Empty Shells (reader insert)

Chapter 3

As you gradually come to you feel as if you're being bounced around somewhere. It takes a second before you can recognize the motion as that of being in a car. You crack open one eyelid and can make out a blurry car interior. You must be lying down in the back seat of a minivan or something. Your head's still pounding though.

"Big bro, why are we bringing the pretty lady with us?" A young voice asks above your head. From the sound it seems like a little girl's.

"Mimi, I told you. You don't need to know that, and don't touch her. I want her alive." A voice you recognize as the dark haired one from the hallway says from somewhere ahead. He must be the one driving.

You slowly move you head and look up above you to see that your head is resting on the lap of a little girl. The girls eyes light up when she sees that you're awake. "Hi! I'm Mimi! Wanna be friends?" The girl says cheerily.

'Who is this kid and why are they here? Weren't you kidnapped before you were knocked out? Is she also a prisoner?' As the thoughts run through your head Mimi's joy filled face becomes confused. "Hellooooo? Can you hear me? What's your name?"

You don't answer, but look around the car cabin as the pounding in your head starts to subside. You are in a minivan of some kind. One of those really big travel kind that can hold over ten people. The seats at the front seamed to be filled. There's the old couple Michael and Marel sitting together. There's a middle aged man with glasses and a women who must be in her late twenties that could be the little girl's mother. In the front driving is the dark haired man and in the front passenger seat is a man that could pass for a university professor.

"Someone check to make sure that Mimi didn't kill the girl by accident." The dark haired man growls from the front.

The middle aged man and the women both turn to the back seat where you are with the girl Mimi. "It might be best if you answer Mimi's question. Otherwise she might think she made a mistake or did something wrong." The middle aged man says kindly.

"Mimi did nothing wrong! See?" Mimi argues holding up her arms which are covered with a longed sleeved shirt and gloves. "No skin. I didn't touch her!"

The women laughs sweetly at Mimi's outburst. "Yes yes we can see that Mimi. But this girl doesn't know where she is or where she's going. She's probably scared. You need to be a kind big sister to her." The women looks down at you and smiles. "Now sweety, why don't you tell us your name?" You shake your head, not liking the way that these people are talking down to you. You may be young but that doesn't give them the right to treat you like a child. The women starts laughing again. "I guess our grumpy leader scared you too much, huh? Don't worry. He's just a scary guy."

The van suddenly squeaks as the brakes are pushed and everyone falls forward. "Clare. I had better have heard you wrong just now." The dark haired man's voice carries from the front.

"Yes yes." The women who's name must be Clare says laughing nervously. "It was just a joke! Nothing more." After a second the car starts driving again.

The windows are tinted but you see that the van is driving in a urban neighbourhood. You can recognize it as one near your apartment building. "Where are we going?" You say quietly, deciding to speak.

"So you can talk! What a lovely voice." Clare says smiling brightly. "Well I can't say where exactly. The boss hasn't even told us yet. But we couldn't really keep you at our place since you also lived in the same building. So, we have to leave before anyone realizes that you're missing."

As Clare talks the van stops at a red light. You slowly sit up in the seat since the pounding in your head is gone. You can see that the red light is right by a grocery store parking lot. As you look outside the widow you feel someone tug on your sleeve. You look down and see Mimi looking at you with the biggest puppy eyes you've ever seen. "What's your name?"

You pause, considering wether or not to say your name to the little girl. This whole situation seems crazy. How can people like these be your kidnappers? One thing for sure is you want to escape as quickly as possible from them and get back to Vulpes. But the little girl's eyes seem to make you melt on the inside. "It's (Fn)." You finally decide to answer.

Mimi's face lights up and she giggles in happiness. "Nice to meet you (Fn)!" Mimi says taking of the glove on one hand and reach out for you to shake. You automatically without thinking reach out to shake Mimi's small hand. Clare's gloved hand snatches yours and pulls it back away from Mimi's. At the same time, the middle aged man does the same with Mimi's. Both if them have looks of relief when they see that you didn't touch Mimi's hand.

"Mimi, what did your big brother tell you? She's a human." The man says, his voice serious.

Mimi suddenly drops her head and mumbles out a reply. "Not to touch her. Sorry uncle Hank."

"That was too close." Clare says dropping your hand. The man called Hank keeps scolding Mimi as Clare closes her eyes and rubs her temples on her forehead. Everyone who was paying attention to you is now distracted. This is it.
You jump forward and grab the van door opening it and jumping out of the van before anyone inside can move. You start running as fast as you can towards the store, glad that the red light is always long here.

As you run you pass some people in the parking lot. A man in a yellow jacket, a lady with a feathered hat. A pair of what looks like twins all dressed in black. Your mind barely registers then as you sprint towards the store door. Hopefully you can get to a phone and call Vulpes at the apartment.

As you pass more cars a man steps out into the car lane in front of you. It's Michael from the car, but he's wearing a yellow jacket. It's the same as the one the man earlier was wearing.

You run between some cars into another lane hoping that you were imagining that. You shake your head to get rid of the though as you pass someone with a feathered hat. Feathered hat? You stop and look back. The lady tilts the hat up so you can see her face. It's Marel. She gives you a sly grin at your terrified expression.

"No no no no." You mutter turning and running again. You're almost at the entrance to the store. Just one more car lane and then you'll be there. Suddenly your foot catches on something and you fall forward. You roll on the ground until you hit the wall of the store beside the entrance.

Looking up you see that the reason you fell was because the dark haired man had tripped you. He looks back at you with annoyance. "Where do you think you're going?"

You move to get up and run but you stop. Marel, Michael, Clare, Hank and the professor are standing all around you. The worst part is that they're all dressed like the people you saw in the parking lot, except for the professor and the dark man. As you whip your head around looking for a way to escape, a man exits the store and sees what's happening. Before he can do anything Marel grabs him and throws him towards you.

"If you think you can run, forget it." The dark man says as Marel pushes the man until he's standing in front of you. "To us, humans are prey, and we never lose our prey." Marel takes off her glove and with her hand touches the man on the neck. The man starts gasping for air and his eyes glaze over. "With a touch, we first steal their memories. Their thoughts, their feelings." The man reaches out towards you, his face pleading for help. Without thinking you take his hands in yours. "We take everything they are and when there's nothing left," the man's hands squeeze yours as his eyes become pale white. "We take their soul." With that, the man falls over dead in front of you.

You don't even know when you started crying but the tears fall in streams down your face. Marel rubs her hands together, a look of satisfaction on her face. She enjoyed killing that man. She killed him just by touching him. It makes sense now why the group was all wearing gloves. You can't take your eyes away from the man's body, lying on the ground. The same thing must have happened to the burglar who broke into your house. Around the parking lot from your angle on the ground you can see under the cars the bodies of the people who you saw walking earlier.

The dark man walks up and looks down at you crying. "We are not people. We, are wraith."

You're not sure if it's the fear of what you've seen, or if you just can't mentally process what's happening, but you black out for the second time that night.