When Kevin opened his eyes, they were watery, and his throat felt scratchy. He wasn’t sure where he was. He felt himself sitting upright in an iron chair and tried to get up, but couldn’t. That’s when he noticed that something was restraining his arms. He looked down and saw the belt that wrapped around his wrist, anchoring his hands to the arm of the iron chair.
Kevin moved his body, struggling hard to set himself free, but the belt was just too thick. He looked around the room nervously and noticed a long table in the corner of the room. Some bottles were placed on top. He glanced up at the window behind drawn curtains high up the cinder-board wall. The curtains sealed off a partial trace of light. The room seemed empty and devoid of life.
A thin line of sweat rolled down his forehead and rested at the side of his lips. He took out his tongue to lick it off. It had a distinctive taste of sweat mixed with blood. That was when he realised he was bleeding. The last thing he remembered was being knocked out with a shovel. He struggled to get loose, but then stopped moving when he noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room. Something else was sitting with him in the room.
A figure sat in the dark corner far across, watching him from the shadow. It stood up and walked towards him, revealing its face in the light. Kevin noticed two things when he looked at him. He wasn’t wearing a mask, and he wasn’t the man that’d kidnapped him; the man standing before him was much taller.
“Where am I?” That was all he could think of asking. He couldn’t understand why anyone would want to kidnap him. He wasn’t rich, neither did he have any rich relatives, and as far as he was concerned, he hadn’t offended anyone.
“Who are you?”
The tall figure stood staring down at him with a straight posture and a neutral face, not uttering a word.
“What is this place?” Kevin panicked and was sweating, struggling to break free.
His questions were met with a blank stare. The man took a rag from the table and walked towards him.
“What do you want from—?” Kevin asked just before the man stuffed the rag into his mouth, sealing his words away.
“Patience. All of this would make sense to you with time.” The man finally spoke and walked away. Kevin wanted to call him back, but all he did was muffle noises through the gag.
“You can call me T-Murek, and it’s not you I’m after, at least not yet,” the man said, and walked towards something across the room which was still hidden in the dark. Kevin continued to writhe and groan before T-Murek finally hit the light switch, filling the room with bright fluorescent light.
Kevin’s eyes bulged when he saw what had been hidden in the darkness on the other side of the room. The love of his life was gagged and tied to a pole at the centre of the room, leaving him confused about what was really going on.
“Kevin? Kevin!” The voice was coming to him from far away, slowly dragging him out of the dream. “Bro, wake up!”
Someone was gently tapping his shoulder. Kevin woke from the terrible nightmare with a quick gasp, chest heaving rapidly. He turned to see a tall male standing at his side.
“Landry?” he called, his brows knitted. “What are you doing here?”
“Cedric has been worried about you. He called a while ago to notify me that you are home. I just came to see if you’re alright.”
Still panting, he glanced around, then looked up at the clock. Only forty minutes had passed. It was a long night, he observed. Each second seemed to go by as though they were minutes and each minute like an hour. Then he returned his wondering gaze to Landry.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to notice you were crying in your sleep, again,” he answered, picking a chair from the corner.
Kevin flushed when he noticed the tears on his cheek and quickly wiped them off.
Then he sat facing him. “Having trouble sleeping?”
Kevin gave no immediate response.
“This is the sixth time this week I’ve had the same bad dream.”
“The one about the night of your kidnap?”
He took in a deep breath to calm himself. “Every time I close my eyes, I see every detail of that day, the horrible things he did to her.”
Landry moved close to him. “Look Kevin, the reason we all moved to this city is so we can forget about what had happened and move on.”
“Move on? How can we possibly do that when we both know he is still out there—and someday, somehow, he’s going to find us?”
###
At about 9:25 pm, Natasha was hanging out with her friends in a bar. While Dreda and Madelia were dancing to the hip-hop music that filled the air, Natasha sat in a lonesome corner, sipping from a straw, watching as others were dancing.
