January 19, 2138 (Early morning)

All that I can say is things didn't go as planned. And I really don't know where to begin. So I'll begin at the beginning.

The walk through the woods was very tiring, but the more I made myself walk the more I got used to it. Thanks to Karl's pain medication dose I wasn't hurting much and it kind of relaxed me a little. I wasn't shaking like I had before. Well, not due to me condition anyway. But it was cold and windy all of the way there.

Tommy kept putting his hand out to me to help me over spots that he felt were rough to walk over. So did Sarah. Tad looked back at me a few times like he might also, but the other two seemed to be on it before he had any chance to offer. Most of the time he seemed to spend looking out for anything that we didn't want to see and staying closer to Dad. Dad would put his arm out once in a while to indicate to us that he wanted us to stop moving forward without speaking. Other than that we kept trying to move quickly. The faster we moved the faster we could be done and the faster Alan could be getting the help that he needed. But it wouldn't be that easy in the end.

Upon approaching the bridge Dad motioned for all of us to stop just short of the edge of the woods. He wouldn't have us get ambushed again. I remember what he told us before we left. Once we arrived at the bridge he would stop us and cross the bridge on his own if it was clear of any dreads. Then he would continue on past the bridge as though he were alone, making his way to a cornfield about three-hundred yards past the other side of the bridge where he would enter it as though he planned to cross the field, then stop inside of it and wait for us to catch up to him. He would make us wait three minutes before we exposed ourselves from the woods to cross the bridge ourselves and follow him. We sat at the edge of the woods as Dad went ahead of us. He hadn't seen anything or anyone there and felt it was safe, and he moved to the bridge and stopped for a second. Then he crossed without looking back towards us or indicating in any way that anyone else was with him. I started counting in my head as soon as he was cleared from our view.

As I counted in my head the rest of us weren't comfortable with even being around the bridge again. Sarah's eyes were so wide open that I could almost see her fear in all of the darkness of the woods. Tommy had his hand covering his mouth as though he was deep in thought. I can imagine what he was thinking about. Tad looked disgusted towards the bridge, aggravated at the sight of it. I caught all of them look at me at least once during the wait and none of their expression changed at knowing that I saw them looking at me. There was so much to think about and little time before we had to move again. I was scared for Dad. Was he all right in the field? And I was scared for all of us having to cross the bridge again. Tommy seemed to let go of his fears or thoughts of despair first, and looked at me for the time. I indicated that it was up, and he stood up and said, "Let's go. Sarah? You're with me in front."

Each step scared the hell out of me, but all I allowed myself to think of was the last time I saw little Alan playing with me, and him calling me Mama. Halfway across the bridge we could see across the lake. We could see what looked to be some kind of a power station off to the Northwest of the lake, towards the city. There were some hints of light emanating from within the city. Maybe they were street lights. We couldn't tell. Sarah was looking in the other direction, towards the bank that she washed up on. Her hands were shaking and I couldn't tell if it was the cold wind or her fear of what had happened to all of us here. She started lagging behind a step or two and Tommy reached out his left arm back to her and offered her his hand as they crossed. She took it for a second and caught back up to him, then let it go as he put his hand on her shoulder and moved on. All the while Tad was walking beside me, looking at Sarah as she walked all of the time.

We made it to the field where Dad was with nothing happening but the wind picking up some. The gusts becoming stronger and making the walk cold, but the overgrown weeds and plants growing in the field were tall and broke off some of the wind from hitting us. We met Dad in the field and moved on without incident. Everyone felt more calm after getting across the bridge and meeting up with Dad again. After another forty minutes of moving forward the hospital was in sight. It was smaller than I expected, but it was still seven stories tall. It was a square concrete building that was dark all throughout. We had approached it from the rear, where there was a back entrance to the ground floor and a loading dock located at the corner closest to us. The dock offered a low spot where we could make our way to and hide for a moment, so we did after Dad observed the building for a few minutes. A landing pad for small ships was located to the far side of the building from us. Neither the building or the landing pad looked like there had been any activity for ages.

