CHAPTER 4

Amon walked through the double glass doors to the police agentcey. Dispite the new rash of murders and suspicious activity, the station seemed reletively subdued. It looked to Amon like it was just business as usual, as there was never really much to police in this quiet little city. He approached the front desk, "I'm here to see Altair." he said.

"Right down the hall, detective" said the receptionist. "Third room on the right."

Amon took the que and headed down the hall, passing a few mildly busy personel on the way. He reached the door that read, "Intergation room 3" and opened it. Sitting alone in the room was a young gray-haired boy who looked about sixteen years of age. He remained silently staring at the table he was seated at, despite hearing the door swing open.

"Altair." The boy stayed silent, it was as though he were in a trance. He was most likely traumatized after the ordeal had been through. Amon pulled a chair from the corner of the gray room and sat down opposite Altair. "I'm with the STNJ," he began, "We've been investigating the ordeal you've recounted to another of our detectives, and we found another inccident that could possibly be related. Since you're the only lead we have at the moment, it's vital that you cooperate with us. So could you please-"

"She told me to appreciate my life." those were the first words he spoke in many hours. His voice carried with almost no vitality at all, like he was completely absent of mind and body.

"Who did?"

"Seven."

"Who's seven?"

"The woman."

Amon realised that this was going to go in circles. "I'd like to ask a favor of you, Altair. Do you remember where all this happened?" The boy nodded. "Take me there. You won't be in any danger, I'll be your personal escort, and I'll have backup ready if need be."

without any hesitation Altair rose from his chair and headed out the door, Amon actually had to hurry to keep up with him. They got a few strange looks from the officers as they made their way to the front door. "He's with me, don't worry." was all Amon had to say.

The two of them piled into his black cruiser and they set off in the direction of the train station. It only took them forty-five minites to get there with Altair's knowledge of short cuts.

"The train is still on the tracks, so we can't really drive up there," Altair informed him. Amon parked the car and they headed into the terminal. when they reached the platform they had to climb down onto the tracks. Amon flashed his bage at a trackworker to dismiss any suspicion. Altair walked quickly down the track, his destination was in sight.

Upon approaching the five car train, they both realized something was wrong.

"You said there was an investigation going on; where is everyone?" Altair asked.

"They should be here already." was the confused response. He cupped his hands around his eyes to better block out the sunlight and peerd in one of the windows. "This doesn't make sense..." he thought for a moment and came to a decision. "let's have a look inside."

He pulled open the car's door and they both climbed in. The power in the train as turned off, so the only light came in through the train's windows.

"This is impossible," Altair cried. The car was completly empty, there were no signs whtasoever that anything out of the ordinary ever happened here. Altair ran through the door to the next car and was met with the same thing- nothing. He ran back to Amon's position and turned on the spot several times, "It's all gone!" Amon simply stared at the cieling while Altair glared at him in confusion. Then all of a sudden, he felt something on his neck. He couldn't describe the sensation, it was over before he knew it was there. The room around him swam out of focus and he collapsed; he was out before he hit the floor.

Amon's reaction to this was; "Took you long enough."

The sunlight played over the assailant revealing a woman of indeterminate age. She wore glasses over her dark eyes and a sweater that was at least four sizes too big for her. "I didn't think he would be foolish enough to come back." she said.

"well, he didn't need much persueding," Amon said as he nudged the unconcious Altair with his foot.

"And now it's your turn," said the woman as she approached Amon. She withdrew another silver needle from her sweater.

"You have everything in place?" Amon asked her.

"Everything is going according to plan. There are no flaws in zero's logic."

"Unless we make one," he said back.

The woman laughed softly, "Careful with that kind of thinking," she said. Then she stabbed the needle into his neck. "Now lie down before you pass out, You're too big for me to move you myself." Amon obeyed and layed face down in the center of the floor, then he was out. The strange woman smiled to herself again. "Perfect."

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Chihiro sttagered and collapsed into an ancient rusty wheelchair. She didn't know how long the thing had been there or whether it was safe to sit on, but she didn't care, she needed to alleviate the pain in her neck somehow. She struggled again with the weighted collar around her neck and to no avail. Chihiro took several deep breath and slowly stood up again, she knew the timer was still ticking; she had to keep moving. She hobbled to the end of the darkened hall and saw a crimson arrow pointed to the left, no dought in the direction of her next destination. She followed the next halway until it ended at another series of double doors. Above them was a broken neon sign that she could barely make out, upon closer inspection she saw that it read 'OPERATING ROOM' On the doors in the sick red lettering Chihiro had grown strangely used to seeing were the words:

ONLY THE TRUTH CAN BE HEARD

Chihiro burried her face in her hands and moaned though her sudden tears; this was beyond any nightmare she ever imagined; she wanted it to end. She slowly pushed her way through the doors and was again met with complete darkness. If her voice was working she would have called out, but fear had seemingly closed her throat. Then the overhead lights flared on and Chihiro was met with her next ordeal. There were two operating tables before her; what made Chihiro's blood go cold was the fact that both of them were occupied. There was one person strapped down to each of the tables; they weren't moving. Chihiro timidly approached the space between the two of them and-

"Hello?" Chihiro shrieked and stumbled into the opposite table. "Oh, god..." the young boy was slowly becoming aware of the situation.

