Hey, everyone! Sentara here, your friendly watcher of what's happening in the here and now in The Reality Sphere and lone female of the Kings of Time. I'm not sure if you've heard or not, but the Maker of All gave us the job of telling the adventures of The Reality Sphere known. Right now, I've got one of the fun ones. I'm sure everyone reading this has heard, read, or told at least one horror story in their lives. Well, somewhere out there is a reality where those stories are actually true as much as the public would like to believe otherwise. The only thing keeping the things that go bump in the night is a group dedicated to hunting them down. These are their stories, the secret files of the Horror Hunters.
"Killer takes another victim. Still at large after three weeks and four killed," the headline read. Amelia Adams read the story through over and over again in horror as she sat at the library computer, her dread growing more and more as she went on. Each victim had the facial wounds inflicted after their necks had been slit. Amelia jumped as someone put a hand on her shoulder.
"Jumpy much?" her best friend Sam asked with a chuckle as she sat down. "What are you reading?"
"You've heard of that killer that cuts up the victim's faces, right?" Amelia asked.
"Who hasn't by now? Why, did they find another one?"
"Yeah, the last one was close to campus."
"Ooh, creepy," Sam said excitedly.
"You have no idea," mumbled a voice nearby. The two looked to see a man in his twenties staring at his computer screen. He wore a black fedora that barely concealed black hair, a green long-sleeved shirt that showed off a slim, but muscular figure. He acted like he didn't notice the two girls staring as he stroked his beard thoughtfully. "What are you thinking?" they could barely hear him murmur. If he hadn't said something, they would have assumed that he didn't know there was anyone else here. Without another word, he stood, put on the black duster that was draped over the chair he had been sitting in, and left."
"What a weirdo," Sam said. "So, what are you doing tonight?"
"I don't know, finals are coming up and I really need to ace Physics. I should probably study."
"That's boring. You're coming with me to the movies. There's a new thriller flick out that I really want to see and you know I love having someone else there."
"I really should study," Amelia said, rolling her eyes. They had this conversation every week it seemed like, and it always ended up the same way. Sam gave her the most pitiful look she could and she sighed. "All right, what's the movie?"
"They remade Friday the 13th! I already got us tickets for the last showing."
"You're insane, you know that?"
"You know you love it!"
Meanwhile, the man left the library and walked down the street, pulling the duster close around him as he felt the chill of winter. He hadn't gotten far when he turned into a dark alley way.
"Did you find anything?" a soft voice asked.
"No, no more than the usual. He's being awfully low key for him," the man said as he walked along, not looking at the being he was talking to.
"It's possible that he knows that we're on to him."
"Yeah, but I'm not going to jump to conclusions just yet. He's already killed four people. Who knows when he'll strike again?" The man stopped and looked around. "A bit odd for you to be out and about in daylight, isn't it?"
"I got bored. I figured as long as I stuck to the shadows I could avoid scaring anyone. Should I get the other two here to help us search?"
The man thought about it. "No, let them watch the bunker for now. If we really need them, I'll call them. For now, just keep an eye out. You know his style."
"Right." With that, the man moved on. The Boston air was heavy with cold and he wanted to be inside as quickly as possible. He knew that the real work would come when night fell.