Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (20 page)

   “Where’s Gregg?” he said looking up the hole frantically. As he did, Kirin quickly grabbed the flashlight from his hands.

   “Hey!” Ham complained, but Kirin did not listen, immersed in analyzing the new environment around him through the small spotlight in his hands.

  “Hey, where’s Gregg?” Ham said looking at Kirin as he looked over the area.

   “He’s dead.” Kirin replied plainly as he eyed a walk path next to the waiting stares of Kara and Yumi while she held Milk close to her.

   “No way!” Ham shouted. “We need to go back up there and get him!”

   “This is the way.” Kirin said ignoring him as he walked ahead, undaunted by the darkness in front of him or saddened by the death of someone he spoke with in a lively conversation just a moment ago. However, the reaction around him was different. Kara stood still, saddened by the news while Ham seethed in anger. Jake, however, slowly walked ahead, following Kirin and his rushed pace, forcing everyone to hold off on their sadness and shock, making them keep up with their only remaining light in this darkness, the flashlight in Kirin’s hands.

   “Where are we?” Kara asked, hearing a small canal of water flowing beside them as they walked down a thin pathway to its side.

   “We’re in the sewer systems.” Kirin said.

   “What? Really? I don’t smell anything.”

   “This is simply the outer structure of it. We haven’t really hit the main system yet.”

  “Eww…” Kara winced. “Let’s avoid that, okay?

  “Hey!” Ham shouted, trailing everyone in the back. “What happened to Gregg! Why’d you leave him up there?!”

   “Pipe down.” Kirin said. “Less you want the Guards to notice.”

   “I’ll shut up once you tell me what happened up there.” He persisted.

     Kirin, stopping dead in his tracks, turned around and stepped past everyone following him until he stood in front of Ham. Wearing an intense look on his face, he stared him down. “I went in before him—he closed the hatch after me. He was a stupid man… You’re better off forgetting someone like that.”

   “Shut u—”

   “No! You shut up!” Kirin shouted in anger. “He was an idiot, working under an idiotic leader with goals verging on dumb, that’s who Gregg was. But you’re a member of the Underground, huh? You should appreciate a fool dying by the foolish orders of his organization.”

     Ham, taken off guard by the forcefulness of Kirin’s words, just stared at him, unable to respond to the intense eyes glaring at him. Finishing his vent of anger, Kirin turned back, flashlight in hand, and continued forward towards the end of the sewer line.

   “Where are we going?” Yumi said hesitantly with Milk in her hands while trailing Jake. “More like,” she continued. “What is happening?”

   “We’ve been framed for murder by the Captain,” Kirin said looking at Yumi briefly. “Most likely set up by the Captain to be caught in another murder, just now in the dressing room.”

   “What?”

   “Captain Hershel is trying to take the blame away from the Union for an accidental murder of a merchant that worked for the Nobles, something taken very seriously by those in charge of this city. No doubt, some Union member would be sacrificed and take the blame for this incident, but instead of doing that, they found us to blame.”

   “What do me and Milk have anything to do with this?”

     Kara chuckled. “More like, what do we have to do with this?”

   “Kara, Ham, and Gregg,” Kirin said walking steadily forward. “You were just in a wrong place, wrong time situation. But Yumi… That’s the thing, what do you have to do with this?” Kirin said tapping the bottom of his chin.

     Yumi stared at Kirin’s profile. “You don’t know yet?”

   “I have an idea, but I’m going to have to have you clear a few things up for me?”

   “What do you want to know?”

   “How did you get into the city?”

   “Well,” Yumi said searching her thoughts. “We snuck in through a blind spot in the border. My big brother Reese found it through one of his contacts.”

   “Contacts?”

   “Yeah,” Yumi said brushing a strand of hair dangling over her eye. “Reese was always popular with the ladies, they would sometimes even pay him for his company.”

   “Whoa!” Kara said looking at Yumi impressed. “He must be some looker for women to pay him.”

   “He is.” Yumi said with a shy smile that softened her hardened appearance.

     Kirin raised an eyebrow. “And this girl that happened to give him this piece of vital information about the borders—was she the Kartier girl we found dead in the dressing room? Was she the contact he had in the city?”

