A/N: Someone asked why Penny was throwing up. There was no particular reason for that other than how disgusted she felt at what she'd done. I also want to clear up how I feel about Tinga. I know I seem pretty harsh on her in the story, but I'm not trying to portray her as a bad person! She just doesn't like Penny, other than that she's a good person! You'll get to see her better side in the next few chapters that she sticks around, but in this one she's still kind of in the bad guy role.

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Disclaimer: Not mine.

Zack's Penny

By Be Boring

Chapter 8: Decisions, Decisions

*~* Penny

I had kept myself moving despite my nearly paralyzing fear. I was nearly to the gas station now, but the sound of the helicopters hadn't faded away. They were coming closer at an alarming rate, I just hoped I could make it to the gas station by that time.

Tinga's words still rang in my ears. "You're just a weakling who needs someone to take care of you, what could you have possibly done to make him feel that you're so special?" The horrible thing was that she was right. I had been nothing but trouble for Zack, what had possessed him to take care of me for so long? He had so many things to worry about, why add one more thing to the list? And why did I let him take care of me when I knew how much it would hold him back? I'm not helpless, I've just never been given the chance to learn how to take care of myself. Maybe it was time I started. Nothing said that I had to give Zack a call when I reached the gas station. I could just hitch a ride with someone and get out of his life. Wouldn't it be easier on him? Sure, he'd be worried about me for a while, but it would pass. He still had all the others, the ones that had actually been useful to him at times.

My legs burned a little as I approached the station. Normally a mile walk wouldn't so much as change my heart rate, but I was so sore after my night with Zane that it hurt to do anything physical. Wait a second. I was still in heat, and there was bound to be men in that gas station. What was I going to do if the only person who would take me somewhere would be a guy? I wouldn't last five minutes.

Well, the gas station was bustling when I walked in, and there were just as many men as there were women. I immediately walked over and stood behind a group of college girls who I guessed were just hanging out for the weekend. I listened to their excited chatter for a few minutes, then bought myself a bottle of soda. I thanked my lucky stars that it was a girl behind the counter. I was thinking about going outside and hotwiring the vehicle with the most gas in it, when the college girls' conversation took a more interesting turn.

"Are you sure your parents will be ok with all of us there? I mean, they had no clue you were bringing all of us with you. Will they mind?" a girl with long red hair asked.

It seemed she was talking to the cute little blond, because she was the one who answered. "Are you kidding? They'll be so happy to see me again that they wouldn't care if I brought the whole dorm with me! I guess LA feels like a world away from Denver."

Denver sounds just about perfect. I let them talk on a little more, then I stepped forward. "You're all headed to Colorado?"

The blond turned and looked at me, as if making sure I wasn't some lunatic. Not that I blamed her, there are plenty of those out there these days. "Yeah, why?"

"What way are you taking? Are you going down interstate 40, then going up 25?"

"Yeah, we are. Where are you headed?"

Thank God I had lived with Zack for so long, I knew the country as well as I knew the back of my hand. "I'm going to Colorado Springs, but my ride just dumped me. My boyfriend was giving me a ride, but we had something of a fight in the car, so he dropped me off here. Do you guys have room for one more?"

A girl with short, curly dark brown hair stepped forward. "I have room in my car. Do you have any money?"

I ran my hands over my pockets. We had always been taught in Manticore to keep our resources available to us, so a habit I know a lot of the X5s had picked up after our escape was keeping a little bit of money in all of their clothes, then keeping their wallet with them at all times. Tinga no doubt had her wallet, but there had to be a couple dollars in the pants she had given me. I grinned with relief as I pulled five $20 bills out of my left pocket. "Don't worry, I'm set. I take it you want help to pay for gas?"

The girl nodded, rolling her eyes. "The gas stations are vultures nowadays. It's absolutely ridiculous what they'll charge you for gas. I'm Monica, by the way."

"Mandy," I replied, reaching out and shaking the hand that she offered to me. I felt a surge of relief, I just might be able to get out of Zack's life for good, which would be the only good thing I'd ever done for him. I sat with the girls for a while, chatting like I was thirteen and making sure not to reveal anything about myself. It wasn't too hard, they didn't really pry into my past that much. I was starting to get sick of their almost mindless droning when one of the girls stood up and stretched.

"If we don't get moving soon, you'll never get me out of this spot!" The girls all laughed and started making their way out to the parking lot. I just tagged along behind Monica, looking forward to taking a nap and getting my mind off my heat cycle. That's when I was more than a little pissed off when they all suddenly came to a dead halt and cried out in surprise. I stood on tiptoe, but I couldn't really see much. I'm so damn short I still didn't come up to their eyebrows, so looking over their heads was out of the question. I finally just walked around the group, then stood frozen in place.

"God dammit," I muttered. All the tires of the vehicles in the parking lot had been slashed.

*~* Zane

The hotel room had been in almost dead silence for about ten minutes now. As soon as Zack had heard the helicopters, he'd shut off the lights and told me to shut up. The helicopters had only gotten louder ever since, but they didn't seem to be heading directly in our direction. My guess was that they knew we were in the city, but they didn't know exactly where. The problem was that hotels, restaurants, stores, and gas stations would be the first places they would check, then the sewers and warehouses. There would undoubtedly be roadblocks, so leaving town by car would be impossible, and the soldiers marching through the streets would make it difficult for us to get out on foot. Of course, I said difficult, not impossible.

