People Do Crazy Things

Ten

Within an hour, GUN was swarming the house. They were like bees in a hive.

I sat on the couch with Shadow and Brittany.

One of Shadow's co-workers, Adrian the Echidna, walked over to us. "Hey, guys. We haven't found much yet but we're still trying. Can you tell me what happened exactly?"he asked.

"(Y/n) and I came home to an empty house. After we looked upstairs for the kids, we came downstairs and the TV came on. Sonic, Brooke, and Carter were-"

Adrian cut Shadow off by putting up his hand. "Hold up. You said Carter? As in Carter the Fox?"he asked. "Yes. He was assigned to protect us,"Shadow said.

"No, he wasn't."

I looked up at Adrian. "What do you mean he wasn't assigned to protect us?"I asked, my stomach churning.

"I mean he couldn't have been. Carter has been discharged from the job for almost four years now."

I feel like I'm about to lose it.

"Then how was he communicating with GUN to authorize my kids going to school?!"Shadow nearly yelled. "The most possible answer is that he was using Brooke. She was still working with us this whole time,"Adrian explained calmly.

"Then...then who was really supposed to protect us? Where are they?"I asked.

"Hey! I found something here!"someone yelled from the kitchen. Adrian left quickly. He came back moments later, his dark grey eyes wide. "What? What did they find?"Shadow asked.

"Your care taker. They discovered her body down in the basement under the floor,"Adrian said softly.

So that smell...was a rotting body.

"Oh god,"I whispered, covering my mouth.  "Who...Who was she?"Shadow asked, hugging me and rubbing my side.

"Her name was Lucy Green. She was...she was a very skilled soldier. Very kind and caring."

I felt tears coming to my eyes as I shook my head.

Another innocent life. Gone.

All because I didn't want to stay with that psychopath, Sonic.

It's my fault.

My fault.

I hopped off the couch. "I-I'm sorry. I'll be right back,"I muttered. I sped to the door, grabbed my coat, and went outside.

I stood on the porch, sniffling. Trying to stop the tears from falling. But they fell. They fell like a waterfall in the jungle.

But I didn't cry. The tears just fell. I would occasionally sniffle and dab my eyes dry with the sleeve of my coat.

I inhaled deeply, taking the cold, stinging air into my lungs. I exhaled slowly.

I wonder what else was a lie. I wonder what else Carter hid from us. What else has he ruined?

The door opened. But I didn't turn to see who it was.

"We need to leave. They found something else in the house."

Shadow's deep voice filled my ears. I sighed softly through my nose.

"What did they find?"

"There was...a bomb in the kids' room under a floorboard. They're going to disable it and while they do, we need to go."

I whipped my head around. I caught myself looking into Shadow's eyes.

Never in the last five years have I seen his eyes filled with fear. It just makes me even more frightened.