My name is John Harolds. I was a junior at the Sacred Soul Academy, a prestigious academy that churned out hundreds of alumni who would one day become the pillars of society. Something happened that year. My classmates and I became involved with something big that could threaten the very social order of the world we lived in and we ended up being hunted by the police, the military and everyone we had ever trusted. This is the story of the greatest escape of our lives. What if you were told that the life you had led was all a big fat lie? I thought seeing Jerry and Carol in Northampton Town was just my eyes playing tricks on me. If only I had come out there and try to find them, would they be here now? Escape! Chapter 3 By Shinieris

"Alright, we've arrived. Northampton Town!" Carl declared as we parked our Soharachi Type-89 Hoverbikes at a public parking lot.

"Don't forget to lock your bikes and perform bootstart encryption. People want these bikes," Nanako reminded as she started the bootstart encryption on her bike before locking the controls with her thumbprint and voice command. The bullet-proof glass windows then extended out from the hoverbike's tritanium body and closed against itself, protecting our backpacks inside it in an impenetrable shell of tritanium and silicate.

I looked around the public parking lot. There were a lot of people looking at us, from the streets, the back alleys even from the windows of nearby buildings. Of course, these bikes cost 120k each, probably more than the people of this backwater town have ever seen. It was no wonder that we were the center of attention. With four Soharachi Type-89 Hoverbikes, ridden by four teens of marriable age and a little girl, they probably thought we were a bunch of rich kids on a date. Boy, would they be wrong. I ran the encryption programme for my hoverbike before locking the controls with my thumbprint and voice command. Then I turned towards the rest and asked, "So what's the plan?"

"Weren't you there when we discussed it this morning?" Yuu asked.

"I was still asleep," I replied.

Carl laughed hearing my answer and said, "John - sorry, Jane always has a problem with waking up."

I decided on calling myself Jane this morning. I surely couldn't call myself John looking like a younger version of my sister Annamarie. Carl told me that Jane sounded so plain. They suggested Jenny, Janet, Janna, Jenna and some other similar names. I stood my ground with Jane. My reasoning was that it was possible someone who knew me would call me John just to check if it was really me. If my name was Jane, I could simply say that I misheard, as John and Jane sounded almost the same.

Yuu chuckled at the mention of my new name. "Well, Jane, he chuckled again, "First thing we're gonna do, is breakfast, then, we're gonna look for Anya's computer."

"Preferably a high performance laptop under 10k," Anya interrupted as she took my hand. With her light brown hair and my copper-blonde hair, we probably looked like sisters to other people. Anya was probably trying to coax that image into people's mind.

We headed to a local diner for our breakfast. Yuu, being a man with upscale taste, preferred the restaurant Dallick's at Henning Street. Carl persuaded Yuu that diners are great source of information, while the uptight employees of such upscale restaurants would not normally say anything beyond food recommendations. It turned out to be a good choice, their waffles were beyond delicious. Anya ordered a kid's set consisting of mashed potatoes, buttered muffins and beef patty, which she enjoyed a lot. Nanako ordered pancake with strawberry syrup, which from her expression, must not be to her taste but she finished it anyway. Carl ordered the morning beef and eggs set, which took some time to arrive, but once it did, he wolfed it down like no tomorrow. Even Yuu enjoyed his chicken chop set. I guess after the terrible ration we had last night, anything else would taste great. I wondered if our seniors even bothered to taste the things they put into our backpacks.

I looked out the glass wall to the streets outside the diner. It was early morning, barely even 10am. There was barely any people walking the street. As it was a working day, it was very possible that most people were already at work. Most who were outside were either waiting for a bus or having a late breakfast in one of the cafes opposite the street. I dropped my waffle in shock when I saw a couple sitting at one of the tables inside a cafe called Marina's Cakes. I stood up abruptly as I asked Anya and Carl to let me out from the booth.

"Where are you going?" Carl asked as he stood up.

"I'll just be outside for a second. Excuse me," I said as I squeezed through Anya's raised legs.

Carl grabbed my wrist unexpectedly, stopping me from going further. "No! If we go anywhere, we go together. We promised each other that. Now what is so important that you're interrupting the first decent meal we've had since yesterday?" Carl said a bit too loud for comfort.

"Jane, Carl, sit down! We don't need the attention," Yuu whispered a warning.

I looked out the glass wall at Marina's Cakes, prompting the others to look at it as well. Instead of the couple, the table they sat at was empty. There was no sign that anyone was there. "I'm sorry. I must have been tired or something. I thought I saw something." I thought I saw our classmates Jerry Davis and Carol Rodriguez there just now.

"It's morning! What can you possibly do that make you so tired you were seeing things?" Yuu said a little loud himself, as the tension passed.

Suddenly every eyes in the diner were on us, or more specifically, on Carl.

Carl definitely noticed, because he shouted, "I DIDN"T DO ANYTHING THIS MORNING!" It was very loud.

"Oh, to be young again," commented the middle-age man behind our seat.

******

"What is this crap?!" Anya cried seeing the terrible selection of computers in the third computer shop we went to. It was also the largest computer shop as well as the last.

