I awoke to someone shaking me. I groaned and rolled over. It took a slow minute for my eyes to adjust to the light. There was a momentary flutter of joy. The dark cloud was gone. I hoped for good, but I knew better. It had always been there alternating between light and dark, loud and quiet, a constant heavy weight in my mind. Nell was standing over me, staring down with those deep, glistening eyes. Somehow, she looked perfectly clean despite being covered in goop not long before.

  “Will, get up,” she said softly.

  “Did anyone get the license plate of that truck?” I asked.

  Sunlight filtered down through the canopy above us. I struggled to sit up despite the swimming dots in front of my eyes. My body felt drained of any energy, making sitting seem like a chore. I used a nearby tree to help pull me up. Briefly, I wondered if this was what I hit before I blacked out. Leaning against the trunk, I took a few deep breaths to steady my nerves, though it did nothing for my head. My stomach rumbled loudly.

  I guess exploding really takes a lot out of you. “How did we survive that?” I wondered aloud. “We should be little pieces of nothing right now.”

  “I don't know, but right now, I really feel like I didn't. I hurt like chizz all over,” she griped.

  I did a mental check and discovered that I didn't hurt at all. “That's weird. I'm fine.”

  I tried to stand on my own. My energy was taking its sweet time returning. I couldn’t even grip the vines to pull myself up. I held out my hand. “Little help?”

  She grasped it and attempted to pull me up, but my head was having none of that. The second I was upright, black spots swam in front of my eyes, and I fell back down, my hand landing in a puddle of the green stuff.

  “Are you okay?” Nell asked, her voice full of concern.

  “Yeah, it's just a gigantic head rush,” I replied slowly as I shook my head to clear it.

  Once I was okay, I tried again, this time going slower.

  Nell wrapped my right arm around her shoulders as I put my hand on the tree for balance. The instant my ooze-covered palm touched the bark, I felt a strange tingling sensation shoot up my arm and into my brain.

  Whoa. What a rush!

  The sudden cascade to my brain threw me off balance pushing me into Nell, who had absolutely no trouble supporting my weight, which was weird since I was basically leaning everything I had on her.

  “I can’t believe the jungle survived,” I said, looking around. “You would think something like that would have destroyed everything in the area.”

  “We gotta find Sam,” Nell said.

  I agreed, pushing all other thoughts from my mind. As soon as I could stand without help, we began the search for him. We forced our way through some thick bushes, making sure we kept an eye out for any part of Sam through the underbrush. We stumbled across a log that came up to my waist and thicker. The ends of it were hidden in the dense growth. I carefully straddled it and slid to the other side. I went to help Nell, who rested one hand on it and hopped over it without a problem.

  I looked at her in shock, but she apparently didn’t notice as she was busy looking at everything else.

  “I didn’t see him anywhere on the path I took when I stumbled across you,” she said. “Though by now I have no idea where that even is. I only found you with luck.”

  I thought for a moment. “Why don’t we make our way back to where we exploded? We might find him along the way. Plus, I want to see if we can find out what happened.”

  She nodded. “Speaking of which, did you see what caused it?”

  I shrugged. “Uh. . .kinda. I couldn't exactly tell what it was, though. It happened way too fast. All I saw was something crash through the ceiling and land in the tank.”

  “That explains the wave that covered me and Sam. Which could have killed us thanks to your stupid curiosity.” Her eyes again flashed with that thing I didn’t recognize and a pang shot through my chest.

  I nodded, and we trudged through the underbrush in silence. The fact that most of the jungle was still standing surprised me. Why hadn’t the explosion wiped it out?

  Nell’s right. This was all my fault. I led us down this path and look what happened. We nearly died, and Sam’s missing. Probably dead. Who knows what else? She would have been better off if we never moved here. If I could change it, I would. This is why I’m better off alone. I always was.

  The memory of the feeling when I woke up came back to me. The dark cloud returned stronger than ever. It weighed on my mind, darkening with every step. How could I live with myself if Sam was dead? Nell would hate me and I would deserve it. I would be better off if I hadn’t miraculously survived that explosion. I sighed.

  “What’s wrong?” Nell asked.

