Author's Notes: This one here is a temporary replacement. What happens here won't impact the next chapter in any notable manner, I just thought that I'd try for one that involves a lot more of me just doing it and having fun in the process. Much like the previous version, I did it in a much more casual manner too, being more sincere with what I want to put in instead of doing some super-heavy plan for every minute detail. I can always worry about those later when I actually have to figure out how things go from one point to the next.
Without further ado, let's jump in to the story, shall we?
Chapter 4. First of the week
Lincoln and Lucy had been navigating the wrecked hallways of their school for a good amount of time by now, with some backtracking whenever they encountered a blockade. It wouldn't have been too bad, but they only had so much energy to handle them. Not to mention, Lincoln was on the verge of panic.
All these time, they were searching for their sisters and so far, nothing.
Though tired, Lincoln refused to let it slow him down. The same however, could not be said for poor Lucy who was struggling to keep up.
Eventually they stumbled upon another blockade, stopping both of them. While this meant Lucy could catch her breath, it was yet another impediment to Lincoln.
The boy held his head and his desire to groan in frustration, coming out only as a hiss.
"Come on, Lucy, we gotta keep going!" Lincoln ordered.
"Wait!" Lucy held out her hand, prompting the boy to turn to her.
"W-what is it?"
"Slow down, I know you're worried, I am too." Lucy said. She then shrugged with her head tilted as she asked, "But don't you think it'll be useless if we're both too tired to help when we do find them?"
Lincoln wanted to retort, but found too much sense in his sister's words. His posture relaxed a bit, and he sighed as he placed a hand on his forehead.
"I guess you're right..."
It was then silent for both of them. Lincoln became occupied in his mind, thinking where did it all went wrong. Lucy remained silent, rubbing the back of one hand with the other.
Lincoln then thought that maybe he has been pushing himself too far. Now, his mind had become so confused that he can hear the voices of his younger sisters, among many others, calling out for help.
Wait...
Lincoln tried focusing his ears on something, an action which Lucy confusedly watch him carry out.
"What are you-"
"Hang on, did you hear that?"
The two kept quiet, looking around as it finally came again.
"Is anybody out there?" A voice weakly called, raspy. It came from the blockade nearby.
"Lola!?" Both of them said, leaning against the wall of said blockade.
The twins were huddled up together, seated on the dirty, cold floor. They watched all around them as students of their age were scattered all around. There were others slightly older than them, and then there are the kindergartners.
Ranging from toddlers and some just under the twins age, the kindergartners were gathered around their teacher, Mrs. Shrinivas.
The injured teacher was being tended to by one of her own students, resident scientist, Lisa Loud. But at this time, she's a temporary medic providing assistance to the school's own Nurse Patti, who was tending to the others.
One of those she tended to was Lola. Her right arm was bandaged.
Back with Lisa, she had just finished bandaging the last of her teacher's wounds. Using only limited and some makeshift items, she had performed what is generally, if not universally, considered impossible for someone her age.
It was at this point where they all heard something from outside.
Being the ones closest to the wall, the twins could just barely make out the voices of Lincoln and Lucy.
They glanced at each other for a moment, before jumping up from where they were and started pounding on the wall.
"Lincoln!?" Lana called out.
"Please, can you hear us!? Is anybody out there!?" Lola said with a raspy and shaky voice.
Then, from the other side, they heard them again.
"Lola!?"
Both the twins' faces lit up, they smiled and spoke up, "Can you help us!?"
Outside, Lincoln was beginning to panic as he finally understood why they never bumped into each other at all.
"Wait right there!" He told, moving away before tackling the wall. The result was a surge of pain in his shoulder and the possibility of dislocation.
Instead of stopping to find a way around, Lincoln did what his sisters never expected him to do; he backed away and repeated his actions twice before he began to angrily slam his fists on the wall.
"Move, you darn rocks!" Shouted the boy.
"Lincoln, calm down!" Lucy begged.