She found herself thinking about him, again. He was so distraught just as he’d been when she bumped into him. Something about that sadness in his eyes piqued her interest. She was curious to know what dark and sad tales were hidden behind that face. She almost felt sorry for him, but then remembered his words: Stay away from me.
“Hey.”
She quickly snapped out of her thoughts and saw a man standing before her, holding a glass and smiling.
“Do you mind?” He gestured towards the empty stool beside her.
She paused for a second as if contemplating, then said, “Sure.”
“What’s a beautiful lady doing all by herself in a bar like this? You should be dancing too,” he said affably. “The music is not to your taste?”
Natasha snorted at his attempt at flirting, then smiled. “No, it’s not the music. It’s just that I don’t fancy dancing when there are eyes watching. It feels awkward.”
“Oh, you’re a shy one.” He smiled at her. “Well then, would you care to join me for a drink?” He raised his glass at her. “Bill’s on me.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She turned him down politely.
“Feels awkward to have a drink when there are eyes watching?” He raised a brow at her.
She gave a nervous laugh, then noticed he was a little drunk. “I think I’ve had enough for the night.”
“Such a shame. Could have been the best night you ever had.”
Natasha felt somewhat revolted by his remark. From the corner of her eyes, she saw him detail her outfit with predatory eyes. Then he stood up and walked away, almost stumbling after hitting a stool. His drink spilled on his shirt and he cursed voicelessly under his breath.
Watching him walk that way forced a laugh out of her. “Drinking with a drunk—” she scoffed “—that would’ve haunted me for the rest of my life.”
Some minutes later, she noticed her friends walking toward her.
“Why are you sitting by yourself? You should be dancing too,” Madelia said.
She couldn’t hear her over the music. “What?”
She came a little closer, raising her voice. “Come, let’s go have some fun.”
“I’m just… not in the mood.”
“Not in the mood?” Madelia chuckled. “What a load of crab. You love dancing. Since when did you start being ‘not in the mood’?”
“Really, you two should go on without me,” she said. “I’d prefer to sit here and watch.”
“That’s it. Get up,” Dreda said, forcing her up. “If we just wanted to sit around and watch people, we wouldn’t go to a bar.”
“Do we really have to dance?” she said.
Dreda, who’s only a few months older than Natasha, wasn’t one to take no for an answer. Living with her single father in a big mansion has made her tough. She’d only just turned eighteen when she lost her mother. No one was sure how exactly she died, but it was said that her body had been found outside their mansion just a few days after her father had been officially sworn in as new mayor of the city.
“We shouldn’t let such a good night go to waste, now should we?” Dreda said.
“Alright, fine,” Natasha said, standing on her feet. “If it makes you two happy.” Just then, her phone—the one she used at home—rang, and she quickly pulled it to see who was calling.
“Your Dad?” Dreda second-guessed, folding her arms.
“Nah, it’s Derik,” she said, stepping away from them. “I have to take this. I’ll join you girls in a sec.”
“You better hurry,” Madelia said as they went back to join the others on the dance floor.
The music inside was too loud, so she rushed out of the bar. “Hey, Derik.”
“Natasha, I’m at the mansion, but you’re not home. I met your brother a little while ago and he says your Dad’s at the office, but he doesn’t know where you are.” His voice trailed. “Wait. Is that music I hear in the background? Are you at Pittsburgh bar?”
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you. I went out with Madelia and Dreda, but don’t worry about it, I won’t be out for too long.”
“Should I come to pick you up later?”
“No,” she said. “We’ll be fine on our own.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, really. It’s fine.”
“Alright, be home soon. It is already late.” He hung up.
Natasha put her phone back in her bag. She felt her throat burn, then realised she was thirsty. She looked up and noticed a soda store right ahead.
“A bottle of soda, please.” She dipped her hands into her bag and fished out a dollar note.
“Here you go, miss.” The shopkeeper handed the soda to her.
“Thank you.” She quickly opened the bottle and gulped down its contents.
