The moment Dak heard the bang, huge alarm bells started ringing in his head. He quietly approached a drawer and took out a gun. Lawrence trusted him enough to tell him where he had it. He loaded it, turned on the flashlight of his phone and slowly walked into the living room.
"Who's there?!" he yelled, trying to hide the fear in his voice.
The window was open, and Dak started to get more and more anxious.
The was something behind the couch. Praying to God it wasn't what he was thinking, he approached and illuminated it, revealing Logan lying unconscious on the floor, with blood coming out of his abdomen.
Dak almost dropped his phone in shock. "No. No!"
He leaned down and checked for a pulse.
"Oh, thank God".
He quickly ran to the kitchen, came back with a cloth and started putting pressure on his friend's wound. But as he was about to call 911, someone started banging violently on the door.
"Help!" yelled Dak. "It's open!"
It was Gabriel, who burst in the house the second Dak said "help".
"Oh, no. I can't be late. Not again" he thought.
He leaned down next to Dak. "What the hell happened, Dak?"
"What does it look like, Gabriel?" said Dak, feeling angry. "He's been shot, that's what happened. I think we know who it was".
"Dammit!" cursed Gabriel.
He quickly called 911, and the paramedics came five minutes later. As they took him away, he approached Dak. "Listen, Dak, you've done very good tonight" he said. "Go in the ambulance with him. I'll meet you at the hospital. I must tell Lawrence what happened".
Dak nodded and joined the paramedics. When other police cars came, Gabriel jumped in his car and rushed to the hospital.
HOSPITAL
Carlos walked into the hospital lobby, where Kendall, Camille and Lawrence were waiting for Kelly.
"Hey" he greeted. "Any news yet?"
"They're taking some tests" said Kendall, shaking his head. "It could take some time".
"I still don't get it" said Lawrence. "How exactly did Katie end up here?"
"She saw Jett" explained Camille. "Well, she thought she did. We were just talking about how Logan had regained his memories about the night of Jett's murder, when she suddenly screamed".
"Jett?" said Kendall. "How's that possible? He's dead and six feet under the ground".
"I know" she replied. "It was just her imagination, though. She fainted in shock".
Kendall exhaled in anger, looking away. "Damn that bastard. Even from hell he gets to harass my family".
Carlos approached Camille. "How are you doing?"
"I'm good" she said. She rubbed her belly. "I can't wait to have this little guy in my arms".
"Aw, that's sweet" he said, smiling.
"No, seriously" she said. "He moves a lot, I'm gaining weight and the cravings are crazy".
Carlos laughed. "Pregnancies are never easy".
"Tell me about it" she replied, chuckling.
"Well, March has just started" pointed Carlos. "June isn't that far anymore".
"I know and I'm so nervous!" she said.
As Carlos and Camille chatted, Lawrence took Kendall aside. He lowered his voice. "Do you think Katie may be having hallucinations?"
Kendall stared at him. "W-What?"
"You heard Camille" he said. "I may be exaggerating, and maybe she's just scared, but it could be a possibility".
Kendall shook his head. "No, no. She's way too young to have an unstable mental health. It surely was her imagination". He looked away. "It has to be".
Lawrence patted him in the back.
Suddenly, the doors burst open and the paramedics entered, carrying a strecher and yelling at everyone to get out of the way. In the stretcher was a young man, covered in a bloody white sheet and wearing an oxygen mask.
Lawrence caught a glimpse of the boy. Strange, he looked a lot like...
"What the hell..." he mumbled.
When he saw Dak and Gabriel walking into the lobby, he knew right away something was wrong. He quickly approached them as Carlos, Camille and Kendall followed him.
Gabriel looked worried and almost panicked. "Lawrence..."
"Why are you here? Where's Logan? Was that boy him? What the hell happened?" Lawrence started bombing questions as Gabriel tried to stop him in order to explain.
"Lawrence, calm down..."
"Was that him?" he demanded.
The others also looked at him expectantly, dread filling them, hoping it could just be a mistaken assumption. But when they turned to Dak and he looked away, no answer was needed anymore.
"Yes" said Gabriel. "That was Logan".
Camille gasped.
"What happened?" asked Lawrence.
"He was shot" he replied.
There was a brief silence.
"Shot?" said Carlos after a while. "How? Where was Logan?" He turned to Dak. "Where were you?!"
