Chapter 2

August 24th, 2010

Day -1

Morning

Abandoned Church - Los Angeles, California

(Flies buzzing)(Faint wind whistling)

Nick wakes up disoriented after his long night with his girlfriend Gloria, the distant sound of scratching and noises echoing through the abandoned church. He rises, trying to incorporate himself, moving towards the noise and calling for Gloria. As he heads for the exit spots bodies along the way. Hearing distant screams, he looks terrified, grabs a blunt object, and hides, paranoid, waiting for something to appear when he reaches a woman kneeling beside a body.

"Gloria?" he whispers.

"Gloria, babe, we gotta go."

He looks at the woman who turns around, revealing how she looks: covered in blood, a knife embedded in her chest, yet still moving, her mouth full of blood and meat.

"No. No. No." Nick recoils, dropping the object and falling backward, but manages to run away from the place. Dazed and confused, he eventually gets hit by a car while running aimlessly.

El Sereno Neighborhood - Los Angeles, California

(Theme music playing)

"Babe, you ready? Alicia? Claire? Paul, get up too!" shouts Madison, picking clothes for cleaning. She enters the bathroom, door knocking before opening it and finding Alicia half-naked in a towel.

"Did I say come in? Jesus, Mom." Alicia, enraged, closes the door.

Madison walks to another room and finds Paul still not intending to get up anytime soon. Her eldest daughter, Claire, is already awake and getting ready.

"Get up, Paul! Come on, stop being lazy in the morning, and you, Claire, get ready fast. We gotta go, gotta go." Madison urges.

"Let me rest a little more, I am drained right now. If you want, I can take the two to college later," Paul offers, opening his eyes a little before closing them again.

"No, get ready fast, Claire. We go now. Should have gotten your ass out of bed 30 minutes ago, both you and Alicia." Madison repeats, leaving the room.

"Alright, Mom, stop being a nagging woman so early in the morning. I will be ready." Claire replies, heading toward the bathroom.

Travis works on repairing the sink while listening to Madison's complaints about the children.

"How's that working out, babe?" asks Madison.

"Ye of little faith." responds Travis.

"Ye of no faith. You know the plumber's card's on the fridge."

"Yeah, I know." Travis, answers while still working on the sink.

"That guy the Poirers use."

"Yeah. Are they ready yet?" Travis diverts her attention.

"Claire, Alicia, come on!" yells Madison.

"You know she won't eat that." points out Travis, referring to the gluten-free bread in Madison's hands.

"It's gluten-fricking-free."

"I think I just saved us 300 bucks. Leak fixed." announces Travis, proud of his work as he turns on the faucet, watching the water drop smoothly.

"I don't believe it," Madison replies skeptically.

"Oh, yeah."

Then Travis starts greeting her good morning while he proceeds to get on her back to embrace her and kiss her.

"You fixed it?"

"Mm-hmm."

"So hot."

"Mmm."

(Phone ringing)

The sound of the phone alerts them all, and everyone becomes worried, especially Madison, considering Nick hasn't returned home since yesterday. Taking into account his long record of drug abuse, this could mean bad news.

Paul gets up from bed at the phone sound this early in the morning and exits his shared room, then goes to pick up the phone. Claire and Alicia get on his back embracing him to listen to the call.

However, seeing his mother looking like she's about to tell him to let Travis pick it up instead, he just removes his hand and lets Travis pick it up.

He scoffed inside, as it would make the call any different if he was the one to answer. Then proceeds to give his girls a wet kiss as good morning, to Madison irritation and Travis' uncomfortable face.

After a while, Travis states, "Alright, thanks for the call, we will be there soon." He looks to all of them.

"Nick is in the hospital; it seems he got run over by a car, but he isn't in danger of life." Travis explains.

"What do you mean, Nick is in the hospital?" exclaims Madison, visibly shocked and concerned.

Paul looks equally surprised, asking, "Run over by a car? What happened?"

Travis shares what he heard during the call, explaining that Nick was found injured on the streets after the call of the car owner and nearby people. He also mentions that the caller didn't provide much information beyond confirming that Nick's injuries were not life-threatening.