In no time, Natasha emptied it and threw the container away. Then she noticed how dark the street was. Glancing at her wristwatch, she exclaimed, “Shit! A minute past midnight, it’s late. I had better start heading back.”
Something about the dark street frightened her. As she walked to the bar, her fear intensified when she noticed a group of roughly dressed men walking out of the shadows and several dark corners of the street. She picked up the pace.
The footsteps were getting closer, and she could tell the person—or the group–-were walking faster. She knew what they wanted, but wasn’t about to give it up. She soon found herself running and could hear the footsteps walking faster, chasing her.
A hand clutched her purse, dragging it from her. Natasha turned in fear and saw that she had been surrounded. Fear swelled inside her. They walked slowly, silently, smiling. She shuffled backward, away from the group, and backed into another.
She felt icy fingers on her arm, grabbing her from behind. She drew a quivering breath and struggled to break free, but then he swept her off her feet, pulling her off the street, into a dark corner.
“Leave me alone!” she screamed, wiggling her feet, hoping that somebody would hear her and come to her rescue.
They grabbed her arms and restrained her. Another covered her mouth with a coarse and calloused hand. She let out a muffled scream, her body trembling. Panic struck her brain.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps, and they all stopped at once. The thugs parted and she saw, walking towards her, a man dressed in black. She recognised him. He was the man she’d turned down earlier at the bar.
“What’s with you girls and turning down nice people?” He shot an ungodly glance at her as he drew closer, slamming his fist against his palm. “All I wanted was a drink with you.”
Thank you so much for reading this far! I'm so excited knowing that someone found this story interesting. It would truly mean so much to me if I could get as many intrigued readers such as yourself to see this piece! You could help me do this by giving me some gems and a review to show support.
Kevin was having another disturbing nightmare, and he kept seeing four distinct images in this order; houses on fire, blackbirds sitting on a tree, a name written on a paper, and a man screaming while he was being tortured. His grip on the bed sheet tightened, and drops of sweat gathered on his forehead. His head turned, eyes remained closed, his chest heaving rapidly. Once again, images of a gigantic cloud of smoke rising from burning houses, Crows pecking an oak, a finely written note with a name on it, and a man screaming in pain floated around his mind. His body was hunched, his breathing hastened and fingers clenched together. Kevin—screaming, woke from the nightmare, a horrified look plastered all over his face. That was the second dream in one night. Panting, he sat up straight on the bed, his palms sweaty and his face covered with sweat. He looked up at the big clock that hung on the wall. 3:14 am The door swung open, and Cedric rushed in with a lamp which he held up above
The other girl wasn’t with them—what was her name again? Of course. He finally remembered. Natasha As he sat in silence, listening to them talk, he began to understand why she hadn’t joined them, the numb expression on their faces. It had something to do with an assault of some sort, but then he berated himself not to concern himself with her—she was not his concern. Landry noticed how frequently he looked in their direction. “Are you okay?” He turned to look at him. “What?” “Noticed you staring at those girls over there, and thought—” “I only met them yesterday. In school.” He brought his voice low. Just as he listened in on their conversation, the girls could also do the same. “You know that’s a bad idea, right?” “The girls? Or school?” “Both” He didn’t answer him. Landry took his silence to mean that he agreed. “Imagine my surprise when Cedric told me you enrolled in a college? College? How could you be so unreasonable? You’re a danger to everyone who gets close to you, i
Kevin could still feel Loretta’s pain from that day—even though it was almost a year since she’d been tortured to death. He wished so desperately to forget what had happened—that’s part of the reason he moved into Burnout City with Cedric, but the memories kept coming back. Standing there in the hallway, watching Natasha through the large transparent window, upset him. Then he realised he had tears in his eyes and took out a handkerchief to wipe them off. He still couldn’t understand how T-Murek had gained pleasure from torturing Loretta. He was more upset that the cops couldn’t find him or the masked man that’d kidnapped him, even after months of a thorough search. It was harder even to find the masked man since no one could identify him. The case had gone cold with no new lead. Returning to the present, he noticed that Natasha was awake and was having a conversation with her friends. She seemed to be in pretty bad shape and could barely sit up straight. She just laid there on the
