BOOM! Death and uhoh.

“I feel alive,” said Jake as he stretched out on the couch and got comfortable.

Ali looked at him a little confused and said, “What do you mean by alive?” She had walked in from the kitchen. They had just eaten and she was cleaning up.

Matthew had already gone to shower and get into bed.

Jake yawned and looked at his watch. He was a little shocked at how early it was and said, “Well you know I was dead. Cathy brought me back and for some weird reason when you came around it just made me feel more alive.”

Ali had looked at Jake before because that is what she did when someone talked. But she had not realized, until right then, that Jake was right. He was more alive. His skin tone had changed, she does not know when, from a pale to a lively tan tone.

“That could explain why you were shaking all over the ground like you were,” said Ali remembering that Marc did it too. “And Marc.” She came into the living room and sat down in one of the chairs. She took in a deep breath and said, “Wow this is interesting.”

“Very,” said Jake. “I was dead. I came back under a magical spell and you broke the spell. You defied Cathy’s magic. Nothing that I know of can do that.”

“I don’t know of anything either,” said Ali looking off into space.

“Well you know yourself and you did it,” said Jake. He closed his eyes.

Ali nodded, “This would be true. I do know myself. But I didn’t know that I had the ability to defy magic.”

“People learn new talents,” said Jake as he rolled over and went to sleep.

Ali took the hint and got up out of her chair. She walked back towards her bedroom when she saw a blinking red light in the computer room. She walked in and awoke her computer to check out what was going on. She saw that there was some sort of commotion at Jeff’s place. Cathy must be causing some sort of issue there. She continued to read the reports that were pouring in and apparently Jeff had gone to sleep earlier than he had intended and the person to blame was Cathy.

She yawned. They had reached Relationship City and they were all tired and they all decided to get sleep. This new found information does not alter that decision. She could barely stay focused enough to read the rest of the reports. She decided to just get up and go to bed. The information she just read was important but it was not like it could not wait until the morning. She headed to bed.

Aron had leaked gas out of his body and everyone had fallen to the ground paralyzed. His hand was forced. He had gathered the bodies and placed them up against the far wall. He had propped them all up so that they could see him as he talked to them and explain to them what it was that he was to do. Nate, Jordan, Steph, Kayla, and Brianna sat against the wall in a line. Their hands were tied behind their backs. He had tied Liz and Haxot together and placed them closer to everyone else. He had gathered samples from both of them and was looking the virus over.

Aron sat on a chair and was looking at the samples he had taken. He said, “Looks like Haxot is further along than Liz. I don’t understand that. Meaning,” he said as he pointed a finger in the air, “she’s going to be the first to blow up.”

There was no gasp or any sort of reaction from anyone in the group because they were unable to do that the gas paralyzed them. They just sat there and all they could do was hear him talk to them and occasionally see him.

“I’m full of surprises,” said Aron. “My body may have been fused together with this suit but I’m capable of much more than people realized…as you can see by your circumstances. I’m going to find a cure to this Bobo Virus and that will be that. I will not share it. How kind of me right? Well I think so. It doesn’t matter. Daniel will be gaining power any moment now and I’ll put in a bad word for all of you.” He then pushed off against the desk where he was and rolled across the floor closer to all of them and mockingly said, “Aww no response? Does the cat have your tongues? No. I do.” He laughed.

Haxot gave no warning. She exploded. The noise of her body ripping apart was deafening and the force of her body exploding was extreme. The shockwave hit everyone. The only person that screamed was Aron for he was knocked out of his chair and hit the door hard. Chunks of Haxot dripped off his face. His ears rang. His body was sore even if the amount of armored protection he had.

Everyone else that was against the wall was shoved into the wall. Cracks formed around the imprints of their bodies. There was no screaming from them because they were incapable of doing so. Liz’s body was thrown into another wall head first. Blood would have been everywhere if she were alive like everyone else. Her undead status protected her from totally feeling the explosion as she could have.

Aron looked around the room and could only see in double vision. He tried to get up but slid back down against the door. He felt the door vibrate. At first he thought it was just because he hit it as he was trying to get up, but it continued to happen and then he realized someone was trying to get in.

Aron then saw a black portal opening in the middle of the room. He tried to focus on who it was but he felt his brain just give out. His head fell to one side and he closed his eyes.

“They are in there,” said Lindsey to Usul and Abby.

They had ran into each other as Lindsey and Bri were forcing Kurt to walk back towards the Infirmary as their prisoner. Bri was keeping him from escaping physically and Lindsey was making sure he was not planning on leaving via her telepathy. They almost made it to the Infirmary but Usul and Abby suddenly appeared because Usul was using his ability to cast illusions.

“Ok,” said Usul as he tried to open the door but it did not work. “How does the door work?”

Lindsey pushed Kurt forward and said, “Open it.”

Usul and Abby had been informed of what Kurt had done by Lindsey and her telepathy. She quickly brought them up to snuff on what he had done and what they had went through with Daniel.

