“Uhh, Cydney?” F8 leaned forward in the seat where she sat directly behind her. “I’m getting vibes from this vehicle.”
N8 turned around to look behind him. “P8?”
“Already blanketed, but I can’t tell you what it is.”
“Could it be a tracking device?” Cydney queried.
G8 snorted. “I wouldn’t put anything past them.”
“Once we leave this vehicle, they’ll be able to latch onto the signal again,” P8 noted.
“Then we have to get rid of it. Hold on. I have another idea.”
They pulled into a parking area next to a location called a Git-n-Go. She stopped the car on the side of the building and popped the hatch.
“F8, can you locate it?”
They got out of the car and watched as the woman slowly walked around it. When she got to the rear, she leaned inside the open area and pressed her hands to the carpeting. “It’s here.”
“That’s where the spare is located,” Cydney told them. She showed them how the carpeting lifted up, to reveal a door with a handle. Pulling up the handle, she opened the lid to reveal the compartment underneath. “Can you find it now?”
Without responding, F8 dipped her hand into a side slot next to the wheel well, dug around for a bit, then withdrew a small device. Smiling, she handed it to Cydney. “What are you going to do with it?”
“Flush it,” Cydney told them with a grin. “Get back in the car. I’ll be right back.”
She vanished inside the building where she was gone less than a minute. When she returned, she informed them, “Now let them try to find us.”
N8 waited for her to get back on the road before asking, “Any idea where to go, if we can’t go back to your apartment? G8’s right. That’ll be the first place they’ll look for us.”
“I know that. Give me a minute to think of something.” She glanced up at the rearview mirror again. “I have to believe they might put a lock on my credit card and bank account, so I have to use it as soon as possible before we leave town.”
“We’re leaving town?” K8 questioned.
“We have to. What other choice do we have?”
“This looks like a big town,” F8 commented. “We can’t hide here?”
“You really want to stay here, this close to that hellhole?” G8 gruffly challenged. “You want to make it easy for them?”
“Hey.” N8 reached behind him and held out a hand to her. F8 took it and squeezed. “You’re frightened. We all are. Even though the thought of going back there is terrifying, it’s the only home we’ve ever known, and that’s why you want to stay nearby. But we can’t go back, and we can’t remain nearby. We have to break the cord.”
P8 draped an arm around the woman’s shoulders and gave her a little hug. “If we’d stayed in that place, I seriously believe we wouldn’t live long enough to see middle age. I think those experiments would’ve inevitably killed us, or made us so sick, we’d never recover.”
“Hey, guys?” T8 spoke up. “I’ve come to a conclusion, and I don’t think anyone’s going to like it.”
“What is it?” G8 asked.
“I think the only way we’re going to survive is to split up. For all of us to go our separate ways.”
N8 heard F8 softly protest. The expressions on the others’ faces reflected their dread. He glanced over to see Cydney frowning. “You agree with him, don’t you?”
Her frown melted into sadness. “Yes.”
All further talk ceased as the consequences of the idea sank in, to everyone’s dismay.
11Appreci8
They droveinto another parking lot. Cydney pulled up behind a tiny cubicle sitting isolated at one end and parked. Reaching underneath her seat, she withdrew a small bag, opened it, and extracted a wallet.
