Finality

[Sarah Tintagyl]

**Three years ago**

"Is the child fine?"

"Yes, Master H--"

"No, you dolt, don't say my name!" He said viciously, pounding his metallic fist on the table. "I will be very, very angry. Keep her safe. She's only.." He nodded at the ground.

"Yes, she will be fine. You can visit her twice a month."

"Thank you, doctor."

And so he left.

**

Sarah's greatest secret had always been Nova Scotia, that wonderful night she had spent in Evan Hiley's bed had given her more that a chance to relax and leave the pressures of the world behind, but the true dream had started a few weeks after her return to Brisbane when she had woken up sick to her stomach and had spent the next few days bedridden. It was at that point that private doctors had come into examine her and present her with the horrible news, though perhaps it was not as terrible as one might think. She was pregnant with his child, a !@#$%^& child, because marriage at that point was undoubtedly out of the question. Sarah took the news as any twenty-nine year old who hadn't expected an extra baggage to her life would take it; she screamed. What was she supposed to do now? Already known as one of the most promiscuous women on the planet, the baby-bump would just add to the nightmare of the political world. The failure of her Nordic Presidency, her divorce with Larsa Solidor, and to not even have her husband's child. No, this had to be kept a secret.

Over the next nine months everything changed, her style of clothing, how often she was outside, how often she attended meetings. The doctors said that the Lady Protector was deathly ill, even to the chance that she may not survive, and the flowers began to come in. But she paid no attention to it and continued her work in isolation. Then finally, when the woman seemed to the point of bursting, it was time to deliver the beautiful babe that had been implanted in her body so many months ago.

Screaming along with pain, along with smiles and horror were the only things that filled the abandoned hospital that day. Sarah gripped the mattress as hard as she could as shouts of "Breathe!" and "Push!" surrounded her and all she wanted to do was give up. But finally, over the screams of pain coming from Sarah's red face and finally the inevitable sigh, the soft cries of the baby girl echoed through the room. Evan walked over, a smile on his face as she kissed Sarah gently on the lips before they turned their eyes on the mahogany eyes of the child. "Heather." Sarah said. "For a name?"

"I like it. Heather Hiley or Heather Tintagyl?"

"Heather Sarah Hiley. How about that?"

"As beautiful as the woman I love." He kissed her again and the world seemed to fade away.

---

Over the next year, Heather was brought up in both houses. Because she was as unfortunate as it was a state secret at least in Brisbane. Sarah tried to spend as much time as possible with Evan and her new born daughter in Wellington. People knew who she was visiting, but they didn't know why and after the press had seen Heather, it was easy enough to play her off as one of Evan's play dates. It didn't matter what the world thought. All that mattered was what the family felt and what brought them together. Even Terra after her adoption had been made final treated Heather just like a little sister that she had always wanted and could never have with her parents dead. They were happy, there was meaning to life and Sarah had never before felt as joyful as she did at this point.

Then New Zealand descended into chaos.

---

Solidor Manor, Hanseatic Commonwealth

Present Day

It had been weeks since Sarah had been able to make a trip to Wellington to see Evan and Heather, the recent hostilities that were over taking the island deemed it far too dangerous for someone with her status to go gallivanting around with her lover and their !@#$%^& child. In the day she was almost able to push it out of her mind. At least during the day, her work and the stress of running a country could occupy her thoughts. But at night, she tossed and turned on her bed gripping the covers tightly trying to hold back the horrific images in her mind, trying to hold back the tears that formed in her eyes, dreading every second she didn't know they were okay.

Opening her eyes and staring up at the ceiling, Sarah slowly sat up and ran her hand through her hair as the sweat from her tense mind dripped down her back and onto the sheets below her. "Three in the morning." She sighed. "And you have to go in early tomorrow. God damn." She fell back down against the pillows and sighed. This had been the tenth night in a row and she was starting to look like the undead. But she couldn't help it, Evan could at least...her nightstand began to vibrate. "Call?"

Reaching over Sarah grabbed the phone and when "Evan <3" appeared she nearly fell off the bed as she hid the phone light from the outside world as if it was a forbidden call. Pressing receive quickly she brought the phone up to her mouth. "Evan! Oh my God I'm so happy to here from you is everything o--"

"Sarah..." The sound coming across the receiver was scratchy. Barely audible. "Sarah..."

"Evan! I'm here! I can hear you! What's wrong!? What's going on!?"

"Sarah please, you have to get help...me and Heather...we're..."

Her screaming became desperate. "Evan! What's wrong! What's wrong!"

"Th...war is going...we...help."

"Help! Yes I know." She screamed, smiling, crying into the phone. "Evan where are you, where's Heather? Is everything okay?"

"Sarah, listen to me." His voice came though crystal clear suddenly. "We were taken by the Aotearoan rebels. I don't know where we are. We're somewhere in their territory. Sarah you have to get help or you have to do some--..."

"Evan! What?! Evan! I can't hear you!"

"Sarah...Sar...Sa...S..." The lost call beep echoed in the silence as she screamed into the phone.

"Evan! Evan! No! Come on! Please!" She called again, and again, and again. But nothing, no pick up he had disappeared from existence yet again. "No! No! No!" Her anger building up, Sarah whipped the phone at the wall as it shattered apart. "$%&@ you then! $%&@ you!" The tears falling from her eyes in waves as she buried her head into her hands and fell back against the bed. He was lost, likewise her daughter, somewhere in the wild lands of New Zealand in the hands of men that would stop at nothing to get their demands. Death was surely not above them.

Sarah lay silent for a long time. Somewhere between sweat and shiver, overall, unsure of what to do. New Zealand was already turning into a battle zone. The Dragons had placed it under their protection, yet it would be foolish to think that the rebels would simply give up the fight. More than that, if she were to send her own army into New Zealand to hunt for her lover that to would end in disaster, military funds for her personal endeavors, it was what made populations desire the deaths of their leaders. An independent mercenary group was even worse, not only was their the chance that they would fail and she wouldn't even be able to see her family again, but more so, was that they wouldn't put the care in this excursion that was needed. The tears stopped for a moment as she looked at the dark ceiling and let her thoughts wash over her. Slowly her mind drifted back to Mikail, Larsa's lost nephew from the Magna Europan War. She had journeyed herself to Nordheim to find he was the Lord Tyr and then on another occasion she had narrowly escaped the haunted village in Nordic Russia before the Mariehamm War. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at the small wooden case she kept under her vanity. Getting up off the bed she walked over and opened it. The nickel plated pistol she had used to shot Mykep with still lay against the felt perfectly clean and on the wall next to her still hung that rapier that she had used. Though not a lot of good it would do now.

Sarah thought for a moment and gripped the pistol tightly in her hand. It was her family and whether status, or fame, or fortune, nothing would change that. No matter what advantages she had in society, they couldn't help her now. Evan had done the same for her in Manchuria, now it was her turn.

---

"Terra...Terra...sweetie...wake up..."

The ten-year old opened her eyes to see Sarah standing over her a smile on her face, but as the moon illuminated the room further. For as late as it was, her adopted mother was not in the right clothes for the evening. Her blonde hair was put up in a high ponytail, she wore a blue fleece sweater with winter gear shoved into a backpack behind her and under the fleece, Terra could see the outline of a pistol. "Mommy?"

Sarah put a finger against her lips. "I'm going to see Evan and Heather, Terra."

The girl bounced in the bed. "Oh mommy, please can I go, I want to go with you."

Sarah smiled but shook her head. "Not today Terra, mommy has to take care of a few things with Evan and well. Its too dangerous for you to be there."

"Dangerous?" Terra stared at the pistol's outline. "Mommy?"

Sarah leaned forward and hugged her tightly. "It'll be okay. I'll be okay, everyone will be okay."

"How long are you going to be gone?"

"I don't know, hopefully not that long, but I can't be sure. But I'll call you every day okay Terra."

The girl smiled and laid back down into the bed. "I love you mommy."

"I love you too sweetie." Sarah kissed her forehead and laid her back down to sleep. She watched her eyes close and a warm smile cross her face, almost too much to bear. Sarah turned back to the hallway and in the pale of the night walked out of the Manor to the garage. After waking one of the drivers and ordering him under an oath of secrecy that he never rode her or never saw her, took her to the docks outside of Brisbane. There she stepped out of the car and watched as the snow fell from the sky covering the ground lightly around her feet. The refugee ships were already beginning to come in from Loyalist ports from the Southern Island and given the security of a refugee ship, which was virtually non-existent, she could easily stow away over to the island and begin her search for her family.

She walked down across the metal surface of the docks, through waves and crowds of refugees. Their dirty and sadden faces nearly breaking her heart and the ship that she was to enter, the Charon, a fitting name. Taking Sarah back to Hell that she had always known so well. Walking up the ramp, the guards paid no attention, they were too worried with the refugees, or maybe they just didn't care. She found an abandoned corner of the ship that she could set her backpack down at, away from the hustle and bustle of the sailors as she walked up towards the bow of the ship as the anchor was raised. It was a gray sky again, no sunlight piercing through, as the morning began to approach, but the cold air chilled her bones before finally it was time to hide back below deck. Sarah took refuge in her corner as the ship tossed on the hostile water, but finally her eyes began to close and the haunting dreams that awaited her on the island were only magnified by her horrors of what danger Evan and Heather were currently in.

Edited August 13, 2009 by Sarah Tintagyl

[King Kevz]

OOC:

Wow just wow Sarah. That writing was amazing and you continue to be one of if not my main inspiration for writing better and longer posts. I wish you the best of luck with your RP and hope it all goes well for Sarah.

[JEDCJT]

OOC:

Wow just wow Sarah. That writing was amazing and you continue to be one of if not my main inspiration for writing better and longer posts. I wish you the best of luck with your RP and hope it all goes well for Sarah.

