The Last Guardian

Chapter_02: The Apprentice- Part One

It was almost 3 a.m. now. Johnathan was sitting by the river side- shivering. He looked at his clothes- they were all wet- a piece of garbage was stuck on his shoulder and he threw it away. He then folded his left jeans up and looked at his prosthetic leg- it was still in place..

"You gonna catch a cold if you stay like that..", remarked the old man as he stood by his side and lit a cigarette.

His face glowed by the light of the match stick. Johnathan looked at him and saw his ragged old face and his long drooping grey moustache.

"You're the second person to say that... ", replied Johnathan as he struggled to stand up. He looked around for his crutch and then he remembered that he had left it in his truck.

Suddenly, he remembered everything. He looked up towards the bridge from where he had fallen. He could still make out the shape of his truck in the dark. And then he looked below- it was more than 50 metres of fall!

How did I survive that? Wait ... but how did I fall in the first place?

He remembered seeing Maya's face in the darkness - in the dark cold waters of the river.

What on earth was going on? A fall like that and at that angle should have crushed my ribs and even if I survived that- there was no way I could swim with my aluminium prosthetic leg...

"Looking for this?", asked the old man handing him his crutch.

Johnathan was surprised and took the crutch .

"Who are you? What happened to me...", asked Johnathan.

"Will tell you everything but right now we gotta move, it's not safe here...", replied the old man blowing out a heavy cloud of smoke.

"C'mon... follow me...", he added.

Johnathan quietly followed him as he walked towards the stairs that led upwards to the bridge. The concrete stairs were slanted and Johnathan had no difficulty climbing them for a few seconds. A minute later he reached the platform where the bridge began- his truck was parked 5 metres away.

"Get in...", ordered the man and walked towards the car.

"Wait..wait...hold on...I don't know who you are..", said Johnathan looking utterly confused.

"I'm the one who pulled you out of the river...now if we don't get out of here soon...we will be in trouble...", replied the old man pointing towards two men approaching them with flash lights and they were walking fast.

Johnathan looked at their direction and saw the men almost running towards them just 50 metres away from his truck.

"What! Who are they?", Johnathan thought and quickly approached his truck.

He opened the door and got in- the keys were still inside. The old man sat at the passenger seat. Johnathan started his truck and drove off. He looked at his rear view mirror- the men were beginning to run- really fast!

"Are they out of their mind? They are racing against a car?", he thought.

But then he couldn't believe his eyes at what he saw- the two men were running incredibly fast towards them- and then they were leaping and jumping all over the bridge. He could hear growling as they jumped over the railings and steel cables of the bridge!

"Holy Mother of God!! You see that...What are they?", remarked Johnathan as he stared at the mirror.

"Demons... spawn of the devil...faster boy...faster!", said the old man as he looked at the side mirror.

"Demons?? What the...", Johnathan was in shock.

He was now fully alert. The alcohol had worn off and now he began to floor the pedal. The truck roared at full speed.

Suddenly the old man took out a gun out of his jacket and put his head out of the window and turned towards the rear.

"Woah! Man.. easy easy....", Johnathan shouted.

"Just drive straight....", yelled the old guy

He aimed at the demons and fired-

*BANG!!*

*BANG!!*

*BANG!!*

He fired three shots in the dark and it hit one of them and they disappeared in the dark.

"That's what I'm talking about...ha ha!", chuckled the old man as he sat back on his seat.

"What did I just see?", Johnathan shook his head in disbelief.

He began to wonder if it was some kind of weird hangover or if someone had mixed something in his drink or maybe he hit his head too hard.

A few minutes later they had crossed the bridge and were driving into the other side of the city and seeing that no-one else was following them Johnathan suddenly stopped the vehicle and took a deep breath.

"Why did you stop?", asked the man.

"Aaagh....I don't know where we are going....Would you mind telling me what's going on?", asked Johnathan demanding answers.

"What do you wanna know?", replied the old man calmly lighting another smoke.

"Well ..who are you...how did I survive...hell...how did I fall? And who were the ones chasing us?", asked Johnathan.

