4.

Tal sighed as he watched the same news play over and over again on the TV hanging in the corner of the break room. The news lady sounded shocked, even after sharing the news for the fiftieth time that day, that anyone got away from the psychopath Tick Tock.

Tal was glad that someone was able to escape. He was...but...that just meant that someone else would be Tick Tock's plaything.

He still remembered when the notorious villain, Tick Tock, first made their appearance. It was a few years ago, back when he still had that job at the market. He putting up wares for the day when some people walked by and he overhead what they were saying.

"Did you hear about that homicide that happened last night?"

"What? No-what happened?"

"Apparently, they found a mangled up body in the river. It was so teared up that they couldn't identify who it was!"

"Oh god...what has our society come to?"

"That's not even the worst part- apparently, the murderer craved a number into the victim's stomach-It was the only area where it wasn't messed up,"

One of then gasp in shock. They stopped walking and continued to chat nearby.

"The killer even left a note!"

"A note? What on Earth for?"

"I'm not exactly sure, my husband was so horrified he couldn't continue!"

"Oh my, well at least you have such a strong husband who works in the police force to protect you,"

They both sighed and moved on. Tal was suddenly feeling queasy at the thought of the dead body. He felt like there was something wrong with what those two ladies had said but he couldn't figure out what exactly.

It turned out it was because the killer did not stop at victim #1. There was soon a second one and a third one and so on. And yet the police could never find the killer. That horrified Tal, knowing that the police, the very people to sworn to protect society, could not protect from this new hell.

Tal looked at the drawn image of the so called devious Tick Tock-it was poorly drawn. At least that's what Tal thought because there was no way someone would look like that. It was just too disturbing for that to be an actual person.