I lock eyes with a nice pair of shades that have a sort of opaque cheetah print pattern on the sides as we pass one of those prescription glasses racks you’d find by the pharmacy section in Walmart. The little price sticker read $5.99, which I could totally afford, but the instincts from my old habit kicked in and I had to physically restrain my hand from taking the cheap plastic and stuffing it in my jacket pocket. I opted to just stand there and just admire them instead.
“Danny?” My girlfriend, Jessica, called out, breaking me from my trance. Moving my gaze, I found her and the half full grocery cart at the end of the isle.
“Coming babe.”
Beck had a smug look on his face when I looked back at the rack before leaving the isle entirely.
“I wasn’t going to do it.” I mumble under my breath. I gave Beck a ‘you better not do anything stupid’ look before catching up with Jessica, taking in the view.
My sticky fingers are shoved into my pockets as I follow behind Jessica as she searches for the last few groceries we need.
“Oh what about these?” Beck said in a childish voice as he held a package of bright red Twizzlers next to his pale skinned face.
Jess pinched the bridge of her nose as she did one of those disappointed mom sighs,” No, Beck. I already told you we’re only getting the essentials. You can buy yourself some Twizzlers when you get a job and stop being a freeloader on my couch.”
Beck rolled his eyes as he put the Twizzlers down on the shelf next to him. He crossed his arms and then moped around as Jess looked at different types of pasta.
I look at a mopey Beck and then back at the abandoned pack of licorice. He looked at me with his signature puppy dog eyes and I motioned my head to the shelf behind him. His face lit up like a child on Christmas morning as he skipped back to his package of candy. Jessica turned around and glared at me when he put the item in the cart.
“I’ll pay for it.” I say defensively. “You know it’s been tough for him to find a steady job lately, but he’s trying. Plus, one little package of candy won’t hurt my bank account.”
Jess huffed and then turned back around and continued shopping. I heard her mumble to herself as she pushed the cart away from us.
“Thanks bro.” Beck whispered in my ear as he wrangled his arm around my shoulder. “I owe you one.”
“You owe me a lot. Now quit trying to get me in trouble with Jess!” I whisper back. Beck just laughs as he goes back to looking at the goodies on the shelves.
About twenty minutes go by and we finally make it to check out. I catch Jessica staring at the wall by the bathrooms as Beck and I unload the groceries onto the conveyor belt. Little disordinant beeps ring out of synch through the store as the cashiers scan peoples items.
“That sure is a lot of missing people.” Jessica says to the cashier trying to make small talk. I look at the wall covered in missing persons posters and count up to fifteen missing people. The most I’d ever seen before was like three or four, but fifteen? And in our tiny town of all places.
“Yeah, it’s like one or two people go missing every week now.” The cashier said bluntly as he continued to scan our items. “Maybe it’s a trafficking ring.”
“Or maybe they all went to join the circus or something.” Beck added in as he picked a booger out of his nose with his pinky finger. Jess and I both stare at him and it takes him a second to notice as he inspects the snot. He sniffs in quickly before wiping his hand on his grey T-shirt. Beck then looked away like nothing happened.
“I can’t fathom why you’re friends with him sometimes.” Jess mumbles as she takes out her credit card from her wallet.
“You know honestly? I don’t know why either.” I whisper back.
I look back at the wall of missing person posters one last time before we leave the store and enter the parking lot.
I hope they’re all ok, wherever they are.
With the help of Beck and I, the three of us manage to quickly load the groceries in the back of Jess’s silver 2016 Honda Accord. My beautiful blue eyed blondie takes the wheel as Beck and I engage in a short but intense staring contest. Without a moment’s notice the two of us bolt for the front passenger side door. I manage to jump in shotgun before Beck has the chance to take it from me. He throws his hands up in the air like the sore loser he is when I got to the seat before he did. Beck begrudgingly takes his rightful seat in the back. I smugly smile at him through the rear view mirror and he flips me the bird as Jessica rolls her eyes at what she sees as childish behavior. Which admittedly it is, but to Beck and I, it’s tradition to fight for shotgun whenever we go out. We’ve been doing it ever since we were kids and we sure as hell weren’t going to stop now.
We pull out of the pretty much empty parking lot and head for home. It was late- about eleven pm. Jessica works during the day and I have social anxiety so we normally tend to do the grocery shopping late at night when not as many people are around. Beck was up when we left at ten thirty smoking some of the Devil’s Lettuce and decided he wanted to tag along.
