An Eternity of Lies

Chapter 10

Jaylyn was shivering by the time she got back, the black t-shirt and jeans she wore clung to her soaked form and she felt half frozen. It had taken longer than she expected to unbury the clothing and put it on but that was nothing compared to the twenty minutes she took to wait out the two figures that had shown up by the Hudson, luckily they were too far down to notice as she walked out from the edges of the water and tried her best to blend into the shadows. She finally got back to her house at what she guessed was five in the morning considering the time she died plus the time it took to finally get back, unfortunately she couldn’t be sure because she was currently standing in the shadows of a large building and watching her apartment for any sign of Henry or Detective Martinez, who she could guess had gone after Ripper.

            Do I really even need to go back? She thought to herself before a picture of her family came to mind, of course she did, she couldn’t leave that behind. Jaylyn decided to take the risk as a gust of cold wind caused her to shiver violently. The door was still open and she quickly went inside, avoiding the kitchen so she didn’t have to look at the place she had just been murdered in, and went to her room to put on her bullet proof jacket before grabbing a back pack and putting her hunting knife and gun inside along with some spare clothes and, of course, the old picture of her family. She stood there staring at the faded photo for some time as she fought between the desire to remember her past and the need to move on and forget it. A car stopping outside forced her into action and Jaylyn quickly zipped up her back and put up her hood before going to the back window and opening it up as silently as she could before starting to climb out back into the snow covered ground.

            No one called out to her as she landed in the snow drift but as she made her way around to side of the building she found Henry looking around Jo’s car with a worried expression and quickly hid back around the corner… but it was too late, she could hear his footsteps walking towards her despite the fact she still hadn’t made a sound to give away her position.

            “Jaylyn, come out we need to talk.” Henry’s voice spoke up in a firm but not harsh voice that almost made her want to listen to him.

            She backed away but knew he would catch up before she could get a taxi or escape into an alley. She took out the gun she’d placed in her bag and aimed it towards the corner. “Henry I wouldn’t come any closer.”

            He of course ignored her and turned to corner, in slight panic, Jaylyn pulled the trigger and Henry fell to the ground with a shout of pain. She put the gun away and cautiously approached him feeling slightly guilty as she saw his ruined knee while he looked up at her in anger and something she couldn’t quite identify.

            “Jaylyn, I know you might be confused…” He tried to stand back up and managed to lean against the side of the building. “I can help explain.”

            “Explain what?” Jaylyn hissed. “You don’t know what you saw.”

            “Yes, I do.” Henry replied. “You died and came back.”

            “No one will believe you.” She walked towards him threateningly. “And you won’t tell anyone because what you just said proves that you clearly have mental issues and need to be locked up.”

            Something along the lines of fear flashed across his eyes and he changed the subject. “What have you done with Detective Martinez? You know who took her.”

            Jaylyn stopped, did she hear him right; Jo was missing? She swallowed as an image of the detective’s mutilated body in the lying in a back alley somewhere came to mind. “I’m sure where ever she is she’s fine. Jo can stand up for herself. I bet she’s at home sleeping like a normal person.”

            “No… Lutienant Reece told me she went missing and her car is still here to back up that fact.”

            Jaylyn went silent before a thought on how to get rid of Henry came to mind. She suddenly began walking again, half dragging the injured man behind her as she lied through her teeth. “I think I know where she’s been taken.”

            “Jaylyn… could you possibly, slow down?” Henry asked through the pain.

            She feigned concern as she turned to look at him. “Maybe we should get you to a hospital first…”

            “No. We need to save Detective Martinez, take me there.”

            Jaylyn shook her head at his stubbornness before hailing a taxi and getting inside. “Take us to Downtown Slaughter.”

            The driver nodded, though he gave Henry a strange look as he tried to cover up his ruined knee, before pulling out into the traffic and driving quickly to the still shut down slaughterhouse. She paid the driver and got out quickly, Henry was forced to lean heavily on her to stay standing and looked at the building nervously.

            “Why here? Of all places?” He muttered and shook his head as if he should have been able to guess.

            “Come on.”

            Jaylyn helped him limp with his one good leg into the vacant building, the lights were still on and the equipment still running, however the bodies had been removed and police tap still litter the place at each scene that contained a chalk outline. They walked farther into the building until they reached the meat grinder, which had been cleared of the dead man’s body and was now running smoothly again.

            “Henry… I didn’t want to do this.” Jaylyn whispered and felt the medical examiner immediately recoil away from her and fall against a metal bar.

            “You’re going to kill me.” Henry stated more evenly than she thought he would. “For seeing you die… Jaylyn just let me explain, I’m l-”

            “Don’t.” She cut him off. “You were a good man Henry. Perhaps this is for the best though, don’t worry I’ll still save Jo, I’ll have to figure out how to do it without being seen of course… can’t let her know I came back that would defeat the purpose.”

            She saw he was going to say something but didn’t give him a chance, she hit his injured knee so he gave a shout instead, to her it was better than the plea to be let go he was most likely going to say, and dragged him over to the opposite rail and pushed him down into the grinder. Jaylyn immediately turned away and ran after that, she didn’t want to see him become hamburger meat or hear any last screams of agony being silenced abruptly. All she wanted now was to escape everything that had happened.

            “I’m so sorry Henry… but you wouldn’t understand anything I told you…”

            After she recomposed herself, she got into another taxi and went into the airport where she quickly bought a ticket for the first flight to Breckenridge, Texas. In less than a half hour she could finally be free of all the blood she had spilled in here, she would be away from Adam and his plans, and best of all she would be away from Jack who had probably already killed Jo for or against Adam’s orders. To think she had been in New York for a little over a year yet it only took one week to murder an entire facility of innocent people, make friends with people Adam was targeting, get killed, then get put in a position where she had to kill one of her new friends and abandon the rest to die by Adam’s hand. How had she let her life get this messed up?