Series Wednesday: Timetopia Page 20

                The past few days have gone by like a blur. I have learned more about guns then I ever thought I would. I now know how to take them apart and put them together. I have also learned how to build a camera jammer as Rev calls it. I have shot still and moving targets. I wake up at dawn and go to sleep well past dark. I am so tired. Rev says this is like a crash course boot camp. Not that I know what boot camp even is.  Rev is also showing me how to fight. How to block an attacker like she did the day the wellness checkers cornered us. Rev says in two days we are going to be okay to leave. James is giving us a lot of guns to leave with and ammo which happens to be really important to guns. The things I never knew until now... I am finally in my bed resting, all is silent in the house it is so nice. I am starting to doze off, until I hear a faint alarm go off. I grab my shoes and run out into the living room. Rev is already there talking to James. “What is that?” Rev asks. “Someone has crossed the first perimeter check.” James is now running down stairs to the screen. We follow James. “How far is the first perimeter check?” Rev asks “5miles. That’s why the alarm is low. It could be campers, but let’s check just to be safe.” James turns the screen on. There is an alert from Ron’s room. “What’s that?” I ask. “I’m not sure. Let me check.” James opens it. There is Ron tied to a chair by a manager. “Where is the girl you helped sneak out of the festival?” The manager asks Ron. “What girl? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The manager doesn’t like his answer. “Okay, let’s see if this helps jog your memory.” All I hear is the pop noise but now I know what that is. They shot Ron in the leg. I hear him scream so clear across the screens. How could they do this? Rev is looking at the other screen with James. “Its ATVs, that’s what set off the perimeter and they are moving fast.” Rev tells me. But I can’t stop watching the screen with Ron’s room on it. “We know you helped the girls out of the festival and lead them to the woods. But why? What’s out there?” The managers know we are out here, but not where or why. This is good. I look and Rev seems to have caught on to that too. “They are blindly searching the woods. This is a great thing, they could pass right by us.” I tell Rev and James. “They might, but I don’t think they will. This is a pretty big house.” Rev explains. A louder alarm goes off. “2.5miles” James says. Rev grabs a long gun she calls a sniper rifle. Neither I nor James knows what that is. “Ava hide in here. James we are going to have to defend your home.”

                James is searching the screens for something but I’m not sure what. “HELLO! Did you hear me?!” Rev yells. James keeps typing in codes. “I hear you but we might not have to fight. It all depends on who switched in.” He is searching the headlines. “Why does that matter?” Rev asks. “Some of The Five work with me, and some throw me in a room and lock the door for a year. I have almost been erased like 5 times but 3 of them want me alive so it won’t let that happen. I have this house for the years I am not wanted.” The screen flashes with Erick’s picture across it. “YES! We don’t have to fight. I will surrender myself and they will take me to Erick. He will let me go. Then you guys can get away. I should be back in 2days tops. You can’t leave without me letting you out. So just hang tight.” James smiles as he runs back upstairs. “What are we going to do?” I ask Rev. “I say we hang tight. Just for two days. When James comes back we can go.” I look at Rev. “Are you sure?” She looks at the screen. “Yes. Look at how many there are. We can’t take them all, even with the guns. James will throw them off. It’s not like they can get in here, this place is a fortress.” Rev has a good point… I just fear James won’t come back.

I look back at the screen to Ron’s room, it’s been silent. I see Ron sitting in his chair with a hole in his head. The blood is dripping down his face. “He wasn’t going to tell us anything. She must have something on him.” One manager says to the other. “What is so special about this girl anyway?” they must be talking about Rev. “Not sure. I just know if we get her away from Rev she will be helpless and that’s when we capture her and turn her over.” The other manager nods and they leave Ron’s room. They were talking about me… I drop to the floor and cry. He was just trying to help us. He lost his life because of me. People are dying because they want me.