Third Watch/Halloween Fic: Blood Ties (4/7)
Title: Blood Ties (4/7)
Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: faithboscorelli1@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: The Third Watch characters belong to Edward Allen Bernero and John Wells. Laurie and Michael belong to John Carpenter. All others belong to me.
Rating: R for violence, language, and sexual content. This one is *not* for the kiddies, folks.
Spoilers: Up through and including everything in the third season of "Third Watch" except the finale, "Blackout." Also, spoilers for the movies Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween H20 and Halloween Resurrection.
Summary: Evil has come to New York City, hellbent on killing one of the officers at the 55th precinct. Will the rest of the Third Watch crew be able to stop the killer in time? Or will they become victims themselves?
Distribution: My site Only Time, fanfiction.net. Anyone else, just ask.
Category: Story
Subcategories: Horror, angst, romance
Feedback: Is really appreciated.
Author's Note: The idea for this fic came after watching Halloween Resurrection the day it came out in theatres. Sorry to anyone who *liked* the movie. I personally thought it was awful and I felt the need to try and fix it. And what better way to fix something than by throwing the Third Watch characters in the mix? ;) I've never attempted a horror fic before, and I realize the idea of a Halloween/Third Watch crossover is a bit...bizarre, but I decided to take the challenge. So if you like it, or hate it, please let me know.
Dedication: This one is for CCA, my fellow scary movie viewer. :)
Special thanks to Dem and Bree for encouraging me to go through with this story.
Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Conclusion
Blood Ties (Part Four)
55th Precinct Firehouse, New York City
October 31st, 2004--Halloween
4:30 p.m.
Alex Taylor climbed into the driver's side of Boyd 55-3 with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She wrapped her hands around the steering wheel and glanced over at her partner.
Kim Zambrano looked back at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Something wrong?"
She hesitated. "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No, I..." Alex shook her head. "I don't know. I feel weird."
"Weird, how?" Kim asked, a look of concern on her face.
"I don't know, weird like..." She searched for the words but couldn't find them. She sighed heavily and shook her head again. "I can't explain it."
"Well, do you feel sick?"
"No, it's not an I'm-coming-down-with-the-flu-weird. It's more of an I-feel-like-something-big-is-going-to-happen-weird."
Kim's frown deepened. "Like what?"
"See, I don't know. I have no idea."
"Well, it's Halloween. Weird things always happen on Halloween."
"Right. Yeah, that's probably it." Alex started the ambulance's engine and pulled it out of the firehouse and onto the road.
Neither of the paramedics noticed the figure in the white mask standing on the other side of the street, staring after them.
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MacArthur Blvd., New York City
October 31st, 2004--Halloween
5:22 p.m.
Bosco sat tensely in the passenger side of 55-David staring out the window. Neither he nor Faith had said a single word during their shift so far. He turned his head to glance at her and saw that her hands were clenched tightly around the wheel as she drove, staring at the road ahead of them. "Are we gonna talk about it?" he asked finally, his voice calm, level.
"Talk about what?" she responded, a cool distance to her tone. She didn't even bother to look at him.
"What happened between us," he said, annoyed because he knew she knew *exactly* what he'd meant.
"What's to talk about?"
Bosco stared at her in disbelief. There was a moment of silence. "So you're telling me that you have nothing to say?"
She didn't answer.
"Well, *I* have something to say," he informed her angrily.
"Do we really have to do this right now?"
Bosco glared at her. "Yes."
"Fine." She glanced at him for a second, a blank expression on her face. But her eyes were full of all the emotions she was trying to hold in. He just wished he knew what those emotions were. "What happened between us was a mistake. I know that now. I shouldn't have come to you like that. So I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
His stomach knotted. "A mistake," he repeated dully, looking out his window. She regretted what happened between them. No wonder she'd left before he got back. He shook his head, feeling hurt. Should've known better than to hope for the impossible, he thought bitterly. She'd never fall for someone like him. He wasn't good enough for her, not by a long shot.
"55-David, there's a reported disturbance at the corner of Grand and Division."
"10-4, Central. Grand and Division," Faith said into her radio. She flipped on the lights and turned the squad around.
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Laurie walked slowly down the sidewalk amongst the thinning crowd, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds, just to make sure her brother wasn't following her. She clutched her purse tightly against her and picked up her pace a little. She glanced over her shoulder again.
Suddenly she was grabbed roughly by the arm.
Laurie whipped her head back around, her heart leaping into her throat as she opened her mouth to scream.
"Give me your purse!"
She stared in disbelief as the thug standing in front of her glared at her menacingly. "What?"
"You heard me, bitch! Hand it over!"
"Oh, you have *got* to be kidding me," she said in exasperation.
