Shadows, Nightmares and New York

It's been 3 days since we left the camp site in Ohio, and Lily's been the center of attention every since we left. Everyone's acting differently- Jest's been uber-protective of her, in case the urchins have another shot, despite Lily's protests that she can look after herself. Jane has been trying to find something that she has in common with Lily- and she's not doing badly. It turns out that Jane has seen Avenged Sevenfold live in V.I.P, at the same concert that lily went to aswell, also V.I.P. They've been talking about it for hours, covering everything from the opening song to the drummers shoes. Mandala let Lily keep his rifle, a PTSR 41- Precisionary Tactical Sniper Rifle- and has been teaching her at every stop. Lily loves it. Dimitri's been considering letting her help with any bouts we might face- he doesn't normally as she's the only technician of the group, and if she died then the group would struggle. He's only considering as she's shown great hand-to-hand skills, and a sniper would be a great help with wearing down groups before they get close enough to hurt anyone- Mandala usually uses a mini-gun with large groups and his bare hands and possibly his knife with small ones. Pete's been taking fitness lessons from her- he can't quite leap from on place to another again and again in succession fluently yet, but he's getting there. Even Sadie's impressed- she's given Lily a free choice of her seat on the coach. She chose one next to Me, Jest and Kai. Kai's a pretty cool say-it-how-it-is kinda guy. And his hair is awesome!But the best thing about him is cooking. Kai can cook practically anything, varying from herbal medicines (that actually work) to steak to middle-eastern delicacies. At the moment we're listening to... M.I.A by Avenged Sevenfold and having a conversation about random crap. Just a usual day I guess.
“... so, yeah, that's how I crashed my first car into a van!” Jest grins.
Me and Kai start cracking up with fits of laughter. Lily doesn't seem impressed- we know she's heard this story around 4 times now.
“Anyone else have stories?” Kai asks.
No-one says anything.
“I have a story about a time when I set my house on fire. Anyone interested?” I put forward.
I notice Lily and Ben whispering to eachother. After a few pointing fingers and raised whispers, Lily leans over to me.
“Um, Strand... Do you still have Jest's boxers?”
I grin like a child and think about Jest's boxers attached to 7 grenades and covered in meat in the middle of a road in Ohio. I'd love to see what happens when one unlucky urchin tucks in on those!
“Well?” She questions.
I explain what I've done with them, and she starts crying with laughter. Ben looks worried.
“Hah...Hahah...7? Oh my god, that's so goddamn funny!” She stutters through laughter.
“Yep.”
“7 what? What's happening?”Ben demands, more curious than worried now. Lily explains the current location of his underwear. His face drops.
“My lucky boxers! Those were my best pair!” He moans. Me and lily start cracking up again.
“Wait... That was a prank... which means...” His face lightens up. “You did a prank! I won! I have a helper!”
Me and Lily stop laughing long enough to hear this.
“But... Did you have to destroy them?”
We start laughing again. We don't stop for half an hour! But Jest doesn't care. He's on cloud nine!

We finally stop at our camp site for the next few weeks, and we're starting to unload tents and people off the buses, coaches ect. And trust me, it's far from easy. So far we've got the children, a few tents and all the adults out, and have sent Mandala and Pete out as a recon group in a jeep.
“Strand!”
“Yeah?” I turn round to see Dimitri staring at me.
“Help with that medical equipment.” He says, pointing to Joe who's struggling with a breathing apparatus.
“Sure.”
I start walking towards the struggling doctor when my phone starts to ring.
“...ckkk... Strand?”
“Yo Mandala! What's up?”
“Get everyone out of there.” I've never heard the African more serious.
“What?”
“Tell Dimitri and Sadie to start packing everything away, get Jane to find us a route to the next state and You, Jest and Lily grab a Jeep and meet me at the cliff nearest to the telephone pole. Do you know which one it is?”
“Yes.”
“And Strand,” He says with more panic in his voice, “Bring your guns.”and hangs up.

After 10 minutes Dimitri has everyone working double-time. Nobody has a clue what's going on, but they're obeying Dimitri without question. Me and Jest have packed up my shotgun and MP40, and his flamethrower and Red9 handgun. We consider leaving without Lily when we see her running from the coach, armed with her PTSR and .45mm Magnum.
“Lets roll!”

We finally make it to Mandala and Pete's position. We run over, and are pulled down by the Australian.
“Check it out bud,” Pete exclaims, pointing to a large crowd. “Humans”
“Great!” I exclaim, and prepare to shout out to them when Mandala pulls me down.
“And urchins.” Mandala finishes, releasing his grip on my mouth.
“What?” We shout.
“That can't be! They must be prisoners!” I protest.
“See for yourself.” Pete says, chucking me and Jest some binoculars. Lily's looking down her scope. As I look through the combat- binoculars to see hundreds of urchins, each horrible, deformed detail different. Some are flying, some larger than the coaches we use, but all different. Then I notice- they're all looking at one place! I find where the attraction is to find a small, skinny man in his mid 20's shouting to them. He's got red/brownish hair, combed to one side, and is dressed in long, purple robes, and is standing next to a large, oozing wolf-like beast, who's flesh keeps bubbling and it has cuts so deep you can see the bone.
“Listen.” I turn around to see Pete, now crouching, chuck me some listening equipment. Jest jumps over the shocked Lily, eager to listen in on the current situation. It takes a minuet to adjust, but then we get a clear sound and start listening in.
“... And we will take the rest of humanity with our ultimate force!” The human cries. The Urchins roar with applause.
“And we will annihilate anyone who dares get in our way! Our final solution is in effect, we are one step closer to cleansing the world of those who did not care for it!” He continues.
“And I, Alexis Wilkinson, will lead you there!”