Um...so...wow. This story is finally finished. Completed. Or, at least, this particular part of it is ;P So, if you guys want to consider this a Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or gift for whatever holiday you celebrate, then go right ahead, because it kind of is. Also, today the world was supposed to end, and a lot of the time I didn't think I'd get this story up until after the world ended, so it's kind of fitting that I post it today.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Big Time Rush. On the bright side, the apocalypse has been pretty mild, considering that everyone was expecting erupting volcanoes and stuff.

Warnings: Innuendos, language, really long end A/N, and violence (if guns offend you, then please read this chapter with caution. I know a lot of people are sensitive after the Sandy Hook tragedies, and I don't blame you - I am too.)

Wow, no unsigned reviews to answer to today. Not sure how I feel about that...But hey, THANK YOU to everyone for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, and loving this story. It means so much to me, and seriously, without you guys, I probably never would have made it this far. I'm still in shock that you guys haven't given up on this story or on me, even when I was going weeks or months without updating. You're all so amazing, and you guys keep me writing, even when I just want to give up, so thank you! :) I love you all!

This chapter is dedicated to each and every one of you. :)

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 19: Haunted

James' POV

Three Years Earlier

I looked at Katie, hyper-aware of her head on my chest, her breathing slow and even. I trailed my fingers through her hair, still in shock over what had just happened. I couldn't seem to process it, that I had just had sex with Katie Knight, that I had just taken her virginity. It didn't seem real, but here we were, laying side by side in bed, completely naked, one of her legs draped over mine.

"I love you, you know," I said quietly. "I really do."

She tilted her head so that she was looking up at me. "Do you really?"

"I do. I've been in love with you. I meant what I said, my feelings for you are very real."

Katie smiled slightly. "Good, I'm glad."

I smiled back. "I'll be with you no matter what. I'll always be there, I'll always protect you. You can rely on me."

"So…you're my safe place?"

"Yeah, if that's what you need."

She nodded. "I love you too, James. I don't know how you managed to fall in love with me, but I do love you, and I want to be with you more than anything in the world."

"I want to be with you more than anything in the world too."

Her smile widened. "Well, okay then. You know," she said, placing her hands on my chest, "I think this is the start of a very beautiful relationship." And with those words, her lips found mine.

James' POV Cont.

2:05 AM

The very first thing I realized was how much my head hurt. It was throbbing like someone had taken a hammer to my skull and decided to pound a few nails in. I raised my arm and ran my hand through my hair, searching for those nails, but couldn't find anything resembling sharp, pointy things. However, my fingers did come in contact with a swollen bump. I winced. Ouch…I guess I had hit my head at some point.

The next thing I realized was how much the rest of my body ached. I could have been run over by a train and I wouldn't have hurt as much as I did now. That realization was not promising.

I slowly opened my eyes. At first, I thought wherever I was stuck was pitch black, but then I realized that there were dimly lit lamps placed at different intervals around the room. There were lanterns as well, and I could smell gasoline – gas lamps. That somehow didn't seem to bode well either.

I slowly sat up, and for the first time I registered that my wrists and ankles were tied together, and there was a piece of cloth in my mouth. I guess being unconscious slows down your observation skills a little.

So…let's see. I was bound and gagged in a room with gas lamps burning. I was seriously hoping that those none of those lamps accidentally or purposefully got knocked over.

There was a movement beside me, and I turned my head to find myself staring at an equally bound and gagged Katie and Kendall. Oh, super. No wonder we hadn't heard from either of them. They had been too busy being held prisoner by The Replacement.

Katie and Kendall stared at me, eyes large and shadowed in the dim light, but they both looked terrified.

I felt something roll into my leg and I looked to my other side. Jo had just woken up.

I peered around the room, and quickly realized that we were in the speakeasy room. I could see the crates spread around the room, but they were open. And kneeling beside one of them, taking inventory by the looks of things, was The Replacement. He didn't seem to notice that his newest prisoners were awake – he was too focused on the bottles of liquid.

I glanced at the others, who looked back at me, desperation shining in their eyes. We needed to get out of here, and we needed to get out of here now. Easier said than done.

The Replacement finally looked around at us. "Oh, good, you're all awake. I'm sure your friends will be glad to hear that. That is, if they haven't already taken the lifeboats and jumped bail."

I glared furiously at him. What the fuck was he talking about?!

