Chapter 7: Reunion with the evil

The glowing red cross on his mask was the last thing I saw when he swooshed into the hospital room hanging to a tough carbon cable. With all the shattered glass in my body, I couldn't defend myself and when I gained consciousness, all I saw was sheer darkness around me. After the series of bad dreams I had, I doubted if I was in one again, I slapped myself and the sound echoed throughout the place, also the pain made my head go dizzy for a second.

I was wearing my blood-stained hospital gown and I didn't have any means to know where I was, the floor was cold and smooth like a flat metal sheet on a chilly winter morning, as I moved around the place to find an exit, I felt the temperatures falling, my feet stiffened and body started trembling and my lips went dead dry.

I couldn't move any further and decided to sit on the floor, the wounds due to glass pieces burned when I bent down and the cry I let out, filled the room with an engulfing echo. I started touching my body to feel and remove the pieces. After finding a couple of pieces, I wondered if I went blind which is when I heard a click.

A bright flash followed the sound, and it felt like my eyes were set on fire, I managed to open them after a couple of blinks and it was him. The place looked like an abandoned butcher house with bloodstains all over the floor and the walls.

"Why didn't you kill me...John?" I yelled at the Predator.

He was standing still and didn't seem to be in a mood to reply, I shouted the same phrase again expecting an answer but he stood silently watching me suffer.

"John...give up, now everyone in the city knows it's you."

He chuckled when I said that and I didn't know what seemed so funny until he removed his mask. I felt my heart trying to escape through my throat and my body started trembling involuntarily, I wasn't feeling the cold anymore, it was Mario De Mean.

As he started walking towards me, his dark aura surrounded me and made me feel weak, all I did was stand clueless and wait for him to kill me so that I could open my eyes and wake up from the bad dream. The demonic stare and the devilish movements, it was Mario in his original form, looking just like the crime articles and news channels described him.

"Hello boy! It's been a long time." He said in the same breathy voice.

I was puzzled, everything seemed like a huge maze and whenever I found a conclusion, it wasn't the one. I was lost in my thoughts trying to connect the events with one another when I felt his terrifying touch, He laid his hand on my shoulder.

"Well...don't be scared...I'm your godfather after all." He said with a grin on his face.

"Why... are you doing this?"

I barely heard myself, It felt as if something was stuck in my throat and my heart was thumping against my chest so hard that it was the only sound I was hearing other than his breath.

"I like this, well selling drugs don't excite me anymore." He said and giggled.

He looked happier, I didn't exactly know what they were doing with all those people but that was the first time I saw him smile for real.

"I know John started this...but you... you working under him...doesn't seem right."

I started getting habituated to the Intimidating vibes coming from him and was able to put my words out properly.

"John...John who?... Don't disgrace me." He took out a pack of Cocaine from his pocket and spread it on his purlicue, he then took out a rolled note with the other hand, licked its edges and then snorted the Cocaine.

"You should have figured it by now Leo, what kind of a cop are you?"

I was waiting for him to stop trolling me and get to the point, but I couldn't ask him to do that.

"If you are talking about that normie who stabbed you, then you should know that he is just one of those puppets and if it wasn't for me you would have been dead by now."

"Puppets?" I was astonished as things started becoming clearer.

"Yes...every person that disappeared is ruling the streets as the Predator and the funniest part is they don't remember their identities anymore... As the number of missing people increased, the strength of Predators increased and the number of disappearances followed and...the cycle continues."

The exponential rise in the missing cases started making sense though I didn't properly understand how they were controlling such a huge chunk of the population.

" If there are thousands of Predators how are they dwelling without being noticed?" I asked, my legs were twitching due to the low temperatures and I could barely standstill.

Mario chortled and said, "That's where he needed me...well you know I am the god of the underworld...so there is a world beneath, just like this one."

"He?...you mean the one who started this isn't you?"

"Noo...Why would I care about putting the city in order...I am a part of this...I mean, not a puppet but you can see me as a catalyst or fuel to this revolution and why am I doing this?... Because I'm bored." He let out an evil laugh and the laughter echoed throughout the place, He seemed like a gothic demon standing in front of vulnerable prey.

"Who is he?" I asked, my skin went numb and I didn't feel the pain from the wounds anymore.

"I don't know his name, all I know is he was a brain doctor and has some kind of trickery to transform people into mindless puppets, well that didn't work on me, so he told a long story filled with agony and hatred for the world and asked me for help and now you are going to help us too."

" I don't want to help you...and I am gonna hunt down this brain doctor, also this is what you would do if you were brought up in the right way." I said, gathering all the courage that was left in me.

He looked at me in silence and then let out a sigh.

"Well...If that's your choice then I'll let you go, bare with this" He said in his breathy voice, then he grabbed a glass bottle from his pocket and sprayed some weird smelling liquid on my face. Mario putting his mask back on was the last scene I saw before I went unconscious.