The sun lowered on the horizon, and the single-story building in front of her blocked out most of the light. Miki saw in the dimness that the building looked unused, as there was no signage, and the exterior walls were not even finished. There were several structures like this one. They were all abandoned buildings that ranged from finished to mostly complete from decades ago. Very few windows were still intact, many with jagged glass shards clinging to the window frames. Tall grass and weeds grew right up to the walls of the place.

  Brad led them into the building through the back door, which hung open. He flicked on his heavy baton flashlight to scan down the dark hallway beyond. Rin switched on a flashlight, too, with Kojima and Miki right behind him. There was dirt, dried leaves, candy wrappers, torn plastic bags, and other garbage on the floor blown in from the outside, but it wasn’t thick enough to leave footprints. Some of the walls were unpainted, showing the bare drywall and plaster, with the odd bit of staining where rainwater seeped through the roof.

  The air smelled slightly musty. Miki wished she had brought a face mask along. They walked down the hallway through still, dark air. The place exuded the gloomy feeling of many years of stagnant decay. Brad led the way at a cautious pace toward the front of the building. He quickly swept his light through the rooms they passed. Miki used her cell phone’s light, and she also peered into the empty rooms. She was glad she saw only dust and the odd piece of spray-painted graffiti.

  “Will this do?” Brad asked Rin while standing in front of a doorway.

  Rin came forward with his flashlight.

  “Kill the light,” Brad warned, “you don’t want anyone to see us here through the windows.”

  “Right,” Rin replied. He stopped by Brad and looked into the long room beyond that ran along the front of the building. Some of the dusty windows were intact, but more than half were broken, with shards of glass littering the room’s floor. Stepping into the room, he could barely see the outlines of the other buildings across a wide plaza that would have been a park.

  “This will do. Kojima, let’s set up here.”

  Kojima entered the room and quickly found an open window with an unobstructed view across the plaza. He set up a sturdy tripod, mounted the thermal imaging camera on it, and turned it on. Next, a notebook computer came out of the pack. He began plugging in cables to it so Rin could see what he saw through the camera viewfinder. When everything was done, he began panning the camera around.

  Nothing but the grey outlines of a few shrubs and the buildings appeared, and then the brighter white thermal signatures of three human figures appeared. They were crouched down, rifles ready, looking away from the camera and covering the back of a building.

  “Those must be the soldiers,” Rin commented. “Looks like they’re covering the back of that building.”

  “If we’re lucky, maybe we can catch some action,” Kojima commented. He zoomed in to get a slightly larger image of the troops.

  “Wish we were just a little closer.” Rin scratched his chin, thinking.

  “Any closer, and we could get caught or shot by accident,” Kojima pointed out.

  “I suppose you’re right. Let’s keep watching.”

  The rest of the soldiers emerged from the building. They quickly regrouped and advanced as one fire team covered while the others approached the next building.

  “These guys look like real pros.” Kojima admired the ease with which they moved in formation. “It looks like they are all wearing night vision, too.”

  “They’re going to clear the next building. One team is going to cover the rear, and the others are getting ready to breach,” Rin said.

  “Can you tell if my mother is with them?” Miki crouched down next to Rin to watch the video.

  “Sorry,” Kojima replied. “That’s as close as I can zoom in. Even if we could get slightly closer, we probably couldn’t tell anyway. They all kind of look the same wearing helmets and body armour.”

  “I guess you’re right.” Disappointment was obvious in her voice.

  “You never know,” Rin consoled. “Something could still come up, and she could be revealed.”

  Miki silently nodded. They watched the soldiers enter the next building. Everyone stayed quiet, just waiting for the next thing to happen.

  A low thumping noise came from somewhere in the building behind them. It sounded like something fell.

  “What was …that?” Miki looked back towards the door. She noticed that Brad had also heard it. The big man looked down the hallway, shining his flashlight around. His free hand reached inside his jacket to draw his pistol.

  Rin noticed their activity by the door even though his attention was focused on the screen in front of him. “What’s going on?”

  “There was a noise. Like something fell inside the building.”

  “These are old buildings.” He looked up to see Brad checking out the hall. “Brad will take care of it.”

  “It might not be safe here.” Miki developed a twisty feeling in her stomach. Why did she come, she thought. She knew her mother would have scolded her for taking unnecessary chances, but this whole thing was about her mother.

