T-Rex’s height and body structure was threatening.
Derik quickly pulled out his gun and then points it at him.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked feeling threatened.
T-Rex then walked up to them.
“Stay where you are!” Derik tightened his grip on the gun. But he didn’t take the warning. He kept walking toward them. His nails grew longer into claws.
Derik’s eye widened. “You are one of them…” Derik said in a low voice.
“Natasha! Get back now!” he shouted out to her looking at her over his shoulder.
Before Derik could pull the trigger, T-Rex had quickly slapped the gun off his fingers. The gun rolled off to the door.
Kevin stood by the window looking into the room. He watched as Derik quickly drew a knife out from his pocket to stab T-Rex with it but T-Rex held his arm tightly and forced the knife out of his hands.
Derik groaned in pains as the knife was squeezed from his hands. T-Rex quickly drove the knife into Derik’s chest. Derik let out a shrill cry that sounded familiar to Kevin. It was at that moment Kevin realized Derik was the man screaming from his dream.
His eye widened, It was all starting to make sense him. The burning houses, the masked man, the black birds, the note, all these things were leading him to this very moment…
Something- or someone had been trying to warn him of this very moment.
Natasha watched in horror as Derik bleeds. She retracted backward slowly until her back pressed against the wall.
T-Rex took out the knife from Derik’s chest and then stabs him again on the stomach. He took out the knife and drove it into his chest again.
Natasha stared in horror as she watched as Derik was being stabbed repeatedly. T-Rex then let go of him, Derik dropped on the floor. He groans in pains holding out his chest. He rolled in his own pool of blood.
Natasha let out a fuzzy cry as T-Rex started walking straight to where she sat at the edge of the bed. She looked so scared as she watched him walk towards her. But then Kevin quickly came into the room and then picked up Derik’s gun where it lay on the floor.
He fired quickly at T-Rex just before he got to Natasha. The bullet struck between his shoulders. He heard T-Rex groan in sharp pains, holding his shoulder.
Kevin quickly reloaded the gun to fire again at him, but then T-Rex was gone. Kevin noticed the window had been slide open.
He quickly rushed to the window and then poked his head out, but T-Rex was far gone and out of sight. Kevin let out a sigh of relief.
Turning to Natasha, he said “We have to go now!” He clings onto Derik’s gun tightly.
“What? No…” she hesitated. “We can’t leave him… not like this. He will bleed to death.”
Kevin walked close to her and spoke in a whisper. “If you don’t come with me right now, he will come back and get you. Trust me, you would prefer he kills you right away than what he’s going to do to you right after he captures you.”
He led her out of the room tucking the gun into his trouser. “We just have to look for a nurse to take care of him. He would be fine…”
They joined the large group of spooked crowd running recklessly towards the exit. They had all been alarmed right after the gunshot went off.
Kevin saw a lady nurse coming in the opposite direction. Kevin quickly stopped her.
“Room 157… a man is dying in there. He was stabbed multiple times on the chest and he is needs urgent medical attention or he’ll die.” He said to her almost shouting
“…he’s with the TCU. He was trying to stop an attack on one of your patience here in the hospital before he was stabbed and badly injured.”
The loud screaming from the panicking crowd running straight ahead for the exit made it impossible for Kevin to hear himself but somehow, she had managed to hear what he was saying
“Alright sire, I would get the doctor to that room right away.” Then she left in a hurry.
When they had gotten out of the hospital, the entrance of the hospital had been completely sealed off by the police. There were many armed cops running quickly into the hospital in a single orderly file.
Kevin looked around, the whole place was rowdy. Many panicking civilians were running in different direction. They heard a car horning from the side of the road, calling out to them. Kevin leaned in to see who it was.
“Kern!” Kevin called out looking grateful to see him.
“Quick, this way!” he held her hands and then led her to the car. But she hesitated
“Nooo… my dad is soon going to be here. I better wait for him.”
Kevin placed both his hand on her arms and then looked straight into her eyes, then he said, “Do you trust me?”
“Kevin why does that matter now. I need to make sure that…”
He shook her gently and then asked again “Do you trust me?”
She was silent for a moment. Then she nodded her head at him. Kevin then held her hand and led her to kern’s car. They both got into the car and kern drove away. Just then Mr. William’s car drove in.
He looked distressed when he saw the rowdy crowd.
“What the hell happened here?”
He was really worried for his daughter.
There were several police vehicle at the entrance of the hospital building. William quickly got out of the car and walked up to an older man dressed in a different uniform from the rest of the cops. He seemed to be the one leading the operation.
“I am William mattinez, head of the threat control unit here in the city.” William said flashing a badge at him.
“Alex Logan” the old officer said taking out his badge to show it to him “…head of state security.” He then pushed the badge back into his pocket.
“Mr. William mattinez?” he called out. Wrinkles appeared on his forehead. “Do you happen to be related to one Miss Natasha Mattinez?”
“Yes… That’s my daughter.” William answered sounding worried “Why? Did something happen to her?”
