Fic: Primatech 815 - Ch 21
Title: Primatech 815
Author: starrdust411
Fandom: Heroes (Crossover with Lost)
Characters: Ando, Bennet, Claire, Claude, Hiro, Isaac, Peter, Matt, Micah, Mohinder, Niki, Simone, Sylar (more to come)
Rating: R
Summary: A plane crash unites a group of strangers.
Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes or Lost.
Warnings: AU, Violence, Action/Adventure, Drug use, Het, Slash, Crossover/Fusion
Author's Note: I'd just like to thank everyone who voted for this story during the Heroes Slash Fanfiction Awards. I really apperciate it :)
Previous Chapters
Chapter 21
"She wasn't on the plane, Peter," Matt told him, an ominous look on his face.
Peter barely registered the fact that Mohinder had passed out in his arms as his mind reeled and his heart beat quickened. All he could think about was the fact that Claire had been right all along and now she was alone in the jungle.
"Who wasn't on the plane?" Simone asked, returning with the bottle of water Peter had asked for.
"Candice," Matt clarified. "The brunette. She isn't a passenger on the manifest."
"Well, where is she?" the nurse asked, gently lying Mohinder's unconscious body down on the ground.
"I don't know," Matt shrugged, rubbing the back of his short black hair. "I saw her a few hours ago, but-"
"Has anybody seen Candice?" Peter shouted, his panic increasing with each passing second.
"Peter, what about Mohinder's leg?" Simone said, tugging at his arm, but Peter was too focused to even pay attention to his patient.
"Has anybody seen Candice?" Peter screamed again.
"Yeah, she went to go get some fire wood," Niki told him, a concerned look clear on her face. "She took off on the path to the beach. Why? Is she okay?"
The nurse didn't even bother to respond to her question as he took off in a sprint towards the jungle. When Claire had stormed off, she had announced she was heading back to the beach. Candice must have heard and gone after her. Peter was only vaguely aware of Matt's presence at his side as he continued his frantic search. They couldn't have been more than a mile or two into the jungle when it happened.
"Peter!" Matt shouted, causing the nurse to come to a halt. "Come look at this."
The young man turned around, taking a few steps back towards Matt only to find the police officer pointing at something on the ground. Peter felt his blood turn cold when he saw Claire's pink and white duffle bag lying forgotten on the ground.
"There are foot prints everywhere," Matt commented, picking the bag up gently in his hands. "There must have been a struggle."
"Where'd they go?"
"I don't know," the other man sighed, running a nervous hand over his hair. Matt looked as if he were about to say something when he stilled, the proverbial light bulb seeming to go off in his head. "Bennet. He's a tracker. He'd be able to tell us where Candice went."
"Right," Peter nodded. "You go get Bennet, I saw him heading towards the beach earlier. I'm going back to the caves to get supplies and gather up a search party." He didn't wait for Matt to reply, before he took off again, sprinting towards the caves as though death were on his heels.
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It was supposed to be a good day, it was supposed to be a decent day, but the world wasn't going to let Peter off the hook so easily. The creditors were calling him off the hook (skip a few student loan payments and suddenly you're a wanted man), he had to work a double shift at the hospital, and it took him nearly half his lunch break just to find a cab, but he was here now. Nathan had promised to treat him to lunch and for once Peter would not be too proud to take his sibling up on that offer.
Yet from the moment he stepped foot off the elevator things just felt... off. There was something about the too familiar office building that seemed to unsettle him. There were still busy interns running back and forth to gather papers, the ever present sound of phones ringing, and the soft click click of computer keys. They were the usual sights and sounds that filled any workplace, but something still didn't feel right.
It was only when he approached his brother's door that Peter noticed what was wrong: Elizabeth wasn’t there. Whenever he came to visit, Peter could always find his brother's secretary at her desk, busy typing up reports and answering phones. Today her absense was unusually noticeable and Peter couldn't help wondering where the young woman was.
He pushed the thought away, telling himself he would ask Nathan for details later. The weary young nurse reached out to grab the door knob to his brother's office when a sound caught him off guard. He heard Nathan laugh, followed soon after by a very feminine moan.
His hand jerked away as if burned by the noise. Peter had always known that his brother was the adventurous type, but doing such a thing in a public place -- his office no less -- seemed reckless in Peter's mind. Yet he couldn't help smiling at the thought of Nathan and Heidi still being so active even after so many years of marriage.
He was just about to walk away, to turn around and leave Nathan to enjoy the rest of his afternoon (their plans had clearly been forgotten) when something else, something much worse, caught his ear.
"Oh, Senator!" he heard the female voice purr a bit too loudly given the situation. Yet it was because of the volume that Peter noticed that the woman moaning was most certainly not his sister-in-law.
Nathan's deep, rumbling laugh soon greeted his ears, causing his mind to spin and his heart to pound. "Oh, Lizzie."
