The Andromeda Effect

Chapter 3 = Close Call

The next morning, Jenny began to stir. She slowly woke up and rubbed her eyes while a distant sparrow in the trees chirped happily. 

After the events of the previous night, Sandra had driven them all out to a secluded spot in the woods where it'd be unlikely for Dr Keagan's men to find them, and they slept in the car for the night. 

Jenny looked at her watch. It was 9:15 AM. So she turned to Sandra, who was asleep in the driver's seat with her head leaning on the headrest, and she gently shook her awake. 

"Sandra." Jenny whispered. "Sandra." When repeated, and after shaking her a little more, Sandra began to wake up. 

"Huh...? Oh. Good morning, Jen." Sandra murmured. "What time is it?" 

"9:15. That means if we want to get to Northampton in time so these guys can find that android girl, Xianni, we'll need to get going soon this morning." 

"Okay, fair enough." Sandra agreed. 

After Jenny fetched her hairbrush out of the glovebox and brushed her hair, she put it on the dashboard before getting up, opening the door and telling Sandra,

"Back in a minute." 

And she nodded, then Jenny ran off into a woods for a minute so that she could find a deserted part of it where she could pee.

Afterwards, she walked a short way back towards the car (she'd made sure to memorise her route as she went) before suddenly, she noticed a man in front of her. It wasn't Maurice or Isaac, or Bruce. It was someone else. 

They were wearing a white lab coat of some sort, and they were holding what looked like an assault rifle in their hands. He had short blonde hair and was fairly tall, but, luckily, he had his back turned to Jenny, so he didn't notice her, and her footsteps had been fairly quiet. 

It must be one of the blokes working for Keagan... Jenny thought. 

She knew that this lab guy had never seen her before and didn't know about her involvement with Bruce, Isaac and Maurice, but if he saw her out on her own in the woods so early on a Sunday morning, that would be bound to raise suspicion, so she went to hide for a few seconds behind the nearest tree, but a twig snapped loudly under the heel of her black boot as she went.

Hell! She thought as the twig snapped, as the noise would draw attention to where she was, so as it did, she only just quickly but quietly managed to hide behind the tree before the lab agent turned around.

"Is someone there?" He called out, and she could hear him cocking his gun. "Show yourself, now!" Jenny could also detect him walking closer towards the tree where she was hiding, so she silently knelt down and picked up a small rock from off the ground, and threw it behind her and off into the woods to create a distraction. She was just wearing a casual shirt and jeans, so her clothing didn't make any noise when she swung her arm back. 

The rock she threw landed a fair distance away, and the noise it made was suprisingly more human-like than she'd first thought it'd be. The scientist was convinced it was the movement of a person, and he ran off to go and check it out, and then, only when she was certain it was safe to do so, she began running back to the car as fast as her legs could possibly carry her.

When she got back, she noticed that now, Isaac, Maurice and Bruce were awake as well as Sandra. Maurice was staring off into space, deep in thought, Bruce was drinking from a bottle of water, and Isaac was putting his jacket in the car boot. Sandra was sat in the driver's seat with the door open and her legs dangling out.

"We've gotta get out of here! Right now!" Jenny exclaimed, panting to gain her breath back. She wasn't really the athletic type.

"What's wrong?" Asked Maurice.

"When I went out into the woods to use the bathroom for a minute, I saw one of the guys from the lab you 3 came from. But there's bound to be more of them nearby, because from what you've told me, they really don't seem like the kind of people that hunt alone." Replied Jenny.

"Oh god. Let's go! Quickly!" Sandra said, urging them to all get back in the car. Jenny got in the passenger seat again next to Sandra, and Bruce, Isaac and Maurice climbed into the back seats and shut the door. Then, after she fumbled with the keys for a moment becuase she was in a mixture of excitement and fear, Sandra turned the keys in the ignition and they drove off as quickly as they could without running into any trees.

"Did this guy see you?" Bruce asked Jenny, who answered with,

"No, he had his back to me, and I created a distraction without being noticed."

"Good." He sighed in relief.

As they drove out of the woods, Sandra suddenly noticed a car at the side of the road again. The same one they encountered last night when they were asked about the disappearance of Xianni from Birmingham.

"Here we go." Sandra braced herself, and then, regardless of wether or not anyone was actually there, she sped up and the BMW M3 Sedan zoomed down the road and away from the parked car, making sure to go fast enough so that they couldn't see the BMW's number plate properly.

Although at the last second, Isaac, Maurice and Bruce had to duck down below the window slightly so that they wouldn't be seen, because just as they went by, they saw a man sitting in the parked car, looking at them. But soon, with how fast they were going, they were down the road, around the bend and out of sight within 2 seconds, tops.

"Did he notice us?" Isaac said.

"I doubt it. We ducked below the window in time, and I think we were going to fast for him to see the number plate." Answered Maurice.

"That was way too close." Jenny breathed a sigh of relief as the car continued down the country lane and began to get nearer and nearer to the main motorway.

"Certainly ain't arguing with you there." Said Bruce in agreement.

"Once we get to the motorway, there'll be lots of other cars there and we won't be too noticeable amongst the others, so we're not completely out of the woods yet, but it'll be smooth sailing from there." Isaac told them, and all that could be heard from outside the BMW was the distant roar of its engine, an echo of its departure.