The prisoner cowered in the corner of the cell, their arms wrapped around themselves. They were a mere shadow in the dark, barely visible from the outside.

Footsteps echoed through the hallway of cells, the prisoner lifting their head and looking around fearfully. Their breath caught in their throat, recognising the man that came down the hallway as Gill, not Aiden.

Gill smirked at the site of the bloody, bruised person cowering in the corner of the cell. Aiden sent him and Maya there merely to feed their leverage, but without their leader there to keep him in line, it was really more of a game. He unlocked the cell's gate, stepping inside and crossing his arms.

"What?" The person asked in a shaky voice, after being stared at for a few minutes.

"Just thinking, we need to fatten you up a bit." Gill said, smirking. "Once Aiden no longer needs you for information or leverage against the loser, you're going to make fine punching bag."

The prisoner let out a frightened whimper, scrambling to their feet and backing up against the wall. Gill stepped closer, liking how his shadow towered over them.

"Scared, are we?" He taunted. "Because you should be."

"A-actually." The person stuttered. "N-no!"

Gill's face fell in surprise, not having expected that response. The prisoner acted as the speed of lighting, kicking upwards. The blow from their boot caused Gill to double over, collapsing onto his knees in agony.

Ignoring the pain from their fractured ribs and other injuries, the prisoner bolted past Gill. They flung the gate closed behind them, quick to turn the key in the lock and stuffing it in their pocket so Gill couldn't get back out. And then they booked it down the hallway.

Maya was waiting at the entrance of the cell block for Gill, rubbing her bare arms. She softly cursed under her breath for not bringing her wolfskin coat.

Suddenly Maya was caught off guard as the prisoner came barreling out of the hallway, shoving her against the nearest wall with all of their remaining strength. There was an unsettling thud as Maya's forehead met the concrete, collapsing to the ground in a pitiful heap of limbs.

The person glanced back at the cell block one last time, before beginning to sprint into the dark jungle.

-------------------

"Come on, Jesse, just hold on." Petra's desperate pleas were beginning to get drowned out by her own sobs.

Blood, Jesse's blood, coated Petra's bare hands and arms, staining her clothes. Wiry strands of her soaked red hair that had escaped her bandanna, dangled in her eyes. Rainwater glistened on her cold, pale skin while shivers of cold and fear rippled throughout her limbs.

Not having known where the other Blaze Rods were, especially Maya, Petra had fled their bunker with Jesse and Rascal. Now here she was in the first cave she could find, on her knees on the ground beside Jesse.

Jesse's armour lay in a discarded heap off to the side, the quartz surface painted in her blood around the horrendous gash in her chest plate. Jesse herself was lying on the ground in front of Petra, eyes closed and breath shallow.

Petra's jacket was used in an attempt to stop the blood flow, tightly secured around the wound in her stomach. In fact, most of Petra's clothes were used to wrap or clean the wound, even in attempt to keep Jesse warm and dry. Petra didn't care in the slightest that she herself was chilled to the bone, with only a thin layer of clothing remaining on her body. Saving Jesse was all she cared about.

Petra anxiously glanced back at the storm raging outside. If she tried to carry Jesse all the way back to the tree-house, there was higher chance that it would kill her friend instead of saving her. But she was left absolutely no way of getting Jesse help.

Rascal wined, giving Petra's arm a nudge with his nose. Aiden's blood has been rinsed off of his coat from the rain, the fresh stains of red in his fur being Jesse's. When he didn't get a response from Petra, Rascal returned to gently licking the forming sweat off Jesse's face.

"This is all my fault." Petra said as she focused her attention back on her friend. Tears rolled down her face, breath trembling. "Why did I leave your side??"

A fresh sob escaped Petra's throat as she drooped her head, tears dripping down from her face. One of her bloodstained hands held Jesse's, finger's intertwined. The other was knotted in the fur of Rascal's coat.

