Dawn

Dawn broke over the hills. A thin mist clung to the supple green of the lawn, the slate stone of the path moist with dew.

Blood covered the ember patio. Days old, it had festered in the hot sun; it was clotted and thick, with flies swarming around the few pieces of flesh left. There were channels where the blood’s former owners had been dragged away; there, where it was not as deep, it had stained into a deep brown and crusted over.

The large black cars had parked haphazardly around the lawn; some, the first on the scene, had parked across the driveway in an effort to block in any possible escape. It was obvious now that there had been no need; the great building was as lifeless as the boulders artfully landscaped on the grass, which had begun a minor rebellion by allowing weeds to sprout.

Another black monolith rolled down the tarmac; a woman in a suit as dark as the metal of the small pistol she checked and holstered stepped out of the passenger door. A tall man flanked her from the other side, pulling his equally dark jacket closed as they powered down the path towards the men and women who were poring over everything, deathly silent as they photographed and documented.

“What in the Seven Hells happened here?” said the suit curtly towards the hunched figure.

“Damned if I know Agent Turner. Haven’t ever seen anything this bad outside of movies and my daughter’s videogames.”

He spoke without raising his head from the shell casings on the floor; having now marked them with a plastic marker, he stood straight and looked at the suit and his partner. He was an average man apart from his exceptionally green eyes, which were now leaden with worry and weariness; his hair was brown, almost blonde, and stress made the small lines dotted around his face deeper than normal.

“How bad is it, Mike?” asked Agent Coons, the female suit, now staring at the building as light began to grow.

Mike the forensics investigator stirred; he seemed ready to either throw up or run away.

“Terrible. A few of the greener kids puked and had to leave. We’re having to work with senior staff only right now, and that’s making it mighty difficult to get through the place. It’s huge Agent Berry; there are basements and sub-basements and tunnels and outhouses and even some honest to God caves up in the hills. We’ve called for as much backup as we can get, but it’s still early in the morning; it’ll take a while for them to get here. I suggest you guys tread really carefully; there’s evidence in there every place you step.”

The suits exchanged worried glances. “You get local law enforcement called?”

“First thing after I saw the size of the place. You don’t have enough agents to cover the area, and before long the vultures will be out,” replied Mike.

“The birds or the media?” asked Coons with forced humour.

“Both.” Mike’s voice was especially grave with that last word; the conversation was now truly finished. The suits looked at each other nervously again and walked towards the building.