Damaged (31 page)

No. Did he
? Chris wondered. He knew he only had a moment or two to check before the whole team outside would be swarming down.

Chris walked back downstairs, over to the hidden door, and reached for it.

It was
ajar.
He could feel a draft coming in from the cracks. Quickly, he put his hands against the wall and pushed. The concrete gave. He stumbled out into the sewer system.

Off in the not too far distance, he could hear the
sound
of fast, retreating
footsteps
. Adam had
not
blown himself to pieces and had
not
killed
himself,
after
all. He’d just made his getaway through the tunnel he'd used to abduct his foes in. Chris knew that by the time the law enforcement discovered he had not disintegrated, Adam would be in a whole new town. Only Officer Rivers was dead. Somewhere during their struggle, Adam had gained the upper hand and detonated the explosive without hurting himself.

"You smart motherfucker…” Chris said, smiling. He giggled as crazily as Adam had moments ago, turned, walked back into the basement, and sealed the door shut forever.

Adam pulled a disappearing act,
Chris would tell the authorities later on.
I just don't know where the heck he went….

And they will not find that secret passage as far as I'm alive. My mouth is sealed. Later, Adam…

***

It ended up taking forensics almost a week before they realized not a drop of bodily goo in the basement belonged to Adam. Every bit belonged to Officer Rivers. They drilled Chris with questions, but he told them all he knew.

Or thought he knew.

One missing assailant had apparently vanished without a trace.

After their careful investigation, the authorities still never found the secret passage. It simply blended into the edges of the wall too well. They tore apart the ventilation system, the furnace, but found no Adam.

But he
still
exists. He still
waits
underground with the rats, and he still
dreams
of going to a new town to start over, even though he knows he will always be a wanted man.

And even more wanted
if
he decides to strike
again.

THE END

?

Before You Go…

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this novel! Share, if you like it, and if you don’t, I thank you for reading it anyway. I’m always trying to improve as a writer, and my readers’ input is
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Troy McCombs
has been writing since the age of nine, when his third-grade teacher made her students write a story for class credit. He fell in love with the craft then and has not stopped for the past twenty-three years. His genre of choice is horror, but he also likes to write drama and coming-of-age stories. Troy suffers from an acute social anxiety disorder, a vice he has been struggling with all his life. He lives with his mother and best four-legged friend, Lolly, in West Virginia.