“Have you watched the movie, ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’?” The blonde asked the Asian woman, who was now breathing very feebly now, compared to the heavy breaths she was trying to fill up her lungs with when the blonde had struck her with his nails in the abdomen. She just opened her eyes and looked at the blonde in response. “There’s a certain line which goes in that film. That the human brain is still active for about seven minutes after the heart stops beating”, the blonde says as he shoves his bloody hand inside the woman’s bra and places it just above her left breast. “Yours is still beating, you see. You have a lot more time to live than seven minutes! Isn’t that amazing!” The blonde yelled happily as he pulled out his hand and sat on the couch behind her. The woman let out a loud gasp as tears rolled down her cheeks and disappeared into the lilac carpet soaked in red. “We have loads of time tonight. Just you and me! Now isn’t that amazing!” The blonde said jubilantly, but noticed the tears flowing from the eyes of the woman and said, “you know, I really didn’t like doing this to you, I mean, I did… but… you get my point. You see, I had no choice but to take you hostage and make sure that you don’t go anywhere, my efforts would’ve yielded no results otherwise, and, we don’t want another person dead in this ‘city of happiness’ do we?” The blonde explained as he cleaned the knife he had earned a few days ago in a street brawl, with a towel. He wiped his hands on the towel as well, and cursed the towel when it couldn’t clean the inside of his nails.
The Asian woman, who, to her own surprise was somehow still conscious asked the blonde to come closer with her fingers. The blonde leaned his ear towards her and, the woman spoke in the most feeble voice the blonde had ever heard, “couldn’t you… just have… tied me up?”, she coughed a little blood onto the blonde’s shoulder. The blonde turned to her, with his eyes wide open. The woman, although already on the brink of death, got even more horrified by the deathly expression on his face. “Now…” the blonde stood up, his eyes still fixed on her, “why didn’t I think of THAT!” the blonde said, smashing a flower vase in a fit of rage. “Its so sad that such words of wisdom are coming from a person who is about to kick the bucket. Damn. Why didn’t I hire YOU as my assistant? The one I have is utterly useless!” The blonde cursed. “But wait. All hope isn’t lost for you. In case I do succeed in getting what I want, I will do at least one good thing and save your life. Although, I’m very bad at doing good things”, the blonde said, and a bitterness came over him.
The blonde was lost in his own thoughts and approached the window when a barrage of projectiles came flying towards him with lightning speed and tore through his flesh. The blonde let out a loud and ugly scream as he ran and disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind a mess of broken wood and glass. The Asian woman was lying motionless on the floor, her body now very cold with the heavy blood loss she had suffered. Her eyes were almost closed and a darkness had took over her vision and she was about to lose consciousness when she heard a pair of feet crunching the broken glass underneath themselves. Her eyes instantly opened and she let out a scream as she saw a large figure with its face concealed behind a strange headgear which definitely resembled a helmet. She was stunned to see the bony outgrowths the creature had emerging out of its elbows and let out a shrill scream and passed out, a blue, glowing hand being the last thing she saw.
Charlie was sitting on his bed and was seeing himself in the mirror before him. He had taken his t-shirt off and looked at the various marks on his torso. The pain which had left those wounds on him was excruciating. He heard someone come towards his ward and pulled on his t-shirt. A nurse entered the ward and Charlie smiled at her. “Good morning, Mileena. How are you?” Charlie greeted her warmly. “A very good morning, Charlie. Don’t know about myself, but I’m very happy for you. Today is finally the day you get rid of me and this hospital”, Mileena said as she handed Charlie his breakfast. “Keep talking and I might stay”, Charlie said as he dug into hid omelette. Mileena giggled. “Anybody coming to receive you?” Mileena said as she poured water into Charlie’s glass. “Nope. I’ll be on my own. Although I do know quite a few people who’d be receiving someone else”, Charlie said and a smile spread across his face. “You don’t mean that old guy Eric, do you?” Mileena asked, her hand automatically ascending from her hips to her mouth. “Of course I mean Eric!” Charlie let out an energetic cry. “You sneaky devil”, Mileena said and Charlie replied. “Yep. That’s what I am. A devil trying to do just one good thing”, Charlie said, his smile fading.
“Its well past 10 AM, where are these people?” Anna muttered to herself as she looked around to see if Dr. Wilson was around. Both Sally and Lauren had not showed up at the hospital yet. “First it was Lauren, now Sally has joined the club as well. Great! I don’t think I’d be able to save both their asses, considering I’m already having trouble covering up for one of them sleepyheads”, Anna thought. Lauren was not picking up her phone and Sally wasn’t either. She decided to ring Sally one last time when Dr. Wilson arrived at the reception desk. “Have Harper and Hart turn in yesterday’s results yet?” he asked authoritatively. “I’m afraid they haven’t yet, Doctor” Anna replied with her receptionist smile. “Ask them to turn it in as soon as possible. Dr. Clementine needs those for her study” he said and looked around, a little uneasy and in some sort of hurry. “They aren’t here yet, are they?” Dr. Wilson asked. Anna thought twice before lying, but decided against it. “No doctor, not yet”, Anna said slowly. Dr. Wilson left without a word. Anna drank a glass of water after he was out of sight and just as she was about to finish, Lauren came sprinting towards her desk.
“Before you ask, you’ve been busted”, Anna said to Lauren. “Arghh come on! Even Sally didn’t save my ass today?” Lauren asked, disappointment lacing her voice as well as expressions. “Unfortunately, your guardian angel is missing in action”, Anna said, handing a printout of Lauren’s schedule for the day. “Wait, what? Sally isn’t here yet? And to top it off, that bitch didn’t complete writing the report last night saying she’d do it today”, Lauren said in disbelief. Just then, Lauren’s phone rang. It was Sally. “Where have you been? Do you know-” Lauren began but was cut in between, “I’m sending you an address. Come as fast as you can”, Sally said quickly. “Hey. What the hell even happened?” Lauren said, worry etched all over her face which in turn worried Anna as well. “I’m at my friend Katsumi’s place. The Feli-City vampire was here last night”
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