Youth delirium

 

 

 Two police officers delt with knocking down the door with the ram while others were waiting, and positioned themselves in case they would have orders to open fire. After the second shot, the lock gave way for good and the door hurtled against the wall.

 A slightly unpleasant fragrance then escaped from the apartment. Majority of officers had to exercise a grimace competition. We must say most of them never experienced smelling such an odor.
It was a rotting body exhalation. Vapors of death ingratiated at the heart of their thoughts, as if they were asking :
 

"Do you want to know more? "
 

Among six agents who were here on that evening, only two preferred staying out of the apartment, whereas others were grabbed by the macabre desire to discover more.

Sergeant Arthaud pressed the switch but no light came. Torch in hand, they began to walk in the hallway to the entrance. They were aware of the dimensions of the apartment so they proceeded with caution. Sudden bright beams gave them an idea of which way to take, in order not to stumble on anything.
Arthaud and Montoya took action, moving slowly, to secure the first room close to them, on their left. Montoya grabbed the handle and eagerly pushed the door before repositioning it back against the wall.

Arthaud, gun in hand, rushed into the room and was immediately followed by Montoya. They swept in the darkness of the room with their torch lamps and, unmasking no one in this darkness, they went out.  

Still in silence, they beckoned others to follow them. The room was not showing any risk. It was a bedroom. Nevertheless, there was a particular detail that had awakened curiosity of those two policemen. The mirror, supposed to be present within the dressing, was broken into multiple pieces scattered on the floor. No information was given to the two other agents. They had to remain silent, in order not to be surprised by an attacker.
 

After the bedroom, the hallway was woving on the right. Opposite was another room, hidden by a double-glazed door. Behind this door, a flickering light set the darkness ablaze, making malicious shadows acting near their feet.
Montoya, Arthaud and their two associates, Sirgent and Penrose, positioned themselves in a semicircle facing the double-door, always in the greatest silence. Sirgent and Penrose were staying behind, their guns pointing at each door.

 Arthaud failed to open the door. Something behind was condemning it. They had to turn around to find another entrance, so they took the hallway. They had just secured three parts including the bathroom without mirror, when Montoya gestured to stop the rest of the group.
He asked them if they had heard, pointing at his ear with his forefinger while making a slight grimace. He received three shakes of the head as an answer. Negative. Then, he put his index tense in front of his lips, followed by his ear. The four agents were not moving anymore, they were trying to discern a sound different from the one that was already drumming in the middle of their rib cage. After several seconds, standing still in silence, they perceived something.

 A sad melody. Sobs with a deep abandon, making it better for some people not to see the person who shed them.
Sirgent went first, thinking he had located the origin of the sound.
He walked towards the door on his right, down the hall. Montoya stayed pressed against the wall, in order to keep an eye on the left door while his teammate was going to open the one right in front of them. Those two rarely let themselves being surprised. The best pair of all. At least, if they were thinking this, it was beneficial to flatter their ego. However, in their field, no one could say they were doing a bad job, their work was always clean, without blunders. And that became increasingly rare.

Sirgent turned the knob and slowly opened the door putting its lamp's cold lightwithin the opacity of the room, like a thin tunnel leading to hope... to life.
 

He had no time to shoot when the shapeless mass that he imagined as a creature burst on him.
He had only heard the scream released too late by the creature.

Arthaud was the first to rush on the aggressor. He clasped its waist, which resulted
in an accentuation of its screams and drove Sirgent out of his grasp. But it did not stop moving about so he was knocked back and hit his head against the wall. The creature was running away from him. Penrose put an end to the escape of that thing with a well-placed butt knock. It was not screaming anymore and that was great.

Arthaud, half stunned, hardlyunderstood what had just happened. Penrose, Sirgentand Montoya werestudying the body of the thing that came to attack them. Arthaud stood up withdifficulty and unsteadily walked towards his colleagues.

- “Damn, have you seen that shit? What happened?” he asked.
-“No idea ... » said Penrose.
- “But strange things happened in this apartment”, Montoya completed.
With this, he invited Arthaud to come and see with his own eyes.
- “Oh my god! Something like that isn't possible, is it?” Arthaud asked, worried.
- “I don't fucking know anything. I've never ever seen such a thing either. Even if
I saw some strange stories.” Montoya defended himself.
I don't believe it's possible to reduce a woman in this state. This is damn scary. Which
kind of monster could do that... Said Arthaud, away from the group.
-“Arthaud!” Montoya whispered to him, “don't go too far from the group. If it is capable of inflicting this to a woman, who knows if it's not crazy enough to attack us and do a huge damage. Let's stay together.”