The man pulled a switchblade out of his jeans pocket and held it up threateningly, waving it in front of her face. "Does it look like I'm joking?" he demanded.
Before she could respond, she caught sight of movement behind the mugger. She watched in horror as the man's eyes widened, his mouth opening in a silent scream of pain as the butcher knife ripped through the flesh of his stomach. Blood splattered onto Laurie's jacket and face and a strangled cry passed her lips as her brother let the man's lifeless body drop to the ground.
For a moment, she couldn't even breathe. She stood rooted to the sidewalk, staring at her brother, whose real face she'd only seen once. He stared back at her from behind his white face mask, his eyes blank, expressionless. Devoid of any humanity.
Then Michael raised the knife up again, its metal surface glinting under the street light.
And she began to run.
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Faith climbed out of the squad car, momentarily relieved to be out of the enclosed space with Bosco. Being that close to him and not being able to talk to him, not being able to be honest with him, was twisting her heart into knots. But, she reminded herself, this is the way it has to be. He doesn't love me that way.
She shoved her thoughts and emotions aside as she and Bosco approached the three people standing outside of an apartment building. One older man, white, probably in his mid-to-late forties, and two younger white boys, one with brown hair and the other with blond stood there.
"There a problem here?" Bosco asked in an annoyed tone as his hands rested on his gun belt.
"These little punks threw eggs at my building!" the older man said angrily, his face red as he held onto the hooded sweatshirt of the little blond-haired boy.
"He's a liar!" the other boy said.
"I caught you on videotape!" the man replied. He turned to Bosco. "I want them both arrested."
Faith glanced at the boys. They couldn't have been more than nine or ten years old. "Do your parents know where you are?" she asked them, folding her arms across her chest.
They both looked up at her with wide eyes.
"Answer her," Bosco said firmly.
"No, Ma'am," the little brown-haired boy answered, looking down at the ground.
"Didn't you hear me? I want them thrown in jail!"
"How old are you?" Faith asked the kids, ignoring the man's demand.
"Eleven," the blond kid told her.
"And you're out by yourselves on Halloween egging people's houses?"
"I want them locked up," the man said insistently.
Irritated, Bosco looked at him. "What's your name?"
"Roy Donovan."
"Listen, Roy. My partner and I are going to take these kids home to their parents," Faith informed him.
"No, you're not! I'm pressing charges!" he argued, glaring at her.
"Sir, with all due respect, they're *kids.*"
"So? Vandalism is vandalism!"
"Did they hurt anyone? Break any windows? Harm any animals?" she asked, losing patience with the man.
"No, but--"
"Then no real harm was done. Your building got hit by a couple of eggs. It's not the end of the world!"
"Yeah, well, what about next time?"
Bosco saw her narrow her eyes and knew she was a verve away from doing or saying something she'd regret later. "They're sorry, aren't you, boys?" he asked, glancing at the kids.
"Yes, Sir," the brown-haired boy answered.
"And you'll never do it again, right?"
"No, Sir," the blond replied, shaking his head solemnly.
"So they say," Roy muttered.
"And I'm sure they wouldn't mind coming over here tomorrow afternoon to clean up the mess they made." Bosco looked down at them sternly. "Right?"
The two boys exchanged a look. "Right," they answered glumly in unison.
"There. They'll clean up the egg, no harm done. All right, Roy?"
Roy heaved a sigh and eyed the boys suspiciously. "Okay. But if you're not here by noon, I will press charges and send you two little hoodlums to jail!"
Faith resisted the temptation to roll her eyes as she guided the boys toward the squad car. She held the door to the backseat open and they quickly scrambled inside.
"This is gonna be a long night," Bosco mumbled under his breath.
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Elm Street, New York City
October 31st, 2004--Halloween
6:59 p.m.
Kim sat in the passenger seat of Boyd 55-3, wondering if her son was having fun trick-or-treating with Jimmy.
Alex glanced at her sideways. "So what was Joey going as for Halloween?"
She smiled slightly. "Spiderman."
"He's still into Spiderman?" her partner asked in surprise.
"Yeah. Guess kids don't always grow out of everything."
"Yeah, I guess--" Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the bus jolted. Alex quickly stepped on the brakes. "Son of a bitch!"
"Did we just--"
"Blow a tire?" she finished. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what just happened." She put the bus into 'park.'
Kim sighed. "I'll call it in."
"Don't bother. There's a spare in the back." Alex reached for the door handle.
Kim caught her arm. "You know how?"
"Yeah, of course. You don't?"
"Not on a bus."
"There's really not that much difference." She started to climb out of the driver's side door.
"You need some help?"
"Nah. You can wait up here. It won't take long." Alex gave her a small smile as she got out of the driver's seat.
"Okay. I'll just...wait here." Kim leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.
