Incessant Calling

~Chapter Eight: Night Visitors~

I wake up sometime late at night, or maybe early morning. Oh I'm starving. A box of crackers sits by a lit tea candle on the table. I walk over and sit down. A shadow on the wall becomes the object of my focus as I try to sort through the today's events. I went to help check the power lines. A tree nearly killed me. I fell down a bank and got cut. The house got attacked. Pax and Mrs. Richardson were caught. Mr. Richardson went back to help them. Cole and I escaped from a scary guy with a gun. We were nearly killed by a mountain Lion. We made it here. Now we're, presumably, safe. I look over at Cole, who is sleeping on the other side of the room, and want to cry. He's lost his family now, and it's all my fault! I Would be crying, if it weren't for the fact that I've already cried too much. I make a resolve not to cry anymore. It's like I lost all of my maturity in one week! Instead, I stare at the wall again. I've just started to doze off when I hear the grating sound of a brick. Someone's on the other side of the wall! Cole starts from his sleep and looks at me.

"Get over here!" he whispers. Before I know what I'm doing, we lift up the mattress. Beneath it is a trap door that leads to a staircase. I run down, and Cole follows, closing the hatch behind us. He turns on a flashlight that he grabbed from somewhere and shines it around the room till he finds my face.

"You okay?" He asks softly.

"For now." I whisper back.

The light moves over to a large safe. As Cole is twisting the dial, I lean against one of the walls, or what I though was a wall. I accidentally knock a box of dried pasta off the shelf. We both jump.

"Sorry." I say.

He just stands there with his hand on the safe. A grating noise sounds above us, Cole swings the door open and grabs two semi-automatic pistols from inside. He waits for the grating noise to start again before closing the squeaky thing back up.

"Here, you know how to use this right?" He hands me one of the guns.

"Uh, I've never used a real one before, but I think so." I reply.

"Okay, stay there." He tells me, then climbs carefully up the stairs to listen.

We both stay frozen, trying not to make any noise. From where I stand, all I can hear is footsteps. A sudden creak sends Cole flying back down to me. He grabs my waist and pulls us both down behind the staircase. I try to ignore the shooting pain that erupts from such sudden movement.

Just breathe. Wait, no, breathing hurts, focus on something else. I finger the trigger of my gun in anticipation. Please don't find us, please don't find us, don't find us... The door to our hiding place swings open, flooding it with light. Well, so much for that. Cole tenses up beside me, I hold my breath

"Cole? Brooke? Are you two down there?" A female voice calls down.

"Kitty?" We both say.

I run up to see her, and Cole follows quickly. Kitty is standing by the bed, and Thane is lying on the other one across the room, his left leg propped up on some pillows. My eyes are still adjusting to the light, but his ankle looks swollen.

"You're here! You're okay!" I yell and hug her, a little too tightly. My head is swimming again from the pain, but I try not to let it show.

"You're okay!" She yells back, then I step aside to let Cole hug her. "I was so worried about you two! I saw the trucks and, oh my gosh Brooke what happened to you?" Her gaze had traveled to the bandage around my waistline.

"Oh, I just fell off a horse and down a cliff, I'm fine." It's evident she doesn't believe that I'm fine, but she doesn't question any further. "What happened to you guys? How did you know we were here?" I ask.

"I was driving home and saw the black cars around the house. It's a good thing I was going slow already, because Thane jumped in front of the car and stopped me from trying to help you guys. We tried to get closer, and that's when I saw you ride into the woods." Kitty explains, "I figured you were coming here, so we tried to catch up, but then Thane sprained his ankle and we had to slow down."

"Did you see Mom and Dad? Pax?" Cole asks.

"They put all three of them in a car and drove off." Thane replies.

I lower my eyes. "I'm sorry. If it wasn't for me, everything would be just like normal."

"Not at all! We'd have lost you, and have no idea what happened!" Kitty exclaims. "Don't worry, we'll find a way to fix this. Now here, I need to see if my little brother bandaged you right."

"Well if I did something wrong, remember you taught me this stuff, so it's not my fault." Cole jokes.

"Ha ha, we'll see about that." She replies.

I can tell they're trying to lighten the mood for me, so I put on a little smile.

"Hmm, not bad." Kitty says after examining the layers of gauze wrapped around my waist, "You do look a little pale though, lie down."

I don't object. It's still nighttime, and we are all tired. Soon the room is dark again, but there are four sleeping people now instead of two. I'm on the bed above the secret cellar, and Kitty is right above me.

Please keep us all safe Lord, and our families too. I silently repeat until I slip into a dream.

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We all stay in the bunker while Thane's ankle and my gash heal, despite my protests. I feel very uneasy about staying in one place for an extended amount of time. "Hey guys, don't you think we should keep moving? It's been two days already."

Cole looks up from the cereal he was eating, and Kitty stops examining Thane's leg.

"Well, where do you suggest we go?" Thane inquires. His twisted ankle is still swollen, but he says it hurts less.

"Um, I'm not entirely sure Where we'd go, but I've been thinking. Whoever is after us is going to be looking for a bunch of kids right? Well, we should disguise ourselves."

"You mean like dye our hair and stuff?" Kitty says.

"I was thinking more of changing our group's dynamic." I explain.

"Our dynamic..." Cole says slowly.

"Yeah. We'd stop being a group of friends, and become a family." I reply. "You and I would be siblings, and Kitty and Thane could easily pass for our parents. We look similar enough to do it." Everyone's eyes are wide. "Yeah, I know it'll be a little bit awkward..."

"We'd have to pretend to be married! Ah ha, that's more than a Little bit awkward." Kitty laughs.

"Well you and Cole could..." I start.

"Uh uh, no. I am Not being married to my sister." He interrupts.

"I'm open to other suggestions."

"Actually... this could work." Thane says slowly. "We should also leave town too, so no one recognizes us." He also suggests we use his sedan as a means of transportation. "Since they probably don't know I'm with you guys, they won't be looking for my car."

"We should wait until tomorrow to leave, so that we aren't traveling at night." Kitty says. "Are you sure you can walk Thane? It's a long hike back to the house..."

"I'll be alright. Besides, I can't let you guys have all the fun. " He answers.

"I just don't want you to get hurt again." Kitty replies.

"I won't." Thane promises.

Cole looks over at me. He nods his head in their direction and bats his eyelashes at them. I snort into the glass of water I was drinking. They stop talking and give me a weird look, while Cole is trying very hard not to laugh.

"I, uh, swallowed an ice cube." I cough.