Episode 39

Miah woke with a jump in the middle of the night to find that the fire was gone.

There were noises and sounds and things flashing and running, and she was alone.  “Ben?!” she called out.  She was freezing cold, and she couldn’t see anything in the dark.

“Miah!” she heard somewhere.  Then there was a gunshot, and some more scuffling.

“Ben?”  She stood and tried to go forward, but something shoved her back and she almost fell to the ground. “Ben, where are you?” she cried, wondering if it was all a dream.  “Ben, help!”

She heard another shot, and the bone-chilling sound of Gail’s ear-piercing scream.  The shifting shadows and muffled noises in the dark ceased, and there was a deathly silence.  Miah stood up against the tree, shivering unstoppably, and closed her eyes tight, hoping it would end.

“I got it,” she heard Ben’s voice.

“Ben?” she called out, her voice cracking.

“Miah, are you okay?” he called to her.

“Yes,” she answered, and walked cautiously forward, step by step, looking around. “Where are you?”

Connor’s voice came from her right, a sigh. “That was close.”

“Gail?” Ben called.

“I—I’m fine,” she replied.

Miah put her hands out, feeling around. “I can’t see anything!”

“I’m right here, Miah,” said Ben.

She blinked, and in the darkness could barely make out his form. She walked up to him, almost tripping over something in the dark.

“Whoa—”

“Careful.”

She looked down at the large form stretched out on the ground.

“What is it?”

“It’s a bear. I’m pretty sure it’s dead,” he added.

She looked up at him. “You’re sure?”

He kicked it with his foot. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

Miah sighed and stepped over it gingerly. “You guys had me totally freaked out.”

Connor laughed. “Sorry.”

Ben sighed, “Well, thanks to you, Connor, we now have no fire.”

“Hey! I had the right idea!”

“You nearly got us killed!”

Miah rubbed her arms in the cold. “Guys, let’s just try to light it again, okay?  I’m freezing. Especially my knees.”

The metal joints that met at her knees felt like ice, making any attempt at warming up a useless venture without warming them up.

“I’m sorry,” Ben added, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s try again.”

They slowly made their way to where their fire had been, guided by the smell of smoke and a slight glow from the dying embers.

“You think we need to ignite it again, or just blow on the coals?”

“We should get some more pine leaves,” Ben suggested.

“Yeah.” Connor felt around for awhile and soon came back with a large handful. “Okay.” He pulled the rock out of his pocket, and Miah sighed and kneeled beside the fire, sticking her foot out. He struck the metal and lit the needles, and he and Ben soon had coaxed the fire to its former blaze.

“You keep watch this time,” Connor pointed to Ben. “I’m getting some sleep.

“Fine with me,” Ben answered.

Episode 38

It was getting dark, so Connor and Ben decided to stop and try to light a fire.  There were plenty of pine needles, but most of them were wet; they looked for brushwood or needles that were dry under the trees that had been covered from the rain and ended up with a good amount of fuel stacked beside a tree that had kept the ground mostly dry.

“How will we light it, though?” Gail asked. “No one has matches.”

Ben stared at the pile of pine needles and sticks. “If we had the right rocks to strike against each other to make a spark…that might ignite the pine needles…”

Miah sighed. “You could try striking a rock or something against one of my boots,” she suggested, still not admitting that they were her legs, even to herself.  “It is metal, so it's a good starting point.  But good luck finding the right kind of rock to strike it with,” she added.

“Well, that's a good idea.” Ben dug through some of the needles on the ground, pulling back a wet mat of them to find dirt. There were a couple rocks, so he took them.  Connor watched.  Ben tried hitting them against each other close to the pine needles.

“Here, you’re doing it wrong,” Connor said as he reached for the rocks.

He shrugged and handed them to Connor, who held one rock stationary while hitting the other against it quickly.

Nothing happened.

“Well, try this then.”  Miah pushed her leg near the pile, and Connor held it in place as he struck the rock against the ankle, which caught the last light of the sun as it slid down behind the far mountains at the end of the valley.  They all watched as the light faded, and Connor took a deep breath and struck the rock against her ankle.

There was a sudden spark, but it did not ignite the pine needles.

“You need to get closer,” Connor recommended.

She scooted forward, and Connor leaned in and scooped a small pile of needles next to her ankle, striking it with the rock again.  There was another spark, and they thought they imagined a puff of smoke.  Connor bent down to the needles and blew gently.  There was a small flame, and more needles caught afire.

“Put a twig in there,” he told Ben.

Ben took some twigs from the pile of fuel and held them to the flame, and Miah pulled back slowly.  He sat against the tree and watched it ignite.

Soon, they had a fire well kindled, and they added the larger logs they’d found to the flame. The four of them sat with their faces to the fire, holding their hands out to its warmth.

“Thanks, guys.” Gail smiled at Connor, and he nodded and returned the smile.

Miah scooted closer to Ben and yawned. “I feel a lot better now, even if we're in the middle of nowhere.  I’m so tired.”

Ben put an arm around her shoulder. “Get some rest, then.”

She smiled and closed her eyes. “Okay.”

As she drifted off, the sun left the world, and with it left its warmth.  Their fire burned brightly, and Connor sat with his back to it, on the watch.  Gail fell asleep, and Ben soon closed his eyes, resting against the trunk of the tree with Miah’s head on his shoulder.

Episode 37

“Ben?” Connor blinked.  It was like when Jesus came back from the dead—Miah now know exactly how his disciples had felt when he'd walked through the locked door and appeared to them the first time.

Ben smiled bashfully and scratched his head, finding all eyes on him.

Connor walked up to him and searched his face, and then sighed, “It’s good to have you back, man.”

He nodded, looking at Miah with a smile.  Then he asked Connor, “How long have I been out?”

Counting on his fingers, Connor figured, “Two or three days…well, to tell the truth, I’ve started to lose count...At least two, unless you count the day that we weren't there.”

Gail walked over, and Connor said, “Oh—Ben, this is Gail.”

Ben nodded, and Gail gave a smile.

Connor looked around at the forest they’d fallen in, and at the state of their car. “Well, I don’t suppose we could hitchhike our way out of here; that hill’s too steep to climb.”

“So we’re stuck here?” Miah asked dejectedly.  All the excitement of Ben being alive had driven the thought of their car crash from her mind.

He sighed. “Looks like it.”  He looked up at the sky, which had stopped raining, but was still overcast. “Does anyone have a watch?”

Miah nodded.  “It’s five twenty.” She could feel her stomach grumbling. “And I’m still hungry.”

“There's food in the backpack, as I said before.”

“Right.”  Miah headed over to the car to fish it out.

“We should find shelter,” Ben thought aloud.  “It gets cold in the mountains.”

Connor nodded, and the four of them decided to head downhill; it was the only direction left to go.  With any luck, they’d come across a road and hitch a ride to the nearest city.

Episode 36

They ran as fast as they could through the heavy underbrush and bushes.  Connor looked back and watched as the boulder rolled down the mountain, still not able to relax, even though he knew he was out of its path.  Their safety could shift at any moment.

But then Miah stopped and cried, “Ben!!! He’s still in the car!”

She dashed back, but Connor grabbed her. “No!”

It was rolling, tumbling down the hill, bouncing, and somewhere Gail was screaming.

Miah yelled, “Let me go!!” and elbowed Connor hard in the stomach, but he didn’t let go.  She kicked and struggled, trying to wrestle herself out of his grip, but he was far too strong.  She could only watch helplessly as the boulder bounced high into the air and then slammed into the car.  It crushed the car in a horrible noise of grinding metal and shattering glass, and then it stopped, held in place by the squashed metal.

Miah stood speechless, staring.

Ben was gone.

Connor let her go, and she stumbled forward, putting her hands against the car and falling to her knees.  She couldn't believe it.  It was impossible.  “No.”  She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the car, clenching her fists.  “You're not gone...I just got you back...”

Connor gaped at the boulder. It was too fast. Gail walked up and choked back a sob. “It's my fault. I didn't get him out fast enough.” She cried and hid her face, collapsing to a heap on the ground. “I’m so sorry, so sorry, so sorry…”

Miah cried to the overcast sky, “NO!!!”

All this hoping that they could save his life, all this effort, in vain... It was too much for tears.  She couldn't breathe.  Couldn't think.

Finally she took a breath and swallowed, standing up and turning to Connor and Gail. “I—” she stuttered, and stopped.  She heard something.

She turned, and footsteps came through the leaves and a face appeared, bewildered, but smiling when he saw her; suddenly his arms were around her and she gasped in utter surprise.

Ben pulled back and looked her in the eye. “You okay?”

She tried to speak, gasped a sob, and then burst into tears of joy and confusion.  He hugged her and she cried, “I thought you were dead—” and laughed.

He was alive; he had awoken from his coma just in time to escape, and he was here, with her, and she was here, with him, and everything was going to be alright. She wiped her tears and smiled, tears still streaming down her cheeks. Ben was alive.

Episode 35

“Ow my head—ow, ow, ow—” Miah groaned as she unbuckled her seatbelt and pushed herself into a sitting position, more comfortable than hanging upside down in the overturned car.  She looked over at Connor, and there was blood dripping from his head.  “Connor?!” she cried.

He opened his eyes and blinked.  “Ugh—” He wiped at his face and head, and untangled himself from his seatbelt to sit on the ceiling of the upside-down car.  “Nosebleed,” he shrugged, rolling his shoulders and looking out the window.

“Gail?”

They looked to the back of the car to find Gail propping Ben up.  She sighed. “He’s breathing again.”

“Well…” Miah looked around.  “What do we do?”

“We need to get out of the car somehow,” Connor said, still plugging his nose.  “And I need a tissue.”

“Hm.” Miah looked out the window—then she laughed. “We’re like three feet from the ground.”

Connor scoffed. “Seriously?” He shook his head and pushed his door open.  “Time to get out, kiddies.”

Miah rolled her eyes and opened her door.  Gail pushed hers open and hopped out. She looked around at where they’d ended up and then screamed, “Guys!”

