The sun rose brightly on the eve of Sara's 14th birthday, but she had been up long before color had spread over the gray sky. No sound could be heard in the valley except for the repetitive “click” of water deep in the hills.


Sara had woken up early that day. She wanted to scout out the entire valley, which she had never done before. The black ground was always clogged with water, making traveling nearly impossible.


As she walked outside of the Luxor- her home for as long as she could remember- she hoped that the streets wouldn't be covered with water for once. Sadly, the water seemed to be even faster and darker that day.


She looked up at the tip of the Luxor, smiling slightly to herself. It really didn't matter anyway. The trip could take a little longer if it need be.


“I'm going out.” Sara called out, “Don't worry; I'll be back before nightfall.”


Sara remembered before leaving to go back inside. She rushed up to the top floor and opened her door, letting it bang against the wall. She went to her bedside and clicked open the speaker. The speaker was old, according to the Smoke. When humanity had destroyed itself, they had left many useful things behind. Sara put it on full-blast and listened to it outside.


'So here you are, two steps ahead and staying on guard,

Every lesson forms a new scar,

They never thought you'd make it this far,'



Sara liked this song. It had been written a year or so before human decimation. She liked the fact that it was about an underdog; at least, that's what she thought. It echoed across the valley in all directions.


Sara looked very wild. Her brown eyes, speckled with green and yellow, were always sucking up everything around her, so as not to miss anything. Her shoulder-length brown/blonde hair was choppy, because of the lack of proper barbers and mirrors. She wasn't sure where her clothes had come from, but the Smoke probably brought them in from a different part of the valley. Her shirt was a faded white, with a black ink heart in the center, and a green backpack on her back. The shoes she wore were ripped and torn, and her shorts were hardly more than strands of thread.


The valley couldn't be very big. Sara had found a map several days before and it hardly looked massive. She lived in the green part of the valley, and there were blue, orange, and white parts, too. She would walk over the valley in 12 hours, 20 at the most.


There were always things to explore in Sara's home. Some of the rooms had the neatest things. Once, she found a small, hard object with a black point at the end. At first, it hurt to touch it, but then, she found a thin piece of white material, and found that the black point made marvelous pictures, while a pink stub made them go away.


And that wasn't just in the Luxor: it was all over her home valley. There were homes that held giant stacks of the white material with strange markings. Some even had pictures of other people. Sara would study them for hours, trying to get a feel of what other people were like.


As Sara wondered the flooded streets, she had to imagine what it looked like with real people on them: pacing back and forth, going in between those- oh, what were they called again? She had seen them in one of the stacks. She assumed it was something called a car. How would a ride in one of those feel?


At that moment, Sara thought she saw something strange. In the distance, she saw a nearly invisible figure, crossing the street. When Sara got closer, it seemed to disappear in front of her. Not only there, but the whole day, the same thing was happening to her. Something urging her to wander more, not wanting her to stop at any moment.


When night finally fell, Sara had been trying to get through a large clogged up street. Remembering her promise, she quickly ran across many streets to get back home in time.


Once she finally reached the Luxor, the Smoke was already gathering at the tip of the Luxor. It didn't seem very happy, which was usually bad news for Sara.


“Sorry!” she called out to it, “I was out exploring.”


It didn't seem to respond, which meant either it was thinking, or listening for more details.


Sara tried to think of more to say. “I was exploring because I wanted to see the entire valley.”


Remembering the map, Sara was relieved to find it still sticking out of her back pocket. She opened it up.


“See,” she started, “We live in the green part that has some symbols above it. There are other parts to our valley, did you know? Right here's a yellow place, a huge orange place, and a bunch of white!”


The Smoke descended down beside her and- if smoke can look- looked at the map. It didn't bother Sara, though. The Smoke had kept her alive up until then. It was her parent. Even though she wasn't sure how the whole “smoke-to-human” worked out. Curious as she was, that was something even Sara didn't want to know.


When Sara thought the Smoke was going to let her keep it, it curled around the map faster than she thought it could move, and threw the map out of sight.


“Hey!” Sara cried, and started to go after it when the Smoke made an awful sound, somewhere between a hiss and a gurgle, stopping her in her tracks.


Sara tried to listen closely, since to Smoke rarely talked. She could make out the words, and they weren't pleasant.


“Listen,” it hissed, “don't go near that map again. Or any other map, for that matter.”


“But why?” Sara argued, “What's so important about a simple map that you don't want me to see?”


The Smoke realized its mistake, “Nothing. Nothing is important about any map. I don't want you to leave the Luxor from now on.”


“What?” Sara yelled in anger.


“That's an order.”


Sara knew she was beaten. As she marched back into the Luxor, she couldn't help but feel blind fury. The Smoke had never told her to stay inside the Luxor: ever. Why now? Sara clearly had found something the Smoke didn't want her to find. For the first time in her life, she felt a twinge of rebellion.


As she looked out her bedroom window, Sara wondered if the Smoke would let her out for her birthday. Fourteen was important in her mind, and she didn't want to squander it inside a dark room. She shivered, and wrapped herself in a blanket. The night was getting old, and she needed sleep.





Once Sara fell asleep, she had a dream, which didn't happen very often for her. In an unfamiliar place, she found herself standing at the edge of a dried out field. There were a few trees around it, but other than that, nothing. There was no noise either. Sara felt the need to call out, but the words seemed to become stuck in her throat.


Then, a large pack of very hairy coyotes appeared out of the brush. Suddenly, Sara wasn't sure that they were coyotes at all. Maybe a wolf. They scanned the field carefully, clearly looking for someone, or something.


A moment later, Sara was rattled by a new and terrifying sound. It sounded like, well, Sara didn't know how to think of it. Then, out of the blue, the sound revealed itself as- a human? Sara wondered if she was still dreaming, but something seemed very real about this one.


The boy, who couldn't be more than 15, was pulling the trigger, and several dozen wolves fell. Behind him, a girl with wild, frizzy black hair about the same age ran out carrying an ax and easily knocked out ten or twenty more in mere seconds.


Just when most of the wolves had fallen still, dozens more came running out of the trees.


The two cried out, “Fall back!”


More teenagers became visible as they went back some. But another, older boy said something inaudible that clearly changed their minds, and they rushed forward again to attack.


Sara became breath-taken at the boy who spoke out at the others (which must have only numbered around 15-20). He had wavy, very light brown hair. From her distance, Sara couldn't make out his eyes. But wow, did he know how to swing a bat well.


One wolf that lunged at him was the one with the most painful fate. When he jumped at the boy, he got a face full of metal. As he lay on the ground, Sara could tell that brains were leaking out of his cracked skull, and blood dripped out of his fanged mouth onto the ground.


He looked over at Sara, and she felt her heart skip a beat. Or two. Maybe thirty. Then she realized that it couldn't be a dream if he was running towards her. But that didn't explain the fact that she couldn't talk or hardly move.


Once he got within a few feet of her, a wolf lunged at him. Sara couldn't warn him, but she watched in awe as he delivered a nasty blow to his head. If she could talk, she wouldn't be making actual words anyway: more like extreme stuttering.


When he got to Sara, the boy grasped her shoulders and cried, “Wake up! Do you hear me? Please, wake up!”


At once, more wolves began to swarm him, and a deep, howling wind blocked out his voice. His lips moved, but his voice was hardly a whisper. The boy let her go and tried to fight off the wolves.


Suddenly, Sara felt something crawl up her leg ever so slowly. Something extremely hot and it burned. When she looked down, she didn't see anything, but the pain was still there.


“Come on,” Sara thought, “wake up!”


She finally managed to move her arm and pinched herself. Nothing happened. The painful burn kept climbing up her body, and the field was still there.


Horribly frustrated with herself, she raised her arm and somehow cried, “Wake up, damn it!”


Sara delivered a hard blow to her forearm. At last, she found herself sitting up in her bed. But she found out what was making her so hot in her dream. She almost wanted to go back to sleep and keep dreaming about hot guys.


All over her room, flames licked at the walls and floor. Gray smoke made it nearly impossible to see and even harder to breathe. Sara coughed, and looked around for a possible way out.


The window was out instantly. Sara was on the top floor, thanks to the Smoke's request. Jumping from that height would be assured suicide. Perhaps the door? No, it was blocked by a wall of fire. But there was no other way out.


Sara got out of bed and found her backpack still lying next to her bed. She didn't have time to check it. All Sara did was sling it over her shoulder and got ready to run through the flames.


Before she had the chance, something else jumped into the room. It was an old coyote. So ancient, Sara wondered how he managed to walk. She didn't move, and neither did it. Finally, Sara ran full-speed and made it through the fire wall with hardly a burn. Behind her, the old animal came through and stopped several feet in front of her.


That's when Sara noticed something strange: nothing else had been touched by the sudden fire outburst. Then she began to wonder why her room was an oven to begin with. It wasn't right.


The aged coyote stared blankly at Sara, recognizing her scent from all those years ago...

Matt hadn't slept well again. Ever since the last base had been overrun, nothing had been going right in the H.A.N.D (Humans Against Nature Demons).


Last night had been the list-topper of nightmares, no doubt. He had imagined the last battle of H.A.N.D in their old base. They had been fighting the wolves in the field.


That's when it went all wonky. While Matt had been knocking the brains out of the wolves (ah, memories), a bright light had hovered near the edge of the field. When he looked deeper, he saw a young girl, still in the grip of her city. But she was about to be killed by it: the room where she slept was set on fire.


Matt had run desperately to her. When Sara had seen him shake her shoulders, he had been actually screaming into the light. That's when the light clouded up with red, and more of the dream wolves began to come, and then, well, he remembered the rest all too well.


When he woke up, Matt knew almost certainly that the girl he saw was roasted, and there was nothing he could've done. But, there was always a chance; that he could've saved her.


As he sat at the desk, looking hopelessly at the map, Jackie walked up to him.


“Had a bad night?” she asked him.


Matt nodded solemnly. “I think we lost Vegas.”


“Dang.” she muttered, “Then that'd be the third in the month.”


With that, Matt went up to the map and took the yellow pin out and put the red pin in. They had already lost Cairo and Tampa Bay in the course of April (confirmed only via more dreams), making the total 30 cities with no survivors since the apocalypse; for positive.


Duck Creek wasn't the best place for a base, but they had run out of options. The old base in Los Angles had been knocked out by repeated attacks of lightning and rats. Matt knew all too well what damage rats did, so whenever a single mouse was spotted, it ended up with a 12 hour search of the base.


The new base was set in a similar position to the old base: a dried out field going out a solid mile, and a dense forest from there. With virtually no people around, the trees had grown out of control. Old trailers and cabins were still standing, and useful for cover.


Jackie had gone off with some of the newer recruits to scout out the still alien surroundings. Eli was working out some weapon kinks, and Chloe was sorting out the food supplies in the back room. Everyone had something on their mind except Matt, who was still distracted.


Matt decided to walk around the field. That much of the outside base had been checked. He walked around, trying to imagine how she could've woken up in such a deep dream.


As he continued to ponder, a sharp pain hit him in the side. Matt managed to stifle a cry, and looked up at the clouds, which told him the problem as they began turning dark velvet. Come to think of it, Matt wasn't sure if this was visible to anyone else.


“Soon,” he whispered, “there'll be one soon, I promise. One very soon...” Matt trailed as the pain subdued and the clouds turned as blank as before.


That was another thing that was constantly on his mind: the deal he had made that was costing him his sanity. It only happened at night, but he had been resisting, which only made the pain worse. Ever since he agreed, there would be a stab in his right leg, where the hip bone was. When he tried to ignore it, the pain would become unbearable.


No one in the base knew, because it would mean certain death for dealing with the enemy. But he had no choice. H.A.N.D was losing the battle, and too many recruits to count were dying. It had promised him that they would win as long as he held up his end of the bargain. Besides, the group was his responsibility; he would do anything to protect them.


What made Matt feel even worse was the fact that he didn't even know what he was doing at night, or who was going to suffer next.

Sara followed the coyote out of the Luxor down to the still flooded streets. With nowhere to stay, she wondered where to stay, and if the Smoke would find her a new home. Then, she thought of something. It was a long-shot, but it was still barely possible.


She keeled next to the old creature and asked him, “Do you know my old address? Surely you've seen lots of houses in your time.”


With that, the coyote turned away and started to walk. Sara had to only assume that she had to follow him. The two went across many different streets, until they found her old home.


Sara approached the door, unsure what to think. To get it over with, she pushed open the door.


The home was a total wreck, to say. After years of no one living in it (aside from the cockroaches), the home looked totally disgusting. What paint was left on the walls was faded, chipped, or both. The carpeted floor was molded with God knows what and stuck together in large clumps. The cabinets were half open, with bugs crawling out of the corners, and spider webs dangling from all kinds of odd places. Chairs and couches were broken, and yet sat perfectly upright, as if waiting for owners that would never return.


If there was any word to describe the condition of her home, the only one that would even come close is “horrifying”.


Sara heard herself call out, “Is anybody here?” she scoffed slightly, walking in. “Yeah, stupid question.”


As she stepped over clumps of carpet and glass, she wondered if there was any trace of her family left.


(Now, 13 or so years isn't quite enough to fully rot a body beyond recognition. The body would only be about a quarter to half-way rotted, not making an open coffin ceremony very pleasant.)


Soon, Sara found herself wandering down the main hallway. As she watched the ceiling, she stepped on something squishy. She dared to look down at what she had landed upon.


