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I blinked my eyes repeatedly, trying to clear up my vision since I was feeling dizzy and it was blurry. I was hearing voices around me, and they sounded a bit distant. Either that, or that were close. I couldn't tell right this very second. I moaned in pain, as my forehead was sore. I was laying on my stomach and I tried to push myself off the ground, my hands trailed the stone ground. I got up slowly, trying to stand since I was in a daze still. The voices became clear and I know that they're close. My vision became clear again and I see people all around me. From what I believe, they're other passengers of the cruise ship. I let out a gasp, realizing that we're not on the cruise ship anymore, but in a very different place.

All of us are in a big, long, wide, stone chamber that has enough room for so many people to stay in. I see torches lit on the walls on each side of the place. And I could also see a bigger light at the end of the chamber. It looked like a big, round, blue crystal of some sort, that looks really smooth. And it wasn't even small at all, it's big! Kinda about almost the size of a car! What is that thing really? And...How did we all get here? What happened on the ship?

I placed two fingers against my temple, trying to put my thoughts together. I remember that I was protecting...Emily from those....Cheetah people and there were....Dragons, too! What the hell, am I dreaming? I looked around the area, the crowd of people moving forward a bit slowly, after hearing someone telling them to get moving. They were moving toward the crystal. My mind wandered as to who was barking the order at us. I can see from where I am, that a one, dark furred cheetah person was pointing at the big crystal and he's speaking! He snarled at a middle aged woman who looked pretty petrified, "Get closer!"

I frowned at the thing. So...It can talk? I didn't think any of those creatures could talk at all. I turned my head to the right and saw a couple more cheetah people, with the same colored fur, watching us intently, making sure that not one of us...Escape. I looked at the other side of the crowd and saw a few more cheetah people over there, doing the same thing as the other two close by are. Now my mind was swirling with questions. Why? Why didn't they kill most of us? Why bring us to this place? What's going on here? And....What is this place really? And more importantly, where did those things come from and where did the dragons come from? Nothing like that exists in the world.

I moved my head back and forth in the crowd, looking for Emily. Emily! I was protecting Emily before I was knocked out! I was surrounded by several of those cheetahs and that's what happened to me. The last thing I can remember, was her scream. I put on a narrowed glare. If those things killed her, I'm gonna...I'm gonna-

I felt someone made me turn around with both hands and...I was looking in the eyes of my brother, "Mike."

Mike smiled a bit at me, and let out a sigh of relief. He said in a whisper, "Are you ok? I thought I wouldn't find you in this room."

I nodded at him, "I'm fine." I gazed around the room again, "Where's Emily? Have you seen her?"

Mike held a solemn look and shook his head, "No. Not yet."

We both gazed at the crystal, the cheetah standing near it was barking orders at the middle aged woman again, with a snarl and a thrust of his finger, "Get closer!!!" The woman yelped in fright, that really made my blood boil watching that thing do that do her. But...Why does that thing want her to get close to that big crystal?

Mike was having a curious frown at the scene, "What is that thing? ...Is that a crystal? What's going on here?" He looked at himself, "We're not even dead. So why're we here?"

I let out a sigh, "If I knew that, Mike, I wouldn't be confused, would I?" I didn't mean to make a snide remark right now, I was just scared than anything else. We're all in trouble here and Emily's nowhere to be seen right now! I hope she's ok. Me and Mike continued to watch the scene ahead, and so did everyone else. The middle aged woman tentatively made several steps towards the crystal, and it glowed brightly. The brightness of the thing was illuminating the big room, than the torches on the walls. The woman made another step at it, and all of a sudden, the crystal shot a beam at her chest. She was crying out in terror, as it appeared she was starting to disappear, right into that crystal! There was no woman standing in front of it anymore, she was gone.

Me and Mike let out a gasp, shocked at what we've saw. My god...Is that why we've been kidnapped, and not slaughtered...Because those cheetahs wanted us to get in that? I began to notice on the inside of the huge thing, I can see small, little white lights floating around inside the crystal. I'm getting a feeling that they're....Souls of other people! There's a lot of them! And that woman's probably one of them. Why is this happening? Are we gonna die anyways? But why that crystal? What's the purpose?

