The Fall

"The Fall" is the second episode of Predators & Prey. It belongs to the first season of the story.

Plot
The episode would start with John and Jill in their car - it was a white sedan. They were in a traffic jam. Jill had her elbow resting against the window frame of the door, as her window was down. Both John and Jill seemed to be annoyed at the clogged up streets.

"What the hell is taking so long..." John mutters under his breath in annoyance.

"It's not even peak hour yet." Jill adds. She releases a sigh, taking out her flip phone to take a look at the time. She would notice that it was seven PM already. She would also notice that there was no signal bars on the top right. She'd furrow her brows in confusion. "That's weird."

"What is?" asked John.

"There's no bars on the signal display... In the phone, that is." Jill explained. She set her phone down, shaking her head.

"Huh. That IS weird." John muttered.

Suddenly, a man runs across the street - right in front of John's windshield. Making through the other jammed up cars. He was bleeding from his right arm and he was holding it tightly. His screams indicated that he was in pain, sadly enough, he couldn't make it to the other side as he collapsed and lost consciousness.

"What the hell is going on there?" John looks at the man that was collapsed on the street. Other drivers were stepping out to check on him. "Hold on, i'm gonna take a look." He said. Jill looked at John in protest: "Honey, don't. He's probably under the influence."

"And what if he's not?" John returns a look at Jill. "I'm going." He told, opening the door and stepping out after releasing his seatbelt. Jill sighed in frustration, shaking her head. "Just like your damn son..." She muttered to herself.

John walked towards the collapsed person. Three other people were looking up on him. After glancing at the way the victim came from, he noticed a trail of blood following him. "Hey--.. Put pressure on that wound." John told the person that was tending to him.

The person that was tending to the collapsed man was an older man with a brown, flannel shirt. "What do you think i'm doing, son?" He says. He had his bicep wrapped with a rag, visibly, it was pressured. "I just hope this guy didn't lose too much blood..." He mumbles.

Another man looked at the older man, "If only the damn ROAD wasn't jammed, maybe we could properly call the ambulance.." he complained.

John waved him off. "The... The phone lines are all dead. No idea why."

"Hrm, let's get this guy on the sidewalk. Hey, son - might giving me a hand?" He asked John. John nodded, grabbing the unconscious man by the legs. The older man grabbed the man by the hands. "On the count of three. One... Two... Three!" On 'Three', John and the older man succeeded in lifting the man up. They moved him on the sidewalk.

"At least he'll be safe here. Do you know what the hell is happening?" John asked the younger man.

The younger man looked at John for a moment, shrugging his shoulders. "Well.. I dunno, something to do with a cannibal gang or something. Hey, it's what they said on the news!" John narrowed his eyes at the guy in disbelief. "Yeah, right, okay." He shook his head, thinking that it's all nonsense.

"Well, whatever is happening, let's hope it all ends soon." The older man mumbled, facing away from the unconscious man, looking at the jammed up street. "I've been meaning to go home already. I'm tired as a bear at winter."

"Yeah. And I want to come back home to my kid."John sighs, watching the cars honk and idle.

"I feel you, son. How old is he? She?" The old man asks.

"It's a he. He's sixteen... Little trouble maker, you know..." John chuckled. At the same time, he hopes Alex didn't get into any trouble yet.

"Ah... Teenage years. I understand what you mean. I have a son all the way down in Nevada. He's a.. A priest. He runs a church, and all of that." The older man nods slowly. "I'm Edward by the way."

"John." He introduced himself back, his hands resting on his hips.

Meanwhile, Alex, Shane and Omar were running on the sidewalk in the street. They would halt, as another car would drive straight into the wall of an ugly-looking apartment complex in front of them, slamming into it. The engine would start smoking profusely. The driver seemed to have his head sunk into an airbag.

Omar would clear his throat, motioning the two to just keep walking, but Alex walked over to the door and opened it. Shane examined the driver. He seemed to be unconscious as well.

"What the fuck is happening here..." Alex mumbled under his breath, moving the driver by his shoulder. "Hey, sir--.. Are you okay?"

The driver began to moan and snarl quietly. His head moving back.

Shane cheered, "He looks okay to me." then the driver looked at the trio. He'd reach for them, sadly, he was stuck to his seatbelt. Unable to step out. Grows and snarls growing louder. "Nevermind..." Shane said, backing away immediately.

"He.. He's just like them.. What is going on!?" Alex asked.

"I'on give a fuck, let's just get the hell outta here! I lost my damn /finger/!" Omar said, his tone growing more serious as he glanced at his hand, which was wrapped in his school jacket.

