"Like I said, I was thrown some distance away. Had my leg broken and couple ribs cracked…at least that's what I assumed…it's not like I'm a doctor or anything of that nature. But, anyhow, I awoke with the building ready to fall down on me, the flames having eaten away at most of it. So, moving as fast as I could-which isn't all that fast-I got away," Krit paused and sipped at his cappuccino.

"I lived in the forest for awhile before starting to move east. Eventually I found Syl, and we joined up to go eastwards. There was nothing left for us to stay in Washington. Besides, Lydecker would be looking for us."

Syl continued where Krit had left off by saying, "So, we went out to New York City. It was hit pretty hard by the pulse, but was rebuilding a lot better than Seattle and the west coast cities. Mostly because the European countries were helping more. They didn't get by the pulse.

"Anyhow, we got hired in numerous plays and dance clubs because of all our talent with flexibility and stuff like that…" She sighed. "Twenty years of doing that turned us into rich people."

"I was going to say that I hadn't heard of any crime sweeps, so you had to make your money the honest way," Dad told them.

"What about the scar on your face?" I asked Syl. "I thought with the stem cells in your blood, it would've gone away."

She smiled sadly and reached up to touch it under the hat. "That's what I would've thought too, but it hasn't. It fades every year a little bit more. Perhaps in ten years, it'll be completely gone. Not that it matters anyhow, my eye can't function anyway. Burned too badly. It's just another horrid reminder of the past." I noticed at this time that Dad was rubbing at his leg as if it was burned or something. Giving him a questioning look, he shook his head and said nothing more. I was going to have to ask him about that later. Too much going on at the moment to read his mind.

"So how did you guys manage to find your way up to Seattle?" Dad asked.

Krit smiled, his teeth a row of pearls. "That's actually something good. Me and Syl were down in Mexico, doing a Hispanic show and trying to get some Mexican influence into the style of show, and we ran into Jace. Apparently, her daughter had called her the other day and asked about her past. The daughter, Max, was living up in Seattle, had said that she had ran into Zack and Max's kid, and that'd be you," he said with a nod towards me.

"Told ya," I muttered to Dad, in response to his outburst the previous night.

"So we got a plane up here and arrived here this morning," Krit finished.

"I just can't believe…after all these years," Dad mumbled, shaking his head.

Syl touched his arm, reaching across me. "It's what was supposed to happen."

Dad nodded mutely, shocked somewhat. "What about the others?"

"The others?" Krit echoed.

"Yes."

He sighed deeply, and I saw him glance over at Syl for affirmation. They had held the secret for eighteen years, being the only ones who knew the truth behind those that lived and died. It was time to tell.

"Like I said," Krit began, "when the fire came, it basically blew the entire containment area apart. It came in from a certain side, so it knocked out of the walls out, but pushed the other one in, falling on some of the cells." He swallowed deeply and took a drink of cappuccino, his hand shaking. He may have been sitting in a fancy Seattle restaurant, but he was back at the fiery inferno, watching his friends die. "We were spread out enough…'Deck didn't want us getting to each other…so that the wall only collapsed in on some people…and after the wall went in, the ceiling followed. Me and Syl got blown out before the ceiling came down…" he trailed off and Syl took over, seeing his discomfort.

"After I made it some ways away, and the fire had went down a bit, allowing me to limp back, I returned to see what had happened…I found them." She paused greatly and looked away, trying to breathe. None of us pushed her onward. "Tinga…and…Jhondi were crushed by the wall because their cells were the closest to the wall that collapsed inward. It was the eastern wall, right by the door where Max left after she came in to see us.

"I was surprised that I could still tell who they were…the bodies were so crushed…oh, god, it was terrible, but they were both dead.

"Zane and Krit were still missing, so I looked around some more to find them. They were the only ones, besides you and Max, that I hadn't seen…not including Brin. I found Zane inside the wreckage, having only part of the wall on him. He was barely conscious and wasn't thinking clearly.

"After getting the cement off of him, I saw that his entire chest cavity was split open, exposing his insides…there was nothing I could do for him…except comfort him until he died…" Syl whispered, a tear trickling down her cheek out of her remaining good eye. She wiped it away, but more formed until I was so moved that I reached over and tried to soothe her. Her brother had died right in her arms, and she had had to live with that for nearly twenty years.

Krit finished for her, seeing that she was unable to speak anymore, "She left shortly after, not being able to find my…my body, and that's when we met up and headed out east."

Dad was looking away, his fist clenched over his mouth. I could see that even he, Dad, the always strong warrior, was racked with emotion. "I should've done something," he whispered.

"There's nothing you could've done," Krit argued.

"Yes, I was there before the fire occurred. I was there before everything happened. I could've-"

"You were brainwashed," Syl argued, lifting her head slightly.

"It doesn't matter, it shouldn't have mattered…three people are dead now…"

"No, three people have been dead," Krit told him. "Zack, there's nothing you could have done for us. 'Deck would've killed you, had you tried to free us beforehand."

Dad turned to face all of us, and I could see the tears coating over his usually hard and placid eyes. "I've wondered for twenty years what happened…I always thought that all of you were dead…that just me and Max survived. Now I know…now I know,"

"You couldn't have saved us," Syl whispered more to herself than Dad.

"You don't know that."

"No, but still…"

"But still, I didn't even try," Dad said and let his face fall into his hands and, for the first time in my entire life, I saw tears fall from my father's eyes.