oh god, i am so close to finishing this story! i worked so hard on chapter 29 yesterday, i hope everything will be all worth it. once i'm done, the uploads will probably get very frequent. just a little bit more patience, friends, we'll get there! in the meanwhile enjoy this chapter :)
Disclaimer: This story contains violence, gore, sexual content and strong language. Subjects covered might trigger some. If you are very sensible or easily offended, please abstain from reading.
"Guys? Come here, please."
Dan and Phil looked at each other before following their boss out of their radio booth. He looked concerned, his eyebrows were furrowed and crinkles showed in the corner of his eyes.
"Yes?" Dan asked once they were out.
"I'm not glad I have to ask you this because your show is usually very happy and spirit lifting, but I have no choice."
Dan and Phil stared at each other again, confused.
"Please warn the people listening about Alpha and ask them to stay inside if possible." He said all at once.
Dan opened wide, indignant eyes.
"I don't want to be rude, but we're the Dan and Phil show, not the news." He exclaimed. "The news are literally on the floor underneath us, why don't you ask them?"
Phil nudged Dan.
"They're doing it right now, like they've been doing the entire day." Their boss replied. "It's just that the police called and asked every radio station to warn the population so they would stay inside."
Dan scoffed. Phil nudged him again.
"Just do it subtly." He added before leaving.
Dan and Phil went back to their booth.
"It's so ridiculous." Dan whispered to Phil. "It's not like two guys with fringes on a radio show would convince people to stay inside."
"Let's just do as we're told." Phil replied. "If we sensitize them about Alpha, maybe we'll be able to stop at least one death."
Phil shuddered at his own words. Dan stared directly into Phil's eyes.
"Do you seriously think a simple warning to the population will stop Alpha from killing more people?"
Phil swallowed hard. He looked away from Dan and tried to repress the fear that had crashed upon him.
"He's killed eight people so far." Dan added. "He's dismembered two people! If he was an amateur, they would've already found him. He's not going to quit so easily."
"Sometimes I begin to wonder if you don't look up to that person who kills so many innocent people..." Phil mumbled, staring at his feet.
Dan was taken aback.
"Of course I don't." He replied hurriedly. "I'm just stating facts."
He looked at Phil. He was pouting. His thoughts about the future suddenly resurfaced and his brain ached again. He put on his headphones and sighed deeply.
"I wish all of this could be over." Phil whispered so only he could hear.
~
The radio show ended and Dan and Phil were back home. A weird sensation was rumbling down Dan's stomach. It made his hands ball up and his heart feel like it was filling up his entire chest. His mind, it was whispering to him, it was commanding him to continue the pattern. He had to kill.
Phil had ventured off to his bedroom to read and Dan was in his own. He threw his bag on his shoulders and sneaked past Phil's door.
"Where are you going?"
Dan stopped. He turned to face Phil sitting on his bed.
"Going out." Dan replied.
"After we just told everyone not to go out?"
Dan chuckled. That was ironic indeed.
"Yeah, well, remember that I'm off the pattern." He said. "I'm safe."
He shifted to keep walking but Phil spoke again.
"Where are you going, then?"
Dan stopped, looked back at Phil and smiled sarcastically.
"Nice try."
"Just be safe!" Phil exclaimed when Dan walked away.
When Dan stepped outside, he followed the same path he usually did. But, this time, instead of turning right at an intersection, he turned left. That would change things a bit.
He walked but he didn't really pay attention to where he was going. His mind was still focused on the thoughts of the future he had had, and Dan felt weird. Thinking about them made him angry and sad at the same time. The same feeling over and over. His brain aching, and his heart as big as his entire chest.
He felt like his heart and his brain were the devil and the angel on his shoulders. But, instead of speaking to him, they hurt him, pounding hard against his bones to make him understand what was good or what wasn't. And in the middle of these two, there was him, Dan Howell, trying to figure out why the angel was starting to pound as hard as the devil against his painful bones.
The two creatures departed from his shoulders in graceful wing flaps when the head in the middle had had enough.
Dan left his imaginary and felt the pounding against his bones mitigate. Instead, he felt a body ram violently into him. He was propelled back lightly, and, when he lifted his head to see who had so recklessly ran into him, he saw a dark skinned woman lying on the pavement with bright red lipstick on her lips, holding the side of her head with both hands.