"I can't just leave them!" Lincoln barked, without even sparing so much as a passing glance.
"But..."
"I can't..." Lincoln said somberly, "Lori and the others are also still out there, I want to worry about them, too. But I can't do anything about them now, can I? At the very least, I should help you guys first."
"Lincoln..." Lucy softly said.
While touched, much like her older sisters, Lisa couldn't exactly agree to the idea of Lincoln putting others way before himself. If anything, they should all make it out of this together.
Again, silence befell the siblings.
"Lincoln? Lucy?" Came Clyde's voice.
Turning around, Lincoln felt the winds of change as he got up.
"Clyde!" Smiled the Loud boy.
"What's going on?" Rusty said, coming into view.
Following him were the rest of the class, having finally caught up with the Loud siblings.
"You guys are just in time!" Lincoln stated, the others glanced at one another.
"What are you talking about?" Rusty asked.
Clyde however, had been eyeing the blockade behind his friend, becoming occupied in his own mind before finally remembering what his friend had set out for in the first place.
With a gasp, Clyde pointed at the blockade, "Wait, are they trapped in there!?"
Lincoln nodded.
"Well what are waiting for?" Clyde declared, running past Lincoln. He looked around and turned to his friend, asking, "Is there anything we can use to move these rocks?"
Lincoln stuttered as he too, scanned around before something caught his eye. He went over to it and picked it up. "This should be able to help!" He claimed, showing a reinforcement rod to his friend.
"Well it's the best we got, let's go!" Clyde went with it.
The two boys looked for a place to slip the rod under and found one in seconds. Sliding the rod between two rocks, they began pushing down on it, letting out grunts of exertion. When no progress was being made, Lucy joined in, and then the rest of the gang.
While the twins and many others hoped for their success, Lisa, having moved closer to the aforementioned twins, did not share her sisters' and fellow classmates' sentiments.
" I don't think that will work," Lisa shook her head, "Under such massive weight, I doubt even a lever mechanism would be capable of budging these rocks. Much less with a crude method of execution."
"It's not wrong to hope, isn't it?" Lola retorted, clearly trying her best to stay optimistic.
"Yeah, we'll get you guys out, no matter what!" Lincoln proclaimed, grunting as he continued to push.
Suddenly...
"What's going on here?" Came a man's voice.
From inside, all the sisters could hear was a gasp, followed by chatters. Then silence.
Although faintly, they could hear the newcomer say, "Alright then, step aside."
Then the rod was taken out before it was relocated to a different spot. Tension filled the air as nothing else happened afterwards.
It was only for a few seconds, but it still felt unnerving.
The silence was broken when a loud yell was heard, accompanied soon by the sounds of the rocks shifting ever so slightly. That was the plan.
With the targeted rock out of place, it rolled away, by at least a meter away from Lincoln's sisters.
Then they heard the sound of clanking as the rod was discarded.
Standing in the newly made pathway was the newcomer, Lincoln's substitute teacher, Mr. Abe.
"Alright, everyone, let's go in and help them out!" He ordered, looking back to his students.
Without further ado, they did as they were asked to. At least by those who weren't injured.
Being the closest, Lincoln rushed in first, immediately gathering his sisters into a hug. Lucy joined in moments later.
They broke off from the hug after several seconds. Lincoln looked over to every single one of his sisters who were present.
He sighed and spoke up, "I'm really glad you guys are okay."
He smiled as he finished, and so did his sisters. He then looked at Mr. Abe, who went over to the unconscious Shrinivas, with Nurse Patti confusedly looking at him.
"Who are you?" Asked the nurse.
Abe looked over to the nurse, "Hm? Oh-"
"That's Mr. Abe, he's our substitute teacher." Lincoln explained.
Nurse Patti nodded as Abe crouched down next to the kindergarten teacher and put her arm over his shoulder, helping her up.
"Mr. Abe?" Lucy called, prompting the man to look at her with an expectant look. "Thank you for helping us."