"It's not all bad," Yuu commented, "I mean, Quaddecum-core at 60Gigahertz with 500 Gigabyte of memory and 40 Terabyte of hard disk space is great for a laptop. Look, it even runs on MegaRAGE 800M graphics module. This thing can run any game on the planet!"

"The price is a bit high, though," Carl remarked looking at the US$ 11,699.99 pricetag, "Plus, what's with the 99 cents? Like it matters for something this expensive?"

"I think it has to do with sales tax or something," Nanako said.

"This pile of junk is crap. Ahhhh!!!" Anya cried in exasperation.

"Hey, watch it, I will certainly buy this," Yuu said, to which the salesgirl thanked him, before he made her life miserable again by saying, "Of course, I'm not actually going to buy it. I only use my computers for games anyway."

"You're the Bloody Shogun and you can't think?!" Anya scolded, "Look at me, look at that. Can you imagine me carrying that heavy and bulky brick around?"

I giggled a little at the image of little Anya toppling over from carrying that laptop. It really was a bit too big for a girl of her size.

"Why can't the laptop manufacturers have a little brain cell?! MegaRAGE graphic modules take up a lot of space. And quaddecum-core require a lot of space for heat dispersion. They could've cut the weight and bulk by removing the fans and using liquid cooling instead!" Anya rambled on.

"But liquid cooling for the heat produced by both MegaRAGE 800M and Quaddecum-core 60Gigahertz will raise the price by over another thousand," a man in a business suit interrupted as he stepped in front of her with a tablet in his hand.

He was busily typing something.

"Like anyone care! At that price, one thousand dollars is a pittance. If you really want to cut cost, then downgrade the graphic module to MegaRAGE 620M, which is half the size and produce less than half the heat of this piece of crap. That will cut cost by almost three thousand dollars, which includes savings from less extensive liquid cooling."

The man's fingers continued to dance on the surface of his tablet.

"She is right, you know. There's really no point in having anything beyond MegaRAGE 610M. Most games only require up to the 600-series for optimum performance. I'm sure some idiotic gaming companies will want to utilize the 800-series, but they will lose a lot of money because nobody will be able to play it. It's not like many people can buy something at this pricetag," Yuu interjected as he studied the man and spied the things he was typing, "Who are you actually?"

"Ah, one moment," he said as he typed a little more before he put aside his tablet and extended his hand to each of us, "Hi, sorry for the late introduction. I am SabraCom's sales representative for Northampton Town. Here is my business card."

He handed us each a business card, even to Anya. It was a glossy card, with the colour of the surface changing by the reflection of the light. It was written on one side, Eric Parker, Sales Manager, Southern Region. He gave another card each to both Anya and Yuu, this one was red in colour, with some writing on it.

"Thank you very much little lady for that very frank feedback. I have sent your feedback to our design team. May I know your address? We shall send you a discount voucher for our new products," he said while bowing a little.

"No!" I said, unintentionally drawing everyone's attention," I mean, we're travelling. We're not very sure when we'll be going back home."

He stood straight again as he shook my hand again. "Ah, you must be her mother. Smart girl you have here, pretty too. Just like her mother."

I could hear Yuu snort as he tried to hold a laugh.

"Ah no, I'm not-" I said as he let go of my hand and turned towards Carl.

"And you must be the father!" he said as he shook Carl's hand with both hands, "You look like someone who knows a thing or two about computers. I bet your daughter learned it all from you."

"Well, I-" Carl tried to clarify when the salesman's alarm went off.

"Oh spat! They never give me time to relax. Well, nice seeing you!" he said as he grabbed his briefcase and left through the front door.

As we watched him turn the corner, Anya said, "Well, why the hell would he give us this useless piece of paper?"

"Ah, that's our redemption coupon. You can redeem it for anything behind the counter," our salesgirl said as she smiled sweetly, "You can redeem it even if you don't buy anything. He always give these to customers who give him feedbacks on SabraCom products. Would you like to go now?"

I understood from her tone that she meant we should go redeem now and get out from the store.

"Might as well. At least I can get some flash drive or something remotely useful," Anya said as she resigned herself to not getting her computer in this town.

As soon as we arrived at the front desk counter, Anya's eyes went wide. "Are you sure this coupon can be used for any of these?" Anya said as she made a sweeping gesture at the items behind the counter.

"Sure can, what would you like, little lady?" the cashier said, smiling wide.

"Oh my god! There's an alpha-wave scanner, residual contrant amplifier, electro-wave interferometer, subdermal nerve transmitter, flash-cooling device, 5 Terabyte thumbdrive, high speed internet connection wireless modem, universal interface cable... I don't know what to choose! I have only one coupon!" said Anya in torment.

"Here," Yuu said as he gave Anya his coupon, to which Anya looked at him like a god, "If it helps," he said.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Anya cried in joy as she hugged Yuu around the waist, "Now I can choose two."

"You don't have to limit yourself to just two. These things are for sale," Carl said pointing at the pricetags.

"You're right!" Anya turned to us as her eyes sparkled, "Daddy, give me 6000 dollars now."

