Realms of Imagination be damned, this was the worst! Guns blazed outside and bullets tore through the walls. Warehouses have very flimsy padding! Thankfully there was a way out, but it was not what I wanted. There was an electrical tunnel that led outside from under the building. It was an old set-up.

And it was dusty that I nearly choked to death as we crawled through the tunnel, Naomi shoved me along forcefully to keep me moving. Trick and his mother were the last into the tunnel, rigging it with a nasty surprise they had cooked up. It would be the last they could make; they had used up so many materials already.

“I’m really not liking this,” I gasped.

“Just keep going and stop complaining,” Naomi snapped.

“How do we know that they aren’t waiting for us at the other end?”

“We don’t,” Naomi said simply, with a small sniff. “But we specifically chose this place because its layout was old and afforded us a quick escape if we needed it and we prepared accordingly.”

The Sphinx called from the front, “Naomi, we should always first focus on the positive! It is better to be optimistic and smart about what we do, rather than being smart and pessimistic! Don’t worry Ruben! We still have a few allies out there in the world. The Syndicate has their hands full with other matters. What matters right now is finding a safe place where we can hide you and put a plan into motion.”

I knew he was trying to be comforted, but honestly, that was the last thing I wanted! I just wanted it all to end! Is that too much to ask? Okay, I already know the answer to that, so I’ll just shut up for now about it. Suffice it to say, we continued crawling along the tunnel as fast we could.

Trick and Susan caught up with us quickly enough. About two minutes later there was a distant explosion. The door and the trap had been set off. Trick urged us to go faster. That bomb was nothing more than a small diversion.

“We’re here,” Agent Miles huffed.

There was something that started squealing and creaked, the sound of old metal being forced to move and scrap against itself. A cool breeze wafted into the tunnel, chilling the sweat that was now pouring down my face. I heard and saw the agents clamber up out of the tunnel. Naomi helped me out and led me to one of two large, black jeeps. She quickly pushed me up into one of the seats.

Hissing in my ear she said, “We are still close to the warehouses. They’ll know we are nearby once we get going, so don’t alert them early.”

“That door might have already done that,” I muttered.

“And they might have figured it out from the direction of the tunnel, a satellite surveillance, or any other means,” Naomi said quietly and quickly. “But we still should act like they haven’t figured that out yet.”

Trick and Susan leaped into the same Jeep as us and they made the engine roar into life. The other agents had their jeep ready to go as well and the tired spun as they hit the gas. Just then, something very dark hurled towards us. Someone shoved me painfully towards the floor. Good thing, too.

Whatever it was ripped the top of our car clean off. It just barely missed us. It also tore off the side as we sped away. There were more gunshots , but soon we were speeding through the darkness. Well, not quite. We had the brights on so we could see where we were going, and that alerted the things that were coming after us.

I still don’t know what they were exactly. I looked back behind us and all I could see was a roiling mass of darkness. It was soon joined by others just like it. They kept up easily with the vehicles, taking swipes at them. Our spare tire in the back was brutally sheared in two. At one point the jeep lurched as whatever it was nearly took hold of us.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Trick and Naomi still couldn’t use their D&D characters, which meant that this chase was not going to be an easy one for us to get out of.

The Sphinx continued to lead the way. He took a sharp turn and so did we, nearly throwing us off of a small cliff. One of the creatures took a plunge. I heaved a sigh of relief at seeing that these things could be beaten in some way. And then my heart jumped right into my throat when I saw and heard above the din of the chase that whatever it was was also crawling along the side of the cliff and nearly the same speed as it had on the flat land!

“Okay, this where these come in handy,” Trick shouted. He held up three grenades.

“You still have some,” I shouted hoarsely. “I thought we were running out of explosives!”

“We are. These just came with the vehicles. The Sphinx’s few surviving benefactors made sure to arm up with a means of destroying the trail should we get pursued!”

He pulled a pin and timed his toss nicely. The explosion went off, illuminating briefly something large and black. Not much different from what I had already described to you. But it sure did wreck the trail. And as if by a miracle, it shook the first creature trailing us enough that it also fell off the cliff. It collided with the one following along the side and they tumbled loudly to the darkened trees below.

