*Gaia King's POV:

(Several hours after Chapter 41)

It was around 2 pm. My feet were aching with each step on the rough ground beneath me. Mosquitoes took a hold on us all night, even up to this afternoon. They even bit me in the most unusual of places.

My eyes were pink and crusty, and I could barely keep them open. I was so tired and felt weak. We haven't eaten very much and only had a few leftover fish from last night, only four were left.

My skinny legs were wobbly and felt like they were about to snap with every step I took towards those mountains. The Island was bigger than I thought. Those mountains were way bigger and closer, yet seemed so far.

"Danny, we should take a break" Robin requested. "We haven't slept that great and I feel terrible. We really deserve it, especially with how many killing-machines just the four of us destroyed all night up to now."

She absolutely read my mind.

Only me, Shimizu, Robin and Beval could take care of those killing-machines. Kimberly and Katie were too injured. Kimberly still suffered from a sprained ankle, and Katie suffered from a sprained knee. Danny could've used his powers to sense when those killing-machines were near and when to prepare.

He took a second to think about what Robin had said as he looked at each one of us. He could tell how run down; tired and weak we were.

"Okay, we will rest here for a good half an hour. Shimizu and I will keep watch for any killing-machines" Danny sighed in pity as he stood near a tree with Shimizu.

"Don't mind if I do, thirty minutes is all I need" Kimberly yawned as she sat close to Katie, carefully crouching down and leaned against a tree.

Robin leaned against the tree across from Kimberly and Katie. She slept alone, without a buddy. I sat and leaned against the tree next to Robin.

"Mind if I joined you?" Beval asked with a sincere smile, sitting down right next to me. I smiled and nodded. I placed my head on his shoulder and dozed off to sleep, well, I tried to at least.

My sleeping state was terrible. I kept waking up five minutes in between slumber. During the times I did woke up, I could hear Danny and Shimizu's conversation. I made a quick glance and saw them standing next to each other, looking out at the jungle. I was still a little disoriented from fatigue so I could hear but not process what they were saying. I heard Shimizu whisper something about "writing a letter" and Danny telling him "you will be fine". Unfortunately, I didn't pay much attention to it and fell back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later, somebody shook me and Beval awake.

"Leave me alone Robin" Beval scolded as she shook us awake.

"Get up then! It's time to go!" She yelled at Beval as she began dragging him.

"Let me go!" Beval shouted in frustration. She did as told and watched him slowly get up from off the ground.

Robin's overall yelling is what really woke me up. I quickly got on to my feet and dusted myself off. Even though I still felt weak, I felt slightly better than before we rested.

"You didn't have to yell and drag him Robin, don't be obnoxious" Kimberly lectured.

"You don't have to exist Kimberly, don't be annoying" she clapped back in a passive-aggressive manner.

"No fighting!" Danny demanded before Kimberly could snap back or even attack Robin. "We are literally a few hours away from Corano Mountains! I don't want to hear any fighting or anything of that nature! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Yes" Robin and Kimberly groaned.

"I swear, it's like he's our dad or something" Beval whispered to me with a slight grin.

"I see him mainly as our leader, along with Shimizu" I replied to Beval. "As long as Danny keeps us safe, I couldn't care less if he wants to play "Dad" or tries to act like so."

"Danny? What does the W.E.A headquarters look like?" Katie asked, running up to him as we continued our way to the mountains.

"It looks like a huge, wide building underground, underneath Corano Mountains" Danny replied to her in a sweet manner.

Robin started walking beside me and Beval. Shimizu came over to walk with us to. Danny, Kimberly and Katie were in front of us, about ten feet away.

"It's been a while since "the big four" had some alone time like this" Robin sneered as she wrapped her arms around us three.

"The big four? Where did you get that from?" Shimizu asked, bewildered.

"Just came to mine. We are all best friends until the end, but with that name, we could be superhero- "

"Shh!" Danny shushed loudly. We stayed silent as we stood just as still as Danny was, listening for...something.

"The Killing-machines are close by, watch your backs. The system is trying it's best to make sure we don't get to those mountains. Fortunately, they don't have many options to get rid of us" Danny announced, using his powers to sense them. "Let's move. Hurry and stay quiet."

