We hugged for a while before Kimberly let go of me. I put my hands in my pocket and looked around. Kimberly did the same, then looked down at me. "I think we have to jump." Kimberly said. I looked back at her, laughing at a small bit under my breath, hoping she was joking. "Jump? That'll kill us both!" I said. Kimberly smiled. She held out her left paw to me. I looked at her soaking wet paw, then back at her. "Trust me, Toby! If we jump, we'll be just fine! Besides-" She looked around the room. "What other options do we have? This helicopter is huge! Who knows where the drivers seat is, if there even is one?"

She had a point. I took a few deep breaths in and out before I looked up at her. I took her paw carefully and slowly. Her smile faded to a half smile. She pulled me over to the ledge and held my hand tight. The sound of the wind was the only thing I heard, other than the sound of thunder. Kimberly looked down at the foggy, rainy night sky. "I ... I'm pretty sure the rest of my sisters are down here ... I think they've destroyed the rest of her army!!" She shouted. I didn't hear many explosions for a long time, so I knew she was right. I trusted her, but I was still nervous. I looked at her face, waiting for some kind of signal to jump. She looked at me with a nervous grin, then backed up a few steps. "Okay, I gotta admit ... I'm a little bit nervous too, b-but it's normal! We're gonna be just fine! We'll make it down safely!! There's nothing to worry about! "She smiled. I nodded. I felt her squeeze my hand tighter and tighter the closer we got to the ledge. "You ready?"She asked me. I gave her the best smile I could stir up at the moment, then answered "Yup. I'm ready. "She giggled nervously, looked down, then closed my eyes. I heard her count down. "5 ..." I waited for the countdown to reach 0. "...4...3...2...1..." I opened my left eye to a small bit and watched Kimberly push herself off the ledge with her feet. I did the same.

As we fell through the sky. I didn't bother screaming, since I knew we were going to be just fine. I just started breathing heavily. Kimberly had a serious expression fixed on her face. Clouds of fog blocked our view of what was below us. "Grab my arm!!" She shouted, holding the shoulder of her sweater. I hesitated a little bit before grabbing her right arm. I clutched onto it as tight as I could. I turned to my left, and watched her as she grabbed a handle attached to her sweater, right under her armpit. She pulled the handle, a long string attached to it flew out. I felt a huge pull as we were yanked into the sky. Wind blew us up faster and faster. We were pulled into the sky about 6 feet. We slowly started to float through the air. I looked up behind us to see a huge pink and yellow striped parachute, slowly lowering us. I was distracted from the parachute by Kimberly's loud giggles. "Wheeeeeee!!!" She shouted while throwing her left arm up in the air and laughing. I started to feel... safe. Even though we were both floating in the air with rain in our faces. I held her arm closer to me, somehow started to feel warmer, inside and out. Hearing her laugh made me feel giggly and happy. I chuckled a little bit, before giggling and eventually laughing out loud along with her. We laughed for a while. "I told you we'll be alright, Toby!! You can trust me anytime!!!" She smiled. I continued to giggle. Then, my smile faded into a concerned frown. I thought of Octavia, how worried she must be right now, and how much of an asshole I was for running away from her. My lip started to quiver a small bit. "Octavia... is Octavia okay?" I asked Kimberly. She stopped giggling to look at me. "Physically, she's fine! A few scratches here and there, but shes okay!" Kimberly looked down sadly. "Mentally, she's pretty worried, like, very worried, actually." She looked at me with a small smile, after wearing a huge frown. "But when we get down, which should be any second now, she'll be so much happier to see that you're okay!" I tried my best to smile, but my body physically couldn't make me smile, not even a little.

