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Chapter 6: Your Worst Nightmare, Realized
Shaun’s P.O.V[/b]
Here I was again, the heart of New York City. Exactly where everything had started, and where I planned for everything to end. It had been roughly 24 hours since my breakout from the prison, yet I didn’t think the word had been spread yet.
Just as I had hoped, they hadn’t seen enough to figure out what happened and weren’t gullible enough to believe that there was footage of a devil like creature within in the cell. It was like the
Big Foot conspiracy all over again.
My plan had been absolutely full proof, just as I had suspected.
There was one major problem now though, identity. I might be able to make it by the first few days, what with my overgrown hair and all, but sooner or later someone would have to spot me out, someone would notice I looked an awful lot like that mental patient, Shaun Morgan. I was going to make sure that didn’t happen.
Morning had just broken, and I had flown on top of the roof of an apartment building through the night undetected. I stripped off the prison uniform and down to what I’d been wearing secretly underneath, my clan uniform.
I hadn’t changed it since the day I’d been convicted, which was incredibly unhygienic, yes. But I kept it there regardless; I kept it there to remind me of everything that had happened in my past and most of all, to remind me of my destiny and what I was born to do. Slay dragons.
My time would be coming very soon. For I would slay the American Dragon and then take my rightful place as leader the Huntsclan; then, I would deal with that traitor Rose just like I had vowed to night after night since they day I set foot in that dark, dull dump.
But that was the big picture, and it wouldn’t come up for awhile yet. For now, I needed to worry about the situation at hand. Keeping my identity unnoticed. I stared around the city of towering buildings and bustling roads lying beneath them, before something finally came back to me. The apartment I’d lived in with that no god brother of mine. That would surely have some of my clothes in it.
“Well,” I said to myself “I guess it’s worth a shot.”
So, I quickly strafed across the rooftops, until I reached the block. I’d had a bit of trouble finding the place, having not been here for awhile and spending most nights trying to rid my mind of any thoughts involving my past associated with that traitor.. Jeff. All guts and not brains, that’s what every move he made in life was based on, and look where that lead him.
I shook my head in frustration “Just forget it,” I thought “It’s in the past. He died years ago and he’s not coming back. There’s no way he can help Jake, or Rose…”
With that I climbed through the window of my bedroom which was still open from the last time I was in here, everything was different inside though. A lot of the furniture had been taken out and the door had been boarded up. We must’ve been evicted after not having payed taxes for years, and I’m guessing no one wanted to buy the place because it was formerly owned by me… A criminal.
I changed into some less hostile clothes (some old jeans and a plain T-shirt) and I crawled into the bathroom and gazed upon the mirror. It was cracked down the middle; small shards of glass had fallen to the cold, hard floor. I stared into my reflection and saw what I had become. My hair was overgrown, my nails were dirty and long, as well as my skin, which was also dry, cracked and even peeling in places.
“Say goodbye Shaun,” I said to my reflection in the mirror, about to change my identity so that when someone finally realized who I was, it would be far too late.
I reached into the draw and pulled out a razor, turning it on I held it against my head and shred off the hair that sat atop it, to a point that I was practically bald, only with very short, spiky hair sitting atop of my skull.
“No,” I said in disappointment “That’s nowhere near good enough.”
I grabbed the razor again and proceeded to shave what was left of my hair off until there was nothing there and I was completely bald. I then continued to remove all the facial hair that was on my face. Any stubble across the moustache or side burns area, I would make sure I got every last strand, I even removed my eyebrows in the process.
I stood back and stared at myself in the mirror, with a satisfied smile upon my face. I looked completely different without any hair and because my eyes weren’t the most unique ones I’d be able to last like this for weeks on end.
I made my way back into the bedroom and grabbed a beanie that had once been Shaun’s from the drawer. I slid it over my head and even went to grab a pair of sunglasses, but with it still being cloudy outside I thought that might come across as a bit suspicious looking and left them there.
