Paradise

4. Going Home

"Jack shit happens in this city, but when something actually does happen, it's the end of the fucking world." Ethan rolled his eyes, his seemingly endless attitude not even taking a break for five minutes.

"It's not the end of the world, dipshit." Grayson commented.

"It better be the end of the world or else we're gonna be in a lot of trouble for stealing the U.S. government's property - and Grayson has a gun." Ethan yelled.

"We should've left the twins." Casey deadpanned, annoyed by their constant bickering.

"Hey, you helped us get to where we need to go so we'll help you get to where you need to go." Ethan explained. His expression softened suddenly, unsure if it was the answer the girls wanted to hear. Casey dropped the topic.

Casey began to ponder on the fact that both Andi and Grayson had the same idea to steal a military truck and made a mental note to talk to Andi later.

"Okay, the park should be on the right." Andi announced. Upon turning, they first noticed the police car that blocked off the parking lot. At first they were a little scared to move, afraid of what they'll see.

"Let's go get Dannie." Casey reminded the group, hoisting her pocketknife in an easy-strike position as she hopped out of the truck. She couldn't miss the dead silence in a neighborhood. Not even the birds chirped.

They slowly approached the police car, but quickly noticed it was unoccupied but the drivers door was ajar. Andi took a quick glance around the neighborhood before heading into the park. Ethan and Casey glanced at each other, still a little shaken from the abandoned police car. When Grayson finally followed Andi into the park, the last two followed too. While Andi and Grayson looked around the benches and trees looking for a hungover Dannie, Casey idled by the swing set near the entrance.

"Hey," Ethan came up behind Casey. She turned to see what he wanted. "I found these in the grass over there."

He held up a set of car keys. Casey took them out of his hand to investigate them. Once she made the connection, she froze. Just then Andi and Grayson met back up with them. "Dannie's not here, but we found her phone." Andi held Dannie's phone out in front of her, showing Casey the damaged phone.

"And I found the keys to the cop car." Ethan dangled the key ring in front of him. Grayson and Ethan headed toward the cop car, but Andi pulled Casey back.

"Casey, what is going on?"

"I know just as much as you do," Casey adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "I just wanna go home."

"We'll get them to take us to my house next — maybe Devin ended up picking Dannie instead and he brought her back to your house?" Andi tried to lighten the situation. Casey agreed none-the-less and followed Andi to the squad car. She kicked Ethan out of the front place and sat behind the wheel. The remaining piled in and Andi drove them to her house.

"If we get out alive, this is gonna be one hell of a story." Ethan was still ecstatic about hijacking the police car, his past worries about the military truck are far behind him now.

Grayson tried to listen in over the police scanners but no one could he heard. "Look, there's someone over there!" Ethan informed. He pointed toward the left side of the street ahead. As they slowed to a stop, they quickly noticed that this wasn't just any person.

"Andi," Casey said in a dead whisper. She wasn't even sure if her voice was going to come out at all, but she managed to choke something out. "That's Dannie."

"That's Dannie? Your friend has her guts -" Grayson started but Casey sent him a glare to shut him up.

Andi let Dannie approach the car, silently watching Dannie as she scratched at the car's window, bloody mouth gnawing at the glass. "Andi, go! That thing is not your friend!" Ethan shouted, trying to shield his eyes from the gruesome sight.