*Chapter 12*
After leaving Lowe's with a fence to put around her vegetable garden, Mrs. Potter drives directly home. She pulls up to the rare gate of Smoke Rise and notices something odd. The security guard isn't in the booth. As Mrs. Potter waits at the gate, she looks around in all directs in the hope of seeing Charlie. Unfortunately, he's nowhere to be seen. Then she notices the broken window on the other side of the booth. Mrs. Potter exits from her vehicle.
"Charlie…" Mrs. Potter said as she steps closer to the booth. "AAHHH!" She screamed at the sight of the decapitated guard inside the booth. She steps back where she bumps into something. Mrs. Potter screams again.
"What happened?" Lewis Matheson asked. He's been tracking Apocalypse all night long after the bar incident was discovered.
"Charlie is dead." She points to the booth.
Lewis steps forward and takes a quick look inside the booth at the dead body. It's definitely the work of Apocalypse. He looks back to the lady.
"I was here less than thirty minutes ago." Mrs. Potter said. "Charlie was alive. What the hell happened?! Who killed Charlie? Oh my God…" She starts wheezing.
"Calm down." Lewis places his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me." She looks up at him. "I need you to get back in your car, turn around and drive away."
"Is that escaped prisoner here?"
"Yes. Now go."
"I can't leave! My son is in the park!"
"I'll find your son." Lewis assured her. He pulls out his NCIS appointed sidearm and cocks it. Mrs. Potter quickly takes out a picture of her son and hands it to him. "I promise you I'll find him. But I need you to leave."
Lewis hops over the gate into Smoke Rise. He takes out his cell-phone and speed-dials Tony who luckily picks up.
"I have a location on the target." Lewis stated as he runs deeper into the community. "He's in Smoke Rise."
In the park, a couple children ranging from ages eight to ten are making fun of Taylor; the boy from the alley. They're all by the playground equipment where they have their victim trapped. Taylor is crying as the other children gang up on him.
"Come on Taylor Swift, sing a song for us." Josh laughed.
"Shut up Josh!" Taylor shouted.
"Looks like the little girl is going to cry." Another boy laughed.
"Let's help her sing." Josh said. He grabs Taylor by the arm and gives him an Indian burn. Taylor screams. "That's more like it! Listen to that girlie voice."
"You're such a girl!" Another child exclaimed.
Suddenly, they all hear a loud noise. They turn around to see the slide part of their playground set broken. Next to the broken slide is a massively-sized person. The sight of the massive person shocks them. Even though the massive person is scary, none of the kids can even move; they're frozen in place as they look at him.
"I'd like you to meet my friend." Taylor said as he approaches Apocalypse and stands next to him. "You better stop making fun of me or my friend is going to be mad."
"He doesn't seem so tough." Josh steps forward trying to be brave and showoff to the rest of the children.
"He's stronger then you, Josh!" Taylor exclaimed. He looks up at Apocalypse. "Show them."
Apocalypse steps forward a bit and kneels down. He places both hands on the playground set. The children wonder what the massive person is doing. The playground set is large and includes a slide, swings, tires, ropes, a small bridge and a little clubhouse.
The children watch as the entire playground set is completely unearthed and topples over. Then Apocalypse quickly grabs Josh who immediately pees his pants and starts crying. The other children scream and run away.
"Mommy!" Josh cried as the massive person lifts him into the air.
"Are you ever going to make fun of me again?" Taylor asked.
"No!" Josh cried. "I'm sorry! I'll never make fun of you again!"
"Open your eyes!" Apocalypse yelled in a creepy manner. The boy cries as he opens his eyes and looks directly into the cold darkness of the man before him.
"Put the kid down Apocalypse!" Lewis shouted. He aims the sidearm.
The escaped prisoner looks at the man with the gun. Without hesitation, Apocalypse launches the boy into the air like a football. Lewis drops the gun and runs in the direction Josh is flying in. Josh screams while he's high in the air. After reaching the peek of height, the boy quickly plummets downward. Lewis gets under the boy and catches him. With the catch, they fall to the ground together.
"You okay, kid?" Lewis asked of the crying boy.
Apocalypse grabs Lewis by the arm. His free hand pounds itself into Lewis' gut. The impact is unlike anything he's ever felt before. Then Lewis launches to the side. His back slams against a tree, as does his head. Apocalypse disregards the crying boy who is running away. He walks in the direction of the person he recognizes from the old prison; The Last Place on Earth. Lewis lies helpless against the tree as he coughs up blood. All Lewis sees are three of Apocalypse heading toward him. He tries to readjust his eyes, but it's proving to be useless. Either way, he doesn't stand a fighting chance in the current predicament. Lewis tries to crawl toward the sidearm.
Apocalypse's attention is drawn by the roaring engine of a moving car. The car is heading directly at him and within seconds, the car plows into the escaped prisoner. Apocalypse's body crashes into the windshield and over the top. Mrs. Potter slams on the breaks. The car skids a couple feet.
"Oh my God…" Mrs. Potter is frozen in place by what she just did. She ran a person over without thinking about the consequences.
Mrs. Potter hears a noise and feels the car shake. She looks in the rear view mirror only to see the massive person stepping onto her car. Fear sets in as well as shock. She tries the ignition but the car refuses to start. Apocalypse steps onto the hood and breaks the already broken windshield. Mrs. Potter screams as a hand reaches inside the vehicle.
A shot is fired.
Apocalypse's attention is drawn. Lewis is standing hurtfully with the sidearm pointing in the direction of the car. The escaped prisoner is quickly able to determine Lewis' aim is hindered due to a head injury; blood is gushing from his head.
The sound of oncoming police sirens spooks Apocalypse. Even a man like him knows when it's time to disappear. He runs away with a slight limp. As Apocalypse retreats, Lewis chases him and fires the sidearm. After an entire clip is emptied, Lewis reloads and keeps firing in the hopes of one of the bullets hitting the target.
Unfortunately, Apocalypse manages to escape from Smoke Rise and quickly disappears. Lewis returns to the playground scene as there's no way he can continue pursuit of the escaped prisoner in his current condition.
Not too long after the Smoke Rise incident, Apocalypse enters into an abandoned building. He sits down and pulls the glass from the impact with the windshield out of his shoulder and arm. Then he grabs pliers that are nearby. The pliers are the elongated type. The escaped prisoner sticks the pliers into his side and digs around. Seconds later, he retracts the pliers and holds it up in front of him. The pliers are red with blood and holding a bullet. One of Lewis' bullets hit the mark, but unfortunately the wound isn't enough to stop Apocalypse.