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CHAPTER SIX

The rain wouldn't stop. The steady downpour beat on the trees overhead, and the trees in turn dropped it down to beat against her umbrella. She had walked over almost every inch of those woods, at least every inch that could fit a car, and Lizzie was seriously wondering if Karr had driven out of town.

She had already missed all her classes by now. That, and her feet ached.

"Alright," she said out loud, stopping for just a second, leaning against a wet tree, "Should I keep going?"

It wasn't a question of stopping the search. She wasn't going to stop until she made sure that Karr wasn't on campus. The question was whether she should keep going forward, or turn around and try searching in a different direction.

It took about half a minute for her to decide. She walked forward, eyes vigilant, and that was when she finally spotted him, shivering underneath a tree.

"Karr!" She said, breaking into a run, "Karr, it's me!"

Karr did nothing but shiver, his scanner running back and forth. Water droplets which the tree above him missed were continuously dropping onto his frame and trickling down to the ground.

"Oh Karr," Lizzie said, rubbing her umbrella-free hand on his hood as she reached him, "It's alright."

That seemed to be the moment that he realized she was there. He honked plaintively at her, and his headlights winked at her weakly.

"It's alright, it's alright," Lizzie repeated, "I'm going to get you somewhere warm and dry. Everything is fine, Karr. I know you don't remember it, but this stuff is water. It can't hurt you; you're much, much stronger than water."

Karr didn't stop shivering, but his scanner began to fluctuate a little more normally now.

"You've been out here for a while," Lizzie said.

How could he stand being out in the rain so long when it was clear he didn't like it? They needed to get out of here. Lizzie folded her umbrella and stuck it in an outside pocket of her backpack. It was an action very much like rolling up her sleeves-she had work to do, and she was going to do it.

"Alright," she began, repositioning her backpack on her back, "I came up with a plan while I was searching for you. Mrs. Mahogany asked me today if I could watch her house. Well, her house has a garage in it. And that will keep you covered from this rain. I'm sure she won't mind if we use it. So if you're ready to leave here, we should get going. We'll have to go through some of the rain to get there, but if we're quick, maybe we won't notice it. Are you ready?"

She placed both hands on Karr's hood and gently pulled, indicating that the direction she wanted him to go was out from under the tree.

In response Karr violently reversed, hitting the tree in the process. Unfortunately, this caused some water droplets to fall from the tree onto his frame. He revved his engine dangerously, and to Lizzie's delight it sounded like his old snarl.

"Come on," she said, pulling at his hood again, "I promise you'll be fine."

Karr tried to back up some more, but since he was already up against the tree there wasn't anywhere he could go. He settled on revving instead, but it looked strange since he was still shivering.

"No," Lizzie was beginning to get impatient, "I am getting you out of here, so come with me!"

She pulled again, and Karr revved again. Lizzie took a deep breath, and tried once more. This time Karr honked at her.

"Stop it!" Lizzie said, raising her voice, "Just trust me, alright?"

Karr stopped shivering. She pulled at his hood once more, and this time he slowly moved towards her.

"That's it," Lizzie spoke, delighted, "Now, a little further..."

Karr moved a little further.

"Good! Now, you're going to feel the rain, but I promise you'll be fine..."

Lizzie led him out of the limited umbrella the tree had created. Rain pounded on his hood at full-force, and Karr seemed to shiver even harder, but to his credit he kept going forward.

"That's it, keep going!" Lizzie encouraged. The rain was hitting her just as hard as it was hitting Karr, but she pretended not to notice it.

As soon as Karr was fully out in the rain, she stopped pulling him and turned around so that she could walked forward instead of backwards. She kept one hand touching his hood so that he would know she wasn't going to leave him.

"Now, I know this seems bad," Lizzie said, "But it can't rain forever." She needed to keep talking to him to keep him calm. It didn't matter what she talked about. "I remember this one week it was raining, when I was little, and I really wanted to play outside..."


