The Fade

49

Ori comes tearing back into the dining room, about as pale as I've ever seen her.

"What's wrong?" Jamison asks, setting down his fork.

For a moment she stares at us with a wild look in her eyes, seemingly lost for words.

"Ori?"

Finally she manages to say, "You need to see this," before turning on her heel and rushing from the room again.

Jamison and I exchange a quick look before getting to our feet and following.

She's already halfway down the hallway, and showing no sign of slowing.

I have this anxious feeling in my chest, like something's got to be wrong.

Ori wouldn't be acting so weird if something wasn't horribly wrong.

And that's what scares me.

By time she comes to a stop, we're outside the Oval Office.

"I..." She hesitates again, and then shakes her head. "You need to see this."

So the five of us enter the dark office.

Ori walks around behind the desk and waves us forward.

I see that the computer is on.

"I came in here, just to... it doesn't matter... I found this."

We crowd forward, and I almost gasp when I see the message on the screen.

'The Alliance cordially invites all remaining citizens to come to Washington, D.C. Airplanes will be arriving at each state's capital one week from today to pick up those who wish to come. Citizens who do not voluntarily board the planes will be left to die a painful death.'

"I thought Sander blew them up?" Kerris says, leaning over Beck's shoulder to see the screen.

"Yeah, I thought so, too-" Jamison freezes.

"What?"

"Of course..." He rubs his face. "The lab. I told you it would hold up to a nuclear blast, remember? Why not any other explosion?"

Well, crap.

Without any warning, Kerris drops to the floor behind us.

"Are you okay?"

"Hey, Kerris, wake up."

We all crouch around her.

Beck brushes her hair from her face just as her eyes open again.

"Sorry," she mumbles. "I just..." She takes a deep breath. "I think we should do what they say. So no one else gets hurt."

I don't want anyone to get hurt either, but I'm also not going to willingly go back to those people. Not after everything they've done to us.

"We need to talk to Maeve, Lis, and Sander about this," Jamison says carefully. "We need to hear everyone's take on this before we make any kind of decision."

"I agree."

Ori and I each grab one of Kerris' hands, pulling her to her feet again.

"I think I'd better go to bed," she mutters, putting around arm around her brother's shoulders and letting him help her walk toward the door.

"We should all turn in. It's been a long day." He leaves it at that, but we all hear the words he leaves unsaid: it's been a long day, and we don't know what could be coming tomorrow.

******    

Sorry this is so short. You'd think that I'd be able to give you guys a hefty update after having the entire week off (can we get a cheer for snow days and extreme windchill temperatures?), but apparently not.

I think it's mostly because I legit have no clue what to do with this story. I'm not gonna lie, I kind of want to wrap it up soon. I have a lot of other stuff going on this semester and I feel bad for giving you guys crappy, short chapters just because I have about two brain cells left and they're too busy thinking about program applications and newspaper stuff to come up with a good plot line.

That being said... is there anywhere you see this story ending? Any wild ideas? I want The Fade to go out with a bang, but I also don't want to upset you guys while doing so. If you have any requests (specific happy endings for certain characters or couples --cough cough, Jame-- lol), please let me know in the comments.

Or else I might kill people off. Just for kicks and giggles.

Anyway... Yeah. Talk to me, peoples. I'm hoping for a burst of inspiration between now and next Friday but somehow I don't see that happening. I guess I could put the story on hiatus again for a little while. I don't know. I'll have to think about it.

Sorry for all the rambling.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!