Close Call

The dial tone seemed ever more urgent ringing in both Alex and Angel's ears. It took another three seconds before two more on the other end picked up their respective lines.

Kevin and Irene both picked up your call. This call will now be a conference call featuring four callers. Split them back apart. Mute settings.

“Oh, hello.” Irene was the first to sound off with the blaring TV continuously playing in the backdrop. Both phone calls sounded the exact same way.

“Phone lines today were so jam-packed, heh,” Kevin’s voice resounded off the walls. “We saw your calls, by the way, just to let you know. There was some sort of error— I think it said ‘phone service in queue’. Did it?”

“Yes.” Irene responded.

“You two alright out there? This is horrifying. Someone got shot, and another got stabbed, and a bunch more got beat up— Did they come for you?”

“They haven’t.” Alex chimed in. “I don’t believe that they’re anywhere in the vicinity—“

“Where are you two right now, though?” Irene felt bad for the chuckle.

“We’re around two minutes of riding to where you live.” Angel sneaked a look at her boyfriend.

“Perfect.” Eric’s voice popped up at the back in the form of a small ‘what?’

“Yeah, come stay with us. Kevin’s a big baby and brought Eric with him. He's sleeping—"

"No, that's not true!" Irene broke into laughter when she caught wind of his deflection. "I thought it would be a fantastic idea to stay together, so you know, we won't die or something. This is completely foolproof. Look, we're sharing the popcorn!"

"I'm not the biggest fan of popcorn, so um—"

"Yeah right. Where's the bucket of buttered salt, lady? I was the one into it.”

“Whatever.” She warded off his outrage. “Come over then. We’ll have a little fun. So you two don’t die, right.”

Alex turned to look at Angel. "Your call."

"We have time, I think, um, I think. Yes, we do have time--" Her voice trailed off. "Absolutely, we do."

"You sure, syrup?"

"It's in a week anyway. Not anywhere near today, so I think we will be fine."

"Okay." He gave her a peck on the cheek before continuing. "Yeah, we'll be at your place, if it doesn't bother either of you."

"No, no, silly." Irene was quick to clarify. "We're bored all the time, anyway. Why do you think me and Eric are such big fans of board games?"

"And me too!" Kevin contorted his voice while ducking behind the chair in the background.

"And you too, fine. Ever played Settlers of Catan? I bet you haven’t even played that entry-level, old game that only people in retirement homes play.“

"I once won a tournament rolling sixes and drawing no cards!"

"That's literally the objective of the game! You can't gather anything without drawing—"

"Alright, you people, get over. We have crap games and crap cubes."

Angel giggled at the remark.

"I'm not letting you call my dice collection 'crap cubes'! You know where I got this D20? I had it—"

"No, craps. I mean craps. Like rolling a seven."

"Of course that's what you said."

"Right then."

Three swooped right behind Angel, bumping her forward somewhat. Alex sprung to hold her tightly on instinct, and stared at those running away. One turned back to look at them, eyes filled with fear.

"Stop." Alex patted her on the shoulder before walking slightly forward to investigate.

Soon, a fourth figure emerged from the corner, and made a dash towards Angel. He missed her by a foot. The couple turned back at once, and the four dark shadows ran off into the distance.

"Hey!" A drunken man swiveled in the way of the escapees. They slammed on the theoretical brakes, and yet they still managed to knock him over.

Perhaps he took it personally as an insult, but he started flipping them over like pancakes and threw toxic punches at them. The attacked tried to retort, but that devolved into an ugly fistfight that's devoid of any true progress. Eventually one of them yanked themselves out of it and ran the fastest he could to leave the scene while battered.

The drone whisked past the scene, in which it slowly hovered over a man who was on the ground at the very scene. He had a hand on his right leg near the pelvis, and laid incapacitated on the asphalt while the drone's top lid glowed yellow while the hatch dropped a sheet of paper, pre-printed with a tag notice to keep him technically in custody. The higher-resolution camera engaged on the craft, and it suspended itself perfectly still in air.

Two minutes later, law enforcement officials were seen leaving their vehicle while slinging a pair of cuffs in their hands. One grabbed hold of him and forced him up, whereas the victim himself began to blather on about how he's not responsible for the fight, and another diatribe on his rights. The second grilled him on his Miranda rights on obligation, then summoned his partner to heave him towards the car.

The officer caught a look at the couple and gave a vicious stare back, but he quickly refocused on the offender, and helped the other cop drag him towards his vehicle, all the while the suspect was arrested and thrown into the back seat of their vehicle. One then shut the door, pondered verbally with his partner, before re-entering the vehicle himself.

The arrested looked slightly lost and confused, and a piece of iron wrapped in protective foam, like those on roller coasters, was his seat belt. His face was glued to the window as the car drove itself away. Some at the end of the street re-emerged to watch, as some pointed and whispered to another.