Sleep

Everyone was asleep but they didn't know that there was someone that broke into their camp. It was a drac. He was on a mission. He was going to kidnap Grace but he just didn't know that he made a deadly mistake. He had stepped on a twig and that alerted Katie. She quickly woke up and got her pink ray gun ready. She looked into her bag and she quickly got out of the tent. She manevoured around the other tents and tried to not trip on anything. She was uber clumsy and didn't want that to be a reason she was killed.

She saw the man lurking towards Grace's tent. She activated her ray gun and shot him in the back of the head. He fell face down on the ground. She quickly ran towards Grace's tent and heard her whimper in fear. She crouched down near the girl and quickly helped her gather her things. The guys must have heard the commotion as well and their ray guns were charged.

"It's fine. He's dead." Katie told them while Grace tightly held onto her side. The guys sighed in relief.

Grace ran towards Gerard and he crouched down and gave her a big hug. Katie felt like she was intruding on a private moment and looked the other way.

"It's going to be okay Grace." She heard him whisper to Grace.

Mikey walked over to Katie. He was wearing a helmet with good luck on it. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "He was heading towards her tent and I shot him in the head before he got to her."

"You have no idea how grateful that we are. Grace is our entire life and if she was taken or killed we have no idea what we would do."

"I understand. I would have done the same thing for Lydia."

Gerard walked over to them. "Where's the bastard?"

"He's near her tent."

He walked over to the tent. He turned the guy over and took off his mask. He looked like he was in his early twenties.

"Get everything ready. We're leaving ASAP!"

Everyone looked at each other and quickly got their things. Katie walked into her tent and got her bag. She took the letter from Lydia out of her pocket and put it in the bag. She quickly got the tent down when she finished gathering her things. She wrapped it up and put it in the trunk of the car. Ray was carrying a shaking Grace and placed her into the car. Katie had a feeling that they would need to comfort her for the rest of the night. Hell she herself was terrified. What if that drac was after Lydia. She slid in the car and put on her seat belt.

Not even two minutes later everyone else was in the car and they were on the move. Katie didn't want to close her eyes. She had killed someone without hesitating and that scared her. She closed her eyes and was haunted by nightmares for the rest of the night.

Mikey looked into the rearview mirror and saw Katie shake and he was concerned for her.

"Gee, can we pull over I need to talk with Katie for a second."

"Okay." He answered his brother and pulled over by the side of the road.

Mikey got out of the car and opened the back door. He shook Katie a bit until she was awake. She opened her eyes tiredly and saw Mikey's serious face.

"What?" she asked tiredly.

"Can I talk to you for a bit."

"Sure." Katie took off her seatbelt and walked out of the car. Mikey and her walked away from the car so that the guys couldn't hear their conversation.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" she told him with a fake look of confidence.

"You were shaking in the car. Tell me the truth is it because you killed someone?"

Katie broke down. Mikey hugged her as she cried.

"I'm sorry. I've just been an emotional wreck. I've been through a lot of shit in the past year and I don't know how much loss I can take."

"It's going to get better. We take care of each other and you don't have to deal with this by yourself."

"You kind of remind me of Richie he would always calm me down. Before all this shit happened I was convinced that he was going to become a therapist. Everyone would talk to him about their problems."

Mikey looked at her and gave her a sad smile.

"Thanks Mikey. You're a great guy I'm glad that I've met you and the others."

"We're glad that we've met you and Lydia as well."

At the moment Katie looked into his eyes and she could swear she felt a spark but she ignored it. She didn't want to get attached to anybody else but it was hard for her. She was always a very friendly person and knew that eventually that she would see the boys and Grace as family. She just didn't expect it to happen after knowing them for two and a half days.

"Let's get back. I bet Gee is itching to get back on the road." Mikey said.

They walked back to the car and got back in. It didn't take Gerard much time to start the car. Katie closed her eyes and went back to sleep. Her dreams were filled with memories of her family and her.

They didn't arrive to their new safe haven until morning. Gerard was exhausted. Everyone else was asleep. When the car stopped everyone woke up. What Katie saw was a deserted diner. Gerard opened the doors and they walked in. The guys walked in different directions and Katie immediately knew that they had been here before.

She put her bag down on the table and slid into the booth. Grace sat right by here.

"Authority thanks for saving me." She told her with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Grace I'll always be here to protect you like the guys."

"Do you mean that?"

"Yes and you don't have to call me Authority in private. Just call me Katie like you call your other protectors by their real names." Katie said as she kissed her forehead.

Grace ran after Frank after that.

Katie smiled. She remembered when she was like that. It was years ago and she misses those days where she only worried about what time was bedtime and other shit like that. She got her bag and took out some personal things. The letter that Lydia left her and her father's hearing aids. The one thing that she came across that she forgot she had. It was photographs of her family and her.

She didn't even notice Mikey coming back into the dining area. He slid across from her. He saw her looking at something and was curious.

"What are you looking at?"

She looks up and smiles at him. "Um, I'm looking at things that Lydia left me and some photographs of my family." She hands him the photographs.

Mikey flips through them and smiles at the photographs. He held his breath when he saw a smiling Katie with her parents. She was wearing a purple graduation gown.

"These are nice."

"I totally forgot I had those until just now. It seems like a lifetime ago and it is."

Mikey showed her the photograph that he was looking at.

"That was almost three years ago. I was so relieved that I was done with high school at that point. Most of my school career I was bullied because of my weight and learning disabilities. My senior year was nice and I broke out of my shell a little bit."

"You look great in this photo. You're parents looked like nice people."

"They were great parents. I was a difficult teenager. I was diagnosed with depression when I was sixteen and I was a fucking basket case. I used to take my meds religiously before Better Living ruined my life."

Mikey gave her a sad smile.

"I found a letter from Lydia yesterday and she had left my father's hearing aids. It made me happy that she left those. It is the only real thing that reminds me of him."

"That's nice. Do you need a room to sleep in?"

"Yeah. Any room is fine."

"You can share with me. It's a full bed and it doesn't bother me to share with you."

"I hope it doesn't make you feel uncomfortable."

"I wouldn't have offered it if I was."

"I guess that makes sense. So where is our room?" She said as she put her things back into the bag.

They both left the booth and walked into the back of the diner that everyone made their makeshift beds and rooms. Mikey led her to the end of the hall and he opened the door. She set her things on the ground.

"Which side of the bed should I sleep on?"

"It doesn't matter to me." He told her with a smile.

She walked over to the left of the bed and just laid there. This was the first bed that Katie had laid on for almost seven months and it felt like heaven. A part of her wanted to start jumping on the bed like a child. She didn't wanted to embarrass herself in front of Mikey and also she didn't want to mess up her knee. She set her things on the bed and quickly set her things on the dresser.

"Is there a shower somewhere in this place?"

"Yes. In the bathroom at the other end of the hall."

"Awesome. I just need to get some of this grime off me. And I haven't had a shower in forever." Katie walked past him with a change of clothes. "Thanks." She told him before kissing his cheek.

Mikey blushed and walked out of the room towards the kitchen.