February 2, 2138 (Morning)
When I was about eight years old I had a teacher at school that I didn't like. A lot of other kids in school didn't like her either. We all thought she was unnecessarily hard on us because she was just weird and a control freak. One day the kids got tired of towing the line and several of them started acting out and misbehaving. I actually thought about throwing in with them and doing the same, but her reaction to the ones that already were acting up was to sit back in her chair and laugh at them all. After a bit of this I wondered why she wasn't doing anything about them. So after our class was over another two students and I went and asked her.
She told us that sometimes people think that they're getting over on someone, but in reality they're just cheating themselves. Someday we would all have that choice as to whether we would learn and work, or whether we would just kick back and cheat ourselves of something important out of that one day that we were in. That every day was another day like yesterday, but each one had it's moments of importance even if we didn't know it. And the older that we got the more we would see the importance out of each day. She told us that each day that we had before today would be a day that would affect the rest of our lives. So I'm either older and can see it more clearly, or yesterday had more importance than any of us could avoid seeing because it changed everything for all of us.
We had our plan in place. So we left to make it a reality. All the way down the trail we were quiet. Everyone knew that this wasn't going to be easy to do, and it was easier to just think about our own parts of the mission rather than dwell on what could go wrong. There were so many things that could happen that it hurt to think about them. So we left our feelings of security behind and focused on what had to be done by each of us.
Once we reached the bridge, Kim had us stay behind while she crossed first and headed for the field. During this time, we hid in the trees like normal. The silence ended though. Mom suddenly had a lot of things to say and looked at me and Sarah and said, "I love you both."
We both told her that we loved her too and gave her a hug from each side. She was still crying as we sandwiched her between the two of us on both sides. The she turned to Tommy and told him that she loved him too. He moved over to us and gave her his one armed hug and kissed her cheek. He looked at her and pulled his sleeve down around his left hand. Then he reached up to her face and wiped her tears away with his clenched sleeve and said, "You know it kills me to see you cry like this. We're going to be all right. Don't worry."
Mom looked back at Tommy as he released her and said, "You're good for her, you know?"
Tommy looked a little confused at this and said, "What?"
"You know. My daughter," she said and didn't try to hide us as a couple any longer.
Dad looked over at this point and moved closer to Mom. She looked away from Tommy and started looking at Dad. Dad looked back and said, "Karen? Are you all right?"
Another tear ran down her face and she said, "I love you, David."
I could see Dad's eyes start to get glassy as he looked at her crying in front of him. He reached out and took her hand saying, "I love you, too. What is it, Karen? We can go back if you want to."
"No, we can't. We have to do this," she said back to Dad as he moved to her and hugged her.
"You're trembling. Are you all right? Are you cold," he asked Mom as he moved back a little.
Just then Kim started speaking on the communicator saying, "Hey? Are you guys all right?"
All of us froze for a second not knowing what to say. Then Mom answered her saying, "We're coming Kim. Everything is fine."
"You're sure? You don't sound all right," Kim said back to Mom.
Mom looked away from Dad as she replied, "Yeah, Kim. You know, just jitters. We're coming."
"You don't have to do this, Karen. I'll find a way. I always do," Kim replied with her typical confidence.
"No. We'll be there in a couple of minutes," Mom said back to Kim.
Mom put the communicator back on her belt as Tommy and Sarah started off towards the fields. I waited for a few seconds, and started to follow them as Mom and Dad held back behind us for a minute. I looked back and could see Dad looking at Mom and I could hear her say, "She's a good woman, David."
I stopped and waited for them to start moving with the rest of us as Dad said, "I know she is, Karen. Why are you saying this?"
"I just want you to know," she replied.
"I do. That's why we're doing this. Tell me what's wrong," Dad said as he kept looking at her.
"Nothing. Let's just go," Mom said back and started walking towards the rest of us.
After a few minutes we reached the fields where Kim was waiting for us. Kim didn't have her joking demeanor that she had the last time we did this, and as Mom and Dad walked up she said, "Stop, guys. I can tell that something is wrong, Karen. What is it?"
"Nothing. Let's get Carrie," she replied as she looked at Kim.
"What is it, Karen," Kim asked again as Mom looked past her and walked on by. Mom started moving through the field without answering her and Kim looked at Dad for an answer. He kept looking at Mom for a few seconds until Kim spoke up saying, "What's wrong with her, David?"
