CHAPTER FIVE—CONNECTING DOTS

They had followed Hono into a more commercial part of town, but the place was still a rundown dump, with trash scattered about and shifty looking people loitering in small groups all over the place.

The sidewalk on the main road wasn’t far off and there were a lot of pedestrians walking in this sunny afternoon wearing colorful clothes in outlandish styles. Even the poor folks of districts like this wore outlandish outfits.

That’s the city…

At least the weather isn’t crap.

In a quiet back alley, Hono said, “Look, guys, I don’t know anything about the Landfill Lich. I just know the general talk on the street.”

“And what is that general talk?” Kyle asked as he crossed his arms.

“Just that there’s some monster roaming about the lower and outer districts.”

“Isn’t there a landfill around here?” John asked.

Hono nodded. “Outer District 103,” he said.

“And why do they call this thing the Landfill Lich?”

“Because,” Hono said. “Don’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“That’s where the creature takes the bodies after it kills its victims.”

“Yes,” Lexa said, chiming in on John’s wristlet. “We did see independent news sources sighting comments by the LCPD Chief. And I quote: ‘Those bodies in the landfill are a common occurrence across Life City. With city services unable to venture into the no-go zones, the local residents are often forced to dispose of corpses they find on the streets. Many of these are the bodies of the homeless or of suicide victims. This is not a holo-vid. There is no monster that’s taking people away in the night.’”

“Well that’s helpful,” Kyle said.

Hono shrugged. “Now can I go guys?”

“Yeah, sure,” John said.

“Watch your back, pal.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hono said as he trailed out of the alley, his shoulders slumped.

“That was interesting information, Lexa,” John said.

“You’re welcome, John.”

“Now what?” Kyle asked. “We’re at a dead end. Should we call May?”

John walked out of the alley with Kyle on his heels. When they made it to the street corner, they stopped.

Glancing about, John said, “Maybe we should call her.”

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A sky car zoomed by. Kyle watched it go. Gods, this area was dreary. The buildings looked like something out of a totalitarian nightmare and across the street smoke stacks spewed out grey smoke that wafted into the air enough so to change the general level of visibility in this area.

Above, but bellow the encircling bridges, a provocative add for male genital enhancement flashed in bright neon.

Kyle pulled back his sleeve and hit the line to connect a call with May. She was on in two blips.

“Is this line secure?”

Kyle barely heard her because of a passing car. He turned and started crossing the street. “It’s all good.”

“What is it?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Uh, we need a small favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

Kyle sighed. She was always so composed—so businesslike. “Well we’re looking into this case about a killer in the lower districts.”

“Do you mean the Landfill Lich?”

“Yeah,” John said, sounding surprised as he chimed in on the call. “How do you know about that?”

“You two might be surprised about the things I’m aware of going on in Life City.”

“So do you think you could help us out a bit?” Kyle asked. “Just a small favor to yours truly?”

“Yeah, right…” May said. There was a pause. Finally she added. “We have a strong suspicion that Stogaus is involved with this.”

“Like how?”

“We don’t know the particulars,” May said. “Just that this creature is somehow involved with their operations.”

“Wait a minute,” Kyle said. “So there really is a creature?”

There was a pause.

“May?”

“We don’t know,” she said. “That’s just the word. This killer could be a mage, a corporate scavenger or just some sociopath.”

“But you just said—“

“Strogaus has been experimenting with human-animal hybrids, infusing them with magic. We’ve also gotten word that they’ve been experimenting with stimulants.”

“Stimulants?” John asked. “Like adrenalin?”

“Something like that,” May said, but for other purposes.

“Super humans,” Kyle said.

“That’s our guess. But we still don’t know if the intel is reliable.”

“Well figure it out,” Kyle said.

“The only reason why this hasn’t gotten out is because the press has been censoring anything to do with it,” May said. “Strogaus—or whoever is involved with this, wants it kept quiet. My bet is your time is limited.”

“Why?” Kyle asked.

“Because the people responsible are going to want to put a seal on this, and that means taking care of the problem before it becomes impossible to ignore.”

“Thanks for the tip, May,” John said.

“No problem,” she said. “Look, if you find the creature—or whatever it is, take a blood sample.”

“You want to connect it with the experiments going on in Strogaus?” Kyle asked.

“Yes.”

“You know, if we find out they’re involved, we might have to take these guys down—with or without your consent.”

“You’re quite the Anarcho, Kyle.”

“And you’re quite the enigma.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“So do we.”

“All right,” May said. “Let’s see what happens.”

John glanced about, probably wondering where they needed to go next. “Say, May?”

“Yes?”

“Are there any other tips you could give us about who we might get in contact with to find this thing?”

There was a pause.

“We have a list of the deceased family members,” May said. “Forwarding them to you now.”

“Thanks,” John said. “We appreciate it.”

“Now find that killer and take a blood sample.”

“Will do.”

May disconnected.

“Wow,” John said, seeming incredibly surprised.

Kyle frowned. “What?”

“You didn’t aggravate her this time.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “We’ve got a job to do.”

“We always have a job to do.”

“Listen,” Kyle said. “Hunting monsters is fun and all, but this isn’t our thing. Once we find out—“

“I know,” John said. “We’re going to toss the overlord responsible out a window.”

“Nah,” Kyle said. “We need something new. Something that will really catch the attention of the six o’clock news.”

“We’ll figure that out if it comes to it.”

“So where to now?”

“Well,” John said as he pursued the information May sent them. “We’ve got three addressed where the deceased victims have friends and family. So that means leads.”

“Boring,” Kyle sighed.

“It’s part of the work,” John said. “We can go kill something afterward if we get lucky.”

Kyle scoffed. “Sure.”

“Let’s get back to the car.”