Shutdown: Complete First Part

SHUTDOWN1

10010-10101-10100-100-1111-10111-11102

By Myra La-Ryn3

1011-11001-10010-1 1100-1~10010-11001-11104

PART ONE:
10000-1-10010-10100 1111-1110-101:5

THE KEY
10100-1000-101 1011-101-110016

CHAPTER ONE7

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Jo woke up in the hospital, and was very confused until she remembered the car crash. She sat up and saw her friends, Jake and David, who had been in the car with her. 9

“Hey David, Jake, wake up!” she said while getting out of bed. That’s when Jo noticed that none of the computers were on. David and Jake were awake now and David was making funny faces. “Where is everyone?” asked Jo out loud. 10

“Let’s find out.” Said David, “Hello? Anybody here?” he shouted at the top of his lungs. There was no response. 11

“Let’s get out of here.” Said Jo, “This place creeps me out.” 12

“Everything creeps you out Jo.” Said Jake. Jo looked at her friends trying to see if there were the inaccuracies she saw when she dreamed. But Jake still had the same short brown hair and hazel eyes and David still had his wolfish grin, brown curly hair and brown eyes. Jo looked at her reflection in the computer monitor and saw that she still had short hair that was cut short in the back and then slanted into a slightly longer length at the front so that it framed her electrically violet eyes. Jake tossed Jo her shoes, “If you want to leave, then lead.”13

The trio stepped out of the hospital and saw that the street was completely deserted. “So where to now, scaredy Jo?” asked David. 14

“Now we find someone who knows what happened.” Said Jo, “I want to know where everyone is.” 15

“Jo, there are no grown ups, we can do whatever we want!” said David. “Come on, let’s go to the arcade.” Jake and David started walking down the street, but Jo hesitated. 16

“Come on Jo,” said Jake, “Stop being such a party pooper.” So Jo followed Jake and David to the arcade.17

The arcade was a disappointment: none of the machines were working. While David was trying each of the machines, Jo just stood awkwardly by the door. Suddenly Jo thought she saw a flash, but by the time she thought to say anything, it was gone. She turned back to face David and Jake, “Don’t you get it?” she asked, “There’s no one here!” 18

“We kind of noticed that Jo.” Said Jake. 19

“Don’t you understand what that means? It means we have to start fending for ourselves I don’t know what happened but I’m going to find out.” Jo opened the door to leave but stopped when she saw that the boys weren’t following her. “Are you coming or would you rather stay here and act like children?” Jake and David reluctantly gave up trying to make the pinball machine work and joined Jo. 20

“This is boring anyway.” Said Jake. Jo made sure they weren’t leaving anything behind and as she did she could have swore she saw the flash again. “Are you coming?” asked Jake. She nodded slowly and made sure it wasn’t imaginary while David and Jake started out the door. 21

Suddenly David shouted, “Jo! Get down!” Jo turned to see what was the matter and felt a bullet rip through her left shoulder. 22

“Run!” she screamed while scrambling to get up. The trio headed out the back door, Jo took a quick look at their attackers and only saw the gleam. Jake grabbed Jo and they kept running. 23

Jo’s shoulder throbbed as she ran. They burst through the back door and yelled in surprise when they heard gunfire. They ran as fast as they could, trying desperately to lose their pursuers but at every turn there was something blocking the way. Jo couldn’t take much more, her shoulder felt like it was on fire and she was getting dizzy from blood loss. At long last they stopped and she was able to catch her breath. “We’re doomed.” Said Jake. Jo realized why: they had reached a dead end. Their pursuers emerged and the three friends were able to get their first look at them. The pursuers turned out to be three giant robots. They looked like 6 feet tall people except they were made of metal with a glass head. Inside the head was a glittering, sun-like core. The core, which was blue and purple, served as the robot’s brain. 24

The three robots stood, blocking the way out, raised their right arms and prepared to fire. Suddenly there was gunfire, but the trio didn’t feel anything. The next thing they knew, the robots were dead and in their place stood one man holding a smoking rifle. “Are you guys okay?” he asked. Jake piped up, “Jo’s been shot in the shoulder.” 25

The man went over to her and said, “I’d better get you to the Keep.” Jo put her hand on her shoulder and, before she knew it, blacked out. 26

* * *27

Jo was sick of waking up in hospitals. 28

She started to sit up, but a man said, “Go easy.” Jo looked at him then propped herself up and noticed her left arm was in a sling. 29

“Where are we? Who are you? What did you do to Jake and David?” 30

“Calm down. Your friends are fine. They’re probably getting the tour.” Said the man. 31

“So, where are we?” 32

“Welcome to the Keep.” He said. Jo looked around and saw that they were sitting in the Times Square subway station. 33

“I’m called SharpShooter. You are?” 34

“I’m Jo.” She replied, “It’s a nickname.” 35

“So, when are you going to tell me your real name?” asked SharpShooter. 36

“After you.” Jo replied while observing him. He had pure green eyes that were partially hidden by shaggy, black hair. Even sitting down, he appeared tall about six feet, just a few inches taller then her. Jo also noticed that he had two scars, the larger one curved right over the collar of his t-shirt and the other was a thin line that went across his right cheek.37

“What happened?” Jo asked. 38

SharpShooter shrugged, “Where do you start…For us it was the end of the world. Things stopped working. Cell phones, pagers, digital planners, computers, they all just shut off. Cars and planes wouldn’t respond and then the artificial intelligence prototypes broke loose.” 39

“The car crash and the robots.” SharpShooter looked confused. 40

“I was carpooling with David and Jake and we crashed. That’s why we were in the hospital.” Said Jo, “The robots back in the arcade were the prototypes from the capital, weren’t they?” 41

SharpShooter nodded, “Wait, you say you were in the hospital? I had people check there, and besides, the machines check everywhere, everyday. It doesn’t make sense.” He cut himself off, “It’s late, Jo. You should get some sleep, tomorrow you and your friends are going to join the family.” 42

The next morning, Jo woke up with David and Jake by her cot. 43

“Morning sleeping beauty.” Said David. 44

“What’s on the agenda?” asked Jo as she stretched. 45

“Well, SharpShooter said he would show us some basics and then we would go with him to scout the city for more survivors.” Said Jake. 46

“What do I about this?” asked Jo, pointing to her sling. 47

“You shoot with one hand.” Said SharpShooter walking in suddenly, “Come on, let’s go.” 48

SharpShooter took the three friends to another part of the tunnel, handed them some pistols and a few extra clips each. 49

“Trigger is here, and this is how your reload.” David and Jake did it easily enough. Jo, on the other hand, had a little bit more trouble, but she got it eventually. “Unfortunately for you,” said SharpShooter, “ammunition is too scarce to waste on target practice. So we’re going to be putting you right on the field.” The trio realized that they had been walking to the exit. 50

“Isn’t there a huge chance that we’ll be killed?” asked Jake. 51

“That’s why you’re with me.” 52

“That’s how you got your name, isn’t it?” Jo asked. 53

“Exactly.” Said SharpShooter, “Aim for their heads, shoot any robot you see, we bring all survivors to the Keep. Most important of all, stay where I can see you.” 54

As soon as they got outside Jake and David ran around acting like James Bond. Jo just stayed close to SharpShooter. 55

“So everything…everyone is gone?” asked Jo. 56

SharpShooter nodded, “Everything we thought was going to last, culture, music, books… all gone.” 57

“My parents?” asked Jo, hopefully. 58

“The people in the Keep are the only nearby survivors that we know of.” Replied SharpShooter. Suddenly, they heard gunshots.59

Jo and SharpShooter found David and Jake hiding behind a wall. 60

“They’ve got people.” Said David. 61

SharpShooter took a peek from behind the wall, “Frak.” He muttered, “If we come out from behind this wall, we’ll be gunned down before we take one step. Not only that, they have 5 survivors. We’ll get the machines when they come out from behind the wall.” 62

“What about the survivors?” asked Jo, “We can’t just…” 63

“We don’t have a choice.” The four heard the machines coldly execute the five survivors, “Now, Jo, Jake, David, I want you to get away from here now! Run as fast as you can back to the Keep.” The three friends didn’t need to be told twice: they were nearly a block away by the time the machines emerged from the wall. SharpShooter shot the first one while running backwards. He fired a shot at the second one, missed and tripped on a rock, accidentally throwing his gun out of reach. SharpShooter got up and started to run to get it but the third robot shot him in the leg before he’d taken one step. SharpShooter waited for his execution as the robot stood over him. Instead, the robot fell to the ground. The last two robots followed suit. SharpShooter looked around for one of the experienced survivors like his friend Speed or RapidFire. Instead he saw Jo, standing about 10 yards away holding her gun. Jo ran over to SharpShooter while David and Jake tried to catch up. 64

“I thought I told you to get far away.” Said SharpShooter. Jo pulled a burgundy bandana with her initials in white on it and tied it around his wound. She looked at him, 65

“I did go, I just came back.” 66

By that time Jake and David had caught up and busied themselves reprimanding Jo, “The next time you pull of a stunt, do you mind giving us a heads up?” asked Jake. 67

“You need to be a lot less random.” Said David. Jo ignored Jake and David and helped SharpShooter up. 68

“Let’s get you to the Keep.” She said. 69

“Jo, how many shots did you fire?” he asked. 70

“Three.” She replied, not understanding why it was so important. 71

“Hold up for a minute, I want to take a look at the toasters.” He said, hopping over to them. 72

“SharpShooter, they’re dead.” But he wasn’t paying attention. He looked at Jo, then back at the machines, “You hit the bull’s eye.” 73

“Look, you’re shot and I really think…” 74

“Just look at this Jo.” He pointed at one of the heads, “You shot it right in the center of the core.” 75

“Whoa.” Said David. 76

“Can we just get to the infirmary?” asked Jo, slightly embarrassed, “You’re bleeding pretty bad.” SharpShooter conceded and limped, with Jo’s help, back to the Keep. 77

When they got there SharpShooter’s blond and blue-eyed friend, who was called RapidFire, directed them to a cot in the infirmary. 78

“You guys weren’t out too long.” She commented, “Did one of the rookies forget their gun was loaded?” she asked. 79

“Lady, we’re not stupid, okay?” said Jake. RapidFire rolled her eyes and started tending to SharpShooter. 80

“So, find any survivors?” she asked. 81

SharpShooter shook his head, “We found 5, but the tactical situation was terrible; we couldn’t do anything.” 82

“5 survivors?” SharpShooter explained exactly what happened. When SharpShooter told her about Jo’s deadly accuracy, RapidFire didn’t even bat an eye. 83

“Beginner’s luck.” She said as she walked away. 84

David was a little angry, “Like she can do better?” he asked, sticking his tongue out at her back. 85

“Speed?” SharpShooter called to a brown-haired guy who was probably in his early twenties, “Speed, I want you to take the recruits out again.” He turned to Jo, “See if you can make that aim repeat itself.” 86

It was basically a hunt mission. Speed explained that occasionally, if they found a toaster hideout, the survivors sent out a strike team to eliminate it. 87

When they reached their destination Speed gave a rundown of the drill, “Shoot all targets. There are never any chances of survivors here.” 88

He paused, “On my signal we’ll open fire. David you cover the left flank, Jake will take the right, and Jo…you’re going to take the center with me.” They took deep breaths.89

“NOW!” said Speed. David and Jake jumped out and each nailed a kill. Speed ran faster than Jo had ever seen anybody run, sneaking a shot every now and then. Jo… didn’t come out from behind the wall. 90

“Jo! Come on!” shouted Speed, “Open fire!” Jo just sat behind the wall, breathing hard and breaking out into a cold sweat. She only emerged when she heard David and Jake shouting for help. 91

Jo looked for Speed, but he was backing up with a gun to his head, “LEAVE THEM ALONE!!” she screamed, pulling her gun from the hip holster and shooting each of the machines in rapid succession. 92

“Nice timing.” Said Jake. 93

“Hey Jo,” Speed was walking over, “the next time you feel like showing off, do it without waiting until our lives are in danger.” 94

“She wasn’t showing off.” Said David. Speed just rolled his eyes, “Let’s head back to the Keep. We’re done here.” 95

When they got back to the Keep, Jo just went to her sleeping bag and cleaned her gun. Meanwhile Speed went to talk with SharpShooter. 96

“Hey Sharp.” 97

“Hey, how did the hunt go? Did you unplug any toasters?” 98

“We need to talk about the rookie you’ve taken under your wing.” 99

“I know Jake and David fool around, but with time…” 100

“I’m talking about Jo.” SharpShooter looked surprised. 101

“What did she do?” 102

“She’s a show off. She didn’t stick to the plan! Instead she waited until we were about to be killed to come out from behind that wall.” 103

“Look Speed… maybe she froze.” 104

Speed didn’t look convinced, “Sharp…” At that moment Jo walked in and Speed cut himself off, “Hi HotShot.” He said to Jo. SharpShooter looked disapprovingly at Speed. 105

“I have to go.” Said Speed after an awkward moment of silence. 106

“I think he’s mad at me because I froze.” Said Jo as Speed left, “He thinks I was showing off.” 107

SharpShooter pretended he didn’t know anything, “What happened?” 108

“I just froze.” Replied Jo, “I tried to tell myself to go, but my body wouldn’t obey my head. It wasn’t until Jake and David yelled for help that I was able to make myself do anything.” 109

“Between you and me, Speed hates you.” Jo shrugged, “He’ll get over it though.” 110

“Enough about me, how’s the leg?” 111

SharpShooter shrugged, “I’m pretty much good as new, just a little bit longer in bed.” Jo sighed, “Hey Jo…” she looked at SharpShooter, “Chin up Jo, everything will be okay.” 112

Jo left the infirmary and headed for the cafeteria. As she walked, David and Jake joined her. At the cafeteria, the three friends were viewed with suspicion, especially Jo. RapidFire brushed past her, 113

“Hi HotShot.” She said. 114

“Hi.” 115

“I’m glad to see how much you care.” 116

Jo bristled, “That’s not what happened.” She said through clenched teeth. 117

“Since you’ve been here we lost 5 survivors, SharpShooter has been shot, and today you put three of us at risk so you could get the spotlight.” RapidFire was pushing Jo towards a corner and more people were joining her. Jo looked around desperately for a friendly face, but David and Jake were nowhere to be seen. 118

“There are no superstars here, HotShot, and if you won’t consider the safety of the whole, we won’t consider yours.” Said RapidFire. Suddenly someone grabbed Jo’s hands and RapidFire let loose a slew of kicks and punches. Jo tried to curl up but she was held firmly in place. RapidFire dealt blow after blow. Jo could feel her eye swelling and a slow trickle of blood as someone shouted.119

“Leave her alone!” Jake and David fought through the crowd with SharpShooter limping behind them. 120

“What are you doing RapidFire?” asked SharpShooter. 121

“She’ll get us all killed.” Said RapidFire, “I’m doing what you don’t have the courage to do.” Members of the mob dragged the thrashing David, Jake and SharpShooter away. RapidFire threw Jo against the wall a few times then dragged her out of the Keep. 122

“You are no longer welcome here. Goodbye HotShot.” RapidFire dragged her beyond the outer patrol and left her there. 123

CHAPTER TWO124

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When RapidFire returned to the Keep, SharpShooter charged up to her. 126

“What did you do with Jo?” he demanded. 127

RapidFire scoffed, “You want to pick a fight, SharpShooter?” she asked, “It’s absurd: you can’t even walk right.” She gestured to the cane he was using. “Besides, you’re outnumbered. It’s all of us versus you and the two rookies. Unless you want the body count to escalate over one girl, I suggest you step aside.” SharpShooter glared at RapidFire before he left to find David and Jake.128

“Where’s Jo?” asked David. 129

SharpShooter shook his head, “She’s somewhere out there. RapidFire exiled her before I got there.” 130

“But… doesn’t that mean the toasters are going to get her?” asked Jake. SharpShooter nodded slowly. “Then that means we have to get her. Let’s go!”131

“If we go RapidFire will shoot us when we get back.” Said SharpShooter. 132

“What is her problem?” asked David. 133

“It’s the paranoia of survival. Like any trapped animal she’s willing to do anything to ensure her survival.”134

“But what about Jo?” asked Jake, “She doesn’t stand a chance out there.” 135

“That’s not true!” SharpShooter said fiercely, She’s got a gun, 3 extra clips and a sharp aim. Combine that with gut instinct and she’ll last for a while.” 136

“As long as she finds food and water.” Added David. 137

“She will.” Said SharpShooter, “She will.”138

-The Next Day-139

After being exiled, Jo had made her way to the remains of the grocery store which still had some food in it and bottled water. Once she had grabbed all that she could carry, Jo limped back to the hospital. Jo went to the back of the lobby, so she could kep an eye on the door, and munched on an apple. She looked at her gun and threw it across the room in disgust. I’m only 15. I’m not meant to be a soldier. She thought to herself, I’ll go to sleep and maybe something will happen to help me figure out what the heck I’m supposed to do next. 140

Jo woke up and heard desperate cries for help at the back door. Jo grabbed her gun and headed to the back window. A family of three was pounding as hard as they could and looked in fear at the three robots, which were bearing down on them. Jo went to a broken window, hesitated then shot the robot s before they could react. She waited to make sure the coast was clear before unlocking and opening the door for the family. 141

There were three people total, a mother, a father and their son. The mother had short brown hair that she covered with a red paisley bandana. Her eyes were a dusty hazel, more brown then green. The father had a huge gash on his head, blood was oozing down the left side of his head. The father had red hair with brown eyes. The son, about 10 years old, was clearly frightened, his blue eyes shook with fear and his red hair hid a few gashes but nothing serious. The mother was supporting the father who was apparently shot in the thigh. 142

“Can you help us?” she asked. Jo took the father’s weight and helped him to a hospital bed. “We were looking for provisions when the machines attacked.” Said the mother. 143

Jo put a bandage on the father’s leg. “I’m not a doctor, so I can’t do much. However I know where you can go.” She said, “Tonight you should rest here.” Jo picked the bullet out and rewrapped the bandage. 144

“Who are you?” asked the mother.145

“Call me Jo.” She said, “I suggest you and your boy get some sleep.” Jo left the family alone and went to check on her shoulder. The mother put the boy to bed then followed her. 146

Jo was fiddling with a mirror so she could she if she could stop using the sling. The mother came up behind her and held the mirror for her. 147

“Thank you.” She said. 148

“Don’t thank me yet.” Said Jo, “The people I’m taking you to tomorrow don’t like me. That’s why I’m alone.” 149

“So are they going to shoot at us?” asked the mother.150

Jo shrugged, “I don’t know, but here’s the way it will play out: I will escort your family to the Keep for as long as the border patrols will let me. Hopefully we will meet up a friend of mine who will escort you from there.” Jo tried rolling her shoulders without the sling and threw it out. 151

“What happens after that?” asked the mother.152

“When you get to the Keep you’ll meet a woman named RapidFire, do not cross her. Besides that, I want you to find three people: SharpShooter, David and Jake. Make sure you meet with them in private. When you do, tell them I’m okay and that I am in the hospital.” Said Jo.153

The mother nodded slowly, “I’ll do that.”154

“Right now, I want you to get some sleep. I’ll wake you up when it’s time to go.” Said Jo. 155

The next day the family and Jo had a light breakfast before they set out at a slow pace. The father had found a pair of crutches, since his leg was still unsteady, and the boy was a little calmer even though he still clung to his mother. The walk was uneventful, and the closer they got to the Keep the jumpier Jo became. She didn’t tell the family, but quietly Jo was afraid RapidFire’s followers would shoot them at. Fortunately, nothing happened; the company reached the entrance to the Keep without trouble. As Jo left the child turned back and mouthed a silent thank you. 156

SharpShooter heard people descending he stairs into the Keep and sighed in relief when he saw they were survivors. 157

“My husband is hurt.” The woman said. SharpShooter got Speed to take the man to the infirmary. He helped the woman and her son to some sleeping spots.158

“You should get some rest.” The woman got her son settled in then chased after SharpShooter. 159

“Excuse me!” she said, “Excuse me!” 160

SharpShooter turned, “Can I help you?” he asked. 161

“I was sent with a message.” She whispered. SharpShooter leaned in closer, “I need to find SharpShooter, Jake and David.” She said. 162

“Come with me.” Said SharpShooter, grabbing her by the wrist. They passed through the subway tunnels briskly. David and Jake joined them at SharpShooter’s signal. They went to the police station within the subway, SharpShooter locked the door, and introduced Jake, David and himself. 163

