~Chapter Six~

After what felt like many hours of running for dear life, the two children fell to the ground exhausted.

"Are we safe now Melissa?" Marbles asked his older sister while catching his breath, coming to a seated position.

"I think so," she panted, "We can rest for now, I guess. But, we will have to keep going at some point."

"Is that cyborg dead?"

"I don't know Marbles. All I know is that we were extremely lucky that Kevin spared us."

"But we're all alone now aren't we?" Marbles asked with tears in his golden-brown eyes.

Melissa only then seemed to realize the cold hard truth herself. The fire, the words the General had said, and the fact that their mother was dead. At some point tonight, their father had obviously been killed as well. Both of their parents. Gone.

Melissa held back the tears that were forming in her young blue eyes and sat in an upright position.

"No we're not Marbles," Melissa said softly, nurturing. "We have each other. We always will."

"I'm scared Melissa!" Marbles sobbed as he hugged her tightly.

"Sshhh..."

Melissa was afraid too, to say the very least. "What will I do if Abaddon's men find us?" the girl thought, "I am only eight years old after all! I can't fight them off by myself! And even if the army never finds us, we certainly CANNOT stay here! We'll eventually either be attacked by wild animals or starve to death. There has to be something I can do, but what?"

Poor Melissa was so scared that her hands started to shake as she stroked her brother's hair.

"Just rest now," she said to him as she pulled away from his embrace, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"I'll try," the boy said as he lied back on his side onto the grass.

Melissa lied down next to him and propped herself onto her forearm. She stroked his arm and sang a lullaby that their mother Eileen used to sing to them at night:

"Don't cry my darling. My darling, hush.

There are angels watching over us.

When all seems lost, when times are rough

Just give God your faith and trust

You will never be alone

You are never far from home

Everything will be alright

So sleep and dream sweet dreams tonight"

Melissa sang the lines over and over until her angelic voice soothed Marbles to sleep. She kissed her brother on the cheek and gazed up at the stars. Still hot and sweating from running, she tore a piece of fabric off of her white nightgown and used it to tie her long blue hair into a loose ponytail. She then lay down on her back, hands behind her head and stretched her legs out.

"He looks so peaceful," Melissa thought as she glanced over at her sleeping brother, "I am so sorry this had to happen to you Marbles. But I swear, somehow, I'll protect you from any further harm. I'll be your mother now."

With that, the little cyborg allowed a single tear to fall from her eye and she fell asleep. Except her dreams were not that pleasant tonight.

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Melissa felt as if she were floating. She was in some large, hi-tech room looking downwards to see her brother with a worried look on his face. She knew not why, but she felt a strong presence of some sort of evil. Then HE walked in.

Some green cyborg that looked almost like a monster. He had a large build and a satanic grin on his face. The cyborg stared at Marbles with eyes full of hate.

"What do you want?" Marbles demanded.

"You know exactly what I want Marbles!" the green cyborg said as he stormed over to Marbles and grabbed him by the arm.

"LET HIM GO!" Melissa shouted as the thing dragged Marbles out of the room. She tried to go after him, but was being held back by some invisible force.

"There's nothing you can do now!" the cyborg yelled back as he left the room, dragging Marbles along with him.

After they were gone, Melissa still felt the being's evil presence. Then...

BOOM!

The whole room began to shake. Melissa sensed that something was approaching her. And before she could figure out what was going on, she felt a sudden sharp pain. The pain spread throughout her and intensified until it felt as if her inner circuitry was exploding into sparks inside of her. Just as Melissa was about to scream in agony, she suddenly felt an overwhelming weakness. Her vision blurred.

"What's happening to me?" Melissa thought as she grew weaker and dizzier, "Am I dying? What's going on?... Marbles? Marbles where are you?"

The pain and overwhelming weakness continued to intensify until it was unbearable and she fainted.

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Melissa jolted awake at dawn a few hours later, the nightmare having terrified her. She looked around nervously whilst kicking her legs up and down. Marbles was still there. Her limbs were working perfectly. She felt no pain nor dizziness and, other than being a bit tired from just waking up, her energy levels were the same as always.

"Phew! It was just a dream!" she said aloud, causing her brother to stir.

"What was just a dream?" Marbles asked groggily.

"Nothing you need to worry about Marbles. Sorry for waking you."

Marbles sat up and looked around. He could just barely see the sun rising in the East, making the clouds a beautiful shade of pink. The birds were starting to chirp, the ones that couldn't talk that is, and a cool wind was blowing. Both children wanted nothing more than to sit there and simply enjoy their surroundings. But they knew they had to move out, find somewhere to hide...

...Or better yet, find a way out...