The Retirement Life of a Runaway Desperado

Lynn spent most of the banquet with Arthur.

The two of them didn't say anything at all. Lynn thinks their words together amounted to about twenty or so sentences.

It's just that the communication seems to be able to form a small aura, which is a little easier than when fighting alone.

In the middle of the banquet, Lynn told Arthur that he had to go to the bathroom. The other party said he didn't need to go to the bathroom and reported to him. Anyway, he would not go with him like their daughter.

Lynn left with a smile, and while calling the bureau, asked if the arrest warrant for the case had been approved—the judge obviously had a good relationship with Caviezel, and he took into account his reputation and various financial support—if all goes well, Maybe the case will be closed tonight.

Donner said excitedly that it was the first time that a murder case in the town could be concluded so quickly.

The first floor was too lively, Lynn decided to go to the bathroom on the second floor, it was very quiet, there was no one there, everyone was downstairs.

On the phone, his subordinate said that the arrest warrant had been issued, and the judge realized that Caviezel might not be the good guy in the neighborhood he imagined.They went to Caviezel's house, but he wasn't there, his wife and son were left behind, and Lynn told him a townwide manhunt was to begin immediately.

This kind of criminal who suddenly lost everything, God knows what will happen.

He ended the call, put the phone in his pocket, and thought to himself, I'm afraid I'll have to stay up late tonight.

The floor was quiet, he could vaguely hear the noise coming from downstairs, it was just one floor, as far away as if it came from another world.

Sure enough, there was no one in the bathroom. There are usually people coming and going here, but it will be silent here.

He turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on his face when he heard a "click" behind him.

He turned sharply, his hand on the gun.

Caviezel stood there.

He was dressed in a formal dress for the evening banquet, smooth and expensive, as if he didn't know what was going on.He is not yet 40 years old, well-maintained, handsome, with the seemingly easy-going arrogance of a man with a successful career, who likes to control the social situation.

He looked the same as usual, but there was something wrong in that gesture, and Lynn slowly pulled the gun out of its holster, feeling the sweat seep out of his palms.It might not be worth it, he thought, it was just a desperate rich man, but deeper instincts screamed danger, and one had to be prepared for the worst to happen.

"Mr. Caviezel?" he said.

"Hey, Sheriff," Caviezel said, standing in the doorway, completely blocking the way out, "I wasn't supposed to come to dinner tonight, you know, and I don't have kids in school. But Mrs. Allison said please make sure I Come here, I'm an important person in town."

He looked up at Lynn with a smile on his face.Lynn raised his gun and pointed at him. When the man smiled, he showed a mouth full of fangs, like shark teeth, making people creepy.

"I actually had a child before, but it died in an accident. If I'm still alive, I should be in middle school by now." The man continued.

Lynn's scalp was numb. He had seen this kind of teeth before, in a certain case a year ago.That case had disappeared mysteriously, but he remembered that on the human face, something dark and deformed seemed to be crowded by the DNA of another monster and turned into a hybrid monster.

"I don't always want to have kids too early, it hurts my career, you know," Caviezel continued, taking a step forward, as if eager to show off his accomplishments, "now I'm a big guy in town , I have participated in half of the public welfare undertakings here, I participated in the construction of this building, and the school plans to name a small auditorium after me next year.”

"Stand back, Mr. Caviezel!" Lynn said, "or I'll shoot you!"

His heart was about to jump out, but he knew that his hand was still steady enough to hit the heart with one blow.

“I slept with a middle school kid, what a big deal,” Caviezel said, the change in his face more pronounced, a crack opening from the corner of his mouth in what appeared to be a grin, with more fangs inside. "She's just a little bitch who goes around the streets and grows up to be like all women like her, find someone to marry, and drain him dry with makeup and endless clothes."

He grew taller, and his body protruded from the dress, which he didn't want to tear, so he looked a little stooped.

There seems to be something horrible inside him, Lynn thought, trying to rush out of that anger.

"It's like the baby I died," Caviezel continued, "just a baby, and it's not like it can't be born again, but Emily keeps thinking about it. I know she hates me and thinks it's my fault, and she just A fucking crazy woman."

"I kind of like Emma, ​​she's a smart little girl, and she likes guys like me, you know, successful people. But she's a stupid bitch like Emily at heart!" Caviezel said.

