Part 34

It was dark by the time Ved, Jay and Mackenzie made it to the zoo.

"How will we know if they are here?" Jay wondered. He looked around as they entered the iron gates.

Mackenzie looked around, everyone was over grown by weeds, ivy, and other plants. It felt more like a jungle setting than a zoo. She remembered going to the zoo when she was younger, she was scared of the people that worked there. "One fool proof way." She said looking at Ved. "HELLO!" she yelled with her hands cupped around her mouth, making herself sound louder than normal.

Both Ved and Jay stopped and turned with their arms raised pointed at the cages that seemed to be empty, waiting for something to pop out.

"If you're friends want to live, I suggest they leave now." A voice came from somewhere.

"We're looking for someone." Mackenzie said putting her hands on the boys arms, lowering them. "Two children, a boy and a girl."

"We don't care much for this new tribe, and you have their markings. Leave." A different voice from somewhere else.

"They are with a woman, her name is Tai-san." Mackenzie said not giving up. She couldn't give in, not knowing.

"We know of who you are looking for. And we will help you, but not your friends." A third voice said.

"Please, they are with me, they are trying to help me. We are looking for our friends." Mackenzie said still turning in a circle, not sure which voice to address.

"Ebony told us to find the animals." Ved said, not sure if that would help them, but hoping it would.

"You know Ebony?" the first voice asked.

"Yes." Jay said with pain in his voice. "She was taken. Please, we lost her, and we just want to find Honesty and Lane."

There was rustling in bushes and sounds of animals in all directions.

The three of them stood frozen, each facing a different direction, not knowing what was coming at them.

"You are friends of the others." A male asked, the second voice, standing in front of Ved, there was a snake around his shoulders.

"They are here?" Mackenzie asked turning to face them. "Lane and Honesty, they are here?" she could feel tears sting her eyes again, but these ones were different.

"Yes." A female said walking around them, with a tiger following her. "They are with the Keeper. That is where we will take you, and he will determine the fate of you two." She said looking at Jay and Ved with a smile on her face.

They all walked together, Jay and Ved watching the animals closely, while Mackenzie kept her eyes on the two girls and boy. They didn't speak, they just walked, quietly.

When they stopped Jay and Ved looked up to see where they were.

"Through those doors, you will find who you are looking for." The boy said pointing towards the light of a fire.

"Thank you." Mackenzie said looking at them before quickly walking towards the light with Ved and Jay's hands in hers. "Honesty? Lane?" she shouted.

They could hear voices before they could see anyone. They weren't sure where they were coming from, but they knew they were closer.

"Honesty?" Mackenzie shouted again, "Lane?" They had to be here. As she turned down the path she stopped at the sight of the fire. They were there.

"Mommy!" Honesty screamed running to her, with Lane behind her.

Mackenzie fell to her knees and hugged the two kids as they ran into her arms. She cried as she held them both close to her, kissing their heads, making sure they were both unharmed. She just held them tight to her. "You're both okay."

Ved felt like a weight was lifted off him as he watched Mackenzie cry this time. She had them back. He had helped her get them back. He looked up to see who else was at the fire and was surprised to see KC and May there. "KC?" he asked only taking a few steps away from Mackenzie.

"Ved, no way." KC said. Anger filled him. They wouldn't have gone through any of this if it hadn't been for the two people that were standing in front of him now.

"What are you doing here?" Ved asked looking at them.

"We should be asking you that." May said crossing her arms in front of her. "You have no right to be here, either of you."

"Please." Mackenzie said standing up, stilled holding the kids close to her. She was scared not to be touching them, thinking that they would disappear again. "They helped me, they brought me here. They have done so much today to help me find them."

"That doesn't matter." KC said.

"It's all that matters." Tai-san smiled, she went and hugged Mackenzie. "I'm glad you are okay."

"We have bad news though." Mackenzie said looking at Ved. She knew that she couldn't tell Tai-san about her husband.

"I know." Tai-san said softly turning to Jay. "Is there nothing you can do?"

"I made it impossible for either of us to go back, if I would have known, I would have waited." Jay said holding up the papers in his hands.

"It happened at the playground. There was nothing we could do." Ved wasn't sure how to tell her either. "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Tai-san said looking down at the ground, finally allowing tears to form in her eyes.

"What do you mean?" May asked looking at them, slightly confused.

"The others were taken, we watched it happened but we couldn't do anything." Ved said looking down at the ground.

"You're acting like they are dead." KC said angry.

"We don't know, we won't know what will happen to them now." Jay told him.

