CHAPTER I

“You are nothing. Nor will you ever be. Your life is full of corruption, and your sins make up a sea”. With a lurch the boy jump forward out of his slumber only to find darkness and confusion swarming around his bed. He stumbled up out of his blankets to stand as if it were for the first time. He gazed around the room somehow not remembering anything of which happened before he slipped away into his sleep.

“Yesterday… Did I? What happened?” He thought while trying to wake his eyes from the long duration of rest. He walked to his door, only to barely make out posters he had never knowingly seen before. Opening the door the boy found a tall obese man sitting on a large chair in the front room. He searched for a switch and came upon light dimmers. Turning the lights on to the brightest level, the large man shook out of his dreams. As the boy stood still not knowing what to expect the man pushed himself quickly out of his chair and spoke angrily through his teeth, “What are you doing up Jack!? Get the hell back in your room now!” Jack did not respond only staring as if he knew he was about to be hurt, yet forgot how to run.

Furiously the massive man walked forward and with force grabbed the 17 year old by the shirt. The man again yelled, “Get the hell back in your room! You know you are not aloud out here after what you did!” Jack yelled back “I don’t know what you are talking about! Get your hands of me you old fool!” Desperately the boy pulled the man's tightly grasped hand away from him and immediately sprinted to his room. The man then ran after Jack only finding a locked door in his path. Jack quickly put on the nearest out door clothing, only fearing what the man would do once he got into the room.

Forcing on a pair of shoes, Jack ran to his window and began to pry open the screen preventing him from leaving. As the pounding on the door became louder, Jack finally punched a hole through the resisting screen, and tore through the seems until the space was large enough to fit through. Right when the startled boy was about to escape, he heard the pounding stop, and heavy footsteps only beginning to trail towards the front door. Being on the ground floor of his house, Jack jumped onto the soil outside at the same moment the front door opened.

Jack held his eyes open wide only to see the man with a baseball bat in hand. Letting out a single low scream of fear, he again ran quickly down the sidewalk in front of the house. As the man twisted his neck to see the boy running, he began to follow as if he were chasing a thief who had stolen his wallet.

Jack began to lose his breath as the man gained on his lead. Immediately Jack searched for a place to hide from the furious man, finally to find a small group of trees just beyond the space of two houses. With a mere whim, the boy lurched into the group of trees only to trip right after on various roots.

With a groan in pain, Jack pulled himself behind a large tree just before the man began to enter the woods. Slowing to doge the limbs, the man said “Jack, you little bastard! Get out here so I can give you a lesson you won’t forget!” With silence Jack cringed to a small ball on the darkest portion of the tree. After walking back and fourth through the woods randomly, the large man lost all expression in his face. “I’ll let the police deal with you then! You screwed up kid! Don’t come back home, or you will not like what you find!” Dropping the bat, the man turned around and walked slowly away.

After the man was far away, Jack began to weep with confusion. Every part of his body felt numb and all he could do was slip back into his undesired dreams. As the tears dried and he found his silence, the boy again was asleep.





CHAPTER II

A picture of a family appeared in Jack’s mind, there was a smile on everyone’s face, and it seemed like they all belonged together perfectly. The father figure was an average sized man with blackish gray hair and glasses. Nothing looked odd about him except his silver tooth on the left side of his two front teeth. The woman next to him had long wavy brown hair, and behind her smile, it seemed as if she worried about something. Nothing apparent to the average person, yet in he eyes held a void of hope and passion for something significant. After scanning the mother figure in the dream, Jacks mind traveled over to the boy. With a blissful smile on the boys face, his expression started to blur, everywhere in the picture, Jack only found a lifeless face. Jack squinted his eyes only to see the same thing, and with an immediate response, the paper began to burn without a flame. Throwing down the photo, Jack stepped away, watching the picture strangely turn to ashes.

Looking desperately around, he found nothing but black walls. He touched one of the walls only to have his hand fall directly through. Pulling back, he stared in shock as everything that supported him fell to ashes into an everlasting pit. The only thing that stood now was Jack on top of the dark abyss.

The sound of birds started to pierce his ears as his pulled open his eyes, a blinding light burst in through the trees, and Jack found himself lying by the tree that once contributed to his safety. Slowly Jack arose to find the sun in the center of the sky, and a warm wind to follow the many plant particles drifting in the sky.

