Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (dark books to read txt) 📕

reveal one of the young men of our group, his body mutilated and displayed in such a way to maximize the horror. His abdomen had been sliced open from his groin to his throat and his intestines were pulled out forming a kind of macabre tangle across his stomach. Perhaps the most striking thing about the display was his eyes. They had been plucked out, the ends of the optic nerves barely visible in the sockets. Somewhere to my right I heard retching; I was feeling ready to vomit up the remainder of last night’s meal myself.

“What the fuck.” I didn’t realize that I was speaking out loud. The injuries were unnatural, the long cut almost surgical in its exacting placement. Someone had done this to him.

“Everybody get the hell back!” Eliza shouted. “Get your asses back to your cots NOW!” When no one moved quickly enough, she slammed a fist into the metal of the door. That got them moving. I dared to risk breathing through my nose for the first time since the remains were discovered. The body was fresh, the only smells emanating from it thanks to perforated bowel.

“Who is he?” I plucked the sheet from a nearby cot and spread it over the young man’s form. The blood from his injuries soaked through the cloth the instant it touched him. Poor guy. I hoped it was quick.

“His name is—was—James. One of the kids who volunteered for guard duty back at the colony.” The color had drained from her face. “I pray to god that whatever happened to him, happened quick. What a way to go.”

“Did you know him well? I don’t think I’ve heard you mention him before. Scratch that. If you did, tell me later. We have to address this. Now.”

“You got that right.” Eliza turned to address the group. “Ladies and gentlemen-“

“What the hell is going on?”

“How did this happen?”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Who could have done this?”

The shouts and cries mingled into a palatable panic.

“HEY!” Eliza bellowed. “Everybody needs to calm the fuck down!"

“How do you expect us to calm down, Eliza? A man has been butchered!” A woman cried. “How are we going to keep ourselves safe?”

“Right now, just sit still. We will figure this out. This was clearly not perpetrated by a human; none of us have the weaponry to do this, never mind the strength. You people need to sit down and let us evaluate the situation clearly and throughly. If everyone stays awake, everyone stays alive. If you need to sleep, you sleep in shifts. No one leaves this room. Anyone needs the head, you will use it with a buddy. No exceptions!” The situation was growing out of our control. The fragile peace that Eliza held over the group couldn’t withstand another blow.

This didn’t seem like a human kill. If someone held a grudge against James I had no doubt it could come to murder but a smart person would have at least tried to hide the body. They wouldn’t put it on display like this. No, this was a warning. Eliza sidestepped the body and opened the door to the building. “We need some help over here!” She yelled into the empty square before us. As if on queue, an android body sprinted toward us in the sunlight. It was Tenzen, his face a perfect arrangement of concern. Eliza moved aside to let him inside and the group of humans shrank back. Tenzen looked confused for a moment until he noticed the blood soaked sheet in front of him. “Ah.” There was no big exclamation, no expression of shock, just a simple ‘ah’.

“You want to explain this to me Tenzen?” Eliza put her body between Tenzen and the crowd. It allowed her to talk to the android without anyone else hearing. It was also a gesture of guardianship. A mother bear defending her cubs.

“It would appear that one of your charges has suffered an unfortunate accident,” he deadpanned.

“It would appear, you son of a bitch. This wasn’t a human and it sure as shit wasn’t an animal. Explain this right the fuck now.”

“Did he leave the building unaccompanied?” Eliza clenched her teeth so hard I heard the click a few feet away. We hadn’t mentioned the gender of the deceased.

“How do you know it’s a male?”

“I don’t, obviously, but I understand it is the custom of your language to use ‘he’ when referring to a person of an unknown gender. Thank you for confirming my suspicions in any case. The females of your species seem to be more adept at making judgements…in most cases. If he was attacked by one of our people it would only be because he wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“You’re fucking kidding me, right? Wandering around an unfamiliar place is hardly an excuse to mutilate someone. His body was clearly dumped here to send a message.” The body was starting to smell now, the flesh starting to break down as the body had been there for several hours.

“It’s clear that you don’t understand the situation.” Any warmth or politeness Tenzen held for us was gone, replaced with the cold calculation of a machine. “You shouldn’t be here. While I’m willing to show you some courtesies out of a sense of personal politeness, there are many more that stalk this building day and night. They weigh the reward of slaughtering you against the probability of deletion. It is only the possibility of their own deaths that keeps them away. For now.” He looked into the distance for a moment and refocused his eyes on Eliza. “This man was recorded by our security systems as having left the building before dawn.” Tenzen gestured for Eliza to present her tablet to him. She did so reluctantly and Tenzen pressed his thumb to the screen. A security feed popped up, showing James leaving the building. In the video he looked around. When no threats presented themselves he stretched and started