Chapter 7: The Fight Club: Savage Retaliation
The metallic scent of blood hung thick enough to taste, sharp and nauseating. Bettina slumped against the cold tile wall, her breath rasping in shallow, pained gasps. Sweat plastered strands of her jet-black hair to her temples, her face drained of color except for the smear of crimson near her mouth. Her knuckles were bone-white where she pressed a wad of blood-soaked silk against the jagged wound on her inner thigh, the dark stain spreading relentlessly. Mark hovered, useless, his own hands sticky red, the image of Wanda’s ruined throat flashing behind his eyelids every time he blinked. Wanda lay where she’d fallen, a crumpled, still heap on the gleaming tiles, the vibrant hate finally extinguished from her small frame. Silence pressed in, broken only by Howard’s frantic pacing just outside the doorway and the frantic whispers of the gathered staff.
Then, chaos erupted. Boots pounded down the corridor – heavy, purposeful. Security arrived first, two burly men whose eyes widened in shock as they took in the scene: the body, the blood, the pale woman gasping against the wall. Their radios crackled to life, voices barking codes.
“Clear the area! Back up! Everyone back!” one guard yelled, his voice cracking slightly despite his size, trying to herd the gawking crowd away from the nightmarish tableau. His partner stood frozen for a second, hand hovering near his belt, staring at Wanda’s body.
Seconds later, the EMTs burst through, a blur of navy uniforms and clattering equipment. They zeroed in on Bettina instantly.
“Ma’am? Can you hear me? Where are you hurt?” The lead paramedic, a woman with short, practical hair and sharp eyes, knelt swiftly beside Bettina, already snapping on gloves. Her gaze swept the bloody leg.
“Leg… inner thigh,” Bettina managed, her voice a strained whisper thick with pain. She winced dramatically as she shifted. “She… she bit me. Like an animal. After she hit me… with the cane.” A tremor, seemingly genuine, ran through her.
The paramedic peeled back the soaked silk. Mark flinched at the sight – deep, crescent-shaped punctures weeping dark blood, the flesh around them already mottling purple. The cane strike had opened a nasty gash nearby. “Jesus,” the paramedic murmured. “Okay, deep tissue bite, possible arterial involvement. Pressure here, Jen!” She directed her partner, who immediately applied a thick sterile pad. “We need to stop this bleeding now. Can you tell me what happened?”
Bettina’s eyes, glistening with unshed tears, darted towards Wanda’s body, then back to the paramedic. Her lower lip trembled. “She… Wanda… attacked me. In here. Cornered me.” Her breath hitched. “She was screaming… insane things. About Mark… about the penthouse… things she’d done before. Then she just… lunged. Bit me. Hard.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I pushed her off… she grabbed that cane…” She gestured weakly towards the cabinet where Mark had hidden it. “…Hit me. I think… I think I hit my head when I fell. Everything’s fuzzy.” A masterstroke, adding disorientation. Her hand fluttered vaguely near her temple.
“Penthouse?” the paramedic asked, focused on applying pressure but clearly filing the information.
Howard, hovering near the door, piped up, his voice shaky. “Earlier! They had a… confrontation. In the elevator. Wanda was furious. Unhinged.” He was nodding vigorously, buying Bettina’s story wholesale. “She threatened Bettina. Said vile things.”
The paramedics exchanged a look. “Okay, ma’am, we’re going to get you immobilized and to the hospital. That bite needs serious attention. Risk of infection is high.” They worked swiftly, stabilizing her leg with a vacuum splint, starting an IV line. Bettina whimpered convincingly, turning her face into Mark’s side as they worked. He flinched at her touch, the cooling blood on his shirtfront.
Then came the cops. Two uniforms first, securing the scene with grim efficiency, their radios squawking static. Their faces tightened when they saw Wanda. Soon after, detectives arrived – a weary-looking man in his fifties with salt-and-pepper hair (Detective Ruiz) and a younger, sharper woman with an assessing gaze (Detective Chen).
While the EMTs prepped Bettina for the gurney, Ruiz approached Howard. “You found them?”
