God my head is hurting… That crappy light is not helping… Alright. Time to get my thoughts together. I’ve just spent about three days in a cheap apothecary, two days in a hospital getting surgery and seven nights in total without sleep. Great. Now I have to deal with an interview on the worst day of my life.

The door opened in the interrogation cell. “Afternoon John. I’ve got some questions you’ll be answering for me.” Ahh, there he is. The fat face of the local law. Commissioner Wilham. Last upper level bastard I wanted to see anytime soon. Then again I can’t really say shit without getting into a worse situation than I already am. “Right then. Formalities abandoned, we can begin the interrogation.” He placed a small tape recorder on the table between us. “Tell me why exactly you’re in this room with me John.”

“... The organised raid on the 16th of Janily. A raid I was part of. I don’t know exactly what you want me to say, but I assume this is your means of having me give my report…”

“Right you are Detective Doe. Now, let’s begin at the start of the raid.” He sat more forward on his chair and tried to make eye contact with me. One of his ways of pressuring out information. As much as I’d like to sock a fist into his blubber, I averted my gaze instead. “Can you recall the details you had? As the main investigator of the case.”

Right. Details… “Do you want me to start at the beginning of the investigation? Or skip straight to the raid..?”

“Start with a brief review of the investigation leading to the raid.” He waved his hand, ushering me to continue fast. “We don’t have all day John. The station is still handling the intake of paperwork and criminals from the raid. It’d be impossible not to know what was going on.” He grunted. Choking on his own spit as he wiped his mouth and leaned back.

“Right… Of course sir…” This damned investigation has taken more from me than living in the middle layer ever did. “As you are aware we caught onto an increased distribution of the drug formerly known as Ickor. Due to the effects it has had on the working population of the middle and lower layer production zones you assigned me and my unit to investigate what could be causing it.” We found what was causing it alright… By whatever God does look down on this world, I wish that we didn’t… “After months of following leads we tied the source to a syndicate that had taken over a portion of the mines in the Lower Layer town, Copper. After clearing the proper protocols and organising the resources you gave the clearance to launch a raid in order to capture the syndicate all in one place. Wiping it out all at once…” Yeah… All at once… “As I’m aware you know. The date was the 16th of Janily when we were fully prepared.” Memories of the trucks carrying us through the middle layer’s streets filled my mind. The sound of the tires of the retired war vehicles marching on the asphalt as we made our way to the border zone to the copper district. “We had set up and prepared for a siege into the mines… They… They attacked first…” The smell of fire and gunpowder filled my nose, the yelling commands of ‘Forward’ or ‘Take cover’ drowned out and deafened by the explosion of the trucks and the orchestra of rifles. “From reports, you probably know that a lot of the captured suspects and convicts had fought in the great war. It’s to my understanding its how they managed to get so many weapons, and how they knew to wield them…” The war… That damnable war…

“You too were a soldier, were you not John?” Barely, thank the Gods.

“I was in the reserves sir. An attendant to the officer corps.” All I had to deal with was fat bastards like you playing toy soldiers with real people… “I’m thankful to my luck for that…”

“And thankful to the king too I am sure.”

“...Yes sir.” Damn the king and his throne. The war was due to his and his cousins' mistakes in the first place. The depression is due to his damned mistakes. All of this leads back to him… “If I may continue with my report sir..?”

“You may continue. I believe it's at this point you and your squad strayed away from the rest of the raid force, yes?”

“Yes sir… After properly organising ourselves from the shock of their assault. We had managed to organise a counter assault. Even with the element of surprise, they weren’t able to match the training of the Royal Prosecution Officers” Probably helped that the poor lower layer bastards were more than likely worked to the bone and malnourished already… “We pushed them back into the tunnels and began to give chase. Somewhere in the depths me and my squad were commanded to split from the rest of the force and pursue a splinter insurgency before they could loop and ambush the main team…” Never should have pushed so far. It was foolish to try and attack them on a home field, where they had the advantage. But with the way the tunnels worked in the lower layers we didn’t have much of a choice.

“As we continued down our own path we were met with a surprising amount of resistance…” Putting it as lightly as possible… “There were a number of… Insurgents who had set up mock fortifications down the path. Multitudes of crates filled with stone and ore… There was something different about these ones compared to the ones we had fought on the way in however…”

“How so?” I can hear them… That bizarre chanting…

“They. They all wore the same veil-like mask… Some had it out of cloth, some leather. All with the same markings on them… And their eyes…” Those damned eyes illuminating the darkness… “They were all the same colour… A putrid yellow…” The smells… “And they all stank of rot…”

“I’d expect nothing less of underdwellers of the lower layers.” I doubt you think at all about the layers below yours. “Surely the eyes can be summed up as a result of being high on Ickor, no?”

