*Author's Note*

Hallo 'allo, everyone. XD
These five chapters are a little late - for one of three reasons.
1- The last term of 2021 was REALLY busy and I didn't get any writing done.
2 - Things are really crazy in our house right now with people seemingly everywhere.
and
3 - Most of these chapters are STUPIDLY long (probably the main reason I was late).
But, despite all this, I really hope you can enjoy them anyway.

Welcome to Before the Future - PART II.

- George DeWhite

PS. Let me know if you find my chapters way too long, and I'll try to shorten them. I just couldn't find a good place to split them, but I might have to try harder.
After all, I can't be the only one with an incredibly short attention span. Maybe I'll even modify the existing ones and sort them out a bit! What do you think?

Chapter 11

Wanted: One "Jim Shannon"

The shopping centre was huge. Having gained entry through a deceptively small passage, the ceiling now inclined sharply, stretching up and away until it finally levelled out, resting high above the four figures like the roof of some gigantic metal mouth. Jim's heart seemed momentarily to rise with it, before losing its grip on the ceiling and plummeting down towards him, smacking back into his body with a lurch. He glanced around the dimly lit complex warily.

As Taylor had helpfully pointed out earlier, getting close to the monorail station itself was a near impossible task. The place was crawling with officers of the law. As it was, they had only narrowly escaped discovery by accidentally stumbling into what the police force commonly referred to as an "unregulated district". The law enforcers avoided entering such patches of the city, but, dangerous and unpolished as the area may have been for those marked by their uniforms, Jim's little entourage found themselves relatively unhindered. Perhaps the residents of the city's underbelly knew a group of fellow outcasts when they saw them. After spending many weeks scraping out an existence in the miserable city and foraging for microscopic clues amongst the grime, the three travellers looked as though they had belonged there all their lives. Even the Kaprosuchus, covered in dust and obscured by mist, appeared as though he had arisen from the polluted earth itself. Regardless, it didn't stop them drawing unwanted attention. Visitors were likely a rarity in these parts, Jim reasoned with himself, trying to swallow a wave of unease as he met the eyes of another watcher. A gaunt lady with a thick, ragged overcoat stared at them with curious hostility as they passed. Jim's spine prickled again. Previously, they had been able to move through the streets in an almost ghostly manner, without being noticed or cared about. Now it seemed as though every person they passed was looking right through their eyes and into their very beings. And that was only the people they could see watching them. Nevertheless, with no station access and no leads, they were out of options. On a whim, Jim had turned back to the woman. She was still watching. Despite her unfriendly appearance, not helped any by Mira's equally unfriendly glares, she listened quietly to their story and seemed to sympathize. After questioning several of the huddled groups in the backstreets, a couple of filthy but kind civilians had offered them a lead. It was slim, but it was something.

Jim paused near the foyer of the great mall, peering around cautiously. The two-storied superstore had long-since been deserted, the inside was dim, the only lighting available was that which filtered down through the broken skylights in the roof - a mixture of blue and green produced by the many holographic screens suspended in the air above, and the yellow of the monorail, which seemed to go right overhead. He eyed the Kaprosuchus beside him. The reptile seemed unfazed by the hauntingly empty cavern. Jim took his calm demeanour to be a good sign and led the way further into the heart of the building. This heart appeared to have stopped beating long ago, but every now and then, a trace of life could still be observed, a faint whisper of warmth pumping through the hidden veins of the commercial empire.

As they wandered through, they noticed that the shelves, though looted many times by various citizens, had also been restocked with strange and out of place items, things that had no business being there - old, broken equipment, used toys and games, small machines like radios and telephones that could no longer find a frequency or adapter to bring them to life again. There even seemed to be a few car parts, like the residents of former downtown Chicago had brought their own personal special things here to be immortalized in the strange dark, silent museum that had been created from the old mall. Jim found himself averting his eyes as he passed a doll that looked like it had seen much better days. There was something decidedly spooky about the whole thing.

Despite the evidence of much activity in recent times, the mall currently seemed to be completely and utterly deserted, save a few large cockroaches that appeared to have the run of the place. The Kaprosuchus eyed one particular target for a few moments before launching himself at it, trying to slap his feet down upon the horrified insect. Distracted by the scene, Jim's heart nearly leapt out of his throat as they turned a corner to see several thin figures emerging from the dark hall ahead of them. He stopped abruptly, nearly causing Mira to walk right into the back of him.

"What?" She hissed in annoyance, but Jim had recovered his senses and shook his head slightly.

"Nothing."

