A dead body lay ravaged in the train compartment. Crimson blood pooled out below, staining the knife laying next to the body. Torn up papers were scattered over the body, spotted with blood, and a man’s shadow briefly flickered over the scene as a sudden gust of cold air blew in.
    “Wake up, Ked, hurry.”
    Kedric gasped. Someone was roughly shaking him, and he instantly jumped up and reached for a knife in his boot - that he couldn’t reach. He looked back, and realized why. He was in handcuffs, and his leg was chained to one of the walls of the tight metal room, lit dimly by a fluorescent light on the ceiling.
He was shaken roughly again, and then he suddenly noticed the face of his partner, Tom. He had gotten his handcuffs off, and was staring at Kedric intently, a strange look in his eyes.
Suddenly everything came flashing back. Kedric had been walking down the alley looking for clues, Tom right behind him, when suddenly he had felt a pain in his right shoulder and everything had faded into black...
He glanced at his shoulder, not surprised to see specks of red already seeping through his clothes. Tom had apparently hastily tried to tie a cloth around the wound, but it did little to stop the bleeding.
Kedric glanced back at Tom, about to comment on his wound, when suddenly he noticed the seriousness of his partner’s expression. He had only ever seen that expression once, and it could mean only one thing; once Tom had that look in his eyes, there was no persuading him otherwise.
“Is there no other option?” he asked Tom, his eyes hardening.
“No.” Tom’s eyes seemed to bore holes into Kedric.
They sat in grim silence for a moment or two, contemplating the momentum of what they were about to do.
“By the way, what dream did you have?” Tom asked, breaking the silence.
“My first murder case,” Kedric replied.
Tom smiled, though it looked painfully forced and did not reach the eyes. “How fitting.”
“Yes.”
Kedric closed his eyes, trying to convince himself that what they were about to do was worth it. After all, wasn’t this the case they had been trying to crack for years? And now the criminal was right there. So many detectives were after him, and they were the ones who had a chance to finish him.
They heard footsteps, slowly getting louder and louder.
Tom and Kedric’s eyes met.
“Ready, Ked?” Tom’s eyes asked, a spark in his eyes, almost like the Tom he used to be. He held the button on his watch so that it glinted in the sunlight, just so Kedric could see the words DETONATOR.
He nodded, then closed his eyes as Tom pressed the button. He felt the world explode in a million pieces; bursts of orange filled his eyes, and he was instantly reminded of fireworks. Memories poured through him, and in that last instant before life and death, he imagined his body being found and thought of his wife and their soon-to-be child. His body was racked in pain for a moment, but soon everything was fading, everything was disappearing, and it would be quiet once more.
His eyes opened once more, seeing the world in a shroud of black, and his mouth slowly formed the words, No regrets.
He smiled, and his lids shut down for the last time.
The case was closed.