Project Family: New Life

An Old Friend

Even though Deborah gave them almost four to five hours to pack everything, everyone was ready to go in under two hours. Once she saw everyone was ready, she asked them to find a path to get out while she contacted her friend. She had a burner phone with her and walked outside, about 15 feet away from the house before making the call. She waited anxiously for someone to pick the phone up.

"Hello, this is Tony's car rentals. How may I help you today?"

"Hello, may I speak with Tony himself? And if anything, tell him Deborah is calling. He'll know who I am.", Deborah gets no response back but gets the holding tone after one to two seconds of waiting. She paces back and forth as she waits for someone to talk to her again.

"Hey, D!! What's crackin'?", she subtly jumps, forgetting how energetic and sudden his voice was.

"Oh my gosh. Hey Tony! Absolute chaos. Anyways, I'm calling in a favor.", she hasn't heard from him in years and hopes this won't be too weird.

"Of course! It's been a while, but anything for my little sister!", Deborah almost falls over hearing those words again. Ever since she got tangled up in Syntec's world, she hadn't been able to see or hear anything from her family and friends of her past. Another brutal reminder that Syntec has taken everything away from her.

"Thanks, Tony, I appreciate this. I just need a car. I'm- In trouble you could say- "

"WHAT?? My perfect sister in trouble?! What happened? Was it that sketchy job you work for?", she couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit. No one in her family liked the idea of Syntec, another reason none of them know what is going on. However, she knows she doesn't have time to explain that horror story.

"Look I don't have much time. If you agree to meet me at the park where we grew up, then I might consider telling you about the past 16 years in under 5 minutes."

"All right, I'll take that over nothing. I'll meet you there. Any specific car?"

"I need one that can fit three adults, two tweens, one kid, and a baby. I hope you can pick the right one with all that in mind."

"Ah, don't worry, you'll get the car you're wanting. I'll start getting it ready to go. See you soon sis!"

"See you soon brother!", she took a deep breath after hearing the line go dead. She is happy to be seeing her brother again but is nervous about getting him anywhere near this Syntec stuff. She knows it's for a good cause and hopes that she didn't make the wrong choice here. She returns to the house to find that everything has been moved outside and the others were waiting for her to return.

"All right guys, I got us a car. For his safety, I don't want to say anything just in case there is some way someone is listening. The catch is, it will be a bit of a walk to get to the meeting place. It's a spot the two of us liked to visit on occasion. We go there, and then we can start the drive.", everyone nodded and grabbed a bag, flinging them over their shoulder so they could carry it all. Not only that, each one of them, except Woodland, would be switching off carrying Bailey in their arms. It was going to be a long journey, but they knew it would be worth it in the end. It's going to be their ticket out of here and away from Syntec for the time being. Deborah led the way, with Matthew and Woodland behind, Samantha behind them with Bailey, with Wesley and Benjamin in the back.

They had been walking for about an hour now and they could tell they were all getting tired and would need a rest soon. Thankfully, they had left the thicket and were out in the open city now. It would be easier for them to take a break with all the seating areas that were surrounding them now. Deborah spotted an abandoned outdoor seating area and led the others in that direction. She made them all sit down and went to a small closed-off area to feed Bailey.