  “I think you’re getting worked up for nothing. It’s probably just a cat or a stray dog. The soldiers think the creature is over there, not here,” Rin said.

  “I’ll check if Brad has seen anything.”

  “Sure,” Rin said. “Take my flashlight. It’ll be better than that phone of yours.”

  “Thanks.” Miki went over to Brad and peeked down the hall around him.

  “You heard it too?” Brad asked.

  “Yes. It sounded like something falling with a thud. Definitely not a cat like Rin said.”

  “Yeah. It kind of reminded me of a body hitting the ground.”

  Miki didn’t know what to make of that statement. Was it from his days as a policeman? She shone her flashlight down the hall in both directions to be sure.

  “Do you see anything?” She kept telling herself to be calm.

  “No, but I think I heard another scuff or something coming back from the way we came. The hallway branched there.”

  “Do you think it’s the kuchisake-onna?”

  “It would be bad if it were, but I’m going to check it out. Rin’s paying me double, so you stay here while I head down to take a look. It’s probably an animal or a vagrant.”

  Brad slowly advanced down the hallway. His flashlight crossed under the pistol so that it would shoot wherever the light pointed. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

  There was silence for an answer.

  Miki watched Brad reach the junction and shine his light down the direction he thought the sound came from. She saw him tense up and yell, “shit!” Two rapid shots rang out from the gun, sounding too loudly in the silence. The kuchisake-onna was fast. Miki saw a whitish figure appear suddenly and swipe a clawed hand into Brad’s forearm that ripped clothes and flesh. Brad screamed in pain as his pistol and flashlight sailed into the air. The pistol flew down the hallway and landed on the floor a few metres in front of Miki.

  Miki’s shaking flashlight illuminated the whole scene. The creature grabbed Brad by the throat with its other hand and lifted the big man off the floor. He beat his fists on its face to no effect, but he managed to pull his legs up and kick against it. The kick knocked the creature back, and Brad dropped to the floor. Profusely bleeding gouges were along the side of his neck from being clawed.

  “Get out!” Brad shouted to Miki. “Get away!”

  Miki watched Brad stagger up onto his feet just to be grabbed again by the creature. It stood as tall as Brad and looked like it wore whitish robes made of leather. Brad shouted and struggled against the great strength of the creature. Miki stared at the scene in shock, not knowing what to do. She then remembered the gun and ran forward to scoop it up and point it at the creature, even though she never fired a gun before. The kuchisake-onna sensed she had the gun and threw Brad into her. The big man’s impact knocked Miki over, and his weight crushed the wind out of her when they both hit the floor. Miki tasted blood from biting her cheek. She lost her grip on the pistol, and this time, she didn’t know where it went.

  Both Rin and Kojima were now staring in the doorway. Beams from two flashlights on the floor illuminated the hall in a random pattern. Kojima’s flashlight illuminated the kuchisake-onna leaping towards them. The image of its nearly featureless face with two black dots for eyes and an absurdly wide mouth filled with sharp little teeth burned into Miki’s brain. She let out a scream of horror, not realizing that Rin was also shrieking in terror. Kojima let out a yell to swing at it with a section of pipe he found. The creature dodged and sliced its clawed hand sideways at Kojima’s neck. Blood fountained out of Kojima’s neck as the sharp claws sliced deeply through it. Kojima staggered backwards with a shocked expression. The pipe and flashlight dropped from his hands as he slumped against a wall, trying to stem the flow of blood.

  Brad’s unconscious body lay on top of Miki. She tried to shove him off of her, but he was so heavy. “Help me!” Miki frantically called out to Rin, but he had already run back into the room towards an open window. Damn that coward, Miki thought; she should have known better than to rely on him. She squirmed harder to get free and managed to prop herself up on one arm to see the creature looking her in the face with those dead eyes. The wicked-looking mouth seemed to open in a vague smile as it asked in a low, raspy voice, “Am I beautiful?”

  “No! No, you’re not!” She shrieked in terror while she pulled one leg free. The creature began to bend down over her, and she realized she was going to die as her other leg was still pinned. Two bright red dots appeared on the creature’s head and chest, something that didn’t register in her panicked brain as unusual.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Miki, Lay down!” A voice yelled from behind her. “Lay flat!”

  That voice sounded familiar to Miki. It cut through her panic to some deep part of her brain. She dropped to her back before she realized who it was.

