chapter 42- Rush of hearts

(James)

"What? How can that be? Fuck, everybody be careful."

Tommy ran up to the front door. I tried to pull him back, but he shoulder-bashed the door wide open, the glass shattering and door splinters flying off.

I chased after him, swearing to myself that we are being too rash. We need to think this through.

Tommy went up to the old lady.

I froze in shock, my lips quivering, my hands shaking. This poor lady, how could they? Who did this?

In front of my eyes, no older than eighty years old, gray hair and wrinkles, yet had that smile every grandchild would see when they visit a grandparent that would have a heart of gold. Yet right now, that woman's heart has been pierced by a kitchen knife.

Ellie and Maddie covered their mouths with their hands.

The illumination of the moonlight and a lamp in the corner of the room near the kitchen was the only light that shone, depicting a horrifying sight.

She was gone, not in this world anymore.

"James, her last child went missing. I don't think she has any descendants left, no husband. She was a single mother on the reports. This is too cruel. The world is too cruel. What kind of sick bastard would do such a thing?"

Tommy's hands were shaking, either from rage or from grief at watching an innocent woman be slaughtered. He closed her eyes.

"Her body is still warm. She hasn't been dead for long."

"Shit, did they know we were coming? Was it because of our existence that this woman died so unjustifiably?"

Clank

The sound of knives and spoons and kitchenware dropping on the marble floor resounded within the small house.

"My god, they are still here, no, maybe a family member, a caretaker. If so, why haven't they called the police?"

I looked down towards the back of my palm, only to see it pointing in one direction – the kitchen.

My heart sank as I gripped my pocketknife firmly. I prayed for the safety of my friends and that justice would be served tonight.

Nobody talked. Using the balance of our weight to make no sound, we crept closer and closer to the kitchen.

Kahza and Maxwell were still outside, making sure nothing went bad. Well, only problem was, something did go terribly bad.

I heard the back door opening up.

I dashed toward the sound to see a hooded figure dart outside into the backyard.

"Tommy, with me now!" I shouted.

We found the killer. How did we know this? Simple reason was the blood on that person's hands.

What was shocking was Maxwell darted from the side of the house, chasing right after, while Tommy and I tried to catch up.

"Khaza, take care of the girls, call the police, hurry now!" I shouted again. Khaza, who was going to chase after the killer, stopped in his tracks and ran back.

Maybe there was a second killer whose purpose was to stay hidden while his teammate distracted us. There were too many ifs. I needed to focus on the present.

The killer jumped over the plants and flowers, dashing zig-zag around the bushes. Maxwell was trying to keep up; he was in the second lead.

The killer, with quick movement, jumped clumsily over the wooden fence.

Max tried to grab them but was kicked in the face and pushed back.

Tommy did the classic instead of jumping – he ran right into the fence, breaking and splintering the wood apart. I took off behind him through the hole that was made.

We were right now between two houses, rubbish bins and garden tools and kids' toys were in our way. The killer did what seemed like parkour, dashing and sprinting over these obstacles and doing flips that were totally unnecessary. The neighboring houses' lights lit them up.

It didn't distract us in the matter of sense. We had one goal, one mission.

I looked at the compass, only to see it point in whatever direction the killer was headed. We kept jumping fences and anything in the path.

And Tommy kept ramming against anything getting in his way. This process went on for a while. We needed to tackle them down, stop their path, we reached the road leading to the main shouted across the street.

As the mystery person was on the road darting across, a van drove in front of their path, blocking any more progress.

I breathed in, maybe we could get this done, yet surprise filled my gaze as they leaped and front-flipped off the van.

How was that possible? It was inhuman.

There was only one explanation, this person was a card wielder or something different than human.

I needed answers. We all needed answers. I ran past the van, waving at them to meet us on the other side of the block.

The duck chase went on for a while after that, their speed slowly slowing down and speeding up when we weren't close enough.

Was this a game to them? Were they going to trap us with an ambush?

Shit!

This bastard.

Maxwell sprinted faster than the rest of us.

Footy practice truly came in handy once you're chasing somebody in a morally acceptable situation.

He tackled the feet of the person, which caught them off guard.

Max made sure he wasn't kicked or punched as he tangled his body around the person, locking their arms together, making sure they couldn't move.

Yet they seemed to be struggling.

Tommy and I helped and pulled the person's arms away from distracting Max anymore, and we pushed that person towards the wall of a white house.

They were wearing a mask; we couldn't see their face, but that wouldn't be for too long.

My hands were gripping hard on the two hands in a perfect lock.

But they kept kicking, and I kept losing my grip until Tommy pinned their arms to the wall with our force.

"You think you can run, you fuckin' murderer, scumbag."

They didn't say anything.

"Max, check for any weapons or any evidence we can use."

It was hard keeping a grip on their hands as their wrists were full of the old lady's blood that was killed.

That only made me grip harder with my force, equivalent to breaking branches.

The temptation to hurt this person for what they did to that poor lady was immense.

I felt angry.

"Jay, the fuck is this," Tommy said. The arm he was looking onto seemed to glow in a reddish light. "They have a tattoo."

My heartbeat with terror and shock, but more of exhilaration. Our time to have answers has come.

"You're gonna tell us everything you know, or I swear I'll break your fingers one by one."

I wasn't a torture specialist, but I came up with so many ways to hurt this person. It felt natural, and that scared me. I shouldn't allow this madness to consume me.

Right, I needed to get back on track.

"Tell me where did you get the tattoo from? Are there others like you? Answer, goddammit!"

Maxwell removed the mask to only see the bottom half of a face which seemed to belong to a woman, the hood blocking the rest, yet she seemed familiar.

"Who are you? Did you know we were coming?" I felt frustrated she wasn't answering. I nodded to Max to remove the hood to see the face, but she seemed to resist more. If any bystanders were to see this, then we would be in deep trouble.

But then the glowing energy of our tattoo brands glowed with energies resonating with her red energy.

The hand of the compass, which was directed towards the woman, now seemed to be spinning at a fast pace, too fast, this was bad, really bad.

Then the colors of energy merged, creating a vortex of energy whirling and surrounding them. The cries of Ellie, Maddie, and Khaza, who seemed to be catching up, I looked toward their direction. They came far too late.

"Get back, don't get closer, stay in the van."

But they didn't. They ran towards us. I wanted to let go, but my grip felt glued on, like a magnet with more positive energy than negative energy., we couldn't let go.

Then the light enveloped the group, while Khaza, Maddie, and Ellie stayed where they were.