This is the sequel to Lucas. For those who haven’t read Lucas, you can find it by scrolling down or by going here.
Lucas was walked to a further distance from the gun shop. His thoughts traveled on trying to find a way in to the hospital. With this hair of his, he was bound to be noticed as soon as he’d step foot in. While all those though ran through his head, a part of him screamed Who cares! I never plan things. I always go through the front without a care in the world! He bit his lips. He knew this was unlike how he’d usually handle things but he couldn’t do that this time. Not when it involved something this important.
As he kept walking, his shoulder bumped into a woman but he was too preoccupied with his thoughts to even care. On the other hand, the other person grabbed Lucas with her frail hands and pushed him against the wall without meeting any resistance on Lucas’ part. Her green eyes glared at him through her disheveled blond hair and leaking mascara. She screamed in a shrill voice “It’s your fault my family’s dead!”
Lucas’ face contorted momentarily in pain but not long enough for the woman notice. Her words were enough to snap him out of his thoughts and stare at the person in front of him.
The face was familiar.
His eyebrows squeezed together in an effort to identify the face but it only ended with a “Who are you?”
Anger burned in her eyes as she rose her hand. Lucas quickly undid the grip around his collar and pushed her unto the wall this time, both her hands pinned. Behind them a crowd of whistles and cheers spread but both of them ignored them. “I’M MARLENE GEVENE, DAMN IT!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Lucas furrowed his eyebrows further. The name does sound familiar. He scrutinized her mascara-covered face as she struggled to set herself free.
“…Aaaah! That rich chick!” Lucas suddenly exclaimed. The sound of his voice caught the attention of the surrounding people but in a different way than before. Lucas grip faltered and Marlene noticed the others’ attention as she looked over Lucas’ shoulder. She shook his hands off of her wrists, grabbed Lucas and dragged him down the streets to an empty alley. The disgustingly sweet smell of decomposing garbage made them wrinkle their noses and frown in displeasure but neither of them said anything about it. Marlene threw Lucas’ hand with rage as if it was as disgusting as the trash surrounding them. “So? Why would a rick chick as yourself start living here?” Marlene’s anger turned into genuine surprise as she stared blankly at Lucas.
“H-how…?” she stuttered the words out.
“How’d I know? There’s no way an outsider would know our streets this well yet you dragged me to this alley without backtracking once.”
Her surprised expression returned to that of anger but that lasted only a second. Her hardened expression faltered and tears dripped down her cheeks following the path led by the mascara covering her face.
“Do you need me to kiss your lips shut again like last time, do you?” Lucas asked mockingly but there was no movement on Marlene’s part. Lucas sighed and turned to leave saying that he didn’t have time to deal with this.
“…your fault” she whimpered in between her sobs. “It’s your fault! If, if you hadn’t left that time and kept working as my bodyguard, none of this would have happened!” Lucas stopped for a brief moment to hear her out but walked out of the alley as soon as she was done. “It’s your fault that my family’s dead!” Those last words stroke a chord inside him. Lucas stopped in his tracks and looked back at Marlene who was still-standing in that trash-filled alleyway.
“…what do you mean?” he carefully worded out this last sentence.
Marlene glared at him through her tears with a reluctant look. She still opened her mouth to tell him what happened in a loud voice filled with blame. “I-if you hadn’t left that day and kept being my bodyguard while the police was there, none of it would’ve happened.”
Lucas’ interest faded. He leaned back on his one good leg. He stared at her in contempt and listened to her as she pinned and piled the blame on him. Lucas sighed loud enough that Marlene heard him. Her glare intensified but it wasn’t convincing with her tears still falling out her green eyes.
“Listen, you DO know where we are, where I’m from, right?” Marlene suspiciously stared at Lucas, not understanding what he meant. She carefully answered with a ‘yes’ and left it at that. “Everyone here, no matter who it is, whether it be a kid or a woman has some sort of criminal record. You know that, right?” She nodded. “You also know that polices don’t come over here for any arrest because it’s dangerous with all them criminals in one place, right?” She nodded again still not understanding what he was getting at. Her mind still muddled after the events of the last few weeks. “So if any of the residents here were to leave the area and the police knew and saw them, they’d immediately arrest the person.” A look of understanding finally appeared on her face and, somewhere along the way, as she was listening to Lucas, her tears has stopped. “Knowing that, there’s no fucking way one of our resident would stick around while you called the fucking police.” His speech finally at its end, Lucas murmured to himself in a voice only he could hear “And anyways, I don’t trust them.”
