Jondy the Abandoner 4: Streaming Freedom Video
Chapter Six: Runaways
Aldrea's face was plastered to the passenger side window as she and Jondy approached Seattle. "Look at all the buildings," the small girl smiled. "It'll be hard for the bad guys to find us in here for sure!"
"You got that right Kiddo," Jondy agreed, pulling over near the fence surrounding the city's perimeter. "Okay, we've gotta ditch the car out here, all right?"
Seattle loomed at them through the chain link fence. Grey clouds deepened in the chilly air, and Aldrea shivered, wishing that she were wearing her jacket. It was much colder than in San Francisco. "How come?"
"Well, there are a lot of reasons actually," said Jondy, as she started removing the license plates. "This car was probably reported stolen, and the bad guys probably got their hands on that information. They could follow us to right here if they are able to find the car. And also, we can't climb over the fence in a car. I don't have a sector pass into this city, and I don't want to start out in trouble with the cops already."
Aldrea nodded and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep warm in the grey, chilly air.
"Kiddo, why don't you grab your sweatshirt out of your bag?" Jondy suggested.
"Ok…okay," the small girl shivered, looking much more vulnerable than she usually did. A light mist of rain began to fill the air, and Jondy grinned at her daughter, having removed both license plates, and stuffed them into her duffel.
"All right Kiddo, here's the plan," Jondy started, suddenly all mission like, "put your backpack back on, and I'll take my backpack and both our duffel bags. There should be a guard coming to check this portion of fence within the next ten minutes, so we need to make ourselves long gone as soon as possible." Aldrea nodded, slightly nervous. Her mom didn't even know the last time the fence was checked. The guards could be coming at any moment! "Okay," said Jondy, "you got everything out of the car?"
Aldrea nodded.
"All right then, up you get," Jondy gestured with her head toward the fence. "I'll be right behind you."
"Mom, there's barbed wire at the top."
"Well you aren't naked are you? Don't grab the barbs. Sheesh, let's go!"
Aldrea sighed in worry. She hadn't gotten enough sleep in the car, and it was raining, and there was barbed wire and the guards were going to come to arrest them at any moment! But her mom didn't seem worried at all. Sometimes Aldrea was certain her mother was raving mad.
But Jondy was worried too. She was worried that Aldrea would get her clothes caught on the barbed wire, and that she would fall to the ground on the other side. Aldrea probably didn't have enough cat DNA to allow her to instinctively land on her feet Jondy realized, as Jondy herself had fallen on her behind a couple of times in her life. She was worried that the guards weren't as lazy in Seattle as they were in San Francisco, and they would come around the corner any minute. There were so many things that could go wrong with this plan Jondy didn't want to think about it. But this was the only way that they were going to get into the city where they could be safe and set up new lives. The only way.
So she watched as Aldrea plodded up the fence. She wasn't fast, but she was pretty quick for a little girl wearing a bulky backpack. She moved steadily higher, and Jondy started climbing up behind her, matching her pace with her bulky load sagging, and waving awkwardly at her side. Soon she was right next to her daughter as they reached the top.
Jondy considered tossing the duffels over, but the mud at the bottom stopped her. "Okay Kiddo, careful now. Just find a place where their aren't any barbs, and grab on." Aldrea did as instructed. "Okay, now step up so you're standing on the top of the fence, I've gotcha," Jondy grabbed Aldrea's leg, "and now with your other leg, step over the wire."
"Mom, my sweatshirt's caught!"
"Don't worry, I'll get it in a minute," Jondy switched to holding Aldrea's other leg. "Okay, now step all the way over the wire… steady!" Aldrea was shaking. "Okay, grab onto the chain link with one hand, I'll get you unstuck here." Jondy climbed up and unhooked Aldrea's light pink sweatshirt from the barb it was stuck to, and then started over the wire herself.
"Move on down Aldrea, I think the guards are coming."
Aldrea looked down at the ten feet of climbing she had to do, and then looked up, eyes wide.
"Don't hurry Aldrea, but go. If you go as fast as you did on the other side, we'll be fine."
Unfortunately, Jondy wasn't so sure about this, as she passed the barbed wire with ease. Her enhanced hearing could hear the guard coming. There was just one, and his footsteps were squelching nearer and nearer in the mud.
Jondy rushed down to the bottom, and positioned herself underneath Aldrea. "Okay Kiddo," she said quietly, "jump down and I'll catch you."
"No you won't!" Aldrea wailed in a whisper.
"Aldrea, I'm not kidding around with you. Just jump, I'll catch you, and we'll be outta here before the guard comes!" But Aldrea was wise to her mother's games. She had done this sort of thing with Brian all the time.
"You've been rearranging," Eloise noted, stepping into Brian's apartment.
Brian looked around, "have I?" He laughed.
"Toss that ugly la- I mean that lamp over here. Don't worry, I can catch it. Then I'll just put it on this table," suggested Eloise.
"Okay, yeah, that would look nice there. You sure you can catch it?"
"You've seen me catch things before Brian." So Brian tossed the lamp gently towards Eloise. And she pretended to fumble the lamp, and CRASSSHH!
Aldrea was not going to let her mom turn this into some test of Aldrea's ability to land on her feet. No way, this was too important. Aldrea would end up stuck in the mud, and then the guards would come and arrest them both.
"No way, I'm not gonna jump!" said Aldrea, and began to climb down as quickly as she could.
Of course, Jondy had every intention of catching Aldrea, but she could sort of see where her daughter was coming from. She looked off nervously in the direction of the approaching sector cop. She could just make out his profile through the misty rainfall. He probably couldn't see her yet, but would be able to by the time Aldrea made it down.
"I'll be right back Aldrea, I have to go take care of the guard," said Jondy. She found a slightly drier patch of Earth to deposit the duffels and took off into the rain.
She ran around in an arc so as to circle around behind the guard. Sneaking catlike she approached the poor man silently. Certainly such an ambush was nothing near a fair fight, but Jondy had no qualms of this whatsoever. She quietly snaked her lithe arms around his head and covered his eyes with soft hands.
"Guess who?" she breathed. She could feel the man's heart pumping wildly as he fumbled for his nightstick, but it was too late.
He was panicked, and she was in control of the situation. Bringing up her knee, she kicked him in the small of his back, making him fall away from her and tumble to the ground.
He spun around in the mud, and started to get up. However Jondy's foot was already back in the air… SMACK! A round kick to the side of the cop's head was enough to knock him out cold. And the poor guy never even got a good look at Jondy.
She grinned and ran back to the section of fence where Aldrea was waiting for her, now firmly on the ground.
"Let's get outta here," Jondy suggested.
"Good idea," Aldrea remarked, and they bolted for cover as the rain started to pick up.
TBC…
