"You're insane" They heard someone yell just before they reached the stairwell door.

A prisoner in his orange jumpsuit stepped out of his cell. He was a very solid middle aged man with a beard so thick his lips could barely be seen. His features were still soft and youthful but his eyes were heavy with the wisdom of someone much older.

"You'll never make it out of this city alive" his deep voice echoed through the bright hallway.

Miranda looked at him and tried to convey just how stupid she thought the statement was. Of course they were crazy to try to escape. Staying simply was not an option. She hoped that he would not cause them any problems because she would not allow it. Miranda had only one goal in mind. She had to get back to her girls.

She stepped toward him, her frame strong and showing no sign of weakness. Her eyes were winter, a biting cold swirled inside of them. All of the other prisoners began to gather around the man. They were normal people. They were not powerful figures in media or in politics. They were not even descendants of anyone influential. These were people brought here for specific jobs. Because absolutely everyone served a purpose down here, everyone was expected to do their part. Even children as young as four years old could be seen in the homes of wealthy metropolis citizens tending to whatever need their assigned families required of them.

The children had long been indoctrinated with the philosophy that their leaders ruled over everything and that the relationship between them was voluntary. Their own bodies and even their own minds did not belong to them. The masses of citizens in the United States had over the generations been perfectly groomed for the very situation that they were currently facing. A vast majority of them had been tricked into dividing amongst themselves into warring tribes of ideas that intrinsically mattered as much as the Coke or Pepsi question. No one wanted to talk about the fact that they were on the brink of the destruction of society itself.

At times Miranda felt familiar feelings of contempt for the whole of society for having been so gullible, so blind to see the signs that she saw so blatantly everywhere. She also had to remind herself that for much longer than her time serving on the council, there has been this deliberate lie reiterated. If the truth never truly exists anywhere except among the council then she could only have contempt for herself. It was all so carefully constructed that she knew no one would see these bombing campaigns coming and the populous will willingly accept the idea that countries all over the world were the ones responsible for them.

Even for those lucid enough to understand what was happening they knew their was no fighting this terrible leviathan. Most of these prisoners here had accepted that their lives would be spent in servitude to the citizens of more 'importance'. School children for decades had been taught this same philosophy. That was when they bothered to teach them at all. Their minds were filled with ideas that those in positions of power and prestige were more important than your average human being and they were to be listened to and obeyed at any and all cost.

The trick had been to use those that the public adored against them, use them to promote the ideas of the council and the need for more of their influence in their daily lives. It never ceased to amaze Miranda how much celebrity could charm just about anyone into believing just about anything. Even something as grossly immoral as the destruction of human lives. But for a very long time Miranda never questioned any part of it. She supposed if she was honest with herself though, she had desired to leave for quite some time but felt forced to stay in order to save her own family.

There was a woman who was short and round with thick black framed glasses who was eyeing Miranda. She knew the woman had been a servant. It was the way she held her head. The children who were taught to serve were always reminded that their eyes should never meet those of their rulers. She could tell by the way the girl hesitated to look her in the eye but did anyway. She was brave and clearly had something she wanted to say to Miranda.

Miranda pitied them. She even allowed herself to remember that she was responsible for their collective destruction but Miranda wasted no more time on the emotions she felt toward these people. She could do nothing for them, no matter how she pitied their circumstances.

"I want to make something quite clear here." Miranda began as she eyed the prisoners eager faces piling in behind the husky man, the woman and her thick frames disappeared among the faces. They were making Miranda incredibly nervous now and she immediately felt sucked out of her pity for them.

"None of you are coming with us and if any of you try to stop me, i will not hesitate to stop you" Miranda said as she calmly pulled her modified pistol from her pocket. She drew on the power she felt over them. It never felt good to throw around threats, it was in fact quite risky. She had to establish her dominance or they would be devoured. Their numbers could overwhelm Miranda and Andrea but no one moved. When she saw them begin to back away, her shoulders relaxed in the slightest. She knew they wanted to leave this place just as much as she did but there was no room for them where they were going and there was no time.

