(Alan POV)
Woman killed and body assaulted in Virginia diner.
The headline was released this afternoon shortly after I woke up. It was around three in the afternoon and on a Morgantown Monday, that meant a majority of the population was at their classes. The West Virginia University population during the school year made up around a half of the town’s total population. This left Monday in May to be one of the emptiest days possible as students were fleeing the town for the summer and the remaining few were taking their exams.
Despite this, Walmart was still Walmart. A decent population always existed in the building meandering through the isles, loitering unprofessionally, or working to be a general nuisance or depressing reflection of society. My goal for coming was simple, self-defense. Walmart held one of the cheapest and most unrestricted stock of hunting rifles any man could acquire. On the same day, I could purchase a rifle, shoot deer, and have venison for dinner.
Another customer was speaking to an employee behind the counter, and as such I was waiting and reading. The single news article was bare minimum and had no photos. That wasn’t good enough for me. There are two ways to reliably find recent crime photos. The first way is by using databases which law enforcement uses to keep digital copies of evidence. To use it though, I needed a way in. I’ve found that companies log in enough times to use it pretty reliably. The issue comes with whether my photo has been updated yet. A search for the Appomattox police department didn’t show any recent uploads related to this crime. It would likely appear in the upcoming days.
The second method is never guaranteed, but can be ahead of the curve for uploading certain events. The dark web had plenty of gore-addicted violent fetishists who would pay top dollar to get crime scene photos for particularly sexy crimes. I quickly found my usual preferred hosts and quickly found what I was hoping for. The photo wasn’t even behind a paywall anymore with how fast a listing was made for it and subsequently purchased for $400.
An older woman in her 60s had a shocked expression stuck on her grey face. Her neck had a large gash going through it that resembled a mountain lion attack. Her shirt was cut open and one of her breasts exposed. The other had been cleanly removed posthumously leaving a large exposed wound. Her pants similarly had been cut and a large chuck of her inner thigh had been removed.
Normally, I’d need more evidence before making any claim. This was different though. I recognized the slash mark on the neck. It was identical with how the wound looked on Sofia’s side. Appomattox was also only thirty minutes from Lynchburg. Odds are that this was Vikky the quadrupedal bitch.
I received a text from Alice. She had taken the role of watching me pretty seriously. She felt the need to discuss everything I searched or anything I saw. She texted quite a lot for someone who refused to speak in person.
Alice: You think that’s Victoria?
I texted back.
Alan: Definitely. What do you know about her?
She texted back immediately. She didn’t even need to physically type her response. From within the internet, she could simply think and create it.
Alice: Not much. She appeared working for a rival in 2022. A year after I did. She’s always acted like that. Running on all fours and acting like a dog ૮₍｡•̀ ﻌ •́｡₎ა
Alice: She eats people too (·•᷄ࡇ•᷅ )
Looks like I would need to do the heavy work. The plan was simple. It was the same I always did. Find the evidence and find the patterns. People behaved predictably in the most erratic ways. You could predict how people would be deviant based on their childhoods and history. With a single crime scene, I can start finding a story and pattern. I knew Roxane’s childhood and now I have Vikky’s most recent crime. I could get to work.
Right now though, my immediate focus was self-defense. I wasn’t gonna be able to learn to fight with a knife or my fists anytime soon. I needed immediate protection. The best option was simple; A rifle. I looked forward to seeing the other customer paying now. I saw to my right now stood another person, a young man, likely college aged. He was waiting in line, but now seemed distracted by my phone. I looked down to see it was still showing the murdered older woman. I looked over to him.
“Can I help you with something?”
His eyes were a bit shocked as he looked up towards me. He tried to stutter a response, but simply failed to get it out. I pocketed my phone and maintained my stare on him. I wasn’t trying to be scary or anything. I’m sure I could explain it away as simply keeping up with recent news. It was only a couple hours away. Before I could say anything though, he took that moment to step away and shop somewhere else. I shrugged my shoulders and walked forward towards the counter. The old man behind it gave me a customer service counter before asking.
“How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for a Ruger Mini-14. Something to defend some property.”
The man nodded his head and began to explain pricing and ammo costs to me. I wasn’t rich, but I bought more than enough to defend in case of a siege.