There was a short knock at the door. Mr. and Mrs. Studd both looked up as the sun was low beneath the horizon.

  “Please tell me that was one of them.” Mrs. Studd rushed over to the door, swinging it open. No one was there. Mr Studd peered outside before grabbing Mrs. Studd, pulling her urgently inside, and slamming the door shut behind him.

  “I saw something. I need my gun,” Mr. Studd replied as he grabbed his wife.

  “Is it them?” Mrs. Studd was perplexed, her voice low and hushed.

  Once they were upstairs, he reached up to grab his dreamcatcher. He grabbed its bullets, shoving them into his pocket. He then reached further back towards the shelf to grab a small pistol that he kept hidden, handing it to Mrs. Studd.

  “We don’t have much of a chance, do we?” Mrs. Studd asked, handling the gun comfortably.

  “Don’t say that,” Mr. Studd answered as they headed back downstairs.

  “Watch the windows,” he said on high alert. He could sense the danger surrounding him. He looked over at his wife; she was braver than he was. That gave him strength.

  “Stay behind the couch, I saw the faintest outline of a man in the shadows.” There were many bushes and trees outside, casting shadows in every direction. Someone could be hiding in plain sight, completely undetected. Mr. Studd crouched down as he loaded a bullet into the gun, cocking it once and pointing towards the door. Mrs. Studd lay down behind the couch, also pointing her gun towards the door.

  He pushed the door, allowing it to slowly swing the rest of the way open. It let out a low droning creek, the hinges slowly scraping metal against metal. His eyes were trained on the door, unmoving. Once the door was all the way open, Mr.Studd muttered, “Look at that.” There was a red dot across the street. It was about four feet off the ground, perfectly lined up.

  “I can’t see the bastards.” Mr.Studd aimed over the couch, firing a warning shot before ducking back down. He quickly worked his hand into his pocket, popping another bullet into the chamber, cocking it, aiming, and firing across the street. Everything stayed silent except for the echoing gunshot.

  “I think I might have got one.” Mr.Studd said, squinting into the darkness. “Did you see that?” Mr. Studd asked before looking down at his wife. She lay motionless on the ground, the gun lying on top of her outstretched palm. “Are you ok?” Mr.Studd asked, shaking her with one hand. She didn’t respond, lying there motionless. Mr. Studd felt a sense of dread as he set down his gun to flip over his wife. On the back of her shirt, there was a speck of blood. He flipped her over, checking her pulse. She still had a pulse, and he felt slightly relieved. Mr Studd shook her vigorously before whispering, “Come on, please, I need you to wake up.”

  There was a creek that echoed inside the house. Mr. Studd scrambled across the floor, reloading the gun as quickly as possible. With the loaded gun, he looked up to see the silhouette of a Blue standing in the frame of the door. Mr. Studd fired his gun, causing the Blue in front of him to fall to the ground. But, there was already another Blue inside the house. He had crept up behind Mr Studd. The Blue pulled the trigger, releasing a quiet strike that struck the back of Mr. Studd's head. He fell to the ground lifeless. After a couple of seconds, his breathing returned.

  Ten Blues came from out of the shadows, walking into the house. One of the men reached down, shaking the Blue that lay across the door frame. The man groaned before he rolled over to the side as the other Blues pulled him to his feet. The man grumbled, rubbing his chest in pain.

  The Blues suits were equipped to cauterize any wounds.

  “That hurt, what took you so long?” the Blue said, slightly hunched over. “There wiped,” the Blue said, letting out a sigh. He looked over at the Blue, still rubbing his chest, before saying, “I didn’t know that you were stupid enough to stand in the doorway like that. Why didn’t you move?”

  “I dunno, I didn’t think he would reload that fast. What do we do with them?” The Blue asked, frustratedly.

  The other Blue looked over at him, “You don’t pay attention to anything, do you? We're supposed to leave them and search the house.”

  The other Blues turned on their flashlights, each one emitting a different colored light.

  One of them snapped, “Chance and Chase, will you two please shut the fuck up and start searching the house.

