ASC: Chapter 9
"… GOD. DAMMIT!"
Evan slammed his fist into the building beside him in frustration after he hung up on the call he received from his brother's friend. He was currently out in downtown Peach Creek, trying to keep an eye on things. But after he got there to get something to eat and get some gas for his car, that was when he received the call.
He should have been more careful! He should have stayed there a little longer to see that the Corvin Family was there! He should have been by his family's side to help them!
Evan quickly ran back to his car before looking at his phone and going onto his contact list to call his partner about the case. They picked up right away, "E-Evan?"
"Rebecca, the Corvin Family found out where Alice was located! They took her and my brother somewhere along with two of their friends!" Evan began to explain to her as he cracked up his car and buckled his seatbelt, "You need to contact both the Peach Creek and Sunflower Shoal police departments for help! I have an idea of where they might be; the Corvin Family owns a warehouse by the beach in Sunflower Shoal, near the fairgrounds there! I'm on my way there now before anything can happen to them!"
"Of course! I'll contact them right now! But…" Rebecca paused for a second, "Please be careful, Evan. This is the Corvin Family we are dealing with! They will do anything to get what they want… So, don't do anything drastic."
"… I know, don't worry about me, Becca. Bye," Evan replied to her before hanging up, making a small smile to himself from hearing her voice after so long.
Evan and Rebecca met when they both became police officers around the same time. They were dating for about a year before Evan was promoted to his current position. Sadly, this meant they could not hang around each other; he could only call her if it was related to police business or the case. They still considered themselves a couple, even now, but it did sting that they could not talk to each other normally since he was undercover.
Evan made a determined face as he began to drive down the street toward the highway, heading to the warehouse by the beach. Because 'his boss' Mr. Fierro did not inform him that they found Alice, it was clear to him that they also found out that he was an undercover cop, meaning someone on the force blew his cover. He could assess that the mole must be an officer who was a higher rank than him since those kinds of officers were some of the only people on the force to be informed that he was currently undercover inside the Corvin Family.
He decided to set that aside for now about the mole in the police, despite being one of the reasons he was assigned to this case in the first place. His family and their friends were in danger right now; they could be hurt, killed, sexually assaulted, or sold off to a faraway place…
'If that happens to any of them, I will NEVER forgive myself! I need to save them!'
Thirty minutes later, at the warehouse by the beach, we could see Mr. Corvin sitting at his desk before leaving his chair. He had just received word that Mr. Fierro had returned with his targets. He requested that the boy wearing the beanie be separated from Alice. Double D was to be placed in another office room so he could talk to him while both Eddy and Jade were taken outside toward a cliffside located in between the warehouse and the fairground.
Mr. Corvin began to make his way to the office room that held his nephew first. After greeting Mr. Fierro, who was standing guard outside, they both went inside the office, seeing that the boy had already come to from being knocked out. He was currently not tied up, due to their assessment that he was not very strong to try and make any breaks for it. Double D saw the men enter the room, trembling a little even though he glared at their presence.
Mr. Corvin walked over to him, examining him with his eyes, much to Double D's anxiety once again, "So then, you must be Vincent's son," he stated as he bent down to his eyes level, "I can't believe he had a son with that woman and refused to tell me. How typical of him."
"I-I… don't know what y-you're talking about…" Double D stuttered, not even calling him 'sir', as he would usually do when talking to someone older than him, "Who are you…?"
"Hah, playing ignorant with me, are you?" Mr. Corvin chuckled, "I'm the head of the Corvin Family, Reuben Corvin."
Double D grew pale in the face, swallowing his nerves in fear toward the man. He had a feeling that this man was Mr. Corvin, the leader of the mafia that kidnapped him and his friends… But why was this man treating him differently than his friends?
"Your name is Eddward, correct?" Mr. Corvin asked as he gestured to Mr. Fierro, "My right-hand man told me you were in your house on the night your real parents died," he looked back to the boy, smirking at him, "I asked him to dispose of them like the traitors they were. My apologies for not realizing you were there when I made the order."
Double D could feel his blood run cold at the man's words, "T… T-Traitors…?"
