4.
Steven could feel his face becoming hot as his stomach turned with nerves. Whatever it was across the room had stopped moving—perhaps to observe him as well. Then he started to wonder if this…thing, whatever it was, was the reason why Lex was missing. It kidnapped her!
He was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. He let out a small yelp from the unexpected knock and quickly wiped his forehead of any sweat that might've formed. Whatever that thing was, it was gone now. He couldn't find a way to focus on any distortion, if it was indeed still there.
Hurrying over to the door, Steven looked out the peephole to see two officers looking around the hall. He unlocked and opened the door quickly; a huge sigh of relief swept over him now that he thought protection was here.
"Mr. Steven Whiting?" The taller cop asked. Steven found it hard to find any expression on the man from the darkness of the hall because his skin was so dark that the only real visible features he saw where his eyes and pure white teeth.
"Y-yes, yes," Steven said stepping aside for them to come in. "I'm glad you're here."
"Officer Felts," the same cop introduced. "This here is my partner, Officer Thomason. You say you're girlfriend has disappeared?"
Steven nodded and watched as Thomason started to look around the apartment. He wondered if they'd notice that something else might be in the room. Then he mentally scolded himself for believing something invisible was lurking about.
"Her name again?"
"Uh, Alexa Woods," Steven said, having a feeling they'd be asking him the same questions the 911 operator asked.
The cop made a note on a small pad. "Is this the first time something like this came up?"
"Yeah."
"And your relationship is ok? She's not trying to stay away from you?"
"If she is, she hasn't given me any signs that she's unhappy. When I called her she sounded like she wanted to go to dinner and stuff."
Thomason turned around and pointed to the strange spear on the wall. "What's this all about?"
Steven looked at it and rolled his eyes. "She got it as….a souvenir when she was out of the country or something. I don't even understand that one."
"What does Miss Woods do for her work?"
"We work together, actually," Steven said, "for that environmental firm downtown. She also spends a lot of time bringing scientists on expeditions—usually up icy mountains or something."
"Has she recently been on one?"
"A few weeks ago," Steven asked. "But if I know where this is going, then nothing out of the ordinary happened. Look, she just didn't show up to dinner and I know she left the office. I tried everything I knew to get a hold of her and I can't find her."
"Yes, we know," Felts said closing his notebook. "Do you live here?"
"No," Steven replied with a sigh. He felt that this was just a waste of time.
"Well, we'll put in a missing person report to the station and see where that brings us," Felts said tucking away the notebook into his coat pocket. "If she comes home, let us know. We'll give you a call tomorrow morning if we don't hear from you. If we're lucky, something will come in that will lead us to her whereabouts."
"That's it?" Steven asked as Thomason started to walk out the door.
"Unfortunately that's all we can do right now. You might want to stick around here for a while to see if she comes home."
"Can't you go looking for her or something?" Steven asked, completely in shock.
"Mr. Whiting, do you know how long it would take us to comb through this city? And even if we did start tonight we wouldn't get anywhere anytime soon. I'll let my colleagues know and they'll keep an eye out for. The lady you talked to on the 911 dispatch gave sent over her description already, so we're all set. Have a good night, sir."
Steven watched them leave. He felt like throwing his shoe or something at them as they closed the door gently behind them. How could they just come in and tell him to wait around? Lex could be in serious trouble! She might be hurt! She could be dead, for God's sake!
Steven stomped his foot on the floor and placed his hands on his hips, trying to think of what to do in the meantime. He had half a mind to go out and look for Lex himself. As he stared at the floor, however, he heard heavy footsteps leaving the hall and entering the kitchen. His head looked up slowly and he saw that same silhouette shaking the image of the refrigerator and then return it to normal as he moved away.
"Holy shit," he said and jumped away. "What the hell is that?"
He found himself backing up into the kitchen table, knocking it hard enough for the flower vase to tilt slightly. The form stopped and stood still. "Alright," Steven started again, convinced this wasn't his imagination, but his breath was ragged with fear. "I don't know who….or what you are..."
His words trailed off and the rest of his sentence was stuck in his throat when he heard a light beeping and a rumbling…purr? Blue sparks jumped around that invisible-like shape and a body became visible. He almost lost his balance when he saw what stood before him: a strange looking, armor-clad person, standing at over seven feet tall, wearing a strange looking mask with dreadlocks hanging on either side.
Steven let out a terrorized yell and fumbled to the other side of the table. "Who are you? What do you want? What did you do with Lex?"
The creature tilted its head to the side and let out a soft clicking nose. It kept its gaze directly at Steven as it approached him from the kitchen. Steven moved to the wall and let his hands move around blindly to find anything that could protect him from this monster. He got a good look at the rest of its body—thick, hard muscles, a spear peaking over its shoulder, and hands that looked more like claws. "Holy shit…I'm dead," he said to himself when he backed up into the far wall and could go no further.
The alien stood only a few feet from him and looked down at him like it was trying to figure out whether it wanted to eat him or not. Steven could feel his knees start to bend, only making the creature look that much bigger as he very slowly slid down the wall. "Don't hurt me…I swear, I didn't do anything!"
