Blue-eyed girl

CHAPTER THREE: THE CHAPEL IN THE STORM

Kevin walked through the hallway, heading straight for Natasha’s room. He stopped in front of a door with a label which read, B14 –the room a receptionist had described to him.

Kevin raised a hand to the door handle and slowly turned it, pushing the door to open slightly.

“Wait!” A familiar voice echoed from the hallway.

Kevin turned and he saw, running towards him, Dr. Frank. Frank held the door handle and quickly shut the door. “You cannot go in here, Mr. Logan.” He berated.

“It has been four days now and I haven’t seen Natasha. I just want to see if she is ok. I’m sure you understand how I feel.”

“I understand son,” Frank said, placing a thoughtful hand on Kevin’s shoulder. “But trust me when I say this; you don’t want to her in the condition she is right now. The transformation has taken a toll on her beauty. Right now, she is resting; she needs lot of it. It’ll help in her quick recover.”

“Please, I just want to talk to her.” Kevin ranted, his yearning eyes filled with desperation. “I promise it won’t take long.”

Frank sighed heavily. Defeat glowed in his eyes. “Five minutes,” he warned, opening the door.

Kevin smiled, walking into the room. He edged towards the bed she laid, but froze in his path as he took in sight of Natasha lying lifeless on her scattered bed. His smile slipped. The animal furs Kevin had expected to see were gone from her skin.

“Thought you said she couldn’t control her power, but she looks –normal, like she’s asleep…” his eyes narrowed at Natasha as he observed how wide her eyes were. Natasha was staring up at the ceiling in a freakish glare.

“…or dead.” The color drained from his face.

His voice trailed off as he raced towards her. “Natasha!” his voice echoed, shaking her shoulder to wake her, his chest heaving rapidly. His eyes were all over her. Anxiety overwhelmed him.

Frank froze at the entrance. “Uh no…” he mouthed, staring at Natasha with frail, trembling eyes. He took off his glasses, dragging his feet as he sauntered into the room, his eyes fixed on Natasha.

Kevin turned to Frank, visibly shaking with rage. “What the hell happened? What did you do?” He barked, tears escaped his eyelids and trickled down his cheek.

Kevin pressed his ear onto her chest to listen for a heartbeat. He heard faint heartbeat within her chest, eyes widening, he turned to look at her face. “Natasha?”

He watched her blinked and rolled over. “You are alive!” his smiles returned. Frank breathed a sigh of relief.

Natasha woke with a groan, holding her head. “I had this wired dream that I was attacked by the same guy that had kidnapped me few days back.” She mumbled, feeling slight pain on her chest. Her vision was blurred.

“…and he injected me with some kind of syrup that knocked me out.”

Natasha stopped taking when she realized was sleep taking. She caught a gleam of someone looking over her as she lay on the bed. She tried to see who it was but everything was a blur.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. She observed Kevin staring down at her, a wide grin on his face. Kevin fell on her, wrapping her in a bone crushing hug. Natasha’s brows furrowed, her eyes darting in all directions, momentarily confused at what’s going on.

Her eyes flickered past him, and she found Frank standing at the corner, putting back his glasses. He looked very relief. She was starting to get uncomfortable from Kevin’s weight crushing down on her.

“You are crushing me, Kevin.” Her voice came out strained and weak.

Kevin laughed, “I’m sorry.” he quickly let go, smiling at her shyly, staring hungrily at her wet pink lips, her bright brown eyes glistening in the soft light of the small room. Kevin seized her lips in a passionate kiss, rubbing his palms against her chin.

Natasha quickly pulled away. “What are you doing?” She inquired, sitting up on the bed and slowly moving away from him.

“You were staring freakishly at the ceiling while you were asleep. I thought you had died. Don’t scare me like that ever again.” He Jabbered.

Pressing her hands on her chest, she felt slight pain from the needle she was stabbed with. She started glancing through her arms and it was all starting to come back.

“Wait, the animal furs –there are all gone. I wasn’t dreaming –it really happened. The masked man was here.”

Kevin sat at the edge of her bed, his eyebrows waggled. “What are you talking about?”

She saw images of his face in flashes of her memory. “The masked man that had kidnapped me few days ago was here, and he stabbed me with a needle, injecting some kind of burning fluid into me, that’s when the animal furs on my body started to…” her voice trailed off as she turned to look at Kevin.