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"Okay, Peter, you have to tell us what's going on."
The young nurse did his best to ignore Simone and her agitated tone as he stuffed bottles of water into his bag. His mind was focused and spinning all at once. Every second he spent here instead of out in the jungle was another second that Claire's life was in danger. Peter wished then more than ever that he had his brother's cool head and his skill for planning. If Nathan were here...
The nurse frowned, shaking his head violently in order to clear out the thoughts. Now was definitely not the time for self pity or to cling to his big brother's memories. He needed to act, to take charge like he was supposed to.
"Seriously Peter, what's happening?" Niki huffed from above him. "Why were you and Matt looking for Candice?"
He sighed, looking from Simone's concerned face to Niki's hard, agitated eyes. This was one secret that he could not keep from the others. "We think Claire's been kidnapped," he admitted.
"What?"
"Kidnapped?"
He nodded solemnly, his stomach twisting with guilt at hearing the words out loud. It was just another failure on his head that he would have to deal with. "Matt and I found her bag on the path to the beach," he continued. "The brunette, Candice, we think she might have taken her. Matt went to get Bennet to help track them."
As if summoned by his words, Bennet emerged from the tree line -- his looks hardened and his whole body tensed -- with a near breathless Matt staggering a few steps behind him. "We gotta get moving," Bennet announced. "The sun's setting and the trail won't stay fresh for long."
"Do you know where they were heading?" Peter asked him.
Bennet nodded. "There were definitely two distinct sets of footprints," Bennet explained, eyeing the tight circle of concerned faces that was quickly forming around him and making sure that everyone heard. "There was a struggle and then there was a set of drag marks. From what I can tell, Candice was probably heading north, but we should have a group head south just in case."
"So how do you plan on finding them?" Isaac asked, his voice thick with skepticism.
"By following Candice's trail," the middle aged man explained simply. "No one can walk through the jungle without leaving a trail."
"I'll come with you," Simone said suddenly, causing Isaac's eyes to widen with shock.
"What?" he gasped. "Simone, no. It's dangerous. Someone was already kidnapped and-"
"I know," she cut in, irritated at her boyfriend's over protectiveness. "But I can help. I want to help."
"Then I'm coming too," the artist put in.
"Me too," Niki added.
"Can I help?" Micah piped in, only to be shot down immediately by his mother's serious gaze.
"No baby," she told him. "It's too dangerous."
"You can help out by keeping everyone here at the caves calm," Bennet said, offering the boy a kind smile even as his eyes flashed with worry over Claire.
Micah smiled at being given the slightest bit of importance and Peter couldn't help noticing the sour look Niki flashed the middle aged man at his well intended words. "Okay," the child whispered, satisfied with the task he had been given.
"The rest of us should spilt into groups," Bennet announced. "Peter, Simone, and Isaac will come with me and head north. Matt and Niki, you two take whoever else wants to come with you and head south."
The group grumbled their consent, before hurriedly splitting off to prepare themselves for their trek. "Bennet," Peter began, his voice low so that the others wouldn’t hear him. "If the trail leads north, then what's the point of having Niki and Matt go south?"
"Niki and Matt would only slow us down," Bennet told him truthfully. "We need to move and move fast. Claire's life is in danger and I don't have time to deal with those two getting in our way."
Peter nodded slowly, realizing that he wasn't the only person who needed to find Claire.
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Peter fidgeted nervously under his mother's intense gaze. He knew that she knew something was wrong, but he wasn't sure if he should say anything. Chances were, the Petrelli matriarch was already well informed about the whole thing and saying anything would only make him look foolish.
"Is something wrong Peter?" Angela asked, her tone distant and only vaguely interested. It was a hollow imitation of maternal concern. "You've hardly touched your food."
The young nurse shrugged, pushing around the leaves of his salad with disinterest. "Not very hungry."
"Well, when I invited you over to lunch, my main goal was to get a decent meal in you," she clipped. "You're too thin."
"Yeah, well taking care of people sort of gets in the way of little things like lunch," Peter grumbled. He hadn't really intended for his words to sound so bitter, but his mind was too troubled and distant for him to even bother feeling guilty.
He watched as his mother's lips tightened in to a thin line and her cold brown eyes narrowed in annoyance. Angela Petrelli was not the type of person to sit back and take any sort of barb -- be they intentional or otherwise -- lightly. "Alright Peter," she began crossly, "you've been sulking ever since you walked through my door. Just what has got you in such a mood?"
The young man frowned, shifting in his seat and licking his suddenly dry lips. He didn't want to say the words out loud, but he also knew that they were going to come out sooner or later. "I think... I think Nathan might be cheating on Heidi."
Just as he expected, Angela didn't as much as flinch at his words. She merely heaved a weary sigh and crossed her thin arms over her chest. She looked bored, unconcerned as if Peter had just told her he was upset because it had rained yesterday. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," she muttered. "It was only going to be a matter of time before you found out about Tracy."