"How many are you planning to buy actually?" Carl said he opened the zipper on his waistbag that held Anya's money.

Apart from food rations, change of clothes and the other stuffs, our seniors also packed us something extra to hold our money. Yuu got a traveller's wallet. Carl got a waistbag. Both Nanako and I got handbags, hers of crocodile skin, mine of something white, soft and furry.

"Thank you for your business!" the cashier said after he packed it all inside three paper bags. Naturally, because of the weight, Carl carried all three.

"Now I understand why my father told me to never give women a credit card. Why didn't she just buy the whole cabinet?" he mumbled to himself as the strings of the paperbags cut into his fingers.

"One moment, little lady," the cashier said as he pushed a piece of paper on the glass counter towards Anya. "I'm sorry that nothing we have here is to your liking. But there's a computer technician at the edge of town who builds his own computers. Maybe you'll have better luck there."

"Thank you very much, mister. Ta!" Anya waved at him as we rejoined Yuu and Nanako outside.

I couldn't resist asking Carl if I really looked old enough to be Anya's mother. His answer was simply a loud laugh, which drew curious eyes from passerby. I didn't understand that answer and I told him so. He just laughed again as he wrapped his left arm around my waist, pulling me closer. I promptly slapped it away.

"So, another town?" Yuu asked as we walked along the road to a grocery store nearby.

"One more place. If there's nothing useful there, we'll go to another town," Anya said.

We came across a tattoo parlor just as we turned the bend towards Lemming Street. "Hey, let's get some tattoos," Carl suggested.

"Uhh, no thanks," I refused.

"What? Your skin's too pretty for a tattoo?" Carl taunted.

"It's because I'm pretty that I don't need a tattoo!" I said.

"My, aren't we conceited?" Carl said.

""Exactly why would we want to get tattoos? It's not like we're best friends or anything," Yuu said bluntly.

"You're such a party pooper, Yuu. This isn't a best friends tattoo. It's identification!" Carl said.

"Identification for what?" Yuu asked.

"To tell the difference between us and them?" Nanako guessed.

"Exactly! Andy said they can't copy ink or non-organic materials. So we put ink or non-organic materials. Brilliant, aren't I?" Carl grinned.

"Like a bald man's head," Yuu said, "Well, what are we waiting for?" He then went into the tattoo parlor first, followed by Nanako.

"I don't know about this," I said. I didn't want to put anything permanent on my body.

Anya patted my arm as she said, "Relax, even I have piercings in places you wouldn't show people. I'm not talking about my bellybutton. Wanna see?"

"No thank you," I said just as Carl grabbed my arm and pulled me inside.

"Alright, ready?" Carl said when all of us, except Anya were done with our tattoos. "Tada!" he said as he showed us the tattoo on his upper arm.

"Oh, were we supposed to show our tattoos just now? I thought you would count to three," Yuu said.

"Is that... me?" I asked.

"You wish! It's Annamarie. I've had a crush on her since forever," he said.

"Looks an awful lot like Jane, though," Nanako commented.

"I had to use Jane's face because I don't have Annamarie's picture, OK? I left it all in my dorm room!"

"You have my sister's pictures in your dorm room? Carl, are you a stalker?" I asked.

"I'm not a stalker! Now your turn!"

"I'm not comfortable with showing my tattoo to anyone other than Yuu," Nanako said bashfully.

"I don't want to show it to anyone either," I said.

"Jeez, why would we get tats if we don't even know what tats each other have?" he said as he stared at me intently before he pulled up the back of my top in one quick move, "Holy shit! Jane's got a tramp stamp!"

"A what?" I asked.

"Let me see!" Yuu said as he looked behind me, "It's true! You're looking very slutty today, Jane.

"Just because she got a tramp stamp doesn't mean she's slutty. It just means that she's feminine," Nanako said as she also sneaked a look.

"Would you all please stop?!" I said as I stepped away from them and pulled my blouse back down over my 'wings covered in rose bush' tattoo in the small of my back.

"Don't cover it up, mommy." Anya smirked as she said, "It's a pretty and seductive tramp stamp. Were you trying to get daddy hot, mommy?"

"Anya!" I scolded.

Suddenly Nanako pulled me towards one of the piercing chairs. I asked her what she was doing, but she told me it would be a waste if my pretty, dainty neck didn't have earrings adorning it. She made absolutely no notice when I told her that I didn't need any earrings. In short order, I got my first pair of earrings, a pair of little dangling crosses suspended by golden threads about 3 centimeters long.

Half an hour later, we arrived at the 'x' location on the map. It was a rather large warehouse in the middle of nowhere. It couldn't even be described as 'the edge of town' because there was nothing other than dust and sand around the warehouse. It consisted of a large two-storey building, probably 180 m2 in land area with a large garage door and one side door.

"Hello!" Carl called as he got up from his bike. He didn't turn it off.

Yuu did the same, but ever cautious, his hands were inside his pockets, where I knew there was an IL52S inside each. "Hellooo."

Suddenly the blinds of one of the windows on the second floor opened and an old man shouted through the open window. "Go away, you brainwashed midgets! I don't deal with little rich kids on hoverbikes. Go bug someone else!" Then he closed the blinds again.

