Chapter Three

As soon as their feet touched the ground Claire's knees gave out underneath her. All the anguish of the last few days, years really, finally catching up with her. She sobbed brokenly, wrenching her eyes shut against the sight of the wreckage of the plane in front of them. Peter dropped to his knees next to her, holding her shaking body close as she let out her frustrations.

They sit there together on the forest floor for a few moments before Peter heard a noise over Claire's sobs. His head snapped up and looked towards the wreckage of the plane.

"Claire." He gasped, lifting her face to his so their eyes met. He gently wiped away the tears that still streamed down her face before lifting a finger to her lips.

"I think I heard something." He continued, his fingers catching another few stray tears.

Claire held her breath, ears honed for any sound, and then she heard it, muffled shouts, coming from the wreckage in front of them.

"They're alive!" She cried out, just as she and Peter jumped to their feet and hurtled through the woods to the plane.

As they came upon the wreckage a few people milled about the area, some looking to the tops of the trees in shock, while others sat on the ground their heads in their hands.

"How is this possible?" Peter murmured, stopping at the closest person to him to check for injuries. Claire moved past him and stopped in front of a young boy, who is standing next to the plane with his hand against the cool metal.

"I remember you." She said blankly, taking in the curly brown hair. "You were at Kirby Plaza, with a man and a woman."

"My parents." The boy answered sadly. "I remember you too."

"What are you doing?" She asked noting his hand against the side of the plane.

"I'm saying thank you."

"To who?" Claire asked, looking around for a person that he could be thanking.

"Not who, what." He answered with a shake of his head. "The plane." He finished nodding towards the metal frame.

"You're thanking the plane?" Claire asked dubiously.

"I can talk to machines. Anything electronic. All I have to do is touch it and I can talk to it. I knew that they were going to try to crash us, I guess they figured better to kill us all then to allow us to escape, so I asked that we have a smoother landing than the one initially planned."

"But how? Didn't they have you chained like the rest of us?"

"They did. It made things more difficult, but I've gotten stronger so I was able to get my point across without direct contact." He shrugged again. "That's why I'm thanking it, because it still understood what I was asking for." He removed his hand from the side of the plane and held it out to Claire. "I'm Micah by the way."

"Claire." She answered, giving his hand a firm shake.

As Claire and Micah were talking Peter and the other freed prisoners including the ones he was able to take off the plane before the crash, helped to free those still chained to the plane.

Within an hour all of the prisoners who survived the crash being held on that flight were released, the healthy taking care of the injured. Those able to walk freely gathered in groups, as Peter walked towards the front of them and whistled for attention.

"We have to go underground." Peter said loudly so his voice could carry across the groups of people standing in front of him. "The government knows about us and they think we're a danger."

"I have to get home to my family!" A man called out from the back.

"No!" Claire called back, coming to stand beside Peter. "They want to experiment on us, study us; they'll hunt us down and the first place they'll think we'll go is to our families. We have to disappear."

"Split up into groups. As small as you can, no more than 4 people per group, then go deep, so deep that they'll never be able to find you, and don't come out until it's safe. I know it's difficult, but you can't contact your families. Not now, not until it's safe." Peter added.

Many of the people standing before him nodded, some opened their mouths to argue, but words from others stopped them. And in groups of twos and threes they began to move through the woods.

Peter remained in his place, head down horrified and embarrassed that his brother's actions led to this. A small hand curled into his and he gently squeezed Claire's hand in reassurance. She nudged his shoulder causing him to look up at the group of people that remained in front of him.

Matt, Daphne, Hiro, Ando, Micah, Mohinder, and Tracy stood before him. Matt's eyes widened as he inadvertently listened to Peter's thoughts.

"Your brother is the cause of this?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes." Peter mumbled, dipping his head again so that his hair lightly fell across one eye. "He had files on us. He petitioned the president, told him we were all a danger and that we needed to be taken care of."

"What are you going to do?" Mohinder asked sagely.

"He has to be stopped." Peter answered with finality.

"We'll help you." Daphne said, stepping forward after sharing a glance with Matt.

"He's my brother. I'll take care of it." Peter argued.

"I'll help you." Claire said, grasping Peter's hand.

"No, you have to go somewhere safe. We'll find a way to contact Bennet; he'll know the best way to get you to safety."

"No Peter! I have to help you! Nathan may be your brother, but he's my father and if he's the cause of all this, then I'm going to be there to stop him." Claire argued.

Peter opened his mouth to continue his objections, but closed it, remembering his arguments with Claire about her safety only weeks before.

"Look we have to split up, a group as big as this, we can't blend in, people will be bound to notice us." He raked a hand through his hair. "The plane took off from upstate New York. We weren't in the air that long; we just have to figure out where we are."

