DIE ANOTHER DEATH :- THE UNDERWORLD RELOCATED

DIE ANOTHER DEATH:- THE UNDERWORLD RELOCATED [4]

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SO HERE WE GO--------

                                CHAPTER 4:-  

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          I inspected the macabre symbol. Apparently somebody had stamped the image onto the wall. Like it was a calling card, the mark of someone who wanted it known that it was his (or their) handiwork that I had come across in my own house. I couldn't comprehend the meaning of the phrase that was printed in a semicircle inside the red border surrounding the skull. 'Immortalis mos sceptrum'- I wondered what that meant. It was all Greek and Latin to me.

          I examined the wooden flooring. Near the threshold of a couple of the doors, I found scrape marks tracking in the general direction of the main door. I also discovered several gashes in the wooden framework of the doors, implying that whoever had removed the furniture had to negotiate quite a bit and was sloppy as well.

         A thought crossed my mind. Could it be possible that whoever had ransacked my flat was also responsible for the murderous assault on me in the alley? It was plausible. The reason/s ? There were none that came to my mind.

         With nothing else to do, except lodge a complaint with the authorities, I moved out of the flat, shutting the door and leaving it as it was. Now if all my stuff had been taken away, presumably by at least 3-4 people, my neighbours were bound to have noticed. I rapped on the nearest door. No answer. I tried the knob and the door swung open. Now why wasn't I surprised?

        The apartment was crammed with comfortable and well worn furniture. I picked up a telephone directory from the center table, parting a few fashion magazines, and looked up the emergency numbers. For some reason, I couldn't remember them, even though they were not personal info. I had figured out that whatever amnesia I had, it was restricted only to that gen which was related to me. I raised the receiver of the telephone beside the sofa and was about to punch in 911 when the absence of a dial tone stopped me. Tracing the wire, I found it severed near the socket. Great.

          I was about to leave when my eyes fell on the 42 inches Hi-def plasma television set on the opposite wall from the couch. "Sweet !" I said appreciatively. The owner had good taste. I decided to see if I could find out what was going on in the town from the news, and in extension, in the rest of the world. To my disappointment and frustration, the set did not start up. While fiddling with the remote, I checked the electric supply. No, the lights did not come on.

          "Damn it!"

          I banged out the door, barged into the other flats on the floor and tried the phones and televisions and music systems with radio in each of them but to no avail. There was no electricity in the entire building and telephone wires had been cut or uprooted. Cordless phones and mobiles had been smashed. Other than these acts of vandalism, nothing else was out of place, except that in one flat there was uncooked food on the gas burner and in the microwave, and in another flat, a few beer bottles were left open in the living room in various states of consumption.

          One flat was a bit trashed, as if a struggle had occurred, and the living room was a partial mess. I moved around the kitchen, carefully side-stepping broken plates on the floor. I saw a few dark stains on the kitchen counter but dismissed them as part of the general disarray.