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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Our brave team of rescuers were driving as fast as they could, but as they rounded a curve they spotted a roadblock at the next intersection. Fluffy had just told them that there turn off road was just ahead of them, but with that roadblock it meant trouble. “What now Kat?” asked Nakedra. “Just keep driving, if we stop here or turn around, they will be on us quickly,” she said, “we would never be able to outrun them in these old cars.”
She told Sky what was ahead too and everyone got ready to fight. Well, everyone except the 3 rescued girls. They came driving slowly to the roadblock, which was manned by police and soldiers. One large army vehicle had and equally large machine gun on top of it. As soon as they came to a complete stop, our team quickly jumped out of the vehicles and began shooting.
Catalina tossed a package that landed right in the cab of the truck and exploded. She then tossed a second one which landed right on the machine gun. That put it out of service quickly and our team finished off the whole group of men at the roadblock. “We will have to assume these men called in our position,” said Rock. “I agree,” said Kat, “we will have to take their cars now, the ones we have are nearly out of fuel.” “Yes, that might actually help us at first,” said Rock, “until they find out we took them.
That might take some time.” There were three cars for them, two police cars and one unmarked military car. Off they sped down the next road! However, they didn’t get far when they spotted a helicopter following them. “How did they find us so fast?” asked Rock. Celeste pointed to Rock’s phone. Nakedra came to a screeching halt, as did the two cars behind her.
Sky was furious when she discovered that Rock, and all the guys, still had their phones in use. “That is why they can follow us so easily!” yelled Sky and she took all the phones and destroyed them easily with her electricity. “How will we contact Aari for help?” asked Oskar. “We ghosts are here for such things, remember?” asked Carine, looking sternly at the guys.
Actually, a couple of the girls had their phones on too. “That chopper is coming back,” yelled Kat, “quick, turn down that trail in the trees!” They managed to get the 3 cars onto that trail and under the cover of the trees in time, before that helicopter arrived again. It kept circling the area several times before it finally turned back to the intersection that they had just left.
“I have to admit, we really messed up that time,” said Rock shaking his head, “but what do we do now?” “Well, it’s obvious we can’t drive around out in the open anymore,” said Kat, “at least, not with these vehicles. Even though we disconnected anything in them that might help them to follow us, that helicopter would spot them much too easily. For now, we will have to walk.
There isn’t much snow left around here, but it is cold, and we will have to walk slow so our rescued girls can keep up.” “Like I said before,” said Rock, “Oskar, Bear and myself can easily carry one, I doubt they weigh very much. Natasha is the biggest one, so I will carry her.” “You better not say that to her Rock,” said Kat smiling, “or you might get slapped rather hard.”
“Oh, oh yeah, guess that didn’t sound too good, did it?” he responded. So, off they all went, walking under the trees as best they could so they couldn’t be seen from the air. According to Fluffy, they had another 20 km to go before reaching the next road, where they needed to turn. Kat had informed me of their predicament and asked if Aari and team could come and pick them up, even though it would mean coming further inside the country.
I reminded her that if there are helicopters out looking for them, then it would be impossible for Aari to come in with helicopters as they would be spotted right away. Kat knew that, but she just had to ask anyway. I told her to look for some abandoned building that they could stay in for a few days until they gave up looking for them.
“Hmm, it might just work,” said Kat, “we will keep our eyes open for something that is away from people.” They were making good time, but it was still very slow, so Kat and Carine went on ahead to see what was happening at the next intersection. Hmm, no roadblock, that’s rather interesting, thought Kat. Why would there be no one there?
Especially since they knew which way the team was headed. There was a small store at the intersection as well, so they decided to take a look inside, but remaining invisible. Once inside they discovered that an army officer was there, plus 4 other men with him. Then Carine went out behind the store and there were more men, plus 4 cars.
Obviously they were planning to ambush our team when they stopped for more food. Well, more food they need and transportation too. Kat communicated with Sky and she arrived promptly to help. They quickly overcame the soldiers, then came back inside to deal with the men hiding in the store. Then they began doing some more “shopping”, and again the owners declined any payment saying they wanted to help.
Kat put them to sleep so it wouldn’t look like they were helping the girls and soon our ghosts were driving off in some nice new cars. They picked up the rest of the team, then proceeded following the original plan. However, they knew that these cars would be just temporary since that helicopter would spot them easily enough. They needed to get rid of that chopper, and fast.
Sure enough, it was about half an hour later that the helicopter arrived, but they were ready for it this time. The ghosts had picked up some weapons from that last group of soldier’s, including one nice rifle, something that Catalina was familiar with. As the chopper came closer, Catalina opened her window, leaned out and shot several times.
She hit the pilot and copilot, sending the helicopter out of control and crashing to the ground bursting into a huge ball of flames! “Hopefully they didn’t have time to contact anyone,” said Kat, “great shooting Catalina!” But Catalina didn’t answer. Kat looked over to her side of the car and Catalina was leaning against the door with blood running down the side of her head.
Kat quickly changed places with Natasha and asked Sapphire for the towel she had been using earlier. Sapphire handed it to Kat with a worried look on her face. Someone from the helicopter must have shot back at the girls and hit Catalina. Hopefully that bullet grazed the side of Catalina’s head and didn’t lodge in her skull.
This was the first injury sustained by the team, and hopefully there will not be any more. Nakedra, Sky and Burk were driving as fast as they could right now, tying to cover as many kilometers as possible while they still could. But, things don’t always work the way we would like…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
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.
Steve`s Country 