Alright, so here's the last pre-written chapter I have. I don't know how long it will take for the next chapters to come up so bear with me. Thanks for the reviews. S.W. Babeh, I'm glad you are liking the characters and that this story has pulled you in. I think this chapter is one of my favorites and I would love to hear from the readers. Who's your favorite character? Who's your least favorite? What do you think will happen next?

Chapter X: Agony

‘It’s the 11th of June. We’ve been stuck out here for a week, and now I just find out that my best friend has disappeared,’ Nadia thought as she ran off to hide from the others. ‘Why is this happening?’ They would find her eventually but right now, she needed to be alone. ‘None of this seems right. Something is going on, I know it.’

Michael heard a commotion outside near the garden and walked out of his room. A few minutes later he watched Nadia run away, obviously upset. What was going on with everyone? Michael shrugged. It didn’t matter. But at least no one was going to notice if he disappeared now. They had their own problems to deal with. He picked up his messenger bag and walked off to the stream. When he arrived, he reached inside his bag and pulled out what he had been hiding the whole time, a .357 Magnum. ‘What do I care if they find me? Life sucks anyway. It’s not even worth being here if we’re the only ones left,’ he thought as he loaded the gun.

---

Nadia looked up, startled. Whose thoughts was she picking up on? ‘There’s only one-way to do it: One shot straight to the head. I wonder how long it will take the others to find the body. Someone was going to commit suicide. But who was it and where? Nadia broadened her mind and reached out, scanning everyone in the are: It was Michael. She could tell that he was just a couple minutes away at the stream. Nadia stood up and started running. She couldn’t let Michael do what he was planning. Even is she didn’t like him, she couldn’t stand to lose two people in one day. She ran up and saw him putting the gun up to his right temple. “Michael, NO!” she yelled. He jumped up and turned to face her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked angrily. “Go away.”

“You can’t do this. Michael we need you here.”

He glared at her. “No, you don’t. Brennan even pointed it out earlier. I don’t help out around camp. You guys don’t need me for anything.”

“Yes we do. Look, Michael, I know we say things but… look where we are. We are in the middle of nowhere. What do you expect us to do? Are we supposed to just lie around and do nothing? We have to survive somehow. I know it seems like there’s nothing to live for but out there somewhere, there are others who are also wondering if there are survivors.”

He shook his head in disgust. “Nadia, you don’t mean any of this. You just happened to be here and thought you should try to keep me from doin’ something that I have been planning for weeks now.” It all meant nothing; she didn’t care what happened to him. She had rejected him every time he tried to talk to her.

“Michael, please, just listen to me,” Nadia begged, barely holding in her tears.

“Just leave and let me get this over with,” Michael groaned, turning away from her.

Nadia began to cry. “I’ve already lost Brennan. I don’t want to lose you too.”

Michael whipped around to look at her. “What do you mean, already lost Brennan? He’s back at camp,” he replied.

She shook her head. “No, he’s gone. He disappeared a little while ago.” She paused and looked down at the ground for a moment. “Don’t you get it Michael? Someone’s out there and we’ve got to find them.”

“You can do that by yourself. You guys don’t need me.”

“You see Michael, that’s where you’re wrong. You’re the only other psionic around here. You are the only chance I have at figuring out what is going on. Please, I can’t do this alone.”

Michael slowly lowered the gun and sighed, looking at her. Even without using any of the power she had, whatever that happened to be, she still had a hold on him, one he couldn’t really explain. “Give it to me,” she said holding out her hand.

He held the gun out and Nadia grabbed it. Expertly she turned the cylinder and pulled out all of the bullets. "Let me see your bag.” He handed it to her slowly. She opened it and dug through it. There were a few other bullets but no other guns. “I’m going to keep these. I don’t want you to even think of suicide again. If you do, I’ll catch you, and you’ll wish you never had those thoughts.”

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, stunned. Maybe she did care. If she did, why was she acting so threatened?

“Because I can. And because I don’t want to see anyone die.” She turned and walked back to camp. Nadia looked around to see if anyone else was around. Not seeing or sensing anyone, Nadia hid the gun. Then she blocked that memory from everyone, locking it deep inside her brain. Michael wouldn’t be able to find it now.