As he continued walking, Mira eyed the nearing figures dryly. Stationed right across the lane, the mannequins had been set up in odd positions, as though staging their own little silent protest. There was a whole crowd of the things here, so much so that the living visitors found themselves wondering if the figures had been collected from all over the store and dragged here for some other reason. The mannequins loomed eerily in the dim light, dressed in mismatched clothing that looked as though it had come off the street rather than the clothing rack. Evidently the local residents found amusement in staging their own little fashion presentations as well.

Jim's spine prickled as they weaved their way through the mass of lifeless figures. The models were hard plastic, inanimate. They couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't see .. Why then did he get the impression that their cold roving gaze was following his every movement? He stopped abruptly again, doing a double take at the closest figure, sure for half a moment that the painted eyes had shifted to follow him. Mira paused behind him once more, the former irritation in her voice now replaced with an uneasy note.

"Something's not right here. I don't like it."

Taylor opened his mouth to offer his agreement, but the next words that whispered out into the misty silence were not his.

"Jim .. Shannon .."

The soft voice was almost unmistakably female, sounding young, but disconcertingly unafraid and sure of itself. The three adults froze as the quiet echo rippled around the walls of the shop, rebounding off of every surface until no one could place where it had come from originally. If the speaker didn't identify themselves, it would be nearly impossible to locate them. Perhaps more unsettlingly, there were unlikely to be here alone. How many pairs of eyes had been tracking them? And for how long?

The attention of the three was seized again then, their own eyes snapping to the same spot in unison as a nearby mannequin suddenly shifted. They stared at it, their once-frozen heartbeats now quickening irrationally. The Kaprosuchus remained in place, head down, his catlike gaze staring daggers at the ghostly figure. The mannequin's glazed eye sockets stared blandly back.

"Freeze."

This time, the voice was far clearer. Taylor cast a doubtful glance at Jim.

"Since when do mannequins issue orders?"

Jim began to shrug, but before he could reply, the mannequin butted in again.

"Put your hands up. Don't try anything funny."

Jim and Taylor exchanged another look, resisting the urge to grin as they dutifully raised their hands. The apparent amusement faded as the mannequin produced a pistol from somewhere on their person, followed by a third arm that looked distinctly more lifelike than the others. The black muzzle waved like a thoughtful snake, watching the intruders with its one round eye. For a moment, they appeared to be at an impasse, with neither party making a move to further the situation, but after several seconds, the mannequin was deposed unceremoniously, leaving in its place another curious figure.

The girl could have been nearing 14, though somehow the tightly-clutched weapon in her grasp made one more inclined to guess younger. The heavy pistol seemed to dwarf her, though, as mismatched as the two seemed to be, the small hand that gripped the object never wavered.

Taylor studied the newcomer quizzically as her dark eyes moved to rest on each of them in turn. There were traces of northeast Asia in the lines of the serious face. The girl's straight black hair seemed to have been braided carefully once, though the smooth sections didn't seem to want to remain where they were placed and were now coming loose in several different areas. The ancient paperboy cap she wore looked as though it had once been red, but had now faded to a much less appealing shade of dull maroon. An abandoned mask lay unused around her neck. As Taylor tilted his head at her, Mira rolled her eyes and ripped her own mask off, throwing the hated object away maliciously. Somehow the fact that a mere child showed such disregard for the law made her feel even stupider for going along with the façade. The girl flinched at the movement and pulled herself up a little taller, swinging the gun around to hover on Mira's face. The Sixer chieftess raised an eyebrow, her mouth twitching slightly.

"Seriously?"

"Keep your hands up."

Taylor, following Mira's example and pulling his rebreather off, albeit far less aggressively, folded his arms and took up the conversation, assuming the kind of no-nonsense tone of voice that children tended to respond to.

"I think you owe us one very good explanation, young lady." He waited as the girl's gaze settled silently on him. "But seeing as you don't seem to be in a sharing frame of mind, how about I start us off, hm? What is a kid like you doing wandering around this place alone?"

Strangely, this seemed to be the exact question the girl had been waiting for. As they watched, a smile materialised across her features, causing her death grip on the gun to relax a little.

"Who says I'm alone?" Daring to take her eyes off her prey for just a moment, she flicked her gaze up to the left, where the neck of a rifle could just be seen poking out of a nearby window. As their attention turned to it, the long neck waved in greeting.

"Sniper. Must be hidden in one of the old surveillance nests." Taylor smiled darkly and turned back to the girl. "Well, at least that answers that question."

"It still hasn't answered the main one." Mira interjected, pinning the child to the floor with a hawk-like glare. "What are you playing at?"

The girl almost seemed surprised by the question.

"Who's playing?"

She turned back to Jim, repeating her initial statement in the exact same tone of voice she had used earlier.

"Jim Shannon."

It still wasn't a question - more of an obvious statement of the facts, though this time she seemed to be requiring some sort of reply. Jim, who had lowered his mask as well, had been content to watch the scene play out in silence up until this point. Now that he had been drawn in regardless, he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Who wants to know?"

