Ashley woke up to find Leo next to her. She have a perfect routine that she don't need an alarm to wake her up. 'There is a clock on your head, just like your mother', that was her father's words. She wakes up and goes to the bathroom to brush. Last night had quite a lot of shower. And the clouds are still drizzling the morning rain. They seem to be lingering over the town. 'Leo does like to cuddle', Ashley noticed as he started cuddling the only pillow after she woke up. 'Okay, this is my first time sleeping with someone other than mom or dad. Why is he still here? Not that I mind but....'
"It's kind of creepy when you stare like that." Leo said before yawning and getting up.
"You are awake? How was your sleep?" Ashley asks while looking at herself in the mirror.
"Why didn't I leave yesterday?"
"Maybe because you fell asleep here?" she said raising an eyebrow.
"It's still early for me. Let me rest my eyes for a little bit." He lies down and hugs Ashley's pillow.
Ashley chuckles softly and leaves to bath. Just like most people, she starts humming while the shower cleanses her snow white body.
Leo couldn't sleep as something keeps bothering his mind and mostly because he is still trying to process his feelings towards Ashley. So he goes downstairs to find no one there. The daily was outside the door which he picks up and reads. The headlines were what they normally have in every metropolitan city:
"Brutal Murder in LA"
But there was something that caught his attention. A protest was spawned in the neighborhood last night as the military have returned and are clearly in bad shape. Something happened in the Mexico-USA border and lives were lost. The media is trying to force some news out of the rest of the force. The military is now guarding a few hospitals.
He turns on the news on TV to find similar problems happening all over the US. In some places there is only police, which gets much worse as they fired at a crowd just outside the hospital because they thought that they were hostile.
'What happened to Democracy?' Leo thought sarcastically before returning back to Ashley's bed.
Leo was back before Ashley got out of the shower and looked at him coyly. He was confused but returned the smile.
"We should go together to school today. We have plenty of time for you to wait like this in my bedroom while I have a bath like you."
"Will do. What are they doing downstairs?" Ashley asked while taking out her black jacket that she longed to try but couldn't get a chance to.
"They are not there. I think they went to work early today."
"Great", she said putting on her crimson red Nike tank top behind the cover of her closet door.
"Ash, you do that there is a mirror behind you."
"I know." she said, peeping from behind the door and smiling mischievously, "But I know you won't look..." there was a pause as she looked at Leo from behind the door with an eyebrow raised up, holding back a mischievous grin "right?"
Leo couldn't help but blush. Leo forced himself to never take his eyes off the daily, and read the news with eyes wide open.
"Oops, clumsy me. I dropped my jacket." Ashley said loud enough for Leo to hear.
'I can't stay here anymore or she would just drive me crazy.' he thought as he left the room. Ashley chuckled softly. 'I have seen the wild side of her but this was a lot of tease coming from her today, I guess.'
While they were walking towards the school they could hear an ice cream van speeding past them and cops following him.
Leo raised his eyebrows towards Ashley.
"Drug dealer maybe...." She says shrugging.
"Maybe.", Leo replies as they walks to the school.
The police that was following our ice cream seller was not in a good mood. He had just been demoted and hence he gets reduced salary that is not enough to pay for the fees of his three children. 'That fucker couldn't understand my situation.' He thought as he sat there munching his burger he got from a drive through nearby. That was when he got the call from the principal claiming that his eldest son Jake has been caught with a few grams of heroin. They have suspended him. 'Why can't he just study like a nerd? He never thinks about the hard earned money I wastes on him. It's time he does some part time job.'
That was when the radio comes to life and Mike was ordered to follow an ice cream van.
As he speeds through the neighborhood behind the van with his sirens on, he heard they are barricading ahead so he slows down a little, takes a quick sip and looks forward to see that the van is out of sight.
"Control, the suspect is out of my sight, I repeat, the suspect is out of my sight."
"Control, the suspect hasn't reached the barricade yet." Crackled another voice on the radio.
Mike looked up and saw a straight road ahead. The only possible route of the van to escape was through the rough path going steep downwards. Mike was confused.
He was confused whether to follow the van to a might be trap or stay safe and radio the others. 'Neil should have been here, he always knows what to do.'
Mike never thinks twice. That was his partner's job but he is on sick leave so Mike, without knowing what lies ahead, steers off the road and to the rough path.
The off road ride didn't take long before he had to stop. He saw the van parked with the driver's door wide open. The road ends here and ahead is nothing but the thick of green lust that makes a forest. He was surrounded by the trees except the way he reached here. Mike turned on his radio, "Control, I have found the van. Looks like it's abandoned. Moving in for a closer look."
But there was only static crackle from the other end. 'Damn it. Something is tampering with the signals.'
He got out of his car with his pistol in his hand. He had served in the military for sixteen years and know what to do in these situation, He takes a look around and made sure this wasn't a trap started walking towards the van slowly. He made sure to make as less sound as possible. The smell of rotting corpse hung in the air. When he was close enough he crouched down to check underneath the van. 'No explosives, so definitely not a booby trap.' He walks towards the passenger's door and found the windows broken. It looks like something large was thrown through the window. Slowly, he opened the door and found the inside of the van to be a bloodbath. He likes to recreate what happened, but this looks strange and new. He thinks someone was inside other than the driver. But that raises a question, what came in through the window? Not wanting to destroy any evidence in this crime scene, he closes the door and walks to the driver's side from behind and found a trail of blood leading towards the bush.
