Kai and Linda both jumped as the door slammed open. Luke and Shintaro rushed in quickly, Shintaro with a look of anger and guilt while Luke was wielding a look of terror. His hair had fallen into his face and honestly, to Kai, looked much better on him than the way Thorn had had it. Shintaro clambered to the bed and knelt down. 

"We have to get out of here," he said urgently as Abby helped Chase through the doorway. She was trying her best to support her brother, but he was lot taller and hard to hold up. Luke went back and let Chase lean on him. 

"What?" Kai said, catching Abby's eyes with a scared look. "Why? I thought you all were-" 

"We were," Luke said, grunting in effort as Chase staggered a little. "We thought the Darks would jump at the opportunity to be free, but they didn't. They ... tried to kill us both." 

"They were very close to killing you," Shintaro said to Luke huffily. "Come on, we have to go. Stand up, Kai. This is probably not going to feel great." He grabbed Kai's hand and pulled him up, doing the same to Linda after. 

Abby ran to Kai's side, and since he was about her size, it was much easier for her to support him. "Are you alright?" they asked each other at the same time. 

Abby giggled, but only a little. "Yeah, I'm fine." She looked down at Kai's shoulder, then looked back up. "What about you? Those cuts look terrible." 

"We'll deal with that later," Kai said, ignoring a wave of dizziness that washed over him. He blinked once or twice and watched as Shintaro braced himself. Luke held Chase up with a worried look. Now that Kai was paying attention, he could hear shouts outside of the room. 

Shintaro took a deep breath and snapped his fingers. Abruptly, the whole group was stranded in the woods. Kai had no clue where they were, but he didn't pay much attention to that. Pain twisted up his whole body, and he stumbled. Abby fought to keep him upright, grunting in effort. 

Shintaro seemed to stagger a little as well, but he brushed it off and whirled around to face Luke and Chase. His son wasn't paying much attention to anything. His head was down and his arms were limp. His hair fell in his face, but he didn't brush it away. 

Linda rushed over to Luke's side and flung Chase's other arm over her shoulders. Her lips tightened and her eyes narrowed, but other than that she showed no weakness. Abby looked as though she wanted to go help, but she stayed with Kai. 

Shintaro lunged forward as Chase's knees buckled, and he slipped out of Luke and Linda's grip. The two stumbled forward and tried to ease Chase to the grass, with Shintaro following their lead. When they finally had laid Chase onto his back, Shintaro sighed through his nose and put his hands on his forehead. 

Kai looked at Chase and saw that he wasn't conscious anymore. His eyes were closed and his body was limp. That wasn't a good sign. Kai let go of Abby and knelt down, touching Chase's head gently. He felt too warm to be normal. 

"I think he's sick," Kai said, looking up to Shintaro. "He feels warm." 

Shintaro quickly knelt down beside Kai and touched his son's forehead. "Scrap, you're right." He groaned in anger and stood back up. 

"Where did you take us, Dad?" Abby asked from behind Kai. She shuffled her feet nervously. "We're in the middle of the woods, and we don't have a place to stay..." 

Kai watched Shintaro look around himself for the first time. 

Luke wrapped his arms around his middle again - a habit that he'd used to have, Kai assumed - and looked around, too. His face showed a hint of terror, but mostly confusion. His green eyes scanned the wildlife around him. He murmured something to himself, then narrowed his focus back to Chase, seemingly carefully avoiding looking around him again. 

Shintaro knelt down again and hauled his son onto his back with one movement. "Come on," he said quietly. "I don't know where we are, either. Somewhere north, I know that." He straightened as best he could without Chase falling and met Abby's eyes. "We'll find a cave. It's the best chance we've got right now." 

They were going to find and sleep in a cave? Falte had taken Kai's family traveling a lot, but never once had they gone to a place with caves. They mostly visited family or went to beaches. 