"Yeah.. You're right." Alex nodded, he pivoted, only to face another one of these deranged men. "Ah!" He yelped, as the man lunged on him. Alex fell to the ground, but holding back against the man, who kept trying to bite on to Alex's face, but to no prevail.

Shane pulled the man off of Alex, helping him get up soon after. The trio started to run again, crossing the street as cars almost hit them, being just in time to hit the breaks. Some cars brake-checked each other, but the trio kept running. They passed alleyway after alleyway until another one of the cannibals leaped out and fell on Omar this time. Right before Alex and Shane could properly react, the cannibal sunk his teeth into Omar's neck and cheek, devouring the flesh. Omar screamed in agony as it happened, and Alex and Shane could do nothing about it. They just stood there in shock and horror.

Alex's eyes were widened. He bent over while looking away, vomiting on the floor. That attracted the cannibal's attention as he stood up and went after the two again, leaving Omar faceless. The flesh ripped off of his visage. Shane grabbed Alex by his wrist, tugging him along as he ran. The cannibal limped after, but obviously he wasn't fast enough. Nonetheless, they turned and entered an apartment complex, shutting the door

They both breathed heavily for air in exhaustion from running. Alex dropped down on the floor and sat down, realization sinking in. Shane followed, sitting down on the opposite side of Alex.

"Omar. His face... He's.. He's dead." Alex mumbled, still unable to believe what he saw back there.

"I.. I know, Alex." Shane huffed, staring at the door.

"We need to somehow get back home. The streets are dangerous." Alex mumbled to Shane. Silence struck upon the two. Alex and Shane stared at each other.

Shane kept staring at Alex, before wiping off sweat and dirt off of his own forehead. "Kevin, that cun-... That fucker ran away.." He complained.

Alex nodded, "He did, Shane. Fuck him. Omar's dead because of him. Maybe if he was there, we would have been able to beat that meth head up."

"No, bro-... We wouldn't have.. You saw that lunatic in the car? No way anybody would have been able to survive that. And that guy did." Shane mumbled. "I think the world's ending."

"Damn.." Alex shook his head, staring at the floor. "What did we get ourselves into?"

"Whatever this is, we should get back to our parents. I'll try calling my dad, maybe he'll come pick us up if he's on duty." Shane said, taking out his phone, only to notice that he's got no signal. "Fuck. No signal."

"For fucks sake..." Alex grumbled. "We need to get moving. Let's hope we get home by night fall. What's the time?" Alex asked Shane, who took a peek at his phone again. "It's eight thirty PM."

Alex nodded, pushing himself up then offering a hand to Shane, who took the hand and pulled himself up with Alex's assistance.

"Let's do this, man. We can do it." Alex said, slightly opening the door to the exit to scan the area. He realized no one was out there. "Go, go, go!" He alerted Shane before running out. Shane followed after Alex.

Elsewhere, John and two other men were still conversating about the traffic jam and.. Well, life. Jill was sitting in the passanger seat still, growing even more annoyed at the traffic jam. Edward kept talking, "..So then he picked up that rifle and I told him: 'finger off the trigger, boy.' and guess what happens next? He shoots that damn thing, and the deer ran off. I swear, my son was never the type to handle a..." suddenly, he got cut off, as the man that was once collapsed on the floor, sunk his teeth into the shoulder of the man standing next to Edward and John. Edward gasped, trying to pull the cannibal away from the man, but it was too late, as he managed to bite off a chunk of flesh out of him. The man screamed as the cannibal hissed, reaching back to the victim. Edward punched the cannibal in the face, "Back off!" he screamed but to no avail.

Other cars just started their engines and began driving on the sidewalk, as the drivers were obviously creeped out and scared by what they witnessed. John and Edward tried to run back to their cars, but John was hit by a car. Luckily, it wasn't a hard hit, as after rolling off the hood, he was able to stand back up and run towards his car. As Edward tried to run to his own car, another car slammed right into its rear, destroying it, the rear window shattering as the driver pulled back and peeled off of the scene. Edward frowned, holding his hands on his head in disbelief. "God, damn it..!"

The cannibal got hit, but he got up and gave chase to one of the leaving cars.

The streets cleared up a bit. Cars started to move. John slid into his car, hugging Jill. "Oh my god, are you okay!?" Jill asked, terrified by what she just saw. "Yeah-- Yeah, i'm okay..."

Jill shook John, trying to knock some sense in to him. "We need to get back home, now."