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Alex walked around to the back of the bus and opened the doors. She climbed in and unlocked the storage space where the spare tire was kept. She pulled it out and examined it. "Oh, great," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Hey, Kim, you're never gonna believe this. The spare's flat, too!"
"I'll call it in," Kim responded without turning around.
"Good idea." She sighed and locked the spare tire compartment once again. She heard a scuffling sound behind her and turned to look.
There was no one there.
Theh air on the back of her neck stood on end and a chill ran down her spine. She slowly backed out of the bus, planting her feet on solid ground again. As she turned to close the door, she found herself face-to-face with a tall figure wearing cover-alls and a white-faced Halloween mask.
She jumped, startled by his sudden appearance. "Jesus. You scared the hell out of me!"
The man didn't respond. He just stood there, staring at her.
Alex swallowed hard and took a step away from him. Her gaze dropped to his hands that hung limply at his sides. He clutched a bloody butcher knife in his right hand.
Her eyes widened as he raised it and moved toward her quickly.
She screamed.
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Kim's eyes flew open and she quickly turned around in her seat. "Alex? What's wrong?" she called, worried. She didn't see her partner anywhere, but the back doors of the bus remained wide open. "Alex?"
She didn't respond.
With a sigh, Kim set her radio down on the dashboard and opened the passenger side door. She climbed out. "Alex?" She shut the door behind her. "This better not be some stupid Halloween prank, because I am really not in the mood," she announced as she walked the length of the ambulance.
She rubbed the back of her neck and rounded the corner. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw her friend lying on the ground, blood gushing from a large wound in her abdomen.
"Alex!" she cried, shocked. She dropped to her side and quickly felt for a pulse. She had one, but it was weak. Kim stood up. She had to get help. Alex needed to get to the hospital ASAP and she couldn't take care of her and drive at the same time. She ran back toward the passenger door and then froze when a figure stepped out from the front of the bus, a knife in his hand.
"Oh, my God," she whispered.
The man in the mask moved toward her without a sound.
Instinct took over and she quickly grabbed the passenger side door handle and pulled. She flung it open, slamming the door into the man. He stumbled backward from the force of the blow and she ran to the back of the bus again, carefully stepping over Alex as she climbed into the back and grabbed the fire extinguisher.
She held her breath, waiting silently.
A moment later he appeared.
Kim let out a strangled cry as she rammed the extinguisher into the man's face as hard as she could.
The knife slipped from his hand as he fell down, covering up the mask he wore with both hands. He lay still a moment later, his hands falling to the ground limply.
Her heart pounding rapidly against her chest, Kim set the extinguisher down and crawled out of the bus. She knelt down beside Alex and checked her pulse again. "Just hang on, I'm gonna get you some help," she whispered.
The man began to stir.
"Oh, shit!" she muttered in disbelief, her eyes widening. She slid her arms underneath Alex's shoulders and pulled her up. Her friend moaned in pain despite her unconscious state, but Kim didn't have time to be gentle as she hauled her up and into the back of the bus. She laid her on the floor and reached out to pull the doors shut.
The man was on his feet again and he slashed at her arm with his knife.
Kim shrieked and reached behind her with one hand, grabbing onto a hypodermic needle. She swung it toward him and stabbed him in the right eye with it.
When he stumbled back, she quickly shut and locked the doors. Then she scrambled to the front of the bus and grabbed her radio off the dashboard. "Boyd 55-3 to Central! I need the police at--" Before she could even finish her sentence, glass shattered and she screamed as the man reached his hand through the broken passenger side window and tried to grab her.
The radio clattered to the floorboard. She quickly slid into the driver's seat and started the engine, gripping the steering wheel with both hands. She looked over at the passenger side and saw that the man had disappeared. She wasn't about to stick around and find out where he'd gone, either. As she faced forward again, she shrieked as she found herself staring at the masked man, only the windshield between them.
Her breath caught in her throat as he cocked his head to one side and looked at her for a moment. Then he drew his hand back and slammed his fist into the glass, cracking it.
Kim shoved her foot onto the gas pedal and spun the tires as she accelerated quickly, then slammed hard on the brakes.
The man was thrown off the hood of the bus and he landed in a heap in the middle of the road.
She sat in the driver's seat fora moment, frozen. Then she watched with shock as he climbed to his feet once more.
He started to walk toward the bus, knife still in his hand.
Kim pressed her foot down on the gas pedal and zoomed toward him at 60 miles an hour. She flinched as the bus struck his body with a loud thud and he rolled off the hood and onto the road behind them. She stopped several feet away and glanced into the rearview mirror.
"No fucking way," she whispered as she watched him stand up.
Without anymore hesitation, she floored the gas and headed for Mercy hospital.
