Riley ran his hands over his face. This was too much. A weird genetically engineered mutation was coming after his dad.
"How could he possibly find us?" Riley asked. "I mean, the guy only saw the van, its not like he could find it out of all the vans in Miami."
"It's not that simple," the girl began. "The mutts have an elevated sense of smell. We are under the impression that he will be able to trace you from the scent of your tires."
Mr. Kilhan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
"Our tires? You have to be kidding me!" Riley stood and nervously paced the room. He needed a break, he needed to be away from the Sector 54 girl. "I'm going to my room," he announced.
...He'd never found so much sanctuary in his room than he did now. He wanted to lock himself in it and never leave. Riley leaned up against the door and looked around. His carefully chosen posters smiled back at him. How could life seem so normal in this room when just downstairs everything he believed in was changing?
His ipad caught his eyes and he made his way over to the desk. He didn't know if Sector 54 was legit, the girl could be lying to them. But he knew who would know. Anonymous. The group of cyber hackers who release classified government information to the public.
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He opened up Youtube and searched for Anonymous' response to the zombie attack in Miami. He frowned when it was the first video to come up. Riley held his finger over the link but refused to push play. What if what Anonymous said freaked him out even more? What if they proved what the Sector 54 girl said was true?
For his dad, he had to find out.
The room was warm, but he suddenly felt very cold. To the bone. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. The cyber hackers were on to Sector 54, it was only a matter of time before they had all the information to release to the public. But that meant if Anonymous was finding info proving the attacks had nothing to do with Bath Salts, than the Sector 54 girl was telling the truth.
Riley ran down the stairs, with his ipad in hand. He wanted to show her what he just saw, see how she would react. He screeched into the living room.
"Check out this video," he announced holding it up for them to see.
Sector 54 and his dad stopped their conversation and turned to Riley. While they watched the video, he watched them. But much to his dismay the girl did not make any facial or body expression that would let Riley know what she was thinking.
When it was finished she motioned to Mr. Kilhan. "Excuse me a moment." She pulled a cell phone out of her bag and walked into the hall. Despite his fathers stern glare Riley followed to listen in on her conversation.
"Damn-it, Red, we have to shut down their website. We can't have the public see that video. What?" she paused and tapped her foot while she listened. "Thousands of views? You have to stop this thing!"
She huffed and leaned against the wall, the phone still to her ear. "Good, we should..."
A loud crunching sound caught her attention. In fact, it caught Riley's attention too. He tilted his head to hear more clearly. Whatever it was sounded like it was coming from the front of their house. He started towards the door.
An explosion vibrated the front of the building, stopping Riley mid step. He listened to the eerily delicate sound of glass and metal clinking off the windows and falling to the ground. His heartbeat accelerated and slammed against his ribs. Something was very wrong.
Sector 54 walked, with cat like precision, she motioned for him to keep quiet and stepped in front. With her phone in one hand, she slid against the wall towards the window.
Riley wondered if whomever she was talking to was still on the line.
The sound of twisting metal continued, always followed by a popping sound of glass breaking, which reminded Riley too much of what it had sounded like when he broke his arm.
Mr. Kilhan managed off the chair and joined them at the front. Sector 54 gave him a similar motion to keep him quiet.
Carefully, slowly, the girl slid back a corner of the curtain and looked out. Riley watched her. Her shoulders tensed and her eyes widened just a fraction. On any other person, it would seem normal, but on her, it was as if she screamed.
"Get your father out of here now!" she said.
Riley didn't listen. Instead, he pushed the curtain back all the way.
Outside, where their van had been, was a mound of distorted metal and cloth, the whole vehicle was ripped to shreds. He looked to his dad then back out the window, a naked man scurried on hands and knees over the pile of rubble.
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He gasped and stepped back. The man's head snapped towards the house, towards the window, the sides of his mouth twisted into a sinister smile and his eyes locked onto Riley's.
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