The Last Guardian

Prologue: The Lady in Pink

It was a busy morning in the city of Athena. The streets were coming alive with people rushing to work, kids in their uniforms waiting for their school bus and taxis lining up in their stands. The sun was shining bright and it's only been 9 a.m. indicating it was going to be a hot summer day.

Cab driver Navin had just parked his car in front of the grand Shoolin Five Star Hotel and was waiting for his first passenger of the day. He had been parking here every morning for the last three years and there was always a passenger in a rush who would ask to go to the airport or a railway station. He liked starting his day from there because he always made an extra tip most of the time from the rich passengers- maybe it was because of his positive attitude and his ever smiling face. Nevertheless, he loved his job and his simple life. He often dreamt of being rich one day and being able to afford a night at that same hotel as he drove in his luxurious car.

"Ah! That must be my first passenger!", he said to himself.

A beautiful lady with dark glasses wearing a pink dress and carrying a small suitcase was approaching Navin's cab.He looked towards her hopefully as she raised her hand and said-

"Taxi!!"

"Ah! Thank God!", said Navin and immediately pulled his cab towards her.

The lady got in and placed her suitcase on the other side of the seat.

"Where to Miss?", asked Navin looking at the rear view mirror.

"National Museum!" , she replied.

Navin immediately took off and within a minute he was cruising happily across the freeway. The destination was on the other side of the city and it would take more than an hour to get there but he was happy that he got a long distance passenger on his first trip.

Fifteen minutes had passed and he was about to take a right turn that led towards a bridge. He looked at his rear view mirror again- the lady was sitting peacefully looking outside of her window. Her blonde hair dancing in the wind. She had a strangely pale complexion- almost too pale and she was wearing white gloves on her hands.

"First time here Miss?", he asked trying to break the silence.

"No!", she replied still looking out of the window.

"Okay...", replied Navin.

"It will take another hour to get there Miss ... just letting you know...heh!", he added.

"I know...", she replied.

Something about her stoic mannerism made Navin curious, she was talking like a robot and looked like the living dead! He had seen and met lots of people in his career and there was always one or two weirdos that got into the cab. He felt it better not to bother such people. So he turned on his radio and listened to the morning news.

After almost forty five minutes the cab slowed down and Navin began to drive cautiously. The road ahead was under construction and there were safety signs everywhere. He was only fifteen minutes away and now it would take another ten. Three more cars were lined up ahead of him.

"Will it take long?", asked the strange lady from behind which startled him.

"Oh! No... No... just five minutes more.. Miss!", replied Navin with a smile.

She didn't reply and sat down quietly staring out of the window.

The cab began to move slowly across the bumpy road. Navin felt guilty for the inconvenience. It was the first time that he had encountered such a bad road. He looked at his rear view mirror for a second and saw the lady was sitting comfortably but then he saw or he thought he saw the suitcase on the seat shake violently as if something was trying to get out. He looked again but this time it wasn't moving and the lady was sitting in the same position staring out of the window. He simply thought that he was imagining things.

"Damn those late night horror movies!", he said to himself.

Five minutes had passed and he drove out of the messy road and into the highway and took a breath of relief. He then took another right turn and from a distance he could see the collosal structure of the National Museum. Very few people went there- some said it was haunted and a recent murder in its premises had repelled most of its visitors.

But that didn't stop the 'ghost hunting' guys that appeared on TV or the meddling teens who dared there friends to spend a night there.

But Navin was a religious man, he had a steadfast belief in his God. Besides he had little time to think about other things besides driving and enjoying TV in his apartment and ofcourse daydreaming.

After a couple of minutes the cab lined up in front of the huge gate if the museum. It suddenly started to get cloudy. Navin looked at the gate- it looked like it hasn't been cleaned in ages and the two gargoyle statues on either pillar of the gate made it look more hideous. Across the gate was a long path half covered with grass and beyond it was a huge ancient looking door on top of which was a shiny plaque which read-

"Historical Museum- Athena."

"It will be a hundred and...", said Navin looking at the metre.

*SLAM!*

The strange lady had already gotten out of the cab with her suitcase in her hand. Navin was shocked. He got out of his cab and shouted-

"Hey, Miss, You haven't paid me..."

But the lady kept walking towards the gate. Navin was furious. He walked towards her quickly and demanded his p*****t.

"Miss...Are you crazy...I need my money!", he yelled from behind.

But the lady kept walking and stopped in front of the gate.

Navin stopped and felt a sudden cold wind coming from nowhere and the sky was getting darker. He looked at the lady who had her back against him standing like a statue infront of the gate, her hair dancing in the breeze. He called out to her once more-

"Miss? Do you hear me? Miss?"

He walked a few more steps towards her and looked around, there was no one except for the strange lady. One more time-

"Miss?"

The lady slowly turned her head towards him and Navin knew that this was not normal. He felt as if his heart had stopped beating and he wanted to look away but he kept staring. He wanted to scream but words won't come out. He was seeing something so horrible that his entire body froze.

In his mind he kept thinking-

"The head...her head... it's rotating...oh God!!"

And then it stopped. The lady disappeared and things were getting back to normal. The clouds were gone and it was sunny again. But Navin stood there shaking in terror. He felt dead inside and the sudden urge to get into his cab and drive away. He was sweaty and nervous, his face was pale and all he could see was the dreadful face of the woman in pink.

