Hey, everyone! How are y'all doing? Let's get straight into one of my favorite chapters! Enjoy!
-August 8, 2015-
-300 Days Before The Global Infection Event-
The waves in Lake Erie crashed against the sandy beach. The stars twinkled in the sky. The waning crescent moon glowed softly.
The lamps hung from the gutters of the cabin waved around as two adults could be heard arguing intensely from a parking lot.
Becky leaned her arms against the wooden rails in the porch of the cabin, looking out into the ocean. Tears flowed out of her eyes as she tried to focus on the small waves.
"Hey…" called out a calm voice.
Becky looked away and wiped her tears before standing straight. She then looked back at the approaching friend.
"What are you doing here?" sniffled Becky.
"Just wanted to see how the birthday girl was holding up," said Tad.
"Well… my parents are getting divorced… and they couldn't shut up about it for just… one day. One day… that's all I wanted. But no— they can't pretend to be happy for their daughter… that's too much to ask for, right?!"
Tad stood there with his hands in his pocket, not knowing what to say. He then walked up to Becky and opened up his arms before hugging Becky. She cried softly into Tad's arms.
The shouting and yelling could still be heard in the distance. Tad hated hearing anything that ruined his cool vibe. He grabbed Becky and looked at her eyes.
"If you ever wanna talk, I'll always be there," said Tad. "Friends may come and go… but not us."
Tad grabbed Becky's hands.
"Come with me. I want to show you something."
Becky nodded as she walked with Tad, holding his hand. She cleared her throat and took soft breaths as she wiped her eyes. They walked along the calm beach, approaching the campfire by a pile of rocks. Sitting by the pile of rocks was Leni, Dana, and Chaz. They waved at Tad and Becky as they neared the campfire.
"Yo, Tad, this beach house is freakin' awesome!" said Chaz.
"For real, how could your parents afford something like this?" asked Dana.
"And why just let Becky have her birthday party here?" asked Leni. "Is it 'cause you like her?"
"Leni…" sighed Tad.
"Oops, was that supposed to be a secret?"
"Ugh…"
Becky glanced at Tad with a joyful smile. She then blushed softly as she looked away.
"I'm sorry… I—"
"It's okay," said Becky, holding both of Tad's hands and looking straight at him. "I…"
Becky then looked at her friends.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?"
"We just wanna hear you say it too," said Dana.
Becky rolled her eyes playfully before looking back at Tad, unable to hide her blush.
"Maybe later. What were you going to show me?"
Tad released Becky's hands and walked over to his guitar. He then sat on a rock while Becky took a seat in the sand. The fire glowed against his face as he began to strum the strings in the guitar. Dana and Leni smiled in glee as they looked at each other. Then, he began to sing.
"So no one told you life was gonna be this way…"
Leni and Dana both clapped. Becky giggled softly as she placed her hands on her chin.
"Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA…"
Tad looked at Becky as he continued to strum the guitar, smiling. Becky smiled back.
"It's like you're always stuck in second gear…"
The fire crackled as Becky covered her blushing face.
"But when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year…"
Tad then looked at Dana and nodded.
"I'll be there for you…" sang Dana.
Dana winked at Becky.
"...when the rain starts to pour," finished off Tad.
"I'll be there for you…" sang Chaz.
Chaz gave an energetic nod.
"...like I've been there before," finished off Tad.
"I'll be there for you…" sang the friends in synchrony.
Becky let out a small tear which reflected off the light from the campfire.
-PRESENT DAY-
"...'cause you're there for me too," Becky sang weakly.
Her hands were handcuffed to the table. She looked at her own reflection in the only one-way window inside the questioning room. It reflected her sitting alone in a blank table with four empty chairs inside the room hosting no one but her. There was a dim light bulb hanging above the table as well. She then looked down and took a deep breath.
"So no one told you life—"
The door opened. Schoffner and a police lieutenant walked inside the room. The sorrow in Becky's eyes was suddenly replaced by anger.
Chapter 37: Against
I - State of Emergency
"...public outrage has made its mark on the City Hall. It is not known what prompted Detective Schoffner to usurp Melissa's position in what seems to be a coup d'état."
Katherine Mulligan continued to speak into the microphone as she watched the enraged crowd shout at the police officers guarding the gates. Many people were grabbing the empty cardboards and construction paper on the ground left behind by the previous protestors and were writing their own phrases for protesting the coup.
