!” - M. Night Shyamalan, writer/director/master of “the twist”
Dean Williams looked worried as he read the last text message on his cell phone. Karen came from behind and wrapped her arms around his waist. She had to stand on her tippy-toes to whisper in Dean’s ears. “Whatcha reading?” she whispered softly.
“I’m trying to make sense of Kevin’s last text message,” Dean said. “I told him what was going on this side of the city and all he replied back with was ‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuckity fuck fuck!’”
“He didn’t really type that, did he?”
“Take a look for yourself.” Dean said as he showed Karen the message that Kevin last sent to Dean’s phone.
“Did it ever occur to you teenage girls to - oh I don’t know - call each other instead of texting each other?” Donnie said, disapproving of anyone over the age of twenty doing such a ridiculous thing as typing a message on a little telephone.
“Geez, Donnie, that’s brilliant!” Dean replied back sarcastically. “I intend to pay you for your idea in rape dollars!”
Donnie looked confused as he said “Wait? What? No! That’s wrong, man! Jesus, what is wrong with you?”
“Sorry. But yeah, I tried calling him and I can’t get a clear signal through. Either that, or something has happened to them.” Dean said.
“Maybe instead of standing around and wondering where everyone is, why don’t we go after them?” Ariel suggested.
“She’s right. Obviously since nothing is going on here we might as well cut our losses and track down Kevin’s group.” Penny said in agreement.
“Well, these ideas are all helpful, but Kevin never mentioned which part of the city he’s in and between dealing with the Whyte Avenue zombies, who knows what we could be facing out there.” Dean replied to all of the flowing ideas coming from the two ladies with guns. However, any and all plans for tracking down Kevin were to be put on hold as four black sedans drove down, barrowing down from one of the streets. The four cars surrounded Dean, Karen, Ariel, Penny, and Donnie. Out from one of the cars popped two men dressed in fancy black suits. “Which one of you is Donnie Bellum?” one of the men asked.
“Uhh, I am” Donnie said nervously.
The second black-suited man then said “You are to be immediately reunited with your wife and daughter at the Edmonton offices of the Alberta Research Council.”
Donnie let out a sigh of relief “Oh thank god! Well, see ya later!” Donnie said as he was about to get into the sedan with the men in black suits.
Penny surprisingly showed some objection to Donnie’s move “Wait a minute, this could be a trap. Who are you anyways? And how do you about…”
The first man in black interrupted Penny “We are representatives from Section 31. Mister Bellum, as either an employee or life partner of an employee of the Alberta Research Council, you are given limited immunity from our activities. You and your family are going to begin life anew at a yet to be determined location.”
The second man in black chimed in “The remainder of you are under arrest and are to be detained by Section 31 for questioning and any potential disciplinary actions up to and including incarceration.”
“On whose authority are you operating under?” Penny questioned.
The two men in black looked at each other and chuckled. “Ma’am, we are the authorities.”
“Bullshit!” exclaimed Ariel. “We’re not going with a bunch of power tripping fascists!”
The first man in black looked at Ariel. “We’re not asking, we’re ordering you all to come with us.”
Penny decided to into prisoner of war mode. “Fields, Penny Layne, Sergeant in the Canadian Armed Forces, my serial number is…”
The second man in black cut off Penny “Your military standing is not going to save you. In fact…” he was interrupted by Ariel turning fire on one of the parked cars. By this time, armed men emerged from the remaining cars and got behind the cars and opened fire.
“Get Bellum out of here, and terminate them all with extreme force!” ordered one of the men in black, who got grazed by a stray bullet in his shoulder. The other man quickly rushed a confused Donnie into one of the sedans, quickly shoved him into the luxury car, and then got in himself. That car sped off as the remaining men kept on firing while Ariel was forced to fall back. Penny, realizing she is practically a disgraced soldier in the eyes of whomever this “Section 31” was, decided to lend some support to Ariel and began to open fire on the foot soldiers of Section 31.
“We need to get indoors!” shouted Dean as he and Karen both hit the ground and did their best to avoid getting pinged with bullets.
“What good is that going to do?” Karen asked. “They’ve been basically ordered to kill us!”
“It’ll at least give us a fighting chance! And it’ll give us time to come up with a new plan!” Dean insisted.