Quickly, we kept moving. We stayed close to Danny, having no time to waste at all. My green eyes searched around, looking for any signs, sights or noises from killing-machines.

I paused as I heard rustling in the bushes in front of us. Me and the others stood cautiously still, watching the bush.

"Kimberly, Katie, we need to slowly move to a safe area and let Shimizu and the others do the fighting" Danny whispered to the both of them, but it was loud enough for the rest of us to hear. He pointed. "Let's move behind those bushes to our right."

"No, I want to fight" Kimberly protested, backing away from Danny. She flinched as she mistakenly added too much pressure to her sprained foot.

"Kim, can't you see that you're still injured? You need to leave this to Shimizu and his friends; they can handle it by them-"

"Hello Danny!"

Danny was interrupted by a boy who was standing exactly in front of us. He had to appear out of nowhere because he wasn't there before.

He was an overweight, Middle Eastern boy with tan, olive skin and dark hair with dark eyes to match. His clothes were ripped and torn.

It was Mohammed. He was wearing the exact same clothes as the day he died...wait a minute...he died!

"I have been looking all over for you guys!" He smiled as he made two steps towards us. We made about three steps back in fear.

How was this possible? You don't just appear from the dead! Plus, his legs were broken and twisted when he died. Why does his legs look fine? How was he standing?!

I looked at Beval, knowing the two were close. Tears were streaming down his face. His hands trembled as he gripped his messy hair.

"Mohammed, how? This is a miracle" he whimpered to himself. This was indeed a miracle.

"I found a shorter route to W.E.A headquarters. You should follow me; I will lead you there" Mohammed insisted. We stood there, frozen, dumbfounded. I looked at Danny, hoping his reaction would give me some answers, but he looks just as confused and surprised as I did.

"This is impossible" Shimizu whispered to Danny. "We buried him; we saw him die with our own eyes."

For the first time ever, Danny wasn't so sure it was a killing-machine. He didn't exactly know what to say. Suddenly, Beval began approaching Mohammed, but cautiously. Nobody else tried to stop him, not even Danny, but I did. I gripped on to his jacket, putting him to a hault.

"Beval wait, this is not making any sense and-"

"That's Mohammed. Mohammed is still alive!" Beval interrupted me as tears flowed down his cheeks. He was filled with happiness and a sense of relief. His smile caused his braces to sparkle from the rays of the sun. He wiggled out of my grip and continued heading towards Mohammed.

I took in account what Beval had said, but the more I looked at Mohammed, the more I realized how lifeless his eyes were. It wasn't showing or revealing any human emotion.

"Uh, Beval?" I called out, but he either didn't hear me or ignored me.

"Why are you guys just standing there like sitting ducks? I can show you the way to Corano Mou-"

Before "Mohammed" could finish, Katie used her flexibility to stretch her arm several meters and punch Mohammed. We all gasped and looked at Katie, wondering why she would do that. Beval stopped in his tracks and glanced back at her, confused.

"I don't believe he is Mohammed" Katie said with no remorse.

With that great of force and speed of that punch, Mohammed should've flown backwards. He didn't. He stood perfectly still, but his neck was bend backwards. Slowly, his head tilted back up, revealing a dented face, as if it was made of metal. His eyes started to glow a bright red as his expression grew furious.

Beval, in great fear, sprinted back to where we were. Suddenly, Mohammed yelled out a loud shriek, a shriek that no human should've been able to possess. We screamed in pain as we covered our ears, the loud noise causing intense pain in our eardrums.

"What is happening?!" Robin shouted to Danny, covering her ears.

"I don't know, but I need you to form a circle and get your powers ready! Now!" He shouted back.

But before we could do so, people began surrounding us, but these weren't just any people. They were versions of us. Killing-machines in disguised as us. A version of me, Beval, Robin, Katie, Kimberly, Danny and Shimizu surrounded us from a few yards away. Their eyes were a glowing shot red, and their faces showed anger and hatred. Their arms slowly turned into sharp, flesh-like, triangular-shaped knifes.

"There's nowhere to hide. I'm injured and I can't fight" Katie said in great fear as she clenched on to Danny.

"We'll protect you, don't worry!" Shimizu said, making no eye contact, but glaring in front of him, at the killing-machine version of himself. "Danny, hold my bag".

