Sixteen (ON HOLD)

4.1 Out With A Bang

Chief Tanner slowly stirred the brown sludge the hospital called coffee around and around in the blue ceramic mug he had scavenged. Bad coffee tasted even worse when drank from a Styrofoam cup anyway. He had taken up residence in the surgical waiting room, since no one else was using it.

Alone with his thoughts, he felt truly overwhelmed for the first time in his career. He could deal with petty thieves, cold blooded murders, and trouble-making drunks. That was the job. Little green men, that he had never factored in. Not that he fully bought Briggs' theory just yet; that these kids weren't just abducted but actually came back altered or possessed like freaking pod people or something. No, that leap of faith was still to come.

The image of Cassey's sixteen year old body sprawled out, ripped apart and covered in blood, set itself in his mind and refused to leave. There were a few other kids that hadn't returned, did they all meet her same fate? And what monster did that to her?

"Excuse me, Chief?"

Tanner turned around and saw that one of Briggs' cronies had entered the room. Each man looked even more nondescript than that last. Tanner could hardly tell them apart.

"Are these department issued black suits or do you all just happen to have the same favorite store?"

"Department issued," the man responded flatly, completely oblivious to the Chief's attempt at humor.

Tanner winced and put the mug down on a nearby table. "So, you got something to tell me son or what?"

"There's an issue with one of your men. We were hoping you could take care of it."

"And what issue would that be, exactly?" Knowing full well the next words out of the man's mouth would be "David Sellers," Tanner started for the waiting room door.

As he walked out into the hallway he could hear Sellers yelling and there was certainly nothing professional about it. This wasn't a cop issue, this was a Daddy issue.

Sellers had Briggs cornered and practically pinned to the wall. He was red faced and out of breath from his long winded ranting. Briggs merely stood there and took it, not looking the least bit concerned. The bored expression on his face was probably casing more harm to the situation than good.

"David. David, you need to calm down. We're just asking questions here, there's no need for this." Tanner went to put his hand on Sellers' shoulder but the angry cop spun around to face him, knocking his arm away.

"I can't believe you're allowing this! Are they in charge now? They're interrogating the kids like criminals!"

Tanner felt a flash of rage flare up when Sellers mentioned Briggs being in charge. Something had happened back in the exam room when they were questioning Troy, something the Chief couldn't quite place any longer. That was odd. He thought back, he remembered Troy was being less than helpful and then Briggs sprung the photo of Casey's shredded body on them. That's where things got a little foggy, and it wasn't the first time tonight he foudnd himself losing track of what was going on. This bothered him in the moment, but quickly the thoughts faded to the background and all he could concentrate on was the task at hand.

"You misunderstand our intentions David," came the low voice of Randall Briggs. "We have your children's best interests, their safety, in mind. It's just . . . that these are not your children. I'm sure of that now, and if you think about and be very honest for a moment, I think you all know it as well."

David looked wildly from Tanner, to Briggs and back to Tanner again. Anger was quickly being replaced by fear that he didn't quite understand.

"He's completely mad, you must see that," David pleaded.

"Let's show him the pictures," Briggs suggested.

Tanner never wanted to see that picture of Casey Donovan again. He shook his head in discouragement but Briggs was already pulling them out of a folder no one had even been aware of before. It was even worse this time, there were actually several pictures, all kids who were missing and had not yet returned.

Tanner turned away but David studied them silently. He pretended to be shocked by what he saw but really he was counting. He counted the kids that he knew had returned, he counted the pictures before him, and he came up with fifteen. This fact he kept to himself.

"What is this supposed to mean," David asked.

"I'm not showing you these to be cruel, believe me. I want you to see what they are capable of," Briggs said.

David shoved the pictures away. "You are not going to convince me that my Katie had anything to do with these murders."

"The kids don't seem . . . off . . . to you, Sellers? You don't see anything weird with their medical test results? What about Kate's odd behavior, have you see how strong she is? I've seen quite a bit of weird shit I can't explain, don't know about you." Tanner would have went on, but the sound of shouting echoing down the hall caught his attention. It caught Briggs' attention for sure.

Without a second though Briggs sprinted down the hall and around the corner. Sellers and Tanner looked at each other suspiciously for a moment before following. They followed the commotion to the hospital lobby.

Two black suited figures stood in front of the door, their faces stern yet barely concerned looking. It was Ginny who was shouting and carrying on. She stood directly in front of one of the men, her head barely coming to his shoulders. She had that determined look on her face, the same one she had given before when she declared she was staying when the hospital was being evacuated. Several feet behind her stood a line of teenagers; Kate, Sadie, Cole and Troy.

Tanner thought to himself that standing there under the flickering hospital lights they looked so much like frightened children. What the hell were they doing, even considering that these these kids were less than human? But when Sellers stepped forward, presumably to go to Kate, Tanner reached out and stopped him. Briggs nodded at him, a smirk rising just beneath his flat expression. It was irritating, and yet Tanner felt relieved, like he was being reassured that his actions were correct.

"Step aside! These kids are leaving with me, right now. You have no authority to keep them here, they haven't committed any crimes. What is your supervisor's name, I want to call him." Ginny was using up all fake courage she had left in her.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tanner saw Kate grab Troy's arm when he started to advance. She looked at him sternly, intently, and he backed off. He knew what they were capable of, so why were they just standing there? Surly if Briggs was right about them then they could leave any time they wanted.

"This is ridiculous! Ginny is right, I'm taking my daughter home." David shoved past Tanner roughly, almost knocking him over.

"I don't advise that. In fact, I think it's time we stop playing at this thing. It's time for proof." Briggs pulled something out of his jacket and Tanner realized just a second too late that it was his weapon. Briggs reeled in a half circle and pointed his gun at Kate.

David hollered, and Tanner sprung forward trying to knock the gun from Briggs' hand but they were too late. The gun fired.

Kate watched the scene in front of her as if it were in slow motion. She hadn't wanted Troy to overpower anyone, wanted to give the humans one last chance to let them go peacefully. It was not the first mistake she had made that night, she knew Cole was keeping track.

Kate saw the gun and realized, mostly from the reaction of the rest of the room, what it was for. She didn't attempt to move out of the way. The bullet zipped across the space between the man in black and the blond haired girl. It tore through her chest and pierced her heart. Then there was only dark silence.