No one else said anything on the matter. They just stood there looking at each other, and watching Mackenzie cry, and check both Honesty and Lane from head to toe, making sure all of them was still there.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

The night was moving slowly. Most everyone was asleep around the fire. Mackenzie was sitting against a rock, Honesty and Lane fast asleep with their heads on her lap. Ved was sitting next to her watching her every breath.

"I'm sorry I helped do this to you." Ved said softly looking down at the Mackenzie's hands, as they slowly rubbed Honesty's back.

"You helped set it right though, you helped me get them back." Mackenzie smiled. "I honestly wouldn't have been able to come this far if it wasn't for you."

"None of this would have happened though if I would have just stayed, like you wanted me to." Ved said glancing back up at her face.

Mackenzie sat and thought for a moment. "That is true, but something good comes from everything." She looked over at him. "You have left the Techno's for good."

"I've done more bad than good." Ved told her. He knew that it was true. But he also knew that a lot of good, for him would come from this. He looked around the fire, and over at his brother. He was still awake staring into the fire. He knew that he was hurting.

Mackenzie didn't say anything, she just reached out and took his hand. "You have a chance to start over now."

"I don't think the mallrats will see it that way." Ved sighed.

"I guess it's a good thing I'm not a mallrat then." Mackenzie smiled at him and let her head rest on his shoulder, their fingers laced together.

Ved smiled and watched the fire in front of them burn. He wanted nothing more than to start over with her.

~!~!~!~!~!~!

"It feels wrong to leave the city." Jay said looking at his brother. They were walking behind the others as they left for the farm.

"You know there is nothing we can do. They are already gone." Ved said looking behind them at the city, it was growing smaller and smaller.

"What do you think he will do?" Jay wondered. They knew that Ram could be cruel, it was hard to image what he would do to Ebony, Bray and Lex.

"I doubt he would delete them." Ved said looking over at Jay. "And I can't see him sending them to the mines either. They will be useful getting the city kids to work with them and not against them."

"So you think he changed their memories?" Jay asked. This was the subject his brother knew a lot on. He was the second in charge in this department.

"Most likely. He wouldn't do much to Ebony. He will want her. She is the last sister in the group. It will make his collection of wives complete." Ved sighed thinking about. It would be painful for Ebony to go through, having her memory modified to fit in with the life of a Techno. "The other two, their memories will be almost wiped out. I'm sure he would erase all of Lex's, there is no real need for him."

Jay thought about it, it was strange to hear Ved talk about their friends this way, but this had been the way they had talked about people for the last three years. They were people, they were test subjects, workers, they had all been virts until now. He thought about Ebony. She would be hooked up to a virtual reality for weeks.

"Bray's will be the trickiest." That was the last thought Ved had on the matter, it the last one he cared to share with his brother. He didn't know what Ram would think, he wasn't sure if he would act out of anger and just have them all deleted, all he could do was guess at what he would do.

Part 34

The sun was barely in the sky by the time the farm came into view. The cold morning air had turned everyone's noses red. It was just as quite on the country side as they city streets were. It made them all feel on edge, they would stop and turn at say sound other than their own.

Mackenzie and Ved carried the two children on their backs. Their heads moved with the pattern of their walking, eyes closed, fast asleep.

Mackenzie looked over at Ved. She was scared to tell the others about Bray, Lex and Ebony. It was her fault they were all in the city, she was to blame for them not coming back. She fared the look on Amber's face. She couldn't image how hard it was going to be for her. She was even surprised that Tai-san wasn't more upset.

"It'll be okay." Ved said when he saw her look at him. He knew this was hard on her still, but he knew they would all be angrier to see him, it was his fault the Techno's had come in the first place. What she blamed herself was so small compared to what he had done. "We will be able to come up with a plan when we are all together."

Mackenzie didn't say anything. She just watched as the farm grew closer with every step she took, and her heart hurt the closer they got.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Patsy could feel her arm moving. It wasn't something that should have been happening in her dream. It didn't fit the scene at all. She was doing everything she could to make it stop, but the harder she pulled the way, the more it was shaking. It wasn't apart of her dream. She rolled over, "Paul, knock it off." She moaned. But it didn't stop. She slowly pushed herself up on the couch and looked at him. His hands were moving faster than she could read them. "Slow down or write it down." She said rubbing her eyes. But he pulled her hands away and was pointing at the window, tugging on her arm. He didn't wait for her to get up before just leaving the room, and going outside.

Patsy understood perfectly what was going on. She got up and ran to the window. There he was, walking towards the farm, coming back to her. "They are back!" she shouted before following Paul out the door.

