The Demon In A Suit

The Man Hiding In The Dark

Gabrielle couldn't move from all the bruises and injuries you got from her way back home, her leg was been cleaned with some vodka after the deep bite marks her little friend gave her in her last fight. Danny was still making some last minutes fixes to his new creation, which with the help of some tubes and a small tank of pressurized gas he was able to shoot nails with this improvised nail gun but his face gave away a sense of worry, he knew this nail gun was dangerous and untested, it may explode on his hands at any given time sending dozens of nails flying everywhere. 

-Stay here with Gabrielle, I'll go get that son of a bitch.- 

-No way, the bastard arrowed me, I'm going with you.-

Said Nicole with angered seeding eyes and taking out her knife from her pocket. 

-And what if he comes to the apartment and finds Gabrielle? She can't move much, he'll kill her for sure.- 

-I'm ok guys, I can defend myself if that guy comes here.- 

Said Gabrielle to both of them holding up her new knife, a souvenir from Uncle Earl. 

-I killed another man in my way here you know?- 

-That's Uncle Earl's knife!- 

Said Nicole with surprise in her tone. 

-No way, you killed his partner, we have been trying to get rid of those assholes for some time now.- 

Said Danny with a smile of relief. 

-Wait... you know this guys?- 

-Yeah, we used to trade stuff with them, when we didn't have water, lighter fluid or food we asked trade with them for something they needed until one day they tried to kill us for some cans of food.- 

Nicole explained to Gabrielle. 

-Those dudes have something wrong in their heads, their eyes and the stare they give you when talking with them, is like they're thinking of the fastest way to kill you while you stand there still.- 

-And you just killed one of those three f***s, congrats girl.- 

-Three? So there's two more man in the building?- 

-No, not two man, one man and a bitch.- 

Said Nicole looking at Danny. 

-Yeah if Jerry is here then fuckin Ann is here too.- 

Danny mumbled and think about it. 

-It's payback time Danny.-

-Knowing her she'll be hiding and waiting to ambush us.- 

-Who cares? I'll kick her ass for stealing our stuff.- 

Both Nicole and Danny argued for a moment about if it was rather a good idea to go looking for Ann or not, Danny said it was too dangerous while Jerry was out there aiming with a bow at their heads. 

-Ok so we take out Jerry first, then we go look for Ann.- 

-But that's the thing, what if we walk into Ann first, it's too dangerous, we need a plan.- 

An so they thought about for a moment while Gabrielle tended to the rest of her wounds, then a voice came flying to her head along with words that were almost like a whisper. 

-A good dancer always knows how to improvise.- 

Said Gabrielle almost in a trance. 

-What?- 

Asked Danny in confusion.

-Well, they expected you to be two people armed with iron pipes and knifes right? so they don't know we're actually three people and one of us has a gun, let's use that to our favor.- 

-What are you suggesting?- 

Asked Danny slightly intrigued. 

-Well, I can't walk too much and I can barely take someone on a fight...- 

Gabrielle paused for a moment realizing that what she was a bout to say might be really dangerous, but with the adrenaline from all this mess she quickly gets back on track. 

-So, that makes me the perfect bait for them.- 

Nicole and Danny looked at each other for a second and shared a surprised look. 

-And if I'm in a place where this Jerry guy can't shoot me an arrow that easy, wouldn't that make him come close to me to finish me off himself?- 

-No, that's not gonna work. Maybe Uncle Earl would fall for that, but Jerry is different, he's actually pretty smart, I've seen him ambush Whispers and Screamers on the streets. He would never get close. He would rather lure you out and kill you from a safe distance.- 

Said Danny while looking at Gabrielle. 

-It was a good plan though- 

-Oh but maybe I can make him get close.- 

Said Gabrielle with a smirk. 

-How?- 

-With this.- 

Gabrielle showed Uncle Earl's knife to the pair with a sinister smile. 

-You said he traveled with the old guy who had me tied up right? Well if he sees that I have his knife maybe I'll even try to get close to get me to tell him how I got it.- 

Danny stopped for a moment with a really serious expression and walked a bit in circles thinking, then turned to Gabrielle and Nicole and gave them both a big smile.

-Tell me the rest of your plan.-

Moments passed and silence filled the apartment building, there was no sound to be heard. From the shadows the silhouette of a man walked in silence hiding in the darkness of the building, searching for movement or any sound, the man was filled with scars in his hands and arms, some where small and some other where quiet big. The man walked the third floor and didn't find what he was looking for since most of the apartments were completely empty or filled only with dirty and rotten furniture. 