The creature let out that same clicking rumble and tilted its head the opposite way. Without warning it turned and walked away towards the bookcase. Steven watched and found himself trying to stand backup straight, although his legs were wobbling so bad he was amazed he wasn't flat on the floor by now.
He watched as a clawed hand moved out and grabbed a picture from one of the shelves of the bookcase. When he turned back to Steven, the human found himself jumping back up against the wall in alarm.
"What?" He asked trying to figure out what the creature wanted when it showed him the picture; it was a photo taken of him and Lex the week after they started going out.
The creature gave a few clicks again and pointed to Steven, then to the picture. "Yeah…that's me…" he answered, if that was what was being questioned. He felt very stupid, though when the creature pointed to the picture again and then to itself—he hadn't the faintest clue as to what it was trying to tell him.
"Look, I have no idea—" An angry-sounding growl made him shut his mouth. One finger of the alien pointed to the picture—Lex—and then to its helmet. Finally, it dawned on Steven. He caught sight of that strange mark on the metal mask and remembered the very same that was scared on Lex's cheek.
Steven started to laugh. "No…no, no, no…You're telling me that you're that thing she escaped with down in that pyramid last year?" The creature tossed him the picture and turned around to walk away.
Putting the picture down, Steven looked at the broad back of what he had been told was a hunter, according to Lex's brief story of what happened to her down at Bouvetoya Island. "You're a hunter…you're hunting Lex, aren't you!"
The hunter turned on his heal and growled loudly at Steven again and he immediately shivered when he felt the monster's anger ripple through him. "Sorry," he said. "Look, do you know where she is?" The hunter merely stared at him, its fingers flexing as if highly annoyed.
Steven ignored anything else except his worry for Lex now. If she was able to befriend this creature like she claimed to have, then he could too. "Lex is in trouble—I know she is. I can't find her. I think she may be hurt."
After a moment he sighed when this predator creature made no movement. "You have no idea what I'm saying, huh? Figures…."
He sighed and started to inch his way away from the wall when the hunter opened the door to the balcony. Steven hurried over. "Hey! Where are you going?" The hunter made no response as it stepped out onto the balcony. "Ok, buster, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but Lex is my girlfriend and—"
He could tell that the color in his face must have disappeared completely when a long and powerful arm jumped out at him, a hand clutching his neck and raising him off the ground. He grabbed hold of the metal-covered arm and struggled to breath as the predator raised him higher than even it stood.
Steven couldn't find any words to say, and even if he could he probably wouldn't have been able to speak them. He monster seemed to be taunting him, its voice, (if that was what it was), purred with delight as it lowered him to the ground.
When he was released, Steven jumped back and held his throat with his hands, taking in deep breathes after feeling that he just escaped death by means of mercy. He glanced up to see the monster heading back over to the door.
"Wait," he choked out and held out a hand to stop the creature. "I want to find her," he said. "If that's where you're going, let me come with you. I can't sit and wait."
Steven waited for what seemed like eternity as the predator stood still, probably contemplating whether to allow him to tag along. Steven, in the meantime, wondered what the hell he was thinking—asking this nightmare of a monster to help him? And whatever he had said to convince this thing to do so, it turned around and reached out for the spear on the wall. With a sharp slink it retracted into itself and became a short, shiny pole.
Steven had no idea what it was doing—perhaps stealing Lex's prize to use for itself? He was wrong again; the spear was tossed to him and he barely caught it. The monster growled at him and head back to the door of the balcony.
Steven followed, but when he looked out to see just how high up he was, he suddenly had an urge to run back inside. "I don't do well with heights," he said, although he wished he hadn't. The predator growled at him; it leapt over the side of the railing and hung from the edge. Steven felt like throwing up. "There's no way I'm doing that!" He said.
The only thing he could do, though, was release the emergency fire ladder. He pulled at it until it jumped free and lengthened down to the next level. Thankfully this spear that Lex had donned some sort of metal-like sling which he hung on his shoulder so he could climb down.
It took Steven more time that he was sure this hunter wanted to wait for. Finally he gathered the courage to let go of the last ladder and fell to the pavement below. His legs gave way with the impact and he stumbled forward. Standing up quickly to keep what little dignity he had left, he looked around.
"Where'd you go?" He asked when he saw no sign of the hunter. "Great. I've been abandoned by a seven foot body builder."
A growl told him that he was actually not alone. Steven looked around, still not having any luck locating his new—companion—in the darkness of the street ally. "So you're here, but where." He felt something push him, which was probably supposed to be gentle (maybe) but he almost fell flat on his face.
"Look, if we're doing this together, you can't expect me to go along when I can't bloody see you!"
There was another angry growl, but the beep of whatever machine kept him hidden disappeared and the hunter was revealed once again. It pointed to him, pounded a fist to its chest, and then pointed to the street.
Steven sighed. He hoped there weren't many people wondering the streets of the city now—it was nearly ten thirty, but anyone still out wouldn't expect to see…this. He held the spear over his shoulder firmly as he let out a sigh when the hunter started to jog away. This was not going to be a terribly fun evening.
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AN: I have no idea when I'll be able to create chapter 5. This one was done between all of the crap I had to do this morning, but I had the urge to write it, although I'm a little skeptical if it came out the way I had originally planned. I love all the reviews, btw ;)