Smiling, Abe nodded. He looked at the rest of the students, some were already being led out, but some looked around cautiously, paranoid over something.
"So uh," Abe began, "What happened here?"
Lisa adjusted her glasses and started, "Well-"
"It was like a ghost!" Abe raised an eyebrow.
"It broke through the walls!" Both eyebrows were raised.
"It had a red six-pointed shape on its face!" The teacher's eyes widened.
"What?" Lincoln said, confused as to what was said.
Lisa sighed and continued, "Strange as it may sound, their words are not to be dismissed. Everything they said were true. It bore a white complexion, at least, that's all we could see of it when it moved like a blur after it entered the school by destroying a wall. Sadly, while it would have made our escape easier, the creature proved to be a serious threat."
Abe then asked Nurse Patti to take over in helping Shrinivas up, moving to the other end of the blockade, all eyes were on him.
Lincoln asked one last thing, "So, about the six-point shape?"
"Yes, it had on its face, a series of rings bearing the colors red, black, and yellow. Centered around it, was a red hexagon."
"Then you guys better get going now." Abe worriedly requested, clutching his stomach.
Confused, and with some hints of anxiety, Lincoln asked, "What?"
Right before the evacuation was reaching it's end, something burst from above, kicking up clouds of smoke which began clearing up soon. Miraculously, the ceiling didn't gave way, but that was besides the point. Something, just came through.
Standing with its back hunched, facing towards the substitute teacher, was a creature that resembled Lisa's description. There were some missing details; on its wrists and ankles were purple hexagonal cuffs. On the back of its head was a bony crest.
They couldn't see the rest of it, but they saw Abe's reaction towards the creature. Or rather, a lack thereof.
There was something else that at the moment, only Lincoln noticed; the man was waving his hand at them. Or, signaling them to get out.
Lincoln notified the others of it, and motioned them to follow along with the teacher's order.
The evacuation continued quietly, that was until the creature finally moved to look at the person in front of it.
Abe's expression intensified, and he signaled for the others to pick up the pace.
For a very brief moment, Abe saw the creature react to the sounds behind it. Those of the students as they rushed to get out. Lincoln noticed this as well.
In order to counteract this, Abe took one step forward, easily regaining the monster's attention.
The anxiety kept growing from this point onwards. So much so, that one of the students tripped over a rock, falling onto the floor. Panic ensued when the creature finally turned around, screeching as it faced the students.
It began moving towards them, and screams filled the area.
Abe, having been distracted earlier by the trip, returned focus shortly after the creature moved. It almost blurred, but before it reached full speed, it stopped.
The creature noticed this very quickly as it looked down to see Abe holding on tightly on one of its legs. Trying to break free, it jerked its leg around, causing discomfort on what's holding it down.
The others also saw this, and the panic from earlier had yet to subside.
"Go! I'll hold it off!" Abe shouted, dragging them back to reality.
Incapable of voicing the order again, Lincoln simply turned to the others, motioning violently for them to go.
They did, all of them, successfully escaping their closest encounter with the creature so far.
The creature screeched angrily, finally resorting to stomping the man on his back. A few more ensured its freedom as it was finally released. But as opposed to what it intended before, it now had its 'eyes' on the man that held it down, having recovered well from its attacks.
Outside, everyone panickedly looked on as the two went out of their line of sight, away from their exit.
"What's he doing!?" Nurse Patti questioned.
Naturally, nobody was capable of giving an answer. They all simply watched on, unmoving as all they could hear were Abe's grunts, some screeches and the sounds of impact.
Lisa's mind nearly went haywire as she processed what in the world just happened. She noticed it when nobody did, and she began to doubt. One that was directed towards the teacher.
She looked over to Lincoln and saw him staring on, his head moved as the fight continued from the inside. His head moved, whenever sounds came from inside.
"Is he tracking the fight? From outside?" She asked herself in her thoughts.
