S.A.S. - Book one: Secrets (Rewriting)

Chapter Four: Warehouse Rock

Red, Flame, and Jack slunk along the wall of a large grey warehouse. Red wondered why they haven't seen any guards. Red had asked Jack, but what he said still made no sense.

"If there were guards, then people would be curious what was in the warehouse. If it just looked like an abandoned warehouse, then people won't be as interested in it."

It just didn't make any sense. One or two guards still would've been outside. Something about this didn't feel right. Why doesn't this feel right? Flame and Red slid along the wall silently. The radios that Jack had given them were quiet, Red telling Jack to be silent so that they weren't caught.

As they neared the door to the warehouse, Red could hear speaking inside. "What do yer mean, yer ain't carin'! 'Ere's a couple o' aliens in 'is ere state! 'Er ye deaf?" What?! It was the same voice that was at the hospital. He recognized the voice now. It was the one that gave him the pills for Flame, the one that was in the stalls. That's why she fainted in the elevator.

Red peeked into the warehouse, looking for the man. He spotted him at the other end of the warehouse. He had the same scruffy beard, the same guard outfit, and the same black, mistrustful eyes.

"Uhh.." an unsure and wavering man, smaller than him answered him. "I'll get right to it then." the smaller man started walking towards the door.

Red backed up. "Move! Someone's coming!" he hissed, turning and running around the corner, Flame just behind him. "Jack, someone gave someone a tip-off that we're here" he spoke into the radio.

"What?! Get out of there!" he said quietly back. Red went into a full-on sprint away from the warehouse, sliding under a window to not be seen. Flame followed close behind, copying Red's every move. Soon, they reached the nearby cornfield, and the two crouched under the protection of the long stalks. Red peeked out of the stalks, trying to glimpse what was going on. He could see the small man running to one of the weird carriages, which gave a low grumble when he got into it.

"Jack, what is that thing? Can it hurt us?" Red asked him, waiting for a response on the radio. None came, and when he looked up to the rocky outcropping in the hill next to the field, which was where Jack was, he saw no one there. "Jack?" Still no response. "We need to get out of here" Red whispered to Flame, who was staring up at the rocky outcropping.

"Red, wait" she said, pointing up to where the rock was. He grumbled and looked up, but what he saw surprised him. The gruff man was there, holding Jack over his shoulder. He was limp, swinging like a ragdoll. "We need to get him back! Come on, or else we won't make it before they get to the warehouse!" Flame started running towards the warehouse back the way they had come, Red in tow.

"Flame, you still have the gun Jack gave you, right?" he asked. Flame took it off her back in answer. Red materialized his gun, and the duo approached the corner of the warehouse. Looking back, he saw a peculiar animal flying in circles where they had just been. Suddenly, it dove towards Red, making him stumble aside. It stopped just in front of him and stayed there, floating just above the ground looking up at him questioningly. Somehow, he understood what this look meant and looked to the gruff man carrying Jack.

The bird turned its head that way, and - after a few seconds - took off into the air. A moment later, it dove at the man's face, giving Red and Flame an opportunity to strike. They rolled out of their hiding spot into a crouch. Once the bird saw they were ready, it swooped upwards, and they started to fire, careful not to hit Jack as they shot. Surprisingly, Flame's gun stopped working after the first few shots. Red's crystalline bullets just bounced off, the sharp thorns clattering useless to the ground and dissipating.

"Nice try! This armor is more than what you think though!" He dropped Jack on the ground and pulled his vest open. Red stared at the crystalline orange suit he was wearing. It was the same material that his gauntlets created, only he stabilized it so it didn't need a constant power source. "Your little mishap at the hospital gave me the idea. The scientists at my lab designed it" he smiled menacingly, his muscles bulging.