A/N: Hey guys, just me updating again. Well, I took all your wonderful reviews to heart and edited all my chapters, and am taking a little more time to write them now, so updates will be about once a week, but under different circumstances they may be sooner or later.
Please continue to review because it really does make my day when I check my email and see all your great reviews waiting for me to open and read! Well, I've seen WOTW 3 times now, and have tried to memorize as much of the script as I can, but trust me, it's not that easy, so if I make a mistake or flaw you can point it out- I don't mind. I just wish I owned the movie so I can watch it all the time and have everything exact…Grrr…anyhoo, ttyl and enjoy!
Robinisawsome: Thanks for your review! I checked out your profile and we have a lot in common. You like the OC (as do I) and lots of other stuff…lol Viva La Bam! Ok, so that's just cool.
Vickitori: I know how you feel. I was hoping to find another story with a Robbie/OC or something but alas, I found none. If there was one I would read it though! Thanks for your review.
Dawnie-7: Thanks for the review.
Dishonesty: It's gonna get its own section? I guess that would be cool, but then would my story still be here? Oh well, lol. Thanks a lot for your review. It's true; I did really rush this chapter. I guess I just really wanted to get it out, but since I got several reviews that are telling me to slow down, I'm going to. Actually, I've re-edited all my chapters and made them much more descriptive, and I like them a lot more, so thanks for the advice. ;)
Vagrant Candy: I know what you mean, lol. I remember watching the commercials and thinking, 'Ok, he's cute' but now I see him and I'm 'OMG! I love him!' lol…but I'm not crazy or anything…lol. He's a good actor too. ;)
Sorceress Damia: Thanks for the review…Robbie's so coo' lol.
Ranger of Gondor: Cool name, by the way, lol. Anyhoo, thanks for the review. You're story rocks too! I know, I'm such a fan girl sometimes, but that's ok. Thanks for recommending my stories. And muchas gracias for the review!
RJ: Thanks…I was hoping she would. ;)
Live2sk8: I really want to take the time to thank you, because you really helped me out with your review. Not only was it the first, but it really got me thinking about rushing the chapters. I've re-written them pretty much and made them better, so thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it…so thanks.
Tess: Thanks for the review. Yeah, Justin is really cool. I'm actually not allowed to have a myspace account, and probably not allowed on there, but thanks for the invite anyways!
World on Fire:
Chapter Two: Innocence Lost
"Did Ray yell at you?" Rachel asked when Robbie came in the house and sat down on the tattered couch.
"No," Robbie scowled, lifting up his feet and slamming them down on the coffee table. He pushed off a deck of playing cards and some sheets of paper with his heel and they fell, scattering on the floor like debris.
"You shouldn't do that," his sister admonished lightly, sitting down beside him. She held a yellow third place ribbon in her hand.
"What do you care?" Robbie scoffed. "This isn't our house."
"It's Dad's house," Rachel said with a frown.
Robbie glared at his sister, with little empathy, and slunk lower into the seat, glancing around for the remote, not wising to stare at a blank television screen any longer.
"It's right by your left foot," Rachel said calmly.
Robbie rolled his eyes and reached forward to pick up the remote, but stopped suddenly, leaving his hand dangling in the air. Rachel sat straight up, eyes wide and glancing around feverishly.
"What was that?" she asked of the loud sound they both had just heard.
It had sounded like a mix of thunder and an earthquake, and Robbie knew it wasn't a sound he was familiar with at all. "I don't know," he breathed, leaning back and swallowing hard. Don't let it start again.
Then, a different sound reached their ears, only this time; it was a deafening roar, like a dying lion taking its last breath. The roar sounded again, and Rachel leapt up from her seat and raced to her brother's lap.
Robbie lifted his legs off the coffee table and sat up, his back against the back of the couch. Rachel squeezed her yellow ribbon with her fingers and held it close, as if it would protect her.
"I'm scared, Robbie," she breathed.
