"What are looters?" whispered Peter.

"Looters are bad people who steal things when we have a black out," whispered Cindy.

"What's a black out?" asked Peter.

"It's when the lights go out." The children huddled in the hall way as the lights flickered.

"Why don't you ask your mother to flip the breakers?" asked Peter.

"The lights go out in the entire city," said Cindy.

"All the lights go out? I am never coming back to New York," said Peter. "Are you scared?"

"We all are," Amanda said.

"What happened?" Cindy whispered.

"Well, it wasn't just the theater. Something happened to the city." Amanda was trying very hard to be brave.

"Where did everyone go?" asked Peter.

"I don't know but we will get out of here and we will find our mothers. It will be all right, you'll see," said. Amanda.

"What do we do?" Cindy was starting to shake.

"We need to go somewhere where people can find us," Amanda said.

"We can go back to the theater and wait out front for Aunt Melanie and Mom." Cindy started to walk towards the door.

"No, wait, let me look outside first." Amanda pulled them back. "You two get under that booth and be very quiet. I will be right back."

Peter and Cindy crawled under a booth and sat flat against the wall. Amanda walked to the open door and looked outside. Everywhere there were collapsed buildings. Not every building, but enough to let her know that something really bad had happened. And all over the streets, on the curbs, and in the middle of the road were empty cars. But no people. Amanda could hear people on the streets, but they sounded far away.

Amanda came back in. "Come on. Cindy, which way is the theater?"

"It's right across this street and down a block."

Cindy ran across Houston, weaving through the cars with Amanda and Peter close behind. They ran a few blocks to what had been the theater and stared in awe at a heap of bricks.

"We were in there?" Peter asked.

"Yes, we were and we got out. But I don't see any cars moving anywhere. I don't think Mom is going to come. She can't drive with all those empty cars blocking the streets," said Amanda."

Amanda looked at Cindy and Peter's faces. "But we are going to be okay anyway. We can pretend we are the hobbits from Lord of the Rings. They were very scared but they were very brave. We can be too."

"They had furry toes," said Cindy.

"But they were brave, anyway," Amanda said in her most grown up voice.

"What do we do now?" Peter was wandering down the street.

"We can go to my apartment," Cindy said. "It's just sixteen blocks away. Sometimes Mom and I walk home from the theater."

"Okay." The children ran back across Houston and started heading north towards 16th Street where Cindy and Aunt Janey lived. Amanda held Peter and Cindy's hands as they traveled on the sidewalk, staying close to the buildings.

"Be very quiet," Amanda whispered. "We don't know where the looters went."

The children had walked about three blocks north when suddenly they saw four men carrying boxes emerging from a building a couple of blocks ahead. They men turned and started running towards them. Amanda quickly pulled the children down a side street and down the stairs of a brownstone.

"Who are those people?" Cindy was starting to whimper.

"Shh! I think they are more looters. I don't know why they are on the street and no one else is. Where did everyone go? Something really bad has happened. Why are there jets overheard and no helicopters? Where are the police?" asked Amanda.

"I am really scared. Where is our Mom?" asked Peter.

"I'm scared too and boy would I like to see a nice person. But so far, it is just us and we are just going to have to pretend to be brave until we get out of this. Can you two do that? Pretend to be brave?" Amanda looked at both of them. "I know, I'll be a girl Seal and Peter you can be a Ninja and Cindy can be a flying acrobat."

"My Daddy is in the Navy. I want to be a Seal too," said Cindy.

"Your Dad's a Naval Reserve JAG lawyer. He's not a Seal." Amanda looked at Cindy and changed her tone. It was hard to always have to be a grownup. "But that's okay, we can be two girl Seals. And if we need a gymnast or an acrobat, you can be that too."

"You can be Cat Woman," said Peter.

"Who is that?"

"You know, Batman and Cat Woman! She has furry toes, just like the hobbits." Peter sounded calmer now that he had a chance to "get" Cindy. "See that rat over there, go get him Cat Woman!"

