As the two police officers separated to check on the fallen students their attention divided Adam saw his chance.
It was a small window of opportunity a moment of distraction in the chaotic scene he had created.
He dropped from the tree branch above a silent shadow descending from the darkness.
He landed directly behind the first officer—the same one whose Investigation skill he had acquired in the previous loop.
He brought the heavy iron rod down in a swift brutal strike against the back of the officer's head.
The man collapsed without a sound. His body hit the dirt with a dull thud.
The second officer heard the movement.
He turned his flashlight beam cutting through the night. His eyes widened as he saw a strange figure standing over his fallen partner. A boy wearing a cap and a mask, holding a bloody iron rod.
The officer's training took over. His hand immediately went for the pistol at his hip. There was no hesitation no warning. Just a lethal response to a lethal threat.
But before his fingers could even touch the holster Adam moved.
He lunged forward with blinding speed. He brought the iron rod down hard on the officer's hand.
There was a sharp crack of bone.
The officer cried out in pain as his pistol was knocked from his grasp. It was sent flying into the air. He clutched his shattered hand his face a mask of agony.
The pistol spun through the air a dark shape against the pale moon.
Adam his movements fluid and precise reached out and caught it mid-flight. The weapon felt heavy and cold in his gloved hand.
The officer was still cradling his broken hand. His mind was reeling from the sudden violent turn of events. He looked up just as he felt something cold and metallic press against his forehead.
He found himself staring down the barrel of his own gun. It was held steady in the gloved hand of the masked boy. His entire body began to tremble.
This was not a scared kid. This was something else entirely.
Before he could utter a single word Adam pulled the trigger. The gunshot was a deafening roar that echoed through the silent woods. The officer was dead.
Adam then turned the gun towards the first officer the one he had knocked unconscious with the iron rod. He fired again eliminating him as well. The second shot was just as loud just as final.
With both officers dead Adam moved with a cold detached efficiency. He was no longer a student.
He was a cleaner. He walked over to Andrew who was still unconscious from the beating.
Adam took the pistol and pressed it into Andrew's hand. He carefully wrapped the boy's fingers around the grip to ensure a clear set of fingerprints.
He then placed the gun on the ground next to Andrew's hand making it look like it had been dropped.
Next he took the iron rod. Since he had been wearing gloves his own fingerprints weren't on it.
He placed the rod in the hand of one of the unconscious police officers. He staged the scene to look like the officer had been using it as an improvised weapon. The story began to take shape.
He then began to meticulously erase any evidence of his own presence. He used a branch to sweep the ground obscuring his own footprints. He double-checked the entire area.
His enhanced perception allowed him to spot any detail that was out of place. A stray thread a disturbed leaf. He wanted the scene to tell a very specific story.
A group of delinquent students had gotten into a violent altercation. When the police intervened things had escalated tragically.
Andrew the son of a cop had panicked and shot the officers. It was a plausible story a tragedy born of youthful violence and a moment of panic.
It would be investigated. But the investigation would follow the clues he had left for them. It would lead them away from him.
Once he was satisfied that the scene was perfect he approached the dead officer whose uniform was still intact. He stripped the man of his police uniform.
He left him in his undershirt and pants. He folded the uniform neatly and carried it with him. He then changed back into the girl's clothes Sophia had given him.
He concealed the police uniform in the bag he had been carrying.
He walked down to the police van. He didn't tamper with it much. He only placed the folded uniform in the back out of sight.
It was another confusing detail another piece of a puzzle they would never solve.
The entire process was done with a slow deliberate calmness. It took him nearly an hour and a half to ensure every detail was perfect.
He worked in the dark surrounded by the unconscious and the dead. He felt nothing. No fear no remorse only a cold focus on the task at hand. Finally with his work complete he left the scene.
He didn't take the same path he had used to arrive. He chose a different more circuitous route down the hill. He ensured no one would see him leave the area.
He walked at a slow leisurely pace. His posture was relaxed. He appeared as just another girl walking home late at night.
He passed by the school his eyes scanning the streets ensuring no one was watching. The world was quiet now.
Eventually he reached the street where Sophia lived. From a distance he could see a light on in the second-floor window of her house. He could hear the faint sounds of laughter and conversation.
Sophia her sisters and her parents all together.
They were safe.
The sound stirred a pang of longing in his chest. A fleeting memory of his own parents of the simple happy life he had lost. The life that had been stolen from him.
He pushed the feeling away. He had no time for nostalgia for what was lost. He changed out of the girl's clothes and back into his gym attire which he had retrieved from the lamppost.
He had initially planned to return the bag with Sophia's clothes to her but he changed his mind. It was better to keep them. They might be useful again.
He walked away from her house. The bag was slung over his shoulder. He was a solitary figure on the dark empty street.
He walked without a destination his mind a quiet hum of thought. He couldn't go back to his own home. He knew it was booby-trapped.
For a moment a new more aggressive thought surfaced. Why not just go after all the people who had killed him in the previous loops? Why not eliminate them now while he had the advantage? He could hunt down the thugs he could find the others.
He quickly dismissed the idea. It was too reckless. It would draw too much attention to him. He was strong but he was not invincible. He was one person against a conspiracy.
Then a sense of satisfaction cold and clear settled over him. He realized that he had already eliminated two major threats from his life. The two corrupt police officers who had been part of the conspiracy against him.
The men who had tortured him in his first loop.
They were gone. And he had done it in a way that would never lead back to him.
No one would ever suspect that Adam the quiet high school student was involved.
He had played the game and won. He had left a perfectly staged scene of chaos and tragedy in his wake. It was a small victory in a much larger war.
But it was a victory nonetheless.
And for the first time since his parents died he felt a flicker of something that was almost like hope.