AC: I also want to thank my Beta-reader FollowerOfAnhamirak for his time on this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

Tom watched as the M'arrillians and their slaves charged at them. It was quite scary to see that happen so suddenly in their once peaceful town. They moved even faster when they looked in his direction and recognized him. "Mom!"

Annie's hands tightened around the steering wheels. "I won't let anyone hurt you Tom," she promised, pushing on the gas, the wheels screeching before they suddenly accelerated.

Arias almost lost his balance, but recovered.

Kaz saw what she did and did the same soon after. "Sorry mom!" Kaz yelled.

"Break the laws!" She told him.

Kaz checked behind them and saw that the M'arrillians were after them.

Chapter 79: The Escape

Rothar grunted, "We have to fight back! We can't just let them get us."

Kaz pressed a switch and the back windows opened.

Agitos quickly put his upper torso outside and summoned a fireball in his hand. Rothar did the same.

"We'll take care of them! Just keep moving!" Agitos told the boy.

Meanwhile, Arias held onto the side of the truck with one hand and readied the other to throw an attack.

Annie focused her on the road ahead and didn't bother to check on what was going on behind them.

Cars and debris littered the road. She couldn't go full speed yet with those obstacles. Checking the display, she saw she wasn't going fast enough.

The creatures threw fireballs at the M'arrillians, hitting them and forcing the enemies back.

Tom turned to Intress and asked, "Do you have any battlegear to fight them?"

"No. The only pieces we brought were to protect your mind from the M'arrillians. The portal to your world has little energy left. That's why they are so few of us."

Tom paled a little. Still, it was better than nothing.

Meanwhile Arias threw ironballs at them.

"Tom. Grab my gun. You know how to use one," His mother quickly told him.

Tom nodded and took it out and checked to see if it was loaded. "Just 15 shots left. Won't really hurt them though," Tom said as he remembered what little effect it had had on Arias.

"You brought ammo too?"

"Yes mom."

It was their only defense.

Tom opened the window, but didn't put himself at risk. They were too far away and at that speed, it would be hard to hit a creature. He also didn't want to hurt his best friend and his mom given how close they were.

"This is a battlegear?" Intress asked, curious.

"Yeah," Tom replied, nodding as he checked behind them.

"Hold on!" Annie yelled.

Tom looked forward and saw M'arrillians in their way, "Arias! Hold on!"

The woman turned the left abruptly and avoided a few ice attacks from them. Kaz followed her and avoided them as well.

Arias almost lost his balance. "Warn me sooner!"

"Sorry!" Tom replied apologetically.

Intress frowned, "I'll join Arias in the back."

Since they were in a truck, it wouldn't be that easy.

"I'll figure it out," Intress replied, giving them a thumbs up.

In the back, Kaz was sweating nervously at the sight of so many problems and obstacles. Looking at Tom and his mother he saw Intress managing to climb onto the back of the truck. Kaz desperately hoped that his hands wouldn't slip or they would be doomed.

Cassandra focused on their surroundings. Her son was busy driving. She opened the window and checked above. She knew some of them could fly above them. Fortunately, there was no one above. She looked to the side and saw a few of them charging at them. She held tightly onto the window frame as her son suddenly turned left. Doing so she saw two cars crash against each other.

Arias prepared an earth attack and waited for them to come close. He needed to wait before going on the offensive. Looking at the enemy he smirked and muttered, "They know how to drive."

Intress nodded as she threw a few fireballs at one of the enemies that had come too close to them. "Yeah. Just hold on and don't fall. Or else it will be over for us," she warned him.

The M'arrillians began to fire back.

Tom saw this and yelled, "Mom! They're shooting us!"

Annie paled a little as she saw light coming behind them, "Hold on!" She turned left as ice shards got stuck in the road. She panted as she saw more of them coming, "Dammit. We need to hit the road soon!"

"We aren't far mom! I went through a lot worse in Perim," Tom said.

"You have a lot to say about this Perim and visiting another world!"

"I was still at school!" Tom said defensively. He gasped when suddenly, a M'arrillian held against the window of the car. It was Rath'tab.

(There you are Tom.) The creature raised his hand and grabbed him, (We are lucky to find you so quickly.)

Tom pointed his gun at the creature and fired once.

The M'arrillian let out a pained shout as he released the human and put his hand on his shoulders. Arias threw earth spikes at him, forcing Rath'tab to retreat.

Tom held the gun and panted loudly. It was a close call.

Annie accelerated, "You okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No. He tried to get me. He didn't hurt me. I shot him before he tried." Tom put his hand on his chest. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before focusing on what had happened.

Kaz saw the M'arrillian retreating. He sighed, relieved his friend was safe. He then saw the truck accelerating. He knew they had to go faster if they wanted a chance to escape. He pressed on the gas. "Hold on."

He focused on escaping and went faster than he had ever dared. If there had been a cop round, he would have lost his driver licence for years. There was no time to think about the law though, not when their lives were on the line. He focused on driving and hoped that none of them would end up in an accident.

Rothar came back into the car and coughed a few times. He'd been hit by an ice attack and a shard was stuck in his nose.

