Deadly Secrets

6. A Secret Revealed, part 1 (rewritten)

Oklahoma sucked in a sharp breath, freezing with the rest of his siblings while holding his offending foot in the air, as if it would make the noise less audible.

It seemed the decision had been made for them. They briefly exchanged glances before taking off at full speed through the woods. The four states weaved around trees, not looking back to see if the strangers were in pursuit. It wasn't like they really had to, all of them could hear the shouts and heavy footfalls behind them.

Thankfully, the states had a head start, not to mention they knew these woods like the backs of their hands. Texas was confident that they could make it to the house before the strangers caught up to them. They had made it back to the path, but Texas took the lead in pulling the others off of it again immediately. Together, they made their way through the woods, knowing a faster way back if the trails were ignored.

Oklahoma internally cursed at himself for not seeing that stupid stick. Why was it that sticks only snapped that loudly when he was trying to be quiet? He heard some male-sounding shouts behind him, thankfully they sounded farther away than before. They must be having a harder time navigating the thick woods. The boy looked over at his siblings, seeing them leap over downed trees and using particularly large rocks as stepping stones through the woods. He honestly wasn't sure how Louisiana was managing to keep up in that dress she was wearing.

The young state himself found he was having a harder time keeping up with his siblings. He could navigate the woods just fine, but if he was honest with himself, he was out of practice. As a self-proclaimed storm chaser, he spent much more time walking towards danger than running away from it. Despite that, he managed to stay within a few feet of his siblings.

After what felt like ages, the trees gave way to the grassy yard that held their house in its center. The four had slowed slightly, tired after dashing such a long way, but upon seeing the large house their strength returned. Picking up the pace, the states made a beeline for the back door.

Louisiana grabbed Oklahoma's wrist, pulling him along faster as they ran. Dotted around the house, she spotted some of their siblings who were playing outside.

"Hey!" Texas shouted at the front of their group, waving her arms frantically, "Get inside! Now!"

Their siblings froze at Texas' command, Louisiana knew they normally wouldn't comply without getting a good reason from one of them, but to her surprise they ran inside. She suspected it had something to do with the fact that the four of them were scrambling out of the woods like they'd seen a ghost. They could no longer hear shouts from the strangers behind them, and each of them prayed that they could find their mother or uncle before they caught up.

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Dixie was pacing around the base of the stairs, not sure what to do with himself. America had told him she was being called in for an emergency meeting and went upstairs without another word. That had been at least a half hour ago and he was growing more worried with each passing second. It didn't help that the grandfather clock near the entryway was making him hyper-aware of the time with its incessant ticking.

This whole thing was getting too serious for his liking. He hadn't thought much of it before, after all the last anarchist group they had been made aware of was just a bunch of hicks that made a few pipe bombs in their buddy's garage. Now there was an emergency meeting, and Dixie didn't like the sound of that. From what he's heard from his sister, the nations could barely stand each other for the most part, meaning meetings were as few and far between as they could get away with. An emergency meeting meant something was seriously up, and it was starting to make Dixie's stomach churn.

BANG!

A loud sound came from the kitchen, like someone had slammed the back door open. Dixie's brows furrowed as he came to a halt. Looking towards the hallway, Dixie opened his mouth to yell at the states to quit breaking things, but snapped his jaw shut when panicked yells reached his ears.