And that's when Chihiro finally reconized him. "Hidetoshi?"

"Fushimi!" he cried. "Get me out of here at once!" He squirmed around in his bindings, but the thick leather straps held him to the cold steel table. Before Chihiro could speak again, a flat screen moniter flickered to life in the upper left corner of the room, once again the horrifying image of the bug-person came to her veiw. "What the hell is that?" Hidetoshi screamed. His question went unanswered as the figure began to speak:

"Hello again, Chihiro. Before you now you will find two people. One of these people you know well; the other is a perfect stranger to you,but only one of them holds the key to your freedom. In order to exit this room you will need to look deeper inside a person than you ever have before. In front of you, you will find the tool necessary for this revelation. One of these people has been given a key, and again, only one of them knows who holds it. Make your decision quickly though, or your hopes of escape will be crushed. Just listen, Chihiro, and you'll find the truth. Let the game begin."

As the screen went blank Chihiro became aware of the person on the other table to her right. He slowly drifted back into consciesness and turned his horror widened eyes to Chihiro. He was a much older man, and Chihiro could tell by the hospital gown he wore that he was a patient here.

"Chihiro, get me out of here now!" panic had now crept into Hedetoshi's usually bossy voice. Chihiro looked to the other man and realized that he had been rendered incapable of speaking by a leather strap that was fastened around his mouth. Before she could make sense of any of this, another light flashed on in the center of the room, this one revealing a silver table, on it were two things; a small motorized circular saw, and an X-ray picture. Chihiro wasn't an expert on human anatomy, but it was clear that this x-ray depicted someone's chest, what was more disturbing was that in this person's chest, was a key. Chihiro looked from the X-ray to the circular saw and thought she was going to be sick.

"What are you doing?" Hidetoshi screamed. His sentance was barely out when two more lights flared on, these in the ceiling. They revealed two steel plates about the same size and shape of the operating tables the two victims were laying on, they were lined up perfectly with the tables. And at once, thet began to lower.

"Oh, my god..."Chihiro breathed. The older man thrashed wildly in his bindings and tried to scream.

"Jesus Christ! Don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING!"

Chihiro was sickened. Someone in this room had to die in order for her to gain her freedom, but she had to make the right choice, or else they were all dead. She picked up the circular saw and moved between the two tables. What she had to do now was beond anything she could even imagine, but then she remembered Mitsuru; she had already killed once, but strictly for survival, now she was faced with the same decision again.

"MY GOD! What are you doing with that?" Hidetoshi thrashed wildly at the sight of the saw in Chihiro's hands. She chanched a glance upwards and her panic redoubled. The plates were lowering at an alarming rate, she didn't have more than thirty seconds. The older man screamed at the top of his lungs, or at least, that's what Chihiro was sure he was doing, his muffled cried reached new heights of urgency at the site of his incoming death. And that's when Chihiro had a revelation, she thought back to the message 'Only the truth can be heard'

She turned to Hidetoshi with tremmers running though her body. "What are you doing?"

In answer, Chihiro turned on the cirular saw, it's vibrations sending waves of fresh terror throughout the room. "NO DON'T DO IT!" She had to, though she could never forgive herself for it. She raised the saw over Hidetoshi's body- "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NOOO!"- and plunged the blade into his chest. The sound of tempered steel eating through cloth and flesh and bone was almost unbearable. "AAAARRHHHHHHAAAGGGHH!" The sound of his screams weren't enough to drown out the whir of metal grinding through his chest cavity. Chihiro winced and wretched as blood splattered against her clothes and face, clouding her glasses.

Chihiro had her eyes shut as she cut her way thoug his chest and then became aware of a strange pressure on top of her head. She screamed when she realized what it was. The plate was nearly on them, if she didn't hurry, she would never escape this place. She threw the saw away and plunged her hands into the messy vertical cut she had made in Hidetoshi's chest. She cried and had to swallow back bile as she felt around inside his chest. She could feel each of his ribs and god knows what else was in there. Her desperation doubled as she had to crouch down due to the plate's relentless closing in. Now she was feeling around blind; her arms were litteraly above her head as she groped inside Hidetoshi's chest cavity. Then, just as the she felt the plate beggining to apply pressure to her wrists, her fingers found something inside the wet squelchy mass, it was hard, and it didn't feel like a natural part of a human body. With no time to spare she closed her fingers around it and pulled it out. Instantly, the plates stoped moving. Chihiro thanked god through her tears of horror and disgust, having already killed Hidetoshi, he didn't need anymore dismemberment. She looked down to her cupped hands and saw the blood soaked key there and silently cried again.

She slowly lifted her greif-weighted body and shuffled to the set of locked double doors. A muffled cry sounded behind her. She turned to the older man who's life had just been spared, she could see tears of grateful horror there. He muttered something several times, and then Chihiro walked through the door. She couldn't quite make out what the man had said, but it sounded strangely like, 'Thank You'.

END OF CHAPTER 4