"You are so lame."

"Stop fighting. We have to stick together. I don't hear the looters anymore; I think they are gone. Let me see if anyone is in this building. Maybe someone will help us." Amanda knocked on the door to the basement apartment. She thought she had heard some noise while they were hiding. She kept knocking, but no one answered. Amanda peered into the window and saw an elderly woman standing behind a large upholstered chair.

Amanda banged on the window. "Please let us in."

"Go away, you're poisoned," the old woman called out.

"We are not poisoned. We are just kids who are being chased by some bad people," said Amanda.

"I can't help you. Go home," said the old woman.

"My home is in Connecticut," said Amanda.

"Please, please go away." The old woman sounded very sad.

"Why won't she let us in?" Peter asked. "We are not poison, we are just kids."

"Come on, let's go to Cindy's apartment." Amanda pulled both children up, walked up the stairs and peered up the street. "It looks okay, but you two stay right next to me."

The children ran up Lafayette, heading towards 16th Street where Cindy and her parents lived at 16th and Third. Jets were screeching above and somewhere off in the distance they could hear a siren, but it sounded far away. They were just about to pass Eighth Street when they saw three men breaking a store window. The men turned and one of them yelled, "Hey, blondie, come here. Who's a pretty girl?" The man started to laugh and run towards Amanda.

Amanda had never been so frightened in her life. Peter was frozen. But Cindy grabbed both of them and pulled them towards the subway entrance. "Run, Amanda. We have to get away from them."

The children ran down the stairs of the deserted subway station and stopped at the turnstile. Amanda quickly jumped over the turnstile and turned to help Peter and Cindy crawl under. They ran to the platform and Amanda lowered herself.

"Get on your stomachs and lower your legs over the platform." Amanda could see the first of the men at the bottom of the stairway. She quickly pulled Peter and Cindy down into the tunnel and pulling them by their hands, ran into the tunnel.

The man chased them to the edge of the subway platform and stopped. "Okay, run along little girl. You're too young to be much fun anyway."

They were back in the subway tunnel.

Chapter III.

"Be much fun? What did he mean, be much fun?" Cindy's voice was shaking as she ran down the darkened tunnel.

"They were just bad men." Amanda's voice quivered. Why did those men want her? But she could not take time to think about that. She had to stay safe. The streets were incredibly scary and she was the only one around to take care of Peter and Cindy.

"There's another rat!" Peter grabbed his sister.

"Stay next to me. I am going to light a candle." Amanda pulled a birthday candle out of her pocket and lit it with a match. They were in the tunnel and this time they could not go back out. "We need to walk until we get to a station close to Cindy's apartment. How many more stations is it?"

"It's just one, we can get out at Union Square. But won't there be looters at Union Square too?" said Cindy.

"What street is Union Square?" Amanda asked.

"14th Street."

"Then we would have to walk two blocks north to get to 16th. And don't we have to go a few blocks across town too?"

"Yes, I live at 16th and Third, so it would be two more blocks across town," Cindy said in a very small voice.

"We won't make it for four blocks. It is too dangerous for us to be on the streets. We don't have anything to use to protect ourselves and there are too many looters." Amanda tried to sound brave, but all she wanted to do was sit down and cry. But she couldn't. She was in a subway tunnel with two younger kids, there were bad guys chasing them, rats were scurrying about, and she had to act like a grownup and take care of Peter and Cindy. She could not let them know how scared she was. "Why don't we walk to Grand Central Station. If there are any policemen in the City, they will be there. I see the National Guard there all the time. Maybe the Metro North trains will be running and we can get on a train and go home to Connecticut. I have a debit card and Mom keeps $100 on it."

"You have a debit card?" asked Cindy.

"Yes, I do. All my friends have debit cards."

"Good," said Cindy.

"Come on. We don't have that many birthday candles and we need to get to Grand Central before night," said Amanda.