  I shook my head. “It’s nothing. Just trying to clear my head.”

  We forced our way through a particularly thick bush, fully emerging on the other side. We had apparently arrived at where the building had been, and my jaw dropped when I saw how much the area had changed in the short time since the big explosion.

  This should have been me. It’s no less than I deserve.

  There was now a huge crater where the building stood, and there was green stuff all over the place. Crime scene tape surrounded the area and people in hazmat suits walked around collecting samples.

  A black car sat off to the far side of the giant crater with a symbol I couldn't quite make out and a large trailer stood off to one side that everyone was going in and out of.

  “How long were we out?” I murmured, surveying the scene. Was this really a crime scene?

  Nell had no answer. Not that I expected one.

  Standing near the car was a man in minimal protection gear looking like he was overseeing the flurry of activity. His head swept back and forth as he pointed at various things. We were too far away to hear. Then as his head passed across the crater again, it stopped and stared in our direction. I tensed up as I grabbed Nell’s hand.

  Finally, he pointed at us. “Get those kids!” he yelled.

  What the frack did we do? I thought.

  Nell and I looked at each other in confusion. Some of the men advanced toward us. I didn’t want to wait to find out what they wanted. We took off running back the way we came. Vines smacked me in the face. My feet slipped in the underbrush. Behind me, the men yelled for us to stop. There was no way I would do that. I ran for the beach, no idea where Nell was.

  The ground disappeared from beneath my feet causing me to crash into a deep ditch. I tumbled down the side, landing in a heap when I hit a large chunk of metal. Nell slid down the side, landed beside me, and pulled me up.

  “Come on, Will! We can’t let them catch us!”

  Once I was back on my feet I saw the men at the edge of the ditch, sliding after us. Once again we were off like a shot, not even knowing where we were headed. They kept shouting and we kept ignoring them.

  We dodged around other pieces of metal which I vaguely recognized as the remains of the metal pipe. One large sheet tumbled in front of me and slid to a stop, but I failed. I crashed right into it, knocking it, and me, down.

  “Damn it, Will! Stop playing!” Nell cried, pulling me up again.

  “You think I wanted to do that? And stop saying my name!”

  We jumped into the now empty pond and scrambled up the other side, slipping in the mud. Nell fell back down. I moved behind her to push her up as she struggled for purchase. The men steadily gained on us. One nearly grabbed my foot as I hoisted myself out of the hole. The rocks would be coming soon, but we had more jungle to get through. Here, we would have the advantage since they had to work through the cat’s claws. We knew where they were and made short work of the jungle.

  The men cursed behind us as they fought the thorns. That gave us the distance we needed when we hit the sand.

  Once there, we turned away from our homes. We didn't want them following us there.

  “Where are we going?” Nell panted from behind me.

  I couldn't answer her. I had no idea. All I knew was that we needed to get away.

  We ran down the beach, along the edge of the jungle. Suddenly, the tree line became a rock wall that rose gradually. The wall continued until an opening appeared. As we got closer, I realized it was a cave.

  “In there!” I yelled to Nell.

  We ducked in and didn't stop running until we were in a large, dark chamber.

  “I think we're safe now,” I ventured after we caught our breath.

  A sharp pain throbbed in my side. I grabbed at the offending area and hissed. Forcing myself to run through a thick jungle was not a good idea. I briefly wondered if the adrenaline from the run hid the pain.

  “But won't they follow our tracks?”

  “Oh.” I hadn't thought about that.

  I hoped they wouldn't, but they seemed pretty determined to catch us. “We’ll go deeper into the cave,” I decided.

  It was hard to straighten up with this stitch.

  “If it even has a deeper part,” Nell muttered.

  “Then let's find out.”

  We split up and started searching the large chamber for another tunnel that might take us out and away from the beach. The darkness made it easy to hide my pain from Nell, but as I walked I seemed to be getting better.

  “Over here!” Nell called, her voice echoing all around me in the surrounding darkness.

  “Where?” I asked, just before I bumped into her. “Never mind.”

