*Isabella Hernandez's POV:

(This takes place two days after Chapter 20)

"I'm sorry, no one is available to answer the phone at this ti-"

"God, why isn't anyone answering the phone?!" I yelled out in anger as I hung up.

I called the house phone that Beval and his friends were using in the hideout about twenty times. None of them answered.

Me, my parents, Gaia's parents and older brother Thomas, and Robin's parents were at Mrs. Mizuki and Mr. Hada's house. We were trying as hard as we could to get in contact with Shimizu, Robin, my brother Beval, and Gaia.

I dialed the number and called one more time.

"It's been about two or three days since we could get in contact with them. They knew that we would call them every day to check up on them, so what is the problem?! Why suddenly they aren't answering the phone?!" Mr. Douglas ranted as he laid his hand on top of his bald head and patiently waited as my phone rung. His skin was a faint pink as he started to stress more and more.

My phone went to voicemail after about ten seconds.

"Do you think something happened to them?" Thomas walked up and asked me.

"I don't know. I hope not."

"I'll try to call them" Mrs. Mizuki volunteered. She dialed the number and called. After it went to voicemail, she left a message. "Shimizu, it's your mother, please call me. We are worried about you and your friends. You haven't been texting or calling in a couple days, is everything alright?"

"Mommy, is Shimizu okay?" Hikari asked Mrs. Mizuki with worry in her voice.

"Yes baby, he should be fine, you don't have to worry" she responded as she crouched down and caressed Hikari's hair.

"Ugh, it keeps going straight to voicemail!", Mr. Douglas yelled out in anger. "What on earth is going on?"

Robin's, Gaia's and Shimizu's parents started having a group discussion about this whole thing. I decided to stay out of it.

"Isabella!" my mom yelled out.

"Yes?" I answered.

She wiggled her finger for me to come over to her. I walked over and sat down in between her and my dad on the couch.

"¿Crees que los oficiales se los llevaron?" my mom asked. Translation: (Do you think the officers took them?)

"No lo sé, mamá. Pero le pido a Dios que no sea así", I replied as I shrugged my shoulders. Translation: (I don't know mom. But I am praying to God that's not it)

"Tenemos que tener fe en que Beval está bien. Tal vez su teléfono acaba de morir", my dad said to us as he wrapped his arm around my mom, comforting her. Translation: (We have to have faith that Beval is okay. Maybe his phone just died.)

"No sé sobre ese papá. Él y sus amigos no han contestado sus teléfonos desde hace un par de días. Por lo general, nos llamarán todos los días para decir que están bien y a salvo," I said back, giving my thoughts on this whole thing. Translation: (I don't know about that dad. He and his friends haven't been answering their phones for a couple of days now. Usually, they'll call us daily to say they're okay and safe.)

"Okay, maybe we are just overreacting and maybe they're busy doing something?" Mrs. Mizuki stated to the others with a nervous laugh. She said it loud enough for me and my parents to hear.

To be honest, I was really thinking the same thing at that point. What if we were just anxious about the whole thing and they were alright?

"Busy doing what Mizuki? They are in an underground shelter with Wi-Fi. They should be know where else but in the hideout. What else could they be possibly doing?" my dad spoke up in frustration as he got up from the couch.

"I don't know, but I don't want to think that them being founded by the officers is a possibility. There is no way the officers can find them if they are underground, that is why I said "maybe" they are just busy and we are just overreacting!" Mrs. Mizuki snapped back.

"Overreacting is when you kill a bug by accident and start crying. Overreacting is when you scream to the top of your lungs all because you see a mouse running around your house. This is not a case of "overreacting". This is a case of "we haven't heard from our children in two days and they usually texted or called us every day to tell us that they were okay. But suddenly, none of them will answer the phone and we are worried sick". That is not overreacting" Mrs. King spoke up, trying to remain calm in the best way possible.

At that moment, everyone started arguing at once. Like I said before, I decided to stay out of it. But suddenly, Mr. King said something that we could honestly all agree on.

"Alright, alright, enough arguing!"

Everyone went quiet and looked at him.

"Let's be real here, something must've happened. The only way we can really figure out what happened is if we go up to Mina's house and find out what the hell is going on! All of this arguing and bickering isn't helping or solving this situation" Mr. King said in an authoritative tone of voice.

Me and everyone else looked at each other, but we all knew that we had to go up to Mina's house if we truly wanted to know what happened.

"I think we should go up there. We need to be really sure if they are safe or not" Thomas spoke up, timidly.

"I agree" Mr. and Mrs. Douglas spoke up.

"We agree" my dad said as he firmly held my mom's hand, speaking up for her.