The question was ignored, replaced instead by such a lifeless response that they wondered briefly how many times she had pre-rehearsed it.

"I was watching the Wanted channel last night and your face came up as a high priority target."

"Oh."

"But it said you'd gone to the other side." The girl frowned a little, studying Jim in the same way one would study an alien specimen that had escaped from a laboratory. "How are you back?"

"Long story." Jim replied smoothly, to the child's great dissatisfaction. "We're looking for my daughter. She's a few years younger than you. Dark hair, dark eyes. We think she was taken through here. Have you seen her?"

He watched the girl closely. Children could be surprisingly observant at times, especially where other children were concerned. They tended to notice unusual events taking place when a normal adult would just shrug and turn away. If Zoe had come this way .. but the girl was already shaking her head slowly.

"Haven't seen anyone else around here recently. Sorry." She hesitated for a moment as Jim's heart sank. "Taken? You mean someone kidnapped her?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry." The girl repeated, meeting Jim's eyes with a look of genuine sympathy. Kidnappings happened all over the city, far more often than most people even realised. Very few bodies were ever recovered. There wasn't much hope for a little kid.

"It's alright. We'll find her."

The sympathetic expression on the young face dissolved into a pitying one, and then disappeared.

"Sure."

There was a few seconds of impatient silence before Taylor cleared his throat.

"So." He smiled obligingly at the child. She barely reached the height of his shoulder. "Now that you appear to have taken us hostage, what do you intend to do with us?"

"Give you in for the bounty." She responded at once. "We are bounty hunters, after all."

The former commander snorted as he glanced back up to the security room on the second floor. The rifle was still levelled easily in their direction, poking through a large cavity overlooking the store. Presumably, the wide empty mouth had once held a glass pane, though now it was just a large, flat entrance with no door. Taylor squinted. The shadowy figure of a sniper was lying on his stomach, resting his head wearily against his rifle arm. From the looks of him, his time would have been better served searching for a bed shop. He turned back to the girl.

"Who's 'we', you and the phantom over there?"

"Amongst others." The girl sidestepped the trap neatly. "Don't be fooled into thinking you can overpower us. There are more of us than you, and the memo never said you were required to be alive."

Taylor raised an eyebrow at Mira.

"Hard-talkin' little thug, isn't she? Remind you of someone?"

"No."

Rolling his eyes again, Taylor turned back to the girl, hesitating as his eyes fell upon the Kaprosuchus at his feet. He eyed her with interest, nodding his head in the direction of the creature.

"What about him, he doesn't scare you?"

"I've seen weirder."

Jim's eyes dropped to the dinosaur, who raised its head to meet his gaze, staring at him with its cold green eyes, shining even in the dim light. Jim shivered a little, muttering as he turned away.

"Still scares me."

He narrowed his eyes, folding his arms and studying the girl solemnly. She watched him with the same curious patience.

"Alright." He said finally. "How about a negotiation then? Whatever you're expecting to be paid, we'll beat it by ten percent."

The girl released an irrepressible chuckle.

"What are you, a salesman? Has the commercial enterprise atmosphere infected you all of a sudden?" The cackle transformed into a harsh cough as she leaned into her sleeve, her small body shaking violently. When she reappeared, she had tears streaming down her dirty cheeks, though evidently the amusement hadn't faded. "We need to get you out of here as soon as possible."

"I'm serious." Jim didn't appear to be in a humorous frame of mind. "We could use a guide here. You can reach places we can't. We stand a better chance of finding Zoe if you help us."

The girl withdrew the gun thoughtfully, leaning her chin on the muzzle of the pistol and causing Jim to flinch. He wasn't the only one. Unseen up in the crow's nest, the rifle wielder flinched slightly as well.

"Tempting." She mused, apparently to no one in particular. "Bounty hunting's been pretty slow lately anyway. I get bored easily."

"Sounds like you need a challenge."

"Stop it." She flashed a brief grin at Taylor. "Someone shut him up before he sells us the shirt off his back."

Jim persisted.

"Come on, at least think about it. It's a win-win. You get more money than you planned on, as well as a break from the monotony and the satisfaction of helping save an eight-year-old from terrorists .."

The girl was nodding slowly, though the non-committal expression on her face gave no indication as to her real intentions. The gears in her mind seemed to be whirring away as they spoke.

"And we get the best possible chance of finding my daughter, along with an insider's view of the city. Like I said, we both win."

The girl's eyes were downcast, studying the Kaprosuchus. Jim wondered briefly if she had even been listening, but she lowered the gun she was using as a chin rest and began to nod in slow motion again.

