I honesty just got this idea, and I love it, a lot. Tell me what you think about it…. This is AU, by the way. Just so that no one is confused...
Disclaimer: I do not own BTR, though I wish I owned Logan and Carlos…..
"The angels were all singing out of tune, and hoarse with having little else to do, expecting to wind up the sun and moon, or curb a runaway star or two."
"So we are actually staying in one place for longer than an hour? Wow…" Katie said in a sarcastic, but tired voice. She walked into the safe house slowly, having not been there for years. She couldn't remember the last time that had had been in a place that felt like home, actually. She examined the porthole – like windows high up on the walls, too high for anyone to be able to see into the house, but large enough for some light to be let in.
"Oh, Katie, you're so funny." James rolled his eyes and followed behind his little sister. Not his little sister, exactly. No one in the group was blood related except for Katie and Kendall, but that didn't matter much to anyone in their group. They were all a family, no matter who their parents were.
Katie turned around and smiled at James, and Kendall couldn't help the small grin that appeared on his face. Her smiles could brighten up the worst of days, especially since being on the run had been harder and harder these last few weeks.
Katie's light brown hair was a little past her shoulders, but she always had it up in a ponytail so that her hair wouldn't blow in her face or get in the way. Light brown eyes that reminded Kendall way too much of their mother, but he never said anything about it. Her skin wasn't the whitest, but wasn't the darkest either. Her Caucasian skin tone had been a bit tanned because she hadn't showered in a few… in a while, let's say.
Logan let out a heavy sigh, throwing his pack onto the old sofa in the middle of the room. "I wouldn't get used to it. Probably won't be here for long." Katie rolled her eyes, looking away from Logan. It wasn't that she didn't love him as much as she loved the other guys, but Logan always had to be logical. It helped so much; there wasn't a doubt about that, but sometimes Katie wished that he would just let her enjoy things as they came.
Kendall shook his head, walking over to the small kitchen area of the cabin that they were in. It had been Kendall's idea to come to this safe house, yeah. He was the leader of the group, and had to try and make decisions that were best for the group. Of course, staying in one place for a certain amount of time could make things harder for them, but it could help at the same time. He had spent a while thinking about this the last few nights.
If they didn't go to one of the houses, Katie or Carlos could've gotten pretty sick. Winters in Minnesota were brutal if you were out on the street, and Kendall wasn't sure if they would've been able to sneak onto another bus again, and if they did, he didn't know how long they could stay on without going noticed. Carlos and Katie were the youngest members of the group, being ten and fourteen. Kendall had to try and put them first, even though he didn't want to give more attention to those two while ignoring James and Logan, who were the same age as Kendall, seventeen.
Kendall remembered that the safe house in Minnesota the last place that his mother had taken him and his sister before she died. Kendall tried to forget it, but every so often he would have the same nightmare.
"Mom!" A ten year old Kendall screamed. Mrs. Knight turned her head hesitantly, dirt smeared across her face and her hair in a messy ponytail. There stood Mr. Knight, a pistol pointed towards his wife. Kendall grabbed his three year old sister's hand and shut his eyes, not opening them until the sound of the screams were gone, and someone whisked him away from the scene.
Kendall shuddered a bit as he looked through the contents of the cupboards, not really sure if it was coming from the lack of warmth in the cabin or from the bad memory. There wasn't anything but dust occupying them. Great.
Carlos and Katie started unpacking their packs while James inspected everything in the cabin. There was a small kitchen area, with a table where they could eat. There was a sofa not too far away, where a TV was set up next to a bookshelf. To the right there was the door to the cabin with a dead bolt lock, and to the left there were three bedrooms and a bathroom. A fire place sat in the middle of the front room, in front of the sofa. It might not seem like much, but it was like heaven to Katie and Carlos, who hadn't been in a home like this for seven years. The last home that they had all been in together wasn't even a real home.
"Kendall, why would our dads do something so bad?" Carlos asked his older friend, his dark brown eyes as wide as saucers. Kendall and his sister Katie had come to the orphanage a few months before Carlos showed up. They had heard a bit from their social worker, the people who worked in the orphanage, and from the news, about their fathers.
Apparently, both Mr. Knight and Officer Garcia had been involved in a scheme that had to do with plotting against the country's capital. Carlos had been seven years old and didn't fully understand what was going on. He remembered a stranger coming over his house with his Papi all of the time, who was a police officer, at the time anyway.
He remembered that the man had dark blonde hair and green eyes, much like his friend Kendall did. He remembered the man and his Papi going down to the basement, where Carlos was warned to never go, or he would receive a zurra, a spanking.
One day a bunch of men wearing police uniforms just like his daddy burst into the house without warning, when Papi wasn't home, only Carlos' big sister, Graciela. Carlos didn't have a Mama anymore, and they tried to take his Papi away, so they had to put him in the orphanage with other kids who didn't have a Papi or Mama.
One of the things that Carlos remembered the clearest was when Ms. Amanda, one of the ladies who worked in his room at the orphanage, started telling the workers about the two men who were on the run from the police and the FBI. Carlos would've never thought that one of those men would be his Papi.
"This is really nice." Katie commented as the group sat on the sofa in front of the fire. Carlos and Kendall had brought in firewood earlier while Logan and James went out to get more supplies. Kendall knew that letting them go alone could be dangerous, but decided to let them go anyway. They could defend themselves; they had learned how while out on the streets, teaching each other different moves as they learned.
Cell phones were a no no. they didn't know who could be tracking you or at what time, even though Katie had gone through a phase where she had begged for one every day, but she was over that now. She pretty much knew what it was like to be on the run, even though she kind of lost sight of things at times. She was only ten, eleven soon, so Kendall had to cut her some slack.