  The kuchisake-onna realized new foes had arrived as she dropped. It leapt forward in a low crouching bound instantaneously, covering several metres towards Yuriko and Travis at the other end of the hall. The two were ready for the charge and fired at the same time—short, controlled bursts hit the laser dots. The bullets struck high in the monster’s upper torso and head. The hallway lit up with brilliant flashes of automatic weapons fire and deafening sounds in a confined space. At least half a dozen rifle rounds hit the creature. Steel core rounds ripped through its shoulder and chest, and at least two hit its head. Black ichor-like blood sprayed from its body into the air, its whitish leathery skin no longer pristine. Obviously wounded, the creature shrieked and dodged sideways through a doorway deeper into the building before they could shoot again.

  “Mother! You’re here!”

  “Are you hurt?” Yuriko called to her daughter in a controlled voice tinged with a mother’s panic.

  “I think I’m okay.”

  “I’m glad. Stay put. We’re going after that thing.”

  Yuriko tried her radio. “Alpha Team. This is Yuriko. Travis and I have made contact with the kuchisake-onna. We’ve hit it and are in pursuit. Over.” She didn’t hear anything in response. “Alpha Team. Do you read?”

  Travis keyed his radio to no effect. “Radios are out, Yuri. We’ve been zapped.”

  “Damn. No backup.” Yuriko then noted that their laser sights were out. “Lasers are dead, too.”

  “What’s new, right?” Travis smiled sarcastically. “They don’t pay us enough for this job, but we get to hunt monsters.”

  “Best job ever.” Yuriko grimly smiled, too. “I’ve got point then. Let’s go.”

  After years of practice, the two worked smoothly together. Travis had a good field of vision over Yuriko’s head due to his height. The two went in a staggered formation through the hallway the creature had escaped down. The beams from their helmet and rifle lights threw circles of light down the hallway ahead of their advance. They quickly and accurately scanned each doorway and room along the hall.

  Yuriko saw droplets of blackish blood on the dusty floor in front of her and gave a hand signal to Travis about the next room ahead. Travis nodded and took up a position to cover the left side of the room while Yuriko would cover the right side. Making eye contact, they firmed up their grips on their rifles and readied for their simultaneous entry.

  The wall next to Travis burst apart before they could act. Pieces of plasterboard and gypsum dust filled the air. The kuchisake-onna broke through the wall with clawed hands out front. It grappled with Travis, who spun towards it. Travis’s rifle was pushed up, and a burst of rounds went into the unfinished ceiling, punching through the corrugated steel of the roof. Insulation knocked loose from the ceiling rained down on them. Travis released his hold on the rifle, letting its sling catch its fall, and grabbed the creature by the shoulders to throw it off him. He was only partially successful, and two of them stumbled around in a circle. The kuchisake-onna’s claws dug through the tough material of his uniform. It left deep slashes on his arms, but the claws that raked his chest just gouged the front armour plate of his body armour.

  Yuriko didn’t have a clean shot as the two struggled, with Travis’s back to her. Travis was a big man, equal in size to the creature, but even wounded, it was obviously stronger. Travis shirked back a bit to keep the kuchisake-onna’s mouth from biting off part of his face. That gave it enough room to shove him directly into Yuriko.

  The two stumbled backwards, giving the creature time to lunge at them again. Yuriko managed to backstep and use her shoulder to deflect most of Travis’s impact off to the side. Her partner lost his balance and fell hard to the floor. The creature was in mid-air when Yuriko brought her rifle down in time to squeeze the trigger.

  The rifle muzzle was in line with the kuchisake-onna’s face when the bullets left the barrel. Four rounds smashed into the creature’s head at point blank, blowing the back of its skull off. Black ichor spattered over Yuriko as the creature slammed into her. She fell back into the wall and tried to push the spasming and flailing creature off herself. Even in death, its jaws snapped open and shut. Its claws randomly raked both the air and Yuriko’s vest, tearing through the shoulder and ripping the blue top underneath. With both hands on her rifle, she finally heaved it backwards, where it twisted and flopped on the ground. Both Yuriko and Travis unloaded their rifles into it, only stopping to reload.

  “I think we got it,” Travis said. He was taking deep breaths from his exertion.

  “That thing was pretty tough.” Yuriko breathed heavily, too, and wiped some ichor off her face with her sleeve.

