Kade-Chapter 2
Kade--Chapter 2
The doorbell rang early the next morning and, much to Kade's agitation, it didn't ring only once. It was a persistent sound and by the time Kade had stomped towards the door, he was sure his fur was bristling in anger. On the other side was Scout, dressed and proper, with a cup holder (and coffee) and a fast food bag. Somewhere in the back of Kade's mind, he was mildly aware that he was hungry, but the feeling was overshadowed by his own annoyance.
"Why the hell are you ringing my doorbell so fucking early?" Kade snarled. "This'd better be really damn good!"
"My apologies," Scout answered shyly. "I brought breakfast and coffee... I was hoping that we could sit and talk for a little bit before work." He held out the coffee and food and Kade rolled his eyes. "Perhaps I should return when you're more... appropriately dressed."
Kade looked at himself--he hadn't really thought to put on pants or a shirt, so he stood there in his underwear, irritable and sleepy. He exhaled sharply and stepped aside. "Sit in the living room and I'll be there in a minute. Let me throw something on."
Nervously, Scout stepped into the small apartment and walked into the living room, surveying it with a discerning gaze. Positive that Scout was judging his abode, Kade let out a small growl of irritation as he walked to his bedroom, reemerging just a few minutes later with a shirt and shorts on. Much to his amazement, Scout seemed fixated on an old photograph, one that Kade hadn't really paid much attention to in years. He had almost forgotten it was there.
"See something you like?" Kade asked.
"This lion here, in this photograph," Scout stated. "He looks like Zachariah Eldridge."
"He is Zachariah Eldridge," Kade assured him. "He was my teacher at the Peacekeeper Academy. Went out in a blaze of glory." Kade sighed. "We took that picture after I'd gotten my badge. He was proud, but still kind of an ass about it."
"What was he like? I heard he was the best," Scout said.
"That's a subjective view," Kade stated. "His record's longer than most officers, so naturally, he'll have a higher number of successes. But he'll also still have a higher number of failures as well. But in death, it's tradition to discount any failures. It's considered disrespectful." Kade looked down at the coffee and food. "What'd you bring me?"
Eating breakfast with Scout wasn't so bad. Kade had turned on the television to watch the news, but he found himself more intrigued in the conversation they were having. Scout talked about his family and his hometown, halfway across the country.
"So, what brings a country fur like you all the way to the concrete jungle?" Kade wondered, taking a swig of his coffee. It was a tad bitterer than he'd prefer, but he wouldn't complain about a free cup of caffeine.
"My father got a job here in the city and we didn't really have much choice. My family was pretty poor," Scout confessed. "But once I moved here, I found that I did enjoy it. It wasn't so bad and I had a lot of friends after a short while. Most of us played sports in our free time. Quite frankly, I was planning on being an athlete. But unfortunately..." He gestured down towards his prosthetic and gave a small, sad noise. "I lost my leg and it took me a little while to get a prosthetic."
"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?" Kade wondered, genuinely interested. He turned off the television and listened intently.
"It was... not something I wish to relive," Scout replied dismissively. "Honestly, I'm glad I survived the ordeal. It was shortly after that I had met my hero while I was recovering in the hospital. Zachariah Eldridge. He had been involved in the emergency, and he came to see how I was doing."
"What happened that he came to see you?"
"Can we not talk about it? I really do not like talking about it," Scout insisted.
Kade sighed. "I used to not like talking about my eye." He touched his temple, right beside where his prosthetic eye was. "But I realized that a prosthetic is nothing to be ashamed of. Nor is it anything to hide. It just is."
"I suppose."
Kade sighed. "I'm going to go take a shower. We'll head out when I'm done, alright?"
"Very well."
After an hour in the gym and another hour in the shooting range, they found themselves on patrol once more. Again, Kade had leaned back and propped his footpaws on the dashboard while Scout reminded him that it was against regulations and the law. This time, Kade's snappy retort had been to remind him that they are the law. Scout did not find it amusing.
The next few days had passed by in the same rhythm. Scout would stop by in the morning with breakfast and coffee, then they'd go about their day together until they were no longer on duty. Much to Kade's annoyance, Scout was staunchly dedicated to the rules and regulations, never failing to remind him of any infraction upon them. And, likewise, Kade's nonchalant disregard for the rules and regulations never failed to provoke an aggravated reply from Scout. Yet they remained nearby each other, so much so that the few times that Kade was without Scout on base, he found himself questioned about Scout's whereabouts.
