Solomon Stone: Beyond

Chapter 1

Detective Stone was at his office checking for some old files, when his cellphone beeped. He picked it up from his office table, and a message indicator appeared. According to the message, the police found another dead body, but this time, it's in the woods.
Detective Stone quickly stood up from his office table, and rushed towards his sedan. He entered the car, started the engine, hit the gas pedal hard, and went off. The rpm gauge in the dashboard of Detective Stone's car showed five thousand rpm, and the speedometer reads at one hundred miles per hour. Too fast, he already broke the traffic law, good thing he's a detective, the police will just let him pass.
Detective Stone arrived at the crime scene just ten minutes after he left his office. He parked his car at the side of the woods, and turned the engine off. He stepped off of the car and immediately walked to the area where the body of the victim was found.
"Mid 30s' and received the same brutality." The policeman said who approached him as he walks closely to the body of the victim. "Oh by the way, it's a male." The policeman added.
Detective Stone approached the body lying on a pile of rubbles and chopped woods. The body of the man lying on the ground had his neck slashed open, his eyes were taken off; nowhere to be found, and his guts outside of his body. His intestines were scattered all over the place, it seems that it was already scavenged by vultures in the woods. Another thing that the detective noticed was that, the body is now on a decaying stage. This means that, this guy was dead even before the family was murdered.
"This guy was dead three weeks or more already." Detective Stone told them, in a very calm voice. He stood up and walked near a big old tree, where he saw something peculiar.
He took out his phone from his pocket, and then, he took a picture of the middle part of the old tree. Another "It is time" word was written there, carved by a sharp thing of some sort, and painted with blood that already dried up.
After taking the picture of the words written in the tree, Detective Stone walked closely to a medico legal staff, which happened to be taking some possible evidences near the body.
"Hi, I am Detective Stone; can I talk to you for a minute?" Detective Stone asking the CIU (Central Investigation Units) operative that were gathering some evidence near the body of the victim.
"Sure, detective!" She quickly replied. She stood up in front of the detective, and asked him what he needs. "What can I do for you?"
"Can you adjust your area by 200 meter radius? Look for some shoe traces or footprints around the woods, as well as a wood carving tool." Detective Stone requested to the CIU staff. He paused for a second, "because, I think we can find something significant around that radius."
"Sure detective! You are the master in this field; we will do it right away!" She replied. The CIU staff picked up a megaphone, and stood up near the body. "All CIU operative, please look for evidences within the 200 meter radius as requested by Detective Stone." She said in a very loud voice enhanced by the megaphone she was holding.
"Thank you!" Detective Stone said.
"You are very much welcome detective, the pleasure is ours." She replied.
Detective Sarah, arrived in the crime scene 30 minutes behind Detective Stones arrival at the area. "Damn it! He is there already." She whispered to herself, while approaching the body.
"Hello! Detective Sarah you are late again." Detective Stone greeted her with a smile.
"Sorry, I was at my office reviewing some evidence of another case." She replied.
"Do not worry much, its fine. This cadaver here were three or more weeks dead already, it's not significant to us anymore." Detective Stone said.
"You mean... He was murdered first before the family?" Detective Sarah asked.
"Yes, you are right, and I think, this is not even the first victim." Detective Stone answered.
"Are we... on another serial killing case here?" Detective Sarah asked again.
"Yes! I think we are, and we are not dealing with just an ordinary serial killer, this man must be stopped immediately at any cost, before he turned this city into a living hell..." Detective Stone replied.
"Have you told the chief about this already?" Detective Sarah asked.
"Nope! Not yet." Detective Stone replied.
"I think it is best that we already tell him this conclusion of yours, so that he can ask the media for a press conference, and tell the public to be vigilant." Detective Sarah suggested.
"No, if we do that now, our monster will just leave this town and look for victims somewhere else, and we cannot catch him." Detective Stone replied.
The detective branded the killer a monster, because no normal person can do such heinous crime. They all know that no one in their right mind will do such brutality, to a human being that is much like him/her. Only a non-human can do things like these, not even the sickest serial killer that Detective Stone caught did such gruesome murder.
The question of why the killer is doing this is still a big puzzle to solve.
"I hope you are right detective." Sarah uttered. She is very worried of the situation
knowing that a monstrous serial killer is roaming around the area. She thought that telling it to the public will prevent the killing. However, Detective Stone also got a point, if they will do that now, the killer might just run away and look for another victim somewhere else, which is out of their current jurisdiction.
A policeman suddenly rushed towards Detective Stone and Sarah. "Detectives! I think you should see this!" The policeman said panting, because he ran fast just to reach the two in an instant, and at the same time terrified, because of what they just discovered.
Detective Stone and Sarah ran fast, and followed the policeman's path to see what the urgency is all about.
Once they reached the area, they saw two log houses in the middle of the woods. The first log house is smaller compared to the second one.
Detectives Stone and Sarah quickly went into the first house, where the policeman they were following entered. Both Detective Stone and Sarah were in for a big shock, of what they just discovered.