As Jack walked towards the edge of the trees, he squinted his eyes to find the bat that once threatened his life. He bent his knees to pick up the object, and once again, he began to walk out of the brush. Once his eyes adjusted, the boy began to analyze the area around him. All he found was a field of dead grass, and off in the distance he saw a small farmhouse. Just then Jack looked to his right to disturbingly see what he had once ran from. A long row of houses sat in front of his eyes, and down the line of buildings stood the place he first woke in. Jumping backward, Jack slammed up against another tree. He then spun around to begin running once more. After racing to an unknown goal, he came upon another row of houses. Jack quickly jumped the first fence he saw, and continued on to run down a sidewalk.

Looking left and right the desperate boy only found more housing. He then came upon a two-lane road at the end of the sidewalk. Forgetting to look for cars, Jack continued across the lanes. At the very instant, he heard a loud screech, as a car swerved into the dirt edge of the lane. The bull like machine came to a complete stop once control was recovered, and a girl furiously pushed her door open. She then walked uneasily towards him with an angry expression on her face. Jack finished crossing the road and turned towards her to meet her eyes with a Holt. The girl then spoke “What is your problem? I almost killed you!” “I’m sorry, I don’t know… I have no idea what is going on,” Jack said uneasily. “Please, don’t be angry, I have been going through some horrible things lately, and I was not paying attention.” The girl replied, “I just bought new tires… Damn it.” Forgivingly she spoke again “It is alright, no one is hurt… I guess that is what counts. Just be more careful”. Jack then heard a slightly familiar sound, the sound of a truck with a broken muffler. With his widened eyes, Jack turned to see the obese man’s vehicle roaring down the road in his direction. On impulse Jack said “Oh no, I have to get out of here.” Turning quickly he ran down a hill by the road while hearing the girls faint voice behind him “Wait.”

After finding a safe area a half-mile away, Jack again stopped to rest. He sat down by an abandoned partially burned building, and began to attempt in remembering what happened before he first went to sleep back at the house. Searching his clothing for signs of why he was where he had been before, he came upon a hard plastic like figure at his ankle. Quickly, Jack pulled up his pant leg half way to find a bracelet that read “Hioa County Juvenile Detention center”. Frustrated, Jack discovered he could not remember anything about his life. His school, relatives, and his skills he had all forgotten for dead. All he knew then was the basic traits of life and the rules of society.

Now realizing he was under house arrest when he had originally woke, he looked around the building he was in for something to cut the tracer off of his ankle. After searching for fifteen minutes Jack looked at the bat still tightly gripped in his hand. And with a disturbed look on his face, he then sat down to begin the attempt to break the piece of plastic off. Every hit with the bat was a dreaded one, yet with the strong support of the device, he found pain in only the last smacks of the bat. After forty-five minutes of attempt, the bracelet was finally loose enough to fit over his foot. Jack then limped over to the burned area of the building, and threw the bracelet as far away as he could. Following the black object with his eyes, it fell into a highway, only to disappear with the first passing car.

Jack then turned way and began to notice the groaning in his stomach. He then walked towards a window and peered out onto a small gas station. With the notice of a “Quick Food” sign, he began to then walk over to the station. Once he walked in, a short man with a smile greeted him with a “Welcome”. Jack smiled back and continued on with the guilt in mind that he would have to shop lift what he wanted, because of his mistake of forgetting his wallet in the sudden previous dash out. Jack walked through the isles and found a few nutrition bars on one of the isle rows. Quickly he shoved six bars into his baggy back pocket, and then continued on to look as if he were actually planning to purchase something. Again Jack searched for food. He then found a bag of peanuts on another shelf. Peering up to see if the short man was looking, Jack grabbed two packages of peanuts and stuffed them in his other open back pocket. Jack shifted his eyes and began to walk towards the exit. As he walked past the register, Jack said, “Goodbye”. With a continuous smile the little man said, “Have a nice day son”. Jack then walked as casually as possible to the door, and only just began to open the door when he heard a shrilling “Hey wait!” With an innocent turn Jack then became relived when he saw the girl that forgave him earlier for his jay walking.

The girl approached him and said “Hey you, where are you headed?” Jack responded, “I really don’t know… I have been wondering that a lot lately”. He and the girl continued to walk through the door as she said, “So what is your name?” Jack responded “He called me Jack.”. With a confused look, the girl then said, “Alright, Jack, my name is Amber. How do you do?” Jack raised his brow and smiled a bit. “Do you have a ride, Jack?” Amber said. Jack replied “No… I really have nothing but what I wear.” She then said “I’m sorry, so I guess you ran away from home? You do not look old enough to have your own home.” With no response she continued, would you like a ride? I am going back to my place, I just came out here to grab some things for my friends.” Jack stopped by her car and said, “I really have no other option, will your parents mind?” With a smile Amber spoke “Parents? No… I am living on my own right now, I am twenty two.” Jack nodded slightly and sighed, “Very well.”

