Slowly flashing his eyes open, Adam begins to sit up straight, realizing he has fallen asleep and waking up inside Miller's car while he can see his partner already outside, leaning against the side of their vehicle. Realizing that Miller hasn't noticed he woke up, Adam decides to remain in his seat for a while, observing his surroundings while trying to regain his focus.
The neighborhood looked abandoned, despite the houses still intact; the grass is short, and the pavement is empty. An eerie stillness that made it seem like there were no other people living in this place. Moreover, he saw how silent and empty this area is—almost lifeless and barren to the point that no one appeared to have set foot in here.
Except now.
Rubbing his forehead, he removed his seatbelt before opening the car door. Stepping out and closing it behind him, Adam walks over to his companion's location, placing his hand over the person's shoulder, causing Miller to suddenly jump in flight with the cigar falling down to the ground; "sorry, uh, didn't mean to startle you," apologizing in a low tone, removing his hand away from him, "if you want, I have spare cigars with me."
"It's fine. Thanks anyway, man." Shaking his head, Miller then stomped the cigar with his foot, removing the cigarette's remains on the ground with the bottom of his shoe. "Let's get moving." Watching his new partner follow him, he made his way to the entrance of a peculiar abandoned house, checking the door to see if it was unlocked.
Thankfully for them, it was. Upon entering the place, he turned on his flashlight to brighten the place while his partner casually stood at his side, boredom apparent in his face. Ignoring this behavior, Walker's son proceeded to move forward through the living room, checking if there were any important details to note.
Adam silently followed him without saying a word, gazing around to see if there was anything else that caught his eye. Aside from the empty living room and messy carpet, everything else seems to be in good condition. Walking through the hallway, they took a moment to observe their surroundings once more.
The living room itself has a couch that is not even covered in dust, no furniture out of place, and no signs of anything being broken or missing. It was as if no one had ever been here before them. "Where are your men?" Adam asked, expecting the group to be present in this investigation from his briefing during their ride to this place.
"Busy," Miller stated, shining his flashlight to the carpet floor and examining it, "they are currently secretly patrolling around the city, and nearly all of them aren't investigators nor detectives; they are mostly trained in policing the law." Moving his gaze away from his partner's eyes, he proceeded to make his way to the kitchen, "anyways, I have a feeling that we—"
His mouth immediately closed after entering the other room, causing Adam to stop behind him in a confused display from this reaction, asking, "what's the matter?" He asked, not understanding the situation or the reason for Miller's silence, "Did you find something?" The silence between them continued until his boss decided to give his response.
"I did..." Miller calmly responded, apparent horror in his expression while he calmly stepped away from the kitchen's entrance, "Check it for yourself; just please, don't vomit." His way of speaking made his partner rather nervous about what he might find that caused him to act like this. A terrible scene is about to unfold before him.
Nodding in a questionable manner, the young man walked inside the kitchen, expecting the worst of things to be seen there. For all his life, he has already seen what humanity has to offer—the bad and the best, the beauty and the grotesque—he has seen everything that a human can offer—except for this.
Freezing in his own position, his eyes were wide in disbelief at the sight before him. The kitchen floor is coated in blood, and the couple was sewed together on the table. He couldn't move; he couldn't speak; he only stared at such a gruesome image. Only the mentally insane are capable of seeing so much carnage up front instead of looking at fresh corpses.
After several moments, Miller appeared next to him and patted his back to comfort the young man: "This is the work of The Deviler, a notorious mutilator, leaving a piece of dark masterpieces that taunts us to figure out; it's like a game for him to chase and hunt us." His calm and collective explanation helped Adam to regain his composure.
Approaching the supposed corpse, he could see the body in its full glory: the woman's torso is attached to her spouse, while the man's left hand is stitched onto her right arm. The belly is also ripped open wide, revealing the bones inside and the intestines. He could only speculate on how horrible their pain must have been, not knowing who would do this to her and why.
The severed heads of the man and woman were sewn together, their mouths intertwined with each other as if they were kissing, but the eyes were what surprised him the most. It looked alive despite being seemingly dead; the eyes stared right back at them as if begging for help or asking why this had happened to her and him.
Realizing this corpse wasn't dead, he quickly took a step back, only to fall on his buttocks from the answer that was given to him: "That person..." Breathing heavily from the shock, Miller's expression appeared to be filled with compassion and pity when he noticed this: "They are alive!" Adam shouted, not understanding how that was possible in this state.
Under normal circumstances, a body that has been mutilated should have died of diseases or extreme shock, but this seems impossible, for it is nearly impossible for any human or animal to be incapable of it. The human body should have shut down from being surgically torn apart; their brain should have bled to death; and their heart should have stopped beating.
He cannot believe his saying this, but the only thing that would make this happen is through the use of unknown drugs or supernatural means; he thinks the latter would make more sense because of the large amounts of blood in the kitchen. The stitches that keep the couple together appear to be strong enough for them to still live, but he couldn't imagine how painful this is for them, especially being conscious in such a state.
