While being stuck in the trunk of the car along with fresh fish stored in boxes. The smell inside the car wasn't too strong but he might feel nauseous for a while after continues exposure to the scent.
Regardless, his escape was successful and lady luck was on his side as of the moment. H e just had to bear with the smell for a bit while. It wouldn't be too bad, he hoped.
For some reason, he felt sleepy. The feeling of sleeping inside something mobile was strange for him though he couldn't deny that it would be better than having to be conscious about the surrounding smell of metal a car always had. And so he slept while waiting for the car to arrive at where its owner wanted to head into.
A while later, his heavy eyes managed to open themselves. As he regained consciousness, all of his nervous system across his body slowly did the same. The untreated wound made it effortless. He almost forgot about the staff wound on his torso. He needed to treat it somehow. Another thing was that he didn't know what to do with the seed given to him by the creepy prisoner. He still held on to it despite not having any opportunity to know why.
He got out of the vehicle, thankfully the owner of this car didn't suddenly lock the trunk. As he crawled outside, he was greated by fresh air and the familiar sight of nighttime. A friend of darkness would be a friend of his, Bryce believed. He looked around to find out that he was in a parking lot next to a bar. The quietness of the atmosphere made him felt at peace, temporarily forgetting about his painful month in prison. The nurse there was an interesting person but he already had a woman he'd love to be close with.
He got on his feet again, returning the calm wind with an equally chilling embrace. However, he could not afford to idle. There was a certain someone he had in mind that needed to be dealt with before finally reuniting with Miss Lily.
He noticed an unnatural silence in the bar, even a bar wasn't some place lousy like night clubs. Of course he learned that from his criminal days, in no way could someone with a background like his could know that if it wasn't for his experiences. He immediately remembered diligently distributing drugs without being caught. The books he read helped him quite a bunch.
'To think I headed towards that part at an early age. It was all for her sake though, two years of it. Yet the damned Eric had to double cross me. That loathsome bastard hoarded my loot, most of it anyway. I've done what I could to have Miss Lily treated. Now I shall take back the rest.'
He knew it was Eric's fault that he lost so many quality times with his caretaker, although she was in a coma so it would be one-sided.
Yet, he felt compelled to give a check inside the eerily quiet bar. His concern was suddenly justified as he hearda faint animalistic growling. He sneaked carefully towards the door and looked inside. To his expectation, he saw no one sitting in the chair. There was no bartender either. He crawled inside through the windows, not wanting to end up notifying the potential danger lurking inside with the bell attached to the front door.
He saw a fresh cup of wine, which would mean someone was casually enjoying their drink but mysteriously disappeared. Upon close inspection on the table where the bartender, he found a terribly weird sight. The bartender himself lying on the ground, motionless. There were no noticeable wounds on his body. It was as if he died due to heart attack. The only one thing that make it unnatural was that his face seemed to express sheer terror. His dead fish eyes seemed... souless.
His body remained intact but the absence of his consciousness would be clear upon a close look. It turned out there were a few bodies lying down in the same state not to far from the table. Even though the sight implied the involvement of paranormal concepts such as ghosts, such possbility was disregarded instantly in his mind. All he could come up with was people suffering a neurotic disease. Wanting to verify his claim, he entered the area supposedly reserve for only staff members working in the bar.
Upon entering the simpy made room, he admired the exquisite layout of the furniture. But what caught his eyes was a figure sitting on the ground. Unknowingly, they had dark pale skin, specifically gray. Their haid suffered by the same filter of grayness as well. Without such noticeable strangeness, his instict would tell him to avoid them as well.
Suddenly, as if lady luck decided to double cross him as well, he ended up stepping on a broken glass. That sound notified the humanlike creature, it turned its head backward in 180 degree. It hat hollow eyes with white pupils, the facial features resembling a brunette or what she used to be before turning into something creepy.
Bryce immediately ran and the creature chased after him on all four. Dashing out of the bar, he saw the two policemen casually entered the car. He immediately jumped inside and told them to get moving.
