CHAPTER ONE:

SUPER SAM

KANSAS CITY HAD been taken over. Everyone's chants echoed throughout the city after breaking out of the QZ. The Fedra soldiers were forced onto their knees, shot or beaten to death. Some got ropes around their necks as the crowd hung them up until their breath left them.

Large trucks drove through the streets of the city, a man yelling into a megaphone as the lights flashed down alleyways underneath the nighttime sky, searching for any collaborators of Fedra. The lights failed to catch the three figures hiding behind a large dumpster.

Henry Burrell was quick to hide again when he peeked out before the lights could catch him. One of his hands reached behind him towards his siblings, making sure they were both holding on so he knew they were close to him.

One of the trucks had a rope attached to it. On the other side, the dead body of a Fedra soldier was being dragged along the rocky ground, different types of blades stabbed into his body. It was clear they were making a point to the people hiding. This would be them if they didn't surrender.

At the sight of this, eight year old Sam Burrell felt his eyes widen in fear as he shimmied beside his older brother to get a better look. His little body shook as he tried not to think about the fact that that could possibly be him and his siblings one day if they were caught.

He felt his heart quicken at that.

Holding her little brother's hand to try and pull him back, fourteen year old Y/n Burrell stumbled forward and followed where Sam was looking. A gasp of fear escaped past her lips as her wide e/c eyes watched the body being dragged away.

The two younger siblings were pulled back by their brother. "Look at me. Not at that." Henry signs, his face stern. "We're almost there. Two more blocks. Stay with me."

The eldest sibling grabs both of their hands, holding them tight as he looks both of them in the eye. Once his brother and sister nodded, the young adult turned to the open road. Y/n was right behind him, holding her hand out for Sam to take, which he did so very quickly.

Slowly, the Burrell siblings stepped out from behind the dumpster, glancing both ways down the street before Henry grabbed Y/n's free hand. Instantly, the three broke into a sprint down the dark street.

Loud voices and engines of trucks could be heard all around the city, making Henry and Y/n glance around frantically while Sam watched them, eyes confused. Within minutes, their sprinting slowed down into jogs until they reached the place they were to meet Edelstein.

Using the keys he had, Henry unlocks the door, pushing Y/n and Sam inside before stepping inside himself, closing and locking the door behind them. "We're going up." Henry tells them, gesturing for them to turn their flashlights on.

The two older siblings make eye contact. When Henry brings out his, Y/n grabs her own, holding it tight against her flashlight as they began making their way creaking stairs. The sister of the three jumped at the sound of a gunshot from outside when they reached the top.

Staying quiet and moving slow, Henry leads them down the small hallway upstairs. Glancing back at the two, he pushes the door at the end of the hall. It was already cracked open. Just as they stepped inside, someone jumped out, causing guns to be aimed.

However, they relaxed when they realized it Doctor Edelstein. With a relieved sigh, Henry drops his arm as the older man does the same. Following her brother's lead, Y/n slowly lowers her gun, but continues to hold it tight in her grip.

As the two older men talked, Edelstein opened up a passageway that led to the attic of the building they were in. Henry climbed up first, holding his hand out to Sam. Y/n helps her little brother up before Henry pulls her up. Edelstein was right behind them.

"You sure they don't know about this?" Henry asks, taking off his backpack.

The doctor lets out a breath. "I got it from a Fedra officer." He turns the lamp that hung right above them on. "Patient. Owed me a favor. He said he found it himself," Edelstein closes the passage, "never told anyone about it."

Henry raises a brow. "And what if they get to him?"

"They already did. He won't be talking." Edelstein tells him.

As they were talking, Sam had moved to the corner of the attic, holding his legs to his knees. Y/n was right behind him, taking her backpack off as she crouched down beside him. Signing to him, the eight year old unzips his coat and brings out his magic slate.

"Fuck." Henry curses as he continues bringing cans out of the duffel bag. "Okay. Water? Toilets?"

"The apartments below are tied into the QZ main. We can use those, but we have to be fast and careful." Edelstein informs.

"Food?" Henry questions.

The older man shrugs. "Whatever you brought. I barely made it out as is."

"So we're fucked on food?" The eldest sibling concludes in question. "Ammunition?"

Edelstein holds up his small gun. "Empty."

"Yeah, so is mine. And Y/n's." Henry says.

"We weren't shooting our way outta this anyway." The doctor comments.

"No." Henry shakes his head. "So we'll sneak our way out."

"How?" Edelstein asks.

"Tunnels." The young man replies.

"Tunnels?" Edelstein repeats, brows raised. "Why go to the trouble? You can kill yourself right here."