  “Here's another passage. I think. It could only be another chamber or whatever you call it.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Only one way to find out. I headed into the opening, my arms stretched in front of me so I wouldn't bump into a wall. For some reason, my pendant wasn't glowing like it had before in the pipe. Did it use up all of its light? Did it break in the explosion? This disturbing trend of rising questions with no answers was getting on my nerves. Answers better show up soon. The cloud rumbled in response.

  Before too long, we saw a flickering light ahead of us.

  “An exit!” Nell exclaimed happily, her voice shaky with cold.

  I didn't reply. Something strange about the light caught my attention. “I don't think so. It's flickering. Sunlight doesn't flicker in a cave.”

  “Then what is it?”

  We entered a smaller room with a burning torch hanging on the back wall.

  “Chizz,” Nell spat. “Good going, Will. You've trapped us,probably even killed us.”

  “Where else were we going to go? Home? That would be too easy. And it was the first place I saw while we were running.” I paused. “And I seriously doubt they want to kill us. But I still don’t want to know what they wanted to do.”

  “You know, sometimes your logic really annoys me.”

  She punched me in the arm, but I didn't feel it.

  After some time had passed, Nell said, “Will, we still need to find Sam.”

  Apparently, her concern over Sam was overriding her fear of our pursuers.

  “Okay.” She was right. We had to find Sam before they did. Who knew what they wanted with us in the first place?

  We snuck back to the entrance of the cave.

  “We have to be quiet,” Nell whispered. “Something could be waiting for us.”

  I took Nell’s hand and crept out of the cave mouth. We held our breath, listening. Nothing happened. Still, we were careful as we snuck back to the rocks where this had all started. We didn't encounter anyone on the walk back, but I kept my eye on the treeline all the same. What if they were there, searching just beyond the growth? They could be watching our every move, waiting for something.

  Nell had taken it upon herself to erase our tracks going to and from the cave.

  “Over there!” a voice yelled and we turned to run back to the cave.

  “We have them now!” another voice shouted but no one came for us. In fact, they were heading away from us.

  “Where’d they go?”

  “There! I see one!”

  They kept getting further and further away until we could no longer hear them.

  I looked back at Nell confused. “What the frack?”

  “You think Sam lured them away?” she asked.

  “Somehow, I don’t think it was him.”

  “It had to be something.”

  Hoping we were safe now, we finished our trek back to the rocks.

  “Let's split up,” I said.

  Nell shook her head. “I don't think that's a good idea. They may have been led away, but they could still find us. They may even have Sam.”

  I hadn’t considered that, but it was our best option. “We have no choice. It's the quickest way to find him before anyone else. And if they do have him then we will just have to find a way to rescue him.”

  “How do you propose we rescue him from whoever those people are?” Nell asked.

  “I. . .have absolutely no idea.”

  Nell shook her head. “You need to think things out. Maybe you should take your own advice and use your brain.”

  I wanted to point out she hadn’t offered an idea on how to rescue him either, but we had to hurry. Sam could be in very real trouble. So we split up. Nell went toward the ditch where the pipe had been while I went in the direction the cave was.

  Only a few seconds had passed before I saw a shadow pass over me heading toward the beach. A heavy splash followed suit. I ran back to the beach just in time to see Sam sinking beneath the water. Without thinking, I dove in and swam toward him, but I didn't make it. He slipped under, well before I got to him.

  Frack! Where is he? Nell will kill me if I don’t find him!

  Fear flooded my body as I took a deep breath and dove under the surface to find him. Sunlight filtered through the water up to a certain point where it dropped off into the dark depths. Of course, that’s where he was. I kicked myself down. I was far from being a decent swimmer, but I was all he had. Somehow, that thought didn’t comfort me and I forced myself further down.

  The water surrounded me, giving me the feeling of claustrophobia. I had to force myself to remain in control despite my body wanting to react. Sam needed me to be clear-headed.

  How did it get so dark so fast? I’ll never find him at this rate!

  My lungs screamed for air. Muscles I wasn’t used to using throbbed. Salt water stung my eyes as I forced them to stay open. Which was pointless. I couldn’t see anything. The water pressed around me as I pushed deeper. My head grew fuzzy the deeper I went. I wasn’t used to holding my breath for so long. My eyes started to close as my body slowly relaxed. My movements grew weaker.

