[https://i.imgur.com/tBf5HMi.jpg]

Run Down Apartment

September 17th X288

An hour earlier at the hideout, a woman by the name of Sophie Squalid sleepwalked to the fridge.

“Zzz . . . so hungry.”

The other members usually bought Sophie something for her midsleep snack. However, they were running a bit late.

Still in her pajamas, she sleepwalked out of the base in search of food.

“Hie hehe, meat . . . slice, chomp, chomp.” She clutched a scalpel as her long black hair blew in a flurry in the wind.

She was the only person in the abandoned apartment complex.

After roaming the labyrinth of buildings, she saw two figures in front of her.

“Hie hehe, two little bunnies are wearing glasses. I must restrain myself, but they look so delicious—especially the one wearing the button shirt and vest. I mustn’t. I mustn’t.” Sophie drooled with her eyes half-open.

“I know. I’ll ask the two bunnies if they have anything to eat. Yes, a carrot or two. That’s a great idea. Sophie, what a decent human being you are. I’ll grab his carotid artery and ask nicely. Good girl! Hie hehe.”

Sophie dove toward the two, swinging her arm toward the shoulder of Dr. Ronaldo, scalpel in hand.

“Huh? Didn’t I have a scalpel in that hand? Oh well, I’ll shift my hand a bit to avoid a lethal cut. That way, I can sew him back up as a reward for feeding me.”

Dr. Ronaldo fell forward.

“Ara?” Sophie swung past his head hitting nothing but air.

“Did I miss? How? Aww, I wasn’t even aiming for his vitals,” she said.

🙠🙢

Florian held Ronaldo close, fidgeting, checking if he was all right.

“What happened?” Ronaldo said. He didn’t have a scratch.

Florian realized her mistake. No way. My eyes were so focused on the four we pursued that I overlooked checking if anyone was tailing us. The four didn’t use their phones. How did they contact help? Was she patrolling the area? Did they know she would be here to trap us? Damn it! Dr. Ronaldo almost got stabbed. What am I doing? These guys are killers. Florian’s head was overwhelmed with dread.

The woman in purple and blue pajamas slinked toward them, head tilted, curious. Long appendages wriggled across her back in the shadows behind her, and feelers combed through her hair. “What are two little bunnies doing in a place like this?”

“Please don’t hurt us,” Florian begged. “We were just exploring the apartments and—”

“You’re not delivery?”

What in the world is she talking about?

The woman’s soul appendages kept scurrying around in the shadows.

Is this lady toying with us?

“Wait.” She rubbed her eyes. “Who are you?”

Florian trembled in a cold sweat as the scornful spirit encircled them.

Dr. Ronaldo, without fear, approached the woman. His back was tall. He gave direct eye contact, didn’t stutter or hesitate. His dark urchin soul was serious and reverberating in anger.

“We were looking for someone, and we wandered here. Please. Let us go. Do you want money? We’ll give you everything we have,” Dr. Ronaldo said. His tone was commanding yet calm.

Florian was awestruck.

“Hmmm? Are you a classmate of Sticks? Or are you that girlfriend of his?” the woman asked.

“Yes. We were worried about Sticks and followed him here,” Ronaldo said.

“Really? So who are you?” Sophie yawned.

“I’m her brother. I didn’t want her to go alone, so I accompanied her,” Ronaldo said.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Hmmm? That’s kind of you. But—” She swung her knife again toward Ronaldo. “I don’t believe you.”

Dr. Ronaldo stepped back and avoided her strike. He adjusted his glasses.

“Pajamas, yawning, hallucinations, low blood sugar,” Ronaldo said.

“You’re a doctor? Your diagnosis is wrong. You’re supposed to check if the scene is safe first. Typical, for a doctor.” Sophie giggled.

“The sound of the river is quite nice, isn’t it?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?” the woman said, slowly swaying back and forth maniacally.

“The sound of the crickets chirping, the water flowing, the flies buzzing. . . It’s getting dark. I wonder what time it is?”

“It’s time for your stitches!” She plunged forward with her scalpel.

He was right. The stream calmly flowed through the occasional frog croak. The abandoned complex was quiet. There were no cars, no hassle, no people, only nature.

“Just relax . . . and don’t blink. . .” Dr. Ronaldo said, calmly stepping forward and grasping her knife, piercing his left hand.

