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It was just another warm summer day at the beginning of the school year when yet another tragedy struck the small town of Conaville. For the past twelve years it was broadly known that a killer was loose in their city, but the police force whose only competent members could not be risked refused to take action against the murderer. Every member of the community slowly became used to the news as the years went by, but it didn’t stop each attack becoming the talk of the town after its occurrence.
The students at the Burimier High had been hearing about the attacks since they could talk, making those who felt like they could be doing more even angrier when another attack took place without them taking any action. Of course, murders were more like gossip to most at that point, but the phony AV club that met afterschool daily to discuss controversies and conspiracies involving the Conaville Cannibal only got more and more determined to find the culprit of these crimes as more occurred.“Brendon, it’s happened again,” Ryan shouted over the phone at one in the morning. He heard a jolt on Brendon’s line, undoubtedly the younger teen jumping in his bunk at the loud noise and hitting his head against the ceiling.“What’s happened again,” his best friend (and crush) asked sleepily, yawning into the microphone. Ryan let the squeaking mattress noises subside before he sighed out of tiredness and disappointment in humanity.“The Conaville Cannibal. He’s attacked again.” Brendon gasped as if he wasn’t expecting this. Despite how often the Cannibal would strike their district, it always came as a shock that he was able to strike again without even an attempt at capture. Even the victims’ families stopped minding at a point and either moved or accepted the fact that they could die and never have their murder investigated. At least if you were to die from the Cannibal’s clutches you’d have a chance to discern who the infamous figure was. “God! Utter garbage- our police force is. Such disappointments. What’s the victim’s name- I’ll be setting up a profile on him for our-““Emergency meeting- yeah,” Ryan said, interrupting his friend and taking a breath. He’d have to call Spencer and Jon too- make sure they’d get to school an hour early. He’d text the three other guys minimal info and debrief them during their main meeting in the school library once the last bell rang. “So, basic info,” Brendon asked him.“Victim’s name is Matthew Rodriguez. Twenty-six. You get the same alerts as I do, though, so you can find the information on the Conaville Telephone’s website.” When Ryan stopped talking, everything was silent again.He heard more creaking and a bedspread being pulled up. Brendon’s parents were very strict. Ryan, still tired from having woken up at one in the morning due to a crazy suspicion that something happened that turned out to be right, let his eyes droop shut and attempted to clear his mind. Be that as it may, grotesque images of Matthew Rodriguez’s face dripping blood from a distinct bite mark shone beneath his eyelids. A cough sounded through the speaker followed by a bid of goodnight from Brendon’s end. The other boy had hung up before Ryan had the chance to reply. Ryan opened his eyes and felt scared in the pitch blackness of the room he knew was disheveled when brightened by the sun. He felt a flash of jealousy towards Brendon for living with his parents, having the knowledge of parental guidance as a safeguard from mortifying nightmares. Ryan lived with his uncle after his dad was brutally murdered by the Conaville Cannibal when he was just old enough to start learning to read, leading the current captain of the police chief to succeed Ryan’s father after his death.Ryan was finally done waiting for change to happen, for progress to be made. If there was one thing he knew about his father’s legacy, it was that if you did not attempt to create change yourself, ninety-nine percent of the time, no change would happen at all. He was done letting the Conaville Cannibal instill fear in himself, in the people, in the police, and in the township of Conaville. He was going to stop that animal if it meant his face would be the one bloodied next. With Ryan’s luck, it probably would.***It was four-thirty when Ryan awoke for the second time that night. Unfortunately, with the events of only a few hours previously in mind, Ryan knew he had to get out of bed. He stumbled towards the bathroom and returned to his room with sopping hair and clean clothes warming him up. He turned on a lamp so he could grab his laptop for AV club. He snatched the pocket knife next to it too. Once Ryan had grabbed the things he needed, he left the upper floor of his house and proceeded down the stairs, greeting his uncle as he passed. His uncle was the police chief for a station about an hour south of the one in town, so he always got up early to make sure he got to his job on time. Normally, he was gone before Ryan got up.