We were about halfway home driving on a pretty empty road (which was usual this time of night) while American Idiot by Green Day was blasting on the speakers. All of a sudden flashing red and blue lights flash from behind us as we hear a shrill siren ring out.
“What the hell? I’m not even speeding.” Jessica groans out as she squints at her speedometer.
A,”shit” slips out of my mouth as I look back at my obviously stoned friend.
“Maybe they’re going after someone else.” Beck says calmly.
“Who?” I say turning back to him,” there’s nobody else on the fucking road, dipshit.”
Jessica’s eyes dart back and forth from the rear view mirror to her left mirror and then to the road. “Fuck.” She whisper yells as she begins to slow the car down and turn on her turn signal.
“Why would they pull me over?” She asks frantically as she slows down along the shoulder of the road.
“Uh maybe now is not the best time to tell you guys this…” Beck says as he fiddles his hand around in his jacket pocket. Jessica and I quickly turn our attention to the back seat. “But uh, I kinda swiped these for ya, Danny.”
He pulled out the pair of cheetah print sunglasses I was looking at earlier.
Jessica angrily put her palm to her face as I let out a loud groan and sunk down into my seat, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“God damn it, Beck!” Jessica shouts.
“Calm down, everything will be fine.” I say in my calmest voice as I begin to rub Jessica’s arm tenderly to try and reassure her. “I doubt they sent the cops over a pair of sunglasses. They probably just pulled us over to meet their quota or something.”
“That’s a myth ya know.” Beck said as he picked at his finger. He does that when he’s anxious and feels bad about something.
“Shut up, Beck!” Jess and I say at the same time. Beck begins to pick his finger even harder.
“Okay, everyone chill the hell out, they’re coming up now.” I sit up straighter in my chair as the dark silhouette of a person gets closer and closer to the trunk of the car.
I should probably tell you now that Beck and I don’t have the greatest track record with cops. You see, Beck and I didn’t grow up in the wealthiest of neighborhoods and our parents were a bunch of shitheads, so this led us to becoming… troubled in our youth. We both got into the habit of petty shoplifting when we were teenagers. Think of the show Trinkets on Netflix. Well, petty shoplifting turned into an assault charge when Beck shoved the store owner we stole from and attempted to hit the cop who caught us. Beck got tazed in the back of his leg behind his knee, and then I was tazed as well when I stepped toward my seizing friend. We were both arrested and taken in for processing over a dumb pair of shoes Beck just “had to have.” It wasn’t the first time we’d been caught but it was the first time the store owner we’d stolen from wanted to press charges- since I think his shoulder got dislocated when he was pushed. I got six months in the county jail and Beck got a year. He got out early for good behavior and had to be on probation for the last three months of his sentence.
Worst six months of my life. Life in jail was tough, but life outside was tougher. It took me a long time to find a decent and steady job that would look past the jail time and hire me. Beck and I lost our apartment and I had to move in with Jess after my release. Needless to say, my go-getter goody-two-shoes girlfriend wasn’t happy with me and my criminal of a friend.
I was lucky that Jessica even took me back- under the condition I clean up my act of course- and I’ve been on the mend ever since. Sure life has its challenges but with Jessica by my side, I know I can get through any obstacle in my way, even if it’s Beck who has a good nose for finding trouble.
My life is over if I go back to Jail again. Jessica made it abundantly clear that if I even stole one thing again, even as little as a chocolate bar, she’d leave me in the dust forever. But luckily for me, Jessica was in the driver’s seat and the worst possible outcome here is a ticket. As long as Beck kept his mouth shut and didn’t show he was higher than a kite or the stolen sunglasses, we should be in the clear.
Two little knocks come from the driver’s side window. “License and registration, Ma’am.” The cop said in a southern drawl. He looked to be in his late thirties and was short but skinny. The only threatening thing about him was his pedo-stache and the fact that he was wearing sunglasses at night. What kinda douchebag wears shades at night by the way?
Jess nods towards my way and prompts me to grab the vehicle’s registration papers from the glove compartment. I do as she requests and she digs her license out of her purse and hands the items over to the officer.
“Are you aware of how fast you were going, miss?” The cop asked as he scanned over the driver’s license.
“Yes, officer, I am.” Jessica says as her grip on the steering wheel tightens, her knuckles whitening by the second. “I was going seventh-five in a seventy-five mile zone.”
The officer scoffs. “My radar says differently, ma’am. You were going ninety-five.”
