Chapter 10- Unscathed For The Moment

"W-where am I?" The intruder asked hoarsely, lifting his head slightly in an attempt to survey his surroundings, but he quickly found that he could barely open his eyes. He heard the sound of a lighter going tick-tick-tick and could faintly make out the glow of an orange flame just a few feet away. He gave up his effort to see what was going on and laid his head back on the concrete below him.

Oliver dipped the end of his cigarette into the flame and then took an audible puff, letting the smoke out of his mouth casually. He waited for a few more moments, enjoying his cigarette before addressing the intruder he'd caught in Lana's apartment.

"I know who you are." Oliver said.

"Who I am…there's got to be some kind of mistake buddy, I…"

"Mistake?" Oliver laughed. "You're the Zodiac killer."

"Zodiac…you've got to be…" Oliver blew smoke in the other man's face, causing him to start coughing before he could finish his sentence.

"You know." Oliver said. "You've got great skin for a man." He grabbed the man's chin and studied his complexion carefully. Oliver didn't really mean this of course; the man was positively ugly. He'd only said this to be creepy. "You know…I don't usually…skin…men." He offered with a smile. "But I could make an exception…"

"S-skin…?"

"Your crimes are quite impressive; although pedestrian." Oliver notified.

"Hey look…who are you…"

"I'm surprised you haven't figured that out already." Oliver laughed. "I'm the one they call Bloodyface."

Oliver could hear the Zodiac's breath quicken at this revelation and laughed to himself. This man was supposed to be so infamous, but Oliver saw him as cowardly. First of all, he killed with a gun! A gun! Oliver didn't believe in guns and he hated them even more now after how Lana had used one to disfigure his face. From what he knew, the Zodiac killed for no reason: just for fun…and he couldn't respect that. Furthermore, he'd been in Lana's apartment, where his daughter was…ordinarily he wouldn't care what this fool decided to do with his time but Linnea's presence, and even Lana's, to a degree, made this a whole different matter.

"You-you're Bloodyface….O-Oliver Thredson?"

"You're not fit to speak my name you limerick leaving little asshole."

Oliver also scoffed at the idea that the Zodiac left notes in the newspaper for the police, taunting them with puzzles and riddles. He found the idea completely idiotic. He was a private man who kept his killing to himself. Oliver was struck with the idea that anyone who had to leave long and confusing notes like that was highly insecure and more attention seeking than anything else. Notorious or not, he was a pathetic excuse for a serial killer in Oliver's eyes, but none of that mattered.

"All I care about was where you were tonight." Oliver continued.

"Look, if that's where you were hiding out then…"

"No. A lady lives there…and I know you know that. You were there the other night too. And so was I. You will stay away from her and from her little girl, or you will be my next victim…I'm looking to start a new mask you know. And your skin would make a great foundation…" Oliver said, taking the blade of a knife and running it carefully along the Zodiac's throat. Oliver pressed down as the other man swallowed; causing a small puncture in the neck that quickly began to bleed.

"W-what do you care anyway?" He spat. "Just because you think you got to them first…" The Zodiac thought this was about claiming victims. "That bitch is helping them get to me quicker…she's causing me bad press. She needs to go."

"Bad press?" Oliver wanted to laugh.

A respectable killer wouldn't worry about press, he'd just continue on with his life…and make things more complicated for authorities, do something to throw them off track. Oliver smiled to himself as he took another puff of his cigarette. So this met that Lana was getting close to pinpointing who the Zodiac was…by his own omission. If anybody could do it, it'd be her…like he'd said she was the one: apparently she had a gift for telling serial killer's stories. He'd read Lana's article in the paper a few mornings ago as he walked down Market Street (where he was living in a little boarding house). It was good but he had no clue she was close. Dangerously close.

"Lana's a smart girl." Oliver continued. "But just because she's getting close doesn't mean that she's necessarily on to you. For instance; she doesn't know your name…and neither do I."

"I'm not telling you that."

"Fair enough." Oliver said. He'd finished with the cigarette and put it out by pressing it against the Zodiac's forehead.

"OWWW! Hey!"

"Oh that's just the start." Oliver chuckled. "Know that if you bother Lana Winters or her baby ever again, if you go to her house, or her work, or bother her in the park or at the market or anywhere I'll be there to uh…well," Oliver laughed. "Disassemble the pieces so to speak." He explained, forcing the edge of his finger into the gash on the Zodiac's neck, toying with it so as to make his intentions clear. "Anyway…I'll be seeing you." Oliver got up and placed his hands in his pockets as he began his walk down the ally.