"Paul!" Mackenzie shouted rushing towards him. When she reached him, he took Lane off her back and hugged him, but she was already signing everything that had happened as fast as her hands would move.

"Pats." KC said as she jumped into his open arms. He was glad to be able to hold her again.

"Don't leave me again," Patsy cried kissing him.

The others started to pile out the door, greeting those that had returned and asking about the others. They all watched as Mackenzie cried, signing to Paul. Ved and Jay both standing with them. No one was happy to see either brother.

"Where is Bray?" Amber finally asked interrupting Mackenzie's silent speech.

Mackenzie, with tears rolling down her checks, picked up Honesty and looked at Amber. She knew this wasn't the easiest news to bring to anyone. "They took him, Lex and Ebony."

"There was nothing we could do, unless we wanted to be caught as well." Ved wanted to try to explain. He wanted to tell them all sorry.

"What are you even doing here?" Patsy asked.

"They helped us." Mackenzie told them all. She didn't want them to blame Ved or Jay, it wasn't their fault. She tried to place herself between the mallrats and Ved and Jay. She want to protect the brothers from the anger, from the words she knew would come.

"Where is Bray?" Amber asked again. Everyone could see the tears forming, but no one could say anything.

"I think it is best if we go inside, the story is long and we have been walking for hours." Tai-san said knowing how Amber felt, but she didn't want to stand anymore. She just wanted to lay down.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

The story had been told over and over, every detail covered. Ved, Jay, Mackenzie, Tai-san, and May were tired of talking. They didn't want anymore questions asked, or asked to explain it all again. They had been thinking about it for longer than the others, and the sadness was hard on them.

"There has to be something, I mean, we must be able to do something." Pride said after May, and KC had left the room. The others were fine to talk about a plan, as long as they didn't have to relive the last two days again.

"We don't have any safe way of getting into the city." Jay said as he watched Alice, Amber, and Ryan look over the papers he brought with them. "If I would have known, I would have waited." He said again.

"It's okay." Amber said looking up at him and giving him a tearful smile.

"And their memories, they will be wiped out?" Ryan sighed putting down the papers.

"We don't really know, it wasn't working when we left them." Jay told them. "But they will try to get them to work with them, to make it easier to get the other tribes to agree with what will happen."

"We had been working on changing memories, and added in things that never even happened. It wasn't perfected when we left the Techno's the first time, so I don't know the progress it's made since then." Ved said.

"Do you all agree that isn't not safe enough to go back into the city?" Alice asked looking at everyone.

That was something everyone seemed to agree upon.

"They are strong, and Ebony is strong headed. They will come back to us, I don't doubt it." Alice said sitting back and looking at them.

Both Ved and Jay turned to look at each other. They understood what it was like to become a Techno, and it was obvious to them that the others didn't understand their friends we're coming back.

"We know what you are thinking." Amber said looking at Jay. She understood, and she knew what it must seem like to an outsider looking in. "We aren't crazy, but we know them." Her voice was soft while she spoke. "It will take time, but we will get them back. We are a family, and we don't give up hope."

Mackenzie couldn't take anymore. She smiled at everyone and got up from the kitchen table and left the room, carrying a sleeping Lane, with Honesty walking beside her. She didn't want to think anymore, it was too painful for her to think about Stephanie. She had no idea where her best friend was, and she had caused pain to almost everyone in that room.

"I'm gonna…" Ved said getting up as well. He hurried to catch up with Mackenzie, he didn't want to be far from her.

The others watched while they walked out of the room together.

"They haven't been apart since last night." Jay said turning to look back at the others. "This is really hard for her, and I don't know if you all understand that. She had to watch what happened to the others, she was the only one of us that saw what happened to them."

"She didn't do anything." Pride said unsure of what Jay was talking about.

"We would have come back that night, the night we got away from the mall. But Ebony didn't want to leave the city with the kids, knowing that Mackenzie was still there, looking and waiting for them." Tai-san told them. "We all agreed that we had to try to find her before coming back here."

"She blames herself for them being taken." Alice said softly, putting it together.

"We don't blame her." Pride smiled looking at the door Mackenzie had just walked out of.

They all set, none saying anything, just trying to understand everything that had happened, everything they had been told. One by one, each of them left the room.

Alice, Amber and Pride were the only ones left in the kitchen by the time the sun was all the way up in the sky. The whole house was still quite.

"Do you think we can survive without our strongest members?" Alice asked looking at the other two. She knew that they too were strong, but losing Bray, Lex and Ebony would do more to them than just reducing their numbers, it would effect them all emotional.

"I think we will do whatever we can to make it through." Amber said taking a deep breath. That was all they had to do now, survive.