Extraction: A Song For Emma: Extraction, #1

By Christian Cross

In the near future, Hannah (age 16), her younger brother Loghan (age 11), and her younger sister Emma (age 5) are on the run aided by a man named Shane. Hannah hears that Shane's a kidnapper on the news. Is he out to help or put them in more danger?

 

A few months earlier, Hannah, Loghan, and Emma lived in one of the nicest suburban neighborhoods in Potsville, Indiana. Emma's health has been deteriorating for some time, but now they're noticing. After a doctor's diagnosis, Hannah and Loghan become suspicious that something sinister is going on. Before long, their lives are turned upside down as they try to determine what's going on and save their sister in this dystopian society.

 

Time's running out for them to discover the truth.

 

Will Hannah and Loghan be able to save their sister, and potentially themselves, in time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Cross
• Release date: Jun 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201167134

Book preview

Chapter 1 – Hiding

It's been months since my life was turned upside down.

We've been hiding in an abandoned mall for days. Shane gets up and takes a daily walk, ensuring no one gets the chance to sneak up on us. Before going on the walk this morning, he turns to me.

Hannah, tell them I will be back in a little bit, he says, referring to my younger brother Loghan, sister Emma, and Peter.

He continues, If anyone comes and I'm not back, hide.

After Shane leaves, I reach into Loghan's backpack, searching around for his portable 2D TV device. Since everyone's still fast asleep, I need something to occupy my time. It's not as advanced as a holographic TV, but Loghan built it from scratch, along with many other devices. It's incredible how smart he is. I sometimes wish I had his brains.

Before turning on the TV, I peek around the opening of the food stand we've been sleeping in, making sure no one is around. I turn on the TV, and it's in the middle of another news broadcast. I never liked watching the news. I’ve despised it even more lately, ever since we became the main feature. I'm just about to change the channel, but something catches my eye. Mom and dad are on the screen talking to a reporter. What are they doing on the news? This can't be good.

Shane is wanted on kidnapping charges and is considered extremely dangerous, a reporter on the TV announces if you see him, please contact the police or FMS.

He turns toward mom and dad. What would you like to say to the audience... to Shane... to his movement?

Tears well up in my mom's eyes. Please return my babies to me. I miss them so badly. I just want them back.

Dad is also crying. Before this kidnapping, five adults tried to kidnap our kids. The first time they failed, but this time they succeeded.

The reporter puts a hand on mom's, shaking his head. Why do you think they took them? 

Dad wipes tears from his eyes and sniffles. Because those people want to deny us from having a family. They are so radical in their beliefs.

And what are those beliefs?

Anti-Caregiver rights. They want to take away our rights as parents, so they take away our children by kidnapping them. They want to force their views on everyone and send us back to the dark ages.

The reporter turns toward the camera and frowns. Unbelievable.

The words Special Report grow to the right side of the reporter quickly until they take up most of the screen, then slowly fade away. A picture of Shane appears in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, an awful picture that also makes Shane look mean.

The reporter continues, We have a special report on Shane Arsee. Several years ago, he was a police officer who was let go for his crimes.

Another picture shows Shane holding a baton above a man with Caregiver Rights Advocate across his shirt. The advocate's ducking away from Shane, his eyes and mouth wide open.

The reporter continues, Shane is known to be extremely violent. He’s especially known for attacking Caregiver Rights Advocates, and has threatened to kidnap Caregiver Rights Supporters’ children.

A picture of a group of little boys and girls displays on the screen as the reporter continues, He's evaded the police and government so far. He's considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who spots him must not engage and report it to the authorities. He's extremely cunning. He's able to convince his kidnapping victims that they aren't victims. Reporting him is a code dark red.

A video of a woman in plain clothes comes on. I recognize her as one of the FMS workers we saw when we took Emma to the Super Fun Night.

The woman starts crying and says, He kidnapped my kids and convinced them that he was helping them. We've never found them.

Next, a picture of Loghan, Emma, and me appears. Words below our picture say Latest Suspected Victims.

The reporter then continues, We believe he's taken the Macado kids. Possibly convinced them that he's helping them.

The picture flashes back to the first picture they showed of Shane. Angled dark red words Code Dark Red now appear across the image.

Hannah, watching the news? a voice behind me says.

I turn and see Loghan sitting up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

I put my hand on his shoulder. Did you hear what they said?

He nods.

Just then, before I can tell him anything else, we hear footsteps running toward us. Loghan looks through the opening and turns to me.

It's Shane, he whispers.

I quickly shut off the TV and place it back in Loghan's backpack.