"You say you came from the past, right? Why should I believe you even have any way to pay us? You might just be-"

She broke off mid-sentence as a low whistle reached her. The instant it did, she seemed to forget the whole conversation, straightening and glancing around sharply in a manner that reminded Jim distinctly of a startled fox. It wasn't difficult to picture a pair of tawny-coloured ears flicking this way and that through the holes of the worn cap. He followed her gaze up to the surveillance window. The sniper appeared to have vanished.

"They're back early."

She shoved her gun into an inner pocket of her thick coat and pulled up her rebreather, readying herself to take flight at any moment.

"South entrance, near the park." The tall boy had appeared amongst them with a ghostliness that managed to surprise even Mira. His rifle was slung harmlessly over his shoulder now, though he barely seemed to notice the weight of it. "Heading this way. We've gotta go. Now."

"Come on."

Following their former bounty hunters turned guides, the small group crept away into the shadows in the deepest part of the shopping centre. When he felt they were sufficiently out of sight, Jim paused to look back, raising his head to stare out over an old countertop. The aforementioned gang was coming into view, distorting weirdly across the shifting mist of the walls. They appeared to be teenagers, barely older than the two now leading Taylor and Mira. As Jim watched, one boy stepped out from among them, picking up a nearby mannequin and throwing it at one of his companions with a raspy laugh. Jim smiled a little to himself. Evidently teenage hoodlums hadn't changed much in the years he'd been absent from duty. They looked more or less exactly how one would expect any bully from the future to look. Let the reader take that as they will.

Within the span of three minutes and as many hidden passages, they were safely free of the building. The children didn't stop, however. With the girl in front and the boy bringing up the rear, the adults were led a few blocks away, the silent procession never pausing until it reached the cement wall surrounding a singular townhouse. The house, though large and perhaps once very valuable, was now horrendously damaged. The blackened walls were sagging in places and the roof was half in splinters. It was a miracle the place was still standing. Nevertheless, the girl halted in front of it, placing a gentle hand against the rough brick. The movement was almost reverent in nature. Through the clear aspects of her rebreather, she appeared to be smiling faintly. Jim glanced back at her companion, but his expression was just as unreadable as always. He had tried to catch his eye several times during the journey, but the boy seemed to be actively avoiding his gaze. Either that, Jim mused, or the thick hair that nearly covered his eyes was obscuring his vision. As he watched, the skinny teenager brushed past him, pausing by the girl's side just as she turned to look for him. Without a word, he knelt and cupped his hands, lifting the girl's boot as she leapt lightly on top of the wall. She dropped her rebreather again as she turned to face them, folding her arms and eyeing them critically like a tiny general.

"Your turn."

The boy had stood and removed his rifle. He now hovered off to the side a little, evidently prepared to enforce her orders should the necessity arise. Taylor shrugged and stepped forward. Jim and Mira exchanged another look as the former commander cracked his stiff shoulders and jumped, pulling himself up and over the wall, disappearing on the other side. The Kaprosuchus neatly followed him, not even deigning to touch the wall as he cleared it with half a foot to spare and similarly vanished.

"Come on, Shannon, we don't have all day."

The disembodied voice brought another grin to the girl general's face, but she turned back to Jim and Mira expectantly.

"Your turn." She repeated. "If an old man like that can do it, I'm sure you can manage."

Ignoring the "Careful, missy" from the other side of the wall, she nodded in the direction of her sentry.

"Although if you need any assistance, Zayne's more than ready to oblige."

Mira eyed the statue-like boy for a moment, but he was still watching the girl solemnly. She mentally shrugged and sprung up the wall herself, turning to help Jim hurriedly as his foot slipped beside her. Jim pulled himself up with an effort, muscles quivering a little with the exertion. He barely noticed Mira's hand on his arm. When had he gotten so weak?

The girl was staring down at him in mild concern, but said nothing as Taylor reached up to help the struggling man dismount on the other side. Jim shrugged Mira's hand off in annoyance as he landed firmly on the ground - a movement which she seemed not to take any notice of as she leaped down lightly beside him. They were in a small yard now, standing on what may have once been artificial grass, but appeared to have burned up long ago. The children dropped in beside them, their boots crunching down the rotten turf as they landed. The girl, resuming her role as leader of the party, stepped up to the building. Completely ignoring the bright and menacing warning signs that decorated the sealed-off entrance, she pulled up a piece of sheet metal and uncovered a hole in the wall on the right-hand side.

"In here." Throwing a look over her shoulder at her tour group, she disappeared inside. Taylor followed immediately behind her. Staring suspiciously at the gaping black hole, Jim's hesitation was put to rest by a jab from the muzzle of the rifle behind him.

"Go."

