[i]Jacob woke up with his arms and legs bound, and his mouth gagged. He couldn't move. "Guess who's waking up?" he heard to his right. Jacob started to panic. He couldn't see Miles anywhere. Great. He had been captured, and had no idea where he, or Miles was. Jacob thought back to what he had been doing. Two nights before, Miles and Jacob had stolen from some large group in the wastes who had plenty of food to spare. They played right into the old "I'm just a kid please help me" bit. Just like Miles said they would. It was easy. Almost too easy, Miles had said last night. Then he had blacked out. But, no one had followed them. They had checked.

"Well, I think the boy here needs some explaining, eh kids?" Jacob looked around. No one had said anything. Suddenly, a man appeared out of no where right in front of Jacob. Three kids, two boys and a girl, walked up behind him, about his age. Maybe a bit younger. The girl walked up to Jacob and spit on him. "This is what you get for stealing from us, fucker!" she said to him. "Now, Shea," said the man. "Be polite. Wouldn't want to say that around his daddy. Oh look, here he comes right now." At that, Jacob saw Miles come from out of a tent, bloody and beaten, with another man pushing him out. Miles took one look at Jacob, then turned to the man and said "I don't care what you do to me. You will NOT touch him!" The man smacked Miles and yelled "Don't you dare tell me what to do, boy! Who do you think you are?"

A woman approached the man. The man turned and asked "Well? What did Cypher say?" "Cypher agrees with your decision." she responded. "I thought so," the man replied. "But we tell him nothing 'bout what we do to the boy. He ran free and escaped. Clear?" The woman nodded. The man motioned to the men behind Miles, and the kicked him to the ground. "This is what happens when you steal from us!" the man said, as he drew a gun and pointed it at Mile's head. Miles went to say something, but it was too late. There was a gunshot. Then Miles was gone.

Jacob screamed through his gag, tears streaming down his eyes. He attempted to move to Miles, but his bound legs and hands only caused him to fall over. The man walked over to Jacob and said "Learned you lesson now? Because I don't think you did. Now, I respect a dying man's wish, so I won't touch you. That's why the Dead are gonna do it for me." The man said something to the others, but Jacob didn't hear it. He felt some sort of burning beneath his skin. But the burning didn't make him feel pain. It made him feel powerful. At that moment, Jacob's bonds suddenly burnt open, and his gag dissolved in his mouth. Jacob let out a horrible scream of sadness and rage. And then everything was on fire.[/i]

Jacob awoke with a start, breathing heavily. He was in the paradise lands. It had only been a dream. Again. Jacob slid to the edge of his bed, and sat up. He wasn't getting any more sleep today, that was for certain. Jacob forced himself to calm down, and simply waited for the anger and sadness he felt to just go away. As he always had since that fateful day.