"What do we do?" Clyde asked first, showing concerns towards the condition of their teacher.
Lincoln gulped down his fears and spoke up, although a little shaky, "We should help him!"
"How?" Was the question many asked him.
"We're going to bury it." Lincoln declared.
"Nonsense," Lisa shook her head, looking at her brother, "You saw what that thing can do. Simply entombing it under a rubble would not suffice against it."
The others interjected, expressing signs of frustration and disappointment.
"But..." Lisa added, silencing everyone, "If we were to do this correctly, then the combined mass of the rocks coupled with what little kinetic energy they will generate, then it's quite possible. If it means giving us just enough time, then it's our best choice."
Lincoln smiled after hearing his sister's words. Although they were said under a tone of uncertainty, it was enough for him to go by.
As for the plan itself, Lincoln was somehow able to guess where they should execute it on. But first, he ran to the opening and looked inside.
Greeting him was quite a sight; Abe dodged with noticeable effort, the attacks from the creature. Once it reached a certain level of intensity in its attacks, that was Abe moved in to retaliate, delivering multiple light strikes on the creatures back before it could recover from its self-induced stagger.
Not much damage was dealt, but it caused enough discomfort on the creature for him to regain some distance from it.
He did notice however, that Abe himself wasn't really doing all that well. In that short moment he was outside, his teacher suffered some bruises and received slash marks from the creature's lightly clawed hands.
And all this happened in a few seconds. Well past 3, but just under 7.
The creature caught up easily, taking advantage of Abe's noticeably lesser stamina and closed the gap between the two, throwing an unintentional palm strike which pushed the teacher onto the wall behind where it pinned him to.
"Mr. Abe!" Lincoln worriedly shouted, diverting attention to himself.
When the creature set its eyes on him, he felt like he was frozen in place. Cold sweat ran down the side of his face as the creature's lifeless gaze was firmly settled on him.
Abe in turn, exploited this by pushing away the creature's arms to break its guard and crouched down to just above waist level and tackling the creature into a wall on the opposite end, which snapped Lincoln out of his fearful trance.
Lincoln flinched at the sound of the impact and looked over to Abe who, with where he positioned himself, was just visible to those outside.
"What are you doing!?" Questioned the substitute teacher.
"I want to help!" Lincoln stated.
"What?" Abe raised an eyebrow, before grunting as the creature brought down its fists on his back.
"Ram that thing into the wall!" Lincoln requested, motioning it by moving a fist towards his other hand.
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Trust me!"
Abe's eyes widened, although his face remained somewhat neutral. He looked around before making up his mind.
"Alright," He nodded, "Let's give it a shot!"
Lincoln pumped his fist, saying, "Yes! Wait for my signal!", and nodded as his teacher gave him a trusting smile, before making his way out.
Once he was out, he was greeted by Clyde.
"Well? What now?" He expectantly looked at Lincoln.
"Now we get into position!" Replied the Loud boy.
Back inside, Abe was beginning to lose his grip on the creature as it took hold of his coat and began thrashing around.
Right before his luck ran out, Abe heard the sound of metal rubbing against the rocks. Initially confused, he soon realized what Lincoln planned.
Sighing, he quietly said, "Well, I agreed to this."
Planting his feet firmly on the floor, he tackled the creature again to momentarily daze it. It sort of worked, but considered it to be good enough as he then backed away by several steps.
The creature recovered and rushed towards him, forcing him to continuously dodge its attacks.
He managed to align himself between the creature and the wall, backing away with each evasion.
"Now!" Came Lincoln's signal.
Bringing his focus solely on the creature, Abe was able to successfully dodge another attack, a violent swipe which broke its own balance and allowing Abe to slither behind it.
Wasting no time, Abe ran full speed towards the creature and managed to slam it onto the wall, destabilizing it just enough for Lincoln, with the help of his sisters and friends, to push down on the rod and shift the rocks to cause a mini avalanche on the creature.