Kevin sat outside the store opposite Pittsburgh bar, waiting patiently, intending to confront the thugs that’d assaulted Natasha the previous night. It was already dark, and the street was lonely. He glanced up at the big clock that hung inside the shop. 11:48 pm. He wondered how much longer he’d have to wait before they showed up. The shopkeeper who’d noticed him sitting there for a while came to meet him. “Sir, is there something I could help you with?” After a momentary silence, he said to him, “I’ll have a bottle of tequila.” And at once the shopkeeper left to get what he’d requested. He soon arrived with a bottle of tequila placed side-by-side with a bottle opener on a tray and set it down on the table before Kevin. “Thank you.” Kevin opened the bottle and poured it into a dark glass. “Wait, please! Don’t go,” he said to the shopkeeper, stopping him mid-way into his store. “I’m waiting for someone, but I don’t know where they might be. Maybe you could help me.” The shopk
A man quickly highlighted from the car, held up a gun, and scurried to where they’d gathered. “Hey!” he shouted, firing off three rounds to warn them off. Gunshots echoed throughout the dark street, and they scampered, leaving Kevin to lie in pain on the earthen floor. Aiming in their direction, the man fired. The thug in the black jacket stumbled to the floor while attempting to flee; the bullet had caught his knee. He shrieked, holding the injured knee to stop the bleeding. In a desperate attempt to flee, he crawled on his knees—wilting, trying to get away. The armed man quickly caught up with him and grabbed his hair, held him up and kicked him hard on the knee. Shady uttered a loud, horrible cry, his knee bleeding. The armed man grabbed his hair and forced him to gaze up at him. “What’s your name?” “Screw you!” the thug sputtered. A punch landed squarely on his broken nose, arousing the pain. The thug piped up, spitting out blood. Holding up his hair, the armed man uttere
Kevin rolled over the linoleum, opening his eyes blearily to the overhead fan above, which was spinning—like a whisk. It is a sunny morning. Bright rays penetrated the neatly arranged room through drawn curtains. He sat up straight and stretched himself. Found relief in hearing his bones cracked. Last night was perfect. He felt like that was the best sleep he’d had in a while. It was his first night in many weeks he didn’t have any nightmares or disturbing dreams about his past. He then realised he’d been lying on the floor and quickly got up. Turned to the table beside him and scooped the pills Cedric had given him. It had to be the pill, he thought, looking over it. Whatever this was, I’m grateful to Cedric. Then he looked up at the big clock on the wall. 10:32 am. His mouth fell open. Shit, I overslept! Hastily rolling out of bed, he walked over to the window and took the trash that lay beside the table, emptying it into the waste bin outsid
Landry drove into the park with Kevin sitting at his side, and pulled over by the sidewalks lined by long afternoon shadows. Kevin wound down the window and squinted out into the park, his wondering gaze searching for Mirabel—or her mother. “Do you see them anywhere?” he asked, looking around the park for any sign of them. “There they are.” Landry found them sitting alone on an old beat-up wooden bench at the far end of the park. Mirabel lay in her mother’s arms, fast asleep. The single mother sat under a towering oak which shielded them from the scourging sun. She looked pale and sadder than before, making Kevin wonder what might have caused this. Climbing out of the car, Kevin took out a large bag filled to its capacity from the back seat. It felt really heavy, and some of its contents were peeking out. “I’d be right back,” he said, and walked into the park. “Good day, ma,” he greeted her when he got to where she sat, but she seemed lost in deep thought that she didn’t see him s
