S1, E9 | Pieces

} The following events take place between June and December 2030 {

> June 2030 <

“Ow, shit!” Izzy exclaims, colliding with the wall as she enters the sandwich shop, Caden having accidentally brushed shoulders with her. “I’m so sorry!” Caden abruptly exclaims, the woman looking toward her watch, accepting his apology before it can completely leave his lips. “Did I break it?” Caden asks, his focus switching onto the property wrapped around the girl’s wrist once he realizes she’s fine, Izzy assuring the boy he has little to worry about.

“No, when I hit it against something, it takes itself off vibrate” Izzy replies, flipping through the options on her screen to return the device to its prior setting. “I’m fine, seriously” Izzy explains, looking up at Caden once she’d fixed her accessory, a smile coming over her face as she walks with him to the front counter.

“So, I thought I was going crazy last week” Izzy explains, just beginning to tear into her smoked ham sub, Caden letting a smirk come over his face. “Oh yeah?” Caden remarks, Izzy using the tip of her thumb to wipe away any lettuce hanging from her mouth. “I followed Mr. Carrion to Sophie’s mom’s house last week” Izzy admits, the boy looking at her as if she were confessing to an armed robbery. “You what!?” Caden says beneath his breath, Izzy discussing it like it was nothing new.

“I figured I’d keep a look out from a distance in case things went south” Izzy replies, placing her sandwich back into the paper wrap it came in, “anyway, she lives on some farm out in Gentry apparently.” Puzzled, Caden repeats the name of the city, Izzy’s confirmation preceding an in-depth explanation of the home. “It’s got this bunker beside it, a long-ass dirt road driveway” Izzy continues, shaking her head, picking her sandwich back up, “it’s a weird place.”

Confused, Caden squints toward the girl, beginning to ask himself questions surrounding information he’s only now become privy to. “Why are you telling me this?” Caden asks, appreciative of being kept informed, but curious as to the information’s importance. “Because her mom lives in a weird fucking place” Izzy remarks, laughing mid-chew, stopping to swallow before concluding her point, “but I also didn’t stay for very long.”

Still confused, Caden rolls with the punches, asking for the girl’s reasoning, surprised by what he hears. “I wanted to see if my signal was bad, which it was, but I didn’t know if it was because she had some jammer or because she lives in the middle of nowhere” Izzy explains, her head bouncing from one side to another as she explains her reasoning for visiting the local supermarket.

“Wait, I’m confused. You thought there was no signal, so you left to go pick up fruit snacks and a bottle of Gatorade?” Caden replies, his humorous conclusions pre-empting the girl’s more disturbing confession. “I wanted to know if the whole part of town just had bad reception” Izzy explains, slowing her words down as she recalls finally making it to the parking lot, “I drove around for a few minutes, and then I saw someone that I thought looked like Sophie.”

“Hold on, looked like Sophie, or you thought was Sophie?” Caden asks, a great difference between the two options presented. “I thought she was Sophie with bright red hair” Izzy remarks, Caden’s sudden hope depleting as soon as it had arrived, “I thought I was going crazy, but I needed to find out!” Disappointed in recalling what she perceives to be her failure, Izzy admits that she came up empty handed.

“I got judged by some old white dude in the produce aisle just to startle some random redhead” Izzy concludes, shaking her head as she tosses her sandwich down, “total lost cause.” Having gone a few minutes without eating his food, Caden sits in his chair, both elbows pressed against the table, holding the sandwich up. “So, again… Why is this important?” Caden asks, again clarifying his appreciation for being kept up to date, “do you think her mother did this?”

Shrugging, Izzy admits that she doesn’t know, the only proof she has being the home that the older woman lives her days in, coming up short in everything other than the home’s appearance. “I think it’s weird to have a farm when you don’t plant crops, especially when you have a bunker built above ground” Izzy explains, her head shaking as she makes her decision, “but I don’t really have any proof to point fingers at Sophie’s mom.”

With a sigh, Caden gently leans forward, pressing his teeth to the soft bread and tearing off a piece of his sandwich, his eyes gazing at a far-corner of the room, contemplating what his own assumptions are.

= Generation Alpha is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards =

> July 2030 <

“Thank you for driving her, Caden” Andrew exclaims, pulling Olivia away from his arms and setting her down on the floor, his hand held out to the boy, “you’ve been so much help over the last few months.” With a nod, Caden tucks his hands into his jean pockets and admits that he’s just coping with Sophie’s absence the way everyone else is. “Still, you’re doing more than I’d ever let myself ask of you” Andrew replies, his hand placed upon the boy’s shoulder, “you’re a good kid.”

