Well, this is it. The FINAL chapter of Cameron Morgan: On The Run! It's been a long, strenuous journey and I need to recharge my creative batteries when it comes to the Gallagher Girls…and the last Alex Rider book was so SAD! Maybe I'll start after I read Out of Sight, Out of Time…

I am sorry it took so long for this update, I have been working on it for WEEKS; I wanted this chapter to be perfect. Thanks to my reviewers:

LivieLi

ImogenXx

ReillyScarecrowRocks

Goode Foreva

LucyReywood

LuckyJinx14

Chocolatic

And I would also like to thank ALLL of my AMAZING readers! YOU guys are the ones who kept me going all this time, you're an inspiration and you all are BEAUTIFUL!

Wow, that was rather sappy…so sorry! I'm just happy that this is almost a finished story! I'll continue my praise at the end!

Cammie's POV:

I realized splitting up had been a really stupid idea when I got back to Morty's in half an hour and Alex still wasn't back at three AM.

He didn't know New York…I'm not even sure if he could get back to Morty's garage without me. I should have thought of that, I shouldn't have just abandoned ship. A spy has to able to think on her feet, and apparently I can't do that because then I would have left Alex.

"Stop beating yourself up, Cam," Morty said gently as he carefully adjusted the decal on the side of the motorcycle. "Go get some sleep. There's nothing you can do for him now."

There's nothing you can do for him now. "I can be here waiting when he gets back," I answered.

Morty shook his head, "Just like her dad," he muttered to himself.

I wasn't listening anymore. I was trying to figure out why I was suddenly so worried for Alex.

I paced the night away as Morty silently worked on my bike. He should have been back by now. I rubbed my hands together, partly warming them, partly resisting the urge to punch out the window of the garage as I watched the empty driveway.

I took a deep breath and blew out on the glass like I was six years old again; pretending that wiping away the condensation would reveal my dad. I rolled my shoulder blades back in order to stop the tears threatening to escape. The stress and the lack of sleep were finally getting to me.

Vraaaaaaaoooommmmm!

I spun back to the window and threw back the door with Morty right behind me. A smile blossomed across my face at the sight of Alex speeding up the driveway.

"Alex, are you okay?" I asked anxiously as he nearly fell off his bike five hours after we had separated.

"Yep, just wanted to see the sunrise."

Morty shook his head and wheeled the bike to the back of the shop to work on it, leaving me to deal with the Brit by myself.

"What happened?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle."

I opened my mouth to protest, to tell him that I had been worried, but Morty interrupted, "You kids can compare notes later, go get some sleep. These bikes will be ready and you need to leave tonight."

"Sounds good to me," Alex replied as he turned to head to the house.

I resisted the urge to stamp my foot and throw a hissy fit, "At least give me a summary of what happened."

"I met a girl…she had a rifle. Conversation followed."

"What!"

He yawned, "I'm really tired now Cam, I'll tell you about it later."

I stood open-mouthed and watched him walk away. I had been honestly worried and he had been with a girl?

I'm going to kill him, I thought to myself, or better yet, I'm going to let Bex kill him so I can watch…and I hope he knows he's not getting away from me that easily.

"Hey Alex, wait up!"

I won't bore you with the details of the drive from New York to Washington D.C…three words basically sum it all up:

1. Freezing (It's December 31st in case you were wondering…not a very nice time of year to be on a motorcycle)

2. Long (Thirteen hour drive. We left at 7 PM. Arrived in D.C. at 8 AM. Had to wait another hour and a half for the Pres…then another hour and a half to get to Roseville from there. Total: 16 hours)

3. Dark (Cloudy day…looks like snow…got dark around 6 PM started to get light around 9 AM. That's 15 hours folks)

And in case you were wondering, Alex still wouldn't tell me anything about what had happed with the shotgun toting chick. And it was driving me up the wall. Urggg. Males.

While we waited for the President and his escort to arrive, we hid out in a tiny diner with a great view of the road. I was a ball of nerves, but I managed to choke down half a cup of coffee and a few bites of a blue berry muffin while Alex flirted with the waitress who told him his gargantuan meal (3 eggs, 5 pancakes, 7 or 8 strips of bacon, 2 orders of hash browns, 3 glasses of OJ, and 3 cups of coffee…where does he put it all?) was on the house.

Mine however, was not.

When we finally got out of the diner and into the escort, things went well for the first 60 miles of 65 mile journey. We had remained far enough behind the real police officers that we weren't spotted but near enough to be thought of as the end of the escort. The trouble started just outside of the Roseville city limits.

