Episode 20-4: Hartford's Caveman

Adams wasn't expecting Clyde's proposal, but she hesitantly allowed it as she considered the event of already meeting each other face to face. Ira hasn't said much since we left the building; she's riding in the back seat of our car. I give Clyde directions on where the store is, but it'll be up to Ira to tell us which alleyway the incident happened in.

"There," I say, pointing to the marked store, "that's the one. Just park around here." Clyde swerves onto the shoulder of the street and we all exit the car. "Okay, which direction are we going?"

Ira takes the lead, walking to the side of the store and saying, "It'll be this one over here. I trailed ahead of him, but I think there was only one alley that I passed. Hopefully, I don't have to guess." We follow her lazily, just lagging behind a bit to give her some space. She doesn't pursue the trail silently though. "So, what makes NEQ1 the top dogs?"

"And fox," I correct.

"And fox."

Clyde sighs the sigh that I've come to learn is his annoyed sigh. "We complete our missions successfully the majority of the time. No tricks, no games, just hard work, and careful planning."

"What about you," I ask, "is your unit doing well on the field?"

She looks back at us while walking forward. "Oh yes, my squad leader is a real ace when it comes to planning. He's very perceptive, always setting up the start with a multitude of options. Even if something goes wrong, he's adaptive under pressure and creates openings on the fly." She has a glint in her eyes as she talks about Jonah. There's a story here if I pay close enough attention, but it's really none of my business.

"Was it this one here?" I ask, pointing at the alley that we're currently passing up.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," she apologizes. Clearly, she's not wrong.

"Troy," Clyde commands me, "I want you to stand here at the entrance in case whatever attacked Jonah is still around. If I get ambushed, I'm going to need you to have a full view."

I'd like to say that he's an idiot for attempting to go alone when we saw what it did to Jonah, but all I say back is, "Got it, chief." He goes in, weapon drawn into the shady area. It's a little dark, but I can keep my eyes on him from here. Ira stays with me, her hand to her chest as she watches Clyde cautiously tiptoe his way to a messy spot on the ground that can only be Jonah's blood spatter. "Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Maybe I should just text Jonah and make sure he's alright."

"You sure are worried for him. You know he's safe with Dr. Nivans, right?"

She pulls out her phone and begins typing. "Of course, I'm just curious about whether or not he's getting his trivial needs cared for."

"Even you said trivial needs, you must know that you're going overboard, yes?" I glance at Clyde to make sure he's doing fine; he's inspecting the floor closely with a flashlight. I turn back to Ira. "We'd both appreciate it if you focused your attention here, we could use all hands on deck for this one."

She sends her text and pockets her phone. "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry for being so distracted, he's just never been so hurt like this before, it's gnawing at me."

"Gnawing at you?"

"The image of him battered and shredded like that. You saw him in the bed after Nivans worked on him, but before that was...was--"

"You don't have to say anything."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say a literal demon from Hell did it to him."

Clyde stands up and calls over to us. "Hey, you're not going to believe what I just found." We gather around in the alley next to him. "Take a look at this, Troy, and tell me that I haven't found a connection," He hands me something small and hard, it's made of metal and has an odor of blood present.

"You've got to be kidding me," I say as I notice he just handed me a ring. It's circumstantial at this moment, but what are the odds of having a missing ring at the crime scene and having a ring show up at another, similar attack? "This is definitely more than just a coincidence. We can match this up with the forensics that we picked up at the house, we'll see if they're a pair."

It goes quiet as we don't speak for a moment, and in that silence, we all hear a faint thud behind us. Everybody turns around, but Ira is the first to get knocked out of the way by something very large and powerful. She slams into the wall, gets the wind knocked out of her, and stays down. Clyde acts quickly, bringing his gun out of his holster and aiming it at the black mass towering above us. The same appendage that threw Ira hits Clyde's gun quickly, and his grasp could not stand a chance against something so much stronger than he is as Conviction goes flying out of his hands and another appendage heads straight for his stomach. It lands harshly, pushing him to the end of the alley and through the wooden fence completely.

The only thing I can make out from this unknown demon is a gaping maw filled with colossal teeth. It chomps at my face, and I instinctively raise my hand in front of me. It bites hard enough to hear a loud thud, then wraps something around my ankle and flings me towards the street like I weigh nothing. I land in the middle of the road, too adrenalized to feel anything happening to me. A car speeds down my way; it screeches its tires as the brakes are applied, but I was too sudden for this car to stop completely. It swerves to the side, only missing my head by a mere inch before the momentum flips the car over and sends it barreling away for a good distance. I check my hand to count my fingers, they're all still there, but the ring is gone. The thing bounces out of the alleyway where Clyde was thrown, only leaving behind the sound of its powerful, terrifying footsteps. I get back to the alley quickly and help Ira up, and we both check on Clyde as we pass through the shattered remains of the fence and see him lying on the ground staring up into the trees.

"Oh my God, are you alright!?" I ask.

He stays looking up. "Did anybody see what that thing was?"

Ira and I share a look of worry, then turn back to Clyde to give him a shake of no.

"Whatever it was, it took the ring. I don't know if that's what it was after, it aimed for my head, not the ring."

Ira tugs my arm. "We should really call for help for that car that flipped."

Clyde stands up, dusting the grass off his backside. "We're going after it."

"Sure," I say, "just let me know what size of body bag you wear. We can't go after that thing with the equipment we got! I'm sure your gun is broken, and my caliber isn't big enough for something like that. We need to call for backup, Ispio isn't the full frontal assault type."

"I agree with Troy," Ira says, "being lucky in this scenario means that we'll be left in one piece once it's done with us."

Clyde shrugs. "If we'll be ripped apart, does the size of the body bag matter? Listen, nobody can get eyes on that thing, and right now we have a trail to follow. It has to be us to pursue. We'll find out where it stops to take a breather, then we can send HQ the coordinates."

"Bad idea," Ira says.

I cross my arms and sigh. "No, he's right. We'll never find that thing until it's too late if we lose it now. C'mon, I've been working on my tracking skills anyway. I'm hoping its weight is heavy enough to leave deep impressions in the dirt."

Ira walks in front of us. "That's all fine and dandy until you realize that we're in a city, not the woods. There's no way that trail is going to last very long."

"I think I have something that'll help."