Everyone on the jet was a bit nervous, wondering just how far they would fly before running out of fuel. This is winter, although they do have good warm clothes to wear. Still, if they have to camp out overnight, then things will be tough. And how far can the girls from the penal colony walk? They didn’t look to be in the best physical condition for walking through the forest.

Plus, they don’t have a lot of food with them, though they did bring some emergency food for a couple of days, just in case. But this might be more than a couple of days. And the girls from the penal colony might not have been eating well, which will mean they won’t have the stamina to walk long distances each day and that will slow them all down.

Rock must get them closer to the border, he must! Rock soon called me to let me know that their fuel was leaking faster now and he would have to land soon or risk crashing. I told him to maybe land on a road, somewhere close to where they can get hold of some cars if possible. Then they need to destroy the jet once they are safely on their way.

Rock told Catalina to get a package ready, big enough to destroy the jet once they are gone. He would try to land on some road, hopefully close to a shopping area where they might find some cars. “At this time of night Rock?” asked Kat, “Most people would be at home in bed right now, not out shopping.” “Oh, yeah, good point,” he said, “but we need 3 cars, hopefully with full fuel tanks.

We then drive as far as we can and walk from there.” “And just how far would you think we might have to walk?” she asked. “Well, with a bit of luck, about 400 miles,” he said. “That is not possible,” she whispered to Rock, “we need to do better. Those girls we rescued are not physically able to walk that distance.” “They don’t look like they weigh much,” said Rock quietly, “one for me, one for Bear and one for Oskar.

We should be able to carry them. We really don’t have any choice.” “We should have brought Angel,” whispered Kat, “as a lion she could carry two of them.” “Um, tell me, how does she turn into such a large animal?” asked Rock. “Sorry, you will have to ask her,” said Kat. “I did,” he said, “all she did was smile and roar.” Kat giggled. “Well, at least you got an answer,” she said. Rock just sighed.

“We will need to land soon, or crash,” Rock told Kat. “Is there any chance you can land us close to where we can get some cars?” she asked. “There is a town not far, we can make it there,” he said, “maybe we can get cars, but no guarantee.” “Well, let’s try it out,” said Kat, “land on a road, it will be smoother and safer.” “And right in the open for all to see,” he reminded her.

“We are going to destroy the jet anyway,” she said, “that explosion will bring attention no matter where we land.” “That’s true,” sighed Rock and he started descending quickly. Everyone got ready with their backpacks full of supplies, and some extra smaller bags in case they can find some food. Rock managed to land that jet perfectly, even without the front wheels.

“Nakedra,” said Rock, “what are you doing with that toy?” “This is Fluffy, my stuffed cat,” she said, “he helped us find the jet easily.” She smiled weakly realizing that Rock would not be too enthusiastic about her bringing Fluffy with them. “Do you really need to bring a toy along?” he asked, “There are important things to carry.”

“We have everything already Rock,” said Bear, “if she wants to carry Fluffy with her, what’s the problem with that?” Rock just shook his head and told everyone to get off the jet quickly and start looking for cars to use. The guys and Sky went to look for some cars, the girls broke into a small grocery store close to where they landed. While they were “shopping” for food, the owners came out, with the man carrying a shotgun.

“Wait,” said Kat, “we need food and we will pay for it.” She then brought out money to show them. “You are the ones that took some women from the penal colony, right?” asked the woman. “Yes, that is us,” said Kat slowly, “but please, let us have some food to feed these poor half starved girls. We want to take them away to another country for their safety.”

“Take food, but leave no money,” she said, “this way we can say you stole the food and threatened to kill us. Otherwise the authorities will say we helped you and put us in jail.” “Thank you,” said Kat. The girls only took what they needed and off they went. They had found 3 vehicles to use so they had space for everyone.

As they were driving away, Catalina pressed a button and the jet exploded in spectacular fashion! They drove away very fast once that explosion took place. Unfortunately, now that they were driving, they couldn’t use GPS for navigation or the police would be able to find them. So, Fluffy to the rescue! “Um, how does Fluffy know when to turn and all that?” asked Carine.

“Well, I have to give him all the information,” explained Nakedra, “including the distances to turnoff spots and his little gears count down the number of kilometers and then he gives us about a one km warning.” She smiled at Carine. “What do you know, we are using 50 year old technology to keep us alive,” said Carine chuckling. “Better than nothing,” said Nakedra.

“I agree with you,” replied Carine. “So do I,” replied Bear. “He is also an alarm clock,” said Nakedra. Right then Fluffy meowed 3 times, then he said, “Fluffy loves Nakedra”. “Oops, um, sorry, I forgot to turn that off,” she told them. “Wow, you’re blushing such a bright red,” said Bear, “I can almost read with that glow.” “Hey, not nice Bear!” she exclaimed.

“Nice to have some light moments in these stressful times,” said Carine. “You’re a ghost, why are you stressed?” asked Bear. “I was thinking about all of you mortals,” she said. “Very funny,” said Bear. Strangely enough things were going quite well for our team for the next couple of hours. Aari and his team were anxiously waiting to hear from me telling them to begin searching for the others.

It was now 5am and the team had not made it very far in those last 2 hours. They had to stop twice to replace two flat tires, fortunately each car did have a spare tire. All the cars were between 20 and 28 years old, and not in the best condition. Then smoke began coming out of the second car’s engine, so they stopped once more.

“This one is finished,” said Oskar. They didn’t waste any more time and just stuffed themselves into the two remaining cars. Off they went again, driving as fast as they dared to go, until…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.