Stuck (Under The Dome)

Chapter 8-A New Foe

LaTeR~~~~

Our group, now missing two people, walked with Officer Chris to the Oceanfront. "When Lauren's mom Kelsey was dying she asked me to watch her daughter! Hunter, I failed! Now her daughter is dead!" Clara began crying into my shirt. I quickly pushed her away in fear of hurting Faith. "Clara, that sewer situation has happened before." Officer Chris stated. "On day two the Turk twins found the sewers with their brother, Tanner. Tanner came running into Officer Leo's office crying about his dead sisters in the sewers, but when Leo found them they were unconscious on the floor like that other man. He stayed with Tanner until men in hazmat suits arrived and took the girls away. At the council meeting we brought the topic up and Dr Radin thinks that when people from inside cross the field they faint, but people coming from outside the box can pass by the field. Unfortunately when they try to leave, the field is in affect and they also faint. We had the military try and bring supplies inside the box, but the field wouldn't allow the men and they bounced right back." A police car zoomed in the distance and stopped in front of Officer Chris. "Liisa, Larry, and that drug addict have broken out of the prison! We need a volunteer to monitor the prisoners pronto. Get in!" Officer Chris jumped into the car and yelled goodbye to us teens. We all ambled in silence towards the Oceanfront. when I spotted Mayor Helke strutting down the sidewalk across the street. "Isn't that weird? The Mayor never walks outside!" Brandon questioned. "Do you guys think my Dad is  alive?" Faith asked. "Why wouldn't he?" Brandon answered. "Well, the beach people only had a couple water bottles and snack items to eat." Faith said worryingly. I shrugged as the Oceanfront came into perfect view. The glass still stood right where it's always been, on the boardwalk. Faith and Brandon sped ahead to their father, leaving Grant and I together, while Clara lagging behind. "If we stayed behind and buried Shawn we never would have gotten involved in that Market robbery! Then we would have never met Lauren and Clara. And then..." Grant continued in a bratty way. I rolled my eyes and slowed down, leaving Grant alone. "Are you okay?" I asked Clara. "Yeah it's just that both my parents went to that Opera in Newport News on day one and they're stuck on the outside. I guess Lauren was kinda all I had left." She said as her voice trailed off. "Well you still have me and Brandon and Faith and Grant. And Lauren and Grey aren't gone they're both coming back I swear." I said making a promise I didn't know if I could keep. To be honest I didn't even know if Lauren or Grey were coming back, but I was determined to after what happened to Grey's parents. "I only really like you, Hunter. Faith looks at me like I'm her enemy, Grant always flirts with me, and Brandon only talks to guys." Said Clara as she enclosed her hand in mine. My heart instantly began to beat faster, my cheeks changed color, and sweat began to accumulate on my hands. "Hey guys! Hurry up!" Faith yelled. I broke away from Clara's grasp and we both jogged over to the glass. The Oceanfront was deserted besides three other people standing against the glass talking to someone on the other side. Mr Derek, still in his swim suit, stood on the opposite side of the glass. "My dad said that unfortunately there are only fifteen people left," Faith said putting an emphasis on the words fifteen. "The Oceanfront beach started with forty eight on day one, sixteen died from the plane, eight more died of injuries, six people have either commuted suicide or died of thirst or starvation, and three died from electrocution. He said they barely have any food left except for a few crackers, chocolate, and two small water bottles." Derek, was basically begging his children and the other teens to help free him from the beach. Faith talked to her dad as Brandon left to find his girlfriend, Liz Lipps. While Grant rested his head against the box, Clara pulled me away from the rest of the group into a nearby alley way. "Is everything alright?" She asked.
"Why?"
"Every time I try and express my feelings, you always pull away. It's almost as if you don't like me!"
"No! I do like you, but..." Clara put a finger to my mouth and said, "there are no buts." She leaned in and gave me a light peck on the cheek. "If we die tomorrow, I want to die with the knowledge that someone cares about me." Clara pushed me up against the brick wall and pressed her lips on mine. Clara had definitely had a boost of confidence over the past year. I wanted to pull away for Faith, but it just felt so good. After a solid two minutes of making out,  a giant alarm blared into my ear, though my skull, and out the other ear. The alarm blared three times and then said, "Warning: severe thunderstorms. Find safety." The alarm kept echoing though the deserted streets of the Oceanfront. Clara retracted away from me and we both exited the alleyway. "Everyone, in here!" Cole, the town's Catholic Priest, stood at the doors of Sunny Station, a convent store. The five of us, plus another stranger from the Oceanfront, hurried into the store as the first rain pellets fell. "The owner of the pizza deli across the street asked me to lock up his store since he is stuck outside. I'll be right back." Cole said darting out of the store and into the rain. "Dude! The rain's coming down hard outside. I haven't seen rain come down that hard since I was in Australia. Gnarly!" The stranger said. "By the way, my name is Patrick. My son was a surfing competitor, and he's luckily alive. What about y'all." We explained our story and he replied, "Wow you all have been through a lot." Outside, the alarm still blared and Cole ran around the neighboring store, closing up. Derek and other survivors stood at the glass, watching as they stood in scorching hot weather while two feet away, it poured.