Below her foot, the half-rotted corpse of her older brother still lay outstretched in the middle of the doorway. She felt herself fall back against the wall and hardly kept from screaming, but felt her hand go to mouth all the same.


His face was ripped up with bone and red, decaying flesh visible. Gavin's outstretched hand was covered in filth and grime. Flies hovered around him, and Sara wondered how she could've not seen him when she was coming down the hall. His clothes were stained, and blood trickled down his chin from a wound above his- well maybe it was before- eyebrow.


Sara was crying without realizing it. The horror of seeing her dead brother in that state was too much to look at. She moved against the wall, careful not to disturb the body, and went into the room across it and closed the door.


Before she had a chance to cry in solitude, her eyes had already wondered to the bed. In it, two more corpses lay under the covers, like they had gone to sleep one night and never woke up. They looked just as bad as the other body.


Next to the bed was a small, faded white crib. The only thing inside was a crumpled purple blanket. Sara crumbled to her knees, then felt her face become moist again, and heard herself begin to sob uncontrollably.




After Sara left the house, she sat on top of an old highway, overlooking another road. The air was tense, and all too silent for any comfort. The coyote sat near the start of the bridge, not moving a muscle.


Sara was too shaken to think clearly. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her every muscle ached. She crossed her arms and placed them on the edge. It had long since been dark, and had begun to rain, harder than ever.


Never before had Sara felt so alone. She had always gone to the Smoke for comfort, or had simply talked to herself. But nothing cured the pit in her stomach that grew deeper with every passing minute. The darkness hid her distressed face, and the rain mixed with her tears.


She thought herself to be awaiting the young boy, and he would whisk her away where they could live out the rest of their lives in safety with the other ones.


But a thunder crash brought her mind back. Had she actually thought that something so perfect, could come to her in this wasteland? But Sara still couldn't accept that no one was out there looking for her. Up until that point, her life had been simple. But only yesterday had everything gone wrong.


It was a ridiculously cold night, but Sara never felt a single goose bump on her skin. There was nothing but the rain, yet she listened, but no sound. No footsteps on the ground, and what did she expect? Some boy that she never met to lead her to someplace new?


With that thought, Sara backed away from the ledge and began to run. She didn't know where, but anywhere away from this sick, sick town. Where would she go, though? Sara thought hard.


To wherever the survivors were, that was for sure. But where were they? The better odds were to the east, since there was more ground to cover. Hopefully, Sara would live through the first 6 weeks.


So, she found herself at an abandoned store. There were still old supplies lying around, so Sara took the advantage. She gathered canned food, a pair of hiking boots, and a 32 inch softball bat. And, just for effect, a bit of eye black.


As the sun began to peak over the mountains, Sara walked out of the store and adjusted the backpack on her shoulders. With one last look at the sunrise, Sara began walking north-east. The coyote began to follow her, and she took him as a welcome companion.


After only a half an hour of traveling, the two reached the outskirts of town. The coyote looked back for a brief moment, and saw the red Smoke rise from the tip of the Luxor, passing unnoticed to Sara. He knew what was asked of him, and if he died doing it, then that was the price to be paid. The animal turned back around, and followed Sara down the winding road.


As they walked, Sara could be heard singing softly to herself, “Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...”

Sara and her furry fellow traveler had been walking for several days. Their progress, however, was minimal. Clearly, Sara wasn't permitted outside of her home, and she could never had guessed the fight the Smoke would put up to keep her: lightning storms kept Sara from going back, yet ferocious attacks slowed forward progress significantly.


The days passed slowly, and the sun beat down on them mercilessly. Even though trees became abundant after the second day, the heat was exhausting. Still, the view from the street was amazing.


At one point, there were huge red rocks, towering over their heads. The two would be so high up that they could see almost the entire valley. Sara honestly had no idea where they were, and most of the maps were too faded and broken to be of any help.


Finally, at the start of the 4th, a map that was still in decent condition was found. Sara managed to read it, but still had no clue what the markings meant. With any luck, she just kept going straight. She had no clue what she would find, or who would await her...




Jackie was the first to notice Matt's problem. Well, she was almost always the first to notice anything going on in the base, and it had helped her to the rank of 2nd in command. That, and the fact that hardly anything ever happened.


Since Vegas had been lost, Matt had been tired, and in apparent pain. Even though he denied it, she knew that he was covering something up. Jackie couldn't tell anyone, as that would split up the base. Although there weren't enough operatives to do that, anyway. Still, something like that would destroy what was left of H.A.N.D overnight.


When the day of the 4th came around, Matt soon found his pain lightening up for some reason. The night before hadn't been plagued by feverish nightmares and he hadn't woken up sweating and muttering phrases he didn't understand.


By midday, he felt great, almost reborn. But that was what made him all the more miserable. On those days, a person from H.A.N.D would vanish, and Matt would be the guilty party. He had to stop himself before it was too late.


As he paced at his desk, thinking of any possible way to stop his secret, Jackie was on top of the lookout post. It was actually really boring; nothing ever happened, and everyone called it the nap station behind Matt's back. He still thought it a good idea in case something out-of-the-ordinary were to occur.


Jackie looked through the telescope as usual, and didn't expect to see anything, or anyone. It stayed that way for about an hour, but after that, the “nap station” got really interesting.


Less than a mile away, Jackie could make out a tall figure walking in the base's direction. Beside her, Jackie cringed- a scout. The girl might think of it as a friend, but Jackie had seen first-hand what scouts were, no matter the package.


Below her, Matt came out and called up to her, “Anything today?” 'As if I need to ask.' he thought.


Jackie slid down and nodded, “For once, there is. We got one.”


Matt grinned ear to ear. Before he could say anything,


“But there's a scout with her. We need to get rid of it.”


“Got it.” he nodded.


Matt gathered up Eli and two more recruits to wait in the brush to hunt the scout. Just before they headed out, Matt told them instead to meet her. They wouldn't want the scout or the strange smoke to know where the base was.




Sara had almost given up on finding the people. The two were both on their last leg. Sara's stomach begged for food, but they had run out yesterday. Her feet were sore beyond description. She didn't know how the poor animal was doing, but, if she didn't know better, it seemed like he was just fine. And he was; courtesy of the Smoke.


By the time the sun got all the way up to its peak, Sara had seen something that made it worth her while: up in the distance, at the top of a tree, something shimmered. Sara instantly started to race-walk towards the reflected light. It was the only sign of people she had seen aside from abandoned motor homes.


As she raced down a hill, she could've sworn she heard someone behind her. Sara wasn't used to being around people, so, with pure impulse she whipped around and swung her bat.


She didn’t expect it to hit anything, but she made perfect contact with the face/upper lip.


“Ow!” the boy grunted.

He held his face and looked at Sara. It wasn't the same boy she saw in the dream, but he was just as dreamy. He had dark brown hair that was just slightly darker than his tanned skin, and eyes to match. For a moment, all they could do was stare at each other. Finally, Sara's eyes widened and dropped her bat.


“Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!” Sara almost cracked a smile, but kept a serious face.


He shook his head, “No, It’s not a problem. I've been hit by worse. You know, you swing about as good as-”


Jackie rushed out of the brush and said angrily, “Eli, we're here to get her back to the base in one piece, not to socialize, got it?”


She turned to Sara. “I'm Jackie; 2nd in command.”


“Sara.” she replied.


Jackie looked around. Once she was sure that Sara hadn't been followed, she started to walk back to the base.


“Oh right, get rid of the scout first.” she remembered.


Before Sara could ask, another girl came out of the brush and threw a knife at the coyote. It was a direct hit to the chest, and he fell. Sara's eyes once again widened with horror. Eli tried to lead her away, but she pushed his hand away with disgust.


“Oh my God, what's wrong with you?” she cried.


Sara went down beside the animal and cradled his head. Jackie almost felt sorry for her, but the sake of H.A.N.D was in her hands, and she couldn't go soft now.


“He was a scout,” Jackie told her, “and he could've put the entire base and all of us in jeopardy.”


“A scout?” Sara asked in disbelief, “He was with me the entire time I came here! Why on earth would you think this poor creature was trouble?”


“Any animal is the offspring of nature: the very thing that wants humanity dead. You were clearly followed without knowing it.”


Sara scoffed, “I don't believe this...”


Eli gave her his hand. “Come on, we need to get you to the base before night falls.”


With a huff, she took his hand, and they went up to the base.


When she saw it, Sara had to remark, “A little smaller than I saw last.”


Eli smiled a little, “It’s underground mostly. This is just the top part. It goes on for- wait, did you say you've seen this base before?”


“Uh, hey! Let's go inside and check it out.”


Sara brushed past Eli and went into the base, leaving him to wonder how she could've possibly seen the base before.


Inside, was the most amazing thing Sara had ever seen. There was one main staircase going down, with others branching off into the base, and the ceilings were solid concrete. The only thing missing were the people. Only a few teens were passing through.


Sara turned back to Eli. “Where is everyone?”


“That's the problem,” he frowned grimly, “we have really no operatives. Everyone's either here, dead, or we haven't found them yet.”


“Found them?”


“Let me show you.”


A petite blonde girl took her bag and bat, and Eli led Sara down several flights of empty stairs until they came up to a door, made of solid metal. He pulled a key of a chain around his neck and put it into the lock. Eli held it up to Sara,


“Only Matt, Jackie and I have this key. If anyone else gets hold of it, H.A.N.D is done for.”


“Hand?” Sara asked.


“Humans Against Nature Demons. It's an acronym.”


“Ah.”


Eli smiled, “Like I said, only trusted people can use the key, and it’s a big deal. We can't risk our information getting out, even to our number four's.”


“You're number one?” Sara asked.


Eli laughed. “No, I wish.” He held up three fingers. “3rd in command. This is number one's office. Common, I'll show you in.”


As the door swung open, Sara was nothing less than awed. The room had a window, with a gorgeous view. There was a large desk, and it was coated with photos, drawing, maps, and a pillow.


“He really gets into his work sometimes.” Eli explained.


Sara couldn't help but crack a smile. The rest of the room was coated in maps, sketches of places she could never imagine, and paper with the markings on them. Facing the desk, there was a giant map, coated in green, yellow, and red pins. It was above a small stage with a podium in the center, and about ten to twelve chairs were below it.


Sara started, “Um, where is-”


“Eli?”


Both of them turned around to see Matt behind them. To Sara, he was the boy she saw in her dreams. The only thing different were his eyes. What she had seen full of life and freedom now seemed to be weighed down with exhaustion and defeat. Aside from that, he looked the same: light brown hair and a gentle face. Sara found herself staring once again.


“Matt, didn't know you were in.” Eli gave a half-smile. “Uh, Matt, this is Sara; Sara, Matt.”


“Pleasure.” Sara said.


Matt nodded. “Sorry Eli, Its not the best day for visitors. I, um, I have a lot on my mind right now.”


“Right, we just need to mark off her city, then we'll be off.”


Matt chuckled a little. “You can never keep me angry at you.”


He jogged up to the map and fingered through his pockets until he found a green pin.


“Do you know your city, or any landmarks in it?”


“I think it was south.”


“East.” Eli corrected.


“It had a pyramid in it.” Sara recalled, “A black pyramid. Do you know it?”


Matt nodded. “Yeah, the Luxor. I've seen pictures of it. That would be... Yeah, Las-”


Matt stopped. Something clogged in his throat, and he dropped the pin. He turned back to Sara,


“Did you say a black pyramid? Not a musty yellow one?”


“No, I'm pretty sure it was black. Lots of rooms and a great view.”


“The top floor.” Matt whispered.


Eli looked up at the map. “You have it marked as red?”


Matt didn't look Eli in the eyes, but Eli knew not to talk about it in front of her.


“Right.” Matt said to himself, “Green it is.”


He took out the red pin and put the green one in its place.


Matt came down from the stage and said one thing to Sara before he left the room; “Its good to see you alive, Sara, because burning's a horrible way to die.”


He pushed by her and went back up the stairs. Sara wondered how he knew.


“See you tonight!” Eli called, but with no answer. “Don't take it personally,” he told Sara, “he's been under a whole lot of stress and pressure lately. Ever since L.A, he's never really been the same guy I basically grew up with.”


“What happened in L.A?” Sara asked.


Eli cracked a grin, “Not my right to tell. If you can catch Matt on a good day, he's the one to ask.”


As he led her out the door and closed it, he handed her the key, still attached to the thin chain.


“Oh,” Sara stuttered, “I don't think I'm really ready for-”


“I think you are.” Eli smiled, “By the way, main hall, third on your right.”


Before she could thank him, Eli was gone. Sara felt her heart skip a beat. Or maybe another 30.


“Great,” Sara mumbled, “Two hot, intelligent boys in my life. Perfect...”


The girl who took her bags (known as Chloe) got her to the room. She thanked Chloe and was happy to find her things on her bed.


The room wasn't as spacious as Matt's place, but it was still cozier than the Luxor's. There was no window, but a painting which impersonated one. The bed was placed in the spot as in the Luxor, and the same set up. Almost like home.


Sara was happy to find fresh new clothes in the closet, and a new assortment of weapons, with everything from crossbows to shotguns.


As she tried on a new outfit (black skirt and pink flower shirt), someone knocked on her door.


“Come in!” she called.


An older girl with red-brown hair poked her head in. “Common,” she sighed, “you're going to be late. Follow me.”


