Weaver studied the map on his desk, his eyes shifting from side to side. His hand rose and he lifted his finger, pointing it at a small dot on the paper.
"All of you will be put on a scouting mission. You will be sent to the city of Lynn, about 7 miles north of here. Some of the other masses have been sending us reports of "productive life" in this city. Some even say that people are living there normally, as if nothing is going on. I've decided that we investigate these claims and, if found true, we'll decide from there what to do. You will take one truck and two bikes. You leave tomorrow morning at exactly 0600 hours. Dismissed."
Hal sighed and stood up, stretching his legs and arms. Tom stood and went over to Weaver to discuss details of the mission, even though there really were none. Hal took this opportunity to turn to Maggie and smirked sarcastically.
"Looks like we'll be getting up early to get the bikes ready. You as excited as I am?"
She scowled.
"Of course not."
She sighed.
"This mission is absolutely pointless. All we're gonna find is a bunch of weirdos who think the world is still perfectly fine. Trust me."
Hal grinned.
"Hey, maybe we won't find anything, and we'll get to leave early! That would be great."
Maggie scowled once again.
"Not with your dad running things. He's a teacher, Hal. We'll stay there even longer than we have to with him in charge."
Hal smiled, and punched her arm.
"C'mon, cheer up Margaret,"
He stressed her real name, making her glare straight at him.
"I'm sure it's not gonna be all that bad. I mean, we get to ride the bikes for seven miles. That's pretty sweet."
Maggie stuck her tongue out at him, then got up and left the classroom. Hal grinned. He loved getting her mad. He quickly snapped out of it as his father straightened up from his talk with Weaver, walking towards his oldest son. They exited the classroom together, falling in step beside each other.
"So?"
"Nothing new. I just wanted to go over everything with him, since we've never gone this far from base before."
Hal shrugged.
"I think we'll be fine. The attacks have ceased in this area for the time being, and we won't be going anywhere near downtown where the ship is, so the odds are pretty much in our favor."
Tom smiled at his son.
"Hunger Games?"
Hal grinned.
"Of course!"
He ran off ahead of his dad, meaning to find Ben and tell him everything. Tom just chuckled to himself. Hal was becoming more like Ben every minute, and simultaneously Ben was becoming more like Hal. And not in the way Tom had hoped he would.