Sam looked from left to right, trying to figure out where they were. Good thing he'd studied those plans until they were practically tattooed to the insides of his eyelids. The smoke was a little unsettling, but except for that, everything had the potential to go smoothly.

"This way," he finally said, indicating the shortest route towards the fence.

The others followed at once and Sam hurried to walk next to Tom. His twin still had a funny spring in his step, but Sam half suspected it was Angie's fault. He'd looked away like a civil person, but it still felt a bit odd. Because even bruised, cut up and battered, Tom still looked like him. And that fleeting second in which he'd seen him kissing Angie made Sam feel like it was him. And it was weird as hell. Now he finally understood what Tom meant when he'd said Sam and Christine looked weird to him.

"Came to grovel at my feet?" Tom asked, not even looking at Sam.

"Pretty much. If I kiss you like that, will you forgive me, too?"

"If you touch me, I'm killing you with my bare hands," Tom answered, but there was an amused smirk on his face.

"I'm really, really, really sorry for being such an asshole. I have no idea what got into me..."

"You do. The water. But I guess you're such a goody-two-shoes most of the time, it's a lot more noticeable when you get nasty."

They hurried around a corner and Sam raised his hands to stop everyone from advancing. An army of Snitch Gravel's men had just stepped out from the building in front of them. Sam bent his knees, raised his fists, his head already pounding as he forced himself not to count. Because they were severely outnumbered.

The men stared at them for a second. Another explosion shook the ground under their feet.

"Um, run!" Sam said, sprinting to the left, away from the men and the new rising flames.

The booming sound of more explosions filled the air. Sam took another sharp turn, but they were now facing the canyon wall. The heat from the flames filled the air as more stuff blew up all around them.

"What the hell is going on?" Jimmy asked as they all stopped with their backs against the rock wall.

"Maybe we should retreat inside the caves," Jim suggested.

That wasn't a bad idea, actually. They could get the diamond while they were at it. Except Tom could barely walk and their luggage was somewhere in the forest. Which might catch fire with all the explosions going around. At least the flames kept Snitch Gravel's men too busy to engage them as they scurried around with buckets of water.

A helicopter rose above the inferno. At the same moment, Snitch Gravel rushed out of the nearest building and stared up at it. The pilot lowered the machine as much as he could without catching fire, and Sam's breath caught in his throat. It was Ron.

He waved at them, then gave a mocking salute to Snitch Gravel. And in that moment, when his compound was on fire and one of his trusted men was responsible, he just laughed and hit his chest with his fist as a salute. Ron seemed surprised by the gesture, but grinned all the same and pulled the helicopter up. Abandoning them in the burning labs.

"We really need to explain to Ron that it's not cool to abandon ship like a rat," Tom mumbled.

He had a point, but Sam was more preoccupied by Snitch Gravel who turned towards them, a creepy smile on his face. He seemed way too unaffected by what was going on.

"Well, it seems like you escaped. Again. You're getting pretty good at this." He scanned them all from head to foot. "Not that I'm complaining. I like a challenge. So I guess we'll meet again." He hesitated for a second. "You guys are more like me every day." And he sprinted back inside the building.

Sam just stared for a second, then motioned for the others to follow him along the wall, further away from the fire. More helicopters rose above the flames, flying away from the wreckage. It was Snitch Gravel's turn to abandon ship.

"What do we do now?" Jerry whispered.

Good question. Because they were pretty much stuck there.

"We should go inside and try getting the diamond," Tom said.

Sam did a one eighty to stare at his twin. "What?"

"Tom, you can't want to go in there now, like this," Jerry said outraged.

"You're totally right, Jerry. I'd much rather burn alive. So much more fun than searching for treasure."

"Burning alive is an issue," Sam pointed out.

"You guys coming or what?" Kyle called out.

Sam turned around to see him already up the wall, on a small platform. Jimmy shrugged and started climbing, too. The rest of the group soon followed. Sam stayed last in line to make sure everyone managed to climb there safely, especially Tom. His twin was incredibly capable considering how bruised and bloody he was. Sam hadn't even bothered to ask what happened, why he looked that way. Why he could move.