“Sh-shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Marlene yelled in vain. She knew Lucas was right but couldn’t help but couldn’t help but pin the blame on him, on someone, anyone. “I knew that Pierre had the police on his side! I knew that he associated with someone at St Clair’s Hospital! I just need you to stick with me until the end!”
Lucas eye widened. He opened his mouth to say something but, in that instant, gunfire rang out in the close distant followed by a group of men carrying something and running in the opposite direction.
The sound of gunfire rang out again, this time closer. Small objects flew passed Lucas at great speed and, seconds later, the men fell. Walking towards the corpses of those men with her twin guns, Ellie pushed her weapons back into the holsters around her hips. She leaned forward and, with an unfazed look on her face, dug through the newly-formed corpses. The sound of plastic wrinkling made her turn he head back, her guns out, only to find herself staring at Lucas.
“Oh!…what are you doing here?” Ellie asked after a long silence. She put back her gun and, having found what she was looking for among the dead and walked toward the alley Lucas was standing in. Marlene had joined his side by then wondering what was going on. Pissed, Ellie narrowed her eyes in disbelief and flicked her head away in anger. She was about to leave when something came to mind. She quickly turned around and examined Marlene up and down. After taking a good look at her, a look of recognition crossed Ellie’s face. “…you’re one of Lucas’ previous client, aren’t you? Marlene or something…Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
–
Lucas sat on the lone chair in the room facing Ellie who was sitting on top of the bed and beside Marlene. They were currently in Marlene’s room, in an apartment not too far from where all three had met. The room was small containing nothing more than a bed, a chair and a dresser which was more than Lucas had in his apartment but they didn’t know that. The grimy yellow paint were peeling off of the wall and the lack of window made this room stuffy.
“Oy, Ellie. Aren’t you going back to the gun shop to get your reward.” Lucas asked somewhat pissed off.
“…it can wait.” Ellie responded and, in a low voice, she continued “you really don’t want me here, huh.”
“You say something.”
“N-nothing! Just how surprising it is that you also came here.”
“That’s none of your business.”
Ellie frowned. An awkward silence filled the room led by their unwillingness to talk. Lucas sighed. He didn’t say anything but glared at Marlene as if to signal her to speak. She tried to glare back but only tears welled up. She stared down, her palms face up on her knees. She breathes in a sob before speaking at last.
“Pierre, our head bu-…” she stopped, sighed and changed her words, “our ex-head butler, was serving our family since my parent’s time and was hired by my grandfather. I,” she looked up at Lucas. “Remember how I told you how I was adopted?” She smiled sorrowfully. “Grandfather had a woman she loved. That woman ended up marrying another and gave birth to my father. So when my real relatives died, he decided to adopt me for the sake of the woman he once loved…” Lucas gave Marlene an angry look. He wasn’t interested in her past and she read that in his gestures. She looked down again, avoiding his eye and carefully picking her words. “…it might be because I came from outside that I had a different perspective of Gevene household but I found it…strange how important things, like household finance, was all handled by Pierre. So I decided to look into it a bit.”
“Basically, you snooped around in his stuff.” Ellie clarified.
Marlene nodded. “While doing so, I noticed that Pierre contact a certain Mr. Herman quite often.” Marlene had stopped sniveling for a while now and continued speaking. “I also learned that Mr. Herman worked as a doctor at St Clair’s Hospital and that our household has been donating money to them for the last six years or so. This year made seven.”
“…” Seven years…, Lucas thought to himself but didn’t say anything.
“But don’t rich people often donate to some charity fund or invest in something to make themselves look good.” Ellie was the only one to comment among the two listeners.
“We do but…this one was just weird somehow.”
“Weird how?”
“Whatever amount we donate or invest were always noted down but this one was…” her face twisted as she tried to find the right words.
“…it was noted under a different name.” Lucas finished for her.
Marlene lifted her head to look at him. Her mouth opened to say “yeah, that’s just it. Also…”
“Also…?” Ellie asked.
“Also, I’m not sure how but there was an incident at a research lab where several researchers died and it seems to be related someh-” she was about to finish but froze. A chill ran down her spine at the sight of Lucas. He wasn’t staring at her but passed her, with his only eye filled with the deepest of hatred. Ellie also noticed after Marlene had gone quiet. She couldn’t take her eyes away from him, from fear but couldn’t speak up either.
“Name?” Lucas asked in a bone-chilling voice devoid of all emotion but anger and hate. “The name of whatever this Herman belongs to.”
