A/N: Ok everyone, so this is just a short snippet from my new story, it will eventually be quite long (hopefully!) and focus around a massive plot. It will involve all the main characters, Chris, Jill, Claire, Sherry, Leon, Ada, maybe Hunnigan and Helena and Jake, as well as (of course!) Emma :) Let me know what you think, please? Thanks for reading!

Another quick note - this takes place immediately after my other story 'The Forever Kind' and it would probably be best if you read that first, otherwise none of this will make sense :P

It was almost midnight and they were still awake, coffee going cold on the table. Sherry was still holding the phone to her ear despite the fact that Leon hung up two minutes ago.

Chris felt the anxiety pound through his head like wildfire. He hadn't taken his eyes off Sherry since her phone rang.

"What are we going to do?" Her voice was shrill. She was twelve again, frightened to death.

He stood up and kept his eyes on her. "Run. We have no choice." He pictured Ada, suave and insane and wondered if they'd reach her in time. She lived 40 miles away, and in the opposite direction to Claire. If he had to choose between saving his sister and some sociopathic bitch he barely knew… He felt sick.

Sherry was still looking at him like he had the power to save her. He touched her shoulder gently. He wasn't that man anymore, he wasn't a soldier. He barely knew how to fight. "Hurry, pack a bag. How long did Leon say we have?"

She checked the time on her cell. "Forty minutes."

He swore and started backing out the room. "Hurry up."

Emma was groggy when he woke her, with an arm thrown over her eyes to block the light. She turned over in bed as he ripped the blankets off her.

"Daddy no," she said, trying to cling to her pillow. "It's still night."

"Yes, but you need to get up. We're going in the car." He grabbed her pink school backpack and started throwing clothes in at random. He'd carry her out of the house still asleep if it came to that.

But she sat up. "What are you doing?"

He reached into her medicine draw and rummaged through the paraphernalia of an asthmatic, and swore again, slamming his palm on the cabinet. Jill was so much better at this shit than he was, he didn't even know what inhalers she needed.

"The blue ones, daddy," she said, pointing.

He turned to look at her, six years old and barefoot. He'd never wanted to drag her into this, he'd always made himself believe that this madness would never be a part of her life, and here he was preparing to flee for his life with her in tow.

"What's happening?" She said, rubbing at her eyes, "are we going to a party?"

He laughed despite himself, because this situation was completely ridiculous. How had they got themselves into this, after so many years of peace?

He carried her across his chest, with the backpack clutched against her stomach. As he ran through the house, he thought painfully of all their keepsakes, baby photos, BSAA reports, old STARs badges growing dust in a drawer; all of it would be lost. There would be time to think about that later.

Outside, Sherry was waiting in the car, swinging the keys around her fingers. She jumped when she saw him, and opened the doors.

"How long left?" He said, depositing Emma in the backseat.

Sherry checked her cell and shuffled over to the passenger seat. He slammed the door behind him and started the engine, backing out of the drive before even he checked the rear view mirror. He imagined his instructor scowling at him from twenty five years ago.

"Thirty minutes."

"Shit!" He punched the steering wheel, and felt rather than saw Emma flinch. She unclicked her seatbelt and clambered into the space between passenger and driver seats, grabbing hold of his shoulder.

"Daddy, what's happening?" Her voice shook, and she had tears on her cheeks. She was still wearing her pyjamas, and Dora the Explorer on her chest lit up in the pearly glow of the streetlights as he drove down empty streets.

He wasn't entirely sure of that himself, and he definitely wasn't sure how to explain it to a child. "Everything's fine, just sit back."

The nervous tone of his voice only panicked her even more, and she tried to push her way further on to his seat. He was still accelerating, going at least thirty miles above the legal limit, and he still wasn't sure if they'd make it in time.