Chapter 8

The ambulance came to a stop one block from Jennifer's apartment building. Before she got out, Derrick grabbed her wrist, "Put those on." He motioned to a pair of dark blue coveralls. They were tucked into one of the ten million compartments in the back of the unit.

With agreement, Jennifer stripped off the hospital gown, exposing all of her to Derrick had he been watching in the rearview mirror. He intentionally diverted his eyes knowing she would be fully nude. Maybe he was a good guy, aside from the fact that he helped a serial killer escape.

Sliding into the canvas coveralls, Jennifer waited before she zipped them all the way closed, leaving her chest out just waiting for Derrick to sneak a peek. She had never let a man see her in a vulnerable position like that. As a matter of fact, she had never been with a man at all. Her entire life was designed to become the Christmas Darling. Most women her age, late twenties, would have had double digit sexual experiences by now. Not our Darling, she was pure and focused.

She stepped from the back of the ambulance, her bare feet touching down on the asphalt, it was cold and wet. The feeling was natural and invigorating. A feeling that brought her back to the times she played in the front yard with the sprinkler shooting thin lines of water floating into the air back and forth for hours.

It was late and dark; the only sound in the air was the light smacking of her bare feet as she navigated the sidewalk heading towards her apartment. Jennifer maintained an urgent sense of awareness, just waiting for a police officer to pop out of the dark corners and take her away.

Lucky for her, the area was significantly under policed. The fact that she made it to the common area without even running into a homeless person was miraculous. Her area was common for drug sales, prostitution, and the homeless. Jennifer always gave them some cash, even if they were clearly just going to spend it on booze. That wasn't her concern.

Jennifer entered her apartment; it was exactly as she had left it. She was consistent with how she left things sitting around. There was a bottle of sprite, one of the 20 ounce bottles with the label half peeled off, sitting on the counter. That bottle always faced the window and the top was lightly marked with a scratch that lined up with a tick mark on the bottle and a chip located on the off white countertop. It hadn't moved a millimeter.

The fact that nothing had been disturbed really reinforced the fact that the San Diego police didn't have enough evidence to convince a judge to sign off on a search warrant.

Grabbing her go bag, filled with three pairs of clothes consisting of a top and pants with under garments. She gathered all the papers and stuffed them into the bag. Jennifer didn't need them but nothing of significance would be left behind.

Her shoes rested against the false panel where the blade was hidden. Jennifer delicately slipped the sneakers onto her bare feet before sitting on the floor to retrieve the Soul Taker. This weapon deserved respect and she surely gave it the attention and care it was due.

Popping the panel and reaching very far back and to the left into the drywall, Jennifer grasped the sheath and slowly navigated the blade from its hidden home. A moment of reflection, thinking of the eight lives this blade had taken, overwhelmed her but not in a bad way. She felt a huge rush of relief surge from her toes to the tips of the black hair on her head. It was invigorating the way downing a Redbull in one full motion made you feel.

Carefully replacing the secret panel, Jennifer grabbed her bag and gently put the blade inside underneath half the clothing. She was done. This was probably the last time she would ever leave this apartment. It was a bittersweet moment but necessary. It was time to go into hiding and make sure she still had the option to eliminate Dobbins or bail on the kill and grant her Mother's wish and come home for the holidays.

Pulling the door closed for a final time, Jennifer wasted little time making it down the stairs. Being exposed and out of the security of the apartment, there was no time to hesitate. With a silent quickness, Jennifer trotted out of the complex and down the sidewalk towards the ambulance.

A strong feeling of trouble entered through her eyes and targeted her brain as she came to the realization that Derrick was not in the driver's seat. He wasn't anywhere to be found. She stopped in her tracks, ten steps away from the ambulance. Her eyes sharpened and widened, looking everywhere for her accomplice.

The air filled with the sound of sirens. She wasn't sure if it was police sirens or paramedic sirens. Jennifer ducked down behind a tree and watched the area. Nothing was moving, the sirens didn't get louder, and it was very confusing and erratic.

Just as she was about to take off and head for safety, Derrick popped out from the furthest corner of the complex pulling up his zipper. Jennifer was enraged, "What the fuck? You couldn't hold it?"

