DEATH PLAYBACK

The smell hit him first. Iron and rot and something sweet, like rotting fruit. Jaxon Reid leaned against the hallway wall, trying not to look as hungover as he felt. His head was pounding, his shirt had a coffee stain on it, and he was pretty sure he'd slept in his car last night. Again. The homicide detectives were already inside apartment 3B, doing their thing - talking in low voices, stepping over the chalk outline like it wasn't even there. Crime scene techs in blue jumpsuits dusted for prints, took photos, moved around like they'd done it a hundred times. They had. This was the third one in two months. The Serial Slasher, the papers were calling him. Three women, all in their twenties, all killed the same way. The whole city was panicking. The department was shitting bricks. And Jaxon? He wasn't even supposed to be here. "REID!" Jaxon winced. Captain Morrison was storming towards him, face purple with rage. The man hated him. Everyone hated him. "What the *f**k* are you doing here?" Morrison growled, stopping inches from his face. "This isn't a cold case. This is active. Get your drunk ass out of my building." "Just grabbing my mail, sir," Jaxon mumbled. It was a lie. He'd been passed out in the parking lot when the call came in, and curiosity had dragged him up. "Your mail?" Morrison laughed, harsh and bitter. "Right. Well don't touch *anything*. You f**k up this one and you're fired for good. I'm tired of looking at your worthless face." The other detectives snickered. Jaxon nodded and turned to leave. He was used to it. Three years ago, he'd f****d up a raid. His partner, Marcus, had taken a bullet to the chest because of him. Jaxon had survived. Marcus hadn't. Since then? He was the department joke. The drunk. The washout. The guy who got his best friend killed. He started walking down the hallway. That's when his foot slipped on something wet. He stumbled, his hand shot out to catch himself - and landed right in the pool of blood that had seeped out under the apartment door. "GODDAMN IT REID!" Morrison screamed. "I *told* you not to touch anything!" Jaxon froze. The blood was warm and sticky on his palm. He stared at it, horrified. That's when the voice spoke in his head. 【Yo. You got any idea how long I've been waiting for you to touch a dead guy? Gross, by the way. Dried blood is a b***h to get out of jeans.】 Jaxon blinked. What the f**k? 【Death Playback System binding... 10%... 50%... 100%... BINDING COMPLETE!】 【Congratulations! You can now watch the last 12 hours of any dead person's life! Don't f**k this up. The last guy I was bound to shot himself after he saw what his wife did.】 Jaxon just stood there, hand in the blood, while Morrison screamed at him. Was he having a stroke? Was this the DTs? 【Want a free preview? Course you do. You look like you haven't had a win since 2020.】 【ACTIVATING DEATH PLAYBACK: VICTIM #3 - AMY CHEN, 27】 The world vanished. --- He was in the apartment. It was 11:27 PM. Amy Chen was on the couch, watching TV. She was eating Chinese food. There was a knock on the door. She got up, looked through the peephole, and smiled. She unlocked the door. Standing there was a man in a blue police uniform. Jaxon knew that face. It was Detective Carter. Homicide. The same guy who'd been standing in the apartment five minutes ago, giving orders to the techs. Carter smiled. "Hey Amy. You said you had information about the other murders?" She nodded and let him in. "Yeah I saw - " Carter pulled a knife from his belt and stabbed her in the throat. It took ten seconds. She didn't even scream. Carter wiped the knife clean, put it back in his belt, and walked out. He didn't take anything. He didn't do anything else. He just left. --- The hallway snapped back into focus. Morrison was still screaming in his face. Carter was standing in the apartment doorway, watching him, a tiny smile on his lips. 【Surprise, motherfucker! Bet you didn't see that coming.】 【NEW MISSION: PROVE CARTER IS THE KILLER】 【REWARD: +5 PERCEPTION, ABILITY TO PAUSE/REWIND PLAYBACK】 【FAILURE PUNISHMENT: Carter kills you next. No takebacks.】 Jaxon slowly wiped the blood off his hand onto his jeans. He looked at Carter. The man who'd killed three women. The man who was investigating his own murders. The man who was right now, probably, planning to kill him. Carter raised an eyebrow. "You okay there, Reid? You look like you've seen a ghost." Jaxon stared at him. For three years, he'd been a loser. A drunk. A joke. Not anymore. "I'm fine," Jaxon said. He started walking towards the exit. "Just had an epiphany." Carter watched him go. The smile never left his face. Jaxon walked down the stairs, his mind racing. He knew who the killer was. He knew how he did it. He knew when he'd strike next. But nobody would believe him. He was Jaxon Reid. The drunk. The washout. The guy who got his partner killed. And now he had to take down a serial killer who was also one of the best detectives in the department. This was going to be fun. 【Atta boy. Let's go f**k some people up.】 ---