DRIPPING DARKNESS

Ch-1: Chasing the Nightmare

"Theo... Theo."

Her voice began to sound weaker and paler with every passing second.

He was standing on the bridge under the shadow of an afternoon sunset, his arms crossed and supported by the fences of that bridge, making sure everything works out, making sure everything goes according to the plan.

"Theo!" She raised her right arm, half-drowned in the freezing creek, towards her brother, pleading for help.

"Tara?"

She was right below his eyes, the sister that he shared the same blood with, was sinking and begging for saving her life.

What was he doing here? He didn't know.

He just had to make sure everything works out, but what exactly did he have to do? He wasn't sure of that either.

The sight of his own sister dying in front of his bare eyes was disturbing and intolerable. He had to do something. He had to save her.

His body tried to accept his brain's command but couldn't do so. Theo Raeken was stiffened from head to toe, not able to move a single muscle on his body, watching his own sister drown on the freezing bog. The only voluntary body parts were his lips and eyes.

"Wait! I'm coming." He screamed from his inside.

But he wasn't that fortunate enough to dive into that creek.

How could he? when he couldn't even produce the slenderest force from his limbs. His will said yes, but his body rejected his command.

The resonation of some anonymous identities and their footsteps approaching him from the right side of the bridge terminal alarmed his eyes and senses to turn sideways.

"You never were a perfect experiment. You never will be. You are nothing but a mere annoyance. You don't deserve a life."

He saw three tall inhuman figures get closer with every step they made. They had old ragged red leather jackets on, which were drenched in dry blood, their faces were entirely hidden behind their breathing masks, one of them had a blade clasped on his fingers. They looked pissed off at him for reasons he would never be able to explain.

They were none other than the dread doctors.

"He couldn't even save his own sister. What a coward!"

He was again startled by the voice of some persons. But it wasn't the dread doctors. He heard a lot of voices. This time, the voice was coming from his left. He managed to turn his eyeballs towards the source of the sound, keeping in mind, the fact that the dread doctors were coming for him.

He saw his parents, his schoolmates, more surprisingly he saw Stiles, Scott, and his friends staring at him with absolute disgrace and ignominy. They kept chanting the same thing over and over again "Coward!"

Suddenly, he flinched, as the wooden plates beneath his feet broke out, after two pairs of arms emerged out from it, trying to pull his legs down on the creek. Behind those arms were the vengeful faces of his former beta-chimeras: Josh and Tracy.

"You killed us. Now, we'll kill you."

"NOO!" He screamed at the highest note of his voice, possibly loud enough to rip his own vocal cords to pieces.

He woke up to the shrieking cry of his own voice, gasping for air, to see that he was lying on the back seat, inside his truck.

His heart throbbed exceptionally faster. Fast enough for it to make an attempt to come out from his mouth. The pulse rate was just a few steps back to keep him from shifting. It took a few minutes for him to make his breathing rate go back to normal.

His eyes involuntarily narrowed in response to the penetrating streams of light that invaded him from the windows. Maybe the sight of those colorful, radiant LA streetlights would strike any normal broken person's heart with a little glint of hope, hope that no matter how hard life was, it was still beautiful, no matter how insecure and ignorant one felt, those thin scintillations would still reassure them that they are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars that it owned.

But Theo wasn't that fortunate enough to have that feeling.

Apart from the same gut-wrenching nightmare of his dead sister, former pack of Chimeras, and dread doctors haunting him, not a single ounce of food to feed his empty stomach for the last one week, he still felt like an outcast, he felt like he didn't belong to this world. He was tired of accepting the fact of how quickly things can take a turn and bring changes to one's life.

His car radio spoke out without any permission.

"THIS IS CNN...fellow citizens of America... repeated reports of little children missing from their homes are being found...yes..children are missing...now who should be accounted responsible? the government? the sheriff's department?..or is it the supernatural creatures we have all heard rumors about? America deserves an answer..."

Theo turned it off in a second.

The noise of another car vrooming somewhere near his SUV cautioned him.

He turned left to the sound of a car honking loudly, awaiting his response. It was a black Chevrolet Silverado and on the front passenger seat was a middle-aged, bald-headed muscular guy motioning his hands, instructing him to open his windows.

He seemed to have been in a great-looking suit, it was a tux. He even had a tie on his neck. But what was all of that for? Theo wondered.

Theo tapped on the open button to open his window to unleash the manly voice of that guy.

"Hey... Nice car you got there. Mind helping us out?" the guy started in a convincingly humble tone while itching his shortly pruned beard with the tip of his thumb.

"Yeah, sure," Theo replied hesitantly.

"Can you tell us where the sewer treatment plant is? The underground tunnels? Hope you've heard of them before, boy." His mouth arose to a fake smile.

Theo told them their required answer with all the intimate details necessary for reaching their destination before asking back "But, what for?"

"It's Government duty," he replied in a none-of-your-business tone.

Sometimes, there are things people could see through someone, even if they don't want them to, there are lies that float on their faces, even when they try to hide it. The fact that the man was lying was clearly visible from the unreal confidence that was coming out from his words. The lie was the first hint to him that they had ignoble and cynical intentions.

Rather than that, he was dubious of their so-called govt. duty as his eyes fell on the loaded guns and revolvers stacked on the back seat of the car.

"What are those for?" He pointed his eyes at the back seat of their car, trying not to keep any reaction on his face.

That man's expressions turned sore and serious, as soon as he heard the question. He then, turned his face towards the driver, before he nodded in approval by giving him an invisible answer, or probably advice.

He turned back towards Theo, pretending that he didn't hear the question, and boldly spoke up "Thanks for the help kid, appreciate that."

Within a few seconds their car engine woke up subsequently after he had completed his line, and after that, they had already left the scene before any further melodrama.

Though he hasn't been the closest person to have contact with either Scott and his pack for a while, from the time he took Gabe's pain, Theo could not help himself from doing good things for people.

It wasn't simply because his heart cherished performing the good deeds, rather it was sort of unreasonable for him. Every single time he saw someone in need of help, someone asking for a hand, his mind started getting subconsciously unnegotiable and he would just jump out to assist them for whatsoever reason.

So, Theo did what he had to do; he did what his mind told him to do, he followed the car without any second thoughts.

***