Life After OZ Ch. 5
By Dan

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(The Haggar Estate. Editor's note: This was while Guy and Cody were running from the law)

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"Did you hear that? Cody's been spotted with Guy!", Dean said in disbelief.

"What?", Lucia said in equal disbelief. Jessica, Haggar, Rena and Maki all dropped what they were doing, and made their way to the televison to get a glimpse of what Dean was so excited about. A reporter came on with the latest information.

"I'm Miranda Veracruz-DeLaHoya-Cardinal reporting from the shady docks of Metro City were it was reported the escaped convict Cody was seen here being aided by another former hero of Metro City, Guy! We have a bartender here, who says that Cody got into a scuffle with other patrons of the bar, and fled with Guy when he called the cops. Your name sir?"

"Hugh Jass, Ms. Cardinal", the bartender said taking the mike away from her. "I was gettin' ready to close up shop, right? So I sees Cody come into the bar. I wasn't gonna give him no trouble, so I went about my business. Then, next thing I sees is Rolento and Sodom come in! My guess is they wanted the reward for capturing Cody."

"Did you hear that?", Maki sid to the others. Dean shhh-ed her, and pointed to the television.

"Then, all of a sudden, a fight breaks out like a hockey game between Cody and Sodom! THEN, I see Guy make his way into the bar. That's when I called the cops. But it was too late. My bar... it's trashed.", the bartender said in tears. The screen swiveled over to his bar, which had all the windows broken out and firefighters putting out the blaze that Rolento's grenades caused.

"Tsk, tsk. All this because of one escaped prisoner.", Miranda said shaking her head. "Well, if you do see the convict Cody, he is described with medium-short blonde hair, wearing prison stripes of white and blue. He is around six feet. We advise all community members of Metro City not to aide this criminal. He is considered dangerous. Warden Ferguson of Ozwald Detention Center along with the Metro City Police Force are offering 50 k each for the arrest of this escaped felon. This is Miranda Veracruz-DeLaHoya-Cardinal reporting from the docks, back to you John."

Dean turned off the tube. "Hey!", Maki said. "Turn it back on!"

"For what? All they're gonna' say is more crap about how Cody is a criminal.", Lucia said flatly. Before everybody started losing their grip, Rena spoke up.

"Guys, it's about, like midnight. I gotta' get back home. Maki, you coming with?" Maki yawned and nodded. Saying their various good-byes, Maki and Rena left. Dean snorted in a rude manner.

"Y'know, those two don't really care about Cody and Guy. Especially Rena. She's so snotty, she sweats boogers.", Dean said. Jessica stopped herself from smacking Dean, but Lucia couldn't. An audible slap silenced all. Then Lucia spoke to the stunned Dean.

"How dare you, Dean! Those two are our friends! You can't just take your anger out on them! I mean, Cody's our friend, sure. But even I'm beginning to have my doubts about trying to help him."

"What?", Dean said, not quite understanding what Lucia was getting at.

"I mean, Cody's in too deep. Risking our lives to help him would be foolhardy. He's got the law after him, and that crazy warden." Dean was shocked. Lucia too?

"I'm hoping everybody here doesn't feel like this.", Dean said looking at Haggar and Jessica. Nobody said yes, but no one said no either...

"So it's like that, eh? After we convince Guy to help us help Cody, all of you three are going to punk out? Well, fine!"

"Look, Dean", Haggar said stepping up, "It's not that we don't want to help Cody now, it's just that we've gotta' do it legally, and-"

"Bulls***!", Dean said. "When we was "Special Forces" cleaning up Metro City, we worked outside legal limits. We did that d*mn near five times! Mad Gear, Skull Cross. We practically wiped out ALL those motherf-ers once again, outside legal limits. You guys don't have the heart anymore. All of us were gung-ho when this thing started. Now all you guys wanna' quit? Bah! If you ain't gonna' be the one to bail him out, I will!"

Dean threw on his jacket and made for the door. Lucia quickly got in his way.

"Don't do this Dean, It's stupid! You're not helping Cody by doing it this way!", Lucia pleaded. Dean shrugged her off.

"I'm doing the only way, my way. Step aside, Lucy.", Dean said. Lucia wouldn't budge.

"If you go, that's it between us, Dean. I mean it. You don't know how stupid what you're doing seems yet.", Lucia said. Jessica and her father looked at each other. They NEVER knew Dean and Lucia were an item. They intently watched as Dean was thinking hard about the situation.

"*Either I leave and find my best friend, or I stay with Lucia. Heh, what choice do I have?*"

"See ya.", Dean said rushing past Lucia into the night. Lucia was stunned. Her eyes went wide as she fought back tears. But she couldn't.

"You f---ing idiot!", Lucia screamed at him from the front door into the night. Jessica quickly brought the crying Lucia back inside. Haggar could only shake his head in disappointment over Dean's foolish reasoning.