---

Jo walked Xander to his room and said, “If you need anything, I’ll either be in my room or in the hospital. Try to take it easy and get some rest. After you sleep you’ll be just fine.” He nodded and lay down on his bed. Seeing that he was comfortable, Jo returned to the hospital. “Sorry Cole.”

“It’s okay. How is everyone?”

She sighed. “Xander will be fine, but Brennan…he’s just vanished. No one knows where he is.”

“Well, he’s not dead,” Cole answered, looking around the hospital, wishing it were easier to just let the truth out. It seemed so difficult.

“How do you know?” Jo asked, gazing up into his gray eyes.

“I’d be able to see him. To…uh, to continue where we left off: Jo, I’m a mediator. I can see and speak to ghosts. I work mainly with murder cases during the summer as an assistant. I talk to the victims then search for the clues. Thanks to their help, the criminals get put where they belong.” After telling her, Cole felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of him; it felt good to finally be able to tell someone of his unique talent.

She gazed into his eyes and smiled, understanding him completely. “I knew there was something about you. Right after the accident you told us that there weren’t any others. You would have known if they were dead. So you just assumed that no one else was on the train.”

Cole just nodded. “So what are we going to do? About Brennan I mean.”

“I don’t really know. It could have been a wild animal or he could have just run off. I’m not really sure of anything any more. This past week has turned everything upside down.”

“Do you think Brennan knocked Xander out then ran off?” Cole asked.

“Anything is possible right now,” she answered. “I just hope that isn’t what happened. I don’t want to believe that he would do something like that.”

---

As the sun began to set, the survivors gathered around the fire to eat dinner. Nadia barely ate anything. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking at the others. “Not hungry.” She set her bowl down and stood up before turning and walking away from the fire. Michael followed her.

“Nadia, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“I just can’t deal with all of this right now.”

“We’ll all be fine.”

“If you call fine trying to commit suicide and suddenly disappearing without a trace,” she retorted angrily.

“It will all work out. Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”

“Michael you don’t understand,” she cried. “Brennan wasn’t just a friend. He was like my big brother and my biggest confidant. We discussed everything.”

“I’m here Nadia. You’ll always have someone to talk to,” Michael responded, looking down at her and wanting to comfort her in any way he could.

“You’re joking right?” She looked at him dubiously

“Not at all,” Michael said. “As much as I wanted to just end it, I was looking just as hard for a reason to stay. Everyone needs someone to validate their existence, their purpose in life….Speaking of which, I should thank you for saving my life.”

“What did you expect me to do? Stand there and watch you kill yourself? I think there is a reason that you are still around.”

Silence filled the air for a few minutes as they stood in silence, barely looking at each other, not really sure about what to do or say.

Michael broke the silence. “So tell me the truth. Honestly, why did you stop me? It’s not like you like me or anything.”

Letting out a deep breath, Nadia turned and looked at him. “I don’t really know Michael. I think it’s because I sensed something in you, something good. Don’t let me be wrong,” Nadia said.

He smiled at her, just starting to figure something out. “You know, I don’t think that’s the reason, Nadia. I think you like me.”

“Michael, shut up!”

“Aww, come on, you know what I’m sayin’ is true. Admit it.”

“Michael…”

“Come on, Nadia, admit it. I’m right. You like me.”

“No, Michael, I don’t.”

“You must like me a little bit or else you wouldn’t have taken away both the gun and the bullets. Most people would only take one or the other. Not to mention most people would have just let me die.”

“Will you shut up if I admit it?” Nadia asked, glaring at him. She had merely been intrigued by his psionic ability, even with its novice skill, and didn’t want to see anyone die.

“Unlikely,” Michael responded with a grin.

“Alright, fine. I might like you a little. But just as a friend. You try anything otherwise and I will hurt you. Got it?” Nadia replied, stepping closer to him.

“Sure thing boss,” Michael said with a big grin before grabbing Nadia and pulling her into a hug. She cringed then tried to pull away. When that didn’t work, she hit him. He let go and she stepped back.

“Jerk.”

“You know it,” Michael answered, chuckling.