Imperium: Volume 2
Chapter 21

I kept waiting for the inevitable. Sarah could feel something was going to happen but until it did she didnt know what.

Raeve had managed to teleport several 100 people so far, but the ever growing movement meant there were thousands held up in this facility. We managed to get several groups of 50 together to make the teleportation process easier. I also had to keeping juicing him up to allow him to continue in doing the job.

Right now I was looking over the sea of bodies that filled the hanger floor for my father. I hadn't spotted him yet, and worry was starting to set in.

•~ Sarah, can you locate my father? •~ I asked.

•~ I.......I can't sense him•~ She replied.

I spotted Harry in the crowd and I pushed my way through.

"Harry!" I yelled.

"June!" He yelled back.

"Have you seen my father? I can't find him anywhere!"

"No, I'm sorry June I haven't." He replied back.

I kept looking around. I climbed up one of the trucks that were sitting on the hanger floor for a better view. I saw Raeve pop in and out 2 more times, making more space on the floor as he just transported 100 more people to safety. As one group left, another got ready. It took about 10 minutes to clear about 500, and at this rate we had about 2500 more to go. Which gave us less then an hour to clear the facility.

•~ Sarah, I have to go find my father, will you make do for now? •~ I asked.

•~ Yes, for now....but hurry•~ she said.

As I took off, Raeve popped back in and took the next group. I made haste and quickly went to his unit. I ignored the burning in my legs as I ran up the walkways and stairwells towards his room. Once I reached it, I opened the door to find it empty.

I slammed my hand against the door. "Dammit! Dad!"

I took off running again checking every unit.

"Dad!!" Where the fuck are you.

I made my way to the top checking every unit along the way. Everyone of them fucking empty. The only other place I could think of was the training room, but that was next to the hanger floor and wouldn't understand why he wouldn't already be in the hanger if that was the case.

Think June.....He would need to be somewhere Sarah can't sense him. Think! Think!

•~ Sarah anything yet? •~

•~ No nothing! •~

Com'on. I was making my way down the 1st level walkway when I jumped the banister and landed on the hanger floor. I looked over to the crowd of people. It was getting smaller but still had a ways to go.

Wait! That's it! The underground bunker! It's down several hundred feet and has at least 20 feet of rebar and concrete. That's gotta be it.

I took off as fast as my legs could take me. Please dad, you have to be there. I made my way through the hall of offices and reached the door that led down to the bunker room. I was making my way down the stairwell was was halfway down when I heard something.

"June?" I quickly turned to the voice.

"Dad!"

"June? what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Dad, that's not important. We need to go now!" I took his hand which was carrying a box of supplies and let it drop down the stairwell.

"June, what's going on?" He asked as we ran.

"I don't have time to explain everything, but The Dominion know about home base and somethings coming our way." I told him as we were running back up the stairs.

"We need to get to the hanger floor and meet up wi-"

•~ June! brace yourself! something's coming!•~

I stopped in our tracks and waited.

"Dad!" I looked to him to warn him when all of a sudden we heard a loud explosion and the facility shook.

He stumbled to the floor after we were violently shook in place. I got up and quickly picked him up by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. I had us running again.

•~ June! Where are you!?•~

Before I answered the facility took to a rolling rumble again. This time I got thrown to the ground, as I lost my balance.

I looked back to my dad who was leaned up against the wall trying to keep on his feet. I could see the hanger floor in the distance. I kept pulling him behind me as the ceiling started to cave in, and we found ourselves dodging debris.

In the distance I could see the hanger floor. There was still a few 100 people remaining and they were all sitting ducks, soon to be barried alive.

"Look out!" Someone yelled.

I looked up and saw the whole top of the mountain making it's way onto us. I raised my arms above my head and conjured up a force field directly above us.

I watched as the large rocks and debris landed onto it, however the amount of mountain coming down was starting to weigh heavy.

Raeve popped back in.

"Raeve! You got to hurry! I don't know how long I can hold this." I yelled to him.

"Just don't enclose us in one....I can't teleport if you do!" He grabbed the next group and blipped out.

"June honey, you got this!" My dad yelled.

"Dad! get in one of the group's. Your going next!"

"No.....I'm staying right here. We will go to together!" He snapped back.

Another explosion shook the facility. I almost lost my footing but my dad was now holding me in place. Raeve blipped back in taking another group.