Once they were all safely on the first platform, they searched for a new one that would lead them to one of the caves. Jim took over, and led them along the rocky wall. As they walked, Sam kept his eyes on the burning labs. The smoke was starting to rise, and small explosions still rocked the place. What had Ron done? How did he manage to blow everything up so fast?

And Snitch Gravel, just up and leaving like that. Well, not that he had much chance of putting everything out unless he had a helicopter equipped especially for that and several fire trucks. With the river so far away, he doubted they had enough water to put out even one building, let alone all of them. But... What if the whole forest caught fire? What if they were really stuck there?

Think about that after you get the diamond. Ugh, too many problems with that, too.

"What happened to you?" Sam asked, turning to Tom who was walking beside him.

"I apparently found some precious information because Snitch Gravel decided I knew too much and tortured me to forget."

Sam froze in his tracks. Billy bumped into his back.

"What? Tortured you?" He couldn't wrap his mind around this. Couldn't process the reality that Tom had been systematically hurt.

Tom smiled, but it was more a grimace. "Yeah. It wasn't pretty, I'll tell you that."

"Let me see!" Jerry demanded, marching to them.

"Um, guys, maybe we should get inside first," Jim said carefully, but raised his hands in surrender once they all glared at him.

Tom didn't look thrilled at all with how everything was going, but he pulled his t-shirt over his head. Jerry and Angie gasped. Sam threw up a little in his mouth. As he swallowed it down, he wished he could take his eyes off Tom's back. He wasn't bleeding, not anymore, but his skin was red and swollen where a whip had obviously hit him.

"I won't lie. It hurts," Tom said, his voice strained. "But on the other hand, I just had some healing crack and I have an adrenaline rush, so I think we should step on it and get that diamond before it fades. Because if it does... I'm not sure one of you won't have to carry my ass out of there."

"Healing crack?" Jerry asked confused, his gaze still scanning Tom's injuries.

"Yeah. This weird guy came to be after every session and put some cream on the gashes and gave me this weird syrupy thing that made me feel better."

"Weird guy?" Kyle asked blankly.

"Yeah. In a cloak."

Kyle's expression didn't shift an inch, but Sam was almost sure he'd gone pale. With the lights from the flickering flames, he couldn't tell for sure.

"And he didn't tell you who he was or why he was helping you?" Kyle insisted.

"No. He kept saying weird stuff like three out of five and something about fifty dollar bills. It's hard to remember. Torture kind of does that to you."

This time, Sam was sure Kyle flinched. But his brother just shrugged and looked away from them, analyzing the rock wall instead. Sam opened his mouth to ask, but changed his mind. If Tom was right and his adrenaline rush could fade from the lack of excitement, they were in trouble. They had to move fast and find that diamond. And prey that when they came out of the caves the fire would let them get back to camp. And maybe that camp wouldn't burn down.

So they followed Jim quietly from ridge to ridge, until, finally, they climbed to the entrance to a cave. The air was much cooler there and Sam shivered. Too much fire, too much heat. Too much craziness. And he had the feeling that was far from over.

"Should we rest a little before going in?" Jerry asked cautiously.

"Let's vote on it. Who's in favor of resting?" No one raised their hand. Not even Jerry. "Um, yeah, I guess that answers your question." And with a deep sigh, Sam stepped inside the cave.

So they managed to escape... sort of. Now, unless everything catches fire and I decide to turn this story into roast meat, there's more adventure to be had.

First off, I appologize for the quality of this. It's first draft at its worst, typos included. But I want to get this over with.

Now, since I'm totally writing a million things at once, I want to know how the climax felt. Was it exciting? There's still a bit more to go, but with Snitch Gravel out of the picture, it could go much smoother.

Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to vote and comment.

Also, since I'm sprinting to finish this for NaNo, I might be updating a bit more often.