The Wild Side of Us

Chapter 11 - Welcome to My New Plan

"Where are you going to go," questioned Scarlet, as we all sat down in front of the TV together. "You have no where else to hide. Well, you have Bobo and Jet, but they're as trusty as sewer rats. No offense."

"But we can't hide here," I argued back. "We can't keep escaping over and over again whenever they come investigate. Eventually they'll catch us and we're screwed. We'll be better off living in the woods for all I know."

"Dammit, Frost. Wouldn't you figure they would stay away from areas they've been to multiple times instead of investigating new areas?"

"But the cameras... Shit, the cameras. They have visual footage of us." 

Axel and I made it our top priority to go back to Scarlet once we were given the all clear. We ran like hell, burrowing ourselves into the complex before the people at the front desk could recognize what was going on. We were lucky no detectives or agents stayed behind to investigate the apartment. Although that was strange, I had to admit. However, our sole focus are the cameras that have been stalking us the past few days. Somehow, we'll have to find a way to steal the footage and get out of here. Indeed I was an expert at sneaking and stealing, but I have never worked with cameras myself. That was more of Bobo's job. But, never have I ever failed at something technology related. Might as well give it a shot.

"You were caught on camera." Scarlet sighed, heavy at first but lightening it. "Though I can't be too mad at y'all. You had to get your butts out of here, plus you were seen when you first came in. Ugh, now that means they'll be questioning me all the time now. Can't a Red Panda get some sleep around here? I should be staying up all night, eating giant salads instead of dealing with y'all's drama." She crossed her arms and sighed once more, allowing the couch to suck her in.

"May I propose an idea," squeaked Axel, who was silent and staring at the ground the entire time we got back. "Frost claims she is good at stealing items. Perhaps we can get her to steal the video footage, then stay strictly in this complex? Never set a single foot outside, and keep as quiet as we possibly can when you're gone. It should succeed, should it not?" He looked at us, hope and fear flooding his eyes like a ruthless war.

"I agree with the first part," I said. "But we can't stay here, Axel. If they come back and investigate this complex, where will we hide? They will not hesitate to search every inch and corner. They'll tear the floors apart if they need to. We'll be caged birds if we stay here. No, caged birds chained to the floor inside the cage. It's suicide, Axel. You have to understand that."

He scowled and looked away in fury. I could see he was aggressively searching for a comeback to my statement. Fear mostly clouded his eyes, but he still had a speck of hope. But that hope went away as soon as he blinked and bit his tongue. He wanted to say something, I could tell, but no sound other than his breathing came out. He went back to staring at the floor in silence. Me and Scarlet worriedly glanced at each other. She had nearly the same expression as Axel. She too, stared at the floor and seemed to try her best to come up with another reason to stay. But she couldn't. I couldn't. None of us could. We had to leave, and soon.

"We have no choice," I exclaimed, standing up. "Axel, we have to get out of here as quickly as possible. But first, we must steal all the footage from the time we came here to the moment right now. It'll be obvious something suspicious went on, but it'll save Scarlet from most of the interrogations, plus they'll have no evidence. Unless they pull out some super fancy high-tech gear that can invade people's memories."

"Please don't predict that," whispered Scarlet.

Axel shot up, and said, "How will we steal the footage?"

"It won't be too far from stealing anything else inside a mansion. The only difference is what I'm working with. I have sneaked into surveillance rooms and seen the technology they use now. I'm going to need a hard-drive with lots of storage on it." I turned to Scarlet. "Do you have an extra I can use?"