Sara did, and found herself once again in Matt's room. She took a seat next to Chloe, and waited. Soon, he, along with Jackie and Eli, came into the room.


Matt stood in the center of the stage, with Eli and Jackie on his left.


“May fourth, two-thousand thirty-four.” he started, “And by the looks of it, we haven't lost anyone this week, and gained one today.” He smiled at Sara, and continued,


“Now, onto important matters: the scout.”


The small group began to mutter among each other. A boy stood up.


“Matt, to cut to the chase, did it get a sighting of the base?” he asked.


“No,” Jackie spoke up, “we killed it before it came within 100 yards of the base. There's no way it saw the base from that far away.”


“And thanks for that, Jackie.” Matt resumed, “The scout was killed, and that's the end of the matter. I think it’s safe to assume that it’s alright for now.”


The same boy crossed his arms, still standing, “Yeah, just like you told us in L.A, and looks where that got us.”


Suddenly, the room's silence turned tense, and Matt's face clouded over. Sara noticed the panicked looks on Jackie and Eli's faces. Clearly L.A. wasn't the best subject to bring up with Matt on any day, good or bad.


“Meeting dismissed.” Matt said, his voice suppressed with obvious anger. “Now get out of my room.”

Sara was surprised on how fast everyone got out of his room. She gave a small smile to Matt, and went back to her room.


Only Eli stayed with Matt, and was the only one brave enough to. He had been with Matt since the beginning of H.A.N.D, and the closest one to him. The only thing that kept him from number two was simply he needed to work on his fighting skills. That, and like Jackie said, he tended to get distracted.


Matt got off the stage. He went up to his desk and rattled it with a kick.


“God, what do I have to do to-”


"Hey,” Eli came down next to him, “you have my respect. They just need time to regroup in their heads.”


“If they have anything in their heads.” Matt grumbled.


“Come on, you're better than this. Sure, you slipped up in L.A. So what? People make mistakes; it’s what makes us human. I know what L.A. means to you, and you have every reason to be angry at yourself. But don't take it out on the others.”


Matt nodded. Then, he handed his key to Eli.


“What-”


“Listen,” Matt told him, “I need you to lock me in my room. No matter how much I beg or cry or plead, do not let me out. I can't tell you how important it is to me and you and God knows who else.”


“Matt, why do-”


“Please: you're the only one who doesn't think I'm crazy in this Godforsaken place. If I can't trust you, I can't trust anyone.”


Eli looked at his old friend, and realized he never truly knew how much he had worked for everyone there in H.A.N.D, and how he had done virtually nothing for himself. So, he took the key from Matt, smiled, and left the room.


As he locked the door, Eli had to wonder why Matt wanted to be locked in. If he was the only person who could really be trusted, why hadn't he been told why? Something was wrong with Matt, and Eli fully intended to find out what it was in the morning.

At about midnight, Sara woke up with no clear reason. There were no terrible nightmares she could recall and no strange noises either. Some strange impulse had woke her up. That same feeling drove her to walk outside of her room, and down to- Matt's room? Hmm...


But she knew that the something inside her had a good reason to go to Matt: the room seemed to be exploding from the inside. Rattles and bangs and booms and cries were ringing around. Sara could hear Matt inside, but she didn't call to him, because it sounded like someone was already with him.


The one that sounded the most like Matt cried, “Stop it! You can't get me out of here now. Just let me go!”


The second voice, well, sounded almost demonic, and a lot less friendly when it literally growled, “You let yourself be locked in. And you and I both know that you can't stay in here forever. Unless you hold up your end, your brother's doomed group of rebels will die with you.”


“Don't talk about my brother!”


More banging was heard, and it took all of Sara's strength not to barge into the room and see who was torturing Matt. But she continued to listen to them.


“Oh, so you're sensitive?” the second voice asked, “That's good to know. Now, let’s see, what else to talk about. It’s been so long since we've seen each other.”


“For good reason.” Matt managed, for he was in tremendous pain from his enemy.


“And what about Los Angeles, hm? Poor little Matt; let so many people slip through his grip. I'm sure that Reagan would be just dying to hear your excuse for that one.”


“Shut up!”


Sara choked back a scream, but slipped out a whisper, “Matt?”


Both voices stopped, and someone banged against the door, knocking Sara back.


“Matt, are you in there?” she asked, her voice rising in distress.


Matt's voice was the first, “Sara, don't come in here!”


Then, the demonic one, “No, let me out! Don't let me get killed!”


“Sara listen to me, get Eli. Just don't let me out.”


“Yes, get Eli to open the door. Perfect idea.”


“Keep out of this.”


More scuffling and Sara had no choice but to dart upstairs to Eli's room. She banged on the door.


“Eli! Eli! Open up, Eli! Do you hear me? It’s an emergency! Open the door!”


He finally opened the door, and looked like he had just seen a ghost.


“What?”


“It’s Matt. Something's really wrong. He's in big trouble. Come on.”


Then mention of Matt snapped Eli into high-gear. They ran down to Matt's room and listened again.


“You know Eli won't let me out. Just get away from me!”


“Oh, you naïve little tyke. Just ask them; he's getting the key out right now!”


Eli froze, because that strange voice was right. Sara looked at him, wondering if he was going to let him out.


He looked at Sara, “Matt told me that under no circumstances to open the door. We have to wait.”


“For how long?”


Eli shook his head. “Could be all night. Now, it’s just a waiting game.”


And so, through the night, Sara and Eli sat in front of the door and waited. Just like he had promised, no matter how much that second voice begged, the key never left Eli's palm.




When the sun finally rose, the second voice died down, until no sound could be heard. Eli took the key, and put it into the lock. With a quick twist, he turned key and opened the door.


What had once been an organized room was now in turmoil. Photos were ripped and thrown to the floor. The stage had dent in it, and the map was missing most of Western Europe.


Matt was against the stage, holding his head in his hands.


Sara's mouth dropped. “Oh my God, Matt-”


“What happened?” Eli finished.


Matt shook his head. He looked up at the two, but couldn't explain. How could he if he didn't even remember clearly what happened?


“Sara,” Matt said, “I'll talk to you later. Right now, it just needs to be between me and Eli.”


She nodded, closed the door, and waited outside.


Eli shook his head. “God, how did this happen? Sara woke me up at around midnight, and then it sounded like you had a psychic in the room trying to kill you! What's going on? And I want the truth.”


Matt nodded grimly. “Fine. But this doesn't leave the room. It’s between you and me only.”


“Got it.” Eli braced himself for a hell of an explanation.


“Okay, after what happened in L.A, and you might've noticed, I wasn't really the same.”


Eli acted like he had never noticed.


“Still, I would've done anything to get Reagan and the others back. Soon, I was just flat-out desperate. That was about the time that it came to me.”


“Wait, what came to you?” Eli asked, becoming alarmed at what his friend was telling him.


“You won't believe this, but it was a wisp of red smoke. It said it was from a distant city, and it could help me. It told me that it could guarantee victory for us... But I was wrong. So very wrong...”


Eli felt his heart race.


“That one wisp of smoke, it- it takes hold of me somehow. At night, I can't think. I'm not even in control of my thoughts, let alone my actions.”


Matt looked up at Eli. “You wanted to know why I needed to be locked in last night? Why it sounded like there was someone in here with me? Or why people from this organization have vanished without a trace?” He pointed to himself. “The answer's right here, Eli. I'm the reason Jason, Willow, and so many more are dead. Yeah, they're dead Eli. You've befriended a killer.”


Matt stood up and leaned against the wall face-first.


“God, I'm a freaking murderer...”


Eli was stunned. His closest friend, the only person he could call a member of his family, was dealing with the Smoke?


Matt turned back to Eli. “I owe it to you, Eli, because if you hadn't locked me in, or if you had unlocked the door last night, someone would've died. It might've been Sara, Jackie, Maddie, heck; it might even have been you. But I wouldn't know until it was too late.


“I would wake up in the field with blood on my hands, Eli. The bodies would be buried somewhere, and I would be the reason why. When I woke up at sunrise, I would run back to my room and rinse off. Then it'd be like it never happened...”


Outside the room, Sara could only hear the muffled speech of Matt. Eli had been strangely quiet. Whatever had happened last night, it wasn't good.


Matt continued, suddenly unable to stop, “Do you know how many times I've tried to fight it? Every time I try though, it never works. It teases me, mocks me, tears me apart! I don't know how I live with myself after all that I've done to myself and to all you guys and if only-”


“Stop!” Eli cried. His eyes were wide and his chest hurt. “Just, stop. I need a minute to think.”


With that, he rushed out of the room and past Sara.


She then walked back into the room. Matt was sweating, and he was shaking.


“Matt,” Sara said gently, “You don't need to tell me what happened last night. Just tell me this; why-”


Sara froze. Her heart seemed to stop, and she felt a cold chill crawl up her spine.


“She didn't kill him.” she muttered.


“What?” Matt asked.


Sara looked at Matt in terror. “Jackie didn't kill the coyote that followed me: she only wounded it. Look!”


She pointed at the window, and Matt felt the terror she showed.


At the edge of the window, the now still coyote lay. It was finally dead, after sub- succumbing to its wounds. But it had lived long enough to fulfill its duty. He had seen the base, and the leader.


The animal died to confirm the Smoke's idea. Though the Smoke existed in the Luxor, it would be able to live in new places. All thanks to Matt, the light-haired teenager.

The sight Matt and Sara had seen never left their lips, as did Eli's about Matt.


At first, Eli was disgusted. How could his friend be so stupid as to deal with their very enemy? Why hadn't he come forward sooner, so that he might've been helped? Eli couldn't comprehend that such a great guy like Matt could've made such a foolish choice.


Then, his senses came back to him. Matt had every right to be afraid of coming clean. This was how he predicted people would act once he told: angry, and confused. Eli knew that his friend would never hurt anyone on purpose. He had to understand that Matt wasn't really Matt when he did those things.


But that thing would be back. That voice had been coming from inside Matt. It would come back. Matt would have to be locked with that creature every night until they could find something to help him.


A day after Matt had told Eli, he had come to his room midday. The door was unlocked, but Matt wasn't there. No note, no trace. Like everything in there was placed by a terrible decorator.


“God,” Eli muttered, “Tell me it hasn't happened already...”




Actually, Matt had gone to Ryan and Mia: the two scientists in the base. They were extraordinarily smart for being seventeen. Matt knew that if anyone could help him, it would be those two.


It was hard retelling his issue, but Ryan and Mia seemed to understand better than Eli did.


“Interesting,” Mia said to herself, and then to the other two, “and yet you've never tried to resist before?”


“A little, but it never really worked.”


Ryan asked, “Do you know why you think it possesses you for?”


Matt laughed sarcastically, “Well, it certainly isn't here to say, 'Hey, I'm just passing by. Do you think I could borrow some sugar?' It’s made me kill people, Ryan, and I have no way of knowing that’s next.”


“Maybe you do,” piped in Mia, “since you have remarkable control over things before this... thing comes into you, perhaps we can set something up in your room to monitor you. That way, we can see just how you respond.”


“And besides,” said Ryan, “you had a lot of sense talking to Eli about it. If you hadn't, well, who knows what would've happened.”


“What would've happened?” Matt asked, “I'll tell you what would've happened; someone would've died. But I can't just be constantly locked in my room until it moves on to someone else. Eventually, Its going to be left open, and, minus one H.A.N.D operative.”


Mia nodded, “We'll do everything we can to help you, Matt. You're the best fighter among us, and not to bad keeping the others under control.”


“We'll see you tonight over the monitor. That way, all of us might be able to find a weakness in it, and try to put a muzzle on the situation.”


Matt smiled and half-heartedly laughed, “Thanks for everything you're doing for me. You guys are the best.”


With that, he went back to his room and tried to pick up his room some, even though it would probably be the same by morning.


As he straightened his desk, Sara came in.


“You doing okay?” she asked.


Matt nodded. “Just was talking to a few friends of mine. Hopefully they'll be able to help me.”


“Do you think you'd be able to tell me what the problem is? Last night sounded pretty serious to me.”


“Sure. Just remember: this doesn't go outside the room.”


Sara nodded, and they both sat down on the stage.


Once he finished, Matt wondered how Sara was taking it. She was pretty shocked, but not very surprised after what she had seen and heard. But one thing bothered her more than anything else.


“You said that you made a deal with red smoke. I-I think I know what that smoke is. Very well, actually.”


Matt leaned in, intrigued. “Go on.”


“You see, when I lived in Las Vegas, I wasn't really alone. No, there weren't people there, but I had some company. There was this smoke. Red smoke. You made that deal with the thing that raised me.”


It wasn't the fact that he had made a deal with the thing that might as well've been Sara's dad. The fact that she knew it was what bothered him. But Matt didn't say anything.


He changed the subject. “So, how do you think the rest of the group will handle the coyote?”


Sara smiled, “Not well, I take it. The question is: should we tell them?”


Matt thought. On one hand, the defenses could be tightened for an oncoming attack. Still, it could cause a huge panic, and possibly rebellion.


“Not yet,” Matt decided, “or at least not until the group becomes an actual group again.”


“Right.” she agreed.


With that said, she left Matt, and spent the day in her room, trying on clothes and admiring the weapons.




That night, the same thing happened. Still, Matt could fight it with confidence, because thankfully. Mia and Ryan had put up the cameras and were watching him at that very moment.


