Chapter 4
“This is the place?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“…how many dead.”
“5 people… including the assailant.”
Shiori grimaced.
The sky above was dark and grey, a warning for the storm coming soon. Filling the empty streets were several police cars surrounding a particular building pined among others, with loud rhythmic sirens disrupting any hope of peace. Shiori really didn’t want to work today, but unfortunately, this case was more serious than usual.
“Alright… I’ll see what I can find.”
“Stay safe, ma’am.”
Shiori gave a small nod toward the officer before entering the building, leaving the wailing of the sirens and chatter amongst officers to fade away.
It was a cafe as ordinary as any other, or was as ordinary as any other. Shiori herself even passed by it a couple times for different cases. Which only served to darken her mood at the sight before her.
The lights were busted, the bulbs in the roof hanging by their wires and flickering every once in a while. Tables strewn about, messy and evident a struggle occurred. Some were even implanted into the walls, slanted and messy.
Although, the thing that caught Shiori’s eye as she looked over the mess… was just behind the counter where a receptionist would be. Instead, there rested a corpse with only its legs shown dangling over.
A pit grew in Shiori’s stomach. She’d seen many corpses before. But the ones involved in this case… it’s best to ignore it. After all, the perpetrator behind these incidents cause far more chaos behind the scenes than on the surface level.
Shiori started towards the hallway in the back leading to what she presumed would be a storage area, carefully stepping over the rubble and wreckage. The air grew colder as she neared, and although it was just the architecture of the building, the walls felt like they themselves moved the enclose her.
This was strange. Shiori had felt uneasy about these incidents usually, but never to this extent. It was like some premonition that something bad was going to happen.
…
None of the other incidents had tables implanted into the walls.
The realization hit Shiori as she took the final step through the hallway and into what she correctly guessed was a storage room, her foot hitting concrete and echoing in the room.
Her thoughts were left to run amok as she thought about the implications, eventually drawing the conclusion that they were dealing with something bigger than they initially expected. It was already evident that these incidents were linked somehow, considering the timespan they all took place in and the similar crime scenes.
But there was always one big hole in this investigation. That being that the suspected convict in each incident… was always found dead.
Most people assumed it was some cult instigating these attacks, with the convicts killing themselves at the end for some religious reason. While it wasn’t a bad assumption, Shiori always felt there was something more to it.
Especially considering whenever a convict would be examined by forensics… they would find the person’s organs missing.
These weren’t suicides.
Shiori was snapped out of her thoughts by rustling in corner of the room, directing her eyes towards stacks of opened boxes. They appeared to be lazily tossed aside, some of their contents spilling out onto the floor.
Shiori began to cautiously approach the pile, her nose being irritated by some awful smell. A lightbulb flickered across the room, temporarily drawing Shiori’s attention sway before she arrived at the stack.
Her eyes widened.
Strewn amongst the boxes were corpses, 4 by Shiori’s alerted count. They were… they were just like the rest. Their heads appeared bitten off, and based on their pale skin, likely have lost their organs like the convicts as well.
“What… the hell.”
Shiori took a step back, boxes falling down in her direction. Her sudden exclamation wasn’t only of shock, but of confusion. This had never happened at any other incident, the corpses were always strewn about outside. Questions once again began to rise, with little logic or conclusions to draw-
“Who’s there!?!”
Shiori was alerted by a sudden noise coming from the entrance of the storage room. It sounded… slimy? The noise was sudden and fast. At the very least, it didn’t sound human.
Shiori made steps toward the entrance, suspicion and a small amount of fear growing. It began to dawn on her that whatever was pulling the strings behind this case had caught on, and planned an ambush against her. She paused her steps, quickly reaching for the radio she always keeps in her pocket.
But felt nothing except empty air.
“Shit…”
Another sound. Same as the last one. Slimy and fast. This time coming from the boxes. Shiori turned towards such. She felt tempted to go towards the boxes. Her legs trembled.
With a shake of her head, she turned back towards the entrance and moved to sprint out.
Until something grabbed her wrist.
She barely had time to react as she saw a black tendril wrapped around her wrist, its appearance alien and slimy to her.
In an instant, Shiori was knocked to the ground as something began to pull her with no care or concern. Her back scraped against the concrete, the burning agony she felt almost being let out in a scream. From the corner of her eye, she saw a black mass strewn on the boxes, tendrils shooting out from it and sticking to the walls like a spider web.