“No… I. I don’t think so…” They were definitely not high. They were organised… Far too organised. “They moved too fluidly. They coordinated with each other…” Wordlessly at that. It felt less like fighting people and fighting an octopus with guns. Each arm acting in accordance with the main body’s will… “I don’t know why their eyes were that colour, or what symbolism their masks had… But it didn’t feel right. Not natural…”

“Right. How long would you say you were defending yourself from these… Yellow eyed fiends?”

“It's. It’s hard to say. Between being kept in the dark of the caves and the constant adrenaline rush from being in the fire fight… I. I wouldn’t say we were there for more than an hour.”

“An hour you say? Were those slum dwellers giving you that much trouble?” An image flashed through my mind.

“The. They didn’t seem to stay down sir…” I remember watching as a man who I could have sworn I shot in the head, got back up and began charging towards us… I remember the fear as we focused him down, shot after shot being swallowed into his flesh before he finally fell again.

“Right. Onto the more pressing details of your fight.” He sat more forward “The cave in.” Right. The cave in… Surprised he gave enough of a shit.

“Some point during the fight we. We were attacked by fire. A man was throwing fire at us…”

“As in some kind of molotov?” The sight of a man's hands combusting into flames as he screamed like a beast out of hell and began throwing the fire came to me.

“No sir. They were using fire…” The feeling of the flames burning the oil of my skin as it passed me came to mind… “As in they were throwing literal balls of flame at me… I don’t know how, but I should have second degree burns on my medical record…” I doubt he would care if I described the fire thrower. I remember seeing him die myself. Crushed by the collapsing ceiling. “There was an explosion sometime during the fight. The cave roof came down on us, killing a lot of the insurgents in the cave with us…” The pain of rocks on my back and the incoherent shouting as we were all smashed down by the mine’s ceiling. “I was pulled out of the rubble by my squad mate, charlie. Slowly but surely we managed to fish the rest out… The rest that made it that is…” The glint of Jame’s engagement ring shining under the rocks came to me.

“And then I take it you continued your march forward.”

“We could not turn around sir.” Our exit was blocked by a new wall of stone graciously donated by the ceiling. “We marched forward into the dark. It was a lot less labyrinth-like the further we went. The tunnels stopped arching and all started heading in the same direction… Then we came across it…” That cursed, cursed place.

“It, detective?” The commissioner leaned in further in interest.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“It. It was like a great underground cathedral. Some kind of place of worship. Bricks made the walls and floors, columns filled the corners and blue glowshrooms lined the walls as light. There were lines of benches and mates on the floor facing the same way. Facing towards an altar with bowls before it and the statue of a woman behind it. Large drapes filled the halls and there was… A dripping sound…” That damned, damned dripping noise. That noise will be haunting my dreams for the rest of my life now… “The further we moved into the… Ritual room. The more uneasy I felt. Like there was something watching us. Stalking us. Waiting to see what we would do… We approached the altar, the closer we got we were met with an ever stronger stench of rot. We made it just before the altar and took a look in those sacrificial bowls…”

“And what was in them, detective?”

“... Hands sir… Human hands… In pairs, tied together by rope…” The same rotten smell that had been filling the mines… I had originally thought it was farm animals that were kept down there for food. “We… We also found where the hands had come from, sir.”

The commissioner, to his credit, did at least seem disturbed. “And where did they get the hands. Detective?” 

“We… We shined our lights to the ceiling… To find the dripping sound… There had to at least be 3 dozen of them up there…” The sight of them is definitely going to haunt me along with that infernal dripping.

“What. Was. Up there. Detective?”

“...People sir… Being hung from their legs… Their skin was flayed… Upon further reflection, I am almost certain that the drapes in the room and maybe even the masks of the cultists we fought earlier was made from their skins…” the vivid imagery of human leather. Its such a strange scenario to see it. Your mind gets confused over what it is and what it truly is. Trying to convince you of the truth while trying to manipulate perception. “Afterwards, we were attacked once more…”

“How many detective?”

“One sir… He. It came from behind us. Bellowing out a putrid war cry as it grabbed me and threw me across the cathedral.” That guttural roar from nowhere followed by weightlessness as I was picked up by something twice my size.

