Memoirs of a Cadaver

This is completely the writing of my friend.

The coyote knelt next to the skeletal corpse of Kerrigan, poking what was left of the skunk with a pen. "Wow. Look at this poor b*****d..."

The rabbit nodded, rubbing his sore jaw; some psychopath had elbowed him in the face. "Yeah. I guess the rats ate well. Think that's what killed him?"

"Oh, most definitely." The coyote responded. "From the looks of things, this was a torture job. See that pile of bloody white junk over there?"

The rabbit followed the coyote's gaze, grimacing and looking away. "Bocce balls, what the hell is that stuff!?"

"Teeth and nails." The coyote stated. "This guy must've pissed somebody off." He paused, catching sight of something at the back of the skunk's skull. "Hey, you got that reader handy? I think he was one of those 'memory chip' tech-heads..."

"Yeah, I got it." The rabbit replied, pulling a small HMD from his pocket and hooking it to his earpiece. He slid the device on, fixing it over his left eye. "Toss me the chip."

The coyote pulled a latex glove over his paw, reaching into the eye socket and grabbing the chip from inside the skull. "Are you sure we should be doing this?" He asked, handing the chip to the rabbit. "I don't even think a warrant would be enough to justify watching some guy's entire life..."

The rabbit scoffed. "The guy's dead, Keti. This'll help us figure out who tortured him and left him for the rats."

Keti sighed, going back to examining the skunk's remains.

The rabbit removed a keyboard from the same pocket his HMD came from, hooking it to the device and tacking a few keys. "Filtered out sleeping, eating, travel from place to place... Oh... oh god..."

Keti looked up, noticing the horrified look on his partner's face. "What's wrong?"

"This guy..." The rabbit murmured. "He's a child molester and a murderer. We're... we're looking at the remains of Donald Kerrigan..."

Keti's eyes widened. "Donald Kerrigan? From Blackblood? Maybe we should let them know that we, uh... found him..."

"No!" The rabbit snapped. "We can't, not yet. Keti, get your HMD. Hook it up to mine, you're gonna wanna see this, too. It's starting."

Keti stood up, reaching into his pocket and removing his own HMD, fixing it over his right eye. He moved next to the rabbit, hooking their HMDs and earpieces together. "Holy hell."

"That's the guy that hit me this morning!" The rabbit growled. "B*****d, so that's where he was going in such a hurry..."

Keti held up a paw. "Shh. Listen. Seems like he knew one of Kerrigan's victims."

"Somebody named 'Kyra'." The rabbit said. "We'll need to figure out who he was if we're ever going to find out who our mysterious torturer is."

"Logan, are you seein' this?" Keti asked. "What's with the change of venue?"

Logan shrugged. "It couldn't be a skip. Not even a strong blow to the head could cause one of those, the closest you could come would be complete destruction of the chip..."

"Rewind it." Keti said. "I saw something strange. Watch our torturer's eyes before the change."

Logan nodded, tapping a button on the side of his HMD, then another.

Keti reached over, hitting another button on the side of Logan's HMD. "See, there! Look at his eyes."

"Whoa, that's... f*****g trippy." Logan murmured. "I can pick out at least eight different colors there."

"It might be some form of hypnosis." Keti said, scratching his chin. "But I've never seen anyone that could do it like that."

Logan shook his head. "It couldn't be hypnosis. Look, as soon as this guy's eyes start changing colors, it happens. There's no time for him to be hypnotized."

Keti nodded. "I guess you're right. Okay, play it back. I wanna see exactly what happened to this guy."

"... Why do we care, Keti?" Logan asked after a moment.

Keti blinked, shooting his partner a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"This is Donald Kerrigan we're talking about." Logan replied. "He raped and killed twenty kids, why do we care who brought this f****r what could only be called true justice?"

Keti shut his eyes, shaking his head. "I'm glad he killed the guy, but... Logan, murder is murder, regardless of the victim."

Logan turned away from his partner, watching the rest of the memory in silence, feeling more and more horrified and disgusted as time went on. When it finally ended, he removed the chip from his HMD and tucked it into his shirt pocket, the HMD itself returning to one of the pockets of his pants. He returned the keyboard to his pocket, as well. "Come on, Keti. If you're so set on arresting this guy, we have to find out who he is."

"No."

Keti and Logan turned in unison, staring at the young man before them. He was a bobcat, tall and lean, dressed in a silk shirt and a pair of black jeans. A pair of rose-colored sunglasses shielded his moonstone eyes from the setting sun. His long, strawberry-blonde hair flowed freely down his back, reaching the base of his short tail. A katana sat in a sheath across his back, a revolver tucked into a holster at his hip. "R-Runner Rodéo...?" Keti asked.

"The man you saw in that memory does not exist." Rodéo stated. "He is a Ghost."

Logan's breath caught in his throat. "A Ghost?" He choked out.

Rodéo nodded. "A Ghost." He repeated. "He and his group were hired by the Blackblood warden - myself - to capture or kill fourteen of the worst criminals in the omniverse. Donald Kerrigan was the first. If either of you attempt to track him down or apprehend him, I will come down on you with the full weight of my authority. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir." Keti replied.

Logan nodded mutely.

"Good." Rodéo said. "I trust you know what to do with that memory chip?"

Logan removed the chip from his pocket, holding it out. After a few seconds, he clenched his fist, crushing the chip into dust.

Rodéo turned, striding down the street. "I'm glad we understand each other." He tossed over his shoulder.