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Ronin, a semi good-looking kid with dark brown hair and eyes so dark you could swear they were black was a kid on his own, randomly roaming the country. He sped down the highway in his black 1991 Corvette he noticed an off-ramp; he needed gas so he decided to get off. Little did he know all he would find was a night full of nothing but terror.
Ronin sped around the sharp turns of the road, his tires screeching like a banshee as he slid around the hairpin corners. When he saw the city he was headed to, he slammed the brake pedal to the floor and stared. What he saw could be considered a post-apocalyptic city. He wondered why the place was not sealed off and why he could access it so easily, only because of how dangerous it looked. He decided to check it out, and maybe he could find some free gas. He was a little scared, but even though he was alone he would never admit it. Ronin slowly drove toward the city, making sure to keep an eye out for things out of place. What he did not notice was the caution signs.
Coming from the opposite direction but near the same city came Celia. Celia sped toward Cancun for spring break with the wind in her dirty blonde hair, she was going to meet her friends there, but she needed to make a pit stop; the engine of her car was rattling. She took the exit to the city that Ronin had just entered, when she saw the city she slowed down and entered the city slowly. She slowly made her way down what seemed to be Main Street. She looked at the destroyed store fronts; she wondered what happened to this city, and why no one was there.
Travis was being driven to an academic expo by Sheila; his personal assistant. Travis was going to hold a speech on his theory on dark matter. One of his Wheelchair’s wheels was a little crooked so he told Sheila to take the next exit to see if he could find someone to fix it. Sheila drove down Main Street and came to what looked to be a Hospital; it was the only building that looked like it was not affected by whatever destroyed the city, so she dropped Travis off there to see if there were any spare wheelchairs and left him to go see if there was anyone around that could fix his chair. Travis went inside to find the hospital desolate.
Ronin could not find any gas as he wound his way around the city’s desolate streets and his car stopped, right in front of the hospital. Just as he got out of his car Celia pulled up to him and asked what was going on in the city. He told her that his car ran out of gas. And that second her car squealed and turned off. They walked into the hospital together and saw Travis; they introduced themselves and decided to stay there for the night. Nobody slept near the others, Ronin in particular slept under an antique looking clock set with wrought iron roman numerals.
T he three of them fell asleep, and during the night the clock chimed loudly. Ronin awoke to the sound of the clock, when he looked at it he saw all of the numbers vanish into thin air, and immediately afterward the twelve was replaced with an black thirteen and the clock’s hands immediately froze directly on the thirteen. He stared in shock then woke Celia and Travis, the three of them did not know what to do, so they stayed awake and talked to each other. Ronin began to develop an interest in Celia; they talked about everything as they watched over Travis who had fallen asleep in his chair again.
Ronin looked at the clock and noticed that even though he had talked to Celia for what seemed like an hour, the hands on the clock had not moved. Just then they heard a noise that resembled the sound of nails on a chalkboard. Celia clutched Ronin’s arm, and stopped breathing to listen to the sound. Ronin went to check the area from where the sound came. Celia woke Travis and hid with him in a supply closet. Ronin came face to face with a large man; Ronin asked the man who he was. The man answered that the news station had called him Dimples, but his real name was Kobal. Ronin saw what was making the sound he had heard, Kobal was dragging a chair. In the chair sat a woman with her head slumped down; Ronin’s heart began to race as he asked about the woman. Kobal said that he killed her, and smiled, Ronin noticed that Kobal had deeply disturbing dimples.
