ASC: Chapter 8
It was now the afternoon in Peach Creek as we came back to the area of the Cul-De-Sac. Inside the woods nearby, there was a lake that kids usually hung around for fun. It was here where we could see Double D, Eddy, and Alice. The group decided to meet up here to pass the time while they were waiting for Jade to arrive.
"So… remind me why we are out here again?" Double D asked his friends, "I know the lake is a nice spot to hang out at, but we're not exactly taking a swim here today."
"Oh, you'll see!" Eddy replied with a mischievous grin.
Alice glanced over to Double D before making a small smile. Today was the day they were going to put their secret plan into motion for Double D and Jade; a surprise double date to the movies and a place to eat!
They also thought about inviting Ed and Reese with them to make it a triple date but decided against it because they knew this kind of thing was not something they would do. Eddy and Alice did tell them their plans for today, saying to them that they should all meet up here before the rest of them left to see the movie.
'Honestly, I think Ed and Reese only like each other as friends. No need to try and make it awkward by making this a triple date,' Alice thought, 'I could also be wrong on that too, but I don't know.'
Only a few minutes passed by before the group could see Jade walking toward them from the woods. Eddy made a big smile when he saw her, "Hello," Jade greeted to them with a small wave and a smile as she approached their side, "What do you have planned today?"
"It's a surprise for now, but you'll find out once Ed and Reese get here," Eddy stated with a snicker, much to the confusion of Double D and Jade.
A few minutes passed by with the four teens, waiting for Ed and Reese to arrive. As they were waiting Double D began to take out his cell phone from his pocket, unlocking the screen to it to look at something on the weather app. He could see that the temperature right now was still warm, but it seemed a bit colder today than a typical summer day, especially for a day in the middle of July. He then pulled up his contacts at that moment, looking to see if his parents had called him while he was there…
Suddenly, the group of teens heard some rustling leaves from the woods nearby, 'Seems like Ed and Reese finally got here,' Alice thought to herself with a small chuckle.
That was when the teens heard a bunch of deep laughs coming from the woods; the laughs were not from Ed or Reese. Double D widened his eyes as a sense of dread came over him. He quickly looked at his phone to pull up Evan's contact information before setting his phone screen down to where it could not be easily seen by whoever was there, turning off the sound and screen.
Of course, the other teens heard the voices from the woods too, instantly freezing up in fright. Double D was the one who did not panic instantly.
"Who's there?!" Eddy yelled at the voices as he snapped out of his fright.
Four men wearing all-black attire emerged from the woods nearby, getting the jump on the teens. They each had thick ropes on them, as well as clothed bandannas. The four men acted quickly in detaining the stunned teenagers, each of them was screaming out for help as they were being tied up from both their legs and upper bodies.
Eddy was struggling the most to try and set himself free. Jade looked to be horrified by the situation while Double D kept his eyes on his phone that he hid near him, hoping the men who tied them up would not see it. Eddy and Alice were separated from Double D and Jade like they knew who to target and keep separate.
The four teens soon heard footsteps near them, a fifth man was coming out of the woods: Mr. Fierro.
Alice widened her eyes at the man as she began to struggle even more than Eddy was, violently trying to get out of her restraints, "Y-YOU! You're the man who—"
"Hello, Alice. It seems like you remember me from last month when I visited your house," greeted Mr. Fierro, "The name's William Fierro. I'm Mr. Corvin's right-hand man who helps him with any tasks that need to be done, no matter what it is."
The other teens widened their eyes in shock as Alice was still trying to get to the man in front of her, "You killed my parents!" Alice yelled at him in anger. Eddy was also still trying to get to him just like her.
Mr. Fierro laughed at both Eddy and Alice's behavior, "Now, now. Let's all lower our voices," he then gestured to Double D and Jade, "You two don't want anything bad to happen to your friends, do you?"
Alice and Eddy could only glare at the man as they stopped struggling; the look in Eddy's eyes was harsh and chilling to look at, he was beyond pissed off, "Don't you DARE do anything to hurt them!" Eddy shouted at him.
"E-Eddy…" Jade muttered to him in horror. The man who tied up Jade began to wrap the bandanna he had around her mouth so she could scream or yell.
"D-Don't worry Jade!" Eddy began to say when he noticed the man who had tied him up was also about to put the bandanna around his mouth, "I won't let them hurt you, a-and I'll get us out of this mess, I promise!"