Natasha sat on the hospital bed—arms wrapped around her legs, gazing with swollen eyes at the door, oblivious to the things that were going on around her. She’d been sitting this way since her psychologist left. All she wanted was to go home. If she could, she would lock herself in all day and listen to the radio so loud that she wouldn’t hear herself breathe. She exhaled in pure relief when the door opened. Finally, her dad has come to take her home. She recoiled in shock when she looked up and saw Kevin instead—what’s he doing here? She clearly did not expect to see him. Kevin stood by the door, unwilling to move a step further into the room. Their eyes locked on and for a long second, they stared awkwardly at each other. He didn’t know what to say to her. He wanted to come in but wasn’t sure if she wanted to see him. “Do you mind?” The word was already out before he could stop it. When she didn’t answer, he attempted to take a step towards her but hesitated when he saw
The ghoul responsible for the slaughter of his entire family is back, and bodies are turning up around the city. With Murphy Hartfield’s death, Kevin is perturbed—for Natasha’s sake. He knows it’s only a matter of time before her body will be the next they would find on the streets of Burnout, unless he quells any affection he has for her. Although still mourning the loss of his fiancée, he couldn’t deny this newfound affection for Natasha. And no matter how hard he tried to stay away from her, fate always brings them back together—until she is captured by the same figure that’d taken his fiancée months ago. It could prove fatal if he lost her too. AUTHOR’S NOTE Thank you so much for reading my novel! I’m so glad that you were truly able to immerse yourself in it by reading up to the end. It would truly mean so much to me if I could get many intrigued readers such as yourself to see this piece! You could help me do this by giving me some gems and a review to show support.
The old abandoned warehouse stood, corner lot, like a looming gargoyle; perched on a mound of earth protruding like an overfilled grave. The place looked dilapidated and haunted. For a moment, Kevin looked over the warehouse T-Murek had used to torture Loretta over a year ago. It felt like he was revisiting his horrible past by coming back to this very place. For months, he’d tried to fight off the memories of the past, and now he’s back to the place where it all began, the very building where he sat to watch his fiancée die. He has returned to the one place he’d hoped he would never have to see again. As he climbed up the old broken staircase, Alex heeled him. And when he reached the wooded door, the memories of the past flooded his mind, filling him with great horror. It was almost twenty-four hours after T-Murek had left the room, leaving Kevin tied to the chair. Kevin watched with pain in his eyes as flies buzzed around the opened wounds on Loretta’s lifeless body. His face was
Derik drove into a large conference room beside the police department. He took out his phone to confirm it was the address that William had texted him. Then he got out of his car and walked past the security guards standing outside into the hall. There, he met a large crowd. He marvelled at how big the whole place was. Frank, head of the forensic laboratory, was there. The entire police force in the city was present. And so was Scott. They were all seated in an orderly arrangement. Looking up at the podium, he saw William addressing the crowd. And next to him was TCU’s new president, Sir Lawrence Linus. Beside Lawrence sat a muscular, dark-skinned soldier wearing dark glasses. He had a flagitious look as he stared towards the crowd from his dark shades. He had an M16A1 gun strapped to his left shoulder and was chewing a gun. Derik walked through the attentive crowd, up the front row as he searched for an empty seat. William’s voice became audible as he reeled towards the front. “—
Derik gulped air to steady himself. Straightening his arm at Kevin, he wrapped his fingers around the gun, not taking his eyes off him. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t drop you where you stand.” “Derik, wait!” he hollered, hands raised a bit higher. “I’m not your enemy. I may be one of them, but I’m certainly not a killer.” Derik glared, his fierce eyes filled with rage and hatred. “You pinned a rod through a man’s eyes, how do you explain that?” “Those guys deserved what they got and you know it. Heck, they raped Natasha and walked away free, while she suffers in the hospital. I couldn’t live with that.” “You could have just left it to the authorities.” “I was just doing the cops a favour.” “That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a shifter and a killer. You’re dangerous. You shouldn’t be around Natasha,” he countered. Kevin remained silent. “Does Natasha know? Does she know what you are?” he asked him, his fingers tightening around the gun. “She doesn’t have to know.” His
