Chapter 1 - The Ticking Threat
The first thing the teenage boy saw was a woman pulling his grandfather out of his wheelchair.
The old man cried out as his shoes scraped across the asphalt of the hospital parking lot.
"Get away from him!" Leo shouted with pure adrenaline coursing through his veins.
The boy ran forward, shoved the mysterious woman back, and caught his grandfather before he fell.
The woman pointed frantically and desperately at the empty chair.
"Do not put him back in it!" she screamed.
The grandson stared at her in absolute disgust.
"You are sick!" Leo yelled.
He grabbed the wheelchair handles and pulled it closer to his trembling grandfather.
But his grandfather suddenly reached out and stopped him with a surprisingly strong grip.
The old man stared intently at the leather seat.
His weathered face completely changed color.
"Wait," Arthur whispered hoantly.
The boy looked down in confusion.
"What is wrong?" Leo asked.
Grandpa’s voice became barely audible over the wind.
"That is not my chair," Arthur said.
The woman nodded, entirely breathless and pale.
"Exactly," she confirmed.
Then a faint electronic beep came from beneath the dark cushion.
Beep.
Beep.
The grandson slowly crouched down toward the concrete.
A tiny red light blinked continuously underneath the metal frame.
He blindly reached his hand toward the hidden device.
Grandpa grabbed his wrist with terrifying speed.
His dull eyes suddenly filled with absolute fear.
"Wait, I know that specific sound," Arthur said.
The beeping suddenly became twice as fast.
"Run!" the woman shouted as she tackled both of them to the ground.
A deafening explosion shattered the quiet afternoon as a shockwave threw them across the parking lot.
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Ears ringing and vision blurring, Leo slowly pushed himself up from the smoking pavement.
He looked over to see a black van suddenly screeching to a halt inches from his face.
