Chapter Five: Surprise Attack

Sutrina was sleeping very soundly when something suddenly buzzed her.

You must wake up now. Sutrina- Sutrina, hear me and awaken.

She stirred lightly, but her eyes didn't open.

You MUST awaken now, Sutrina.

"I don't get the chance to actually sleep in my bed every day..." she mumbled, then rolled right back over.

The buzzing stopped. Then there was a slight burning sensation on her back, and it became hotter and hotter. It finally got to the point where Sutrina's eyes opened quickly and she jumped up.

"Yee-ouch!! What in the hell are you doing, April?! I'm up! I'm up! Jeez!" She shouted. That was when she heard it, and couldn't identify what she was hearing at first. Then she realized what the sound was.

The fire sirens! They were sounding all over the building- the building was on fire!

Sutrina wasted no time in pulling on a shirt and buttoning up her jeans. She never slept fully undressed anyway- something that she had learned saved time as a field agent. She practically jumped into a nearby pair of tennis shoes and streaked across the room to the door and checked the knob. It was cool- that was good, no fire in the hallway. She flung open the door and rushed into the hallway- where other agents were also running up and down.

Some of them were screaming orders, but it was more of a mass evacuation. Sutrina was confused at first, but then she heard someone calling her name loudly. A man's voice. She turned around and saw Jared, breaking his way through the crowd towards her.

"The main area!" He screamed at her. "The fire is in the Doctor's office!"

Sutrina heard him, but it was like slow motion as she realized what he had just said. A wave of fear and dread came over her as she suddenly just started running down the hallway, against the flow of other agents who were getting out of the building. Up ahead, Jared reached the stairs and bounded up them two at a time. Sutrina was not far behind, she practically shoved another agent out of the way as she rushed up the stairs behind him.

They reached the third floor of the mansion and rushed straight into a smoke filled hallway.

"Oh God, NO!" Jared screamed. He rushed straight off through the smoke, coughing and shielding his face as best he could. Sutrina stopped to smash one of the fire boxes and grabbed the ax in her hands. Following Jared, she ran down the passageway that led to the Doctor's main office and living space.

The two of them rushed around a smoked out corner, and jumped back- the fire before them had already burned its way through to the ceiling, exposing some of the beams, and a few had fallen onto the hallway floor.

Jared turned to Sutrina and shouted to her above the noise.

"It's blocked! That ax won't don't any good if these beams crash in on us! We gotta get around this!!"

"How?!" Sutrina screamed back. "This is the only way in- unless the Doc has a secret escape hatch in his office!"

Sutrina turned around and grabbed Jared by the collar, pulling him back as well. Just as she was about to try and smash through the debris anyway, the buzzing started again.

Surrender yourself to me, Sutrina. I will take care of this.

Sutrina's consciousness faded. Jared turned and watched as Sutrina took the ax in one hand and started hacking away at an adjoining wall with furious strength. She was attacking the wall- tearing it down in great pieces, and Jared held the collar of his shirt over his nose and mouth as he watched her breaking through the wall in strides.

A beam overhead started creaking, the telltale sound that meant it was about to collapse. Jared tried to grab Sutrina by the back of her shirt, but her hand brushed his aside. With as little effort as possible, she swung the ax into the air just as the beam started to fall- splitting it into two pieces. Jared jumped back, and realized that Sutrina was determined to get through the smoke and fire to the Doctor's office.

"Hey!" He screamed. "I'm going to try and find another ax- we can break through this together if I can find one!"

Sutrina's head shook slowly. As she turned to look at him, Jared realized that something about her was different. Her eyes. Her eyes didn't look the same as her hair flew around her face.

"No-," she told him, voice steady. "You should go. Take charge of the others and make sure that everyone has gotten out. I will find the Doctor. I will not leave this area until I find him."

Jared started to protest, but the resonance in her voice stopped him. She nodded at him, through the smoke.

"Go. NOW."

With that, she turned right back around and kicked her way through the last remaining piece of sheetrock embedded into the wall. Jared coughed, then shook his head. Sutrina was crazy for doing this- but an order was an order. He turned and went back the way that they had came.

April- under control of Sutrina's body, had come to a crossroads. Kicking through the wall had been a brilliant idea- but in doing so, they had weakened the wall and the ceiling considerably. In a short time, it all was going to come crashing down- and though they could survive it, April knew that where ever he was, the Doctor himself- wouldn't.

The good news was that they were in the Doctor's room- the bad news was that it was the wrong room. Realizing that the area was very unstable, April made the choice, throwing down the ax and running into another wall at full speed- kicking through it completely the first time. She repeated the procedure again. Every room that she broke into was blazing brightly, fire surrounded her everywhere. It was starting to look hopeless- but April realized that this was the Doctor's office that they were in now.