Well I can see that's why everyone's lined up in this room, to be inside that mysterious thing. And me and Mike will be next! We need to get out of here! I gazed at the cheetahs standing close to a wall and one of them growled at me with those glowing red eyes, "Get moving!" I looked down at his hands and saw that his claws are long and ready to strike at anything that attacks. They're prepared for anything. We need a plan, we need to get out of here. I could see a circular opening near them, that leads out of the room. If we can get through that opening, we'll get out of here. We'll probably just need to fight them to get out.

Me and Mike did what that thing said and moved forward with the crowd a bit. Then we heard a whisper near me and my brother, "Scott, Mike." We whirled around saw that Emily and her father Rick strode to us and she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. My eyes widened and I returned the hug.

I said while in our embrace, "Emily..." I formed a smile of relief upon me, "I'm glad you're ok." Emily smiled back.

Rick muttered when he gazed at the crystal, "Well, we're not exactly ok. Did you see what happened to that woman?"

Emily pulled away from our hug and said in a terrified tone with her smile went away, "Why are we here?" She waved her hand at Rick, "Me and dad just woke up here on the floor and....What's going on?"

I shook my head, melting that smile off my face, "I don't know. Me and Mike woke up here just like you."

Mike rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, they've just knocked me out." His face grimaced in pain, "My head's killing me."

Emily whispered to me, "What are we going to do?" Her face started to drain it's color, "Are we going to-"

I gripped her shoulder and looked her dead in the eye, "Emily, no. We're not going to die." I nodded to her, "We need to get out of here." I turned to Mike and Rick, "We all need to get out of here."

Mike blinked his eyes when he looked at the that opening in the room, "We need to get through that opening."

Rick nodded in agreement, "Then lets do it, there's no other way." He then added, "Unless you guys have come up with another plan." Me and Mike both shook our heads, and Rick sighed, "Then lets do it."

Before we could do anything, the same cheetah person that gave me and Mike an order to move, strode up to us with his glowing eyes and sneered with a glare, "I said get moving!" Mike was walking a bit toward it and the creature made a fighting stance with his long claws raised, "I'm warning you, get moving, or die!"

People were staring at us, at the scene we're making. Mike ignored the creature and pointed in another direction, "I see someone escaping."

I knew what Mike was doing, and the cheetah in front of him fell for the trick. He glanced at the direction, "What?! Where the-" Mike made a sharp punch across the thing's face and he slumped to the ground. He didn't see that coming. I laughed internally at this. I can't believe he'd fell for it!

The other cheetah that was standing guard saw what was happening and he screamed for more of his comrades, "We have attackers! We have-" Before he could shout again, I ran to that one and pushed that guy so hard, his back hit the wall behind him. He hit the back of his head against stone and he shouted in pain. Before he could react, Rick ran up and kneed him in the gut. When he got on his knees, clutching his gut with his hands, Rick made a slug to his head, knocking that thing down.

Mike shouted out, "Now!" Then he, along with me, Emily, and Rick, all ran out of the room through that opening, along with several other people escaping with us.

We saw some cheetahs out in the stone hallway, when we came out of that room and we ran away in another direction. The cheetahs screamed and ran after all of us, "Hey!" I was running in between Mike and Emily, running as fast as we could. My heart was pounding and the adrenaline was kicking in. We followed the path in the hallway, it was a bit dark, but not too dark since we can still see where we're going. We all rounded the corner and we all heard one person screaming behind us, apparently gotten attacked by the chasing cheetahs. Straight ahead, we saw two paths that go both directions. We had to choose either left or right.

Rick instructed when he was starting to run out of breath, "Lets go that way!" He was pointing at the direction that was left.

Mike shouted back, "Move it!" And so, me, Mike, Emily, and Rick did go left, but the other people that have escaped with us, turned off in another direction. It was only just the four of us that ran left. Well it was probably for the best, they probably wouldn't catch all of us if we'd split up. Hopefully, they can all escape from this. For about a minute of running has happened and we can see some light ahead. It looked like moonlight. I smiled in relief, thinking that we're almost out of there. But we weren't yet, we've emerged out in another hallway. Lined up along the wall of the hallway, there were several small openings that has let in the cool air and light shone through them. We weren't out of the woods yet.

We all turned around, as we can hear voices echoing through the hallway we came out of. Several more cheetahs probably went both directions to go after every escapee. And they're after us in this direction. Crap! They're coming!

Rick has bended over to his knees, wheezing, "This is intense. Now which way do we go?"

Emily gestured her hand to where we came, "We need to decide now! They're coming!'