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"How is she?" Davis demanded as he and Sully walked over to where Kim sat between Doc and Carlos in the waiting room.
"They took her up to surgery a little while ago," Doc informed them, his hand resting on Kim's back.
Sully saw the bloodstains on the medic's arms and clothes. "What happened, Kim?" he asked gently.
"He just...came from out of nowhere," she said, shaking her head, a dazed look on her pale face. "Alex...went to change the flat tire on the bus and then I heard her scream..."
Sully glanced at his partner, saw the tense expression on his face. He and Alex had been involved in an on-again, off-again relationship for the past three years. They'd currently been in off-again mode, and in fact, Davis had been seeing some woman he'd met at Haggerty's a few nights ago, but Sully knew that his partner cared deeply for the firefighter/occasional paramedic. He turned his attention to Kim once more.
"I went to see what was wrong and I just saw her lying there on the ground, covered in blood...there was so much blood," she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears. "I went to call for help and there he was."
"Can you tell us what he looked like?"
She closed her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed. "Tall. Dark brown hair. He was wearing coveralls..."
"What about his face?"
"I didn't see his face. He had on some kind of a white mask."
Sully frowned. "Did he say anything?"
"No, nothing." Kim shook her head, then rested her forehead on her hands. "I hit him with a fire extinguisher and pulled Alex into the back of the ambulance. When I went to close the doors, he cut me." She sat up again and revealed the white bandage wound around her upper arm. A hint of redness was starting to seep through. "I managed to shut the doors and I tried to radio for backup, but he broke the passenger side window. So I got in the driver's seat and started the engine." Kim opened her eyes again. "I hit him with the bus."
"Is he dead?" Sully asked, surprised.
"No."
"But if you hit him--"
"I hit him at 60 miles an hour, Sully. And when I looked in the rearview mirror, he was already back up on his feet."
"You're sure you hit him?"
"Positive."
"So, wait," Davis spoke up. "You're saying you hit this bastard with the ambulance at 60 miles an hour and he got back up?"
Kim nodded, her hands shaking.
"How the hell is that even possible?"
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"All right, move it. There's nothing wrong with you," Bosco said snidely as he shoved their prisoner ahead of them, toward the exit of Mercy Hospital. They'd been there for the past hour, waiting for the man to be checked out after he complained of a stomach ache when they'd arrested him. It was just a stall tactic and they both knew it, but they'd had no choice but to have him examined.
Faith followed her partner, her gaze sweeping the waiting room and her eyes widening as she saw all the familiar faces from the firehouse. "Bosco."
"What?" he demanded, irritated as he turned to look at her.
She nodded toward the waiting room.
He frowned. "Think one of the guys got hurt?"
"I don't know," she murmured.
Bosco grabbed hold of the man they'd arrested and cuffed him to a chair near the exit. "Don't go anywhere," he said with a smirk. He turned and followed his partner across the room.
Doc rose to his feet to greet them.
"What happened?" Faith asked worriedly.
"You guys haven't heard?" he asked, looking back and forth between her and Bosco in surprise.
"Heard what?" Bosco asked with a frown.
"Alex and Kim were attacked."
"Attacked?" Faith repeated, her eyes wide.
Doc nodded grimly.
"They all right?" Bosco asked.
"Alex is up in surgery. She, uh...she lost a lot of blood. They're not sure she's going to make it," he said quietly.
"Damn," he said under his breath. "And Kim?"
"She was cut, but she's okay otherwise." He shook his head. "I'm not sure she'll be able to handle it if..." He cut himself off. "Sullivan and Davis are out with the detectives at the crime scene."
"And the guy who attacked them?" she asked, lifting her gaze to Doc's face.
"Is apparently doped up on PCP. Kim ran him over with the bus and the guy got back up."
"Are you kidding me?" Bosco asked in disbelief.
"What did he look like?" Faith asked anxiously.
Doc looked at her. "Tall, dark hair. Wearing some kind of white Halloween face mask."
The color drained from her face and she met Bosco's gaze, feeling sick to her stomach.
"There's the doctor that was working on Alex. I'll see you guys later. Be careful out there," Doc said as he walked past them.
Faith swallowed hard and then turned and headed for the exit wordlessly.
"Hey, wait up," Bosco said as he followed her. When she didn't even slow down, he picked up his pace, caught up with her and grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"
She turned to face him. "What I have to do," Faith answered quietly. She pulled free of his grip and started walking again. "I'm going to stop my brother."
"And how are you gonna do that?"
"By giving him what he wants." She walked out of the hospital and outside to the parking lot.
Bosco stared after her for a moment, his gaze drifting to their prisoner still handcuffed to the chair by the exit, then hurried and caught up with her again on the sidewalk. "And what's that?"