If it hadn't been for the loud clang of metal against porcelain, Peter never would have realized that his fork had slipped from between his limp fingers.
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"Maybe you should go back to the caves?"
Peter scowled at Bennet's words, his brown eyes glaring daggers into the large man's back. "What?"
"You're our nurse, Peter," he reminded him. "You should go back to the caves where it's safe, dress Mohinder's leg."
The young man felt his body tense with agitation at the middle aged man's words. They hadn't been out for more than ten minutes and already Bennet was trying to get rid of him. He wouldn't let the other man push him away. He needed to be here, to find Claire and apologize for letting all this happen. She had trusted him, counted on him to protect her and instead he'd allowed this to happen.
"Claire's my friend," he snapped. "I have to find her."
"Peter," Bennet sighed wearily, "this is my fault."
Peter felt his ears perk up at Bennet's words. "What?"
"I promised Claire I was going to look after her," he explained. "She was frightened and I left her alone. Besides, I hunted with Candice, I spent time with her, but I didn't sense that anything was off. For everything that I know about hunting and tracking... whoever she is, she knows more. If we catch up with Candice, I don't want anything to happen to the only trained nurse on the island. Finding these girls, it's my responsibility. So go back, be the nurse. Let me be the hunter."
The young man's frown only deepened. He could understand how the man felt, but it only gave him more reason to be there. Both of them were being motivated by their feelings for Claire, by the guilt that was quietly eating away at them. Peter knew that if he left, Bennet would probably give Simone and Isaac a similar speech in order to take this task on his own. It was what Peter wanted to do, but he knew they couldn't. They had to stick together.
"Can we go now?"
Bennet sighed, the light reflecting off his horn rimmed glasses and making it difficult for Peter to see his eyes. "Follow me."
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"You know why we're out here right?"
Matt frowned slightly at Niki's irritated tone. "What?"
"Why we're heading south when the others went north?" she clarified, bitterness coloring her words as she trudged along by his side. "Because we're a joke. We're second bananas and Bennet doesn't want us getting in his way."
At that moment, Matt wanted nothing more than to agree. He wanted to let out all the weariness and frustration that had been festering inside of him since their plane had crashed on the beach, but he bit his tongue. Even though he agreed with Niki, he couldn't say anything. It would only cause the ever mounting tension to increase. The last thing their camp needed was for everyone to turn on each other, which was already likely to happen given that they'd been secretly invaded by an unknown possible native and would eventually learn of the serial killer that had been living among them for weeks.
"He's just stressed," he said, not at all feeling the words as he spoke them. "Bennet's worried about Claire, that's all. They were close."
"Yeah, really close."
At that his frown deepened and a feeling of concern filled him. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb, Matt," she muttered, her words more worried than bitter. "You've seen them together. The way Bennet is always by her side, talking to her, joking with her. It's inappropriate."
"Are you saying you think Bennet's-"
"I'm just saying that when we find Claire, we should keep Bennet away from her," she cut in. "And Micah."
Matt stayed silent, trying his best to focus his mind on looking for tracks. He didn't know whether to take Niki's words to heart or to merely shrug them off as the words of an over protective mother.
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Bennet grunted as he used his teeth to rip off another slim piece of red fabric from the shirt he had been carrying in his pack. "We mark our progress by line of sight," Bennet announced, grabbing the strip of cloth in his hands and tying it to a branch of tree. "We tie these off so we don't get lost."
"Um, you can lead us back to the camp, right?" Isaac asked, fidgeting slightly. Clearly the artist was starting to have second thoughts about accompanying the group on the trek.
"If nothing happens to me," the middle aged man told him off handedly.
Isaac blanched at his words, shivering slightly as if he'd suddenly been hit by a blast of cold air that only he could feel. "Maybe I should take over marker duty."
"Is this really necessary?" Peter snapped irritably. The trail had gone cold a while back. The light was fading and it was getting harder to make out foot prints or any signs of a human being having passed through the area. Needless to say the whole thing had put the young nurse on edge. "If you can't pick up the trail, just say so."
"I'll pick it up again," Bennet told him, his words tight, with a clear edge to them. It was hard to tell whether or not Peter knew that he was working the older man's nerves, but it was clear to everyone else. "We just need to rest a minute to get our clarity."
"You're going to take a break?" Peter scoffed. "We don't have much time! It's almost four o'clock. When the sun goes down-"
"It's 4:25, Peter," Bennet corrected him tensely. "And yes, I'm taking a break."
Simone sighed, as she marched over to Peter's side. She wasn't going to just sit back and watch as Peter and Bennet butted heads over nothing. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked, dragging him away by his elbow before the young man could even respond. "Would it kill you to give the man some space?"
"It might," he snapped.
