Beast Soul

"Does this happen often?" Detective Harry asked all of a sudden, and Special Agent Alan turned his gaze towards him. "What? Agents dying?" "Well, yeah.." Detective Harry shrugged his shoulders, as he spoke. "You seemed to know exactly what to do when you heard the notification. I was just wondering.."

"You could say that," Agent Alan spoke softly as he let out a short chuckle. "I mean, when you're in my line of work, guarantee of life isn't something that's on the table." 

"I guess you can say the same thing about this town now too, huh…" Detective Lewis said with a nervous smile, and Agent Alan flashed a smile back at him and said, "Yeah, I guess you can…"

The car whooshed through the road at an incredible speed, heading straight for the location that was shown on the map, the Harker mountain ranges.

Within a few minutes, the car had come to a halt right in front of the gate that was separating the mountain ranges from the new world City, and Detective Harry popped his head out from the window of the driver's seat with a surprised expression on his face.

"Well, would you look at that!" He whispered softly as he watched the opened gates, and then got in the vehicle and slowly moved forward, entering the dirt road that led into the mountain ranges, and soon the car had entered the tall grasses that began blocking the front window of the vehicle, making it difficult for the driver to see clearly. 

"This much is enough," Special Agent Alan said with a calm voice as he unlocked the seat belt and opened the car door, exiting the vehicle while holding a small gun in his hand, his eyes signaling that he's alert.

Detective Harry turned around and looked at Detective Lewis, who shrugged his shoulders and waved his hands in the air before reaching for the back door. "He said this much is enough. What do you want me to say?" He pointed at the front window and continued, "I don't think we'll be able to get far if those tall grass continues to block our way."

"We could wait for the strike force to arrive," Detective Harry replied while looking at his phone. "It's a much safer option. We're dealing with monsters and beings with abilities that are beyond our wildest dreams, Lewis. It's better to be a bit careful."

"I agree. It's better to be careful around beings like them. After all, we're only ants when compared to them." Detective Lewis nodded his head in agreement, and continued. "But I don't think there's absolutely nothing we can do either. We're not heading over to fight these creatures."

Detective Lewis exited the vehicle as soon as he finished speaking, leaving Detective Harry, who was deep in thought, alone in the car.

Detective Harry thought about his words for a few more seconds, and then opened his call log in his phone and pressed the call button. 

"Commissioner, it's Detective Harry." He said through the phone. "We've decided to not wait for the strike force to arrive, and plan to head over to the location that Special Agent Alan sent you."

As this was going on, Detective Lewis caught up to Special Agent Alan, who was walking through the tall grass, cutting through them with a small blade that was in one hand, and waving the firearm around with his other hand.

"You could've chosen to sit inside the car." Special Agent Alan said softly, as Detective Lewis arrived right behind him. With the low voice that he was speaking, it almost sounded like he was talking to himself rather than to the detective following him. "I wouldn't mind it. I would understand the reason for making such a decision. After all, you are still amateurs when it comes to monsters that hunt humans."

"I know. It would probably be the logical and also the safest decision," Detective Lewis said while looking down on the pathway that the agent had forged by cutting the tall grass in their way. "Then why?" Agent Alan asked without turning around, which made it look like he wasn't interested in the reason. However, his tone which contained a hint of intrigue seemed to imply otherwise.

Detective Lewis took a large breath in, and then exhaled out, before opening his mouth to speak. "I knew that staying in the car was the best possible option for me, but as soon as I thought about it, the images of the chaos and disaster caused by these monsters suddenly entered my mind. I saw all those people. Some dead, some injured, some lost everything and everyone. And I realized that someday, that could happen to me. Or to my family." Detective Lewis clenched his fist as he spoke, and Special Agent Alan slightly tilted his head back and glanced at the detective's face before looking away. 

Detective Lewis loosened his grip and let out a long sigh before continuing. "I don't know, I just didn't want that to happen. Maybe today wouldn't solve that, but it may some day. And I don't want to end up staying inside the car on that day."

"You have a strong will, Detective Lewis," Special Agent Alan said with a calm tone, which made the detective flustered. "Oh, r-really?" He clearly wasn't expecting to receive a compliment from the agent. 

The Special Agent nodded his head as he continued slicing the tall grass in his way, "And you have finally found a strong reason to steady your mind in your pursuit to protect the weak and the helpless. It's something that you'll need to help you survive, and it's something to strive towards. It will help you to continue living even in trying times."

Special Agent Alan paused for a second before continuing, "Many people don't have that, which is why they call it quits after the first fight. It's hard to find such reasons, especially when most people only care about the present rather than the future."

Detective Lewis nodded his head at the agent's words. 

"Hold up," A familiar voice that came from behind stopped the two men in their tracks, and the two turned around to find Detective Harry jogging towards them, waving his hands as he did so. The two stopped what they were doing and waited for the detective to catch up to them, which he did within a few seconds. "I'm coming with you guys.." Detective Harry said as he was hunched back and holding onto his knees, gasping for air. He clearly had low stamina.

"Wow! You actually decided to come with us!" Detective Lewis said with a happy expression on his face, and Detective Harry looked at him, annoyed by his words. "What does that mean? Did you really think that I would just leave you two alone in the woods where there was a potentially dangerous monster roaming around?"

"Do you think that you'll be able to keep up with us?" Special Agent Alan Fischer interrupted their conversation before it could turn into a verbal spat and asked a question. "You clearly don't look too good right now. Are you sure that you'll be alright?"

"This… isn't.. nothing.." Detective Harry said in between breaths, before he stretched his back and let out a sigh of relief. 

Special Agent Alan looked at Detective Lewis, who simply shrugged his shoulders. 

"Alright then. We'll continue moving forward." Special Agent Alan said as he glanced at Detective Harry, before turning around and continuing moving forward, and the two detectives followed them close behind.

After walking a few more meters, the trio came into what appeared to be a completely destroyed part of the forest, where trees were burnt, sliced down and even broken into a million little pieces. It was as though a fight between two gods had happened here. 

"What in god's name.." Detective Harry whispered softly under his breath as he watched the amount of destruction that was right in front of his eyes, and couldn't help gulp down his saliva. 

The three began to inspect the surroundings, trying to find anything that could give a clue of what happened with Agent Edgerton's body. 

As the two detectives continued to search, Special Agent Alan kneeled in front of what appeared to be a melted down rifle with a frown on his face. 

"This belonged to Richard.." He murmured softly under his breath as he touched the destroyed weapon with his fingers.

"There's more!" Detective Lewis called out to the other two, and both Detective Harry and Special Agent Alan headed in his direction. 

The two walked up to Detective Lewis, who was staring at the destroyed portion of the cliff with widened eyes. 

"It looks like it happened just a few minutes ago," Special Agent Alan said as he kneeled right at the tip of the cliff and stared down, where he found a giant mass of earth was blocking a small river. He frowned and whispered under his breath, "Interesting…"