“I don’t know, but the smell is too strong here for a whale that far away,” Dave replied as he turned on his flashlight and began to scan the street and the front part of the yard.
Dave stopped when the beam of his flashlight swept over something in the front corner of the yard next to the mailbox.
“Someone’s Collie got hit by a car,” Dave said as he held his light steady on the crumbled body of the dead dog. “It looks like it has been lying here for a few days.”
“That’s a shame, it looks like a beautiful dog,” Pete replied. “I had one like that when I was a kid. Lassie was big on TV then and I think every kid around wanted a Collie like Lassie. I wonder why they just let the poor thing out here this long?”
“Unfortunate, but it’s not our problem. Now that we have solved the foul smell mystery, let’s go see if Mr. Jefferies called 911,” Dave said as he redirected his flashlight further into the yard.
Pete followed Dave as each of the men swept the yard around the house with the beams of their lights.
As they neared the front porch Dave stopped when the beam of his light shined on the front door.
“Does that front door look like it is open a few inches to you?” Dave asked.
“It could be a shadow, or the molding strip could just be painted black making it look like the door is open,” Pete replied.
Dave kept his light on the door as they started up the steps.
As they reached the top step and were about to walk across the porch, Pete grabbed Dave’s arm.
“What?” Dave asked.
“Look at the floor,” Pete replied.
Dave looked down where Pete’s light was shining on the porch floor.
“Shit, that looks like bloody foot prints,” Dave said as he pulled his gun from the holster.
Pete pulled his gun and walked to the right of the bloody foot prints while Dave walked to the left as they both approached the front door.
Dave and Pete stood off to the sides of the door way.
“The door is open,” Dave whispered. “I’ll push it open, just stay off to the side and shine your light inside until we see what the hell happened here.”
“OK,” Pete replied.
Pete watched as Dave put his hand on the door and pushed. The door swung inwards.
The men waited and listened until the door lightly banged against the wall inside the room.
Both men shined their lights into the room as they slowly moved their faces around the edge of the door frame.
Pete immediately turned and began to throw up against the side of the house.
Dave jumped back, pressed his back against the side of the house as he reached for the radio mic attached to the collar of his uniform.
“Carrie,” Dave whispered.
“Carrie here, Dave,” was the reply.
“Request backup at 81 Sunnyside Drive,” Dave said as he forced back the contents of his stomach that was rising in his throat.
“Jim is on his way,” Carrie replied.
“Tell him no lights or siren,” Dave added. “Pete and I are on the front porch. At the present time we are not in any immanent danger, but that could change quickly. I don’t know what the hell happened here; it looks like a damn slaughter house from what we could see from the porch. Whoever did this might still be in the house. Tell Jim to bring the shotgun and meet us in front of the house. I need someone to cover our asses before we go in to the house for a closer look.”
“Will do,” Carrie replied.
“Dave, this is Ted from Medic One,” a voice came over the radio. “We’re parked at the end of Sunnyside Drive. Do you need us at this time?”
“From what I’ve seen I think we are going to need a coroner. Stay put until we determine what we have here. Your services may still be needed,” Dave replied.
“OK, Dave,” Ted replied. “By the way, Jim just shot by us, he should be at your location in a few minutes.”
“Thanks, Dave out,” Dave said.
“You OK?” Dave asked as Pete was now standing with his back to the side of the house on the other side of the doorway. He stood in the darkness with his light now turned off. Dave could hear the sound of Pete’s irregular breathing, interrupted by an occasional gagging sound.
“Holy hell, did I just see what I thought I saw?” Pete asked. “It looked like a wild animal, something the size of a bear or a lion, attacked someone in there and tore them apart.”
“It was that or someone with a machete went insane and hacked some poor bastard to pieces,” Dave replied. “I think we were wrong on where that smell was coming from.”
“No shit!” Pete said. “When the door swung open and that smell hit me, then when I looked inside, I just couldn’t hold it back. I don’t know what is worse, that smell or the taste in my mouth.”
“Yeah, we’ve seen a lot of gory shit in our time, but nothing that smelled like this,” Dave said.
“I thought it was bad out here when we arrived,” Pete replied. “But when that door opened, My God! I’ve never smelled anything like that before in my life. What do you think is causing that smell?”
“Too soon to say,” Dave replied. “I don’t even want to take a guess. But I’m afraid we’re going to find out very shortly, whether we want to or not. Here comes Jim.”
Jim pulled his car behind Dave’s patrol car, shut off the engine and got out of the car.
Dave flashed his flashlight towards Jim to let him know where they were then he called out quietly, “Jim, over here.”
Dave could hear Jim jerk the pump action on the shotgun, sending a shell into the chamber as he walked towards where the men waited.
“What is going on?” Jim asked then added, “and what the hell is that damn smell?”