"Excuse me! I'm just here to buy a laptop!" Anya shouted from behind me.

There was no response.

"Mister!" Anya shouted again.

Still, there was no response.

"I have been ignored..." Anya said, depressed.

"Maybe we'll just go to another town, I'm sure there's somewhere..." I said but before I could finish my sentence, Anya jumped down from my hoverbike carrying with her an IL52S and my e-paper.

"Ignoring me, aren't you? You'll regret that, old man," she muttered as she shot open the circuit box for the large garage door then connecting a cable between the e-paper and the IL52S. She typed something into her e-paper for about 5 minutes, until the IL52S fired a particle stream at the electronic circuit and the garage door rolled open.

"Hah! Suck on it, bitch! You have never met Anya Vivesca Alinesqu," she said as she picked up both the e-paper and the particle wand before she strode into the warehouse.

"Umm, Anya, isn't this called breaking and entering?" I asked as I went after her.

"It's not breaking and entering. I didn't break anything, plus, he's inside! This is actually called, 'kicking down his front door'," she said as she threw me my e-paper.

"This is wrong..." I whispered to myself.

"You coming, Nana?" Yuu asked as both him and Carl followed behind.

"Nah, I'll keep watch outside," she said as she took out the Shimizu twin's cloak and wore it around her body.

"Open up, old man," Anya said when we arrived at the second floor office the old man was holding up in.

"Go away, you thieves! You will get nothing from me!" he said from the other side of the door.

Anya sighed. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, old man. The easy way is, you open the door, we come inside and we discuss like civilized human beings. The hard way is, I hack through your pitiful electronic door and once it's open, I kick you over and over again until I feel like discussing anything. Sounds good?"

A minute later, the electronic door opened by itself.

Anya opened the door and walked inside. "I'm glad we get to do this like civilized human-"

Anya crumpled to the floor.

"You won't take me, shapeshifter!" the old man said as he fired his weapon, which looked like a very old version of particle wand, probably one of the IL30 series.

Yuu quickly pushed forward and aimed one of his IL52S, which fired a deflector stream that met each of the old man's particle shots, rendering it useless. Eventually the old man's particle wand stopped firing though he kept pressing the trigger, as if expecting it to keep firing. Then he threw the particle wand at our feet and grabbed a knife as he moved to stab himself, saying that we will never take him alive. Carl shot him with a stun blast from his IL52S before he managed to do the deed.

"He's a danger to not just us, but also himself," Carl winked as I picked up the old man's particle wand.

"Hey, this thing is set to kill!" I stated as I went to Anya. "Anya, don't die on me, don't die on me," I cried as I hugged her.

"Who's going to die?" Anya groaned. "My whole body feels like a beaten up old wagon. I'm gonna kill that geezer."

Anya recovered ten minutes later, just after Yuu managed to tie the unconscious old man to his chair. I sat on one of the swivel chairs in the office, massaging some life into Anya's aching body as she sat on my lap. Yuu then leaned against the door as Carl took a seat on the remaining swivel chair. It was a fairly large office, with computers of all kind scattered on the floor, on the desks and even on top of each other. Then Carl asked who wanted the honour of waking the old man up.

"I'll do it," Anya said as she raised her particle wand with a shaking hand, "It will be my greatest pleasure."

"Don't shoot the computers," Carl laughed, seeing her struggle just to raise her particle wand.

"Don't look down on me, daddy," she said as she raised her particle wand level with her eyes and pressed the trigger with her middle finger, releasing a stream of shock particles.

The old man woke up screaming under his bond. After that, he panted before his eyes went wild looking at us. Yuu belatedly commented that we should probably check to make sure if the old man had a heart condition first.

"What do you want, shapeshifter?!" the old man asked.

"What's this shapeshifter thing you keep accusing us of?" Yuu asked.

"Don't act like you don't know! Even if you're not a shapeshifter, by being with her. You are already accomplice to whatever schemes she has," the old man shouted.

Then everyone looked at me. "Uhh, what are you talking about?"

"I've seen you six years ago, in Marianas Garden. You look just like you were back then. Remember? Your 'father' was giving a speech on the opening of the new I49 highway connecting Manchester City with London City? Remember how nobody survived when the bomb under the stage exploded? If you are not a shapeshifter, how can you still look like back then?" the old man said as he struggled under his binding.

"Uhh, I think you're mistaking me with someone. I've never been to Manchester City. You probably meant my sister, I've been told we look the same. Though I don't think she would be in Manchester City six years ago," I said, trying to convince the others that I wasn't this shapeshifter thing.

"I'm not talking about you! I'm talking about her!" he said as he pointed at Anya with his lower lips.

"Damned it! I thought the Underground Resistance recovered everyone there. Seems like they missed one," Anya said with a voice filled with pain.

"Anya?"

"I knew something was weird about you!" Yuu said as he pulled out his IL52S.

"Hey, stop!" I covered Anya's small body with my arms and swivelled my chair so the back of the seat faced Yuu, "I'm sure Anya has an explanation for it. Right, Anya?"

