Chapter 11

Trent's eyes grew wide and he felt his bravado falter for a second before he glared at the soldier. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

"You didn't think I'd be stupid enough to come back here without knowing who I was dealing with." Sam replied calmly as he held his hands up in surrender.

Trent's brow furrowed, "Where did you get your information?" He questioned as he drove the gun deeper into Sam's back and unclipped the safety.

"Whoa, easy there Rambo," Sam chuckled as he lurched forward from the pressure. "We both know you're not going to shoot me."

"What makes you so sure?" Trent said through gritted teeth. He had been wondering if he had it in him to shoot the man if the situation called for it. He was beginning to think that he didn't.

"Because I know pretty much everything about you," Sam replied as he slowly began to turn to face Trent. Trent looked at the man questioningly and Sam continued. "After I left here the other night I radioed my base the first chance I got and pulled everyone's files. I had the name Morgendorffer and there is only one Morgendorffer family with two teenage girls, it only took a little digging to discover who you and the rest of your group are. Your name is Trent Lane and you're twenty-three years old. You are the front-man of a grunge-rock band "Mystic Spiral". You've been arrested three times, twice while you were still a minor, the first time for DUI and the second was for drunken misconduct in a public place. The third was a year or so ago for failing to pay a fine out of state. You're a good guy, despite what happened at the motel you're not a killer and despite the act, you haven't got a clue what you're doing." He chuckled.

Trent scowled and drew the gun to eye level and aimed at Sam's head, "How would you know?"

Sam shrugged. "Well for starters, you would have disarmed me as soon as I walked in," He said as he held up his rifle and waved it. "And secondly, you wouldn't be standing with your back to an open door. So why don't you stop with the theatrics, put down your gun and call your friends in, we have a few things we need to discuss."

Jane and I sat huddled in the garden opposite the house while we waited for Trent's signal that everything was okay. As the minutes wore on we began to get restless; there had been no sounds from the house and we weren't sure if that was a good or bad thing. The only thing that kept us sane was that we hadn't heard any gunshots... Yet.
After what seemed like an eternity we heard Trent's low whistle, the signal that it was okay to return. Carefully we made our way back across the street and approached the house. Daria had emerged from the bushes as we reached the front steps to the porch and joined us as we entered through the front door. Trent and Jesse had decided that even if Sam had returned alone, Jesse should remain at his post in case he had been followed.

When we entered Trent told us to sit down and that Sam had things he needed to discuss with us.

Sam sat leisurely on the old sofa lounge on the far wall of the living room and he looked around at the group. Jane was perched on the far end of the lounge, knees tucked under her chin and her long thin arms draped loosely across her ankles. Daria sat cross-legged on the floor on the opposite side of the room, her expression was hard and seemingly unconcerned, however her eyes gave her away; she was uncertain and scared. Quinn sat by her sister's side and had refused to look at anyone else but Daria.

Trent had been pacing the width of the room, head down and his eyes to the ground. His fingers gripped the rifle that he still cradled in his arms. Occasionally he would throw a furtive glance toward the stranger as he waited for the man to start explaining who he was and what the hell he wanted. After a few silent moments Trent stopped pacing and turned to look directly at Sam.

"Well?" Trent asked impatiently. "We're all here, now what do you want?" His tone was hard, he couldn't remember ever being so short with someone; he was renowned for his laid-back persona.

Sam looked at Trent and sat up straighter in his chair. "Where do I start?" he muttered mostly to himself as he leant forward and rested his arms on his knees. Sam inhaled deeply and looked at Daria and Quinn, "I guess I'll start with you, I found your parents."

Quinn perked and looked at the Sam, "Really? Are they okay? Are they here?"

Sam slowly shook his head and Daria felt her stomach drop. "They're not here and I don't know if they are okay, but I found a flight manifest from a plane that returned to Middleton on the day before the attacks. Their names were both on it."

Daria felt Quinn's arms envelope her as she was pulled into a bear hug, "Thank God." Quinn breathed.

