Ghosts of Machina - Chapter 3

A  few days had passed, and Andy was quickly becoming public enemy number 1 to a certain mechanic.

Every time he was supposed to go in, he found a way out of it, mostly from hiding, mostly from doing his own thing and honestly forgetting he had somewhere to be.

On one morning in particular over breakfast Sarah laid down the law.

“You are going to get checked out one way or another. I know you’ve been skipping your shots, and I know you’ve been purposely avoiding it like the plague. Please if not for us, do it for yourself… And if you skip I will simply just ask Dottie to come here.” Sarah said giving her final warning.

Andy looked genuinely mortified at the idea of getting a house call over this. “Mom...She’ll kill me!”

“You're getting checked out. I don’t care.” Sarah said finalizing it.

Brody shook his head. “Andy I have to agree with your mother, it’s only going to hurt you more in the long run.”

Andy rolled his eyes. “Fine…” He finished his food and grabbed his backpack filling it up with bottles of water and some fruits along with a few other snacks.

“And where are you going?”
“Gonna go get it over with.” He said keeping his back to his parents to keep them from figuring out that he was lying through his teeth. He didn’t like lying but in reality he wasn’t actually weeding, or looking for Theo or any of the ways he was procrastinating.

It was because if they knew what he was really doing then he would probably never hear the end of it.

He was searching for the boy Jake and the girl Reese...Along with whoever else may have vanished. The list was getting bigger by the day. He headed out and looked back as he walked as if he was going to go down the path the Fill N Fly was on.

Instead he bypassed that and started to make his way for the woods.

“Andy?” He jumped whirling around.

Dusty was there giving him a curious look. The racer had his firefighter colors again Andy noted.

“Hey Dust...Sup?”

“On my patrol, keeping an eye out for emergencies. What are you doing? Thought they would’ve just gotten a rope and dragged you to either Dottie or a doctor.”

“I’m...Avoiding it like the plague and am instead doing some digging.” Andy figured if anyone, Dusty would get it.

“Digging?”

“...Looking for Jake...And Reese...And...And all of them.” He admitted quietly looking around to be sure no one else heard.

Dusty glanced around as well. He didn’t like what the boy was doing to himself, but he couldn’t blame him, the disappearances worried him and it wasn’t normal. He was thankful everytime he saw either one of the Hayes kids leaving their house or in Olivia’s case running up to him and hugging him. It meant that they were still safe.  “I understand… Want some help? Not exactly safe wandering by yourself.”

“Would appreciate that.”

“Hop on.”

Soon they were in the forest, looking around calling out names.

“Jake!? Hey Jake can you hear us!?”

“Reese?”

“ANYONE!?”

They moved around like this for awhile. Looking in all directions, Dusty flew around for a bit trying to spot anyone.

Andy kept at it, pausing to cough every now and then. “Ugh...IF ANY OF YOU THINK THIS IS A REAL FUNNY JOKE I’M GONNA KICK SOME SERIOUS REAR WHEN I GET MY CLAWS ON YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Dusty shook his head. “Yelling won’t fix anything…”

The boy sighed as he moved forward coming upon a clearing. “H-huh?”

The plane blinked and taxied over looking. “What do you see?”

Andy was quiet as he pointed out towards something in the middle of the clearing. Dusty followed it and gulped.

It looked like someone was laying face down in the field. They both hurried over.

“Hey! Can you hear me!?” Andy rolled the person, a girl with brown hair in a ponytail over.

And gasped.

She was looking up at him...But there was nothing in those eyes. Her head flopped to the side her neck bending unnaturally.

Andy swallowed hard as he tried to feel for a pulse. “Andy…?”

“...She’s dead…” He said his voice cracking as he laid her back down. “She’s dead.”

Dusty growled a bit in the back of his throat. “No...No…”
Andy lowered his head. He knew this girl. “...It’s Reese...She lived next door to us..She even babysat Olivia a few times...She was nice…”  

“Oh kiddo…” Dusty nuzzled him gently trying to comfort him a little. He was stunned, the girl had only gone missing a week ago and now she was laying at their feet/wheels dead.

Andy sniffled a little, tears pricking his eyes. He wiped at them furiously. “T-this shouldn’t have happened!”

“I know...I know…” The plane murmured quietly trying not to upset him. “Shh…”

Jake’s dead...If Reese was taken second and now she’s dead… This thought sent a chill down Andy’s spine as his knee’s buckled. In seconds he was slumped over crying, letting out a scream.

