Utopia's Graveyard

People... all gone, and no one knows where. Several people have lost their loved ones over the course of time, and not a single soul knows why.

Tora City is a wonderful city—almost utopia-like. Buildings reach the skies, roads support hovering cars, and everything is self-powered. If you can name it, it probably works by itself. People? Who needs them?

Well, let me tell you who needs them. Far to the east of Tora City is an abandoned building—or so people think. No one is allowed to enter that building, and if you're caught near it, you'll be taken in by the cops, who will exile you from the city as well as mark you in the system so that you can never come back.

The billboards tend to provide the daily news:

"There have been 10 more disappearances, and the culprit still hasn't been found."

The police department suggests that every citizen should be mindful of where they are at night. Most of these disappearances tend to happen during those dark hours. The news broadcast seemed to mention the same thing every day at this point. People can't just be disappearing for no reason—until one day, something changed.

The news broadcast had a new bit of information to include in their prompt:

"6 men and women found dead."

Tora City was known for being relatively safe. Death in the city was like a myth—unless it was from old age. Steven Smith, a freelance detective, had to find out about this, as the police were only accustomed to resolving minor crimes.

Steven found that all of the dead people had no correlation with each other—nothing while they were alive, and nothing about the locations related to each other at all. It was as if these people were killed for fun.

Over the course of days, the bodies piled up—dead people, alongside the disappearances. Steven, investigating them all, could not find a single lead. Even the way they were murdered varied. Whoever is killing these people either has multiple methods of murder or has multiple accomplices. Maybe the people aren't connected at all.

But what makes no sense is that Tora City has never dealt with this before, so multiple people joining in on this out of nowhere makes no sense—unless there's been a group forming over the years.

Steven looked at his board, just trying to come up with a conclusion.

"If there's a group that's killing people now, what if abducting them was their way of jumpstarting this? Maybe they started by hiding the bodies, and now they're trying to send a message. It's too late to be thinking about all of this right now. I need to take a walk."

Steven looked at his board until nightfall. He decided to take a late-night walk to clear his mind.

Steven walked past all the buildings, taking in the scenery. Tora City was especially bright during the nighttime, but just like any other place, it had its dark areas. Steven found himself in one of these dark areas, deciding to take a smoke break.

A shadowy figure wearing a torn jumpsuit approached him as if he were drunk.

As Steven tried to light his cigarette:

"I need another drink..."

Steven heard these worrisome words. As he turned toward the direction he heard them from, he saw the shadowy figure running toward him, ready to attack.

Steven couldn't react in time. The figure grabbed him from behind, choking him. Steven tried to utter words.

"Let... go... of... me," he said, struggling to breathe.

The figure said nothing while continuing to choke him. Steven elbowed the man behind him in the ribs, loosening the grip. As he escaped, he punched the figure. The figure grabbed Steven's fist.