After twenty minutes of driving, the care came to a slow right by a warehouse like building. The two got out of the car, and Jack followed her up to a garage like door. Amber then typed into a phone pad a variety of numbers. Immediately the door began to open, Amber turned with a gesturing and said, “Welcome to my lair”. Jack responded with a slight smile, as she walked into the building.

“Who is He!?” a loud voice came from the other side of the warehouse. “He is a friend!” Amber yelled back. A dark figure then jumped down from the railing on the second floor to the ground. With a mere noise of a foot step the boy in black walked up out of the buildings shadows and uttered, “There are not to be any foreigners in our building, you know that.”. Amber then replied, “Don’t worry Charles, he is fine. He doesn’t even know where he is.”. Looking away from her, Charles then looked at Jack with a strangely different approach then moments before. Charles walked up to Jack and put out his hand, “Hello stranger, what is your name?” he said. Jack responded, “My name is Jack, I am sorry if I have caused you trouble, that was not my intention, I can g…” Charles interrupted, “No need to worry, Amber is a smart girl, I am sure she knows what she is talking about.”. He then turned to Amber and said, “Dear, the others will be back from their venturing in a few hours, why don’t you show Jack around?”. Amber nodded and turned to Jack, “Follow me Jack.”. As Charles then walked over to his computer, Jack followed Amber upstairs.

When they entered a room on the second floor, Jack said, “Amber? Who are the others?”. She replied, “You should not worry about them, they are much like you. Let me show you around, they will be here soon enough”. As Jack nodded she continued, “I am going to skip the insignificant traits of this place. I am unsure of where you will sleep for now… that is if you wish to stay with us. Though we will find a place” Walking down the weakened metal floor she showed Jack the rooms of the warehouse. He and Amber then came upon a unique room in the building. As they walked in Jack paused and looked around in amazement. “This is the technology room… Jack?” Amber said. Jack shook his head out of what astonishment he had experienced and continued to analyze the room. “There… How did you get all of this stuff?” Jack said. “We have a total of ten people living under this roof, eleven counting you. With everyone contributing their money and hard work, we have become quite rich in our financial stability, and even earned some one the side to buy all of this equipment that you see.” Amber replied. Over 10 high tech computers swamped the area with a massive T.V. and next to that stood a massive computer that stood at least ten feet tall in the back of the room. On the walls were various certificates and achievement plaques along with many cabinets containing various software and hardware. “Come on Jack, there is more to see.” Amber said pulling him away.

As they continued to walk a loud sound came outside like a motorcycle gang approaching. Right after the garage door began to open and a tall young Native-American man walked through the door screaming “Well Boys! Were home!”


CHAPTER III

In the background, Jack could hear Charles and the Native man speaking. “What did you find Jonny?” asked Charles. “We all drove to a sweet place in Chestnut Cove, the place was empty for only hours, yet that was enough.” Said Jonny. While listening Jack leaned up against some stacked boxes only to have the collapse on his weight. “What was that!?” Jonny questioned. Amber stepped out of the room, “Hey Jon! How was your trip?”. “Who is back there with you” Jon yelled. With a pause Amber replied “Um…” , before she could answer, Jack then walked out of the shadows and yelled back “I am sorry if I alerted you, It was just a few boxes.”. With the others that were with Jon just then making their way through the large door, Jon spun around to glare at Charles, “Who the hell is he? What is he doing here!?”. “Calm down Jon, he is nothing to worry about” Jon interrupted, “So we screw the rules? Does it matter anymore that we said no newcomers!? You are not the boss here, no matter what you think, you cannot change our rules. Give him the shot, and get rid of him Charles!”. With a quick reply Charles debated “Jon, you listen up. Amber brought him here, she says he has nowhere to go. If we even had the right formula for the shot, what use would it be if we had nowhere to put him?” Looking around Charles continued “We must not speak of this now, you have already said too much. In the Blue Haring Jon”. After those last words, Jon and Charles walked into a room that Jack had yet to look through.

