Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (8 page)

“
Very little is known at this point,
including the means of murder, leads on who is responsible, or why
this even occurred in the first place. What has been a peaceful
community for over twenty years is now the site of one of the most
brutal killings any of the officers on the scene have ever born
witness to. We haven’t been able to get a look, but judging by the
officers’ faces, it’s pretty bad, folks.”

Behind the reporter, dozens of police, medical
and forensic personnel were visible, scurrying from task to task
while the reporter spoke from behind the yellow tape.

“
RICHARD, ROBERTA! Please … Oh God,
please let me see them!”

Cries of pure anguish echoed from behind the
reporter, as the father of the victims struggled to get through the
police.

“
My family, my babies, my sweet
little girls. And my son! I want to see them.
LET ME SEE
THEM!”

Jack remained motionless at the dinner table,
as did his mother and Melissa. To his own surprise, he was the
first to speak. Despite his voice being cold and dispassionate,
there was a heat behind it. There was a burning fire that spoke
volumes more than the words themselves.

“
This is horrible. How could someone
do this to another person? How can we live in a world where this is
allowed?”

Jack stood up from his chair, his arms hanging
loose from his sides while Melissa and his Mom watched with puzzled
expressions. He turned away from them.

“
This morning I hated Richard, his
name brought me anger. But this, no, he didn’t deserve this. What
in this entire world could possibly possess a person to inflict
this on another?”

As if unsure of how to proceed, Alana stood up
and placed a comforting hand on Jack’s shoulder.

“
Jack, you knew this boy from
school? I understand this can be pretty harsh news, but sit back
down, sweetie, we can talk about it. Sometimes really bad things
happen to good people. You’re old enough to know this.”

“
Know it? Yeah, of course I do. But
accept it? No way.”

“
Jack, why are you acting so strange
all of a sudden? This can’t be the first time you’ve seen a murder
on the news. I know you knew this boy, but you’re not acting like
yourself.”

Melissa, who until this point had remained
quiet, stood next to Alana. Her expression was the oddest in the
room—it was a mix of outrage and shock, only it covered her from
forehead to chin.

“
Jack, turn around," Melissa said.
“It’s kinda weird having you turn your back to us for this
long.”

Jack spun around. Melissa and Alana recoiled in
surprise. Alana gasped, and Melissa’s jaw dropped.

“
Jack, your eyes! What’s wrong with
them?” Alana seemed frightened. She ran over and cupped his
face.

“
Why are your eyes
dilated?”

Jack felt dizzy for a moment. He shook his head
to clear his mind then looked around the room, confused.

“
Sorry about that. I was lost in
thought for a moment.”

“
Jack," Melissa said, “why don’t we
go for a walk? It’s a beautiful night, and it’ll be just you and
me. What do you say?”

Jack went instantly from impassive coolness to
pure delight. “Sounds great! I’ll grab my phone and wallet.” He
picked them up from the table in the next room. When he returned,
his mother appeared to be deep in thought while Melissa stood by
the entrance to the door in silence. Neither of them made eye
contact.

“
Mom, I’ll be back in a bit, thanks
for dinner.”

“
Wait a minute, Jack," she
said.

“
What’s up, Mom? If you’re worried
about us running in to the killer from the news, don’t worry. I
doubt he’d be out there with all the cops and what not looking for
him.”

Alana’s lips formed into a pout, which she held
for a few moments, until suddenly a wave of understanding seemed to
cross over her. Her eyes opened wider than Jack had ever seen them
and she turned her gaze on Melissa.

“
Melissa, it was truly lovely
meeting you, and I thank you for all your help, but my son may
not
go for a walk with you.”

“
I beg your pardon, Mrs. Harris, but
I don’t see why not.”

Alana walked over to Melissa, and Jack’s mind
hammered him with confusion. What was going on?

“
I really don’t think that Jack
should go out right now. You saw what just happened on the news,
and I think it would be best to stay indoors. You’re welcome to
stay as well if you wish.”

 
Melissa’s face seemed to
register some kind of understanding, and her eyes hardened. “Well,
I have a feeling we’ll be fine. And I think you and I both want him
to go for that walk with me.”

Jack couldn’t put his finger on what was
happening, but for some reason both ladies were glaring at each
other.

“
Do I, now?”

“
Yes, you really do.”

“
And if I object?”

“
You don’t want to.”

“
And you can promise my son won’t be
hurt? You can guarantee it?”

“
I swear it on all that is important
to me. This may be hard to believe, but I actually really like
Jack.”

Jack didn’t know if at this point it was more
advisable to be confused or flattered.

“
I guess he should go for that walk
with you, then," Alana said. Jack wasn’t sure, but for a
moment he thought he saw a tear flash in her eyes.

What the hell are they on
about?

“
I can tell my son has feelings for
you. Treat him right.”

