— Where did the incident happen?
— In the Canvas District, in an old building practically abandoned. The residents said their skin started rotting overnight. Johan is already on site with his team. He saw it with his own eyes, and it's really not pretty. So bad, in fact, they'll need to amputate.
The man sitting in the backseat stared out the car window while his colleague talked with the driver. The road was completely jammed, even with their patrol lights flashing. They were stuck.
Sebastian sighed. The case he'd been sent to handle sounded boring as hell, and he had no idea when he'd be able to go home.
— Damn it, Sebastian, you're annoying with that trench coat. Can't you just wear the police uniform like everyone else?
Sebastian let out a tired sigh.
— Are you serious right now? I'm the senior officer in this car, so I dress however I want. And this trench cost me a fortune.
The man beside him chuckled.
— Sure, easy for you. Forty years old, no wife, no kids… you spend all your salary on shitty coats and random crap. Especially cigarettes. I bet you're gonna light one the second we get there. That's why you hate traffic jams.
Sebastian hated being hit with the truth like that, but he knew it. His life had become nothing but short-lived pleasures meant to fill a void. He even checked his bank account discreetly. Negative.
The car finally stopped. They had arrived.
Sebastian got out, rummaged through his pockets for his lighter and cigarettes, lit one, and stood in front of the yellowed building, the smoke mixing with the smell of damp walls.
— Hey, Sebastian, you're not coming? I doubt the residents will care about your cigarette.
— I'd rather wait outside.
His colleagues entered the building while he smoked as if it were his last one. He looked around, not straying too far.
There was a school nearby, but no safety perimeter had been set up.
Sebastian could have handled it or at least reported it but he didn't. It would've required him to do his job, a job he'd hated for years now.
He'd joined the police at twenty-one, after passing the exam. He wanted mysterious cases, strange investigations. Ironically, he was happier back when his work was monotonous. Now, every case was different too different. And none of it brought him any form of passion anymore. Maybe because the job had never really given him anything but trouble.
A group of three schoolkids approached him.
— Sir, can we pass? Our friend said there are lots of cops in the cursed building.
Sebastian looked at them, flicked his cigarette to the ground.
— No, you can't go in there. It's dangerous. If I let you pass, you'd probably die. I'm a police officer, and I'm here to stop anyone from entering.
— Liar! You're not even dressed like a cop! Police officers should set an example but you're just a polluter! And with that ugly face, maybe you're the killer!
Sebastian tilted his head, smirked, and shouted:
— YES, IT'S ME!!!
The kids screamed in terror and bolted away.
Sebastian laughed. At least they wouldn't come back.
He walked back toward the building. It was already 4:42 PM.
He sat on the hood of the police car, waiting. When he reached for another cigarette, a gunshot echoed inside the building.
He immediately stood and rushed in.
The staircase reeked of old cigarette smoke, mold, and garbage. The walls were brown and sticky, cockroaches crawling on the floor and plaster.
The higher he climbed, the louder the screams became.
He pushed the door to the hallway where his colleagues were. One of them was holding a gun, trembling.
To his right, a man lay on the floor, a bullet hole in his head.
— What the hell did you do?! Why did you shoot him?!
His colleague stammered:
— We opened the door… he came out and jumped at me screaming like a maniac. I had no choice. I don't know what he had, but… I don't think he's the one causing the residents' skin rot.
Sebastian approached the body.
The man looked completely normal. No rot, no infection.
But a few meters away, an old woman had her arm covered in black, oozing mold.
Sebastian looked away in disgust, then peered inside the apartment.
A massive black cocoon filled half the room.
Four human heads were embedded into it, stuck to the surface like they had grown out of it.
The cocoon was almost Sebastian's height.
He stepped closer, ready to touch it.
— Don't touch it, Mr. Ganfolio! We haven't examined the mold yet, nor the cocoon. We're almost certain it's the source.
A man in a protective suit entered behind him.
Sebastian turned.
— Sorry, I wasn't actually gonna touch it. But… what are those heads doing stuck to that thing? And shouldn't we be wearing suits too?
— Don't worry, we'll be staying here for a while, so we protect ourselves. As for the heads… probably just some twisted bastard who stuck his victims there. But we didn't find any bodies. We searched the whole apartment. What we can't explain is why that guy had no mold, while all the residents are infected.
Sebastian returned to the hallway.
He imagined the paperwork waiting for him.
Another case he'd have to come back to, probably to guard the building, maybe even dig around for corpses.
He wasn't much better off than the forensics team.
— Sebastian, looks like we'll be working late tonight. What do you wanna eat?
— I don't know. I don't care. I just want this shitty case to end. Damn it… I just wanted to go home and watch a movie.
Sebastian searched for his lighter again. Nothing.
He cursed loudly this time.
He went back downstairs to look for it outside.
No luck.
So he headed back up.
But his colleagues were already coming down.
— Where are you going, Sebastian? We're leaving. There's nothing more to do, even the residents have to evacuate.
— Yeah, but I forgot my lighter. I'll be quick. Two minutes.
— Fine, but damn… we could've stopped at a shop to buy you another one.
Sebastian climbed back up to the apartment.
The body was gone.
So was his lighter.
He searched the floor, then lifted his head.
The lighter was inside the cocoon.
"Those bastards… are they messing with me? Putting my lighter in this shit?"
He grabbed it.
It was stuck.
He placed his hand on the cocoon for leverage.
A high-pitched, horrifying shriek ripped through the apartment.
A sound like death itself laughing.
His colleagues sprinted upstairs.
But when they reached the door.
The cocoon was gone.
And Sebastian had vanished.
Sebastian, meanwhile, was trapped inside a cocoon. He couldn't see anything.
A crushing fatigue overtook him.
When he opened his eyes again, he was sitting on a chair.
Surrounded by thousands of children.
He looked down at himself.
He was a child too.
Just minutes ago, he had been a forty-year-old man.
Why was he tied up? Hands and feet bound?
An old man stepped in front of the group and spoke:
— Welcome, children. As you know, today marks the day when one of the many troops will come choose one of you. You will finally become men. You have been locked away for eight years of your lives, but today, you are free. Once you are recruited, the troop will take care of your education. The troops will arrive in twenty minutes. I hope you are ready to perform your Vein-Arcanose… and become slayers of the Qephraï.
Sebastian froze.
He didn't understand a single word.
Fear crept over him real fear, something he hadn't felt in years.
A massive gate opened. Several people entered.
The old man raised his voice:
— It is time for your ascension! Which troop will you join? And more importantly… how long will you survive? More than half of you will be dead within five years! Hahahaha!!!
Sebastian's heart raced.
Maybe this was a nightmare.
But unfortunately for him.
It was all real.