[this is a loooooooooooooong chapter.
I have too much time on my hands. Hope it fills your thrill meter tho.]
Chapter 6
Volkova half dragged and half carried herself from her bed, tired as hell. Her skin was a little clammy and she was deathly pale as she tried to dry her sweat matted head with a towel.
She staggered into her bathroom and heavily leant on her sink. She slowly looked up to herself on the mirror in front of her and laughed at how pathetic she looked. But her low rumbling laughs slowly transformed itself to a fit of dry coughs, and the brunette trying helplessly to stop them with her bare hands. When the coughs gradually wore off, she practically swooned into the shower booth to take a shower.
As she turned the dial on the wall, letting the water fall on her, she closed her eyes letting the drops beat on her worn body.
‘Why am I so tired and getting sick? I’ve never been sick before… Possibly an infection from two years ago…?’ Her mind drabbled on as the steam from the water pocketed the whole bathroom.
*****
Lena shot up from her bed, frantically waving her fists around the empty air. But as she opened her eyes, she saw that she was still back at her room, sitting up on her bed thrashing at the thin air. She looked around her room, watching the rays of sun poking through her curtains here and there, revealing the flying strands of dusts floating through her room.
She watched her hands as they shook. They didn’t stop shaking for a long time. She let out a shaky breath as she quickly wiped the beading sweat on her temple.
‘They’re only dreams. They can’t hurt me… They’re all at prison now. I’m okay.’
She silently sat there, trying to persuade herself into believing her state of safety. Her breathing slowed down to normal and she buried her face in her hands. ‘Don’t cry again dammit…!!’ She sighed as she bit back her tears, her toes clenching beneath the sheets.
“Ring! Ring!”
She jumped when she heard the phone shrill, snapping her back to reality. She mindlessly picked up the receiver and put on her cheery tone as she answered.
“Hello!” Maybe that was too cheery.
“My darling… We haven’t spoken for a while.” That think low raspy voice seemed to echo in her mind for eternity. She was dead frozen in her spot, her hand on the receiver trembling fingers by fingers. Then she could hear something like laughing from the background from the other end. The man chuckled also.
“Officer Katina~!” The man said in a sing-song voice before chuckling again.
Lena was literally shaking, her face drained of all colours. She felt that she was going to be sick. No. This couldn’t be true. This was someone’s idea of a sick joke. But some parts of her screamed that it wasn’t a joke, and it was the voice of her rapist himself.
“I know you’re there sweetheart. I have Sophy here with me. You remember Sophy, don’t you? I think she was your new superior as soon as I got hauled away… Answer me you fat whore.” The thick voice sharpened into a threatening whisper.
“Y-yes, sir.” Lena answered in a mosquito like voice. Why the hell was she answering the bastard?! Something in her gut told her to hang up on the bastard and contact the headquarters right away. But she couldn’t. She was frozen in her spot and all she could do was obey. The same voice ringed in her head like a bell tolling for the midnight.
‘I’ve heard that you choke under pressure Lena… But this is just too fucking easy… Haha…’ This same line repeated in her head like some broken record. But on the other end of her phone, the bastard wasn’t done.
“’Atta girl… That’s my little Lena. Well It’s been fun. Me and Sophy should be visiting you real soon. By the way, tell the head quarters if you like. Because frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. But I would prefer it,” The thick voice sharpened again. “if you kept this phone call between me, you and the cutie sitting beside me called Sophy. Mmmk?”
Lena cringed in fear and disgust, the fingers around her phone tightening.
“I saw that expression just now you slut. Apologize right now or I’ll beat your ass until your fucking face is no mere than bones and tissues.” The voice snarled, and Lena gasped. They were watching her. She frantically looked around for an opening in her home but everything was sealed with her curtains.
The woman’s laugh came throatily again from the other end.
Lena clutched at her phone hesitantly before saying, “I’m sorry, sir. And I’ll do my best to keep this a secret.” Her voice was raspy, but Lena was amazed she still had a voice to talk with. Her insides were broken in to spasms of tremors, her exterior self afraid to show any emotions.
“Good, good girl. I like my girls obedient. Now… You’re going to go to your bathroom, turn on the shower, clean yourself, showing off your amazing body… Got it?”
“…I-I-I-..” Lena stuttered.
“Got it?!”
“Y-yes sir.”
*****
Lena avoided eye contacts as much as she could when she got to the precinct. Every people she came face to face with seemed like that guy. She desperately shook her head, trying to get rid of the image but it was futile. Her eyes were dull and glossy with agony and unshed tears, as she quickly made her way to Volkova’s office.
