Herk saw the look of horror on her face as Foster pulled out his service revolver from a shoulder holster. He aimed it at the creature as it advanced. Whatever this thing was, it had no fear of firearms. It moved silently towards them.
As Herk slid to the wall and moved behind it, he watched Foster level the gun and fired three shots directly at the torso of the beast. Shocked, he watched the bullets deflect off the thing. It must have some kind of protective body armor, Herk thought and tucked the information away for later use.
The beast toppled to one side as Herk slammed into it in a low crouch. The creature righted itself and regarded the man who’d attempted to take it down.
Now Herk saw it fully. It was made of some brown material and had the face of a devil. Not the cartoon devil with curly mustache and horns, but one with a red face, green eyes and big fangs. The teeth snapped at him as it turned in his direction.
Herk hit it as hard as he could with one well-directed offside blow to the jaw. The punch caused it to spin in the other direction. It roared again and leaped on him. Herk felt the rage he remembered from the drug tap him on the shoulder. He rolled behind the beast and put the thing in a chokehold. He couldn’t let the drug possess him again; he needed to take this beast down with his own abilities. Herk tightened his hold on the thing and felt it weaken as the monster tried to grab his arm.
Just as he had it under control, the beast shifted its weight and sent him to the ground. Herk rolled over, came up into a fighting position. He made ready for another run at the beast with the green eyes. But he didn’t get the chance. The monster snarled at him and dashed back into the building. In the distance, they heard the wail of police sirens.
Herk turned to see where Foster and Linda were to find them at the front of the alley next to the detective’s car. He had his revolver still out and stood protectively next to Linda. His other hand held his cell phone as he called for backup.
“What the hell was that?” Herk asked as he walked back to the car. His eyes never left the door where the beast went.
“Our monster,” Linda muttered. “Christ, that was close. What the hell got into you? Foster had a gun, why did you try and bear wrestle that thing?”
Herk reached down and picked something off the ground. “Foster’s gun has about as much effect as the last victim’s,” he said as Linda saw the slug fragment in his hand. “And he was using a higher caliber.”
They spent the evening at the police headquarters and talked to more people. Both Linda and Herk needed to give testimony, even though they were connected to the feds. The evidence unit went into the old factory and photographed everything with a SWAT team behind them. They found proof the beast had waited for someone else to show up at the former crime scene, but they were sure it was gone now. No one could determine where it might strike next.
A break came around ten that evening while they reviewed a map of all the credible sightings of the beast and the location of its murders. By now, the news had information of the latest attack and the city was in fear’s hands.
Linda and Herk stared at the wall map with the sightings marked in green and the killings in red. Two police investigators with them from the homicide department looked at it too.
“I never thought I would say this, but I miss the gang-related killings. At least they went down when you shot them,” Foster mentioned.
“This is crazy,” the woman detective spoke as they stared at the evidence before them. “Is this some kind of cheap horror movie where the mad scientist lets his creature loose to punish those who laughed at him?”
Herk opened his mouth, but shut it when he had a better thought.
“What’s this?” Linda asked Foster as her red nails followed a line of incidents up the river.
The incident line began at a particular point and circled back to it. Foster walked up to the map attached to the wall and looked at it. He wore glasses and needed to take them off to read the fine lettering.
“Pennsburg State Hospital,” he told them. “It’s been closed for years. I think the Pennsylvania National Guard owns part of it and someone else rents out the rest. It used to be a big home for mentally ill people, but the commonwealth shut it down over allegations of abuse. Most of the place is falling apart, they still haven’t figured out what to do with the land.” By now, everyone else was staring at the map.
“Can you get us there tonight?” Linda asked, her brown eyes reflecting in the light of the bulbs.
“Tonight?” he repeated. “That place is over grown. Your best bet would be to wait in the morning when you have the light on your side.”
“I think we need to go now,” she argued. “He’s been damaged, I saw the way he walked when he left and went into that building. It means he’s weakened from the fight with Herk. If we get to him now, there is a better chance of catching him.”
“Him?” Foster asked. Linda ignored the question.
The police were able to get an extra car for Herk and Linda, so long as the cops could follow in behind and the feds agreed to stay in contact. Herk and Linda roared down the Schuylkill Express with the other car behind them, sirens wailing. Herk called out the locations from the GPS receiver he held as Linda drove the car.
“You almost gave it away back there,” he grunted. “I know Doctor Jay doesn’t want us telling what we do or why we’re interested in a serial killer in Pennsylvania.”
“They didn’t make the connection,” she said. “So we’re okay. Did you read much of the report on that kill-suit?”
“Just a little bit,” he said as a small car sped past them. The local traffic was almost as bad as the one in DC.
“That kill-suit has to replenish itself. I don’t know how it’s impervious to bullets, but he found some way to generate a tough compound like Teflon on the surface. It grows back, just like the chitin on the shell of a crab. You grabbing it by the neck was something he hadn’t considered. I think that’s the best way to take him down.” She paused for a second and Herk felt her eyes on him. “Did you feel the effects of that drug again?”
“It’s always there,” Herk said with a shrug. ”I worry that it will never go away. Why do you think he’s hiding at that abandoned asylum? And how could he have traveled there tonight?”
“Easy,” she responded after turning off the turn signal to change lanes, “where else could he use to work on that suit, keep it in running condition and not have anyone find out? Trust me; the doctor has all manner of trackers out there, many that aren’t legal. However, he hasn’t found out where Leon went. Every time he shows up and starts killing, it’s in a new spot. But always a one-day drive from this location.”
“Makes sense. So any idea of his motivations? You are the head-shrink after all.” He noticed she flinched at his remark.
“The guy is just pure evil. I’ve learned there are people in this world who don’t have an ‘off’ switch when it comes to horrible thoughts. He’s a psychopath, lunatic, whatever you want to call him. But the short answer is that he does this because it’s fun and he can do it.”
An hour later, they were rolling down a crumbled road, which led through the old asylum grounds. They’d already pissed off their Philly police friends by ditching them in the gravel paths, which ran through the grounds. Linda pulled the car off to one side of the road and killed the engine. She turned off the lights and watched the other police car spin gravel as it went past them, unaware the car they searched for sat on a curb.
“You don’t want to involve them in this?” Herk said to her. “We have no idea where we are, we could use their help.”
“They’re Philly cops,” she explained. “Those two seldom cross City Line Avenue. They have no better idea where they are than we do.”