The Shepherd house was filled with all the silence and tension befitting of a place that had been violated. The false sense of security that comforted most inhabitants was lost for Alessa and Josh, huddled quietly in the panic room. Seldom used, the room had a musty fragrance permeating its exposed wooden slats, dust clinging to every conceivable surface. A bare light bulb overhead wavered slightly with every movement of the house as it settled in the chill of night, its supports and walls breathing their nightly sigh of relief as the heat of daylight left them. Relief, however, was not something the two children felt. Both their parents had left with only the reassurance that the town's sheriff would come by to check on them sometime soon. So they sat and waited in the dusty, musty room.
Josh sighed softly, lowering himself onto his back and rolling onto his side. Alessa watched him in the dim light. "Scared?" Josh shook his head. Alessa looked up at the door. The room was hidden behind a bookcase, opened by a switch behind the books. She could probably handle herself as long as it wasn't someone like Valtiel, but Josh was another matter. Hopefully no one else knew of the room's existence. Hopefully...
Outside, the fog had thickened dramatically, clouding the vision of one individual in the street. "Damnit." Rusty peered left and right, trying in vain to discern the addresses of the houses lining the street. "It's gotta be one of these..." The Segway whirred and whined under his feet, struggling to balance the weight of the metal-headed man as he leaned forward, pushing the device to its limits. At twelve blazing miles per hour, he had reached the city in a reasonable amount of time, cutting through the fog and the quiet of night with the gyroscope-balanced vehicle's constant drone.
He turned, zipping over to the sidewalk to better view the houses. Valtiel had said it was on the south side of the street. Sure enough, a mailbox bearing the Shepherd name soon met him beside the fence of one house. Rusty hopped off the Segway, inspecting the box. Drawing a fist back, he slammed it into the aluminum box, throwing it off its post and into the grass with a loud clank. The bent pyramid dusted his hands, strutting up to the front door to kick it open.
Josh sat upright with a start, staring at the door of the panic room. Alessa frowned. "What was that?" Josh blinked several times, backing up to the back wall of the room. Alessa glared at the boy. He had lied to her. He was scared! She opened her mouth to speak, stopping herself. What would Bogey say? More than that... What would dad say? She crawled over to Josh, lifting a hand to pat his shoulder. The boy looked to her fearfully. "It's okay, Josh." She smiled. "They'll be back before you know it."
Rusty sauntered through the house, stopping in the kitchen to search the refrigerator. "Eggs, celery, milk..." He grumbled. "Why's everything so damned healthy?" He yanked the freezer open. "Where's the ice cream? Where the hell is the beer?" The pyramid straightened up, slamming the fridge doors shut. "Of course! Upstairs!"
Alessa and Josh stared at the wall, vibrations and sounds from the stairs reaching them through it. Someone big was running up the stairs. After reaching the top, the footsteps continued, pounding around through the house. Searching? Searching for what, though? For them?
Finding the adults' bedroom, Rusty yanked drawers from the dresser, flung open wardrobe doors, and kicked his way into the closet. "No... Not here, either... Damnit!" He growled in frustration, stepping out into the middle of the room. "No beer... No wine... Nothing..." He looked around the room in desperation, his gaze falling on an interesting device. Black in color, it was a wide, rectangular object with cloth covering two portions of its three-portion design. The middle segment was covered in dials, switches, and numbers. The pyramid tilted his head, stepping over closer to it, lifting his spear warily. He wasn't sure what the device was, but if it was dangerous, he wasn't about to be caught off guard.
Alessa pushed herself up onto her feet, leaning her head against the panic room's door. The house was quiet now, but they hadn't yet heard footsteps traveling down the stairs. Someone was still in the house. She looked to Josh, beckoning him over, opening the panic room door. After getting over his initial hesitation, Josh followed her into the dark of the child's room, opening the door. The two held hands, making their way out of the room and sneaking down the hallway, looking around as they went.
Rusty leaned in closer to the device, tentatively lifting a hand to its glossy front face. He tilted his head, eyeing one of the shiny silver buttons. "...Pretty." He lifted a fused finger to it, hesitantly pressing it. A red dot lit up on the device, a strange whirring sound escaping it. After a moment of silence and a glowing glass display showing "01" in blocky numbers, a loud vocal sound boomed from the black box. Rusty leapt back, his spear pointed at the device, heaving with his startled breaths. "What the fuck?" The man held the pose as music played from the box, heady and thumping in its beat. His arms slowly relaxed and his head slowly tilted. The sound was pleasant, really. It wasn't like the scratchy noises he'd heard from such items. This sound was happy and exciting, buzzing in his helmet with lovely vibrations. The vibrations coursed through him, giving him a strange, lightweight feeling throughout his body. "Oh!"
Alessa and Josh peered carefully around the corner of the adults' bedroom door, watching with confusion as a bent-up pyramid head danced and frolicked about in front of a stereo set, spear flailing about in his right hand. The two children looked to one another and shrugged. Alessa yanked on Josh's hand, pulling him over to descend the stairs with her. "C'mon," she whispered, "He's distracted. Let's go find that friend of your dad's!"