When the rocks came falling down, Abe stepped away just in time as the creature was buried under the mass of rubble from above it.
Miraculously, the damage spread no further than it needed to.
As the clouds of smoke kicked up from the avalanche earlier cleared up, Abe sat on the floor as he and his students breathed a sigh of relief. Lisa however, held her breath on it.
"That was great!" Clyde exclaimed.
"Yeah," Abe agreed, getting up from the floor, "I didn't think it would actually wo-"
The creature suddenly rose from its intended tomb and screeched before turning to look at Abe, lunging forward as it tried to take out the teacher.
In his surprise, Abe was incapable of dodging in time and took a slash on his chest before he could, by dumb luck, hold the creature's arms in place. Though it was clear that he couldn't hold it for long.
The students panicked as the creature was gaining the upper hand, slowly forcing Abe down, increasing its chance to attack.
Lincoln held his and darted his eyes around, trying to find anything that can help. His panic grew, pausing only when he spotted something. He squinted his eyes at it, and gasped.
He diverted the others' focus onto himself when he moved forward to pick up a rock.
As he prepared to throw it, he shouted out, "Mr. Abe, watch out!"
The teacher could only let out a "Huh?", as Lincoln threw the rock somewhere on the ceiling, the trajectory of which Abe's eyes followed.
When the rock hit, so did it finally for Abe as he head-butted the creature to daze it, rolling away as the rest of the ceiling collapsed onto the creature.
They all watched as debris rained on the creature.
By the end of it, they could still see it just barely poking out from under the rocks. Dust-like particles left the creature's body, confusing the students before they realized that it was disintegrating, letting them know that it was finished for good.
When the creature was finally gone, they all heard groans coming from behind. Turning around, they saw Principal Huggins and Mrs. Shrinivas waking up as the former's secretary was crouched next to them.
"What's going on?" Weakly asked Huggins.
"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Shrinivas remarked on her headache, before she looked around, "Where am I?"
The two shared the same question as they both scanned their surroundings, before settling their eyes on a larger group with many more pairs of eyes staring back at them.
Confused, Shrinivas cocked her eyebrows, "What?"
Abe sighed and smiled, looking at them with a relieved expression.
The kindergartners, sans Lisa, ran up to their teacher and hugged her.
"What?" Shrinivas asked again.
"Boy do we have a lot to tell you." Abe finally spoke up.
"Indeed." Lisa agreed, adjusting her glasses as she looked down on the floor, trying to hide her emotions.
Abe looked around, his smile never fading. That was until he spotted something; a hole on the wall that led outside. He found that it was big enough to fit them all by simply looking at it.
Pointing at said wall, he said, "While you guys catch up, I'm going to check outside. Make sure it's safe."
Everyone else nodded, though the other two teachers were still confused.
Huggins slowly got back on his feet, stumbling slightly which he held his hand up on when the others tried to approach, telling them that he's okay.
"So," He began, looking at the others, "What happened?"
After a brief rundown on everything that happened, Huggins nodded. Though both he and Shrinivas were still unsure of.
Abe soon rejoined them, wearing a somewhat somber look.
"What?" Lincoln asked first.
Abe looked away for a moment, before looking back at them.
"I think... It's best if you were to see it for yourself."
One way or another, he was gonna have to break the news to them, and he figured it'd be easier if he did it earlier. The results would have been the same either way, and that was his words caused discomfort and uncertainty.
Abe decided to go out last this time. He needed the others to see it first.
Once the first rounds of gasps were let out, then he joined them.
As he finally stepped foot outside again, he could see them all standing in place, frozen at the sight of the town before them.
There was little of it left, most of the buildings there had been destroyed partially, or outright razed to the ground.
Horror was the only appropriate description of the students' expressions. Some of them held their head, denying what they're seeing.
There were some who couldn't hold back their tears. The twins were an instance of this, though Lana managed herself better.
Lisa was shocked, yet at the same time, somewhat intrigued. A thought she felt disgusted passed her mind.