Howard nodded, swallowing hard. “Heard screaming. Terrible screaming. Banging. Forced the door. Found… found this.” He gestured helplessly at the carnage. “Wanda… dead. Bettina… like this. Mark was… he was trying to help her. Wanda just attacked! Out of nowhere!”
Ruiz’s eyes swept the scene: the blood patterns, the position of the body, Bettina’s injury. Chen moved silently, snapping photos with a digital camera, the flash stark and intrusive in the bathroom’s harsh light. She paused near the sink cabinet, her gaze sharpening on something unseen – perhaps a faint smear Mark missed when hiding the cane? Mark’s heart hammered against his ribs.
Ruiz crouched near Bettina as the EMTs lifted her onto the gurney. “Mrs. Bettina? I’m Detective Ruiz. Can you tell me what occurred?”
Bettina turned her head, her face a mask of pain and exhaustion. Her voice was faint, strained. “Wanda… ambushed me. Waiting… when I came in. Started ranting… about destroying Mark… about me. Called me… vile names.” A tear traced through the grime on her cheek. “Then she… she just snapped. Bit me.” She gasped as the gurney jostled her leg. “Like a rabid dog. I fought… pushed her off… she grabbed her cane… hit me… hard. Then… blackness.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t know… how she…”
“Her cane?” Ruiz pressed gently. “Where is it?”
Bettina shook her head weakly. “Don’t know… dropped it? Maybe… when she fell?” She opened her eyes, wide and pleading. “Please… the pain…”
Ruiz nodded, straightening up. “We’ll talk more at the hospital. Get her transported.” He turned his attention to Mark. “Mr. Mark? You witnessed this?”
Mark felt the weight of Bettina’s gaze, even through her apparent haze. He cleared his throat, his voice raspy. “I… I heard Bettina scream. Came running. The door was locked. I heard… awful sounds. Thumping. Wanda screaming… like a wild thing.” He shuddered, the memory partially real. “Then… silence. Howard forced the door. We found… this.” He gestured at the scene, unable to look directly at Wanda’s covered form (a body bag had finally been produced). “Wanda… she was on top of Bett… biting her leg. Bettina was… unconscious. Or nearly. It was… horrific.” He ran a trembling, blood-stained hand over his face. “She… Wanda… she’s been getting worse. More unstable. The penthouse thing… her threats…”
Detective Chen had moved silently closer, listening. Her eyes flickered from Mark’s stained hands to Bettina’s pale face on the gurney. “Ms. Bettina,” she said, her voice calm but penetrating. “You said she bit you. On the leg. How did she end up…” Chen gestured towards Wanda’s body, “…over there? With that kind of neck injury?” Her gaze was steady, unnervingly direct. She wasn’t buying the faint quite yet.
A flicker of something cold and hard passed through Bettina’s pain-glazed eyes, gone so fast Mark almost thought he imagined it. She drew in a ragged breath, wincing. “I… I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice cracking with genuine-sounding distress. “I pushed her… hard. Off me. She stumbled… backwards… must have… hit the counter? Or the floor? It happened so fast… everything was… red.” She turned her head away, a fresh sob escaping her. “It hurts… so much…”
The lead EMT stepped in. “Detectives, she’s lost significant blood. We need to move. Now.” Her tone brooked no argument.
Ruiz nodded curtly. “Go. We’ll be at the hospital shortly.” He looked at Mark. “You ride with her. We’ll need a formal statement later.”
As the EMTs wheeled the gurney out of the blood-slicked washroom, Bettina’s hand shot out, grabbing Mark’s wrist with surprising strength. Her nails dug into his skin. She pulled him close as they navigated the doorway. The pain was etched deep in her face, but her eyes, inches from his, burned with fierce, unmistakable command. Her whisper was a hot, urgent breath against his ear, barely audible over the commotion:
“Stick. To. The. Story. Everything.” Her grip tightened, a silent promise of consequences if he wavered. Then she released him, letting her head fall back on the gurney pillow, the picture of traumatized victimhood once more as they rolled her towards the elevators, leaving Mark standing amidst the flashing lights, the buzzing radios, the overwhelming smell of antiseptic struggling to mask the underlying stench of blood and death, and Detective Chen’s watchful, skeptical eyes fixed on his retreating back.