Dad looked at Kim for a second and then looked back at Mom saying, "I don't know. She's just saying all of these things that seem out of place. I really don't know."
Mom was getting farther away from us and we needed to catch up, so we moved on. After moving through the fields and catching up to Mom we headed through the woods. The sticks crunched underneath our feet as we moved forward. Sarah pulled the scoped long rifle she had strung to her back off and started carrying it as she looked around into the woods. I needed to talk to her about her fears that Cane created in her before now and haven't. I wondered if she was still thinking he would be there somehow. I should have done it before, but there wasn't any time.
The trip remained uneventful as we reached the edge of the woods, and Sarah, Dad and Mom broke off from the rest of us. Dad helped them both up as he cupped his hands and lifted each of them into a tree. They took their positions in a couple of trees near the edge. We waited while they climbed up and checked to see if they could see everything that they needed to from the trees. Both of them scanned the back of the hospital with their rifle scopes and seemed satisfied with what they could see. Dad looked up at them and said, "We'll get into position and Kim will give the word. Just wait until she says so and then hit the two on the roof. If you miss, keep shooting until they drop because they'll know we're here anyway at that point."
"Don't worry Dad. We've got this," Sarah said as she started sounding a bit more like Kim these days.
Mom looked down and said, "I love you." She didn't seem to be speaking to any particular one of us, but rather she seemed to be saying it to all of us. Dad and Tommy broke off and headed through the woods to the right of us so that they could reach the East wall while Kim and I moved forward towards the rear of the hospital. As we moved forward Kim said to me, "Do you know what's wrong with your mother?"
"No. She just seems overly emotional right now. I think she's just worried about all of us," I said back to Kim.
"I worry about her sometimes. No mother should have to go through this. Maybe we can talk when we get back," she replied.
"Maybe. Wait, Kim. Over there," I said as I could see movement in the woods in front of us.
"Stop and get down," Kim said as we stopped moving and knelt down next to a tree.
A dread trooper was moving through the woods towards us as Kim took a knife out of a sheath she was wearing and said, "Stay here. Don't shoot it if I screw up. Use your blade or you'll give us away."
"Be careful, Kim," I said as she crawled to a large tree about thirty feet in front of us. The biodread trooper kept moving forward towards us and my stomach jumped up into my throat as it neared the tree where Kim was. I did as she asked and holstered my laser and pulled out my knife, hoping that it wouldn't be necessary to use it. As the trooper stepped forward Kim rolled around the side of the tree to stay out of its view. The trooper passed the tree and headed towards me when I hid my head from its view and I could hear the sticks and leaves rustle behind it as Kim jumped out from behind the tree and grabbed it. I looked around my tree again and could see her drive the knife into its neck. Sparks flew out of it as Kim tore the knife across the front of its neck, and it fell to the ground with a metallic thud as Kim let it go. Her icy look was there again as she looked back at me and said, "Let's go."
Dad called us on the communicator and said, "We're where we need to be. Are you there yet?"
Kim said, "We had a problem. Give us another minute."
They gave us the minute she asked for and we were at the edge of the woods right behind the hospital at the end of it. Kim said, "Aim at the one to the right of the door and I'll take the left one. As soon as Karen and Sarah start firing on the two on the roof, take it out and run to the position it had. I'll do the same as soon as I get the other out of the way. Stay against the wall and stay standing, and aim your laser over the top of me at the West corner of the building. If the two from the front come around that way, we'll take them out and move inside. If they come from the East, your father and Tommy can deal with them. Stay behind me and expect trouble in the lobby. It won't be empty, especially around the stairs and the lift."
I nodded and did as she asked me to do. The wait wasn't long as Kim said, "Now."
Two beams came up from the woods and streaked to the rooftop. We could hear the blasts hit and sparks fell from the left corner of the roof in front of us. The trooper to the left of the door turned its head towards the sparks falling from above and Kim shot it before it could make another reaction. It fell backwards into the concrete wall as the right trooper raised its rifle and I shot it back into the wall too. We waited while another shot came out of the woods and streaked around the West corner of the building before Sarah called out frantically on the communicator, "I missed it. Look out."
