I woke up in a soft bed. Everything was blurry, but I could just make out two faces. When my eyes adjusted, I noticed Finn and Ava. 

“What’s going on?” I asked feebly. 

“Remember the sea monster thing?” Ava asked me. The memories hit me like a freight train. Eric was dead. Rob was dead. My friends at school were dead. My teachers were dead. Almost everyone I knew was dead. I felt anger towards Franz. A hatred I never had felt before. Franz was despicable. He deserved to be killed. And I am the one going to do it. 

“Franz is a bi—” 

“Stop! You need rest. Just chill,” Finn interrupted me. 

“You don’t know what Franz really is!” I glared at Finn. 

“Do you think he’s good?!” I asked him. Finn just sighed. 

“We’re almost to Japan,” Ava said, trying to calm Finn and I down. 

By late afternoon, we were there. A large shelter loomed over the horizon. Behind it were about fifty helocarriers ready for transporting the survivors. The general went to the front of the ship and spoke into a microphone that seemed to translate his words as he spoke through it, 

“We will be transporting you to a large temporary shelter in Tokyo.” 

It took about an hour to get off the ship. My knees were shaking and it was rather hard to walk. Finn and the dark skinned man with the huge glasses helped me. The man was kind and seemed to have become friends with Finn. 

“I don’t think you know Ekon,” Finn stated. 

He introduced the man to me, “This is Mr. Ekon Osborne.” 

“This is my friend, Dylan, ” Finn said to him.

We were each separated into groups of ten that were going to ride per helocarrier. Luckily, Finn, Ernest, Wyatt, Ava, Jacy, Mary, and I were on the same helocarrier. Mr. Osborne was there, too. Ernest soon got motion sickness. Thankfully, he didn’t puke. After about two hours, I saw bright lights in the distance. Tokyo city! For forty five minutes we were gliding over the bright lighted city. I couldn’t stop looking out the window. The lights were mesmerizing. We came to a landing pad where the fifty other helocarriers had landed. After we got off the flying mechanism, we were ushered by soldiers to come to a large parking lot area, where the general was going to assign everyone a shelter. I was going to be sent to a hotel used as a temporarily a shelter. They sent me to share a room with Ernest. Great! We took a large bus to the hotel. As we were ushered into the hotel, we noticed that about eighty other survivors staying in the hotel. 

It took about half an hour to get around the crowd and up to our room. We learned that Mary and Ava were in the room next to us. We didn’t know where the others were, though. All I knew was that they were not in our hotel.

Ernest and I each got a key to the room from a nearby hotel attendant. The room was not too bad. The beds were neatly made. There was also a bathroom and a television. I told Ernest I was going to take a shower in the hotel. I took my bandage off my arm. I hopped in the shower. “Ow!” I exclaimed. The shower burned my arm, but still felt good. I hadn’t taken one in few months. I felt so clean. 

When I got out of the shower, I saw Ernest watching television. I was about to tell him that we needed to turn it off and try to get some sleep, when a firm knock came from the door. I went to open and saw a man in a tie. 

“Darekaga furonto de anata o motomete imasu,” the hotel attendant man said. 

“Sorry,” I said. “I understand only English.”

“English?” the man said.

“I Sorry. Uh— there man at front desk that wants you,” the attendant restated with a huge accent. It seemed hard for him. 

Ernest and I followed the hotel attendant down to the front desk. While walking, I wondered who would want to see me. When we got there, I saw a thin Japanese man in a tuxedo guarded by two soldiers. 

“Are you Dylan Novachez?” the thin man asked. I nodded. 

“We need you to come with us,” the man continued, “Bring your phone.” 

I was confused. Why would I need my phone? Suddenly, Ekon, Mary, and Ava came up behind. 

“What’s going on?” Mr. Osborne asked. 

“Ekon, is that you?” the thin man asked. Mr. Osborne’s eyes widened. 

“Good to see you!” Mr. Osborne said smiling. Then his grin faded. 

“I see you have joined the Japanese military.” 

“Sora,” Ekon spoke. 

“What is the Prime Minister going to do with the children?” Ekon Osborne asked protectively. 

“Right now, I am Secretary Saito and Mr. Novachez, here, has important information that needs to be given to the Japanese government.” Ekon frowned. 

“I demand to come,” he said. 

“This is classified information,” Secretary Saito stated. “Prime Minister Akamine asks to see only those who know of it. That would be Dylan Novachez, Ernest Jefferson, Finn Adams, Wyatt Alexander, Ava Morgan, Mary Bush, and Jacy Cohen,” Ekon’s face went red, out of frustration. 

“Sora, they’re just kids,” Osborne said. “They’ll know no one there. They’ll be scared. Let someone they know and trust come.” 

Sora sighed.

“You’ll have to explain that to the Prime Minister. And for the last time, I am on my working shift and we must strictly keep this professional. I am Secretary Saito.” the thin secretary said, leading us out the door. We got into a big van and drove off towards the center of the city. The drive was short, but uncomfortable under the hard stare of the secretary. The van drove up to the tallest building in the city which I assumed was a military information base. We drove up to the front door and the doors of the van were pulled open by two waiting guards. The secretary lead everyone inside with the two soldiers from the hotel trailing behind. We went up a large elevator and came out into a large shining marble hallway. 

At the end of the hall waited Wyatt, Finn, Jacy, four soldiers, and an old Japanese man with wrinkles lining his face. He had a kind smile and short white hair. 

“Korera wa anata ga yōkyū shita kodomo-tachidesu (These are the children you requested),” Saito told the man. 

“Dylan Novachez,” the gentleman said. 

“I am glad you came. Please follow me.” Everyone followed the man. I assumed he was Prime Minister Akamine. We entered a dark room that seemed similar to what might be at NASA headquarters. 

A large screen was at the front of the room and aisles of men and women sat typing on computers. 

“Mr. Novachez, we know you have something that the Nazis want,” the Prime Minister started. 

“A sort of files that Hitler seeks. We want to take the files and securely lock them up so that Franz can’t get to them.” 

Prime Minister Akamine led me to a door in the back of the room. 

“Everyone, you and I will view the files privately in this room. It is a room with no cameras, microphones, or any way that anyone else can access the files without us noticing.” The Prime Minister opened the door and ushered for me to enter. I walked in, but behind me I heard Saito say,

“Mr. Prime Minister, it is my duty to keep you safe. If you go in there, I have no way of watching you.” 

The Prime Minister glared at him. 

“What are the kids going to do to me?” he asked. 

“Don’t worry,” he assured the secretary, patting him on the shoulder.