When The Light Goes Out

Chapter - 30

The thought of ruining all the trust she had been trying so hard to build up was the most painful part of all of it. The fact that all of her ideas had to do with trapping and luring made them feel impossible. Monique was not a fighter by any means so those were the most probable ways to go about stop him. Every minute she spent plotting against Kevin surpassed the last as the worst moment of her life thus far.

You're saving a life, she kept telling herself. Including his. It's good for everyone involved. Monique tried her hardest to keep focused as she went out in search of supplies. A risky idea came to mind, which she humored knowing it could only go one way.

She had a day job, so it had to wait until she had an opportunity to prepare, which took place during her lunch break. It was the first time she took the whole hour, but it was worth it. She was able to focus better afterwards, too.

While at the hardware store, she picked up what she thought might be good materials to build a cage. It would be built. Whether or not it was put to use was yet to be seen. The worse part was arming herself. Pepper spray. Please don't let me have to use this...

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A pocket knife and taser were fastened inconspicuously to her person and she dressed as lightly as possible so she could move appropriately should things get into a self defense type of situation. Waiting was out of the question. If he found the new girls then it may as well have been too late.

Monique took some time to mentally prepare herself. An entire day had passed since Dennis' visit. She had to believe they hadn't been able to track down another group of girls and move with the idea that she would be able to act without worrying about anyone but Dennis.

The time came for her to make a move. Monique had armed herself with a few other things she could hide on her person to fend off an attack. The only downside, was that she couldn't get to him by herself. She could sneak into the zoo but she needed a key to get to the maintenance tunnel.

There was no guarantee Dennis would let her back in since she turned him down. But what if they did... Patricia might take this as an opportunity. With no special skills to speak of, she had to at least try. She had to walk right into the lion's den.

"I know it's probably over for us but I would like to talk to you at least one more time." Send.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Please. Just for a few minutes."

"That's not a good idea."

"You're trying to protect me aren't you?"

No response.

"I know it's stupid to ask, but I know it's the last time for real this time. I'm not afraid of Patricia."

"You should be. I won't see you anymore. Good bye."

Monique sighed heavily and tossed her phone aside. Luckily another idea came to mind before she thought of something drastic. The destination was still the zoo, but she had to grab a few more things.

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The cold steel of the fence was barely cut off by her gloves as she gripped the bars. Speed was the goal but she was not much of an athlete. Monique was starting to wonder what she was much of at that point. She landed just fine on the other side then took cover behind the wall of a ticket booth.

There had to be guards. Nothing could be that open and not have some kind of night security. She tried to move purposefully, scouting the area as she did so. If there were any guards she hadn't seen them all the way up to the entrance of the tunnel.

She ducked into one of the corners of the restroom and felt about for her entry tools. The door had to be sealed tightly but she had to get in. Her plan involved two things she was not proud of: breaking and entering. Monique hoped dearly that the guards, were there any, were patrolling another side of the zoo.

She thought of the least damaging thing she could. Simply take off the door knob. She brought an assortment of screwdrivers to make sure nothing would stop her. It was fifth times the charm and much trial and error before she could set to work.

Every now and then she stopped to duck away in case a guard was somewhere she couldn't see. Once the doorknob was off she crept inside and hoped whatever invisible guards they had didn't pay too much attention to little details. Now. I just need to find him. After that, comes the hard part.

There wasn't much to search, but Monique had to ready herself every time she entered a room. This was a mutual betrayal as far as she was concerned- she was there to stop him even if it meant causing bodily harm. She could only be so ready for that regardless of whatever reasons she kept telling herself justified her actions.

The anticipation was killing her. If the element of surprise wasn't so precious to her cause, she would have started making noise to draw him to her. Or maybe... Monique ran up the stairs and started knocking on the walls. Just little knocks to draw his attention.

"Who's there?" It was Dennis' stern voice. "Whoever you are, you need to come down here." His foot steps began to ascend. 

Monique continued to knock. She gripped the taser at her side. This is it. For those girls. You can do this.

His foot steps stopped. "You shouldn't be down here," he said softly.

Her heart beat hard against her chest as she turned to face him. She slowly slipped her hands behind her back pockets. The taser was tucked into the waist of her jeans. "I'm sorry but, I wanted to try to convince you to try something else. There has to be some other way to handle this."

He shook his head. "You have to leave right now."

"Dennis, I'm not leaving," Monique said. "I just want to talk. We have to find another way."

"There is no other way! Just because it isn't your way doesn't make it wrong."

"And just because someone told you it is the only way doesn't mean it is- Dennis, please. I don't want to see what will happen to you if you do this."

Dennis walked up to her and grabbed her arms. "You have to go. If Patricia -"

"Patricia can't do anything if you don't give her the light," Monique retorted. 

She stumbled after him as he pulled her back down the stairs. She took her free hand and touched the taser. Do it now!  Don't wait for him to see you. She pulled it out and shoved it into his back. She squeezed her eyes closed but she felt his hand leave her arm and heard him fall. She opened one eye at first. He was unconscious. 

Guilty relief washed over her as she looked at him lying on his face. "Great," she sighed. "Now what?"

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A/N: It's been a year now since I started and I apologize for just leaving like that. I'm back to finish this story. I saw that this story was #7 out of 70 Dennis tagged stories. It got to me for sure and I felt like I had to come back with something. I had been struggling with coming back to this story just because I have been stuck on it for a long time and I was focusing on other things. Well, rest assured, if you're reading this then there are two more chapters already written and waiting to be uploaded.