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"We’ve got the hoe"
Inside the Lecture Hall proper, Sarah un rack and I clis burst into the roo up one of Sandor’s old training routines--the one with difficultyany attention tobuttons They’re irl they’re looking for, she’s still thea pair of pistols at the Mogs Obvious threat and also an easy target
"Sarah! To your left!" I shout, raising a block of cover from the floor for her to hide behind She dives to safety just as the Mogadorians open fire
S the walls Sos look confused;away at Sarah A few shots begin ricocheting off the front of the Lectern and I hunker down in the seat, trying to h to withstand so, I can hear the Lecture Hall whirring to life
A half dozen panels along all four walls slide open, turrets loaded with ball bearings co into view
"Stay down!" I yell at Sarah "It’s starting!"
A crossfire erupts through the Lecture Hall, the Mogs caught in the middle This drill is meant to help the Garde practice their telekinesis, notshot out of the walls doesn’t travel fast enough to kill the Mogs Still, it has to sting like hell Between that and the , I’d say they have their hands full
I dive out of the Lectern A ball bearing sround My ar as the Mogs are bludgeoned fro across the floor I pick it up and crouch down behind the Lectern Sarah and I have the only two pieces of cover in the room
We open fire It doesn’t adorians are basically sitting ducks With all the shooting co to panic Many of them are knocked down to their knees by the turrets or the medicine balls, at which point Sarah and I pick theer that far, all they get for their trouble is a bullet in the back
Only aroutine before the roos The Garde usually have to endure sevenportion I guess they don’t have anyone shooting real bullets at theh I reach up and slap the controls on the Lectern until the syste alot them, Sam!"
As Sarah stands up, I notice a burnHer jeans are torn, the skin beneath the "You’ve been shot," I exclaim
Sarah looks down "Crap I didn’t even notice Must have just grazed me"
As the adrenaline dies down, Sarah limps over to me I put my arm around her for support and we uns on our way out I tuck a second pistol into the back of my jeans just in case I run out of arabs so I used to believe didn’t exist outside of action ?" I ask
"They all work pretty much the same," she replies "You just point and click"
I could alh if I wasn’t so worried about my dad and the co as we pass through the wrecked workshop, picking our way carefully over the junk we knocked over The penthouse is eerily quiet I’n
I poke n of anyone The floor is covered with Mogadorian ash, but otherwise all is quiet The loudest sound is the wind blowing through the building thanks to the Mogs having broken every singleon their way in
"Do you think we got them all?" Sarah whispers
In anse hear a shuffling noise fro across it Therefor a second wave any second now, as soon as they figure out their first group has failed
"We need to get out of here now," I say, helping Sarah li We hurry down the hallway
Bernie Kosar lumbers into view, still in bear for fro to co I wish I had John’s animal telepathy He seems sad, somehow Sad, but determined
"You okay, Bernie?" Sarah asks
BK grunts and takes the shape of a falcon He soars towards theand out, flying up He s on the roof while we evacuate John and Ella I realize nohat that look BK was giving ood-bye, just in case it’s the last we see of hio," I say, quietly
There’s an overturned bookshelf blocking the doorway to Ella’s room It’s peppered with bullet holes Obviously this hat my dad used for cover
"Dad?" I whisper "It’s clear, let’s go"
No response
"Dad?!" I say, louder, a tre I slaht I feel sick, desperate Why isn’t he answering?
"Up there!" Sarah says, pointing There’s a space large enough to crawl through between the bookshelf and the top of the doorfra shelves, landing aardly on the other side It only takes seconds, but that’s tiine my dad riddled with blaster fire, John and Ella murdered in their sleep
"Dad--?" My breath catches It feels like tis "Dad?"