Chapter 145 – Release from the Pact – Silver Brooks

The darkness of the road ahead of us was daunting this far from the city lights. I was hanging onto Alyssa with no protective gear on, half-freezing to death in the chilly wind. Her scooter was surprisingly fast for what it was and I was feeling nervous since this was my first time riding one.

There was so little that I knew about Alyssa and it was hard for me to make sense of her being out here. Why was she helping out the Killing Cat? I had to scoff to myself for thinking like that. She was in the same position as me, in a way. I wondered how Holly managed to recruit her.

Now that I had time to think about it properly, there was little that I knew about Holly as well. Until tonight, Holly was the quintessential honor student, flawless and graceful in her day-to-day behavior. Now I didn’t know what to believe. Was my entire image of her a lie, a fabrication meant to hide her true, violent nature?

It was Holly that killed Leigha. It was Holly that killed Ms. Logan. She was the one that killed all of those people on the Killing Cat’s list. She was always pulling strings in the shadows, and, in a way, in broad daylight. Thinking about it deeper, her internship role at our school was all too perfect.

Without making a spectacle of it, she managed to worm her way into a critical position without anyone thinking twice. From that position she was able to cast a searchlight on anyone she was interested in under the guise of being helpful. This revelation was even more damning in regards to Ms. Sampson.

One of her closest advisors, someone that she promoted into an internship position herself, was a double-agent. On top of getting me to help her with note passing, she potentially had the chance to spy on Ms. Sampson and whisper deception into her ears. Ms. Sampson, in a critical way, was just as compromised as Cora Wells was.

My head was so full of confusion that I could feel a headache coming on just from the stress of my situation. My body was weak from the cold and I almost felt ready to drop off the scooter in exhaustion. Luckily we seemed to be slowing down.

Alyssa pulled into the lot of an abandoned building that looked like it was in the process of being torn down. Was this their hideout? It didn’t look like the building had power going by what I could see from the outside. Interestingly enough, we didn’t park outside.

Alyssa rolled around to the side of the building and pulled into what essentially amounted to a hole in the wall. I supposed this was as good a garage as any. We got off the scooter bike together and she moved it closer to the wall, away from the ‘entrance’ we drove in through.

“Come on, I’ll take you somewhere you can get warm.” Alyssa said.

Alyssa was speaking so confidently, unlike usual. She led me deeper into the dark building, using only her phone’s flashlight to guide the way. After walking from hall-to-hall, corridor-to-corridor, I could make sense of this building somewhat.

“Is… Is… Th-this a s-school?” I asked Alyssa.

My voice was still shaking from the cold. It was warmer inside this decrepit building, but not by much.

“This is called Autumn Eden Elementary School. And this…” She said as she threw open a door. “This is our hideout.”

She flipped a switch on the wall. The switch didn’t turn on the main overhead lights. Instead, it turned on Christmas lights that were hung against the sides of the walls. She moved around the room in a practiced motion, turning on several secondary lamps as she went by.

This was a classroom that was converted into a ‘laboratory’ of sorts. On one side of the facility there were office desks, chairs, computers, stacks of papers, a bulletin board, and a book case with many of its books messily opened up on the floor around it. It looked like some sort of research area.

The center of the room had two rows of tables, the tops of which were filled with chemistry equipment. They were empty right now and notably sterile, like in a real science facility. Going by all the protective equipment on one of the tables, I assumed that this is where the Killing Cat produced her poisons.

It was where Holly produced her poisons… It was hard for me to separate this sort of nefarious activity from the Killing Cat and apply it to Holly. The image just didn’t sit right with me, but that was apparently the case. Knowing how skilled she was in academics, she probably wouldn’t have any trouble replicating such poisons from some shady online recipe.

“You can sit over here.” Alyssa said, slapping one of the chairs near the computer area. “I just turned on the heater. It takes a while for the room to warm up. The building isn’t centrally powered, just a few select rooms. We have to be careful to avoid detection from outsiders.”

