William followed her out, and Catherina led him to where she’d asked the visitor to wait. He blinked in surprise when he saw Derik.
Derik nodded at Catherina as she returned to her computer, then walked toward William, struggling with the many files he huddled in his crossed arms. “It was a complete blood bath yesternight, sir. I watched our men die like flies as they fought off something impossible. We weren’t prepared for the horrors we met.”
William’s face suddenly twisted in a frown. “How many men survived?”
“None sir. We’ve lost all our men.”
“Eighty highly trained TCU officers lost their lives in just one night?” William uttered in total disbelief. Then he glanced behind him. “Where is Sergeant Scott?”
“He is dead, sir. Was the first to go down.” Derik’s shoulder slumped. “We had walked into a trap and ten of our best men were lost in a
Kevin sat in Derik’s car, waiting for him to come out of the TCU laboratory building. It felt like an hour since Derik left, leaving him to wait in his car. The temperature inside the car was getting hotter with every passing second as the sun rose in the sky. The scourging heat penetrated the windows, causing his skin to blister.Kevin was feeling uncomfortable, not from the desiccating heat, but from sitting in one place for such a long time. He stole a quick glance at his watch. That’s when he realized he had been waiting for too long.Kevin glanced out the window, frustration making his veins swell. He wondered what’s keeping Derik. He wanted to get out of the car to go in search of him inside the TCU building, but stopped when he remembered his warning to stay put.Kevin returned back in the car, entertaining himself with his cell phone, when suddenly he heard noises outside. From behind
It was a hot afternoon when Kevin returned to the prison. The environment was deadly still. He observed that all the prison workers were all gone. He walked cautiously to the door and found that it was locked.Kevin looked around suspiciously. And when he was certain that no one was watching, he returned his gaze back to the locks. His right hand grew larger, setting his body at an unequal proportion. Fur grew from his enlarged arm. With his unusually large arm, he crushed the locks on the door and forcefully kicked the door open. Then his arms returned to normal as he entered the building.The room inside was dark and stuffy. Kevin took out his phone and turned the light on. His torch fell on the faces of several prisoners reaching out to him through the bars, begging to be set free. He ignored them all, peering through the darkness as he searched the cages for where they had put Ashley. Hi
T-Murek traced the blade along her stomach, slicing her open. Blood rained from her dress onto the earthen floor. Ashley collapsed on his shoulder, weak. T-Murek forced his hand through her chest and pulled her heart, leaving it to hang from her chest. Then he let her drop.Kevin remained motionless, watching with wide eyes as Ashley’s lifeless body found its way to the ground below. Ashley hit the floor with a thud, and her blood spluttered across.She lay motionless in her pool of blood. Pain exploded in her chest. Her vision blurred, and everything appeared to be moving slowly. Tears welled up in her eyes as she slowly turned to gaze at Kevin from the ground.Wiping the bloodstains off the blade, T-Murek returned the knife back in his garment. And glancing at Kevin, a condescending smile found his lips, which showed he enjoyed every bit of the torture.Kevin watched as the ghoul turned to walk away until he was out of sight. The afternoon air rus
William drove up the driveway and under the carport alongside the large apartment. The rain was gentle and calm, sputtering across his windshield. The car engine died out.William let out a heavy sigh, dropping his forehead to his forearms on the steering wheel, his eyes wet with tears. Climbing down from the car, he took out an umbrella to shield himself from the rain as he staggered towards the front door of his apartment. Struggling with the locks, he finally got the door to open. He entered the house and threw himself on the couch. His clothes were dripping wet. He’d never felt this devastated in his entire life. Felt as though a bigger part of him had been taken away by Elena’s death.He resented everyone around him, especially Derik. He couldn’t quite understand where all this anger and sudden hatred for Derik was coming from. In his heart, he blamed him entirely for his wife’s death.The noise from t
“Natasha! Natasha!!” William yelled as he walked around the house, searching for his daughter. He searched her room through her window and found that it was empty.“Natasha! Where the hell are you?” he kept calling, looking around. “Natasha, you are making me really worried now! Come out already. It’s not safe for you to be out here on your own.”Nothing.Glancing around, his gaze met an old lady sitting in the next compound. She was staring straight ahead at him as he moved about, looking for Natasha. The old woman sat under a tall tree, enjoying the cold breeze that blew in her face.William walked towards her. “Afternoon, Mrs Peterson. I’m looking for my daughter. Have you seen her around? You see, she came home a while ago to the sad news that her mum had just passed away, and she ran off. Ever since then I haven’t seen her. It’s been fifteen minutes already, and I’m r
