Ethan Cain: Ending Twilight

Chapter 2

Most of the morning was unsuccessful, and Ethan's stomach was protesting continuing the search until he paid attention to it. He grabbed a hotdog and found a place indoors where he could warm his face. He pulled the picture of the girl out from his coat pocket and examined it; studied it. Memories came back to him. Painful as they were, Ethan allowed them to flood his mind. He was searching for her, the girl in the photo.

Then, just as clear as if she was standing in front of him, the girl came walking in a memory. He, with a few others, were walking in a line down a hallway to somewhere and there was another line walking the opposite way. She was in the other line with blood all over her body and around her mouth. Horror was in her eyes but set a dull expression on her face to hide what she was feeling from the angels. If memory served Ethan, her code name, or the name that was just given to her by the other "patients," was the Crimson Hellhound. She earned the nickname too. From the rumors around the Institute, and what Ethan saw, she was always covered in blood.

"How did she escape? Did she escape the same night that I did?" Ethan thought.

Ethan took another look at the picture. The clothes she was wearing; the hoody was a zip-up and didn't fully cover the white gown. No, she had recently escaped, but from where? At this moment, it didn't matter, what did matter was trying to find where this picture was taken.

Speaking of the picture, who took it?

Cain had crawled back out of his box and had a valid point. Who had taken the picture and was the picture from around here or somewhere else? A new perspective came over Ethan as he reevaluated the photo. The girl was looking at whomever had taken it and given the look of shock on her face; she didn't want the photo taken. Did Officer LeMasters notice this? Maybe he did and that's why he 'accidentally' bumped into Ethan this morning. He knew this girl was heading into the homeless population where she could hide very easily and not be found.

Maybe this is why Ethan couldn't find her. He was looking in the wrong spots too. He didn't think to look in homeless areas. The girl could have found a safe spot and had no reason, for the time being, to be afraid. If Ethan was able to come to this conclusion, then the archangel could have extraction teams combing the homeless population in conjunction with local P.D.

Ethan really hoped that Officer LeMasters wouldn't dig too deep on this, but LeMasters was the kind of man who would see things to the end. The officer was most likely still looking for the girl. This case would probably kill him.

We should put out another web and see if we can pick this girl up.

Cain wasn't the only one thinking about doing that. Ethan finished the last little bit of hotdog before wadding up the paper towel and tossing it into the trash. Out into the cold, Ethan went and put his sunglasses on. The web was cast out and now it was a waiting game. The thought of fishing came to mind and made Ethan wonder if he would truly like fishing. He thought he might.

For the rest of the day there was nothing and as the last bit of light tethered to the tallest buildings, fear began to rise. Ethan made his way to the first homeless settlement that was on the outskirts of a bridge. There were a few folks here that Ethan knew and asked if there were any new wonders that came in and if the police had been poking around. When he was questioned about why he was interested in the cops, Ethan just casually stated that he had a run in with them at his place.

"Well, don't be bringing trouble here!"

Ethan confirmed that he wasn't going to bring the cops there and then said his goodbyes. He headed to the next settlement, then the next. Ethan didn't realize how many homeless areas there were in this city. He knew there were many, just not as many as he was discovering. One place, near a park, he was almost run off because there were people that the folks didn't know asking about a girl. Ethan asked how long ago this was.