Chapter 36

Alert

Lisa Valentine walked down the street swiftly; with purpose. One hand was tucked into a leather jacket while the other swung as she walked. Her eyes were focused straight ahead, but even so she spoke out loud. "Are you going to continue to follow me?"

Behind her, Richard stared at her back. "Until I get answers."

"You think being persistent is going to get you answers?" An amused smile played on Lisa's lips as she turned a corner.

"I need answers. You just dealt with two people, sent that girl off, found Roche and sent him off as well before burning the school down. I could call the police and get you arrested for arson."

"Hah... call the police? Even if they decided to respond to it after the hospital incident, I'd be long gone. Besides, you know that those people were bad people."

"Yes... but why did they kidnap Roche? Why the girl?"

"The girl I have no idea. And they kidnapped Roche to get to me. Foolish, really."

"Why would they want you?"

"Various reasons."

"And why didn't you stay with Roche?"

"Why should I? He has a wife and I'm finished with him. I just needed a place to stay while I was here and he's your typical nice guy. I used him and I'm finished with him."

Richard opened his mouth but couldn't figure out what to say about that. "But... so who did those people belong to? I mean, if they are kidnapping it has to be serious."

"They belong to a 'business' of sorts. But that's of no interest to you."

"I am interested."

Lisa swung around on her heel and stepped firmly in front of Richard, staring down at him. She was surprisingly tall and she wasn't even wearing high heels. "Look, little man. You should stop investigating that bridge or you're gonna get a bullet to the head."

"So they have something to do with the bridge?" Richard leaned forward in interest. "If you know something-"

Lisa sighed in irritation. "I don't know anything."

"Of course you do, you practically just admitted to that." Richard rubbed a crease on his forehead as he looked into Lisa's eyes. "Look, if you know something, anything, you need to tell me. This people are practically terrorists."

"I know just as much as you, little man." Lisa said before turning back on her heel.

"So you're withholding information? I can't believe they have you scared since you dealt with those guys easily so you're willingly withholding information?" Richard followed behind Lisa, getting in pace with her and standing to her side. "The police could get you for aiding and abetting."

"You really should stop using the police as threat. At least use your own threats otherwise they are useless. You can't make threats that are unfounded."

"They are hardly un-"

"Shut up!" Lisa suddenly hissed, pushing herself against the wall while pushing a hand into Richard's chest, getting him against the wall as well.

"Wha-"

"I said shut up!" Lisa moved her hand up, placing it on his mouth. Her eyes were focused on the back of a young man walking down the street with his hands in his pockets. Lisa's eyes narrowed, starting from his black and white shoes up to his black jeans and to his red and white shirt. His jet black hair was slicked down the back of the skull. "What the hell is he doing here…?" Lisa spun around and got nose to nose with Richard. "If you want to follow, fine," she whispered. "But stay quiet." With that, Lisa watched as the young man turned down a corner before following him.

XXX

Joshua had turned his thoughts to thinking about the survivors as he strode down the outer edges of the township. He could see that they had potential, that much was certain. People like Lukas, Nick, David and Riley had natural muscle which was always handy for staying alive. Alexander, Jay, Jeremy and Jason were not exactly muscly but they were smart. The same with Chloe, although she was more for her singularity that her intelligence. Josie was a ray of sunshine with unending confidence. Jennifer was probably the smartest of the lot and her protectiveness with Jason was a plus on all accounts. Finally, Becca and Tyrone had the mental will for survival. Both had gone through experiences which would have broken many normal people. Becca had been completely abandoned and forced to live homeless. Tyrone had not had any parents and never got adopted. Tragedy often equalled strength in Joshua's eyes. However, the most puzzling for Joshua was Dorothy.

Dorothy just from sight seemed like a good idea. She was stocky and probably had hidden strength she never used. But she was blind. To Joshua, that was about as bad as having two broken legs in terms of usefulness. He couldn't understand why she was chosen, let alone chosen to have visions. Her personality was fine, she was mentally strong, but she was blind. That means that the only clues she would be able to get were sounds, and those were the hardest clues to decipher. Being unable to see the clues was a big minus for Joshua. It was dangerous. Why was a blind person selected?

Deep in thought about the selections Death had chosen, Joshua was caught off-guard by a bright flash which burned at his eyeballs. He acted quickly, spinning around with his hands up and eyes open wide, trying to focus through the light. Once the light disappeared and the spots disappeared from Joshua's sight, he stared down at Miles, who was looking even more pale than usual.

"Hey, Miles, what's up?" Joshua crouched down slightly with a smile on his face. "Done what you needed to do?"

"We need to get out." Miles said clearly and slowly so that Joshua understood him straight away.

"Get out?"

"Everything's gone to hell." Miles bit his lower lip.

"What do you mean? What did He say?" Joshua's eyebrows knitted together.

"Death is angry. Well, far past that, actually. He does not like being imitated. He believes that the threat is far too much."

"So…?"

"So he's gonna deal with it personally. In about…" Miles looked to a silver watch on his wrist. "Two hours, we can say goodbye to Willingboro and everybody in it."

"What?" Joshua paled slightly. "You don't mean…?"

"Death is gonna sacrifice 40,000 people just to get rid of whoever did that bridge explosion and implanted the visions in Jason and Dorothy. And that includes the survivors. Dorothy, Jason, everyone. He's going for a full extermination."

"What about me? What about you?"

Miles nodded grimly. "He's going to forget everything."

Joshua clenched his fist, anger shading his features. It quickly passed and he pointed in the general direction of the motel. "Go to the motel. Get everyone out and gathered on the car park. Only the survivors, mind you."

Miles nodded, but asked, "What are you doing? What are we going to do?"

"I'm off to go get a bus. We're getting the hell outta here."

"What… but we can't get through that shield surrounding here."

"Oh? It's going to act as a slingshot."

"It's going to rip us apart!" Miles said with wide eyes.

"Correction. It's going to rip the bus apart. Now go." Jason scooted Miles in one direction before walking the opposite direction with large strides. As he approached the corner Lisa chose the moment to step out.

Standing in front of Joshua, Joshua stopped before stepping back. His eyes took in the woman, scanning from feet to head.

"Heh… no, no, no…" Joshua shook his head and continued walking. "Guess I wasn't seeing things. But I really cannot deal with you right now, no way, no how. I assume you've been eavesdropping, so come with me. You don't need to die here."

Lisa opened her mouth and shut it again. She wasn't expecting that. "Josh-"

"I just said that I can't deal with you right now. Not only do I have to get fifteen…" He paused, looking to Lisa and Richard. "Seventeen people out of here, but I'm going to have to leave around, oh, let's see, 40,000 people here to die. I need to work on mentally preparing myself so I don't feel guilty about one of the worst mass killings in America."

A/N: Thanks to Bookreader2010, LocalTalent53 and Gabe's-Girl-Forever for the reviews!

Alright, plans changed and the three people who were going to die in this chapter aren't going to die as planned, because I've changed the finale of Act 1 to something much better. So, the end of Act 1 is coming up… oh, how does next chapter feel for you? It's probably going to be pretty long so look out for that.

Also, my frickin' laptop frickin' broke even more than it was before. To the point the keyboard f**ked up, which means I got to use the shared computer. Just a random fact I thought I'd share.