Her pain was ended when she shot up into the air, wrist still being held up by a black tendril. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, as she stared at this… black abomination.
“What… what are you…?”
It gave no response. With her hazy mind, maybe she assumed incorrectly that it was sentient…
The mass began to extend a tendril from its core, pure white eyes forming alongside rows of teeth resembling a mouth.
It approached her. Realization struck her as her eyes widened, and she tried to wrestle her wrist out of the tendril holding her up to no avail.
The “face” of this thing eventually reached breathing distance with Shiori, the latter of which trying to lean as far back from the thing as she could.
“I…”
Shiori’s ears were disturbed by a deep, gurgling voice presumably coming from the thing as its words synced with its mouth movements.
“…we.”
The black mass shot off the walls and began to envelop Shiori, said girl instinctively trying futilely to fight it off to the best of her capabilities. She felt it absorb into her being, entering through any crevice it could find. It felt like she was drowning. Being choked to death. Being crushed to death. So many different sensations. All the while, the “face” just stared at her with what could only assume was a neutral expression.
Eventually, even that deformed and moved to absorb into her.
She fell to the ground, breathing heavily.
“What… the…”
“Venom.”
The voice ringed out in her head.
The black mass began to grow out of her body and envelop it, concealing any evidence of humanity. Shiori immediately stood up, screaming and trying to get it off.
It just kept growing. It grew so fast.
First her arms, then her legs, feet, and body. Eventually, it concealed her head and face, her last expression being one of pure fear.
Before it all went black.
Her last thoughts were invaded by that same deep, gurgling voice.
“We are Venom.”
“Oh… my… god…”
Cecilia paused the video.
Left on the screen was a black humanoid… thing, standing triumphantly over the corpses of many, many police officers. Its rows of teeth resembling a mouth shined against the moonlit sky, and pure white eyes holding no pupils showed no emotion. The thing let out an ear piercing roar to the clouds pouring rain down from above before Cecilia cut the audio.
“Green… what the hell is that thing…”
“I…”
Cecilia zoomed in on the screen, closing in specifically around the “face” of this thing.
“I don’t know.”
Her voice held no fear, it couldn’t hold emotion after all. Yet, she couldn’t deny the sight made her uneasy.
“Do we… have to fight it?”
In contrast, Red’s voice trembled, evidently frightened.
Cecilia hardened her gaze.
She stared into the eyes of this… creature.
“Yes.”
…
…
…
Cecilia eventually returned to world of the living, eyes fluttering open as if awakening from a deep slumber. It was still in the afternoon, albeit the skies darkening a bit to a beautiful orange. A stark contrast to the dark and gloomy scene they just witnessed.
“A-Alright then… what now…?”
Red’s voice was still awkward, but Cecilia had managed to help her calm down before leaving. It did hurt the latter to hear the former’s voice so distant in her head though.
“…we find her. Before this gets out of hand.”
“But… how? We have no idea where she could be… especially with… that…”
“Red.”
Cecilia’s voice, in contrast, was calm and soothing. At least to the best of her capabilities. It seemed to do the trick nonetheless, as she could hear Red taking deep breaths. It brought the smallest smile to Cecilia’s otherwise expressionless face.
“S-sorry…”
“Don’t apologize. That video would’ve shaken up even the most hardened soul.”
“W-What about you then?!? Are… you ok?”
“…”
“Green?”
“I’m fine. Can you search for places Shiori frequents?”
“…ok.”
Red evidently wasn’t convinced, but the topic was dropped. In truth, Cecilia wasn’t afraid. Again… she couldn’t feel fear.
Her eyes began to scan the streets, now realizing the crowd had thinned out ever so slightly. It didn’t mean the search would be easier, but it was a welcome change. She began walking and blending in with the crowd, a newfound purpose in her steps.
“Don’t worry. We will find her. And put an end to this.”
…
“Wait… is that her over there?”
“Hm? Where?”
“By that clothing store. Around the corner ahead.”
Cecilia followed Red’s instructions, pausing her stroll and having to peek above the crowd to see.
There, coming out of the store with… pure black hair and a new black jacket with fur lining the hoodie, was indeed, Shiori Novella. The girl looked downtrodden, looking at the sleeves of her outfit languidly.
“…thanks, Red.”
“Of course… be careful.”
“…I will be.”