OOC: I agree with Kevz. You're an writer, and I can't wait to read some more!

[Razgriz 2K9]

OOC: *Mouth agape as fly goes into mouth, and out of my ear.* Wow, I am impressed to the point where I would just shoot myself. I wish I was the kind of author you are, you are .

[Markus Wilding]

OOC: The only thing that makes this thread more are the baby ads at the top.

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Wow...I really don't know what to say to top what the others have said.

Though I was actually wondering when a thread like this would be coming out. One that deals with a child, I mean. After all, there are often consequences to something like that. And as many chances as she's taken...

[Lynneth]

OOC: Ho. Ly. Christ.

This actually absolutely awed me.

I wish I could write like that...

Edited August 13, 2009 by Lynneth

[Maelstrom Vortex]

ooc: Beautiful work Sarah.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

The Charon seemed to groan with every crest of the wave that it broke, the metal of the ship wishing to relieve its tension and break apart into the rough sea below it. Sarah sat huddled in her corner below deck, bundled in her leggings and winter pants, her fleece sweater and a winter jacket over top of that. But she was still shivering, the boat felt colder on the inside that she had felt at the docks in Brisbane and she knew there was warmth where the sailors were at, but if she was discovered not only would there be various complications to the crew, that was New Zealander and she couldn't tell if they were friendly or not. But that her entire journey would be over before it began, the Lady Protector on a refugee ship, international law almost mandated that she be returned. So instead Sarah pulled her legs in close, put her thick gloves on her hands and curled up in a ball trying to warm the rest of her body to no avail. Her skin, as pale as a ghost, and her teeth chattering, the steam from her mouth and nose coming out every few seconds. "Damn it all. It can't possibly this cold outside, it wasn't before, why is it now."

It was a voyage that would seem to last forever in her mind. She had gotten one good four hours of sleep when the boat had just began, then it was the constant struggle to keep warm. The hours dragged on to eternities with nothing to watch except for the rusting red wall in front of her, the bolts on the walls almost falling out of the plating. If there was a ship that was going to sink, she was on it. But the ship didn't sink and when then the echoing of the anchor chains moving through the vessel entered her ears, Sarah woke with a start. Her legs jetted out from the corner as she squinted her eyes trying to come out of her sleep and the same haunting dreams she had been having for weeks. Slowly getting to her feet, Sarah listened to nearly every one of her bones begin to crack having barely moved for what felt like days. Taking a breath of the musty air of the ship one last time the thoughts of how to escape the ship finally entered her mind as she moved against the wall and surveyed around her. The crew was to go help bring in refugees and their luggage, so this was her best chance before the ship left again and she was stuck on another grueling ride.

Creeping against the walls to avoid the sailors still on board from seeing her, Sarah moved up from the bottom decks to the entrance way. They came onto the ship in droves, just as they had filed into Brisbane. But their faces were different. While in Brisbane they had been solemn, sad, mournful, perhaps even a shimmer of hope in some of the children. This was extinguished here, wherever 'here' was. It was like something out of a horror movie, men, women, children, their faces gray, dark, the luster of life totally absent from their eyes and not only because of the biting cold that was coming from the air outside. They looked dead, the blood still running down some of their faces. Some women, older ones were crying in agony that even Sarah for everything that she had been through didn't even know if she could relate.

"No! They killed my child! They killed my little girl! They took her and threw her into the river! No! Please! I just want to die! I just want to die!" And there were many more like that.

The guards didn't pay any attention to the screams, it wasn't their job. They were there to shuffle the refugees into the ship and bring them to safety. But the screams were almost too much, as Sarah walked down the wooden ramp towards the metal docks leading to the industrial sector of whatever city she was in. Descending the ramp she came right along side the one screaming woman who had made the story of her dead daughter loud enough for the entire crowd to hear.

"My daughter and my husband." Sarah cringed at the words. It all sounded too right. She looked at the woman and taking off her gloves reached out to grab her hand. Her eyes, because of the cold, a shimmering blue met with the woman's gray. Time seemed to stand still. "There is no hope anymore. Everyone is dead." Sarah couldn't speak, she couldn't breathe, only gasp the thin air. "No hope."

"All right. C'mon lady. Its time to go, you have to go on the ship."

The woman let go of Sarah's hand as Sarah clenched her's into a fist. "There's always hope."

"Not here. Not here."

The crowd over took the woman and the guards as the gray people walked slowly, shifted left to right and left to right up the ramp into the ship. Sarah sighed and turned back towards the bottom of the ramp as her feet touched solid ground for the first time in what felt like two days or more. Hitching up her backpack again she began to walk through the cramped avenues of dock workers and refugees still filling onto the bustling dock. Snow crystals were still falling light from the sky, pushing men's faces into their coats while Sarah's eyes glistened walking through the docks of the town with hope in her eyes, curious on really how to start on her journey to find Evan and Heather. Which, was to find out where she was to begin with.

The bodies past her in a flurry of moving parts, no one seemed to pay the girl in blue any attention, even when she felt like she stuck out like a sour thumb. Everyone here was dressed in gray, or black, or a dirty brown and here Sarah was in clean winter gear. But for as much as they ignored her, when she did try to get their attention, they were more so hostile.

"Sir. Please, do you know where I am? I just landed off one of the refugee ships."

The responses were less than desirable:

"Hell."

"Just go back to the ship. There's nothing here anymore."

Laughter.

"A pretty thing like you. To die so young? Pity."

It really was more gloomy than Sarah had imagined, but the further she journeyed into the unknown town, she could understand why. After piecing together the context clues of the buildings she was around. Names, places, and addresses. She had misjudged where the ship was heading in the first place. Instead of landing her on the Southern Island where she would have more time to gather her wits together and assess the situation. She had landed at Opunake on the Northern Island, a few hundred miles away from Aukland where the Aotearoan rebellion had began. She had landed in the belly of the beast and it was clear that Opunake had dealt with significant attacks from the rebels. The town outside of the harbor was a wasteland. Burnt buildings lay in ruins scattered about the ground and worse, were the dead bodies, preserved by the cold that could still be seen from a distance.

Sarah stood still on the outskirts of the harbor, her mouth wide looking at the destruction and nearly jumped out of her shoes when a voice came from behind her. "Pretty unbelievable isn't it." The man realizing he had scared her threw out his hand to calm her. "Please, miss, I meant no harm." He seemed just like the men Sarah had seen at the docks, though perhaps with a bit more life to his face. The man was young, but older than her. "You aren't from around here, you still have shimmer to your eyes."

"No. I'm from Australia." She braced for the recognizance, but it never came. He only stared at her for another moment and sighed. "My family is on the island some where. I got a phone call from my...husband." She hesitated with the word, but for semantic purposes Sarah felt it necessary. It definitely sounded better than lover at least. "He said that they had been captured by the rebels. I assume that they were being taken somewhere. Though I don't really know where to go. I can't make contact with him."

"You realize I hope and not to destroy your own hope. But your family is probably dead." The man displayed the waste with his hand. "When the rebels come, there is no quarter. There is only destruction. You see they view us as the rebels. They view us as trying to change everything in this country. They want to bring back the glory that was Aotearoa."

"And they kill anyone in their way?"

"Indeed. If your husband stood in their way. I doubt there is any reason for them to keep him alive. Possibly if he was someone of importance, but even then. Forgive me, unless you are someone I should know about."

"No. They were vacationing." She sighed. "Well visiting, we were going to move here from the Hansa. But then the war broke out while I was still in Australia. I figured they'd be safe, but I was wrong. Now I feel like its too late." She was lying to him, but in retrospect, Sarah didn't know how much of it was actually false. Evan could very well be dead likewise with Heather and his importance to the New Zealand government as nearly being the leader behind the scenes could either way in as a way to keep him alive or kill him instantly. "I'm going to find them though whether they're dead or alive."

The man smiled. "I was going to say. For a moment I had thought that the shimmer had vanished from your eyes. But I assumed that you were weak." He clasped his hands behind his back. "Do you have any idea where they might be being held?"

"Not a clue."

He chuckled lightly, but tried to hide it so as not to offend the girl. "So you expect to just wander through hostile territory until you bump into them?"

"Truthfully. I don't really know what I'm trying to do. I know that I want to find them. As to where and how? I'm lost." Sarah said looking out at the distant waste beyond the town.

"You really don't value your life do you?"

"I've been through a lot."

"And you haven't learned from any of those endeavors?"

"I'm very naive as well."

The man smiled and nodded. "Well I can't help you anymore than telling you to go north. Auckland was the center of the Aotearoan rebellion and though its possible that your family could be at any rebel prison between Wellington and Auckland. I guess there are people in Auckland that might point you in the direction if they don't kill you first."

Sarah sighed. "Auckland is also over three hundred miles away."

"Then I would get moving now, but unless you get captured by the rebels. I wouldn't expect you to make it. Travel is cut off between Loyalist and Rebel territory. So I'm afraid to tell you that you're on your own. There isn't much room for compassion anymore."

She stepped again onto the snow pile that had formed on the ground in front of her. It was hard, already turning to an icy rock. The bitter air still running and dancing across her face. "Well thank you, I..." Sarah turned around to face the man again, but he was no where to be found. Only his footprints leading back off into the ruins of Opunake. "Thank You!" She called out to him, her echo returned, and Sarah felt abandoned once again. It really was a ghost town. She looked out to the distant horizon and closed her eyes against the wind. Everything was silent, everything was abandoned, but if she just stood there she knew she would die without making any progress. At least if she moved, she could say she was making progress. Slowly, Sarah dragged her feet across the snow as she crossed through the ruins of the down and out onto the snowy open roads leading to the north. The wind howling at her back, begging her not to go on.

[JEDCJT]

OOC: Sarah, you should write a novel and publish it. I'd gladly buy it.

