Scene vi
Paula sat in her office chair; she held a pen between two fingers and twisted it continuously. "They should've been back by now," she said to herself as she looked out a window.
Alison had left no more then twenty minutes ago. Her state was still unstable and she was still shaken from Kevin's yelling. Paula was familiar with Kevin's 'bad cop' attitude. But the display of violence he had given off was unlike anything she had ever seen from him. Paula could only hope that Kevin would catch Jigsaw. Not to apprehend a villain, but so Kevin would return to a healthy mental state.
With the time they've been taking in the building…anything could've happened. Paula could only pray that they were safe.
Knock-knock
A door to the office opened slowly. Paula turned her head to see the female SWAT member coming into the room. "Officer Paula?" she asked as she stepped into the room.
"Jesus," Paula said with a sigh, dropping her pen. She knew that something was wrong. Paula stood up from her chair and walked toward the female. "All right, what's happened?" Paula asked.
"It's the detective," the SWAT member said. "Jigsaw tricked him inside the house and we can't find a way through. Jigsaw has Kevin in a game."
"Damn it, Kevin," Paula scowled as she folded her arms across her chest. Her fear had become a reality. Jigsaw must've known…he must've known about Kevin's obsession. That's the only reason why Kevin would be in that game. "Jigsaw's clever, a genius. He's accounting for every possibly situation. Don't call anyone else; don't let any other officers know about what's going on. Chances are that Jigsaw wants this. We need to go and see if we can save Kevin ourselves. The fewer people that know the better."
Paula's plan was noble. She didn't want any other people to get hurt in this game. Paula would try to save Kevin, but even she knew that Kevin would ultimately have to save himself.
Paula walked out the door with the female SWAT member close behind. A smile came over the member as her plan was slowly coming together.
"No, no, no!"
Kevin shut his eyes tightly and covered his ears. He could hear the cries of Mary still. The guilt was already eating away at him from what he had done. The detective let an innocent woman die.
"It needed to be done. It had to be done," Kevin said, attempting to comfort himself.
…But didn't it? Didn't it have to be done? This was the only way Kevin was going to stop Jigsaw. If an innocent person was in the way then so be it. Kevin was an upholder of the law; he had to overlook the life of one for the lives of many. If one person had to die to save hundreds, then Mary should be grateful that she was the one to make that sacrifice.
Kevin looked up to the ceiling; a fluorescent tube was placed every few meters or so. The walls were coming unplastered and the long rug spread across the hallway was dusty and torn. "A fitting place to live for such a filthy bastard," he said.
The detective stopped at a flight of stairs. He pulled out a pistol from his back pocket as he slowly made his way up them. Kevin was cautious and weary as stopped at the next floor, the third floor.
This same floor was where officer Roy met his death.
Kevin walked across a new hallway, just as dirty as the last. His hand pressed against a metal door connected to the wall. This door was placed in the middle of the hallway with a note attached to it.
Pulling the note from the door Kevin read it over quickly. 'It would be in your best interest to wait ten minutes for the other player to get here. If they should not show up, proceed.'
Kevin looked down the hallway again. Someone else was playing this game with him?
"Oh my God!" Jade screamed again as she backed away from Harold's head.
She covered her mouth as she turned away from his headless body. Jade felt overcome with nausea as she looked away from the pool of blood.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Jade whispered as she grabbed her own blonde hair. She was feeling the guilt again. She felt the pain of having killed someone…again. How could she have done such a thing twice?
"Jade, if you decide to use the key to save Harold, you will not be able to use it to open the door to the next room. And if you choose this path, you will be able to fully meet with the person who is responsible for Roy's death."
Jigsaw's words rang through her head like an echo. Jade hadn't saved Harold, meaning she could still meet with the person responsible for Roy's death. She could still have her revenge. Jade wouldn't let Harold's death go in vain.
Jade made her way past the bloody scene and used the key to unlock the door in front of her. She pulled it open and looked at the staircase before her; the key was now lodged into the keyhole. She wasted no time walking up the flight of stairs. All Jade wanted to do now was to meet face-to-face with her husband's killer. That's all she wanted…
Jade stopped climbing the stairs and fell to her knees. She kept one hand on the railing and the other on a step. "Roy…" she muttered as tears rolled down her face.
The death of Roy finally hit her. She had spent the past two weeks hopelessly searching for him. She didn't want to walk out on Roy like she did. Jade didn't realize how big of a problem Roy's addiction was so frustrated that he hadn't stopped that she couldn't handle it anymore. She felt guilty then too, she felt guilty when Roy had just disappeared. Jade thought it was her fault and she tried to find him.
"Roy, I'm sorry," she apologized. Jade pulled herself up and leaned against the wall. Her hand wiped tears from her eyes as she bit her lip.
Someone had killed the man she loved. The murderer was still in this building. Jade realized this and knew that she would never be in peace until that person was dead. She'd make him suffer for what he did to Roy. Jade would gladly let him die by the hands of Jigsaw's trap.
"I'm doing this for you," Jade said with tears in her eyes as she climbed the stairs again. She had found the motivation she needed to continue. She was willing to kill one last person for Roy. It may not be what Roy wanted, but it was the only thing that mattered to Jade in this world now. She wouldn't let it slip through her fingers.
She walked through a hallway on the third floor. The filth of it all went unnoticed by Jade who only had one thing on her mind. She turned a corner and came to a larger hallway. A man stood in front of a metallic door, his eyes instantly met with Jade's.
Jade continued down the hall, her eyes nevered parted from the man. She stopped before him and he handed her a note. "You must be the other player," Kevin said with an emotionless face. Was this girl someone he could trust? Or was this some other person he was to kill?
