Caine & Diana || ˢᵗºʳʸ ºf ᵘˢ

CHAPTER ELEVEN - 126 hours, 10 minutes

Caine was going to kill that idiot Quinn. He couldn't believe Quinn let him go, that Sam his annoying twin brother was running free to cause more mayhem.
He watched, seething, as a Boston Whaler flew across the water, far out beside the FAYZ wall, undoubtedly with Sam and his friends on board. How could he let him escape?
Caine cursed loudly and Diana laughed behind him. He turned to her with a growl. "Where's Howard and Orc?"

"It's Howard's fault Sam escaped," Diana reminded him, cool and calm as ever. Beautiful, under the hazy sunlight.

Caine ignored her. "Where are they?"

Just then, Howard came busting in. They were stood on the roof of a building, a perfect view of the beach. "Sam's gone."

"You think?" Caine retorted.

Howard shook his head, nervous. "It wasn't my fault, man."

Caine eyed Orc, who had emerged silently behind Howard. "I asked you to tie him down."

"It was Quinn," Orc panted. They'd been running. "Sammy made him escape."
Caine frowned at this.

"Yeah, they took a boat," Howard threw in, and Caine gestured behind him. Howard leaned forward. "Yeah, that's them."

Caine clenched his teeth together. "You're going to get them back. Right now."

"Yeah," Howard said quickly, nodding.

Caine looked to the side. "Diana?"

She rolled her eyes at the authority and power in his voice, tossing him a walkie talkie. Caine caught it and handed it to Howard. "Use this to keep in contact if the radio doesn't work, but it should."

"Wait," Orc said, blinking slowly, dumbly. "We're driving a boat?"

"Duh."

Howard shook his head, stuttering, "I've never driven a boat—"

"Better learn fast," Caine said, his voice ice cold and heavy with undeniable warning. "Get Sam. Use a speedboat or whatever, I don't care. Just get Sam."

With that, the two fled, and Caine let his gaze go to the boat in the distance. He wondered what his brother was up to, or where Astrid and the retard — the Petard — were. So many unanswered questions. His fingers tapped furiously against the railings.

Diana appeared beside him. Her arm brushed his as they both stared out at sea.
After a minute of comfortable silence, Diana said, "This— the FAYZ —has been going on for eight days."

"You've been counting," Caine said dryly. It wasn't a question.

Diana paused before saying, "It's horrible."

Caine shook his head in disagreement. "It's an opportunity to take over. It's a world that belongs to us. To me."

"It's only going to get worse," she said faintly, as if she hadn't heard him.

Caine looked at her: her long brown hair, calculating dark eyes, full red lips, long lashes, skin like soft snow.

Her eyes slid to him, holding his gaze. "You don't want to get out of here, do you?"

"I have control," he told her. "I have power. Godlike power."

Diana pursed her lips. Her arm pulled away from him as she watched the barely moving ocean.

Caine found his voice going surprisingly soft. "Do you? Want to get out, I mean."

She said nothing.

***

A while later, Caine spotted another boat speeding in the direction of Sam's boat, which was frantically moving away.

He pressed down on the radio button. "Get him," he ordered. "Get him or don't come back."

He waited. Soon came Howard's crackly voice on the other end. "Hey, Caine, they have Astrid and the retard, too. And Quinn."

Caine stopped, surprised. He sensed Diana look at him in confusion. "What? Say again: Astrid is with them?"

He had sent Drake to kill her. Why was she still alive... and with Sam?

A gloating voice replied. "That's right, Caine. Your pet psycho failed you."

Sam.

A muscle jumped in Caine's jaw. Drake had let Astrid and her weirdo brother go. Again.
To Howard and Orc, he snapped, "Get them all."

Howard whined. "What if they use the power?"

Caine smirked to himself, smug. "If they could use the power, they'd already have done so." He was right, though. Sam had shown no sign of his supposed power, meaning he hadn't yet controlled it, or didn't want to use it. Whatever the reason, it was another weakness. "No excuses: take them down. Caine out."

He let go of the button, feeling a jolt of anticipation. This was it. He had them cornered. It was up to Orc and Howard now.

***

It had been about fifteen minutes before Howard's voice came back on the radio. Caine sat up to listen, ears perked. He could no longer see the boats.

"This is Howard," he said, his voice shaking. "They got away."

Caine exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Our boat doesn't work," Howard told him lamely.

Another failure. Sam was still on the loose, and with that freak show Astrid's brother. Voice low, he growled, "Sam, if you can hear me, brother, you better know I'll kill you."

He left the threat hanging in the air, letting go of the radio button and leaning back into his chair.

"Now what?" Diana was standing in the doorway with a bored expression.

Caine hefted himself from the chair. If he couldn't have Sam now, that was okay. He'd come running back before the time of his poof, the night he became fifteen.

Caine would just have to figure out surviving the poof with other resources.

He grinned suddenly at an idea. "Diana, check the calendars. Find out who's fifteen next."

"Why?" Her voice was full of curiosity, but beneath he could detect fear.

Caine rubbed his hands together. "For some...experimenting."