It was getting to heavy! I tried pushing up the field and maybe raised it up about 20 more feet from our heads.

Another explosion. They were trying to barry us. We only had one more group to go. Com'on Raeve!

He blipped back in and took off with them. I was using as much energy as I could to hold up the field. At this point my eyes were burning and my orange colours were swirling around me.

Raeve blipped back in.

"Okay, were the last ones." He said.

Suddenly an explosion from the side threw debris our way and I had to conjure up a domed field.

I quickly looked over to Raeve and dad.

"Are you okay!" I said through gritted teeth.

"June, I can't get us out of here if we're incased in a field." Raeve said.

"I........I can't hold it much longer!"

The whole mountain was practically resting on my force field.

"I need you to pushed your field up off of us." Raeve yelled.

"I can't. It's to heavy!" I said again through gritted teeth.

I looked over to my dad who calmly looked at me. His eyes............told me it was okay........and that he was ready to leave this world.

No fucking way I was letting that happen!

"Raeve! I...Im gonna try and make a beam of energy go straight up through the mountain! I'll try and make it wide enough so that it clears the debris above us and after I release it, you have to do it then!"

He nodded.

"Dad grab Raeve's hand!" He did so and Raeve placed his hand, grabbing the back of my pants.

Ok June, you got this. You just have to build it up and concentrate it through your hands. I kept replaying it over and over, till I was able to build up a surge in the pit of my stomach. I let it build up till I felt it burning.

Not yet............Not yet!

"Raeve get ready!"

"NOWWWWWWWW!" I released it.

My eyes closed, but I could still see the light that resonatimg from the energy blast. Then all of a sudden silence.

I opened my eyes to find, myself and Raeve on the ground panting. I looked around to see the hundreds of faces looking down at us as we tried to catch our breath.

"J......June."

I looked over to my dad. I watched has his gaze fell down to his chest. He had a......large peice of rebar impailed in him.

"No!" I ran to him and caught him as he fell backwards. My hands shaking and hovering over the piece of metal protruding from his body.

"No..no, no, no. Dad." I was trying to speak through my fear and tears but the large knot in my throat was stopping me.

"Juniper...."

"Somebody help!" I looked around. "Raeve! Raeve....go get Rowen! Please!"

He had tears streaming down his face before he blipped off. I turned back to dad and watched as his eyes started to close.

"No!......no dad you stay with me." His eyes opened slightly again.

Suddenly Rowen cleared a path throwing himself down beside my dad. He quickly opened his bag and grabbed out some gauze and Raeve came from behind with a stretcher.

"What's his name?" Rowen asked me.

"R...Richard." I said through my cries.

"We have to get him back to base, I can't do anything here without my equipment!"

I was looking at my father.

"June!" Rowen yelled. "Let me help him."

I looked at him and nodded. I laid his head down and watched as he laid him in the stretcher. Rowen grabbed one end and Raeve the other before they blipped out to base camp.

I stayed there on the ground floor, silent and trying to process what just happened.

"June." Sarah's voice sounded faint as she approached me. I felt her shake my body to get my attention.

"June...........are you okay? June!" She kept yelling. I heard it but couldn't process it.

Suddenly Raeve blipped back in and took me to where my dad was.

Rowen had managed to clear the infirmary and had all the assistants working on him. I stood there just staring, my mind completely blank.

I felt no pain, no exhaustion.......just numbness.

Raeve's P.O.V

She just stood there, watching as Rowen worked on Richard. She didn't make a peep, she was quite and calm but looked as if to be completley zoned out. She was barely breathing, and the tears were slowly falling down her cheeks. I looked over and saw Jay standing outside the outlet. He nodded me over.

I don't even think she realised I had left her side. I approached Jay.

"How's he holding up?" He asked.

How did he know? ..........Sarah.

"All the people, th....there at the football field by the sc-"

He cut me off by placing his hand on my shoulder.

"I already sent people there to bring them to base. You did good Raeve." He looked relieved and I could feel a sense of proudness resonating from him.

I looked back to June who hadn't moved one inch.

"Not good enough." I said under my breath.

I could hear Jay clear his throat. I turned to him and the look in his eyes changed.

"What is it Jay, I can practically feel like your about to tell me some more bad news." I said looking at him sternly.

"It....its Anja..........she got away." He said.

"What!" I quickly pulled him out of June's view. "What do you mean she got away!?"

