Chapter III

Date - Saturday, 5th October 2018.

Time - 17:16:02

Location - Armull Police Station, Co. Meath of the West, Ireland.

One of the phones ring in the busy police station.

"Hello, you have dialled the police. My name is Lisa. What is your emergency?" A blonde dispatcher answers the phone.

A grunt.

Judging by the sound made, the dispatcher figured out it was a male. "Hello?" she begins again. "Are you hurt? Is everything okay?".

"H-help me... h-h-help me, please!" he grunts out painfully.

Before the dispatcher could say anything, he proceeds on saying, "T-they are coming! They..." Pause, followed by a grunt. "They are everywhere...". He begins sobbing. "Please, help me! M-my... my Isaac... m-my J-Jameson-". A loud, choked cough. "H-h-help...".

"S-sir?..." The dispatcher calls out. "Sir!?". Everyone in the office around the dispatcher looks at her.

Her fellow colleagues look at her in fear.

She gulps.

"Sir, don't worry. I'm sending a dispatch your way right now!".

No reply. Instead, she hears a sigh.

That sigh was, in fact, his final breath...

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The police siren begins blaring, the screeching of the tires is heard and with that, a police car is gone to the scene from where the dispatcher received her call.

"What are we investigating now?" asks Officer Radley, seated in the passenger seat. "I literally was pulled out of the breakroom and put into this car.".

"It's all good. No need for an excuse. I was quickly briefed, they are guessing it's a homicide case..." answers Officer Sulivan.

"A homicide case??" Radley replied, shocked. "But also, 'guessing'???".

"Yeah, the first time I ever realised that 'homicide' and 'guessing' do not go well hand-in-hand at all," Sulivan responds back.

"Do we have an idea on who the victim, or victims, is or are?" Radley questions.

Sulivan shakes his head. "Except for the fact that the person who dialled the police was a male. I was also informed briefly by the dispatcher that he sounded like a man in his thirties. He said two names. Jameson and Isaac.".

"Jameson and Isaac?" Radley questions. "His kids maybe?" he suggests.

"Could be..." Sulivan replies.

Brief silence descends amongst the two officers.

Then, Sulivan clears his throat.

"You know... this could be a mass murder..." He says.

Radley's eyes widen ever so slightly. "What makes you think that?".

"I was told that before the caller stopped responding, he said how 'they are coming', how 'they are everywhere'..." Sulivan responds.

Radley gulps.

"So..." Radley begins. "If this is a homicide case... and if there is more than one killer...".

"Go on..." Sulivan says.

"The crime scene will be a gruesome one then, would it?" Radley asks.

Sulivan lets out a chuckle. "Honestly, there is only one way to find out.".

"Crap... I knew I shouldn't have eaten... Just in case something like this happens..." Radley replies. To which Sulivan once more chuckles at his words.

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Some time passes. The police car turns into a car park. Immediately they spot a car. The only car in the parking.

They needed no further investigation to determine that the abandoned car was the car of their victim.

The car pulls up at one of the many empty parking slots.

"Alright... let's go..." Sulivan says, turning the engine off.

Both Radley and Sulivan exit the car. They both look around and stumble upon a sign, marking the entrance to the thick, deciduous forest. A light yellowy-orange pathway leads its way through the forest.

That's when Radley remembers. He begins tapping his belt, tapping the holster. Empty.

"Crap! I forgot my weapon at the police station..." Radley says.

To which Sulivan replied with, "Don't worry, I've got one. I think that one pistol will be more than sufficient. Now, let's go...".

With that, Sulivan begins his way towards the path.

"Mmmm... I don't feel good about this..." Radley says, catching up to Sulivan.

"Neither do I, but, we have to do this for the victim. We have to bring the killer to face justice for what he did, or for what they did," Sulivan replies. "Killing someone is never an option..." he adds.

A brief moment of silence...

"You are right..." Radley responds. "Let's go...".

With that, the two policemen went entered the woods and began their way to finding their victim.

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The walk through the forest, following the pathway that seemed to have no end.

The millions of tall trees seemed to rise up to the sky and beyond from Radley's and Sulivan's perspectives. This, along with the fact that there may be a group of murderers on the loose, made the police tenser and tenser. The ominous silence just added to the already tense atmosphere.

"You'd think that one would hear the birds out and about..." Radley comments.

"You got that right..." Sulivan replies.

They both continue their wary walk through the woods.

Then...

Two tents come into view...