Scene: a well furnished office, two men sit on opposite sides of a large expensive desk.

"It is worse than we feared, after the Carolina incident we can expect a full audit and investigation." sighs a middle aged dark haired man.

"How? what happened there didn't even make the news! I thought our team contained it so well?" the older man behind the large desk said with a frown.

"That is exactly why its so bad, they covered it all up before we could, the CIA, FBI, NSA, you name it, all of them had theif fingers in it. They know what we are capable of and are going to come looking. We need to clean up and fast sir." the dark haired man calmly replied.

"I suppose you are right Clemons, where should we start? We need teams out there quickly. Every office, every thing that could bury us." the old man said leaning back into his chair.

"We need a team for the Ohio 6 sir, the abandoned project from nearly 20 years ago. Our latest intel suggests there have been....developments. We need them eliminated or brought in." Clemons added before taking drink from his mug.

"Brought in? Clemons are you insane? That would incriminate us for certainty!" the old man shouted, veins pressing from his forehead.

"Yes Mr. Nevins, if we can't bury all our skeletons, the results from the Ohio 6 might change some minds at the top, they might want us to reproduce it for them." Clemons said putting a folder on the desk infront of Mr. Nevins.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Monday, May 21st, time morning.
Location: Fairborn Ohio

The day starts in what seems an average monday morning for the residents of this town, with majority of the residents owing their jobs to the nearby Wright Patterson Air Force Base, most of the city is dead until lunch time, and dead again until 5pm.

Here is where the story opens, just another day for everyone, soon to be a day that changes everything for six specific people...

The delicious smell of scrambled eggs, bacon and grits wafted through the Blaque house. Once the early signs of breakfast being made were heard through the silent house, all the Blaque children began to stir to get ready for their usual brawl of the morning. "Get out of my way Blake!!" A male yelled as he shoved his identical twin into the wall as a fight commenced on the steps. The two brunettes held each other in a head lock, one shirtless in pajama pants while the other had a tank top and basketball shorts, as the shoved each other into the walls while struggling to stay upright before they ended up falling down the steps.

"Blake! Jake! Move!!" Roared the oldest of the house as he made an attempt to ram through the two twins to the bottom of the step. He almost made it through before one of the twins, Jake, grabbed a hold his broad shoulder and knocked him back. This led into an even bigger brawl halfway on the steps as the two youngest of the family stood on top, watching the chaos down below. This held Ramona and Myles Blaque. Even though the two were a good few years apart, they could've been twins at how well they get along besides the other males of the family. "You have got to be kidding me. Everyone morning you guys!!" Ramona cried out, her short pixie cut standing in messy spikes all over her head, donned in a simple black tank and gray short shorts, which seemed to be the same for her brother next to her who wore an identical black tank and gray basketball shorts.

"Mom!" Myles sighed out loud when his head hanging back. Despite his eldest brother, Damien, who freshly buzzed cut his hair, and the twins who liked to keep it short and simple, Myles let his grow out in a shaggy do. "I'm not in this!" Was the response from their mother which caused the two youngest to groan as they got ready to be apart of the throw down on the steps. The only difference was their father had left out early for work, so there was no referee to coach who one.

This was a normal morning in the Blaque household.

After everything was worked out and the fighting had slowed to a stop, the Blaque children quickly filed into the kitchen and filled their plates. Of course, another fight broke out about who got what and their mother, who looked like a spitting-older image of Ramona, safely left the room with her goodbyes and her love. And threats of ending their lives if the kitchen wasn't cleaned before they left. Despite all the hurting limbs and speckles of bruises, they all managed to get along long enough to finish breakfast, straighten up the kitchen and get ready for work and class. After Ramona had to wait for all her brothers to finish their showers because she was the youngest, which Myles apologized for every morning before taking the last bit of hot water, she always settled for a bath. With a lift of her finger and a little bit of concentration, a tiny flame would dance on the tip as she blew the flame towards the water until it was almost bubbling with heat. Luckily, though, there was no fighting over transportation.

