Chapter 24

District 4, Washington DC, Chinatown…

Like any curious cat, four rowdy teenagers thought it would be such a grand idea to sneak away from their homes while the adults busy themselves with their plans of protesting and hurry to the exact location where the school bus got missing.

They were being stupid, overactive teenagers without any knowledge of the danger that awaited them.

Getting closer to the road, they stopped their old bikes and stared at the fume growing larger and larger by the minute.

The gaseous fume is a lot more visible now that the sun is out and probably due to the high level of dust in the air, the gas had a colour of light brown. Making it visible to the human eye.

Though they had torn pieces of clothing wrapped around their heads to cover every skin they could, their eyes are shielded with extremely old goggles held together with tape.

In other to protect their bodies they stole some clothes and boots from General Karl's home right after he left for work because he's was the only good enough clothing they could get that would be strong enough to withstand any gaseous fume from penetrating through to reach their skin.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" One of the males asks out loud, his voice muffled as he turns to his friends with an anxious look filled with hesitance.

"Hell ya, I mean come on. What good would protesting in front of Control Center do for the adults except get them excuses in return?"

"He's right, we need to take matters into our own hands." Another reply, and with a gloved hand he pulled up a silver baseball from the bag pack worn on their backs. "We need to find a way to bring back our little siblings, dead or alive."

"Yeah, he's right!" The rest cheered in response, his words and their anger boosting their motivation.

Getting down from their bikes and discarding them on the road, they had a moment of hesitation when they drew closer to the encroaching fume but with stubbornness and determination, they stepped forward one by one until the last disappeared behind the thick cloud.

~*~*~*~

"A school bus filled with our kids got missing through a wormhole and no one seems inclined to try and look for them. We don't know if they're alive, if they're alright, or if they're even safe wherever the hell they are!" The fat male screams, spittle flying out of his mouth as his words received murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

"Sir, we are doing our best to handle every situation we're currently facing right now. I know your anxious and I understand your concerns–"

A woman pushes through the crowd with tears in her eyes, she's holding a sign with an old picture of a little girl taped on it and cut out letters reading "Bring back my little girl" on the whiteboard.

Tipping my gun down a little, I stare at the signs held in their hands and for the first time read the words spelt on each of them. The signs either had pictures of little kids or adults glued to the surface with words condemning the new government, the new laws, restrictions and of course… the SETF.

"You can't understand our concern and anxiety until you hear through the fucking telecom that your child has gone missing or is possibly dead!" She snaps, her eyes swollen due to the tears running down her pale skin.

She looks like someone whose been through hell and back.

"I don't care if you sought the help of the fucking creatures haunting our lives for the past ten years, but I am not leaving until I have my daughter back!"

Her words may have been the final tip of the iceberg because immediately the crowd started to chant in unison, the screams and stamping feet causing a freaking migraine in my brain. "Yeah, bring back our girls!"

"Yeah, bring back our family!"

"We won't leave until they're back safe and sound!"

They chanted these words on and on that I had the urge to fire at them until silence returned, glancing over my shoulder I stare at Sir Locke and at his nod of command I yell out to my team. "Warriors… aim!"

Immediately, everyone tipped their guns back to face the sky. "Fire!"

Multiple sounds of gunshots did the job of shutting everyone up as people scattered, ran, and took cover with screams of fear.

Some who were too slow or possibly too frightened to act quickly ducked to the ground with their hands covering their heads.

The crowd cleared away and their attention was once again stolen through fear, and when we stopped firing our guns they all took a moment before rising to their feet slowly when it registered in their brains that they weren't our targets.