"Don't be," Robbie whispered back as the air was filled with the sound of crashing brick and breaking windows. Robbie still couldn't quite figure out what was happening, but he knew the sound was coming from the city. "We're safe here," he promised, half heartedly.
"Where's Dad?"
"He's gone, Rachel."
"Gone where? Where did he go?"
"I don't know, Rachel. He probably abandoned us." Robbie guessed with an evident sarcasm.
"He wouldn't do that, would he?" Rachel asked in a whisper.
"No," Robbie admitted.
"Good."
He could still hear something, a loud buzzing sound every few seconds; it was distant, but audible, and every time it sounded, it was like a frozen blade struck his spine and was drawn all the way from his low back to the foot of his neck.
"You're shivering," he heard his little sister say.
"No, I'm not," he said. "You are."
"Whatever," she replied softly, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, Rae," Robbie began. Rachel, who remained in her older brother's comforting lap, turned her head to face him, her eyes large with fear. Remembering the lightening strikes earlier still frightened her. "Remember when you won that ribbon?" Robbie's voice was cool and calming.
"Yeah," Rachel replied gently. "I was riding Skippet." She slid her fingers across the fraying edges of the third place ribbon fondly.
"That's right; you were," Robbie said in remembrance. He grinned faintly, knowing that he had distracted his sister, even if just for a little while.
Neither Alex nor Ray spoke a word on the terrifying race back to Ray's house. Ray had known that Alex's dad was out of town, and he also knew she had no where to go, and as much as he wished he could, he knew he couldn't leave her on her own.
Without any words passing between them, Alex realized instinctively that Ray would look out for her. He's probably saving my life, she realized. She frowned as she noticed all the ash that covered Ray's face and body. It wasn't just ash, she realized; it had once been people.
She felt sorry for Ray, knowing exactly what the grey powder was, and then she felt tears forming as she remembered watching her step-mother die. It was the worst day of her life, no doubt, but Alex knew how lucky she was that Ray was there to look after her.
It seemed that everywhere they turned there was destruction in the city. Buildings were, crumbling and spitting out flames, glass, and brick. Cars were being tossed like salad into the air whenever hit by a beam of light and would come crashing back down to Earth with large force that could kill.
Alex glanced upwards when she heard a car being thrown into the air. She could see it flying through the air like a helicopter, spinning back to the earth and landing just feet from where she had been standing, but she wouldn't stop running.
She could feel her body shaking and her breath quickened. Her palms were sweating, and the cut on her cheek stung like a paper cut. Her lungs and lower throat were aching with exhaust and heavy breathing. The pain filled her torso and upper body with a deep, hollow feeling and her sides began to sting with fatigue. Her throat was parched with dryness and her feet ached from running, but as Alex became aware of all these feelings, she knew she couldn't stop or slow down, or she'd be dead, just like so many around her.
Ray turned abruptly to the left, taking them behind a white-washed house on the outskirts of downtown, and that is where he stopped to catch his breath, Alex right behind him.
He leaned his back against the wall and carefully looked around the corner. Alex stood beside him, trying to slow her breathing, and her chest heaving.
Come on, Ray thought, panting. Where is it? He was searching for the machine, or the tripod as some would come to call it. Ray wanted to know where it was, so there would be no surprised found on the rest of the way home. It's so huge, how could it disappear?
As soon as this thought crept in his mind, he saw it. The tripod was made of some metal material Ray could not name. It could be a metal Earth was familiar with, and it could have been from somewhere entirely different.
The tripod appeared at once before Ray's eyes as it came crashing through a building that had been crumbling from a blast. Crimson bricks cascaded downward like a bloody waterfall, weighing tons and crashing mercilessly to the earth.
Then the tripod emerged from the forest of smoke and ash that followed, wading through the fresh tongues of fire and licked the darkening sky. It was taller than any building in the city, and rested upon three spider-like legs. Upon its head was a great burning eye- made with a glass-like material, and where it searched for its next and frequent victims. The body of the tripod was a silvery blue, and Ray noted how indescribably ugly it was.