His fingers became longer and sharper, not human hands but misshapen claws.

Lynn has retreated to the corner, behind the window, in order to prevent children from making dangerous moves, it was blocked by iron bars.

"Everything is fine, but you have to shut up those cowardly idiots who only know how to do bad things, and you have to keep looking into things!" Caviezel screamed, but still The voice of the successful man.

But at that moment, the clothes were finally torn by the deformed growth, and it pounced.

Lynn raised his hand and pulled the trigger.

The thing was as fast as lightning, and he still shot all the bullets on it. He was a famous sharpshooter in the police station back then.

The bullet only affected its direction, and it fell to one side, and its claws still touched Lynn's forehead. The latter fell to the ground in embarrassment, and the next second, he shot towards the window without hesitation.

──The thing has gone up to the ceiling, and then hung on the window grille, huge, gaunt, like a huge spider, but with a human face and fangs.

All the bullets hit, Lynn knew, but the thing didn't look hurt at all!

... He has no way to deal with this kind of thing, what the hell is this thing?He was just attending a school gala dinner after the fair!

Lynn fired again stubbornly. He fired three times, one of which hit it.It moved -- almost invisible to the naked eye, like a hunting spider -- dodging the few remaining bullets, leaving a string of holes in the wall, and Lynn seized the opportunity to dash for the door.

He grabbed the door handle and twisted it open a crack, but in the next second, a huge force grabbed his back collar, and he was thrown away violently, hitting the mirror on the wall hard.

He fell down and hit the sink again, kneeling on the ground in embarrassment, trying to point a gun at the thing in a daze.His internal organs seemed to be injured, and he felt blood oozing from his mouth.

The thing was lying on the ceiling, giggling.

"Are you..." Lynn said, "What the hell?"

"I'm Caviezel," said the monster, "I'm just pissed that you made me pissed off, officer."

It charged and Lynn fired a shot, but that didn't do anything to it.

The huge fangs were in sight in a blink of an eye.

"Hey!" said a voice.

Something came crashing down on the thing's fangs, and it took a step back and didn't tear Lynn in two right away—later Lynn saw that it was the principal's Lifetime Achievement Award—he panicked. He retreated a little, still sitting on the ground.

Arthur stood at the door, and under such a scene, he was still as elegant and calm as before.

"Hi," said the monster, easing his voice, "Mr. Arthur."

Lynn moved towards the door, and Arthur said calmly, "Good evening, Mr. Caviezel, I just saw you coming in through the back door. So follow me to see what happened."

"There's a sentry at the front door," Caviezel said. "I think that's disrespectful to a man of standing."

"Sorry, I was a little too hasty just now. I may have smashed your tooth." Arthur said, as if he was greeting Mr. Caviezel at a banquet with the philanthropist, but the things he was talking about were unimaginable.

"I know, you missed it too, doctor. You are a man of cultivation." said the monster, leaning over maliciously.

At the same time, Lynn had backed to the door, his legs were weak but he was still trying to straighten himself, grabbing Arthur's arm and saying, "We have to get out of this place."

"It's going downstairs," Arthur said. "There's only school security here. All the cops are out hunting for Caviezel."

Lynn felt his scalp go numb when he heard the brisk music downstairs.

"We have to go up," said Arthur.

They exchanged glances, as if they had cooperated countless times, seeing the same thing in each other's eyes.

It was as if the same countdown stopwatch appeared in my mind, three, two, one!Then without a second's hesitation, Arthur slammed the door shut, and the two turned around and ran upstairs.

The monster took a moment, smashed the door open, and gave chase.

It was so dark and dead in the building that it was hard to imagine that a dinner party was being held below while the desolation above was like this.

The two of them were running in the empty floors. A few minutes ago, they were having a joyful banquet, but now they seemed to be running in another world.

Arthur ignored the elevator and rushed down the narrow corridor, Lynn following him.The monster followed.

They rushed up to the top floor, Arthur opened the door, and the night wind raised clothes and hair all at once, the top floor was empty, the sky was full of stars, and it almost had a taste of savage loneliness.

"What do we do now?" Lynn asked.

"Aren't you holding a gun?" Arthur said.

"The gun didn't work, I tried it, and it didn't respond at all!" Lynn said.

