February 1, 2138 (Afternoon)

I brought Kim back to Rachel's cage so that she could tell Kim what she told Dad and me. There was this part of me that hoped that she wasn't lying to me and using me to get to Kim. Sometimes all that you have to go on is your instincts and how you feel about something. I really felt like she was telling the truth. But there's always this part of you that still tells you that you could be getting deceived.

Kim came in and said to Rachel, "I'm here. What is it?"

"It's possible that your friend Carrie is still alive and at the hospital near here," Rachel said to her without any hesitation.

Kim paused for a second and kept looking Rachel in the eyes before saying, "How do you know this?"

"I was left with her on the grounds for a few minutes after your group ran from the hospital. I tried to help her for as long as I was allowed to, which wasn't very long. While I was there I was able to make an attempt to stop her from bleeding to death and she stopped fighting to get away. I could see that her wound was critical and she was losing her battle with it quickly. But I was confronted by my overunit and forced to leave her before I could learn anything else. I know she couldn't have been moved from the hospital without being digitized at the point where I left because she was hurt too badly. But I have reason to think that she was kept alive and remained there so that she could be questioned about the whereabouts of Amber's mother once they found out that Carrie wasn't the same person who lost the blood in the church," Rachel said.

"Why are you telling me all of this? Why are you volunteering this information to me," Kim replied with a distrusting look in her eyes.

"Because she asked me to," Rachel replied as she pointed to me.

"There's a little more to it than that," I said to Kim.

Rachel looked back at me and said, "No, there's not."

"Isn't there," I asked.

Rachel looked at me and looked down at the floor saying, "You have to know that she might not have made it. If she did and you're foolish enough to go there and try to take her from the hospital, it's unlikely that you will succeed without dying yourselves or being captured. If you actually do succeed in finding her and can manage to get her out of the facility, how can you care for her like they can in this place? They have more resources to help her than you do."

Kim spoke up and said, "Yes, they're better capable of caring for her. But they're also less willing to take care of her like we would. If they think she's no longer an asset to keep, they'll stop treating her and let her die. Or digitize her if they've healed her enough for her to survive already. Given a choice I would choose to take my chances outside of the hospital. At least if I died in the process, I'd know that I wasn't dying all alone or surrounded by enemies."

"And you know that we would try harder to take care of her than they would, don't you? You know that already. Otherwise, why would this Vargus guy stop you from trying to help her," I asked Rachel.

Ignoring my question, Rachel said, "You could be dooming her and any of you that try to take her."

"She's doomed if we don't do anything. What difference does it make," Kim asked.

"Your overunit would have let Carrie die right there in the grass had you not said what you did and made him think she was of some kind of value to him. But she doesn't know where we are. She never has. Kim, Carrie, and Carrie's boyfriend Michael were a group of their own that was at the hospital for their own reasons. My father, Tommy, Tad, Sarah, and I encountered them at the hospital. They weren't part of our group and none of them except for Kim knows we're here," I said to Rachel as Kim chimed in.

"Which means that Carrie doesn't stand any chance at all if she isn't taken from the hospital. Once they figure out that she doesn't know where Karen is, they won't need her any longer," Kim said.

"Maybe they'll want to try to get information from her about the resistance," Rachel replied.

"If that were true, why would your friend Vargus show so much fondness of Carrie as to want to leave her dying out in the yard of the hospital," Kim asked coldly.

Rachel either didn't want to answer that question or didn't have an answer. Whichever it was, she remained silent until Kim spoke to her again saying, "If you're telling me the truth and you tried to save her, and you're really helping me now I'll owe you one. On the other hand, if you're lying to me and trying to get us to walk into some kind of a trap, I'll owe you one too. Are you following me?"

"I understand you," she replied as she looked Kim in the eyes while saying it.

Kim walked out towards the door and asked me if I was going with her. I told her I would be out in a second and she went on outside. After she had cleared the door, I looked back at Rachel who was now looking at me and said, "Thank you."

"You and your friend won't be thanking me if you find this Carrie woman dead. I don't see her appreciating me sending her off to find out her friend is gone. So spare me the bleeding hearts routine, because your appreciation won't get me very far if she doesn't like what she finds should she choose to go back to the hospital. If the odds are against her friend, they're also against me. Or haven't you noticed how fond of me your friend is," she asked me sarcastically.

"If you're telling the truth to us, she won't hurt you. No matter what happens," I said trying to reassure her.

"You won't mind if I don't believe you," she asked and then looked away from me as if she never really wanted an answer.

February 1, 2138 (Early evening)

It was time for another meeting with Tommy. The circumstances that we've been put in have made things urgent in every way. Kim is planning on going after Carrie and doesn't want to waste time getting to it. She also wants to get Dad's viral device from him so that she can take it with her in case she fails to get Carrie back. If he had it ready by now, we wouldn't have another chance to stop it from being used by her. We haven't had the time to prepare for what we were going to do to make our plan happen, and we wouldn't have much time now. I had to get with him and let him know what was going on, which I did. However, Tommy told me that Dad hadn't gotten the device ready yet. So our plan could wait, but there was another growing problem. It was looking more and more like Kim would be going by herself. Everyone is afraid for Tommy and me to be going anywhere and logic is telling people that Carrie is unlikely to still be there, or this whole thing is a trap.

Dad doesn't know what to think. He feels that Rachel is being honest, but doubts the idea that Carrie can be rescued. Mom can't let go of her visions of Tommy and me. She wants to help Kim somehow, but she's afraid for the two of us. Sarah is chomping at the bit to go with Kim and help her out of respect for everything that she's done for us. Tommy and I feel the same as Sarah. Karl's worried, but I think he wants to help her too. She kept her word to him and didn't allow anything to happen to us last time, and he knows it. Tad is the most torn about the whole thing. He thinks Rachel is lying through her teeth and trying to trap any of us that are stupid enough to believe her and go, yet he wants to help Kim as much as any of the rest of us. Maybe even more.

Kim won't ask any of us to go with her, though. Regardless of that, we can't let her do this alone. Even if it's all for nothing or if it's a trap, we owe her too much. I feel like she's part of us. Letting her do it alone would mean that she probably wouldn't come back. I can't watch her go knowing that she's probably going to die. Even if she doesn't care, I'm not going to let her go alone. Besides, I have some ideas that might help us. If I can get everyone to go along with it.