The Madness of Jake Caulder chapter 58

His ankle throbbed to the point of distraction. The more he tried to walk on it, the worse it became. He sat down on a step and started to rub it, but every time he touched it, a burning sensation shot up his leg. Jake sat down on the step, thinking that his new life was going to end here in this urine smelling place.

     Just then, he heard a door opening from above. He glanced up and saw the cop whose partner he killed was slowly coming down the stairs with his revolver in his hand. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead.  

       "Jakie, do something." His mother appeared to Jake in a vision. "You've got to stop him. Shoot him, Jakie, shoot him!"

       Jake sat there for a moment wondering what his momma meant but then realized that he had in fact taken the cop's gun after he stole his clothes. He didn't even realize that he had it. "But momma, I've never even shot one before. I don't know what to do."

       "Don't be a pussy Jakie!" Her face seemed to change in front of Jake's eyes and her skin seemed to be melting off her face. "Just point the gun and shoot him." By now, her face was a bloody pulpy mess, with a hole where her eye was two moments before. 

        Jake pulled back, repulsed by what he saw. His mother had transformed from his loving mother to a monster right in front of his eyes. As he watched, the apparition started approaching threateningly, her hands raised up with knives where her fingers should be. She kept coming and started to shriek like a banshee. Just before Jake thought that he was to be devoured by this apparition, it vanished like a puff of smoke.

         Caulder let out a small scream even though he tried to stifle it. He curled up in a tight ball and started to rock back and forth. He began talking baby talk. All at once he heard from above. "Hold it right there asshole and put your hands up." Officer Cooke was approaching menacingly with his revolver pointed at Jake's chest.

        Jake continued to babble and Cooke took another step and ordered Jake once again to put his hands up. His revolver shook in his hand. Jake stopped rocking and slowly turned to face Officer Cooke. "Momma, is that you?" Jake asked in a child-like voice.

       Cooke was taken aback for a second and slightly lowered his weapon. Jake wasted no time. He raised the gun he was holding in his right hand and fired twice in quick succession. The first shot went wide, but the second one hit Cooke in the gun arm. His gun went off, but the bullet was no where near its target as his arm was now virtually useless having been shot one second before. He dropped the weapon and it clattered noisily at his feet.

      Jake got up, having forgotten his aching ankle, and staggered towards Cooke. He raised the gun and pointed it at Cooke's chest.

       "Wait, don't shoot!" Cooke pleaded.

        Jake paid no attention, and fired twice more, once into Cooke's chest and the second into his throat. The first shot knocked him back two or three feet. He let out a scream as the second bullet blew a hole though his throat and his head flipped back as he dropped to the floor. His body convulsed for a moment and then lay still.

       Just then, Jake heard voices from above, and foot steps running in his direction. On shear adrenalin, Jake managed to get up and start moving again, away from his pursuers. He moved as fast as he could, but his ankle once again caused him great discomfort.

       Caulder thought he heard screaming and yelling behind him but he couldn't be sure because his ears were ringing from firing his weapon in close quarters. All of a sudden, there was a loud booming noise and it felt like he had been hit in the back with a sledge hammer. He had been shot and was thrust forward and crumpled in a heap. His legs went numb and a coldness crept into his body. He lay on his back, the world spinning around him. He looked up and tried to speak. 

        His normal looking mother appeared to Jake for a moment. "Jakie, you are about to start your new life." A smile came over Jake as he got ready to begin his new adventure, but it was not the adventure that he was expecting. Just then a face loomed over him and the last thing that Caulder saw was Chief Inspector O'Reilly pointing his gun at his face and pulling the trigger, blowing a hole out the back of his skull the size of a baseball.  

       Jake's body twitched for a moment and then lay still, his brain matter oozing out onto the floor. At the moment of death, he had soiled himself as well. O'Reilly turned to Miller, looking older than he had at the start of the chase.

       "Well Alexander, I guess that wraps it up. We'll never know why  Caulder did what he did, or what made him tick. The important thing is he won't be bothering any one any more. Let's get out of here and report back to Sergeant Harrison so he can get this mess cleaned up.

       "You know Miller, these cases seem to be taking their toll on me. Maybe I'm getting too old for this shit."

