When Louise said it 'shouldn't be long', Dan was expecting it to take a week or two at the least. He was shocked when he turned the TV on the next morning to see footage of helicopters and planes taking off in pitch darkness to fly to Prae.

The screen switched to a live feed from one of the helicopters, and he pulled the duvet tighter around him. "Phil?" he called, wanting someone beside him as he watched this.

Phil came into the bedroom wearing only a towel around his waist. "What's wrong?"

"They're invading. Already." Dan's eyes roamed over Phil's bare chest before turning back to the news and trying to direct his thoughts in a different direction.

Phil sat down heavily beside Dan and leaned over to grab a pair of boxers from the floor. "Are you sure you want to watch this?"

"I don't want to," Dan answered, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the screen and not on Phil's bare thighs, "but I feel like I have to."

Taking hold of Dan's hand, Phil pulled the duvet over his legs and leaned his head on Dan's shoulder. "You can turn it off whenever you want to, okay?"

Dan nodded, watching as the helicopter began to descend. Three planes had already landed in front of it, and people were running out of them. As the helicopter landed, the noise of the blades faded and was replaced with yells of, "Don't shoot! These are innocent people!"

A loud crack filled the air as a shot came from a rooftop, where a soldier from Prae stood. Another shot, a spray of blood, and he fell over the edge of the roof and to the floor.

Each British soldier had been fitted with a microphone so they could communicate, and these microphones were all broadcasting to the news. Amidst the chaos of hundreds of voices talking at once, Dan heard someone shout, "Where's the Imperial Leader?"

The shot swung round to show a man clutching a map. "Not far," he called back. "Come this way."

All the planes had landed now, and Dan and Phil watched, holding their breath, as hundreds of people dressed in camouflage started to jog down the street after the navigator.

"Do you think he'll send the army?" asked Dan, edging closer to Phil.

"Even if he does, I think they'll be okay," Phil said, logical as usual. "I'm pretty sure the army is smaller than that, and don't forget a few of them might rebel. After all, we're here to get rid of a dictator. I shouldn't think they'll all be against that."

Dan nodded, but he stayed cuddled into Phil's side for comfort.

The army rounded the corner onto the main road. Dan and PJ had been able to put it onto the map because every year, on the anniversary of the Imperial Leader's rise to power, the entire country had to stand on the borders of the road and salute as he walked down, guarded, as ever, by ten or twenty soldiers on each side. Dan felt sick at the memory.

At the end of the road stood what looked like the entire army of Prae, and it was a lot bigger than Dan had expected. Crowds of people stretched down the road all the way to the Imperial Leader's palace, and yet more people stood in the roads leading off the main one. If Dan had to guess, he'd say there were thousands of them, maybe even tens of thousands.

"Oh my God," Phil whispered, his arms tightening around Dan. "How?"

Dan shook his head, terrified. "I don't know. How did he get that many people?"

They both fell silent as the navigator dropped his gun. "We don't want to kill anyone," he called, his voice coming from speakers behind the camera. "We're here to... To liberate you."

Someone from the army stepped forwards, and Phil saw that they weren't carrying weapons. "We've liberated ourselves," they called.

Dan and Phil exchanged looks of amazement. "Liberated themselves?" Dan whispered. "Is this a trick?"

"I don't know," Phil answered. "I have no idea."

They were so focused on the events unfolding on the screen that they barely noticed Chris and PJ slipping in through the door and sitting lightly on the floor in front of the sofa bed. "There's a camera?" PJ asked, surprised.

"Someone's filming," Phil whispered back. A sound came from the speakers, and he authoritatively shushed the silent room and turned back to the TV.

"Liberated yourselves?" asked the navigator, asking the question on everyone's minds.

"After the club got blown up, most people started to rebel. There weren't enough soldiers left in most of the districts to stop us, 'cause they were all in Navy, so we basically destroyed everything before the Imperial Leader noticed. There aren't many of his supporters left now."

The camera swung around to show the amazed faces of the soldiers. "Speaking of the Imperial Leader," the navigator called, "where is he?"

Laughter broke out among the rebels. "Dead. He committed suicide. We buried him in one of the prison courtyards."

THIS IS THE SECOND LAST CHAPTER I'M CRYING