“I found them!” Drifter called, exiting Anderson’s house.

Upon Anderson’s death, the acolytes were left lost and terrified, huddled outside the cathedral like sheep. Their leader and beliefs had been mercilessly stripped from them. As Drifter was the one who ultimately destroyed their leader they turned to him for his advice.

He sneered at them, simply stating: “Fuck off and go home!”

The acolytes dispersed and quietly returned home, some feeling a wave of relief. Their cult was a safe haven from the demons lurking just outside, but the knowledge that someone like Drifter existed eased their anxiety. Even the demons under Anderson’s control were thankful and escaped to the demon world.

With his car wrecked, Richard called his partner, Michael for a ride, but before they could leave, Dale insisted they pay the cult leader’s home one last visit, to find his legs. Dale sat in the back of the car like a lump, patiently awaiting the return of his severed limbs. Once Drifter returned, chopped legs in hand, he shoved Dale down to prepare him for the ordeal he was about to suffer through.

“This’ll work, right?” He asked.

“Probably.”

“Oh, great… so, where were they?”

“In the garbage.”

“Oh God, is that what that smell is!? Gross dude! You couldn’t have washed them first!?”

“You said you wanted them back as soon as possible.”

“What if I get an infection!?”

“I’m surprised you’re not dead yet.”

“Could you at least pick the banana peel out of the wound?”

Drifter mindlessly tossed the limp, rotten fruit skin aside, slapping Dale in the face as it slowly slid onto his chest. “Thanks…”

He lined up Dale’s legs with the healed over stumps poking out of his torn trousers and pushed them together.

“Hold still and your demon weapon should do the rest.”

“It better.”

After a few moments there was a reaction. The skin on Dale’s stumps slowly healed over his detached legs, reconnecting them.

“Holy crap.” He gasped. “It’s woo-aaugh! FUCK!”

A sharp piercing pain shot through Dale’s nerves, like a knife stabbing straight into his wounds. “Oh fuck, that hurts! Why does it hurt so fucking much!?”

“I think it’s the bone piercing through your healed over skin.” Drifter surmised.

“Fucking Christ!”

“Is he going to be okay?” Richard asked, looking on from the front seat, while his partner nonchalantly read the newspaper. “Sounds like he’s giving birth.”

Dale continued to wail in the background as Drifter answered.

“He’s fine.”

“What about her?”

Richard pointed to Amanda, leaning on the trunk of the car, staring at the house.

“She’s fine.”

“I wouldn't be fine if I went through what she just did.”

“And nothing I say will change that.”

“You could at least comfort her.”

“If you’re so concerned, you do it.”

“I don’t even know her.”

“Neither do I.”

“Drifter you dumb cunt!” Dale yelled, still convulsing from the pain.“Just talk to her already!”

“Ugh…” Drifter begrudgingly exited the vehicle. “I’m not her fucking therapist.” He muttered.

Amanda was fixated on Anderson’s house, staring blankly, lost in her own thoughts. Drifter waved his hand in her face, but didn’t get a reaction until after he started snapping his fingers.

“Hey! You alive in there?”

“You say something?” She replied, waking up.

“Did you hear us?”

“What…? No, I didn't… sorry.”

“Good, less awkward for me. What’s the obsession with the house?”

“The man that lived here killed my sister. He slept soundly, warm in his bed last night, while Abby rotted away, into a living nightmare. Her mind, body and her humanity, all melted to nothing. He locked her away like a freak and left her to die. I can’t even imagine how terrified she must have been in her final moments.

How could another human being do something like that?”

“I don’t know… what’ll you do now?”

“I don’t know…”

“Good talk.”

Drifter attempted to leave, only to be blocked by Dale, who was already back on his feet, though leaning on the car door for support.

“Damn, up already?”

“Hey, Amanda.” Dale called. “You can stick with us until you’ve figured out what you want to do next.”

