I looked at the area around me. There was only dead grass and smoke surrounding us. Taking my staff from the ground, putting it to my side, I turned to face everyone else. They seemed to have been expecting me to say something. Unfortunately, I was known as a follower, not a leader. It put too much pressure on me.

I then remembered the bush that spoke to me in that off space. It said something about escaping to the unground catacombs. It said it would send a sign. I saw nothing that would lead us to this so called hiding place.

"Um... Okay..." I began. "First... A hiding spot! We need to set up a base to hide from Natas and his lackies!"

Everyone just stared at me. I lowered my head in utter defeat. I should be more sympathetic. They all were raped by those men and one had been touched by Natas. But, we all couldn't just stand here and accept all this. Our parents were gone, our little brothers and sisters were gone, and I'm pretty sure no more animals lived on this world except the Hell Buzzards. I hadn't seen one, but I was pretty sure they were flying around close by.

"Look," Savannah stepped up to stand beside me, "maybe we should spread out and see if we can find a... House or something... Anything that isn't completely destroyed."

"Are you crazy?" someone shouted. "We can't split up! Those things might get us!"

With an irritated sigh Savannah lowered her head and looked back up. "Okay, then get into groups!" she growled. "That's a problem that could resolve itself!"

Everyone split in to groups consisting from two people to seven. Savannah and I began searching the ground for a hole, or a door in the ground. I looked up at the red clouded sky, awaiting that stupid sign, but there was nothing but dead grass.

I looked up and saw Nick and Kay lift up a big rock, allowing Amoy and another history class student, Dustin, search the flat ground beneath it. I shook my head and continued looking with Savannah.

"So... Um..." Savannah spoke after a while of silence, not counting the people muttering to one another while looking. "Where did you get that... Thing?"

"It's a staff." I put a little offended.

"Right, staff..." she looked at me oddly.

I shook the offence off, confused at my strange attitude. "Uh... Someone gave it to me... She wants me to use it to stop Natas."

"Why you?" she asked, starting to make me angry.

"It's not just me," I snapped, "you and everyone else here has to help, just because I have this, doesn't mean I'm some bull shit chosen one!" I turned away and looked at the staff. "Stop! Stop it! I know you're making me say this, so shut up, I don't know who you think you are, but if I have to face this alone then I will, throwing you away first!"

"Are you talking to the stick?" a familiar voice asked.

"It's a staff!" The raspy voice hissed from my throat. I coughed slightly and put my hand to my throat, getting really frustrated with this thing. I looked to see another history classmate of mine was staring at me in shock. He was from middle school too and his mom... Used to work at the school. Brian was his name. My head was still spinning with different types of things and I couldn't even remember why I was here.

"Geeze, fine," Brian said, holding his hands up defensively, "you were yelling at it like it was a person."

I growled lowly as I glares after him walking past me. He continued walking with what I guess he'd call "dignity" until the ground below him gave way and he fell down a hole. Savannah and I ran over to sit by it and looked down. It was lit by blue lights emanating off some crystal like things. Brian was at the bottom face first, groaning in pain. I looked around the hole and noticed a ladder was leading down.

"Brian," I called down, "what do you see down there?"

He lifted his head and glared up at me before turning his head. "There's... Like a tunnel down here!" he called back, standing up. "There's a lot of shining rocks down here!"

I looked up at the sky then back down. I quickly got to my feet and turned to see no one else has seen this.

"Hey!" I called out. "Brian found something!"

Everyone stopped looking, dropped what they were doing and ran over. I held the staff up to stop them and looked down to see Brain was still down in the hole.

"Okay," I began, "I want you all to listen very closely, this isn't the biggest hole- don't say anything! So, I want girls to go first, starting with freshmen, then work yourself up, then the same with the boys. Are we understood?"

Murmurs of angry agreement spread throughout the students and girls started heading over to climb in. I kept my eye on them and made sure they were freshmen going in first. After them, I instructed Savannah and Amoy to go in. Amoy hopped in while Savannah was a little more hesitant. I felt my eyes burn and she quickly climbed in. The boys the climbed in, some stopping to see if I was getting in, but I needed to keep an eye out to make sure Natas hadn't found us.

When the last boy went in, I climbed down the ladder and saw the majority of the group was walking down the tunnel. Nick, Kay, and two tall muscular kids were still there.

"We're going to go look and see if there's a way to hide the entrance." Kay explained for themselves.

"Fine, but I'm going with you." I told them. They had no other way of protecting themselves if the demons or the Men in Blue spotted them. We climbed back out and started searching for something to block the hole, but not top heavy to keep us trapped down there.

