Ariel's pov"Shh, sweetheart, shh mommy here" I said as I calmed down my son, as I ran with him to the neighborhood bomb shelter, I knew it won't do mu...h to protect us from the nuclear devastation, but as a mother I had the responsibility to give my sons lass moments some semblance of hope, even if it's nothing but a lie. That was my plan until Ace Jensen yelled at us to stop, he was a man in his late sixties nothing more than meat and bones, his hair was deep crimson with a little gray there. She teased him further, drawing the sprig of hair down the side of his neck. She wasn’t quick enough to dodge him and his hand closed tightly around her wrist. Aidan opened one eye and glared at her. ‘Merry Christmas,’ she said, with a syrupy smile. The eye snapped shut and he turned onto his back, pulled her down so that her head rested on his shoulder. He drew the comforter more securely around them. French snuggled into him, caressed his chest and abdomen as she lay alongside him. ‘It’s. We also compared them to your actual scores when you got them. I should have mentioned this but I figured everyone had already told you." Well, I mean, the rest of them told me that they had done the sample test and what they scored," Allie told him. "I mean the ones we live with. Sean, Rachelle, Mary and Walt did, too? I mean, Mary is a freakin' genius, too. I figured she would nail it perfectly." Mary is very smart in the area she is studying," Adam pointed out. "In general knowledge and. That went on until probably five, at which point we shook loose and climbed in the Escalade and headed for the hotel. I think I'd have packed us out of there that evening, but I couldn't just snatch Faye from that mass of relatives. Fortunately, they immediately began to disperse ... Everybody had had enough, I think -- Nick asked if he and Elise could use the spare suite and I said sure. Poor Faye had to put up with the slowly thinning crowd. I think we were all looking forward to getting out.