'The driver's body might have been dragged to the bush to hide it. They thought they have lost the police.'
Mike raises his gun and walks slowly towards the bushes.
All of this, it doesn't add up, the window looks like it has been broken from outside as all those broken glass has been on the seat. And the blood inside the van has been spread all over the van in such a way that shows real passion for murder. But that raises another question of time? Because no human could kill a man like that with that short span of time.'
His train of thoughts where interrupted by a hustle in the bushes behind him. He turned quickly, levelling his gun and ready to shoot.
And out from the bushes came a cute little bunny. Mike lets out a sigh of relief and turns back to the bushes. When he was close enough he could see a pair of legs sticking out from behind a tree. The blood trail ends there. He quickly runs to that person to find him alive and severely wounded.
There are deep bite marks on his neck and arms. Chunks of flesh were torn off from his left hand and his neck. He won't survive for another minute. The look on his face was pure fear. Bubbles forms on the blood oozing from his neck as he tries to say something. "Tttth-dddo...dddooggg." Mike leans forward to catch what he was telling, and he saw him raise his right hand, which has only four fingers towards the bush.
That's when Mike notices paw prints. It was covered in blood. Mike returns his gaze to the dying man and just above his head stood the white little bunny, looking at mike. The drug dealer took his last breath as a bloody paw comes out from the bushes and the rabbit runs away. It was well build German shepherd. It looks like it has been killed almost a week ago and its eyes were all white. While this might have been a furry animal, it went bald on many parts of its body. It lets out a low growl as it starts moving towards Mike. He feels the stench of rotten corpse that he felt when he arrived here getting stronger. Mike takes out his gun and turns. But it was already too late.
While walking back from school after the class, Leo got a message from his mother to reach home as fast as he can as she is expecting a visitor and don't want him to be late. After parting with Ashley, Leo reached home to find himself all alone. His parents are always working and comes home late even when there are guests and hence it all fell to his shoulders to welcome his grandparents' home.
"Ash, I have to go. My grandparents are coming home and my parents... well you know what. So, message me later when you get home?"
Ashley smiled and nods. While walking home from school she noticed a large number of police activity, many policer cars speeding by and choppers flying above her.
"Escaped convicts maybe?" She thought out loud.
Jack was lying on the hospital bed trying so hard to sleep when he felt like coughing. He quickly sat up and called the nurse but he started coughing blood. The nurse reaches his room to find the patient covered in blood.
"You are suffering from acute bronchitis. It's very common and can be self-treated. Dr Holmes said that you will be discharged today." nurse said while looking at him. "Soon your grandparents will take care of you and your mess."
She helped Jack into a fresh pair of gowns and changed the sheets. She then left after giving Jack a painkiller.
He looked around and saw the setting sun from the only window in his room. His mind was blank with nothing but the beauty of the setting sun in his mind. He the saw his IV fluid tickling down as he drifted to sleep.
Just beside his room was Neil packing his bag. He is a muscular man in his late thirties and has a slim figure. He have quick hands with long fingers. He was discharged after getting admitted for one day for the removal of his appendix. Neil was pacing around when his wife calls asking if he will come home before dinner. Neil said yes and ended the call and speed dialed Mike but it ends with an annoying beep of Mike's answering machine and it says: "This is your buddy Mike. I might be either drunk or dead or... both. So, leave a message."
He takes his backpack and leaves for the reception. He was waiting there when he saw a bunch of soldiers relaxing in there. He had seen a lot of them during his time of stay at the hospital. Most of them are newbies and the only person he know was his nephew who has just joined the army. They were more alert at the night time, checking in every two hours on every patients. They said it is for their own safety and Neil was so tired that he didn't have the energy to ponder about it.
But now he sees something more than the safety of the patients. So, after paying the bills, he used his charm on the young receptionist. And to his surprise, it worked and he was able to know something.
"It's not clear why they are here, but people are starting to disappear and many blames the military. And weirdly enough, all of them that are reported missing were discharged early morning on that same day."
He flirted with her for a while before the old lady behind him started screaming. Neil exchanged number with Tiffany, the receptionist before leaving the hospital.
Leo hears his phone beep and quickly picks it up.
'They home yet?' was the message from his mother while at the same time there is a 'Hey!' from Ashley.
Leo noticed that the living room's sofa was a mess and he starts tidying it.
'Hey back @ u.'
They arrived yet?
'Nope.'
Leo took his sweet time responding because he didn't see nor hear the message. By the time he saw that, taxi had pulled up and four people comes out.
'You know I think you should have joined for karate too'
'Nah, I can handle shit just fine.'
'Yeah I saw you get bullied last week.'
'Got to go, they are here.'
Leo wanted to reply the doorbell rung.
Leo let out a sigh of frustration and quickly went down to open it. With a big smile, he opened the door to find his grandparents looking at him. Behind them were two kids. One of them was his little cousin Tommy.
"Leo, meet Alex." Madison said.