Shane comes into the stand, ducking down quickly and trying to catch his breath.

Loghan and I glance at each other. I can tell my brother’s nervous. He's not the only one.

His breathing slows down a bit after what seems like an eternity.

The police ... and a few .... FMS workers are entering the mall.... Looking for us, he rasps, still trying to catch his breath.

Loghan opens his mouth wide. What are we going to do?

I have a plan, but we have to act quickly.

Emma groggily wakes up to our conversation. What's going on? she asks.

We need to go hide and be quiet, I tell her.

Emma begins to whimper. I'm scairwd, and she throws her arms around me.

Loghan turns to her. Don't worry. We'll keep you safe.

Emma nods.

Shane looks around, gets up, and gestures for us to follow him. Loghan, Peter, now awake, and I get up. I grab Emma's hand, help her up, tug and smile at her as we quickly head down the food court exit and toward the broken escalators.

The escalators connect the first floor we're currently on to the second-level mall corridor. Shane quickly jogs up the stairs, looking back every so often to make sure we are keeping up. Emma stops abruptly when a shoelace gets stuck in one of the escalator's rungs. I bend down quickly and jiggle the shoelace until it’s freed. Shane stops until we start following him again. As Shane reaches the top of the escalator, he quickly looks around, making sure no one spotted us, and then proceeds down the mall corridor. Plenty of light shines in from the windows, forming a triangle in the center of the corridor's ceiling.

A third of the way down, Shane walks into one of the stores. This can't be right; that store’s filled with debris and partially fallen beams. We hesitate until he turns around and waves us to follow him. Loghan, Peter, and I follow.

Emma begins to whimper, gives me a big hug, and tries pulling me away from the store. I’m scairwd. I don't want to go in.

It'll be okay. Loghan and I'll keep you safe, I respond as I gently rub her back.

Loghan nods, smiles, and scoots down to Emma's level. That's right. We won't let anything bad happen to you. But to do that, we must go in. Remember the bad people trying to get us? Remember, Shane helped us out. We need to do what he says. Okay?

I don’t say anything, but the news report has shaken me to the core, and I don’t know who to trust.

Emma turns to Loghan and nods. She reluctantly lets me pull her into the store.

Shane looks around at a couple of partially fallen beams, pointing to one with the most debris around it, and says, Duck down and stay hidden no matter what. I am going to be over there, he says  as he points to a store across the mall corridor. If anyone comes in here, I’ll distract them. Understood?

We all nod and duck down. We can no longer see Shane, but we can hear his footsteps slowly fading away. I need to figure out what to do if Shane cannot draw anyone who comes toward us away. We only have two ways to escape. If more than one person came, we could potentially be trapped, and all of this would have been for nothing.

After what seems like an eternity of waiting, I hear footsteps approaching off in the distance. Looking through the cracks between the debris below the partially fallen beam, I don't see anyone. My heart begins to pound so hard it feels like it will jump out of my body. Is it Shane or FMS and the police? I'm no longer sure if I would be happy to see Shane or not. Emma begins to whimper again. I turn to her and see her eyes welling up. I put an arm around her and try to smile despite wanting to cry instead. Loghan pops his head above the beam to see who's coming toward us. He quickly ducks down, looks at me, and tilts his head in the direction of the footsteps. It's hard to tell how many people there are, but it's more than three.

A ray of light appears over the top edge of our beam, shining against the wall a few feet behind us, covered in dust and black mold. The light then slowly moves along the beam. As it does, Loghan and I duck down even lower, and I push Emma's head down, making sure they can't see us.

Emma coughs. The light quickly shines on the left side of the beam. Another light now shines on the right side. We hear multiple footsteps coming closer to us. Loghan and I look at each other, and we both look at Emma. In the distance, we hear a loud clanging noise and another set of footprints.

A man's voice shouts, He's over there!

Footsteps run away from us, but we still see two sets of lights bouncing ever so slightly against the walls.

The same voice in the distance shouts, We need more help!

One of the beams of lights disappears, and I can now hear another set of footsteps running away from us. One light still shines against the wall. Loghan crawls over to the farthest spot, still behind the fallen beam from the light, and pops his head above it again to look.

I lightly slap him to get his attention and mouth, What if the person spots you?

He turns toward me, grimaces, shakes his head, and quickly ducks down again. He hits some loose debris as he ducks down, which falls and hits the ground with a loud thud.

