Interactive: Pikesburg PD, ch. 1 (Patreon)

Greg hated the night shift in this part of town.  The hours spent driving down empty street after empty street felt like an eternity, lost in a labyrinth of streetlights and darkened buildings.  Even during the day it was an awful neighborhood, filled with abandoned factories and the ghosts of shuttered industry.  At one time it had been a booming seat of manufacturing and steady, blue collar labor, but the only industry that remained was the never ending hustle.  Drug deals, stolen cars, bootlegged goods, sex work; you name it, someone around here was selling it.  At least while the sun was up.  Most neighborhoods like this tended to get worse at night, but in South Pikesburg even the vermin stayed in after dark.  There weren’t bars or clubs or tourists here.  After midnight it was a ghost town.  

Most people wouldn’t complain about an easy shift, but Greg hadn’t joined the force to drive a car around deserted streets all night.  Unlike a lot of the other guys he worked with who were only in it for the pension, he actually believed in helping people.  At twenty six he was still fresh in his law enforcement career and the older, jaded guys all told him it was just his youth talking.  Give it enough time, they said, and he’d come to see things the same as them.  Their job wasn’t to help the good people, only to try and stop a few of the bad ones.  

Greg refused to believe it.  In just his few short years as a cop he’d already seen things he never would have imagined, cruelty laid bare and raw in the faces of countless victims.  Everything from homicides, suicides and drug overdoses, to petty thievery and simple assault - no matter how major or minor the crime, the thing they all had in common was man’s disregard for his fellow man.  Greg was well aware that most people would just as soon step over a bleeding victim as opposed to stopping to help, but he was determined not to lose his way.  They might not be able to help everyone, but they could help some and that would have to be enough.  

They called him naive, but he thought of it more as optimism.  He wasn’t unaware of how the world worked, he just chose not to let it get him down.  It was his nature.  Growing up he’d been a literal boy scout, the poster child for helping an old lady cross the street and eating his vegetables.  Teachers and coaches loved him for his helpfulness, and his happy-go-lucky personality coupled with his good looks and natural athleticism made him a hit with his fellow students.  It was easy for him to be so cheerful.  

He’d always stood out from the rest, and even as an adult his pale skin and auburn hair drew immediate attention whenever he walked in a room, attention that was then kept by the fit, athletic frame filling out his uniform.  Broad shoulders, big arms, and a tiny waist marked his torso, while a firm, perky bubble and sturdy legs filled out his lower half.  A dusting of auburn hair mingled with the freckles on his arms and legs, growing thicker across his toned pecs and running down his tight abs in a furry line.  

The weathered, older guys at the station constantly gave Greg a hard time for his boyish features.  His tiny nose, pouty lips, and smooth cheeks left him looking a very young twenty six, but he just grinned and took it.  It helped that he knew most of the ribbing stemmed from jealousy since his female coworkers certainly didn’t mind his appearance.  The well-built ginger never had a hard time when it came to getting laid, it just wasn’t something he often sought out.  He thought of himself as old fashioned, wanting to get to know a girl before jumping right into bed.  And despite his impressive physique, Greg was more than a little modest.  He’d played enough sports to know the rules of the locker room, but strutting around naked, even when it was just the guys, wasn’t something he enjoyed.  

No one had been surprised when they’d heard he was going to the academy, and no one was surprised that he was doing so well on the job.  Working as a cop combined his love for helping people, staying active and problem solving.  By all accounts he was a bright young man doing his best to make the world a better place.  

Sometimes, though, the world has plans of its own.  

“What the hell…” Greg slowed his cruiser as he passed the alley.  He thought he’d seen a small figure dart around the corner and into the darkness.  The flickering street lights made it hard to tell, but they’d looked child-sized.  Given the late hour and lack of anyone else on the street, that didn’t bode well.  He shined the car’s spotlight just in time to see the small figure rush deeper in.  “Shit…” he muttered, pulling the car to a stop and climbing out.  

He gave a quick look up and down the street to check for anyone who might be following, but it was deserted like all the rest.  His footfalls echoed off the crumbling warehouses as he approached the darkened alley, the oppressive silence making him nervous.  He thought back to his boy scout days camping in the woods, and how the forest would go silent whenever a predator was near.  It suddenly occurred to him just how little he actually knew about the neighborhood he patrolled.  He’d been given the assignment because he was the lowest ranking and that’s just how things worked in their precinct, but because nothing ever happened he’d never bothered to really get to know the place.  

Now, standing in front of a shrouded, yawning alley, he thought about all the things that could be scary enough to keep otherwise scary people indoors when it got dark.  

“Hey, it’s okay,” he called down the alley, trying to find the small figure with his flashlight.  “You’re not in any trouble...do you need help?  Are your parents around here somewhere?”  

The light finally landed on a small, shaking bundle of ragged clothes huddled in a corner at the far end.  He approached slowly, something about the bundle’s shape striking him as odd now that it wasn’t running.  There was a bare leg sticking out, but it was too developed to belong to a child.  The muscles were thick and striated, and as he drew closer, Greg saw that what initially looked like ragged clothes was actually a small blanket, and what he’d initially assumed was a child was actually a tiny, naked man.  

The man’s size and appearance caught Greg off guard.  He wasn’t disproportionate like a dwarf or underdeveloped like other little people, but had a perfectly proportional, surprisingly chiseled body.  He looked to be in his early twenties and had bowling ball shoulders, massive arms, tank-tread abs, and wide, meaty thighs with a comparatively hefty package dangling between them.  It was the physique of a professional bodybuilder, or at least it would have been had he been more than three feet tall.  Despite his lack of height he was still incredibly built, with a lantern-jawed, razor-cheeked face that was strikingly handsome.  Even Greg had to admit that the tiny young man was beautiful.  Coupled with his tanned skin, plump, full lips and thick, black hair there was no other word for it.  He was a model in miniature.  

And he looked terrified.  His bright blue eyes were wide with fear and his sculpted chest heaved with each frantic breath.  The small, bare feet showed signs of wear, making Greg wonder just how long the man had been running.  

“Sir, are you okay?”  Greg spoke softly as he knelt and gently reached out to place a hand on the small man’s back.  “How about I get you somewhere safe and we can talk?” 

The physical contact and the sight of a police uniform seemed to snap the other man out of his delirium.  He blinked rapidly at Greg, relief flashing briefly across his face before he looked down at himself and groaned.   “It...it did this...to me…” he stammered in a squeaky voice.  

“Who?”  Greg looked the other man over as much as he could without being too intrusive, not finding any signs of obvious trauma.  “What did they do to you?”  

“No!  Not they!  Some...thing!  It did this!  It’s still out here!”