Mike was breathing heavily too, when he pointed to the left path in this hallway, "Guys...I want all of you to go that way. That might be a way out of here."

I stared quizzically at him, breathing heavily myself, "What are you talking about? What're you doing?"

That's when he made a suggestion that completely shocked me, "I'll distract them."

Emily's eyes went wide and so did mine, "What?!" I shook my head, "No, we need to leave together!"

Mike shook his head, "No, I'll distract them. If they see that I'm the only one escaping, they'll only just come after me. It might be a better chance for you guys to escape. I'll go off in another direction and run away."

Emily shouted in disbelief, "Are you crazy?! We all have to stay together!"

He argued, "I'm not gonna let you guys die!"

I shouted at him, "You'll die yourself!" I was surprised at my own words when I said them. I hated Mike before...Several hours ago. But now...He wants to risk his life for us. I can't believe it. He...Does care. But...I love him and I don't want him to die. I shook my head and offered, "If you're staying, I'm staying too."

Emily had a fearful look when I said it "No!" She grabbed my shirt and pleaded, "Please Scott, don't!"

Rick shouted in argument, when he strolled past us to the path on the left, "We need to leave!"

Emily shouted at him, "Dad, help me convince them not to do this!"

Rick shook his head, and waved his hand back, "There's no time, we need to go now!"

Mike turned fiercely to me and replied to my offer, "No, you're going."

I was starting to have a sad look now and muttered, "But, Mike-"

He waved dismissively at me, "But nothing, bro! You have a girlfriend to take care of, I don't! She needs you and you're leaving without me!"

"But you'll die!"

"Then I'll die protecting you!"

"Mike-"

He gave me a stern look and actually explained why, "Scott, I really screwed up everything in our trip. I've ruined your life for years. I've made you feel embarrassed and miserable. I've made a lot of mistakes before, and I won't make a mistake of letting you and them die! Mom died years ago, and I'm not letting you die too!" He grabbed my shoulders and pleaded to me, "Please, Scott! You need to go! Carry on for me! There's probably a way out of here for me, but if there isn't...I want you to carry on. Be with Emily and carry on. Now go!"

I was about to have eyes filled with tears, "Mike..."

He gave my chest a shove, "Go! GO!" We can hear the cheetah's voices down the hallway now, they were getting close. We had to leave right now. I would've argued with Mike some more, but...He's right. We might have a better chance of escaping if he distracts them. I nodded meekly at him and whirled around on him, grabbing Emily's hand and dragging her along. Emily looked at Mike for another moment, but I can see in her eyes that arguing with him won't stop him from doing this. Me and her ran to Rick and we ran off together, hearing Mike taunting at the chasing cheetahs, "Come and get me, assholes!" I turned my head to look behind me and I saw that Mike's plan worked and the cheetahs are chasing him in another direction. Not chasing us at all. They're all focusing on Mike.

I shut my eyes tight for a moment, before opening them back up and still dashed with my girlfriend's hand in mine. Mike...I forgive you. The three of us ran with our hearts out and when we rounded another corner, we saw the wooden double doors at the end of this hallway. The three of us ran into the door, but it didn't open. Rick groaned and instructed me, "We need to ram this thing together. Ready?"

I nodded at him, "Ready."

Rick shouted, "Alright, now!" Then we used our shoulders to ram ourselves to the door, but didn't open. We did it again, more harder than the first time, but didn't break and open still. Rick shouted this, "Again!" We rammed into the door about three more times, the wood cracking a bit with each force, until finally we broke through it. The cool night air greeted us as we've emerged out of the place. We were now free and out in open ground. From what we can see outside, there are several tall, leaf filled trees and they're everywhere outside this place.

Emily proclaimed in relief, "We're out!" Then she cheered, but then we heard something up in the sky, that made our blood turn cold. I gasped and looked up to see a dragon flying in the sky. It seemed to have spotted us down below. The dragon flew downward and actually blew a thing stream of fire at us. Emily shrieked and I pulled her away in time, before the flames could hit her.

Rick ran into the woods, along with me and his daughter, "Run!!!" And we were running. Running past several trees and we can hear several wing flaps from the dragon above. Roaring at us like we were prey. The dragon then blew some more fire down at us, the bright orange flames going through the tree branches and almost hitting us. I can feel the heat coming from it behind us. I looked up and saw several tree limbs that are on fire now, the leaves falling off of them. The dragon then decided to go through the canopy, crashing through several limbs and crash land on it's paws behind us. Now roaring in announcement that it's giving us chase on foot. Me and Emily screamed our heads off.