"Jane, turn around. I'm just going to stun her," Yuu said, but when I didn't turn around, he said, "Suits yourself. I'll stun you, then I'll stun her. Then we'll play twenty questions."

"Hey Yuu, this is Jane you're trying to shoot!" Carl said he grabbed the hand still holding the particle wand and aimed it elsewhere.

"There's no need to shoot. I guess I'll just tell you," Anya said as she told me to swivel the chair back to facing them.

"It's about time," Yuu said.

"Old man, do you know of the 'real' London?" Anya asked.

The old man seemed to pause, before he said. "I've never been there, but I know it's not London City."

"Then you probably know that humans have been abducted from the 'real' Earth and dropped here, don't you?" Anya asked.

The old man simply nodded.

Then she turned towards all of us. "Do you all know that you were not born here?"

"We've been told," Yuu said.

"For your information, I'm very much like you. Except that I was taken eight years ago, They kept me for two years. So you can all think of me as your senior of some sort," Anya giggled a little.

"That doesn't explain how you looked the same back then and now! You shapeshifters can copy a person's memory and body down to the last detail," the old man said in rage.

"You seem to know a lot about these shapeshifters, old man. Who are you?" Carl asked.

"Why wouldn't I know? The government switched my own wife with a shapeshifter. That same shapeshifter killed my son, using my wife's face!" the old man yelled, before his voice dropped down to a whisper, "How could I have known?"

Everyone went quiet as the old man wept in silence.

Anya cleared her throat. "Are you all going to hear my story or not?"

"Please," Carl said.

"Then don't interrupt!" Anya scolded as she took a deep breath and continued, "I was also taken from Earth, the real Earth. Like you, Jane, they experimented on me. Unfortunately, something went wrong. I don't know what they were trying to do, but they gave me increased brain efficiency and they tampered with my DNA. They tried to increase my regenerative ability, allowing me to recover from serious harm by regenerating my cells. They went wrong somewhere. I still got my increased regeneration, but my bone growth stopped from then on. The increased regeneration allows me to remain young by removing dead cells and making new cells. They even managed to make my telomere heal after every cell division. However, that also means that I will be a little girl even when I'm in my 60s. I will never grow old, this will be how I look like even after you're all old or dead."

"Oh you poor thing." I hugged her tightly.

"Wow, to be young forever, but young as a little girl. I pity you, Anya. Assuming of course that's all true," Yuu said.

"Yuu!" Carl objected.

Anya sighed as pressed her right palm into a sharp jutting piece of metal on the mostly metallic desk. I tried to stop her, fearing tetanus or other poisoning from the rusted metal. But the deed was done, Anya showed us her bloody palm and told us to watch.

After two minutes, Carl asked, "What are we supposed to watch for, actually?"

"Oh right, I forgot," Anya said as she licked all the blood from her palm and showed what was under it to us.

"There's no wound," Carl remarked.

Yuu looked at it closely. "Then again, if you're a shapeshifter, you can make the wound close again, can't you? After all, you can copy bodies."

"No," the old man said as he watched the skin heal, "Shapeshifters can't heal themselves and their blood turns to gas as soon as it's exposed to air. It seems like I owe you an apology, little girl."

"Turns to gas? What kind of creature is that?" Yuu said as he put back his IL52S inside his pants pocket.

"Creatures not of our world, I'm sure. Can someone untie me? I'm feeling sore all over," the old man said.

"Right," Carl said as he cut the ropes binding the old man.

The old man stretched as soon as he was loose. We could hear the creaking of his old bones. Then again, he apparently wasn't as old as we originally thought. He told us that he was only 38. We thought he was 60! Yuu also asked Anya what happened to her 'father', to which she said he was now one of the resistance fighters.

******

"No way!" Anya said as her arms wrapped itself lovingly around a tablet computer just a little broader than her chest, "You have one of those rare FX6000! This thing is legendary."

"Yes, I got it when it first came into the market. Best hardware there was. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a programmer good enough to code an operating system that fully utilize its capabilities," the old man, whom we now know as James Morgan (call me 'Jimmy') said with a laugh.

"Couldn't you program it yourself? I mean, you built all these computers, how much different will it be?" Carl asked.

Yuu gave him a look that pretty much said, you are such an idiot, you make me look like an idiot too.

"I'm afraid programming is beyond me. Sure, I built these computers. Sure, I can code a programme or two, but writing an OS is way above my level. Companies employ hundreds of people to write a one-size-fit-all OS such as the Arnax and RoOF, for your information."

Anya, still obsessed with the tablet in her embrace said, "All the junks you have here are total crap, but this, this is like the holy grail of computers. I want this, how much are you selling it?" Her eyes were twinkling.

"Did anyone never tell you that your words sting? You shouldn't say to people that their work are total crap right at their faces. But sorry, this is a personal collection. Not for sale," Jimmy said with a smile, as if to lessen the blow.

"Twenty thousand, and that's my final offer," Anya said, not listening to a word Jimmy said.

"Anya!" I admonished loudly, but then, in a whisper, I said to her, "But that's about half of the money you have left."

