Middle School Miniature

Chapter 27, Chase

The guys started walking. They walked for a short jaunt down the street until they petered to a stop with the lack of direction and decisions made. 

I wasn't aware of much, apart from the hand and the obnoxiously orange fabric. Though, I could tell we had gone out into a sunny cool day from the increased light filtering into the pocket and the fresh outdoor air seeping into the confined space.

"What are we doing now?" Jordan asked like a megaphone far up and away from me.

"I dunno... " Max said and I felt him shrug with a lift of his shoulders and a sway of my carrier. "We should head into the woods then we can bring out Amelia and have an easier discussion about what the next plan is. Do you agree Amelia?"

I thought for a moment. Yeah, the woods are probably the best location to be discreet about having me out in the open. Also, my house wasn't too far away if we went north through the woods and down a few roads. Maybe, I could go home... no. That line of thought was probably just wishful thinking. Regardless, I punched his hand once.
"Amelia agrees!" Max said joyfully.
"Let's go then," Jordan said with enthusiasm.
The pocket and hand was moving around a bit rougher than I was okay with, but Max was jogging, from what I could tell, so I just grit my teeth and held on a little tighter. The jog turned into a walk and then stopped altogether. I felt a bit of a tilt and drop in elevation as Max took a knee and pulled his hand and myself on it, into view.

I marveled at the scenery once again. This was my first time being in nature at my current size and it was breathtaking. The sky was a gorgeous blue peaking through towering branches, leaves, and pine trees. Once when I was younger, my family took a day trip to the Redwood National Park in California. I remember seeing just how incredibly wide and tall those trees were. One was so big you could drive a car through it. But those trees didn't hold a candle to these honkin' massive perfectly normal trees. And the nearby blades of grass, they were like a sea of haphazard green bendy fences stuck into the ground. I was torn from my reverie when a giant bug the size of a softball flew way too close to my face and I let out an 'ahhhh' and started swatting frantically. Not that it did anything.

Max let out a surprised, "Sorry," and also swatted at the bug until it flew away. 

Jordan was also kneeling and facing me and seemed amused at the fly incident. I shot him a little glare.

"So what is the plan for today?" Max asked.

"Umm, well." I stuttered, just now drawing a blank on the question of what to do.

"Well, let's recap the situation again," Jordan said. "Amelia became small at school and now there is a group of crazy undercover men in black trying to capture her for some nefarious purpose. How do we know they want to hurt you again?"

"It can't be for a good reason," Max explained, "They broke into my house trying to get Amelia."

"Maybe they are just the government people trying to find her and bring her back home." Jordan pointed out.

Max responded, "But how would they know she's been shrunk? Whoever they are, they probably did this to her."

My mind was racing. I wasn't sure what to do, who could I trust? My parents were probably looking for me still. They would protect me from whatever group did this to me. My mom was stubborn and would refuse any testing they would want to do to me, even sometimes if something was for my own good (she claimed it was unnatural). My dad would want to sue whoever they were to the moon and back. I want to see them so badly.

"M m Maybe we could go to my house and try to get help from my parents," I say out loud.

"hmm." Both Max and Jordan mull the idea over. 

I look up at them and something catches my eye. There was a person peaking out from behind a tree pretty far away, but they were looking directly at me. I gasped. No no no they can't have found us again.

"Max!" I yell and point, "There is someone over there."

"Heck!" Jordan exclaimed. 

"Lets go." Max scoops me back into his pocket causing vertigo and a rollercoaster stomach flip. "Jordan, let's lose them in the paintball course and meet up at the old fort."

"Okay."

Then I heard lots of pounding feet and heavy breathing.

__________

Max knew these woods like he knew the ABCs, because who even looks at the back of one's hand? Anyways, he knew the maze of trees and set up tires, plywood, and chicken wire, and ran through a complicated path to a hidden exit he installed himself. Although the footsteps he heard following him somehow knew each turn that he took.

'This hidden exit will be the real kicker,' he thought.

Max ran to the hanging length of plywood that covered a gap between a tire stack and a fence and glanced behind him before pulling back the sheet of wood. No one was within sight.

"Ha, these guys are kinda slow."

So he pulled back the wood with both hands and leaned down into the secret tunnel, coat catching on the grippy tires. Then he was home free with a few trees between him and the secret base they had built buried in a pile of bushes. He silently padded over and slid into the bushy entrance.

__________

The chase had started so well. I had spotted a person before they could ambush us, we had gotten a head start, and Max had stuck his hand in his pocket with me and left it there which had helped stabilize me through all the jostling and quick turns that were happening. Then he took his hand out, which was for probably a very necessary and valid reason, but it dragged me closer than was comfortable to the opening of the pocket since I had been holding onto him. Then this guy leaned over and sent the jacket swinging and my body involuntarily somersaulted, leaving my lower half dangling and kicking outside of the pocket. I would have screamed at this point but was stopped by the amount of fabric in my face and the next step in this long list of catastrophes which was being bodyslamed into hard rubber.  

The breath was knocked out of me and I lost my grip. Even the fabric clenched in my teeth was ripped from my jaws with a painful click. I tumbled down and hit another hard rubbery surface. I lay there for a slow painful moaning breath, my eyes misting up. A few more heartbeats and I breathe out another cry. Scooting away from the sloping drop-off, I roll to my back and breath slowly. I feel the ache on my side but no extreme pain. I supposed I hadn't fallen that far. Maybe I had broken a bone and just not noticed. What should a broken bone feel like? 

What I did notice then was a pair of hands pulling a huge sheet of wood off to the side, revealing a young face, red from running.