At an attempt to distract Jack, Amber said “Hey, don’t worry about them, they are just having a little battle of imaginary power. It is nothing. Um… Would you like to meet the others?” Jack replied, “Yeah… sure.”. Jack and Amber walked back down the stairs and to the main area of the warehouse. They joined the group sitting on the leather couches. Amber said with a smile “Everyone, I would like you to meet Jack.” Three of them just looked up slightly and gave a sarcastic smile, while a shorter blonde boy stood up to shake Jacks hand. “Yo Jack, the names Sean” he said. With his hand greeting Sean’s Jack replied “Hello Sean…”. After Sean again sat down, Amber worryingly introduced the others. She pointed to the man next to Sean. “That tough guy’s name is David” as David said a slight “Hello” Amber whispered, “He is pretty angry right now, just yesterday his car was destroyed from some punk kids.”. She then moved on to another boy on the opposite couch, “This is…” quickly he stated “Max, my name is max… You could call me the computer guy.” Amber then whispered “He has cracked the Cubecom.com passwords and… you should ask him about it”. “Jack” looking at a girl next to Max, “This is Silhouette, if you can find a person with more passion for our group, then you are dreaming.” With a worried smile, Silhouette said “Hello Jack, it is nice to meet you”.

At that sudden moment a large smashing sound came from the Blue Haring. Immediately Jon came stomping out towards the door. Right after, Charles followed screaming “Damn it Jon, don’t you walk away!”. Jon turned around “I cannot be in a place where we break our sworn rules. If any of you are sick of this shit, follow me now. We can make it on our own with out this bastard telling us what to do and when. I’m leaving… follow me if you agree.” Jon pushed the door opener and walked out to get in his car. While Charles stood, folding his arms, David stood up saying nothing and walked off to get in Jon’s car. With a hurt expression Amber tried to have him reconsider, yet David continued, bumping her out of the way.

Jon revved his engine twice and then backed out, speeding out through the fence and into silence. The others just sat as they did before scanning each other’s faces for a comforting word, or expression.

While walking towards Jack, Charles began to speak. “If any of you disagree to Jack being here, then you should follow Jon. He said he was going to his place about 15 miles away. He may come back, he may not. Yet none of you should be here if you do not like the way I act towards all of you. We are a powerful group if we only stay together, and still grasp our moral and fidelity. I do not want to lead people who wish a downfall upon me. If you do not leave, then I thank you, but there will be no cold feelings towards Jack. Everyone understand?” the group nodded, and with that result, Amber walked over to the exit, and closed the door.



CHAPTER IV

As the sun faded to the bottom of the sky, few words were exchanged between everyone in the house. Silhouette and Max walked into the computer lab, while Sean closely read a book on one of the two couches. Charles was off in his room, typing away on his computer…

Gazing off in the outdoor scenery Amber said “Jack?”. “Yeah?” Jack replied. “I am sorry about all of this, I am sorry that there has been so much chaos going on around here.”, “Isn’t it my fault? Was I not the one to make everyone angry? Obviously I ruined David and Jon’s day by just being here.”. “Jack, do not worry about the issues those three have, their friendship was nothing more then a house floating on water… If you were not the storm, then some other cloud would come along and sink it anyway.”. Jack smiled, only to laugh slightly. “You are good at the metaphors…” she then smiled and continued “Thank you Jack… It looks like the moon is coming up. It is so beautiful.”. Jack looked inside, “Come on Amber, lets go inside.”. Jack grabbed her hand and led her inside.

“Jack? Your room will be next to Charles’s. He is the one under the stairs. I know Jon would not like that, but he left. So you will be taking his room. I hope you do not mind?”. Jack replied, “No, I will live with it, goodnight.” With a smile Amber yelled “Goodnight everyone!”. She then spoke to Jack, “Hey, Sweet Dreams”.



CHAPTER V

Jack walked across a long path down a stormy path. To his left he found a white ray that had no glow at all. His right was a blue world of nothing to show shape or dimension except the lines of black on each figure.

A woman’s voice came from seemingly nowhere, “Jack, where are you going?” as if it were a scratched record, the voice continued, “Why do you always have that weapon with you? We all know what you…” “Can’t you see it hurts us as well….” “never… what are you doing? Why Jack?”. “Jack!” Both walls began to glow brighter, with the blue a strong glow that began to turn everything on that side a darker shade. And the White did the antithesis. Jack looked down at himself, only to witness his self turning a shade of gray. “Jack…” “Jack.” “Wake up!”

As Jack sat slowly up in bed, his eyes came to focus on Amber, “I made breakfast, do you like pancakes?” With a slight stutter Jack replied “Pan? Oh… Yeah… I will be out in a moment”. Amber informed Jack “If you need clothing, I set out some for you… I hope you do not mind black? They are Charles’s. He was nice enough to lend you some.”. Jack nodded, as Amber continued, “Alright… You can ask Sean where the shower is, see you in a few minutes.”.

