2025-02-07 00:37:07Walker stood in the long line, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. Every breath he took felt heavier. His bruises throbbed, his limbs ached, and his mind was on the verge of shutting down. But he couldn’t afford to rest.
His eyes darted around, scanning the nurses moving between counters. The place felt too quiet. Too controlled. He clenched his fists, trying to stay focused. He needed a patient card for Elizabeth—nothing else mattered. Then, just as it was almost his turn, a nurse in white scrubs walked briskly to the counter. She leaned in and whispered something to the nurse handing out cards. She glanced at him. Walker’s stomach twisted. The counter nurse nodded, and without hesitation, she waved him forward. “Sir, please come here,” she called out. Walker hesitated. Why was he being pulled out of line? He glanced behind him. The other people waiting exchanged murmurs, their eyes narrowing in quiet disapproval. “Don’t worry about them,” the nurse said, her voice unnaturally smooth. “We need to get you sorted quickly.” Walker swallowed hard and stepped forward. His legs felt heavier than before. The nurse slid a form and a pen across the counter. “Here, sir. Fill this out for your wife.” Walker picked up the pen, but his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. The letters on the page came out wobbly and unreadable. “Sir,” the nurse asked gently, “are you okay? Can’t you write?” “I… I can,” he stammered. “Let me help,” she offered. Her tone was too kind. Too practiced. Walker hesitated. Something about her felt... off. But he was too exhausted to argue. “Yes, please. I… I can’t focus right now.” She pulled the form closer. “Okay, just tell me your details, and I’ll write them down. What’s your wife’s name?” “Elizabeth… Elizabeth Steve.” The nurse’s pen hovered over the page for a second too long. Walker frowned. “And her age?” “Twenty-two.” She scribbled it down quickly this time. “What’s her address?” Walker blinked, struggling to remember. His mind felt foggy. “Uh… 45 Oak Street, downtown.” The nurse nodded and kept writing—but slower now. Walker’s heartbeat picked up. He glanced around. Something about this place, these people, felt too… calculated. When she finally handed him the patient card, her fingers brushed his wrist. Cold. “There, all done,” she said, smiling. “You should really sit down now.” Walker clenched the card in his hand. “What about Elizabeth?” “She’s being attended to. But, sir…” Her eyes flicked to the bruises on his face. “Those cuts… they don’t look good. Let me call one of our nurses to treat them.” Walker opened his mouth to refuse—but then he noticed something. She wasn’t asking. She was stalling. His throat went dry. “Please, sir,” she said again, firmer now. “Let me help.” The antiseptic stung as she dabbed his wounds. Walker barely flinched. His mind wasn’t on the pain anymore. It was on the way she kept looking at him. Not with sympathy. Not with concern. With curiosity. Her eyes flicked to his injuries, then back to his expression. Like she was trying to read him. Walker forced himself to speak. “So… how long have you worked here?” The nurse smiled. “Oh, a long time.” But the way she said it didn’t sound natural. It sounded like an answer she had rehearsed. Walker clenched his jaw. He needed to see Elizabeth. Now. When she finished treating his cuts, she handed him back the patient card. “You can go see your wife now.” Walker muttered a quick thanks, grabbed the card, and stood up. But before he could take more than three steps— Another nurse intercepted him. This one held a clipboard, her posture stiff, her expression blank. “Sir, before you proceed to the ward, I need you to answer some questions about your wife,” she said. Walker’s hands balled into fists. “Can’t this wait? She’s in critical condition!” “It’s standard procedure.” Standard procedure? Walker’s skin prickled. He hesitated for a moment—then nodded and sat down. But this time, he watched her carefully. She flipped through her clipboard and immediately started firing questions. “What’s her blood type?” Walker’s pulse quickened. “I… I don’t know.” The nurse didn’t react. She simply wrote something down. “Does she have a history of heart failure?” “No.” “Any sexually transmitted diseases?” Walker’s jaw tightened. “What does that have to do with anything? She was in a car accident.” The nurse didn’t look up. “Drug addiction? Alcohol abuse?” “No, none of that!” His voice rose. “What is this?” The nurse finally met his eyes. And for the first time, Walker realized something chilling— She wasn’t writing everything down. Some questions, she noted. Others… she ignored. Like she already knew the answers. Walker’s breath hitched. His mind screamed at him to pay attention. The nurse continued, unfazed. “Any organ issues? Kidney failure? Lung problems?” Walker wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. “She’s never had anything like that.” Silence. Then the final question: “Does she have any allergies to medication?” Walker’s heart pounded. His lips parted—but no sound came out. He didn’t know. He had never needed to know. But somehow, deep inside, a small voice whispered: They do. His hands trembled as he answered. “I—I don’t know.” The nurse scribbled something and, for the first time, smirked. Not smiled. Smirked. Walker’s blood ran cold. The nurse handed him a form. “Sign here, stating you don’t know some of the answers. Then you can proceed to the ward.” Walker snatched the pen, his grip tight. He scrawled his name in sharp, angry strokes. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered. The nurse finally looked up. And in that moment, Walker knew— She wasn’t a nurse. Not really. “Thank you,” she said, voice smooth. “You may go now.” Walker shoved the form back into her hands and stormed off. But he didn’t head straight to Elizabeth’s room. He stopped. Turned. And when he glanced back at the nurse’s station— The two women were watching him. Expressionless. And smiling. They knew something he didn’t.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Dawn of New Legends
