Wild Blood ◇(A Family Force 5 fanfic)◇

An Unexpected Arrival

Never had the guys had such a serious conversation as this. Josh's face was stone as he listened to Jacob retelling the story of Solomon's departure. Jacob wasn't suffering on his own anymore. His brother was there listening to him, occasionally asking a question after a long stretch of silence. The mood became somber as the sun went down and left them to the darkness. Jacob retold how he had caught Solomon in the early hours of the morning, his backpack filled to the brim with things he'd need for many days and nights of living on the trail. He also stated how the man had been wearing heavy armored hiking boots, along with multiple layers of clothing and that when he walked off he was seen heading towards the woods. "He could be anywhere really." Josh said, sighing and leaning back in the recliner. He zoned out of the conversation, letting his thoughts rest solely on Solomon. Doing this caused the rest of the guys' voices to become a hum inside his head. "Josh.. Josh." Derek's voice came like silver. He was quickly dragged back into reality. "I got you coffee." Derek's voice was gentle and kind like it always is, he tried his best to ease the aching heart of his friend. Josh was drowsy and everything was blurry. "How long have I been asleep?" "About and hour..." Nathan looked at his watch. "It's 1:42 am." Nathan had almost been on the outer loop of this thing. It wasn't his brother who was missing but it was one of his closest friends. Jacob and Josh had been it their own little world of depression and sorrow that they almost forgot about Derek and him. Nathan grabbed the mug from Derek when it was extended. "Thanks Chap." "No problem" Derek leaned in. "gosh, what do you think it was that scared Solomon so much." Nathan gave him a quizzical look. "Come on, he would never leave unless he had too. Do you think he was in danger somehow?" "I don't know buddie, I don't know." For the rest of the day and a generous amount of the next Nathan pondered on Derek's words. Recalling incidents where solomon had been very serious. One of them, being the time his brother almost died. Occasionally throughout the morning he would say his thoughts aloud, but mostly he kept quiet. No one had gotten any sleep last night and Nathan not able to control his body woke up at the crack of dawn just like everyone else. He was currently sitting on the front porch falling asleep in his chair when a man started walking up the driveway. Quickly he shook his head to clear up the vision of the shadowy figure. As the man approached he could finally make out some features. Such as the mellow way he walked and the extreme amount of gel in his hair. "Heya, " The man was talking to Nathan. "is this where the um, Joshua Olds lives?" "Yeah." Nathan didn't sound very polite when he spoke, but the man just shrugged his shoulders, well aware he was a stranger. "Thanks." Nathan watched him as he knocked on the front door.

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Jacob was sitting at the kitchen counter, sipping his orange juice when there was a knock at the door. He was surprised when he saw a figure through the stained glass window. Something jumped inside him. Could it be Solomon? He tried to contain his nervousness as he placed his hand on the doorknob. But when he opened the door it was not Solomon. It was a fairly young looking man, with olive skin and a black windbreaker. He also had a distinctly intricate tattoo over his left eye. "Hey, you Olds?" "Ya." The man extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Teddy, you called me yesterday." Jacob stood there for a moment then turned his head around. "Josh!" When Josh heard his name it jump started his heart. He's here. He ran into Jacob heading down the hall. Jacob grabbed his arm. "Why is he here. Are you trying to start something." Josh took his hand and wiped Jacob's away. "We need a musician. We're one down." "I'm the drummer. We don't need two." "I was thinking you could take over as lead singer. And if you do that, we'll need a drummer." "Solomon is coming back!" Josh stared at his brother. "But. Is. He. Here." Jacob was glaring. "Fine, do what you want." Abruptly he left, brushing past his brother.

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Teddy was standing by the front door. Looking at the pictures and records on the wall. Across the room hung a row of four guitars. I'm definitely in the right place. He raised his hand to touch the markings above his eye. He gritted his teeth. It still hurt. He had randomly woke up one morning with a tattoo, and no recollection of how it got there. It had long marks fanning out from his eye, it looked almost alien. "Hey sorry to keep you waiting, I'm Josh Olds. I called you yesterday afternoon." "Ya ya, was that your uh, brother." "Ya, that was Jacob... Crouton. Hopefully he'll be taking over singing here soon." Teddy followed Josh through the house, snatching a candy from the glass dish and popping it into his mouth. "So" he said, shifting the candy in his mouth. "what happened to the other guy." "What." "The other singer. Where's he now?" "Uh.. he's unavailable at the time." "Ah. Ok." Teddy didn't want to push the question for the man got tense when he asked. "Hold on let me get some papers for you to fill out." As Josh left he began looking around again. There was a picture sitting on a side table. The two younger kids in the picture were definitely Josh and Jacob, they looked too similar. The other boy must be their older brother. He looked closer. Soli. The handwriting on the photo was small but legible. The previous lead singer maybe? Had he passed away? He couldn't be for sure, but he straightened up at the sound of footsteps. "Hey, I can't find the papers that we need, so.. can you come by tomorrow. We can go over it orally." "Sounds good, what time?" "Doesn't matter." As Teddy gave a head nod and proceeded to exit through the front door he got a glance of Josh and his brother. The mirror clearly reflected Jacob's angry face. Teddy was diving into something much bigger than himself, and he sighed heavily.