The Marionette

    The night rolls through bringing a thick cover fog around the police station. The dense air surrounds everything in a white smoke. Light from street lamps produces halos in forms of yellow and white blurs. Ronnie opens the doors from the entrance of station holding a suitcase. His eyes impaired as he holds out his left hand and slides it down the rail of the steps. He heads to the parking lot in front of him searching for his vehicle in a white washed portrait.

    He holds out his keys and presses the button and the lights flash on and off in the distance. He gets a vague gaze of parking lot. The area looks abandoned except for a couple of cars spread out sporadically including one, his ford escort.

   

    The black four door sedan stood there all alone near a tall oak tree. The shine of the dew drew sporadic lines of chaotic patterns from the light post on the opposite side of the car. The dark tint of the window and the fog made it impossible to glance inside.

    Ronnie walks to the car and hears a noise. He looks around and sees nothing. He glances again and sees the tree leaves moving roughly near his vehicle. He grabs a flashlight from his belt and illuminates the area. Nothing was visible as the light reflected off the tree. The shuffling stops as the light focuses on the middle. Then it starts again. This spooks him as he pushes back.  

“Get out of there,” yelled Parker at something inside the protective branches of the oak.

    The leaves stop shaking again and something peaked out of the opening. He flashes at the direction. A set of eyes reflected back at him in a ghostly shadow surrounds the two illuminated pearls. It was an Owl staring back at him. The creature lifts his wings and flies away. Relief sets on him as he proceeds to the door.

    He presses again and the button beeps echoing through the barren parking lot. The second beep occurs and the doors unlock. The door clicks open and he makes his self situated as he places the key in the ignition. He reaches in his pocket for his keys and places them in the ignition. The car hesitates and whines as he tries over and over until it stops turning of the engine slows to a stop. He tries again and nothing. The car sits there with the battery dead. 

    “What the fuck”

    He bangs on the steering wheel in anger repeatedly. He opens the glove compartment and papers fall freely from the congested the small area.  He looks around on the floor shuffling through the mess until he found a mess paper, cans and food wrappers. At that time a bright light flashes in his face.

    The mixture of fog and the burning lights from the vehicle causes him to cover his eyes, rendering it hard to make anything out.

Temporarily obstructing his vision he moves to the window side rolling it down and sticks his head out halfway to yell.

   

    “Hey turn off your fucking brights man”

   

    The car did not respond as the lights keep a keen focus on him. Ronnie starts to get mad and tries to open the car door. The door did not budge. The handle wire broke from the inside leaving no pressure to use the mechanism. He curses and rolls down the window more trying to reach the lock from the outside when something in the clothes started to move.

    A hand appears from the pile caressing a syringe. The other hand appears and aims for Ronnie’s throat. The stranger’s arm wraps around Ronnie like a boa constrictor cutting off his oxygen making Ronnie shake and fighting the locking arm of the stranger. His arm tightens more forcing his head to bend to the side exposing his neck. It made a perfect entrance to his jugular. He moves the syringe closer to his target as Ronnie grunts and moves around.

Ronnie could not speak as the arm squeezes tightly cutting off blood and air in his wind pipe. He struggles searching for his weapon in his belt loop, but finds it missing from his waist side. The time grows slower as his eyes fixate on the needle that was getting closer each second.

   

With a second wind Ronnie starts to struggle as the needle punctures in to his neck. Within a few seconds he begins to feel drowsy. A nauseous feeling as the interior of the car starts to spin. His eye lids grow heavier till he could not pry them open anymore.

    The fiery sounds of the engine grew and thunder hits from the muffler. The car revs up, white smoke twist and turns from behind it as the tremendous engine explodes. The lights went dim as it backs up slowly and creeps away. The vehicle turns towards the exit and heads south bound. The lights fade away as the dark consumes it whole.

    A cloaked figure emerges out of the car wearing all black and was carrying a large steak knife. The light dances on the blade as it moves side to side.

He hides it inside his black hooded jacket. His hand exposes showing a black latex glove, wet and smooth as he finds the door.

    He looks around slowly and steady his breath is stable as he opens the door. No one is present as he lifts and pushes Ronnie to the passenger seat with ease. His head make a thud sound as it hits the window hard. Ronnie was limp but, still breathing, barely. Then he pulls on the hood releases and a clicking sound gives a notion that it is unlatched.

   

    The stranger walks towards the front of the car. His six foot stature covered most of the dim light from the lamp above that would have lightened up the engine. The stranger looks around till he located the problem to starting the car. It was the red positive cable that he took off and hid underneath the black radiator hose.  He places the cable on the positive terminal and walks to the car.

    The stranger leans the passenger seat all the way back. The body stood there still flimsy, lifeless hunched over hitting his head on the glove compartment. The broad arms of the outsider lifted Ronnie upright in the car and leaned him in a sleeping position. Ronnie’s head rest on the right side of the seat as the assailant binds his hands behind his back with a wide, white wire tie. The pressure from the tie made red round blemishes on his wrist as it grows tighter and the sound of the clicks stopped.  

    From a distance a light appears just above the horizon. The two lights increasing in size with every second it got closer. He ducks hiding himself and bending over the body, hitting his head on the glove compartment. A soft groan came from Ronnie’s coma induced state. The killer looks at him quickly as he grabs the knife from behind his back. His eyes blaring with a nervous stare though the hood with a cold blue appearance. Ronnie does not wake and he is relieved and replaces the knife back to its hiding space.

    The car passes by in a hurry and the lights fade quickly as well and the two were alone again.

The stranger cautiously peaks out the driver side. His surroundings cleared. The area returns to it quiet state and the killer uprights himself. The heavy breathing muffled by the mask was still dominated as his anticipation grows. He finishes restraining Ronnie’s ankles and grabs the keys in the ignition. The cars starts and the two drive off in the black of night.