Average Joe (2018)

17

The clock tower looked taller than ever, as I sat on top of a small apartment building four stories below. The sky was sunny and cloudless. I squinted and put my sunglasses on, as I looked up at the giant clock tower.

"What kind of a club takes place in an abandoned clock tower?" I mumbled to myself. I pulled my camera from my bag and started taking square-edge shots of the place. "Cults, that's what kind."

I remembered all of those stories I heard from watching Occult Crimes on Netflix. From the Matamoros cult to a creepy dude who cut out an old lady's heart because he was convinced he was a vampire.

"I swear, if Tori's boyfriend is running a cult out of a clock tower, I am kicking the crap out of him."

"Oh, really?"

I turned to see a girl about my age, her brown hair surrounding a beautiful face, with dark eyes that could burn a rattlesnake. I took a picture of her.

"Hi!" I shouted enthusiastically. "Are you part of Bryan's creepy human sacrifice cult?"

"What are you doing here, Knight?"

"Oh, goody. Bryan told you about me." I took another two photos of her.

"You waited two months, and you just now show up? You know how to do bad surveillance, I'll give you that."

"You're the crazy girl who held the knife to my throat." The girl bowed.

"I'm also the girl who'll beat the crap out of you if you don't get out of here." I put my camera away.

"I'll be happy to leave. As soon as I talk to Bryan."

"Listen, Knight. You look..." The girl looked me up and down. "Twig-like. So I'll give you a chance to get the hell out of here."

"I'm talking to Bryan. So, either take me to him or get out of my way."

The girl flashed out of existence and suddenly stood before me. She cuffed my left wrist in her right hand, pulling back, while her left hand gripped my shirt and flipped me, my form flying above her. My body slammed into the asphalt roof. I swiftly kicked her ankle. She fell to the side, her hand quickly gripping an exhaust pipe.

I stood just as the girl swung a blade near my throat, the edge prickling against my Adam's apple. The girl disappeared and then quickly reappeared behind me. Again the girl swung, but this time I saw it coming. I ducked below the knife swipe and gripped her wrist before pulling her arm behind her back.

The girl disappeared again, her knife clattering against the ground. The girl reappeared in the air, her combat boot pressing against my shoulder blade. She kicked me forward, my forehead slamming against the brick chimney.

I fell to the ground, the girl's laughter ringing out. She pressed something in her ear.

"Bryan, you were right. This one's a fighter. Not a good one. But we can use him." The girl stepped over me.

"Can I get a glass of water?" I groaned.

___

The girl led me into the clock tower by a set of wooden double doors, which she unlocked with a bronze key she wore around her neck. The inside was small and had no floor. The back of the room had a rusted metal staircase leading up.

"How long have you been part of the human sacrifice cult?" I asked as we walked up the rusted thing.

"I'll be asking the questions.."

The girl and I reached the top of the tower, a small yellow door leading into a large room, a platform with a rusted railing going around the top of the room. There were several tables lined with papers, laptops, and odd gadgets.