"Police! Stop!" he ordered, his gun in his hands.
The man with the tophat turned around to face him and started laughing, a deep, imposing laugh that makes the cop shiver. "Oh, mon ami, you shouldn't talk that way to me," he said with a heavy accent.
"This is a crime-scene and you have to stay here!" he ordered.
Something was weird. Something was very weird. And besides that, that this guy had a strange accent or wore a tophat.
Tophat – there was something about a tophat he remembered.
Four pale men came out of the container he'd witnessed this guy had left before. Four men carrying a huge metal coffin.
What the hell was going on here?
"Stop! Put that down!" he ordered.
"You would be better off if you had never seen this," the guy with the tophat said to him, giving another unnerving chortle.
The cop looked up at him and watched as his face began to ... He couldn't name what it did, but this guy didn't look human anymore.
He stumbled back, not really knowing what he was supposed to do now. The four men still were carrying the coffin and his instincts told him he should better run – now! ASAP!
"I said stop!" he yelled, but his voice wavered.
"You will understand, believe me. They are only following my orders, just like you will, in time," that thing, still with the tophat, said to him.
One of the four men stumbled and fell. The coffin, devoid of a carrier, fell, too. When it hit the ground the cover sprang open, and he could see -
"This wasn't for your eyes!"
He felt something hit his jacket and he swore he could never be gotten rid off it faster. There was something telling him that, whatever had hit the fabric, never should touch him.
He heard that thing with the tophat behind his back, saw who was lying in the coffin and ...
Wu jumped from his bed, breathing heavily, and not really knowing what to think. For a moment he just stood there in the early morning light shining through the closed window of his bedroom.
He'd seen Nick in that coffin. Why didn't he tell anyone about that? Why did he keep his mouth shut about that guy with the tophat? Afterwards, he'd remembered, Nick had mentioned that guy himself before.
What the hell happened that night at the container yard?
Wu sank down on the mattress again. Burying his face in his hands, he struggled to remember.
He'd seen Nick in that coffin, he was sure. All pale and with wide, blood-shot eyes, motionless and lifeless. And he was sure Nick was dead.
That guy with the tophat, that stuff on his jacket. All of this happened, Wu remembered. He had reported the man, only he didn't say anything about Nick. This scene back then was only one of a whole night of surreal happenings, of people turning into monsters. But that guy, he was sure, he was the most dangerous one of them all.
Why he didn't tell anyone?
Wu felt for Nick. When the young man was transferred to Portland and came to the precinct, Wu was his first partner. He remembered how Renard called him into his office back then, where Nick was waiting, looking so young and innocent. He liked Nick from the very first moment, and he liked him more after Nick told him about how he decided to became a policeman, about his parents' death, how he grew up on the backseat of his aunt's car. Wu was the first to know about Nick falling in love with Juliette. He was the first to learn that Nick would be promoted to a detective after only a few short years in the precinct. Somehow, Wu began to feel responsible for the younger man, just a little bit like a father. The father Nick so badly missed.
To see the younger man lying in that coffin, red-eyed and lifeless, was a shock Wu couldn't really handle. And then all this fighting against these weird monsters, finding Juliette and Nick's other friends there, that guy with the tophat. And there was another man, Wu remembered now. A man with curly hair. He'd only seen him for a second before that four men came out of the container with Nick's coffin. Another vague familiar face, like a former classmate or acquaintance.
What was this all about? When this stranger with the tophat had killed Nick, why would they take him away? Seriously, Portland was a mostly nicer city than some others in the US, but even so, a cop got killed from time to time. It wouldn't be the first time a policeman was brought to death by some criminals, and it also wouldn't be the first time Wu had seen a coworker dead.
True, to see Nick's body hit Wu harder than the most. But this wasn't about a body. This was different!
Wu remembered all the people they had arrested that night during what he only could call a battle were brought to different hospitals around Portland. And he remembered, the next day, when his endless journey to the therapist began, he met Nick's weird friend Monroe at the hospital where he wanted to take the statement from the attackers they brought there. A nurse told him Monroe had visited them all.
Wu looked up. As far as he knew, Juliette and another woman he barely remembered as the relative of a vic had been seen in other hospitals. And the attackers hadn't had a clue what was going on or why they attacked innocent people and cops.
Wu stared with empty eyes at a point on the next wall.
Something was weird about this night, and since then, it hasn't stopped. There was a tiny little voice telling him Nick was alive when he'd seen him. Maybe that was the reason why he didn't tell anyone about what he'd witnessed. This complete scenario was so weird and surreal, it couldn't be true.
Humans turning into monsters. Not that this would made any difference. It wasn't those hallucinations that were gradually pushing him towards the edge. It was simply the memory of seeing one of his best friends being carried away, appearing dead while he KNEW he was alive. It was that something warned him to run while he hadn't had a clue why.
No, Wu had seen a lot in his life, and he surely would see some more weird things before he passed away someday. But this was different. And that's why he kept silent so long.
But what about now? To whom he could go to without everyone thinking he was going nuts?
Juliette all sad and crying. Monroe pale and distressed, sniffing the air as if he could smell his friend. A woman with the bag, always rummaging through it and whispering something he couldn't understand. The captain, very nervous, searching for an explanation that would make sense but never did.
Wu still stared at the wall, impassive, as though waiting for an answer to ooze through a crack in the trim.
Nick's eyes. For a split second he'd seen them blinking.
