The Egg Never Cracks

Chapter 5: Separate ways

It worked. Everybody was so excited to see it. The pile of ashes popped into a teenage girl who was live and well. No cuts, bruises or deep machete wounds.

Well, Lana felt a bit woozy.

"Oh my God, that was so weird." She mumbled.

"I know right." Said Caine. "You feel a bit fuzzy, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do." She responded.

Astrid instructed everyone to move back a bit and make some space.

"Give her some air." She said, and everybody knew not to disobey Astrid's orders. Other than Dan, who would just copy what the people nearest to him did.

"Do you guys have any idea what this means?" Said Sam in ecstasy. "Brianna, Dahra, Mary, Bette, Orc and every other person who was given their place in the plaza. Death isn't an issue anymore. We, a bunch of Californian teens, are the first people in human history to have discovered the secret to cheating death!"

"Not if you count Drake." Astrid pointed out. This gained her a few glares. "What?"

"You two could go round the plaza digging up bodies and reviving them. You could be the Death-Defying Duo!" Said Quinn to Sam and Dan.

"Or just Dan and Sam." Said Sanjit.

"Nah, I kinda liked the first one." Said Sam with a friendly grin.

"Can I do it with you?" Asked Lana from the floor.

"Sure." Said Sam. Everybody stood on their own two feet and Lana, Dan and Sam separated from the crowd.

"I'm going to find Diana and scare the crap out of her." Caine said devilishly, and also parted from the crowd, leaving Astrid, Sinder, Quinn and Sanjit standing in silence.

"So..." Said Sanjit awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. "Did somebody hit you, Astrid?" All eyes turned Astrid's way.

"Oh, no that's just from when I tripped over earlier." She tried to cover the mark without looking suspicious, but it raised Sinder's suspicions.

"Right." Sinder said, not believing a word of it. An awkward silence crept over the four of them, so Sanjit broke it.

"Shall we go McDonald's?" He exclaimed.

"Sure!" Said Astrid suddenly. Sinder was staring at Astrid and seemed deep in thought. They all left and headed for the McDonald's, silent and baffled by the recent events.

"Oh, wait. I have to keep fishing. I don't have time for McDonald's." Said Quinn. Everybody looked down to Quinn's growling stomach with puzzled looks.

"Dude, when was the last time you ate?" Exclaimed Sanjit. Quinn simply waved him off and proceeded back towards the harbour.

"I'm concerned about him." Said Astrid.

"I'm concerned about you!" Snapped Sinder. "Sanjit and I both know that you never tripped over. Who hurt you? Tell me."

"Nobody, I'm fine! Stop getting so involved in my life!" Cried Astrid.

"Right, well this looks like it's between you two so I'm going to go McDonald's because that's what I thought we were doing! Bye." Said Sanjit suddenly.

"Woah, somebody has issues." Said Sinder.

"Yeah, well my girlfriend just came back from the dead, the barrier's still up, contrary to popular belief, and I'm hungry. I'm not the happiest person on earth right now." Sanjit stormed away and raised a finger in the air.

"Well, I guess that's understandable." Mumbled Astrid.

"Astrid, who hurt you?"

"Nobody! I'm fine!"

"That's a lie."

"What, so now you're a doctor?"

"Well I know when somebody has been badly hurt." She replied. A dreadful sunset glowed over the tall hills and Sinder would not let Astrid leave until she told him who hurt her. Eventually, she admitted that Drake had stricken her and Sinder's eyes grew wider.

"You have to tell Sam." She stated.

"No, I don't want to cause more trouble. Just leave it alone, okay?" Astrid pleaded.

"Well if you don't want me to tell him you're going to have to do a few things for me first..." Sinder said with a sly look.

"No, you are not blackmailing me. I'd rather you just tell him." She said.

"Oh, come on. I just need a few small things done." She groaned.

"No." Said Astrid. She folded her arms across her chest.

"Fine." Sinder stormed off as Astrid grinned with satisfaction and unfolded her arms.

+++

Caine was still searching for Diana with the desperation to scare her, but he had opened almost every door in Perdido Beach and she was behind none of them. Caine regretfully went through all of the possibilities as he sought. Could she have killed herself after his tragic death? Could she have ran away to Lake Tramonto? Caine couldn't be sure, but the thoughts were already in his mind and they were not coming out. Caine needed some kind of distraction, which was something most people craved, but could never find. Fortunately for him, Ralph stood across the street, walking briskly with his head down.
"Hey, Ralph!"
He walked faster.
"Ralph!"
Ralph stopped and lifted his head up reluctantly. "Caine?" He cried.
"Oh yeah, I'm back from the grave." He said with a chuckle. Ralph stepped back a few feet and cleared his throat.
"Boo!" Whispered Caine, causing Ralph to stumble backwards even further. Caine laughed devilishly.
"Dude, I'm just messing around. I was wondering if you had seen Diana." Caine said. Ralph swallowed hard and chewed on his nail.
"No." Said Ralph. He proceeded to walk away, but it turned into a quick jog, and before long he was out of sight. By this point, Caine had his suspicions, but he disregarded them. Right now, his mind was focused on finding Diana. Ralph hadn't been much help, and neither had anyone else. It was almost like she had disappeared from the FAYZ without a trace of her existence left. He had searched most of Perdido Beach but the only places he hadn't explored were Astrid's house, the gas station and Ralph's grocery. He decided to check the gas station first because Astrid and Ralph were very trustworthy people for Caine. Neither of them seemed suspicious and if they did have any secrets, they were incredibly well kept. He kicked a pebble down the highway as he followed it, and he noticed Ralph go into his grocery, which seemed odd. Ralph lost all of his food a while ago, and usually stayed at home. He would only loiter around the shop every once in a while. Ralph stumbled in and the sliding doors attempted to close. Caine followed him in slowly and cautiously. Ralph opened the crimson red door on the other side of the shop and it scraped along the damaged floorboards. Caine scouted the area for any food that Ralph might've kept to himself, but his search only led him to crushed cartons of expired milk and used condoms. Ralph was up to something, but Caine didn't know what. A few things might've happened while he was dead, but nothing that he'd heard of. He noticed that Gaia died, Orc died and something happened to Diana. He didn't want to think of her as dead, but she had disappeared. All this led him back to Ralph. Ralph was hiding something, and it was definitely a secret he didn't want anybody to know about. Maybe he had an uncontrollable power, or electricity, or a pile of food that hadn't gone bad. Caine found himself sneaking towards the back door. His curiosity had got the better of him and he was standing there for longer than he thought. Eventually, he brought himself to turn the handle and sneak down the steps. Whatever massive secret Ralph had, he would have to share it with Caine. But what Caine came to see was not the kind of secret he thought Ralph was keeping.

+++

Drake felt as if he had no purpose anymore. Without Gaia or Caine, he didn't know what he was supposed to do. Maybe he should actually help people instead of issuing them brutal punishments, but that was about as likely as the barrier being broken by a caterpillar. Drake was naturally evil. He always considered himself to be on his own side, when in reality he was always a sidekick. He never really did much for anyone and the only two people who showed him any respect burned each other to death. Drake headed home and did absolutely nothing but feel useless.