“I’m Anna.” Said the woman. 164

“What is it you want to discuss?” asked SharpShooter. 165

“Yesterday, my family and I were rescued from machines by a young woman named Jo.” Said Anna, “She asked me to tell you that she is okay and that is at the hospital.” SharpShooter’s hand strayed to his pocket where he kept the recently cleaned bandana Jo had tied around his leg when he was shot and fingered the letters that were there. 166

“Thank you very much, Anna.” He said after a long pause, “Thank you.”167

That night, SharpShooter, Jake and David volunteered for the first night watch. 168

“If Jo is alive we should go get her, now.” Said Jake. SharpShooter shook his head.169

“No. Not now.” He said170

“You said we would go when things calmed down.” Said David. 171

“I know, I know!” said SharpShooter, “But if we go, there will be a civil war.”172

“What?” asked David. 173

“Ever since the Exile, people have been growing dislike for RapidFire. They’re all worried that they’ll be the next Jo. If we leave and show that RapidFire can be disobeyed and is not as dangerous as she makes herself to be, the dissent will bubble and they will fight with her followers. We can’t afford that. Especially with toasters on the loose.” 174

“Has RapidFire gotten you so scared that you won’t even go? You owe Jo your life…” David was cut off when Speed came running out of the Keep. 175

“Hey guys, you’re going to want to hear this.” He said, “There’s a message coming over a wireless I patched up.” The 3 friends jumped up and ran down to hear the transmission.176

The broadcast was a little garbled but it cleared up when Speed banged the wireless on the wall a few times. 177

“This is President Ella Robbins, I am broadcasting from the capital of Washington D.C.” 178

David leaned to SharpShooter and whispered, “I thought the President was a guy.” 179

“Most of the cabinet was killed in the attack. I’m surprised there are any survivors in D.C.” SharpShooter replied, turning back to listen. 180

“This message is to summon all survivors to the capitol. Once there, together we will be able to strike out with strength at the machines. So please come with all speed to the capitol.” The transmission faltered then shut off. As soon it did survivors began talking amongst themselves. 181

“We need to follow the instructions.” Said RapidFire, trying to be heard above the crowd, “We’ll set out as soon as possible.” 182

David stepped forward, “Going to the capitol is suicide.” He said. 183

“What if there are more survivors here? If we stay we can save them. If we leave they’ll be left to the toasters.” Added Jake. 184

“I have decided. We’ll leave in two days.” The crowd dispersed and SharpShooter went to his sleeping bag. 185

“Why was Jo exiled?” asked Anna as she approached. 186

SharpShooter shrugged, “No reason really. A misunderstanding between Jo and RapidFire.” He said. 187

“You don’t want to leave without her, do you?” asked Anna, “You would rather risk your life for Jo then have the certainty of survival.” 188

“I would risk my life for any of my comrades.” Said SharpShooter, “If I can save other people, or just one person more worthy of survival than it’s a well made sacrifice.” 189

“You feel a sense of loyalty to her. More than what you feel for others.” 190

“No. I just…” 191

“I’m not trying to interrogate you, SharpShooter. You know yourself better than I do. But whatever you do, know that no one will blame you. We’ll support you.” Anna left SharpShooter with his thoughts. 192

As SharpShooter tossed and turned in his sleeping bag he felt something get tangled on his foot. He reached in and found a pendant on a black, satin ribbon. The pendant itself was a clover made out of 5 stones: a sapphire, amethyst, citrine, perridote, and a garnet in the center. On the back it said, “Jo, I will always be here for you.” At that moment, SharpShooter knew what he was going to do. He grabbed his pistol and a few extra clips. He thought about waking David and Jake but decided that it would be better for only one person to go. SharpShooter wrapped the pendant in Jo’s bandana, fingered the white letters, then left for the hospital. 193

By the time he got to the hospital, SharpShooter could hear gunshots. He run to the back door so he could look for Jo, but it was locked, “Jo! Jo! Are you in there?”194

* * *195

Jo could hear someone screaming her name at the back door. At the same time she was trying to fight off a never-ending torrent of machines and she was almost out of ammunition. The person at the door was still making a racket so Jo made a quick decision. She fired her last shots at the ceiling, causing it to collapse on the machines, then headed out the back door. 196

“Jo!” called SharpShooter as she burst through the door, “Jo are you all right?” he asked as he started running next to her. 197

“Yes, but we won’t be okay if we don’t get the heck out of here.” The pair started running as fast as possible to the Keep, “Do you have an extra clip?” SharpShooter gave her one, Jo reloaded then fired a series of shots at the robots. 198

“Come on!” As she turned to join SharpShooter one of the machines used it’s last thought to shoot Jo in the leg. SharpShooter ran back and helped her along. 199

“Come on.” He urged, as he took her weight, “A little father and we’ll be in the Keep.” Suddenly shots were fired from the Keep. One bullet whizzed past and barely missed SharpShooter. 200

“Make a hole! Shoot the toasters!” he shouted. Jo hopped as fast as she could as shots flew from both directions. Sharp Shooter ran ahead so he could turn and shoot. Meanwhile Jo hopped along but tripped and fell. SharpShooter shot three more pursuers before he realized that RapidFire was shooting and that she was aiming straight at Jo’ head. 201

“RapidFire!” he shouted. Before she shot, David and Jake rushed in and tackled her. 202

“Get off!” he heard Jo growl. She shot the machine but when it fell it pinned her down. SharpShooter ran over and tried to lift the robot off of her but to no avail. Suddenly a machine grabbed SharpShooter by the neck, another one retrieved Jo from under the metal corpse that pinned her down. David and Jake reached for their guns but the robots emitted a painfully high-pitched tome causing them to curl up with their hands on their ears. David and Jake watched as the robots carried Jo and SharpShooter away.203

“What were you doing?” David demanded of RapidFire, “We are all about saving what people are left, NOT killing the ones we don’t like.”204

“They disobeyed direct orders.” Said RapidFire. 205

“So, for saving one more person you would kill two people?” asked Jake. 206

“They made choices, now they just have to either live or die for them.” David’s anger boiled. 207

“We need to wait another day before we leave for the capital.” He said. 208

RapidFire shook her head, “No. We leave tomorrow as planned.” David’s hand went to his side arm, but Jake stopped him, and dragged him off reluctantly. 209

* * *210

The two machines threw Jo and SharpShooter into a large transport. The transport had a special kind of glass on the outside. When necessary, one could pass through it, however the machines hardened it and transformed it into a prison cell. Jo tried to put her hand through, but the glass wouldn’t let her. The transport itself was filled entirely with a blue and purple goop, reminiscent of a robot’s core. However, the pair of prisoners did not drown; merely found their motions slowed. SharpShooter made his way over to Jo, slowly but surely. Suddenly Jo cried out in pain; the goop sent a golden tendril into her wound. The goop itself seemed to pull the flesh apart as the tendril entered the leg then, suddenly, the wound was gone. Jo touched the spot tenderly but felt no pain, or even a trace of the wound. 211

It made her suspicious, “Why?” She asked, “Why are they doing this?” 212

“I’m just glad to be alive.” Said SharpShooter, “But you are right, there’s no reason for this. They’ve never taken hostages before, that we know of.” 213

“The fact that they have this transport suggests that they’ve been planning this for a long time.” Added Jo. 214

“The next question is what do they want in exchange for hostages?” SharpShooter shrugged as best as he could through the goo. 215

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good for us.” There was a pause. “So, why did you come get me?” asked Jo after a while. 216

“I had some things I wanted to return to you.” He said, pulling out the bandana and letting it sit on his open palm. Jo put her hand out, slowly, closed his hand around it, and pushed his fist onto his chest. 217

Keep it.” She whispered, looking him straight in the eye, “You might need it.” 218

SharpShooter nodded, “Well then take this,” he said handing her the pendant, “I found it in your sleeping bag. 219

“Thank you.” Said Jo, “So what’s the plan?” she asked, changing the subject. 220

“Well… we’ll have to see where they take us, how many of them there are, what they want etcetera.” Said SharpShooter. 221

“Do you think they only want us so they can bait the others into a trap?” asked Jo. 222

“That’s the most probable thing. In which case, everything will be fine; RapidFire will never send a party after us.” 223

“What if she’s ignored? I’m universally hated by pretty much the whole settlement. But you… people like Speed are bound to come, especially when Jake and David tell them what RapidFire did.” 224

“We’ll have to hope that everything goes according to the plan.” 225

“What plan?” SharpShooter told Jo about the President’s transmission and how RapidFire planned to leave the next day. 226

“Hopefully they stick to that.” Said Jo. 227

“Here’s what I don’t get.” Said SharpShooter, “Washington D.C. is where the machines branched out from. Granted, there are other factories all over the globe, but why risk sending the entire country into the lion’s den? We’ll die on the journey, and don’t even think about sneaking past them to try and steal ammunition for our ‘last stand.’” 228

“Do you think it’s a trap?” asked Jo.229

“Shh!” hissed SharpShooter. The transport had stopped moving. Suddenly the glass and goo melted away. Jo and SharpShooter were left standing next to their two captors. Jo immediately reached into her holster for her gun but realized she had left it back at the Keep. 230

The closest robot emitted a series of tones that sounded like, “Foo, Ah, Leh, Oh.” 231

“I think he means ‘follow.’” Whispered SharpShooter, as he followed the robot over a hill. Jo and SharpShooter jumped when they saw the sheer drop beneath them, which led to a crater. The robot emitted another message that sounded like “Enter.” Jo looked down at the vertical drop and, before she knew it, was pushed in with SharpShooter. They were both surprised when, instead of plunging to their deaths, they felt a strong wind cushioning their descent. The robots jumped down and pushed them into a hole in the ground. Jo let out a yell of surprise, and soon discovered that they were inside an underground cell. The hole shut, and the pair was left alone in the dark. 232

SharpShooter helped Jo up, “Are you alright?” he asked. 233

“Yes.” Murmured Jo. She kicked the floor a few times, “For such advanced prototypes you’d think they would use something other than holes in the ground for prison cells.” She said. 234

“Well, there’s no accounting for taste.” Said SharpShooter. Suddenly they heard a scuffle in the corner. 235

“Get away!” said a woman’s voice, “Go away!” 236

* * *237

RapidFire was rushing the departure for the capital, “the toasters know we’re here, they’ll send an attack force soon.” She reasoned. David and Jake tried to convince her otherwise.238

“We need to wait as long as possible for… other survivors.” Said Jake “We should at least leave a few people behind to direct them to the capital.”239

“No.” said RapidFire, “There is no one else. The people who stay behind are only going to be killed by the machines. No one will volunteer and I refuse to sacrifice the few people we have left. That is the end of it.” RapidFire walked away.240

“Let’s just hope that Jo and SharpShooter will make it in time.” Muttered Jake.241

* * *242

“I’m not going to do anything to you.” SharpShooter was trying to calm down their cell mate.243

“You just stay away from me!” Jo and SharpShooter had been trying to calm the woman down for almost an hour. 244

“Listen, we’re on the same side.” Said Jo.245

“Roommates.” Grumbled a voice from the corner. The woman yelled in surprise.246

“Who are you?” she asked. 247

“Someone you can trust, just like SharpShooter and his girlfriend.” Jo blushed.248

“Sleeper?” asked SharpShooter.249

“Yep.” Jo decided that Sleeper definitely sounded like an Australian 250

“We thought you were dead.” Stammered SharpShooter.251

“Well, the execution turned out to be imprisonment. Now we’ve got to get moving.” Said Sleeper.252

“Wait, what’s going on? Why are we here?”253

“The machines are trying to develop a new weapon, soon bullets won’t do any damage at all.” Said Sleeper as he ushered them into a tunnel. 254

“Some of the people here are V.I.P.’s that they use to set some sort of plan in motion.” Said the woman, who was suddenly a lot calmer. 255

“Quiet everyone! We’re right under the toasters.” Hissed Sleeper. 256

The tunnel took them into an arms room stocked with rifles, pistols, the whole works. Now that they were in a lit room, Jo was able to get a look at Sleeper and the formerly hysterical woman. Sleeper had red hair with deep brown eyes. He was wearing a t-shirt and khaki pants which had about a dozen pockets. Sleeper’s eyes darted all over the place, taking in his surroundings. The woman had wavy, shoulder-length, dark hair that reminded Jo of coffee before you added cream, or a dusty, black book. She was wearing a t-shirt over jeans with huge holes at the knees which revealed rainbow, striped, knee socks. 257

“Now,” said Sleeper, “Who is this fine young lady you picked up Sharp?”258

“Ummm…we….” Jo stammered. 259

“It’s okay, SharpShooter knows I’m joshing with him. I still want names though.” 260

“I’m Ella Robins.” Said the woman. 261

“You…You’re Ella Robins?” asked SharpShooter, “Did I hear you correctly?” he asked in disbelief. She nodded in the affirmative. “But in the broadcast…you said you were in the capital.” 262

“I know. Listen, it’s a trap! I tried to tell you guys. I mean, any common sense would have told you that!” 263

“We figured that maybe the objective was to hit them at their strongest point. Or maybe you had already disabled them slightly.” SharpShooter reasoned pitifully. “At least we know now.” He concluded. 264

“But RapidFire doesn’t. We’ll need to get to the Keep A.S.A.P.” said Sleeper, “We’ll tell them what’s going on and then let everyone else know via radio.”265

“RapidFire planned to leave today: we might be too late. Besides, she’ll shoot us on sight, even if we do catch them and don’t die in the process, she’ll never believe us.” Said SharpShooter.266

“She will if we bring Ms. Robins.” Said Jo.267

“Come on, we’re wasting time.” Said Ella. 268

“I think I can get us out of here, or at least to a better tactical position. So gear up and let’s go.” Said Sleeper. They grabbed some pistols and extra magazines before they went back into the tunnel. 269

“What I don’t understand is why they wanted us here. If they wanted us for target practice they wouldn’t have healed me.”270

“Any special talents or possessions?” asked Ella. 271

“She’s got a killer aim.” Said SharpShooter. 272

“But nothing else.” Insisted Jo.273

“Quiet.” Hissed Sleeper. Suddenly the tunnel was filled with light. “Someone want to turn that off?” no one claimed responsibility for it. 274

“Jo, your leg.” Said SharpShooter. Jo rolled up her slacks and saw that the part of her leg that had been healed was glowing, along with her pendant. 275

“Stop that or they’ll catch us!” hissed Ella. 276

“Too late.” Said Sleeper, looking up at a grating above them and seeing a robot looking at them. “Run!” 277

They crawled as fast as they could down the tunnel and eventually emerged at the bottom of the crater. Once they got used to the light they were left speechless.278

“Frak.” Said Jo: they were facing about 10 robots. 279

“I thought you said you’d get us into a better tactical situation.” Said Ella. Before she could get a response, Jo pulled out two guns. 280

“Jo, don’t…” Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! In a matter of seconds the robots were down. “Let’s go.” She said. They ran to the vents and floated to freedom. 281

CHAPTER THREE282

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RapidFire had scheduled departure for dawn and most of the survivors had already packed small bundles. Everything was going as planned, civilians would travel in packs while the trained ones formed perimeters and acted as guards. As the groups started filing away, David and Jake approached her one last time.284

“At least wait until dark, the machines won’t be able to see us then.” Said Jake. 285

“No. We’ve gone through this already. Thanks to Jo and, regrettably, SharpShooter, the machines know we’re here. Had we shot them down after they discovered us, I would have considered it.” 286

“If we had shot them down, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.” David grumbled, “Besides, whose fault is it that those toasters weren’t shot down?” he asked stepping forward.287

“Departure continues as planned.” RapidFire set her jaw, then left. David and Jake sighed. 288

“Come on! We need to get out now!” she shouted to the people. The remaining survivors grabbed their packs and started for the exit, however David and Jake threw down their bags and sat down. “Hey!” shouted RapidFire, “Let’s move!” 289

“No.” said David.290

“What was that?” she asked walking forward. 291

“I said ‘NO’!” he screamed. Jake walked up closer to David.292

“We’re doing what you don’t have the courage to do.” Said Jake, reminding RapidFire of what she had told SharpShooter before the exile, “We’re staying behind and waiting for Jo and SharpShooter.” There was a string of whispers through the crowd: leaving Jo in exile was one thing, but SharpShooter was a different matter. 293

“I’m going to tell you once more.” RapidFire took her pistol and put the barrel at the center of David’s forehead, “Drop it.” Jake started to back away to meld with the crowd but David stood firm. 294

“You want to shoot me? Go ahead. You want to waste ammunition and start a civil war, then go right ahead. Because I can guarantee you that if you pull that trigger that is exactly what will happen.” Said David, “And guess what? You’ll be the first to die.” Some of the survivors started to move towards David and RapidFire could tell she was losing control. Suddenly there was a gunshot and RapidFire’s pistol was ripped out of her hand. David turned in surprise to see Jo, SharpShooter and two strangers. Jo, David and Jake all ran to meet each other and collided into an embrace. Jo pulled away slightly and looked at David.295

“What are you doing, David?” she asked as a stray tear streaked down her face. 296

“I’m waiting for you.” He said. Jo suddenly realized that the Keep was almost empty. 297

“RapidFire, you have to call off the evacuation.” She said.298

“Why should I?” 299

“The message was a fake, it’s a trap.” Said Jo, walking towards RapidFire, “If we go, we’ll all be slaughtered.” RapidFire chuckled.300

“That message was sent out by the President…” 301

“Who happens to be right here,” Ella Robins stepped forward and the crowd stood in shock. “Jo is telling the truth.” RapidFire laughed.302

“You mean to tell me that this rainbow wearing woman is the president?” Ella ignored her and addressed the remnants of New York City. 303

“The message was a fake. The prototypes forced me to do it. I was not in the capital, and there is no chance of survival there.” She said. RapidFire looked around desperately but the people were against her. So RapidFire played her last card.304

“It is still unsafe here. Perhaps we should let HotShot and her crew figure out where we run to next.” She said.305

“The machines will continue to track us down. They’ll kill us one by one.” Added Speed, “We need a more permanent solution than just a new hideout.” RapidFire smiled. 306

“I’ll let you get started, Madame President.” Said RapidFire before leaving.307

Later that night, after Sleeper and SharpShooter had gotten all the survivors back to the Keep, Jo crept to the back tunnel to inspect her leg. She rolled up her pant leg and gasped when she saw that her thigh was mostly covered in a light-weight metal. Jo touched it with her hand and the metal spread, like some infectious disease, up to the shoulder. Jo looked at her coated hand, fearful of where it would spread to next. Jo rolled down her pants and pulled her sleeve down and went to go see her companions. “Guys, check this out.” She said, revealing her hand. SharpShooter and Sleeper leaned in closer. Sleeper looked at the arm and said, “Definitely a toaster product.”308

“What makes you so sure?” asked David.309

“This indent.” Sleeper pointed to the back of her hand were the shape of a four-leaf clover was imprinted. “That sign is on every single toaster hideout, factory and prototype. Rumor has it that the Designer made a Key that fits into that indent. When the Key is placed inside it shuts down the prototype or factory.” 310

“Max, how did you find all this out?” asked SharpShooter.311

“I was a Sleeper agent, what can I say?”312

“Max is your real name?” asked Jake, Sleeper nodded.313

“So the only way to get rid of this” said Jo referring to the metal, “is to find the Designer who has the Key.” Sleeper nodded.314

“Although, the Key can fix a lot more than your leg. There are 5 toaster factories all over the world. If you find the Key and get the Designer take it to a factory you will shut down every single toaster that was manufactured there.” Said Sleeper.315

“In other words, the Key will guarantee the survival of the human race.” Said David. Jo peeled off her jacket and wrapped it around her arm.316

“Look, we don’t even know where the Designer lived, if he survived the attack or if he even has the Key. I think the odds are better that I’ll die with a metal arm.” 317

“Where did you get that pendant?” asked Sleeper. 318

“My dad gave it to me, he got it while away on one of his business trips.” Said Jo.319

“What did he do for a living?”320

“He was a website designer.” 321

“Can I see it?” Jo undid the ribbon and gave the pendant to Sleeper, who held it like it was the last thing on earth.322

“I think you found it.” He gave her the pendant again, “Only the Designer and his descendants can do it.” Jo took it hesitantly, then placed it on the back of her hand. The pendant latched on like a magnet and glowed brightly before the metal on Jo’s arm and leg melted away like water into the ground. 323

