Another Meeting

Reed left the hospital after Chloe went to sleep and told the receptionist not to allow anyone to see her. Then he went straight to his apartment.

Upon his arrival, he met Charlotte and Lisa sitting at his doorstep, with both of them looking like a mess.

" What the hell happened to you guys?" He asked

" We were attacked at the apartment by the psychotic couple. We barely managed to escape" Charlotte explained

" How did that happen? I thought we threw off their scent from Amy of us,"

" Turns out we were wrong, we would have died today, I don't think David would survive," Charlotte said sadly and Lisa sighed.

Reed also sighed and went to his door to unlock it. Ushering them in, Reed made a call to Jeremy through his phone just after they entered.

" Meet me at my hotel in thirty, I need your help," he said.

***

Jeremy was at the police station writing a report when some men came in with a man in cuffs.

The man turned out to be Doctor Ryan who had just been arrested, so he guessed that Reed must have completed his mission.

He was happy but his happiness was just a facade, right now he didn't care about it anymore, he was broken, sad, and a pathetic man who had just lost the love of his life. He just lost the one thing that made sense in this cold, wicked, and cruel world he was living in.

After he finished writing his statement the police told him to go home for today but he couldn't just go home after what had happened. That's impossible.

He went straight to a bar not so far from the police station. In case they had anything else to say to him or tell him they knew or they found the culprit, he thought. But on another hand, he had already planned to drink himself into a stupor to forget how miserable his life was now.

Just then a call came in from Reed.

" Meet me at my hotel in thirty, I need your help," Reed said and ended the call and Jeremy just deserted all his plans and left for Reed's place.

He knew if there was anyone who had an idea of who did this to his wife and why. Only Reed could know and he would also know how to make the person pay for what he had done.

***

" Nicholas we have a problem. I want to know whether David is alive, the psychotic duo is there, be careful. When you check, come to my apartment we have another meeting,"

"Fine, I'll check on him" Nicholas replied from the other end and Reed cut the call.

He also called the doctor they had a meeting with.

" Meet me at my hotel doctor Sylvester, we need to talk," he said through the phone.

And then he made calls to the rest of the people they had a meeting with a day ago.

Jennifer, Crystal, Janice, Michael, and Jacob, were all part of the meeting they had yesterday.

The first person to arrive was Jeremy, who also came to Reed's place in a mess. Reed asked him what happened and he told him about his wife's demise.

Nicholas also came and told him about David's death and the FBI had been there already and he sympathized with everyone there for the deaths but sympathized with Jeremy most importantly.

Soon they all arrived, one by one. Reed ordered some food and once he made sure everyone had arrived, he started to address them.

***

" It seems like they found a little place to spend the night because nothing is showing up on the camera feed," the man said and the woman just sighed.

" It seems like someone very smart is helping them hide, it must be Subject X8 but either way, he can't keep protecting them forever. We just have to wait till the main event gets started"

" Oh honey, sometimes you make me feel like I'm not good enough for you. You're just perfect and just as smart as I am"

" Oh sweetie," she said and they shared a short but aggressive kiss.

" I love you," he said.

" I love you more" she replied.

***

" We lost two people today, our friends, our brother, our sister, our wife but that doesn't make us weak, it makes us much stronger than we used to be and makes us have the will to see our enemies beg us for mercy"

" Yeah, true," Jeremy said and cleaned his eyes not allowing his tears to drop.

" We have to stay strong and fight.

But before that, the first thing we should do is to stay low-key and hidden till we know our enemies' plan and pattern and know what the black market wants with all of us dead and also what the Institute plans.

All these attacks weren't just the Institute attacking us to kill us, they have a plan and I hope we figure it out soon.

We know Steven probably killed some of the black market bosses but why didn't they torture us before they killed any of us if truly it is revenge they wished upon us".

Reed said and looked at everyone in the room and he saw the fear, sadness, and anger in their eyes.

" Doctor Sylvester. I know that this meeting has nothing to do with you and you as well have nothing to do with the meeting, but you do.

I want you to help me find out more about the connection that the institute has with the black market. If not, the black market would have known the institute's location by now because of how dangerous they are. Please help us find out"

" You know I'll do anything it takes for you guys, right? And I'll do just that, whatever means necessary to atone for my sins"

" Good. Thank you doctor Sylvester, we'll appreciate that.

So, guys, the meeting is over for today. If any one of you see this place as a safe zone whatsoever and wants to sleep here, you are welcome to do so but if you want to leave, you can leave now" Reed said but only Doctor Mark, the two guys Michael and Jacob with a girl Janice left Reed's apartment.

" Okay then. It's a sleepover now I guess" he said and everyone chose a comfortable spot for himself.

***

Janice left Reed's place and was on her way home in a taxi when she remembered she needed to go to the store to get what she would have for breakfast.

So when she dropped down from the taxi in front of her apartment, she decided to walk down the road since the place wasn't far. She reached the store and when she entered the camera at the ceiling turned concentrating on her. She found it weird but ignored it and carried some cereals with a bottle of milk, then paid for it and left the store heading for her apartment which she shared with three of her friends.

***

" Jackpot ha, ha," the man said laughing as one of the cameras in the city caught one of the people he was looking for at a store.

"My love. I just caught one of those troublesome pests"

" That's good honey. It will be the perfect time for a bath, a blood bath"

The man then stopped typing on his laptop and ignited the engine, then they drove off, heading for Janice's street or rather, her apartment.

" The night is about to turn red," the man said and laughed evilly and stepped on the gas, passing the speed limit.

***

Janice arrived at her apartment and met her three roommates already home.

One of them was Debbie who had her hair dyed pink with blue contacts in her eyes. Debbie sat on a couch watching TV and another of her roommates, Cynthia who was a brunette was typing on her laptop, then the last one Miranda who was a black girl with deep brown eyes, was already sleeping on the bed she was sharing with Debbie because they had two beds in the room, they had to share.

Janice came in and dropped the milk in the fridge and the cereals in the kitchen cabinet.

The house was a single-room apartment with a room, kitchen, and a toilet but the four girls shared it.

Janice quickly went into the bathroom and had her bath. When she came out, She changed her clothes and carried her phone to check her email to find out whether she had been offered a job at any place she had interviewed at previously but she found out her phone had no network.

" Guys, do any of you have a network on your mobiles" she asked her friends.

"No I don't" Cynthia replied checking her phone.

" Me neither" Debbie added.

" This is weird," Janice said and stood up from where she sat, waving her phone up in the air whether she would have a bar or two to text Reed that something seemed fishy in her apartment.

Just then, there was a knock at the door and Debbie immediately stood up to open the door.

" Debbie don't..." Janice was saying but she was too late as Debbie had already opened the door and then a man and a woman holding hands, probably couples entered the place and smashed the door close and locked it behind them.