With a close of the door, Jack pulled himself out of his still persisting sleep. Pulling on the dark clothing, Jack walked out to sit on one of the couches. Sean sat down beside him, “Jack eh? Have you ever tried peanut butter and applesauce pancakes?”. Jack raised his brow and shook his head. Sean continued, “That sucks, it is the common reaction though. If you feel up to trying it, you may like…” “It’s ready guys” Amber yelled to those still in their rooms. With slight sounds of stumbles, Charles came out of his room looking like he were ready for a day on the town. Just upstairs Silhouette and Max jumped off the bunk bed and stumbled out with their hair in a thousand places.

While the others gathered, Amber began to pull the warming pancakes out of the oven. The six people all sat down to eat with the one thing on every one’s mind. “Where are we going today Charles?” Amber said. “I found a place, a nice place up on Timber Creek Hills, though I will be going with you this time. Sean? I will need you to stay here and make sure no one uninvited shows up.” Sean nodded while Charles continued “The rest of us will buy the neccisary supplies, since Jon has most of them in his car, and we will head up to the location by 1pm. You all have a say in what we do as you know… anyone disagree?”. With an instant response Max questioned “What will happen to Jack? Is he going?”. Charles stated “Yes, He is.” With a silent response, he continued “He will read the statement I wrote up last night and then we will all be off around 10am”. With shock Jack asked “Are you sure I am ready? I don’t even know what you do. I do not even know my own abilities… You don’t even know what my background is.” Charles responded “I know enough Jack. I am not giving you a complex task. You will see.”

Once they all finished eating, the group split up to get prepared for the day. Charles asked Jack to come to his room, “Here Jack, this is what you need to know for now”. Jack took the two-page piece of literature and read it while making his way back to the couch. Amber was cleaning the dishes, and after 10 minutes of reading, asked “Anything interesting?”. Jack looked up with a disappointed expression, and continued to read. “..your position in all of this will be to wait in the car on the curb. If anything drastic occurs outside, you will warn us, if anything goes wrong inside, you will need to speed away once Amber and I get in the car. Max will have a similar task as you, yet he will be scanning police radar, and reports on his laptop...” As Jack continued on, Charles walked out of his room and said “Enough washing Amber, I will take care of the rest, you should get ready”.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, everyone was prepared. “Max and Silhouette, you take the Dawson, we will take the Terrod.” With instant agreement the group walked outside and slide into each car. Right after the group sped off with Sean waving in the now distant warehouse.


CHAPTER VI

”Where are we headed first?” asked Jack, Charles replied “There is a man I know, he is about 49 years of age. The guy is extremely paranoid of the government, yet is a major asset when it comes to getting, nearly anything.”. After minutes of driving the two vehicles came upon a rusted tin shack. “I never understood the guy, he has over a million dollars, yet he chooses to live here in this old place.” Amber said. Getting out of the car, the man stood the at the door gripping the pistol strapped to his leg. “Don’t worry James, it is just us.” Max said in a mocking way with his hands in the air. “Who is the newbie?” James asked. Charles responded “This is Jack, he is clean of wires, no frets?”. “Yeah… I suppose so. Come on in.” James invited. The five all followed his welcoming hand inside. “Did you get the email I sent last night?” Charles asked. “Course. I have that thing on 24/7 along with my mail. I had to work hard on getting those supplies… The last of them should be here in a few… Got your money?” James requested. Charles nodded, and replied “Show me what you have so far.” As the two walked over to a walk in safe Amber ordered “Come on everyone, there is no point to being here.” They all walked out to find a van approaching, a woman walked out and handed a large package to Amber, “Sign here please” the woman stated. After taking the box the woman drove off and the group gathered around the package.

Just then the two men walked out of the shack and piled the equipment into the car. “What do ya have there?” James asked. The four grabbed what they needed, including guns with tranquilizer, and sneaking equipment etc. “Here is the rest of the money James, thank you for your help” Charles said. “No problem, I will see you all soon.”. Charles gave Jack the keys while the group returned to their cars. “You better not total my truck, that was a lot of money.” Charles said. Jack nodded and stepped into the truck.