The young woman narrowed her eyes at the nurse's words. This was not the level headed young man she had grown to admire. "Stop that," she barked, shoving at his arm forcefully. "I understand that you and Claire were close and you're worried, but you need to think clearly. Bennet is worried about Claire too, we all are, and we're not going to make any progress if you and Bennet can't work together."
"You don't understand," Peter whispered, bowing his head shamefully as he spoke. "I didn't listen to her. She told me someone attacked her and... I didn't believe her. She trusted me and I let her down."
Simone felt her gaze soften as she placed a supportive hand on Peter's shoulder. "Peter," she began tenderly. His sad brown eyes met hers and she suddenly felt an unfamiliar warmth fill her insides.
"Peter!"
The two jerked away from each other at Bennet's startled cry. They raced over to his side only to discover that the large man was holding a trinket in his hands. Simone recognized it right away, and she was certain that the other did too, as one of Claire's earrings. The women on the island didn't really wear jewelry -- Simone herself had several pairs of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets packed away in her bag that had all been stolen by Claude before she could get her hands on them -- since it was incredibly impractical and pointless, but Claire was definitely the acceptation. The teenager was always wearing a pair of gold plated earrings in the shape of the letter "C" with fake plastic crystals along the tips. She had overheard the girl telling Peter that they were a birthday present from her mother and that she never took them off. This was definitely a sign.
"Claire's earring," Peter muttered, reaching out to touch the small piece of jewelry affectionately.
"Do you think it just came off?" Isaac asked.
"No way," Simone put in. "This is a stud and a sturdy one at that if it didn't pop off after two weeks of living in a jungle."
"Simone's right," Peter agreed. "She's leaving us a trail." His eyes searched the ground following the faint path of foot prints that disappeared into the jungle. "They went this way."
"I'm not so sure," Bennet said suddenly, dashing the young man's hopes. He frowned pointing in a different direction towards a clearing filled with thick roots and rocks. "There's another trail over here."
Peter frowned, cocking his head in confusion. "What do you mean, 'another'?"
Bennet sighed as he moved towards the path leading towards the clearing, tucking the C shaped jewel into his pocket. "These are foot prints," the middle aged man informed him as he pointed out the light indentations in the ground. "People moved in this direction."
"Claire is leaving clues for us," Peter said pointedly. "They went this way."
"Unless Claire's not the one leaving them," Simone pointed out. All three men turned and gave her a slightly startled look, but she brushed it off as she continued to speak. "If Candice knows we're behind her, then she could be setting up a dummy trail; take off in one direction, then double-back in her own foot prints."
"So now you're a hunter too?" Peter asked, disappointment clear in his tone as if this were information Simone should have revealed to him days ago.
Simone opened her mouth to say something, but Bennet cut her off. "We're all just full of surprises," he commented sarcastically.
"Well, we've got two trails and apparently two trackers," Peter began. "I think we should split up."
"Alright," Bennet agreed. "You and Simone will take one path and Isaac and I'll take another."
Isaac frowned, but said nothing. Frankly, Simone was glad to go with Peter. Maybe she'd be able to keep the young nurse's head on straight.
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"So who got taken by what?"
"Claire," Micah said, repeating the name for the fourth time as he followed Sylar through the path between the beach and the caves. "They think she got kidnapped by Candice."
"Who’s Candice and why would she kidnap a sixteen year old cheerleader?" the fugitive asked, making sure his voice sounded as irritated as possible. He wasn't very fond of children -- they were loud,
annoying, and messy little creatures who demanded attention wherever they went -- but in this case he was actually glad that Micah had decided to bother him. Although the child was being rather annoying in the way that he kept following him, despite the fact that Sylar was purposely walking in circles to get him off his trail, the information he'd brought to his attention was definitely beneficial.
Peter and Matt were out in the jungle hunting for a deranged kidnapper. It was a golden opportunity for him to finally take off on his own quest to find Mohinder and bring him back to the camp. All he needed now was for Micah to lose interest in him and go away.
"I don't know," Micah shrugged, "but Matt said that her name wasn't on the manifest."
"Well don't you think it's possible that she might have lied about her name?" Sylar pointed out.
"It's stupid to lie about your name."
The fugitive flinched at the child's words, trying his best not to take them personally. He didn't know any better after all. "Well, Short Round," he grumbled bitterly as he stepped over a rather large root, "where do you think that Candice might have come from?"
"Maybe she was on the island before us," the child suggested.
Sylar scoffed, rolling his eyes at the kid's word. The only other people that had inhabited this place were the Spanish woman and her group, and it was very likely that they had all been killed a long time ago, either by the polar bears, wild boar, or the monster. "You've got a real active imagination," he muttered.
"This is a really big island," Micah pointed out. "There could be lots of other people here that we don't know about. Besides, if you don't believe me, ask Mohinder. He said we're not alone."
The serial killer felt his heart beat quicken and his mind reel as he stopped dead in his tracks. He found himself spinning around quickly, taking Micah by surprise, but he couldn't really find it in himself to care. "Mohinder's back?"
