New York City…May 1997
It was an unseasonably cool early May in New York amidst the labyrinth of tall apartment blocks and freeways, and railways criss-crossing through the cityscape. The thick fog hovering over the region gave the entire city a ghostly appearance, with very poor visibility. Yet the eeriness failed to mask that chaos going on. The city, and the nation in tow, was in the midst of political turmoil due to declining popularity of the city mayor's policies, high unemployment, political polarization, and high food prices.
In addition, news stories were circulating of strange 'beings' terrorizing the world, including the NYC area. Many of these beings were human in appearance but had unusual appearances, almost alien in appearance. Their crimes became more frequent after 1995 due to repeated government shutdowns disrupting public services throughout the country.
Somewhere in the South Bronx , Shortly after midnight…
With unseasonably cool, damp, foggy weather, the entire neighborhood had a ghostly appearance, the street lights were like very still ghosts floating above a pothole-marked street.
Down on a nearby basketball court, a trio of gangbangers was confronting a trio of rival gang members on the empty lot on the western end of the court. Amidst screaming, profanity, slurs, and the sound of glass breaking, a series of gunshots rang through the neighborhood.
A half-a-dozen minutes later, the sound of police sirens became audible and several gang members fled into the night leaving two 21-year old men injured, both being hauled into ambulances. As police investigated what went on, they noticed bullet casings scattered in the area and collected them. As the doors closed on the ambulances, they left the scene, with the police taking the evidence from the crime scene to their respective crime labs.
Minutes later, the New York Forensics Team showed up, with Mac Taylor, Jo Danville, Sheldon Hawkes, Danny Messer, Aiden Burn, and Lindsay Monroe all with suitcases. They would draw circles around every bullet case that was lying on the pavement, cordon off the area, take photos of the scene, including the small blood spatter, and collect the evidence to take back to the lab. There were occasional cliques of unruly men wandering nearby, fistfights ensuing. The officers were all on alert to repel any trouble doers that would jeopardize the safety of the detectives investigating the crime scene.
"What do we have?" Mac asks Jo, crouched over a dead body of one of the gang members. "Point of entry at the sternum. No exit wound. Gunshot residue indicated close range." Jo tells Mac, as she places the empty bullet casing into an evidence bag. The next half hour sees the team gathering more evidence from the shootings at the basketball court and placing them in evidence bags.
Aiden used a black light to detect blood spatter on the ground and nearby brick masonry. The blood glowed bright pink when illuminated by the black light. Using a cotton swab, Burn swiped some blood and placed it in an airtight vial.
"We must get as much back to the lab as possible. I don't feel safe here." Aiden said, slightly nervous. "My parents described this as Dresden in America when I was a kid" she continued, a look of slight weariness as she turned her head, scanning the dingy surroundings for any potential trouble.
Almost immediately though, Mac felt a cold nausea set in, which distracted him. At first he just looked like he was distracted, either by some kind of bad tasting substance or had a tummy ache. He held his stomach, and winced in a quiet pain. "Mac? Are you okay?" Jo asked, feeling slight alarm at Mac's sudden apparent illness. "Mac?" she continued. However, his nausua worsened and he began to have a hard time keeping his posture.
"It's not the flu or stomach ache. There's something, or somebody really evil not far from here." He said, his face suddenly showing pallor. His vision was suddenly blurry, and everything seemed to turn into various shades of hellish red. The sound of Jo and others' voices were muffled, almost inaudible as everything seemed blurry and deep red. After roughly 30 seconds, the redness of his eyesight, and blurriness subsided, and his hearing returned to normal.
"Mac! Can you hear me? Are you okay?" Jo pleaded, fearing for him. "We need to get you to the hospital!" she continued, a sense of alarm at Mac's sudden apparent illness.
Mac, still feeling nauseated was able to talk again. "Get everyone out of here. Something, or somebody, very evil is here. Don't wait around. We need to leave here immediately."
Others, including Aiden Burn felt something very bad overcome them. Burn herself felt something very, very cold, like an Arctic cold feeling overcome her, the sense of a major evil having a presence nearby. Using whatever strength they had, they scrambled to gather up evidence to take back to the lab before whatever was causing the apparent 'phantom illness' would endanger their safety.
After processing the crime scene, the team left to return to the New York Crime Lab all being escorted by police officers acting as bodyguards. The sound of gunfire, car alarms, and even breaking glass were all too common to them at the moment.