After instruction on the directions, the two cars traveled for 20minutes until they arrived at a gate. Charles stuck his upper body out the window to type in the code. After dialing 18152 the gate opened slowly exposing the 1st class neighborhood to the foreign vehicles. Driving through, Charles began to give instructions, “Remember, if the alarm goes off, you must start up the car and Max will set up the transparent walls on every end we do not use. Max will lead our team in such occasion since you are new to the task. We are almost there, turn left”. The two vehicles came upon a 3 story mansion with cast-iron fencing all around. As the cars came to a slow Charles pressed a button, which made a plastic covering slide over the license plate. At that instant Charles, Amber, and Silhouette all lurched out of their vehicles, and strapped on the remaining equipment that had not done so before. After doing such, they grouped as Charles strictly pointed in two different directions. Silhouette nodded her head and ran off to easily jump the fence only to begin a creep around the left side of the house. After analyzing the front view, Charles looked at a beeper like piece on his side, and one of the two red lights turned to green which notified him that it was safe to break in the front door without camera’s coming on. Charles then looked back at Max hacking away at the laptop keys. Seconds later, Max looked up and gave a thumbs up and a green light.

With that notice, Amber looked at Charles and took a deep breath. They turned and ran to jump over the fence. With amazement Jack sat in the car and watched Charles jump over 15 feet to make the fence with ease. Amber as well made it with similar skill. When the two hit the ground, and slowly looked up to stay in their crouch. Analyzing the area again, Charles looked at Amber, instructing her to stay until he gave the word.

Charles looked at the machine that glowed the two lights. With seconds the lights both shined green. He then whispered “The doors are unlocked, you go to the right side and find what you can”. Charles looked back up and ran quickly to the front door. He looked closely at the edges, searching for last resort alarm systems. With no notice he ran in silently. Looking to his left he found Silhouette gathering every valuable in site on the main floor. He then found to his right Amber merging through the side door. She as well was exactly on track.

Charles spoke to her through a microphone in the masks they wore, “Amber, run to the second floor and find what you can.” Amber then looked back and again nodded. Immediately the two split to travel up the floors, only to have Charles depart to the third.

Amber first came upon a room much like their own back at the warehouse. It contained three desk computers, and two functional laptops. Quickly she walked over to stuff them in her pack. Looking around she found disks marked “Confidential” in a secret drawer in the desk. With a slight hidden smile, she added the disks to her current collection in the bag, and moved on to the next room.

Back in the truck, Jack sat doing what he was told by closely watching the houses around. He had seen people walk by yet found no one noticing the two new cars in the driveway. Just then Max frantically began screaming into the radio in the car, “Silent alarm! Silent alarm! Get the hell out of there!”.

Immediately Silhouette and Amber came rushing out of the front door leaping once again with what they had collected, over the fence. The two gathered in the vehicles only to listen closely. “Charles! Why aren’t you out yet!?” Amber screamed. Charles responded with a calm voice, “They have an advanced system. Every door in this house that was closed, is now locked. I am in the master bedroom, I closed every door behind me without minding what I was doing. I will find a way…”.

With a frantic action, Max jumped out of Silhouettes car running to the trunk. He grabbed the transparent wall boxes and again leaped into the car. He floored the car in reverse and spun around to pull 180 degrees. He then came to a screeching stop and pulled himself out. Silhouette grabbed two of the boxes running to the opposite road Max was. They placed a box on either side of two out of three roads and began to run back to the car.

Instantly a scream of barking dogs came out of both sides in the house. “Damn it! Those bastards set it up so the invader would get torn up if he tried to escape!” Amber screamed.

On the third floor of the house, Charles pulled out a dark silver circle no larger then the average pop bottle top. He then placed the thin piece on his head and pushed it as hard as he could against the top of his skull. With a slight sound of steam, the circle expanded over his entire mask to look as if it were never place on his head to begin. As the former circle hardened he backed towards the wall. With a push off of the wall Charles sprinted towards the nearest window.

With a loud crash of glass and wood, Charles spun in the air to land on his feet like he once did when Jack first met him. Looking quickly around Charles saw 3 dogs coming at him from both sides. With a quick breath he again sprinted for the fence right after to have one of the boxers snatch his leg. Only being 9 feet in the air, Charles slid across a point on the sharp fence surrounding the house. With a devastating smack on the ground, He became idle on the ground.

“Charles!” Amber screamed as she ran for him. “The cops are coming!” Max yelled. Max started up his engine along with Jacks already running engine. Max then spun around and revved his engine. “Come on!” he again pleads.

As Amber approached, Charles was pushing himself up. With blood dripping out of his two wounds, Amber cried out, “We must go!” She rapped her arm under his and around his back, and led him towards the car.

At that instant a screaming car smashed into the transparent wall, “Cops!” Max screamed, “I will hold them off! Hurry!”. Smoke pored through a gap in the transparent wall. Max found an opportunity and fired a tranquilizer into the escaping officer’s neck. “Lets Go!” Max again cried.