I screamed, "Keep moving!" The evil scaly monster behind us roared again, and I looked over my shoulder, to see that while it was padding fast after us, it's snout appeared to have smoke billowing in it. My eye widened in realization that it's going to breathe fire again! I pulled Emily aside and screamed toward Rick, running through the bushes and trees, instead of running on the path between them, "This way!" Rick turned with us as well, before the dragon spurted flames through it's mouth again. It did and those flames barely hit Rick by an inch!

Emily was breathing heavily, wheezing pretty loudly, but we had to keep moving. We shouldn't stop until that thing's not behind us. And speaking of the dragon, we looked back and saw that the dragon's still trying to give chase. God, that thing wasn't giving up! I shouted out, "It's still chasing us!"

Rick replied, "I know!" He ducked below a tree branch after the reply. We were still running through several bushes and dodging several low tree limbs, not stopping at all. We were starting to sweat with fear and adrenaline. The dragon was roaring still, but as it turned out in these thick woods, we were faster than the thing. It was having a bit of a hard time treading through them. We can hear that thing still crashing through the tree limbs and what not, but we didn't look back. Me and Emily rounded past a tree and ran close with Rick. Sweat was dripping down his forehead. I looked around the woods as we kept running, trying to figure out where are we going. But they all just looked the same.

Then I looked back finally, to see that the dragon's not close behind us. It must've slowed down because it probably lost sight of us, judging by how fast we were going. We must've outrun it! But it's probably not going to stop coming after us. It'll start searching for our hides. We need to keep moving and find a place to hide. I said through a wheeze, feeling that my chest's about to burst, "I think we've lost it."

Emily's blonde hair was flowing back and forth with each running step she took, she was breathing heavily still, in fact, we all were. Rick said, still running out of breath, "We need to keep moving."

I nodded at that, "Right." We didn't let up, we slowed down our running to now jogging. There was no need to sprint now, since the dragon's gone. And we need to get as far away from the cheetahs and that place as possible. The moonlight shined barely through the canopy, giving us a bit of light around here. We jogged for god only knows how long, and me and Emily still in toll, ran around a thick bush. The three of us stopped finally, I think we're far away now, but I don't know how far really. It really felt like a long time and my legs were aching in pain. My chest was hurting still, with my heart pounding hard in my chest, it was somewhat making me hard to breathe.

Rick found a rock to sit on and sat down, taking a break finally, looking up at the canopy, "Whew....I've never ran that much exercise in a long time."

I chuckled as I've bend over to my knees and was wheezing over and over again, "Y-Yeah...Me too. This is worse than dong track in school!"

Emily turned around to look back, with a bit of a worried look on her face, "Do you think we've totally lost it?"

Rick turned his gaze to that direction she was gazing at, "I'm sure we did. We haven't heard that thing for a while." He shrugged his shoulders, "Guess the woods were too thick for that thing, and it just finally gave up." Then he looked up at the trees again, "Or, perhaps it backtracked and took flight in the sky."

My brain clicked at the thought. Crap, it probably is! Maybe it's flying around now and it's searching for us from up in the air. I don't want to think too much about it now, I'm too tired and worn out to think! I turned to Emily and said to her, "Lets find a good place to hide for tonight. And then...We'll figure out what to do in the morning."

Emily was shaking her head with tears coming to her eyes, "I-...I'm scared." I hugged her tight and she buried her face into my chest, sobbing loudly. Then she cried out, "Oh, Mike."

That's when I was thinking about Mike now. Mike....He...We just left him, so he'd distract them. We just left him alone. Is he...Is he...? I hope Mike's not dead. But a part of me is saying that maybe he is. If there wasn't a way for him to escape while distracting them, then....Oh Mike. I was crying too, since thinking about him was making me shed tears as well. Oh Mike...Why did it have to come to this? You just did all that stuff for us. I can't believe that you still did that.

Mike....I'm sorry. I should've gave you another chance sooner. You did care about us...Cared about me.

Rick got up from the rock and muttered, when he came towards us, "Come on, guys. We have to find a place to rest." With a sniff and a wipe of my tears off my eyes, I looked at Rick and nodded. I let go of Emily and with both of us sniffing our noses loudly, we treaded through the woods still. Looing for a place to hide for the night now. Only hoping that nothing evil would finds us in hiding. Me, Emily, and Rick walked on and on, until he pointed at a tree ahead. That tree seemed climbable and it seems that we can hide in those thick branches. For any cheetah to not find us, and maybe a dragon wouldn't find us in that tree from up in the air. Lets just hope that it's not walking around, because it might find us on foot. Giving by how tall that thing is.