“One man threw you across the entire hall?”

“That… That thing was no man sir.” Its lipless grin with those yellow fangs…

“Could you describe your assailant then?”

“... It was massive. Twice my size, both vertically and horizontally. At first I had assumed it to be wearing a full leather attire, stitched together with staples and thread… After throwing me, it charged straight towards Charlie, grabbing him by the throat and pinning him down. The rest of us that were there, myself, Harris, Micheal and Colin attempted to get it off of him. We shot it, kicked it, grabbed it, but it was just too strong…” I remember the terror of seeing the bullets bounce off the leather like gnats. The feeling of weakness as it didn’t even budge at my fists.” I took a look at Charlie… That’s where the true nature of what the thing was finally hit me… It hadn’t grabbed Charlie. It impaled him. Long bone-like claws dug into the sides of his neck, blood pouring out where they made entrance. There was something else though. Something I didn’t see till later, hidden on its palms. The back of its hands moved. The same movement you see when you look at somebody swallowing food. It started at the back of its hands and slowly made its way up its forearms before disappearing under its muscles… It was there that I properly took a good look at the creature… What I had originally thought to be a leather costume was the thing’s actual hide… I could see muscles writhing in between the stitches and between some thread I swear there were jaws… Whatever it was… It wasn’t human…” 

The presence of this thing… It was disgusting. Where it stood it felt like rot filled the air. Filling my lungs. If it wasn’t for the adrenaline I was feeling at the moment, I swear I would have collapsed on the spot. “It. It stayed on top of Charlie for about three minutes. When it stood up, the entire front of his throat was missing. And blood dripped from its hands… It looked at me, standing at its full height… I looked at its face… It stared down at me with putrid yellow eyes covered by wet black hair. It had no nose and its mouth was lipless and stapled open into a grin which took up almost the entirety of its lower face. Each of its yellow fangs must have been the length of my index finger, and sharper than knives. The look in its eyes… It was looking at me like I was no better than a morsel… It raised its arms outwards above its head showing off its muscular physique. Its palms face forward. A mouth on each hand, dripping blood and licking around it. 

The mouth on its head opened. And it let out a terrible laugh… Its palms soon followed letting out their own laughs… Each mouth had its own laugh. The head bellow a deafening cackle, the right giggled with glee and the left howled in delight… After a few seconds it charged yet again, running straight into Micheal, it lowered its fists onto him and slammed him to the ground… It… It smashed his head in with its foot…” The sickening squash filled my ears, whilst stomach acid dared to rise up my throat. “It… It didn’t stop after that… It went after Harris. It grabbed him by his jaw and left him into the air…” I can hear his muffled screams. “I… Can only assume the jaw on its hand bit into him… Because when it dropped him, his bottom jaw was missing…” He managed to look at me… His eyes… His eyes spoke of fear… And I couldn’t do anything… 

“Me and Colin tried shooting it again as it turned to us… Our bullets still had no effect. Bouncing off its skin as it marched towards us… It decided to go after Colin… Slowly approaching with a sadistic and sick smile… It grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him up as he began kicking and screaming for help… It laughed again as it brought him to the mouth on its head… Its jaw unhinged and wrapped around him whole… Before clamping shut…” Once the jaws closed. The thing dropped his headless body. And I fell to my knees with it. I couldn’t win that fight. Before me stood an abomination against god, a creature that had single handedly killed four men trained in combat from the military. No matter what I did, no matter how I struggled the results wouldn’t have changed. Before me stood death. And I could not overcome it. “The thing spent a few minutes after biting off Collins' head. I don’t know if it was just enjoying the flavour of him or it was struggling to swallow him. But it barely moved in that time.”

“Did you take that as your chance to escape this. Creature, then detective?”

“No sir.”

“Then what did you do detective?”

“I prayed sir. I put my hands together above my head. And I prayed. To no specific god and no specific bible. I prayed to be saved from this monster before me.”

