1:00 A.M.
Abbey and Xyrelle Martinez's residence.
July 21st, the year 2018. Saturday.
Katrina Fajardo's 23rd birthday.
6 hours and 32 minutes since Katrina Fajardo went missing.
She stood up again as she heard Zoey saying something from the line. Abbey opened the gate towards the outside of her house and climbed in her car. She replied she'll go back immediately after she checked on something in their house.
Xyrelle heard the opening and closing of their front door as he switched on the lights over the kitchen. He walked up a few inches from the door and he fell right through the table.
Xyrelle grunted, propping himself up towards a sitting position over a wooden chair. He rolled up his pants, touching a part over his leg. Xyrelle screeched in pain, hissing over the blood that was oozing out from the wound.
"That damn wench," Xyrelle reprimanded. He saw a lot of blood in his left hand.
He grunted and hissed over his mouth as he felt the unbearable pain surging through his left leg. It was hours after he attained that injury, and he didn't know how he could stop the bleeding. His sister might see it anytime, so Xyrelle did what he had to do. He retrieved a cloth placed on the chair. He put some pressure on his wound.
He peeped over the door towards the living room. He saw Abbey outside of the house, talking over the phone.
Xyrelle wrapped it around his wound as he widened his eyes when he heard the front door open. He tied up a notch behind his leg, standing up from the floor. Abbey peeked over the entrance of the kitchen. Xyrelle faced her while smiling. Abbey huffed some air at her mouth.
"Xyrelle, I need to go back to the station. There is an update on the team that was searching for Katrina. Marcus needs some help from us. Are you okay if I leave you here until sunrise?" Abbey asked her brother, worriedly glancing at his heels.
Fortunately, Abbey didn't realize that the ivory cloth was wrapped on his leg. Xyrelle's pants soaked with blood in a minute. What was alarming was when Abbey sniffed through the air. Xyrelle licked his bottom lip as he held over the wooden chair at the dining table. Abbey tried to find the source of the smell that made her nose crinkled.
Abbey smelled something metallic. She didn't know where it was coming from. She darted her eyes everywhere as Xyrelle closed his eyes for a second. He felt the pain creeping over his leg that made his thighs numb as he steadied his weight on the chair. He leaned over the table as Abbey looked straight towards him.
"Do you smell that? It was like the metallic scent, something like a smell of blood?" Abbey asked, staring at the floor. She was still finding the source of the smell, but her cell phone rang again.
She glanced over it, widening her eyes. Xyrelle felt the blood spurting over his leg. He inhaled an enormous amount of air over his chest and glimpsed over the part of the floor that he was standing. Xyrelle saw drips of blood that trickled down from his wound. He swallowed as Abbey glanced at his face.
"I need to go back to the station. You need to take care of that heel and arm injury you got again. Or else... Mom and Dad will be furious at you for abusing your body," Abbey scolded. Xyrelle chuckled, but his smile turned into a grimace. Abbey glimpsed over his face, asking if he was okay.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, go. You need to find her, don't worry too much about me. I can take care of myself," Xyrelle uttered. He felt that his left foot was now getting weaker and weaker.
Abbey smiled at him, patting his shoulder, and reminding him to lock the door when he's going to sleep. Xyrelle nodded as Abbey ran over to the living room and turned to the corner. Xyrelle heard the front door opening and swinging closed.
He hurriedly dropped to the floor. He panted, rolling his pants, and leaning his head back over the chair.
A loud sound escaped from his mouth as Abbey fastened her seatbelt at her car and zoomed out of their house. He unwrapped the cloth and bit his bottom lip as blood spurted out of his wound. He shut his eyes tightly.
...
Abbey swiveled over the corner of the village in the dead of night. The owl hooted in their trees and the crickets were chirping down the roads. Abbey glanced over at the clock on the dashboard of her car. It's already ten minutes past one o'clock in the morning.
She remembered how Marcus investigated Margo's case and Katrina's abduction an hour ago.
She stepped on the gas pedal, recalling the events. Xyrelle had gone to the hospital for that injury again on his leg. Abbey creased her forehead as the blood at the gauze on his heel bone had been evident. Marcus's words came back in no time in her thoughts as she halted over the corner of the highway.
"They shot the person in the leg, but I was not sure if it's left or right," Abbey whispered. She swallowed as she remembered the scene earlier when her brother stood up from the sofa. It soaked his pants on the left part of his leg and she didn't even dare to check why it was.
She inhaled as she looked straight over the front window of her car. She heard the honks of the car passing through the highway and she sighed as she creased her forehead.
The image of stained blood over their gate earlier when she was answering Zoey's call came back at her. It was fresh, dried up over her feet minutes after she found it. She completely ignored it earlier, as she was so worried about Katrina. The metallic scent that she smelled in the kitchen, too...
"Don't tell me...," Abbey croaked. The blobs of tears brimmed in her eyelids. She realized everything about his brother.
She slammed the steering wheel, leaning back over her seat. Her cell phone rang, as she didn't even bother to answer the call. The tears fell down her cheeks as she glimpsed at the lights that were dancing over her blurry vision. The vehicles passed through her car as she closed her eyes tightly.
...
Zoey heard several rings from her phone, getting puzzled why Abbey was not answering. Marcus, Carmela, Matthew, and Mina were all huddled outside of the station.
Marcus placed Xian in the holding cell first after his interrogation. He went outside of the station to check on his best friends. His team left the station earlier to check the clues that the officers found at the scene.
He'll be there in a couple of minutes... he needs to check on something first. He sat down on the bench; the exhaustion succumbing to his strength.
Matthew sat down beside him as Carmela asked Zoey why Abbey was not answering. Mina glanced at the highway as he composed a text message on Abbey.
"Another sleepless night for us. I need to find Katrina as soon as possible. Especially now, I need to consider my parent's company. It might be bankrupt," Marcus drawled, holding his forehead.
A lot on his plate now. He didn't even know how he could solve these problems. Besides, protecting his best friends and family should be his number one priority. He propped his elbows on his knees as Matthew glanced at him.
"We are here to help you, bro. No matter what, we need to stick together so that we can solve this," Matthew specified. But then Marcus shook his head.
He glanced at Matthew, expressing, "We do not need to stick together. Do you know what we need, Matthew? We need to fight. If we train ourselves to fight back against that person wearing the black hoodie, we can catch him."