The Purge: Surviving The Night

Chicago Entrance

11:04 pm, 7 hours and 56 minutes until the end of The Annual Purge.

"Kelsey, wake up!"

I hear her snort as she suddenly opens her eyes.

"Look!" I say as I point out the windshield. I see her turn and look. She seems confused for a second, but then her eyes widened as she saw what I was talking about. Behind the burning and destroyed buildings in front of us was a perfect and unharmed Chicago skyline.

"It looks better than all the pictures I've ever seen!" She gasped. I smiled a great big smile. I guess there CAN be happy moments during The Purge.

"The Willis Tower looks so beautiful!" she said in awe. "I can't wait to go inside!"

"Now hold your horses," I told her sternly. "We might not get the chance to go in there, okay? We have more important things to do."

"Oh..." she then said with slight disappointment in her voice.

"But I'll tell you what, though," I continued. "If we're still here when The Purge ends, I promise I'll take you over there. Deal?"

"Deal!" she shouted with glee. I then smiled and kept on driving. I was actually surprised there wasn't any traffic on the roads, especially in Chicago. But I then realized what the problem was when I saw broken barriers all over the edges of the road.

"Where are all the cars?" Kelsey asked, as if reading my mind.

"I think they all fell off the road," I replied. "At least, the cars that didn't make it..."

No response. I couldn't blame her for that.

"So where is this guy at?" she then asked, most likely to change subjects.

"I heard he was staying in some sort of safe house near the lake," I replied. "I think it was somewhere in Navy Pier..."

"Sounds fun!" I could tell she was just excited because I mentioned Navy Pier, and not because I'm going to find a safe house holding my intended victim.

"Since The Purge is the only time you'll see Chicago streets completely empty," I continued, "it'll be faster to get there."

"Cool!"

"Now, if and when we find the safe house, it's going to be more dangerous than it already is. I know Mark very well. He's not going to protect his safe spot with measly iron doors and bars; he's going to cover the place with dangerous weapons. You understand?"

"Of course!"

"Now my only concern is you..."

"Me?! What about me?!"

"Well, if I leave you in the car to wait, you could ultimately be taken be someone."

Silence. I knew she was thinking about the gas station.

"But if I take you with me to the safe house, there's a chance you could get killed."

"James, I don't want to sound rude... but it's The Purge! EVERYONE has a chance of getting killed!"

"That may be true, but there's a bigger chance of getting killed when you're out in the open in front of a heavily-guarded building."

"Still! I'm a little kid! Maybe they'll go easy on me!"

"Kelsey...I hate to break it to you, but the kind of guys Mark hangs with don't care how old someone is; if you mess with them, they will kill you. Painfully."

"Oh..."

I then sighed. None of this helped me figure out what I was going to do. I couldn't even guarantee I was going to find Mark at all! All I knew is I had to keep us both alive, no matter what.