As it entered him, his thoughts were dimmed, and Matt could feel his vision double. It was coming again, and it felt more violent than before...




In the lab, Mia watched carefully over Matt while Ryan cleaned up the place.


“Anything new yet?” Ryan called from across the room.


“Nothin' yet, he's just sitting on the floor right now.”


Soon, he started to move around.


“Hey Ryan?” she called, “I think we might have something here.”


Matt had gotten up and picked up a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. Then he held it up to the camera:


Its happening, I can feel it. Just watch. Don't try to stop it. Wait until the morning to come in. Period.


Mia leaned in, and Ryan peeked over her, and none of them knew what to expect.


Soon, he began to pace the room. Still nothing notably weird. But Mia noticed that he seemed to be talking to himself.


“Ryan, can we get some sound?” she asked.


“Let me see... There; that should do it.”


Mia tuned in, and listened.


“...being watched.” Matt said.


Another voice, very much not Matt, responded, “Really? Perfect! Let me see that.”


Matt took the paper and scribbled something else. It was in entirely different handwriting, grabbing Mia's attention.


You'll enjoy this, Mia. Please, have fun, and enjoy the show! Take out your cameras: this one is sure to knock your socks off.


Matt, or, the thing in Matt's body, waved, and smiled mockingly.


Ryan had walked off moments before, leaving Mia in almost pure shock. How could it know she was watching?


Then, she noticed something else clearly wrong. His eyes, but they weren't his eyes. The usually soft gray iris was a dark, deep red.


'This isn't real. It can't be real...' She thought.


Matt backed away from the camera and picked up one of his paperweights. Then, he threw it at the camera. Thankfully, he missed, but the sound was knocked out entirely.


“Ryan!” Mia called, “get over here. You have to see this.”


Mia went over to the controls and pressed 'Record'. Then, she watched again. Ryan didn't come over, and Mia had no doubt he had fallen asleep in some odd place.


'Think, Mia, who can you trust to see this?'


It hit her. Mia rushed over to the controls again.


“Eli, Sara, please come up to the science lab, ASAP.”


She released the button and kept her eyes on the monitor. Mia didn't want to miss one second of it.


Matt still seemed to be arguing with the thing inside him, and it was pretty creepy to watch a guy switch facial expressions in less than a second.


The door behind her popped open, and Eli and Sara came in.


“Something wrong?” Eli asked.


“We got ready as soon as we heard the intercom.” Sara added.


Mia spoke to Eli, “You might know what this is about. Just watch and you'll understand.”


She rewinded the tape and showed them the beginning.


Sara shuddered. “That's the same voice alright.”


Once the sound was over, and the other piece of paper was shown, Mia put it back in real time.


Matt was continuing to fight with the thing, which seemed more and more violent by the minute. Suddenly, Matt seemed to throw himself against the slanted window, even though the three knew that thing inside him had done it from the inside.


The glass cracked, but didn't break. Matt leaned against the wall, with a bit of blood trickling down the side of his head.


“God,” Sara muttered, “he's trying to get out.”


And so it was; within seconds, Matt had again been flung against the window like a rag doll. The window still only lost a chip of glass. One final time, and this time, the glass gave way. Matt's face was cut and bleeding, but his eyes remained that deep red. But not as deep as before. Its grip was loosening on him.


It tried to climb out, but Matt, regaining control for a brief moment, threw himself back and landed against his desk. Then, the thing regrouped and picked up another paperweight. This time, the camera went dead.


Eli almost went into a full-fledged panic. “What's going on? We need to get down there or else-”


“Or we can switch to camera 2.” Mia interrupted, keeping the calm.


Mia turned to number two, and the three watched Matt struggle from a different point of view. It looked like a game of tug-a-war. At one point, Matt was sprinting away from the window. The next, it looked like he as being blown back by an invisible fan towards it.


For almost the whole night, the same process went on. Matt was bleeding heavily from his arm and head. His eyes were more of a dark pink by now.


He turned to the second camera. The creature inside him screamed at the camera, but with no sound, they couldn't tell what he was saying.


Sara shook her head. “Can anyone read lips?”


Mia spoke up, “I can a little.”


She pushed back her ivory hair, leaned in towards the screen and repeated aloud:


“He's saying, 'This was supposed to be the night. The night you all died. My night. My night, do you hear me? This was my night. And it’s not going to be pleasant when I get out.


'You're gonna pay, you hear? All of you miserable excuses for life are going to pay. Listen up, you freaks. Give me her and I'll let this screwed up boy go. If you decide to keep her, than one dies, and two will help me.' "


It snarled at them and walked away. Suddenly, Matt collapsed. He somehow grabbed a picture and weakly wrote something down on the back of it. His eyes were back to normal.

I think he's gone. Get help. Tell them what happened. Tell them who I am, or, what I am. They need to know the truth. Help them, and you help me.


Matt dropped the paper and lay still. Sara ran out of the room and down the stairs. Eli rushed after her. Before Sara could unlock the door, he put her hand down, stopping her from opening it.


“He's okay! I know it. Please, just trust me on this.”


Eli froze, knowing very well that it could still be in Matt, but he wasn't sure. He took the chance, and let her open the door.


Mia had already called an emergency meeting in the lab, but not to do much as to tell, but to distract them away from Matt. She had told Tyler and Natalie to check in on Matt.


As Mia started to organize the group, Tyler and Natalie worked on getting Matt's room in order. Sara helped him up, and Eli grabbed some gauze from the other room.


Matt coughed, “Did it work?”


“I think so. I mean, I watched the whole thing.”


“Out of pure curiosity, what happened?” he asked.


Sara's lower lip dropped slightly and she gave him an 'Are you kidding me?' look.


“Are you serious?” she scoffed, “You don't remember any of last night?”


Matt shook his head. “Remember? No, I really don't. This happens every time it enters me: I wake up and don't recall a damn thing.”


“Well, Mia's having a meeting right now. And according to this,” she held up the back of the picture, “you have some explaining to do.”


Matt nodded. Then, he smiled faintly, “That much I do remember.”


Eli finally came back in the room with the gauze. As he worked on Matt's arm, Sara tried to get his memory to resurface.


“Come on, you have to remember something!” Sara pleaded, “Anything at all? Maybe something it said, or what happened with the window?”


Matt shook his head. “Nothing. It’s all one big blur. All I remember is writing something on a piece of paper, and then waking up to this,” he gestured around the room, “and seeing you and Eli running in. And that's it.”


Sara shook her head. “Ugh, this is pointless!”


Eli finished working on his arm.


“Come on, everyone else is probably finished watching the footage by now. They're gonna want answers, trust me.”


Matt began to stutter, “Wait-whoa-huh? Did I hear you right? You showed them the footage of me being invaded by that smoke thing? Are you crazy?”


“No,” Sara put in, “we're helping. With all these people watching it, someone's bound to notice some sort of weakness in the enemy.”


He shook his head.


“Come on,” Eli said, “let's get going; we're gonna have a long day.”




The rest of H.A.N.D had long since finished the video, and weren't taking it well. In fact, they were taking it worse than Eli had.


When it finished, no one spoke. Then, the boy who had spoken at the last meeting cried out,


“What the hell was that?”


“Ian,” Mia started, “please, this is really serious stuff. Matt is going through insanely bad things. We didn't even know about it until recently. Ryan and I are doing everything we can to figure out how to stop it.”


“That's it?” he asked, “No, that isn't it. I think we all have a right to know what's really going on. Where's Matt then, hm? Where's the star of this lovely little clip?”


“Ian,” Mia said quietly, “in case you didn't notice, Matt passed out after the thing inside him left. I don't even know if he's conscious right now. He could be in serious condition, or even-”


“-walking in the room. I miss anything important?” Matt tried for a smile.


Matt had just walked in, with Eli and Sara behind him. Ian didn't sit back down, but Mia gave Matt back the center stage.


“I, um, I take it you've all seen what happened last night?”


Ian laughed, “You better believe it!”


“Listen,” Matt continued, ignoring Ian, “I know that you're pretty angry at me, and you have every reason to be. But if we can work together on this, we can figure out how to stop it.”


Ian started to laugh again, “Call me crazy, but isn't that Ryan and Mia's job? Because if they can't figure out what the problem is, how are we supposed to?”


Matt bit his lip. Sara could tell almost immediately that he was one wrong word away form snapping. Before Matt could speak again, Sara stepped in front of him.


“Listen,” she said sharply, “I don't know who you think you are, but give him a little credit! Do you have any idea how hard he's worked for the organization and its members? The only reason he became possessed in the first place was because that thing inside him made him think that Matt would be able to keep all of you safe. Now if you want to go and goof off all day, that's fine by me, but it might do us all some good if you showed just the slightest hint of respect.”


Ian slowly nodded. “Alright, Sara, you want to play that way? Might I mention that all these bad things started happening right about the time when you showed up? These violent lock-ins with Matt, seeing what's happening with Ryan and Mia's time, and even that stupid scout that nearly saw the base. If that thing wants you back, I say we give you back.”


This time, Eli was the one who was the one who got ticked off.


“Well, while we're at it, let's just throw you down to hell.” he spat, “Really, this is the reason it’s attacking us: we can't defend ourselves!”


He looked around at everyone, and finally finished, “Now let's get going. We need to tighten the defenses. That means today; we train like hell.”




As Eli had requested, H.A.N.D spent the rest of the day training. Sara tried out almost all her weapons, but none of them worked quite right for her. Eli then showed her an ax.


“Sweet.” she smiled.


As the day ended, unbelievable progress had been made. Sara had already gotten better at the ax than she ever thought she would be. Well, to be honest, she never thought she'd be using an ax!


Once she got into bed, Sara tried not to think about Matt. Mia and Ryan were watching him again, and they were safe, but Sara was still worried about what the Smoke had said to her.


'Give me her and I'll let this screwed up boy go. If you decide to keep her, then one dies, and two will help me.'


It wanted her back, that stupid smoke. Why, she couldn't fathom. Sara knew the right thing to do was to turn herself in before someone was killed. Most likely, it was going to be Eli, or maybe Matt, but Matt was possibly the one doing it. Her heart raced, and she stayed awake for hours, deep into the night.


'How would I live with myself if someone was killed because of me?' Sara kept thinking to herself, 'What do I do now? How do I go through this?'


Sara managed to keep herself awake for the majority of the night. Once she fell asleep, her alarm clock went off an hour later. She grunted and knocked the clock off her nightstand. Finally, Sara rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and got ready for the day.


Before she worked on training, Sara had to check in on Matt, after another night locked in. She expected the room to be totaled again, with Tyler and Natalie cleaning up the remains.


As she finished brushing her hair, Eli knocked on the door. When she opened up, he was beaming. Sara looked around nervously, half wondering if something really bad had happened.


“Is something wrong?” she asked.


Eli smiled again, “Far from it. Come down and I'll show you.”


Sara put her brush down and followed him to Matt's. As he unlocked the door, Sara pushed open the door; her hand slightly touching his.


Matt was waiting for them at his desk when they walked in. Much to Sara's surprise, the room was in perfect condition, and not due to Tyler and Natalie's efforts, either.


She looked around in shock. Did she dare to believe that he- the actual Matt- was sitting at his desk with no injuries?


He stood up and smiled. “You haven't seen last night's footage, have you?”


Sara shook her head.


With that, Eli helped Matt turn on a projector, which had been buried underneath dozens of paper. Sara watched carefully as the screen flickered against the map, which was still missing most of Europe.


Sara watched. Matt was pacing the room, clearly waiting for it to enter him again. But instead, and Sara came in close, Matt turned to the corner of the room, the one to the left of the stage. To her, it seemed like it was only a shimmer of light in the darkness. But to Matt, it was everyone that he had ever known. It was his brother, his father and mother, Reagan, and so many more people, all existing in one glow. If he hadn't known better, Matt would've given in to it all.


“So, that's how you decide to come to me tonight. You think that this,” he waved at the light, “makes any difference in my mind?”


The light spoke, using every voice it could find, making Matt quite dizzy, “Still, you know that I exist with you. I exist with any tormented soul. You know just as well as I do that you can't let go of your past.”


Although the tape didn't show the details, Matt remembered clearly what he had been shown: the final breath of his brother, Reagan's last moments, and even the death of his parents, which he had never seen. He felt his breath quicken, and his forehead became beaded in sweat faster than he thought possible.


He could see Reagan; her crystal blue eyes sparkling in the midday light. She ran up to Matt, who found himself standing in the middle of a battlefield. Bodies littered the ground, and from a close distance, wolves could be heard and were closing in on them.


Reagan leaned in, and Matt remembered her final words like they were yesterday:


“Go, Matt. I'll be okay.”


She smiled, and gave a gentle kiss on his lips for a single second. Matt once again watched as she ran into the swarm of wolves, to her death. He felt himself run to save her, but he was pulled back once again. Eli, bloodied and battered, was screaming at him, but Matt could only watch as Reagan disappeared into the crowd, forever. Finally, he was forced to run away from her once more.


Matt shook his head, scattering the memory. The voices were still ringing around in his head, but the light no longer spoke.


“Let it go, let it go.” Matt muttered to himself.


“Let it go?” it mocked, “Of course! Just let go of every unpleasant memory in one night. That's perfectly natural.”


Matt knew that it was next to impossible, but that still gave him the chance.