  I’m coming, Sam. One way or another.

  Just when I thought we were goners, a bright blue light flashed ahead of me. With a sudden burst of strength, I went for it. Somehow, Sam's pendant had alerted me to his location, though I didn't have time to think about why his pendant was glowing like mine had. I grabbed him and frantically kicked to the surface.

  When I broke through, I took a deep, coughing breath and started lugging Sam back to shore.

  “Nell! Over here!” I called, dragging Sam through the water. “I have Sam, and he's not breathing!”

  Nell broke through the jungle in a sprint and hurried over to me. She grabbed his feet to help me carry him to the shore. Once we were clear of the ocean, we laid him on the sand. His face was drained of color. I started CPR, not even sure I was doing it right. I pounded on his chest while Nell breathed into him. We repeated the process. She would breathe, and I would pump.

  Breathe. Pump. Breathe. Pump.

  “It’s not working,” I growled in frustration. “I’m probably doing it wrong anyway.”

  “Keep trying,” Nell pleaded.

  So I did. I kept at it. I saw a glint of something white out of the corner of my eye, hitting Sam in the chest. I glanced toward the jungle to catch it, but all I saw were trees.

  He coughed and sputtered, water and ooze coming out of his mouth. I sat him up and slapped his back until he stopped coughing, recovering enough to speak. “What happened?” he asked hoarsely.

  Nell and I told him about the explosion and what had happened afterward. I was hesitant to tell him about how I found him, but I did anyway. Nell and Sam were speechless when I finished that part of the story, and I wasn't sure I believed it myself, even though I had witnessed it.

  To my surprise, Sam didn't comment on how he ended up in the ocean but on the people at the crater. “Who were they, and why were they there?”

  “We didn't stick around long enough to find out,” Nell answered as we helped him up, “but they were sure interested in us.”

  “It's not like we were going to conduct an interview with them,” I added. “Duh, Sam. Let's use your brain for a minute here.”

  Nell punched my arm again, and I still didn't feel it. “Shut up, Will. This isn't the time for one of your jokes.”

  She was right, so I dropped it. She helped Sam up, who was still shaky from his ordeal. His body trembled as he stood and leaned on Nell, who completely supported his full weight without issue. Neither one seemed to notice.

  My mind raced. This whole situation is way too weird. Why am I not feeling it when she hits me? And how is she holding Sam up without any effort?

  I didn't voice any of these concerns. We had a slightly more pressing matter to deal with. “Should we hide out at my house?” I asked as I put Sam's other arm around my shoulders.

  Both nodded. We walked mostly in silence, broken only by Sam’s ragged breathing. We took it slow so Sam wouldn’t feel over stimulated stopping for a break when we reached the rock pile.

  “How are we gonna get over this?” I asked.

  “I’ll climb up and you help him up to me and I’ll help him down,” Nell said.

  “But you-” I started to say before she scrambled up to the top and sat down.

  “Ready when you are,” she said.

  Sam and I exchanged a look of confusion before he stood up.

  “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered and started climbing.

  I stayed beneath him, ready to catch him if he fell. I did my best to help him keep his balance while providing support when he needed to rest. I was worried we would both fall whenever he stopped, but we didn’t and he was soon in range of Nell’s hand. She grabbed his and pulled him up with ease then did the same with me. She pulled us up as if we were nothing but feathers.

  What the frack? I wondered as I studied her.

  “What?” she asked when she saw me looking at her.

  I shook my head. “Nothing. Let’s head down.”

  Getting down was the easy part, especially when Nell was doing all the work with keeping Sam steady.

  Once we got to my house, Nell stiffened. “Something's wrong,” she said, staring at her house, which was next door to mine. “The back door to my house is open.”

  “Maybe one of your parents left it open,” I suggested. In the back of my mind, I heard thunder rolling. Was this what the cloud was trying to tell me? Did something happen at Nell's house?

  “Maybe,” she agreed uncertainly.

  We went into my house and plopped Sam down on the couch.

  “Feeling better?” I asked.

  “A little,” he admitted. “But how did I end up in the ocean?”

  I shrugged. “All I know is what I saw and heard. And even that isn't a whole lot.”

