Prodigy (Complete)

Chapter Forty-Three

After driving only a short distance, Milo was hooked. Despite his initial embarrassment of being in such a primitive car, he could not recall a time when he had more fun. On the dashboard was a glowing blue button, so Milo pushed it. Instantly, the car’s roof retracted and folded into the trunk.

“Wow, did you see that?” he shouted with the excitement of a kid making a new discovery. With the top down and the wind blowing in his hair, his excitement reached new levels. Alex looked over at him and saw how much fun he was having. His joy brought a smile to her face.

As the nearly hundred-year-old sports car raced through the city, it attracted some unwanted attention. Several guardian vehicles spotted the rare car going over 200 kilometres per hour, but none of them bothered to pursue. Alex and Milo left the city and headed east.

The Leader’s compound was located down a long stretch of road about an hour from the city. The GPS notified them when they were getting close. Normally there would be security checkpoints positioned every few kilometres to turn unauthorized vehicles around, but fortunately there were none.

The further Alex and Milo drove from the city, the better they felt, even though the air quality was the same. Perhaps it was the car’s air filtration system that gave them a much needed second wind.

The car drove through the barren terrain, wrapping around several small mountains. On the straightaways, Milo really opened up with the accelerator and quickly changed his tune about the antique super car. Not much was spoken as they both needed the time to concentrate, albeit on separate tasks. The loud purr of the engine was actually quite soothing as they settled in for the long drive.

When they came closer to the Leader’s compound, their headlights reflected off a metallic object in the distance. Unsure what it was, Milo reduced his speed. Pulling up to the object, they noticed it was Aris’ bike stashed in some bushes.

“Let’s pull over here,” Alex suggested.

Milo inched forward, bringing the vehicle to a stop on the side of the road. They made no attempts to hide it. Just like Aris, they continued the rest of the way on foot and eventually arrived at the same ridge where Aris had stopped a few hours earlier.

Alex looked down and noticed a wrapper from an energy bar on the ground. She bent down, picked up the wrapper, and put it in her pocket.

“What are you doing?” Milo asked.

“Picking up litter.”

“That should be the least of your concerns right now.”

Milo peered through his night-vision lenses and observed the Leader’s compound.

“See anything?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, I see where Aris entered the house through a window. He said nobody was around and I think he was right. I don’t see any activity. Let’s head down there for a closer look.”

As they made their way to the fence, they found the spot where Aris had climbed over. Milo went first then waited for Alex to pass the device. She climbed up to the top wrung and carefully handed it to Milo, who was standing on alternate rungs of the makeshift ladder.

“You have it?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got it, come on over.”

Alex was about to make the final step over to the other side when she stopped. She had a look on her face that caused Milo to worry.

“Alex, what’s wrong?” Milo asked, as he turned around to see what she was looking at. Milo was about to break into a full sprint when he saw the dogs running toward him. He quickly realized outrunning the pack of aggressive dogs was unlikely, so he decided on the only logical thing, which was to climb back over the fence. However, as he turned toward the fence, Alex was climbing down, blocking his path.