Chapter 10 - Joseph

I left last night. Currently I'm hiding out in a pretty dilapidated motel just five miles outside of Krimson – a risky move, I know. I need to leave this place all together. But here I still am. Sometimes I find myself daydreaming about where all I could go, but I find myself still wishing…still hoping.

Where is he now?

"Joseph!" I gasped through struggling breaths as his gloved grip around my throat constricted. My grime-encrusted fingernails dug into the ash colored flesh of his arms, clawing and scraping until I drew blood. He cried out in pain, cursing me and tightening his death hold.

The world was fading in and out of view, slowly turning black. Lightheaded. Swimming into a sea of endless darkness. Dying. I croaked in a panic as I suffocated.

With one last burst of adrenaline before the lights went out, I thrust my knee into his lower abdomen. A groan of pain escaped his chapped lips. This sent him, as well as me, backwards. Fingers began loosening their grip around my neck, allowing me to take advantage. I ripped myself from his grasp, stumbling and coughing furiously. Dark bruises began to form in the places where his hands had been. I dashed away, searching for my gun only to find that it was no longer on my person. Muttering a curse, I looked for a place to either hide or run away.

"Oh, Ali!" Joseph called in a sing-song voice, tone dripping with venom. "I know you're still here. Come out, come out wherever you are!" After recovering from my attack, he chased after me in the direction I had gone. A sadistic smile creeped onto his normally stoic face, menacing chuckles echoing throughout the area. His footsteps were loud, almost pounding into the tile floor. In his right hand, he held his gun.

I ran into an auditorium style room while clutching my still aching side. Panting, I circled around in an attempt to find a place to hide. I panicked.

"I can hear you, Ali!" Joseph growled only a few feet from the doorway.

I ran down the steps that ran beside the rows of seats to one near the lowest level and ducked behind. 'Crawl,' my mind told me. Without any hesitation, I obeyed despite the pain it caused me. His footsteps grew louder as he descended the steps.

Three haunted ran into the room, causing the detective to spin around. As they ran toward him, he fired. Unfortunately for him, his current gun wasn't doing much damage to them. One fell with a shot to the head, the other two continued to barrel towards him. Rotting hands grabbed him while he tried desperately to fight them off. His handgun fell to the floor. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I bolted out the door.

"Hey!" he shouted while he struggled against the creatures' attacks.

I didn't want to even look at him. "I'm sorry, Joseph," I whispered as I hobbled.

The struggling continued inside, though I chose to ignore the sounds. With a groan of displeasure, I discovered that continuing down the hallway only led to a dead end. My only option was to turn around and go back the way we had came.

The noises stopped with gun shots.

I muttered a curse as I sprinted.

"I've got you now!" Joseph growled from behind me with his gun aimed in my direction. I quickly turned into a room to my left just before the shot fired. The wooden doorframe was left with a large dent as wood splinters flew in all directions. In a last ditch effort, I shut the door and barred it with a desk chair. There was no where to run; I was officially trapped. Only the moonlight through the barred window on the other side of the room gave me any visibility.

Joseph attempted to ram his way through, causing the door to jolt from the impact. With no other option left, I hid myself in the locker in the corner and closed the door behind me. My heart hammered so loud, I was afraid that he could hear it.

The door flew open, revealing a rather pissed looking Joseph. He let out a low, maniacal laugh. "I know you're in here, little Ali. I can hear your heart beating in your chest." Through the the slits in the door, I could make out his form pacing around the room as he searched for me. Blood covered him from head to toe now after his latest run-in with the undead. He first checked under the desk, grunting displeasedly at my absence. Slowly, he rose to his feet and looked around him. Brown eyes landed on the locker I now stood inside. "Found you," he growled with a smile.

As he approached, I closed my eyes, hoping that something or someone would save the day. Footsteps pounded as he stalked towards me, more laughs erupted from him. He held his gun at the ready, aimed right in my direction. The hinges squeaked as the door flew open, the moonlight flooding my vision despite its dimness. He pressed the gun to my skull. "Say goodnight, little Ali." He pulled the trigger.

Click.

He yelled in outrage as he continuously pulled the trigger to find that he was out of ammunition. With a forceful yank, he sent me out of the locker and face-flat onto the tile floor. "Well then," he snarled. "I guess we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way." I scrambled to get to my feet. He picked up a leg of the wooden desk chair and swung at me. I ducked, narrowly missing blow.

Against him, brute strength would be impossible. The corruption made him even stronger than normal. My only hope was to find my gun I had lost before he did. Picking up a piece of wood from the pile on the floor, just in case I needed it, I dashed toward the vent where it had been knocked away. All the while, Joseph was right on my tail; his panting alerted me to his close proximity. When I reached the open vent, I looked around but found nothing. I panicked. He swung again; fortunately, I moved just before I could receive the full force of the blow. However, I did get a nice scratch across my back, causing me to cry out. Not happy with the fact that I had avoided the impact, he growled angrily and swung again. This time he hit me on the shoulder, knocking me to the ground. Tears filled my eyes as I felt the joint dislocate. He stood over me now, eyes gleaming with bloodlust. He smiled as he raised the chair leg to jam it in my skull.

My fingers brushed up against a metallic object – my gun. Without even thinking, I aimed straight for his head.

I pulled the trigger.

He fell. Blood splattered, the taste of copper sat on my tongue.

Shock enveloped me, my head swimming from the rush. Though sweat dripped down every inch of me, I felt a cold chill strike through me. I shrieked once I realized what I had done, shaky hands no longer able to hold the weapon. It fumbled to the ground. "No, no, no, no," I repeated as I inspected him one last time.

I had killed him.

Tears filled my eyes as I cried over him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I muttered over and over in a quiet mantra. His glasses were shattered, the blast from the gun having gone through his eye socket; a large hole on the crown of his head revealed the exit wound. Blood trickled down into a small pool around him, some dripping from his lips. Still consumed by corruption, he retained his ashy appearance and bulging veins. A hauntingly twisted smile was still plastered across his face.

"What have I done?" I breathed through sobs.

A/N: Well...dang, Ali.

Once again, I want to thank all of those who favorited, followed, and reviewed! Y'all are the best. ^^ If I could hug y'all I would, but y'know...internet. And lastly, I apologize about the length. I know it's short, but I hope y'all can forgive me. :c It's very eventful at least.

Pearl: I'm really happy that you liked it! :D I know right, who needs Ruvik when you've got two good lookin' detectives? XD

BTW, I'm doing art for people's TEW OCs (with or without a canon character) if anyone is interested. It's a big stress reliever for me right now with all the craziness that's going on. If you are interested, then just let me know. :) (And yes, it's free.)

Reviews are appreciated! :)