“Outsiders…” I repeated slowly.

“Come on,” She said, gesturing me over again. “It’s a wonder that you didn’t freeze to death already. I thought you’d be more enthusiastic to get warm.”

“Would you be enthusiastic to learn that one of the people you trusted is a serial killer?”

Alyssa was taken aback at the question, but didn’t take it offensively.

“I know you have mixed feelings about Holly’s actions...”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Just know that she’s been doing everything that she’s doing for a good reason. She’s freeing the school of its corrupt overseers and putting an end to a dark legacy. She’s a vigilante, not a serial killer! Just like one of those comic book super heroes! She’s amazing!” Alyssa said excitedly.

I stopped staring around the room to perform a double-take at Alyssa. She was absolutely fan-girling over this and I was beginning to realize why she was so obsessed with Holly. She wasn’t just her friend. She was the Killing Cat’s biggest fan!

“Now come on, don’t make me say it a third time.”

“Fine,” I said.

I walked over to the chair and sat down in it like she asked. She took the time to stuff all the loose papers atop the nearby desk into one of the built-in drawers. Were these all things that she didn’t want me to see? Information on targets and evidence perhaps?

“I’d like to contact my parents.”

“Ah, yeah, Holly did mention that…”

Alyssa reached into one of the desk drawers and pulled out an old-school flip-phone. It was probably a burner phone that they used for their ‘purposes’. Everything inside this room was going to come with that sort of dark connotation.

“This phone has a limited amount of minutes so please don’t talk too long. The number will be hidden, just type in your parents’ phone number.”

She handed me the phone and I struggled to remember my mother’s cell phone number. Normally all of my contacts were kept in my smart phone and I wasn’t the type to remember phone numbers by heart. It took a couple of tries to get the right phone number.

“…Hello…?” My mother asked warily.

“Hey mom, it’s me.” I said dryly.

“Sylvie!” My mother shouted. “Sylvie, are you alright?!”

“I’m fine… I…”

“Sylvie, where are you right now?! I’ll come pick you up!”

“I managed to escape… I… Someone found me on the road and gave me a ride back to town. They say they can drop me off somewhere. Where are you?”

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“We’re at the hospital.”

I stood up out of my seat.

“Oh god, how’s dad?”

“The doctors say he’ll be fine. They say that he got lucky that the bullet wound was clean and didn’t cut through the center of his arm. He’ll be in a cast for a while, but his arm will heal back in time.”

“Thank goodness…” I said with a massive sigh of relief.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Where did that woman take you? The police say that they raided her house and didn’t find anything. They say she is considered a rogue agent.”

“I’m not hurt, just cold. I’m getting warm right now. This cell phone I’m borrowing has a limited amount of call-time on it. I’ll ask to be dropped off at our house.”

“I’ll be back there as soon as I’m finished here with your dad. I need to finish filling out some paper work and I’ll have to talk to the police again. They’ll want to speak with you too. I’ll meet you at home as soon as possible. The door should be unlocked.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then.”

“And Sylvie…?”

“Yes…?”

“I love you.” She said. “I realized that I don’t say it enough. I’m so glad that you’re okay.”

I smiled. I was feeling warmer already.

“I love you too, mom. Tell Addison and dad that I’ll see them soon.”

“I will. Call me when you make it home.”

“I’ll do that. Bye!”

“Bye!”

I hung up the phone and let out another sigh of relief. This night could’ve gone far worse. My attempt to escape alone from Officer Morelli failed horribly. It was thanks to Holly that I survived. What if Holly had never reached me in time? Just thinking about the alternative filled me with dread.

“It sounds like things went well with your parents.” Alyssa said.

“My father’s in the hospital after being shot in the arm, but the doctors say he’ll be okay.”

“Holly will definitely be interested in the story about how she broke into your house.”