Dan crouched next to her and pushed her hands off of her face. He noticed she was wounded. She hit her head on the brick wall behind. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up, squeezing tightly. He then rocked her head backwards. It crashed against the brick wall brutally, and Dan repeated the movement with more strength each time. He whispered 'sixteen' when she spat blood and her eyes rolled in their sockets.
Dan blinked.
"Oh, God, are you okay?" He exclaimed, approaching the lady.
She patted the side of her head and looked at her fingers that were covered in a string of blood.
"Ah, I don't know..." She replied as she lifted herself up.
"You're bleeding!" Dan exclaimed.
"Yeah, I noticed..." The woman replied, still holding her head.
"I'm very sorry..." Dan apologised.
"Don't apologize, I was the one running for dear life!" She giggled. "Ah, dear..."
"Would you like me to help you back home?" Dan asked politely.
"No, I'm good." She smiled politely.
She tried to put a foot in front of her but she wobbled and fell on her butt. She looked up at Dan.
"Ah, apparently I'll need your help." She admitted.
Dan chuckled and helped her on her feet.
"Feeling dizzy, are we?" He asked.
"I hit my head on that wall harder than I thought." She replied. "I live just at the end of the road."
Dan nodded and he helped her up to her house in silence. When they reached the door, she untangled her arm from Dan's. She opened the front door and stopped Dan from getting in.
"Thanks for helping me." She thanked.
"Oh. Sure thing." Dan said. "Don't you want help cleaning that up?"
"No, I'll be fine." She smiled awkwardly.
Dan saw through her. She didn't want him to get in because she was scared. Maybe the announcement on the radio show earlier paid off. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"Oh, okay..." Dan said innocently. "Um, well, it was nice to meet you...?"
"Isoke." She smiled. "It was nice to meet you too...?"
Dan thought for a second. He stroked the penknife in his pocket and then opened his mouth.
"I'm Phil."
Isoke nodded.
"Pretty name." She complimented. "Goodbye now, Phil."
She started closing the door, but Dan blocked it with his foot. She looked insulted.
"What is it?" She asked harshly this time. "I said I was fine."
"I know. Just one last thing." Dan smiled.
He took his penknife out of his pocket, switched the blade in a swift movement and stabbed Isoke in her stomach. He pushed her backwards and closed the door behind them.
His temple pumping quickly and his breath heavy, he looked at Isoke choking and spitting blood for real this time, and licked his lips with anticipation.
"I liked your effort." Dan said as Isoke grabbed her stomach and blood squirted all over her hands. "But that was weak, Isoke."
She looked up at Dan and squinted her eyes angrily.
"Alpha..." She said painfully. "I knew it was you... I knew... I knew..."
"Of course you knew." Dan replied. "Didn't you hear the warnings all over the news? Shame."
He stepped on her stomach, increasing the pain. Isoke screamed.
"But what could you do about it?" Dan questioned. He grinned. "Nothing, of course. People are so powerless when it comes to danger. Adrenaline rushes don't always work as well as we would like them to."
Dan put more pressure on his foot. Isoke whimpered again. He looked around the room. He noticed crosses above the doors. Several picture frames with biblical paintings hung on the walls, small and bigger figurines of Jesus, and an entire shrine with other religious frames, votive candles on a small table alongside a rosary, holy water and a Virgin Mary figurine, and, in the middle of all the other stuff, a medium size crucifix.
"You're n-not going to g-get away with t-t-this!" She stuttered as blood escaped her lips.
"You're saying this like you have the power to magically get away from me." Dan laughed. "That's not happening. You're going to be a part of the pattern, Isoke, you should be proud. You're going to be an important part of the incoming revolution!"
"You're sick..." She whispered.
Dan giggled.
"I know."
He crouched, his foot still stomping Isoke's injured stomach, getting his face closer to hers. He stared into her brown eyes and grinned.
"Isoke." He said. "Do you know what Isoke means?"
She tried swallowing, but instead she spat more blood. Her face was covered in sweat marks, and, after a minute of gathering strength, she looked straight into Dan's eyes and said:
"Gift from God."
Dan nodded.