Alerted by the sound, the light immediately shines just above the spot Loghan hit. Footsteps then walk closer, and the light grows even more intense. I can even hear the person's breathing. Loghan remains frozen below the light. That person will spot Loghan any second now when they look over the fallen beam.

I scoot over and firmly pull Loghan away but not hard enough to throw him off balance. Loghan then follows me to the other side of the beam. Emma grabs onto my arm so tightly that she's pulled along with me and makes it tougher for me to move. I point to a spot just beyond the beam, indicating that's where we should run if the person looks over and spots us.

Loghan and Peter nod.

Off in the distance, we hear another man's voice shout, Jackson, we need you now. He’s escaping!

A close man's voice, coming from where I heard the breathing responds, Ok!

The light scans across the beam one more time, and then it’s gone. We hear more footsteps running away, which I assume is the man holding the light. We remain perfectly still for a long time. Eventually, Peter lifts his head above the beam to look around.

He ducks back down again and mouths to Loghan and me, No one's there.

Relieved, Loghan, Peter, and I both slump down. Emma gives me a big hug. That was too close for comfort, but Shane has successfully led them away. Now, all we can do is wait and hope that he returns. I'm not sure how long to wait before trying to venture out and find him. Do I even trust him after what I heard on the news?

But if Shane’s as bad as they say he is, wouldn't he be caught by now or at least on the run? Wouldn’t he at least have a difficult time getting around? It seems like he’s able to get around easily.

Chapter 2 – Alpha

A Few Months Earlier

In the back of my parent's car, I grimace. My younger brother and sister are driving me crazy. I feel an arm hit my stomach as it crosses over me. It's my younger brother Loghan, and he’s reaching over me to push my sister. My little sister, Emma, pushes back. His arm jerks me back into the seat as it pushes into my stomach even more.

Knock it off, you two! I yell as I turn and look between them both.

My sister starts whaling. Mom, he hit me, She cries out loud, tears rolling down her face.

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Mom turns around and squints her eyes at my brother. Loghan. Leave your sister alone, she yells.

Loghan, wide-eyed, drops his jaw and says, Mom, she hit me first.

The two of you, knock it off. If you keep it up, you will both be grounded, Mom responds as she shakes her finger at both Loghan and Emma.

She quickly turns her head toward dad and then toward the front window, letting out a big sigh.

Looking toward the back of my mom and dad's head in the front seat, I sigh, shake my head, and say, I'm going into eleventh grade, but nooooo both of you had to torture me with these two instead.

They both ignore me as usual, knowing that their lame excuses will not get anywhere with me. Especially the one about being much older, and I need to take it.

Looking at Emma, Loghan squints his eyes. Your such a little brat. I'm going to flush you down the toilet, he yells right into my ear.

Emma screams, Stop, Loghan. You better not! as even more tears roll down her face.

She then turns toward mom, yelling, Loghan’s going to flush me down the toilet.

Shaking my head, I squint and yell, Good. I will be deaf in both ears soon, so I don't have to listen to these two again. And if one of you is flushed down the toilet, then that's one less pain I have to deal with.

Mom turns around and shakes a finger at us. You’re all grounded for the month, then she turns to face the front, shaking her head and looking over at dad.

We all quiet down, but I know she won't do it. Every time she gets angry at us, she tells us that she will take something we like away or we'll be grounded. Not once has she ever followed through with her threats. Looking out the front window, I feel a big grin on my face as I can now see our house.

As soon as the car pulls into the driveway and stops, we all jump out.

Emma and Loghan run toward the front door and shout, Yay!

It's the night before school starts, and we have a LAME family tradition we call Family Night.

Each kid picks a game to play, and we order pizza and wings. We always play Emma's game first because she's the youngest, followed by Loghan's.

While Emma and Loghan are picking out a game to play in our living room, I quickly run upstairs to contact my three best friends: Lisa, Joanna, and Margaret.

When all three holographically appear in front of me, I plead, You guys have to come and save me.

Lisa smiles. We will be right over.

Margaret and Joanna nod.

You guys WILL not! I hear a loud voice behind me say.

I turn around quickly and see my mom scowling at me from the doorway. I then hear each of my friends say a quick bye as they disconnect.

You and dad are ruining my life! I shout an inch away from mom's face as I feel the heat rise on mine.

Come downstairs and spend time with your family, or else you will be grounded for the entire year! mom yells back.

She then turns around and stomps back down the stairs.

