Cimorelli's Living <Sequal To Cimorelli's Surviving>

Dinner

Dani's Pov.

christian, joey and i were just running around.  not long after dad and the other 3 left to sarah's house, jackson came over.  we played around a bit until mom and the my two oldest sisters came home.  "i got to go now" jackson ran home.

"hi mom" i ran and hugged her.

"hi sweetie, weres your father?" she asks me

"dad, lauren, alex and nick went to sarah and jackson's house."  i tell her.

"what for?" she looked confused.

"i dont know" i shrug and help her with dinner.  

as we put the dinner on the table we hear a door open and close. i look and see dad and the other 3 walk in all depressed looking. "what?" i asked all of them.

"dont worry about it dani" dad told me and went to sit at the table.  lauren, alex and nick do the same.  

"dinner!" mom shouts for the others.

christian and joey race to the table, mike follows.  last my older sisters stroll in.  we say grace and start to eat.  i notice lauren and alex just pick at there food, and dad and nick dont even pick up their forks.  everyone seems to notice too. 

"whats going on?" mike asks them.

dad looks at lauren, alex and nick before answering "theres shortage of hunters"  dad takes a deep breath "they are going to transfer stragglers over"  

"so, you and alex with be out there?" mom looks very concerned.

"not just alex and i, there are people saying the are dropping the age for the hunters.  lauren and nick could be hunters too"  dad looks at lauren and nick, who dont bother looking up.

"no, they cant do that." mom was angry.

"but they can lynne" dad holds her hand. "they are going to announce it tomarrow"

"why would they make minors go out of the safe zone?" christina asks.

"because they are stragglers, they have been through a lot and know how to handle runners." lisa says.  

i look at lauren who is in tears now.  "i dont want to"  every one looks at her.

"me niether" nick and alex mumble.

"i know, hopefully they change their minds" katherine says.

"they wont, im going to have to go out there" alex gets up and goes upstairs.

lauren and nick follow him, dad just puts his head on the table.  "is it really that bad out there?" amy asks dad.

"yes"  he replies.  "im going to talk to tommy"  dad gets up and goes out the door.

after a moments of silence mom speaks up. "this is terrible"  

"what should we do?" mike asks.

"theres nothing we can do"  mom takes a bite of food.

"lauren and nick are going to have to go to school though, they cant make them work"  christian speaks up.

we eat in silence then.  i pray that they wont have to be hunters.