Light Up My Heart *Super 8/Cary Love Story*

12: So It Begin

"Chloe." It was just one word, but it woke me up from my dream. I was dreaming that whatever had taken Sara had stolen me too and was taking me into a cave. Just as it was about to bite my head off, someone stole me from the monster's grip and saved my life. I had never gotten to see who it was since Cary woke me up. Oh my God. Last night, I was tired and in pain and just wanted to sleep. I hadn't really realized what I was saying when I said for Cary and I to share a bed. I was too out of it to realize anything, really. "Chloe," he says again. My eyes flutter open and I look down. Cary's arm is around me, like he is trying to save me from the rest of the world. I blush and whisper, "I'm awake." "Do you smell that?" I'm about to ask what he's talking about, but then it hits me. The smell is strong and makes me cough a bit. It smells like smoke, like ashes, like burning wood, like.....like........fire. "Please tell me that you didn't set your house on fire." I hear him laugh next to me and then leans up to look out his window. "Chloe, look at this." "I can't." "Why not?" "Your arm is kinda holding me..." His arm quickly flies away from me and I sit up. He is leaning back against the wall, trying to hide his blush. He turns away and points out the window. In the distance, right over the tops of trees, if you squint really hard you can see a glowing reddish color. "Are the woods on fire?" "I'm not sure.....let's go find out." Cary jumps off the bed and runs out the door. I roll my eyes at his eagerness and quickly limp after him.

When I get to his back door, I see that he is already trying to climb up a tree. "Cary!" I yell. "What are you doing?" He stops, looks back at me, and then runs and grabs my hand. He pulls me to the tree and I see a ladder nailed onto the wood. "Can you climb?" he asks. I nod and favor my hurt leg as I force myself up the ladder and into a tree house. Cary scrambles up behind me and walks over to a wide window with a telescope. He points and aims it toward the glowing light. "Yep, that's definitely fire," he concludes. "Well if anyone would know, it'd be you," I tease. He grins over at me and looks back through the scope. "I wonder why the haven't turned on the alarm-" he gets cut off by a loud wailing. It's the town's evacuation alarm. "Looks like you spoke too soon, pyro." He grins again and jumps down the tree. Yes, he just jumps right off. I look doubtfully over the edge. "Just jump," he calls up to me. "I'll catch you." "I'm not sure....." "I promise." Even from up here, I can see the look of determination and promise in his eyes. I close my own, and then fall from the tree. To my surprise, I didn't hit the ground. I open my eyes and look up at Cary. "I told you I would catch you. I promised." I smiled up at him and he smiled back with those cute braces of his.

"Hey!" someone yells, making us jump and nearly makes Cary drop me. "I hate to break up you lovebirds, but the town is kinda about to catch on fire!" We both look over and see Martin leaning over Cary's fence. Cary gently lets me down and then forces me to get on his back......shocker, right? "C'mon, Romeo!" Martin yells. "Shuddup Smartin!" Cary yells. As we get to the fence, Preston runs over. He looks over at the bike in the grass. "Is that my bike?" he asks. "Well it was before I took it," Cary replies, making me laugh. Martin grabs Preston's and Cary's arms and begins to pull us toward the outskirts of town.

"We need to find Alice, Charles, and Joe!" Preston yells over the noise. "We should probably go to Alice's-" I begin to say, but someone pulls me off Cary. I scream and the boys turn around. "Hey, let her go!" Cary says. I look up and see the person who grabbed me is an Air force guard. I struggle against his grip, but he doesn't let go. "You children have to go to the buses in the center of town," the man says. "Okay God we will just let her go! Can't you see you're scaring her?!" Cary yells. I'm shocked that he would stand up to an armed guard who could probably snap all of our necks. He glares at Cary, but lets go of me. I stumble forward and Cary grabs me, pulling me close to him. "Now get to the buses," the guard growls.

As we are ushered onto the big gray bus, I keep an eye out for Alice, Joe, or Charles. Yes, Charles and I don't exactly see eye to eye, but I don't want him to burn to death. Or be taken by that thing. Cary and I sit down in a seat and watch as we roll out of town.

Not too long later, we pull into an Air Force base and file out. I see Charles and Joe get out of another bus and sigh in relief. Wait, where's Alice? Cary pulls my arm and drags me over to where his parents are. When they see him, they hug him and his Mom goes into Mother Mode wondering if he is okay and if he is hurt. I stand there awkwardly until his Dad notices me. "Were you with her?" he asks. "Her name's Chloe, and yes." He moves to my side, staring up at his parents. They both stare back for a moment before his Dad sighs. "You stay with her and help her find her family, you hear?" he says. "Yes sir!" Cary says and pulls me away.

"What just happened?" I ask. He smiles at nothing particular while he pulls me along. "My Dad just approved of you," he says. He what? Approved me for what?! "C'mon, there's the others," Cary says and we walk over to Preston, Charles, Joe and Martin. Where's Alice??