Chapter 2
The house four doors down from us was completly destroyed, the wall behind it blowing forward into rubble, flame, and smoke. In an instant I was hidden in the forest, unable to be seen. I saw Risica running out of the house with Jip on her back. She was beside me not two seconds later. "Whats going on"
"I don't know, I just saw the wall cave in and one of the houses explode"
Overhead we saw Angorra dive down into the forest, under the cover of trees. This all happened in about half a minute. All of us turned our gaze to the smoke billowing from the crater now left in the wake of the explosion.
At first nothing, Then an earsplitting roar filled the air, a giant machine raged into the facility, and crashed inito the forest, tearing down trees. It skidded to a stop, turning sideways ripping up more trees. Slowly the sides unfolded outward, becoming ramps. Ironclad soldiers marched in unison out of the vehicle, There scaly metal armor sliding in time with there footsteps. They walked to the edge of the forest, and stopped. Their joints hissing steam. they raised the guns in their hands, and began to spread out ward, looking for something. I could guess what. They marched to the left until there was one in front of each house for three hundred yards. For a moment they stood in front of the houses. Then marched inside. Slowly each house began to burn. I heard screams. Childrens screams. I felt my blood curdle as one ran from the house, engulfed in flame. The murderer walked out after him, Not a scratch burn or tarnish was on his armor. He watched the child run for a minute before raising his gun and firing. I turned away before the bullets hit, just one good thing about being part cat. The speed. I could catch a bullet at my leisure. Too bad he couldn't. I wish I could help the kid but if I ran out there I'd be dead too.
As the other soldiers walked back out of the homes they destroyed, a smaller vehicle sped into the grounds. The door on the back of the vehicle opened, and smaller, much more human looking soldiers poured out, moving faster Than their metal clad counterparts. They started searching the houses on our side of the hole, going into houses looking for families that were too late to hide.
Syska dropped down to my side, "Eric can you go back in the house and get my baby?" "Why do you want me to go?" I asked.
"Because You can hide, and I can't," she answered. The answer was obvious to me, but I didn't want to go. So I crouched down and slowly moved forward into the tall grass.
Even though the house was four stories high, it's foundation was made of foot tall, very wide stilts. There was still enough room for me get in between them and under the house if I had to, and under the house there was a trap door that led into the coat closet on the first floor of the house. And in that closet, there was a safe, containing our most valuable possesions.
We didn't have many possesions, just the ones the scientists had made specifically for us. Those were things that would only work for us, and we kept them safe. As safe as we could.
There were two men outside the house; one in front, and onewalking around to the back. I moved quickly through the grass, faster than olympic sprinters. I was behind the soldier in a second. And in another, I had broken his neck, and had dragged him under the house. I looked back to make sure I hadn't been seen. There was no sign that I had ever been there.
Turning back under the house, I found the door to the closet. I opened the trap door and climbed into the closet. There was no light coming in from either door, so I blinked once and my eyes turned a bright green color, the color the turn when I use night vision.
The coat closet didn't actually have any coats, just a fake wall in the back right corner. I took the fake panel off the wall, put the code into the dial, and swung the door open. Inside was my gun belt, with pistol and ammo, Angorra's rifle, a rather large duffel bag, and Syska's baby. Syska's baby wasn't actually a baby. If it was, you would've heard about it, and it wouldn't have been in a safe in a closet. It was actually a sniper rifle. It was about six inches taller than syska, with a scope that was specifically built to lock on and find targets. No matter where they ran. It also had bullets that where engineered to do that job. Find and kill whatever target she locked onto. She also had the words my baby painted on the barrel. And she loved it.
I strapped my gun belt on, checked my pistol, and gathered everyone else's belongings. Stuffing everything into the duffel bag, except Syska's baby because it was too big to fit with everything else in the bag. Closing the case and putting the fake panel back on, I slipped out of the house and back under it.