“Then what happened?” What happened indeed. After that it was the blurriest my memories of what happened. Trying to think about it, the only thing I can think of is pain. Wait…

“W̸̞̱̳̏̕h̴͍̫͊ý̷̬̱̝̃̕ ̵̤̊d̸̻̜̽̎o̵̡̹̮͗̉͊ ̵̡͔͇̎͆y̷̘̥̓ȏ̶̹̰̚ủ̷͈͖̈́ ̷͕̙̎ͅp̵͉̳͐̋ŗ̶͙̈́͜a̸͕͒̍y̶͍̐̑́?̸͖̑͜” That voice… Soft and feminine. Inquisitive like a child, yet mature like a mother. Ẃ̸̦h̶̝͊y̷͉͆ ̸̮̃d̴̠̔o̴̫̅ ̶͚͝y̷̲̾o̸̩͝u̴͕͛ ̸̧͑p̷̛̣ŗ̶̕ȁ̴̺y̴̮̾?̸̠̏

W̵̖̓h̷̙̔ǎ̶̺ṱ̸́ ̴̢̔ę̷͛l̷̯̈s̴̭̑e̵̪̎ ̴̪͋ć̸̻ȧ̴͎n̴͇͒ ̴̛ͅĮ̵̓ ̴͖͐d̸͇̀ǒ̷͉?̸̨̈́ That. That was my response. Wasn’t it? “I̷͖̐.̵͚̎ ̶̭͠Ỉ̷̱ ̶͒͜d̵̼̃ö̸͇́n̵͖͐'̶͕͘t̵̜̅ ̸̳͛ẹ̴͂v̷̙̕e̸̺̅ǹ̴̬ ̸̢͊k̷̡̀n̷̙͗ö̵̜́w̸̹̓ ̵̨̈́w̴̟̎h̵̯͛a̴͎͝t̵̳͝ ̴̝͂k̸̝͊i̶͙̾n̶͍̑d̷̬̃ ̶͍̔o̸͕̐f̷̖͂ ̵͉͒ṁ̴͕ō̴̩n̷̬͐s̷̜͐t̸̯̀ḙ̶̉r̸̩̃ ̷͈̈ḽ̵͗a̴̺͛y̷̩͋s̷̪̒ ̴͍̈́b̷̞͌ě̸͉f̷̬̏ò̷̮r̷͎̍e̷̠͂ ̷̡̕m̴̧̎ê̷̦.̸̆ͅ ̵͖̃I̸̥̋ ̴̖͛ḓ̶̈́ȍ̵̯ǹ̸̜'̴̺̉t̷̞̀ ̵̥̈́k̴̰̅n̵̪̽õ̷̻w̶̪̑ ̷͉͛w̶̔͜h̴̫̀à̶̘t̸͎̾ ̴̑ͅt̵͙̍o̴̳̎ ̷̜̒d̸̩͂o̶͙̓.̴̼̍”

“.̸͓̌.̵͎̐.̶̺́ ̵̼̕İ̸̪f̴̘͌ ̸̱̉y̶͇͝o̶̝͋ú̶̜ ̸̽ͅk̸͎̅n̴̳̕e̷̢̍w̴͕̓ ̴͕̔w̵̨͛h̵̳̄á̷̪ț̴̀ ̴̩͂ị̷͂t̴̙̄ ̸̩̾w̵͈͌a̶̗͂ṡ̴̫.̶̮̃ ̵͉̓D̵͍̚o̴͉͘ ̵̨͐y̷̱̆ò̴͚u̴̱̐ ̶̱̅t̶̤̽h̶̑͜i̵̱̊ṉ̸́k̵̩̊ ̵͚̕y̶̼̏o̵͕͝u̷̼̓ ̴̛̫w̵̿ͅȍ̵͓u̷̲̍l̸̼̽d̶̝͐ ̸͜͠k̷̖͝ṉ̸̒ỏ̴͉w̵͇͝ ̵̤͝ẅ̷̳́h̶̞͑ä̴̘ṭ̸͠ ̶͈̅t̷̼̅o̵̪̐ ̷̢̊ḍ̴͘ő̸͈?̴̧͘” 

“Ǐ̷̭.̶̡̆ ̷͉̈I̷͓̐ ̴̉͜d̶̦̋o̴̼͛ ̷͚͠n̵̰̅ǫ̷̈́ţ̶͌ ̷̭́k̴̗̒n̴͍̂ȏ̴͓w̷̹̉.̷̹̀” How could I know… 

