"Rigor Mortis"-The life after death RP(Started/PM for participation)-Arc 4: Closing Loose Ends

[Berenzen]

As Ben felt the jaws closing around his throat, he tried to scream, but couldn't- no air could escape.

He slowly felt the world draw distant to him, as if it were receding away. Time slowed down, Adrian's voice sounding like it was coming through water.

Then, nothing.

Ben felt flashes of terror and anger run through him as the emptiness consumed him. He would not let the emptiness win. Ben filled himself with anger and rage, battling the feeling of emptiness that surrounded him.

I. WILL. NOT. GIVE. IN.

The rage consumed him as he attempted to scream at the emptiness.

CHARON! BRING ME BACK!

It seemed like hours that he fought the emptiness like this, losing ground every second of it, if he won, it would be a Pyrrhic victory. The rage cooled in him, becoming no less filled with rage, but turned into a cold, dispassionate anger.

CHARON!

His last thought screamed across the darkness as he stepped onto a darkling plain.

 

[TheIronRuler]

The other one is already dead , Edger thought. He knew what Greg was capable of. That the reason why he looked for his breed in the first place. Protect and serve the household, that was his job he faithfully performed for years. He felt ashamed at his inaptness in a fight and struggled for air as the other stranger held him tight. "Down", Edger shouted at Greg, "Down, Sit Greg! Stop!" he continued sending commands at his dog. Greg dismounted the bleeding corpse of Ben and sat down looking at his owner, his face covered in blood.

"I'm already a dead man. I only used two years, but I can't keep on paying her." Edger said. He tried to break free from the stranger's grip but Adrian pushed him to the wall. "Are you going to end the deal? I can't pay my debt." Edger spouted. He tried to keep himself calm, but the knowledge that his family is sleeping upstairs couldn't let him.
"Just...just don't hurt my kids, or my wife", Edger pleaded for his life.
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Dan looked at the lobby he left only minutes ago. "The second floor" he said, "Up there is my office. I can get you the documents you need there".

 

[Generic_Username]

The situation changed in a heartbeat and Spencer felt as if his legs were cut off. The voices in his head were conflicting.

He wanted to try and stop Higgins. But the man had already died once. His time was over a long time ago, and by prolonging it, Alice gave him a delusion of invincibility. It was highly unlikely he would listen to a voice of reason.

On the other hand, he might as well let him do it. For all he knew, Alice might actually react to Higgins' death and show herself. If not, by letting him do it, he and Evey would be done with the job, assuming the "debt" they were supposed to collect was the borrowed time Higgins was living on.

Trying not to think of how much he'd disappoint his sister with this decision, he stood and watched as Higgins held the knife over his throat, calling out for his "angel".

 

[Link_to_Future]

Adrian couldn't believe it. The canine had ripped Brendan's throat to completely shreds. A pit grew in his stomach as he stared at the deep crimson liquid pouring from freshly opened wound. However, the worst part of it was the sudden realization that he did not mourn the violent death of his comrade. A deep sensation of relief had actually washed over him which actually made him feel quite guilty.

That boy wasn't right. Maybe we're better off this way.

Maybe...

Still, there was the matter at hand to deal with.

"I'm already a dead man. I only used two years, but I can't keep on paying her."

Larkin struggled, trying to slip free from Adrian's grasp. It was a futile exercise from the position Adrian had him in. The geologist pushed him firmly against the wall to steady his grasp.

"Are you going to end the deal? I can't pay my debt."

"Edgar, I don't want to kill you but you aren't leaving me with a lot of options. Both you and I are obviously in over our heads here. I don't want to deprive your children of a father...your wife of a husband. But there are certain stipulations as to the nature of my employment that I have to hold up."

Adrian could feel the syringe shaking slightly in his hand from the adrenaline pumping in his veins.

"Just...just don't hurt my kids, or my wife"

"I swear to you, I will not touch a hair on any of their heads. But are you sure that you just want to leave them like that? All you would have to do is find the way to pay up and you can continue living your quiet suburban existence. Our business would have concluded."

He swallowed hard.

"I'm just asking...isn't that how you would rather have it?"