He tried to get closer but Natasha moved further away from him. He laughed, “Why are you making it too obvious you are avoiding me?”

“That’s because I am.” She hissed, avoiding his gaze. “It seems you’ve already forgotten in a hurry what you did to me back then. You just used me and left me alone, and naked in my room without saying goodbye. All I got was your stupid note. And now you are just going to stand here and pretend that never happened.”

Frank moved a finger to rub his temple, staring down at his feet and pretending he didn’t hear a word of what Natasha had said.

“Natasha, please… don’t be like that. There is a reason I did what I did. You know why I had to leave you back then.”

“I don’t, and honestly I don’t care to know anymore.” She blurted out, folding her arms. She shot him a venomous glance. “Why are you even here?”

“You are my friend, of course I came to see how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine.” She frowned, “I would be feeling so much better if you hadn’t come. And oh, one more thing, we aren’t friends.”

Kevin sat motionless, staring at her with heavy eyes, not uttering a word. A knocked sounded on the opened door and there was Derik, standing at the doorway, staring blankly at them.

Natasha quickly got on her feet as she ran to meet him. “Thank God you are here.” She squeezed her arms around Derik. “Please take me home.”

“uhhhh…” Derik stared in confusion as he turned to fix his gaze at Kevin, unsure of what was going on. “you sure about that? Dr. Frank has not discharged you yet.”

“You can go ahead,” Frank consented, “She’s fine now. I see no reason keeping her here any longer. Although, you would have to come back tomorrow so I can run some test to see how you are doing.”

“Thanks doc.” Natasha forced a smile which quickly vanished from her face in a second, and squeezing Derik’s arm, she yanked him out of the room, without a backward glance at Kevin.

Dreda approached a long, metallic door, heavily guarded by two armed men, dressed on black suit with a crooked hemline and wore dark glasses. They stood guard on each side of the door.

She walked to one of them. “I need to speak with my dad.” She requested, staring into his glasses. At once he raised a hand to push the door to open, and Dreda walked into Ramsey’s office.

The room inside was large, and closely resembled a library because of the many books that were neatly arranged on the shelves. Many folded scrolls were arranged on a different section of the office.

A huge poster with Ramsey’s image hung on the wall with his name written below, along with the written text, executive mayor of Burnout City.

“How can I help you?” A voice echoed.

She turned to see her father sitting behind his desk writing on the files that surrounded him. His full attention was wrapped on what he was writing that his head was unwilling to raise for a quick glance at Dreda.

“Dad, I need your help.” Her voice echoed off the corners of the room. “It’s Madelia; something wired happened this morning…”

“If this is another report about one of your friends getting kidnapped, then I can’t help you.” He cut her off, “I have an entire city to look after. I don’t have the time to sit around, solving my daughter’s petty problems.”

“Dad, this is different.” She fretted, “I saw a girl that looks exactly like me drove off with Madelia in my car. I know Madelia is in some kind of trouble. I checked at her apartment earlier, and no one was home. And she is not returning any of my calls either.”

“You are just being paranoid which is causing you to see things. I’m sure your friend is fine.” Ramsey spat, taking his eyes off the files he was signing to glance at her for a brief second before returning his gaze back on the desk.

“If you still feel she is under any threat, then go to the police to make complains, rather than come down here. Isn’t that why we have the police?”

“Dad, you can ask Alex to investigate this.” She coaxed, eyeing him nervously. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Can I?”

“Of course, he works for you.”

“Dreda,” Ramsey sighed heavily, frustrations making his vein swell. “I cannot just ask Alex to do stuffs simply because my daughter asked me to. Alex has other important matters to attain to. I cannot bother him with petty problems.”

Dreda couldn’t believe her ear. “Petty problems?” She voiced, her shoulder slumped, a tear escaped her eyelid. “You don’t think this is important?”

He stopped writing and turned to look at her. “Oh come on sweetheart, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I missed my dad...” She whimpered between her sob, “…the sweat loving dad that once cared for me. What happened to him? It’s like a part of you died after you won that election and became mayor. You no longer care to know what I’m doing, who I’m with, where I am or where I go. You just don’t care anymore. Hell, I have to take permission from your stupid guards standing out there before I can speak to you.”