Dad had us stay close to the wall as we made out way towards the door to the rear entrance to keep anyone inside at the windows that we might not have seen from seeing us or shooting at us from them. The building seemed intact and the door was open. Dad went in and entered the lobby, and we followed close behind until we were all inside of the door. Guns aimed all over the lobby, we stayed low as Dad looked around. It was hard to see in the lobby until Dad turned on the lamp on his gun. A stairway leading up was just to the right of what seemed to be a counter. The large room was surrounded with chairs along the walls, and some rows of seats towards the front entrance. A lift was also located in the room and it seemed to have power. It was closer to us than the stairs. However, Dad wanted us to avoid using it and stick with the stairs. That way we could see ahead of us.

Satisfied that the room was empty, Dad told Sarah that he wanted her to remain in the lobby behind the counter. I didn't know of it at first, but Dad had a plan for Tommy as well. He told Tommy to stay in the lobby with Sarah and search the computers behind the counter for some kind of parts that he needed. "Take everything that looks like what I described to you Tommy. Then get upstairs with us," he said as he moved to the stairs. "Amber, Tad, let's go," he told us and headed up the stairs.

Looking up all of the way and aiming our weapons as high as we could see, we made our way to the second floor. Walking up the stairs was harder than walking on a flat surface, and I started lagging behind. Tad was in front of me and above me by a few steps and must have noticed. He stopped for a second and looked back down at me. I was using the rail on the wall to support myself but it was slowing me down a little. Tad reached his hand out to me, which was really a big shock. Expecting his emptiness to be back, instead he pulled me up to the step he was on and offered me his shoulder to support me too. I could hear Tommy rummaging through the computer below us as we went up the stairs.

"Look for anything saying pharmacy on it,", he said as we reached the top of the stairs. I looked around and didn't see anything but another small lobby or waiting room and a nurse's station. Tad spoke up and said, "There's a sign on the wall. It's two floors up." Dad replied, "Look for the stairs leading up." They were at the far end of a hallway leading away from the nurse's station. Dad paused for a second, reaching for his communicator and said, "Tommy." I could hear Tommy say, "Yeah." Dad said, "There's another console at the station on the second floor. If you get done quick enough, hit it too. But hurry. It's not the priority." Tommy replied, "All right", and we moved on to the stairs.

I could feel some pain as we reached the third floor. The stairs were a lot harder to climb than I expected. If it weren't for Tad I don't know if I could have kept up. Another dark hallway greeted us there. It seemed to be the maternity ward. There were lots of little things there. Little stickers on the floor of tiny feet and such. I tried to block it out of my mind, but it reminded me more of little Alan than my own pain of not knowing of my own condition. The lift seemed to run up through the center of the hallway that we came to, and the stairs continued up without us having to walk farther into the ward. Dad started up again with Tad helping me to the next set of stairs. Dad started to turn around the stairs above us, and Tad had helped me to the fourth step when we heard a noise coming from below us. It sounded like a chime, and Tad and I looked at each other. He had heard it too. I called to Dad and he turned back to us. I said, "We just heard something down in the hallway below us." Before he could react he could hear the noise of something mechanical running within the building himself. He grabbed the communicator again and said, "Tommy? Where are you two?" Tommy replied quickly, "I'm moving to the second floor right now." Dad asked him, "Where's Sarah?" Tommy replied, "In the lobby like you wanted." Then Dad asked, "Are you in the lift?" Tommy said, "No, I'm halfway up the stairs." At this point we could tell that Dad was worried. He told Tommy to hurry to the second floor and look to the center of the hallway at the lift. Then tell him what he was seeing. Between five and ten seconds later Tommy was back on the communicator saying, "It's moving like there's someone in it. It's moving." Dad said back to him, "Wait there and stay hidden. Leave the console alone and watch the lift. If it stops on your floor and opens, you know what to do if you have to. Head down, get Sarah, and get back to the zoo. Don't look back.

Sarah was hearing this on her communicator as well and asked what was going on. She could tell that the lift was moving from her position in the lobby also and knew that none of us planned to use it. Dad said for her to stay hidden behind the counter unless one of us came to her, and to watch the doors of the lift as well as the entrances. Tommy chimed in again and told Dad that the lift appeared to be on the sixth floor and seemed to have stopped moving.