Before she could reply me though, the old man said, "Tempting, but no. You do realize that there's only four of these still functioning, don't you. This is one of the remaining four."

"Sorry to interrupt, but what's the big deal with this tablet?" Yuu asked.

The old man explained, "This tablet, the FX6000 is the most powerful tablet, ever. It sports Centum-core processor with 6 Terabytes of operation memory. It is equipped with twin laser keyboards, allowing simultaneous input through both keyboards, effectively doubling or tripling input speed in the right hands. It uses the MIDO bootloader, or otherwise known as Multiphase Input, Doubling Output which uses the full capability of twin or even triplet input, as there's an option to add another input source. It also has 60 Terabyte built in hard drive. Too bad all that power and none of it dedicated to graphic capabilities."

"Which is no problem. Less graphic capabilities translates to higher operational performance, better response time, less distraction, less heat and smaller size. Only idiot gamers look for great graphics in everything," Anya said bluntly.

"Hey kid, I took offense at that," Yuu stated.

"So if it's that good, then why did it fail?" Carl asked.

"For the simple reason that the FX6000 was originally shipped without an OS. They expected the tech community to write their own OS. You must understand that this was a very small company, which manufactured their tablets by hand. FX6000 was their 7th product and their most advanced. It was also their greatest mistake. You see, the original FX6000 was terribly flawed. It had superb capabilities but because of that, the heat produced was so great, the innards melted because the cooling fans couldn't handle the heat. They had to recall the first 50 units and return to the customers the modified units, with better heat dispersion system. That however, put their finances in the reds and they filed for bankrupcy. Because of that, however, the company Cynthius became known as the legendary company. There was even a book titled 'The Age of Cynthius' that elevated them to the level of godhood," the old man explained lengthily.

Anya mentioned that it was also not popular with the gaming crowd, so there was no more FX6000 made after unit number 152.

"Alright, let's make a deal then. You give this to me and I'll make you the best OS in existence, for free," Anya said with much confidence.

The old man refused. "You? No offence, but people much older and more experienced than you have tried and they all sucked. I don't want a mediocre OS and if I want a passable, stable OS, I would've gone to Jockie's shop and buy it myself."

"Don't look down on me. You may reconsider after finding out that you will need my authorization code to open or close your garage door," Anya said with a playful grin.

"So you were the one who hacked into my door control? Wondered why it took you ten minutes to do that."

"Hey, anyone would've taken a long time to hack anything too if all they have are e-paper and particle wand's processor core. Now, if I have this," Anya hugged the tablet tighter, "I can do it in ten seconds. Wanna bet?"

"E-paper, you say? I also noticed that you are all using one of the new and quite illegal particle wands. Are you all by any chance with the Underground Resistance?" the old man enquired.

"No, we're with Project Salvation," I said before I caught myself.

"Jane!" Carl scolded.

"Sorry! But strange, I didn't die," I remarked.

"Is it possible that the name itself is not a taboo? Maybe the name of the project itself not a secret, but the contents are not?" Yuu reasoned.

"I have never heard of this Project Salvation," the old man said as he looked at Anya, "But I won't pry. Anything that hurts those shapeshifters is a plus in my book. Alright, little girl, show your stuff."

"Right on! I'm gonna borrow your fastest computer. Your new OS will be done in a moment," Anya declared haughtily.

Her 'a moment' ended up taking the whole evening.

Waiting for Anya to finish writing her OS was simply god awful boring. Nanako and I passed the time cooking decent meals for lunch and dinner for the first time since we left the academy. Yuu and Carl went to the computer testing room to play Metallic Fury, the strategy game with which Yuu became well known as The Bloody Shogun. We just finished having dinner when we heard a phone call from Jimmy's office. The old man Jimmy went to the office to take the call, but he quickly came back down afterwards panicking.

"Quick! Bring your hoverbikes inside the garage. We need to hide all of you!" he said as he hurriedly opened the big garage door.

"Wait, why? What happened?" Carl asked.

"Jockie just called. He said the Inquisition is coming. Hurry!" Jimmy urged as he pressed a hidden switch and the center of the garage floor opened up, revealing a dark hidden chamber underneath.

We each quickly started up our bikes and rode it into the dark hole, where he told us to keep quiet and to not activate any electronic devices. Then he showed us the switch to open the floor in case something happened to him. Then he closed the door and made some kind of whirring noise on the floor above us, probably blowing dust to cover the door's seams. Then things became quiet and we sat unmoving in the dark for fear of making a noise. About twenty minutes later, we heard a noise of shuffling feet upstairs. I silently counted four pairs of feet, but I couldn't be sure without actually seeing them.

"So, Jimmy! I heard you're alive, but to see you here, this is a suprise!" said a man with a very nasal voice.

"Cody, so you've decided to join them? These creatures that killed your sister and nephew?" Jimmy said.

"Creatures?" Cody said as we heard the sound of something falling to the floor, "YOU killed them! It was you who killed my nephew, then you framed my sister before you killed her too! You have a lot to make up for, Jimmy!"