Birthdays were something that they all promised each other that they would remember. Katie kept a book in her pack for writing, and she had everyone's birthdays in that thing, and she always kept the date. One year Kendall had managed to steal a watch for Katie for her birthday, with the help of Carlos and James. She had learned how to tell time quickly, and it was something that she felt proud to know how to do.
Kendall didn't know how he ended up being the leader. Someone had to be in charge, didn't they? It was pretty simple: No hospitals, cell phones, calling attention to themselves, and there weren't any social workers knocking on their door, or worse. Maybe one of their parents, or a thug sent by their parents. Who knew?
Kendall's mother used to take care of the group, after secretly leaving her husband and taking their two children with her. She knew that her husband was planning something, but she just didn't know what. A police officer, with the name of Garcia had been helping him with his plan.
She noticed that her husband was always going out with this man, and Mrs. Knight learned that Officer Garcia had a son around her son's age, Carlos. Pretty soon Carlos was hanging around at the Knight household all of the time. He and Kendall became great friends, and Carlos was very sweet to Katie.
After a while, a different man came home with Mr. Knight. Adrian Diamond, a CEO of beauty supply company that was expanding itself around the world. He started joining in on the meetings with Mr. Knight and Officer Garcia.
Then you had Mr. Diamond's son coming over to play with Kendall and Carlos. James Diamond was seven months older than Kendall, and three years older than Carlos. He got along with the pair beautifully.
Last, but not least, Logan. Logan was two months younger than Kendall and nine months younger than James. Logan's mother was a scientist at government lab, and knew all about the human body. She was studying a cure for cancer when the three men got to her. Logan was then sent to play with the group of boys while the meetings were held. Carlos' mother died when he was younger, so there wasn't a need to worry about her, but Mrs. Knight couldn't help but notice that Mrs. Diamond never showed up, or spoke to Mrs. Knight.
Mr. and Mrs. Henderson were divorced, but Mrs. Knight never saw Mr. Henderson around, either. Mrs. Knight found it very odd. Whenever she would try to go down to wherever the meeting was being held, everyone would stop whatever they were discussing and glare at her.
Eventually Mrs. Knight felt worried about the children and herself, because the group of parents had been acting odd. Mrs. Knight didn't know if they were planning against the president or Congress or whatever, but she didn't feel safe living in her house. Mr. Knight started to abuse her physically, ignoring Katie, and verbally abusing Kendall. She knew that she had to do something when Carlos came over to her home that one day, a helmet strapped down to his head so that Mrs. Knight couldn't see the giant wound on his head, long sleeves so she couldn't see the bruises on his arms.
She didn't know what was going on in the other households, and she didn't want to stick around to find out. She knew that it was classified as kidnapping, but she packed up the other boys and her own two children and took off with them. During the year that they were in hiding Mrs. Knight taught the children how to survive on their own while learning herself. They created several safe houses, and Mrs. Knight made sure that everyone knew where they were.
It was the stupid mistake that killed her. Kendall would never forgive himself for it.
It had been his eleventh birthday, and Mrs. Knight decided that she was going to take the group to stay at a hotel for the night. They had been living in the safe house in Texas for a while now, and Mrs. K decided that she would take them to New York City. Another stupid mistake.
Long story short, Mr. Knight, Mr. Garcia, Mr. Diamond and Mrs. Henderson found the group. Mrs. Knight was brave, packed the kids up and sent them out of the window. She didn't have time to follow them herself. She knew what Kendall was pointing to when his eyes widened in fear, but all she could do was kiss his forehead and shove him out the window, before Mr. Knight turned around and shot her.
Kendall didn't know what the group of parents was trying to do – it sounded like organizing a cult, trying to take of the world. He would lay around thinking about it at night. That was something that he hated about himself – he couldn't stop thinking about things.
Mr. Knight was the leader, and he knew what they all wanted and how to get it. Officer Garcia had access to….police tools, maps and news, radios, guns, weapons….Mr. Diamond had influence, power. He could get the group whatever they needed, and also convince people to do things. Mrs. Henderson had smarts, had notes, and chemicals…experience.
What the hell were they trying to do?
They were still after their kids, the only other ones who had witnessed a few things. The FBI was after their parents, but they also had a group of followers. Apparently, they had pulled a huge stunt in Washington DC a few years ago, and that was why they were on the list of FBI most wanted.
The kids could be of use to the FBI, as well.
That was why they had to be careful. They didn't want to end up the same way Mrs. Knight had….
Kendall snapped out of his thoughts when Logan nudged him. "You okay?" He asked in a quiet voice. Katie lay half asleep on her small part of the sofa. Kendall nodded. "Just thinking. We should probably do a security check if we are gonna be staying her. Memorize escape routes, fighting routines, stuff like that."
Logan stared at Kendall. Logan was the only one who actually enjoyed running, so he wasn't too excited about setting down in the cabin. Kendall noticed Logan's expression. "It's only for a little while. Carlos and Katie were getting weaker, and its winter. I didn't know if we could get somewhere hotter in time, so this was the best bet…."
Logan shook his head. "No, I think you picked the right thing."
Kendall smiled a bit, and his head instantly snapped over when he saw his sister's head tilt up so that she could look at him. "You okay, Katie?" He asked softly. James had fallen asleep in one of the rooms already, along with Carlos.
"Can you sing to me?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper. Kendall wanted to let out a huff and scream no. he didn't like singing anymore; it reminded him too much of their mother. She defiantly was his hero, the way she gave her life away like that. Kendall would never forget.
Odd idea, right? Tell me what you think. Kind of mysterious...
