Thanks for taking the time to read my story. I hope you all enjoy it. All reviews and feedback, good or bad, are welcomed and appreciated. This is my first Bones fanfic and my second one ever written or published. It will be several chapters long (my first turned out to be 23 and I am hoping for similar length in this one). I will try to update as often as possible, especially if I get some reviews! Enjoy! Oh, I also do not own Bones or anything affiliated with it.
Author's Note: I dedicate this story to Ryan, who no matter how many times he may fall along the way, he always has the strength and determination to get up and try again.
Preface
It was night. A little after two in the morning to be more exact. A pick up truck drove down the deserted two lane highway leading out from Kiawah Island, South Carolina and heading back towards the Charleston area. This was the same routine he had performed many times before.
Another body was stashed in the bed of the truck, wrapped up in a sheet just like the others before her. No matter how many times he had performed the pattern over and over, he was unable to have the deceased victims ride in the cab with him. It made him feel as if what he was doing was wrong. And he just could not have that, not when what he was doing had such an important meaning behind it.
A deer stumbled out into the middle of the road and he barely managed to swerve the truck around it and avoiding hitting it. The body rolled around in the bed with a sickening thud.
He had almost reached his destination. Every time, there was a new location. All were along this main stretch of road. Some strayed further out, well past the thick trees with their overhanging branches, while others could be found right alongside the road. Every dump site though, was away from any residence.
Tonight's location was another condemned building. There were lots of them along this stretch of road after countless hurricanes had driven their proprietors away from them. He parked the truck, grabbing the lantern and duffel bag he always kept in the cab when it was a kill night and headed towards the abandoned home. Walking towards the building, he switched the lantern on. The visibility was poor tonight. A thick blanket of fog had crept over the low-lying area and made getting to the building without tripping on the debris a challenge. Thankfully, the house was not too far from the road.
After climbing in through a wall that was only partially standing, he left the lantern inside on what was left of the floor. Carefully, he made his way back to the truck and lifted the girl out. She was not too heavy and had no problem carrying her to the house. Once inside, he unwrapped her from the sheet and stripped off what was left of her clothing, stashing them in an empty black garbage bag. When he got home, he would put them into more proper storage, just like he done with the other girls clothing and personal effects.
He then took a meat cleaver and hacked off the victim's hands. He tossed them into the woods, knowing that by the time they were discovered, it would be hard pull any prints off them. He knew it wouldn't stop the identification process, but it always managed to slow it down. Even though blood stopped pumping when the victim had died, blood poured out of the area where her hands had been. He took a medium sized paint brush out of the bag and used the victim's own blood to spell out in large letters on what remained of the wall ALONE.
Satisfied that the scene was set, the killer gathered up his things and headed back to the truck. He put his supplies away and got inside. As he drove off, he wondered how long it would be this time before the body would be discovered. He didn't have to wait too long. In just three days, the body had been discovered.
It was then that the local authorities realized that they were in over their heads. It was time to call in someone more specialized to track down the killer and put a stop to the panic he had placed on the small island community and it's surrounding areas. For years, Kiawah had been a sleepy family residential area. Now, the entire community was afraid of who would become the next victim of the Night Stalker. No one would go anywhere by themselves, especially at night because that was when he struck. He never abducted during the day as far as they knew, only at night. That was when Special Agent Seeley Booth was called in to the case.
Sorry if this chapter seems short, but it's just the preface and not a real chapter. The next one will be longer, I promise. Booth and Bones enter the story in the next chapter. Please review and let me know what you think and if I should continue. I also welcome any ideas you would like to see incorporated into the story. Thanks!