Ramona, after dropping Myles off for class, made her way to her new part time job at Bob's Diner. Everyone in town loved Bob's and Ramona could really use the money she got from tips, so why not? It was always slow in the morning, most people were still getting ready or still sleeping, only a couple families ever got up early enough to come to the diner for breakfast. "Hey Bob! Marget!" She greeted as she parked and entered the diner, already dressed and in uniform as she made her way towards the back to shove her stuff into the locker and a already made pot of coffee was positioned in the front of the room. A cold pot of coffee.

With a tiny sigh, Ramona poured herself a mug and, with a tiny glance behind her, held the mug in her tiny hands as they began to slow into a soft red color, almost pink. Steam began to rise from the mug before her hands returned to their pale color, the scars on her palms began to tingle and throb as she added cream and sugar to the mix.

Yup, just a normal morning for Ramona Blaque.

Within the first hour of Ramona's shift, a slightly balding middle aged man comes into the diner and takes a seat in Ramona's section.

"Err um yes I'll have the pancakes please, Ramona isn't it?" the man says wringing his hands while he speaks. Wrinkles line the man's face, as one who feels older than he actually is. He wears a light grey over coat and shabby clothes underneath. He proceeds to eat his meal in silence.


"Ramona, do you know that man?" Marge says as she walks up and puts a hand on her shoulder. "He keeps looking at you whenever you are not looking, want me to have Bob throw him out? Never seen him before and looks up to no good." She added with a frown.

"So what are you going to do with yourself today?", asked Vivian.

Gracie threw the covers back over her head again "Mom I just want to sleep... please", the day lite was beginning to stream through the cream colored blinds in her room.

Her mother sighed and shook her head "Grace your gonna have to get a job eventually, you can't live at home forever".

This was a conversation that she and Gracie had been having for almost a year now, she knew her parents loved her but it seemed like they were in an awful big hurry for her to move out. She really didn't understand it, they had tried so long to have her now they wanted to be "empty nesters".

"Well you know what Grace, your father and I have had plans for our retirement, and you've been out of high school a couple of years now. Don't you know what your going to do with yourself?" said Vivian with slight aggravation.

Gracie sighed, "I don't know what I want to do with myself for the future mom but right now I just want to sleep in" she turned away from her mom and pulled the blankets tight around herself.

Vivian shook her head and closed her daughters bedroom door behind her, "So she's gonna stay in bed for the rest of the morning isn't she?" asked Mark Gracie's father as he came out of his office. Vivian threw up her hands "I'm done, I'm through talking to her about it. You want an answer you talk to her about it" she turned and headed down the stairs. Henry looked at his daughters door, the truth was that he and his wife wanted to go on a trip around the world. Something they had saved for a long time to do but they didn't want to go before they knew that Grace was taken care of. It was supposed to be something of a second honeymoon for them, but Grace's insistence on staying out of school a year before going to college had put a cramp in that.

Gracie laid in her bed after that she couldn't get back to sleep, the frustration with her parents chased all hopes of sleeping in out the window. So she got up and headed into the shower after that she decided that to make them happy she would go into town and try to find a job. That was a hard thing to do in their small town most people had been doing the same job for years and someone practically had to die before a position anywhere opened up. But she had heard that there was an opening at the old movie theater so she figured she would check it out.

Vivian looked up form her romance novel was Gracie came down the stairs and grabbed her keys. Without a word the young woman put her purse over her shoulder and walked out the front door, Vivian couldn't even get a question out before the door was practically slammed shut. Great now she's mad", she said as she settled back into her book.

Knox Dean was awoken by the desperate 'meows' of his pet cat, Florence and the ringing of his alarm clock. Oh how he hated the mornings. He still lived with his parents, who didn't seem to want him to move out. Knox would have been happy with that if he wasn't so desperate to leave, he just needed the money to be able to get an apartment or something. It was such a shame that nothing was free in the world.

Florence hopped up beside him on his bed and nuzzled his cheek. Knox smiled and sat up, slowly patting Florence on the head before dragging himself out of bed. His parents had certainly gone to work now. Knox did actually have a job though, so he wasn't unemployed as such, he worked part-time in some coffee shop just down the road from his parents house. He wasn't meant to be there until late int he afternoon.

After changing and completely sorting himself out, Knox went outside for a nice walk, to his favourite destination, the park.