“I think she’s better off going home.” Drifter argued.

“That’s for her to decide.”

“Sure.” She answered. “I’ll stick around. I’ve got nowhere else to go.”

Drifter groaned. “Bloody hell, fine. But, you’re responsible for your own safety.”

“I’ll look out for you.” Dale reassured.

“Well.” Richard announced. “If everything’s okay with her we can leave then. And for the love of God, try to stay out of trouble.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Drifter replied.

The two officers drove away. As they headed down the road, Richard turned to his stoic partner. “You didn't say a single word the whole time. Why?”

“Like I'd risk my career getting involved with that guy. Remember: I was just here to pick up the rookie whose car broke down. That’s all.”

“Risk your career? How?”

“I just do what I’m told, kid.” That was the last the two of them spoke of the incident the entire ride home.

One whole week passed and the aftermath of Anderson’s death was mild at best. No one seemed to care about the disbanding of the cult, despite all of the previous coverage they had received, like the whole operation was expendable.

No one at the police station was aware of Richard’s presence at the scene of Anderson’s death, as all attention was entirely focused on the man in the white coat. The legendary vagabond had struck again, but this time his target was something that couldn’t be swept under the rug.

Although interests were high and those skeptical of the man’s existence were changing their tune, no one seemed motivated to do any investigations into who this man really was. Richard was plagued with numerous questions the moment he returned home, but no one was willing to help him gather any more information that wasn’t already made public.

“A demonic priest…” He thought, sitting at his desk, staring at the ceiling. “A man who sold his humanity and corrupted his own people, turning them into unrecognisable abominations… Someone that horrid was left to roam free among the general public unopposed. Free to set up his own organisation to manipulate the vulnerable. Even with evidence we still couldn’t bring him down, but thanks to some unknown man simply calling himself 'Drifter’, that monstrous priest’s evil was finally erased from the world and he did it with just one punch.

How can someone like that exist? Where’s he been hiding all this time? What’s his motive? His purpose? Where did he come from? Who is he? How can I focus on doing any other work when I have all these puzzle pieces bouncing around in my head, with no leads to connect them? A lead… that’s all I need, just one lead to point me in the right direction…”

“Hey.” Michael called, snapping Richard out of his trance.

“Whuh? Oh, coffee’s over there.” He pointed to a tray of coffee mugs, but the beverages had already gone cold.

“Huh, so that’s where those went. What’s got you so preoccupied?”

“Last week… I saw some crazy shit and I can’t get it out of my head.”

“You thinking about the guy in the white coat? Because I told you not to.”

“Why? It’s not like we have to fight or arrest him. I just want to know who he is.”

“Don’t ask me. I don’t make the rules. I just enforce them. If you want to investigate this guy, you’ll have to do it in your own time.”

“There’s no rule against that?”

“Don’t know, but what you do off-hours is none of my business.”

“Are you… trying to help me?”

“Here, I came to give you this.” Michael handed over an envelope. “It’s the result of the DNA test.”

“Wow, that was quick. Wait, they actually accepted it?”

“They did when I gave it to them.”

Richard opened the envelope and furiously read the documents inside, but his enthusiasm quickly vanished. “Oh… well, ain’t that a kick in the bollocks…”

“What is it?”

“I sent them a sample of Drifter’s DNA for testing. I wasn’t expecting them to pinpoint his identity immediately, but I was at least hoping for a lead.”

“They were inconclusive?”

“Oh, they were conclusive. They concluded that his DNA is nothing like any other human’s. Their best guess is that it’s been corrupted by some kind of demonic essence.”

“So, he’s not human?”

“No idea. It was a long shot, but it seems whatever’s corrupted his DNA is completely unique from every other case of corrupted human DNA by demonic essence we have on record. As if this guy wasn’t already difficult enough to understand.”

“Toppling giants with a single sword swing? Punching priests into oblivion? Manipulating his own DNA? Demon powers are right mental.”

