Where Lightning Strikes - Mateo Forero

“That fuckin’ animal!” 

Dixon was laid out in the backseat like a lump of sirloin, red leaked out of the gash across his stomach. Whatever came out of his mouth was incomprehensible as his throat gurgled. Gio was in the passenger seat, his left iris was burnt as a long streak of cooked flesh trailed above his ear. 

“You ain’t shit, you hear?! You’re nothing!!!” he yelled as he rolled down the window and let go more shots behind us. 

Bang! 

Bang! 

Bang! 

The pouring rain pounded on the cruiser's windshield as I gunned it through the dark and empty freeway. The headlights were our only guide through the night as the monster behind us continued its vicious pursuit. 

I looked at the side-view mirror, a jolt struck my heart as my eyes widened, “Gio, the call ‘em… we’re near Saint Peter’s. Backup!” 

I was unscathed, not a single hair on my body had been touched by that thing. It wanted me. It wanted to savor it. When I saw it down that alleyway, I knew what I had done. I yelled at Gio to stop shooting and call for backup once again. They wouldn’t be able to stop it. Slow it down? Maybe. But I was going to make it out alive. “Saint Peter, 10-3, shots… fired. We have an officer wounded. Going down-”

Gio was cut off as we jerked forwards as the rear of the car caught air for a second. Blinding light reflected off the rearview mirror as though the gates of Hell were opening and closing behind us like jaws of a beast. 

“Don’t let me die.” Dixon groaned. 

I floored it as the engine roared in return. But the sound was soon muffled by the thing behind us. A loud whine followed by burning air and the rumbling of molecules. Death had a voice and it was screaming at us. My skin shook. 

We passed under a bridge and from the interchanges came two cruisers. Their sirens blared pathetically before the thunderstorm, swooping into formation. One tried a pit maneuver on the metal monstrosity, while the other had a man hanging from the window as he riddled it with an automatic fire, 10mm bullets ricocheted and sparked upon its hide. In annoyance, it slowed down and retreated farther back into the night, its growls becoming low and pensive. 

Gio punched the car roof as he laughed hysterically. I told him to shut up. The other cruisers spoke to us, saying that there was no sign of the perp. They wanted to turn around and chase it. I ignored them, I wasn’t slowing down. I wanted to get out of the fucking rain. But Gio couldn’t help himself, 

“Go fuck yourself asshole! We’re NGPD, boy! We run this city not you, you fuckin’ bitch!” 

Part of me wanted to enact some kind of retribution towards him for his cocky behavior. But one minute he’s laughing like a maniac and Dixon letting out sounds of agony and the next thing I hear is thunder. 

One bang.

Then three bangs. 

And then fifteen of them. 

Too many to count. 

It was shooting back at us. 

The cruiser to our left had been sliced in half, its tires burned as it flipped across the road. I weaved to the side as what remained of its doors skid across the roof. The wheels lost their traction as we began to slide. The other driver panicked and swerved into us, giving me back control. 

He spun around us as they stopped sideways in the middle of the road. The monster trampled through them in a burst of flames and scrap metal. “The heights… lose him in the heights.” said Dixon, fear taking absolute possession of his voice. 

We couldn’t go there. Bad things happened in the Heights. To go back there was to die. I would not go back. It knows me. But I couldn't stand the rain, not anymore. I pulled out, exiting the freeway and into Vino Heights. The monster lagged behind, disappearing from our immediate sight. Yet the flames burned bright, faintly glowing even as I skirted around corners. I turned on my sirens, running red lights, going over sidewalks, crashing into parked cars. 

Gio looked to me with concern, his hand now over his bloody eye, “Hey slow down, we lost ‘em!” 

I kept driving, ignoring him and Dixon as I did. 

If you were to look at us from a birds eye view I must have been going around in coiling circles, twisting through each block like a snake. I should have taken a posting in the suburbs. This city was filled with animals, everywhere you walked it was teeming with foul creatures and demons. I believed that someone should’ve sunk this shithole and everyone on it to the bottom of the ocean, there was nothing worth saving. 

The right side of my body was suddenly pushed with such savagery, glass shattered and steel was rendered. I blacked out. 

