Dead Apple - Chapter 8

“Of course you aren’t scared of me. I’m not the wolf. You are.”

Stylo Fantome,The Bad Ones

CHAPTER 8

THE WOLF IN THE WOODS

Struggling to break free from the rope binding both of her arms and feet she tried to scream for help, and the blindfold is not even helping so she does not have any slightest idea where she is. She yelled again, then slow footsteps came, stopping just beside her head.

Alice gritted her teeth when the man kicked her in the stomach.

“Who are you?!” She spat.

“No need to know, Alice, because sooner you’ll be lying face down at the pool.” The guy stated.

“Are you Aria’s killer?”

He tilted his head in confusion. “Who’s that?”

Alice deadpanned. His voice is familiar. Even when he is not stuttering as he speaks, she knows too well. She is very observant at her surrounding, memorizing each faces and voices everytime she walked past the students. She is sure that this was not the man who called her, but the guy who has been stalking her.

“You’re Eric.” She whispered.

“And you are observant.” Eric pushed her down the pool.

The warm water welcomed her body– momentarily dazing her– liquid forcing its way down on her throat when she gasped. Alice tried to break free and the pressure is pulling her downward.

Help! Please help me…

Bubbles formed at the hole of her nose when she exhaled, but it did not lessen the dreadful feeling as she drank another mouthful of chlorine. It might be her end. Her tragic end, but no! She is not going to give up. Alice forced her hands out of the roped, to no avail it did not loosened.

My lungs is going to burst! She wanted to scream.

Her body fell limp. It stopped from moving. Thinking that she is about to die, strong hands wrapped around her body and pulled her upwards. Ariel dumped her body at the edge of the pool, water dripping down her wet clothes. She removed the blindfold then started checking the girl’s breathing, she lowered her ears at her nose, then she checked for the pulse.

“There is no pulse.” Ariel muttered, performing CPR.

Alice coughed the water blocking her throat, she coughed again and smiled weakly at her savior. Her breathing ragged.

“Can you remove the bindings?”

Chloe ran at the field as fast as she can in her cheerleading uniform. Her ponytail swaying back and forth behind her. After their routine, one of the swimming club member named Anastasia came looking for her. The swimmer has told her that Alice drowned– an attempt murder, and they have not found who did it yet.

“Move!” Chloe shouted when three guys did not step aside. “I said move!”

Don grabbed her by the arms to stop her, the grip it almost hurt the arm. She glared at him.

“Hey, no need to be angry. Why are you such in a hurry?” Don asked her.

“I am angry because I am in a hurry and now you are slowing me down!”

“Where’s Alice?” Rain asked, glancing at Eros’ impassive face.

“I am in a hurry because of Alice so let me go!” She yelled at them, Don and Rain looked at the silent person behind them.

Eros walked towards her, towering over the cheerleader who looked at him wide-eyed. “What happened to her?” His tone dropped a hundred degree celcius.

“D-did you not hear?” She stammered. “Someone tried to kill my friend. She drowned at the pool, her body tied in a rope.”

Her eyes watered, lowering her gaze she pulled back from Don’s strong grip then ran again.

Pushing back the tears Chloe opened the door to her room and found her roommate lying at her bed, reading a pocket book with a towel on her head.

“Celaena Sardothien has a strong personality. Her past has mold her in order to survive. ” She said peeking up from the Throne of Glass book she is currently reading.

The cheerleader jumped at her bed and crushed her into a tight hug. Alice absentmindedly dropped the book and hugged her back, feeling the warmth of friendship. She smiled at herself.

“I was worried sick!” Chloe sobbed. “Whoever did that to you I’m gonna kill that person for trying to drown you! Your enemy is at my mercy, Alice, and my vengeance is not something to look forward!”

“I am lucky Ariel came to save me. I owe her for being not a minute too late.”

The cheerleader sat back, distancing herself a liitle.

“So…” She started, “Who did it? Do you know who it was? Ariel already reported it at the headmaster, but it will take a while to know who attempted to kill you.” Clenching her teeth she waited for the answer.

“I think it’s Eric, the one who has been stalking me like a creep.”

“Thank you for telling me.” Her friend smiled at her, balling her fists. “Now, I’ll be the first one to get my hands on him before anyone else.”

“Hey, what are you planning to do?”

Chloe looked at her innocently. “I’m just gonna give him a piece of my mind.”