Kurt hit several buttons on the panel that was next to the door and nothing happened. The door stayed shut. He turned and said, “It’s not working. Someone must have altered the code.”

“Or you’re lying,” said Usul.

Lindsey forced herself, painfully, into Kurt’s head. Kurt groaned under the pain she caused. She then said, “No he’s telling the truth.” She let his brain go and he stood upright again.

“Try going underneath,” said Usul.

Kurt flattened himself and tried to slide under the door but could not. Something was blocking him from making it. He came back to normal form and said, “Something is blocking me.”

“What is going on,” Abby asked.

“Magic,” said Bri. “Cathy must have been by here.” Her red hair waved about. She pushed Kurt out of the way with her hair and then the hair went for the door and tried to force it open. It did not budge. She hit the door with her hair in anger and it vibrated but still nothing.

“Great,” said Usul, “we are right here and we cannot do anything. We cannot even get inside.”

“Yes we can,” said Lindsey. “Watch Kurt,” she said telepathically to everyone but Kurt. She moved to the door and melted into the shadow that was on one of the doors.

“Whoa,” said Usul, “that’s freaky cool.”

Cathy dodged Daniel as his fist flew towards her face. He was growing angrier with each miss. He goaded her though with, “I’m still not dead.” He would add his very dashing smile and he hopped that would gnaw at her insides.

Cathy’s hands glowed with hex energy. She lifted her hands and would fire and would hit Daniel across the face and sometimes miss. This last time she dodged his fist knowing that all it would take was once and she was in for a world of pain she possibly could not imagine. She was also trying to figure out how to get inside the chamber with Jeff and pull the scepter out of his hands.

Adin was trying to be careful and not destroy anything in the Jeff’s chamber. But he was growing tired of Anarchist’s ability to maneuver about the room and hit him with fire power. Of course the fire power was not harming him it was just annoying like a fly pestering someone during their picnic. He did try to swat him like a fly. It was not working.

“Looks like you’re a bit frustrated,” said Anarchist as fired a few rounds of bullets at Adin’s head. He would shoot around the head hopefully the sparks would be bright enough to temporarily blind him and Anarchist would have moments to get out of the way. Then Anarchist had an idea.

He rolled on the ground fast enough to get out of Adin’s aim and directly in aim with Cathy. He fired and hit Cathy right in the leg. She fell to the ground screaming in pain. He then said, “Switch.”

Daniel charged and hit Adin right in the gut with his shoulder and slammed him into the wall. The wall cracked under the pressure and Adin did one of the stupidest things he could have done: he hit Daniel as hard as possible. Daniel’s body absorbed the kinetic energy and he started to feel incredibly better.

He smiled and looked at Adin and said, “You’re every bit as dumb as people have said you drunk idiot.” He pulled back his fist and hit Adin as hard as possible right in the chest. Adin broke through the wall and did not lose momentum. Daniel did not even take notice where Adin was to stop. He turned around to give his attention to Cathy.

Anarchist stood over her with his gun pointed directly at her face. He said, “Move and I’ll paint the floor the color Cathy. I’m sure Jeff would not mind that your mind was opened up on his floor. Considering that would be a first for your mind…you know…to be open.” He laughed at his self made joke.

She did not respond. Her leg was hurting because of the bullet. Anarchist took care to hit her flesh leg instead of the metal one. Smart bastard.

Daniel motioned Anarchist to move away from Cathy. He then bent down and picked up Cathy’s neck with one hand. He lifted her up off the ground as her hands went up trying to remove his hand. He looked her directly in the eyes and said, “Tell Darph he’s welcomed.”

He squeezed her neck cutting off the air she needed to stay alive. She saw Daniel and when she blinked Darph had taken his place. She took a breath and blinked again and there was Daniel. She blinked and then saw Darph who was now laughing. She breathed and blinked and saw Daniel who winked.

“Going in and out are you?” Daniel asked. “Soon it’ll be the end of the road.”

She could not think of anything. She could not even think of how to win. She had failed just as was predicted. She could not hold on any more. Her neck went limp.

Daniel shook her a bit. He then slapped her face hard and when she still did not move he tossed her body against a wall and said, “Let’s get what we came for.”

Andy slowly got up. He heard a loud noise.

“Do you hear that,” Dill asked. “It sounds like someone is breaking through walls.”

Right when she finished her sentence the wall shattered in slow motion. She saw Adin’s back as it moved right for her. She could not scream for Andy to move out of the way in time. She was squished up against Andy’s head and Adin’s back and she felt as if she would not survive from the pressure.

Adin only felt Adin’s back as it propelled him, without stopping Adin, into the next wall which they broke through as they did the next wall and the wall after that until they came to rest on the ground. Adin lay on top of Andy whose last thought, before his brain decided to check out again, was how he always fantasized about being underneath Adin just not in such a manner as he found himself at that moment.