Jane looked at Trent and then back to Sam, "The night you came here your unit chased four men away from the house..." Jane started.

Sam nodded, "A couple of the men caught up to Nick, he was shot and beaten up pretty badly... He's back at the compound in the infirmary. He's okay, but it's been decided that once he's stable he's going to be transferred back home. He's not much use to them here and his girlfriend and child were captured in the raid last week, they will be more than enough motivation to get Nick to play nice."

"And Max, what about him?" Jane asked.

Sam looked at Jane grimly and shook his head, "He tried to run after he and Nick were captured...He was gunned down, we took him back to try and fix him but..." he paused and looked at Jane then turned to Trent and shook his head, "I'm sorry."

Trent stood still and stared blankly at the soldier. He felt as if a tonne of bricks had just fallen on him. He slowly made his way to the empty arm chair in the corner of the room and sat down.

"So what do we do now? Go back to Lawndale now, right?" Quinn said breaking the silence that had filled the room.

Jane and Daria nodded in agreement and they looked to Trent who gave a small shrug. He hadn't taken his gaze away from his hands that were craddled in his lap, but Jane could see that his eyes had grown wet and tears were threatening to break past his lashes and run down his cheeks.

Sam watched the group, "I was hoping that would be your next move. There is one thing I need you all to do." All four of them looked at Sam and waited for an explanation. "You see there are certain things we're not allowed to do, rules of war and such. What I need is a rogue group to inflict as much damage as possible to the enemy."

Trent's brow furrowed, "What makes you think we can do that?" The three girls nodded in agreement.

Sam chuckled, "You've already done it. The attack on the motel, that was great; maximum damage, minimal materials and effort. But-"

"But what?" Trent asked. "You just said it was good, great I believe you said."

Sam nodded, "Sure, but it was small time. The soldiers you killed were scum; pawns of the people in charge. In situations like this, the guys at the top expect to lose a few soldiers. You have to aim bigger, take out targets and people that will make a difference."

"Why us, why don't you do it?" Jane asked.

"Because I need to be here and if you get captured they're less likely to suspect you as long as you all keep to the story 'that you're all trying to get home'. Now I have a few things back at my house that will come in handy, I'll teach you how to use the explosives and..."

"Wait a minute we haven't agreed to help you yet." Daria said as she stood and began pacing. "I don't know about the rest of you but I'm not exactly comfortable travelling across the country side blowing stuff up. I kind of value my life and don't want to put myself in danger for you."

"You won't be doing it for just me," Sam replied. "You would be doing it for your family, your friends and-"

"I swear to God if the next words out of your mouth are 'Your Country' I'll blow you up." Daria said.

Sam smiled and nodded, "Okay, drop the clichéd talk I get it." He looked around at the rest of the group, "I know this is a big ask and I'm not saying you should go on a kamikaze suicide mission across the country, but if you come across sites that are frequently used there's no harm in blowing it to kingdom come." The group stayed silent as they thought. Sam stood and looked at his watch. "Look, I have to get back to base for my shift. I can come back tomorrow night with the supplies and you can do what you want with them." He said as he walked to the door and exited the house.

Daria looked at Jane, "I don't know about this, we're not soldiers and I wasn't planning on a future as a guerilla terrorist."

Jane shrugged, "Yeah, being a guerilla terrorist requires good interpersonal skills. I always pictured you as more of a bioterrorist. You know, inventing then releasing a newer more powerful strain of Ebola into society and watching the masses struggle from afar." She smirked.

Daria raised an eyebrow and shot Jane a sarcastic look, "Thanks…So what do we do? We can't do this."

"Well…" Trent said. "Like he said, we've already done it once and we're already on our way back home…"

"Trent, you can't be serious?" Quinn said shocked.

"Look, we can at least take the supplies and if we see anything on the way home we'll discuss it then." He said finally.

"So all that's left it to wait until Sam returns with God knows what sort of 'supplies'" Jane said, air-quoting supplies.

The four looked at each other nervously and began to do things to occupy their time.