  Chase was still rubbing his chest as he walked over to Chance, “Hey, how does The Minds always work better for you than me? Was I integrated before you? I felt good walking over to the door, and then the next thing I knew, I was shot.”

  “Probably because it knew that I would get him when you walked through the door. You have to remember we molded our minds to fit this job, which means finding the fastest way to solve any problem, even if we get shot. You're fine, stop whining.” Chance flicked on his flashlight to a blue light while Chase's was green. The two of them headed toward the kitchen, shining their lights on the various kitchen appliances and cabinets.

  “Wait, so why are we leaving the bodies here?” Chase asked.

  “As I said, I don’t know any more than you do.” Chance's flashlight caused one of the cabinets to glow. He walked over to it and opened the cabinet. It was filled to the brim. The bottom of the drawer was glowing. He reached down past the utensils and pulled the loose bottom off. Everything spilled over the sides as they crashed against the floor. The noise rattled through the house.

  “Damn, someone’s going to hear that,” Chase said, walking over to where Chance was. Wrapped in a series of plastic, and there was a very small drive.

  “You're acting like they didn’t hear the gunshot,” Chase asked. “You're too stupid to be my brother. Who do you think someone would call? Us?” Chance pocketed the chip before one of the Blues from upstairs shouted out that they were leaving.

  “I don’t know, but it's green, so we have to give it to our commanding officer.”

  “I’ve never seen green before. I think it's classified technology. Highly valuable. Probably worth a lot on the market.”

  Chance turned to his brother, “Hush, don’t say that kind of shit. You will get us repurposed.

  Chance shrugged, “I still know that buyer, it would get us out of this shitty job.

  They walked back into the living room, where most of the other Blues were gathered. One of the Blues pointed towards Mr. Studd, “Chase, flipped his body over.”

  “Aw, man, I don’t want to do that,” Chase whispered to Chance before he walked over to Mr. Studd, grabbing him by his arms and flipping him over to his back.

  Chase walked over to his commanding officer, the Blue, who was standing in the center of the room. A phone began to ring somewhere within the house. Some of the Blues paused for a second before they followed their commander outside, closing the door behind them.

  “Bad time to call, I guess,” Chase said to Chance.

  At the CelTec building, Chuck Thorne sat with his back against the wall at the entrance of the building. The blood had hardened onto his skin. The Minds made sure he couldn't feel that pain. There was a soft voice that spoke back to him through his thoughts. It sounded unnaturally human.

  “The Studds,” the Minds said to him.

  “Fuck,” Chuck Thorne muttered to himself, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone and dialing the number. It rang several times over and over, eventually going to voicemail. Chuck Thorne squeezed his phone tightly. “How many times did they call me? ”

  “Seven,” The Minds responded.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Ralphie's tracker said they were an hour away from being back at their house. They skipped the reporter, he thought to himself, but it was still enough time to get what he needed done. Chuck Thorne walked out of the building the workers around him were sorting people into piles of dead or repurposed.

  His car was a sleek black with tinted windows. The inside had sleek white seats. As soon as Chuck Thorne buckled his seatbelt, the car took off by itself, speeding down the road. The car didn’t have a steering wheel, nor did it have pedals. The entire car was controlled by The Minds. Chuck Thorne spent most of the time looking down at his phone, occasionally looking up.

  When Chuck Thorne got to the Studds' house, the Minds immediately cued into the smell of gunpowder by eliminating all other smells. Chuck Thorne knocked on the door before taking a couple of steps back.

  “Cliff,” Chuck Thorne yelled out. He knew there had been a fight; he could feel it. He went to the side of the house, peering in through one of the windows. All of the lights were off in the house.

  “The back door will be unlocked,” The Minds said to him. Chuck Thorne made his way to the back door, stepping through the tall shrubs.

  “Fuck,” he said to himself as he saw Cliff and Mrs. Studds's bodies lying on the floor. Chuck Thorne ran over to them, getting down on his knees.