The 'WELCOME TO ROSEVILLE, VIRGINIA' sign sits at the bottom of the hill and just as Alex and I crested that hill (about a ½ a mile behind the escort) three things happened:

1. Alex swerved slightly to miss a questionable piece of meat that may have been a raccoon at one time.

2. I saw the reflection of a sniper scope and hit the gas.

3. 12 successive shots rang out.

Alex's slight swerve turned into a big swerve when the bullets started flying. I was far enough ahead to see that I had to look back to see Alex and by then he was flying off the road, heading straight for a tree. "ALEX, WATCH OUT!" I screamed.

At the last second he somehow managed to avoid both the bullets and the tree…but suddenly his bike hit a tree root or something and he was being bounced from the bike and flying through the air.

I did a 180 and jumped off my bike before the engine had stopped. Alex lay on his back with his foot twisted around at a sickening angle in a pile of leaves mixed in with half melted snow. "Alex, are you okay?"

"I think I broke my ankle," he said to the sky, "and my bike's totaled."

He was right, I could see smoke coming out of the engine. We needed to get out of here ASAP, before the sniper came down from where he had been waiting for us. Time to act.

"Let me help you up, we'll have to double on my bike. We need to get out of here."

I reached down and grabbed him by his wrists, helping him to first sit up then stand. He grunted and cursed but I flung his arm around my shoulder and pulled him towards the road. I pulled my bike up and helped him onto the bike. I gunned the engine and sped off down the road just as a dark sports car screeched around the corner.

"The Circle, they're here!"

My mind was whirling a hundred miles an hour. The little black car directly behind me held at least one Circle agent with a rifle and we were still five miles from Gallagher…not that we could go back there. The Circle might have already known about the school, but I couldn't take the chance of blowing our cover if they didn't.

I pressed the gas down as far as it would go. We were going to have to take the back road and sneak over the wall without getting shot or electrocuted.

I glanced back again as the bike roared around the corner; the car was still too close. Alex's arms were wrapped around my waist (which might have been very distracting if we hadn't been being chased by a murder/murderers) and he yelled in my ear, "Where are we going?"

"Back way to Gallagher, we've got to lose this car!"

We raced down the alley behind Abrams & Son Pharmacy and past the park where I had met Josh for the first time. Then we were weaving in and out of side streets and down farm lanes, leaving the car further and further behind.

After thirty miles of zig-zags, I decided that we had really lost the car and now was the time to get back to Gallagher. I headed around town and to Memory Lane.

The street is really called Memory Lane. It's a one lane unpaved road that runs directly behind the school. There are hardly ever cars that aren't going to Gallagher and only the occasional hiker/biker when the weather's nice. Not many people know about it so it's the perfect way to get back home.

"You doing okay back there?" I yell to Alex.

"Not really!"

"We'll be there soon, just hold on!"

He didn't reply.

Fifteen minutes later we turned onto Memory Lane. There wasn't usually very much snow in Virginia, and this year was no exception. About a quarter of an inch had fallen in the last week, but it had started to melt and had lost its pure white color.

We'd be leaving tracks in the mud but there was no way to get around that with Alex's injury. I glanced behind me and there was still no sign of anyone, which hopefully meant we had really lost them for good.

The back gate at Gallagher is just a person gate, not really wide enough to get the bike through with us on it. I pulled the bike to a stop, hopped off, and helped Alex. He was looking rather green.

"Just a little bit longer."

"Good."

I pounded my Mom's code into the lock as fast as my shaking hands would let me. Weather it was the cold, the lack of food, or nerves making my hands shake, I didn't know.

I shoved Alex inside and while he supported himself against the cold stone wall, I yanked the bike through the gate and pushed it behind the garden shed that sat to the right. I slammed the gate closed and released the breath I didn't know I had been holding. If my math was right, we had traveled over 12,000 miles, nearly around the entire world, and we had made it back basically unscathed.

"We made it," I said to Alex, "I'm finally home."

He smiled weakly as he flung his arm over m shoulder, "We're not inside-"

BANG!

Something exploded barley a foot away from my foot, a grenade by the size of the hole. I'd spoken to soon. Instinctively, I turned from the path and dove into the pine trees that lined the path, yanking Alex with me.

We landed with a thump, Alex cursing, his face white from the pain. "What now?" he managed to hiss out.

"We'll have to take the tunnel inside," I said, digging furiously at the foot of one of the pines. There was an extremely old tunnel that ran almost directly beneath us, I hadn't been in it in a long time though. It was dangerously unstable with hunks of the walls caved in and one or two sections that were almost entirely blocked. It was risky, but we were going to have to chance it.

