This concludes Fear Surrounds Us All. I’ll be making a sequel so don’t worry!

I don’t own Lord of the Rings, but I am borrowing their stories and am NOT making any profit from it.

Title: Fear Surrounds Us All

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Chapter 19

Absence of Fear

Elizabeth woke with a start, but refused to open her eyes. A sharp pain shot through her hands when she discovered that she could not move them. Then, she noticed that she was moving and that her arms were wrapped around something. The smell around her was so foul that she began to breath through her mouth instead of her nostrils.

She heard grunts of creatures moving beside her. But she was still too scared to open her eyes. Her thoughts flew back to Chuck before she could worry about anything else. She mentally asked herself what he was doing at this time: was he still in Bastogne? Does he think about her just as much as she thinks about him? Is he even alive?

So much death and destruction surrounded her at home. Fear was in the hearts of every man, woman, and child. Elizabeth never had time to fear, she concluded. She was always so busy helping others to stop and think. But now, a foul creature, surrounded by her enemies, was carrying her, home was further away than she could imagine, and the fate of the world she was in now lied in the hands of a small group of people.

Of course she was afraid. Who wouldn’t be afraid? She had no clue if Cir or Bonduel were alive. She didn’t know if Chuck was alive either, and that scared her more than anything.

A thought came to her. It was a saying that her father would always tell her when she had lost her courage to face the death that polluted Bastogne. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The thing that is more important than fear is your ability to help others in any given situation. Although there may be little you can do, it is by far more important than sitting out and letting fear control you.”

She finally gathered the courage to open her eyes and see her enemy face to face. The light of the morning sky nearly blinded her, but she quickly adjusted to it. Elizabeth looked to her left and her eyes fell upon the Uruk-Hai that Cir had described.

He snarled, noticing that she was awake. He held up his fist and the Uruk-Hai that carried her came to a sudden halt. The thunder of footsteps also ceased. By now, her heart was in her throat.

The Uruk-Hai that carried her turned around and faced the other members of the cluster. Her eyes grew wide as she now realized that there was no chance for escape. Without recognizing it, she screamed as loud as she could possibly muster. She tried to scramble off the monster that her arms were laced around, but could not do so in time. The Uruk-Hai that issued the halt of the group ran over to her and hit her across the head with the hilt of his sword.

Darkness surrounded her as she fell into deep unconsciousness.

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Okay, look out for the sequel! I’m going to end this with some replies and some of my favorite quotes about fear.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with me through this story, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it! This isn’t the end, I promise! I appreciate all of the reviews and support I’ve received along the way! You guys rule!

Frodofreak88-Okay, okay! Thanks for reviewing my story! I really appreciate it! Look out for the sequel!

Ms. Unknown- Thank you for reviewing my story and sticking with it this entire time! I really appreciate all of the support you’ve given me! Don’t forget to look out for my sequel (I’ll get it out as soon as I’m able to!)

Elessar-Lover- Yes, yes, I know, I know. You want to kill me right now, don’t you? But, I have been planning on making this chapter the end of my first book in the series. Please don’t shoot! I was thinking that we could co-write the sequel! What do you think? I thought it was a good idea! I want to sort of get through my “Lost” phase first, though. Hey, I just want to say “Thanks!” for sticking with this story! You truly are a great reviewer!

QUOTES:

Babe Ruth
Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.

Bertrand Russell
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Ambrose Redmoon
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, First inaugural address
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Cervantes
He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he that loses courage loses all.

Channing Pollock
No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut. (I thought that one was funny!)

Aesop
It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.

Thanks everyone for reading Fear Surrounds Us All!