Chapter 12
Early the next morning Kara got up smiling softly as she looked down at Alice who was sleeping soundly next to her.
Luther was sitting by the fireplace wide awake much to her surprise.
"You're still up?"
"Someone had to watch over you and I don't trust that Ralph guy."
"He seems nice enough," Kara said.
"He captured us, Kara."
Kara sighed.
"He was nice to Alice."
Luther sighed.
"We were unconscious for goodness knows how long. He could have done anything in that time and he still might."
"I know."
"Please, at least consider what I said."
Kara glanced into his brown eyes.
"I do. I really appreciate you looking out for us...especially me. You could have given up on me and Alice, you could have given up on me the moment I lost my memory but you never did. I'm always going to remember that, Luther."
Luther smiled. It seemed softer somehow.
"Still we ought to do something about your hair."
"Oh? You weren't trying to dye your hair to make a fashion statement?"
Kara chuckled playfully shoving him.
Luther winced.
"Of course not. Since our pictures are all over the news I figured we should at least try not to look exactly alike but first I think we might have to change that bandage over your shoulder."
Luther sighed.
"I guess so."
Kara reached for the collar of his buttoned up shirt carefully unbuttoning it. Luther hissed as Kara pushed it aside to expose his left shoulder.
She removed the bandage. The wound was red and oozy.
Kara reached into one of the bags to get out a spare shirt. She poured water from the bottle Ralph had left for her onto the shirt before she began to clean his wound causing him to wince.
"Kara, you don't need to do that. It'll be fine."
"We can't afford to let that wound get infected."
After she was finished cleaning the wound, Kara took a fresh shirt out of her bag and began cutting it into strips before assembling another makeshift bandage.
She tied it firmly around his wound.
"Good?"
"Yeah."
Kara reached over to shake Alice awake.
"Alice?"
Alice's eyelids twitched and she slowly opened her eyes.
"Kara?"
"I'm going to be in the bathroom. Can you come along?"
"Okay."
Taking her supplies, Kara lead Luther to the bathroom with Alice towing behind.
Once they got into the bathroom, Kara began to work on Luther's hair. After they were finished Luther spoke.
"So Alice, what do you think?"
Alice looked up at Luther who was now sporting blond hair.
"Cool."
As the three headed back, Kara caught sight of a door that was wide open.
"Luther, I'll meet up with you later. There's something I want to check out right quick."
"Be careful, alright."
Kara walked over to the open door and glanced inside.
The room was empty for the most part.
'Strange.'
Curious, she walked inside.
Glancing around the objects in the room it appeared had been gathering dust. The floors however looked like they had constantly been walked on.
Something plastic was peeking underneath the bed.
She knelt down and pull it out.
It was a bag of some sorts carrying what looked like tiny red shiny pebbles.
She glanced under the bed to find there was alot of bags with the same content.
Struck with an uncomfortable feeling she got up and decided to head back to the room with Luther.
Luther was playing pattycake with the girl.
"Oh Kara, there you are."
Luther glanced at her.
"Is something wrong?"
"Um, have you ever seen anyone collect bags of tiny red pebbles?"
"Yeah, why?"
Kara fidgeted before leaning over to Luther's ear.
"I think Ralph has a collection of them under his bed."
Luther hissed under his breath.
"That's all we need."
"What's the matter?" Alice asked.
"It's nothing."
"Is something wrong?"
Luther glanced at her with narrowed eyes.
"The contents in those bags underneath his bed aren't pebbles. He's a red ice dealer and might even be on the stuff himself," he murmured.
"So it's a drug then?"
"A dangerous one. I did a lot of red ice busts back in the day. If the stuff doesn't bring you a high, it makes you irritable for hours. It's even more dangerous when someone is high on the stuff because they're prone to unpredictable behavior."
As the two headed in the living room, Ralph it appeared was talking with a couple.
"...them in."
He turned hearing Kara, Luther and Alice walk in.
"I need you to stay in your room for a little bit while I talk with these young people, alright?"
Kara, Luther and Alice headed back in their room.
Luther felt a shiver rake down his spine.
Kara heard Ralph behind them giving her an uneasy feeling.
Once they got back in the room, Ralph shut the door behind them. Kara and Luther heard what sounded like a latch on the door.
"Sh-t," Luther hissed.
"Calm down, Luther."
"How can you be so calm? He's locked us in here."
Kara may have looked calm but inwardly she was just as panicky as Luther.
'Still I gotta be calm for Alice.'
She inched close to the door. She heard loud clattering and banging as if someone was dragging something heavy across the floor. There was also shuffling that grew louder as if someone was dragging something next to their door.
'What's that?'
"What's so important that he has to hide it from us?" Luther whispered.
"I don't know."
Kara decided to make use of the time to talk with Alice who was just sitting there.
She was surprisingly inactive for a girl her age.
After some time had passed, Kara finally spoke.
"Aren't you bored just sitting there?"
