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    When Caleb was five years old, his parents took him to the local public playground. This was a weekend ritual of theirs, if the weather permitted, and he would have a grand time riding down the slides or being pushed on the swing by his mother or father. On this particular Saturday, the sun was unusually bright, the other children unusually noisy, and everyone seemed to be in greater spirits than normal. It was a day that sparked every childs imagination with fun activities and anticipation for the next wondrous surprise that would inevitably come their way.

    Caleb was busy playing in the sandbox with a little girl of about his own age. She was dressed in a teal green shirt and a pair of blue jean shorts with white sandals that were decorated with little yellow flowers. They were in the process of building a large and complex sand castle, complete with a courtyard made out of various twigs that they had scavenged, when there were startled by the sound of crushing metal behind them.

    Looking over his shoulder, little Caleb was just in time to witness a large red SUV crash through the chain link fence, which protected the park from the two lane highway that ran alongside it. The bright sun glared down on the windshield, making it seem as if the vehicle were driving itself and had a personal malice directed towards the two children. Caleb can vividly remember feeling that first sharp stab of panic race through him as it paralyzed his whole body, prevening him from moving. Only his eyes widened in fear, betraying his terror as the red monster bared down on him.

    At the last second, the motorized behemoth veered sharply to the left and, instead of devouring him and the little girl, crashed into the carousel as it spun about on its merry way to nowhere. Time seemed to come to an abrupt halt as Caleb watched the horses go flying off into that insanely blue sky that was absent of any clouds.

    Still he sat there with the little girl, as they both watched the silent performance play itself out in slow motion before their eyes. The tires on the monster finally stopped churning up the dirt and grass, and sat there growling angrily as steam rose up from its fire breathing mouth. It was only after his father came and scooped him up into his arms that Caleb was able to register the sounds around him once again. The screams and cries of parents and children alike assaulted his ears and he put his hands over them in a futile attempt to block them out.

    At the end of the day, two children were dead and one father confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The driver of the SUV was convicted of driving while impaired and manslaughter.

    From that day forward, whever Caleb passed by the playground where permanent plaques were mounted in remembrance of that terrible day, the panic inside of him awoke as clear and as powerful as it had been when the monster was breathing down his neck. It got to the point where his parents would have to take him to school by a different route, because the school bus always passed by the park on its appointed rounds.

    Caleb would crouch down in his seat, sobbing wildly with his hands over his ears to block out the terrors that threatened to engulf him. He would arrive at school feeling drained and shaken to the point where he couldn't concentrate on his work. A thing that at one time had offered promises of pleasure and security, had become a terrible place where monsters dwelt that would devour him if he got too close.

    Approaching the three story gray brick building which served as the main esablishment for Polygon Pharmaceuticals, Caleb suddenly had the wild idea that he may now suffer the same kind of trauma from parking lots. His workplace had once beena  symbol of peace and solitude, where he could safely delve into his studies without fear of interruption. Now, as they approached the front door, he realized that it could very well become his grave.

    If he were to be shot by one of those cylindrical devices would there even be a body left for anyone to find?  He guessed not. If it could melt solid iron in two seconds flat, he didn't want to find out what it would to to him. He suspected that it wouldn't be pretty or painless.

    As they walked forward, surrounded by the three men who seemed to move in effortless unison, he forced himself to keep his breathing even and to try and project an image of self-confidence. This was not so much for his own benefit as it was for Patricias. He wanted to reassure her that he wouldn't let anything happen to her, and that he was somehow in control. Yet, stealing a glance at her to his right, he realized that she was apparently doing the same thing, but with much greater success. Just watching her striding calmly forward, looking neither left nor right, he could almost imagine that they weren't being kidnapped and led into an evil pharmaceutical lab where countless experimental drugs and medications awaited to be used on them solely for the delight of their captors.

    He knew that it had never been a merely physical attraction that had grabbed his attention about Patricia, although there was plenty of that to go around. He had seen lots of beautiful girls in his life, and even dated a few. She was certainly young, fit, and gorgous. The small glasses on her face served to enhance the already prominent features of her cheek bones and he firmly believed that her smile could work wonders towards peace in the Middle East if the government could only learn to harness its awesome power.

    Although he had been her personal parking lot bodyguard since he had been employed at Polygon, he had not accumulated enough time with her to gauge her personality with any degree of certainty. A situation that he fervently hoped to rectify at some point, if they both weren't melted before the night was over.

    No, Caleb decided, it had to be the way she carried herself. She acted with a grace and smoothness that he had never seen before. When they were walking across the deserted lot, as they had done dozens of times before, he would stumble upon every loose pebble and step in every crack or crevile along the way, while she seemed to glide effortlessly and use her award winning smile quickly and often.

    He was nothing short of amazed that, despite their situation, she still seemed to maintain that posture of cool assurance in every step that she took. While he, on the other hand, was trudgin along like a condemned man on the way to the electric shair. His feet felt heavy and his mind churned with questions that appeared to have no reasonable answer.

    First and foremost was why had his attempt at defending himself and Patricia from the strangers been so ineffective?  By everything that he knew to be true, the first man should have his arm in a cast for the next three months and still be sprawled on his back somewhere on the other side of the lot where he would have landed from Caleb's impressive shove. However, from all appearances, the man was completely unaffected. Even that damnable gray suit wasn't wrinkled.

    And where had they all come from?  The apprehension that Caleb had felt while walking Patricia to her car had served to make his senses sharper than they would have normally been. Even being in the presence of the beautiful doctor with visions of her impending beach trip in his head had not been enough to completely dim his alertness. But as soon as he had turned his back, they had materialized. The nearest concealment would have been at least 30 yeards away from where the two of them had been positioned. That meant that three grown men would have had to cover that distance inside of three seconds without making any sound of their approach. It couldn't be done, Caleb concluded.

    And finally, what the hell was that thing in their hands?  It was obviously a weapon, but no weapon that he had ever heard of could reduce a metal baton to a paperweight without making a sound. No technology like that even existed, and being a computer major, he kept up on all the latest technologies that were made available from the military or declassified by the government.

    They arrived at the front doors and stood in front of the polished glass. Beside him, he heard Patricia gasp and tense up suddenly. At first he didn't know what had surprised her so much, then he realized it too. The three strangers cast no reflection in the reflective glass. He had to look at the man to his left once more to be sure that they were really there, and not some cruel trick of his mind. Perhaps he had fallen too deeply into one of his daydreams. Maybe he was even sitting at his desk right now, dozed off and having this sensational nightmare, which had no more consequence that that of any other bad dream.

    The stranger looked back at Caleb with cold empty eyes and he knew that he wasn't dreaming. This was really happening.

Keyword: Hostile Addictions CH. 2. part one

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