       "Naw, Sean, all you need is some well deserved R&R. And I know just the ticket. Go get cleaned up and take Miss Cindy out. You deserve it, and she needs to be consoled after what she's seen and been through."

       After a moment, a glint appeared in Sean's eye. "You may be right there, Alexander. Let's go. We've done as much as we can here." And with that, they turned around and headed back up the stairs. Case closed.

        

                                                               THE END

The Madness of Jake Caulder chapter 57

When O'Reilly and Miller arrived at the hospital, there were security guards at the entrance. They showed their id's and proceeded to the room where Caulder had been held. The door was closed with a security guard posted outside.

       They opened the door, and noticed the carnage with blood everywhere. Hawkins was laying on the floor in just his underwear. "What the fuck?" O'Reilly cursed. "Where the Hell is Officer Cooke?" He went into the hall to question the security guard if he had seen Cooke when he came up to guard the door.

       "No sir. We got the call to lock down the hospital. I came up to the room to see if I could be of assistance, but there was no one here. It seemed strange to me. So I just stood guard, thinking that an officer would be back soon."

       "Shit" O'Reilly cursed again. "Where the hell did Cooke go." The chief inspector went to the nurse's station to see if the nurse on duty had seen Officer Cooke. When he got there, he could tell that the nurse was visibly shaken. 

       "Excuse me, nurse Collins." That was on her name tag. "I'm Chief Inspector O'Reilly and Caulder, the missing suspect, was my prisoner. Do you know where the officer is that was posted here?"

       "No I'm sorry sir, but I don't. The last I saw him was when he came to the station and told me what had happened and to get ahold of security and lock down the hospital. Then, he returned to the room. When the security guard arrived, I went to try to help the poor officer, but it was too late. Oh this is terrible what happened to the officer in that room. What kind of animal could do such a thing?" She looked like she was on the verge of tears but she kept it together. She looked to be in her mid forties and had probably seen her share of emergencies and disasters, but the scene in the room was quite unsettling even for someone who had had her share of trauma victims.

       "I'm sorry you had to see what happened back there." He pointed to the room where Hawkins had been killed. "I have to try to find what happened to the officer's partner. Will you be alright nurse Collins?"

       "I'll be fine. It came as a shock, that's all. I didn't hear anything when this happened. I'll be fine, thank you. Is there anything that I can do to help?"

       "Nothing for the moment."

       Just as Sean was heading back to the room, gun shots could be heard coming from the stairwell just down the hall. He pulled out his gun, and took off in a flash. He almost collided with Sergeant Miller as he came running out of the room, his gun also at the ready.

       "Let's go Sergeant. Caulder must have taken Hawkins' gun and went down the stairs. My guess is that Cooke went after Caulder, and came under fire. Lets hope that we are not too late for Cooke. He's a screw up, but I don't want him shot by that prick. Looks like Jake has stepped up his game. Instead of using a blunt instrument, he seems to be armed with a revolver. I thought that shit head was faking it. He wasn't in a coma after all."

       At that, they slowly opened the door and with revolvers ready, entered the stairwell. "Be ready for anything Alexander. That little asshole is a crafty bastard."

       "I'm ready Sean. I got your back."

       "Yeah, and I got yours, Alex."

       The first thing they saw was blood smeared all over the wall. Another couple of shots rang out and someone started screaming and then there was silence. "Let's move it!" Sean yelled and they both took off at a more hurried pace, not knowing what awaited them, but ready to deal with what fate had in store for them.

The Madness of Jake Caulder chapter 56

Chapter 56

       After Jake had freed himself from the cuffs, he stood there seeming light headed. He staggered for a moment and then, steadied himself against the side of the bed. He looked about, not really understanding where he was or what was going on. Then it came back to him. He turned and saw officer Hawkins slumped against the bed, covered in blood. 

       His mother's vision appeared before him again. "He had it coming Jakie. He treated you badly and he deserved what he got." The vision disappeared as quickly as it had come.