"You leave us here and we will die Miranda Priestly!" She heard a woman call out.

"I know who you are, I know what you've done!"

The crowd of prisoners stared at the woman who had burst with anger at being abandoned in this place. A place where she would only live to suffer for Miranda and Andreas escape. If they were successful every single prisoner in this wing would be tortured for information and accused themselves of trying to thwart the council.

"Out of everyone here, it is you who deserves to die!" She said in hysterics. She was breathing heavily and shaking from her nerves. Her eyes had turned a dark rage. She looked into Miranda's cold blue eyes and realized that the old woman would not even dignify her with a response. She was leaving and that was that.

Miranda hoped that Nigel had been watching because she would need his help again if she hoped to get out of this place. She pulled open the heavy door and Andrea scurried through. Miranda realized her mistake as soon as she made it. She turned her back to the angry woman and was only inches from her face when she turned back around. She had not meant to do it but it had been instinct that was still encoded into her muscle after years of using her pistol. She pressed the gun into the soft belly of the woman and she fired.

The woman was stunned. She stumbled back on her feet and fell to the floor. She began trembling violently and clutching the searing wound. Miranda looked down at her and her eyes were no longer full of anger. They were confused and they were sad. She looked regretfully at the prisoners that had moved nearly halfway down the hall from the two of them now. She truly did not mean this. She gave the writhing girl one last remorseful look before she stepped through the threshold and yanked the door shut. She heard a loud click and she tested the door. Locked.

She stepped away in relief and turned around. She stopped and bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Trying to gather the emotions welling inside of her so she could bottle them up and stow them away to face at another time. Andrea looked at her with wide and cautious eyes. She could not believe what she had just done and she was not sure what Miranda was going to do next. But the older woman sat up and looked at the ceiling, taking one last deep breath. She grabbed her young wifes hand and they quickly descended the staircase together.

"We need to get you out of that dress" Miranda said suddenly, looking Andrea over. The prisoners already out of sight and out of mind.

The brunettes long red dress, while stunning, was not practical given the circumstances. She knew Miranda was right. Andrea was trembling and her heart was racing faster than ever before. She had just killed a woman and now they were moving on. It was very strange to her that Miranda seemed so indifferent but she was not about to ask her to let her emotions free. Not when they were so cose to being killed themselves.

They made their way out of the building. The older woman took great care not to look into the cell of the man that she had seen earlier. She couldn't stand to know that she was leaving one more person behind. She tugged Andrea by her hand, her steps light and quick, knowing that time was fading away and even though half the battle was over, they still had to make it back to the girls, halfway across the city.

The heavy door was still unlocked, she peeked through the opening and saw that the lobby was still empty. No one yet knew that she had killed two guards and probably a prisoner or that she was in the process of breaking her wife out. She still took great care stepping through the door. Nearly the entire floor was under an inch of ice cold water. It was slowly spilling from beneath the door to the education wing. But she saw no sign of any staff members.

They shuffled through the floods, Andrea held her dress up with her free hand, her pale toes magnified by the freezing liquid that drowned them. When they emerged onto the street they left wet footprints on the pale gray of the sidewalk.

Miranda kept moving, dragging Andrea behind her, weaving in and out of the people that were crowding the streets. She was looking everywhere, her face stone, her eyes narrowed and focused. Her head whipped toward the nearest apartment building. She scanned the windows of the rooms that she could see from the street. She looked back at Andrea and their eyes met for only a moment. She tugged her into the apartment building, and as if the lobby did not exist , they walked right into the elevator.

Miranda quickly pressed the button for the fourth floor. It was the only floor that she saw any promise of clothing for Andrea. A very small pink flower was in the corner of a window. She had noticed it when they were outside. It was only a guess, it wasn't much but it was all that she had to go on. Their hands were still clamped together tightly, growing slick with perspiration but refusing to part. Their heavy breathing was all that they heard for a moment until the doors slid open with a ding.

