Prey for a night by Kamen Lowell (bill gates best books txt) 📕

It was almost the end of the work day and we were about to head for the pub on the corner as we do every friday night.Me,Ellie and Kirk had already put on our jackets and we were waiting for Janine to finish some report on a guy that tried to rob a jewelry shop yesterday.It was almost 11:00 o’clock and there was nobody in the police station except us and the janitor,who had just arrived.The guys from the next shift were going to come half an hour.

‘’Come on Janine,you can finish it tomorrow its not a big deal.’’ I told her because we had been staying in the damn station for more than 11 hours and I couldnt stand being there any longer.

‘’Shut up,Frank and give me two more minutes.This guy has so many convictions they`re almost like a russian nesting doll,from one comes another one.’’ Janine was still new to our standarts.She graduated the academy 2 years ago,so she was still trying to be impeccable in the eyes of the higher policemen.But we didnt care that much,I`ve been the longest here,more than 10 years.As for Ellie and Kirk,they joined the force a little more than eight years ago if I’m correct,but they werent as hard working as Janine,but its ok neither of us was.For several more minutes we just stood going around the office,spinning in our chairs and trying to get balls of paper in the trashcan from a distance.

‘’Alright I`m done,you can stop whining’’ Janine stood up and got herself ready.We waited for her in the corridor while she was turning off her computer and cleaning her desk.Janine finally came in the corridor ready and everyone of us gave out a sound of relief and got up.

‘’Oh give me a break guys,blame me for wanting to have a clear conscience’’

‘’Well,not only your conscience is gonna be clear after tonight’’ I said sarcastically and we started heading for the door.And then we heard a rang,it was the telephone.We all looked at eachother and wondered if we should answer it.

‘’I better get it’’ said Janine as she started heading back to the office.

‘’Dont!Leave it to the guys from the other shift,they`ll arrive in a few minutes,or the phone will redirect it to someone pantroling the area.Its fine.’’ I said annoyed wondering what else could hinder us from getting out of the station.Strangely the phone didnt redirect the call,but instead it activated the voice mail.We rushed into the office and we heard the voice of a woman.She was trying to speak quietly but her stuttering made her voice higher at times.

‘’Hello?Is anyone there?Please,I need help!!’’ she weeped bringing desperation from the other side of the line.Janine quickly clicked the button for the loudspeaker and answered her.

‘’Hello,I am Janine.What is the emergency ?’’ she tried to sound calm so that the woman can be more relaxed and explain to her what is going on.We could hear her heavy breathing through the phone as if trying not to be heard.

‘’’M’am ?’’ asked Janine again and we all kept silent so that we can hear the woman.

‘’I....I dont have much time,he is coming.’’ the frightened woman then stopped again.

‘’M’am,who is he?You need to tell me where you are,otherwise we cant help you.’’ Janine looked as confused as we were,but nothing in her voice gave that away.She looked at me worriedly like looking for advice,but before i could say anything the womans voice came out again.

‘’He is looking for me,he....knows I’m here.Please come as fast as you can!!There are others,please!’’ judging by the echo the woman was probably hiding in a small place.Janine exhaled and tried to ask the woman for her address.

‘’Im staying at the Hunbridge hotel on the 6th floor.He is here,he sees me.’’

‘’M’am dont move,stay hidden and dont move,we`re coming to....’’before she could finish her sentence we heard a loud stomp on something wooden.The woman began to scream and we all froze.

‘’NO PLEASE,I’M BEGGING YOU PLEASE’’ the woman screamed in terror and then something cracked and broke and everything went silent.Janine tried to get the woman back on the phone,but she was long gone and only white noise remained.Janine put down the phone and looked at us,but we were just as stunned as she was.We quickly put on our uniforms and reported an homicide case and headed for the hotel.

On the way to the hotel the only sound in the car was the sound of rain pouring on the roof and front window of the car and the cleaners wiping the water off the window.It wasnt the first time we received such a noisy and blood chilling call,but there was something odd about this one and I knew there could be more to it than what we heard.

‘’What do you think that cracking sound was at the end of the call ?’’ Asked Kirk breaking the silence in the car looking through the window.

‘’She probably got hit with something or she fell on something,I’m not quite sure’’ I replied

‘’I thought they closed the hotel to be honest,nobody stayed there either way’’ i said trying to clear my memory on the hotel.

