A/N: Thanks for the feedback I've gotten so far! I'm going to try to update once a week (no promises) so here's the next chapter. Enjoy! :D
Martha and Alice had left the café and spent the morning wandering about the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum before getting lunch at a small restaurant that served excellent sandwiches. They had then wandered over to the national monuments, passing some by while ambling about others, with no real direction in mind. It was fairly late in the afternoon; they had just passed the Vietnam memorial and were walking around in the surrounding park when Martha saw a familiar blonde haired figure sitting alone on a park bench, reading a book.
"Matt?" Martha called out, approaching the man. He lowering the book he had been reading and scanned the people around him, his eyes lighting on Martha and Alice.
"Oh hello Martha" Matt said, smiling softly. He was a young man, tall, blonde and rather handsome, with eyes that were a striking blue that bordered on purple. Martha had met Matt years ago when Rick first got his job in DC. Matt had been one of the first co-workers Matt had brought home for dinner and drinks and Martha had grown quite fond of the young man. He was gentle and kind, though she had quickly learned he had a strong streak of sarcasm that became particularly nasty when he had had a few too many drinks.
"Alice, this is Matt" Martha said, introducing her friend to the man, "He works in the Canadian government and has worked with Rick a few times on some projects. He's come over for dinner and drinks and let me tell you, this man can drink Rick under the table."
"Nice to meet you." Alice said, smiling and extending her hand, "You managed to survive Martha's cooking and outdrink Rick? Color me impressed."
Martha frowned, "Hey. And anyways Rick cooked those nights."
"That would explain it then" Alice said, laughing, "You know she managed to mess up a batch of instant cookie dough? The stuff you literally just pop into the oven? Yea. Set her oven on fire."
Matt laughed, "Oh goodness. That is impressive."
"She's exaggerating", Martha said stoutly, glaring at Alice, "I'm no Iron Chef but I can whip up a mean dinner. I'm just not good with desserts. And Rick enjoys cooking so I don't try to stop him."
"How has Rick been anyways?" Matt asked, turning to Martha, "I haven't spoken with him since our last dinner party."
"Oh, he's busy" Martha shrugged, "You know, work. He's away on business now actually so I haven't seen him in a few weeks either."
"You know, speaking of dinner we were going to have a dinner at Martha's apartment" Alice suddenly piped up, "Would you like to come?"
"Well we haven't had a dinner party in some time" Matt nodded, smiling, "I would love to come. Then we can see how good of a cook you are, right Martha?"
Ignoring Alice's snickers, Martha nodded, "Sure thing. I'm thinking 8ish? It would be a bit late but we would have to pick up ingredients and stuff."
"That sounds fantastic." Matt responded, "I'll bring over some desert then, since you apparently struggle in that department?"
"Sounds like a plan!" Alice nodded, as Martha spluttered in protest, "You busy now actually? We were just exploring the monuments and wouldn't mind the extra company."
"It's unusual for a DC resident to explore the national monuments" Matt said, looking at Martha.
"Well yes but I thought it would be nice to show Alice around" Martha nodded, shrugging, "You know, check out the heart of our great nation? Alice was horrible at US history and current events so a little educational field trip never hurts."
"I wasn't bad at US history or current events" Alice retorted quickly, "You were just ridiculously good. There's a difference you know."
"You can't even list your senators"
"Well yes but you know oh who cares? Sherlock Holmes didn't know the Earth went around the sun I don't need to know who my senators are."
"Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character."
"That's what you think."
Martha rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to Matt, "See?" she asked, "Educational field trips never hurts."
Matt laughed, "Indeed. I think I'll have to decline on exploring the monuments though. God knows I've seen them more times than I can count…my brother's dragged me around them at least a million times."
"You have a brother?"
"Oh…yes." Matt nodded, "His name's Alfred. He's very…American so he takes a lot of pride dragging me around the US and showing things off."
"Nothing wrong with that!" Martha laughed, "does he live in DC too then?"
