Resident Evil Recall: Operation Arklay

Episode Six: The Arklay Mountains

Part Two

Scenic Overlook, Arklay Mountains, 9:25 AM…

Lopez wasn't sure what he was expecting to find at the scene as Liquid brought the SUV to a stop at the Scenic Overlook just off what passed for a main road in this middle of nowhere place. The photographs of the crime scene showed a pair of viciously mutilated bodies as well as blood splattered along the ground and across the torn up tent that the teens had been using. There was also police tape roping off the entire area, but when the team got out of their vehicle and Liquid pointed to the spot, he had to look twice to make sure that it was the same.

Holding up the photo of the largest area to make a comparison, he kept looking around for something that looked similar, but it was in short supply. There was some tattered material staked down that might have been a tent at one time, but other than that there was nothing. No blood, no tracks, no police tape, no nothing. It was almost like something had come in and taken everything away, but what sense did that make? If a couple of kids had been murdered here, then why on Earth would anyone want to cover it up? The people that did it, sure, but what could anyone else gain from it?

"My friends, I present to you Case #5121-C." Liquid said. "Victims have been identified as fifteen year old Maddison Russel of Stoneville, and seventeen year old Jonathan Adams of Arklay Village. Both were reasonably good kids; Maddison was on the debate team and made the honor roll almost every term, while Jonathan was the first-string goalie on the soccer team but had some trouble in math… apparently this is how they met, since the towns are so small out here that they share a school system."

Lopez continued to look around as Liquid listed off the details of the case, and it made him feel a bit more emotion than he was used to. This wasn't his first crime scene, but his duties in the city usually just included keeping nosey people away while the Detectives and forensics people did whatever it was that they did. So for him and Chambers, the victims on the few scenes that he had to secure were always anonymous, and it was quite a different thing to get all the details of them. For a moment it made him gain a little bit more respect for Liquid, but it also gave a little insight on why he was so screwed up in the head.

"Both victims were popular, and had few enemies." The Lieutenant continued. "When questioned, the parents and friends of both reported that Jonathan had a date with Maddison to go to the movies in Raccoon City. Ripped tickets to the 8:30 PM showing of Ever After: A Cinderella Story were found in the victim's vehicle, so apparently they took a slight detour afterwards to have a little happy ending of their own. The killer or killers then waited for them to, as the kids say, get busy before making their move. The victims were taken completely by surprise; Jonathan dragged out of the tent and eaten right over there somewhere, and Maddison had bits of tent-material embedded into her wounds. This suggests that the killer collapsed the tent on top of her as she hid inside, and bit right through the material to get to her."

"That in itself suggests multiple killers." McGee replied. "Jonathan was a big kid, so even if he was grabbed by surprise and dragged out, a single person would have had a tough time restraining him at all, let alone enough to be able to bite him all over like that."

"Hold on a second, I'm a little confused." Ashwood interrupted. "Couldn't it have been a single person, since they didn't bite him like that until after? And how do you even know they were having sex when it happened? Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful in any way, and I know I'm not a Detective or anything, but it seems like you're making a lot of guesses without any proper evidence."

"Hey, Lopez, let me see that case file." Liquid said.

Lopez had to admit that Ashwood had a point. They could all agree that this was the place in the file, so a crime really had happened here, but that was about all the evidence pointed to so far. So was their leader just making all of this up, or was he seeing something that the rest of them didn't? He and McGee were the experienced Detectives there, so normally they would just be believed because of that, but everyone knew that Liquid was unstable, so this was really the only way to make sure.

"Thank you." Liquid said when he handed it to him. "Now, turning to the coroner's report, I call your attention to the cause of death. Now, let's see… autopsy performed immediately to preserve… massive loss of blood… ah, here it is: Analysis concludes that while some of the deepest wounds and mutilations occurred almost immediately post-mortem, the surface wounds and internal lacerations that were the actual cause of death were definitely pre-mortem. Any questions?"

"Pre-mortem?" Chambers asked. "That means before death, right? As in, these two were eaten alive?"

Liquid nodded as he walked up to the now nervous looking Ashwood, and then he handed her one of the photographs. It was the one of the male victim, Jonathan, where his partially mutilated body was laying on the ground in an unnatural position. Obviously their Tech Specialist wasn't used to seeing this kind of gore, even in a photograph, so she started to look away, but then he snapped his fingers and pointed back to it.