Danny gladly received the cloth bag with the bomb in it and held it tight. We got our powers ready as we formed a circle with Danny, Kim and Katie inside of it, close to one another.

" You think it will be that easy?! Do you really think you will survive this island? You all are pathetic! Look at you, only four of you can fight, while three can't! Don't you see? W.E.A is making things better for humanity. No more overpopulation. A world where everyone has enough food, medicine, clothes and shelter. Less people equal less worries, less people equals no more wars or fighting for resources. Everyone will be at peace, but you want humanity to suffer, you want wars, you want poverty, you want starvation and chaos!" Mohammed the killing-machine yelled, persecuting us.

I never knew killing-machines could carry out a full paragraph. These machines were advanced, a little too advanced.

"I'm fighting with you all" Kimberly announced, joining the circle. Surprisingly, Danny didn't even try to stop her. "You're going to need me" she added.

"It seems like it" Shimizu replied, briefly glancing back at Kimberly. He then shouted an order. "Guys, fight the ones closest to you!"

"Kill them!" Mohammed ordered as he, and the other versions of ourselves charged towards us.

Together, we took care of the killing-machines closest to us. Shimizu used his powers to squirt tons of water at the versions of him, Danny and Mohammed. The force of the water was that of a powerful fire hose, causing them to be thrown several yards at an alarming speed. The killing-machine version of Danny was destroyed on impact with a tree. The killing-machine version of Mohammed and Shimizu tried to get back up but were glitching uncontrollably to the point of being unstable and finally shutting down.

Robin took care of the version of herself by throwing massive fireballs at it, causing it to catch on fire as it charged at her. When it was close enough, she kicked it back with enough force for it to fall to the ground. Eventually, the killing-machine was too damaged enough to get up and fight back. It slowly melted into liquid metal.

None of those killing-machines had our powers, only knife-sharp arms, which made it easier for us.

As that was going on, I took care of the versions of me and Katie. I raised my hands as two huge pieces of earth followed them. With all my might, I threw the huge pieces of earth, aiming at both killing-machines. One of them landed on the version of Katie, destroying it. But the version of me was still intact, slowly getting right back up. That's when I decided to try something I had never tried before.

My eyes lit up as I quickly lifted my arms and swiftly spread them apart. Immediately, a sinkhole formed underneath the killing-machine right as it was about to charge at me. It fell unto the hole with a loud screech that echoed. As my arms were still out, I clasped my hands together, closing the hole.

I had to admit, even as my adrenaline was racing at such a fearful and stressful time, I was a bit proud of myself.

An intense wind overcame us as Beval blew away the killing-machine version of himself. It landed with a loud thud, breaking into a million pieces. Kimberly, in the form of a lioness, tore apart the version of herself to bits.

That battle was the hardest ones we've ever did on the island. It was tiring, but fortunately we got through it and worked together. Our battle caused great destruction within nature as some trees and other plants caught on fire because of Robin, and Shimizu was the one who had to put it out.

After cooling down and sinking in the fact that W.E.A was working hard to make sure we didn't get to the headquarters, we kept moving as if nothing happened. Silence filled our group as we stayed close to one another, watching over our backs. Shimizu was near the front with Danny. Katie and Kim were in the middle, and me, Beval and Robin were in the back.

"I'm lost for words" Robin spoke up. Me and Beval looked at her.

"Me too. For a second, I was so happy because I really thought that was Mohammed. I'm glad Katie saw through the crap and didn't fall for it, smart girl" I said as I glanced at Katie.

"If only it was really Mohammed" Beval whispered to himself, clenching his fist with anger. Robin said no words, but comforted him as she rubbed his back.

"Danny?" Shimizu called out.

"Yeah?" Danny replied, looking behind his shoulder at Shimizu.

"What will happen to the babies and kids in the W.E.A buildings after they will shut down? How will they get back to their homes?"

"In each of the kidnapper's teleportation truck, it will report of a malfunction in the system and will report to bring the children back home to their families. To remind you, there are no babies or young children in the headquarters, only artificial intelligence. No employees either." Danny explained.

"How long until we are there?" Katie asked.

"In another few hours. I don't think we'll have to worry about killing-machines anymore. Hell, you've probably killed most of them" Danny chuckled.

