LOVESTRUCK

CHAPTER 24: DETECTIVE'S WORK

DAY 6, 1:10 A.M

"Damn, if I was a really big gang. Where would I be?" asked Angie, following Viggo and Christine.

"Someplace where they could fit all of them most likely." replied Viggo, checking around various corners.

"That could be literally any building though." said Christine, watching Viggo as he looks ahead.

"Yeah but that means no underground rooms that would be far too complex and it would be too inconvenient." said Viggo as they enter a food store.

"How though? I mean having an underground base of operations would be perfect." asked Angie, sitting down on a booth.

"I would agree with Angie on this one. With the right engineering and architecture, that could work." said Christine, sitting down with Angie.

Viggo was checking the various drawers behind the counter. He sighs, "Having an underground base of operations would have been a bit obvious, the police have been looking for them for god knows how long."

"Yeah but they probably checked every building as well." said Christine.

"Of course that could be plausible unless--." replied Viggo, stopping for a brief moment to let the others figure it out.

"They're spread out." said Christine.

"Exactly-they would be spread out during the day and once it gets night time or something, they would all band together for security. Having something underground like that would be too inconvenient if they were surprised at night, they would either have only a couple of exits unless its a huge building which they could add more exits with the right architecture."

"Then how are we supposed to find them? We cant wait until night, we have to finish this now." replied Angie.

"Well we could narrow it down to a few buildings. What do you people think is a huge building large enough to handle a whole town that could last them for months and has convenient exits?" asked Viggo, looking out the windows.

A moment of silence filled the room as Viggo circled the whole entire store. Suddenly, it hit Christine. She stands up and faces Viggo with a triumphant aura.

"A mall."

They headed out and looked for a building that resembled a mall. Tho went on for about 5 minutes until Angie shouted at them.

"Hey guys, look." said Angie, pointing at a building.

There it was standing right in front of them was P---- Mal-. Letters were missing on the front of the building as if just came off naturally. It was all run-down. The concrete was covered in moss and it had a gloomy aura. Lines and lines of garbage barrels covered the whole building.

"All right-looks like we are here." said Angie, walking through the parking garage.

"I should probably contact the othe--." said Christine, reaching for her phone until Viggo stops her.

"Wait-we are not sure yet. We have to make sure this is the right place or else we would have lost progress and burdened the others." replied Viggo, looking around the corner towards the entrance to the mall.

There was armed man in front of the door. He was probably on watch seeing as he is eternally bored. He stifled a yawn and was met with a huge kick to the groin by Angie followed by a kick to the face by Viggo.

"That was easy enough." said Angie. "That really hurt.'

Viggo reached for the man's firearm. It was a simple hunting rifle. He grabbed it and swung it over his back. He put the strap on that came along with the rifle and slowly opened the glass door.

He was met with a three story high building, complete with three floors. The tiles were all cracked and dirty, windows were shattered and more garbage barrels were all over the place. They approached a nearby McDarwins store and hid behind one of the walls.

"Damn it-what do we do now? We presumed the whole place was made out of wood so that we can burn it down." asked Christine.

"I highly doubt as well that they have a huge generator system we could just blow up." retorted Angie.

Viggo bit his lip. He always does that when he is nervous. He presumed everything would be so simple as a little cottage or had some sort of electricity going around. Suddenly, he had a plan of attack.

"I have an idea. Let's just go around the place and find the main base of operations." said Viggo.

"But we are already here? What do you mean?" asked Christine.

"You know-the council room or something. The place where they could plan stuff. We could grab said plans and get the hell out of here. The moment we are out, we give it to the government and the location of their whereabouts. That way-we don't kill anyone but they will be going down."

"You're right. This could work." said Angie, with a hopefully smile on her.

"That is if they would be stupid enough to leave plans around." replied Christine.

"A little bit of luck, my dear. Come on, let's move."said Viggo, crouching.

There were only 2 men circling the first floor which came easy. They crouched up the broken escalator and managed to reach the second floor. 2 more men as well guarded the second floor of the building. Somehow, they managed to sneak past due to the guards' laziness.

They reached the third floor where they found a cinema and a food court.

"Where could it be?" asked Viggo.

Christine noticed something odd about the food court. The tables were all placed side by side to make a huge table, perfect for planning.

They rush toward the table and notice bottles were lying on one of the sides. Cigarettes have also left a pungent smell on the air. Papers were scattered all over the place along with a single notebook.

"Looks like this is it." said Viggo, approaching and picking the notebook up.

"What is it?" asked Christine.

Viggo opened tbe notebook and found nothing. He turned the pages but they were all blank.

"Its all blank." said Viggo as he looks up. Once he does, he isn't where he thinks he is. A huge gallows tree was in front of him. There were 7 bodies hanging from the tree. He looked around and saw a huge village and a fortress behind him. The village was empty and no one was there. It was a ghost town. A huge church-like bell rang.

A deep voice covered the whole area. "Everyone, if anyone is still out there. let it be known that the 4 founders have been spotted once more. May all stay vigilant and pray on the sins of mankind. May The One live on."