I was about to head out when I suddenly noticed something over my shoulder. It was the thick clumps of my hair that sat on the bathroom floor. If anyone found that, it would have my DNA on it and they would know I’d been here. I didn’t want to get caught again, at least not until I’d gotten my revenge.
But come to think of it, there’s probably evidence I’ve been here all over the place. I mean, fingerprints, shoe marks, and so on… This apartment would probably be one of the first places they checked, and if they knew I’d been here they could get on my tail, faster then I could blink. I didn’t want that. I had to destroy the apartment, but make it look like an accident.
The idea came to me almost straight away and within seconds I was taking action, there was fire burning around me to match the fire burning for revenge I held within in me. I didn’t care who I was putting at harm, I would stop at nothing to get what I wanted.
Jake’s P.O.VI can’t remember the last time I’d woken up feeling so relaxed and peaceful, like I had this morning. I simply opened opened my eyes to a bright, sunny day still with some of last night’s gentle cooling breeze flowing in through the window, gently tossing the curtains and sheets upon our bed about.
Rose and I still lay across from each other, arm in arm, her head gently rested against my chest. Though, she wasn’t sleeping. I could see her stirring, though her eyes were only slightly open as if she was fighting to stay asleep. I leant down and kiss her gently, as she stretched slightly, letting out a sigh of content and looking up to face me.
We stared at each in dead silence for several minutes, not saying a word, just occasional running our hands gentle together, but still never letting our eyes break contact.
I wanted to say something, but I wasn’t sure if I could even summon the right words worthy even for me to break the silence of this moment, one that I wanted to last forever. I just wanted to completely forget everything about our lives, and cast away anything bad that had happened in the past or could stumble upon our lives anytime soon.
“Good morning,” she said eventually, after heaving another sigh of content.
“Good morning,” I replied, suddenly feeling as though the breath had left my body once again. I wasn’t sure whether it was a sigh of relief or if I was couldn’t believe what had happened between us last night, but just seeing Rose stirred these feelings up inside of me.
I could tell already, I was right. There had been a change between us; I could tell just by the way I felt when I saw her. Every living, breathing moment I spent staring into her eyes felt like an eternity, as though I wanted every second I spent with her to last forever.
But even now, as we lay in each others arms peacefully and unharmed I could tell something was bothering her.
“So, how are you holding out?” I said to her eventually
“What do you mean?” she replied
“Well, are you feeling any better the whole Shaun thing?”
“Yeah,” she said, though sounding a bit uncertain “But I’d feeling a lot better if I could find out what was going on, what I was supposed to be looking for…”
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked
“Not unless you can help me find a way to get through to Jeff,” she replied, looking as though all hope had completely drained from her.
“I’m sorry Rose,” I said to her “But if ever need me to help you get through this, I will always be there for you.”
“I know,” she replied
“I’ll know you’ll get through to him someday, you’ve just got to believe…”
And with that I kissed her gently across the lips one last time, caressing the back of her neck with my hand before I changed and headed downstairs to the shop.
As I made my way over there my I didn’t feel as though I was all there, my mind was still back with Rose seeing the look on her face. I sighed in frustration, almost angry with myself for not being able to help her, not being able to make things right.
I shook my head, trying to rid my mind of those thoughts. There wasn’t any way I could help her, she had to this on her own. It was like her calling, I had to focus on my training. I made my way over to the side and turned the handle, stepping through the door.
“Hey G,” I said as I made my through the door, but he immediately shushed me and gestured at a television set that sat in front of him.
“What is it?” I said, making my way over and staring upon the screen.
“Two nights ago,” the news reporter’s voice crackled through the speakers of the monitor “a local maximum security prison was the scene of a vicious assault leading to the brutal deaths of two men working late shifts and the escape of a prisoner one year into his seven year sentence, by the name of Shaun Irvine who was believed to a have been the ring leader behind a mass cult suicide that occurred almost 4 years ago to this day.
