Cherry Bite

Cherrybite- Miss forbidden 22

Callum <8bite

It felt like an infernal eternity before Callum's hand finally touched the muddy bank. With a heave he planted his feet down and powered up out of the river, his muscles burning from the swim, as well as the weight of Dawn on his back and the combined weight of their sodden clothes. He suppressed successive angry grunts, trying to fight the pain and catch his breath, whilst all the while not making excessive noise.

He let Dawn slide off his back into her feet, and turned, holding the gun pointed at the ground. There was still splashing coming from the river; Nate was coming across. He entered the shallows again, and tried to locate her from the sound. It took longer than he was comfortable with, but eventually she came into view. Unhesitatingly, he made his was over to her and fished her out of the water, putting her arm over his shoulder and hauling her up the bank to rejoin Dawn.

He didn't point the gun at either of them, but kept it in his hand pointing at the ground. Hopefully, neither of them would be aware that the weapon was near useless whilst it was waterlogged. And although Nate seemed to have come along willingly, he figured he'd still need the gun if he was to remain in control of the situation.

"I've got somewhere we can go." he said, fighting for his breath and turning to Nate. "You have to stay quiet, we can get there quite quickly, and then we can figure this out."

He tarried for only a moment longer, giving everyone a chance to ready themselves to run again - to stand for too long in their dripping clothes would only give the cold a chance to set in - and then started up onto the road.

Calzone <8bite

Calzone reached the river and strained to see through the mist. He couldn't even make out the other side, and there was no noisy detectable. He cursed that he didn't have a radio on him, and fished around for his cell phone. Locating he, he cursed again out loud. It was caked in mud, and wouldn't switch on. He might be able to cross the river himself, but he couldn't risk going after them alone if someone had a gun.

Turning tail, he made slow progress back up the hill to the warehouse. When he came around to the front he saw the paramedic crew preparing to carry Portman - who seemed to be alive and stable - down to the ambulance. Officer Bamford was standing with them; the others were nowhere to be seen, but the gate and warehouse doors were open.

"Who has a radio?" Calzone shouted.

"Sir." Bamford said approaching.

"Put a call out for any available cars to patrol Fayette St. They're looking for at least a young twenties male in wet clothes, and Nate Chantilly might be with him. They made it across the river, but they're on foot and won't be travelling fast."

The officer nodded and walked away, making the call. Calzone bent down and put his hands on his knees, which threatened to give way beneath him. Damn! They'd been so close. But even so...their man was now on the run. In the open. The jackal had been denied it's hole. And that was when the thought occurred to him...had the perpetrator left anyone behind in there? The dead girl Nate had spoken about...?

He stood up and took a few steps towards the entrance, and was confronted with Officer Dagenham coming the other way, his face white as a sheet.

"Find anything down there?" Calzone asked hollowly.

"One young woman, dead...recent." Dagenham stammered, "She was...well. It's consistent with everything that was on Lucy Nicholl's tape. No sign of anyone else."

Calzone nodded grimly. He'd checked on the way in; the warehouse was built on top of an old church...the cellar was still the original crypt. Any number of places to hide bodies. No doubt a more thorough search would end the mystery of some or all of the missing women.