Pulling up to the old theater, Gracie saw that once again the ownership of the old theater had changed. This movie theater, a staple part of the city now for over 30 years, had seen seriously downfall in business after the large mall moved in just 10 miles away. Since then the theater had changed hands in ownership at least 5 or 6 times, each person hoping to "restore the fairborn theater". This latest reincarnation was hoping to make it a performing arts center, and a help wanted sign was up on the window.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Knox walked himself down the street to the park, his favorite place. After all Community Park East had everything you could want, a running path, a bike trail (sort of), soccer fields, volley ball net, playground, fishing pond, swimming pool and woods to walk through. Easy enough to get some peace of mind and be away from the world, especially in the middle of a week day. There were a few joggers on the path, but Knox found the park to be peaceful and empty.

After taking the mans order, Ramona gave him a smile and a nod. "I'll br right back with your order sir!" After getting and serving his meal, she began to work other tables as a slow stream of people began to come it. It wasn't until Marge pulled her aside that she noticed the strange mans looks. "Ramona, do you know that man?" Ramona frowned a little bit, glancing back at the man to see his fidgeting. "He keeps looking at you whenever you are not looking, want me to have Bob throw him out? Never seen him before and looks up to no good." She added with a frown. Ramona shook her head slightly and turned to face Marge. "No it's fine but I think there is something wrong." She murmured softly to Marge before patting her hand. "I'll let you know if there is anything wrong." She said with a nod before returning to the mans table slowly with a slight tilt of her head.

"Sir? Are you feeling ok?" She asked with her brows furrowed in concern. She noticed how he was dressed and how worn out he looked that she was starting to worry that something was wrong. "Is there something wrong? I could talk to my manger?" She offered softly in hopes there was something to help. She grew up in this town and didn't know this man at all unlike the other familiar customers that strolled in, so who is he?

The man glanced up from his food nervously as Ramona spoke to him. "No no, nothing wrong here, just have a lot to do today and little time to do it." He said with a weak smile. The man took a deep breath and looked down at his finished breakfast and back to Ramona as he reached into his grey jacket and pulled out an old beat up wallet. "Here this should cover the meal, and keep the rest as a tip, you deserve it." He said with a weak smile as he hands a thick wad of money to her.

As the man reaches the door, he turns back to Ramona "For what it is worth, I am sorry." he spoke one last time before hurrying out the door.

When Ramona looked at the money in her hands, she would discover nearly $1,000 in various crumpled bills.

Neil sat inside the warm lobby or the local medical clinic, his hands automatically rubbed together in anticipation of his impending appointment. His eyes flicked observing his surroundings rapidly, infact if he closed his eyes, he'd be able to remember this place in exact detail that would mirror its real counterpart in complete synergy. Neil's hand automatically raised in frustration, as he rubbed his temples he'd been getting serious migraines each day, which had begun a week ago and had been a constant non-stop. Neil's mind quickly synapses several explanations for this; one was a tumour on his frontal lobe, the second was his brain was under pressure and was psychologically induced and last perhaps his carbon monoxide levels were to high. He calculated the probabilities quickly and was satisfied with the results, which approximately took him 0.5seconds astounding him again. Neil hadn't told anyone this not even his closest friends or relatives but his brain felt like it was in overdrive, and was reacting way faster then it should be, which worried him. Infact it was one of the main reasons Neil decided to see a Doctor, that and his parents urging.

Neil heard his name being called by the Receptionist, and automatically pushed himself out of the chair: walking towards the desk. She looked up before nodding politely and speaking, "The doctor will see you now." She gestured a room behind her, to which Neil began walking to not before tipping an invisible hat to the receptionist of course, after all manners were everything. He walked in with a pirates swagger, and opened the door tiredly as there were bags drooping under his eyes and yawned. His eyes looked at the Doctor noticing several strange minor details; he had dirt on his boots, a blood spat on his shoulder and he was sweating from his left brow, a common sign of anxiety or perhaps deception? His left lip also quivered. Neil paused in the doorway, his head tilting left, not sure if he could enter.

Gracie walked up to the front door and found one open, she went through the doors looking at the obvious renovations going on. "Well at least someone is trying to fix this place up" she said as she put her hands in her pocket out of fear she might mess something up.

"Well it's not an easy job, but if we're gonna get this place up and running again it has to be done", said a male voice coming out of an office.