The young officer, confused, approached his colleagues while agreeing with a nod.

 

- “Ok”, said Arthaud quietly.
- “Ok”. Montoya emphasized while directing his eyes on Penrose. « Alexa, bring that poor young woman out of here. And stay with Francis and Benoît. Did you get it? » He commanded.
  
 

Alexa carried it out straight away. She grabbed the unconscious body, wedged it on her shoulders and turned towards the exit.
Benoît saw a ray of light appearing at the bottom of a curtain of darkness.

Someone was approaching. He steadied himself against the opening of the front door and balanced his Sig-Sauer in the direction of the light source. The agent had time to see the silhouette of a body with unexpected shape before being dazzled. However, he was not letting himself be distracted, kept his head, turned his MightLite towards the form hidden by the blue glow and asked that silhouette to identify itself.
It was Alexa.

 He released his tension and lowered his weapon. He glanced in the direction of Francis.

-“Alexa is coming on. Get ready, she has a big package on her back.”
- “How come?” asked Francis.
- “I have not seen much. Wait, I'll ask her.”
Benoît replaced his interest in the darkness. With his face splashed bythe intermittent beam from
Alexa's MightLite, he could not discern the shape of the package.

- “What is it on your back?” he asked.
- “A woman. She is in poor shape. Prepare your handcuffs and call for help. Quickly.” gasped
Alexa.
- “Hey Francis!”
- “Yeah, what's goin'on?”
- “Call an ambulance, quick!” Benoît ordered.
Alexa, once out of the apartment, put the body of the woman against the stairs' guardrail, sheathed her flashlight and asked her handcuffs to Benoît.
-“Why do you want these damn handcuffs? She does not seem able to hurt anyone
whatsoever.” he rebelled.

-“You're not even in a position to make a decision. Trust me. You were not over there.”
-“I understood this very well.” He holds out her handcuffs. “But it may offendher...”
-”If you want to try, go! Don't hesitate! But don't be surprised if she jumps onyour throat and tearyour guts out. »said Alexa, losing her temper, pointing the face of Benedict with handcuffs.
 

She handcuffed the woman to the stair railing, sat down on a step and lit a cigarette.
Francis was still on his walkie, trying to reach emergency service. The only sound that he managed to get so far, was an inaudible drizzle, interfered radio waves.

-“I can't contact them.” he said to the others.
-“Here.” Francis said, handing him his walkie. “Try with this one.”
 

Finally, communication was established. They were sent an ambulance.
Sirgent opened the door that was facing the victim's bedroom. Arthaud and Montoya were on the cover.
The door slid on its hinges, an unbearable smell crawled out of her prison, assaulting the eyes of officers.
- “It stinks in there!” Montoya let himself go, fist half-closedunder his nose.
- “Guys, put your mufflers up, we enter into Hell.” claimed Arthaud. As if he had always dreamt to put this sentence.
Once their mufflerswere put properly, they entered in the new room. In front of them, windows were sealed off ; on the right, there was a shelf that, running on the entire length of the wall, was fullof pots of cream, wrinkle care... a sort of altar of youth.
On the left, a semi-opaque curtain foreshadowed the only lit room of the apartment. There was no door, the curtain washiding the entrance, a hole in the wall. They approached. Their delicate footsteps placed them on the verge of their intervention's ending point. Sirgent drew the curtain. The discovery was shocking.
The room was flooded by the light of a hundred candles, warm flames, which were struggling in their fight against the unhealthy coldness prevailing in this place of despair.
The three officers felt their souls suffer facing the table presented to their admiration by limbo.
In the center of the room was a chair sealed on the ground by a coagulant puddle of cement covered in blood.
But what is offered in their view did not stop at this dirty seat. They had to look up in order to discover the most macabre part of the masterpiece. A body was overlooking the scene, torn by
various ropes with a pulley system. Legs spread, pulled down and crooked, with quartered arms on the sides, gave the image of a suspended offering. The body was presented to the cruelty that sat on the throne of fortune and had been consumed. Two cables provided with hooks at their ends were used to pull the martyr's ribcage in two opposite directions.

 

They now knew where the scarlet and blackish water spread under the chair came from.