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The teens turned to each other, trying to comprehend what he was saying.
“What are we going to do when we get there?” Thomas asked.
“We go to where Paris meets the sky.” Enoch remained in his confident posture. “Maybe there’s something there that can point us to where our parents are. Or maybe our parents are there.”
A couple of hopeful smiles spread across the room.
“But how are we going to get there?” I spun on the group so I could directly face Noel and Enoch. “We live in the middle of the United States. We can’t exactly board a cruise ship.”
The smiles disappeared.
“We could fly,” a teen boy piped up.
“How? Everyone’s gone and no one here knows how to fly a plane.” I ran my hands through my hair trying to come up with a better solution.
“I do.” David stood up. The eighteen-year-old had black hair that stood up slightly in the front. He wore a long-sleeved shirt under a short-sleeved shirt with a pair of loose jeans sending off I-don’t-care vibes.
“What?” Thomas prodded him to explain further.
“I have my pilot’s license. Here. I’ll show you.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled a piece of paper out of his wallet, holding it up for us to see.
Hunter shook his head, unbelieving. “How come we didn’t already know that?”
David shrugged. “You never asked.”
“Well, that changes things,” Enoch remarked from his self-designated post.
“So, if we get to an airport, you can fly us to Paris?” Noel took a hesitant step forward.
David nodded.
I laughed. “Is there anyone else that has an important skill like that?”
The teens grew quiet, unwilling to share if they did.
“So, we go to the airport?” Noel looked around the circle.
The group nodded, not wanting to make any decisions themselves.
“But how do we get to the vehicle with the Defendant out there?” Josiah stood up as if the reality of it all had just dawned on him.
“‘Defendant’?” Carmen turned to Josiah. “Is that what we are calling the robot thingy?”
“Yup. Came up with it myself.” He crossed his arms over his chest as if he had just won a grand medal.
“Really? That’s dumb.” Byrant stood up and faced Josiah.
“Oh yeah?” Josiah turned to Byrant, threatening. “You’re dumb!”
Byrant gasped. “You take that back!”
“Never!” Josiah shoved Byrant backward.
He returned the shove.
Enoch jumped into the middle of the circle, stepping between the boys. “Knock it off, both of you!” he commanded. “With you two acting like toddlers, we will never reach Paris!”
Suddenly, a loud crash came from upstairs as the front door gave way and slammed against the floor above us.
“Defend!” a voice cried out from upstairs.
“The Defendant!” Josiah yelled.
The teens erupted into panic as the Defendant began searching the house.
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