The Face Thief

Chapter 10

~No author's note here.

He really did fall to his death. I tightened my grip on the rails.
"Damn it!" I cussed. Second lead gone. But this time,his brains didn't pop out----or did they? I looked down, where he had fallen. His skull looked crushed. Blood and other elements seeped out continuously. Gross! I turned, staggering back, across the room. My shoulder still ached from the fall. Blood covered the surface, from where the bullet had struck me. Pain coursed through my body as my fingers skimmed the surface.
  "Ughh!" I limped away. I pulled out my cellphone and dialed Marcus.
"Please leave a voicema-----" I cussed and hung up. I'd really needed to get downstairs. I took the staircase, one at a time. I put my gun in-front, just in case. My eyes swiftly scanned the room.
"Holy shit!" I almost screamed----almost. Marcus was there,but unconscious. Five dead bodies swarmed around him----faceless. My face felt pale, and I rushed towards his body. Had the killer taken----sorry, stolen his face.
 
                                   ✪

"Ughhh,fuck!" Marcus sat up. He slowly rubbed his fore-head. He was looking at me now.
"What happened?" He groaned. Okay, how should I start? Yeah, I was ambushed upstairs. This really weird guy wanted to kill me---two actually. I got shot at , cracked my shoulder, and I really can't talk well right now cos I'm in some kind of shock. The second  weird guy committed suicide in my fucking front. And what was the last thing he said? Oh yeah, he was good as dead anyway. What had he meant by that?-----No,No,No, I'm definitely not saying all of those.
  "Yeah, um---" I scratched my head.
"How long have I been----"
"Unconscious?, about ten minutes now" I was still scratching the back of my head.
"Could you----stop doing that" Marcus was glaring at me. The sir-marcus glare. No, marcus-boss glare----
"Did you figure out anything?" Always interrupting my thoughts. I rubbed my chin.
"One of the guys committed suicide" I finally said.
"Suicide?" He flinched.
The are-you-sure-of-what-you-are-saying look came my way.
  "I chased him towards the far end of the warehouse----"
"The railings outside?" How did he know?oh yeah,he brought me here.
"Yeah, then he just--" I paused and looked at him.
  "Jumped" I completed. Marcus turned to face forward and stared,as if thinking. Yeah,he was probably thinking.
"Why did he---"
" I thought the same thing" I cut him short. Good for you! I smiled----in my head.
"But he said something----"
  "What did he say?" Again! Never allowing me finish!
"He said something like----"
"He was good as dead anyways" Marcus added.
  "How did you---?"
"That's what  the guy said---" he pointed to one of the faceless bodies.
"And the other guy---" he pointed to another. To cut the chase, all of them said the same thing.
"You think it's some sort of anthem or what?" I chuckled,trying to humor him. He gave me the look again.
  "Look around--" he struggled to stand up.
"See what you can find" his eyes scanned the room.
  "Did you see face guy?" I asked. He flinched,again
"Huh?, Yeah" he replied.
"What did he look like?" I asked him. Marcus rubbed his head.
"I can't really remember" he stared again, as if checking his memory.
" Last thing I remember, I was trying to get info from one of thus guys" he motioned towards the corpses.
  "And then?"he paused, rubbing his head again.
  "And then, what?" I asked impatiently.  If Marcus could really remember what face guy had looked like. That'd cut us some slack. We'd just narrow our search and be able to catch him.
  "I fell unconscious" he added after.
"Unconscious?!" I blurted out. We were back to square one.
" You didn't see face guy?" I asked. I sighed and took out a cigar stick. Tobacco really worked wonders for my present nerves. I lit it.
    "I think he struck me with something" Marcus rubbed his head. Good, at least we'd be able to get some finger-print analysis of some sort. That way, we'd still be able to narrow down potential suspects and find the killer.
   "But I don't remember what it was?" Oh great! We're in square zero this time.
"But---" Marcus wanted to say something.
"But what?" I asked. I puffed some more.
"I found this card thingy on one of the guys" I stopped.
  "Card" I asked. He showed me the card. I gasped. It was the same card I'd gotten from the other guy that time, at Jake's apartment.
  "I found two actually" one of the other guys had it in him too. I took the card from him and studied it. They were the same. Pocket- shaped black cards, no inscription,just a rather weird symbol on one side.
  "I think we've got more on our hands than wed figured" Marcus said.
  "What do you mean?" I asked, turning to face him.
  "I'd say we're not chasing after one killer" I really didn't understand what he was saying. Wasn't face guy the main culprit---killer I mean.
  "Rather, we're after, not one, but a group of killers" he added,confirming my fears.
  Okay, I'm really starting to panic right now. Not one, but more killers?