[Hell Scream]

OCC: Oh my, thanks for sending that PM. This is brilliant, it's absolutely brilliant. It's practically genius, I love this so much.

More, I demand more Sarah! You truly have a gift.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

The day never changed, morning was like midday, midday dark like the evening, and the only change was the fading light of the evening and the desolation in the dark at nighttime. Sarah couldn't tell how much distance she had crossed in the hours since she had left the ruins of Opunake, it felt far, but she couldn't be sure. Everything looked the same, vast tracts of plains and hills leading into never ending forests on all sides, all covered in snow and ice, all with the harsh wind blowing the white mist over the ground. If the day was desolate, lonely, and cold, then the night was everything that the day tripled and include the ever present fear that after your eyes closed they might never reopen. The dangers were all too real, wild animals in the forest and on the plains, the daunting cold, and Sarah's fading morale were all contributing to her death. When the first night had set in Sarah had been surprisingly optimistic. She had taken a few survival courses back in Australia and had come prepared with matches, flint and tinder, and a few cans of soup that she'd be able to cook over an open flame. A warm meal and falling asleep in something other than her heavy coat put a smile on her face until the possibility of having the fire looked dismal at best.

The trees were dead, but they were coated with a thick layer of ice and for all the small brush that she found on the ground, the best she could do with the matches was produce a little smoke to put the desire in her eyes, only to be extinguished by that larger puff of smoke signaling that the fire had all but disappeared. She worked for an hour, but with a limited supply of matches, fuel in her lighter, and overall patience, Sarah leaned back against a tree and tried to keep the tears from rolling down her face, lest they freeze to her skin and chap her eyes. She was absolutely miserable, no fire, no good food except for some frozen candy and energy bars, and some dry trail mix. Cuddling up into a ball at the base of the tree, she could see nothing. A few red embers from her failure of a fire and then surrounding those, darkness. It was dark, it was unnaturally dark not even being able to see her nose at the end of her face. She couldn't even talk, just dropping her head inside her coat and breathing warm air into her body. It was like the ship only worse, the minutes dragged on for hours and the hours much like the minute. Sarah couldn't tell if she was awake or dreaming, it was just black, until the first signs of gray day-break began to pierce the clouds in the sky.

When Sarah opened her eyes to the sky, she barely had the energy to get to her feet and when she did release from her ball. Her body, weak from the lack of nourishing food and sleep, doubled over in pain and fatigue. Sarah groaned and pushed her body off of the ground and stood back up. She had kept to the road all of yesterday and she could do the same today. Though after Opunake Sarah had only passed through ruins of small highway towns, perhaps today she would have better luck. But she doubted it. Leaving the covering of the forest Sarah looked down at the snowy wastes in front of her and picked up her feet once again, trudging through the snow down to the road below her. She hit the pavement with a bounce and nearly felt down to the asphalt as she did so, but quickly regaining her balance Sarah yawned and set back off down the road through the never ending wastes.

The second day of her journey was much like the first, a howling wind, a biting cold, and no real sign of human interaction in the area except for the brief display of destruction on the side of the road. It was really a shame, Sarah would pass burnt cars and her hopes would rise that the metal was still hot and that maybe she would be able to warm herself, but if she couldn't feel the heat from inside her gloves there was no point in risking letting any more of her skin out in the cold air or worse touching the chilled metal and the sound of skin tearing off at the touch. It was too much to bear, in addition to many of the vehicles and ruins that she passed still had their occupants inside of them, perfectly preserved in the winter air. It made the walk even more depressing.

After a few more hours of walking Sarah finally saw the next signs of life ahead of her. A green sign, coated in a light layer of snow that read, "Inglewood 25 kilometers" and a smile that had been absent from Sarah's face for so long finally crossed her lips once again as she looked out into the distance. There was still nothing but barren waste, but beyond that waste was at least the hope of civilization and that was better than what she had been dealing with. Picking herself back up she continued heading down the road, flanked by high walls of snow and forest further up on the hill. She kept walking until the sounds of screaming and roaring engines pierced her ears. They were close and whoever it was, they were coming up face.

Always playing it safe, Sarah quickly climbed off the road and onto the snow hill to look down at the road in front of her and her mouth opened in horror. Three SUVs, wreaked and covered in bullet holes were tearing up the pavement towards where she had just been standing and it was easy to tell what side they were one. With no flag of the New Zealand government and the one man hanging out the window with a rifle in his hand was enough to tell her that these were definitely rebels and if not rebels, then criminals of some sort. People that wouldn't think twice to either kill her or do worse things. Sarah was paralyzed with fear before she could start running off towards the forest. She stared at the SUVs until one of them stopped and a tall man in light flannel clothes jumped out of the vehicle, a rifle slung behind his back. He looked up at Sarah and shouted.

"Hey! You there! Get down here!"

Sarah didn't move, her hood was drawn up so they couldn't tell really who she was at all, but if she wanted to defend herself at all, her pistol was buried inside two layers of clothing. She hadn't thought her defense through as well as she thought she had.

"Hey! I told you to get down here!" As the man said it, more rebels poured out of the cars and they began to walk towards the hill. With fear setting in and the need to defend herself from being killed or captured Sarah closed her eyes, braced her feet and then jumped down the hill towards the forest. "Hey! Stop running!" The man shouted before turning back to his lackeys. "C'mon lets move. We can have some fun with this one."

Sarah tumbled down the snowy mound and landed on her back, still hearing the rebel's screams behind her. She unzipped her coat and threw off her hood and gloves, reaching down her fleece sweater grabbed the pistol and brought it out of its holder. The touch of the nickel against her skin though her into sudden shock at the cold and it felt like the blood in her arm had just turned to ice.

"There h--!" She heard one of the rebels shout as they crested the mount. "Hey its a she! Aim to wound guys! We're gonna have a treat tonight! Blonde too!" Sarah didn't wait for their aims to wound before swinging her body around and firing five wild shots into the air at the rebel. The man ducked down for a moment as she got back up off the ground and began to run for the woods. "$%&@! She's armed! $%&@ this!" The shots of his rifle echoed through the air and Sarah nearly jumped out her skin at the thought, but his bullets hadn't hit her, she hadn't collapsed which meant she had to keep running, she just had to keep running. More shots rang off, but still she was okay and to keep the playing field open she turned her hand around and fired three more shots towards where the rebels were standing, just to keep them from firing until she made it to the safety of the trees.

Reaching the forest, Sarah hiding behind a tree looked out at the plains behind her. They were still coming, but at a slower pace. The rebels knew she was armed and now hiding in the woods she could use that to her advantage, but even then, Sarah didn't have that many shots on her, her aim wasn't that great and she was out numbered four to one. So she kept running through the forest as fast as she could, the dead branches hung down from the trees trying to stop her escape and more than once had the sharp icy branches met her skin just perfectly to leave a fine bloody cut across her porcelain and chapped face. By this time the rebels had reached the forest, but under the shade of the trees and the waning sunlight, Sarah had escaped their line of sight, but still needing somewhere to hide in case they managed to catch up with her she ducked down in a small hole underneath a rock and and held the pistol near the face. If they did manage to spot her, Sarah would make them regret it. She still had enough for four perfect shots.

The rebels walked forward and she could see them perfectly as she readied her shivering finger on the trigger of the gun. Four perfect shots.

"Did any of you see her come in here?"

"Yeah, but we lost her after she got past the tree line."

"And did you bother to check for footprints. Snow has a great tendency to leave footprints." She watched them looked down at their shoes and confused looks cross all their faces.

"You know how many god damn foot prints are down here. Rabbits, bears, wolfs, our own, we have no clue which ones are her's."

The leader walked over to the man who had just talked and slapped him on the upside of the head. "Her's would be in front of our--" The piercing cry of a wolf echoed through the air and the men stopped for a moment and looked at each other.

"Mike, I'm sorry, but I don't want to be out here at night. There's enough dead things in this forest, I don't want to be one of them."

"Are you guys seriously telling me you're afraid of a few wild animals."

Another howl pierced the air and even the leader shifted where he stood.

"The animals will get her, she's as good as dead and its not like we were chasing her for any reason other than a good night. We can get that anyways. Lets get out of here."

The Wolf and the Snow Angel

The rebels nodded as they slung their rifles nervously over their backs again and began to exit out of the woods before the leader turned back and looked into the forest one last time, an evil grin crossing his face before turning back out into the gray wastes out of the dead vegetation. Sarah waited a few moments before climbing out from her shelter and dusting herself off of the snow and the dirt as another howl echoed through the brush, coming from where the rebels had gone. She would have to wait at least another fifteen minutes before they were gone for good and even then, she didn't know if it would be enough. Sitting down against a rock, Sarah took a deep breath and wiped the blood from her face and closed her eyes before another howl ran through her ears. This one, much, much closer. Stepping off the rock Sarah drew back a bit, the wolf was near, but in the fading light, she could barely see anything that might resemble the animal. The forest behind her dragged one, but it was a chance she would have to take, that or come face to face with the wolf.

Sarah walked slowly, the dead icy branches breaking under her feet and the same branches breaking further behind her. It was following her, stalking her every move. She could feel her heart begin to beat faster and for the first time in days, sweat. Her pace quickened and the sounds of the breaking wood came quicker, likewise from behind. Sarah placed her hands on to her pistol and held it at her side as another howl broke the sound of breaking branches and it was too much. Fear and horror over took the girl's body as Sarah dashed in front of her, one last mad attempt to escape from the wolf, but it was more foolish than believing that he wouldn't pursue.