Faith took a deep breath. "Me."
Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: faithboscorelli1@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: The Third Watch characters belong to Edward Allen Bernero and John Wells. Laurie and Michael belong to John Carpenter. All others belong to me.
Rating: R for violence, language, and sexual content. This one is *not* for the kiddies, folks.
Spoilers: Up through and including everything in the third season of "Third Watch" except the finale, "Blackout." Also, spoilers for the movies Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween H20 and Halloween Resurrection.
Summary: Evil has come to New York City, hellbent on killing one of the officers at the 55th precinct. Will the rest of the Third Watch crew be able to stop the killer in time? Or will they become victims themselves?
Distribution: My site Only Time, fanfiction.net. Anyone else, just ask.
Category: Story
Subcategories: Horror, angst, romance
Feedback: Is really appreciated.
Author's Note: The idea for this fic came after watching Halloween Resurrection the day it came out in theatres. Sorry to anyone who *liked* the movie. I personally thought it was awful and I felt the need to try and fix it. And what better way to fix something than by throwing the Third Watch characters in the mix? ;) I've never attempted a horror fic before, and I realize the idea of a Halloween/Third Watch crossover is a bit...bizarre, but I decided to take the challenge. So if you like it, or hate it, please let me know.
Dedication: This one is for CCA, my fellow scary movie viewer. :)
Special thanks to Dem and Bree for encouraging me to go through with this story.
Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Conclusion
Blood Ties (Part Four)
55th Precinct Firehouse, New York City
October 31st, 2004--Halloween
4:30 p.m.
Alex Taylor climbed into the driver's side of Boyd 55-3 with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She wrapped her hands around the steering wheel and glanced over at her partner.
Kim Zambrano looked back at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Something wrong?"
She hesitated. "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No, I..." Alex shook her head. "I don't know. I feel weird."
"Weird, how?" Kim asked, a look of concern on her face.
"I don't know, weird like..." She searched for the words but couldn't find them. She sighed heavily and shook her head again. "I can't explain it."
"Well, do you feel sick?"
"No, it's not an I'm-coming-down-with-the-flu-weird. It's more of an I-feel-like-something-big-is-going-to-happen-weird."
Kim's frown deepened. "Like what?"
"See, I don't know. I have no idea."
"Well, it's Halloween. Weird things always happen on Halloween."
"Right. Yeah, that's probably it." Alex started the ambulance's engine and pulled it out of the firehouse and onto the road.
Neither of the paramedics noticed the figure in the white mask standing on the other side of the street, staring after them.
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MacArthur Blvd., New York City
October 31st, 2004--Halloween
5:22 p.m.
Bosco sat tensely in the passenger side of 55-David staring out the window. Neither he nor Faith had said a single word during their shift so far. He turned his head to glance at her and saw that her hands were clenched tightly around the wheel as she drove, staring at the road ahead of them. "Are we gonna talk about it?" he asked finally, his voice calm, level.
"Talk about what?" she responded, a cool distance to her tone. She didn't even bother to look at him.
"What happened between us," he said, annoyed because he knew she knew *exactly* what he'd meant.
"What's to talk about?"
Bosco stared at her in disbelief. There was a moment of silence. "So you're telling me that you have nothing to say?"
She didn't answer.
"Well, *I* have something to say," he informed her angrily.
"Do we really have to do this right now?"
Bosco glared at her. "Yes."
"Fine." She glanced at him for a second, a blank expression on her face. But her eyes were full of all the emotions she was trying to hold in. He just wished he knew what those emotions were. "What happened between us was a mistake. I know that now. I shouldn't have come to you like that. So I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
His stomach knotted. "A mistake," he repeated dully, looking out his window. She regretted what happened between them. No wonder she'd left before he got back. He shook his head, feeling hurt. Should've known better than to hope for the impossible, he thought bitterly. She'd never fall for someone like him. He wasn't good enough for her, not by a long shot.
"55-David, there's a reported disturbance at the corner of Grand and Division."
"10-4, Central. Grand and Division," Faith said into her radio. She flipped on the lights and turned the squad around.
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Laurie walked slowly down the sidewalk amongst the thinning crowd, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds, just to make sure her brother wasn't following her. She clutched her purse tightly against her and picked up her pace a little. She glanced over her shoulder again.
Suddenly she was grabbed roughly by the arm.
Laurie whipped her head back around, her heart leaping into her throat as she opened her mouth to scream.
"Give me your purse!"
She stared in disbelief as the thug standing in front of her glared at her menacingly. "What?"
"You heard me, bitch! Hand it over!"
"Oh, you have *got* to be kidding me," she said in exasperation.
The man pulled a switchblade out of his jeans pocket and held it up threateningly, waving it in front of her face. "Does it look like I'm joking?" he demanded.
