Merry Christmas, Detectives

03}}Knives and Christmas Presents

It wasn't difficult to find the source of the chaos, if not the explosion itself. The fire hadn't spread too far -- yet -- but if it continued that would soon change.

Though, even if they could've found a fire extinguisher, the fire had grown just enough to make one relatively useless.

Klocke and Haiden sat crouched at the end of an aisle. Looking around the corner, Klocke could see a small trembling line of terrified people cowering on the floor along the far shelves. Pacing before them was an average fellow with a brown shock of hair and thick square glasses. His tennishoes squeaked on the floor as he paced before the line of frightened people. Hostages. Lovely.

He had a bloody knife in one hand, waving it about as he ranted unintelligibly. Klocke couldn't make out a thing he said, his words were complete insubstantial mush.

Klocke pulled back, leaning against the end of the shelf, Haiden on his other side. "Phone?" He whispered.

She nodded. "In my pocket."

He nodded back. Good. "Backup. Go." She nodded, and silently slunk further away, disappearing around a corner a few aisles down. Normally he'd have already called for backup, but he'd been so distracted, he'd acted on pure instinct. Haven't done that in a while, he thought.

He stayed where he was, gun at the ready, listening to the ranting and raving of the lunatic with a knife just around the corner. And then the raving stopped.

He held his breath, his ears straining. All he heard was the whimpers of terrified people, and the crackling of nearby flames.

And then a hand shot around the corner.

He flinched, but not fast or far enough to avoid the hand as it latched onto his new tie and yanked him around the corner. He started to raise his gun, but the knife-waving lunatic knocked it away, blade slicing into his hand, before slashing down at his face.

The man's eyes were wide and wild, his lips pulled back in a snarling grimace. But he was slow, clumsy, and Klocke easily caught his wrist as he tried to stab him.

The man pulled harder on his new tie, choking him. Klocke raised his elbow and brought it down hard on the man's wrist.

He yelped in sudden pain, and he jerked away from Klocke. Though he still slashed at him, the tip of the blade grazing across his chest just close enough to chop off the smiley face, but nothing else.

Klocke backpedaled, glancing at the floor in search of his gun and seeing only the smiley face staring up at him from the floor. He felt a small twinge of guilt. Haiden had been so excited about her present. How am I going to explain this to her?

He didn't find his gun before the man came at him again. Behind him the line of people that had been sitting on the floor all got up and made a run for it, some staggering, some barely pausing long enough to help someone near them. Good, Klocke thought as he continued to dodge the man's aimless slashes.

Klocke watched his opponent carefully, waiting for an opportunity, and taking it as soon as it came.

He grabbed the man's arm by the wrist, using the momentum to sidestep him and twist his arm back and up. The man cried out in sudden pain, trying to wrench his hand free, but Klocke tugged harder, making him drop the knife. Klocke kicked it away before knocking the man to his knees, and then down onto his front. Klocke pressed his knee into the man's back. "Hold still," he ordered. The man didn't listen, writhing and wriggling about.

He heard footsteps behind him as Haiden rounded the corner, gun raised. Her eyes widened at the scene. "You alright?"

Klocke nodded, but the man was still struggling and yelling wordless nonsense. He was practically foaming at the mouth, eyes twitching this way and that, as if trying to see everything at once. He was breathing too fast, and Klocke couldn't quite tell for sure, but he was almost certain that his pupils were blown wide as well.