"How could it not respond!" said Arthur.

A voice behind said, "I don't know why you are running upstairs, but I know, I don't want to give you a cheap price by letting you jump down."

They turned their heads, and the spider-like thing also crawled in and tore open the door lock.It still has Caviezel's voice and even has half a tux on it.

"You're going to die very, very miserable, fragmented, and give the beautiful ladies downstairs nightmares to think about," said the thing. "Of course your little girl won't survive tonight, poor thing, so young. But You have offended someone who should not have offended, so you will pay the price."

"It has nothing to do with them!" Lynn said.

"It's a given that a family takes responsibility together," Caviezel said.

"Let's not pretend you know aphorisms," Arthur said. "You're a fool, and there's nothing you can hide."

Lynn and the monster turned to look at him. He was standing on the top floor with no shelter, his tone seemed to be stating the facts.

"Idiots?" Caviezel raised his voice. "There are indeed stupid people here now, and I guess they are the ones who are going to die later!"

"I know what you did, Mr. Caviezel, and there's nothing we can do to change the fact that you're an idiot. And it's hanging on you like a billboard," Arthur said.

Lynn wanted to shut him up, but he didn't say it.

Standing there alone against the void of night in the background, Arthur saw that indifference again for a moment, the eyes almost inorganic, oozing the cruelty of the predator.

"And in the world you came into, there's a saying," said Arthur, "that a fool has no right to live."

That tone was enough to crush any pride, even a spider.

The monster stared at him for a while, then slowly came over.

"You'll know who doesn't deserve to live tonight, Arthur," it said softly, another gash opening through its face, revealing layers of fangs.

Arthur was a little thinner than that thing, but he stood upright, motionless.Lin En thought, compared to this thing, obviously the enthusiastic housewife scares him a lot.

For a moment, he saw some liquid oozing out from where Caviezel walked, it was viscous and transparent, not blood, but he knew he had injured it.Caviezel hadn't realized that he got this power, but he didn't really understand how powerful he was. Lynn suddenly thought, Arthur was right, he was pretty stupid.

He raised his hand and pulled the trigger.

All the remaining bullets hit Caviezel's body, and the monster let out a howl, finally feeling the pain.It turned around and rushed towards him. Lin En had already emptied all the bullets. He took a step back, but he couldn't dodge. The monster's forelimbs slammed heavily towards his head, as fast as lightning.

It swept across Lynn's head, and the speed was invisible to the naked eye. He felt dizzy for a while, followed by severe pain, and blood flowed down his head and face.

Amidst the blood red, that thing rushed over, raised its forelegs high, trying to smash him to pieces.

But the movement stopped suddenly, as if being suppressed by some huge force, abruptly and quickly.He saw the limbs trembling, as if enduring great pain, trembling like dead leaves in the cold wind.

Then he saw Arthur in the dark, slowly coming out from behind the monster.He glanced at it sideways, with the gesture of tasting wine, appreciating the degree and level of pain, what a terrible and final death eruption it possessed.

That's right, the man was drenched in blood, Lynn thought, this was his last consciousness before passing out.

When Lynn woke up, a day had passed.

He was lying in the best hospital in the town, his head was wrapped in a bandage, the ward was filled with sunlight, flowers and fruits were placed inside, and there were some colorful cards, saying that he hoped that the best police officer in this town would recover soon , and invited him to a bunch of family gatherings.

He sat there blankly, when the doctor came and told him that when he was arresting the criminal Caviezel, he was hit on the head, had a severe concussion, and needed to stay in the hospital for observation.

──Mr. Caviezel sneaked into the school and tried to attack him in the bathroom, but ended up committing suicide.Mr Arthur called the police and said he saw nothing and that by the time he arrived the attack was over.

Mr. Caviezel, with several bullet holes in his body, managed to get away in his car, but the car hit a gas station tank outside of town--he must have been so badly injured--and exploded, barely What's left.

Don't worry about Chris, she's staying at her best friend Christine's house now, the little girl is worried to death, but it's not time to visit the doctor, she will probably come over later.

The doctor checked his pupils and asked him questions like "what's your name" "what year is this year" "how many fingers did I stick out" and finally asked "do you remember that night What happened?"

Lynn parted his lower lip. He pictured Mr. Caviezel's fangs climbing up the ceiling and chasing him down the corridor. His throat felt dry and he reached for his water glass.