“Got somewhere to be, boy,” he asked gruffly, looking up from his pitcher of black coffee to stare at the tense teenager in front of him.“AV Club. Emergency meeting at six.” The school was fifteen minutes away by car and Ryan usually stopped for breakfast, so Ryan having arrived downstairs at five made sense.“Why are you having emergency AV club meetings?”Instead of giving the man an answer, Ryan just grabbed his backpack and said goodbye, slamming the door on his way out. He immediately bent down to stuff his laptop and charger into his already overcrowded backpack full of notebooks and binders as well as snacks he promised for the meeting. As he walked, his thoughts drifted towards the meeting he’d be holding soon and Ryan realized he’d forgotten to call Spencer and Jon about the meeting. He trotted around the house and pulled his bag onto his back before straddling his bicycle and pulling his phone from his pocket. He texted Jon and Spencer separately and then went to a group chain with those two, Brendon, and the ten other people he’d accumulated since seventh grade trying to solve the case of the Conaville Cannibal without police help. The chain was still labelled AV Club despite their alternative interests because they couldn’t risk the Cannibal finding out about them. Discretion was necessary.After Jon and Spencer responded and assured Ryan that they’d heard about Matt R. before Ryan had even texted them and were familiar with the plan to meet up at school an hour early the day after an attack, Ryan seated himself firmly on his bike and started pedaling towards his favorite breakfast joint, Waffle House. Once there, he broke out his computer and greeted the waitress with a simple hello and a request for his usual with an extra set of coffees. He shoveled hashbrowns into his mouth while researching as much as he could about the latest attack. Eventually he finished and left with his coffees after depositing a large tip in the jar by the cash register.When he got to the school he went straight to the library, weaving through the aisles with four cups of Joe in his hands. The door to the AV room was ajar and inside Ryan was met with a frazzled looking Brendon. His eyes had that look that told Ryan he never fell back asleep after their call.“Why didn’t you get any sleep,” he questioned, passing a coffee across the table. Brendon snatched it up and looked up from his computer.“I can’t find him,” Brendon stated simply.Brendon was the smartest guy Ryan knew, especially electronics wise. If the AV club was actually an AV club, he’d be president. One time, he got suspended for hacking the school and giving the kids back all of the money they’d spent on “free” lunch all year. Before Ryan enlisted him for the AV club, he was entering hacking competitions in his free time and winning huge cash sums each time. So, if Brendon of all people couldn’t find out more about this Matthew guy, that meant he’s really untraceable. “Well, kind of,” Brendon amended. “See, I can tell there were things on the internet about Mr. R, and I can tell they were deleted recently, but still. They’re deleted, they’re gone, and until we get someone more experienced or I take a lot of my time and focus it on this, we might be able to find the removed articles and pages later. For now, we have the stuff that’s been reported about his murder, and that’s it. This one, unlike the others, was definitely planned.”Ryan dropped his bag and went up to what he and his club artfully called the “Murder Board” because it listed every attack the Cannibal had committed and they all happened to be murders. Still, the fact that this one was premeditated said something. Sure, the killer had a signature- the bite- but that didn’t call for premeditation. What did show premeditation was that, in regards to this one victim, the internet was stripped of his information aside from his first name, last name, and age.He found a red thumbtack and used it to tack a small photo of the victim to the board within the sea of green. A blue string connected the green tacks together in order of the crimes, one Ryan moved in a disgruntled manner to sit under the new red tack. He was just angry that it hadn’t stopped, that he had to move the string or place a new picture on the board at all.Moving to sit down, Ryan heard a clatter from the library. He and Brendon jumped in their chairs, but it turned out only to be Jon and Spencer running late. Ryan greeted and debriefed them, handing them their coffees once they’d gotten out their own laptops. They talked about what it meant that they couldn’t find a trace of the newest victim until they heard the bell ring to signal the start of classes. They packed up their stuff hurriedly and shouted their goodbyes as they ran towards separate library exits.