“I-I” Marlene stuttered, afraid of his rage. “I’m rage not sure but it had something to do with researching a cure for a virus. AIDS, I think.” Lucas abruptly got up, the pain in his leg only a distant memory in this anger of his. The two women flinched at the sudden gesture. Lucas turned towards the door and, seconds later, left. The women, snapping out of their shock, stared at each other in confusion before running after Lucas. Ellie was about to yell after him but stopped himself. She stopped in front of the stairs of the apartment complex and simply watched Lucas disappear under the stairs. She was rejected just the other night yet here she is, still chasing after him just like before.
While Ellie stood there lamenting in her woes, a shadow ran passed her. Marlene rushes down the stairs, yelling after Lucas disappearing figure. Lucas stopped in his track and turned his head to the upper stairs. For an instant, Lucas’ eye met Ellie’s and the passion she was trying to suppress came raging out. She quickly followed behind Marlene and made it there only to hear. “That’s none of your business.” in that same cold voice before he left her.
Ellie looked at Marlene. “What did you ask?”
Marlene looked back at her. “I asked him where he was going and he said that he’s going to St Clair’s Hospital. And when I asked him why…” she went quiet.
Ellie recalled Lucas’ anger. “This is bad!”, she spat out. “We’d better go after him.”
Both Marlene and Ellie ran after Lucas who was already out on the street. he listened to neither of them as they screamed after him to stop. Ellie stopped and sighed. She loaded her usually unloaded guns and ran passed Lucas. Standing in front of him, she pointed her guns at him and spoke. “I don’t think you need more wounds then you already have so just stop and listen.” Lucas didn’t say anything. His glare didn’t falter either. He took out his own gun around his waist – decided to keep the other one still hidden – and pointed it at Ellie. A shiver ran down her spine but she forced herself not to give in. Seconds passed by, followed by minutes, Ellie’s grip faltered as cold sweat dripped down her back and covered her hands. In the end, Lucas lowered his gun first, his expression less tense than before.
“You’re an idiot” he faintly whispered. Lucas turned his back to her and walked back. Ellie dropped her hands to her side and watched Lucas grabbing Marlene by the hips and dragging her back to her apartment. Ellie let out the breath she was holding in and followed after them.
They were once again back up at Marlene’s apartment, sitting in the same places as before.
“So, why’d you stop me for?”
“Because you-” Marlene started explaining but was interrupted by Ellie as she spat out, “because you were being an idiot.”
Ellie went on explaining. “Remember on your mission as a bodyguard for her?” She pointed at Marlene. “And the one after that, with the cat? You made such a fuss in those neighborhoods that the polices are on high alert. Not to mention that they are already siding with Marlene’s butler. If you dare step outside our neighborhood, the police are sure to arrest you then and there so you can forget about stepping into the hospital.” Lucas glared; Ellie gulped. Lucas looked away; Ellie sighed from relief.
“Ah!”
“What is it Ellie?”
“Well, why do you want to get into St Clair’s Hospital Marlene?”
“To save my family. The Gevene family.” Marlene answered with determination.
“Weren’t they dead?”
Marlene looked down with sadness. “….they’re as good as dead. They’re comatose.”
“I see…”
Silence filled the room but Lucas quickly broke it.
“So…?”
“Hmm?” both women asked.
“What am I supposed to do then?” Lucas wasn’t interested in their conversation and went back to the matter at hand.
“You can dye your hair.” Marlene enthusiastically suggested.
“NO!” He quickly answered with a firm voice and no room for objections.
“Then how about a hat”, she tried again but more meek.
“Wait, why do you keep suggesting hiding his hair?” Ellie asked, confused.
“It’s the part of him that stands out the most.” Ellie stared at Lucas’ figure for a while before adding, “Oh, right. I forgot since I’m so used to seeing to seeing it now.”
Lucas simply sighed and rolled his eyes before adding “I doubt Marlene can enter from the front either.”
“Ah! Because she’s supposed to be dead.”
“Yes, they faked my death and are now waiting to kill me for real…so I shall need a disguise as well…”
“Look, forget about the disguises. We’ll just head to the hospital directly from here.” Both of the women stared at him flabbergasted. “You’re family’s in that hospital, right?” Lucas asked Marlene a rhetorical question to which she answered with a nod. “So they expect you to eventually head there to save them. Most likely they’ll use the fact they are from such a well-off family to have the police swarming inside the hospital.”
“So…” Marlene carefully digested his words, “there shouldn’t be any police officers outside?” She concluded with a question while looking at her former bodyguard’s direction.
“Yeah.” Lucas answered and added, “probably.”
