thegingernut

  At ten minutes to 4AM there was a knock on the 2 way mirror. "Five more minutes" I groaned, and then rolled over and stirred no further. There came another knock on the window. I pulled the pillow over my ears. I was left in peace for about thirty seconds. Then I felt an arm on my shoulder shaking me gently. I opened my eyes groggily. It was Irene by the silhouette. "Child, my mirror is going ‘tap tap tap’. Might you have anything to do with that?" she whispered. "Is time to escape…" I mumbled.

  I was left alone almost long enough to drift off, and then someone threw ice cold applejuice all over me. I was not asleep after that. "What! Who's there!" I whispered furiously. "You seem to have pnned an escape at an hour you weren't prepared to wake up for" Irene responded honeyedly. "Escape… SHIT!" I said. I pulled on my undergarments under the bnkets and then threw off the bnket. "Yes, we're getting out of here. Now. Wake Peter and Charlotte. Pack light. If its not sentimental, leave it behind" I said, beginning to pace.

  "How likely is your pn to work?" asked Irene. "Pn A? About 90%. Pns B through D? Well I made contingencies but they're not good contingencies" I noted. "What's pn A?" she asked. "Walk right out the front door without being spotted" I said. I couldn't see her face but I got the feeling she was giving me a disappointed stare. "If what I did while in the powerup chair was successful then they'll be letting us all out in 5 minutes. Wake Peter and Charlotte" I said. She sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing child…"

  Charlotte was a lot more full of energy than I was. Peter managed to stay sleeping even after being doused with applejuice. "Peter, wake the fuck up or I swear to god we're escaping without you!" snapped Irene. He opened his eyes. "Why is little miss no gift in my dream" he muttered. "Just get up and meet me by the exit" I grunted. "Should we shift?" asked Irene. I considered it. Paws were probably going to be quieter than sneakers. "Sure, just make sure you have an outfit to change into once we're clear the compound. I muttered.

  They met me by the door just as it was beginning to open, each holding a bundle of fabric. Irene's beast form turned out to be a wolverine, a brawny cousin of the badger known for stealing meat from bears. They're absolute units pound for pound and can even shrug off low caliber bullets. I knew right then that if Elder Sampson were to fight Irene she'd beat the heck out of him and it wouldn't even be close.

  As soon as the door was high enough to duck under I scooched my way out. Charlotte quickly followed and then Peter and Irene. As soon as Irene was clear the inner door began closing. It made an arming thud as it closed. Then the outer door began to open. We exited into a hallway with a single guard who's pupils were completely unfocused. He wordlessly handed me a bundle and then closed the door behind us and walked off.

  "What exactly did you do to him?" asked Irene curiously. "Pn B. As many of the guards as possible are high on hallucinogenics. That way if they happen to see a big pink rabbit, a lion and wolverine wandering about the pce they'll blend right in with all the other hallucinations. Additionally if things go wrong the internal affairs investigation will conclude a bunch of the soldiers got high and started fighting with each other" I noted.

  "How did you manage all that?" asked Irene. "My power" I said with a cheeky grin. "I thought you didn't have a power" said Irene. "So did the guards. So did general Wasserv?gel. If she'd known what I could have done with a boosted power, she'd never have let me in the chair" I said with a shit eating smile. "That pn was still suicide" she chided. "We're trapped in a prison with a thousand armed guards. Any attempt to escape is suicide" I noted.

  I unravelled the bundle the guard had left. There was 4 bullet proof vests and sets of combat trousers. One child size, one adult and two for brick shithouses with feet. I pulled on the child sized one and gave the adult size one to Charlotte. This will stop a few bullets" I said. "But its a boy colour" said Charlotte. "That's the least of our worries right now" I said. "But the guards say I don't look cute in boy colours" compined Charlotte. "One they're wrong and stupid. Two, if things go south they're going to be trying to put bullets in you. You do not need to observe fashion advice from people who are soon going to be trying to kill you. Now put on the damn vest" I said.

  The trousers didn't really work with gomorph legs but I at least got her to wear the vest. Peter and Irene also tried to refuse to wear the armour. "Swallow your pride. This isn't a soccer match. They will kill us given half a chance. Don't give them any chance. Put on the damn vests" I snapped, pulling up my own combat trousers. They weren't a good fit. I tightened the vest and felt a sharp pain in my chest area. "Oh of all the fucking times" I hissed.