The Replacement laughed coldly at the look on my face. "What's the matter, James? You don't think they'll abandon you in order to save their own skins? You think they'll stay on the ship and try to rescue you? You think they won't jump ship the second they realize they're out of time? You're a fool. They won't save you. You'll all die on this ship, helpless, and there's nothing they can do about it."

All I could do was intensify my glare and pray that The Replacement was wrong. I couldn't give up on my friends. I couldn't. And I wasn't going to let Katie die here. I had to figure out a way to get her out of here.

But how? I was drawing a blank on amazing escape plans.

It was beginning to sink in that I was going to have to rely on the others to get us out of here. But how were they going to do that? They didn't even know where we were…

A light bulb went off in my head. If I could just let them know where we were being held, then they could come and rescue us from Mr. McNutty. And something else – this was ridiculous. There were four of us against one madman. There had to be a way for us to overpower him. Although the ropes and gags were hinders…There had to be a way to get out of them…or to at least reach my phone…

…My phone…which was in the front pocket of my jeans…I wonder…

The Replacement's phone beeped and he checked it. "Excuse me, kiddies, I have to go check on my bomb." With an evil smirk, he walked out of the room. I could hear his footsteps slowly fading as he climbed the stairs. There was the squeak of the door, and then a slamming as it closed behind him.

I turned to Katie, trying to figure out how to convey my message to her without talking since, you know, I was a little gagged up. I tried to raise my right hip, drawing attention to the pocket my phone was in. She gave me a weird look.

Okay. That hadn't worked. I nudged my hip into hers, grunting a lot through my gag. She glanced down at my pocket, and a light bulb seemed to go off in her head. She wiggled around – slowly, since she was tied up – and I pressed my right jeans pocket against her hands. Kendall threw us a disgusted look, like he thought I was getting her to give me a hand job or something. Uh, no. I'm just trying to save our lives, thank you very much.

Katie fumbled for a few seconds before drawing my phone out.

Next question: How to get the message to them? Since we couldn't see our hands, typing out the message would be pretty much impossible. And calling them wouldn't work since we were all gagged. However…The upside was, I knew my own phone better than the back of my hand. With any luck, I would be able to type out a somewhat readable message. If I couldn't…well, maybe Logan could figure out how to trace cell phones in the space of a couple of hours.

I struggled so that my back was facing towards Katie's and she transferred the phone to my hand.

Kendall and Jo wiggled over so that they could read my phone. Biting my lip in concentration, I got into my conversations with Logan and began to carefully sort out the letters, typing in the message slowly: BSMNT. Both nodded, letting me know that I had succeeded. Once I was finished, I hit what I was ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-nine percent sure was the send button. There was the rushing sound that my phone made when sending a text, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. Well, at least I had been able to send the text. That was something. And apparently I had even gotten the message right. I just hoped they knew what I meant by the basement.

A few minutes later, the door opened again, and The Replacement came into sight. "You have five hours left before the bomb explodes. These are your final hours. By the time the bomb goes off, I will be far, far away from here, along with my cargo." He walked over to me and yanked the gag out of my mouth. "How do you feel about that, James?"

"A little annoyed. What's with the cargo?"

He smirked. "A special kind of liquid drug."

"So, alcohol."

"Not quite. It's something that Griffin, Snake, and I had been developing for quite awhile. It is made with several drugs – ecstasy, heroin, that kind of thing. The idea is to have a massive, epic high, to not come down from it for days, perhaps weeks. And no one will ever know just what it is, because what you're drinking resembles soda."

"Sounds pleasant," I deadpanned.

"Doesn't it? The druggies will pay top dollar for it. Since Griffin and Snake are both dead, I get all the profits. A win-win situation, if you think about it."

"Good to see you're being so positive about killing your cronies."

He shrugged and gave me a smile. "There's always a silver lining. For instance, you won't have to worry about the possibility of Katie Knight having your baby."

I swallowed, my stomach rolling with nausea. The baby…

I felt Katie shift beside me and I glanced at her. She looked every bit as sick and scared as I felt. I felt our hands meet and I entwined my fingers with her, hoping to reassure her a little bit.

She just gave me a sad look and rested her head on my shoulder.

The Replacement just smirked at us. "Ah, young love. How poetic. You two will be going up in flames in each other's embrace. How Shakespearean."

I just glared as ferociously at him as I could, before resting my head on Katie's. We'd get through this, I was determined.