Next Chapter
Author: starrdust411
Fandom: Heroes (Crossover with Lost)
Characters: Ando, Bennet, Claire, Claude, Hiro, Isaac, Peter, Matt, Micah, Mohinder, Niki, Simone, Sylar (more to come)
Rating: R
Summary: A plane crash unites a group of strangers.
Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes or Lost.
Warnings: AU, Violence, Action/Adventure, Drug use, Het, Slash, Crossover/Fusion
Author's Note: I'd just like to thank everyone who voted for this story during the Heroes Slash Fanfiction Awards. I really apperciate it :)
Previous Chapters
Chapter 21
"She wasn't on the plane, Peter," Matt told him, an ominous look on his face.
Peter barely registered the fact that Mohinder had passed out in his arms as his mind reeled and his heart beat quickened. All he could think about was the fact that Claire had been right all along and now she was alone in the jungle.
"Who wasn't on the plane?" Simone asked, returning with the bottle of water Peter had asked for.
"Candice," Matt clarified. "The brunette. She isn't a passenger on the manifest."
"Well, where is she?" the nurse asked, gently lying Mohinder's unconscious body down on the ground.
"I don't know," Matt shrugged, rubbing the back of his short black hair. "I saw her a few hours ago, but-"
"Has anybody seen Candice?" Peter shouted, his panic increasing with each passing second.
"Peter, what about Mohinder's leg?" Simone said, tugging at his arm, but Peter was too focused to even pay attention to his patient.
"Has anybody seen Candice?" Peter screamed again.
"Yeah, she went to go get some fire wood," Niki told him, a concerned look clear on her face. "She took off on the path to the beach. Why? Is she okay?"
The nurse didn't even bother to respond to her question as he took off in a sprint towards the jungle. When Claire had stormed off, she had announced she was heading back to the beach. Candice must have heard and gone after her. Peter was only vaguely aware of Matt's presence at his side as he continued his frantic search. They couldn't have been more than a mile or two into the jungle when it happened.
"Peter!" Matt shouted, causing the nurse to come to a halt. "Come look at this."
The young man turned around, taking a few steps back towards Matt only to find the police officer pointing at something on the ground. Peter felt his blood turn cold when he saw Claire's pink and white duffle bag lying forgotten on the ground.
"There are foot prints everywhere," Matt commented, picking the bag up gently in his hands. "There must have been a struggle."
"Where'd they go?"
"I don't know," the other man sighed, running a nervous hand over his hair. Matt looked as if he were about to say something when he stilled, the proverbial light bulb seeming to go off in his head. "Bennet. He's a tracker. He'd be able to tell us where Candice went."
"Right," Peter nodded. "You go get Bennet, I saw him heading towards the beach earlier. I'm going back to the caves to get supplies and gather up a search party." He didn't wait for Matt to reply, before he took off again, sprinting towards the caves as though death were on his heels.
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It was supposed to be a good day, it was supposed to be a decent day, but the world wasn't going to let Peter off the hook so easily. The creditors were calling him off the hook (skip a few student loan payments and suddenly you're a wanted man), he had to work a double shift at the hospital, and it took him nearly half his lunch break just to find a cab, but he was here now. Nathan had promised to treat him to lunch and for once Peter would not be too proud to take his sibling up on that offer.
Yet from the moment he stepped foot off the elevator things just felt... off. There was something about the too familiar office building that seemed to unsettle him. There were still busy interns running back and forth to gather papers, the ever present sound of phones ringing, and the soft click click of computer keys. They were the usual sights and sounds that filled any workplace, but something still didn't feel right.
It was only when he approached his brother's door that Peter noticed what was wrong: Elizabeth wasn’t there. Whenever he came to visit, Peter could always find his brother's secretary at her desk, busy typing up reports and answering phones. Today her absense was unusually noticeable and Peter couldn't help wondering where the young woman was.
He pushed the thought away, telling himself he would ask Nathan for details later. The weary young nurse reached out to grab the door knob to his brother's office when a sound caught him off guard. He heard Nathan laugh, followed soon after by a very feminine moan.
His hand jerked away as if burned by the noise. Peter had always known that his brother was the adventurous type, but doing such a thing in a public place -- his office no less -- seemed reckless in Peter's mind. Yet he couldn't help smiling at the thought of Nathan and Heidi still being so active even after so many years of marriage.
He was just about to walk away, to turn around and leave Nathan to enjoy the rest of his afternoon (their plans had clearly been forgotten) when something else, something much worse, caught his ear.
"Oh, Senator!" he heard the female voice purr a bit too loudly given the situation. Yet it was because of the volume that Peter noticed that the woman moaning was most certainly not his sister-in-law.
Nathan's deep, rumbling laugh soon greeted his ears, causing his mind to spin and his heart to pound. "Oh, Lizzie."
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"Okay, Peter, you have to tell us what's going on."
