Demon of Dreadnaught Read online

  Demon of Dreadnaught

  World of Dreadnaught Series

  Daniel Rogers

  HIHDR Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 Daniel Rogers

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-13: 9781234567890

  ISBN-10: 1477123456

  Cover design by: Art Painter

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  For Emory Lynn Rogers, my daughter whom I love, whose face I see every night in my dreams and everyday in my memories

  My gratitude goes to Nguyễn Thị Bích Ngọc. She showed immense love and just enough support that I could get this done! I respect her and appreciate her. Most likely, the next one will come out on time because of her faith in me.

  Lòng biết ơn của tôi dành cho Nguyễn Thị Bích Ngọc. Cô ấy đã thể hiện tình yêu to lớn và sự hỗ trợ vừa đủ để tôi có thể hoàn thành nó! Tôi tôn trọng cô ấy và đánh giá cao cô ấy. Nhiều khả năng, người tiếp theo sẽ xuất hiện đúng giờ vì niềm tin của cô ấy vào tôi.

  Contents

  1 The damned car wouldn't turnover.

  2 Helga and Andrew knew their mother

  3 Whenever Helga had sex with one of her boyfriends,

  4 2 hours ago

  5 As Andrew recovered from his mother's violent shove,

  6 Detective Dan thought he must be dreaming or dead.

  7 For Kthn, the transportation was instant.

  8 Andrew felt so energetic. Much faster than he was on earth.

  9 Andrew couldn't catch his breath.

  10 Limpy was always granted a pass to rest in the barracks

  11 Andrew had time to read and plan

  12 The 5th day came,

  13 All the commotion blinded Limpy to the threat in the trees.

  14 He could somehow "Feel" Limpy's growing fear.

  15 He rationalized quickly and said excitedly "Limpy, I have an idea!"

  The damned car wouldn't turn over.

  The twins in the back seat aren't crying. They know after 12 years of life with their mother, “Katherine” wasn't paying them any attention whether she heard them or not. It was likely she couldn't hear anything. In the blurry zone of fear and confusion, everyone has when they get world-shattering news. Anyone would be out of it hearing that their husband of 13 years was dead in the street in broad daylight.

  Upon arrival at the crime scene, Katherine sloughed out the car like the waterlogged skin of a drowned person. All her energy, her lifeblood, gone at the inevitable finding of her loss. The man who loved her, kept and cared for her for 13 years, ever since she came to this damned city. He was splayed open on the road like wasted meat. Flesh and limbs and viscera hanging unnaturally stretched and red. So much red. The day turned to blood. All the police holding her back from the corpse were red. Their faces, bloody meat. Her world was murdered. She wept, crazed and unruly. The men in uniform held her back, digging their fingers in, and grabbing hard to try and control the she-demon crying and screaming and fighting to, it seemed, devour the murdered man in sorrow. The killer... Watched, and marked his next target.

  An officer went to the twin teens sitting in the car. They weren't crying. They sat there blank and waiting for their mother as if they expected to be in that back seat forever. The officer gave them water and left the door open to keep an eye on the sullen, silent children, lest they get over, what was assuredly, extreme shock, and attempt to see the horror of the dead man. Helga looked out of the open car door at the people surrounding them, surrounding her mother and what used to be her father, with their sickened expressions and hands covering their mouths. The hot sun brought the flies, her little far apart eyes followed one fly. It whizzed and weaved near the yellow do not cross tape. She knew she shouldn't look over there past the tape. She lingered on the people. Avoiding at all cost acknowledging her fitful mother.

  Helga's brother Andrew, the boy with elderly grey hair and unnaturally still grey eyes. Both twins were uncommonly stone-faced. They had acquired this countenance from the life of semi-neglectful abuse and the constant fear of their mother. Their father was always the target of their mother's EVIL, but whenever he was not around she would turn her painful attentions toward them, toward Andrew especially. They sat in shock together. Not because of the gruesome death of their father. They both were immune to his suffering, so long such as it was. Their minds were blank trying to cope with the fear of their mother.

  Andrew spoke first, "We should run. No one is watching us now." The lighthouse of her brother's voice snapped the quick-witted girl out of her lost mental state. "She'll find us too quickly." The girl replied, plain brown eyes focused on the grey boy in anticipation. He looked straight at her sniffed, and tapped his nose, to which she replied by baring her teeth at him in a mock snarl. The pair had developed a kind of language for their inside jokes. They chuckled almost silently together as more and more people gathered to gawk at the death under the dim clouded day.

  Katherine squealed, flung her limbs about, heaving her chest in some mad imitation of excruciating sorrow. She had long since devoured the true sadness of her loss. The man was dead and she would be alone, starving without his supplicating personality to take care of her every need. Now her feeding was from the reaction of the crowd and the cops. With every person she drew to the scene, she felt the love and concern she needed to appease her. She tried as hard as she could to get away from the police blocking her, whirling and running about. She wanted to get into the gore, to feel their stares on her as she enveloped herself in her husband's hot blood and entrails.

