“Sir, Elena Martinez is no longer on the camp” he answered
“What do you mean my wife is not on the camp?” William asked now sensing that something was terribly wrong.
“Sir, your wife left the camp already.” Michael answered “she left since yesterday in the evening.”
William’s eye widened.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: ANOTHER BODY FOUND
The sun was beginning to come up. Kevin sat there in Derik’s car which was parked on the roadside opposite the laboratory building. He was waiting for Derik to come out of the laboratory building while he sat there.
Kevin was starting to get impatient. He was exhausted from sitting there for too long.
He took a quick gaze at his watch. He wondered what was keeping Derik that long. He had wanted to get off the car and then go into the building but then he remembered Derik’s strict warning asking him not to come into the building no matter what. Kevin sat in the car entertaining himself with his cell phone.
Suddenly he heard noise outside. From behind the car window, he could see a little girl being dragged by two armed men. They didn’t seem to care that the little girl was crying out loudly as they carried her.
The little girl had been cuffed on both her hands. Kevin wondered what crime an innocent girl like that could have possibly committed that had warranted her to be arrested.
He saw Lawrence following the behind as they dragged the little poor girl across the street. Kevin swallowed hard when he saw Lawrence. It then finally dawn on him why the little girl being arrested.
She is a shifter…
The tears on her face as she pleaded them to let her go touched Kevin deeply.
Kevin’s face lit with recognition when they got closer. He remembered who she was.
Ashley!
- --little girl who’d came to him in the park begging for arms to feed herself but he harshly turned her away.
Back then she cried out to him to help her with anything he had or she’ll starve to death since no one was willing to help her.
Kevin was glad he didn’t help her back then otherwise she would have ended up like everyone else who’d gotten close to him. Kevin felt guilt in his heart as he watched her being dragged away by the two armed officer. He knew what fate await her. She’d be burnt to the stake.
He quickly got down from the car and then followed after them to see where they were taking her. He hid himself behind buildings to avoid being spotted. He watched them take her into an old building that seemed to look like a prison house where they held captives. He then went over the little window to peep inside the building. He was shocked to find hundreds of prisoners that were held in there. Lawrence had already caught a great deal of shifters all alone without needing any assistant.
Kevin wondered how he had done it.
Kevin watched as they threw girl into a special section in the prison house where she was caged in alone. He watched as Lawrence stand over the counter, taking to the prison warden in charge.
Lawrence suddenly turned to look at the window where Kevin stood. Kevin gasped as he quickly moved away. He stood back there leaning against the wall and breathing out loudly.
Then he heard footstep of someone walking outside. He quickly bent his head low and then tip toe to the back of the building.
When he got to the back of that building, he noticed an area on the ground that was completely charred like something had been burnt down there. Then he saw the numerous numbers of skeletal bones of human head that lay at the corners. It was the remains of the shifters that had already been burnt to the stake. Kevin knew this would be the same fate of every captives held in that room including Ashley.
I would also end up this way if I don’t get out of here right now.
He quickly made a run for it, keeping his head low on the ground to avoid being spotted. When he got back to the car he met Derik waiting out for him with a look on his face that showed he wasn’t pleased.
“I thought I asked you wait out in the car for me. It’s dangerous around here. Do you know what will happen if Lawrence sees you, he will sense out what you are right away.” Derik berated him.
“I just found the building where he holds shifters captive. He also holds an innocent little there and…”
Derik cut him off “…and you will stay off that building if you don’t want to end up there.” Derik shut him up.
Getting into his car, he said “let’s go…”
William’s car parked far across the road. For a moment, they all stopped to stare at the building from the window.
“Sir, I think this is it.” Derik look from the window at the house, then he looked into the map he had marked out to confirm it.
“Yes, this is the place. This is definitely 44 Rashbrow Street.” he said confidently.
Derik said looking over the bungalow that was a bit bigger than the last on they had visited. William said in a dangerous low tune “let’s go find this son of a…”
All the men with him quickly got down putting their guns in place as they all trooped behind Derik towards the building.
Reaching the door, one of the men raised his feet to kick down the door but Derik quickly stopped him. “Wait…” Derik shouted “…check the doors for a timer bomb…we could be walking right into a trap.” Derik said to them in a whisper.
One of the armed men stepped aside, he fired at the door knob. He then forcefully kicked the door open. They all rushed into the building pointing their guns in every direction but there was no one in the apartment.
Derik entered and then looked over the door to see if there was any bomb attached to it but there was nothing there. He searched around the room for any sign of a bomb planted any where and when he was sure the room was bomb free, they all trooped into the room.
The room inside seemed like a family house. The television set and the furniture were all intact like there was someone living down here. They noticed the room had two doors positioned on opposite side of the room.
“Check the room on the left…” Derik said “…I will check this one by the right.”