"Yes," Mr. Corvin stated with a nod of his head, "Back then, they were called Vincent and Erica Peters on paper. But Vincent took his wife's last name when they married, to hide from us and live a normal life like cowards."
Mr. Corvin sat up from where he was, "Vincent was my younger brother, meaning that you're my nephew, Eddward."
That sentence made Double D's heart sink into his stomach; his body grew even paler at the revelation. He did not know what to say back in response.
"Now that we are more acquainted with each other, I have a little proposal for you," Mr. Corvin began to say to him, "It seems that you care a lot about Alice Anderson, do you not?"
Double D widened his eyes at the man, looking up at him as his pale face was now regaining its natural color from the blush that was forming.
"You know Mr. Fierro was the one who took care of her parents; she saw him gun them down, meaning she is a witness that needs to also be taken care of," Mr. Corvin continued to explain, "But, now that I know I have a nephew that can take care of her, I'm willing to give you both a chance to live; to work for us together."
Double D was silent as the man looked at him, awaiting his response, "… No, I would never work for you, not in a million years," Double D told the man, narrowing his eyes at him in anger, "You are the reason our parents our dead. What in your right mind would make you think we would EVER work for you!"
Double D stood up from where he sat, his body still shaking in fright, but also from anger and rage, "A-And I'm sure Alice feels the same way as I do. Her sense of justice is strong, just like her father's," he could feel his hands curl up into a fist, "I-I…" he glared at the man once again, tears were streaming down his face, "Take my life instead of hers! PLEASE, LET MY FRIENDS GO!"
Mr. Corvin glared back at the teen boy, furrowing his brow even further, "I see you're also stubborn like your father."
He motioned Mr. Fierro to come to his side, "Consider your request as 'pending', Eddward," he turned to Mr. Fierro, "You know of the older warehouse building we don't use anymore… Use it now for what needs to be done. Reenact the night he lost his parents for me."
Double D could feel his skin crawl from that sentence, realizing what was going to happen next. He could feel Mr. Fierro grab onto his wrists, "Come on now, let's try and make this quick and painless."
Mr. Corvin watched as his right-hand man took the boy away, "… Now then, it's time for me to visit Alice's brother and his friend by the cliffside," he chuckled to himself before he left the room.
Several minutes later, in a room not that far away from Mr. Corvin's main office, we could see Alice, who was lying down on a couch in the room. She was beginning to wake up, having a massive headache as she did.
"What happened…?" Alice muttered as she placed her hand on her forehead before looking at her surroundings.
She widened her eyes in horror, remembering what happened a moment ago at the lake, "Oh no…"
Alice quickly got up from the couch to run over to the door nearby, only to see that it was locked from the other side. Alice began to panic about what was going on; she was now separated from her friends who were also taken. They could be hurt right now, or worse!
It was then that she noticed a window nearby, seeing that she was on ground level in this building they put her in; it looked like the window did not have any bars around it. Alice looked around the room to find something heavy for her to throw. Her eyes locked onto a folding chair sitting nearby; perfect!
Alice picked up the folding chair before running over to the window. She began to slam the chair against the window, trying to break it so she could escape this room. Thankfully, the window did not stand a chance against the folding chair, the glass of the window eventually shattered!
Alice made a sigh of relief before she proceeded to escape the room through the window, trying to be careful about all the broken glass around it, 'I need to find everyone! I don't want anyone to die!'
Alice began to run around to the front of the building, hoping she could enter it normally to find where her friends were. But as she was running, she spotted Mr. Fierro, who was walking towards a warehouse nearby with two big gasoline cans in his hands.
Alice felt a chill go down her spine from seeing the man but followed him to see what he was up to, thinking he could lead her to her friends. He came to a halt in front of the warehouse up ahead, opening the cans of gasoline before pouring them all over the entrance door and the walls of the warehouse. Right as Alice arrived there to see what he was doing, Mr. Fierro pulled out a match to light it, throwing it onto the gasoline he poured out on the building. The entrance of the building was now on fire!
Alice widened her eyes in horror, 'Oh no, oh no, oh no! OH GOD!'
She began to run to the other side of the now burning warehouse, praying to herself there was another way inside it. Thankfully, there was a window located at the back of the warehouse, but it was slightly out of reach for her to try and get to… But Alice was determined to get to it, she just needed a platform to help her jump to the window!