I hesitate to follow her. I could run over to one of my friends' houses, but they wouldn't let me in now after hearing and seeing mom. I could just run away, but where would I go? Besides, running away to the streets would be extremely dangerous. I wouldn't have enough money for food, and I would miss all the comforts of my house even if it meant that I could get away from Loghan and Emma for a while. Eventually, I would have to return, that is, if no one killed me out there first. They would probably ground me for a couple of weeks, not a year, but even that’s not worth it.

With no other option, I head downstairs. Halfway down, I look over and see everyone in the living room in front of the fireplace. Both Loghan and Emma have big smiles on their faces. Loghan’s showing dad the game he picked out. I stop and stare for a moment to see what game he picked; squinting, I see it looks like Holographic Visions. Not a lame game. Well, it's still partially lame when playing with your family.

Emma jumps up and down with a big smile on her face. She's holding a game in her hand, showing it to mom. Of course, it had to be Shark-Bite for the millionth time. Doesn't she ever get bored of that?

From here, I feel my anger dissipate a little, and it's kind of nice to see everyone happy and not screaming at each other for once. Maybe game night won't be so bad. Well, What am I saying? Of course, it's horrible because I am stuck here playing childish, boring games with my annoying brother and sister. It's the last night before school. It's the last night of freedom before I'm stuck with doing homework. I'd much rather be hanging out with my friends and having a good time.

Since there's no sense in putting it off any longer, the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done, so I continue down the stairs and head over to the living room.

Nice to see you could make it, mom says sarcastically as she looks over at me, smiling ever so slightly.

I stare back and head over to the shelves where all of the games are neatly stored. There are six wooden shelves approximately eight feet wide. The bottom two have games for Emma, the middle two for Loghan, and the top two for my age and adults. Mom and dad are always so organized, which, most of the time, drives me crazy.

Put this back in the right spot, Don't leave it out, Only one at a time, come to my mind as I look over the games. But for right now, it's a good thing. I can quickly find the game I want without looking all over.

As I look through the teenage and adult games, I spot a game that is not so lame called Insane Topics. I pull it off the shelf and check to see the age rating. Just great, it's only for seventeen plus. I remember when mom and dad got this game after they had played it over at one of their friend's houses. I played it, and it's inappropriate for Emma and Loghan. They will not let me pick this one, so I put it back on the shelf. Looking through a few more, I finally spot another one called Creative Crazy Creatures. Okay, that one is an entertaining game and can also lighten the mood. It'll also take Emma's mind off of going to school. She has been whining a lot lately and terrified because she's never been to elementary school before.

Dad heads out of the living room, saying, I'm going to order pizza and wings for transport.

A few minutes later, he returns. Ten minutes later, a spinning hologram of pizza and wings appears in front of dad, indicating the food is here. Dad heads over to the front door. He opens it and is greeted by a flying robotic transporter. I remember my friends and me laughing at the way the robotic pizza transporters look.

Most transporters have a metal head and neck with a horizontal groove, allowing them to tilt their head in any direction. Pizza transporters have a huge roundish-shaped belly. Most of them have what looks like peach skin and a stomach. The place we order from has fake chest hairs on its belly, which we always find amusing.

Dad touches a pad on it. A Thank you for paying rotating hologram appears. The transporter rubs its belly hairs right below its Marie's Pizza red half shirt, saying, Yummy, Yummy, and its belly opens. That usually makes my friends and I crack up laughing. The stomach opens, and a large tray of pizza and wings appears.

Dad grabs the tray and brings it into the kitchen.

Loghan and Emma start running around with excitement.

Pizza is here, pizza is here, Yay! they both shout, then head off into the kitchen.

Mom and I follow.

Mom shouts, Okay, kids, I know you're excited, but you need to go set the table with Hannah.

Awe. Do we have to? both Loghan and Emma say in unison as they both turn around, tilting their heads up at her.

I head over to the cupboards above the stove, pull out the plates and hand them to Loghan. Before handing the cups to Emma, I see Loghan’s already placing the plates on the table. I take a moment to look at the holographic images on each plate. These are special plates we use for game night. Each plate has a colorful six-inch 3D image above it. You can turn the holographic image by pinching it and moving it with your fingers. The holographic images on the cups float just above the top and are typically smaller, usually four inches tall. You rotate the cups’ images the same way you rotate the images on the plates. Last year, we each picked out a plate. Mom and dad had decided only to use the plates for special occasions.

Dad's plate is of the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, and Big Ben that he picked up as a souvenir when we went on a week-long Famous Landmarks holographic trip. We went to a different landmark each day, learned a lot about it, and slept in it for one night. Near the end of the trip, dad ordered his holographic plate; it was waiting for us back home.