“Looks like your dad designed a lot more than websites.” Said SharpShooter. 324

CHAPTER FOUR325

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The next morning Jo went to inform the President about the Key. “Madam President?” Ella looked up from her sketchpad. 327

“How are you?” Jo ignored her question. 328

“Listen, we found a solution.” She said, holding out her pendant. 329

“Jo, a necklace isn’t going to save us.” Jo explained the Key’s powers, how her father was the Designer and that it was clear that the necklace was the Key. 330

“Well done.” Said Ella, “What do you suggest we do now?”331

“I suggest we enforce HotShot’s exile.” Jo clenched her fists when she heard RapidFire’s voice behind her, “I refuse to believe that HotShot didn’t know her father’s real profession. The fact that the Key presented itself so conveniently is also rather suspicious.” 332

“You enforce the exile and you’ll lose a sound victory against the machines.” Said Jo. 333

“Yes, what a strange coincidence that you are the only person on this planet who can “unlock” the factories. It’s a pretty good way to make yourself the hero, isn’t it?” 334

“What do you want me to do? There’s no way to prove it.”335

“Also rather convenient.”336

“Enough!” said the President, “RapidFire, allow me a word with Ms. Anderson.” RapidFire left after brushing into Jo.337

“So, your first target will obviously be Washington D.C. Sleeper will provide you with the information you need before you and your team set out.” Said Ella.338

“Why can’t I just take him with me?”339

“I’ve recently made him my Vice President; I need him in case the toasters fire a new weapon at us. As for your team…” 340

“I’ll take David, Jake and SharpShooter.” 341

“And RapidFire.” The President added, causing Jo to gape.342

“You want me to take RapidFire on my crew? I can’t work with her, and she won’t work with me. Clearly this mission is too vital… we can’t waste time by having two people constantly opposing each other on a course of action.”343

“You can’t run from your problems Jo. RapidFire will be on your team, end of discussion.” Jo groaned and went to tell RapidFire the news.344

“Pack up your gear, you’re on the team.” Jo tried to leave, but Rapid Fire caught her by the arm. 345

“Let’s get one thing straight, I am not going on an expedition led by you.” She said. 346

“You can take that up with the president.”347

“You actually take her seriously?” 348

“She’s the head of our government.”349

“There is no government, Jo. There’s only a woman who calls herself the President.” 350

“Regardless, she is in charge here. Throw out authority and you’ll thwart any chance we have for picking up the pieces once the dust settles.” 351

“Throw out your need for the spotlight and the dust might have a chance to settle.” RapidFire retorted. 352

“Listen, if this is about who gets to push the button then let’s make a deal. You come on this mission, follow my command and when the time comes you can try to unlock the factory.” Jo offered to shake on the agreement but RapidFire just walked past without another word, “We leave in the morning!” shouted Jo, with no response. 353

Jo went to find Sleeper. “Max!” she shouted, but he didn’t respond until she shouted, “Sleeper!” 354

“Hey!”355

“I called you….” 356

“None of us respond quickly to our real names.”357

“How come you guys all have nicknames?” 358

“Ask SharpShooter, he came up with it. Either way, I need to brief you on the factory.” Jo nodded, “So the factory is in the old Capital building, where all the inaugurations were held. After the new one was built they put the factory in there, it’s not much but it does produce all the toasters for North and South America.”359

“So where’s the Lock?” 360

“I don’t know. It’s either very obvious or deeply hidden in the factory.” Jo groaned. 361

“Is there anything else I should know?”362

“Security is going to be tight, try not to draw too much attention to yourselves. The longer you can hide, the better.” Jo nodded.363

“Wish you were coming.” 364

“You’ll do fine, just stick together, stay hidden and put that place under Lock and Key.”365

Finally Jo went to go see SharpShooter. “Is your gear packed?” 366

He nodded, “Ready to go when you are, so are Check and Balance.” Jo looked at him quizzically as David and Jake walked over from where they had been standing. “May I introduce, Check” SharpShooter tapped David on the shoulder, “and Balance.” He tapped Jake, “We’ll be accompanying you on your mission. Go double check your gear.” 367

David and Jake walked off and Jo started walking down the tunnel with SharpShooter. “So, how did the whole nickname business start?” asked Jo.368

“It’s just a way for us to face the day. The names help us put on masks and armor against the cold realty the toasters force us into.” 369

“How did David and Jake get their names?” 370

“From crossing RapidFire. Some of the survivors came up with it: David was a check on her power and Jake tried to balance it all out.” Jo nodded. SharpShooter stopped Jo, “Have you heard what they’re calling you?” Jo shook her head, “Aurora: Goddess of the Dawn. You signify the beginning of a new hope, one without the end of humanity.” 371

“Come on, SharpShooter, we haven’t even set out to D.C. and people already think I’m some sort of savior? I’m not… I’m just a girl who happens to have some talent and the Key. It could have happened to anyone.” 372

SharpShooter chuckled slightly, “It’s not like that, you’ve given us hope, that’s all.” 373

Jo wanted to change the subject, “Are you ever going to tell me your real name?” asked Jo. 374

SharpShooter smiled, “Eventually. Are you ever going to tell me yours?” 375

“You know it already. It’s Aurora.” Jo smiled and walked away. 376

The next morning Jo, David, Jake, SharpShooter and RapidFire set out for Washington D.C. They set out on I 95, one of the few roads still intact since it was barely used anymore. Jo send David ahead as a scout and lingered in the back. Secretly, Jo’s formerly encased leg was hurting. It had started with a slight throbbing but had transformed into a searing pain that shot up her leg with each step. She tried to avoid limping because she was afraid of what RapidFire would say, but SharpShooter suspected something was wrong. Before he could ask about it, David came running up.377

“We need to get off the road. Toaster patrol is coming this way.” 378

“How many?” asked RapidFire. 379

“No, we can’t fight. Sleeper said to keep hidden, besides we need to conserve ammunition and people.” Said Jo. She looked around for a place to hide and saw a barn to her left, “Let’s get to that barn over there and try to stay concealed. Check and Balance take the front. I’ll take the rear.” 380

“We both will.” Said SharpShooter. There was no time to argue; the toasters were starting to emerge over the hill so the five companions took off. Immediately Jo fell behind, SharpShooter tried to help her but Jo just limped as fast as she could to the barn. When they got to the barn they saw no signs of RapidFire. 381

“Get into the loft.” SharpShooter helped Jo up the ladder, knocked it down and flinched when it fell with a huge clatter. 382

RapidFire’s hand snaked out and grabbed the pair, “Not a sound.” She mouthed, pointing to a hole in the floor. They peered down into the room below and saw a horde of toasters beginning to stir. Jo’s heart leapt to her throat with fear as the toasters started heading for the door of the room and proceeding into the aisle below. 383

“Is there a room where we can hide?” asked Jo. 384

“Not unless you want to get fried.” Responded RapidFire. Jo looked around the loft for a window and started crawling to the window closest to the doorway. SharpShooter went after her and when she pulled out her gun. “There are too many…” he hissed. 385

“Hold my feet.” She said as she inched out of the window. SharpShooter did as instructed and held her feet as she hung out the window. Jo took her gun and shot at the barn door around the corner, SharpShooter pulled Jo back in while trying to make as little noise as possible. 386

“The toasters are leaving.” Said David. Jo crawled rapidly to the other side of the barn loft, looking for a way down. 387

“Aurora, look out, the floorboards are rotting over there.” Said RapidFire. But it was too late, Jo was already tumbling through the rotting floorboards. She landed painfully on her back in a spectacular crash. SharpShooter looked down in concern, but Jo had already gotten up and was now trying to drag the ladder over to the newly made hole before the toasters came to investigate the crash. 388

“Hurry!” said Jo as she lifted the ladder up. The others quickly joined her and they ran out the back of the barn. 389

“Let’s go!” shouted Jo, as they ran toward the Capital Building.390

“So much for staying undercover.” Said Jake as they ran. 391

“How much ammunition do we have?” asked SharpShooter. 392

“A few extra clips each, not enough to storm the Capital.” Said RapidFire. 393

“Let’s just try to lose them for now.” Said Jo. They ran as fast as they could to the piles of rubble that were scattered across the landscape. 394

They sprinted through the rubble and sprinted towards the Capital Building passing the remains of the Washington Memorial. 395

“Jump into the pool!” shouted Jo. 396

“What?” asked RapidFire. 397

“Just trust me.” They all jumped into the Reflecting Pool, thankful that the Pool was deeper than its original 30 inches at the sides. The water was dark and slightly cloudy from years of neglect. The five companions swam, underwater, to the deeper water at the edges. David started swimming around, frantically feeling the walls and floor of the Reflecting Pool. Jake grabbed David’s ankle and tried to tell him not to make ripples in the water by swimming. Jake tugged and gave an underwater grunt resulting in an explosion of bubbles. Everyone froze and looked at the surface for toasters. Suddenly there was an explosion of gunshots, bullets ripped through the surface of the water and embedded themselves in the bottom of the Pool. The Company looked frantically for an exit. David motioned them into a hole in the floor, they risked one last breath of air before diving into the depths. The hole turned out to be a winding tunnel. Jo tried to keep track of where they were in relation to the Capital Building but lost track of the turns. Originally the group swam at a moderate pace but as the tunnel continued with no end in sight they started to go faster and faster in hopes of finding air pocket somewhere, anywhere. Suddenly Jo felt a pain in her back. She looked around for blood but saw nothing. Suddenly SharpShooter was pulling her along the tunnel. 398

They emerged into an underground chamber with a small pool of water surrounding a drain. As soon as Jo shot into the chamber, the door to the tunnel closed. Everyone except Jo gasped for breath on the chamber floor. The chamber was large and had several smaller caves and a tunnel branching out from it. 399

“I can’t believe this place actually exists.” Said David, chest heaving. 400

Jake sat up, “You mean that was it?” RapidFire pounded her fist on the floor, 401

“What are you talking about!?!” she asked. 402

“There were rumors that at the end of the 21st century, the Reflecting Pool was deepened to allow for an underground passageway to be built. The Designer, Jo’s dad, had the passageway built as an escape route in case the Capital Building was ever attacked.” Replied David. Now that everyone had caught their breath, the five travelers investigated the tiny caves. Each one contained several sets of grappling guns, ropes and harnesses. 403

“Was your dad prepping for a rock climbing expedition?” asked SharpShooter. 404

Jo shrugged, “Wish he could have just left a note on where the Lock was. It would make this whole thing a lot easier.” She grumbled, “Everyone grab a set of gear, we’re moving out.” They each put the equipment in backpacks and set off into the tunnel. 405

The group soon found themselves in a huge hallway, which was part of the robot assembly line. They quickly ducked into a corner when they saw toasters approaching. 406

“So where’s the Lock?” asked David. Jo thought long and hard to remember if her father had ever said something that might be a clue as to where the Lock was. Suddenly it dawned on her, “We need to get to the roof.” She said. 407

“Are you crazy? We’ll be sitting ducks up there.” Said RapidFire. Jo turned to look her in the eye. 408

“My father always said ‘Before you can succeed you have to go up.’” 409

“Your father also said he should be able to make robots with A.I. and single-handedly put the human race on the list of endangered species.” 410

“For what other reason would he have left the climbing gear then to give us a way to climb the dome?” 411

“Then isn’t obvious that your father made this escape route because he anticipated an attack from his robots? Or rather planned it.” 412

SharpShooter was astonished, “Listen to what you’re insinuating, RapidFire.”413

“Do you seriously think I care?” 414

“Are we going to have an argument in the middle of a toaster factory? I’m the leader of this expedition and I say we go up. If you want a chance at that Lock I suggest you stop arguing and put on your harness.” RapidFire started to protest but could she that she had already lost the argument. So the travelers crept around the building until they were directly beneath the dome’s interior. 415

“How do we get outside?” asked Jake. Jo looked around for toasters while she took the grappling gun out of her bag. 416

“This is too easy.” Said SharpShooter, “You’d think the toasters would have more guards around the place that could potentially destroy them. He said, inching his hand towards his gun. 417

“Maybe they didn’t know about the Key.” Said Jake, hopefully. 418

“Let’s hope so.” Replied David. The five of them took their guns and aimed at the first level of open arches. As soon as they got up to the first tier, the companions knew that their hopes had been misplaced: there were at least a dozen toasters waiting for them. Jo, RapidFire and SharpShooter all pulled out their guns and started shooting, David and Jake quickly joined them. “I suggest you start looking for that clover because we are rapidly running out of bullets.” Said David. “RapidFire, come with me, the rest of you try to last as long as you can.” Said Jo, handing her extra clips to SharpShooter. “Let’s go!” Jo took her grapple gun and fired at the very top of the dome, near the statue’s pedestal; RapidFire followed closely. Gunshots landed nearby as the pair ran up the dome and climbed up the four pillars that held up the statue. 419

“Where do you think it is?” asked RapidFire.420

“It has to be on the statue.” Replied Jo, pulling the Key off her neck and making sure she had at least a few bullets left, “I made a deal with you and I intend to keep it.” Find the Lock.” RapidFire took the Key and searched the statue. Everything looked perfectly normal: a statue of a man holding a shield with stars on it. But as RapidFire looked closer she could see that one of the stars was in the shape of a small four leaf clover. Jo was starting to fire shots back as toasters started climbing up the come. 421

“You might want to hurry!” she said. RapidFire tried to place the Key on the Lock but it was repelled like two north charged magnets. 422

“It won’t go in!” she shouted. Jo, out of ammunition, threw down her gun and took the Key from RapidFire’s outstretched hand. No sooner had she taken it, then it flew out of her hand onto the Lock. The pair felt a rumbling beneath their feet and looked in awe as they saw that the space between them and the dome was now transforming into a giant power core. The Key glowed fiercely and the core melted away. Soon toasters were collapsing. The ones on the dome slid off and lay harmlessly on the ground. Jo took the Key from the Lock and faced RapidFire in awkward silence. 423

“Good job Aurora.” Said RapidFire, extending her hand. 424

Jo smiled, “You too.” As they shook hands, Jo suddenly felt like her entire body was engulfed in a roaring fire. She cried out in pain and let go of RapidFire’s hand. 425

“Aurora!” she shouted. Jo panicked when she realized that she was on the verge of falling off the pedestal, but it was too late, Jo was sent hurtling down.426

“SharpShooter!” shouted RapidFire. He turned to see Jo rolling down the dome. 427

“Check! Balance!” he called, quickly making calculations, “Give me one of the grapple guns, on my signal I want you to throw me away from the building.” David and Jake looked at him but saw there was no time to argue, “Now!” said SharpShooter as Jo started to roll off the lip of the dome. SharpShooter caught Jo in mid-air, and shot the grapple gun at one of the arches. The pair made it safely onto the first tier, but Jo was unconscious. 428

“I’ll meet you on the ground!” he hollered. 429

By the time RapidFire, David and Jake got down, Jo was back on her feet. 430

“Aurora, are you alright?” asked RapidFire. 431

Jo nodded slowly, “Let’s just get back to the Keep. See if you can find a car that we can use. Now that the toasters are gone, technology should be back to normal.” She said. Everyone except for SharpShooter went to look for a car. 432

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. 433

“No, SharpShooter, I’m not okay.” She moaned, “It wasn’t real.” 434

“What do you mean? I saw you fall.” 435

“It felt like I was being burned. In the tunnel my back felt like it was stabbed, my leg and now this! Don’t you get it? I’m feeling pain that isn’t there, that isn’t mine. It’s almost like it belongs to somebody else.” SharpShooter held her hands in concern. 436

“Listen, everything is going to be okay.” He said.437

“What if the person who’s pain I’m feeling dies? Would I die?” Jo was crying a little out of panic. 438

“Aurora, listen to me, you are NOT going to die.”439

“I’m scared SharpShooter. I’m scared.” Said Jo, her hands shaking slightly. SharpShooter enveloped Jo in his arms and let her cry on his shoulder, placing his head on hers and gently stroking her hair. 440

“Sh…” he said, “It’s going to be okay.” He whispered. Jo looked up at him with tear stained cheeks and dark blue eyes. SharpShooter brushed her hair away, put his hand on her check and looked her straight in the eye, “It’s going to be okay.”441

CHAPTER FIVE442

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The car drove up soon after and they returned to the Keep. When they arrived, there were shouts of triumph that echoed through the tunnels all the way to Inwood. The friends received pats and hugs… except Jo; she went straight to the infirmary. 444

Jo explained what had happened, “Well?” she asked, “What’s going on?”445

The doctor sighed, “It would seem that you are suffering from some sort of neurological condition that causes your nerves to experience nonexistent pain.”446

“Can you treat me?” asked Jo. 447

“I don’t have the proper resources. I’d have to go looking for it in the other hospitals, the search would take a week at least, and you…” 448

Jo nodded, “…and I have to go finish what I started.” 449

“I’ll go to the closest hospital to look for something.” 450

Jo shook her head, “I’m not dumb; everything that is of possible use is here already.” She sighed, “Is it going to get worse?” 451

The doctor shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m not a neurologist. I haven’t touched this stuff since residency over ten years ago. Sorry kid, I wish I had better news for you on your birthday.” Jo started to open her mouth, “Your friends told me your birth date when you first came in with that blasted shoulder.” He smiled. “Happy 21st birthday, Aurora.”452

SharpShooter, Jake and David went to Jo later on to wish her a happy birthday. “What did the doctor say?” asked David. 453

“He said I have a condition that he can’t treat right now.” 454

“Do you want to postpone Europe?” asked SharpShooter. 455

“No. I want to leave ASAP. We get a plane, cross the big water and never look back until we finish the job.” 456

“That’s a pretty tall order Jo.” Said Jake, “Four continents full of people who might not speak a word of English. How are we supposed to re-supply?”457

“Jake has a point, we have no idea where the Lock is going to be, or even where the factories are.”458

“We’ll find them.” 459

“I’m sorry Aurora, but we’re going to need a better plan than that.” Jo didn’t answer, just went to bed.460

Her sleep was bothered with the most perturbing dream, in which she had a bird’s eye view of being alone, in a room with SharpShooter. The room had no furniture, just a yellow bar stool in the corner and brown splatters in the walls. She looked around “What are you? Answer me!” he shouted, dealing her a savage blow to the head.461

Blood started to ooze down her head as she said, “We are…” she didn’t get a chance to finish, the man’s green eyes shone with anger, as he struck her again.462

“How do I get rid of you and your kind?” he asked, Jo didn’t respond and SharpShooter spat at her. He paused and then stepped forward, his hand flying to her throat, “Tell me how!” he ordered, crushing her throat in a tight grip.463

SharpShooter woke up as soon he heard Jo wheezing. He went to her side with David and sent Jake to go get the doctor. Jo was thrashing around in her sleeping bag while gasping for breath. SharpShooter grabbed a flashlight and shone the light on her face. David stepped back when he saw that she had bruises all over her face. 464

SharpShooter shook her awake, “Jo! Wake up! Jo!” Her eyes flew open and she panted for breath, then felt the sticky blood trickling out of the cut on her head. Suddenly the flesh closed together into brand new tissue. Jake came in with the doctor who felt her entire upper body, head and arms.465

“It’s brand new tissue, Aurora. It would seem that your tissue, for whatever reason, regenerates and heals much faster than normal. Not only that but, your shoulder, the one that was shot, there’s no longer any scar tissue.” Said the doctor.466

“What?” asked Jo, pulling the shoulder of her shirt away. 467

“A wound like that would heal with scar tissue, but the scar tissue from yours has disappeared since I examined you yesterday.” Jo looked at her shoulder, the bare skin glistening slightly in the light, “Either way, I’ll need to confiscate your knife.” 468

Jo looked around, “What? You all think I did that to myself?” she asked. 469

“There’s no other explanation, Aurora, this isn’t part of your condition.” Said the doctor. 470

“I didn’t do it though. There was this dream... or a vision…” She glanced at SharpShooter, not wanting to expose the details, “It’s like the pain in the dream became my own.”471

“Aurora, you need to think about this.” Hissed David. 472

“I don’t need to think about this, David. What I need is for you to believe me.”473

“Listen, the only way to believe you is to see whatever you think you’ve foreseen. But we cannot go running all over the place like that, it’s clearly absurd.” He leaned in closer, “I understand that this is not the life you dreamed about when you graduated, but it’s what we’re stuck with for now. Let’s just stay focused to the task at hand. Now get some sleep.” SharpShooter got up and left, David and Jake close behind. 474