The older woman only hesitated for a moment before pulling her young wife down the hall. She slid her glasses over her eyes after checking for an audience. When she was sure they did not have one, she pulled out her gun and turned its dial to a size that would remove the entire lock. She pulled the trigger and there was a hiss, some smoke and a hole appeared through the deadbolt before the pieces were sucked into the barrel for later use. The door swung open slowly.

"Two minutes, Andrea" Miranda said quietly as she held the door open for her. The brunette wasted no time. She pulled off the dress and ran into the nearest room, throwing open closet doors. She found a brown sweater and some black jeans. She pulled them on in a rush. Her eyes scanned the floor of the closet as she pulled the jeans over her hips and buttoned them. There was a pair of bright pink running shoes. She shoved them out of the way, hoping to find a color that was a bit more subtle.

The girl had very little to work with, the only other options were no better than the heels that she had abandoned in her cell. She took the bright running shoes with a huff and stepped into them, tying their laces with much haste. She emerged from the room and Miranda looked her over approvingly until she reached the shoes.

"Those are... very pink" She remarked with a face that looked soured with distaste.

"This was all she had" Andrea shrugged sheepishly, pulling the sleeves of the sweater down around her hands and holding them inside the sleeves.

"it'll have to do" Miranda said distractedly, checking the clock around her wrist.

"We have ten minutes to get back to the girls"

She pushed her glasses onto her head and grabbed her wife's hand when they stepped back onto the elevator. When they walked outside of the apartment building, Miranda's feet picked up their pace. It was strong as they snaked through the groups of people congesting the sidewalks. They had a lot of ground to cover in very little time, much less time than either of them even knew.

Nigel sighed in relief as he saw the couple emerge back onto the sidewalks. He had nearly missed them. Andrea had changed from her bright red dress into a much darker outfit. He walked over to the far end of the room. It was the area that housed the controls for the metropolis lift.

He began typing in a series of codes to bring up a timer for the lifts. He set up the exact time the doors should open. The computer asked for his identification and he held his wrist up to the camera overseeing the area. The computer pulled up his clearance within milliseconds, reading the information enclosed in a small chip that had been implanted in the dermal layer of his skin. He pressed accept to the small dialogue box that popped up.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His head whipped toward the sound, he saw the break room door shaking from pounding fists. His neck muscles strained, his heart jumped into a chaotic rhythm.

"Nigel?!" he heard one of his groggy colleagues yell. He sounded weak but the anger in his voice could not be mistaken.

He worked faster. He knew that his coworkers would soon alert the commander and that they would without a doubt kill him once they found out exactly what he was up to. Miranda and Andrea still had a chance. They could make it out of here.

He was sweating, every cell in his body screaming that he wished to live. But he had to get this right, he had to make sure that they would make it and that no one could stop them. He set a timer for seven minutes, just enough time for Miranda and Andrea to make it to the lift.

He entered a series of numbers and letters and the screen turned black. It would run through the final commands that he had given it before the entire system would overload. He sank back into his chair and sighed. The Priestley's would be the last family to leave metropolis for a very long time.

He stood. The last thing that he needed to do was done. He could try to run now, he could conceivably make it the exit in time but he somehow knew that his luck would not carry him quite that far.

His own cubicle flashed brightly on the other side of the command center. It was alerting him that the entrance to lunar command had been opened. He rushed to the screen to see who it was. His heart dropped to the floor, he couldn't catch his breath, not even for a moment.

It was the secretary of state, a senior council member who's responsibility it was that metropolis security ran without so much as a hiccup. A man who had built his reputation upon the bodies of men who questioned his authority.

Mr. Sweeney was accompanied by at least half a dozen guards. Nigel turned around solemnly and stared at the double doors in front of him. He knew they would be bursting through them at any moment. He leaned against his desk, slid off his headset, crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

It was only a few seconds later that the guards were all in front of him, pointing their rifles at his head. Secretary Sweeney walked through the room and without so much as a glance he waved his hand through the air dismissively. Nigel was startled when two gunshots rang out next to him. He felt a strange burning in his abdomen and he knew that they had shot him. He fell to the floor and curled into a ball, the pain was beginning to intensify and with it came a rage that he had never experienced before. This was how his life would end and he hated these men for taking it from him so cruelly.

