After Hansen fired the gun, there was no reaction. No people crawled out from their hiding places at the absense of screams. Everything was still. The doctor helped James and I up and called for Lara and the girls.
I was shaking. I could feel my composure slipping, but didn't dare utter a word. Instead, I kept James by my side and focused on him. I recognized the boy, I knew I'd seen him before.

Lara and Anwen came from around the corner, the older of the sisters was giving Ailsa a piggy back. The older sister wobbled a bit on her feet then regained her balance. Beside them, Lara held Ailsa's hand. Even with soot on her face and fear in her eyes, she had a way that made her look just like the girls. Ailsa looked almost the exact same as Lara did at her age. Her longer face and defined jaw. Delicate, kind features. Anwen on the other hand was strong. She shared her sister's red hair and grey eyes but unlike her, Anwen didn't look fragile. She had broader shoulders and carried more muscle and weight on her person.

My family approached me with skeptical eyes. "When did you get here, doctor Hansen?" Ailsa asked, raising a lightly coloured eyebrow.
The doctor chuckled and offered my daughters a polite smile.

"As long as you have," the doctor responded.

"Who's that?" Anwen jerked her chin toward James.

"M... m' name's James." the boy replied. The familiarity of his voice, of knowing I knew that boy, it was driving me crazy.

"Well..." Ailsa paused. "How come you're with my dad?"

"'Cause he come and saved me again." again. Saved him again.

"Edinburgh." I whispered. "Eight months ago... in Edinburgh." I looked to James, who nodded at me. I couldn't fathom why he would be on his way to London. Wouldn't there have been a craft in Scotland?

"If you were in Edinburgh why would you be boarding London's craft and not Edinburgh's?" Doctor Hansen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't take us." the boy was quiet. I was tempted to ask why, but his face looked like he was as unsure as I was.
"Hansen," I gestured for the doctor to move away a bit so I could talk to him. "You're sure the craft is leaving from London?"

"Didn't you know?" the doctor looked at me, his brows furrowed.

"No?"

"They announced it in the bunker. Once the space crafts are complete they will depart from London." he said shrugging. I couldn't believe I had missed that, where was I?

"Right," I lied. "My mistake."

"That it?" Hansen asked. I nodded. He turned around to face Lara and the three children around her. "I found a caravan when I took cover, there might still be food inside so we can just take it to the city."

"How are we gonna fit six people and food into a caravan, Thomas?" Lara asked, crossing her arms. Doctor Hansen shook his head and rubbed his nose.

"So quick with your temper..." he muttered. "Just come and look." the doctor gestured for us to follow him and started wandering back toward where I'd found him.

The doctor led us down toward the tank-lot beside the cover building. Closer to the back, I could see the caravans he was talking about. They were a bit bigger than the tanks, high roofs with black canvas stretched over the top. I was astounded by them in sheer size alone, and so was Lara if her indecipherable muttering of discontent was anything to go on.

"Alright," I took a deep breath. "I guess I'll check inside to make sure there isn't anyone hiding in there. Then we've gotta get moving."

"You don't think they'd leave us behind would they?" Lara raised an eyebrow at me. Doctor Hansen turned to her, I figured I'd let him handle it and climbed into the caravan to check it out.

Inside, there was even more space than it looked like outside. There was a step down to create just that bit more room. The roofing was about seven feet high, enough for me to stand up straight more than comfortably. Packed against the front of the caravan where it connected to the driving Rover was food. All kinds of it. Prepackaged and nonperishables everywhere. The whole thing seemed eerily untouched until I spotted a small tumbled-out pile of food on the floor. It was slightly away from the tightly stacked, well packed other foods. Clearly it had been a part of a larger pallet but had been raided by someone who was rather hungry.
I leaned out of the caravan and met eyes with everyone individually.

"We're set to go." I said, offering a little smile. "Hansen, you're in the Rover with me." The doctor nodded and me and offered a slightly nervous smile. I jumped out of the caravan and knelt down to help Lara and the kids in.

"You're an idiot, Shay." Lara shook her head at me as she ushered Anwen and Ailsa into the caravan. "When are you going to learn that you can rely on me too?"

"I know I can, Lar." I sighed. "But if something happens you've gotta take care of Anwen and Ailsa." With our daughters and James in the caravan, I stood up and rested my hands on my wife's shoulders.

"Then why are you riding with Thomas?"

