Chapter 3
“Don’t open the door until he’s dealt with Caesar. You hear me?” I nodded vigorously and hung up. My best friend’s brother was a veteran, 1.9 meters tall, almost 200 pounds, all muscle. She had told me that, back in the army, he could kill a cow with his bare hands. Even against Caesar, he might stand a chance. And he had an electric baton. My heart, which had been suspended in terror, finally calmed a little. Soon, I heard the sounds of a struggle outside the door, grunting, crashing and something heavy falling to the ground. A strong metallic smell of blood wafted in through the doorway. I wanted to look through the peephole to see what had happened, but I couldn’t summon the courage. Then the loud pounding at the door suddenly softened. Tap… tap… tap… Summoning my courage, I called out softly, “Benjamin?” There was no reply. I reached for my phone, held it up to the transom window above the door and snapped a picture. Sure enough, the person outside the door was my best friend’s brother. But his entire body was slumped against the door in a strange position. Looking closely at the photo, I noticed bloodstains on his clothes. Had he been injured? I was instantly filled with guilt. I was about to open the door to help him when I heard that same heartbeat again. “Why is this woman smarter than a monkey? I’ve been hiding and letting this man knock, why won’t she open the door?” “Has she figured it out?” A pool of bright red blood began to seep in from under the door. My heart leapt into my throat and cold sweat drenched my palms. A terrible thought crept into my mind. Had my best friend’s brother… died? I turned pale, clamped a hand over my mouth and tears flowed uncontrollably. She’d told me he was getting married next month. And now he’d died trying to save me? How could I ever explain this to her? But before I could dwell on that, a greater danger still loomed. The only silver lining was that the gorilla outside the door didn’t seem in a hurry to kill me, it was playing a game of cat and mouse. I moved as slowly as I could, tearing my bedsheets into strips and trying to fashion a rope to escape out the window. But my apartment was too high up, the sheets weren’t long enough. And it was raining hard. The exterior walls were slick and treacherous. Then, again, that familiar voice came from the door, “She’s not thinking of escaping through the window, is she? So smart. She’s my favorite skin.” “But I don’t have much time to play. I’m hungry.” “A steak has to look like a steak. You want to run? No way!” I froze. How did it know what I was thinking, what I was doing? My best friend had said this chimp was genetically mutated and extremely smart. But I hadn’t expected it to be this smart… able to predict my next move. Still, I had no other choice. Either I’d be skinned alive and eaten by the chimp or I’d jump and fall to my death. Just as I was sinking into despair, my boyfriend Sebastian suddenly messaged me. [Honey, I finished my work early and came back. I even brought you a small gift. The cab will be downstairs soon, remember to bring me down an umbrella.] I couldn’t help but laugh and cry at once. Sebastian had come back at this very moment. No. He definitely couldn’t come upstairs.