My thoughts were on the dragon, as we've gotten close to that tree. God that thing was freakin scary. First several dragons were flying above the cruise ship, and now I've gotten chased by one out here. I don't know which was worse. The walking, two legged cheetahs, or the big, flying, scaly dragons...I'm going to go with dragons! All three of us climbed up on the tree, without saying a word. Until we finally stopped after we climbed a bit high above the ground. Rick was laying his back against the tree on one tree branch, while me and Emily were sitting close together in another one. I wrapped my arm around her, holding her tight in comfort. Emily laid her head on my shoulder, as exhaustion was getting to her finally. I think, it's getting to me too, and so with only a small amount of worry, I slowly closed my eyes. Silently praying that nothing finds us here.

My thoughts went to Mike again. Mike....

*****

After Scott, Emily, and Rick ran off together down the hallway, I was waving both my hands in the air and taunted the cheetahs that I can see now, "Come and get me, assholes!" My eyes widened at how many glowing red eyes that I saw. There appeared to be about fifty of them! Before they could reach where I stood, my plan to distract them came forth. I ran off in another direction, making sure they're chasing me instead of my brother, with Emily and Rick. Guys...I hope you can escape from here. Please don't let it be for nothing.

I made a turn around the corner of the hallway and kept moving, with my arms pumping, hearing the cheetahs angrily shouting at me, "Get back here!" Yeah, fat chance at that! I ran as hard as I could, not daring to look back at my pursuers. I breathed so hard and fast, I was wheezing. My shaggy brown hair was shaking back and forth with sweat dripping down my forehead. I saw an opening in the stone wall and went through it, and found myself in a small room, filled with barrels. I saw another opening across the room, but then an idea came to me. I glanced at a group of barrels nearby and hurled myself over and ducked behind them. I can hear the voices and the movements of the cheetahs running through the room, still thinking they're chasing after me. I heard them running through the other opening at the other side of the room. They never bothered to look around in here, my hiding spot worked! I chuckled quietly to myself. Suckers!

I peered over the barrels, seeing the shadow of the last of them disappearing past the next opening. They were all gone, for now. Now was my chance to move. I moved out from behind the barrels and stood in the middle of the room. I can see that there are other two openings in this room that I didn't get a chance to see in a rush of things. I'm trying to decide on which one do I need to use. Then I heard something scrape from the other barrels in the room and I frowned at them. I asked out loud, "Who's there?"

Then I saw a person coming out from hiding, and it was a familiar person. I beamed at her, "Gabby."

Gabby smiled back at me and came around the barrels to meet me, "Mike." She wrapped me in a hug and giggled, "I'm glad you've made it."

I chuckled and held her tight, "Barely." Then I remembered that Barry died during the attack on the ship and sighed, "Gabby....Barry-"

Gabby pulled away and held a sad look, "I know. I saw it."

I felt some pity for her and muttered, "I'm...I'm sorry. I've tried my best and-"

She was waving her hand at me, "Don't be sorry. You did your best." Then she had a look of determination, "But we can't ponder on losses now, we have to get out of here. I was with several other people, but they didn't make it. I'm the only one."

I nodded in agreement, "You're right, we need to go."

Before I could grab her hand and take her to one of the openings to use, she stopped me, "Mike, I think I know how."

I wrinkled my face at her, "What?"

She was digging into something in her pocket, "I haven't used this yet, since I was busy running away." She pulled something out and held it out for me, "But I managed to grab this, before I ran away from that chamber."

I looked at her hand and saw that she has some kind of....Stone. A small white stone. I asked her in confusion, "Why did you grab that?"

Gabby explained with a small smile, "That was how those cheetah creatures got on board the ship out of nowhere. In a flash of white. I think they were using these stones to transport on the ship. I saw one of them use it and disappeared. I managed to grab one of them and run away."

Hmm...A stone that'll transport you to some place. Guess, that really explains how the cheetahs got aboard the ship. And...It's magic white stones. This is really surprising. She said with a happy glee, "We can use this, Mike."

Well...I guess I don't see why not. I nodded in agreement, "Alright, then lets use it."

