ROTWOTA: Book 2 - The Falling City of Anthros

Escape

June and Austin ducked and ran through the maze of hallways and rooms the underground facility was composed of all while dodging the guards roaming the halls looking for the two of them. They ran and ran but were unable to find any exits from the facility.

But finally, they managed to come across an elevator that could take them to another level of the facility. The two instantly entered it, and they hit a button that would take them several floors up and back above ground.

Thankfully, they did it just in time as human soldiers were running down through the hallway leading to the door before it was closed on them. Once that whole ordeal was over, the two kids had a minute to breath. "Oh my gosh, we never should have come here June." Panted Austin. "I know, but we saw something in the science lab that I'be seen before." Said June. "Oh yeah, what is it?" Austin asked. But by the time he had done so, the elevator had arrived at their desired level.

The two looked into the hallways, careful not to be spotted by any humans before choosing to go right to where they would be led outside. Once they were outside, the two had to walk down a small flight of stairs to get back to ground level, but after June got to the bottom of the stairs, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She freaked out and turned around only to see that it was Cameron and Kyle.

All four shared a sigh of relief before Cameron unleashed his wrath on the two kids. "WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING!?! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!" He then turned and pointed straight at Austin. "Don't you ever do anything like that ever again Austin." Growled Cameron. "Hey, we're all safe now, we just need to focus on escaping!" Said June. "Yeah, and keep it down while we're doing it." Said Kyle as he softened his voice to a whisper. "Besides, we tripped an alarm and they already know that was caused by someone non-human. So we better go as fast as possible." Explained Cameron.

Cameron did have a point, and it prompted the others to get out of there, but first, they snuck around until they found a small window leading into a shed they could climb into. When everyone got inside, Kyle covered up the window while June, Austin, and Cameron took the opportunity to look around inside the shed, and right away, they noticed that the shed they were in wasn't vacant.

In fact, there were two unfamiliar engines sitting in sidings. Except, they were only unfamiliar to most of the group. Curiosity struck June, and she walked up to the blue engine who was much smaller than the other one who was red, and sure enough, she saw the engine's brass nameplate that read "1478".

June walked up to his front to see him, he had a big scar across his right cheek and under his left eye, but he was fine otherwise. The young engine looked down at the young girl. "What are you doing, kid, get out of here!" He whispered. While the whispering was pretty quiet, it was still enough to wake the other engine, who was none other than Johnny Cuba. He only had a big scar across his right eye but was perfectly fine nonetheless. "Wait...I think I know you, your the kid who went to jail because you had been found out to have been working with the humans." He said as he took notice of June.

The young husky began stuttering, struggling to speak almost, worrying what the two would even say. "Don't worry, we're both pretty sure you had nothing to do with it, the real mystery is who set you up in the first place." Reassured 1478. June calmed down shortly afterwards, but she then heard Cameron whisper to her from behind. She wasn't sure what he was saying, but either way, it prompted her to come closer.

"How did you know who they were?" He asked when she came over to him. "Because my siblings and I worked with them a few days ago before the attack began. Why do you ask?" June asked. "Mainly because Kyle and I want to know if they know about our attempted robbery." He said. "We can hear you back there!" Said 1478. "And yeah, we also know about how you and your comrade and brother aren't exactly innocent either." Said Johnny Cuba. "Dammit, welp, you guys have any plans on escaping?" Asked Kyle.