Out with Friends

After working, Sinclair found himself in his own house. He didn't visit Ainsley tonight, but he was looking into the additional reports that Stuart had sent him. It seemed that Roth knew more about this than what they could find out, and the fact that he labeled the people doing this with such a word proved it just the same.

Terrorists? Bio-terrorists? Sinclair didn't know. Unless he had enough samples, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Seeing that the night was pretty much unproductive, he sighed. "I should have gone to Leo.

"Wait, I don't think it's already too late." Sinclair took a look at his watch and saw that it was already ten in the evening. He frowned. He wasted three hours of his life on this? How infuriating.

He then took out his phone and checked if Ainsley was still awake. However, the call still wouldn't go through. Sinclair soon only brought the phone down and massaged his temples. How could he forget that Ainsley lost his phone just earlier this morning?

…

Loud music boomed all over, and people danced to the beat. Ainsley waded through the crowd and saw a group of friends at a table. The girls were quick to cheer at his arrival, and the boys gave him a nudge or a salute. Yesterday, he ran into one of them and got invited to meet them tonight.

The girl, who was a cook, sat next to Ainsley. "So? How's life working in a Fortune 500 company? I couldn't help but shudder at the fact that you can even survive years in there. You don't even have a family to feed!"

"Heh, the boss loves me. How can I not survive?" Ainsley only chuckled and giggled along with them with the glass on his lips. He hadn't seen most of his high school friends ever since he started working in King Industries. Right now, he decided to forget about his worries while having fun with them. Every story, every bottle of alcohol counted.

…

Rowdy voices echoed in the alley as Ainsley and his drunk friends walked their way to a bus stop. Ainsley could pretty much walk all the way back to his place so he was just tagging along with those who needed to ride the carpool to get home. He and two ladies didn't have to, actually.

One of them joked out: "Take a look at Len, having two girls to himself. So envious."

"Ew. We won't really like it if it's you." The cook shuddered jokingly, while the other girls laugh out. At least Ainsley was cute and had a stable job at a Fortune 500 company. Any girl wouldn't have any trouble in a few years at most.

"Geez, you girls aren't my type either." With a laugh and a high-five from another guy, Ainsley retorted. The other girl pouted. "So mean!"

After a few more words, the carpool service car arrived, and the group broke off. They had loud send-offs that gradually quieted as the car drove away. Ainsley stayed still to stare for a few seconds. He didn't think that even if he had seen two fatal car accidents within the week, he still wasn't afraid of cars or getting near a moving one.

The cook then pulled on his sleeve, and the two girls felt a bit more secure getting walked by one of their male friends. After all, the streets were not good to them especially at this time.

Their footsteps echoed in the silent streetside as virtually no cars drive by next to them. The two girls were only chattering to themselves, comparing their screens and the photos on them; while Ainsley walked behind them. He hadn't bought a new phone yet, and he was hoping he could beg Sinclair to get him a new model—better if it wasn't sold to the public yet.

"Girl, you should post—" The cook was discussing with the other girl when she was suddenly grabbed from behind. A man came out of nowhere and grabbed her neck, dragging her and the friend a bit forward. "Help!"

"No one moves!" The man dragged her away from the two friends, Ainsley quickly attending to the other girl who broke her heels in the process. He then aimed his switchblade at the two before at the neck of the lady. "You two! Hold him down! If you don't, I'll kill your friend!"

"Him?" Ainsley asked with a frown, but he was soon answered by the appearance of another man from the alley the hostage-taker came from. Strangely, the black color of his hair looked unnatural, but his eyes were as sharp as the ones on Sinclair. Even the fixed frown on his face imitated the one his best friend would sport in public. However, the newcomer's hair was messy and unkempt.

With a click of his tongue, the newcomer only eyed the man. "Taking a hostage, really? It wouldn't have worked, but you should just run into this…" He stopped his tongue from saying anything as he glanced at Ainsley. "Anyway, do you really think you can run away from me?"

"Hold him down now!" The deluded man pushed the blade against the cook's neck, letting beads of blood roll down the knife. "I'm serious! Your friend is dead if you don't!"

"You're insane! You won't do that even if they did!" The cook cried out. She could feel that the newcomer was more dangerous. Instead of pressuring her friends to act, she tried stomping at the man's foot, but her force was too weak to hurt him.

"Heh…" A maniacal smile curled the man's mouth as a response.

The man struck down at the cook's thigh, digging the blade all the way through her flesh. However, as if taking advantage of the reaction, the cook forced her whole weight forward, catching the hostage-taker off-guard.

As soon as her body bent out of the way, the newcomer vanished and reappeared in front of the man. He struck the man's neck, causing his throat to cave in. The deluded man let go of the cook completely as he started to writhe in pain and his incapability to breathe.

A short scream came from the cook as she was pushed forward, but the newcomer caught her. She was then turned around so her back would rest on the newcomer's arm. Her eyes got stuck to the man's handsome face under the obscurity of the night sky.

With the faint light coming from the streets, she saw how he smiled dangerously at her.