Through trial and error they found a way to weave through the forest, Lizzie talking the whole way. She was pretty good at judging whether Karr could fit through certain spaces between clumps of trees, and as long as they made sure to head in a straight direction Lizzie knew they would eventually hit a road. Finally they exited the woods. At this point Lizzie wasn't too worried about people spotting her with Karr. It didn't seem to matter anymore; the roads were mostly deserted at this time of day near the residential area. Plus it was raining, and most people on the road were concerned about getting to their destination. So as soon as Lizzie realized where she was and got her bearings, she led Karr to Mrs. Mahogany's house and up Mrs. Mahogany's driveway, her right hand on his hood the whole time.

"Wait right here," she commanded. She needed to let go of him while she opened the garage. It didn't take too long to unlock the front door, go through the house and open the garage, but she didn't like leaving Karr alone outside. Thankfully he stayed right where he was, shivering as the rain fell on him. As soon as the door was fully open, she led Karr inside. That part didn't take much coaxing.

"This is nice and cozy," Lizzie remarked as the garage door closed, "I'm going to leave you here for a few minutes and turn some lights on and off in the house, like Mrs. Mahogany does. But I'll be back. I think I'll spend the night here in the garage."

She left her backpack by the closed garage door and entered the house, leaving the inside door to the house open. Before she went through the house she stopped by the bathroom and left her wet jacket there, hanging on the shower rod. Her duties in the house didn't take too long.

"Right," she said as she entered the garage again, turning on the light as she did so, "All settled for now."

Karr had found enough space to maneuver, because he was now diagonally parked and currently facing the door that leads from the garage into the house. He had apparently been flashing his headlights; as she entered she saw one quick flash before he stopped. That made her curious. Just who was he flashing to when she was not in the room?

"Make sure your engine is off while we're in the garage," Lizzie said, deciding to ignore her curiosity and get back down to business, "Wouldn't want carbon monoxide poisoning. Then again, Mom did modify your engine. But I'm not going to take any chances; I'll keep this door open just in case. That'll let the a/c in here, anyway."

She bent down to her backpack and began sifting through it.

"You know, if I had known earlier I would be sleeping on the ground, I would have brought a pillow," Lizzie said, pulling her blanket out of her backpack, "Hey, look! I packed food! Oh wait. This was for lunch. How did I miss lunch?"

She decided to ration the lunch to be both her dinner and the next day's breakfast. As she was arranging what little food she had, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Karr slowly driving towards her.

"What's up?" she asked him, getting up to meet him half-way, "You've stopped shaking. That's good." She touched his hood as if checking for a fever.

"Hm," Lizzie continued, "Well, it's still really early to go to sleep, but you've been out in that rain for a while. You're probably tired, right?"

She sat down by his hood and made herself comfortable against his bumper, like she had done the night before. She heard the sound of Karr's engine cut off completely, and a quick look at his scanner showed her he was already in recharge.

"That was fast," she whispered. "Now. What am I going to do until bedtime? Shoulda brought some homework with me."

Suddenly the familiar ring of her cell phone sounded loudly through the garage, startling her. She glanced at Karr to see if it woke him up, but he remained silent. Maybe he was oblivious to everything as long as she was touching him. So Lizzie decided to pull out her cell phone and answer it.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Lizzie!"

"Brit! What's up?"

"You mean you don't know? Where are you?"

"Um," Lizzie looked around at the garage, and chose to answer the first question first. "Know what?"

"Security's been looking for you."

"They have?" Oh. Was that the unfamiliar number that had been calling her?

"Some car damaged the campus, and they say it's yours. They caught it all on camera. Lizzie, please tell me you didn't do it!"

"Of course not!" Lizzie said, "What happened?"

In other words, what on earth had Karr done?

"Well, they caught this car on camera crashing into a tree and wrecking one of the benches at that park near the Smith house..."

Uh oh. A camera had seen them at the park earlier. But did it see Karr driving away by himself? If so, this could be a huge problem.

