By: Daiyu Tang
It isn’t often that someone walks into the Observer and dumps body parts on the desk. I mean, that desk… My desk… It has seen a lot. It’s probably got actual mental scarring, not just physical scars from blades, bullets and so on.
Sadly for my stomach what was dumped on my desk wasn’t even really body parts, but rather the stretched and flayed skin of a woman I had thought long consigned to the shadows of the past.
Jarrah. Jarrah, the former leader of the Jackals. The header image says it all. But I’m going to have to say more, because along with the head were two of the Rejects, Donta and Jess and they had some words to say.
“Tell her ’bout thang thang….”
Yes, this opening (after a few pleasantries about how Dale had been a good chief) was how Jessica was primed to tell me why the awful visage was now staring at me from a foot away and trying to entice me to throw up over myself and the desk.
Jessica: “Once ‘pon a time.. der was a gang…yah membah…hearing bout a little joint called tha uhhh…Jackals?”
I like to think that as I’ve been her some time and as I have access to our records that I know, or could know quite a bit and it’s fair to say that I did know the Jackals. It wasn’t just because people like Xena ‘I don’t wanna no drama’ Rodriguez had praised her in the past, or that they were known for a fair amount of crime, it was that I had had a personal interaction with them, whereby for no reason other than that I was a witness, they had hurt me. So yes, I knew the Jackals and perhaps, just perhaps, the knowledge that I didn’t have to know one of the Jackals anymore, helped me steady my stomach. Dax… Ahmose… names that I didn’t want to remember.
Donta: “Pfft shit gang. Where dey at now doe.”
Jessica: “Take from dis little tale wha’ yah will…its a cautionary tale yah see. Yah eveh wondah wha’ happened with tha Jackals? God where to start..where to end. Once der was a bitch named Jarrah… tha name might be familiar. Tha gang along with their fearless leadah Jarrah decided they wanted tah come onta Reject territory and threaten many things. includin hurtin children..but yah see.. If yah aint know.. Rejects do good, we da heroes of dis city. We want tha city tah prosper..yah know..we make money..tha city makes money too. we is tha charitable gang. Lookin out for our city. Dese otha gangs doe…dey aint like us. Now when yah get in tha way of Rejects yah end up gone…like gold old Jarrah right here…and tha rest of her gang.”
Now, of course I am not an expert in skinned faces. It looked pretty real, but I would of course ideally need proof, so I was going to get onto HPD about it, but first I wanted to know why they had brought this to me, what message were they trying to give, because I was pretty sure I wasn’t the one it was for, I was just the conduit.
Jessica: “Sounds like yah pickun up wha Aah’m puttin down. Well some of it. Course dis shit ain’t gotta be yah opinion if yah think we wrong. But dis tha Reject word….and yah right. Stay outta our bidness less it good bidness.. Jarrah learned.. Jackals learned..and on god..or tha devil. Dese bitches will neveh be back. Mah word. Jackals dead and buried.. dey died last night wit tha last of em. Go head take a picture if yah wan…do not cross the Rejects.,,,we end yah lineage like tha Jackals. Maybe tha Sushigang need ta be a lil more cautious. Tori make a good mask too..but dis not bout dem.. dis bout tha Jackals…a cautionary tail..to anyone. Be our enemies..yah end up like Jarrah.. be our friends..and prosper wit us.” she shrugged and held her hands out.”
Donta: “Savage right, feral?”
Above, the image of Jackal member Ahmose who we expect therefore is dead based on this interview. It truly is savage, but… does saveagry excuse savagary? I am normally, as editor of this paper quite convinced that such a cycle is a doom-loop. One gang or member is eliminated for reasons that are ‘justified’ but the next member takes revenge, in a cycle that leads to destruction.
But what if the cycle ends, if ALL are ended? That is really what Donta and Jessica pose as a question… over the bloody remains of their former gang boss rival.
Going into Case Work
Jessica: “Nah… it wasn’t a murdah.. it was a cleansing of this city, cleansing of Trash. Like tha good folk we are. We care bout our city, contrary tah any belief. Dis like. a Vigilante. a mothafuckin’ supahero. We do wha tha HPD can’t. Tell me when tha HPD end a gang? Lookit Jarrah.. she can show yah tha Reject get rid of dese trash gangs.. bad for society. Like Aah said.. we tha good guys. Dis wasnt a someone. Dis was a parasite preying on society…well dey will prey on society no longeh. Thank yah Rejects.”
‘Thank you Rejects’; do you agree dear reader? Do you feel safer with the Rejects around, taking out the parasites, or do you fear them as well? Is fear, actually healthy and not a huge price to pay? You don’t bring them bad business and they don’t bring you nothing. Is that a fair trade, or should our city say ‘no’ to that as well? I’d like to say it should… but what are the realities, you, dear reader live under?
Once I had had the head removed (by Jessica) and the two of them and their trophy had left, I had a stain on the desk, a stomach that was complaining and I found I really needed to wee. But once all of that was done (I am just making the point so that you can empathise with a student finding a BLOODY half face/head on her desk) I turned to working HPD.
My first point of call was an officer who decided to be an even bigger dick that Maja’s article of him suggests when he threw me out just for asking about the case.
It was a good thing there are other methods…
On January 29th, 2025, at approximately 04:42 am SLT, Dispatch transmitted communication that we have a call from a man outside of Prohibition who is in a panic. The individual made claims that there are “bloody bags” that are physically “pooling blood.” He was terrified to look inside said bags. Dispatch further advised that officers and maybe an ambulance are needed over there. Upon arrival, no suspects were found, but the bags were discovered. Two bloody garbage bags and one bloody, wrapped-up sheet. In one of the bloody garbage bags, a dismembered left leg was discovered. In the other bloody garbage bag, a dismembered right leg. There was a bloody sheet that held a headless torso with arms. The torso is cut open at the stomach. In the stomach is the head of the body. The head’s face has been skinned off, leaving the skull visible. Hands on torso are positioned, giving the bird, when the sheets were unwrapped.
The above is an unredacted extract from the police files for the apparent finding of the corpse of Jarrah which also corresponded with me walking into Prohibition and finding it covered in blood around the same time, but without the body parts or bin bags visible. All these things are coming together.
I have not repeated the actual injuries in great detail, but the follow-up notes are of interest because it became apparent that my asking for information from HPD meant that the very officers who were assigned to the case came to ask me about it. I’d like to say, with the material (and stains) that the Rejects had provided, I was a few steps ahead. After-all, a confession had been given, a claim had been staked and stains had been left. All HPD had to do was thank the Observer and move on right? Of course not.
While the HPD had via CCTV identified at least Jessica, she was not, and did not appear worried… Whether the HPD have or will try to arrest her (sadly my case files are only up to the start of February) or whether the Rejects will ‘get away with’ this… is unclear, certainly… the lack of justice is a concern, but really, what price should a parasite removal firm be charged? What do you think dear reader?
