In a vain effort to distract myself from the utter failure of a date, I returned to the hub to begin my investigation into the strange disappearances on campus. I'd have to wait until the morning to visit the crime scene, as I had no hope of sneaking in while it was crawling with Garda forensics. As I emerged from the lift into the hub, I tossed my overcoat to the left. I missed my initial target of a nearby chair, and the coat flopped messily onto the floor but I couldn't muster the energy to retrieve it. Instead I took the central seat in front of the main terminal and got to work pulling up the evenings CCTV.
This victim was an Asian male, believed to be a foreign exchange student but it was too early for a formal identification. I poured over the security footage around the timestamp of the reported disappearance. This particular stretch of path was not well travelled, so it took little time to locate the person of interest. He entered the frame from the left, walking at a leisurely pace and appeared to be listening to his headphones. So he wasn't in distress, or being pursued, as far as I could tell. Just as he reached the other edge of the frame, I saw a blur of movement behind him. A few flicks of the mouse rewound the footage, zooming in on this activity. I stepped through, frame by frame, trying to see the source of the motion. The footage was grainy, monochrome and recorded at a low framerate. It was difficult to discern the source of the activity from the background.
Eventually, I found one decent frame. Details were still unclear, but it appeared to be a humanoid torso. At the waistline, a number of trailing stands spilled out behind it, like entrails. It moved by swinging between lampposts with its strong arms. It's face, though blurry, appeared expressionless, with dead black eyes and a hollow, empty mouth. It appeared to have horns of some kind, emerging from the sides of its head and meeting atop it, forming a kind of crown. It wasn't like anything I was familiar with, and the footage didn't leave me with much in the way of clues. I set the Hub computer to run a search of the Torchwood databases, hoping it would turn up something, but given the broadness of my parameters, I doubted it would be useful.
I stood up from my chair, and surveyed the wide, empty, expanse of the Hub before me. I thought again of my insistence that my friends remain unaware of my true nature. If I just told them, they could be by my side, working together and sharing the burdens of responsibility. But it would open them up to risk. I couldn't let any of them die. Not again. Better I take all the risk upon myself, I thought. I had nothing to do until the computer had finished its search, so my mind was free to wander. I thought back on my date with Susan, on my pathetic lie, how my double life may have destroyed whatever we might have had. But it wasn't over yet, I reminded myself. I would talk with her tomorrow, explain myself. But could I tell her the truth?
I woke the following day with a headache and a stiff neck. I found myself slumped in one of the Hub chairs, half reclining and at an uncomfortable angle. I must have crashed with tiredness whilst fretting over Susan. I heaved myself from my makeshift bed, groaning as I stretched away my stiff joints. With a stifled yawn, I turned to see if the computer had finished it's sweep of he database. As I'd expected, no conclusive match could be found. Still, no matter. I figured it was time to investigate the site of the abductions myself. Hopefully that would turn up some new leads. I picked up my phone from the desk, waking the screen to check the hour of the day. 11:30! It was almost the afternoon already, I'd been asleep far longer than I'd thought. But that wasn't the worst news my phone relayed to me. There was a missed call. From Susan.
Any number of scenarios rushed through my mind, ranging from bitter breakup to tearful reunion. Trembling, I dialed my voicemail to hear her message to me. My heart skipped as I heard her voice. She sounded concerned.
"Hi Arven. Obviously you're busy at the moment, so I'll be in touch later OK? It's just, we should talk. About last night... Maybe I overreacted, but you shouldn't have lied. Look, it's difficult to explain, but you've been acting weird recently. Ever since you finally drummed up the courage to ask me out, in fact. I don't know if you're going through some personal issues, or whether you're just happy with us, but it's clear you're hiding something. Something is eating away at you. I just want you to be honest with me, OK? Hope you're alright. Talk soon."
With that, she finished speaking, but the voicemail hadn't finished yet. Perhaps she forgot to end the call? As I was about the end it myself, I heard a clattering noise followed by a static crackle, as if her phone had been dropped. There was the beginning of a scream, followed by a mechanical clunking and another burst of static. The message ended. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I tried ringing her back, but she didn't answer. At least the call rang out though, so her phone was still switched on. I rushed back to the terminal and ran a GPS trace for her phone using the Torchwood systems. I cross referenced this with a map of Cork, and sure enough, her last location was on Campus, outside the Centre of Infectious Diseases & Organic Investigation. The same building where two others had vanished days before.
Once again, I pulled up security footage,hoping to find some clues as to Susan's attacker. I saw her pacing while she dictated the message I had just heard. She moved the phone from her ear, about to end the call, when the same torso-figure as before lunged downward from the lamppost above her. Sue dropped her phone as the creature clung to her back. They tussled for a few moments until it touched it's arm against her neck and discharged some kind of electrical impulse, like a taser. Susan collapsed instantly, and the creature dragged her body out of shot of the cameras. As the footage ended, I was already in the lift, racing to the spot where she had been attacked.
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