The elementary school was completely dark and as quiet as a tomb. Connor could hear his own breath and that of Liz behind him and the struggle that it betrayed as they climbed two long flights of stairs to reach the third floor. They hadn't had a good meal in over a week and had slept poorly the night before. The exhilaration of their night time raid on the packed APC had long since worn off and so had the brief rush of adrenaline after the scuffle with the drifter from the Sharlah camp.

They dragged their abused bodies up the steps and into one of the empty classrooms on the right side of the hallway with it's windows facing the street that they had just left. Connor sighed in relief as he spotted the house where he had left the burning flashlight and said a silent prayer that the batteries would hold up until after dark.

Liz came into the classroom after doing a quick sweep of the hallway. He should have thought of that himself and cursed quietly for leaving her to do it alone.

"All quiet out there. It's eerie. You could probably hear a mouse fart." Liz said as she slid down the wall to take a seat beside him. She let her weight lean on his shoulder.

"Yeah, we need to be careful and keep that door closed." Connor said and let out a long yawn.

"I hope they're not taking kids too. Is that too much to ask?"

"I saw a little girl in that camp." Connor said, his voice even quieter than normal.

Liz lowered her head against his shoulder. "I hope she made it out okay."

"Me too."

They both dozed off, giving in to the fatigue, but it was Connor who snapped awake first and crept to the window to pull back the curtains.

"Hey, Liz, wake up, it's dark. Help me move this desk over to the window." He whispered and she slowly acknowledged him as she came back into the world.

They slid the desk against the window and set up Connor's rifle so that the barrel was just poking out of the curtains. He started to get an estimate on the ranges of the other buildings around the school and could see the flashlight beam sticking out like a sore thumb in the encroaching darkness. He could even see the silhouette of the little cat sitting in the window. It must have decided against going out hunting that evening, maybe sensing that something was about to happen.

Liz tapped him on the shoulder and crept away to the room next door to set up her own rifle. She still felt groggy from the nap but the excitement was beginning to build. If the Sharlah fell for the bait, they would have them dead to rights. She sighted in on the house where Connor had left the flashlight and smiled at how it drew her eyes like a fly zapper brings the insects.

The anticipation turned to boredom as she watched through the scope for any sign of movement below. The cat that she had been watching had fallen asleep after some time and even though Connor was in the next room, she started to feel very alone. She started to agonize over every possibility for the ambush to go wrong. What if they sniff out the trap and open fire before she sees them? What if they just level the whole building with a missile or bomb?

Bright headlights brought her back to the present as a Sharlah truck started down the street. The bright lights switched to red as they spotted what they thought was human activity in the little house with a decorative windmill in the yard. Red searchlights swept the area and she sat back against the wall in case they looked at the school building. They did and her heart skipped a few beats. She knew they didn't have a magical ability to see through bricks but she expected the wall to crash in on her at any moment.

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The truck revved up and pulled away but then stopped again in the distance. She crept back behind her rifle and couldn't find it with the scope but moments later a squad of Sharlah troopers moved in to surround the house. They covered the front and sides as the one giving orders moved in for a closer look. Connor's rifle boomed and their leader went back down the stairs with blood erupting from his visor. The rest scrambled for cover and another went down from a shot to the back.

Liz heard the motor of the APC rev again and dragged her rifle back from the window as the 30-06 next door went silent. The feeling of loneliness was replaced by a sense of dread. They had just fired at close range from inside of a building. Their position was no longer hidden and most of them had gotten away. She heard Connor slap the wall as he darted from his classroom and scrambled to grab her own gear but her hands were shaking and she dropped her extra mag and it clattered to the floor. Ash she picked it up, she heard Connor scream something.

Liz darted into the hallway and found Connor beating and stabbing a bloody Sharlah on the landing of the stairs. She froze as the APC roared up to the entryway below them and bathed the whole corridor in red light.

"Connor we have to run!" She shouted at him but he didn't look at her, just to his rifle that was laying on the ground. "Connor, now!" She shouted again.

The APC opened fire and red blasts ripped through the wall showering Connor with chunks of brick and glass shards. He looked up at her with a mixture of fear and sadness before snapping back to attention and scrambling toward the stairs with his rifle in hand.

"Out the other side!" He yelled as a bolt ripped past his head and set his hat on fire. He ripped it off and sprinted down the hallway. Liz struggled to keep up with his long strides until he stopped and fired back toward the steps with his shotgun. A Sharlah just cresting the top grabbed it's helmet and staggered backward but another took it's place and was about to fire as they rounded the corner of the hallway lined with classrooms.

They jumped down the stairs on the opposite side and exploded out the back door which was mercifully unlocked when they pushed the bar on the inside.

"Where are we going?" Liz gasped, already feeling winded.

"I don't know, just keep running. They're sending backup." Connor yelled and pointed at lights emerging from the huge mothership in the sky.

Just then, the man from the prison camp stepped out from behind a car in the school's lot and waved at them as he said something into a device in his left hand. Connor waved back and started to warn the man when he raised a handgun and fired. Connor screamed and grabbed his arm as he fell to the ground. Liz pulled up her rifle and shot the man in the stomach, sending him to the ground in a heap.

"Connor!" Liz screamed and pulled on the back of his coat.

"I'm alright." He said and climbed back to his feet. Blood pooled on his shoulder but he was still able to run. "There, that huge warehouse."

Mutant alien dogs howled behind them as they dug deep for the energy to run. Gunshots, human ones, rang out in the distance as someone else opened fire on the Sharlah with an automatic weapon followed by an explosion that lit up the skyline for a moment. Then more shots and laser fire. The whole city was coming to life.

The building was at least five minutes away but they sprinted for it, fueled solely by fear and pain. They jumped fences and ducked into alleyways to hide from the patrolling dropships overhead. The sign above the door read "Vista Freight Company Office". They barged through it and stopped to breathe for a moment.

"Not good. This is not good." Connor gasped.

"Yeah, doesn't feel good."

"They haven't chased us like that before." He said and took a long gulp from his water bottle.

"I think that guy was working for them. He ratted us out and they thought we were still in the house." Liz said and did the same.

"Yeah. I think you're right. Good thing we moved. Come on, break time is over. we made it a few blocks without them seeing us. We need to hunker down, those ships are going to be buzzing all over the place."

"You're bleeding, we need to look at that." Liz said and dropped her pack to look for the first aid kit."

"No, not here, lets get deeper in the building. I'm fine." Connor said and helped her put the pack back on.