Ray watched, still gasping for air, as the tripod's eye fell in his direction. The street was void of people, excepting a man who raced quickly past Ray and Alex, carrying a child in his arms. The tripod turned around again, and Ray held his breath as it slowly walked away from he and Alex in the direction of further screaming.
"Come on," Ray muttered to Alex, still staring at the tripod as its back turned to him.
I don't want to go back there, Alex thought, but when Ray started running, she knew she had no choice but to follow or die.
As they both ran up the street, they had to dodge and leap over various scattered debris that littered the roadway and sidewalks. Cars, bicycles, pieces of cars and buildings and windows all made up the mosaic that had been made of the streets.
After another minute or so of fast paced running, Alex followed Ray to a much quieter and less debris filled part of town. Alex glanced around and saw several people, like she and Ray, coming in from the city and racing into their homes to their families.
Alex followed close behind as Ray skipped up a driveway and jogged, slowing his pace, up a short flight of stairs to his front door.
Rachel was waiting for him when Ray opened the screen door, and Alex hurried right behind. Alex noticed the little blonde girl looking at her strangely, before hurrying into the kitchen. That must be Rachel, Alex thought. She had heard stories of Ray's children before, but had never met either of them.
As soon as she had the chance, Alex found a place to sit, and plopped down on a couch for fear of falling over. Her legs were wobbling by the time she sat on the less than comfortable and clean sofa, but at that point, it failed to bother her.
"What happened?" she heard someone ask Ray.
Ray ignored his son, Robbie, and sat down on the kitchen floor, leaning his back against the island, his mind filling with thoughts and not knowing what on earth to do with them. He could hardly think.
"Dad?" Rachel reached out to him with her hand.
Ray jerked away from his daughter's reach, ash darting into the air with every movement and he stared at Rachel cautiously and with a lost and confused expression.
"What's that stuff all over you?" Robbie asked.
Ray glanced at his son, eyes widening and stood up rapidly. Alex watched in silence as he stomped off into the hallway and bathroom.
After watching her father disappear again, Rachel turned to Alex, still holding the third place ribbon tightly in her grasp. "Who are you?" she asked calmly, yet warily.
"Alex," the girl mumbled. "You're dad…he…" she entwined her fingers with anxiety and looked up at the young girl. "He saved me," she concluded, breathlessly.
Robbie's brow furrowed as his sister stepped closer to the stranger. "I'm a…uhh…friend of Ray's," Alex finally added.
"Where are your parents?" Rachel wondered.
Alex shut her eyes to keep the tears from falling. "They're gone," she said quietly.
Robbie breathed quietly, feeling a cold sensation wash over him. Something wasn't right, he realized.
"Gone?" Rachel squeaked. "Gone where?"
"Wait," Robbie took a step closer to the couch where Alex was sitting, so many questions forming in his mind. "You said Ray saved you- from what?"
Alex looked up at Robbie, meeting his gaze for the first time, her lower lip quivering slightly. "The machine," was all she could manage to say before Ray entered the room.
Ray's grey shirt was stained with water and his face and ruffled dark hair were damp. His eyes were wide with fear, and the feeling of dread spread like a disease through the clustered room.
"We are leaving this house in sixty seconds," he said, heading for the kitchen.
He quickly reached in a cabinet and pulled out a large flashlight and an open pack of batteries. His hands shook as he grabbed the pack. Several batteries fell and dropped onto the floor, but two were still left in the package. Ray emptied them into his palm and dropped the package on the floor without care.
He then reached for a yellow striped cardboard box that sat on the island counter. It was full of small tools and supplies for fixing car parts so he grabbed it with one hand and quickly turned it over, dumping all its contents on the already trashed kitchen floor. Robbie took several steps closer to his father to see what was going on.
"Take this," Ray shoved the empty box into his son's hands. "Put all the food in here," he ordered hastily.
Alex glanced around the room and carefully stood up. "Ray, what can I do?"
"Uhh, just help pack food with Robbie," was Ray's replied. He then turned to his youngest child. "Rachel, go to your room and get your backpack-ok?"