The light filled him with another memory. Matt stood in the corner of a dark room, lit only by a light bulb hanging from the ceiling. He saw himself standing at the bedside of his brother. Both the young Matt and the elder Matt were crying at the sight of Robert.


“Rob?” the Matt at the bed whispered, “Common Rob, wake up.”


At once, Rob's eyes shot open. His eyes were panicked, and looked like they were coursed with blood. Every breath was long and hard.


“You're gonna be okay, Rob. You're going to fine.” Matt promised his brother.


Rob looked at him, then weakly spoke, “Take... Take good... care... of.... the base.”


“What? The base? Why?” Matt asked, beginning to panic.


As he stood in the corner, he noticed something he hadn't the first time: a small light, hovering several feet above the ground. He watched as it entered his brother's body.


“Please Rob,” Matt pleaded, holding his brother's hand, “I don't want you to go.”


In the corner, he hardly realized that this had happened only a year ago. Just two months before he lost Reagan as well.


The light left Rob's chest, looking slightly larger. Once it floated through the ceiling, Rob began to shake violently. Matt could only look on as the other Matt turned away in fear.


Rob stopped. As Matt turned back to the bed, he knew that H.A.N.D had just lost the best operative it had ever had. He closed his eyes, and finally let himself cry.


As he watched the scene, Matt realized the truth that smoke had just shown him. How old had Rob been? He racked his brain, and recalled the Rob was roughly between twenty or twenty-one. 'That doesn't give us much time...’ he thought.


Then, the smoke whispered, its voice echoing around the room,


“You want to let this go? If I wasn't using up all the tissues, I might be tempted to laugh.”


Matt bit his lip, trying not to let the smoke's sick sense of humor get to him. And then he realized,


“It’s over now.”


The room flickered and died, revealing the same light was in his room still.


Matt nodded, “Yeah, that's what I said. Rob, Reagan, all of them, they're all gone now. And that's something I never really accepted until now.”


That didn't seem to settle well with the smoke/light.


“You want to let this go?” it yelled in his head, “You want to let all of the pain go?”


Matt felt the light rattling the room. Reagan and Rob's death, and even watching himself kill several members, zipped through his head, making Matt incredibly dizzy. His hands covered his ears without use.


“You don't scare me anymore.” Matt whispered, “None of it does.”


At once, the light exploded, blinding Matt and knocking out the camera for a brief moment. He was knocked against the desk, nearly toppling it.


Matt squinted, but his eyes were seeing double and his ears were ringing. What had just happened?


When the light slowly faded and died, Matt looked around the room, wondering where it was hiding. Strangely, the room, and Matt, seemed just fine. The desk was standing on all four legs, the stage wasn't dented, but Europe was still mostly missing on the map. Matt walked up to the camera, too shocked to do anything other than smile, and start laughing, a twinkle in his eyes beginning to form.




Sara turned away from the screen. “Its gone?” she smiled. “I mean, really gone?”


Eli sat down at the desk. “Yeah. Just gone. And, uh, I think not a moment too soon.”


Just as Eli motioned to the door, someone knocked rather loudly. Matt wasn't troubled, and opened the door without second thoughts.


Needless to say, he wasn't greeted with such hospitality. Ian lashed out at Matt, hitting his nose and sending him back against the desk. Eli drew a small handgun from a pocket within his shoe, while Sara went with the less-than-glamorous paperweight. Matt gripped his nose, but held up a hand, and the two lowered their weapons.


Matt closed his eyes for a moment and said, “Good morning Ian. Nice to see you too.”


Ian didn't smile back, and that's was when Sara noticed that several others were behind Ian, waiting.


“We're putting a stop to this madness now.” Ian narrowed his eyes on Matt. “Like it or not.”


In an instant, Ian was flying at Eli, and knocked him down in an instant. He did likewise to Sara, but she managed to dodge him for a moment before he threw a low sweep kick at her, and she fell on her face.


Ian pushed his forearm against Matt's throat and kept it there.


“Now would be the time for great news.” Ian told him.


Matt hadn't gotten angry up until that point, but at that moment, he countered Ian with a kick to the stomach. Ian fell down, clutching his gut.


“Now that you mention it,” Matt said, rubbing his throat, “we do. Maybe next time you'll try the “asking nicely” approach. It’s been known to work.”


Ian scowled at him, but got up without another word. Matt replayed the video, and as it ended, Ian, along with his three companions, was silent.


“So that's it?” Maddie asked, “No more problems?”


Matt nodded. “But there's something else.”


Matt went on to fill them in on what he had seen: the horrible visions, and the feeling of pure terror. After he finished, no one spoke, and the only sound was the branches brushing against the window. Finally, Chloe spoke up.


“So you’re saying that-that thing invaded your head and made you see those horrible things? Wha-what if it comes back and comes into one of us?”


Everyone looked at each other, suddenly much more on edge. Suddenly, the room seemed to drop in temperature about 30 degrees.


“I don't think that would happen.” Eli piped in, “If it did, someone would have obvious symptoms; like maybe some sort of fever or odd trauma. As far as I'm concerned, no one here has anything like that.”


Sara agreed, and no one spoke up again for several minutes. With nothing left to say, everyone left the room to keep up with their day. Before Sara could leave, Matt called her back.


He took a deep breath. “I, uh, just wanted to thank you.”


Sara frowned. “What for?”


“For coming here. If it hadn't been for you, well, I don't know if I could've pulled through this.”


Sara felt herself blush, and she pushed back a few strands of stray hair. “I mean, I don't think I did all this. Eli was a huge help.”


She felt a cold chill run down her spine, and she looked away.


“Wait, is something wrong?”


Sara thought hard. “I guess you could say that. When you were invaded yesterday, that thing said something.”


She repeated what it had said, and Matt realized he had begun to sweat.


“Ever since then, I've been thinking about what it said last: 'Give me her and I'll let this screwed up boy go. If you decide to keep her, then one dies, and two will help me.' If it wants me back and is willing to kill someone- probably you- in order to do it, then I'm not sure I can stay here without causing problems. If you or Eli or anyone died because of me, I'd hate myself for letting it happen.”


Matt put his hand on top of hers. “Don't worry. It’s gone now. We can relax. If it really wanted you, it wouldn't have left last night.”


Sara blushed. “I know, but I've been thinking about it, and I'm wondering if maybe it had meant that-”


“I told you, “Matt smiled, “It’s over now.”


They both stood up. As Sara went to the door, she said one final thing to Matt.


“And you know, I am kind of glad that I came here.”


When she left, Matt smiled to himself. In fact, he really had felt that last night had been a great triumph for the group.


A moment later, Jackie came down. Her face was slightly paled, and she seemed extremely sleepy.


“What happened?” Matt frowned.


“Not much. I heard about last night, and I just wanted to say great job.”


“No- well, thanks. But, what happened? It looks like you've came down with something.”


Jackie shrugged. “It’s probably nothing; just a head cold. I'm sure it'll pass by tomorrow.”


He nodded. “All right, let me know if it gets any worse.”


She left, and Matt was suddenly reminded of what Eli had said; about strange symptoms. For a second, he almost called Jackie back, but he believed that it was probably a small illness passing through.




That night, as Sara slept, she had a horrible nightmare that was so lifelike, she felt as she had been pulled into another place through her sleep.


When she had slipped into her bed, it had started almost instantly. She found herself in Matt's office, but no one was in the room but her. The room wasn't as it should be: the desk was nothing but splinters, and the window frame was missing all the glass. The map was missing entirely, leaving nothing but several pins left on the rotting stage.


The door creaked open, and Sara turned to see a man, roughly in his 40's, but he didn't seem to notice Sara.


The man wore a matching gray suit, with a red hat. His face was covered in stubble, and his blue eyes had faded almost to gray. The patch on his left arm read something, but Sara couldn't read it.


“It’s a shame.” he said, seemingly to himself. “Yup, it’s the sad truth.” He had a strange accent, possibly southern.


Then he turned and looked at Sara. “You should've been there, Sara; was really a thing of beauty. No one survived it, 'course. Well, 'cept me naturally.” He waved his hand at the window. “Naw, they never stood a chance.”


Sara spoke to him. “Who are you? And what am I doing here?”


The man chuckled. “Fine question, miss. You see, dreams are mighty powerful things: the most deadly, as well. You ever see Wes Craven's “Nightmare on Elm Street”? No, you probably didn't. Since a few years ago, no one's seen a decent film. 'course, you wouldn't even now what that is, not since the power was cut along just like everything else on the planet.”


“You didn't answer the full question.” Sara became bolder. “Who are you?”


The man cracked another toothy grin, revealing several missing teeth.


“Sara,” he laughed, “You don't recognize your old man?”


She didn't want to believe that this old man could be her father, but it dawned on her soon enough.


Her mouth hung open, still frozen in place in front of the broken window.


He narrowed his eyes on Sara and started walking closer. “Didn't I tell you not to go anywhere, Sara? Didn't you hear what I said inside Matt? I wasn't fooling, doll, and I meant it when I said I'd kill 'em.”


“No, get away from me.”


Sara knew how to wake up. She threw one more hard punch to her forearm, but this time, nothing happened.


“I'm not done yet.” Now, she could smell his rancid breath, and she could see the hate in its eyes. “You didn't listen to me. Now, you could've made me think that, but I always knew that you were just brushing me aside as a cruel joke. Let's see how funny you think I am now.”


Sara's eyes widened, and with one final jerk, she found herself sitting up in bed, surrounded by a puddle of sweat.


What all that in the dream had just meant, Sara had no idea. It had been the smoke, in that human body. She couldn't help but wonder if that body it was in really was her dead father. But it still wasn't comforting to know that her father had been a scraggly old man in a gray suit with matching trousers.


She knew that something was clearly going wrong. Again. Would Matt or Eli know what it had meant? Possibly.


What time was it, 11 or so? Sara would deal with that part later. She went to her closet and pulled on a quick tee and new jeans. As Sara went down the stairs, the halls seemed sadder, maybe even darker. No one answered when she knocked.


Sara opened Matt's door and expected to see him fast asleep on his desk.


There was no one.


And the door had been left unlocked.

For a second, Sara couldn't breathe. She couldn't see straight, and her legs almost gave way beneath her. Then the shock fully hit her.


Sara ran as fast as she could up the stairs. The first room she came to was Jackie's. She instinctively opened the door, knowing that Jackie would be there.


She was wrong again.


Jackie was gone. Sara felt her heart stop, and then begin to race again. Her eyes began to fill with tears, but she pushed them back. 'This is no time to go soft,' she thought, 'you need to get help. Jackie's in danger.'


Not only that, but she knew that they had been wrong. So very wrong. It hadn't left. It had never left.


Sara went past the rooms and up into her room. She grabbed her ax and got ready for battle. Sara found leg and arm pads, along with a set of combat boots. Once she finished, she rushed to the front door and pushed the intercom.


“Everyone, get up!” she cried. “That thing never left Matt. Jackie's in big trouble. Get out of bed now and get ready for a fight.”


As a finishing touch, she pulled the alarm.


The first up was Chloe, who was still wearing her slippers, but was still armed with throwing knifes. Everyone else followed in a matter of minutes.


Sara, alongside Eli, led the small group outside, looking around for Matt or Jackie.


The moon shone over the base, bathing them in an eerie white light. Clouds covered parts of the moon, and the grass was moist with dew. Normally, there would be nothing but crickets, and maybe the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. But there was nothing. Unless you were to count the squash of their shoes and bare feet against the mud.


Everyone was on guard, but no one could find any sign of Matt or Jackie. Even the wind was quiet. The silence was unnerving, and quite frankly, unnatural.


Sara rounded the corner, towards the large leveled field, and nearly cried out again. Eli joined her, nearly running off with her.


Over night, it seemed, a gnarled, dead, stinking corpse of a tree had sprouted near the end of the field. Brown leaves were littered around the ground, with only a few still clinging on the top. But that wasn't the horrifying thing that brought the group to them.


In the dark, it was hard to tell, but it looked like a branch was curling-tightening around something. It looked like it was doing the same thing in several different places. That thing looked like a hand, which was attached to a cut-up arm, followed by a slumped body. The branches had knotted themselves around their hands, and were working on their legs.


Sara knew it almost instantly to be Jackie. The only missing piece was Matt, who had yet to show himself. Eli and the rest followed her up to the tree. He stopped short.


“Sara, NO!” Eli cried, but it was too late.


Sara had already made it up to the tree, and saw who was tied to the tree: Matt. He was torn up pretty badly, with blood drying on his lip. Before she could react, someone punched her across the face, knocking her down.


She looked up, with the others a few feet behind her. Only bare feet were visible in the shadows. When it spoke, it sounded like a combination of scraping gravel and a strangely light voice in its midst.


“Didn't I warn you that I wasn't kidding, Sara?” it said.


Suddenly, it hit Sara (and not just another fist).


Eli helped her up, and eased her back away. She turned to him and gulped.


“It makes sense now.”


“What?” he frowned.


“Don't you get it?" she face him. " ’One will die and two will help me' Matt's rank is 1. Jackie is 2.”


Eli felt his chest twist into a knot. He felt ready to bang his head against the wall. Well, clearly the group needed to work on code-cracking skills if they made it through the night.


As they expected, Jackie stepped out of the darkness into the moonlight. But, she didn't look normal. Her hair was braided into threes, and she wore loose black clothing. Her eyes, though. They glowed a dark red, and no other color. She- well, it - laughed.