A meager smile, Caden gives Andrew a nod, staying quiet until the older man walks around his countertop, the conversation switching at Caden’s request. “Anything new on Sophie?” Caden asks, Andrew facing a cutting board with chopped red peppers whilst looking at the kid through the corner of her eyes, a gentle shake of his head. Meeting Andrew’s silence with his own, Caden nods to himself, Andrew quick to admit that the months are not easy to get through.

“I don’t really sleep much anymore, and I haven’t let Olivia out of my sight in months” Andrew admits, Caden leaning over the counter, watching the man cut the vegetables, “I keep waiting by the phone hoping for answers.” Leaning back, Caden unfolds his arms and places his hands against the countertop, head tilted to the side as he contemplates to himself.

“What kind of proof would work?” Caden asks, suddenly taking the discussion to a more hopeful path, Andrew’s surprise to the question brought on by his uncertainty. “If I need to be more specific- what kind of proof would help get Sophie back?” Caden clarifies, Andrew slowly setting down his knife, turning toward his daughter’s long-time friend and leaning against the platform beside him.

“I’m not really sure honestly” Andrew remarks, refusing to look Caden in the eyes without giving him something more solid to hold onto for hope, “I suppose something to connect all these pieces we’ve got.” With a sarcastic laugh, Caden nods to himself, turning away from Andrew and returning to his original seat, the expression questioned.

“Do we really even have pieces?” Caden asks, his face scrunched as his more pessimistic tone begins to show, “we have small details and little else.” Shaking his head, Andrew picks up the knife and returns to cutting the red chunks beneath him, refusing to give up on hope. “We know when she was taken, when she disappeared, where she was taken from” Andrew begins, rattling off these bits of information as if they make or break the case.

“And yet, we have no suspects, no supposed location, and not to mention- no presumed status” Caden retorts, immediately catching the strong will of Andrew. “She’s presumed living- no reason to think otherwise” the father quickly interjects, the tip of the knife’s blade pointed at the Nurse’s only son, Caden not phased by the display, his hope still visibly disappearing.

“Is there no reason to think otherwise?” Caden replies, challenging Sophie’s father on an account of his hope, the draining of his own making it difficult to see why others would keep their own intact. “She’s been gone for four months, the trail’s colder now than it had been before, and we haven’t even gotten as much as a sighting since she went missing” Caden quickly points out, Andrew’s father continuing to let him speak, “is there really no reason to think otherwise?”

Placing the knife back onto the countertop, Andrew rests both hands against the cutting board, his eyes firmly placed upon Caden just as Olivia runs into the room. “Caden’s still here!” the small girl exclaims, pointing out the obvious, a gesture not even Caden can keep a defeated face on for, a feigned smile coming over as he kneels down, his hand raised. “High five!” Caden exclaims, Olivia slapping his hand with all her might as Andrew approaches them.

“I’ll have your dinner ready in a jiffy, ‘Liv” Andrew explains, gently nudging her back the way she came, Caden slowly climbing back to his feet, pulling himself up with the hold of his chair. “I can’t lose hope with that one depending on me, Caden” Andrew explains, putting both hands on the boy’s shoulders, one on each side, “and with Sophie still out there, you can’t lose hope with her depending on you.”

Tilting his head, Caden lets Andrew pat him on the back before walking off, not wishing to give the younger boy a chance to retort, his own hopes already made inexplicably clear.

> August 2030 <

“Why are you coming home so late?” George asks, Caden placing his car keys in a bowl beside the front door, the older man having patiently stayed up through the evening awaiting his son’s return. “I had to give a friend a ride” Caden remarks, George’s arms crossed, head tilted back as he nods at the statement. “You gave a friend a ride to Gentry?” George adds, his son’s face falling with the rest of his head, the obvious question raised from there.

“What were you doing in Gentry, and what friend that lives nearly four hours away were you giving a ride to?” George replies, his son approaching him with his hands held out. “Don’t try to explain yourself, answer the damn question” George remarks, refusing to acknowledge anything but the truth. A frown on his face, Caden puckers his lips, walking past his father with the same response offered.