She stood quiet for a moment as she handed back the note. Jade looked at the door and sighed. "Sorry. I'm in no mood to become acquainted with anyone. I have to finish my game," Jade told him.
"Regardless, I'm Kevin," he said with a small smile. This was his 'good cop' attitude. He was a bit relieved to finally see a regular person again and someone he was supposed to let die. Kevin made a move to put his hand out for a shake but quickly put it down. It was still covered with dry blood from the barbed latter steps.
Jade looked at his hands and then to his face. "Jade," she said, feeling sorry for the man. She showed Kevin her own hands with an attempt at a smile; they were covered with tiny pieces of glass shards as well as dried blood.
Kevin chuckled as he put the note in his pocket. "We're getting close to the end. Let's finish this and get out of here together. I'm going to personally make sure Jigsaw is behind bars in the next hour," the detective told Jade.
With a simple nod, Jade watched as Kevin opened the door before them. The door swung open slowly as they entered the dark room. Kevin looked to the side of him and flicked on a light switch. The fluorescent light tubes turned on dimly as the metal door slowly closed. Kevin, not wanting to be locked out, stepped out of the way and let the door close.
Both Kevin and Jade were not examining the grotesque room, which held a few shards of glass along the floor. Rather, they were looking up at a shirtless man who was pinned to the wall by metallic cuffs several yards above the floor.
Kevin's foot knocked against a recorder on the floor. The man pinned to the wall tilted his head down and watched as Kevin picked it up.
The detective turned the recorder over and saw a picture of a man with a chain linked to a cuff around his neck. Kevin pulled the picture from the recorder and flipped it over. The words 'Kaden Jester' were written on the back.
"My camera never lies, Kaden," Grace said as she held the camera up to her face and took a picture of Kaden; a photograph slid out from the bottom of the camera.
"Kaden…?" Kevin muttered as he looked up. Kaden looked down below with a smirk on his face.
"Oh look," Kaden said, coughing directly afterwards. "I get some company," his smirk remained as he looked down to the two players. He seemed thinner and weaker than the photo showed Kevin.
"Damn it, someone help me!" Kaden screamed as he looked up to the syringe placed on a wooden stool. He lay on his stomach in a field of broken shards. The ones behind him were red with his blood.
Kaden pushed himself off the ground, glass shards stuck to his hands as he coughed once more. Blood splattered against his hand from his mouth. The poison in his body would kill him if he didn't the antidote in the syringe soon.
The killer looked behind himself and to the chain that was still slowly reeling in. Kaden knew that it wouldn't be long before the chain began to tug against his neck.
"Aaah!" he screamed in pain as he attempted to run across the glass. His eyes closed tightly as Kaden pressed his teeth against each other. Shards submerged into his flesh as blood squirted from his feet.
"Ack!" Kaden choked as the cuff around his neck pulled him. Kaden fell to his knees as he attempted to reach out to the stool. "Damn it!" he shouted as he began to take off his shirt.
The cuff around his neck pulled harder as Kaden ripped his shirt in half at the center. He grabbed a sleeve of his shirt and threw it to the top of the stool. "Yes…yes…" he said, partially exhausted.
He pulled back hard on the sleeve and the syringe landed in front of him. Kaden let go of his shirt and grabbed the syringe, which had been cracked upon landing. "Please, please," he muttered as Kaden pushed against the ground with his feet to back himself up to prevent the chain from choking him. Kaden squinted in pain from the glass as he inserted the hypodermic into his arm, injecting the antidote into his veins.
Kaden coughed again as he let the syringe drop to the floor. Yellowish liquid remained in his hand from the cracks in the syringe. He rubbed it against his bloody hands but he soon began to choke.
The cuff pulled against Kaden's neck as he fell to his back, the chain slowly dragged Kaden across the glass. "Ack—no! Fuck!" he swore as he attempted to get himself back up. Kaden pressed his feet against the glass as he pushed himself backwards, giving himself enough slack to stand up again.
"Son of a bitch!" Kaden yelled, writhing in pain as he ran across the glass shards and stopped at the wall that held a device, which continuously reeled his chain in.
Kaden gripped the device and let his head rest against it. The white-hot pain surged through his body as Kaden coughed up another glob of blood. Streams of blood ran from his mouth as the cuff began to pull against Kaden's neck again.
Kaden turned around and let the back of his neck touch the device which now shut off. Kaden couldn't move, for the chain was hidden within the device.
He stood there for an hour, his body aching from the events that had just passed. The antidote was barely working to save his body. He could feel the sickness within him still. Kaden was unsure if the antidote was simply prolonging his death or actually fighting off his disease.
The metal door suddenly opened as Grace came into the room, a broom in her hand.
"Well, we have a winner," Grace said with a smirk as Kaden simply stared at her. "What's wrong? Too tired to swear at me again?"
Grace moved over to the glass shards and began to sweep them into a large pile as Kaden simply watched. "John believes in recycling," Grace said with a chuckle. "We'll be using these for another trap in a couple weeks or so."
"What…" Kaden muttered as Grace looked toward him. "…Is going to happen?"
Grace smiled as she let the broom fall to the floor. She walked up to Kaden and grabbed the black hair on his head tightly. He groaned as Grace kissed his cheek. "You will be the deciding factor in John's biggest game yet. If you live, it won't happen. But if you die…oh…if you die…" Grace chuckled as Kaden scowled.
"I thought I…was sick," Kaden said, angrily.
With a chuckle, Grace put her mouth to his ear. "I'm hoping you die," Grace whispered with a smile. " 'Cause if you die—there will be blood. Oh yes, there will be blood."
To be continued…