William’s eyes twisted with fury as he gazed at the boy whose features were covered with a veil of innocence. He dashed across the room to pounce on the helpless kid. Raised his open hand and swung it hard at his face, but Derik deftly came between them.Derik reached up and caught his fist with his hand, holding it in his own viselike grip. William was taken aback by this.“Sir, please, you have to listen,” he pleaded, releasing his grip and pushing the boy back—away from his reach. “As much as I want to lay my hands on this kid, I just couldn’t. This boy is our key to defeating T-Murek and finding your daughter.”Jeffrey said nothing; he just stared blankly at his feet, looking more innocent than ever before.William had to choke back his rage. Instinctively, he knew to keep calm. “You better know what you are doing,” he snarled, returning to the couch.Derik turned to Jeffrey and nodded&mdash
“They killed him! He was about to give information that could have helped us identify and track down the masked man, but they killed him before he could say a thing.” Derik sounded frustrated, hitting the wall with his fist. His finger was bruised. Then he continued to pace the room, frustration making his veins swell.The corners of Kevin’s eyes crinkled as he observed his odd reaction. “This is not about Jeffrey getting killed that’s making you uneasy, is it?”“No, it’s not!” he yelped, then slumped his shoulder, exhaling loudly. “It’s Natasha.”Kevin’s eyes snapped open, and his stomach knotted with dread. “Did something happen to her?”“She was kidnapped.”Kevin blanched. He nibbled on his bottom lip as he felt the fear of a year ago coming back. He felt his heart throbbing within his chest and his knee growing weak. His imagination boggled as
Derik ran past the uniformed officers on duty, pushing through them. He kept running at a moderately swift pace down the hallway until he finally got to William’s office.Without knocking, he pushed the door open rather forcefully and rushed inside. The men inside were staring blankly at him as he entered. William was engaged in a conversation with Lawrence until he interrupted.“What is the meaning of this?” Lawrence quarrelled, raising his voice at him. “You walk in here without even bothering to knock,” he berated, sounding pissed. “It’s almost as if you’re begging to get fired.”“I am really sorry for the way I barged in, but this is really urgent,” he heaved, taking a second to catch his breath. “I just uncovered T-Murek’s true identity.” His voice held an upbeat note. “And you’d be surprised at what I found.”Lawrence&r
Derik walked out of the hospital. Full of smiles as he edged towards his car. For the first time he felt like he had done something worth it.“Things are going to differ from here on out.”When he had entered his car, he plugged the keyhole to start the engine, but then his phone started ringing. He looked over it to check the caller ID. Horror crept over him when he saw the name.Murphy.He froze, his body trembling.I don’t understand.He felt his body quivered.I have never saved Murphy’s contact on my phone. How then is someone calling my phone with the name of a dead officer?He felt nervous as he picked the call. Placing the phone gently over his ear, he uttered a soft hello. He heard nothing—just a cold silence from the other end. He knew someone was listening. Then the call ended.Derik felt a cold shiver racing down his spine. Sudden
She felt something hard and smooth press against her chest. Suddenly, what felt like a thousand volts raced through her, forcing her back to reality. Gasping, she was back in the same room, lying prostrate on a table with her chest bathed in blood. She met T-Murek’s gaze. “You can’t die just yet, not until I’m fully satisfied,” he reminded her.T-Murek dropped the defibrillators gently onto the table, turning to Kevin with a condescending smile. He searched his face for any sign of revulsion, but found none—just a blank stare.T-Murek took a glove from his bag pack and put it on. Then he pushed his fingers through Natasha’s chest. He felt her heartbeat intensify. She uttered a shrill cry at the intense pain. Thereafter, her face remained frozen, her eyes wide and wild. She felt his finger diving in deeper. More blood spilled on her chest.Kevin sat on the chair, watching with bloods
Natasha was fast asleep as she stood erect, hands tied behind the pole. T-Murek trudged towards her. He couldn’t contain his excitement. And reaching her, he threw his fist to her face, and it collided with her nose. Natasha came awake with a sharp cry. Her eyes were dark, cupped by fleshy pouches and radiating fear. Her lips appeared swollen, and blood dripped from her nose. She looked up at T-Murek with dread. Her entire body quivered at the mere sight of him. Natasha noticed she was standing naked before him and moved her hands to cover her nakedness, but found that they were tied behind the pole. Sweat broke on her brows as she struggled with all her might, letting out scared whimpers. But the rope would not give. Her wrists were hurting from the struggle. Closing in on her, T-Murek cupped her jaw and spoke to her face. “I’m not going to lie, this is going to be a really bad day for you, sweetheart.” His playful tone concealed a lethal truth. Nata