"We want democracy! We want democracy!" chanted the crowd.
"We want justice for the Rhondas!" exclaimed Grant. "They deserve a fair trial at the very least!"
"We don't want you!" yelled Paula. "We want Lori!"
Stella shivered softly as she approached the City Hall building, watching her friends join in with the large crowd. She stood next to Chandler, who stared at the police with determined eyes.
"Free our friends, our neighbors, our people!" shouted Mollie.
Stella then felt Chandler pull her closer to his body, warming her up.
"Thank you," said Stella. "Man, Mollie sure has a lot of energy, doesn't she?"
Chandler took a deep breath before shouting at the top of his lungs.
"When can we get our guns back?" shouted Chandler before looking back at Stella. "This is one wild crowd. Listen to how they agree with me and start repeating what I said."
"We want our guns back!" shouted Grant.
"You promised to give them back after you got Becky!" yelled Nadia.
Stella gasped in slight astonishment before looking at Chandler. He then pulled her further away from the crowd as the police started pushing the crowd away from City Hall. Members of the crowd shouted, fell, and resisted.
"I know your friends wanted to come here, but we gotta get out of here," said Chandler. "We can stay over at your house for a bit. This chaos is just too much."
Stella nodded before looking back at her friends.
"Mollie! Chloe!" she shouted.
"Let's just go," said Chandler.
"But my friends—"
"They're not paying attention to you. What you're doing is too risky."
"I can't leave them here."
"You have to. They'll have to get out of this situation on their own. But right now, I want to protect you. I always protected you before and I won't stop now."
Stella nodded as she held onto Chandler's hand, following him back home.
"—it is just pandemonium out here," continued Katherine Mulligan. "And here comes the police to arrest me. I'll try to—"
A police sergeant then yanked the microphone out of Katherine's hands and pulled her backpack off her. Katherine then looked at Jane, who flinched upon locking eye contact with her.
"Get out of here," mouthed Katherine as the police handcuffed her.
Jane backed away as the police began to walk Katherine away. She then slowly raised the camera and snapped a picture, but not before the flash set off. The police noticed the flash and turned around, noticing a picture coming out from Jane's Polaroid camera.
"Hey, this reporter's time is valuable," said Katherine. "If you need to put the community's finest reporter in jail, then place her in jail. Otherwise, set her free so that she can continue her work reporting on the corruption of your peers."
"I know it's your job to keep on talking, but for once, shut the hell up," said the sergeant.
"Nope! I'll talk as long as I want. If you want to brutalize a renowned reporter, you should know that—"
The police officers then turned around again, handing Katherine to another group of officers to take her away. The empty-handed officers then turned towards Jane, who stepped back nervously.
"I-I was just on my way out…" stammered Jane. "I… I don't want any trouble."
"Too bad," said the sergeant. "Give us that camera."
Jane held on to the camera as she remained frozen. The cops then tried to grab the camera as Jane resisted.
"Alright, you're under arrest for being uncooperative."
Jane gulped as the officers grabbed her arms and handcuffed her.
"I'm supposed to take pictures for my community," said Jane. "I can't just give you my camera… my mom— I mean— the Queen wants… the Queen needs…"
"No one cares what the Queen of some backwards community wants," said the sergeant, taking the camera off Jane.
"Please, don't take it away. I don't want to lose it."
The sergeant then tossed it into the ground as Jane gasped. She shook her head as she tried to raise her voice.
"Don't break—" she said before a large gulp cut her off.
The police sergeant chuckled before raising his leg to stomp on it. Jane tried to plead with the sergeant but was too terrified to speak up.
Suddenly, Vonda came running, shoving the sergeant away from the camera on the ground. The police quickly pulled out their batons as Vonda raised her hands.
"Hey, watch it," said Vonda. "I just want you to let go of my friend."
"Hell no," said the sergeant, picking himself up. "You just earned yourself a nice cozy spot inside that jail."
Vonda shrugged as she slowly bent down to grab the camera. The police officers then began to surround her.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" exclaimed Tim, now approaching the sergeant. "That's Princess Jane— daughter of the Queen of Orchard Lakes."
"We're well aware of who she is, but she's being uncooperative and her friend— your daughter— is assaulting us."
"Let me drive the Princess back home. Get her out of your hair. I'll take my daughter with me. Go on with whatever the hell you're doing here without us bothering you. Unless you want all of the Queendom on your ass."
"Fine. Just get her the hell out of here."
