Chapter 1
The History and Escape of Mr. Gregory Hills – Codename: "Serial"
Mr. Gregory Hills, more commonly known by his chosen name of Serial, is insane. Not just saying that in passing either, he is clinically insane, having spent the last 10 years of his 31 year long life in St. Melanie's Home for Mentally Unstable and Otherwise Insane. Not by choice mind you, he was placed there after being arrested on 178 counts of premeditated murder. Each one, so he says, greater than the last. It took the Seattle Police Department almost 2 years to catch him, and that's with help from the F.B.I.
Now, Mr. Gregory Hills was a special case. Even though he was clearly a very evil man, he was also completely unstable, and as such, was sentenced to live out the rest of his life in St. Melanie's Home for the Mentally Unstable and Otherwise Insane, and not in prison. Everyone who examined him declared within minutes that he was insane. The fastest examination was done by Dr. Roy Patterson, who hadn't even sat down before turning and leaving saying he had never seen a man more insane in his entire career. The examination lasted 4 seconds.
Why then, if he was proven to be a killer and clearly completely insane, was he allowed to go free? He wasn't. One Tuesday morning, at promptly 9AM, Mr Gregory Hills was wheeled out in his wheelchair (he refused to stand in such an insane place as St. Melanie's Home for the Mentally Unstable and Otherwise Insane) to the common room for some television, like always. However, after watching TV for exactly 58 minutes, Mr. Gregory Hills stood, walked to the nurses desk, and ask if he might borrow a newspaper. He then vanished.
Standing in the middle of a village made of wooden huts and simple buildings, Gregory smiled. He was free. He broke into a hut, and found some sharp kitchen knives lying about. When the occupants of the hut returned home, strange furry little creatures, he killed them with the intention of turning them into clothing. However, upon dying, the creatures turned into dust, scattering with a small explosion.
"Well," he said aloud to himself, his voice unfamiliar. "That's strange." He left, and killed a few more of the creatures, each one turning to the same dust as all the others. "Strange indeed," he said, sitting on a table in his latest victims house.
Suddenly, the ground shook. Gregory ran from the hut, gathering near the rest of the villagers as they watched a giant dinosaur skeleton run towards the village. The creatures all ran, shouting "SkullGreymon" as they went. Gregory watched it as it moved towards them. Soon, another large monster appeared. It was a giant brown bunny. "Antylamon, stop it!" Came a girls voice from behind the bunny and dinosaur skeleton. The bunny jumped in front of the skeleton, and tried to stop it from running. It easily pushed the bunny away. Just then another, flying dinosaur appeared. It appeared to be an orange T-Rex with giant purple wings, a metal head and giant metal claw for a hand.
Gregory finally saw a handful of children running after the skeleton, all of them watching the battle. The orange dinosaur managed to stop the skeleton, giving the children and giant bunny time to catch up. Gregory saw other, smaller monsters with the children. "What sort of world is this anyway?" He asked no one in particular.
One of the nearby creatures heard him, "This is the Digital World! Where else would we be?" It ran off, leaving more questions unanswered. Gregory shrugged, and started walking towards the children, maybe they would have answers.
The closer he got, the larger the monsters appeared to be. He walked by the battle, just watching with a passive interest. He waved to a bright yellow monster, who was about his height, and was watching him approach. "Hello there," he called. The children appeared to be young teenagers and grade schoolers.
They all turned to him, "Who the hell are you?" One of the guys asked, moving between him and the other children.
"I'm Gregory. I'm kind of lost, can you tell me how to get back to Seattle?" He asked calmly, using his talk-smooth-to-the-police voice.
The child eyed him, "You're from the real world? Earth?"
"Yes, aren't you?"
"We are. How'd you get here in the first place?"
He looked at the girl who spoke. She was standing next to the yellow monster. "Well, I simply needed to be somewhere where I wasn't, and then I was."
The children looked at him weirdly, "Well, you need to find a portal, or have one of these," the nerdy guy in the back of the group blurted out. He held out some small handheld device with some buttons and a small screen. "It allows you to make a portal anywhere."
"Really. Well, I don't have one of those, so I'll go look for a portal," Gregory turned and headed back towards the village.
Renamon was suspicious. That human they had met earlier had given her a weird feeling, and she had the same one now. She was walking around the village the DigiDestined had decided to camp out in. She was walking along the rooftops, moving silently. She was sure that human was still somewhere in the village.
Gregory watched the yellow monster walk on the rooftops. He had just stolen the girl's device, the one to open portals. Now he just needed a monster. He gathered his rope and fabric he had stolen, and moved to capture the yellow monster.
It was easier than he thought, as it walked right over to him upon spotting him. "Human. I knew you were here." It was female. Even better.
He bowed slightly, "I am."
"What business do you have here?" She growled slightly, as if she couldn't help but hate him.
He smiled, and instantly the monster's expression became concerned. "I'm here to take you," he answered. Out of nowhere he punched her in the face. She fell, and he continued to beat her until she finally fell unconscious.