"Ah, 'Gift from God'." He repeated. "That explains the... decor. Wow, you know what, you've given me a great idea. That is perfect. Isoke, your death is going to be one of the most beautiful I have ever done yet. You should be happy about that."
Isoke struggled under Dan's foot, but it only resulted in more pain.
"Why did I even tell you my name...? I should've called the police as soon as you asked to help me clean that up!" She exclaimed more angrily.
"Ah, even though you knew Alpha is me, there's always a little doubt in the back of your head. A doubt that maybe you're wrong... And so, even though you hadn't given me your name, you would have been powerless."
"I have faith God will help me get through this." She managed to breathe out.
"It's good to believe in things." Dan replied. "You know, I used to believe in Santa Claus. But, everyone knows how that turned out."
Isoke whined, struggling harder. Dan rolled his eyes, getting bored of her screams and complaints. He reached for his penknife that he had put back in his pocket. When he switched the blade, Isoke stopped struggling and tensed under Dan's foot.
"I think it's the longest time I've ever talked with someone once they knew who I was." Dan admitted. "It's been great, Isoke, but I have to move on. Killing you isn't the only thing I have to do."
She started trembling.
"Please, don't..." She begged, crying. "I beg you, have mercy, stop this manslaughter, you could find forgiveness with God, once you admit to your sins, they can always be forgiven, please, please..."
Dan removed his foot from her stomach and leaned down, his features hard and threatening.
"I don't believe in God. I am my own God."
He then stabbed her several times in her already wounded stomach, enough to drain from her the remaining energy that made her hold on to her life.
When he heard her last breath, he stood back up and admired her corpse. He nodded and looked at the shrine. Dan leaned down again, and, with a smile on his face, he jabbed the upper skin on her stomach and lacerated down all the way to the level of her hipbones.
"That'll be a gift for Quest, from me. A gift from God." He gleefully said.
~
"So you're telling me you didn't see anything suspicious?"
"Yes."
"You have to be joking."
Quest was starting to lose patience. Of all the patrols he had put on duty the night Guy and Howie died, none of them had seen anything suspicious.
"I gave you a description." Quest said, trying to calm himself down. "You didn't see anyone of all people that could stick to it, with or without a white and a black man?"
The man shrugged.
"No."
"The description is so vague how did you manage to miss someone that looked like that?!" Quest exclaimed.
"I don't know. But I did see someone walk off with a black and a white man." The cop said.
Quest reached for pictures of the victims in his pocket.
"Did the men look like these guys?"
The cop took them in both hands and examined them closely.
"Uh, I can't really tell. It was dark." He told. "But, it could be."
Quest rolled his eyes, snatched the pictures and shoved them back in his pocket.
"Can you describe the third man you saw?"
"That I remember clearly. You don't see people walk around with that kind of thing often. He had a purple coat and it had galaxy motifs on it."
Quest furrowed his eyebrows. A galaxy coat? That didn't sound like Alpha at all. He rubbed his temples then shook the cop's hand, deciding he had heard enough.
He walked back to his car, where he leaned back on the seat with his eyes closed. He breathed deeply. This case was going nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. The more they went forward, the less sense it made and the less clues they had.
Quest opened back his eyelids and looked at the time. It was starting to get late. As he remembered Jesus and Vincent had been sent home to rest and that the autopsy results would be ready only the next day, he drove back home and tried to fall asleep.
~
Phil stood up from his bed, stretched his muscles and left his room. He needed a warm drink to relax him before going to sleep.
He walked past Dan's room but stopped a few steps later. He turned his head and gazed at the door Dan had left ajar when he had ventured off. Phil couldn't lie to himself and say he hadn't been concerned about Dan. Since the radio show earlier and the way he had been talking to himself in his room this morning, his worries about Dan's mental state had simply increased.
This wasn't a simple little depression anymore, Phil thought. It was way more dangerous and self-destructive. He had done a research online about mental illnesses and the way victims act when they are offered help. He had learned they often reject it by either ignoring the help or becoming angry and violent, claiming they don't need help and distancing themselves from the assistance. He also read that they refused treatment by drinking alcohol or doing drugs. It all came back to Dan's behavior.