The sergeant uncuffed Jane before leaving. The other officers followed him. Tim then looked at the crowd before looking at Jane.
"Let's get you home," said Tim.
"But I need to take pictures…"
"Forget that. Just take your camera with you and follow me. It's too dangerous for you here."
"My dad's right," said Vonda. "It may not look like it, but this crowd can get out of hand very easily."
"Okay."
Vonda handed Jane her camera back before the three of them fled from the town center, leaving behind the angry crowd and the dozens of police officers at the scene.
Meanwhile, in the guard post by the gate, some cops were now sitting on the lawn chairs next to the radio. Suddenly, the radio crackled.
"Sully, are you there?" asked Lori. "Or is it Mazzy?"
"It's Sully," said Luna's voice in the background.
"Oh, okay. Sully, can you hear us?"
One of the cops picked up the radio microphone.
"This ain't Sully," she said. "We replaced him and Ruby a while ago."
"Who's this?"
"Officer Reagan speaking with Officer Garcia next to me. Detective Schoffner posted us here, so now, you're speaking with us."
"Well, listen up, this is really important. The Laborers are headed for Royal Woods at this moment. There should be at least eight vehicles. Expect about twenty to thirty heavily armed Laborers."
"Got it," said Reagan. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. If you find Becky… lock her up. Immediately."
"No shit."
"We actually found her," said Officer Garcia. "She's been locked up in jail. And now, we're trying to figure out which dumbass gave her a gun, assuming she came here unarmed."
"Oh… okay. We'll be there. Just… focus on protecting the place for now. We got questions too, so just wait for us."
"No thanks," said Reagan. "We got enough people to defend the walls and interrogate Becky. When you come back though, prepare to answer some questions for us. Because we're gonna interrogate you too."
"Really? That's literally so unnecessary and—"
"Hanging up now."
Reagan then turned the dial on the radio, changing frequencies. Garcia chuckled with his partner.
"Nice one," he said.
"Yeah," smiled Reagan, pulling out her walkie-talkie. "Detective? We need as many officers as possible in here by the main gate. The Laborers are coming at us full-force."
Inside the police station, Schoffner pulled out her walkie-talkie.
"Copy that."
Schoffner then looked at the police lieutenant.
"Get the officers at the main gate. Leave some at City Hall for riot control."
"I'll have thirty-five at the main gate and twenty at City Hall."
"Great."
The police lieutenant left the police station, leaving Schoffner on her own as she returned to the questioning room. She stretched her hands as she closed the door.
"Where's that asshole lieutenant?" asked Becky. "Or your dickhole partner?"
Schoffner chuckled as she looked at Becky, who was still handcuffed to the empty table.
"You're getting on my nerves," said Schoffner.
"So we both feel the same way about each other," said Becky. "Glad to get that out in the open."
"Listen here, Miss Rhonda. You're not shit in here. You don't have your little friends to help you out, nor your bleeding-heart mother or your bipolar father."
"He's not bipolar, it's b—"
"I don't really give a damn. I honestly don't. All I care about is getting the information that I need out of you. Now, I'm gonna ask you again— who snuck you in?"
"People."
"I need names. You know what those are?"
"You want names? I'll give you three names. Me, myself, and I."
"You're so goddamn annoying."
Becky laughed before Schoffner slammed the table with her fists.
"Did Lori sneak you in?"
"Maybe? Why, you're jealous she doesn't spend enough time with you?"
"What's with you? You know you're gonna rot in here forever if you keep being uncooperative? You can stay here for a few years only, maybe not even a decade, if you actually cooperate with me. So stop being so childish and—"
Becky spat in Schoffner's face. She smirked as Schoffner groaned.
"What the hell's wrong with you?" growled Schoffner. "You really want to rot forever? Do you?!"
"Sorry, I was just salivating a bit too much thinking about killing Plesko. God, I think I enjoyed it too much. I mean… if I could do it all over again, I would do it so… much… slower—"
Schoffner grabbed Becky's neck, causing her eyes to open widely as she gasped out in pain. Schoffner then grabbed Becky's hair and slammed her head into the table twice. Becky then coughed as she felt her throat burning up.
"You're… next on my list," said Becky, panting softly. "Or maybe… I go after Ravi first. Just so you can suffer."
"Fuck the questions. You could do the world a favor by rotting away."
Schoffner stood up and began to walk away before Becky spoke up.