“That’s bullshit.” I mutter under my breath.
“What was that sir?” After glimpsing at his uniform for a second I was able to make out the name Bradshaw on his name tag. Officer Bradshaw sounded a bit agitated after I called him out, so I decided to cool my jets and try to diffuse the tension in the air.
“Nothing officer, sir.”
Bradshaw sucks his tongue behind his teeth before saying,” I’ll be right back. You youngins stay right there.”
After we see him getting back into the driver’s seat of his car, Jess and I get to talking.
“There’s no way I was going ninety-five! This is so fucking bogus.” Jess freaks.
“I know babe. There has to be a camera somewhere down this road to prove you weren’t speeding if you have to pay a fine or get a ticket.”
Jess glares at me.
“I- I’m sure everything will be okay.” I stutter out. “Maybe he’ll let us off with a warning since it’s your first offense.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right, Danny.” She says with newfound hope and reassurance in her voice.
“I dunno guys, I’m getting a pretty bad feeling.” Beck pipes up from the back, crushing whatever hopes Jessica had.
“Dude, if you speak negative things into the universe, negative things are going to come your way.” I told him. “We can’t think like that.”
Beck sits up a bit taller and leans forward,” I know that Danny, but my spidey-senses are tingling, man. Something doesn’t feel right about this. Maybe we should dip.”
“And make everything worse?” Jessica whisper yelled at Beck. “You do realize that if we run, not only does that make us suspicious, but it would significantly up the charges from just a speeding ticket to evading the police?”
Beck goes to say something back but I see Officer Bradshaw getting out of his car in the rear view mirror. I get a glimpse of another person getting out of the passenger side door as well.
Officer Bradshaw lets out a long sigh before speaking to Jess, he’s hovering her papers over head like a carrot and she’s a horse trying to eat it.
“Jessica Davis, you are under arrest for super speeding.” He says in a monotone voice.
“What the hell?” I shout.
“But sir, I wasn’t even speeding!” She pleads.
“I’m not done yet!” He says loudly as he hangs his fist on the top of the car. After a quick moment of silence he continues,” Not only are you being detained for speeding, but your two taillights are busted and your vehicle does not have a license plate on it.”
“What the fuck? No they’re not, my car is completely fine.” Jess tells the officer as we look at the perfectly fine vehicle. Bradshaw raises his eyebrows and then I see that person’s silhouette again.
Suddenly the car is jerked forward as the sound of glass shattering dances through the air. Another thump and more glass breaks. My jaw almost hits the floor when I see what’s going on. Another cop is behind Jessica’s car and smashing her taillights to smithereens with an aluminum baseball bat.
“Ma’am I’m going to need you and your passengers to exit the vehicle.”
“Absolutely not! What the hell do you think you’re doing to my car?!” Jess quickly rolls up her window as she is preparing to speed off, but just before her foot hits the gas, her back window implodes. Shards of glass fly everywhere behind Beck.
“I said get out of the damn car NOW!” Officer Bradshaw screams out in anger.
The three of us comply out of fright. When we are all out of the car the second cop joins Bradshaw, his name plate reads Bailey.
Their names together sound like the title for a bad buddy cop movie.
Bradshaw goes for Jessica and Bailey goes for me and we are harshly thrashed around and pressed into the side of the Honda Accord as the two officers handcuff us. Beck takes this opportunity and makes a run for it. Officer Bailey quickly noticed and after he’s done with me he chases after Beck.
Beck made it pretty far before Bailey caught up with him. I get that he was high and out of shape and all, but Beck has always been a fast runner. It’s come in handy plenty of times after we had got a big haul and needed to peel out quickly. Which is why I was surprised when Officer Bailey caught up to Beck as quickly as he did. Bailey was pleasantly plump and looked like your average overweight donut eating cop (Brown eyes and hair with a receding hairline and everything). If it were Officer Bradshaw who had chased Beck I’d be thinking differently, but there is no way he should’ve been able to get to Beck that fast, but somehow he did.
My train of thought got disrupted as Beck and Bailey got into an altercation. Bailey threw the first punch and then Beck hit back, defending himself. Beck got a few good hits in but Bailey ultimately overpowered him. Jess and I cringed as a sickening crunch came from Beck’s right leg as Officer Bailey swung his aluminum bat into it. Beck let out a blood curdling scream before falling to the ground crying in agony. Beck fell completely silent as his face was stomped on. Jessica was in tears and I almost threw up.