She hastily knocked on the brunette’s office door. There was no answer. In midst of panic, she jiggled on the door knob but it was firmly locked. She inwardly groaned and wanted to smash down the door with her shoulders.
She somehow contained herself and quickly rummaged her way to Jack’s office, her fast pace slowly breaking down to a speedy sprint.
*****
Volkova had weakly gazed up at her door when she heard the frantic knocking. Then she saw the door knob being jiggled, as if the person on the other side was trying to pry open the door, or at least smash it down.
She would have laughed if they did. She truly would, but for now she just sprawled herself on her chair. She was so tired she could’ve fallen asleep right there. But the pounding headache was blocking her way.
She weakly reached for her left hand sided drawer on her bureau, and pulled it open. The drawer was filled with orange and yellow containers, each of them containing mystery white and pink tablets. She weakly nabbed for the biggest container, opened it, took two of the pills out and popped them in her mouth.
Tylenol.
Her eyes lolled back to her head as she closed her eyes in sudden dizziness. The whole world seemed to be spinning. She groaned as she pulled her self up, trying to get up. Another very long day of shit was due.
Then her walkie talkie hooked on to her belt fizzed into life as it garbled out words mixed into static noises. She snatched up the machinery and frowned to concentrate.
“Detec…Volkova….Robber-y… 3852… Arborda…I repea… 13852, Arbordale Pub in Downtown area.”
She pushed down on the button and answered.
“I’ll be right there. Order in a back-up squad after me just in case.” Volkova said, forgetting about her illness.
“Roger.”
*****
As Volkova rushed out her office and searched the entire precinct, there was no sign of her partner, Katina. She didn’t even bother knocking on Jack’s office because it said ‘Do not disturb’ at the front. After wasting about seven minutes of unsuccessful searching for the red head, she just flipped her hand and ran to her car.
*****
Her tires squealed as she slammed on the brakes, spinning into a perfect spiral into the parking lot. She immediately spotted the flashing siren of a squad car with its door ajar and the officer with his walkie talkie in hand.
The only problem was. The officer was lying down on the ground, and it didn’t look like he was taking a nice cat nap. She stayed on her toes and skipped soundlessly to the motionless officer.
As soon as she got there she felt repulsed at what she saw. There was no face to look at, the whole front of the officer’s body decapitated, and the groin area stained with cooling blood. This was sickening, even for the experienced Detective Volkova.
She grabbed for her gun in her holster and firmly positioned the gun between her fingers. As hated to do this, it was a routine procedure she had to do. With that in mind, she raised her index and middle fingers to check for a pulse in the officer.
There was a pulse.
“Oh my god… Who’d want to live after this…?” She mumbled to herself. The sick bastard had done this on purpose, so the officer would live after being mutated like this. The sole thought of that made her sick to her stomach. She glanced at the sewed in letters on the officer’s name patch placed on his left hand chest.
“DT Kelly”
“Detective Kelly, can you hear me?” Volkova said, clinching her nose in the putrid smell of dried blood. A groan emerged from the heap of body laid out in front of her.
“Good. You’re not going to die.” You poor bastard. “The back-up will come sooner or later, so you just stay here and cling on to anything you have left on this earth, got that?!” Another groan.
She nodded curtly her salute at the young officer in front of her before tightening her grip on her gun.
*****
The pub’s doors were ajar and squeaking back and forth from the wind. The alarm system in the bar was screeching, getting on Volkova’s nerves. Various other bodies were displayed on the tables every parts of the bloody pub. She gulped back a foul vile rising from her stomach. Her nose unintentionally took a big whiff of the place and she almost passed out.
Her soles of her boots crunched on the floor from stepping on the spread out broken beer mugs. Some of them were blood stained. Volkova was sure that the robber was still here and the broken glasses on the floor were done on purpose. To signal her coming.
She smirked. She liked this robber’s style.
But there was a hole to the sick bastard’s genius plan. Volkova had seen him since she had stepped through the pub’s doors.
So she cocked back her gun, savoring her victory moment by moment but not showing it on her face. The robber must be puzzled by now. She slowly took aim at the tile in front of her. And before the masked robber could act, she raised her aim to the exact place he was hiding and pulled the trigger.
There was a strained yelp behind the curtains of the hallway that led to the bathrooms. She speeded towards the fallen body and saw that the robber was still alive, screaming in agony as the small bullet burned his upper thigh on his right leg. His panicked eyes through his mask were watering with tears.