Lucy was quiet, as she always is. Only this time, it was because she couldn't think of anything to say about this nor does she know what to even think about it.
Lincoln could feel his breathing going out of rhythm. He became aimless in what he focused his eyes on.
"I won't sugarcoat this, you guys." Abe said, taking a deep breath. He sighed before continuing, "This won't get any better soon."
As obvious as it was, it still didn't make them feel any better.
"But..." The man added, "We'll pull through this, and we'll come out on top."
"No, no..." Huggins shook his head, looking over to Abe, "I appreciate your optimism, but with something like this, we don't just 'pull through'. It's not that easy."
"I know." Abe somberly nodded. He then looked up and suggested, "In any case, we should get moving."
Before anyone could get a move on, Lisa stopped the man, "Wait."
Turning to the toddler, Abe raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"
"Excuse me for asking, or even suspecting you of anything at all, but you seem to know or have an idea as to what we're facing against."
"Lisa, what are you talking about?" Lincoln asked.
"Think about it, Lincoln, in all the times he's around, he was capable of facing things head-on."
"W-what are you saying?" Lincoln further inquired.
"In case you haven't realized yet, Lincoln, I suspect Abe here may be more than meets the eye."
As the two went on, Abe had been quiet. He never spoke to confirm anything, not did he deny them.
Before the siblings' conversation could reach a boiling point, it stopped when Lincoln shivered as he felt a tingle down his spine.
When the boy looked away, he noticed that his teacher had also felt something as he too had his eyes somewhere else.
Their reactions were in turn, reacted to by the others who were all staring at them in surprise.
What came next firstly came to Lincoln and Abe's attention as their eyes tracked something in the air. Before their suspicions peaked, finally, it came into view for the others as well.
A small spherical object similar to a rubber ball with a cyan stripe running down the middle landed right in their area.
Abe was the first to act; he flinched before he turned to the others, shouting, "Everybody take cover!"
Panic ensued as the students scrambled and scattered in their attempt to do as they were told.
"What's going on!?" Huggins asked.
"Just do it!" Abe barked, running over towards the ball.
Although reluctant, Huggins, and by extension, the other school staffs did as they were ordered.
Picking it up, Abe chucked the ball as far as he could, with it ending up just on the other side of the nearby road where it exploded in a burst of bluish flames and terrifying all those who witnessed it.
"What was that!?" Huggins questioned once more.
Abe stood up, having dropped to the ground after the throw, and dusted himself off. He then adjusted his coat and answered, "That was a molecular disruption grenade."
"Molecular w-what?" The principal struggled to repeat.
"Simply put, it is a grenade that destroys things by taking them apart on a molecular scale. Or to put in an even simpler wording, it vaporizes." Lisa explained.
Abe nodded as the toddler finished, but before he could speak up, he was interrupted.
"Though it brings again the topic from before," The young genius started again, "How do you know of these things? What do you know? What don't you know?"
Like before, Abe kept quiet, something that was beginning to get on the young genius' nerves.
"Can you just be on with it and answer!?"
"Can we pretend, for this moment, that I don't know any of these? Because I'm sure that there's a better t-"
He was interrupted when another one of those creatures came up from behind and strangled him.
The sudden occurrence surprised the others and they all screamed as the teacher moved around in an attempt to loosen the creature's grip.
"Mr. Abe!" His class, except for a few of them, cried out.
"What do we do!?" Clyde asked.
Lincoln stuttered for a moment, before he noticed that their teacher was starting to back away, having overcome their collective weight. The next thing he noticed was what was behind them.
Gasping, Lincoln ordered, "Quick, Mr. Abe! Back away towards the curb!"
With his breath running short, Abe figured that there would be no sense in arguing thus, he backed away with his body leaned backwards, surrendering to where their mass drags them to. He then felt a sudden jerk, where he realized that the creature's grip had loosened.
Not even the alien creature could keep itself balanced in time, and that allowed its target to be freed.
