Disclaimer: This is my version of Animorphs 53 but I didn't actually write the book. K.A. did and she rocks!!

A/N: Hello! Um...that's it? Read please! This is just a story I'll keep updating until I finish Rest In Peace. Enjoy! And lot's of credit to Jennifer Lot. Thank you!

Note: ((blah)) is thought speak.

Chapter 1

Jake

DAY ONE

The Yeerks know who we are and the world knows about them. An open war. But at the moment, it was basically onesided.

Marco and I were riding the thermals created by Dracon beams. Dracon beams shooting down from one low-hovering Bug Fighter. Dracon beams that were cutting through our town like a hot knife through butter.

People were crowding to get out of buildings but had only seconds to get away. Most of the people leaving houses escaped, but those in twenty-story buildings were not so lucky.

My peregrine falcon hearing picked up on the panicked commotion coming from the next building in the Dracon beam's path. With his osprey eyes, designed to spot fish in the water, Marco could see through the windows of the building. He reported hundreds of people fighting their way down stairs to the ground floor.

As I watched, a group of men and women in business suits pushed their way out of a pair of double doors. Only a handful managed to get away from the building before it sizzled and disappeared. Even then I thought the Dracon beam would overtake them, but…

It's turning, curving back the other way, said Marco.

((Tobias?)) I called.

((Got it)), he said. ((Leading them left.))

A short way outside the Dracon beam's course, a few dozen people followed a talking red-tailed hawk away from danger.

Pointing them in the right direction was the most we could do. I knew it wouldn't do any good if the Yeerks decided to pick them off.

We weren't the only ones who were improvising. A military truck had arrived on the scene two minutes ago.

A handful of soldiers were now shooting up at the Bug Fighter with anti-aircraft guns. But weapons that would have been formidable to an airplane were just a joke to the alien spaceship. It took no notice of the attack as it continued on its course.

Soldiers ran to keep up with it. Some fell into newly-formed ditches. Ditches that, seconds before, had been basements. One soldier shot directly at the Bug Fighter's Dracon cannon. He maintained his position even as the Dracon beam coming from his target threatened to annihilate him.

Another soldier pulled the first out of harm's way, not a moment too soon.

"Cease fire," ordered the second soldier.

"No!" The first soldier cried. "General Hobster, we can't let them get away with this!"

"You will fall back, Lieutenant," snapped General Hobster.

"I want ropes and pulleys over there." He pointed to the ditches.

"I want the truck ready to pick up passengers over there." He pointed to a herd of running people, struggling to stay ahead of the advancing Dracon beam.

Smart. The general wasn't going to waste time being ineffective. But I understood the first soldier's attitude all too well.

((Visser One has enough Controllers to take all of these people by force)), I said, watching the slaughter. ((Why waste so many host bodies?))

((It's not the people they're after)), said Marco.

He was right. The Yeerks weren't bothering to destroy the people who were running away. The group following Tobias was growing now that the alarm had spread. Tobias kept spiraling down to fly above the heads of the crowd. I guess he was trying to make sure that they didn't lose sight of him. I thought of telling Tobias to ease off on the air show so he wouldn't attract unwanted attention. But the Bug Fighter took no notice of him or his band of refugees.

The general's troops were retrieving soldiers from the ditches. Injuries ranged from broken arms to sprained ankles, but there were no fatalities.

The military truck was crammed with civilians and the soldier driving it was disregarding every speed limit that had ever been invented.

((The Dracon beam is still curving this way)), I observed.

((It's a circle,)) said Tobias, his thought-speech becoming faint with distance. ((Someone go and lead the others out the far side.))

Marco took off.

((General Hobster)), I called out. He jumped, looking alln around him for the source of the voice. I did a few loop-the-loops to get his attention. ((I'm up here. The beam is going to curve back to where it started. Get your soldiers outside the circle before it comes back, okay?))

He gaped at me.

((Yeah, I know I'm a bird. Look, just do it.)) I left it at that, hoping he would take the hint.

I watched the deadly beam of red light continue on its course, while I tried to think. The Yeerks were clearing structures. Making space for something. Something that would go inside the circle.

Horrified, I stared down at the completed outline of a circle, which covered about a mile of densely populated city.

Without wasting any more time, I shouted out in public thought-speech: ((Everybody down there, RUN! Anyone on Findley, Birch or Gillette street head for Pinewood mall to your right and follow the osprey! Main, Burard and Rosedale head for the hospital, left, follow the hawk! Move, move, MOVE!))

I doubted whether most of them could follow directions at a time like this. They probably couldn't tell the difference between a hawk and an osprey either. But I kept calling out, repeating the instructions as loudly and clearly as I could, hoping against hope it would make a difference.

Some of them were heading in the right direction, but they were all much, much too far away.

Three more Bug Fighters swooped down.

((Tobias?)) I yelled. ((Have you got any more people with you?))

No answer. He was out of range.

((Marco?)) I asked.

((No, Jake,)) he said, simply.

((You don't have any more following you?))

((Only the ones on the outer rim. None from any of those central streets are going to make it.))

((They can still make it,)) I insisted. The Bug Fighters haven't—))

Tsssseeeeewww!!!

Dracon beams were now burning up everyone and everything inside the circle.

I couldn't watch. I turned and flew toward the mall, figuring that Marco would be easier to catch up with.

((I told General Hobster to follow Tobias, seeing as the hospital's that way)), said Marco. I(( thought it was good advice, but he looked at me like I was the most illogical talking bird he'd ever met.))

((Same thing happened to me)), I said, wearily.

I soared high on a thermal. Marco flew low, leading the survivors further and further away from the Bug Fighters.

((Should I stop and settle them somewhere?)) Marco asked.

((Better get more distance)), I said.

((I don't think we need to)), he said. ((The Yeerks outlined a specific area for whatever it is they're doing. They obviously don't need any more space at the moment.))

((What do we do with the ones who made it out?))

((Hork-Bajir valley?)) Marco suggested.

((No)), I said, flatly. ((We have enough refugees there already. And with this many people in tow we'd be discovered. We can't support this many either.))

((Then, I guess they'll have to knock on doors and hope for guestrooms)), said Marco.

((I don't have a better idea)), I admitted.

I glanced back, wondering what Tobias was planning to do with his homeless followers.

I could still see a few people running for the circle's perimeter, but the last of the Dracon beams sealed their fate.

After that, the only sound coming from that area was the roar of the Bug Fighters' engines. The only living things I could see were a flock of pigeons, flying away from the circle of burnt land.

A/N: I think it was pretty good but you guys are the judges. Review. I'll have chapter 2 tomorrow or Friday. :)