He closed his eyes and thought of better days. He thought of being outside and feeling the sun against his skin. He thought of the fresh air that rolled off of the Atlantic ocean and how delicious it had tasted after the constant smog of Manhattan. He thought that if the world was to be ruled by these people then death would be a welcome end to that reality. He prayed that if there was a God that he would forgive him for his hand in running this machine, he prayed that life after this would not be filled with as much pain and heartache as this one had.

He felt he had done so little to deserve much better than this and yet he hoped that his final act would win him favor in the afterlife. If there was such a thing. Sleep pulled him from this awful place. He peered through his lashes and saw the blurry image of Sweeney before a camera. It was incredibly strange but he swore he could see the horns protruding from his skull like some devil. He closed his eyes. He felt no more pain and no more anger as he allowed the abyss to take him.

He saw no light at the end of the tunnel but somehow knew there was something waiting for him if he could just fall asleep. But someone wasn't letting him, he was being sat up and pushed against the wall. They bound his hands and however badly he wanted to clutch the open wounds in his abdomen now he could not. He fell over onto his side and tried to curl into a ball but was sat up again and punished with a fist to his face.

The two women had made great progress. Miranda had not slowed their pace one bit as she continued to pull Andrea every which way through the troughs of people. The young woman couldn't help but notice that every face they passed looked empty, void of any emotion. She wondered what it took for each of these individuals to justify their existence in this place. What it took for each of them to be exactly where they were. She wondered, but she did not really want to know.

Then, suddenly, as if time had sped up exponentially, the dark starry night quickly faded to sunlight. Like a time lapse, within seconds, midnight turned to midafternoon. Miranda halted, her serious face melting with concern, she looked around above them, as if she were expecting an assault from the sky.

She knew this wasn't good, this wasn't good at all. A face appeared, tiled across the blue sky that expanded across Metropolis. The editors heart sank in her chest, she swore she could feel the organ trying to slip into her abdomen. Nigel was dead. If the secretary was able to broadcast city wide like this, then they were in the control room and they would not leave Nigel alive long enough to even speak.

The giant face was cold, his eyes as dark and endless as if she were staring at him face to face. A smirk played at the corners of his mouth.

"Citizens of Metropolis, I need your help." He said in his most convincing tone. An Image of Miranda and Andrea appeared beside his face as he spoke.

"These two women are planning to attack the city. Andrea and Miranda Priestly were once decorated citizens of the new world but now wish to use their knowledge to destroy all of us. Whatever it takes, I want them stopped "he said finally. His face disappeared completely and their own stared back at them, magnified and draped over every surface of sky and city.

There was not one place that their faces could not be seen. Miranda tore her eyes from the sky. She was burning with adrenalin, her blood pumping hot through her veins as her cheeks flush red. Andrea was still staring up at the sky, up at the photo of them, everywhere she looked she saw herself and her wife. Miranda tugged her hand and they slowly walked through the now still crowds. She kept her head down. She was afraid of the faces that were once empty but were now surely determined. Miranda slid her other hand into the pocket of her hoody, holding firmly to her pistol.

The first person to look at them funny was getting one between the eyes. Miranda was feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of the threat now. Now everyone was a potential enemy, and she did not know which direction to focus her gaze, she did not know who would be the first to jump but she knew that once one did, the rest of them would follow.

She tugged Andrea roughly, her pace picking up quickly. It was obvious now, they were the only ones that dared to move. Every other body on the sidewalks and streets were still, and now every one of their eyes were upon them. Miranda halted when she saw this, she looked around her, saw them beginning to encircle them.

"Run" Miranda said desperately as she shoved Andrea in front of her.