Renamon awoke, feeling something was wrong. The air was cold, and the world was dark. She tried to move, but she was chained up to the wall. Strong metal chains held her in place. She was sore all over. A light appeared, blinding her. She finally got her first look around. It was a room made entirely of concrete, filled with all sorts of strange looking devices. None of them looked friendly. At the other end of the room was a stair case heading up, and standing at the bottom was the human.
"Good morning," he said with a smile. The same smile before he attacked her. She felt herself fill with fear, something she didn't normally feel. "Welcome to your new home."
She growled, trying not to show her fear, "Let me go and I won't kill you."
The man laughed, "When I'm done with you, you won't have the energy to even kill yourself. Now, from now on you will refer to me either as 'Master' or 'Master Serial.' Do I make myself clear?" While he was speaking, he had walked over to a table in front of her, she couldn't see what was on it from her low position on the floor.
She laughed, it wasn't as strong as she had wanted, but it was good enough, "Why would I ever do that?"
He stepped out from behind the table, a large, spiked whip in his hands. "Because I have this." He whipped her. Hard. She gritted her teeth, and took the blow. She had had worse, but not much. "You're tough, that's good. Let's continue." He whipped her again. And again. And again. He whipped her until she fell back into unconsciousness, several hundred whips later.
Gregory was smiling. Three days, that's how long he had been beating the monster. It was finally starting to obey him, and he decided to show some compassion. He unchained it's arms and legs, and lowered it to the floor. A single thick chain wrapped around it's neck kept it chained to the wall.
It awoke, somewhat confused. "Here," he said, sliding a plate with some minimal food on it towards the monster. "Eat." It ate, consuming everything on the plate in a few minutes. "You have a name?"
"Renamon," it said quietly. It backed away from the plate, back towards the wall.
Gregory nodded, "No longer. You are R, and you are my assistant. Together, we will rule the world."
It looked surprised. "Rule the world?"
Gregory frowned, "Do you not like my plan?"
It shook it's head, "It's a good plan. Very good plan."
"I don't think you think so. Maybe you aren't ready for my plan yet?" Gregory picked up his whip.
"No, no I am! I am master!" It begged, trying to move away from the whip.
Gregory stopped, "Okay. I'll bring you dinner later." He turned and left, dropping the whip on the table as he left. Renamon sighed in relief.
After another two weeks of alternating between beating and feeding R, Gregory felt it was time to finish his plan. He got in his truck, one he had stolen earlier, and drove to the local park. He kidnapped a passing teenager, gagged her, and drove back to his hideout.
R was waiting for him, sitting cross legged on the floor, not quite leaning on the wall she was still chained to. She now took all punishment he had to offer without crying, without complaining. It was all she knew. He dragged the girl into the basement, letting her fall down the stairs.
"Now," he said, throwing her into the corner near R. "I'm going to remove your gag. If you scream, I will kill you. No one can hear you, this basement has been soundproofed. You understand?" She nodded, still crying. "Good." He undid the gag.
Gregory got up, and moved to R. "How are you today?"
R's eyes opened in an instant, focused directly on him. She always looked him dead in the eyes. "Perfect." She looked briefly at the girl, casting a hateful glace at her, and then turned back to Gregory. "I wasn't expecting company."
He smiled. "She's here for you."
The girl finally spoke up, "What... What is that?"
"Oh?" He looked at her, giving her his creepy smile. "This is my partner. Her name is R. She's going to kill you."
R smiled."Is this my 'final test' you've been hinting at?"
"That she is." He undid her final chain, for the first time in almost 3 weeks R was free to move away from the wall. She did so, stretching as she walked to the middle of the room. "Use any of my toys you want." Gregory moved towards the exit, and stood to watch.
R chose one Gregory's oddest weapons. It was a three foot long black metal pole, the last foot on each end flattened into a double-edged blade. It was carved with red dragons along the handle. She gave it a twirl, spinning it around so fast it made a clean slicing sound as it cut the air.
The girl was now backed into the corner, crying again. R approached her, and laughed. She began to cut and stab the girl, laughing to herself every time she did. She continued to cut the body up long after the girl had died.
Gregory applauded, and walked over to her. "Well done, R. Well done indeed. Here," he handed her a small business card.
She looked at it. On the front was a simple design, it looked like R, or it did before Gregory had beaten her. It was yellow, and had her ears. There was also a number, 179, in the center of the design. She flipped the card over, there was some simple text printed on it. "On to the next..." It was signed "Serial & R" in a somewhat fancy text.
R looked up at Gregory, "What does this mean?"
"It's our calling card, we leave it so people know we killed this person. Set it on her body." R did as instructed. Gregory rubbed her head. "Good job R, now let's get out of this rat hole and head to our real home." As he rubbed her head, R felt one of the strangest sensations. She wanted to do anything to get him to rub her head again.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Whoa, yeah. That's a little extreme for chapter 1, I know. But it was needed to establish everything to come. This story will hopefully be just as brutal, but also a little heartwarming. If your heart gets warm from reader about a serial killer anyway.
So I'll post another chapter in a bit, hopefully I get some reviews and comments by then. Let me know what you think, good or bad, and give some constructive criticisms and all that.
