My mood dropped as I left the sanctuary of the home into the gloomy streets of the Upper District. What lay ahead of me wasn’t going to be an easy task. To get out of whatever was about to happen wasn’t going to be easy. I knew there was a great possibly that I could get hurt or worse caught myself. However, as long as I managed to help the others escape I knew I could deal with whatever would happen to me.
“What’s the plan?” I asked as looking across at Slade.
He lead the way just a bit ahead of me. “Your friends are going to be in a demonstration, in fact the one corresponding with the time of the mayor’s speech, that pretty much says we need to rescue them before the demonstration begins. I don’t want to know what should happen if they get involved in the demonstration.”
A rather well built soldier came in the opposite direction towards us. I tensed slightly but Slade grabbed my arm and walked calmly, “So I was thinking of this restaurant, they play live jazz while you eat. It’s in the city Centre, I’m sure you’ll love it. What do you think?”
The soldier gave us one glance and smiled before carrying on. I gave a sigh of relief when he was quite some distance behind us.  
I was about to thank him when a began to speak, “When the mayor is giving his speech we’re going to free your friends and try to make it away as unnoticed as possible. However its going to be tricky. All we have is hope at the moment that the situation will be easier than expected.”
He increased his stride and I didn’t bother to argue with my nagging legs. There were bigger issues at hand here. Something I was even a little frightened to explore in my thoughts as to what the demonstration really was.
A crowd had gathered in the centre of the district around a podium where the President was likely to speak. Men and some women were still rigging microphones and speakers as well as film crews setting up their cameras and making intro’s for their news segments.
We still had time.
I looked around for the obvious places where they would be kept though nothing really stood out. The demonstration was obviously hidden for the moment so people would be surprised.
“Where are they?” I whispered.
Slade seemed to be asking himself the same question scanning the area curiously. His glaze eventually stopped in one area and I followed it to see a fence which seemed to be surrounding a small area before one of the large gates to the lower district.
“What the hell is that for?” he said.
Shivers ran down my spine, “Let’s move closer towards there, its obvious where the demonstration will be.”
We moved casually toward the fence and looked for a second.
“There must be an entrance into here from somewhere.” Slade whispered.
The Gate began to crack and tense at being opened inward. A truck drove casually into the area, parked and the driver jumped out before heading out the gate and was closed again.
“They have to be in there...” I whispered anxiously, “How are we going to get in there?”
Slade pulled me away from the fence and brought me back into the crowd.
“we’ll have to wait till the speech starts when everyone’s  focus is on him.”
It wasn’t long before the president emerged and stood before the microphone.
“Good day, everyone.” he smiled with a hint of wicked intent.
I looked across at Slade as he nodded and we begun to sneak away and behind a house close to the fence. On closer examination there was no way to cut through the fences, not that we had any tools to do that kind of thing anyway.
“We’re going to have to climb it.” I said.
Slade shook his head, “we have no choice, I don’t like the idea. It’s too noticeable but its our the only way I can see.”
He got down and linked his fingers together to give me a boost.
I grinned, “I’m perfectly capable of climbing myself thanks but I guess it’s much quieter this way.”
I accepted his hand and with amazing strength he pushed me up to the top of his shoulders, just below the top of the fence. I grabbed the top and pulled myself over and slid down as quietly as I could. Looking around the crowd and the security guards  luckily had turned their backs to me. I took advantage of that to quickly tread quietly to the truck in the centre and jumped under the flap into the back.
I nearly fell face first into a cage however I’d missed it by a shear millimetre. I looked up and saw the surprised face of Dan while his fingers seemed to be trying to break the lock of the cage. Four kids sat behind him all looking quite scared.
“Yuri!” he whispered loudly.
I smiled as I dug into my boot where I had hid my lock picking kit.
“Nice to see you too Dan.” I said pulling out various tools before looking at the lock.
My heart sank as I realised I had seen a lock like this.
“Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Dan asked.
“I’ve never seen a lock like this before, it’s either very old or very new..”
Slade appeared beside me. “Oh yeah... these are remotely activated. There must be some sort of device we can open and alter.”
“We don’t have time for that!” I whispered angrily. “If it’s remotely activated that means they’ve hidden it in the lock itself, look how thick the lock is.”
“Look there’s the seal, try open it.” Slade pointed.
I grabbed a extremely small metal bar that I kept with my lock picking kit and began hooking it under the seal and attempted to pull it off.
Of course it wasn’t quick snap but it eased slowly away at least. Eventually after about 2/3 minutes I managed to pull it off. This was the longest I had ever taken with a lock.
Together me and Slade examined the contents.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before.” I stated truthfully.