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

"Wait, no!" Evey shouted, not wanting to see the old man commit suicide, but simultaneously rooted to the spot by the curiosity gained from a chance to actually see the "Alice" that she had been told to say had sent her. Was she really a angel? Or just another necromancer like the man who had resurrected her? Either way, she wanted to find out, and so against her conscious will she remained where she was, reaching out to Higgins rather than helping. Watching as he prepared to stab himself, not too dissimilarly to how she had. The only differences were that he was doing it deliberately, and instead of a well cared for, regularly sharpened high-carbon stainless steel laminate kitchen knife, it was a fairly cheap, blunt, tin or iron letter opener. It didn't cut the skin straight away, Higgins had to press hard before there was enough force to tear the skin, making a mildly jagged cut. When the blood began to trickle over the blade, Evey couldn't bear to watch any more, and turned her head away, shielding her face with an arm.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

As they ascended the cold dark stairwell (Mr. Mark in front, Marcus close behind, and Mira bringing up the rear) Marcus wondered how the others were doing. For the most part they were good people, and he was worried about them. Spencer and Evey were just kids for Christ's sake! They could all already be dead right now for all he knew. Marcus wished they could have all stuck together, and right now he longed to be back with them, even Brendan, rather than snooping around this damn place with a man who barely made sense and had nothing comforting to say when he did. A part of Marcus secretly wished he'd chosen the crushing oblivion of death over this.

He racked his brains trying to work out exactly what it was he was feeling. It took him a disconcertingly long time to realize it was sadness. Marcus wondered if perhaps he had become so well practiced at hiding his feelings behind his cold, stoic demeanor, that he had become separated from them. Unable to make sense of them and, maybe in time, unable to feel at all?

The thought made him feel even worse. While he would be the last person to claim he was a saint, Marcus knew that whatever else he was or may become, he wasn't a psychopath. He did feel things, he did regret the times he had wronged others, even if it had made him feel good at the time. Perhaps the problem was that, deep down, he felt too much. He was a victim. His life had been marked by a pain that had been too hard to bear when he was just a boy. He had always liked to think he had risen above it, that he had taken control; but now he was starting to consider a less flattering view of himself. All this time he had been running, scared to stop and let all that emotion crash over him like a tidal wave.

"Will anyone else still be around?" Marcus asked as the reached the second floor.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Ben felt the eerily familiar sensation of darkness he felt when he drew his last breath for the first time. But something was different. Instead of being pulled in deeper into the darkness, he floated and became aware. His screams did not disappear into the emptiness, but echoed through it. He could feel it again. The cold through his very soul. It felt so familiar.

Edger begged for his life. "I can't, I can't protect those murderers, if I help them others will die", Edger said. His eyes began to water. His voice trembled as he spoke, "You... You can help me stop them. I'm sorry for your friend, but you can help me put an end to this madness-" Edger continued his plea. Loud noises came from upstairs. A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the house. "No", Edger screamed and broke away from Adrian. He pushed him aside and jumped over the body of Ben, running upstairs.

"Margeret" he screamed as he run up the stairs. Another scream came from upstairs. Then another. "No", Edger screamed. He went around the corner and to the second floor. "Why", he mumbled. He walked backwards and Adrian saw him again. A hand grabbed him.

Ben was violently thrown out of the darkness. "You can never rest", he heard an unfamiliar voice tell him. "Never". Ben woke up and saw his wound was healed and Adrian staring at Edger on the second floor being held in the air by someone's hand.

"I killed them. You had to pay interest" a deep and husky voice was heard coming from the second floor. His hand glowed in red as Edger tried to break free from his grip. "Stop resisting", the voice said. Edger was dragged to the top of the stairs. Adrian and Ben could now see the person that held him. It was Frank. He threw him down the stairs and a loud snap was heard. Edger was no more. Frank walked down the stairs and noticed the dog running towards him. He raised his hand in the air and pointed at the canine. A small, red flame came from the tip of his finger and met the dog's skull. It pierced through its skull and disappeared.

"Your first death", Frank spoke to Ben, "You'll get used to it. You're done. Go home". Frank commanded the two to leave. He sat down on the bottom of the stairs and took a cigarette out of his pocket. He put it in his mouth and used the same gesture he used earlier to light the cigarette. "Piss off".

 

[Berenzen]

Ben looked on the carnage in stunned awe- he was alive- someone had heard his cries through the darkness, though who was the unfamiliar voice- was it Alice that said those words? There were too many unanswered questions.

Ben surveyed the scene again, so much power. He looked at Charon, this man-no thing, he was definitely not human- it would be a formidable opponent indeed. Ben wanted the power that this thing had.

"Very well, we'll leave, thank you for the intervention."

Ben turned and left the house, strolling across the lawn, it would be interesting to see the news tomorrow.