I see a dark maw within a forest. I am compelled to go into the hole. As I climbed down, roots clung to my uniform, grabbing at me. They wanted to stop me from whatever I would do next. I smelled something wet, a terrible musk of ammonia. The deeper I went, the worse the smell became, and further down I saw pairs of angry red dots sprout. Whispers of chattering and squeaks of fury. Why should a man fear a rat? It wasn't my fault. 

It wasn’t my fault. 

It wasn’t my fault. 

Slowly, my vision returns as my eyelids find strength. I awoke and everything was a blur. My head felt like a balloon about to explode. The car had been flipped upside down, the engine was set alight. Dixon was fucking dead, he had to be. Gio may or may not have survived, now both of his eyes were missing as a large shard of glass jutted out of his head. I quickly fumbled with my seat belt the best I could while in the state I was in. I managed to unbuckle myself as I fell down headfirst. Crawling out of the wreckage I heard faint pleading behind me. 

I ignored it. 

Shakily I rose to my feet, the frigid rain baptizing me in the midst of the raging inferno. I started to walk away from the street until a piercing agony struck my leg. Red leaked from my thigh down to my boot. As I limped, I heard the clanging of metal. Like the jangling of spurs, only heavier. 

I ignored it. 

“Raleigh… what happened? I can’t see– Dixon? Somebody help–”, Gio was silenced following a loud bang. I limped faster. 

I was in an alleyway, breath ragged and soaking wet. In my desperation I slid on a puddle and crashed into a pile of garbage. I rolled on the ground until I stopped. And before me was a chalk outline. It was of a small body sprawled on the cold asphalt. 

I didn’t feel bad. It was my job, and sometimes bad things happened because you had to do the right thing. This city was dangerous and violent, you had to protect yourself even when there was no danger. It's how they trained us. Dixon and Gio would have agreed. 

The metal clanging felt close, close enough to interrupt the storm upon each step. From the corner of my eye, claws of iron reflect the lamplight above. He's flicking them against each other. It reminds me of how you would sharpen a kitchen knife. 

He wasn’t like anything I’d ever faced before. Yet we had already crossed paths. He was no true monster. 

I looked down, feeling the rain wash over me. I stated my case, saying “You know… maybe if he hadn’t stolen… the kid could still be alive.”, though my voice failed to provide any ounce of legitimacy. 

He responded with silence. 

I clenched my fists in anger, “And what are you? Cop-killer? Monster? Rat? Without the police… you animals would eat each other.”

A hammer is cocked back and the click jolts my spirit. He laughed. I finally turned to face him. He was a long slit of black under the light, the crest on his head looked something like a mangled crown. I couldn’t see his face though his glowing red eyes bored into me. 

“What kind of man are you then, huh?! I’m a father, I have a wife and two little girls! I have people who depend on me, what the fuck do you stand for?!” Another click and I flinched. A moment passed as the world flooded around us. He hummed loudly and then let out a chuckle, 

“I’ll spare you if you run, then I’d have to go for your precious family. However, if you choose to stand and fight me your wife will have to wear black for a little while; if she loves you much at all.” 

“What is wrong with you?” 

His head tilted to my holster, “The second lightning strikes… we draw.” I thought about my life for a moment, every decision I made, every word spoken, every shot fired. I won some, I lost some. But overall, I didn’t live a bad life. Who did this Rat think he was? He didn’t wear a badge, he was a member of no tribe. When a man owns nothing he is nothing, that is just the law. I never bothered to wonder why. Everybody gets killed at some point by somebody else, and what I always really wanted was to be one to do the killing. I don’t think I ever admitted it to anyone, let alone myself. It wasn’t my fault. 

The rain stopped and so did the lightning. 

My life was truly blessed.

So I ran away from the Rat and for a sweet moment I thought I had control over my life once again. 

NGPD REPORT #8251 

FILE NAME: WHERE LIGHTNING STRIKES 

Seven officers were found dead on I-52, Owens St, and Liberty Ave. Three cruisers were left completely demolished. Munitions of various calibres were found throughout the crime scenes, the Commissioner wants to rule it as a freak weather accident. 

OFFICERS LOST: 

- Gio Medrano 

- Jordan Phillips 

- Thomas Wilbur 

- Dixon Franz 

- Raleigh Andrzej* 

- Charlie Banks 

- REDACTED

*Officer Raleigh was found covered from head-to-toe in 4th degree burns, with a small note placed next to him saying: 

○ “You are Nothing!”