Hello! So here is Chapter Two; hopefully you liked the first chapter. This sequel probably won't be as long as Crashing In, but I write as I go, so who knows. C: Thank you guys so much for the reviews! Here are review replies; skip over them if you don't care to read them:
HopelessRomantic1994 ~ Thank you, Jade! I'm glad you like it so far.
Brunette Dream ~ Thanks, 'Bonnie'! Glad you liked Crashing In, too. ^_^
DizzyRedhead ~ Thank you! So am I; I didn't want them all sad and mopey for this one. They'll be a bit sad at some points, but not full-on bawling, haha. Thanks again!
CauseOfDeathLover13 ~ Thank you, Lexi! Thanks for the review!
mozzi-girl ~ Yayyy, thank you, Molly! :D
Crimson Endings ~ Thanks a ton, Tori! I'll try to update this one more frequently than Crashing In, I promise! xD
Sweet Revenge Princess ~ Thank you so much! I'm really glad you liked the last one, too. Of course I'll continue; I love writing. It's my outlet. I literally cannot stop. XD Thanks again for the nice review! (:
MALTARA2010 ~ Thank you, April! I'm glad you liked it, sad as it was. Hope you enjoy this one, too! Thanks again!
If you haven't noticed, I like to call you guys by your names. If I don't know it or you don't sign your name at the end of the reviews, I go to your profile and look. XD If I didn't use your name, I don't know it. Tell me if you'd like; I feel like usage of names is more personal. C:
Anyways, enough of my rambling; enjoy!
Chapter Two – Just Kids
Eighteen minutes later, with exactly two minutes to spare, Mal and I arrived at the precinct. We calmly walked in, each of us trying to cool a hot mug of coffee.
"Morning," Jeremy and Blaise acknowledged as we walked in.
"Morning," we both replied with tired waves. We went into our office, leaving the door open behind us. We each sat down at our own desks, reluctantly pulling out stacks of paper work and beginning to read them over. An hour of paper work and bad jokes later, Anders walked in with a case file enclosed in a manilla folder.
"Good morning, Fallons," Anders said, dropping the manilla folder on Mal's already-cluttered desk.
"Good morning, Captain," Mal and I both greeted respectfully.
"New case?" Mal questioned.
"Yes," Anders answered grimly. "I really hate to assign this one to you two because of... past events; but you're my two best detectives, and we need this guy behind bars."
I stood and walked over to Mal's desk as Mal opened the case file. I bit my lip to hold in a gasp, eyes widening in disbelief. I exchanged a horrified glance with Mal before picking up the pictures to further examine them.
"Oh my God..." I murmured in shock. The picture in my hand was a gory mess of young teenaged bodies. From what I could tell, at least nine or ten bodies lay lifeless on the floor of what looked to be a long hallway.
"The victims were just ID'ed," Anders continued as he shuffled through the case file and pulled out a stack of victim ID pages. He handed them to me and I briefly flipped through them, counting the number of pages.
"Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen... seventeen," I finished, counting the last several numbers out loud.
"Seventeen what?" Mal questioned, not looking up from scrutinizing the case report.
"Seventeen victims," I answered somberly. Mal's head shot up and his horrified gaze met mine.
"Good Lord," was all he said.
I flipped through the ID pages again, slower this time, observing each one. I first glanced at all of their ages, saddened to find that the oldest one was barely eighteen. I gently prodded Mal and handed him the papers, pointing at the date of birth header. He flipped through them and let out a doleful sigh.
"Dammit," he muttered again. "They were just..." His voice trailed off, and he met my gaze again.
"... Kids," we finished in unison. We held each other's desolate gaze for a couple seconds before simultaneously looking away.
"They were students in a criminal psychology class at a rather large public high school," Anders reported as I set the ID pages down.
"Criminal psychology? Really?" Mal exclaimed with disgust.
