Once again Strawberry was silent as they drove down the highway. "I wonder," said Lydia, "what the police will make of the body?"

"It doesn't matter," said Rod sullenly. "The government's just going to cover it up."

"Perhaps," said Maiya. She was nervous now that Strawberry had regained her memory, and she had every right to be. As strong and dangerous as the girl had been before, now she was worse. She was stronger, and she had powers that they had only begun to scratch the surface of. She glanced in her rearview to see the girl, only Strawberry was too short now to be caught in the reflection.

"Most likely," said Strawberry, "she'll be cleaned up long before the authorities can arrive." Kiwi nudged her arm and whined.

"In any case," said Emmerson overruling them all, "we need a place to stay the night. We can't keep driving forever."

"That's true," said Jody. "But where can we stay?"

To their mutual surprise it was Dr. Haskel who ansered. "I think I know a place," he told them.

The place was with Dr. Haskel's old collegue, Dr. Jenkins. The other man laughed. "Finally got yourself into trouble, eh?" he asked. His accent marked him as foreign, but none of them could place it.

Dr. Haskel grinned. "And I suppose you've been the model of good behavior," he joked.

"And who might you be, young lady?" asked Dr. Jenkins adressing the little girl.

"Strawberry," she said quietly. If you didn't know her you would assume that she also said it shyly, but her traveling companions knew that she was trying to size this man up and see if he was a threat to them.

"Welcome to my home, Little Miss Strawberry," said Dr. Jenkins. He stood up and serveyed the people around him. "That goes for the rest of you as well. I welcome all visitors and--what is that thing?" Kiwi had just come into view and Dr. Jenkins stared at it.

Strawberry picked the thing up. "It's Kiwi," she told him. Jody looked at her startled and Rad's mouth dropped. She had seemed to be the perfect child, just a normal little girl.

Dr. Haskel didn't ruin her image. "Kiwi's a creation of mine," he told his friend. "I can tell you all about it, if you like."

"It?" asked Dr. Jenkins.

"It has no gender. Well," ammended Dr. Haskel as the thing licked Strawberry's face, "No obvious gender. I only gave the guidelines for it, so I don't know what the lab techs did."

Dr. Jenkins stared in awe at the thing for a long moment before he collected himself. "You must tell me all about this," he said, "but later. For now, come in and make yourselves at home."

"Thank you," said Maiya.

A hiccup in reality. "That would be wonderful, I'm sure that all of the children are tired."

Emmerson made a show of yawning while Rad stretched his arms. Jody and Lydia exchanged a look with each other while Kiwi struggled to get free of Strawberry's arms. She bent to the ground and put him down, as a sparkly object in the bushes got her attention. She walked over, unnoticed to see a necklace tangled in the branches. It had obviously been there for a while, and it had been marked by weather. She reached out to pick it up and--

A hiccup in reality. "That would be wonderful, I'm sure that all of the children are tired."

Strawberry put Kiwi down and ignored the antics of the others as she walked to the bush where the necklace was, and pulled it free. Unnoticed she gently untangled it, and then she stared at the pendent as if it was a snake about to bite her.

The necklace she held in her hands was the same one that she had been wearing when she'd been taken back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6 years ago ~~~~~~~~~

Jillian walked up the stairs. It wasn't that she was going anywhere, because at the moment no one wanted to talk to and she was grateful for that. No one was watching her either because they had long ago assertained that she was not suicidal and wouldn't do anything to endanger her life by trying to get rid of the choker she was wearing. I hate this thing, she thought touching it. If not for that explosive pendant she would have been long gone from this place, so far away that they'd never catch her.

She ignored the siren wails that signaled an escape. There was nothing she could do about it, so she ignored it. Suddenly a boy, about her age, appeared on the stairs in front of her. He was frightened and his eyes were wide like a rabbits. Despite how long she had been in that horrible place, she still retained her humanity, and she helped the boy. Later she would wonder just what possessed her while in her heart she knew that she couldn't have done anything else. She opened the closet to her left, grabbed the boy's shirt, shoved him, closed the door, and leaned against it casually.

In no time at all footsteps signaled the arrival of the guards. "You're looking brisk this morning," she told them. "New exercise routine?"

"Escaped prisoner," growled one of the men.

"Really?" asked Jillian. "About my age, slightly taller, ragged stained shirt and loose pants that almost don't fit?" She jerked her head towards the stairs. "I saw him heading that way." It was all true, but it wasn't the whole truth. She had to tell the truth because a lie to one of the guards of the place was a death sentence, one more thing that would blow the necklace around her neck.

"Get off your rear and help!"

Jillian glared at him and he went pale. "There are," she told him, "two people in this rotten hell-hole who can tell me what to do. You aren't either of them, so I suggest that you keep moving."

The man growled incoherantle and dashed off in the direction that she had pointed to. "Have a nice trip," she advised them, "and break as many bones as possible." She waited until the sound of their footsteps faded before she opened the door. "About two stories up is the water pipe, it runs down to the river," she told the boy. She turned to continue her ascent when he stopped her.

"Why?" he asked. "Why do this? I'm nothing to you."

"That's a good question," said Jillian. "I suggest you get moving before I change my mind and call them up." He didn't need to be told twice and he dashed up the stairs ahead of her.