As they discuss how to reach the hospital, they decide to split up: Madison and Travis will drive together, while Paul will take care of Alicia and Claire.

Once inside the car, Madison expresses her concern for Nick's well-being, asking Travis if he thinks his son might be involved in drugs again. Travis reassures her, saying that they shouldn't jump to conclusions without knowing the full story. He suggests that maybe Nick had a few too many drinks and was in the wrong place at the wrong moment, resulting in the accident.

Meanwhile, Paul drives carefully, making sure his sisters are comfortable during the ride. As they approach the hospital, Paul receives a text message from Travis informing them of the location where they should meet once they arrive. Upon arrival, Paul parks the car, and the three siblings walk towards the main entrance together.

Upon entering the hospital lobby, they notice several patients and visitors waiting for various treatments and consultations. They ask the receptionist for directions to Nick's room, receiving assistance from a friendly nurse who guides them through the hallways.

As they move further inside, they notice many patients lying down hooked up to machines receiving treatment, or being taken care of by doctors and nurses running around everywhere.

When they finally reach Nick's room, they find him lying in bed, hooked up to monitoring equipment, and surrounded by two police officers talking to him. The sight makes them feel relieved, knowing that despite everything, their loved one is still alive and well.

"Nick." A police officer says, trying to get him to focus on them.

"Buddy. You with me? Nick." This time he whistles and snaps his fingers at him.

"I went for a walk." Nick finally answers, after looking at the patient in the next bed and deciding to respond to them.

"You were running, Nick." The officer asks.

"I went for a run." Nick says, smiling.

"Barefoot, down 'Needle Alley'?" The officer persists.

"Man, Kenyans run barefoot."

"Uh-huh. You said someone got hurt. Do you remember that? You were raving about 'flesh' and blood and viscera." The police officer says, trying to get to the subject of interest.

"Um, it's runner's high." Nick answers vaguely, trying to brush him off, not wanting to think about it anymore.

"Yeah. Oh, I don't know what 'viscera' is." Nick says, like a smartass.

"Tell us where you scored, lots of kids buying in that hood. We clean it up, you come out a hero." The officer suggests.

Nick just laughs to that.

"Nick, you could have died."

"Yeah, coulda, woulda, shoulda."

"Okay, we'll take it from the top. Nick, why were you running?" The police officer tries to start again from another point.

"Is my son under arrest?" Madison interrupts.

"No, ma'am." The officer replies.

"Then get out. Thank you. Leave." Madison insists.

"We could charge him." The officer tries to fight back to get the answers he is looking.

"Well, charge him when he's healed, for now, go away," Madison says to them not caring about those weak threats.

"She does, all the talking?" The police officer gives a jab to Travis while going out.

"Get the... get out." Madison answers this time again, getting annoyed.

"I'm not as eloquent." Answers Travis to the officer, who then goes away.

"What happened?" Madison asks Nick.

"L.A. is not a pedestrian-friendly city." Nick answers noncommittally.

"Nick."

"I just tried to beat the light." He says, calming her.

"Why the restraints?" Madison asks, looking at his tied hands.

"I don't know. Ask the lab coat."

"Did you try to hurt yourself?" Madison asks, concerned.

"No, Mom. Come on, it was an accident. It was just an accident." Nick answers her fast.

"Alright, I'm gonna call for a bed."

"No, no, no. Mom, no."

"Hey, I'm not going back, it's how we help you."

"No, You can't help me." Nick says exasperatedly.

"Listen to your mother, Nick." Travis intervenes.

"You definitely can't help me." Nick shrugs it off, what he says.

"Hey." Madison raises her voice a little.

"You can't do shit." Nick answers strongly this time.

"Nick!!" Madison didn't like his tone.

"Really. You can't..." Nick says, a little exhausted.

"He's just..." Madison starts.

"None of you can... can you just leave me alone? Can you just let me go?" Nick asks, distressed.

"There's an idea." Alicia chimes in, seeing the drama.

"Alicia, not helpful." Travis scolds her.

"I'm not trying to help, Travis." Alicia dismisses him the same as Nick.

"What did you say?" Madison asks her.

"It's none of his business anyway." Alicia replies defiantly.