"You know why I enjoyed killing Plesko? It's because he was a pig. The fact that it was a cop— an officer of the law— it made it so much more enjoyable. If all you pigs could burn… oh… that'd be the dream."
Schoffner placed her hand on the doorknob before Becky continued.
"It's not just me!" she exclaimed, catching Schoffner's attention enough to get her to turn around. "Others are going to turn against you guys. In fact… it's already happening. I almost pity your cops. But I don't."
"What's happening?"
Becky laid back against the chair, sitting in an arrogant way while she grinned.
"You better tell me right now," said Schoffner, touching her pistol.
"Or what? You're gonna shoot me? End my life right here? Throw away your beliefs for this redheaded scumbag?"
"If you don't tell me—"
"Or else what? Your cops are going to die whether I tell you or not!"
Schoffner walked over to the table and punched Becky across the jaw. She grabbed her hair and pulled her face back up before punching her hard again— this time in the left eye. Schoffner then pulled out her gun and aimed it at Becky's head. She cocked the gun, causing Becky to flinch.
"Revolution!" exclaimed Becky. "It's a revolution! The people out there… they're going to revolt as soon as they get their guns back."
"Bullshit."
"You think I'm lying? You think I just came to this godforsaken town for no reason? Just because I wanted to go back home— where I didn't even spend an hour in? No! I wanted all this to happen! Except… getting arrested. But it doesn't matter. They're gonna break all of us out. And they'll kill you all for me."
"Who snuck you inside?"
"Lori did. Tim Crowley, Bobby, Luna, Luan, Benny, Vonda, JuJu, Lynn, Clyde, Fiona, Miguel, and… Carol. Maria, Haley, Sam, Simon, Ronnie Anne, and Lincoln helped as well. And… Jace was the one who gave me the gun."
"There ya go," said Schoffner. "It's too late for the soft deal, by the way. You're getting life."
Schoffner placed the gun back into her holster and walked out of the questioning room. She held up the walkie-talkie up to her face and contacted all the police officers.
Becky then smiled again through the blood in her teeth. She then began to whistle.
"This is Detective Schoffner speaking… I'm putting out an arrest warrant for Tim and Vonda Crowley…"
Tim and Vonda were making their way back home while Jane looked at her camera, noticing the broken lens. Jane frowned as she looked behind, seeing the crowd growing louder and larger.
"...Maria, Bobby, and Ronalda Anne Santiago…"
Maria and Ronnie Anne were talking with each other while eating their noodle soup. They laughed while Bobby carried Carlitos on his back, moving him around as Carlitos pretended he was flying.
"...Sam and Simon Sharp…"
Simon looked out a window from the second floor and saw Sam walking down the street. He could barely muster a smile, but a smile he did muster as Sam looked up at him. He then looked at people running down the street towards the town center. Sam shook her head. His curiosity was piqued, and before Sam knew it, Simon was nowhere to be seen near the window.
"...Haley Jennings, Jace Taylor…"
Haley was fast asleep in her bed while Jace was working on the engine of his motorcycle inside his garage with the garage door open. Jace then turned to see Lana approaching him. Jace smiled as he waved at her to come over.
"...Lincoln Loud..."
Sitting on the living room couch, Lincoln looked at the key in his hand, which was to open up the attic in Liam's farmhouse. Lily was drawing on a notebook with crayons before she lifted it up and turned it around to show Lincoln. It was a picture of a white flower with a yellow circle in the middle.
"...and Carol Pingrey."
Carol sat in a chair inside Schoffner's office, patiently waiting for Schoffner to return to her office. Instead, she was met with two police officers, one taking out their handcuffs, as they gave her instructions. She gulped nervously as she stood up and placed her hands on her head before turning around. The officers then took her hands and handcuffed them behind her back before turning her facing out of the office. They walked her out, now moving her past the questioning room where they saw Schoffner.
"You really thought you and your friends were gonna get away with it, huh?" asked Schoffner.
"This isn't justice," said Carol.
"You wanted to see Becky. Go ahead."
Schoffner allowed the officers to move ahead, walking Carol inside the jail center. She then walked out of the police station, being met with an angry crowd. The cops in riot armor kept them away from Schoffner as she walked through the town center, making her way to the City Hall entrance. Then, once she got there, she turned around and faced the indignant crowd clamoring at her.
"We want our guns back!" shouted a few protesters.
Schoffner took a deep breath before posing as a confident leader. She feigned an apologetic expression on her face as she looked at each member of the crowd.