The doctor started to leave before he turned around and said, “Looks like you lucked out after all, Aurora: God just gave you the best birthday gift in the world. Don’t abuse it.”475

Jo went back to sleep and dreamed she was at the Eiffel Tower. She was alone climbing up the supports. Suddenly RapidFire was standing above her at the top of the tower holding a syringe the size of her forearm. Suddenly RapidFire turned into Jo and there was an army of fake Jo’s floating over the top of the Tower. Then the real Jo realized that RapidFire had the Key and that she, the real Jo, was falling down…down…476

Jo shot up in her sleeping bag and realized it was only a dream. “We got a plane.” Said SharpShooter, startling Jo. 477

“You’re okay with the pilot?” asked Jo. 478

“I’m going to be flying so there’s nothing to worry about. All we need is a destination.” 479

“Paris.” Said Jo without any hesitation, “Reliable sources say that the Lock might be on top of the Eiffel Tower.”480

“Reliable sources.” Said SharpShooter, “Right.”481

Jo gave in, “Okay, I had a dream on the Tower, the Lock wasn’t even in it, but what better chance to see if these really are visions.”482

“Aurora, no.”483

“Well where do you want to look? The dream gives us a starting point. If I’m wrong then I’m wrong, but if I’m right…” she allowed a slight grin to sneak up. 484

“Fine. To the Tower we go. Are you sure there will be a clear runway?” Jo shrugged.485

“Worst case scenario, we’ll make space.”486

“Fine. We’ll leave A.S.A.P.”487

CHAPTER SIX488

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“So who decided on Paris?” asked RapidFire in the plane.490

“My father always wanted to go there.” A true fact, added Jo in her head, just not the real reason.491

“Your dad put a lot of himself in his work.” 492

Jo nodded ferociously, “You have no idea.”493

“So does that mean he was a homicidal maniac?” 494

“Hey! Cut it out.” Said David. 495

“So Aurora,” said SharpShooter, “Who do you look more like, your mom or dad?” 496

“My dad; my mother was a blonde.” They all chuckled slightly. 497

“Frak.” SharpShooter said suddenly. 498

“What? What’s wrong?” asked Jo, standing up behind him.499

“There’s no runway whatsoever.” RapidFire went to the back to check for any emergency evacuation equipment while Jo took a look out the windshield. She looked and saw that there was rubble strewn over the runway. The parts of the runway that weren’t cluttered were little more then craters. 500

“Looks like the toasters blew it up recently.” Said SharpShooter, he turned his head to look at Jo, “So, how exactly did you plan on making space?” She turned on her heels and went to see what RapidFire had found. 501

“There’s nothing here.” Said RapidFire.502

Jake joined them in the back, “We need to figure something out soon. We’re running out of fuel.” Jo’s mind was racing and her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.503

“Can we all swim?” asked Jo. They nodded, so Jo went back to the cockpit, “SharpShooter, land in the Seine.” 504

He twisted in his seat, “What? Have you lost your mind?”505

“Where else do you want to land?” hollered Jo as she left to gather her gear, “Everyone, get what you need and nothing else. Guns and ammo are all that matter right now. Everything else? Leave it, we’ll replace them later.” 506

“Brace yourselves everybody.” Said SharpShooter, and the plane crashed onto the Seine River. The plane sank slowly but surely as soon as it hit the water. There was a groaning sound upon impact. David and Jake went to the door and struggled to open it. 507

“I’ve got a better idea.” Said RapidFire, she took her gun and shot out the windshield at the front of the plane. The current rushed in, the companions waited for the water to fill the plane a bit before they swam out. It was hard to fight the current rushing into the plane, and the pressure was painful. Once they finally emerged at the surface, gasping for breath and with David and Jake holding their ears, Jo realized something. 508

“SharpShooter.” 509

“What?” asked RapidFire, Jo didn’t answer the question, she just dove back down into the river. Jo swam down as fast as she could. She saw that the plane had fallen nose down and that the nose was in a crevice in the bottom. Once Jo found SharpShooter, she saw that he had gotten tangled up in the harnesses located in the cockpit for the pilots. Jo tried to work on the harnesses, but the straps had wrapped themselves into knots. Jo realized that she was rapidly running out of breath and knew that SharpShooter wouldn’t last much longer, so Jo just pulled out her knife and slashed it. She pulled him out of the seat and worked him out of the plane. Jo and SharpShooter ascended as fast as they could without causing major problems. They surfaced near the shore and Jo dragged SharpShooter onto the bank. 510

Jo put her ear on his chest to make sure SharpShooter was at least still alive, panicking when she realized the rest of the team was on the other side of the river. She heard a faint heartbeat. So Jo put her hands on his chest and pushed to try and get the water out. “Come on.” She whispered before the water came sputtering out and SharpShooter’s eyes flitted open. He coughed a little, and his stomach heaved, thankful for every breath it could take. SharpShooter closed his eyes and just breathed, his hand on his stomach rising and falling with each breath. Jo herself was lying on the bank also, the dive had exhausted her lungs. She sat up after a few minutes and checked on SharpShooter. When she saw that his eyes were closed, Jo worried and started lightly slapping him on the face.511

“Hands off!” he said, smacking away her hand, and flipped her onto her back. 512

“SharpShooter, it’s me.” Said Jo. SharpShooter sighed and helped her up. 513

“Sorry.” He said. 514

“What happened to you down there?” 515

“When the water hit, it caused the cockpit panel to short. That and I didn’t realize the plane was going to sink so fast.” Jo nodded. 516

“Come on, we have to get to the other side, the others are waiting for us.” Sharpshooter looked uneasily at the river.517

“That’s the other problem.” He said, “I can’t swim.”518

Jo looked at SharpShooter slightly confused, “Why didn’t you say anything when I said to land on the River?” 519

“I told you, I didn’t realize the plane was going to sink so fast.” SharpShooter looked up at Jo sheepishly. 520

Jo smiled, “It’s okay, come on.” She said offering her hand. SharpShooter started to take it uneasily, then stopped and looked at Jo with uncertainty. “Just trust me. I’m a strong swimmer; I know what I’m doing.” SharpShooter exhaled and then took it. The pair walked into the water. “Just hang onto me, if your head goes underwater just hold your breath.” SharpShooter nodded. The current was gentle, so Jo was able to swim easily enough while keeping SharpShooter’s head above the water.521

When they arrived at the other side of the Seine, David and Jake checked in on Jo. RapidFire maintained a distance from the others. 522

“I hate to break this reunion up, but we’re about to be stuck in the rain. We need to move.” They grabbed their things and started traversing towards the Tower. When the rain started to fall RapidFire said, “My uncle ran a hotel nearby. We can probably find some shelter with him.” 523

“I didn’t know that you were French.” Said SharpShooter. RapidFire didn’t respond and just led the way. 524

When they arrived a bit later, the rain was pouring with full force. “Uncle Charlie?” called RapidFire as they entered the lobby. They saw an older, heavy set, man sitting on one of the chairs in the lobby. “Uncle Charlie?” asked RapidFire. The man jumped up and slowly staggered towards another chair. “Oh, geez.” Said RapidFire, putting away her gun and rushing to the front desk, searching desperately. Meanwhile the man was jumping around, waving his arms like a madman; David and Jake trained their guns on him. When RapidFire came back, she pulled out a syringe. Jo tensed at the sight of the needle. 525

SharpShooter put his hand on her arm, “You okay?” Jo swallowed and nodded, when she saw RapidFire administer the medicine to the man. 526

“Uncle Charles?” the man suddenly sat up straight.527

“Margaret?” he asked, “What are you doing here?” RapidFire motioned David and Jake to stand down. 528

“Uncle Charlie, how long has it been since you last took your meds?” 529

The man shrugged, “Probably a few days after the take over. How did you get here? And who are these people?” 530

RapidFire pointed to each person as she said their name, “Check, Balance, SharpShooter and Aurora.” 531

“Good to meet you. Charles Thatcher.”532

RapidFire explained everything to her uncle, who looked at Jo with awe. “Good luck to you.” He said.533

“Listen, we need to stay here tonight. We’re going to climb the Tower tomorrow.”534

“Sure Margaret. Take your pick of the rooms, they’re all open.”535

“Thank you, you guys get started. I need to discuss some things with my uncle.” RapidFire and her uncle sat down next to the false fireplace as the others left. 536

“How many syringes do you have left?” 537

He shrugged, “I don’t know. Why do you want them?”538

“I have an idea, something that could get our names etched in history. Something that might help erase our past indiscretions.”539

“Your grandfather did what he thought was right.” 540

“By joining a well known terrorist group and participating in a plot to kill all the world’s leaders simultaneously?” Charlie had nothing to say to that. “If you have any extra syringes I could use…” Charlie nodded and left. He returned a few minutes later with 10 brand new syringes, “I haven’t put medicine in these yet, so they’ll be safe for you to use.” 541

“Thanks.” Said RapidFire, taking them and shoving them into her bag.542

“What exactly is your plan?”543

“Just wait and see.” RapidFire started to leave but Charlie grabbed her shoulder.544

“Just make sure you don’t do anything you regret.” RapidFire shrugged off his hand and walked off. 545

In the morning SharpShooter got up and almost ran into Charlie. “Hey! I was just coming up to wake you and your friend… Aurora wasn’t it? Breakfast is downstairs, everyone else is already up.”546

“I’ll go get Aurora... she’s not, uh, comfortable with people she doesn’t know very well.”547

Charlie shrugged, “Suit yourself. See you downstairs.” SharpShooter walked down the hallway to Jo’s room which was only a few doors down. 548

“Hey Aurora?” he asked knocking. There was no response. SharpShooter noticed that the door wasn’t entirely closed. Concerned, SharpShooter slowly pushed the door open. He ran to Jo when he saw the state of the room, the lamp on the ground, blankets strewn all over the place. In the center of the bed, surrounded by blood stained sheets, lay Jo. As could be expected, with her healing powers, there were no wounds, but SharpShooter was, as also could be expected, extremely worried. “Aurora?” he asked, shaking her. SharpShooter withdrew his hand when he saw her open and unblinking eyes. He checked her breathing: nothing. Afraid that he had missed a faint breath, he also checked her pulse: once again, nothing. “Jo!” Or whatever your name is… Finally he stood up and prepared to deliver the news as he went down stairs. 549

“Is everything okay? Where’s Aurora?” asked Charlie. 550

“Well...” 551

“Good morning everyone!” 552

SharpShooter turned around and saw Jo standing there, alive and well, “Aurora, uh, are you feeling okay?” in a split second, SharpShooter decided to keep Jo’s resurrection to himself. 553

“Yeah, I’m feeling fine. Why?” 554

SharpShooter shrugged, “Oh, uh, just wanted to make sure.” Jo knew there was something he wasn’t telling her, but chose to ignore it. 555

“So, Aurora, I figured that you and I would go up to the top of the Tower while the others waited on the platform. 556

“No, Jake should come up with us.” 557

RapidFire conceded, “Fine, let’s go then. Grab your gear everybody.” 558

Jo and SharpShooter headed up to their rooms and as soon as they were alone, SharpShooter made sure that everything was okay. 559

“SharpShooter, where’s the fire?”560

“What on earth do you mean?” he asked, checking her pulse again.561

“I mean, what’s the big fuss?” 562

“Jo, when I came into your room to wake you up, you were dead.”563

Jo paused then said, “Very funny, SharpShooter,” then she realized that he wasn’t joking. “I was dead?” 564

“I checked your pulse, your breathing, everything…”565

“The dream!” SharpShooter raked his hand through his hair, “I know you don’t think much of them.”566

“No, Jo, you think too much of them.”567

“Just listen to me, SharpShooter, I had a dream and this time I saw... someone die.” 568

“So somehow that translates to your resurrection?” 569

“I don’t know, maybe I have some tie to the subject that I don’t recall.” Said Jo, shoving her gun into her holster, “Maybe the bond is broken, or maybe it means I’m going to...” 570

“Going to what?” asked SharpShooter, completely exasperated. Jo grabbed his hand and dragged him into her room. She went into the bathroom and came back with a glass of water. 571

“I’m going to need a favor from you.” She said, drawing her knife. SharpShooter backed away slightly. “It’s not for you.” Said Jo, taking deep breaths.572

“Jo, what are you doing?” he asked, she took the knife and slit her wrist then squeezed blood into the glass until the cut healed. 573

“Drink it.” She ordered, putting her knife in the sheath and shoving the rest of her gear in her bag, “If I die, the Key will be yours. So drink it.” SharpShooter drank the pink water and grimaced. 574

“You owe me one.” He said. 575

“Come on, we’ve got to get going before RapidFire suspects anything.” 576

The group walked off a few minutes later and walked along what was left of the Paris streets to the Eiffel Tower. SharpShooter worked his way up to the front of the line with Jo. 577

“So, what exactly have you been dreaming?” he asked quietly. 578

“I see the girl and Mark, and he kills her.”579

“That’s it? Doesn’t sound that bad.”580

“I wish they were all that easy to understand.” Said Jo.581

“You’ve had others?”582

Jo nodded, “I don’t like them.” 583

“Why not?” 584

“Because they’re making me not trust my team which is something that I cannot afford to do right now.”585

“Would you mind sharing?”586

Jo sighed, “I believe that RapidFire is going to pull some sort of stunt on top of the Tower. 587

“That’s why you didn’t want to be alone with her.” Jo nodded. “Are you sure you’re not jumping to conclusions a little?” 588

“No.” she said, violet eyes meeting green. “I’m not sure SharpShooter. I want to trust her, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time she hasn’t done a whole lot for me to not be suspicious.” SharpShooter walked a little uneasily. Jo put her hand on his shoulder. “Listen, it’s probably nothing. None of my dreams have been proven true yet, so don’t worry about it. Besides, I thought you didn’t believe in all this.”589

“If you are right, what’s going to happen?” asked SharpShooter, ignoring her last statement.590

Jo shrugged, “I’m not sure, it was so confusing. The only thing I can be remotely sure about is that someone will die and RapidFire is going to try and steal the Key. But there are a lot of other things in the dream that make no sense at all. Even stealing the Key… she can’t use it, it doesn’t work in her hand.”591

“Dreams are like that.” 592

RapidFire suddenly walked in between them, “I hate to interrupt but we’re here.” 593

The Eiffel Tower loomed only a few yards away. “Okay.” Said Jo, “David and SharpShooter, I want you guys to hang down using the harnesses and grapple guns. If anything goes wrong you’ll act as our gunmen, but don’t wait for gunshots. Stay alert at all times. Jake and RapidFire, you’re on me.”594

They started to climb the iron supports, attempting to avoid notice by not using the rather noisy grapple guns from D.C. They shimmied up slowly but surely. However, Jo found it suspiciously quiet. There weren’t even traces of machines on or around the Tower. “It’s underground.” Said SharpShooter from beneath as if he had read her mind. After a few hours of climbing they finally made it to the platform. Jo and Jake helped SharpShooter and David put their harnesses on. 595

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come up with you?” asked SharpShooter. 596

“Yeah. Just make sure you catch us if we fall.” Said Jo, trying to sound light hearted as she lowered him down. 597

Once David and SharpShooter were secured, Jake, Jo and RapidFire used the grapple guns to get up the spire. Unfortunately the Lock was not as obvious as it had been in Washington D.C. “Search the spire.” Said Jo. They twisted around the spire as if it were a May Pole. At one point, Jo was on the opposite side of the others and had a hard time seeing Jake and RapidFire. RapidFire looked for Jo and realized that they were in her blind spot. 598

She grabbed Jake and put her hand over his mouth, “Don’t make a sound.” She said through gritted teeth. Suddenly she heard Jo shout out, “I found the Lock!” and realized that it would only be a matter of seconds before Jo came back to their side of the spire. RapidFire took out her knife and started whittling at the rope in a way so that it would look as though the rope had worn through and snapped on its own. Once the fraud was established, RapidFire pushed Jake away and simultaneously slashed his rope. “Jo!” shouted Jake as he fell. Jo looked around and saw David and SharpShooter futilely trying to catch Jake. Meanwhile, RapidFire slowly reached into her pocket for one of her uncle’s syringes. However, Jo knew that every second she spent along with RapidFire decreased her chances of getting to the bottom alive. “We’re done here, move out!” she shouted, rapidly descending onto the ground. 599

As soon as she had gotten out of her harness, Jo ran to Jake, knowing that it was useless and that he was dead. David, SharpShooter and RapidFire joined her a few minutes later. 600

“Balance?” asked RapidFire.601

“Jake? JAKE!!!” screamed Jo, shaking him. 602

RapidFire approached her saying, “Aurora…” 603

“You stay away from me!” said Jo, her distress transforming into focused rage. “Just stay… away…from me.”604

“Calm down Aurora. The rope looks frayed, it must have just snapped.”605

Jo grabbed her gun and pointed it at RapidFire, “You murdering, backstabbing…” Jo stood up and was advancing towards RapidFire, suddenly SharpShooter grabbed her firing arm and pushed it down to her side. 606

“Jo, calm down. Look at me.” He said, turning her head to look straight at him then whispering, “You’re not going to accomplish anything by waving your gun around. I understand that Jake and David have been your best friends for a really long time, but think before you act. Okay?” Jo glanced at RapidFire then looked back at SharpShooter and nodded slightly. The four companions went to a nearby building, which looked like an old deli. 607

“What exactly do you think is going on, Jo?” asked David. 608

“I would ask RapidFire that question. How exactly did that rope become frayed, Margaret?” 609

“If you want to hang me go ahead. Think about it though, you’ve got nothing to justify my death besides your personal suspicions. How do you think that will fly with the President? Or anyone for that matter?” Jo clenched her fists and stomped off to the kitchen to look for food. David followed her while SharpShooter kept a watchful eye on RapidFire. 610

“What do you mean ‘ask RapidFire that question’?”611

“I mean that RapidFire killed Jake.” Said Jo.612

“She…What are we going to do about it?”613

“The question is what can I do. Shoot her?” Jo shook her head, “No, the only thing we can do is keep an eye on her.” 614

“What, and wait for her to kill all of us? RapidFire is nothing more then a jealous murderess. You’d only be carrying out justice, and taking care of your group. It’s your choice, but I’m pretty sure that SharpShooter would agree with me.”615

Jo took a deep breath and went back into the main dining room, passing out cans of soup she had found. 616

She stopped in front of RapidFire, “You still maintain that Jake died from a frayed rope?” 617

“Why wouldn’t I?” she replied. 618

Jo took her gun from its holster, “Margaret ‘RapidFire’ Thatcher, I feel it is my duty to discharge you.” She said, her voice shaking ever so slightly, “Is there anyone here who contests this?” SharpShooter started to reach out to push Jo’s arm aside, but he stopped himself. 619

Jo cocked the gun, “Those ropes, were brand new, RapidFire, they were never used: there is no way they could have frayed so quickly.” She said. A gunshot ripped through the air, but RapidFire still lived. 620

“I’m not going to kill you.” Said Jo, “There’s too few of us left… and I don’t want to be the same as you. I’m not going to be a murderer. If I see you again though, you will die. Now get out.”621

RapidFire fingered her gun with one hand, and the syringes with the other when she said, “You think you have it all figured out, that I’m some sort of heartless, power hungry killer. Look up the Thatcher’s in a history book when you take a break from your masquerade of control, maybe then you’ll get it.” With that, RapidFire was gone. 622

CHAPTER SEVEN623

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As soon as RapidFire had left, Jo realized that they had another problem. 625

“Hey, David, do you remember anything from your sailing lessons?” she asked. 626

“What’s wrong with a plane?” asked David.627

“Plane is on the bottom of the Seine and it is as impossible to take off from the airport as it was to land there.” Groaned SharpShooter. 628

“I remember a little, and auto-programming should be back online now that Europe is shutdown.” 629

“We’ll look for a boat in the morning, for now get some rest.” Said Jo.630

They each took a booth, and lay as comfortably as they could. After a few hours, SharpShooter became restless and decided to take a walk, hoping that the fresh air would help calm his nerves. As he got up, he saw the back of Jo’s head peeking out above the booth. When he went to investigate he found her, wide awake, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth. 631

“Are you okay?” he asked, sitting down across from her.632

“I’m scared Sharp.” 633

“RapidFire is gone, what are you afraid of?” 634

“I’m afraid that if I go to sleep, I won’t wake up again. I’m afraid that I’ll die again and that this time I won’t come back.”635

