The Town of Ruins

Chapter Eleven

"Can someone please tell me what in the world is going on?" I said, extremely confused. Dad and Vieanna both looked at me like I was an idiot for not realizing before. "You've always been told that you are an only child. Now that I look at it, we shouldn't have told you that, but it seemed like the only acceptable option at the time." Dad said. "What do you mean? I'm not an only child or something?" I asked him. "No, you aren't. You have two sisters." He replied, "Vieanna was born just before you, and Bella just after. We thought that your mother was only pregnant with one child, so the only people who know that they are your sisters are the ones who were in the room when you three were born. We knew we didn't have room for three girls in the apartment, and we knew we needed someone above ground who was trusted so we sent these two up with your mother's sister. They were supposed to be two girls that she had found on the side of the road and was taking care of. She took care of them until they were five, and someone found out the real story and tried to kill her. She went down fighting and took the assailant with her, so no one knew that these two were from our area. When we tried to find them, however, they had been taken to an adoptive facility and placed in different homes. You all grew up apart and you shouldn't have had to. I apologize for being a partial reason for that, but there isn't anything I can do to change it now."
               "So, you're saying, Bella is my little sister and Vieanna is my older sister?" I asked. He nodded. I had two sisters. No one knew we were sisters. Not even us. "Well I can think of a really clever idea for sister bonding when we get home." I said. All of them looked at me with confused faces. The next events happened so fast, I'm not even sure if I can recount them correctly and I have an eidetic memory. Another car hit us from the right side, knocking Vieanna into me. The car spun out of control, hit a hill, and rolled down it. The car started smoking from under the hood and Simon opened my door. "Help Sammy and I get all of them out!" He said. I nodded and started with Vieanna. I unbuckled her and pulled her across the console and to my side of the car. I unbuckled myself and hauled the both of us out of the car. "Drag them all as far away from the car as you can!" I heard my dad say. Well at least he's alright. I did as he said and dragged Vieanna underneath a tree that was far away enough from the car that nothing would hit her but close enough that we could get everyone out. I ran back to the car as Sammy was dragging Bella and Simon was dragging Lisa. I got Diana out, and helped her walk since she was halfway conscious. I brought her to the tree and sat her on the ground against it. At the car I heard loud noises. It was like gunshots. I turned and saw that the hood was on fire. "We need to get everyone away from here, it's gonna blow up!" Simon said. He and Sammy pulled Millie out. "Cassie, come get her!" Sammy yelled. I ran as fast as I could and picked Millie up in a fireman's carry. I'm not sure how we got to the tree without dying but we did. When I turned around I saw Simon helping Jacob and Sammy helping my dad. At the last second my dad yelled something that I couldn't hear and ran back to the car. He threw something in it and tried to run back to Sammy, but the car blew up. Simon reached the tree and set down Jacob as Sammy was thrown backward. "NO!" I screamed, and tried to run toward the car. "Cassie, no. He's gone. You can't go over there, or you'll die too." Simon said. He sounded calm, but when I looked at him he was crying so much his face looked like a waterpark. I kept trying to run toward the car and my father, but Simon picked me up and wouldn't let me down. Sammy groaned and stood up. As he staggered our way, he said, "He wanted to throw the files on you all in the car so that no one would know who you were or why you had been detained. I shouldn't have let him. I'm so sorry."
               I tried to say something, but no words came out. All I could do was cry. When he put me down, I turned to Simon and buried my head in his chest. He hugged me and told me that everything was going to be okay. How was it though? My father, the reason I was even up here, had just been killed right in front of me. The last thing he said to me had been about my two long lost sisters. I didn't know what to do. Simon and Sammy had a conversation while I was crying, and by the time Vieanna woke up they had reached a decision. Sammy left for some reason, and Simon helped me sit down. "Hey, it'll be okay. Sammy is going to go get an armored car so that this won't happen again." He told me.
               "Do you hear that?" I asked him. It sounded like footsteps. Who could be walking? Sammy would be driving back, and everyone in our party was either sitting down or passed out. I stood up and got my bow and quiver. I wiped my tears and drew an arrow. Simon stood up beside me and drew his gun, along with Vieanna. Over the hill came three men in Marine uniforms. "Put your weapons down and your hands in the air or we'll shoot!" Said the one in the middle. "You all have warrants out for your arrest. You have no where to go. Come with us or die." Taking in this information, the wind speed, and the fact that the sun was setting, I did the only thing I saw fit. I aimed at the leader and fired my arrow. I drew another as Simon and Vieanna fired their guns at the other two. None of them were expecting an arrow to pierce their leader's chest, so they stood in shock as I nocked two more and shot them into their chests. Simon and Vieanna hit each in the head with their bullets and they all crumpled to the ground. I started to run towards them to see if they were okay when a car drove down the path from the road to our left. "Come on, let's get them inside before more show up." Sammy said.
               We slowly got all of the passengers into the car. Diana, Lisa, and Jacob in the far back. Vieanna, Bella, and Millie in the backseat. Sammy was driving and Simon was in the passenger's seat. "Come on Cassie, you can sit with me if you want to." Simon said. "Hold on." I said. I ran back to the car whose fire had long since died out. I looked in and saw my father's charred body. "We can get the gurney from the back and take him with us if you want to." Sammy said. I nodded. We loaded my father's body into a body bag, onto a gurney, and back to the car. We put him in the trunk, which should not have been as big as it was. When we were ready to go, I climbed in next to Simon and we drove down the road. Sammy explained that he took the car from the autobody parking lot, so it was registered to someone the government didn't want dead, and no one would be looking for it for a while. We drove until we reached the foot path that led to the house we came out of so many weeks ago. By this time, everyone had woken up and was able to walk except for Millie. Simon and Sammy carried her on the extra gurney as Lisa and Diana carried my father. The rest of us walked behind them until we got to the basement. "I can take the car and dump it in a swamp that isn't far from here." Sammy said. We nodded. Sammy left, and Simon and I went down the ladder to get help.