He glanced over his shoulder, but the boy still wasn't looking at him, though it was obvious he was the one being spoken to. There was something distinctly disconcerting about the way the teenager refused to meet anyone's eyes. You could constantly feel he was watching you, yet you could somehow never catch him in the act. Nevertheless, Jim obeyed the prompting and followed the others into the blackness of the cavern. The inside of the house, while still dingy and smelling slightly chemical, was surprisingly homey. By the time Jim's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, the girl was already busily rummaging through a pyramid of boxes stacked in the corner. With a grunt of triumph, she pulled a strange lumpy object out and set it down in the middle of the room, turning it on with a flick. As it began humming softly, she dropped down onto the ground nearby where the chalky tiles had been covered with a ragged blanket. In response to Jim's questioning look, she gestured to the machine, removing her rebreather and putting it down beside her in the same movement.

"Mobile purifier."

He followed her example and lowered his own mask.

"Does it work?"

She shrugged.

"I guess. Place used to smell a lot worse."

"You guys spend a lot of time here?"

"Some." She responded evasively, then seemed to reconsider and shrugged again, dropping the façade as the others joined them on the floor. "We used to hide out in a place closer to the docks, but it's all underwater now. Lots of places are."

"I remember." Jim murmured, half to himself. "Further east along the coast there are whole towns that have been swallowed up and abandoned, right?"

The girl nodded, a mischievous grin alighting on her face.

"Right. There are a ton of ghost towns there. They're practically still whole towns, stores and houses and everything, just .. deserted. They're really cool. If you're game enough, you can wade through them or take a canoe - in some places, the water is only a foot or so deep. In others, it's shoulder height or higher. Makes a pretty good hideout still, but .. our boat was smashed to pieces by the terminators." Her face twisted vehemently. "It was such a good boat too. We fixed it up ourselves."

Jim nodded slowly, trying to keep up with the conversation while simultaneously pushing the idea of two children flailing about in wreckage-saturated floodwaters out of his head.

"Who are the terminators?"

"Gangs that hang out in the flooded districts." The girl explained. "They make their bases in some of the taller buildings. Water makes the structures unstable, but they're almost livable from the second storey upwards. They fall down sometimes, but the terminators don't care any .. way .."

Silence fell for a moment, but then she continued in a more hushed tone of voice.

"We call them terminators because they don't seem to have any sort of pain threshold anymore. You can beat them with a bat for hours and they still keep coming." She shivered a little, as though reliving some nightmarish memory. "They move like robots and they don't seem in control of their own bodies. It's creepy. So we stay away now."

"Sounds like a good choice." Jim threw a look at the other two. Taylor returned it, but Mira's attention seemed to be focused on something else. She was studying the boy on the other side of the circle silently. Through the constant mist and distorting shadows that seemed to penetrate every inch of the future, it was impossible to say exactly how old he was.

Zayne, true to form, didn't look at her. He still had his eyes focused on the ground. He didn't seem to be particularly interested in the conversation or the world in general. Throughout his cousin's explanation, he hadn't said a word. Jim, following Mira's gaze, found himself wondering how the girl could be so evidently terrified of the enemy gangs while appearing perfectly comfortable in the boy's presence. There was already something distinctly terminator-esque about his movements and expressions.

Just then, Zayne's eyes flicked up, meeting Jim's with a suddenness that sent a jolt through the former cop's chest. Jim froze, holding the boy's gaze with an intensity that was borne out of the fear he would never manage to catch it again. Zayne stared back. He looked like he hadn't slept in years, but the dark rings of liner around his eyes made them appear surprisingly sharp despite his evident exhaustion. The hair that fell partially over his face was such a mix of tints that it was nearly impossible to tell what colour it had been originally, but here and there underneath the grungy rainbow of green, purple, and red highlights, traces of a shaggy black mop still remained. Jim continued to study him with a sinking feeling. He remembered a few children his son's age looking similar in the old days. They were almost always under the influence of some sort of chemical substance. This boy seemed much older than he was, but those eyes betrayed him. He couldn't quite seem to keep a certain vulnerability from escaping their dark depths. No wonder he tried to keep them downcast and hidden.

Now, however, he was muttering something to himself.

"Jim Shannon." He stared at him intently, his eyes momentarily taking on the essence of a raccoon as they widened. "It is you, isn't it?"

The girl beside him turned on him, immediately enraged by the inference.

"You didn't believe me?!"

"Thought you'd seen someone who looked like him."

"Are there a lot of people around here like that?" Jim interrupted dryly. The girl looked as though she was about to launch herself at her compatriot's disbelieving throat.

"Well, Jim, you are fairly generic."

Jim shot a look in Taylor's direction. The boy followed his gaze, his once-astonished face now darkening savagely.