Gracie turned to see a old man with a tattered baseball cap and paint smeared overalls on, "Names Phil Mercer" he wiped his dsty hands on his clothes and reached out to shake her hand.

Gracie smiled, then reached out and shook his hand firmly, "Nice to meet you sir my names Gracie Torrence" she said.

The old man smiled back "Well I reckon you came to ask about the help wanted sign, I tell you what you got a strong handshake that a plus for you already" , he said with a slight chuckle.

Gracie smiled she liked the sound of that, "Well actually yes I had heard around town that someone was trying to open this place back up again. I can remember my dad taking me here when I was little to see all the old cartoons" she said with fondness in her voice.

Phil smiled, "Well dear I can remember seeing those cartoons when they were new" he laughed "Well dear what experience do you have?" he asked.

Gracie chuckled a bit at his comment, but now he was getting down to the reason why she had come here in the first place "Yeah I worked at a little boutique downtown called Cuties three years in high school until Ms Barrett had to close cause she lost business. My senior year I worked at McDonald's and hated every minute of it cause I couldn't stand all the grease, so I quit after I graduated. I decided to wait out a year before college to kind of wind down a bit, so I didn't get into college and be all burned out and start flunking. But I haven't managed to get a job in a year, but I'll admit I haven't really been looking cause I've been enjoying the freedom I've had. Now it's getting close to time for me to start college and my parents are practically begging me to get a job so I can move out and they get to go on their trip around the world they've been planning forever", she said as she teetered back and forth on her feet and heals.

Phil chuckled Gracie seemed to be like a pretty good kid with a good head on her shoulders, and if she could keep a job for three years that means she was committed to it despite the fact that the business was struggling. "Well that sounds good to me, the renovations wont be done for another couple of weeks but I think you the one for the job", said Phil.

Gracie smiled really big "You mean it thank you soo much I've really needed a job before I can get my own place. My parents will only cover so much of my expenses other then tuition and books and stuff so I thank you" Gracie reached into her purse and pulled out her resume. "All my contact info is on that, just call me when your ready for me to start" she shook his hand again.

"For what it is worth, I am sorry." He spoke one last time before hurrying out the door.

She smiled a bit, relieved to hear that he was ok, but what was he apologizing for? He face held the confusion as she offered him a way as she got up and left the diner. "Thanks for the tip! And have a nice day!!" She called after him as she began to uncrumple the bills in her hand, then realized how much money she actually held. "Sir! Wait!!" She called after him, murmuring her apologies to her waiting customers as she ran out of the diner after him. "Sir I couldnt accept all this money!" She called after him, hoping he'd stop her for a moment so she could return the money he gave her.

"Honestly 10 dollars is fine. Even 5 dollars is great!" She said, trying to put some of the bills back into his palm as she gave a kind smile. "So thanks. Really. "

(Ugh hate posting from my phone)

"Neil come in!" said the doctor in a thick Irish accent while looking at a chart in front of him. "So I understand you have been having some headaches is that correct?" the doctor added taking off the jacket he was wearing tossing it into a container marked for disposal and grabbing a new jacket off the back of his door. "Sorry for my ragged appearance, I just got off my shift as an EMT and was filling in for Dr. Johnson while he is sick." The man added wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I am Dr. Jonas, now lets take a look at you shall we?" Dr. Jonas said with a smile.

The Doctor did look nervous, it was indeed Neil's chart in his hand. The clock was exactly 42 seconds slow. There were 56 tongue depressors in that jar. The sheer amount of information again causing Neil's head to hurt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phil smiled and shook Gracie's hand. "Here is my card, will be in contact with you!" He said witha simple smile. As Gracie walked out, she sees two police vehicles, a fire truck and an ambulance fly by, sirens screaming. Heading in the direction of her side of town. She could see smoke above the houses and tree lines.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The man flinched as Ramona caught back up with him, attempting to thrust the money back at him. "No look, take it, I don't need it and you soon will, forget we met and don't tell anyone. You might want to look into getting out of town for a bit, now I have to get out of here." the man said in a panic refusing the money and jumping into a shabby grey car, starting the ignition and zooming out of the parking lot.