This was police brutality, and for what? Jessica wasn’t speeding and the cops damaged her car to tack on more bogus charges! Beck was right, something was definitely wrong here.
I almost pissed myself when I was manhandled from behind by Officer Bradshaw, afraid that my fate would be similar to Beck’s. He shoved me violently into the back of his cruiser before doing the same with Jessica. We held each other’s hands from behind our backs. Bailey chucked Beck’s semi-conscious body in with us before hopping into the car himself. Beck was making small moans in pain but looked to be pretty out of it.
The ride to the station was silent and intense. Nobody talked about the events that had just unfolded. Beck was pretty much passed out in pain curled into the fetal posting besides me. All Jess and I could do was hold hands and be there for each other.
When we eventually did make it back to the police station it was pretty barren. There were only like one or two other police cars parked in the parking lot. The police station isn’t that big to begin with so it’s not like too many people would be stuck on the night shift with Bradshaw and Bailey. In all honesty, they probably were the only ones working. Just our fucking luck.
I guess since Bailey was the one who brutally assaulted Beck (and broke his leg I’m pretty sure), he was the one responsible for moving his limp body back and forth wherever we went because Bradshaw brought Jessica and I into the station and let his partner carry Beck out of the car and inside.
Immediately when entering the building there’s this big room full of computer desks with a little waiting area. There was a big conference room adjacent to the back wall and on either side led there was a narrow hallway. We were brought into the hallway that led to the left and were put into this large holding cell. It looked like the hallway turned to the right so I’m assuming the right hallway meets up with this one to make one large square.
After dropping him on the ground, Officer Bailey took Beck’s jacket off of him and then patted his body down and took his phone. Officer Bradshaw did the same with me and patted me down with my jacket on and then patted me down again after having me take it off. While officer Bradshaw started patting down Jessica and Bailey was preoccupied with Beck, I swiped my phone out of my jacket pocket and slid it in the back of my pants where it was pressed up the small of my back.
After acting like I didn’t just steal my phone back, I noticed that Bailey had made his way to Jess and was patting her down. She looked uncomfortable as his hands felt up and down her body. After having his hands on her boobs for too long she shoved him away and spat in his face. He retaliated by bitch slapping her.
I saw red as I stormed my way over towards the fat, disgusting looking pig. Officer Bradshaw got a hold of me before I could do anything. Jess was seething and fighting back tears as she rubbed her red cheek. She went and picked Beck up and sat him on the bench that extended from the wall before sitting down beside him and comforting him. Bradshaw shoved me back before him and Bailey left the cell and locked it.
“You can’t do this!” Jess shouted as the dam in her eyes broke. This is police brutality and corruption. We didn’t do anything wrong and you know it!”
An angry looking Bailey turned back to us and shouted,” Want me to add assault of a police officer on your rap sheet kid?”
He wiped the little spit residue still left on his cheek as he stared at Jessica. She glared back with just as much, if not more, rage.
Some time has passed and Beck woke up about thirty minutes ago. He’s just now getting fully back into it though. It’s about two thirty in the morning now.
“How bad is it?” Was the first thing he asked, I barely heard it as his voice was barely a whisper.
“Your leg or your face?” I asked back sarcastically. Jess shoved me. I was being honest though. His right eye was all swollen up and purple and there was a large gash in his lip. If his face looked this bruised up I didn’t want to see his leg.
“We haven’t gotten a good look at your leg yet.”
“Leg first, then my face.” He said to Jess.
She scooted over towards him and slowly lifted his leg up onto the bench. He winced as she did so.
“Well at least you can still feel it, that’s a good sign.” I say.
Beck just flips me the finger as Jessica slowly rolls up his pant leg. Seeing the state of his leg made me want to throw up on the linoleum floor right then and there. I’ve never been good with bodily gore and stuff.
Beck’s shin was purple and green as the bruising had already started. There was no exposed bone or anything so that was good. Beck yelped out in pain as Jessica gingerly touched around his leg.
“I can’t tell for sure, but I think there’s a good chance it’s broken.” She tells Beck in a calm voice.
As Jessica made her way back to me, Beck said, “Yeah, I heard the crunch. Something is definitely broken in there.”
He motioned for me to go over to him. “Alright now it’s time to see my face.”
“How? There’s no mirrors in here and they took our phones.” Jess says as she crosses her arms in her chest.
Beck just stared at me expectantly.
“Did they?” I say whipping my phone out from underneath my shirt. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Holy shit!” Jess exclaimed.
