Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (21 page)

   “K-Kirin…” Kara’s voice trembled. “W-What is that?”

   “Ignore it.” Kirin said walking forward unfazed. “Just keep moving forward. No matter what, do not, I repeat, do not stop moving.”

   “That’s good and all,” Yumi grimaced. “But we’ve been walking awhile now.”

   “Doesn’t matter, keep moving.”

   “For what?” Kara said. “What is that, and what are we looking for?”

   “Aaaaahahaaaaaaaa!!!!” the bestial voice screamed out, echoing through the sewage hall.

      Plopping down on the ground in fright, Milk started to scream out himself. “Monster! Monster! Monster! Monster! Go away Monster! Go away!” he cried out, breaking the line and stopping Yumi and Jake as they leaned over to console the frightened Milk, but as they did, the howls of the beast instantly stopped.

     Kirin, with a panicked look on his face, turned around and rushed forward, using his quickest steps to draw the distance between him and Yumi.

   “Duck down!” Kirin shouted out as he grabbed the still raised heads of Yumi and Jake, quickly lowering them as a brush of wind swept over them along with a guttural roar shrieking with the heavy gust of wind.

   “What is that?!” Yumi said in fright.

   “Kara!” Kirin said with a sharp tone looking back at the still steps of Kara. “Run!” He said snapping her mind back into focus. At his call, she staggered forward and ran, leaving them there.

   “What are you doing?” Jake said. “You can’t leave her alone.”

   “I’m saving her.” Kirin said looking around him in caution. “This beast, it cannot see us if we move, so get up and run, we’re almost there.”

   “Where?” Yumi said holding the crying Milk. “It’s like we’ve been walking in circles, we’re going nowhere fast here.”

   “No… Open your eyes.” Kirin said pointing ahead.

     Yumi, following the direction Kirin pointed in could see a glowing orange light pulsating in the distance where Kara ran.

   “Now listen to me, at the next shriek, I want you to get up and run.”

     Her body shaking within the darkness surrounding them, Yumi nodded her head, trembling at what was to come and energized to act when it happened.

   “Jake.” Kirin said looking at him as he breathed in gasps. “Calm down.” He told him, and with those few choice words, Jake settled his breathing and focused eyes on the burning light ahead of them. Waiting patiently, everyone strengthened the legs beneath them as they readied themselves to run at the drop of a coin. Listening to the silence enveloping them, a crack broke through their wall off soundlessness while a shrieking noise tore through the darkness.

   “Run!” Kirin shouted out, and with his shout, the nerves and the building tension in everyone’s muscles vaulted them forward and pushed them in a dead sprint down the sewage hall. As they ran, a bang and a smash shook the ground, causing everyone to stumble as they continued to run wild. While the tremors passed, the shrieking continued on, chasing them blindly in the darkness surrounding them.

   “Hurry!” Kirin said as they approached the light.

     Yumi, dragging Milk under her shoulder, ran frantically, but at a diminished pace while she lugged the fearful Milk along with her. Jake, cutting in front of her noticed her slowing pace.

   “Hey,” Jake said pulling Milk’s arm and wrapping it around his own, making the load of Yumi’s run lighter as they divided his weight while they ran. Running down the hall, they both looked forward to a light that now looked like a burning fire at the end of the decline of a hill.

   “Hurry up!” Kirin waved them over as he stood by the fire. “Come into the light.”

     Drawing closer to the fire, Yumi tripped and fell down a set of stairs, rolling her down at a fast pace towards the fire until she stopped at the foot of the gassed Kara.

   “Are you okay?” Kara asked through her heavy breathing.

   “Ah,” Yumi said shaken by her fall. With her eyes wandering the illuminated space, she saw the unfamiliar face of a grizzled old hobo sitting by the fire, watching patiently the chaos around them. However, feeling that her hands were lighter and without the weight of her little brother, she quickly broke out of her daze and noticed the shouts and screams around her picking up.