   “I-I don’t know.” Yumi said hesitantly. “I never really saw her.”

   “But I bet your little Milky knows, doesn’t he?”

   “W-What?” Yumi said.

   “He was with him, wasn’t he? Ask him, what did he hear Reese and the girl talk about, before she was murdered.” He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Milk’s teary-eyed face.

   “They had nothing to do with it.” Yumi hardened her expression.

   “I never said they did. Now ask him.”

     Yumi, easing her defensive stance, reluctantly turned to the shifting eyes and innocent face of Milk. “Hey,” Yumi whispered as she drew his slouching body closer to her own. “Milk, can you hear me?”

   “Huh?” Milk said shuttering to her words as he looked into the deep blackness around them with scared eyes.

   “Don’t be scared, big sis is right beside you. You remember big sis, right?”

   “Big sis?”

   “Yeah, the one that plays all the music you hear, who dances with you under the stars, gives you all the milk you like.”

   “Stars?” Milk said staring at Yumi. “Big sis…” he smiled at Yumi.

   “Now tell me Milk, when you were with Reese and that girl, did they say anything…” Yumi trailed her eyes towards Kirin for words.

     Kirin whispered back to her. “About the Captain, the Patrol, or the Union.”

   “Did they say anything about a Captain that leads,” Yumi said in an animated voice. “A Patrol that guards, and a Union that gathers?”

   “Captain…” Milk stuttered. “The dancing girl said…”

   “What about?” Yumi asked.

   “Reese was laughing… And the dancing girl… She was rubbing his stomach, smiling like a happy person, helping big brother change clothes.”

     Kara snickered. “I don’t think that’s all she was doing, or rubbing.”

     Yumi scowled at Kara, silencing her snickering with her glare. She then looked back at Milk with a warm smile. “What did she say?”

   “She said… she said… ‘you made it, Captain was a big help, worth the big money’ she laughed.”

   “And there you have it.” Kirin said looking at Milk with suspicious eyes. “Hmm…”

   “What, hmm?” Yumi said.

   “Nothing. We might be able to get out of this.”

     Kara cocked back her head. “Don’t you mean you? We have nothing to do with your little frame job, right Ham? Ham?” Kara said looking back to see no one behind her. “Hey, where’s Ham?”

     Everyone stopped their forward movement and looked into the darkness behind them. Kirin especially looked around perplexed by the sudden disappearance of their short and stalky friend. Piercing the darkness with his flashlight, he searched for him.

     Jake shook his head in aggravation. “Don’t tell me he ran back?”

   “That idiot.” Kara gritted her teeth.  “He’ll be leading the guards directly towards us.”

     Listening to their complaints while searching for Ham, Kirin’s eyes fell upon a curious red sight on the cement ground behind everyone.

   “Blood?” Kirin said pointing the nose of his flashlight downward on the warm red liquid on the ground. Everyone turned their attention upward and looked at the blood that seemed to drip from on high.

   “Is that coming from the ceiling?” Jake asked.

   “I don’t know.” Kirin said slowly moving the nose of his flashlight upward with a sense of foreboding building inside him. Tenseness in his bones had begun to shake his nerves with every inch upward his flashlight went. Something was wrong with this situation.

     With the light slowly hitting the ceiling, everyone could see a plain cement texture with nothing red or made of liquids dripping from its hardened surface.

   “There’s nothing there.” Kara said.

   “Eeek!” Milk screamed as he slammed his palms over his ears. “They’re here! They’re here! They’re here!” Milk muttered under his breath like a chant to some unknown being.

   “What the hell is wrong with him?!” Kara said looking at the boy, startled by his abnormal chanting.

   “I don’t know,” Yumi said holding him in concern. “Something is scaring him here.”

   “Let’s move.” Kirin said, feeling the sense of foreboding still building inside of him.

   “What about Ham?” Jake said surprised by his urgency.

   “Wherever he goes is his own problem.”

   “That’s a bit ruthless for you.”

