Week 9.1 – Ripped Off

Previously: Digger was in a fight with members of the Big Apple Corps when they were interrupted by a scream from the Corps’s toughest member! And now…

Caveat’s eyes widened as the scream cut off. “I’ve never heard him scream like that. Damn it!”

He turned and ran toward the end of the alley where Invictus had disappeared in pursuit of Twain. Digger followed him.

They emerged onto a street where traffic had stopped while people looked around confusedly. But at the mouth of one alley, a horrified crowd was gathering. Caveat sprinted for the spot while Digger leapt ahead and into the alley.

The scene was horrifying. Invictus was alone, lying unconscious on the ground. Blood had sprayed out to coat the pavement a good ten feet from his right shoulder, understandable since Invictus’s right arm was gone.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

The worst part was the way his flesh had been drawn out into a tangle of stringy filaments made of skin. It was almost as if, instead of being torn off, Invictus’s arm had simply unraveled. Even the stub of bone visible in the wound had been drawn out into needle-like spines. Digger had never seen anything like it.

“Get away from him!” Caveat shouted from the mouth of the alley. He ran up to join Digger as he spoke into an earpiece built into his leather hood. “ This is Caveat. You have units responding to the Kessler Museum alarm? Have them home in on my coordinates. And we need a paramedic unit. Wait one.”

He turned to Digger. “Where’s the arm?”

Digger pointed at the fleshy strings. “Isn’t that the arm?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Caveat said. “Not nearly enough mass there for an arm. Look around.”

Digger turned to look, although there weren’t many hiding places for an arm. He wandered over to one of the two dumpsters in the alley as Caveat continued talking to the dispatcher. “Yes, one man down, and he’s going to need an ambulance. No, not a hospital. A private clinic. I’ll give them the address. You find it?”

Digger turned and shrugged. “Not here.”

“You think that freak took it with him?” Caveat asked.

“He’s a guy in a dress, and no, I don’t think he even did this,” Digger said. “He’s a norm, mostly. And besides, if he was carrying an arm, wouldn’t it, you know, drip? There’s nothing.”

Caveat looked at the ground and noticed the lack of a blood trail. “Well, we still have to find it.” He put a hand to his earpiece. “Still there? I’m also going to need men to conduct a grid search. Yes, I have one suspect in custody.”

“You wish,” Digger said.

“The other suspect has escaped,” Caveat said. “Caucasian male, approximately five-ten, slim build. Wearing a buckskin cowgirl uniform, white hat and boots, blonde wig. Should be considered armed and dangerous. And he may be carrying an arm. Yes, a human arm. Off of the guy who needs the ambulance, exactly. Digger!”

Caveat turned toward the second dumpster. The lid stood open, but Digger was nowhere to be found. “That son of a bitch!”

Where has Digger gone? And what happened to Invictus? Learn more in tomorrow’s exciting episode!

To read from the beginning, click here…

And to read the next episode, click here!