The Pleasures of an Eternal Nightmare

Chapter 12

Julie arrived on the scene and looked down at the young girl. Just a few days ago, she was a nervous wreck, wondering why K.C. had been in such a bad shape and gave him an entertainment device to keep him sane. Now, she was dead, lying motionless on the floor with a handgun on the floor by her head, her face was almost peaceful if it wasn't for the bullet hole in her forehead.

"Any information so far?" Julie asked.

Officer John nodded as he walked her toward the open window. "Witnesses say that a sniper was firing at the classroom from a truck here in the parking lot. Terry pulled out a handgun and started firing back before she jumped out the window, ran toward the sniper, and was shot down."

"Who was the witness?"

Officer John handed Julie a photograph of a young girl with red hair and a gentle smile. "Her name is Ruri Pure. Age 17. A shot scraped her head so played dead and hoped that the sniper would stop shooting but Terry kept drawing the sniper's fire toward her."

Julie walked around the building to where the ambulances were and saw the same girl sitting on the back of an ambulance, a bandage was wrapped around the right side of her head, hiding her right eye. When Julie got close, the young girl saw her and gave a gentle wave as a greeting.

"H-hello officers," Ruri greeted quietly. "I-is everyone alright? I-I mean... besides... you know..."

Julie exchanged looks with John before crouching down in front of the short girl and letting out a sigh. "Only the teacher was the only other one hurt. Everyone else made it out with just scratches from the glass."

Ruri sighed. "Thank goodness." Julie looked down and noticed that Ruri's hands were shaking. "I... I don't like all of this... crazy... violence going on... First the suicides... then K.C.'s hostage situation... now... this...? It's... just too much..."

Julie placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. We're going to stop all of this. That's why we're investigating."

"Wh-what's going to help you... solve it this time...? We still don't know who caused all the suicides from years ago..."

Julie stood up tall and sighed. "Ruri, right?"

"Yeah."

"That one is considered a cold case linked to this one. If we solve this one, we solve that one. If everyone just helped us, we could make this town safe again, just like it was before the murders."

Ruri nodded. "I hope you're right. I don't want to leave this town."

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K.C. woke up and saw Caroline sleeping next to him. His face started burning and fear started to fill him. He slowly started to slip out of bed when he fell and hit the ground. He sat up to rub his head and Caroline sat up and yawned.

"You're up? That's good." Caroline rolled off of the bed and hugged K.C.. "How are you doing?"

"I-I'm doing alright," K.C. said nervously. "Wh-what are you doing in here?"

Caroline let him go and stood up. "I got some bad news for you, but I didn't want to wake you up so I let you sleep."

"Bad news? What is it?"

"Julie said you knew a girl named Terry?"

"Yeah. What about her?"

Caroline sat down against the wall across from K.C. and lit a cigarette with a silver lighter. "She was killed today."

K.C. looked down at the ground. "Y-you're kidding... right?"

"Sorry, kid. That's the fact."

K.C. nodded. "I'm gonna... go get something to eat..."

"I'll be here when you come back," Caroline said as she puffed some smoke. "Be careful, okay?"

K.C. didn't say a word as  he left the room.

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Kaleb nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Is that so?"

"That's how it is," Julie said.

Kaleb picked up a large box of Skittles and popped it open. "I knew it would happen, it was just a matter of when."

"What would make her a target?" Julie asked. "There is no way she was just a target at random."

Kaleb sighed and wrote down his reply on a piece of paper. "26-12."

"Is he in any danger?"

Kaleb scribbled more numbers and popped some Skittles into his mouth. "56-16-42."

Julie stuck her hand in her pocket and felt something inside. She pulled out the flash drive Marker had given her and stared at it carefully. "Do you have a computer I can use?"

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K.C. looked out the window of the hallway and saw the moonlight in the sky. It made the heavily guarded environment outside glow softly and made the small lake outside seem alive. A glint of light flashed in the distance and the window shattered. K.C. dropped to the ground and looked at the wall behind him. A fresh bullet hole had formed in the metallic surface. More holes punched through the walls and seemed to be getting closer to K.C. so he started running. Suddenly, the wall ahead of him exploded and through the smoke of the explosion, a tall figure in a juggernaut suit came running at him with a knife.

K.C. turned and ran the other direction, adrenaline flowing through his veins as he headed back to his cell. The guards let him run past them and they opened fire on the juggernaut. When K.C. looked back, he watched in horror as the juggernaut refused to slow down and started stabbing each of the guards, one by one.

Alarms started blaring throughout the facility and cells started locking up, guards hurried toward the threat but their screams continued to echo behind K.C. as he ran down the hallway. Just ahead, K.C. saw his cell and saw Caroline running out to him. She reached out with her hand and cried something out before an explosion erupted in the wall beside her and she disappeared in the smoke.

A gloved hand grabbed K.C. by his throat and lifted him up in the air. "Well well well..." a deep voice said. "Looks like we meet again."

The juggernaut stopped in front of them and started wiping the blood on the blade onto it's arm. "There were more guards than we had anticipated," the juggernaut said in a female voice. "Luckily they weren't heavily armed."

"They will be soon," the deep voice replied. He threw K.C. at the juggernaut and vanished in the smoke. "Take him to the chopper. We need to get to the forest."

K.C. struggled to escape the juggernaut's grip but a powerful fist hit him in the nose and his eyes fell shut.