The P.O.E. & a Gateway in the Basement

Chapter Six

Britney on the other hand is following the older man they met in the restaurant. He enters a small alleyway not far from where they started. She is concerned that he knows that she is following him. Why else would he go into an alleyway... other than to lose somebody in it or to perhaps kill them? But her curiosity about what happen to her mother all those years ago overpowers her. She carefully walks through the dark alleyway, but has to stop halfway through because the man does something un-expecting; he turns around and looks into Britney's eyes with concern.

"Why did you follow me?" He asks very confusingly.

"I want to know everything you know about my mother."

"Everything... there are a lot of things about her you won't like I'm afraid." The tone in his voice falls down to a faint whisper that she can barely understand.

"It really doesn't matter if I will like it or not. I have been wondering about her since I was a young girl. So whatever it is that you know I want to know right now."

"All right... but just remember... I forewarned you. The very first thing and probably the most important issue about your mother is that she had a relationship with Jacob's father. They were two of the most talented field agents for the Protectors or Earth. Until..." But something makes him fall silent all of a sudden. It does not take but a couple of seconds for her to see zombies lurking and moaning behind him. Britney begins to get scared for her own life and the older man she is speaking with, she knows what zombies want and that is human flesh. All of them pounce upon the older man like a fat kid on Thanksgiving. She does not stay too long after that, she is still worried about her own safety. She is not ready for all of this. Zombies, demons, vampires and werewolves; it's too much for her to deal with right now. But at least she is not zombie chow like the older man. As soon as she sees Jacob & Nick again, they might be mad that she went on her own way. But they should be also happy about the new information about her mother and Jacob's father; especially Jacob.

At the very same moment Balthazar re-enters the land of the living by means of the ventilation duct. He is not alone on this trip neither; he brought the teenage couple with him, but they have no souls and he has also thrown their bodies into the pit of boiling blood, so they are his zombies now, ready to kill and eat living human flesh on his command. He leads the two mindless, hungry zombies outside the apartment and into the main hallway of the complex. He sniffs around for a few seconds trying to sense which apartment has the most humans for him to kill. The more souls he collects the more powerful he becomes. He realizes that one of the apartments upstairs would be the best bet. So he slowly climbs each step with his two zombies following his every move. Once he is on the third floor of the apartment complex, Balthazar squeezes the doorknob with his left hand and senses that all of the humans inside are currently sleeping. So he enters the apartment quietly; not that he has to, but he sometimes enjoys having the element of surprise on his prey. All of the lights are turned off inside the entire apartment, as all three of them creep through the entire apartment until they get to the door to the master bedroom.

"Listen to me very carefully. When we get inside the room you can devour the man as much as you want. But I want the woman alive. Do you understand?" Balthazar shouts out orders. But speaking to zombies is like speaking to a rock, he just hopes that these two zombies will do what he says. But when you have to deal with morons' everyday like he does what would you expect? So Balthazar opens the bedroom door and enters another dark room. The only difference is that they also hear snoring. So the zombies do not waste anytime; they both creep over towards the man's side of the bed and begin eating his flesh. His screaming wakes up his wife. But Balthazar places his right hand over her mouth with so much force he almost snaps her neck as he picks her up with his left hand.