*****

(Cody)

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"*D*mn, I've been running for hours now. But for what?*", Cody thought while huffing and puffing. He was still thinking when sirens blared, suddenly making him remember. Cody quickly turned off the traintracks, and into a clearing. He saw a small wooded area, and seeing that it was far from daybreak, figured it'd be a perfect place to hide. He didn't hesitate another second. He burst through the woodlands, desperately seeking a good hiding spot. He heard behind him faint sounds of several police cars stopping, doors opening, and heavy footsteps into the thick woods. Cody was running like his life depended on it (and it did, too). He frantically looked left to right for any type of hiding spot, a sewer grating, a high tree branch, something! But nothing but woods.

Cody was still running but was slowly wearing down. And the woods were giving way to another clearing... As he slowed to a quick stop, he looked up.

"Houses?", Cody said in astonishment. Sure enough, right across a street were row after row of houses in his sight. He quickly caught his second wind, and propelled his aching, tired body towards the houses. As he quickly dove towards the back of the houses, Cody noticed another thing.

"This is Jessica's neighborhood."

Cody searched for a shed he could possibly hide in. Still no luck. He was beginning to get frustrated.

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(The Haggar Estate)

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"Did you hear something rustling out back?", Jessica said to her father.

"Not really. just the wind."

"Oh, okay."

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(Cody)

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Cody shivered as the wind blew. "*Forget this. I'm gonna get in one of these basements.*", Cody mumbled. He heard footsteps, still, and they were getting closer... Cody looked up at the house right in front of him. Jiggling the back door's handle, Cody cursed when it wouldn't open.

*****

(The Haggar Estate)

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"I think I heard what you were hearing, Jessica. Some rattling sound.", Lucia said. Jessica, looking worried, shot a quick glance in her father's direction.

"Okay, okay. I'll check.", Haggar said with a mock frown.

*****

(Cody)

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Cody was trying the pick the lock on the door, and with a creak it finally swung open!

"Bingo!", Cody said quietly. He heard footsteps from inside! "*Someone's coming!*", Cody realized. He saw a tree about a foot away, and like lightning, he shimmied up the tree, looking down at the door he managed to open. A man opened the door, looking around.

"Left this door open, hm? Odd...", the man said. With a click of the auto-lock, Cody's chances of getting in were dashed. With a disappointed sigh, he looked up to the second floor of the house.

"Yes!", Cody said with enthusiam in his voice. A window has open, just enough for him to slip in! Cody carefully stalked across the tree branch. Lucky for him, it was big enough to support his weight. When he was just about a couple of feet away from the roof, he heard voices below.

"It doesn't look like he's here, men. C'mon, we'll retrace our steps from the woods.", a man said. Grumbling, the others followed suit. Cody sighed and made sure he would remind himself to go to church more often. As he slowly lowered himself to hang from the tree branch, he looked down.

"BIG mistake.", Cody whispered to himself. He had to be about ten feet up. "*How do I get myself into these things?*", Cody thought miserably. He started moving his body to swing back and forth. "If this doesn't work, I'm gonna' have a splitting headache...*", Cody thought.

After he figured he was moving back and forth at a good rate, Cody let go of the branch, and landed on one knee on top of the roof with a THUMP.

"Ouch...d*mn, that stung anyway.", Cody mumbled, rubbing his now-sore knee. He got to the window, and after a breif search to see if anyone was around, he sighed a sigh of relief when he was certain nobody was there. Climbing in, he automatically knew he was in a girl's room.

"*No NSync pics though. Whew.*", Cody thought wiping his forehead for emphasis. He saw the bed, and suddenly sleepiness overcame him. He looked to see if there was room under the bed.

"*Ah, well. Beats a prison cell.*", Cody thought while getting underneath the bed. As he just noticed what he previously thought rhymed, he slipped into a dreamless slumber.

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(Downstairs)

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"Thanks alot, Jessica. I'm gonna' take my leave now.", Lucia said giving her friend a hug.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure all Dean did was storm off right to the house.", Jessica said. Lucia smiled.

"Heh, always the optimist." After Lucia said her farewells to Haggar, she departed as well. Jessic turned to her father.

"So, what do you think were all those noises out back? Oh my-maybe it was Cody trying to get in!", Jessica said with a gasp. Haggar shook his head.

"I don't think that's really possible. He would've needed a miracle to get from the docks all the way to this neighborhood."

Jessica thought for a minute. "Yeah, you're... probably right." Kissing her father on the cheek, she added: "I'm crashing for the night. Don't stay up late, daddy." Haggar smiled.

"I'll be up soon anyways. Goodnight sweetheart."

Jessica made her way to her bedroom up the stairs. As she opened her door, she noticed her window was opened significantly higher than she left it. And there was dirty sneaker prints by the window...

"Who was in-" Too late. Jessica was grabbed from behind as one rough, dirty hand wrapped around her mouth to stifle her screams of terror. The figure whirled her around so she could see who it was. As Jessica saw the blonde hair, blue eyes, and the mischevious smirk, she stopped screaming, and did all she could do next...

...faint.