Burning Flames ¦ Evan Buckley

Chapter 3 - Disapproving

They arrived on the scene, the only information about the incident being, there is a baby in the wall. El grabbed a bag of tools before following behind the rest of the group, listening closely.

"Where we headed?" Chimney asked as they approached the old apartment complex.

"4th floor" Bobby confirmed, keeping his captain's brain on, unaware of what they may be walking into.

"I'll race you" Buck spoke with too much joy in his voice.

"Ah, race yourself, Rambo" Bobby stated "I'm 50 years old, I'm taking the elevator"

"Who's Rambo?" Buck spoke confused.

"I'll race you" El smirked at him.

"You're on" Buck smirked back at the blonde before they set off, Buck taking the lead.

El adjusted the bag into a more comfortable position before racing after him, taking each stair as it came whereas Buck took the approach of skipping steps which worked for a short time until all of a sudden at the final stretch, El took over, beating him to the 4th floor, a large cocky smile spread across her face, her cheeks flushed a rose pink at the sudden exertion.

"Shit, you're quick" Buck chuckled and bent over, taking a few deep breaths to regain his stamina.

"Lot of practice" She smirked at him "I thought you had it to be honest" She shrugged "But you need to work on your stamina" She teased him playfully, pressing at his ego.

Before he could rebut her statement the rest of the team showed up via the elevator. "Who won?"

El shared a glance with Buck before raising her hand in a sheepish way. "HA!" Hen laughed holding out her hand "Pay up". Both Chim and Bobby handed Hen $5.

"Thank you Hen" El smiled and stole one of the bills from her hand, shoving it into her pocket before the group continued to the scene.

The team entered the apartment and let Bobby take the lead, heading to the bathroom to listen for the supposed baby in the wall. El couldn't help but have a small nose around the apartment, it was clear the kind of guy he was. Bobby soon came back out of the bathroom "I don't hear anything" He confirmed.

"Look, I'm telling you, I heard a baby crying. Someone flushed a baby down the toilet" He spoke with a slight slur. His eyes drew to El as she held a bong in her hand. "Oh, I'm not high" He spoke to which El raised an unapproving brow at him. "Okay, I..I'm pretty high, but it's a sativa, you know? It, it makes you happy" The boy continued to which El sent a smirk over to Buck that read, you need this stuff. "It doesn't make you hallucinate"

"Could have been a cat right? Sometimes rats get stuck in the walls" Chimney spoke, not really seeing the point of them being there, however a very faint noise could be heard from the bathroom.

"Shh" Bobby shushed and walked quietly to the bathroom "Did you hear that?"

The team followed suit, watching as Bobby took charge once again, listening closely, tapping the wall as he went. Hen handed him the stethoscope and he proceeded to carry on listening. "Gimmie a sharpie" Bobby spoke.

El pulled one from her pocket and handed it to him, watching, studying what he was doing. He drew an X on the wall before speaking "We need to open up this wall"

"No, no. We're being punked. It's a rape recorder or something right, Spicoil?" Chim spoke, still not convinced.

"Maybe he's right" Hen hummed "Maybe a mother gives birth on the toilet and flushes it"

"First of all that's awful" El spoke, not even being able to comprehend the idea that someone would do that. It made her stomach curdle.

"Second, do you not know how toilet pipes work?" Chim interjected. "There's this piece of serpentine pipe that takes the waste from the toilet to..."