Authorities were informed but did not make it to the scene in time, however caught on the security cameras was the murder of these men, and escape of the prisoner. The following footage may cause distress…”
And then I saw it, flashing on screen before my very eyes. As I much as I didn’t believe it and as much as I just wished it was, it was there and there was no denying it. Two men fell before the feet of a ferocious, snarling beast hidden within the shadows, one I knew all too well; until the struggling and screams of the men in the darkness suddenly stopped and then room filled with silence…
Dead, still silence that sent an icy cold chill up my spine. Before the screen faded to nothing but a fuzz and noise as the camera went out “He must’ve unattached it so no one saw him flying out,” I thought.
I swallowed; still staring at the screen in shock as Gramps slowly turned the volume down slightly, turning to look at me as though offering his sympathy.
“Wh-what do you think this means?” I stammered looking over to gramps whose face faded deep into a look of uncertainty.
“I do not know,” he replied, trying to remain calm “but I don’t think young Rose was having those dreams out of fear…”
“What do you mean?” I asked
“He knew this was going to happen,” Gramps continued, his words matching the expression upon his face. Simply dull, and lost, almost as if he was unsure of what he was saying.
“He knew he would escape, he must’ve had been planning this.” Gramps continued “The streets have been safe for over 4 years, but now Shaun is returning to bring back what he was born to fight for… Now with the Huntsman gone, Shaun has returned to lead the Huntsclan…”
I stared back at Gramps in shock and suddenly everything made sense now. The Huntsman had died, Jeff had died and Rose was with me. Shaun was the only person living who carried blood of the Huntsman’s; his only living relative, and therefore the heir to the Huntsclan, their new leader.
But then suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw something flash upon the screen as the news reader continued to read the stories. It was live footage, a flash of a building in flames, but something about it didn’t feel right.
“Hang on,” I said to Gramps “Turn it up.”
He adjusted the volume back up and joined me in staring upon the screen out of curiosity, wondering what had drawn me in.
“In other news,” read the news reader “an apartment complex has gone up in flames after what was believed to be a gas link. Fire fighters are on the scene, but luckily for them, most of the rooms had been long since abandoned and the need for a rescue mission was soon deemed irrelevant…”
I suddenly felt my heart pump faster and faster by the second, despite the silver lining of no casualties occurring I was still alarmed. But it wasn’t the fire itself that scared me, but it was where the fire was taking place. The building was all too familiar. I hadn’t been there in years, but I still knew it like the back of my hand. It was the apartment where Jeff used to live… With Shaun.
I rose up to my feet suddenly,
“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go,” I blurted out, before racing up the stairs and heading out upon the roof of the shop.
Within seconds I was in my dragon form and spreading my wings over the horizon. I wasn’t 100% sure of where to go, but that was not a problem. Thick clouds of smoke hung above the towering buildings, piercing through the blue sky. I knew where I was heading now.
They were cluttered upon the roads, at least three or four of them, big, bright red trucks looming upon the hard; concrete only clouded out the thick smog that was filling the air. Men in yellow were running backwards and forwards frantically with ladders, hoses and buckets, spraying large quantities of water upon the heart of the flame, trying to stop it at the source.
I flew by not taking focus to any of this, or to the chance that I could be spotted by one of the men or anyone else passing by, but I didn’t care. I hovered down behind the apartment (slightly more out of the firemen’s field of vision) until I was level with the floor Jeff’s apartment had been on.
In the heat of the moment and out complete instinct, I rushed forward in a sudden jolt of adrenalin and crashed through a glass window, crashing against the floor with a sickening thud. I was in the hall, surrounding by elevators and emergency exit stairs. Not to mention the thick, towering walls of flame that surrounded me.
I followed the hall by memory, searching each door and trying to find a familiar number. But I could hardly make them out through the thick clouds of smoke pouring through the hall, even with my dragon vision it was a struggle.
But then it wasn’t my sight that told me where I was it was a feeling, a feeling almost exactly like déjà vu. Just to the left of me, was the door. The door that lead into the apartment, I was certain of it. I lashed out at it, striking it with a kick and it flew open.
Greeted immediately with a whack right across the side of my head; I collapsed back dazed by the kick I’d been given and looked up the see, standing before my feet the very person who’d just jumped me unexpectedly.