‘’They did,but some rich guy bought it and revived it.They even had a grand opening a few years ago,people say its nothing like before.’’said Janine checking the GPS if we are on the right track.In a few minutes we were already parking infront of the hotel and it didnt seem like anyone inside was aware of the call we received.The hotel had an old school look 1940 style with 10 floors,really big for an old hotel.A few lights were still on in some of the rooms,but more importantly the lobby was bright as a sun,so we headed inside.At the reception there was a thin man looking at the screen of the computer and typing down something.The lobby was decorated with vintage couches and little tables fitting perfectly with the rest in the room,but it seemed to be empty and we went over to him to direct us to the room of the victim.We went over to him and showed our badges and told him what happened or at least our suspicions.The man had a slim figure with black low cut haircut and the official uniform of the hotel.

‘’Oh thank god you came,i`ve been receiving calls for about an hour now for some ruckus upstairs,but i didnt believe it was so serious.’’ said the receptionist and waved at us to follow him.

‘’So you dont know anything about a woman that have been attacked in this hotel?’’asked Ellie while entering the elevator.

‘’No,not at all.I would`ve called you immediately if i had known’’ he sounded cincere and I believed him,but the fact that only she called us seemed strange.Something like that should raise suspicion in their neighbours’ minds.We entered the elevator,that was one of those really old and crapy ones with a grid for a door and sounding like it will break apart every second.Its a miracles that it held us all in and we didnt fall to our doom.The man took us to the room of the woman and apparently she had stayed with a man there.We knocked at first but soon after that we told the man to open the door.What we found inside was beyond our wildest dreams.

The decrepit stench in the room blew in our faces making us leave for a minute to get used to it.But it felt like it kept getting stronger as we stood at the entrance of the room.We finally decided to enter and uncover what we could and then leave again.The room looked like a massive brawl had taken place inside.All of the furniture had been thrown around at arbitrary places,the matrace was ripped into several pieces and some strange black goo had been spilled on it.The lamp had been almost ripped from the celling and was swinging back and forth creepily.Janine poked me on the shoulder and pointed at the wardrobe at the end of the room.

‘’Whats that next to the couch sticking out?’’ she asked readying the flashlight and removing the safety from her revolver.I looked at the spot she had pointed at and saw some white object,but it didnt seem to fit with the rest of the environment.I waved at the rest of the crew to follow me and surround the unidentified object.As we approached the place where it lied the odour got stronger and we covered our faces with a few napkins,that the receptionist gave us.I finally distinguished the object as I got closer and realised it was a human part.’’We had forgotten the main thing we had came for’’ i told myself clenching my teeth and closing on the body to uncover the rest of the poor woman.To my horror as i closed on the body next to the leg we saw first appeared a head with blonde hair.I immediately turned to Janine and asked her

‘’Did she mention a second person beside the man ? And before she could answer me i heard Kirk making a chocking sound.

‘’Oh god’’ said Kirk and covered his mouth and ran out of the room.

As i approached steadily the body i discovered that the head belonged to the same woman.Her body had taken a grotesque disfigured form,her spine cracked and twisted backwards,her ribcage spread and sticking out of her chest leaving her with a huge bloody hole in her.The only part of her that wasnt disfigured was her face,pale white,staring with her eyes wide open at the celling.’’Nobody deserves such an end’’ i said to myself trying to move my glace off of her.Even though tho whole picture was gruesome I couldnt turn my gaze off of her unlike my colleagues,who had already gone to look for other evidence in the room.Only poor Ellie still had to look at the decomposed corpse before we covered it with a white sheet.Ellie had to take detailed pictures of the body to include in the report later.The problem was that the image wasnt only memorized on the photos from the camera,but in her mind as well.She had told me once,when we were on a case that it had taken her several years to stop paying attention to the images of all the murdered or disfigured people she had taken pictures of.Night after night waking up screaming covered in sweat realizing its just one of those dreams.I knew exactly how she felt,we all did,but its just a part of the job and it had to be dealt with at some point.When Ellie was finally done I took a white sheet from the wardrobe and put it gently over the poor womans body.One thing that really gave me a chill were her eyes,who unlike her body,that was turning cold slowly,were still filled with the terror that she had felt when all this happened to her.I can only hope that it ended quickly.I put the blanket over the head and got up to check on the rest.Janine was taking samples of the black goo that was spilled on the bed,while Ellie was taking pictures of the room.Kirk entered the room again with a pale face cavering his mouth and nose with a napkin looking like a ghost.

‘’Everything alright ? ‘’ I asked him worriedly.

’’Yeah,its fine.I just need a few minutes to adapt,dont worry.‘’Kirk said and started looking around.

I looked around for the receptionist to ask him a few more questions,but he was nowhere to be found.

‘’Uhm,where did the man who brought us here go ? ‘’ I asked the rest while walking out of the room to check the corridor.

- Didnt he follow Kirk out of the room ? - said Janine still examining the black goo.I looked at Kirk who just shrugged his shoulders and continued with his work.

- Dont you find it strange that the corridor is oddly empty ? - I asked