“O̶̦̕f̸̣͠ ̸̳̈c̶͍̐ó̶̠u̵̲̍ṟ̶̀s̵̛̥e̵̝͌ ̵͇̀ỳ̸̗o̴̗͝u̷̙͌ ̶͘ͅḍ̶̂ô̷̘n̸̪̈́'̴̭̌t̸̼͒.̶̙͌ ̷̨͠Ḅ̵̂u̴͓̚t̶̫̄ ̴̻͘y̵̬͠o̸̝̔u̶͚̇ ̸͍̓a̸͉̿ȑ̵̜ẽ̷̟ ̴͒ͅh̶͕́u̵͙̚m̴͕̄a̷͍͌n̶̟͝.̸̨̈́ ̸̤̃Y̴̰͘õ̵̤u̷̡͒ ̴͉̐à̷̬r̴͙̕e̶̘͂ ̸̠́ḥ̸͛i̴̯͘s̸̯̔.̵̟̕ ̸̫͐Y̶̲̋o̸͜͠u̴̪̓ ̸͓͋à̸͓r̴̮̐e̶͈͊ ̶̥̚m̶͉̏į̵͐n̷͑ͅę̶̛.̸̱͝ ̷̥̎Ĭ̸̖ ̷͓͋b̷̀͜ě̶̝l̶̕ͅi̷͎͆e̶̥̎v̷̥̅e̷̫͌ ̶̺͝y̶̟͘o̸̻͑ù̵̻ ̵̻͌c̶͇̕a̴͉͂n̵̙̍ ̸͉̓c̵̤͂ỏ̶̼m̶̡̂ë̸̫́ ̴͋ͅt̵̢̓o̸̥͌ ̵̞̔k̷͇͆n̶̮͆ŏ̸͚w̴̭͌.̵͎̃”

“B̶̞̅u̷̱̒t̷͇͠ ̵̌ͅw̶̖͑h̴̻̍a̶͙̐t̴̪͑ ̵̘̚d̵̙̍o̶̢͝ ̷̻̇I̶̛̜ ̶̣̈d̵̯̈́õ̵͍?̴̖̽ ̴̞͋W̷̺͌i̶̟͗l̵̺͝l̵͂ͅ ̷̗͝y̸̥̐o̸̦̕u̴͎͒ ̸̱̈ẖ̶̈́e̵̩̍l̴̬̿p̵̣̿ ̶̤͠m̴̓ͅë̸̼́?̷̯͐”

Ÿ̷̜́e̸̪͘s̷̯͝.̵͍̉ ̵͚̏Ẏ̴̪e̵͕̿s̸̯̔ ̵͙͝I̸̢̕ ̸̪̆w̷̯̽i̵̋ͅl̵͉̓l̵̛̩ ̷̺̀h̷̞͘e̵͎̕ḽ̷̆p̷͙͘ ̶̠̄y̶̮̐õ̵̜u̶͙͘.̷͕͛.̶͕̏.̶̻͆ ̴̤͒B̴̛͚ṳ̷̇t̷̙̄ ̵͓͐i̸͖̿n̴͚͗ ̴͓̎r̷̖͗ẻ̸̢t̶̳̓u̶̫͗r̵̯̄ṅ̷͉ ̵̳̓y̵̼͒o̷̞͝u̸̫͆ ̴̘͛m̸͙̅ǘ̶͉s̴̝̋t̸̼͋ ̷̜̔d̷̹̿o̴̳͌ ̵͍̓ŝ̸̟o̷͓͑m̸̡̈́è̸͚t̶̨͝h̷̖̽i̶͈͒n̴̦͊g̴̟͐ ̵̪̏f̸͉̓ō̷͕r̴̲̐ ̷̛̝m̵͙̒è̵̫.̷̢̐

“Ŵ̶̭h̷̤̒a̵̲͗ṫ̷̜ ̷̥͘m̸̘͝ȕ̸̻s̵̨̒ṭ̵̿ ̵̪̆Ī̵̞ ̵̼͝d̸̚ͅõ̷̬?̴͉̀”

“C̵̹̏l̴̻̇ȏ̴̱s̷̹̏ė̷̝ ̴̬̄ŷ̴̠o̷͖͆u̵̖̕r̶̦̆ ̵̻͌e̵͓͘y̵̦͆ḛ̸̅s̷̜̅.̸̳̇”

Ȃ̵̭̀́̾̍̂̓̈̕͜͝n̵̨̧̧̬͔̼͕̲̫̞̙̣̻̈́̍͂̀̾͌́̋̔̽͂̆̓͗́̇̅̚͜ͅd̷̛̥͎̱̋̿̾ ̴͍̟̦̹͇̰̥͚̗͙̖̰͙̯͉̏̽͆́̿͜͝

̶̢̡̞̖͍̟̳̺̟͔̗̫̥̘̹͔̀̾͜͝ͅḊ̷͎̤̤͕ ̷̬̱̩͋̌̎̒͆̇͘͝R̵͍̳̮̠̬̹̦̦̬̰͎̲̝͓͖̬̝̩̀̈́͗͒͆͗̆͑̈́́͑̀̽́̕͠ ̶̨̛̤̣̪̣̗̯̹̗̈́͗̐̒͑̚͘Ë̴̛̺̗͙̜̳̬́̾̿̀̃̂̑̉̈́͛̃͗̕͠ ̷̣̖̗͔̀̈́͊̇̈́͗̓͂͝A̵̛̮͕̬͂̓̈́̔̈́͒̏̏̈́̊͊̾̅̒̄͋̉ ̷̢̬̯͉͇͙̗̺̌M̷̧̋͐͂̔͐

.

