The sun rays dawned down with warmth on harum city. Giving off a more reddish color, as it was setting in the horizon. The busy streets were getting less active and crowded, with evening drawing near.
"What's your name?" Kelly softly asked holding the little girl by the arm. After the little commotion at the restaurant, she tried to get more information from the little girl. But unfortunately, the young child was still in a bitter state of grieving from a loss.
'Poor thing. I wonder what she's been through?' Kelly inwardly thought staring at her. She clearly heard the girl say something about her parents, being taken away from her. And she had a plain idea what it meant.
"I-it's Patricia." The little girl barely uttered between her sobs. Her eyes were now swollen, from the constant crying of who knows how long.
Her clothes dirtied with mud and some little stains of blood.
'She must've watched her parents being killed in front of her.: Judging from the stains of blood, Kelly could only guess the girl's parents were murdered before her eyes, and she somehow managed to escape.
"B-but my mom call me patty." She burst out in tears again, her mind trailing off to the times shared with her parents.
"Hey there there~" Kelly said, picking her up and embracing her in a big hug. She then gently brushed her back with warmth and care.
"Patty huh? That's a cute name for a princess." Kelly smiled making the little girl let out a sigh. After some few minutes, the latter seemed to have calmed down a bit as she wasn't crying profusely like before.
"T-thank you miss-"
"Kelly.. you can call me Kelly." Nodding, little patty then hugged Kelly more tightly. She'd been crying for so long it exhausted her energy, and now she was tired. Her eyes were slowly trailing off to slumberland, with her eyes dozing off.
"You don't have to be scared anymore." Kelly whispered, holding her tightly like she was about to slip from her arms.
In truth she couldn't deny the girl reminded her of herself, during the time she was a young little girl living on the harsh streets of harum city. Sure she was bullied and beaten, having to beg and scrape on crumbs to survive. But she did have one closure.
'Jack.' She'd met jack a few months after finding herself in harum city. And everything seemed to have changed for her positively, in that moment. Not only did he make it a bit better, but he also acted like a big brother even though he was weak and frail.
Standing up to protect her, which resulted in him getting beat up badly. but he didn't mind, as long as she was safe he was ok.
Soon months turned into years as the two spent time together. Their bond only grew more with each passing day, and eventually so did their feelings for one another.
Shaking her head Kelly proceeded down the street. She then crossed the street entering another street, named aile street. It took about three streets to get to her's.
'What's happening?' Kelly wondered, seeing the crowds of people gathered at a particular spot. Looking, she could see police cars and yellow tape lines placed at the start of a street. Specifically ardo street, the third and final street before hers.
'Could it be a murder?' Kelly thought moving closer. Murder cases were bound to happen in harum city, but it was usually rare. The last time a murder was reported was months, if not years ago. Yes life was hard here, but people resorted to stealing and not violence.
"Miss stay behind the line." A female police officer warned.
"Why are there so many cops here? Is this a murder report?" Kelly inquired, but the officer simply shrugged.
"There's no comment for the masses now. But I can ensure you reports are being carried out and we'll get to the bottom of this." The female police officer spoke in an indifferent tone, making Kelly frown more.
Peeping she tried to get a good look, but her vision was blocked by an ambulance and several other cars.
'I should drop patty at home.' She decided it was best to drop Patricia in her house, as she didn't want her to be a part of this. if truly a murder occured here.
Reaching grej street she located her apartment, a two story building painted ember. Opening the door she laid patricia on the bed, locking it and hurriedly rushing back.
"I heard there was a mass murder reported here." A male civilian said to another.
"A mass murder, no way! we haven't had such since years."
"Yeah. I mean who would do such, to murder an entire street in cold blood? That's just not humane man."
"Maybe it was a psycho arsenal killer."
Hearing the murmers from the crowd, Kelly was intrigued to find more about the serial killer case.
Sneaking to the back of the crowd, she thought of a distraction to stir the female officer attention away. So she could make her way to the back of the yellow line, to see for herself.
Staring at an open police vehicle on the road an idea popped up in her mind.
"Bingo." Grabbing a brick she made her way to the cop car. Acting as casually and calmly as she could, so as to not arouse suspicion if anyone was looking. Reaching the car, luckily the key was still on the ignition of the car.
She then placed the brick on the accelerate pedal, putting the gear in drive and starting the car.
'Vroom!!' The car reved with life moving from spot, heading downwards into a building.
"Shit!" The officer cursed following pursuit. Giving the small distraction Kelly made good use of it, sneaking past the other officers behind the yellow line.
"Oh my god. I-it's a whole massacre." Kelly stuttered in shock, staring at the piles of bodies wrapped in white cloth. No doubt there were about 30 or more, if one counted them.
Steeling her resolve she got closer to the first two bodies. Crouching down she pulled down the cover of one. The foul stench of decomposing flesh mixed with blood assaulted her nostrils, causing her to vomit.
"Ph-ough. Phough!"
'But how? Their bodies aren't meant to decompose now.' Kelly was surprised the bodies had already started decaying, since they were killed today. As for how she knew, well let's say it was a little guess fueled by a gut feeling. And she'd also be aware of any recent reports of a mass murder, as it was scarce to come by.
"What's that?" Looking she could see strange red patterns that looked like veins, running on the bones of the dead corpses. It was strange, as she could tell it wasn't hardened blood. But what was more strange about the strange weird lines was they were still pulsing, with a faint ethereal glow.
"Hey, what are you doing here!" Her attention was pulled out of her trance. Getting up, she could see the female police officer had now returned from her little chase.
"Am sorry my pen rolled here and I just couldn't leave it. It was my grandma's, so it's special to me." She lied, picking up the pen she'd laid in the floor earlier.
"No civilians allowed here!" The cop yelled a vein bulging on her forehead. She then held Kelly by the arm, dragging her away from the crime scene.
"You're lucky am not charging you for trespassing, and tampering of evidence for a case young lady." The officer grumpily spoke glaring a darting gaze at Kelly.
"You could earn some decent years in jail without patrol for what you just did, along with some other offences."
"Haha! Thank you so much. Am such a clingy clumsy idiot. The pen slipped out from my purse and I just couldn't let it go. I apologize once again." Kelly awkwardly said scratching her hair and chuckling a bit.
"Whatever.." the female cop scoffed. "Get out of here before I change my mind." Nodding Kelly then turned leaving.
"Ben cooper?" She muttered, seeing a chubby bald man with brown suit exiting a car. She clearly recognized the man, as he was the chief of harum police department.
'What's the chief of harum police department doing here?' It was hardly Ben ever came out from his office. Or to a small unimportant street like this. But the few times he'd stepped out were due to a very severe case, which included mass murder.
'Just what's going on around here?' Kelly could feel it. Strange happenings had been occuring in harum city, but nothing this bizzare. Shaking her head she left, going back to her apartment.
'She's still asleep.' She smiled, seeing the little girl innocently sleeping on the bed. Sitting down besides her she wrapped her arms around Patricia.
"We're both the same patty, broken."With a sigh her eyes slowly fluttered shut.
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Meanwhile in an underground lab, very down below obscured from the eyes of all. People in white lab coats moved about, carrying out strange scientific tasks.
There were huge test tubes, pods with various biometric experiments, and many more. In a secluded corner away from all the chaos was a secure metal door, with structured security.
Clank!
A clank sound was heard, followed by a systematic hissing sound. The door then slowly slid back open with a soft thud.
"At last.. after many failed attemps we've finally managed to create an orange orb." Bryce excitedly said protruding out the door, with excitement plastered on his face. In his hand was a small orange orb, pulsing with power.