Kai was staring up. What he was looking at, he didn't know. It was just an empty, blankness all around him. He knew once he sat up that this was another dream. Every time he had a nightmare, he would "wake up" in a dark realm that seemed to hold terrible memories and things he was afraid of.

The darkness stretched out for miles and miles, and Kai took a long, shaky breath, trying to prepare for what he would see this time. He shuddered and rubbed his arms, realizing that it was cold. He didn't want to stand up, so he stayed sitting down in the middle of the darkness.

Suddenly, the scene before him changed drastically. There were bodies, thousands and thousands of them. Kai jumped to his feet as one flopped over his legs, and he screamed. He brought his hands to his chest as he realized that the body in front of him was Linda. She didn't seem to have any injuries, but she was dead, and Kai could tell.

When he looked around, he saw that his friends were there, too. Shintaro was sprawled over Luke, and they both had deep holes in their stomachs. When Kai tossed his head to the right, Abby was there, and she was dead as well. Her neck was twisted the wrong way, and Kai lifted his hands to cover his mouth to keep from crying out.

Suddenly, Haley was standing in front of him. She had her arms crossed and a stern scowl on her face, but she also had a bullet wound in her head.

Kai shivered and sank back down to his knees, unable to take his eyes off his mother. He wrapped his arms around himself, hoping to squeeze himself awake somehow.

"You didn't do anything," Haley said loudly, all the sweetness in her voice gone. "You let me die!"

"No," whispered Kai. "No, I didn't..." He finally shut his eyes tightly, but she still was there. He could still see her.

"It's your fault!" Haley screamed suddenly, making Kai flinch back.

"No!" Kai yelled back. "Stop! Shut up!" He clutched his head and lurched forward. "Leave me alone!"

Haley reached forward, her mouth twisted in an angry frown. She raised her hand, making Kai flinch again, and slapped him, hard.

~

Kai jumped awake, sitting up so abruptly that his shoulder threw protests of pain at him. He gasped and gasped again, the nightmare fading away. He realized that he was shaking and wrapped his arms around himself. He felt a slight stinging on his cheek and looked up.

Chase was sitting in front of him, his eyes wide and mouth pinched into a confused frown. His hand was beside Kai's face, but he drew it back quickly.

"W-What...?" Kai murmured. He shuddered again and tightened his grip on his arms, making the skin tingle a bit. He looked around and found that it was still broad daylight.

"You were screaming," Chase said, his voice a little shaky. He shook his head slightly, then looked back to Kai. "Are you alright now?"

Kai could only nod. His voice was shaking too hard. He looked to his right, and Abby was sitting there. Her hands were on her mouth, and her eyes were wide.

"S-Sorry," Kai muttered, looking down.

Chase's hand rested itself on Kai's shoulder. "It was just a dream. Calm down a little, okay?"

Kai looked up and found Chase smiling reassuringly at him. He removed his hand and leaned back, pressing his body against the cave wall.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Kai shuddered again. He closed his eyes and with no prevail tried to get his mother's image out of his head.

"Focus on my voice, Kai," Linda said in his head as soon as panic started to crawl up into Kai's chest. "Just focus on me. That's all you have to do. Shintaro will be back with food soon, and then you can eat and forget about it. Chase said he feels a lot better, so we'll start moving again. Okay?"

Kai threw all his focus into every word she said, paying attention to each syllable and pause. He kept his eyes closed and tried to slow his breathing. Finally, the image left his head and he was left with only Linda's voice.

"Good," she said. "I can't believe that worked." 

Kai looked back at her and saw that she was smiling in his direction. He smiled back, just a little, and relaxed. His shoulder was beginning to throb again, and he winced as he moved it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reaching up and touching his wound gently. It stung when he did so, but he grit his teeth and massaged around the cuts. That hurt terribly, but afterwards, it somehow made it feel better. He knew that the bone was still broken and had yet to be looked at, but surprisingly, massaging it helped.

A scream tore through the woods, and everyone in the cave jumped. Kai's hand snapped away from his shoulder as he jumped to his feet. He didn't recognize the scream, but it sounded like someone was hurt.

Abby stood up, too. "Who was that?" Her voice was scared and worried at the same time. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as Linda got to her feet as well.

"Not sure," the young woman said. "Stay here. I'm going to check it out." 

Kai raised his hand slightly. "I'm going, too," he offered. "Chase and Abby should stay here." 

Abby didn't look insulted. She sank back down next to her brother and nodded. Chase just shook his head and closed his eyes.

Linda shrugged. "Fine." She started off into the woods, and Kai followed her. 

The young boy suppressed a shiver. He never really liked being out in the woods, even though Falte had taken him camping lots of times. He just found it unsettling to know how far from home he was. And now that feeling was constantly running through him, because he truly was far from home - and in the woods.

Soon, he and Linda came across a boy who looked to be no older than Linda. His hair was a creamy brown and curling all about his head. He wore a tattered T-Shirt and ripped jeans. He looked beaten and dirty, as though he'd been running for hours now. He was sitting with both hands on his right ankle, which, even covered by the boy's hands, Kai could tell was swelling quickly. 

"Hello?" Linda said, and the boy's head jerked up. Dark brown eyes that looked almost black met Linda's. 

"Who are you?" he said, his voice shaking a little, probably from pain. On the corner of his mouth was a fresh cut, and he had a bruise on his cheek. "What do you want?" His voice was rising, and his eyes darted back and forth between Kai and Linda.

"Calm down," soothed Linda, getting down on one knee. "We're not here to hurt you. Are you alright?" She looked down at the boy's foot. "Do you mind moving your hands?" 

The boy, skeptical, did as he was told with a wince. His ankle was swollen and still swelling. 

Linda reached forward and carefully yanked the shoe off the boy's foot. He flinched and swatted her hand away. 

"I asked you who you are!" he said to her sharply, narrowing his brown eyes. He moved his scowl to Kai. "You, too!" 

"I - I'm Kai," said Kai, or rather, stuttered. He didn't know why, but he didn't like meeting new people. He felt like he didn't know who to trust, except for his friends. Apparently this young man thought the same. 

"Linda," Linda said without looking away from the boy's ankle. The boy tipped his head a little at Linda, but his expression changed to annoyance when she said: "And you?" 

"Why would I tell you my name?" 

"Because we just told you ours'," replied Linda shortly.

The boy huffed. "Fine. It's Gabriel." He crossed his arms and looked away from Linda, who suddenly jerked and looked up at Gabriel.

"Gabriel?" she repeated, her voice rising a little. "Gabriel what?" 

Gabriel peeked back up at her, his expression changed once more. He was more curious now. He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Gabriel Smith," he said a little hesitantly. "What... what about you?"

"Gabriel?!" Linda cried loudly, making Kai cringe. "It's me, Linda! Linda Welshman!" 

Gabriel started this time, his head jerking back up to look her fully in the eye. "Linda?" he said quietly. "He didn't kill you? I swear he killed you." He shook his head and winced as he moved his foot a little.

"What?" Kai spoke up, confusing rattling through his brain. Did Linda have a brother that she didn't tell him about?

"NO," Linda said sharply. "He is not my brother, Kai. He's... a childhood friend. Knew him before I was captured, then found him there, too." She sighed and pulled Gabriel's shoe off completely. "Come on, Squirt, let's get you to the cave." 

~

Next chappy! 

HERO, MOUNTAINS VS MACHINES. 

Sorry, had to mention it again... XD

I kinda feel weird that Shintaro and Luke actually aren't in this chapter... 

Heh heh. That's fine.

Enjoy!!!

Peace!!~~