At that moment, Ellie snapped, standing up from her seat. “What do you mean ‘probably'” she yelled. Marlene just stared at him, dumbfounded. ‘Probably’ didn’t cut it for them. Marlene needed to get into that hospital and there was no way that Ellie’s going to get arrested again. Lucas knew how they felt but, as usual, didn’t give a damn. He knew that he himself needed to reach that hospital, to meet this Herman-guy and to get some well-deserved answers. So, before Marlene could comment on the idiocy of his plan and Ellie could throw her usual fit, Lucas spoke again. “If we really do run into any police officers on our way there, we’ll just handle them like we usually do.” It was a sentence to which Lucas would normally grin at the end but, he didn’t. He just stared at the emptiness, passed the wall that separated him and his revenge and glared with the deepest of hatred he had in him.
–
“Since neither me nor Marlene can enter the hospital without creating a fuss, we’ll need you, Ellie to do it.”
That was what all three of them decided on. That was one of the reason that Ellie was the first one to leave their district. Since Khrys’ injury, she had paid many visits to the hospital accompanying the young lady during her check-ups. Because of that, she could excuse herself if anyone asked what she was doing there. With all that in mind, she was walked through the automatic door leading to the inside of the hospital. On her way here, she barely caught sight of any police officers while, just a few weeks back, the streets leading to their neighborhood were swarming with them, ready to capture and arrest Lucas at first sight. Inside the building, she noticed that Lucas was right in his assumption. The place was crawling with police officers.
Ellie panicked. Sure she wasn’t as flashy as Lucas when he’s working but it doesn’t mean that she’s not in the same line of work. The sight of all these law enforcer was rather…nerve-wracking. Nonetheless, she took a deep breath and moved forward. She walked passed crowds of people on the reception floor while heading towards the elevators. The area was packed with visitors as they all waited for the one of the several elevators to come down and open its door. Ellie thought back to the first time she came here while waiting like the others. That time, she had accidentally stumbled upon the security room on her way to visit Khrys. Thankfully, she still remembered where it was and didn’t need to study each floor’s map.
The elevator chimed. The people on the floor made way for those on the elevator before cramming themselves into that single elevator. Nurses, with their patients, stayed back waiting for a less crowded ride while the door of this one closed. People on the far back, unable to reach the floor buttons, called out numbers for those at the front to press them. Ellie waited in the corner. Her bare arms crossed over her chest, she watched as the numbers took turn lighting up. Finally at the floor where Khrys had first stayed, Ellie pushed pass the people in front and made her way out of those thick doors. She sighed a sigh of relief to finally be away from that overly crowded elevator. Looking around the white-walled halls, she tried to relate them to the ones in her memory. With that in mind, she searched the floor peeking in on various room and even studying the floor map trying to make sense of it.
After a thorough of the floor filled with patients, attending nurses and medical equipments, Ellie finally found the security room hidden away in the corner, guarded by two officers nonchalantly drinking coffee. Since there was no way that they’d let her in the hospital carrying guns, Ellie had left them at home, tucked away in a safe place and only bringing a utility knife with her for precaution’s sake. She waited until that particular hallway emptied itself out of people before making her move. When it was cleared and no one seemed to approach that area, she stepped into that hallway.
Walking up to the two guards, Ellie made a quick show of hands and knocked them out before they uttered a sound. Having noticed the utility closet just opposite of the security room, she dragged their unconscious bodies there. The room was small in size but was filled with various cleaning material. Ellie grabbed one of these – a mop that was standing in a corner along with its other friends – and dragged it out. A paper fell down from the sudden gust of wind. It had tape stuck to its tips and words written in its body. Ellie couldn’t read what the black ink spelled out since couldn’t read to begin with but she took it with her anyways figuring that it was the same sign they put on bathroom stalls whenever one wasn’t working. She stuck the paper on the door and closed it behind her before setting the mop in front of it. With the guards out of the way, she quietly knocked on the surveillance room.
Beyond the door, a lazy grunt was heard followed by footsteps. The door creaked open and Ellie immediately stepped in taking whatever space she could get. She punched the man, another police officer, in the stomach knocking the wind out of him before elbowing his face and pushing his face onto a wall. The officer slid down, his body lying unconscious on the floor. Ellie quickly inspected the surveillance room, making sure that there wasn’t anyone else to be taken care of and then checked the hallway before dragging another body into the utility closet. She sealed the room with the mop and headed back to the surveillance room to scan the monitors for a back door to this hospital. She knew she needed to hurry before Lucas kicked up a fuss.
