An Attack

Reed was on his way to Chloe's house and was surprised when he saw a call from Chloe on his phone and he picked up the call.

"Where are you? Come to your apartment I need to talk with you" she said and cut the call without even giving him a chance to talk.

She must be in danger or worried about something, he thought.

He moved his car from the main road and did a U-turn heading for his apartment.

***

Jeremy arrived home from work and he seemed unusually tensed for some reason, Diana thought.

"Are you okay love," she said to him as he was eating his food absent-minded.

"Huh, yeah, yeah I'm fine. No need to worry" he replied but his mind was wondering of a hundred ways to tell his wife that fighting the Institute which he never wanted before is now the only way to fight for his family's future. He sighed and sighed continuously and this annoyed Diana and she stood up and hit the dining table with her hands.

"What are you not telling me, Jeremy,"

"It's nothing for you to worry about Diana"

"Tell me now," she said as she put both of her hands on her waist.

"Fine. I'm thinking of helping Reed Diana," he blurted out and some seconds passed but she didn't say a thing and when he looked up at her face she was smiling.

" Why are you smiling" he said surprised that she was smiling at him.

" Because I'm surprised it took you this long before you figured out you had to fight the Institute"

"Why didn't you say anything before"

"We are a happy couple, Jeremy, everything concerning the Institute paints our image red. It destroys us from the inside and lets us rot with our lips sealed, afraid that the Institute has greater power against us but we always forget that we have Reed with us and only the two of us know what he's capable of doing, even he doesn't know that. Neither does the Institute, the unknown could tremble before him,"

"I know Diana but being close to the Institute always takes a chunk of my humanity and innocence, it makes me the beast the Institute wants me to be and it takes me years to fill that chunk of humanity it took to be filled up"

"Then make sure you bring them down once and for all"

"I could never imagine a more understanding wife, thank you love"

" I should be thanking you. You're my hero and you'll always be and now you're about to save our future from the Institute's shackles," she said with her eyes glinting with hope, hope that their lives could be better for once.

***

Reed arrived at his apartment and saw Chloe hiding her face under a black hoodie and he approached her.

"What happened Chloe," he said and she didn't even get a chance to say anything when a call from Charlotte came in.

"Give me a minute," he said and she nodded her head.

He picked up the call and Charlotte began to speak to him, after Charlotte had talked continuously he finally spoke up.

" Yes, I understand Charlotte. Leave the house to the safe house I'll be there when I'm done with the situation I have in my hand" Reed said and cut the call.

He turned around facing Chloe as she looked at him with fear in her eyes.

" Talk to me Chloe," he said to her and she breathed air, in and out of her nostrils to calm herself down before she could speak.

"I'm scared Reed"

" What's going on Chloe, tell me "

"Yesterday when I went home I didn't go to sleep, I couldn't go to sleep so I just tried to browse the internet about the institute to know more about it and when I was browsing, a threat message was sent to me," she said and stopped taking in deep breaths.

" What did the message say"

" 'I'm coming for you', It read out. I tried to trace the person who sent the message but it was a dead end. I have never been threatened even once when I hack, how did the person even get access to my system" Chloe said paranoid.

" Did the person get any of your information"

" No, I used an unidentifiable email for the computer I used so it can't be traced"

"Good, that's good, but still, you need to change your location. It's the institute, they have a thousand ways of fishing you out" Reed said

" Okay, is this the Institute"

" No, I don't know but to take precautions, go home now and pack your things, I'll take you to a new place. Call me when you're done, I'm also heading out now"

"Okay"

***

CHLOE'S PLACE

Chloe came down from the cab in a rush as soon as the cab came to a stop. She entered the house immediately and closed the door behind her.

She went straight to her bedroom and immediately she entered she saw a man seated on her bed and that's when she freaked out and started running away, trying to get out of the house but then she tripped over and fell but she still stood up and continued running but once her hand had reached the door knob and was about to open the door, that was when he grabbed her hand and pushed her backward and she landed on the wooden floor.

" What do you want? What the hell do you want from me" she said and stood up in a martial arts posture.

" Oh, the martial artist I see. That's sexy. A worthy opponent" the man said and laughed with his teeth as green as the most fresh green leaves, his hair as dirty as someone who had not taken care of his hair for a hundred years.

With the first step she made to attack the man, she aimed for his groin but he just hit her hard in the face and she fell on the ground with blood oozing out of her mouth and nose but she didn't give up, she still stood up again and this time around he kicked her legs hard and she fell, hitting her head on the wooden floor. As she fell on the ground she could swear she saw the gate of heaven but after some time she found the strength to stand up again but she was too weak to fight so he just punched her in the stomach and she fell on the couch this time around.

" Ah! The fight wasn't that refreshing but you tried, it's been long since I had to go all out. So now that you're weak you're going to have to answer my question. How did you know about the Stone psychology institute"

" I don't know anything about it I swear," she said and coughed out blood and he just sighed.

" Seems like my kicks and punches did no good, eh? So let's try something new. I have a feeling slapping could work without actually killing you. Any wrong answer you get a slap. So tell me, how did you know about the institute"

" I don't know" and a slap landed across her face and blood splattered out of her mouth.

" Please, please, please" she pleaded with tears rolling down her face.

" Tell me, now!!"

" My friend told me about the institute at school"

" Your friend! You're a pathetic liar, if it was just your friend you wouldn't have been in so much pain before you talked, it wasn't a friend who told you, it's either a lover or a family member, or your best friend, but either way, you know more about the institute, that's why you're hiding much about it then. Oh sweetheart, that is interesting" he said.

He slapped her hard on the face and now she could feel her eyes trying to bulge out of their sockets, the pain was unbearable, what was his hand made of, she thought to herself. By now, she could hardly even move her body, she seemed paralyzed and even her mouth seemed worse but the only thing that could get her out of this situation was her mouth, so she had to talk at all costs.

Just then, the doorknob twisted and the door was opened. A little smile formed on her face as she saw Reed and then she fell unconscious. The man looked at Reed and just sighed.

" I guess I have another battle to fight," he said rolling his eyes.

" No sir, you don't have another battle to fight, you just have the pain of the battle to feel"

" Who the hell are you anyway"

" I'm her boyfriend," Reed said removing a black jacket he had worn.

" Oh! That explains it. She was trying to protect you all along" he replied and Reed closed the door heading towards the man. The man tried to punch Reed but he caught the man's hand and broke it.

" What the fuck" the man screamed.

" You're one of the institute's monkeys I see. What a jackpot" the man said in pain.

" Does that make it better or worse" Reed replied and the man tried to punch Reed again with the other hand but Reed caught the hand and also broke it.

" Aww" the man shouted in agony.

" What the hell do you want with her, she's fucking innocent. You guys must have chased a girl and it was a dead end and now you're chasing another girl. It seems like you're just some perverted assholes" Reed said but instead, the man tried to kick Reed but Reed kicked the man's leg dislocating it.

" What did you and your team want? Tell me, or you die here and now"

" I guess you need to know then. I'm looking for the institute and its members and I got successful. It's not up to me now, I'm just a mere tool for success. It's up to my brothers and sisters that are coming. The merchants"

" you guys are part of the fucking black market"

"We are coming for you," the man said and started laughing hard. Reed easily just twisted the man's head to rotate and the man was dead.

He quickly carried Chloe in his hands and took her to his car and then he drove off directly to a hospital since Chloe was continuously losing blood.