But before she could do anything, one cheetah came back from his cronies and spotted us alone. He gasped, looked behind him and cupped a hand to his mouth to holler for his lackeys, "I found two of them!"

Damn it! Then in an instant, the cheetah ran into the room right at us. Gabby, when she heard the voice, managed to shove the stone back into her pocket and screamed when the cheetah ran at her, with his arm and hand raised, ready to strike at her with those long claws. He brought it down hard, but Gabby dodged away in time, and he only swung at air. The tip of the claws made a few sparks when they've barely scraped at the stone ground. Before he can recover, I pushed that cheetah so hard, he'd tumbled over the barrels with a look of surprise, knocking them over. Then I looked at the opening where that cheetah came from, and saw several shadows moving along the walls. There's more coming!

I grabbed Gabby's hand, and we ran to one of the openings in the room, "Run!" She screamed, and not a moment to lose, several cheetahs appeared in the room and started chasing us down. God, I don't know how long I can keep up with the whole running thing! Me and Gabby ran around a corner and kept moving, hearing the cheetahs angrily shouting at us. We were both running up some stone steps, being careful with how fast we're running, not to trip and fall on one of them.

I saw on the top of the steps that there's a wooden door, and both of us went through it. Now we're standing outside, and we appeared to be standing on the wall that surrounds this place. Apparently, this is some kind of stone fortress and we're on the wall. I looked down at one side of the wall, seeing a courtyard down below, with several people being chased by cheetahs down there. I had time to look down at the other side of the wall, seeing a vast forest on the other side. That's our way out! But we can't jump off of here, it's too far of a jump! I can hear the cheetahs using the steps to catch up to us, and I slammed the door on them, screaming at Gabby still, "Run for it!" She nodded and we kept moving along the top of the wall.

Then we heard a roar up in the sky and to my shock, it's a dragon flying. It flapped it's wings repeatedly, hovering in the air, and made another earth shaking roar. Gabby shouted at the sight, "It's a dragon! How is all this possible?!"

The dragon started to descend down to us and I responded to her, "Don't know, but it's coming!" The dragon was getting close with those claws extended, ready to kill us with them. I cried out, "Duck!" Me and Gabby ducked down to the ground before the dragon could do that and it flew over and past us with another flap of it's wings. Taking back to the skies again. Me and her recovered a moment later and saw that the cheetahs got through the door we went through and are giving chase to us still. Me and Gabby kept running, not looking back. The dragon made another sweep among the dark sky and I was looking up at it. I can see that the maw of the dragon was filled with smoke. It's going to breathe fire at us!

But it wasn't a big stream of fire it was about to spit out of it's mouth, but it actually formed a fireball and spitted it out. It was flying real fast at us, and we barely managed to run fast along the wall to dodge it. I looked back and saw the cheetahs chasing us, stop where they're at to watch the show. The fireball made a big blast behind us and one part of the wall crumpled. Several parts of the wall that was made of hard stone, crashed to the ground, and me and Gabby were about to go down with it! I grunted when I made a jump to the part of the wall that wasn't going down. But Gabby wasn't so lucky. She didn't jump in time, and fell down with it with a scream. I landed on my feet and heard her, letting out a gasp and whirled around, "Gabby!!!" I was standing near the edge of the part destroyed wall and saw Gabby hanging on the side of it. She was holding on for dear life. She was still far from the ground, if she'd let go, she'll fall and die. I can see that there's nothing for her to climb back up to me, she needs my help!

I got onto my stomach, and reached out to her, "Here, take my hand!"

Gabby cried out with tears in her eyes, "I can't, you're too far!" She was right, she was out of my hand's reach. I can't get to her. Damn it!

I shook my head and said, "I'm not leaving you! Hold on!"

But I see that she's starting to slip, and she cried in horror, "I can't, I'm slipping!"

"Gabby, hang on!" I was trying my best to push myself a bit further over the broken wall, up to my waist, so I can reach her with my hand. There wasn't any rope or anything, and there was no time to look for it. Even if I was like this, I still couldn't reach her. She's still too far out of reach. I can hear the dragon flying overhead, not to mention the cheetahs might show up on the other side of the destructed part of the wall with me pretty soon, but I didn't care about that. I had to save Gabby. Hang on, I'll get you!

Gabby begged me, much to my shock, "Mike, you have to go!"

"No, hold on!"

"Mike, you can't save me! If you stay, we'll both die! Please, save yourself!"