Ryan reached his first class with a good minute to spare, giving him time to put his phone on do not disturb and say hello to another AV Club member, a kid named Brent. He’d always been jealous of how popular Ryan was because of his title as president of the AV Club. Still, he would show up and at least pull half of his weight in work, so they kept him as a member. Lately people were getting more concerned with the murders since the tenth anniversary of the first homicide. That was when the police department had announced that they would no longer be searching for the Cannibal because they had other crimes they needed to pay attention to and it seemed that each attempt they made just increased the rate of the murders. It was supposedly never-ending. How the story of the Conaville Cannibal had not yet made national news, Ryan did not know.Geometry was fine except for Brent pestering him the entire time about details Ryan did not yet have. His next class dragged just as long, though it was a lot easier. Photography was usually fun but he was preoccupied with thoughts of the Cannibal and had forgotten his portfolio anyways. He continued his murder mystery in Honors English and sat out of a dissection in bio. As a matter of fact, only one pair participated. Everyone else was too squeamish because they knew someone was murdered just the night before and couldn’t bear messing with the dead.At lunch he sat with Jon, Brendon, and Spencer, going through the lunch line together and getting mini pizzas. They chatted mindlessly for a little while before going back to the subject everyone else was focused on. The four of them sat alone and discussed the thing everyone had been talking about since the end of the moment of silence- when and how would the Cannibal strike again? It had been on and off for the past twelve years, but there had been no proof of premeditation towards any one person before. Sure, the murderer wasn’t going to stop any time soon, but that didn’t change whether he murdered Matthew Rodriguez or Ryan himself. This time was unlike the others. Brendon revealed that in his computing class he was able to figure out when the web had been struck of any information about the victim. Turns out, all information on him was gone a fortnight before his murder!Soon they left the cafeteria and went their separate ways, Ryan heading to AP American History. He finished off his day in Latin and dragged himself to the library where he found his friends, Brent, and several other members of the AV club chatting and getting ready for the meeting. Ryan apologized for being late and he looked around. Brent, Ian, Mike, Dallon, Nicole, Dan, Zach, Adam, Jake, and Dillan sat around the table with his three friends.“So what’s the plan, Ryan,” Dan asked. Ryan sat down and raised an eyebrow.“Do any of you know what’s happened? What’s different about this crime?” The ten members that hadn’t been there for the morning meeting shook their heads sheepishly. “Well, get your computers out and find out. Once you’re all up to speed, we all will figure out some type of plan. It’s no use coming up with a plan with people who don’t know what they’re talking about.” Ryan got his own computer out but did not open it, just sat with it in front of him while he and the three other competent members waited for the others to catch up.“There’s nothing different,” Brent said quietly, like he was daring Ryan to tell him he was wrong. It wasn’t like Ryan could do anything but that in that instance. Jon beat him to it.“There’s obviously something different. Look at the murder board.”At first, nobody said anything. Then, Nicole gasped.“You guys, there’s a red pin holding up the most recent picture of the victim! And I can’t find anything on this guy. That’s got to be what’s different! Premeditation!”
Ryan clapped for her because nobody else seemed to have gotten it before her and he had been pretty harsh earlier.“Exactly. We have a way of finding this guy because he’s messed with the internet. That’ll leave a trail back to him. I’m almost certain that if we go to the police about this, they’ll have to at least help us. But even then, we can’t count on them.” Whispers of agreement circulated the room.“So we all agree,” asked Brendon. “We all agree to go to the police and find this guy on our own if necessary, despite that he’s armed and dangerous?” Still, a chorus of affirmation sounded around the table, and that was that.Ryan said, “We still have over an hour until our meeting is over. We should go to the police now.” Everyone agreed and they began packing up, chatting excitedly despite the threat of imminent danger.They made their way to the parking lot, piling into a few different cars and driving the short way to the police station. Captain Wentz was sitting in his office looking at a few files and nibbling at a donut while his deputy, Stump, chattered away at him eagerly. Stump’s hand was conveniently positioned between them, Wentz’s on top. Officers Andy and Joe looked up when the fourteen freshmen entered the building, recognizing Ryan right away. He was, in some ways, the spitting image of his father. While the current officers were too young to have served the department while Ryan’s father was captain, the portrait on the wall of George had not been moved since he’d become captain. Nobody dared to tamper with it after the man’s death.“Hey, how you doin’ Ryan,” Joe asked, looking suspiciously at the group of teenagers flanking the boy.“Good. We’ve come to report a crime.”“Oh, please tell me this isn’t you and your crazy fake AV club again,” Captain Wentz groaned, walking towards them. He’d spotted the group from his window as soon as they entered and had a feeling he knew why they had made their appearance. “We are an AV club,” Spencer protested. “The school just never asked whether AV stood for audio-visual or Anonymous Vigilantes!”“Your use of vigilante implies that we here at the police department aren’t doing our jobs satisfactorily, that we aren’t doing our jobs at all,” Captain Wentz cried out.“Has the Conaville Cannibal been caught over the last twelve years? Only one murder took place while you weren’t captain, and that was the murder of the previous captain. You would remember the murder of my father more than me.” Wentz had been the deputy before his father’s death; they’d been best friends too. He was devastated and had vowed that he’d find the Conaville Cannibal up until a few years back. They’d been failing for too long.“Show us what you’ve got,” Captain Wentz muttered, ashamed of his actions.“There’s not really much to show you. All we know is that the murderer showed premeditation. All databases were struck of any evidence of the victim’s existence before his murder. The doctor was able to ID him because he and the victim had been good friends, but his name and age were the only thing the doctor knew. That information was released to the press, but that’s it. That’s all that’s out there about him. We need to find out who took that information off the internet. Then we’ll find our killer.” The captain thought for a second and grimaced.“Guess we need to go to cybersecurity for that.” They went to the basement of the precinct and met with a few techies who started searching for the man in question.