A cold smile was beaming on Volkova’s thin lips.
“You just thank the gods that I’m not killing you like you killed the people in this pub.” The brunette said in a creeping whispers, then winking at the criminal.
With her last goodbyes said, she shot three more time at the robber’s chest and one final time on his head.
*****
Volkova slowly emerged from the bar with the gun in one hand and sweat beading down her face to her neck. She heard the faint sirens of the back-up squad cars speeding their way here. She thought nothing as she dazedly dropped her gun and plopped down next to Detective Kelly.
She peered at him, struggling to breathe.
“Hang in there, DT. Kelly. Don’t about that sick bastard in the pub. I finished him off for ya.” Volkova talked quietly, as if he could hear her loud and clear. But to her surprise, DT. Kelly groaned in response and made low rumbling noises like he was chuckling. The brunette flashed a glowing smile before she looked up at the blazing sun.
The sirens were closing in and she could hear the shouting voices. Her breaths were catching up to her. She felt a last shiver run through her body before falling unconscious beside DT. Kelly.
*****
Lena was sitting on the waiting room anxiously for any news of Yulia. She had been waiting for three hours now, but she hasn’t changed her position as the first time she had gotten in the hospital doors and took a seat. Jack had come and gone, and other work mates offered their condolences before they went away too.
She closed her eyes as she felt her tears coming on. Why was she moping about her own worthless matters to Jack when her partner needed her? She felt guilty. She sighed as she finally moved from her current position to sit back on her chair.
But as soon as she looked up, she felt her heart twist in her chest. Right before her, standing there smirking, was Captain Kozlov, her ex-superior as well as her rapist, and her long time stalker.
He was the same as she had last seen him. The same greased back hair, scruffy facial hair intruding his chin and the space between his mouth and his nose. He had a thick rimmed black sun glasses on this time and he was dressed in a fairly ordinary looking casual dress suit. Where did he get the money?
“Officer Katina. It’s good to see you without the intrusive environment we were faced with the last time you’ve visited.” He murmured in a soft sultry voice. Lena suppressed the urges to scream or shiver. Kozlov smirked.
He leaned down burying his face at the crook of Lena’s neck.
“You’re mine now. You were mine since the time we shared at that back alley, when I claimed you.” He whispered menacingly, daring the red head to challenge her. But fortunately for Lena, she didn’t. Kozlov didn’t pull away but only turn his head to come literally nose to nose with Lena. His eyes were deep brown, with specks of gold in them. He darted his pupils around the green-grey ones, searching for something.
Then soon after he was widely smiling at the drenched fear he found in them.
“You will comply to what I tell you, because you’re mine now. You don’t obey, I will not be happy.” He whispered. His cologne surrounded Lena like a thick blanket, choking her. Then without a notice, Kozlov forced his lips on hers, kissing her powerfully.
Then when he finally pulled away and flicked a strand of hair that was hanging down to his face, flicking it back again, he flashed a smile, showing off his stained teeth before turning at his heels and leaving. Lena’s gaze followed his as he stepped into the elevator, turned and waved goodbye as the gates drawled in to close.
When she was sure the elevator had traveled down to the main lobby of the hospital, she broke into a hysteria of crying, begging God to give her some answers to what she should do.
*****
A man with aging features with a white coat came striding in the waiting room, finding Lena dozing off on her chair. The doctor slightly smiled before shaking the woman awake. Lena jumped up awake, frantically looking around.
The doctor offered his hand to shake to Lena with a kind smile.
“My name is Dr. Hagen. I was Yulia’s doctor two years ago and I’m assigned to her now as well.” The doctor said kindly.
Lena reluctantly took his hand and grimly shook it. “My name is Lena Katina, Miss Volkova’s partner in the police force.” Hagen knowingly nodded before sitting down next to Lena in the waiting room chairs.
“This may come as a shock to you, but Yulia has a typical case of Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.” He said gently, with full of care and kindness in his eyes. Lena’s breath stopped. She blinked.
“What?” She bluntly spat out, not comprehending what the doctor just said. Her gaze redirected itself to the floor. Suddenly all the memories about the favored brunette came rushing in, flooding her thoughts and plaguing her mind. Her jaw slackened as the space between her brows creased into a deep frown.
“This is a disease when immature white blood cells begins to form and the lymphcites produce more blood in the bones to produce more healthy blood cells to heal the body when it can’t. This causes the body’s immunity system to drastically drop, degrading the body a whole lot.” Hagen calmly explained.