Dad told Tad and I that we had to hurry, and we moved as fast as we could to the fourth floor. The hallway was empty except for there being many little rooms for patience off to the sides. The pharmacy was located almost at the center of it. Dad quickly made his way down the hall as we followed him. I felt the need to watch behind us now. Not knowing why the lift was activating. I was afraid that anything or anyone could be anywhere in the building. Tad looked to the lift and said, "Floor six, Dave." Dad replied, "Hurry," and entered the pharmacy with Tad. Tad began grabbing as many medications as he could, but Dad focused on reading what he was taking to make sure of what he was getting. He wanted to get the antibiotics that we needed. Suddenly Dad said, "This is it. This is one of them." Right then Tommy started talking again, saying, "The lift is moving again."

Upon hearing this I was standing in the hallway and I found myself looking down towards the lift, away from the stairs we had come up from. It was moving again and headed down towards our floor. I aimed my laser down the hallway towards the lift when I could hear a voice behind me saying, "Don't move." It wasn't the voice of a dread. And it wasn't Dad's or Tad's either. There was a woman behind me saying it. I started to look back and saw a golden haired female standing in one of the rooms we had past, aiming a laser pistol at me. I couldn't move or think of what to say when Dad seemed to appear from nowhere, sticking his laser rifle out of the window of the pharmacy and saying back to her, "You better rethink that."

The woman stayed within the door of the room, still aiming the laser at me and saying, "Who are you? Why are you wearing that armor?"

Dad's answer was, "Stand down. Now Sergeant." Tad had also entered the doorway and had his own rifle aimed at the woman. I briefly noticed the military stripes on her sleeve that Dad must have been referring to.

Suddenly the lift chimed down the hallway, and two more figures stepped out of it. Then they stopped and aimed their weapons down the hallway at me as Tad turned towards them and joined me aiming back. I thought we were all going to end up killing each other without ever getting the medications at all. Another female voice called down the hallway for us to drop our weapons, but we didn't and neither did Dad. Dad repeated again loudly, "All of you, stand down now." The golden haired female spoke up then and said, "We're after the medications. Who are you and why are you here?" Dad replied, "So are we and we're not leaving without them." The woman changed her tone of voice a little, saying, "We need those medications. I can't allow you to take them." Dad replied, "You don't have a choice."

"Look, what is it that you need from the meds? Maybe we can split them, but I have to have some of them," she said back.

Dad stopped talking to the woman and started talking to Tad. He said, "Give her what you have." Tad hesitated a second, and then reached for the medications he had with his left hand while training the rifle down the hallway with his right. The woman lowered her weapon and took what he handed to her. Then she asked about getting some antibiotics from us. Hearing this I couldn't keep quiet any longer. Without really thinking about what I was saying, I said, "I need those for my son." This seemed to catch the woman by surprise and she said, "Son? How old are you?" Dad fell in with what I had said and replied, "Old enough." She changed back to her previous tone again and said, "Can we split them between us? We have people that are wounded and they need it too." Dad handed a bottle over to Tad without saying anything further to her and said, "Give her half." He pored what he thought to be half in her hand when we could hear Sarah on the communicator saying, "Something is wrong. The sky is lighting up outside. We've got company."

Hearing this caused all of us to panic, and the woman stepped out of the room and yelled to the other two down the hallway, "Let's go. Move it." I could see the name Anderson printed on her uniform. The other two stood up from their positions and came running down towards us as Dad spoke up and said, "Let's go. Let's go. Get downstairs now." All of us began to disregard the others even though all of us were armed with weapons. All of us were running down the stairs as fast as we could, but even though it was easier to go down the stairs it was hurting a lot because of how careless I had to be getting down. Seeing the sky through the windows as the light started shining in from outside made me hurry even more. We could hear a rumbling too. It was some kind of a ship landing on the pad outside.

Distracted by the pain, I stumbled on the steps and started to fall when the other female soldier grabbed me from behind and stopped me from falling. I looked back to see who had me and it was another girl that looked a little older than me. She had light brown hair and the name she had printed on her uniform was Archer. I said, "Thanks." Trying to forget that we had just been aiming weapons at each other a minute ago, I wanted to say more but there wasn't any time for that. She replied, "You're welcome. Let's go." Sarah was out from behind the counter and was standing at the back door, looking towards the side of the building with the landing pad. The light was shining bright at her and I could feel the cold in the lobby as we ran in from the stairs. Tommy had already joined her and was aiming his laser in the direction of the ship.

