Characters: Jesse, Sophia, Alyssa, Wallace
Location: Outside of CNN
Time: Day 4 - 5:00 PM
Jesse pulled into the CNN parking lot, stopping the car next to a red Camaro that wasn’t there before. Turning off the ignition, he sighed and combed his fingers through his hair, rubbing his palms against his brow. Sophia sat next to him and breathed into her hands. A steady rain continued to tap at the windows, clicking like tiny sparks against the glass, like a child asking them to come out and play.
“Doesn’t look like Marcus made it back here yet,” Sophia said at last, nodding to the security guard by the front entrance. He saw them, said something into his wireless headphone, and then began walking towards the car.
Still in the backseat, Alyssa unbuckled her seat belt and reached for her bookbag. “For the record, this is a bad idea. How can you trust anybody here if you know someone inside CNN created the virus? Marcus could be innocent. You could be going after the wrong person.”
“There’s nobody innocent in this anymore.”
“Apparently not, if you felt the need to kidnap me.”
“You’re the bimbo who wanted to tag along.”
“Excuse me?”
“You should enjoy the ride.”
“I know you’re not talking about me.”
“Girls, cut it out,” Jesse said, running his hands alongside the wheel. “…Sophia’s right. Marcus is all we have to go on right now.”
“Says the clever detective who stole the gun from a crime scene,” Alyssa muttered, falling back into her seat. “Real smooth police work there, Shaggy. Now we can all rot in prison together. Gee, I sure hope I get a lakeside view in my federal penitentiary cell. One with curtains and laced pillows and those cute little bedside mints that look like tiny blocks of chocolate.”
“Nobody’s going to prison, Alyssa. We’re going to get this whole mess cleaned up right now.”
The security guard stood outside the car door, tapping on the window like the endless rain. Sophia rolled down her window.
“Wallace,” she said. “Any luck finding him?”
“Not yet, Miss Sophia. There’s been no sign of Marcus since you left. But I’ll keep looking.” He paused, shifting his eyes to the empty street. CNN was a long way from anything. “I still think we need to get the cops in on this. We put out an APB on Marcus and—”
“And the cops will be tearing down the building in no time. No, I’m sorry, Wallace, but it has to be this way. For my father’s sake.”
“Of course, Miss Sophia. For your father.”
“Wait…” Jesse said, turning his head. “Sophia, I thought you called Pip. I thought you wanted to let CNN know what we had found.”
“I don’t want anyone to know anymore than they should,” she said. “I don’t trust them.”
“But you trust him?”
Wallace stood like a statue in the rain. He was a big man—as tall and nearly as thick as a truck, with biceps that bulged out like thighs on an elephant, and a head shaved so close to the skin that the rain slid right off. But he had old eyes, dog-tired, the kind that were weary even after the sixth cup of coffee, and yet the dark rims of his pupils were always alert. He didn’t blink now. He just stood there, wearing the same black uniform that all the CNN security guards wore, and stared straight ahead.
Sophia didn’t need to hesitate for an answer. “Wallace has known my father longer than me. They were friends before I was born. Isn’t that right, Wallace?”
He nodded. “Good friends, Miss Sophia.”
“Fine, whatever,” Jesse said. “I don’t care who knows, but we have to tell your father about Gibbers’ death. This is partially his fault anyway.”
“I’m sorry to report, but we lost contact with Russell a couple of hours ago.”
“What?”
“He went looking for you kids. He said you weren’t answering your cell phone, Miss Sophia.”
She lowered her eyes to the car floor. “I…didn’t feel like taking any calls…”
“Understandable.”
“This is great,” Jesse said, banging his forehead against the steering wheel. “Can’t you just call him?”
“He doesn’t carry a cell phone or a car phone, sir.”
“Oh, of course. That figures. Mr. Big-Shot doesn’t carry a cell phone with him because God knows his daughter won’t want to call him to say that she’s fine.”
“He likes his private time,” Sophia shrugged, but it was a hopeless battle. She wasn’t going to defend her father over that. Not when she had used it against him so many times.
This whole time, Wallace remained inert, like a soldier during call, but his eyes suddenly caught on something moving in the backseat. It was Alyssa. Feeling his gaze weigh her down, she gave him a half-smile and a timid wave with her fingertips, but neither was returned.