"Hey where are you going?" The Zodiac protested. He lye on the ground bleeding, his arms and legs bound with rope.

"Frankly I don't care if you lye there and bleed to death." Oliver turned around to address him. "And besides you won't…it's more of a paper cut than anything else."

"You're just going to leave me here."

"Oh toughen up…it's no different than what you've done to your victims. A lot more humane actually… And besides, I never said I'd untie you."

Oliver laughed and continued on his walk, deciding that even this little incident with the Zodiac wouldn't ruin his evening. Like Lana and Linnea, he liked San Francisco: it's weather, it's people… He really sought to enjoy the time that he was going to spend there. Oliver took a deep breath of ocean air and walked back out onto the street. He wondered briefly if he should've just killed the Zodiac, but the truth was, Oliver was bored. He needed something constructive to do, so he'd keep the game going by leaving him alive. Nonetheless, he'd taken the Zodiac far away from Lana's home in the hopes that he wouldn't find his way back there that night.

Oliver, however, did return to Lana's. He saw her light on as he approached from the ally way behind the apartment and figured that he shouldn't stop, just walk by. He wondered what they were doing up so late, after all, he'd just seen them sleeping just a couple of hours ago. Oliver disregarded the question, realizing that babies got up a lot in the night; they needed changing, got hungry and so forth. The kitchen curtain over the stove was open…. which was highly unusual, but it provided him with a perfect view.

From his place in the ally he caught a glimpse of Lana's smile as she rocked their baby in her arms. Oliver paused, overcome with a strange feeling as he watched Lana smile at their baby and laugh with her…the sight was precious to him, and he longed to be part of it. He was soon feeling that all to familiar weight on his heart, the one he'd grown up with and had come to recognize as extreme loneliness and longing…But he couldn't help but admit to himself that he felt something more than just that…

It seemed so strange to him that he was going through so much effort to protect a woman he was planning on killing. He knew for sure that he didn't want someone else to kill her. That was going to be his job. He couldn't articulate exactly what he was feeling right then as he looked up at Lana, but he knew that it wasn't necessarily hate and that perplexed him. He'd spent practically every moment fueled with rage against her since the moment she fled Briarcliff, flipping him off as she was driven away…how could he not hate her? He did hate her. Oliver shifted his feet as he watched her, deciding that it all amounted to gratitude for the sake of his daughter and nothing more.

He continued on his walk after this, carefully prying his eyes away from little Linnea, which was hard to do. More than anything, he wished he didn't have to leave his child. Oliver decided to go and get a cup of coffee before he made his way back home, promising himself that one day he'd have Linnea all to himself.

…..

"We're going to play but we won't stay for very long, okay Linnea?" Lana explained to her very excited toddler.

"Okay." Linnea pouted.

She missed Daniel. It had been more than a week since the two had played together. Lana had been keeping her distance from Sadie and like Linnea, she was sad about it. But someone had been in her apartment and Sadie was the only other living soul with a key…it had to have been her, right? Or worse. Based on the fact that he had access to the key (and some other things she already knew about him from Sadie), Lana conjectured that Sadie's boyfriend may have been the same man who'd been in her apartment the other night…and perhaps the one Linnea had caught looking in too. As a result, Lana secretly changed the locks on her apartment the morning after the intruder was there, and had been avoiding her friend since the day they had their walk in the park. Lana thought Sadie was trying too hard to convince her that nothing sinister was going on, even after all that had happened, and that made even more suspicious than she already was.

In truth, Lana had been suspicious of this man ever since Sadie had first begun telling her about him. Something about him and their relationship didn't seem right to her. Lana noted that her friend had quickly become obsessed with this man, seeming to cast her own opinions and beliefs aside for his. She spoke of him as though he were the boss and last word on everything. Lana couldn't ever imagine being this way with anyone, deferring to their every word as if it were absolute truth and forgetting her own truths. She and Wendy had had tremendous differences with some things, politically and so forth, but they'd respected that in each other…it was what had kept things interesting. But since Sadie had begun seeing this guy, it was like the free spirit wasn't her own person anymore and that bothered Lana very much. It was one of the reasons that Lana had not been spending as much time with her. Even though Linnea was tiny, she didn't want her little girl to hear another woman talk about a man in the way Sadie now talked about her boyfriend: like he was her master.

