Darkness, cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Just as the old man was about to emerge out of the car, Derek hastily retreated from his hiding place, out of desperation to not get arrested pulled him back in the car, before, hysterically shouting at the old man, to drive off.
"Get out of the car, now!" the policeman was screaming at them both, intentionally alerting all the other officers nearby, what was going on, the minute he saw Derek appear from where he'd been hiding.
"I said get out of the Godamn car now! or I will open fire!" the officer proceeded to insist, aggressively waving his firearm at them, as a warning not to move from their current position, or else there would be serious repercussions if they refused to comply. The old man was all helter-skelter, Derek knew he had to act fast, before things escalated beyond his control. He jumped in the passenger seat, leaning over the old man and started the engine up.
The sudden and forceful movement of the car jerking back and forth while he was standing up, trying to maintain a steady balance, resulted in Derek been abruptly thrown, over the passenger seat, hearing the gunshots being fired off one by one, as the old man grabbed the steering wheel and hurriedly sped off. He managed to gather some composure, and quickly returned to the back seat, in one piece, while the old man continued to drive. The first bullet ripped through the back window, he ducked, grateful the first bullet ricocheted onto the dashboard instead, just missing the old man.
"Give me your gun!" Derek screamed at him, dusting the shards of glass, that covered the back seat and himself away.
The old man did as he was told and handed him the gun. Derek hunched in between the seats, realising it was a different gun, to the one he saw previously.
The cops were hot on their tail, and from what Derek could see, there may have been three or four police cars after them, he wasn't entirely certain. Bullets were flying everywhere, people, that were going to work were walking past with their mouths gaping open in disbelief and shock, watching all of this taking place.
Some were even filming it with their phones, Derek imagined this would be on tomorrow's news channel and Melissa would see it, he thought, morosely biting his bottom lip, reminding himself that, he was doing this all for her and Holly, before firing a gunshot round. He wasn't sure if it was the anger and rage inside of him, that landed him a first-time lucky shot.
It instantly hit one of the officers driving the car, resulting in him losing control and driving straight into a four-wheeler truck that was beside them.
The sudden impact of the truck hitting the car forced their vehicle off the road, before plunging off the ledge. People were screaming maniacally, as they watched the police officers meeting their inevitable and impending doom that awaited them, leaving only two police vehicles left.
Derek examined how many bullets were left in the chamber, before cocking the gun.
"We have to lose them!" he shouted, resting back against the chair.
"I know the perfect way we can lose them," the old man assured him confidently.
Just as Derek was about to sit up, another bullet came his way, not paying attention, this time felt the bullet instantly rip through his arm and tear through his flesh. Derek lunged forward clutching to the seat in discomfort, he let out an agonising scream, feeling the immense pain soar through his body.
Derek clutched at his shoulder, the blood trickling down his arm, from where he'd been shot, grateful to see their car swerving into the next lane, and out of their view. He propped up on his knees and was relieved to discover the officer's vehicles were nowhere in sight and the roads were quiet for now.
He helplessly collapsed back in his seat, everything was beginning to grow dark and uncertain, suddenly he felt himself entering a very cold and gloomy place again. He began to grow light-headed and increasingly weary, he could see her from his peripheral vision, looking at him, grinning at him with that same sinister crooked smile, that forever left his blood cold. He closed his eyes and prayed to God this nightmare would be over very soon.
Once he forced his eyes open again, Derek discovered they were parked outside a 24-hour pharmaceutical store. He realized, he was now alone in the car, the old man was conveniently nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, the old man's mobile phone started to ring. Derek's vision was still blurry and impaired, hindering him from fully been able to see the screen, as he hadn't fully surfaced yet. Just as he was about to reach over and grab the phone, the old man appeared and instantly snatched the phone out of Derek's hands, before he could even see who was calling. He was holding a pharmaceutical packet in his hands, he immediately detected something about this man, that seemed unusual all of a sudden. He appeared to be on edge and uncomfortable in his presence, something was surely up, but Derek had no way of telling, why he was acting this way, all of a sudden, and he was too exhausted to even question him either.
"I took the liberty of getting you some medical supplies." The old man announced before hopping in the car.
Derek remained silent, he still felt deeply unsettled and strangely, was beginning to question, this man's supposed honourable intentions once again.
"It's nearly morning, we should make it there in time."He heard the old man say.