Dave and Pete heard Jim trying to stifle back a gagging sound in his throat.
“Holy shit, what’s in there?” Jim asked.
“That’s what I intend to find out,” Dave replied. “Something crazy went down in there, but what worries me is that whoever or whatever did this might still be in there somewhere.
Jim, I want you to follow us inside, take up a position inside the room where you can watch all entry points into the room. Pete and I are going to go through the house, room by room. I want you to be sure nothing comes in behind us and that nothing leaves that house without my say so.”
“Any idea how many are dead?” Jim asked.
“Not yet, all I could tell from our quick look through that door is there could be more than one,” Dave replied. “How ever many are in there, it didn’t appear that they died quickly.”
“What do you mean?” Jim asked.
“You’ll see, just prepare yourself,” Dave answered then said. “Let’s go. We may have an injured man in there somewhere that needs our help.”
Pete turned on his flashlight as he and Dave walked back over to the door.
The men again stood off to the sides of the door and shined their lights in through the doorway.
This time with Jim covering their back, they stood in front of the open door and used their lights to illuminate the room inside.
Then Dave slowly moved into the room.
The room appeared to be a living room as Dave quickly identified a couch and three stuffed chairs in the room, all facing a stand containing a large screen TV.
The living room walls and ceiling were painted white the best Dave could tell, but with the amount of blood covering the walls and even the ceiling now, it was hard to say for certain.
“I see three bodies,” Dave said quietly. “Two in the center of the room and one more lying on the floor behind the couch.”
“These two look like they were just kids,” Pete replied.
“I think that is an older female behind the couch, maybe the mother,” Dave added as they moved closer to the two smaller bodies in the center of the room.
Dave looked down as he stood over the bodies and shined his light down directly on the bodies to examine the
remains.
“My God, do you see the condition of these bodies?” Dave asked.
“It looks like something has been eating them,” Pete replied. “Their insides have been ripped out and half their faces are gone.”
“They were alive when this happened to them,” Dave added. “The blood on the walls and ceiling, that was caused by arterial blood spray. It sprays out like that when the arteries are ripped open on a living person.”
“They were being eaten alive!” Pete said. “Shit!”
Dave walked over to where the older female body was behind the couch.
“Same thing here,” Dave said. “Except she is also missing her right arm. From the look of the wound on her shoulder, her arm was ripped off. What parts of her body that weren’t eaten are covered with bite marks.”
Pete started to walk over next to Dave.
As he moved closer he asked, “Can you guestimate what kind of animal did this?”
“If I had to guess, I’m afraid my guess would be a human animal,” Dave replied.
“What?” Pete asked as he moved in closer for a better look. “What kind of psycho would do something like this. I don’t think that even Hannibal Lecter did anything like this.”
“Jim,” Dave said to Jim who was standing in the doorway staring at the sight inside the room, “see if you can find a light switch and turn a light on. Check the light switch for bloody finger prints before you touch it, we don’t want to destroy any evidence that can help us catch the son of a bitch that did this.”
Jim shined his flashlight over the walls next to the doorway until he found a light switch to the right side of the door.
“I’ve got one here but its covered in blood,” Jim said.
“Don’t touch it,” Dave replied. “Just bump it on with the front of your flashlight.”
Jim pushed his flashlight up to the switch and nudged the switch up with the corner of the lens at the front of the device.
The room lit up with a soft glow as a light fixture on the center of the ceiling sprang to life.
The three men just stood in silence as they looked around the room.
Finally, Jim spoke up.
“What’s that hanging from the light?” he asked.
Pete looked up at the object hanging down from the light above his head.
As he looked up, a drop of blood hit him on the forehead.
He wiped his forehead with his hand then looked at his hand.
“I think that belongs to one of these bodies,” Dave said. “It looks like part of an intestine.”
Pete made a face and wiped his hand on the trousers of his uniform then used his sleeve to wipe his forehead.
“How long ago do you think this happened?” Jim asked.
“Ten maybe fifteen minutes ago,” Dave replied. “The blood is still fresh, in fact I can see it still running down the walls.”
Dave began to shine his flashlight through the doorways of the rooms leading into the living room.
“Jim, you wait here and listen for any sounds and keep an eye out while Pete and I clear the other rooms,” Dave said as he started to move to the nearest doorway.
“Got it,” Jim replied as he moved to the side of the room and stood next to the wall.
Dave and Pete walked over to the dark doorway at the left side of the room and shined their lights into the next room.
“This is the kitchen,” Dave said as he studied the room then moved a few feet into the room.
He examined the wall until he found the light switch and turned on the kitchen light.
“This room looks to have been untouched,” Pete said.
“Except for the bloody foot prints going out the back door,” Dave said.
“Should we follow them?” Pete asked.
“Not yet, we need to finish searching the house,” Dave replied. “Whoever called 911 could still be alive.”