"Do you remember what happened, Mr. Lynn?" the doctor asked again.

"I have a question," Lynn said, "what did Arthur say about that night?"

"As I said, Lynn, you passed out on the floor when he arrived, and he called the doctor right away," the other said.

"He said that?" Lynn said.

"Is there a problem?" said the doctor.

"I don't really remember much of what happened that night, actually," Lynn said. "I just remember the prom or something. I don't even remember going to the bathroom."

The doctor gave him a smile of reassurance and encouragement one often sees in sick people. "Short-term amnesia is common in brain injury cases, don't worry about it. And at least we've dealt with that dreaded Mr. Caviezel, haven't we?" he said, saying goodbye to Lynn, and going to examine other patients. up.

Lynn thought, you must have no idea how "scary" Mr. Caviezel is.

For a while, Lynn was thinking, the ward was bright and clean, so what happened that day seemed like a crazy and dark dream.

Is it a dream?And Arthur, standing on the top floor looking sideways at the monster, he thought, what a fucking family man, a doctor who wants to come to town with his daughter to live a peaceful life!

Wait a minute, the doctor said Chrissy lives at Christine's?Arthur's house!

Lynn tried to jump off the bed, his head felt dizzy, and he knelt down on the ground in embarrassment, trying to hold on to the edge of the bed to prevent himself from falling completely.

"Dad!" a voice called out, and Lynn looked up, and Chrissy had already jumped up and hugged him.

Lynn subconsciously held her tightly in his arms, the only treasure in his life, his little girl was safe, right here, nothing happened.

In this fucking perverted world, he really wanted to hold her like this and never let go.

"My God, my God, Chrissy, you're fine," he said.

The girl in his arms burst into tears. When she rushed in, she was obviously full of enthusiasm and smelled like vanilla cake, but as soon as she got into Dad's arms, the floodgate of tears seemed to be opened by this hug. Lynn frantically comfort.

"You're hurt, officer, and you shouldn't be out of bed," said a voice.

Lynn raised his head, and Arthur stood there, wearing a dark coat, with a plain and elegant look, holding a basket of biscuits with a red ribbon on it, which did not match his aristocratic appearance at all.

Christine stood by and hugged Lynn happily.

As if he was in his own home—he was so virtuous everywhere—he glanced around the overstuffed tabletop, then put the basket on another person's present, and said, "Miss Doris Mine, I think you might need it."

You're just doing waste disposal, Lynn thought.

He stared at Arthur, the other party looked unaware of the knife in his eyes, inspected the food, finally took an apple, sat down on the chair beside him, and bit it unceremoniously a mouthful.

"We're here to visit patients, not to eat fruit, Dad," said Christine.

"It's just an apple, and he can't eat that much," said Arthur.

Christine turned to Lynn and said seriously, "My dad can be unreliable sometimes, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, let him eat if he wants to," Lynn said.

He comforted Chris for a while, and assured her that he would never get hurt again, that he would never leave her alone, and he swore to her mother's spirit in heaven.

Arthur finished eating an apple, threw the core in the trash, and said to Christine, "Can we go?"

"No, we're going with Chris," Christine said.

"You can't go!" Lynn said harshly to Arthur.

"But I just ate one of your apples," said Arthur.

"Miss Kean!" Lynn called, and the young nurse ran in and asked, "What's the matter, Officer Lynn? Dr. Arthur," she said, blushing.

"Can you take Christine and Chris to the children's rest area for a while? I have something to say to Mr. Arthur in private," Lynn said.

"I have nothing to tell you," Arthur said.Christine glared at him hard.

"Of course, no problem," said Miss Kean, leading the two children out.

"You have to cooperate, Dad," Christine said sternly to her father as they left.

After the two children left, the ward fell silent. The flowers, fruits and balloons in the room made the topics Lynn wanted to talk about seem crazy and irrelevant.

Arthur looked at him warily. "I don't think we have anything special to say, officer."

"You're trying to pretend you don't know anything?" Lynn said. "Well, let me tell you, I want to talk about the night at the fair."

"Your subordinates have asked me in detail about that day," Arthur said, staring at his fingers. "I heard that you had a severe concussion and don't remember anything about that night. If you You really want to know, it's in the police files, I really don't need to repeat that."