A gigantic boulder was rolling down the slope right toward their car!

Episode 34

“Great. This is the second wreck I’ve gotten in this week with you driving.”

“Second??”  Gail looked in surprise at Connor, and then at Miah.  “Why didn't you tell me about that before I got in?”  

Connor gripped the steering wheel tightly and clenched his jaw.  Miah crossed her arms and looked out the windshield.

The car had stopped moving, and that was a relief.  Gail looked down, hoping they wouldn't fall any further.  Suspended by the boughs of pine trees, the car hung precariously high above the ground and swayed when either of them moved.

“I’m sorry.”  Connor rubbed his nose, which he noticed was bleeding, the blood staining his shirt and getting all over his hand.  “I didn’t mean to.”  He pinched his nose and leaned his head back, closing his eyes.

“If you weren’t the only person who was any good at driving, you’d be sitting in the back seat.  You keep nearly getting us killed!  And at least this time it wasn't on purpose.”

He sighed and let her continue to rail and complain, giving no word in his defense. He did deserve it in a way.

In the back seat, Gail tried to feel for Ben’s pulse.

Exasperated, Miah ended with, “Men!” and huffed, looking out the window.

Gail bit her lip and tried again.

Connor looked back and saw her anxiety. “Gail, what is it?”

“I can’t feel his pulse—and I can’t tell if he’s breathing—”

“No!” Miah gasped, and tried to turn around.  With her sudden motion, the whole car slid forward.

Episode 33

The road wound through hills and mountains, into valleys and across a river.  They kept losing a radio station, and finally Connor just switched it off after all they could find was static.

“I’m hungry.” Miah looked out at the valley below them that looked exactly like the last one.  And the one before that.  And before that.

Connor kept his eyes on the foggy road and murmured back, “There's a ton of food in the backpack that we bought at that gas station.”

Miah sighed and pulled out the backpack, choosing a granola bar.

“I’m cold,” Gail called.

“Then turn the AC down back there.”

“It’s off. It’s coming from up there.”

He grumbled, “Fine,” and turned down the AC in the front. “Better?”

She nodded, and replied, “Yes, a little.”

Connor watched the road as the fog around them thickened.  When it began to drizzle, it was even harder to see, and Miah grew uneasy.  He wasn’t speeding, but he wasn’t going very slowly, either.

“Connor, slow down a bit, or you’re gonna get us killed.”

“Relax. I know how to drive.”

“Connor…” Gail cautioned.

“Please slow down—” they passed a ‘Watch For Falling Rocks’ sign and Miah grew more anxious. “This is a dangerous road. And it’s raining. Just slow down a bit—no one’s following us, there’s no reason to rush. Please?”

He turned to her. “Miah.  Look.  With all these twists and turns in the road, how do we know they’re not just following us from a distance? And I’ve driven in the rain before!  Gosh, Miah, I could handle them if they were chasing us, stop worrying!  I—”

“Connor, look!” Gail screamed.

He looked ahead, but it was too late.

The three of them screamed as their car toppled off the edge of the cliff and into the valley below.

Episode 32

Miah opened her eyes to find she’d fallen asleep in the corner with Gail's sweater covering her.  She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked over.  Gail had inserted an IV into Ben’s hand, but she had left already.  She groaned as she stretched out her legs.  Would the pain ever stop?  It was almost as bad as before, when her legs were injured.

She chose to ignore it and pushed herself off the floor, standing up and stretching her arms.  Miah’s mouth felt disgusting.  She wished there was a place to brush her teeth, but that would have to wait.  Ugh.

As she walked slowly around the room, she wondered if Gail would come back, and what had happened to Connor.  She sat back down against the wall beside Ben's comatose body and sighed. “Guess it’s just you and me.”

At that moment, the door unlocked swiftly and Gail burst in. “Miah. We have to get Ben and go.”

“How—”

“There’s a stretcher in this closet.”  She opened it and pulled out a long stretcher, and the two of them pulled him onto it. They lifted him with some effort, and Miah winced as she felt the biting pain in her head.

“Where’s Connor?” she asked as they carried the stretcher through the door.

“He’ll meet us at the entrance,” she replied.  “Sorry it took so long.  But we have to hurry now, or this won’t work.”

“You’re coming with us?”

Gail smiled. “Oh yes. I’d do almost anything to get out of here.”

Miah looked around and wondered if they had hidden cameras anywhere.  She sure didn’t want to get caught and accidentally drop Ben….

They reached a wide hall where they heard raised voices coming from an open doorway. Three or four men were arguing loudly, and they couldn’t sneak past them without being noticed, for sure.

“What do we do?” Gail whispered.

“You’re asking me?” Miah looked around.  “Isn’t there another way there?  One that doesn’t go past this door?”

“No, there’s not,” Gail replied.

“Well, we’ll have to take the chance that they’re paying too much attention to their debate than to the people in the hallway.  Come on.” Miah got a better grip on the stretcher handles and kept walking.

They looked straight ahead and hoped they wouldn’t be stopped.

“Hey!” one of them shouted, and Gail jumped.  Miah pushed her forward as the man kept yelling at another. They didn’t notice!

They soon reached the outer door, and Gail pushed it open with an elbow.  They saw Connor run around the corner outside, carrying a key ring.  “Hey guys!” he called.

Miah rolled her eyes. “How are you this lovely day?” she called back.

“Oh, you know, the usual.”  He grinned and unlocked a black sports car and hopped in.   “How are you?”

“Haven’t been better. A bit stiff-jointed, perhaps, though.”

He winked and started up the engine.  “Let’s go!”

As they pulled away, Miah leaned back in the seat, closed her eyes, and sighed in fervent relief.

Episode 31

It was the first day of camp, and she was fifteen. Her mother had driven her here to the campus, and before she pulled away, she called, “Make some friends, Miah! I love you!”

“I love you too, Mom!” she called back. As she watched her mother’s car drive away, she looked around at the groups of girls and boys and wondered what kind of week she was in for.

A rather short girl walked over to where she stood looking down the road. “Hi!” the girl smiled.  “My name’s Gwen.”

“I’m Miah,” she said as the girls smiled at each other.

“Which cabin are you in?” she asked. “I’m in Cabin C.”

“So am I!” Miah grinned.

Gwen laughed and they walked off together.


Throughout the week there at camp they found that they shared many common interests, especially in music.  Gwen played just about any stringed instrument you could imagine, as well as the clarinet, which she played in her school band.  Miah was inspired to learn more instruments by the way Gwen seemed to look for the most difficult instrument to play and take on the challenge with joy.  The two girls became great friends, and Gwen introduced Miah to all her friends at the camp, including a boy named Ben.

Miah didn’t think she’d ever had as much fun with anyone before she’d met Ben.  He was a year older than her, but you never would have known.  He made her laugh, she made him laugh, and their friends loved hanging out with them.  A few jokes floated around about them being ‘perfect for each other’ but neither of them thought of each other that way.  At least, they didn't admit it themselves.

When camp ended that week, they exchanged email addresses and promised to keep in touch.  Miah had moved houses again because of her dad’s job, and they didn’t meet again in person for another year, but kept in contact online.

As the years slowly passed, Miah found herself a senior, and Ben was in his first year of college.  Even though he was hundreds of miles away, he still came to visit as often as he could.  Sometimes she would visit him, too.  They’d get together with their friends one weekend and go to Sea World, or they’d go hiking and camping.  They kept up the friendship the best they could.

Miah was used to changing schools as often as her family moved, but it was a comfort to know that she’d always be able to keep in touch with the people she left behind.

Episode 30

Gail paced back and forth in her room.  She stopped before her door, looking at it anxiously, but then paced quickly back again, arguing with herself.  “It may work out just fine...but...no, what if it doesn’t?  And—what if I could stop it?”  She stopped before the door again, and made up her mind, taking a deep breath.   “I’m going.  I don't care.  I have to go.”

She pulled the door open and walked out quickly before she could change her convince herself not to.




Miah turned as she heard the door unlocking.  It opened, and Gail rushed in. “Miah,” she panted.

“Gail!”  She stood and steadied herself, waiting for her head to clear.  “I....What are we going to do?”

The blonde walked to the bedside.  “He might come out of it.”

“Might?”  She searched Gail’s face for an answer.

“There’s nothing we can do for a coma, Miah.  He needs an IV, though.”

Miah nodded.  “I’ll stay here.”

She laughed.  “Yes. You do that.”

The girl left the room, and Miah lowered herself to the floor where she sat against the wall and sighed.

“Wake up…” she whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder.  “I'm surrounded by people I don't know, except for you...please, wake up, so I can know what's going on.”

She sighed and pulled her knees up under her chin and watched him sleep.

© December 2012  Ashley Spence

Episode 29

Miah was dragged from the surgical chamber and down a hall, and was locked in a small room.  She beat on the door, screaming for them to let her out, but it was of no use.  She sat against the door and took deep breaths, trying to sort out the racing thoughts in her head.  “Ben’s gone. Connor’s gone. I’m all messed up—” she choked back a sob— “and no one knows where—”

She froze, sure she had heard something. She stood up slowly, wincing at the pain, and looked toward the back of the room, where she hadn't taken a good look at yet.  There was a sheet on the floor, and someone lay there, motionless.

Miah took a few hesitant steps toward the body, and then gasped, “Ben!”

She ran to the bedside and fell to her knees. The back of her head was killing her with every step, but she bit her lip and ignored it. “Ben…” 

His eyes were closed and he was barely breathing. She brushed the hair from his face and felt his forehead. “I’m here; it’s going to be okay…We can fix you…” She sniffed back a tear and took a shuddering breath. In a coma, Gail had said. What did one do for a coma?



Nothing.

Episode 28

“Miah!” he shouted, and she turned and ran toward him.

“Connor—” Her footsteps were too wide, too quick, and she stumbled into him.  He put his hands out to catch her and asked, “Are you alright?  Tell me, what happened?”  He tried to look into her eyes, but she was having trouble focusing.