Alice saw a wooden crate near the side of the warehouse. She began to push the wooden crate to put it underneath the window, which she did very quickly. Before she decided to jump out the window, Alice looked around again to see if there was anything nearby to help her break in, only to see a small brick lying on the ground close to her. She picked up the brick in her hands as she climbed up the wooden crate, jumping up to the window and pulling herself up to smash it with the brick! She could get in now!
Alice quickly climbed her way inside the warehouse through the window, falling a little to the ground with a thud because it was a little high up like it was outside. She did not land in any of the broken glass from the window.
"Ouch…" Alice groaned before getting back on her feet. She looked around to notice that the fire that Mr. Fierro made was spreading faster than she thought it would! The whole front of the warehouse was on fire, the smoke and heat were starting to become worse on the inside.
That was when she noticed who was in his warehouse. Her heart almost came to a halt at the person who was sitting and coughing on the ground close by, trying to stay away from the flames, "Double D!" Alice cried out as she ran over to him.
Double D widened his eyes in shock when he heard and saw who was here, "A-Alice!" Double D gasped before making a loud cough from all the smoke.
Once Alice was by his side, she gave him a very tight hug, "Y-You're alright! Oh, thank god you're safe!" she cried to him in relief.
Double D could feel himself blushing from her hug before bracing her back in support, 'Alice…'
The two stayed in their hug for a second before standing up, "Are you the only one in here, Double D?" Alice asked.
"Y-Yes, I'm the only. Eddy and Jade must be somewhere else," Double D replied before making a panicked face, "Alice, we need to find a way to escape! B-But I don't know if—"
"We can escape!" Alice stated back as she gestured to the window she broke, "I got in here through that window! We just need to find something to stand on and climb out that way!"
Double D widened his eyes a little before narrowing them in determination, "Y-Yes, let's find a platform to get to it, quickly!"
The two teens looked around the area of the warehouse they were in, seeing if there was anything in there that could help them get back to the window. Thankfully, Alice found a step ladder nearby that could help!
"Double D! I found a step ladder we can use!" Alice called out to him as she placed the step ladder towards the window, only for him to not immediately reply to her.
A sense of panic began to form inside Alice until she heard a few rough coughs from Double D nearby. He was walking back over to her, but she could tell the smoke and heat from the fire were taking a toll on him, "I-I…"
Alice ran over to Double D before he could collapse on the ground, "We can get out of here now! J-Just hang on to me, Double D!"
Despite being shorter than him, Alice was a lot stronger than she looked. She began to lift Double D to help him lay up against her back before walking to the step ladder, climbing it with him still up against her back. He continued to viscerally cough from the smoke he inhaled, much to her worry. She knew that was not good, but she had to get them both out of there!
Once Alice reached the top of the step ladder, she proceeded to lift Double D off her back and shoulders to help him reach the window above them, "The landing will be a little rough, brace yourself!"
Alice used all her strength to toss Double D towards the window so he could grab onto it. Thankfully, he did grab the ledge, despite what little strength he had left. He lifted himself to climb out the window, yelping a little once he exited from it.
Alice made a sigh with relief, at least he would be safe now, but now was not the time to celebrate! She hopped back up to the window again to exit it, landing her feet back on the ground on the other side once she did.
Alice was breathing heavily from what just happened, the adrenaline she felt was still going through her body. She turned to see Double D, who had landed inside the wooden crate, destroying the lid to it; he did not jump or fall far enough from the window to avoid crashing into it.
Alice went over to Double D, "Are you alright?!" she asked with worry.
Double D continued to cough before replying, "Y-Yes, I'm okay…"
Alice helped Double D back onto his feet, he looked to be okay, besides the few bruises he received from being tossed out the window just now.
He continued to cough loudly from the smoke he inhaled, "We need to find the others and call for help!" Alice started to say to Double D before noticing he was trying his best to stay strong in front of her, "I…"
Double D could feel his knees begin to buckle underneath him before he was caught by Alice, preventing him from collapsing to the ground again, "Hey, don't push yourself!" she said to him.