  I gathered up their changes of clothes in a backpack the guard had left. That just left the bracelets and the three P90s. I picked one up and loaded a cartridge. "Isn't that the weapon that kills your enemies?" asked Charlotte. "Very good Charlotte. That's exactly what it is" I said with a smile. "Does that mean you pn on killing them" she asked nervously. "Only if I have to" I responded. "Peter, Irene: You want guns?" I asked. "I prefer my cws, thank you child" said Irene. Peter grunted in agreement.

  "Fine. Put these in your pockets" I said, handing each of them a power sealing bracelet and a fob to open them with. "What on earth would we need these for child?" Asked Irene. "In case I need to use my power offensively. They render you immune to magic as well as stopping you using it. I think" I responded. "You still haven't told us what your power *is*" noted Irene. "Mind control" I revealed.

  "So you could have just made the general let us go at any time?" grunted Peter. "See that's what I was referring to as a bad pn. So I mind control the general. Someone would stop us on the way out. My range is limited, especially if I need to control multiple targets. And while I can mess with memories so they don't remember us, that still requires I get close to a target. We would definitely get shot by a sniper. Death or recapture with improved security. Bad call" I stated.

  "So what did you do?" asked Irene. "Use the power amplifier chair to pnt a few ideas in the heads of everyone who was on base at the time. "Pn A is we sneak out without being caught. That's our best chance. Pn B is the guards are all high as kites on various narcotics. That way if we violently magic our way out the wider US government writes it off as a narcotic induced riot. Pn C is that if an arm goes off someone is to immediately sabotage the communications array. That means they have a finite number of soldiers to stop us with, many of whom will be disorientated due to the drugs. Finally pn D is if an arm goes off (or in the morning whichever comes first) someone is to "accidentally" download ransomware to destroy all digital records.

  I also put out a general "aid and abet the prisoners" order. Not everyone will heed it but there'll be enough chaos that getting caught isn't an immediate game over" I expined. "That's good, you suck at games" giggled Charlotte.

  I sighed. "Okay, first stop the med bay. They put something in my arm before they'd let me at the chair. That needs to come out. They can likely use it to track me. I don't want them following us indefinitely" I ordered. "Why'd you let them do a daft thing like that" demanded Peter. "I needed to use the chair. That was a condition of using the chair. Come on, the med bay is this way.

  ---

  We encountered a few guards on the way to the med bay. They travelled in groups of four. They paid us no mind. Between the magic mushrooms and the altered instinct to ignore anything that shouldn't be there (I didn't actually want the guards shooting each other if possible) they were completely unable to perceive us. "Did they also put trackers in any of you" I asked. Irene chuckled. "They tried…" she said sinisterly. "Aye" added Peter.

  "Any chance they did so while you were asleep?" I asked. They both fell silent. "Is there any way to check?" asked Irene. "*Sure, I'll just access your medical records*" I said sarcastically.

  We arrived at the med bay. There was a computer with the username and password printed on a sticky note on the monitor. I *wish* I could cim credit for that idea. I logged in. I found patient files on a network share with the same password as the local user account. According to Peter and Irenes' files neither had any impnts. Charlotte's noted she was microchipped in her left thigh. I picked up a scalpel off the desk and washed it in disinfectant. "Charlotte, it says here you're chipped. Lie down. I said, gesturing to the examination table.

  "I'm sorry" she whispered. "Its okay. Just lie down" I said. She y down. "For god's sake!" grunted Peter. "Didn't we always tell you not to listen to them" he snapped. "I… I…" whimpered Charlotte. "How many times did I say, never trust the outsiders. They're evil. They're selfish. Give them a chance and they'll hurt you! And what do you go and do?" he ranted. Charlotte was holding back tears. "YOUR VOICE DOESN'T WORK" I thought in his general direction. He opened his mouth to keep talking and then seemingly forgot how.

  "This is going to hurt, but I promise I'll be quick" I said. Charlotte looked me in the eye and then nodded. "Rex. If you tense the muscle while I cut it you'll damage it and it will take a bit longer to heal" I soothed. After a few moments her breathing evened out a bit. "Okay, I'm going to cut you now" I warned. She nodded. The scalpel bit into flesh. She didn't make a sound. "You're being very brave" I encouraged. I tried to reach into the hole with a rubber glove. It had already closed. "Wow. I knew you people healed fast but…" I grunted. I reached over and picked up an instrument I was fairly certain was called a forceps. I cut into her again and this time left the forceps in pce to keep the wound open. Then I reached in with a gloved hand and returned with a printed circuit board completely unlike the one in my own arm. As soon as it was free of her flesh an arm went off.