“We got an anonymous call earlier informing us of a possible kidnap here at De Laurel hospital. He stated that the target is Miss Natasha Mattinez, your daughter.”
William didn’t hide his worries. “…is my daughter alright?”
“My men are in there searching for her. So far no sign of her yet. We heard there has been a gunshot earlier, possibly from the supposed kidnapper. That is what started the commotion here at the hospital.”
“I am going in there to have a look.” William quickly signaled the armed uniformed men who were with him and they quickly followed him into the hospital.
William got more worried when he saw the traffic of nurses walking in and out of the room where Natasha had been admitted. He ran from where he stood to the room, and then he opened the door quickly.
He was confused when he saw Derik on his daughter’s hospital bed almost at the point of death. He was in critical condition.
An oxygen mask had been worn over his face. He was attached to a heart rate meter. Derik was placed on life support. His cloths and the bed where he laid were all stained in his blood.
The nurses around were cleaning the blood from his body while the doctor patched the cuts on his chest.
“Dr. Clark…” William called out to him. “where is my daughter? She was supposed to be discharged today.”
“I don’t know where you daughter could be at the moment.” Clark spoke regretfully.
“Am sorry, what?” William was beginning to get pissed off.
“We were informed by the police that your daughter was the target of a possible kidnap here in the hospital. One of the nurses here said she saw her leave the hospital with another teenager just about her age during the commotion. Your daughter went along with him on her own free will. He didn’t seem to look dangerous.”
“Did she say where she was going?” William asked now getting worried.
“Didn’t ask…” Clark finished wrapping the bandage around Derik. He moved over to o
ne of the nurses there and took a scissors from her.
“…she could be heading home. Have you tried checking to see if she’s home already?”
“No… Natasha wouldn’t come home, not after what had happened. I know my daughter too well, she’d be too afraid to come home.” William looked over at Derik lying unconscious with a nasogastric tube placed over his nose.
“What happened to him?” William finally asked “how did he ended up here on my daughter’s hospital bed?”
“We are yet to fully understand what had happened here. The teenager with your daughter had notified us quickly of his current condition but didn’t say what had happened to him. He mentioned this man here works at the TCU…Mr. William, do you know this man?”
“His name is Derik Rushford. He was an agent at the TCU task force.”
“Was?”
“ He used to work for me but was recently relieved of his duty for his behavioral misconduct. How long before he regains consciousness, I need to know what exactly happened here and what he was doing here with my daughter.”
“It might take up to a day for him to recover…” the doctor said “…maybe two days or a week at most.”
“Sergeant Scott…” William called out to one of the armed men waiting outside.
“Yes sir.” He answered obediently.
“I need you to go over to the mayor’s place. Ask his daughter Dreda if my daughter is there with her. Then get me a full report of what had happened here, I need to know where my daughter is and who she’s with.”
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE LETTER ‘C’
It had been over thirty minute drive and the silence in the car was becoming deafening.
“We’ve been on the road for like thirty minute now and no one is saying anything. Where are you talking me?” Natasha asked Kevin slowly losing her patience.
“I told you to trust me…” Kevin said to her very gently trying to calm her down. “…we’d soon get there.”
“How can I trust you if you won’t tell me anything?”
“Okay, okay…fine” Kevin finally gave in to her request. “We are going as far away from here as possible.”
Natasha shook her head.”…that wasn’t my question, Kevin. Where are you guys taking me?”
“I am taking you to stay at his place…” he gestured towards kern. “…but it will only be temporary.”
“What? I don’t even know who he is…”
“This is kern, he is my friend. You can trust him.”
“Oh yeah…” Natasha smiled sarcastically “you’d rather prefer I stay with your friend than with the security officers over there at the hospital that would have protected me and handed me safely to my dad.”
“I don’t know how to break this to you in a way you would understand but…” he paused as if looking for the right word to explain things Natasha.
“But what…” she asked curiously waiting to hear what he had wanted to say.
“…your dad or those cops can’t protect you from T-Rex.”
Natasha laughed mockingly at him.
Kevin had a puzzled expression on his face. “Did I say something funny?”
“…my dad is president of the threat control unit as well as the security officer of this city. If there’s anyone that can protect me right now, it’ll be my dad.”
Kevin paused for several seconds then he exhaled loudly. “Over a year ago, I was kidnapped by a man hiding his face behind a mask. I had a girlfriend whom I loved so much then, her name was Loretta. He kidnapped her too. When I regained consciousness that was when I saw him for the very first time. But it felt like he’d known me all my life.”
“…sorry, but you saw who?”
“T-Rex… He was the man who had almost kidnapped you today. He made me watch as he tortured Loretta to death. He tore her…” Kevin stopped. The tears in his eyes were now visible.
“No, No…He did more than just torture her -He broke her soul. He ripped her heart right through her chest and placed it on top of her so I could see. He made me watch her heart beat until she faded away.”