She ran as quick as she could, even beginning to see the break in the trees ahead, there was a road, there would be civilization and then there was the wolf. Sarah heard the barking as she rounded the hill down towards the road, she turned to see the gray wolf in its horrific magnificence. Its red eyes staring angrily at the meal that was trying to run away from it, her ponytail waving in the breeze as quick as his tail was wagging while he snarled descending the hill towards her. Sarah pointed the barrel of the pistol at the wolf and held her ground. He stopped for a moment and surveyed her before licking the drool running down his snout. He howled again and the echo seemed to carry the magnitude of hundreds of wolves of the forest as Sarah's hand began to shake trying to take aim at the beast. Another snarl and bark and the wolf charged down the hill at the girl, while Sarah let loose the last four bullets in her pistol hoping to strike the wolf down where he ran. She found herself firing in the air, one...two...three...four as the horrid beast came down upon her, still alive, still angry, still hungry. Sarah put her hands up in defense, trying to shield her face from his claws and worse, his jaws. But just as the wolf was ready to clamp down on her arm a pounding echo of a gun shot reverberated through the snow and the wolf picked up its head.

"Let her go you little scoundrel, or I'll be the one having you for dinner!" He said in a sharp New Zealander accent. He cocked the rifle and made ready for another shot.

"Please help me! Please!" Sarah screamed still under the wolves strength.

"Go on! Get out of here!" The man fired another blasting the snow right near Sarah's face, falling all over them. "I said get out of here!" He fired again and the began to back up. He howled once more before turned and running off back into the forest. The man immediately ran up next to Sarah and knelt down helping her sit up. "Are you okay Miss? You know its very dangerous to be out here this time of day and with everything going on in the country. Are you a refugee?"

Sarah sat up, coughed up dry air for a moment and took a few deep breaths, she felt like she was going to collapse. "No." She wheezed. "I'm trying to find my family, they were taken by rebels, I just want to find my daughter." The tears began to overflow from her eyes. "I just want to find my family!" Sarah beat her head down into her hand. "But I just can't..." She fell forward loosing all feeling in her body. The man caught her and lifted her up over his shoulders.

"Oh Christ Almighty. C'mon, everything's going to be okay." He carried her softly down the snowy embankment to the road and lifted her into the passenger seat of his truck. Walking around the eighteen-wheeler, he climbed into the driver seat and began taking off Sarah's coat and heavy clothing. Rubbing his hands together he tried to bring a little warmth back into her body and turned up the heating in the car. Sitting there for about a half-hour, hellbent on reviving the snow angel that he had found in the wild. Finally, after nearly loosing hope that she may have slipped into eternal unconsciousness, Sarah gave a light groan and opened her eyes.

"Where am I?" She asked looked around.

"Not really that far from where that wolf attacked you. My name's Tom O'Neill, you're in my truck."

Sarah rubbed her head. "Thanks Mr. O'Neill, I...I really appreciate it."

"Well of course you do Miss, if I weren't around, you'd be in pieces in that wolf's den. Though I have to give you credit, you don't have bad aim for a girl and on top of that, one that was under pressure from being eaten. But you are?"

"Me? Oh." Sarah blinked trying to think of some alias. "Uh, Sarah, Sarah Kline."

"Well its a pleasure to meet you Miss Sarah." Tom turned to the wheel and started up the truck. "Now I have to play the gentleman and get you back home, before you die out here. Where did you come from?"

"Opunake." She said without thinking, he started up the car and then her mind clicked. "No! Wait! I'm sorry, I landed in Opunake. I'm from Hanseatic Australia. Please, you have to help me, my family was captured by the rebels, I'm looking for them. My husband and my daughter."

Tom grimaced and wiped his brow. "Yeah, you said something about that. But, I have to tell you that you're in no shape to go on some wild goose chase Sarah. I'd hate to tell you this, but your family is probably dead."

She glared at him. "I've heard that one before. Look, I don't mean any trouble, I'm not trying to be a burden so I can get out right here. Sorry for bothering you." Sarah turned towards the door, only to be held back by Tom's arm.

"Now hold on one minute. There is no way I'm letting you go out into the cold again. Listen lady, I don't care why you're here or what you're doing in this hellhole of a country. I'm just trying to look out for you cause you almost got eaten by that wolf and when I touched your hands, I nearly froze to death. Its a miracle that you're not dead yet."

Sarah's head fell into her hands in despair. "I've been walking for two days now, I'm trying to get up to Auckland, I just want to know if they're alive or dead."

"Auckland. Jesus, lady, you are insane." Her head didn't move from its position of sorrow and Tom sighed in return. "Look, Sarah, if you want to go get yourself killed up in Auckland, be my guest. But at least let me take you a bit up the road."

She lifted her eyes from her cracked hands. "Really? You'd do that Tom?"

"I'm heading north anyways. Yeah, I can help you eat, at least find somewhere where you can get a hot meal, alright."

"Yeah." She smiled. "I appreciate it, its the first time someones shown any kindness in this country."

He scoffed. "Yeah, at it'll probably be the last." But looking at her, his hard face mellowed out. "You're a pretty little thing, you should try to smile more. But right now just relax." And as he was saying that, the heat from the vents began to dance around Sarah's face, warming her cheeks and eyes and she could feel her head getting heavy again. Before Tom could finish his sentence, the world slipped out of focus, and for the first time in two weeks she fell into a soft and dreamless sleep. "Miss Sarah?" He smiled looking at her body curled lightly and quietly on the seat. "Oh, well, don't worry. You're safe now."

[Hell Scream]

o/ Sarah

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Wow...I knew already thAT I would continue reading, but if I had had any doubts, they would quickly be dispelled by those two posts.

And nice accomanying music too, though I always finish the passages they are supposed to accompany before the music ends...

yes, I am considered a fast reader by most people that know me.

Edited August 13, 2009 by Subtleknifewielder

[King Kevz]

OOC: Keep up the good work Sarah, looking forward to the next part.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Sarah...Sarah." She squinted her eyes not wanted to open them for fear of where she may have ended up. All she could really remember was being taken by a strange man who had saved her from the wolf's attack, but beyond that she had no idea what his intentions were, besides that he said himself that they were virtuous, but in New Zealand at the moment that didn't seem like enough to willingly trust someone. Opening her eyes, a red dashboard illuminated in front of her with a steady stream of warm air blowing into her face. She moved her hands and danced her fingers around themselves, it felt like the first time blood had started rushing into them again and the sudden shock and pain was something that she could actually smile about. Her coat, gloves, and most of her other heavy garments lay in a pile between her and Tom that he was reaching over and gently shaking her shoulder. "Sarah. Hey, wake up, we're going to stop for the night."

Opening her mouth, she yawned loudly and stretched her arms in the air. "We're stopping? Where are we?"

"Piopio. Its a small down on the way to Hamilton, where I'm afraid that I'll have to turn around at. Any further for me and I'll be knee deep in rebel territory." He chuckled. "Unlike you, I'm not brave enough to just go strolling through some of the most hostile territory in the South Pacific at the moment."

"But why are we stopping?" Sarah looked at him with deep eyes as he pulled open the driver side door to get out of the truck.

"Well for one I'm almost out of gas and I need to refuel. Two, I'm starving and really need to eat a hot omelet for breakfast tomorrow and three, its one thirty in the morning and I'm literally falling asleep at the wheel. Not all of us get the big comfy passenger seat Miss Sarah."

"But we don't have time to stop, you said it yourself my husband, my daughter, they might already be dead. I'm wasting time from sitting here. Please, Tom, we can't stop now."

Tom reached over and grabbed her arm again trying to calm the girl down as he could she her beginning to quicken her breathing. "Sarah listen to me. I know you want to find your family and I told you before, you're a hell of a lot braver than I am ever going to be. But, you aren't thinking clearly at all. Now look, I found you half dead out in the snow and you almost got eaten by a wolf, you want to find them and save them from the rebels right?"

Sarah scowled and pulled her arm away from him. "You aren't listening! I can't wait any longer, I need to get to Auckland now!" She opened the passenger door and jumped out into the bitter cold, her fleece being the warmest thing on her body.

"But you're not being brave by doing this. You're just being stupid." Tom shook his head and shut the driver door as he began to walk into the inn where he had pulled the truck along side.

Sarah stopped and turned. "Well thanks a lot then! You said you wanted to help me and don't get me wrong I appreciate the ride, but don't lie to someone and tell them that they're doing the right thing and then just..." Her words stopped and Sarah held her head tightly with her hands like an enormous migraine was coming on and in essence, it was. "Just leave me alone okay! Just leave me alone!" She screamed dropping down to her knees and gritted her teeth.

Tom shook his head and walked over to her, gently placing his hands on her back and lifting her into his hold. Sarah fought back for a moment, but the weakness of the day and her own desire to not fight back at all kicked in and she slumped into his arms. "Sarah, I know what you're trying to do. Its okay, I would be feeling the same as you right now if was in your shoes and trust me I'm trying to be as empathetic as I can. But I didn't lose my family, I'm only trying to take care of a woman that lost her's." She cried gently in his arms and he hugged her tightly. "But you need to stop and take a rest. You don't want to just see your family and then die right?" She shook her head. "Exactly, you want to save them, get them to safety, but how do you expect to do that with no energy. How does a malnourished, fatigued woman expect to rescue her husband and daughter from the grips of those !@#$%^&* on an empty stomach and two hours of sleep. You need to rest." He looked up at the sky and smiled at the first clear night sky that had graced the sky in nearly two weeks. "And honestly Sarah, if your family isn't already dead, I think you'll be just fine. You just need to have some hope."

Sarah couldn't help but chuckle at his words. "You know normally I'm the one that says that to my friends. It feels good knowing that I can hear the same thing from a stranger."

"Well not all of use New Zealanders are blood-thirsty rebels and not all of us won't help a damsel in distress. But c'mon, lets get you out of the cold." Tom picked Sarah up and walked her towards the door of the inn, stood her there for a moment while he went back to the truck to grab her coat and backpack and then accompanied her inside the inn.