"Ok," the little girl nodded and started for the stairs.
"Ray, what is going on?" Robbie asked.
Ray ignored his son and quickly followed Rachel upstairs to grab a few items of his own. Alex walked over to the kitchen while Robbie thrust the refrigerator door open and started throwing random items of food into the box after he placed it on the counter beside him.
Alex immediately started opening cupboard doors, searching for food and realizing that Ray wanted them all to evacuate the house as soon as they could before the tripod could find them.
Robbie tipped over the near empty milk carton carelessly and grabbed a bottle of ketchup that was lying on its side in the back of the fridge. "I'm Robbie," he introduced. "My sister's name is Rachel."
"I know," Alex said softly. "You're dad told me about you guys." Alex reached for a bag of popcorn and pulled it out of the cupboard. Well, it's food, she thought, tossing it into the box.
"What happened out there?" she heard Robbie ask behind her. "The lightening hit…twenty six times…we counted it. Did you see where it hit?"
When she turned, he was facing her, staring at her with questioning eyes, and then he turned back to the fridge and continued scouting for food.
"I-I don't know what happened," Alex replied, still shaken.
Robbie looked at her again. "You have blood on your cheek," he mentioned.
Alex tapped her cheek with her finger where the glass had bit into her skin. She could feel that the blood had dried, but the pain was still there.
"Ray might have a first aid kit in the hall closet," Robbie suggested. "You want a band aid or something? He might not though. He lives by himself most of the time…"
"No thanks, I'm fine," Alex replied softly, returning to her work. "It's just a little cut." Robbie started collecting more food from the cupboards on his side of the kitchen.
Robbie wanted to ask more, but could see that Alex didn't want to talk at the moment, so he kept quiet.
"Alright, let's go," Ray commanded, walking into the room, holding Rachel's purple backpack in one hand and her hand in the other.
Alex met his worried gaze. "Where are we going?"
"The hell out of here," was Ray's answer. He dropped Rachel's hand a moment and ran it across the back of his head, ruffling his hair, and trying to think. "Okay," he picked up his daughter's hand again. "We're going to Mary Ann's' house."
Rachel's eyes gleamed for a moment. "Are we gonna see Mom and Tim?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Ray said, stepping closer to the front door.
Robbie almost grinned at the thought, but there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that seemed to forbid him from doing so. Something didn't feel right to him. Not only did it not feel right, it felt deathly wrong. He slammed the refrigerator door shut and followed his dad, Rachel, and Alex out of the house.
Alex, along with the others, couldn't help but glance around as they stepped outside of the Ray's house. The street was packed with people, families leaving their homes quickly to put time and space between them and the city.
"What's going on?" Robbie inquired to no one in particular. No one answered him.
Ray led them across and down the street a ways to a local car shop where he worked part time. His eyes fell upon a lone blue van parked on the pavement and he headed straight for it with no hesitation.
Upon reaching the car, he looked around quickly and ordered, "Get in."
"Whose car is this?" asked Rachel, warily.
"Just get in," Ray answered, opening the sliding passenger door for her and tossing her purple bag inside.
Hesitantly, Rachel crawled in while Alex and Robbie walked around to the opposite side of the vehicle and opened the doors. Alex took a seat next to Rachel and Robbie sat in the front seat with his father.
As soon as Ray placed his hands on the steering wheel, he heard a knock on the passenger side window and turned to see his boss, Manny, staring at him. "Ray, Ray," he heard Manny calling.
"Open the door," Ray muttered to Robbie, who immediately did so.
"Ray, what the hell are you doin'?" asked Manny.
"Manny-" Ray began.
"The owner's gonna be back for this car Ray. What are you doing?"
"Manny," Ray started again. "Get in the car."
"What are you crazy?" Manny chuckled. Then he frowned. "Come on, get out of the car. Come on. This isn't my car."
"Manny get in the car!" Ray shouted helplessly.
"Ok, Ray," Manny said, seriously. "Get out of the car now."
Rachel's nervous eyes shifted from her father to his boss nervously as they argued.