  There were no tears that ran down Chuck Thornes's face. They lay there motionless except for their steady breathing. Chuck Thorne already knew what had happened, but he still reached into his pocket, grabbing what looked like a pen with a flat top. The flat top was digital and had three black dots.

  He clicked the device, and a small needle came out of the other side. He then inserted the small needle into the side of Cliff’s neck. The digital panel displayed 100% it beeped for a couple of seconds before the number dropped down to 0%.

  He sat down, scooting a little bit back from Mr. and Mrs. Studd. He tucked his legs into his chest, burying his face in his arms and letting out a gigantic sigh. He stayed like that for a couple of minutes before looking up at their bodies lying there.

  “I’m so sorry,” Chuck Thorne said to them softly. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked tired.

  “Take them back,” The Minds said. Chuck Thorne took another minute before he nodded softly. It only took a couple of seconds, but the redness in his eyes slowly faded away. He lost the look of being tired and instead looked very much alert. Chuck Thorne walked over to the door, unlocked it, and headed over to the trunk of his car. He popped open the trunk, pulling out two large black bags.

  He went back inside the house, placing each bag next to Mr. and Mrs. Studd. Chuck Thorne grabbed a hat that was sitting on the floor, pulling the brim down just above his eyes. He then picked up the first body, grunting as he did it. He walked it outside, placing it in the trunk of the car before going back inside for the second body. He grabbed the keys to the house that hung on a keychain before throwing the second body over his shoulder, locking the door on his way out.

  “What are you up to?” a voice called out to Chuck Thorne. Chuck Thorne spun around to come face-to-face with an older man with grey hair who was standing on the sidewalk. The man had a small brown dog that was pulling on its leash. Chuck Thorne gave the man a big smile, “Just removing trash, that's all. I’m big into the arts, a lot of my projects end up breaking, and I just found the time to clean everything out.” Chuck Thorne grinned at the man before placing the body bag in his car.

  Chuck Thorne chuckled, “Do you live around here?”

  The man looked back down at his dog, who was now back to pulling on his leash, “Just a couple of blocks away. There was a whole lot of commotion last night. An officer told me there was a break-in last night. Big shootout, several dead. They told me someone would come. I was wondering if you were the Bagman.”

  There was something strange about the man's face. The Mind told Chuck Thorne that he needed to leave. “Sorry, I can’t help you.”

  “No problem, time doesn’t wait for you, Bagman,” the man said he had a wide grin on his face as he began to walk away.

  By the time Leon and Ralphie got to the Studds’ house, it was much later in the day. They sat in the car watching as everyone went by. “Are you sure about this?” Leon asked Ralphie. Ralphie's hands fiddled around in his pockets searching for his keys. “I just want to see them,” Ralphie said. “Their cars are here. But look at the front window, it's shattered.”

  “It might be a trap; they might not even be here,” Leon said. “We’re unarmed with no way out.”

  “I’m going, they called me seventeen times last night. I did not realize until this morning,” Ralphie said, ignoring Leon.

  Leon knew that was the case, “We're sticking together, leave the keys in the ignition so we can at least get out of here fast.

  The inside of the house was very dark. Ralphie nudged Leon, “Hey, do me a favor and turn on the lights.”

  Leon looked concerned, "There's no one here.” He felt a sense of panic and shock fill his heart.

  “I’m worried,” Leon responded, even though nothing seemed out of place. “Is there somewhere else they could have gone?” He asked.

  “I have no idea, but I’m not going to sit waiting around here.”

  Leon went back into the kitchen to look for any other clues. He heard the snap of a branch come from outside. He turned around, startled that there was someone else outside. Leon pulled one of the knives from the kitchen, gripping it in his hand tightly. He walked towards the door, peering out into the backyard. It was hard to see anything as the backyard was covered in vines and shrubs.

  Flippy jumped out of the bushes. Leon sighed, relieved as he loosened his grip on the knife, “Do you know where everyone is?” Leon asked, rubbing the back of Flippy's ear. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something. He took a couple more steps outside with the knife still in hand before his toe knocked over something solid. It was a little white box that was placed neatly on the ground.