The exotic garden was burning, the many different plants and trees scorched under the intense heat of the fire. April looked around- scanning the room for the Doctor. The floor underneath started rumbling- and April started knocking things out of the way, with intense furiosity. Up ahead, something caught her eye- and she realized that yes- it was the Doctor!

He was laying on the floor, face down- unmoving. He seemed to be unconscious as pieces of the ceiling fell down around him.

A ceiling beam lay beside him, through some act of God it had missed him completely. April rushed over to the fallen old man and rejoiced.

"My old friend...I have found you. I will take you out of here Matthew." April rolled the old man over, and then sank back in shock.

The Doctor's eyes were open- a look of great surprise on his face. Beneath him, the rug was stained red. He had been shot directly in the chest twice. The old man was already dead. He had been murdered in his own office. April couldn't believe it, and the spirit let out a scream of anger amongst the flames and ash and debris.

Cradling his head in her arms, April's sudden expression through Sutrina's face was intense anger. April screamed in an undistinguished rage as the ceiling and walls fell in around them and the body.

---

Sutrina came to on the ground outside the mansion, with Jared kneeling beside her. She was hurting all over- not just her arms, but her legs too. It practically hurt for her to move.

"Girl-," Jared said. "I don't know how you did it- but you got out. Scared the hell out of me, pulling a stunt like that."

Sutrina sat up quickly and grabbed Jared.

"The Doctor?" She asked him. Jared shook his head at her- then pointed across the mansion lawns towards the driveway, where an ambulance crew were slowly transferring a bodybag into the back of the vehicle.

Sutrina covered her mouth with one hand.

"What?" She whispered. "He's...he's dead?"

Jared looked at her mournfully, then nodded his head. He was fighting it hard, that urge to cry. Sutrina felt an intense sadness too, but she wasn't sure of what it was.

"Jared," Sutrina said. "I have to know- what happened in there? I remember the last thing being me getting ready to swing an ax at this pile of debris. What happened after that?"

Jared looked at Sutrina weirdly, but didn't say anything. He took a damp towel and slowly started dabbing it against a small gash on her forehead. He looked at her again.

"I don't really know what happened." He explained. "You sent me back out here and told me that you weren't going to get out until you found the Doc. I told you it was crazy- but you insisted that I take charge out here...so, I did."

He looked at her cautiously. "You don't remember any of it, do you?"

Sutrina shook her head sadly. Jared slowly dabbed away at the gash again, then he shrugged.

"It's not surprising," he said, "but you did walk out of a burning and collapsed building holding a body. I'm sure you would've gotten that wear and tear in there sometime."

A paramedic walked over, and used a penlight to examine the gash on Sutrina's forehead- then he took out a large guaze bandage and spread some Neosporin on it. Applying it to her head very gently, the man smiled at her.

"Per il seu nea Di lan," He whispered to her and Jared. "Don't worry- I'm an undercover Circle agent. It's our job to help cover up events like these from the public and those who shouldn't know." He produced a card with the Circle Foundation logo on it. Sutrina looked away, towards the mansion- which was partially demolished from the fire.

"Well- things could've been worse...we could've lost both of you in there. What ever possessed you to stay in a burning building anyway?" The paramedic asked.

At the word 'possession', Sutrina's eyebrows shot up. So that was it. April had taken over her at that point, apparently- and then went looking for the Doctor. She shook her head though.

"I just wanted to make sure everyone was out, I guess." she said. It was a huge lie- but still, it was true for the most part.

The paramedic stood up, beckoning at Jared as he did so. Jared handed Sutrina the damp towel, then stood up and joined the paramedic a few feet away. They talked something over, then Jared came back and looked at Sutrina seriously.

"Alright," Jared said. "They're going to prep the doc's body for routine procedures. He just told me that a Circle investigative agent will probably be out here later on in the morning to question everyone on scene- particularly you."

Sutrina held out her hand, and Jared took it firmly in his grasp. Helping her up from the ground, he stood there a moment and started wiping grass and ash from the side of her shirt. Sutrina shook her head at him and waved him off.

"I'm ok. I'm fine." she said. Jared nodded accordingly.

"Ok," he told her. "I'm going to go and see about everyone else then. I'll be back in a minute. YOU- might wanna take it easy though." He walked off, disappearing through the crowd of firefighters and police officials on the scene. Sutrina stood there a moment, looking at all the tired and weary faces. It wasn't until she actually focused, that she realized someone was missing.

It was Graham. He was the one who was missing. Where in the hell could he be?