Miya felt like an idiot, that much was clear. Jon made himself out to be such a nice guy, but in the end he was only after one thing, just like every other guy she knew. Her steps were angry, purposeful as she made her way back to her apartment complex. This was the stride of a woman trying her damndest to compose herself long enough to get somewhere private. And given she’d chosen to stick to the back alleys as opposed to remaining on the street where it wasn’t so dark, she clearly didn’t want other people to see her either.

Too bad that wasn’t the case. Though she didn’t know it, Miya was being followed.

“I’m so dumb,” she muttered to herself while wiping her eyes dry. “Why can’t I just…”

Her train of thought was cut off by a strong unyielding grip on her arm pulling her into a side alley. Miya opened her mouth to scream whereupon her cries were muffled by a firm hand on her lips. She wiggled and squirmed, trying desperately to get free while letting out muffled cries into the strangers hand.

“Quiet,” he insisted sharply. “Quiet!”

She finally calmed down long enough to realize who was speaking to her. The stranger slowly raised his hand away and let her go, whereupon Miya turned sharply around and glared at him.

“Jon?!” she asked angrily.

“Shh!” He placed a finger up to his lips, a severe look in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in a softer yet no less aggravated voice. “I thought I made it clear I don’t ever wanna talk to you again.”

“And I get that,” he assured in an equally soft voice. “But, listen Miya, I need you to follow me. This is very important.”

She blinked at him in confusion. “Follow you? Why?”

“Look…” He sighed in frustration. “...there’s absolutely no way to do this without looking like a creepy stalker, so I’m just gonna come out and say it. Miya, you are in terrible terrible danger right now.”

“Danger?” She just looked even more confused.

He nodded vehemently. “Yes. Something has been tailing you since you left the bridge. I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s not human.”

She scowled at him. “Jon, I really don’t wanna play this game. Look, if you’re that dead set on making me go away, then you should just...”

“Miya, I’m serious.” He spoke with absolute severity. “Something is after you right now. If you don’t believe me, just look.”

Jon motioned for her to duck out behind the corner of the alley with him. They both peered down the sidewalk only to see the silhouette of a man standing by the street corner. There wasn’t any traffic, so there was no reason he couldn’t cross. And he didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

“Listen, I know you don’t believe a word I’m saying.” Jon continued. “But you at least have to believe me when I say that your life is in danger right now. Please, I’m begging you to follow me.”

After a moment, her expression finally softened. “So...you’re really being serious about this? You actually think some monster is after me?”

“Yes,” he assured. “Think what you will about me, I don’t care. But I swear I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “You’re crazy, you know that, right?”

“And I’ll happily go on living the rest of my life with you believing that,” he insisted. “But right now, I just wanna make sure you get home safely.”

After a moment of thought, she sighed in weary resignation. “Fine. But I’m not letting you in.”

He smiled in relief and nodded. “Fair enough. Now come on. We need to do this correctly.”

~~

Miya followed Jon down a series of alleys and convoluted paths that seemed to only get them further and further away from her intended destination. Were it not for that shadowy silhouette still following her, she’d have accused him of wasting her time. Yet still, that figure persisted, making her more and more nervous the farther they walked.

“So...what is it that's following me?” she finally decided to ask.

“I don’t know.” He admitted.

She frowned at him in annoyance. “Aren’t you supposed to be like an expert on these sorts of things or something?”

He sighed in frustration. “It ain’t that simple. I haven’t had enough time to figure out exactly what it is that’s tailing you, I just know it’s not human.”

“How can you be sure?” she challenged. “For all we know it’s just a really disturbed man. We should call the police.”

Jon laughed at that. “And tell them what, exactly? That a monster is following us?”

“We can’t prove that,” she insisted, a hint of suspicion in her voice. “I still don’t really believe it myself. If we call the police...”

“Then it’ll disappear,” he cut her off. “But that won’t stop that thing for long. It’ll just wait until you’re vulnerable again and strike then.”

His words seemed to make her nervous again.

“That’s how these things hunt,” Jon explained. “Not just through guile and deception, but through patience as well. That thing has all the time in the world to get its hands on you, Miya. Unless we do something about it now, it will never stop coming after you.”

“So then...what do we do?” she asked worriedly.

“We lure it away to somewhere remote and kill it.”

“K...kill it?” She turned pale. “Jon...I don’t think I can…”

He wheeled around and glared at her severely. “It’s either his life or yours, Miya. Pick now.”

She was taken aback by his words. After a moment of thought, she quietly nodded her head. “O...okay.”

Miya continued to follow him, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to see if that figure was still behind them. It was.

