Chapter 7 – There are two killers! Back! (Unedited)
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Ugh... My head is killing me... And I'm cold and wet...

Chloe had a headache. She instinctively tried to rub her aching, painful head but soon realized that her hands were... Restrained?!

Opening her eyes wide, Chloe tried to say something, but the only voice that came out of her mouth was a muffled, "MMMnnnn!!! Mmmmm!!!"

In a panic, she tried to free herself, but to no avail. Not only were her hands restrained, but her feet and waist were as well. She was strapped to a chair, and her mouth was gagged.

After struggling for a minute, she gave up on it, realizing it was useless. She was not strong or flexible enough. She tried recalling what happened...

I... I remember I took the streetcar to go to that new beauty salon that recently opened up that my friend recommended. When I passed by an alley with a woman holding an umbrella, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of my head... 

When she reached that point, in trepidation, she started looking around. While hearing the muffled sound of raindrops and thunder in the background, she looked at the dimly lit room.

Cracked walls in obvious disrepair with graffiti on them and no windows, a wooden table with dangerous-looking tools such as saws, hammers, and knives, a digital camera placed on a stand five meters in front of her, an average-looking woman in her mid-thirties with a calm look was standing behind it, the same woman she passed by...

Chloe had a look filled with a growing sense of horror, starting to realize the predicament she got into.

Oh god, that is the serial killer from the news! I let down my guard when I passed next to her since she was a woman. And now, I am the next victim! I've got to get out of here, NOW!

Rattle* Rattle*

She began struggling madly while screaming muffled screams but to no avail.

The woman behind the camera was calmly recording everything. She then had a kind yet misplaced smile as she said in a surprisingly warm voice, "Don't bother struggling. You won't be able to get out of this one since I made sure to use extra-thick leather straps. Not that it would be needed, considering your skinny frame."

Hearing the woman's words surprisingly made Chloe calm down a bit as she started to think.

I hate to admit it, but she is right. I cant struggle out of this. My only hope is to try and stall for time for help to arrive... Think, Chloe, Think!

The woman seemed to see through Chloe's thinking pattern. Cocking her head to the side with narrowed eyes, she said with great amusement, "Are you perhaps thinking about a way to stall for time? Hoping for some miracle to happen? I suggest you drop that dream. Tonight there would be heavy rain. Your handbag is hidden behind a gutter, almost four blocks away from here. Your phone was already smashed and is inside a different gutter in a different direction. The route we took has no hidden cameras whatsoever. The heavy downpour would clean up most of the evidence by itself and interfere with police investigations. By the time they find your mutilated corpse, my boyfriend and I would be long gone."

As Chloe listened to the woman's narration, the feeling of dread grew deeper and deeper. When she heard the word boyfriend, her heart dropped to the floor.

Nobody is going to help me tonight, and she is not alone... She has an accomplice! I'm so screwed... But at least... At least I want to know why... Why am I going to die?

Chloe shot a resigned look at the woman, wanting an answer.

The woman seeing that look, smirked and asked, "You want to know why we are doing this, don't you?"

After seeing Chloe silently nod her head, the woman continued, "It's actually a simple reason, really..."

As she spoke, she started walking towards the table, "My boyfriend and I are extreme paraphiliacs... I am a hardcore sadist, only able to get aroused from mutilating young and decent-looking women, and my boyfriend can only get a hard-on from watching the videos of said brutality."

As the woman started to rummage through the dangerous-looking tools on the table, she continued, "At first, those urges were relatively tame. I went to an S&M club as a dominatrix, while my boyfriend got off from illegal videos on the dark web. However, those soon proved not enough. We wanted MORE."

She picked up a scalpel in one hand and a hammer in another, seeming to deliberate as she continued, "We met on the dark web, with common interests, and reached a small arrangement. While he acts as a lookout and arranger, I act as the unassuming lady that everyone ignores. I mean, who would suspect a woman like me to be the serial killer? Over 90% of serial killers are male, and females usually use arsenic. And so, I do the heavy lifting and get the jump on the unsuspecting young ladies, like you. After that, he cleans up the crime scene as I drag the victims to abandoned buildings that we prepared beforehand. And then, I film how I torture the victims, and he gets to watch the video afterward in a safe place while we have hot sex. A win-win if you ask me. Oh, and the reason why I am telling you all this is because it's my hobby."

Chloe couldn't help but despair as tears started misting her eyes.

She is crazy... CRAZY! I am going to be the sexual relief material of some sick psychopaths. Even worse, it's through the mutilation of my body, without any anesthetic too...

Tears started flowing down her cheeks. Thoughts flashed through her mind.