"Hey, who are you-"
"GET GOING!"
The policemen noticed something creepy approaching aggressively and drove the car without looking back. How unfortunate they were, something so bizarre happening after the end of their shift wouldn't be any pleasant.
As for Bryce, he considered them lucky for somehow going away from the crime scene when the culprit enacted its assault. Good thing the grayish creature didn't possess the sufficient speed to chase after a car. Yet, no one would know if they would encounter something like that sooner or latter.
After making sure that they'd gotten away, the two policemen took a moment to breath calmly and stabilize their mind. Then they turned into the young lad sitting at the back seat. Looking closely, they noticed that he was the one that fit the description of a wanted kid.
"How did you even-"
"Not your concern." Bryce responded nonchalantly. "But I won't run away this time, not alone at least."
"Alright, we'll have you in our custory for the time being. Now then, could you explain about what just happened earlier?" Asked a lanky policeman.
"I don't know either. Who would even expect to encounter that?"
"You see... um... what was your name?"
"Bryce, that's it."
"Well hello Bryce, I am Philip." Said the short guy with bushy hair, fixing the hat on his head as he smiled.
"I go by Henry." Responded a tall and muscular guy, eyes focused on the road as he drives.
After quick introduction, Philip suggested that they should rest at his house. To which Henry and Bryce agreed. Although Bryce wanted to visit the meeting location planned with Eric, he decided to go along with them and would escape when they lowered their guard. Upon arrived at a regular house among many others in a neighborhood, they got off the car and made way into the living room.
The place looked comfy enough. A couch neatly placed closer to the wall and between two small tables along with the neatly made carpet laid on the floor gave the room a touch of ease. Henry confortably take a seat as if he was a regular, Philip went into the kitchen ls and took some drinks. Bryce did not accept his offer but he did not meant to force him. The two guys sat on the couch while Bryce sat on the nearby sofa, no one said anything to each other as everyone was lost in thoughts.
Wanting to dissolve the lingering silence, Philip said something.
"You know, this feels like a hang out between bros after one of them broke it off with his toxic girlfriend."
"Do you happened to know some witty criminal?" Bryce asked sacarstically.
"If we had that kind of friend, 'we would all be in jail." Henry responded casually.
"Still, I couldn't help but feel like that monstrosity we saw earlier reminded me of my date, former date to be exact."
"Philip, I though you're over it already."
"I'm not going crazy from it. Just that... I still wished it had ended better. She was very fun to talk to online you know." Lowering his face, Philip rested his chin on his hand.
"Buddy, you should really move on from her."
"I guess I shou-"
Suddenly, a noise drew their attention which came from somewhere not too far away from the house. Then a loud scream could be heard. Henry stood up and looked outside the window only to see something terrifiying from far away.
"Hey uh... I think whatever has been chasing us finally catch up with our trace."
"That freaky creature again?" Bryce asked.
"I'm afraid it's not simply that."
"Great..." he facepalmed. "A horde of them is coming."
"Shit!" Philip cursed.
"Is there any weapon available for emergency here?"
"Afraid not, I never intended to be a hunter." Philip shrugged, visibly showing nonchalance while answering.
"In that case, we're fucked."
"Not if we do something." Henry said confidently.
Bryce went upstairs to find anything methodically usable for the upcoming terror. Philip and Henry though that he was trying to hide but didn't care. They thought that adults should be able to deal with this, such mentally was thank to their occupation as the local police. Despite not having any artilery in his house, Philip still managed to grab some tools from te garage. Not to mention, their gun were hidden in the car after work. Determined, they readied themselves to face the creatures regardless if those monsters decided to come for them or not.
Meanwhile, Bryce was walking around the second floor noting every detail he saw worth his memory storage. He took a closer inspectation at the bed, envying the owner of the house for being able to sleep on something more comfy than him and his caretaker ever did. But he did not have time for reminising. The hollow-eyed creatures were approaching very soon and he had to come up something, or else all of them would die before he had any chance to deal with his ex-supervisor.