This stretch of highway was quite straight and wide, which is not good, it makes it easier to see the cars. These were government cars and although they had checked them thoroughly for anything that might be trackable, Rock still was uncomfortable using them. Burk was driving the second car which had all the guys in it and Rock told him to notify Sky who was in the lead car and Nakedra in the rear car.

They all stopped and got together to talk briefly. “This is a good spot to drive in among those trees,” said Sky, “there is no snow in the ditch and it is not deep.” So, they all did that, hiding the cars under the biggest trees they could find. Then it was back on foot again, at least until they could get some other cars.

However, Carine figured they should stay away from cars now since the police might deliberately “provide” them with convenient cars to use. Everyone agreed that might be a possibility, so they just walked. And walked. And walked. Finally they all stopped to rest. Even the guys were happy to stop and rest, since they were carrying the 3 rescued girls, plus Rock was carrying Catalina.

Kat took Sky aside and asked her if she could take Catalina home. “She is no help to us right now,” said Kat, “and really, she is a hindrance unfortunately.” “Is she going to be okay?” asked Sky. “Yes, she will be fine,” said Kat, “but it would be better for her to relax at home, not out here in the cold.” “I will need Steve to call me,” she said. Kat communicated with me and I said Sky’s name.

She arrived in our bedroom with Catalina, and Samantha arrived quickly as well. Jennifer had called her just before I called Sky. The girls carried Catalina to her bedroom so I could talk with Sky. “NO!” yelled Sky, “I refuse to do that Steve! No, no, no!” “But it’s the best thing to do,” Jennifer assured Sky, “we don’t want any more injuries if possible.”

“What did Steve do to you Jennifer,” asked Sky, “that you would agree to such insanity? I mean, it goes against our own rules, you want to disobey our own rules.” “But having 2 more ghosts with you will help a lot,” said Angel, “we can do more, need less sleep and less food than the others.” “Speaking of food,” I added, “we have put together some extra nutritious food for you to take back with you. Plus some extra items that might be helpful.”

“And, you trust your own Bad Girls, don’t you Sky?” asked Jennifer. “Of course I do, but…” “Well, I have talked to them already,” Jennifer interrupted, “and they will not let Steve out of their sight for one second. And even though most of Steve’s team are with Aari right now, most of your team is here and so are the Wildcats. Plus all the cats are here as well. Although it might be good to take one or two cats along as well, they can be very handy.”

“Um, could we not bring those girls back home with you Sky?” I asked. “Kat said the girls are very weak and making such a trip would be hard on their bodies,” replied Sky, “not to mention they would likely be terrified doing that.” “Yes, I guess you’re right,” I said, “we will stay with our plans.” Off they went back to our team.

They had been waiting for Sky to return before they could continue with their journey and everyone was getting a little anxious when it took Sky so long to come back. They arrived, invisible, so the rescued girls would not see them suddenly appearing in front of them. This way they could appear behind them. And they had their story rehearsed well that they were part of their team waiting for them to arrive at a meeting point.

Sky rolled her eyes at the explanation, but the rescued girls accepted it without problem. And the cats were easy to explain as being with the two new team members who had been waiting for them. Tiia, Jewel, Tracker and Moonbeam came along. Tracker went over to Nakedra when he saw a cat on her lap as she sat under a tree. Nakedra turned the cat toward Tracker.

“Hi, me Fluffy, what your name?” That caused Tracker to jump backward which made Nakedra laugh. “We should have brought something to keep track of how far we walk,” said Rock, as he leaned on the tree where Nakedra was sitting. “We walk 10 Fluffy kims” said Fluffy. Rock looked. “What is that supposed to be?” he asked Nakedra, rolling his eyes. “10 kms,” she answered.

“You make Fluffy sad, want hug.” said Fluffy. Nakedra held Fluffy up to Rock, while she pouted a bit. Rock looked around and since no one was looking, he took Fluffy and gave it a hug, then quickly handed it back to Nakedra. “Fluffy happy now.” “Me too,” said Nakedra. “Me too,” said Sky right behind Rock. That made Rock jump right off the ground!

Right then Kat showed up. “How come you brought both Jennifer and Angel back with you Sky?” she asked, “One ghost is supposed to be with Steve at all times.” “Tell that to Steve,” said Sky, “I was outvoted this time. Even Jennifer was in favor of doing this.” “Hmm, guess I will need to talk with Steve when I get home,” she said.

“Have fun with that,” said Sky. “And I will talk with my sister now,” she continued. “I repeat what I said,” chuckled Sky. Kat then went off to talk with Jennifer. “By the way Nakedra,” said Sky, “when we get back home we can go looking for your very own cat.” “Really? Steve said yes? How did you do it?” asked Nakedra.

“That’s a secret,” said Sky, “but Steve agreed readily.” Nakedra jumped up, hugged Sky and danced around with Fluffy. Rock looked at Sky. “Um, do you suppose that maybe, well, that you could, um, ask Steve for me too?” asked Rock. They walked further until it got dark, then they stopped for the night. Jennifer then got out a camping stove and boiled water for tea. At about 4am, while the cats were on watch duty, they came running to the ghosts and woke them up.

Meow.= People coming. The ghosts were awake quickly and then went around to wake up the others. The people were coming from the direction of the cars. The group of police and soldiers soon arrived and they spotted the 3 escaped women sleeping on the ground. Suddenly they screamed and tossed their guns on the ground.

Then they saw this big lion running at them through the trees, taking a big leap and knocking down 4 men at once! Then Sky appeared, glowing a bright white and throwing bolts of electricity at the men. Kat, Jennifer and Carine then joined in, fighting the men in a more traditional manner. Some of the police tried to run away, but they ran right into Rock and his friends who stopped the fleeing men rather quickly.

Some of the soldiers tried running a different way, but the familiar sound of “Thwock!” a number of times took care of those men. The fight didn’t last long and all the attackers were dead. Jennifer then quickly took out some special items from her backpack which will make things easier for the team.

Soon they were on their way again with a map showing their new route to the border. It looked like such a long distance, but now was not the time to worry about that.

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.