Once found Ellie locked the door to the surveillance room behind her and ran down the empty emergency stairs towards the first floor garbage deposit. The back door flew open and, a distance away from the security camera outside, stood Lucas and Marlene.
“Took you long enough.” Lucas growled , his bad mood returned. Ellie glared at him, exhausted with all the tension she went through.
“I’m surprised there really was a back door” spoke Marlene while holding a hand over her nose and mouth. The foul stench bothered all three pf them yet Ellie and Lucas minded it less and wrinkled their nose at the smell.
“If there wasn’t one, they’d be throwing their trash and used up syringes from the front door.” The two women didn’t need to imagine how that would be. They were already uncomfortable enough standing in this trash dump.
“Umm…miss Ellie, did you happen to find out where my family’s being kept?” Marlene politely asked as she and Lucas stepped into the establishment.
Ellie’s face twisted into a strange expression. “Yes and no”, she answered. “I didn’t find the exact room where they’re staying but the fifth floor was packed with police officers.”
“Then they must be there.” Lucas finished the explanation for her. “What about that doctor?”
“Do you think I even know how he looks like?” Ellie snapped back.
They closed the back door behind them while talking in a fairly loud whisper as they walked down the quiet hall. A shuffle of feet caught Lucas’ and Ellie’ trained ears and Ellie, in turn, stopped Marlene from advancing. Meanwhile Lucas’ hand unconsciously moved over his gun around his waist. The footsteps grew closer. All three steadied themselves.
“What’s all this noise? Who’s there?” A gruff male voice asked as he turned the corner.
Immediately identifying the clothes – as they jutted out of the wall – as the one the police wore, Lucas pulled his gun out. The man, a police officer in his late fifties, froze at the sight of a gun pointed at him. He quickly stepped back in hopes of hiding behind the wall he came out of but Lucas was quicker. The gunshot reverberated in these narrow hallways making Lucas flinch at his own stupid action. The police officer leaned against the western wall and slid down leaving a blood trail on these white hospital walls. Lucas clicked his tongue and looked back at the two women behind him.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here” he growled. With that said, they all made a run for the emergency staircases.
The elevators were out of the question now.
They ran passed several doors, commotion brewing behind every one of them. Marlene quickly ran out of breath and started lagging behind. The door suddenly flew open on the next floor. Police officers poured in at the sight of the familiar intruders, their pictures on their wanted posters. Lucas and Ellie stopped dead in their tracks and Marlene staggered behind. Ellie moved quickly, punching and kicking through the first few officers while Lucas ran down and picked up Marlene. He swung – practically threw – her onto the upper flight of stairs where Ellie eased her landing. Lucas followed suit as he climbed on top of the railing, his feet slipping down on the smooth surface, and jumped over the upper railing.
All three kept running with the officers on their tail. Above their head, on the next floor – their destination – the police were there waiting. Lucas brought up his gun. There were too many and too little time what with the other officers approaching them from behind. Lucas shot a handful of them. Some of them fell while others bore the wound. Nonetheless, Lucas kept firing and kicking the wounded aside as they made their way through the human barricade. Thanks to Lucas’ effort, Ellie and Marlene ran passed the coagulation of police officers and onto the fifth floor hallway. Marlene ran ahead of Ellie frantically looking at the nameplates and ignoring the bumps she felt from the evacuating crowd. Lucas on the other hand, took care of distracting the police officers not getting a single chance at questioning the fleeing doctors.
While his mind was elsewhere, an officer took his chance and shot at Lucas. The bullet struck his gun and the explosion stung his hand releasing his grip over his weapon. The silver gun fell to the ground and was kicked out of his reach.
“Tsk!”
Lucas kicked up his leg pushing away the opponent in front of him and grabbing the gun he’d his underneath his jeans. Several round were shot and several officers fell before his gun clogged up. Lucas at the weapon in his hand, aghast as he pulled the trigger several times. Nothing…I could run and get the gun I dropped earlier but…His eyes flew to the approaching police force. All held guns pointed straight at him.
“Thank you for the hard work officers.” spoke a voice of his past.
“Don’t mention it.”
“By the way, I hope ‘that’ matter went well?”
“No worries. We made sure the reports say that the fire was caused by an ‘accident’ in the lab. And not an arson.”
“Good.”