“I don’t know that person,” he said flatly. “Is she authorized to be here?”
“No,” Sophia replied.
“Should I lock her up?”
“Oh, would you?”
“Hey, come on,” Alyssa whined. “I didn’t ask to be taken on this murder mystery trip. I only came to see Jesse.”
“You come along for the popcorn and you have to sit for the whole movie. It was your decision.”
“This is so unfair. Are you going to let her talk to me like that, Jesse?”
But Jesse was too busy slamming his head into the steering wheel.
Grabbing him by the hair, Sophia yanked him back into the seat. “We can’t trust you, Alyssa. If you tell anybody what you saw—”
“I won’t speak.”
“We would all be in a lot of trouble.”
“I won’t even open my mouth.”
“Somehow, I find that hard to believe.”
“I’m serious!” she said, grabbing Sophia’s shoulders. “Not a word. Please, I don’t want to be locked up. I have a fear of being alone. You can’t leave me alone. Please, it’s all I ask. Don’t leave me alone. I won’t say a word.”
Wallace opened the back door.
“No! Don’t let him near me. Don’t let him touch me. I don’t want to be alone!”
“You won’t be alone,” Wallace assured her, but his voice was anything but comforting. “I’ll guard you.”
“Don’t let him touch me or I’ll scream, I swear.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Jesse said.
Sophia looked at him, then at Alyssa, and then at Wallace. “…Leave her alone. I’d feel safer if she was with us anyway. I don’t want to get you any more involved with this than you already are, Wallace.”
“As you wish, Miss Sophia,” he said, stepping away from the door so that Alyssa could scurry out. She did so, ducking under his brawny arm and clutching onto Jesse’s jacket as he circled around to the back of the car. Shaking her off, he unlocked the trunk and opened it.
“There’s something in here we might need,” he said, digging through piles of old sport gear and clothes.
Sophia stepped out, nodding to Wallace, and joined Jesse and Alyssa at the back of the car as the rain splashed against their faces. “What are you looking for?”
He pulled out a small iron safe with a digital keypad on the front. “This.”
“What is it?”
“Something I didn’t want you girls to know I have.” Typing in the combination really quick, the safe beeped three or four times and the little light in the upper corner turned green. He carefully opened it, revealing a small wad of money, some important documents and checkbooks, a case of Cuban cigars, and on top of them all, a pistol.
Sophia’s heart skipped a beat. “What are you doing with that?”
“Protecting you,” he said, pulling out the small handgun and checking it for ammo. Then he flipped it over, gripping the barrel tightly between his fingers, and handed it to Sophia. “Take it.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Take it, Sophia.”
“I said I don’t want it.”
Jesse squinted at her through the waterfall of rain trickling from the open hood of his car. She had that look in her eyes. The look of fear. A dark, terrified look, hidden behind the downpour that turned the whole world gray. Closing his eyes for a moment, he nodded and turned to Wallace. “Then you take it.”
“Already have one, sir,” the guard said, patting the bulge under his shirt.
“Alyssa?”
She looked at the gun, shimmering in the rain.
But Sophia quickly snatched it away. “Are you insane? We’re not giving her a gun.” Then she realized she had it in her hands. It was cold—colder than the rain—and made her fingers clamp around it like a beating heart. “…What are you going to use?”
“I have the gun from before,” he said.
“You can’t use that. It was the gun that killed Gibbers.”
“Look, I don’t want to use it. I don’t even plan to use it. But we don’t know who to trust once we step inside those doors.” And he jerked his head towards the CNN building, which looked frightening and dark under the swelling sky. Black clouds seemed to swallow it, spitting out streaks of lightning and heavy breaths of wind and rain that made the trees bow down in fear.
“Last chance to go the police, girls,” he said, closing the trunk.
Sophia gazed down at the gun, rolling the barrel across the wet lines of her palm. This all felt like a dream. How could it be real? A few hours ago, everything was sane. Now, the world had changed. None of this made sense.
She slowly raised the nozzle to the horizon, testing the weight against her hand, and tried to forget. “…Teach me how to shoot this thing.”
Giantess World