“I sent in his fingerprints, but those came up with zero matches too.”

“What, did his demon magic change those too?”

“Who knows, even the blood test came up invalid. He doesn’t match any human or demon we’ve managed to record. A total anomaly.”

The officers took a breather, as Richard filed his failed results away and Michael poured some fresh, hot coffee.

“Why are you trying to find info on this guy? You think he’s important?”

“It’s been about five years since these demons showed up and soon after, a man in a white coat, with unimaginable superhuman powers, comes out of nowhere and starts slaying them. That can’t be coincidence, he must have some relation to why these monsters are here.”

“Facial recognition.”

“What?”

“If you really want to find out how long this guy’s been around, look through the database. Security footage, phone footage, photographs, his face must have shown up at some point before these demons appeared… not that you heard that from me.”

“Those databases are never accurate and if they were, you’d think someone would have figured this all out by now.”

“I see… welp, I’m heading back. You know, it’s a shame you’re so focused on this guy. If you put this much effort into your real work, you’d get promoted in no time.”

“You call monitoring internet trolls work?”

“Good luck, rookie. And remember, I didn’t tell you nothing.”

Richard was left in his small cubicle office to ponder his next move. If finding Drifter’s identity was impossible through the usual forensic science then perhaps he needed to do some field work and speak with witnesses.

“But, where would I even begin to start looking for a witness?” He wondered.

Drifter had been around as long as the demons had, so asking random people on the street or at certain incidents would be a waste of time. Richard needed to investigate the most significant incident in Drifter’s life.

The first incident. Drifter’s first kill.

He headed to the internet to find the earliest video footage of Drifter uploaded. Naturally the results were all phone recordings of varying quality and none of them good. Still, even with mediocre footage, a man in a white coat, with black hair, superhuman strength, a white aura and a sword was featured in all of them and there was no way there were other people with Drifter's powers running around.

But, this presented a new problem. The upload dates only went back four years, not five. One whole year was left unaccounted. The locations were all wildly different as well, meaning Drifter, as his name suggested, never stayed in one spot.

“Shit… was he really inactive for a year? If he was, this could blow my theory out of the water. Think, if he was active earlier, there must be some other way to prove it…”

Richard suddenly got an idea. He shifted his focus to reports of demon attacks. If footage of Drifter couldn’t be found, then maybe there was another way to track his movements. After looking through file after file of demon attacks, skimming through them in chronological order, pinpointing each location on a map, a strange pattern began to emerge.

“They’re moving?”

While there were the occasional outliers and jumps around the map, from the first reported attack onwards, each new attack took place close to the last, gradually moving across the country. It was like watching a snake slowly crawling across the country.

“These attacks can’t be random, they're following something. But what?”

That’s when it finally hit Richard, like warm coffee spilling onto his leg.

“Drifter?”

He remembered the previous incidents he investigated, he always wondered how Drifter managed to be at the right place at the right time, but now he understood.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“That has to be it. He isn’t drifting around the country hunting demons, the demons are hunting him. If that's the case, then maybe…”

Richard looked through the files again, searching for the attack that started it all. A small cluster of incidents from five years ago all pointed to the small rural town of Hearg.

“A strange monster appeared in an outside shopping centre, surrounded by flats. The monster disappeared as quickly as it came, in a bright white light. Nothing but ash remained. This is it. This is where it all began. Drifter’s first kill, it has to be.”

Richard looked at the map again. After the incidents in Hearg, the attack locations began to move again, until they reached Birmingham, where they formed another large cluster before moving on.

“Birmingham? Were these just before…? Is Drifter connected to that incident too…? What the hell has this guy been up to?”

The next day, Richard made preparations and headed out to Hearg to investigate. Driving through, there was nothing interesting or notable about the town itself. It seemed peaceful enough, almost untouched by the demon attacks across the rest of the country, although considering what he knew about their movements, it made sense.