       "Yes momma, he was mean to me." Jake spoke to himself, but thought he was talking to his long-dead mother. Jake looked around the room. In the corner, someone had left a metal cane. Jake picked it up and turned back towards Hawkins. He approached with a maniacal look in his eye. He lifted the cane and brought it down upon Hawkins' skull with such force, that a loud cracking sound could be heard. He swung again and again, until Hawkins' face was nothing but a bloody, pulpy mess.

       "There, you piece of shit. Now, maybe, people will respect me and not treat me like some animal.I've done nothing to anyone, but all the time, they treat me like this. You make me want to puke." He swung the cane once more, pummelling poor Hawkins one last time, sending blood and brain matter every which way. Some of it hit Jake in the face and dripped down his chin and onto the floor. He didn't seem to notice. 

       He threw the cane into the corner and stood there, panting like a dog. His demented look slowly dissipated until he looked more or less normal other than he had the corpse's blood on him. He drew the back of his hand across his face and absently wiped it on his hospital gown, leaving a smear of gore upon it. He looked down at himself, just realizing what he was wearing.

       At times, Jake seemed to be quite lucid, and at others he was in his own world filled with delusions and visions. In his current frame of mind, he was able to think for himself, realizing that he had to get out of there as quickly as possible, but he needed a set of clothes to change into.

       He looked at Hawkins, and then realized what must be done. He removed the officer's pants and shirt and put them on. They were a little large but would do for the moment. He may have been clear headed enough to realize that he couldn't wander around and escape in his hospital gown, but that was as far as it went. The uniform was soaked in blood and when he put the items on, more of the blood covered him as well. He didn't even notice.

       His own clothes had been cut away from his body when he was brought into the emergency room, and so he had to improvise. The cop's uniform would have to do. There was no time to worry about how he looked at the moment. He had to escape as quickly as he could before the partner returned.

       Lucky for Jake, the door to the room was shut. No one had heard the commotion that had occurred. He cracked open the door, looked out. The nurse on duty was at the nurse's station down the hall, looking in the opposite direction. He wasted no time in leaving the room, and entered the nearest stairwell, grabbing the railing as he hurried down, leaving a bloody hand print as he did.

       He flew down the stairs so fast that he tripped, and tumbled two or three steps and collapsed in a heap at the first landing. For a moment or two, he lay there, but then pulled himself up. A shooting pain shot up from his right ankle and then started to throb. He tried putting weight on it, but his leg collapsed and he went down again.

       After a moment, he got up again, and tried to stand. The pain was excruciating, but after a moment, he managed to put weight on it. He didn't think that it was broken, just badly sprained, but he didn't have the time or luxury to worry about that now. He started moving again, but limped on his injured leg.

       "Shit!" He stifled a scream, and continued on towards the parking garage in the basement, and hopefully an escape from this Hell Hole that he found himself in.

       At the same time as Jake was trying to get away, Officer Cooke was returning from getting them something to eat. He had stopped for a few moments to chat up the nurse, not realizing that his partner's killer was making his escape. After a few moments, he returned to the room, opened the door, and immediately spilled the coffee and donuts down the front of his shirt. The first thing he noticed was his partner's mutilated body, and then he noticed that the prisoner was gone.

       He raced to see if he could help his partner, but he was in such a rush that he slipped in the pool of blood, causing him to fall. He got up, covered in the corpse's blood but he didn't even notice.

       "What the fuck?" He pulled out his revolver in case Caulder was still in the room. He checked the bathroom, but he wasn't hiding in there. He reholtstered his gun and grabbed his radio shakily and called in to Sergeant Patterson at the station to let him know about the situation.

       After a few moments, Sergeant Patterson told Cooke to lock down the hospital and then to wait there until back up arrived. Officer Cooke went to the nurse's station to contact the security detail to get that done and then went back to secure the room until help arrived.

       No sooner than he had returned to the room, than he heard a disturbance in the stairwell. He knew that he was to remain where he was, but he figured that if it was in fact Jake trying to escape down the stairs and he could recapture him, then maybe, just maybe, it would go easier for him after he messed up leaving his assigned post and probably getting his partner killed.

       He drew his revolver and headed to the stairs. He cracked open the door but no one was there. He did hear a noise farther down and so he decided to follow. The next thing he saw was blood smeared on the railing and the walls. 

