"Fucking gross!" Adrien felt like he had to throw up. Marinette pushed her head into Adrien's chest.
"Who would do something like this?" She mumbled into his chest.
"A predator?" They looked at each other for a moment.
"That can't be true!" Marinette said. In the distance, a car came from the park service. It came their way. In the car were two men with blue overalls. They both had a baseball cap with the brand of TV 12 on it.
"Come, we have to go," Adrien whispered. They walked back to his bike. The car had meanwhile already arrived at the place the dead deer was laying. The man jumped out of the car and looked at the deer seemingly unmoved.
Adrien grabbed the handlebars of his bike and pushed them up the patch. "Oi, you two, wait a moment." The two men were walking to them.
When they got closer, Marinette saw the yellow shine in their eyes under the caps. "Adrien, go!" She said with a high-pitched voice. She jumped on the carrier and turned around. The men were now running.
"Wait!" The first one called. He had a bearded face and deep yellow eyes with black, thin pupils. Adrien stepped onto the pedals. It was more difficult to accelerate with someone on the back.
"Please help, Marinette. If you push me, we'll go faster." Marinette jumped off the bike and ran next to him, while pushing Adrien. She looked over her shoulder. The two men were right behind her. She quickly jumped back onto the bike.
"Faster!" Marinette's fingers pinched into Adrien's hips. The two men started to run faster.
"Stand still, you two!" The first man was running the hardest. Marinette saw his emotionless face right behind her. A face straight out of a nightmare. The man stretched out his hand and tried to grab her hair. Marinette jerked her head to the side and the hand missed.
Adrien finally had more speed and only got faster and faster. The distance of their pursuers grew bigger. They raced over the bridge and sidewalk, out of the park. The two men stood still and watched them go.
"Who were those guys?" Adrien asked. "Did they think we killed the deer?"
"They probably killed it. What a bunch of creeps. Just like bearded monkey's. I'm happy we escaped." They rode into the main street, which ran along the market square. The market was full of people. People with shopping bags walked all over the square.
"This is the place where I saw the shadows under the stalls, a couple nights ago," Adrien said.
"Look!" Marinette pointed to a woman, who was standing at the vegetable stall. She bowed over the crates and sniffed the greens like a dog. The woman suddenly looked at them, like she knew they were watching her. Marinette was no longer shocked by the colour of her eyes. The woman nudged the greengrocer and he also looked at them. In the faint shimmer of the sun, his eyes looked almost like gold.
"Children, come here," He shouted.
"Get out," Marinette hissed. Adrien quickly rode out of the street.
"They can see that we're different," He said. "They can see it in our eyes, just like we see in theirs." They both had the feeling as if everyone was staring at them. Walkers, people on bikes, faces through the car windows, it was like all of them were staring.
"Let's go home," Adrien said. "I'll lock me in my room until it's evening. Then I'll sit in front of the TV and I'll just wait."
"Is that really necessary? If something happens to you, I'll be all alone and…." The worry in her voice was real. Oddly enough, it gave Adrien a nice feeling.
"Don't worry, I won't let you be alone." Marinette sighed.
"Alright, I'll also go to my room. I don't want to be with my mama right now." Adrien rode over the sidewalk and stopped at Marinette's house.
Marinette jumped off of his bike and hesitated. She turned to Adrien and quickly kissed his cheek. "Please, be careful."
Adrien was frozen for a bit, but soon nodded. "If I got something, I'll immediately let you know."
"And then what? What will we do then?"
"Good question. I have no idea." Marinette suddenly bumped into Adrien. "Look at that van. What a scary thing!"
Across the street came out an old, black van, painted with flaming skulls. Adrien felt a shiver run down his spine. While the van slowly passed them, he saw the shadow of a dark figure with curls behind the pane.