"They have no idea what they look like, do they?" Jayce asked as we looked through the glass doors.

I shook my head, "Probably not,". We looked at five kids whose clothes were dirty, there were two boys and three girls. Probably robbers.

"Let's get this over with," Jayce said as he signaled for the doors to open. We walked into the room as the kids stared at us. The eldest girl stared at us as we knelt down. She had dark brown hair that was braided to one side, her face was dirty and her clothes were dirtier. There was a thick layer of mud on her shoes and something else mixed in, blood?

"Alright, let's make this fast," I began. "Where are the rest of you located?"

The eldest girl looked up at us with confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Where are the rest of you located?" I repeated. "The rest of the robbers,".

"You think we're robbers?" the second eldest girl asked. She had blond hair that was pulled into a high ponytail. Her clothes too were dirty.

"Of course you are robbers!" Jayce exclaimed. "We found these in your pockets,". He pulled out three very sharp knives.

The second eldest girl snorted, "Just because we have those, doesn't make us robbers,".

"Then what does it make you?" Jayce sneered.

"Does it matter?" the second eldest girl sneered back.

I took a deep breath, "Look, if you're not robbers, then who are you?"

"Citizens of the city," a boy answered. He seemed to be the oldest, his hair was a mix of blond and brown and his clothes were ragged and disgusting.

"Shut it Joey!" the eldest girl sneered. "You don't get to call yourself a citizen!"

"Why are you saying that? I thought you weren't robbers," I asked.

The girl with the braid looked at me, "The four of us," she said pointing to her, two others girls and a younger boy, "are not robbers. But he is!" The boy who's name was Joey cowered back in shame.

"If you aren't robbers, but he is, why is he with you?" Jayce questioned.

"Trust me, I don't want him to be with us but....well let's just say it's a long story," the girl with the braid answered.

I sat down on the ice cold floor, "Take your time, I've got lots to spare,".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And that is how we ended up here," the girl with the braided hair finished.

I sat back in shock, that was one heck of a story. "Wow," I said. "That's was quite a unique story,".

The blonde haired nodded, "Now can you let us go?"

Jayce shook his head, "No, we can't be sure you are not robbers,".

The braided haired girl looked up at us, "Why are you so keen on finding them?" she asked.

"My dear girl, robbers are the last thing we need in the wrecked world," Jayce answered.

"So what do you do to them?" the boy named Joey asked.

"That is for us to know," Jayce said.

Joey clenched his teeth, "My friends were taken by you, and I want to know where they are!"

Jayce sighed, "Look boy, I'm sorry about your friends, I truly am but.."

"Mom?" the blonde haired girl suddenly asked. I turned around to see that Henry and Joanna were standing on the other side of the glass doors. "Dad?" she asked. The girl got up and ran towards them, I ordered the guards to open the doors as she ran into their hugs. "Why are you guys here?"

"Oh Liesal! Your alive!" Joanna rejoiced.

"What are you doing here?" Liesal repeated.

"We found an old friend," Henry said nodding towards me. "Remember my best friend from high school I always tell you about? Well here he is! Franklin Hide!"

Liesal looked at me, "You are Frank? You are my dad's friend?"

I smiled, "It's a small world. So you are their daughter?"

Liesal smiled back, "Yes,".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We all sat around a table, with some hot chocolate in our hands to warm us up. The five kids had cleaned up and sat with us as we began to discuss matters.

"So they're not robbers?" Jayce broke the silence.

Henry shook his head, "No, they are not. This is my daughter Liesal, that is Meredith and her little brother Eric, I'm not so sure who those two are though,".

The girl named Meredith cleared her throat, "This is Ileana, we found her in the forest. She was alone and starving, we had to bring her with us. She is only five years old,".

I nodded, "It was the right thing to do, but how did she end up there?"

"It was the robbers," Liesal sneered. "They took her parents away and she escaped,". Ileana nodded agreeing .

Jayce took a deep breath before speaking, "I see,". He stood up and clasped his hands together, "Well children it is almost dinner time and I know you are hungry so why don't you follow those guards to the kitchen and leave us?"

Meredith stood up, "No I'm not leaving! I have questions!"

I sighed, "Look, we adults need to discuss important matters. You can ask us your questions afterwards,".

"No! I'm not leaving till I get my questions are not answered," Meredith replied slumping back into the chair. "Ileana, Eric and Liesal can go and eat. But I am staying!"

"So am I!" Liesal yelled.

"Me too!" Ileana chimed in.

"I don't want to get up so I guess I'm staying," Joey spat.

"No one is asking you to stay," Liesal sneered.

"Aren't you staying Eric?" Meredith asked.

Eric shrugged, "Sure,".

We all sat around the table, silence filled the air. "So what is it you want to ask us girl?" Jayce asked.

"Many things actually but first I have a very important question," Meredith replied.

"What is it girl?" Jayce asked, clearly getting impatient.

Meredith took a deep breath before responding, "Where.....where's my mom?"

The atmosphere suddenly became tensed, what were we supposed to tell her? Henry finally spoke, "Meredith, we don't know. When...when we were rescued by 'The Men in Grey' she wasn't with us,".

Meredith's eye's widened in disbelief, "So, where is she? Didn't anyone try to look for her?"

"Of course we did! Once already! We were going to go and look for your mother again today but instead we found you! We had to celebrate for your arrival didn't we? But do not worry, we will go tomorrow and find Carroll.." Joanna began.

"Actually," Jayce interrupted. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I'm afraid you can't go tomorrow. There is supposed to be a big storm coming and we cannot risk anyone's safety,".

"So what are we supposed to do?" Liesal asked.

"I'm afraid the only thing to do is wait for the storm to pass," I said.

"And how long will that take?" Henry questioned.

I took a deep breath before responding, "We don't know, we can't really predict these things. It's in the hands of the aliens,".

"What do you mean, aliens?" Joey asked as he sat up, suddenly interested.

"I mean aliens, extraterrestrials, martians, whatever you want to call them," I replied.

"And they are able to cause thunderstorms?" Joey asked.

"Actually, they are able to cause far worse. Earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires,...." Jayce began.

"Tornadoes," Meredith finished.

Jayce looked towards her, "Yes those too. They can cause them in a matter of minutes. The earthquake that occurred here happened so quickly that we weren't even able to take precaution before it hit. We couldn't detect it before it happened,".

"So what your are saying is that the aliens have control over the Earth's climate?" Joanna asked.

I nodded, "And they probably have control over many other things,".

"So, we can't go out to find my mother till the storm passes? And we don't even know when that's going to be?" Meredith asked.

I nodded, "I'm afraid so. I am truly sorry about that,". I looked over to her little brother Eric, who seemed very calm. He should have been sad or crying after all this was his mother we were talking about. "Are you okay kid?" I asked the boy.

He looked up at me, "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because we can't find your mother!" I blurted out, unaware of what I had just said. Why did I say that? "No, no, what I meant was that we haven't found her yet! But we will..."

"We will find her," Eric said in a monotonous tone. I smiled, he had hope and that was all he needed. But what he said next shocked everyone in the room. "And even if we don't find her, that's one less person we have to worry about,".

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Thanks for reading chapter 13! Hope you enjoyed it!

If you like this chapter don't forget to vote an comment below, I'd love to hear feedback on my book!

For those who enjoyed this story, I will hopefully be updating this everyone weekend!

-chihiro_07