Tinga's Perspective

As we approach Los Angelus, I see factories in the middle of the residential areas where parks used to be. I lived here right after the escape, before the effects of the pulse were real noticeable. It used to be such a beautiful place. There were flowers everywhere, along with ponds filled with fish. Now all there is, is a city filled with trash where hardly any plant life grows. We rode past the park where I used to play. Instead of a pond with a statue of an elephant in the middle of it, there was a heap of trash piled up around the broken statue. The elephant's trunk had been crumpled into pieces and one of his legs were missing. It looks like this place was turned into the city dump. I'm a little sad, I had a lot of memories form this place.

*****

I'm running, I have to keep running. I've been running for over a day now. It 's starting to get dark again. I hear a sound behind me. I look over my shoulder and trip. I'm so exhausted, but I have to keep moving. There is someone behind me. My first thought is Lydecker. I roll over ready to be shot and killed. I can't keep going like this. When I look up there is a boy standing there with his arm stretched out. He must be another one like me. He's been sent to track me down and bring me back. I've never been more scared in my life. But that look on his face. I don't understand. It's almost like he feels compassion towards me. Maybe Zack sent him to check up on me or something. I give him my hand and let him pull me up. He takes a hold of my hand gently and helps me to my feet. Either he is doing a good job of covering up who he is or he's not like me. He tells me to follow him. I check his neck for a barcode; there isn't one. I think to myself what the hell is going on; am I really free at last.

His family took me in and wanted me to stay with them; however, I couldn't bring myself to stay. At the first sign of light, I got up and left. I could get lost in the daytime crowd quite easily. I could find my way back to where I was last night and see who was following me. I could find out if I was in danger. When I got back to the park I stood and stared at the figurine in the middle. I must have tripped over the logs surrounding it. I stood there in the park staring at it almost all day. There was a person behind me. I turned and attacked. I pined the person to the ground. It was the boy who found me the night before. "Why did you leave? Mummy and daddy are worried about you." he asks. "By the way my name is Kladu. What's yours?" he adds. I didn't answer him. I just sat there and talked to him while we played on the statue. He stayed with me until it got dark. It was a good way to pass time and think about how I was going to find Zack so I could check in. When he got up to leave I told him, "You didn't see me here, got it!" He nodded his head and took off. I think I might have scared him a little, but I didn't really care. I had no intentions of staying at the park or anywhere near this place, but for some reason I did. I felt a connection to the boy for some reason. I just wish knew why; he wasn't like me. He was different, the enemy.

The next morning the boy found me at the park again. I tried to get information out of him. I questioned him, but I got nothing. Perhaps he really was just another kid.

*****

I taught him how to defend himself and he taught me about the world as he knew it. But eventually I had to move on. I left without saying good bye to him.

I haven't thought about him in years. This is perhaps my only regret; I should have said goodbye.

As we approach the area Jace was last seen in, we see black vans. Damn, Lydecker beat us here. We scout out the area. There are guys on the roof and in the building next to where she should be. We hide in the shadows and wait for the right moment.

All of a sudden everyone disappears. The vans drive away and the people on the buildings get into helicopters that fly away as soon as they are loaded. A small team stays on the building adjacent to Jace's apartment for surveillance. Either she isn't there and they found a lead somewhere else, or Lydecker already has what he came for. It doesn't really matter though; we're still going to check it out. As soon as we think it's safe we walk out onto the street. We go past Jace's apartment and circle back around. I climb up the fire escape and motion for Johndy to go around front. I don't want any surprises. I pick the lock on fire exit. As I open the door I look to make sure no one is watching. Johndy is already gone and circling towards the front of building.

I enter the building and let the door close behind me quietly. The power has gone out. The place looks like it has been trashed. I walk down the hall, room 101 ... 105 ... 109 ... all the rooms have been broken into. As I turn the corner to walk down another hall, I hear voices. It could be Jace; there is a guy with her. His voice sounds familiar. I creep quietly towards the room the voices are coming from. The door to the room is wide open like all the others. I creep to the doorway and look inside. I see Jace sitting in the middle of the floor with a blanket in her hands. She is crying to a guy sitting next to her. He is angry, yet concerned about Jace. There is something about him; It's like I know him from somewhere. I push the door open a little farther so they know I'm here. Jace looks up and immediately recognizes me.

She says, "They took my baby."

She begins to cry harder. Then looks away.

I see Johndy walking up the stairs so I tell her Lydecker took Jace's baby. Johndy runs down the hall and goes over to Jace and gives her a big hug. The guy that was sitting next to her gets up and walks over to me.

He asks, "Who are you?"

It's almost like he doesn't want us around. "We're just her sisters. You have to tell me what happened here. Our lives may depend on it." I reply. There is no way he is going to know who I am or anything about me other than I'm Jace's sister. I don't know if I can trust him. For all I know, he is working for Manticore. I try to remember if I've seen him there, but I can't recall. Perhaps if I knew his name I would be able to remember. I ask him his name and he replies "Kladu". Kladu? Could that really be him, the little boy from the park? I'll find out later right now there are more important things to worry about.

I ask him again what happened. He tells me that he was over visiting Jace and all of a sudden they were attacked by a bunch of men in army attire. I guess he doesn't know about Manticore and Lydecker. He said Jace was shot by a dart; he tried to defend her and her baby, but he wasn't able to. They came in hoards and were well trained. I gave him and hug and told him thank you then walked back over to Jace. I told her we would get her baby back but she needed to come with us. We needed to get back to the cabin so we could set the final details of the attack on Manticore. She said she would come and help. She now had just as much anger and pain in her as Max does. Maybe they can offer some comfort to each other.

If only we knew they had the baby; we could have done something. This must be how Zack felt that night he found Max. Jace was still crying, but I can't blame her. She'll be okay to travel and that's what is important right now. I don't know what the surveillance people are up to, for all I know they are trying to get a hat trick. I give Jace a hug and tell her we have to go before they come back. She nods barley acknowledging what I said. We all are ready to leave when Kladu says, "I'm coming with you."

Jace responds, "I can't let you do that. You have a mother and father here that need you."

Kladu says, "I know I do, but right now you need my help to get your baby back."

Jace tries to protest, but I interrupt her and tell him if he's coming he better be ready to leave now.

He says he's ready. I know Jace may not want him here, but we are going to need all the help we can get and if he has any fighting skills at all, he will be useful.

Johndy hops on her motorcycle when we get outside. She tells Jace to get on and then they speed off into the night. I hop on mine followed by Kladu and we follow them to what ever awaits us. As we ride off, I can't help but wonder if the guy behind me is really the boy from my childhood. If he's not, then who is he. Is he Jace's husband or boyfriend or is he just a friendly neighbor that was stopping by to say hello.

The ride back to the cabin went smoothly. The guys at our first stop were still out of it. It looked like looters came in to steal whatever they could get their hands on. The guys at the second stop must have recognized us because they just waved us through, they didn't even check to see if we had passes or not. I guess they didn't want to get their @sses kicked again. We got back to the cabin just as the sun was coming up.