Chapter 3:

The Wedding Massacre

The Garden Of Dreams

Nathan looked at the time, it was eleven in the morning. Much time was left for the party to start, so he laid down to rest a bit as he was tired from all the travelling...

*SKIP TO FIVE THIRTY IN THE EVENING*

Nathan woke up, he didn't realize that he had slept for so long. The time for the party was six and it was five thirty already.

"Shit! I gotta hurry..."

He quickly got ready and headed down to the banquet hall, where the party was.
Everyone from his family was there. His aunts, his uncles, his cousins, all of them.
"Dad, why did you have to throw a party so big?" he asked Mr. Frost. He thought it was just going to be the four of them
"Why? What's so wrong with a big party? It had been a long time since the family had gathered, so I thought it would be great to see them all again..."
Before Nate could say anything else, his aunt interrupted,
"Nate! It's very nice to see you, how are you doing darling?"
"Aunt Linda! It's very nice to see you too. I'm doing great, what about you?"
"Oh I've been doing just fine darling. Seeing you after so long has made me very happy, we last met at your sixteenth birthday if you remember."

"Yes, I do remember. It has indeed been a long time"

(He didn't remember.)

For just a moment at the party, Nate couldn't worry less about his problems, singing and dancing and having a great time with the peopled he loved, he forgot about the nightmare and enjoyed himself a lot, he was happy. After some time, all the guests had left. Nate's family was staying at the hotel for the next three days.

It was midnight and Nate was tired, he almost immediately slept after lying on the bed.\

"Do you, Jake Benjamin, take Emily Stone as your beloved wife?"
"Yes, I do."
"And do you, Emily Stone, Take Jake Benjamin as your beloved husband?"
"Yes, I do."
"With the power vested in me, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. You shall kiss the bride now."
*Applaud*
"Marriage is beautiful, isn't it Nate?"
"Yes, yes it is Tessa."
"That could be us one day, you know?"
"That's way too big of a commitment, don't you think?"
"The commitment is what makes it beautiful though."
"Well, we still got a couple of more years on our hands before we start thinking about all these things, we're still in college...And to be honest, we never know where life might take us."
"Yeah, that's true."
In the middle of their conversation, Nate heard a scream.
"You heard that?"
"Yes, who was that?"
"I don't know. That scream sounded terrifying though. We should check it out."
"Yeah!"
It wasn't only Nate who had heard the scream. Almost everyone at the wedding heard that. Jake was an important man, hence there were many guards present at the wedding. Jake was Nate's friend. Though he was much older, they had a great brother-like bond.
"Jake! Is everything alright?" Asked Nate.
"I don't know, I'll have Dixon to check it out."
"Yes, please. I hope everything's alright."
A couple of guards were standing near Jake, they ran outside to check what had happened, while Jake contacted the head of security, Dixon.
"Dixon, is everything okay at the front gate? Dixon, you hear me? Dixon!?"
"What's wrong?"
"Dixon's not answering, I'll try to contact the other guards....Hello, does anyone read me? Anyone!? Damn it! no one's answering."
"Wait, I'll go check it out."
Before Nate could go and check what had happened, Dixon came in. He went to Jake and whispered something in his ear.
"Alright, everyone stay calm. Something has come up, it's nothing to be worried about, but we will all have to head towards a safer place." Jake said to everyone.
"Why? What's wrong Jake?" a person asked.
"It's nothing big, there's an intruder, he's not dangerous though, the security will handle him. we're just going to the panic room as as safety measure, nothing else. Please don't panic, just follow me calmly."
"Okay."
The crowd started moving slowly and they all went to the panic room. Dixon locked it and stayed outside. No one knew what was actually going on.
After some time, the people in the panic room heard some faint gunshots and some more screams.
"Jake, what was that? Is everything okay?" Everyone started worrying.

Jake contacted Dixon but he didn't respond, and neither did any other guard.

Suddenly, some one started banging on the panic room's gate. Bang after bang after bang, there was a big dent on the metallic gate, it was about to be broken. Everyone started panicking and asking Jake questions. Jake himself didn't exactly know what was happening.