“God, I cannot believe I’m doing this.” She shook her head in denial. “I swear if you’re lying to me…”

“For the last time, I’m not lying to you,” he insisted angrily. “Now shut up and keep walking.”

She frowned at him sourly, not liking his attitude one bit. Yet still, Miya continued to follow Jon through the back alleys away from any major streets or foot traffic. They walked all the way to what appeared to be an old abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the district, whereupon Jon kicked the door open and went inside.

“What are you doing? This is breaking and entering,” she spoke frantically.

“You’ve got way more important things to worry about than a citation,” he responded in a sarcastic tone.

“You don’t have to be rude,” she insisted, completely fed up with his change in attitude. “I’m trying to meet you halfway here.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Whatever. Just keep moving.”

They made their way into the old abandoned warehouse. Aside from the light of the moon, which shined through the open windows of the derelict building, it was pitch black in the large empty space.

“Okay...so now what?” she asked nervously while looking around. “What’s your master plan here, Jo….”

Her words were cut off by his strong grip yet again. Jon pulled her in by the waist with one hand before planting his other around her mouth, a wet cloth in his palm. Miya squirmed in his grip, fighting against him while screaming through the rag.

And that was when she smelled it. Chloroform.

“Sorry, hun,” Jon spoke in a dark, sadistic tone. “But orders are orders. My Master has some questions for you.”

Miya struggled furiously against his grip, panic overtaking her as she clawed and shook and did everything in her power to get free.

“Keep struggling. You’ll just knock yourself out faster,” he taunted.

Her thrashing slowly became less and less violent as her eyes began to shut.

“You humans sure are a gullible bunch. I mean honestly, after all that bullcrap I just fed you? You still decided to follow me?” Jon chuckled at her and shook his head. “I can’t even feel sorry for you. Not after…”

The sound of a revolver cracking off punctuated the air. Whereupon Jon howled in pain and let go as a bullet went straight into his arm, blasting a sizable wound into his bicep. Miya tumbled to the ground, sucking in oxygen and coughing violently while slowly crawling away.

“Dammit! I was sure I’d lost you!” Jon growled in anger and pain while clutching his bleeding arm.

As she slowly regained her senses, Miya turned her head to see the figure who had been following them standing near the entrance to the warehouse, a smoking revolver in his outstretched hand which shined in the light of the moon. Slowly, the figure stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself.

“Jon?” She asked in confusion, her voice hoarse from coughing.

“Get away from her,” the second Jon spoke threateningly to the first. “I’m the one you want, right? She’s got nothing to do with this.”

“See, that’s where I’ll have to disagree with ya,” the first Jon responded to the second, still clutching his bleeding arm. “Like it or not, this pretty little thing painted a target on her back the moment she started talking to you.”

Jon number two groaned at himself. “Jesus, tell me I don’t really sound that obnoxious. I know my accent is a little thick, but still…”

Jon number one shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t look at me, it’s your voice.”

“Speaking of which...” Jon number two continued while clicking back the hammer of his revolver. “I’d really like that voice back. Along with the rest of me you’ve stolen.”

Miya’s gaze shifted between the first Jon and the second over and over again. Her mind was reeling. Did Jon have an evil twin? What the hell was going on here?

“If you want your body back so badly, Hunter…” Jon number one’s eyes began to glow yellow, his pupils dilating into reptilian slits. “...then come and take it from me.”

Jon number one sprinted away at inhuman speeds, moving like a blur of shadows while Jon number two fired his revolver. He cursed upon losing his far more nimble opponent, who escaped deeper into the warehouse. Putting the creature aside for now, the second Jon rushed up to Miya and knelt down next to her.

“You alright?” he asked while checking to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

“Y...yeah.” She was still trying to come to grips with what she just saw. “Jon, what the hell is going on? Why are there two of you?”

“That thing is not me,” he assured. “It’s a Doppelganger.”

“A what?” she asked with a mixture of disbelief and confusion on her face.

He shook his head. “I’ll explain later. Can you walk?”

She nodded, still at a complete loss as to what was going on.

“Then get as far away from this warehouse as you can,” Jon insisted. “I’ll finish the copycat off.”

“But wait...did you see how fast it was? Jon, what if it…”

“Miya…” He offered her a charming smile. “...trust me. This ain’t my first rodeo. I’ve got this.”

She still seemed nervous. But that confident look in his eyes helped to calm her down. Finally, Miya relented, nodding her head in understanding. “Okay...just be careful, Jon.”

With that, he reloaded his weapon and popped the cylinder back in place. Jon stood up and turned towards the darkness in front of him. With Miya safely out of harm's way, he could focus all of his attention on bringing the Doppelganger down.