“I was giving a friend a ride” Caden replies, his father’s hand reaching out just as he climbs the third stair, pulling him back by the arm. “What were you doing in Gentry?” George asks for a third time, his son looking him in the eyes for a moment before angrily ripping his arm away, a subtle growl hidden beneath his deep breath. “I was giving a friend a ride, dad” Caden remarks, turning away and walking back up the stairs, his father left behind in a loss for words.

“You’re grounded!” George calls out, making it clear to leave his son with those final words before he can disappear around a corner. “I know” Caden shouts back, storming into his room and slamming the door shut as his father is left shaking his head out of disbelief in the foyer.

“What the hell was all of that?” Rebecca asks, emerging from her shared bedroom to look down at George, the man still dressed in recreational attire, his face simmering with rage. “Caden drove all the way out to Gentry this afternoon” George replies, his wife halfway down the stairs before this information is relayed to her, feet stopping where they left off as her eyes widen.

“Gentry?” Rebecca repeats, shaking her head as if to illustrate her confusion, “what the hell was our boy doing in Gentry?” Walking up to the front door, George takes Caden’s keys and tucks them into his pocket, his arms thrown out by his sides as his shoulders shrug. “He said he was ‘giving a friend a ride’, Reby” George remarks, obviously not buying the answer he was given, “I don’t know for sure what he was doing, but I can almost take a guess.”

“You can?” Rebecca replies, honestly unable to say the same about herself, carrying her awoken legs to the couch to sit beside her husband, “what guess is that?” With a deep exhale, George looks his wife in the eyes and answers her question, “I think he was visiting Sophie’s mom”, Rebecca left more confused than she originally was.

“Why would Caden be meeting up with Sophie’s mom?” Rebecca remarks, shaking her head at the notion, and wanting to disregard the assumption without reason to do so. “Because I think- maybe- he thinks she has an idea of where the girl went?” George replies, his own sentence structure lacking certainty, head pushed forward the longer he speaks, trying to make sense of the conclusion himself.

“I don’t know… The kid hasn’t been the same since she’s gone and I think it’s really starting to get to him” George remarks, falling back into the embrace of his cushiony couch, his wife’s arm reaching over his neck and pulling him into a hug.

> September 2030 <

“It’s good to see you out of the house!” Izzy exclaims, a smile on her face as Caden enters the sandwich shop for the first time in weeks. “Nurse!” a man calls out from behind the counter, earning Caden’s attention in time to toss him a sandwich-filled bag. “It’s on the house!” the sandwich maker exclaims, a thumbs up sent into the air as Caden voices his appreciation.

“Why did you get in trouble anyway?” Izzy asks, Caden remaining silent until he has the chance to sink his teeth into the sandwich, “you’ve been radio silent since then.” Enjoying the bite as it was intended to be experienced, Caden replies with his mouth full, all electronics having been confiscated upon the start of his punishment. “I drove out to Gentry and my dad caught me” Caden remarks, Izzy quick to look at him with wide eyes, her immediate response being to ask the boy to repeat himself.

“I drove out to Gentry and my dad caught me” Caden responds, Izzy leaning her head down as if she were hiding from the sight of someone else, her voice lowering with her crown. “You drove out to fucking Gentry? Why the hell would you do that!?” Izzy asks, the boy across from her responding to her confusion with the same unamused tone she once gave to him.

“I wanted to see what that woman was doing for myself” Caden replies, his voice carrying a whisper, much like Izzy’s own, “she wasn’t home, so I sort of did what I needed to do.” Attempting to speak, Izzy quickly shuts her mouth, pulling her head back and looking at the boy with a confused look, a simple shrug from her friend suggesting that, to Caden, this isn’t a big deal.

“Please, for heaven’s sake, tell me you didn’t break into that woman’s home” Izzy remarks, Caden giving her a guilty smile, his shoulders shrugging, amused at the fact that, by technicality, he’s not saying anything. “Oh my god, you broke into that woman’s house!” Izzy grunts into her arm, looking out the window while unable to look Caden in the eyes without a flurry of mixed emotions coursing through her mind.

“What else did you expect me to do?” Caden replies, Izzy quickly turning back to him with her answer, a rather reasonable one as far as she’s concerned, “not break into the woman’s house!” Clicking his tongue, Caden rolls his eyes, leaning back in his chair as Izzy begins to explain what would happen if he were caught. “I wasn’t caught, and that’s the point” Caden explains, both sandwiches returned to their paper shell, the conversation taking priority.