As we floated down lower and lower, I started to see the concrete ground. It was soaked with rainwater and blood, along with some dirt and broken glass. I didn't see Octavia or anyone else yet. The wind was strong, so we were sinking very slowly. "There she is!!" Kimberly beamed as she pointed down. I looked in the direction she was pointing, but I didn't see much, that was until looked closer. I saw a dog snout covered in dirty white fur popping out through the fog. It looked as if it was frowning. I saw a small cut on its lower lip, and a small blood stain below it. "Octavia!! Octavia!!!!" Kimberly shouted, waving her left arm in the air happily. Octavia started to emerge from the fog. Her sweater was stained with dirt, along with her fur being stained with blood. She had a few scratches in her leg and her face, a few still bleeding a little. I looked her in the eye, and she did the same. Her concerned frown started to fade into a relieved smile. "Oh my god..." She whispered while shedding a few tears. We were about 6 feet above the ground now. Octavia sprinted towards us with her arms out. She grabbed our feet and pulled us down to the surface while the parachute fell to the ground. She was about 7'2, so it was easy for her to grab us.

"Toby is okay! Oh, and Brianna won't be bothering us for a while!" Kimberly giggled. I looked up at her, then let a few tears leave my eyes. Octavia looked into my tear filled eyes for a little bit. Her eyes started to sparkle from the moonlight. I watched raindrops drip down her snout and onto the ground. Raindrops were also dripping down my cheeks. She took a few steps towards me, held out her left arm, then put it around me. She lifted her right arm and put it around me a few seconds later. She knelt down in front of me. She held me close to her, so I could smell her wet fur. It smelt awful, but I didn't care. I hugged her back while bursting into tears. I didn't feel weak, not even a little. The stereotype of boys having to be tough and never cry usually made me feel weak and stupid, but I knew I wasn't weak. These women, they made me feel strong and worthy. It didn't matter if I cried or not, I knew damn well I was a powerful motherfucker. Sure, they were stronger than me, but hey, I still felt pretty good. Octavia held me close, I could almost hear her heartbeat over my own. Rain and wind started to weaken the longer we hugged. Octavia's hug started to feel gentler. "Toby..." She slowly pulled away and looked me in the eye. "Please know that we all love you. You're part of our family now..." She smiled a small bit. She held my hands, making them soaked in rainwater and a little bit of blood. "It doesn't matter what kind of person you were in the past." She smiled at me. I smiled back. I took a deep breath, then hesitated before blurting out. "Thanks... mom..."

Octavia's eyes widened. She looked really surprised, yet delighted. "M-Mom?" She started blushing while Kimberly smiled and jumped up and down. "P-Please call me Octavia... I don't think I'll ever be used to the title "Mom"..." she chuckled. I laughed along with her. She pushed herself off from her knees and stood up tall. She held the back of her neck and chuckled again. "I've never been called "Mom"... Kimberly and Bailey and everyone else here are only my sisters, I've never had a child before..." She laughed. I nodded before giggling a small bit. "It's alright, I won't call ya mom if ya don't want me to." I smiled. "Yeah... maybe one day I'll feel more used to the title, but at the moment, I don't feel right being addressed as such." She said, sounding nervous. I smiled, and she did the same. I looked up at the cloudy, rainy night sky, then at the ground. I started to look around the city, the sight of broken windows and buildings that have been far beyond destroyed made me feel faint. I even saw a few dead bodies on the ground with bullet wounds in their chests, legs, heads, basically anywhere the robots were able to shoot. "Are..." I gulped slowly. "Are those robot things all dead, or-" I asked her. Octavia snapped back into reality after looking around the city as well. "Yes. The rest of my sisters are okay, too. We scattered throughout the whole city. They're in the park right now." She dropped her arm to her side. Kimberly put her paws over her mouth in shock. "Are you sure they're okay?!" She sounded as if she was out of breath. Octavia put her paw on Kimberly's shoulder. "Yes, they should be." Octavia took her paw away and looked at me. "Follow me." She started running to my left. I hesitated a small bit, then ran after her. "H-Hey! Wait up, guys!" Kimberly shouted, running after us as well.