"Because, Lar. You and those girls are all that matter to me. And if something happens, I need you to be there instead of me. Remember what your dad used to tell you?" I tucked a finger under the stubborn woman's chin, forcing her to look at me until she jerked her head away.

"You're such a sap, Ackerman." Lara smirked, shaking her head.

"Oh come on, finish the sentence."
My wife sighed and laughed. She wrapped her arms around me to give me a hug. "You need two players to make a whole idiot." she finally broke and gave me the smile I'd been searching for.

"Was that so hard?" I grinned and pecked her on the forehead. "Now behave yourself for once, Knight, and get in the caravan."

"Yeah, yeah." she just shook her head again and stepped into the caravan. I drew the back canvas sheets shut to conceal them and crossed to the front to get into the Rover. Like himself, Hansen was seated in the shotgun spot.

"Hey," I called to get his attention. "You're driving. Your shot sucks." the doctor looked at me and sighed in dismay. He scooted down the bench seat to sit in the driver's spot.

"You could at least be polite about it." he grumbled while I laughed at him. I got into the Rover and took a quick look for the keys. Of course there was none. Trying the voice-control would've been futile, and if that key-set wasn't in a metre, we weren't going anywhere. Hansen and I exchanged frustrated looks. I knew what to do, but figured we didn't exactly have to time for it.

"Damn." I rubbed my nose. "Okay let's see." I leaned into the dash and shut off the voice control and pulled out the control panel. A few switched cords and burnt fingertips later and I had the print-reader re-rigged.

"I'm not even going to ask where you learnt that." Hansen shook his head and leaned away from me. I scoffed and gestured for him to press his thumb to the reader.

"Access: granted." said the automated voice. Hansen's eyebrows became a part of his hairline. He seemed extremely surprised that it worked.

"We don't have all day, let's go." I gestured for Hansen to get a move on. Like hell if we knew when the craft was taking off.

Like a doctor would, the bastard floored it. The Rover lurched forward and took off flying due north. "Get the GPS would you?" he asked.

"Your wish is my command, Doc." I smirked. Once again I leaned over the control panel and started tinkering. I hadn't programmed a Rover in some time, but if I could remember even just a bit I'd be golden. It took me a minute, but I was able to find the right codes to shut off the default location sensor. A bit more tinkering and we were headed on auto-pilot right to London's city centre. "Say, Ackerman," the doctor looked at me over his shoulder. "Where did you learn that?"

"More than once, Hansen, I have been mostly dead somewhere and my saving grace was a rundown Rover." I responded quietly. The corners of the doctor's mouth turn down and his eyebrows went up for a second.

"I see." was all he said.

After that we drove in silence for the most part. I could hear Lara and the girls singing to one another quietly. I knew the song well, I had no choice but to. Our wedding song. I kept time with my foot, feeling a bit of amusement at the stark contrast between the upper and lower parts of my body. My lower half kept time to my family singing my wedding song. My upper half clutched an AK-103 like a lifeline while I surveyed the area for rogues or anyone else undesirable.
Soon enough night fell and Hansen stopped the caravan outside of the rain that had started about half an hour prior. We were under the roof of what looked like an old linen factory. The rain poured and everyone's teeth chattered. Lara and Hansen gathered sheets and blankets for everyone while I tried to get a fire going for heat. James helped me set up a tarp above the fire so that we had something to heat refried beans and tomato soup cans on.

Everyone got settled, we each got our own can of whichever we wanted. We weren't at risk of running out of food by any means, London was less than three hours away, even with all of the craters, I figured. The only reason we stopped was because Hansen was too exhausted to drive and there was no way the children, or anyone for that matter, could sleep over the absurdly loud motor of the Rover.

When everyone was done their food, they went to bed. As almost every night, I was stuck completely awake and fully aware. I had the 103 clutched tightly to my chest and patrolled the inner perimeters of the factory.

"Shay," I heard Lara call me. I looked over my shoulder, about ready for a dogg yet again. My wife batted the barrel of the gun away and pulled me in for a hug. "You need to get some rest." I patted her back and kissed the top of her head.

"I feel safer knowing someone's keeping an eye out."

"You've been saying that for three days now, sweets." My wife's eyes were full of worry. I ran my fingers through her hair and sighed. "What's going on?"

"I just really need you and the girls to get to safety." I said, I didn't have the energy or the care to explain further. Lara took a deep breath and hugged me tighter.

