This is crazy, how did they know? It’s like they were waiting for us. But how? They would have to know every move we are making, but…thwock, thwock! Both men drop to the ground. Guess they forgot about the cats! We’re going to take a couple of their motorcycles and disable the rest. That way they will need to go back to town for more transportation and that will give us a good head start. Karin looked at me like I was crazy. Meow, meow!=Oh good, always want motorcycle ride, this be fun! Meow!=Me agree, want motorcycle ride! I think we should stay here, said Karin, there’s enough buildings and houses for us to hide in that they would never catch us. That’s possible, I admitted, but if we stay then we’re trapped here completely, they’ll stay after us until they find us, and the trustees will probably want us found too and that will make it even harder.

We don’t know how many people are coming with those trustees. Because this whole town is involved they might want some bigger numbers on their side just in case there are problems with Ma. Yes, I guess that would be true, said Karin, just seems like we would be good targets while we’re on those bikes. Strange that Karin doesn’t want to leave this town and before she wasn’t too anxious to even come here. While Karin is looking at the bikes Muffin comes over to me and meows quietly. Meow, meow?=Something odd with human Karin, why she not want to leave? I don’t know, but she’s probably just scared and not thinking clearly, I told her. Meow?=What your human say? Meow,meow.=He think human Karin just scared. Meow.=Could be, she act strange when scared, remember breakfast. Meow, meow.=That very true, we watch anyway. Meow.=Yep, keep eyes open all time.

I spotted Muffin’s muffin and Mr. Cat’s ball shining in the grass and picked them up. It’s all clear, said Karin, but we will need to move fast, it looks like that gang is slowly moving this way. Yes, it does look like it, so let’s go, pick the bike you like and get ready. Meow.=I go with human Karin this time. Meow, meow.=Okay, be careful. Meow.=I will. We got our bikes and I put a small canister in the middle of the others. Let’s go fast, I said and off we went! That little canister sprayed a liquid and then ignited into a small fireball which quickly engulfed the bikes. That will slow them down a bit, now they have to go back and get other transportation if they want to keep following us. That should take them another 3 hours or so which gives us a good lead. However, that gang down the road could shoot at us, I know they have rifles.

I had told Karin not to use lights right now, that way it will make it harder to shoot accurately at us. Something is odd here, no one is shooting, not even one shot. As we left town there was a sharp turn in the road and as we came around it there was a wall of brush across the road which immediately became a wall of flames! Amazingly Karin seemed to remain quite calm and drove down into the ditch and out the other side nice and easily. I followed close behind. This time there was shooting but none of us were hit. Now we could turn on our lights and…I just finally looked at the gas gauge, it was empty! That’s why they didn’t try shooting at us, they knew we wouldn’t get very far. At least they won’t be able to chase us without going back for more transportation.

It didn’t take too long and we were both coming to a stop. They did this deliberately, said Karin. Yes, I’m afraid so, it was a trap to get us out of that town. See, we should have stayed there, said Karin again. I don’t think so, they have been following our movements or those two guards at the hotel would not have known we were there. That means?, asked Karin. She almost seemed annoyed with my suggestion. Very odd. Muffin, you check Karin and Mr. Cat can check me. Fine! And Karin stomped off with Muffin. When they came back Muffin dropped a small tracking device at my feet. I put it on a rock and smashed it with another rock. Sorry I was so upset, said Karin, but this whole thing just has me on edge right now.

That’s understandable, I said, we are in a tight spot, that’s for sure. What are we going to do?, she asked. I’m really not sure at the moment, just keep walking, we can’t really go back to town, they’ll be waiting for us and it would be daylight by the time we got back there. I know, I made a wrong decision to leave I guess. But at least you don’t get mad and stomp your feet, said Karin. I chuckled, maybe I do inside! Somehow I doubt it, she said, it’s just not you. Yep, true enough, I said with a smile, now we need to figure out what to do next.

To Be Continued.

©2020 Steve McLeod.