It was during his first day off since he'd been assigned this partner that Kade had gotten one of the most unwelcome calls of his career. His phone began ringing at just past four-thirty and Kade answered it groggily, unable to keep the angry tone from his voice.
"What?!" he snarled, not bothering to look at who had been calling.
The panicked voice on the other side caught him off-guard. It was frightened and shaking and Kade was sure he heard the phone shaking in the other's paw. "K-Kade..."
"Scout? What the fuck are you calling me for?"
"I found... a..."
"Spit it out!"
"A body!"
Kade hesitated. "A body? Like an unconscious body or--?"
"I think she's dead," Scout breathed nervously. "There's blood... It's just a big pool of..." He sounded sick and Kade was sure he heard Scout heaving.
"Listen, rookie, calm down. Where are you?" Kade said, trying his hardest not to sound as agitated as he felt.
"I had just gone down to the convenience store... I was walking back home and she was in the alley beside my apartment."
"Call HQ," Kade said. "I'll be there shortly. Are you armed?"
"No..."
"Go get your pistol. Keep your paw on the trigger and don't let civilians in the area," Kade ordered. "I'll be there shortly."
He was unsure of what to think as he sped down the street towards Scout's apartment. He had rushed through throwing on his uniform and was sure he looked disheveled and unpresentable, but he didn't much care. There was a feeling of urgency he hadn't felt in quite some time. Perhaps it had been the panic in Scout's voice or simply the knowledge that there had been a murder.
By the time he reached Scout's apartment building, he was amazed to find that other officers had yet to arrive. But the area was quiet and, most disturbingly, dark. He stepped out of the vehicle, retrieving a flashlight, and stepped into the alley slowly. Where the fuck was Scout? Was this some kind of prank? But then the light reflected off something on the ground and Kade flashed the light downward--the concrete beneath him was wet, the crimson-tinted liquid having started to soak into it. Kade kneeled; it was still wet...
"Kade?" a frightened voice said. Immediately, Kade jumped up and wheeled around, dropping his flashlight and pointing his pistol in the direction of the voice. At once, Scout held up his paws in surrender and in the dim lighting, Kade could see that he looked absolutely terrified. "It's me! Scout Nelson!"
"Prove it," Kade said in a joking manner. He had already holstered his pistol by the time Scout had found his voice again.
"I hardly think it's appropriate to joke right now!"
"Yeah, did you call HQ?"
"Commander Gray wasn't there so--"
"Call the emergency number! Not the commander," Kade said with a shake of his head. "We need a CSI unit out here to do their thing. But for now, why don't you explain how you stumbled upon a body? And for crying out loud, stop shaking!"
"My apologies," Scout said nervously. "I'm just... how are you so calm?"
"I'm not but I'm in uniform," Kade answered. "I have to fake it, at least. What happened?" He picked his flashlight back up and kneeled by the body. She was bloody, that was for sure, numerous slashes and stabs visible beneath her light brown fur, now dyed with her own blood. "Do you know her?"
"I think so," Scout remarked. "She lives in my apartment... Lived..."
"Hey, hey, focus," Kade ordered, seeing that Scout was starting to panic. He could hear the Labrador's breath hitching, see that tension in his stance. "You just happened upon the body?"
"I was... I was coming back from the convenience store," Scout explained. "I heard some noises so I called out. Said I was a Peacekeeper and someone ran off to the other side. I couldn't really see, but when I tried to go after them..." He trailed off... "I'm sorry, I..."
"You found the body," Kade surmised. "Call HQ, the emergency number, and let's get this area quarantined."
"Drink," Kade ordered a little over an hour later, passing a cup of ice water to his partner. Scout, looking sick to his stomach, took the paper cup but didn't drink. Already, a crowd was starting to gather around the area, pushed back by Peacekeepers and kept at bay while the crime scene was surveyed and documented. Scout's testimony had already been taken, and they now found themselves seated on the steps of his apartment building, waiting for the crowds to dissipate and the corpse to be taken to the morgue.
"Sorry, I don't mean to be so weak," Scout answered. "I've never been so scared before..."