"Twenty cans," Henry ignores him, "and six pounds of jerky for the four of us. If we stick to the minimum, I think we can make it eleven days? So that's how long we have to figure it out."

As the men continued talking, Y/n found herself blocking out their conversation as she shifts to face Sam. Noticing her moving, the young boy glances up at her. Their eyes meet and she gestures to his magic slate. Finishing his drawing, he unwraps it from his neck and gives it to her.

The fourteen year old smiles at the drawing. She knew Sam liked superheroes. "Super Sam." She signs, making the boy smile a bit.

The little brother glances at the men behind them, pointing at the doctor. "What did he say?"

"He said we're safe here. No one's going to find us." Y/n tells him, remembering what she heard just minutes ago.

"Are you sure?" Sam questions.

His sister nods. "One hundred percent."

Hunching low so he didn't hit the ceiling, Henry moves towards his brother and sister, crouching down beside Y/n so they were both looking at him. "Hey." He nudges Sam's leg. "See my face? Do I look scared?"

In response, Sam just shrugs with an unsure expression. Henry looks to his sister, and by the look she was giving him, he only gave her the same one back. Sam glances between them, brows furrowing.

"There is one problem though." Henry continues. Hands open, he glances around the attic. "This place? Is ugly." Y/n gives Sam an agreeing nod when he looked at her.

A smile twitches on the older brother's lips as he reaches behind him. Sam's eyes widen in excitement at the sight of a large bag of crayons. He reaches out for them, but Henry pulls back jokingly, causing the other two to roll their eyes.

Without hesitation, once the bag was in his hands, Sam opened it and pulled out two crayons, giving one to Y/n and one to Henry before he grabbed one himself. Not signing anything else, they turn to the walls and begin drawing.

* * *

TEN DAYS LATER

THE WALLS OF the attic were now covered in superhero drawings done by Sam. Some of them were from Y/n and Henry, yet Sam had made most of his time by coloring. It made the place a little bit better to block what was going on outside.

They were getting low on cans. With the four of them, they had tried to save as much as they could. Some nights since they arrived, Henry or Edelstein would give the rest of their food to Y/n and Sam. Y/n would only take a bite or two before giving the rest to Sam.

Truck engines echoed from outside the building they had been hiding in. On his knees, Henry rips the carboard that they used to cover the windows so he could see outside. Y/n moves up behind him, looking over his shoulder to stare through the glass as the sun shined through.

The resistance group moved all around the city, holding their guns high as they pushed through abandoned buildings in search of people against them. But Henry knew. He knew she was looking for him. He knew she wouldn't stop until she found him.

Moving from his painting, Sam reaches over and hits his siblings in the arms. "I'm hungry." He tells them before pointing at the last can they had. It was still closed.

Henry sighs, conflicted. "We'll open it later."

Rubbing his hungry stomach, Sam had no other choice than to grab the paintbrush and continue painting on the piece of cardboard he had drawn on. He tried not to think about it. Henry covers the window again before moving to the other one peeking through.

Their shouting voices could be heard from outside, the words escaping them muffled. A group jumped out of the truck that they parked with a squeal, guns raised as they rushed towards a large building. Henry watches them.

"She's not gonna stop," Y/n whispers, catching her brother's attention, "is she?"

Henry didn't know what to say. He knew that whatever he said wouldn't reassure her. Instead, he just says, "We'll make it through this." Y/n had no other choice than to nod.

They snap their heads to Sam when he bangs on the floor. "I'm hungry." The eight year old repeats, more desperate now.

"Later!" Henry insists.

"When is he coming back?" Sam asks.

The older brother shrugs. "I don't know."

"It's been a whole day." Sam reminds.

"It's hard to find food." Y/n reasons, face soft.

"But he is coming back?" Y/n looks at Henry at Sam's question. She watches as he glances between them before nodding, whispering a small 'yeah' in response.

Shoulders dropping with a huff, Henry pushes the cardboard back against the window, blocking out the sun and leaving them in the dark attic. Henry plops down on the floor as Y/n moves against the wall with a sigh.

"He's right, you know?" The sister speaks up, watching her little brother. "It's been a whole fucking day, Henry." She looks her older brother in the eye. "What if she got him?"

"We'll wait it out." Henry replies. "See if he comes back or not."

Y/n raises a brow. "And if he doesn't?"

The eldest sibling doesn't reply right away. He lowers his head, hand moving over his short black hair, running his fingers through it and along his face. "I don't know." He breathes out. "We'll figure it out."

"That's what you always say." Y/n whispers, moving her eyes to stare up at the ceiling. "And there will be one day where we won't be able to figure it out."

Henry didn't know what to say.

