"You'll be the one setting it off, Rocco. Mae and I will be getting our escape ready. We'll need to make it outside the barrier right after we set it off. They will open the barrier to transfer supplies at that point. That is our time to sneak out. Of course, we'll just be sneaking into another dreamer zone, but eventually we can take over that area and branch out a resistance of sorts." Axel said, looking at me and then Mae.
I understood the plan. Start the fire, and blend in with the evacuating crowd... the rest from there was burnt into my memory.
"Since you are one of the smartest in our year, we should be able to pull this off no doubt." Mae said, smirking. "They haven't figured it out and won't for some time."
***
The plan was the next day. During lunch hours, I snuck into the storage room and placed logs of wood manifested by Mae on the floor. I struck a match and placed in on the wood pile, dropping paper on top of it. I then opened up the vent and dropped a match on the gas trail left behind by Axel and Mae.
I rushed out of the room and closed the door, breaking off the handle and running outside just as the fire alarm went off. They wouldn't be able to open the door and put out the fire now. To my surprise, the students weren't outside on the front side of the school, so they must have exited through the back way. I didn't have time to wait, so I ran through the streets and toward the vehicle outside a warehouse, I jumped in the back and quickly noticed I entered the wrong one, and now Mae and Axel were in the one next to me.
It was too late, the vehicles began moving, luckily they were both going to the same location.
It had just occurred to me that I would be leaving mom and dad behind. I had said goodbye to Ewan, but not them. It's not like they'd notice I was gone anyway... right?
I was quickly snapped out of my thoughts as we arrived at the barrier and the trucks stopped. The barrier made an opening sound, but I could also hear a struggling noise and men yelling. I peeked outside the curtain of the back of the truck and could see two men restraining Mae and Axel.
I quickly vaulted over the ledge of the truck and swiped my hand at them, hoping for the best.
My manifestation began, with a hand once again, it swiped the men out of the way at such a force that blood shot from their bodies. They hit against the barrier and ceased movement.
"Quickly! We need to go!" I yelled, grabbing the uniform off of one of the men, who seemed to be dead. I had no time to feel remorse. It was us... or them.
Axel grabbed the other outfit, and we got into the front seats of the trucks. On the passenger seat was a remote, which seemed to open the barrier for us to pass through. Using my knowledge of vehicles, I began to drive through the barrier, with Axel following shortly behind, Mae in the back once more. We arrived at some warehouse not too far from the barrier and entered with the trucks.
Axel and I stared at each other as the people who would be unloading the truck began to walk toward the back. Axel twisted his neck, making a loud cracking noise, the guards fell over, and his nose began to drip blood.
We stepped out of the trucks and put their bodies in the back, I helped Mae out, and we all ran to a nearby house, knocking on the door, nobody answered, so we entered the house just as an alarm rang near the warehouse. We stayed in that house for some time before we heard a knock on the door.
Mae opened the door and there were three police officers waiting nearby.
"Are you the parents of this residence?" One asked, looking around past Mae.
Mae's demeanor changed, and she began speaking like my mother would.
"Yes. I am the Mother of Jackson. He is in the kitchen doing his homework." She said, picking up a tablet that must have been on the table. "His father is in the other room. If I may, I will now return to the news." she said, beginning to close the door.
"Wait a minute there, ma'am." another officer said, pushing the door open and entering the house. I'm sure all of our hearts were beating fast. We were exhausted and fighting people with guns was not an option right now.
"Can we speak to your son? Ask him some questions?"
Mae knew that the parents from our town could not refuse the cops, as if programmed by the tablets, so she agreed.
"Have you seen anybody around? Maybe wearing a uniform of sorts?" the last cop asked me, his mustache bothered me and his eyebrows were lifted in suspicion.
"No sir. I have not." I said, looking away and then back. "Has something happened?"
Bingo. Got them.
The cops began stepping toward the door. "No, no... just asking." One said, opening the door for the rest of them. They would not be able to disclose such information or else there would be a panic, so asking that question would force them to leave right away.
We had succeeded for now.
The TV in the living room was now turned on, as if on it's own. Displaying a burnt down school, the words on the screen began with saying...
"All students and staff dead."