Stay with me 'till the world ends

~7~

Bridger and his assistants were taken back to the mansion by Cilia and locked away. The blood on Addison's face had dried. Iris and Addison where following Ms. J through the streets of downtown Oakland. Addison had his hood over his head to hide the blood.

"What are we doing out here?" Iris asked. "What if our family would see us?"

"They won't." Ms. J said.

"I'm not so sure about that." Iris said. She had just seen Suzie and Jackson being pulled out of a store by her mom. Ms. J and Addison followed her gaze. Jackson glanced around and saw Iris across the street. He pointed in her direction and said something. Melissa and Suzie looked too.

"Go." Ms. J said. "We have to get out of here."

"I knew this was a bad idea." Addison muttered. The teenagers and Ms. J hurried away from Iris' family. Iris looked back to see them crossing the street. She cursed. Seriously guys? Now? She thought.

"Hurry!" Iris said. "They're crossing the street!" But, at that moment, Iris' mom, Melissa, reached them. But Suzie did first.

"Iris!" She called. "Stop!" But Iris sped up. Not now, not now! Not anytime! No! She thought frantically. There was a tug on her pant leg and she looked down to see Suzie. "Iris..." Iris took her sister's little hand off her pant leg and turned. Eight year old Jackson, who thought he was stronger than everyone else, charged at Addison.

"Kidnapper!" He said, barreling into Addison.

"Jackson!" Iris almost shouted. "Don't!" But Addison was already on the ground and his hood had fallen off. Jackson stopped and was shoved off.

"What the..." Melissa said. "What are you doing Iris?"

"You'll thank me later." Iris said. She turned and grabbed Ms. J and Addison's wrists and pulled them away leaving her family staring. Addison pulled his hood over his head.

"Hey! You three!" Someone called.

"Oh, not again." Ms. J said. "Split up, we'll meet at the car." The three bolted in different directions. Iris took the route through the park. She passed the Oakland Chinese Bookstore and Oaklandish before she slowed down. After that it took her about five minutes to get back to the car. Ms. J and Addison were already there. "Took you long enough Iris." Ms. J said.

"Sorry." Iris said. "We have to get back to the mansion before anyone who knows us sees us again."

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When Ms J, Iris, and Addison arrived at the Mansion, Cilia was waiting outside for them.

"What took you so long?" Cilia asked.

"We had some hold ups." Ms. J said, locking up the car. "How's Bridger and his assistants?"

"Decent." Cilia said.

"Elaborate?" Ms. J said.

"They won't take any food or water." Cilia said. "But they will. They want to live after all." She glanced back into the house. "Come on, we need to work on finding that serum." She led the others into the house.

In C.O.A.T.W Cilia and Ms. J began furiously typing away. They opened countless tabs and went to various computers before they came back to standing in front of the teenagers.

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Iris layed down on her bed and turned off her lamp, plunging her room into darkness. Iris closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come in. But only thoughts did. And when dreams came in, they weren't very good.