“I’m interested in how you two managed to reach me in time.”

“That’s a long story, and probably best saved for when Holly gets here.” Alyssa said. “She’s probably done with her clean up now so I’m going to go pick her up.”

‘Clean up’, she says.

“Before you leave to go get her could you tell me-…”

Someone else entered the room, to my surprise.

“Hey, I came to see if…” Helga said as she walked in.

She shut her mouth when she noticed me sitting in a chair beside the little heater in the corner of the room.

“Oh, you have a guest…” Helga said with obvious surprise on her face. “You’re Sylvie, right…? I’m not good with student names and faces… I think I substituted for one of your classes.”

“That’s right. You can call me Silver.” I said.

Alyssa looked between the two of us.

“It’s complicated, but she’s in the loop now.” Alyssa said to Helga before turning to me. “Helga can answer some of the questions you may have. She’s a friend and a good ally. I need to go pick up Holly. I’ll be back soon.”

“O-okay…” I said.

Helga stepped aside as Alyssa walked right by her. She walked in and gave me a thoughtful look. She stepped out of the room again. I assumed that she wasn’t interested in answering the questions I had. She returned back less than a minute later carrying a large blanket. She came over to place it in my lap.

“You looked cold.” She said.

She took one of the chairs beside me and sat down in it.

“Want to talk to me about your night? I can tell you the things that I know about your friend, Holly… Or should I say, the Killing Cat?”

Helga couldn't answer all of my questions of course. She only knew so much about Holly's history as the Killing Cat due to how late she joined the loop. It didn't matter. At this point I was more interested in how Helga got involved with the Killing Cat in the first place.

Helga was actually the one that went to Holly and got pulled in that way. Helga was ripped off by an agency that she used to work with, which was why she was so down on her luck right now. Ripped off was putting it lightly, going by the few details she shared with me.

When she drunkenly told Holly about these things, she didn’t expect much of an answer. Helga said she was just going off on another one of her drinking binges, trying to drown out her anger. It was then, that Holly told Helga about her alter ego. Helga didn’t believe her at first of course, but seeing is believing.

They agreed to help each other. The short of it was that Helga wanted a way to get back at the people that wronged her, and, if possible, to gather enough evidence to take them on in court. Holly wasn't killing people for Helga, just spying and sabotaging her enemies from the shadows.

In return Helga helped Holly and Alyssa by giving them this room and helping them get it wired up. Occasionally she'd help the two of them with some minor issues, but she normally wasn't part of their operations. They were neighbors inside this building.

"Do you really feel like Holly is still the same person?" I asked her. "I know that you didn't know her much for long before, but..."

"Holly is still Holly. Don't let that creepy cat mask fool you. I nearly pissed myself when I realized that it was the real deal." Helga said in light amusement.

I failed to see how anything about this was amusing.

"I always thought that Holly was this caring and compassionate person... She was the type of person that I felt was too good for this world."

"She still is." Helga said. "Actually, I think that's at the heart of the reason why she does the things she does. I think it’s because she feels so passionately about others that's she's trying to play two roles. By day she helps people as a student counselor. At night she's a harbinger of bloody justice."

"She's living two lives..." I said. "And no one even knows it..."

"You know it now, along with me and Alyssa." Helga pointed out. "You'll have to do your best to keep Holly's secrets, or people like Officer Morelli might target Holly's family next time."

"You're right about that." I said. "I'll keep everything I learned to myself. I owe her my life, after all. I'm grateful that she risked her life to save me."

"I'm happy to hear you say that." Holly said as she and Alyssa walked into the room.

Holly was limping in slowly with Alyssa supporting her from the side. I stood up out of my seat.

"You're hurt?!" I asked. “When did Officer Morelli manage to…”

"Uhh… Actually..." Holly said and looked over at Helga.

Helga stood up too.

"Let me guess... You reopened that old wound on your leg?" She asked with a small sigh. "Right... Right... sit down over here. I'll go get my equipment so that I can stitch you back up."