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Twenty minutes earlier:
Not far away at an inlet of water, a couple by the names of Kenneth, Kenny for short, and Brandi waded by the water with their two kids Taylor and David. The inlet, was named after the infamous ghost Rudee.  Brandi, still grieving the death of both her parents to the sickness and Kenneth, suffering from his mother and sister being stuck outside the box at the Williamsburg mall, were not paying attention to either of their young children. Taylor and David both played deep in the towering dead, yellow grass and stumbled upon a small lever, right in the middle of the grass. David, being just a year younger than Taylor and curious, grabbed hold of the lever. "David! No bad boy." Taylor yelled as she pushed David back away from the lever. Taylor, also a curious seven year old girl, grabbed the lever and tried pulling it towards her, but failed. "David come help me!" Taylor demanded. A confused David obeyed and crawled over to his sister. Under both of their force they managed to pull the lever back, slipping into the dirt. "Taylor! David!" Brandi's voice cut through the tall grass and reached the younglings. "Coming!" They both shouted. Unfortunately, Taylor and David never reached their heartbroken parents, because that lever also appeared at the same time as the box. As a result of the lever being pulled, a massive wave slowly began to form in the peaceful inlet. Just before Taylor and David stepped out from the grass and reunited with their parents, a giant wave abruptly sprang up, another phenomena of the box, and wiped past the heartbroken parents, right through the young children and made it way towards the Oceanfront, but this wave would not be the last.
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"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen as we near Norfolk Airport we ask that you please turn off all electronics and put your chairs and trays to their upright position. Thank you." The flight attendant hung the phone up and buckled up in her own her seat. Suddenly, two men in the back of the plane stood up and began casually walking to the front. I grabbed the phone again and said, "Excuse me ladies and gentle, we ask that EVERYONE is safely in their seats. Please sit back down." The two men both pulled a small device out of their pocket and stuck it to the roof of the plane. The other two flight attendants in the back of the plane rushed after the unidentified men. Again, the men pulled out small gas masks and applied them on. Loud murmur erupted throughout the plane as the devices connected began to emit a purple gas. The gas made its way throughout the plane while screams from concerned parents and afraid kids shot everywhere. I jumped out of my seat and banged on the cockpit doors. The last thing I remember is the gas surrounding me and then not being able to breathe. The two men, unaffected by the gas, pressed the devices again and everything was sucked back. Everyone on the plane, except for the pilots, were frozen. "Here is trial number one to get inside the box." The two men held onto to the railings of the overhead compartments and braced for impact. Suddenly, the plane crashed into the box, instantaneously killing the pilots. The two men screamed as flames engulfed them and the plane exploded. COBRA would have to wait a little longer to get inside the box and kill The Chosen and The Savior.
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"Sir, COBRA tried to get inside the box."
"What?"
"They boarded flight HQ401 and tried using the purple gas."
"First they take over the mainframe to put a disease inside, then they install a lever that can wipe out the whole town, and they are killing our candidates! All of our work is now on the shoulders of The Chosen. Where is she?"
"Almost there, sir. Just another day or two."
"Good. Can you program The Chosen to destroy any signs of COBRA."
"Yes sir, I'm getting reports from our technicians of something new COBRA is installing. It seems that they are creating an electro magnetic field inside the town's library."
"That's at the center of the town. No, they can't be. They're trying to get inside the box. Pete, tell the designers they need to hack back into the box's mainframe. If COBRA gets inside the box they will murder every one of our candidates.