“That’s not going to happen.” Said SharpShooter.636

“I don’t want to die. I’m scared of what it will be like, whether it will hurt…” 637

“Listen, Jo, I’m sure that what happened this morning was a one time occurrence. I’m really sorry, I didn’t realize you were going to get so freaked out.” Seeing that his reassurances were not working, SharpShooter moved over to sit next to Jo and said, “I’ll make you a deal. You go to sleep now, and if you start to do anything weird, I’ll wake you up. Okay?” He took her hand and placed his arm around her shoulder638

Jo nodded feebly, “Okay.” She shifted in her seat and looked at SharpShooter before resting her head on his shoulder.639

As soon as her eyes closed, Jo had another dream. She was in Charlie’s hotel with SharpShooter and David. Charlie was taking them through the lobby to one of the closets. Jo could see that Charlie was saying something, but all she heard was the occasional mention of Margaret. Charlie opened the closet door and Jo observed that its interior was bigger then it should have been. 640

“It was meant for you. He said it would save time. That it would be an easier way to travel.” She heard Charlie say, as he slowly closed them into the closet. Suddenly she was in a void of darkness and Jo could hear a faint chant that was growing louder and louder: “rapidfire. RapidFire. RAPIDFIRE!” 641

“Jo, wake up.” SharpShooter was shaking her awake. 642

Jo sat up quickly, “What happened?” 643

“Nothing, you were just pounding on the table so hard you made the salt and pepper shakers jump. Was it another dream?” he asked, Jo nodded. “So do you have any idea where the next factory is?”644

“No, but I suspect Charlie might; we need to go see him.” 645

“Charlie as in RapidFire’s uncle?” asked David, joining the conversation. 646

“He has something for us.” 647

“Jo you’re absolutely insane!” David said, throwing his hands in the air, “RapidFire is probably there waiting for us.”648

“We outnumber her, and I don’t think Charlie is going to get involved.”649

“RapidFire got her name for a reason.” Said SharpShooter. 650

“Well, you’ve got me. So please, trust me?” David and SharpShooter reluctantly agreed and the trio set off for Charlie’s hotel. 651

About half an hour later, they opened the door to the hotel lobby, their guns drawn, looking for signs of RapidFire. 652

Charlie emerged from the kitchen with a “Hello.” He said, “Only three of you today?” 653

“Balance is dead and RapidFire is gone.” Said David, stonily. 654

“You have something for us.” Said Jo as she put away her gun, “Something that was meant for us.” 655

“Well that all depends on who you are.” Charlie said, his tone changing from casual to business like.656

“My name is Jo Anderson.”657

“Ah, William’s girl. In that case I do have something for you. Follow me.” Charlie beckoned them over to the fireplace. Once there, he turned off the flames and pressed one of the bricks. SharpShooter almost shot off Charlie’s head when the fireplace turned into an elevator. “Hop in.” he said. As the elevator traveled to the basement, Jo broke the eerie silence.658

“You knew my father?” she asked. The elevator stopped and Charlie flicked a few switches. Automatically, the walls, floor and ceiling lit up and Jo realized that they were made of the same material as the gooey prison the machines had used to transport her and SharpShooter. Whenever someone took a step their feet sank slightly and started slow oozing ripples. 659

“About 25 years ago, man came up to me and said my basement needed a touch-up.” Said Charlie, starting to answer Jo’s question, “ ‘Sure’ I said, I wasn’t using it at the time and he seemed like a gentleman. A year later he showed me this, said that his daughter, Jo, might come for it. In short, Ms. Anderson, your father was an odd customer to me. I didn’t know him well, but he seemed like a very smart fellow. I remember the day he left I said, ‘Take care of yourself, because you look like someone who’s going to take us places.’” Charlie pulled another large lever and a section of the floor and ceiling solidified into two white, perfect circles. “That’s your plane ticket.” 660

Jo stepped forward but SharpShooter stopped her, “How do we know you’re not tricking us?”661

“Why would I?” 662

“Your niece just pushed one of our teammates to their death; why shouldn’t we be suspicious?” 663

“Sharp, the Lock for the device is right here. If he traps us we’ll unlock it and bounce right out again.” Said David. 664

“This is too risky…” 665

“It was in the dream, and if we don’t do this, we wander up and down the African continent.” They stepped gingerly as they walked into the center of the circle and turned to face Charlie. 666

“Bon voyage.” He said. The circles glowed brightly, and the perridot stone in the Key shown resiliently against the white. Suddenly the room went dark, however the stone kept glowing like a beacon in the night. As time passed the darkness the three friends felt like they were being squished while they rode a 200 mile per hour roller coaster that looped around, dropped steeply and sent them hurtling in all directions. After a few seconds of traveling, Jo groped and grabbed her friends’ hands out of sheer terror. When they stopped whirling around, the darkness disappeared and they were left in a rainforest. David and SharpShooter immediately staggered a few steps away and puked violently. When they came back, Jo was poking around in the brush. 667

“How are you keeping your lunch down?” panted David right before he heaved again. SharpShooter walked up, he seemed a little queasy but not anywhere close to the degree that David was. 668

“So where are we?” asked SharpShooter.669

“I’m not sure, I haven’t seen most of these plants before.” Replied Jo.670

“Hey guys,” David pointed at a ring-tailed lemur hidden away in the trees, “We’re in Madagascar.” He said right before losing the rest of his lunch. 671

“Why Madagascar?” moaned David, the trio was now exploring the island looking for the Lock. 672

“Are you still feeling sick?” asked SharpShooter who, after the first bout of nausea, was completely recovered. 673

“I’ll feel a lot better if you tell me that the Lock is here and that we won’t have to go through THAT again.” 674

“This place has to be related to the Key.” Said Jo, “there’s no other reason for us to be here. The question is how we’re going to find the Lock. 675

“What about the dream?” asked David.676

“There wasn’t a hint there at all.” 677

“Well until you get your hint from fate or the forces that be, or whatever sends you these things, we need to scour this island for any sign of toasters.” Said SharpShooter.678

“Toasters and a doctor.” Said David as he dragged his feet across the ground. Jo turned to check on David and saw the terrible state he was in. He had a high fever, and was hugging himself as he grimaced in pain.679

SharpShooter approached Jo, “I think we should go back to Paris.” He said. “We should go back, treat David and get Charlie to clarify what it is that we’re looking for.” David stumbled and fell to his knees. 680

Jo helped him up as she said, “What about the trip? If this is what’s happening now…it could kill him.”681

“Searching blindly for the Lock could kill him too. The point is that we need to find help or David will definitely not make it.” 682

“Fine, we go back to Paris.”683

“Get down!” SharpShooter shouted, dragging Jo and David behind a hill. “Toasters.” He whispered. 684

“We could split up.” Said David, trying to stay focused longer than a minute.685

“No,” replied Jo, “We can’t afford to have anyone on their own.” SharpShooter craned his neck over the hill. 686

“Frak.” He said, “They’re surrounding the transport.” 687

“How many?” asked Jo. 688

He leaned up again to check then said, “At least twenty, but who knows how many are hidden in the bushes.” 689

“I can fight a few of them.” Insisted David. Jo doubted the truth of the statement but there was nothing else to be done.690

“Shoot a path to the transport and pray that it leaves quickly.” She looked over the hill then shouted, “Go!” The three jumped up and fired off their first shots. The machines stopped patrolling and formed ranks around the transport. After a few minutes, Jo remembered that a majority of their ammunition had been on the plane. 691

“Anybody have an extra clip?” shouted SharpShooter. Jo’s panicked gaze met SharpShooter’s and he realized what she was trying to tell him: they weren’t going to make it. David, out of bullets, was wildly swinging a tree branch. Jo fired her last shot and drew her knife, frantically slashing a path through the machines. When they finally made it a few steps away from the platform, SharpShooter was almost dragging David’s failing body while Jo worked hard to defend them. They were one step away when one of the machines grabbed her knife away and shot at David. Jo threw her weight against its arm, ruined the shot and caused the bullet to graze David’s arm. The machine swiped at Jo with a massive blow to the head, knocking her onto the center of the platform. SharpShooter quickly dragged David onto the platform. Jo stood up shakily and looked desperately for the Lock that David had seen back in Paris, but it was gone. 692

One of the machines started to step on the platform, SharpShooter pushed it away shouting, “I can’t get David’s arm to stop bleeding! We need to go now!” Jo turned and saw David’s blood oozing out of his arm and suddenly felt something pulling at her neck, she turned to defend herself but saw nothing besides David’s blood…forming the now familiar four-leaf clover on the ground. Jo’s realization was short lived; the machine that had taken her knife now used it to put a deep gash across her back. Jo cried out and turned to fight as she felt the skin knitting itself together, but the magnetic pull on the Key was too strong: it was choking her to get to the Lock. As Jo was dragged along she was chased by the machine, which had her knife. She tried to fight, but by the time they reached the Lock, the robot was preparing to kill her. The Key pulled Jo down onto her back and embedded itself in her neck as it strained for the Lock. Jo gagged and clawed for just a trace of oxygen but failed and the world went black. 693

SharpShooter was looking down the barrel of a gun when suddenly, the machines all collapsed onto the ground. He heaved a sigh of relief before turning back to David. He arm was still bleeding profusely, despite the fact that the wound was minor. 694

“David. David, look at me.” David turned his head weakly to look at SharpShooter, his eyes were glazed over and his face was twisted with pain. Suddenly there was a quiet sizzling sound and David screamed out in pain. SharpShooter tore through David’s shirt and saw an oozing green substance making it’s way through David’s skin. SharpShooter reached for a nearby stick and touched the substance gingerly. The stick was dissolved bit by bit as the substance oozed up it in a search for something to devour. SharpShooter sighed, not only could he not stop the bleeding but, David was being eaten alive with acid. 695

“It must… must have been the trip…” said David, gulping and gasping with each word. 696

“Shush, it’s okay David. Just try to breath easy, you’re going to be fine.” Said SharpShooter. A tear escaped David’s eye as he alternated between gulping and panting. 697

“Don’t lie to me…” he said, “I know…what’s going…on.” Said David. His body shuddered as he whimpered, “I’m scared…I don’t want to… Please… Help me…” 698

SharpShooter sighed, “I can’t. I’ve tried, the blood won’t stop and I don’t know how to deal with the acid.” David’s face fell.699

“Just… promise me... something…” said David, fighting for one last moment.700

“Anything.” Said SharpShooter.701

“Just… take…care…” He swallowed, “Take… care…of her…” SharpShooter nodded, David grabbed his hand tightly, “Promise me…”702

“I promise.” David shook violently, and finally he stopped and lay still. SharpShooter blinked back tears and sighed as he closed David’s eyelids. He turned, expecting to see Jo, and realized that she was lying on the platform. With a flash he remembered seeing her choking for air. 703

SharpShooter ran up to her and saw the ribbon tightly drawn across her throat. He quickly untied the black satin and carried Jo over to the side, off of the platform. 704

“Aurora? Aurora! Come on!” he said, gently slapping her. He checked her pulse and breathing but he didn’t hear anything. SharpShooter picked up her hand, feeling the dead weight of it in his hand, forcing himself to acknowledge the truth: David and Jo were both dead. 705

For the first few minutes, SharpShooter sat by Jo’s side, fingering her knife and feeling the cold, steel tip against his arm. Every few seconds he waited for Jo to open her eyes like she had in Paris, he waited for her to live again and hoped that she would have another miraculous resurrection. He waited in vain. After a while, he turned to David, who seemed to somehow have stopped disintegrating, and said, “I’m sorry.” He ran his hand through his hair, and screamed in anger at the sky, at the trees, at anything that could hear him. 706

A few hours later, Jo opened her eyes again. She still saw the trees and felt the sticky heat of Madagascar. She started to sit up, but immediately felt dizzy and laid back down on the forest ground. She turned her head to see SharpShooter kneeling by a patch of grass. 707

“Hey.” She said, he nearly jumped three feet in the air. 708

“Hey…How are you feeling?” he asked, trembling as he helped her sit up slowly without getting dizzy.709

“Like my head is being ripped apart.” She responded, “Were you able to patch David up?”710

SharpShooter bit his lip, “David’s dead.” 711

“But he was there!” insisted Jo, “I saw him!” 712

SharpShooter shook his head, “The trip made him into a hemophiliac or something. I tried to stop the bleeding but it kept oozing out… When I checked his body, his stomach was being burned from the inside by some sort of acid. Between the acid and the blood…” Jo closed her eyes, took a deep breath then stood up and dusted herself off.713

“Anything else I should know about?” 714

“Well, primary concerns are food and ammunition.” He said, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he omitted her second death from his account. 715

“What do you suggest we do?”716

“It’s up to you.”717

“We could go back to France and ask Charlie exactly how to work the transport.” 718

“Assuming this thing takes us back to France?” asked SharpShooter doubtfully. 719

“It’s the only way off this island. Once Madagascar stopped being a tourist attraction, all the planes and boats went back to the mainland with any remaining residents.”720

“You remember a lot from school.” He commented, Jo shrugged, as they stepped onto the transport and Jo put the Key on the small indent and they were sent hurtling through once again. 721

Charlie was waiting in the basement, one hand holding a trash and the other in his pocket. When Jo and SharpShooter arrived, Charlie handed SharpShooter the garbage can, which he used right away. While SharpShooter spent the next few minutes burying his head in the can, Jo backed Charlie against the wall. 722

“Why didn’t you tell us?” she demanded. 723

“Tell you what?” cried Charlie. 724

“What exactly did my father tell you about this?” asked Jo, jerking her head toward the transport. 725

“He doesn’t know anything.” Said a British voice from the elevator.726

The voice came from a short, broad ma. His black hair was short and very curly, his eyes a dark crown. The face itself was an oval, his chain showing slight signs of stubble. 727

SharpShooter, now recovered, drew his gun, forgetting that it had no ammunition, and looked to Jo for an indication of what to do next. 728

“You,” she said, still pinning Charlie to the wall but looking at the new man, “You’re next, ‘Dad.’” 729

He lowered his gun, “Dad?!” 730

Jo let go of Charlie and sighed, “Dad, this is SharpShooter, SharpShooter, this is my dad William Anderson otherwise known as the Designer.” 731

“Nice to meet you, sir.” Said SharpShooter awkwardly.732

“Likewise.” Said William, barely looking at him and instead looking at Charlie who was readjusting his rumpled shirt. “I guess we’ll need to use a few more rooms.” Charlie left with a nod. 733

“So how do you two know each other?” asked William after an awkward silence.734

“Your Key.” Said Jo, setting her jaw, “That’s how.” SharpShooter quietly stepped to the side saying he was going to go look for ammunition. Jo barely noticed, she just sat down and cleaned her gun, waiting for her dad to make the first move. 735

“Must be a lot different from being a sculptor.” Jo looked at him quizzically, “You were a sculptor right?” 736

“Scientist.” She said, cutting him off and looking up at him, “Mary was the artist, and she was painter.” 737

“Oh.” There was another silence as William walked around the room a little before he said, “So… who is this SharpShooter?”738

“What do you want to know?”739

“Well, what kind of name is that? I don’t mean to pry, if it was Jake or David I probably wouldn’t ask, but when you fall for someone called SharpShooter…”740

“Jake and David are dead.” Said Jo, a shudder working its way into her voice, “And SharpShooter has saved my life on numerous occasions, which is more then I can say for either of us.”741

“What on earth do you mean?”742

“David and Jake are dead because of us. I should have watched RapidFire, I should have given David the blood… it saved SharpShooter… but I didn’t… why didn’t I think of it?” asked Jo, a tear trickling down as she wrung her hands. 743

“Listen, it’s not your fault.” 744

“And you…” she said, without skipping a beat, “You couldn’t stop long enough to realize the mistake you were making!”745

“Mistake?” asked William, “The machines are a major breakthrough and are helping us…746

“Helping what, Dad!?!” screamed Jo, “Look outside, the streets are empty, the human race is dying because of you. How could you think that killing thousands of people is helpful?” 747

“It was a job nothing more.”748

“A secret job.”749

“I only got it a few years ago.”750

“Don’t lie to me! I know you came here to build the transport 25 years ago, you had already designed AI and you were designing a way to shut them down before I was even born!” 751

“You look around Jo, natural selection has been completely bypassed: diseases are cured in an instant, birth defects, barrenness, everything has been dealt with. What those geniuses don’t realize is that they are tampering with the balance! The TimeKeeper gave me a way to help put everything back into place.” 752

“So this is your way of balancing the world? By joining the TimeKeeper? She’s a political assassin, she chooses who is fit to live and who isn’t. You two think that you can play God?” 753

SharpShooter came in holding a plastic bag full of extra ammunition, “What’s going on here?” he asked when he saw the stand off between Jo and her father. 754

“Nothing of your concern.” Said William brusquely. SharpShooter left, slightly taken back by William’s curt response. 755

“That’s a nice way to talk to someone who has saved you daughter’s life.” 756

“You would have survived.” Said William confidently. 757

“Listen, Dad, all I want is for you to tell us how we navigate the transport. I’m 21; my friends don’t need your approval anymore.” 758

“All I’m saying is that you should be careful about who you trust.” 759

“You can’t play the omnipotent role with me.”760

“I’m never said I could, but I am your father.” 761

Jo shook her head, “No, you’re a monster.” Jo turned on her heels to go find SharpShooter.762

When she found him, he was quietly laying out the ammunition he’d found. 763

“Hey.” He said. Jo wiped her eyes quickly and nodded a hello to him. 764

“So this is most of what I could find.” There was an awkward silence that SharpShooter broke by saying, “Thanks.”765

Jo raised her eyebrows, “Hmm?”766

“Thanks for sticking up for me.” He said, a little louder but with a slightly guilty tone. 767

“It’s not a problem. My dad… he’s really lost it. Don’t take what he saws seriously. Once he shows us how to navigate the transport, we won’t have to see him again.” She said as much to herself as to SharpShooter. “So, you were listening that whole time?” asked Jo. SharpShooter nodded.768

“I was still a little suspicious.” He admitted, “But your dad is a good judge of character. My mother was…not the sort of person you’d want to know.”769

“Well what does that have to do with you?”770

“I’m just always afraid that I’ll turn out like her, that I’ll…” 771

Jo cut him off, “Listen, just because your mother did something you’re not proud of, doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically be the same way.” She chuckled, “If it does then I’m frakked. Listen, we’ll rest tonight and leave tomorrow morning.” Said Jo, grabbing some ammunition and putting it in her belt pouch. 772

“Please tell me we’re not waiting for one of your dreams again.”773

“We’re not waiting for one of your dreams again.” Said Jo sarcastically.774

“I’m being serious, Jo.” 775

“So am I.” Said Jo over her shoulder. It wasn’t until Jo had left that SharpShooter realized with a chuckle that Jo had said ‘your’ not ‘my.’776

As Jo walked down the hallway to her room, she passed by her father.777

“The next stop is Australia.” He said. 778

Jo stopped in her tracks, “What?” 779

“I said, ‘The next stop is Australia.’” 780

“Okay, then I’ll go to Asia.”781

“You mean Australia?”782

Jo shook her head, “The only reason you want me to take the huge detour to Australia is so that your ‘helpers’ can have more time to purify the most populated continent in the world.”783

“That’s not the reason… you… need to shut down these factories in a certain order otherwise you won’t be able to finish the shutdown process.” 784

“Dad it makes no sense whatsoever. Asia is right around the corner, Australia is on the other side of the world!”785

“You argue too much for a Venus Venetian.” As he uttered the last phrase he locked eyes with Jo who looked at William, confused, but now with an attentive and subservient expression on her face. “Tomorrow, you will walk on the transport with your friend and press the amethyst stone. The transport will go to Australia. Once finished there, use the sapphire stone and you’ll arrive in Japan. Is that clear my Venus Venetian?” Jo went back to normal.786

“Why are you telling me this?” 787

“You were right, my helpers have done what they needed to do.” Jo shook her head and started walking off. “I am going to go with you?”788

“No Dad, you’re not coming, that’s non-negotiable.” She said without stopping or turning to look back. 789