"Criminal psy- ... That is just sick," I spat angrily, "And I don't mean 'sick' as in the cool, modern, synonymous to 'awesome' way."
"I agree," Anders proceeded with forced calamity. "Which is why you two need to get this guy behind bars, pronto."
"You've got our word," Mal said, speaking for us. "Can we get down to the crime scene right now?"
"Thank you, detectives; and yes, you may head down now. The address is written on the front of the folder." Anders nodded at both of us before turning and walking out. I flipped the folder closed so I could see the address. I pulled out my phone and keyed address into the built-in GPS and hit 'go', revealing that the school was called North Beach High, and it was about twenty-five minutes away from the precinct.
"Alright," I concluded, gathering up the papers and shoving them back into their places. "Let's roll." Mal nodded and grabbed his car keys, holding the door open for me as we exited our office. I gave him a quick thank-you peck on the cheek, then swiftly proceeded to the door. I stepped outside and immediately met the stifling heat of San Francisco's July. I got in the passenger's seat of Mal's car and he started driving, quickly flipping the air conditioner on. I read off the directions from my phone as he drove down the streets, and soon enough, we arrived at North Beach Highschool. Mal and I both got out of the car and met each other around the front. We started up the walk way of the huge high school campus, shuffling through the case file papers as we walked.
"Good afternoon," a county officer greeted. He looked to be in his late-thirties. "You must be the detectives?" he presumed.
"We are," I confirmed as I approached him.
"I'm detective Mal Fallon," Mal started, reaching out to shake the officer's hand, "And this is my FBI partner, Special Agent Natara Williams. Nice to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you," I said with a polite smile and handshake.
"Nice to meet you two as well," the man said. "I am Officer Delmae. I assume you two already have the case file and such?"
"Yes, we've briefly reviewed it already," I replied, holding up the manilla folder.
"Good," Officer Delmae said, "Then I'll just show you to the actual crime scene and let you detectives do your thing."
"Thank you," we said as he led us up the wide steps and inside one of the multiple sets of double doors. He turned down several hallways, up a flight of stairs, and down another hallway until we came to a rather horrific scene.
"Ah, hell," I heared Mal gasp to himself.
"Oh my God," I breathed, flinching at the gore. Though I had already seen a picture, it was always more shocking to see the victims in person. In front of Mal and I, the previously-white linoleum floor was spattered with blood. Sprawled on the floor were the bloodied bodies of seventeen teenagers. Textbooks, notes, pencils and pens littered the floor, scattered in a frenzied mess.
"When did this happen?" I asked Delmae in alarm.
"Just this morning," he replied sadly, "At about eight-o-clock."
"Damn," Mal said again, glancing at his phone as he pulled it out. "That was less than an hour ago."
"All of the remaining students and faculty have been evacuated and are now off campus, but if you need to talk to anyone, I can retrieve the information to call them up."
"Thanks. Any idea of possible suspects?" I asked him.
"Not yet," Delmae replied. "We just sent a few things back to your lab technician, though, so hopefully something useful will come up soon."
"Let's hope," Mal uttered darkly.
"I'll leave you two to do your work, but I'll be just outside that window," he said, pointing to a window in the classroom next to us.
"Thank you, officer," Mal said gratefully.
"We'll let you know," I added. Delmae nodded with a slight smile and walked back down the hallway.
"Holy. Fricking. Hell," Mal stated once Delmae was out of ear-shot.
"I know," I said shakily, looking around in silent horror at all of the lifeless bodies surrounding us. It was literally all I could do not to think of another shooting, less than a year ago, which took the life of Mal and I's first daughter, Madison. I couldn't bring myself to physically go to the scene, but it wasn't hard to imagine with all the other things I'd seen in the field.
"Well," Mal started after a few seconds of silence, "Let's get to work." He stepped forward, and knelt beside the body of a young teenaged girl. He began to examine in it, when he realized I hadn't followed him.
