Sky on Fire

ALEX

I SAW THE VILLAGE INN! I saw the 7-eleven! We were in Monument! The chopper was equipped with searchlights and there it all was, Monument, from above.

There was the roof of the Greenway – our roof! I was so happy. I just kept seeing Dean’s face in my imagination. He was going to be so excited to see me!

The first bombs started exploding in the air above NORAD just as we touched down on the roof.

‘We’ve got maybe five minutes!’ Captain McKinley shouted.

We all scrambled out of our safety harnesses and raced across the scarred and hail-beaten roof to the hatch.

It was actually open, which was weird, but in the moment didn’t seem weird, it just seemed terrific – getting in was the part I’d been worried about.

Niko and I rushed down the stairs.

‘Dean! Astrid! We’re here!’ I shouted.

And then I saw the little girl.

The little blonde girl.

She was just standing over the bodies of Robbie and Mr Appleton, her wrists tied together.

‘Little girl!’ Captain McKinley called, coming down the stairs. ‘We’re here to rescue you! Where are the others?’

He didn’t know. He didn’t know who she was!

‘You!’ Niko shouted. ‘How did you get here?’

Captain McKinley moved past us into the store, yelling for Henry and Caroline.

‘Where are they?’ I screamed at the girl. ‘You tell me! You tell me right now!’

She was crying. I was crying.

‘They left!’ the girl said. ‘They went off the roof. They killed my uncle Payton and they left!’

Inside I could hear Captain McKinley calling, ‘Henry! Caroline!’

‘Captain McKinley!’ I screamed.

He came running.

‘What is it? Where are they?’

BOOM came the sound of another bomb exploding over NORAD.

‘They’re gone,’ I sobbed. ‘They left the store!’

His face fell then. It went all grey.

‘Right. Of course,’ he said. Hard like a stone.

‘I’m sorry!’ I cried.

‘Let’s move out.’