The Flower Girl, Ellie Anne [the little red hen ebook .TXT] 📗

your hair is barely long enought to cover the scales going up the back of your neck." I answered.

He nodded. Both of us knew that we were in for the ride of our lives. My phone beeped again. It was Mika.

Center Stage. Destroy your phone, buzzer, everything. Ditch the tanker. Change as fast as you can. See you soon. Love you, Zees.

I stared at the road and responded to the message.

Love you too, Miks.

Seven

I tossed every trackable device I could out the window, and smashed the navigational unit in the tanker. I found a donation center, and snuck up the back where a few people were loading up some huge boxes of whatever it is someone donated. I tip-toed past them and found a box of clothes that looked like they would fit me, and another one containing dude shirts and jeans. I stacked the boxes and picked them up. I hugged the walls as I jogged back to the tanker.

I threw the boxes in the back seat, and slid back into the front. Clothes, check. Next thing, ditch the tanker. I took us down some allies in a janky part of town, and looked for the most efficient car parked on the street. I found one, and told Candor to stay in the tanker. I parked, and strolled up to the vehicle, looking as casual as I could. I slid my hand along the hood. It was nicer than it seemed, and I'd bet my money that someone paid a very pretty penny to fix it up. I looked at the lock on the door. Easy pickings.

I walked back to the tanker and grabbed a pin from the glove compartment. I went back to the car, and easily picked the lock on the door. I waved Candor over, and he grabbed our boxes and very wisley wiped down the seats and steering wheel. We slid into the car, and I crouch down into the space between the pedals and the seat. I yanked down the wires under the dashboard, and started hot-wiring. In no time, the car was started, and we were on our merry way.

We were driving in complete silence, and it was making me beyond crazy. I groaned and jabbed the radio button. It was set on a channel playing oldie-goldies from back before total destruction. I turned it up. This was the music I was raised on. My parents never played any of the crap that spewed out of speakers today, just the pure and utter beauty of classic rock and alternative.

I started singing along to one of my favorite jams. It was pretty much the oldest song around, probably more than a hundered years old, but it was pure happiness. Candor looked at me like I was out of my mind. I laughed at him, and sped up. We were on our way out of Jamesonville, and headed towards Center. Center was the base of practically everything north of Descruction Zone. It was where Mika and I always said we would meet in any case of emergency. It was our safe place. It was also one of the most heavily populated cities in all of what was left of North America.

It would be one of the safest places for us. Because after all, it would be practically impossible to kill a group of people in one of the richest communities without someone throwing a fit about it. I turned the radio up even more, and smiled. Sure we'd almost been blown to bits, but hey, you can't be sad when you're listening to the Beatles. I don't even know how long they've been gone, but they were classic. Classic and freaking amazing. The music stopped and the radio let out a long, ear-splitting beep.

"Warning: A large horde of Mutes has been spotted on the west side of Jamesonville heading towards Even Shades, the Sill, Hamptine, and Somerstone. If you are in or close to any of these sites, lock all doors and windows, draw the shades, and get into a bathroom, or other room lacking windows. Stay tuned to the Emergency Station for half-hourly updates from the Hunters."

I looked at Candor. "Seems like Center is going to have to wait."

He shook his head. "Zeela, they tried to blow us up, what makes you think they'd like your help with this? You'll get us both killed."

"Wait, what did that sign we just passed say?" I asked, suddenly thinking.

"West-bound, heading towards Somerstone. We'll pass through in about two mintues. Why?" he replied.

"Wasn't Somerstone one of the cities mentioned in the warning?" I asked, paling.

He nodded. I looked through the rear window, expecting to see a clan of Mutes coming to eat us. I didn't, but I did see a huge cloud of brown-grey dust rising from right about where the Sill was. The cloud was growing, the Mutes were moving fast.

"Crap." I muttered, and pulled over.

"What are you doing?" Candor freaked out.

"I'm doing my job. Stay with the car. If I'm not back by the time you can see them on the horizon, go. Drive as fast as you can and get to Center. Tell Miks I'm sorry and that I had to do my job." I told him, and slammed the door shut before he could stop me.

