| Part 3 Early in the evening, just after dinner, the children were heading to their homes for the night. It was then that Lacey snuck into town, having been able to convince the adults that she and Meagan wanted to just take a walk. Unfortunately, to her, that also meant having to take Meagan with her. "Exactly *where* are we going?" Meagan asked impatiently. "To town," Lacey snapped. "I have to find Danny." "Why do you want to find this guy? Isn�t he �the enemy?�" Meagan inquired sarcastically, making quotation marks with her fingers as she said �the enemy.� "You don�t know anything! Danny was brainwashed!" Lacey exclaimed heatedly. "Brainwashed?" repeated Meagan with one eyebrow hiked dubiously. "Okay, if you say so." "I do! Now be quiet! We have to go through the north woods so they won�t see us," Lacey told her, then stalked away. Meagan just shook her head and rolled her eyes, then followed slowly after Lacey. -------------------------- In town, Danny and Keren were walking down the nearly deserted street hand-in-hand. "Danny," Keren began quietly. "Do you think that we�ll be all right?" Danny stopped and took both of Keren�s hands in his. "I really don�t know. All I do know is that I won�t let them hurt you," he replied. "Oh, Danny, that�s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me! But I don�t want you to get hurt trying to protect me." "I won�t, don�t worry about me," Danny tried to reassure her. They continued to walk in silence, unaware that Lacey was following in the shadows. -------------------------- When they arrived at the small home that Keren shared with Tabitha, Danny slowly leaned down and Keren tilted her faintly freckled face towards his and their lips met in a gentle kiss. Danny lightly nibbled on her bottom lip and toyed with the loose strands of wavy red hair that framed her face. Then she pulled away and brushed the blond hair that had fallen across his face out of his eyes. "I should go inside, check on Tabitha," she whispered. "Okay, I�ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight," he replied. "Goodnight," she echoed, and kissed his cheek. -------------------------- Danny was walking up the stairs to the back door of his home when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and his eyes darkened with anger when he saw that it was Lacey. "What are you doing here? What have you done?" he demanded angrily. "I went to New York, just like I said I would. And you want to know what I found? Five adults, maybe the only ones left," Lacey retorted. "And you brought them here? Why?" "Because of He Who Walks Behind the Rows. He destroyed us, Danny, can�t you see that? I have to stop Him. I *need* to stop Him." "How? By bringing those Outlanders here?" asked Danny incredulously. "Please, Danny," Lacey started to plead, ignoring his question. "Please come with me now. We can leave for wherever you want. We don�t even have to stay with the adults if you don�t want." "Are you even listening to what you�re saying? You�re asking me to abandon my best friends and all of the people who count on me! You just can�t be serious!" Danny nearly shouted, confusion and anger in his voice. "But I am! I still love you and you have to know that I forgive you for what happened all those months ago. We were always supposed to be together, I see that now. I just wish I could take it all back," Lacey confessed, her voice suddenly becoming quiet. Danny wasn�t ready to let up just yet. "So this is what you do? You come back and lead those...*Outlanders*," he sputtered. "Those freakin� Outlanders back here and you take them to Littleton and they kill Japheth and all of those kids! Why?" "We just arrived there first and I saw that it was controlled by He Who and I wanted to show them what we were going after!" Lacey struggled to explain. "Lacey, that is the lamest excuse I have ever heard. We�re done here. I�m not going with you and you won�t be taking this town," Danny said with finality. "Yeah, well, we�ll just see about that. That little bastard Micah�s gonna be dead and so are you! See if I care!" Lacey shouted hysterically and began to run towards the woods. Danny was about to run after her when he realized what she had said. Micah would be dead. It was then that he remembered that she had no idea what kind of power Micah really held. Or Delilah for that matter. Boy was she going to be in for a surprise, because when Micah gets mad, his enemies always have a hard time surviving. Danny smiled a little bit, but that smile disappeared when it suddenly jolted him that if Lacey was here, then the Outlanders were close by too. He ran up the stairs into the house to find Micah and Delilah. -------------------------- Meanwhile on the other side of town, Meagan had somehow managed to get separated from Lacey. Or maybe Lacey had deliberately lost her, who knows? At any rate, Meagan was now wandering the dusty streets with more than a little trepidation. After all, with psychotic kids just running loose, no one was really safe. She turned off the main road and began to walk towards a large barn. Maybe she could hide there for awhile. As it happened, someone else was already in this barn. Samuel was just hanging up some farm tools and getting ready to leave. Ever since �the incident� six months ago, he had been trying to get in good again with Micah and the others. He had realized soon after the whole thing was over that he had been very stupid in trying to help Mordechai. Mordechai had been out of his mind! So far, Micah had seemed to forgive him, which he was very thankful about. That didn�t mean he was about to slack off, though. He still had a little more than a year before he would