  The two kept a careful watch over its weakening twitches that finally stopped.

  “Okay, let’s get back to Miki now.” Yuriko shot the kuchisake-onna one more time as she walked by it, just to be sure.

  Miki trembled and made an effort to calm herself down. She forced herself to take deeper breaths and assessed her surroundings again. She crouched down next to Brad and was just glad he was unconscious and not dead but worried about his injuries. She shone her flashlight briefly at Kojima and looked away almost as quickly. The man was slumped against the hallway wall, his head down and his clothes soaked in his blood. Miki shuddered again from thoughts about the death and violence she just experienced. Her pulse quickened again when she heard crashing and automatic weapons fire from inside the building where her mother went. There was a long silence. Miki clutched her flashlight harder and hoped Mother was okay. Shortly afterwards, a flashlight beam shone from the direction her mother had gone.

  “Miki!” Yuriko called out. She entered the hallway to see her daughter.

  “Mom!” Miki said with relief and joy as she stood up. “Is the kuchisake-onna gone?”

  “It’s dead. I made sure.”

  The two met halfway in the hall and hugged each other tightly.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Yuriko said happily, “I don’t know what I would have done if you were hurt or worse.” She hugged her daughter even harder.

  Miki noticed her mother’s voice had a tremble to it, not her regular calm. “Thank you for saving me. I’m sorry I worried you.”

  Yuriko’s voice was sharp. “Yes, you worried me. If I had been a little later, it wouldn’t have ended well. I don’t know why you did this, but we will talk about this later.” She then briefly paused, her voice softening. “You wanted to know what I do, though, right?”

  “Y-yes.” Miki found it hard to meet her mother’s eyes as she talked and teared up. “I just wanted to know the truth. Rin was investigating you and found out you were an agent or something. I didn’t really believe all that supernatural stuff Rin was saying until now. I’m so sorry.”

  Yuriko gave her daughter another tight but gentle hug. She quietly said. “I can’t be upset with you. I hid the truth from you, so it’s my fault to start. You’re a strong-headed person, just like your mother. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you I still did dangerous work, but it's what I’m good at. I know how much it worried you when I was in the army, and we will talk about all this later. No more secrets.”

  They look into each other’s eyes. Miki rubbed away a tear and nodded. She then saw Travis with his arm covered in blood. “Your friend’s arm is bleeding!”

  Yuriko examined Travis. “Damn it! You should have said something.”

  “I thought I would let you do your reunion first,” Travis joked, “but yeah, I was going to bind it up.”

  “I’ll do it,” Yuriko replied. “You have some bad cuts here.” The tough fabric was shredded and soaked in blood from the slashes he had taken. “Let me bandage that up real quick.”

  She used her combat knife to cut enough material free so she could see the wounds. “You got some deep cuts right into the muscle, but mainly your left arm. It looks bad, but not that bad.”

  “It hurts like hell right now,” Travis wryly said, tapping the chest plate on his vest. “I’m just glad it couldn’t get through this.”

  “Yeah. Hold still for a moment.”

  Yuriko used some spray foam bandage to clot the blood and quickly bound the wound with a dressing from her first aid kit.

  “We’ll have to have a doctor take a look at that. I’m sure they’ll run a battery of tests on you like they did on Goro.”

  “Thanks, Yuri. You always tie a good bandage.” Travis winced as he moved his arm. “You hurt yourself?”

  “Just some bruises.”

  “You got off lucky.” Travis looked over to Kojima. “Oh, man. It looks like the cameraman bought it. Poor guy. But where’s Rin?”

  Miki sounded bitter. “He ran off when he saw the kuchisake-onna. Kojima tried to save us.”

  “That man has a lot to own up to right now,” Yuriko said.

  A male voice shouted out from the adjacent room where the camera gear was pointing outside. “Is that you, Yuriko!”

  “Major!” Yuriko was glad to hear his voice. “We’ve taken down the hostile. But we have civilian casualties. We need your medic and an ambulance.”

  “Roger, that. We lost contact with you on the radio and assumed the worst.” Major Fredericks and his detachment were inside the building, near where they entered through a window. Little red pinpoints danced on the walls where their laser sights were aimed. He then waved his medic up and headed towards the hallway.

  “Okay, the rest of you, spread out and sweep the building. Make sure that thing is dead and it has no friends.”

