AAOOOSC! Wheatie Bits!

E. 8. "The Game of Juniors" (2/8)

The hallway of the hotel is ominous. Shadows drape the walls, ceiling, and carpet flooring, only being seen in the moonlight. Not a single thing is in motion; all is still, including the summer air.

Then a creaking sound is heard as a door to a room slowly opens.

A shadow slips out into the hallway and blends into the atmosphere. It steps down the hallway's forbidding length, stepping into the strip of moonlight.

It halts and peers behind itself to glance at the soft light. It's Carter.

The goalie briskly turns away and continues his stride down the hallway.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

A pulsing red dot steadily glides in between two fine white lines as it emits the beeps. Following the dot from the other side of the screen is Brett.

"He's on the move," Brett mutters under his breath quietly.

He rolls out from his bed and rises to his feet before strolling up to the front door. He slowly turns the doorknob and cracks the door open.

An eye appears in between the gap between the door jamb and door. Brett scans his eyes from side-to-side in his limited sight, spotting what his Wrist-Moto detected.

From the other side of the room, Kale slowly opens his eyes. He notices Brett standing behind the ajar door.

Confusion clouds his mind. "What are you doing—?"

He halts his questioning as he spots Brett flapping his hand above his shoulder without tearing his gaze away, motioning him to join him.

With a sigh, Kale rises to a sitting position before slipping out from his bed. He shuffles across the room and halts next to Brett.

Brett moves aside to let Kale take a peek at what he is witnessing. Kale cranes his head and peers in the crack of the door.

On the other side of the hallway, Carter is seen ambling into an elevator and having their doors close on him.

Kale knits his eyebrows at the sight. "Where is he going? It's the middle of the night. Why does he need to go anywhere at this time?"

"There's only one way to find out...," Brett grumbles. He then pulls the door fully open and slips by Kale, into the hallway.

Kale steps into the hallway as well and closes the door behind him. He then turns left and follows Brett down to the end of the hallway, where the stairs are located.

Brett opens the door and strides down the stairs.

Kale quickly follows, letting the door close behind him. They scramble down the turning staircases, descending downward, before reaching ground level. They then burst through the exit door and into the warm night.

The two peer around their surroundings in front of the closing door: Surrounding them is the parking lot of the hotel in the blackness of the night. The only light is the now stronger moonlight and the dim parking lot lights.

The fleeting shadow of Carter is quickly spotted rounding the corner of the building and disappearing.

Brett quickly follows his tracks, rushing down the side of the building before halting at the corner. He clutches onto the protruding part of the wall and pokes his head out. He spots Carter jogging across the parking lot then turns left to continue his strive down the sidewalk.

Kale pokes his head over Brett's shoulder due to his height. He keeps his still eyes on Carter's vanishing figure.

"Where's he heading?"