Feeling the strong wind brush through his side as Miller walked with pistol in hand, he brought the weapon down at the still-alive victim before pressing the trigger. A single gunshot pierced through the head as the sound of an explosion echoed, killing both the female and the male in an instant, finally relieving them from their misery.
Slowly, he stood up at a loss of words at what his boss had just done. "You killed them," he said in a surprised tone of voice, staring at him, who lowered his head down in shame, understanding the weight of this action. Miller only nodded before placing his weapon away and saying, "That was the right thing to do." He responded with a sad expression, turning around to face him.
"Sometimes in this line of work, you have to make hard choices, Adam," the boss started, approaching his partner to gently place both his hands on Adam's shoulder to comfort him with a calm demeanor. "I am sure you understand why I need to do that," he whispered with his gaze focused onto his eyes, staring each other.
Yeah, Miller said, taking another step back as Miller's arms retreated back, "your right. I already experienced this type of thing before, but..." Turning his head to the other side with his expression contorted in conflict and displeasure while his eyes gazed at the kitchen floor stained in blood, "I was surprised to see something like this again," he concluded with his breath deepening and eyes closed, trying to process his emotions.
"It was a shock to us all, even me," Miller added as he nodded in agreement, "this monster doesn't kill or rape his victims, instead he tortures them to the point that they cannot die," his voice filled with anger, frustration, and disgust, "fate worse than death as many of the victims have suffered severe trauma and excruciating pain," as the air began to be more cold and eerie, feeling the atmosphere change in a subtle manner.
"It's better this way," Miller reassured once again to him, "we at least save them from this horrible pain; nobody has the right to live through such torment," stating his thoughts while glancing back at the corpse, seeing the sewed couple to be finally at peace. "They are in a better place now," confidently assured his companion with a smile on his face.
"Besides," Miller said while having a small grin, trying to brighten up the mood as he turned to him, "we have you to get that son of a bitch who did this," looking at him with a determined look, "so do your thing man, I'll be in the living room to check for any clues," he advised in an encouraging manner before walking past Adam, leaving him in silence.
Breathing heavily as he stared at the back of his boss, he eventually nodded in response, approaching the body once again; this time, they are truly dead, saved from their misery by Miller's bullet that ended their pain and suffering, a blessing to get the peace they so desired; almost as if he were jealous.
He wished that was him being killed—not the torture part but being shot with a bullet in the head; at least it would have been more quick and less agonizing than this. Still, fantasizing about dying wasn't important to him; his main priority was to investigate and solve the murder case, find the perpetrator, and bring him to justice.
To be frank, he got some of the important details by the mere observation of this body, knowing that the criminal has surgical experience as he could tell that the stitching is well done, meaning the individual who did this is rather experienced in terms of being a surgeon while having knowledge of the human anatomy, which he concluded the infamous mutilator has the skills for.
This gave him some hints: The Deviler is presumably a professional in the medical fields, perhaps a surgeon or nurse who has the skills of sewing bodies together, which explains his twisted hobby; another clue was the use of drugs to keep his victims alive during the painful surgery. A professional would know which drug is effective to use in a certain situation, how to properly sedate someone, or how to administer it; however, this level of expertise is beyond normal.
At this date, so far, no drug is capable of keeping a sedated person, with its blood almost drained, alive for more than a few hours. That can only lead to one thing, and that is that supernatural influence is at play in this scenario, possibly through the use of alchemy or magical tools to perform such feats; yet, this would confirm why they are alive.
It's possible the mutilator is using some alien technology, but that's unlikely due to the fact that many aliens don't really like to show themselves or trade with all of their stuff. Besides, Their guy isn't really fond of the extraterrestrial species being involved in his sick games, preferring his own kind to be his victims, meaning The Deviler is human himself.
Deciding to look inside the opened stomach, Adam found a small picture frame and cassette tape inside while expressing disgust at using his hands to dig in the rotting organs before picking the small objects. Placing the said tape on the side of this table, Adam held the frame in front of him, closed to his face.
The picture was a small drawing, depicting the sewed couple having their lips forcefully sewed together, eyes blindfolded, legs and arms tied behind their backs, and their exposed chest having their internal organs pulled out through the deep incision in their guts—a truly disturbing sight to see.
As for the cassette tape, Adam curiously picked it up and examined it, seeing an empty tag written on the label with black marker in cursive style with the letters 'Enjoy' as a way of taunting the investigators in solving the puzzle. Although the cassette tape itself is well kept and didn't seem to be used, which means it's brand new, not a single scratch or dent can be seen in it.
"Well, isn't this too cliché?" Adam remarked in a sarcastic tone while sighing in annoyance, not bothering to roll his eyes as he placed the tape aside with the frame, "I think Miller would be interested to see what I found."
