EAST DOMINO

JANUARY 19th

10:30 p.m.

My legs finally give out, bones and tendons turning to a burning mess. With the earth concrete coming up to embrace me, I fight to raise my arms, to break my fall. Not an inch of movement. I crash to the ground, my face bouncing off the pavement, pain flaring through my nose, my chin, my forehead.

I'm not sure how long I lie there for. The metallic tang of blood filling my nostrils, eyes screwed tightly shut, mouth full of filth and grit. Soon enough I'm crawling. Dragging myself out of the streetlights and into the darkness between apartments. Out of the light. Soothing. Healing.

I must be near to my destination. Every ache in my ruined body, every ragged nerve and livid scar assures in sweet tones that I have to be close.

With more effort than I have ever had to muster in my life, I pull myself into a sitting position, back to a wall. I lift my head, feeling the blood that pours from my nose thickening and setting on my lips. I turn my head, revelling in each crack and pop from my neck.

It's there.

Across the street.

Shizuuka's place. Her ground floor apartment. A cascade of memories ran through my brain. So vivid I could feel the strain on the backs of my eyes. Everything from how she looked each time she answered the door to me, to the smell of the carpets, the warmth in the kitchen, the sensation of her bed sheets on bare flesh…

With a groan that erupts from every shred of my being, I lurch out of the alley, back into the hateful glare of the streetlamps. I dart across the road as fast as I can, my legs buckling with each stride, every ancient incision on my chest screeching in protest. I finally make it across, spilling myself against the side of the building and leaning against the wall. I use it to hold myself up, pathetically limping around until I can reach a window.

I need to see if she's still here.

How long have I been away?

Days?

Months?

I know it must be longer than that, but I can perhaps lie to myself. The torture simple made it seem as though that creature had me captive for much longer. Soon I would discover that I had only been away for a week before I managed my escape. I'm sure of it. As sure as I can allow myself to be.

I finally find a window and skulk nearer, raising myself just high enough to be able to sneak a look inside.

Lights on. Dim. Cosy. I strain my eyes to catch a sight of anyone in the room. A movement of shadow here and there. Whoever it is, they are much too large to be Shizuuka, I'm sure of that. Perhaps I have been away for too long. Maybe she has moved away. Moved on. Found a new place to live her life.

The figure inside moves to the centre of the room, arms stretched overhead.

I recognise him. A man I have seen many times before. Dealt with only rarely. Officer Hiroto Honda, one of the Domino City P.D.'s many patrolmen. Dependable, strong, good at his job. Never advanced far within the force, despite being close friends with both Detective Katsuya and Captain Mutou. It would be too much of a coincidence that he would be the apartment's new tenant. And that would mean-

She comes into view next, taking a step towards Honda, pressing herself close to him, head resting on his chest. Nostalgia, wonderful and poisonous, takes hold of me. Knowing that once that would have been me. Once not long ago. Lifetimes ago. I would give anything to exact my revenge on Malik right this second. Not for the torture, the humiliation, the fear. For the theft of time. For taking away even a minute of my life, keeping me locked deep in the earth.

I feel a tooth cracking, loosening in my jaw as my mouth clenches shut. My eyes drifting downward in the scene. Noting a problem the couple have. They cannot embrace as comfortably as I would have expected. An obstacle sitting directly between them. Shizuuka's swollen belly nestled safely. Her child… Their child?

The smiling couple say something to one another, turning together, almost flowing out of the room as one being. The light goes out and I am staring into blackness. A void. Space. Cold and infinite.

How long?

I can feel my face tightening as tears try to force their way from my scarred face. Such effort that it feels like dust will rain from my eyes.

I know that now I should leave. I should crawl away. Where to? Does it matter? I could crawl back to the precinct, to get help, to a hospital. Hell, I could crawl back to Malik's feet right now. There would be nothing more he could to me. I know I should leave.

But my body is in motion. Fingers with severed tips pressing into the fault in the window frame that I remember from a hundred thousand years ago, pressing the latch up just the way I remember doing yesterday. A gentle push and the window lifts silently. I begged her to have this thing fixed. It wouldn't be safe for her. In this city. There are monsters out there.

I'm slipping my way into the building. Rough hands grip the ledge and drag my broken carcass inside. Into the warmth. Into the safety.

There are monsters out there.