Puppet

CHAPTR 2:


(Year 7045. 18 years later)

Blue, sweaty eyes shot open. As they carefully glanced around, the full head image of an attractive, young man came into view. Groaning irritatingly, the young man wiped his sweaty brow before coming to a sitting position. He moved his blue sleeping sheet off of his bare chest, which was also covered in sweat. Groaning again, the young man slowly shook his head.

“Damn flashbacks,” his voice was sweet sounding, yet sad at the same time. Turning to his robotic alarm clock, the man glared at it, “Four minutes off. At least I’m not late this time.” With that said the man hopped off of his bed and began to dress for work.

After a hot shower, the man pulled on a sharp black uniform: badge, shoes, and hat were all included. After pulling the hat on over his black set of hair, the man set his badge over his heart. It read “Kiyoshi.” Grabbing the remaining necessary items of his, Kiyoshi grabbed a weird set of keys and ran out the door.

Not wishing to wait for the slow elevator, Kiyoshi sped down the steel stairs before rushing out into the world. The city was spectacular. Automobiles were now driven off gas and by electricity, flowing swiftly across the air above walking citizens. The lights of the city varied from so many colors, and machinery was seen being used on every corner. Kiyoshi enjoyed living in the big city, but his work was too important to worry about sightseeing. Running towards the back of his house, Kiyoshi came to stop in front of a skinny sort of vehicle. It almost resembled a motorcycle, only without the wheels, and it was a tad skinnier then a motorcycle. It was painted white, with a weird triangular shaped symbol, also seen sewn on Kiyoshi’s uniform. At ready, Kiyoshi stepped over the futuristic vehicle and took hold of the handles. In between the handles, there on the vehicle was a tiny hole. Taking his weird keys, Kiyoshi stuck them inside the vehicle and it began to come alive. Lighting up, the vehicle suddenly began to float up into the air. Kiyoshi stuck his heels back over the pedal in back and began to zoom off. He was able to go swiftly, for in this future, there was no traffic. Everybody flew how they wanted. Taking his vehicle high into the air, Kiyoshi sped off for work.

It was labeled as OOP (Officers on Patrol.) An area ran by the federal officers of the future. They were sort of like police officers of the past, only much more skilled. In the future, things are more dangerous. Though wars between race, countries, etc, have ended years ago, a new war is run by two types, the mortals and the immortals. And yes, crime still runs a mock everywhere. The OOP deals with much bloodier, scarier situations then the people of the past could, perhaps, never understand. Well, according to the people of the future, they couldn’t.

“Let’s go people,” cried an older aged man, “We’ve got millions of calls coming in. Let’s not disappoint!” Everyone nodded with the man as they took calls, ran papers, and did more crazy things. As they worked hard, the door opened, and everyone groaned at Kiyoshi, “Kiyoshi,” the man yelled, “You were nearly late, again!”

“I know Sir Wakehiko,” Kiyoshi removed his jacket and hung it up, “I’m sorry. My robot alarm is one of those cheap, dawdling ones.”

“I don’t care what type of shitty alarm you’ve got,” Officer Wakehiko sighed, “Just please, get here on time! Akina has some new reports for you to investigate. Talk with her first.” Kiyoshi nodded his head.

Sighing, Kiyoshi began to head over to a pink haired lady. She was very attractive. Her pink hair was in a long pony-tail dangling off the left side of her head. She had sparkling light blue eyes, peach skin, and a straight, button-like nose. She was rambling over a speaker as Kiyoshi walked up to her.

“I understand,” Akina spoke into the speaker, “We’ll get right on it. Please, just stay calm. I’ll send somebody over immediately.” Akina rolled her eyes up at Kiyoshi, who gave off a returned giggle. The office was a massacre that day. Saturdays, though, did seem to be the worst. Akina hung up the phone then, looking as if she wanted to pull her hair out, “God, this day has been hell,” Akina gave Kiyoshi a blushing smile, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Kiyoshi gave Akina a greeting smile in return, “Sir Wakehiko asked for me to come to you for some work.” Akina nodded, filing through some papers.

“I have lots of cases,” Akina smiled widely at Kiyoshi, “Oh I forgot. You should be happy to know that you have a partner now.”

“What?” Kiyoshi was stunned. He’s always worked alone. Of course, the cases he had to do weren’t nearly as exciting or thrilling as he had hoped. Officer Wakehiko thought it best for Kiyoshi, since Kiyoshi is the youngest to ever become an OOPI officer.

“Hey, it wasn’t my decision,” Akina gave Kiyoshi a wink, “Perhaps you should discuss the matter with him?” Kiyoshi grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well then perhaps I will,” Kiyoshi nodded, “Sir Wakehiko has the right to know how I feel.”

“Oh I do, do I?” Kiyoshi nearly fell over at the sudden appearance of Officer Wakehiko, who stood right behind him. Akina covered her mouth as she gave off silent giggles.

“Sir,” Kiyoshi turned to his boss, “Is it true that I’m being assigned a partner?” Officer Wakehiko nodded at the disappointed Kiyoshi.