Eddy could see tears in Jade's eyes from what he said before his mouth was wrapped up, preventing him from speaking again. He could see she was scared, and it tore him up inside that he could do nothing to help her.
Alice could feel the man who tied her up was putting the bandanna around her mouth as well. She looked at Double D, who was about to have his mouth wrapped too…
"Wait a moment," Mr. Fierro stated to the man who tied up Double D as he took the bandanna he had, "I need to examine him for a second."
Mr. Fierro bent down to Double D's eye level, much to his discomfort, "So, it really is true, huh…"
Double D became even more nervous than before as the man started to examine him around his face, "W-What… What do you want with me?" he asked in fright.
"… Your real parents died in a fire when you were seven, am I right?" Mr. Fierro began to say to him, "I didn't know you were in the house with them. You're a very lucky kid."
Double D stared at the man in front of him before the realization hit him at what he said, "Y-You… I remember you! You came to visit them on that day! I remembered the shouts and screams they were saying to you b-before…!"
The other three teens there widened their eyes at the conversation that was happening.
"Hah, you even got a good memory too. Ain't that something," Mr. Fierro chuckled before raising the bandanna to Double D's mouth as he began to wrap it, "Here's some pretty good news for you, kid. Your uncle is waiting to see you back at his office. I'll personally take you to see Mr. Corvin so you can talk about your dad."
Double D widened his eyes in sheer horror at what the man said, trying to ask him what he meant but could not do so without it being muffled under the bandanna.
Before Mr. Fierro could take any of the teens away, Double D used what he could of his feet to weakly kick his cell phone to a place where someone could easily see it. Mr. Fierro noticed what he was doing but only laughed at him, "Hah, it's a shame you're all tied up. Can't make a call that way," he mocked.
The four teens were then dragged away from the area of the lake with the only thing left behind was Double D's cell phone, 'Oh, I'm so happy that Ed and Reese ran late! I really hope they see my phone on the ground when they get there!' Double D thought to himself, 'He knows the passcode for my phone, so when opens it, he can see Evan's contact info… I just hope he gets the hint to call him for help!'
The four teens were dragged toward a van that was parked right outside the woods. Before they were shoved inside, the four men took a rag of some kind out of their pockets. They put the rags up against the teen's mouths and noses. It was a rag soaked in chloroform, making them instantly pass out from having to forcefully inhale it. The teens were tossed inside the van before the five men hopped in with them, driving off to Sunflower Shoal…
No one was around to see what had happened. Fifteen minutes passed by very quickly as Ed and Reese arrived at the lake.
"… Huh, where is everyone?" Ed questioned himself, noticing his friends were not there, "Did we get here at the wrong time?"
Reese looked around the area as well, only to see a cell phone on the ground near them. They walked over to it to pick it up before realizing it was Double D's phone, "… Ed, can come here for a sec?"
Ed went over to Reese to see if they had found Double D's phone. He began to make a worried face, knowing his friend would never leave his phone or anything he owned behind on the ground like this.
Reese handed him the cell phone, "Do you know his passcode?"
Ed nodded his head, "Yeah," he replied as he put in his friend's passcode, unlocking his phone. They could see that he had pulled up a contact beforehand like he wanted to call them for some reason.
"Evan McGee?" Reese questioned, "Who the heck is that?"
Ed stared at the name for a second before realizing who this was, "Uh, that's Eddy's last name. Is it his brother?"
"Huh, Eddy has a brother?" Reese asked with surprise, "I didn't know that."
Without thinking much about it, Ed began to call the number Double D pulled up, putting him on speaker phone for Reese. It did not take long for the other person to answer him, "Hello?"
"Whoa, is that really you, Mr. Eddy's brother?" Ed asked in confusion, "Why are you in Double D's phone?"
"… This is an emergency number to contact me with, kid," Evan stated in a serious tone, "Is something going on?"
"S-Sorry for calling you like this, umm, sir," Reese started to say to him in a worried tone, "We were going to meet up with our four friends here near the lake near the Cul-De-Sac, but they're not around, and Double D's cell phone is the only thing here… This isn't like them."
There was an intense pause on the other line.
"… Listen, I want you two to stay calm and listen to what I'm gonna say here," Evan began to say, "I'll find them and bring them home safely."
Both Ed and Reese looked at each other with concern, quickly realizing this situation was a very serious one…
Author's Note (March 30th, 2024): Short chapter is short, but I thought this was a good stopping point for it before the important things begin to happen next chapter.