"You know what? Go to the car. Go." Madison orders her.

But instead of hearing what she said, Alicia goes to Paul's side, hugging him to show support. Travis picks up the phone and goes outside to take the call.

"Alright, Mom, stop putting pressure on him. If he wants to talk, he will talk. Otherwise, he won't. You know that already. And don't take it out on Alicia; she did nothing wrong." Paul says to them while embracing Alicia.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay?" Claire goes to his side to check on him.

"Just some minor injuries, nothing too serious." Nick reassures them.

"What were you thinking, running through the streets like that?" Claire asks, concerned.

"I don't know, maybe I wanted to clear my head or something."

"Do you remember anything?" Claire prods.

"Not really, everything was pretty blurry even before I got hit."

"I hope this teaches you a lesson about being reckless." Madison chides him.

"At least you're alive, and with a full body. You are lucky, bro. That's what matters most." Paul jokes with him, trying to lighten the mood.

"I am glad you're okay, but I can't just leave you alone. So, I will stay here." Madison decides.

"Go to work, Mom. I will watch out for him. I have nothing to do anyway. Besides, the rest will be good." Paul suggests, then he turns to Alicia and Claire "You two go to class with Mom" who turns to look at him, but submissively don't say anything to that.

"Yeah, you all go, Paul can stay and watch for me, there is no need for you all to be here, Mom, you need to work" Nick says to them

"Alright, but don't do anything funny while I'm away," Madison says to him, embracing and kissing his head before exiting.

The girls also say goodbye to him, but before leaving, they each give Paul a long, affectionate kiss while taking his hands. Nick just shrugs it off as normal by now.

"Go, stop showing so much love around here. It'll make me puke." Nick says, moving his hand to the exit.

Paul then goes to take a chair beside the wall and puts it beside his bed, sitting there while putting his legs on the bed and arms crossed, preparing himself to rest.

"Getting comfy already, little brother, eh?" Nick amusedly observes Paul's posture.

"Well, one of us needs to be a little more mature about this situation and rest." Paul jokes back.

"Stop being an annoying brother, Paul." Nick retorts.

"Right, all this time I have you back, bro. For whatever you need."

"I know, it's just this time it's different, I don't know if it's the drugs or what but I have seen some pretty serious shit," Nick starts talking about his situation "Paul, I must confess, this time I fucked up seriously."

"What? What have you done this time?" Paul asks, interested. "Have you gotten into a really high debt for drugs or what?, those things are little shit, I can still support you, I worked hard for those times."

"No, no, no, it's my mind bro," Nick sighs, feeling stressed out "This time I have surrendered to it, yesterday… Yesterday I almost killed myself, I bought some heroin from Calvin as always you know, then later with Gloria we went to the church to get high, but I don't know what was going through my mind at the time and I.. I attempted suicide via heroin overdose after telling her about our father"

Paul, upon hearing the admission that he almost killed himself, springs upright and fumes. He nearly strikes Nick. "You!! Stupid piece of shit."

"You promised not to do this shit again. Are you like him—a weak piece of shit looking for an easy way out? He was a fucking coward. Are you the same?"

"Tell me, Nick, are you the same?" Paul screams at him, his face contorted with anger as he grasps Nick's shirt.

"No, I know I did wrong, I would not do it again, I promise, I seriously promise that I won't do it again" Nick replies, visibly affected by his brother being like that and on the verge of tears.

"Fuck," Paul mutters, releasing Nick and turning away to hide a little tear escaping his own eyes. He wipes it hastily before sitting back down.

The commotion draws Travis into the room. He takes one look at Nick's flustered state and Paul's angry face and knows something has transpired. He shoos away a nurse who enters due to the noise and then turns to Paul and Nick. "What happened, guys? Why all the screams and the faces?"

"Nothing, just Nick being Nick. Don't worry," Paul replies vaguely, still seething and a little scared because this stupid fuck almost killed himself.

"I'm going to take a rest," Paul says before attempting to sleep.

-----

An Hour Later

Nick awakes, jolted from a vivid dream. "You're having a nightmare," Travis observes. Paul also wakes up due to the commotion. "No shit," Nick responds.