  Detective Dan, who called the family after a preliminary investigation of the scene had concluded, found himself too distracted to think further about the victim, "Vic." The wild woman clawing and screaming drew everyone's attention, except his. She was distracting as hell though. The black officer with long dreadlocks, carefully tied back while on duty, released his eagle-eyed gaze from the small lake of blood and body parts. Unable to see any other explanation besides some kind of explosive, although ATF debunked this theory handily for lack of any combustion residue, Det. Dan couldn't think of any other way to reduce a human man into mushed bubblegum on a dirty asphalt street.

  As he scanned the crowds of onlookers, Dan lamented that the body was in such a state that they'd had to wait for a special posthumous paramedic unit to scoop the remains. Dan was tall. Lucky for him, to "Look over '' the gaped mouths and chattering randoms. Looking down on most people came in handy for Det. Dan when delivering bad news or gathering information from witnesses. He had kind, observant eyes and a naturally father-like demeanor. It put natural pressure on witnesses to snitch and perps to reveal themselves by running or avoiding his gaze. As he disapprovingly scanned the periphery of the crime scene, his father's face worked and he caught the rushed aversion of a male with shortish black hair, wearing a messenger bag and carrying an odd-shaped blue trash bag. Dan followed the guilty man, with his eyes, from in front of a boarded-up storefront to the connected alleyway.

  A uniformed, power-walked in front of the Detective. Detective Dan grabbed the officer by his shoulder, mid-step, and hurriedly instructed the officer to give chase. The concerned officer was shushed mid explanation, by the Det. Who relayed perp character inf
ormation and ordered the officer to give chase with a firm voice and a dad's angry fist pointing at what could as easily be un-mowed grass as much as it could, a potentially murderous suspect! Of course, Dan didn't notice the unnaturally calm twins escape the only other adult who was paying attention to someone other than the wailing woman, as he directed their pursuer across the street. As the officer ran, Det. Dan turned back to the woman, again entranced like everyone else. She'd gotten through the officers holding her back and dove screaming into the gore and pavement.

  Helga and Andrew knew their mother

  had an unending energy supply when she was hunting for attention. They silently agreed and in perfect sync walked gingerly out of the police cruiser and into the crowd. Their mother was guaranteed to be underestimated by the men, figuring, no woman could be so damaged that she would fight through 5 grown men to bathe in a pool of her husband's sun curdled blood and slimy jagged dismembered limbs.

  When they were free of the throng, Helga, who always took the lead, turned to her 6 minute younger brother, he made no face, just stared at her in his way, she patted her belly in response and continued walking down the street of their suburban berg of a city. They were dressed in average clothes for 14-year-olds. The city was small and the twins were chronically neglected. They often ran the streets without parental supervision and so were intimately familiar with them. It was 4:47 pm. One of Helga's boyfriends would finish his shift at the hot dog spot in a few minutes. They cut through a department store, quickly weaving through the racks of clothes and past the pot/kitchenware aisle to slide into the employee area at the back. Helga didn't stand out among the sparse activity of workers carrying boxes or organizing merchandise. She was cute-ish with wide nose and plush lips permanently smirking, as though the world were a secretly idiotic joke. People were always immediately accepting of her presence because she'd share the joke with anyone she felt deserved her.

  Both young teens were as tall as the oblivious older teens who made up the workforce of the department store. Andrew's grey hair would catch eyes, except he had adopted a k-pop aesthetic, with his thin frame, it all "Fit" and he had an unnatural gait. Somehow he slid around. No-one heard him coming and everyone missed him as he passed by. Cutting through the store saved the twins from walking around the big city blocks in the brain rotting heat and got them to the restaurant in time to get a couple of free hot dogs for dinner. Her 19-year-old boyfriend Tone, waved to her through the glass facade as Helga trotted in front of Andrew. They stopped just in front of the doors. Helga flitted her eyes left. Andrew disappeared inside the restaurant. Helga overtly pointed toward the back and Tone gave a big obvious nod. The two met quickly with a wet tongue filled kiss. "Get off work and come hold me babe." She enticed him, turning ever so slightly hinting there was ass for him to get. Tone, with his big bright grin, said he was out in a couple of minutes. She put a hand on his jaw softly, then frowned her face and squeezed his cheeks together, scraping on his teeth. "Don't smile! something bad happened, I need to tell you. Let's go to your house." He rubbed his cheek with a concerned expression. She put a hand under his black greasy apron just brushing the crotch of his jeans with her fingers so he could feel. "Kiss me." She ordered. He complied quickly. "Babe I'm hungry, let me and my brother have a few hotdogs, then we'll go to your house."

  The Special paramedic unit, the Scrapers, had broken through the rush hour traffic finally. They cleaned up the body mass amid infesting flies laying their maggot eggs. Katherine was sitting on a curb watching, guarded by 3 officers holding her in the seated position. The crowd was filtering away rapidly and the woman's inconsolable distress dissipated at the same rate. To Det. Dan, watching her, she seemed at home in the blood. The dull red stains on her skin were like war paint. She was lithe and fast. Her eyes were sharp and upturned, grey. She sat breathing heavily, after the screaming, fighting, and theatrics Dan thought she almost looked like a warrior exhausted... Satisfied after a hard-won battle. Suddenly her eyes slashed up toward him, and she stared at him. His fatherly demeanor did nothing to her. He cleared his throat and spoke to her, "Miss, your children have left." She almost audibly made the "Ugh" sound before turning her gaze away from the detective.