“Chloe, whatever you are planning to do, don’t start with it. You’ll just hurt yourself besides I’m sure he is hiding right now.”

“You’re right. I just hope that he receives the punishment he deserved.”

After hearing the news, the trio decided to head at Rain’s room. It has the same aspects as Eros’ but the difference is the hidden door at the floor to ceiling mirror. Rain entered the passcode and rows of led screen and keyboard welcomed them. He started typing at the keyboards then in less than a minute he managed to hack into the academy’s cctv footage, it is not the first time he did it, so hacking into it is as easy as writing with his eyes closed.

They watched the video at the pool area from the time Alice entered and talked to the phone, through the moment a gangly guy silently walked behind her and hit her with a thick book in the head. Eros eye did not leave the screen, his expression darkening as he watched till the end of the video.

“Don.” He said in a very dangerous voice. “You know what to do with that trash.”

Don nodded at him. “I’ll do it when darkness rise.”

“Why would he kill her?” Rain suddenly mumbled, then the two stared at him. “I mean, she looks like an ordinary popular girl and killing her is too much if the boy got rejected after confessing.”

Eros narrowed his eyes and remembering the paper he got when Alice fainted at the canteen, he pulled it out of his wallet.

“Find Alice’s profile. I want to know every single detail about her, and her dirty little secrets if she has any of it.”

The continous typing echoed at the small room.

“There’s not much about her, she is one of the daughter of Ludenburg Family and she has a sister named Aria who was murdered a year ago… I think I know this story.” Rain mumbled.

“What story?” Don asked from behind.

“Her sister was murdered at their house. No signs of breaking and entering, or sexual assault and struggles. I even heard that her dead body is posed in a very dramatic way. Reports have said that she was paralyzed when the killer slit her throat from ear to ear.”

“What does it has to do with Alice?” Eros asked impatiently.

“The killer was never found.” He answered, typing at his computer again. “And Alice is a sole witness. I think the murderer wants her dead too.”

Don shifted from his seat. “So that Eric is the murderer?”

“The crime scene is too clean and the time is too perfect when Aria Ludenburg was killed. It is not a work of any murderer.” Rain stated.

“It is a work of an expert assassin, and that Eric is just a lame killer for leaving traces behind.” Eros finished. “If you got your hands on him make sure to know who paid him to kill Alice, then you can dispose his body in any ways you want.”

“As you wish.”

He looked back at the computer expert. “There are glitches on Alice’s profile, make sure to find out why.”

“Ludenburgs are also a powerful and wealthy family. They’ve been keeping a low profile but does your family knows them?” Rain asked.

The screen showed him the immense wealth of the family and because of their power they have been controlling the media for exposing their identity. Only the higher-ups and family of the same status knows about the Ludenburgs’, they were even an equal match to Zieglers.

“I think I’ve heard father mentioning it once.” Was the beast’s only reply.

That day, Don slipped into Eric’s room without anyone noticing. Eric was just about to come out the shower, towel wrapped round his waist, when he noticed a bulky figure who hit him hard in the face. He staggered back at the shower and before he can even let out a yell Don banged his head at the wall.

Eric regain conciousness when he felt the cold air on his body. He is stark naked and his captor even tied both of his hands upward, where the rope is bind at a tree branch. He couldn’t make out the face of the bulky silhoutte across him because of the darkness, but the sudden thunder erupting from above he could tell that there are at the forbidden wood, and the face of the silhoutte is the face of someone very dangerous– the Ziegler mafia wolf.

“W-what do you want?” Eric managed to whisper.

“I am going to let you go if you tell me why would you drown Alice to death.” Don answered with a hint of smile on his voice. “I am a man of my words, Eric.”

“You really are going to let me go?”

“Yes.” He said. “Now tell me before I changed my mind.”

“I… I don’t know!” Exclaimed the naked person, another lightning emerged then water started dropping from the sky.

“What?”

“I mean I don’t k-know who he is. I never see his face. He wears a rabbit mask then he paid me to kill Alice. I am just a new assassin member when he came and said that I could make it big by killing the girl. He told me she is a rotten apple that needs to be dispose.” Eric mumbled non-stop. “He always come at my room at night. Asking about the girl’s routine.”

Don nodded. “I see.”

“You are going to let me go, right?”

He nodded again with a grim smile on his face. Then his gloved hand shot upward to Eric’s neck, squeezing it hard until he felt something cracked from inside.

“I did not say I am going to let you go alive.”