Confused out of my mind, I hold the piece between my fingers, eyeing the small chips and marks that decorate every available space.
"How did you get in there?" I mumble leaning back in my chair, the soft sounds of the clock above me ticking away. Letting out a tired sigh, I get up and place the piece down on my desk beside my monitor.
Stretching, I make my way back towards the locker room a strange idea plaguing my mind as I stepped inside.
'Perhaps?'
Striding over to one of the older bodies at the far end of the room, I pop in open and take out some gloves from my coat pocket. Pulling them on, I take a scalpel from the nearby table and make a small incision into the neck. Cautiously I poke my finger inside and at first, I am relieved when nothing meets it. But soon something sharp jabs the side of my finger and I pull it free.
"How many are there?" Cautiously I go through each body within the week, each piece I pull out has the same strange engravings. Five pawns and both knights now sit next to the bishop I had pulled. Now sitting back in my office, the rumble of thunder grows deafening as I try to wrap my mind around any of this. "How long has this been going for? How many more people have these pieces?"
A knock at my door surprises me, clenching the front of my button up in shock. Taking a shaky breath, I stand and walk over to the front door.
'Who would be out this late in the night? And in this weather no doubt.'
Striding down the hall, pulling my gloves off my hands, I toss them into the trash in the lobby and look through the glass double doors. Finding nothing out of the ordinary the cliché hitting me like a brick as I dig through my lab coat pockets for anything. Removing a small scalpel with a blue covering from the depths of my inner pocket, I hold it firmly as I unlock the front door.
Looking out into the blistering winds, nothing but a few vehicles that had been abandoned earlier that week sit in front of my work. Stepping back inside, a loud crash makes me jump. Looking towards the sound, my grip tightens on the scalpel. Dragging my feet slowly over the marble floor I listen out for anything out of the ordinary.
'Please let it be a tree branch… please…'