The young nurse did his best to ignore Simone and her agitated tone as he stuffed bottles of water into his bag. His mind was focused and spinning all at once. Every second he spent here instead of out in the jungle was another second that Claire's life was in danger. Peter wished then more than ever that he had his brother's cool head and his skill for planning. If Nathan were here...
The nurse frowned, shaking his head violently in order to clear out the thoughts. Now was definitely not the time for self pity or to cling to his big brother's memories. He needed to act, to take charge like he was supposed to.
"Seriously Peter, what's happening?" Niki huffed from above him. "Why were you and Matt looking for Candice?"
He sighed, looking from Simone's concerned face to Niki's hard, agitated eyes. This was one secret that he could not keep from the others. "We think Claire's been kidnapped," he admitted.
"What?"
"Kidnapped?"
He nodded solemnly, his stomach twisting with guilt at hearing the words out loud. It was just another failure on his head that he would have to deal with. "Matt and I found her bag on the path to the beach," he continued. "The brunette, Candice, we think she might have taken her. Matt went to get Bennet to help track them."
As if summoned by his words, Bennet emerged from the tree line -- his looks hardened and his whole body tensed -- with a near breathless Matt staggering a few steps behind him. "We gotta get moving," Bennet announced. "The sun's setting and the trail won't stay fresh for long."
"Do you know where they were heading?" Peter asked him.
Bennet nodded. "There were definitely two distinct sets of footprints," Bennet explained, eyeing the tight circle of concerned faces that was quickly forming around him and making sure that everyone heard. "There was a struggle and then there was a set of drag marks. From what I can tell, Candice was probably heading north, but we should have a group head south just in case."
"So how do you plan on finding them?" Isaac asked, his voice thick with skepticism.
"By following Candice's trail," the middle aged man explained simply. "No one can walk through the jungle without leaving a trail."
"I'll come with you," Simone said suddenly, causing Isaac's eyes to widen with shock.
"What?" he gasped. "Simone, no. It's dangerous. Someone was already kidnapped and-"
"I know," she cut in, irritated at her boyfriend's over protectiveness. "But I can help. I want to help."
"Then I'm coming too," the artist put in.
"Me too," Niki added.
"Can I help?" Micah piped in, only to be shot down immediately by his mother's serious gaze.
"No baby," she told him. "It's too dangerous."
"You can help out by keeping everyone here at the caves calm," Bennet said, offering the boy a kind smile even as his eyes flashed with worry over Claire.
Micah smiled at being given the slightest bit of importance and Peter couldn't help noticing the sour look Niki flashed the middle aged man at his well intended words. "Okay," the child whispered, satisfied with the task he had been given.
"The rest of us should spilt into groups," Bennet announced. "Peter, Simone, and Isaac will come with me and head north. Matt and Niki, you two take whoever else wants to come with you and head south."
The group grumbled their consent, before hurriedly splitting off to prepare themselves for their trek. "Bennet," Peter began, his voice low so that the others wouldn’t hear him. "If the trail leads north, then what's the point of having Niki and Matt go south?"
"Niki and Matt would only slow us down," Bennet told him truthfully. "We need to move and move fast. Claire's life is in danger and I don't have time to deal with those two getting in our way."
Peter nodded slowly, realizing that he wasn't the only person who needed to find Claire.
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Peter fidgeted nervously under his mother's intense gaze. He knew that she knew something was wrong, but he wasn't sure if he should say anything. Chances were, the Petrelli matriarch was already well informed about the whole thing and saying anything would only make him look foolish.
"Is something wrong Peter?" Angela asked, her tone distant and only vaguely interested. It was a hollow imitation of maternal concern. "You've hardly touched your food."
The young nurse shrugged, pushing around the leaves of his salad with disinterest. "Not very hungry."
"Well, when I invited you over to lunch, my main goal was to get a decent meal in you," she clipped. "You're too thin."
"Yeah, well taking care of people sort of gets in the way of little things like lunch," Peter grumbled. He hadn't really intended for his words to sound so bitter, but his mind was too troubled and distant for him to even bother feeling guilty.
He watched as his mother's lips tightened in to a thin line and her cold brown eyes narrowed in annoyance. Angela Petrelli was not the type of person to sit back and take any sort of barb -- be they intentional or otherwise -- lightly. "Alright Peter," she began crossly, "you've been sulking ever since you walked through my door. Just what has got you in such a mood?"
The young man frowned, shifting in his seat and licking his suddenly dry lips. He didn't want to say the words out loud, but he also knew that they were going to come out sooner or later. "I think... I think Nathan might be cheating on Heidi."
Just as he expected, Angela didn't as much as flinch at his words. She merely heaved a weary sigh and crossed her thin arms over her chest. She looked bored, unconcerned as if Peter had just told her he was upset because it had rained yesterday. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," she muttered. "It was only going to be a matter of time before you found out about Tracy."