He soon arrived at the shopping centre, although it was more of a small town square surrounded by shops and apartments. Large potted fixtures with trees and other plants were on either side of the square. Richard examined the area, looking for any signs of a battle. Based on experience, Drifter wasn’t exactly concerned about collateral, so if he was here, he must have left some evidence behind.

However, there was no immediately recognisable damage to the area, everything seemed perfectly fine, until Richard noticed the glaring scar in the pavement.

The ground was made up of small, square paving slabs. They were dirty and worn, from years of scuffed shoes, littering and gum, except for the slabs leading to the wall of plants. They were clean and bright, sticking out amidst the filth. The bricks of the wall also seemed to have been replaced at some point as they also looked less worn down with age.

It was only a hunch, but if this place was where the first demon attack ever recorded took place, then these clean slabs might be where Drifter had his first fight. This wasn’t enough to prove it of course. Richard needed to speak to the locals in the area to see if any of them witnessed anything.

His first thought was to check the local grocery store and ask the man at the counter if he knew anything. Upon entering, Richard walked up to them, pulled out his police badge and introduced himself. The man looked to be of middle eastern origin, and jumped at the sight of Richard’s badge.

“Wait! I’m here legally! I have a passport to prove it!”

Richard was taken aback by the man’s outburst. “Uh… I haven’t said anything yet.”

“Sorry, can I help you with something?”

“I’m just here to ask a few questions.”

“Questions? Please, I don’t want to go down to the station again, I have no one to cover for me.”

“I’m not here to take you away, sir.”

“Really? Oh, thank goodness.”

“Do the police question you often?”

“Oh, not just me. Everyone in this town is uncomfortable around the police. Everyone is a suspect to them.”

“Suspect? For what?”

“For being a demon.”

“But, this is one of the safest towns in the country. There hasn’t been an attack here in years.”

“Yes, but peace in times of turmoil breeds paranoia. They’ll arrest anyone for being even remotely suspicious.”

“Christ, when did this all start?”

“As long as I’ve been here.”

“Do you know anything about a demon attack that happened here around five years ago?”

“I’ve only heard rumours from the locals. A large monster appeared from thin air, terrifying the people. But, before it could hurt anyone, it was suddenly slayed by a young man wielding a sword. No one knows who the man was or where he came from and then he disappeared soon after.”

“But that’s impossible!” Richard slammed his hand on the counter, startling the cashier. “Oh, sorry… but how can someone like that just show up and no one even know what he looks like!?”

“I don’t know, I wasn’t here at the time.”

“Dammit! Well, at least I can confirm there was an incident here.”

“The shop across the way still has the CCTV footage.”

“Are you serious!?”

“Yes. The owner likes to brag about it. He claims it’s an important historical moment in British history that the government will have to pry from his cold, dead fingers.”

“Oh, he doesn’t sound crazy at all, but I suppose I’ll have to chat with him. Thank you.”

“No problem, so are you going to buy anything?”

Richard walked away, with fresh gum in hand. Ready to speak with the store owner across the street.

Unlike the grocers, this store was a small supermarket. Once again, he headed to the counter to ask the cashier to see the manager, revealing his police badge to show he meant business. The tired teenage girl working the till turned to the door on the other side of the room, took a deep breath and yelled.

“HEY! BILL! POLICE ARE HERE, AGAIN!”

The doors burst open as a tall stuffy man in glasses and suit stormed towards the counter, fixing his tie.

“Right! You irritating little shits! I didn’t go through three years worth of legal battles, just so you can constantly come in here and harass me for my footage! It’s legally mine! You can throw around your brain dead demon accusations and cry to the media all you want, but I’m not handing it over! Now, get out!”

Richard swallowed his gum in fear, he felt like a child being chewed out by his very large and very angry school teacher, utterly powerless before the man’s looming presence.

“Um… sir… I’m not with the police in this town. Please don’t hurt me.”