       "I got you now, you son of a bitch." Ryan crept forward hoping to catch his prisoner before he could leave the hospital. He was a good cop at heart, but rash in his thinking. If he had waited for back up like he was told, maybe things would have turned out better. But he didn't, and they didn't.

The Madness of Jake Caulder chapter 55

Chapter 55

       The call came in at 6:00 p.m. Sean and Andrew had gone to their rooms about fifteen minutes earlier when the inspector got a call. It was from Sergeant Patterson over at the jail. He wouldn't give any details  over the phone but just said that it was urgent that O'Reilly and Miller get over to the jail ASAP.

       Sean hung up and went and banged on Miller's door and told him they had to get over to the prison cell right away.

       "Okay boss. What's up?"

       "No idea but Sergeant Patterson sounded pretty shaken up. It didn't sound good."

       They left the Shady Rest and raced across to the Sheriff's office. When they got there, the first thing that Sean saw was Cindy sitting in a corner, with the mayor beside her. She looked white as a ghost and it looked like she might pass out at any moment.

       "What's going on?" Sean asked the mayor but looking concerned for Cindy.

       "Miss Stevens has had quite a shock. She had gone in to get Higgins his dinner when she saw him. It was quite a shock for her."

       "What has happened mayor?"

       "You better come with me." He didn't look in much better shape than Cindy did.

       When they got to the holding cell, Sergeant Patterson met them. He was covered in blood. After a moment, they saw Higgins, laying on his cot but there was blood everywhere. He wasn't moving and it was obvious that he was dead. There were gashes in both of his wrists. They were quite deep cuts, deep enough to cause him to bleed out in a few seconds. There was also blood splatters on the walls beside the bed. He must have cut himself, and flailed around, spraying his blood as he did.

       Sean had seen victims before covered in blood but it never seemed to get any easier. You tried to harden yourself against the grizzly side of the job, but it was always disturbing. It was no wonder that Miss Stevens and the mayor were both upset by what had happened.

       "Sergeant Patterson, what happened?"

       "At about 4:50, Miss Stevens went to give Higgins his supper. She had no sooner gone in, than she started to scream. I rushed in to see what was going on, and then I saw Higgins. He was laying on the bed thrashing about. His wrists had been slit, and the blood was gushing out and splattering the walls as well. I rushed into his cell and tried applying pressure to the wounds but he had already lost too much blood. That is how I got covered with it.

       "I phoned the mayor right away and tended to Miss Stevens until he got here. He told me to give you a call and so I did. I came back down again, but like I said, there was nothing I could do for him." 

       "What did he use to cut himself?"

       "He used a switch blade. It is on the bed beside him, covered with blood. He was searched before being put in the cell, but the knife must have been inside his boot. No one suspected that the sheriff would be carrying a blade on him, especially there."

       "From what I have heard about Higgins, it doesn't surprise me in the least. He may have been the sheriff in your town, but he was not innocent by any stretch of the imagination. When the full story is made public about Higgins' sordid past,a lot of people aren't going to be too upset by this outcome. They will say that he got what he deserved. I for one, am one of them."

       "I should have found the weapon and taken it from him. This is my fault." Patterson said, glancing back at the body and the carnage within the cell. He shook his head and stood there not saying any more.

       It was Sergeant Miller who spoke next. "Sergeant Patterson, you may have overlooked it, but you had worked with Higgins for a long time. You had grown to trust him, just as everyone else in town did. No one will fault you for this. Your former boss was not what he appeared to be. He was a sheriff and supposedly a keeper of the peace, but in fact, he was nothing more than a low-life and monster who preyed on people's weaknesses, Jake Caulder's mother and Miss Stevens to name two. He has done the county a favour by saving the tax payers a lot of time and money. No one will fault you, you'll see."

       "Well I hope you are right. I just can't get over the fact that this could have been avoided."

       "Believe me, son, we all make mistakes in this job but you have to learn to just get on and learn from past events." This was inspector O'Reilly who spoke. He felt bad for the young sergeant, but he figured that he would get over it, and that he would make a fine sheriff if the mayor saw fit to promote him. "Just be glad that he decided to kill himself instead of sticking you. As far as I'm concerned, this proves his guilt. He would most surely be convicted of past murder and rape and been sent away. He knew that cops don't live long in jail, and so, regardless of how much time he was sentenced to, he wouldn't have lasted more than a month or two. He took the easy way out. Good riddance is what I say."

