Void

Ch. 19- Chase

"If you ever thought for a moment that I didn't care about you in the wake of our silenced void please know I did, I do and I always will."  ~Nicole Hill

Chapter Nineteen- Chase

August 8th 3012, 7:48pm

"New rule," Claire stated, "everyone washes their own clothes."  She proclaimed as she dunked another shirt into the sudsy bucket.

"That just means you'll have to do your own clothes even more."  Olivia pointed out.

"True but at least I wouldn't have to wash things like this."  She said as she pulled out a pair of dark blue boxers.  Olivia let out a laugh as she walked over to the window and pinned the shirt that Claire had just finished washing on the line.

We had been doing this since eight this morning, not to mention it was all we did for the past two days as well.  Needless to say I was the only one not complaining.  I could feel the stiffness in my neck and back from bending over the bucket and scrubbing the clothes, not that it bothered me.  It didn't even hurt, Claire however, was groaning every time she bent over.  Olivia was a little better about not complaining but you could tell by her facial expressions that she was uncomfortable.

"Seriously there's only, what, nineteen of us?"  Claire asked.  Olivia shook her head.

"I still can't believe what happened to Josh."  Olivia stated in amazement.

"We all knew it was a risk."  Claire stated.

"I suppose."  She said, her voice sounding distant.  Her eyes hovered out the window, scanning the horizon.

My eyes followed the same path hers did.  I knew what she was thinking about.  Jaxon.  Where was he?  When was he coming back.  The sorrow was written all over Olivia's face.  I couldn't imagine how it must feel to not know if your son was coming home or not.  How long had he been on his own now?  Four days?  That's when the guys came back.  They left July 30th.  That made nine day's since he had been gone.  How many days had I been here?  Thirteen?  Was that right?

"It's just so surreal."  Olivia stated, keeping her eyes locked out the window.  "I never expected it to really happen."  She said.  I wasn't sure if she was still talking about Josh or if she was referring to her son.

"He'll come home."  Claire reassured her.  Olivia's eyes stayed locked on the scenery outside the window.  Suddenly she walked closer to the window.  Her body went stiff as she reached out and touched the glass.  She gasped and turned quickly.

"There's someone here."  She said quickly as she ran out of the room.

I looked at Claire.  Her eyes grew wide as she stood and ran to the window.  She muttered a curse as she saw a dark black jeep barreling towards the mall.  On the side we could see the U.S government seal on the side of the doors.

"Shit, shit, shit."  Claire said as she ran a hand through her hair frantically.  "We need to move."  She announced as she took my hand and started moving quickly.

We ran out of the room and towards Brantley's office.  I saw Ian, Jonathan and Brantley carrying guns and running in different directions.  Brantley was running up the broken escalator to get on the roof.  Jonathan ran towards one of the broken windows on the second floor.  Ian stood by the door that they used to get in and out of the mall.

"Downstairs guys, you know what to do!"  Ian shouted to us.

Claire  let me go and pumped her arms to go move faster.  Within moments we were standing in front of the entrance to Brantley's lab.  The door beside it was just closing.  Claire pushed against the laboratory door.  It didn't budge.  She muttered yet another curse under her breath as she stepped back and kicked the door with her boot.  When it didn't open she raised her leg quickly and assaulted the door once more.  I could hear the metal door vibrating against the metal door jam.  I didn't think she was thinking clearly.