Cassie didn't know how to respond to that.

"Now," Marco said. "The only question is: how do we get out of here?"

"I could use my grizzly morph to---"

"No!" Cassie hissed, forcefully but quietly cutting Rachel off before her friend could go too far with that train of thought. "As far as we know, these people aren't Controllers. We can't go around killing them just because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, in this case, because we were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I don't particularly mind the idea," Slade said offhandedly, not really considering the lives of his enemies worth much concern.

Cassie gave Slade a worried look, not wanting to think about the possible implications of that statement.

"We need something small enough to get out of this place without being seen," Cassie said. "I vote we go housefly."

"I hate flies," Rachel said, making a face.

"How about ants?" Cassie asked.

"No."

"What about Slade?" Marco asked. "Or does he already have a bug morph of some kind?"

"No, I don't." For a minute Slade looked mildly disgusted. "I don't think I particularly want one, either," he said.

Cassie looked troubled for a moment; she couldn't believe how forgetful she was being. "Maybe the three of us who can should morph cockroaches, and then Slade could carry us out in his raven morph. Do you have a problem with cockroaches, Rachel?"

"No. I don't have any problems with them," Rachel said.

Marco looked at Rachel as if she had suddenly sprouted a third arm. "You hate the idea of morphing a fly or an ant, but you're perfectly okay with morphing a cockroach?"

"Yes," Rachel smirked. "Is there something weird about that?"

Marco declined to comment, and Rachel was already starting to morph. Not wanting to waste any more time, Marco started his morph. As Slade watched, his allies' bodies began twisting and deforming. Slade shuddered in disgust, before turning away and starting his own morph.

Rachel and Cassie were farther along than Slade and Marco, but Marco was starting to catch up to the two girls. Finally, all four Animorphs stood in their respective morphs.

Slade, get under the table, quickly! Rachel said, as soon as the three cockroaches had hidden themselves in Slade's feathers.

Slade shuddered again, which was an odd thing to see considering he was a raven at the time, and raced as fast as his short legs would carry him, over to a small table on the far right side of the room.

***

Outside, Lance Torrelli and his lieutenant Robert Murdock were coming back to the room that held the four teenagers. Neither of them was particularly happy.

"Pizza Hut, eh?" Torrelli muttered, angrily stomping toward the door that separated him from the four teenagers. "I'll show the little monsters some Pizza Hut!" Torrelli snorted, like a bull just before it charged, and turned to ask a question of Robert. "So. What did that Vincent kid give you for a home phone number?"

"You know that Thirty-one Flavors place?" Robert asked. "The ice-cream shop? That's what the kid put down as his number."

Torrelli shook his head. "I should have known better than to trust the word of a bunch of smooth-talking kids."

***

The door opened, slamming into the opposite wall with the force of the shove it had been given.

"All right you kids— What the bloody hell?!"

"What is it, sir?" the other soldier asked, and the Animorphs recognized the voice as belonging to the Lieutenant that had originally captured them.

Now, Slade, get out of here! Rachel said. Run!

Slade dashed out of the room without a word, taking advantage of his small size to let him slip out the door unnoticed. The last thing Slade heard before he turned the corner was Torrelli yelling about how the Animorphs had been in a locked room, and so how the hell did they get out? Inwardly Slade laughed, Wouldn't you like to know?

Running down the right hallway, Slade had to fight against the raven's urge to fly. Slade knew that he would have a better chance of escaping the base on foot, since he was so small.

Where, exactly, are we going? Slade asked.

Just head for daylight, Slade, Cassie said.

Right.

Slade turned another corner, going left this time, and nearly ran headlong into a stampeding group of soldiers. Hugging the wall to avoid being stepped on, Slade waited for the soldiers to pass. One of them looked down and saw him, but thought he was just an unwary bird who had had the bad luck to get trapped inside the base.

As the woman leaned over to scoop him up, Slade clamped down on the raven's instinct to bite her. She darted out of the herd, rounded a few corners, then tossed him into the air.

"Have a nice life, little bird," she laughed, as Slade flapped hard to gain altitude.

He caught a decent headwind, and rode it for all he was worth.

Cassie! Rachel! Marco! Slade! Where are you guys? Do you need my help?

No Tobias, we're fine, Cassie assured him. Slade got us out on his raven morph.

Oh, good. You're not still on the ground, are you? Tobias asked.

No. We're pretty high up by now, Slade said. Why d'you ask?

There was a column of… vehicles that was just starting to move out, presumably when you guys left the base. They would have been all over you guys in a couple minutes if you had stayed on the ground.

Vehicles? Marco asked. What kind of vehicles? Jeeps? Some of those trucks we saw earlier?

No, Tobias said gravely. This column is made up of tanks.

So I guess it would have been a bad thing if we'd stayed on the ground? Slade asked rhetorically a smirk evident in his voice.

Yes, Slade, Cassie said with a laugh. It would have been a very bad thing.

By this time, Slade had caught up with Tobias, and the two of them were making their way out of Area 51's airspace. After flying over the outer fence, Slade and Tobias circled slowly downward. Finally Tobias found a serviceable gully. The stream that had formed it was small right now, so there wasn't much chance of the Animorphs getting wet while they demorphed.