       "Thank you sir. It will be tough to get my head around all this but you are correct. I'll be okay as time wears on."

       "Yeah, you'll be fine."

       Just then, Miss Stevens came in, telling Sergeant Patterson, that there was a phone call from constable Cooke from the hospital.

       Patterson took the call and he went white in the face and had to sit down.

       "What is it, Sergeant?" O'Reilly asked.

       Patterson sat there for a moment and when he spoke, his hands were shaking. "Constable Cooke just phoned with tragic news. Caulder has escaped, and officer Hawkins has been murdered. He went to get the two of them some coffee, and when he returned, Hawkins was dead and Caulder was gone. Cooke was pretty shook up. He said that Hawkins had been slaughtered. He had been stabbed in the eye and also in the throat with a pen. There was a lot of blood. He said it was like a war zone with all the blood."

       "Have Cooke lock down the hospital. Sergeant Miller and I will go to the hospital to see what can be done. You stay here and call in an APB for Caulder. You have to stay here and deal with the Higgins situation."

       With that, O'Reilly ran for the door and headed to their car. As they ran, the inspector let go with a string of profanities that would make a nun blush. "That stupid fucker Cooke is responsible for this, not directly of course, but I told them to both keep an eye on Caulder. The little prick didn't want to listen, just gave me lip, and now a good officer is dead. Shit-head!" With that out of his system, he seemed to calm down somewhat as they reached their car.

       Andrew knew enough not to interrupt O'Reilly when he got like this. After he got it out of his system, he would be good to go. He got in the car, put the siren on,revved the engine and sped away, laying a strip of rubber and fish tailing for a moment and then straightened it out. Moments later, they pulled into the lot and raced inside. When they got to the room, they saw that it was worse than what they had been told. Not only had Caulder stabbed Hawkins twice, but he also bashed the left side of his face in. If there had been any doubt that Caulder had done the other murders, there was no doubt now. The M.O. was the same here.

The Madness of Jake Caulder chapter 54

Chapter 54

     At all outward appearances, Jake lay there almost lifeless. You had to look closely to see that he was breathing at all. But appearances can be deceiving. His mind raced as if on a runaway train. Grotesque images appeared and just as quickly faded. Mutilated bodies, both human and animal, flashed in his sub conscience. He moaned softly, too softly for anyone to hear.

     From somewhere he seemed to hear a familiar voice. For a moment, he couldn’t quite make out who it was or what the person was trying to say. In his dream he turned round and round to see who it was, but with no luck. Then he spotted what looked like a young woman.

     She approached him, seemingly floating instead of walking. She glided towards him ever so slowly. As the apparition got closer, Jake tried to let out a scream, but could say nothing. The head was nothing but a rotting mass of decaying flesh. It opened its mouth to speak, but instead of teeth, there were maggots lined up along its gums, wriggling as they fed upon what remained of the creature’s mouth.

     Jake tried to shriek, but to no avail. He was trapped inside this nightmare with apparently no avenue of escape. Almost as quickly as this horror appeared, it seemed to vanish, and in its place, his mother stood there with welcoming arms held wide to embrace him in a loving hug.

     For a moment, his tension remained but then it faded and he became completely relaxed, knowing that his mother had come again to protect her little Jakie. He approached her and let her enfold her loving arms about him.  He sighed contentedly, audibly enough to be heard by anyone in the room and then he fell quiet again and lay there, his mind at peace once again.

     It was officer Cooke who thought that he had heard something from Caulder and turned to look at the body. However, by the time that he had turned to see if Jake had moved, he was just laying there like he had ever since they started to keep an eye on him. He didn’t mention it to Hawkins, because he just assumed that his mind was playing tricks on him. If he had, maybe they would be more alert to possible dangers from their prisoner, but he didn’t.

     While Jake lay there, it seemed that he could hear nothing or sense things going on around him. The fact of the matter was, that he heard everything that went on in the room. He heard the confrontation that O’Reilly had with Cooke. In fact, he heard everything that had been going on around him.