"You think that what you saw was a nightmare or a hallucination?" Travis inquires.

"Mmm. I really want to write it off like that, I do, but that's never happened to me before. Nothing like that, hey, maybe I'm losing my shit," Nick confesses, now more open about his concerns.

"That psych eval will decide that. How crazy is Nick on a scale of one to 10, huh?" Travis answers funnily trying to not be too hard on him.

"Stop crying about it, Nick. Consider yourself one of the lucky guys if the doc puts a certificate of insanity because you are crazy. We can ask for a pension on disability from the gov for you—free money," Paul chimes in sarcastically.

"Yeah, right. Hey, can you untie me?" Nick asks Paul.

"No," Paul replies bluntly.

"Travis?"

"No, sorry," Travis echoes.

"Hey. You guys think I'm dangerous?" Nick asks.

"I don't, I just want to piss you off at the moment," Paul smirks at him, his anger unabated in the last hour.

"Docs are worried," Travis adds. "Are you?"

"You ran into traffic, man. You hurt yourself," Travis says, his voice grave.

Paul listens intently, wanting to understand what Nick experienced after his overdose. "No, I was running from, not to. I was running away from what I saw," Nick explains.

"What did you see?"

"Uh, just a girl. Gloria. You know, she's my friend, and she was…" Nick tries to explain but suddenly it hits him "Jesus Christ."

"Okay, you buy on the corner and you can shoot at the church. It's junkie communion. And..."

"The church?"

"Yeah, Glo was… yeah, so she was with me when I scored. Yeah, and she was with me when I nodded. She was there. She was beside me. But then… then when I went down… everyone was dead because there was blood."

"Yeah, and it's all over her mouth. You know? Then she came at me."

"What did she do?" Travis inquires.

"Sh… she was eating them. She was eating them."

"What the fuck, that's fucking creepy as hell, bro. It's like a fucking zombie situation you're describing, or a goddamn dangerous crazy person, a fucking Hannibal Lecter, and Gloria doesn't seem like that at all, unless the fucking drugs transformed her into someone else," Paul exclaims, his voice laced with disbelief.

"Nick… You saw what the drugs showed you."

"I don't know if what I saw came from the powder. That's the thing. I don't… and if it didn't come from the powder, then it came out of me, my mind, and if that came out of me, then I'm insane, Travis. Yeah, I'm insane." Nick laughs weakly, resigned to his situation. "I really don't want to be insane."

"Alright, stop acting like a fucking little girl and get a hold of yourself," Paul snaps, walking out.

"Paul, Paul, wait," Travis catches up to him outside.

"Where are you going, Paul?"

"You know where I'm going," Paul answers him with finality.

"No, you can't go there."

"Do I look like a bloody little kid to you, Travis?" Paul retorts.

"Yes, u are, so don't even try to go there"

"Yeah, well, you think whatever you want, and do your thing because I, for sure, am going there, and you know you can't stop me. I am stronger, and you know it." Paul says to him not caring while leaving.

"Wait, I will not let you go alone then"

"Be my guest"

Preparing to enter his car he remembers that Madison and the girls took it, so he gets ready to take a cab home first

"Wait, Paul, I will get you there"

"Thanks, but first I need to go home"

"For what?" Travis asks and then starts thinking about it and his face pales a little

"No, you don't need that Paul, we are just going to check the place" Travis tries to reason with him

"I will not go to that place unharmed, I am not stupid enough to go to that dangerous place like that, be smarter Travis, your way will only get you killed someday or someone else and I don't want to be the lucky one"

"Alright, have it your way Paul, let's go home and then there" Travis seeing him being stubborn relents a little, hoping that nothing happens in there.

------

Later on the day, being midday

With the sound of a pistol chambering a round, they enter the Church, on home Paul has locked a custom Beretta 92 RDO suppressed with a flashlight and laser as secondary, he doesn't use it for anything more than personal home defense just in case, he has an AR-15 modded also but I can't hide it as easily as the pistol here, so it stayed home, but the belt pouch with the extra clips must do the job, after all, if I need to shoot it would not be more than a few rounds, while also attaching on his chest near his shoulder a small cam recording just in case for anything that could happen inside.