After making certain that no one was hiding in the kitchen, Dave turned and walked to one of the other doorways leading into the living room.
This doorway led into a study that contained two stuffed chairs that sat in a room lined with shelves of books that covered three of the four walls.
“No bloody tracks in here,” Dave said as he located the light switch and flipped the switch.
The pole light next to one of the chairs came on flooding the room with a soft light.
Dave and Pete moved over to the final doorway in the living room.
Dave shined his light through the doorway.
“This is a stairwell leading up to the second level,” Dave said as he shined the light up the stairs and then into the darkness upstairs.
Dave then began to search for a light switch on the wall inside the stairwell.
A moment later, the stairwell lit up.
“Look at the blood on the steps,” Pete said. “It looks like whatever happened down here might have started upstairs then moved down here.”
Dave pulled his gun again and looked at Pete.
“Stay to the side of the steps so we don’t smear the foot prints and follow me,” Dave said as he started up the steps.
They listened as they crept up the stairs.
When his head rose above the level of the floor on the second level, Dave held up his hand.
“I have two bodies in the hallway outside an open door,” Dave whispered as he began to climb the final steps to the second floor.
When Pete reached the second level, he started walking towards the bodies but was restrained by Dave.
“Let’s clear these rooms first so we aren’t ambushed while our attention is distracted,” Dave said.
There were three rooms on the second floor, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
They found one mangled bloody body lying in the middle of a blood-soaked bed.
Arterial spray covered the walls in the room indicating the body had been attacked on the bed, probably as it slept.
“This body appears to have been for lack of a better word, eaten like the bodies in the living room,” Dave said.
“More human looking bite marks,” Pete added.
“I see them,” Dave replied. “Let’s clear the other rooms.”
The next two rooms were bloody, but whoever had been in these rooms must have managed to get out of the rooms and to have survived at least long enough to get down stairs.
After a quick look in the bathroom, Dave and Pete turned their attention to the bodies lying on the floor in the hallway.
One body was lying on top of the other body.
The body on the bottom was clutching a telephone in its right hand.
“This must have been the person that called 911,” Pete said.
“I can see why he wasn’t able to say more than just help me,” Dave added as he knelt down to get a closer look at the bodies.
As Dave studied the bodies he used his flashlight and began to push at the top body until it rolled off the other body and landed on its back on the floor.
Dave jumped to his feet and stared at the sight.
“Could this be the killer?” Pete asked as he stared down at the body of the man that was now lying on his back.
The front of the body was covered in blood, but what really creeped Dave and Pete out was the bloody teeth and the ragged shreds of fleshly material hanging off the teeth.
“I want to say yes,” Dave replied, “but look at this guy. He looks like he should be in a funeral home. The guy looks like he has been dead for a week. How they hell could he have done all of this in that condition? He looks like he would fall apart if you would sneeze on him.”
“Dave, I think the guy under him is still breathing,” Pete said.
Dave and Pete dropped down on the floor next to the other body.
It appeared to be a kid in his teens.
His arms were covered with bite marks.
In his right hand he clutched a telephone, in his left hand he was holding what appeared to be a blood covered pen.
Dav
e looked at the other emaciated body and noticed a round puncture type wound in the middle of its forehead.
“I believe the kid was trying to fight off this guy and finally stabbed him in the forehead with that pen,” Dave said. “Then they both collapsed to the floor.”
Dave slid his hand to the boy’s neck and felt for a pulse.
“He still has a heartbeat,” Dave said as he reached for the mic on his collar of his uniform.
“Medic One,” Dave said.
“This is Ted, Dave,” came the reply.
“I have a patient for you,” Dave said. “He is barely alive so you better hurry. I’ll meet you out front.”
“On my way,” Ted replied.
“Are you Ok waiting here with the kid?” Dave asked. “I’m going to go down to meet the ambulance and update Jim.”
“I’m fine,” Pete replied. “As long as the lights don’t go out.”
“It won’t be long,” Dave said then got up and went down stairs.
As Dave walked out of the stairway and into the living room, a relieved Jim looked up and asked, “What did you find upstairs?”
“More of the same except we have one kid that is still alive,” Dave replied. “Ted will be here for him in a few minutes.
“Is he going to live?” Jim asked.
“If he does, it will be a miracle,” Dave replied. “He is chewed up pretty bad. He appears to have been fighting off his attacker and stabbed him in the head with a damn pen, killing the guy.”
“Do you think that guy was the one who did all of this?” Jim asked.
“I doubt it,” Dave replied. “I believe it took more than one crazed individual to do all of this, besides we have all those bloody footprints leading through the kitchen and out into the back yard. No, I think at least most of our killers went out the back door after they did this.”
Dave heard the engine and saw the lights outside as the ambulance pulled up in front of the house.
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