Chapter 25 THREE: A Hopeless End

William had his gaze fixed on Catherina; his breath caught in his throat. He was as shocked as everyone else in the room. “When did this happen?”

“This footage was recorded several hours ago.” Catherina answered politely. “Precisely 9:45 am this morning.”

“A masked shifter?” Frank said in total disbelief. “This is going to be very difficult. How are we going to find him if we can’t place an ID on him? Mrs. Eulich was our best chance at finding these shifters and eliminating them, but now she is gone, what do we do?”

Scott appeared to be the only clueless individual in the room. He had not a single idea what was being discussed.

After a long, thoughtful silence, William finally answered. “We wait.” His eye narrowed, and he rested his lower jaw on his hands. “The mayor has appointed Lawrence Linus as president to take over command of the taskforce in my place. Lawrence had promised to get rid of every shifter here in the city within a week. We wait to see how he intends to do this.”

The sky was a fair maiden with blue brocade skirts that are embellished with shimmering whorls of chalk-white wisps and enshrouding in a gold lace overskirt made of gauzy sunlight. And below it, a Chevrolet Impala SS made itway along the lonely stretch of a long-forgotten highway, surrounded by huge towering oaks which had their incredibly long branches stretched into the road, shading the vehicle from the stabbing glare of the unforgiving sun.

Landry drove down the lonely highway in silence for several minutes before attempting to start a conversation. “About what I said back there at the park,”

“Forget it.” Kevin—sitting by his side, retorted, a frown on his face. Then he looked out through the window, letting the angry rush of the afternoon breeze punish his face. “Everything you said back there is true, I am in love with Natasha.”

Landry’s eyes narrowed at his response. It wasn’t what he’d expected. “You realize you’re going to get her killed?”

Kevin remained silent. It was all he could do to stop himself from making any more mistakes. I would fix this, he assured himself, I would get rid of this newfound emotion for Natasha.

He couldn’t let himself love again, not while T-Rex is still out there, and would soon return now that his eighteenth birthday is fast approaching.

Landry shifted his eyes to the corner to give Kevin a sidelong glance. “What’s the big idea of making Natasha stay at my house? I feel like we are holding her hostage, worst even, I feel like we’ve kidnapped her.”

“We didn’t kidnap her. I just want her to be…”

“She’s staying in my house against her will. That makes it a kidnap.” he countered, interrupting him. “She doesn’t like the fact that she is staying with me, and she is really making it obvious. She wants to return to her dad, but you just would not let her go.”

“Landry, you of all people should understand why I am doing this. If she returns to her dad, T-Rex will find her and he will kill her.”

“Let’s get serious, if T-Rex wants to get Natasha, he’ll get her, and there’s nothing you, me or anyone can do to stop him.” Landry pointed out, trying to keep his eyes focused on the road. “We are risking both our necks keeping William’s daughter against her will. If William eventually finds out that we were the ones holding his daughter, he will have us locked up for sure. It gets worse if he knows what we are, you know what he will do to us.”

“This only temporary, she won’t be staying at your place for too long.” Kevin assured.

“Look, Kevin, I’m done with this bullshit!” he spat. “I will not risk my neck for someone who isn’t at the very least grateful to me. As soon as I get home, I’m driving her straight to your place. You took her from the hospital, you take care of her. She’s your responsibility, not mine.”

“No, wait! First thing tomorrow morning, I promise, I will take her home to her dad.” he pleaded. “Just let her stay for the night.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow, I promise.”

Landry took a bend into the next street. Kevin’s brows flattened when he recognized the street. “Wait, is this the road that leads to De-Laurel?” he asked, eyes on the road as he looked about with uncertainty.

“Yes...”

“Pull over when you get to the hospital.” he said, “I need to speak to Derik to see if he’s ok.”

Derik, clad in a hospital gown, leaned back against the wall which was coated with pillows, half asleep with exhaustion and remembering his earlier encounter with T-Rex. He lay quietly, keeping his eyes closed, matching his breaths to the beeping of the machines that surrounded his bed, the only indications of his heartbeat. Even though he wasn’t fully awake, he was still conscious of his surroundings.

