The police sirens blared in the background as we reached the crime scene. Hannah reached first, and her eyes told us everything. Yet, we moved forward, a tremble in our legs
The body looked barely recognisable . The skin was absent at the sacrum, and blackish fluid seeped seamlessly on the cold concrete floor . Fingers had been ripped apart , leaving thick gory callouses . Whitish fluid from her brain flowed onto the broken skullbones . Dry, broken fragments of her hip bone were scattered along with what appeared like scurried tissue from her internal organs . The eye hung out of the socket, it's contents pouring out like sesame sauce but darker . The on-cell police officer nearly puked at the sight of the shredded skin all spread on the stone bottom. Even William, the toughest one among us , grew greener by the second at the site of the jutted out bone , mangling with the flesh and tissue.
The absolute worst was the stench that was filling the air – reeking the atmosphere of rotton flesh and bones , clinging to everything it touched. It was nothing like I'd ever heard or seen in my life – and I'd son some pretty messed thing . It was a notorious blond of decaying tissue, open wounds and something sour and putrid . Breathing and standing through it felt impossible.
And yet , it was a blessing in disguise. It drove off the curious passerbys who had to come in and look . Even the younger police officers were off the site – standing nearing the perimeters , and their eyes showed nothing but disgust.
"How the hell did this happen?", Leah whispered to me .
Dylan was talking to the police head, getting increasingly infuriated whatever the discussion was– it was not going well.
"You can't keep her", Allen yelled, " you know the rules. Our bodies have to be properly disposed by us only. If there's a trackers. "
"God forbid there's a trackers. There's nothing left of the body . The body needs to be Id'd and returned to the parents who probably do not yet," said the officer , more loudly ," A 23 year old will not boss me around , for God's sake "
Dylan retreated – he had realised the conversation was futile . He discussed a few more arrangements with the Paramedic and then strutted to us.
"What do you think happened? ", I asked, In a low voice
And for the first time in five years, Dylan seems to have no words . His head dropped as he tried to imagine but nothing was good enough an explanation.
"Can't be human", Hannah whispered, tears in her eyes .
"I really hope so ", Dylan gave a weak smile, " I thought you guys were weak . You really are".
"I can't imagine what I'd say to Rose", said Daniel, " she'll probably leave ".
We'll give her the exact information. Every detail.. and we'll find every person who had a hand in this and never let anything like this happen to anyone again", Dylan said , calmly.
Classic Dylan, always knew what to say in what situation.
"So, what are we gonna do now ?", Leah said, softly
"We should return, " Daniel said, firmly, "Me and Dylan can handle this but you guys are basically kids. We will carry out the investigation, and you all get some sleep " .
"No way", I said ," you need me tonight. Who'll review the cameras?"
I knew, they would have to let me stay . There were only two hackers on the team . One was now a mixture of decaying bones and flesh the other was me .
"No," Dylan said, making me frown. "You all will have to go to school tomorrow, and you need a night 's sleep. We'll call in Andrew from the day."
"Fuck you , Andrew," I said , making a face.
"Don't spread out this information, " Daniel warned . There was enough ruckus with that group 's murders . They'll start to think we're cursed or something. "
"We won't ", Leah said," And if you guys need anything, we're a call away " .
"Of course ", said Dylan, but I knew that he would never do that.
Walking away seemed more difficult than coming here. Even finally being able to breathe normal air could not undo the knot in my chest. Amber had been a friend to me, though not close. We undoubtedly had a good relationship despite not knowing much about her personal life. She was nearly the only one in the department who I could go to when I had my problems. I had definitely harbored a sense of attachment towards her.
Not to mention the investigation tomorrow. The thought alone made me unease. Daniel, Dylan and a few ladies were the only good seniors in the department. The moment they'd find out Amber's last call had been me and not her sister, all hell was gonna break loose.
Leah seemed quieter than usual too. She was never fond of Amber- often calling her " geeky " or " nerdy ". Probably a little jealous too. But the death seemed to have impacted her more than it had me, if not usual.
Hannah was not close to either of us. She was a detective and worker with a completely different group of people. Whatever few instructions, I had with her were purely professional, yet I could see the hurt in her eyes.
"I need to go back ", Hannah said, halfway ," I need to tell him, " and we need to find this ".
We tried to protest, but she left us willingly and we could not do much.
" Dont you think that...", Leah began.
" Hannah's a little more invested than usual ", I nodded.
We both knew Hannah had a little to nothing to do with our department. She was known for being apathetic and emotionless- and yet, it seemed the complete opposite. Her insisting to come with us made no sense. Surely, Amber's corpse was nothing like anything I had ever seen but deaths were common where we worked. We were an intensely underequipped and unpopular group, who had slowly started coming to power- and hence, had a low staff count.
"Maybe they were working on a project together and get attached ", Leah suggested, positively.
"I have an idea ", I said ," But this whole thing is not normal , I mean why should she call me and not her sister ?".
"Yeah, that didn't make sense ",Leah said, seriously, "Did you know where she had gone ?".
"Alyssa might now ",I said . Alyssa was our mentor and a very close family- like person to both of us ," But so might Rose ".
" Rose had no idea ", said Leah ,not convinced, " A few days ago , she asked me if my sister was also sent along with Amber for the project. She didn't look she was lying ".
"Why would she lie ?", I agreed.
"Are you gonna tell mom ?", she asked me.
"Are you ?", I asked mom.
And we both had a silent argument. Although, we did not have anything against her, Mom was not exactly a secret keeper.
"Are you worried? ", I responded , in a hollow tone ," I don't think so ".
"Just saw you know, you're gonna be all right".
"I know ".
We stopped talking. All the gloomy and serious thoughts vanished replaced by an intense panic. The window panes had broken , glass present with broken stone fragments. Our intruder was not exactly deceptive.
Leah took out her gun and made her way to the door. There was no hint of any movement. We nodded at each other. It was time to confront whoever was in there.