"Um. Sometimes?" Matt shrugged, "He travels a lot. Kinda lives all over."
"Oh. Okay. It would have been nice to live in the same city as your brother I suppose…"
"Same city?" Matt spluttered, "No, Martha I don't live in DC! I'm Canadian! I am-no I mean live in a completely different country!"
"Oh dude really?" Martha shrugged, "Sorry it's just you're here a lot…"
"I work for the Canadian government so there's a lot of travel involved in my job."
"Oh. Oops. Okay." Martha laughed, "I dunno I just kinda assumed you moved to DC or something. My bad."
Matt sighed, "It's fine. Speaking of work, I have to take care of some things today anyways. It was nice seeing you though. I'll see you two tonight?"
"Sure thing!" Martha nodded, "8 o clock sharp! You remember where I live?"
"Sure do" Matt responded, smiling, "I'll see you later then."
"Yes! See you there!" Martha said, smiling and waving goodbye as Matt turned and headed off.
"Well we have another person to feed tonight", Martha shrugged, watching Matt's retreating back, "We better get cracking on that dinner…hey Alice, I have to clean up my apartment. Would you mind picking up some groceries for me?"
"Will do" Alice nodded, "Just gimme a list? I'll just come straight to your place when I'm done."
Martha pulled a pen and notepad out of her purse and jotted down the ingredients she needed, "Sounds like a plan. You know how to navigate the metro and where everything is?"
"I'm a big girl, I'll figure it out" Alice said in a teasing voice as she folded up the paper Martha gave to her and started walking away, "See you in a bit!" she called, waving back over her shoulder.
"Yea!" Martha nodded, smiling as she too turned and headed home.
It was around six when Martha returned home. The sun was still up though it had just started to dip down. Winter was coming, that much was obvious by the shorter, colder days. She let herself into her apartment, frowning briefly at how empty it seemed without Rick. She took her shoes off, threw her coat on the small table by the entrance and started making a mental list about what needed cleaning when a sudden voice startled her.
"You are Martha I presume?"
Martha jumped, then spun around. A strange man Martha had never seen before stood in her entry hall.
While Martha used the term, "man", she felt that was not quite right. The thing that stood in front of her certainly had the appearance of a man, with an engorged belly and face half-hidden in shadows, but there was something about him, Martha could not say what, that did not seem quite human.
He took a step towards her and she suddenly felt her terror being overwhelmed by sheer revulsion. Martha was suddenly reminded of a swollen spider after a meal, and quickly swallowed the bile that rose in the back of her throat. She backed up slowly, her eyes never leaving the man's mouth. His skin and clothes were white with a sickly green tinge, and his teeth were crooked and yellowed. The lighting around him was off too, Martha noted. Though the hall light was on, his face was still hidden in the shadow, the brim of the white hat he wore pushed down low over his face.
Martha reached slowly into her purse that she was holding, feeling around for the small revolved she kept on her person at most times, "Who are you." She croaked out, stepping backwards as he slowly approached her.
"It's not really that important" the man shrugged and Martha felt a shiver run up her spine. Even the man's voice sounded wrong, oily, slick and simply too smooth.
"Well what do you want." She said, trying to suppress the tremor in her voice.
The man's smile never left his face, "I simply need you to accompany me…we have dealings with Mr. Rick, you know him yes? And well he is being rather…uncooperative."
Martha swallowed heavily, "Wha-what do you mean? How do you know Rick? What are you doing with him?"
The man spread his hands out, his chubby, short fingers glinting from the luxurious rings he wore on them, "We wanted nothing to do with him. He, well you see, he insisted if you will on getting involved with us. And now he decides not to cooperate with our operations…you can see how this is unfair, no?"
He took another step towards Martha and she whipped the gun out of her purse. She was shaking slightly but she held her aim, "Don't come any closer. I'm going to call the cops. Don't you dare move."