"Come on, Natara, let's get to-" He stopped short when he turned and saw the terrified expression on my face that I didn't even try to hide. His gaze softened and he stood again, crossing the several feet between us in a second's time. The professional mask momentarily flickered away as he looked at me.
"Hey," he said gently, guessing my thoughts. He lightly touched my arm before continuing. "C'mon. Just try not to think about it for now, okay? The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of this terror zone. Professional now, personal later." I nodded and inhaled shakily. He reached up and tucked several strands of hair behind my ear, locking his gaze with mine for several seconds. He dropped his hand and gaze a moment later, turning to continue on. I took a deep breath before following, forcing my brain into professional mode.
We both knelt next to the same girl, moving aside several pages of notes that had landed on top of her.
"Bullet wound in her shoulder and stomach," I observed. Mal nodded and we stood to move on to the next one. This one was also a young girl, looking to be no older than seventeen. She was lying on her stomach, a clear bullet hole through her back, just between the shoulder blades. I slipped the tan-colored bag off of her shoulder and dug around for her ID. Mal gently turned her over as I pulled out her wallet. I slipped her driver's license and student ID from their compartments, glancing at the name and date of birth.
"Savannah Sunderland," I read aloud. "Seventeen years old, class of twenty-fourteen." I set her license and ID down beside her, and Mal and I moved on. We approached a young boy next, also lying on his stomach with a bullet wound through his back. Mal pulled a student ID from the boy's pocket, glancing at it before handing it to me.
"Aiden Lisdon," Mal read. "Eighteen, senior." I nodded and set it down again as we moved to the next one.
We slowly covered sixteen of them, leaving one who was slumped against the wall around the corner of the hallway. It looked like she had tried to run, and had almost succeeded, before she was shot several times. I gingerly turned her on her back, wincing slightly at the massive bullet hold through her neck.
"Oh, God," Mal muttered, leaning in to examine it. I pulled the girl's brown and purple-streaked hair away from where it was beginning to dry over the wound. Another shot had impacted her in the thigh, in which the killer probably missed and proceeded to shoot her through the throat.
"Madisen Brookes," Mal announced with hesitation. "She was only fifteen..." Mal met my gaze, and I could feel my professional demeanor beginning to slip. Her name was spelled differently, but a stinging reminder nonetheless.
"Let's move on," I said finally, breaking the human silence between us. I stood and turned away from Madisen's body, turning down the original hallway again. I walked into the psychology classroom, briefly glancing around at the bags, notebooks, and binders that were strewn around, clearly abandoned in a crazed hysteria. I assumed most, if not all of them would have a license or student ID with them, but I didn't want to look. They were already ID'ed; there was no use wasting further time. Mal walked in behind me just as I noticed several binders with bullet holes through them. I went over and picked them up, seeing that the bullet went straight through all the papers inside it. Several desks were turned over with bullets through them, obviously used as shields against the deadly weapon.
Just as I was about to walk across the room to the teacher's desk, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I quickly pulled it out and answered a call from Anders.
"Hello, sir?" I said into the receiver.
"Special Agent," he greeted briefly. "I just received word that the entire campus was put on lock down immediately following the shooting. Unless the killer exited quickly, he might still be in the school. Get him if he is, Agent, but be careful."
"Thanks, Captain. I'll pass that onto Mal, too."
"The entire campus was put under lock down promptly after the shooting occurred," I related to Mal. "He may still be in here, unless he found some quick means of escape."
"Oh man," Mal sighed. "Armed?" he checked.
"Yep," I replied, slipping my gun from its holster. Mal unholstered his, too, and held it loosely in his right hand. I followed suit as we both walked out the door, keeping on guard for any suspicious behavior. Mal and I paced down several hallways, already lost as to where the hell we were within the large campus. We were about to go down the stairs onto the first level, when we heard it.
A loud gunshot followed by a young girl's high-pitched scream. Mal and I exchanged a quick, frantic glance before breaking into a run in the direction of the gunshot.