"Hold it. What are you doing? We are in a lockdown," the technician at the main door blurted as he tried to stop Matthew when he reached for the keypad on the digital lock.

Matthew sighed. "I've already spoken to the captain. He has given us permission to bypass the lockdown. It's better to contact other precincts about our situations instead of letting ourselves be sitting ducks for the perpetrator to kill us."

The technician groaned, seemingly unhappy with Matthew's words or the captain's orders, however. "Anyway, that's the point of the lockdown! It's to make sure we catch the culprit! Plus, how would you know if the criminals are killing everyone one by one? How would you know that?"

"Criminals? I didn't say that there was more than one.... Wait a minute..." Matthew trailed off.

"Uh, uh..." the technician stammered as he looked around nervously, which was some strange behaviour, as the detectives thought.

Matthew raised an eyebrow, still waiting for the technician to respond. There wasn't a need to, though. Instead of a response came an action—an abrupt one.

The technician instantly pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Matthew. He cocked the gun and laid his finger on the trigger, preparing to shoot him if he was going to be a threat. "You blew this!" he yelled at Matthew, who was trying to stop him.

Everyone else in the room screamed and began scurrying around. Some ran away, down the corridor that led to the room where Officer Keystone was killed, while others took refuge by hiding at the corners of the lobby.

"Hold on, calm down. Now, what are you talking—," Matthew negotiated before getting cut off by the lights going out again.

And just then, there was a strange growling noise. The technician let out a blood-curdling scream of pain, accompanied by the noises of him struggling while his feet scrapped across the ground. Soon, the sounds of him getting dragged faded away.

"Oh, dear God! Oh, please spare me for once!" a woman wailed as she and the others began fearing for the worst.

"That d-detective... is right. Something is coming for us one by one. Two people have already been murdered!" another person shrieked as he thought about what Matthew had said.

"Three," Emma subconsciously corrected.

"Calm down. Let's not draw conclusions too quickly," Daniel stated. "I'm sure that he was just putting up a show. We'll find him."

The lights came back up again. And it proved Daniel to be wrong. A blood trail was left on the floor from the technician's gun. It stretched all the way to the door leading out of the main room to the passageway to the basement rooms.

There was someone coming after them in this game of cat and mouse.

Something.

"I'll quickly get the digital lock open," Matthew said as he turned back to punch in the passcode that the captain had given him earlier on.

Panicky whispers and fearful squeaks filled the entire atmosphere, with the smell of death incoming. The group anticipated more casualties, so they worked as quickly as possible to get the main door unlocked for everyone to get out.

"For some reason, we couldn't find the key. In that case, we'll have to use something else to get the lock off—by hook or crook," Captain Harris said.

"Yes, but don't you find it strange that we couldn't find the key? It was definitely in the room when Officer Keystone was still supervising the place. The thing is that a creature attacked him. So, why wasn't the key still there?" Megan made a good point.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "We searched through entire boxes but still couldn't find it. The creature couldn't have taken it, as I figured. It doesn't seem interested in doing anything other than causing harm to human beings."

Matthew sighed tiredly. It was exhausting and traumatising enough to be terrorised by a vicious creature once. Why did he have to go through it again?

Just then, the lights went out yet again. This time, no light filled the police station. Not even from the corridor lights from behind. Without the sense of sight being functional, everyone's hearing became sharper by the moment. All that buzzed around in the air were squeaky cries, hinting that everyone in the room was frightful.

They ought to be.

Within a split second, a humongous, dark figure jumped into the picture, pranced onto a person, and grabbed them away with them. It all happened so quickly that all Matthew could process were those glowing red eyes that instantly proved to him that another creature, and not anything else, had just entered the scene.

Right after that, the lights came back on again. This time, there wasn't any blood anywhere. There were shoeprints, claw marks and dents on the ground, but nothing remained of the victim.

They were just... taken.

Matthew inhaled deeply to halt any panic that was about to come, preparing to make an announcement.

