When Alfred returned two hours later, he changed his clothes. It was possibly one of the most terrifying things Kieren has ever seen.

Previously Alfred had been wearing a blue jumper and loose trousers. The guy even wore dark green crocs when he dragged the dead man out of the room. When he came back, he had a large, black, leather apron on. He wore safety goggle which rested on his forehead. He had white rubber gloves on, and wore thick, black boots.

He dressed like he expected to be splattered on.

"Well now... which one should I choose?"

It shouldn't be physically possible, but Kieren felt his heart skip a beat. He couldn't explain the feeling of being kicked in the chest, the sudden fear dropping into his stomach. He didn't know, he didn't care- a notorious serial killer was back from disposing a corpse and was now deciding on his next play thing.

Alfred purposefully tapped his chin in a thoughtful manner as he considered Kieren and Lydia. "Hmmm..."

He pointed at Lydia. "Ennie-"

Then to Kieren. "Minny-"

Back to Lydia. "Minie-"

Lydia began to shake violently in her cuffs. She shook her head, her lips begging silently as she tried to move away by kicking out.

"Catch a tiger..."

All Kieren wanted to do was scream and shout, to go over and curl his body over Lydia and tell her everything was going to be okay.

"If he hollers..."

Lydia was only twenty-three. She died when she was clipped by a passing car. She had bled out internally. She was a website designer for a small, independent company. She liked cats, she has two brothers, neither of which she was close with. Her favourite song was Desperado by the Eagles and she hated chocolate chip mint ice cream.

"Ennie, minny, minie-"

"NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH- BATMAN!"

Alfred froze in mid-point towards Lydia. Slowly he turned his head towards Kieren.

Kieren was shaking just as bad. His knees were pulled up to his chest, his body already flinching from the anticipated blows. He took a shuddering breath and repeated,

"NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN!"

He was dead. He was so, so dead.

Lydia was gaping at him, her face a strange mixture of pure horror and unexplained delight. She was probably more shocked than he was that he dared to pull such a stunt.

Alfred kneeled down to face Kieren. As much as Kieren felt relief he was able to pull Alfred's attention away from Lydia, he was regretting it just as much. He reared back, shaking like a worm on a hook as Alfred reached forward and grasped him by the hair.

His head was roughly shoved down. He thought he was going to be decapitated.

A familiar pressure was on his back and he gasped. Alfred was giving him his neurotriptyline.

Alfred pulled back a second later, smoothing down Kieren's hair. The administrating needle he used looked home-made, and was much smaller than the hospital issued one. "You're funny," Alfred said with no real humour behind the words. "That's funny."

He stood up. He turned.

"NO-!" Kieren cried out, jerking forward. "STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

Lydia wailed incoherently as Alfred descended upon her. She tired to kick out at him, to keep him at bay, and he slmmed his foot against her knee, snapping her leg in half.

At the sight of her leg at an impossible angle, bending upwards at the knee, Lydia screamed in terror. With a quick twist, Alfred undid her locks, releasing her arms. She barely even noticed.

"No! No, please-!"

He grabbed her by her hair, and began dragging her out of the room like a caveman. Her fingers clawed at his hand, and when she broke skin, Alfred rammed her head against the wall next to the open door, stunning her.

She was still pawing at his hand, her eyes struggling to keep open. The fight was gone from her though. Just as Alfred finally pulled her away, Kieren watched as a streak of black blood rolled down her nose.

Alfred had not given her her shot of Neurotriptyline yet. By becoming rabid, did he find it easier to use her? Or did it make it more interesting?

"I hope she eats you!" Kieren yelled out to his back. "I hope... she..."

()

Unlike Lydia, who said she heard the screams of the poor dead man echoing through the walls, Kieren heard nothing. Not a scrape, not a whimper, not a growl, laughter, crying, or even general sounds of movement.

He strained his ears, held his breath to listen better. Maybe, maybe he heard a noise like a heavy object falling to the ground, but he wasn't sure.

He tried breaking his fingers again with the same useless result. He tried kicking at the lock in hopes of breaking it open but his foot never came near it. The angle was too awkward and his flexibility was shite.

At one point he even tried smashing his head against the lock. He couldn't bring himself to hit hard enough.

He has never felt so useless in his life.

How many people were in the same position he was? How many sat there like him, trying desperately to find a way to escape and unable to? Suddenly Kieren felt like an irresponsible tit, who never watched the news. Maybe if he spent more time learning about the world, he would have caught reference to Alfred's activities.

There was a lead detective. That meant not all of Alfred's crimes were left undiscovered. Somebody took notice. Someone was bound to take notice again.

Except Kieren wasn't sure he'll be alive for that next time.