[No matter, things are going as planned.] he thought to himself.790

Jo went to her room, the same on that she had slept in when they had come to shut down Europe. She took her loaded belt and gun on the table, next to the glass that SharpShooter had drank her blood from. She noticed that the blood stained sheets from her death had been changed and then her eyes fell on the glass that had held the blood. It sat there, innocently, taunting her with the fact that it could have saved David’s life. Jo stomped up, grabbed it and hurled it at the wall with full force, letting out a fierce scream. The glass shattered and water splattered everywhere then dribbled down the wall. SharpShooter came running in, having heard Jo’s scream and thinking something was wrong. 791

“I know you’re mad with your dad but…” 792

Jo interrupted him, tracing one of the water drips with her finger, “How much of the blood-water did you drink?” she asked absent-mindedly. 793

“All of it, why?” SharpShooter’s puzzled look turned into realization when he noticed the drips. 794

Jo and SharpShooter’s eyes met as they simultaneously said, “RapidFire.” 795

CHAPTER EIGHT796

11-1000-1-10000-10100-101-10010 101-1001-110-1000-10100 797

“What did you do?” Jo asked her father. 798

“What does it matter? One favor and then I sent her on her way.”799

“Listen, sir, the ‘favor’ you gave this girl could affect our entire mission.” Explained SharpShooter.800

William ignored him, “I couldn’t do nothing, she is Charlie’s niece.”801

“That niece killed Jake and endangered your daughter’s life on numerous occasions.”802

“Just like you will.” 803

“Dad! Just answer me truthfully, did you give your blood to RapidFire?” 804

“Yes, now if you’ll excuse me, it’s late and I would like to get some rest.” William left with a wry smile on his face: one way or another his plan would work. 805

“There’s nothing we can do about it now.” Said SharpShooter, “The blood let her get on the transport, so she’s probably either in Australia or Asia. When we run into her, which we’re bound to, we’ll deal with it. But tonight, just get some rest.” Jo nodded and they went to sleep in their rooms. 806

Once again Jo’s sleep was interrupted. She saw SharpShooter again. This time she saw herself sitting her knees, her hands tired in front her. In a dark corner of the room, there were two bodies covered by blood stained blankets. 807

“Your turn. How many of you are there?” when she didn’t respond, SharpShooter took a fistful of her hair and jerked her head back, “How many are there?”808

“Many.”809

“I want a number.”810

“Many. More then one.”811

“I know that, now do you want to give me a number?” He picked up a pair of pliers and yanked out one her fingernails. She let out a piercing scream, which turned into a churning roar as the perspective of the dream changed to first person and Jo suddenly found herself running with SharpShooter. She turned and saw an ever-growing forest fire almost chasing after them. Jo sprinted down, passing SharpShooter on the way. She heard SharpShooter stumble and turned to help him just as the inferno engulfed him. Jo threw caution to the wind and ran into the flames, to try and find her friend. The heat was intense, and branches were falling left and right but she didn’t care, “SharpShooter!?” she called. Finally she heard him let out a yell of pain, and was able to find him, pinned under a large branch. 812

“Jo, what the frak are you doing?” he asked, she ignored him and instead put all her strength to lifting the branch off of him. With some effort she was able to roll it off.813

“Come on,” she said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and hobbling out of the flames and intense heat. Once out, they collapsed, coughing and gasping for breath, in almost the exact positions they had been in after surviving the Seine. Suddenly SharpShooter started to gag and cough.814

“Sharp?” she asked, sitting up to see what was going on. He grasped at the dirt in pain, arching his back and clenching his teeth, “Sharp, look at me.” She said. Hearing his name he opened his eyes, revealing his pupils to be completely contracted. Jo saw smoke starting to rise from his chest and ripped open his shirt, prepared to do whatever it took to stop his violent reaction. What she saw was beyond comprehension. On his chest were live flames, shaped like ‘S’s, writhing all along his abdomen. She tried to smother some of them, but they just sprang back up again. 815

“I’m sorry, Aurora.” He said, with extreme effort. 816

“Sharp, listen, don’t worry about it, we’re going to fix all this.” He shuddered and the flames started to flicker and wane, finally he let out a long breath and, “Sharp? SharpShooter?” his head turned to the side and his hands relaxed and opened to reveal an ‘a’ written on each palm in bright, scarlet red blood. She took a step back, stumbling over a rock and she fell down almost in slow motion. Jo shot up seconds before she hit the ground in her dream. She swallowed hard, resting her head in her hands, rocking back and forth in her bed, trying to erase the images from her mind. Suddenly there was a light knock on the door, Jo jumped up and went to open the door. She only opened it a crack at first, afraid that it was her father, and then all the way when she recognized SharpShooter. 817

“Did I wake you up?” asked SharpShooter as he walked in. 818

Jo forced a smile and shook her head, “No, not at all. I was just about to come down.” 819

“I brought you some breakfast… Your dad is downstairs, and after last night I wasn’t sure...” Jo shoved her things roughly into her bag before turning to face SharpShooter again. 820

“You read my mind.” She said, “So, canned fruit again?” 821

He smiled sheepishly as he held out a plate with a napkin covering its contents, he took off the napkin to reveal a warm, buttered, bagel.822

“Charlie said he’d been hiding them; they’re one of his long-lasting ones.” Jo smiled as she took the plate gently from him and sat on the bed. She took one of the halves and bit into it, savoring the flavor. She offered SharpShooter the other half but he declined saying, “I already ate.” Jo shrugged as if to say, ‘suit yourself.’ 823

“So, did your dad tell you how to use the transport?” asked SharpShooter, after a few minutes to dispel the awkwardness. 824

Jo nodded as she swallowed the last few bites, “Easy as pie.” 825

“That’s a first.” Said SharpShooter causing Jo to chuckle slightly. 826

“You’re all packed?” SharpShooter nodded and they headed down into the basement. 827

Charlie flipped the switches and transformed the basement. 828

“Are you ready?” asked Jo. SharpShooter nodded, but she could tell he was paling at the thought. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you remember.” 829

“Me too.” He said, swallowing hard. 830

“You want to say good-bye to your father?” asked Charlie, noticing that William was nowhere to be seen. 831

Jo looked at one corner behind the elevator and said, “This is good-bye.” She let her hand drift up to her necklace and pressed the amethyst. 832

The trip was shorter then the ones between France and Madagascar. SharpShooter let his head hang down between his knees to dispel lightheadedness. Jo put her hand on his back and looked at him to make sure he was okay. 833

Once he was recovered he stood up, brushing his shaggy hair out of the way and said, “So, where exactly are we?”834

“Australia. I figured that if we go to Asia last, we could fly over the Pacific…” Jo knew the explanation was weak, but she couldn’t think of why she had come here instead of the Asia, the obvious choice. 835

“If you had a dream you don’t have to lie. I don’t like them, but they do work…” 836

Jo turned and saw the setting sun, “Well, I guess we should camp out here.” She said changing the subject. 837

SharpShooter realized how late it was and nodded, “I’ll see if I can dig up something to burn, won’t be much but it’ll work for tonight. You’ll be okay on your own?” Jo nodded and he strode off to the east. Jo set her bag on the ground and waited patiently, gazing towards the east. After a few minutes she wished she had gone with SharpShooter, it felt pointless to sit waiting. The desire for company only increased when she heard approaching footsteps. Jo turned around to see RapidFire, alive and well, with a smug grin on her face. 838

“You finally made it.” Said RapidFire. 839

“It would seem so.” Replied Jo, her eyes turning cold as steel. 840

“Your father was very helpful, for once. He gave me his blood and sent me here. Unfortunately he had to call back the transport and maroon me here.” 841

“What do you want?” 842

“I think you know. There’s no use pretending anymore I have the blood, now I want the Key and I think you know I won’t mind killing you to get it.” 843

“And I think you remember that I promised to shoot you if I ever saw you again.” 844

“But you won’t.” Said RapidFire, confidently. 845

“Even if you kill me, I have my assurances.” 846

“I assume you mean SharpShooter, who got his name from one of the most dangerous people.” RapidFire shook her head gently and sighed, “Oh! He didn’t tell you did he? I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” RapidFire chuckled slightly. Jo looked at RapidFire and saw SharpShooter creeping in the shadows, brandishing his knife for the kill. Jo had betrayed him with her glance; RapidFire looked to her left then glanced at back at Jo a second before she whirled around and wrenched the knife from SharpShooter’s hand. Jo simultaneously drew her gun and fired a shot. As Jo’s bullet met with her body, RapidFire lunged and gave SharpShooter a vicious gash across the stomach. 847

“Let’s see how your ‘assurances’ holds up…” said RapidFire in a mixture of groans and whispers as she staggered to the grown. As RapidFire exhaled her last breath, Jo staggered a bit herself, feeling sick to her stomach. SharpShooter wrapped his arm around his wound and walked over to her. 848

“Are you okay?” he asked, placing his free hand on her shoulder. She nodded then saw the blood oozing over his hand and remembered the wound. She gently helped SharpShooter sit down and reached over to grab her bag.849

“It’s not that bad.” Said SharpShooter, “I can patch it up myself…”850

“Move closer to me.” She said, ignoring his objections. He obeyed, wincing as he did. Meanwhile Jo was digging around in her bag for her flashlight and medical kit. Once she found it, she pulled out bandages, a needle and some thread. 851

“I can do it you know.”852

“Just let me sew, please?” asked Jo, sterilizing the needle in a bit of rubbing alcohol and gently pulling his arm away from the cut. “Give me your shirt.” She said, threading the needle and placing it on the bandages, “I need it for rags.” 853

“Yeah, I’ve got an extra one, but won’t a bandage be fine?”854

Jo raised an eyebrow, “Do you want to die? Just take off your shirt and let me sew.” SharpShooter was about to give another protest but, at a look from Jo, he took off his shirt. 855

The first thing Jo noticed was the smooth muscles that lined his torso. After that, she saw a brand. It was an ‘s’, a once inch wide strip of pale white skin which went from a little below the collarbone to his navel. The scar was now crossed by RapidFire’s gash. Jo didn’t comment for a few minutes as she grabbed a water bottle: SharpShooter futilely hoped that the scar had escaped her notice. 856

“Did it hurt?” she asked, dampening part of the shirt with her water. SharpShooter nodded, looking down at the dirt as Jo carefully washed the blood and grime away. He rested his weight on his hands when Jo started threading the needle. 857

As she started the first stitch Jo asked the inevitable question: “So, what happened?” When she noticed his reluctance she chuckled saying, “You can either distract yourself by telling me or you can watch me sew up your gut.” Jo turned on her flashlight and aimed it at the wound so she could see despite the fading light.858

“You know my name, SharpShooter, it came from long before the attack. I was in this... gang. My brother always told me not to, he said that once I got in I’d never get out, and that the consequences would spill over. Geez, must have had ESP or something. It happened 7 years ago, when I was 15. These people, they stormed into my house, my parents were home, but my brother Mark wasn’t. He was at an after school club. Anyway, they came in, and just because I was home sick, didn’t mean I couldn’t put up a fight. I tried to throw my knife at them but… the knife it stopped in midair and came flying past my face. I don’t even know what they did to my father, but my mother and I…first they tortured us, and then this.” He waved at the ‘s’ on his chest, “It felt like a forest fire condensed onto my body, like they had planted small flames all over me.” Jo shot up, could it possibly have anything to do with her dream? Did that mean that he wasn’t going to die, and it was only a prediction of this particular conversation? 859

She turned her attention back to SharpShooter, “Anyway, I woke up afterward in an alley or something, after that I left town. I couldn’t go back to the gang, not after what they had put my family through.” Jo tied off the last stitch and hastily put an extremely tight bandage around the wound. She sighed and started to put the kit back in her bag without meeting SharpShooter’s eyes.860

Jo tucked her knees under her chin, “Jo?” he asked.861

A small tear slipped down her cheek, glittering like a gem through the illumination of the fire, “I have my own confession to make.” She said. 862

“What do you mean?”863

“It’s about my dreams. Some of them are about you and me.”864

He tried to sit up, but winced as the raw flesh rubbed against itself, “What are you talking about? Nothing too perturbing, right?” she paused, “Jo, whatever you have to say, I don’t mind it.” He said, taking her hand.865

“You would if you had seen the things I have.”866

“Just tell me what happens.”867

Jo took in a shaky breath, a tear snaking down as she turned to face him, “We both die.” She said.868

“What?” he asked, “What are you talking about? How?” 869

She ran her fingers through her hair, “I don’t know! We know now that the dreams are real, but they don’t make any sense, because we’re in both dreams.” 870

“So what happens?” he asked tentatively.871

“Yours is more obscure, I’m not even sure that’s what the dream meant.”872

“And what about you?”873

Jo avoided his eyes, hugging her knees closer, “We have a rather violent encounter.” She paused and looked at him, “You kill me.” 874

SharpShooter sat up and cried out in pain, “Jo, I hope you know I would never do that to you. There must be some mistake.” He said as she eased him back down. 875

“I want to. But I do know that I’ve known you less then a month and that you were... I mean I knew you at school but, I didn’t even know your name.” 876

“But you know me now. I just want you to know that if I could do it all over again I’d do it differently. I’m not proud of what I did or who I was, unfortunately it’s done, and I can’t go back. But I can promise you this: I will never do anything to hurt you.” Jo sighed, leaned down, pausing a few seconds before kissing him on the forehead.877

“I believe you.” She whispered. Jo ran her fingers through his hair, smiling before she rolled over, “Just go to sleep, don’t let it worry you.” She turned off her flashlight and the pair went to sleep with their fingers still slightly interlocked. 878

As she drifted off Jo dreamed about the branding. She saw a younger, ganglier version of SharpShooter curled into a ball. His shirt was gone, and his entire torso was bloodied and raw. Suddenly the dream became an old memory. Jo was walking down the streets to school at 7 in the morning. She heard a banging in an alleyway, a few yards away. It sounded like someone trying to climb up a garbage dumpster. Jo stopped walking when she saw a boy, who she realized in retrospect, was SharpShooter, he had the same black hair, although it was more neatly cut. The boy looked around briefly and started to walk off, Jo noticed that he was bleeding as he limped. The boy walked down the street, away from Jo, when he had walked a few strides he stopped and turned to look at her. They held each other’s gaze for a few seconds until SharpShooter looked at his feet and loped off. The dream shifted to a glance at the empty chair in the high school assembly, next it moved to the missing person ad in the paper with SharpShooter’s picture. 879

Meanwhile, as Jo’s eyes flitted in sleep, SharpShooter lay awake, gazing at the stars above him while subconsciously continuing to hold Jo’s hand. He thought about the seven years he had spent on his own. After he had spent the night in the dump where he had been left bleeding and defenseless, he ran away. He remembered standing at the end of the alley, deciding whether or not to go back home. He thought about what had happened to his family, all because he had been stupid enough to join the gang. [Why didn’t I listen to Mark when I had the chance?] he wondered, [Well I won’t let history repeat itself.] he thought, and in the end SharpShooter walked out of the alley hoping to find some sort of redemption for what he had done. He wanted to gather the bloody shambles of his life and find his brother, to tell him that his prediction had come true: the consequences had spilled over. That’s when he saw the girl… he had seen her before: she was a freshman at his high school. He couldn’t remember her name, but he knew of her: she was a goody-two-shoes, one of those girls with no life that wanted nothing but good grades and an Ivy League education. He remembered her long, flowing hair that shone in the light. Compared to his bedraggled appearance, with a torn t-shirt, bloody body, she was a gem. But more then anything else he remembered the girl’s stunning blue eyes. They were the amazing color made famous by Elizabeth Taylor. Those piercing eyes had beheld him with so much pity and simultaneous conviction, as if to say [You know what you have to do. The choice is yours, but don’t let history repeat itself.] It was those eyes that had convinced him to go through seven years of lonely wandering. It was that gaze that had convinced him to leave everything behind. As the hours passed, and the memories flowed, SharpShooter eventually joined Jo in sleep. 880

Jo’s dreams continued until dawn, when she awoke with a burning pain in her wrists. She tried to ignore it, but soon she heard some one calling her name.881

“Jo, wake up.” Said SharpShooter, gently shaking her awake while pointing his gun at a figure roughly a dozen yards away. Jo jumped up and drew her gun faster than SharpShooter could blink when she realized that the figure was a machine. The machine waved a white shirt over its head as it walked up. SharpShooter started to cock his gun and aimed. 882

“Wait, he’s surrendering.” Said Jo.883

He looked at her incredulously, “First of all, when did these things get a gender? Secondly, it’s a machine and last I checked we were trying to shut them down.” 884

As if on cue the machine said, in a monotonous voice that echoed in Jo’s mind, “I have come to negotiate.” 885

“You see!” 886

“See what? All I see is that the machine is spitting out gibberish like a two year-old and that you somehow see that as further proof that it means no harm to us.” 887

“What do you mean ‘gibberish’? He’s monotonous but perfectly understandable.”888

“Remember the last machines that spoke to us? Well it’s like that, only backwards!”889

“But I can understand him.” Hissed Jo, “He’s saying that he only wants to negotiate.”890

“Fine, if you want to trust this bucket of bolts then you interpret, but if it so much as twitches I will shoot.” The robot put the shirt on the ground before advancing a few steps closer. 891

“I have come to speak to the Blue Dawn.” It said. 892

Jo translated to SharpShooter then said, “What have you come to negotiate, and who is the Blue Dawn?” 893

“The Blue Dawn is here, and bears the amethyst. The Blue Dawn has decided to flip the switch.”894

“I think you are the Blue Dawn.” She said to SharpShooter. 895

“Is this hypotheses correct?” When Jo nodded, the machine cocked its head to the side like a dog, “Why is this?”896

Jo didn’t bother to translate before saying, “Because the Designer has deemed it your time and also because you have killed many people.”897

“But that is what he told us to do. Just as he told me to negotiate with the Blue Dawn.” 898

“What’s he saying?” asked SharpShooter, upset that he was being excluded from the conversation, Jo held up her hand and the machine continued. 899

“He told us to kill and now he tells us to be killed.” He pondered this briefly before saying, “It is… confusing.” 900

Jo nodded, “My father, can be that way.” The machine straightened up before pressing his hands against his chest. SharpShooter prepared to shoot but stopped as two metal plates on the machine’s chest separated, revealing a Lock. 901

“If this is the wish of the Blue Dawn and the Father, may it be so. Here is your Lock.” Jo translated and SharpShooter was immediately suspicious. 902

“What if that Lock only shuts it down and not the continent?” 903

“I assure you that this is for us all.” Said the machine.904

“We have to try it.” Said Jo.905

“Well at least throw the Key, let the Lock attract it and then we’ll see if this thing is telling the truth.” She nodded her consent and untied the ribbon. Immediately the Key started pulling towards the Lock as it had in Madagascar.906

“This has to be it: the Key doesn’t pull this hard except for a factory.” She released her grip on the Key and it flew to the robot’s chest, knocking him down. As soon as the machine was unlocked, there was a blink in the landscape. Suddenly, the outback was transformed into a barren wasteland. 907

“Well, there’s your proof.” Said Jo.908

“Your dad certainly put a lot of time into this. A hologram simulating Australia as it was in the 21st century…” Finally, SharpShooter noticed Jo’s wrists, “What happened to you?”909

Jo looked her palms and then down to her wrists where she noticed two ‘s’ that looked almost seared onto the skin. The brands themselves were about an inch wide and two inches long, starting right below her hand. She suddenly felt a tingling on her back and felt it as best she could for anything suspicious: instead of smooth skin she found another burn in the shape of an ‘A.’ 910

“I don’t know...” she said, bewildered then in an attempt to change the subject she walked over to the machine, “He wasn’t a very good diplomat; he handed the Lock to us, no resistance, no objections whatsoever.” 911

“Well it made it that much easier to finish the job. Maybe your dad decided to give us a break for once.” 912

“Or maybe it’s a prelude to something that much worse.” 913

CHAPTER NINE914

11-1000-1-10000-10100-101-10010 1110-1001-1110-101915

Once they had eaten and packed their things, Jo and SharpShooter boarded the transport.916

“Please tell me this will be the last time…” said SharpShooter hopefully. 917

“Only two times. Listen, if anything happens to me, if you press one of the stones, the transport should take you back to D.C.” 918

“Nothing is going to…” he was cut off as Jo pressed the sapphire and they whizzed off once again. SharpShooter lost his breakfast as soon as they landed. Jo put her hand on his back to steady him as he lurched violently. 919

“Ugh, I’ll never get used to that. If anyone decides to mass produce that,” he pointed at the transport, “make sure I stop them.” He said, wiping his mouth and standing up straight. 920

