A day in hiding at the Zecomecks house paid off. The FBI had raided James’ house and then Seth’s house, after they came back empty handed they left. James watched the entire thing from the roof of the Zecomecks house with his rifle in hand in case they tried to raid his safe haven. James came down from the roof through a door in the attic, he dropped down right next to Sweetie Bell who was going into the master bedroom.
“Chose where you wanted to sleep?” James asked her.
“Me and Apple Bloom are using the bigger bedroom, Scootaloo chose the spare room,” Sweetie Bell replied.
“Good thing I’m downstairs,” said James, “I would rather contract some nasty disease than sleep in Rod’s room. Actually that might be possible if I did.”
Sweetie Bell giggled and went into the master bedroom, James shut the trapdoor to the attic and headed downstairs, where he found Scootaloo looking through the duffle bag of guns that had been laid out on the table.
“What are you doing?” James asked Scootaloo.
“Oh nothing,” Scootaloo replied, “I’m just looking.”
“Like what I got?” James asked, he did feel a pang of guilt for how he acquired the weapons, but he did what he had to for the safety of the Crusaders.
“It’s a nice little collection,” said Scootaloo.
“I know,” James said, “Come on now, you get some sleep.”
“But where will you be sleeping?” Scootaloo asked as he turned to face James.
“Down here, with a loaded shotgun,” said James, “I want to be here in case they find us.”
“Okay, goodnight James,” Scootaloo said as she went upstairs. About halfway up she heard James pump a shotgun, she shuddered and continued upstairs. It really had taken a turn for the worst for James and the Crusaders, from a set of homemade IEDs to the FBI trying to kill them. James had to get the girls back home as soon as possible, but first he had to work out a plan.
The next dawn woke James up before anyone else, he got up and opened the curtains and blinds to the back of the house, he had left the curtains at the front of the house closed in order to fool anyone looking for them. As James heard the Crusaders wake up he decided to see if there was anything that he could cook up for breakfast. He managed to make pancakes for the Crusaders just as they came downstairs.
“Morning girls,” James said cheerfully. No response came from the Crusaders. James turned around and saw them all cowering behind him.
“Is something wrong?” James asked as he reached or the shotgun.
“Oh James, is was horrible!” Sweetie Bell said.
“What?” James asked as he walked over to them.
The Crusaders all grabbed hold of James and started crying.
“We all had the same bad dream,” said Apple Bloom.
“What was it?” James asked.
“It was in a big metal room,” said Scootaloo, “We were all side by side but stuck on these tables. We couldn’t move, and then, it happened.”
Scootaloo started shaking with fear, James knelt down so he was at eye level with her.
“What happened?” James asked, “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”
Scootaloo tightened her grip on James and looked at him.
“These people came in, they had knifes,” she said, “Then-then they cut us open. We screamed at them to stop but they kept pulling bits of us out, the clamps on the tables stopped us from escaping. We couldn’t stop the people and then a hole opened up in the wall and we watched soldiers kill our families, then we woke up.”
James held on the Crusaders, he knew that they had dreamt of the plans that Agent West had for them. James was not going to let that happen to them.
“It’s okay, it was only a dream,” James said, “Just try and forget about it.”
The Crusaders nodded and sniffed at the air.
“Do I smell something?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I made you breakfast,” James said, glad they might have forgotten their nightmares.
“What did you make?” Scootaloo asked.
“Pancakes,” said James, “They might be a little burnt but it’s the best I can do.”
“I’m glad you made something,” said Sweetie Bell.
“Come on, I’m ready to chow down,” said Apple Bloom.
James served them the pancakes, James turned out to be a good cook after all. He was pleased to see that the Crusaders were more occupied with the food than the horrible and gruesome dreams they had last night. James hoped that he would never dream something like that ever. After breakfast the Crusaders came downstairs dressed in their swimming attire, James could only guess what they wanted to do.
“Okay,” he said, “You can go swimming.”
“YAY!” the Crusaders yelled with joy, they ran out to the pool and jumped in,
James followed them outside and sat on one of the chairs as he cleaned his Enfield carbine. Two hours of playing in the pool had worn out the Crusaders, they were jus stepping out of the pool when James stood up and looked up and around. Something had him spooked.
“Get back in the water,” he said.
“But we’re tired and we want to come out,” said Scootaloo.
“No time!” James said as he hid his Enfield under the table.
“Why do you want us in the water?” asked Sweetie Bell.
“Just get to the deep end and hide under the waterline,” James said as he pulled his shoes and socks off.
The Crusaders did as James told them to, they went back into the deep end of the pool and waited for James to dive under the water before they did so themselves. A few seconds later a low flying helicopter zoomed overhead and vanished behind the tree line. James and the Crusaders surfaced a second later.
“Safe,” said James.
“Why-did-you-do-that?” Apple Bloom asked as she gasped for breath.
“I had to hold you under because you kept trying to break the surface,” James replied.
“Was the helicopter looking for us?” asked Scootaloo.
“Probably,” said James.
He clambered out of the pool and looked in the direction of the helicopter, once he was sure that it left James helped the Crusaders out of pool. James grabbed his rifle and his shoes from under the table and ran inside, he pulled the Crusaders inside. James and the Crusaders toweled off and dressed in normal clothes, out of paranoia James ended up wearing a bulletproof vest and a holster with his 1911 in it.