She was breathing heavily and didn’t seem to understand what he was saying. She squeezed her eyes tight and tried to pull away.

“Miah—” He sighed and pulled her close, and tried to soften his tone.  “What’s wrong?”

She took a shaky breath and whispered, “I don’t know.  But I can walk.  And it hurts.”

“You can walk?”  Connor wasn’t thinking clear enough, and he took a deep breath.  “But Miah, your legs are fine, your...”  He stopped.  “You can walk...and you couldn’t before...”  He frowned and looked at her face.   “Miah.  How can you walk?”

Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she still didn't understand.  “They put these things on them.  I can’t get them off.  And my head—it hurts when I move my legs.”

“There were things up on the wall in that room, I thought they were guns or equipment...but they weren't.”

Miah tugged slightly, confused and tired.  “Connor, what's going on...”

“They replaced your legs.”  He let go of her and she swayed, and then caught her balance. Miah looked down at her feet.

“Replaced my…” her voice trailed off.  She swallowed.   “What?”

“They made mechanical legs and replaced them with yours.  It must have been part of their plan.”

Still not comprehending the entirety of what he was saying, she sighed, “Connor, we have to find Ben...we're getting out of here, right?”  She looked up at him.

He looked into her eyes. “Miah…”  She doesn't understand.

She looked away.   “I can walk....Let’s go.” She shakily pulled the door open and peered into the room beyond.  “Come on.” 

Connor sighed and followed her.

Before he knew what was happening, he was knocked to the floor from behind.  Miah cried out, “Connor! Help!”

It was a trap, he thought with a groan. “Run, Miah!” he yelled, and tried to get up. As he stood, he felt a stabbing pain in his back and saw the room tilt before him. He hit the ground hard and closed his eyes.

Episode 27

Connor barely stopped himself before he ran into the end of a hallway.  He had been running for what felt like hours, and he had come to a dead end.  He groaned and darted back the direction he had come.  At that end, he found another door, which he assumed he'd come through on his way, though he didn't recall it.  When he tried to open it, but it opened to a blank wall.  He stopped and looked back at the other dead end, which now seemed closer, and thought for a moment that his mind was playing tricks on him.

“No. They’re playing tricks on my mind.”  He took a deep breath and waited.  When nothing happened, he called out, clenching his fist, “Okay, you’ve got me! What do you want?”

A door opened at the other end of the hall, and a man in a lab coat stepped out.  “You’re looking for the girl,” he stated, and it wasn't a question.

Connor nodded slowly, taking a step forward.  The man gestured toward the open door, keeping eye contact.

“Bring her to me,” Connor demanded.

The man shrugged and silently left through the door.

Connor crossed his arms. “It's a trap,” he said under his breath.  Walking up to the door, he stood to one side of it and waited.

When heavy footsteps approached the door and it opened, Connor grabbed the door and banged it into the guard’s head.  The man fell to the floor, knocked out. “You're not getting me, not this time,” he growled.

He stepped over the man and headed into the hall beyond.   It was shadowy, with very few lights.  A door was cracked open at the end of the passage, and Connor walked quickly and quietly toward it.  He listened at the door for a moment, and, hearing nothing, walked in.

The room he stepped into looked half like a demented surgery facility and half like an electronics armory.  An operating table equipped with an overhead light stood in the center of the room, whose light was the only one in the room.  A stainless steel table poked out of a dark, curtained area in the corner, and he walked over to it. On the table were surgical tools and a large plastic case with small electrical wire inside, wound up and tossed in carelessly. Along the walls were brackets that looked to have supported two large pieces of equipment, but they were gone.

There must have been some kind of crazy operation, he thought. Connor examined the operating table. The sheet had been removed, and there was no trace of blood. What could they have done to her?

There was another door near the curtain.  He opened it and looked into a bright white room.

And there was Miah.

Episode 26

In the dark room, two men sat in deep thought and watched the girl walk around the room, searching for a door. She kept feeling the back of her head.

“Conrad, what are your thoughts?” one man asked, turning to his colleague.

Conrad turned from his gaze into the room and replied after a moment’s reflection, “She doesn’t seem to realize it yet. You are sure none of her brain cells were damaged?”

The man laughed quietly. “Brain cells were damaged. It’s unavoidable. But no serious damage, not so much as to hamper the processes of her mind.”

They both turned to watch the girl as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. She was shivering.

“I told you we should have experimented on the other one.”

Conrad shook his head. “No, I believe this was the best choice.”

The other man stood. “Well, this is your field, Conrad. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”

He nodded. “I do indeed.”

“And, what of the other? Connor Wilhelmson? Have you anything planned?”

“Mm. Preparations have been made quite in advance. We shall see how this experiment goes first.”

At that moment, someone burst through the door. “Sir!” the man called.

“Yes?” Conrad stood.

“He’s escaped!”

“What?!” the man gasped.

“And he’s headed this way!” The messenger caught his breath and left.

“Well?” the other man asked.

Conrad looked into the window again. “This test has gone well enough. Let us conduct our next experiment, shall we?”

The other man nodded and walked out of the room with a sly grin.

Episode 25

The girl opened her eyes. She felt like she was lying on a freezing cold sheet of metal. She was wearing some kind of hospital robe. Blinking, she tried to sit up. She froze when she saw her legs.

What in the world…?

She reached down and touched her knees, which were covered in a shiny metal plate. Her legs were bound in a black material and on her feet were black, grey, and silvery boots. She moved them, and felt a strange pinching sensation in the back of her head. She shook her head and rubbed her scalp, and found that there was a small bald section in the back of her head.

The girl’s eyes widened. There was something underneath the skin. She looked down at her legs and moved her foot up again. The pinching feeling bit her head again, and she winced. When she stopped moving, the pain eased a bit.

What’s going on here…She clutched a hand to the back of her head as she used her other arm to steady herself. Leaning against the wall, she swayed for a few seconds, and then stood still. She looked down at her legs again and felt taller. The boots look like heels, she thought.

She looked around at the walls and saw a mirror. The girl walked up to it slowly, finding balance strangely hard, and placed her hands on the mirror. Was it really a window? She tried hard to look in. When she couldn’t see anything, she looked at herself. She looked thin and pale, and her eyes had dark circles under them. There was a bandage on the back of her hand, and she suspected she’d had an IV in. Am I in a hospital? Nothing was making sense.

Episode 24

Some time in the night, Miah heard a noise. She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep again, but then she heard footsteps right behind her. She rolled over, “Connor—”

Suddenly, someone grabbed her, and something was held against her mouth. She struggled and tried to call out, but the room began to fade into a mist of sleep.



Connor jumped up from the corner where he had been trying to fall asleep. “Miah!” he gasped, and ran at the guards. “Stop!” He tried to get to her, but two men held him back. He struggled, but they threw him to the ground and left the room.

Gasping for breath, Connor picked himself up off the floor and walked to the door, stopping it just before it closed. He ran through and looked for the men who had carried her away. Seeing no one, he paused to catch his breath and then hurried through a hallway that looked promising. And ran.

Episode 23

They were taken back to their room after they had finished eating, and Connor seized the chance to ask Gail about bandages for Miah. She told him she would try to get her some, and then hurried out.

As Miah settled back down to her place in the corner, she looked up at the ceiling.  Connor sat himself down beside her. “So.  What are you thinking?”

“Nothing...nothing at all...”

“Ha. You’re thinking about something.”  Connor gave a smile and readjusted his position.

Miah turned away from him. “So what?”

“So, I was just wondering what you were thinking about.”

She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.  “It's really nothing, Connor.”  She didn't use his name often, and he should have gotten the hint that she was just tired and didn't want to talk.

He walked to the corner across from her and sat down, leaning his head against the wall next to it like she was. “I’m working on it. I know I’m not the greatest guy to get stuck with, but I’m trying.”

Miah opened her eyes and stared at him. “You think you can take Ben’s place now that he’s gone, but you need to know that it’s not happening.”

Connor opened his mouth and then closed it again. “That’s not what I meant.  All I meant was that, since we’re stuck here, we might as well be friends.  Act civil to each other at least.  I asked you a friendly question, the least you could do is answer.  If we have no way to escape, we don’t need to make each other miserable.”

“You’re making me miserable. Stop talking to me.” She hid her face in her arms and huffed.

Connor stood and walked to the other side of the room, and then walked back. “You know, really,” he started, and Miah looked up. “Really, when you act like that, all I want is to get away from you. You can’t just say things like that.”

“Well, leave, then.” She crossed her arms.

Connor clenched his fists and walked to the other wall again. He walked back. “If I could, let me assure you, you’d never see my face again.”

Miah scowled. “I’d like nothing better.”

He walked to the other wall and put his head against it, and then slowly turned to her, smiling coldly.  “If Ben were here, you’d be happy.”

Miah frowned.  “If you had stayed behind instead of Ben, none of this would have happened.”

“If Ben hadn’t even met you in the first place, my life wouldn’t have been ruined.”

“Oh! So you’re blaming me for the choice you made to step into that 'forbidden door'?”

His voice rose as he came closer.  “You’re saying you have nothing to do with it?”

Miah closed her eyes and cried, “Yes! I haven’t done anything to make this happen!” Hitting the floor, she punctuated each last word. “It’s all your fault!”

Connor took one more step forward, a bit more aggressively than he meant, and Miah flinched.  He started to speak, but then closed his mouth and walked back over to his corner of the wall and sat down with a huff. 

Miah swallowed a sob and leaned against the wall, terrified and miserable.  Where is my life going, anyway?

Episode 22

They were led to a room with two chairs and a table with two plates of bread, a tiny portion of over-cooked chicken breasts, and carrot sticks.  The strangeness of a meal cooked for prisoners was soon overcome by their hunger, and they sat down.  Connor set Miah down and sat across from her, and after a quick and thankful prayer, they ate. Miah hadn’t realized how hungry she had been until she took a bite of the chicken; though it wasn’t exceptionally good, to her hunger it was the most delicious thing she’d ever eaten.