Derrick shrugged, "Holding it leads to health issues. I don't risk it. Sorry, I thought you'd be gone longer."

She shot him a terrifying look, "Well, can we go now?"

Without a hint of delay, "Yes ma'am." Derrick saluted Jennifer with a sarcastic motion as they clambered into the cab of the ambulance and pulled off.

About twenty minutes had passed and the deceitful duo arrived at the parking garage across the street from Derrick's condominium. Jennifer scouted the area as the ambulance was parked. The bushes were full and lively, even in this cold weather. The front of the condo looked fresh, clean, as if it were brand new and not inhabited. A quick but short lived feeling of 'how much do paramedics make?' ran through her brain but she deemed it too invasive to ask.

Derrick slid the ambulance into a parking spot deep in the garage, out of sight from the road but easily accessible if a run for the border was needed, "There we go. Shall we?" He smiled hard, his face looked like it was in unbelievable pain, maybe he's never had a girl stay the night before. Not a girl girl, but a 'willing to come over' girl. Jennifer's confidence was high that Derrick had solicited prostitution many times. She envisioned it as a hobby or a treat for him after a hard day's work.

Upon entry, Jennifer was knocked on her ass...visually. This place was decked out. The ceiling was arched and equipped with flush motion lights. The walls were covered with training certificates and accommodations for his fine medical work. The floor was dressed with beige fluffy carpet that seemed to light the place up even more than the motion lights overhead.

The place was spotless, not what you would expect from a man that was living alone without a woman on the premises. The only thing that jumped to Jennifer's attention was the abundant smell of wet dog. She knew the smell even though she had never actually experienced it. Her parents didn't allow pets or animals of any sort to reside in their home. No matter how badly she wanted a pet, Jennifer was denied and taught that animals were an unneeded burden on the financial security of a family pod.

Derrick turned to face Jennifer, "Well, it's not much but it works. Wanna see something cool?"

Before Jennifer could answer, Derrick let out a loud whistle followed by some sort of German word. A rustling entered the air but quickly faded into nothingness. Something was happening, that was clear by Derrick's body language, but whatever it was wasn't readily visible.

The sound of carpet being compressed could barely be heard. Jennifer really had to focus to capture the sound. After a few seconds, a large black dog came low crawling around the corner. The pit bull didn't make eye contact with either Derrick or Jennifer and continued his slow crawl directly towards our Darling's feet.

With another bark of some funny sounding German command, the black pit bull launched from the ground and landed directly at Jennifer's wet generic sneakers. Derrick laughed at how incredibly hard Jennifer flinched. She almost fell to the ground in fear of this massive animal. All the fear left her as soon as Derrick gave his final foreign command and Max slowly pawed his way up Jennifer's body and laid one solid lick across her face.

Derrick clapped and roughly handled Max's hair, "Good boy! That's a good boy!" His voice melted as Max began wagging his tail so hard that he knocked over a very expensive looking vase in the main hallway.

Jennifer squatted down and stared at Max, "He's gorgeous. Looks like we are going to be very safe with this guy around." Max sniffed her very aggressively. His tail froze in place while he was analyzing the nasal data that each sniff collected. "You're a good boy Max?"

That phrase immediately gave Max a wild case of the zoomies. His massive black paws trounced the carpet as they gripped each fiber up and down the living room. Max finally came to a screeching halt face to face with Jennifer and delicately applied another single dog kiss to her smiling face.

Derrick interrupted the romantic session with a clearing of his throat, "Alright Max, let Jennifer breath. You hungry Jennifer?"

She nodded as her hand wandered through the air and found Max's head. At this moment, Jennifer was happy. She hadn't had many times in her life that made her feel like this but it was intoxicating.

"Let's see what we have in here or we can order something."

Jennifer looked up for a brief moment, "Whatever you think is best."

With that, Derrick checked his inventory and began crafting something that filled the air with deliciousness.

Max had guided Jennifer into the living room so she could sit on the grey leather couch. Max was a very smart boy as this allowed Jennifer some increased comfort so she could continue to rub his head.

She nodded off with Max on her lap, neither had a care in the world.