.

…tive.

…tective.

“Detective.” Damn, what’s going on right now. “If you are done with your daydreaming. Please continue.” The commissioner began to lean back into his chair. “What happened?”

“The. The next thing I remember is closing my eyes. Blacking out… Then I found myself on a medical bed being prepped for surgery.” Flashing lights attacking and medical jumble going in one ear and out the other while I jumped in and out of consciousness. “That should conclude my report, sir.”

“Hmmmmmmm.” Wilhem began to brush his moustache on his plump face. He raised pieces of paper on the table. “Well. The only thing that connects to the report of the other squads is the cave in. Of which you were found on the approaching side of.” He dropped the papers back on the table. “We have been able to confirm the nature of the cave in was an explosion due to the dust particles and the death of several canaries the recovery teams had brought with them likely means that there was a gas leak. If I had to take a wild guess at what exactly happened to you during the raid detective, during a fire fight with some defending convicts, either your unit or theirs guns ended up hitting a piece of the ceiling an undiscovered gas vein was hidden behind and brought the whole cave down on you. The following events were more than likely some kind of hallucination brought around by your concussive head injury, the gas and the stress of the battle. Do you agree with that statement detective?” I blinked. Logically it would make sense and was a lot more reasonable than what happened… However.

“With all do respect sir. As much as I would like the events that happened during the raid to be a hallucination or even a nightmare I concocted while unconscious… There is something. Deep. Deep within my psych, deep within my soul that is assuring me. Everything that I just told you. Is the truth.”

“Detective, you cannot be serious.” He rubbed his brow. “Possessed men acting as one, people throw fire balls from their hands, a giant man eating stitched together monster. This is a fantastical story but not a logical police report. We are still slowly clearing out the cave in you were found before, recovering bodies and getting closer to seeing what was on the other side. Except, the second we recover the bodies of my officers I am calling the excavation off. Do you want to know why?” He looked at me with a deadpan. “Because the maps we recovered during the raid depict that area as being a dead end. And I refuse to waste more resources hunting monsters when there are fires to put out all over Albion.” He lowered his head putting his hand on his forehead massaging it. “Detective. I am empathetic of your current predicament. But I need something reasonable for my report. Please work with me here John, so we can deal with this cluster bin fire faster.” He grabbed the recorder and placed it in front of me. “John. What happened really.” I know what he wants me to say. I should say it and go on with my life. But there is something. Something stopping me.

“Everything I said… Was the truth. What I remember happening and what did happen. And until further evidence, that’s all either of us can say.” I looked him in the eyes. “I’m not asking you to believe my words. But I am telling you that all that I have said. Is what happened.” I can feel my muscles tensing. This is more than likely a bad idea, but my tongue decided to act before my brain could. I looked at the commissioner. He looked back. Disappointment painted across his face. He stood up and sighed.

“Well then. You leave me no choice.” He stared down at me. “Detective Jonathan Doe. Until further notice you are being put on unpaid medical leave.” What. This bastard-

“Sir. You can’t do this to me, how in God's name am I going to pay rent-” I was already living with half my unit and we were struggling then. Now it's just me. “I. I won’t survive-”

“You have at least three months without rent, as per the compensation laws with your dead roommates. Their debts are paid by the Prosecution Office as per their contracts decreed. As the last remaining member of your living contract, those benefits are given to you. I recommend finding new barracks mates to live with before your three months are up.” He turned to leave the room. “I am trying to sympathise with you son, I really am.” He pulled a cigar from a custom pocket inside his coat, bringing it to his mouth and lighting it. “But I need something reasonable. Take this time to clear your head, then come back to me with your proper report.” He bellowed smoke into the air as he left the interrogation room. “You’re free to leave, Detective.” I watched as he walked out of the room. The second he left, I practically collapsed onto the table, catching myself with my hands.

“... What the fuck am I going to do now…”