THE ESCAPE
Seattle
August 2025
It had been scorching hot all day, everyone in the city was trying to avoid moving more than necessary, the sun was blazing relentlessly and warming the city of Seattle mercilessly. Even at night it didn't cool down significantly.
But you could already see that a heat storm was gathering over the city. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the cool water.
Especially a small group, including two children, one just 2 years old, the other a newborn.
A large dog-man carried the bundle gently and good-naturedly in the middle of the somewhat bizarre-looking group.
One of the group looked like an oversized lizard, wearing a military uniform and puffing on a cigar, next to a slim, good-looking young woman in black clothes and a way of moving that resembled the suppleness of a cat.
Seattle
August 2025
In the lead, a good-looking young man, sandy blonde, wearing a black leather jacket, meandered through the dark corners of the city.
The small group tried to move inconspicuously through the city's alleys, regularly looking around with concern and barely communicating with words but with hand signals to let each other know that the way was clear.
A clap of thunder shook the city and almost immediately it began to rain. The long-awaited thunderstorm broke over the city. The sky darkened and so did the entire city. Lightning illuminated the city at intervals and each time the small crew pressed themselves against the walls of the house on their way to the van that was already approaching. The van was driven by a man who, with his short blonde hair and small wire-rimmed glasses, didn't seem all that adventurous, but he radiated willpower and intense motivation that you could hardly imagine.
He seemed to be under a lot of tension and swerved or slid along the streets that now resembled a river.
After such a long drought, the canals barely managed to absorb this flood and so at every bend a fountain splashed onto the sidewalks he was driving along, making driving not insignificantly more difficult for him.
As he drifted around the next corner like a speedboat on a river, a flash of lightning illuminated the street in front of him and he could see the valuable cargo he was about to pick up.
He quickly stopped in a small side alley and the troop ran as fast as they could to his car and jumped in.
By now the small group was so soaked that the water was just flowing out of their hair.
The young, handsome man's otherwise well-fitting hairstyle hung dripping over his face. The dog man's long hair hung loosely, but he hadn't bothered with it as he had kept the small bundle in his arms dry under his XXXL parka.
The little boy, dripping wet, hopped into the van with an unusually high hop for a kid his age and the lizard man was the last to jump into the saving dryness right behind him.
"Shit, now my cigar has given up the ghost," the lizard man whispered, annoyed and at the same time happy to have reached his destination, because his genes were designed for heat; he always slowed down a little when it cooled down.
"Mole, I don't think that's a top priority at the moment," the beautiful young woman snapped.
"Max, you know that it only runs really well with heat and steam," came the young handsome boy with the leather jacket challengingly.
"Alec shut up and help Joshua get the little one out of the parka before he suffocates there."
Alec looked over at the dog man, who was clumsily trying to get the small bundle out from under his jacket.
"Is Alec helping Joshua?" With a small growl, the dog man turned to the young man, who immediately tried to take the newborn.
Joshua looked faithfully at the little bundle.
"Is Ben okay?" he asked worriedly. He was a huge guy with canine features, seemed a bit retarded but more loving than any human.
"Yes Josh, you did a good job, your tent kept him dry and he is calm and surprisingly quite relaxed despite the thunderstorm".
Mole hissed at Logan: "Now drive, you half-cripple, I have to get some new cigars."
Mole was referring to the exoskeleton that Logan wore in order to be able to run or to not feel too inferior to the others in terms of his strength and speed. Without this frame attached to the outside of his legs, he sat in a wheelchair. After a few transgenic blood transfusions he had managed to stand on his own two feet again and walk slowly, but he couldn't keep up when it came to an action like this was the case today.
In contrast to the other passengers in the van, he was a human being, a normal person, even if only physically because he was also an underground fighter, a voice of the oppressed and regularly uncovered injustices and conspiracies in secret, which he then revealed through his secret identity "Eyes Only " infiltrated all channels of the television stations.
In doing so, he attracted the attention of the Seattle population in a way that no one else could.
His distinctive appearance was now familiar to many in Seattle and beyond.
"This is a Streaming Freedom Video special report. The intervention in the cable program will last sixty seconds. It cannot be traced or stopped. And he is the only free voice that still exists in this city…"
Over the last few years he had repeatedly helped the small troop that had just escaped into his van to fight their battles. Making them visible, bringing about justice and also helped to enable this group to move more freely.
They were transgenetically modified and lab-created creatures but far more human than some of the people who called themselves humans in this city.
The transgenos had built up a lot over the last two years and now lived with the people in a good neighborhood.