"Don't be sad sweetie, you'll get to play for a bit." Lana said. Lana was only going over to Sadie's because she'd promised Linnea that they would.

"Okay Mommy."

Lana smiled down at Linnea as they waited for Sadie to come to the door. It was May now, and Spring seemed to be overtaking the city. All the flowers were in bloom and for the most part, the storm clouds had blown away. It was warm out, 70 degrees and the sun was shining brightly. Linnea was happy, even though she liked rain and puddles, Spring was her favorite season. Lana observed that the ushering in of the new season had also brought on a significant growth spurt for the little girl. She'd gotten a lot taller in just the past few weeks, was out of diapers and was talking more and more every day. All the changes in Linnea made it easier for Lana to get used to the idea that she'd wasn't a baby anymore, that she'd be three years old in just three short months. Lana knocked on her friend's door again; realizing it had been several minutes since she'd first knocked. Maybe they weren't home after all.

"Sadie! Sadie its Lana…" Lana was cut off mid sentence when her friend opened the door. "Sadie!" Lana gasped, quickly opening the screen door that blocked her from her friend. "What happened!?"

Sadie was battered: black and blue and covered in bruises. She had tears rolling down her cheeks and wouldn't look up at Lana. Lana noticed a long, bloody gash running across her friend's cheek. Daniel peaked out cautiously from behind his Mother's legs, a scar on his tiny cheek as well. Lana could tell that the little boy was scared to death and not his usual happy self. He smiled when he saw Linnea and came out to hug her. Linnea accepted her friend's hug, but her Mother could tell that she was terrified by what she was seeing, particularly by the blood on Sadie's face.

"Sadie who…who did this to you?!" Lana gasped, the tone of her voice revealing her great surprise at what she was seeing.

"N-nobody Lana it was just an accident."

"An accident?! Sadie someone attacked you!" Lana interjected.

"Lana please…" She said, grabbing her son by his shoulder and yanking him back from Linnea's arms. Linnea was hurt and confused by this and looked up at Lana but she didn't notice.

"Sadie…" Lana urged, somehow suddenly feeling responsible for helping her friend. "If someone's hurting you, you need to…"

"Lana…" Sadie began.

"Someone's hurting your son!" Lana pointed out with disgust.

"Lana I…" Sadie said tearfully.

"Sadie what's going on?! You need to get help!"

"That's fine for you to say; we can't all go saving the world Lana!"

"I'm not asking you to save the world! I'm just asking you to save yourself, and your son!" Lana didn't understand. If she could fight so hard to save herself and tiny Linnea from Oliver, a serial killer, then why couldn't Sadie try to save herself and her son from an abusive boyfriend?

"It's fine Lana, we'll be fine." Sadie said, pulling her son back further.

With a sad but appreciative smile, Sadie closed the door on Lana and her little girl. She burst out sobbing when she knew they were gone. Sadie dropped to the floor on her knees, feeling the sharp edge of the knife pull away from her back, leaving her unscathed for the moment.

"Mama?" Linnea asked, looking up at her Mother again, a mix of terror and confusion written all over her little face. She was disappointed she wanted to see her friend and now that the door had just been slammed in her face; she knew something bad had happened.

"Come on honey." Lana said sadly, picking the girl up.

"But Mama!" Linnea whined as her Mother placed her on her hip and began to walk down the stairs.

Linnea was shaken and worried by what had just transpired. She had so many questions on her mind, the foremost of which was, 'what's wrong with my friend?' Linnea had been terrified by Daniel's appearance, and that of his Mother also, she'd never seen anyone who was beat up, bruised and bloody before and didn't know what to make of it other than that it was bad.

She understood that it was like the bruise she had had on her knee a few weeks before…it was an 'owie'…those happened when something bad happened, like falling down. Linnea's knee had been bloody, purple and had hurt a lot…but of course, Mommy kissed it and made it all better…she knew this wasn't the case here. Linnea wanted to ask her Mother about all this, but didn't have the words for it.

"Oh honey, it's okay, it's okay." Lana soothed as she began to walk down the street. "Don't be upset sweetie. They're gonna be okay." Lana reassured, without knowing whether or not this was true.