There were three guards watching them, but it seemed too quiet. Connor felt as though they were trying to trick him into trying to escape; but he would not spring their trap. Instead, he looked around at the room. He saw a fire alarm on one wall and took note of this.  There was another door besides the one they had entered from, and he wondered where it led.

“That was so good,” Miah sighed, pushing her plate away and leaning her elbows on the table.

“Yeah,” he replied absentmindedly. “Miah, how are your feet feeling?”

She looked down at them. “My knees are bruised, but the cuts are healing…I must have twisted my ankles or something. They still hurt when I move them.”

“It’s too bad we don’t have ace bandages to wrap around them—they’d heal faster that way.”

Miah sighed and nodded. “What if you ask Gail if she could get us some?”

“That’s a good idea—I wonder if she would, though?”

“There’s no harm in asking. And she seems nice. I have a feeling that she was brought here and made to work on this experiment against her will—she knows it’s wrong.  You can tell it in her face,” she whispered, glancing at the guards to make sure they couldn't hear.

Connor sighed, looking around at the room. “I wonder how she can bear it to work here.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know...but if we do escape, I think we should bring her with us.”

He looked at her. “That would be more difficult than you think…difficult to coordinate…and then she’d just be in danger like the rest of us.  Besides the possibility that her 'nervous girl' is just an act, and she's trying to fool us into trusting her.”

“What??”

Connor looked at her as if to say that she must have been thinking the same thing.

“Well...possibly, yes, but…don’t you think she wants to get away from here?”

He nodded slowly, but added, “I’m not going to guarantee that we’ll be able to bring her, too. Things may end up differently.”

“Well, at least you’ll try, right?”

“Yeahhh.” Connor looked away. He couldn’t make another promise to her that he couldn’t keep.

Episode 21

“Do you think they’ll bring us food?” Miah asked.

Connor paced the floor, thinking. “Mm…well, they can’t starve us, can they? We’re valuable to them.”

“True.”

Connor looked up at the window, which was over ten feet high. “If only I could jump up and try to see out…”

“It’s too small for you to fit through, even if you could get up to it,” Miah sighed, rubbing her knee.

“But…agh, you’re right. Well, the window wouldn’t work.”

“Let’s not try to get out just yet, okay?  Let’s wait until I can walk again.”

“But what if you don’t?  You should have been brought to the emergency room the minute you got out of that car.  Nurses would know if you needed a cast, or if it could get infected, or if you needed a splint or something.  There’s nothing we can do about it here; there’s nothing in this room but what we brought with us.”

“By the way, what had been your plan to get out with Ben?”

Connor shook his head. “Never mind that. It can’t help us now.”

Miah shrugged. “Fine with me.”

He sat down against the wall of the window and looked at her. “Well, it seems we’ll be stuck here for awhile.”

She nodded. “No action for awhile, I guess.”

“Yeah.” Connor rolled his eyes. “Unless we think of a subject, this is going to be one boring day.” He thought for a moment, and then asked, “What do you like to do?”

Miah smiled. “Hm. I like music.”

“Oh? Listening to music, playing it, or singing?”

“Pretty much all three.” She grinned. “I’ve been taking harp lessons.”

“That’s cool.   My dad once tried to teach me guitar, but I failed miserably.  I...suppose that's not exactly my thing.”

She laughed, “I guess. You into music much?”

“Nah.  I was more into my karate class and video games than music.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, not very much. I like listening to music, I just can’t play anything.” Connor looked up at the wall, thinking back.

“Can you sing?” she asked hopefully.

“Can a fish fly?” he smirked.

Miah smiled knowingly, “Well actually, there is a fish—”

Connor shook his head and laughed. “Psh, you know-it-all.”

She rolled her eyes.  “So how old are you?  And do you have a job?”

“Well...”

There was a creak, and they both jerked and looked at the door, which opened wide. Gail walked in.

“Follow me, you’re going to eat out here.”

Episode 20

A few hours later, the door opened. Connor jumped to his feet, and Miah looked up, startled.

A girl in a white lab coat with unkempt blonde hair walked in and looked at the two of them, and then back at her clipboard. She seemed to hide behind it, as if it could protect her from the prisoners.  She appeared to be their age, possibly younger. Miah stared at her, surprised that such a young person could survive in a horrible place like this.

The door stood open. Connor took a step toward it, but the girl suddenly got braver and looked him in the eye. “Don’t try to get out,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s a bad idea.”

“What happened to Ben?” Miah asked.

She looked back down at her clipboard, again shrinking into a nervous girl in a lab coat.  “The experiment didn’t work out the way it was supposed to...they’re adjusting the formula. Your friend is in a coma.”

Shocked, Miah tried to stand, but pain shot up her leg and she fell back to the floor.  She had almost forgotten her injury.  “Can we see him?”

“I don’t think so,” the girl answered. “You’re supposed to be kept here until they need another subject for the next experiment.”

Connor crossed his arms, letting out a frustrated sigh. “I knew it.”

“But I don’t think they’ll be ready for a long time,” she hastily added.  “It took them a long time to get up to this point, and they’d used mostly rats and alley cats in prior experiments. They didn't expect any of this to happen; they’ll have to start over from scratch almost.”

“Who are you?” Miah asked.

“I'm just one of their geneticists...” The girl looked down at her clipboard and swallowed. “I wish I could help you.”

“Could you?”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t possibly. They’d suspect anything I tried to do.”

Connor stepped forward, intimidation on his mind.  “But tell me something.  Are we being filmed or recorded in here?”

“Oh no,” she answered, holding her clipboard to her chest and giving a slight smile, “this room isn’t watched in any way. If they had wanted to watch you, you would have known.”

Miah asked, “But what’s your name?”

The girl sighed and looked at her. “Gail.  My name is Gail.”

Miah smiled a little, and was about to say something when Gail looked at her watch. “Oh, I have to go!” she exclaimed and ran out of the room.

The door shut and locked, and Connor stood staring at it.

Episode 19

Miah sat against the wall staring at the floor. Her eyes still hurt from crying herself to sleep.  She had woken in the morning to light shining in the small window high up on the wall. The light only showed the hopelessness of their escape, and she felt sick to her stomach.  The feeling made her want to lie there motionless until she died, but soon her curiosity and fear drove her to open her eyes again and look around her to assess her situation.

She saw Connor sitting at the far end of the room with his elbows on his knees, his head bowed. He’d already tried to break the door down the night before, which Miah remembered murkily as if it had been a dream, but the door had been sealed tightly and wouldn’t budge.  By the looks of it, it was still in that state this morning, despite the surprisingly deep scratches on both sides of the wooden frame.  Miah sensed that same spark of fear she had felt when she had asked him if he had ever killed anyone.

Connor felt lost and confused; none of his plans had worked the way he had expected.  The shock that they could have done such a thing to Ben still stuck a cold lump in his stomach that wouldn't go away.  It was inhuman, and didn't make any sense to him.  How could anyone want to mutilate a human being and make it less than it was?  He sighed and lifted his head, and then noticed that Miah was awake.

Looking away from him, she asked, “Do you think he’s dead?”

Connor cracked his neck, as if to come up with a good answer, or a solution to something, but none came and he sighed, “I don’t know…”

Miah looked at him and cupped her face in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees like him.  “Are they going to do the same thing to us?”

“They might.”  Connor was starting to get restless.

She sighed. “There’s nothing we can do, is there?”

“Not right now,” Connor told her, wishing she would be quiet.  She couldn't do any good by answering questions. 

He looked at the door again, and then shook his head. “We’ll have to wait until they come to give us food to escape.  That's about our only chance.”

Miah looked around. “Don’t you think they’re monitoring this room?”

“I can’t see any cameras or anything.”

“There could be something in the ceiling that we can’t see.”

“It really doesn’t make much of a difference. They’ll know everything soon enough.”  He was sure an interrogation was in order, but he was content to wait until it came to him instead of rushing it.  And making her even more nervous will only make things worse, he told himself.

She looked up at the window, a far-off look in her eyes. “I thought we would be able to save him. It happened too fast.”

Connor pushed himself up off the floor and walked over to sit down next to her.  “I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything…I could have fought the man.  I should have tried to stop him.”

“You were carrying me. You couldn’t have.”

“But if I hadn’t been so stupid and gotten us wrecked, you would have been perfectly able to walk. It’s all my fault—it was my idea to get caught anyways.”

“But you couldn’t have known they’d do this to him.”

“I shouldn’t have taken that risk.  I never should take that kind of risk.”

Miah put a hand on his arm. “It’s not your fault, Connor.”

“Yes it is!” he said, raising his voice and pulling his arm away.  Miah shrank back.  "I'm sorry."  

She shook her head, looking down. Crossing her arms and turning toward the door, she muttered, “I only hope it doesn’t hurt.”

Episode 18

There was an alarm blaring somewhere. The lights were still flashing, but they flashed faster now. Ben wasn’t moving.

The first thing Miah could think of to do was to somehow break the glass.  To get in there.   To physically stop the thing and take Ben away from that horrible place.  She beat her fists against the glass, watching as the needle inched closer and closer to his head and yelled, “Connor!!! Help me!!!”

He held her back, saying, “Miah. The glass is too thick!”

“No!”

Her fists were doing nothing.   Her knuckles and palms and fingers throbbed in pain, and she was sobbing. She buried her face in Connor’s shoulder.  She couldn’t look.

Connor shut his eyes and held Miah tight.   He wanted to scream.  He wanted to break something. But to hold Miah and close his eyes was all that he could do.

Instead of the evil laugh Miah that expected she would hear, the man’s cold stare toward his subject ignored all else in its deliberation.  He knew he could get away with this—he had already gotten away with this.  It all seemed to pass too quickly for Miah to do anything, and she screamed in protest, anger, frustration, and sheer terror.

The screech of the siren rang in their ears.  A motor whirred as the needle moved and pierced Ben’s skin, injecting a benign-looking clear liquid into his brain stem.  A light burned through Connor’s eyelids, and he looked away and squeezed his eyes tight. 

And then there was silence.