The innkeeper wasn't particularly pleased having being woken up first by Sarah's screaming outside and then once being able to fall back asleep, to be woken up again by the sound of that accursed bell to announce the arrival of new guests. But after getting over that fact quick enough with the generosity of Sarah's change purse that to Tom's surprise she purchased his room as well, led them up to their quarters with a smile on his face. The room that Sarah was staying in was small, drab green wallpaper covered the four corners, but when she walked over and sat down on the bet, she found it pleasantly soft.

"I'm guessing you should be okay for the night Miss Sarah?"

"Yeah, I should be okay. Nothing to worry about." She looked at the clock on the nightstand, 'two o'clock, which caused her to yawn again. "But I think I need to get to bed as soon as I can. Do you know when we might get back on the road tomorrow?"

"After I wake up and have a good hot meal in my stomach. Then we can leave. Of course that's if its alright with you Your Highness?"

Sarah rolled her eyes and shook her head at the comment. "Again, I'm sorry for what happened back there. I just--"

"Sarah, don't worry I know. I was only joking with, which is another thing you're going to have to get used to. People joking about things. Its only human, you just have to try and keep thinking optimistically and have some hope. You'll find them, don't worry."

She smiled at him and bowed her head. "Thanks Tom, I appreciate it. Have a good night."

"You too Sarah. You too."

He closed the door as Sarah flicked on the small bronze lamp that stood on the night stand, throwing her backpack on the bed she opened the bag and threw her nightwear onto the covers. Warm flannel pajama pants, and a long flannel shirt returned the fuzzy feeling of warmth that she had been missing for so long. She took a deep breath and crawled into the covers and closed her eyes, it didn't take long before the heaviness of her eyes made her literally incapable of sight and movement and Sarah could feel herself slipping out of the world and into a fuzzy unknown. She wanted to stay there forever, she didn't know where she was, there were no sounds and there was constant sound, light and no light, shape and no shape. But this world made so much more sense then the present one and she didn't want to return. Here Evan was safe, and Heather was safe, and Terra was with them. There were no wars and there was no death and that dream died to the sound of explosions, gun shots and screams from the streets below.

Sarah's eyes flashed open as the echoes of gun shots rang in her ears. She turned to the clock, four o'clock in the morning, only two hours of sleep? She scowled for a moment at that thought of having to leave the fuzziness of her dream, but even those thoughts were dashed when a woman's scream, especially close to the inn filled her room. Jumping out of the bed Sarah threw on her boot and coat and opened the door to run down the stairs, but stopped at the gateway. Turning back she reached into her backpack and pulled out the pistol and the extra rounds of shot she had brought with her. Sarah couldn't well reload them any time she wanted, especially in her bulky clothing, but she wouldn't be caught undefended either. Throwing a few more rounds into her pockets she cocked the gun and and ran back out the door. Bounding down the staircase towards the lobby of the inn, the sound of foot beats came down behind her. As Tom ran towards her still putting on his shirt and a bagel hanging down from his mouth.

"Sarah! Are you okay!?" Crumbs of bagel flew from his mouth and on to her face. "Do you know what's going on?"

"No clue. I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Damn, well we should probably try to--" Another explosion rocked the small inn to its foundation as Sarah shook her head and moved over to the doorway.

"No, c'mon Tom, we have to go see what's happening." They exited the inn and entered what could only be described as the transformation of hell on earth. The town of Piopio was in flames, men, women, and children were on the streets running for their lives as countless rebels began to pour through the city streets, shooting the men as they ran from their houses and grabbed the women by their hair, pulling them away to a fate that Sarah had no desire of imagining. She paused trying to wrap her head around what was happening. "Tom. Go grab your rifle, we have to help them."

"You really must be joking Sarah, you see that we're out manned and out gunned right and I'm sorry if I don't want to give my life for no reason at all."

Sarah took him by the shirt and held it tightly. "Now it my turn then Tom, look these people need our help and these rebels might be able to point me in the direction where Evan and Heather are being held."

"Your husband and daughter?"

"Yeah."

Tom looked over at his truck and sighed. "I guess in retrospect even if I didn't find you on the road, I'd still be trapped here under fire, but in that case I would have just packed up and left." Another harrowing of screams pierced their ears and Tom met Sarah's light blue eyes with his own brown eyes and could barely stomach to look at her.

"Please, don't do this for me. You're armed, you can make a difference for them. This is your country after all isn't it?"

"Yeah. Yeah it is." He closed his eyes and sighed as he walked over and pulled open the door to his truck and pulled out the rifle. "I really can't believe that someone like you talked me into this Sarah, but if we do survive this, I guess I owe you something."

"You don't owe me anything, just do this because you know that its right."

They smiled and took each others hands in a firm grip before turning back toward the burning streets of the town, prepared to be the last defense from keeping Piopio from being reduced to what Opunake had become.

[JEDCJT]

OOC: Wow....just wow. Interesting! Interesting, I say!

[Comrade]

OOC: Oi, why does no one take the offers of Peacekeeping and Assistance Forces from Molakia. Tsarina's phone is always on...a few Bodyguards from Molakia would really help you >.>

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Wow again. I really need to come up with something better to say, but for now...wow will have to do. I should probably find myself a thesaurus and expand my vocabulary to adaquately express what I think of this.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Piopio wasn't a large town by any means which made the task of the raiders ten times easier than if the town had been a significant city. Sarah and Tom looked down the streets, under the shade from behind the inn and could barely believe their eyes at the horror going on around them. The raiders had come in groups of smaller trucks, unleashing their human cargo carrying rifles, automatic weapons, and Molotov cocktails onto the small village. The raiders weren't part of the rebel army per se, in reality, the rebels didn't care much for the raiders who took the war as an opportunity to cause chaos throughout the country with the collapse of any local or nation policing force. However, if the rebel army would be able to use the raiders to at least keep their attacks centered to loyalist towns and villages, the moral of loyalist citizens would all but be destroyed and the raiders had proved to be successful at what they did. $%&@, pillage, and murder.

Sarah brought the pistol up to her face, holding it tightly with both hands and looked around the town. There were a few villagers attempting to defend themselves from inside their houses, but most of that resistance was only met by a few Molotov cocktails being thrown inside and once the screaming families ran out of the house in fear of being burned and consumed by the flames they were only consumed by the hail of bullets and rough hands of the rebels as they took them away into the red fog caused by the flames licking against the air. Men were either shot instantly, or thrown to the ground and beat with clubs or the butt ends of the raiders' rifles, while women and children vanished into the fog. She grimaced at the number of people being dragged away, but even worse were the number of raiders already burning the houses in the area they were at. Doing a count as quickly as she could do, Sarah drew an estimation of at least thirty some raiders and while there was a minute defense being put up, even with Sarah and Tom's added fire power, which wasn't much, they would die right along side the villagers without any added help.

"I told you this was a bad idea." Tom scoffed tilting his head forward to look out into the burning village. "It was a good idea at heart Sarah, but we can't do anything. We'll just get killed along with them. You know the maxim about living to fight another day, that would apply here."

Sarah sighed and looked back out into the town again and closed her eyes. "Tom we can't. We can't just abandon them. There has to be something we can do."

"Sarah we're out manned and outgunned, we aren't miracle workers. This goes on all over the island, there's nothing we can do."

She thought for a minute and tried to run every possible idea through her head, they needed to connect with some outside force, send out a distress signal, but she wasn't an electrician or a communication master. To Sarah, contact with the outside world began and normally ended with a cell phone. She looked at Tom and began to think about the rest of the day until this point, images of the raiders she had sent on the road, the wolf, Tom saving her flashed through her mind. Then him saving her and helping her into the truck, the truck, the dashboard, the CB radio and her eyes widened.

"Tom!" Sarah jumped forward and latched onto his jacket. "You have a radio in your truck. Do you know any of the frequencies for the loyalist government or maybe some regiments in the area? You could call for help!"

"I don't know any off by heart, but I'm sure I could play around with it." He said almost dazed. "But they'd get here too late Sarah, please, listen to me, we should just get out of here while we have the chance."

"Tom." Sarah stared up at him. "Call them, I'm staying here no matter what." She said looking back off into the town trying to think of their next move.

"But Sara--"

"Just call them, just try to do it! Do it for me alright!"

Shaking his head in disbelief Tom ran back around the inn towards where is truck was waiting while Sarah continued looking into the town and trying to come up with enough courage to make some kind of stand. Piopio was already in flames, but there was still a chance to perhaps push the raiders out of the town, at least if help would arrive in time. Not wanting to wait any longer before the situation got anymore dire, Sarah crept along the side of the buildings and as she looked out into the town, she saw a house not yet damaged from the raider's attack just started to go under siege. This was her chance and for Sarah there were many more reasons why this attack was necessary for her journey to find Evan and Heather. The rebel base was in Auckland, but that didn't mean that they were in Auckland or anywhere near. She needed to interrogate one of those !@#$%^&* and then she might know the right direction in where she should go. Creeping along side of the house, Sarah moved to the doorway and took a very deep breath, especially because it could very well be her last, she closed her eyes, built up as much courage as she could possibly muster and busted into the doorway.

Sarah's heart raced as she held her gun in front of her, the raider and the two women inside the house stopped and could only stare at what was in front of him. A strange woman, in winter clothing holding a nickel plated pistol, aiming directly at the raider. He stopped trying to tear the shirt off of one of the girls and began to reach his hands up to the sky. "Get down on the ground and keep your hands where I can see them!" Sarah shouted, her voice quaking, trying to remember what always seemed to work on television. Though she knew it wasn't that she was keeping the raider at bay. It was definitely the gun. But slowly, the raider dropped down to his knees, still holding his Kalashnikov, as he lay down across the floor. Sarah watched his hands closely, his fingers were far from the trigger at the moment, but that could all chance and she was ready to unload all bullet from the pistol if he tried anything to gain control of the situation.