Dak didn't look at him, and Gabriel stepped up. "Stop it, Carlos. Dak will explain everything that happened later, ok?"
Just in that moment, Kelly ran to them. Lawrence approached her quickly. "Kelly, please, you have to help him. You have to help my boy..."
"I know, I know" she said. "I'm actually going to the OR right now. Don't worry, he's in good hands". She turned to Kendall. "By the way, your sister's awake. She's been asking for you. She's in room 468"
Kendall nodded, and Kelly rushed out.
As Kendall went to see Katie, joined by Camille and a reluctant Carlos, Lawrence leaned on the counter.
Gabriel approached with Dak. "Lawrence, I'm so sorry..."
"Don't" said Lawrence. "I'll talk to you about this later. But first" He turned to Dak. "You're going to tell me exactly what the hell happened".
KATIE'S ROOM
A few minutes after being transferred to a room, Katie woke up. She had a talk with Kelly about what had happened to her until Kelly was called due to an emergency , and rushed out. Bored, she turned on the TV.
She turned her head and smiled when she saw Kendall, Camille and Carlos walk in.
"Hey" greeted Kendall, going to her and hugging her. "There's my baby sister".
Katie chuckled, hugging back. "Kendall, chill out, I was out like an hour or something".
Kendall separated and looked at her. "Don't talk to me that way" he joked. They laughed a bit.
Camille approached. "How are you doing, Katie?"
"I'll be fine" said Katie. "At least that's what Kelly said. She also told me I'll stay overnight for observation".
"That bad, huh?" she said.
Katie nodded. "Yeah, I don't know if I'll have a prescription, though. She had an emergency and had to rush out before I could ask her".
Camille and Kendall glanced at each other.
Katie looked at Carlos, who seemed distraught and was staring at the window.
She turned to her brother. "What's up with him?"
Camille hesitated. "Well, um, it kind of has to do with Kelly's emergency".
"Ok" said Katie, frowning. "What happened?"
"We're not sure if you should know right away" said Kendall. "We don't want to give you any more stress, and..."
"Oh my God!" exclaimed Katie. "Kendall, you're already scaring me! What happened?"
Kendall sighed. "There's been another attack".
"It happened less than an hour ago" added Camille.
"What?" said Katie, stunned. "Oh, no. Who?"
"Logan" said Carlos, getting away from the window. "Logan was shot tonight".
WAITING ROOM
Lawrence entered the room followed by Dak. The boy had remaint silent the whole evening, while Lawrence felt furious and desperate to understand how that mess had happened.
He turned around, facing Dak. "Ok, start from the beginning".
Dak rubbed the back of his head nervously. "We got to your house safely, and everything was just fine. We were watching TV, talking, you know? But then, there was a blackout".
"A blackout" repeated Lawrence, in slight disbelief. "Only in my house. As far as I'm concerned, I've been paying my bills promptly ever since we moved here..."
"Not just your house" said Dak, irritated. "It was the entire neighborhood".
"That's true" said Gabriel, as he walked in. "I just ended a call with the inspector. He confirmed there's been a blackout in your street and his team is working right now to determine what caused it and solve it".
Lawrence nodded in understanding. "Ok". He turned to Dak. "Continue, son".
"So as I said, there was a blackout, and we couldn't see a thing" he said. "So I went to the kitchen to grab a few candles and told Logan to pick a board game or something. So I went, and was there for like, five minutes or less, when I heard a bang. I knew right away that it had been either something heavy falling to the ground, or a gunshot. And I also knew that given the circumstances, the first one couldn't be. So I went to a drawer, took your gun, and entered the living room. The window was open, and Logan was on the floor, bleeding. That's when Gabriel walked in".
Lawrence nodded. He turned to Gabriel. "How come you were there just momemts later? Please tell me it was a coincidence".
Gabriel shook his head. "I was driving here when my beeper rang. It was... Him".
Lawrence looked away in dismay. He sighed. "At least you got there fast. Now all I have to worry about is Logan getting out of surgery alive.
"He will, Lawrence" he replied, patting him in the back. "He will". He turned to Dak. "Do you think you can come to the station and give a statement?"
"Not now, Gabriel" said Lawrence, stepping up. "Let the boy stay until we get news about Logan".
"Thank you" whispered Dak.
Gabriel nodded in understanding. "Ok, then. I'll go see Katie. Let me know if anything happens".