“…Fuck!” Lucas cursed under his breath before he turned tail and ran. He quickly hid himself in one of the patient room after leading them to a hallway with another emergency staircase. He moved away from the door and watched as they walked passed. When they finally left, he finally relaxed but only for a second. It was only after he had relaxed that he realized someone else was in this room. All the veins in his body tensed. Not only did this person not speak, that person didn’t scream either. And it was pretty obvious that Lucas was carrying a gun. Lucas tightened his grip over his weapon. Sure, he couldn’t fire but he could still throw it. He steeled himself and turned to look at his opponent. At that instant, all the tension in his body disappeared. He breathed out an exasperated sigh and swept back his sweat-covered hair. He walked up to those two inexpressive eyes that simply stared at him and sat next to them on the hospital bed.
Lucas let out a sigh. “Don’t scare me like that Khrys.”
Her head moved sideways to stare at Lucas’ profile.
“So, I’m guessing you came for that leg of yours.” She nodded.
Lucas let his body fall on top of the bed and released his gun beside him. He sighed. “This stupid gun is jammed and I fucking lost the other one. Fuck!” He cursed not minding one bit how he had lied to Khrys’ father moments ago. Although the thought did come to mind but a quick scan of the room told him that the big man wasn’t in here right now.
Lucas stared off into space and contemplated his options. Soon, he heard soft clatters of metal just beneath his ears. He kicked himself up and saw, sprawled over the white bedsheets, pieces of – what formerly was – his gun. The dud fell out on the sheet as well. Khrys took out an unopened toothbrush from the drawer beside the bed, kept for those overnight patients, and thoroughly cleaned the gun. She then reassembled the gun back together as fast as she took it apart. She fired an empty round to check if everything was fine before handing it back to its owner. Lucas looked at the gun in his hand. He himself fired an empty round before whistling.
“That’s a gun shop owner’s daughter for you.” he teased with a hint of awe in his voice. Lucas loaded the gun all while ignoring Khrys’ gaze. He knew she had something to say but he didn’t want to it.
Not now.
Still ignoring her, Lucas stood up and forced a grin. “Well, I’m off.” Khrys quickly grabbed the hem of his shirt. That mere touch was enough to stop Lucas’ movement. “Let go.” His voice no longer contained any fake cheerfulness. “I have to do this!” He growled barely containing his rage. Khrys still didn’t let go and Lucas made no effort to shake her off.
“…”
Lucas’ face contorted into one of self-pity as he slumped back on top of the bed. “Heh” he snorted as he stared down at his shaking hands. “I thought I could do this but, I’m not acting like myself at all.” Lucas bit down at his lower lips in an effort to control his fear. Suddenly, arms wrapped around his head as he leaned into something yet small. Loss of voice and under development due to shock. Lucas remembered. “It’s all right.” Khrys whispered in a scratchy voice. Lucas breathed in the soft and soothing smell with that of metal and gunpowder emitting from her. He listened to her scratchy voice, so imperfect that it was just what he needed.
Lucas sighed a “thanks” and Khrys let him out of her embrace. Lucas got up again and left, this time without a word but with renewed courage.
–
Back in the hallway, the place that was previously crawling with officers was now practically empty. Lucas walked through those empty hallways, the sound of his steps echoing about. He searched for any remaining nurses, doctors or anyone that could prove to be the slightest bit useful. But before he found anyone like that, he bumped into a patient’s bed or rather, the bed bumped bumped into him. Standing behind the bed, steering two beds at once, was Ellie. Lucas looked back down on to the moving furniture and saw a gentleman in his late forties lying there, asleep. Another bed lied behind her with a woman on top this time and, seconds later, Marlene comes running behind Ellie while pushing a support and another hospital bed with a child. Her eyes flew from Ellie’s back to where Lucas was.
“Oh, Lucas!”
“Looks like you’ve found them.” He nonchalantly answered.
“Yes, it was easy to get them out after the police emptied the place.” Marlene said.
“Although the room they stayed in was heavily guarded” added Ellie to Marlene’s confession. “Now we just have to get them out of here.”
“That won’t be that easy.” Both women stared at Lucas wondering what he was talking about. They had finally relaxed now that the security was so low but neither of them thought of the real cause for this situation. “If there’s no security inside then that means that they’re waiting outside.”
“…you mean that they’ve got this place surrounded.” The relaxed atmosphere vanished and tension appeared once more.
“What do we do?” Marlene pleaded. Tears filled her eyes as she went on. “And even if we do get out, my family…how am I supposed to have saved them when they’re like this!” She pointed at the comatose patients.
Lucas flipped out his butterfly knife and stabbed it into one of the bags the support held. Marlene shrieked as liquid dripped out of the pierced bag. She stormed over to where Lucas stood, ready to pick a fight but he simply licked up a bit of the dripping fluid and tasted it.