Knox enjoyed the serenity of the park, he breathed in the fresh air. It was quiet. A nice quiet. He smiled as he made his way to the small pond where the ducks resided. Knox sat himself in the grass and stared blankly into the water, sometimes he felt like jumping into the water, it'd be nice to feel the cool liquid hit him. But alas, he could not. It would ruin the ducks home...

Knox was then suddenly flung into reality where he remembered that he needed cat food for Florence, maybe he fed her too much. However, that was another matter, the cat just needed food. Knox made his way to one of the shops and began to search around for the right cat food. Florence was quite picky.

"Neil come in!" the doctor spoke after a few seconds had passed with a distinct Irish accent, to which Neil nodded walking through the doorway. "So I understand you have been having some headaches is that correct?" the doctor added, while he slung off the jacket he was wearing, throwing it into a container which was marked for disposal. Neil leaned again the wall before summing up a response "Yeah, they've gotten to a state where I can't think clearly." The doctor's hands went for a new jacket while slipping it on he gave an explanation for his appearance, "Sorry for my ragged appearance, I just got off my shift as an EMT and was filling in for Dr. Johnson while he is sick." Neil raised his head before nodding rather clumsily: he was experiencing a headache again, he could tell the clock was exactly 42 seconds slow just by looking at it, and the jar in the far corner loaded with tongue depressors had exactly 56 which made Neil lower his head and gasp sharply, as he held his forehead, rubbing it gently: trying to ease the pain.

The doctor wiped the sweat from his forehead away, before announcing his name to Neil "I am Dr. Jonas, now lets take a look at you shall we?" in response Neil forced himself to move, trying to overcome the headache temporarily, "I've taken several antibiotics, but they seem to have no effect." Neil added to his current statement, while closing his eyes trying to concentrate.

Browsing through the store, Knox finally found the cat food Florence would like, it wasn't the cheapest brand, but atleast it wasn't the most expensive. The clerk behind the register was a stuck up girl that Knox went to highschool with, luckily the transaction didn't take long and he was out of there without too much awkwardness. It was a brisk early summer day, sun was out, the weather was warm and only slightly humid.

Leaving the store, Knox receives a text message from an unknown phone number reading only "Don't go into work, get home, gathers up what you need and try to get away for a few days. This is the only warning I can give."




------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Jonas proceeded to inspect Neil, shining a light in his eyes, asking him questions. After about a quarter of an hour, Dr. Jonas frowned and looked at Neil "I'm going to recommend you go to the hospital and have an MRI done, nothing seems wrong, but your pupils do dillate in a very odd manner." He said pulling out a note pad. "Meanwhile here is a prescription to some pain killers, I recommend you get to the hospital soon though."

Gracie shook her head it was odd to see the fire trucks heading practically right for her neighborhood. "That is practically a brand new housing development why would they go there?" she thought out loud. She headed to her car and turned the key, she didn't want to go home just yet, but the trucks had her curious as to what was going on. "I'll just drive by and see whats going on then I can go to the shopping", she put the car in drive and began to head back towards her house.

She thought about the new job and where she might get a nice apartment, and how she needed to get to college and sign up for classes. "Mom and dad will be happy, they'll finally get to go on their trip" she said to herself. This was something she did allot cause she was used to be by herself, a habit she picked up when she was very young as an only child. Only a few people did she ever consider her friends, Neil, Knox, and Ramona, her parents tried to encourage her to associate with other children when she was younger, but the group was practically inseparable. All through preschool and kindergarten, Gracie found out later that all of their birthdays we're practically the same day as well. And at one point their parents decided to have a mass birthday party with all the three of them.

But now when Gracie thought about it, the thought that they we're all so close was kind of weird. "I should really see how everyone is doing, I haven't seen them all in a couple of months. I'll go see Ramona at the diner after I drive by my house" she said with a smile.

As Gracie's car pulled through the neighborhood, it became more and more obvious that the burning house was closer and closer to where she lived. Finally turning the corner, she is met with the vision of her home burning in flames, fire fighters working hard to put out the fire.

People are standing outside their houses watching, Gracie's mother can be seen near a police office and an EMT, looking shaken but fine. Seeing her daughters car, she jumps up and hurries her way over to Gracie and her vehicle.