Ben entered the car and turned it on. Cage the Elephant's "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" played over the radio, an apt song, particularly for what had been said to him during the time he had been dead. Ben pondered over what Charon had said as he waited for Adrian.

My first death? I'll try my damnedest to make it my last. I think it's time to invest in something a little bit more long range.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Higgins pressed the blade into his throat. As he fell down, blood poured from the wound. It would take several minutes till his demise, in only two of them he will be consciousness. As he laid there he looked back at his life. His now deceased wife. His greedy children. His dead comrades. He outlived all of them, but he was the most miserable.

Nothing happened. The strangers stood in the apartment of the old man and watched him slowly perish. No lights, no sound, nothing. Just silence.
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"Nobody is here", Dan answered his kidnapper. He walked towards a closed office and pointed at it, "That's where I work". "Let me go and I'll get you the documents. I can't go through the files like that", Dan told Marcus.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"That's where I work". "Let me go and I'll get you the documents. I can't go through the files like that"

"Nice try" Marcus replied, almost amused rather than angry now, "But we've come too far now to just let go."

Marcus' moment of introspection had faded. He promised himself he would revisit it later. Perhaps it was his experience of death that had changed his perspective, but he now felt like it as important to figure stuff like this out, rather than just stow them away and pretend that it all happened too long ago to matter any more. However, he couldn't afford to distract himself with it right now, he had to accomplish his task and and get both him and Mira out of their current situation alive first.

"Were coming in with you." Marcus told him "You will tell us where the documents are and we will collect them ourselves. If you've been telling the truth then we will let you go once we get out of here safely. Is that clear?"

 

[Generic_Username]

Spencer stepped back to avoid the pool of blood making its way towards him. There's five liters of blood in a human body. He heard it all before, but only now did he realize how much there actually was. The sight made him feel sick to the stomach.

It took a few minutes for Higgins to stop moving. There was no sign of Alice. Spencer walked around the body and sat on the bed. He never imagined he would find himself in this sort of situation, but if he did, he expected he would feel fear. Grief. Sorrow. But all he could feel was relief.

It's over. He's dead.

There were no sounds coming from the outside. It had to be past midnight. He wondered if the old wooden floors were strong enough to keep the blood from seeping through them and into the apartment below. He stood up and turned to Evey, who was still frozen in her defensive stance, turned towards the door. He could hear her breathe slowly and deeply, as if trying to steady her nerves.

"Perhaps we should go."

Remembering that he still had no weapons, he took a deep breath, reached over the pool of blood and took Higgins' letter opener, before walking out of the apartment. It was old and the blade was dull, but it was the only thing in the apartment that looked like a weapon, and who knew if they'd have any chance of finding something else before the next "job".

I wish this wasn't necessary.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Mira adopted a temporary oath of silence as they went through the dark office halls in search for whatever they needed to get for whoever needed it. She kept her eyes on the man but also behind her in case anything could pop out any second. Mira knew she was scared but she couldn't afford to show it to Marcus or their target.

"That's where I work". "Let me go and I'll get you the documents. I can't go through the files like that"

Mira was looking the other way when she heard those words whispered by Mr. Mark. Then as she looked towards him she heard Marcus utter his threats. Part of her didn't believe what he was saying but another sympathized with him, being placed in this situation.

"Please, just give us what we need and everything will be alright. I promise." Mira added. She wanted to slap herself for saying such a thing but at this point she saw it fit to add that last piece even if it meant she had to break it.

 

[Link_to_Future]

The syringe slipped between Adrian's fingers as the screams of the family above reached his ears. His entire body froze up as he imagined the faces of his wife and daughter. They were not involved in any of this, just like Edgar's family was in no way connected to this deal. But the shadowy man...he had just murdered them all in cold blood. The powers on display and the resurrection of Brendan didn't even fully register in his mind. Every thought he had was a thought of screaming horror.

If I don't follow orders...what stops them from doing the same to me?

He silently left the house and followed Brendan. All the color had drained from his face and made him look like a sickly ghost. Fitting really.

His eyes found their way to Brendan and he began to realize just what had happened in the house. He had been dead again. There was no way that the dog had left that psycho alive. And yet here he stood, alive and kicking.

What sort of technology is this? How is it able to bring us back from the dead and heal wounds like this?

He sat down in the car and rubbed his eyes. Tonight had been more terrifying in more ways than he ever would have imagined.

"Let's just get out of here."