Melissa nodded.

“
Whoa, Mom. Embarrass me some more,
why don’t you?” Jack felt blood enter his face in such a rush that
he wondered how some still managed to travel through his
veins.

“
Jack, let’s go already, come on.
It’s a beautiful night.”

“
Requiem, you’re sure it’s the
Harris boy?” Ruin sat cross-legged in the shelter, an expression of
delight on his face. His sister’s still contained the madness, as
it always did, but this time, it contained something else.
Pleasure. She wore this expression only at times when she was
confident she had solved a problem. It gave her such feelings of
elation.

“
When I know, I know, Darling. You
should understand that about me by now. It’s that Harris boy. Oh, I
will love turning this one. Ah! I can see it now. This one’s
different than Brother Andy. He’s pure. But he’ll be turned. I want
to see it! I want to see it so badly it hurts! The innocence fall
away from him, as he kills and takes his birth right. Ruin, oh,
Ruin, I want to see it right this instant! I am unable to wait any
longer.

“
Now, sister, you know the value of
patience. First we have to make him ours and convince him. The
killings must be done of his own volition.”

Requiem moaned. “Then let us take him, let us
take him now! It’s the waiting that hurts more than
anything.”

Ruin sighed. “As you wish, let’s make our
move.”

“
Unacceptable,” Paro said. “They’ve
gone too far this time.”

 
Kazou watched the way his
team-leader struggled to contain the seething hatred from leaking
into his voice. Glancing down, he saw the way Paro interlocked his
fingers, attempting to steady his shaking hands.

“
Easy now, Paro,” Kazou said. He
placed a hand on Paro’s shoulder and shot nervous glances at Sarah
and Michael. It went unsaid that the least productive thing that
could happen at a time like this was for Paro to explode with rage
and possibly take down the building around him.

It was no secret that Paro was very powerful,
the depths of which even he didn’t possess a clue about. Kazou
estimated that, at the very least, Paro alone had the power to
destroy a small army. He had met many Psychs since he began working
for Paro’s team, but none of them came within a fraction of his
ability.

“
Don’t tell me to be ‘easy’,” Paro
growled. “Look at this, Kazou. Look at what they have done here.
They even killed the little girls.”

The once well decorated home was now covered in
blood and tissue. It was to such an extent that Forensics had
issues determining where one body started and another
ended.

The blood covered the walls, floor, and in some
cases even the ceiling. The victims appeared to have been shredded,
their skin peeled from their bodies with evidence suggesting
painful, agonizing deaths. From what Forensics had pieced together,
the mother had crawled several feet before dying, dragging clumps
of skin along the floor with her.

 “
I’ve got no choice,” Paro
said. “I don’t care if we’re dealing with children anymore. In
fact, my feelings on this no longer matter. We’re out of options
here. I have to put out the kill order. The Operations division
will handle this from here on.”

As if her life depended on it, Sarah, in a
blinding flash snapped her head around at Paro and roared at him.
“What did I just hear you say? Hey!”

Sarah had wept upon entering the scene, whereas
Michael had said nothing, forgoing his normal one-liners, but Sarah
had been hit hard. Kazou hadn’t been on the team long, but in the
time he had, he couldn’t recall having ever dealt with a murder on
this scale. Even still, Sarah had composed herself and done her
job. At least until Paro’s remark.

“
Take it back right now, Paro. Take
it the hell back.”

Sarah glared at him and planted her feet into
the ground. Kazou couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The usually
soft-voiced Sarah was snarling and growling demands.

“
You know I can’t do that, Sarah,
even if I wanted to. This is over our heads now. Look around you.
Look at what’s been done here. Don’t you think I’d like to solve
this without loss of life? That’s no longer possible. We’re out of
options here. And trust me—the gravity of what I must do is not
lost on me. I promise you.”

Kazou, although upset by the decision, did not
voice any protest. He knew it was necessary. For Paro to even be
considering it, let alone following through, meant it was nothing
short of vital.

The Psych-Ops were divided into two broad
categories—Investigative and Operative. The job of the
Investigative teams was to inspect, arrest, and handle the vast
majority of crimes. They weren’t fighters or killers, and the use
of force was intended to be kept as minimal as possible.

The Operative teams, on the other hand, had
only one simple job. They tracked and they killed, nothing more.
They received a target, the list of crimes, and all information
found by the investigative team that pursued it. From then on, they
did not rest until their target was found and eliminated. But if
only that were all, Kazou could have rested easy with the decision,
yet it didn’t end there.

For one, the Operative teams did not have the
authority of negotiation. Once a target was found, he was
eliminated despite any pleas, begs, or even offers of surrender. A
target may, and in the past have gone as far as, spreading their
hands wide above their head, going to their knees and assuming a
position of surrender. For an Op. team this was nothing more than
an easy kill.