I realised my sanguineness was short-lived as I entered my building. Blake came running to me and said in an agonized manner that some guards had come from The Saint Mary Hospital to visit Larry.
'They were looking quite hefty and had brought some equipment with them. Frederick sir is also there', he said.
Listening his words, I ran fast to get to Larry's apartment. I was amazed, or rather shocked at what I saw then.
Fred was sitting on the couch holding his blood-soaked head at the forehead and the temple with his cloth which had already soaked with blood. The door to the utility room was broken. The guards had tied Larry to the bed and Dr. Eastwood was also there.
'Hey hey! What happened Fred?!', I asked Fred with concern. He was in no position of speaking. He was immersed in dizziness. I had asked him to look after Larry as I went to visit the doctor. As it was a Sunday, so he quickly agreed.
'Will you tell me what happened?!'
'Larry tried to kill him'. The voice came from behind. On turning back, I saw Dr. Eastwood.
'Yeah Liam. He is now getting more and more vicious day by day. He attacked Fred with a knife but it missed and then hit a porcelain vase on his forehead which ultimately knocked him down. Thankfully, Fred had contacted us in time and our men reached here just before he was going to stab him again. My men have tranquilized him. Fred was lying there with pain when the guards helped him to the couch. We have given him some pain killers which have made him feel dizzy.'
'Oh My God! What a big mistake I did sending Fred here', I said with regret, with my head drooping down.
'Let's see what's gonna happen when Larry wakes up. We also need Fred to give statement about the incident. The police will arrive here in some time'
Within half an hour, the police arrived. It was when suddenly Larry got his consciousness. Now, he did not wake up with distress but with fierceness.
'Leave me! Leave me you fools!'
The roar shook the whole flat. Larry was handcuffed to the bed. He was trying to break free. We ran into his bedroom.
'Liam! Help me to be free'
I was just moving forward when Dr. Eastwood stopped me by my hand and said, 'Don't do that. Look what he has done to Fred'
'Please help me, Liam. I am in pain', he said crying. 'I am sorry... I regret my deeds... Please free me. I swear I won't harm anybody'
He kept on weeping. None of us paid any heed to his cries. Then after some time, the repentance in his voice changed into anger. His eyes reflected a barbarous look. The tone of his skin got rougher, with his nerves stretching around the face. His voice appeared as if they were the words of someone else. It became more ferocious.
'Free me I say! Otherwise, I am not gonna spare anyone. You all saw what I have done to that Fred'
'Shut up Larry!', I screamed.
'You are a fuckin' mortal man! None of you can do anything to me. What do you think? You are gonna trap me? That will never happen you idiots. I am free, free like ever!'. He gave out an evil, manic laughter.
Dr. Eastwood signaled one of his associates to give him another tranquilizer. As he moved forward, Larry shrieked. His scream was so intense that for a while it appeared to be inaudible. I noticed a bulge of his chest. Then he mustered up all his strength to pull himself and break his manacles. We could hear the creaking of the handcuffs because of the strain.
'Aaaaaahh!'. He was going on screaming at the top of his voice. We all had clasped our ears. The guards and policemen had backed off in fright. Blood had started running from his wrists and ankles because of the sharp cut from the cuffs.
Then after rigorous pulls, he managed to break his handcuffs. The guards tried to get hold of him. He pulled the shackles tied to his legs and to our surprise he also managed to break those.
From where is he getting that strength?
He pushed aside all the guards with his beast-like strength and leaped at me. We crashed on the ground, with him sitting on my chest. All of them who were present there in the room rushed to catch him and placate him.
He growled and snarled at my face.
'No one can hold me captive. I am gonna give this guy his salvation. But that's not what he sees. Evasion is denied!', he uttered these words followed by an evil cackle.
One of the policemen kicked him hard to make him get rid of me. But it did not bother him anyway. He was intact and was looking straight into my eyes. Then he looked back, got up and punched the policeman hard on his chest. That man fainted with the impact. Then he savagely went on beating each and every one who tried to approach him, screeching continuously. I coughed and got up on my feet. I noticed the tranquilizer injection by the bed. I jumped. Larry tried to get hold of me but I somehow managed to get there. Then I signaled some of the guards to grab him as I tried to divert his attention towards me. They leaped and grabbed him. But Larry had got a demonic, monstrous strength within himself. I had faced that rage numerous times till then, with the cuff breaking incidence being the latest.
When it appeared that he was going to overpower six guards holding him, I injected the tranquilizer in his neck. He collapsed to the ground giving a final grunt. Suddenly all came to a standstill. Now, there was a strange, eerie silence all over the room. I sat back and looked at the atmosphere of the room. Ten guards lay there injured; some being wounded at numerous parts of their body. They were trying to help each other to get up. A lot of destruction had already happened. I got up and searched for Dr. Eastwood. He was laying at the other side of the bed, unconscious. Blood was oozing out of his nose. Larry had probably hit him on the face or it could be due to falling impact.
'Hey doc!.... Doc!.... Wake up!'. I was shaking him convulsively. Then I poured some water on his face from the jug placed on the cabinet adjacent to the bed. He made a repulsive face on waking up and with the help of my support he stood up and got seated on the cot. He pulled out a hankie from his trouser pocket and wiped off the blood.
'Oh! I don't want to do this but I have to'. He took out his phone and dialed someone.
'Dredfield Asylum?.... Yeah, I have a patient for admission. Extreme case of violence...'
From his words I could make out that he contacted some mental asylum for Larry. I could not protest because it was evident from the events that it was inevitable now. After talking about Larry's admission procedure for some time he hung up the phone and looked up at me.
'His case is getting worse.... Far worse than I had ever imagined.... What I did now was unforeseen, believe me'
'I understand, Mark'. From then on, I was going to call him by that name.
'Now nothing is in our hands, Liam. Poor pal. The ambulance will arrive in some minutes and take him'
The words from Larry's mouth had really bamboozled me.
My mind was shouting at me – He's not Larry. It can't be him. Save him!
It was when Fred entered the room after gaining his consciousness and washing off the blood over his face.
'Oh! It feels so good to see you, all well!', I said with a sigh of relief.
'I have a lot of things to say at this very moment', Fred said.
'Let's get to my flat and discuss with a cup of coffee, if it can be advised', I said looking at Mark.
'Yes, of course', he replied.