“THIS ISN’T FAIR!!!!!!” He cried out hitting the ground. “WHY HER!? WHY HIM!? WHY ANY OF THEM!?” He screamed breaking into a sob.

Dusty felt awful for him, he couldn’t give him an answer, all he could do was try to calm him. Nuzzling him, keeping him close. “Shh….Shh… I got you..”

Gradually Andy calmed down just barely. He still had tears rolling down his face as he stood back up looking at his friend with a heartbroken look.

“Andy...I’m so sorry…” He murmured giving him a truly apologetic look. “I wish there was something I could do..”

“...I wanna go home.” The boy mumbled sounding on the verge of another crying fit. Dusty couldn’t think of a better option. This wasn’t the place for a kid, and Andy already looked sick enough to be in bed for a week. He shouldn’t have been moving around at all…

“I’ll take ya home...Climb on…”

Andy moved to but hesitated taking off his jacket. It wasn’t his beloved team jacket or his lucky vest, but he didn’t feel right leaving Reese there all battered and broken for the world to see.

He went over and covered her face with the jacket before going over to his friend and climbing onto his wing. He shivered huddling up against his side.

“It’s okay...I’m taking ya home right now…” Dusty assured him as he taxied out, radioing in emergency services and the town  coroner. He made sure to keep this quiet, not wanting Andy to hear too much of it.

I know he’s old enough to take care of himself...Can’t help but feel protective of him and Livvie… Dusty thought rolling along slowly.

From the motion and the sheer exhaustion from the day Andy had drifted off curled up into a tight ball against the plane’s side shivering a little.

When the plane arrived at the Hayes home he knocked carefully.

Brody opened the door. “Yes-” His eyes widened as they fell on his son. “Oh no…” He hurried over looking him over. “What happened? ...Where was he?” He asked Dusty as he lifted up Andy. The still asleep teen mumbled as he curled up a bit into his father, trying to get warm.

Dusty sighed. “He’s had probably the worst day of his life Brody… I couldn’t keep him out of it this time… Please go easy on him, I’m sorry for him if it’s any consolation…”

“What happened?” He asked as he looked at his son. Sarah came to the door and gasped rushing to her child.

“A-Andy!?”
“Shh...Don’t wake him Sarah please…” Dusty pleaded.

The Hayes couple looked to each other before looking at their son. “He’s so pale..” Sarah murmured in worry. “What happened?”

“Sarah….He saw something no kid should see…. We...Found one of the missing people…” The crop duster explained. “...It was too late though. She was dead...It was Reese Gabel…”

“Oh goodness….”
“Poor girl…”

“I need to head back and overlook the crime scene...Make sure no one fiddles with it, I just wanted to get him  away from all that. The cops might show up and want to ask him questions since he did move the body by accident...He thought she might still be alive.” Dusty said giving an apologetic look. “Keep me posted on how he’s doing?”

“We will….Good luck.”

“Thanks…” With that he flew off.

Brody carried Andy inside laying the teen on his bed, stroking his hair. In his sleep Andy smiled a little and nuzzled his hand.
“Love you so much son..” He murmured tucking him in.

Sarah sighed as she came up sitting next to her husband. “..Really glad Livvie’s with her grandma today…”

Brody nodded.

Andy coughed a little. “Poor thing…” The researcher sighed wishing there was more to do.

“No more races...No more TV...No more public events until this is all over.” Sarah said studying her child’s face. “He’s just a kid…”

“Too much stress can bring on illness…”

They both felt the pang of guilt.

“Tomorrow we’re taking him to a doctor…”

“No more in denial…”

///

Dusty cringed not wanting to look as the forensics team started looking over the place Reese was found. Combing over it, collecting samples. Her body after a brief examination and photo’s taken for evidence was loaded into a body bag on a gurney.

So cold and clinical...Like they don’t care she was even alive in the first place….This was someone’s daughter…

“Any idea what the cause of death was?” One of them, a human woman with black hair and blue eyes asked holding a camera.

“Her broken neck is what killed her, but the injuries seem to be mostly internal...Like someone repeatedly rammed into her again and again.” Another, the head coroner, a woman with white hair tied back in a ponytail stated.

“Stop them.” Dusty heard someone whisper close to him. He turned looking around. No one was there.

“Huh…?”

“Stop it….”

He kept looking around for the source of this voice. There was no answer.

He didn’t know that there was someone who did know what happened watching unseen.

Strange….

“This was murder...Take the body back to the morgue, we’ll begin the autopsy then.”