He got into his cab and drove straight for almost an hour before he entered into a small neighborhood with people going about their daily lives. There was a busy park nearby and as soon as he reached it, he floored the pedal down and swung the wheel towards a group of people sitting on a bench.

Everyone started to yell and began to run away. But Navin didn't stopped and crashed into the bench, luckily everyone got out of the way. Two local cops saw this and began to whistle as people in the park began to scatter.

Navin didn't stop , he felt like killing someone, he was out for blood! He was driving full speed across the park and into the road on the other side of the park. There was a thick forest beyond the road and it almost seemed as if he was gunning for it. But as soon as he drove his car onto the road, a huge truck came from the other side and crashed his car. The cab made two swings in the air and landed a few metres away from the road. It was destroyed within seconds!

Navin was thrown out of the car and into the woods. He was torn and bleeding from head to toe as he lay a few moments away from death with his face on the ground. The truck driver immediately rushed towards the cab and people from the park started to gather along with a few cops.

As Navin's dying body lay broken in the woods he recognised the figure of the woman in the pink dress standing a few metres away in the thick forest. She had the same horrible look and she carried the same suitcase but this time it was flung open. He felt as if she was calling out to him and he found it hard to resist. He tried standing up and with his bloody twisted and broken body he started to walk towards her- it was an eerie sight. But some irrerestible force was pulling him towards the forest. And so he walked away into the unknown...

One hour later the accident site was cordoned off by the police and the local media and the common people gathered around the yellow "Do Not Cross" tape. Ambulances and fire trucks lined up and the police were busy interrogating the witnesses.

A black sedan came through the crowd and stopped in front of the site. Detective Lisa Munroe stepped out of the car and took off her glasses. She looked at her watch - 12: 30 pm. and put her glasses back on. Her dark hair glistened in the afternoon sun. She wore a dark blue suit and with an air of authority she walked towards the scene.

The local Sherif approached her as she flashed her badge and said-

"Afternoon ma'am... just a case of reckless driving..."

"Yeah?", Lisa replied, "Where's the suspect?"

"Oh... we think he ran off into the woods...we have sent search teams towards the...", replied the sheriff.

"Really?", said Lisa interrupting him," You think the suspect survived the crash and ran away?"

"Well...", replied the sheriff, he was out of words.

"Show me...", commanded Lisa.

The Sheriff guided Lisa through the crowd and showed her the crash site. The cab was lying a few metres away from the giant truck.

"Any witnesses?", she asked.

"Well the truck driver says when he went to check, there was nobody in the cab ... although we have found some traces of blood on the seat...", explained the Sheriff as Lisa walked closer to the cab.

She kneeled down in front of the overturned cab and peeped through the broken window- all she saw was a few drops of blood but no body. She stood up and said to the Sheriff-

"Where's the M.E.?(Medical Examiner)"

"Erm...We don't have one...", replied the Sheriff scratching his head.

"I need that blood analysed... am calling forensics", she replied.

"And find out about this cab... it's driver...",she added

"Already on it ma'am", said the sheriff.

Lisa looked around - the road stretched for miles and there seemed to be little traffic on this road. She was really curious about how anybody could survive such an accident and disappear unless someone else was involved in removing the body.

Suddenly she heard a commotion - she turned around and saw that the search team had returned with their dogs and one of the men had a suitcase in his hand. She immediately walked towards him.

"Found anything?", she asked the men.

"Yes ma'am.. this suitcase... can't seem to open it...", replied the deputy as he placed it on the ground.

Lisa looked curiously at the thing- it seemed as if it were a hundred years old and there was something inside it. But the men couldn't get it open.

"Bring me a knife...", she ordered.

The deputy brought her a knife.

She stabbed on one side of the suitcase and tore it open. What she saw next made her jump.

There was a severed head of a man inside and it seemed like it was ripped off clean from the body...

The deputy immediately walked away and threw up. The other men gasped. Lisa stood up and took out her phone, she had never seen such a gruesome scene before and she wondered whether it was the suspect!

"Where's the damn forensics team?", she yelled at her phone.

"What do you mean they're caught up somewhere else... ugh!"

Lisa furiously scrolled through her call logs trying to find the captain's number. The whole situation was a mess. The truck driver was arguing with the sheriff, while the sheriff's team was trying to control the crowd and the annoying reporters and Lisa was getting anxious by the minute for the "professionals" hadn't arrived. She knew this wasn't a case for a local team of cops.

It got cloudy again and a strong breeze was starting to blow from the north. Lisa dialled the captain's number- it started to ring. With her hand on her hip she was staring at the woods- the phone was still ringing. Suddenly she thought she saw a woman standing in the woods- she looked again but there was nobody. For a moment she froze.

"Lisa? Hello? Lisa?", the captain's voice echoed from the other side.

"Yes, Sir... I'm here...We need...", she replied

"It's a god damn nightmare in here... we're totally overwhelmed... bodies dropping everywhere...", interrupted the captain.

"But where's the forensics team? I need them here..."

"Wait hold on.. I got another call...", replied the captain.

Lisa disconnected the call and walked towards the Sheriff. She had to handle this alone.