The very outlandish creations like Mole the Lizard Man and Joshua the Oversized Dog Boy still preferred to roam around Terminal City.
Terminal City was a sector of the city of Seattle in which, before the great disaster, there were several chemical laboratories, with toxic chemicals and other toxic substances being stored and processed here. After the catastrophe, only transgenos were able to live on this toxic waste dump. They were immune to all of these poisons.
In Terminal City none of the transgenics were outsiders or were looked at; here they were among their own kind.
The transgenos like Max and Alex were from the X5 series. They looked like people. They weren't really noticeable if you didn't know them or observed them closely. They were faster, stronger and well trained. Thanks to a variety of genes, for example the genes of a cat, they could see just as well at night without light as ours could only see in daylight. They were able to adapt to situations incredibly quickly, learn things and were trained by their past like soldiers in a special unit.
The little two-year-old boy looked up at Max with his dripping wet face, the rain still rolling down his hair.
"Mummy, are we safe now?"
He spoke like a small adult. He was the son of Logan and Max and, thanks to their genetic cocktail, was much ahead of his peers in his development. He was as strong, fast and intelligent as his parents. He only inherited one weakness from his father.
He pulled a small bag out of his jacket pocket and put on his small glasses.
He was able to adjust his visual acuity in emergency situations. However, he couldn't keep it up yet and so he wore glasses like his father. He had inherited a lot from him anyway.
Among other things, an incredibly quick comprehension when it came to computers, technology and books. He had already started reading and was busy with little "child-friendly" tricks on the computer keyboard. As I said, he was quicker than many of his peers.
Meanwhile, Logan had backed out of the alley and, turning on the hydroplane, quickly set off in the right direction. He floored the accelerator and drove as fast as he could toward the city limits.
They still had two sector boundaries to cross. Thanks to Alec, who now had a kind of diplomatic status, this went without any major problems, because as a member of the city council, many options were open to him.
So they made it out of the city without wasting much time.
Little Ben, who had become restless in his cloth, now crowed and drew attention to his hunger. In addition, small drops of sweat seemed to collect on his forehead, which Max noticed with concern.
"We have to use the next opportunity to stop with some protection," she said to Logan.
He looked over at Ben just as worried: "Is it starting again?"
"Yes, he's already sweating but the shaking hasn't started yet."
"Good, we still need a few minutes to get to an old barn that I scouted out last week."
"Then use your walking aids to push the gas a little harder," she said with a wink.
Logan now focused back on the road, trying to get the most out of the old van.
He was worried about what would happen next and suspected that this mission could be more difficult than many of the things they had mastered so far, because this time it wasn't about fighting a fight or uncovering intrigues underground. This time it was about the lives of his children.
Half an hour later they arrived at the barn near Marysville. Logan drove up to the big gate. Mole jumped out of the van, looked around briefly and then opened the gate and waved him in.
Everything was quiet. At first it was dark inside the barn, it smelled musty and of rust from the tools and machines that had been forgotten there long ago.
Logan had already left a few things here during his scouting trips over the last few days.
Joshua lit a lantern that was also next to the things and briefly looked like a huge dog ghost in the light of the lantern until everyone got used to the light and started looking through the boxes and backpacks.
Logan had thought of everything. Weapons, a change of clothes, food for everyone and, above all, little Ben's pills.
Max quickly opened the bag that contained the baby food and the capsules, opened one of the capsules, stirred the powder into the baby milk and gave Ben the first thing to drink. His little hands were already shaking a little, but after a few sips the shaking calmed down and the little beads of sweat dried up.
Everyone else had now fished out dry clothes from their backpacks and boxes and began to prepare a small meal.
Logan came over and pressed a kiss to her wet hair. She closed her eyes and for a moment the three of them seemed like a happy, carefree little family. At that moment, apart from Max's still dripping hair, there was nothing to remind him of the disturbing situation.
"I'll take it over, you take care of getting dry."
"Thank you," she handed the little one over to Logan, "hold him close to you to warm him a little."
"The little one is probably more likely to keep me warm, but it's good to be able to hold him for a while."
Logan knew it would happen soon. The inevitable, separation from his children.
He looked wistfully at the little one and tried to imagine how quickly he would grow without him being there.
Did it happen just as quickly as with Seth, his firstborn?
Ben seemed even stronger and more awake than Seth had been, even though the little one had only been born a week, he was already so much more awake than you would expect. Even though he came into Max and Logan's lives in a somewhat bumpy way, he was still, like all parents, a miracle.