If it hadn't been for the loud clang of metal against porcelain, Peter never would have realized that his fork had slipped from between his limp fingers.
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"Maybe you should go back to the caves?"
Peter scowled at Bennet's words, his brown eyes glaring daggers into the large man's back. "What?"
"You're our nurse, Peter," he reminded him. "You should go back to the caves where it's safe, dress Mohinder's leg."
The young man felt his body tense with agitation at the middle aged man's words. They hadn't been out for more than ten minutes and already Bennet was trying to get rid of him. He wouldn't let the other man push him away. He needed to be here, to find Claire and apologize for letting all this happen. She had trusted him, counted on him to protect her and instead he'd allowed this to happen.
"Claire's my friend," he snapped. "I have to find her."
"Peter," Bennet sighed wearily, "this is my fault."
Peter felt his ears perk up at Bennet's words. "What?"
"I promised Claire I was going to look after her," he explained. "She was frightened and I left her alone. Besides, I hunted with Candice, I spent time with her, but I didn't sense that anything was off. For everything that I know about hunting and tracking... whoever she is, she knows more. If we catch up with Candice, I don't want anything to happen to the only trained nurse on the island. Finding these girls, it's my responsibility. So go back, be the nurse. Let me be the hunter."
The young man's frown only deepened. He could understand how the man felt, but it only gave him more reason to be there. Both of them were being motivated by their feelings for Claire, by the guilt that was quietly eating away at them. Peter knew that if he left, Bennet would probably give Simone and Isaac a similar speech in order to take this task on his own. It was what Peter wanted to do, but he knew they couldn't. They had to stick together.
"Can we go now?"
Bennet sighed, the light reflecting off his horn rimmed glasses and making it difficult for Peter to see his eyes. "Follow me."
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"You know why we're out here right?"
Matt frowned slightly at Niki's irritated tone. "What?"
"Why we're heading south when the others went north?" she clarified, bitterness coloring her words as she trudged along by his side. "Because we're a joke. We're second bananas and Bennet doesn't want us getting in his way."
At that moment, Matt wanted nothing more than to agree. He wanted to let out all the weariness and frustration that had been festering inside of him since their plane had crashed on the beach, but he bit his tongue. Even though he agreed with Niki, he couldn't say anything. It would only cause the ever mounting tension to increase. The last thing their camp needed was for everyone to turn on each other, which was already likely to happen given that they'd been secretly invaded by an unknown possible native and would eventually learn of the serial killer that had been living among them for weeks.
"He's just stressed," he said, not at all feeling the words as he spoke them. "Bennet's worried about Claire, that's all. They were close."
"Yeah, really close."
At that his frown deepened and a feeling of concern filled him. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb, Matt," she muttered, her words more worried than bitter. "You've seen them together. The way Bennet is always by her side, talking to her, joking with her. It's inappropriate."
"Are you saying you think Bennet's-"
"I'm just saying that when we find Claire, we should keep Bennet away from her," she cut in. "And Micah."
Matt stayed silent, trying his best to focus his mind on looking for tracks. He didn't know whether to take Niki's words to heart or to merely shrug them off as the words of an over protective mother.
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Bennet grunted as he used his teeth to rip off another slim piece of red fabric from the shirt he had been carrying in his pack. "We mark our progress by line of sight," Bennet announced, grabbing the strip of cloth in his hands and tying it to a branch of tree. "We tie these off so we don't get lost."
"Um, you can lead us back to the camp, right?" Isaac asked, fidgeting slightly. Clearly the artist was starting to have second thoughts about accompanying the group on the trek.
"If nothing happens to me," the middle aged man told him off handedly.
Isaac blanched at his words, shivering slightly as if he'd suddenly been hit by a blast of cold air that only he could feel. "Maybe I should take over marker duty."
"Is this really necessary?" Peter snapped irritably. The trail had gone cold a while back. The light was fading and it was getting harder to make out foot prints or any signs of a human being having passed through the area. Needless to say the whole thing had put the young nurse on edge. "If you can't pick up the trail, just say so."
"I'll pick it up again," Bennet told him, his words tight, with a clear edge to them. It was hard to tell whether or not Peter knew that he was working the older man's nerves, but it was clear to everyone else. "We just need to rest a minute to get our clarity."
"You're going to take a break?" Peter scoffed. "We don't have much time! It's almost four o'clock. When the sun goes down-"
"It's 4:25, Peter," Bennet corrected him tensely. "And yes, I'm taking a break."
Simone sighed, as she marched over to Peter's side. She wasn't going to just sit back and watch as Peter and Bennet butted heads over nothing. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked, dragging him away by his elbow before the young man could even respond. "Would it kill you to give the man some space?"
"It might," he snapped.
The young woman narrowed her eyes at the nurse's words. This was not the level headed young man she had grown to admire. "Stop that," she barked, shoving at his arm forcefully. "I understand that you and Claire were close and you're worried, but you need to think clearly. Bennet is worried about Claire too, we all are, and we're not going to make any progress if you and Bennet can't work together."
