A New Era

The next morning everyone gathered around the table to discuss the next plan. Which we didn't have of course. The only thing next to do was plan to attack the White House once again, but we had more than enough time for that. The real issue at the moment was what Joe and Dave found at my my house, well more like given to them.

Right before my dads final breath, he handed Joe a piece of paper with coordinates. Neither me or Kyle had a clue on what these coordinates could be. Not until we pulled out the maps and started looking through them, which didn't really take all that long to begin with.

"24.6699° N, 81.3540° W" Ben said out loud and we all turned our attention to him. He was pointing to a part of the map.

"Big Pine Key, Florida." He added as he glanced up from the map.

"Does that mean anything to you?" Joe asked me and Kyle. I shook my head and focused my attention to my little brother. His arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows furrowed, not making any eye contact with anyone.

"No.." was all he said. Ever since finding out the news about our parents, Kyle had been very distant from everything and everyone, even me. He hadn't said anything or even looked at me since learning the death of our parents. I don't know if he was blaming me or not, but I tried to give him as much space as I could.

I tried my best to stay strong, for the both of us. I knew my parents would want us to move forward and go on with our lives, that's what they hoped for. I was honestly glad I had met Noah, Ben and Krista and everyone else. If I didn't, I don't know what would have happened. They had been by my side, and Kyles ever since we all met. We had all gotten close and I consider them as part of my family.

Some days I wondered, what would have happened if I never met them? If I never ran off? Would my parents still be alive? And that's when I have that feeling of some sort of regret for leaving and running off like that. But at the same time, I don't regret it because I'm part of this amazing group that's trying their hardest to fight for the freedom we all deserve after almost a hundred years.

My thoughts were interrupted when Noah started speaking.

"Sam? You alright?"

I blinked a few times and glanced up at him. "I'm good." I replied.

"Alright, we know where this place is, but what is it that's there?" Dave questioned.

"I have a suggestion, but we don't go through with it unless Sam and Kyle agree." Joe said as I looked up at him. My eyes flickered to Kyle, who had been sitting there all quiet most of the time.

"We go back to your house. I'm sure your parents may have some more clues on what this could be. But, I'm guessing the house has been torn to shreds by the troops. Hopefully they didn't find anything though and we get lucky." He added as his eyes flickered between me and Kyle. I sat there not saying anything as I pondered at what he suggested. It seemed like a good idea, but if my parents kept some secrets, Kyle and I were the last ones to know. But why would they keep things from us?

"Sam? Kyle?" Joes voice broke my thoughts and I glanced up at him.

"Alright, let's do it." I said and turned my gaze over to Kyle who still wasn't saying anything or looking at anyone.

"Alright, we leave in an hour." Joe said as everyone dispersed to get some things ready. My eyes shifted to Noah and he gave me an 'are you okay?' look. I motioned my head to Kyle and he gave me a nod.

"Guys.." Noah spoke up as he motioned for Ben and Krista to follow him. Once they walked off I stood up from my seat and sat in the one next to Kyle. No reaction came from him when I sat next to him. I sat there quietly for a moment, my leg bouncing slightly as I thought about what I was going to say.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked after a few minutes. Kyles head lifted slightly as he glanced at me with a raised eyebrow.

"No..why would I be?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know, you haven't said anything to me or to anyone these past few days."

"I'm not mad at you.." He replied. "I just...needed some time...still do.."

"I understand."

It got quiet once again before he spoke up once more.

"I can't believe they're gone." He whispered and I watched as he quickly wiped his eyes. I stood up from my seat and walked over, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. Kyle buried his face in my arms and I could feel his entire body starting to shake.

"We're gonna give them a proper funeral, and we're going to avenge their death..." I promised, meaning every word I said. Kyle nodded his head quickly and soon pulled away from the hug as he wiped his face once more. His eyes were red, along with his nose as he let out a sniffle.

