The Mitchell's and L/N vs. the Machines

Nightly drive

The arrow pierces the security camera, shattering the glass, and sparks fly. Mom and Dad run from the gas station to the car. Mom kneels to the gas tank of the car and Eric speaks softly to her. "Highway 85 is heavily patrolled. Take the back roads."

Mom nods at this. "Got it."

Once done, Mom gets into the driver's sleep with Katie in shotgun while Dad slips into the back next to me. Dad sends me a worried look. "Why are you still up?" 

I shrug and yawn into my hand. "I wanted to keep an eye out." Dad places his hand on my shoulder. "You go to sleep. We'll worry about getting there.

I sigh, but I lean onto a pillow Deborah gave me and feel myself drift off quickly.

3rd POV

Rick notices his daughter in front shivering. He swiftly takes off his jacket and covers Katie with it. With that, Rick goes to sleep with a smile. 

Linda looks over the two with a smile, holding a hand to her chest before starting the car.

A little later, Rick's snoring causes Katie to stir awake. She groans and she has a displeased look on her face. "Is Dad dying?"

Katie, that's what I deal with every night." Linda looks at Katie with a desperate look on her face. "Pray for me." The woman whispers and the two burst out laughing. "I hope neither y/n and I aren't like that."

Katie looks back to see her dad's glasses a bit out of place and fixes them. "You're a lot like him, you know," Linda notes, but Katie rolls her eyes. "That's crazy." She laughs with a snort. Right at that, Dad lets out a similar snort. Katie's eyes go wide in realization, not liking the coincidence.

"There's more to your dad than you think." The mother sighs. Katie hums in confusion, and Linda continues. "Here, I was gonna give this to you when you left, but-" She opens the glove compartment, revealing a photo album that was cutely decorated.

"Check the first page there," Linda says and Katie looks at a young Linda and Rick standing in front of a wooden cabin. "Whoa. Look at you two. You look like hipsters." Katie smirks at the picture. "Were you in an indie folk band?"

Linda chuckles. "Oh, your father used to be kind of an artist himself." She taps a better picture of the cabin. "He built that whole cabin with his own hands."

"Oh, this is, like, super beautiful." Katie looks over to her mom, who is rubbing her arm in memory. "Oh, it was his pride and joy." A sad look crosses her face. "Since I met him, that was his dream, to live in the woods. He loved it up there. But, you know, it didn't work out. It just killed him."

Katie looks down in thought, remembering all the outdoorsy things he loves to do. Linda continues. "I think he's afraid that could happen to you."

Katie grows confused. "Why did he just give up?"

Before Linda can answer, Aaron makes his presence known. "Mom, what is that?" He asks, pointing outside. The woman follows his line of sight. "Huh? What the-?!" She screeches the car to a halt, scaring Rick and y/n awake.

Y/n's POV

We all leave the car, watching a long line of pods floating high above the sky. We all walk out on the road, following the lights until Katie speaks up. "Woah."

Our eyes meet the new Pal Labs, seeing that so many people are already set up there, all are probably scared out of their minds.

Katie takes out the camcorder and after a bit of examining, Mom notices something. "Is that the Poseys? They still look incredible."

Aaron gets nervous and takes out his notebook. "I-is Abbey Posey, okay?" Katie and I look down to see a creepy-looking drawing of the girl with hearts around her.

The two of us gasp and we get excited. I snatch the notebook and Katie looks at her little brother. "You like that Posey girl?" Aaron grabs the drawing and hugs it to his chest. "No." He laughs nervously. He rips the paper out and feeds it to Monchi, who happily eats it up.

"Don't hide your feelings, man. That's no way to live. Once you confess your feelings..." She grabs my hand and smiles at me. "You feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders."

Aaron nods silently at this before Deborah talks. "Pal is located there." We all notice something is moving and follow it to the ground. Scary robots in kneeling position form, all stating in a terrifying voice. "Yes, my queen."

"Ah... this is gonna be harder than I thought," Da mutters to himself. Katie points the camera at him. "Hold on. Dad, that's... that's kind of weak." She turns off the camera. "This is, like, a big moment." I write something down on a piece of paper and hand it to the man. "Try this instead.

We do a take two and Dad puts on a serious face. "The endgame has begun." He smiles and looks at us. "That? Is that what you're looking for?" We both give a thumbs up. "All right, you two, what's the plan?"