He was sweating bit his grip on the bow was as firm as it could be and ready as only an experienced hunting veteran could hold. In the forth floor it got interesting for the silence was broken by the sound so messy running from not too far away. Then that sound turned into someone smashing something made out of metal and with this Jerry was on his way to take care of this new target he just found. 

The sound came from inside an apartment with a closed door which he silently opened pulling a small tread without him knowing. This little tread moved a bunch of empty cans announcing his presence to whoever was inside. Jerry opened the door and aimed inside, using a flashlight in the base of his bow to illuminate the room but there was nothing. Then he heard more running to the back and he followed taking cover every time he could. 

-Get back! I have a knife!- 

The voice of Gabrielle was heard from the back of the room. 

-It's ok missy, just throw it to the ground and walk into the light, I don't wanna hurt you.- 

He's voice sounded honest, the man was so good at lying like that it made Gabrielle fell sick thinking of all the people he probably said the same thing before betraying and killing them without reason. 

-Ok... I'll do it, just don't hurt me.- 

A knife was thrown out from the dark. It was covered in blood but even so it was familiar. 

-Uh... where...- 

Jerry was shocked to see the knife because he knew it was from Uncle Earl. After all he always used it for everything, it was always of out his pocket playing with it. He breathed for a moment but he just couldn't hold it. 

-Where did you find that?!- 

He screamed at the darkness of the room. 

-Please sir, don't hurt me.-

Gabrielle said in a terrified voice.

-b***h you better tell me where you got that f*****g knife.- 

Said Jerry with a nervous laugh. 

-My dad gave it to me.- 

-Stop f*****g lying to me b***h!- 

Jerry walked forward to the room, checking every corner with his bow and arrow ready to be shoot but he only found a dirty bed frame, a broken TV and a closed. He looked under the bed and behind the TV, then he got to the closed and stopped. He listened and heard someone breathing heavily inside. He quickly putted away the bow and got a big knife out of his belt. 

-Now listed up you little w***e, get out of the f*****g closed with your hands up or I swear to god, I'll cut you open from your neck to your pussy.- 

There where sounds of movement from inside the closed but no one came out of it. 

-Ok so you like it rough b***h, I'll show you how we do it on Texas.- 

Jerry opened the door to a closed full of dirty cloths. He quickly put the racks aside and found nothing but a small hole with what looked like a metal pipe coming out of it. 

-The f**k?- 

-Merry Christmas bitch.- 

Said Danny while firing his improvised gun at the man. The found if compressed air been released filled the room for a moment and then came the screams. There was specs blood all over the floor as a badly injured Jerry fell down on his butt, his stomach covered in nails that were deep inside his skin. The man started screaming and crawling around leaving a trail of blood behind as he started to cry in pain. 

From behind the closet came out Gabrielle and Danny slowly walking towards him. 

-You.. f..fuckin..- 

Mumbled Jerry while crying and screaming, Gabrielle rushed to kick the knife out of his hand taking it with her and proceeded to take the bow and arrows away. Jerry tried to grab her arms and that's when Danny put his boot in Jerry's abdomen where all the nails were showing and pressed down on him. Jerry screamed in agony and let go of Gabrielle allowing her to take away the bow and arrow. 

-Nice to see you dropped by Jerry, how's the family?- 

Jerry said while pressing down on Jerry's abdomen. 

-AAAGGH f**k YOU QUEER BOY!- 

Screamed Jerry back at Danny with anger seeding on his eyes.

-Now that wasn't really polite from you uh? Man you guys need to learn how to talk with people.- 

Danny proceeded to kick Jerry on his head knocking him out. 

-I though he would never shut up, some people just love to be the center of attention.- 

Gabrielle looked at Danny in a really serious way, her eyes told everything.

-What? Too much?- 

-Yeah.- 

-Ok my bad, I'll get back to be a serious badass.- 

-Sometimes I wonder if you even can.- 

Said Gabrielle while smiling after leaving out a little laugh.

From the door came Nicole with a hammer and a empty can walking to look at the scene. She smiled when she gaze upon Jerry's unconscious and filled with nails body and gave him the finger as she got close. 