"You saw it with your own eyes, Cody. How can you say otherwise, when you yourself saw your sister's body wounded, with no blood flowing from her wounds? You surely smelled the rotten eggs in the air - guah!!

"Do not insult me, Jimmy! You will pay for the pain to caused me. But let's talk about that another time. We're here to find some rebels. We heard that the rebels responsible for the attack and destruction of Sacred Soul Academy are here, in this very town, just this noon. Now, would you tell me the truth, Jimmy?"

"I don't know any rebel. I've never heard of Sacred Soul Academy," Jimmy denied.

Another sound of something hitting the floor. "Now now, there's no need to lie. Why, my friend here just found evidence of someone cooking a very delicious meal. Let's see, you had beef stew, mashed potatoes, some store-bought bread and wine to wash it down with. Anything I missed? Are you seriously trying to tell me that you, who had never cooked a single meal in your married life, cooked something so delicious?" Cody said as he slurped something, probably the stew or the soup we left behind.

I didn't know something so simple would give away our presence.

Coughing, Jimmy said, "I had a lady come in here earlier."

"A lady? Now that just made me even more angry. You killed my sister, and yet now you dare to flirt with another woman? How dare you!" Cody said as we heard sounds of Jimmy crying in pain several times, before Cody said again, "Now that my anger is sated, let's continue with the rebels, won't we, Jimmy? Where are they?"

"They came to buy computers," Jimmy said with difficulty, "I sold them some laptops. They left an hour ago."

"I see, where did they go to, Jimmy?" Cody asked again.

"North. They went north," Jimmy lied.

"See, isn't that so much easier? Now I hope you will go apologize to my sister, because I sure as hell don't want to see your ugly old face again, Jimmy. Goodbye!" Cody said.

"Cody... you...!" Jimmy said as he choked on something.

"Let's go, men. Leave this piece of shit here. He's not going anywhere," Cody said as the sound of feet quickly piled out of the garage.

We waited a couple more minutes, listening to even the slightest sounds to ensure they had all left. When we were really sure that the Inquisition had left, Carl cautiously pressed the switch that operated the door and the door opened, dropping dust on our heads. When we climbed out of the hidden chamber, we went to find Jimmy and were shocked at what we see.

For on the floor lay Jimmy, bleeding from the wound in his guts.

"Jimmy! What happened?" Yuu called as he quickly knelt beside Jimmy, pressing the wound with his hand. Jimmy was looking so pale from loss of blood.

"Nanako, throw me my medkit!" Carl called to Nanako, who was still inside the hidden underground chamber.

"Here, catch!" Nanako yelled as the medkit flew out of the hole towards Carl.

Carl caught it beautifully, then he knelt on the other side of Jimmy and said, "He's losing a lot of blood."

"The wound looks deep too, this is bad!" Yuu stated.

Carl opened the medkit and looked around inside it, rummaging at the contents until he cried, "Microbots!"

"Right! We can use the microbots to close the wound, but how much to use?" Yuu said.

"The whole vial?" Carl asked.

"But we don't know how effective it is, if it's not enough, it won't heal enough. If it's too much, we'll just be wasting microbots," Yuu said as he pressed a little harder to stop the bleeding.

Suddenly Jimmy's hand raised to grab Carl's hand, but couldn't quite reach it. "Microbots?" Jimmy said as he coughed out his own blood, "Half... enough."

"Half? You sure?" Carl asked. When Jimmy didn't reply, Carl proceeded to pour half of the contents of the vial onto the bleeding wound before he pulled out the control device. He entered the injuries and operation procedures before pressing 'start', which was when the microbots moved around by itself where half of those poured onto the wound disappeared into the bleeding wound while those left of the surface worked to bring the flesh closer and knitting it using microscopic methods.

Five minutes later, Jimmy stopped struggling and went silent. We had to slap him a few times to ensure that he wasn't dead, but it seemed like the microbots did the trick. While there was a clear line on his skin where the knife that Cody used pierced through, it was already healing. We couldn't tell for sure the status of his innards though.

"Jimmy!" came a voice from the garage entrance.

Out of reflex, all of us whipped out our IL52Ss and aimed it at the newcomer.

"Hold, hold! I'm not an Inquisitor. I'm the shopkeeper at the computer store you went to earlier. I'm Jimmy's friend!" the man said. We lowered our wands warily as we realized that he was the man at the cashier who told us of Jimmy's place earlier.

"What happened here?" he asked as he got close.

"Inquisition," Yuu said, "Someone named Cody stabbed him, I think."

"Cody, you say?" he repeated.

"What is this Inquisition? What are they doing here?" Carl asked.

"From what Jimmy told me, they're kind of like the eyes and ears of the military. They are a step above the normal military investigators. They are what some call as 'troubleshooter', 'spy' or 'assassin', depending on your definition," the man explained.

"Will he be safe here? We have to leave, we have someplace to go to," I said.

"Sure, there's a hospital in town, they'll fix him up right away. Seems like you've managed to sew up his wound. With the Inquisition gone, there is no longer any danger."

"Please take him there then, Mr..."