One final bang, and the gate had been broken. Someone entered the room.

It was a giant man, about 8 feet tall, wearing a black tuxedo. He had a weird mask on his face and he was covered in blood.

"What the hell! Who are you?" Jake asked.
"That's not important. You have to come with me right now."
"Why the hell would I come with you? Who the hell are you?"
"Come with me right now or it won't be good for you."
"Are you threatening me?"
Everyone was staring at the man with fear while he talked to Jake. Some even tried to leave because they didn't feel safe.
"If you want everyone to live then come with me, or else I'll fucking kill them all and take you by force. You understand?"
"What the hell did you do with Dixon and the others?"
"I did what I had to! Now stop asking questions and come with me!"
"Jake who is this man? Do you know him? What's wrong?" Asked Emily.
"Everything's alright Emily. You Don't have to worry." Replied Jake.
"Oh, So you're the missus." Said the man while looking at Emily.
"Hey, you leave her out of this!" -
"Worried about her, are you? So, why don't you just do as I say and I won't harm anyone."
"Let me guess, the COUNCIL sent you, huh? Who do you guys think you are? I'd rather die than to help you scums!"
"Careful with your words mate. You don't want them to come true."
"You think you could just come here and ruin my wedding? I'll make you pay for this."
The man was running out of patience. He didn't intend to listen to Jake anymore. He was ready to do whatever it took to get him out of there.
Nathan and Tessa were just standing in a corner, they didn't know what to do. Nathan was afraid that some bad might happen, he didn't want anyone to get hurt. So, he called the cops silently, he didn't want to take any chances.
"You're testing my patience now. I'll tell you again once. Come with me or else you'll regret it." The man said in an angry voice.
"What if I don't? What are you gonna do, huh?" Jake wasn't ready to leave with that man.
Out of all the people present there, only Jake seemed to know who the man was and what he wanted.
"Well, you aren't leaving me much of a choice now. Guess I'll have to do the things my way."
"Who do you think you are you motherfu-
Just before Jake was about to finish what he was saying, BAM! the man punched him in his face. The punch revealed the man's robotic arm.
"Jake!" Nate shouted.
Everyone started hurrying to the exit in a panic. Emily broke down crying and shouting...
"Tessa, get the hell outta here! And take Emily with you! I'll try to help Jake"
"I can't just leave you here Nate!"
"Tessa just go! You have to get Emily somewhere safe. You have to leave, right now!"
Tessa was hesitant, but she didn't have a choice. She ran towards Emily.
"Emily! C'mon, we have to leave, it isn't safe here."
"But what about Jake? Help him, please!"
"Jake will be alright, Nate is here with him and he has called the cops, they will be here any minute now. Let's go somewhere safe"
Emily and Tessa stood up and started running towards the exit. They didn't want to leave but they had no choice.
"Jake! Please be alright!" Emily shouted.
"Huh? And where do you think you're going...?" Said the man while looking at Emily.
Jake was still down. The man started following Emily and Tessa.
Nate ran towards Jake to help him up.
"Jake, c'mon man get up! You hear me? Jake! Get Up!"

Nate was hoping for the police to show up but since the wedding was on Jake's private island, far away from the main land, the police was taking more time. Or at least, that's what Nate thought was the reason behind the police's delay.

Jake opened his eyes, his nose was bleeding and his head was hurting like hell. Nate helped him up.