  I removed the forceps so her skin could close up. Peter began making wild gestures. Okay, probably a good idea to give his voice back. "YOU CAN SPEAK" I thought. The blood bubbled in my left arm and I almost fell over from the pain. The fuck? Okay, I knew that sensation. I forced myself to be calm until the pain went away.

  "Vanessa! Are you all right?" asked Irene. "Okay, minor update I don't think that's a tracking chip they put in me" I replied shakily. I walked over to the computer to confirm. I let out a startled gasp. It wasn't under the name Vanessa Wolfe. And then the arm stopped bring and a familiar voice came on over the intercom. "Now what are you doing out of your cell, Jedward Carlisle?" asked General Jade von Wasserv?gel

  ---

  I confirmed with my medical record that the chip in my arm was not in fact a tracker. It was the innards of one of the bracelets, altered to be deactivated when a certain pattern was transmitted on a certain radio frequency. Essentially until I either had the chip removed or General Wasserv?gel had someone turn the transmitter back on I was powerless. Which was bad, but it wasn't a tracking chip. Which meant it was probably best to try and escape now and find someone to remove it ter. I couldn't mind control a doctor in this state.

  I could probably fry it like I did with the external bracelet. Probably. I debated the merits of trying. If she thought I was depowered then that's one more reason to underestimate me in a fight. And if the chip was communicating with a base station it might report its own destruction, like Charlotte's had when removed.

  "Remain in the medical bay. A contingent of soldiers will arrive shortly to escort you back to the containment area. Do not resist or the children will be held in solitary confinement for sixty days" said the intercom. I made for the door. "Whoa! Ladies first" chirped Irene. I nodded. "Peter, take up the rear" she ordered. Peter raised a finger. "You can speak Peter, you only think you can't" I told him. He gred at me. "Did you seriously manage to shut Peter up with your power? How did you NOT try that sooner" gasped Irene.

  "In all fairness, I've either been wearing a power binder bracelet or mentally exhausted for almost every moment you've known me" I noted. She chuckled. "If you wouldn't mind giving him his voice back deary?" she said. "I can't. That chip they put in my arm was basically the same chip they put in those bracelets to bind our powers. My powers are out of commission until that's dealt with, and now that the base is on high alert we need to be moving toward the exit at all times. I can probably fry it but that might set off more arms. Every moment we stay here is more time for them to shore up their barricade." I said.

  "Well we can't leave Peter voiceless in a battle" she said reasonably. "Peter is just going to have to stop being such a worthless, spineless little babyman, pull up his big girl pants, stop being such a cowardly sewer rat, stop being such a failure of a man, a father and a beast, stop being…" - "SHUT THE FUCK UP" he interrupted my rant. I sighed. "Voice back?" I asked. "I will rip your spine out your anus you stupid little shit!" he snapped. I nodded. "He's back… Sorry, that seemed like the easiest way to make you break your own inhibitions. It was nothing personal" I said.

  "You called me a bad father! You've been doing that for days. HOW WAS THAT NOT PERSONAL?" he yelled reasonably. "If I thought calling you a good boy and scritching your ears would have brought your voice back I'd have done that instead" I replied. "Now shut up. We need to get the hell out of here" I added.

  Irene suddenly darted ahead. There were no screams. No gunshots. Just the thud of four fresh corpses hitting the floor. We caught up to her and Charlotte gasped and buried her face in her father's chest. I wasn't thrilled by the sight myself but I'd seen a dead body before. I snatched a two way radio off one of their belts. we kept walking. "Left" I directed. "Right. Left. Right. This way".

  "How do you know where you're going" asked Irene. "Memory. This pce might be a bit of a maze but I've driven through interchanges with more confusing geometry" I expined. Every so often Irene would signal for me to halt and then vanish into the darkness. "This is Corporal Quill. The prisoners are no longer in the Med Bay" squawked the radio. "Understood" came the general's reply.