I jogged down the deserted highway. It was a good thing that I was a runner, otherwise I'd be dead. Finally I reached civilization, and found an easy to grab speedcycle and jacked it. I hopped on, and sped back to Jamesonville. I could hear the fighting before I saw it.

I rounded a corner, and saw Karter kicking the crap out of a Mute. I slammed on the breaks, jumped off, and slugged the Mute in the face. The fighting got worse and worse as I ran through the thick of it. I saw a flash of wavy blonde hair, and knew it was Mika. I ran after her, taking down as many Mutes as I could and letting the others actually cuff them.

I finally caught up to Mika in a pretty sketchy, very isolated alley. "Mika! Slow freaking down, I'm dying over here."

She turned around. "Sorry, I knew you were following me, I just didn't want to stop where Head Chief Mindleton could see us, or hear us."

"So what's going on, I almost got blown up at the office." I stated.

"I really don't know, but when I was in for tests, I saw your file. It was sitting on the counter, and it had some funky mark on it. I figured you wouldn't mind me snooping, so I read it. Holy crap there was some crazy stuff in there. It started listing things that you'd done, and said that you were to accomplished not to be considered dangerous. Then there was something about you parents." she paused.

My eyes widend, and I swear I started hyperventilating. "What?"

"I didn't have time to read it all, but it sounded like they decided to use your parents as guinea pigs, and that when it went wrong, they killed them. I waited for the doc to leave again, then I texted you. I looked around, and was trying to get more information, when I saw a file on a Mute that looked an awful lot like Candor, except the coloring was different, and it was a she. That was when I texted you. When the doctor came back, I'd heard a snippet of a comversation, and someone said something that sounded an awful lot like; 'blow her up before she gets it.'" she took a deep breath, and I stuck my arm out, and leaned on the wall.

I wrapped my other arm around my heaving stomach. I felt like dinner was about to make a reappearance. I swallowed hard, trying to get it together. I shook my head, and cleared my mind. I had to focus if I was going to get us out alive. I looked at the dirt covering the floor of the alley, letting my mind wrap around what I'd just heard Mika say. I focused my senses, and breathed in and out. Then I tuned back in, and recalled the massive fight going on. I snapped my head up, and looked at Mika.

"Let's roll."

Eight

I grabbed Mika's hand, and we ran back into the chaos. We dodged Mutes, and Hunters alike, and ran for the speedcycle I'd jacked. I looked behind us to make sure no one was following us. We hurdled broken piles of who knows what, and Mutes that were just to far gone and had to be put down. I whipped my head forward and focused on pumping my legs and staying out of the way. I stared forward, forcing myself to ignore everything else around me. At least until very thin, very creepy fingers snatched my wrist and pulled me back. Another very shady hand tangled itself in my hair, and sent me flying face-first into the pavement.

I twisted around and saw Mika go down. I kicked whoever had me in the groin, and shoved a Hunter off of Mika. The creepy hands were back this time, and managed to snap cuffs around my wrists. I saw Mika land a good knock out punch on the dude's face, and I screamed at her to book it. She stared at me, then turned and freaking flew.

Creepy Fingers yanked me up by the cuffs, and tunred me to face them. It was Head Chief Mindleton. I spat at her, and managed to get her in the eye. She let out an irritated shriek, and rubber her eyes. I used this moment of vulnerableness to head butt her, and kick out her feet. I swung my arms beneath me, as I curled my feet up to my chest, so my hands were in front of me instead of behind me. My knees were bent low, and set in a very stable postition. Mindleton tried to come at me, but I intercepted, and grabbed her hand. I pressed on of her fingers to the unlock button, and snapped the cuffs off. I Kicked her in the face, got her in the gut, and dug my heel into her back when she bended over.

She flailed, trying to get her balance. I back-handed her, and twisted her her wrists, pinching the pressure point when she tried to attack me again. I leaned close to her ear.

"I swear the next time I see your creepy little face, I will not restrain myslef." I murmured, my