Suburban Island V

Such Great Heights (Neighborhood Watch)

Such Great Heights (Neighborhood Watch)

8:00 a.m.

By now, everyone was looking for Annie. The military had gotten involved now. Kate stood over, nervous.

"It's okay," one of her bosses said. "We'll find her." All she can do is put on a brave face. Everyone else could barely keep still. Mike had to endure cold looks from both Annie and his grandfathers. Best that he kept his mouth shut for now. Not like he could escape anywhere anyway.

"Mike!" someone yelled at him. The boy turned his head. Chester and Marty were running over to him. Their friend looked nervous. The boys stopped in their tracks when they saw the looks on the grandpas' faces. All five stood for a tense moment. Chester and Marty looked over at Mike.

"Is she really down there?" Chester whispered. Mike slowly nodded. His friends exchanged looks.

"Oh..." Marty mumbled.

"Her idea?" Chester asked. Mike pressed his lips together as he nodded.

"Why didn't you stop her?" Kenji asked. The boy put up his hands in a shrug.

"I don't know!" he said. Wrong answer. Mike shivered as the old man glared at him. A sweat drop formed on his head. There wasn't anywhere to run either. The boy hung his head and groaned.

"Oh boy..." he mumbled. He looked out at the crowd of military people on the street.

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Some of the neighbors didn't go outside, but they knew what was going on. Patrice looked down out the window.

"Is that girl really trapped down there?" she asked.

"Yes," Viola said. Her daughter shivered.

"U-U-Underground?" she asked. "With all of those roots?" Patrice sank down to her knees.

"She's going to be okay," Patience said. Her aunt and grandmother looked up at her.

"You can't promise that," she said. Patience shrugged.

"There's no use in panicking either," she said. She got up the living room couch and walked upstairs. Viola and Patrice looked at each other. Meanwhile, Patience shook her head.

"Mike, what the hell were you thinking?" she asked herself. He was usually the one to talk Annie out of crazy dangerous ideas. Was he asleep at the wheel or something?

"So stupid," Patience muttered to herself.

Outside, Mike sneezed.

"You okay, man?" Chester asked. Mike rubbed his nose.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Someone is talking about you," his grandfather said.

"Hey!" someone shouted. Everyone looked up to see one of the tech soldiers flagging them down. The boys and old men hurried over to him.

"What is it? Did you find her?" Kenji asked.

"We tracked a heat source," the tech said. Kate came over in time to hear that.

"Is it her?" she asked.

"We're still looking," the tech said. "I just need to pinpoint the exact time she went underground. Maybe then I could narrow the search."

"Um..." Mike spoke up. "She went down there about midnight. I think I talked to her about five minutes after that."

"So eight hours," the tech said. "Thank you."

"Is that good?" Marty asked.

"That will depend on which direction she went," thetech said as he began typing on his laptop. No one had to ask any furtherquestions. They just hoped that it wasn't too late. Kate held her fist to herchest.