Following a momentary silence, accompanied by the sounds of horns honking in the street just beside them, Izzy continues the dialogue. “Well?” Izzy asks, Caden looking at her for a moment, puzzled, responding with the same, “well?” Rolling her eyes, Izzy presses her hands to the table, leaning forward with her eyes kept on Caden, “well, what did you find?”

Placing his lips together, Caden finds himself unable to keep his smile contained, it’s spread from one side to the other taking the place of words, which find themselves unneeded.

> 31st October, 2030 <

“It was a better idea to use my car for this” Izzy explains, her tires kicking up dirt as her headlights illuminate a large, metal bunker. “I will agree to that now, later, and any other time between and after that” Caden remarks, making a moment out of this point in time, taking his left hand away from his knee and placing it over the gear shift, where Izzy’s hand resides.

Slowing her car to a stop, Izzy looks at Caden and smiles, the figure in the next seat over returning the expression as her hand gently puts the car into park. “There’s a soft spot in the front door that we can get at with something dull and flat” Caden explains, popping his door open and setting his feet upon the ground. Quick to follow, Izzy emerges from her vehicle and lightly pushes the door shut, keeping behind the boy in case something unforeseen were to occur.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s home” Caden says, glancing back at the woman, quick to point out the fault in that assumption. “She could be trying to make it look like she’s not home” Izzy replies, lowering closer to the ground, following the boy toward the front patio, “I’m just saying, if I had a house like this, I wouldn’t be wanting little kids to think I’m just sitting around all night passing out candy like they’re food stamps!”

With a chuckle, Caden shakes his head, climbing the steps before approaching the front door, his fist tapping against the sleek surface and awaiting a response. “Why is it that you’re the older one, but I’m the one that has to walk ahead of you?” Caden quips, easing the tense situation with light-hearted banter, a gesture which Izzy quickly refutes.

“I have an early birthday- that doesn’t mean I have to have an early death date” the girl jokingly remarks, a few seconds of further silence giving Caden the assurance he was looking for. Reaching into his back pocket, Caden retrieves a pressed butter knife, its smooth edges being slid between the door and its frame, running down the length of the wood as if it were cutting through jam, finally coming to a stop at the locking mechanism.

Biting into his bottom lip, Caden adjusts his stance and bites down on his tongue, a few added inches of leverage allowing the singular pop from within the frame to grant Caden the access he was searching for. Twisting the doorknob, Caden holds the door open from Izzy, who appreciatively bows upon passing him, her dim flashlight immediately shining on the lower-positioned living room.

“Her living room is like one of those sunken fire pits!” Izzy exclaims, finding that cool for some weird reason, her light immediately bouncing off the flat television screen. “You’re sure she doesn’t have security cameras?” Izzy whispers, which confuses Caden, who reminds her that they’re alone. “I spent an hour in here last time, I’m pretty sure she’d have come after me if she did” Caden replies, picking up picture frames and other decorations, inspecting them out of interest.

“She doesn’t have any of Sophie when she was little anywhere” Caden points out, finding that odd for a woman who’s brought a child into the world, “you’d think she’d have a picture somewhere.” Shrugging, Izzy flashes her light into the kitchen whilst Caden makes his way upstairs, explaining it away as guilt. “She hasn’t been around Sophie for years, right?” Izzy wonders aloud, “we punished ourselves by sitting at the green for months- maybe she’s doing the same.”

“Yeah, maybe” Caden remarks, finally making it to the top of the stairs, his light shining down both ends of the hallway, each door on the second level open for inspection. Taking a step toward the big room at the end of one hallway, Caden is surprised by the sound of crackling fireworks just a few yards away, freezing him where he last stepped. “What the fuck was that!?” Izzy calls out, running toward the window nearest-facing the source of the crackling sounds.

As if he were just called for by an omniscient being, Caden lunges down the stairs, nearly crashing into the wall at the bottom as he joins Izzy beside the closest window. “You said no one was home!” Izzy points out the error in Caden’s ways being made unmistakably clear. “Now it’s time for us not to be home” the boy replies, Izzy quickly taking that declaration as a statement to hurry back to the car, the younger friend still stood by the window despite her ongoing-escape.

“You coming!?” Izzy calls out, turning back to find Caden stood silently beside the window, not having moved since originally declaring the time to leave being in that very moment. “Caden!?” Izzy calls out through a whisper, again receiving no response. Taking it upon herself, Izzy dashes up to the boy’s side and grabs him by the arm, yanking him the way they entered.