Beck and I both told her to hush it.
“Holy shit!” She said quieter. “You need to call for help!”
“Who am I going to call, the cops?!?” I ask her while gesturing to the cell that we were currently in. I then give the phone to Beck so he can use the camera to look at himself.
“Call the FBI or something, I don’t know!”
“Shhhh!” I whisper as I hear two pairs of footsteps approaching. Beck quickly gives me my phone back and I tuck it into the back of my shirt again.
“Well, well, look who’s awake again.” Bailey said smugly.
“Shove it up your ass!“ Beck said, giving the cop the finger.
“He’d be lucky if he even got any.” I laughed.
“Yeah, even with how beat up my face is, I’d still get more chicks than him.”
I continued to hype Beck up,” Girls love guys like Beck. He just gives off bad boy vibes, and I’m sure he’ll even get the sympathy card when he tells them how a corrupt cop beat him up for doing nothing wrong.”
“I’d fuck him.” Jessica admitted. It felt like an arrow went straight through my heart, but I didn’t show it. This whole conversation didn’t go the way that Bailey had wanted it to and Bradshaw could see his anger begin to fester.
“Let’s go get something to eat, Mark.” Bradshaw said before pushing his colleague away from the cell.
A minute after they left Jessica noticed that I was in a sour mood. “I just said that to piss him off, ya know.”
“I know.” I grumbled.
“No offense babe, but Beck is one giant stoned man child and he’s a six at most”.
Jess and I both chuckled, since what she was saying was true.
“Hey!” Beck said defensively from across the bench. This caused the two of us to giggle even harder and Beck joined, trying to laugh off his pain.
I’ve been on my phone texting everything out since we were thrown in here, hiding it whenever the officers footsteps approached as they come to check in on us. This was originally going to be posted on r/legaladvice because there is no way that anything these cops were doing to us was legal. And I was right, something much more terrifying is going on here.
About ten minutes ago the cops came back. Bailey looked so full of himself as per usual. He giddily got out the keys and unlocked the cell. This caused Jessica to sit up- she had fallen asleep on my lap. All three of us were confused yet hopeful as to why they were opening the cell. Our hopes would soon be crushed like those mosquitoes who annoyingly swarm around you in the summertime.
I believe I’m the only one who noticed it. The dried brown splotches on their black uniforms. It sort of lit up in the artificial light and I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it before.
Jessica and I get up when Bailey gets his hands on Beck.
“Hey what are you doing?” He asked confused as his injured leg smashed on the ground. He let out a groan of pain.
“What the fuck is going on?” I yell trailing behind Beck.
Jessica follows too,” Tell us what’s happening!”
“You were right.” Is all Bradshaw said before he slammed the cell shut again.
Jessica and I were very worried and confused. I tried to reach for my friend through the cell bars even though I knew nothing could be done from where I was.
“A-are you processing him?”
“Just watch.” Bradshaw said again as he took hold of Beck too.
Bradshaw and Bailey were on either side of Beck. He was shaking and confused as to what was going on. Bailey was holding his right shoulder and Bradshaw the left.
“Oh what the hell!?” I screamed as I lurched back from the cell wall.
“What? What is it? What’s wrong Danny?” Beck cried as he struggled to break free of the cops grasp.
Jessica was speechless as she hid behind me. We both couldn’t believe what we were seeing.
It was the impossible.
Both Bailey and Bradshaw’s eyes changed color. Their eyes began to glow a deep red as long sharp fangs sprouted in their mouths.
Beck finally moved his head towards one of the cops to see what was going on. The two cops had to hold up Beck’s body as he almost fell from terror.
I-it all happened so fast.
The two cops sunk their teeth into either side of Beck’s neck. He cried out in pain, but his screams were short lived as they drained him dry of his blood quickly. The wet squelches and the sounds of sucking caused me to puke my dinner back up. Beck was down in less than two minutes. His lifeless body just laid there as the two cops composed themselves and wiped their blood stained faces with their sleeves.
The brown stains I had noticed earlier was dried blood.
Jessica silently sobbed into the back of my shoulder as I fought my own tears from escaping.
I broke when the two creatures dragged Beck’s body off, leaving a blood smear on the ground as the only reminder of what had just happened. As I type this, all I can do is keep looking at the blood on the floor and back to Jessica. She’s in such a state of shock she hasn’t moved or said anything since it happened.
Beck is dead.
He was killed by legit monsters and nobody knows we’re here.
We need help.