Before she could respond, she caught sight of movement behind the mugger. She watched in horror as the man's eyes widened, his mouth opening in a silent scream of pain as the butcher knife ripped through the flesh of his stomach. Blood splattered onto Laurie's jacket and face and a strangled cry passed her lips as her brother let the man's lifeless body drop to the ground.
For a moment, she couldn't even breathe. She stood rooted to the sidewalk, staring at her brother, whose real face she'd only seen once. He stared back at her from behind his white face mask, his eyes blank, expressionless. Devoid of any humanity.
Then Michael raised the knife up again, its metal surface glinting under the street light.
And she began to run.
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Faith climbed out of the squad car, momentarily relieved to be out of the enclosed space with Bosco. Being that close to him and not being able to talk to him, not being able to be honest with him, was twisting her heart into knots. But, she reminded herself, this is the way it has to be. He doesn't love me that way.
She shoved her thoughts and emotions aside as she and Bosco approached the three people standing outside of an apartment building. One older man, white, probably in his mid-to-late forties, and two younger white boys, one with brown hair and the other with blond stood there.
"There a problem here?" Bosco asked in an annoyed tone as his hands rested on his gun belt.
"These little punks threw eggs at my building!" the older man said angrily, his face red as he held onto the hooded sweatshirt of the little blond-haired boy.
"He's a liar!" the other boy said.
"I caught you on videotape!" the man replied. He turned to Bosco. "I want them both arrested."
Faith glanced at the boys. They couldn't have been more than nine or ten years old. "Do your parents know where you are?" she asked them, folding her arms across her chest.
They both looked up at her with wide eyes.
"Answer her," Bosco said firmly.
"No, Ma'am," the little brown-haired boy answered, looking down at the ground.
"Didn't you hear me? I want them thrown in jail!"
"How old are you?" Faith asked the kids, ignoring the man's demand.
"Eleven," the blond kid told her.
"And you're out by yourselves on Halloween egging people's houses?"
"I want them locked up," the man said insistently.
Irritated, Bosco looked at him. "What's your name?"
"Roy Donovan."
"Listen, Roy. My partner and I are going to take these kids home to their parents," Faith informed him.
"No, you're not! I'm pressing charges!" he argued, glaring at her.
"Sir, with all due respect, they're *kids.*"
"So? Vandalism is vandalism!"
"Did they hurt anyone? Break any windows? Harm any animals?" she asked, losing patience with the man.
"No, but--"
"Then no real harm was done. Your building got hit by a couple of eggs. It's not the end of the world!"
"Yeah, well, what about next time?"
Bosco saw her narrow her eyes and knew she was a verve away from doing or saying something she'd regret later. "They're sorry, aren't you, boys?" he asked, glancing at the kids.
"Yes, Sir," the brown-haired boy answered.
"And you'll never do it again, right?"
"No, Sir," the blond replied, shaking his head solemnly.
"So they say," Roy muttered.
"And I'm sure they wouldn't mind coming over here tomorrow afternoon to clean up the mess they made." Bosco looked down at them sternly. "Right?"
The two boys exchanged a look. "Right," they answered glumly in unison.
"There. They'll clean up the egg, no harm done. All right, Roy?"
Roy heaved a sigh and eyed the boys suspiciously. "Okay. But if you're not here by noon, I will press charges and send you two little hoodlums to jail!"
Faith resisted the temptation to roll her eyes as she guided the boys toward the squad car. She held the door to the backseat open and they quickly scrambled inside.
"This is gonna be a long night," Bosco mumbled under his breath.
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Elm Street, New York City
October 31st, 2004--Halloween
6:59 p.m.
Kim sat in the passenger seat of Boyd 55-3, wondering if her son was having fun trick-or-treating with Jimmy.
Alex glanced at her sideways. "So what was Joey going as for Halloween?"
She smiled slightly. "Spiderman."
"He's still into Spiderman?" her partner asked in surprise.
"Yeah. Guess kids don't always grow out of everything."
"Yeah, I guess--" Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the bus jolted. Alex quickly stepped on the brakes. "Son of a bitch!"
"Did we just--"
"Blow a tire?" she finished. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what just happened." She put the bus into 'park.'
Kim sighed. "I'll call it in."
"Don't bother. There's a spare in the back." Alex reached for the door handle.
Kim caught her arm. "You know how?"
"Yeah, of course. You don't?"
"Not on a bus."
"There's really not that much difference." She started to climb out of the driver's side door.
"You need some help?"
"Nah. You can wait up here. It won't take long." Alex gave her a small smile as she got out of the driver's seat.
"Okay. I'll just...wait here." Kim leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.
