Running through the forest at top speed, Arnold, myself and his parents were hot on the trail of finding La Sombra, that is we WERE until HE found US. Now we were running for our lives away from the crazy guy and his radical group of followers in hopes that we wouldn't be caught and put into prison after just breaking free Arnold's parents. It had been hard to distract the guards long enough to get them out, but it was a sure good thing I'd picked a few locks in my day (we won't talk about where) because we were out in a jiffy and things were running smoothly.

Until La Sombra showed back up to camp and realized they were gone.

Then it was screaming and yelling and "I'll get you if it's the last thing I'll do" so we had no choice but to run the heck out of there and begin running for our very lives.

"Hurry, hurry up, Helga!" Arnold was yelling as he led the way and I huffed and puffed while trying to run on my hurt ankle; growling his direction.

"Don't you…think I'm…TRYING?!" I hollered back in between breaths.

"We're fine for now," Stella said as she ran just a few feet behind us with Miles. "Just keep up the pace and we'll lose him for now. I know of a safe place from the green eyes that we can hide in."

"What safe place?" Miles asked curiously while running beside her and she looked at him softly.

"Honey, that place where we left the sleeping sickness medicine, its just over this vat of quick—"

But before she could get the words out, Arnold fell straight into it, yelping as he fell in and his parents began to panic.

"Arnold!" The three of us yelled and it didn't take long for me to burst into action.

Seeing the vines trailing from the tree he'd fallen beside, I grabbed one and yanked on it to make sure it was stable. Then, with speed, I tied it around my waist and took the deepest breath of my life before jumping in after him and waving my arms as wildly as possible through the thick sand in hopes to find his own arm looking for mine.

At first, I wasn't sure my instincts had been right jumping in to search for the son two parents up above had hardly seen for his entire life, but I knew SOMEbody would have to jump in there and save that football-headed dweeb so it might as well be me. They may have the experience, but I know the kid and I knew he'd need some Helga G. Pataki-brand saving.

Finally, I felt the soft of flesh grabbing for my hand and I held onto him firmly while yanking on his arm to pull him into me. Once I had my arm around him, I yanked on the vine and found that it was being pulled for me; revealing me to the world with Arnold safely in tow.

"Oh, Arnold, Arnold!" They both cried as they pulled him up to stand beside them completely covered in sand. I sat on the ground and coughed heavily while trying to catch my breath.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked over to see Stella attached to it. "That was a very brave thing you just did, Helga."

I shrugged my shoulders and offered her a weak smile. "It…it was…n-nothing…" I gasped out but she shook her head.

"You know, a long time ago when Miles and I were in this jungle, he fell into a vat of quick sand just like this one. Needless to say I didn't get there fast enough to pull him out and I had to do exactly what you did. You handled that sticky situation with poise and grace and a lot of smarts that people your age don't normally have."

I beamed knowing that I'd impressed Arnold's parents at least once in this crazy journey and nodded my head. "Th-thank you, Stella," I said while she helped me up to stand and then put her game face back on.

"Alright, troop," she began, "so far we've out-run them, but that doesn't mean they aren't hot on our trail."

"Exactly," Miles said while letting go of Arnold and pointing further ahead. "The safe space should be just up this hill passed this quick sand and now that we know better…" he said while giving Arnold a look and he blushed slightly, "we'll avoid running so fast that we lose track of each other. Especially in this crazy jungle. Sound like a plan?"

And with that, we were off once more, running away from our enemies, the four of us, a family all our own.