"Everyone!" she exclaimed. "If I can have your attention…"
The crowd settled down. Schoffner let a joyful smile slip through— amazed as to how easily the crowd listened to her— before frowning again.
"I'm very sorry to announce this, but all of you will have to be more patient… because you can't get your guns back quite yet."
The crowd groaned while some shouted.
"This protest is posing a threat to the security of this community—"
"You sayin' we a threat?" shouted one of the protesters.
"Collectively, yes…"
"So we stop protesting and you'll give us our guns back?" shouted another protester.
"Once you disperse, we will measure how safe it is after… some time."
"How much time?"
"I'm not sure. We just don't want to risk retaliation."
"That's just another way of saying never!"
"Calm down, why do you need guns anyways? We have a police force numbering over fifty— we can more than enough protect the community from external and internal threats. Now, you disperse and go back home. Don't worry about when you'll get your guns back."
"I knew this was gonna happen!" said one of the protesters.
Schoffner looked at this particular protestor, seeing him wear a yellow beanie. Her eyes then widened as she saw him pull out a handgun. She froze as the protester fired a shot at her. However, another cop tackled her out of the way, taking the shot for her. Another gunshot popped off, striking the front wall of the City Hall building, behind where Schoffner was.
The riot police standing above Schoffner and the shot cop lifted their guns and fired at the protesters, letting off a few rounds each. However, with more than a couple cops firing their weapons, the number of bullets easily surpassed a dozen. The crowd yelled as the dozen bullets flew towards the attacker, killing him and two others next to him. A couple other protesters screamed as they dropped down to the ground, clutching the area around their bullet wounds.
Schoffner looked at the cop lying on top of her, noticing him bleeding profusely from his neck. She gulped as she looked at the crowd, many of them running around— some out of fear and some out of anger. They started pushing the riot police near the police station out of the way as more shots were fired.
Riot police began to shoot off rubber bullets and smoke bombs as police cars started being struck, smashed, and stomped by protesters. Car alarms sounded, causing the guards by the main gate to turn their heads towards City Hall.
"What the hell is going on?" asked Reagan.
"Turn the alarms off!" shouted the cops.
"Too many rioters!" shouted other cops. "Too many rioters!"
Some cops helped Schoffner up before she ran inside the City Hall building. Ravi ran up to the entrance, trying to look out the doors before Schoffner pulled him further inside.
"Holy shit," muttered Ravi.
"Get Melissa upstairs," said Schoffner. "Go!"
The rioters got behind the riot police in City Hall, kicking them down the stairs. Some of the cops resisted and started beating the rioters with batons before rolling them down the stairs. Then, the cops had rocks thrown at them.
The rioters surrounded the police station, preventing cops from entering to get more ammunition. Then, tear gas started being fired upon them, causing many of them to scream. Cops came out of the police station, wearing gas masks and riot shields.
"We need back up! Back up at City Hall! Riot, riot!"
Reagan lifted up her walkie-talkie to respond before seeing a convoy of vehicles approaching from both sides along the side fences of Ketcham Park. They were going to surround and trap the cops that were waiting in front of the walls, parallel to the front fence of Ketcham Park.
"They're coming!" shouted Reagan.
The cops took cover behind their open car doors and lifted their weapons— consisting of submachine guns, shotguns, rifles, and pistols. Some faced the road with the light from the low sun hitting their right shoulders. Some had the sun on their left shoulders. The vehicles came closer and closer, causing the cops to get more nervous as the distant car alarms only increased the tension and urgency of the situation. Reagan and Garcia each aimed their rifles at the incoming vehicles. Reagan watched the vehicles to the right and Garcia watched the vehicles to the left.
"Do we fire first?" asked Garcia.
"Let them come closer," said Reagan. "The road spikes will pop their wheels."
One of the vehicles in front of the left convoy drove through the road spikes, losing control as the other vehicles braked. The popped vehicle kept moving forward before crashing into the wall near the southwest corner. The wall shook and partially snapped from the rest of the west wall.
"We got that sumbitch," said Garcia.
Reagan nodded nervously as she focused on the right convoy, which avoided the road spikes by driving around it through the front lawns of the abandoned houses. Then, she noticed a machine gun turret turning towards the guard post. She aimed her rifle at the machine gun turret. Garcia then turned towards the vehicle.
"No, Reagan!" he shouted.
