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there?”
    “Yeah, I got him to drink and he’s ready to come out. Can you stay here to grab him when I pass him forward? I’m going to have to jack knife into the back to get him out and then I’ll pass him forward. It’s really tight but I can get back there. Tell those guys not to do anymore car pushing. It might make things worse. Ok?”
    “No problem. Are you sure your bendy enough?” he asked with a smile.
    With a laugh Alex said, “Watch and learn pal!” and she turned and slid over the top into the back seat and popped back up in the back. Feeling very pleased with herself, it turned into a red blush of embarrassment when she heard a, “Nice view!” muttered from the front of the car. Quickly turning to the trapped boy she plastered a smile on her face and started working on his buckles. She kept up a steady stream of meaningless words about being at Disneyland and from Canada to keep the boy distracted. Finally she sat back frustrated. The buckles were jammed and she couldn’t get them unhooked. Feeling something jamming into her hip she remembered Josh’s multi tool and got to work with the knife.
    “Sweetie, the buckle won’t open so I have to cut your straps to get you out okay?” seeing the panic on his face she quickly reassured him with, “It’s okay, I’m an expert at this stuff and we have a brand new seat for you. Okay?”
    With another unsure look at her and a big fat tear rolling down his face the boy nodded.
    “Poor kid.” Alex thought, “I wish this hadn’t happened to you.”
    After getting him to raise his arms up, Alex started to saw away at the straps. It didn’t take long for her wrist to start getting sore and in her mind she was cursing Josh for not having sharpened his knife. After what seemed an eternity the belt finally parted and Alex could start on the next one. After the second belt came apart Alex had to stop and rest her wrist and she realized just how hot and thirsty she was.
    “Hey Quinn, any chance of getting a bottle of water in here, I’m roasting.” she called. Quinn had been watching her progress through the window and quickly ducked out and was back in seconds. He handed her the bottle and she drank it down greedily.
    Quinn was half way through the car window trying to get a look at the baby seat. “Now that you have cut the straps on this side, could you just sort of slide him out?” he asked.
    “I don’t think so. I would need to cut one more strap and then I could get him out.” she guessed.
    “Well do your best. We really need to get out of here soon. These guys have been giving us some tips and routes to take and it’s going to take us a few hours on bikes to get clear of the main suburbs.” he prompted.
    Alex turned back to sawing at the strap and before long she had the little guy free. His little pants were soaked right through with pee but it didn’t bother Alex at all once he had his arms around her neck.  It took some convincing to get him to go to Quinn but once he went it was quick work for her to be back on pavement.
    Alex grabbed the baby bag and rifled through it looking for a new diaper and pants and was happy to find them. Dara came over and took both. She settled the baby on the sidewalk on top of the blanket and expertly changed him. The little boy seemed to be entranced by the blue streaks in Dara’s hair, and he kept reaching up to softly pat at them.
    Alex slumped against one of the wrecked cars and wondered what they would do with the little guy now. She could hear someone yelling down the road and once again was eager to leave this city. Quinn came up to her and said, “We have to get moving it’s getting close to noon and we’ve got a long way to go.”
    Feeling so helpless Alex nodded and said, “What do we do with him?” just as Dara was bringing him over. The boy was reaching his little arms out to Alex with a smile when the yelling from down the road got closer. His small face seemed to freeze and he twisted in