Volcano!

IPOD

T and Ryan are missing, and all Toby and I have is a small blip of a GPS coordinate and a map to find them with. Toby is worthless at reading maps. I'm a little more than worthless at it. The whole time he drives all I can think about are Chance's words.

"I'd hurry because the longer you wait, the less treasure you will find, and I'd hate for the next time you see your comrades to be in a hospital."

Guilt racks my stomach because I don't want to last thing T hears from my being something so angry. Okay, so he's not going to die or anything, but I still pissed him off to the point where he left and thus he was put in harms way. He wouldn't have been taken otherwise.

I can't believe I was such an idiot and lead him on. Not like I did it on purpose or anything. Still, I feel like the scum of the earth. I have a boyfriend, so why should I care what he does or doesn't do with Ryan? I believe him when he says they only slept, but it's not my business. I don't care. I don't. He's a great guy, sweet, and hot as hell, but I have a boyfriend. We've been together for over a year. I love him, and when I get back the first thing I'm going to do is finally pounce him. So yeah, Coty can do whatever he wants with whoever. Even if I'm way cuter than Ryan, and he could do way better. Again though, not my business.

Toby speeds like a demon and we find ourselves at the base of a rather impressive mountain. And it's smoking.

He groans. "Volcano."

I sigh. Of course we'll be going out with a bang.

Where are you? It's a vain effort, but it's worth a try. I take one of those hunter demobilizing flashlights and hand it to Toby before taking one for myself. I had a feeling we'd need them. I gesture for us to move forward through the forest covering the volcano. The map said to head due North from where the GPS parked us. And we hiked. Neither of us said a word. Occasionally Toby hummed but for the most part it was completely silent. Which is good because I needed to hear.

"Team one is coming into position. Ready your weapons."

I swallowed hard. Weapons?

"Toby?" He turns to face me. "They're going to hurt us."

"I'll keep you safe." He whispers before taking my hand and pushing forward. I think this is the first time I've ever seen him be so mature and caring before. Maybe he realized though that he had to finally man up. And that's when the bullets started flying at us. None of them hit us, but I could hear them whiz by my head, along with the loud bang from the gun firing. "What the hell?"

"Run." I suggest, and agrees because he starts bolting, dragging me along with him. I struggle for a moment and trip over branches and rocks on the ground. Finally I start catching up and keeping my footing.

"Ow!" Toby screams and grabs at his arm. "I've been hit!"

It's then I realize they're using rubber bullets on us. I see it bounce off of him, and I know enough to know these hunters aren't far away from us.

"We need to find a big rock. That's what's on the map!"

"I keep getting hit by...ow!" Poor guy is taking the entire attack basically, and then I realize what they're trying to do and I gasp, especially when I notice Toby's arm starting to change shape and color. His skin is turning into a dark shade of purple, and his hands are no longer soft and fleshy but rough and like leather.

I let go. "We should separate. Lead them away so I can get the others."

"What are you...." He stops and stares at his arm. "No, not now!"

"Focus. I know you can."

"I'll try but...." He trails off and veers off to the right, out of my sight. I never know what he's going to say, and all I can hope for is a clear run to the rock. I see it, and there's no one in sight. I can barely make out the entrance of a cave. I venture forward and into the dark. I have the light from my phone, and a mini key-chain flashlight to guide me.

"T? Ryan? Can you hear me?"

"Ipod?" I hear Ryan's voice echo through out the cave. I do my best to pinpoint the direction of the source and continue moving forward.

Then I see movement from the side. It's subtle and I almost miss it, but thank goodness I did notice it because when I saw it move again I also saw the familiar black suit of the hunter. With my anti-hunter device ready, I'm set to point and shoot at anything that tries to get in my way. I blast the hunter, and listen to the satisfying thud on the ground. Moving a few feet forward, I see Ryan's dainty feet, and a slouching pant leg that looks like it belongs to T.

I rush over and get to work, untying them. T is unresponsive to any shaking or pleading I give him. He's out like a light.

"We need to carry him out." Ryan says and slips an arm under him. I do the same, and I'm surprised he's not as heavy as I thought he would be. He's a boy. I thought they were all like, three million pounds.

"Where's Toby?" She asks.

"Changing." And I hope he's keeping the rest of the hunters distracted because I don't know what we're going to do if they appear now. Of course, anything bad that can happen, will. At the front of the cave is, I kid you not, five hunters.

"Shit." Ryan whispers.

We stop and stare. The hunters have guns pointing at us. All hell breaks loose in a matter of seconds because we're shot at, the bullets pelting us wake up T, who flails and basically punches me in the arm hard. I drop him, he covers his head and a strange psychic shield covers us. We're protected but still out numbered and the hunters move forward towards us. That's when the cavalry shows up. Toby in all of his monster glory stomps in, grabs the hunters and tosses them out as though they weighted nothing. Then he continues towards us. Ryan cowers back, protectively leaning over Coty.

I flinch as I watch this, unsure of why exactly, but instead of hiding from him I move forward.

"Thank you Toby. You should come back to us now. We miss you."

He growls, reaching out to grab me. I take his enormous clawed hand and give it a squeeze. He recognizes me, I know, I can tell by the way he looks at me. "Go home."

"Yes, we'll go home now. Then you can rest. I promise."