Dark Creations: Dark Ending (Part 6) (16 page)

“Mind if I put the radio on?” Kyle asked her.

“Go ahead,” Amber said and wondered what to expect.  She had not been exposed to music.  Music had been prohibited among Terzini’s members.  Her maker had viewed music, particularly modern music with lyrics, as sappy, emotion-driven drivel.  She had heard snippets of classical pieces, though, instrumentals mostly, when she’d been called to Terzini’s private quarters.  He’d always turned it off as soon as he’d seen her, but at times had been so engrossed in the blend of instruments, he did not notice her for several seconds.  Then, she’d concentrated, tried to absorb as much of the forbidden sound as possible. 

“Do you like this stuff?” Kyle asked of the raucous banging and shouting
that filled the car. 

She shook her head from side to side.
  “Ugh, no way,” she answered.

“Good, me neither,” Kyle said and he turned a sliver dial on the stereo system.  The needle danced to the left then right and stopped briefly on a station.
  A rich baritone voice echoed through the speakers as a man broadcast the local news.

“Authorities
in the area are on high alert as this mass murder, this senseless, heinous crime has rocked the small town of Artmore a few hours ago,” the DJ said, his emotion raw as he addressed his audience intimately.  “The gunman claimed six people; all of them except one were shot in the center of their foreheads and according to preliminary forensic reports, the shots were taken from a distance, not close-range.  The police are looking for an expert marksman, most likely male,” the man continued.

“Wow,” Kyle commented on the report. 
“Artmore, didn’t we pass that town more than an hour ago?” Kyle asked.  “I mean, most towns we passed were a blur seeing as how we were, you know,
speeding
the whole way, right, Lead Foot?”

“Lead Foot?” she asked and quirked a brow at him.

“Yeah, you know, because the foot you put on the gas pedal must be as heavy as lead which is why we sped,” he started.

“I get it,” she
held up a hand and stopped him.  “Back to the report we just heard, did the DJ say six people were killed, all of them by a gunshot wound to the center of their forehead?”

“Yeah, that’s what he said.  Why?”

Amber was quiet for a moment before answering, weighing her words before they fell from her lips.  She did not know how to explain that she knew the shooter was Arnold without sounding completely crazy.  But she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was him.  She’d never met him, but knew he would be a skilled shooter. 

“It’s him,” she heard herself say and felt heat creep up her neck and touch her cheeks. 

“What?” Kyle asked.

“The shooter on the radio, it’s him.  It’s Arnold, the guy we’re after.”

Surprisingly, Kyle did not launch questions at her right away as she assumed he would.  He waited then asked one.  “Why would he do it, risk exposing himself that way?”

His question was a good one.  She did not have an answer.  “I don’t know.  The killing was not part of his instructions, that’s for sure.”

“Huh, I’m sure it wasn’t.  It just doesn’t make sense.”

“I know it was him,” she said firmly. 

Call it a gut feeling or intuition, whatever the name, it did not matter.  Every cell in her body knew. 

“And if I’m right, we aren’t that far behind him.”

“You sound excited, Amber,” Kyle looked at her strangely and said.

“You’re not?” she asked incredulously.

“Well yeah, I guess,” he hesitated.

“Look, this is good news.  Not so much for the people that were at the bar in Artmore, but it is good news for us,” she said hurriedly.  “It means he is heading to New York City, just as I thought, and he is taking the same route we are.”

“Oh shit,” Kyle muttered.  “And if the attack happened a few hours ago then he’s not that far ahead of us.”

“Bingo,” she said and felt an excited
tremor pass through her at the fact that he was on the same wavelength as her. 

“We just might be able to stop him,” Kyle added brightly.

“Let’s hope so,” she agreed with guarded optimism. 

Amber directed the car onto a main road that was wel
l lit and lined with every fast-food eatery and retail store imaginable.  After spending a short while on the heavily trafficked span and stopping at more red traffic lights than she could count, she followed the GPS and turned off the crowded road and onto a darker side street. 

“This road is so dead compared to the one we were just on,” Kyle commented over the rumble of the car’s engine. “Imagine braving that every day to get to work?”

“Huh, I know, right?  It would be a nightmare,” she answered.  “But this is the quickest route to the highway according to the navigation system.”

Kyle began chatting about a job he had two summers ago then stopped abruptly when the red glow of taillights caught their attention from beyond the shoulder of the road. 

“Slow down!” Kyle called out.

“No!  Why?”

“Over there,” he pointed.  “You see that?  There’s a car.  It looks like it slammed into a tree.  We have to stop.”

“Kyle, we can’t stop,” she reminded him.  “There’s no time.”

That was the understatement of all understatements.  They were racing against time itself. 

“We have to!  Someone could be hurt!”
he pleaded and annoyance laced his tone.

A feeling tugged inside Amber, gently at first before growing stronger, coaxing her hands to twist the steering wheel and guide the car to the shoulder of the road.  She knew they need
ed to hurry, that the fate of the world depended on them catching and killing Arnold Gathers, but the red taillights glowed like a beacon and drew her toward them.  Someone may need help; a fellow human being may need her.

When she pulled the car close
, she was given a front-row seat to a nasty accident.  The entire front bumper of a silver sedan was wedged against the splintered trunk of a slender pine tree.  The needled boughs slumped over the roof dangerously.

“I’m going,” was all Kyle said and he opened the passenger side door then moved toward the car.

“Kyle!” she called him.  “Wait!  Be careful.”

She unfastened her seat
belt and opened her door then followed him.  But he made it to the driver’s side door of the sedan before she did and stood with his hands covering his mouth. 