Y/n wasn't looking for an answer.

So, neither of them said anything else about it for the rest of the day.

Night came quickly and Henry hadn't gotten a brink of sleep. Instead, he stared down at Sam and Y/n sleeping side by side, Sam cuddling against his sister as she held him. And when morning came, Henry woke them up by tapping their shoulders, whispering Y/n's name.

"He isn't coming back." Was the first thing Henry signed. "I'm sorry." Y/n rubs up and down Sam's arm. "We don't have any more food. We need to leave. I've been watching them. I know their patterns. We can make it on foot."

"Did they kill him?" Sam questions.

Henry hesitantly nods. "Probably yes."

This news had the eight year old frowning deeply. Moving onto his knees, he wraps his small arms around his brother and sister. Immediately, they all hold each other tightly as Henry cups the back of both their heads.

While they were hugging, Y/n's eyes glanced around the attic they've been staying in for the past eleven days now. Her eyes linger on all of Sam's drawings. They were all superheroes. And they all had orange masks that covered their eyes.

That was how she felt her eyes widening with an idea. Pulling back, she makes sure Sam was looking her in the eyes as she signs, "Close your eyes. Not too tight, but don't open." The boy nods as he does so.

Still kneeling down beside his brother, Henry watches as their sister moves towards the orange paint Sam had been using for the past few days now. She grabs a cloth and dips it into the paint before moving back to the eight year old.

Sam jumps a bit at the coolness of the paint, yet tries to stay still as she draws a superhero mask over his eyes with the paint. The sight of this makes Henry smile. Once Y/n let go of Sam's chin, the boy opened his eyes. Y/n grabs her pocket knife, using the blade as a mirror.

Sam smiles brightly at the sight of himself.

This makes Y/n smile, putting her knife back. "Super Sam." She comments.

Soon enough, they were grabbing their things and putting their coats on. Together, one by one, they moved out of the attic. As per usual, Henry led the way downstairs and back to the door they came from eleven days ago to meet Edelstein.

Glancing at the window above the door, the young man grabs a table, pressing it against the door before climbing up. He peeks outside, looking both ways and in front of him. He didn't see anything. No one was in sight.

"It's okay." He reassures them as he hops down.

"You don't hear anything?" Sam asks them.

The older siblings shake their heads just when tired screeching from outside catch their attention. A loud crash, followed by shooting is heard right after. Frantically, Henry grabs his siblings shoulders as they crouch down.

Sam's eyes widen in panic. "What's going on?"

"Shooting." Y/n replies, glancing towards the window.

The girl wraps her arms around Sam, who curls into her side. They watch Henry move back onto the table, slowly peeking out the window. A man suddenly popped up from behind a truck that had crashed into an abandoned laundromat, shooting at someone from the resistance group.

When the trigger is pulled, Henry flinches and ducks. When he didn't hear anything, he looks back through the glass to see a man slowly moving inside the shop. He failed to notice the man behind the truck pop up again and shoot him right in the head.

Henry, once again, jumps at this, but continues to stare out the window. His eyes zero in on the man now panting heavily, shoulders slowly relaxing when there was no one else. He's never seen this man before. He didn't recognize his face.

When the man's eyes glance around, Henry ducks when he looks in his direction. "Henry, what is it?" Y/n speaks up when silence follows. Henry hops down from the table. "What's going on now?"

"New plan." Was all he said.

And later that night, once the sun had set, the Burrell siblings found themselves entering a tall building. They moved up through the staircase and stopped on the thirty-third floor. Slowly, side by side, they moved down the hall but once Y/n stepped on a piece of glass, they froze.

"Noisy?" Sam questions.

Y/n nods. "Noisy."

"Remember what to do?" Henry asks his little brother. He knew Y/n knew the plan, yet Sam had never done this before. None of them have. Sam just holds up to fingers as if it were a gun.

Henry nods in approval, grabbing a small pistol he had and firmly placing it in his brother's hand, making sure he was holding it tight before grabbing his own. Now, all of them holding guns, Y/n helped Sam step away from the glass as they moved to the room at the end of the hall.

And when they reached the room, they saw the same man Henry saw earlier and a girl around Y/n's age sleeping soundly.

Joel Miller had been sleeping soundly on his left side when the teenager's voice began saying his name, saying it louder each time she noticed he wasn't waking up. The man snaps his eyes open, seeing the girl on her knees, arms raised in surrender.

Fourteen year old Ellie Williams slowly looked behind her to where Henry had his gun trained on her. The eldest sibling's jaw clenched as he stared down at Joel. Now panicked, Joel moves on his back to see two guns aimed right at him.

Sam holds a finger to his lips.