Chapter 2

'Oh sweetie,

Monsters are real

And they look like people.'

He'd made a mistake. Another one. It was the definition of a bad day. Everything he seemed to do, every decision he made seemed to be the wrong one. He'd failed his first ever mission, been beaten, shot and now his damned finger had nearly been bitten off.

He'd waited on the outskirts of the city, waiting for the cover of darkness. Darkness was good. He knew how to hide in the darkness and the shadows and so he waited. When the last rays of the sun died, he made his way to the city. The streets were quiet, too quiet. It made hiding even harder, but not impossible. All he had to do was stick to the darkness and he'd be fine. No one would even notice him. He hadn't wanted to go back to the city. It was the last place he should be, but he needed answers and his time frame was limited. However with a shot to hell, dislocated shoulder he wasn't moving as quickly as he needed to. He was in the centre of the city when he first heard the sirens. At first it was just a few cars in the distance, but when they got louder and closer, their flashing lights illuminating the shadows that he was hiding in, he knew that his strategy wasn't working. The city was crawling with police, all hunting for him or people like him. One look at him and they wouldn't hesitate to shoot, knowing that he was involved in what had happened. He had to take cover and quickly.

Looking around he didn't see many options. He was in the middle of a residential zone. Not many disused buildings that he could fix himself up in. Looking around there were a few shops and cafes but he quickly ruled them out, they would have security cameras. That left the apartments. It was riskier, but a safer option than staying where he was. He did a quick scan of his options and settled for the block that had the best views of the street and the best exit strategy in case he was discovered. Most of the apartments had lights on. Only a few remained dark. On a day like today when people were scared, they gravitated towards their loved ones and their homes where they felt safe. If one was empty at this time of night, it meant that the person wouldn't be coming home. The streets were empty. Everyone was where they needed to be for the night. He selected an apartment on the top floor with the best exit route. He should be safe there for a few hours to dig out the bullet and reset his shoulder before he continued on his mission. His mission to find the truth.

He entered the apartment through a window, entering it slowly, hesitating for a moment just in case there was an alarm. When after a moment there was no noise, he slid in fully and closed the window behind him. It was almost funny how people thought they were safe just because they were high up. People were never safe. If someone wanted in, they would find a way.

He did a quick scan of his surroundings, 2 bed apartment, single woman in her twenties judging by the décor and the pictures she had hanging on the wall. He went to the bathroom and rooted around for what he needed, anti- septic, cotton wool, bandages and some tweezers. Taking them back to the kitchen he laid everything out on the kitchen as he boiled the kettle so he could disinfect the tweezers properly.

Using the tweezers, which weren't exactly the right shape but they did the job, he dug around in his shoulder for the bullet. It hadn't gone in deep, but that didn't stop him from gritting his teeth in pain. Although the anti- septic that he had he used was worse, he'd nearly taken a chunk out of the table when he's dabbed that onto his wound. He was just wiping up the blood that had trickled down his chest when he heard a sound that stopped him dead. Someone was opening the door. He cursed himself at his stupidity. He should have heard the sound earlier but he'd been distracted by his shoulder and had missed the sound of the footsteps, yet another mistake. He didn't have time to run now. Which left him with only one choice. What he didn't realise was that he was about to make his biggest mistake of the day so far.

Ally felt it almost the second that the door closed behind her. That feeling that something isn't right. Call it intuition or a second sense, but whatever it was, Ally felt it the second that she set foot into her apartment. She slowly walked around her apartment, checking the living room, bedroom and bathroom and with only one room to go she has just about convinced herself that she was imagining things, after a pretty stressful and crazy day.

But when she walked into the kitchen she knew immediately that her original instinct had been correct. She had barely had time to process the bloody bandages scattered across the kitchen table that she definitely hadn't left there this morning. Feeling a chill run down her spine she didn't even have time to take step backward before a hand appeared out of nowhere and clamped tightly across her mouth and another, much stronger arm shot around her middle, pinning her arms tightly to her side and pulling her back in a sharp tug against what she could only assume was a person, although the hard body pressed behind her felt like it was as immovable and strong and steel.

Immediately she began to panic and tried to fight against the arms holding her in place, bucking and thrashing as much as she could. The arm around her waist didn't even budge an inch, but when she bashed against him she heard a small grunt of pain and the hand on her mouth relaxed slightly, enough for her to clamp her teeth down on one of the fingers in front of her. She knew she drew blood, she could taste it in her mouth and she was rewarded with another small hiss of pain. However her small moment of satisfaction didn't last long as the strong arm around her middle jerked her even tighter. Ally was sure that she was one small ounce of strength away from having her rib cracked. Immediately she stilled, trying to breathe in spite of the pain.

Her heart was pounding loudly from a mixture of adrenaline and fear, but the words that her captor uttered sorted that problem, as her blood ran cold at the words that he whispered in her ear.

'Try that again and you will die.'

A/N- Thanks for everyone who has read so far. Please add a wee review if you like what you've read.