I slowed my pace and watched the boys walk on and search. I looked back at the tunnel entrance then to my staff. If it could turn in to an explosive shrinken and come back unscathed, could it conjure things too?

I went back to the entrance and concentrated hard on a inconspicuous door. The staff started glowing. I closed my eyes, concentrating on making something cover the entrance. I opened one of my eyes slightly and saw an escape pod door appear over where the he used to be. I drew my staff away, inspecting the door. It was hard enough and with enough leaves and dead grass, it was well hidden.

I called the guys back and we quickly started covering it up, making it so the leaves and twigs will stay on the door. My staff then began to shiver beside me. I looked up to see things flying toward us. I immediately opened the door and shoved the boys in, giving Nick and the toughest looking guy a hard shove, do to them being big. I climbed in after and slammed the door shut, tightening the lock before pushing all four boys down the tunnel.

They came to a complete stop, making me loose my patience.

"What are you doing?" I asked pushing my way up front. I almost fell over, but Kay grabbed the back of my shirt collar and pulled me back. Everyone was crowded at the bottom of a slope, chatting and filling the place with their voices. I looked down to see the slope was safe enough to slide down the bottom, so I sat down and slid down to the others. The two guys, Kay, and Nick followed.

I looked around until I spotted Savannah cradling her legs in her arms. I ran over to her side, putting my hand on her shoulder. She looked over at me.

"Where'd you go?" she whimpered.

"I was helping closing the entrance, so no one can get in, but can get out," I reassured, "what's going on now?" I scoped the cave full of teens.

"They're wondering about food and water." Savannah answered, calming down.

I sighed while lowering my head. Great... I'm gone for a second and already they're losing their minds.

Suddenly, I heard a loud punching sound and shouting replaced the murmuring. I stood up, helping Savannah up with me. Everyone threw accusations at one another, some were fighting, and others were running around screaming. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I held the staff tightly and tried thinking on feet.

Thankfully, one of the guys I knew from gym back in freshmen year, Darien, climbed up to stand on a high ledge sticking out the wall.

"Hey!" he cried out, but everyone continued fighting. "Hey! Listen!" he kept going, bring ignored by everyone.

I narrowed my eyes in annoyance and climbed up to stand next to him. I turned my staff in to a gun then shot twice in the ceiling. "Everyone, shut the hell up!"

The place was quiet again I jumped down, allowing Darien to speak.

"Thank you," Darien said, removing his hands from his head. "Now look, let's all just calm down! We're not trapped in the school anymore, no one will find us down here, but, we do have a few issues. We need food and water if we want to survive down here. Does anyone have any idea about where we can get this stuff?"

"The only food around here would be the animals!" someone in the crowd stated.

"I saw a lot get beamed up!" another pointed out.

"Some might have stayed!" another called out.

"Hey!" Darien shouted over them. "Let's not fight anymore, alright? If we want to survive we all have to work together, okay? Okay, so we'll need to think about the food issue, what about the water?"

"There's no more water around here!" someone spat angrily. "Those Kamehameha balls drained it all!"

"Hey, what about that girl with the staff?" I froze as all eyes turned to me.

Damn it... "What?" I snapped.

"That thing can turn into a key right?" the person shot. "Who's to say it can't make water?"

Everyone began to shout their agreements, while Darien tried to calm them down. Savannah gripped my jacket, trembling slightly.

"Stay back!" I ordered, putting my staff before them all, making them back away. "Back, you savages! I'm not completely sure what this thing does! I just got it! Believe me, if I knew it could bring water and food I would!"

"Then tell it to do something!" Brian called out. "It seems to know what to do, you probably just need to tell it to give you something!"

"What, you want me to go," I held the staff and glared at the glass ball, "'Oh, great staff from the other world, bring us food and water, to which we can live down here and raise our young!' Dumbass!" I looked back at Brian, hoping he could sense my fury.

That's when the staff shook in my hand and glowed brightly. It twitched, making me move a few inches. It then lifted me off my feet and we went flying through the cave. It shot over to a wall and a bright flash almost blinded me. When I looked again a waterfall was flowing out a hole in to a small pool. It then lifted itself high with my arm and it beamed at another side of the wall. Boxes formed with labels on them. The light faded and I noticed the boxes were labeled with dehydrated foods.

The place was quiet except for the shocked whispers that spread throughout the cave. I looked at my staff before turning back to look at everyone.

"Well," Brian spoke, "we didn't hunt for them."