"I said get down!"

"And I'm going down lady hold your hors--"

It hit her like a brick, the butt of a gun, a bat, or a club and Sarah felt her entire body turn to mush as her knees gave out and she fell to the ground. The raider on the ground immediately jumped off the ground and ran to grab Sarah while it felt like the raider from behind had grabbed her feet. She could barely hold her eyes opened, but she knew that things were only going to get worse from this point. The world continued to fade in and out, and in and out and she had to act some how. Still on her knees, she watched the first raider begin to walk over towards her menacingly holding the barrel of the rifle nearly pointing down her throat. Sarah squinted her eyes and tried to forget the pain that was bubbling in her head as she gripped her gun as tight as she possibly could and swung her right hand up pointing at the rebel. He stopped, placed his finger on the trigger and the storm of bullets riddled into him. Sarah hadn't waited, with every ounce of strength she had left she released a torrent of bullets into the raiders body, he had tried to fire his own, but the sheer surprise and caused him to step back. But even with him out of the way, the raider behind her was still alive, well, and most likely armed.

With a new wave of adrenaline pumping through her body, Sarah jumped up off the ground and saw just as the raider was turning his rifle around to take her down as she had done with his compatriot. She fired once and a bullet hit his arm, she fired again and her gun made a depressing click. They looked at each other and he knew it was his turn as he readied the rifle, Sarah lunged forward just as he got off a few shots, she closed her eyes waiting for the force to push her dead onto the ground. But it never came, the echoes sounded of bullets ripping through the wall and she felt her body hit his own as they fell to the ground. Sarah didn't waste any time taking advantage of her position, his right arm was weak from the shot, as he grabbed hold her her with his left arm. She took her gun and pounded it onto his head, over and over, hitting him from side to side with ever ounce of hate she had for those who had stolen everything in the world for her. Finally his left hand dropped and Sarah stopped back up off of the body, her hands covered in blood and grime and her head still bubbling over in the pain from the first attack. She stood up and groaned before collapsing back down to her knees as the two women that owned the house rushed over to catch her.

"Are you alright?" She could hear through the black fog in her head. "You saved us."

Sarah opened her mouth to talk and tried to formulate words. "Yeah...I...I'm...I'm okay." Then the pain came in full torrent, she clenched her teeth in pain. "My head and by back!"

"You took a nasty hit there, but he didn't hit you directly in the head, otherwise you would have never been able to stand back up."

"I can barely stand up now."

The two women reached down taking her knees and then her arms and helped lift her off the ground. "You think you can stand up?"

Sarah put her head out. "Hold on, give me a minute." She took a deep breath and tried to clear the fog from her head. Slowly, as she stood there with her eyes closed and the fog began to lift. The pain was still there, but she could move and she could at least see the world in one color again. "What? What's going one outside."

The women helped her two the window as she looked outside at the raiders finally beginning to pull away and there was Tom and not only Tom, but there were men with guns, men with uniforms, he had gotten through! In the sudden joy that over took her, Sarah lept out of the womens' arms and moved towards the door and out onto the streets as the raiders piled in fear back into their trucks taking off down the road, heading north. Men and women alike cheered that Piopio had been saved for now and the two women walked out of their own house praising Sarah for what she had done to save them from an equally horrible fate.

"Sarah!" Shouted Tom as they came into each others sight. He ran over to her and embraced her tightly, before blushing and letting her go. "Sorry, but I'm so happy, there was a loyalist regiment right in the vacinity of where we were. They said they would change course immediately and within ten minutes they arrived. We demolished the raiders Sarah, we saved Piopio. Are you okay?

"She saved us!" One of the women said. "She came in and killed the two raiders that were trying to $%&@ us. She saved us."

Sarah smiled and looked back up at Tom. "I told you. This is your country and now you were part of keeping the chaos out."

He grabbed her again and pulled her close. "And I appreciate it Sarah, I really do." As Tom hugged her, he felt a gooey liquid coming out of the back of Sarah's neck and when he brought his hand up again he drew back in fear of the blood. "Sarah? Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah I am." She said as the fog began to return. "It was just a hit that I haven't been used to getting, it really knocked the life out of me."

"We'll go back to the inn and get you bandaged up then before we set out onto the--" As Tom was going to finish his sentence, the raider that Sarah had bashed in with the butt of her pistol appeared at the door of the house. He was unarmed and barely able to hold himself up as he tried to begin to walk away from the town. Turning her head away from Tom, Sarah walked over towards the raider and with the same ferocity as before took the butt of her pistol and once again laid him out onto the ground. Once he was down, she bent over and picked up him by his collar.

"Now, I'm not going to play game with you. Where did you come from, who sent you here?" He spit into her face which was only slowly wiped away from her own bloody fingers. "So then I guess you don't care how you die is that it?"

"I'm not going to tell you anything you !@#$%*!" He spit again as Sarah reached down into her pocket and pulled out a round and loaded it into her pistol and pointed it at his face. "I told you I'm not going to tell you anything you bit--" She took the gun and fired it into his leg as the raider howled in pain.

Sarah reached back into her pocket and pulled out another round. "We can do this all night. Who sent you here?

"I already told you I-" Another shot rang off into the same wound as the raider writhed in pain. The townspeople looked on, solemnity across their faces and Tom as well, knowing just what Sarah was searching for. The interrogation went on like that for ten more minutes before Sarah finally got the information she needed. A man named Kraze was in charge of more organized raids done from the rebel army. If there was the chance that Evan and Heather had been subject to one of these raids, Kraze was the person she had to find. The rebel still crying in pain by this point just asked for her to end him then and there, but Sarah only shook her head and turned to the townspeople as she got up off the ground.

Sarah's Theme

"He's yours to do what you want. I need to go and find my family." She said standing up, wiping the blood from her hands on the man's shirt and the blood from the back of her next before beginning to walk down the darkened road in the same trance she had been in from a few hours ago.

"Sarah! Wait!" Yelled Tom as he ran up beside her. "I told you that I'm not leaving you to do this alone and that I'm going to help you."

"You said before that you were only going to get me to the border of rebel territory." She said looking down at the ground.

"And that was before I thought that we couldn't change anything, I think differently now. I want to help you, we can find your family together."

She smiled and hugged him tightly just as the red fog was beginning to lift from the smoldering ashes of Piopio, overtaken by the calmness of the moonlight above. Minutes later to travel down the same road leading off into the unknown again.

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: No comments on the newest post? We'll have to fix that.

Err--as soon as I can think of a good enough compliment on that awesome writing, that is...

[Elrich von Richt]

OOC: It's fantastic, thats the only way to describe it, Subtle.

Edited August 14, 2009 by Elrich von Richt

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: I suppose so...but if you think I use words like that...you still don't know me...

Or did I misunderstand what you meant?

EDIT: I see you ninjedited.

Edited August 14, 2009 by Subtleknifewielder

[Sarah Tintagyl]

The sun was rising by the time that Tom and Sarah pulled out of Piopio heading back up the road towards where the raide,r who Sarah had sparred, told them where Kraze's hideout might be found. From looking at the sky, it looked like a much more promising day at least by weather standards. The gray skies that Sarah had come to see hover over New Zealand since her arrival and even since the civil war had begun finally seemed to be parting making way for a bright sun to shine down on the rolling fields of snow leading towards Auckland. The townspeople of Piopio were naturally very generous to the two people who had done so much to keep their town from being lost to raiders. Tom's front cab was literally overflowing with food and other trinkets that they had given them as parting gifts, along with many well wishes to Sarah in hopes of finding Heather and Evan safe and sound. They drove down the road at a steady pace, treading through fresh snow just as easy as crossing the pavement. Inside the cab, Tom smiled as the radio was turned up to a light drone while he held a steaming egg sandwich in his left hand and the steering wheel lightly with the right. Sarah covered in a blanket was sleeping lightly, her head resting on the window of the passenger door, finally being able to take off her various layers of sweaters and coats, the heat of the truck finally fading the long lines of cracks and cuts on her hands and arms.

A light groan came from the passenger seat as Tom slowed down from a sharp turn he had just made, Sarah lifted her head and squinted her eyes at the blinding light in front of them. She rubbed the dust out, stretched and yawned before eying the mess that Tom had made in only the two hours that had passed since they had left Piopio. "You're lucky that I wasn't awake for all this, we would have been pulled over cleaning out the front seat."

"I thought we were in a rush to get to Auckland to save Evan and Heather? Cleaning out my dirty cab would just tack time on."

"Well yes, but it wouldn't take more than five minutes to dump all this into a plastic bag either, to get rid of the smell of old food."

"Not used to riding with a trucker, eh Miss Sarah."

She laughed. "No, can't say I am." Sarah looked down at the blanket covering her body and the array of food that Tom had gone through, all gifts from Piopio. "You know I want to thank you again for doing this for me Tom. Driving me all this way."

"Sarah I already told you that its no problem I want to help you. There aren't many causes in this country worth fighting for, but I think that I might have stumbled onto one that I can actually relate to."

"Relate to?"

Tom sighed and looked over at the girl as he brought the truck to a stop. "Sarah, this war has been hard on a lot of us." He said looked down at the floor of the cab. Seeing him so suddenly depressed nearly brought tears to her eyes as she leaned over and laid her hand on his shoulder. "No, its nothing like that. Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm happy that I'm not in your shoes, I don't think I could do what you're trying to do, I would have given up a long time ago. But I haven't seen my two sons since the war began. They're living with their grandparents in Brisbane at the moment. At the first sign of trouble I got them out of here, but we were never really well-to-do, so I stayed back here doing the trucking thing. I send back as much money as I can, but I haven't even gotten letters back from them in so long. Its kind of heart-wrenching really, I don't even know if they get my letters or my checks anymore."