   “Milk! She said lifting her head up to see Jake a distance away, deep into the darkness, fighting off some unknown entity as Milk crouched behind him, shaking.

   “Milk!” Yumi said standing up, only to trip and fall as the veins in her legs popped out of her skin, straining to carry her, but failing her as she dropped down.

   “Ah!” Yumi struggled as she fell to her knees. Angry that she could not move, she punched the side of her calves. “C’mon, get up!” she said looking at the terror in Milk’s eyes. “Get up!” she said to herself as she rose under the stress of her legs.

  “Hey, hey, take it easy.” Kara said, but Yumi only growled back as she yelled at herself again. “Get up!” With this last yell, she picked herself up. Taking her first step forward, she prepared for a charge towards the crying face of Milk. However, just as she stepped up, Kirin walked in front of her, flashing the light within his hand in the direction of Jake, grabbing his attention, and silencing the beast.

   “Follow the light! You’re safe within the light.” Kirin said placing his hand in front of the struggling Yumi.

     Hearing his words, a tired and frightened Jake used the cover of the light and ran to the shivering, Milk, lifting him as he muttered under his breath for his sister.

   “C’mon big guy.” Jake said running forward with milk by his side, trusting Kirin’s words implicitly as he chased the light. However, as he ran down the steps toward the campfire where everyone was waiting, he could not help but feel the presence of something following him. Feeling compelled to act on his instincts, Jake briefly looked back, only to be confronted with the face of a rabid creature in the shape of a large ape, but with the leathery scales of a lizard and the face of a spider. It growled with its bare teeth and claws at its jowls, waiting to attack from a prone position on the floor.

   “Ahhh!” Jake screamed out as he fell beside the warm light of the campfire, leaving Milk to fall into the arms of the worried Yumi.

   “What was that?!” Jake said lying down out of breath.

   “A Beast of the Grey forest.” A grizzled voice said at the head of the campfire.”

   “What the…” Jake said looking back to see the old man sitting there without worries as he opened up a can of soup and poured it into a pot. Jake, turning to Kirin, looked for answers. “Who the heck is this guy?”

  “Yeah,” Kirin nodded. “I’ve been thinking the same thing, but I was too busy saving your skin to ask.”

   “Well, I’m sorry for needing saving all the time. Oh, wait, that’s only because you’re always bringing me to danger.” Jake snipped back.

   “Hahaha…” the old man chuckled under his breath as he began to hold the pot over the fire, warming up his canned soup. “Good to see that you’re still lively.”

   “Who are you?” Kirin asked standing tall with his hands in his pockets.

     The grizzled man smiled at Kirin’s guarded behavior. “Just a homeless man in the city.” He said glancing at his tent. “Trying to make my way through this world in one piece.”

   “How’s that working for you?” Kara said as she helped Yumi stand up by lending her a shoulder while she still held onto the trembling Milk.

   “Why don’t you take a seat by the fire and maybe I’ll tell you…” the old man said pointing towards a long block of wood across from him. “Rest your legs here a bit.”

   “Maybe we will.” Kara replied, reluctantly bringing over the hobbled Yumi and Milk to the log where they sat down and rested their legs.

   “Hah…” Yumi let out a sigh. “God, how long were we walking? She said looking at her veiny legs. “I’ve never been this gassed from walking for miles in the Wastelands, but here I am dying from fatigue inside the city.”

   “Yeah,” Jake said still breathing heavily as he laid down on his side. “Why am I so tired?”

     The grizzled man chuckled under his breath over their questions. “It’s called the makings of the beast.”

     Jake turned to the old man. “What was that thing? It looked like an ape, but… But something other than that. It had a face like some… I don’t even know.”

   “Hahaha…” the grizzled man laughed as he pulled away his warm pot from the fire and poured it into a small wooden bowl in front of him. “What you saw there,” he said staring back at Jake. “Was a wild beast from the Grey Forest.”

   “Impossible.” Kara said startled. “Beast from the Grey Forest wouldn’t dare enter the city, too much noise and pollution.”

