Tomorrow Never Dies

Chapter Three

As soon as I step through the doors, cool air hits me like a wave, and I smile, just a little, but for the first time in six years. I search the dirt lot for the blue truck and find it waiting under a tree a few meters away. So happy to be free, I use all the energy I have left to sprint through the dark to the truck.

When I approach it, a boy about my age sees me and opens the passenger side door. I jump in without hesitation and look at him.

"Lucas?" he asks me.

"He stayed behind to fight them." I say, breathless. The boy tries to hide his expression under his blond, shoulder-length hair, but I see the nervous look in his amber eyes and the quiver of his lips.

"Oh." Is all the boy says. He turns on the car and we start bumping down the dirt road that leads out of the prison.

"Who exactly are you?" I ask after a few minutes of silence.

"Jason Elindale, member of the Myran Laire Alliance." He answers plainly.

"Lucas's brother?" He nods. "Oh. Well I assume you know I'm Amanda Brookes, then."

"Yeah, I do. Don't take this the wrong way, but the MLA has been looking for you for five years."

"Um...okay. What is this MLA thing?" I respond, not sure what else to say. We speed up, and I look up to see that we are turning onto a highway. I turn and look behind us, at the government prison and the guards who are running around the parking lot, probably looking for me. I think about Lucas, still fighting in that hallway. I think about the cruel man who put me there in the first place, Peter Valentino. I'm so deep in thought that I don't even realize Jason started talking again.

"-an organization sort of like the Archers. We started working with them five years ago, that's how we found you. Both groups are hiding from the government, and we have been helping each other find missing members."

"So the Archers told you about me, and you found me for them. Interesting." I suddenly think of my parents and Sammy. "Hey, umm, do you know anything about my parents or my sister?" I ask nervously. Jason stares at the road for a while, probably considering his answer. Finally he turns back to me.

"About a year after you were captured, Lucas, who you met earlier, and some other MLA members found your parents and sister in Chicago. They brought them back to our camp in Los Angeles, and they've been living there since." I sigh of relief, and then another question surfaces in my mind.

"Speaking of cities, where are we?" I ask. We turn onto another highway.

"Ah, took you long enough." Jason smiles a little, but doesn't look at me. Then he says, "The prison is about 8 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. We're going to have to drive straight from here to LA, unless you want to end up back in that too-brightly lit, white jail cell." He shudders a little after that.

For a while neither of us talk. I watch the endless land go by out the window, and Jason watches the road carefully. Occasionally I see him look at me in the rear view mirror, his amber eyes shining in the pinkish-orange light of the rising sun. Eventually we pass a "Welcome to California" sign, and by that time the sun has been completely revealed. The blinking clock on the dashboard of Jason's truck reads 6:35 A.M. Just then we pass a sign with lots of restaurant logos. Perfect timing, i think.