Soon, they reported to the captain with good news. They’d found an unemployed man in his late thirties who had been kicked out of his first year of community college for hacking his failing grades. His permanent record proved he’d been showing signs of the homicidal triad since the first years of his schooling and was a menace towards peers and teachers alike. This guy, Aaron Michaels, was their murderer. Unfortunately, they had to ensure he didn’t have an alibi for the most recent crime, something the tech analysts ensured them that they could have figured out by the morning. They went upstairs to find a group of reporters waiting to ask about the most recent crime. Despite the department’s previous ignorance towards the Conaville Cannibal’s serial attacks, four reporters always made sure to check with the police department to see whether the police were going to do something. They too immediately recognized Ryan and asked what he was doing there. He didn’t say anything, but Brent began bragging.“We’re here on official AV Club business, the club that’s after the Cannibal. Yeah, we’re going to find the Conaville Cannibal. We’ve been tracking him for years, you know? I started this whole thing, and right now we just found something that’s going to bring the Conaville Cannibal to justice. We even know who he is and where he lives. We just need to confirm everything.” The reporters were flabbergasted and pointed their microphones at Ryan, trying to get him to confirm Brent’s statement.Angrily, Ryan told them, “We are here on AV club business, but this club is not some type of Junior Police Department like Brent is describing. I made this club back in seventh grade, and he only joined last year. He doesn’t know what he’s on about, and considering that he’s talking about my father’s murderer-“ Ryan glared at Brent- “I really think he should watch his mouth with what he’s saying to public workers.” The reporters murmured and thanked the two of them for their statements, walking away before things could get any more heated.Ryan now turned to the traitor. “You do understand that anything they write can and most likely will be seen by the killer. He’s going to know who we are- everyone knows my
name at this point and everyone knows what I stand for.” He started rambling in an increasingly threatening tone, prodding his finger into Brent’s chest as he got angrier and angrier.“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” Wentz shouted. He pulled the teens apart and growled at them, making both shut up and clear their faces of any upsetting expression. “That’s more like it. Look, you can all sleep here. Don’t worry about anything. We have some cells in the back for temporary confinement. We’ll get you some air mattresses and blankets. There’s three rooms, spread yourselves out equally. Besides, the techies can’t help you until morning. I’ll get you some dinner. What do you want?”“Tonight,” Ryan announced, “we eat like knights and warriors. Waffle House for everyone!” The group cheered and Wentz agreed happily. He was proud of the kids for the most part but he hated admitting that he was neglecting his duties as king.Soon, Ryan was eating a chocolate chip waffle and chatting with Brendon, Spencer, and Jon, whom he had decided to bunk with for the night. They watched some YouTube videos for an hour until Ryan went around to check in with the police and his members. He sat with the captain as Wentz called the families of the fourteen teenagers, telling the parents it was a school field trip they must’ve forgotten they agreed to. Ryan would fill in when Wentz got tongue tied. Afterwards, he went to the other two cells his club members were in, telling them that they needed to go to sleep because they’d have an early morning. The rest grudgingly agreed and Ryan allowed himself to drift off to sleep with Brendon at his side while the other two boys huddled in a dark corner of the room.It was peace and calm and quiet and then it wasn’t. It was fear and screams and Ryan grabbing for his backpack to find his pocket knife. He armed himself and ran out to find the screaming voices.He hadn’t been this scared since his father died, and that was when he was two.“WHAT’S GOING ON,” he shouted, running to the room everyone was crowding around. Sure enough, the scene unfolding in front of them really was scream worthy. Dan was on the ground and a large man was leaning over him. After close inspection, Ryan could see that it was Aaron Michaels- the man they had recognized as the Conaville Cannibal! “Where is Ryan,” Aaron shouted.Ryan pushed everyone out of the way and unfolded his pocket knife, screaming horrifically and diving towards the murderer. Michaels turned, shock painting his face, and angled his neck in a way that when Ryan landed on top of him, his knife landed in Aaron’s neck. He shouted and pushed the boy off him, the knife falling down where Ryan could catch it again. Ryan ran after him and stabbed into the man’s arm so deep that the limb appeared to be nearly amputated. He tried to continue chasing the man but was stopped by Captain Wentz.“Ryan. RYAN! He’s not going to survive that, so stop chasing him. I doubt he would’ve survived the neck wound. Now go back. One of your men just died. Mourn him.”
