Spy School: Family Ties

Chapter 8

Virginia
March 16, 2027
1030 hours

Erica's POV

Jawa drove us into the center of the city, taking many side roads and shortcuts. We stopped at McDonald's to grab food quickly. I got a salad and water, and Ben get a Big Mac combo with a chocolate milkshake. Not to mention large fries.

How did I get married to such a pig?

Jawa drove us out of the city, driving through lots of backroads, until we came to the highway that led out of the state.

"Where are we going?" Ben asked.

"Out of here," Jawa responded. "We can't be too sure with these guys." Ben nodded in response.

I looked out at the highway. It was a sunny day, and the snow had melted off the road. It was apparent, however, on the side of the road.

I looked down in my lap, where Emma sat. I was rubbing her head out of instinct. She seemed pretty happy, however, to be on her first mission. She was smiling and laughing a lot.

We didn't have a carseat, but she was so little that it would probably be irrelevant anyway.

I watched as the outsides blurred by. It was peaceful, and I listened to the hum of the car.

Ben passed me back his McDonald's bag, which had a bag of apple slices in it. I opened them up and I ripped up the slices into tiny chunks. I turned Emma around so she was looking at me. I fed her the chunks and she seemed to like them.

I kept feeding her and she didn't stop. She must've been very hungry. I gave her a little bit of water too.

Then everything slowed down.

I looked at my water bottle and saw water in the air, coming out of the top, floating. I saw pieces of metal everywhere, and in the mirror, orange and black. I instinctively wrapped my arms around Emma, protecting her.

I landed on my hands and knees, Emma under me, and felt heat wash over me. I kept Emma protected until the heat subsided, then I chanced a look up.

The car was in shambles. I kicked out the window and brought Emma out with me. I saw Ben and Jawa do the same thing. I turned to look behind, where there was a pileup of cars. However, in the distance, behind the cars, I could see 3 people clad in black. One of them looked like they were holding an RPG.

Ben, Jawa, and I ran the opposite way. I held onto Emma tightly. She wasn't crying, surprisingly, when I realized that she was wearing those corny McDonald's headphones. Apparently they must cancel sound really well. She still looked very cute.

We ran down and out the ditch, and into the nearby forest. Going through trees and fallen logs, we raced as fast as our legs would take us. I heard the enemy enter behind us, but it was far away.

Jawa led the way. He seemed to know where he was going. I realized, by looking down, that there was a barely noticeable trail. Jawa veered off it just as quick, and we continued on.

The terrain was treacherous here. There were fallen sticks everywhere. I had to take extra caution, as I had a baby on board. Jawa suddenly turned left and I saw a weird contraption of sticks. It looked like a little kid had tried to build a fort, but failed.

Jawa entered it, then came out the far end. We had reached the end of the forest. The land continued on here, with grass that reached our waists. We dove through, and heard the telltale crunch of grass as we waded our way through.

I felt something whizz by my head.

A bullet.

I ducked and started to army crawl, making sure Emma wasn't being crushed. Jawa seemed to realize and followed my lead, as well as Ben. We all spread out and I heard the other two stop, so I did as well.

I listened as hard as I could. There was the wind blowing the grass, a sound of a few crickets, and...

People wading through grass. I heard them far away, and they progressively made their way closer. I closed my eyes and prayed.

I heard a thump to my left and figured that Jawa had taken out an agent. I heard another to my right and realized Ben must have taken his agent out.

I heard two more sets of footsteps, still walking through. They seemed to be going in circles, and at one point they both went around me.

I dared not to move a muscle. They had both stopped near me and were talking into a radio. I couldn't hear what they said, but I didn't want to chance moving and alerting them.

The wind had come to a standstill. There weren't any animals making a sound. It was eerily quiet.

Then Emma coughed.

Nuts.

The agents seemed to have heard, as they walked towards my direction quietly. I set Emma down to my left. As one of the agent's legs appeared, I pulled him down, socking him in the head and knocking him out cold.

The other guy was tougher. I got up to match him. He was about my height. He punched, and I dodged. I tried to grab his arm, but he pulled back and lashed out a leg. I dodged, then lashed out my own, which missed. I tried to sweep his legs, but he jumped. I got up and dodged a few attacks, then got him in the privates. He bowed down, and I punched him in the stomach, and he started to fall backwards.

I heard Emma cry at the last second, and I pulled the agent back and elbowed him, then sent him flying the other way. I picked Emma back up. She wasn't looking good. There was grass all over her tear streaked face.

"Don't worry, baby, mommy's here." She started to lighten up, and I held her close after I brushed the grass off of her. I saw Ben and Jawa coming towards me, and Ben looked relieved. I let him hold Emma, as Jawa led us out.

We ended up back on the side of the road. We saw there was a town only 500 yards or so, and we walked over.

Emma had started crying, so I took her back from Ben and started breastfeeding. We found a car rental place and Jawa went in while me and Ben sat on a nearby bench and waited.

A man walked by and saw me.

"Ooh, mamacita, I'm pretty thirsty as well," he said.

Before I could say anything, Ben socked him in the face, and he fell to the ground out cold. A few other people stared, but Ben glared them off.

"My hero," I said, laughing.

Once I was done, I let Emma sit between me and Ben, where she started prodding Ben. He didn't seem upset though, just happy. He played with Emma while I looked around.

It was a small town, maybe around 35,000 people. We were in a town centre that was old fashioned. Even though the businesses were new, they were in older style buildings.

I was about to get up and look around more, but Jawa came out. He was holding a pair of keys to a Dodge.

"Let's go," he said, smiling.

"Where?" I asked.

"New York."

Sorry for the long wait on this but I wanted to make sure it was good. Quality>quantity. Hoping the next chapter will be out within a few days.