But Derek could hear his voice was quivering as he spoke, which raised his suspicions even further.
" Do you have a cigarette by any chance?" Derek asked trying to break the uncomfortable silence between them, whilst burying his hand in his pocket, for one.
He ripped a piece of his shirt off and bandaged his other arm with it to restrict the blood flow.
Derek noticed the gun had still remained in the man's pocket and wondered why he hadn't just given him that one instead.
"I don't smoke," the old responded with a slight chuckle.
"Disgusting habit. Gave it up, when I was about your age and never looked back."
"Well if I make it through this, giving it up is the first thing I will do. Not to mention my wife can't stand it," Derek assured him, trying to remain calm and collected in his presence even though, he had very little reason to trust this man, he also knew he needed him too. He had, however, planned to go his separate ways once, they arrived at that house. As much as Derek was indebted to him for all the help, he had given him, he felt, he needed to do this without the interference of other people.
"You still remember where this place is?" The old man asked Derek, just as they were about to drive off into the next lane, a tree suddenly emerged in front of the road, the old man lunged back in his chair, watching the entire tree, collapse in front of them, just missing an inch of the bonnet of their car.
Derek was thankful it hadn't struck them, but the mammoth size of it alone had obstructed the entire, road and unless they moved it, they would be surely going nowhere anytime soon.
"We going to need a Godamm crane to lift this tree out of the way!" the old man screamed jumping out of the car, assessing how big the tree was, that was now blocking their direct path.
Derek opened the car door shortly after him, and hoisted himself out of the vehicle, feeling the crippling pain surge through his arm as he staggered helplessly around trying to get a better look at their current obstacle, which was impeding them from getting to the other side of this road.
Suddenly, he saw something in amongst the trees, it was moving to and fro, watching them. He knew it was her, which motivated him even harder to get the hell out of here.
"We will walk from here," Derek said hoarsely. Realising they were already closer than they appeared.
"You can barely stand up straight, son!" The old man reminded him. Watching Derek, stumble helplessly around in the darkness.
"I'll live," he lied. If he had ever had the will to carry on it was now. He felt he was getting that much closer to learning the truth, and he sure as hell wouldn't let this minor impediment stand in his way.
The old man had decided that he would come back for the car after they had left the house. But Derek of course had no intentions of going back with him until he had left with the truth.
Once they had retreated into the woods, Derek felt himself looking over his shoulders, constantly. He was deeply on edge, the very thought had occurred to him many times, what she could possibly do to stop him from making it to that house.
He had this sudden and relentless urge, to start interrogating this man again, about what he knew regarding this woman and Albert, but he was aware that walls had ears, or in this case, this eerie wilderness of wonder did and it was listening to everything that he was saying, and watching him from afar.
Even though dawn, had already started to approach now, he still felt encompassed in darkness, just wondering through these parts.
"Can you see it!" the old man exclaimed, directing his finger to a bright light that was coming a few miles down the road, from where they were.
"I really wish I had brought my torch with me," Derek heard the old man say, their pace quickening as they walked, they were equally both as eager as each other to get out of here.
Suddenly, The old man's stride began to slow down, and he held onto a tree for a brief while, struggling to find his own strength. Derek watched him reach in his pocket and sift out his phone, he held it above him, trying desperately to get signal.
"We need to hurry before it gets any lighter,"Derek urgently prompted him, feeling the sun slowly, begin to peak out the shadows and burn his exposed skin.
The leaves, scudded over the ground as Derek walked through this never-ending forest, that possessed so much diverse mystery and hidden beauty. He tossed his head, back and raised his eyes to the skies, seeing them growing even lighter with each step that he took. When Derek walked along the rutted path, carefully avoiding the hoof sized frozen pools, he had a strong and, overwhelming feeling he was almost there; it was as if fate had brought them here. He was a man on a mission and would not stop until he had got what he'd come for.
After Derek and the old man passed the last set of trees, there Derek saw it - the House, where it all began. He felt a feeling of exhilaration pass over him, knowing at long last, he had finally made it.
In the process of being edited she rewritten.
Total word account:1957.
I hope you enjoyed chapter 20 of The evil beneath us. Its gradually building up to its much-anticipated climax, little by little. Stay tuned for the next chapter and if you enjoyed this chapter, please don't forget to vote and comment. X