Chapter 12: The Darkness That We Fight

Jennifer could only look up at The Shadow Man, into the barrel of Matt's gun that was now pointed at her head, helplessly, her own gun now out of reach.

'I'm so sorry baby girl,' she said to herself as she watched him squeeze the trigger...

Jennifer could now only look up at The Shadow Man helplessly, her own gun now out of reach, when suddenly he jerked involuntarily, then crashed to the ground next to her, Matt's gun skittering across the ground out of his reach. Blood flowed freely from new bullet wound in his shoulder. With the fight now taken out of him, The Shadow Man got to his feet and staggered clumsily away, disappearing from sight. A moment later, Jennifer heard the sound of a door slamming shut, followed by the distinct roar of an engine.

It's so hard to speak
I can barely look you in the eye
It's so hard to breathe
I know I ain't afraid to die

Confused and dazed, Jennifer looked across the floor to her wounded partner. To her amazement, and her admiration, Matt had somehow managed to drag himself far enough across the floor to recover her gun from where it had been kicked. He had then fired once, with extraordinary accuracy given his injuries, stopping The Shadow Man from killing her. For a long moment, they stared across the floor at each other, their individual pain and desperation reflected in each others eyes. But now, even as Jennifer watched, her gun fell from Matt's grip and his eyes closed and he slumped to the cold concrete floor.

Panic hit and, ignoring her own pain, she dragged herself across the floor to him.

"Matt…"

Her voice came out weak, barely audible. He didn't respond, and she realized dimly that he was in serious danger of bleeding out right then. She was on the verge of losing consciousness herself, and knew she had one chance to call for help. They both needed help, or they were both going to die here in this abandoned warehouse.

Fumbling with her mobile, she managed somehow get it from her coat pocket and press Speed Dial 1, the Police Switch Board.

"This is Detective Mapplethorpe… Assistance needed… Warehouse at 453-454, Docklands Drive… Doc… Docklands… Officers down… Repeat… Officers down…"

For a terrifying moment she thought her voice had been too weak to be heard, then a voice resonated out of the speaker.

"This is Central. We receive your message, Detective Mapplethorpe. Dispatching an ambulance and back-up immediately. Can you tell me what your status is?"

Somehow, she managed to gather the strength to speak again.

"Two officers... down… myself and Detective Ryan… Suspect is... gone… We've both been shot… Need an ambulance…"

"An ambulance is on its way, Detective. Just hang on. Try to stay awake. Tell me, how badly are you both injured?"

She knew the dispatcher was trying to help her to stay awake, and she appreciated it, but she simply didn't have the strength to get another word out as the mobile slipped from her bloody hand, and the last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was the ever-growing pool of blood beneath the both of them.

And I can't stand the pain
And I can't make it go away
No I can't stand the pain

It was a cruel wake up the following morning for Jennifer as she quickly awoke to darkness and found herself aware of a rough, warm hand gently holder hers. It was a familiar touch, and she looked over to discover it was Matt sitting there beside her.

"Matt..." she said as a strangled sob escaped past her lips as she clutched the crisp, cold, white hospital sheets around her as she tried to calm herself.

"Sshhhh, its ok Jen," Matt whispered reassure-ably, gently stroking her forehead in a tender gesture of love.

She looked over to where Matt was sitting sitting, he was partially covered under a blanket, obviously the one that she had had on in the ER.

"I had another dream," she sobbed, clutching the sheets more tightly to her chest as Matt moved up on the bed beside her, embracing her in his arms. "He tried to kill us again, he left us to die in an abandoned warehouse." She sobbed into his chest, laying a hand on Matt's hand that was now resting on her still flat stomach, what she didn't notice as her eyes started to close, was the man standing out in the corridor, watching them as she finally succumbed to the darkness again.

--- ---

There is a time, when the walls must crumble and a person's vulnerability will be laid out on the ground, completely exposed. They put up those walls in order to protect that, which is most precious to them, faith in them selves.

They will stand, with arms crossed, staring defiantly into our darkness that they so adamantly fight against, and silently pray that they know what they're doing. They think they can win; they think they have the strength to win out over the monsters that lurk in our blackness.

Faith can be the most powerful weapon in their arsenal. But, when they lose that faith, and the sickly-grey fingers of doubt creep into there hearts, they blindly fumble around for convictions, they are lost to our darkness.

And we make them scream, helplessly, blindly, for a savior as they tumble into the depths of our black Hell.

These were Jake Wrangler's thoughts as he entered Jennifer's house through the open bathroom window she left open for her cat.

He looked around the bathroom. On the counter there were mens shaving items, deodorant, foundation, mascara, eye shadow, lip stick, eye liner, perfume, aftershave and some woman's hare care products.

Picking up one of the hair care products with gloved hands, he read the label, Schwarzkopf Extra Care Leave in Conditioner for colour treated hair. So, he thought, Jennifer's not a true blonde. He put that bottle down and picked up another Schwarzkopf tube, Extra Care Loopy Form 1 he put that tube down and opened the mirrored cabinet above the basin, in there were a packet of Nurofen Zavance tables, a bottle of ibuprofen, a small box of tampons, a box of band aids, an unopened bottle of foundation, a bottle of mouth wash, an unopened can of Gillette shaving gel, another unopened bottle of Lynx Shower Gel and a few prescription bottles - some almost empty some half full, but one bottle that was hidden behind some of the other prescription bottles caught his eye.

Pushing the bottles aside, he lifted up the hidden bottle that was at the back of the cabinet. Elevit pregnancy vitamin tablets, he opened the cap and looked in, it was almost full he noted as he thought, so Jennifer's pregnant, or she's trying to get pregnant, interesting.

Putting the lid back on the bottle, he put it back where he found it and replaced all the prescription bottle back to where they were before he moved them and closed the cabinet.

Walking out of the bathroom, something caught his eye in the trash bin down beside the basin, walking up to it, he lifted the trash can and reached for the object that caught his attention. A positive used white home pregnancy test stick. So she is pregnant. His thought's soured when he thought about this about who the father was. This was all the motivation he needed to carry out the deed he would do soon.

He would attempt to kill Jennifer's unborn child.

Tbc...