WATCH HER DIE (Shifter Series Book 2)

CHAPTER NINE: GOODBYE OLD FRIEND

“T-Murek had also targeted Natasha’s dad,” Derik pointed out, looking over an unmarked photograph of William that hung on the wall. “But why?”

“Warn him of the danger he’s in.”

Derik took out his phone to capture the photograph of William on the wall, then made a video recording of every photograph in the room.

Another photograph caught Kevin’s eyes. His stomach knotted with dread when he saw it was a picture of himself. It was placed alongside Natasha’s. Both were unmarked. He took down his photograph from its frame and stared with confused eyes. He tried to recall when he had taken this picture—eyes widened when it finally hit him.

A week ago.

Back there in principal Mac Georgery’s office, when he’d signed the enrolment form, his photograph had been taken and stored in the school register. He felt a shiver race down his spine when he realised this was the exact photograph that had been taken back then.

But how did T-Murek manage to get his hands on it? he wondered, but kept his suspicions to himself.

He noticed something written on the back of the photograph. Turning to look behind, his eyes widened at the text written in bold letters. It wasn’t an address, as he’d expected, but a date—his birthday.

April 26th.

A cold shiver ran down his spine. Kevin tried to cover the fear coursing through him as he stared at the date. With shaky fingers, he folded the picture and slid it into his pocket.

Derik took down Natasha’s photograph from its frame and turned it over. There was a similar text written behind—April 26th. His lashes fluttered. “You know what this means, right?”

He nodded and trembled at the thought of being tortured along with Natasha on his birthday.

“There are so many unmarked photographs in this room. We don’t know who T-Murek might target next,” Derik said thoughtfully, glancing around. “Natasha could be next. Who knows?”

“Shh….” Kevin said, trying to get him to be quiet. “Do you hear that?” he whispered.

“Hear what?” he asked—his voice almost like a whisper.

“Just listen,” he snapped.

The room was left in sheer silence after they kept mute. Then they heard a faint continuous beeping penetrating the silent air. Kevin's face contorted into a frown as he listened, glancing around to find where the beeping was coming from. “What the hell is that beeping?”

Just then, Derik was hit by a realization. “It’s a bomb!” he thundered.

His eyes widened when he saw the bomb that’d been wired to the door. It blinked red—an indication that it was active. “Quick! Get out now!” he yelled and hurried back into the lounge where they came in through.

Reaching the door, they jumped out of the building. Almost immediately, the house blew up in a loud outburst of flame behind them. The explosion threw them with an impelling force to the ground, leaving severe burns on their backs.

Taking a moment to express their pain, they slowly transformed. Hair sprouted from their skin, covering the burns momentarily, then it vanished. The burns on their bodies were completely healed after they became human again.

Derik turned to stare at Kevin after he transformed back, then at the building as it went up in flame. He marvelled at how they had narrowly escaped death. “We must have triggered the bomb when we opened the door,” he surmised.

“T-Murek almost had us both.” Kevin still couldn’t believe their luck. “We can’t beat him on our own. We need help.”

###

“I told you already, an unknown individual hijacked the information on our computer. Some of the student’s bio data were erased from our records because of this unfortunate incident,” Mac Georgery retorted. “We’ve lost a great deal of data this week.”

Kevin, engaged in a heated argument with Principal Mac Georgery, perceived lies from what he said. “Bullshit!” he sassed. “That doesn’t explain how my photograph ended up in the hands of a dangerous killer.”

Mac Georgery narrowed his eyes at him. “Young man, you better watch your tongue.”

Kevin slammed the photograph on the table before him. “This is the photograph that was captured on your student’s database the day I was enrolled,” he snarled, sliding the photograph towards him. “I found this in the hands of a man who wants me dead. How do you explain something like that?”

He wasn’t sure he understood clearly what Kevin was talking about. “Whoever hijacked our computers could have done it. It could be anyone.”

Kevin leaned forward. “Or maybe you handed it to him?” he muttered. There was a note of barely subdued anger in his voice.

Mac Georgery slammed the table. “I won’t hear any more of this nonsense. Get out of my sight before I call security!” he roared, his eyes bored into him.

Kevin abruptly picked up the photograph from his desk and turned to leave.

“The moment you walk out that door, don’t even bother coming back to this institution, Mr Logan,” Mac Georgery thundered.

Kevin stood at the door, momentarily gazing at the handle. Then, opening the door, he walked out briskly, slamming the door behind. A picture frame fell from the door and scattered to pieces as it hit the floor.

###

It was getting dark. Landry went about his routine. He finished arranging the house before moving on to the kitchen to prepare dinner for two—himself and Kevin.

He felt exhausted after so many strenuous chores. He hadn’t had time for himself all day. A day ago, he was living alone in his new apartment until Kevin moved in to stay with him after being threatened by Cedric.

Several months ago, after Kevin had watched as T-Murek tortured Loretta to death, Cedric just happened to show up in their lives. The first time they set eyes on him was at Loretta’s burial.

Kevin’s PTSD had further been agitated after witnessing Loretta being lowered into the earth, and this left him in considerable shock for several weeks. Weeks after the burial, Kevin started deteriorating. He would sit for hours staring at the wall, not talking to anyone. He would sometimes starve himself for days. It got to a point that Landry mistook his starvation for an attempt at suicide and was always by his side to make sure that didn’t happen.

