something even more dangerous and devastating than a bazooka. Jane was next and with a quick run in and out she came out with a rather large book. This confused the guards even more as they look back at Nyssia who was now sitting on the concrete floor cuddling her bazooka. And finally it was Samantha's turn. She knew what she had to get and she also knew where she could find it. She raced into the battered bus. Heart racing. Eyes dodging back and forth around the control panel. She knew she had only five minutes to find it. And there it was. It was the glass cylinder. She took the whole thing without thinking, tearing the cords out from the control panel. Sparks emitted and a bit of smoke leak out from the vehicle. This certainly drew the attention of the guards as they now we ready for the worst. Unfortunately many of them have seen worse and were not at all impressed nor frighten when a young girl comes stumbling out of a broken down bus holding a glass cylinder with a shiny rock inside. It seemed a bit more comical really, and they would most certainly have a good laugh about it later. Until then, the only real threat in the area was the one eye cretin with a large bazooka whose been cuddling it and talking to it as if it were an old friend who just popped in out of the blue and decided to have a tea party.

The man had approached them. "I assume now you have all that you need for your task. Do not expect a rescue party. Just remember that if you want to see your friend again. Bring us the Umbral Eye." And with that the man was escorted out of the hanger by several large guards. They were led to another door which led right outside of the building, through several gates of steel and barbwire, passed several more guards wearing strange and funny masks and outside of the encampment in general. Opening the folder that Samantha had held on to revealed a map of the area and the possible location of where the Umbral Eye was.

Outside of the encampment dawn was breaking. But the sky was covered by clouds. The ground around them felt soggy and damp. The air was thin. Whispers could be heard floating on the wind. The trees around them were dead and mangled. As they marched through the dead forest they kept hearing voices. It gave them an eerie feeling, a sickly feeling. Silence had engulf them. Nothing seemed right. Above them in the trees were large spider webs that trickled in small glimpse of sunlight that had crept through the clouds. Shivers ran up and down Jane's spine as she held tight her large book. Samantha focused her attention mostly on the map and tried to ignore the spooky sensation that was around her. Nyssia held her bazooka tight. Io seemed unnerved by the surrounding, though her fist were clenched and ready to punch the first thing that were to pop out of nowhere. Though the scenery was unsettling they continued through the dead forest.

Hours after they were released into their new world they grew tired and decided to take a rest. They were hungry, tired and above us else a bit freaked out. "This place gives me the creeps." Jane said as she sat down. "Yeah no kidding." Io replied as she too sat down on a rock. "Wished we'd pack a lunch or something. Hey Blondie! You have any idea where we are?"

Samantha stood while staring at the map. She walked back and forth for a bit before stopping. "I think we are somewhere near the mountains."

"You think?" Io said as she got up. "I think we're lost! Look at this place! We're in the middle of nowhere! No signs. No streetlights. No possible way to determine if we are going the right direction!" Io became flustered that she picked up a rock and threw it deep into the forest. After panting for a bit she sat back down. Her eyes suddenly lit up with fright. She turned to her left and saw what looked like the same stone that she just threw. "What's going on here?" She said as she picked up the stone. She examined it closely, marking it with a scratch. And with another heave she threw the stone. Immediately she heard a clinking sounds right next to her. And there with the same scratch on it was the very stone she had thrown. "Blondie!" Io shouted

Samantha and Jane both looked up. They were apparently discussing their present location on the map or lack of. They both stared at Io as she hurried over to them holding a stone in her hand. "I just threw this stone and it came back." They both stared at her and blinked simultaneously in confusion. Io didn't say anything. She knew it would be futile to try to even explain things to these people. So with a strong arm she threw the stone once again. They all sat and watched.

Nothing happened.

"I think you may need some rest Io. You seemed a bit stressed." Jane suggested to her as she got up and dusted herself off. Just then from above something fell and pegged Samantha in the head. She let out a shout of pain and anguish. She looked at what hit her and suddenly she realized just what Io was saying. Jane turned and saw the same thing she did. Io had a grin on her face as she knew exactly what happened. And to her credit she was right. The stone had appeared again right in front of them but only this time it had descended from the sky and landed in an unfortunate location which just happened to be behind Samantha's head. It was Samantha's turn. She too threw the rock, only to have it return to her. Nyssia was far too preoccupied to notice the astonishing discovering. She was somewhere up a tree nearby with her bazooka, making explosion noises as she pretended to fire. Meanwhile back on the ground Samantha, Jane and Io were discussing intensely about their current situation.

"It must be a temporal flux in that area. You know. When the area around a certain space is flexing through space and time. It accidently creates a pocket in the space around it and it travels through a hole in our universe." Jane said frantically as she clearly was excited to experience this event. However, much to her excitement this only confused Samantha and even more so Io who just stared at her like she was trying to balance a talking flower on her head while speaking in tongues. They all stood in silence. Jane gave a sigh and said, "It teleports. We've been going in an infinite loop!"

"Makes sense." Nyssia commented as she was hanging upside down in the tree above them. "We just have to go around it then." Samantha said as she looked around. "Gather the stones!" Nyssia said as she fell to the ground with a flop.

Io stood stiff. Suddenly a whisper came into her ear. "Protect her." She turned around as if to see someone there but instead she saw no one. She turned back to the group who was helping Nyssia getting to her feet. Io turned back to where the whisper came from and in the distance she could see a blur of a creature. It was small and stood on four legs. Its yellow eyes shinned through the distance at her. It was a fox. A familiar looking fox. One that she knows she had seen somewhere before but couldn't remember and yet there it was, staring at her. It had a long bushy tail and in a flash it ran off and disappeared in the distance. "Guys…" Io said nervously.

"Io not now, we need to figure out how to get pass this." Samantha said as she was throwing stones, of course those words fell flat as Io started to walked in the direction the creature went. It wasn't long before she heard the rest shouting at her from behind but that didn't seem to matter. The rest caught up to her and suddenly they were faced with a very large and very frightening stone face. It was a wicked face. The stone around it was smooth. It had large sharp fangs and had its mouth was wide open. The stony eyes stared at the group and gave them shivers down their spine. Io stood in front and then turned around. "You think this is the place?"

"Looks cool!" Nyssia said with excitement as she skipped beside them.

"Maybe this is a bad idea." Jane said as she stood petrified at that face staring down at her.