Lena looked back up at the doctor, her eyes almost pleading. “How did this happen? Will she be okay? Will she live?!”
Hagen raised his palm to show her to slow down. “Miss Katina, with extensive and regular treatments, she has more than half the chances to survive. And I highly more doubt that she will die any time soon because the cancer genes are hereditary. It was descended down from her mother’s side. Her sister had got it and it’s only natural that she gets it too. Don’t worry about it, gene cancer cells are easier to treat.”
Lena gulped. Was this man telling her the truth or lying to save her the pain for the funeral? She felt herself shake.
“Now Miss Katina, I will have to take Yulia’s bone marrow sample, and I need you to sign some forms since you are her only known relative or friend right now. So please, I need you to do this for Yulia. Can you do this for me?” Hagen gently clutched Lena’s shoulder and asked.
Lena nodded after a pause and standing up with Hagen. “This way, Miss Katina.”
*****
Volkova was bored out of her mind. She was told she had leukemia, but she wasn’t at all surprised. She was all the more surprised that she had gotten it so late. She wasn’t sad or mad or even worrying if she was going to die or not. She was just… Bored for now. Grieving was for later, when she had things on this earth that was worth grieving for.
She was kept at the hospital for couple of days since the pub incident. She often wondered if DT. Kelly was doing okay. She wanted to figure that out before her bone marrow checking. But she knew that was unlikely, for the check was due any minute now.
Then she heard her room’s door open and saw two male nurses browsing in and pushing a wheeled bed coming inside. Volkova sighed and closed her eyes as she was being gently lifted up and set down on the wheel bed.
As she was being wheeled to a concealed room, she distracted herself with the whooshing lights above her head, passing slowly. The male nurses kindly gazed down at her, reassuring smiling. She smiled back. As she was put into another room filled with beeping and air pump noises she closed her eyes.
*****
She was told to lie down side ways to her whole back side was facing the doctor who was going through with the marrow check. She stayed this way for another five minutes before the doctor explained all the procedures to Yulia, and going behind her to her back.
One of the kind looking male nurses who transported her here offered his hand to hold but Yulia just shook her head no. Then she felt a needle getting injected, freezing her whole midway down. She suppressed a giggle at the thought of not feeling her toes.
But her thoughts were happiness clouded away when agonizing pain very slowly probed her from the back. Her mouth opened, trying to scream but no sound came out. She snapped her eyes shut and then opened them again. The needle was still in her back, and another piercing pain made her break into tears. The male nurse who was watching had a deep frown on and offered his hand again.
This time, Yulia grabbed onto it, clinging to the stranger with her dear life.
*****
She was wheeled back to her room. And to her delight Lena was waiting there. She was very gently transported back to the un-moving bed and the male nurses placed the IV’s back into Yulia’s wrists. They did it so carefully as if Yulia was fragile.
The red head and the brunette whispered their thanks and the male nurses nodded before stepping out of the room. Lena took a seat beside Yulia’s bedside and smiled proudly at her.
“Miss Volkova… I know that was so hard for you. I’m proud of you.” Lena said with no hint of doubt in her voice. At that Yulia made a hint of a smile. Lena carefully reached for the brunette’s forehead and brushed some strands of hairs aside. Her hair was matted with sweat and her face was warm. But Lena couldn’t have cared less.
“Miss Vol…”
“No. Yulia.”
Lena smiled, resuming to stroke the frail girl’s face. All this time, the brunette looked so fierce and so much bigger than her, but now she looked too young to be in her position. Lena tilted her head as she ran her fingers through the brunette’s hair.
“You did good, Yulia. You did really good. Go sleep now.” Lena whispered, trying to soothe Yulia into sleeping. And it was working. The lids on Yulia’s eyes looked very heavy.
“L..Lena…”
“Ya?”
“Hold me…”
Lena smiled and climbed on the bed next to Yulia underneath the sheets. And as gently but firmly as she could, she held Yulia close, letting the smaller girl breathe in her scent. Yulia smiled one of her real sincere smiles at Lena before glancing at her one last time and dozing off in her arms.
*****
Captain Jack was in the men’s bathroom in the hospital, watering his hair to fix it. Then after two minutes of hair hassle, he promptly took his index finger and softly pressed his eyeball with it, detaching an oval contact lens. He did the same with the other eye. He blinked a several more times before fully looking at himself in the mirror and grinning, revealing his nice and white teeth.
He gathered all his stuff and shoved them in his bag before casually walking out of the bathroom and to his car down at the parking lot.
[how was it? what do you think?
]