Emma and Daniel sat down on the couch. Meanwhile, Matthew went to the kitchen to grab some tea and sandwiches for all of them to snack on. Daniel grabbed a cushion and dusted it before supporting his back with it, while Emma cleared her throat ceaselessly, still feeling guilty about her "crime".

"Get yourself comfortable," Matthew said as he lowered himself onto the armchair and shuffled around to adjust his posture. "This isn't my house, of course, but the amount of planning we're going to do will probably fry your brain. So, to make up for the unpleasant discomfort in your mind that's to come, make yourself at home."

"All right," Daniel replied, bringing up the cup of earl grey tea with the tea plate and taking a few sips. "I'll enjoy myself," he commented as he placed the teacup down.

Emma, on the other hand, still didn't respond or react. She just sat there, looking elsewhere, as if she were in her own world, a world of mental torture and regret. She couldn't bear to face the detectives—well, she technically could, but it wasn't easy for her to do.

And Matthew noticed her unusual behaviour. "Um, Emma? You okay?" he asked. She still didn't respond, her mind somewhere else. "Emma?" he asked once again, louder this time.

She continued to cease any movements or speech. To Matthew, it had gotten a bit worrying, as she hadn't had any reactions to anything in the past minute; not to Matthew's words, not to his arms which were being waved in front of her, and not even to the rather unpleasant sound of Daniel's teacup clashing with his tea plate.

"Emma!" he said, snapping in front of her face. Finally, she blinked rapidly and came back to her senses. She looked around for a while, dazed, before noticing how Matthew and Daniel had been staring at her.

"Oh, sorry. I... I was thinking about something else..." she trailed off, getting quieter as she finished her sentence.

"Are you okay? You were completely unresponsive for a whole minute," Daniel questioned.

"I'm fine," she replied before pausing once again. Matthew almost thought she was returning to her oblivious state again, but instead, she brought something out of her handbag.

On the coffee table, she placed an unusual-looking box of syringes. She pulled the tab from the top of the box, opening it as she reached for one of the syringes. Holding it up for the others to see, she warned, "Never use this on yourself. Never. This is what caused the captain to turn."

"Turn... into that creature?" Matthew questioned, gulping uneasily as he stared at the syringe.

"Yes. The substance that this syringe carries is hazardous, and after knowing this, you'll never want to test it on anyone, not even on yourself," she cautioned. "Here's the box if you want to have a look," she said, handing the box over to Matthew.

He inspected the box carefully, examining the text printed on it. Yael Biology, it was worded. Below was a label that read: Abnormal Euclid Substance 128 (AES-128). Do not self-medicate the drug. Only to be used in hospitals or medical centres.

"This is awful," he retched, dropping the box back onto the table, refusing to look at it anymore.

Emma grabbed the box of syringes and threw them back into her handbag, seeing that the others weren't interested in it anymore. She was quick to notice the discomfort in her friends' disturbed expressions and instantly apologised, going into another breakdown again. "Guys, I... I'm really sorry that I did all of this. I seriously shouldn't have had—"

"Emma," Matthew finally spoke. "We're not upset with you anymore. We're just... slightly concerned about Yael's ambitions...."

"And seeing what their vicious plot is like, they are seriously dying to see us die," Daniel shook his head.

"Whatever they do, we'll have to turn the tables on them. We cannot let them win. For now, we'll have to find Megan first, track down whoever took her, and then plan for the trial," Matthew stated.

"We're... still going for the trial?" Emma asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. We can't just skip the trial and let Yael be. I know, I know. It's in five days, and we haven't even gotten started on how we're going to take them down. But we can't just give up like that. We'll make a surprise appearance on the day, okay?" Matthew reassured her.

"I will start from the simplest and most straightforward method, and that is Find My iPhone," Daniel said as he brought his phone out and began utilising the app. After activating the service, he frowned upon the results. "It says that she is in... Edison Palmer Hospital?" he questioned himself, confused at the results.

Matthew himself was puzzled too. "Why would anyone take her to a hospital? And wait... that's the hospital that my—"

Suddenly, Matthew's phone vibrated in his pocket, cutting him off. "Hello?" he said, responding to the incoming call.

"Hello. You must be Sergeant Davis from the NYPD," the unknown caller spoke.

Matthew paused for a moment. "Uh, who is this?" he asked, curious to know who was on the line.

"This is James Palmer, the owner of Palmer East Corporation. I seek your help in rescuing me and some others from the wretched place I'm trapped in now," the caller answered.

"Okay, but how do you know me?" Matthew questioned.

"That I will explain later. The school is in a critical state right now, and you can't wait any longer," the caller said.

"So, how can I assist you?" Matthew inquired.

"I am currently stuck in a tunnel that leads to the back entrance in Scranton-Palmer Middle School, which was built and funded by my company. I was trying to use the route to safely enter the school and avoid the main entrance, which was potentially dangerous as the rampage was worst in the main hallway. Anyway, I was attempting to rescue the students from the—"

"Wait, what do you mean by rampage?"

"Based on my sources, there's a... a creature attack going on at the school, and at least three of those boar-like creatures—you know what I mean—are endangering the lives of the pupils and teachers there."

"D-did you j-just say... three?"