Abe dropped on one knee, recuperating for a brief moment, before turning back towards the creature and delivering a dropkick onto its chest, forcing it further into the road as Abe fell on his back.
Unfortunately, that left the man vulnerable, and the others realized that too. The creature quickly recovered, but Abe couldn't get up in time and the creature began its approach, only to be hit by a speeding family van which terrified both the downed man and the group behind him.
Almost immediately upon impact, the van, too, had stopped.
Abe stared at the window, barely making out the silhouette of a woman.
The window rolled down, and staring back at him was a blonde girl in her late teens. She stated at him with a mix of surprise and recognition.
"Lori?" Abe spoke first.
"M-Mr. Abe?" Lori followed.
"Mr. Abe?" Leni peeked out from behind her sister.
"Lori?" Lincoln said, approaching the vehicle.
The teen's eyes went wide and she gasped at the sight of Lincoln.
"Lincoln!" She happily called out.
"What?" The other windows rolled down, revealing the rest of the sisters sans Lily.
They were the first to run out to meet their brother, before the eldest two followed suit. They quickly came to notice the younger sisters and their joy could not have been greater. Soon, they came together in a big hug, laughing as they did.
Meanwhile, Abe had gone silent, before he looked on as the last of the creature's remains had disintegrated. That was before he realized something else.
"Wait..." He muttered, turning to the group hug behind him.
Lincoln noticed first that Abe was staring at them, followed by Lori and the rest collectively.
Pointing to them, Abe asked, "You guys are siblings?"
"Well, yeah." Lincoln answered.
"So this is where you moved to?" Lori smiled with one eyebrow raised.
Abe chuckled and got off the ground, standing up before putting his hands on his waist. He shook his head and replied, "Yeah, what a first day, is it?"
"You guys know each other?" The twins asked in unison.
"We don't just know each other," Lynn said, "He was our teacher."
"Yeah, for a good few months." Luan added.
"Zed man here is pretty cool, too. Haven't had a good match in a jam session since Sam and Chunk." Luna reminisced.
"Huh." Lincoln nodded.
Abe was still trying to wrap his head around the scale of their family, he thought it was an exaggeration the first he heard about it. At that moment too he realized something else. Or rather, remembered.
"Right, Lincoln?"
"Yeah?" The boy looked at the man.
"You go on ahead with them." Abe suggested.
"What? I mean, what about you guys?" Lincoln asked, knowing no other reason for them to separate. Except for the fact that his sisters would have wanted the same.
"That's right, where will we go?" Huggins chimed in, the students around him conversed amongst themselves about the same thing.
"We're going to a bunker." Abe said simply.
"Bunker?" Everyone questioned.
"Indeed, there's an evacuation center in town, disguised as an extension building for the police department." Lisa explained, being the only other one who weren't surprised.
"It's settled then," Lori decided, "That's where we'll meet up again, right?"
"Wait, where are we going?" Lincoln looked at his sister questioningly.
"We're gonna head home for a bit, get some extras and that's it. After that we'll be off to the bunker." Lori answered.
Lincoln nodded before he turned to Clyde, "Well buddy, I guess we'll meet you there?"
"No, Clyde's coming with you." Abe cleared up further on what he had in mind. He saw Lincoln turn to him and he crouched in front of the boy, smiling momentarily, before speaking up with a serious tone, "Besides, you still have something to do."
In that moment, Lincoln's eyes widened, and all he could let out was, "H-huh?"
All this time, he never once mentioned, nor has he ever blurted out anything to anyone else but Clyde. He began to think back about what Lisa mentioned. Could it be?
Lisa too, heard it, simply staring at the man while everyone else weren't bothered by anything.
Clyde noticed, but he kept quiet, only looking on as his friend went with his sister into the van. He turned to Abe one last time and nodded before running over to the van and joining Lincoln in it.