-Ok now what?- 

Said Nicole with a really deep smile on her face. 

-Now we go find Ann.- 

After taking Jerry's belt and getting him tied up with some rope that Nicole had with her also covering his eyes and mouth, the gang went out to search for the girl, they were all together and looking at every possible angle. 

-Can you use one of this?- 

Danny asked Gabrielle with Jerry's bow on his hand. 

-No I don't, I had never...- 

-Well you better learn quick.- 

Danny said shoving the bow, arrows and belt up to Gabrielle. 

-Just put the arrow on the bow, pull the string and let go. Easy enough uh?- 

Said Nicole while mocking Gabrielle. 

-Oh yeah? Then why don't you do it if it's so easy?

Gabrielle asked Nicole who just pointed at the blood and wound in her shoulder. 

-Oh... right.-

They all walked back to the first floor as stealthy as they could for there was no telling where Ann could be hiding and apparently according to Danny and Nicole she was really good at it. On the way Gabrielle heard a sound coming from behind them. She turned around and was greeted by a hand in her mouth and a knife in her neck. 

-Don't scream, I'll cut you if you do- 

Said a blond girl with a long and dirty hair. 

Gabrielle stopped and did as the girl said leaving her new friends walk away without her. 

-Good, now who are you? The new girl toy from the rug muncher? or maybe the fag finally got straight hehe. 

The girl said while running her blade against Gabrielle's neck and chest. 

-Tell you what, it doesn't matter, I have a couple friends who'll love to meet you, they can get rough sometimes, hell if I know, but nothing you can't get use to, they'll put you in a nice cage until you get in line and throw some steaks at you if your a good doggy. 

-You mean Uncle Earl and Jerry? Sorry to tell you girl, but you boyfriends are dead, we killed them both.- 

Said Gabrielle while sweating heavily. 

-b***h those guys are pros at surviving, nothing a bunch of f*****g camping kids could take on.- 

-Oh yeah? Then how do you explain this?- 

Gabrielle lifted the bottom of her shirt showing Jerry's tactical belt. 

-Also do you recognize this bow?- 

Said Gabrielle with a smile. 

-No way!- 

Gabrielle used the Ann's reaction to hit her with the back of her hand right into Ann's nose cracking it and causing Ann to scream in pain. With this opportunity Gabrielle turned around and punched Ann in the face knocking her out. After punching the girl Gabrielle started screaming in silence and holding her punching hand in pain. 

-I think I punched her too hard.- 

The girl ran to meet their friends who where already half way across the floor above. She told them about the blond girl, how she tried to take her to Jerry and Uncle Earl and how she punched her in the face. The three of them went to the floor above to check on Ann but found nothing, just some drops of blood in the floor. Gabrielle told them it was probably from Ann's nose since she might had broke her, the three of them just laugh at the idea. The small specs of blood guide them to a window and outside there was Ann running away from the building. 

-Wanna practice with that bow?- 

Said Danny with a smile and looking at Gabrielle. 

-Mmmh... no I think she got enough for today.-

-You sure? She did tried to kill you after all.- 

Said Nicole a bit surprised for Gabrielle's decision.-

-Yeah it's ok, she can come back and try again anytime if she wants, I'll be ready for it. 

Said Gabrielle in a calm tone looking at Ann running away while occasionally turning back at them.

-Ok Gabs we get it. You're a badass. Now let's go fix you up, you can barely stand.-

Danny said sarcastically. 

-Yeah I think I do need to sit for a bit.- 

The three of them went back to their apartment and closed the door. They Nicole helped Gabrielle into new cloths and also attended to her wounds while also attending to her own while Danny went out to get Jerry before something else got to him.

-Is it bad?- 

Asked Gabrielle when she saw Nicole's shoulder more closely. 

-Nah it's just a scratch, don't worry about it.-

When Danny got back with the body of Jerry he was panting and sweating. 

-This guys is heavy! What are we gonna do with him?- 

-Throw him to the Whispers?- 

Said Nicole with an evil grin.

-I mean, he's loosing a lot of blood, we could just leave him like that and he'll die on his own.- 

Said Danny while getting the veil and gag out of his mouth. 

-I don't think we could even help the bastard if we wanted, those wounds are pretty much "I'm f*****g dead" wounds.-

Nicole stated while walking away in a careless fashion. 

-Well let's just take the nails back and leave him deflate on his own, then we can just throw him down a window or something.-

Yeah that's a good idea.- 

Said Gabrielle to Danny.

