The loud BANG echoed through the basement lab, shaking the shelves and sending a few glass beakers tumbling.
Leo, Maya, and Ben froze. Even Zap’s whiskers stood on end.
Dr. Felix quickly switched off the lab lights, plunging the room into eerie darkness. He pressed a finger to his lips, signaling for silence.
Footsteps thudded above.
Maya leaned in and whispered, “Who would be here this late?”
Dr. Felix’s face was pale. “I don’t know… but I have a bad feeling about this.”
Zap whispered from Leo’s shoulder, “Is now a bad time to remind you that I just became super smart and I really don’t want to be a test subject?”
The footsteps grew louder. A metallic clank sounded as someone fiddled with the lock on the basement door.
Ben’s voice trembled. “Uh… that doesn’t sound like a janitor.”
Dr. Felix quickly grabbed a small remote from his desk and pressed a button. A hidden cabinet slid open, revealing a dark passageway behind a shelf filled with old textbooks.
“Go! Now!” he whispered.
The kids didn’t hesitate. Leo, Maya, and Ben darted into the hidden tunnel, their hearts pounding. Zap clung tightly to Leo’s shoulder, his tiny claws digging into his shirt.
As they disappeared inside, the basement door burst open.
A deep voice growled, “Where is it?”
Dr. Felix stepped forward, blocking their view of the tunnel. “Who are you, and what do you want?”
A flashlight beam swept across the room. Through a narrow crack in the passageway, Leo caught a glimpse of two figures in black suits. Their faces were hidden under dark helmets with tinted visors. One of them held a strange device that beeped softly.
“We know what you’ve been working on, Dr. Felix,” the taller one said. His voice was calm, but there was something cold about it. “Hand over the subject, and we won’t cause trouble.”
Dr. Felix didn’t flinch. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The shorter figure stepped forward and held up the beeping device. “Don’t lie. The scanner picked up unusual brainwave activity from this lab.” He adjusted the settings. “It’s coming from—”
The scanner pinged and locked onto the tunnel.
Zap’s tiny heart raced. “We’ve been made.”
“RUN!” Leo hissed.
The kids took off down the tunnel just as the shorter agent shouted, “They have it! After them!”
Behind them, Dr. Felix slammed the hidden door shut, buying them a few extra seconds.
The passage was dark and narrow, the only light coming from cracks in the walls. Dust swirled as the kids sprinted through the winding corridor.
Maya panted. “Where… does this… even lead?”
“No clue,” Leo admitted, ducking under a low beam. “But I’d rather find out than get caught by them.”
Ben gasped. “What if they have weapons?”
Zap muttered, “I don’t like how realistic that question is.”
A loud CRACK echoed behind them—the agents had forced the hidden door open.
“They’re coming!” Zap squeaked.
The tunnel suddenly opened into a large underground storage room filled with old desks and science equipment. At the far end, a rusty metal staircase led up to a trapdoor.
Maya spotted it first. “There! That has to lead outside!”
Ben reached the staircase first and yanked the trapdoor handle. “It’s stuck!”
Leo and Maya grabbed onto it too, pulling with all their strength. The heavy door groaned but didn’t budge.
The agents’ voices echoed in the tunnel behind them.
“Time’s up, kids,” Zap warned.
Maya spotted a crowbar on a nearby shelf. “I got this!” She wedged it under the trapdoor’s edge and pushed down with all her might.
The door snapped open, sending a gust of fresh air into the room.
They scrambled up, emerging in an alleyway behind the school. The streetlights flickered above them.
Leo turned to Zap. “Where do we go?”
Zap’s whiskers twitched as he processed their options. “If those guys are tracking me, we can’t go home. We need somewhere safe… somewhere they wouldn’t expect.”
Ben groaned. “Like where? A spaceship? An underground bunker?”
Zap smirked. “Close. The junkyard.”
Maya blinked. “You want us to hide… in trash?”
“Not just any trash,” Zap corrected. “The old scrapyard on the edge of town. No one ever goes there at night.”
Leo nodded. “Good enough for me. Let’s move!”
They took off down the street, disappearing into the night as the agents burst through the trapdoor behind them.
The chase had only just begun.
To be continued…