Garcia ducked behind the wall as the vehicle fired upon the guard post. Bullets at supersonic speed struck Reagan's helmet and tore apart her head before her body fell down the guard post. Almost all the bullets that struck the wall ricocheted off with the exception of a few of them, one striking Garcia in the arm.
Tim, Vonda, and Jane all stopped on their tracks as they saw Reagan's body in the ground.
"What the hell?" gasped Vonda. "Was that a—?"
"Go, go, go," said Tim.
They turned around and ran away from the main gate.
The Laborers moved the road spikes out of the way, allowing the vehicles behind them to keep moving forward in the road. By now, the police unleashed their bullets at the vehicles to no avail. As they made a turn towards the road in front of the walls, they began to accelerate, with the bullets doing almost no damage to the vehicles shielded by rusty metal sheets.
"Move, move!" yelled the cops.
The cops ran inside the community through the partially opened gate. Some of the cops far away from the gate moved closer to the walls or the metal fences. However, the gunners at the machine gun turrets picked them off as they drove past them, shredding their bodies with bullets. The vehicles rammed through the police cars, coming closer to the main gate.
A cop heard the vehicles getting closer. She turned towards her partner, who tripped as they both tried to get to the main gate. She looked back at him before seeing the vehicle approaching them at deadly speeds. She kept on running, hearing the sound of the machine guns shaking apart her world. Her heart never beat as fast as it did now. She turned to run inside the gate before seeing the bright lights reflect off the closing metal gate.
"Don't close it! Wait!" she screamed.
The armored vehicle with a thick metal bumper made a swift left turn and ran into the cop, striking her as it crashed into the metal gate, crushing her body against it. The walls shook, tossing Garcia out of the guard tower. He fell down onto the grass, breaking one of his ankles.
The armored vehicle continued to skid along the walls, rubbing the cop's blood across the west wall before coming to a full stop. The cops from inside the community backed away in terror, feeling an immediate burden on their conscience as they saw the body of one of their rookies tangled with the metal gate.
"Holy hell," chuckled one of the Laborers. "Wall's tougher than I thought."
Some of the cops were able to avoid the speeding vehicles from outside on the road. Now, they surrounded the Laborers from two fronts. The cops took cover behind the toppled cars and began to fire upon the Laborer's vehicles, which had their rear ends turned on them. However, their bullets couldn't penetrate through the armor.
Now, all the doors opened, and multiple Laborers came out of the vehicles before taking cover. The Laborers quickly jogged towards the damaged police cars, aiming their weapons where they thought the cops were hiding under. As soon as they showed themselves to shoot, the Laborers shot them, picking them off.
"You know…" chuckled Zheng, coming out of his vehicle with a varsity jacket and a toothpick in his mouth, "I never trusted that ginger bitch, but I gotta say… she ain't lied about this place."
Zheng was then fired upon by a cop inside a damaged car, causing him to flinch back and drop his toothpick. Monica quickly aimed her gun at the cop and shot him dead.
"Jesus, that was a close one."
"You gotta pay more attention, dumbass," said Monica.
"Yeah, whatever."
Zheng then grabbed his bolt-action rifle and placed another toothpick between his teeth as he marched to the main gate with his Laborers. They passed by massacred cops and took cover behind the walls next to the dented gate. On the other side were cops taking cover behind even more police vehicles, waiting for the Laborers to walk behind the gate. But the Laborers simply waited.
Lincoln looked out the window from his house. He saw flashing red and blue lights coming from the direction of the main gate. He also wondered why the sound of gunshots died down. But he knew one thing for sure. He did not want to hear the sound of the machine gun turrets again.
"Where's Lana?" asked Lincoln.
"I don't know," said Lily.
"We need to find her and leave," said Lincoln.
"O-Okay."
Lincoln grabbed Lily and picked her up as he walked out the back door. He ran across the backyard, clutching Lily close to him as he opened up the fence and ran into the backyard of Albert's house, where Finn and Quinn also lived. He ran to the front door, which was open, puzzling him. He ran inside the house, calling out for his grandfather and Lana. But there was no one inside the house.
"What is going on?" asked Lily, her voice sounding scared.
"Remember the bad people we met back in the summer? They're here. That's why we need to find Lana."
"What if we don't?"
"Don't worry about that, Lily."
Lincoln ran to the house next door, which was Jace and Haley's house. He knocked on the door repeatedly, hoping to get an answer. The silence from the lack of a response terrified him.