"Get in the car Manny, or you're gonna die!"
Rachel's eyes widened. "What?" she screamed.
"Ray…" Manny's voice grew louder and angrier.
"Shut the door, Robbie," Ray ordered, giving up on his boss. "Shut the door!"
Robbie quickly grabbed the door handle and shut the door as Manny continued to pound his fists on the window. Ray turned the ignition, and the van's wheels spun as he shifted into gear.
Without haste, Ray pressed down hard with his foot on the gas pedal and the van lurched forward and began weaving in and through the heavy crowd that had gathered in the streets.
Behind them, Alex turned to see a dark cloud hovering in the sky, and a succession of flashing lights. "It's coming, Ray!" she warned, aloud. Rachel and Robbie turned in their seats to look behind them, eyes widening with horror as the tripod emerged over the hill, blasting its rays of light randomly at the screaming and fleeing crowd mercilessly, obliterating all in its path.
Rachel screamed once, after she had turned around, and then continued yelling at the top of her lungs.
Manny, who was still yelling at Ray, was gone in a second. Rachel gasped in horror as a beam of bright light hit the man, and he disappeared forever.
"Holy shit!" Robbie cursed with astonishment.
Watching everything behind her, Alex bit her lower lip. "Get down, get down, get down!" Ray shouted, turning the wheel sharply to avoid a collision with a group of people.
Rachel immediately dropped as low as she could to the seat, as did Alex.
The van swerved and turned as Ray honked the horn and flew past the crowd of running and terrified citizens on the road, fleeing for their lives. "It's okay, Rachel," Alex gripped the girl's arm gently. Rachel turned her gaze upwards and looked into Alex's eyes, but did not calm down. "We're gonna be okay, Rachel…"
Robbie glanced behind them and watched as his father's home fell victim to the large bridge that had once toward above Ray's home. The bridge collapsed as a long beam of light struck it, and came crashing down onto the row of town homes, and rolled onto the road with a huge explosion.
"Oh God!" Robbie exclaimed without thinking, turning back ahead of him.
Rachel sat up immediately and continued her chorus of screams and wails.
"Rachel!" Ray yelled, his eyes fixed on the road. "Rachel, I need you to be quiet!" The girl wouldn't stop. "Rachel!" Ray yelled as they merged onto the highway.
"Where's Mommy!" Rachel demanded, tears streaming down her face. "I want Mommy!"
"Tell me about it," Ray scoffed, Rachel still screaming.
"What was that?" Robbie asked, his heart beating faster and faster.
"I don't know, Robbie," Ray said, his eyes wide.
"Is that what you saw downtown?"
"Yeah."
"Where did it come from, Ray?" Robbie asked, rapidly. "I wanna know everything you know."
"I don't know anything, Robbie!" Ray shouted. "It just…came out of the ground and started blasting everything…killing everyone."
Without thinking, Robbie turned around to face Alex, who was starting to sit up. The two locked eyes and Robbie immediately understood why Ray had taken her in. He quickly turned away, seeing the regrettable pain living in her eyes.
That thing, whatever it was, he realized. Is what must have killed Alex's parents, he figured.
"Was it terrorists?" Robbie asked his father, trying to come to a conclusion.
"No, Robbie…this came from somewhere….else," Ray sighed.
"What? You mean like Europe?"
"No, Robbie!" Ray shouted. "Not like Europe!"
Robbie realized he was not going to get anywhere with his father and slunk back in his seat.
Rachel was still screaming, calling out for Mary Ann. "Rachel, shut up!" Ray called. "Rachel please, just…just for a minute…"
"You're scaring her!" Robbie turned around, face pale, his heart pounding in his chest.
Alex could tell he was trying to calm himself down, breathing slower and staring his sister right in the eye. Alex sat up. "It's okay, Rachel," Robbie assured her. "Remember your space?"
The girl nodded vigorously and held her arms out in front of her. "Put 'em up, Rach," Robbie said, holding his arms out and slamming both hands on the opposite arms. His sister quickly did the same.