Ronin turned and started yelling for Celia and Travis run in the opposite direction than he was going. Kobal pursued Ronin to the top floor where Kobal forced Ronin to lock himself into an examination room. Kobal left Ronin to find Celia and Travis. While Kobal had chased Ronin upstairs she had hidden Travis in a surgery room and she hid inside a radiation treatment pod. Kobal found Travis with ease, Travis had tried to work his way into a small area and knocked a metal tray off of a table, it clattered when it hit the ground. Kobal tied Travis’ hands together and started to walk him upstairs. On the way up stairs Kobal told Travis why he was called Dimples. Kobal said that when he would kill people right before they died he would give the victims dimples and take pictures with them. Travis asked how he did that. Kobal told Travis that he used a staple gun, he would just put it to their cheek and boom, instant dimples. Travis was appalled at the man’s brutality, but had been gagged with a wet cloth during the explanation so he could not scream. Once at the top floor Kobal Pried open the elevator doors and looked down the shaft, it ended in darkness. Kobal gave Travis his set of dimples and pulled a disposable camera out of his pocket, took a picture and put it back. Kobal slipped a noose around Travis’ neck and pushed him through the doors.
Ronin saw this through the window in the room door, he wondered why Kobal had not pursued him further, and why was Travis the first to go? Ronin remembered that he had his pistol in his car. He worked on getting out the room, Kobal left the hall, but Ronin wondered if he had really gone down stairs. He waited for a while, once he was sure Kobal had gone downstairs, he left the room, but in his back pocket had six syringes full of rubbing alcohol, which should at least hurt the man, or at best kill him. Ronin slowly made his way down the stairs, and kept an eye out for Kobal. Ronin got to the ground floor, and got to his car. Ronin went in his trunk and pulled out the pistol that his father gave to him just before he abandoned Ronin. Ronin now decided that Kobal would die. He put the gun in his back pocket next to the syringes. His eyes darkened as he thought of Kobal pushing Travis into the elevator shaft.
Celia passed out when she saw Kobal take Travis. She felt responsible because she could have hidden him better, but was too concerned about herself. Celia got out of the radiation pod, and found a tray of surgical knives; she removed them from the packaging and put them in her sleeves. She left the room to find Ronin. Celia just missed Ronin who had just gotten to his car; she went upstairs to look for him. She had just made it to the intensive care wing, when she saw Kobal, her eyes glazed over when she saw that he did not have Travis, she quickly slid a surgical knife into each hand. Kobal, walked toward her slowly, and smiled. He told her his story as he made his way down the hall. When Kobal was about five feet from Celia she lunged at his neck with the knives, she cut his throat wide open, but then Kobal grabbed her head in his hand and squeezed. Celia screamed in terror not from the pain, but because the wound from the knife should have killed Kobal. She repeatedly stabbed at where Kobal’s heart should have been but he did not go down. Ronin came around the corner of the hall and saw the two of them. Ronin shot Kobal right between the eyes, and Kobal fell back, releasing Celia who was now bleeding from the head.
Ronin had just bandaged Celia’s head up when they heard an explosion. They went downstairs to see that her car had just been blown up. Kobal stood next to the flaming wreck. Ronin glanced at the clock, the hands had not budged. Kobal came inside and told Ronin that he was a good shot, but that would not kill him. The wound in his head and the gash on his neck were nowhere to be found. Celia blacked out again. She awoke to find Ronin watching over her very intensely; she could tell they were in a small room, no bigger than a broom closet. She looked at Ronin and kissed him, he smiled and looked into her greenish-blue eyes, and then they heard a crash right outside the door. The door swung wide open and Kobal hit Ronin in the head with a chair. Celia watched as Kobal dragged Ronin aside and she passed out. Kobal took her to the roof, and laid her on the floor; he then woke her with a chemical slurry and told her to smile. He gave her a set of dimples, then lay next to her and took a picture. He told her that he wanted to be in the picture because he did not want the picture to be that beautiful so his face would dumb down the picture. He then severed her legs from her body with professional skill, and then he left her to die from blood loss or black out from the excessive pain. But just in case she did not die, he injected her with a lethal poison that would kill her if she was moved.