"I am going to address everyone here," he said, catching the attention of everyone around. "The intruder isn't who you think it is. In fact, it is some sort of a creature. So, if you have any items that are or can be potential weapons, bring them out now!" he announced.

As such, people began discussing among themselves about the situation they were in. Instead of wasting time, however, they briefly proceeded to take out things like letter openers, Swiss knives, and lighters to protect themselves.

Just as everyone finished preparing their weapons, the lobby darkened again as the lights flickered off. Matthew hoped that everyone would stay safe and would survive this purge. They waited outside the main building until the power came back on.

Unfortunately, there was yet another scream. Screams, in fact. They ran back quickly into the cafeteria and watched as people shrieked in fear and anxiety at the two bodies on the ground. Something had messed up the pattern of one death each time. As such, Matthew and Megan looked at each other, sending mind messages.

Someone was helping this purge continue.

"What happened?" Matthew questioned Captain Harris as the group stopped in front of the captain.

"The... the-creature knocked both of them dead..." he answered, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the two disfigured bodies.

"Oh, gosh," Emma shrieked as she crept away from the corpses. Once again, she wasn't used to seeing dead people. Moreover, none of the detectives had seen such contorted bodies before. It was just frightening to think about what had happened to them.

Just then, Matthew signalled for the group to move away from everyone else. Not even near their captain. And he had an explanation prepared for his move.

"What's wrong?" Daniel said as he became the first to clarify what was going on.

Matthew hesitated for a moment. He was doubtful of his own words, but he knew it wouldn't hurt the group if he spoke what was on his mind. As so, he began. "I'm having a bad feeling about it," Matthew stated vaguely to his friends, slightly anxious.

"What do you mean? A bad feeling about what?" Megan questioned.

"Well..." Matthew paused for a bit. He then continued as he noticed that the others were waiting for him. "I don't want to accuse anyone wrongfully, but I have a hunch. Let me ask all of you: was the captain always standing amongst our group just now?" Matthew asked.

"No," Megan replied, clear about what she had seen earlier on whenever they were in the lobby. Daniel and Emma, however, were not too sure about such seemingly trivial details that only Matthew or Megan would notice.

"And when he wasn't standing with us, did anyone notice where he was?" Matthew continued.

"I didn't really take note of that, but if I'm not wrong, it was somewhere around the surveillance counter," Megan responded again since Daniel and Emma still weren't too clear about it. Instead, the two were holding each other by the shoulders.

"And what else is around the surveillance counter?" Matthew concluded with a final question.

The group froze to think before Emma turned to look directly at the surveillance counter. She removed her hand from Daniel's shoulder as she made a rather shocking discovery. One that Matthew had already made before the rest had done so. "The power controls," she answered as soon as she turned back to face the group.

Right after that, the lights went out again.

People in the room began to wail in pain as the final attack occurred. Matthew and his friends ran out of the room once they realised what exactly was happening.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat! If you can't, fight back with your weapons!" Matthew screamed as he pulled his friends and some other civilians out of the lobby.

Everyone dashed out of the room desperately. Besides Matthew and his friends, less than ten survivors remained after the latest creature attack on them. That meant that about three-quarters of those who were in the precinct initially were now dead.

The lights were flicked on, ceasing the choking horror of the darkness and the anticipation of getting killed blindly. The surviving civilians huddled in a group, even though they didn't know one another. Fear was enough to push them into thinking that there was safety in numbers.

Meanwhile, the detectives knew what to expect. They immediately walked towards the short doorway leading the cafeteria to the main lobby, looking for somebody. Somebody that they were going to see in a few moments.

And there they were. An approaching figure, with their back turned towards the detectives. The blood on their shirt already made their identity obvious.

With a turn, the detectives confirmed their suspicions. The victims' blood was splattered on him. An emotionless look painted his face. And not to mention cold blue eyes staring right through their souls. They were looking right at the killer.

Captain Harris.