I have no means to escape, and nobody will find me... What did I do to deserve this fate? I don't want to die yet... I don't want to die like this... I don't want to die as a virgin... I still have so many things I wanted to see, so many things I wanted to do...

The figures of the people who were important to her flashed through her eyes.

Mom, dad, Sylvie, Everard, Noelie, Abella... Eli... I am sorry, I won't see you again in this life... Please live well.

As she continued despairing, the woman seemed to frown, indecision in her eyes.

She then came to her newest victim and said, "I seem to have difficulty deciding on what to choose, so I will let you help me decide."

She then showed the hammer in one hand and the scalpel in the other, "What do you want me to use first? The hammer or the scalpel?"

Chloe felt a hot trickle flow between her legs as the slight smell of ammonia filled the air. She didn't even resist or respond, only shaking like a cornered animal, waiting to be butchered.

The woman seemed to be annoyed and said menacingly, "If you don't choose, then I will pick polishing paper to scrap the skin right off you. Believe me that it's even more painful."

Chloe's shaking became even more at the mere thought of it, and her crying got even worse.

Just as the woman was about to lose her patience, suddenly, her phone rang. The phone was especially encrypted by her boyfriend, who happened to be a phone geek, so it was relatively safe for them to use it.

She frowned, calmly put down the hammer and scalpel back on the table, and answered, putting the phone on speaker, "What is it, love? You know I hate being distracted while I do my thing..."

A male voice was heard on the other side of the line, rain in the background, "Sorry dear. Some bearded fat guy with a pistol is running to our location, and he seems like he's out for blood. He is holding a phone, too. I think he called 911."

When Chloe heard this, she was stunned for a second before the light of hope reignited in her heart.

Someone is coming to save me! And he called 911 too! Maybe I can survive this! Wait, a bearded fat guy?

She then remembered a fat guy she knew... One that gave her a half-hearted joke of a promise...

Is that Eli? Did he come to save me? How did he even find this place?! Oh no... Eli, forget that stupid promise, just run! Call the police and run!

Her eyes started to tear up again. While she wanted to be saved, she didn't want to lose a friend. Also, if he got into this, things might get even worse! He was not a SWAT member, and at most, he was just a run-of-the-mill guy that knew how to shoot a pistol as a hobby. That wasn't the worse part. He was facing not one but two serial killers! If that wasn't enough, they also held a hostage... Herself! Even a SWAT squad would have a problem facing a hostage situation, let alone Eli.

While those thoughts flashed in Chloe's mind, the female serial killer seemed irked by the news, "Goddammit, seems like our fun got spoiled prematurely. Start plan B. Kill him and get the car."

Chloe's heart dropped by those words, and that was only the beginning of her despair, as the woman smiled and looked at her with a spine-chilling gaze, "Sorry sweaty, but you have seen my face, so I can't just simply let you go now, now could I? So, please, be useful to us, as a hostage, that is."

 

 

 

From the moment he entered the alley, Eli ran for over 800m. Thanks to his increased Vitality and fitness, he was not completely tired and still had some energy in him. All along the way, through all the twists and turns, he was guided by his Precognition, the feeling growing more and more.

Just as he reached a turn in an alley, he suddenly had a feeling that he was being watched with malicious intentions, followed by a growing sense of danger, but he could not pinpoint where the feeling came from! He then started looking left and right, but to no avail.

Is that the killer? Where is he?

As he searched for the killer, suddenly, the feeling of danger spiked. Instinctively, Eli jerked to the side, like retracting an arm that got burnt or electrocuted. What followed was intense pain in his left forearm, causing him to grunt in pain, "Urgh!"

Other than the sound of rain in the background and his grunting, he didn't hear any other sound. The bullet itself didn't penetrate his arm, only grazing it on the side, causing a large tear in his fatty tissue.

He cursed in his mind, Shit, that hurt! I didn't hear anything, so he is probably using a silencer... The shot came from that direction! Let's try that skill for a change, 'Back' 10 seconds!

 

 

 

Time rewound itself to 7 seconds before he got shot. It was the first time that Eli actually used this ability, so he was surprised by it.

It worked! I don't feel pain in my arm! But I am not out of danger yet...

Eli turned his body to look in the direction from where he perceived the bullet came from. Although the alley was pretty dark, he still managed to see some slight movement on the second floor of a building. Eli narrowed his eyes.

There you are, you son of a bitch.

After quickly putting his phone into his pocket, he held his pistol with both hands and aimed at the second floor. Once he found a humanoid shadow, he quickly aimed at it and opened fire!

BANG* Piang* BANG* Piang*

The two bullets he shot didn't hit the target but deviated and hit the window wall instead. The shadow seemed startled and quickly docked, disappearing from his sight. Eli cursed in his mind.

Shit, I missed the fucker. Let's try this again, 'Back' 3 seconds!

