So the Story Goes on and on

Part One by JBaz

Part Two

Part Three ⬇⬇⬇

Jaylene jumped at the knock on the motel room’s door. Nervously, she glanced between her sleeping children and Carl. Fearfully, she asked, “Wh-what do we do?”

The knocking on the door became more insistent, and a voice on the other side demanded, “Open the door, we know you’re in there!”

Carl debated for a moment, bundling the children up and with Jaylene, making a run from the persons on the other side of the door by climbing out of the bathroom window. Quickly deciding that wouldn’t be a good idea, he shrugged his shoulders to Jaylene and went to open the door.

After opening the door a crack, he was surprised when the two individuals dressed in black suits on the other side pushed into the room, breaking the chain lock. The taller of the two rapidly shut the door behind them while the other checked the room using some electronic device.

“Sorry, can’t be too careful these days,” the shorter one began talking. “I’m Special Agent Rance Cochran, and this is my partner, Special Agent Thomas Scallon,” with a nod to the other suited man.

“What do you want? Why’d you barge into our room?” Carl demanded, standing between the two strange men and his family. Barker walked up to the two new people and quietly licked their hands. Carl silently cussed the traitorous dog.

“All in due time, Mr. Duine, all in due time,” Agent Scallon spoke for the first time, motioning for Carl to sit on the bed while he and Agent Cochran sat in the chairs at the little table.

“First, I’d like to say you led us on a fine chase today, Mr. Duine,” Agent Scallon took over talking. “By the time we realized you had fled, we were scrambling to catch up, but it was too late for some of our men, who were casualties of the skirmish that happened when they checked out your house to see if you’d left any clues where you had gone. We were one of four pairs of agents sent out to track you down.”

“How did you find us?” Carl blurted out, and at the same time, Jaylene shouted, “What happened to our house?”

“Well, as for the simple answer first, I put a tracker in your dog’s collar as a precautionary measure a week or so ago,” Agent Scallon said as he leaned down and petted Barker, whispering, “Who’s a good boy? Who’s a special dog? Does the puppy want a treat?” Then, the agent magically pulled a puppy treat from Barker’s ear and fed it to him. Carl and Jaylene watched in amazement as their shy shepherd loved this stranger.

“As for your house, the last we heard, there was a gun fight, then all of our men went silent. The local police have reported an explosion on your block and put the neighborhood on lockdown,” Agent Cochran answered Jaylene. “Now, we haven’t reported that we’ve located you, fearing our unit has been compromised. We need to get moving before we are located. Can you please get your children up and ready? I fear we don’t have much time.”

“What are we running from? Why do I have to turn my children’s world upside down?” Jaylene demanded. She was starting to feel the stress of the last day, and losing her house was the final straw.

The three men looked at each other, and in unison, they all spoke.

“He’s here, isn’t he?” Carl asked.

“He landed last week,” Agent Scallon commented.

“He’s left a trail of dead bodies in his wake,” Agent Cochran finished.

All the adults just stared at each other. Carl finally said, “You’ve known where I was since I escaped the facility, haven’t you?”

Agent Cochran nodded. “We’ve been observing you since you escaped and adopted the life you have, but we are not associated with that branch of government which ran those experiments.

"Now, please, we must hurry. We do not know how much time we have, but we must get you moving.”

Jaylene looked at Carl, who was staring back at her. Finally, he said, “Why should we trust you?”

Both agents stated, at the same time, “We have your shuttle.”

Carl nodded and said, “Jaylene, help me with the children. We have somewhere we have to be.”

To Be Continued