“You really are a stupid race, aren't you?” It mocked.


Eli stepped in front of Sara. “Let Jackie go. And let us all go.”


It cackled again. “Why would I? This one is much more suited for me. Not nearly as much resistance. Not to mention it’s stronger than that old bag of bones over there.” It kicked at Matt's leg, and he groaned slightly. “Besides, I think that we'd need a proper contest for things like this.”


One snap of the fingers later, the trees started to light up. With a harder look, one could tell that millions and millions of fireflies were lighting up the night sky. Some were lined on the ground, making a sort of large oval.


It spread its hands. “Let us begin.”


In an instant, wolves, mountain lions, and even owls began emerging from the woods. Snarling, they began to advance on the group closing in.


Eli made the first shot, taking a mountain lion out a flash. With that, the battle began.

Once the battle had started, only animals were suffering casualties. But the fight was quickly turning south for H.A.N.D.


Already, four people had fallen, but luckily, none were dead. At the moment, everyone was working to simply keep the animals away from each other. Still, once they had spread out more, Sara could tell it wouldn't matter.


It was smarter than she had thought. 'The Smoke is wearing us down.' Sara thought. 'Once we kill them, it will only summon more.'


Sara knew what she had to do. Getting to Matt and getting the Smoke out of Jackie was main objective now. But as she ran to the tree, several wolves blocked her path.


“Okay,” she muttered to herself, “let's do this.”




While the battle continued, the moon was beginning to settle in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Although it was eerily quiet, in a seemingly abandoned building, more people were beginning to stir.


The leader woke first, and met up in the meeting room with her group. She had just woken up, but she was used to tight situations.


“Alright, everyone,” she began, “I have some good news and bad news. The good news is there will be more space in H.A.N.D. But,” she trailed. Meagan, her second, finished her thought.


“What she means is that we will be moving to another base, effective immediately. We don't want to, but I've discussed with R that it is for the best.”


R nodded. No one called her by her real name any more. In fact, no one knew it. They had all come after it happened. And to her, R's name was a solemn reminder of the failure she had caused her friends...




Sara made quick work of the wolves, leaving their brains leaking over the ground around her. Before any more had the chance to stop her, she rushed over to Matt. He was barely conscious, and a cut on his lip had begun to bleed again.


She used her ax to try and cut his bonds off, while talking to him gently.


“Come on, Matt, stay with me. You can do this, you can do this.”


All he responded was one word: Reagan.


“What?” she asked.


“Reagan... God Reagan...”


Sara shook her head in disappointment, believing that he was simply having another nightmare about L.A. But Matt was seeing so much more...




“The bikes are freshly pumped, filled with all your supplies. If you continue on the path we've set on the map, you'll find yourself at the base within a few hours.” Meagan continued, “It’s abandoned, so make yourself at home in the room of your choice.”


She looked up at R and stopped.


“I won't be with you,” R broke the news quickly, “but soon enough, I'll come and hope that we can get out of here.”


Everyone cleared the room, and was soon on their way to the “abandoned” base in a matter of minutes.


R was staying behind for a number of reasons. Meagan was worried that it would turn out to be a false lead, and R would be able to hold down the base if that was the case.


However, R couldn't bear to leave just yet. After all, as far as she knew, her near-death experience a year ago was for nothing: and he was now dead anyway.




Sara had to admit; those branches were tougher than she thought. It felt like she was cutting through brick. And once she made it through one layer, the first would grow back. The smoke wasn't paying any mind to her, and she prayed she could have one more minute to try.


Sadly, it turned around, with Jackie's eyes still smoldering. Sara raised her ax, ready to give it a serious beat down. It walked up to her, apparently unarmed.


Matt's eyes flew open, as if he had been given an electric shock.


“No!” he cried.


Too late: Sara swung the ax at it, and missed her with the sharp pointy part. The butt of it, though, knocked into Jackie's face.


The Smoke cackled. Then, it stood up again, spreading its arms, as if asking for more.


“Sara!” Matt cried over the noise of the battle. “If you kill it, it will just move on to someone else.”


Sara turned back at him. “It can do that?”


As she turned around again, Jackie was staring at her, only a few inches from her face. Sara felt a hand touch her shoulder and then- darkness.




R's group didn't have much more than the other H.A.N.D, who was fighting for their lives. Already, two hours had passed, and they had crossed the Las Vegas valley unrealistically. They estimated that in only an hour, they would make it to their new base, and hope that R could join them in a few days time.


Back at the now empty base, R sat in her room. She glanced at her desk, looking at the photo.


Will was the best technician in the group. He had been able to squeeze enough power out of thirty useless batteries to make one photo for her. She was still grateful to him for it. It showed her nearly two years ago. She had been with him, that day.


R wore a loose white shirt with a jean skirt, which was cut off by the frame. Her hair was straightened, unlike her usually curly hair. Her eyes were a dark, milky brown- contrast to his.


He was wearing tattered jeans and a gray hoodie. His light brown hair was being blown back by the wind. The two looked so happy together, and Reagan knew it was because it had been before his brother had died of the disease, and before her only love had been lost to her.




When Sara awoke, the first thing she noticed was that she was the only one there. But once she got to her feet, she could only stare at the marvel around her.


Thankfully, no more dead trees had sprouted. But that was just about the only good think at the moment. All around her, H.A.N.D was bound with branches to the surrounding trees. No one was free but her.


Several feet in front of her, Jackie stood, gloating without turning to face Sara. It claimed to have won.


“I have always known,” it cried, “that The One was never real. How could a single weakling defeat me and my realm? It was clear that- that weakling,” The Smoke waved indifferently at Sara, still not bothering to turn around. “Was no more threatening than any of you!”


Eli caught Sara's eye across the field. He mouthed the word 'Run' before the bond around him seemed to tighten, and he winced.


Suddenly, Jackie tensed. She turned around, still the eyes a vibrant scarlet. They seemed full of (of course) hatred, but also awe.


“How..?” it muttered.


Everyone seemed to want to shift uncomfortably, waiting.


“Let Jackie go.” Sara managed. In all honesty, she admitted to herself that she was hardly able to stand.


It didn't even bother to smile.


“Or what?” it dared.


Sara thought. What could she do? There was only one option, and it wasn't looking to promising.


She walked up to it; the Smoke's fist's clenched. With her heart in her throat, she gave one last glance to Eli and smiled.


Then, Sara wasn't sure what she was doing. One moment, she was prepared to be beaten to a pulp, and closed her eyes. When she opened, Sara was stunned to see Jackie's fist caught in Sara's own hand. How had she done it?


Jackie's chest heaved, and then it let out a roar, and lunged at Sara. By then, Sara was worried she would be killed. But once again, she moved without thinking. In another instant, she had pinned it to the ground and then held her against the side of Matt's tree.


“Give up.” Sara pleaded. “You can't win this.”


It seemed to know this. Then, with one last evil grin, something poured out of Jackie's mouth: a wisp of red smoke. Her eyes returned to the proper color, and she smiled weakly again before falling down.


Sara smiled in return. But it was not to last. At that moment, Sara felt her throat close, and she collapsed to her knees.


The bonds broke. Eli and Matt were the first to her side.


“Sara?” Eli grabbed her shoulders. “Sara!”


Sara felt her vision wobble, and her eyes began to melt into a dark crimson. But she screamed and jerked as if she were being shocked by lightning. Her eyes were a strange color of a pink with brown closing in from the outer corners of the corneas.


“She's fighting it.” Matt observed. He leaned in next to Eli. “Fight it, Sara. Fight it. Don't believe it.”


Sara took one last breath, and felt herself plunge into the ultimate nightmare.




H.A.N.D biked their way over the hills. Meagan had spotted the base due to the firefly lights almost a mile away, curiosity egging her on. Quickening their pace, they had no clue what was in store for them and just how alive the base was...




Matt and Eli lay Sara down as she began to jerk and mumble under her breath, eyes still wide open.


“Is she going to be okay?” Eli asked.


Matt shook his head. “I have no idea. It’s up to her now.”


Jackie shivered under the tree, which was beginning to shrink. She was crying. Matt sat next to her.


“You gonna be all right?” he asked her.


Jackie swallowed. “It’s just... I would never forgive myself if Sara got hurt or was killed because of me.”


“Come on, you know its not-”


“Yes it is!” Jackie insisted, “It took hold of me somehow. I was in this- this awful place; full of loathing and greed and-” she trembled again and wrapped her arms around her legs, “It was just horrible.”


Chloe came over from inside and brought out a cloth and a blanket. She gave a weak smile, and Matt noticed she had gauze wrapped around her left arm. Jackie took the blanket and wrapped herself in it. Matt thanked her and dabbed the cloth over him. Chloe left to help out the others.


He shook his head. “Jackie, if anything, it’s my fault. This entire time I could've stepped up and done something, but I didn't. I just let it keep happening. And now,” His voice faltered. “At least three people are going to need to go through serious therapy.”


Jackie smiled. Then, she looked over the horizon and Matt followed her gaze. Just over the hills, it looked like people were walking bikes toward the base.


“What the...?” he muttered.


He got up and picked up Sara's ax and jogged to the top of the first hill. Sure enough, another group of about ten or twenty were making their way to the base. Almost instantly Matt knew this as some sort of trap. He raised the ax.




Meagan was the first to notice him- the boy with the ax. She slipped her dagger into her hand and led her group forward.


Will rushed up to her.


“Are you sure he's not going to go crazy on us?” he asked.


Meagan smiled to herself, and then responded to him, “Only one way to find out.”


She walked up the hill first. Soon, she was face-to-face with a very familiar person.


Both stared at one another, wide-eyed, for a moment. Matt dropped the ax, and Meagan did likewise.


Meagan squeaked out, “M-Matt?”


He nodded, and smiled. “I’ve missed that hair of yours, Meg.”


The two embraced tightly, as old friends. Meagan motioned to the group, and they quickly reunited with the rest of the group.


Matt grinned, “Oh man. I just-I mean-” His smile faltered. “Sara...”


He ran back down the hill, leaving his friends behind. With no other choice, Meagan and the others rushed behind him.


Matt leaned in next to Eli.


“How's she doing?” he asked.


Eli was sweating just as bad as Sara. “I-I-I don’t know. I mean-I-”


Matt gripped his shoulders. “Eli: focus, here. How is she?”


Eli took a deep breath. “I'm not sure. She'll get this fever, and then- then, Sara will just get freezing. She's just going back and forth.”


Matt wiped his forehead and found it covered in sweat. Meagan and the others came up behind them, but froze when they saw the three. He didn't have time to explain, but he turned back to Sara.


“Then we can only hope.” he concluded grimly.




When Sara fell into the darkness, she must've fallen for ages. She tumbled and bumped, and she was reminded of a small book she found, where the girl fell through a hole to find an amazing place. Sara had a suspicion, that where she was going wasn't at all going to be friendly.


As she landed, Sara nearly fell again. She found herself standing on the top of a casino back in Las Vegas. It stood south of the Luxor, not quite eye-to-eye with it. At first, she didn't recognize it.


What she was looking at was the old Las Vegas. The cars were upright, and the buildings were cleaned and freshly painted People walked below her, but as she tried to focus on them, Sara found that they seemed to fade again- like before. The clouds were the purest white, and the sky was so blue, it hurt to look at it.


Sara turned around, and found herself face-to-face with a wrinkled old man. He didn't seem hostile, however. Through the lines on his face, his eyes were like melted chocolate. He wore red robes, and most of his teeth were missing. The man had no hair, except for several gray hairs poking out of liver spots.


He nodded at the scene below them. “You like it?”


Sara smiled and looked back down. “Yes, it’s lovely. I can't believe this is what it looks like.”


The man nodded. “Now look at it from my eyes.”


He covered her eyes with the sleeves of his robes. When she opened her eyes once more, Sara felt her heart drop.


The entire city was in flames. Every car had been overturned and set ablaze. The buildings had fire dancing on their rooftops, and the paint was melting off in puddles on the ground. At one time blue skies were now a mix of gray and red. The clouds were an ash black.


“I-I don't understand.” Sara said.


The man nodded again, as if expecting the answer.


“No one understood.” he said bitterly. “And I was forced to take action.”


With a wave of his hand, the sky's color faded, and once again became blue- but not as bright. The clouds weren't as pure as before. The cars remained overturned, yet the flames ceased.


And trotting along the path, Sara gasped: the coyote, holding an infant in its jaws.


“Of course,” the man continued, “some of the better side of human nature had touched me. Especially young children. I yearned for my own, and I allowed you to live.”


Sara knew it was a lie. It didn't want a child to call its own. The Smoke had killed human kind for enjoyment: because it wanted to, and because it could.


She turned to him. “Show me it again. What really happened- why I really survived? And why you couldn't kill me when you had the chance.”


The man scowled, but he did nothing, and she didn't expect him to.


“Now,” she advanced on him, backing him against the edge. “Get out of my head and get out of our lives you sick monster!”


Sara hit his face, and nearly passed out when she saw his face begin to slowly peel. It howled, and it ripped the rest off like a Band-Aid.


Underneath the kind mask, the face was horrible beyond words. His eyes were mashed and gummy, colored chunky red. The rest of the face was odd- and looked like the muscles underneath someone's skin. He ripped out what teeth were left in his mouth and left only the squirmy tongue lashing around inside.


