Everglow: Friend From Far Away

28 - Carjacked

Fischer slowly made his way up to the fence that ran adjacent to his neighbor's house. It wasn't too far from his own, only a couple of meters. He'd managed to slip past without any of the officers noticing him, but he didn't know how long that would last. Right now he couldn't think about that though, he had to focus on getting to the car.

Sneaking along the fence, he crouched down to keep as low a profile as he could while still remaining semi mobile. His new jacket was a lot better suited for the environment than his old one. It's colours were much darker, its browns and greys blending in well with the background. He hurried forwards, running his hand along the fence as he moved.

Finally he found what he was looking for. There was a small opening in the fence. The rotten wood had eroded away after years of neglect, leaving a small hole that was barely big enough for him to crawl through. Taking a deep breath in, he got down to his knees. The freezing dirt covered his clothes and stained his hands brown, but that was hardly a concern at the moment.

Shuffling as quickly as he could, he slowly dragged himself across the ground and through the hole. As he crawled he could feel worms and other horrid bugs crawling across parts of his legs and arms. He had to cup his mouth so as to not scream. Finally, he made it through. Pulling himself out, he promptly rose to his feet and tried his best to brush off the dirt and muck that had stuck to his clothes.

"Now the alarm," he quietly mumbled to himself, trotting down the garden. The car was out the front of the house so he had to find a way to make it from the garden to the front yard without being seen. He could try sneaking through his neighbor's house, but that carried a lot of risk with it. His neighbor's probably weren't super heavy sleepers like his mother was, and they probably were wide awake as well considering the fact that several gunshots had gone off not too long ago. But there was an alternate option. He spied a small corridor that led from the side of the house to the front yard. Two small gate doors blocked off the pathway.

Smiling at the sight of the passageway, he quickly hurried down to the first door. With a small shove, it easily swung open and granted him access to the corridor. However, as he got to the second door that blocked his path to the front yard, he immediately spied a problem. There was a solid padlock latched onto the door's handle.

Shit.

"Sheiße, just perfect."

He gave the door a little shove, testing to see if it really was functional. Just as advertised, the door didn't budge. New plan.

Looking around to see if there was anything he could use to possibly pry open the lock, he came up empty handed. The only way it seemed like he was going to get past the door was to scale it.

But that meant exposing himself to the direct line of sight of the officers at his house. A risk he definitely was not prepared to take. However he didn't have a whole lot of options at his disposal. He could try to turn back and sneak through the house, but that carried the risk of the neighbor spotting him. Besides, the longer he took to get to the car, the more likely it was that Ko would be found. Right now she was the only thing keeping him from collapsing under the stress that was forcing itself onto him.

Taking a few deep breaths, he jumped up and grabbed a hold of the top of the gate. Clenching his teeth at the relatively loud creaking and rattling of the wood as he moved over it, he struggled to pull himself atop it. Once up there though, he had a good view across to his front yard where, thankfully, all the officers seemed to be preoccupied with the crime scene.

Rolling on his stomach, he pushed himself off the gate and landed on his feet with a relatively hard thud. He was now directly in front of the car. He looked around for something, anything he could use to potentially break the window. He didn't want to use his own limbs, getting too close to the vehicle carried the risk of being caught when everyone turned to look. Instead, he found the perfect tool. A few rocks lay next to him in the garden bed, perfect for shattering the windscreen.

Picking one up, he prepared to launch it at the car. Taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart, he took aim.

It was now or never.

Using all his strength, he hurled the rock directly at the windscreen. It crashed into the middle of the plane of glass, breaking right through it and sending small shards of glass flying everywhere. Almost immediately the sound of the alarm filled the air as the fragments of glass and rock continued to shower down onto the floor.

Phase one complete, now all he had to do was get back. Picking himself up, he wasted no time retracing his steps and heaving himself over the gate and back into the corridor. He bolted across the fence line as the thought of a dozen police officers chasing him down began to fill his mind.

---\/---

Ko watched carefully from the bushes as the officers went about their tasks. Fischer had been gone for a while now, and she was starting to become worried.

Well, more worried than she already was.

Suddenly, the signal sounded. She caught a faint glimpse of a small object being thrown across the yard and crashing through the windscreen of the red car. Immediately after, the howling wail of the car alarm rang out. Just as planned, Fischer had tripped the alarm. And just as planned, all the officers in the yard stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on the car alarm.

Now all Ko had to do was wait. It wasn't long before she spied the perfect opportunity to make a run for the car. Hyping herself up as much as she could, she slowly emerged from the bushes, her purple cloak wrapped around her to reduce the glimmer of her pearly scales.

She bolted as fast as she possibly could towards the car. Running across open ground as the officers moved away from the scene and towards the other vehicle, she quickly made it to the car. wasting no time, she opened the side passenger door and scurried in, shutting the door quietly behind her. She curled up in the seat, raising the cloak over her head to keep as low a profile as she possibly could. Now it was just a matter of waiting.

As the minutes passed by, she watched as the officers investigated the source of the car alarm. Suddenly, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Looking back towards the bushes she'd been hiding in not too long ago, she saw Fischer sprinting round the corner. His arms and legs were pumping like a machine, moving him as fast as he possibly could.

Her eyes lit up slightly as she saw him, glad that he was ok. But they weren't out of the woods yet. As Fischer made it to the car, he immediately swung open the door and hopped in.

"You did it! Thank god you're ok," Ko whispered, relieved at his safe return.

"Don't get too excited just yet bud, we still need to get the hell out of here," he said, panting heavily.

Sticking the key into the vehicle, he twisted it and prayed they wouldn't be stuck in some movie scene where the car failed to start. Fortunately, the engine roared to life almost instantly.

However it also attracted some unwanted attention.

"Hey! Over there!" One of the officers yelled, pointing directly at the vehicle that the two of them resided in.

"Someone's jacking the car! Quick, get over there!"

Fischer flicked on the headlights and put the car into reverse.

"Hang on Ko, this is going to be rough!" he growled through clenched teeth. Gripping the steering wheel so hard his veins were visible, he planted his foot on the accelerator as hard as he could and the car flew backwards. Screeching tires and white smoke filled the air as he shifted it back into first gear, then floored it.

Suddenly, a loud "ping!" rattled through the vehicle, and Ko noticed a small hole open up in the door behind her.

"Fuck, they're firing at us! Keep your head down!" Fischer screamed as he hunched over the wheel. The engine of the car roared and growled as the revs increased far beyond the gear's limits. Shifting the stick from second then third, and finally fourth, the vehicle sped off down the street, leaving the crime scene and the officers behind in the black of night.