Episode 17

The blood drained from Connor’s face and he suddenly felt weak. How could I have been so foolish? 

He looked almost dead. Miah could see him, she knew he was there, but his head hung limp and his wrists had been cuffed to the metal wall behind him. They were red, swollen, as if he had struggled and the metal had chafed his arms. His shirt was drenched with sweat, but he wasn’t moving. She couldn’t even tell if he was breathing.

“Would you like to see him?” the man asked, gloating over her terror.

Connor walked forward and stepped into the room. Miah placed her hand on the glass, cried out his name, but the glass was thick; she felt further away from him than she had ever been. Then, red lights began to flash from within.

“You may not know,” the man in the suit spoke as he walked up to Connor’s side, “that we do not experiment in only computer viruses. You see, as long as we have worked here, the greatest obstacle, the deepest gap, our worst enemy, was the human mind.”

Miah gasped as a white robotic arm came out of the wall. On the end was a syringe. She gripped Connor’s shoulder and breathed, “No…”

“The human mind was always infinitely superior to computers; no matter what computers could do, the mind was creative and was never held back by what it was programmed or not programmed to do.”

Connor thought he might have exaggerated a bit, but said nothing as he stared at his friend’s limp form.

“If we could reduce the human brain to the power of a computer, well, then! Then computers could lord over humans, and those who were still superior to them would have supreme control.”

Connor shook his head. “It’s impossible.”

“Oh?” The man was grinning.

The arm twisted, and the needle moved closer to Ben’s head.

“It’s physically impossible—the body could not function or survive without the brain!”

Miah screamed, “You’re going to kill him!”

“We have already performed the surgery to implant the computer chip into his right frontal lobe—we need only to inject the solution that will complete the process.  This shall be our first experimentation on a human subject!”

“No, you can’t!” Connor shouted. “No! NO!!!”

Episode 16

Connor set Miah in the black car indicated by men dressed in black and got in the other door. Miah leaned her head back seat and closed her eyes, trying to keep herself from completely falling apart.

The car they rode in, which had been chasing them before, followed the large van down the highway, and they were soon driving back north again. Miah’s thoughts whirled around in her head too quickly to tell where they were going or anything other than what had just happened; and that she was still barely able to grasp.

“Are you feeling alright?” Connor whispered, his tone without much of the concern he’d used before.

What a jerk, she thought. Miah refused to speak to him.

He sighed, looking out his window at the passing hills. “I’m so sorry you got hurt. I didn’t mean for it to happen this way.” A touch of true regret came into his voice, but Miah crossed her arms and looked away.

“You’re hopeless,” he grumbled, giving up. Looking ahead at the road, he noted the signs they passed and the exit they took. If he could remember all the turns, he’d be able to get them away much quicker. As they passed a firehouse, a plan started forming in his head.

Their vehicle soon pulled up behind the black van in a parking lot. They were ushered out, and Connor hurried over to Miah’s door.

“Still can’t walk?” he asked, trying again to get a verbal response.

She shook her head exasperatedly, and lifted the leg of her jeans to reveal her skinned ankles, blood beginning to dry around her shoes. The rips in her knees showed the deep gashes in both legs, and the torn material was also stained with blood.

“Eeh.” His sympathetic mumble was lost on her stubbornness, so he lifted her out of the car and walked along with the rest of the people entering a building. “I hope it heals soon,” he added as a last shot.

“Me too,” she sighed. Connor allowed himself a small smile.

The men who loaded out of the van pushed and prodded them through the door of the building next to the parking lot. It looked like an abandoned factory of some kind. The walls were filthy, and the floors desperately needed to be mopped. There were holes in the ceiling and pieces of plaster all over the floor. Many of the lights overhead were burned out, and of the few doors they passed, many appeared to have been broken into.

It slightly reminded Miah of her school building. The thought of what had happened to her suddenly hit home. “I’m going to miss school!” she gasped quietly, and then wondered what her parents were thinking. She wondered if they had told the police, and if they were looking for her. What is Connor’s plan? she thought. I can’t ask him now, not with all these people around…

“You worried about school?” Connor whispered, with a slight grin. “Ben told me you were an overachiever.”

Miah rolled her eyes, aggravated that he’d heard her. “I’m tired, okay?” She yawned, proving her point. “I can’t think straight.”

Connor nodded. “Sure. But won’t you have a lot of homework when you get back? I mean, aren’t there exams at the end of the year?”

“Man, you’re right…” Her anxiety disappeared in a scowl when she realized he was just messing with her. “You—!”

“Shh,” he whispered, keeping himself from laughing surprisingly well. They were coming into a mostly empty room with a couple doors. The lighting was dim, and Miah squinted, trying to adjust.

“Ah, Connor Wilhelmson.” A balding man in a brown suit and tie with a black mustache crossed his arms and looked the two of them over. His accent and attire seemed European. “It’s a pleasure.”

Connor didn’t so much as twitch.

“You thought you could make off with the stolen plans and just get away with it, did you?” When this failed to bring any response, he went on. “Well, as I’m sure you know by now, there is nowhere you can go where we will not find you. Our advanced technology can perform feats that you cannot imagine.”

“I know I can imagine you behind bars,” Connor growled.

The man simply smiled. “By the time you have a chance to tell the world of our infamy, it will be too late.”

Miah couldn’t stand it any longer. “Where did you take Ben?” she demanded.

The man’s eyes lit up. “Oh, did you want to see him?” His tone made her shiver. He grinned, “Yes, of course… We should show you our newest achievement.”

Miah’s lip trembled, and her grip on Connor’s shoulder tightened. “What have you done to him?” she managed.

With a smug smile, the suited man nodded to one of the men, who walked to one of the doors and opened it.

Miah’s eyes opened wide with horror and she screamed, “BEN!”

Episode 15

The man took a step forward as if to threaten her further, and Miah flinched: but then Connor moved again. “Miah?” The sound of his voice was like music to her ears.

Despite her relief at his awakening, she did not know what to think of him.

“Hey!” the man on his side shouted. “He’s awake, sir.”

The white haired man walked around to Connor’s side.

“Are you alright?” Miah chanced to whisper, turning to him slowly, trying not to further pain her knees beneath the dashboard.

“Yes…just bumped my head, that’s all.” He reached back to feel his scalp, grimacing at the bump he felt there. How dare he only suffer a scratch, when it was his fault!

The man in white stepped up to Connor’s door and opened it; it was unlocked, and he ordered Connor to get out.

Miah closed her eyes and tried not to cry. Too many things that she couldn’t understand were fighting for her thoughts at once. Connor’s harebrained scheme had gone completely wrong; they weren’t supposed to get hurt. Ben was being kept somewhere, but what if she and Connor weren’t contained in the same place as he was once they were captured? What if she and Connor were separated and he couldn’t get to her when they made their supposed escape? They were getting even deeper and deeper into this mess she hadn’t even known about until yesterday.

Connor stepped out of the car and cracked his neck, stretching his arms. He rubbed a cut on his shoulder and looked at the damage done to his car, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was about to be taken captive. Miah held back the urge to roll her eyes at this guy.

Impatient, the man pointed at Miah angrily. “Your friend can’t walk. Carry her.”

Connor folded his arms and stared at the man, openly defying him.

“Now!” the man yelled. Miah’s ears rung, and she grit her teeth, tears streaming unbidden down her cheeks.

The younger man shoved Connor forward, and he went back around the car to Miah’s side.

“Can’t walk?” The concern in Connor’s voice brought fresh tears to her eyes, and she shook her head, unable to speak.

With a nod, Connor put an arm under her knees and the other by her back, lifting her out of the car. She hesitantly put an arm on his shoulder, and he carried her up the hill and back onto the road where a black car waited.

Episode 14

Miah opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that her shoulder hurt, and she lowered her arms as she looked around at the wrecked car. Glass was shattered everywhere, and some of it had cut her arms and body. Her legs were pinned beneath the dash, and she could barely move them. She looked over at Connor, whose eyes were closed. “Connor!”

She reached over and grabbed his arm, ignoring the surge of pain. “Connor! Wake up!”

She could hear voices. The men were coming up to the car, and she realized that she and Connor were trapped. Her hand went to her pocket. Surely this is not the time to shoot a gun, she thought, and looked worriedly at her unconscious driver.  Please wake up, she thought, desperate, as she grit her teeth.

“Connor, wake up!” She shook his shoulder anxiously, and then looked at his face. He was breathing. He was alive.

“Connor Wilhelmson!” a voice shouted. Miah shuddered; it was the voice she’d heard call Ben’s full name the day before.

Footsteps walked up to the car on the drivers’ side, and Miah closed her eyes.

“They’re not moving,” someone called back. A young voice.

“Are they dead?” the commanding voice asked, emotionless.

“I can make sure of that, sir.” Another voice on Connor’s side.

Miah heard the sound of a gun cocking, and she jumped. “NO!” she screamed, and hit her head on the dented-in roof of the car. Connor groaned and moved his head, but his eyes stayed closed.

“Ah.” Footsteps walked up to her door. A man looked in, and Miah shuddered visibly when she saw his eyes. Cold and cutting, his stare cut her like a rusted knife. 

He pulled on the door handle, and, through the broken glass, saw that it was locked. With a glance at Miah, he reached through the window and unlocked it, yanking the door open. Miah shook with fear, and the man said, “Get out.”

She shook her head, trying to speak. "I--"

“What’s that?” he queried, stepping closer. His hair was white, and so was his jacket.

“I can’t,” her voice squeaked. She couldn’t move her legs. She looked down and tried to move her feet.  Wincing in pain, clenched her teeth and tried not to cry.

The man looked up at the man on Connor’s side, who walked over to his side quickly. “Get her out,” he commanded.

The young man looked at Miah’s legs, and then up at her terrified face. “You can’t get out?” he asked, with less authority and less terror in his voice.

“No,” Miah stammered.