Sara screamed and fell back. She crab-walked until her back was against the rail herself. It walked at her at an unnatural speed, nearly catching her. But before it could, Sara made a suicidal move: she jumped.


All she knew was that she was falling, falling, falling. Sara knew then that she was going to die for certain. She closed her eyes and held up her hands over her face.


About twenty feet from the ground, where Sara would be imprinted as a small splat in the pavement, her body jerked, and she stopped falling. Daring to open her eyes, Sara realized that she had stopped before hitting the ground, her hands ready to break her fall. Carefully, she moved her hands back to her side, and she fell the ground.


Sara looked up, wondering how she could've fallen thousands of feet, stopped midair, and made it down alive.


The Smoke jumped down and didn't have such luck. It fell all the way, and made a small crater when it landed. Shaking itself off, it roared, blowing Sara's hair back.


Not knowing what else to do, Sara did the only logical thing: run. But she soon found out that the Smoke was faster than it looked. With every stride, it easily cleared twelve feet. There was no outrunning it, and she didn't stand a chance fighting it. That left only one other option: to trap it. But the city was in ruins, and how could she set anything in time?


If she hadn't stopped when she did, Sara would've fallen off the face of the earth- literally. She looked down, and peered down at the white nothing. The sluggish gray landscape turned white beneath her, and it seemed to fall for ages.


She turned around and found it only a few steps away. With no other alternative, Sara took a deep breath, and jumped again.


At first, white absorbed her. It choked her, grabbed at her, clawed at her arms trying to get her. Then, Sara felt a wind push at her from below, and she landed on her feet.


There was no one. Not even the Smoke had followed her down. Maybe it couldn't. Sara ran around, hoping to find a way out, but there was nothing. The only sound was her footsteps, echoing loudly off nonexistent walls.


Then, in front of her, a young man walked into view. He had green eyes, but they seemed glazed, like someone had breathed into glass and leaving the fog behind. His hair was matted under a hat. The man smiled as Sara studied him.


“Hi Sara. You've gotten so big. I can't believe how much I've missed out on.”


She didn't trust him for a moment. Most likely it was one of the Smokes tricks, or a kind of mirage.


“Who are you?” she asked, instantly not trusting him.


The man smiled. “Don't you remember me?” he laughed slightly, “Of course you don't. You were tiny then. I'm your brother, Gavin.”


Sara felt torn. On one hand, she had the brother she never knew. She could run to him, embrace him, stay in an endless void forever with her brother. But deep down, she knew it couldn't be true. His eyes were glazed with death. Her brother... she had seen his body. The rotted, destroyed corpse of Gavin.


“No.” she shook her head. “As much as I want to believe it is, it isn't you.”


All the kindness came off his face. What had looked like Gavin morphed once more into the slimy figure, and advanced on her. Sara held up her hands again, and the creature flew back out of sight. She looked at her hands in amazement. How was she doing this?


Several yards away, Sara could see it rise and begin to come at her again. 'Well,' she thought, 'it is my mind.' Sara closed her eyes and imagined a wall between them. A thick, huge brick wall. When she opened her eyes again, a monster wall spread in all directions. Sara could hear it howl in anger on the other side.


Before it could burst through, Sara started running again. After a minute, she distantly heard the wall give in, but she didn't stop to look. Then, she was struck with another idea. Sara stopped for a moment, closed her eyes, and concentrated. She felt something materialize in her hand, and when she looked down, Sara smiled to see her ax, as if it had been there the entire time.


She started running again, not knowing if there was a way out to begin with. Just then, she felt her legs give way beneath her and this time; she was sliding down a ramp. When she landed, all she had time to do was move. The Smoke landed where she once stood, and did an impressive back-flip across the green field that they stood on.


It raised its flabby arms and at once, a hoard of beasts came out of the blue. Some were easy to recognize, wolves, bears, and some other animals. But others looked like the Smoke itself, just smaller and with actual teeth.


Sara looked around, and could tell the fight was clearly lost already. She closed her eyes and gripped her ax tight. 'Someone, please help.'




Even though no attacks had been further launched, Matt had Sara moved inside, and the rest of the group followed. Most of the group was asleep on their feet, but Eli and Matt were buzzing.


Meagan and Chloe eased Sara onto the bed. She still jerked and was running fevers and colds. The two went to bed, and Eli and Matt stayed with her. Neither of them spoke, and the only noise was Sara moving over the covers.


“Well,” Eli started, “It’s certainly been an interesting week.”


Matt nodded, hardly listening. Then, he stood up.


“I'll put her ax away.”


He looked around, but couldn't find it anywhere.


“Did we leave it outside?” Eli asked, standing up.


Matt shook his head, trying to remember, but there was nothing. 'Weird...' he thought, but didn't say anything.


Eli yawned. “I'm beat. I guess we can only wait until tomorrow for us to do anything.”


Matt only realized then just how exhausted he was. And although he hated the thought of leaving Sara by herself, Matt could already feel his eyelids sag.


“Alright. I guess it’s for the best.” he gave in.




Eli went to bed, and Matt soon crashed out too. But he didn't even try. Even though he fell asleep in a matter of minutes, there would be no rest.


When he closed his eyes, Matt wasn't sure what was happening. He felt mist growing around him, and one constant voice asking the same question- Can you help me? It seemed to be whispering inside his head, but Matt wasn't sure. Over and over it asked, until it was becoming louder and more insistent.



"Help me, please. I don't want to die! Promise me you'll help. Please, please! I'm begging you; I can't win on my own. I need help!"


Matt looked around, but couldn't find anyone.


'Figures, I fall asleep, then go crazy with voices.'


But Matt finally said, “Okay, I'll help.”


Nothing happened. He rolled his eyes, and kept walking. But with one step, Matt felt the ground give way beneath him, like a giant sinkhole. He tumbled around for a minute, and then landed face-first into dry dirt with patches of grass.


“Ow.” he muttered.


Picking himself up, Matt looked around. To his right, a small army, and his left, Sara stood alone, eyes closed and murmuring under her breath. Matt went with the friendlier left.


Behind him, someone tumbled onto his back. Eli rubbed his head.


“You?” he asked.


“Mist.” Matt responded.


“Really? I was thinking fog.”


If he hadn't about only sixty yards away from about forty different creatures, Matt would've been a little freaked out. But being as it was, he didn't have time. He and Eli walked to Sara's side, not once taking their eyes off those things.


Sara opened her eyes and frowned. “Only you two?”


Eli rolled his eyes. “Hi to you too.”


Matt smiled, as did Sara.


“Sorry,” she said, “I just thought that the others might come.”


Eli raised an eyebrow. “So it’s us three against that?” he pointed at the Smoke.


Sara shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that's the basic outline of it.”


“Well, we don't have weapons.”


Sara closed her eyes again. She imagined Matt's bat and Eli's gun. Every detail she could remember, every crack, every chip of paint.




Eli and Matt looked on at Sara, clearly nervous at what was happening. Moments later, a shimmering black mist engulfed Eli's hand. His eyes widened, and soon he clasped his own gun. The same thing happened to Matt a moment later. They glanced nervously at her.


“So, you've just started doing this?” Eli asked. Sara nodded.


Matt looked at his friends, hardly believing that this was happening. No one else would, but they were going to remember.


“Let's do this.” Matt grinned.




The battle should've been over in two minutes, tops. But those three were tougher than they looked.


Matt used his bat and knocked the heads off of about five or six demons. At one point, one of them knocked it out of his hands. Quickly thinking, he grabbed the thing's neck and twisted it. The neck broke with a sickening crunch, and it fell.


Eli peppered the demons with bullets, but as one green-scaled demon charged at him, he looked down in alarm- he was out of bullets. The thing plowed into him, rattling his head. He scrambled up from another attack and jumped over it. Eli then grabbed hold of his neck and caught him in a head-lock. Sara watched as the demon stumbled around with him on its back, until the thing fell onto its face.


Sara was a demon, figuratively. Her ax cleared through their skin like it was butter. Within ten minutes, most of the demons were dead, or dying. But as she watched, more clawed their way out of the bodies.


“No freaking way.” she muttered, lowering her ax.


Matt skidded behind her, a fresh gash across his cheek. He looked around, his hands bloody and cut up.


“Plan?” he asked, standing up.


“Um, don't die?”


“Works for me.”


With that, Matt sprinted off and tackled a wolf with six eyes. Sara focused herself on the Smoke, standing at the edge of the battlefield, watching; its beady black-red eyes set on her. She began to work her way over, but a slimy grub looking creature lashed out at her feet from a body. She looked down and managed to jump up at amazing speed.


It squealed in anger when her feet landed, and it lashed again, this time higher. The grub would've hit her neck if not for the ax, which came in the way. Sara watched in horror as the handle began to melt in her hands. She dropped it, watching the wood fizzle and steam.


“It’s acid?” Sara gaped to herself.


Eli rolled under a charging bear and reached for his shoe, hoping. He almost dared to laugh when he found the gun, still there in the pocket. He turned around and launched two bullets into the bear's brain, watching it fall to the grass. Eli stood up and began making his way toward Sara.


Sara managed to dodge the creatures in her way, as her ax was now useless. Once she was about ten feet from it, the Smoke moved with lightning speed and knocked her down. She whipped her head up quickly, snarling at its grotesque face.


Eli looked over at her, and threw his gun with all his might.


“Catch!” he cried as it spiraled through the air.


As he watched, a demon with knives for fingertips flew at the distracted Eli. The blades sliced through his shirt and cut into his gut. The thing pushed them in hard, then pulled away and ran off. He pushed his hand against the wound, but warm blood still oozed through his fingers.


Sara jumped up and stretched for the gun. It landed hard in her fingers. Then, she stared at Eli, his mouth slightly open as thin lines of blood trickled down his leg. He looked up at Sara, beginning to crumble to the floor, his eyes seeing double. Rage began to fill Sara, feeling herself clench tight to the gun. She turned to the Smoke, grinning evilly at her.


That did it. Sara roared in anger and ran at the Smoke. She tackled it and it fell on its back. Taking the gun, she opened the chamber- two bullets left. She looked down and aimed the gun at its heart. Its arms flailed around, but she straddled it on its chest and used her feet to hold the arms down. With a deafening boom, the bullet pierced its chest.


The Smoke howled, but it didn't die. Sara promised never to call anyone “heartless” again, because she was seeing the real thing. But it was bleeding, crying out in pain.


“That was for me and my family. My new, real family.” she pointed the gun between its eyes. “And this is for Eli.”


She pulled the trigger. The blast was bigger this time, and the remaining demons looked up in alarm. The Smoke hissed and pushed her off. Why wasn't it dead? Sara inhaled sharply as its claws cuffed her and she felt the warm blood trickle down her cheek.


But she took the gun and flung it at its open mouth. It was a direct hit. The Smoke choked and sputtered, finally coughing it up. But Sara stood up and pressed her foot against the head wound. It howled in pain, but Sara's eyes burned with hatred.


“Get the hell out.” Sara growled, then pushed her foot down.


The Smoke screeched, and then began to... evaporate? Its skin began to smoke, and soon, it rose up, and out of sight.


Matt ran to her side, a gash across his arm new and bloody.


“Well, that worked.” Matt looked around at the battlefield, littered with bodies. The living demons had disappeared, most likely with the Smoke. Then, her blood turned cold. Eli...


Sara rushed over to where Eli sat, clutching his stomach. His forehead was dripping sweat, his shirt soaked with flowing blood. Sara lifted up his shirt where the wound was, and grimaced. One of the knives had gotten stuck in the wound. This was going to hurt.


Matt gently fingered the knife, barley poking out of his skin. Eli inhaled sharply and clenched his hand into fist, white knuckled. Matt glanced up at him, clearly nervous.


“Should I just rip it out, or take it slowly?” he asked Eli.


“I don't want anything important coming out with it- take your time.”


Sara slipped her hand into his and held it firm. Matt gripped onto the handle, wondering how deep it went. Finally, he started to pull it out ever so slowly. Eli closed his eyes and tried to breathe normally, or at least keep from hyperventilating.


Matt swallowed, trying to keep his lunch down. The knife had been longer then they'd thought, and the stained blade seemed to be going on and on.


After a full minute of slowing pulling, the tip of the blade slid out and caught the light; the crimson blood dripping and shining. Sara felt her stomach do a cartwheel, and it took all her strength not to hurl or pass out or both. She doubted that would help much.


Matt gaped at the knife- a full foot long. How it hadn't gone right through him, Matt had no idea, but he didn't have the time to think it over. Eli's usually tanned face was becoming paler by the second, and the blood flow... well, let's not go there.


It was about that time in which Matt fully understood that this was all happening inside of Sara's head. Crazy? Yes, but not as crazy as things would get. He stood up and tried pinching himself awake, but nothing happened. Sara stroked Eli's hair, which was damp with sweat, before laying him down and getting up. She walked over to Matt, still trying to get himself out.


He gave himself a hard slap across his face, but still nothing. Matt huffed and took a step forward. In that instant, a sinkhole appeared at his feet, and Matt fell down, yelping a bit. Sara tried to follow, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.


Struck with an idea, Sara slapped her arm hard, and bit her tongue, ignoring the sting. Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward. Another hole came out of the blue and Sara tumbled in, feeling the darkness close in around her.


Sara bolted up in her bed with a start, then groaned, feeling the sore muscles and cuts from the night before. Her door opened and Matt, clad in his same crusted clothes, came in. The only thing odd; his wounds from their most recent battle still covered him. Sara felt her cheek and touched the claw marks.