"About 50 miles outside Baltimore." Micah answered confidently.

"How do you know?" Ando asked, looking at the boy.

"The plane told me. They were taking us to Texas, to a facility there." Micah replied.

"Okay, we'll split into three groups and make our way to the city. From there, buy new phones; pay as you go that way we can keep in touch." Peter said, pulling his phone from his pocket and ripping off the back case to pull out the battery before pulling the rest of the phone apart and throwing the pieces in different directions into the woods. "We'll need cars to travel, and as soon as we have those we have to get out of the city."

"We cannot do that Peter Petrelli." Hiro said morosely. "We do not have any money."

"I do." Peter answered, pulling out stacks of bills from his pockets. "I wasn't captured so I was able to bring this." He quickly divided the bills into three groups. "It isn't much, but it's a start."

"I can get more. From ATM's." Micah added.

"So you want us to split up now? How will we contact each other?" Tracy asked.

"If we stay close enough Peter and I can communicate." Matt answered after telling Peter his idea telepathically.

"And I can make the phones communicate with each other if Peter and Matt get separated too much. And once we're all set up, I can make them untraceable." Micah put in.

"Really?" Matt asked impressed. "That is good."

"So we'll make our way to the city, get the phones and a car, and then go where?"

"The Inner Harbor. There'll be people everywhere; we'll be able to blend in easily. We'll meet there in three days at one o'clock, exchange information and then move on again. We'll keep to big cities; we'll be less conspicuous there." Peter answered. "Stay away from the main roads; try to travel by night as much as possible."

The others nodded in agreement, before pairing off amongst themselves. Matt, Daphne, Hiro and Ando made one group, while the other consisted of Mohinder, Tracy, and Micah, leaving Peter and Claire on their own.

"So, how do we know which way to go?" Matt asked warily.

"We have to find a road." Micah answered. "Just for a few minutes." He added catching the others glance. "If I can find a traffic light, or a car with a GPS I can get an idea of where we are exactly and which way to go."

The others nodded in agreement and quickly followed Micah through the woods.

An hour later, the woods thinned out. The group ducked down as they moved between the trees trying to find something that could guide there way.

"Over there!" Claire urgently whispered, pulling at Peter's sleeve and pointing to the small diner up ahead. Four cars were parked outside of it, one separated from the others.

"What do you think?" Peter asked glancing back at Micah.

"They'll work." The boy answered moving forward to crouch next to Peter.

"Okay let's go then." Peter motioned for Micah to follow him, as they dashed across the road, keeping to the shadows as they made their way to the lone car. Micah held his hand against the front, and closed his eyes in concentration; he connected with the GPS in the car and asked for directions to Baltimore. A minute later he raised his head and smiled at Peter.

"Okay I have it, we can go." Peter nodded and the two made their way back to the others.

Micah quickly explained in an undertone the direction they would go to get to the city.

When he finished Peter looked around the group assembled in front of him.

Deciding quickly, he slipped the backpack he carried off his shoulders, dropped it on the ground and then knelt before it.

"I don't have much here, just some sweats and t-shirts, but it's enough to make you guys less conspicuous." He said pulling out 2 sweatpants and 4 T-shirts. He handed the sweatpants to Tracy and Matt. The t-shirts going to Daphne, Hiro, Ando, and Micah.

Mohinder deferred, unzipping the jumpsuit revealing his undershirt, and ripping it at the waist for a more natural look. The others did similar things with their articles of clothing, changing into or adjusting the jumpsuits for a less obvious look, at least until they were able to buy more clothing.

Once finished, Peter returned to his place at the front of their group.

"Okay we split up here. We'll make contact in 24 hours." The others nodded in agreement and clasped hands as one by one they slipped into the night.

Claire stood silently in the background watching everyone change and then silently leave the clearing. Once they were gone, Peter motioned for her to join him as he again rummaged through the backpack.

"I didn't have enough for everyone, I didn't really know what to expect, but here, for you." He said rummaging into the bag and pulling out a pair of Claire's jeans and a t-shirt.

"I know it isn't much, but it's a start." He said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair.

"Thank you." Claire murmured, tears glistening in her eyes at the thought of Peter taking the risk to go back to her room to get her a change of her own clothing.

Peter shrugged in response, unsure of what to say and gestured to a nearby tree that would offer Claire privacy to change, but would still be close enough should anything happen. He stood in the clearing staring unseeing at the sky, when he felt her presence back at his side.

"You ready?" Peter asked looking down at the blonde who waited quietly next to him.

"As I'll ever be."


Author's Note: Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! Just one more week til Heroes is back!