"You don't understand," Peter whispered, bowing his head shamefully as he spoke. "I didn't listen to her. She told me someone attacked her and... I didn't believe her. She trusted me and I let her down."
Simone felt her gaze soften as she placed a supportive hand on Peter's shoulder. "Peter," she began tenderly. His sad brown eyes met hers and she suddenly felt an unfamiliar warmth fill her insides.
"Peter!"
The two jerked away from each other at Bennet's startled cry. They raced over to his side only to discover that the large man was holding a trinket in his hands. Simone recognized it right away, and she was certain that the other did too, as one of Claire's earrings. The women on the island didn't really wear jewelry -- Simone herself had several pairs of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets packed away in her bag that had all been stolen by Claude before she could get her hands on them -- since it was incredibly impractical and pointless, but Claire was definitely the acceptation. The teenager was always wearing a pair of gold plated earrings in the shape of the letter "C" with fake plastic crystals along the tips. She had overheard the girl telling Peter that they were a birthday present from her mother and that she never took them off. This was definitely a sign.
"Claire's earring," Peter muttered, reaching out to touch the small piece of jewelry affectionately.
"Do you think it just came off?" Isaac asked.
"No way," Simone put in. "This is a stud and a sturdy one at that if it didn't pop off after two weeks of living in a jungle."
"Simone's right," Peter agreed. "She's leaving us a trail." His eyes searched the ground following the faint path of foot prints that disappeared into the jungle. "They went this way."
"I'm not so sure," Bennet said suddenly, dashing the young man's hopes. He frowned pointing in a different direction towards a clearing filled with thick roots and rocks. "There's another trail over here."
Peter frowned, cocking his head in confusion. "What do you mean, 'another'?"
Bennet sighed as he moved towards the path leading towards the clearing, tucking the C shaped jewel into his pocket. "These are foot prints," the middle aged man informed him as he pointed out the light indentations in the ground. "People moved in this direction."
"Claire is leaving clues for us," Peter said pointedly. "They went this way."
"Unless Claire's not the one leaving them," Simone pointed out. All three men turned and gave her a slightly startled look, but she brushed it off as she continued to speak. "If Candice knows we're behind her, then she could be setting up a dummy trail; take off in one direction, then double-back in her own foot prints."
"So now you're a hunter too?" Peter asked, disappointment clear in his tone as if this were information Simone should have revealed to him days ago.
Simone opened her mouth to say something, but Bennet cut her off. "We're all just full of surprises," he commented sarcastically.
"Well, we've got two trails and apparently two trackers," Peter began. "I think we should split up."
"Alright," Bennet agreed. "You and Simone will take one path and Isaac and I'll take another."
Isaac frowned, but said nothing. Frankly, Simone was glad to go with Peter. Maybe she'd be able to keep the young nurse's head on straight.
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"So who got taken by what?"
"Claire," Micah said, repeating the name for the fourth time as he followed Sylar through the path between the beach and the caves. "They think she got kidnapped by Candice."
"Who’s Candice and why would she kidnap a sixteen year old cheerleader?" the fugitive asked, making sure his voice sounded as irritated as possible. He wasn't very fond of children -- they were loud,
annoying, and messy little creatures who demanded attention wherever they went -- but in this case he was actually glad that Micah had decided to bother him. Although the child was being rather annoying in the way that he kept following him, despite the fact that Sylar was purposely walking in circles to get him off his trail, the information he'd brought to his attention was definitely beneficial.
Peter and Matt were out in the jungle hunting for a deranged kidnapper. It was a golden opportunity for him to finally take off on his own quest to find Mohinder and bring him back to the camp. All he needed now was for Micah to lose interest in him and go away.
"I don't know," Micah shrugged, "but Matt said that her name wasn't on the manifest."
"Well don't you think it's possible that she might have lied about her name?" Sylar pointed out.
"It's stupid to lie about your name."
The fugitive flinched at the child's words, trying his best not to take them personally. He didn't know any better after all. "Well, Short Round," he grumbled bitterly as he stepped over a rather large root, "where do you think that Candice might have come from?"
"Maybe she was on the island before us," the child suggested.
Sylar scoffed, rolling his eyes at the kid's word. The only other people that had inhabited this place were the Spanish woman and her group, and it was very likely that they had all been killed a long time ago, either by the polar bears, wild boar, or the monster. "You've got a real active imagination," he muttered.
"This is a really big island," Micah pointed out. "There could be lots of other people here that we don't know about. Besides, if you don't believe me, ask Mohinder. He said we're not alone."
The serial killer felt his heart beat quicken and his mind reel as he stopped dead in his tracks. He found himself spinning around quickly, taking Micah by surprise, but he couldn't really find it in himself to care. "Mohinder's back?"
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