John looked at Edward, seeing as he's got no car. "Hold on, Jill." Jill looked at John with a confused expression, as John rolled his window down. "Hey, Edward..! You need a ride?"

Edward turned at John, giving him a small, faint, thankful smile. He took his bag of groceries out of his car and walked towards John's car, sitting in the back seat. Jill had an unpleasant expression.

"Thank you, John. I really appreciate it." Edward thanked John, shutting the back seat door.

"Don't.. Don't thank me, Edward. With whatever's going on, we need to get home and make sure Alex is safe..." John said, starting the engine of the car up. He began to drive.

"I don't think i got your name, miss." Edward looked at Jill. "I'm Edward."

"Jill." Jill said with a fake smile, hiding her displeased emotions.

"Edward, I think for now it's best we stay together. At least until this all ends." John suggested.

"Understandable, John, I agree." Edward nodded.

Later, John pulled up in his drive-way of his home. He noticed another car pulled up to the side of the road and recognized it immediately - it was his friend's, William's car. As they all stepped out, William and Shane's mother, Vivian stepped out of their own car.

"John! John! Have you seen Shane?" William asked with worry in his eyes.

"He haven't seen him ever since he left for school this morning..." Vivian said.

"No.. No we haven't.." Jill mumbled. John looked at her, his own expression showing worry now.

"William.. Have /you/ seen Alex..?" John asked.

William looked at John in the eyes. John could see the answer just by the look on William's face. "Oh god..." John mumbled, holding himself by the head. His hand slicking his curly hair back, only for it to bounce back to its initial form.

"Let's.. Let's head inside..." John insisted, clearing his throat.

The group would turn to enter the Wolf household. Inside, at the kitchen, John and Vivian were sitting at the table, while William was trying to use his phone to call Shane. Edward was looking through the windows, as Jill was in the living room.

"I need to call him, I just need to. I want him to be safe, safe from.. What ever the hell is out there..." William mumbled, pressing on the buttons on his crappy nokia phone. Continuously dialing Shane's number, only for it to be rejected as the line would be dead.

"Calm down, Will--.. Alex and Shane are smart boys. They'll get back, safe, I know they will." Vivian tried to calm William down, as if she wasn't worrying herself.

"The world's going to hell. It's like the bible said, that time for redemption will come." Edward mumbled, watching the empty street. It was obvious that people were all holed up in their homes. "I think it's time we pay for our sins."

"The world isn't going to hell, Edward-." John tried to reassure Edward. "I'm sure it's just some... druggie group, too high to realize what they're doing."

"Let's hope that's not the case." Will spoke. Still trying his luck to get connected to his son.

The light flickered, the TV turning on again. The news were on, this time, the news anchor would be talking about a world wide outbreak. He talked about how the CDC is looking into the virus and essential steps of how to stay safe until all this is over while clips of these cannibals were shown eating people and being resistant to gun shots unless being hit in the head. "The United States President is working and collaborating hard with other country leaders to try and solve the problem. Gather food and supplies, lock your doors, don't let anyone in and turn off the lights. Until an answer is found, do not go out of your h--.." The electricity got cut again. Jill sighed. John could be seen rubbing his temples.

"We need to go out there and look for them." John suggested.

"I.. I don't think that'd be a good idea... We don't even know how to stop these people... Don't be crazy." Jill replied, selfishly protesting against John's suggestion.

John looked at her with a half-pissed expression, but didn't say anything.

Vivian walked over to the faucet, filling up a glass of water. She visibly seemed to look unwell. Anxiety and worry overtaking her mind. "I need some water."

William looked at Vivian, his gaze moving over to the door as it suddenly opened. Alex and Shane walked through. They both looked horrible, like they've seen a ghost. Vivian ran over to hug Shane. Alex was met with his father resting his hands on his shoulders.

"Alex! Are you okay?!" John asked, examining Alex to see if he's hurt.

"Shane! Thank god you're okay." Vivian said, in relief.

Alex looked over at Edward with a puzzled expression, "Who's that?"

"I'm Edward. Your father helped me along the way." Edward introduced himself.

"The-.. People.. Are going crazy, they-. They-.." Shane was stammering, trying to speak.

"They're eating each other.." Alex finished Shane's words.

"We know, son. We know." John nodded, William walking over. "And we need to survive this, we need to be safe."

"We need a plan." William said.

Protagonists

 * Alex Wolf
 * Shane Payne


 * John Wolf
 * William Payne
 * Jill Wolf
 * Vivian Payne
 * Edward Lawler

Neutral

 * Omar Wilson

Deaths

 * Omar Wilson