Sarah smiled and lifted up his head from the death stare at the floor. "I don't want to hear that from you Tom. You were the one that helped me after all, so I'll be damned if you're going to slip into the same thing I did." She leaned back and looked out at the snow that was beginning to fall from the patchwork of clouds in the sky. "I can tell you personally, your boys are going to be just fine, you don't need to worry about that."

"You're making a lot of promises you can't keep Sarah."

"You made the same ones to me Tom." She turned back and took his hand. "But if you're willing to stick with me until the end, I'm willing to help you find your sons."

"If you're willing to take me to Australia with you after this is all over, that's enough for me."

"Without a doubt Tom, without a doubt." They sat there silent for a long time before, he finally closed his eyes and took a deep breath starting the truck again.

"Well we've spent enough time feeling sorry for ourselves. Where did that idiot say where that place was?"

"He said it was somewhere north of Waikorea." Sarah paused. "But I mean there's a good chance he lied to us too. Trusting the guy trying to kill you is a a lit--"

"Or it was a trap." Tom said quietly as Sarah turned her head to the front to watch as two gray jeeps rounded the corner and began closing in on the truck. "We passed Hamilton about an hour ago, so this makes sense. We're pretty deep in rebel territory by now." He pounded his hands against the steering wheel. "We should have been more careful Sarah, he probably told us the truth, but the raiders work right with the rebels and you don't have papers to be here."

"Papers?"

"Like a commercial passport, I have one cause I travel between the territories enough, but even if I do it too often I would wind up in a rebel or loyalist prison. Sort of like what I think is about to happen to us now."

"What?!"

Sarah watched as the rebel soldiers jumped from the jeep and walked towards the cab of the truck, two on each side, dressed in gray uniforms and brandishing AK-47s. They opened the doors of the cab as Sarah jumped back into the middle of the seat, holding the blanket up to her next as the soldiers gave off malicious grins. While on the other side of the cab, Tom had already began his interrogation.

"...well that's all and good if you have your papers in order, but you're still transporting someone who is in our territory illegally."

"I already told you that she was a refugee I picked up on the road."

"Then you won't have any problem turning her over to us."

Tom looked over at the two soldiers already staring up at Sarah and the look nearly made him vomit. "No, I'm making a trip to Auckland and then turning back around to Opunake."

"Well there's two holes in your story then. Where are you dropping off the girl and that no one is allowed to enter Auckland, no commercial papers are approved for that. But if you hand over the girl then perhaps we can just let all this slip from our minds. You'll have make the rest of the day much much easier for all of us."

Sarah's eyes met Tom's and nearly broke. "Please..." She said in a whisper.

"Why don't you just leave us alone and let us continue on our way."

The soldier laughed and shook he head. "You want to play hard is that it?" He reached up and grabbed Tom by the collar and at the same time the two guards on Sarah's side took her by the blanket and hair, pulling them out onto the freezing road. As her head hit the ground, she could hear the sounds of flesh hitting flesh on the other side of the truck and Tom's groans of pain. She turned to look up at the two guards hovering over her, saw them raise their guns and then darkness enveloped her.

Sarah groaned as she pushed herself off the stone floor below her and swung her around, her bones cracking as she did. "God. The $%&@, it felt like I got hit by a bus." She felt the back of her neck, the same gooey liquid that Tom had felt in Piopio ran down Sarah's hand. Dried blood had poured nearly all over her back and her entire body was aching. Sarah looked up in front of her, rusted bars enclosed one fourth of her small room, the others enclosed by gray stone walls. "Jail? God dammit."

"Sarah?" She heard a weak voice nearby as she got up to her knees.

"Tom? Is that you?"

"Sarah. Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm okay Tom, a little bruised up, but nothing too bad. You?"

He coughed, she could hear the saliva mixed into his cough. "Yeah, same, bruised up but still alive. Listen, I'm sorry that I got you mixed up in here." He sighed. "$%&@, Sarah, I'm sorry. We're !@#$@#$ stuck now."

"No, its the chance that we took. If anything I should be apologizing to you for you bringing me this far, you could have been doing so many other things."

"Yeah."

They were silent for a long time after that, sitting there not moving, only the sound of their panting giving either of them any comfort that they weren't alone in the prison. But for their thoughts, they might as well have been. Sarah sat silent against the cold stone, looking at rocking lights of the ceiling. This couldn't be it, they couldn't just end everything here. "Tom..."

"Sarah..."

"You have any ideas on how we might be able to get out of here?"

He chuckled. "I wouldn't be so quick to think about escaping right now." Tom sighed. "Listen, we're both beat up pretty bad, but they might let us out with just a slap on our wrists if they know we're not really important to them." Sarah's heart dropped into her stomach, she couldn't let it come to that.

"But what about your sons Tom? What about my family? We still have to do so much?"

"And if you haven't noticed that's over with. I don't know about you Sarah, but I can barely stand up right now and truth be told I don't have as much to lose as you do. You're the one that got me into this mess, I can get myself out with good behavior, I'm sorry if you can't but."

"Tom, please, don't say that." Her voice beginning to crack with emotion.

"Sarah...I...I just can't anymore."

Her mind started to race, she needed to get both of them out of the prison, she jumped up from the ground and grabbed a hold of the rusted bars and shook them as hard as she could, gripping so tight that blood began to run from her hands down the bars. Trying to build up as much pain as possible before she let it all out in harrowing screams that echoed down the prison hallways. Over and over she screamed, bloody murder, her skin nearly peeling off her face as she continued to scream, no words, just noise, ear splitting noise. Tom jumped away from the wall and held his hands over his ears. "Sarah! Sarah! What's wrong!? Stop screaming! Please! What's wrong?!" But she kept screaming, gripping tighter on the bars trying to increase her pain to make the screams mean something, otherwise, the screaming was for naught.

The doors at the end of the hallways swung open as a guard, his face smarting from the screams coming from Sarah's cell walked briskly down, carrying a club in his right hands. "Who the hell is screaming like that!"

"Sarah. Sarah. Stop, please, before you get hurt." Tom said in a hushed voice as he tried to look over at her cell. "Sarah! Stop! Please! They're going to hurt you!"

The guard passed Tom's thread and faced Sarah as he rose his club in the air. "Are you going to shut up or am I going to have to go in there and make you shut up!"

"Just leave me alone! You're going to kill me anyways! Just kill me! Kill me!"

"Sarah! Stop it!"

The guard beat the club against the bars of the cell, but as soon as he did Sarah retreated back into her cell and continued to scream and yell at the guard. "Just leave me alone!"

"Listen to me lady, if you keep crying like this, I'm going to come in there and you're not going to be screaming again for a long time, maybe never again. Don't make me do this to you. You're a pretty thing, and I'll make you an ugly !@#$%*."

"Fine! Kill me then! Kill me!"

"Sarah! Stop!"

The guard hassled with the keys on his belt for a moment before swinging open the door and and approaching Sarah with the club raised. She was weeping against the corner of the wall by this point, an easy target for the guard to throw down and stop the screaming. He brought the club down, but when her hand suddenly came up to catch his hand he froze. Sarah jumped up and punched him as hard as she could in the crotch. The guard stopped, writhing in pain as Sarah lunged forward trying to free the club from his grip. For his shortness of breath, the guard fought back almost to the point of pushing Sarah back onto the ground, but finally the club was freed from his hands as she brought it down against his head, knocking him out.

She wheezed stepping up over the body and grabbed the keys from off of the guards belt, tore off a few pieces of his uniform and tied them around her wounds and exited the cell. Silence again encased the hallway as Tom slid forward against the bars listening to the sounds coming from the cell next to him. "Hello?"

The neighboring door swung close as Sarah stepped out and hovered over Tom's cell, her hands still lightly bleeding from the rust of the bars. She jammed the guard's keys into his cell and opened the door. "Look, I'm sorry Tom, you don't have to come with me if you want to take your chances with the guards. But I still need your help and I still want your help." Her sapphire eyes sparkled in the pale light of the bulbs above her as she outstretched her hand. "Please. I want your help Tom, we're in this together and I won't fail you like I did out there."

Tom stared up at her hand and back down at the floor. "You just don't stop do you?"

"I don't have a choice. I'd rather be dead then stop."

"Well that explains a lot. I wish I could just stay here, but I don't think I can. I'd be worrying about what happened to you too much." He reached up and grabbed her hand as she helped him to his feet. He hugged her tightly and pushed open the door further as Sarah fixed her ponytail. "But as to getting out of here?"

"Play it by ear. I know we have to go down this hallway."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Its the only exit."

Tom looked down the opposite direction to face a stone wall and laughed. "Well then, I guess lead the way Miss Sarah, lets just hope we don't die too quickly."

She smiled, the club hanging by her thigh as they crept towards the door leading out to the hallways beyond the prison, no clues as to where they were or what they would do next.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Prison Break!

Sarah and Tom approached the door leading out of their corridor slowly, carefully, as not to cause a large stir by anyone that might be passing by. Their inherent disadvantages were more noticeable than ever before. Not only were they not armed, Sarah noticing that her pistol had been stripped off of her when she had awoken in the jail cell, but they had no clue of their whereabouts or who exactly had captured them. They could be in Auckland, in Kraze's hideout where they had been searching for this whole time, or various other rebel held positions across the Northern Island.

Reaching the door Sarah held the club at her eyes while she peered out the small portal into the hallway beyond the prison corridor. "Its empty." She turned back to Tom and excited look on her face as she reached for the handle.

"Well don't just go running off down the hallway, there has to be a better way."