"We're going," Zack whispered, slowly walking over to the door and putting his ear to it.

"What? How do you suggest we do that?"

"You know how Manticore operates well enough, how do you think we're going to do it?"

Dammit, it would be exactly what I was thinking. We were leaving on foot. "Which way are we headed?"

"West. They'll be expecting us to get as far as possible from LA, so I think we should head back that way. That's where they'll have the least security set up."

I finally had to ask the question that was really bugging me. "Where was Tinga taking Penny?"

"I don't know. She was supposed to give me a call once they were out of town to let me know."

"I don't suppose you could check your messages?" I asked grouchily. I wanted to know where the hell Penny was so I could talk to her once she was out of heat.

Zack gave me a look that showed what he thought of my insubordination, but he nevertheless pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number without letting me see what it was. He was smart, he even had all the buttons making the same sounds so I wouldn't be able to tell what the numbers were by ear. He must have thought of that a long time ago. "There's a message from Tinga. You might want to hear it for yourself." His face looked strangely pale as he handed the phone over to me. "Just press star 7."

I pressed both buttons and held the phone up to my ear. I'm sure Zack was aware of the blood draining from my face as I listened to Tinga's message. "Sorry big brother, but I couldn't follow orders as nicely as I'm sure you wanted me to. I dropped Penny off by the side of the road, I'm sure she'll give you a call once she's somewhere with a phone. As for me, I'm headed back home. You have no right to take me away from my husband and my son."

"What's Tinga's cell number?" I asked in an almost monotonous voice. It seemed that persuaded Zack to listen to me.

"1-487-620-3050," he replied. "Don't be too loud."

I punched in the numbers with trembling fingers, feeling a mixture of rage and fear bubbling up inside me. I was so angry at Tinga for just dumping Penny on the side of the road, not to mention I was afraid for Penny because Manticore was practically crawling all over the place.

"Zack, you can't change my mind," Tinga growled into the phone. Apparently she had recognized Zack's number on the phone.

"This isn't Zack, it's Zane. Get your ass back here right now and help us get Penny back. Manticore is crawling all over the fucking place, and Penny's just wandering around on the side of the road out there somewhere. I'm not giving an order, but I'm asking as your brother, please come back here and help us."

"God Zane, I didn't know Manticore was there! I'm coming right now. I'm so sorr..." I hung up the phone before she could finish her apology. I knew Tinga wasn't a bad person, she just didn't like Penny, but I couldn't help but be mad at her. Penny could already be on her way back to Manticore because of her.

*~* Penny

Manticore did this. I should have known. They would want to be sure no one within a ten mile radius of the city could get away until they were sure there were no X5s there. Soldiers were everywhere; on top of the building, digging through the different vehicles, and trying to keep people away from the parking lot.

Monica was the first to storm forward. "What the hell did you people do to my car? I have somewhere to be very soon, how am I supposed to get there with no fucking tires?"

A horrible electric chill went down my spine as one of the soldiers stepped forward and removed his hat. He was no soldier. His cold blue eyes studied Monica up and down, sizing her up, then he placed a condescending smile upon his face and spoke so gently that you would have thought he was talking to his own child.

"I'm so sorry for this inconvenience, miss, but this is a military operation. Have you seen a young man, about 6'3" in height, with dark brown hair and green eyes?"

"No, I haven't. Now how can I get my tires replaced?"

"You can't, not from here. After we're sure the location is secure, then some of my men will give the stranded citizens a ride into Ludlow where they can call a tow truck to retrieve their vehicle. You'll have to pay for the new tires out of your own pocket." Lydecker said all of this in a very calm manner, but he had just barely finished speaking when a soldier from inside the store walked up to him.

"Sir, the area is secure as far as we can tell. Should we check the necks of all the people in the vicinity?"

Lydecker glanced around at the frustrated people around him, then shook his head. "If there was anyone here we wanted, they'd have left by now in all this mayhem. There's no point." Turning back to Monica, he returned to his fatherly expression. "Now that this area is deemed safe, I can offer a ride as well. I'm headed for Albuquerque, if anyone is headed in that direction."

I thought for a moment. Wasn't Albuquerque close to the intersection between interstates 40 and 25? That would work out perfectly for me. Did I dare to go with Lydecker of all people though? That's when it hit me, Lydecker had no clue what I looked like, or where I was. How would he ever know it was me? Also, I was almost desperate to get as far away from Zack as possible to make his life easier, not to mention I wanted some distance between myself and Zane. I took a deep breath to calm myself, and took a step forward. "I'm headed that way. Could you give me a ride?"

I couldn't help but feel a little sick when he looked me over, but I felt a surge of relief as he offered a half smile and nodded. "Seeing as how you don't look like your average serial killer, I supposed I could give you a ride. Any other takers?" The other girls looked at him with a spark of anger in their eyes, he wasn't going to get them to take him up on his offer. "Well then, let's go."

As I followed along after him, I found myself second guessing my decision. I'm so sorry Zack, but I have to do it. You'll understand someday.

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A/N 2: Please review! I know there's a lot of people out there who read and don't review, but please write something! It's not just for my story, try and do it for others too. If you don't want to write out a long, detailed review, then just type a couple words! Be it negative or positive, it lets the writer know people are reading! Particularly in The Broken World, you guys have to review more! For people on ff.net who don't know, go to and have a look around. I tried to put that in one of my other chapters, but for some reason my computer kept deleting it out my chapter. Stupid piece of crap. :P