Logan's POV

"It's obvious what we need to do," I said as I paced around the control room. "We need to find and rescue them."

Camille nodded in agreement. "We can't let them die."

"But how're we going to find them?" Stephanie asked, running her hands through her long, dark hair. "I mean, we don't even know where on the ship they are, and time's running out. We only have a few hours left."

"Maybe they're in the room under the trapdoor?" Carlos suggested.

"Maybe…" Jenn bit her lip, thinking hard. "Do we have enough time to split up and look for them?"

Kelly checked the time on her phone. "We have five hours…So maybe, if we can find them quickly."

"Well, we've got to try something," Gustavo insisted. "We can't let four of our own die."

"Agreed," Jenn nodded.

"So, let's split up," I said. "But there should be a couple people here to steer the ship.

"Gustavo and I'll do it," Kelly volunteered and we nodded, before scrambling out of the control room.

The five of us split into two teams, Jenn with Camille and me, and Carlos and Stephanie together. Carlos and Stephanie began searching the upper floors, while Jenn, Camille, and I made our way through the lower floors. Just as we had reached the lobby, my phone beeped and I pulled it out. I furrowed my brow as I saw that I had a text from James: BSMNT. What the hell was BSMNT?!

"Who's it from?" Camille asked, seeing the look on my face.

"James…what does BSMNT mean? Is that an acronym for something?"

"Um…" she took the phone from me and looked at the message. "I think it means basement."

"Basement? Like…they're in the basement?"

"No, they're picking out furniture for a basement. Yes, they're in the basement!"

"But – where's the basement? Under the trapdoor?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so…"

"Then where?"

"The room you were pushed into? The one we found you in?"

"Okay…"

"Come on!" Camille grabbed Jenn's and my hands and dragged us to the door that hid the stairs. She tried the door, but glowered when it wouldn't open. "Damn it, it's locked."

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, I heard The Replacement's voice drifting up towards us: "There's always a silver lining. For instance, you won't have to worry about the possibility of Katie Knight having your baby."

My eyes widened. There was a pause, and then he continued on: "Ah, young love. How poetic. You two will be going up in flames in each other's embrace. How Shakespearean."

A few moments of silence followed, and then there was the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. We all backed away into a closet, holding our breath as The Replacement passed by us.

"Let's go," Camille hissed as his footsteps faded away.

"I wonder where he's going," I said thoughtfully as he walked away.

"Probably to make his escape," Jenn replied. "Let's go get the others."

We opened the now unlocked door and scooted down the stairs. There were gas lamps burning throughout the room, illuminating the place and casting an eerie orange glow. But I didn't focus on that for very long; James, Kendall, Katie, and Jo were all on the floor, bound and gagged.

We rushed over to them, ripping the gags out of their mouth and beginning to work on the ropes. Camille pulled out a pocket knife and began to saw at Jo's ropes, finally cutting through them. She moved onto Kendall's. At last, all four were free, and they stumbled to their feet, shaking slightly.

"You got my message?" James asked me hoarsely as we hurried towards the stairs.

I nodded. "Basement, right?"

"Yep." We mounted the stairs and dashed up them, pushing through the door. The ex-captives blinked in the bright light, still rubbing their wrists and ankles where the ropes had chafed.

"By the way," Jo said, "we found the lifeboats. They're towards the back of the ship, and they're held down by extremely strong straps, so we might have to cut through them, I'm not sure if there's a button or something for them or not."

I nodded and pulled out my phone, sending a quick text to Kelly, Gustavo, Stephanie, and Carlos to let them know we had found them, and to direct them to the lifeboats. I slid my phone back into my pocket once my phone had confirmed that it had sent the text.

"We'll meet the others at the lifeboats," I said, and they nodded. We all headed for the door, but before we could step out onto the deck, there was the sound of a gunshot. With a glance over my shoulder, I spotted The Replacement charging down the stairs, gun aimed at us, a manic expression on his face.

"Nah uh," he breathed out. "No way. You're not leaving, none of you. None of you will survive this cruise. NO ONE!"

There was a long pause, and then we all seemed to come to our senses. We tore out the door, but there was the sound of another gunshot, and I heard Katie scream. I glanced over my shoulder in time to see James fall to his knees, clutching his arm and grimacing in pain. Katie collapsed beside him, face paper white. I could see blood gushing out of his arm, and my breath caught in my chest. He'd been shot.

