⋆⭒˚.⋆ 𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐍 ᵃ ˢᵗʳᵃⁿᵍᵉʳ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍˢ ᵃᶠ

𝟎𝟏𝟎

sev's eyes widen as holly meets his eyes. "don't ever do that again, okay?" and then she's wrapping her arms around him tightly, and sev blinks in surprise.

the moment doesn't last long, though. "uh, guys?" matty turns back to them, waving his walkie-talkie in the air as holly pulls away from sev, coughing awkwardly. "zach is saying something!"

holly's eyes widen and she scrambles to her feet, helping sev up and rushing over to matty. "what is it? what's he saying?"

matty shakes his head. "i don't know. he's too far away, the signal's awful."

holly leans forward to listen to zach, but matty's right— his words are being cut off by radio static to the point where it's impossible to understand what he's saying.

"—ad...coming!...out of ti...–run!"

"run?" holly frowns, looking up at matty, who shakes his head. "what does he mean, run? run from where?"

matty meets her eyes. "or from who?"

holly's eyes widen and she turns back to the walkie-talkie just as it goes quiet. then zach's voice, much clearer and louder than before, comes through. "i found the gate! the bad men are coming! run, now! they know we have sev!"

the three of them look at each other, eyes wide. "shit!" matty says, and then speaks closer to the walkie-talkie, "zach, where are you?"

"holly's house! vans are on their way, get over here right now!"

holly narrows her eyes. "vans? zach, what are you talking about!"

it's clear zach is shouting now, and holly can make out the sound of wind rushing past the walkie-talkie on the other end. "just get over here!"

matty shrugs at holly, and then leans down towards his walkie-talkie again. "alright, we're coming."

"hurry!"

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

"mike?" holly shouts up the stairs, waving to matty frantically to get their bikes from the garage and find zach. matty runs down the hallway with sev on his heels and they disappear around the corner. "mike!"

her brother appears at the top of the stairs. "what?"

"did mom call for plumbing maintenance?" holly turns to look out the window again— the vans are getting closer.

mike frowns, walking down the stairs. "no? i don't think so, at least. why?"

"uh, no reason!" holly pulls the blinds down quickly as the vans come to a stop right outside of her house. "listen," she turns back around to face mike, who's staring at her strangely. "if anyone asks about me, i'm in australia, okay?"

"wait, what—" but holly is already running down the hallway towards the garage, straining her ears to hear the sound of the van's doors opening and closing. she throws open the backdoor and matty is waiting there with sev and zach. sev is already on the back of holly's bike, and she hurries to get on it as well.

"okay, zach, now will you tell us what the hell is going on?" matty shoves up the kickstand of his bike and hops on it.

"i'll tell you later!" zach starts moving, biking down the slope of holly's backyard and heading for the street behind it. "we need to go now!"

holly and matty follow after him quickly, just as the men from the vans knock on the wheeler's front door. as they reach the street, mike answers. he's met with a group of about seven scientists who don't waste a second.