Summary: Maria gets lost at the worst possible time.

BONG!

Maria paled hearing the sound. She looked up and saw the moon was glowing a bright white. Wait, why was it glowing? That only happens when... No. No, it can't be! Not now! This wasn't supposed to happen for another week!

BONG!

She immediately ran back towards the house as fast as her little legs would go. Daddy would be very mad if he found out she was gone. He warned her to stay in the house while he and Bombproof went to pick up some extra supplies for when the day would come. They'd been gone for about an hour when Maria got worried and took it upon herself to look for them. But now, she was regretting that choice so much. There was no doubt at this point: the Extermination is coming.

BONG!

Maria stopped in her tracks, good thing too, otherwise she'd have crashed into a tree. It was so dark out; the eerie white glow wasn't much help. She was totally lost. Why didn't she listen to daddy? Why did she foolishly leave the house trying to find him when she could've been at home hiding in the basement?

The ground shaking reminded her the exterminators would be on their way any minute. If any one of them saw her, she was done for. She had to hide fast! But where?

Suddenly, she caught sight of a small crevice and ran towards it. Luckily, she managed to squeeze her body inside and made sure to scoot as far from the entrance as possible. It was unlikely an exterminator would find or even reach her, but she didn't wanna take any chances.

Maria covered her ears and closed her eyes as those horrible noises from outside increased. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she didn't dare make a sound. She had no idea how long she'd be stuck here and didn't even want to know what was happening out there. All she knew is this is where she was now and it was her own fault.

After what seemed like an hour, probably longer, Maria slowly turned her head towards the entrance and uncovered her ears. The sound of footsteps could be heard and... Uh-oh! They were coming towards her! Whimpering, Maria curled up into a ball and buried her face in her knees. One must have seen her hide and was now coming to finish her off. This is it! It's all over! She was-

"Maria?" Wait a minute, that voice. Is it really? "Where are you?"

"D-daddy?" She lifted her head and carefully crawled out of the crevice. Sure enough, there was Striker right outside, Bombproof only a foot or so away. "DADDY!"

"Oh, baby girl, thank goodness you're alright!" Striker picked her up the minute she ran towards him and held her in a loving embrace. "What the fuck were you doing out here?! Haven't I told you-"

Striker didn't get to finish when he noticed Maria trembling and sobbing hard. Clearly, she was downright terrified from the experience and, honestly, so was he. When he came home and found out his daughter wasn't home, he swore he thought he was gonna have a heart attack. And the notice that the Extermination came early made his worries worse. Striker shook his head at the thought that he almost lost her. But seeing her like this, he figured there's no point in scolding her further; she was here now, that's all that matters.

"Shhhh, there, there, princess. It's okay, you're okay." he whispered, rocking her in his arms.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." she sniffled, clinging to his shirt.

Striker wiped his daughter's tears and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, sweetheart, you're safe now. C'mon, let's go home."

Maria nodded, her crying slowly dying down as Striker carried her towards Bombproof.