Hey guys, here's chapter 2 for you :) sorry it took so long, I've been busy with my new job but I finally had a day off today and was able to catch up on some writing. Hope you like the chapter :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that was created by the creators of Malcolm in the Middle.
Chapter 2
The sirens were still blaring. Shots were still firing. For Malcolm and Reese though, time seemed to stand still. Neither of them had moved from where they were standing when they saw their father walk away from them. Panic and fear gripped them as they struggled to accept their father's fate. Malcolm was the first to snap out of it.
"Come on," he grabbed at his brothers shirt. "We have to go."
"Huh?" Reese seemed to be in a daze.
"Remember what Dad said? The back door!" Malcolm pleaded to Reese to remember.
"Oh yeah." Regaining the use of his muscles Reese sprung into action and both boys ran to the back door to make their escape. Once outside, a cool breeze hit their faces as they ran through the brush land. Tree branches scratched their arms and faces and every now and then they would trip over something and stumble but they kept on running. Suddenly Malcolm cried out.
"Stop!" Reese, who was a little ahead of his brother, stopped in his tracks and spun around.
"What?" he inquired as he lent against a tree.
"I can't hear the sirens anymore," puffed Malcolm. Reese paused and listened.
"I can't either," he finally said. "Do you think they're gone?"
"Maybe, but we still have to be careful," Malcolm answered. "I guess we can stop running for now." Reese sighed with relief as he wiped his brow.
"Reese!" Malcolm exclaimed. "Your hand is bleeding! You must have cut it when you punched through the glass!" Reese stared at it dumbly while Malcolm ripped off a bit of his brother's shirt and wrapped the material around Reese's injured hand.
"Okay," Malcolm said when he was finished. "Let's get out of here before they figure out where we are." Silence fell upon the boys as they concentrated on their movements and it wasn't until they had reached the main road again that Reese spoke up.
"Do you know where we're going?"
"Not a clue," Malcolm answered. "But we have to find somewhere soon or we'll end up freezing to death." Reese nodded. The cool night air had already given them both the sniffles and Malcolm was tired of wiping his nose with his sleeve.
"Hey, aren't the Jackson's away?" Reese piped up.
"Yeah, and their house isn't too far from here," Malcolm caught on, grinning at his brother.
"Do you think we should go there then?" Reese asked.
"Anything to get out of this cold breeze," Malcolm said. The boys then followed the highway in the direction of the residential area, new purpose and motivation helped restore the energy they had lost throughout the night.
The streets were dark, so dark that not even the streetlights were of much help against the eternal blackness of the night. Even though they were both breathing hard they tried to be as quiet and stealthy as possible so as not to wake up the sleeping neighbourhood. Just as Malcolm felt like he was about to collapse from exhaustion Reese stopped in front of a house.
"Is this the house?" he breathed to Reese.
"Yep," was all Reese could manage. Not wasting another second Malcolm walked up to the front door and turned the handle. Not surprisingly, it was locked.
"The back door," he whispered to Reese who nodded back. On the left side of the house was an old wooden gate which creaked when the boys opened and closed it behind them. Quickly they both walked down the side of the house but close to the end Reese spotted a window that was open far enough for them both to squeeze through. Helping each other to their feet, they both began to relax and Malcolm surveyed the room they were in. It was a largish room that seemed to be a TV room, minus the TV. Actually, the only piece of furniture that was in the room was a new couch.
"They must be redecorating," joked Malcolm though neither of them laughed. "You hungry? I'm gonna go raid the fridge."
"Not really," Reese murmured. Malcolm looked at his brother and for the first time noticed how pale and tired his face looked. Malcolm assumed that he himself probably didn't look any better.
"Alright, you better go wash your hand in case there's still glass in it. I'll go find a bandage."
"Okay." Reese disappeared out of the room and Malcolm did the same, heading in the direction of the kitchen. Once he'd found it he grabbed and then ate anything that was edible before focussing his attention on finding the medicine cabinet. The small room next to the kitchen was the laundry and Malcolm was relieved to see a first aid kit sitting on the dryer. The Jackson's must have meant to take it with them but accidently left it behind. Grabbing everything he needed plus a quilt Malcolm headed back to the poorly decorated "TV room" at the other end of the house. Reese had beaten him back though and Malcolm found him lying on the couch, seemingly asleep.
"Hey," Malcolm whispered. Reese opened his eyes.
"Oh, I found this," Reese sat up and revealed a flashlight that he had been holding. Malcolm took it from him and turned it on. After being in darkness for so long the light seemed unnaturally bright.
"Okay, hold out your hand," Malcolm ordered as he shone the flashlight in Reese's direction. Reese complied silently and Malcolm wrapped up his hand in a clean bandage. When he was finished he used the new found light to his advantage and examined the couch Reese was sitting on.