"Ah! Got it," I pulled on a rusty ring and a small trapdoor came back. "Alex, you're going to have to go first. There's a pretty sturdy ladder and only about a foot of space between the last rung of the ladder and the floor. Can you do it?"

There was another explosion and I could see where the grenades were being flung over the wall. I could come over the wall at them and they'd never know what had it them…I was itching to go and show the Circle that they didn't scare me but Alex's voice made me focus again, I knew I couldn't just leave him. "I'm fine," he scooted over the edge of the whole and down the ladder.

If I listened closely, I could hear the wailing of sirens from inside the school, at least somebody knew we were here. I heard Alex grunt as he ground and I shimmied down the ladder after him, shutting the trap door behind me just as another grenade hit the ground.

By the time I was down the ladder, Alex had already hopped a few yards down the tunnel. I ran to catch up with him and lead him to into the left branch of the tunnel. We ran as fast as we could in grim silence, shuttering as more grenades pounded the ground. I could hear parts of the tunnel collapsing behind us and I pulled Alex faster around the curves and down the straight stretches.

We were almost to the end of the tunnel (which would come out in the middle of the foyer, right under the circular stone that proclaimed Gillian Gallagher's life) when we rounded a curve to come face-to-face with an almost solid dirt wall.

"I thought you knew where we were going!" Alex panted, doubled over with his hands on his knees.

"The grenades must have triggered the collapse," I replied as I approached the wall, looking for even the tiniest hole I could dig out, "Aha!"

I scrambled up the dirt and began pulling furiously at the dirt and rocks, sending them avalanching behind me. The hole was nearly big enough for us to get through when Alex stood up with a gasp, "Cammie, I think I hear someone coming."

He was climbing up towards me and I pushed my shoulder against the last rock, sending it over to the other side, "Come on!" I yelled, "We don't have time to refill the hole, we're just going to have to make a run for it!"

Alex's face was so pale I thought he was going to pass out but he made it over the blockade and then we were running again. There was one final curve then the ladder should be right there.

"I see it, faster!" Now I could definitely hear at least one person behind us. I shoved Alex up the ladder and climbed the other side of the ladder, throwing the door back, then switching sides so I could get up to the surface too. Alex lay flat on the floor and I slammed the trap door closed, then sat down on it to keep it closed. I could hear shouting all around me, "MOM! MOM! THERE'S SOMEBODY IN THE TUNNEL! MOOOMMM!"

My mom appeared at the top of the grand staircase flanked by eight armed men and women. She was shouting orders and running down the stairs toward me. She reached down and pulled me from the floor and ripped the trap door open. "Mom, no-" I stopped when I saw who she was yanking from the tunnel.

Joe Solomon had always been hot, but cover in dirt and with a Glock 19 in one hand made him the most beautiful sight in the world.

I opened my mouth to say something that probably would have came out sounding stupid but the room started to spin and shake…and I passed out.

I passed the rest of the day sleeping in the infirmary. I have a vague memory of being helped out of my dirty police uniform and into my favorite PJs by mom at one point but the rest is kind of blurry.

About 11:30 PM, I woke up to see my mom resting on the edge of my bed. "How are you feeling, kiddo?"

"A lot better. How's Alex?"

"He's fine."

I sat up and smiled, "Where is he?"

Mom looked down at her hands, "In an airplane somewhere over the Atlantic."

"What? He left? And you didn't even wake me up!"

"It was the best thing, Cam. We needed to get him out of the country."

"You could have woken me up!"

"He asked me not to," Mom sighed, standing up and reaching into her pocket, "he also asked me to give this to you," she handed me a folded piece of paper.

Cammie-

By the time you read this, I'll be on my way back home. You'll probably be angry I didn't let your Mum wake you up, but you were really dead to the world. And yes, my ankle was broken. You should see my cast. I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad that I made this trip with you. It was crazy…and really long, but in the end it was worth it. You're worth it Cam, don't forget that.

~Alex Rider

P.S. Drop by the next time you're in London. And maybe I'll tell you about the Shotgun Girl.

~A.R.

I had to smile. It had been a trip, the people I'd met and the bonds that had been forged would be with me for the rest of my life. We hadn't beaten the Circle yet, but we would. And Alex might have been on his way back to London, but it's only eight or nine hours by plane.

We'd meet again.

The End

Bitter sweet, I'm glad that I'm done with this, but I'm also kind of sad. I hope I answered all the questions I put in the story…I think I did.

I think I'll do a sequel someday…but not until 2012 at least. It will be a while! I'm going to be posting a NCIS story soon, so y'all can look that up.

Again, before I sign off for the last time, thanks so much to you all, you are my inspiration!

~Lots of Love,

Agent Striker