Up To Them 3: Blood and Choice

Chapter Three

They approached the silver gate into Kobe Ville. The gate stood tall and had an arch shape to it. Three padlocks and a chain kept in secure. The padlocks and the chain fell off when a mist formed around them. The gates opened and they entered. The trail leads to the small houses and townhouses below. It seemed peaceful and quiet and hardly any noise could be heard other than birds and the buzzing of bees. "There's an empty townhouse we have to look through for evidence." Reagan stated, pulling her blade from her belt just in case. Little did they know someone was watching them.

The roads weren't long and it didn't take long to walk past each townhouse. When they found what they were looking for, they went inside. Idris found himself turning around and looking back, thinking he had heard something. When he saw nothing, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him. The inside of the townhouse consisted of a small living room where only a few wooden chairs lied. The kitchen had dust covering the empty cupboards and a rat scurried by, forcing itself through a hole in the wall. Capri looked at the rat. "Aw Silah, that's you running away from my bullshit." Silah snickered. "Yep. Sometimes." Cynthia walked across the short corridor to the bedroom. The mattress was ripped and torn and ants and other bugs had crawled inside. The carpet had dark stains and there was a broken crib with a bunch of blankets in it.

Machi sneezed a few times from the dust and continued searching. "I found gross bread." Idris made a look of disgust. "It's moldy..and probably infected with tons of bacteria." Ellio, Callum, and Silah searched the living room. Capri, Cynthia, Reagan, and Feirin searched the bedroom. Adriel and Wrena looked through the bathroom.

In the bedroom, Cynthia looked around the mattress, taking pictures of the bloodstains and markings that seemed to have been drawn onto it. Reagan noticed that the corners had words written on them. Things like, "It wasn't supposed to be this way" and "He came back". Feirin searched through the piles of blankets. "Maybe whoever lived here had a baby? The crib and the baby blankets are hints." Cynthia shuddered when she saw a beetle crawling down the mattress. "Yeah, probably!" Reagan took pictures of the words on the walls. "Wonder what they mean?" Feirin looked at the bloodstains. "Maybe someone was injured or killed? Or something happened and it wasn't expected?"

Meanwhile in the living room, Ellio and Callum hadn't found much other than bits of papers, insects, and scratch marks. Silah took samples of certain stains he found on the walls and placed the brush he used into a container, labeling it, and putting it into his bag. He noticed that the chairs had two broken legs, each of them and it looked as if the wood had rotted.

In the kitchen, Idris and Machi searched through the cabinets, throwing out moldy foods and trying not to wheeze from all the dust. Machi froze when he opened one of the cabinets. Idris noticed and knelt down next to him to see that there was a kitten sleeping and sneezing. Its back foot was bleeding and seemed hungry. Its fur was a greyish in color with a black half circle on its forehead. Its ears were pointed to the side and its tail was pressed against the cabinet wall. Idris carefully picked up the kitten and held it close to him, cradling it in his arms. Silah, Callum, and Ellio noticed and went over to them. "How did he get in the cabinet?" Ellio asked. Idris glanced at the cabinet. "It was probably open and the kitten made his way in there..He kinda looks a bit sick." Callum looked for a collar. "I don't think he has a name..He doesn't even have a collar. He could be a stray that got into the house."

"We can name him! I say we call him-"

"Ellio, if we name him we'll become attached to him. Besides, we don't even know if we can keep him or not. Not to mention we don't know if he's had all his vaccination, if he needs certain medicines and foods." Idris explained. The kitten purred when Silah stroked its fur.

"Aww."

Machi thought for a moment. "We can't leave him here..Doesn't he need food and stuff? And for a name, I say we call him Scruff." He grinned.