Chương 38: Heartbroken Murderer

With every step, shoes crackle over twigs as Crimson makes for the preserve parking lot, Churro trailing right behind him.

"Please tell me that was because of the breakup. Or even better, because the full moon is tomorrow." Crimson stops by the Jeep to give Churro a hand getting into the passenger seat. He slumps back against the seat, close to blacking out.

"Heading home now. Right?" Yet Crimson keeps his hand resting on the door. His gaze drifting back toward the dark woods where Reddick and Unger rush along a trail.

"What do you say we just leave?"

"What do you say you just shut up?" Reddick stops to spark up a joint, hunching over to keep the wind off the lighter. But the spark refuses to catch.

"Come on, man. I'm freezing my junk off out here." Reddick finally coaxes out a flame just as something hauls him backward into the dark. The lighter hits the ground, and a gaping Unger looks up at the blackness looming ahead of him. Out of breath, he backs up a step. Then another, and another, until he spins around and something seizes his ankle Unger pitches forward, his face slamming into the soil. Something hauls him backward through the trees.

He claws at the earth, his fingers sliding across bare roots, scraping at the soil.

"Help! Save me!" From the ground, a stunned Reddick looks up and sees Unger being hauled past. He stretches out and seizes him by the wrist. Yet the instant he gets a grip, Unger slides free of his fingers, yanked backward and then hoisted clear off the ground His arms thrash wildly as he is raised into the air, his body swaying. He lunges for branches, but they tear loose from his hands as someone or something hauls him back down the trail. Eyes blinking in horror, Unger stares forward while upside down.

He can see exactly where he is being taken straight back to where he started. To the rocks and to the trash can where the fire still blazes.

"No... no... no!" Drawing nearer and nearer to the trash can, Unger is hoisted higher, up and above the flames. Jerking his hands back from the searing heat, he thrashes about, SCREAMING as he fights to break free, then plunges down into the fire, forced face first into the flames. The screaming ceases. Extinguished. Bright sparks softly erupted upward, drifting into the dark night sky overhead.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Inside his bedroom, the alarm clock rings out, its radio blasting loudly. Beneath the blankets, Crimson lies staring at the clock, making no move to silence it.

"Kicking off your local news on this gorgeous Monday morning, Lantern City High School has reopened its doors after being shut down Thursday and Friday. The manhunt for suspected murderer Autzee Tale carries on..." Aqua bursts in and brings a hand down hard on the alarm clock radio, silencing it mid-broadcast.

"We really ought to switch this over to the buzzer." She bends forward to study the vacant look frozen on Crimson's face. At last, he climbs out of bed and makes his way toward the bathroom.

"This isn't only about what went down at the school, is it? It's Willow, isn't it? You want to talk about it?" She asks He pauses in the bathroom doorway; his back turned to his mother.

"Not with you." Crimson pivots around, his glare like ice.

"Your breakups don't matter to me. And I'm going to get her back." He throws the door shut, and the conversation is finished. Meanwhile, deputy sheriff cruisers are parked here and there among the students' cars as the school day gets underway. Plastic sheeting and police tape cover one of the shattered classroom windows. Ash's SUV rolls into the parking area and comes to a brief halt alongside the curb. Ash, with Lily seated beside him in the passenger seat, scans the school from behind the steering wheel.

In the rear seat, Willow reaches for the door handle, only to find the child safety lock engaged.

"Dad, if you're going to insist on driving me to school, you at least have to let me out of the car." Ash keeps his wary eyes fixed on the building.

"Lily, what's your opinion on home schooling?" Lily responds by leaning across Ash to unlock the door for Willow.

"Thank you." He watches Willow vanish into the sea of students.

"Chris..." Lily called out.

"Don't. Your look communicates it perfectly. Yes, I underestimated the danger. Yes, we should've acted sooner. Yes, I should've listened to you. Anything else? Or does that cover it?"

"All I was going to say was you need to stop for gas." She points to the needle hovering over E.

"But yeah, that about covers it."

With roughly ten minutes left before class began, Willow made her way toward the classroom alongside Scara.

"It's simply strange. The whole school is buzzing about what went down that night. Yet no one has any idea it was the two of us."

"Thank goodness for the protection of minors."" Scara... Do you figure I chose wrong?" Turning to glance back at her friend, Scara stared at her as though she had just committed murder.

"Hey there, Crimson shut us inside a classroom and abandoned us to die. He should count himself fortunate that we aren't filing charges or sticking him with our therapy expenses." Willo takes a seat at her locker, rummaging through her bag.

"Are your folks also talking about sending you to a therapist?"

"Honey, I've been seeing a psychiatrist since I was six years old." She digs through her bag.

"Here, give this a shot. Begin with just half a pill." Scara presses a prescription bottle into Willow 's palm, and as she walks off toward class, She is left gazing at it in bewilderment. As the second bell chimes, Churro looks down the hallway and spots his father, Sheriff Valentine, emerging from the school's administrative offices alongside two other Deputies. He notices He and raises a "one minute" finger toward the others.

"Aren't you supposed to be heading to a test?" That question went completely unacknowledged by Churro.

"What exactly is happening? Have you located Autzee at all yet?"

"We're still trying to figure it out. Just go and take your test. Go now." Turning his back on his son, Valentine made his way toward the remaining officers, only to be summoned from behind.

"This matters. You've got to stay alert tonight. Tonight, more than ever. You've never faced anything like this before. Or at least, never in this way.

"I'm aware. That's exactly why I called in folks who have. State Detectives." He gestures back toward a cluster of suited men conversing with school officials. One of them, a man by the name of Tyhurst, glances back at Churro with a grin.

"Now get going." He gives a nod, then turns and rushes toward the stairs.