"Yes, we can finally go home and pretend like this never happened!" Kimberly cheered as she raised her arms in victory.

"Don't get your hopes high yet, we still have to find a way home and at least warn people of what to come" Danny explained, raining on her parade.

"What? Why do we have to explain anything to anyone? Let them figure it out on their own" Kimberly argued.

"Why? By the time they find out on their own, it will be too late. We must warn people of the viral pandemic and world war 3. It would not be fair to let others fend for themselves while we have the luxury of surviving" Danny explained to her in frustration.

"Survive where Danny? We still have no idea where that shelter is, or how to get off this island. The point I am making is that nobody is going to listen to us. The United Nations has already poisoned the minds of so many people. They lied about the population of experi-babies globally to make it seem as though we were a bigger problem than we actually are. They made people believe we're evil beings trying to wipe them out, whole time it's the other way around. And even if people do believe us, the government or somebody who works for them will kill us for even trying to tell the public!" Kimberly explained, trying to reason with him.

"If me dying is the result of telling the public the U.N's plans for the world, then so be it."

"Jesus Danny, you can't save everyone!" Kimberly shouted.

Danny didn't reply, he just kept moving, as if she never spoke at all. Kimberly sighed and shook her head.

Throughout the entire argument, me and the others kept silent and listened. I understood Danny's point of view, but I also understood Kimberly's. We can't save everyone, but at the same time, we should try to.

After three hours of walking, we were finally approaching Corano mountains. The closer we got to the mountains, the hillier and rocker the ground and surroundings were. These mountains were extremely big, but not big like Mount Everest.

"Do you see that cave-like entrance right there?" Danny pointed. "That is the entrance. It's about a six-minute walk from the entrance of the cave to the headquarters if we walk fast. Let's move!"

"Let's get this over with" Beval mumbled. Together, we jogged over to the entrance. We could barely see the top of the mountains, even if we tried to, that's how huge they were.

The entrance was pitch black; I couldn't see the inside at all. Not one bit. The entrance to the cave was thirteen feet tall and eleven feet wide.

"And we are going in there?" Kimberly asked, a little scared.

"Or you can wait out here with the risk of killing-machines coming at you" Danny suggested in a passive-aggressive manner. "It's not so bad, just watch your step, stay close and you'll be fine."

"Um, Danny, look!" Katie pointed behind her in fear. He turned around and was terrified by what he saw.

"Oh my god!" he shouted. The rest of us turned around to see what he was talking about.

Many killing machines were standing far behind us, watching us as they slowly approached. They had to be about three hundred feet away, but there were about a hundred of them. Some looked like demons, others looked like alien creatures and some even looked like they came out of a creepy-pasta.

"Oh no, there's to many" I squealed in fear, hanging on close to Beval.

"Everyone, into the cave! Now!" Danny screamed.

Quickly, Kimberly ran into the cave first, yelping as she fell downward, tumbling down twenty-foot pile of rocks. As Danny and the others headed into the cave, sliding down the pile of rocks, I stayed behind, just in case if Shimizu and Beval needed backup.

Instead of slowly walking, the killing-machines were sprinting over now.

"You and Gaia go, I'll handle them" Beval suggested.

"What?! No, I got this!" Shimizu clapped back.

"Water may be stronger than wind but it is not faster!" Beval explained with a slight grin on his face. Shimizu nodded at Beval, placing his hand on his shoulder before jumping into the cave, sliding down the rocks. I stayed beside Beval, in case he needed backup.

He began to crouched down as he closed his eyes tightly. He held his arms as he grinded his teeth, building up his power. I could still feel the rising speed of the wind caused by him.

A loud growl came from Beval as the wind was reaching severe storm levels now.

"Beval hurry!" I shouted as the killing-machines were getting closer, about a hundred feet away now. He suddenly opened his eyes. They were a glowing purple. I hung on to the side of the cave, preparing myself for what was about to happen.

He roared as a great burst of wind was blown from his body and out into the direction of the killing machines, causing ever single one of them to fly or be thrown away at great distances. It caused trees and other plants to fall flat. The wind had to been at an unearthly speed. I was pretty sure it was stronger than the one right after Mohammed's death. This one must've reached the entire bottom half of the island.