Bill fixed his glasses and took a closer look at the police badge. “Oh, you’re from London. Well, what do you want? Come on, spit it out.”

“I’m investigating the demon incident from five years ago, sir.”

“Hey, hey, hey! I just said I’m not giving my footage to anyone.”

“That’s okay, I’m not here to take it, I just need to see it.”

“Why are the London police interested in security footage from a small town supermarket?”

“Well, to be honest, officers tend to operate wherever they can due to all the budget cuts, but that’s not the point! They’re not interested. I’m doing this solo. Please, that footage might contain a vital piece of evidence.”

“Vital?” The man laughed. “You having a laugh?”

“No, I’m serious.”

“Alright, guess I’ll let you take a peek.”

“Really? Thanks.”

“Remember: I said a peek!” The man stressed.

“Y-yes sir.”

Bill led Richard to the back doors, through the storage area and into a small security office with a computer. He searched through the files until he found the video in question.

06/06_3:24pm. A simple filename but significant as it matched the date of the first reported incident. Once the file opened, Richard watched the scene play out in its entirety, as the camera remained stationary the whole way through.

It started with people simply wandering to and from the area, followed by those same people suddenly scattering, fleeing from the scene as a giant, orc-like demon slowly roamed on camera. It roared and stomped at the ground, then suddenly stopped and gazed at something off-camera, like someone had interrupted its primal rage.

A bright light shined from the edge of the camera and in an instant, a black figure, surrounded by a white aura, dashed toward the monster, stabbing his sword straight through its gut. Then, in another burst of light, the monster exploded into white flames and flew off-camera, tearing up the stone slabs beneath it.

There was a brief moment of pause before an elderly man ran toward the dark figure and attempted to pat his shoulder, only for his arm to catch fire. The man screamed in terror as the figure’s aura disappeared and he awkwardly tried to put out the flames. After which he bashfully apologised and ran away.

Richard reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a USB drive. “Please, you’ve got to give me a copy of that footage.”

“I said: ‘a peek’!”

“But this footage… it’s extremely important.”

“Really? That’s funny. I was only able to hang onto it by proving how useless it was.”

“Useless!?”

“What’s so special about it?”

“Have you not heard of the man in the white coat?”

“What? You think the guy in the footage is the same person?”

“No doubt. They have the same powers.”

“But, he doesn’t have a white coat and you can’t even see his face.”

“Actually, that is weird. I can see the old man, but Drifter’s face is always in shadow, why?”

“Apparently the footage got corrupted during the evidence transfer before the first trial.”

“That’s an oddly specific video corruption. Makes me wonder if the real corruption was from whoever was in charge of handling the evidence for that trial.”

“Unfortunately, there was no other evidence that could point to the identity of the man in the footage and even if there was, there’d be no way to prove it, since you can’t even see his face. Years of analysis from professionals and witness testimony amounted to nothing.”

“Unbelievable…”

Richard couldn’t fathom the amount of effort it would take for Drifter to hide his identity to such a degree. Almost seemed out of character given how lazy he acted.

He ran through the footage a few more times, but after a while he was inclined to agree with the court’s decision. There really wasn’t anything useful in the footage other than just reinforcing his own personal theory. Still, there was one last thing he needed to know.

“Do you still know any of the witnesses in the case?”

“Old Jonathan. The geezer who burned his arm in the footage. He was our key witness. He lives in the flats around here.”

“Could you give me his address?”

“Alright, but it’s your funeral.”

“Uh, okay?”

Richard climbed the iron staircase to the top floor of the apartments where Old Man Jonathan was said to live. The first person to meet Drifter.

The flats were owned by the town council and as such, were rundown and dirty, but not to the point of dissuading anyone from living there, just enough to keep them cheap. Richard knocked on the door with the chipped, blue paint and waited for a response. Peeking through the crack was a short old man leering at him.