"I agree" Mrs. Mizuki and Mr. Hada both said.

"I agree" Mrs. King said.

"I agree as well. I think we should go there and see what's up" I nodded as I crossed my arms.

"Good thing I have my handgun on me, just in case" Mr. Douglas chuckled as he patted the bag that he was carrying.

"What?!" we all yelled.

"What? Me and my wife were at the gun range before we came here" Mr. Douglas explained.

We blew our breaths in relief.

"Mizuki!" Mr. Hada called out.

"Yes Yuzuru?" she responded.

"You guys can go, I'll stay here with Hikari. Just please be safe."

"Why wouldn't we be safe? We're just going to Mina's house to see what's going on" Mrs. Mizuki explained to her husband.

"I know, I know. But I am telling you, just in case if anything goes down."

She looked back at us, whom were waiting for her near the door.  She turned back around.

"Okay, I should be back by dinner."

She kissed Mr. Hada's cheek and hugged Hikari before walking over to us.

"Let's go" she said.

Me and the others, except for Mr. Hada and Hikari, left the home.

"We can take my large van" Mrs. Mizuki insisted.

As we got into the van, a thought came to my mind.

"Hey, does anyone know exactly how to get to Mina's house?" I asked everyone.

Everyone just paused and gave each other an "uh-oh" look.

"I do!" Mrs. Mizuki announced. "She lives in Sunnyside. I remember because I drove Shimizu and his friends there before."

"Great!" I responded.

As we were on our way there, I thought about all the possibilities of why Beval or his friends weren't answering. I refused to imagine that it was because the F.E.M.A officers found them and took them to the camps. If I founded out that was the case, I would've been heartbroken, but I would've also caught a case for hitting a minor, even if Mina was only three years younger than me. It would've showed that she failed at protecting them.

We placed all our trust on a girl we didn't even know to protect them. And now, here we were, driving up Mina's house, worried as shit because we haven't heard from them in a couple days.

There could've been so many reasons to why they weren't answering or responding to our texts, from bad reception to just plain old ignoring us. But I had to think to myself, they wouldn't do something like that, especially in the times that we were in.

We began approaching Mina's street.

"Is that her house right there?" Mrs. Douglas pointed to a huge mansion that we were slowly approaching.

"Yes" Mrs. Mizuki responded. She found a parking spot and parked the van.

"Alright, let's go!" I announced as I opened the van's door and got out.

I stormed over to the sidewalk, into to the pathway that led to Mina's front door.

"Wait! Wait! Bella wait up!" Thomas yelled, jogging up to me. "Before we start accusing, we must try and listen."

"I know" I said back, emotionless, not making any type of eye contact with him as we were approaching the front door. Everyone else was trying to catch up with me and Thomas.

Once we approached the front door, Thomas hesitantly, but gently knocked on it.

I stood there, arms crossed, tapping my foot as I gave Thomas a look. He smiled nervously at me.

"As if they're going to hear that quiet ass knock in this big ass mansion!" I said to him in frustration.

I started banging hard on the front door.

"Mina, it's Isabella! Open up!"

I kept on banging for a several more seconds until I heard somebody's voice.

"Isabella! Isabella! Oh, thank god you are here!"

It was Mina. She opened the front door. Her eyes were pink, and tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Even though I called Mina's name, I was honestly expecting a security guard to answer, but when I looked behind Mina into the house, no security guards, butler's or maids were in sight. My guess was that they probably took the day off.

"I'm so glad you guys are here. I'm so sorry for not contacting you, but I couldn't find any of your numbers!"

"Mina, what's wrong?! Where's Shimizu and the others?" Mrs. Mizuki asked as she approached Mina.

"I.....I....I."

Mina couldn't say anything because she was crying so much.

"What happened to Beval and his friends? You should know, they were with you!" I said to her in concern mixed with fear. "Are they inside your house? Or are they in the underground shelter?" I asked her again, anxious and annoyed at the same time.

Mina wiped away tears.

"No, no they are not."

"What? What do you mean?" Thomas asked, scared of the answer.

"Where are they?!" I asked in frustration.

"I have terrible, terrible news" Mina whimpered as she began to cry again.

"Oh my God" Mrs. Mizuki whimpered, and began to cry.

It's like we already knew what happened without Mina fully telling us. I tried my hardest not to cry, but to no avail. Tears streamed down my face as I thought of my little brother and his friends being dragged out of Mina's house into the F.E.M.A van, never to be seen again.

I bundled up all my strength to speak.

"Tell us Mina. Tell us what happened to them!"

Tears where pouring down my face.