And so they did it, they took away the nails and left the man to bleed out. In all the ordeal there was a small voice in Gabrielle's head, but this time it wasn't an invasive voice, it was a voice of her own asking if this was really the correct thing to do. She started asking herself that question. Letting a man bleed to dead and then throwing him out the window like he was nothing but a bag of trash. Would that make me like him? She continue thinking until eventually she found herself helping Nicole and Danny to carry the body to a window far away. 

-Guys I've been thinking... are we doing the correct thing here?- 

-What do you mean?- 

Asked her Nicole while using her strength to carry the old man. 

-I mean, we're just throwing the body of a man after letting him bleed to dead.-

-And?- 

Said Danny. 

-And does that make us as bad as this man?- 

-He tried to kill us Gabrielle, what are you talking about?-

Nicole stated annoyed.

-I know, but we left him die slowly and painfully and then throw him out like a bad of trash.- 

-Well he was trash.- 

Said Danny joking about the dead man. 

-I don't know guys it's just... I feel like we're going down the same path this guys did and we don't realize it.- 

-Your over thinking things Gabrielle. You probably need to sleep.- 

Nicole said not giving too much importance to the words of Gabrielle.

-Just think about it, it's like... I just killed a man today for the first time and now I don't even feel guilty about it, why don't I feel guilty I took a person's life? 

-Because you realize this guy over here and the guy you killed are not people, they're f*****g sickos who need to be put down.- 

-No, let her take it out of her chest Nick.- 

Said Danny in a calm way. 

-I know what you're going through right now Gabs and you're right, this place kind of takes your mind away of the fact your doing things you usually do, but you need to remember, we do this thing to survive. It was a matter of kill to live or don't and die and there's nothing wrong in choosing defend your life, even if it means to take the life of someone who's tying to harm you. It's hard and it's weird and yes, this place definitely has something to do with it, but you need to be strong. You can't doubt any of your actions or you may cause the dead of someone you care about. 

Gabrielle listened in silence while Danny told her all of this while Nicole remained silent the whole time. After he finished there was silence from all three until they got the the window they were looking for. Danny put the body of the now bootless man in the edge of the window in a siting position. 

-You're right... We're gonna do some terrible stuff for survival. but this doesn't mean that we have to be like them.-

Gabrielle got close to the body of the man, his eyes open and dry blood all over his shirt, she closed his eyes with her and and put her hands together in a praying position offering a small prayer asking for the rest of that man. This awoke something in Danny, maybe it was just empathy for the man because for quiet some time he stopped thinking of that body as a man. 

-Do what you want, just make it quick.- 

Danny said while walking away. 

After the prayer was said Gabrielle touched Jerry's forehead and pushed ever so gently. 

-I hope you find peace.- 

And that body fell to the floor in a big crash attracting all sort of creatures. Gabrielle didn't look but the sounds they made when doing what they do made it clear. 

-Hope you're happy, now let's go back to rest a bit girl.

Said Nicole in a playful tone. 

As they walked back to their apartment Gabrielle started feeling an intense pain in her body as the adrenaline she got flowing on her body started disappearing. She felt her head spinning and saw everything back for a moment. 

-Hey, are you ok?

The voice of Nicole echo in her head before loosing track of all things. She quickly found herself in a dream, but this was no dream about a dance hall, not at all. This was her small house where she and her mother lived. There was light coming out of the windows as a really bright and sunny day was greeting everyone outside. 

-How did I get back?- 

Gabrielle was walking in the living room when she heard coughing coming from her mother's room. 

-Mom?!- 

Gabrielle ran to the room but the floor seem like it grew longer and longer as she ran it keeping the door away from her reach. 

-Gabrielle?! Is that you?!- 

The voice of Gabrielle's mother came from her room as she ran and open the door but she only saw her for a second before a force pulled out of there like a vacuum pulling her back into her place. 

She woke up under some dirty sheets alone on a mattress with a note beside her. It said "We need to get more food and some medicine, if you wake up please don't move, we'll be back soon." in a small piece of paper. The girl tried to get up but couldn't do it, the pain from her wounds kicked in and she found herself in a real problem for she was unable to move at all. There was nothing to do but wait for her friends to be back, hopefully alive and well but she knew there was no guarantee of that since there is no safe places in the Other Town.