Jack hit the gas pedal to follow Max right after Charles stumbled into the truck. The two machines passed the two walls only to find the next road clustered with cops swarming in from both sides. With a slight grin, Max pressed the nitro switch in the Dawson, and lurched forward barely missing the oncoming barricade set for his path.

“No, they may be caught!’ Silhouette screamed, “Come on Jack!” Max encouraged through the radio, “Lets show them what that truck is for!”. With the pedal to the floor the front side of the massive machine lifted 4 feet of the ground.

As the cars beneath crumpled with a horrid sound, only to act like a small pebble under its weight. “It’s not over yet Jack, we have a long way to go still.”



CHAPTER VII

Jack still hitting the gas full blown, the truck caught up within minutes to Max. “So what do we do Max?” Jack asked. Max replied, “I have to ask that you break off from my tail when we get to the highway. I will go the back-roads, and you take the speedway. When it gets hairy, improvise. Amber can help if you need it. We have to cut communication, the cops can detect it.”. As they approached the highway, Jack turned in to enter the fast paced road.

Immediately 3 local police cars swarmed the Dawson. Silhouette quickly grabbed her gun and shot a tranquilizer through the front window of the first cop behind her. With an instant hit the police car spun to the side of the road. With a sharp turn the two cops and the Dawson left the sight of Jack.

“Damn it…” Jack said. With Charles’s head in Amber’s lap in the back seat, she sadly asked “Are you alright Charles?”. “I am fine dear, thank you for getting me back there. I am not sure I could have made it.”. Amber smiled as a tear fell to the still bleeding wound of Charles.

“Cops” Jack warned, “I may need you help Amber.”. Amber wiped her tears away and responded, “Alright, tell me when to push out the nails.”. Four cops gathered the chase and a chopper was gaining on the above. “We have gotten into some serious shit…” Charles said. With a groan he pulled himself up. “I can help as well” he said. Charles then pulled out another circle like the first on his head. With his teeth tightly clenched he pushed the circle against his chest wound. The circle immediately began to spread over his wound and the rest of his chest. “That will stop the bleeding” Charles said as he continue to place one on the wounded leg.

With a small grunt, Charles pulled himself through the back window in the Terrod. “Give me the nails!” he screamed over the wind. Amber grabbed them from below the seat, as Charles put out his hands soon to throw them. He slowly scooted to the back of the truck, and with a quick push he recoiled the remaining nails and placed them in a slot for holding.

Every car behind the truck was damaged enough to stop them from continuing the pursuit. With a gradual slow, the cops were only un focusable dots in the eyes of Charles.

A loud repetitive gun shot sound came from the sky. “The Chopper!” Amber screamed. Looking up, Charles impulsively pulled open a compartment in the back of his truck. A sniper riffle was held in this slot. He pulled it out and aimed it for the pilot. “Got it.” He said, right before the truck came to an instant slow. With the change, Charles fired yet hit the gas tank of the Helicopter. The blades began to slow, and the chopper almost instantly began to fall out of the sky.

With a loud screech the helicopter hit the ground and began to slide. “That should hold them for a while” he said.. “No! Jack, look out.” Amber warned. Jack found himself staring directly at an oncoming barricade of police cars. “Charles!? Can this get through!?” Jack screamed. As Charles slide back in through the window he said “I don’t know”. Just then Jack glared at his path ahead. He pressed the gas as hard as he could “Hold on!”.


As they approached the officers jumped out of the chaos path. With a roar, the cop cars split with the force of the Terrod. After gaining stability, Charles smiled and said “We are almost there Jack. Take a turn on 202.”. As they drove off the highway Charles again instructed, “Go back into that small space over there.”. Jack followed his instructions, and when they came to a stop, Amber and Charles both climbed out.

The two began pulling at the paint of each side of the truck. Seconds later, the apparent paint was actually a thin, yet an opaque sheet of plastic. After the two finished pulling and tearing away the sheet, the truck glowed a dark red with a strange symbol on the hood of the truck.

While Amber quickly uncovered the license plates, Charles pulled out four completely new tires from the back of the truck. “Jack, this will take a bit, so go out and sit by the road, the police may ask you where we went. In which case I want you to mislead them to another location. First change you cloths, and meet us back here in 30 minutes. Got it?” Charles said. Jack responded “Got it, are you alright?”. With a slight wheeze Charles state “Hurry Jack, we will worry about that later.” Jack nodded, and quickly changed to leave.