Derik cautiously approached the room drawing his gun and placing it in front of him, he then reached for the door knob but the door was lock. He moved back few paces then he fired at the door, then he kicked the door open. He quickly ran into the room pointing his gun in every direction but there was nothing there.
He heard one of the men called out. “Sir, you need to see this.”
Derik quickly ran out of that room into the other room where he had heard the voice call. He saw William kneeling brokenly in tear in front of a lady that was laid naked over the table in that room.
“Oh no…” Derik’s eye widened as he quickly recognized the woman from the picture. “We are too late…” Derik said in a broken voice. His gun fell from his hands.
Elena lay there with both her feet and arms strapped to the table to restrain her from moving. She had an anguish smile on her face which expressed the excruciating amount of pain she had suffered just before she died.
Her blood was all over the table. Her hair had been burnt up and pulled out. The fleshy part of her head where now visible. Her chest had been torn open and divided and her heart hung from her chest. Blood spilled over her naked body.
Touching the blood rolling down her chest with the tip of his finger, Derik said “it wasn’t long ago this happened. Her blood still looks fresh. She’s been lying here for about two to six hours at most.”
William was left in complete silence as he gazed upon the disfigured body of a woman that was once his wife. William was visibly shaking in anger as he stood there looking over her corpse.
William noticed the ID card she had worn around her neck. She had officially been made member of the army and barely few hours after she had received her badge of recognition, her life had ended painfully. William then got up to his feet and then cleaned off the tears that were visible across his face.
He then turned to t
he man standing closest to him, “find something to cover her up, and then get her body out of here.”
William then walked up to Derik in a manner that scared him. “I will find the animal that did this to her and when I do, I will rip his heart right off his chest. I will find every single one of your kind, I swear it. I won’t rest until I watch every single one of them burn to the stake. And when this is all over, you will burn along with them too. That I promise you.” William left the room.
The men covered Elena up and then carefully carry her out of the room.
It was a hot afternoon when Kevin returned back to the prison building. He stood by the window to look into the building. He saw that the whole place had been locked. He walked cautiously to the door, it was locked up too. He looked around suspiciously to be sure nobody was looking. His hands then grew larger and hairy.
He crushed the locks from the door with his huge hands, then he forcefully kicked the door open. His abnormal hand returned to normal as he entered the building.
The room inside was dark, he took out his phone and then turned on his flashlight. There was no one inside except for the prisoners that were locked up in a little cage.
He searched around the cages looking for where they had put Ashley. His touch fell on different faces of shifter putting their hands out through the metal prison bar, all begging to be set free but he ignored them all.
Finally, his phone light fell on the little scared girl. Ashley sat at the corner whimpering. She retracted backward in fear when the touch light fell on her face blinding her from seeing whoever it was holding the touch.
“Shhhh…” Kevin immediately whispered to her “am here to help. Do you know where the keys are?”
Ashley looked too scared to say anything. She just shook her head quickly. Placing both his hands on the metal bar of the cage, he said to her “you may want to step away now.”
Ashley quickly took the warning. She quickly stepped away from the prison iron bar. Kevin held the metal bar tight, then he closed his eyes.
Veins sprout from his neck as he was making effort to tear the iron bar. His hands grew larger and muscular. Hairs grew from his hands and then throughout his body. His eye were deeply colored when he opened them causing Ashley to stumble back in fear. Kevin let out a loud groan as he tore the metal apart.
He quickly pulled her out and they both made their way to the door ignoring all the others that were calling out to them. As soon as they were out of the building, his body returned back to normal.
He held her hands as they ran until they were both far away from the building. Then they stopped under a tree to catch their breath.
They both went under it to get shade from the blistering heat of the sun. Ashley was breathing really fast and audibly out of exhaustion.
“Where are you taking me?” Ashley asked in her little voice
“I don’t know yet. But we have to get you far away from here before Lawrence captures you again.” Kevin said
Ashley turned to look at him. “Why are you helping me?” She took a closer look at Kevin. Her face suddenly lit with recognition. “I know you…” she said with a frown.
Kevin didn’t say anything. He just stared at her with guilt across his face. Ashley slowly moved away from him “you are that bad man back there in the park that’d refused to help me while I was starving.”
“Ashley I am sorry I didn’t help you back then. If I had…”
The little girl interrupted him. “You didn’t care to help me back then… why are you helping me now?”
Kevin tried to explain. “Listen Ashley, if I had helped you back then something really bad would have…”
Again, she cut him off. “I could have died that day.”
Tears spilled on her cheek. “I could have starved to death that day, if I hadn’t…” she tried to stop the tears from flowing but more kept coming.
Kevin felt touched by her tears. “…but you didn’t die Ashley. I promise I will see that you are fully taken care of.” He tried to get closer to her but she went further away from him.
“Leave me alone! All you care about is yourself.” she cried out, then she ran away.
“Ashley wait!” he quickly chased her. “...they will kill you if they see you.”
That didn’t stop her. She just kept on running.