  “Interesting,” He picked up the box, taking one last look around.

  He headed back inside to where Ralphie was. Ralphie looked frustrated and disheveled.

  “I don’t see anything besides this shattered window,” Ralphie said with a hint of anger in his voice.

  Leon handed Ralphie the box, “This was left just outside the door.” Ralphie held the box in his hand; it had a slight grit to it like paper. He clicked open the box, and several photos sprang out of it, fluttering around him. The photos were taken at night. Leon leaned over by Ralphie to get a better look.

  “What do you think it is?” Leon asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Ralphie flipped to the next photo. This photo was taken at the same angle as the first one, but it was slightly later.

  “Wait, look at that,” Leon said, pointing towards the far left side of the image. There was a shadowy outline of a person. Ralphie flipped to the next photo. This time, there were a couple of shadows. Ralphie looked closely before saying to Leon, “Look, the doors open.” he flipped to the next photo. The entrance of the door was filled with a bright light. “It looks like your Dad,” Leon said. “He’s holding a gun.”

  “It's not very useful; it only shoots one bullet at a time.” Ralphie flipped to the next photo that was taken through one of their windows, pointing into the living room. The photo was half blocked by a blurry figure; the other half of the photo depicted Ralphie's dad with the gun poised in another direction.

  The next series of photos flipped to the day, once again changing the angle at which the photos were shot. This time, they seemed like they were much farther away from the Studds' house. There was a car parked in the driveway. As Ralphie flipped through the photo, he could see the scene of a man wearing a hat carrying out two bodies and placing them in the trunk.

  “What happened here?” Ralphie said before he flipped the series of photos around to the white backs. One of the photos had writing on it. It read, “A man removes the bodies of Mr and Mrs. Studd. His face blurred in my camera. The man is believed to be one of Dullahan's close accomplices, Chuck Thorne." Ralphie flipped some more before hitting another block of text that said, “Reduced to puppets.” Ralphie flipped over the photo, which depicted his mother and father lying on the floor with several shadows standing over them. Ralphie felt the shot stifle his heartbeat; they had gotten them. He felt anger and rage delve inward. What had he done? He should have been there. It was his fault.

  Leon reached over, putting a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t know what to say, “Ralphie, I’m sorry.” Ralphie sat there in silence, flipping through the photos and looking to see if there were any more messages written on the backs. He couldn't find any. He went back to the photo of his parents lying on the floor, turning it over in his hands. It was the only photo he kept.

  Ralphie's voice wavered, “We need to find them.” Ralphie looked over at an object sticking out of the couch. He walked over to pick it up. It was his father's dream catcher. It still looked like it had been neatly polished, but the red wood was bleeding black. It was unbelievably heavy for its size, much heavier than he remembered.

  Leon looked over at Ralphie, seeing the intent in his eyes, “Ralphie, that won’t help.”

  “It’s different," Ralphie said casually, waving the gun back and forth. “It's heavier.”

  “The gun?” Leon asked, watching Ralphie.

  Leon took up the wheel on the way back, fearing Ralphie was in no condition to drive. Ralphie was silent the entire time, staring out the window. Lost in a daze.

  Leon kept looking over at Ralphie worrisomely. Ralphie was never the most stable person. Towards the end of the drive, Leon looked over at Ralphie, “Promised me you won’t do anything stupid. We don’t know for sure if your parents are puppets. We’re not sure of anything.”

  Ralphie looked back at Leon, “We do,” he said confidently.

  “Even if that is the case, they're still alive, and we can get them back. Just like we did with Isa.”

  “Now, how would that work?” Ralphie said angrily. “They're not my parents anymore. You heard Lily, it's permanent. If they are puppets, then they're gone for good. I mean, it takes away everything that was theirs and gets replaced with what?”

  “So you're just going to let CelTec do what they want with them.”

  Ralphie sat there contemplating, “No, I’m going to kill whoever did this. I’m going to bring CelTec to its knees, starting with Chuck Thorne. Tell me about the Spades.”

  Leon looked over at him, smiling, "About time you found fire.”