The children followed Amanda and her candle up the tracks. After a while they got into a rhythm, walking over the tracks. The tunnel was spooky, dark and cold. They could hear the sound of people running on the street through the subway vents above their heads and mice running past them in the tunnel. But they kept on trudging on the tracks, passing the Union Square, 23rd Street and 34th Street Stations on their way to Grand Central. The first few times they reached a subway station, they boosted Amanda up on the platform so she could check, but each time, Amanda came running back down the stairs and lowered herself into the tunnel, telling Cindy and Peter that there were still looters running through the streets.

There was hardly any light in the tunnel when they reached the stations. They could still see the station address on the wall when they reached 28th Street, but when they reached the next station there was no light at all.

"I think this is 34th Street," Cindy said. "Sometimes we get off here to go to Macys.

Finally, they reached Grand Central Station. It was pitch black in the subway tunnel and the only way they could be sure they had arrived at Grand Central was that they were at the second station after 28th Street where there had been enough daylight left to see the address on the walls. But now it was totally dark and the only way they could tell they were even in a subway station was the bit of the platform they could see by the light of the birthday candle Amanda was carrying.

"I am really scared," said Cindy.

Peter was too tired to talk.

"I am scared too, but I am going to take care of you. But we have to get out of this subway tunnel and find some nice people to help us." Amanda tried to sound braver than she felt.

"I don't think there are any nice people left in this city," Peter said.

"There are always nice people. We just have to be brave until we find some," said Amanda. "Come on, it's time for the buddy climb. Here, Peter, you go first."

Peter climbed on Amanda's shoulders and up on the platform. This time they had the "buddy pull" down and they scampered up on the platform quickly and then lighting the last of the birthday candles, they found the stairs.

"I am really hungry," Peter said.

"Shh. I'll find food, but right now everyone needs to be very quiet. I am going to blow out the candle and then we are going to climb up the stairs together without making a sound. We don't know who is up there." Amanda blew out the candle. "I am going to go first, Cindy you come next, and Peter you be last. Hold hands and climb slowly."

The children climbed up the stairs to the darkened platform. It was pitch dark when they made it to the top of the stairs. Amanda put her hands over their mouths and pulled them close. "Shush! We need to listen to see if anyone else is here."

The children stood frozen at the top of the stairs. The subway station was dark and cold. They stood for a minute in total silence.

"The escalators to Grand Central are behind us. We need to turn," Cindy whispered.

"I am going to light the candle again. You follow me." They turned and followed Amanda through the dark station until they reached the turnstiles. Ahead, they could see two escalators and some stairs. At the top of the stairs were some flickering lights.

"Come on, we need to go up the stairs. If there are any police in the city, some of them have got to be here. I am going to blow out the candle again because we may need it later," said Amanda.

"There is a store in Grand Central that has lots of cool Japanese flashlights. It's across the hall on the other side, but maybe the door is open like the restaurant was." Cindy was starting to sound less scared.

"Okay, we'll see what happens when we get up there." Amanda pulled her little band up the stairs into the now dark Grand Central Station.

"Where is that store?"

"I will show you." Cindy started to walk.

"No, we need to move slowly. We don't know who else is here." Amanda grabbed their hands.

The children walked down the hall, away from the subway entrance and the little light that was coming through from 42nd Street. At the end of the hall, they could see a bit of moonlight coming through the ceiling of the Great Hall. Amanda normally loved to look at the Great Hall with its soaring ceiling studded with sparkling constellations. She liked to imagine herself dancing across the floor in a ball gown, but now it was just another obstacle. Amanda pulled Cindy and Peter flat against the wall and they slowly began to walk across the Great Hall.

"What's on our feet?" Peter was pointing down at their feet which were covered in white powder.

"I don't know. Someone must have spilled some flour when they were leaving?"

"Flour, why would anyone be carrying that much flour?" asked Peter.