Kidnappings (REBOOT) Pt. 8
Here we go, hopping back on this pony. Enjoy.
It was now midday. With many of the morning’s clouds gone, the sun sat nearly perfectly in the center of the sky, illuminating the grassy backyard with a yellow-green aura. Kris stared at it blankly; a concerned look decorated her face as she held her phone up to her ear. Her free hand mindlessly dragged a finger across the windowsill she sat before as she tried to pay attention to the words that were being spoken to her over the phone.
“Sorius, what’s going on?” Kris asked into the receiver. “What’s everyone upset about?”
“I’ll tell you everything when I get back. In the meantime, do NOT leave that house.”
“I didn’t plan to, but now I’m nervous! It’s so loud downstairs. I thought I heard someone crying…”
“Maybe it’s best that you stay in your room. Where’s your sister?”
Kris pressed her temple onto the window and sighed. She figured Ari was at his house, but with Sorius out and about and Mei in the downstairs area with Shaolin and the other tenants, there was a high chance that Ari was also among them.
“She’s probably kicking it with her best buddy, Mei.”
“Probably. Why’d you say it like that, though?”
“I dunno, Ari barely talks to me anymore since… I came back here.”
“…Listen, Kris. I—”
Trailing off, Sorius’ phone on the other side of the line emitted a small jingle. Kris interpreted it as a text message Sorius had received.
“I don’t have time for this, I’m blowing up. It’s probably Stieg. I imagine he’s ventured out again…”
“Sorius, hang on…”
“I have to go. I’m about to be tracked down, I bet. Just stay there where you’re safe, and make sure Ari is okay as well. Alright?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“I’m serious, Kris. If anything happens… I’m not sure what I’ll do…”
A small bird fluttered by and sat on the outside of the window’s ledge, stealing Kris’ attention away for a brief moment. It tweeted once and bounded across the ledge’s width, pecking at small bits of what it thought to be food. Kris eyed the winged animal for a moment before sighing again, taking to staring out at the manor’s expansive backyard after the bird flew off a second later.
“I’ll be careful, Sorius. We’ll be alright,” she spoke with zero gusto.
“Alright, I’m counting on you, and I’ll tell you everything when I get back there. I love you, Kris.”
“Yep. I know.”
Kris’ thumb pressed the end call button shortly after that. She had noticed the coldness in her tone long before she hung up with Sorius, but made no effort to warm up. Bitterness sat on her tongue and she hated the taste. To this day she hasn’t entirely forgiven Sorius for having her removed from his home, though quite some time has passed since that event. “Taking orders” from him out of the blue made her want to rebel, but the state of the giant house helped her see reason to comply. The mentioning of Stieg tracking down Sorius also anchored Kris to Sorius’ ultimatum. Something must really be going down if Stieg of all people is texting.
“I should just… talk to someone,” Kris mumbled to herself. “Find out what’s up, or something. Couldn’t hurt.”
Contrary to the thought, Kris immediately picked her phone up again and launched her messenger application. There was barely any online activity in her list of contacts, which caused her to pout. Of the online contacts were only Mei Ling, Sorius, and Shaolin, all of whom were set to ‘busy’ with the exception of Shaolin. In lieu of going downstairs into the potential chaos, Kris thought to fire a small message to Shaolin.
“Shao…” Kris spoke aloud as she typed with her fingers. “It’s Krissy… WTF… Is happening… Sounds like… Emergency… Surprise-face.”
After hitting the send button, not even a handful of seconds later, Kris received a notification from Shaolin. The swiftness of the response jolted her when her phone buzzed and rang; Kris had nearly hit her head on the window.
“Hi Krissy!!1 Got a situation here, its not good D: Will chat with you later OK? ;)”
“…Well, that definitely said a lot. Fine, if no one wants to say, then I don’t care.”
With a huff and puff, Kris tossed her phone across her room onto her bed, which unfortunately bounced more than she had anticipated. Reacting fruitlessly, she lunged forward and away from the window with just enough time to watch her phone bounce off of her bed and slip directly into the crevice between her mattress and the wall. Kris cringed once she heard the thump of her phone meeting the floor under her bed.
“Dang it… I’m gonna have so much fun trying to find that…!”
Kris begrudgingly started to make her way over to her bed, but stopped short at the sight of something in her peripheral vision. Thinking it was the bird at the window from before, but not entirely sure, she doubled back and gazed to the outside. There was no bird, but upon closer inspection of the grounds, Kris noticed what appeared to be a man. He appeared to be decked out in some sort of tactical gear and clothing, with colors that were far too warm for the current weather.
“What the…” Kris puzzled as she looked closer. “Who is that? I don’t think I’ve seen them before…”
Her question soon became moot, as the revelation of what the unknown person was carrying washed over Kris like a splash of water to her unsuspecting face. There appeared to be a weapon of sorts in the person’s possession strongly resembling a gun, and it was no run-of-the-mill pistol, either. She gasped at the sight of it and gasped yet again, causing her mild chest pain, when she realized that the assailant was not alone. Suddenly a gang of men stormed out of the bushes that lined the rear of the property. There had to have been six or seven of them, all armed with the very same weapon.
“Holy shit…!” Kris exclaimed. “What the hell is going on? Is that the S.W.A.T. team?!”
The group’s movements seemed extremely uniform and orderly as they trekked down the expansive backyard. Each remained as low to the ground as possible, only separating on the mark of the first armed man who led them. Soon they were scattered, all heading towards the manor in different directions and onto different points.
“This is lemons!” said Kris as she shoved herself away from the windowsill, turning to make a dash for her bedroom door. “I, I gotta tell someone, I gotta tell Shao—”
And in the next instant, the sound of fracturing glass was heard faintly, immediately and perhaps at the same time followed by Kris suddenly collapsing onto the floor below her. There was no grace in her fall; her body almost launched forward and crumpled onto the carpet. The window she previously stood before was now adorned with a small hole, surrounded by many hairline cracks on the surface, suggesting that something was fired through the window at a high velocity.
As she lay sprawled out on her floor, Kris’ eyes languidly held themselves open as blood trickled down from the side of her head and across her face. She winced in pain, clawed at the carpet with weak fingers, and attempted to lift her body. Only seconds later, though, she stopped responding altogether and drifted off rather grimly.
“H…hhhh… elp…”
~~~
“Hey! I heard that! What happened?!”
“Unit 2B for Dr. Borne, we have a confirmed discharge. Repeat, there has been a discharge.”
“Why? I told you, stay incognito and no excess blood—How many times do I have to say it?!”
“Doctor, it was a neutralizing shot if that’s any consolation. Only a rubber bullet. There are no casualties as of yet.”
“Keep it that way, and for shit’s sake, get IN there already!”
“Unit 2B has successfully infiltrated the interior, sir. We approximate that most of the congestion is in the living room and kitchen area, and we will be advancing to the second level to avoid contact.”
“Okay, good, good… Who did you neutralize?”
“Sir, we have no records on this purple-haired—”
“Was it a girl?”
“Um… That’s affirmative, sir.”
“Snatch her. If she’s down, it’ll be easier to move quickly and quietly with her. Take that one and ‘neutralize’ another one, or whatever. We need more subjects. This Rhea Experiment is turning out to be a gross failure.”
“That’s a copy, Dr. Borne.”
“You said purple hair, didn’t you? Why does that sound familiar…?”
“I… don’t know, sir. Unit 2B going on radio silence, over and out.”