Chapter 2

Casey opened the door of the taxi and peered outside, a few cars speed past their two orange headlights more visible than the actual car. He swept his Amber hair out of his face before stepping out and gently pulling Terisha out of the car. He cradled her in his arms as he approached the front door. Then tumbled his keys out of his pocket. Riley caught the keys and shoved them swiftly into the door lock, he then twisted the door handle with a click. He held it open for Casey. Casey carried Terisha to a spare bedroom and put her down on the bed. He watched Riley as he swiftly closed the blinds and curtains.


"If she was hidden, then there's a reason for it. We can't let anyone know we have her." Riley stated.


"What if she is hurt. We need to take her to hospital."


Riley simply shook his head and looked at Terisha. He had once again gained his confident composer. He stood straight, his shoulders back and his arms folded.


"Who's after her?"


Casey zoned out and tried to retrace the events in detail, focusing on every minuscule thing.


I stared at the barrel of the gun, body trembling. My eyes drifted towards a small logo located on the persons left breast. It had to be female, her chest larger then a males. Her nails were long, decorated with nail polish. The gun looked like a revolver, but the shells on the ground didn't match. She wasn't alone. There had to be a mole in the party. My breathing quickened and shallowed as I felt a hand wrap around my face, a cloth. Chloroform.


"The logo. What was the logo?" Casey demanded staring at Riley.


"Logo?"


"The girl in the cloak, there was a logo on it."


"I didn't notice one"


Casey sighed and went back to retracing the event. He ran his hands through his hair, trying frantically to remember a simple logo. He pulled roughly at the roots, stressed. Casey finally gave up and looked back a Terisha who was now muttering incoherent sentences.


"Leave.... Al.... please...." She heard them talking again, what are they talking about? Let me talk to them! Terisha woke up and stared at the dark ceiling. She then glanced over at Riley and Casey. She sat up in the bed, struggling to sit up alone, she leaned against the pillow. Casey embraced her and she tried to hug back. Silence fell between then all for a moment. The window rattled and made them all jump. Riley walked over and slowly pulled the curtain open, he parted the blind and peered out at the empty street. The orange sunrise streamed in through the curtains. Riley shut the blinds and curtains. Terisha felt herself drift out of consciousness. "Keep talking, please." She pleaded.


"Do you know who those people are?" Riley entered straight into interrogation mode.


"No... nor do I know what they want from me."


"There is another version of you. A fake." Casey said.


"Those people said they'd kill us, because 'we know too much.' Possibly because you knew 'Terisha' was fake." Riley added.


Casey nodded in an agreement. "They want us to think Terisha is dead. But why? Did you do something?"


Terisha shook her head. "Not that I know of." She sighed, Why me? She took a deep breath and finally let herself give into the sleepiness. She laid back down and went unconscious. Casey got up and brushed the hair out of her face before leaving the room to make breakfast.


Casey cracked some eggs on the edge of the pan and tipped the white and yellow insides into it. He grabbed a spatula and started to push the eggs around on the pan, listening to them sizzle. The aroma of eggs filled the kitchen, he put the spatula down and shuffled through his messy cupboards and yanked out his toaster. Casey pulled the toaster lead up not bothering trying to untangle it. He cleared space on his counter top and shoved the toaster onto it. Casey plugged the lead into the wall and turned it on. He grabbed some bread and put in into the slots of the toaster, setting the timer then jamming the button down. He went back to monitoring the eggs. The bread finally popped up, the springs making a loud click. Making Casey jump, he grabbed the toast, buttered it and put some eggs on it.


"Breakfast. Hope you like eggs on toast because I'm too lazy to make bacon."


Riley walked out and sat down. "That's fine. Just hope you aren't a bad cook, that's all." He grinned. Casey tried to stifle a smile. He brought the plates over and sat in the opposite chair to Riley. "Have you thought of anything else? You know about the whole cult trying to kill us."


"Cult?" The word hit Casey like a train. "What if it is actually a cult after us? I mean think about it, how else would you replicate someone. Also, it could explain why they needed Terisha." Riley nodded in agreement, too polite to talk with his mouth open. He swallowed.


"I think you're right, it'd be a reasonable explanation. But why kill all those people at the party?"


Casey shrugged. "No witnesses?" They both fell silent trying to think of a reasonable explanation. But fell short. The clinking of the knives and forks on the plates filled the silence until they both finished. Casey went to grabbed both of the plates, but Riley grabbed them before him and went over to the sink. He began to wash them up. Casey went back to Terisha.