And suddenly Wu stood up again.
Nick blinked, unable to speak. Maybe nearly unconscious. Wu had seen it. He'd known that Nick was alive, only looking dead.
Why had he told this to no one?
Whom?
Juliette, looking at him, so sad, so hopeless, but still caring for him, praying for her lovers salvation.
Nick's red eyes blinking for a split second before he ran.
He only knew one person he could talk to now, Wu decided. And he was sure, this person would hate him for all the time he kept his mouth shut.
Nick was alive when he saw him. He was alive! That was all what counted!
Wu turned around, searching for clothes.
He had something very important to do ...
Sean really had no idea what he was going to do here. He had just called Hank Griffin to convince him to come with him in the hope of getting Wu out of his apartment. Hank and Wu went sometimes out for a beer after duty. So, Sean thought, there was a real chance that his missed officer would probably leave his home for a friend, because he never would leave it for his boss.
"I've no idea why we are here," Hank said to him while they were climbing the stairs.
"I'm in charge for the mental state of my officers," Sean told his lieutenant. "Wu got the clearance from the therapist but he's still refusing to come back to the precinct. I cannot let this happen, Hank. Wu is a good officer and he's risking a lot here. If we cannot change his mind he will probably be kicked off the force. I cannot let that happen. Not after all!"
"I'm impressed, captain," Hank told him. "I know you are care for us but I never thought you would be so adamant in protecting us from being kicked."
That was what he was doing, Sean thought. And usually he wouldn't, well, he would not do this for everyone. Wu was someone every precinct needed, someone who could cheer the others up and also do his own work with experience, efficiency and with a regular streak of cleverness. Sean was sure that, without him, the precinct wouldn't feel or be the same.
He opened the door leading from the stairways to the floor and shrugged after Hank passed him. "Believe me, there's a lot you don't know about me."
"Yeah," Hank answered, "and I feel no need to."
This sounded bitter, even to Sean.
Damn, how could the loss of one single person affect an entire city? Hank seemed completely changed in the last two months. Maybe also because he just started a new relationship, but it felt weird. True, the two detectives never were such big friends but at least they cared for each other.
They walked down the floor until they came to the door to Wu's apartment.
Sean gave Hank a silent sign. He had the feeling that Wu probably would try to avoid opening the door again after he learned that he was there. Hank was another story, Sean hoped.
"Wu?" Hank said, knocking at the door. "Hey, buddy, everything okay in there? I just came over to see if you needed anything."
Silence.
Sean listened but there was nothing, no sign of life.
Hank knocked again. "Wu, come on! Open the door!" he ordered, still without any reaction. "This is Hank. I'm worried about you."
Sean exchanged a look with his detective and shrugged again. "I had to try is more often over the last few days," he said.
"Are you kidding me?" Hank turned around, lifting his arm and touching the the edge of the door frame.
Sean frowned when he noticed how easily his detective got a duplicate key from that door frame.
"Are you serious?" he asked, incredulous .
Hank turned around. "What?"
Sean pointed at the door frame. "That is what I call a lousy hideout," he told Hank. "I mean, how often did you do that schoolkids preparation course now?"
Hank thought for a moment. "I don't think it's such a bad idea. Where you have hidden yours?"
Definitely better hidden as this was, Sean decided.
Hank put the key into the lock and turned it.
"Wu?" he asked again after he opened the door a little. "Hey, buddy, it's Hank. I'm coming in now."
Sean nodded and closed the gap behind Hank, who led the way into the small apartment.
"Wu?"
"Sergeant?" Sean now asked. "Is everything alright in here?"
The room, definitely the living room, was empty. Only a big, red cat was sitting on the couch table, busy with cleaning her fur. When Sean stepped closer, she looked up, feline eyes leery. The fur at the back of her neck began to raise. The beginning of a yowl brewed in her throat.
Hank opened another door but came back only a few seconds later. "He's gone," he told Sean. "But his uniform is still here."
Sean got a bad feeling in his guts. "You don't think he would try something stupid, do you?" he asked.
Hank looked at him very seriously, shrugged then. "Don't think so. But with what he is going through, anything is possible."
Sean watched the lieutenant closely. "Did you think about something like that last year?" he finally asked. "After you ... you know ..."
Hank grinned. "Me? No!" he shook his head. "But I'm not Wu. I thought I would lose my mind. I've no idea what he may be thinking."
Hopeful not to end his life somewhere, down at the river, jumping from one of the towers in the city, or something foolish like that.
"I doubt Wu would do that. One thing I've learned about people trying suicide," Hank told him, nodding at the cat, "when you are going to end your life, you don't care about your pet anymore. Ceasar looks very full and satisfied to me."
Sean turned around again, watching that red cat. Ceasar stopped cleaning his fur and looked up himself, his green eyes glowing at Sean. At least the cat stood up and arched its back, snarling.
"Cats don't like me," Sean admitted with a grimace.
Nor do dogs, bird, reptiles – only fishes really seemed to like Hexenbiests, he had to confess.
"Then let us hope Wu is somewhere and still alive," Hank said.
Sean frowned. "What do you mean?"
Hank grinned again. "As far as I know, you are supposed to become Ceasar's guardian in the case that Wu dies. Could be quite a challenge for you two, huh?"
Hopefully Wu didn't leave to do something really, really stupid, Sean thought, looking at Hank with an irritated look in his eyes. That question was better off unanswered!