• The Faint of Heart: Chapter One: The Fear

    As the early morning fog swirled about her feet, Natascha came to a halt outside the small community church. This place had been abandoned for a long
    time and it was beginning to show the signs of deterioration that all old buildings did. The shingle roof was falling in and most of the windows were either
    grimy, or completely busted. Her father used to be the pastor here, but since they moved to the big city, the church had gone into disrepair. Natascha huffed
    and pushed back the door. It opened with a creak and she looked around. There had been a report of some riffraff here and she'd been sent to root it out.
    She headed into the chaple and took a brief look around. From somewhere in the back, she heard muffled footsteps. She couldn't help but wonder
    who was there. She began to walk slowly towards the back, readying her pistol. Her few years as a police officer had made her tougher than she would have
    thought. She once would have been afraid, but now she only thought of it as a job. As she reached the source of sound, she gasped and wretched at the sight
    before her. On the floor lay two young teens, probably about fifteen or sixteen she'd guess, and around them, their insides lay scattered. They appeared to
    have been ripped out and by the looks of some of them, chewed on.
    Natascha all but ran back to her cruiser and tried to radio in for back up. "Gerard!I need a ambulance and back up. Hurry the hell up!" She barely
    gave Gerard time to give the okay before she slammed down her radio and began loading her shot gun. 'What the hell could have done that?' she thought.
    As she headed back into the church, she could hear rustling in the attic. She began to climb the stairs. As she opened the door, a single bat flew out, and
    all was silent. Natascha frowned. Where was the freak that did this? Were they here, or had they run off. She didn't have much time to ponder this, because
    the back up had finally arrived. The team scoured the area and could find no trace of the feind except for a few bloody hand and foot prints, but the tracks disaapeared
    into the woods. The dogs lost the scent quickly, as well. The forensics expert couldn't quite understand the scene before him.
    "This makes no sense. I've never seen anything this bad. It looks like whoever killed these two did it for the purpose of eating them... it chills me to think that some
    one would do that." Natascha shook her head. This didn't make any sense. The forensics expert took samples and then, the ambulance took the bodies away. The cheif approached
    Natascha.
    "Well... good job. I'm sorry I sent you out here by yourself, I didn't know that we were dealing with a serial killer." The cheif shook his head. "What a load of horseshit.
    I can't believe that we have this kind of sicko here in our own town." Natascha shrugged.
    "Well... you can't expect everyone to be normal, healthy human beings, sir." she said. The cheif sighed.
    "You're right, kid. But damn... we have to find the guy responsible for this." he said. Natascha nodded and with that, excused herself. She meandered back towards her squad car
    and drove home. Once she was safe in her small apartment, Natascha stripped off her uniform and took a quick shower. Her dinner this night would consist of her last TV dinner and she'd probably
    be stuck watching reruns of 'I Love Lucy' until about nine o'clock. She sighed. Her life was always monotonous, but lately, it had taken on a boring lethargy that she was not used to. She'd gotten
    used to boring, but this? She'd never felt so tired of her own life before. Maybe this new development in her job would lead to some excitement.
    Natascha stepped out into her living room, and from downstairs, she heard a scream. It wasn't like someone just watching a horror movie too loudly, but rather like they had just discovered
    a particularly hairy, nasty spider. She decided not to pay it any mind, the neighbors downstairs had always been loud and obnoxious. As the hours ticked by, a knock came at her door.
    She frowned. No one here would call on her at this hour. "Who is it?" she asked, tightening the tie on her robe.
    "Miss Irving?" She heard the landlord's voice from the other side. She opened the door.
    "Mr. Krauser! Is everything all right?" she asked. She couldn't ignore the way the landlords eyes looked curiously at the exposed part of her chest.
    "Well... I was hoping you could tell me. Your neighbors downstairs haven't been answering the phone or anything like that for several hours now, and no one has seen them leave.
    Have you noticed anything strange?" he asked.
    "Well, I heard someone scream a while ago, but it sounded like a trivial thing, like the wife had found a spider. It didn't last long, nor was there any sound of struggle." she said.
    "I understand. Miss Irving, could you possibly come downstaris with me and help me investigate. As the property owner, it is my duty to ensure the safety of my tennants."
    Natascha raised her eyebrows. Mr. Krauser had never cared before, he'd always just jacked up the rent on those who caused problems for him. But then, she remembered that he was having
    an affair with the woman downstairs, she'd seen him going to her room many times late at night.
    "Sure, just let me get dressed. Wait out here." Natascha slammed the door in his face and hurried to put on some decent clothes that kept all parts of her covered. She met back
    up with him outside. "Let's go." she said. She followed Mr. Krauser downstairs to the room where she'd heard the scream, and he unlocked the door. When the door swung open, Natascha
    smelled the same smell that was in the church earlier this morning. She gagged.
    "OH MY GOD!" Mr. Krauser screamed from the front room. Natascha knew that it had happened again.