Beval tried to catch his breath for a few moments before standing straight up. He looked at me with a tiresome smile.

"Let's go" He said before we both slid down the rocks down to where the others were. Shimizu gave Beval a pat on the back.

"Is everything alright?" Robin asked us. Flames were coming from her hands to bring light upon the darkness in the cave.

"Peachy" Beval smiled as he put up the okay sign.

"We have to keep moving. We are almost there, let's go" Danny spoke up as he started making his way deeper into the dark, but huge cave. We followed.

It wasn't even three minutes into our walk that we started seeing streetlights on each side of the cave. The caves ceiling was seventy feet up, the lights were twenty. Robin put out the flames from her hands, as she didn't need it anymore.

"Streetlights? Streetlights in a cave?" I asked out loud, looking at Danny.

"We're getting close, it's lighting the way. Shimizu remember our plan: sneak inside W.E.A headquarters and be as quiet as possible, the artificial intelligence can sense sound but not movement. Go towards the center of the headquarters. To get to the center, you'll have to keep going straight, there you will see statues of the leaders of W.E.A, one of them will be Curtis Talikki. Drop the bomb there, activate it and sprint out. That bomb has only four minutes on it and it will do a lot of destruction. Its blast is stronger than a jet plane's crash at full speed. We must be far away enough from it when the place blows up. Got it?"

"Got it" he replied.

"Wait, what?!" Robin asked in shock and bewilderment. "You're the one going inside W.E.A?!"

"It's okay, I will be fine, really. I'll be in and out. You don't have to worry, it's a straight way towards the center" Shimizu said calmly, holding onto Robin's hand in a comforting manner.

Robin, blushing intensely, took her hand back.

"Well, you better be back in time for us to leave" Robin replied to Shimizu without making eye contact, trying to act unbothered.

Over time, the cave slowly became narrower and narrower to the point where the walls were ten feet apart. The narrower way of the cave led to an area bigger than the one where we first entered.

Located in this area, was the W.E.A Headquarters.

Me and the others stared in amazement at the giant but wide building. It resembled a hospital on the outside, and maybe even on the inside. Streetlights were still on each sides of the cave, but they were about twenty feet taller than the previous ones.

"Let's get this over with" Shimizu sighed, shallowing his fear as he jogged over to the building. We followed him.

"Hey, I need you guys to move back over there, you shouldn't be so close to this building" Shimizu said as he pointed over near where we just entered. Without a second thought, we did just that and watched Danny and Shimizu from a distance.

I could see them talking as they glared at the front doors of the headquarters. Shimizu took the bomb from the cloth bag; he gave the cloth bag to Danny and even gave him a small piece of cloth, it looked like it was ripped from his white t-shirt. I couldn't really tell what it was for.

We, including Danny watched as Shimizu walked over towards the front doors of W.E.A Headquarters. He took a deep breath before entering with the bomb. Immediately after he entered, Danny ran back over to us.

"Everything is going according to plan. This will work" Danny smiled. I must admit, I haven't seen that man smile like that, ever.

"I hope so, my foot isn't severely sprained so I can still run. Katie on the other hand can't run" Kimberly stated.

"That's why I place her on my back every time we jog or run" Danny said as the two looked over at Katie. She was sitting down, examining her knee.

"I can walk, but with a limp. It still kind of hurts" she said to us. Her eyes glanced behind us and screamed in terror. We turned around and jumped back at the sight of killing-machines, coming from where we just came.

There were about seven of them. Each were a brownish-gray color and had the body of a hairless dog, but their faces were human-shaped with no eyes, hair or nose, just a mouth with snarling, sharp teeth. They looked as if they came from the very depths of Hell.

We backed away towards the building as they moved towards us. I got my powers ready, along with Robin and Beval. Kimberly turned into a polar bear, growling and swatting. Katie and Danny huddled together, backing away from the seen.

"Get back!" Robin swatted, the fire from her hands, almost reaching them. The killing-machines backed away slightly, but growled even louder as we kept backing away. We were closer to the building down, about six feet away.

Right when the killing-machines were about to charge, Shimizu sprinted out of the Headquarters and let out a large wave of water that washed away the killing-machines. I could hear what sounded like an alarm coming from the building. An alarm warning of an intruder.