He couldn't believe this was happening. He never thought, in a million years, that Dan could be affected with a mental illness. And finding out only now made him responsible of Dan. And having to deal with this alone made him feel feelings he never thought he'd have to deal with.
But Phil wasn't one for giving up. The more he found out about Dan's thoughts and behavior, the more he could help him. He knew there was a lot of things Dan was doing that he didn't know of, but he would find a way to get them out of him.
But, even though all of this, something far away in Phil's mind didn't feel right. A little voice was chanting that, maybe, after all, it wasn't a mental illness at all. Perhaps it was something else that was just... utterly unthinkable for any decent human being.
Maybe Dan wasn't a decent human.
Phil shook his head, brushing away the thought. He couldn't start his investigation with that idea. He couldn't start it with the assumption he was mentally ill either.
Phil sighed. He knew he had to stay neutral. He didn't really know if Dan was ill, but he didn't know if he was decent either. He had to investigate himself to bring out the facts that were hidden from him. He had to act on the fact that there were things Dan wasn't telling him, that he was desperately hiding from him, and that he was lying about. He had to act based on the fact that Dan's personality was going through changes and that he was behaving differently from usual.
He had to investigate on why Dan was becoming another person.
Forgetting about his thirst and tiredness, he walked towards Dan's bedroom door. He pushed it open and scanned the room. Dirty clothes on the ground, open wardrobe, nothing too neatly tidied. This was so typically Dan it almost hurt.
Phil started pushing clothes aside to look among the piles, finding nothing suspicious. He looked behind his piano, behind every furniture, nothing. He didn't know what he expected to find. He had already done a drug's bust in his room and found nothing. Dan would only be even more careful.
But Phil hadn't searched everywhere last time, because Dan was in the room. But this time, he was completely alone. He would've liked to search in Dan's backpack, but he had left with it.
This time, he looked through all of his drawers, pushing aside the clothes, but he didn't find anything unusual. Phil stepped back and looked at the room again. Where else could he possibly search?
Phil noticed the paintings on Dan's walls. He shrugged. He climbed on Dan's bed and grabbed the one hanging above it. He frowned and looked closer. The number 16 was inscribed onto the plaster of the wall. He caressed it with his fingertips, wondering if Dan had done this or if it had always been there but never noticed.
But, suddenly, Phil had a flashback. The memory of Dan, standing on his bed, his painting and bed sheets on the ground, hiding the wall with his back and saying he was searching for his DS. Was he hiding... this?
Phil sighed. What the hell did that mean? Growling in frustration, he hung the painting back on the wall and jumped off at the end of the bed. Phil frowned when he noticed the rebound of the bed was weird. He crouched and put his hand on the mattress. He put pressure on it and could definitely feel something under it.
Phil smirked to himself. Finally something he could dig into.
"What are you doing?"
Phil froze. He stood back up sharply, meeting Dan's suspicious eyes. Phil felt his cheeks burn.
"Uh, n-nothing, I, uh, I heard, uh... There was a sound, I heard a sound, so I came to, uh, check... check it out, yeah..." Phil stammered.
Dan stepped in the room and dropped his backpack on the floor.
"Okay..." He replied as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"Had a nice night stroll?" Phil asked casually.
"Great." Dan answered bluntly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go to bed, now."
Phil nodded awkwardly and left Dan's room, feeling his cheeks turning bright red. He turned around one last time to look at Dan.
"Oh, Dan?" He said.
Dan turned his head.
"You've got something... there..." Phil pointed on his own cheek to show Dan where the thing was.
Dan opened wide eyes and wiped the dry blood off his face. He laughed awkwardly.
"Must've scratched a scab..." He justified nervously.
Phil nodded and walked to the kitchen to finally get his warm drink.
~
Wade had dropped by Quest's house that morning. He wanted to talk to him before they reunited with the whole team. Maybe Quest had discovered more information on his side.
Wade turned out to be disappointed. Nothing more had come out on Quest's side, except from the police officers who had seen Guy and Howie in the company of a man with a galaxy coat. They discussed about it while Quest finished his breakfast, and they then headed off to the meeting.
They were the last to arrive and when Quest sat down, he was the first to open his mouth.
"Jesus, I need a miracle." He announced.
"Well, Quest, I would like to, but that's one of the rare things I can't do." Jesus Harrigan replied.