"Will do" he replied, as the detective left.
Dak had gone to the window and was staring at the street.
Lawrence approached him, but Dak didn't move.
"Somehow I feel it's my fault" he said. "The killer must have known Logan had something on him and went to silence him. I should have taken him to my place. At least, that way, the Hunter would have found an empty house instead of his next victim".
"He would have come back anyway" replied Lawrence. "Probably at midnight to kill him in his sleep, because Logan would have come home in the end. He probably didn't know you were there. You might have saved his life. And you don't know how grateful I am for that".
Dak was beyond surprised when Lawrence hugged him. "Thank you, sir".
Lawrence let go. "Come on, let's see how Katie's doing".
KATIE'S ROOM
Katie covered her mouth with her hands in shock. "No, not Logan. Please tell me he's not..."
"He's not dead" said Camille. "But he's still in surgery".
"I don't understand" she said. "How did that happen? How did you find out?"
"I received a call from Kelly about what had happened to you" explained Kendall. "While we were waiting for news, Logan was brought in by paramedics, and he looked seriously injured. Dak and Gabriel were with them, they told us the entire thing".
"Oh God" she said. "Does Lawrence know?"
"He does" said Camille. "He totally freaked out"
"He wasn't the only one" said Carlos. "Dak was very upset too. I don't know how Gabriel got involved, but I'm glad he did. Logan has a chance to survive thanks to them".
"Wait, Dak was there, too?" said Katie. "Is he ok?"
"He is, don't worry" said Kendall. "I'm not sure how he avoided the Hunter, but he never noticed him, so that's good. But what I want to know is how you ended up here. What happened to you?"
"Camille said you saw Jett" said Carlos.
Katie sighed. "I don't know how it happened. We were talking with Kelly about Logan remembering his encounter with the Hunter, when I saw him standing right in front of me, with this big grin om his face. When I realized it wasn't him, I just passed out. The shock of my life".
Kendall stared at her, stunned.
"Told you" said Camille. She turned to Katie. "I'm sure it was just a fright".
"Yeah" agreed Carlos. "This case has been close to all of us, and that means it's also affecting you. And it's been a lot of strees for everyone".
"Amen to that" said someone walking in.
"Hey, Gabriel" greeted Katie.
Gabriel greeted everyone. "How are you, Katie?"
"I feel much better now" she replied.
"Any news on Logan?" asked Camille.
"Not yet" he said sadly. "I'm guessing we'll soon hear something, though". He turned to Carlos. "What about you?"
Carlos looked at him. "Huh? I'm fine, everything's good".
Gabriel gave him a knowing look. "Come on, Carlos. It's killing you, isn't it?"
Carlos sighed. "What do you think, Gabriel? My partner's been shot in cold blood and could die tonight. How else am I supposed to feel?"
"Hey" said Kendall, approaching. "It's going to be alright. Logan's tough, he'll fight until he comes back to us".
Carlos nodded.
"That's right" agreed Katie. "Logan's very strong, he'll get through this and the Hunter will go down. Isn't that right, Mr Mitchell?".
Everyone turned around to see Lawrence entering the room, followed by Dak.
"I can't agree more" he said, approaching her, smiling. He placed a kiss on her forehead. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better" she replied, and took his hand. "I'm sorry about Logan".
"Thank you, dear" he said, letting go of her hand and placing it on her head. "But as you said, Logan is tough. I know he'll get through this too".
Meanwhile, Dak approached Carlos. "I'm so sorry".
"No, no" said Carlos, hugging him. "It's not your fault. And I'm sorry for the way I reacted. That wasn't nice of me".
"No, I get it" he replied. "Everyone's very upset about this".
Suddenly, the door opened again, and Kelly walked in.
"Kelly" said Lawrence, as he and the others approached her. "Whatever news you have, please tell us".
"Well" she said. "Logan's surgery finished a few minutes ago".
"And?" said Carlos anxiously.
Kelly stared at them for a few seconds, and smiled. "He's perfectly fine".
Ok, I gotta be honest. The original plan was to kill Logan offand make him the ninth victim of the serial killer. However, I'm glad I didn't. I'm gonna need him for an upcoming storyline. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!
On the next THE HUNTER:
Logan receives a pleasant visit.
Gabriel comes up with the ultimate plan to catch the Hunter.
Kendall lies live on TV.
Someone shows up uninvited.