"Thanks." Holly said.

Holly limped over towards me and took the seat that Helga was sitting in. Helga left the room just as Holly and I were sitting down. She gave me a complex, difficult look. She was probably thinking about me as much as I was thinking about her.

She took off her overcoat and the black clothes that she was wearing over her plain white T-shirt and shorts. Not only could I see just how much her leg was bleeding, there was proof of old wounds across her entire body. She hid the wounds somewhat shyly as she noticed me gawking at her.

"I rarely escape my confrontations unscathed." She explained. "As you can imagine, most people don’t go down without a fight."

"I can imagine, having been in a life and death situation just moments ago..."

"I'm sorry about that, by the way." Holly said, leaning back heavily in her chair.

She looked tired, and not just from her fight with Officer Morelli. The role of the Killing Cat was taking an visible toll on her. It was something that she hid well in plain sight, but now she was holding nothing back. This wasn’t just the Killing Cat without a mask. This was Holly without one.

"What are you apologizing for? You didn't know she'd come after me."

"It was my fault that you were involved with all of this anyways. She went after you to get to me. If I wasn't so adamant about you helping me then she wouldn’t have known you existed."

"You should recall the fact that I was the one that sought you out, remember? I sought you out specifically over Officer Morelli. I was the one that stuck my nose into all this, as much as I hate to admit it. The fact that I was a part of her demise was fate."

"Fate..." She said with a weak smile. "Fate is a funny thing."

Alyssa was moving around the room as Holly and I spoke. She brought over a large towel to wrap up Holly’s bleeding leg wound while Helga was out of the room.

"I never would've imagined that you were the one behind the mask." I said honestly. "I have so many questions that I don’t know where to start."

"And I'll answer them, in time. Alyssa will have to drop you off at your house soon. If you're gone too long after contacting your mom the police will be suspicious."

Alyssa nodded at Holly as she continued cleaning the wound on her leg.

"About that…” I said, watching Alyssa work. “I don't even know what I'm going to tell them."

"You'll tell them the truth, to an extent." Holly said. "You managed to escape on the ice when you got hold of her gun. You fired a shot in her chest at close range and left her there. You found someone on the road that was willing to give you a lift home.”

"That's leaving out a lot... What about the knife wound in Angelica's shoulder?"

"They'll learn that she fought with me just hours earlier. It was already in the news. They just don’t have the critical details yet. They will soon once more information comes out about Cora and Angelica's activities. They had some damning evidence on them that will help the police make sense of everything that’s been going on."

"That will be a game changer." I said hopefully.

"You've got no idea... I found a lot of incriminating evidence inside that cabin across the ice. Papers, contacts, phone logs, illicit materials, stacks of buried cash, guns without serial numbers, stores of ammunition… I'll tell you more about it and answer your questions another time. I'm actually hoping that you'll agree to come back here soon."

I bit my lip and gave her a suspicious look.

"As a co-conspirator...?" I asked.

"As a friend," She said. "I don't want you in the line of fire. I've learned my lesson from dealing with Angelica. These are battles I have to fight by myself. However, I hope you're still willing to come and speak to me, but not just as the Killing Cat. I want to speak to you as a friend about my long-term plans."

She put a hand out to me. I deliberated it for a moment before taking her hand.

"There's much more that we need to talk about." I said. "I'll agree to visit your hideout again. I just ask that you keep me in the loop."

"Of course." Holly said. "Though I should tell you this now, much of what I want to tell you is about to become public knowledge."

"What do you mean?"

"There’s a massive bread trail between Angelica and Malorie Noelle. The police have all the puzzle pieces, and now they are about to find the key piece. They’ll finally understand the larger picture."

I gave Holly a serious look.

"Just what exactly did you find in that cabin?" I asked.

She stared at me with equal intensity before responding.

"The corpse of Malorie Noelle."