Hegemon

Murder on 2nd Street

“Yeah, they’re calling him the new Ripper,” The woman said to her friend, talking nervously, as if someone could hear them who wasn’t supposed to. “It’s strange, something like that happening somewhere like this... ” Kira couldn’t hear the rest of what they were saying once they passed.

There had been so much talk about the murders, and the press had done nothing to calm the fear that their town had, if not made it worse. Everything in the news was “be safe” and “don’t do this,” but there was no sign of a “calm down” or an “everything is okay.”

“Did you hear about last night?” Jess’ voice made her turn back to the sidewalk.

“What about it?”

“There was another one, same as all the others,” she said. It was obvious she had overheard the women as well.

“Yeah, my mom was talking to me about it. It’s really scary now, everyone’s on edge,” Kira murmured, looking around. On any ordinary Saturday the streets would be crowded, people selling food or pedestrians crossing the streets, but now there were hardly any people out at all. The few people that were out clung to the walls or looked at their watches and hurried to wherever they needed to go.

“Kira,” Jess said, jolting her vision back to her friend, now standing behind her. She jerked her head to the building on her left, the theater, which she had accidently walked past. She smiled sheepishly, walking back to go through the double glass doors with Jess.

The theatre wasn’t crowded, but some others showed up about halfway through the movie. It was a good way to relax about everything that was going on.  Near the end Kira looked at her watch and realized it was already far past her curfew.

“Jess, we have to go!” she whisper-shouted, grabbing her friends hand and dragging her out of the theater.  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this! Do you know how dead I am? And with everything that’s been going on—my mom’s going to kill me,” she moaned, pulling Jess along faster.

“Relax, just tell her the movie ran long,” Jess sighed, trying to keep up.

“You don’t understand my mom,” Kira mumbled, walking faster. No one was on the streets then, it was too late past sundown and with all the talk of the murders going around, it was hard to feel safe at night. Kira hadn’t realized how late the movie would run. It was cold out and there was a slight fog in the air.

The lights in the houses were off, but as they walked farther, the banging of metal against metal became more apparent. Kira and Jess slowed, walking carefully.

“What’s that?” Jess whispered, holding tighter to Kira’s hand. She pulled her along slowly, nearing the small alleyway that was the source of the sound.

“Kira!” Jess whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder. The sounds from the alley were enough to make someone nauseous, horrible ripping sounds and something that sounded like dripping water, but the wrenching curiosity in her gut made her move forward, closer to the gap in the buildings until she was right against the edge. Jess was pulling her hand, trying to get her to come back.

“We’d have to go this way anyway, relax,” Kira said.

She peered around the corner and couldn’t help but scream, stumbling backward. Looking back at her was the bloody, sharp teeth in a crooked jaw, black skin and sunken eyes like an empty skull, skin-and-bone arms with mangled claws, a spine protruding through the black skin on its back and hunched over like an animal.

“Oh my god. You’re... you’re the killer... ” Jess said next to her. The thing growled horribly, loudly, and Kira flinched, but Jess just looked surprised. “Kira... Kira he’s going to kill us,” she said, backing up as the thing took a stumbling step forward. Kira didn’t know what she was seeing, but it sure as hell wasn’t the same thing she was. It let out a wet growl, walking farther through the alley.