Natasha covered her mouth with both her hands. He heard her gasp. “Oh my God! I am really sorry.” She said sympathetically.
“He was going to do the same thing to you if Derik hadn’t stepped in to save you.”
“But why?” she was starting to sound really scared “…I don’t even know this T-Rex guy. I have never met him, until today when he tried to kidnap me and he almost killed Derik.”
“That’s exactly what I kept asking myself after I was captured that day. Who did I offend? Did he kidnap me because he thought I was rich?” Kevin got closer to her “I had the whole year thinking about it. Thinking about why he had kidnapped me, torture Loretta and kept me alive to watch her remains. I finally understood why he is doing all this…”
Kevin flashed back to the last words T-Rex had said to him before he vanished from his room earlier today.
…to see you suffer.
He kept hearing T-Rex’s last words to him over and over again in his head.
“He gains pleasure watching other people suffer in torment” Kevin finally said after a brief silence.
“If my life is really being threatened then I really need to be with my Dad. I see no good reason why I should stay with your friend over here.” She turned to look at kern sitting at the front, driving.
Kern who has been silent the whole time, finally spoke “look Tasha, I know you are…”
“Only my friends call me Tasha” she interrupted him.
“Natasha…” kern began again “… I know you are probably scared but the man who is after you isn’t human and believe me when I say your dad can’t protect you from him.”
“…but you can.” she said to him sarcastically. “My dad leads a special tasks force, TCU. They hunt for these so called shifters. More reason my dad is better suited to protect me right now than you two.”
“Can you please listen to me…” kern spoke almost raising his voice at her while trying to focus on driving. He was starting to get pissed off at how she’d interrupted him in mid sentence.
“No one in the threat control unit has ever seen a shifter before and I bet they don’t know the first thing about combating a shifter, but we do.” kern said trying to stay focused on the road. Kevin waved an eye at him as if was warning him not to go further.
“What do you mean?” Tasha was beginning to sound interested.
“I have seen a shifter. I have watched them transform. I have seen what they look like when they transform. I have killed one before and I know how to do it again if one shows up but your dad, he barely have any experience to take down one of these guys.” he paused for a moment them continued “I know you don’t like the idea of staying with me but right now am your best bet if you are going to survive the storm that is coming at you. I am not doing this because I care about you, -honestly I don’t give a shit about you. I am only doing this because Kevin asked me to. He is almost like a best friend to me and I can’t turn him down when he needs me. So just do me a favor and shut up until we get there.”
That shut her up throughout the journey.
I don’t like this guy
She glared at him.
Mr. William entered the closed room where he was supposed to meet with the mayor. He took his seat on one of the chairs surrounding a round table.
Behind him was the mayor, an older bald man in his late sixties. He entered the room right after William had entered. He took a seat facing William. Another man, much older than the mayor walked into the room after the mayor got in. he wore a cowboy hat over his head.
He looked like he was in his early seventies. He shut the door right after he got in and then he took his seat beside the mayor.
“I convened this meeting because of the recent event that took place here in my city…” the mayor began by bringing out pictures.
He dropped a picture on the table with a look of disappointment wrapped on his fac
e. William slides the pictures over the table to where he sat, and then examined it.
William raised his brow after looking at the picture.
“…those are the victims of a fire incidence here in my city –the victims you ordered to be burnt to death.” the mayor said looking directly at William. He wasn’t looking happy.
The mayor continued. “…about a hundred and seventy people died that day, women and children included and several were left injured, all for what? … Because of a mare suspicion you had they were animals, shifters you call them.”
The mayor was now sounding pissed. ”the reason I commissioned the threat control unit, TCU in this city was so I could protect my citizens from threats and danger that may bring harm to them. But because of your actions, you put the very citizen whom you swore to protect in harm’s way.”
William finally realized the gravity of his actions, he regretted it. “We all make mistakes sir, but everyday this shifters keep increasing in their numbers here in the city and we don’t know how to find them. When I got a tip that this most of the citizens who lived in that park were shifters, I had to seize the opportunity to rid this city of these people.”
“…most of the citizens living there were shifters?” the mayor said “…that means you must have know that not all of them were animals –some of them were human, correct?”
“Sir that was a small price to pay in other to…”
The mayor barked angrily at him “am I correct?”
The room was silent for a moment, then William answered, “yes sir, I knew some of them were humans. But…”
The mayor interrupted him again “…but you still went ahead to have all these innocent people burnt to death.”
Again, the room was left in shear silence.
“How many of those bodies did you confirm to be shifters?”
“Two sir. Two of them were shifters” William answered disappointedly.
“Two?” the mayor scoffed. “Two… out of a hundred and seventy people?”
“Do you know we have lost friends and allies in this city because of what you did? This city has been known to be a city which kills its citizens which it is supposed to protect. This city has been painted black just for the action of one man. Believe me, all the shifters present in the city right now won’t kill up to a hundred and seventy people even in the next five years to come. But you slaughtered all hose innocent people in just a day.”
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