be able to leave. He ran a hand through his shaggy caramel colored hair and sighed. That year just wouldn�t end fast enough. Suddenly he heard a rustling and what sounded like footsteps nearing the barn. Was it the Outlanders? He crept cautiously towards the door, 2 x 4 in hand, and waited in the shadows. -------------------------- As Meagan neared the door, a rather tall boy in dark pants and a blue button-up shirt jumped out at her, a 2 x 4 clutched in his hands like a baseball bat. She screamed and stumbled back, and the boy dropped the piece of wood to grip her upper arms and stop her from falling. "Woah, are you okay?" he asked with concern. Then he narrowed his eyebrows and looked her over. "Wait a minute, I don�t think I�ve ever seen you before," he said with suspicion rising in his voice. Meagan bit her lip and frantically tried to think of something convincing to say. "I�m, uh...I�m...visiting...a little bit, maybe?" she stuttered and mentally smacked herself. �Great, that was just great,� she thought. �Totally believable.� The boy tried to stifle a laugh but was obviously having a hard time holding it in. When he finally sobered up he seemed to remember something and frowned deeply. "You�re with the Outlanders, aren�t you!" he accused her. "*With* the Outlanders, or just with the Outlanders?" Meagan asked, trying to buy some time. "Look, don�t you realize what�s going to happen?" he started to say. Then he shook his head. "It doesn�t matter anyway. I have to take you to Micah. He�ll have to be the one to deal with you." "What do you mean, �deal with me?� I�m not going anywhere with you, you crazy corn guy!" she exclaimed and began to try to twist out of his grip. "Hey! Stop that! I gotta do this!" he almost pleaded with her. "No way!" Meagan retorted and kicked him in the shins. He yelped in pain and relaxed his grip on her arms. When he did so she was able to bring them up and she shoved him as hard as she could. He fell back, and when he did his head hit the 2 x 4 he had thrown to the ground just moments before. Meagan gaped in shock at his unconscious body. "Oh my God!" she cried and knelt down beside him. She sighed with relief when she saw that he was still breathing and then looked around to make sure that no one else was around. "Sorry guy, but I can�t stay," she apologized and decided that the cornfield would probably be the safest place to hide for the time being. She made a run for it. --------------------------------- Back at Danny and Micah�s house Danny was waiting impatiently for Micah and Delilah to make their grand entrance. Apparently they were at another house trying to settle a dispute as fast as possible. �How can anyone fight at a time like this?� Danny thought. He heard the door open and two familiar voices reached him. �Finally,� he thought. "Guys, you just missed something big!" he called to them. Micah and Delilah came into the den and sat on the couch. "What happened?" Micah asked with concern. "I just had the great honor of speaking with Lacey," Danny said derisively. "Lacey? She�s here?" said Delilah with disbelief. "For just a minute. She was trying to convince me to leave with her. Said that she forgave me, or something like that." "And no adults were with her? Do you know where they are?" Micah asked with urgency. "I got the impression that Lacey snuck away from them or something. I think that they�re near here, but not here yet," Danny explained. "Then we still have time. I suppose that there will be no sleep tonight for any of us, though," Micah said reluctantly. "I wouldn�t be able to sleep anyway," Delilah admitted. Micah put his arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Perhaps we should go to the main barn and collect some weapons?" he suggested. "That sounds like a good idea," Danny agreed. "I�ll go get Jedediah and Rachael and meet you and Delilah there, okay?" "Yes, that�s fine," Micah said and the three left the house for their destinations. --------------------------------- At Jedediah and Rachael�s house Danny banged loudly on the door. He heard movement inside the house and smiled somewhat mischievously at a bleary-eyed Jedediah. "Did I wake you?" he teased. "Only totally," Jedediah answered with annoyance. "What�s going on?" "Lacey," Danny said and watched as Jedediah came fully awake. He explained quickly what had happened and his conversation with Lacey. "So, what are we doing?" Jedediah asked and yelled for Rachael to come downstairs. "Well, right now we�re going to meet Micah and Delilah at the barn to get some weapons. We�re still not sure when they will come," replied Danny as Rachael entered the hallway. Jedediah filled Rachael in on what had happened and what they were doing and her eyes widened. "So, what are we waiting for? We have to go!" --------------------------------- When Jedediah, Danny, and Rachael arrived at the barn, they saw that Micah and Delilah were sitting with a third person, who had his head down. When he looked up they saw it was Samuel. "What�s going on?" Danny asked Micah. "Apparently Samuel had a run-in with an Outlander, but this one was a teenage girl," Micah explained. "Where is she now?" Jedediah asked Samuel. "I don�t know. After she hit me I blacked out," Samuel said defensively. "She was stronger than she looked." "Hey, look at this," Rachael called to the others and they saw what looked like fresh footprints in the dirt. "Looks like she might have headed into the fields." "Well, that might take care of that," Danny said. "I don�t think so," Delilah disagreed. "Apparently Father has other plans." "Then I guess I�ll be seeing her again," said Samuel, and he sounded curiously cheerful about it. |