I shook my head, not accepting it, "No! I'm not leaving you!" I stretched my arm as far as I could, but it was no use. Still couldn't reach her. Come on! There has to be a way!

Gabby, while still holding on to the broken wall with one hand, dug into her pocket with her other hand and pulled out the white stone. She held it tight in a fist, "Mike, take the stone! You need it!"

"But Gabby-"

Gabby was slipping some more and she pleaded me, "Mike, please! You have to save yourself! You can't save me, but save yourself! Take the stone! All you have to do is smash it and you're out of here!" Then without further ado, she threw the white stone at me and I barely caught it in mid air. That was a lucky catch. Gabby screamed to me with tears falling down her eyes, "Save yourself!" Then finally her hands slipped and she fell down off the wall.

I screamed, "NOOOOOO!!!" She screamed all the way down, until her body hit the ground to her death. I screamed repeatedly at myself, smacking my hand in frustration at the stone floor I'm laying on in failure of saving her, "No! No! Oh god, NO!" Shit! No!

I looked down at Gabby far down below. Now pretty much just a corpse. I was afraid I would break down in tears now for her. I...I didn't save her. Damn it, I didn't save her! I glanced at the stone in my hand. She gave it to me...To save myself. I let out a sigh and pulled myself away from the edge of the broken wall and got up on two feet. Then...I'll use it. I need to get out of here. I won't let Gabby's death be for nothing. Scott would want me to do it. I heard wings flapping again and looked up to see it circling overhead. Seeing that I'm the only person who has survived the blast on the wall. I glared at it. Damn you.

Then I saw that the cheetahs emerged from the other door that'll lead me out of the wall, and they were on their way to me. Flashing red eyes at me. I looked up and saw the dragon getting ready to attack me again. With the broken part of the wall behind me and the cheetahs coming at me from the front, I was trapped. I held the stone in my hand, thinking about using it. I remembered Gabby's words. I have to smash it to the ground and then I'm out of here!

So I have to do that? Well it would get me out of here, but would it take me back to Ft. Lauderdale? Or take me some place else? I don't know how to use it real well, but I have to use it now! I snarled at myself, as the cheetahs were closing in on me, "I don't care anymore! Take me anywhere!" And with that, I raised it above my head and threw down at the ground, smashing it into pieces. Then not a second ended and a big, bright flash of white surrounded me, and the cheetahs stopped running toward me and stared in shock. They were about a few feet away from me. Then they all disappeared and so did the background around me. Everything was just white.

I was just standing there, feeling nervous and scared. Now what's going to happen? Then before I could think of anything else, the background came back in front of me and it was different than where I was. I was now in a different place, not in the stone fortress now. But before I could look at it for too long, my feet only felt air and I was falling, "AAAAAHHHHHH-Oof!" I only fell a few feet and landed on the ground and started rolling down a hill. Everything started to feel cold and wet as I was rolling still. I grunted and grunted, until with my feet, I've finally stopped myself from rolling anymore, now lying on my back. I breathed heavily, looking up at the night sky, laying there for only a minute. I raised my head off the ground slowly, and looked around the new area I'm in now. I see that the stone really had took me to a new place. All around me, the ground was covered in white and from where I'm at, down the hill, there's a cliff at the end of the hill, which I'm glad I've stopped myself in time to not fall off, and there were several more cliffs after that and...I can see that I'm very far up from the ground. Like I'm on a mountain of some sort. Is this where I am? A mountain?

I rose my hand off the ground and saw that the reason why the ground felt cold and wet, is because there's snow. I'm on a snow capped mountain!

I groaned to myself as I was getting up from the snow covered ground, feeling pretty wet and cold now. I was shivering too. Well, talk about a place to wind up in. I breathed heavily, my teeth were about to chatter, and holding my hands and arms close to my torso. The very cold wind blew hard against me, and I can barely hear anything, because it's loud. I shivered some more and rubbed my arms roughly for warmth. Man...This is rough. Now what do I do? I'm in a mountain now.

I...I need to get out of here. I'll catch my death up here. So with that thought, I got up on my own two feet and shivered again, pretty much just shaking now. I rose one foot at a time from the snow, walking down the hill and to the edge of the cliff. I looked down and appeared shocked to see how high I really am to another cliff. Don't want to fall off here. I saw a trail away from the cliff and decided to follow it. Hoping that I can find someway to get down from here.