“Right - Penny, Ariel, cover us as we make a run into there!” Karen demanded while pointing at one of the academic buildings. Penny gave a quick nod to acknowledge Karen’s orders, which she followed immediately. Ariel noticed the remaining members in her party falling back and retreating into a building, and thus she followed suit. While the armed members of Section 31 kept on firing, until one of them ordered the remaining troops to hold off on firing and wait for further instructions. However the next action would probably change the face of everything as one overeager man let one bullet go astray after the order to cease fire was given. It seemed like slow motion the next few seconds in the life of Dean Williams. Thinking the bullet was coming for Karen, Dean heroically threw himself in front of her.
“No!” Karen screamed in agony as Dean slumped down. Though not dead, the bullet did get Dean in his stomach – not deep enough to do major damage but enough to cause some bleeding.
“It’s okay... ugh!” Dean winced in pain as Karen got down and looked at the puncture wound. “Thought I was doing something heroic” he said laughing, trying to mask the pain.
“Thank god, thank god, thank god!” Karen said, mixed with tears and relief. “Penny! Get over here and help me carry him up the stairs!” she hysterically said to Penny, who quickly came over. Ariel stood by the door, keeping a watchful look upon any potential movement coming from Section 31. She stood by, watching Karen and Penny doing an emergency casualty move for Dean. Ariel quickly moved into a hiding position when she heard some faint chatter emanating from outside. As the door opened and showed one Section 31 troop coming in, Ariel tackled him down by his legs and pinned him down with her trusty shotgun.
“Who the fuck are you?” Ariel asked the trooper.
“Name’s Higgins, I work for Section 31!” the scared trooper said nervously.
“Fine, what the fuck is Section 31? Tell me now!”
“I can’t fully explain in detail here. All I can say is we’re in control now and there is nothing anyone can do to get us out of here.”
“Is that so?” Ariel laughed as she put her finger on the trigger. “How about I splatter your brains here right now?”
“Please, if you let me live, I can allow you all to escape and we’ll leave you alone!” the man only known as Higgins begged of Ariel.
“Oh no, it isn’t going to be that easy. The Research Council’s offices, where are they?” Ariel asked. “And do they have any connection to you assholes?”
“Yes! In fact Section 31 IS the Research Council…”
“All right, here’s the deal: you’re going to call off the rest of your dogs, you’re going to let those three up there go, and you’re taking me to Section 31 so I can get everyone else out of there. And if you think for one second of double-crossing me at any time, I’ll have no qualms shooting the ever loving shit out of you. Do I make myself clear?!” Ariel demanded as Higgins gulped in relief and shook his head nervously in agreement to Ariel’s terms.
Ariel got off on top of Higgins and pulled him up. “Okay”, she said with a smile on her face. “Now, do you have a cell phone on you?”
Penny and Karen dragged Dean into what appeared to be a smallish classroom. “Lie him down on the desk over there.” Karen instructed Penny who quickly followed the instructions. Karen looked at the wound while pulling out a first aid kit she had in a conveniently carried bag. She got out some alcohol swabs to wipe the blood away from the visible wound. “Well, the good news is we can get the bullet out and hopefully it’ll slow down the bleeding,” Karen told Dean while Penny secured the door in the event Section 31 decided to follow foot.”
“What’s the bad news?” asked Dean.
“I don’t know how much internal damage is done. It could be superficial, or it could be even deeper.”
Dean just nervously chuckled. “Is there a way for you know for sure.”
“Trust me. I let my sister practically die in my arms, and I have no desire for my boyfriend to do the same.”
“Good, because you still haven’t told me the remaining books you took with you.” Dean said laughing in order to try to take away the amount of pain he was in.
“Trust me, you’ll know right away. Right now, keep quiet and rest up.” Karen told Dean as she kissed him on the cheek. While doing so, Karen then heard Dean’s cell phone ringing. She answered the phone “Hello?” On the other line was Ariel.
“I’m going to make this short,” Ariel said. “I caught one of those Section 31 fucks! He’s guaranteed me your safety and is taking me to where they’re holding the Bellums. I also have a feeling they got Kevin and his team too.”
“Wait? How can you be sure?” Karen asked
“Because as much as they seem like they have balls, they’re a bunch of scared shits when dealing with a crazy bitch like me!” Ariel said.
“All right then, what will you be your next move be?”
“If we all somehow survive this all, we’re getting out of this city and back to our lives. Obviously the world isn’t over and we can try and live life as normal as we can! I gotta go now!” Ariel said and hung up from her end. Karen just looked and sighed.
Yeah, normal, Karen thought to herself as she got ready to try and save the life of Dean Williams, come hell or high water.