Landry drove through the large gate into William’s mansion. He stopped in front of a Nissan Terrano II which was parked inside the carport alongside the large apartment. Kevin got out first, then offered to help Natasha. “Thank you. I can get off on my own.” She turned him down rather impolitely. He was taken a little aback by her abruptness. Getting down from the car, she bolted past him, climbing up the mini-stairs on the facade of the large bungalow. She knocked and stood with her arms folded while waiting behind the door. She didn’t turn to look at him. Landry noticed the tension between them but kept silent, making a mental note to talk to Kevin about it later. “Dad! Damien!” Natasha called and stepped back a few paces after knocking. A moment passed and no answer. She climbed up the stairs to hit the door again, this time a little louder than before. “Is anyone home?” She shuffled backward and waited, folding her arms and avoiding Kevin’s gaze. When it appeared no one was c
William went through the files Frank dropped on his desk. “I don’t understand,” he grunted with frustration. “These are the names of every member and officer on this taskforce. But why are there green dots placed beside each name?” “This is the full list of active officers registered in this taskforce that has been tested. The green dot represents the members that came out clean, while the red represents the shifters,” Frank explained. William stole a quick glance at the list, a line between his brows. “But I see no name here attached to a red dot.” “Exactly my point, sir. Every official and officer working in this taskforce came out clean.” William looked over the file, feeling sceptical about its credibility. “I ran a double check on everyone just to be sure. I can assure you, sir, there are no shifters on the task force.” William was silent for a moment, a series of thoughts running through his head. “I was thinking, what if we recreated another shifter just like Mrs Eulich, o
It was midnight, and Kevin sat outside Pittsburgh bar, drinking himself to stupor. He sat there to process all that Leonard had said to him; it was just too much information to take in. Just then, he painfully remembered Lena’s body hanging from the ceiling. He took a sip from the bottle of vodka which sat on the table before him— wincing as the fiery liquid found his tongue. After a moment, the thought of his earlier encounter with Leonard was erased momentarily from his memory, but that of Lena hanging from the ceiling lingered like a parasite that just wouldn’t go away—devastating him even more. Kevin blamed himself for their death; Lena, Mirabel, and Loretta. If he hadn’t shown up in their lives, they’d still be alive. He woozily dropped the sixth vodka bottle, causing the rest on the table to rattle. “Another bottle, please!” he hooted to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper went in to get his order. Kevin felt woozy as he stared at the empty bottles sitting on the table before him.
Kevin glanced up at the body hanging from the ceiling. Is this what Mrs Lena meant when she said she was going to put an end to all this? She was going insane after all—there’d been no masked man with her all along. She was losing her mind. Tears trickled down his eyes. We should have moved her to a mental clinic when we had the chance-–maybe then, she’d still be alive. A sick feeling rose in his stomach, and he felt his leg tremble from looking at her lifeless body swivelling from the ceiling. “Mrs Lena…” His mouth moved with great difficulty, as if searching for the right question to ask. “Why?” Kevin picked up the chair that’d been flipped beneath her feet and climbed onto it to reach her. He scrutinized the rope she’d used; it was the clinic tube. He untied her from the ceiling and took her down gently. Her head rolled freely to her shoulder. That was when he noticed her broken neck. As he laid her gently on the bed, her lips peeled back in an unpleasant smile. Kevin felt a
William had his gaze fixed on Catherina; his breath caught in his throat. He was as shocked as everyone else in the room. “When did this happen?” “This footage was recorded several hours ago,” Catherina answered politely. “Precisely 9:45 am this morning.” “A masked shifter?” Frank said in total disbelief. “This is going to be very difficult. How are we going to find him if we can’t place an ID on him? Mrs Eulich was our best chance at finding these shifters and eliminating them, but now she is gone, what do we do?” Scott was clueless. He had not a single idea of what was being discussed. After a long, thoughtful silence, William finally answered, “We wait.” His eye narrowed, and he rested his lower jaw on his hands. “The mayor had appointed Lawrence Linus as president to take over command of the taskforce in my place. Lawrence promised to get rid of every shifter here in the city within a week. We shall wait to see how he intends to do this.” ### The sky was a fair maiden with bl