A few months after the wedding Abe and Dariela moved to Michigan with Isaac. A few years later Max Morgan decided that he wanted custody of his granddaughter and since no one the group is related to her by blood we had no standing in court, so Clementine went to live with Max. I remember getting the phone call from Jamie telling me that Max had contacted her about custody and she was pissed. Jackson and I stayed in Africa continuing our work with the animals, partially lions, and Abe came down every now and then to help but it caused some tension in his marriage, partially after it came out that Dariela had an affair. But after Jamie published a book about the team's adventures Jackson and I had to move to the west coast, since Robert was gone people needed someone to blame and they picked Jackson.
When Jackson and I moved out west, we began helping move displaced families to safe zones. The U.S. government had created a mass wall keeping the hybrids who had made it to the main land on the west coast. Jackson felt so guilty about everything, even though none of it was his fault. Things got so bad before we moved, that when we left we had to change our names and go into hiding. We can only have one-way communication with Abe, which makes our lives even harder since we can't get updates on our family.
Jackson and I are out on patrol, moving families to the nearby safe zone, we'd been moving for days but we are only about thirty minutes away from home. Jackson runs through the clearing under an overpass to check for Hybrids, we always have issues with them up here. Before long he comes over the walkie, "we're good. Send them."
"Roger, sending the penguins to the igloo," I reply over the walkie.
"Penguins? Really?"
"Just trying to keep it spicy, babe."
"You know, I'm pretty sure that penguins don't live in igloos."
"Wrong, I've seen it."
"Where's that, now, at a zoo?'" Jackson turns to me when I'm a few feet behind him.
"Maybe," I smile at Jackson.
As we walk in front of the group a kid, probably around 12 walks up between us. "Hey, we're almost there, little man. Are you excited?"
"I want to go home," the boy complains.
"Yeah, I hear that, but, uh, I'm afraid that's not an option right now, okay? But we're gonna find you and your family a new home. Somewhere safe, somewhere beyond the barrier."
I nod, "you know, Michigan, Tennessee, who knows? Maybe even all the way to New York, huh?"
As we continue forward we hear growling coming up from behind the group. A man shouts, "they're back!"
Jackson turns, "whoa, whoa!" He holds up the device he uses to control the lions, that admits a high-pitched ringing. Jackson and I walk to the back on the group, "Pedro, Sampson, where'd you guys run off to?"
I hear something rattle off to my left and turn to see Hybrids coming our way, I nudge Jackson, trying not to scare the group, "Hybrids."
Jackson nods and motions toward the hybrids, "attack." The lions attack the hybrids and Jackson and I turn to the group, of course, once they see the hybrids they all run, as they should. "Hurry up! Keep running! Come on! Come on!"
"Everybody move," as the group runs, Jackson and I follow, trailing them, making sure no one gets left behind. The lions had saved us on hundreds of occasions.
We keep running until we get to the final stretch, about 60 feet from the gates. Jackson and I are still walking about 10 feet behind the group. "You sure you're okay?" Jackson had been asking me since we stopped running.
"Yeah, for the 34th time, I'm fine. Thanks to your clickity-click machine. I've lost track of how many times your lions have saved our heinies."
"Yeah, so have I."
As Jackson and I chuckle we hear a loud, guttural snarl and thudding footsteps when we turn we see what looks like a rhino with armor on it. "What is that?" I step closer to Jackson.
Jackson shakes his head, "I have no idea."
"You don't happen to have any more lions in your back pocket, do you?"
Jackson shakes his head, "I want you to get them out of here and into the safe zone as fast as possible, okay?"
I look up at him confused, "what are you gonna do?"
Jackson leans in and kisses me, "I'm gonna catch him."
I sigh and kiss Jackson again, "I love you, " I run up to the group, "let's move people, come on!" The group starts to run to the gates.
I hear Jackson shouting at the rhino, "hey! Hey there, buddy." The rhino growls and I can hear the sound of its feet on the pavement. Before long I hear Jackson over the Walkie, "C gate do you copy?"
One of the guards answer, "go for C gate"
"I need a salvage truck backed up to the gate, doors open I'm inbound with company!" Jackson shouts over the walkie.
"Say again?"
"Salvage truck, back gate, doors open!"
"You inbound with friendlies?"
"No, unfriendly. Very unfriendly."
The group and I get to the gate, "everybody inside."
Some of the other guides rush out with guns and they open the side gate, "back up the truck."
I wave people into the main gate, "go, go, go!" I look over the direction we came and see Jackson with the rhino hot on his trail. "Everyones inside." Once we're in the gate we shut it.
One of the shooters on the roof come over the walkie, "I've got a clean shot."
I hear Jackson over the walkie, "shut the gate! Do not shoot. I repeat, do not shoot." Once we hear the rhino inside the truck we rush out, closing the door and locking him inside. I rush over to the front of the truck and open the passenger side door, to see Jackson, laying against the dashboard on his back, "spicy enough for you?" Jackson smirks at me and I shake my head.
"You know not exactly what I had in mind, no." When we get back to the back Jackson grabs a large syringe and gets into the back on the truck with the Rhino to get a sample, he does, very quickly and then gets back out. I shake my head as Jackson and I walk away from the truck, "Call me crazy, but I think the line about kicking the hornet's nest also applies to stabbing an angry prehistoric-looking monster."
Jackson nods, "for years, all anyone has seen are Razorbacks, and that is not a Razorback."
I scoff, "you don't say."
"Nine years ago, the IADG said it would be impossible for them to migrate to the United States. Now, the West Coast is overrun and now this." Jackson starts to prepare the sample to send it to Abe, via a drone.
I lean against his shoulder, "you know, you're pretty cute when you get fired up."
"They're spreading way too fast. And if we don't find a way to stop them the entire world is gonna wind up looking like Portland."
"And the IADG is sending an investigator. Why don't you ask them what they're doing to stop the hybrids? That is if you want to spend our whole night off talking to the fuzz."
Jackson punches in the coordinates into the drone and nods, before looking to me, stepping close and pulling me in, "you're right. They're the experts. We'll let them handle it. Them and Dr. Abraham Kenyatta
I smile up at Jackson, wrapping my arms around his neck, "that's what I'm talking about." Jackson pulls me in for a kiss, as the drone takes off, we look up and watch it, before heading to the relief center to check on everyone. Jackson went over to the kid we had been talking to earlier, while I check on some of the women in our group. Once we are done there we head back to our humble abode.
Jackson sighs, "we were out for ten days with that group. I'm gonna sleep for eight straight hours."
Look over to Jackson and smile over at him, "would you settle for six?"
"I could be convinced to settle for six."
I giggle and step closer to him, kissing him as we stop. I look over to a woman in a very nice coat, "who's with the fancy coat?"
Jackson shrugs, "is that the IADG investigator? She got here fast."
"She's leaving even faster."
Jackson calls out to her, "hey! Excuse me, miss?" She and Jackson both stop and look at each other oddly. Soon she gets in her truck and drives away. I look up at Jackson confused. But before I can ask anything there is an explosion behind us, that sends Jackson and me forward and down on to the pavement. As debris falls around us Jackson and I look over to each other and reach out, as if to make sure the other is still there. As we look back where the explosion came from we can hear people screaming.