With an astonished look on his face, Caden glances back and forth between Izzy and the window, eventually giving into the girl’s demands, accompanying her on their escape. Leaping into the car, Caden catches his breath, watching the colorful explosions in the sky just above as Izzy pulls her car onto the main road, the quickest exit to return them to Jefferson City being the one she embarks upon.

> November 2030 <

“Hey George, I’m sorry to bother you” Andrew greets, standing on the Nurse’s doorstep by surprise, the father assuring the man that he’s of no bother. “Is there something I can help with?” George asks, both Rebecca and Caden emerging from the bowels of the home at the call of Andrew’s presence, overhearing the conversation from afar. “I just wanted to ask well in advance, because of plans and everything, if you’d like to spend Christmas with ‘Liv and I this year?” Andrew asks, surprising George.

“Are you sure?” George asks again, Andrew quickly doubling down on his offer, mentioning that the Stewart’s had accepted the invitation earlier in the day as well. “I don’t want to make you think that you have to, I just wanted to offer the invitation” Andrew explains, his gesture quickly challenged by Caden, only one concern on his mind. “Can Izzy come?” Caden inquires, the question putting a smile on Andrew’s face.

“She’s a wonderful girl, Caden… Of course she can come” Andrew remarks, the answer enough to convince the boy. “Alright, we accept” Caden replies, both George and Rebecca laughing at the ease in which he accepted the offer. “We spend Christmas, every single year, standing by the television watching movies” Caden recalls to his parents, an eyebrow raised, genuinely interested in whether or not his parents would like to continue that tradition or spend it with friends instead.

“It looks like Caden’s made up his mind, so I guess we have to” George remarks, graciously accepting the offer at Caden’s behest, who responds with a thumbs up. “Alright, I’ll have dinner ready and everything!” Andrew exclaims, rubbing his hands together as he wishes the family a good night, returning to his home. “Well that was awfully nice of him” Rebecca exclaims, as certain of his reasonings as Caden and George, choosing to look past them.

“We don’t do much for Christmas anyways” George replies, shrugging at the notion, “if he wants to not be alone with half of his kids for the holidays, who are we to say no?”

> 25th December, 2030 <

“Your house is a lot more impressive when I have more than just the kitchen to remember it by, Mr. Carrion” Izzy explains, a glass of soda in her hand as she stands in the archway between the living room and the kitchen. “I have plenty to be proud of, Izzy” Andrew remarks, patting the girl on the shoulder as his doorbell rings. “I got it!” the girl quickly exclaims, taking the hosting duties out of Andrew’s hands as she dashes to the front door.

“Welcome to Christmas” Izzy joyfully blurts out, not really caring about the holiday, just happy to be spending it around the same people she’s been around for the better part of the last year. In a single moment, her enthusiastic expression fades into one of annoyance, the Stewart’s stood at the door with gifts in their hand, Logan the first person she lays eyes upon.

“If you two could refrain from killing each other, that would be appreciated” Hugh mutters, tilting his head at Izzy, not minding her presence as much as he once had. “Welcome to the world, Logan… It’s different from your box, I promise” Izzy jabs, the boy giving her a sour face, gently nudged further into the home by his mother, who looks down at the soda in her hands.

Looking further into the home, Anne takes the glass from Izzy’s hand and replaces it with a packaged glass of wine, wishing her a happy holiday. “You’re my favorite, now!” Izzy calls out, the joke being centered in honesty. “Can I at least be number two?” Caden asks soon after, pulling the girl in for a hug.

“You’re giving her a run for her money” Izzy replies, her shorter frame making it impossible to rest her chin on the boy’s shoulder without standing on her tiptoes. Quickly losing her balance with the heavy shoes she wore out of the house, Izzy tumbles forward, both she and Caden tripping into the wall, slamming their arms into the doorframe, luckily catching themselves enough to save the wine from being spilled.

“You alright?” Caden asks, an exaggerated face sported by his girlfriend, who fans her hand back and forth, her watch almost popping off as she does so. “Yeah, you just kinda landed on my hand, dork” Izzy remarks, quickly pulling back into a hug from the boy, who uses the festivities as an excuse to move inward, pressing his lips to Izzy’s own.

“What was that for?” Izzy asks with a smile, Caden subtly shaking his head with his lip pressed between his teeth, “for Christmas.” With a nod, Izzy lets the answer fly, returning the gesture back, this time a more confident kiss shared just between the two. Almost on cue, Andrew’s voice begins to call out from the kitchen just a few feet away, both Izzy and Caden walking to the sound of it, the boy’s arm wrapped over the back of his girlfriend’s neck.