A second passed and the blond sergeant was handing some of the medications to the third soldier that she referred to only as private, and told him to make sure they made it back to base. Sarah and Tommy began firing their lasers towards the landing pad as laser fire started flashing across the door they were standing in. The male soldier started running towards the front entrance, away from us. I don't know why, but the two females followed behind us as we ran to the rear entrance to help Sarah and Tommy. All hell was breaking loose and I was scared for us all. Dad reached the door and told Tommy and Sarah to run while he covered them. Which they did, and headed for the dock since it was lower and had cover. Tad reached the door and started shooting with Dad as a laser hit the door and sparks flew all over Dad's armor. Archer and Anderson also reached the door, and told Dad to go and they would cover us. He did as they said, but he seemed to not want to by the look he gave them. "Go,", Anderson shouted at us and he and Tad started running for the dock.

I went out too as Archer began firing at the dreads that could be seen in the light from the ship. Another laser hit the door and shattered the glass inside of it, causing both of the soldiers to have to duck back into the lobby. I stopped and turned around to see another dread running towards us and a small group seemed to be running towards the front of the building. Probably after the male who had already left the other side of the lobby before us. The dread running at us started aiming it's rifle at me and I fired before it could. I could see the sparks flying as it fell backwards, tripping another dread coming up behind it. I didn't have time to be happy about it as I turned away and ran towards Tad.

Dad had already reached the dock and was getting Tommy and Sarah to move on as he fired back at the machines. This break gave us a few seconds to clear the building and I ran towards Tad with the two female soldiers behind me. I tried to run fast but it seemed like I wasn't moving at all. I finally reached Tad when more lasers started flying by us again Anderson passed us and Archer had made it to within ten feet as we started shooting back again. I could see two dreads shooting at us from behind her, and a young man wearing a gray uniform that was aiming a gun at us too. As I looked back at the dreads I could hear Anderson yelling, "Come on." So I started to turn when I could hear Archer scream out in pain, and I saw her fall down.

I turned back to her, frozen and not knowing what to do besides shooting back. I hadn't noticed at first that Tad was still standing there. Archer looked up at me as she struggled to get up and couldn't. I could see smoke coming up from her back, and I ran back to her. I heard Anderson yell, "Carrie," as I was running back. I grabbed her shirt and started pulling her towards the dock and I could hear all kinds of voices behind me, yelling my name and saying to run. I couldn't look back at them as the guy in the gray uniform started firing at me. I couldn't shoot back and pull Carrie too, so I just kept pulling her. After a few feet I could hear her telling me to run and leave her. I said, "No,", but she reached up and tried to push my arms back. Another laser hit the ground next to her and suddenly lasers started flying by me from the other direction, back at the dreads. It was Tad. I looked back at him and he was standing there stationary, with a laser pistol in both hands. Shooting back and he looked like he was in a trance.

I could hear so many voices behind me again that they were hard to make out. Until I heard Sarah screaming, "No," and I could hear footsteps running towards me from behind. Again Carrie pushed me away and said to run. Then she looked at me and begged me to leave. Another shot flew by my head and I had to back off away from her. It killed me as I moved farther away, watching her struggle to get up as she kept falling back down. Yet Tad kept standing there and wouldn't run away. I ran back past him and looked back, but he was still standing in place, firing back at the dreads with this empty look on his face. Anderson had already reached the dock, but Sarah had gotten loose and was running to us again as everyone was screaming at her to get back there.

I yelled back at Tad to come on, but he wasn't hearing me. He kept firing and standing there as if he was invincible. Like some statue that couldn't move. A laser burned past his arm and almost hit me, but he wouldn't move. I could hear Sarah screaming his name from behind me as another blast hit the ground next to him. He fired again and I could see another dread fall down. The young man in the gray uniform was kneeling down, firing at Tad too and I ran to him and tackled him to the ground as a laser flew through the place he was standing in. It hurt like hell, but I had to get him out of there. So I screamed the first thing that came to mind at him. "Don't let Sarah die out here with you." He seemed to come back to his senses, and we both ran like hell.

It took forever, but we made it back here with Anderson and the medications. But at what cost?