Cautious

CHAPTER 8. What's Real?

Another week passed, and Quincy hadn't seen or heard anything from Theo or Audrey.

Am I the only one who's noticed?

"Hey, have you guys seen Theo or Audrey?"

"Naw."

"Me, neither. But now that you mention it, I haven't seen Grant either."

That's what I thought.

"Okay, I'll go check with the others. Thanks, though."

It's worse than I thought. But where could they be?

Quincy left West's and started toward his dorm. As he got to the entrance, he glanced over at the remodeled building and noticed a group of people walking in.

What could they be doing in there at this time of night?

He looked around to see if there was anyone else. Upon seeing no one, he sneakily dashed across the parking lots to see what was happening. He peeked through the window and saw some sort of town hall meeting going on. He leaned closer to the glass to try and make out the topic of conversation.

"Settle down, Mr. Jones. We understand your concern with the final target."

Target, Quincy said to himself.

Then an elderly woman stood and yelled.

"This is the longest it's ever taken! My son's class caught those hoodlums in the first quarter."

"We assure you, Mrs. Thomas, that the last one has proven to be very elusive, mostly because he has stronger morals than the others."

"Still, that's no excuse! We've dealt with Christians before."

Quincy's heart began to race.

Christians? Before?

"We assure you that we have a revised, foolproof plan to catch him."

"That's why we are here tonight. To discuss the new strategy we are implementing."

Quincy followed the man's hand as he pointed up to the PowerPoint presentation. His heart sank to the ground, and his body began to shower the plants below him. As the screen flipped through the photos of his missing friends and then to a picture of him. He stumbled back, astonished and horrified by this. But managed to step right onto a twig.

Crack!

"What was that?"

Oh no! Jesus, no! Quincy pleaded.

The mass turned to the window where Quincy had been spying on the meeting.

"Outside! It's him!"

He turned and sprinted away.

"Don't let him get away! He knows too much now."

The townsfolk all grabbed flashlights and weapons, speeding out of the building after him.

Quincy cut through an alleyway in an attempt to divert them away from his path.