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Eleven-year-old Keith sat in the small room wondering what was going to happen now. He had just run away from his foster father to find help and was now at the police station, waiting for someone to come in. When the door finally opened, a young woman about eight years older than him came in. She had black hair with a red stripe in it, brown eyes, a black leather jacket, black pants and a red shirt. “My Dad won’t be here for a while, so I figured I would come in and keep you company. After all it’s pretty late for a kid your age to be wandering in the streets. I’m Wheels by the way, what’s your name kid?”
“Keith, but no one here believes me, they think I’m delusional.”
“So, you’re one of the kids that Dr. Paxton kidnapped, I’ve heard the story from my dad. I was skeptical about what he said about you. But everyone’s having trouble believing what you were describing your time there as, they don’t think it’s possible.”
“What about you? Do you believe me?” Keith asked hoping that she wasn’t one of them.
“Yes, I do believe you, I’ve seen things that no one will believe too. Ever since I was little, I’ve been able to spot things that don’t look like they belong here. Because of that, I decided to be a rebel.” Wheels answered with a smirk.
“How does that help? Doesn’t that make people look down on you more?” Keith was puzzled by this, the logic behind it just wasn’t there from his perspective.
“You’re right it didn’t, but I quickly figured that out. Eventually, I realized that it was okay that no one believed me, sure it can hurt, but no two people have the same exact picture, and you have to be willing to work with others to expand your picture, adding context to what you already had.”
“So, what you’re saying is that our pictures are different enough that parts of them aren’t compatible with theirs?”
“Yep, we just have to wait until the gap closes more before they can truly understand.” There was a pause for a moment and Keith began to get anxious again about what was going to happen to him.
“What’s going to happen when your dad gets here? I’m not going to have to go back, am I?” He asked fear showing in his eyes. This got Wheel’s attention making her get serious.
“Keith, if the thought of going home scares you, I need to know why so I can help you. Dad won’t send you back if it would cause you serious harm.” She could tell that something was seriously wrong from just looking at him, and Wheels wasn’t the kind of person to just sit by and wait.
“My foster father strapped a device to my chest, and I was barely able to get it off so that I could escape. He… he still has my brothers and sisters. I was looking for help when they brought me here.” That was all she needed, as soon as he finished, Wheels jumped from her seat and told him to follow her. “Where… where we going?!” He asked, startled by her sudden urgency.
“To rescue your family. Do you know how to get there from here?” Keith only knew the address, having never left the block since arriving there, until now. But Wheels recognized the street and knew how to get there. Much to Keith’s surprise, she hotwired one of the police cars and told him to hop in. “Aren’t we going to get in trouble?!” Keith asked a little alarmed, unused to this kind of action.
“Not if everything goes to plan!” Wheels replied before taking off at speeds that he had never seen his dad drive. At one point, Keith thought they were going to crash because there was traffic up ahead, but instead Wheels made a very sharp turn into an old store that was scheduled for demolition. This made Keith feel like he was in some kind of movie and decided to just embrace the craziness of it as an adventure. When they pulled up to the house, Keith grew a little nervous about what they were going to do now.
At this point, he had stopped guessing what Wheels was going to do and just trusted that she knew what she was doing. Though, that didn’t stop him from being surprised when his friend pulled out a laser and used it to cut through the garage door and she simply moved on as if it were nothing. Keith was glad that she had caught the part that was cut out and quietly placed it on the ground. Instead of it falling, or else they would have been in big trouble. “Which way to where your family is being kept?” Wheels asked as they entered the house.
“I think they’re this way.” Keith replied making his way to a hidden door that was behind stacks of boxes and in a corner. When he opened the door, the boy was greeted by a long dreary looking set of stairs that he couldn’t see the bottom of. Keith gulped and looked back to see if Wheels was still behind him. “Don’t worry, I’m right behind you.” She told him softly placing a hand on his shoulder. Feeling a little better, the boy pressed on, still scared by the darkness of the passage with its lines of something that glowed red, scattered as if it were natural.
At the bottom it opened up to a laboratory, this caused Keith to flinch because the metallic floor, wall and ceiling along with the cells having a forcefield-like clear blue door, reminded him of Dr. Paxton’s lab. Keith couldn’t help but wonder if they were working together, causing him to shiver realizing that it would mean that he could have been close to being in the mad scientist’s clutches again. This was confirmed when Keith heard the familiar boom of Cack the janitor’s voice bellowing about slime getting on the floor. Switching to protective stealth mode, he silently raced in the opposite direction, hoping that nothing had been done to his siblings yet.
There were a lot of familiar faces that they passed and several of them recognized him and banged on the doors to get him to let them out, but Keith knew that he would have to hurry if they were going to pull this off. After what seemed like hours, they finally came to where Kip was being held. Keith was glad to see that his brother was unharmed and learned from Kip via sign language that they had just been brought down there shortly before he had escaped. Now the problem was how to get Kip out. The laser was of no use as the cells had been made to be laser proof among other things to make sure that no one could escape.
Panic swept through Keith as he tried to think of a solution, knowing that if they didn’t figure this out soon, they would have to either abort the mission or be caught themselves. But he couldn’t think of anything, his mind began to spiral into a mixture of what ifs and painful memories of his time at the other lab. Before long, his mine was spinning a hundred miles an hour through the bad memories he had already accumulated. Keith ended up placing his hand on the wall trying to steady himself, unaware of what was happening around him.
Just as he was about to give up hope, Keith realized that Kip was hugging him and that the power had gone out. They were going to get out of here, together with no regrets. Breathing hard, he became aware of his surroundings again and noticed Kayla, Kyle, and Kelly running up to them. The five kits hugged and wanted to celebrate, but Wheels reminded them that they still had to get out and urged them to move fast because she didn’t know how long they had before something triggered to trap everyone.
Keith didn’t need to be told twice, neither did the others, they were soon racing up the stairs and locating everyone’s belongings. When he found his, Keith did a quick check to make sure that the most important items were still there before joining up with his siblings and Wheels and heading outside. Though much to Keith’s dismay another police car pulled up to the one that they had borrowed with a very unhappy officer who had expression on his face that said that they were in trouble. “Do you kids have any idea how much trouble you made?” He asked them sarcastically.
~
Keith yawned as he waited for a final decision to be made. It turned out that Wheel’s dad was the chief, and he had allowed them to sleep before asking them any questions. Keith was glad that Wheels was able to do most of the talking because not only did he not know what to say, but he was also still tired from last night’s excitement. When the chief finally returned, he told them that they were going to drive them back to the orphanage and that he hoped that they wouldn’t get into any more trouble.
Much to their surprise, Wheels was the one who drove the car, but she made a detour to let them take turns riding on her motorcycle with her. Keith was even more surprised when Wheels let him drive, helping him a little when needed. “You have a real gift for driving Hotshot, we’ll have to do this again sometime.” She told him, clearly impressed. All Keith could do for a moment was to look at her in disbelief, he didn’t think that he could be that good at it. “Do you really think we’ll have the chance?” Keith asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.
“Of course we will, I ride all over town so were bound to run into each other at some point. Besides, the government here in Utha has been on a serious decline for the past ten years, meaning that more and more kids have been placed in bad homes. And since you guys are brave enough to run away, you’re bound to be brought to the station again. You know what, let’s make a pact.”
“What’s a pact?” Kyle asked as he and the others gathered around her and their big brother.
“It’s another word for a promise. Our pact could be that we’ll look after each other as long as we can.” She explained with a smile.
“Sounds good to me, but what could we ever do for you?” Keith asked.
“Don’t doubt yourself, some day you will do something great. I’m sure of it.”