I made a split second decision. "Run," I told the girls as Carlos, Kendall, and I rushed towards James, dodging a bullet as The Replacement shot at us again. "Go. Just…go."

Camille threw me a desperate look, before grabbing Jo and Stephanie's arms and pulling them out onto the deck. I wondered how long it would take them to get the binding off the lifeboats…

I reached James, falling down beside him as I examined his arm. His face was white, and he had lost a lot of blood by this point.

"Do something," Katie pleaded, tears streaming down her face.

In the background, I was aware of The Replacement walking towards us, gun aimed. I swallowed. He was going to finish us all off, just like this, with us gathered around James, Katie practically hysterical, Kendall trying to block the bullets from her as Carlos tried to hold The Replacement off.

I raised James' arm, biting my lip. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kendall taunting The Replacement. Another shot went off, and then another. Carlos began to back away, running for the door too, and there a fifth shot rang out. Five bullets…I wasn't sure, but I knew a lot of guns could only have six bullets at a time; I was hoping desperately that this was one of them.

Katie pulled off her hoodie, wrapping it around James' arm to staunch the bleeding. We hauled James to his feet, and began to move towards the door. I heard the last gunshot go off, but we all ducked, and the bullet sailed harmlessly into the wall.

Six bullets.

I heard the click of the trigger, but nothing happened. He was out of ammunition.

The next thing I knew, Kendall and Carlos were on the floor, wrestling The Replacement off of them – he had thrown himself at them. They scuffled around on the floor, fighting him. Katie and I helped James towards the door. He swayed slightly and stumbled, panting for breath.

"Come on," Katie whispered to him. "You can do it. Fight it. Don't…please fight…"

There was a THUD and I turned my head to see Kendall, Carlos, and The Replacement up against the wall. Kendall and Carlos got to their feet, but The Replacement didn't get up.

"Let's go," Kendall panted. "He's unconscious, maybe dead. He hit his head pretty hard."

"Should we just leave him there?" Carlos asked. "I mean…should we just let him die?"

"He'd let us die," Kendall pointed out.

"True…"

But then The Replacement began struggling to his feet, though he seemed to have hurt his leg. He collapsed again, eyes blazing, panting heavily. "You'll be haunted by me! You can never escape!"

Ignoring him, we managed to get James out onto the deck, and moved towards the lifeboats. The girls had gotten one of the lifeboats untied and ready to set sail.

We clambered into the lifeboat with them and hit the button to release it, dropping it down to the ocean. We all winced slightly, James shuddering violently, as the lifeboat hit the water, and Katie held on to him, murmuring softly to him.

Carlos and Kendall began paddling the lifeboat away from the DLS-S Cruise ship, the wind helping to propel us along. The cruise ship never went after us.

It was fading away in the distance, a blotch on the horizon, like a splotch of watercolor on a perfect painting. And then…

There was an explosion, flames erupted, and there was a huge wave.

The DLS-S Cruise had exploded.

Katie's POV

8:00 PM

"It sure was a good thing there was a cruise liner coming your way," the coastguard said to us two days later. I nodded, not saying anything. He was right – we had been very lucky. The SS-Paulina, a cruise ship, had been headed our way and saw us. They were able to get us onboard and found us rooms. Two days later, they reached the Santa Monica pier and docked, before leading us to the coastguard's headquarters, where we were now at.

Beside me, James shifted, wincing slightly. They had managed to get the bullet out when we had been on the cruise ship, but his arm still hurt quite a bit. Apparently it had gotten lodged in pretty deep. But he was planning on heading to the doctor's to get it checked on, to make sure there wasn't an infection or anything, so hopefully he would be okay.

I gave him a small smile, taking his hand in mine. When he had gotten shot, he had been trying to act as a shield between the gun and me. He had quite possibly saved my life, along with our baby's life, if I really was pregnant. I had a feeling that I was, though, and it wasn't just the fact that we'd had unprotected sex about fifty times. There was just this weird feeling that I was carrying a little baby, a little fetus. James' baby…

I didn't know what was going to happen between James and me. We loved each other, that much I knew, and he had almost died for me, but that didn't change our past, or the fact that he was James Diamond and I was just…me. I trusted him for the most part, but I was still pushing bitter and angry feelings off, ones that I had held for three years. And there was also the fact that we weren't technically together, and for all I knew, we never would be.