She saw a break in the crowd and she pushed her young wife toward it. Andrea obeyed as she took off, having to trust that Miranda would be just behind her. The older woman pulled out her pistol and pointed toward the faces of the people closing in on them

'Andrea, your gun, use it" Miranda yelled just before she pulled the trigger of her own pistol. The first shot Miranda fired struck a man in the chest and he fell where he stood. She pulled the trigger again and again and she saw the people chasing them dropping or slowing down. The older woman sprinted to be next to Andrea and aimed her pistol behind her and shot.

Andrea pointed her pistol at a woman who had broken off from the wall of people running toward them. She squeezed the trigger and her hand jerked back violently. A bullet struck the woman in her thigh and she stumbled to the ground, absolute fury burning from her face. Never had Andrea seen such rage in so many people. They genuinely believed that the women were setting out to destroy them and they breathed to eliminate them at that moment.

The code that Nigel had entered was beginning to take effect. The city began to darken, a rolling blackout making its way toward them until the last light in the city was extinguished and the entire place turned a darker black than they had ever seen. The desire to halt was overwhelming but she knew that stopping meant that they died. They were being tailed by hundreds of people who wished for nothing but to kill them in this moment, they had to keep running.

Everything was black in front of them, she almost felt suffocated by it. She suddenly felt a chill over take her and she knew she was feeling the climate control systems shut down inside this place. She could hear the crowds footsteps and cries echoing off the rock around them. There was a faint light in the distance, hidden behind several trees, it was the entrance to the city. The lobby glowed faintly with a golden light. Miranda and Andrea continued to run toward it, aiming behind them and shooting at the mob of people that she could hear rushing toward them but could not see.

She saw an outline of legs near the large glass doors, the yellow light shining brighter as they came nearer. Miranda could see Andrea next to her now as they jumped over limbs to get to Caroline and Cassidy.

The two girls were standing together with a small glow stick in hand. The door had not yet opened. Miranda looked at her watch. They had fifteen seconds to spare, and that was plenty of time for enough of the murderous crowd to catch up to them. Miranda thought quickly, and pulled her own invention from her pocket. She had designed it for use in many circumstances; being descended upon by hundreds of people was not one she had anticipated.

She still could not see but feet in front of her. But she could hear them. She could hear them speaking to each other, hear their angry breathing, their cries of pain and their thundering footsteps. Everything echoed in this place like it had not before.

She dialed her gun to the biggest setting and burned a chunk out of the tree nearest them. It fell backward with a whine and echoed as it crunched to the ground. She heard the screams of a few that had been caught beneath its mass. She burned another chunk out of the nearest tree and this time heard the screams of many. She had gotten a bulk of the crowd just before the door clicked behind them, its lock releasing, allowing them access.

They ran inside and slid the door shut again. The lock immediately caught and they stood there for a moment, watching the glass, seeing nothing but darkness on the other side. Then bloodied and angry people began to appear, throwing themselves against the door. Suddenly there were hundreds of them and even though Miranda knew they could not break through the glass, she was incredibly fearful of them all. They looked absolutely crazed. It almost reminded her of those films about the undead that Andrea loved so much. The difference was that these people were very conscious of what they were doing and they hated them for having eluded their capture.

Caroline and Cassidy piled into the elevator first, and Miranda and Andrea made their way toward it. Suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere. He jumped into the elevator, a shining object in his right hand. Miranda cried out and ran toward him. She got there just in time to see Caroline kick the man in the abdomen. He gasped for breath but reached out and thrashed his knife and cut her freckled skin in several places.

She screamed and kicked him again, this time the man fell back against Miranda who with amazing speed and precision, took his knife and stabbed him twice in the chest. The older woman threw the man's body outside of the elevator and wiped her hands of his blood on her pants. She reached for Andrea and motioned for her to enter the elevator.

She jumped inside and almost immediately Cassidy pressed the button that would take them to the top. The doors closed slowly and they began to ascend inside the mountain. Their ears popping and their minds racing with what they would possibly do now.

Miranda looked over at Caroline and saw that she was bleeding.

"Oh my god, did he get you?" Miranda screamed, falling to one knee and looking her over

"Let me see" she said as she examined her daughter's entire body.

