February 1, 2138 (Evening)
There wasn't going to be a tomorrow to go after Carrie as far as Kim was concerned. Kim took off earlier with Dad to go scout the hospital and try to get some idea of what she would be in for. During this time I started approaching the others about helping her. Some were easy to convince, and others weren't. First I went to see Tad. I had to at least be able to trust him not to hurt Rachel while we were gone if we could convince Kim to let us help her. Sarah was with him, so this was helpful.
"You know what I'm here for, right? Kim has earned our help and she needs it. Even if she won't ask for it, she can't do this alone," I said.
"Your Dread Youth friend hasn't earned anyone's trust here. I don't believe her, and I don't want to see anyone get hurt because of some trap she fools you into walking into," Tad said.
At this point I thought Sarah would speak up and support me, but she stood there next to Tad's bed in silence. Suddenly I found myself not really knowing what side she was on in this.
"I understand how you feel, Tad. And I don't blame you. But we owe Kim. The three of us owe her more than anyone else. You both know that. She saved you Tad. She was there for all three of us and she can't succeed in this alone. Just because we can't stop her from doing this, we can keep her from going alone. Please throw in with me on this," I said.
Sarah looked down at Tad, then back at me and said, "I'll do it for Kim. I'll go with you, but if this is some kind of a trick I'm going to kill that bitch myself. That is, if he doesn't get to her first, and that's a promise. If this is a trap she's as good as dead. And nobody better get in our way."
"Tad? What about you? Will you at least cooperate long enough for us to help Kim? Please," I asked.
At first he looked away from both of us. Then he turned back in my direction with his head still looking towards the floor. Finally he looked back at Sarah and reached out to take her hand. She took his and kept looking at him as he turned to me and said, "I don't agree with this. I want to help Kim. I do. But I can't believe her. And I can't sit here feeling like she's lying to us all and leading you into a trap and keep my mouth shut. What if something happens to you again, Amber? What if something happens to Sarah? Because of her? I can't live with that. If she causes anything to happen to either of you, nobody on Earth will stop me from getting to her and finishing what I should have already. Nobody."
"Do you feel like you owe Kim," I asked Tad outright.
"Yes. I might not be here if it weren't for her," he replied.
"If the only way that you can help Kim is to swear that you won't hurt Rachel while we're gone, will you," I asked.
"Oh, it's Rachel now? Not Youth Leader, Traitor to all Humanity Rachel," Tad responded sarcastically.
"Is that a yes or a no," I asked again more sternly.
"It's a no. If you can trust her, then you'll just have to trust that I won't hurt her without my word on it. Better yet, why don't we go to her cage right now? I want her to tell me what she's told you that's made you so convinced that she's not leading Kim and anyone that goes with her to their doom, Tad replied.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Tad," Sarah said.
"I'll be calm. I just want to talk to her for a minute. That's all. I'm not going there to hurt her in any way," he said back to Sarah.
"Please don't threaten her. Give her a chance," I said to him.
"I will, he replied as he got up and we all headed for her room.
We arrived at her building a minute later. It was dark inside until we turned on the light. Rachel looked up at us through the bars of the cage and remained silent as Tad entered the room. She stood up as she kept looking warily towards Tad. Tad presented his open hands to her to show her that he wasn't armed with anything and said, "I just want to talk to you."
Rachel kept looking at Tad as she said, "What do you want?"
"I want you to be telling the truth. I want to be able to help Kim because we all owe her more than we can pay back to her. I want to believe you and I want to be wrong about you. But I don't want to lose any of my friends because I allowed myself to believe what you've told Amber and find out it's all lies when it's too late," Tad replied to my amazement.
"What do you want from me," Rachel asked Tad.
"Have you ever loved someone," Tad asked.
"Yes, a long time ago. Before…," Rachel replied.
Looking at Sarah for a second, he looked back at Rachel and said, "I love her. She's everything to me. You might think that's wrong of me, but I do. She's been the other half of me for years. She's always been there for me, even at the worst points of my life. She's never left me. Please don't take her away from me now. Please be telling the truth."
"I did. I told them that I thought they were wrong to go. It's not safe and it isn't likely that the woman is still there. But it's possible that she still is and that's all they seemed to want to hear me say. I don't want to see anyone get hurt, but I told them the truth," Rachel replied.
"She tried to warn us off, Tad. She's been saying that none of us should try this, but Kim isn't going to let that stop her. You know that. She'll try to get to Carrie no matter what anyone says to her," I said to Tad as he kept looking at Rachel.
Apparently at a loss for words to say to Rachel any longer, Tad turned to walk back to his room when Rachel spoke up saying, "Be careful if you go there. If she's there they'll be looking for someone to try and get her. And watch the roof. The facility has had some additions made, if you know what I mean."
After her words we left. Sarah went with Tad back to his room while Tommy met up with me and we went to see Mom. I felt as though she would be one of the tougher ones to convince that helping her was the right thing to do. Both of us were really shocked to find Mom armed with a laser and looking ready to go already. I was expecting her to have to be convinced to let me and Sarah go, and here she was dressed for combat herself. Once we saw her, all that I could say was, "Mom?"
"What? You want me to fight this idea? I can't this time. Kim saved my children. I'm scared for us to be doing this, but I can't turn my back on her now. And I won't. If this is the only thing that I can do to repay her for protecting you, it's what I'm going to do. Because saying words isn't enough," Mom replied.
"I love you, Mom," I said.
"I love you too, baby," she replied and went on getting prepared to go when Dad and Kim returned.
As we left Mom to get prepared Tommy said, "They should be back any time now. I hope they have a good plan on how we're getting in there and finding this girl, because this really seems impossible."
"We have three long range laser rifles with scopes that will help us out a lot. But we have to assume that if Carrie is there she isn't going to be able to walk. I know that it's been a little while, but you had to see her when it was all happening. I watched her trying as hard as she could, but she couldn't get back up. Even as I was trying to help her, I think that she knew that she wouldn't be able to get up again. That's why she pushed me away and told me to run in the end. We have to be prepared for that. If she can't walk, someone has to do the walking for her," I said.
"Your dad or I can carry her back here if we have to. Hell, I think Kim would carry her back here if she needed to. If Carrie's there, she's coming with us whether she's able to walk or not," Tommy said.
"That means that you and Dad have to go inside no matter what. At least one of us should stay back and act as a sniper. There will be enemies on the outside of the facility that will have to be dealt with if we plan to get inside," I replied.
"Well, that's mighty tactical of you to say. Just where are you getting all of your tactical expertise," Tommy asked.
"Kim tells me that we should always expect the worst. That way if you do, you'll be ready for anything," I said as Tommy smiled back at me.
"Sounds pretty solid to me," he replied as we went off to talk to Karl before Dad and Kim returned. Hopefully he will agree to what we're doing too. He's softened up a little since the last mission.