Once inside, Lincoln remained silent. He only turned when he heard the others bid their temporary goodbyes and saw Abe waving them off. He returned the gesture, and that was it.
The van moved, and after reaching a certain distance, Abe led the group off to their destination, going out of view within moments.
Lincoln then returned to his seat, slumping down on it slightly and letting out a sigh afterwards.
"What's wrong, Lincoln?" Lynn asked, being seated next to the boy.
"Nothing, I'm just tired." Lincoln said, which the sports-lover seem to take easily.
Meanwhile, Lisa had been peeking out from the edge of her seat, one row forward. She then looked at Lynn and requested, "Hey Lynn, mind if we are to switch our seats?"
Glancing over her two siblings, Lynn decided there wasn't anything she might have to offer for either and decided, "Why not?"
The two got up and quickly switched over, with Lisa settling down on her new seat. Lincoln had been watching her this whole time.
"So, what did you think?" Lisa whispered, continuing on a moment after, "Can we still trust him?"
"Why are you asking me?" Lincoln shrugged, trying harder in not thinking about it.
"Connect the dots, Lincoln; what I suspected him of, the bomb and now... that."
"I don't know, Lisa, I'm just trying to not think about it." Lincoln said, his voice increased slightly in volume.
"Remember that all of this started when he was called out back at the school." Lisa threw in what she thought, was one last possible evidence.
"Stop." Lincoln said, not realizing that he had blurted it out in how he normally talks.
Lisa briefly looked at the others, who in turn, were eyeing them suspiciously. Not wanting to add to the fire, she relented.
In the midst of the silence, a ringtone broke through the silence. Lincoln picked it up, answering immediately.
"Hello?" He greeted, before he gasped as his eyes widened, "Mom? Dad? Oh my goodness, are you you guys okay? Is Lily okay?"
Anxiety filled the air as the others waited for the answer while Lincoln listened on.
Nodding, Lincoln's expression eased up as he finally responded, "Okay, alright. Yeah. I know. I love you guys too. We all do. You too, Lily."
"Well?" Lori asked as Lincoln put away his phone.
"They're safe, they're all the bunker near the police station."
Then they all sighed in relief.
The ride continued on in silence after that, soon arriving in their neighborhood.
The place was desolate; despite the litter of abandoned cars and debris from some of the destroyed houses, it felt as empty as it could be. It unnerved them all, but pushed on as they finally arrived near their house and it was...
Intact. No signs of damage riddled the exterior, confusing the Loud kids as the eldest pulled up on the driveway where something reflected.
"What the?" Lori squinted her eyes at it.
Thinking it was nothing, Lori drove the van further up the driveway and as if they hit something, the area around the bumper flashed a pale, orange glow which forced Lori to step on the brakes.
By the time the car stopped, they had already went further in, with the driver's side having went through by three-quarter.
Surprised, they looked around, with Lori stepping out first and finding out that they were able to pass through whatever it was their car just bumped into.
Lincoln and Lisa were the last ones to it, and they saw that the same glow appeared over the house, the shape of which Lisa recognized as a dome.
Lincoln slowly put his hand through the wall and was met with a headache, which he winced in reaction to. It didn't feel so much like his head was being squeezed, rather it felt like something was being crammed into it. Like information. He was feeling a neural overload.
Lisa would know, as she had just happened to be watching the boy as he tried to recover from it once it was over. She noticed that his nose was bleeding and tugged on the nearby Clyde's shirt.
The geeky boy turned to Lida and followed the direction of where she was pointing. He was surprised to see Lincoln's bleeding nose and he quickly rushed over to him, taking out a handkerchief and handing it over to his friend.
Lincoln covered his nose and held his head with his free hand.
"Are you okay?" Clyde asked.
"Yeah," Lincoln nodded, looking up the house to his window, "But I think it's time I ask about what's going on."
End of Chapter.
End Notes: So, what do you think of this one? Was it better, worse, or simply unnecessary? Let me know anyway.
You might also notice that there's a noticeable difference here.