As the ringing in my ears faded slowly I regained my sense of awareness, there was the sound of a motorcycle engine roaring in the distance as it sped down the street even as screams cried out from the cafe.
After I had gathered the courage to look at my surroundings it couldn't see Patricia anywhere, she was no longer crouching behind the table. She was gone!
I mustered up the courage to peek out from behind the table I saw the man in the skull mask who had fired at the cafe no longer across the street leaving only rubber tire marks on the road, the man who also sat outside the cafe limping into a back alley with a bullet wound in his leg.
But most surprisingly Patricia standing staring at across the street where the man in the skull mask was she had a deep cut across her upper left arm blood poured down her arm and onto her dress staining the fabric.
Patricia turned with a blank stare and walked off toward the alley where the man with bullet wound went down, she disappeared into the alley ignoring me as she walked.
I wondered to myself 'why Patricia had ignored me and followed a stranger into an alleyway?'
I decided to answer this question and hopefully avoid another suspicious encounter with the police by following Patricia into the alley.
Upon walking into the alley my body flinched and ducked behind a pile of black bags as Patricia strode up to the man and asked "who are you and why did you follow me to the cafe? You were sat at the table opposite to me just a minute after I arrived!"
"My name is Michael Bishop and I think you know why I followed you!" The man replied as he held up a small device which I recognised as a PTD.
The man was a participant.
"Well if we're sharing details my name is Patricia Walker," she responded in a monotone voice as she held up a PTD! Patricia was a participant in the same game I was in!
Michael stepped closer to Patricia as she walked up to meet him, Michael swung first arching towards Patricia's head, she barely dodged! Patricia then kicked Michael's foot causing him to stumble.
Quickly, Michael ran towards Patricia tackling her and slamming her into the alley wall Patricia barely flinched!
Both of them fell to the ground as Michael got back to his feet and grabbed a nearby piece of wood holding above his head ready to strike down on Patricia as she was defenceless on the ground.
Seeing this moment I rushed from my hiding spot and pushed Michael's legs from under him, the piece of wood fell from his grasp as he landed on his back, causing him to cry out!
As Michael tried to get up off the floor I elbowed his head and causing him to fall unconscious in a lump on the ground.
Patricia got back up to her feet not even clutching her wounds, all she did was stare at me while I was gasping for air. We both stood there in utter astounded silence, both of us were unsure I what to say, until a figure landed next to both of us attracting our full attention.
We both looked at the figure that I recognised Shadow!
Shadow first looked to Patricia, then turned to me and asked "What happened here?" In a calm voice.
"We were attacked at Cafe Du Pierre by a man on a motorcycle wearing a skull mask, he shot at the cafe!" I said quickly in response.
"Okay I heard about the shooting and assumed it had something to do with your situation Alexis but what happened in this alley?" Shadow responded solemnly.
"Oh. Well after the shooting Patricia followed Michael into the alley and both of them are participants, so they fought, Michael got Patricia onto the floor but I managed to intervene and knock him out!" I said in a rush not even realising Shadow had no idea who both Patricia and Michael were.
"If I'm to assume is Patricia the girl next to you and is Michael the man on the floor?" Shadow replied as I nodded in response. Shadow then proceeded to pick up Michael's unconscious body and slung him over his shoulder and walked toward Patricia holding a stun gun!
Quickly, I moved between Shadow and Patricia and pleaded desperately, "no don't hurt her please!"
"She's a participant and has just been involved in a mass shooting. She needs to come with me!" Shadow responded sternly.
"Then let me blind fold her instead or just let her go!" I pleaded to Shadow.
Without warning Patricia's hand laid on my shoulder as she said "don't defend me! If it's needed then let him go ahead, I don't mind being knocked out. It's only a stun gun after all" she said calmly.
With that I moved out the way and Shadow jabbed her in the neck with the stun gun as she fell unconscious. Swiftly Shadow caught her falling body and placed her over his shoulder.
Shadow then walked off down the alley toward a black transit van, he opened the back and placed both Patricia and Michael into the van and hand cuffed Michael's hands together. Shadow closed the back door and got into the van's driving seat and beckoned me to sit in the passenger seat, so I did.
We drove down a few streets for about fifteen minutes before pulling into a warehouse unit on the outskirts of town we then exited the van. The warehouse was about fifteen metres by fifteen metres of empty space that was also about four metres tall with small windows at the top of the wall allowing for natural light to enter the warehouse.
Shadow opened up a hatch on the floor and walked down a flight of stairs to a code locked door, which he opened and then came back to the van to retrieve Patricia and Michael.
As Shadow grabbed both unconscious bodies he motioned for me to follow him down the stairs. As we entered the basement under the warehouse we walked into a brightly lit room with a set of computers and monitors on one wall and corner. On another wall was a weapons cabinet that contained a variety of bladed weapons and electricity based weapons plus some extra armour plating (presumably for Shadows suit) on another wall was a medical area containing a variety of medical equipment and tools along with multiple tables for operating.
Shadow slumped Patricia and Michael onto the medical tables leaving Michael still hand cuffed. Me and Shadow waited about ten minutes until both Michael and Patricia both woke up.
When they both fully had regained their composure Shadow started to question them both that lasted for about thirty minutes for each interrogation.
Eventually, Shadow started to address all of us "Alexis has informed me of 'The end of days' and I may have found a solution to disposing of a participant."
Michael interjected "you brought us here to kill us!" As he started to thrash in his handcuffs erratically motivated by the fear of death.
I interrupted "no no I'm sure Shadow would not bring you here to kill you!" My response barely convinced myself.
Suddenly, Patricia punched Michael straight in the face and said in a serious tone "please carry on, but if you did plan on killing me be assured I will not die easily!"
Shadow continued "I have found a drug used at the hospital to make people fall into a medically induced coma therefore 'disposing' of a participant."
Michael responded "wh- what is that even possible?" In a unsure voice.
"Yes and the person can be brought out of this coma by simply not giving a dosage of the drug I had planned to give this to all the participants that we meet!" Shadow explained.
Patricia asked coldly "is this procedure optional?" As she looked directly at Shadow.
"For you two yes, from what I can see you both are of sound mind so I can not see why I would force this upon you" Shadow replied.
"Yes" blurted out Michael as we all looked at him in astonishment.
"Are you sure?" I asked him.
"Yes" he replied in a facade of confidence.
Shadow interjected "first I would recommend you inform your family and friends you would be away for a while." Michael nodded in agreement.
"Well I would rather not want to be put under!" Patricia interrupted. I was confused why was Patricia acting so cold and yet so determined she was acting so emotionless!
After Patricia had interrupted everyone was silent until Shadow started to speak to Michael privately probably to further explain the procedure he had set up. To ease the tension I turned to Patricia and asked "are you alright?"
Patricia responded "I am fine, why do you ask?"
"It's just you seem so cold and distant that's all" I replied trying to conveys the concern and worry I had for her.
"Well a cafe shooting might leave a person shocked!" She responded quietly but fiercely.
I was quiet, stunned into silence before responding "why didn't you want the procedure?"
"Well why did you not want it?" She questioned back pausing. Within a second she continued speaking "well if you won't say, then I will my reason is simply I don't want to sleep through this nightmare when I'm being threatened by someone. I want to fight back!" With a hint of determination in her voice.
But still something was unsettling about her, she seemed different from the last time we had met up, then I thought of the question:
could someone truly be emotionless in such a desperate situation?