The man tried to move her legs himself, and she cried out in pain. But her legs moved. The man lifted up on the dashboard, putting his foot on the floor of the car for support, and Miah slowly edged her knees out from under it. The dashboard scraped her knees, cutting them, and her ankles hurt terribly. But she was free. 

“I don’t—don’t think I can walk,” she managed, aching all over. Blood seeped from the tears in her jeans, and she clutched her knees with her hands.

“Try,” the man in white suggested, and the very word was like a curse, the way he said it.

Miah frowned and took a step onto the ground. Her face screwed up in pain, and she pulled herself backward into the seat of the car. “I can’t,” she panted, and felt tears sting in her eyes. She blinked them back and looked from the commander to the young man.

“You must.”

“But I can’t!” Miah was on the verge of tears, and she looked away, biting her lip.

Episode 13

Miah gasped. Her world was dark, and shadowy forms moved around her.  Something touched her leg.  She looked down to see a red-headed girl fall to the ground before her.  Miah screamed and backed up, bumping into something.  She turned, wide-eyed, to see a man pointing a gun at her.  Before she could react he pulled the trigger.  Suddenly, she felt herself thrown to the side, and heard the sound of car wheels screeching. 

She opened her eyes to find herself in the passenger seat of Connor’s car again. She’d been dreaming.  Relief flooded her senses, and she tried to go back to sleep again, glad to be rid of her dream.  But as she found herself waking to her surroundings, it became clear Connor was racing down the highway.  Speeding. She turned quickly to look behind them and saw a large black truck following them closely. 

“They found us?!” she gasped.

“Yep!” Connor grinned and swerved, barely missing the median as their road merged into two. 

Miah gripped the door handle, holding on for dear life, and stared at the road ahead.  A large van was stopped across the road, right in front of them. “Connor!”

“I know, I know; I see it!” He made as if to run straight into the front of the van, but swerved at the last moment. 

“You’re going to run into the ditch! Connor!” Miah screamed, and threw her arms around her head.

The car jerked about violently, and then she had the sensation that they were flying through the air. Then there was a sickening crunch, and everything stopped.

Episode 12

Some time in the night, Miah tried to roll over in her sleep and bumped into the window. Woken abruptly, she sat up straight, rubbed her head, and looked at the dark road. Sparsely placed street lamps illuminated parts of the road before them, but for that the world was dark.  The sky was black, but for a dim glow at the horizon.

She yawned and pushed her hair back into place. “Where are we?”

Connor murmured, “Tennessee.”

Miah rubbed her eyes. “Wow, that far already?” Somehow the time had slipped by without her noticing it, in a startling way that made her want to stop everything and go back to the way it was.  She sobered for a moment, knowing they could not stop. 

He nodded. “You should try to fall back to sleep; it’s 3 AM.”

She sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes. Then she sat back up again. “Where do you think they took Ben?”

Connor glanced over at her. “I don’t know.”

She settled back into the seat, looking at the dark sky. “I wish I could be with him. Even if we were captive.”

He shook his head. But he started to get an idea. He looked at her. “You know, that just might work.”

She blinked. “What?”

“What if…” He checked a sign they passed under. “If we let them catch us and put us in the same place as him, then maybe we could escape. If we brought along the right equipment, and concealed it…” He raised an eyebrow. “Hmm.”

Miah kicked off her shoes. “Well…I’m going to go back to sleep. I’m too tired to think.” She yawned and closed her eyes, settling back down into a comfortable position.  Let him think up his own plan, she thought.  I'm not one for plotting and scheming anyways.

Connor sighed and resumed his crouch over the wheel, mulling over his idea. As a plan began to form, he began watching the signs along the road. Finding what he was looking for, he took the exit. Silently, he pulled into the parking lot of a Burger King, took out his laptop, and connected to their WiFi.  He then put his plan into action.

Episode 11

Driving down the road, they passed by a Wendy’s. Miah suddenly realized how hungry she was and turned to Connor. “Can we stop and get something to eat soon? I’m famished.”

He nodded. “Alright. But we’ll only go through the drive-through.”

Once they arrived at the drive-through window, Miah remembered that she had no money. “I’ll just get a burger—and I can pay you back,” she added.

He shook his head, “I can handle it.” He ordered and continued to the pickup counter.

They were soon on their way again, and Miah felt much better after having eaten. “So, where are we going?”

“As far away as we can get,” he answered, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Where will we stay the night?”

“I can drive through the night.”

“But—isn’t that dangerous? What if you fall asleep?”

“I won’t.” He gave a reassuring smile.

Miah looked uneasily at the signs they passed on the interstate. They were getting further and further away from home. Soon they crossed the state border and were heading north. The sun started to go down, and she was tired.


Connor flipped the headlights on and looked over at her. She’d fallen asleep, and her light brown hair fell in her face. He thought again of his promise to her to rescue Ben, and he looked at the road again. What he had promised was next to impossible. Did she know that?

He’d seen the way Ben made her eyes light up. The way she’d looked at him. And then the way she had looked upon him in fear when he spoke of killing, and he clutched the wheel tighter as he remembered her words. Was he wrong? What if there was really nothing he, a boy lost in the world, could do to stop these manic terrorists from putting substance to their plots?

He remembered her face again, her mortification, and he wanted to smash something. It was all his fault. And she was right.

Episode 10

When they reached the door that led to the abandoned locker room, Connor pushed the door, expecting it to swing open, but it wouldn’t budge. “Great,” he grumbled, and threw himself against it. It bent a bit, and another shoulder-shove against the door made it bang against the other locker and almost swing back, creaking on one hinge.  Miah held her hands quietly, realizing this guy was strong.  Okay.

“Well, they’ll have to fix that door.” As they ran, Connor shoved a cartridge into his handgun. “Just in case we run into any more of them.”

“You wouldn’t kill someone, would you?” she gaped.

Running around a corner, he shook his head. “They killed Amy. And they’d just as soon kill you or me.”

“So that’s how you justify it?” They reached the large room, and their footsteps echoed. Connor hurried down the long hallway and reached the door. “Murder?” He turned to her, about to snap back. She stepped away, suddenly afraid of this man.

“Have you ever killed someone?” Miah whispered, barely daring to move.

He stared back at her for a long moment. She stared back, almost cringing. Unwilling to answer, he shoved the door open and walked outside. He unlocked the car and got in, starting it up. She cautiously opened the door and sat in the seat, and put her seatbelt on. As he drove away, she looked down. “Take me home.”

He frowned. “But they must know where you live. You won’t be safe there.”

“Would I be any safer here?” she almost yelled.

“Yes! If I have anything to do with it, you will be! Ben told me to make sure you’re safe.”

Miah wanted to cry. “Why won’t they just leave us alone?”

He shrugged. “It’s what they do.”

“But I didn’t do anything to them!”

“They’re bad men, Miah. They only think about themselves, and ambush innocent people for fun. They don’t care whether they even know who you are. Personal gain is their only interest, and greed controls them as nothing else can.”

He stared at the road ahead, and as she watched him she was reminded of a verse in Proverbs about the evil man. ‘They run to do something evil, and they cannot wait to kill someone.’

She sighed. “I think I understand.”

He nodded. “They’ll get what’s coming to them, though. They’ll pay.”  He scowled, and Miah looked away, taking deep breath and looking out the window. 

Episode 9

Miah sat down. Connor paced back and forth, and she looked up at him. “If they don’t find us down that tunnel, they’ll be back, won’t they?”

“Yes. We need to get away from here, but I don’t know where we could go without being followed. I just don’t know anywhere we could hide that they couldn’t find us; we knew about this place from them.”

He continued to pace the floor, and Miah stood. “What about Ben’s car and yours? I don’t want to drive alone, especially if we get chased again…” She shuddered.

“Hm…”  The light from the flashlight cast his shadow on the wall.

Miah crossed her arms. “What if we just leave and think as we go? They might be back any minute.”

Connor stopped pacing, sighing. “You’re right…” He glanced around the room and found a large wooden chest. Opening it quickly, he took two objects from it and closed the lid. Tossing one to Miah, he muttered, “Just in case.”

It was a handgun. “Put it in your pocket. It’s not loaded right now.”

She gingerly slipped the gun into her pocket and watched as he took several cartridges from a cabinet. “Put these in your other pocket,” he said, handing two to her.

“I don’t even know how to use a gun,” she protested.

“You can at least look like you know how to. Then maybe they’ll think twice before attacking you. And besides, without a gun you’re basically helpless.”

Stuffing the cartridges in her pocket with a huff, she rolled her eyes, wishing she’d never met this guy.

“Let’s go.” Lifting the trapdoor, he jumped down. “Come on,” he beckoned with the flashlight.

“Jump?” she asked incredulously.

“Yeah.”

Miah sat on the edge of the hole and closed her eyes. He caught her as she jumped down in a dizzying moment and she hurried down the passageway after him, a bit shaken. “Which car will we take?” she panted as they ran along.

“We’ll take mine, maybe come back for Ben’s later.”

Miah kept running along, frowning.

Episode 8

Ben looked at Miah and smiled. “It’s good to see you again.”

She nodded, smiling back. “It’s been—”

“Shh!” Connor suddenly hissed, rising from his chair, listening intently. They both froze. Connor looked to Ben with urgency, who nodded to one of the rooms. Ben crept over to the kerosene lamp and, before putting it out tossed the flashlight to Connor. “Hide her,” he whispered.

Miah gaped wide-eyed as Connor pulled her into the room, and whispered, “Ben!”

He reached for her hand and grabbed it tight, as if trying to convey what he could not put into words. “Miah…They’re coming. I’ll hold them off. Just do what he tells you to do!”

“Ben!”

He extinguished the lamp, and they were in darkness. Her heart beat fast as she tried not to panic. She heard the sound of something grating against stone, a faint sound like footsteps. Miah moaned in anxiety, clenching her fists.

“Keep her safe, Connor!” Ben shouted.

“I will!” he called back, breathing heavily.

She felt Connor pulling her into a small compartment and squeezing in after her. Then a door closed and she heard footsteps outside even louder. There was a loud bang, and the trapdoor was thrust open. Multiple footsteps entered the room, scuffling across the uncarpeted spaces of the floor.