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Alex walked around to the back of the bus and opened the doors. She climbed in and unlocked the storage space where the spare tire was kept. She pulled it out and examined it. "Oh, great," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Hey, Kim, you're never gonna believe this. The spare's flat, too!"
"I'll call it in," Kim responded without turning around.
"Good idea." She sighed and locked the spare tire compartment once again. She heard a scuffling sound behind her and turned to look.
There was no one there.
Theh air on the back of her neck stood on end and a chill ran down her spine. She slowly backed out of the bus, planting her feet on solid ground again. As she turned to close the door, she found herself face-to-face with a tall figure wearing cover-alls and a white-faced Halloween mask.
She jumped, startled by his sudden appearance. "Jesus. You scared the hell out of me!"
The man didn't respond. He just stood there, staring at her.
Alex swallowed hard and took a step away from him. Her gaze dropped to his hands that hung limply at his sides. He clutched a bloody butcher knife in his right hand.
Her eyes widened as he raised it and moved toward her quickly.
She screamed.
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Kim's eyes flew open and she quickly turned around in her seat. "Alex? What's wrong?" she called, worried. She didn't see her partner anywhere, but the back doors of the bus remained wide open. "Alex?"
She didn't respond.
With a sigh, Kim set her radio down on the dashboard and opened the passenger side door. She climbed out. "Alex?" She shut the door behind her. "This better not be some stupid Halloween prank, because I am really not in the mood," she announced as she walked the length of the ambulance.
She rubbed the back of her neck and rounded the corner. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw her friend lying on the ground, blood gushing from a large wound in her abdomen.
"Alex!" she cried, shocked. She dropped to her side and quickly felt for a pulse. She had one, but it was weak. Kim stood up. She had to get help. Alex needed to get to the hospital ASAP and she couldn't take care of her and drive at the same time. She ran back toward the passenger door and then froze when a figure stepped out from the front of the bus, a knife in his hand.
"Oh, my God," she whispered.
The man in the mask moved toward her without a sound.
Instinct took over and she quickly grabbed the passenger side door handle and pulled. She flung it open, slamming the door into the man. He stumbled backward from the force of the blow and she ran to the back of the bus again, carefully stepping over Alex as she climbed into the back and grabbed the fire extinguisher.
She held her breath, waiting silently.
A moment later he appeared.
Kim let out a strangled cry as she rammed the extinguisher into the man's face as hard as she could.
The knife slipped from his hand as he fell down, covering up the mask he wore with both hands. He lay still a moment later, his hands falling to the ground limply.
Her heart pounding rapidly against her chest, Kim set the extinguisher down and crawled out of the bus. She knelt down beside Alex and checked her pulse again. "Just hang on, I'm gonna get you some help," she whispered.
The man began to stir.
"Oh, shit!" she muttered in disbelief, her eyes widening. She slid her arms underneath Alex's shoulders and pulled her up. Her friend moaned in pain despite her unconscious state, but Kim didn't have time to be gentle as she hauled her up and into the back of the bus. She laid her on the floor and reached out to pull the doors shut.
The man was on his feet again and he slashed at her arm with his knife.
Kim shrieked and reached behind her with one hand, grabbing onto a hypodermic needle. She swung it toward him and stabbed him in the right eye with it.
When he stumbled back, she quickly shut and locked the doors. Then she scrambled to the front of the bus and grabbed her radio off the dashboard. "Boyd 55-3 to Central! I need the police at--" Before she could even finish her sentence, glass shattered and she screamed as the man reached his hand through the broken passenger side window and tried to grab her.
The radio clattered to the floorboard. She quickly slid into the driver's seat and started the engine, gripping the steering wheel with both hands. She looked over at the passenger side and saw that the man had disappeared. She wasn't about to stick around and find out where he'd gone, either. As she faced forward again, she shrieked as she found herself staring at the masked man, only the windshield between them.
Her breath caught in her throat as he cocked his head to one side and looked at her for a moment. Then he drew his hand back and slammed his fist into the glass, cracking it.
Kim shoved her foot onto the gas pedal and spun the tires as she accelerated quickly, then slammed hard on the brakes.
The man was thrown off the hood of the bus and he landed in a heap in the middle of the road.
She sat in the driver's seat fora moment, frozen. Then she watched with shock as he climbed to his feet once more.
He started to walk toward the bus, knife still in his hand.
Kim pressed her foot down on the gas pedal and zoomed toward him at 60 miles an hour. She flinched as the bus struck his body with a loud thud and he rolled off the hood and onto the road behind them. She stopped several feet away and glanced into the rearview mirror.
"No fucking way," she whispered as she watched him stand up.
Without anymore hesitation, she floored the gas and headed for Mercy hospital.