We ran to the positions along the wall where the troopers were and Kim did as she said and knelt down along the wall, aiming her laser at the West corner of the building in expectation of the trooper to clear it. A trooper started to come out the back door and I blasted it back in as Kim kept looking at the corner, as though she knew I would be there behind her to protect her while she did what she had to do. At this point the trooper from the front entrance still hadn't shown at the West corner like we thought it would, but it fired back towards the woods as we could see a laser fly from around the corner towards the woods where Mom and Sarah were. Suddenly I could hear laser blasts from the East side of the building. First one, and then another that must have hit a glass built into the wall as we could hear it shattering. Dad spoke again saying, "We got one and we're going in."
We now knew where the second trooper was from the front entrance and it was dealt with, but the other one was still firing at the woods when to more shots came from the woods and the firing stopped. Mom said, "I got it. Go."
As Kim tried to step into the door, another shot came from inside of the lobby and flew through the door as she ducked back. The lobby was dark and we couldn't tell where the shots were coming from, but as they kept coming they lit up the room as they raced in our direction. We could make out a figure behind the lobby counter and the lit up face of a dread trooper by the lift. After a few seconds of continuous fire from the lobby, shots started coming from another direction from inside of the building. Dad and Tommy must have been firing at them from inside the inner East side of the building. Shots flashed across the lobby and hit the counter, catching it on fire. A trooper neither of us had seen in the lobby before appeared from the direction of the stairs and tried to position itself to return fire down the East hallway when I shot through the door and it went down in a shower of sparks.
The trooper at the lift moved towards us and knelt down. It fired a shot through the door at us again and Kim tossed a grenade through the door towards the counter. I couldn't see where it landed, but I could hear it bouncing on the floor. Kim yelled on the communicator, "Fire in the hole," and ducked back behind the door. The explosion shook the ground we were standing on and I couldn't see either the trooper or the figure that was behind the debris that used to be the lobby counter. Kim and I ran inside and knelt down, trying to see who or what might still be there. I looked to the stairway where I could see a girl in a Dread Youth uniform standing at the top. The black haired girl from the mall, and I aimed my laser at her and said, "Stop." She fired at me anyway and hit the wall next to me. I fired back as she ducked behind the rail on the stairs. Suddenly I could hear Kim yell, "Amber," and another blast came up from the trooper that was at the lift before, but was now shooting at us from a prone position on the floor. It hit my upper left arm and knocked me into the wall as I screamed out in pain. Kim fired at it and finished it off so it couldn't do it again as Dad and Tommy ran in from the East hallway. Kim started firing up the stairs like mad to keep the girl from shooting me again. Sparks and chunks of the wall started falling all over the stairs as the girl ran up higher.
My arm was hurting a lot, but I didn't want to let on and told Kim that I was all right. As Kim looked at me with a worried look I could see Dad and Tommy move to the lift. Dad said, "She's not down here on the East side. We're going up."
Kim looked at me and said, "Come on, let's go. We don't have much time before they'll send help here." She got in front of me and we ran up the stairs after the girl.
As we moved up, Kim got on the communicator and told Dad and Tommy to watch out for the girl as they came out of the lift. Going that way wasn't the best idea, but we didn't want to let the enemy have one point to focus all of their fire at us and shut down our whole operation before we could get it done. Once we reached the second floor, we couldn't see the Dread Youth girl anywhere. That was scary, but not as much as hearing Sarah on the communicator again. We could all hear her calling to Mom saying, "Mom, where are you going? What did you see? Mom?"
Sarah's voice kept getting louder as she seemed to be pleading with Mom to go back or tell her what was going on, and Mom didn't answer as though she couldn't hear Sarah's words over the communicator. Kim took her communicator and said, "Karen? What's going on?"
Mom didn't answer. Kim said it again, but she still wouldn't answer. Then she said in an annoyed voice, "Sarah, what's happening?"
"I don't know. Mom seemed to see something and jumped out of the tree she was in and ran off towards you," Sarah replied in an obviously worried tone.
Dad started talking on the communicator then saying, "Karen, what the hell's going on?"
"He's here," she said as we could hear her footsteps hitting the ground as she ran and her breathing heavy.
"Who? What are you doing," Dad asked.
"He's not getting away," she said in a determined voice.