For Mother's Day, Loghan and I surprised mom with a holographic picture of Loghan, Emma, and me. We had it custom-made at Holographic Memories, which is mom's favorite store. She told us that was her favorite present. I've caught mom holding and looking at the plate many times in the past. Whenever she saw me, she’d smile and then place it back in the cupboard.

Of course, Emma's holographic plate is of all her dolls, Loghan's is of dogs, while mine is of my friends and me simply hanging out. My friends and I ordered three of the same plate, one for each of us.

Emma's not doing anything, so I ask her to help set the table. I put holographic cups on the counter so it's easy for her to reach. Emma grabs the holographic cups, pouts, and places them one by one on the table. She puts each cup down, protesting as she quickly walks around. Not perfectly laid out, but it will do. I quickly set down the napkins, forks, and butter knives.

We're ready! I shout into the family room where my parents are.

No one responds, so I turn left from the table and over to the family room. I see my mom sitting in her favorite recliner chair.

We're ready, I say again.

Mom looks at me, gets up, and then looks over to dad. Dad's sitting down in his favorite chair, his eyes glued toward the center of the room. I turn to where he's staring. The blood drains from my face, and a chill goes down my spine.

Chapter 3 – Game Night

Dad's staring at a holographic image of people in each other's faces. One man is pushing a finger in another man's face, spit flying out of his mouth as he screams at him. The other man's eye level is at the first man's chest. He's looking up, and from his expression, I can tell he's yelling back. The camera zooms out, showing a large crowd split down the middle, one side facing the other. Both sides are holding up glowing signs.

A reporter close to the camera can now be seen and appears to be staring at the action. As you can see, anything can set either side off. Maybe the next civil war!

The whole scene quickly shrinks down to a small area of the screen, and a woman reporter in a studio responds to the other reporter saying, For all of us, we hope it doesn't come to that.

Reporting live from FMS, Northern Indianapolis, Indiana, the reporter in the now small box says.

The box flips over in the air showing new words Anti-Caregiver Rights Protest – Live appear.

I look over at dad; his face is beat-red, squinting his eyes and shaking his head. For some reason, he tends to get angry whenever he sees the holographic news reports on Anti-Caregiver Rights Protests. Sure, people are yelling at each other on the screen, but that doesn't seem more violent than other times when I caught him watching other protests. Ones where crowds burned buildings, threw rocks and explosives, and beat people up on the streets. It beats me, and the reporters usually say those protests are mainly peaceful. Maybe it's something I'm missing.

It's not fun being around dad when he has his beat-red face look. When he's like this, anyone in his path gets to feel the full brunt of his anger—not making for an enjoyable day. We all usually avoid him when he’s like this.

I remember one time when I was around seven or eight years old. I made the mistake of asking for a doll when he was in one of these moods. He picked me up, pushed me against his bedroom wall, and screamed at me. I ran out of there as quickly as I could, crying. Later that same night, he came in and quietly apologized to me while I lay in bed pretending to sleep. I always wondered if mom put him up to it or if he felt sorry.

Dad doesn't usually watch the holographic news outside of his bedroom. I've occasionally seen him watching whenever they left their door cracked.

Trying to defuse the situation before it gets worse, I turn to him and sternly say, Dad. Can we put this behind us? Please don't be like this on game night. It's not fun as it is.

He looks sternly back at me and then walks with a heavy step into the kitchen, plops the pizza, and wings boxes on the table, and sits down in his seat. Mom and I look at each other with a half-smile, follow him to the table, and sit in our seats.

Facing away from dad, mom mouths to me, You did it! referring to stopping dad from getting into an uncontrollable rage.

Can we eat yet? Loghan yells from the stairs.

Yes! mom shouts back.

I can hear heavy, quick footsteps running upstairs. A short while later, multiple footsteps head back down.

Pizza, Pizza, both Loghan and Emma yell as they run into the kitchen, quickly taking their seats.

While eating, mom turns to Loghan and says, Tomorrow, make sure you stay with Emma from the bus stop until she’s in her class.

Loghan throws his hands over his eyes, moans, and says, I will.

You’re lucky to even be able to go to school. You would be stuck in the house with holographic school in most areas. At least you can physically get out of the house here and you can play outside without any worries, mom says.

I know mom, Loghan groans.

I have to admit. Although Loghan's currently frustrated with being asked and fights a lot with Emma, he'll still be there with her on her first day at school. It's not cool to be with your little sister in front of your friends, and Loghan knows that.

Tears start flowing out of Emma's eyes as she folds her arms on the table and puts her head down on them. "I don't want to