"The guards took them! They took them from the underground shelter two days ago. I'm so sorry!"

That's when I broke down physically and emotionally.

"Isabella?! Isabella?!" my mom called out to me, teary eyed. She wanted me to translate, but all I could do was go and hug her. That told my mom what happened.

She hugged back and began crying as well.

"How did this happen?!" my dad cried out.

"It was random, I-there was nothing we could do. I begged the officers to let them go, but they didn't!"

"We thought you would protect them!" Mr. King yelled at her.

"I know, I know, I am so sorry. I thought I could protect them, but I couldn't."

I was devastated. Losing my grandfather was hard, but losing my brother was too much to bear. Even though I wasn't the nicest big sister, I still loved Beval to death. He was a diva at times, but he was still reliable and caring, even though he didn't show it sometimes.

My memories of my little brother were consumed of happy, sad and angry memories. Happy ones like the time when we did the whip and nae and nae at my Quinceanera. Another was when we took a vacation to Disneyland and took pictures with Princess Tiana and the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Sad memories like during our grandfather's funeral and how Beval couldn't stop crying. I was too numb and too devastated to cry.

I also remembered when a sad memory turned happy. A couple years back, I experienced my first real heartbreak when my ex-boyfriend broke up with me at our senior prom. I left prom early because of that. The next day when I came home from work, Beval, Gaia and Robin threw me a surprise mini party to cheer me up, but it was all Beval's idea.

I had a lot of angry memories with my little brother, mainly sibling rivalry. I remembered me and Beval participating in Mexican mariachi dancing at a Latino festival, last summer. He kept stepping on my dress on purpose, causing it to rip a little and it made me lose my balance. I was so embarrassed.

Another was when we were younger. I wouldn't let him play games on my phone, so he dropped my $150 "Beats" brand headphones in the toilet.

We had our ups and downs, but even through all of that, we were there for each other when we needed each other the most. But now, Beval was gone. His friends were gone. They were probably dead by now.

"No, no" I whimpered as I firmly hugged my mom. She was crying loudly. Whimpers, cries, wails and bawls filled the air.

I thought about me and Beval's last conversation on the phone. I called him to ask what was he up to, and he said that he finished exercising with his friends. I could hear Robin, Gaia and Shimizu talking to each other in the background about breakfast. I could also hear Mina talking to them. She probably came down there to visit them.

But then Beval told me something else, I don't really remember, but I think it was about how they were leaving their hideout for somethi-...wait a minute.

Beval did say that Mina wanted them to come up for breakfast and that it was their first time coming out in a month. So why would Mina suddenly want them to come up for breakfast? And it was on the same day they were taken?

I think I just had an epiphany.

"Wait a minute" I said to myself as I let go of my mom.

I turned to Mina and asked her something loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Why did you invite Beval and his friends for breakfast a couple of days ago?"

My eyes were focused on her and her facial expressions and my fist were clenched. Everyone stopped crying and looked at her.

"Breakfast?" she responded with confusion as she wiped her tears.

"Yes Breakfast! The very last time I talked to Beval, he told me that you invited him and his friends to breakfast. So, my question to you is: why did you suddenly want to invite Beval and his friends to breakfast two days ago, which was the same day they were captured?"

"I was being nice by letting them eat with us. It was probably tiring being underground for weeks. Also, the officers came for them after breakfast. They captured them from their hideout."

I thought about it for a second. Everyone started to realize something too.

"The hideout?" Thomas asked.

"Yes" Mina answered quickly.

"How did the officers manage to find the hideout when you said that you and your dad were the only ones who knew where it was? It was underground, so it was not so easy to spot, unless, you or your dad told them where it was," Thomas added. He was spot on.

We all looked at Mina, silent, waiting for an answer.

"Uhh, I, uh, I, uh" she stuttered.

That's when Mina quickly sprinted away, but you see, she forgot to close and lock the door.

"Get her!" I yelled out as I began chasing her. Everyone else followed.

Because I was a star Cross Country runner at my University and because Mina was wearing heels, I managed to catch up to her and tackle her down.

Mina began to yell and scream out for her dad as I was on top of her, pining her down to the ground. She was laying on her stomach. The others surrounded us.

"Spit it Mina! Was this your plan all along?! Did you purposely set them up?!"

Mina groaned and grunted as she tried to fight me off, but that ended quickly with me pinning her arms down.

"Tell me!" I yelled at her. Tears were streaming down my face and my voice began to break. "Tell me now!" I whimpered.

"Yes!" She admitted.

"Why?" I asked her.

She refused to respond.

"Why?!" I asked again, pulling her hair back.