Riley ran the dishes under hot soapy water and dazed out the kitchen window until a white flash caught his view. He directed his eyes towards it, squinting to try to get a better view. He stared in between the leaves. His back tingled like he was being watched. He leaned closer to the window, surveying for anything that could have possibly made that flash. A hand came down on the back of Riley's head jamming his head down into the sink. Holding him under the water. Riley struggled, he started kicking and flailing his arms and legs around to try at hit whatever it was. He drove his foot into the things shin. Standing up he doubled over to catch his breath. It stood back up and towered over him. He turned around. Met with a symbol. A triangle with a line through the center, with other lines branching off of it. He glanced up and was met with the face of a hooded old man. The man grabbed Riley's neck and slammed him back into the fridge.


"CASEY!" Riley cried. Struggling against the man, gasping for air. The man's grip tightened. Riley's lungs felt like they were on fire. He grabbed some keys off of the fridge and sent them straight into the man's hand. The man dropped Riley. Riley slide down the fridge and caught his breath before getting up and barely escaping the man's hand. Riley ran, skidded into the spare bedroom and pulled the door shut, locking it. He looked at Casey. He was unconscious leaning against the bed.


"Casey?!" Riley shook him gently then checked his pulse. "Atleast he's still alive." The door knob started to turn, clicking back into place as the lock prevented it from opening. The door thrashed back and forth as if the man was trying to force it open. Riley trembled, his heart pounding. He looked around for a weapon. He pulled the closet open and untwisted a metal coat hanger. He held it infront of him ready to strike. But the door stopped thrashing. Riley held his make-shift weapon close to him as he slowly and quietly made his way back over to the door. He unlocked it and pushed the door open. He peered out into the hallway before stepping foot out of the room. Did he leave? Riley tiptoed around, any small noise making him jump. He checked the whole house. There was nothing there. No sign of anyone at all. He let out a sigh of relief. An arm wrapped around Riley and put a knife to his neck.


"Did you think I was gone?" The man cackled. Riley's pupils constricted as he felt the metal blade press against his throat, he needed to swallow but was afraid the smallest movement would end in him slitting his own throat.


"Drop the weapon" The old man demanded. Riley dropped the coat hanger and finally mustarded the strength to talk.


"W~what do you want?" Riley's voice shook just as much as his body. But the man did not answer just simply slowly dragged Riley out of the house and push him to the ground. Someone in the apartment complex has to be home. Riley screamed as loud as he could in hopes to wake up the neighbors. The old man stabbed his knife into Riley's arm.


"GAH!" He tried to hide the pain he cradled his wounded arm. Looking at all the doors he hoped one would open and it did. A door next to Casey's opened. It was a dark grey door, with a square pattern on it. A young lady stepped out, she looked about Twenty. She looked overly elegant for a cheap apartment. She rubbed her eyes and stared at them in shock.


"HEY! ASSHOLES! Leave my neighbors alone!" She yelled. She walked back inside and came out with an ancient looking baseball bat. She swung at the old man, he dodged and took a swing at her.


"Be careful who you call asshole lady." The man keep swinging at her. But this girl was surprisingly nimble. She dodged his attacks with great speed finally wearing the guy out enough that she could hit him over the head. The guy fell to the ground.


"You okay? I don't think I've seen you before." She said as she stepped over the guys body and helped Riley up by his uninjured arm.


"Yeah... Just a scratch."


"Name's Bella, You're?"


"Riley."


"Well Riley, nice to meet you." She dragged the man to a sitting position before grabbing at rope and tying the man's hands and feet together. Riley lead her back inside, she dragged the man in to.


Casey sat up dazed, as he watched the world spin around him. He stood up steading himself on the bed frame. He glanced at Terisha to make sure she was okay before walking out to the lounge room. Casey stood in the hallway confused.


"Who's~" Casey's eyes met the symbol. "That's a cult guy, why is he here?" His eyes drifted to Riley's wound. "Riley are you ok~"


"I'm okay, don't worry about me and yes. It's one of the cult guys and this is Bella." Bella didn't turn her attention away from the man.


"What even happened?" Casey questioned.


"Long story, I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to question this guy. He seems useful if we want to figure out what they want with us and Teri."


"Right..." Casey joined the other and stood waiting for the man to wake up. Casey examined his face, it was an old man, he had a lot of wrinkles around his eyes. His eyes were framed by thick brushy eye brows with thin grey hairs. The man's nose was a roman nose, his lips thin and wrinkled. He had some scars scattered across this face. Casey slowly removed his hood to revel a sparsely covered head. His hair grew in patches, unevenly.


"What are you looking at kid?!" The man yelled, Casey jumped he hadn't notice that the man had woken up. The man let out a cackle, he didn't bother struggling in his restraints. Bella didn't hesitate. She forced his head up to look at her. She seems stern, fearless. She looked the man in his grey eyes.


"You got some answering to do."



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