“It’s true, son,” Officer Wakehiko said, “Hey Topper, come on over here!” Kiyoshi gave off a low, agitated groan as a skimpy looking officer made his way over.

“Not Topper…” Kiyoshi hissed under his mouth, ready to pounce on Officer Wakehiko for assigning him Topper as his partner.

“Hey Kiyoshi,” Topper greeted; his entire body seemed hyper. He looked as if he drank too much coffee that morning, “Great that we’ll be partners, ha? We’ll do such fun cases together.”

“Yeah,” Kiyoshi tried to sound excited, “It’ll be…super.”

“Alright then,” Officer Wakehiko shook both Kiyoshi and Topper’s hands, “Good luck you two. Why don’t you start off with case #12? A woman only a few moments drive from here is having issues with her husband.”

“Great,” Kiyoshi mumbled. “Another stupid fight case.” Kiyoshi headed over to grab his jacket as Akina waved Topper and him off.

“Good luck, Kiyoshi!” Kiyoshi waved back, but the expression on his face was only known through Akina’s eyes. Kiyoshi was pissed.

As the elderly woman went on with complaints about her husband, Kiyoshi only hoped that he wouldn’t yawn out loud. Topper, on the other hand, seemed to be writing down every word the woman said. Kiyoshi had no clue why Topper would do such a thing.

“Alright,” Topper began, “So is he home right now?”

“No,” the woman sighed, “He hasn’t been home since last night! He’s probably drunk in a dump somewhere, right now.” Topper nodded his head.

“So…” Kiyoshi grumbled, “Why did you call us over here?”

“Because,” the woman seemed to be growing impatient, but so was Kiyoshi, “I need you to find him! Make sure he’s still alive somewhere. I know we don’t get along well with one another, but I still worry about him. Can’t I do that?”

“Of course, Ma’am,” Topper smiled, “We’ll keep an eye out for him.”

“Thank you, dear,” the woman gave Topper a happy handshake; she gave Kiyoshi an unsatisfying glare, “Good to see some of you officers have some decency.”

“Kiyoshi,” Topper whispered as the two men headed back for their officer vehicles, “Why be so rude? The woman is only worried about her husband, that’s all.”

“Sorry,” Kiyoshi spoke, “I just am a tad upset, right now. I mean, why can’t I ever be given a difficult case, you know?”

“Kiyoshi,” Topper sighed, “The major cases are for the more skilled officers, such as Sir Wakehiko. I don’t think we could handle one. We’re not upper-class.”

“Still,” Kiyoshi looked up towards the sky. Many vehicles were flying by, “I just want a little bit of action. Since Sir Wakehiko took me in, he’s never, once, let me do anything exciting.” Kiyoshi nearly fell over after Topper gave him a hard pat on the back.

“Don’t worry, Kiyoshi,” Topper gleamed, “Someday you’ll be right up there with the rest of them. But for now, can we just please finish with the cases we have?” Kiyoshi still felt depressed, but Topper was correct. Someday, sometime, Kiyoshi would be at the top. He couldn’t wait for that day.

As soon as the day was over, the office at OOP had quieted down. Kiyoshi did not work nights, but nighttime was the time for excitement. Looking around the room, Kiyoshi noticed Officer Wakehiko speaking with a more elite officer, Officer Talakani about a case they had just been given. Kiyoshi decided to eavesdrop on their case conversation.

“…heard around three to four bodies,” Kiyoshi heard Officer Talakani finish saying.

“Dear God,” Officer Wakehiko said, his whole body tensed up, “All found torn to shreds?”

“Yes,” Officer Talakani continued, “But that wasn’t the worst part.”

“What’s the worst part?” Officer Wakehiko was not positive if he wanted to know, but he’s been an officer for almost forty years. He was sure he could handle it.

“Well,” Officer Talakani nervously spat, “Of the bodies found, most of their insides were missing: hearts, lungs, livers, intestines, you name it. Basically the only part not taken was their brains.” Officer Wakehiko lowered his head. Kiyoshi got closer, finding the case to be interesting.

“Hmm,” Officer Wakehiko let out a soft grunt, “what sickening creature would do such a thing?”

“Well,” Officer Talakani’s voice lowered to a very soft whisper, and Kiyoshi could no longer hear, “We’re thinking it might’ve been a…a…” Officer Wakehiko awaited Officer Talakani to finish, “An immortal, sir.”

“Most likely,” Officer Wakehiko hissed, “Those bastards. Ever since they became a part of our planet, they’ve been ruling us all. Damned beasts!”

Kiyoshi listened carefully to the remainder of the conversation. He learned of where the killings were taken place and that Officer Talakani would take two other officers to check it out. Kiyoshi, being the immature man he was, thought this to be the best opportunity for him. With his uniform kept on, Kiyoshi quietly snuck out before saying farewell to Officer Wakehiko, hoping the boss wouldn’t find out. Getting on top of his vehicle, Kiyoshi started it up and flew high into the sky. Heading closer to the case destination, Kiyoshi could only think of how this would, most definitely get him to the top of the charts.

*End of Chapter 2*