"Alpha is now at 8 murders. He's completed half of his pattern, we need more clues and quick before he gets to 16." Quest replied frantically, biting his nails.
"Well, calm down, pretty." Zarah exclaimed. "Jesus may not be able to do miracles but he sure knows how to do his job."
Quest furrowed his eyebrows.
"I can't make Tucker look young and beautiful again..." He giggled in Essex's direction. "But Vincent and I sure can find hair on severed body parts."
"Wait..." Quest whispered. "So you mean you..?"
"We found a hair that belongs to Alpha on the corpses." Vincent finished.
Quest jumped on his feet.
"Are you kidding me?" He exclaimed. "This is grand, this is super grand! Did you manage to get DNA off of it? Have you matched it with anyone's?"
"There was indeed a root on the hair, so I registered the DNA in our bank. But, sadly, that DNA doesn't match anyone's in our system." Jesus said. "But, now, if we have suspects, we'll be able to compare their DNA's."
"Brilliant. Brilliant work, guys. Anything else?"
"Dallas and I noticed footprints that revealed that one of the guys had struggled." Zarah said as Dallas spread the pictures on the table. "See the footprints here show that Alpha was holding, presumably Guy Hurell according to the shoe size, from behind and he struggled to get away. The body print here shows that he fell forward, and the blood puddle indicates that his throat had been slit there. Unfortunately, none of the shoe prints were clear enough. Only got approximate shoe sizes."
"That's good enough." Quest continued. He then explained to the team the same thing he had told Wade earlier about the galaxy coat.
"Uh, that's weird." Dallas commented. "But yet, you can change coat pretty easily."
"That's what I figured." Quest agreed. "It's not because he's got a different coat that he's a different guy. No, he's probably trying to blur his trace. But he won't fool us that easily."
The whole team nodded.
"Apart from that, anything else?"
"Not really." Vincent said. "We just wanted to update you on what's been coming out with this case."
"Good." Quest nodded. "Well, as we haven't been able to stop the murders so far, I came up with an idea."
He hadn't talked about this with Wade this morning. He saw 12 intrigued eyes stare directly at him, so he proceeded.
"This is a precautionary measure. We will all have new identities."
Rumors started among the team and looks were exchanged. Even Tucker Essex, with his usual grumpy look, seemed interested in what Quest was about to explain.
Quest reached for his coat's pocket and pulled out the identity cards he had made. He distributed them among his teammates.
"Here are your new names. From now on, I would like all of you to use these pseudonyms when you introduce yourself to strangers. I have mixed the names, so you have ones matching the pattern, and ones that don't."
"So we're bait?" Zarah summarized.
"That's not the word I would use, but, yes, kind of." Quest affirmed. "Though, you guys are trained and more crafty than most people. If you were to encounter Alpha, you would know how to act and get out of there alive."
Tucker and Wade's mouths were still shut. Quest's plan was going alright, and it didn't seem like any of the superiors were rejecting his idea.
"Now, maybe it would be good to go around the table and have your new names read out loud, so we can all get accustomed to them." Quest suggested and everyone agreed.
Zarah took her new identity and read it out loud.
"Apparently now my name is Lavender Frost. With that name I feel like I should feature in the next Disney movie..."
Dallas giggled before reading his one.
"Karl Clinton. With a K. Wow, really?"
"Vernon Ness." Tucker mumbled, wanting to sound grumpy to hide the fact he found this whole idea very clever.
"Xavier Albert, that is amazing!" Jesus exclaimed, laughing. "My dreams of becoming an X-Man are finally alive!"
Quest cracked a smile.
"Randy Barlow. Aw, Jesus, your name is much cooler than mine!" Vincent whined.
"Owen Layton." Wade said.
"And I'm Ulysse Dixon. Good, now, learn your names, love your names, be your names. I don't want you calling each other by your real names in public. Don't call me Quest, don't call me Kadner, I'm Ulysse Dixon. Clear?"
They all nodded. This made Quest smirk. He grabbed his coat and left the room with Wade behind. Once they were outside, Wade took the opportunity to congratulate him on his great initiative.
"Hopefully it will help the investigation and spare us." Quest replied. "I just hope we find who Alpha is as soon as possible for all of this to end."