Curiosity pried open his eyes to meet the pewter door slowly opening, and a foot came into view. Derik was immediately alarmed after a figure cast a shadow over him. His eyes were drawn to the vaguely human figure blocking off radiant rays of sunshine from penetrating through the open door. After his eyes had adjusted to the light, he got a clearer view of who it was.

“Kevin.” he mumbled weakly, returning his head to the pillow, and glancing up at the ceiling. “What are you doing here?”

Kevin took a few steps into the room, walking up to him. Drew a stool from the corner of the bed and sat beside him. Sitting at that exact spot reminded him of the last time he was here—when he came to visit Natasha.

“How are you feeling?”

“It hurts just a little.” Derik winced at the sharp pain he felt piercing through his chest.

Kevin scoffed. “Hurts just a little, huh?” As much as he didn’t want to admit to the pain, he could tell he was hurting. “How long have you been up?”

“A couple of minutes ago.” Turning to look at him, Derik asked in a weak voice. “Is Natasha alright?”

“She is fine.”

“Her dad was here some minutes ago, said his daughter is still missing.” He said in a low voice. “He’s been worried for her safety.”

Derik let out a groan from the pains he felt as he struggled to sit up. He squeezed his face, placing his hand on the spot that hurt most. Kevin rushed to help him get up.

“Is Natasha with you?” Derik finally asked after he sat up straight.

A question Kevin wasn’t prepared to answer.

His question was met with a blank stare.

Derik read through his guilty expression. “She’s with you, isn’t she?” his eyes narrowed at him.

“I left her in excellent hands.” he answered.

His eyes widened at the response. “She’s not with you?”

He turned away, trying to cover the guilt in his face. “A friend of mine is taking good care of her.”

Derik directed an angry scowl at him. “Her dad has been worried about her, and she’s been with your friend the entire time?” he held his abdomen, squeezing his face at the sharp pain which ripped right through him.

“Careful…” he cautioned, quickly rushing to help him.

“I’m fine.” he turned down his offer to help. “I need to know why you kept her from seeing her dad. You could get in trouble if her dad finds out you are the one who’s holding his daughter.”

“The man that tried to kidnap her, and did this to you…” Kevin wasn’t sure what he was going to say next. “… is not human.”

“I already know what he is,” he said, “That’s the more reason Natasha should be with her Dad now more than ever.”

He slouched when he remembered Landry’s words.

Let’s get serious. If T-Rex wants to get Natasha, he’ll get her, and there’s nothing you, me or anyone can do to stop him.

Of course he was right. Who is he kidding?

“First thing tomorrow morning, I’d already made plans to return her to her dad. I just wanted her to be safe for a while until things cool off a bit, that’s why I took her far away from her dad and everyone else—just in case he comes back to look for her.”

He looked over at Kevin for a moment. His eyebrows waggled. “You did not come all the way here just so we could talk about William’s daughter, did you?”

“No.” he said, reaching for something in his pocket. “I came so I could return this to you.”

He removed the gun which he’d tucked in his trousers and placed it on the bed beside Derik.

“You had this the whole time? You are lucky the cops didn’t see you with it, you would have been locked away for possession of a military-grade weapon.”

Derik gestured towards the table beside his bed. “Put it down over there.”

Placing the gun on the table, he then reached for the paper drawings folded inside his jacket. “There is something else I need you to see.” he took them out and handed them to Derik.

Derik opened drawings and examined them closely. “What am I looking at?” he asked, eyes glancing over the drawings, studying them carefully.

He wasn’t sure why he was talking to Derik about this, but strangely it felt like the right thing to do. “A few nights back, I had a dream about some things I could not fully understand. So I drew them to get them off my head.”

Derik looked over the pictures one after another, trying to make sense of each of them. He suddenly stopped when his gaze found the drawing of the houses on fires. “I know this place.” he uttered sceptically.

“These are the houses that you destroyed two days ago.” he reminded, “You know what puzzles me the most? –-it’s the fact that I saw it happen in my dreams barely a day before I witnessed it in reality.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You saw a vision of what happened that day even before it happened?”

Kevin nodded.

“Fascinating.” he remarked, glancing through the other drawings—although his features held a sceptical gleam.