     His mother spoke to Jake in almost a cooing voice. “Jakie, you don’t deserve to be in this bed with an armed guard. You’ve done nothing wrong. These officers have no right to treat you like some kind of an animal.” She continued in her soft angelic voice. “Jakie, you must do something about these officers that are in this room. They want to hurt you.”

     "Yes mama, I’m listening.”

     "You’ve got to punish them for the way they look at you. They are bad men, Jakie and need to be learn to respect you. You did nothing to deserve such treatment from the likes of them.”

     "Yes mama, you’re right.”

      At that moment, Cooke spoke to his partner. “Hey Hawk, you want anything from the cafeteria. I’ve gotta take a leak and after I’ll get us a couple donuts and some coffee.”

    "Yeah okay, sounds good to me. Black with two sugar.”

     "I remember, Hawk.” Cooke spoke and then went to do his business and after that get them something to eat. He had completely forgotten that he thought that he had heard Caulder stirring only a few minutes ago.

      "Jakie, one of the men has left. Now is the time to do something. After you deal with them, you can go speak to the officer who is responsible for your being in here.”

      Jake had also heard the two officers talk about Chief Inspector O’Reilly. They mentioned him by name more than once. If Cooke had not been roughed up by Sean, perhaps they wouldn’t have talked about him.

However, the officer named Hawkins had told his partner two or three times that it was a stupid thing bad mouthing Chief Inspector O’Reilly the way he had. The inspector’s reputation was well known.

      Cooke had agreed with his partner and for the next while, they talked about Sean and mentioned his name a couple of times. The name was firmly planted in Caulder’s brain, even though it seemed to Jake that his mother’s ghost was informing him of this fact for the first time.

      In Jake’s mind, his mother’s visage seemed to dissolve into thin air. Jake let out a piteous whimper, because he didn’t want his mother to go. She was gone however. Jake became more and more agitated until he started thrashing about in bed. His eyes opened but Hawkins didn’t notice. All that he saw was Jake writhing about.

      He approached the bed, not really sure what to do next. If he had called a nurse instead of going over to check on Jake, everything would have been fine. It caught him off guard though, because one moment, Jake seemed almost dead, and then in the next instant, he was moving about violently in the bed.

All of a sudden, Jake stopped moving and lay very still. Hawkins went closer to see what was going on. What he didn’t notice was that Jake had grabbed a pen from the bedside table and was grasping it tightly in his one hand. The other hand was handcuffed to the bed.

      As Hawk approached, Jake lay very still, appearing to once again be comatose, but in reality, was very much the opposite. Every muscle in his body was tensed ready to spring at his unsuspecting prey. As Hawkins leaned over Jake, he struck with lightning speed, amazing for someone who had been as wounded as Jake was. Adrenalin was coursing through his veins, allowing him to react so quickly.

He struck Hawkins savagely in his throat with the pen. A gurgling sound could be heard, and for a second, Officer Hawkins just stood there, a dazed look on his face. Jake withdrew the pen, and struck again, this time hitting Hawkins in the left eye. The eye ball exploded with a popping sound.

      Blood gushed from the wound in his throat, He tried to grab at it, but his body was going into a state of shock from the loss of blood and the fact that a pen was jutting from his eye as well. He staggered and slumped to his knees and then fell forward, his head resting upon the bed beside Jake. This was lucky for Jake because he managed to get the handcuff keys from Hawkins’ key chain and free himself from his shackles.

      "Jakie” he thought he heard his mother speaking to him. “Get out of here as fast as you can. You can make O’Reilly pay soon enough.”

      "Yes mama” Jake said to his imaginary vision, but she had faded away again. He tried to get out of bed, but staggered and his head seemed to be spinning. Grabbing the bed for support, Jake reeled there for a second before he managed to steady himself. He was still weak from his injuries, but after a moment or two, he seemed better. The only thought going through his deranged mind was to get out of there and then have a talk with Sean O'Reilly. Oh yes, that would be just fine. A smile came across his face. Things were going to get better soon. Once he "talked" with O'Reilly he could continue toward his new life.