".. and you're Commander Nathaniel Taylor, aren't you? I knew you looked familiar. Now I really have seen everything."

There was a strange British tilt to his speech that they hadn't been able to pick out earlier. Despite sharing similar facial features and the same large dark eyes, lending credence to the theory that the two were somehow related, the children had distinctly different accents. Zayne threw a look at the girl and then gestured back coldly at Taylor.

"Haven't you figured it out yet, Lucy? These are the people who killed us."

The girl stared at him, her expression a mix of sadness and resignation.

"I know."

"Wait, what .. do you mean, 'killed' you?" An automatic mask of confusion lined Jim's face, but the cracks were beginning to show. He already knew what the boy was getting at. Deep down, he'd always known his actions that day at Hope Plaza would have unpleasantly far-reaching consequences .. but to dwell on the fact had been pointless. He could do nothing about it. He would never meet anyone he had directly affected by the destruction of the portal site, and so it made no difference to anyone whether he cared or not. Whether he realized the impact he had had or whether he didn't had never mattered. Until now. Lucy was watching him wearily, suddenly looking much older than her 13 years.

"You blew up our way out. You trapped us here to die."

Jim's eyes flew to the boy's furious gaze before returning back to hers. He forced his voice to remain even, pushing down the hated thrill of guilt-stricken panic that was worming its way into his throat.

"But that was because they wanted to destroy the other world completely. If they'd gotten their way, no one could've been saved. As it was, I had to-"

"I know." She smiled up at him, though the expression looked as thin as a sheet of old baking paper. "You did what you had to do."

"And now we have to make sure they pay for it." The boy's voice shook a little as he stood, raising the rifle to centre it on Jim. "No one will ever know they were here. But we know. We've got them at our mercy here, we can-"

"We can what?" His impulse control interrupted flatly from the floor. "If we shoot them, who's gonna know?"

"Exactly! We can-"

"And his daughter is lost forever, and we become murderers for life, and we lose our chance at a reward." Her mouth twitched as he glared at her, irritated by the sense she was making. "Plus, you'll never be able to kill all of them. You think they came because we forced them to? You're about to be disarmed as it is."

As she nodded behind him, Zayne began to spin around, but found himself instantly in a choke hold and unable to move. His rifle was wrenched out of his hand and thrown to Mira, who stood nearby. He clawed wildly at the iron arm around his neck, his stricken eyes now pleading with Jim's as the world began to spin unsteadily. Jim met his gaze for a moment before focusing on the captor behind him.

"Taylor let him go. He's turning blue."

"Never hurt me."

There was a sharp click from nearby as the other pistol went up. Lucy pointed it at Taylor in annoyance, casting a wary glance at the Kaprosuchus. The creature didn't seem at all interested in the current events. In fact, if it weren't for the half an eye that remained slightly open, one might have been convinced he was catching up on some much-needed sleep. Taylor's eyes dropped to the gun and back up to the girl. Impressive little thing. He hadn't even seen her reach for it.

"Let him go." She echoed. Taylor released the boy abruptly and he sank to the floor, a panicked hand clutching his throat as he gasped for air. Pistol still levelled on Taylor, the girl's eyes flicked worriedly to her friend.

"You alright?"

"Fine." Zayne sat back against the wall, still panting breathlessly. "But while I think about it, never let me see you point that thing at your own head again, or I'll take it off you right now."

Lucy frowned in confusion, forgetting all about Taylor.

"When did I .."

In response, three of the people in the room simultaneously put their hands together and leaned their chins on their pointing fingers to demonstrate. Lucy stared around at them in surprise before lowering the pistol with a shout of laughter.

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, that." The boy imitated. "Do you have a death wish? Don't do it again. I should never have let you have that thing in the first place."

"Darn right you shouldn't." Taylor agreed passionately, but Lucy was shaking her head.

"You know we wouldn't have made it this far if you hadn't." She threw a look at Mira, who was still holding the confiscated rifle. "He calls himself a sniper, but he couldn't hit the billboard across the street."

"I could too." Zayne argued indignantly, running a hand through his hair and momentarily uncovering both of his eyes completely. "Anyway, you can keep it for now, but this still stays between us. Aunt Erika would kill me."

"No she wouldn't." Lucy retorted. "She'd be proud, I think."

".. no. No, she wouldn't."

Jim decided that moment was as good as any to jump back into the conversation.

"You live with your aunt?"

Lucy nodded, shoving the pistol back into her jacket and hugging her legs.

"That's right. We both do." She rested her chin on her knee for a moment, studying the three strangers in the room. "I suppose if we're going to be partners, we'd better do official introductions properly."

She sat up straighter, looking at each of them in turn.

"My name's Lucy Nakayami. That's my cousin Zayne. We live together with our aunt on the edge of town. She's not married."