“What do you want?” He grumbled.

Richard showed the man his badge. “Yes, I’m with the police. I’d like to ask you a few-”

“I ain’t paying for your damn TV licence!” The door slammed shut.

Richard knocked again. “Uh, sir. You didn’t let me finish.”

“Get lost! We watch everything on the internet now! Bother us again and I will call my solicitor!”

“This isn’t about your TV licence!”

“That’s what the last guy said, but he didn’t sound so confident once he became acquainted with the backend of my cane!”

“I’m here to talk to you about the incident five years ago! The demon attack! The man you met!”

The door opened slightly, the man glaring again. “What the hell do you want to talk about that for? Did that lunatic at the store put you up to this? They trying to take his stupid video again?”

“No, but I have seen the video and its contents are very important to my investigation, especially the man captured in the footage.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Who’s at the door, Jonny?” Asked a kindly old voice from inside the flat.

“None of your business, woman! Just watch your show!”

“Jonny! Don’t be rude! He’s our guest!”

“What are you on about!? I didn’t invite him into the house!”

“Well, let him in, then!”

“Don’t be daft!”

“Look, I’ll make some tea.”

“Oh great, now you got her out of her chair. Guess you better come in, before she gets angry again.”

Richard didn’t quite know what just happened, but accepted the invitation nonetheless. The flat was small, yet cosy. A surprising departure from how rundown the outside looked. The kitchen was just next to the living room with doors leading to the bedroom and bathroom to the side. A quaint little home for a crotchety old couple.

He sat on the sofa as the kind old lady served the tea on the coffee table. With the three gathered round. The old man got down to business.

“Well, what do you want? Out with it.”

Richard took a sip from his tea. It was sweet, really sweet, like warm candy melting in his mouth.

“Oh, wow. This is really good.”

“Why thank you, Dearie. It’s a special blend I ordered online.” The old lady blushed.

Richard smiled. “Well, it’s delicious.”

Jonathan banged his fist into the table. “Will you hurry up and tell us why you’re here already!”

“Er, yes. Mr. Jonathan, sir. I’m here to-”

“Mr. Jonathan? Jonathan’s my first name, you stupid sod! It’s Mr. Beattie!”

“Okay, Mr. Beattie. I’m here to ask about the incident five years ago.”

“You said that already, what’s your question!?”

“Uh, okay. Well, let’s start with your account of what happened.”

“Fair enough. A big demon showed up just outside the shop I was in and then a strange young man destroyed it. The end.”

“Destroyed it?”

“Yeah, it burst into flames and burnt to ashes.”

“That must have happened after it flew off-camera.”

“Camera? You talking about Bill’s prized possession?”

“Yes. And after the demon was defeated, an old man ran up to the mysterious figure. That old man was you, wasn’t it?”

“Bah, you can’t prove nothing.”

“What?”

“That could have been any old man.”

Richard was at a loss. This old coot wanted nothing to do with him. Was he hiding something or just being stubborn? If Richard could have gotten his hands on the footage he could easily refute this claim, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure how to proceed, until Mrs. Beattie intervened.

“What are you talking about dear? What about that scar on your arm?”

“Woman!” The old man yelled.

“That’s right.” Richard added. “The old man in the footage burnt his arm.”

Jonathan had no choice but to roll up his sleeve and reveal his scarred arm. “It’s a little grotesque, but nothing too serious.” He clarified.

“So, you were the man in the footage.”

“Nope.”

“What?”

“Could have been anyone.”

“But, you already admitted you were there.”

“So, there was another old man there. I just coincidentally have a scar on the same arm.”

Richard got up, slamming his hands on the table. “Why the hell are you being so stubborn!?”

Jonathan returned in kind. “Why the hell are you so interested in that demon!?”

“It’s not the demon I care about, it’s the man that killed it!”

“Why are you interested in him!? He’s long gone!”

“Because I met him!”

Jonathan paused for a moment.