“Come out with your hands up!” she heard a muffled yell. The voice was commanding and harsh, and it made her shiver. Connor’s arm was up against hers in the dark, and she felt him grab her hand comfortingly. She fought to keep from hyperventilating in the closed space, but almost choked on her breath.

“Ben Lockham!” she heard the voice. Then there was the sound of an impact, and a loud groan. She gasped and tried to move, a scream itching up her throat, but Connor squeezed her hand tightly, and she swallowed the sound.

“Where are the others with you?” he asked. When there was no answer, he shouted, “Tell me!”

Miah cringed, and it was all she could do to stop herself from screaming and stopping them from hurting him; she dug her fingernails into Connor’s hand, but he only held it tighter.

“They escaped,” she barely heard his voice, “down the escape tunnel.”

There was the sound of a door opening, and another voice called, “There’s a tunnel here!”

“Good. Follow them.”

Miah stood with eyes wide in the dark, listening in trepidation.

The footsteps echoed down the tunnel, and after a few minutes of silence, Connor slowly opened the door, squeezing past Miah. He stepped out and listened for a while, and then flipped the flashlight on with a click. Instantly a figure leaped up from the shadow by the doorway, a gun raised, but Connor dropped him with a kick before he could shout to alert the others. Miah gulped.

“Quick,” he said to Miah, breathing heavily, “we’ve got to get out of here.”

She blinked and nodded. “Where’s Ben?”

Connor walked into the main room where he had been and checked in the other rooms, but returned. “They must have taken him.”

Miah’s mortified face was barely illuminated by the flashlight, her eyes wide with terror; her eyes darted toward the tunnel. She took a step toward the opening, but Connor was quicker.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Connor grabbed her wrist, fumbling to stop her. “Stop!”

She broke from his grip and dashed into the tunnel.

A few seconds later she ran back, shaking. “Give me the light,” she demanded, trying to sound firm, but her voice betrayed her.

“No.”

Miah grabbed for it, choking back a sob, but he held it above her reach. “I have to follow him!” she cried, reaching for it.

“You can’t do anything for him, Miah!” He placed the flashlight on top of the refrigerator and grabbed her arms, clenching his teeth. “We can’t do anything right now!”

She struggled, but stopped as she burst into tears. Connor slowly let go, and hesitatingly put his arms around her. She didn’t push him away, and he held her tighter. “What are we going to do?” she cried into his shirt.

“We’ll get him back,” he replied, “if I have to drag him from Linz myself.” He held her close as she cried, and wondered how on earth he could keep his promise.

Episode 7

Miah stared at the carpet between her feet, taking it all in. She wanted to ask Ben more about who Amy was. Both he and Connor had reacted to her death in anger, and she wondered if either of them had been attached to her. Or possibly both. But ever since she’d met Ben at a camp, he’d never showed favoritism to any other girls over her. He’d never talked about anyone like that. She knew it wasn’t breaking any rules or promises for him to be such good friends with another girl, but she’d had the feeling that she was his best friend.

She looked at him and felt as though, if her fears were true, so many things she believed in were a lie. She wanted to be mad at him, but she couldn’t help feeling that there must be some misunderstanding. And she felt awkward talking to him in front of Connor, who she hardly knew. She sighed, starting to feel the sheer weight of the whole situation settle upon her. Lifting a hand to brush the hair from her forehead, she realized she was shaking.

Connor, seeming to sense her discomfort, stood to get a drink from the refrigerator. While he occupied himself, Ben moved his chair closer to Miah’s, reaching to put an arm around her. She gratefully leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling the strength ebb from her body as her previous adrenaline left her system.

“This is crazy,” she whispered, taking shallow breaths and closing her eyes.

“Hey, I know…” He swallowed. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you any of this before.”

“It wouldn’t have done anything but make me worry unnecessarily,” she told him gently, and tried to figure out how to say what she was thinking. Her mind slowed like her mother’s electric mixer trying to mix too much sticky batter. Far too many thoughts were clogging her brain, and it was slowing her down. And what had she eaten for breakfast, a pancake? She had nothing to keep her upright in the first place.

“Amy was Connor’s girl,” Ben added then, smoothing her shoulder with a thumb, “but we’d become great friends in such a short time. I just couldn’t figure out how to tell you though email without you freaking out about it.”

Whether Connor heard or not, he didn’t let on, and Miah sighed. “I’m sorry you had a reason to worry you’d upset me.”

“Hah. Upset you? You kidding?”

She elbowed him and he laughed, poking her back. Connor walked up and handed them both a glass of water. “Here,” he muttered, sitting back in his seat.

After taking a drink, Miah realized how thirsty she had been. “Thank you,” she said, gulping down the rest as quietly as she could manage.

Episode 6

Ben nodded and set up for her a chair, sitting in another across from her.

“Well, it started back in Austria.”

“Linz,” Connor added, closing his eyes as he leaned back, listening.

“Yes, in Linz. The seniors’ class was on a field trip to the software facilities there when Connor and I—”

“And Amy.”

Ben looked irritably at Connor, and Miah frowned. Who was Amy?

“Yes,” Ben continued. “We found a door that said ‘Do Not Enter’ that was cracked open, and Amy wanted to see what was inside.” He shook his head. “The three of us were at the back of the group, so no one noticed us slip away…. The room had lots of computers and microscopes and machinery, and we didn’t see anyone inside. We looked around, mostly at the machinery and things.” Ben scratched a stain on his jeans and continued, “We assumed they were for making computers, but now I think they might have had another motive…. I wiggled the mouse of one of the laptops, just curious, and the window that was opened caught my eye. I called the other two over to see it. It was detailed plans of a powerful computer virus, along with other plans to infect every computer linked through the internet.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “That’s what a virus is.”

Ben blinked and looked up, mouthing the words I don’t care, and went on. “We were horrified. On another window, I caught a glimpse of the mechanics of a robot, but before I could read more Connor said that someone was coming. We all freaked out, but I unplugged the laptop and grabbed it as we hurried out the door. I put it in Connor’s backpack, and we ran to catch up with the group.”

Miah looked at him, confused. “But that’s not all, is it? What happened then?”

Ben shook his head no, and Connor leaned forward, continuing with his story. “A week later, just after graduation, I received an email demanding that I give the laptop back. The conspirators had valuable information on that computer, and they had worked overtime to figure out what happened to it. I don’t know how they figured out who I was, but if they knew my email address, then they knew where I lived.” Miah shuddered.

“That’s when we started to get really scared.”

Ben nodded. “We weren’t really thinking….”

Connor looked down. “After I told Amy, she tried to take the laptop to the place they’d told us to leave it, at a remote gas station in Switzerland. When I found out what she’d done, Ben and I followed her and just barely managed to stop her from giving it to the man there. When he tried to get it back and I resisted, there was a fight, and Amy was shot.”

Miah blinked, hesitating in her deep breath. Looking toward the trapdoor again, remembering the way they had fled as if their pursuers knew their every move, she frowned.

Things are beginning to make sense.

She noticed that Ben was clenching his fist; she looked at Connor solemnly. “What happened then?”

Connor turned to look her in the eye. “Ben and I chased the man responsible for her death; we used the information in the laptop to find their hiding places. Using their own explosives, we blew up their main facility in Slovakia, severely crippling their effort to create the right computer virus.”

Ben grinned, probably at his dramatic wording, and Connor bit his lip to keep from smiling and continued. 

 
“With the laptop, we've been tracking them for some time, but they discovered more about us than we intended them to. They even found out about you.”

Ben nodded and looked up at Miah. “I had suspicions that they would try to harm you because of me, but I wasn't even sure how much they knew about you. I should have known better than to visit you at school openly…. They obviously followed me to your school, or knew where your school was. I visited you to make sure you were alright, but now I can't help but wonder if they found you because of that one mistake….”

Dismal, miserable sense.

Episode 5

Connor nudged her, and Miah bristled at the contact. Don’t touch me, she wanted to mutter. She clenched her teeth and stepped into the locker, bumping right into Ben who had turned around in the small inner space to see if she was coming. “Whoa,” he said as Miah took a step back, giving a sigh in recovery and then blinking in the light in her eyes. He turned his flashlight toward Connor and stated, “This is the way, through the storm sewers. I think they were constructed so that if the huge aquariums upstairs broke, the water that flooded the building could drain through here.”

Miah muttered a “cool” and glanced back toward the door of the room. Connor nodded to Ben and stepped into the tunnel. Miah turned back silently, and the two of them followed Ben.

The walls felt like cement, and the floor seemed dry enough, but it showed green spots as if it had once been slippery with lichen and growth. Miah watched her feet to make sure she didn’t trip over any uneven edges; she could see nothing but what the flashlight illuminated. Suddenly she wondered what would happen if the flashlight died… Would we be left in the dark? How would we get back? What if—? Pushing the thought aside with a shudder, she kept walking.

The dark passageway had a few openings leading off the main, but Ben did not turn. The openings were black, their emptiness stretching out to grab her as she walked past. Miah wondered how far it would go on; she couldn’t see an end, and its contorted course made it impossible to tell how far they had come. What would I do if I got lost down here?

“How far are we going?” she asked, looking to Ben worriedly.

Connor answered her in a low voice. “Soon.”

Miah shrugged it off and continued on, hoping they would reach it soon, wherever “it” was.

Finally, Ben slowed his pace and began checking each branching passageway with his flashlight; the gaps in the light startled Miah. He seemed to be counting something. He finally ducked down one to the left, and she and Connor followed wordlessly. He opened a trapdoor in the ceiling and climbed up easily; there were almost unnoticeable hand- and foot-holds in the wall he used to push himself up. Ben reached a hand down to Miah once he was through, and she climbed up after him. Connor followed.