Lawrence’s escape from custody was something Derik had seen coming. He received the news of the incident with dismay and drove down to the scene to see for himself the extent of the damage.When he arrived, he found that the road had been completely sealed off by the police officers that were on ground. They were wrapping the bodies in plastic bags. Derik gawked at the number of corpses that were aligned on the road. An intense feeling of revulsion grew within him. They lay like slaughtered animals in a waste of blood. Every officer in that vehicle had been butchered like animals. None was spared.Seeing them that way bothered him. He needed to find wherever they’d taken Natasha, lest she ends up this way. Time was running out, and he was getting really desperate. He couldn’t imagine how he’d react if Natasha’s body turned up like these. An uncanny feeling spread throughout his body at the thought that he would be too late by the time she was
Early the next morning, the sun set high in the sky to mark the dawn of a new day. Derik hesitated for a moment before entering the TCU building. His eyes were caught by the calendar that hung in the hallway, and his shoulder shrugged.“It’s April 26th at last,” he muttered with dread. He never could have imagined this day would cause him so much fear.As he walked down the hallway, he avoided being spotted by any of the officers already present in the building. And reaching William’s office, he plugged the keyhole with the keys he had stolen. The lock clicked, and the door opened. Standing at the doorway, he peered into William’s office. Finally, he found what he was looking for.Quickly reaching for William’s drawers, he pulled the first arm over and took out the keys to Lawrence’s office. Then he snuck out of William’s office with great stealth, pressing his back against the wall as he moved to Lawrence’s
“Sir, there was a reported case of a loose beast running around the city,” Frank said as he walked into William’s office with a file in his hand. “Two women have been confirmed dead already. Their bodies were found on the street, torn to shreds.”William shot a glance at him. “Your lab rat that escaped recently?”“Possibly…” “We must terminate him before he harms civilians any more civilians.”“That will be a bit of a problem, sir.” He looked at him, shrugging his shoulder. “During the genetic transmutation process which we performed on Mr Shade, we altered his genetic makeup in such a way that would make him hyperactive and incredibly strong. This means Mr Shade is nearly impossible to destroy.”“You should have thought of that before you created him,” William muttered. “You made him, so figure out
Lawrence’s door fell open, and the three men entered at once. The room inside was neatly arranged to look like an official business office premises. There were a couple of files arranged on the linoleum and some books lay around the corner. There was a big drawer just beside where the files were placed, and above it, a big poster taped to the wall; it was a photograph of Lawrence in a cowboy’s hat. On the table, a dozen hardcover notes and some files that had been sorted into their various orders were arranged.Derik searched the books lying on the table, flipping through each page. Found nothing.William moved to the big drawer and pulled out the drawer arm. It had a couple of files arranged inside. He moved onto the next; and when he’d found nothing inside, he pushed the drawer in and moved on to the next one to look.Alex looked over at the posters and ink paintings on the wall. He observed them closely for anything suspicious.De
When he opened the door, he met Alex waiting in his office. He quickly apologized. “I’m really sorry for keeping you. I was with the kid you mentioned earlier. He’s finally been apprehended. Turns out he is one of them. He’s now in the hard interview room.”“That’s the reason I’m here,” Alex said. “It’s about the call you made earlier concerning a former military personnel, Cedric.”His nerves grew ever more taut. “Did you find anything?”“I found some records with the name, Cedric, on the Fallout city police database, but it only dates back to a year ago. No record of Cedric was found after a year ago. His full name wasn’t documented in any of Fallout’s military records. His age, date of birth, the cities he lived in, and his parent’s ID, were all missing from their database. It is almost as if every piece of information about him disappeared after he retired. I ran his face on facial recognition for any information about him, and all I found was the profile he had submitted to Fallou
A fluorescent lamp shone brightly above as Kevin sat in the interrogation room, back straight, wrist cuffed. He stared blankly at the white walls. His feet were bound with a loose chain and tied to the chair. He sat facing William, whose foot couldn’t stop tapping the floor.William shot a glance at him. “Do you know what day it is?”“April 25th,” he mumbled.“That is only a day to your damn birthday!” William thundered, slamming his hands on the table. “In less than twenty-four hours, my baby girl would be tortured to death, and her body would be dumped on the street, just like the ones we’ve seen so far,” he muttered.Leaning forward, he continued. “I lost her mother a few days back, and now Natasha. I will not sit by and do nothing while my daughter dies. I will find where they’ve taken her, if it be the end of me, and you’re going to help me.”Kevin spoke in a low voice.