But it wasn’t who I expected, or at least not what I had expected to see of them.
“Shaun?” I said in shock, when I saw him.
“What’s the matter Jake,” he replied “Don’t you recognise me?”
He was right about one thing; I almost didn’t recognize him at first. He had shaved his head, and not just the hair on top of it, but his eyebrows and other facial hair upon his face. But I could see the cold, intimidating stare he had written across his dark, daunting brown eyes.
“What are you doing here?!” I yelled back, as I pulled myself back to my feet, the walls of fire slowly beginning to close in on me.
“I could ask you the same thing,” he said back “But that would just be wasting valuable time to slay you.”
With that he lunged at me with another kick, but this time I saw it coming blocked it and tripped him at the knees with a slash of my tail. Shaun didn’t see this coming and collapsed hard onto his back, one of the floorboards gave away and he rolled across, pulling himself back up.
He took several more shots at me, which I blocked and retaliated with blasts of my own. He blocked my right hand, but got caught in the jaw with an elbow I’d thrown out unexpectedly, before kicking him hard in the chest sending him crashing into one of the frail, apartment walls.
I felt a strong feeling of anger surge through me as I fought him, and feeling my foot crash hard into his chest, knocking the wind from his body couldn’t have felt sweeter. I was going to get him back for everyone he had to do Rose; I wanted to make him regret every second he spent tormenting her.
Shaun rose back to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth where I’d elbowed him and had by now realized I had grown into a much better fighter over the years and lashed at me unexpectedly, trying to catch me off guard but once again, even after catching me in the side with a quick kick I was able to gain the upper hand again within seconds.
His blows really felt different too. I couldn’t whether it was because I’d grown stronger, or if he’d grown weaker over time but his shots didn’t feel as powerful and he wasn’t reacting as quickly as he had before
“Looks like shaving off your hair doesn’t make you go any faster after all,” I said with a smirk.
Shaun glared at me from the floor, before whipping himself back onto his feet and heading back into battle with me.
Shaun continued to try and quicken the pace once more, but it still wasn’t enough for me. I’d been training, and preparing for a moment like this ever since Shaun had been sending Rose these threats the night. Shaun himself however, had been spending the past 4-5 years locked in prison, slowly losing his mind. That’s not exactly going to improve you combat skills.
We continued to trade several blows, back and forth, striking and blocking, he eventually grew tired (especially after I’d already knocked the wind out of him quite a few times) and pulled away from me and slammed his hand against the window in anger, merely cracking it at first but breaking it after a second shot.
Blood was trickling down his hand, which he wrapped a glove over. I guess he hadn’t really weakened after all.
“I see you’ve learnt from our last fight,” he said looking across the scar upon my chest which could be seen, even in my dragon form.
“Well it doesn’t matter how hard you’ve trained dragon, or how much determination you have to protect what you love for that matter.” he continued “Because I will get her, I will find your weakness and wait until you let your guard down.”
And with that he crawled out of the window and out onto the fire escape, making his way out of the apartment.
I felt my heart pounding against my chest, I couldn’t tell whether it was fear from what Shaun was saying or just reaction to the intense rage and hatred burning inside of me, but I didn’t like it. I knew something bad was going to happen.
It was then that I suddenly became very aware of the fire Shaun had started in the apartment. Sweat was slowly dripping down the side of my face, and even though I myself could breathe fire I still found my chances of surviving a burning apartment building collapsing in very unlikely.
I started to make my way towards the window myself but I suddenly stopped and looked over my shoulder and through the door into the apartment that was slowly quenching the thirst of fire raging inside of it; and then I realized what was bothering me.
Jeff had lived there, everything he had had just been left there and never touched again for years and years and end. Sure everything would be frail and worn by now but that didn’t matter, Shaun had just returned and I know Rose would be worried, I’m already worried and so is Gramps.
We needed Jeff’s help badly, and maybe bringing back a piece of the few positive things that lived in his past would not only help get through to him but maybe even comfort Rose in this time of hardship.
