Element

Chapter 9

•A/N: I think most of the story will be in 3rd person point of view from now on... I like to look at the characters from the outside, not have the events crowded with thoughts... Also it's harder to keep changing POV and I'm lazy. Sorry for not updating earlier! I'll try and make it a long one.•

Jesse sat down, away from his friends. They were arguing over what to do about the situation. Gabe and Jasmin were missing, Gabe had been kidnapped and Jasmin was who knows where. Elle was trying to locate both of them, but was struggling due to the others arguing all the time and she being the only mediator. Jesse sighed, just as Elle walked over and sat down next to him.

"Why are we even here? What's the point in arguing when we don't even know what's out there? We should at least go and find out what's happening." They were sitting in an underground cave near what used to be the beach on their little island. The others had carried in a table earlier on, and they were now sitting or standing around it yelling out suggestions or opinions.

"I think they're just scared. When I'm scared, I like to talk to people. They don't have anyone else to talk to so they're all just yelling at each other, hoping that someone will listen. What they can't seem to realise is that I'm not a leader, and they can't expect me to order them around, just because I know the most about what's happening." Elle looked at Jesse.

"Jesse, they need a leader. Not an informant, who knows how to find information, a leader. Someone to make decisions and to get the ball rolling. We need to start something if we're going to find our friends. Are you going to help?"

Jesse sighed again, then stood up and walked over to the others. "SHUT UP!" Everyone stopped yelling, then turned to looks at Jesse.

"We need to do something. We need to get out there and see what's happening, find our friends and get home. Sitting here arguing isn't going to help anything. We should all go up to the surface, some of us should stay and help with things around the school, since we seem to be the only capable ones here, and some of us should go and try to find our friends." Everyone murmured their agreement.

"I 'suggest' that Jim, Leo, Austin and May come with Elle and I to go and find Jasmin and Gabe, and maybe try and find a way out of this place. Ian and George should stay here and help organise the students and teachers. Try and take stock of food and water supply. We can communicate through our selectors, they're all connected to the school's system, so we can just type in each other's names in the keypad on the back, here, see? Everyone ok with that plan?"

Everyone nodded and cheered, except for Ian and George. "What about Charcoff?" George asked, timidly.

"What about him? You can take him on any day! Just be confident about what you're doing and you'll be fine." Jesse replied.

•••

Austin was thinking. This was quite a rare thing, as Austin liked to act rather than think, but nonetheless Austin had been thinking for a while.

The group was trudging along through the shadowy plains, trying to find something, anything, to help them with their situation. Austin shifted the heavy pack on his back and started thinking again.

'Who was the shadowy angel that took our friends? Why did he seem to know Jasmin so well? And why is this pack so damn heavy?!'

Austin looked up and saw that the others were a little ways behind him. Jesse was just in front of them, leading them to who knows where.

"Hey Jesse, do you think we could stop for a little while? We've been walking for about 3 hours with no sign of anything, maybe we should take a break."

Jesse turned to look at his friends, then stopped and sighed. "I suppose we could rest for a bit, but only ten minutes. We need to get further away from the school before we make camp."

Austin turned to look back at the school. They had come a long way, but the school towered over everything else in the flat plain.

"Are we stopping now? Good, my back aches so badly I think it's going to snap in half!" May complained.

"Hey! You have the lightest pack out of all of us, and you're complaining?!" Leo muttered under his breath.

Austin sighed and sat down. It seemed that ever since their friends had dissapeared, all they ever seemed to do was argue. He shrugged his pack off and lay down in the grass.

Suddenly, Austin heard a loud creaking noise. He felt himself slowly sliding headfirst through a hole, then heard Jesse yelling.

"Austin! Austin, are you ok?" Austin slipped and slid until he was deposited unceremoniously onto the roof of a small building. He groaned and sat up.

As Austin looked around he noticed that he couldn't see the hole that he had fallen through, nor could he hear his friends anymore. The sky was grim and cloudy, and Austin realised that he was in the middle of a village.

He heard some yelling, then collapsed as a screaming girl fell on top of him.

"May! Why are you so heavy?!?!" He heaved May off him and lay there, stunned.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to a lady friend!" May said, then went silent as she took in her surroundings.

"Where are we?" Jesse asked, being the last one to fall from the sky. Everyone had followed Austin through the hole in the ground, and was now on the cobblestone path leading through the village, next to the roof that they had landed on. The roof had a fairly obvious 'Teenager' impression in it.

"I have absolutely no idea where we are, but I think we just found a quicker way to travel!" Austing said, grinning at his friends. The others smiled back and started trudging through the village.

'At least we found out something about this place, wherever it is.' Austin thought.