  A minute or so ter there was more activity on the Radio. "I found bodies. Some of ours. Killed with a long bded weapon by the looks of it" - "… Very well. Lethal force authorized. See if you can bring the little ones back alive. They're valuable assets to the project afterall. But if you see either of the big ones don't stop shooting until you run out of bullets". Charlotte gasped. I gave her a quick hug. "Welcome to warfare. It sucks and everyone's terrible" I said sympathetically.

  "You made them mad. If you'd stopped them peacefully…" she gasped. "We don't have a non-lethal weapon on us" I said. "Why didn't you have them bring you a tranq gun?" she asked. "Tranquilizer darts need to be calibrated to body weight and you don't know for sure how long the target will be out for. They're finicky and they don't pierce armour very well. And there's no way the guards won't be wearing armour" I expined.

  "Why not make the guards not come in at all" she asked. "Their absence would be noted" I said. "Why not make them run away if they see trouble" she asked. "I actually did think of that one but thoughts like that aren't guaranteed to take. I'm sure some of them are hiding, and others are executing pns C and D. But mind control doesn't always take unless you do it hard enough to hurt them, and at that point I'm hurting them anyway" I said.

  Irene ran off ahead again to deal with more guards. She dashed past a T junction. I wasn't sure where it went so I trained the P90 on it idly. I saw some sort of thrown projectile. Either a grenade or a fshbang. I spun on my heal, buried my face in Charlotte's fur and raised my arm to cover her eyes. Her fur served to muffle the sound a bit but it was still pretty painful. I spun back around and trained the gun back on the corner. A soldier dashed out training his gun the wrong direction and I shot him in the back. A second, covering the first's back and just a half second slower emerged and let out a hail of bullets in our general direction. I shot him too.

  Pain bloomed near my hip. Fuck that hurt. I looked down. the bullet had partially pierced my vest. I stumbled over to the wall and colpsed. I saw a shape near the corner. I tried to train the P90 on it but I couldn't concentrate properly. I heard a pair of startled gasps. The shadow came stalking back around the corner and dashed back to us. It was only Irene.

  "Are you alright Vanessa?" she asked. I undid the straps on the vest. There was a hole right through the vest. Not through me though thankfully. It had hit a bone. Which probably meant the bone was at minimum cracked but at least you couldn't see through to the other side. I found the shell and deposited it on the floor. "Mother of butts that hurts" I grunted. I pulled Peter's t-shirt from the backpack and tore off a strip. I balled it up and stuck it in the hole. Probably not my smartest idea but at least I was losing less blood now.

  I did back up the vest. Why in the name of fuck were they using armour piercing rounds? I mean come on, they were carrying the secret to defeating their own armour! Surely someone designing the security on this pce had gone, "Why do we need bullets that go through our own armour? Surely that can only be to our detriment"

  Then I remembered that wolverines are somewhat bulletproof. Irene was a wolverine. It was probably just about the only thing short of a grenade they had that could do any damage to her. I sighed. I tried to get up. It hurt like listening to a politician commit stolen valour. I forced myself to my feet anyway. Every moment we weren't moving was a chance for our captors to reinforce their resistance. I began limping along. "Come on. We need to get out of here" I stated.

  "Are you going to be alright Vanessa?" asked Irene. "For a while, yes. I will need to go to a hospital at some point though" I said. Irene went silent for a little while. "You take the rear" she suggested. "Peter has better senses. First I know of them will be when they shoot me" I replied. "Okay then. Next time I scout ahead…" she trailed off. She looked between me and Charlotte as if weighing which of our lives mattered more. "I need to go in front. All Charlotte can do is sponge a few bullets. I can practice best offence is good defence" I grunted.

  "You're hurt! You don't heal quickly. A single well pced bullet could end you!" she pointed out. "And a single well pced bullet could end Charlotte, who is also a bigger target. I need to be where I can return fire" I said. She went silent for a few seconds. "Give the gun to Charlotte" she ordered. "I'm not giving a deadly weapon to a child!" I replied. "YOU ARE A CHILD!" she snapped back. "Yes, and normally I wouldn't give one to me either but we're surrounded by people who want to kill us and/or ensve us to die in wars about stinky bck sludge. Sometimes, the only person who can do that thing that isn't your job, and which is cruel to put upon you, but must be done for the greater good, is you yourself. Now hurry up. Every step hurts more than the st…"

  ---

  "Stop here" I ordered. The party came to a stop. "We're one corner away from freedom. After this we're in open air. There's no way in hell there isn't an ambush waiting. Run fast and zig-zag a lot. Peter, you're going to have to carry me" I said. "Why me?" he demanded. "Because Irene fights better" I noted. "Why not have Charlotte carry you?" he asked. "Charlotte hops. That's going to sting to high heaven with a bullet wound" I stated.

