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now the FBI has it.”
“Just what is Z, anyway?”
“They never told me.”
“I think we should find out,” I said pulling my phone out of my pocket. Harper gasped,
“Now did you get it back?!”
“I pit pocketed square face, when he wasn’t looking, now when he looks for it they’ll think that he lost it.”
She looked like she was going to ether burst into tears or jump up and hug me.
“Did anyone see you; did you make sure that a camera didn’t catch you on tape?”
Her eyes were wide and she was squeezing my hand so hard that it was turning purple.
“I made sure that no one saw me and I watched out for cameras. It’s ok I’m a big boy I know what I’m doing.” “So you say, hurry lets see what it says!”
“You mean that you don’t know!? You had it for two days and you didn’t even look at it?!”
“Of course not the FBI told me not to look that way if I got caught they couldn’t get anything out of me.”
“So you want to see the picture?” She nodded eagerly. Slowly I pulled it out of my pocket and even more slowly I opened my phone Harper frowned at me and grabbed the phone out my hand and leaned back as she started to look through my photos. Knowing that there were some pictures of her on there that I had taken that she didn’t know about it, I grabbed my phone back and quickly fond the picture and handed it back to her.
“I can’t read it, it’s to small and fuzzy”
She handed me the phone, and then sighed. “You know I could blow this up and make the picture clearer on my computer”
“You can! Well lets go!” she grabbed my arm and dragged me back into the house.


* * *


“What does it say?!”
Harper was standing behind me bouncing up and down while holding the back of the chair.
“Relax; I almost got it…… there!”
“This chemical is top secret and is not yet named s it is there for it is called Z, this chemical when added to water will evaporate and will be absorbed by the clouds. After three hours in will then rain acid, be careful about how much chemical you add to the water. For three hundred acres only use about one teaspoon no more……. After that it’s just a bunch of science mumbo gumbo. At the bottom it says Translucent labs” She frowned
“Funny name for a lab….translucent means that when light shines on it, it makes it almost invisible……. Why would someone want to make something horrible like that? Acid rain, what crazy thought of that?!”
I nodded thinking of the documentary about Hiroshima. I closed my eyes to the memories of some of the pictures of half burned people and blacked bodies.
“Maybe we should just delete it.” She shook her head
“If they find out that we have this it might be the only thing saving our necks” She put her left hand on her right elbow and her right fist on her chin, in a thinking pose.
“Luke……” I looked up at her
“I think we need to run.”
“What?!”


* * *


Once I got Luke to agree to the idea, we put a plan in motion. Tonight we would get as much food as we could and then leave a note saying that we were going to the zoo or something for the day that would buy us some time. Then we were going to find Translucent Labs, where ever it was.
I had just finished talking to Luke and was headed to the girls’ room. I flopped one of the beds, Luke has seven sisters right now three of them were in the room. The youngest, Hanna who was three, must have finished her movie because now she was on the floor playing with dolls. And Eve was doing her hair at the vanity, and Debby was helping.
It was a very big room with three bunk beds and one twin; it was bright and colorful, full of life. So unlike my room my house……… OH MY…… my dad.
The reality of it hit me like a stack of bricks; I fell off the bed and on to the floor, uncontrollable tear streamed down my face. Eve, Debby and Hanna all ran over and tried to find out what was wrong. I couldn’t speak; I couldn’t think, all there was in my life was pain. It’s all my fault that he’s dead, I’m a murderer!
Luke run around the corner and into the room, he knelt next to me and pulled me into his arms.
“It’s ok” he whispered into my hair
“It’s ok, shh I know it hurt just get in out.” He sat there with me for over an hour, slowly rocking me back and forth, and never letting go, telling me that I was going to make it.
“Thanks Luke” I snuffled and whipped my runny nose with my poor sweater.
“You ok now?”
I nodded and pulled away, after the first couple minutes of me braking down everyone had left. It was just me and Luke, I tried to get up but my sides were killing me, I need to change the bandage on the cut pretty soon. I sat on the bed and started to dig though my backpack as I looked for my phone. I pulled it out of the front pocket and opened it. “5 MISSED CALLS” screamed at me from the screen. I wonder, there all the same number, who would have called me that much? Because I had deleted everything off my phone when I was being chased I didn’t have caller ID.
I exited out of missed calls and saw that I had a voicemail. “What is it?”
I almost jumped out of my skin; I had forgotten that Luke was still in the room.
“I have five missed calls and a voicemail.”
He sat on the bed next to me and looked over my shoulder at the phone.
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know” I sighed “when I was being chased I deleted everything off my phone.”
“Then why don’t you listen to the voicemail?”
I pointed to the phone it’s calling right now; I put a finger to my lips and then put it on speaker.
“Please type in your password now, if you need to sp” I typed in my password before it could say anymore. “Thank you Harper Armstrong you have one new voicemail to listen to your voicemail press one, to” I pressed one.

“Hello?! Harper” It sounded like Riley she was talking was hushed, and hurried I leaned in closer.
“I don’t know what’s going on, these people grabbed me and brought me here and they keep asking about you! I don’t know what to do this man says that I know something about some dumb Z thing but I have no idea what he’s talking about. I hide my phone so that I could call someone for help but no one answering! Please Harper call the police or something……. Wait I think someone’s coming……. AHHHHH! ..........”
The sound of static rang in my ears as I stared at the phone. They have Riley, I looked at Luke, and he nodded.
“Change of plan”
I managed a small smile
“Change in plans”


This ends Part1


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Publication Date: 08-22-2011

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