Jimmy and I spent hours looking at the Book and I had to literally take it away to get him to stop looking at it. We ate, talked, laughed and he even had a few stories from before I was here. But eventually Dai comes in and says that we're moving out in five minutes.
"Thanks," I tell him and he leaves. I get up; grab my jacket, backpack and gun. Everything's already packed and loaded since I knew we were going to be leaving tonight.
"You know you don't need that," he says, nodding at the gun in my hand.
"Yeah, but it would look odd me leaving without one," I joke as I sling it over my shoulder.
"Bye, Jimmy," I smile and we hug.
"Bye sis," he says into my shoulder. I leave the room and meet Tom, Hal, Karen and Dai in the corridor.
"Where's Anthony?" I ask; my gun slung across my body. It was a least half my size, black and sleek.
"Not coming," Tom says, "Mike is." As soon as he says it, Mike appears next to him.
"Ready?" Tom asks him and Mike nods, knowing he's late, even if Tom doesn't mind.
"Ok then," Tom says and we start to walk to the front exit.
We pass the board and Tom stops right in front of it, looking at it intently. I do the same, bowing my head, knowing that some of them are probably dead, if not harnessed.
"Ok, let's go," Tom says his voice a little thick. We all walk past it and Dai is still looking as he walks. I'm the last one out of the building. We go to the pickup truck in the parking lot. Dai takes the wheel with Tom sitting up front with him. The rest of us climb into the back. Hal sits next to Karen while I sit next to Mike. We ride there in silence, but once we get there Tom starts filling us in on his plan.
"Ok, Hal and Karen in the building across the street. Mike and Laura with me and Dai stay here with the truck running. There's car that I'm going to put some C4 in. That's how we kill the mech patrolling right in front of the building. Once I blow it, Dai you better come fast. We grab Ben, put him in the truck and we all ride away. That means that Hal, Karen, you guys better run fast to get to the truck because as soon as that C4 blows, more skitters and mechs might come running," Tom explains.
"Everyone got it, know where to go?" he asks and everyone nods.
"Ok, then, let's go."
I follow Mike and Tom as Hal and Karen split off and waits to run into the building. A skitter is patrolling the building, circling it, so as soon as the skitter turns the corner, they sprint for it. They hide right in the doorway.
We (me, Mike and Tom) kneel down behind a pile of rubble.
"Ok, so there's one group already here," Tom says. I look for Ben; I had seen his face from a picture Tom showed us all. I see someone I know, but it's not him.
I tap Tom's shoulder as he looks through his binoculars.
"It's my sister," I whisper.
"Where?" he asks.
"There," I point. He looks back through his binoculars and finds her.
He puts a hand on my shoulder, "We'll get her ok, her and Ben."
I nod trying to contain my happiness, "Ok."
He waits until the mech disappears behind the side of the building before saying, "Ok, I'm going to go plant the C4, you two run behind that pile of debris."
Then he disappears to place the C4 in the car. Mike and I run to the hiding place and look at Tom hiding the car above the tire of the car. It's a remote detonator so he doesn't need to roll out any cord. That's a good thing because he would expose himself if he had to do that.
He waits until the mech disappears behind the building before he runs to us. He takes out the detonator from his pocket and is about to place it on a piece of rubble when he looks at me.
"Do you know how to use this?" he asks. I shake my head and he explains it to me. It's rather simple, just flick this little lever down and boom. He hands it to me and I handle it carefully. Tom takes out his binoculars from his other pocket and waits for the mech to come back. I look for my sister again and find her.
The kids are collecting the scrap metal just like they were doing yesterday. There are about three piles that I can see. The only difference is that there aren't any kids on the roof throwing metal down.
A skitter comes around the corner and walks into the building.
"They didn't see the explosives in the car, that's good," Tom says as he stares through his binoculars. Mike leans forward. A mech comes around the corner.
"What's going on?" Mike asks.
"The first crew's here," Tom says.
"Ben with em'?" Mike asks.
Tom shakes his head. "I don't see him."
Tom continues to look through his binoculars. I'm much calmer than I would think. After all I'm surrounded by the very things that wiped out like 99 percent of the human race and my sister is within reach.
"There's another group," Tom says, moving to get a better view and I lean forward hopeful.
"I think I see him," Tom says. Tom stares through the binoculars for a moment and I bite my lip in anticipation.
"Nah, it's not him," Tom says finally.
"It's Rick," Mike says and I turn towards him.
"What?" I ask.
"It's my boy," Mike whispers.
"Where?" Tom asks.
"By- by the building," Mike says like he's being rushed.
"Ricky!" Mike says, standing up.
Tom and I react the same way; by trying to stop him by grabbing him and saying to don't do it and to be quiet.
"Cover me," Mike says, shaking us both off and making a break for his son.
Tom and I hold up our guns just in case. I know that I can't freeze something from that far away. Mike gets to his son and is practically dragging him away when a mech comes around the corner. It raises its gun and I notice it's near the C4, close enough to be killed by it. Tom reaches for it, probably having the same idea I do, when I flip the switch and duck for cover. I run after Tom towards Mike and cover them as the pickup Rick and throw him into the truck Dai just drove up. Mike jumps into the truck as well.
"I'm going after Ben!" Tom says at the same time I say I'm going after Marie. We run together towards the building when a mech comes forward on the roof. We slide to a stop, reaching out to balance each other and run the other way as it raises an arm. We hear it fire a mini missile and I'm thrown off my feet. I hear gunshots, I think, I hope. I feel a hand on my arm, helping me up, but everything is blurry and muted. Two other strong arms grab my shoulders and I'm in the air again before my back hits the cold metal of what I think is the truck before I blackout.