“We are not having this conversation.” He sighed in exhaustion, rubbing his forehead. “Collier! Collier!!” he yelled, his voice echoed.

A moment later, one of the guards came running in, and stopped beside Dreda, he stood up straight, pulling his chest out.

“You called, sir.” He answered with a deep voice.

“Please escort my daughter to her room, and don’t let her out until I give the order.”

“Yes sir!” The guard saluted, turning to Dreda.

As he inched closer, Dreda leapt back, gesturing with her hands for him to stay away. “Don’t touch me!”

She stole another glance at Ramsey, fighting the tears threatening to trickle from her eyes. Without uttering a word, she walked towards the door, the guard following closing behind.

Ramsey watched as they disappeared through the door. He shook his head and returned his gaze back to the files on his desk.

“This is the ninth tortured victim this week. It is an indication that there is another killer who enjoys making his victims suffer before they die –like T-Rex. We need to find whoever did this, and fast, before he kills again.”

“Not a tortured victim, just a victim with a gun wound between his head. This body is not as gruesome as the ones we’ve been used to.” William corrected, turning to the body lying on the table. “I thought after that bastard had died, all the murder died with him too.”

“During the autopsy, I found a bullet stuck in victim’s brain. Whoever tortured him was trying to get information out of him, but he was showing resistance, and somehow they had managed to get an answer out of him.” Frank explained.

“…and they shot him afterwards.” William added.

“Apparently so,” Frank concluded, examining the body. “I don’t think a member of Beocraft did this. I mean look at the gun wound on the forehead. Beocraft don’t use guns, they torture their victims until they are dead.”

“Do we have an ID on the corpse?”

“His name is Collins Henningsen, and he was the mayor of fallout city until his recent murder.” A voice they hadn’t expected answered.

They quickly turned to the door and they saw, sauntering into the room, a tall Caucasian male on a neatly polished tuxedo.

As he inched closer, Frank quickly move to stop him. “Who are you?”

The stranger took out an ID from his pocket and showed it to Frank. “My name is Theodor Osborne, and I’m the attorney investigating Mayor Henningsen’s murder.” He said, putting back the ID in his pocket.

Theodor had a fair complexion with pink cheeks and his skin was pockmarked, probably from teenage acne or old childhood skin infection. Despite it, he was handsome still. His brown hair was well cut and the tailoring of his suit jacket appeared bespoke.

“We’ve already gotten a witness,” Theodor continued, “An old lady happened to see when the body was dumped off the street early this morning.” He moved aside, revealing an old woman standing behind.

“Mrs. Peterson?” William uttered, a frisson of surprise shot through him at the sight of the old lady.

Frank turned to him. “You know her?”

“She is my next-door neighbor.” He said, walking towards the silent old lady who stood still, staring down at her shoes.

He pulled out a chair and offered for her to seat. After she sat, William took another seat and sat opposite, leaning forward. “Mrs. Peterson, I’m going to need you to tell me everything that happened this morning.”

Thunder rumbled in the dark, heavy sky followed by a web of lightening. A black DeLorean came to a screeching halt in front of the old St. Augustine chapel.

Kevin stole a peek through the window, at the abandon church. “You sure this is the place?” He stared.

Derik turned off the engine, reaching for the map sitting beside him; he pulled it and glanced through. “46 Partridge Road,” he said, looking out the window at the church. “This is it.”

“It is a church?” Kevin’s brows furrowed. “What would Beocraft be doing in a place as holy as this?”

Lightening cracked in a distance, reaching across the stained windows of the old church like bony fingers. The windows were covered in dust and cobwebs.

Derik pulled out his seat beat, got out of his car and examined the building. “This place is anything, but holy.” He mumbled, reaching for his sidearm.

Another rumble filled the night and Kevin swallowed hard, holding his breath. “Maybe we should come back in the morning when it’s not so frightening.”

“There is no turning back now, we are already here.” He shut the door and opened the piston to confirm it is loaded. “Wait here in the car.” He commanded.

“Wait, you are going in alone?” Kevin gawked.

“It is best if I go in alone, you’ll only get in my way. Wait here until I’m back.” Derik said, walking towards the old church. He climbed the slippery stair, ascending towards the wide door.

