Hunted [Wild Hunt Series: 1]

Interlude I: Murder in the Morgue

Latest attack leaves three dead. Missing officer recovered at the scene. Cult responsible?

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA. In a bizarre and brutal string of recent events, residents of Anchorage, Alaska, and nearby rural communities have found their holiday spirits dampened by a rash of murders. It began in Maniitok Hollow, fifty miles north of Anchorage, with the tragic deaths of two nineteen year old women just before Halloween.

Dakota Harrington, daughter of Alfred Harrington, founder of Harrington Sports Co., had been chased off a cliff by a group of riders on horseback. The sole witness, her boyfriend at the time, claimed to have seen the riders, describing them as, "ancient...barbaric men wearing skulls."

Tay Wilson had been discovered stabbed and beaten after she'd gone looking for a stray calf with her friend, state trooper Lucas Irwin. Irwin, who himself would later go missing, claimed to have been attacked by a massive wolf. He had heard the sound of horses and riders.

Neither site produced any conclusive evidence of who, or what, had taken the lives of these two women.

Prior to their deaths, several residents of the area, including the second victim's family, had reported strange sightings and noises in the surrounding forest. Witnesses were primarily young women, either in the forest, waiting on a road for assistance, or alone inside their own homes.

In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, life carried on mournfully in Maniitok Hollow. No sightings had been reported. No sounds heard.  Whatever wickedness lurked in the still woods had moved on.There was peace in the snow-covered grounds as residents bundled up and prepared for the holidays in a heavy start to winter.

Then Ajax Wilson, stepfather of Tay Wilson, reported his wife Amelia missing. The highly regarded EMT hadn't shown up for work earlier in the evening. Neighbors say the women was distraught by her daughter's disappearance and was convinced she was still alive. Her husband admits they sought counseling after their daughter's death, but Ameila Wilson had taken things a step further and contacted local psychics.

Ameila's favorite, he claimed, was retired psychic investigator Miki Hunter, 89, from Anchorage. Ajax Wilson was detained on suspicion of his wife's disappearance, but ultimately released.

It was then that, based on evidence pieced together by police and revealed exclusively here on Channel 9, Wilson had reached out to Hunter through several phone calls and in-person visits. Wilson had also contacted state trooper Lucas Irwin, a man whom he considered to be romantically interested in his daughter. With Lucas' help, the three entered into the APD station containing the potential murder weapon involved in Tay Wilson's death. It was there in the evidence room, among rows of organized boxes and bags of evidence in several active and ongoing cases, all hell broke loose.

Cameras which had been working up to the point where Irwin can be seen closing the door behind Hunter and Irwin in the evidence room, cut out. Cell phones stopped working. Landlines failed. The lights, according to one witness, who had exited the building to leave for the night, had gone out as she turned out of the drive. She did not return, believing an ongoing snowstorm with strong winds and blizzard conditions to be the cause and under the impression that the generators would kick in as usual. From that point on all outgoing communication ceased from staff or anyone else within the station.

That departing officer, whose name has been removed by department request, had taken to the roads to confront the dangerous storm, unaware she had narrowly avoided becoming a victim in a horrific bloodbath that, in the span of forty minutes, would see the deaths of seven civilians and nine of her fellow colleagues.

For forty minutes snow gusted against the darkened station. The wind roared. The sounds and sights of what madness occurred in that small brick building have been lost forever. The only hope of learning what happened comes from the account of a single missing person: Lucas Irwin. He was not present when the first officer arrived on scene beside his parked patrol vehicle. When the cameras and lights flickered on after those forty minutes of hell had passed, there was no evidence Irwin had left the scene except for a few vague footsteps the storm was quick to erase.

Police have offered condolences to the victims. Names and photographs of the scene have yet to be released due to the graphic nature and ongoing investigation. Officers and first responders to the scene have gone on record as saying it would take days before not just the timeline, but the victims, would be able to be pieced back together again. Channel 9 has learned from an APD source that several areas of the scene were covered in ritualistic markings of indeterminate linguistic origin. The only item missing from the scene was the bag containing evidence in Tay Wilson's murder: a broken section of spear found embedded in the woman's thigh.

Two nights after the event, a similar situation occurred in the morgue housing the victims' bodies. The lights went out, all communication stopped. This time for fifteen minutes. A janitor and two night shift workers were killed. The purpose of this attack remains unclear, but appears to have culminated in the removal of Ajax Wilson's body. Found zipped into the man's body bag was officer Lucas Irwin.

Irwin remains in critical condition.

Anyone with information regarding the case is urged to contact the Anchorage Police Department.







So ends the first interlude! Tay killed Akta's body in the Mid, but without a home to return to, it looks like his spirit might still be on the war path...