A/N I'm bacccccck! Fast right? Lol. Thanks for all the reviews people.
Disclaimer: I own nada!
"Pull over, Jeremy." Stephanie Cues a forty year-old third grade teacher commanded frantically her eyes riveted to a dark form on the ground fifteen feet or so behind their car.
"Why?" Jeremy questioned with a frown.
"I think I saw a person back there." She responded sounding shocked. He gaped at her but backed up the car until she told him to stop. Stephanie opened the door to the SUV and ran over to the body of one Callie Shaw.
"Is she alive?" Jeremy asked cautiously walking up behind his wife. Stephanie placed two fingers on Callie's neck feeling for a pulse.
Outside Mr. Pizza…
Kathy Jacobs hummed quietly to herself as she headed home, deciding that it was fastest to cut through the alley behind the pizza place near her house she turned the corner into said alley. She paused at the entrance having heard a groan. She was tempted to keep walking but decided that someone probably needed help. She let out a gasp when she found the teenage boy collapsed near the dumpster. His face was so pale, and it held a grayish tint it was the color of the oatmeal her Grandmother always tried to get her to eat. She shivered slightly although the night was warm and dropped to her knees next to the boy. Kathy pulled off her sweater and covered the wound in his side with it making sure to apply pressure. She continued to hold the sweater over the wound with one hand while pulling out her cell phone with the other. "I need help." She said as soon as she heard a voice on the other end.
"What is the nature of your emergency?"
"I was walking home and…and I found a boy in the alley, I think he's been shot." Kathy said her voice bordering on hysterical.
"Where are you?" The operator asked.
"I'm outside of the Mr. Pizza restaurant in downtown Bayport." She answered.
"All right I'm going to send an ambulance as well as police there; they should be there in ten minutes or so." The operator assured.
At the farm/ranch/Morton's house…
Chet coughed as smoke filled the barn, he was still unconscious and the fire was spreading unhindered in the wooden stable. The animals in the barn were panicking and so far no one had noticed the fire. It didn't look good for one Chester A. Morton.
Catherine Morton was sitting in her kitchen wondering what was taking Chet so long. He had gone out to feed the animals half an hour ago, a job which usually took him fifteen minutes or less. Mrs. Morton rose from the table taking her glass of water with her and placing it in the sink; she paused and looked out the window over the sink. Her eyes were immediately drawn toward the barn which was lit up a bright shade of crimson against the velvety black sky. "Bob, the barn is on fire, get down here now." She screamed up the stairs already dialing 9-1-1 while her husband ran past her toward the barn. Luckily they had a hose just outside of it.
Bob Morton made his way over to the hose and turned the knob on it; he grabbed at the long length of rubber and pulled it toward the barn doors. Mr. Morton grabbed hold of one door making sure not to be in front of it when he opened it and pulled. Smoke rushed out turning the already warm night hot. Mr. Morton pushed his way forward pointing the hose ahead of him while silently praying to God that his son wasn't in the barn even as the growing feeling of dread in his gut told him that Chet was definitely there. The flames were still raging but Bob had managed to put out those nearest the door. His eyes flickered across the floor looking for his son. He was rewarded to find Chet in the corner to the left of the door. "Damn." Bob muttered to himself dropping the hose not particularly caring about anything except getting his son out alive. He reached Chet as the fire began to engulf the walls. Bob grabbed his son under his arms and proceeded to drag him out of and away from the barn.
In the Cafeteria-Joe…
Joe hit the tiled floor of the cafeteria hard his head falling with a resounding thunk as it hit the bench on its way to meet the floor. He was dimly aware of people rushing toward him before he blacked out.
"What happened?" Dr. Robert Cates asked when Joe was brought to him a few minutes later. "Wait, isn't this guy the brother of my other patient?" He mused as he took the chart from the orderly. "Hardy, yup, this is the kid I talked to earlier." Cates said more to himself then the orderly. "I want a blood analysis done; I need to know whether this boy is simply suffering from dehydration or something worse." He ordered a nurse. "Move him to exam three." Cates directed the orderly.
Ten Minutes Later…Laura/Gertrude…
"Hi, I'm Laura Hardy, can you possibly tell me where I can find my son?" Laura asked walking up to the nurses' station.
"Which one?" The nurse, Rebecca Heralds, asked.
"Frank, of course, Joe's not in the hospital." Laura answered.
"Yes, actually he is, you see Mrs. Hardy, your other son, Joseph Hardy, was admitted just ten minutes ago, apparently he collapsed on the cafeteria floor." Nurse Heralds explained. Laura turned pale and wondered for a minute why her sons simply couldn't stay out of the hospital for even a month. If it wasn't one it was the other, and usually it was both. "Joe is in exam three, and Frank is in room five hundred and twelve." Laura thanked the woman before both she and Gertrude moved a few feet away to discuss what to do.
Frank…
Frank frowned to himself wondering what was taking his brother so long to get back. It's not that he didn't think Joe didn't deserve a break from sitting in the hospital room with him; he just didn't like it when Joe went unaccounted for longer then a few minutes. When that happened his little brother tended to end up kidnapped or unconscious. Not that Frank could in good conscious say that he was any better, but still, he was the older brother and he could worry if he wanted to. Even if it made Joe mad. But still Frank ignored him and continued with his worrying. And then there were the flowers. Something about them just freaked him out, perhaps it was the color or something but they just bothered him, and the fact that he knew nothing about where they came from did nothing to ease his thoughts.
"I come all the way down from River Heights to visit you and you're in the hospital again…" Frank looked up in shock his chocolate brown eyes meeting the sapphire ones of the strawberry blond girl in front of him. "Can't say I'm surprised." She continued.
"Nancy! What're you doing here?" Frank exclaimed his thoughts momentarily turning from their previously ominous thread.
"Well, Dad has a case in New York and he brought me with, only I got a cab here and he headed into the city." Nancy explained.
"How did you find out I was here?" Frank asked.
"Well, I went to the school first because I thought you and Joe would still be there for practice and your coach told me you were here." Nancy explained. "Apparently the principal had told him, and then I stopped by your house to see if Joe had actually remembered to call your parents but no one was home, so then I called everyone's phone and no one answered, so finally I just decided to come here." Nancy explained. "Now what did you do to get yourself in here?'" She asked sternly. "Every time I turn around I'm getting a call that you or Joe is in a hospital, and before you bring it up, you two are way worse then me."
"Fine…I won't argue that for now. Anyway, what happened is I was heading to my computer class when I was grabbed from behind and pulled into a utility closet. It was dark and I couldn't see my attacker, but he was strong. He slammed my head against the wall and I collapsed. Joe found me a few hours later." Frank said skimming over the warnings.
"You aren't telling me everything." Nancy said it was a statement and not a question.
"Come on, Nan…just leave this alone." Frank said turning his best puppy dog eyes on her. She hesitated but nodded.
"Fine, I'll leave it for now, but we'll be getting back to it." She said sternly. "Now where has your brother gotten off to?" Nancy questioned.
A/N Review please. Next chapter will be up tomorrow or the next day.