"Yes, it's dreadful. Anyway, I'm headed there right now. I'm in the tunnel that leads to the back entrance."

"How long has the attack been going on?"

"I'm not sure, but it's probably been at ten minutes already, which means time is not on our side."

"Okay, I'll get my colleagues and myself prepared for this," Matthew concluded.

"You have your colleagues accompanying you?" the caller asked. "The more, the merrier. Update them on this as well."

"I will. Also, why—"

"Hang on. The back entrance is locked," the caller panicked. Suddenly, the sound of another door, or a gate, in fact, locking, was heard.

"Detective Davis, I think that I'm being—"

With that, the call ended abruptly.

"Who was that?" Daniel asked, noticing Matthew's change of expression after the call.

"Some company CEO named James Palmer. Search him up for me, will you?" Matthew replied as he headed towards his call history and tried to see if he could identify the number in any way.

"Well, yeah, he's the founder and CEO of Palmer East Corporation. He has funded multiple projects, like Edison Palmer Hospital, Central Union Tower in Allentown and Scranton-Palmer Middle School," Emma replied, reading the information from her phone.

"Looks like what he said was true," Matthew said, nodding.

"What did he speak to you about?" Emma asked, curious to know what was going on.

"He said he was trying to rescue some students from Scranton Middle School by going from a back exit that begins from a tunnel. He needs our help as he can't operate on his own. The call ended suddenly at the end, and I don't know why. He said that the back entrance was locked, and then the call got cut off," Matthew explained.

"But why choose us?" Daniel questioned.

"I'm not very sure, but I feel obliged to help them," Matthew said, revealing his thoughts. "I mean, they're kids. We can't just leave them there."

"Then, shouldn't the Scranton Police Department be responsible for the rescue operation? I mean, for all we know, he or the others could have already called them." Emma inquired.

"Well... maybe someone did. But another reason why I want to help is that... okay, let me rephrase this. You guys know how my mother is hospitalised right now, right?" Matthew tried to explain.

Daniel and Emma nodded.

"So, she's hospitalised in Edison Palmer Hospital right now. And Palmer literally owns the hospital. I think it's only right that we help him and the kids out," Matthew explained further.

"Well, I don't have anything against this plan of yours. It's just that... will it hinder us from finding Megan and planning for the trial?" Emma revealed her doubts.

"It might... but it's up to us to decide whether we should help them or not. If we finish this quickly, we'll only lose a day," Matthew convinced her, hoping they would agree.

"If you find this important, then I guess we'll go with you," Daniel nodded, volunteering unreluctantly.

With that, the three officers began packing for the operation. An operation that wouldn't go easy on them.

* * *

Daniel spammed the car horn. "Damn traffic," he cursed. It had been half an hour of driving, but unfortunately, they were only midway through their journey to Scranton. Interstate 81 was unusually packed that day. The same type of trees past by them ceaselessly, making it seem like they were in a loop.

"Well, I guess it's time to speed," Daniel stated, growing impatient.

"What?" Matthew yelped before the car accelerated out of the blue, and its engine roared. As a result, the vehicle swerved through others and dashed forward.

"Goodness, this is too dangerous! Even if we make it through, we might get fined!" Emma scolded.

"It's fine," Daniel reassured them. "We can explain if we get caught on camera or anything."

Matthew and Emma had to admit that speeding did save a lot of time, and would save a lot of lives in the school, but as they neared the town, they had to start complying with the speed limit laws. "Here goes the traffic again," Daniel groaned as they entered the town boundaries.

Emma looked at her phone. "According to the map we have to head south for another six kilometres—"

"Six kilometres? The school would be in chaos by now! Well, time for more speeding," Daniel interrupted. "

"Oh, boy..." Matthew grumbled as the car jerked forward, owing to the sudden acceleration of the vehicle. The car purred smoothly as it bolted down Route 11.

As it approached a white building with red, blue and black linings with a sign which could only be assumed to be the school, it decelerated quickly, causing the car to lean forward. Finally, they arrived at the school carpark. Anxious, the two dashed out of the car quickly.

"Okay, it's our last chance to back out. Are you all sure you want to do this? Put your hand up if you agree," Matthew reconfirmed.

Daniel and Megan held their hands up high without hesitating.

"There's no time for hesitation when it comes to saving some innocent children," Matthew said proudly.

They walked to the entrance where automatic doors making up the entrance slid open. Sad to say, the sight that appeared before them wasn't a pleasant one. Not even close.

Instead, the school was a complete mess. Bodies were strewn all over the hallways, with pools of blood circling around the base of the bodies and more staining the walls up and down. Thankfully, none of the corpses were of children.

"The operation must have gone wrong," Matthew reckoned.

"Not completely. I don't really see any children left, neither do I hear any. I think the police were wrapping up, and then they got attacked," Daniel guessed.

And just as he finished his sentence, a child let out an ear-piercing scream before waves of cries for help from other children and officers filled the atmosphere with tension.

"Looks like I was wrong," Daniel corrected his sentence to suit the current demeanour of the situation.

"We need to go right now. We have to finish the operation with them. That's what the police is for, after all," Matthew reminded them as he pulled them with him, running further into the hallway, towards the source of impending doom...