"Don't go into work, get home, gathers up what you need and try to get away for a few days. This is the only warning I can give."

Knox stared at the phone in complete, utter confusion. Who was this? It was an unknown number...he had no clue at all. Who was this strange person and why were they warning him...telling him to leave. He arrived at his parents house and dumped the cat food on the counter, Florence seemed to have gone outside somewhere.

Knox reread the text, just in case he was imagining things.

"Don't go into work, get home, gathers up what you need and try to get away for a few days. This is the only warning I can give."

He had no idea what this was about, the only option he had was to text back, he didn't want to call...not until he knew.

Who are you and what is going on? He texted back, it took a while to text as Knox never enjoyed using chatspeak, his head sort of hurt a little, he wasn't sure whether it was the heat or because he was overwhelmed. Either way, he was very confused about this mystery text person.

"The subscriber you are attempting to reach cannot receive text messages" is the only response Knox got back to his phone, but it wasn't from the same number, but rather from a default provider number.

Florence chose this moment to make an appearance, smelling the food even through its container. Announcing its presence with a prominent "Meow!"

The doctor began inspecting Neil using mandatory exercises; shining light in his eyes, asking him questions to which Neil answered best to his knowledge after fifteen minutes of this had passed, the doctor looked at him with a low frown, which slightly worried Neil. "I'm going to recommend you go to the hospital and have an MRI done, nothing seems wrong, but your pupils do dillate in a very odd manner." Neil twisted his head carefully, before nodding "Sure I guess I'll be able to go to a hospital soon." Neil silently wondered what would show up on the MRI, a tumour? No, no a tumour's symptoms included; seizures, drowsiness and sickness, Neil had only demonstrated on of these symptoms, he paused curiously wondering how he knew all of this, it just seemed to come naturally, which shocked Neil.

"Meanwhile." The doctor continued "Here is a prescription for painkillers." Neil raised his hand, taking the prescription nodding in thanks, he'd head down to the Pharmacy after this to buy a couple, his head ached considerably, "I recommend you get to the hospital soon though." The doctor concluded, to which Neil nodded "Thanks for the diagnosis." He turned around, holding his shoulder and walked out of the room, and soon out of the Medical clinic, towards the Pharmacy.

As Neil leaves the pharmacy with some basic, moderate strength pain killers, he immediately notices the scenario in the street. A mother walking with a small boy playing with a ball, a young teenager was riding his skate board down the street, a car was hurrying to make it through a yellow light, and a upper 20's man was jogging with his dog.

It all unfolded to Neil...the car would hurry through the light, the jogger's dog would run past the small boy who in an excitement to try and pet the dog, would drop its ball, the ball would roll into the street, which would fall right into the skateboarders path, causing them to wipe out right in front of the oncoming car speeding to get through the yellow light.


It was plain as day to Neil, his brain put each piece of information together, and this scene was only 3 seconds away from beginning.

Knox placed his phone down for a moment. He petted Florence on the head before thinking about what he had been sent.

Obviously it was serious if the person texted me, which means they must know me from somewhere... he thought. This is all too weird, maybe I should turn my phone off and pretend it never happened... Knox picked up his phone to turn it off to see that the screen had already gone black. Weird. Maybe it ran out of battery. On second thoughts, he might need it. Knox turned his phone back on.

Knox couldn't just skip work, it wouldn't be good and how was he supposed to explain it? Just say that he got a text from an unknown number telling him to leave? Knox decided that he'd drop in and tell them that he wouldn't be coming in, he'd lie, say there are family issues or something.

He left the house and made his way there.

Knox placed his phone down for a moment. He petted Florence on the head before thinking about what he had been sent.

Obviously it was serious if the person texted me, which means they must know me from somewhere... he thought. This is all too weird, maybe I should turn my phone off and pretend it never happened... Knox picked up his phone to turn it off to see that the screen had already gone black. Weird. Maybe it ran out of battery. On second thoughts, he might need it. Knox turned his phone back on.

Knox couldn't just skip work, it wouldn't be good and how was he supposed to explain it? Just say that he got a text from an unknown number telling him to leave? Knox decided that he'd drop in and tell them that he wouldn't be coming in, he'd lie, say there are family issues or something.

He left the house and made his way there.