Eli went back in time to when he was about to open fire. Instead of pulling the trigger immediately, he slightly shifted his aim and opened fire.

BANG* Piang* BANG* Pff* "ARGHHHHH!!! FUCKING SHIT THAT HURTS!!!"

While the first bullet still missed, the second one hit the killer in the arm. The killer seemed to be moderately hurt too. For Eli, it was enough.

Heh, even though I didn't shoot for over a year, I guess I'm not too rusty. What I shot was a 9mm hollowpoint bullet. Even if it didn't incapacitate the guy, I don't think he would be able to use that arm properly anytime soon.

Eli's body started shaking from the adrenaline rush, as well as the unfamiliarity of shooting another human being.

Fuck, I still can't believe I shot a guy, even if he tried to kill me. Ugh... Fuck it. The bastard deserved it. Stay strong, Eli... You can do this... For Chloe's sake...

After a short pep-talk, he got over the shaking and rushed to the building where the killer was. The building itself was dilapidated and old, clearly in disrepair. It must have been one of the houses that were still abandoned after hurricane Katrina, as there were still over 20,000 abandoned buildings, even in the middle of the city.

Soon, he arrived next to a worn-down wooden door. After failing to open it conventionally, he decided to kick the door open.

BAM* BAM* BAM* CRACK*

After only kicking the door three times with all his weight, the half-rotten and old wooden door cracked open. What he saw inside was what anyone would expect from an abandoned house... Decayed and rotten furniture, cracked and peeled-off paint, broken glass on the rotten wooden floor...

As Eli went inside the house, the wooden floor creaked from his weight. However, his steps were not the only ones that sounded in the house...

Creak* Creak* Creak*

He managed to distinguish that at least two more people were walking in the house. One set of steps were upstairs, while the other came from downstairs. He had a feeling that Chloe was downstairs.

One of them is probably the killer, but two sets of footsteps? Chloe? No, that wouldn't make sense. She is held captive and should not have the autonomy of movement. Then that would mean... An accomplice?! SHIT! It's bad, the situation is bad... If the accomplice holds Chloe hostage while that other guy points his gun at me, I will get screwed even with Time Stipend. I need to act, NOW!

As cold sweat ran through his soaked and cold face, Eli quickly thought about who he should take out first and decided that the guy he just shot should be the target.

If I act rashly and go to Chloe immediately, I might get stuck in a deadlock in a hostage situation. If that happens, I will probably get pincered by the other guy. Even if I can turn back time, I only have a bit more than a minute left. Even if I can react to danger, I don't think I can dodge bullets actively like in the matrix, especially in close range.

After Eli decided his next move, he burst into action. He went to a nearby staircase to the second floor, where the killer he just shot was at. After he ascended the stairs, he looked around and could only see some fresh bloodstains on the floor in the dim light.

Where is he hiding? Eh?!

Before he could react, suddenly, he heard a rather soft sound that he recognized as a gunshot from a silenced pistol. Instead of a BANG* like thunder, it sounded like Pyooh* like that from a bb gun, just a bit louder, and the sound of a metal casing falling to the ground. What followed was an intense pain from the low of his back, and he couldn't feel his legs. His lower spine cord got damaged, and his legs got paralyzed.

A deranged male voice sounded behind him, "Take that, you fucker!"

Nearly falling unconscious from the brutal pain assaulting his mind and collapsing to the floor, he could barely think in his mind a single sentence.

It hurts... I don't like pain... His behind my back... 'Back' 5 seconds.

 

 

Time rewound itself to when he just ascended the stairs. Immediately, he turned around and pointed his gun in the opposite direction, and opened fire.

With a thunder-like, the bullet he fired lodged itself in the killer who hid behind the railings, lodging itself dead-center in the middle of his chest, splattering blood and organ pieces on the wall behind him. The killer had a look of complete disbelief in his eyes as his pistol dropped to the ground with a Clack*.

How did he know?

Those were the last words he thought about before his sight descended to darkness.

Eli, who just shot the killer to the center of his chest and dropped him, looked in disbelief at what he just did.

I... I killed him. I shot him in the center of his chest with a hollowpoint in point-blank range. Even if he isn't dead yet, he would most likely die before getting surgery. I feel sick... Why did you force me to do this... But it's not over yet. There is still one more...

He then heard a voice coming from downstairs, "Love? Did you take care of him already? I got the girl. Let's hurry up and leave before the cops arrive!"

Eli's gaze hardened at those words.

Shit, It's like I feared. It's going to be a hostage situation. I need a plan...

Eli's gaze landed on the fallen pistol of the guy he just dropped...

I actually wanted to kill Chloe off but decided not to do it in the end. I know. I'm just too kind here.

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