At End's Gate

IN THE PANIC ROOM

The kids finally fell asleep after the exhausting and traumatizing evening. James and Conner took turns at being the lookout. At one point in the evening the two of them were both awake. Conner checked to see if the others were asleep before he began his conversation with James. He didn't notice that Paige was awake thinking about what had happened to them with her eyes closed. Conner looked at James." I wanted to ask you. How are you this strong despite the experience you just had? You're keeping it together when you're supposed to fall apart."

"I do it for them," he said pointing at his siblings." I know if I didn't keep myself fine for them they'll fall apart. They need me more than I need my own peace. I hold in all the grief for them."

"That's quite noble of you but holding in pain won't it affect you even more?"

"I don't think so. I can handle grief much better than my siblings. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," James said.

"Okay. Why don't you sleep for a few hours. I'll take the shift," Conner suggested.

"Okay. Thanks." James fell asleep.

After a while Paige turned to Conner." I'm scared for him."

"Oh you heard our conversation?"

"Yeah. I'm scared coz he always tries to be the hero for everyone. I think if given the opportunity he will do something life threatening to protect us."

"Yeah. Your brother is a brave soul. Don't worry about him. We will be fine."

"How can I be sure. I just watched my parents die," Paige said with a concerned stare.

"I promise you I'll protect him with everything I've got. He will be fine."

"Thank you," Paige said with her cheeks red.

"Now go sleep. Tomorrow you'll need a lot of energy if we're going to make up a plan."

"Okay," Paige said as she lay her head on the floor. She fell asleep.

The next day the kids woke and began to plan a strategy. Conner led the discussion." What can we do? We know going outside means we will either be killed by our own people or we will be killed by the psycho's mind games."

"What if we just stay in here?" Alexis asked.

"That won't do coz the house might fall apart because of Dukilian's explosives and we won't be able to get out. Rocks and bricks will block the door. We will end up starving to death," Lisa answered.

"What if we still stay in here for a while observing on the screen the number of people alive? We leave when we see that most people are gone and will make up our way out of this prison," Blake suggested.

"Blake that's an amazing idea. Now we have to work on Dukilian's game and make up a way out," James said.

Paige took out her phone and looked at the painting before facing her brothers." Don't you guys think his game has a connection to this," she said handing her phone to James.

"What's that?" Conner asked.

"It's a threat message from the psycho. If you look closely you can actually see the monster's face." James handed over the phone to Conner and the girls. He then looked at Paige." I think you might be onto something. Let's investigate shall we." James took out his phone.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked.

"I'm looking for the original picture. I saved it in my phone. I want to cross reference the background to the original painting like when it was made to know the occurrences of the war at the time."

"James you're truly a genius. You're trying to map out the battle fronts so we can know their locations which possibly could be the locations of Dukilian's traps," Paige commented.

"Yes sister dear," James answered with a slight grin.

"Dude that's brilliant," Conner commented.

"Now confirm, the first bombing occurred at the Archives center right?"

"Yeah," Alexis confirmed.

"Look at this," James said showing his phone to the others." The first location of the war battles."

"That's exactly the location of the Archives center," Lisa said.

"Check the second one, the bombing that occurred near the wall," Blake said.

James took his phone." That's exactly the location of the second battle."

Blake grinned." So you're telling me we have the locations of the bombs and their sequences?"

"Yes brother," James said with a successful look on his face.

"James I can just hug you right now," Blake said.

Paige smiled." James you're phenomenal."

"So we'll wait until the numbers are low then we leave" Conner said.

Paige looked with a sad glance at Conner.

"Are you okay?" Conner asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just sad that we're actually relying on other people to die to survive."

"I'm so sorry to all of you. This experience is probably the darkest experience ever but we have to heal together and try to get through this together," Conner said with a tone of leadership and remorse.

"He's right. We need to stay strong and protect each other until we get out of this slaughterhouse," James added.

Paige looked at James with a concerned look. She knew James would do anything to save her and the others even if it had the price of him losing his own life. She was determined to make sure her brother wouldn't try to imitate the Avengers when he was absolutely powerless." Okay, we do everything to make sure we survive this together." She looked at Conner who understood what that meant basing on the discussion he had with her. He nodded. His green eyes seemed to show pity on Paige. Paige wasn't a fan of showing out her pain that much but her emotions took the best of her most of the time. She knew that Conner was now able to read her emotions. She took a deep breath to pull herself together." Now let's monitor the city. We have to take turns. We need to know if we're able to leave so when you get tired tired during your turn, tell another person to take your shift. We need to know every detail, the buildings that are disintegrated and the death toll. I'll start."

"Are you sure you want to take the first shift?" Blake asked." I can do that. Nothing passes me. I've got hawk eyes," he said with a comical look.

Paige smiled." It's fine. I can."

She took the first shift and everyone played their part in monitoring the screen.

Tell me how you feel about this chapter. I hope you are enjoying:-)