“Oh, isn’t that convenient, Jonny.” Mrs. Beattie smiled. “You’re not the only one who’s worrying about him.”

“What is she talking about?” Richard asked, slowly sitting back down.

Jonathan sighed. “Nothing. She’s just senile, that’s all.”

“Oh, nonsense.” She replied, getting up. Mrs. Beattie headed into the bedroom and returned with a tablet. “Look, here.”

“Marie! What are you doing!?”

“I’m showing the police officer the videos you’ve saved.”

“But he works for the government, we can’t trust him. They’ll take us away.”

“No they won’t. Besides, he seems nice.”

“Marie…”

“Anyone who compliments my tea can’t be that bad can they?”

“God, I can't win with you.”

Richard examined the videos, some of which he had never seen before and were much higher in quality. However, they were just more of the same, Drifter fighting demons and nothing more. The fact that they were downloaded suggested these videos were pulled down from video sharing sites, which may imply someone was trying to censor them.

Interestingly, Drifter's face was not obscured in any of this footage and he had his signature white coat.

“Well, now you know.” Jonathan chided. “So, now what?”

“Why are you so interested in Drifter, that you’d go out of your way to archive videos of him?”

“Is that his name?” The old man laughed. “When that monster appeared, I thought my life was over right there, but then he showed up and killed it as quickly as it came. Like a miracle. We avoided disaster that day, completely unaware that thing was just the calm before the storm.

Still, even though he was so strong, that man didn’t have the face of a battle hardened warrior, he wasn’t a man at all, he was still just a dumb kid. Even he didn’t quite know how he stopped that thing and then he goes and burns my arm like a moron and runs away.

After that I never saw him again. I was afraid the idiot went and got himself killed, but once footage of the man in the white coat started surfacing, I was relieved to find out he was alive and well and by the looks of him, much more experienced.

Ever since, I’ve been keeping tabs on him and archiving any videos of him I could find. When you’re old and retired like me, you got nothing better to do, anyway.”

“Why do you care so much? Are you related or something?”

“Nah. I guess, with more and more of these demons showing up, each day just feels more bleak than the last, but that kid, he’s like our light of hope.

This is just my little way of showing support. Not just me. There are a lot of people out there who are secretly wishing him luck on whatever he’s doing. He’s saved a lot of people, even if he doesn’t realise it himself.”

“I see. Is that all you have to share?”

“Why are you looking into him?”

“I just want to know the truth. Who is Drifter? What happened to him? What is his connection to the demons?”

“I see, well before you go. There’s something you need to know.”

“What?”

“I can’t remember his face.”

“Excuse me?”

“I may be old, but I’m not that forgetful. I remember the looks of the people as they screamed in terror, the monster that nearly killed us all, but the kid’s face? Even after seeing those videos, I can’t remember what he looked like back then. For all I know, that might not even be the same kid from five years ago, but I like to believe it is.”

“Strange.” Richard thought. “The footage didn’t show Drifter’s face either, it was all in shadow, but I saw the old man’s face just fine. What’s going on?”

“There were plenty of other demon attacks after that first one, especially near the houses up the road on Mound Street. I’d look there next, if I were you.”

“Thank you. You’ve been a great help.”

“Great, now do me a favour and get the hell out of my house.”

“Y-yes sir.”

With this new lead, Richard drove to Mound street. Based on his theory, if the demons were following Drifter then it would be safe to assume that the increased demon activity in the area would imply Drifter lived in this town, possibly on Mound Street.

He was so close to finding the truth, it wouldn’t be long before he figured out which house was Drifter’s and from there, he'd solve the mystery of his identity.

However, what greeted him when he finally arrived crushed those dreams to tiny pieces. He climbed out of his car and simply stared in disbelief.

“No way…”

One of the houses had been burned to the ground. There was nothing to salvage, save for a pile of charred rubble.

His trail had gone cold.