Location: Velstand Industrial District, Food Processing Plant

Time: 3:23 PM; February 14th, 2108

After talking with Hana, Henry and I agreed to head to the address she gave us. While we were still concerned about what was happening to everyone else it was clear that our involvement was only going to complicate things.

We also considered going back to the dorm building in order to get the bus that drove us all out to the UCTF. The issue was whether or not it was safe to run into the others who had almost certainly started congregating there.

We could potentially take them all back with us, but Henry was adamant that bringing more people around him would just put them at risk.

In the end, we decided to just head back to Velstand directly, on foot.

Well, Henry was on foot. In a manner of speaking, I was on Henry.

In a literal manner of speaking.

Yeah, completely abnormal. An 18 year old getting carried around like luggage. He was nice enough to start things off with a bridal carry, but after the first kilometer or so I felt more like a sack of potatoes on my way to market.

Still, what did you want from me? A normal trip back? Impossible. I couldn’t keep my legs overpowered for the entire trip back to Velstand. It just wasn’t a trip that I could make in a reasonable amount of time on foot. So instead I overpowered Henry’s already strengthened leg muscles.

And I’ve really got mixed feelings about this, but after the first twenty minutes or so I really wasn’t that bothered by it. It’s amazing what the human mind can normalize if given enough time.

The real problem was when we got back to the city.

Neither one of us thought to have him put me down.

I can never show my face in that part of town again, can I?

No, never. At best they’ll just think I’m some kind of abnormal girl, you know?

Anyway. Moving on. Moving on and forgetting about what happened before. It took us a little while to find the exact address we were looking for. Despite living in Velstand for my entire life, I’d never actually been to the industrial district before. It’s just not a place that a normal person would ever need to go.

‘Oh? The industrial district? I’ve been there a few times looking for work, I could probably get us pretty close to this address.’

That’s what he said. The guy who’d only been in Velstand a little over a month already knew his way around better than I did. What kind of sense did that make?

Either way, by the time we reached our destination we were already a solid portion into the afternoon. We didn’t have any guarantee that the person we came to find would still be there.

“Excuse us, is this entrance open for guests?”

I asked a normal question as we made our way through the building's front entrance. Seeing as that location didn’t get much in the way of visitors, there was no obviously labeled main entrance. From what we could gather, this place was a facility that canned mass produced foodstuffs. The set of doors we decided upon led into an incredibly basic reception room. There was only a single desk with a few chairs sitting opposite of it. Behind the desk there was another door leading further into the building.

“Hello?”

I spoke up loud enough for someone on the other side of the door to hear me.

No response.

“So, should we wait? That would definitely be normal, but maybe we should just keep moving forward.”

Henry looked like he was thinking about something, or maybe he was just distracted. I decided to wait until he got through whatever was on his mind.

“Yeah, you should wait here.” When he finally spoke up, it was a request without any reasoning.

“What? Why?”

“My senses are pretty good. I can tell from here that the interior of this factory smells too good. It’s full of food.”

“That smell is normal, this is a food processing facility after all. Smelling like anything other than food would have been abnormal. Why is smelling good a problem?”

“Because it smells good to me. It’s full of my food, not yours.”

I caught a glimpse of Henry’s elongated canines as he spoke.

“Ah. I see.” I could have let it end there, but that didn’t seem right. “How many?”

“I couldn’t give an exact number, but enough blood has been drained to fill at least a dozen humans.”

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“Drained?”

“Yeah, they’re not just dead. Their bodies were mutilated in a way that caused that much blood to be spread around. Almost as if they were ripped apart by a beast.”

“Can you tell if anyone is still alive?”

“Humans? No. The blood is cold. But there is one person left alive. An aberration.”

“Then it’s. . .”

“Yeah, probably the person that did it.”

“The person we came here to meet?”

“I don’t think so. Hana told us it was a werewolf, one that I knew. I only know one werewolf, and she isn’t the type that would do something like this. It must be someone else.”

“Then what should we do?”

I felt useless, constantly asking Henry to solve things for us, but that was the best way. I’m nothing like my sister. I’m just a normal person. We’d be better off leaving the decisions to someone more impressive.

“Like I said before, you should wait here. There’s no reason for you to be exposed to what happened in there. I’ll go check things out and report back to you.”

“But what if the other aberration attacks and you need help?”

“Don’t worry, I’m no hero. I don’t plan on fighting alone if I don’t have to. I’ll just look around.”

Should I have told him no? I’m sure something like that would have been the right answer for that situation.