Pull yourself together. Petra reached up, wiping her eyes off on her hand and smearing blood over her face in the process. Pull yourself together.

Gulping back her cries, Petra turned her attention back to the unconscious girl on the ground. She didn't know how severe the stab wound was, but whether it was deep and life-threatening or just a case of getting the bleeding stopped, Petra feared that the sword used would be what ended up making the wound a fatal one. Jesse got so sick when a weapon enchanted with the command block barely grazed her skin, what was an entire stab to her stomach going to do?

"Bleeding's stopped." Petra murmured in a shaky voice as she checked the wound again. She turned her attention back to Jesse, carefully checking her pulse for the millionth time.

Petra bit her lip as Jesse shivered violently. She didn't care about being cold, getting sick would be the least of her worries at that point. But she had to keep Jesse warm at all costs.

Suddenly Petra remembered something she took, when she was searching for a way into Rascal's cell. She opened their bag, carefully taking out the wolfskin coat. She had refused to leave behind one of the only connections Rascal would ever have to his parents, but at that moment it could be so much more useful.

Rascal pricked his ears when he saw the coat. Petra hesitated, watching as Rascal came over and carefully pressed his nose against the coat. He sniffed the soft fur deeply, nuzzling his muzzle into the coat. Then Rascal looked up at her, his ears pulling back against his head. Petra felt her heart break at the sad look in the wolf's eyes, clearly he understood what she was holding.

Then Rascal slowly sat back on the cave floor. He lifted his head, tilting it back and let out a long, heartbroken howl.

I'm sorry. Fresh tears sprung to Petra's eyes, unable to take the sight of Rascal grieving.

Pulling her gaze away from him, Petra focused back on Jesse. She wrapped the warm coat around Jesse, not caring as her friend's blood tainted the fur red. At least it was bound to keep her friend from getting cold.

Rascal nestled his face into Petra's chest, allowing her to hug him. She let out a slow, shaky breath of relief as some of his body heat seeped into her chilled form, providing a fraction of warmth. Burying her face into his fur, Petra gave into her emotions and she cried.

She didn't know what to do at that moment. She couldn't see a possible way of getting Jesse help, not without worsening her friend's condition and risking her life any further.

Petra was beginning to accept that Jesse would die there.

A growl, a zombie's growl, dangerously close to the cave made Petra's head snap up. She looked over at the entrance to the cave, holding her breath as she prayed for the mobs to just pass. The jungle was quickly filling up with monsters as a result of the endless night, and Petra had to fight through hordes to get Jesse to safety. Her skin was cut and bruised, the old injury on her shoulder throbbing.

Rascal growled softly, sensing how close to the mobs they were. Petra reached out, picking up Jesse's Nether Star blade just in case she needed to defend them. While she had Miss Butter with her, the stronger sword mattered more at that moment.

Somewhere outside the cave there was a sudden, aggressive growl of a zombie, followed by a yelp. Rascal cocked his head to the side at the sound, while Petra's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Somebody was out there?

Suddenly a shadow moved over the entrance of the cave, a figure that was barely a silhouette in the dark, scrambling inside for safety. They let out a short shriek when the Nether Star blade's tip was suddenly resting on their chest, Petra towering over them.

"Who are you?!" Petra growled, increasing the pressure of the sword.

"P-Petra?" The person asked in a trembling voice, laced with fear.

Petra's eyes widened, not having expected this person to know her name, much less recognise her voice. Suddenly a flash of lightning lit everything up and Petra was able to see the person's face in front of her.

"Radar?!" She gasped, taking a step back.

Rascal yelped in recognition, jumping up and planting his front paws on Radar's shoulders. Even in the dark, Petra could see Radar's eyes widen behind his broken glances at the large animal who was practically hugging him.

"B-boy you've gotten big." Radar stuttered when Rascal retreated back to Petra's side. He shook his head. "What are you doing out here-" Another flash of lightning lit up the cave, suddenly allowing Radar to see the state the warrior in front of him was in. "Holy fruitcakes what happened to you!?"

