CONNECT: Rise Of The Undead King

The boys finally stopped after getting out of the junk filled street onto the main road, they finally had a breathing room as they bent down, panting.

"I can't believe it."

"That creepy bastard, so he had a missing eye."

"He looks dreadful without the eye patch."

"I'm a bit worried for him, he's missing an eye and now, his ear is also missing."

As the boys were discussing their experience with the creepy guy, they failed to noticed two large men who walk past them and stopped when they overhead their discussion.

"Cmon, he's not the only one with an eye patch, let's not waste time."

---

With his mood contaminated by the boys, Uche slowly walk back to the workshop, meet up with his boss and begin work for the day after his boss confirmed that he had no injury.

His work here is just like what he had been doing in the past, scraping metals, cutting metals, melting and shaping metals, that's the field he had found himself in anywhere he works, more reason is that this work get the least attention, and there are always a few workers, five the highest, with most of them old.

And as someone who tried to stay away from the crowd and live a lonely, but peaceful life, he prefer doing this work.

He left the workshop in the evening after the work for the day had been done, he collected his own share of money and left. He wandered the junk-filled street for a while, exploring the streets thoroughly. He sometimes do this to get stupid thoughts off his mind, and he knew upon getting home now, he'll have nothing to do but to entertain his worries.

So exploring the junk-filled street had become his hobby from the very first day he started working here, but today, another thought popped up in his mind as he walk on the street.

With the street designed like a labyrinth, he imagined the organ trafficking gangs chasing him into this area, the outskirt of the city, a smile appeared on his face as he had those thoughts.

As someone who had taking exploring the outskirt as his hobby, he knew every ins and outs of all the street here, he knew a dangerous street and a safe one, he knew every shortcut to the main road and every other places.

His smile widened as his mind reeled back to everything he had discovered during his days of exploring the street.

Lost in his thought, he suddenly found himself in a street he hadn't been to before, the street was full with people walking on the junk-filled road, and there are people selling stuffs on the side of the road. The street was bustling with lives, happy and cheerful.

He saw several children running around, playing and having fun, the street look rather peaceful. He had always wondered why most of the street in the outskirt are silent, devoid of sound, almost as if no living things reside there, but seeing this now, he thought if the people are secretly developing this place for themselves.

As he was walking around, taking in the peaceful atmosphere of the street, a strange sound suddenly reached his ear, curious, he followed the sound and found himself walking through the alley of two buildings. Then right in front of him, he saw about seven to eight people, gathered in front of a middle-aged man, who sat on the floor with a guitar in his hand, playing it as a sweet melody left his mouth.

Enthralled by the man's song, Uche approached him, listen to the song with the crowd, and asked when the man finally stopped singing.

"Sir, can I ask where you get that sound?"

The man spare him a glance, before answering with a smile.

"This sound is actually going viral in the city these days, people are really using it."

"Oh really, never knew that."

Uche said in surprise.

"Why would you know about that, you live in the outskirt, so how will you know about what's going on in the city, unless someone like me come with information, of course."

The man said, proud.

"But the artist of this sound is actually dumb, Lonely Guitar Man or what does he call himself."

The man declared, a bit distasteful.

'Ouch, that hurts.'

Uche thought.

"Why so, why do you say he's dumb."

"The Rave label are trying to collaborate with him, but he turned them down saying they can do a remix of the sound if they want. Really, isn't that dumb, a nameless and upcoming artist like him turning down the popular Rave."

The man replied.

Uche smile.

"Maybe he's trying to keep his identity a secret, who knows, but I'm sure he has his own reason. Can you play me the sound again?"

Uche said, with a smile.

Of course, the sound belongs to him, he's the one who sang the song and had turned the Rave lable down, on a collaboration.

He's the Lonely Guitar Man.

---

After listening to the man again, he left the outskirt and get home late, took a shower, prepare a late meal and got onto his bed.

But just as he was about to close his eye, free of worries. A sudden sharp pain pierce his eye socket, with the sickening burning sensation, a couple seconds later, it was replaced by a distant vision.

---

In a large spacious room, filled with all kinds of different luxuries and different artworks hung all over the wall. A young man could be seen in the corner of the room, sitting on a sleek metal chair with a round table in front of him. A lamp stood above him, lightning the corner as he was busy doing what he loves to do.

A journal lie on the table and a pencil held in the young man's hand dances away as the man sketches on the book. His phone could also be seen on the table, playing series of songs to steer things up for the man.

The young man, red spiky hair, a well chiseled face with a pointed nose and sharp tiny eyes. He was completing the drawing of an old man, hung on a mangrove tree, with a tattered bloody dress, and just besides the drawing stood another illustration.

The drawing are almost the same, but the other is just a simple sketch, without any paint or color.

The man completed the drawing, then closed the book, smile as he sips the coffee that stood in front of him, then he opened the book again, now from the first page.

But just as the man opened the first page, which a clear drawing of the letter P and L crossing each other could be seen, almost like a one sided hammer crossing over a spanner. The man suddenly place his hand on his left eye as a sudden pain hits him.

The pain hits him immediately the song that was playing before changed, now playing a popular song by The Lonely Guitar Man. Its almost as if a naked flame was burning in the depth of his eye, a couple seconds later, the pain resided, not entirely gone though, but it's not as excruciating as before.

"I need to get an eye drop."

