Ash Ketchum: Rise of Galactic

Ch. 8 The Safe House

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON! I passed my first college quarter with A's so an extra chapter. Please be aware of the last chapter Friday. Make sure you've read that before this one.
   For a long chapter, please insert one vote. It means a lot to me.

   According to the GPS our next destination was 7.3 miles (11.7 km) from where we had picked up the cars, a distance we covered in less than fifteen minutes. The safe house was a small, ordinary-looking brick home in an ordinary sub-urban neighborhood. The yard was manicured enough not to warrant complaints, but simple enough not to warrant attention. The house was dark except for the front porch light.

Calem pulled into the cement driveway on the west said of the house. The drive was narrow but widened in back at the entrance of a two-car garage.

"I'll wait to pull in," Calem said. "In case we need to make a quick getaway."

"Good idea," I said, trying not to sound nervous. I realized that part of me was waiting for the worst to happen and I was ticking like crazy.

Drew pulled the black Hummer up next to us. In spite of our situation, he was grinning from ear to ear. "This baby is sweet," he said. "I never thought I'd get to ride one of these, let alone drive one."

"I'm going to check things out," I said to Calem. "If it's a trap, just get everyone out of here."

"Warriors don't leave a man behind," Calem said.

"What are we doing," Drew asked.

"Just keep the car running until we're sure it's safe," I said. I turned to Brock. "Can you give me a hand?"

"Sure, man. I'll give you both of them."

"It's your eyes I need."

"I'll give you both of those, too."

The two of us got out of the cars and walked to the edge of the driveway, looking cautiously at the dark house.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"It's empty," Brock said. He looked around at the neighbors. "Neighborhood looks legit. A mom helping a kid with homework, a family watching TV, a couple eating dinner."

"All right, let's go in." I rapped on the Hummer, and Calem pulled into the garage, followed by Drew. Everyone gathered in the driveway.

Serena came up to my side. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You're ticking a lot."

"I'm nervous."

"But the house is okay?"

"It checked out with Brock."

We walked up to the back of the house, but as I reached for the storm door Clemont said, "Stop!"

I looked over to him.

  "What if the door's booby-trapped? I saw this show where the bad guys had rigged all the doors with plastic explosives, so when the cops opened the door—ka-boom!" Clemont threw his arms out in demonstration. "Everyone's dead."

   We all just looked at him.

   Clemont shrugged. "It was a cool show."

  "I'll open the door," Zeus said. He twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open, then stepped inside the dark house. "Hey, Korrina, how about a hand?"

  "Sure." She lit up her hand, then stepped into the house behind him.

  "There's the switch," Zeus said.