"Jockie, just call me Jockie. I won't ask your names. I don't want to be killed like Jimmy," he said as together with Carl and Yuu, they carried Jimmy to his truck outside.

We were ready to leave ten minutes later, after packing up the leftover dinner and whatever we could 'borrow' from Jimmy's home. We managed to find another e-paper for Anya and some external processing module for Anya. For the rest of us, there wasn't much we really needed so we just grabbed some dry crackers from Jimmy's pantry.

"Anya, let's go!" I called to Anya, who was typing something into one of Jimmy's computers.

"Coming!" Anya said as she finished up and ran towards my hoverbike that was already warmed up and ready to leave. Then under her breath, Anya said in a barely perceptible voice, "Come to us, old man. We may still need you in the future.

******

That night, in the desert north of Northampton Town.

"Carol, don't lag behind. You need to keep up!" Jerry Davis said to his girlfriend through the built-in comm device in his hoverbike.

"I know, sorry. I'm just tired, it's been 24 hours since I last slept, Carol Rodriguez said as her hoverbike wobbled behind Jerry.

"I'm sorry, I'm so insensitive," Jerry said as he checked the radar/map on his hoverbike, "There should be some ruins about 80 kilometres in front, we'll stop there. It seems like the army has stopped chasing us."

"This is all Sophie's fault!" Jerry said as he threw a pebble into a metal bucket on the far wall when they finally managed to rest at the ruins.

"I'm sorry, I was the one who wanted Sophie and Frances to join our group. It's my fault!" Carol wept as Jerry sat next to her and held her to him.

"Shh, it's not your fault at all. It's all that dumb bitch's fault. We've had nothing but bad luck since they turned around towards the academy. Sometimes I wondered if this was our punishment for not going with them, but if we had gone with them, wouldn't we die too?" Jerry said.

"I don't know. We've gone into problems after problems, one after another. It never ended. We thought we could rest in Northampton, but for some reason the military chased us there too. We're hungry, tired, and it's only a matter of time before we're too weak to run away anymore. I fell asleep on the bike many times today, Jerry," Carol said as she held Jerry's arms.

"Go to sleep. I assure you, tomorrow things will be different."

"Yes, let's hope tomorrow will be different," Carol said as she drifted to sleep. Jerry also drifted off to sleep, to get some rest for what he planned to do the next day.

The next morning, Jerry noted in his long range radar a number of army hoverbikes closing in from the south. "So, they got themselves some reinforcements? All these to capture two 'rebels'?"

"Jerry, stop this," Carol said as Jerry tied her up to her hoverbike.

"I'm sorry, Carol. This must be done. I'm sorry to have to use my 'muscle relaxant' drug on you."

"You said it will be different today. I wasn't expecting this!" Carol wept.

"Someone must accomplish the mission, even if only one of us succeed. YOU must succeed, Carol. I will hold them back."

"But Jerry, we promised that we will never leave each other's side!"

"That promise was meant to be broken, baby," Jerry said as he kissed Carol on the lips, "I love you," he said as he pressed the 'autopilot' on Carol's hoverbike.

"No! Jerry, I won't leave you!" Carol cried as the hoverbike's protective eggshell closed around her.

"You have no choice, my love," Jerry said as the hoverbike sped off to a predetermined location.

"Jerry!!!" Carol cried as the ruins became smaller and smaller in the horizon.

Meanwhile, Jerry used his expertise in mechanical engineering and opened a section of his hoverbike that contained the power flow distribution system connecting the reactor and various subsystems. He took out a device from his backpack, one given by one of his seniors and attached it to the system. Then he pressed the hoverbike's startup button.

Warning! Unknown foreign device detected. Starting the vehicle with the device attached will create a force-feedback loop starting an energy buildup on the power system and causing meltdown of the power reactor. Please remove foreign device before starting the vehicle.

Jerry pressed ignore as he started the hoverbike. Then he rode forth towards the approaching army bikes and hovertanks. Despite all the army's guns pointed and aimed at him, none fired a single shot. He assumed correctly that the army wanted to capture him alive.

One minute before reactor meltdown. Suggesting immediate shutdown.

Jerry pressed the 'override' button. As he arrived at their location, he maneuvered himself around and between the hoverbikes, causing mass chaos among the ranks of hoverbikes and hovertanks.

Five seconds until meltdown. Evacuate all within range of 8 kilometres.

He fired his IL52S at one of the soldiers, who had come out of his hovertank to manually look for the 'rebel'.

Four seconds until meltdown.

He rode quickly upon seeing the enemy's general inside his command tank and lauched a high intensity beam from his IL52S, causing an overload in the power systems.

Two seconds until meltdown.

He pushed the hoverbike's hover capabilities to the limits, causing the hoverbike to leap to the air. He raised his fists to the sky, telling himself, I've won, you bastards!

Containment failure.

The hoverbike exploded with the power of a 10 kiloton nuclear bomb, erasing everything within a distance of three kilometres.

*Hi all, here's a new chapter of Escape! Gosh, why couldn't I have finished this faster?
**As always, your comments and feedbacks are very much needed and appreciated. Praises help me write faster, constructive criticisms helps me write better. Thank you for supporting me.