She rolled her arms over and saw that she had a cut bleeding just above her elbow. She lifted her shirt and saw that she had a pretty deep cut on her belly but it did not seem to reach the muscle. She would just need a few stitches.

Miranda slowly began to breathe again, relief pouring over her body as she realized her daughter would be okay.

"Cassidy" the silver haired woman said as she tried to get her breathing back to normal.

"There's some gauze in the backpack, will you wrap some around your sisters arm and put some pressure on this one" Miranda said as she looked at the cut on her daughters pale abdomen.

The lift dinged announcing their arrival to the floor and the doors slowly opened to the glass enclosure just before the large parking garage. They piled out quickly and opened the glass doors.

The place had been pitch black but when they walked into an area, the lights began to turn on. She liked the look of a 2031 Jeep variant and was surprised to find it unlocked. Her family piled into the vehicle shortly after she had climbed into the drivers seat. Cassidy helped her sister sit comfortably on the leather seats in the back before she climbed in. She pulled the back pack to her lap and began dressing Caroline's wounds.

Miranda started the car and drove down the long road toward the exit. The road curved around slightly and the door was standing wide open. Nigel had already opened it for them. Miranda took a deep breath. They had made it out of Metropolis but this was the only road on the mountain and there was a checkpoint at the bottom. She knew she would only be able to take this vehicle so far and then they would have to hike to the nearest town.

She took her time driving slowly down the mountain road. She saw no signs of anyone else. There were no other cars driving with her and she did not even see the checkpoint until it was almost too late.

She turned off her headlights and slowly pulled over to the side. She turned off the car and turned to her girls.

"Alright, girls. I want you to put on your sweatshirts. It's going to be a little cold out there."

"What are we doing?"

"We're going for a little hike. It should only be seven miles to the next town."

"Seven miles? In the dark?"

"Yes, unless you think that driving us right into gunfire sounds more suitable?"

"No, it's just.."

"I know you don't want to bobsey. I don't want to either but you know that we have to keep moving."

"I know"

"Okay, Andrea" Miranda said as she pulled an extra sweatshirt from her bag and handed it to her wife.

They all stepped out of the car and walked toward the side rail. The terrain toward the bottom was much more manageable than the cliffs they had passed not long ago. Luckily the moon and stars were bright tonight and she would not need to use her flashlight.

Miranda climbed down first, her legs stretching and her arms straining to maintain balance on the rocks. She held her hand up and helped Andrea down next. Then Cassidy helped Caroline slowly lower herself down to where they were. Her cuts were bandaged now but she still winced as she stretched.

They descended into the draw of the mountain. Aspens and pines covered the landscape around them that was only lit by the white glow of the moon and stars. It was beautiful and peaceful and after a couple of hours of following Miranda, it was easy to forget that they were ever in any danger. The altitude made it hard for them to strain themselves much more than they were and the cold bit at their fingers and their noses. Andrea fantasized about a cozy bed and a cup of hot chocolate. She hoped that it would soon be her reality.

The sun had slowly begun to turn the sky a pleasant pink as it began to rise over the mountains. It was eight in the morning before they finally emerged from the tree line into the backyard of a large luxurious cabin. Miranda told them to wait in the trees while she checked the house.

She was almost entirely sure that there was no one home. During the months closer to summer these houses were usually vacant. They were used by wealthy families on their winter vacations to the area. She looked through the windows and saw no sign of it having been occupied recently. She was also happy to see that it was an older home. It did not have all of the fancy security features that her home in Manhattan had had. She had seen a camera mounted above the front door but judging but the model of it she was certain that it had not been functional in years.

This place would be perfect. She went around the back of the house and brought her girls inside. She found some blankets and pillows and set up mattresses in the living room. She wanted them all in one room. She did not turn on any lights but did indulge in a pot of coffee; she would not be sleeping while the rest of them did. She had a lot of work to do.