I headed through the door and into the empty apartment that was filling with smoke that burned heavily through the air hanging over the flames likes shadows. I stepped carefully past it and made my way into the room that had been Jeff’s turning the handle and swinging it open.
His room was surprisingly fairly unaffected by the blaze, so I made my way in quickly and begin to grab a few of his things, things that he had kept close to him in his better days. Photos of his past and other memories he had kept from it. Before turning and heading out as fast as I could.
I was just about to head out the door until suddenly, the floor above caved in blocking it out.
“Sh*t!” I exclaimed, before coughing and spluttering as the thick clouds of haze surrounded me even more. The door frame had been blocked by wood that had collapsed in from the above floor. Some of it had fallen upon me, burying my leg under its thick, heavy weight.
I was trapped. I reached to the wood upon my leg and gripped my hands underneath it, trying to pick it up and move it. But I couldn’t. I had just suddenly become incredibly weak and tired from being locked up in here with no fresh air.
I didn’t last much longer, I feel back against the ground in shear agony with what felt like oxygen deprivation, but I wasn’t sure. The only thought on my mind was that this was it; this was where I would die; all because of one stupid mistake.
Maybe this had been Shaun’s plan all along, to lure me into this burning apartment leading me to my death so Rose could be easy pickings.
Had he predicted everything that had happened? Had he known that I would think to go and search for some of Jeff’s belongings delaying me long enough for the building to cave in?
It was physiological genius. He was no longer using physically unbearable forms of torture to get to his prey, but playing mind games, picking them apart mentally, looking for a weakness and striking upon it. In which case, he’d found mine. Rose.
He’d taken advantage of my determination to protect her, by
leading me into this apartment where Jeff had once lived in hope that maybe I would find some answers to help Rose get to Jeff or maybe even
“No,” I rasped to myself “This isn’t it.” I suddenly felt my grip on the wood tighten as strength slowly returned to my body “You haven’t beaten me yet Shaun,” I added, and with that I pushed and strained my entire body, summoning every last once of strength left in me until I felt it block of wood budge off of my leg and crack into the worn floor below.
I pulled myself back onto my feet, limping slightly on the leg that had been trapped underneath the wood, before staring at the doorway that had been blocked up by piles of wood and rubble, lunging at it and breaking through it with my shoulder.
Once I’d made it through the door I staggered out into the hall, growing weaker by the second, helplessly dragging myself along the floor. The distance between that door and the window Shaun had broken to escape was only a few feet, but to me it felt like miles.
My lungs felt as though they were about to burst, as my brain
screamed and I clenched my mouth shut firmly to keep from doing the same. I clawed desperately at the floor, determined not to give up, determined not to fail after coming this far. I struggled, my heart thumping hard against my chest as I continued to gasp on what air was left in my body.
Eventually, I reached the end and pulled myself up feet, heaving a sigh of really and finally staggered through the window. I cut my chest pretty badly, against the shards of glass as I pulled through it, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care, there was so much pain leaving my body and so much relief returning as I finally breathing fresh air again, I didn’t even notice.
Spreading my wings and taking off had never felt harder, even after I’d lay back for a moment to take a breather I struggled to make it into the air, but I had to get back. I had to warn Rose that she could be danger.
“What if he had already gotten to her while I was trapped in the apartment?” I thought in panic, my heart still racing, I kept pushing myself harder and harder by the second despite the slow realization that pain was aching through every part of my body. I kept going, until I was finally there. I hovered down over the balcony of our apartment and seeing the window open I moved closer to it.
“Rose,” I yelled out with everything that was left of my voice, trying to get her attention. Before I collapsed to the ground, cut, bleeding, bruised, burnt and feeling like I was about to die of oxygen deprivation, but she heard me and came out.
“Jake?” Rose said in shook with she saw me, she ran over and sat across from my mangled, aching body “Oh my god, what happened!” she exclaimed
“He’s back,” I only just struggled to get out “Shaun is back.”
I would never forget that look on Rose’s face, when those left my mouth. A look of absolute fear that seemed to consume her entire, her visions had come true. Her worst nightmares, had been realized.