ManBeast - Book 1: A Kingdom of Predators

Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

A crime scene; several police officers had taped off an old decrepit apartment, keeping an audience of onlookers back. Yellow tape zig-zags across the front stoop as red and blue lights illuminated the night. A captain, grizzled and hardened from years of investigative work, stepped over the front door barricade, making his way to the third floor of the building. Uniformed men and women filled the hallway as he entered, nodding and tipping their hats as the captain walks past them to the apartment; the captain was respected, well trusted. The smell that lingered in the hallway was acute, like rotting flesh and dank mildew that created a pungent aroma; several officers nearby gagged as the exited the scene. Not the Captain; this was nothing new, even if the dead body found belonged to that of a Beast-Man. Entering the apartment, the captain walked next to a nearby occupied detective, who had been assigned to the active investigation; "Report," the captain spoke firmly.

The detective pulled out a pad, briefly reading over his notes before answering: "Dead Beast-Man; roughly 6'5'' in height, 280 pounds in weight, no known aliases or names, fingerprints not documented in the PD database, none of the other residents even knew he lived, or was squatting here. Dental is being sent to the Crime Lab for documentation and further analysis, but that's going to take a while. Initial assessment for cause of death is a broken neck; looks like he fell out of his chair hard after doping up. Neighbor called because of the smell and the thud from his supposed fall. As of now, he's "John Doe." Looks like he's been dead for at least a week."

The captain stepped over to the body bag, unzipped it partially, and narrowed his eyes in analysis; a lizard-type Beast-Man, with his neck bent at an obtuse angle and his head spun around, stared lifelessly back at him. The captain re-zipped the bag and walked over to the chalked outlines of evidence on the floor; the chalk body outline further depicted the monstrous size of the dead Beast-Man's body, but nonetheless something else of interest had arisen: the broken vials. "Have these been field tested yet?" the captain called out.

One of the Crime Scene Investigation officers rushed over at the Captain's inquiry pointing at several of the vials upon arrival. "The vials had trace amounts of a diluted but powerful chemical, sir; tests are showing initial signs of that stimulant Tactical Narcotics has been looking into. A dangerous amount of the same chemical was found in his blood and saliva, definitely looks like an overdose." The captain pulled a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and gingerly picked up one of the vials to smell it. He closed his eyes briefly before turning to the detective in a conclusory fashion: Yea, this is "Feral" alright. A "stepped on" version, watered down, but this is "Feral" nonetheless. The distinct, almost metallic and citrus-y smell of the major chemical components is unmistakable."

The detective nodded in affirmation, but scratched his head in visible confusion: "This event matches the other five Beast-Men found recently around the tri-county area, all undocumented, doped up, and dead. A pattern?" The captain put the vial back and stood up, facing the detective: "Naw, just a bad batch these poor fucks got high on. Mark it down as an accidental overdose, tell the CSI guys to treat it as such. Close off any current investigations into persons of interests in relation to the crime and being the formal paperwork; there's nothing to see here. Turn over the remaining drug samples over to the Tactical Narcotics ADA; they're building a case surrounding this stuff."

At that, the Captain walks past the detective and other officers, leaving them to their tasks. Once outside, the Captain took out his cellphone and sent a text to a number. After pressing send and with a deep sigh, and proceeded back to his cruiser. "Nothing to see here."

Jules found himself staring at the computer screen, lost in thought about the events of yesternight. Beyond the fact that he was stupidly exhausted (and a little hungover), the excitement and anticipation of Frankie's offer had not worn off: he was going to train for the Gauntlet! The rest of the night had been a montage of merriment; multiple champagne toasts, some shots from an expensive bottle of whiskey Roger purchased, and a beer chaser lead Jules to have a headache-y morning. But even through the fun of drinking with his new mentors and watching Al piss off Doug multiple times, Jules could not shake the intrusive truth of what was to come. He was going to train with Beast-Men, Beast-Men who fight in an underground society, Beast-Men who wanted him to join them in their quest for ethical integrity and honor. Such a notion is not easily shaken, as Jules absent mindedly doodled pictures of cartoonish characters fighting in a team meeting, looked up workout routines during lunch, and wrote out a diet plan when he should have been working on the mural. This was not unnoticed by his peers and supervisors; Marjorie, who had taken a more active role in the construction of the mural, seemed to appear anytime Jules' attention span waivered towards his new moonlight mission. She found him sitting at the blank computer "Preliminary sketches, Mr. Jones?" Marjorie sarcastically inquired.