He was rubbing the back of his head. Something I did when I was nervous.

"When Sarah came running into the room, we were all fixed on you three, getting ready to teleport and she left the door open. She took the opportunity to run as we were distracted."

"I'm sorry Raeve, we've looked all over the facility, but we don't know where she went or which direction she took." He lastly finished.

"Fuck! She knows where our location is......I was frantically trying to figure out my next move. Did she take a vehicle?"

"No...everything was accounted for." He replied.

"She's had about an hour on foot then." I looked at Jay with my eyes furrowed before I vanished before his eyes.

If she's on foot that should give me roughly a 7 to 8 km radius, depending if she was running, sprinting or walking. And there's no way she would be stupid enough to run the road out of here.

I blipped in and out looking for signs. My search took me on the edge of town, in the woods, in fields, and across small man made lakes. I increased the radius as the longer I searched.

It was about an hour till I brought myself to an old abandoned gas station. It was over grown with foliage, and was barely noticeable against the trees and bush. Before I was about to blip out I saw a shadow cast across the window from the inside.

Someone was in there.

I teleported to the window and took a peak inside to see who it was. My brows furrowed. I could feel my jaw tense when I saw her.

She was trying to make a small fire. She was crouched down trying to light the damn thing, and that's when I blipped in.

She gasped as my body appeared before her, and quickly stood up. I grabbed her by the throat and slammed her up against the counter.

"Raeve......wait!" She yelled.

"Why should I do that!" I yelled as I started to squeeze her neck. I watched as her eyes started to roll back to her head. She tried to speak, but I made it incredibly difficult to get a word out.

"B......b.....Bowdie." She spat out.

I quickly released her, letting her drop to the ground as she clasped her throat. She was trying to take in air, and her cough was raspy but she was alive. For now.

"What about Bowdie!" I yelled. "This better not be a fucking ploy Anja....I won't hesitate next time! Now tell me....what about Bowdie!"

She was stalling. I took a step forward.

"Okay.....Okay...." She said. "If .......if they took Bowdie. Would you move mountains to get her back....even if it meant betraying the ones you hold dearest to you?" She asked you.

My answer was yes of course, but I wasn't sure where she was going with this.

She repositioned her self as she caught her breath and was now sitting with her back against the counter. She was breathing hard, looking for her next words.

"Th.....They have my daughter." She looked at me as a single tear streamed down her face.

"How do I know your telling the truth? Your a fucking psychopath who played this game already. I saw the coldness come from those very eyes!"

"Yes! You did! I know I'm different. I don't process emotions like you do. I don't even know what true love is, but she changed everything!"

She was now standing up and angry.

"How do I know your telling the truth. That your not just saying this to stop me from killing you!"

She grabbed something from her back pocket, and held it out to me. I snapped it out of her hand and gazed upon it.

It was an old water damaged photo of a little girl. Roughly 2 maybe 3 years old. She shared the same fiery red hair that Anja did and had Kipsky's eyes. My head jolted up to her.

"I'm not lieing. Please Raeve." She said.

"Does he know?" I asked.

"No.. "She said softly.

"How do you have this photo? It's not like they let you have cameras in imprisonment?" I was doubting her.

"The man who gave me the photo, gave it to me as incentive. He...she looked down....favoured me and did things to me while I was carrying Ana. He liked to.......she turned back up to me wiping her tears. He took her from me! She is the closest thing I have to feeling......love. And I would do anything to get her back!"

So do what you have to do, but I'm her only way of getting her out of there!" She stood there with purpose and was waiting for my next move.

I stepped forward and she flinched. She had her eyes closed and opened them when nothing happened. I held the photo out for her to take. I just looked at her as she looked confused while taking the photo.

"I need you to answer me a few questions." I told her.

She nodded.

"What do they know about Lingham?"

"They know nothing. I never disclosed the location, I made sure of it." She answered.

I studied her face.

"How did you communicate with them?"

"You guys have generators running the lights in that place. It was also generating electricity to a telephone booth just outside the mall." She answered.

"So you were using a landline.....wouldn't they be able to trace that?" I asked.

"Only if they pick up. I never let it get to that. One ring at 5 a.m. and that was to let them know I was still on track. But once the call never went in, it notified them to move forward with the plan."

I was taking in all the information she was giving to me.

"There's one more question I need to ask you."

She waited.

"The package you were sent to deliver. My eyes spoke volume................tell me."

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