But who cares about the right answer? I was after the normal one. And you know, I could appreciate Henry’s foresight. A warehouse full of mutilated bodies isn’t exactly something I wanted to be exposed to. Sure, he already told me they were there, but knowing they exist and seeing the carnage first hand are totally different. I’m not sure how I’d react to seeing something like that.

Does that make me weak? Maybe, but I’ve never wanted to be strong in the first place. Just normal.

“Alright, I’ll wait here. But don’t put yourself at risk.”

“No worries, I’m as careful as they come. I’ve only died once after all.”

Henry slipped through the door on the far side of the room after delivering that unimpressive statistic.

A few minutes went by without any new information. I was a little worried, but if he was in trouble surely I would have been able to hear something happen. I pushed the side of my head up against the door and focused my hearing.

Yeah, nothing.

I thought maybe I could occasionally hear the sound of a woman’s voice, but maybe not. It’s hard to say.

“Yo, Alli, whatcha listening for?”

I instinctively jumped as I heard a familiar voice call out to me. I was so focused that I didn’t notice Vier had entered the building from the same entrance Henry and I had used.

“Ahh, Sara knows this! Sara used to see the women do that all the time. She’s spying! Tsk tsk, how scandalous!”

And I definitely didn’t notice Sara standing beside him.

“Why are you here? With her? For me?”

“Eh, explaining things myself seems like a pain. I’m sure everything will clear itself up in no time.”

“I really don’t think that’s true, and wait, do you know what’s going on? What about Karen? Hana said something about her being in trouble.”

“Ah, Ren? Yeah, Lex is handling that one. I’m here for you. I’m supposed to bring you back to Lex’s office.”

“Alexis sent you?”

“Of course. Despite what you might think of her, keeping you safe is one of her top priorities.”

“I’m fairly certain I remember getting kidnapped and having to make a deal myself to get out.”

“You got kidnapped? Scary stuff. Sara will need to be more careful with her strudels if this city has thieves about.”

She’s the one who did it! But pointing that out to Sara wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“Yeah, but she knew from the beginning you’d be fine. And even if you don’t trust Lex, you can trust me. Or at least in my strength. You came all the way here for protection and answers, right? Well, can you think of any two people better suited to give you those things than Lex and me?”

I really wanted to turn him down. To tell him I wasn’t going to participate in whatever Alexis had in mind.

Doing that just wouldn’t make sense though. Relying on the strong was normal. And he was right, Alexis and Vier were at the pinnacle of their respective fields.

“Fine. But I won’t leave without Henry. We came here together. He deserves to know what’s going on just as much as I do.”

“Ah, yeah, the vampire. That’s perfect. He was the fourth one I was supposed to pick up. I’ll go get him. You three wait here.”

“Three?”

“Ah, yeah, for some reason I’m here too.”

Emelia’s voice was coming from outside.

“Sara’s wife is just shy. That’s why she isn’t showing her face, or coming inside. Don’t worry about that one!”

“Is that so. . .” Not wanting to get any more involved with whatever Sara was talking about, I decided to shift my attention back to Vier. “Wait, there’s another aberration further inside.” I didn’t want Vier to potentially ruin Henry’s cover.

“Another aberration? I don’t care. If they try anything, I’ll end them. Simple as that.”

Vier’s tone of voice properly showcased how disinterested he was in the information I gave him.

I moved out of the way as he nonchalantly walked further into the building.

“Wow! Intimidating! Sara’s glad to be on his side now! He could really do a number on Sara! Probably the only one who could! And all Sara had to do was want Sara’s cyclops friend’s science project to succeed.”

Sara sidled up beside me and started patting me on the shoulder. I couldn’t follow her line of thinking at all.

“Yeah, um, well, it’s definitely normal to want Vier on your side.” That was about the only normal thing about the woman who called herself Sara.

“Of course! But what you said before, about getting your pie crusts stolen.” I never said anything of the sort! “Sara needs you to join her neighborhood pastry watch. If you see anyone suspicious, let Sara know.”

“Um, yeah, sure.” I didn’t know how to respond. And even if I did know, I was too on edge to respond normally.

“Good. Good. Sara has high hopes for you, private. See something, say something. Have something, eat something.” Sara reached into her pocket and pulled out a half eaten croissant. She then grabbed my hand and placed the croissant in my grasp. “Payment.”

I silently accepted my payment, trying my hardest to think of any way to make this situation seem normal.

Yeah, nothing.

“Hey, if you’re not going to eat the croissant you should give it to Sara. You probably don’t know this about Sara, but Sara loves pastries.”

As I thought. Irreversibly abnormal.