Chapter Three: Listen

Noah was halfway to the Burrows home when he received a call from Sandy. "Hey, I'm almost th-"

He didn't get a chance to finish speaking before Sandy's frantic voice interrupted him. "Whoa. Slow down. What happened?" He picked up his pace. "What do you mean he jumped out the window?" Now he was in a full out sprint. Troy was had never been the type of person to run away from anything. To say he was concerned was an underestimate.

"Sandy, listen to me. Stay where you are. Don't move. I'm calling the others." Sandy was not happy. She argued with him saying that she should be out there looking for him. Eventually she gave in, making Noah promise that he would call as soon as he found anything.

Sandy didn't know that they had been rangers. Troy never wanted to tell her, fearing that it would put her in danger. Noah hoped that if Troy were to run anywhere, it'd be the ranger base. His first call was to Tensou, but the small robot informed him that the former Red Ranger was not there. His next option was tracking his morpher. It was a stretch, considering they were no longer rangers and didn't have a need to carry it around with them. Tensou was able to locate it at the Burrows' house, confirming that all his leads had reached a dead end.

Troy didn't realize he had been running until he tripped over a rock. He hit the ground hard, pain coursed through his body, but he ignored it getting back up. All he was focused on was escaping. Getting as far away as he could from his nightmares. The truth was they weren't just nightmares, they had turned into visions since he had last spoken to Emma. They briefly appeared, too quick for him to make anything out.

The first had come when he was in math class. He had been staring at the board when out of nowhere he heard glass shatter. On instinct he jumped out of his seat. He looked around the room, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. His classmates had stared at him weirdly and when he looked over to Gia she had asked him if he was alright.

He'd ask her if she had heard anything weird to which she replied she had not. After that the number of visions had increased. It seemed that everywhere he looked he either heard something or saw something that no one else had. It was driving him crazy. It was bad enough that he couldn't sleep at night, but now he couldn't even go around town peacefully.

He finally came to an abrupt stop at a tree. Leaning against it he looked up to the night sky.

"What is wrong with me?" he whispered. His breathing became heavy and his vision blurred. "No. Not again."

He blinked. To his left a body lay motionless on the ground covered in blood. A piercing scream ripped through the air and he could make out a girl running away as if something was chasing her. The sound of peoples' screams filled the air.

"Stop!" he yelled. He closed his eyes, clasping his head tightly in his hands. When he looked up again the ground was covered in more bodies. The burning of human flesh filled his nostrils. His body dripped in sweat. Straight ahead, a loud explosion could be heard. His ears were ringing.

From the trees emerged a woman. Her face was bloodied and bruised. Dirt filled every possible inch of her hair. She looked straight at him, yelling something. The words were lost, his ears still rung. When she finally reached him, she desperately shook him.

He focused on her lips, attempting to know what she was trying to tell him. It took him a while to realize she was saying his name. He's hearing was still fuzzy and he could only make out a few sounds now.

"-them!" she yelled. She looked quickly behind her as if to make sure no one was following.

"Listen…" she grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. "Tell…you…to…"

The as quickly as the vision came, it was gone. Troy fell to the ground. His breathing became heavy. Before he was consumed with total darkness, he heard an engine and saw the headlights of a car as it came to a stop.

A door slammed, and a man rushed to his side. He heard him say, "There's an unconscious male at the side of the road leading to Ocean Bluff."

When Troy came to, he found himself in a bright white room. Sandy was asleep in the chair beside the bed. His head throbbed. He pushed himself into a seated position, his movements waking up Sandy from her slumber.

"Hey you." Sandy said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"What happened?" He asked her.

"Well, let's see. You jumped out a window, ran away and got knocked out cold. What were you thinking?" She said lightly slapping his arm.

"I…I don't know. I just…I had this sudden urge to run."

Sandy raised an eyebrow. "To Ocean Bluff?"

"What?" Troy was confused.

"They found you on the road to Ocean Bluff."

"There was this woman. She was bleeding."

"How hard did you hit your head?" Sandy said, placing a hand on his forehead.

"Sandy," He grabbed her hand. "I know what I saw."

"You were the only one there, Troy." Sandy wanted to yell at him. She wanted to scream at him for running away, for leaving her. Growing up, their parents were never home. Sure, they provided for them, but they were never around to show how much they cared. Troy was always there. He was the only constant thing in her life. She couldn't lose him.

"I'm telling you the truth Sandy." He sighed.

"We can ask the officer who found you. He said he'd come by later. In the meantime, do you want me to let the others in? They spent all night looking for you." Troy gave his sister a nod and she left to find the rest of their friends.

After visiting time was over, Sandy and his friends had headed home. He was left alone with his thoughts, questioning if he was losing his sanity. A knock at the door brought him back to reality.

"Come in." He called out. A tall man in a navy dark uniform walked in.

"I see you're doing better."

Troy nodded. "Are you the one who found me?" The man nodded. "Thank you Mr…"

"Myers. But you can call me Eric."

"Thank you, Eric." Troy said.

"Now you want to tell me what happened?" Eric asked, taking a seat.