  He almost re-engaged her. The loss of her intense grey-eyed stare was like losing something heavy but beautiful. The detective thought better of it. She was beautiful; however... 80% of his morose work started because of a "Beautiful, but..." but, he had a murder to solve and this beautiful creature was finally calm enough to speak with reasonably. Okay, he thought and took 2 deep breaths to steel himself and capture the essence of the type of woman he was about to question. She was immune to public disdain. Her reaction to her children missing told him the husband was probably a saint. 2 breaths was over before he could rationalize why he shouldn't have said his next 2 words. If the Det. Had taken 3 he would see anyone covered in blood and restrained on the curb wasn't a "Lady, "

  - “Hey Lady!” he said accusingly.

  Katherine turned so fast, her hair whipped gooey sticky blood onto the detective's short-sleeved button-up and shitty tie. Her surprise turned to immediate hatred... Then maybe the corners of her eyes reacted to an inner smile that was definitely not showing on her crusty red iron covered face.

  - Don't you dare! What do you even want!?

  - I'm Detective Dan. I want to know who killed your husband. I want to know why you were so desperate to destroy the evidence and contaminate the crime scene.

  Katherine's face was a marble carved 30-year-old, without any of the innocence or purity of a Madonna.

  - I have no idea who did this. My husband had no enemies. He only worked and came home. He took care of me, why would someone do this?

  Dan cut off her out-loud thoughts. This is her first time thinking about the actual death of her husband, and not just her feelings about it.

  - Yes. I'm sure he was a fine man. (He prodded her) But what about you? Why would someone do this to YOU?

  Katherine's eye's squint. His question had none of the flavor of someone who cared about her. She started to cry. The tears ran down fierce forming streaked red rivers on her face. She cried gently. An expert at manipulation, she knows quiet suffering elicits sympathy, wailing gets annoying.

  - If questions are too much for you right now, I'll send you home... To grieve.

  she countered his threat with,

  - I'm not going anywhere without my children!

  This ruffled Dan. He adjusted his tie to look for a scapegoat

  - There's a murderer out there targeting my family, or ME! You need to escort me! What if your wife were murdered and your children running wild.

  Detective Dan waited out the obvious probe in concerned silence before he motioned her to come with him and search for the twins. He could see the uphill battle in front of him to get any information out of the woman; however, he wasn't married and without children, what else was he going to do in the middle of the day but his job.

  Whenever Helga had sex with one of her boyfriends,

  her brother Andrew would always disappear into something. A book, a video game, TV, often he just seemed to literally disappear. He was never annoying, never just waiting creepily for his sister even though he was anything but social or well adjusted, neither was he helpless on his own.

  While Helga fucked Tone for their hot dog lunch, Andrew slid away to the library. He could game there in obscurity. He was never exceptionally gifted at video games, he just melted in to experience the story or feel the roller coaster of pride and frustration at completing challenges. Both twins have their selfish side, inherited from their mother, Andrew steals... Quite well. So even though their parents barely give them food each day, the 14-year-olds provided a basic lifestyle for themselves.

  Andrew's stolen android phone vibrated in his colorful 90's styled hoodie. He had the twin spidey sense, it alerted him to any strong emotions his sister had. Theoretically, that worked in reverse, but Andrew never showed much emotion les
t his mother turns her attention toward him. Now in the library when he should be excited for defeating a difficult boss with only a few HP left, Andrew's mouse was shaking so bad he couldn't hit the 'x' to close his game window. He thought his mother was near, but the hairs on his neck weren't standing. Still, he looked around to see if he was safe. Seeing nothing but pale blue carpet and other people passing time or escaping the heat, Andrew jumped up and ran to find his twin.

  Detective Dan turned on his car siren. The boy may be sneaky, but he stands out when you know exactly what you're looking for. "Damn he's fast, " Dan said as he whips the wheel to drag the car around the corner after the grey topped blur. Katherine folded her arms and pouted as the car speeds down the street after her son, who seemed to be almost phasing through the light poles and pedestrians in his path. Tone's apartment wasn't so far away from the library that Andrew needed to stop running to catch his breath. He ran with a fervor his thin body was scarcely built to handle. His single-minded focus on the horror he was feeling from his twin... No... She was in pain now probably screaming out for help the way his lungs and legs were screaming out for oxygen.

  A man was in his way, Andrew instinctively hesitated his right foot stride by a fraction of a second in just the right timing that his torso was pivoting in the opposite direction to guide the left leg off the pavement into its striding extension. The result was a human body gliding around the obstacle like so much smoke going around the body of a car in an aerodynamics test. Running full bore through two 'don't walk' signs, Andrew could see the apartment building where he left his sister who should have been lazily flirting with her boyfriend... Was he the one hurting her? His focus deafened him to the police car chasing him with siren blaring.