“We cannot stay here,” said Mat as he rolled on the floor but did not get up off the floor. “I feel so ill. But we cannot stay here.”

“What do you think we should do,” said Cudmore who had lost more hair which could be seen strewn all over the floor. “We are weak. We stand no chance of leaving and living.”

“Staying in this dark house is not a choice I’m willing to make,” said Mat with defiance that made him sound well. Until he followed it up with, “My eyes feel like they are going to fall out of my face.”

“If you don’t move that much,” said Josiah, “you’ll feel fine.” He was still on the couch. He had not moved.

Cudmore said, as angry as he could, “No one cares for your opinion.”

“Allow them to come to the decision on their own,” said Josiah.

“Oh like you lead me on,” said Cudmore. “I think people deserve to be told when they are being lied to and so far nothing you’ve ever said has been remotely true. You must lie so much you even fool yourself into believing you.” He coughed and then he tried to breath in a controlled fashion. The anger was not helping his condition.

Josiah did not reply.

“You better not say anything either,” said Cudmore, “because I’ve decided I’ll use my last bit of strength to rid the world of you if you do. I’m beyond mad at you and your death, at this point, wouldn’t even make me feel bad especially if it was at my own hand.”

“Brutal,” said Mat.

Mike would make grunt noises but never to the extent of conversation. His pain was too much too to bother with trying to communicate.

“So I guess we’re just staying here,” said mat as he sounded disappointed.

“Yes,” said Cudmore. “We wait for someone to cure us. That’s all we can do.”

“But that’s not how it’ll happen,” Josiah said under his breath.

The dinning table had been cleared of everything and made sterile so that Josh could be placed upon it. He lies there not moving and barely breathing. Twelve scanned him to see if he could figure out what was going on and why he had passed out. According to what they knew the egg was keeping him healthy so why would he all the sudden pass out if that were the case?

Twelve scanned him and when Thomas arrived, first by the way, he helped Twelve by making sure there were no other reasons as to why Josh was not waking up other than the egg.

JJ looked on with Bat, Dustin, Korey, Kel and Dub_.

Kenny was talking with the Comrades. They were sitting down on the couches that they had to clean off. They removed most of the dust and sat and chatted while they waited to hear about Josh.

James was hitting on Clancy, as he always seemed to do, and Clancy was just brushing him off with laughter and teasing no’s but nothing totally defiant as if he was trying to lead him on. James went on to tell him how he thought Mat was hot and how his friend Derek was hotter. He even made mention of an idea of forming a group with them and he wanted to call it the Holy Tramps.

Gray was talking with Chris and Wade. They started talking about nerd things that only they would totally understand. They were amusing one another while at the same time taking their minds off of Josh.

Kimmy was talking to Sara and Meg about girl things. Kimmy decided to tell Meg about how she knows she’s pregnant. They talked about how dumb boys were and how she was going to explain it to Chris who still avoided talking to her though he stated he wanted to.

Adrian was in the kitchen talking to Dan who was trying to cook something with things that he and Tina had got from the store. Adrian was sniffing all the smells of the food in hopes that he would get some sort of scrap but Dan was not giving him anything until it was all done, even though Adrian made the puppy face. Dan laughed and still said no.

JJ breathed out. “This has been a day. I’m tired.”

“The go to bed,” said Bat. “Take a nap. We’ll wake up you up if anything happens with Josh.”

“Or not,” said Dustin. “He might die and we might have to dispose of the body and if that is the case we don’t need to wake you because I’ve already planned that out in my mind.”

He snickered to himself. No one else did. But he continued until he got the snickers out.

“What could happen,” Kel asked. “I mean what is the worst?”

“Lurkers are bad,” said Dub_. “They’ll implant an egg in you and it’ll take over your body and then transform you into one of them and after that it’s next to impossible to revert.”

“Has anyone ever been reverted?” Kel asked looking at Dub_.

Dub_ said, “No.”

“Then why did you say it was next to impossible,” JJ asked.

“Because I believe it’s possible even thought it hasn’t happened yet,” said Dub_.

Twelve walked over to JJ and the rest of the group and said, “There.Is.Bad.News.And.

There.Is.Horrible.Deathly.News.Of.The.Two.Which.Is.Your.Preference.”

Darph held his fist up in the air. Cathy hanged in the air and did not move. He smiled. He then said, “Welcome to the both of you.”

Cathy said, “Both?”

Darph raised his other fist and then slowly opened it. Cathy screamed as her body was forced into a spread eagle. Her leg and the side of her face started to pull away from the rest of her body. There was a tare noise that would even make the hard of heart close their eyes in fear of what they would see.

He lowered the half alive Cathy and then said, “Say hello Cathy.”

Cathy’s eyes were the only thing she could move and she looked over but could not say anything.

“Hello Cathy I thank you for keeping me protected like a shell to a chick,” said Hexer. “You were a worthy shell of a person.”