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"How is she?" Davis demanded as he and Sully walked over to where Kim sat between Doc and Carlos in the waiting room.
"They took her up to surgery a little while ago," Doc informed them, his hand resting on Kim's back.
Sully saw the bloodstains on the medic's arms and clothes. "What happened, Kim?" he asked gently.
"He just...came from out of nowhere," she said, shaking her head, a dazed look on her pale face. "Alex...went to change the flat tire on the bus and then I heard her scream..."
Sully glanced at his partner, saw the tense expression on his face. He and Alex had been involved in an on-again, off-again relationship for the past three years. They'd currently been in off-again mode, and in fact, Davis had been seeing some woman he'd met at Haggerty's a few nights ago, but Sully knew that his partner cared deeply for the firefighter/occasional paramedic. He turned his attention to Kim once more.
"I went to see what was wrong and I just saw her lying there on the ground, covered in blood...there was so much blood," she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears. "I went to call for help and there he was."
"Can you tell us what he looked like?"
She closed her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed. "Tall. Dark brown hair. He was wearing coveralls..."
"What about his face?"
"I didn't see his face. He had on some kind of a white mask."
Sully frowned. "Did he say anything?"
"No, nothing." Kim shook her head, then rested her forehead on her hands. "I hit him with a fire extinguisher and pulled Alex into the back of the ambulance. When I went to close the doors, he cut me." She sat up again and revealed the white bandage wound around her upper arm. A hint of redness was starting to seep through. "I managed to shut the doors and I tried to radio for backup, but he broke the passenger side window. So I got in the driver's seat and started the engine." Kim opened her eyes again. "I hit him with the bus."
"Is he dead?" Sully asked, surprised.
"No."
"But if you hit him--"
"I hit him at 60 miles an hour, Sully. And when I looked in the rearview mirror, he was already back up on his feet."
"You're sure you hit him?"
"Positive."
"So, wait," Davis spoke up. "You're saying you hit this bastard with the ambulance at 60 miles an hour and he got back up?"
Kim nodded, her hands shaking.
"How the hell is that even possible?"
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"All right, move it. There's nothing wrong with you," Bosco said snidely as he shoved their prisoner ahead of them, toward the exit of Mercy Hospital. They'd been there for the past hour, waiting for the man to be checked out after he complained of a stomach ache when they'd arrested him. It was just a stall tactic and they both knew it, but they'd had no choice but to have him examined.
Faith followed her partner, her gaze sweeping the waiting room and her eyes widening as she saw all the familiar faces from the firehouse. "Bosco."
"What?" he demanded, irritated as he turned to look at her.
She nodded toward the waiting room.
He frowned. "Think one of the guys got hurt?"
"I don't know," she murmured.
Bosco grabbed hold of the man they'd arrested and cuffed him to a chair near the exit. "Don't go anywhere," he said with a smirk. He turned and followed his partner across the room.
Doc rose to his feet to greet them.
"What happened?" Faith asked worriedly.
"You guys haven't heard?" he asked, looking back and forth between her and Bosco in surprise.
"Heard what?" Bosco asked with a frown.
"Alex and Kim were attacked."
"Attacked?" Faith repeated, her eyes wide.
Doc nodded grimly.
"They all right?" Bosco asked.
"Alex is up in surgery. She, uh...she lost a lot of blood. They're not sure she's going to make it," he said quietly.
"Damn," he said under his breath. "And Kim?"
"She was cut, but she's okay otherwise." He shook his head. "I'm not sure she'll be able to handle it if..." He cut himself off. "Sullivan and Davis are out with the detectives at the crime scene."
"And the guy who attacked them?" she asked, lifting her gaze to Doc's face.
"Is apparently doped up on PCP. Kim ran him over with the bus and the guy got back up."
"Are you kidding me?" Bosco asked in disbelief.
"What did he look like?" Faith asked anxiously.
Doc looked at her. "Tall, dark hair. Wearing some kind of white Halloween face mask."
The color drained from her face and she met Bosco's gaze, feeling sick to her stomach.
"There's the doctor that was working on Alex. I'll see you guys later. Be careful out there," Doc said as he walked past them.
Faith swallowed hard and then turned and headed for the exit wordlessly.
"Hey, wait up," Bosco said as he followed her. When she didn't even slow down, he picked up his pace, caught up with her and grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"
She turned to face him. "What I have to do," Faith answered quietly. She pulled free of his grip and started walking again. "I'm going to stop my brother."
"And how are you gonna do that?"
"By giving him what he wants." She walked out of the hospital and outside to the parking lot.
Bosco stared after her for a moment, his gaze drifting to their prisoner still handcuffed to the chair by the exit, then hurried and caught up with her again on the sidewalk. "And what's that?"
Faith took a deep breath. "Me."