The painful memories of Loretta’s torture kept coming back to him. Kevin’s condition worsened every day until Landry finally got him to a therapist—and that’s how they met Cedric.

Cedric counselled him for weeks until he got better. And with time, Kevin was invited to come live with him. Ever since then, Kevin had been staying with Cedric and had been showing significant signs of improvement. Cedric found out about Kevin being a shifter—even before he had asked him to come live with him—yet welcomed him into his home. He had promised not to tell anyone about his secret.

Landry had always wondered why Cedric agreed to let Kevin live in his home, even after he knew what he was. It was only a month after Kevin had stayed with him that Cedric trusted him well enough to reveal that he, too, was also a shifter. Of course, they didn’t believe him until they saw him transform for the first time.

Ever since then, Kevin had been living with him and treating him like the father he never had. It was Cedric’s idea for them to leave Fallout. Said a change of environment would help Kevin move on and forget about what had happened.

A week after they’d moved into Burnout, Kevin found out about Beocraft and Cedric’s affiliation with it. Cedric's behaviour towards him changed. He became colder towards Kevin, and that scared the hell out of him.

Suddenly, Landry heard a thud on the roof, drifting him from his thoughts. He caught a glimpse of a shadow dashing across his window. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he abandoned what he was doing and started towards the window.

Reaching the window, he pushed it open and peered through. Found nothing outside—just harsh wind hallowing in tree branches. The wind blew against the towering oak, threatening to topple it over with every gust. He shut the windows and returned to what he was doing.

It startled Landry when he heard a loud knock on the main door. He turned towards the door, frozen in fear—staring at it suspiciously. He was waiting to hear another knock—any sound at all. It never came.

Landry eyed the phone sitting on the glass table, sweat rolling down the side of his face. The first thought that came to his mind was to call the police, but then he waved it aside. Maybe he was simply overreacting. He walked cautiously towards the door.

“Kevin?” he called as he neared the door. “Is that you?”

There was no reply.

He opened the door, and the icy wind slashed at his face. There was nobody standing outside. No one within miles of his neighbourhood. Just silence. He stepped out into the frosty evening air and walked around to the window where he thought he saw something. Nothing. Then he returned to the front. His hair stood on end when he found the door open. He could have sworn he had closed it.

“Hello?” Landry called out, his eyes glancing around. He was now more cautious than ever, sensing that he was being watched. “Is anybody in there?”

Suddenly, five hooded figures dropped from the roof and surrounded him. They all wore masks with letters of the alphabet marked on them. Landry quivered at the sight of them.

Heart pounding against his ribcage, he turned to run but came nose-to-nose with another masked figure. He stared into its cold eyes, his body trembling. He took a step back and backed into another. Saw that he was completely surrounded.

“Who are you? What do you want?” he inquired in a quivering voice.

Landry turned in circles, looking at their masks bearing calm faces. It wasn’t at all scary, but the way the faces on the mask stared down at him caused his entire body to tremble. The masked figures stood surrounding him, their arms folded behind their backs. They said nothing. They did nothing. They just stood like statues.

“You want money?” He was short of breath as he swivelled about, glancing at each of them. “Please, take it. Just don’t hurt me,” he whined.

For a long second, the masked figures stared. None moved an inch. Suddenly Landry felt a chilly finger move over his wrist, grabbing him tightly. Then another figure came from behind and wrapped its arm around his neck, strangling him.

Landry gurgled as he struggled to break free, but the grip was too strong. Another figure grabbed his arms to restrain him. His eyes were drawn to another masked figure sauntering toward him with a sharp, unsheathed knife that it held in its bony finger. Fear swelled inside him as he watched it draw nearer.

“Please! I am begging you. I’d do anything you want!”

And when the figure had gotten closer, it raised the shiny blade and plunged it into his chest. Gasping, Landry stared into its shallow eyes, through its mask, his knees trembling at the acute pain. He opened his mouth, to beg, to scream, to make any sound at all, but only the slightest breath escaped his trembling lips; his voice had abandoned him.

With the blade in hand, the figure sliced through his chest, tearing his shirt. It drew blood. Landry shrieked as he struggled to break free. But the hooded figures holding his arms apart were just too powerful. There was no use fighting.

His restrained arms were shaking as the knife sliced through his stomach and stopped just below his abdomen. Landry’s eyes were wild as the figure folded its fingers into his chest and pulled out his entrails.

His face froze in an open scream. He tried to scream, but only the slightest breath left his lips. His guts poured out on the ground. Blood dribbled from his mouth. Landry closed his eyes, and his lifeless body fell forward into the arms of the hooded figure. The figure moved away, and Landry hit the ground with a thud. His blood spluttered.

Then they all dispatched, leaving Landry to lie in his pool of blood. Only a masked figure was left standing in front of Landry’s corpse after they all left in different directions. The letter C was marked on his mask a little close to the left eye. The masked figure pulled out a little note and slid it into Landry’s pocket. And then, he walked away.

“Everyone you love dies,” the note read in faint red ink.