Chapter Eight

Ally considered this for a few moments. It would be great to have someone else in the house, especially with the high crime rate, and they did offer to take me to the meetings at Trib Harvesters. "Ok, Sounds fun! I can at least go look around! You sure Jack and Jackie wouldn't mind?"

"Sheen's the only one that is under Jackie's control, and Jack has no family."

"Sides Jackie and me." Sheen interrupted.

"They aren't married."

"They're living together."

"Well…" Cindy said brilliantly, "then we are family too."

"Point taken!" Sheen said. "But… are Libs and me family?"

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Only if you two are married."

"Matter of time…" Sheen whispered.

"Anyways," Cindy said, directing the conversation back to Ally, "I was right, soon as we're finished then we will be headed home. Would you like the Oreo on top?"

"If you don't want it, then sure."

"You can have it." Cindy said, handing the Oreo to Ally.

"Thanks!" Ally said, taking the cookie and biting into it. Jimmy and Cindy worked together to finish about a third of their Atomic Cocoa Blast, before Cindy discovered that the baby didn't much care for ice cream.

"Jim, I can't eat anymore."

"Full already?" Jimmy asked, knowing that lately it seemed Cindy never had enough food, now that she was feeding to people.

"No, but the baby don't seem to like the ice cream at all."

"Ok then, we'll throw it away."

"I'd hate to…" Cindy started thinking of the children in China, well… at least the children that used to be there.

"If you don't want it… and I can't a whole one on my own… what do you suggest we do?"

"Ok, I suppose you are right." Cindy concluded, handing the Atomic Cocoa Blast to Jimmy. Jimmy slid out of the booth and threw away the rest of the Atomic Cocoa Blast, and when he returned everyone from both tables were ready to go. So together Ally, Jimmy, Cindy, Sheen, Libby, Carl, Alexa, Hanna, and Bethany all walked back to Cindy's house.

Cindy showed Ally around the house and then the group played a few songs before Kristy drove Ally back to her current house, promising to pick her up at noon the next day.

Ally reached into her pocket to get the key and entered the empty house. She remembered how welcoming I was to walk into the house after a long day at school and to be greeted by the Henishaw's. She never appreciated it until she was forced to take the re-educational classes. Ally sighed and looked around; at least I won't miss the living room. She laid the keys on the coffee table and headed back towards her room.

Ally fell backwards across the bed and reached for her teddy bear, which her mom gave to her when she left England. She hugged it tightly and looked around the room, to Elizabeth's corner.

When they had switched houses they had each designated a three-by-one foot area that represented them while they were in each other's houses. Elizabeth was one year older than Ally and seemed to have everything, if the pictures were to be trusted. Ally still had her braces on, while Elizabeth had gotten hers off two years ago and had a gorgeous smile. Elizabeth had straight, medium length, strawberry-blonde hair. Still, despite her drop-dead-gorgeous looks, she dressed modestly and usually in jeans and a t-shirt… yet still looked awesome!

In Elizabeth's corner was her devotional Bible, several Bible Quiz trophies, pictures of her friends, and state-level awards for Cheerleading and Dance. Ally laid down the teddy bear as she walked over to Elizabeth's corner and ran a finger over the pictures. I can't wait to meet her face to face… and see them again. Elizabeth's gaze switched from Elizabeth to the pictures of her friends. What will I do without all of you?

Ally felt immediately at home when she got to Retroville. School was awkward, but each of the people in Elizabeth's inner-circle of friends were waiting for her at the airport along with Elizabeth's parents. Ally was actually glad that, for the moment, she was not returning to England anytime soon. Too much had changed. Her mother was dead, and siblings said to have been saved in the rapture. As if that wasn't bad… she feared her best friend was dead after the great earthquake. After she finished reflecting on the past Ally began packing up all of her stuff.

As soon as they sent Kristy to take Ally back to her house Cindy insisted that Jimmy dress down into a light t-shirt and boxers and take it easy, and enforced the take it easy when she saw how blistered his arms were. "It's really not that bad." Jimmy insisted over and over again.

"Look at your arm! How can you say 'it's not that bad? I'm calling over Kristy!" Cindy said heading to the phone and leaving no time for Jimmy to protest.

Jimmy sighed and lie on his stomach on the bed. Cindy called over Kristy, who came over promptly within the next five minutes. "That stings!" Jimmy shouted as Kristy rubbed the prescription-strength green ice into Jimmy's back.

"Well, I'd say you got yourself rather burnt."

"I thought I had you put on sun block daily." Cindy said.

"And I did."

"What are you going to do when the sun is three times stronger?"

"Die I suppose." Jimmy said, wincing at the green ice on his back.

"When did you put the sun block on?" Kristy asked.

"I put it on before I went outside."

"And… exactly how long were you outside, on average?"

"Fourteen hours… something like that."

"And how often did you re-apply it?"

"I…uh… didn't?"

"I thought you were a genius!" Cindy exclaimed.

"I forgot!"

"Well, in any case we will have to keep him inside for at least a week." Kristy said as she finished putting on the extra strength green ice and handing Jimmy a new t-shirt that was about two sizes too big for him, along with some sweat-shorts.

That entire week Jimmy had a total of two hours in the fresh air, if you could call it that. Local citizens had cleaned up the debris, but the remains of the earthquake were still highly visible. Buckles in the sidewalk, holes where full grown trees used to stand, and abandoned houses with broken windows were not unusual sights. Daily there were kids, 13-14 year olds, knocking on doors and trying to find a warm place to stay for the night.

Exactly six months and two weeks after the Great Disappearances, Hanna finally found a name for their new, rather large, church, Retroville Neighborhood Refuge. They had regulated services to every other day and the core group met daily, all led by Hanna.