F.S.F - Forensics Labs - Kent

"When you said you were going to London to take out tests I really didn’t expect you to find...this. And so quickly, too." Dr Lovegood looked to the men that seemed somewhat stiff in the brightly lit room. Alix, in particular, resembled a frightened child as he stared at the assortment of equipment around the room. Barry cleared his throat and rubbed a hand over the back of his broad neck which was sweating a fair bit, making his shirt damp.

"No, We didn’t expect it either. We heard a scream coming from the woods, and a strange fog…" Barry tried to explain the best he could, but the past few hours had been very traumatic for them both. Even for a trained officer like Barry. Alix shuddered as he recalls the blood-curdling scream that ebbed through the ominous clouds of fog earlier that day. That very sound had etched into its memory. He would never forget it.

"Well, after conducting a few simple tests I can confirm the male you found does not match the male on the missings person poster," Dr.Lovegood confirmed and looked down at the small file.

"His eyes. What was wrong with his eyes?" Alix stammers, moving forward unsteadily, he felt his head swirl with confusion and unidentified emotion. There was a silence so bitter, it made Alix question reality, the air thick with tension which only made the men twice as uncomfortable.

"Tell me!" Alix raised his voice. Not out of character for him. He was always quick to lose his temper, but it left just as quick as it arrived.

"His eyes. It appeared they were burnt with some kind of heated metal." Dr Lovegood dipped his head. It was bad enough they found a random headless male with no name in a woodland area just off the motorway, let alone to find it mutilated in painful ways. Alix winced and closed his eyes tightly. He couldn’t imagine how it felt. Burning metal searing the tender nerves, melting your eyes till they popped and oozed with a foul smelling puss; a pain so extreme you beg for death.

"I’m sorry, Mr Withers. That’s all I can determine." Dr Lovegood had done his part, no matter how hard it was for him. It was always difficult to explain traumatic deaths to people. It was the one disadvantage of the job he loved. Barry and Alix were both excused from the labs, and as soon as the stepped outside they both dived for their cravings. Barry yanked out a cigarette and Alix pulled out his vape. If they didn’t ease their stress soon, things could end nasty, and within no more than ten minutes they had both calmed enough to talk properly.

"What now?" Asked Alix as he blew a fluffy white cloud that quickly enveloped them - Even Barry's large body.

"We carry on. We go to London and get this shit over and done with." Barry stubs out the cancer stick on the path and thrust his big hands into his pockets with a hefty sigh. He looked up to the building and studied its simple modern design and high-security borders. At Least now Barry had stopped sweating so much.

"We never found out who screamed back in the forest," Alix muttered as he hit a tender nerve once again. He felt guilty, especially after what Barry had said about it. What if it was someone that needed help, and they failed at providing such a simple task. Barry looked away, his attention diverting quickly. They got no further than the exit, before Dr Lovegood came through the automatic doors, holding a piece of paper with scruffy handwriting scribbled over its surface. He panted just a little and held out the article to Alix who stood closest.

"Just had a report come through from a private officer that needs our help. Can you help me?" He asked, his eyes looked desperate as he offered the address he scribbled down in an obvious hurry. Alix took the paper and nodded without ever looking to Barry, who was silently disapproving of the extra passenger.

Stolen story; please report.

"Sure, I’ll take you, Dude." Alix knew vaguely where the address was since it was the area he had grown up in, back when. And staring at the address filling him with memories, both good and the bad.

"Thank you Mr. Withers. Much appreciated." The Doctor was thankful, but he still looked bothered by something. What it was was unknown for now. Alix led the others to his vehicle, and in no time they were on the road to Bristol. Luckily it was just a three-hour drive if it went smoothly - good news for the doctor, who clutched the sides of the seat as the car sped down the road, taking a sharp bend at 40-something miles per hour.

"Relax, He’s a good driver, Lovegood," Barry chuckled as he noticed how uncomfortable the male was in the speeding car.

"I’d have been safer walking." He mutters under his breath and looks down to his knees to focus on something other than the scenery that was just one big blur.

"We will be there in no time." Alix smirks, slowing down as to not get caught on the speed camera a few hundred yards ahead.

"Yeah, on the roof, or dead, maybe on the way back we can take it more...slowly?" The doctor looked ahead at the two men sat up front. Though asking such thing was a lost cause. Alix thrived for speed, but Dolly was far too precious to push things over the limit. He trusted his driving, as did Barry.

***

They arrived in no longer than three hours and were quickly able to track the house down, thanks to the border of yellow tape around the building.

"A quarantine?" Barry mutters curiously and peered over through the garden bushes as Alix parked up the car.

"Quarantine? What exactly are we dealing with here, Lovegood?" Alix looked over his aviators to glance in the rear mirror to study the doctor sat at the back, looking relieved the car had finally stopped.

"I don’t quite know myself yet I'm afraid," he replied in a solemn tone and tugged the handle to step out into the cold air. Before, it didn’t seem so cold.

Barry handed out masks, and slipped on his own, just in case anything was carried on the air. He grabbed a small bag, something that resembled a pencil case and handed it to Dr Lovegood before they all made their way toward the fairly normal looking cul-de-sac house. The closer they got, the more they were aware of the growing amount of flies that buzzed around. Barry reached for the black handle, only to watch a thick swarm of flies reveal a silver handle. He stepped back in disgust. He didn’t expect that of all things, yet still, he urged forward. As soon as they enter, they were hit with a foul smell. The smell of twenty rotting bodies, so potent it seeped through their masks.

Alix gagged behind the men. He was not used to this, not even one element of it. His happy place was in the kitchen cooking chefs gourmet meals, not searching for god knows what in an awful smelling house that’s overrun with flies. However, Barry and Lovegood thrived for situations like these and kept their eyes open as they ventured deeper into the residential house.

They hit the jackpot in the kitchen, and even though Alix was still heaving, he followed suit, something in his mind was eager to find out what was so interesting they had to quarantine the area. Alix frowned as he looked down at the body on the floor, the hairs on his arms stood and his stomach churned more. He wasn’t sure what was worse at this stage. Finding the head, or this. He looked closer, curiosity spiking in him. It looked like the female was covered with a fine flour or something. Yet, there were no flies around her. Unusual for a decomposing body.

"Why is she covered in flour?" he asked curiously to Barry and Lovegood who was inspecting more closely

"Mites, Not flour," Lovegood says under his breath.

"Mites?" Alix repeats in confusion. Sure, he had heard of mites. He had a boa constrictor, and he had to treat her for mites a few years back But it was nothing like this.

"Look closer, Buddy," Barry said as he pulled out the environmental air tester to test the air around them. Alix edged even closer. By now the scent of rotting flesh was so overpowering that it stung his nostrils. The closer he looked, the more he began to see the millions of white specs crawl over the still warm skin. Alix almost fell back in fear. He somehow managed to compose himself and keep his cool.

"How….Interesting," He muttered and felt the colour drain from his cheeks. This scene was new to Alix. He wasn’t entirely sure how to deal with things like these.

"We need to get the body back to the lab, Someone is coming now. We will need to take pictures of everything and look for clues. Then we will complete the tests." Lovegood stood and looked to Alix.