Raising a hand, he pushed the old door. It gave off a creaked as it slowly opened -loud, rusty, revealing dozens of pews inside. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he searched for a ticking time bomb attached, but found none. He was rather careful -too careful even, unwilling to make the same mistake as the last time.

Across the room, dozens of candles were burning on a silver candle stand placed at each corners of the large church. The candle flames danced to the howling wind that rushed into the large building through the wide doors that were left opened.

Why the candles? There wasn’t supposed to be a candle in a church this old, and abandoned. And most certainly, there weren’t supposed to be lighted. Something was awfully wrong, he could feel it.

Derik kept his gun to his side as he moved into the central aisle and, then, went towards the altar. He walked past several pews that were arranged to face the large altar up ahead.

He observed a particular region in the church where the pews were arranged differently from the rest –like a group had been sitting there not long ago.

He walked cautiously through the central aisle, towards the wide altar, his eyes darting in all direction. The closer he gets to the altar, the more convinced he became that something had already been here before.

As the thunder rumbled outside, Derik was startled, his heart throbbing within his chest. He fretted over the painted images of heavenly creatures looking down at him from the stained glasses.

The storm grew violent outside.

Derik stopped in front of the cold railings separating him from the large altar. A couple of statues stared down at him from the dark corners of the altar where light from the candles had failed to penetrate.

As he examined the statue of the biblical Mary holding a little child in her arms, a motion caught the corner of his eyes from behind another statue.

He quickly turned and he saw, standing still across another dark corner, another statue of the biblical Joseph looking down at him with big bulgy eyes. He crossed the railing, itching closer to have a better view.

Lightening cracked outside, brightening the room. He stopped in his path, holding his breath as something stared back, not the statue, but a masked figure standing behind, then, it went dark again after the lightning flashes disappeared.

At first, he hesitated, but then he sauntered towards the statue, slowly, pointing his gun as he inched closer. When he got to the statue, he looked behind it and found nothing.

He turned to look around. Something did not seem right; the lighted candles on the wall, the pews arranged differently at a particular region in the church, and a big chair sitting at the altar which turned to face an empty audience. Derik felt he had interrupted something.

At that moment, he felt many eyes poured down on him, something- or someone, was watching from the dark corners of the altar. Something clicked in his ear and he raised his brows in horror when he suddenly realized what was going on.

They are having a meeting here.

Another thunder rumbled in the dark sky outside, and he saw, dropping from the ceiling like dark meteors falling from the sky, masked figures on black hooded garments.

Gaping, Derik pointed his gun at a masked figure standing close beside him. But he felt the gaze of another standing behind and quickly turned his gun to it. The room was soon covered in dark hooded figures.

Another inched closer and Derik took his gun and pointed to its head, his eyes glancing at the masked figures that stood behind him, his hands trembling. He could hear his heart pounding rapidly within his chest.

He felt all their gazes fixed on him as he stood there in the middle, surrounded by dark hooded figures. He saw from the corner of his eyes, another marked figure walking towards him, holding a metallic mask. Derik quickly recognized the masked figure.

C-Rex!

Holding up the masked at him, a raspy voice sounded from behind C-Rex’s scary mask. “Join us! Become Beocraft, and we will give you new identity.”

Derik’s heartbeat became wild and rapid. His grip tightened against the gun in his hand caused his palm to sweat. His mind flashed back to the conversation he had with Jeffrey at William’s office.

“I never asked to become one of them, but they choose me. They came to me and made me an offer to join them.” Jeffrey revealed.

“You could have easily denied their offer.” Alex said, interrupting him.

“I could have… but then, I would be dead.” Jeffrey uttered coldly. “The rules are simple. You get asked, you refuse, and you die.

Derik looked up at C-Rex as he held the mask up at him, waiting for him to take it from him. He turned to look around. “One, two, three, four…” he mouthed, his eyes moving to the corner as he counted. “…twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five.”

Shit! They are too many.

Sweat shimmered on his forehead. He wasn’t about to say yes to C-Rex’s offer. Derik clutched his gun, raising it to C-Rex’s forehead.

“Go to hell!”

A gunshot echoed.

TO BE CONTINUED…