He opened his right palm, revealing a string. It slipped from between his fingers with a ring tied to the end.

He bore the pain, grabbing the woman and pulling her in close. His left hand with the blade sticking through clasped the hand of the woman. He gently smeared his bloody hand through her hair, adjusting his watch next to her ear. The pendulum swung back and forth.

“And now . . . dream. . .” he whispered in her ear.

Florian had never seen anything like it. The long appendages in the shadows engulfed the two. The dark urchin spirit above Ronaldo cracked open, sprouting an arm made of bone. The skeleton hand grabbed one of the dark urchin’s thorns, plucking it off, and pierced the woman’s head. It pulled out a string, threading its needle, and began spooling it around her eyes.

“Dinner will be ready when you wake up,” he said.

“Hie hehe. Mommy?” The woman collapsed in his arms. She snored soundly back to sleep. Her slim body pressed Ronaldo to the ground, crushing him.

“Help, get her off, Florian.” Ronaldo squirmed.

“Are you all right?” Florian said.

“Yeah.”

Florian got a closer look. The woman wasn’t disturbing while asleep. When Florian lifted the slim woman, Florian noticed how top-heavy the woman was.

“Guess that does add a few pounds.”

Florian was agitated that this woman had almost killed Ronaldo three times. Twice with her knife and then with her weight.

“I didn’t think it would work,” Ronaldo said.

“You used hypnotism, right? Wait, you’re bleeding!”

“Ahh! Blood! There’s a knife in my hand! Ow! Ow! It hurts!”

“I’ll call nine-one-one. Where’s my phone?”

“Looking for these?” Sticks Caldwell, the boy wearing the blue hoodie, said.

“How did he—”

Did he pickpocket us while we weren’t looking?

“What did you do to Sophie?” Sticks said.

His snake spirit revealed itself from his sleeve, coiling around his arm. Upon closer inspection, the snake had a mouse in its mouth. No, the mouse was its head. It was a mouse wearing a snake costume like a jacket. The costume’s collar protruded up like a cobra. The zipper went down its belly, and the tail shook the zipper tab like a rattlesnake.

The snake mouse spirit coiled around the two phones in the boy’s hand.

“It was self-defense. I swear. Look.” Ronaldo’s composure disappeared, pointing to the knife in his hand. “Please call nine-one-one.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” The boy raised his arms and charged forward.

His snake mouse slithered around his right hand. The soul flicked forward, attempting to bite Florian’s face.

He threw a punch in the same path as the spirit. Florian avoided it and stepped back.

“What?” The boy paused. He raised both hands this time, and his snake coiled around only his left hand. It sprung forward, coursing a path for Florian.

The boy jabbed his right fist as a feint and then swung his left all the way through. Florian only reacted to the left fist and evaded without difficulty.

“What?! What the hell is this?”

“What do you mean?” Florian asked.

“Do you play any sports?”

“Stop playing around. Give us back our phones. I need to call an ambulance.”

“If you don’t play sports, how the hell are you able to move like that? I even threw in a few feints, and you avoided me completely.”

“It’s none of your business. Besides, you’re the one trying to hit me. Why will I tell my attacker how I’m so good at dodging?”

“I’m trying to grab you. Not hit you.”

“That sounds even worse. You’re a creep.”

“My girlfriend is a thousand times better looking than you. You did something to Sophie, and I want answers.”

“Florian, just run. I’ll be fine,” Dr. Ronaldo said.

“No.”

“Just leave me.”

“The only thing in my way is this kid. If I beat him up, I can save you. If it’s just this creep, I can take him.”

“Really? Do you think you can take me? Try me.”

“Hold your horses, kids. That’s enough.” The three others that Florian and Ronaldo had been tailing approached and grabbed the wounded Dr. Ronaldo.

“Vat happened to Sophie? She’s sleeping on the sidewalk,” Irina said.

“I saw her collapse while confronting these two,” Sticks said.

“She must have fallen to the hands of hunger. Since ve vere late, she must have vent looking for us,” Irina said.

“Wow, Sophie got this guy good. Right in the palm of his hand,” Travis said.

“Can one of you please call nine-one-one?” Ronaldo asked.

The group laughed in unison.

“Bring them in,” Juke said.

“Florian! Run!” Ronaldo said.

“Hold it.” Travis pulled out his gun. “Let’s talk this out like gentlemen, shall we?”