"You know what, I could ask you the same thing, but no time for that." Petra said, turning away from Radar.

She tossed Jesse's sword aside, kneeling back down by her friend's side. Radar crept closer anxiously. The moment he lay eyes on Jesse's limp form on the ground, all the remaining colour suddenly drained from his face, his voice completely disappearing before he had a chance to scream.

"She's still alive, barely." Petra said, knowing what Radar's first thought was. "Aiden, he was here and he got her pretty badly."

"A-Aiden h-had m-m-me captive!" Radar suddenly choked out, his voice trembling to a point where his words were barely recognisable.

"No wonder he knew so much." Petra growled, balling her hands into tight fists. She turned to look at Radar again, the anger melting off her face to be replaced by her former expression of fear. "Jesse's going to die here if we don't get her help, but with the state the jungle is in, we can't risk moving her back home."

"W-what are we g-going to do?" Radar asked anxiously, squirming on the spot.

"Here." Petra said, tugging Maya's bloodstained tracker out of her pocket and shoving it into Radar's hands. She jabbed a finger as a very specific section of the jungle, unmarked. "Go to this location here. You'll find a tree-house, break the door down if you have to and get the others. Explain to them exactly where we are, and what's happened, okay? They'll know what to do."

Radar stood frozen to the spot, staring at Petra with wide eyes. He slowly glanced back at the cave entrance, growls and hisses coming from all the monsters outside. Petra hesitated, before she picked up her golden sword and held it out to Radar.

"Take Miss Butter. If it's going to help you get back to the others, if it's going to help save Jesse's life... I'd rather loose my sword than my friend, if something happened to it."

Radar gave a shaky nod, accepting the sword from Petra. Just by the awkward way he held it, Petra realised he had no idea how to properly wield a sword. She could only pray he'd at least be able to defend himself by swinging it around like an amateur.

"Go!" She insisted when he didn't budge from the spot.

He gave a quick nod, turning to leave. Petra glanced back at Jesse, before looking in Radar's direction again.

"And Radar... please hurry." 

He stopped, looking back at Petra. She looked at him with a dead serious expression, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Jesse's life depends on you."

Radar hesitated for a second, his entire body quivering in fear. But then he nodded, bolting out into the night with the tracker in one hand and Petra's sword in the other. Taking a long, deep, shaky breath, Petra turned her attention back to Jesse.

"Just hold on." She choked out, wrapping her hands around one of Jesse's. "Help is on the way."

___

Cliffhanger queen strikes again!

Okay, but I had so much fun with this chapter when I originally wrote it and even just editing it- ahh
Sorry in advance for any errors, even after I edited this twice, I've been unimaginably tired the past few days and fully focusing have just been hard.

But, back to the chapter!
So Jesse is only barely staying alive, the mysterious prisoner is finally unmasked and Petra is finally realising exactly how little braincells she and Jesse's been using!

Did you expect Radar to be Aiden's prisoner?
Do you think Jesse is going to make it?
Will Radar make it back to others in time, or at all?

Theories welcome, we're close to the end!

Speaking of the end, I don't know what to do when this book ends- usually I have another fanfiction ready to go, but this time I don't. I have another story in progress I'm really excited about, but it's only on chapter five - I'm definitely not ready to start posting it, and with how busy my schedule is right now, I'm not going to be ready for a while.

I really don't want to just,, go inactive until that story is far enough along for me to post, but I don't see any other option right now? Hnn

I also have another fanfiction idea that I'm super hyped to start, but I want to finish the one that's in progress first!

Anyhow, lemme know what ya'll think.

I would have loved to give you guys the next chapter in 2 - 3 days to make up for lost time, but I'm too tired and too busy to edit it in such a short time span.
So I'll see you all with chapter 22 in five days!