The sudden appearance of the gun, however, did not seem to deter the man at all, "Now, dear come let's not be brash. I abhor violence you see, it is not really my forte so let us just remain civil."
"Then stay back!" Martha cried, becoming slightly hysterical, "I swear I'll shoot if you take another step, I swear I will!"
The man's smile never faltered and slowly, deliberately, he took another step towards Martha.
There was a loud BANG and shortly after, the smell of gunpowder filled the room. Martha gasped, still holding the gun tightly. She had aimed for the man's shoulder, hoping not to do any serious damage, yet still hoping to get her message across.
Her aim had been true, and she could see the bullet wound in the man's shoulder, a small black hole against his white suit. He paused, looking at his shoulder, and for a second, Martha thought he was finally going to back down. However, her horror intensified as he, calmly looked back up at her.
"Oh now you've done it." The smile was gone from his face and instead replaced by a deadly calm, "That was one of my nicer suits, you know. It was not by any means cheap and now you have gone off and ruined it."
"How…" Martha began but the man moved, quicker than Martha had seen anyone move, towards her and knocked the gun out of her hand. She stumbled back into the living room, bracing herself as he came towards her.
She swung with all her might, her fist connecting solidly with his injured shoulder. Her punch, however, like the gun shot seemed to have no effect on the man.
"You are remarkably strong, dear, you know that" the man said, smiling again, "Really a punch like that would have leveled most of your kind."
"My kind…" Martha repeated, backing up again, panic rising quickly in her chest, "What are you talking about?!"
"Ah…unfortunately I may have said a tad too much." Again the man struck with insane speed, especially for such a bloated individual.
Martha tried to scream as she was slammed backwards, hard, down onto her coffee table. However, she was only able to get a small whimper out as his chubby fingers closed around her throat. Glass shattered about her and she could feel small shards stabbing into her back. She shuddered, clawing at the hands around her throat; not only was her oxygen being cut off but the man's touch felt wrong. Like his voice, his fat fingers felt slimy and oily. She could feel the cold metal of the rings press around her throat and she thrashed violently, to no avail. He was crushing her. It wasn't just the physical weight of the man either, but something else, some presence surrounding the man that was smothering her.
"Now. Are you going to come quietly?" the man asked, again the air of calm surrounding him.
She tried to kick free but could feel her strength quickly leaving her. Her thrashings became weaker and she could feel her vision going black around the edges. Just when she thought she was going to go unconscious, she felt the man's fingers loosen. Gasping for air, she crashed down onto the floor, limp. She tried to stand but the man's weight, that unbearable presence surrounding him was far too much and she could only lay there, among the shattered glass, numbed. She could feel herself being lifted, and her nausea rose once again at the man's touch. What was he? She wondered briefly.
Everything about the strange man that now carried Martha, slung over his shoulder, seemed wrong. Just touching him made her feel ill, and his voice as well as his mannerisms felt disgusting, slimy and unclean. Martha felt completely paralyzed and dazed and could only hang there limply as she felt herself being moved out of the apartment building into the cool evening air.
Please someone come…please someone help…but Martha sincerely doubted most of her neighbors were home yet, as most of them seemed to work very long days. Matt and Alice were not expected for at least another hour, so Martha knew she could not rely on her friends. If the gunshot had failed to arouse anyone she sincerely doubted that anyone was coming to her rescue.
She was dumped unceremoniously into the back of a luxurious car. She could feel the rich leather of the seats against her skin and soon felt ropes binding her arms and legs and a cloth being tied around her mouth. Tears began to prick at the corner of her eyes and she once again tried to struggle against her abductor.
Her attempts were in vain however and she soon heard the door slam and another open as the man slid into the driver's seat. The car engine started and soon they were speeding off, Martha's thoughts clouded with fear, panic and revulsion for the man who sat in the driver's seat.
And that's that! In case you were wondering, no the person who captured Martha was not a nation (though yes, Matt was Canada). It'll become clear who he is with upcoming chapters. :) Again critiques and reviews are always appreciated!