They both said at the same time: “Eli.”


The two darted out and scrambled down the hall, right past Meagan.


“What the-”


But they had already left her in the dust, fast. Matt pushed the door open and stopped in his tracks. Eli was in his bed, still wearing same the clothes as last night. But his bed covers were stained with blood, and his face was pale. Sara looked back and called for Meagan, who rushed into the room. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, laying there.


“How...?” she started to ask, but Matt rushed over to him. He ripped off the covers and lifted up the shirt. Meagan's eyes bulged and her mouth fell open. That hadn't been there before. Sara walked past her and felt his head, then pulling back when she felt how hot he was.


Meagan rushed to the intercom and ordered anyone who knew first-aid to come to Eli's room ASAP. Then she rushed back to the room, with Eli bleeding fast; there wasn't much time to lose.


Eli weakly looked up and saw Sara and Matt around him, but his head was swirling, and his eyes were seeing things hazy. Everyone was moving like they were in jell-o. The pain in his stomach was burning, and he wasn't sure how much longer he was going to live.


Chloe burst in, carrying the first-aid. She froze, her light blue eyes wide. Meagan grabbed her hand and dragged her over, and she snapped out of her shock.


“Right,” Chloe looked at him and felt her stomach twist into knots, “let's get going on this.”

After a few days, things slowly began to fall into routine again. No more Smoke, no more battles, and no more life-threatening injures. And to be honest, Matt almost missed it.


Now, don't get anything wrong, Matt hated almost losing his best friend, and brother. Not to mention it was nice not sharing his head with a demon, That was one thing he would never miss. But without the action, it was hard to get used to it all. Matt would wake up in the morning with only a brief moment of panic before the day.


Eli had a long scar across his stomach, but he had managed to pull through. Still, he had lost a lot of blood before Chloe had patched it up. After a week, Eli could stand up, walk around, and fight without getting ill or dizzy.


Sara was a little better off. Aside from taking care of Eli, she was excelling at fighting and hand-to-hand combat. The new H.A.N.D members fit right in, strengthening their numbers, and everyone taking them as family. And there was talk that R would soon be joining them. Of course, someone would have to get her, while Matt had no idea who she was.


On the morning of the 20th, Eli and Sara planned a little something special: a dance. Now, for the middle/high scholars out there, no one was panicking over dresses or who they would go with- it never even crossed their minds. They had spent their entire lives fighting to stay alive and never had time before to worry about things like such as those.


Before she presented the idea, Sara walked down to Matt's room. As she opened the door, her brow furrowed. There was a bag, full of clothes and spare weapons, sitting on the desk, despite most of the papers and pins still gathering dust.


“Oh, hey.” Matt walked in behind her, carrying several coats in his hands.


Sara frowned and faced him. “What's going on?”


He bit his lip and walked to the bag. Keeping quiet, he pushed them in and zipped it up. Once he slung it over his shoulder, Matt broke the news:


“I'm leaving.” Matt said grimly, watching as Sara's mouth fell open.


“What? Matt, why?”


He ran his fingers through his stringy hair, sighing. “Well, several reasons. I mean, at the rate things are going for us, we're not gonna live much longer. And before I die, I need to see L.A again. Take Meagan: everyone thought she died back at the battle,” he shuddered, remembering, “but here she is now. I don't have any hope that Reagan made it, though, but I need to go back. And besides, have you considered how much danger you're all in when I'm around? If Eli had died, or you, or anyone else, I would never have forgiven myself.”


“But Matt, you can't just go. We'd be nothing without you!”


“Look at me Sara. I've lost weight, I'm on edge all day, and I'm getting no sleep for the most part. Face it- I'm not a leader anymore. And who knows? Maybe I can get another group going there, spread us out. But I'll miss you.”


Sara felt warm tears begin to fill her eyes. Before he could walk away, she threw her arms around his neck, ignoring the bag and the fact that he was a good four inches taller. He laughed a little, and half hugged her back. But he broke away and jogged up the stairs. Distantly, Sara could hear Matt close the door.


Sara just stood there, dumbfounded, for several minutes. Then Eli came down, a smile on his lips.


“Hey. Where's Matt?”


She took a shaky breath and pushed her hair back. Eli's smile faded and he came up closer to her.


“What happened?”


“Well, he's.... gone. Matt left.”


“What? Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't he tell anybody?”


Sara shrugged. “I don't know. But I guess we need to let everyone else know?”


He nodded, and then pressed an intercom button she had never noticed before.


“Emergency meeting, so, uh, hurry down.”


After a minute, everyone had crowded in, numbering now at about thirty. The room was abuzz with noise, and no one could quiet them down. After a moment, Sara got up onto the stage and cried,


“HEY!”


Everyone looked up, the noise dying. She stood there, looking at them. How could Matt take the pressure for so long? Jackie pushed her way through the crowd and stared at her.


“Where's Matt?” she asked, a hint of worry in her voice.


“That's what we're here to talk about. He's gone. Matt left.”


The room was quiet; you could hear a pin drop. Eli walked onto the stage with her, and spoke.


“Right now, we need a new leader. By order in our ranks, our number two will fill in.”


Jackie's eyes widened, then she shook her head. “I'm nowhere near ready, Eli. I just can't do it.”


Eli exhaled, and then rubbed his head. “That would mean me. But, it’s like Jackie, and I don't have what it takes.”


He looked at the room, then at Sara. “That means anyone can take it now.”


No one spoke. Not one hand went up in the air. Sara stepped forward.


“I'll do it.”


Eli looked uneasily at her. “Sara, are you sure you want to do this?”


“Yes. Now what do I need to do?”


“Nothing. Just, good luck.”


Sara smiled, her smile shinning. “Then let's get going.”




That night, as Sara began to get ready for bed, someone knocked on her door. Slipping on her jacket, she opened it just a crack. Eli was there, looking a little nervous.


“Yes?” she asked, smiling a little bit.


“Um, I wanted to show you something. I think you'll like it.”


Sara opened the door wider and smiled again.


“Sounds good.”


Eli led her outside, then around to the field. Looking down at the building, the roof barley sticking out of the ground, she felt a sense of home. He sat down, and she did the same.


Eli whistled a little tune, and something incredible happened. Slowly, the trees began to light up. They were fireflies, flying around, making swirls and patterns in the sky. Sara's mouth dropped, and then she grinned, ear to ear.


“How...?” she whispered, star-struck.


Eli felt his cheeks flush. “It’s um, my own little secret. Sometimes I'll come out, and they just find me.”


To prove his point, he held out his hand, and about twenty of them landed softly. She smiled, pushing a bit of her hair back. Eli felt his heart jump.


“And I, uh, kind of made this for you.”


With another whistle, all of the fireflies flew up high, moving around. In minutes, a word was sprawled across the sky- “Sara”. She felt herself blush, and she laughed in happiness.


“This is, just- wow.” she looked at Eli, and then stood up. The fireflies disbanded and came back down. They gathered around her, making whispering noises.


Eli stood up and just watched as Sara played with them. And a truth became very clear- Eli liked her. She turned around and laughed.


After another minute, they disbanded one last time, spreading out into the sky. Sara turned to face him, her eyes lit up and sparkling.


“They had to go. But thank you, so much. That was amazing.”


Eli smiled, but was wondering how she understood.


Sara took his hand and looked up at him, being only two inches shorter. “Let's go in, hm?”


Eli felt his heart skip another beat, and he went to bed that night, very content.

After about a week, everything was set up- the decorations, the space, and the lights. Somehow, Eli had gotten the fireflies to come back one last time.


Jackie came down to Sara's room, wearing a purple spaghetti-strapped dress. She looked over Sara, and then shook her head slowly.


“No, you have to look somewhat decent for tonight.”


Sara looked at her ripped jeans and stripped shirt. It was a little bit trashy. Jackie grabbed her arm and opened the closet. There wasn't much. She ran out, and came back with a folded dress.


“Just one time.”


Sara gave her a hug, and then closed her door. Once she changed, Sara checked herself over: her dress was a midnight black, with a red bow across her waist. Her hair fell loosely about her shoulders, and she slipped on some yellow flats. Normally, Sara hated dresses, and wasn't much on dressing up. But she decided it would do for now.


When she walked out, Jackie nodded approvingly.


“Very nice. Come on, let's go blow some minds.”




Matt had been walking for many hours an days. Once he came to the border, he sat down, rubbing his legs. His eyes stung with tears and he let one fall down cheek. This place hounded him with memories, and only one real good one: Reagan. He stood up and kept walking, his heart in pieces.




At the same time, R was sitting outside the abandoned base. Flashes passed her eyes: the flames, the bodies, Matt's wild eyes as she kissed him and ran into the heat of battle. R felt a tear trickle down her cheek and splash onto the frame that she had brought out.


She stood up, the wind blowing her hair back softly, and began to walk. R made her way to the remains of the old base, which was nothing but an old black frame now. Rob had died there; so many people had died...


R sat down and began to scrape away the dirt. Holding the frame in her hands, looking at her dead love, she kissed it one last time, and then placed it in the hole.


“It’s over now.” R whispered to herself.


She stood up, and ran into someone. He was about her age, with stringy light, light brown hair and gray-blue eyes. R yelped a little, and then looked at him, wishing she had brought any kind of weapon.


“If you got lost, I have more maps at the base. Name?”


He stared at her, and then cracked a very small smile. “Matt.”


Her eyes were as big as dinner plates. “Wha...? Matt?”


Matt laughed a little and they both embraced each other. He couldn't believe it, and tears streamed down his face. He had found her: Matt had found Reagan.




As the sun set, everyone began to come outside. Somehow, Will had gotten hold of speakers. Using a bunch of fancy tools and wires, and things no one else understood, he got the music.


At first, the music was upbeat, and everyone was just talking and dancing. Sara and Jackie chatted near the corner. She told Jackie about what Eli did for her, and she covered her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh.


“I knew it!” she squealed.


“What?”


“Don't you get it? He likes you! Isn't it obvious?” she was acting like a girl, despite that sounding sexist.


Sara blushed, and at that moment, Will whistled loud, and most everyone looked up at him.


“Alright, we have a special request, and I think I found the perfect song. Here's an old Avril Lavigne record, now dance away.”


With another tweak, what sounded like a violin or cello began to play. And, to Sara's horror, people bang pairing up and slow dancing.


Then, someone tapped her shoulder. Another pure reflex made her backhand- you guessed it- Eli. He rubbed his cheek, smiling a little.


“Do you do this to everyone or just me?” he teased.


Sara looked down and smiled. He glanced at everyone, slowly swaying, and he held out his hand. She felt her cheeks flush as they stepped onto the dance floor. As Avril's voice flowed through the air, Sara put her arms around his neck, and Eli placed his hands on her waist.


“With you by my side I will fight and defend.

I'll fight and defend.

Keep holding on.

'Cause you know we'll make it though...”



As they swayed, Eli looked at her. “Well, I think this is a good way to end, for now. I mean, we're not done yet.”


Sara nodded. “It’s not gone, not really. The Smoke is going to be really mad when it comes back. And there's Matt, who we need to keep in touch with, on a regular basis.”


“Not to mention the world all together.” Eli added, “There are lots of places left to explore, people we need to save, things we need to fight. We have our whole, short life ahead of us.”


The song hit the bridge, and Eli twirled her slightly.


“Hear me when I say I believe,

Nothing gonna change destiny.

Whatever is meant to be will work out perfectly.

Yeah, yeah yeah!”




Sara smiled, locking eyes with him. For the moment, things were going just fine.




That same evening, Matt sat outside on the roof of H.A.N.D 2, looking at the stars and the clear sky. Reagan came up, pushing her hair back.


“What're you thinking about?” she asked, sitting down next to him.


“Someone back at the other base. I'm not sure yet, but, I think she might be it.”


Reagan's eyes widened. “What? No, she can't be. What did she do to make you think that?”


“Well, she fought off the Smoke, for one, and that was no easy task.”


“Alright...”


“And then, she pulled things out of reality and into her mind. Then, when she woke up, it came back to the corner of the room.


“Eli also told me that she had seen the base before, without ever coming here. And in a dream I had, I could see her inside it. Those three things could mean that she really is who we've been waiting for.”


Reagan shifted uncomfortably. “But Matt, are you sure the oracle picked her? Already? And what if you're wrong?”


Matt shrugged. “Then that would mean that the oracle was wrong, and that we'll all die in the end. But she isn't wrong about Sara- I can feel it.”


“Mattie, please listen.” Reagan was becoming more on edge by the second, fearing for everyone she knew and held dear to her heart. “When you saw the oracle the first time, she nearly fried your mind. If you were to risk seeing her again-”


“I can't.” Matt shook his head, “Even if I wanted too, people can only see her once. The journey to her realm is something no one can ever understand, or ever will.”


“But, did you tell her? Sara?”


“No, I think we need to wait until more proof. Maybe in a few years, we can send her to the oracle, to confirm. But Sara will need training, and her mind has to be focused.”


Reagan sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. Just when things couldn't get crazier, the One might have come into the game.




While the dancing continued at H.A.N.D, up in the trees, the leaves rustled, but froze. A small, nearly microscopic wisp of red smoke curled around the branch. If it could smile, it surely was- maybe even laughing! - because all of the humans' troubles were just beginning.