She needed to figure out food because they would not be able to survive long on peanut butter. She walked to the front of the house and peered out of the large windows down at the city of Silverthorne at the bottom of the mountain. She noticed that each highway entrance and exit had checkpoints set up. She could see exactly where they were because their red and blue lights flashed brightly in the distance.

She sighed and took a swig of her coffee. It did not appeal to her expensive taste but she was thankful to have the caffeine and did not dream of complaining about it after she had walked miles through the night. She explored the house while everyone was sleeping in the living room. She walked into the owners study and saw that they had a gun case filled with rifles. She could not have been luckier. She rushed over to the cabinet and opened the drawer beneath it. There was very limited ammunition, which made her feel not quite as lucky but still, just the look of them would scare off most people. She pushed the drawer shut and locked the gun cabinet, putting the key in her pocket.

Later that night, Miranda, Andrea and the twins were piled together in the living room sharing tea and a dehydrated meal that Miranda had found among the owners camping gear. They had turned on the TV and had been flipping through the news channels for any kind of information about what was supposed to happen today. They ate and they watched but saw nothing.

Around ten o'clock the girls fell back asleep. They were snuggled warm in their beds and they lay close together to feel a small amount of comfort in the proximity of one another. Miranda sat awake, her head propped up against the dark wood of the wall. She stared at the television. She had been watching it for so long that her mind had grown numb to the information it was conveying. It almost didn't register when she saw the screen brighten and focus on a man who had reported the news for decades. A man the public had come to trust to give them valid information.

'The United States appears to be under a nuclear attack;

Several major cities have been destroyed Including New York and Washington DC.'

Miranda shook herself awake when she heard those words. She turned the television up and watched more intently.

'We're getting word that China may be responsible for this attack, but we have no information coming into us at the moment. Everyone is gone.'

The young sleeping women stirred in their beds. Andrea sat up and combed her hair from her eyes. She looked at the TV and saw the headline and she was suddenly more awake than she had ever remembered being. She felt her breath catch and she fought back the emotion that threatened to end her. People were dying at this very moment, maybe even people she loved. She looked over at Miranda and was surprised to see that her cheeks were red and stained with tears.

Andrea did not say a word as she crawled over to her wife. She held her and they cried together until they were interrupted by the twins.

"So that was why we were down there?" Caroline asked in a voice laced with shock and disbelief.

"Yes" Miranda answered simply. Wiping the tears from her eyes.

"They did this, didn't they? Not China." the young woman continued

"Yes."

"You did this."

"Yes." Miranda said as she felt tears spill over again.

She was morally responsible for what was unfolding and as much as she wanted to make it right she would always have to live with the fact that she did this. She wanted to make sure that the council paid for what they have done and do not succeed in what they planned to do. Caroline said nothing else and laid back down. She thought about the beautiful blonde boy she left behind in England and she wondered if he would suffer because of this. She laid with her back facing her mother and Andrea, she covered her face and cried silently.

Cassidy had sat up but had not said a word. She had always questioned exactly what her mother did when she met with these world leaders and now she knew and she wished that she did not. She felt betrayed and disgusted with the entire situation. Her gut wrenched with the agony of the immensity of it all. Millions. There were millions of people in those cities alone and something told her it was not even close to over. She laid down beside her sister and she too cried silently to herself. Neither of them wanting the comfort of their mother.

Miranda could feel their contempt. She could feel their thoughts changing about her. She knew everything was different now. She knew she had given up the security of the council for a life on the run. Those police at the bottom of the hill will be checking homes any day now for unauthorized citizens. It was up to Miranda to make sure they lived and that meant leaving civilization for a while.

There was enough camping gear in the house that they could live for a week on the move. She figured she could cover a lot of ground in that time. They needed to get far away from the cities. They needed to find the man who was forming the only active rebellion against the council that Miranda knew of. They needed to find Alexander White.

TBC

This chapter has been through a lot this past year. I wrote part of it once and it did not save to my computer. I wrote it again and then thought I lost it forever but found it on a flash drive recently. Anyway- sorry for the wait and I hope that you enjoyed it. Leave some feedback!

If you're still reading, you're awesome.

-X