ASC: Chapter 7

It was a calm, peaceful night here in the little town of Peach Creek. We zoomed in on the Cul-De-Sac, where we could see Alice in her room, looking up a few dates for future releases of video games on her computer.

It had been about two weeks since the Corvin Family killed her parents, forcing Alice to hide from them with Eddy's family, seeing that his dad was also her dad. Even though Eddy was uncertain about the idea of her living here when the news dropped, those fears quickly went away when he realized she was kind of a cool person, even making friends with two other teens from a neighborhood down the street. Since then, he and his sister have been hanging out with their friends every day, enjoying their times together during the summer days before they returned to school, which would no longer be middle school for them. They will be high school students when they go back! Eddy was really excited about the drastic change of going from middle school to high school.

Alice suddenly hears a knock at her door, "Hey, Alice! Can I ask you for a favor?" Eddy asked from behind her door.

"Sure, come on in," Alice said to him as her brother entered the room.

"What kind of favor do you need?" Alice asked.

"I wanted to look up the movies that are playing at the theater," Eddy said as he glanced toward her computer, "It won't take long, promise!"

Alice arched an eyebrow at him, "Okay, just don't pull any of my personal stuff. You know the rules."

"Yeah, yeah, I know!"

Alice got up from her chair so Eddy could sit in it to use her computer. She turned to her clothes drawer and walked over to it, seeing that she had left some of her clothes on the floor by accident. She went to pick them up before putting her clothes in the laundry basket nearby. Alice turned back to Eddy, who had pulled up a webpage for the local movie theater. That was when she noticed exactly what he was trying to find; the viewing times for a recent movie that came out that was getting a lot of rave reviews. It was a romance movie that was rated PG-13.

"… Uh, Eddy?"

Eddy jumped a little at Alice's voice, realizing she was still behind her as he tried to hide the page he pulled up, "Don't scare me like that!"

"Geez, sorry to break your concentration there!" Alice chuckled to him, "Why are you trying to look up things about a romance movie? I'd thought you didn't like that sort of thing."

"H-Hey! I never said I hated them!" Eddy retorted before turning his attention back to the page he was trying to hide, "I was trying to, uh, find some more info about it! Yeah…"

Alice stared at him before realizing what was going on, "Wait a minute, were you planning on taking Jade to see it?"

Eddy recoiled a little at her statement, Alice hit the nail on the head because she was right.

No one had said it out loud, but everyone could tell that Eddy liked Jade. They noticed how they were both acting after the fireworks show on the 4th of July. Eddy seemed less angry, even compared to his change in attitude after the incident with his brother last year. Jade, on the other hand, was slowly opening more to everyone who was not just Reese. It seemed that the two of them being together helped them overcome their weaknesses.

Alice could only laugh when she noticed the look on Eddy's face, "Finally trying to take that next step, aren't you?" she teased.

"Like you're the one to talk!" Eddy retorted with a huff before smirking at her, "I know you got the hots for one of my best friends, so maybe you shouldn't make fun of me for trying to ask her out!"

Alice could feel her face becoming red at what he said, "W-Wha… Who told you that?!" she asked with a small bit of anger, "I haven't said that to anyone! Did you read my journal while I was asleep?!"

Eddy laughed at her reaction, "No, why would I do that? I'm not that nosey! I could tell by your face when we're all hanging out!"

Alice's face was becoming redder; now she was embarrassed, "… It was really that obvious?"

"Yep," Eddy replied, "Though I don't think Double D has said anything about it. I guess he's the one that's, uh… That's kinda out of the loop…"

The two siblings were silent, realizing the awkward situation they put themselves in. They both admitted that they were in love with two of their best friends like it was no big deal… even though it was.

"Geez, we really are a mess, aren't we?"

"Yeah…"

A few more seconds passed by before Eddy made a big smirk, "Hey, I thought of a great idea!" he turned back to the computer screen before pulling up the page for the movie again, "Why don't the four of us go to this movie and a place to eat, but not tell them about it? Make it something special!"

Alice widened her eyes at his suggestion, "Wait, are you being serious?"

"Yeah!" Eddy replied with a big smile, "I can ask Dad tomorrow if I can borrow his card or something… Well, after telling him what we have planned."

"… You know what? Let's do it!" Alice cheered to Eddy with excitement, "Let's make it a surprise double date, just for them!"

They both gave each other a high five, solidifying their plans for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, back in Sunflower Shoal, we zoomed in on the warehouse by the beach. We could see Mr. Fierro standing outside Mr. Corvin's office, waiting for his boss to arrive.

Over the past two weeks, Mr. Fierro was occasionally contacted by Mr. Macintosh on his progress in finding Mr. Anderson's daughter. According to his findings, Alice was probably in a secure location in Savannah, but he could not exactly determine where she would be in the city… Or so he said.