Agitos did the same, a bit of blood dripping from his chest. "They won't hesitate to attack us when we put our heads out. Still, they can't chase us without one of those battlegears."

"Cars are common here. Pretty much every family has at least one," Cassandra replied.

The two creatures gazed at her, their minds blown. Pushing the thought aside, they checked to see if there were any M'arrillians still behind them. They were in the clear for now. They sighed.

"We managed to escape Kaz," Cassandra said as she took out her scanner. She sent a message to Tom and hoped he would answer. She waited but got nothing.

"They might be more ahead. We aren't out of town mom," Kaz said nervously.

His mother nodded.

"We are not in a good situation," Agitos admitted.

Rothar grunted, "If only we had more time, we would have brought battlegears. We only have one mugic on us."

"Damn," the two humans whispered.

Cassandra got an answer, "Tom said that they won't slow down."

"Yeah. At least, the road cleared up," Kaz replied. He noticed that there wasn't anyone around. The street had empty cars.

In the truck Annie and Tom also noticed that the cars and trucks were empty. No one was around.

Tom suddenly realized what that meant, "The M'arrillians are around here mom. Careful. They can communicate with their mind and might plan something ahead."

"Is there anything they can't do?"

"Don't see them using Mugic."

"I saw them using magic!" Annie replied, confused.

"No. I mean Mugic. Magic used with a mugic stone… I'll explain later," Tom sighed as everything was getting more complicated. There was a lot he needed to explain, but he wasn't an expert on Mugic.

An awkward silence fell between them.

The creatures sighed in relief at the respite.

"I'm still worried everything will go wrong with humans driving the cars," Arias commented. He held on and sighed, "And a civilian above all that."

"That's not important. We must focus on protecting them. They almost got Tom," Intress replied.

"I know.' Arias frowned as he looked around. He saw no M'arrillians anywhere.

"They might be more ahead. They know Tom is here, and maybe Kaz too. They will ambush us ahead," Intress said.

Arias nodded and checked ahead.

Annie held the steering wheel. She was nervous. She expected something to happen soon. Her son warned her that they knew where they were and planned ahead, "We are almost out. If they are in the way, I won't stop. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"I know mom," Tom replied as he checked the gun. He was ready to use it again.

The woman saw something ahead. It was a little bit of something purple floating in the air. There was also a yellow one by his side, "Tom…"

"Yeah. M'arrillians mom."

They were almost out of town. They just needed to pass them and they would be outside of the city.

She took a deep breath. They were almost out of here. A little reckless action was the only way. "I'm going all in. Hold on."

"Okay mom," her son replied.

She stepped on the gas and charged at them. It was the last thing she would have done in that situation. Her husband said that she should never stop her car if she was in danger. It felt like she was in one of those movies she watched. She pushed that aside and focused.

Kaz saw the M'arrillians as well and did the same. He noticed the two Overworlders almost felt out of the car. He saw what was ahead and pressed on the gas, "Hold on!"

The two vehicles went as quickly as possible. They didn't stop as the M'arrillians tried to stop their escape. There were many Kha'ralls on the road, their pincers raised, ready to attack.

Aval'par frowned as he prepared to attack, (They aren't going to stop.)

Milla'iin frowned, (We cannot let them pass and we cannot kill our hostages. Do not let them pass!)

They waited for the cars. They didn't know anything about those battlegears, but knew they were easy to break.

Annie and Kaz were getting close and were both nervous. For the teenage boy, he had a flashback to when he drove in the race in Perim.

Annie saw the creatures trying to block them. When she was close, she suddenly turned to the left as ice shards came towards them. She avoided the crab monsters. Glancing at them she saw a few trying to chase after them.

Arias and Intress attacked them. They didn't hesitate to fire at them, while the M'arrillians had to be careful.

Kaz knew they had to return to the road and turned right. A small group went after them.

Agitos and Rothar attacked with everything they had. Their combined power managed to force them to give up the chase. They passed the creatures and continued their escape.

Annie suddenly turned around and returned to the road. Some M'arrillians were in her way. She frowned at them as she closed the distance, but refused to slow down. Aval'par noticed that she was getting close way too fast. He panicked and moved aside, but his leg was flattened by the wheels of the car.

The creature yelled in agony as he rolled on the ground. He had never felt his leg just crushed like that in his life.

Kaz passed near the purple M'arrillian and ignored the creature. The two Underworlders chuckled at the poor M'arrillian.

The boy, however, hit the Milla'iin's side and was sent away.

The creature was sent away and fell against an abandoned truck.

The two drivers sighed in relief and drove away from the M'arrillians, quickly putting distance between them.

They had managed to escape the city and were now headed to safety.

The creatures also calmed down; the pressure loosened on their shoulders.

They all smiled at their success.

Tom looked at his scanner and wondered how Sarah and Peyton were doing. He decided not to worry about that for now. He just sent them a message that he was okay and hoped they had escaped the M'arrillians.

AC: This is the end of this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. One more chapter before we get a little intel with what is going on with Sarah and Peyton.

Next: Welcome To The Farm.

The four humans and the creatures managed to reach the farm. The creatures meet the grandparents as they explain what happened in the city and what would come next.