Free imperfect by Tina Chan

Chelsa escaped from the
building and lowered the window so that it was back in its original
position.
    The three teens waited in a suspenseful
silence for the next patrol to come. Less than thirty seconds
later, a squad of three patrollers thumped by in their heavy boots.
The guards scanned their surroundings, eyes passing over the
crouching teens. They marched on without breaking a stride.
    Chelsa scuttled to the same trio of trash
bins they had hid behind earlier and beckoned for either Jaiden or
Kristi to follow.
    “ You go first,” Jaiden
whispered.
    Kristi carefully stepped over the laser and
joined Chelsa behind the bins. Jaiden started to follow, but he had
barely taken a step away from the wall when an alarm went off.
    BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
    Jaiden froze, not sure what to do.
    “ Oh crap,” Chelsa muttered
and swore under her breath. “I completely forgot to tell Jaiden
about the laser trip wire. Jaiden!” she said his name as loud as
she dared.
    “ Yeah?”
    “ We’re going to make a run
for it.”
    The droid-dogs barked at the top of their
lungs. Guards shouted commands to each other and the spotlights
from the watchtowers swung to and fro, searching for intruders. The
whole place was launched into a frenzy.
    “ Head for the trees,”
Chelsa instructed.
    She popped up from the ground and ran for
the surrounding woods. Jaiden and Kristi raced after her. Branches
whipped at Kristi’s face and tore at her hair. The ground was
covered in dead leaves, making it hard for her to know where there
were roots; she nearly tripped over one jutting out from the
ground.
    The cloudy night sky meant the moon wasn’t
able to provide a lot of light, which Kristi supposed was a
double-edged sword; it made it harder for the guards on their tail
to find them in the dark, but at the same time meant sticking close
to Jaiden and Chelsa was even more important. Ghost reappeared
sometime and ran beside his owner.
    “ Can you lead us to your
place?” Kristi asked Chelsa. She drew in an extra deep breath to
recover from asking her question.
    “ What else do you think
I’m doing?”
    “ You can’t hide from us,
you runaways!” a guard hollered. “You’ll never escape
us.”
    “ Let’s see about that,”
Chelsa said.
    Kristi ran with renewed effort, splashing
through as many streams and puddles as possible to throw off their
scents. The freezing water soaked into her jeans, plastering them
against her legs. The wet garment hindered Kristi’s speed, making
her fall behind Jaiden and Chelsa.
    Ghost slowed down to match Kristi’s pace,
nipping at her heels whenever he felt her start to slow down.
    “ You okay?” Jaiden asked.
He spared a second to look over his shoulder, making sure she was
still in sight.
    “ Yeah.”
    Ghost snipped at her ankles in
encouragement.
    “ I lost the trail,” a
guard called.
    “ Hold on a second,”
another guard replied. “Let my droid-dog find the
trail.”
    Their voices faded away.
    At long last, they broke through the tree
lines and the guards appeared to be nowhere in sight. Kristi
recognized where they were; somehow, using her uncanny sense of
location, Chelsa had managed to lead them to a street that branched
off to the alley where Chelsa’s home was.
    They hustled to the brick wall and Kristi
ran her hands over the sensor. The bricks rotated away, exposing
the room inside and Jaiden let out a whistle of admiration of the
craftiness. The gap closed up once more the moment everyone was
inside.
    Chelsa swiftly unlocked the door to the main
room and turned on the lights.
    “ Sweet hideout,” Jaiden
said.
    Chelsa nodded to show she heard and put the
kettle on. “I need some tea. It calms my nerves. Want some?”
    “ Yes, please,” Jaiden and
Kristi said in unison.
    Jaiden spun to face Kristi; she did not like
the expression he had on his face. He looked positively
furious.
    “ What were you trying to
do, Kristi? You could’ve been killed. I was fine; they weren’t
going to do