"Nah, I'm never bored. I'm always learning something new even just sitting here like this."
Kara smiled.
"Oh yeah? What have you learned?"
"Well I was thinking about when you were dying Luther's hair today and when you were cutting your hair yesterday and I was thinking there is still so much I have to learn about this world."
"So what do you think so far?"
"I don't know. Some things really seem fun. I never thought dying your hair would make you look so beautiful."
"Thank you, Alice. I never thought that being honest would make you all the more adorable."
She chuckled as she embraced Alice.
"Shh," Luther brought a finger up to his lips.
Kara turned towards him. Luther pointed towards the door and she was quiet.
In the distance she heard the door unlatching. Ralph opened the door.
"Can we go out now?" Kara asked.
"Yeah, Ralph just had to take care of some urgent business. We should all be set for dinner tonight."
"Who was that couple you were talking to?"
"Just Ralph's androids. It's been hard on Ralph since he moved here. Ralph needed all the help he could get."
"Ralph do you have a piece of paper and a pencil? I want to draw something," Alice said.
"Y-yeah, Ralph has something like that somewhere."
Ralph headed out and returned with some paper and a pencil.
Alice smiled.
"Thanks Ralph."
She set the paper on the floor and began to draw.
Ralph sat down watching her smiling as she was drawing.
Luther glanced at them uneasy.
Sometime during this, Ralph excused himself.
"Ralph is going to make dinner and then he'll be back and we'll eat in the kitchen together."
Once he had gone downstairs, Kara got up.
"Where are you going?" Luther asked.
"I'm curious about something. Watch Alice. I'll be back."
Kara stepped outside the room and walked to the room she had glanced through before. It was closed this time.
She tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge.
'Guess he locked it.'
Apparently it was loud enough because she heard rustling coming from inside and the sound of something dragging across the floor.
"Hello?" she whispered.
"Looks like someone else is there," a deep raspy voice came from the other side of the door.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Carl. I'm here with my son, Markus."
"What are you two doing locked in there?"
"We're being held here against our will. That guy you're living with he's been feeding off my son."
"What?"
"We've been here about a week. Those androids moved us here after someone heard us."
"Sh-t," she murmured under her breath. "Listen I'll do what I can to help, alright."
"Alright."
With that Kara headed to the bathroom to clear her head overcome with nausea at the thought that the person she was staying with was a cannibal.
Only when she got in the bathroom and closed the door behind her, a horrible stench was permeating the air. She immediately turned towards the toilet.
The curtains were closed.
'How odd.'
Bracing herself she moved the curtain aside.
A human body was hung from the ceiling blue and purple. Fresh blood oozed from a neck wound.
Kara hissed shutting the curtain promptly and heading out of the bathroom.
Only when she came back in the room with Luther and Alice did she finally let out a sigh of relief.
Luther glanced at her in concern.
"Kara, what's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Alice looked up at Luther.
"Is Kara alright?"
Luther sighed giving Alice a soft smile.
"I'm sure she's fine, Alice."
Luther scooted towards her.
"What happened?" he whispered.
"He's holding some people in the room. I think he's been using one of them as food."
Luther looked at Kara in disbelief.
"You're kidding."
Kara looked at him with unease. Concern etched in her eyebrows which were drawn up close to her eyes.
"I'm not."
"Konnie, Alex, Alice, dinner is ready."
Kara and Luther shared a look of unease before the three headed downstairs.
Four plates were on the table full of meat coated in barbeque sauce.
'To hide the flavor perhaps?' Kara thought.
Ralph glanced at them with a cheery grin.
"Ralph prepared this for everybody. So sit and dig in. It's a present to make up for past misunderstandings."
All three of them joined Ralph at the table.
Luther glanced at Kara uneasy.
"Alex?" he murmured.
"Just go along with it," she said.
Kara and Luther looked at the plates uneasy.
"Come on sit."
Ralph brought a chair up to the table between him and Kara and gestured for Alice to join them.
"It wouldn't be polite for you all to refuse."
Kara tapped Alice on the shoulder before drawing her close. She whispered in Alice's ear.
"Alice, don't eat that. It's not good for you."
Ralph glanced towards Kara.
"Did you say something?"
Alice smiled.
"Kara says she can't wait to eat it."
"You're not gonna regret it. Ralph prepared this meal with his guests in mind."
Both Kara and Luther began to dive in their food moving it around while Ralph dug in.
Kara brought a spoon of the food to her mouth before letting it drop on her lap when Ralph wasn't watching.
Alice and Luther followed her example.
"I saw the body upstairs in the bathroom. You've killed someone haven't you?"
"No, that corpse was already there."
"No," Kara snapped. "It wasn't. You put it there. How many other humans did you kill before you convinced yourself of that lie?"
"But Ralph didn't-"
"You killed them and you were going to kill those people locked up in your room and then you were going to eat them. There's no point in lying."
Ralph stared at Kara with something akin to sorrow.
