HUNTING A SHADOW

Chapter 1.

Yeah. It was me, they said i couldn't do it, but i showed them. My heart was now beating fast, my breath as cold as ice, people coming and going as if nothing had happened. But i know what happened. I know that what i did will change everything.

My name is Brian Slater. Im a 45 year old EX agent, but there was a downfall with that. I was fired and wrongly arrested for murder at the age of 20. Only one day left till the big break-through. I was about to uncover the truth of a serial killer. He was known as The Black Hood by the people and press.

It was a cold November day. The grass was coated with an ice blanket. Cars had trickles of ice dangling off the mirrors. There were children running through the thickness of the white smoke. Playing happily not knowing what was coming in the next couple of days.

By now, I would have been at the club. The Rambus Hoax Club. It was the bar where I and my friends always hung out. But as i walk past, i see that it wasn’t there. Instead it was now a fast food restaurant made to quicken the endless pain s useless people moan and crave in their pitiful lives.

I carried on walking. It was getting dark. I walked down a shadowed alley. It was filled with garbage. Tramps and homeless people scavenging like dogs. As I got closer, i could see their anger in there eyes. Had they been betrayed? Or was it natural. I wasn't sure or I didn’t want to stay long enough to find out.I walked faster. Getting closer and closer to the scavengers. They stopped munching on the bones of the corpse chickens and other pieces of uneaten food.

They stood up straight. Tall. Over 6ft. As i neared them, i could see them whispering. It might as well be foreign when they spoke. They had lips shredded by the endless life of savagery. A Big guy, long wavy grey hair. Face blackened with dirt and blood from his cuts. I felt sympathy for him. He shouts. "And what do we have here boys".

As i got closer i could see that there was more than what I’d thought. It was a big gang of homeless men. Might as well been a family of friends. As i attempted to open my mouth to reply back. I caught a glimpse of a small child hiding behind a worn away cardboard box. Ignoring the men, i got closer to the child to get a better view of him. He looked like he was 7 years old. The men closed in on me. He said to me gently. "His names steve, but we call him little T. Found him lying in the alley. So we took it upon oursleves to look after the little tike."

I then found the courage to say something myself. I still was cautious of my surroundings. Being wary of the dangers. I replied in a sort of violet manner. "Why are you here, whats happened to these people?"

Five more of the homeless people stood up and walked towards me. As they got closer, the big man stepped infront of them as if to protect me. He didnt know me, but he was able to protect me. Inside myself i felt.. i felt glad. Like the first time someone makes a new friend.

He asked me to join them for a drink around the fire to tell me of there story. It began with a normal day, for what most people would think. They had all worked for a company which made a special kind of weapon. It was capable of destroying massive cites with one click of a button. The boss who was known as a selfish and lonely man took it upon himself to claim the gun as his own, and to annihilate anyone who had seen this weapon or about it. He described everything he knew about this boss to me. He had scars on the left side of his face, burns on his forehead, short crispy black hair, and the eyes of a killer. As i took these in, i thought to myself about why i had been made into what i was.

And as i thought to myself i remember the face that haunted me all my life. It deemed on me that the man that had ruined the life of what seemed nice people, was the man I’ve spent my life hunting.