"Karen, tell us who you're talking about and stay in the trees," Dad said as she didn't answer him again.
"I'm going after her," Sarah said.
"No. Stay where you are. I'll go find your Mom," Dad said as the lift opened up and Dad came out of it and ran in our direction, where we were at the top of the stairs. Then the lift closed and Tommy stayed inside as it went up. Dad ran up to us and said, "Amber, what happened to you?"
"It's nothing. I'll be fine," I said back.
"I'm going after your mother. Stay with Kim," Dad said.
"I should go. If Carrie is here she might need help getting out. You can carry her and move faster than me," Kim said.
"I'll go with her, Dad. Find Carrie and we'll find Mom," I said.
"Hurry. She's after someone and that girl is still running around here somewhere," Dad said as he ran back in the direction of the lift and started searching the rooms on the second floor on the way.
Kim ran back down the stairs and I followed her. As we descended Kim spoke on the communicator again saying, "Where are you Karen? We're coming to help you."
"There's a hover tank at the front corner of the building and a guy in a dark gray uniform with a red collar just got off of it with a trooper. She's running towards it," Sarah said.
"No. Karen, stop. Don't go after it alone," Kim said in the communicator without getting an answer from Mom again.
We could hear Tommy and some laser blasts in the background on the communicator as he said, "There are a couple of troopers guarding a room on my floor."
"I'm coming, Tommy. Hold them off. Karen, get back to the trees," Dad said.
We had reached the bottom of the stairs and had entered the lobby by now, and we started towards the back door when we could see the dark haired girl already running out of it. Somehow she had gotten back down from the floor we were on and had gotten ahead of us. We ran after her as Kim yelled on the communicator, "Karen, look out! One's headed out the back!"
She didn't answer Kim because we could hear her already yelling at someone else outside.
"You bastard! You won't get away with what you've done," she yelled as we reached the door and couldn't see Mom or who she was speaking to.
"It's you," a male voice replied.
"Surrender," a trooper's voice said.
"No, don't attack her," the male voice said again.
"She's on the West side of the building, Kim," Sarah said frantically as she seemed to be out of breath as though she was running to where were all were too. Kim and I ran to the corner on the Southwest side and looked around it to see the dark haired female Dread Youth aiming a laser at Mom from behind as Mom was standing with the sniper rifle aimed at the overunit with the blond hair from the mall. Before we could react to seeing her, the girl shot Mom in the back as the overunit yelled "No!"
I yelled to Mom as she fell down and ran to her, not caring if the girl shot me too. I could see Kim in my peripheral vision moving with me along my side and aiming her laser at the girl, who seemed frozen by the reaction of her overunit. The overunit glared at the girl and yelled, "We needed her!" Then he raised his own laser and shot the girl, and she fell backwards against the hospital wall and to the ground. Then he backed away from us and boarded the tank. It hovered off as Kim and I turned Mom over and Kim said, "Hold on, Karen. We're here. Just hold on."
I could hear the footsteps behind us as Sarah screamed to Mom and ran up to us. Just then Dad got back on the communicator and said, "We've got her. She's here. Tommy's carrying her down now."
"Get down here now, David," Kim yelled into the communicator as her voice started breaking with emotion and tears started falling from her eyes.
I pleaded with Mom through my tears, "Mom, stay with us. We're here. We'll help you."
"It's too late. I can feel it," Mom replied as she struggled to breathe.
"No. Don't do this to me, Karen. Please don't do this," Kim pleaded with her as she leaned Mom upright.
"Take care of them. Take care of him. Promise me. Please, Kim? Please," Mom pleaded with Kim as she cried.
"Don't talk like that, Karen. You're going to be fine. I'll save you, like we saved Carrie. Just help me, Karen. Help me," Kim begged as Dad started running up from behind us with Tommy carrying Carrie behind him. I could hear Carrie say to Tommy, "Leave me here and help her."
"Don't leave us, Mom," Sarah begged as she was having trouble speaking through her emotions.
"He'll take care of you, too. Someday, if you let each other," Mom said to Kim.
"Just stay with us Mom," I said as Dad reached us and held Mom in his arms.
"I love you, Karen," he said as he cried and picked Mom up. "We're going home," he said.
"I love you," Mom said as she closed her eyes and Dad carried her back towards the zoo.