Now everyone, dried, came together in a small circle. They sat in a circle like children and looked at each other contentedly. Everything had worked up to this point.
Now all that was left to do was conceal the children's whereabouts and the mission would be successful.
They passed each other bowls and distributed the contents of the cans that Mole had already warmed.
To his delight, Mole had also found a fresh cigar in the supplies and happily puffed small clouds of smoke as he asked:
"Where do we go from here?"
Alec answered with his mouth still full:
"First, Josh and you have to get back with Logan and keep up appearances. Max and I will do the rest and the less you know the better."
Joshua grimaced: "Joshua never reveals secrets"!
Max quickly jumped in to calm the boys down:
"Besides, Logan needs the best protection we can offer on the way back and you two are the absolute best."
Joshua and Mole grinned happily and now nodded in agreement with their mouths full. That was the right objection in order not to hurt the feelings of both of them and at the same time to be able to carry out the plan without changes.
Now everyone had to sleep a little because they needed all their strength in the next few days.
Mole took a position near the door with a rifle and tilted his head back. Joshua climbed up a ladder into the former haystack, lay down somewhat hidden in an old pile of hay and immediately fell asleep.
Alec took the seat on the other side opposite Mole's seat and also just laid his head back on one of the old worm-eaten wooden beams.
Max and Logan lay down in the old van with the kids. Being close together it quickly became warm and so the children and Logan quickly fell asleep. Max lay awake for a while. Listened to the silence and after all she could hear was the snorkeling of her friends scattered around the barn, she too quickly became tired and sleepy.
It was a short but quiet night.
With the first light that penetrated the gaps between the wooden slats of the barn, everyone gradually woke up.
Joshua had already quietly climbed down from his elevated position and was searching the boxes and bags again for something to eat when the children also woke up and they seemed to have had the same thought as him.
So everyone sat down together one last time to eat and wait a little longer to see whether everything remained quiet outside.
It was quiet. Too calm?
Alec quickly became restless and started pacing nervously.
"Max, we have to go!"
"I know," she said shortly.
She looked wistfully over at Logan and tried to act strong and aloof as always.
Logan was also in a depressed mood, looking worriedly at his children and Max but couldn't find any words at that moment.
He just squatted down next to Seth and said, "I love you guys. Take good care of each other!"
Seth just nodded. He snuggled up to his father for a moment and then sat down next to his little brother and held his little hand as if he wanted to start his task straight away.
Logan nodded at him again then kissed Max goodbye and then got into the van accompanied by Joshua and Mole.
Alec opened the barn door and the three of them hissed off.
Max watched the van wistfully for a few seconds and thought briefly about whether she should have said goodbye to Logan more extensively.
But at that point she was still thinking about a happy future when all danger would be over, she had no idea how much everything would change.
Alec was now eager to leave and was already putting Seth into the back carrier in which he wanted to transport him in order to move faster.
Max did the same with a cloth around Ben and tied him tightly to her chest. They both also packed some luggage and Alec packed a weapon.
Max hated guns. She still couldn't bring herself to carry weapons and mostly relied on herself.
Her training in Manticore had actually trained her to be a living weapon, which she considered dangerous enough. She only used a weapon in extreme emergencies and the current situation seemed so well planned that she didn't feel it was necessary.
Alec was still shaking his head at that.
He had been in Manticore much longer than she had and had gone through a tough school after the 12 X5s, including Max, had fled Manticore. That's why his training had become much harder and he liked to use the weapons to make it easier for himself. He was no longer the same hothead he had been at the beginning of his time outside Manticore, but he still rushed things and became a little careless.
Max warned him to be careful, which annoyed him a bit because he wanted the children to be safe as soon as possible.
He had a hunch about the children that had been bothering him for several months. He had to think about that for a while. That's why he kept it to himself. Nevertheless, the two little ones were much more important to him than ever before and he was now ready to do everything on this mission to bring them both to safety. Whatever it was that drove him...
It was a deep connection that wouldn't let go of him and he now had to put it behind him in order to finally sort through his memories of the last year and finally bring clarity to all his research.
They walked on the gravel path in the opposite direction in which the three others had started in the van earlier.
They still had a good day's walk ahead of them, at best, but it seemed more likely that it could only be done in two days.
Their eyes met briefly. Flashes of memory flared up again in Alec, but he pulled himself together and they started their difficult mission side by side in silence.
Alec was usually never at a loss for a comment, but today the silence was just right for him, so he could dwell on his thoughts without making Max curious.