But for now, it was nice to think that after this, we would go back to his place and make love all night long until the stain of everything that had happened in the last three years, hell, in the last week, was just a vague and distant memory. That was all I wanted right now, to feel his arms around me, his body against mine, his breath on my lips; to know that we were alive and safe and that nothing, not The Replacement, not long-held secrets, could harm us, could tear us apart.

"It is," Logan spoke up, addressing the coastguard chief. "It definitely is. I don't know what we would have done otherwise. I mean, with our cruise ship just exploding like that…"

"We're still combing the waters for the wreckage," the chief told us. "We've found the remains of four bodies so far."

We nodded somberly and I mentally counted them: Captain Montgomery, the cook, Griffin, and Snake. But…there was a body missing. The Replacement's.

As much as I hated to think about it, it was entirely possible that he had managed to escape from the ship before it had blown up. We had hoped he would have gotten killed, but somehow, I couldn't imagine that happening. It was more likely that he had gotten a lifeboat of his own and managed to get away before the bomb went off.

James gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and smiled at me a little. I sighed and laid my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes. I just wanted this whole nightmare behind me already.

He stroked my hair softly, not saying anything. I could hear the soft murmur of voices, but I tuned them out.

We hadn't told them about The Replacement, we had agreed not to. The same went for the bomb. We didn't want to have to retell our story and explain the details to every single person in the world.

It was close to midnight by the time we were released from the coastguard office. We straggled to the car that Gustavo had called to pick us up, and we drove to a nearby restaurant that was open 24/7.

It was beginning to sink in that we weren't dead, that we were very much alive, that we were back on terracotta, that the danger was gone. We didn't need to be afraid anymore.

We ordered our food and sat at the table, all quiet, just letting everything flood back, simply feeling the relief of still being alive.

Our food arrived a little while later and we dug in, still not saying much because, really, what was there to say? James remained by me at all times, not saying anything, but just simply being there, like he was afraid if he left my side for more than a few seconds, something awful would happen.

At last, we left the restaurant.

"You'll crash at my place, right?" Camille said to Logan, who nodded.

"Definitely.

"And you can stay with me," Jo added to Kendall.

"Thanks.

"Jenn, you're more than welcome to stay with me," Kelly volunteered. "Same goes for you," she said to Gustavo. "I don't think anyone wants to be alone tonight."

"No, I don't think they do," Jenn agreed.

"Well, Carlos and I are staying together," Stephanie spoke up. "James, Katie? Are you two planning on going back to James' place?"

James and I looked at each other and I nodded. "Yeah, we are."

"Okay."

As we approached the car, I noticed a piece of paper wrapped around the antennae, flapping in the wind. James saw it too, and he frowned in confusion. We all walked over to it, and I pulled it off, smoothing it out. My heart almost stopped as I read what it said, and there was a sharp intake of breath from everyone around me: You didn't think a bomb would slow me down, did you? You can't escape that easily. I'm coming for you all…I'm haunting you. –The Replacement.

You guys are probably cussing me out right now, aren't you? Yeah, admit it, you are. But...there will be a sequel. Yes, that's right, there's going to be a sequel! I know a lot of you are probably about ready to start throwing stuff at your computer screen. You were hoping it was over, you were thinking "It's about time she finishes this damn story!" and then I leave you guys with a cliffhanger and an announcement that the story will continue. PLEASE don't throw anything at your computer, because that would damage it really badly and computers are expensive. But if you guys are upset, then I'm sorry.

It's just, I realized that I couldn't wrap everything up in the DLS-S Cruise. The Replacement is a lot like Murdoc from MacGyver. If you guys haven't ever seen MacGyver, go look it up because it's an awesome show. But anyway, Murdoc is an assassin in the show, and he never seems to die. He can fall a few hundred feet, he can drown, he can be caught in explosions, but he's still incapable of dying, and unfortunately, that's a bit how I picture The Replacement. And as long as he's out in the open and alive, he's still going to go after the group. Plus, their individual stories aren't finished either, and I know there was a few loose ends that you guys would probably love for me to tie up. So I really hope you don't mind there being a sequel, and I really hope you enjoyed the last chapter.

So, review and let me know what your thoughts are. Show the review button some love, kay? And seriously, drop me a review, because I really want to hear your opinions. Well, okay, if your opinions are that I need to be banned from computers, than yeah, that I don't want to hear. But the other stuff I do. I love you guys! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!