Mr. Fierro soon heard a ping from his cell phone. He took it out of his shirt pocket to see who was emailing him. It was a man named Bill Hershey, a high-ranking police officer who was secretly loyal to the Corvin Family, giving them information from time to time when he could. He was the rumored 'mole' the police were trying to find and track down.

Mr. Fierro began to read the email that Bill sent to him, his face kept morphing more and more into a frown as he did. Several things were being revealed to him in this email, as well as bringing up a few questions and possibilities he had never considered before.

"… Well, that's certainly an interesting turn," Mr. Fierro muttered after reading the email, "Who would have thought…"

It was a few minutes after reading the email that he pocketed his phone. He could see Mr. Corvin approaching him, "I assume you have more information about our target?" he asked.

"Yes, Mr. Corvin," Mr. Fierro replied with a nod.

The two men entered the office as Mr. Corvin went to sit at his desk, "Tell me, what's the status on finding the girl?"

"According to Mr. Hershey, it seems she is currently living in a little town called Peach Creek; it is only about an hour's drive away from here," Mr. Fierro explained, "She was taken in by a man named Luis McGee and, according to the records that were dug up, he is her biological father. Alice was born to him and Marisa with Alvin's blessings, due to Mr. Anderson having a medical condition that prevented him from having a child. Mr. McGee was Mr. Anderson's friend."

Mr. Fierro pulled his cell phone back out, showing a few photos in the email he received. In the photo was Alice, along with a few other teenagers her age, "Our records show that Mr. McGee has two sons. An older son who moved away from Peach Creek and a younger son named Eddy, who was born around the same time as Alice. This is a picture of them with their friends…" he switched the photo to zoom in on Alice and Double D.

"It seems she quite attached to this young man…" he then zoomed in on Eddy, who was sitting next to Jade, "Her brother also has a friend he cares for."

Mr. Corvin examined the photos shown to him before locking his eyes on the photo with Alice and Double D. He widened his dark green eyes in shock before quickly brushing that feeling aside, 'This boy…'

Mr. Corvin looked at Mr. Fierro, "Tell me about the boy in this photo with Alice. Do we know his name?"

"I believe his name is Eddward Johnson, Mr. Corvin," Mr. Fierro replied.

"… You noticed my younger brother's appearance with this boy as well, didn't you?"

"How could I not? He looks just like Vincent when he was alive; I can even see your cheekbones around his face. They're the same, sir."

Mr. Corvin sighed a little, looking back at the picture, "It seems he and Erica had a child when he ran away with her."

"The boy must have survived the fire on the night they died," Mr. Fierro stated, "If I had known about him, I would have brought your nephew to you."

"… It matters not," Mr. Corvin said before glaring at Double D in the photo again, "I will give him a chance to join our ranks. If he refuses… Well, I'm not against the idea of letting him die the same way his father did."

"Right… there is something else in this email I need to mention," Mr. Fierro stated, "It seems our newest member's last name is not Macintosh."

"Oh…?"

"His real name is Evan McGee, sir. He's an undercover officer working for Sunflower Shoal," Mr. Fierro continued to explain, "It's very impressive that his past and real occupation was being covered up for so long until now. Apologies for not noticing it sooner."

"… McGee, you say…" Mr. Corvin stated, "That's the last name of Alice's real father, correct?"

"Yes, we've confirmed that Evan McGee is the older son I mentioned before; he's Alice's older half-brother," Mr. Fierro replied, "About a year ago, he was tasked with finding out who our insider was at the station by going undercover; and yet he still failed to find Mr. Hersey," he made a chuckle to himself, "He was too late to help save Mr. Anderson from his fate. What a fool."

"I see, this would be a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone," Mr. Corvin looked back at the email before making a smirk, "I want you and a few others to find and bring these kids here to our warehouse; potentially to lure 'Mr. Macintosh' here so we can dispose of him."

He looked back at the picture again, looking at the girl sitting next to Eddy, "While I want Alice to be of use to our business, I suggest you avoid selling her off when we find her," he gestured to the other girl in the photo, "You already know what to do with this girl; she needs an evaluation for the services she will be doing. If she fails, we will dispose of her, just like the others."

Mr. Fierro smirked back to his boss in agreement, "Consider it done."

Author's Note (March 30th, 2024): Huh, I got this chapter out faster than I thought I would.

Also... Just a heads up, I'm not changing the rating of this story from T to M. While it hints about terrible things at the end of this chapter, I'm jumping ahead to say that these things won't actually happen. They're just bringing it up because they are awful human beings that need to die in a fire. Maybe it's safer to say that this story will be like a T[Plus]?

Either way, I WILL give warnings on things that will make people uncomfortable, don't worry about that.