Jo chuckled slightly, “You okay now?” 921

SharpShooter cleared his throat, “Yeah, let’s just get this over with. First off, where are we?” Jo looked around; they had arrived in some sort of airport, the floor was littered with garbage and the chairs all had jackets or blankets on them. She finally wandered over to a sign at the boarding counter that read “Welcome to Japan!” in bright red writing. SharpShooter came next to her. 922

He pointed at the sign and said, “If we have to swim over to the mainland, I will kill your father.” 923

Jo smiled, “I’ll hold him down.” She sighed, “No, odds are that the Lock is somewhere around here.” 924

“It better be.” They walked out of the airport into the streets, their guns drawn. 925

“Why aren’t there any straggling survivors or toaster patrols?” asked SharpShooter after a few minutes. 926

“Maybe they’re underground like in France…” she said, trying to avoid saying that all survivors could have been killed. 927

“Or they’re about to ambush us, because I know for a fact that our luck cannot be that good.” Said SharpShooter, raising his gun and cocking it to fire. Without warning, shots rang out and the pair found themselves in the middle of a complex crossfire. “Get down!” shouted SharpShooter, herding Jo into an alleyway. Once they had sufficient cover, they prepared for the onslaught to follow them, instead, the shots started to die down. They slowly poked their heads out to make sure the coast was clear. Almost immediately, someone clubbed SharpShooter on the head with a gun. Jo started to draw her own and shot the attacker before realizing that it was a human and not a machine. Someone grabbed her hand and started to drag her away. 928

“Wait! We’re friends. This is a big misunderstanding.” Jo cried, struggling as another man ran up to restrain SharpShooter. When it became clear that their attackers, although they were human, would not stop, Jo shook loose and rammed her body into SharpShooter’s attacker knocking him to the ground. SharpShooter, groggy from the blows to his head, staged up with her help and they started to run off. 929

“Don’t let her get away!” shouted one of the pursuers. Jo cried out as a bullet ripped through her shoulder. She slowed as energy was sucked into healing the wound, allowing her lead to shrink, in her desperation she reached up to her neck and untied the Key as fast as she could shouting, “Sharp!” He slowed and turned in time to see her throw the Key toward him seconds before she was overtaken. Once he caught it, SharpShooter started to go to help her, but one of the attackers, rushed up and pressed a cloth drenched in chloroform to his face. SharpShooter clawed at the arm but the chemical was too strong and he passed out with the sound of Jo calling “SharpShooter” echoing in his ears.930

* * *931

When she saw SharpShooter crumple to the ground, Jo fought her captors desperately, using her knife, nails, teeth anything and everything. Her plan worked until her mouth and nose were covered with a damp cloth. Jo’s arms went limp as she passed out. 932

“Boss better be careful with this one.” Said one of the men. 933

“They’re all the same to him.” Said another, kicking the limp form. The first man picked up Jo’s knife and gun as the others handcuffed and dragged her over to the shed where Mark did his work.934

A few hours later, Jo’s eyes opened sluggishly. She immediately tried to get up, but found her hands and feet handcuffed to a yellow barstool, forcing her to hunch over uncomfortably lest she fall over. She lifted her head to look around and study her surroundings. The room was devoid of any other furniture, the floor was covered with brown splatters, and on the ceiling there was a hook. Suddenly the door opened and a tall, black haired man stepped into the room. As soon as Jo saw him she realized where she was: the concrete surfaces, the stains, which were now apparently dried blood, and now SharpShooter was standing there, right in front of her. It was now clear to her: she was living her dream.935

“So, another day of work?” he asked. His voice was slightly gruffer then normal, and now that they were alone in this room, Jo was nervous, “Interesting scars…My brother’s gang-name had initials like those. S.S.” SharpShooter added absent-mindedly. 936

Jo broke the consecutive silence, “How’s the cut?” she asked, a nervous smile on her, looking him in the eyes as best she could despite the resulting tension in her neck. 937

SharpShooter scoffed, “Did your sisters tell you about their times here?” Jo started to sit up but winced when the handcuffs cut into her flesh. 938

“I don’t have any siblings; I’m an only child. You know that.” 939

“Really?” asked Mark with an amused tone. He pulled another stool from the door and sat with his back against the wall, “What can you tell me about the Mother?” 940

“My mother is dead, SharpShooter. You should know that too.” 941

“What are you?” If she had bothered to lift her head again, he would have seen her puzzled expression. 942

“I’m human.” She said after a few seconds. 943

“Do you know what you are?” 944

“Didn’t I just…” in the blink of an eye he knocked over Jo’s stool and sent her head crashing onto the floor. SharpShooter bent down and took the cuffs off the stool and instead cuffed her wrists and ankles together. 945

“Let the games begin.” 946

* * *947

SharpShooter woke up, lying down on the street, blood matted in his hair and dried on his face. He sat up slowly, the attack replaying in his mind. He opened his fist and gently stroked the Key with his thumb. [I need to find the Lock.] he thought to himself, [But Jo…] He looked at the spot where he’d last seen her and remembered the desperation in her eyes as she had thrown the Key. [If she gave me the Key, that means she wants me to finish the job… possibly because she thinks she’s going to die…] he thought of the dreams Jo had described to him, the pain and suffering and something occurred to him. [What if they were predictions in addition to windows at other people’s lives?] The thought made SharpShooter cringe. He looked at the engraving on the Key and closed his fist tightly around the Key allowing the gems to embed themselves in his skin. He stood up slowly, grabbed his gun, and what supplies he could carry before setting off in search of the Dawn. 948

* * *949

“Let’s just get one thing straight.” He said, circling Jo as she dangled from the hook, the top half of her body trickling blood which then dripped down her feet. “You give me answers, truthful answers, and I’ll stop. Until then...” he wrapped a bar of soap in a towel and used it to strike her stomach with full force. 950

Jo groaned in pain despite efforts to contain herself, “What answers to you want?” she said through clenched teeth.951

“Where is the Mother?” He asked, attaching cinder blocks to her ankles so that she would be pulled down by the extra weight. 952

“I told you I don’t know! SharpShooter, look at me.” 953

“Don’t say that name!” He cracked his neck and sighed, “Let’s try another tactic.” He ran his finger lightly down her neck, pushing Jo’s shirt away. She squirmed away, ignoring the metal cutting into her wrists, “Let’s take a peek, shall we?” he moved behind her and started to tear off her shirt, paying no attention to the new scar he discovered. Jo tensed, trying to find some way of keeping her modesty. He took the handle of his knife and pounded it into her back.954

“Stop squirming unless you want to make this next part a lot messier.” He took the sleeves of her shirt and let her hold up her shirt with her teeth. Next he took his knife and pressed the cold blade onto her skin.955

“SharpShooter, stop. What are you doing? Sharp...” she asked, taking in a sharp, shuddering breath as he slipped his hands around her, breathing into her ear and resting his hands on her stomach. 956

“What did I say about that name?” he whispered, holding Jo close to him as he ran one of his hands up her body, “Just sit back and relax.” He whispered into her ear. She let a solitary tear slide down her cheek as he kissed her neck while continuing to run his hands slowly along her torso.957

“Stop...” she said, trying to say the word without dropping her shirt. SharpShooter smiled knowingly, removing his hands and taking out his knife again. He reached up and made a deep cut across the back of Jo’s wrist, working quickly to slip his knife in and tear off a strip of flesh. He tore it with agonizing slowness down her arm, neck, back and then let it hang down when he got to her pants. Jo screamed through the fabric, biting down to distract herself as he repeated the process again and again until her arms and entire back, lay in bloody shreds around the elastic of her pants. 958

“You like that, don’t you?” he asked, tearing the last strip down. She leaned her head back in agony, “I guess you might prefer this.” He sheathed the knife again and took a playing card from his pocket before he started to run the edge of it in swirling patterns across her raw flesh. She screamed through the cloth again, trying not to let it drop. He moved to face Jo again, who’s tears and salvia were dripping down onto her shirt, which she was clenching in her teeth desperately. 959

He smirked at the fear in her eyes, “Now can you tell me about the Mother?” Jo shook her head, so he stepped forward, holding his hands lightly around her waist, “You can let go of that shirt now.” 960

She didn’t let go, but instead clenched her teeth tighter, so the man that Jo called SharpShooter, took his fingers and dug them into her back, “Don’t you have anything to say!” he growled, pressing his fingers harder, and running them up and down quickly, letting his sharp nails make new tears in the flesh, “Just, one little scream.” He said, thrusting even harder. Finally she let the shirt go along with a piercing scream. The shirt fell to the ground and he kicked it to the side.961

“Listen to me, remember what we talked about? You said you weren’t proud of what you had done.” 962

“Just shut up, will you! Stop talking to me like you know who I am.” He said, taking his knife and sawing through her pants, leaving her in nothing but blood stained undergarments. He took the dull side of his knife and scraped off the excess blood with it, like a squeegee, before shoving it back into its sheathe. He slid his hands down her arms and rolled down her underwear slowly, waving it in front of her face before tossing that away as well. Jo held back tears of humiliation as he finished peeling back the skin on her legs and back, hanging the strips of bloody flesh on her shoulders. She shrugged them off defiantly, letting them fall onto his head. This wasn’t her friend, or companion. This was some demon resurrected from the past, she decided. The man came to face her again and slipped his knife through her bra, letting it fall to the ground. He gently kissed Jo’s bare and exposed skin, slowly working his way down her chest. He ran his fingers lightly over the fresh new skin before reaching up and kissing her neck again.963

“Get the frak away from me.” She said, annunciating every last syllable. The man took his knife and sliced her across the stomach. 964

“I’ll do whatever I want with you.” He said viciously, “And right now…” he stepped closer to her, and held Jo’s warm body against his, as he simultaneously kissed and caressed her. At first Jo held her head high, trying to keep away, and in response, he made his way down to her chest. 965

“Breasts instead of lips?” he asked, sucking on her nipple gently. He ran his tongue over every inch of her breasts, ignoring her tears as he caressed them with his tongue.966

“You feel like telling me, now? Because we both know I can do this all day.” He said, before sucking gently on her flesh. Jo summoned up all her courage and dealt Mark a strong kick in the groin. He staggered then took out his knife and started to skin her breasts with painstaking slowness.967

“Listen, we’ve been here for hours now, where is the Mother!?!” her shouted, jerking away one strip of skin.968

“Please stop...” she whimpered, “No more.”969

“Then tell me where the Mother is.”970

“How can I tell you what I don’t know?” she screamed.971

“Very well, perhaps you need a little more incentive.” Mark said, pushing the dull side of his knife into her back before leaning forward once again to caress her exposed body. He started to massage her breasts, the way he had her back, while kissing her face. Jo tried to escape, but the pain: everything hurt.972

Suddenly, the door burst open and another SharpShooter was standing there with his gun aimed at the man torturing her.973

“Back off!” he shouted dropping his bag and trying not to let his resolve break at the sight of Jo. The man grabbed a whip from the corner and wrapped it around her throat, choking her. She gasped for breath, her eyes scanning the new SharpShooter with confused eyes: now there were two people in the room who looked exactly alike, one was killing her the other acting in her defense. Which one was real? 974

“I said, ‘back off.’” Said SharpShooter. 975

“Oh I don’t think I’ll be giving up so easy.” He said. With a flick of the wrist, he snapped his whip at SharpShooter’s hand, ripping the gun away and into his own hand. He pocketed it before snapping the whip around SharpShooter’s neck, and dragged him closer. He gave him a kick in the stomach, another in the head, knocking him to the floor.976

“I’ll assume this belongs to you.” Said the man, giving Jo another kiss, and dragging his fingers slowly down her bleeding breasts, “She’s a real beauty. Better then the others, I must say.” SharpShooter couldn’t take it anymore, so he pulled another gun out from his belt, charged up to the man and knocked him unconscious with a hard hit from the butt of his gun. SharpShooter wrapped his arm gently around Jo’s waist and lifted her off the hook, allowing her arms to fall over his head and cradled her with his arms, wrapping her in the blanket as he did so. 977

Jo started to yell and whimper again in pain out of a combination of fear and sheer agony. He gently held her in his arms and laid his chin in her hair, “Aurora, calm down. It’s me.”978

“Get the frak away from me! You monster!” she said, twisting out of his grasp, and letting out a cry of pain as she landed on the ground. Jo pulled herself to the corner and looked at the two men before her, her attacker slumped in the corner, and another impersonator coming toward her. 979

SharpShooter walked slowly toward her, “Aurora, just look at me.” He said sternly. She continued to pull away from him, leaving smears of blood on the floor, “Come on, we have to get you looked at.” Suddenly her eyes fluttered and she slumped on the floor. He sat up straight and without a moment’s hesitation, wrapped her in the blanket and carried her outside. Another man was outside the door, checking in on the commotion.980

“Get me a doctor quick, or at least some one who can help.” Order SharpShooter. The man gave him a puzzled look then ran off to obey his command. He carried Jo into a nearby building where people were strolling in and out. Everyone turned and stared as he passed by, one of them smirked, a knowing grin on his face as he pointed SharpShooter up the stairs to, what appeared to be, an old hotel suite. 981

Another, older man, came into the room, “Are you alright sir? I heard you needed me.” 982

“You need eyes, she’s the one that needs you.” 983

The Doctor stepped back, “I won’t work on that.” 984

SharpShooter tenderly placed Jo on the bed and groaned, “Then what are you here for. Forget it, just give me your kit and get out.” A sense of urgency had overtaken him, all that mattered was to make sure Jo recovered. The doctor tossed his kit at SharpShooter.985

“You might want to take some of that for yourself too.” He said, leaving the room and slamming the door behind him. SharpShooter caught the kit a few inches before it hit his face. He placed it on the bed next to Jo, pulled out the bandages and disinfectant before starting to gently cleanse the wounds. Her body was slowly starting to heal, new skin slowly creeping up her feet as he cleaned. He finally had worked the cloth gently through all her wounds, and started winding cotton around the bottom of her torso, propping her body up against his chest. Suddenly, her head, originally limp, rolled up and she saw the bed, and SharpShooter’s feet. Jo grabbed the blanket he had originally used and rolled off the bed, yelling out in pain as she dragged herself across the rough carpet. 986

He slid off the bed and went to her, “Jo, what are you doing? Jo come on, stop, it’s okay.” She backed herself up to the wall, her eyes wild with panic. 987

“Get away from me.” She said, annunciating ever syllable. 988

“Jo, I made a promise to you. I swear to you, I’m going to keep it.” 989

She held up a bloody arm, “Lies.”990

“That wasn’t me. I swear.” He said, his tone softening to a gentle whisper. Suddenly the other SharpShooter burst through the door.991

“What on earth is going on in here?” he demanded. Jo pressed her palms against the wall and SharpShooter stood in front of her. 992

“What’s going on here is that you obviously have lost your mind. What did you think to gain out of all this?” asked SharpShooter, gesturing towards the woman behind him. 993

“Forget about that. What I want to know is how you possibly slipped in here…” The two men finally took a good look at each other, pausing their conversation. Jo looked at them with furious eyes. 994

She reached up and grabbed SharpShooter’s gun, starting to aim, “I don’t care which one of you did it, or what the frak is going on here but I’m going to get out of here.” SharpShooter turned around and pushed the gun away. 995

“No, Aurora. Wait!” he hissed, holding her hand gently. 996

“Why should I? Why should I believe anything you say? How do I know that it’s SharpShooter and not a monster?” she asked.997

SharpShooter unbuttoned his shirt partway, pulling it open to reveal the curving scar. Their eyes met, and he paused before saying, “It’s me.”998

“Then who the frak is that?” she asked, her glance flitting toward the other man in the room, who still wasn’t saying anything. 999

“His brother.”1000

“Brother?” she asked in disbelief. SharpShooter wheeled around to face the other man. 1001

“Mark?” He asked. 1002

The other man nodded, “Been a long time.”1003

SharpShooter helped Jo over to the bed again, “Didn’t expect you to be here, or for this to happen.” He said, placing his arm around Jo.1004

“I’ll talk with you outside.” Said Mark, leaning on the doorframe. SharpShooter shook his head, readjusted Jo’s bandages and gently helped her under the blanket.1005

“I’ll be right back.” He whispered in her ear. 1006

She grabbed his arm, “I don’t trust him.” She hissed.1007

“He’s my twin brother, what am I supposed to do?” he asked turning to leave.1008

“Just be careful.” She said, holding onto his fingers until the last possible second. 1009

SharpShooter closed the door gently when he left, Mark was waiting outside for him. 1010

“I’m not very impressed with the company you keep. Listen, I know I gave you really bad advice when we were younger but, for your own good, ditch the girl.” Said Mark, starting to head down the hall.1011

“Oh come on, don’Mark, look at what you did to her? I’m not going to leave her, least of all now.”1012

“You cannot trust her. I bet you anything she backs out once you get to the bottom of the trench.” 1013

“She’s trying to save us all, and she would be doing that right now if it weren’t for you. But if you’re still hell bent on discrediting her, I’ll take full responsibility.”1014

“You think that after what you did I’m going to trust her based on your word? Mom was gone, Dad was dead, you reappear after seven years asking for a favor and you honestly expect me to trust this tramp that you brought in?”1015

“She’s not a tramp. She’s...”1016

“She’s not reliable.” Said Mark putting his hands on his brother’s shoulders but SharpShooter swatted him away. 1017

“Listen, Aurora has not done anything to invalidate my trust. She’s saved my life several times; I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her. I’m not going to just throw her on the side of the road like a piece of meat. In fact, I would readily give my life to her.” There was a pause before he corrected himself, “For… for her…” 1018

Mark sighed, “Fall for any girl but that one.” He said, pointing at the room where Jo was, “I understand why you like her, I used to feel the same way when I saw her…” 1019

“I assure you I have not fallen for Aurora.” Mark started to say something but SharpShooter put up his hand, “No, just tell me where the factory is so we can shut it down and get the heck away from here.” 1020

“Fine. It’s in the trench.”1021

“Thank you. I promise we won’t be bothering you much longer.”1022

“You want just leave again? After seven years? And how long this time ‘SharpShooter’? How long are you going to try and forget the other part of you for? How long!” Mark shouted at his twin until he went into the room again. 1023

“Everything okay?” asked Jo feebly, when SharpShooter came in, closing the door.1024

“Yeah, we were just catching up.” He said, sitting on the edge of the bed, “How are you feeling?” 1025

Jo held up her hand, “Well, it’s healing.” She said, watching as the skin crawled up little by little her arm. Mark opened the door and threw Jo’s stuff into the room. 1026

“Thought you might want these.” He said. SharpShooter stood up and picked up the bag he’d tossed. Jo realized that she was completely wrapped up in cotton bandages. She rummaged through the bag and found the extra set of clothes she had stashed back at the Keep. Pulling on the t-shirt and wiggling into the jeans, she stood up, starting to walk around. Suddenly she wobbled a little, SharpShooter ran forward to catch her.1027

“Are you alright?” he asked, holding her by the arm, “Come on, let’s get you back to the bed.” 1028

“Did Mark tell you where the toasters pop out of?”1029

“Marianna Trench. Listen, we can worry about Shutdown later, right now I want to focus on helping you get better.”1030

“Sharp, I’m fine, the skin is completely healed. Nothing at all to worry about.” 1031

“Jo, just take it slow. Please? I understand that you don’t want to wait, but we have to.” He put her arm around his neck and helped her over to a chair. 1032

“Thanks, I think.” She said, SharpShooter smiled, sitting in the opposite chair, “So I guess twin brother Mark isn’t a fan of me staying here.” Said Jo. 1033

“What?”1034

“All that shouting had to be about something.” She said.1035

“Don’t let it worry you. Mark… he was always the more instinctive of us.” Jo stood up to get something from her bag, “Aurora, is that such a wise idea?”1036

“No, but I really don’t care right now. I’m not going to sit here all day.” She shakily made it to the bed to pull out her jacket. 1037

“How about sleeping all night? Because it’s really late.” Jo shrugged and laid on the bed, then cast a worried look towards SharpShooter. 1038

“What about you?”1039

“I’ll be right here, don’t worry.” He said, yawning “Right…” Jo chuckled softly.1040

“And he’s out.” She said. Jo grabbed her bag and started to leave. She glanced back at SharpShooter smiled, and put her jacket over him, “Sleep tight.” 1041

CHAPTER TEN1042

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When SharpShooter woke up in the morning, the bed was empty. He jumped up, and grabbed his gun, “Aurora? Aurora!” he shouted. He opened the door, and nearly ran into her. He shouted out loud and she screamed. 1044