Nate looked up, he saw the man going after Emily and Tessa. The man was killing everyone in his sight who was running away with the gun installed in his robotic arm. There was blood everywhere. Screams overlapped Screams, cries overlapped cries and the dead bodies overlapped dead bodies. There were a 100 people at that wedding and not even one of them was spared by that man. He massacred everyone. It was a truly a horrifying sight to see.
The man stretched his robotic hand with extreme force for another punch, but this time it was aimed at Emily.
"Emily look out!!" Nate shouted.
Tessa quickly pushed Emily out of the way. But the punch hit Tessa.
"Tessa!" Nate shouted while running towards her.
Tessa fell down. Her head was bleeding. Emily was lying beside her.
The man grabbed Emily by her neck lifted her in one hand.
Nate ran towards the man and punched him in the gut, only to hurt his own hand. The man was a cyborg, and half his body was metallic.
"You kidding me with that baby punch of yours?" The man looked at Nate and threw him away with only one of his hand. Nate hit a wall and fell down. He wasn't able to get up.
With Emily in her hand, he walked towards Jake.
"You want her to live?" The man asked Jake.
"Yes, please! Just put her down. I'll come with you. Please just leave Emily alone, I beg you!" Said Jake while crying on his knees.
"If only you would've done this earlier, so many people wouldn't have had to die. Their blood is on your hands." Said the man.
"Please just take me and put Emily down, please!" Jake wasn't thinking of anyone else except Emily.
"Fine. I'll put her down."
The man put Emily down, she was unconscious. He grabbed Jake by the neck and brought him up to his face.
"Next time, you simply obey the COUNCIL." he said to Jake and dropped him down.
He gave some pill to Jake and told him to chew it.
"What is it?" Jake asked.
"Just chew it without any questions." The man replied.
Jake chewed it and soon fell unconscious. The man lifted him by his collar and took him away.
Nate saw all this happen but he couldn't do anything as he didn't even have the strength to get up.
"Wait, where are you taking him?" Nate said in a very frail voice, his voice had become very weak. The man could not hear him and went away. Nate didn't see or hear any vehicle leaving.
All he could see around him were dead bodies and blood.
"Tessa, are you alright?"
He kept trying to get up again and again and finally he got up with support from the wall beside him. But his left leg was broken. He saw Emily Lying near the exit. He looked around to find Tessa. There she was, lying among various other bodies. Nate walked towards her, limping on his right leg. He sat down near her and took her in his arms. There was blood all over her head the side side of her face was damaged too. Tears started falling down Nathan's eyes.
"Tessa, open your eyes. You're gonna be okay Tessa. Please wake up. I can't lose you too. Please Tessa!"
She didn't show any response.
"Please Tessa, Please wake up!" Shouted Nathan.

Nathan opened his eyes, with a loud gasp. He was struggling for breath. He looked around. There weren't any dead bodies around him, there wasn't no massacre, he was in his hotel room, safe and sound.
"Another nightmare?" He didn't understand why he was having such nightmares.
" Why did I see Tessa in my nightmare? What does it mean? Who is Jake? Who was that man? What did he want with Jake? Why did he kill all those people? Why do i keep having these horrifying nightmares?" all these questions started to flood his mind. Nothing about these nightmares made sense to him. He wondered if these nightmares had something to do with his lost memory.
"Who am I? Do I belong in this life?" these questions popped in his head along with all the other questions. He needed to know the answer to all these questions.
"Staying here won't get me the answers. I need to go back home now." He though that he would first question around in his city before talking to his family about it. He looked at the time, it was six in the morning.
He went to his dad's room...
He knocked twice but no one responded so he knocked again.
"Who is it?" His dad asked.
"Dad it's me, Nathan."
His dad opened the door.
"Son, what are you doing up so early? Is something wrong?"
"No dad...uhhh....something urgent has come up, I gotta go back to Nodax."
"Right now?"
"Yes, right now."
"Can I ask what's so urgent?"
"Umm...It's something related to college dad. There's this...uhhh...project I gotta finish."
"Project?"
"Yes, a project. You guys can stay here though, you don't need to come with me."
"Okay but why do you have to go right now. It's only a matter of two days and then we'll all go back anyways."
"I have to submit this project tomorrow, so I gotta go right now dad. Please try to understand."
"Fine, you can go today. If it's so urgent then you can take the speed train to Nodax which leaves at seven."
"Thanks for understanding dad. I'll call you when I get there."
"Have a safe journey son. We'll see after two days."
"Yeah, bye dad."
Nathan left in a hurry. He couldn't wait to get an answer to those questions. He hoped that going back to his city will help him solve some of the mysteries.