Linnea could tell, from her place on her Mother's hip, that Mommy was upset. To say that Lana was upset was an understatement actually. Sadie's very shaky demeanor and the scars on her face had momentarily taken her back to another place; they reminded her of the scars she'd received in Oliver's basement and painful emotional recovery she'd had after the rape and imprisonment. It was something she didn't think about much and when she saw things like this, it sent her back into a dark hole.

Lana's thoughts then shifted to Linnea. How was she going to explain what had just happened? Linnea was so young…certainly too little to really understand what had transpired at Sadie's. Even Lana wasn't sure she really understood what had happened at Sadie's. All she knew was that Sadie and her son had been beaten, that was undeniable. It hurt Lana deeply to think that someone had laid their hands on that precious little boy. Daniel's scars scared her more though: they reminded her of the kind of abuse she feared her daughter might suffer at Oliver's hands.

….

"Are you okay Linnea?" Lana asked.

Hours had passed, it was night and they were home trying to pretend that it was a normal evening. Lana sat down next to Linnea on the carpet and ran her fingers gently through the girl's brown hair. Linnea was on the living room floor playing with some toys, Lana had noticed that she did so kind of half-heartedly and had this look in her eyes like she was staring off into space. Linnea sighed at her Mother's question. She wasn't really okay she was upset. And like earlier; she didn't know how to ask the many questions she had. And that was frustrating.

"I know that what you saw earlier, with Sadie's face and Daniel's, might be scary for you honey. But sometimes things like that happen to people."

Lana paused, looking down into the girl's face. Linnea pointed to her knee and looked up at her Mom.

"Yes…kind of like your knee." Lana paused.

What she had to say next was difficult for her to discuss. Linnea was such a sweet, innocent little thing. She didn't want to explain what she was about to explain, it reminded her of the fact that some day Linnea would ask about her Father and she'd have to tell her that Daddy was very bad, that he hurt Mommy…and other people. Lana knew this would happen sooner than she was ready for and she was not looking forward to it.

"It's like your knee only, not everyone is lucky enough to simply be hurt on the playground when they got hurt. Linnea, sometimes, people hurt other people…not by accident like what happened to you on the swings…but on purpose because they want to hurt someone…because they like it."

"They like owie?" Linnea asked.

"Yes honey, yes they do."

Linnea acknowledged her understanding by beginning to cry a little, a stream of tears beginning to run down the two-year-old's face. The idea scared her very much and Linnea hugged her mother, burying her tiny face in her chest.

"Oh!" Lana giggled sadly, embracing her little girl and beginning to rock her. "I know my love. The world's a scary place."

The world was indeed a scary place. Oliver could attest to that. He was disappointed that Lana was telling their young daughter about the evils of the word now, before she was even three years old, but he agreed it was better to tell her than to not. There were very bad people out there and while he to wanted to keep her from that she had to know. Of course, inevitably, he also knew that one day, Lana would tell the girl about him, and his evils. But Oliver wasn't too worried about that just yet. He figured Lana would wait as long as possible to tell Linnea about him, perhaps even long enough for him to catch up to her, for him to be able to be the one to fill in the missing details for their daughter.

"That's what's happening to Sadie and to Daniel…" Lana continued. Linnea flinched at this. "But it's okay you and Mommy are safe."

'That's true.' Oliver thought to himself. 'Just as long as Daddy's here.'

Oliver had stationed himself outside of Lana's apartment in a place where he could hear well but not be seen. After the information he'd found out earlier that day he felt he had no choice but to do so. Even if Lana did see him, it was a small price to pay compared to Linnea's safety.

"Why?" Linnea asked, her eyes full of tears.

"Because some people just are bad. And hurting people…well they like it, it makes them happy." Lana explained a second time, she thought of Oliver when she said this and on that note, was almost glad to see terror in her child's eyes.

Linnea began to cry again, this idea made her very sad as well as scared.

"Oh there, there it's going to be okay sweetheart." Lana soothed. "I promise."

Oliver cringed; he hated to hear his child cry. He decided to put his mind on something else and opened the evening newspaper, only he'd forgotten; it was the other reason he was there. The headline that read: Winter's Zodiac Piece Gives Authorities New Lead…it had given them a lead alright…a real good one, and that was exactly why the Zodiac had himself next door, stationed inside Sadie's apartment.