"Calm down boy...My name's Billy...Billy Joe...and I only pulled you out of the river...you survived because you're special... and you fell because of your weakness...", replied the man.

"Weakness? Special? What do you mean?", asked Johnathan.

"Yeah.. you're weak...not because you lost your leg...but you lost your spirit...you were ready to give up...you just needed a little pushing...and it pushed you...", replied old man Billy.

"I don't understand...what pushed me?", asked Johnathan curiously.

"The darkness... son...the darkness... it's everywhere...and it's growing fast...it finds the weakness in the human mind and corrupts it...", replied Billy.

Johnathan looked outside the window, it was almost dawn. The dark was fading and the sun was about to peak out of the mountains far away.

"What?I don't get it..."

"You're special because a fall like that would've killed any normal human being, but not you...no...your powers kept you from drowning...", continued Billy.

"What powers?", asked Johnathan.

He was utterly confused at whatever this strange old man with a hat in his car was saying but he let him continue.

"Oh..yes...you got them powers all right...And this ain't the first time they saved your life... remember that explosion that took your leg? Remember how close that bomb was to your body? It would have torn you to pieces but it simply got your leg...", added Billy.

"How do you know about that?", asked Johnathan a bit surprised and offended at the same time.

"Oh! You'd be surprised at the things that I know... Listen son, I know you got questions ... but for now just know that your life is worth more than you think... You're part of a bigger plan...So I just want you to drive towards that old church over yonder and inside you'll find all your answers...", replied Billy calmly.

Johnathan simply looked at him in disbelief but now he was curious to know everything. So he drew a long breath and drove towards the church which stood at the end of the road....the sun was already out...

Police Precinct Athena, 10:00 a.m.

Lisa Munroe was staring at her laptop screen. The forensics results had come. The severed head belonged to one Navin Kumar- late 30s, small guy, been driving a cab for 3 and a half years, no priors.

"Why was he murdered so brutally? Looks like someone had some real beef with him...", Lisa said to herself.

She clicked on the photos of the accident one by one and then she saw the photo of the severed head of Navin. She was repulsed at the sight and immediately closed her laptop. She then laid back on her chair and rubbed her eyes. She hadn't slept last night - there was just too much work.

Suddenly she remembered about the figure in the woods- that dark, desparate, lonely figure... of a woman...a woman in pink dress...She tried to recall her face but couldn't...she felt like she was calling out to her ...

"Lisa....Lisa...."

"LISA!!"

She was startled and opened her eyes. The captain was standing in front of her table with his crossed- staring at her.

"Oh! Sorry sir.. must have dozed off...", she replied apologizing

"That's ok... It's been a tough day yesterday...Can you believe that 13 people died on a single day?! All violent deaths!! Damn... never seen such a mass murder...", said the captain in disbelief as he sat down on a chair.

"Yeah... It's hard to believe that random people died at random places at the same day? Coincidence Sir?", she added.

"There's no such thing as coincidence in our line of work Lisa, you know that...By the way I just came to check on you... You're pushing yourself too much...", replied the captain.

"Ah ... no big deal sir... it's my job...", replied Lisa with a smile.

"Well judging by the deaths of the victims, I think it's gonna be a long one...So I need you at your best... that's why I suggest you take a break, go home and come back tomorrow...", said the captain.

"But sir the case...", replied Lisa.

"That's an order detective...", said the captain sternly.

"Yes Sir .. I'll take a break", replied Lisa.

The Captain went out of the room and Lisa packed her bag and took her jacket and walked out of the precinct. She approached the parking lot and pressed her key in the direction of her car to unlock it. The car beeped twice and she walked towards it. She then got into her car and placed her bag on the backseat and looked at her rear view mirror-

Suddenly she saw a woman sitting on the backseat. She jumped in shock and turned around to look but there was no one there.

"God...I must be hallucinating...I really need some sleep...", she said to herself and rubbed her forehead.

A few moments later she was driving on the freeway with her glasses on thinking about the curious cases.