He spoke as if nothing had happened.

Lynn stared at him and said, "Actually, I just couldn't explain what I saw to the doctor, Arthur, but I remember what I saw that night..."

He stopped, and the person sitting opposite smiled. It was not a gentle and friendly smile, but the kind of cold smile he saw in the interrogation room.

It all went back to that night, the suspect was dangerous and repulsive.

Still looking at his fingers, he said softly, "Obviously it would be easier for everyone to see that you had a concussion and didn't see anything. Like, I know why you don't want to tell the doctor what you saw, it must be something Crazy stuff. Talking about it could cost you your job and a lawsuit, right?"

"I don't understand what you mean by that," Lynn said coldly.

"About the reason why you were transferred here, I used some methods to investigate." Arthur said, "You were sent down, not because you wanted to change the work environment, but because the psychiatrist thought you were crazy. You have severe auditory hallucinations and Vision, you almost shot and killed an innocent person. The bureau thought you were mildly ill and sent you to work in such a harmless town. Wouldn't dare to know that you still have those severe hallucinations I believe there will be consequences."

"I know, you really, really want to hide something, Arthur. You keep your distance from everyone for it," Lynn said. "I don't think what happened that night was my hallucination. The problem, the one with the problem is you."

"Why don't you tell the doctor if you're so convinced you saw a monster," Arthur said.

Lynn stared at him, Arthur looked back blankly.

"What the hell are you trying to hide, Arthur?" Lynn said.

"Your words will be taken for a lunatic by all," said Arthur.

"I was originally a lunatic, and I was sent to Oak Town because I was a lunatic, have you forgotten? A lunatic believes in what he sees!" Lynn said, "So I ask you, what the hell are you, that thing What is it, why did he have a car accident outside the town!"

"Excuse me, what happened?" A nurse poked her head, obviously hearing the quarrel here.

"Nothing, we discussed little things," Arthur said, standing up. "I'm leaving."

"I'm going home tonight," Lynn said, "Chris come back with me, and you and your daughter stay away from her!"

Arthur stood there, looked at him for a moment, and nodded.

"Okay, I promise," he said, "I don't want to be friends with you either."

He turned and left, Lynn felt dizzy for a while, the yelling just now was obviously not good for his body.

"You can't be discharged today, Mr. Lynn!" said the nurse.

"Tell me what to watch out for, and I'll pay attention," Lynn said. "I get insomnia when I'm not home, and I guess insomnia is worse for my head, right?"

The nurse glared at him, and finally said to call the doctor to see what to do, and Lynn sat on the bed, thinking about how to persuade the doctor to let him go.He'd done this a few times before in Homicide, when he was such a workaholic.

But now, he had to go home and take care of Chrissy, and he had to talk to her about keeping the father and daughter at a distance.

Arthur was dangerous, and while he'd saved himself—I'm afraid it would have been easier for him if he hadn't lost that trophy, or gone off on the roof—it didn't change the fact.

He's hiding terrible secrets, and maybe he's the kind of guy who's willing to help, but Lynn knows that the kind of guy who thinks you're endangering something they're trying to protect will instantly turn back into an outlaw, throwing a knife at his fingertips. show mercy.

He pressed his eyebrows, he couldn't tell the doctor what he saw, like Arthur said, he had a medical history, after Kelly died, he worked like crazy for a while, and then for some reason, he had some serious neurotic symptoms .

His hands began to tremble uncontrollably. In severe cases, he couldn't even hold a cup, let alone reload a gun.If that was a minor issue, the worst part was that he started having a series of hallucinations, initially just auditory hallucinations, then visual hallucinations, and the screaming and ghosting was driving people crazy until he almost shot someone.

He didn't know how to protect himself then, how to judge the situation, he thought, but now everything is on the right track, Chris likes it here, she is finally slowly coming back to life, he will make sure everything is on track, what accident Nor will it happen.

He slowly lay back on the bed, pressing between his eyebrows, the spider-like monster that night could not be cleared from his head, and the black-haired man's cold and inorganic pupils.He carefully pushed it back and the doctor came in and he had a big smile on his face and said, "Hey doctor, I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid I really need to be discharged..."

Like the bright blue sky outside the window, his smile is also peaceful.