The Cult of Silence (Complete)

Chapter Six: Among the Missing/Rescuing Jared

The past four days have been a living nightmare for Shannon and Tomo. Jared is still missing and Shannon is beating himself up for it. Tomo is watching his friend suffer and there is nothing he can to help. Only hope with every new notification and especially every phone call, it wasn't the police or someone saying that they found Jared's body. He doesn't even want to think what Shannon would do.

Every day that Jared is gone and every second Shannon is in a constant state of conflict of wanting to canvas the entire city in search for his baby brother, but if he is out searching that is one less pair of eyes reading tweets. He can hear Jared's voice in the back of his mind, "Stick to the laid out plan." So like Jared to say that. Shannon finds himself humming the tune to Night of the Hunter a song that he had a particular liking for and one that acts as an oath to him. If any harm dealt to his brother, he will get his revenge and if they take his baby brother from him and the world, the clouds will rain with the blood of the Cult of Silence. The sky will thunder with the screams as Shannon tears them apart.

Hoping that will not come to fruition and thinking about it causes him to have reread several tweets.

Over the past four days, Jared is not the only who has mysteriously disappeared. Artists and people who have been following their dreams, none of the fans have gone missing and only the ones influenced by Thirty Seconds to Mars are experiencing the attack on their dreams. Even with Tomo's guild on how victory can be achieved over the cult, a lot are just not strong enough to fight cold-hearted and angry pressure. He can't blame them for giving in and abandoning their dreams to escape the pressure, if he hadn't heard Jared's voice at the right moment he wouldn't have been able to fight. With that thought, he then sends out a tweet to always be in pairs if possible and when a fellow dreamer is showing signs of a battle; help them with encouraging words and perhaps turn on their favorite song.

Jared is racing through the dead streets of New York, his heart is pounding. Sweat is pouring down his face and his tank top is sticking to his body. His mind is focused on just escaping, but the streets and alleyways are all the same. The buildings; Jared hears them coming closer. He can't wake up as he is trapped body and mind in the Scape. Since he has chosen to fight The Cult of Silence are fighting against him in many different ways. This they have trapped him fully in the Scape and have drawn the people who also use it, Jared can hear the cult as if they are on loudspeakers all throughout the Scape, "Jared Leto is a threat to the Scape and your dreams. One fighter can cause pain and suffering for the rest of you. Seek him out, bring him forth to answer for his crime against dreamers everywhere!"

Jared has no idea how long he has been running for his life, as the Scape is locked at midnight. He finds an alley and takes a second to breathe if he continues like this for too much longer he is going to collapse of pure exhaustion. Leaning against the chilly wall, relishing the cold he peels off his tank top and lets it drop in a sopping heap and runs his hands through his wet hair a few times, flinging sweat everywhere. Hands planted on his thighs he takes a few deep breaths, he has performed in front of thousands and has run the miles of hills in L.A. never in his life he been this shaken.

He hears a noise from down the alley, finches, and glances toward it. Standing about the middle of the narrow alley is teenage girl and boy, they have their hands intertwined. Their expressions hold the deep question of why.

Jared straightens up and turns to face them at the head of the alleyway, "Your dreams are within your reach. You don't need this place!" Jared calls to them.

"Why did you need it in the first place?" The girl shoots back full of emotion, she steps forward but the boy holds her steady.

"Young and full of ideas with no one to share them with or no way to bring them to life," Jared says this and as he does he realizes that the Scape is a safe playground for dreamers to go the try out ideas, to perfect them before sharing avoiding the possibility of being shut down. On the other hand, that is how an artist grows through trial and error. Tears wet his eyes, tears of guilt, fear, shame, and sadness, "I'm sorry, but this place is not worth it when you risk losing it all after you find steady ground!" Jared says as he slowly raises arms out to his sides.