HOMEOSTASIS

Chapter VIII

"Time is a valuable thing,
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings,
Watch it count down to the end of the day,
The clock ticks life away, it's so unreal."

⦻⦻⦻

It was scary how much Jack's mood changed once he had those boxes to himself. Still his usual quiet self, but at least he had a personality now. Asked questions. Answered them. Not all. But he answered.

"So, Montana, huh? Who are we going after?"

Toby pointed a hatchet at the sheets of paper on the floor. A photo of a young woman, maybe not older than 26. "Sh-She's a serial killer on the loose. The police are closer to find her, since she has a whole file on her p-person. History, crimes, dates, she's probably the only one amongst us whose identity or location isn't a s-secret, and the cops know how to find her."

"That's good, isn't it? I mean, when we catch her, she won't have a choice but to come with us. It's either that, or prison."

"Jane's right." Masky said, "But she can't be far from the borders, and that's a problem. She's most likely trying to leave the state, if she hasn't already."

"I got ahead on that." Chaser passed him a certain folder, "When I was with Jane, waiting for Jack to appear, we passed by a police station. One of their monitors showed a last-minute homicide in a town named Libby-"

"Libby?!" Jeff laughed, "That's beyond small! What is this? Is she trying to purposefully get caught?!"

"I hate to say it, but I agree Jeff." His brother sighed, "Libby is very small. Why would she strike there if she doesn't want to get caught?"

"I have a theory." Jack said, surprising them all with his sudden participation. Wow, kidneys do get him going, huh? "Look, when I do my killings, I barely do any preparation. I just do it because I'm hungry. Sometimes I don't even kill, I just steal the person's kidneys. The rest is up to their survival instincts, I guess... I think this girl might be a similar case. Maybe she strikes out of impulse. But she's clever enough to hide."

"Thing is, the cops probably think so too, and they're surrounding the area. Now what?"

"Wait, before all of that-" Masky interrupted, "Jeff, Liu, how the Hell do you two know about this town?"

"Yeah, ho-how do you know it's so small?"

The brain is a funny thing. It might not remember a certain date or a certain place, but if said date strikes, or said place is mentioned, it will automatically collect the forgotten memories. It's a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It's just too strange. It's been nine years since both Jeff and Liu moved to California with their parents. In hopes for a better life...

They should've stayed in Montana.

"We don't know the place very well, but we know it exists."

"Probably because we lived in a town nearby, before we moved."

"You WHAT?!" Masky yelled, "Why the fuck didn't you say that shit before, you imbeciles?!"

"Calm your tits, cowboy! We had no clue you were talking about Libby specifically."

Liu nudged his brother's side. "Stop screaming. You sound like a dying moose."