"You're a Peacekeeper now," Kade remarked, "and this'll happen more than I'd like. This ain't my first crime scene or my first corpse, though I've never seen one quite this mutilated... Whoever did this was sick in the head."
"So, what do we do?"
"We investigate," Kade stated. "I can't say for sure whether we'll be put on this particular case or if they'll give it to someone else but... Are you sure you can handle being a Peacekeeper after this?"
"I don't know," Scout confessed. "I'm all training with no experience."
"Welcome to the job, rookie," Kade said darkly. "Can't say whether or not this'll get easier on you but after a while..."
"I don't want to see this again."
"Not your choice when you wear that badge."
"Lieutenant Creed?" A shaggy-furred bear approached him, a serious look on his face. "A word?"
Kade nodded, patted Scout's shoulder playfully, and stepped down. He followed the bear into the alley--they were removing the body. "What's wrong?"
"I just wanted your opinion on something," the bear explained. "Have you ever seen anything quite like this?"
"Nothing this savage..."
"She was nearly decapitated," the bear answered. "It's only her spine keeping her head on. And on top of that, there's knife marks on the vertebrae. This was just brutal."
"Yeah... Did you find any kind of evidence?"
"No, that's what so strange," the bear admitted. "No blood leading away. None leading towards. She was killed here... but we can't find anything on the scene. Maybe we'll find something on the body, but we won't know until the lab techs get their paws on it. But whoever she was, her eye was gouged out and her left hand taken off. Both were prosthetic."
Kade's eyes narrowed. "Think that's what they were after? The prosthetics?"
"Possibly. But we won't know for sure."
"I see..." Kade scowled. "Nothing more we can do on the scene?"
"No. I don't think so. We're about to clean up and remove the body," the bear stated. "We've taken photos and such and that's all we can really do now. They'll be catalogued later today."
"Okay. I'll probably stop by HQ and survey them myself," Kade answered. "But..." He looked back at Scout. "You remember what it was like for your first crime scene?"
The bear looked up at Scout and sighed. "Never easy, no matter how many times we see it. Always a shame to see someone killed. But he seems to be taking it a bit personally."
"I'll handle him. Keep up the good work."
"Yeah, yeah," the bear answered dismissively.
Returning to the steps, Kade cleared his throat noisily to get Scout's attention. "Come on. Let's go upstairs. Nothing we can do down here."
Scout led the way to his apartment, completely silent and withdrawn as he did so. But before opening his door, he paused and let out a sob.
"Hey, hey," Kade said. "Cut that out. Look at me." Scout looked up, his eyes bleary and his entire body shaking. "I understand this isn't easy. Never was and never will be. And it's even worse coming on that in the dark. But you've got to suck it up. Ain't nothing you can do."
"I might've been able to save her. If I hadn't panicked... If I had--"
"If, if, if, if, if," Kade said. "The world is full of ifs and you can't explore them all. Kid, there was probably nothing you could've done. Odds are she was dead when you happened upon the scene. Nothing you could've done."
"I failed as a Peacekeeper, though. Somebody died in my own backyard and I couldn't do anything to stop it," Scout said. "How can I call myself a Peacekeeper when I let a murderer get away?!"
"We all have regrets, kid," Kade said. "We all do things that haunt us. The difference between a real Peacekeeper and a pretender is that a real Peacekeeper doesn't focus on what he_could_ have done. He focuses on what he's going to do. There's a killer out there in our city. That's the black and white of it. One person's already died because of it. We're not going to let another one die on our watch, okay?"
"...Okay..."
"Listen to me," Kade said. "We can do something about this. We can't bring back the dead. But let's do what we can to protect the living."
Scout nodded numbly. He made a move as if he was going to hug Kade but seemed to think better of it. He extended his paw out and Kade shook it. He was still shaking. "I'm sorry for crying like that... I should be stronger."
"We all have breakdowns. Happens to the best of us. Let's go inside. You need a shower..."
"That's rude," Scout murmured with the faintest hint of a smile. Then he paused again. "Do you think we'll find him?"
"The killer? Possibly."
"That's not very heartening."
"It's truthful," Kade admitted. "There's always a chance they'll slip away. Or maybe they've skipped town. Who knows? But we'll try. That's the best we can do."
"Not what I was hoping to hear."
"You're a big boy, Scout," Kade said. "I'm not going to lie to you and I'm not going to sugarcoat the world. Time you grow a pair and face the world."