The last point was thrown out casually enough, but seemed as though it veiled a more important fact, one which no one could quite put their finger on just yet. Zayne was nodding in Jim's direction.

"Your turn."

"Hold on." Jim turned to him curiously. "Why do you both live with your aunt? Where are your parents?"

"Died." The boy responded simply. "Lucy's when she was little and mine when I was about 8. I was sent back here from England to live with them a few months after Lucy moved in. Aunt Erika is our only surviving relative. Our fathers were her brothers. Now." He returned stubbornly, repeating his previous instruction. "Your turn."

"Alright." Jim relented. "You know all about me, I'm sure. You seem to know Taylor too. This is Mira."

He gestured to the Sixer chief with a wave of his hand. As he did so, she passed the rifle back to Zayne in silence. He accepted it without comment.

"And that's Taylor's dog." Jim continued, nodding at the dinosaur reclining in the corner of the room. "He's a Kaprosuchus. He doesn't have a name."

"Sure he does-" Taylor began, but Jim interrupted hurriedly.

"No, he doesn't. Call him whatever you want. Now." He looked solemnly from one child to the other. "You know we went through the fracture some time ago. We came back here from Terra Nova to search for my daughter Zoe. There's a war going on over there right now. She was kidnapped. We chased them here a couple of months ago and our last lead led us to your shopping centre. The rest you know."

"Wait .." A light had begun to ignite in Zayne's eyes as Jim was speaking. "You got back here. If we help you find your daughter .. can you get home again?"

"We certainly intend to try our best." Jim replied noncommittally. It was enough for the boy. His gaze flicked eagerly to his cousin, but something in her face cautioned him against pursuing the subject. He dropped his eyes back to the floor, the light draining from his face. Jim, sensing a change in the atmosphere of the room, but not able to decipher the cause, decided to divert the stream of attention.

"Hey, Zayne." He nodded to the boy's right ear, where a series of metal loops hung, tinkling gently against each other. "Interesting pattern. What is it?"

Zayne blinked at him, subconsciously raising a hand up to touch his ear lightly.

"Come on, everyone knows. It's the symbol for Hope Plaza. Practically an antique now."

"Oh." Jim noted the edge in the boy's voice and wished he hadn't asked. "You said you'd been living with your aunt since you were 8. How old are you now?"

"Eight .. een .." The boy stammered awkwardly. The others stared at him, his cousin with half-lowered eyelids. Taylor grinned.

"Can't be more than 14."

"He's 15." Lucy snorted. "Only a year and a half older than me."

"And double the height."

His cousin glared at him.

"Shame it doesn't help your aim."

"Ha!" Zayne laughed out loud, the action unexpectedly transforming his face so that, for half a second, he resembled a delighted child. "Don't listen to her. She's just a baby."

"Shut up."

Jim watched them with a smile. They were both much younger than they made themselves out to be. They were barely more than children after all, despite their weapons and street-smarts and the fact that they appeared to enjoy playing at bounty hunters. And yet, in their company, amidst the dim, miserable atmosphere of the future and the growing futility of the quest, Jim felt a new surge of hope spring up. The background chatter of childlike teasing and indignation made him feel more alive than he had in weeks. Maybe it was the fact that they reminded him so strongly of his own children. Maybe their curiosity and determination spoke to his own spirit and convinced him to keep fighting. Whatever it was, the former numb shell of hopelessness he had been living in for some time began to tear and peel away. Taylor and Mira, finding each other once again on either side of their charge, noticed the change and exchanged a look of their own.

"Go on, show them your train set." Zayne was saying, still attempting to provoke his cousin to wrath for whatever reason. He looked up at Jim and explained. "There's a train set in a box in the corner. Came through the blast practically unscathed. We found it a while back. Believe it or not, she actually still gets it out and plays with it."

Lucy folded her arms, refusing to be brought down by this very true assertion.

"What, trains are cool."

"Are not."

"As if you can talk anyway." The girl's cheeks flushed. "You still think your hair is cool."

Zayne was unmoved.

"Cooler than your hat." He responded. "Thing looks like rotting meat."

"Shut up!" She shoved her cousin roughly and he lost his balance, toppling over sideways on the floor.

"That's enough." Taylor boomed out, the sudden authoritative voice causing both children to immediately sit up and pay attention.

"That's better." The former commander offered graciously. "Enough prattling on about trains and guns and family histories. We're here for a reason, and you're getting paid to do a job. Consider yourselves hired professionals and act accordingly. Now. Where do we start?"

