The Syndicates

Thirteen

Teague

Operation "the rest of the family who are stuck at home" is officially underway. "So what's first on this list of chores?" I ask. That's right, Henri made a list. That's never a good sign.

"Let's see," Justin says, looking at the piece of paper. He actually wrote a list on paper. It should have been titled "Henri's 'how to survive against evil aliens while I'm gone' to do list." That would've been funny. "There's a list of supplies we need and where to get them." Great a list within a list. "And he said here we need to go out as little as possible and stay together. No one goes anywhere alone." We're going to have ourselves a little Weston/Bryant sleepover for the foreseeable future.

We're standing in our kitchen with everyone who's left at home. Justin has taken the lead. Well, he is now the oldest. "Ok, here's the plan. Sky and Daniel head to Dad's shop and get the supplies he listed here. He's got stuff stored away there. Jordan, Arik, Leland and Lorelai, y'all work on gathering up the rest of these supplies. Blankets and quilts."

"What for exactly?" Lorelai asks.

"He wants us to cover the doors and windows. Just for precaution." He answers. "You can start hanging them up. I'm sure you can find some thumb nails around here somewhere." He looks at me now. "You and I will get the rest of the goods."

"I feel like I should be concerned." He smiles a little.

"Depends. How do you feel about handling guns?" Fantastic. "They're back at our house." He turns to Ellen. "And mom you get your pick."

"I think I'll tag along with you and Teague. I need to pick up some stuff at the house."

"Alright." He nods. "Everyone good?"

"What do we need to pick up at the shop?" Sky asks.

"He didn't say. Some boxes of stuff and where to find them is all he's written." He hand the paper to her.

"How very cryptic." She says and takes it from him.

"Anyone got anything else?" No one speaks up. "Alright then. Let's get to it."

Skylar

Daniel and I maneuver through the busy streets and eventually park at Henri's store. "You got the key right?" Daniel asks.

Nodding I say, "Yeah." We get out of the car and walk to the door. We both instinctively look around us. As if a Marshal would dare show its face with all these people around. I unlock the door and once we're inside I lock it behind us. Per Henri's instructions we head to the back room.

"It said the shelves against the back wall right?" 

"Yeah pretty sure." The room is a good size. Filled with several shelves of odds and ends. We have to climb over the clutter to to reach the back of the room. "Well, crap there's tons of boxes." I say exasperated.

"Think about Henri. If he was trying to hide something where would he put it?" Daniel scans the wide shelf full of cardboard boxes.

"What makes you think he's hiding it?"

"If he wasn't he would have told us exactly where it was and what it was. He's being careful." Well I guess that makes sense. To Daniel anyways.

Daniel moves closer and squats down, evidently deciding to start with the boxes on the floor under the bottom shelf. I follow his lead and start searching through boxes, emptying contents and then putting it back when we find nothing. We're about ten minutes in when I decide to get something off my chest. "So you and Avery."

"What about me and Avery?" He says without looking away from the task at hand.

"You like her."