There was still at least one more chasing us. Another grenade went its way. This one was smarter about not getting dislodged by the blast. I’m not sure how it succeeded though. All that inky blackness!

‘Tough sucker, aren’t ya,” Trick called out. “”Naomi! Radio them!”

“What should I tell them?”

“Hit the gas! We need to make it to the airfield quickly! But once we get out of the woods, they should come alongside us! We’ll jump to them and leave the final grenade as a surprise for the creature in our jeep!”

“You’re crazy,” I heard his mother laugh. She was actually laughing at a time like this!

Naomi called in the plan to others, and they also agreed! What was wrong with these people?

I guess I should take a quick moment to address those of you who don;t believe that any of what i am saying right now is real. Well, I can't blame you. These are really ridiculous events went you stop to think about them. I mean, real life is just not supposed to work this way! And then there are those of you who do not believe what is going on here because of the pacing with this tale. I go from a quick reveal in the first chapter to a car chase, to an info dump, and then to another action packed sequence.

Wel, my beloved critics, yes, normally you should take your time with these kinds of things. Not everyone can get away with it like Dan Brown, and even then, he does this kind of stuff a little too often! But we are getting chased by an evil government organization that has hidden itself brilliantly since the Cold are and is designed to hunt down people who can overly imagine stuff. This is the kind of stuff that james Bond has to deal with, but because we don’t have our own Q or a nice casino or castle to hold up in, we have had to resort to a lot of running around. I hope that satisfies you.

Probably not.

The internet is not a very forgiving place. Especially Tumblr.

Anway, back to the chase. Once we got out of the dense woods and away from the cliff, we pulled up as quick as we could next to the agents. Naomi and Trick helped me across. I did not go willingly! Stacy Miles had to reel me in. Trick and Naomi quickly followed, with Susan bringing up the rea. Trick left the grenade, without its pin, behind in the other jeep.

It all went off in a massive explosion right as the next creature came right on our tail. There was a thunderous crash and the ground trembled so hard that even we felt it. But for a sweet moment, nothing else was chasing us. But in the distance, we could see the lights of helicopters. And they were making their way right for us.

“We’re almost there,” I heard the Sphinx mutter to himself. “Please!”

And then I saw something in our headlights. It was a small plane. We pulled right up next to it and we all sprinted for it. My survival instincts were firing on all cylinders. I did not want to die! I did not want to get caught. Whoever these people were had sent some sort of hell beasts after us, and I did not want any part of that!

The moment that the Sphinx launched himself into the plane he sprinted for the cockpit and got the engines going. It felt like an eternity for us to get going. And then I heard it. The beasts had returned.

I am not ashamed to admit that I started crying, and I am proud to say that I had not wet myself. I’m not that much a wimp!

But then we started rattling along and I could feel ourselves getting higher. The sound of the plane taking off drowned out the creatures from hell and soon I could see lights in the distance. Lights from some kind of city. I did not recognize them. It then hit me that we must have gotten pretty far away from Boulder after I had passed out earlier that morning.

And I was due for another passing out in any moment. Or so I felt then.

I saw the light of the helicopter, too. And there was a flash of gun fire. I cringed and ducked insticively.

“Damn, I think they strafed us,” Miles said. “We’ve got too much weight.”

“I’m climbing. They won’t be able to chase us forever,” Conturbatio said.

“They’ll be tracking us soon with radar,” Susan said.

“Yes, and I have arranged that where we land we will have some with getting us out incognito,” the Sphinx replied. “I can’t say we’ll go undetected, but we will have a chance to split up their forces and resources. And if we are wise about it, I can get us to a safe house eventually.”

“So what do we do until then,” Trick asked.

“We continue filling Ruben in on what is going on,” the agent said grimly. “And this time we cut to the chase. No more brandying about with silly adventure, mysteries, and what story points were wrongly conveyed. This time we hit right at the heart of the conspiracy and the true mystery that we need to solve.”