“
Oh my God,” he breathed and she couldn’t imagine what he was so upset by.  The damage to the car seemed minimal.  The pine had taken the brunt of it.  She marched up to him and followed his line of vision.  There, she saw a woman behind the steering wheel.  At least she supposed the driver had been a woman.  It was hard to tell from her condition.  Her body appeared unharmed, save for an angry burgundy arc that bruised the upper portion of her chest and was plain to see thanks to the scoop-neck of her T shirt.  But her face had been beaten beyond recognition.  Pink and purple flesh was puckered and pulled unnaturally, her features a chaotic jumble of lacerations and welts.

“Who would do this?” Kyle started but doubled over
and gagged. 

The scene was grotesque and grisly. 
Amber felt her stomach roll and worried she’d be sick on the side of the road. 

“She’s dead,” Kyle said feebly. 

Amber reached out her hand and pressed her index and middle finger to the driver’s wrist, careful to avoid looking at the gore before her.  She did not detect even the faintest throb.

“She doesn’t have a pulse,” she turned to Kyle and said.  “But she’s still warm.”

“Warm?” Kyle looked at her strangely.  “So what does that mean?”

“It means this did not happen long ago. This just happened.  We just missed him.”

“Him?  Who, Arnold?  You think this was Arnold?”

“Yes, and he’s losing control,
” she added, and while she felt terribly that the woman had lost her life, she could not deny the excitement at knowing he was even closer than she’d originally thought.  He was not that far ahead of them.

“So he’s an expert gunman and a fucking monster that beats women’s faces in?” Kyle asked incredulously.  “Come on, Amber!  It doesn’t make sense.  None of it makes sense!  Why would he take all these chances?”

“You don’t get it, Kyle,” Amber fired back.  “Arnold was bred to hate humans.  He was not given the full spectrum of emotions like I was, but he was allowed to hate, and Terzini, that arrogant fool, thought he would be able to control it.” Amber took a breath and clutched her head with her hands.  “But now it appears he’s lost all control.”

She heard herself say the words and a realization dawned on her.  If Arnold had spiral
ed out of control as he appeared to have, then his loss was their advantage.  His murderous detours were what slowed him.  The driver’s warm body was proof that he had not been there long ago.  He was close by. 

“We have to go,” she said suddenly.  “We’re close.  He’s close.”

“Amber, you’re not making any sense,” Kyle protested.

“Come on,” she gestured to him then took off toward the car.  “You can argue with me in the car.”

Kyle followed after hesitating for a moment.

“We might be able to stop this,” she said and felt a burst of hope bubble in her belly.

The engine of the Mustang roared to life before clawing at the dirt on the side of the road and tearing off into the misty moonless night. 

Chapter 13

The rhythmic ticking of the cherry finish grandfather clock in the hallway marked seconds that felt like hours as Jack waited patiently at the top of the stairs for members to ambush.  A bead of sweat trickled between his shoulder blades and stippled his brow.  The space they crouched in felt too hot and the air too heavy.  His low back complained and his thighs burned from squatting for so long.  He wished he could sit as the women did with their backs against the hallway wall and their legs in front of them almost touching the wrought-iron spindles of the ornate balustrade that overlooked the small living room and dining-room area.  But he could not.  He needed to be ready when they were attacked,
if
they were ever attacked.  They’d hunkered and waited for the last half-hour and all remained silent in and around the house, except for the occasional rumble of thunder and the incessant ticking of that damned clock. 

“This is ludicrous!” the mayor huffed in a loud whisper.  “How long are you going to keep this up?”

“Yeah, you’ve
really
proved to us that you’re not crazy by kidnapping us then taking these women hostage,” the sheriff mumbled sarcastically.  “Just cut your losses and let us go.”

Jack
felt anger simmering just below the surface of his skin, propelling hostility and a barrage of words he did not feel comfortable using in the company of ladies.  He ground his teeth together, biting back the overwhelming urge to lash out at both Mayor Sheldon and Sheriff Baker and hurl every curse word he could think of their way. But he knew he needed to control his growing rage.  He did not want to frighten Anna and her mother any more than they were already.  He knew he could not lose his temper.  Not now.  Not with the future of Eldon teetering in the balance.  Terzini’s drones were coming; at least he’d believed so when he’d surveyed the town boundaries.  But his beliefs were beginning to waver with each moment that passed.  What if he’d been wrong?  What if members were storming another house right at this very moment?  More innocent people would die and the chance to save the residents of Eldon would decrease dramatically, if any could be saved at all.  He knew that John would let him know as soon as he spied anything suspicious.  He shifted his weight from one bent leg to the other and felt his walkie-talkie pinch his hip.  He removed it and reflexively depressed the button at its side, the impulse to check in winning out over waiting. 

He placed his lips close to
the transponder and spoke, “See anything yet?” he asked James.

“No.  Nothing yet,”
James replied loudly.

“That’s because no one is coming!” the sheriff erupted
, his voice ricocheting off low walls like bullets. 

“Shut the hell up, Baker!” Jack fired back, no longer able to contain his frustration.  The sheriff had not seen Terzini’s members
kick down the front door of a house and slaughter a husband and wife and then their children.  He had not seen one of his friends mauled by an amber eyed beast so horrific it looked befitting the gates of hell. Neither the sheriff nor the mayor knew the truth of what was headed their way.  And while the Hunters had been killed, the members remained, heavily armed and bound for Eldon. 

“Oh please,” Sheriff Baker scoffed.  “Just because I’m handcuffed doesn’t mean you’re in charge.  Last I checked I’m still the sheriff of this town.”

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but felt a small, cold hand on his forearm.  The touch sent a shiver up his spine as if a tiny current of electricity had passed through him.  He turned and was met with wide, ice-blue eyes.