The Archives

By: Apeman (zeni316@yahoo.com)

Case File#5: Tomorrow’s People

            “Officer down!”

            The SWAT team had just entered the war zone that was a school.  There was a report of a school shooting in the local high school, and most of the police department checked in to help out.  Kohta and I were some of the last to arrive; we were still investigating the hanging of the other night.  The situation at the school was, for the most part, under control, but then the shots were fired.

            “Christ!”

            “Lieutenant!” I cried, falling behind a squad car.

            “I’m all right,” Jiro replied, grasping his left shoulder.  “Where the hell did that come from?”

            I slowly raised my head above the hood of the car and looked toward the school.  All of the windows were closed, and from what I know, they’re bullet- proof.

            A sniper?

            “Officer down!”

            I looked to my left and saw Captain Yukihiro of the 3rd precinct go down.  Lieutenant Tetsu was already there to help.  I could hear him yell for a medic, and I looked at Yukihiro’s wounded left shoulder.

            “A sniper,” I whispered, as I grabbed Kohta’s shoulder.  “Both the Lieutenant and the Captain had their backs to the squad cars.” I pointed to my right, and Kohta looked and noticed the abandoned apartment building.

            “That building,” Kohta whispered.

            I told him to gather some men and investigate the building.  Meanwhile, Lieutenant Aiji of the SWAT team was talking in a loudspeaker towards the school.

            “You’re completely surrounded,” he said.  “Come out with your hands up!”

            How original.

            Members of the SWAT team had already entered the building through a back entrance, and soon I could hear gunshots coming from within the complex.  I stared at the school and pulled my shades off.  The gunshots had stopped.

Moments later, Lieutenant Tetsu walked out of the building, carrying one of the shooters.  It was his son, Hyde.

            +++++

            One of the other members of the SWAT team told me what had happened.  He said that Hyde was crying to his father about tomorrow and how tomorrow would never bring happiness.  Tetsu tried to calm his son down, but Hyde wouldn’t listen.  He kept apologizing and crying about how the world will never change.  Then, he placed the barrel of his gun inside his mouth and fired.

            “He must’ve been a depressed kid,” the SWAT member said.

“Either that or he was too smart,” I sighed.  “Hh.  Today’s children are tomorrow’s face,” I mumbled, taking a sip of my coffee.

            Twenty-four people died today, nineteen of them students.

            +++++

            “Hh.”

            Inside the apartment building was another dead body, hanging from a noose.  A sniper rifle lay on the floor near a window.  There was a note attached to the body: “S_ri_e one”.

            “Strike one,” Kohta murmured.

            “Hh.” I crumpled my Styrofoam cup of coffee and threw it down. 

            Damn.

-Cont’d-