[ WP ] Killing another human now allows you to exchange your remaining lifespan the victim 's . Young people live in fear while the elderly plan their attacks .

There'd been rumors going around that taking another's life could extend your own. That you would gain the years they had yet to live. 
 
 I'd thought it was a load of bullshit. This was n't some fictional voodoo book, this was real life. Of course, not everyone shared me point of view. We were already dealing with a rapidly increasing amount of homicide cases. The main offenders were the oldest, those who took each breath as their last. 
 
 How this many elderly people had come across the weaponry they used to kill was beyond me. I never thought a fragile old grandma could mow down the nurses in her retirement home with a military grade assault rifle. Yet it had happened. 
 
 The worst case we'd had was an old barbershop quartet that had volunteered to sing at a middle school assembly. I do n't think anybody could recover from that scene. 
 
 The weird part was, those who did the killing were also dead. Rumors or not, their was no reason for them to have died. Did the sight of so much blood cause a heart attack? Unlikely, though heart problems were common we could find no reason to believe that was the cause of death. 
 
 I'd decided this was the last case, I was getting too old for this shit. I'd worked hard enough that I could retire peacefully to some little cabin in the woods. It was pouring rain when we finally got the crime-scene. Luckily for us, there was no need to collect evidence. The killer was right here after all. He lay slumped against the wall, no gunshot wounds, stab marks, anything. He was perfectly healthy. Except for the, you know, dead part. 
 
 The victims of his murder were young two Japanese tourists. Perhaps they were merely touring the lesser known parts of the city, or maybe they had been lured here. 
 
 `` Another one?'' I heard someone call out, my partner, Gary, had arrived. 
 
 `` Yup'' I replied, sliding a glove onto my hand before slowly picking up the handgun that was lying by the killers hand. 
 
 `` For fuck's sake!'' Gary yelled, kicking over a stray trashcan. He had apparently spooked someone as a shadow that had been hiding nearby made a mad dash for the exit of the alleyway. 
 
 `` Freeze!'' I yelled, dropping the handgun onto the floor and drawing my own firearm. I was n't about to risk using a faulty gun. The person continued to run. I saw a flash of light as he fired back at us with a gun of his own. Gary took cover behind the remaining pile of trash and I knelt down beside a nearby dumpster and fired. One shot hit him in the back, the other flying just over his head. 
 
 Gary and I both carefully approached the fallen man and I kicked his weapon aside. 
 
 `` Clear!'' I yelled, holstering the gun and rolling the body beneath me so he was looking up at me. It was an elderly man, just like the one currently lying in the alleyway. He coughed up blood into the gutter, mixing with the rain. 
 
 `` Get me an ambulance'' I said to Gary. He nodded and pulled out his cellphone, rapidly dialing the number. 
 
 `` You killed me'' the man said, his raspy breaths growing shorter. 
 
 `` You fired first'' I said and shrugged. He managed to spit out a chuckle before his head fell back down to the concrete and remained still. I sighed and took my knee off of him. 
 
 I learned too late that some rumors were partially true. You really did take the years a person had left to live when you killed them. Too bad the dead do n't have any years left to live. 