The children fell quiet for a minute or two. They appeared to be thinking very hard about the problem. In the span of silence that followed, Mira's eyes wandered up and around the room. There was something very hauntingly familiar about the place, and yet she was sure she had never set foot in this part of town before. Why then did even just the process of examining the blackened walls make her feel such a vaguely terrible stab of grief? Maybe something truly dreadful had happened here .. after all, they were decently close to the ruins of Hope Plaza, though no one knew what had caused this explosion. Maybe the leaking radiation had got into the water supply and ..

"I've got it!"

The triumphant voice pierced Mira's morbid wondering like a pin in a balloon. She turned to the girl questioningly as Taylor grunted.

"Well, spit it out."

"Aunt Erika." Lucy stood and dusted herself off as though the matter was now settled. "She'll know where to look. She'll even be able to ask around. She knows everybody. That's our best bet."

"No."

The girl's face fell as Jim shook his head firmly.

"Sorry, but the one condition of this arrangement is that you don't tell anyone about it. If you can get information, do it, but don't mention us or Zoe."

"But .. that's impossible!" Lucy flushed angrily. "You're being unreasonable! Aunt Erika can help, she runs the scientific branch of military experimentation, but she's not at all like you'd imagine. She's great!"

Jim was still shaking his head. Lucy pressed on.

"You can trust her, honest. She's always getting in trouble for standing up for the little guy. This situation is right up her alley. She won't tell anyone! And she thinks differently to most people. She might have better ideas than us. She designs the coolest sculptures and things. You should see her house!"

Jim frowned a little.

"Hold on, is she an artist or a scientist?"

"Neither .. really." Zayne rolled his eyes a little, then tilted his head to the side to stare at his cousin. "More like a .. Lucy, what's that word again?"

"A visionary." Lucy grinned. "That's what she likes to call herself anyway. She's a little loopy at first, but don't worry. She can take things seriously when she needs to."

Jim ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't like it. It's too risky."

"I thought you said you were out of leads." Lucy pointed out blankly. Taylor looked across at Jim.

"You did say you'd tear this place apart if it came down to it. Look, it's up to you, but we're already being hunted. If these two can come after us, it's only a matter of time before we get caught. We have to get out quick. I say it's worth the risk."

"I'm sure she'd hide you from the cops, once she understood the situation." Lucy offered hopefully. "Like I said, she's not afraid of that sort of thing. She's great."

As Jim bit his lip, Zayne raised his rifle with a click, centering it on the lounging dinosaur in the corner.

"Look, I'll make it easy for you. We need that reward you promised us. If you don't come with us by choice, we'll have to turn you in anyway. Come willingly, or I shoot your Karposaurus-"

"Kaprosuchus." Several people corrected automatically.

"Whatever."

They all very much doubted that he would do anything of the sort - even his cousin was watching with a raised eyebrow - but as Taylor exchanged an apologetic look with the Kap and held up his hands, Jim and Mira followed suit. Zayne hesitated for a moment, his eyes still focused on the reptile.

"You know you can't come in with that thing anyway, right? We can explain you away .. probably, but we can't explain away that."

Taylor set his jaw stubbornly.

"Where I go, he goes."

The two children exchanged a dubious glance, seeming to have a silent conversation between them. As they conferred, the three adults exchanged a glance as well, unaware that they were doing exactly the same thing. Finally, Lucy turned back to Taylor.

"Alright, fine. You can bring it. Probably no one will be out to see it anyway. Most people in the dome villages-"

"You live in a dome?!" Mira interrupted, with what almost sounded like an incredulous laugh. Only the rich and powerful were able to afford the luxury of living within a dome. These children in their faded clothes, out roaming the streets bounty-hunting for pocket money didn't look like dome children in the least. Lucy was nodding impatiently.

"Of course we do. What, you thought we lived here? This is just our city base of operations. Our real base of operations is just outside the city .. and it's a bit of a walk. And it's getting darker, so we better get going now if we're gonna avoid the night patrols. They go on duty in about an hour."

"We know." Jim and Taylor muttered at once, throwing a miserable look at one another. They'd had a few more encounters with the night patrols than they would have liked to remember.

"Anyway, you'll be safe enough in the dome." Lucy picked up her previous train of thought as she retrieved her rebreather and stowed away the air purifier in the boxes. "Most people work from home with the windows grayed out. And the plexiglass is soundproof anyway. They wouldn't know if someone was having a party in the square .. at midnight .. in the nude."

Jim raised an eyebrow at Taylor.

"This ought to be interesting."

Mira sighed heavily as the former commander grinned back.

"Alright. Enough. Let's go already."

"Alrighty." Lucy paused beside the hidden entrance and uncovered it again with a flourish, then leaned against it as she turned to face her new clients. "Zayne'll lead the way this time."

She pulled her cap low over her eyes and grinned, gesturing graciously at them with her free hand.

"After you."