College Town

College Town
Sarah's POV

Before we even exited the rental car, the yelling began.

A young woman in a pink backpack ran past our car in the Riverside College parking lot, and I slammed the brakes. She was screaming something about a man in the library with a knife while blood was running down her arm.

"Elena!" I shouted, but she had already started to move.

Elena pressed both hands against the car window and her silver eyes widened. "There are three of them. The Hunters have already arrived. They got going early.

Now there were more pupils running. Just in front of our car, a boy who couldn't have been older than nineteen stumbled and fell. I leaped out and gave him a hand up.

I asked him, "What happened?"

The child cried, "Some crazy guy just stabbed my roommate!" "In the cafeteria itself! He had just finished his lunch when this man approached him from behind brandishing a large knife.

My heart fell. It was too late. The Hunters were already in the middle of their sick game.

Elena was different when she got out of the car. Even for her, she appeared pale. She had trembling hands.

"Are you okay, Elena?"

"Sarah, I must now divide myself. In three different areas of the campus, I sense three distinct Hunters. They will kill dozens of students in the next hour if I don't stop all three at once."

Police sirens could be heard approaching. However, I could also hear more yelling coming from the direction of the dorms.

"Where are they?"

Elena shut her eyes. One is located on the third floor of the library. He is pursuing students who are attempting to conceal themselves in the study spaces. There's another one in the gym. He is now robbing people one by one after locking the doors during a basketball game. The science building is home to the third. He is posing as a janitor.

"That isn't feasible. How is it possible to be in three locations at once?

Elena's silver eyes became more radiant. "I'll find out. I want you to call the actual police, Sarah. Not Torres, of course. I'll give you the FBI number; call it."

She rattled off a number. "Tell them you were sent by Agent Martinez. The only person I fully trust is her.

"Who is Agent Martinez?"

"A person similar to me. She pursues the paranormal offenders that the ordinary police are unable to apprehend.

Elena grabbed my shoulders out of the blue. She had very cold hands. "You have to promise me something, Sarah, in case something goes wrong and I'm stuck between the three locations."

"What?"

"Avoid attempting to save me. Just make sure these students survive.

Elena did something I had never seen her do before I could argue. Like waves of heat rising from hot pavement, she began to shimmer. Then she slowly started to fall apart.

I had never seen anything so strange. Elena turned into three transparent versions of herself. One copy began to move toward the science building, one toward the gym, and one toward the library.

"Elena!" All three copies simply waved at me and continued to walk when I called out.

I took out my phone and dialed the FBI number. After one ring, a woman answered.

"Agent Martinez."

"This is Riverside Detective Sarah Chen. "Call you," Elena said. Three Hunters are currently attacking Riverside College.

"I'm leaving in twenty minutes. Is Elena present?

"To stop all three Hunters at once, she divided herself into three."

A long silence fell. "What is she? That's very risky, Sarah. If Elena tries that for longer than ten minutes, she might not survive."

My blood froze. "How long has it been?"

"I'm not sure. Three minutes, perhaps?

"Pay close attention. Please coordinate with the campus police for me. Evacuate every student to the football field. The only open area large enough and sufficiently distant from the buildings is that one.

When I saw him, I had already started to run toward the nearest campus security office.

A man with a mop bucket was strolling across the quad in a janitor's uniform. However, he was grinning in a way that made my stomach turn, and there was blood on his shoes.

It had to be one of the Hunters.

I called to him and drew my gun. "Cease! Police!"

The phony janitor pivoted. He was the type of guy you wouldn't give a second glance to, with normal brown hair and glasses. However, his eyes were cruel and icy.

"Detective Chen," he said coolly. "You should be in Colorado rescuing those hostages."

"Change of plans."

He chuckled. "Detective, you can't be in two places at once. In contrast to your friend who is supernatural.

"Where are the other two?"

"Very busy. Six students have already been murdered by my friend in the library. Before your girlfriend arrived, the person in the gym got eight.

Despite my nausea, I continued to aim my gun at him. "It's finished. The FBI will arrive shortly.

"Is it over?" The fictitious janitor took a grenade out of his mop bucket. An actual grenade of military quality.

We could still see students scurrying around us in an attempt to escape the other buildings. Dozens of innocent children would be killed if he threw that grenade.

"You wouldn't," I replied.

"Detective, you still don't know the true nature of the Hunters. Not all of us are serial killers. We are terrorists. We want people to be scared to let their children live normal lives and to send them to college.

"Why?"

"Because fear facilitates control over others." Additionally, some extremely powerful people profit when everyone is afraid.

From the direction of the gymnasium, I heard gunshots. Then there was more yelling.

The Hunter remarked nonchalantly, "You know your friend Elena is dying." It's killing her to split herself like that. All three of her components will simply vanish into nothing in roughly three more minutes.

"You're lying."

"Am I? Turn to face the library.

I cast a quick glance in the direction of the library. At a window on the third floor stood one of Elena's transparent copies. But like a dying lightbulb, she was flickering.

The Hunter was correct. Elena was dwindling.

The phony janitor held up the grenade and said, "Here's your choice, Detective." "I'll drop this grenade and kill everyone within fifty feet if you shoot me. Alternatively, you could put down your weapon and attempt to save your girlfriend who is supernatural.

We were being rushed past by more pupils. All they wanted to do was study, play sports, and get their lives in order as college students. Children who were unaware of the existence of monsters such as the Hunters.

"Sarah!" Elena's voice came to me, but it sounded weak and distant. "The gym one! He also has explosives.

My heart was racing. Elena was dying. Pupils were losing their lives. And I had to decide whom to save.

The phony janitor began to pull the grenade's pin.

"Time's up, Detective," he said with a horrible smile. "What will it be?"

My phone buzzed with a text message at that very moment. I took a quick look at it.

Torres had sent the message. The counterfeit Torres. Five years had passed since the death of my partner.

It said, "Your sister's house is on fire, Sarah." Inside, your nephew is stuck. The boy will die if you don't call me within two minutes."

I glanced up at the grenade-wielding Hunter. Then at Elena's faded copies. After that, I received a message on my phone regarding my nephew.

I could only save one of the people I cared about, and they were all going to die.

The grenade pin popped loose in the Hunter's hand.