"You know, I think this might be a sofa bed."
"Really?" Reese wasn't really interested.
"Yeah, get up and help me pull it out." Reese groaned but did what he was told and soon they were both lying on the bed with the quilt protecting them from the cold. Just as Malcolm thought his brother had dozed off, his brother spoke.
"I wonder what happened to Dad," he said so softly it was almost a whisper. Malcolm wasn't sure how to answer. Just thinking about his father was so painful it felt like a knife was stabbing him in the heart. Of course he didn't know what had really happened but how could he have hope that their father was still alright after hearing all of those gunshots being fired? Back at the abandoned factory Malcolm had noticed that Hal had known exactly what he was doing, and he knew what was going to happen next. The look on his face had said it all. Giving himself up was a sacrifice he needed to make to show his devotion to his family, no matter what the price of his actions were. Hal Wilkerson had never expected to make it through the ambush but his last act of pure selflessness had left the family with hope remaining. The family could still be saved.
"We can't think about that Reese," Malcolm found his voice. "Now get some sleep." When Malcolm received no response he was left to wonder if his brother had already fallen asleep.
Detective Redford sat in his large office, his legs stretched out on his desk and a tooth pick in his mouth, pondering the events of the night before. Even though the case at hand had taken a turn for the worse, he had lost one of his officers, he had still had a good night. He was able to go home and he was able to get a good 8 hours of sleep, unlike all of the officers in his crew. Yes, while he was relaxing at home and dreaming of a chorus line of vacuum cleaners everyone else on the case had been ordered to work all night. Orders that he had given them. The thought of it made him chuckle evilly. In fact, when he had walked in at 6.30 am he had had to stifle a bout of laughter as he watched his tired officers rushing around the place with files in hand or taking never ending phone calls. Life was certainly good for Detective Joseph Redford but it would have been better had he managed to find that certain family. He was broken from his thoughts when there was a knock on the door.
"Detective," the officer named Bannet barged in. "I have something."
"Yes, go on," Redford taunted.
"At precisely 11.51 pm last night there was a 911 call from an elderly woman named Carol reporting a break in at the house across the road from her. I believe that the owners of the house go by the name of Jackson and they have been confirmed as being away for the holidays."
"So," Redford bit down on his tooth pick in annoyance.
"She described the intruders as two teens who match the description of the two teens in our fugitive family." Redford laughed maniacally.
"Gather the men. Let's head out!"
"No, I can't." Malcolm was reluctant.
"Sure you can," she said brightly.
"No, what if I do it wrong?"
"Malcolm, it's easy. All you have to do is lean forward." She was becoming impatient.
"Alright, here goes then," he closed his eyes and leaned towards her.
"Ugh, what's that noise?" she asked, sounding annoyed.
"What noise?" Malcolm's eyes were still closed.
"Those sirens!" Malcolm's eyes jolted open. Instead of seeing the beautiful new girl at school though he saw an unrecognisable room. When the sirens blared through his brain he suddenly remembered everything that happened the previous night. Now seeing the Jackson's house in the light of day made it easier to see that the room next to where he and Reese were sleeping had huge windows. Huge windows that just happened to overlook the front yard which was now occupied by about a dozen police cars. All the police had to do was look through those windows and at the end of the looking glass would be the two teens they had been searching all night for. Malcolm looked over at Reese in panic. Reese was just beginning to wake up, signs of fatigue told Malcolm that he would rather keep sleeping.
"Reese, they've found us! Quick, get up and run!" Malcolm almost shouted. He jumped off the sofa and was nearly out of the room when he noticed that Reese wasn't with him.
"Reese!" Malcolm cried out while spinning around. Reese was still on the sofa, though he was now sitting up on the edge. His head was bowed, making it look like he was thinking.
"What are you doing?" Malcolm almost squealed. Reese looked up at him.
"I have to go," he said calmly.
"What?" Fear gripped Malcolm as he realized what Reese meant. "You mean...out there?" Malcolm pointed towards the front yard. Reese could only nod his head.
"No, I won't let you," Malcolm shook his head vigorously.
"It's okay Malcolm. We both know that you're the only one who can save the family. This is what I have to do." Before Malcolm could string two words together in protest Reese had left the room, the slam of the front door signalling his departure from the house. Malcolm stood frozen to the spot as the sound of firing gunshots started. Looking through the front windows, he struggled to keep the tears from falling when he saw his brother collapse to the ground.
So what did you think? In all honesty I think it could have been written a bit better but it was the best I could come up with and in the end it did go the way I had planned. Next chapter will be the last one and I should hopefully get that one up very soon but in the meantime reviews will be much appreciated :) Thanks for reading!