Ryan trudged back, embarrassment flooding him. When he got back to their cells, he found everyone leaning over Dan. A chunk of his neck was missing and the light had already left his eyes. Someone put a blanket over him to cover the bite mark and a few people started crying. Ryan sat down next to Brendon, who immediately grabbed his hand.“This was obviously one of the worst ways everything could’ve gone down, but at least it’s over now. It’s all over now,” Brendon told him, trying to calm Ryan and himself down. The attempt only half worked, but it worked on everyone else as well as Ryan. Ryan leaned back some and rested his head on Brendon’s shoulder, tears welling up in his eyes. Brendon noticed and brushed a finger against his face. “It will be okay, I promise you that. The Cannibal- he’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone.”Ryan kissed him like it was the end of the world and, in a way, it was. It was the end of an era and the end of the most significant stretch of Ryan’s life so far. Brendon wrapped his arms around him, he could feel Brendon’s tears streaking across their faces faster than his own. When they broke apart their faces had tear tracks but both looked a bit happier. For a while, neither let go of the other’s hand.When Captain Wentz suggested they celebrate the fall of the Conaville Cannibal, most jeered and shouted at how insensitive he was being towards Dan’s death. Then Ryan muttered that it was a good idea, and a party began in Dan’s honor. News spread and soon everyone was crowding into the police station, eager to talk to the boy who was the first ruined by the Cannibal and the one who ended him at last. Everyone showered Ryan with gifts and he couldn’t help wanting more. Medals were cast onto his neck and riches were practically thrown at him. For once, he had done the right thing.The next day, school was cancelled, and that night, another party was thrown. Ryan finally went to his father’s grave- the first time since the funeral when he vowed to find him (strong words from a two year old.) Still, he hadn’t given up and he now had something to show for it.He left red roses on his father’s tombstone. Before he had even reached the gate, the flowers had blown away.***It was the middle of the night and Ryan was fast asleep. He had been talking to Jon, Brendon, and Spencer for hours before passing out. It was peace and calm for the first night in a while and this time, nobody was murdered. He awoke to a new day at his rejuvenated and spirited school. Then, about halfway through his first class, another tragedy struck. Apparently Becky had heard it from Jackson who had heard it from Lucy- Lucy Wentz.Deputy Stump had been killed by Aaron Michaels’s mother overnight. With Wentz in the next room. He had heard everything. It was well known that Wentz and Stump had gotten close after the death of Ryan’s father. Wentz and Stump had been officers together and when Wentz was moved up to captain, a promotion followed Stump as well. One thing led to another and they ended up married with an adopted daughter Ryan's age.Ryan, Spencer, Jon, and Brendon all left their classes after sneakily texting each other to meet up in the bathroom. They made up a plan for what to do and almost immediately ditched school. Slowly, they walked to the police station in a crude reimagining of their venture just days before that led to the death of both Dan and the Conaville Cannibal. Captain Wentz’s eyes were red and puffy and tear tracks marred his face.“It was the mother,” Wentz told them. His voice broke with every other word and even the ones that didn’t break him were hardly understandable. “She came in yelling about her son and ran at him. And he didn’t know what to do, she had a knife and his gun was on the table and he tried to grab it but she stabbed his hand so he couldn’t and then she just mauled him. I rushed her but she just broke through the window and got in her car. Haven’t seen her since and we checked the house!” Then he broke down into tears again.
The four teens decided to take justice into their own hands again. Wentz was too incapacitated to do so himself. They marched their way to the address burned into their brains- the one where Aaron Michaels mooched off his mother by sleeping in the basement and living off of burritos his mom bought for him. Of course, despite an evidently rather thorough search, when Brendon knocked at the Michaels family door, Mrs. Michaels answered. Then she saw the three boys behind him and pounced. She grabbed at Jon but he evaded her and the other three ran into the house. Jon slammed the door behind him when he ran after her. Ryan turned as he ran and found himself nearly avoiding getting stabbed. Ryan grabbed the knife from her as she tried again, striking her down and gashing her chest. He rolled off of her and threw the knife at the wall, causing the three other boys to jump.“There,” he shouted. “Now this is finally done and over with.” Brendon, Jon, and Spencer helped Ryan up and they looked around in the hope they’d find Aaron too. They looked in the basement and found in lodged between a wall and an old TV, stinking up the place. The four boys then left and began their way back to the police station, telling Captain Wentz what happened. Nothing could change how distraught he was but it certainly wasn’t bad that Ryan had killed another murderer out of self-defense. Wentz sent Andy and Joe to get the bodies from the house. He was awarded more medals, more money, more fame, more love. Ryan appreciated it but it was unnecessary- he already had all he wanted when he'd have a sleepover with his friends and Spencer and Jon would yell at him and Brendon for making out on the couch. As if the two of them didn't do the same thing. Everything was different but it was the new normal.This time, everything really was over. He could at least be happy about that.