Californian Ghoul (A CrankGamePlays fanfic)

Nineteen

Tyler, Amy and Kathryn explained everything to Mark. Mark had a surprised, yet serious, look on his face. After everything was explained, he looked at me and shook his head.

"You still believe everything he says?" Mark asked. "What if he's associated with Brian and they're coming up with a plan to attack us? What if Ethan is the bait and luring us into a trap?"

"Brian didn't tell me anything about me joining any team of his." I argued. "I didn't even know he was possibly going after you guys until Tyler told me."

"Well, at this point it wouldn't surprise me." Mark responded. "Especially after you kept the secret that you were a ghoul."

"Well, what did you expect me to do when I found out you all were hunters?" I asked. "If I ran off, you guys would probably figure it out and come after me. If I stayed, you guys would have still figured it out and killed me. It was a lose-lose situation from the moment I found out you guys were hunters!"

"But you really messed up big time after killing Jack..." Mark said.

"I regret every moment of it, Mark." I responded. "But I knew if I kept Jack alive, he would have immediately told you guys what I had done."

"I would have preferred you kept him alive and you ran off." Mark argued.

"Because that wouldn't have been an option!" I exclaimed. "Knowing you, you would have immediately figured out that it was a ghoul that attacked Jack either way and not stop looking for that ghoul until it was dead."

"Alright, we get it!" Kathryn yelled. "Ethan is a ghoul, Ethan killed Jack. Ethan said he regret it! Can life just go on now please?"

I couldn't have agreed with her more at this point. I was tired of this pointless arguing. Mark was just making up the same excuse every time so he always had a reason to hate me and potentially kill me in the future. But I could tell by the looks he was giving me when we were arguing that he didn't want to hate me. But because of his history with ghouls, he didn't want to let it go. 

"Alright, so why did you bring him back here?" Mark asked, finally changing the subject.

"With Ethan knowing where Brian and his group is hiding, and just the fact that Ethan is a ghoul, we already have a huge advantage!" Amy explained. "We can find Brian and his friend's hideout, we can hunt down and kill them!"

Mark let out a slight chuckle, "You know it's not going to be that easy, right?"

"Well, what other bright ideas do you have?" Amy asked.

"With Ethan having escaped from their hideout, Brian is going to know that Ethan is probably warning us, and he's going to leave his hideout and go someplace else." Mark said. 

"Yeah, he's right..." Tyler responded.

"Well, then we still go there anyways." Amy suggested. "We see what the place looks like and we track down other locations that look like their hideout. Because they usually tend to hide in similar locations."

"Alright, then when do we start?" Mark asked.

"The sooner the better." Amy said.

"Really? We're starting today?" Mark asked.

"We have a better chance at catching them if we go now than if we wait." Kathryn claimed. "If we wait any longer, the ghouls will get away." 

"You do know that this whole thing could be a trap, right?" Mark asked.

"Well duh, we're not stupid!" Amy exclaimed.

The five of us finally decided to pack up our things and get ready. As we were just about done packing, Mark went over to Tyler.

"Listen man, I know you probably want to go and do this with us," Mark began. "But I think it's best if you stay here..."

Tyler rolled his eyes, "I knew this would be coming..."

"Dude, think about it." Mark explained. "Brian knows your scent, the taste of your blood, and he's going to want more of it! If you go there with us, and if he's there, the first thing him and his buddies are going to go after is you."

"But what about Ethan?" Tyler asked. "What if he needs something to feed on?"

"Listen, Ethan's not going to feed off of you..." Mark stated.

"I'll find something, Tyler." I assured him. "I'll be alright."

Tyler was silent for a moment but then he finally nodded and agreed to stay here.

With what, Amy, Kathryn, Mark and I headed out.

During the drive there, I couldn't help but think about what Tyler had said and what he's been telling me these past few hours. Was he really trusting me to feed off of him if I needed it? I hated hurting him the first time, even if it did earn me his trust, I don't want to ever have to do that again.

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted.

"Hey Ethan, where to now?" Mark asked.

I snapped out of it, looking around, figuring out that we had just left the Los Angeles area. 

"J-Just keep going straight." I directed him.

The rest of the time I spent giving Mark directions until finally, we pulled up into an abandoned building. The same building I was in before. 

We all got out of the car, gathering all of our supplies.

"So this is their hideout?" Mark asked. I nodded. He then turned to the girls. "Lookout for any traps of any kind." They nodded.

We slowly made our way inside of the building. Mark, Kathryn and Amy covered their face with masks because of the high levels of contamination that were probably inside the building. I was immune to it all, so it didn't affect me.

As we were looking around, everything was quiet. The room I went into earlier where Matt was, he wasn't there anymore. The room I was in before, that was also empty.

"They must've left already..." Mark mumbled.

"I think they did..." I agreed.

"You sure about that?" Kathryn asked.

I nodded, "I just got a strange feeling..."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"A feeling that something is going to go wrong..." I explained. "I just don't know when or where..."

"Then let's get the hell out of here..." Mark responded.

We nodded and we all left the building. Thankfully, we made it out unharmed.

Suddenly, Amy's phone rang just as we headed back into the car.

"Tyler, what's going on?" Amy asked.

My heart raced and the three of us turned to Amy to try and decipher what was going on. 

"What do you mean?" Amy asked. "Tyler? Can you hear me?"

Suddenly, they lost connection and the phone rang up.

"What was he saying?" Kathryn asked.

"I-I dunno I couldn't hear him." Amy responded.

Just then, her phone rang again. She got a text. Her eyes widened as she read the text.

"Mark, we need to go back! Now!" Amy exclaimed.

Without any hesitation, Mark started the car up and drove off. 

"What does it say?" I asked.

Amy handed me her phone and my eyes widened as I read the message. 

It was from Tyler.

They're here!!