"Argh, don't you get it?! The world is becoming too populated. We need to get rid of a bunch of people, that way it will be easier to control the masses. This is for our own good and for the good of humanity. You should thank my father; he is one of the leaders of W.E.A. They are the ones helping us with this goal of lowering the population. We were going to move before you guys could realize that something had happen to Beval and the others, but if we get caught, my plan B was to pretend to cry as if I was a victim."

Mina started to make an evil giggle.

I looked around.

They really were moving. Everything was packed in boxes and that probably explains why there were no security guards, maids or butlers around.

Such cowards, they decided to move so they couldn't deal with us face to face.

"You bitch! You work for W.E.A?!"

I began hitting Mina repeatedly on the head. She pulled my hair and tried to get me off her, but because I was on top of her, I had the advantage. I pinned her arms back down with my legs.

"You will pay for what you have done" I growled.

Suddenly, as we were fighting, Mr. Talikki showed up.

"Mina! What's going on here?!" Mr. Talikki cried out from the hallway across from of us. His footsteps were heavy and fast. "You get off of her!" he shouted at me as he was storming over.

"Remember us?" I asked to him with a smirk.

Before he could make it seven feet from me and Mina, I quickly reached into Mr. Douglas's bag as he was standing next to me and took out his handgun and pointed it at Mr. Talikki.

He stopped in his tracks and slowly raised his hands.

Mr. Douglas would've quickly took the gun away from me and lectured me about gun safety. But during a time like this, he didn't even try.

"No! Please don't shoot him! Isabella, no!" Mina cried out. But I ignored her.

"You bastard! You think this is saving humanity?! All you are doing is destroying it. Selfish asses! Don't care about anything but money!" I scowled at Mr. Talikki loudly, tears still streaming down my face.

"Please, we can work this out. I'll pay you anything. I'll double it" he pleaded. His hands were trembling.

"I don't want your money! Because of you and your skank-ass daughter, I lost my little brother and his friends, and you don't even care!"

"Kill him" Mrs. Mizuki spoke up. I turned around to look at Mrs. Mizuki. Her eyes were red from crying.

"Kill his ass!" she cried out to me in desperation.

I nodded and turned back around to look at him. Never had I ever had this much anger and hatred towards anyone in my life.

"No! Don't kill him, please, I'll do anything!" Mina cried out. I still ignored her, her words didn't matter to me.

"Well guess what" I continued.

"No, no" Mr. Talikki mumbled.

I placed my finger on the trigger.

"It's your time to die now!"

                       (Gunshots)

Everyone flinched at the loud sound of the handgun. I shot him three times in the chest before he fell to the ground. Blood began pouring out of his chest on to the floor.

"Dad!" Mina screamed as she squirmed and cried.

I got off Mina and she immediately ran to her dad, crying, screaming, shaking him to see if he was still alive. He wasn't.

"Guys, we have to leave, right now! What if the neighbors hear this?! The police will find out about this sooner or later!" Thomas yelled out at us before he quickly jogged out of the mansion. Everyone else quickly followed.

But I wasn't done just yet.

I walked up to Mina as she was shaking her dad, crying. She looked up at me.

"You monster!" she screamed in anger.

"Look who's talking" I said as I chuckled, waving around the handgun in my hand. I crouched down next to her.

"Now you know what it's like to lose someone dear to you" I said sarcastically, as if I felt sorry for her.

"Fuck you!" she screamed at me in anger.

I shrugged with a smile on my face and got back up. I began walking away, but then I stopped right in my tracks.

"Oh, and one more thing...," I said as I turned around to look at her. Mina looked up at me.

"After what you have done, you don't deserve to live either" I added, slowly pointing the gun at her.

"No! Please don't ki-"

                                   (Gunshots)

I shot her a few times in her chest. She collapsed right next to her father. Blood slowly began pouring, mixing in with her father's blood.

To make sure she wasn't still alive, I walked over to her and kicked her a little. She was dead. Good riddance.

That's when I spotted something sticking out of Mr. Talikki's pocket. I quickly grabbed it so no blood would get on it.

"A map?" I questioned out loud. A map to a nuclear shelter. It looked like we just found a place to stay during world war 3.

I scoffed.

"Looks like we're going to need this" I said to myself as I folded the map up and placed it into my pocket.

As I began leaving out the house, I had an idea; I must remove as much evidence as possible that we were here.

I walked back in and took out a match and rubbed it against a piece of wood. Then, I threw the match into the living room and watched as it began to make a fire.

"Burn in hell" I said to the corpses of Mina and her dad as I walked out of the house.