The Untouchables

Chapter Twenty: Lynn

 Evie, Bryce, and Arianna trembled next to me as we were squished standing together at the top of a linen closet, surrounded by sheets and towels. Rangers were shouting and the sound of stuff being smashed were all coming from downstairs, seeping through the cracks of the door.

I had no idea if everyone else was ok.

Sage, the rest of the kids, or even Wylda.

Everything happened so fast. One minute, we were all safe without a care in the world. Now, we were crammed in a tight space, with no guarantee of our safety or survival.

It reminded me of the Summer Festival.

And how quickly everything changed in a matter of seconds.

One of the last days I had with my little brother was filled with fear and chaos.

I could only hope that he was ok.

And I hoped we'd be ok too.

The Ranger were performing a sweep on all of the homes. I assumed they were going through each house and taking anything they found of use or value, and taking it back to their base nearby. They'd probably be taking things like food, bottled water, or anything expensive they found that could be worth money.

Their thundering footsteps echoed through the house, quickly followed by the sound of shattering glass. Probably a window or a vase.

Eventually, their boots pounded against the floorboards as they came up the stairs.

I was sure they were going to find us.

And that terrified me.

Doors slammed open near us, followed by shattering porcelain.

As all of the commotion came closer and closer to our hiding spot, I pressed Evie, Bryce, and Arianna closer to the back wall of the closet, putting myself between them and the door's opening. I knew my wings could take some bullets from past experiences, but I wasn't sure how it would go from less than five feet away.

The footsteps stopped in front of the door to the closet, and we braced ourselves as the door swung open.

"Anything good?" One Ranger called out to the one searching the closet. He sounded younger than most of the Rangers I've encountered before.

He searched the bottom shelf, pulling everything off of it, then the second lowest, and up and up he went, until he reached the shelf we were on top of. He barely pulled off one of the towels that I used to hide our feet.

"I can't reach the top shelf." He called back to his partner.

"Just leave it then." The other told him. "I'm not any taller than you are."

So with that, he shut the door, and went back downstairs, leaving us alone.

Even though it wasn't long before they left, replacing the commotion from the search with eerie silence, we didn't dare come out for a little while longer, just to make sure they were really gone and not just waiting for anyone to come out.

"Come on." I whispered to the three kids, still scared to make any more noise than absolutely necessary.

I quietly helped them down from the shelf, and we walked back downstairs into the living room, only to find windows broken, glass covering the floor, an overturned sofa, broken cabinets, and a smashed coffee table.

I had no idea what to do. The burlap sack containing everything I'd collected that morning was missing from the table, all of the glass doors and windows in the house were smashed. I had no idea where Sage and Wylda were, and I was alone with three scared children.