A sudden idea hit Kai. They could find his family and stay there! But the idea soon was crushed - his family did live in the northern area, but he doubted they were near where they had lived. They would have to go for miles and miles  - and Shintaro was already exhausted - before they found Kai's family. 

"Okay," Abby said quietly. She grabbed Kai's hand after he stood up, and he jumped. She looked into his brown eyes and smiled, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. They held a different emotion: fear. She was scared for her brother, her father, and what was going to happen to them. 

Kai squeezed her hand gently. "Don't worry," he whispered to her. "We're going to be alright. I promise." 

"How do you know?" she murmured with dread in her voice. She hadn't meant it to sound rude, Kai knew. 

"Hey, I promised we'd get out of there, didn't I?" Kai told her, and she nodded solemnly. "Well, we got out of there. I'm a man of my word." He puffed out his chest to be silly and to lighten her mood. 

Thankfully, Abby laughed. She didn't let go of his hand as she started walking after Luke, Linda, and her father. She smiled at Kai and tugged him along. 

Pain was starting to creep into the edges of Kai's vision, and his shoulder was throbbing, but he ignored it. He smiled back at Abby and let her pull him. 

~ 

It was nearly nightfall, and the group still hadn't found a cave. They were tired, weary, thirsty, and hungry. Abby had lost her spunk and was trudging sleepily beside Kai. Shintaro was beginning to slow down slightly, but he fought to keep going. Luke was trying to hide it, but he was seriously tired. Kai could tell. His eyes were heavy and his steps sluggish, but he didn't complain at all. Linda was yawning and rubbing her eyes occasionally, and she was limping slightly due to tripping on a rock earlier that day. 

Kai's shoulder was starting to really hurt. His head was throbbing, too, and his legs felt like bricks. They seemed to get heavier with every step. But, like Luke, he didn't complain. He didn't want to slow anyone down or be burden. He'd always since he was little avoided being a burden to anyone, mostly keeping his problems to himself. 

Abby turned around and caught Kai's eyes. She smiled as best she could at him, then turned back forward and tiredly followed her father. Her blonde hair was thrown over her shoulder, but it was tangled and dirty. 

Kai tossed his own hair out of his eyes. It was getting darker by the minute, and he was scared someone would trip again. He especially didn't want Shintaro to trip, mostly because Chase was on his back, but partly because he didn't want anyone getting hurt. 

Linda hissed through her teeth as she suddenly stumbled. She caught herself, but eased down to the ground a moment after, her purple hair falling into her face. 

Kai stopped, calling at the others to do the same. Shintaro stopped and turned around, spotting Linda on the grass. He walked over to her and stood above her, not daring to kneel down. 

"What happened?" he asked her gently. 

Linda looked up and shook her head. "I've always had a bad ankle. It twists easily. There was a hole. I'm fine, though. We can keep going." She put her hands to her sides and pushed herself up, wincing slightly as she put weight on her right leg. She brushed it off and put her hands on her hips to prove that she could go on. "We have to find a cave. We can't sleep outside. We don't have the right things to do so, and some of us are hurt. Besides, there could be wolves." 

This made a shiver run down Kai's back, and he saw Abby shudder as well. She retreated back and grabbed Kai's arm. "Wolves?" she murmured, terror stuck in her sweet voice. 

Linda gave Abby a sorry look. "Sorry to scare you, Abby. But it's true. We have to think real out here. We're stuck in the middle of nowhere and don't have anything to help us out. Well, except for magic, but Chase can't right now, Shintaro is weakened, and so is Kai." 

Shintaro sighed and nodded, turning back around. "Come on. She's right; we can't stop now. Sorry, Abby. You're doing great." He smiled at his daughter and patted her head as best he could. 

Kai followed Linda and Abby, his shoulder throbbing. Thankfully, he didn't have to carry anyone. But he would if he had to. He was just glad he wasn't at the moment. 

Linda glanced back at him. "Are you alright?" she asked quietly. "Your shoulder is bothering you, isn't it?" She gently touched his shoulder, and Kai flinched away.

