AN: Well, it's been a bit over a week, so I'm sorry about that. But here's the promised sequel of my other story Persecution.
Disclaimer: Angel Smith is not mine in any way shape or form.
"All right, here we are." Said Mr. Beldon, stopping in front of a fairly run-down building on the outskirts of Bridgetown.
"What is this place?" Asked Allis.
"This area has been abandoned for years." Said Mark, a history buff. "It's perfect for laying low. And for our techies, their is Internet access."
"But Susan broke her laptop." Alex said.
"I have the pieces, though." She said with a smile, producing her bag.
"How do you have them? And where did you get your bag?" Before they had been fired upon, they managed to retrieve their belongings, but the laptop bags were in the interrogation rooms.
"The laptop was with it, it had been knocked on the floor when I pushed the laptop. When Brad was beating me, I was putting the pieces into it. Think you can fix it, Alex?"
"You kidding? It'll be easy so long as you have all the pieces. The programming can always be reinstalled."
"Oh, right. I have you laptop bag, too." Susan said, handing over the aforementioned bag."
"How did you get this and your bag?" Alex asked.
"You know, I'm really not sure. They were by the door so I grabbed them."
"Well, however it happened, I'm grateful."
"Um, not to be a pessimist or anything, but what will we do about supplies?" Asked Frank.
"The place was abandoned during a mob scare that never happened." Mark said. "Their should be canned goods in most buildings."
"How long was this scare?" Susan asked, not seeing how a mob fear could cause an entire district to remain abandoned.
"The scare itself didn't last long, but immediately afterwards this place was hit with a barrage of natural disasters and, ironically enough, genuine mobs. By the time the mess was over, the government didn't want to provide the funding to repair this place, and they had wanted people to move into the 'new Bridgetown' for weeks. So they just informed people that they were to move and helped the process." Mr. Beldon said.
"Won't people notice the use of electricity?" Eva asked.
"No one monitors the power plant in this area." Angel said, knowing this because her parents worked in that field. "We should be fine so long as we don't use much power."
"How much energy do those laptops use up?" Asked Allis.
"Almost none." Susan and Alex said simultaneously.
"The one thing we like about 31st century technology. It takes up almost no electricity." Susan said.
"Well, I have to get to work. Not only do I have to rebuild Susan's computer, I have to repair mine."
"Do you have the tools?" Mr. Beldon asked.
"In my laptop bag."
"What isn't in that bag? Tom asked.
"Probably everything but the kitchen sink." Andrew said, which caused Ester and Eva to laugh hysterically.
"Pretty much." Alex said, getting to work in the building they had entered while talking.
"I found some canned goods." Mrs. Beldon said.
"And I just checked the power. It works." Frank said.
"Well I found the best thing of all, Bibles!" Angel said excitedly.
"Great!" Mr. Beldon said excitedly. "Now its late, and we all need to sleep. Tomorrow we'll explore this area as well as make plans."
"Come on, Alex. You can repair the laptops tomorrow." Susan said, feeling guilty about breaking her computer. Not only could she not repair it herself because her skills lay in programming, but Alex had told her that her laptop was a primary concern, and he'd repair his later.
"All right, it shouldn't take too long to rebuild it, though. The only reason it took so long the first time was that I had to find all the parts first and I was determined to finish it on your birthday and not before it. With all the parts here now, and no date to finish it on, a few hours should be all I need. Then you can load the programs on it, and on mine when I've repaired it."
"Sounds like a plan. Now go to bed."
"All right, I'm going."
"Wait, I have one question first." Eva asked. "Is that how you two always work? Alex builds and Lisa programs?"
"Yes. I've always been great at building things, but I can't design a good program to save my life. Susan, on the other hand, is amazing at designing programs, but isn't that great at building machines. It's why we work so well together."
"You have to tell me how you two met." Andrew said.
"Tomorrow." Mr. and Mrs. Beldon said, parental instincts kicking in and telling them that it was too late for them to still be up.
"All right." The teens said, finding places to sleep. Despite the fact that all of them didn't think that sleep would come, they were out almost immediately.
"Tomorrow." Mr. Beldon thought. "That's when we'll start preparing. Tomorrow we go to war."
AN: Good? Bad? In between? I don't personally like much more than the ending, but for a first chapter it will do. Sorry for taking so long to get this typed up.