"Tom, we're going through a door, its not just like we're going to go taking off down a random hallway. I'm not stupid." She said reaching her left hand to the handle and slowly cracked it as she slide her body through the opening and waited for Tom to do the same once she was on the other side of barrier. Once they were fully on the other side, Sarah led as the crept down the right side of the hallways towards the "T-like" intersection at the end. Her heart raced at the chance that a guard would walk and stop them, shoot them, take them back to the cells and there was no doubt at that point both Sarah and Tom would rot before they were ever allowed to see the light of day again. Every step she took, her boots seemed to echo across the stone floor and no matter how lightly Sarah seemed to tread it was always like she was walking with cinder blocks attached to her legs.

After what seemed like an eternity to walk twenty steps total Sarah and Tom made it to the corner of the intersection. Sighing in relief at the accomplishment Sarah lifted her head and looked down the right hallway, abandoned, so nothing could be more perfect, all they needed to make sure was that the left hallway was "aban--don-ed." As soon as Sarah peeked her head around the left corner and moved her body out to get a better look, her nose met the center of a man's large chest. Both the guard and Sarah jumped back in surprise, not knowing what their first move should be not. Her worst nightmare for the moment staring down at her and something that wasn't supposed to be able to occur looking up at him. Time seemed to jump as the guard grabbed his radio. "Prison break! I need all available--" He yelled as he grabbed his AK-47 that was slung around his shoulder at pointed it at Sarah's chest, but she had already taken the small split second advantage and with the club bashed into the guards face as hard as she could. The gun exploded shot into the ceiling as the guard lost his balance for a moment, while Sarah continued to bring the club across the guard's face until he had lost all footing and fell backwards to the ground, firing a steady stream of bullets into the air, easily alerting every single person in the prison where Sarah and Tom were.

With the guard knocked out, they had precious time to think before the beating of footsteps could be heard on the end of the left hallway's doors. She knelt down at picked up the gun and tossed it over to Tom. He caught it with his hands still shaking at what had just occurred with the guard. "Why are you giving this to me?!"

"Cause you can actually shoot you idiot!" Sarah scowled as she backed away from the unconscious guard. "C'mon we have to get out of her." She said as she ran down the right hallway towards the doors, Tom following her close behind just as they heard the left doors push open and a quick round of bullet fire off in their direction, piercing the walls all around them. Tom turned and fired back as he followed Sarah into the next room, just enough for the attackers to duck down for a moment maybe giving them an extra second and a half to plan their next move. But there was no time, now all they could do was keep running, faster and faster. After they burst through the door at the end of a room, Tom would return fire at the guards just beginning to pierce through the doorway and the only thoughts in both he and Sarah's minds were that if they were caught now they had better just kill themselves, because there was no way that they were going to get out peacefully at this point. They turned as many corners as was humanly possibly, not clear of any real direction and the nightmarish thought that continued to cross Sarah's mind as she lead Tom and coincidentally the guards that were chasing them down the hallways of the prison that they would be faced with a dead end very soon.

It seemed that way when they ran through another set of steel doors to a stone room, much like the one where Tom and Sarah had been imprisoned in. In fact it was almost too similar and Sarah had believed for a moment that they had done a spectacular loop around the complex only to end up where they had begun. She had thought this until there were bodies still laying in the rusted cells, bodies still breathing, bodies still capable of movement. It was a prison and they weren't alone. The keys that she had stolen off the first guard back in her cell were still dangling around her wrist, held in place by the club as she ran over to the cells and shook them wildly.

"Hey! In there! Wake up! We're getting you out of here!"

"Sarah!" Tom spun around after firing. "What in the hell are you doing!? You realize that we have like a dozen people with guns after us right now!"

"And I'm creating a diversion." She turned back to the cell and shook the bars again. "Come on! The guards are all ready coming! We don't have much time!"

The prisoners groaned loudly as they began to get to their feet and run over to the bars. Some of the just continued to lay there, while others took to Sarah's offer with a near frantic desire to get out, shacking the cell bars almost as violently as she had done. Tom fired another round into the steel doors as the guards began to try and push their way through, while Sarah worked on the key ring and opening the cell doors. While there wasn't a master key, the key ring was organized with the numbers in order corresponding to the cell and Sarah made quick work opening the doors. After releasing about six prisoners, the guards were finally pushing bullets through the door as they bounced of the rusted bars and off the walls at the end of the hallway.

"Sarah! Come on! We have to get out of here! They're coming through!"

"Then lets go!" She said running down the hallway towards another intersection as the prisoners followed closely behind her, with Tom behind them. The plan was simple, cause as much chaos in the complex as humanly possible and try to actually find the way out of here. It worked like magic as they continued further through the complex as the prisoners began to separate from Sarah and Tom, choosing to find what they believed to be the correct way out of the complex. They could even hear the screams from the guard's radios. "Prison Break! Shoot to wound, except for the girl and the man carrying the rifle!" It was something that made Sarah grin, even if it shouldn't, all the trouble they had caused in such a short period of time. They kept running though, never seeming to gain any ground until, Sarah's fears were finally proven true. There was no real way for either Sarah or Tom to pay attention where they were going, or of all the corridors and rooms that existed in whatever complex they were in, but after turning one too many corners they found themselves face to face with a large steel door which had the promise of leading to escape, but upon opening it they came face to face with the musty smell of the rocky underground, the complex was built into the side of a cliff.

"This isn't the escape that I was thinking Tom." She said looking down into the fading light, the cavern was only illuminated by a few dim lights, but the musty smell of dirt mixed with underground vegetation was enough to make him take a few steps back from the door.

"Well this is all we have Sarah. I didn't know we'd end up here. Neither did you."

"We can turn back?"

Tom looked back at the doors they had just barreled through and the sounds of bullets were already coming close. "No! We don't have any time, the least we can do is hid in here for a bit and then think of how we're going to get out. Sarah we don't even know where we are!"

"And we're not going to know that in there either."

The bullets began to pierce the door as Tom fired back to give them a few more seconds as Sarah watched as the guards reeled back for a moment. "Tom, I'd rather take my chances with the gun."

"Sarah I don't even know how many bullets I have left. We don't have another choice, this is our only exit. So we can either stay here and die for sure or at least take our chances down there."

"But its the dark and the cave, I just really hate this kind of dar-" The guards blasted through the doors and fired a volley to where Sarah and Tom were standing.

"We you're just going to have to get used to it now, you want to get Evan and Heather back, this is what you have to do." He grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her into the cave as he fired back at the guards and shut the steel door behind him as tight as he could. Tom knew the guards would be through the door in a few seconds, so he tried to shake the fear out of her before the guards appeared through the doors. "C'mon Sarah, there's no time to be scared right now. We just have to get some distance between ourselves and the guards." He said as they began running through the darkened pathways, illuminated only by a sliver of light shining from the dimming lights above. The faster and further they ran the sounds of the guards footsteps become quieter and quieter and as Tom and Sarah took more corridors off of the main pathway, they finally escaped into the sheer silence of the cave.

"There I think we lost them." Tom turned back down the dark rocky corridor. "Though now." He looked around him. "Damn."

Sarah leaned against the rock and took a deep breath, the musty air wreaking havoc on her lungs. "Yeah, now we're totally stuck and in the dark." She threw the keys on the ground and looked around. "We can take the same way back after a little bit. Try our luck in the prison again?"

"That's not going to work Sarah, I barely have any ammunition in this gun and its not like they're still not looking for us. We just need to keep moving forward." He patted her on the head as he walked past her. "Don't worry, we'll be out of here in no time. Mines or caves aren't dangerous, we just need to make sure we know where we're going."

"Which we don't." She laughed as she stood back up from the wall, but the laughter was just met by silence and the sound of rushing water, that filled Sarah's mind with horror. "Tom?" She stepped forward into muddy earth cautiously. "Tom, this isn't funny, where are yo-" The muddy earth immediately transformed into wet rock, with Sarah's feet flying high into the air and her butt hitting the underground waterway hard. She yelped in pain only for a moment before she felt her entire body moving forward down the slide. Sarah screamed as she tried to stop herself from falling any further, but the water was already too strong, the rocks too slippery, and good place to try and grab to hold on to, as well that Tom had probably already fallen down, she closed her eyes and continued to fall. There were no lights here as Sarah continued to slide through the dark, water jumping up at her face and her thoughts thinking that a huge rock was going to come along and decapitate her in the next second. She tried to lay as stiff as a board as the water carried her through the canyon towards the bottom of the cavern, before once again the slide brought her into the light of the mine, flung her into the air and then the horrible feeling of having no ground to even touch. Sarah was suspended in mid air and then began to fall. She screamed again, dimming light around her, not knowing what waiting for her at the bottom, rock, stalagmites that would impale her when she landed, then a splash filled her ears as her body sunk deep into the cavern water that lay at the bottom of her fall.

Sarah opened her eyes, to see a dim blue light coming from beyond the top of the water as she tried to get her bearings and began to swim up towards the surface. The slime of the water and the animals in the water sticking to her skin and making her face crawl at what might be crawling on her by now. She kept lunging for the surface of the water and when she finally broke through, flung her hair and face back to take in as much air she could, as musty as it was. Swimming towards the edge of the pool, Sarah slowly pulled her drenched body out of the cave pool and onto the muddy ground around her. Coughing up the water onto the ground she looked up at the cave around her. Strange blue bugs flew around dimming yellow lights, creating an eerie mix of lights that beckoned her deeper into the cave, looking for an escape.

"Tom?" She called out in a whisper, but there was no answer. "Tom?" Sarah's quiet echo only bounces through the empty walls of the cave. But the emptiness was just an illusion. If there were lights, there were people, and for as dim as they were, if they weren't burnt out, there were people down here recently. She knew she hadn't escaped the rebels yet, but for now, she just wanted to know that something existed in the caverns besides the creatures that her imagination was already beginning to create. Wiping the slime off of her arms and face with her shirt she started to walk down the blue corridor, her club kept at her eyes for anything that may pop up from around the corner, especially the monsters from her dreams.