Far passed, to the left of the headquarters, we heard roaring and growling as we could see more of the same killing-machines slowly coming towards us. The only way out was from the way we came in, the other side was impossible to go through because of how many killing-machines were coming from there. There had to been about a hundred of them, or more.

"Go! Go! Run! I will handle the killing-machines! I need you all to sprint out of here! You have less than four minutes to get to safety!" Shimizu shouted at us.

"No! I am not leaving you!" Robin shouted at him as Beval grabbed her arm, pulling her away.

"I will be okay. I'll distract them. Now go!" Shimizu ordered.

"We have to move, now!" Danny screamed.

Katie climbed upon Danny's back before we all sprinted out towards the narrow way from which we came. Shimizu followed us to it, trying to get as far as possible from the headquarters, but he stopped as the killing-machines were getting closer.

Robin looked back at Shimizu, crying and pleaded for him to come with her. He just stared at her, with a smile. It was a look of "I love you".

Shimizu snapped out of his gaze and turned around. He sprayed and blasted at killing-machines until I nor Robin could no longer see him.

The shouts of Danny to "keep running" filled my ears, the screams and cries of Robin for Shimizu could be heard as Beval kept a hold off her arm as we sprinted out towards the entrance of the cave. It gotten to the point of Beval having to hold to her torso tightly because she was trying to free herself.

It felt like we were moving in slow motion. It felt like a total dream yet a nightmare. Tears were strolling down my face as I looked up at the pile of rocks we slid from.

Is this what freedom felt like? Or was it victory? Or both?

Before we could even begin to climb, we heard a loud boom!

It knocked us off our feet and onto the ground. My ears were ringing as I screamed in pain and covered my ears from the loud sound. Even if it was only several seconds, I was on the ground for what felt like forever. My vision was blurry, but I could feel a vibration around me.

"Gaia, come on, I got you!" I heard Beval say in a muffled voice as my ears started regaining their hearing. He helped me up off the ground and I could feel the cave rumbling as if there was an earthquake.

"Come on!" Danny shouted as he, with Katie on his back and Kimberly were halfway to the top. Robin was struggling to climb, she kept crying and wailing. It wasn't that she wasn't capable, it's just that she refused to climb.

"I'll help Robin, you go up" I said to Beval, wrapping my arm around Robin's shoulder after we helped her from off the ground.

"No. We will climb together. All three of us, best friends until the end, right?"

I smiled at Beval as tears came down my cheeks.

"Right" I nodded.

We had to move fast; lord knows if the rumbling caused by the blast would cause the entrance to collapse in. If it did, we didn't have much time.

Robin decided to maintain her composure and climb up with the help of me and Beval by her side. Danny, Katie and Kimberly has already made it to the top.

Once we made it to the very top, we sprinted away from the cave. A few seconds later, the entrance collapse in with a loud rumble. We huddled together and crouched down as the wind and dust from the collapse overwhelmed us.

When it was over, we examined the cave from our distance.

"No! Shimizu!" Robin screamed as she ran over what was left of the cave's entrance. Now, it was nothing more than a pile of rocks.

She screamed Shimizu's name as she tried her best to dig herself through the rocks, but many were too heavy for Robin, the strongest girl besides Kimberly to move out of the way.

"Shimizu, Shimizu, Shimizu no! Mizu no!" she wailed loudly. She turned to look back at us. "We have to help him! Somebody please help him!"

I ran over to Robin, hugging her, crying with her. She realized it, and I realized it too: Shimizu was dead.

Beval came over as well, joining us in our tears. Katie, Kimberly and even Danny joined the group hug.

My friend of only seven months has passed away. Even if our friendship was only for several months, it felt like years. We did so many things together, from going to amusement parks, to going to a Christmas celebration in downtown San Francisco, and even having a New Year's Eve party at his parent's house. Shimizu changed us in ways we've never thought could be changed. He brought us closer together. He brought out a side in us that we've never thought could or would be exposed.

As my mind was overwhelmed with the memories of my now dead best friend, I could hear what sounded like a loud screech from above.

"Huh?" I said to myself as I, Beval, Robin, Danny, Katie and Kimberly looked up at the sky and saw what looked to be a small jet flying very low towards us.