Once Bitten

Pigsy

There was nothing Pigsy regretted more than leaving that day. He remembered it like it was yesterday, replaying every minute over and over in his head knowing he was a fool. 

It had started with screaming in the distance, a sound that had Pigsy pausing in his cooking, turning the stove down low and stepping out to look into his restaurant. A few people had their heads up too, looking with curious eyes towards the sound until another scream followed, and then more, and somewhere a car's tyres was screeching on the road and then crashing loudly brought that curiosity to panic with loud gasps.

Pigsy looked toward Tang, eyes stern and worried and his partner looked up from his book with equally concerned eyes. 

The atmosphere felt charged, like everyone knew something was happening but had no idea what and when the sirens startled wailing people started screaming and immediately rushing out of the restaurant. 

Chairs were turned over in panic, food dropped and forgotten until Pigsy was left in the room by himself with only Tang. 

"What's happenin'?" He asked knowing the man couldn't have the answer and Tang shrugged, pulling his phone out from his pocket to check the news. 

"No clue. That siren is not a good sign though." His partner muttered and Pigsy tried not to panic, eyes glancing around the room and finding the emptiness eeiry. Usually, even when it was empty in the evening MK was around to- 

"I'm gonna text the kid. He should be on his way home by now." He said bluntly, ignoring the swell of fear in his lungs at the thought of the kid being out during whatever was going on. He could see people running past the shop's window in his peripheral, and the thought of MK out there during this panic made him shaky. 

The phone rang and rang, and rang, and rang, and Pigsy swallowed, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor and frowning. 

"C'mon kid, pick up." He huffed to himself, the sound of the endless ringing irritating his already low patience and when the kid's voicemail started speaking for the fourth time he growled, pressing the end call button and holding his phone tightly. 

"Tang, call MK. Kid's not picking up." He demanded, too stubborn to admit he was worried but sure his partner saw it anyway. When he glanced at Tang the man was flicking through a national alert on his phone, his face a shade paler. 

"They're ordering an evacuation." He said shakily, obviously put off by the news and Pigsy felt the same, storming over to the window and looking outside properly. Above the buildings, there were about three separate plumes of smoke he could see, and it brought a stone to his gut. 

He breathed in, felt the worry from the uncertainty of whatever was happening, and then breathed out, turning back abruptly. 

"Alright, I'll go pack some stuff for us. Can you pack your things and keep callin' MK? I'll pack some of the kid's things too." He said, keeping calm and cool knowing that Tang would freak out if he started to. Luckily Tang nodded, looking a little pale but following his instructions anyway and Pigsy's mind went into overdrive as he dragged out some suitcases and bags, already planning what they might need in his mind if there was an evacuation order.

He wasn't sure why there was, but he knew it was better to be prepared. 

So he grabbed his things, shoving some clothes and a few personal items in a bag quickly before focussing on food and essentials. Once he was done with that he crossed over to their kid's room, wanting to roll his eyes at how messy it was and refraining. 

He grabbed some of the kid's clothes and had them in a bag when the sound of gunfire shocked him into dropping it all, his eyes going wide at the machine gun fire. He darted to the window, shoving the curtains aside and catching view of military trucks rolling down the street, soldiers helping people in the backs of them quickly.