The shabby hut was quiet now, except for Matt's sniffles and Jess' sobs. Katie and Kyle both remained silent, but for different reasons.

Katie thought about her family, the ones that she'd taken for granted and was kicking herself over it. Out of anyone, she should have known better than to not appreciate things to their fullest. Look at her Dad. She'd always assumed he'd be there, on her case, forcing her to do homework and sign up for extracurricular activities. But one day had changed that forever.

She then turned her thoughts to the group that surrounded her. She'd been going to the same schools as them now for over ten years but until recently, hadn't even said a word to them. Taken as individuals, none of them were the type that she'd ever imagine herself voluntarily hanging out with, and she imagined that the others felt the same way about her. But something about this weekend, and this whole search they'd undertaken had been a breath of fresh air for her. Instead of wasting her time messing around with people she didn't even like (and that was before she knew they were psychotic killers) she could have been bonding with truly great people all along.

It was so typical that she'd only realise this when they were all about to be killed.

"Umm . . . guys?" She said hoarsely, bringing everyone's attention to her. "You know that I hate all this serious talk . . . but umm . . . I just wanna say that these last few days have been a lot of fun. I mean, they've been terrifying, of course, but it's been great to just hang out with people who are . . . actually my friends. I know that sounds lame as shit . . . but I just wanted to say it."

"Don't worry, Katie. I feel the same way," Jess said after swallowing another lump in her throat. "I always wanted an adventure like this. I just didn't know it until I met you guys. I just wish it wasn't so . . ."

"Terrible?" Matt suggested. "I should've known it was those guys. I should've told the police everything!"

"We did, Matt. Remember?" Katie sighed. "There's no point beating yourself up about this. We all did everything we could. Unless one of you expected to be surrounded by a murderous cult? Cause then you really dropped the ball! Assholes."

Despite the situation they found themselves in, they all managed to laugh a little at her joke.

Was this a sign of madness?

Continuing the theme, Jess then said "If we do somehow get out of this then I'm going to need some new jeans 'cause these ones are ruined!"

"Do you think anyone knows? That we're in trouble, I mean?" Matt asked.

Like Katie, he was now thinking of his own family. Sure, it was a little messed up right now but he really couldn't see how it had gotten that way. Despite whatever his brother might eventually claim, their parents had been great to them both and were always as supportive as possible with whatever they were doing. Matt had listened to some of his current company talk about how their parents had tried to change them or force them into a certain direction in life. But that had never been the case for him. His parents loved him for exactly who he was and now he wouldn't get a chance to tell them how much that truly meant to him. Now they were going to lose a second son.

"We all had pretty solid alibis," Katie argued.

"Yeah, and with no cell service, they'll just think that we're ignoring them," Jess agreed. "I can just hear my mom now, "That damn Jessica is having another little mood swing! Jeff, have a word with your daughter!""

Once again they all chuckled away. It was incredible to them, how they'd all never stopped until now to think how much fun life was on its own. Without any added drama. Just laughing at their parents or themselves was enjoyable enough to reminisce on. Why had they tried so hard to ignore it?

And speaking of ignoring, Jess looked at Kyle who was still silently brooding in the corner. She'd known him for years and yet, like Katie, had barely spoken to him recently. She had been so focussed on getting a boyfriend that she fell for the first guy who'd had the courage to step up and talk to her. Plenty had given her attention, and crushed on her from afar, this much she knew, but Duncan was the only one to actually do something about it.

He might have been an ass but she had to give him credit for that, she suppsed.

Meanwhile, Kyle had been there the whole time and he'd never changed from that kid from the neighbourhood. She'd never thought of it as a bad thing, but only now she realised that it was great that he hadn't changed. Finally she'd found a boy who she felt real butterflies for, and who felt the same for her. This wasn't a crush based on status, this was personal.

And just like Romeo and Juliet who she'd been reading about in English, they were both going to die before their lives together had even started.

"Kyle, are you ok?" She asked, not remembering if she'd already done so. She knew the answer was obviously no, but she wanted to hear him say anything at this point.

"Yeah I'm here," He grunted. Having sat in silence for so long, his dehydrated throat had almost sealed shut, straining his voice. "I'm sorry guys."

"What for? This was my wild goose chase!" Matt snapped.

"What did I just say?" Katie groaned. "God . . . why does everyone want to take the blame all the time? You'd all be shit spies!"

For the third time in as many minutes, they all laughed, including Kyle this time.

"No, you don't understand," Kyle said after the giggling fit had faded away. "I'm sorry for not getting to know you all before now. I was too busy being the soccer guy to realise that just because I was forced to be on the same team as some people, it doesn't mean I have to be friends with them. But you guys . . . we're a real team."

"Preach it, sister!" Katie called, bringing out the biggest laugh of all.

Unfortunately, it was also the shortest, as the door to the hut swung open once more, silencing them. A hollow looking figure stood, only just being lit by the beam of moonlight now as the Earth had changed its position. The kids hadn't even noticed that much time passing.

Apparently being held captive in a shed against your will made time fly at the speed of light.

"You come to join the party?" Katie asked, her sarcastic tone having returned.

"Katie!" Jess hissed a warning at her.

"What? If I'm gonna die anyway, I might as well be a pain in the ass first!"

"Don't worry Katie," Jake spoke, revealing himself again as he stepped into the hut. "You are going to die."

"You know for a guy with tonnes of slaves, you seem to be doing everything," She pointed out. "Those lazy bastards."

Jake kicked her in the stomach as soon as she stopped talking, forcing the others to gasp in horror. They'd already witnessed him slap her, and punch Kyle, but for some reason it never became any less shocking.

"That's better," Jake smiled wickedly.

"Is that all you came here for?" Kyle challenged. "To tell us to be quiet and to beat up a defenceless girl? I knew you were an asshole but I never realised how much of a fucking coward you are!"

"Whatever, Kyle," Jake sighed, clearly bored with his latest feeble attempts at fighting back. It was too late. "And no, that's not why I came to see you all."

"Then why did you?" Matt asked this time.

"Because . . ." Jake winked. "It's time!"

___________________________________________________________________________

Man, how long has it been!?

I know I'm awful at updating this story but here we are! What did you think?

This one is a little short and maybe classes as filler but I wanted to stress how far the characters had come since the beginning of the story. I was also going to add this on to the next one but trust me, it would be too long. The next one is going to be INSANE!

I'm not sure how many dedicated readers I still have for this story but if you're there then please vote and maybe leave a comment with your thoughts.

Thanks guys!