“I just wanted to thank each one of you for everything this year. I don’t think I’d be able to get out of bed- having gotten sleep the night before or not- without you all” Andrew explains, a few glasses being lifted, a few others applauding, Logan stood by his father’s side, uncertain as to how to respond.

“I just wanted to let you all know that, and you being here is so appreciated” Andrew concludes, “so, thank you again.” Lifting his own glass into the air, Andrew sets the tone of the evening, a silent and small gathering all following his lead, Izzy and her wine-holding self included.

“You have two new messages” an automated voice exclaims from amongst the crowd, the source uncertain at first, all eyes traversing around the room in an effort to seek it out. “From Sophie ‘Geography/Political History’” the voice reads aloud, the small grouping of voices immediately falling silent, Izzy looking to her wrist to notice her watch’s voice speaking of its own volition, the device’s malfunction the least of her cares.

“I’m in the green and waiting… Are you on your way?” the watch concludes, Izzy quickly looking at her arm, questions beginning to flutter through the room. “What’re you doing!?” George’s voice calls out, alarm bells having been raised the moment the missing girl’s name was mentioned. “It’s my watch! They’re texts!” Izzy blurts out, unsure herself as to what is happening, “I think they’re from Sophie but I don’t know what’s happening!”

Panicked, Izzy rips off her watch and hands it to Andrew, the man having lowered himself from atop his chair and hurrying to her side, taking the watch into his own hand. “They’re just coming in- I swear!” Izzy exclaims, her fears put aside quickly, the man already aware of her lack of insight. “From Sophie ‘Geography/Political history’” the watch continues to blurt, the crowd patiently waiting to hear more.

“Is that you in the beige van at the end of the street?” the second message reads, not a single voice lifting above the crowd that now stands with their eyes widened. “Beige van!?” George calls out, Andrew’s eyes darting over to his side of the room, both men looking at each other with a fearful expression, their legs carrying them to the same corner of the home as the crowd follows quickly thereafter.

“Beige van, right!?” George repeats, the crowd following him as he follows the patriarch, a small end table in the back of the room suddenly becoming the hub of the party. “Beige fucking van” Andrew reads aloud, looking to George, both men coming to a realization. “What’s happening!?” Logan calls out, lost without a rope to hold onto, both men looking back to the small group gathered behind them.

“Morgan took Sophie” Andrew murmurs, the words leaving his lips in a whisper, the man both too dazed and too angry to speak properly, a noticeable silence falling over the home. “Morgan…” Andrew whispers to himself again, trying to make sense of everything in real time, the sudden shock of the revelation that springs out of nowhere beginning to set in, his declaration bringing a spark of panic over the home.

“Morgan took Sophie!” Andrew exclaims, finally finding his voice, the power kicking in when it mattered most, not much time passing before the Nurse father directs Hugh to contact his police service. “Tell ‘em Sophie’s mom took her- tell ‘em to tear every goddamn thing up in that house looking for her!” George shouts, the man already dialing the number of the private emergency line.

“wWe’re getting her back!” George exclaims, turning the man toward him, his certain tone completely disregarded by the translation-lacking man. “Move! Out of my way!” Andrew grunts, pushing past George in an attempt to run out to his car, the man pulling his arm back, explaining that he can’t drive whilst under the influence. “I have to go!” Andrew shouts, frantic to leave the home despite George’s reluctance to let him, the alcohol in his system making another option impossible.

“I’ll drive!” Izzy shouts, placing her glass of wine atop a bookshelf, George quick to point out her age. “You just turned sixteen, you can’t get behind the wheel of a manual!” George exclaims, Andrew finally settling down upon the offer from Izzy. “What’re you gonna do, Mr. Nurse!?-” Izzy calls back, already pushing herself through the front door, Caden pulled by her hand “-arrest me!?”

Recognizing this dilemma, George rolls his eyes and groans toward the heavens, the girl’s illegal use of a car far outweighed by the desperate man slipping out of his reach. “Goddamnit, fine!” George exclaims, letting go of Andrew, the heavier man dashing through the front door and quickly following after the departing set of youth, George quick to follow.

“Keep close to the phones!” Mr. Nurse shouts to the remainder of the party, leaving them behind to accompany Andrew, his own son, and the teenage driver through the backwoods of Missouri.

== Generation Alpha ==