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
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