~2:00 ᴀᴍ~

After about a 3 minute run, we were in front of the park. It looked extremely run down, trees were knocked over and pieces of ground were scattered everywhere. The wooden benches were almost completely pulverized. The black metal fences were ripped apart, some dried blood soaking the sharp edges. "Octavia!" I heard a low, raspy, female voice cry out. My face lit up. "Brooke!!" I shouted about a split second after I heard her. I saw something tall roaming around in the fog. It took a minute to come out of the fog and reveal itself. It was Brooke, but her sweater was gone. She was just wearing a black tee shirt. Her arms were scratched up, they were soaked in blood. Her teeth were covered in blood as well. I looked closer at her, and her snout was covered in some kind of motor oil. "Brooke! Are you okay? You didn't swallow any liquid that came from the robots, did you?!" Octavia shouted, sounding concerned. Brooke chuckled. "Nah nah nah, don't worry. I just bit their arms off, that's all." She smiled. I smiled back at her. "Phew!" I heard another voice in the distance. I saw Bailey slowly emerge from the gray fog, her brown fur covered in dirt. Her knuckles looked bloody. I sprinted over to Brooke and gave her a huge hug. She let out an uncomfortable laugh, as if this was the first time she's been hugged. I looked up at her face, and she had a few scratches on her snout. She was forcing a smile, but I could tell that she wasn't enjoying the hug, so I quickly let go before hopping back a few inches. "Ah... sorry 'bout that, ya seemed pretty uncomfortable right there..." I let out a nervous laugh. She did the same. "It's all good... I just don't get hugged that often."

"What do you mean? I always try to hug you, but you always pull away like I'm covered in chocolate!" Kimberly said with a confused frown on her face. Brooke gave her a sort of "shut up" kind of look, but then she looked back at me and forced another smile. I chuckled a small bit under my breath. Brooke brushed herself off before her face faded into a serious expression. "Sahara and Leah are on their way here right now. Sahara is driving your truck, Octavia. Leah's got my car." She said. Octavia nodded. "When are they gonna get here?" She asked. Brooke looked to her left, down the road. "Should be here any second now." She replied.

Suddenly, I heard a loud truck engine purr behind me. I turned around to see Octavia's red truck and Brooke's black van slowly moving down the street. They were covered in rain, along with a few broken or cracked windows. The sound of the tires rolling over the street made me feel warm and happy. Octavia's truck stopped in front of me while Brooke's van drove in front of the truck and stopped next to Bailey. The door to the truck swung open, then someone's head was half visible from the top of the truck. It looked like a dark green bandanna. "Sahara!" Kimberly shouted. She ran passed me and over to the other side of the truck. "Ah, hiya, Kim!" I heard Sahara say. Kimberly gave her a huge hug. They were both giggling and talking with each other before I heard the door to Brooke's van slam shut. Out came Leah, covered in dirt and leaves. She looked irritated. Octavia giggled a small bit. "Need some help, Leah?" She said jokingly. Leah rolled her eyes. "C'mon, guys. Everyone get in a car." Leah said with a stern look. Octavia chuckled before she, along with me and everyone else, started loading ourselves into the cars. My heart was still beating and my body was covered in scratches, but hey, at least I was alive and with the ones I cared about.

~2:45 ᴀᴍ~

It was still raining really hard outside. I loved it, the sound of the rain hitting the truck. The way the raindrops looked dripping down the windows. The moonlight lit up the raindrops surrounding it. I smiled. "Say, Toby..." Aviana started. She was sitting on the other side of the truck while Bailey was sitting in the middle sleeping. "What did Brianna do to you up there? Did she hurt ya?" She turned her head to look at me. "Oh nah, she just had me tied up. Kimberly came before she could do anything." I replied. Aviana nodded. "That's good." She said. I nodded, then looked back out the window. All kinds of thoughts were racing through my mind. I didn't know what to think at the moment, but I knew I was happy. I looked at the back of Octavia's head for a split second, then my eyes started to close. I let out a small yawn. I started to drift off to sleep after I heard a few small thunder strikes. The sight of my filthy shorts made me drift off to sleep easier. Why? Well, I have no idea.