  "What about your power?" said Irene. I thought about it. "Yeah, this is the now or never. Might as well" I said. I took a deep breath and calmed my magic. Then I let the emotions of the moment crash over me. I reached again for calm. It almost slipped through my fingers, but I caught it and my energy receded. I let the emotions run wild. I felt my arm sting something fierce and then I forced the emotions back into their box. Storm and calm. Storm and calm. And then the storm broke through the bulwark and I knew I had shorted out the impnt.

  I felt the arm grow hot. Very hot. It suddenly hurt worse than the bullet wound and I colpsed clutching the arm. I screamed. A line from a "how its made" fshed through my mind. "Solder melts at between 190 and 450 degrees Fahrenheit". Now you fucking tell me! It didn't have much thermal mass, so it couldn't really do that much damage. But that was definitely a second degree burn under my skin. That would take some recovering.

  After a minute of screaming my body acclimatised to the pain. It still hurt to move the arm even an ? of an inch, but at some point your body realizes that screaming in agony doesn't solve anything. I forced myself to my feet. I noticed Peter, Charlotte and Irene were all on the ground, clutching their arms in pain. I closed my eyes. I forced the bubble to recede. Their cries turned into groans. I angled my bubble and sent it spewing as far as I could in the opposite direction from my friends.

  I heard screaming from the other side of the door. I pushed it out further. I summoned as much energy as I could and pushed that bubble as far out as I ever had. And then I thought: "THERE'S A SHAPESHIFTING WITCH AMONG US AND SHE'S MAKING US FEEL THIS PAIN". Then I let the bubble colpse. I forced myself to rex so whoever wound up carrying me didn't eat any friendly fire.

  "That's our signal. Come on!" I gasped. I walked over to Peter before he could compin again and stared at him angrily. Begrudgingly he picked me up in a bridal carry. I sighed. I might actually be enjoying this if it were Leah carrying me. Irene kicked the door open and the three beastshifters dashed different directions. Charlotte mostly followed Peter but at least there was a division of attention and I was in the low priority group if these people had any sense of danger.

  The battlefield was in chaos. The soldiers were firing wildly with no regard for friendly fire prevention. As we ran I struck out with my power against anyone who looked like they were having any success regaining control. I had intended that as a distraction but it had descended into a full on riot. Who would have thought the armed forces of these United States could be so violent? Shocking I tell you!

  We quickly circumvented the battlefield. They were too busy killing each other to worry about a few fleeing prisoners. We reached the carpark. A soldier stepped out from behind a car. Irene cut her down without even slowing down. I recognized general Wasserv?gel. Good riddance. I wasn't thrilled about all the death and destruction we were leaving in our wake but if anyone in that base deserved to die tonight then the nazi descended general who would sacrifice her own men to test her new toy was top of that list.

  "We're looking for space 105E I called out to Irene. She grunted in answer. We weaved through cars for a bit. And then I saw her. Less than ten years old. Too new for me to be familiar with. But small. Subtle. Between advancements in fuel efficient engines and her size she'd probably carry us across several states for 3 bigmacs and a set of puppydog eyes. A hyundai. Whether Japanese engineering had maintained its reliability or not I wasn't certain. But she'd carry us back to the town in the mountains. Easily.

  Gunfire rang out. Peter threw us ft to make us less of a target. I grunted from the impact. It exacerbated my existing injuries but I doubt he even bruised me otherwise. I looked over. General Wasserv?gel was on her feet, covered in her own blood but standing proud and waving her P90 around in fully automatic mode. If she damaged our getaway vehicle I was going to kill her, wait for her brain to die and then bring her back to life and make her dance the cancan or something.

