The Flight from New York to Tashmore

This flow traces Andrew McGee and Charlie McGee’s flight from a renewed Shop pursuit through the Manders farm catastrophe to refuge at Tashmore Pond.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Lot Six Experiment

The Lot Six Experiment A bargain with the government Andrew McGee and Victoria Tomlinson volunteer for a government-backed psychology experiment because the payment matters to their finances. At Harrison State College, they are told that Lot Six is a mild hallucinogen, administered under supervision; neither young volunteer understands the danger or the real scope of the program. An uncertain awakening During the experiment, the pair experience disturbing visions and apparent psychic events. Their memories remain incomplete, but afterward Andrew discovers a capacity to influence other people’s decisions, while Victoria displays limited telekinetic effects. The experiment gives them a bond as well as abilities, though neither knows what those changes will mean. Their participation becomes the hidden origin of the family’s later persecution. The Shop’s project has turned a short-term financial choice into a permanent vulnerability, and the abilities passed on to their daughter will draw the family into a conflict they never chose.

A Child and a Dangerous Gift

A Child and a Dangerous Gift Fires in the family home After Charlie McGee is born, objects begin to smolder or ignite when she is distressed. The family gradually recognizes that the fires are connected to her, and Andrew and Victoria respond with extinguishers, anxious vigilance, and rules intended to prevent another accident. Fear becomes a lesson Charlie’s power first appears as an uncontrolled force she calls the Bad Thing. When she burns Victoria’s hands during a childhood outburst, her parents explain that the ability can hurt people and teach her to redirect it toward safer targets. Their warning protects her, but it also plants shame and fear around a power she does not yet understand. The parents’ efforts are loving but imperfect: they are trying to make an extraordinary child safe without any reliable guide. Those early lessons later shape Charlie’s choices, especially when survival requires her to use the very power she has been taught to dread.

The Family Is Broken

The Family Is Broken A sudden disappearance When Charlie is away at a friend’s house, the Shop mistakes her absence for evidence that the McGees have discovered the surveillance. Agents descend on the family home. They torture Victoria for information about Charlie, then kill her and take the girl before Andrew can reach them. A father's pursuit Andrew finds Victoria’s body and learns from the other family that Charlie has already been taken away in a van. Shock gives way to a single immediate purpose: he follows the trail, using small mental pushes to gather information and keep moving. His grief has no room to unfold while his daughter remains in danger. The family’s separation transforms the Shop’s covert surveillance into open pursuit. Andrew’s effort to recover Charlie becomes both an act of parental love and a direct challenge to an organization with the resources to erase evidence and control the story.

Escape Through the Airport

Escape Through the Airport A desperate journey north After sensing the Shop closing in again, Andrew removes Charlie from school and tries to get them out of New York City. He has almost no money and has already spent much of his mental strength. A carefully applied push persuades a taxi driver to carry them to Albany, leaving Andrew with a punishing headache and little ability to defend them. Charlie acts to help At Albany County Airport, Charlie gathers coins from pay phones by using her own power. The effort accidentally sets a soldier’s shoes on fire, frightening her and confirming that her ability can escape her control. She returns to Andrew with money, but the incident has alerted the Shop to the possibility that she is using her gift. The pair leave the terminal on foot and reach the Northway, where a passing driver gives them a ride to Hastings Glen. Their escape depends on strangers’ kindness as much as their powers, but each improvised step leaves the Shop closer behind them.

The Manders Farm Turning Point

The Manders Farm Turning Point Shelter becomes a trap A farmer, Irv Manders, gives Andrew and Charlie a ride and invites them to lunch with his wife, Norma. Andrew admits that government agents are hunting them, though the truth sounds implausible. Charlie senses the agents approaching before the adults can confirm it, and the temperature in the kitchen begins to climb. Flight becomes resistance When the Shop agents arrive armed, Andrew tells Charlie that they mean to kill him. Charlie knows using her power is dangerous, but she chooses to protect her father. The fire spreads beyond the agents: cars explode, the farmhouse burns, and the destruction nearly consumes Andrew as well. After Charlie faints, Irv helps the two fugitives escape in his Willys Jeep and gives them directions through remote back roads. The farm is left in ruins, and the Shop’s attempted capture has turned the child’s feared ability into a force that cannot be dismissed as a minor anomaly.

May 1969 at Harrison State College

Charlie's infancy through early childhood

Fourteen months before the flight from New York

The October night Andrew takes Charlie from school in New York City

The morning after the airport escape