"Yeah. I'll be fine, though. It's just a couple of scratches." He knew that was a lie, but he was trying to take the pain. His mother had always said he had a high pain tolerance. Once, when he was four, he'd fallen off his bike and ripped open his knee. He hadn't cried, only limped up to the house and let his mother clean it. 

Linda scowled at him, but didn't say anything else. She limped forward to catch up with Shintaro and Luke. Abby stayed behind and squeezed Kai's hand. 

"Maybe when my dad's stronger, he could help you," she said kindly. "He's probably going to do it before you even ask. He's just like that." She smiled at her father's back. 

Kai smiled too. He liked Shintaro, even though he'd just met him recently. And Luke wasn't bad either, just a little too skittish. 

Kai heard Chase make a weak sound. Shintaro jumped and immediately knelt down, sliding his son off his back and into his arms. Chase moaned and lifted one arm to rub his face. Kai rushed forward, followed by Abby, and knelt down beside Chase.

"Chase?" Abby said urgently. "How do you feel?" 

"Terrible," Chase answered sluggishly after a moment. He rubbed his eyes and coughed once. "Where... where are we?" His voice was hoarse and scratchy when he spoke, and he was constantly shivering. 

"In the woods," Kai replied. "Your dad got us out of Thorn's place. We're trying to find a cave before it gets too dark." He nervously glanced at the sky, which was getting darker and darker. 

Abby followed Kai's gaze, then looked back down to her brother. "You shouldn't waste your strength on talking. Just let Dad carry you." She patted Chase's shoulder and glanced down at his wound. She winced and looked back up to his face. 

Kai looked down at it and saw that it looked terrible. It was probably infected, and they didn't have bandages to cover it. He saw Shintaro follow his eyes and wince like Abby. He pulled Chase back onto his back. 

After another ten minutes of walking, Kai could no longer bear it. He gritted his teeth and clutched his shoulder, trying so hard to keep walking, but he fell forward anyway. Linda immediately saw and jumped forward to catch him. She grunted in effort and laid him down on a soft patch of grass. 

Abby was above him in an instant. She put her hands on his chest and gazed down at him with a terrified look. He tried to lift one hand and wave it, to tell her that he was okay, but he didn't have the strength. 

Linda gently slapped his forehead. "You dunce. I could have carried you. You forget that you're only ten, and rather skinny for that age, and I'm bigger than you and twenty-seven. I could have CARRIED YOU." 

Kai closed his eyes as he heard Shintaro approaching. Luke was beside him, too, and the two friends stood over Kai. 

"Do you think you can walk just a little bit longer, Kai?" Luke asked kindly. "Shin and I found a cave. It's only a little bit farther." 

Kai opened his eyes and struggled to sit up. Linda took his hand and helped him with a concerned look. "If you can't," she snapped, "let me carry you, dummy." 

Standing up, Kai shook his head. "I'll... manage." He staggered forward a few steps and saw that Luke was right. There was a cave not far ahead, and Kai knew that he could make it. He smiled at Linda and started to walk again. 

He made it to the cave mouth and leaned against it, his vision blurry. It was too dark to see around the cave, so he felt around. There was nothing in front of him, so he moved forward a little. He dropped to his knees and sighed in relief. He didn't care where he was going to sleep now. He carefully laid himself down as the others clambered into the cave. 

Kai watched as the silhouette of Shintaro set Case down near him, but he wasn't awake much longer to see the rest of his friends lie down to sleep. 

~ 

Two chapters in one night and three chapters in a day. 

Welp, my hands hurt now. This chappy was actually really long... 

Do you guys want me to put Hero, Mountains vs Machines up on the next chapter so you can listen to it? 

It's a really good song. Maybe I'll start putting songs at the beginning of each chapter. 

The songs could be the songs that remind me of the chapter... At least the songs that I know... LOLZ 

Anyway, thanks for reading, commenting, and voting! It's much apprieciated. 

Thanks so much!! :) 

Peace!!~~