Ink

Chapter 54

"Ryder..." Caleb whispers.

"Yes?" The response is even more faint.

"I'm sorry."

Silence.

"Me too."

"Brace yourself."

Ryder raises a brow before feeling the warm embrace of his friend.

"What are you doing?" Ryder's tone is almost amused.

"It's called a hug, genius." Caleb says. "And it's going to get really awkward really fast if you don't return it."

"I don't know about—"

"Hug me or I'll start singing."

With a scoff Ryder returns the hug and squeezes Caleb a little too tightly.

"Okay that's enough."

Ryder lets go with a laugh.

"Geez—" Caleb says. "You can't even hug right."

"I beg to differ."

"Everything you just said is wrong—"

"Shhh—" Ryder's hand flies up. His ears pick up a distressed sound. One that would most likely not be heard by a human. "Something is wrong."

Slowly, Ryder turns towards Caleb. As the two men lock gazes, something clicks in the white haired mans brain.

"Al is in danger." Is all he says before taking off towards the door.

"What?" Caleb says, but begins to run after him anyway. "What kind of danger?"

"The bad kind." Ryder rolls his eyes before trying the door. "It's locked." He can hear the struggle continue on the other side of the door. "We need a key card."

At this point, Ryder was acting on pure instinct. He felt her fear from behind the door, and it couldn't help but remind him of the fate that was met by his brother. He wasn't losing anyone else anytime soon.

Caleb thought he didn't care about the girl—but he was wrong. He did care, although he had a strange way of showing it. In an unexpected way, she had grown on him.

Caleb makes a face before reaching into his back pocket. "I think I can solve that problem."

From his pocket he retrieves Ryder's key card.

"Here you go."

Ryder smirks.

"You went into my room without my permission again?"

Caleb nods and looks away.

The white haired man laughs.

"For once Caleb, I'm glad you did."

The same strange feeling comes over him as he walks over to the door. With a hesitant look back at this friend, he raises his had to swipe the card. Before he can, however, the door slides open; revealing Cleo. Her face is plastered with a sickening smile.

"Agent Murdock, Agent Walker." With a nod, she makes her way past the two men.

Caleb makes a face at Ryder before walking past him into the room. When he gasps loudly, Ryder is not shocked, instead, he keeps his eyes locked on the woman walking away from them.

"Why are you doing this?" He says, knowing that she can hear him.

Cleo turns—black veins lay her under-eyes and her smile has grown into something much more sinister.

"It's family business." With that, she is gone.

Ryder stares after her for a moment before Caleb's yells for help shake him from his trance.

"We need help, fast!"

Alliana is lying on the ground unconscious.

"Ryder snap out of it!"

"I'm on it." He runs to the emergency phone and calls for a medic. "They'll be here in a few minutes."

"What is happening Ryder? What the hell happened to her?"

"I don't know."

"What's she planning on doing?"

"I don't know Caleb."

"Well we need to figure it out fast before someone gets hurt! Ryder? Can you hear me? Ryder!"

Suddenly Ryder is overcome by a terrible feeling of helplessness.

The kind he has only felt once before.

And all of a sudden he is brought back to that day.

The day they took his brother away from him.

The worst day of his life.

I hope this chapter wasn't too bad for my first one back.