TPOV

"Ready?" David's breath sent icy fingers down Tally's spine, even though it was a broiling hot day.

"No." Tally replied.

Yes, actually, she was. She just always felt better when she had an encouraging push. Also, sometimes she had to fool David. She wasn't brainwashed anymore, but that didn't mean she still wasn't at least a little the same. You can't go through what Tally went through and not be a little affected. Even though what they were about to do should be really guilty-making and even nerve-wracking, it didn't even faze Tally. She was ready to just jump in there. However, she knew that David wasn't, and that she shouldn't. So she pretended she was just the same as David.

Some days were a struggle for Tally, others weren't so bad. Sometimes her Special instincts kicked in ravaging to get out. Sometimes she'd look at David and have to suppress gags. Even sometimes she would get infuriated with him when he made stupid teasing jokes. But most days the thought of Z...him kept her fighting for normalcy. She only had to think of her and Z...his last conversation and she could calm her Special nerves.

Just because I shake a little?..

Tally wanted right now desperately to cut herself. To replace the tears that should have been cried at the thought of that sentence. But she didn't. Because he wouldn't have wanted her to.

"Tally." David's voice broke her thoughts. "It'll be fine. We have a game plan. This will be a cinch. There's nothing to worry about, okay? Just hold your breath and go. That's what I do."

"Ya...okay. Whatever. I'm fine." Tally replied.

"Good. They should be out any minute now. Let's go."

"Right."

Tally and David simultaneously set their sneak suits to match the dry and cracked dirt ground and the brambly bush they were crouched low behind. Slowly, slowly, David and Tally sunk down on to their bellies feeling the scales of the sneak suit flip to match their surroundings. They began a rapid crawl to the helipad a few yards ahead, the scales constantly rippling like waves on the ocean.

Tally didn't breathe, didn't even blink. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and Tally realized with disappointment that it need not be. This was much too easy for her. If it had been Shay with her than she would have probably already done the deed and been flying off towards the sea. But how it was she was stuck straggling along at David's slow pace and watching every mistake.

She saw how he slid too low to the ground raising dust and sand as he went along and also leaving dirt stains on the sneak suit while Tally held herself aloft balanced on the tips of her toes and fingernails. She saw how David's breathe came out shaky from strain and heat and how his stomach growled lowly every once in a while because they had had to scope out the area carefully for the last six hours straight with no breaks.

He wasn't very amazing at this, she realized now. To Tally he'd always seemed so...enlightened. He seemed to know everything really and it was as if he himself was a part of the world in a way. Whereas Tally felt like she fit in nowhere. But now she realized that David wasn't truly as skilled as she thought, and that he had times when he was out of place. Like when he was near civilization. Like now.

They continued their crawl in silence. They got slower and slower as they got closer to the large circle take-off pad. Until finally as they reached onto the asphalt at last they were going at snail pace.

They looked around furtively, checking every inch of the helipad. Nothing was there except for a monstrous helicopter. After checking again for another time, Tally and David rose into a crouching pose and scurried quickly to the giant Rusty machine.

Tally made it there before David, and waited as he huffed and puffed himself out when he finally did arrive.

Without a word to each other Tally and David went right under the huge machine and squeezed themselves into the smallest shape they could in the corner one of the landing skids. The two of them had gone over the plan a million times over the last six hours. They had it down to an art of reciting it to each other. They could probably walk the layout of the landing pad blindfolded with both hands tied behind their backs. In short, they were prepared. Very prepared.

The sun came down in hazy glares and David was breaking a sweat. Tally could hear him panting away and it seemed so loud to her. The heat wasn't even a small problem to Tally. Her body temperature changed to compensate for the heat. To her it felt like any other day. But David's loud breathe was getting increasingly annoying and she was cramped up into a small space, which wasn't hard but was very frustrating as she preferred wide open spaces in which she could move around. She wasn't sure how soon they would be here and her Special emotions were on edge. It was too frustrating for words to describe. It was taking most of her will power to keep herself in check and follow the plan. She wasn't even sure she had the power to do that anymore. The only sure thing for Tally at the moment was that this was going to be a loooooong afternoon.