As Kevin moved to the left and attempted to continue walking, he felt his wrist being grabbed firmly. Kevin turned around to see the woman gripping his wrist tightly. Her formerly irisless eyes now had big brown irises that looked Kevin up and down as if sizing him up. A reddish brown strip could be seen horizontally arranged across her sclera.
Kevin said "Excuse me....I need to go sorry."
The woman opened her mouth, revealing a row of yellow teeth, but no words came out.
Kevin attempted to yank his wrist away, but the woman's iron grip refused to budge. In desperation, Kevin kicked her right kneecap, causing her to buckle slightly. Seizing the opportunity, he then yanked his wrist from her grip and ran. The woman stared for a few moments before stumbling away in the opposite direction; her gaze now on a child sitting on the outside of a tavern begging for alms. She approached him, movements jerky and unnatural. Kevin did not see what happened next.
After a mix of sprinting and speed walking, Kevin found his way back to the University gates as the boom of thunder resounded in the air. After Kevin walked past the University gates, the rain came down hard, forcing the exasperated Kevin to run to his dormitory building soaked to the bone. Carmita, who was sitting in the lobby reading a book, greeted him and, seeing his state offered to bring a towel up to his dorm room. Kevin accepted the offer and made his way to his room, shivering from the cold rainwater dripping down his spine. Once Carmita brought up a towel, he changed into warm dry clothes and sunk into his bed, exhausted. Despite the events of the day, sleep came easily.
***
Deep into the night on the outskirts of Little Havana, a soft rain settled onto the streets, creating puddles in the cobbled roads. The path lit by dozens of lamps and lanterns, Hundar stood solemnly dressed in a black trench coat and black boots, his face gaunt and shaved. Holding an umbrella, he inspected the troop of men gathered before him, 50 federal agents dressed in black trench coats and fedora hats, armed with revolvers pistols and knives.
Next to them was a mass of 200 members of the Myami Garrison dressed in grayish tan shirts and trousers. Their distinctive breastplates were slick with rain. This group held long spears and sabers in their hands. Behind the crowd, Hundar could see the faint outline of Myami's downtown, illuminated by hundreds of streetlamps and room lights.
Hundar coughed twice and looked back at the sleepy neighborhood in front of him. According to the information gathered by the CIA and local informants, Little Havana was the epicenter of Myami's supernatural underground. Dozens of judges and likely hundreds of occultists called the neighborhood home, with many practicing openly without any consideration for the law or public good.
If the reports were true, there were even children openly boasting about their abilities and flaunting their power, a sight that disgusted Hundar to no end. Child judges in particular needed to be taught proper discipline and respect for the laws of nature and society before they came to their own catastrophic conclusions. They needed to be shown the error of their ways before they grew up into monsters and tyrants beyond redemption.
Under the cover of night and rain, Hundar planned to begin his crackdown on Myami's judges in Little Havana. He looked down to a paper in his hands, on it were a list of names and residences of judges and occultists suspected to live in Little Havana copies having already been distributed to participating Federal agents an hour before as they would be in charge of the operation on the ground level.
Thanks to the execution the prior afternoon, it was no secret that federal authorities were targeting judges in Myami. By conducting the initial crackdown at night, Hundar planned to use the element of surprise to capture and eliminate as many judges as possible before they had time to flee or organize effective resistance. One major hope he had for the operation was the capture of child judges before their parents could attempt to hide them away. If they could be apprehended on mass, then not only would it spare the government the trouble they would cause once they became adults, but they could also be pressed into the CIA more easily.
Of course outside of this he wasn't too optimistic about the operation's chances of success, occultists were usually readily replenished by individuals from the general population, and while weaker judges could be hunted down on mass, their more powerful and experienced counterparts would almost certainly be able to evade capture.
However, even if the operation didn't accomplish its primary objectives, he could still consider it a success as long as the judges of Myami fell into fear and made their existence less obvious. Tomorrow he planned to oversee the destruction of a temple which regularly provided sacrifices to illegal deities and spirits, hopefully without resistance from shaken up locals.
Hundar coughed violently as he put away the list and addressed the federal agents.
"I believe you gentlemen already know our task and purpose here tonight, so I shall be brief. Intelligence suggests there may be hundreds of judges and occultists sleeping here tonight. Our primary objective is to destroy them. Take as many judges as possible prisoner, if this isn't possible, exterminate them. In the case of a child judge do not under any circumstances harm their family members when taking them prisoner. Our secondary goal is to encircle the temple of Bendici y Paz located deeper in Little Havana, and destroy it tomorrow. Each of you shall lead a team of four city garrison members. Questions?"
One of the Federal agents stepped forth and said, "Sir, what is the protocol if we encounter judges too powerful to eliminate?" Hundar coughed and said, "If you encounter a judge capable of resisting you and your team, retreat immediately and sound an alarm. Reinforcements will arrive shortly afterward to aid you. Understood?"
The agent nodded affirmatively and stepped back into place. Hundar coughed again, "Alright move out!"
The crowd split into teams of Federal Agents accompanied by four city garrison members. Hundar closed his umbrella and let the soft rain fall onto his head as he watched the teams vanish into Little Havana's alleyways and streets.