ZERO(The Skulls, 6)(27)

What was happening to Zero? Why did he do that? All he needed to do was go with the police and give a statement. Now they could make his life a hell of a lot more difficult.

How did Alan manage to bring a dead body into the room?

The sound of the toilet flushing to her left drew her attention. She jerked as the man in question walked out of the room. He wore a jacket with a hood, hiding his face.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, terrified. Who had wheeled her bed into this room? What the hell was happening?

There was no Skull around, and the hospital staff was dealing with the dead body. She was all alone with a lunatic, a murdering lunatic.

He closed the door, flicking the lock. Next he drew the blind down before standing at the base of the bed. She gasped as he pulled the hood back, revealing his face. Prue stared into his eyes. They were dead of all emotion.

“Did you miss me?”

She pressed the emergency button. There was no light beside her.

“This is an awful hospital. A dead body and they stop plugging in the electrics when they move you from room to room. Someone should complain about the standards in this shitty little town. You can shout if you want. I doubt they’ll hear you over the yelling,” Alan said. “Half of the cameras are fake. Did you know that? The security is around ten fat guards and a few cameras. Most of them are posted near the kiddie wards. They’re more worried about the little ones than the adults,” Alan said, grabbing her feet.

She whimpered at his touch. “What do you want?” she asked.

“I’m letting you know how easy it is for me to get to you. No one will stop me, Prue. Are you scared?”

“Terrified.” Tears filled her eyes, and she gripped the sheet over her lap. “Are you going to kill me now?”

“Why would I kill you?” he asked.

“You want Zero to suffer.”

“And you think him finding your dead body will be enough to make him suffer?” He moved up the bed. His fingers caressed up her thigh. Alan’s touch repulsed her. She tried to jerk her leg away, but he held her tighter, his nails sinking into her flesh.

“I mean nothing to him. He’s in love with someone else,” she said, biting her lip.

“Ah, the lovely Sophia. He fancies himself in love with the other woman, but he’s not.” Alan shook his head. “No, he’s not in love with that bitch, but she’ll be fun to hurt when the time is right.”

“You’re going to hurt everyone?”

“Why, yes. If I didn’t hurt everyone, I wouldn’t be having any fun.” His fingers grazed over her stomach.

Fear unlike anything she had ever known gripped her, threatening to consume her in the heat.

“Such a pretty sight. I love seeing a woman all scared. The blonde whore was scared until I snuffed the life out of her. Probably did the whore some good.”

“Why did you kill her? She meant nothing to Zero.” She bit her lip trying hard to contain the scream she wanted to let out.

“But she fucked him. You’re going to realize, sweet Prue, no one is safe. I’m going to hurt everyone who ever touched Zero. If that means a couple of people die, I really don’t care.” He cupped her cheek, caressing her flesh.

His touch repulsed her.

“You’re a monster.”

“Yet, you’re still alive,” he said, smiling. “I can’t be that bad. You’d be dead otherwise.”

“Only until you’ve finished with me. I’m not a fucking idiot. You’ll kill me when you’re ready.”

“I know. When I was little I loved to play games. I wonder who will win this game.” He took a step back. The commotion outside was lessening, and Alan was moving away, ready to disappear again. Where were The Skulls when she needed them? Zero was going to get his ass kicked when she saw him.

“Zero will kill you,” she said, trying to make him stay. If she kept him here someone might find them and Alan would no longer be a problem.

“And he will die along with me.”

Alan left, and Prue could do nothing but wait for one of Zero’s men to come and get her. They were not in charge. Alan was in charge, and there was nothing either of them could do to save each other. They were all at the mercy of a maniac.





Chapter Five



The police dropped all charges of assault and finally decided to take Zero’s statement after he apologized to the man he hit. The man suffered with a broken nose. Tiny put up the money for the hospital funds. The officers wanted to keep him for longer for the attack, but they had nothing. He’d fucked everything up by refusing to come down and make a statement. Running a hand down his face, Zero had fucked up again. By attacking the officer he’d given the cops the perfect reason to believe he was hiding something. Zero knew he shouldn’t have hit the other man, but his temper had gotten the better of him. Leaving Prue hadn’t been an option, even though they agreed to post a guard outside the door. Fucking the nurse didn’t make him a killer, and he wouldn’t go down for that shit. During his statement, the police made sure he was aware that they were not here to pin the murder of the woman on him but were in fact asking him questions about the person responsible for killing the woman.