"See Rachel?" Robbie tried to calm himself down. "You're safe in your space- ok? No one can hurt you in your space."
"Ok," Rachel whispered, breathlessly.
Robbie nodded. "I'm gonna go back to the front seat now, okay?" he said.
"Ok," Rachel nodded, breathing heavily and keeping her arms up.
Robbie turned around and sat back down in his seat. Ray glanced at his son. "What was that- What was that thing you did with her?" he asked, nervously.
"Sometimes when she's scared, she gets claustrophobic," Robbie
answered, leaning forward to peer out the front window.
He rested his left hand on the dashboard, staring out at the growing crowd of people, travelers, on their tiring journey out of the city and in silence; he watched and pondered many things.
There's so many of them, Robbie thought, speculating. Some were loners, others traveled in dense packs of families, friends and neighbors. Every so often someone would look up at them with envious eyes, and stare straight at Robbie, which unnerved him a little. They would stare and stare, and wonder why that van was running, and wish that they had a car.
Robbie could have sworn that in the look of one man's eyes, he saw hatred. The man wore a dark grey coat, and had cold, blue eyes. His woolly beard drooped long past his chin, and he traveled by himself; a lone wolf.
Robbie wondered what had become of this man's family, and pitied him. Was he always alone? Did he have someone he was going to, or did his family die tragically that day, like so many others? Part of Robbie wanted to know, and the other part didn't want to think about it, but the truth of the matter was, that everything he experienced today, along with half the country, and the world, was real. Everything was real- it all happened.
Thousands of people had died, Robbie wasn't sure, but he had figured as much. He remembered watching a short clip form the news channel earlier that evening. The reporter had said that something was happening in Europe-the Ukraine. What did she say? Robbie thought…There was a power outage, a black out…some storms. Everything had gone dark….Robbie suspected that there must be some connection of the two events, one being in the Ukraine, and the other in his back yard.
I hope Mom's okay. The sudden worry for his mother filled in his head, and Robbie scowled. And Tim. I hope they're safe. But were they? Where were they? He realized he desperately missed Mary Ann, and his head began to throb. He closed his eyes and breathed softly, leaning back in his seat.
He glanced at Ray, who was concentrating on the road and on all the people that surrounded them. Why did we have to be here? he thought, bitterly. I should be with Mom, and Tim, and the baby. They need protection. Ray doesn't know what to do…he never did.
His blood heated and anger filled up inside his lungs as he breathed deeply. We'd be safer with Tim, he figured. But could Tim protect he and Rachel better than Ray? He looked at his father again and this time Ray noticed and looked back, but said nothing, and then turned back again to the road.
According to his mom, Ray was a good man, and had lived a hard life, but just wasn't ready for the responsibility of having children. Tim, on the other hand, had grown up living a much better life with a wealthy family. He had been pampered and spoiled, Robbie assumed, for that seemed to be the way he was raising his own step-children.
Ray did get us this far, Robbie slowly came to accept. They had the only running car for miles, and they were all safe, at least for the time being. But was that enough? Ray was rarely there for his kids, and now, their lives were in his hands; his trembling hands.
"Robbie?"
Robbie broke away from his thoughts, startled by his sister's sweet voice. "Yeah?" he turned around to face her.
The little blonde girl's eyes were a bright blue, and filled with grief. She's too young for those kinds of eyes, her brother thought. "Can you sit by me?"
Robbie looked back at Ray, almost as if asking permission, which surprised him, because he knew he would do whatever he wanted, and didn't care what his father had to say.
"Go ahead," Ray answered.
"Alright," Robbie unbuckled his seat belt and shifted toward the middle row of seats.
Alex scooted over to the far right so Robbie could sit in between them. "Sorry," he muttered as he crawled into the seat.
"It's fine," Alex promised, making room for Robbie to sit next to her.
A/N: Well, I hope you all liked that. Please remember to review! Also, feel free to ask questions, make suggestions, etc. And another little note: Rachel had two nick names used in the movie; Rae and Rach, so I'll be using those in the story…thanks!