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A. 7

The sun was dangling in the sky, there wasn't long before it was to hide behind the clouds. The family were dressed in their gear, book bags were packed with sandwiches and other items to be prepared for the walk. In the late evening, the girls were holding each other under their pink, fairy fort for one last night. The girls had themselves dressed in four layers of clothing and they each wore metal work boots brought out of one of the local retailers. Tina and Michael were facing each other, under their covers in contemplation, dressed but not ready to slide into their boots.

"How soon do you think we need to go?" Tina was wide eyed at her husband.

"I haven't heard anything else from the news so my guess is the sooner the better, we can't afford for those ships to leave us, Tina." There was a tear in Michael's eye, "I just don't want this to be us, we have worked so hard over the years and I am in so much pain."

"This isn't something we could have ever predicted baby, we just have to do what we can, when we can and keep trying. I promise that we're going to make it to the coast, with determination, but we have to start moving."

"I'm thinking we should bundle up as a group under our comforters to be extra protected. If we only walk out in the clothes then the rain will get us, but with us walking under comforters to cover our back packs we should be okay."

Tina turned to her man, "baby," she whispered.

"Yes?"

"I love you so much," and she leaned in to kiss him on the lips. Together, they cried at the same time as their lips departed, a brutal reality that was eating them alive.

"Look, I love you so much, I don't want to let everything we have go — I know once we walk out of that door things will never be the same," Michael said to her with a desolate longing, "I need you to know that I want us to make our marriage work no matter the situation. This is more than a test of living, but also a test of our love too."

"I know, I promise we're going to make this work," Tina stated, she took her husband's face into her hands, inserted her tongue into his mouth and kissed him ever so slightly as if it would be the last time they could kiss so intimately in private.

When they were finished Michael grabbed her by the shoulders, "let's protect us."

Tina nodded.

Michael got up from under the covers and grabbed his book bag, "get both of those comforters off of the bed for us." Tina did exactly what she was told.

"Girls, I need you three to grab four comforters, two from beds and two from the hallway closet, we're going to wear our layers, plus walk under these as shields to protect our backpacks. There will be no gripping these comforters from the outside because I don't need your fingers to be burned, you will hold it from the inside and walk in a single file line, this is how we will make it."

"Yes dad!" Isabella affirmed, "c'mon sissies, we have to survive this, we are going to be okay. Even though we are going to lose everything we know, we still have each other."

Tina over heard her daughter motivating her sisters and she broke down crying, "I love you babies so much," she ran to her daughters and held them close in her arms, "I'm not ready for this."

In a group hug, they all began to cry together, "we know mom," Nadia whispered, "we know.." And they sniffled as they were tight in a group. Michael joined the group, bringing all of his girls as close as he could to himself before whispering, "we are going to make everything okay."