Miah climbed into a surprisingly well-furnished room. Obviously it had been constructed out of what the builders could carry down the tunnels in the storm sewers, but it had a few folding chairs, a carpet on the floor, some wooden cabinets and shelves, an old kerosene-powered refrigerator, and several lamps, which also ran on kerosene. Oh yeah, I guess there’s no power down here, she thought. Looking up at the ceiling, she wondered how many feet of rock and dirt were pushing down on that room from the surface and shivered.

Ben walked into one of the two doorways covered by curtains, and then checked in the other as well.

“No one’s here,” he said decidedly.

Connor sighed in relief and sat down in a chair. “Finally.” He clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back.

Miah stood awkwardly beside the trapdoor, and then closed it gently. She didn’t like the feeling of a black hole that anything could pull her down into.

She walked over to Ben and looked him in the eye. “So, you said you’d explain things once we were safe; now tell me, what’s going on?”

Episode 4

It was almost lunchtime by the time Ben, following Connor in his car, drove up to an old, abandoned building complex. With the rain still pouring down, he drove around to the back lot and parked in a space next to an inconspicuous exit door.

“It used to be an aquarium,” Ben said as he helped her out of the car. Miah let out her pent-up breath as she kept close behind him.

Connor produced a key to unlock the unlabeled door and quickly entered, while Ben held it open for her. Miah smiled and nodded her thanks. Once they were inside, Connor opened a panel on the wall and flipped a few switches, which flicked on a light in the hall. Low whines echoed down the hall as the rest of the lights clinked on. Ben closed the door after a quick look outside, and he and Miah followed Connor down the hallway. Soon, after following through another locked door, a larger room opened up before them. Bluish lights in empty aquariums lined the walls, casting eerie shadows by the plants and rocks within. The floor was dusty, Miah noticed, and worried that they would be easily tracked by their footprints. With a sinking feeling, she followed as they walked down a dark, narrow stairway into a pitch-black space. Miah froze, fighting panic. “I—I can’t see.”

She blinked as Connor clicked on a flashlight and shone it at the floor. He wore an annoyed smirk, his face lit from below like a ghost-story teller. Miah let go of Ben’s arm, which she hadn’t even realized she’d grabbed onto, and looked away. With a nod down the hall, Connor turned to lead them further, and Miah crossed her arms as she followed. She hoped she wouldn’t have to put up with this guy for too much longer. He was getting on her nerves.

They made their way down the hallway to a section with numerous doors, all closed, leading to rooms on both sides. Connor looked down both sides of the hallway before walking up to one and opening it without too much difficulty, though the door stuck a bit.

With a sigh, Connor handed the flashlight to Ben, who walked into the room. Brushing his brown hair from his face, he shone the flashlight at a line of lockers, full height ones that looked like they probably held night guard uniforms or work suits. Opening one with a combination he had memorized, he reached inside and pressed on the back panel of the locker, where the wall should have been, and stepped inside the locker. Miah’s eyes opened wide as she hurried forward, toward the light that still shone through from Ben’s flashlight. There was a tunnel inside the locker!

Episode 3

Miah couldn’t get the note out of her head. As she went to the girls’ locker room to change back into her clothes, she took the note out again. Looking it over, front and back, she couldn’t find a name or signature anywhere, but she found a scribbling in the corner. Someone had written “Maya” and scratched it out, replacing it with the correct spelling of her name. This is weird. I mean, that’s how my name sounds, but Ben wouldn’t accidentally misspell my name. He sees it written out in every text message I send. She put it in her back pocket—and the back of her mind—and left, sinking into unease.

She quickly grabbed her backpack from her locker upstairs and headed outside to the picnic table area. The walk was long; the picnic table area was a long ways from the high school. She shivered as a breeze came through the parking lot, and thought to herself that this wasn’t starting out to be the perfect day she’d thought it would be. Anxious to see Ben again, she walked faster along the median between parking spots.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure step around a parked car near her. She gasped and jumped, turning toward the person and almost falling off the median. But it was only Ben.

He reached out to stop her fall, grasping her arm. “Miah! What’s the matter?”

Shocked for the second time that day, she regained her footing and stood looking at the ground, taking deep breaths. I keep freaking out. I wish I’d stop.

“Are you alright?” he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Miah nodded, clenching her teeth in frustration at herself. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry…you just startled me. I didn’t mean to get freaked out. I’m just…a little jumpy.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I started walking over here after you didn’t show up in an hour, and then saw you. What happened? Class go late or something?” Giving an encouraging smile, Ben continued walking along the median with her toward the picnic tables.

Miah nodded, “I fell in P.E. and scraped up my hands and knees,” she explained, showing him her palms specked with red and torn skin.

He paused to gently take her hands, his hands trembling against hers. “Is that all?” He looked in her eyes for an answer.

Catching her still-sporadic breath, she shook her head. “Did…did you slip a note into my pocket earlier?” She turned her hands to hold his.

Ben squeezed them absent-mindedly, his mind processing her question. His eyebrows scrunched up, and Miah’s stomach drew into a knot. He hesitantly replied, lowering her hands and letting go. “No, I didn’t…What did it say?”

Miah gulped and took the crumpled note out of her pocket, holding it by two fingers as if it were burning. “Here,” she said as she handed it to him.

He opened the crinkled paper and read it silently, casting his eyes over the front and back. He then looked quickly around, folding it up as he turned to survey the whole parking lot. Besides a couple students sitting by a tree next to the school, the area was deserted. Ben looked toward his navy blue Jetta, parked on the far side of the lot. Taking one of her hands, he put the note in his pocket. “It’s not safe here,” he muttered, and then nodded to himself. “We should go.” He headed toward it, and she followed close behind.

“But, Ben!” Miah hurried to keep up with him, pulling slightly on his hand. “My mom said we had to stay here at school all day.”

He turned to her for a moment. “You could be in danger. You probably are.”

“Ben—” she started, and then she froze.

As a gust of wind started up, a covered red convertible coming around the corner gunned its engine right toward them in the parking lot. Miah screamed, and Ben pulled her backward out of its path. The car spun away and headed in a circle to come at them again. Miah’s heart was beating so fast she could hardly breathe. Ben pulled her hand toward his car parked on the other side of the road and unlocked it hastily. “Get in!”

Trembling, she opened the door and hopped in the front seat. With the ignition coughing into the engine’s roar, Ben pulled out of the spot with the red car right at their heels. “Seatbelt!” Ben shouted, shifting into second as they careened around a corner. Flooring the gas, they shot out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

Miah turned to look behind, only to see the red sports car gaining on them. “Wh-what do we do?” she cried frantically, looking ahead at the empty road. “Where are we going?”

Ben bit his lip, shifting up into fifth gear. “We can’t go to your house; we don’t know if they know where you live. If we head to an area with heavier traffic, we could lose them.” They passed speed-limit sign for 35 and Ben glanced at his 60-reading speedometer in anxious hesitation.

Miah clutched her seatbelt. “Are they actually trying to kill us?”

“I don’t know. They tried to run into us, so that’s definitely a possibility.”

The sports car nudged their bumper, and Miah gasped. Ben shifted down into third, accelerated suddenly, and then, with a quick glance in the mirror, pulled over sharply and slowed down. The red car raced ahead, unable to slow down fast enough. Pulling it into first gear, Ben headed down an intersecting road that headed downtown, shifting accordingly as he went, following speed limits, and nodding to himself. Miah covered her forehead with a hand as she sighed anxiously.

The red car was soon following again, but not as closely as before. Miah closed her eyes and leaned back.

Ben glanced at her, and swallowed. “I’m so sorry this is happening to you, Miah.”

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault.”

“Well…” Ben started to say, but a screeching sound stopped him. Staring into his rear-view mirror, he watched with startled amazement as a black SUV flew out from a side road and T-boned the red car chasing them. The cars flew onto the shoulder and were abruptly stopped by a tree. Immediately slowing down, Ben brought the car into a U-turn to investigate.

From the red convertible, which had had the passenger side crushed, a man escaped and fled into the trees. The door of the black car opened with some difficulty, and the man inside started to chase the other who had run for the woods.

The man turned as their car pulled up and quit the engine. Ben stepped out and stood. Miah opened her door and slowly walked behind the car to Ben’s side to look at the man.

He was younger than he had appeared from farther away. He wore a black t-shirt and torn jeans, and his blonde hair hung in his blue eyes. Combat boots fit his soldierly look, and he folded his arms across his chest. He was muscular and tall, and from the looks of it, he’d probably get the better of Ben in a fight. The young man gazed at her silently, and she stepped closer to Ben. His gaze shifted to her companion, who stared back coldly.

“Why did you bring her into this?” the man asked bitterly.

“Hey,” Ben retorted, “it wasn’t my idea. I’ve been trying to protect her, but clearly, that guy knows too much,” he said, pointing toward where the man had disappeared.

“Obviously.” The blond looked at Miah again, and she felt as if she were some kind of possession, being talked about in her presence as if she weren’t there.

She looked up at Ben’s face, who met her gaze. Distraught, he clenched his fist and turned back to the man in black. “We should have left him alone.”

The young man rolled his eyes. “Please, Ben, you should have thought of that before now. Come on.” He beckoned for him to follow.

When he started to turn around to get back into his car, Ben took Miah’s shoulders quickly. “We’ve gotta go.”

“Ben, what’s going on?” she demanded as he turned, trying to grab his arm.

Heading for her door, he promised, “I’ll explain everything to you once we’re safe. Just trust me.” He put a hand on her shoulder and sighed, giving a sad smile.

Miah bit her lip and nodded. He stepped to her door and opened it for her, grim faced as he then walked to his side and slid into the driver’s seat. Droplets of rain splattered on the windshield, and Miah looked up at the sky as she put on her seatbelt.

As they drove away after the black SUV, Miah thought to ask, “What is his name?”

Ben’s face softened, and he answered, “Connor.”

“A friend of yours?” she asked, slightly more at-ease.

“Yeah. We met at boarding school,” he answered after shifting into third.

As it started to rain heavily, the SUV before them accelerated. Ben increased his speed and looked over at Miah, who sat looking out the window. He looked forward again, focusing on the road, but with a troubled air.

Everything had gone wrong.