Ashley went off the road into a compound with several residential houses. Kevin lost sight of her. He started yelling out her name as he moved from one residential house to another.
Kevin entered a narrow path in between two buildings. Suddenly, he heard a thud behind him. Quickly turning to see what it was, he startled back in horror when he saw Ashley hanging on T-Rex’s huge arm as he clutched his hand around her neck.
T-Rex covered her mouth with one arm while he used the other to hold her up. Kevin watched T-Rex reach for something inside his pocket then he brought out a sharp knife with irregular blades.
“T-Rex please…” Kevin pleaded “am begging you, don’t hurt her.”
Ashley whimpered in his arms. She followed the knife T-Rex held with her eye ball. She looked so scared. T-Rex eyeball move away from Ashley, then it fell on Kevin. Kevin was almost at the point of tears as he stood there gazing at T-Rex, feeling so helpless.
T-Rex’s expression was numb. He was neither angry nor laughing like he’d always been in the past. He just gazed at Kevin with a straight face.
Then finally T-Rex spoke. “Everyone you love dies…”
“Noooo!” Kevin shouted raising forth his arms at him while running quickly towards him.
T-Rex raised the knife and then forcefully drove it into her chest.
Ashley gasped sharply.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: APRIL RAIN
Thick blood spilled on her chest, staining her dress. Kevin could hear her slow heartbeat from where he stood.
He wept.
His hands were visibly shaking.
T-Rex dragged the knife down her stomach tearing her chest open.
Ashley collapsed her head on his shoulder. Her blood rain down from her dress onto the floor.
T-Rex punched a hole through her chest with his hands then he brought her heart out leaving it to hang from her chest. Kevin’s eyes were wide open as he stood there watching Ashley’s heart beat slowly.
T-Rex dropped her, Ashley hit the floor and then lay there in her own pool of blood. Her vision was slowly fading out. Everything was moving slowly. Tears dropped from her eye as she watched Kevin from the ground where she lay. Sharp pains exploded through her chest.
T-Rex just stood there watching Kevin as he whimpered with tears in his eyes, then he turned around and walked away until he was out of sight.
Kevin’s feet trembled terribly as he stood there looking over Ashley’s body. It was the same way he’d felt when he saw Mirabel’s little body laying there in the park. It felt like history repeating itself.
Kevin got to where she lay all covered in her blood. He rested her head on his arm as he stared into her eyes. Ashley muttered something to him in an inaudible tone. Then everything slowly went out of focus. She shut her eyes slowly for the last time. Kevin felt his legs grew weak as he watched Ashley died in his arms.
Suddenly, the rain began to fall washing away the blood stain from the ground. The raindrops fell like tears drop from above, it felt like the heavens were weeping for a lost soul.
Kevin sat there under the rain holding Ashley in his arms. A single line of tears dropped from his eye. Then he realized Ashley’s death was entirely his fault.
Kevin lay on the bed Reminiscing over what had happened to Ashley. He kept staring up at the ceiling. His eyes were flooded with tears as he lay there. The rain was falling heavily outside.
He wondered if Ashley would still be alive if he hadn’t attempted to rescue her from the prison. She would have died a much peaceful death if he hadn’t stepped in to rescue her. He was filled with total regrets for his actions.
He had really wished he had list
ened to the other voice in his head warning him to stay away from Ashley. He was forever going to live with the thought of being responsible for the death of two innocent children who would still be alive he had not come into their lives.
Just then, he noticed the passport image of Kern which he’d taken out earlier just laying on the table beside the bed. He then picked it up and stared over it with a teary eye.
“Am sorry you got caught up in all this.” Kevin said apologetically to the picture in his hands
Then suddenly, he noticed a shadow move over his room. Thunder rumbled in the sky. Kevin caught a glimpse of something quickly moving away from the window. He felt like someone had been standing there by the window watching him all along. He then felt his heart pounding as he stood up and walk slowly towards that window to cheek what it was. When he looked out through the window, he saw nothing was there.
He then closed the window and locked it up. He suddenly got this awful feeling like he was being watched, like there was something standing behind him. He slowly turned in fear to see what –or who was standing behind him.
He quivered backward in fear at the sight of a masked hooded figure standing there with him in the room. The masked figure looked diminished in height.
Kevin then quickly figured that it wasn’t the masked man with the C mark standing before him. He had a different marking on his mask as he stood there staring over at Kevin. There was an `M’ mark carved out on his mask a little close to the left eye.
Kevin’s memory dragged back to that night when he had followed Cedric to where Beocraft had gathered. He then remembered the little teenager he had seen from the meeting that night who sat close to the figure with the C-marked mask.
The little masked figure stood a distance away from him, just staring at him coldly from his mask. He looked little but Kevin never wanted to underestimate what this little masked figure could do to him.
“What do you want?” Kevin found himself asking.
His legs were visibly shaking when he remembered what Cedric had said to him.
Wet Touch Page 21