Standstill (Erityian Tribes Novella, #3)

02 : Skirmish

"That damn murderer," the inspector growled while looking at the mutilated body on the ground.

Nandito kami ngayon sa crime scene habang itinataboy ng mga pulis ang mga tao. Luckily, the chief inspector is a Senshin and he's quite close to Sir Tora. When he saw us, he let us observe and investigate the scene which bothered some of the officers.

"Let them be," he said earlier. "They can help us. Trust me."

Pagkakita pa lang namin sa katawan ng biktima ay napatigil na kami. Just like the description in the news, the victim was brutally murdered. His eyeballs were removed from their sockets, his abdomen was cut, revealing his stomach and intestines and his skin was unbelievably dry.

"What a brutal killer," Hiroshi commented while scanning the body with the device he invented to record the state of the body and which would be instantly sent to his server.

"He was killed ten hours ago," dagdag ko naman nang mahawakan ang paa niya. "But he was butchered an hour after he died."

"Are there any suspects?" tanong ni Hayate kay Inspector Warren.

"Yes," sabay tanggal niya sa sumbrerong suot niya. "There are actually two suspects three years ago but due to insufficient evidence, we were forced to release them."

"One of them is Ariel Andrada, right?" Kana chimed in and all of us were surprised by her input.

"How did you know that?" the inspector asked, still dumbfounded.

Hindi naman sumagot si Kana at muli siyang tumingin sa bangkay na nasa harapan namin.

According to the initial report, the victim is Gabriel Corpuz, a newly-licensed physician and one of the top ten takers. His friends were waiting for him in a nearby cafe when he suddenly texted a creepy message to one of them:

Isusunod kita

Mukhang hindi pa tapos ang pagpatay niya ng mga tao.

The four of us stayed and gathered information about the case, especially now that there might be another victim.

All of a sudden, I felt a chill down my spine, as if someone was staring at us from behind. Agad akong lumingon pero sa dami ng taong nakapaligid ay hindi ko matukoy kung saan ko nakuha ang pakiramdam na 'yon.

'You felt it, too?' tanong ni Hayate.

'Yeah. That bloodthirst is comparable to a Shinigami,' I answered and I could feel it more intensely, being a Shinigami tracker and all.

'An Erityian is here.'

'But I'm sure that that one isn't the criminal,' Kana chimed in while looking at the body.

'Yeah. This one is a work of humdrum,' Hiroshi added.

Lumapit naman sa amin si Inspector Warren at ipinakita ang ilan pang information na nakalap nila. Pagkatapos no'n ay nagdesisyon kami na magsimula na ring mag-imbestiga. Hayate and I wandered around the street where the body was found while Kana and Hiroshi stayed at the crime scene to examine the body with the forensic team.

Agad namang nag-send si Hiroshi ng summary of report sa kanya-kanya naming KT, a device similar to a mobile phone. Erityians do not use electronic devices made by humdrums since we could be traced or tapped so the tribes usually have their own inventions or methods to communicate. For Senshins, the Technology department have invented several portable devices useful for times like this.

According to the reports he found three years ago, three murders were committed by the same killer. The same brutality and method were observed and this person is quite clever because he or she didn't leave any traces of him or her. In addition, there were no patterns on the dates of the murders, as well as connections among the three victims.