From where he stood, Smoke Pac was watching Denise driving away in his fancy car. Razi joined him at his side and said, “Real smooth, W07.”

“Hm…” As soon as Denise disappeared out of view, Smoke Pac undid his Jester appearance and glanced sideways at Razi. “What’s with that stupid look on your face?”

“I’m confused.” Answered Razi. “Why did you bring that cop all the way here then allow her to just leave like that? Aren’t you concerned that might cause us trouble?”

Smoke Pac didn’t look fazed at all by her question. Moving his legs towards the house, he said, “I’m not concerned about that. She and the rest of her department have bigger problems to deal with.”

“Are you talking about those smoke creatures?”

“Indeed. Soon, the entire world will become aware of the terror plaguing Clown City. The crime rate will be skyrocketing also.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense.” Razi expressed confusion about the point Smoke Pac tried to make. “Shouldn’t the crime rate plummet because of fear of running into those creatures? Why would criminal activity rise?”

Smoke Pac ignited a cigarette then said to Razi, “There is a lot you don’t understand about the mind of criminals. They will take advantage of the chaos to cause a greater stir of instability and lawlessness in the city. But I will not allow that to happen.”

“Wow!” Razi was genuinely shocked when she heard this. “Since when are you a good guy?”

“When did I ever give you that impression?”

“By what you just said about protecting law and order in the city.”

“I didn’t say any such thing. Stop putting words into my mouth.”

“But you just said you won’t allow that to happen.”

“What I meant is that I will be in control of the Smokepires and no one else.” Before walking away, he added, “I’m going to be in the lab for the rest of the night. Don’t disturb me.”

***

On the road, Denise was speeding rather fiercely. She got away without causing any accidents because the traffic was sparse. She was making haste to get back to the clinic where she earlier discovered the Smokepire horde.

As soon as she turned her phone on, it was blowing up with many missed calls and multiple messages. Most of these missed interactions were with her work colleague and 99% of them pertained to the incident at the clinic. Just to make them aware that she was still among the living, she called and told them that she was on her way there.

By the time Denise arrived at the clinic, the entire building was in rubble. The shattered concrete was charred black, moreover, they were still giving off a dangerous amount of heat even though the fire brigade was doing its best to put out the rest of the fire.

“What the hell happen here?” Denise was baffled by the unexpected results she was viewing. “Where did all the monsters go?” She was shocked to see that there wasn’t a Smokepire body in sight to support what she had seen and experienced earlier.

“Detective Sleuth, you’ve made it. Finally.” A man and a woman came over the moment they recognized Denise among the lingering crowd. They went by the name Lewis and Rebecca respectively.

Her close friend and partner, Rebecca said to her, “We’ve been trying to reach you for some time now.”

“Sorry about that.” Denise became apologetic to her work associates. While she was issuing an apology, Rebecca noticed that she was in pain. There were bandages wrapped around her upper torso and her clothes were in ruins.

“You look like you’ve been through hell. What happened to you?” Rebecca couldn’t prevent her inquisitive attitude from spilling over. After all, she was a detective. “Come on spill it.”

Rebeca didn’t have to coerce answers from Denise. She freely told her colleagues what transpired while she was at the clinic earlier.

“The thing is…”

“Oh my God, that’s terrible.” Rebecca was more gullible and believing of Denise’s story, but not Detective Lewis.

“Are you freaking serious right now? You expect me to believe that there were a bunch of monsters squatting here?”

“It’s the truth. How else do you explain these injuries?” Denise showed off her wounds to Lewis, but he was still not convinced.

“If what you said is true then where the heck are they now?”

Denise covered her shoulder and said, “How should I know? I passed out, remember?”

Rebecca came to Denise’s support by saying to the disbeliever, “Do you know her to lie like this? Look around you. This clinic is completely destroyed. Something must have done it.”

“Or someone.” Lewis wasn’t ruling out any possibilities. Taking a gander at the demolished structure, he asked, “You said there was a man here with you, right? The one who saved your life. Where is he right now? I noticed that brand model car you arrived in. Is he inside?”

“Why are you concerned about something so irrelevant? You should be more concerned about the hundreds of monsters who may have possibly fled to the inner region of the city. Who knows where they are hiding right now? We should be mobilizing all the units to do a full sweep of the area.”

“Why waste manpower on speculation?” Lewis was against what Denise proposed for fear of turning the department into a laughing stock. He further clarified, “We have no body, not even an inkling of evidence to prove the validity of your statement. Maybe you fell down the stairs while you were searching the clinic and dreamt up that experience of being attacked by ferocious creatures.”

“Stop being such a dick, Lewis. I know what I saw.” Denise became angry with her disbelieving colleague. “Why the hell would I make all this shit up? Didn’t a number of civilians reported seeing the same thing? That homicide that occurred today over at kotton was probably caused by the same creatures that I saw.”

Rebecca voiced her thoughts after listening to Denise. “Now that you mention it. I think you might be right.”

“I know I am. I can feel it in my gut.” Said Denise.

Lewis interjected by saying, “Since when does a detective solves crimes not on evidence and facts but based on what they feel in their gut?”

“Cut the shit Lewis.” Denise went up close and personal with her colleague and stated facts. “You and I both know that I’ve solved way more cases than you’ve ever had in your 12 years of being a detective.”

This hard truth hit Lewis very hard to the point where he swallowed his tongue and clenched his fist tightly. He knew he wasn’t a good detective as Denise so he didn’t bother arguing about it. “Alright, let’s assume that you aren’t delusional and they are vicious monsters roaming about Clown City. Where did they come from? What are their aims if they even have any? Where are they hiding? Are these monsters a freak of nature or were they manmade? The reason I ask this question is that most disease and epidemic that has struck mankind throughout the course of our history were mostly if not always caused by some shady group of scientists. Before we can crack this tough nut open, these questions need answers. How do you suppose we find them, Detective Sleuth?” Lewis looked almost condescending when he spat this question at his associate.

Thinking for a while, Denise came up blank. “I’m not sure yet. But we can’t just sit by and do nothing while we wait for answers. Maybe there is a clue among this rubble; a DNA sample. There must be something.”

“Very well.” Lewis stopped acting hard ass and became more compliant. “I’ll notify forensics to do a thorough sweep after the firemen are finished with their duty.”

“That is a start.” Said Denise.

“What should I do, sis.” Rebecca waited to be instructed. Denise told her to help her search through the rubble. She genuinely needed the help because her wounds were still hurting.

A few minutes into the search, Rebecca noticed how Denise was acting and told her, “Take it easy. If you can’t manage just leave this to me and go get some rest. After what you’ve said you’ve been through, you really need it.”

“Nah, I’m ok.” Denise continued to search the area.

Rebecca smiled at her. “That is what I admired about you the most Denise. No matter how badly hurt you are, you always see to it that your tasks are completed. You are one of the most hardworking individuals that I know.”

“Oh, thanks, Rebecca.” Denise felt a heart-warming sensation after hearing the good things that were said about her.

A short while later, they still came across nothing that could be seen as a lead. About to give up on her search, Denise took a step back, her foot bumped into something solid.

“Huh, what did I hit? A rock perhaps?” She bent over and inspected the area on the ground that was covered by a cloud of ashes. After removing the ashes, she discovered a square object resembling a Rubik’s Cube.