The young man said, as he started opening the pages of the book, going through his great artwork.

Unbeknownst to him, someone else was going through it with him.

---

Uche watch as a human hand flip through the pages of a book, full of all kinds of artwork, his mind race as he recognize a couple drawings from the book.

The drawing of the hammer crossing over a spanner, he had seen it before, as well as a pen illustration of a middle-aged woman with a bouquet of roses held under her arm, he had also seen that before.

He watch carefully, as the pages of the book flip through.

The vision lasted for a couple minutes, with the person doing some strange stuffs that Uche failed to understand. He grabbed his chest, holding it tightly in the fear of his heart flying out with the rate that it races.

Sweat rolling down his head, as he stare blankly into the air.

"That person.....is the Corpse Art Killer."

Uche muttered, pointing into the air as if he was pointing at the person, he palm sweaty.

"That pencil illustration..... it's clearly the dead woman's statue, and that symbol....it was seen on her. Wait, was my eye transported to a killer?"

His heart race again, with several question popping up his mind.

He had seen different drawings in the book before that of the woman who had been recently killed, and many more after that of the woman.

This simply means, the person had been killing people from the past, but no one notice it, until he show it to the world with his great work of art. And there are still countless people inthe book that the person would eliminate.

But the question is, why is the person doing this, why is he or her killing random people, Uche couldn't spot any public figure in the drawing. He even see several drawings of kids, and the next two victim drawing in the book.... the next two kills will be an old man and three different basic school children.

"Ah, who's this psycho."

Uche had his head within his knees as the frustration was getting the better of him, the killing does not really bother him though, but why was his eyes transplanted to this person, why must he be the one to see the killer next move before it happens.

Why?

Uche wanted nothing now but to hug his pillow and scream into it. He already had a lot problem in his pocket, why did he had to deal with a killer, why did this person have to get his eye.

He knew the only way out is to get his eye back, unless he wanted to be seeing gruesome sight of the killer taking his victim lives.

Uche is not ready to be traumatize with that.

He curled into his bedsheet and closed his eyes, falling asleep in the process.

---

The headquarters of the Lagos State cops was in a strange situation, officers are moving around, feeding information through the office as they move about in haste.

Two men in black overcoat sat opposite each other in a dimly lit, and small room. One of them had his leg on the table fiddling his finger about, as he stare at his companion with a clear frustrated expression. His companion on the other hand, had blood dripping from his nose, he slowly clean it off with a paper tissue and throw it into the waste bin.

After dumping the bloody tissue paper in the bin, the two men continue staring at each other without saying a word, they have been staring at each other from the beginning, and the staring battle dragged for several minutes with tension rising between the two.

The man with his leg on the table is a bit younger than the other, and on his chest, his name could be seen clearly written, Inspector Ray. While the older man had Sergeant Kim written on his chest, but regardless, they both have three star at the side of the coat.

The staring continue for several minutes, and eventually, Inspector Ray couldn't take it anymore, he brought his leg down, stomped his foot on the floor, get up his chair and said in a frustrated tone.

"Why do I have to work with this old fool of all people, why?"

He shouted, holding his head in anger.

"Bastard, you should at least show some respect, even if we are at the same rank, I'm way other than you, respect your elders."

The man with blood coming out of his nose said, in a more sarcastical tone, trying to ease the tension, but he had always failed in that aspect.

Inspector Ray walk up to him, move his face closer to him with his fist dancing behind him, and for a moment, it looks as if he was about to punch the old man in the face, but the old man was calm, meeting the aggressive man gaze with his calm expression.

"This is all your fault in the first place, if you haven't failed your job back then, this would've been done for, and forgotten."

Sergeant Kim said, making the inspector grabbed him on his collar, but released him a second later, realizing that he's acting out of place.

"You're right, perhaps if I had made a proper investigation back then, you would've caught him and this will not arise again."

Inspector Ray said, adjusting his coat as he sat down.

"Now that we have been paired together again, let's catch him."

After the result of the autopsy had been released by the forensic, they had discovered the cause of death, and not just that but the manner the woman was killed, although, not the statue's part, but the cause of her death, they have seen it before, not just once or twice, but countless times.

It was a major issue back then, a serial killing and Inspector Ray and Sergeant Kim had been in charge of the case at that time, but the culprit was never caught, not even their identity was revealed. And funniest part is that the killer just kill random people, there's no major pattern in the act, just random people from different place, it could be a man, woman or a kid, an influential person or someone from the outskirt.

The pattern of killing is always random and that makes it impossible for the cops to predict the killer's next move, and failed to catch him.

But what made them know that it was a serial killer is the symbol that he always leaves on the victim's body after killing them, he always draw a strange tattoo on them, a one sided hammer crossing a spanner, while a large human skull is always in the middle.

The killer always leaves this symbol on their victim, although, the symbol left on the woman's statue does not have the human skull that the previous victims always had, but after an autopsy, it was confirmed that it's the same person.

The killing had stopped back then, nobody know why the person had stopped killing people and the government thought maybe something happen to the person, and it was revealed to the public that he had been caught by the cops, until the person decided to show up again, now even making a public non verbal announcement, by displaying the corpse in front of a theater, like an exhibition show.

And the two people who had been in charge of the case back then were called back in, to complete their unfinished job.

It was this particular case that brought the hostility between the two.