His eyes were drawn to the last drawing of a man that closely resembled him. Derik singled out the drawing from the rest. His eyes burned with disbelief as he looked at it closely.

“This is—me?” he said, his forehead puckered. “Is this the moment T-Rex stabbed me in the gut?”

Kevin nodded in affirmation.

He looked up at Kevin, his brows drew together. It struck him as odd. “You saw this in your dream too?”

Again, he nodded.

He was momentarily confused. “When did you say you drew this again?”

“A night before you rescued me from those thugs.” he answered.

“You saw a vision of me even before we met?”

Again, Kevin nodded. Now that he thought of it, maybe that was what had propelled him to show these drawings to Derik in the first place.

“Have you been having dreams like this one before?”

“This is the first.” he answered, then his phone started ringing in his pocket. He pulled out the phone and glanced at the caller ID.

Mrs. Lena?

His spirits sank, then he pressed the phone to his ear.

“He is still here…” came the wailing voice. “He doesn’t want to go away. Kevin, come take me away from here, I’m begging you.” Lena cried over the phone.

Kevin took a deep breath. Knew what this is about. “Mrs. Lena, please, calm yourself. You are just hallucinating, there is no one there.” he tried to comfort her, but it wasn’t working. The more he had tried to calm her made her anxiety worse.

“Kevin, everyone thinks I’m crazy, but you’re the only one who is going to listen. I need you to believe me, he is here.” she whimpered between her sobs, raising her voice. “… and he is walking towards me. Please, help me. He is going to get me… he is coming straight at me!”

He heard the fear and panic in her intensified voice. It felt real. For a moment, he wanted to believe her—he wanted to believe that she wasn’t crazy. Maybe there is someone there with her. But then he heard a crashing sound over the phone and his heart shoot up.

“Hello Lena, are you alright?” he panicked. For a few seconds, he didn’t hear any response. Fear gripped him. “Mrs. Lena? What’s happening? Are you still there?”

Drops of sweat gathered at his forehead.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard soft sobbing from Lena over the phone. “Thank Goodness. For a second there I thought you’d done something crazy.”

He heard her speak in a low and lifeless tone. “I know you also think I’m crazy,” she sobbed, “…but I’m not. He is walking towards me right now and no one believes me.” he heard her sniffled, then suddenly stopped crying. “I guess it up to me to put an end to all this.”

Something about those last words sent ripples of fear travelling through every each of him. “Lena, don’t do anything rash. Just wait for me, I will get there as soon as I can.” But she had already hanged up before Kevin could finish.

“Damn it!” he cursed, turning to Derik. The look on Derik’s face was that of curiosity, like he wanted to understand what the fuss over the phone was all about.

“I will explain everything to you later, but right now, I got to go.” he said in a hurry and dashed out of the room.

Kevin arrived at De Maria moments later. He had so many questions running through his mind. Something about the way Mrs. Lena kept insisting that there was someone there with her in that room worried him.

Could she be hallucinating about the masked man that had kidnapped her daughter, or what if—she is really telling the truth, and there is someone in there with her? What if Lena isn’t going insane? What if we are the crazy ones for not seeing what she sees? The thought sent cold chills down his spine, causing him to shiver.

But then something didn’t seem right… Is something like that even possible? -an invisible man? Who is this masked man, really? Why does he choose to hide under a mask with a C mark carved on it? What is he hiding, really? How is T-Rex related to this masked man, anyway?

Kevin soon found himself standing in front of room 231. He slowly reached for the doorknob, but then stopped when an awkward feeling came over him. Something about the cold silence from inside that room disturbed him. He pressed his ear against the door. It worried him the more when he heard nothing inside.

“Mrs. Lena?” he called out, knocking hard on the door. Heard no reply. “Are you in there?” he fretted.

Heard nothing—only silence. He knew something was definitely wrong. Felt it deep in his gut that something bad had happened. He quickly reached for the knob and pushed the door to open. He froze at the entrance, at what he saw inside.

He looked up in horror at Mrs. Lena’s body hanging from the ceiling. He saw a fallen chair just beneath her feet.

His eyes widened.

Oh, God. No!