Thank you so much for the amazing feedback! Here is the second chapter. I've played around with the order of the scenes to keep you guessing at what's coming next, but I haven't moved away from the storyline. There are no transcripts for the show, so the speech may be a little off at times, especially in future chapters because some of it is very hard to make out. Reviews are welcome and much appreciated, your support is always encouraging.
Chapter contains fairly graphic scenes of violence.
The night before...
A lone car travelled down the desolate road, its headlights illuminating the rain pelted path before it. It was late, and not a car had passed the vehicle for the last half hour. Unsurprisingly - they were a good distance away from civilisation after all. The rain wasn't letting up; leaving the wind screen wipers marching back and forth across the window in full swing to ensure the road could be seen clearly.
"Even though the world is dark, try to light a little part. Don't go run and hide. Give a little of my heart, only then the beat will start. Keeping me in time. Life doesn't wait for long..."
The little girl's melody carried through the car, despite the heavy showers.
"Hey Bo, what song is that?" Bo's foster mum turned to look at the girl in the back seat, clutching a turtle cuddly toy as she sung.
They had only been caring for the child for a short time, but already Bo had impacted on their life more than she realised. She and her husband hadn't been sure about taking on a foster child at first, but now she wasn't sure what she'd do without the girl.
"It's from my dream," Bo replied, rather matter-of-factly.
It wasn't the first time her dreams had given her insight into what she wouldn't have known otherwise. In fact, a lot of her understanding of people came from her dreams. It was how she'd know if someone was sad or in need of help, because her dreams had told her. She couldn't explain it so she just didn't think too much about it. She carried on humming, clutching the turtle to her chest tightly, which had become a lifeline for her with the constant change of families and scenery. She seemed to spend most of her young life being passed around.
"That's sweet," the woman replied, turning her attention to her phone as it sounded. "Oh, Tracy emailed me. The new couch came in. That's like, a little greener than I thought..."
"Probably just the pictures," her husband replied with little enthusiasm, distracted by the car behind them as he watched it in the rear-view mirror, concern knitting across his brow as it closed the distance between them too quickly to be just a casual driver. "Go around!" he muttered, shaking his head as he turned back to the road.
Their car was suddenly jolted as it was hit from the side, the overtaking car swerving intentionally into them. Bo screamed. "What's going on?"
"Oh my God, Bo, are you okay Bo? It's alright, its 'gonna be okay," her foster parent turned around to face Bo to continue comforting the girl, while the other car pursued them, quickly gaining speed once again.
"Hang on!" her husband warned them as he braced the car for another impact. They collided again, Bo now crying as their car swerved on the road, before hitting the side rails and flipping over to roll down the banking. Bo had blacked out before they reached the bottom, the plush turtle falling from her limp grip and rolling under the car seat.
"Peggy?" Bo's foster dad called out painfully into the darkness, the car now laying upside down in a woodland ditch at the foot of the steep banking. He hung down from the seat, held in place by his seatbelt as he felt warm liquid run down his temple. "A-are you okay?" he gasped, the crash having most likely broken several of his ribs among other injuries.
"I don't...I think so..." Peggy choked in reply. The two cried out as the car slid a little further in its unsettled position, letting out a disturbing noise as metal creaked and groaned.
"Take Bo. Take her...take her..." He knew he wouldn't be able to get far in his condition. But he knew they still had a chance if they left him behind. "Call Channing. They've found her..."
Peggy scooped the unconscious child out of the car and into her arms, painfully limping away from the wrecked vehicle.
"I'm coming. Don't worry, I'm coming." Another voice rang out as a figure climbed down the banking. Peggy carried on stumbling forward, she too bleeding and bruised as she looked for cover amongst the trees.
The figure, a woman dressed entirely in black crouched by the driver's window of the upturned car. "Oh my God. Oh my God, are you okay?" her hands moved to hold his head still. "Are you hurt?"
"Call an ambulance!" the man spluttered, but the woman just shook her head.
"Maybe this will help," she soothed, before breaking his neck in a single, clearly practised move.
The crash had been bad, so the injury would go unnoticed in a formal police report. She released her hold, and the now dead man slumped forward. She straightened up, frowning as she looked around for the mother and child. They weren't in the car, but she knew they couldn't have gone far. She flexed her hands casually, making her way towards the sobbing coming from the undergrowth. Rain soaked through to her skin, her clothes hanging heavy on her lithe frame. She was shivering slightly, but the adrenaline from the kill was pumping through her, so she hardly noticed.
Peggy cried out as she saw the figure approaching, clutching Bo's still form tighter. She had been chosen to protect the girl and had failed, they had found her and who knows what would happen now. She shook with hysterical sobbing as she pleaded with the woman, but it was a mostly incoherent stream of words.
"No! She's just a little girl, please!"
The assassin crouched before the two, cupping the woman's face in what would have been a tender gesture in other circumstances. Now it was a twisted mockery.
"I don't care," she answered coldly, before snapping her neck and lowering her down to the muddy ground, wreching the child from her cold, dead grip. Her only concern was retrieving the girl, and she didn't care what she had to do to make that happen. She smiled - a chilling, cruel grin of satisfaction.
"Put her down. Put her down! Don't move her, I'm a doctor!" a man was running up to where the child lay, and only then did the assassin notice the ambulance parked on the road at the top of the banking. She sighed at the disruption, but stood up and backed away to give the man room, trying her best to act like a casual bystander.
"Thank God!" she exclaimed in fake concern, before rolling her eyes as the paramedic crouched in front of the girl. This was only a minor setback. She would have to wait...