"Look at this fucking place. It's a mess and smells like shit. I don't know how the junkies can take it, being here. I suppose the drugs destroyed their fucking senses to be capable of it," Paul spits on the ground, covering his nose with a mask.

Travis, at his side, advances with a flashlight in hand. Slowly but not stopping, they walk through the entrance, past the prayer chairs littered with recent blood pools.

"Something happened here. Look at that amount of blood. That isn't a finger cut," Paul observes, focusing on every sound.

They continue through the building not seeing anything more of interest in the entrance, finding more blood pools in various spots along a corridor before entering a room resembling a damn attic with makeshift beds, knowing this was where they drugged. "There's nothing more here. Let's take a look in the other rooms, and if nothing, we'll go," Travis suggests.

Paul nods, and as they start to leave, they see a woman at the entrance, being there unnoticed to them not having made any kind of sound—Gloria, covered in blood with a fucking knife in her chest, still moving. But the most impactful was his fucking face and body, she's eerily pale, her eyes wide and glazed while moving like a ghost so slow almost tumbling. Instantly, Paul with his arm pushes Travis to his side away from his line of fire while aiming his weapon at her.

"Stop!" Paul yells. "Stop, Gloria. Don't move anymore. I will shoot you." He gives a second warning, firing two shots at the floor in front of her. Gloria continues advancing, unfazed by the gunfire.

But she keep walking as if nothing happened while hissing with an open mouth now, not taking shit anymore he puts a few non-lethal shots to her legs but it did nothing to her who don't even pause, so he shoot again a few rounds to her chest now, and still kept walking so he started retreating a little to gain distance while yelling

"Travis, she's not going down. Look how she looks. It's like she's fucking drugged on methamphetamine, taking shots like nothing," Paul exclaims, retreating to gain distance.

But Travis doesn't reply, being too shocked about what is happening, not believing that Paul shooted someone and the more the woman advancing while being shot as nothing.

Paul seeing Travis so fucking shocked to do anything, he puts a couple of shots to her heart but still it does nothing, having nothing more to do he empty the magazine on her head and then reloads a new one, but she collapses on the floor like her string cut.

Seeing her stopped at last, Paul breathes a little with his gastric acid juices making him uncomfortable a little before going to Travis

"Are you alright?" Paul shakes him a little

"Paul, what have you done, you killed someone, what did you do?" Travis acts like a fool in his eyes

"Look Travis, you saw it too, she was a danger, her body covered in blood, her bloody face, she don't stopped, don't talked, hell you saw that fucking knife on her chest and still being alive"

"I yelled at her stop, shoot twice as warning, then a few non-lethal, I wasn't taking any more for granted when that didn't stop her, do u want to wait for her to do something before responding in kind?. No Travis that doesn't work like that, but even after a few on her chest and heart she kept walking, but the head seems the place that did the magic trick" Paul says to Travis while pointing to the places on Gloria body and observing her face and body

"According to the time of the events by Nick, this woman should have bled to death hours ago even if the knife didn't kill her at the moment, but here she is, walking as nothing" Paul ends any option of something logical with that.

"Look at her Travis, she looks like a fucking real banshee, let's go, let's get the fuck out from here, if there are more like her around I don't want to know, this is enough to prove that Nick wasn't mad but a reality that something happened, besides all was recorded, we can think more clearly and calm in another place."

"Alright, let's get out of here" Travis says acting faster now after the shock.

Once outside the church, Paul hides the gun from sight on his body but not before removing the round in the chamber not wanting to get shot by mistake even with the safety on.

They advance leaving the alley to the truck direction, when Paul starts to get a strong headache that almost knocks him to the ground face-on, Travis seeing him like that fast helps him to his feet and carries him to the truck

"What the problem Paul, are you hurt anywhere?" Travis starts checking Paul while asking him

"No, I'm not hurt but got a fucking strong headache suddenly that almost made me fucking scream" Paul says to him while having both hands rubbings his temples

"I will get you to the hospital where Nick is, just in case to get checked out" Travis says to him as finality

"Alright, but first let's go home, so I can secure those things on me".