   “Yeah…” Kirin said shifting eyes as he continued forward, forcing everyone to follow the bit of guiding light in his hand. As he made his way on ahead, Kirin could see no change in their environment, nor any sign of them closing in on an exit, just an endless narrow path that seemed to stretch out forever.

   “Hey,” Kara said panting heavily. “How long is this path? It seems… It seems like we’ve been walking for ages.”

   “Yeah,” Jake said dragging his feet a bit. “Shouldn’t there be a ladder to the surface somewhere?”

   “Yes…” Kirin said with a distant stare to his left into the still darkness beside him.

   “Hey,” Jake said behind Kirin. “Take it easy with the speed walking.”

   “We need to get out of here.” Kirin said ignoring his advice.

   “I know, but some people can’t keep up.” Jake said looking at Yumi struggling to drag the shaking body of Milk along with her. Kirin, looking back as well, stopped for a moment.

   “Don’t mind me,” Yumi said noticing his still steps. “I can keep up.”

   “That’s not the thing.” Kirin said looking at everyone with a deadpan face. “Something is blocking our way.”

   “What?” Kara said looking ahead through the darkness. “I don’t see anything.”

   “That’s the point.” Kirin said sharply moving his eyes as he scanned the area again. “We’re not supposed to see it.” He continued, looking back at everyone. “Now, I warn you not to scream or shout in the next ten seconds or none of us will survive.”

   “Rin,” Jake said somewhat frightened by his words. “What are you talking about?”

   “Shhh…” Kirin placed a finger on his own mouth briefly. “Do everything I say from here on out.” He whispered as everyone’s mood went south into an abrupt sense of panic and confusion.

   “What’s going on?” Kara asked.

   “Listen,” Kirin continued. “Everyone form a line behind me, stay close and keep quiet, don’t stare at your surroundings, even if they stare back at you.”

     Yumi grimaced at his orders. “You’re freaking us out, tell us what’s happening.”

   “I’m saving your lives. On the count of three, I will close this flashlight. Everyone line up and grab the shoulder of the person in front of you, and under no circumstance are you to let go of that person’s shoulder.”

   “Rin, you’re scaring everyone…” Jake said breathing heavily. “What’s happening?”

   “Like I said, we’re surviving. One,” he started counting down. “Get in line. Two.” He said turning around, pointing the flashlight towards the ground. Kara, confused by the tension building around them, jumped behind Kirin, followed by Yumi with Milk shivering in fright beside her. Jake, carefully pushing Yumi forward, stepped to the backside of the line.

   “I hope you know what you’re doing.” Jake said placing a hand on Yumi and Milk’s shoulder.

   “I hope so too.” Kirin smiled. “Three.” Kirin said just as Kara grabbed onto his shoulders while Yumi did the same to Kara.

     Turning off the light, darkness fell upon them as quick as their breathing broke from steady to uneven and shaken as the clarity of the moment escaped them, replaced with a confused, tired and daze state.

   “What’s happening?” Kara said nervously in the darkness.

   “Don’t speak, just move.” Kirin whispered as he stepped forward into blackened space. Trudging through the silence of the narrow sewage passageway, the ground beneath everyone trembled as the whispered cry of a nearby animal or beast of unknown shape and form crept up around them, scratching the ground with shallow cuts that sent a slight sense of terror running up the spin of everyone trailing Kirin.

   “Did you hear that?” Kara said panicked. “What was that?”

   “What’s going on Rin?” Jake said looking around anxiously in the dark.

   “Shhh…” Kirin’s voice leapt up in a whisper above everyone’s. “Just don’t stop moving, no matter what happens from here on out, don’t stop.”

     With those ominous words, they continued forward, measuring their steps behind Kirin’s whispered words directing them forward as the distant cry of this lost beast grew ever louder the further they traveled down the dark path before them. Soon, the cries became shrieks, tearing through the vacant space above them, changing direction as the bestial voice continued to roar ever the more violently with every passing moment. The somewhat confused faces of Yumi, Kara, and Jake changed with the volume of the sound, their expressions leaping from fearful and confused to frightened and desperate as their tired feet grew weary of pounding against the cement ground for what seemed to be hours.