  "There's no escape Jedward!" she screamed. "Jedward?" grunted Peter. "My deadname. So called because if you say it I'll kill you" I replied. "Why did you tell it to her?" he asked. "I didn't. I have no idea where she heard it. Maybe she ran fingerprint recognition on me?" I mused. Irene was fighting the woman furiously. She came in close and tore her arm off with a cw. The flesh was knitting back together before the cw was out the other side. Irene ate a whole clip of P90 ammo for her trouble. I knew beastshifters were practically invincible but that **had** to hurt.

  I poked my head from behind cover when I was out of her direct line of sight and shot her through the eye. It was an excellent shot. My father would have been proud. The hole sealed up almost instantly. "YOU CANNOT KILL THE MASTERRACE!" she seethed. "Okay, if the United States government *has* a combat witch, why's she the warden on a bck site?" I yelled in frustration.

  "I did my duty for my country. I fought in Iraq. I fought in Afghanistan. I WAS NO COWARD! I walked away from battles where hundreds would have lost their lives without me! But one super soldier against an infinite tide of enemies? I was **never** going to be enough. Those filthy savages are like rats. You kill one and they've already got ten more ready to repce him. So I took up my grandfather's life's work. Somebody had to! There's always another savage at the gate! Conspiring to destroy the country I gave so much for! I WON'T ALLOW IT!"

  "So here's what I'm going to do. At long st I have a viable breeding pair. So I'm going to kill the old shit and courage the cowardly lion, and then you and the rabbit are going to *make like rabbits* and make me an unstoppable ARMY!" she screeched. Irene jammed a cw into her skull and tried to rip it in two. "Over my dead body!" she seethed. As before the bits were fusing back together before they'd even been properly separated. The general emptied her gun into Irene from near point bnk range. "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE…" - "DIE!" I interrupted her with a thought. The general froze like she'd just fallen for the old painted tunnel trick and then fell ft on her face. Irene limped a few feet our direction before colpsing.

  "WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT SOONER! screamed Peter. "I was worried about hitting Irene. Or you or Charlotte for that matter" I yelled back. You do not put out a "to whom it may concern" "DIE!". "AND YOU WEREN'T WORRIED ABOUT HITTING HER WITH THE GUN?" He yelled. "Well she was already taking a lot of bullets anyway. Plus a gunshot wound gives a clear cause of death. No idea what the investigators are going to make of this…" I said. We approached Irene. She had colpsed on the ground.

  "Are you okay there?" I asked. "No…" she coughed. "I think I lost too much… blood" she added. "Do you think you'll recover" I asked. She coughed again and shook her head. "We beastshifters are tough. But everyone has… limits" she coughed. The bullet holes weren't closing. It was as if she no longer had the energy. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked. The thought she might actually be about to die was politely waving through the window of my subconscious and I started to tear up.

  "Take care of Peter and… Charlotte" she coughed. I hesitated for a moment before answering. "No!" I snapped. "No?" she gasped. "I'm going to take them back to Elder Sampson. He'll take care of them better than I ever could" I vowed. She went silent. "Irene? IRENE?" I screamed. "That… little shit… made Elder?" she gasped. "6′7″. White hair. Doesn't wear a shirt. Turns into a bear sometimes" I said through tears. She began to chuckle. "Tell that little shit… that his sister is… so proud…" she trailed off into unconsciousness. "Irene? IRENE?" I cried.

  "There's nothing you can do Vanessa. Come on, we need to get OUT OF HERE!" cried Peter. "THE HELL THERE'S NOT" I screamed. "You need to get us to Elder Sampson. You promised her!" he cried. I stared down at the body. Tears welled. He was right. We needed to leave before someone else took leave of their madness. But I couldn't leave her as is. I put my hands on her head. "SHIFT HUMAN". She shrank slightly in my arms. I id her head down gently and then closed her eyes. I turned around. Peter had been humanified by leakage. "Put some clothes on" I sobbed angrily. I threw down the backpack.

  I inspected the car for bullet holes. Thankfully, being so small it had been taking cover between the absolute mammoths parked on either side of it. I sighed. I unlocked the vehicle. I sat down in the driver's seat and began adjusting it and the mirrors. I started the engine and it purred to life. I reversed out of the space. Peter and Charlotte climbed in the back seats. They were both crying. I was crying. I put the car in gear. She was an aggressive little monster. Like they'd put a big car engine in a smaller form factor and let the ws of physics do the rest. In no time at all I was out of the carpark and following the road "who knows where but nowhere could be worse than here right now because I couldn't bear to see Irene's body for another moment!".