"You too, right?" She looked up at me and smiled. "We're a team, don't forget."

"I won't forget."

The snapping of something outside pulled me away from Lara and had my head whipped in the direction of the sound. I propped the butt of the gun against my chest, ready to fire at any given second.

"Shay..." Lara's voice was faint in the background of my jump-started thoughts.

"Load the caravan. I'm not taking any chances." I said, poking my head out of the factory. A bright light shining in my eyes confirmed my fears. Bandits.

"Did I hear something about a caravan?" A rugged voice sneered. I swore under my breath. Just when we get settled and we have to go again.
"You ain't getting shit from it." I blocked my eyes from the blinding headlight on the motor bike before me. Behind that bike was about four others. Dismay took hold of my body. Why me?

"Oh really?" the bandit laughed. "You and what army?"

"Don't need one." I shook my head.

"Lara! The caravan!" I called, not daring look over my shoulder in case the bandit tried to pull a cheap one.

"And why wouldn't you?"

"Just a feeling."

"Mester Ack'rman?" I could hear James' poor English from inside. "Ain't you comin'?"

"Just give him a minute!" Anwen's voice responded for me. "Go and wake up doctor Hansen first." My older daughter grunted at the Scottish boy we'd picked up.

"And what, the feeling's just coming from the kids you gotta babysit?" I figured the bandit and his goons really thought they were hurtling the insults at me.

"No," I shrugged casually. "Just a feeling."

The bandit leader looked to his cronies and got a couple of nods. He held up a small pocket pistol, clicked off the safety. I figured I was supposed to be intimidate since he'd probably rigged up that little pistol pretty good, but all I could manage to do was stay on my feet while I laughed my ass off.

"You, are going to kill me with that?" I asked between bouts of laughter. When I managed to compose myself, the bandit looked about ready to fire. To match off with his pocket pistol, I held out my 103, which pointed kind of at his head. With a gun this size, shooting one handed would be impressive enough, aim wasn't too much of an option.

"Ackerman!" Hansen pierced the air. "We've got to go!"

I looked between the factory and the bandits. If I turned, they'd pump my full of lead. If I stayed, I'd hold up the others. If I turned, even with me dead, those bandits would go after the others.

"I'll deal with this first! You go, I'll catch up!" I hollered back.

"Shay, you prick!" Lara shouted. "Not twice today!"

"Just go, Lara! I'll catch up!" I tuned her out after that. Shifted the direction of the gun that I held. With my spare hand, I reached into the waistband of my pants and closed my fingers around a 50 caliber handgun, pulling it out and hiding it at my side.
The Rover started, the engine revved loud enough to rattle my eardrums. The bandits snickered, staring me down like easy prey.

I moved like I was going to shoot the 103, which made the men all jump, shooting their guns out of sync in all kinds of directions. It made an opening, so I whipped up my pistol and shot three of the bandits off their bikes. The only two left were the front man and one I'd missed. He had a graze in his cheek and anger in his eyes. I just smiled at him.
The leader had his gun back on me, I had mine on him.

"You going to jump again?" I asked, smirking. The man fired at the ground between my legs. I didn't flinch. "Turn around and go back where you came from, or you're in the radioactive earth like your friends."

The bandit didn't believe that. He knew I'd shoot him anyway. I shook my head. I didn't have time for these princess games.

"Sure, scouts honour I'm sure." he said. I fired. He dropped. Dead.
The last man's eyes looked like China dishes.

"You're next." I said, pulling the trigger before he had a gun in his hand. I tucked the .50 back into my waistband and slung the 103 over my shoulder by the strap. Then I sauntered over to the leader's bike and tugged him off the tipped machine. I checked his pockets for the engine chip, which I found pretty easily. I pulled out the pistol and opened the clip, sticking the chip in where there were no bullets left.
With some effort, I tugged the bike back up onto its tires. With it off its gravity track, having been knocked over, it was unreasonably heavy. I knelt down and pushed up on the handle until I heard the promising click of the front wheel getting back in its track. I turned on my heel and propped against the bike so it leaned on my shoulder while I pulled up the back tire. When the second click came, I knocked down the kickstand and got on.

Started that machine back up again. The motor hummer and sputtered like of technology likes to do until it was completely awake.

Soon as it was started up completely, I squeezed the gas clutch in as tight as it would go and off I went, tail to the wind.

I'll catch up.