Two weeks later, the warm Parisian sun filtered gently through the leafy canopies of the plane trees lining Place Dauphine. Their dappled shadows danced lazily across the cobblestones like delicate lacework. The square breathed with late-morning life—children laughing as they chased pigeons, the clatter of café cutlery, and the sweet, floating perfume of buttery pastries from corner bakeries.It was a perfect day. The kind that didn’t ask for anything except to be lived.Walker crouched beside a tiny red two-wheeler, his knees brushing the warm stone. The training wheels had come off this morning.Elizabeth held the bike steady by the handlebars, her knuckles white with gentle tension. Their son sat atop the seat, his feet just touching the pedals. His cheeks were flushed with anticipation; his eyes were wide, flickering between fear and wonder.“I’m right here,” Walker said, softly, firmly. “I’ve got you.”With a careful push, the bicycle began to roll forward. The wheels wobbled. Hi
Return to Paris
The sun was just peeking over the rooftops of Paris as Air France Flight AF022 touched down on the tarmac. Walker felt the cabin shift beneath him, the familiar hum a quiet anthem of homecoming. He’d flown alone—Svet had insisted on a separate exit—and now, through the oval window, he watched the Eiffel Tower’s silhouette cut through early morning mist.In the disembarkation corridor, Walker adjusted the strap of his duffel bag across his shoulder. His uniform of battered leather jacket and jeans marked him as a traveler, nothing more. He walked with purpose, heart hammering in time with his footsteps on the tile.At Customs, he bypassed the queue—Svet’s discreet pull strings at work—and stepped into the arrival hall. The air smelled of fresh pastries and motor oil, an odd but comforting mixture. He scanned the crowd, eyes flickering past bored tourists, anxious businessmen, until he found them: Elizabeth standing beside their son, little socks dangling as he shifted from foot to foot
Racing the Dawn
The dockyard slept beneath a heavy shroud of fog, crouching low at the water’s edge like a forgotten secret. It felt like the end of the world—quiet, cold, and waiting. Overhead, rusted cranes jutted into the night like broken fingers, frozen in time. Rows of shipping containers stretched into the mist like tombstones too weary to carry names.Svet’s SUV sat idle, tucked into shadow. Headlights off. Engine quiet.Inside, the air was dense. Heavy with tension. No one spoke.A small surveillance tablet flickered in Svet’s gloved hands. Onscreen, a woman in black slipped through the warehouse’s side entrance. Her silhouette cut through the gloom like a blade.Lisette.Oscar leaned forward, his breath caught somewhere between disbelief and recognition.“I told you,” he whispered, eyes locked on the screen. “I know that walk.”Svet gave him a sidelong glance, tone low and deliberate.“She knows you. That’s leverage. Use it. Go in. Play dumb.”Oscar hesitated. His fingers curled into fists.
Eyes on the Warehouse
10:42 AM – Outskirts of El Rosado Industrial ZoneThe warehouse was quiet.Too quiet.From a distance, it looked abandoned—faded concrete walls and a rusted steel door chained halfway shut. But from Svet’s thermal drone feed, the building breathed with life: heat signatures moving inside, low-power lights glowing under the corrugated roof, and a vehicle that hadn’t been there fifteen minutes ago.Inside the black van parked across the street, the tension was thick.Walker sat shotgun, arms crossed. Behind him, Jett hunched over a tablet screen while Ramirez checked his pistol for the third time. Oscar was in the rear, silent, a knot forming in his jaw.Svet leaned against the wall inside the van, arms folded, eyes flicking between his phone and a small live-feed screen showing the warehouse entrance from multiple angles.“I’m going in,” he said finally.“You’re not going alone,” Walker replied, immediately.“You don’t even know what we’re walking into,” Svet countered without turning.
Blood Walks With Blood
The black SUV roared to life outside, rumbling with quiet intent. Svet stood by the open passenger door, already giving coded instructions into an earpiece, fingers drumming against the roof as his eyes scanned the eastern sky. It would be dusk in less than an hour.Inside the farmhouse, Walker grabbed his boots. Fast.He strapped his belt back on, holstered a sidearm from Svet’s emergency crate, and reached for the short-range comm.“You’re not going,” Jett said from the sofa, still bruised but sitting up straighter now.“He said ‘leave it to me.’ You know what that means in his tone.”Walker slid the magazine into the sidearm with a quiet click.“It means he’s about to disappear and handle it alone.” He stood. “Which I’m not letting happen.”Ramirez rose with a grimace. “You think we’re just going to lie here and wait to be updated like news readers?”Jett gave a weak laugh. “Speak for yourself, bro. I still can’t raise my left arm.”“You can still shoot with your right,” Walker s
The Detail Everyone Missed
The farmhouse was quiet.A long, rustic hallway separated the sleeping rooms from the kitchen where Svet sat, alone, turning a chipped mug in his hands. The coffee had gone cold, but he didn’t notice. His mind was elsewhere—spinning, mapping, drawing threads between events that hadn’t yet found a pattern.In the other room, Jett snored softly on the couch, feet over the armrest, shirt untucked and one eye half-open. Ramirez sat at the far end, sharpening a knife—not for battle, just for calm. Walker leaned against the window ledge, rubbing the stubble on his jaw.They hadn’t spoken much since the rescue. Cindy and Ava were still missing, and none of them had answers. They were grateful to be alive, yes—but breathing didn't mean peace.Then came the knock.Three short raps.Svet didn’t move.Walker opened the door.It was Oscar.Hair uncombed. Shirt wrinkled. But his eyes—those were alert. Like he hadn’t slept in days.“Mind if I come in?” he asked.Ramirez stared at him for a long mom
You may also like
The Serial Killer: A headache for the police
Jejewiyyah2.4K viewsUNDERGROUND: Deck of Cards
CieLbiTch2.2K viewsThe Devil's Claw
Amna Talha4.2K viewsThe girl on swing
Razee Zainal1.7K viewsMurder Case #201
LovieNot2.0K viewsCrimson Legacy
Tomo Dachii603 viewsAge nineteen
Mela wrights1.9K viewsOperation: Nosoi
A.D. Lee1.2K views