“It’s sedative.” He said and went on to unhook the fake patients from this misused drug. While doing so, he caught sight of some fleeing doctors accompanied by a handful of officers acting as their guard. Suddenly, his hands stopped. His eye widened. He was no longer watching them from the corner of his eye but faced their fleeting selves head on. There. In that distant, although aged and wrinkled compared to the man in his memories fled the very man that was his last doctor. Lucas immediately knew right away that that man was Herman.
Anger seeped in his vein as he gritted his teeth. Lucas was about to leave everything behind and chase after him but, “Lucas?” Ellie called out snapping him back to the reality of the situation.
Lucas sighed. “Why didn’t you bring your guns?” Lucas asked with an exasperated stare trying to distract himself.
Ellie fumed with anger at his remark. “If I did, I’d get stopped before I entered the god damn building!”
Lucas sighed again.
“Both of you find something else to wear. Disguise yourselves as doctors, nurses or officers. After that take the elevator down to the first floor and head out the main entrance.”
“But they will notice us.” Marlene pointed out as she clung to the three hospital beds.
“With the beds, the staircases are out of the question. And in this commotion, I doubt that anyone’ll give a fuck. Worst case scenario, Ellie’s there…you WILL be able to handle it, won’t you?” He sarcastically added.
“What!?” Ellie fumed. “Of course I will, who do you think I am!”
“…if you say so…” Marlene was still unsure with the idea but decided to follow it anyways since they didn’t have any better options at the moment. “Um…Lucas…”
“What now?” He was starting to get impatient. He couldn’t walk or run fast with his wounded leg and if he didn’t hurry up, he’d definitely lose sight of him.
“….thank you and…sorry…for taking it out of on you…”
Lucas didn’t say anything. And, with all that decided, he turned to leave them but he was immediately stopped, again, by Marlene.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“…I’ve got things to take care of on my end.” Lucas simply answered and kept walking away. Marlene and Ellie wanted to say something else but held back when they caught a glimpse of the same bone-chilling anger they saw back at Marlene’s place. They froze in fear and, before they could stop him, he left.
–
Almost an hour passed, or that’s what it felt like, since her father left for the bathroom. Khrys quietly and patiently sat on the white sheet, now wrinkled thanks to her and Lucas. She stared at the wrinkles beside her and traced them to form Lucas’ profile.
Someone knocked on the door. Khrys turned her gaze in that direction as the door opened.
“Hello, miss Khrys, right?” A young policewoman appeared through the door with a wheelchair int tow. “As you know, there’s a state of emergency. All patients and their family are to be evacuated. We’ve already evacuated your father.” Khrys nodded, showing that she understood and the policewoman approached her with the wheelchair. Khrys reached out for her crutches that were leaning on to the bed and walked her self to her new seat. The woman took away her crutches from her hand and pushed her out of the patients room. The woman fast-walked through the long corridors but remained vigilant in case the assailant appeared. She kept walking, pushing Khrys from behind until footsteps echoed towards their direction. She stopped the wheelchair and prepared her handgun only to find that her opponents were just some of the other patients of this floor. They were all surprised and scared when the state of emergency had ran and soon after, the sound of fighting took place behind their respective doors. When things had quieted down a bit, some of the braver ones dared to go look for answers. And here they are.
The policewoman put the safety back on her weapon and stored it away. She then left Khrys’ side to explain the situation. While doing so, something caught Khrys’ eyes. A metallic object shone against the bright hospital lights. She looked at the police officer. It seemed like she’d be taking some time. Khrys put her hands on the wheels and awkwardly maneuvered herself to the object. The shining object revealed itself to be a gun, the same type Lucas uses. The same one her father had given the young man earlier this day. She thought back to what Lucas had said minutes ago. The policewoman was still busy talking but it seemed like she was almost done. Some of her fellow companions had joined her as well. Soon, she was on her way to Khrys’ location. Khrys quickly leaned in and swooped up the gun, hiding it behind her, between her back the leather of the wheelchair.
–
Lucas kept following this doctor Herman down the emergency stairs and through the corridors of the first floor. Somewhere along the way, Herman separated himself from the other doctors and met up with some more police officers acting as guard. Lucas instinctively knew that they were bribed by this man and that deepened the fact that he’s the man Lucas is looking for.
Lucas followed them all the way to the back door, the one he and Marlene came through. Lucas tried to catch up to them before he could escape but, when he started this chase, they were already far ahead and it wasn’t easy for Lucas with his leg. Herman stepped through the door and Lucas was just a few steps behind.