"You said you weren't going to hurt us, you said you were going to protect us but you're just like those androids. You're just a machine."
"No, NO, that's not true. Ralph would never hurt his family. Ralph would never kill an innocent soul."
"But you did. Family members don't do that to each other."
"No, no, no..." Ralph murmured sobbing, clutching his legs and rocking back and forth on the ground.
Alice crawled up next to him patting him soothingly on the shoulder.
"Ralph it's okay."
Suddenly someone knocked loudly on the door.
"Hello? Anybody home?"
Just then Ralph grabbed her by the waist and held a knife to her neck leaving Kara and Luther to look on in horror.
Alice screamed.
"KARA! Help me, Kara!"
Ralph slowly inched up the stairs with Alice in tow.
"Alice!"
Kara slowly walked after him.
"This is the Detroit Police. Open up."
Luther ran to the door and opened it only for his eyes to raise in surprise.
"Connor?"
"Luther?" he inquired with equal surprise. "What are you doing out here in this part of the city?"
"Enough of that."
He stepped aside to let Connor in.
"Where's your backup?" he hissed. "You still going at it alone?"
"He's already calling it in."
"So you got a new partner huh?"
"Something like that."
Both Connor and Luther followed after them. Connor pulled out his gun as they reached the top floor squeezing in front of Kara.
"Release the girl."
"You shoot me and the girl dies."
"If you don't release her, you will die," Connor said.
"It's a lose lose situation either way."
"No it isn't. If you let the girl go I won't shoot however if you continue this little game I'll send a bullet to your head faster than you can speak."
"You promise?"
Connor's expression softened.
"You have my word."
Slowly he released Alice. A slip of paper falling from her pocket.
Ralph reached down and grabbed it unfolding the paper.
It was the picture Alice had drawn earlier.
Her picture depicted four stick figures together near a grassy landscape. There was a home, and a car in the background of her drawing. His name was on one of the stick figures.
"Alice, you drew a car?"
Alice turned to him with a smile.
"It's supposed to be the car you're going to teach me to drive when I grow older."
Ralph glanced at the picture that Alice drew and sobbed before embracing the girl.
"I'm sorry Alice. Ralph was just so hungry. I'm sorry, Konnie. I'm sorry, Alex. You should leave. I'm not safe to be around."
Alice ran to Kara before Ralph spoke to Connor.
"Are you going to arrest me?"
"This isn't in my jurisdiction. I'm merely looking for my brother, that's all."
"Your brother?" Kara asked. "There's two men held up in a room in this place. One of them goes by the name of Carl."
"Which room?"
Kara showed him the room.
Connor turned towards Ralph.
"Do you have a key to this room?"
Ralph nodded taking a set of keys from his pocket and opening the door.
Inside Connor saw the sheets on the bed were wet with fresh blood but Markus nor Carl were nowhere to be seen.
"What happened in here? It looks like a bloodbath."
Kara sighed.
"You really don't want to know."
Connor turned to Ralph clutching the collar of his shirt slamming him into the wall.
"Where are they?"
"R-Ralph doesn't know."
"I think they fled out the window," Kara said.
Connor sighed.
"I guess Simon found them then."
"That's good I guess."
"You mean your brother was being held in there?" Luther asked.
"Yeah, Markus. I told you about him didn't I?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"Luther, you never did tell me what you were doing in this part of the city. You didn't get into any trouble did you?"
Luther sighed.
"What kind of guy do you take me for? I stay out of trouble. You're the one who dives head first into it."
"We're running from the police."
"Really? Why?"
"Some androids are after this little girl," Luther said. "Her father told us to protect her but everywhere we've went those androids follow us."
Connor was silent as soon as they made their way outside, a gunshot rang out. He turned and saw Ralph was shot in the shoulder. The man inched to the ground on his knees clutching his shoulder for dear life.
Up ahead Detective Reed was glancing at them smugly.
"Your partner told me you needed backup."
"I was fine, Reed."
"I see your old partner also shows his old face again."
Luther hissed.
"He was doing fine, Reed. No thanks to you."
"Is that any way to thank your savior."
"Where's Anderson?" Connor asked.
"Chris told him to head on home."
"So he left you with me then?"
Reed chuckled.
"Chris might have told him that Ben was going to take you to the station. Unfortunately Ben decided to return to the station so I guess you're stuck with me."
Just then Reed held out his gun.
"I've always despised you."
Suddenly gunfire rang out.
"I just hate filling out paperwork don't you? Why don't we forget that all of this just happened. Erase it like it never existed."
He pointed his gun towards Luther.
Connor stepped in front of him just as Reed fired another bullet hitting him in the chest.
"Connor."
"Luther, take those two and get out of here."
Luther grabbed Kara's hand just as Reed was about to shoot again. The gun didn't fire.
'He must be out of bullets.'
"What a shame I wasn't the one to kill you. Guess you'll just have to suffer and wait for a savior who doesn't exist."
With that Reed chuckled before heading back to his car and he drove off.