Once Jack arrived at the edge of the main road, he saw over three officers pass by, yet none had stopped to ask. After the duration Jack returned to drive away. “Good job Amber, you as well Jack.” Charles said. “This was not a failed mission, nor was it anyone’s fault. One of us may have screwed up, or they had an alarm we did not know about. Do you know if anyone else was hurt Amber?” Amber now sitting in the passenger seat replied “No… No one was hurt except you.”. “Here we are Jack, turn left”.

When the three approached Amber asked with a worried voice, “Charles? Where are Silhouette and Max?”.



CHAPTER VIII

Jack jumped out of the truck and immediately began looking for damage on the vehicle. “Silhouette and Max will be here soon, I know they will” Charles said as he limped out the truck door. “Jack” Charles said, “You did a good job today. We might have not made it if you hadn’t of smashed through all the cop cars.” Jack smiled and said “Your truck is fine for the most part. The only damage is in the front of it, and that is just around the bumper.” Charles replied with a cough, “Come on in.”.

As the three walked in the warehouse, “Sean?” Charles yelled. “He must be asleep.” Amber said. Charles began to limp over to the bathroom. “Charles, hold on, you can’t take care of those wounds by yourself.” Amber said “Jack? You can go use the upstairs computers if you want. Just make try to stay away from the files marked with two periods and a circle (.o.) Those… are important.” Jack nodded and watched the two walking over to get the medical kit.

Looking around, Jack stood and began to walk up stairs to the lab. As he approached the room he found that above each monitor was a unique yet strange title. Above the PC on the left the text “Optinoxide .” was written. Directly in front of him the word “Oddikaun o” was in bold. And to his right another PC was labeled “Onsen .”.

Jack walked in and sat before the text of “Oddikaun o”, a screen quickly popped up to show only three icons. He clicked randomly on one of the three and found over 50 documents flash on the screen. Every document was marked with the very text he was supposed to avoid. “Bank .o..txt” “Richards Place .o..txt” “Government1 .o..txt”. With a raised brow Jack closed out the screen and began to search for the net.

On the toolbar at the base of the screen jack found the Internet icon, and he clicked it. Immediately a site came up with the latest news. “What the hell?” Jack said to himself as he read the headline. “The Cop-killing criminals target Governor Alexander” with a blank expression, Jack read on. After 10 minutes of scanning throughout the text, Jack found a questionable accusation. “At the site of the crime we found that two of the most wanted people in America were involved. These two reckless individuals have committed the worst of felonies and need to be put in jail for life. Many of the crimes these two have committed include robbery, murder, and arson. The criminals are armed and dangerous. And a state wide search is being conducted to prevent this from happening again.”.

“Jack!” Charles called, “come down here!” Jack quickly closed the screen and ran down stairs. “Silhouette?” Amber said walking out of the bathroom. “We made it… how are you feeling Charles? Is everyone here alright?” Charles responded “Yes, Amber patched me up pretty well” with a smile Amber said “Is Max alright?” “He’s fixing wiring in the car, when we tried to use the nitro oxide for the second time it faded immediately after we initiated it. And lucky us, the car was already being followed by two cops.” Silhouette replied. As Max walked in he mumbled “The tank is empty, someone has been joy riding…” “Sean?” Silhouette interrupted “No… It doesn’t matt…”.

Suddenly a massive explosion erupted outside. “What the hell was that?” Sean screamed running out of his room. The six all headed towards the door. “Jonny?” Charles mumbled. “Lets go see what that was. Max and Sean? You two stay here, in case it is an A05.” They nodded and walked back inside the warehouse. “Lets double up on the Blades” Charles said. With a quick lurch, the two bikes bolted down the dirt road towards the wreck.

As the bike slowed, Jonny approached the bikes with a pistol tightly grasped in his hand. With angry tears Jonny screamed “They have David! The god damn Shetox took David and shot up my car. They told me to give you a letter or David would die, I spit in their faces and ran to the car. One guy ran after me, and I broke his arm and took his gun. It was stupid… we might not even see David again man!” “How the hell did the car blow uo? Jon?” Charles asked. “Time bomb man… or remote, I don’t know. Right before I got here I remembered to check for any shit planted in my car when I was away… I found a square that was beeping. Alls I could do was slam on the brake and jump.” Jon desperately replied.

With an angry look on his face Charles commanded the others “Get your R72 gear on, and meet me in front of the warehouse. We will have to settle for what cars we have for now. Lets go!”.

After they piled on the bikes, the Blades screamed back to the base. “Get your R72 gear ready Max, you too Sean.” Charles demanded as he hurried into the base. “Jack, your going to have to stay behind on this one. It is a little advanced…” he continued. Jack slowly nodded.

As the group gathered, the… [story is not continued]