  “Guys,” Nell broke in, “I still can't shake this bad feeling I have.”

  “How strong is it?” Sam asked.

  “Very and getting stronger every minute.”

  “Then go check it out. Will, go with her. I'm still weak.”

  I didn’t know why he wanted me to go, but I didn't want to argue. Nell and I walked the short distance to her house, stopping at her front door. When we did, I got the familiar, ever-present, dark feeling, and I knew something bad was coming.

  “Can you wait here while I check it out?” she asked.

  I nodded, unable to speak for some reason. She went in, and the feeling only got stronger and heavier. I knew it wouldn't go away. I stood there, trying to make sense of this feeling while the cloud thundered loudly in my mind. I wanted to fight it, but it was too powerful. It felt like it had covered my entire mind. Then I heard the loudest thing I have ever heard, causing my stomach to drop to the ground: Nell's scream of blood-curdling terror.

  I ran inside and bumped right into her back. She didn't notice. I stepped around her to see why and was met with a horrendous sight. Her mother lay in a pool of what appeared to be her own blood. Nell was panicking, so I forced myself to remain calm despite my heart hammering in my chest while I assessed the situation.

  I grimaced at the stab wounds all over her body, her blood leaking from each one. My stomach churned as I forced myself to keep looking at her. There was a big gash on her neck that went from ear to ear. I closed my eyes, forcing down the bile that threatened to explode all over everything had I allowed it. Her clothes and hair were all stained with her blood. Why anyone would do this was beyond me. I swallowed hard. Unfortunately for me, the cloud was still present and thundering in the back of my mind, so I knew something far worse was coming down the line.

  Gently grasping her ice-cold hand, I led her to the couch as her colorless face stared blankly ahead. It was like her blood had stopped flowing. Her body went completely limp when it touched the couch.

  I placed a pillow in her lap and wrapped her arms around it. Once I was sure she was as comfortable as I could make her, I went to the phone to call the police. They told me to wait outside and that someone would be here soon. I went back to Nell, saw the pillow was on the floor, took her hand again, and led her outside. She followed with no resistance, her stare still blank.

  Nell finally found her voice. “Why, Will? Why would anyone do this?” She buried her head in my shoulder, sobbing loudly.

  What could I say? I tried to recall what I went through when my own mother died. I barely remembered it since it was years ago. My dad still didn’t like talking about it so I didn’t even know how she had died. I jolted myself out of my thoughts to focus on Nell. She needed me and I had to be present.

  Sorrow stabbed my heart as I helplessly watched her. I wanted to do something, but what could I do?

  I know this is bad, but I’m not good with this kind of thing. Why am I even here? Sam’s known her longer. It should be him. Doesn’t he know how useless I am in emotional situations?

  A swarm of cop cars showed up on the street. As an organized unit, they cordoned off the scene with tape and started searching the yard. Some of them went into the house while one in plain clothes approached us.

  “Tell me what happened,” he said.

  Nell wasn't up to the task, so I took over and described mostly everything we had done that led up to this point, making up a story that we had been at my house and Nell had come back home to get something.

  The cop took down my statement, remaining silent until I finished. “You said you live next door?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay. Take her to your home. We'll be over if we need more information.”

  I stood and helped Nell up. I guided her back to my house where I found Sam looking out the kitchen window. He instantly wanted to know what happened and why we had taken so long and why the cops were there. He followed me as I took Nell to the living room and sat her on the recliner then proceeded to answer all of his questions.

  His face paled and fell when I informed him of Mrs. Iona's murder. He kept his emotions in check to show Nell some strength, but the tears still fell. He collapsed heavily onto the couch.

  “Who would do such a thing?” he asked, his body trembling. “She was so nice.”

  “I don't know but I hope they find whoever did this,” I said softly.

  Nell buried her head in her hands with a loud sob and I went to her side, wrapping her in a hug as she cried into my shoulder. All I could do was rub her head and hold her. I didn't even mind that my shirt was getting waterlogged. Although I did wonder how it was me that was once again helping Nell with a problem. It seemed that I was the one to always be there for her, and she needed me now. Sam and I remained quiet. Nell’s muffled sobs were the only sound.