"Don't you dare, Ashwood." Liquid said. "Don't you dare go all weak sister on me. Now, you asked some valid questions, and in your hand is the answer to the second one; so I want you to take a good, long look at that photograph, taking in every detail, and I want you to try and figure out how I know that Jonathan and Maddison were having sex when they were attacked."

Lopez had to admit that he was curious as well, and apparently so was Chambers, since they both moved up behind Ashwood to get a closer look while she studied the photograph. The three of them looked at it very closely for well over a minute, and then Ashwood suddenly gasped as she dropped the photograph.

"Oh, God." She said while stumbling sideways. "Oh, my God, he… he…

Her words stopped as she fell to her hands and knees, Chambers having to look away with a disgusted face as she lost her lunch all over the dirt. Lopez kind of grimaced a bit too, and he saw Liquid and McGee do a high-five before he picked up the photograph. He hadn't had a chance to figure it out before Ashwood lost it, so he took a turn examining every single gory detail, and then his eyes widened.

"Holy crap." He said as he looked at the two Detectives. "Of course they were having sex when it happened… he's still wearing the condom."

Chambers looked away in disgust as Liquid and McGee started clapping their hands, and Ashwood made a kind of retching sound before losing her breakfast as well. McGee walked up to him and took the photograph back, before putting it and the file in the SUV. Liquid, meanwhile, went over to the still coughing Ashwood, and squatted down next to her.

"That's it, Ashwood, let it all out." The Lieutenant said while patting her on the back. "When me and McGee first made Detective, Irons took us to Subway and had us each eat a foot-long Meatball Marinara before going on our first case… I tell ya I didn't think it was possible for two grown men to barf up that much food, but we did. Hell, you should've seen Francis that day; his face was all red and his eyes were watering, and…

"I think that's enough history for the poor girl, Tobias." McGee interrupted. "The point he's trying to make, Ashwood, is that it will get easier from here. Just like with smoking a cigarette or bungee jumping, the first time always hits you the hardest, and the rest just kind of pale in comparison."

"I'm… I'm okay." Ashwood replied as she wiped off her mouth. "I think I just need some water or something."

"No, you need something for the taste." Liquid said. "Hey, Chambers, could you open the cooler under the seat in the SUV, and get Ashwood a Vernors for me, please?"

"We have a cooler?" Chambers asked. "I mean, sure."

Liquid helped Ashwood to her feet as Chambers went to the SUV, and after a minute of searching he exclaimed with joy that they did in fact have a cooler. From the ice he grabbed a green can and brought it over to her, but she was hesitant to take it.

"Oh, no thank you." Ashwood said. "I had that once in Detroit, it's awful."

"Will you just drink it?" Lopez asked harshly. "Something tells me that we got a lot to do today."

Reluctantly she took the can and opened it, grimacing as she took a sip, but then her eyes widened. She slowly took another sip, and then chugged down half the can in three gulps. Taking a break to get a breath, she started to say something, but then let out a belch that would put any man's best to shame.

"Oh, excuse me." She said as Lopez snickered. "Hey, this stuff is good. I mean, really, really good… why is it good this time? It's the same can, I'm sure, but it was so bad then."

"Ashwood, you're looking at a mystery that no Detective's ever solved." McGee explained. "For some reason, if you're feeling fine then Vernors tastes like regurgitated death, but if you're sick to your stomach… then it's the best soda you ever got your hands on. Don't ask why, no one knows."

"Well, as fun as this soda lesson is." Lopez spoke up. "What I want to know is why this place is so bare if the scene is only a week old."

"Part of that can be explained." Liquid replied. "It rains a lot up here, so blood and such would either be washed away or cleaned up by animals. The part I can't explain is what happened to the bodies themselves. Almost all of the evidence vanished less than twelve hours after Officers arrived on the scene; pictures, reports, and even the bodies just up and vanished. Same thing happened to every single crime scene to do with this case, and I only have a couple of them because I stole them during shift-change."

"A couple of them?!" Chambers exclaimed. "You mean, there's more!"

"A bunch more, apparently." McGee added. "But those ones haven't been reported at all. There was always a call-in on the radio, and Officers reported closing the scene later, but the evidence just up and vanished like Tobias said."

"Remember this, kids." Liquid continued. "Yes, we're out here to investigate the murders, and to stop the ones responsible, but the biggest mystery… is why someone would want it covered up. All right, we're done here… load up, we still got a few miles to base."