Ronin had been on the next floor down when the crude surgery had taken place; he shuddered at the sound of Celia’s screams. Once Kobal left Celia, Ronin went to her side, she looked into the depths of his eyes, and her head fell to the side as she stopped breathing. Ronin wept at her side, and then Kobal walked up behind Ronin. Ronin turned around with tears still in his eyes, and reached in his back pocket for his gun. Kobal lunged at Ronin, causing him to fall back onto one of the syringes. Ronin yelled in agony from being injected with rubbing alcohol. Ronin immediately fell to the ground. Kobal moved Ronin into the main lobby downstairs, and stared at Ronin. Kobal had been thinking of what to do with Ronin, Kobal had thought Ronin had been killed from the injection, Ronin was almost the first to get away from him. Ronin woke up a while later, Kobal was shocked, and he asked Ronin why he had lived. Ronin did not answer, but instead asked how Kobal had stopped time. Kobal did not answer he just looked at Ronin. He told Ronin that if he wanted to kill him that he should shoot his pendant which Ronin had just noticed, it was an onyx roman numeral thirteen. It hung just below where Celia had slashed his neck, and above where she stabbed his heart. Ronin wondered why Kobal was telling him this, Kobal smiled, and untied Ronin, and told him to run, and that he would give him a thirteen second head start. Ronin ran, and hid around a corner. Kobal picked up a butcher knife he had placed on the floor. The chase went through the entire hospital, Ronin ran for what seemed like hours, he stopped to rest. Instantly Kobal descended upon him with the knife raised over his head. Kobal sliced Ronin’s ear off, he screamed as he felt the pain. Ronin reached his hand into his back pocket and pulled out the remaining five syringes and stabbed them into Kobal’s heart, then forced all of the rubbing alcohol into Kobal’s heart. Kobal fell back, then got back up and cracked his neck.
Kobal told Ronin that what he had just done was not very nice. Then Kobal got up, and slashed at Ronin’s chest with his knife, Ronin then took his pistol, and pistol whipped Kobal in the face. Ronin ran, then stopped and turned. He stared straight into Kobal’s eyes, he aimed the gun at the hulking figure that was barreling toward him like a freight train. Ronin’s hand shook as he found the pendant and pulled the trigger. He missed. Kobal attacked Ronin with rage burning in his eyes. Kobal’s attack shattered bones; Ronin felt as if his right arm had been removed from existence, he no longer felt his legs either. Kobal stared down upon Ronin, he was helpless, and all he could move was his left arm. Ronin took his gun in his left hand and fired, he got a direct hit on Kobal’s pendant. Kobal laughed and noticed his pendant lay shattered on the floor. His face warped into a deformation that looked as if he had been given an acid dip and had his face put into a vice. Ronin rested on the floor as Kobal fell to the ground and burst into flames. Ronin passed out, and lay there for hours. Once Ronin woke up he pulled himself upstairs, and he went to Celia’s side. Ronin closed her eyes, and told her limp body that he loved her. Ronin slowly made his way to where Travis had been pushed into the elevator shaft. Ronin pulled slowly, but with a determination on the rope that was around Travis’ neck. Ronin heaved Travis and his chair back up the shaft. Ronin screamed in agony as he used all of his strength to pull his new friend back up the shaft. Once Ronin had gotten Travis back up, he laid Travis on the floor, closed his eyes, and apologized for not helping him.
Ronin forced himself to crawl downstairs, screaming with each short drop. He stared at the clock that had signaled all of this. He cursed at the clock and forced himself to stand on his shattered legs. He took the clock down, and he collapsed again. He stared at the clock, and could not find anything different about this clock. The clock’s thirteen was gleaming, and had a slight glow; Ronin saw this and stared right at the ominous thirteen. Ronin was engulfed in the glowing darkness of the numeral; he blacked out and slept for two days, he woke up around what should have been morning. He looked at the clock, the thirteen had stopped glowing. He looked outside and noticed that it was still the same night that it was when he arrived at the hospital. Ronin smashed the clock; it screeched and burst into flames just like Kobal had. Ronin’s eyes went wide when this happened. Time did not return to normal, so he put his pistol to his head and pulled the trigger.