“Don’t move.” Lucas spoke with a bone-chilling menace. He had his gun pointed in the doctor’s direction. The handful of policemen accompanying him pointed their guns at Lucas along with the policemen guarding the back door. Lucas took a second to glance over the crowd before returning his glare to Herman.
Lucas was surrounded and outnumbered.
Herman turned around and faced the bandaged man in front of him. He took in the worn bandages over his opponents left eye and his winter white hair and he immediately knew who the other was.
“Well, if it isn’t little Lucas Monroe.” Herman smiled deepening the wrinkles on his face. He knew that he had the power of number on his side and that there was no way he’d lose with this crowd. “Quite a surprise that YOU’RE the assailant. But then again, you save me the trouble of hunting you down.”
Lucas gritted his teeth, tightened his grip over his gun reopening his wound at the same time, and glared at his opponent; the murderer of his parents; the start of all his troubles.
–
Khrys was sitting in her wheelchair with her father beside her. They were both standing outside and watched the police fuss over the three of the richest patients and the assailants that brought them out. Among them, Khrys spotted Ellie who looked misplace in a doctor’s gown with her rough demeanor. Although she was surrounded, the mere fact that it was her out there didn’t cause Khrys to worry. Not only that, the presence of civilians made it impossible for the policemen to take out their firearms. Lucas on the other hand, was a different matter. It’s been a while since she saw him last and there hasn’t been any sign of him since.
“I spotted ye doc, Khrys. Imma go talk to ‘im. Ya stay ‘ere, ‘kay?” Alex ordered before heading off. He wasn’t too far away from where she was but he had his back to her. Khrys decided to take this opportunity. She put her hand – scratched here and there from her first attempt – over the wheel and moved herself around the hospital. With some difficulty Khrys was slowly able to make herself go around to the back of the hospital. There she saw another group of policemen and, in the middle of the crowd, a tiff of white hair.
“Hey, what are you doing here!?” yelled one of the policemen. Several others nearby turned their attention to her. A break in the crowd appeared and the man standing in the center turned his attention her way as well. Their eyes met. She saw surprise in his eye followed by a troubled expression. No one else noticed for they all had their attention towards her.
“…let her go. She’s got nothing to do with this.” Lucas spoke softly trying to hide the threat in his voice; trying not to reveal that he cared.
Herman looked back at Lucas. He stared at him, examined him while the other glared at the doctor. “Let her go?” The doctor questionned sarcastically. “Why? You know her?”
“N-” Lucas glanced back at her, at her expressionless eyes. He gulped once, forced the threat down, “like I said, she’d got nothing to do with this” to no avail.
“Mm-hmm.” Herman turned around and spoke to the officer nearest Khrys. “You there! Bring her over here.” The officer did as he was told. Khrys bruised her hands even further in the attempt to stop the turning wheels but she was in front of that doctor before she could succeed. He borrowed the gun of the officer and pointed it to her head. Lucas clicked his tongue. The rest of the policemen surrounded Herman, Khrys and Lucas in order to hide them from the public. “Let’s make a deal, sign this little piece of paper back at my office and I’ll let her go.”
Damn it! Lucas snarled at him. He cursed himself for not ending this earlier, for letting his fear hold him back. Just then, a gunfire was heard. Herman crouched over his bleeding leg screaming at the top of his lung and, just beside, holding the gun Lucas had lost was Khrys.
Everyone stood frozen trying to make left and right of the situation.
“Lucas.” Khrys spoke, barely audible over Herman’s scream of pain. But Lucas heard it. He snapped back to reality faster than the rest. He ran up to where Khrys was and pushed her behind him. Khrys quickly handed him the gun before the momentum of the push brought her – and the wheelchair – out of his reach. Now handling two guns, he shot with one hand and reloaded with another. The recoil still caused pain in his wounded arm, but he ignored it.
Lucas got quite a few new wounds from the shoot out; some scratches, some bullet wounds, some torn clothing. But he quickly did away with the police whether by killing them or seriously wounding them. They were much less experienced than anyone back at their neighborhood and much more easier to handle. Looking back, Lucas didn’t know what he was so afraid of.
“Argh!” Herman grunted in pain obviously not used to experiencing pain. Lucas walked up to his crouched body. “W-wait! S-stay back!” He stuttered in fear. He had nothing left to protect him. In fear, he raised the gun he had taken from the officer but Lucas fired it away. Tears formed on the doctor’s panic-stricken face. “P-please! Don’t kill me!”
Lucas looked mercilessly down on him. A doctor, seeking fame and fortune, went as far as murdering Lucas’ parents.
“Goodbye doctor Herman.”
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