"Hey, we got each other and we got Jill, and Noah, Ben, Krista, Joe, Linda, Dave, and everyone here. They're our family too." I added as I gave him a reassuring smile. He then returned the smile and gave me a nod.

"Thanks sis. You always know what to say." He replied with a chuckle. I smiled and gave a shrug. "I know. Now come on, we have a family mystery to solve." I said as the two of us made our way back over to the others.

***

It had been a while, close to a year I would say since Kyle and I had actually been home. Everyone was piled into a black pickup truck, Joe and Dave in front while the rest of us sitting back seat. My eyes flickered over to Kyle, a pained look on his face. Between the two of us, he was taking it really hard. I of course tried my best to be brave for the both of us, but deep down, my heart felt like it was cut into, ripping out a part of me.

I felt a hand on my leg and my eyes shifted over to Noah, a small smile to reassure me. I smiled back and placed my hand on his.

Another ten minutes had passed, we finally arrived at our house. Kyle and I exchanged looks for a second before we all got out of the car. As we made it up the steps, I looked over my shoulder. Joe and Dave standing on the sidewalk, keeping a lookout while the five of us made our way inside.

As soon as we stepped in, Everything was pretty smashed up, like a big fight broke out. But what creeped me out the most was that their bodies weren't there. Who the hell would take them?

I stepped into the living room and immediately my eyes widened at the sight. Splatters of blood on the floor and on the walls, along with bullet holes in the walls

"Shit..." Noah's voice muttered behind me. I took in a deep breath and turned to look at the others.

"Okay, we're here to find anything that my parents may have kept a secret, so try and look in places that may be ...unusual I guess, start somewhere. Try to find something maybe relating to the coordinates of Big Pine Key." I said and they all nodded their heads.

We all split up making sure to look thoroughly in each and every part of the room. While Krista, Ben and Kyle checked downstairs, Noah and I made our way upstairs.

"I'm gonna start in my parents room." I said to him and he gave a nod before walking towards the room in the back, my dads study. I stepped into my parents bedroom, and it looked like nothing was touched.

"Okay, mom, dad, what could you have possibly been hiding." I mumbled to myself.

For about thirty minutes I searched through everything in their room. In the closet, in the dressers, under their beds. I even took apart some picture frames and looked there as well and nothing. I plopped down on the bed immediately in defeat when my eyes shifted over to the wall in front of me

In the top left corner the paint seemed to be peeling a little bit. I looked around for a chair and grabbed the one that was by my moms vanity. After placing the chair against the wall and stood on it, getting on my tippy toes, I tried to reach for the peeled off corner. Unfortunately I was too short.

"Noah!!" I called out. A second later he emerged in the room and let out a chuckle.

"Need some help?" He asked as I stepped down from the chair and he took my place.

"What is it?" He questioned while I pointed to the peeling paint. He raised his eyebrow at me.

"It's just the paint coming off." He replied making me roll my eyes. "Yeah I know, just rip it off please. I wanna see what's behind it."

He just shrugged his shoulders as he reached up and started peeling it at it. Luckily it came off smoothly. I watched as he took more and more of the paint off and I took a step back. So far there was nothing, when he pulled off a big chunk of a piece revealing an outline of something.

I blinked a few times when Noah kept pulling and ripping off the paint, fully revealing a picture of a map. He stepped down from the chair and stood next to me.

"Well Shit...." He breathed out. On the top of the picture there were words written.

To Sam and Kyle. The Future awaits for you at Black Pine Key. For should anything happen to us, you continue on in our stead.

-Mom, Dad

"Your parents were apart of the rebellion?" Noah questioned and I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"I-I don't know.." I whispered out as I stared at the wall in front of me.

"I would have known of them, or Jill would have mentioned something, even my dad, but they never mentioned them." He said with a shrug.

This was all starting to get more and more confusing. If my parents weren't apart of Jill's rebellion, then what were they apart of? What did they know that we didn't? Let's hope we get the answers at Black Pine Key.