  “We caught a rabbit, Yuriko. The man was completely panicked and ran right into us.” Abraham pushed Rin up to the front. His clothes were dirty, and his shoulders slumped in dejection.

  “You!” Both Miki and Yuriko exclaimed at the same time.

  Rin recoiled back. “I—I’m so glad you’re safe!”

  Anger flashed in Yuriko’s eyes, and she stomped forward to grab the man by his lapels, pulling him forward with a powerful jerk. She had a smaller build than Rin, but she was well-muscled and conditioned from her regular training.

  “You could have killed my daughter for a story. I’m kind of angry with you right now, and I don’t get angry often.” She pulled Rin over to where he could see Kojima and the medic checking Brad. “This is your fault! Take a good look. Was it worth it?” She leaned in closer to his face and whispered. “You’re nothing but trouble. I should kill you right here and now. By involving my daughter, you made this personal.“

  Rin looked around wildly, not knowing what to do. He tried to pull away from Yuriko, who kept a firm grip on him. Yuriko looked at William. “I’m going to debrief this prisoner in private. I need to ensure we have an understanding.”

  Rin looked over to the major. Desperation was in his voice. “Wait—I won’t say anything about this. I can explain everything away. Don’t let her take me. She wants to kill me.”

  William took the cue from Yuriko. “I’ve heard about you. She’s IMA, and they have jurisdiction over this situation. I think the lady needs to have her private talk.”

  “Thank you, Major.” Yuriko twisted Rin’s arm hard behind his back, eliciting a cry of pain. She then shoved him down the hall.

  Miki was walking forward to stop her mother when Travis put an arm on her shoulder. “Just let your mom do her thing. This is her way of taking care of you. She’s never lost her cool, even when she’s angry. Besides, remember that man almost got you killed.”

  Miki and Yuriko’s eyes met. Miki could see they were hard and cold, but her mother acknowledged her with a quick wink.

  Rin’s desperate cries echoed down the hall, then faded when they entered a room. There was a big thumping noise of something hitting a wall. “Please,” they heard Rin speak out. “I’ll do—” before a whooshing noise of exhaled air cut off his sentence. There were vague sounds of scuffling and thumping, followed by a muffled conversation and a very long silence that went on for a few minutes.

  Miki feared her mother had done something terrible. Travis noticed her nervousness and spoke again. “Don’t worry. Yuri won’t kill him. But I’m pretty sure he’ll never go near you again. She doesn’t always show it, but you mean the world to your mom.”

  Rin finally walked out of the room, clutching his stomach. He looked even more dishevelled than before. Yuriko followed behind him, and the two walked down the hall side by side. Rin gave Miki a weak smile. He stopped in front of her and said, “Your mother and I have come to an understanding. I’m sorry I involved you. I didn’t know any better. I cannot apologize enough for what I have done.” He then bowed deeply.

  The sudden apology shocked Miki. She saw her mother smile a bit, and she tipped her head down towards Rin. “I—I accept your apology,” Miki said.

  Yuriko then looked at Major Fredericks. “Please take this man with you back to headquarters. Treat him well. I’ll debrief later. I need to speak to my daughter now and inform Central about the situation first.”

  Abraham and William saw Rin make his apology. They looked at each other; both seemed slightly surprised by the turn of events with Rin. Then, looking back at Yuriko, William just grinned. “We’ll take it from here. I don’t know what you said, but we’ll talk later.”

  Yuriko turned to Miki again. Although her daughter was an adult, she hugged her as if she were still her young child, stroking her hand through her hair. “I love you so much, Miki.”

  Miki was still adjusting to seeing her mother’s tough side, but she leaned into her mother and hugged her right back. She enjoyed the moment and her mother’s reassuring presence.

  *****

  The next day, the Daily Odewara newspaper ran the headline “Kuchisake-onna Killer Slain! Town Breathes a Sigh of Relief.” The news story broke across the national papers and television. The video journalist, Rin Takahashi, was front and centre in the story. Apparently, both his team and the National Police task force figured out the killer, a former psychiatric patient, was hiding in an abandoned building. His team encountered the killer first, and the National Police rescued them after a fierce battle with the extremely strong man. Unfortunately, Rin’s cameraman had been killed while heroically protecting his boss. A special Rin Rin Mystery Time episode about the event will be dedicated to Kojima and aired next week. Miki was not mentioned anywhere.