Chapter Four: Escape

Once again, I woke up, I felt my body numb; my muscles tired. I struggled to raise my eyelids. When I finally did, I saw a familiar face staring at me.

"Harvard…"

"Hello…" The reporter began.

He switched the microphone close to my mouth off before continuing to speak.

"…Dante."

"You son of a bitch, you knew I wasn't crazy all along!" I cried.

"Shut up, you whacko. I'm here because I'm planning to get you out of here. Now do you want to get out or not?"

"Do you think I'm stupid Harvard? I know you wouldn't want to help me escape when you were the one who put me here in the first place!"

"Do you still think I was the one who got you here?"

"If it wasn't you, then who was it?!"

"I don't know. That's the point of your escape. You and I are going to solve this mystery together. There hasn't been a framing story for years at the Informer! Especially one involving being locked up in the National Institute of Mental Health and not in jail!"

"Oh so that's what this is about huh? I'm gonna help you get a promotion?! Hell no!"

Harvard put a big grin on his face. He bent a little so that we were face to face. He was trying to make me angry and taking advantage that I couldn't move.

"Come on tough guy, you know you wanna get outta here…" He continued to tease.

I gritted my teeth and tried to keep myself from trying to break free to hurt him. He just stood there waiting for a reply. He could see right through me knowing that I was going to give him the answer that he wanted.

'If I get outta here I could easily kill 'im and cut him to so many tiny pieces that they wouldn't have any evidence it was me. The only thing I haven't yet figured out is how am I gonna keep a low profile when they realize I've escaped.'

"So whatta you say; you're in or you're out?" The mother fucker kept pushing me.

'The world could easily be in danger right now. And if I got out and went into hiding with Trish it'd be overrun by demons. If that were to happen, I think I'd stop them and then they'd realize I wasn't crazy and that I really am a hero.'

"Tic tock, tic tock…" Mr. Bastard kept teasing.

'That's too farfetched; the world is most likely not in danger and they'll never cease to think I lost my rocker. I need to find Trish. That's my top priority. She'll be living and breathing evidence that I am completely sane.'

"Fine, I'll get your help any way I can." I finally replied.

"Good," The reporter said, "then let me get you off this chair and I'll explain my plan."

He unbuckled all the straps on the chair and I was finally free to move. But as I stood up, Harvard pulled out a gun and pointed it right at my head. I just stood there as if nothing was happening, staring at the journalist fearlessly.

"Don't move, I'm only doing this for my own security." He remarked.

I didn't listen and I proceeded to get closer. He warned me once again not to step one more inch closer to him or that he would shoot me right on the head.

'This is my chance to definitely prove I'm not crazy.'

I got one inch closer to him as he had warned me not to and he didn't hesitate to shoot. But my skilled instincts kicked in right away. It was as if everything had gone slow motion for a split second. I saw his finger slowly start to squeeze the trigger and I ducked and kicked him on the stomach.

'Uh-oh, that was a stupid move…'

The gun had no silencer so the gunshot echoed through the whole hallway of the high-security sector.

"Oh great! That's just great! Why the hell did you do that for?!" Harvard yelled at me for my mistake.

He grabbed his stomach with one hand gasping for air. The other hand with the gun leaned on the wall as he rested. The sound of many higher-rank security guards running to my cell was heard.

"What do we do now?! You stupid son of a bitch!!" Harvard continued to whine.

I ignored his insults and just stared at him thinking of the only option we had.

"Well?" He asked.

"Stay here, if you don't you'll most likely get killed. I'll be back in just a bit."

I pushed him against the wall so that he would stay there. I needed him alive to find out who had done this to me. So I stepped out my cell facing about seven S.W.A.T.-like guards armed with tazers in one hand and machine guns in the other. The guard that was closer to me gave me a warning.

"Return to your cell. If you resist, you'll be electrocuted. If you resist twice, you'll be shot. If you resist again, you'll be shot to death."

I walked towards them without any attention to his cheesy threats.

"Return to your cell or face the consequences."

I proceeded towards them with absolutely no fear at all.

"This is your last warning…"

"Fuck you." I said.

"That's it, shock 'im guys!"

Four of the guards came at me with only tazers in hand. They tried to shock me but I swiftly dodged and broke their arms by their elbow joints. They cried in pain and fell to the floor.

"Shoot without casualty, fire!" The guard leader ordered.

One guard stepped forward and turned the machine gun to manual and fired one shot at my left leg. I twitched and growled a little; but didn't scream or move from my position.

"What the…fire again!"

"Yes sir." The machine gun guard replied.

He obeyed and shot my right leg. I forced myself to be numb and ignored the pain. Although the sedatives also helped quite a bit too. I walked closer to the three remaining guards and sighed.

'This is going to hurt like a bitch…'

"That's it, take him down! Fire at will!"

Another guard stepped forward and both guards switched their machine guns to automatic. They unleashed their arsenal on me all over my body. I continued to approach them with holes all over my body ignoring the pain. When they both ran out of ammo, I was right in front of them.

"Hello…goodbye." I said sarcastically.

I grabbed them and crashed them with the leader. They were now finished. I headed back to my cell and pulled Johns Harvard out.

"Ahhhhh! What the hell?!" He cried frightened.

Most but not all of my wounds had healed, so he could see about five holes on my head.

"I told you I'm not crazy. Now come, we need to get to the lab."

"Wha-wha we gon-gonna do i-i-i-in the l-lab?" The speechless bastard journalist asked.

"I need to find my mental test results. It'll be evidence that I'm definitely not crazy."

I pulled him by the arm to run through the hallway towards the lab. I let go after a while, I only grabbed him to shake him up so he could run after me. We quickly headed to the lab. My palms were bathed in sweat along with drops of sweat dripping down my cheeks as my heart beat faster than a drum at an Indian ritual.

'I'm not fucking crazy…I know my name is Dante…I know I am a demon slayer…I know I saved the world from Mundus…I know I have a female partner called Trish…But where is she?'