"A-Alice… I left my cell phone behind at the lake after I pulled up Evan's contact information," Double D began to say, still coughing, "I had a feeling if I left it behind, Ed or Reese would find it and see I was trying to call him. I-I just hope they got the message that something happened to us…"
Double D could feel Alice hugging him again, "I'm sure they did! They know you would never leave something like that behind without a good reason…" Alice said to him. She bit her bottom lip in nervousness, "I wish I could have thought of that at the moment, but I panicked like everyone else! You're always so smart while I'm always the brash one… It kind of makes me jealous."
'Alice…' Double D thought in shock before hugging her back, even tighter than she was doing to him, much to her surprise, "Listen, you shouldn't dwell on your weaknesses like that; everyone has flaws! A-And yet… even so…" he could feel himself blushing at what he was going to say, closing his eyes as he did, "You're perfect as you are, Alice. You don't need to change anything."
Alice widened her eyes at his words, blushing redder than Double D was, 'Oh god… H-He DOES like me? I thought it was just me and my dumb brain! Should I say anything back?! I-I don't even know what to say!'
There was a small pause between the two teens with them both still in their hug, "Double D, I…"
BANG!
Double D widened his eyes as he opened them to the loud sound, a gunshot was heard very close to them. He felt Alice jolt a little in front of him before she screamed out in pain, gripping Double D with her hands even tighter. Double D could feel something dripping onto his hands from behind her back, blood was beginning to gush out from a bullet wound; she was just shot.
"A-Alice!" Double D cried as she collapsed on top of him.
Double D looked up to see Mr. Fierro standing quite a few feet away from them, a revolver was in his right hand, pointing it at them.
"I didn't expect Alice to free herself from where she was, let alone go into the warehouse to save you from the fire," Mr. Fierro stated, "It's very brave of her, if not dumb and foolish. I can respect that."
Mr. Fierro began to walk over to them, "Ironically, you two will die by my hands, just like both of your parents did."
Double D could only glare at the man while holding onto Alice, who he could feel was getting weaker and weaker by the second.
Suddenly, Mr. Fierro stopped in his tracks from approaching them any further. Double D could see him spazzing out before collapsing to the ground, much to his shock.
"Move in and secure the suspect before he recovers!" shouted a voice nearby, "Check on the victims too!"
Double D could see a few dozen policemen start to approach them. They had used a long-distance taser gun when Mr. Fierro was not looking to take him down.
Three policemen approached Mr. Fierro, one of them had handcuffs on him, "William Fierro, you are under arrest for the murder of Alvin and Marisa Anderson," one of the men began to read his Miranda Rights to him as they cuffed him.
Another police officer ran over to Double D and Alice before taking out a walkie-talkie when he noticed Alice's condition, "We need some medical assistance here! A girl has been shot in the back and is bleeding very badly! Please hurry, over and out!"
The policeman bent down to the two teens, "Don't worry, we have an ambulance nearby. Just stay calm."
"T-Thank you officer…" Double D replied before looking down at Alice, who he still had in his arms in a hug.
Even though the thought of having blood on his hands right now horrified him because of how unsanitary it was, Double D did not care about it. Trying to help Alice stay alive was more important to him than staying clean from what happened.
Double D looked back at the officer next to him, "A-Are my two other friends alright?! They are also here somewhere…"
The police officer looked at Double D, not exactly sure how to break the news to him before deciding to be honest with him, "They're… both gone. I'm sorry for your loss."
Double D could feel his body begin to grow numb at what he heard.
"T-That's… That's impossible!" Double D said to himself in denial as tears started to form in his eyes, "They can't be dead! That c-can't… happen to them…"
The officer stayed silent as Double D began to cry; the officer's words finally hit him like a truck. He knew someone of the law would not have a reason to lie about something this serious, 'Eddy… Jade…'
Author's Note (March 31st, 2024): ... I hate that tomorrow is April Fools Day. Not because I hate the holiday (I'm indifferent to it), but the fact the chapter ends like this and what happens in the next chapter would probably make people go, "DID YOU PLAN THAT FOR THIS DAY TO PSYCHE US OUT?!" And I'm like, "NO! I planned all this weeks ago! It's just bad timing!"
Big oof.
