State of Mind

Chapter Twenty Five

**Note: I am ending the book soon and will begin Morona's Story: The Dusk Killer as soon as the epilogue for this book is published.**

THERESA

"Where are we going?!", I shout over to Gemma, glancing behind me to see the strange man chasing after us, two pistols in each hand as he raises his arms and fires once at the sky. "We can't ditch him!"
 "I know!", she calls back. "Have your weapon at the ready!"
I sigh to myself, clutching my own firearm even tighter than before as we make a sharp right, ducking into the nearest alley. 
I stop running, whirling around as soon as I skip to a stop, aiming my gun with my eyes narrowed in concentration.
"Who are you?!", I yell at the stranger, cautiously taking a small step forward as he advances, twirling his weapons eagerly in his hands. "What the fuck do you want?!"
 "You darling", he says in a smooth voice, sounding pleased. "I was expecting to just take you, but both of you will come in handy. The monster seeing girl and my own little pet."
"Who. Are. You", I hiss, cocking my gun, my hands shaking slightly as I move the weapon so it points straight at his head instead of his chest. 
 The man sighs. "You're disappointing, Miss Moore. More disappointing than my own daughter and she's not as crazy as you. I guess I should call you both failed experiments and be done with you."
Beside me, Gemma's mouth drops open in shock as she steps forward and stares. "You're Morona's father. You started all of this terrorist shit."
"That I did", Doctor Feller says with a grin. "And boy is it fun."
Now its my turn to gape, looking back and forth from my friend to my foe in surprise, struggling to keep my hands from shaking as my tired mind tries to understand what exactly is going on.
After another moment of frustrated silence, I shrug and discharge my weapon with a sigh, turning to face the wall as Morona's father crumples to the ground, lifeless and limp. I wait a second before strolling to his body and taking his guns, tossing one to Gemma before taking off into a sprint to go back to where we came from.
It's time to end this, my mind says as my friend chases after me, shouting something my ears choose to ignore. It's time for a little payback.
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"Where is he?!", I shriek, bursting into the hotel lobby, guns drawn and pointed at the ceiling. "I swear I'll kill him!"
Someone grabs my arm and pulls me out of the building, ignoring me as I scream in protest.
"Let go of me!"
"Jesus Christ, Theresa", the detective's voice says behind me. "I'm doing you a favor so calm the fuck down before I cover your mouth, got it?"
 "Where is he?", I ask when I'm released, whirling around to face Detective Brown as Gemma joins us, shoving her weapon into the waistband of her pants, my fingers digging into my own guns as I look up into the man's eyes. "Where is everyone?"
"Gone", he sighs. "Apparently Mr. Mendela had some backup at the ready and witnesses are saying that after the smoke from the gas cleared, your friends and Mendela were gone."
 As soon as the man stops talking, the phone in my pocket buzzes, which I pull out to check the notification.

Unknown Number: The base, sunset. Come alone and they'll walk away unharmed.

"It's him", I say quietly. "And we need to get back to the base at sunset."
"Why?", Gemma asks, reaching for my mother's phone. "What is he going to do?"
I hand it over and reply calmly, "Its not what he's going to do that's important."
"Then what is?"
"It's what I'm going to do to end this tonight."