The City In The Clouds

The Escape

Parker followed Tex through the building, the unnamed man in front. Gunfire had erupted in the distance and he could tell that both men were on edge.

"We're getting out of here, " Tex said over his shoulder to Parker.

"What's going on? " Parker asked.

"Security forces. They're doing another sweep, trying to kick us out. We need to get you out of here."

After making sure the alley was empty, they exited the building and ran into the building next door. Parker couldn't keep track of the corridors and doors they navigated through but within minutes, they stood next to a car inside a large, empty warehouse.

"Get in, Parker," Tex said and pointed to the car. Not unlike the self-driving cars he had seen on the elevated highway, Parker entered through the open door. As soon as he was seated, the door closed automatically. When all doors were closed, the car started moving.

"Where are we heading? " Parker asked.

" We have a safe house closer to the cloud towers. It's not as suspicious and this car will take us there right through the roadblocks. They won't suspect one of their own to be doing anything suspicious here in the slums."

"Hiding in plain sight, " Parker said to no-one in particular as he looked out at the scenery flashing by outside.

" That's right, " Tex said." We can't let them take our lives so they can live carefree in the clouds. We have to fight back. Hiding right under their noses they never expect. I'm worried they found the warehouse so quickly though. We just moved in there a couple of weeks ago. "

The inside of the car was lit up by flashing red and blue lights as a security vehicle appeared behind them.  Tex cursed and shouted instructions to his comrade.

"Head down, Parker, and hold on."

Tex rolled down the window, leaned out and fired off a couple of shots. The security vehicle swerved and backed off to make targeted gunfire more difficult.

The car lurched and slid sideways as the car turned a corner without slowing down. "Geez, Marty," Tex shouted, "Take it easy alright? We're no good dead."

Marty, who now had assumed manual control of the car, was operating the vehicle with a small joystick that had appeared in the side of the door. He took a quick left turn on the next street, barely missing a couple that was crossing the street. The security vehicle stayed close.

"I can't shake him," Marty shouted just as a rain of bullets hit the rear of the car. The rear window shattered and sprayed glass fragments all over the inside of the car. Parker felt the glass on his back and the back of his head.

"Pull into the warehouse two blocks over," Tex shouted. "We need to shake them."

Marty weaved in and out of the lanes, avoiding oncoming cars and pedestrians while continuing to race forward as quickly as the car would allow. When they reached the warehouse, Marty quickly pulled in through an open cargo door and raced through the building to the other side. The security vehicle, not knowing what to expect in an unknown environment, slowed down and approached with caution.

Tex turned to Parker. "The car will take you to safety. Wait for us there. We need to get these guys off of our trail. We can't lead them back to our safe house."

Tex and Marty both jumped out of the car. Before Parker could protest, the doors had closed and the car took off on its own. Through the crushed rear window, Parker saw the two involved in a firefight with the security vehicle. He lost sight of them as the car turned a corner and sped away to its unknown destination.

~~~

Several hours later, Tex and Marty entered the apartment the car had taken Parker to. Too anxious to sleep, Parker had been pacing the living room, Horo in hand, trying to remain calm even though he had no idea whether his new friends had actually survived.

As they entered the apartment, he sighed with relief and sat down on the couch.

"You survived," he simply said.

Tex looked at him and smiled as he took off his dirty jacket and threw it in a pile on the floor. "Surprised?"

" I wasn't sure what to expect."

Tex sat down in a chair across from Parker. "Listen, we need to talk about this cloud thing."

"I'm listening."

"I wasn't quite truthful earlier. There is a way up there for non-residents but it's not easy and it's very dangerous.  No-one has ever tried to do it and capture is likely."

"As long as I can see the moon, I don't care about capture."

Tex looked at the young man in front of him for what seemed like an eternity before he nodded.

"Alright, that's your call. In that case, you won't mind if we use you as a diversion for some of our own business."

Parker shrugged. "Whatever you need to do."

Tex nodded and shared the plan with Parker.