SAW: Retribution

II.

                                                              15 years later.

                                             FBI Agent Lawrence Crawford

The smell of rotting flesh and shit filled the air as officers searched the crime scene. Blood covered the walls, floor, and even the ceiling. The victim...you could barely tell who she was. The face was...a mess. Face carved, peeled away, revealing a muscle ridden face that the rats called home. Another victim was found, this one was hanging from the ceiling. It appeared the two victims were set to save one another, yet couldn't do it in enough time, leaving them both to die. All this recorded for someone's pleasure, like some sick game. Camera flashes went off as officers photographed the room, trying to piece together the events that happened.

I approached the leading officer on the scene, passing men and women at work taking evidence of the crime in. Each wearing a mask to cover their mouths from the repugnant smell that the bodies gave off in the room. Some officers left the crime scene, gagging and needing air. This wasn't a place for the faint of heart or weak stomachs.

"I'm guessing you're the FBI agent sent to help figure this shit out?" asserted the leading officer as I approached him.

He was large man, mid 50's, nearing the end of his career. Hair was thinning and near a perfect snow color. His skin was a dark complexion, dressed in his blue uniform. You could tell by his face he had seen some shit in his life, but this was the worst he'd seen in a long time.

I removed the white mask from my face as I addressed him, "FBI agent Lawrence Crawford, sir. Tell me what you got."

The leading officer took his mask off and began walking through what he'd picked up so far.

"Two victims, based on what little identification we can figure out, both around the age of 18. Very young pair. Just a fucked up way to kill someone."

I walked around the rotting flesh of the female victim, who was strapped to a chair with a collar around her neck. Her face was not all there, pieces missing as if it was shot with a shotgun. Several holes in the head, and in the center of her face was a rat's nest.

"They been dead for over a week. Only way we found them was some kids decided to run through some abandoned buildings. They caught a smell of this shit and followed it," the officer stated.

"Any items found? A tape perhaps?" I asked him as I looked closer at the collar.

On the collar sat 4 shotgun shells that went off, and at the back a standard master lock without a key. The device was rigged to a small timer that sat under the chair, hooked up to a car battery. The device was primitive.

The leading officer waved to another officer for her to bring him what she had. In her hand was a small bloody tape recorder that read: "PLAY ME." The tape recorder was sealed inside a plastic evidence bag.

I stood up and took the bag that contained the tape recorder. I pressed the rewind button, then play. Slowly a voice crept out of the little tape recorder saying,:

"Hello children, I wanna play a little game. A game that plays with your life. A game you'll most likely die from. Are you ready to play?"

"James and Sarah, two high school lover birds that like to pick on the weak and defenseless. Well today we see who is really weak and defenseless. If you can truly boss around James, Sarah, because the only way you both live is if he listens to you. Let the game begin"

The tape cut off there, but you could tell by the voice it was a female. The editing to the voice was very shallow, and not done correctly, still giving the impression of a female. In the background you could hear the sound of a bird chirping on the tape. Whoever it was didn't know what to do.

"Do you think it's another one of those....games? The ones that happened several years ago, and someone new is beginning them here? Another one of John Kramer's students?" The officer asked in fear.

I slowly began looking around the room, piecing together what had happened. How the game was played. How it ended.

The man, James, now hanging from the rafters, he was once on. He was walking around, possibly to a key that was hanging near a ladder down. Unfortunately, James couldn't see. His eyes were missing. Leaving Sarah to be his eyes, yet she either panicked or gave him wrong directions and he fell, or he gave up, or she died. This leaves James to fall, and hang from the rafters he was walking on.

While Sarah on the other hand, she was strapped to a shot gun collar set to a certain time to go off. She could play the tape and yell directions to James from down below. Either miscommunication or ran out of time, left James to die. Either way, Sarah was going to die. Her hands and feet were locked by a different lock than her collar. Sarah was destined to die here. James was just a pawn to make sure she died.

"Agent Crawford?" The officer said as he shook me.

"Yes, sorry, was thinking. What was your question?" I asked him as I snapped back into reality.

The officer asked again, "Is this another one of those John Kramer students?"

"No. Who ever this is wasn't trained. They did this out of rage, not the same type of games John Kramer played. Instead, we have yet another copycat out there. This makes the 7th copycat out there. Each one of the games played are just not the same as John Kramer's, " I answered as I began to leave.

More copycats, all trying to be John Kramer. Neither of them creating games like the originals. Even half the tools are miss, voice editing is wrong. They are just proving they can do it for personal gain, yet every time we nearly find one of them, they go missing.

So far, we have 6 missing suspects, and my gut is telling me there is probably going to be a 7th one if we don't find this one. Who are they all? Where are they? I thought as I left the crime scene.