"...But what everyone's talking about is the academic building."

That caught Lizzie's attention.

"What? What happened there?" she asked.

"Someone drove a car right through the main lecture hall, and they think it was your car that did it."

"WHAT?" Lizzie practically shouted.

"Exactly!" Brittany said, "They're looking for you on charges of destruction of private property."

"But I didn't do anything!" Lizzie said, "Brit, what am I going to do?"

"It's easy. You didn't do it, someone just stole your car. All you have to do is go down to the police station and let them know that."

But that would be a lie. Lizzie knew where Karr was. Also, if security had caught on camera that no one was driving the car, they might ask her about that. And what if she had to file a stolen car report? If she did that, anyone who knew his make, model and license plate would know that he was here on campus with her. And he wouldn't be able to recognize his old enemies as threats in his current state of amnesia.

On the one hand, Kitt might learn exactly where Karr was once and for all. But on the other hand, Lizzie suspected that someone had given Karr his amnesia. Something had to have happened to him on that mission of his. So someone might be looking for him, someone she didn't want to find him.

She couldn't let Karr get in danger like that. Quickly, she formulated a plan.

"Lizzie? Hello?" Brittany was speaking to her.

"Alright. I know what I need to do," Lizzy said, turning her attention back to the phone.

"Good," said Brit, "What time will you be back? I can go with you to the police."

"Thanks, but I'd like to deal with this myself," Lizzie said, "Thanks for the call!"

She hung up the phone before her roommate could say anything.

"Karr, you trouble-maker," she said, turning her head to see the dark place where the scanner normally paced, "See what you've got me into!"

The sound of her phone ringing again startled her.

"Probably Brittany again," Lizzie decided, but changed her mind once she saw the caller ID.

Oh. It was that number again. The one that had called her thirty times, and had her school area code. It was probably security, and they were calling her because she was in trouble. Would she be in even more trouble if she didn't answer, or could she wait until tomorrow to call them back?

Wondering if she made the right decision, Lizzie answered the phone and raised it to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Elizabeth Knight."

She heard Karr's scanner start up behind her as he woke up, and he immediately began shivering.

"Yes?" She asked, turning her attention to Karr. Why had this man's voice woken up Karr?

"Finally. We've been trying to get ahold of you for some time."

Karr started flashing his headlights at her. It was a new pattern, but even if she understood him he was going too fast for her to comprehend the message.

The voice spoke again.

"You might want to watch your step."

"What? Who is this?" Lizzie asked.

"Call me a concerned citizen, if you will." The man's voice said nonchalantly, "Your reckless driving today is bringing you attention. And you can't afford that. FLAG can't afford that."

"Huh?" Lizzie asked, trying to appear ignorant. But on the inside she was worried. Who was this, and how did he know she was involved with FLAG?

Karr, if anything, seemed to speed up his headlight flashes.

"You're young," the voice continued, "But you're also one of FLAG's Drivers. So we want to warn you."

"What? What are you talking about?" Lizzie asked.

"Lay low, and stay out of the way. And whatever you do, don't go searching for him."

Whoever-it-was then hung up the phone.

"Just what," Lizzie said, pocketing her own phone, "Was that all about?"

She turned her attention back to Karr. As soon as her phone was hidden he stopped sending her his headlight messages, and just sat there shivering.

"Karr, it's okay," Lizzie said, running her left hand over his hood to help calm him down. It seemed she was constantly repeating that to him these past few hours.

Why was he freaking out so much over that phone call? Then it hit her. Karr had recognized whoever had been on the phone with her. And whoever it was, it was someone he was uncomfortable with.

With a feeling of foreboding, Lizzie took the cell phone out of her pocket and removed its battery, hoping that it's signal couldn't be traced to that garage.

"Everything is going to be fine, Karr," she said, trying to calm him down enough for him to recharge again.

She hoped she was telling him the truth.