     Kirin smirked upon hearing her question. “But it didn’t come here voluntarily. Isn’t that right, old man?”

   “That’s right.” The grizzled man smiled as he grabbed a spoon and began to stir up his soup. “It’s a beast from the Teigen Zoo in the High-End Sector. It’s a most dangerous animal prized by many hunting Legends, it’s even listed as a double star quest.”

     Kara shook her head in slight shock. “So what’s a double star hunt doing down in the sewer? I mean, I never been to the zoo’s in the High-End Sector, but I know damn well this isn’t it.”

   “Hehehehe…” the grizzly old man laughed as he took a sip from his soup. “You’d be right in saying that.” He continued, his eyes landing on the large bodied Milk as he trembled in the arms of Yumi. “Is that boy slow?” the old man asked.

   “That doesn’t matter.” Kirin said forcing the subject. “Why is there a beast from the Grey Forest in the sewers?”

   “C’mon, you know why?” the old man said.

   “But I want to know your version of why?” he replied with a cold expression on his face.

     The old grizzly man smiled at Kirin’s words. “Escape is the word you’re looking for. You see, the feral beast Gunyan Spider is not like the many other beasts in the High-End Sector Zoo. This one is not a daytime beast, nor is it the prey they capture and parade around the Zoo for children to ogle. No, this beast is pure predator, and hunts like one.” The old man smirked. “Such a wild thing cannot be contained by any man. So, it eventually escaped into the sewers one night, using its natural abilities against its keepers.”

   “Three questions for you.” Kirin said raising three fingers up, to which the old man looked past, sharing the same cold expression Kirin wore on his face.

   “Shoot.” The old man said.

   “Tell me how this predator hunts.”

   “Easy. Unlike other predators with a similar muscular body type, the Gunyan is special in it that it does not hunt out of pure instinct or force. It’s a logical beast that uses logical means along with its special skill to debilitate its prey.

   “Like poison gas…” Kirin said.

     Jake lifted his head up quickly, startled by Kirin’s words. “What? Is that true?” he said covering his mouth.

   “Yes…” the old man smiled. “The entire side you kids came from was filled with a muscle relaxant like poison that dulls the strength of your body, leaving you tired and vulnerable.”

     Kirin nodded. “And unable to move.”

   “Not only that, it creates benign hallucinations for its victims—making them walk in circles, even using the reflection of light to misdirect those in the dark.”

     Kara looked on with slight terror. “What the hell is this thing?”

     Jake lowered his head in thought before looking at Kirin. “So that’s why you closed the light.”

   “Hahaha…” the old man laughed. “Smart move… You understood how the beast traps its prey—it pulls you into a daze and tires you out. It only attacks when its prey has been completely weakened by its poison.” The old man said rubbing his chin while he looked at Kirin. “But you know all of this already, which is impressive. Did you encounter this beast before?”

   “Not this one.” Kirin said plainly.

   “Then how did you figure out its weaknesses towards light and its preference to attack still objects?”

   “Just reading my environment. I took note that it only makes a noise while we’re moving, the shriek being a trick to scare us into cover where it could attack. And the light, well, anything hiding in the sewer during the day, most definitely is afraid of the light, it just so happen that this beast was more afraid of it than others.” He said looking at the old man dead in his eyes as he put down his empty soup bowl.

   “Wait a minute…” Jake said. “Back it up for a second. Just how long does this poison last?”

   “Just ten minutes once you’re out of the gas.” The old man replied.

   “Hey,” Kara chimed in. “Does this mean… Does this mean that Ham is…”

     With her unfinished question, the room fell to silence for a moment. The old man turned and looked at Kara. “If he isn’t here, he isn’t coming back.”

   “Excuse me,” Yumi spoke up. “Did you see another man coming through here, a young, good looking, athletic guy?”

   “Hmmm…” the old grizzled man said rubbing his chin. “No, and like I said before, if they’re not here, I’m afraid they’re gone.”

     Yumi sighed heavily at his words as she looked towards the scared Milk.