“It’s brand new... I haven’t either but this is a newer model of one of the locks I know. I think I can open it.”
Slade examined it for awhile before I got impatient and smacked the lock.
“We don’t have time! The demonstration is bound to start any minute now!”
“Calm down, we’re going to be heard.” Slade said eventually beginning to use my instruments to open the lock.
I went over to the side of the truck and looked through a slit in the side of the truck. I could see and hear somewhat of what the president was saying.
“... And now!” he said dramatically, “I will purge the streets of the filth that has seeped into the very pores of what once was our beautiful city! We will reclaim it back and thrive once more in health and prosperity!”
He was flailing his fists as if to excite the crowd. For what? His words had always been meaningless, why would people start believing in him now?
“Today Science will help us far beyond anything that it has in the past! For many years we have been developing a strategic dog which will hunt down and kill all the people in the lower sectors until we the upper district will remain and spread out to become prosperous once more!”
My heart sank. I looked across at Slade, he had stopped for the second to look at me.
“Hurry!” I whispered viciously. “We have to get out now! It’s obvious what he’s doing in his demonstration now, that fat bastard!”
Slade got back to the lock and with some fiddling of some wires the door clicked and opened. Without thinking I opened the door quickly and grabbed the first child I could and slid out the opposite side of the truck not facing the public. Slade and Dan followed close behind.
All I heard now was the cheering of a crowd, it was a louder applause than what I thought the response would be, were they out of their minds?
I ran over to the gate of the lower district as I pushed it I could tell it wasn’t going to budge with just that. I could climb it though, it was possible.
“Hold onto my back,” I said to the little girl I was carrying. I swung her round so she clung round my waist.
I looked back to see Dan and Slade already with me. They understood that we would have to climb out. The guards had already noticed what had happened now, however they saw that there was no way for them to get in and resorted to just watching, we seemed to have become part of the demonstration as well now.  I could hear something happening beyond the gate. Those animals I saw earlier today must be these so called “strategic dogs”.
No time to think. We could run along the wall till it was safe to climb down. I reached up and with all the strength I had built up as a Drifter I hauled myself upward, skirt flapping about me. How practical, thanks Slade.
I huffed and wheezed with every upward pull, I really should quit smoking. Eventually after what seemed forever I reached the top and pulled myself up with the girl still tightly clinging to my back. They had begun to try open the door already so that they dogs could try get us but as they tried to cling to the gate snapping away, they slid down just as fast. Slade and Dan were quick to pull remaining few kids up and we ran along the top of the wall, I looked over the opposite side of the wall and surely enough I saw the furious beasts in all their glory chasing after us. The girl on my back began to cry, I had no time to reassure her, only to run and escape to somewhere safe.
“Slade! Dan!” I called, “Do any of you have weapons or know anywhere safe?”
I then recalled the knife in my boot and stopped for a second to pull it out and placed it between my teeth.
“All I have is two knives. Here Dan!” he chucked it to him and we continued to run.
“Any Ideas, Yuri?” Dan yelled.
“Plenty!” I called back through gritted teeth. “We need to find a safe building and from there we’ll distract the beasts while you get to Blo’s safehouse! You need to tell them what’s going on and get them out of there!”
“The old Library!” Dan shouted.
Dan’s Idea immediately clicked into my head as soon as he mentioned it. It was close and we could make it.
“Great! Lets do it!”
I stopped and looked down, we seemed to have lost the dogs temporarily, though somehow I doubt we had lost them either.
“Let’s get down here, the library is just down this road.”
I swung myself down the side of the wall and used areas where bricks had broken off as footholds to climb down. It was unlikely these were accidental.
I waited as patiently as I could while Dan and Slade followed but I was anxious to move out of the street, they could be smarter than they appeared...
I dropped the girl to her feet and gestured for her to stay behind me as we began to move cautiously down the road.
“Slade, take up the rear.” I whispered.
I knew there was bound to be one of these things somewhere near by. I could smell it in the air as well as feel their presence nearby. I looked down at my pocket and remembered the little puppy that lay there. He currently was looking out at his surroundings. For a second I gave him a quick pet before moving on carefully surveying the area ahead of us for any danger.
Every step I took I knew I was getting closer to something I really didn’t want to confront. However I knew it was unavoidable so I willingly stepped closer to what could be hopefully mine and nobody else’s doom.
The Library was only a few paces away now it would serve as a good hideout for the moment. I ran quickly to the door and surveyed it carefully. We would be alright for the moment but I could tell at least a few of those things were around.
Dan ushered the kids inside and just as I saw the last of the kids in I heard a low grumbling from my right and looked across to see what I feared...
This one was the most ugliest one I had seen yet but im sure there was worse to come if I even lived to see them all.