“Jo!” he reached forward and hugged her tightly.1045

“Sharp, is everything okay?” He stepped back, from her, shaking the water from his hands.1046

“Where on earth were you and why are you all wet?” 1047

“You got knocked out, and I went for a swim in the Trench.” She said, wringing out her hair.1048

“Don’t scare me like that again, please?” 1049

Jo smiled, “It’s a deal. Here’s the good news though: I found the factory. It’s not too far down either, about one breath down.” 1050

“I think you’ve forgotten one very important detail.” He said, trying to remind her about the incident in the Seine.1051

“No worries.” Said Jo, “I have a rope, and strong strokes.” She motioned for him to follow her and they headed out for the beach. 1052

Mark just watched solemnly until SharpShooter shouldered his bag and met his brother’s eyes, “I was hoping you would stay longer.” 1053

“I’ll be back, I promise. Once I drop Aurora off in New York, I’ll come back and we can catch up.” Mark rolled his eyes at the mention of Jo. 1054

“Just be careful down there, remember what I said.” SharpShooter started to cut him off but Mark kept going, “Just keep your gun drawn.” 1055

“Thanks for your concern. I’ll see you after.” 1056

Mark nodded, “Definitely.”1057

They embraced tightly, trying to make it replace seven years and more. 1058

“Good luck.” Said Mark. SharpShooter nodded his thanks and left. 1059

When he arrived at the beach, Jo was swimming around lazily, “Good morning!” she said, stepping out of the water to greet him, “Ready?” SharpShooter looked at the water skeptically. Jo grabbed a rope from the beach, tied one end around her waist and tied the other end around SharpShooter’s. 1060

“Just hold onto the rope.” They waded in the water, breathed deeply and then dived into the depths. Jo pulled them away from the shore with long, powerful strokes. SharpShooter tried to help by kicking his legs and waving his arms, but soon stopped, sensing that he was doing more harm then good. Jo fought the water with all her strength, and made immense progress, despite the slight, drag that SharpShooter created. Soon, they saw the factory’s glow, which got closer and closer. At first it was only a faint gleam, like a distant star in the water. As they swam it started to resemble a glowing sphere with a constantly, regenerative surface; a layer of goop was always oozing over the sphere. 1061

[Where’s the entrance?] wondered SharpShooter, starting to realize that he was starting to run out of breath. Jo stopped in front of the sphere, a confused expression on her face. She jerked SharpShooter around, looking for the translucent section she had seen the day before. She looked at SharpShooter and knew they were running out of time and that in a few brief moments he would have to take a breath, whether he wanted to or not. She started knocking on the sphere, looking for anything that could help. SharpShooter tugged on the rope desperately telling Jo that he was going to drown. Without thinking, Jo grabbed the rope, pulling SharpShooter toward her, pinched his nose and bought a few seconds by way of a kiss. He relaxed as the air came into his lungs, but she could tell he was surprised. Trying her last option, Jo took the Key and pressed it flat against the sphere. After a few moments, the sapphire started to glow fiercely, shortly before the oozing surface included them in the new layer and pushed them in.1062

The pair heaved breaths of thanks while simultaneously investigating the new realm they had landed in. Every surface was regenerative like the oater coat. The floors were a pearly white with purple swirls that moved of their own accord like food coloring, mixing with cake batter. The sphere itself had 5 tiers. The ones closer to the top and bottom were smaller, resembling a stretched out donut. But the center layer, only had a small hole punched in the center. In the center of the sphere, was a pillar of blue gel which flowed smoothly inside a glass tube. 1063

Once they had caught their breath, Jo and SharpShooter stood and drew their guns, waiting for a machine to pop out of anwhere. Instead, they saw a young woman walking on the level below them. 1064

“Do you think she’s a prisoner?” asked Jo, quickly untying the rope and tossing it aside. 1065

“No,” said SharpShooter, “She would have guards or something.” Jo peered curiously at the levels below and jerked her head toward them before jumping down to the middle level. She landed with a soft thud, and by the time SharpShooter had landed, Jo was already investigating the gel, noticing the patterns it made as it moved. 1066

“Where are the toasters?” he hissed. 1067

“It’s so weird isn’t it?” said a voice from behind the gel, “Very odd.” Said the woman, emerging from behind the column and stepping in between it and Jo. Now that they could see her face, the pair realized that she looked exactly like Jo except she had brown eyes and long, flowing hair that went down to her. 1068

“There are many odd things.” Said another woman who looked exactly like the first, jumping down from above1069

“Do you think she knows?” asked a third. 1070

“No but those eyes…” said a fourth. More and more women were emerging from niches and other levels to join the group, pushing Jo and SharpShooter farther and farther from the core until they were almost cornered against the wall. 1071

“It is as the Father predicted.” Shouted the first woman before ending her sentence in a whisper as she stepped forward from the crowd, “I am Kimbo, and these are my Sisters, Kim, Emily, Samantha and many, many more.” She said, gesturing to the crowd. 1072

“We’re glad that you’re here.” Said Kim. 1073

“It’s about time.” Said Samantha. 1074

“Okay, just stop!” said Jo, “We’re not here to be confused by you, we’re here to shutdown the machines. Can you tell us where this goes?” she held out the Key. 1075

Kimbo shook her head, “You really don’t understand, do you?” 1076

SharpShooter drew his gun, “Listen lady, you better start giving us some answers, now!” 1077

“You better control your friend; he’s here on our conditions.” Said Kim. Jo stepped toward SharpShooter, worried that the group was about to turn hostile. 1078

Emily turned to the crowd, “Our household is complete!” 1079

There was a brief round of applause before Jo said, “What exactly is going on here?” 1080

Kimbo smiled, “You’re home now, that’s what is going on.” 1081

“You’re one of us.” Said Kim. 1082

“In fact you’re better than us.” Finished another, unnamed woman. 1083

“What are you?” 1084

“We are the Daughters.” Said Kimbo. Jo remembered her interview with Mark and how he had mentioned “Sisters” and “the Mother.” 1085

She surveyed the crowd full of look-alikes while SharpShooter asked, “Have you ever met other people?” 1086

“We knew the Father. He made us all, said we were perfect but that the best was still to come.” 1087

“I miss William.” Said yet another anonymous girl. Everyone gasped. 1088

“Mention of his name is forbidden…” Explained Kimbo. 1089

Jo cut her off, “You knew my father?” 1090

“Yes, he was with us for awhile.” Said Samantha, “He taught us.” 1091

“What did he say?” 1092

“He said that we would live until the Mother came and put us to bed.” SharpShooter was the first to realize. 1093

“Jo,” he said, “Jo, you’re the Mother.”1094

The group stood up straighter, “You’re telling her out of order.” They said simultaneously. 1095

“The Mother is a very… different kind of person.” Explained Kimbo, “You are us and we are you. When one of us is hurt or killed you feel it as a mother feels the suffering of her children.” 1096

Jo exchanged glances with SharpShooter, [My dreams.] she thought to herself.1097

[The deaths, and the random fits of pain.] Thought SharpShooter. 1098

“You are our assurance that our kind will never die.” Concluded Kimbo. 1099

“What kind is that?” asked SharpShooter. All of the look-alikes pulled back their long black hair to reveal a symbol on the right side of their necks. Jo’s jaw dropped slightly when she recognized the clover. 1100

“So… you’re all machines?” The group nodded expectantly. 1101

“If I’m one of you,” she paused before reluctantly finishing her thought, “If I’m the mother, then I…” she whirled around, looking desperately at SharpShooter. 1102

Kimbo finished the thought, “…are also subject to the clover.” She put her hand out to Jo, “Welcome home.”1103

“There is one problem.” Said Samantha. 1104

“There is one who does not belong.” Replied Kim. 1105

Jo cast a panicked glance at SharpShooter when Emily said, “Perhaps we should cross out the one that does not fit with the others.” 1106

“Yes, we should.” Said Kimbo. 1107

“Wait!” cried Jo, “He belongs! I gave him my blood, he is one of us!” she shouted desperately. Samantha and Emily moved to separate the pair as Kimbo pulled out a gun and fired a shot at SharpShooter. 1108

Time seemed to slow, the way it did in really cheesy books. Jo’s heart raced, each beat pounding louder than the last. 1109

“NO!!” she screamed the word with all the fury and desperation that she could find in a body that she wasn’t even sure was real anymore. Time slowed more and more as her scream bounced off the walls, until she realized that it wasn’t time that was slowing, but the bullet. SharpShooter gazed at the bullet, frozen in fear, when it stopped an inch from his chest. Suddenly Jo felt something slipping off her neck as the Key untied itself and floated a foot in front of Jo. A tear carved a path down her face as she looked in confusion at the bullet and pendant, suspended in mid-air. Jo glanced at Kimbo, wondering if it was some sort of trick, suddenly the bullet whizzed back and embedded itself in the center of Kimbo’s chest. At the same time, the Key flew to the Lock, paused and then clicked into place. 1110

Jo groaned, feeling a punching pain in her chest and a ringing in her head. Her shirt suddenly felt damp, she looked down and saw blood inching like an amoeba around her chest. She took a last, glazed look at Kimbo and her sisters as they fell to ground, gasping, their hair forming a carpet of black on the top of the white and swirls of purple. She saw the hole that the bullet had put in the outer shell of the sphere before her knees gave way. SharpShooter caught Jo in his arms as she crumpled and looked desperately at the violets, wondering if it was the last time he was going to see them. 1111

“Jo! Come on, we have to go.” He said, casting a nervous glance at the water gathering by his feet. 1112

“The Key.” She whispered. He gently lay her down and tried to yank it off, but it refused to budge. Jo dragged herself over to a spot on the floor close to the core while he pried up the Key, pressing his thumb against the citrine and suddenly their section of the sphere separated into its own separate bubble. The new section soon went whizzing through space on a transport. They landed outside the Keep, which looked almost foreign after so much time away, but SharpShooter didn’t have time for that: Jo was fading fast. 1113

“Sleeper!” he yelled, jumping down the stairs two at a time while holding Jo. Sleeper came running out. 1114

“SharpShooter!” he shouted with joy. 1115

“Max, get the Doc down to the infirmary, now!” Sleeper saw Jo and ran off, while SharpShooter took her to the infirmary. Sleeper came back with the doctor a few moments later and SharpShooter placed Jo on a cot for the examination. The doctor looked at the blood oozing out of the wound and looked carefully. 1116

“Come on!” shouted SharpShooter, “Can you help her? Why isn’t she healing?” 1117

“Sharp, you have to calm down. I’ll do what I can, but you have to take your hysterics outside.” 1118

Sleeper lay his hand on SharpShooter, “Come on, let the doctor work. There’s nothing we can do right now.” He took him to a bench and sat down with him. 1119

“I don’t understand why she’s not healing…” 1120

“Well those prisons the machines used might have had something to do with it, maybe some of it got in her blood stream, perhaps it’s worn off…” SharpShooter stood up and started to tighten the laces on his boots. 1121

“What are you doing?” asked Sleeper. 1122

“If she starts to fade, let her know that I’m coming. Tell her to hang on.” 1123

Sleeper nodded, “Good hunting.” SharpShooter nodded and ran off as fast as he could to the machine hideout where he and Jo had first found Sleeper and Ella. He leaped over the fallen remnants of machines, looking for some of the goo that they had been trapped in. 1124

“Come on!” he yelled, frustrated as more and more time slipped by. Finally he found it, swirling around, oblivious to the fallen state of the hideout. SharpShooter grabbed a near-by bucket and scooped up some of the goo before sprinting back to the Keep. 1125

SharpShooter practically ran over the Doctor to get the bucket of goo to Jo. 1126

“Listen, I know you’re distraught,” said Sleeper when he caught up, but was ignored. SharpShooter just applied the goo to the wound. At first nothing happened; she just lay there until the goop oozed through the wound entirely. She started to convulse and thrase. 1127

“Hold her down! Keep her head as still as possible!” shouted the Doctor. The two men tried their best to keep Jo from biting her tongue off. Finally, after a few minutes of sheer terror, Jo relaxed. Her wound was completely healed. She went limp and SharpShooter bent down to check her pulse and breathing. The Doctor shook his head then turned to Sleeper. 1128

“Spread the word, we don’t want people to count their chickens before they hatch; shutdown celebrations will have to wait.” They left SharpShooter alone with the still form. 1129

“Come on.” He said, “One more time.” He stroked her hair, cursing himself for not being faster. Her eyes flitted open, her eyelashes lifting sluggishly. She started to sit up but he put his hand on her arm 1130

“Go easy.” He said. She lay back down on her elbows. 1131

“Whenever I wake up, you’re always standing above me with a panicked expression on your face.” They both chuckled. 1132

“Doc, Sleeper she’s…” then he remembered that Jo’s death was already being announced to the public. [We’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.] he thought to himself. At that moment, Sleeper came in. 1133

“He listen, you better…” he stopped when he saw Jo cautiously sit up and stretch, “Wait she’s…” 1134

“It’s a long story.” 1135

“I should say so.” Said Sleeper without taking his eyes off of Jo. 1136

“Good to see you Sleeper.” She said. 1137

“Can we talk?” he took SharpShooter aside, “What is going on?” 1138

“Nothing, it was just a false alarm.”1139

“Sharp, she was dead as a doornail. Word is out and it’s spreading like wildfire. You need to tell me what the frak is going on.” 1140

He looked at Jo and sighed, “Fine, but you have to keep this as quiet as possible.” So he explained to Sleeper as quickly as he could. 1141

“So Jo…” he nodded, “But why isn’t she shutdown?”1142

“Must have something to do with the gun wound. It must have separated her from the shutdown sequence… I don’t know, and to be frank, I don’t want to know because the more I find out the worse it gets. For all we know this Kimbo was lying.” Sleeper raised his eyebrow and he silently conceded. 1143

“Everything okay?” asked Jo. 1144

SharpShooter nodded then whispered, “You cannot let her know what happened.” 1145

The pair went back over to Jo who put on a smile and said, “Let’s walk around and see if we can scare up some familiar faces.” Sleeper made to object, but she was out the door before he could even gather his thoughts. 1146

Once again, Jo was welcomed with stares. 1147

Anna came up, “Jo, I thought you were…” 1148

“A little too good and popping up where she’s not wanted?” asked Speed, walking up to the group as Sleeper came in to try and stop things before they spiraled out of control, “First you’re dead, then you’re here alive and healthy. You want to know what I think?” 1149

“No Speed, I don’t.” said SharpShooter warningly. 1150

“What if Jo is a robot. What if she’s just another toaster run by a string of ones and zeroes?” 1151

SharpShooter pushed Speed back hard, “Back off Speed!” he shouted. 1152

“Hey it’s not my fault you fell for a toaster!” he taunted. The few people that hadn’t been listing, now gave their undivided attention to the conflict. 1153

“Hey! Take it outside.” Said Sleeper. SharpShooter and Jo detached themselves from the group. Sleeper caught her friend’s arm and the two exchanged glances, “Your choice, either way you lose.” SharpShooter shrugged off Sleeper’s arm but didn’t say anything. 1154

He sighed, he knew that his friend couldn’t deal with the situation wisely on his own. So he turned around and went looking for Ella. 1155

They brushed past in the corridor but before he could say anything she said: “Way ahead of you Mr. Snyder.” As she breezed past with determination, she had heard what was going on, and if anything was needed right now it was a good speech. Luckily, she caught SharpShooter alone. 1156

“Madam President.” He said. 1157

“Let’s dispense with formalities for now.” He nodded. 1158

“I heard about Jo.” She said, getting straight to the point, “How are you doing?”1159

“Fine.” 1160

“Do you have any plans for dealing with the present… dilemma?” he tensed, and she continued, “Listen, it’s not because of what happened in the Trench, it’s that right now we need everyone’s support.” 1161

“What do you mean this has nothing to do with the Trench? Without that, Speed would have no grounds and we wouldn’t have this so called ‘dilemma’.” 1162

“All I’m saying is that Jo can wait. She is not worth tearing the remnants of the world apart.” 1163

“We owe everything to her!” 1164

“But she can wait until the Speeds and RapidFires of this world are gone.” 1165

“If we stuck to that principle, women would never have gotten the right to vote.” 1166

“This is one girl, not an entire group of people.” SharpShooter seethed, so Ella decided to take a chance, “It’s safer for both of you if she disappears, lays low and if you stay here.” 1167

“Ella, I am not going to leave her on the streets and then come back here and pretend nothing ever happened.” 1168

“SharpShooter, you know what will happen I f the two of you continue whatever you started while you were abroad.” He started to object, but she didn’t give him a chance, “Worst case scenario, you will both die. The more probably outcome is that Jo will be killed in the night and you’ll lose her permanently. The choice is up to you, just be sure that you’re prepared for the consequences and risk if she stays.” 1169

“But on the street…” 1170

“She’s proven herself more then capable.” She paused, “I know it’s hard, don’t think for one moment that I think otherwise, but its something that needs to be done.” She made sure her point had sunk in before backing away and leaving SharpShooter alone. 1171

The next morning, SharpShooter grabbed the cleanest backpack he could find. He put food, water, ammunition, a first aid kit, a knife, and a change of clothes. In his pockets he put the Key and a couple of Atlanta Braves baseball caps. 1172

“Hey, Aurora, do you want to walk around the city?” 1173

Jo nodded with a smile, “Sure.” They departed from the Keep and walked toward the city buildings, or at least their remnants. They wandered by the destruction, marveling at those that had fallen as well as the survivors. SharpShooter hesitantly made his way to the alleyway, the one where he had first met Jo seven years before. 1174

“This is it.” He said with a tone of finality. 1175

Jo recognized the place immediately, “We didn’t have to come here.” 1176

“I know, but it’s the only place I could think of.” 1177

“We’re right back where we started.” 1178

“Yeah.” SharpShooter swallowed the phrase, wondering how he was ever going to say what he had to say. Jo gazed at SharpShooter, sensing some sort of tension.1179

“Listen, Jo, this is it.” She took a brief moment to comprehend what he had said as he continued, “I… we’re… here… because… well to say goodbye.” He slowly handed her the backpack. 1180

“What’s this?” she asked, opening it slightly. 1181

“Everything and anything you might need. Weapons, clothes, some food to last for a couple days.” She nodded in a daze, “Listen, I don’t want to do this. I promise, after the world sorts itself out, I’ll look you up.” 1182

“Of course.” SharpShooter couldn’t tell if she was being truthful or was mocking his heartfelt statement. 1183

He reached into his pocket and gently pulled out the Key, “I always have to give this back to you.” Jo took it and tied the ribbon securely around her neck. 1184

“You still have that bandana?” 1185

SharpShooter pulled it out of his shirt pocket, “Always, J.L.A.” he said. Then he handed her one of the baseball caps while placing the other on his head. 1186

“A for Aurora.” He explained bashfully. 1187

Jo smiled, “I’m not going to ask ‘why’ because we both know that it comes down to politics and Speed.” 1188

“Yeah.” 1189

“So… this is it then.” 1190

“I told you, I’ll come looking.” 1191

“We both know that this will last longer then the war.”1192

“What war? Shutdown is complete.” 1193

“The war with ourselves and each other. We know that unless a miracle happens this is our last ‘Good hunting’.” 1194

SharpShooter nodded reluctantly, “Good hunting?” he said.1195

“Very good hunting.” They gazed at each other, barely blinking, not wanting to think about anything else. SharpShooter took a step toward her and placed one hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder. Jo glanced at his arm then reached up to tousle his hair. Before they could procrastinate any longer, the couple leaned forward and embraced each other tightly. 1196

“Josephine Louise Anderson.” She said. 1197

SharpShooter took a second to realize what she was talking about, “That’s quite a mouthful.” He said once he understood.1198

“SharpShooter?”1199

“Josephine?” 1200

They tilted their heads back to look at each other before saying, in a simultaneous, whisper, “I love you.” 1201

Jo let go first, and started to say something but SharpShooter beat her to it, “I’m sorry. I really am…”1202

“…but for now, we’ll have to wait.” SharpShooter nodded reluctantly, as he traced the letters on the bandana absentmindedly. 1203

“I’ll see you around.” Said Jo, turning to leave.1204

“I still owe you my name, don’t I.”1205

“I guess I’ll have to come by one day and collect.” She replied, waving her hand slightly and whispering a quiet “Good bye.” Under her breath.1206

END OF PART ONE
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