 

[TheIronRuler]

"Fine", Dan walked up to his office door. It was unlocked and he opened it. Inside he saw his desk and filing cabinet. "Down there are the files and a lock-box." Dan explained to Marcus where are the documents he was after.
"You need bio-metric verification for the second one", Frank announced as he wiggled his hand. He came from the left corner of the room, his loafers and sleeves covered in blood. "Let me open it for you", he told the others.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"The fuck are you doing here?!" Marcus thought. Once again, just when Marcus was beginning to get a handle on the situation, Boss had swept the rug from under his feet. Was this always how it was going to happen? Was Boss going to keep snatching away every ounce of control Marcus had over his own circumstances. Marcus had known he was no good from the beginning, and what he had heard from Mr. Mark about Boss' employer had done nothing to put him at ease.

He glanced sideways at Mr. Mark. So far, Marcus had kept his promise. He had co-operated, and Marcus had no intention of harming him. That had been their deal and he intended to uphold it. However, Marcus had a bad feeling that Boss was here to finish things his way, which (judging by the blood on his clothes) he doubted would be pleasant. He casually took a step in front of Mr. Mark, shielding him. Marcus knew he was being stupid, but it was a matter of principle. He had made a promise, and he wasn't just going to let Boss swan in here and play judge, jury, and executioner whenever he felt like it.

"What are you doing here?" Marcus asked, his voice low and deadly. "I thought this was supposed to be our mission. Why bother sending us if you were just going to come out here and do things yourself anyway?"

 

[TheIronRuler]

Dan saw the shady man appear in his office, but he had no time for questions or staying idle. He grabbed Marcus and pushed his to the other corner of the room. He then ran forward and reached his desk. He crouched and then opened the lower drawer, grabbing the metal box and putting it on the desk. As he tried to put his hand over the top of the box, he suddenly stopped.

"Bad boy", Frank said as he held Dan's hand in midair,"Let me open it for you", he added. He pressed Dan's hand against the desk with his left hand and moved his hand above the desk. His hand began glowing in a fiery red and orange color, and before Dan could try and beg for mercy, Frank preformed a knife-hand strike and severed his hand.

The stunned Dan began screaming and fell to the floor, holding his severed arm. Frank took Dan's severed hand and pressed it against the metal box, opening it. He took out two large paperback books and placed it on the desk. He also pulled out a Smith&Wesson revolver. "See", he put the gun on the desk, "He could have shot you", Frank spoke with his two employees.

"Medic", Frank shouted at Mira, "Treat the man. I don't want him dead yet".

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

"Well fuck." Evey said, at a loss of anything else to say. She had been frozen in place, listening to the blood gurgle from the man's throat as he passed away, hearing the pitter-patter as the drops first hit the ground, turning rapidly into a pulsing gush and ending with his heart as a slow drip, drip, dripping sound.

Evey felt like vomiting, but managed to control herself eventually, taking deep, slow breaths. The situation struck all too familiar a chord with her own death, and as she turned toward the door, the bloody floor sent her mind back to when she mopped up the blood from her own death, almost in a hypnotic daze.

"Perhaps we should go."

Evey didn't respond, she just left, and tried not to hear the quiet schlick as Spencer pulled the letter opener from its resting place.

When they reached the ground floor, she wondered if they should call someone and tell them, as quite clearly the man didn't get any visitors, but she also didn't want to leave any evidence, and an English-American girl going missing on the same day as a man dies violently, only to be reported by a girl with an English accent would definitely appear suspicious if anyone thought to look. Not wanting to dwell on the situation, she simply turned to Spencer, and said "Let's just get out of here."

 

[Berenzen]

Ben pulled out of the parking space quietly, trying to draw as little attention as possible. He turned the lights back on when he was halfway down the street, going the opposite way that they had come in.

The trip back was silent as Ben took the long route back. Adrian seemed frozen in shock, terror, and guilt at what had just happened.

"Don't feel guilty about the family, they were involved the moment that he went home to them. I'm pretty sure that they were like us, and this assignment was both a test and a warning. If you decide to run, don't go back to your friends or family, as you will risk their lives alongside yours."

Ben stopped a block from the apartment, no need to announce where they were staying.

"I'll drop you off here, the apartment is a block ahead, I need to go run a few errands."

Ben left Adrian on the side of the street and headed back to his old apartment. When he arrived, he grabbed the pair of coolers in his storage space and started to clear out the chemicals there- acids, anesthetics, and basic chemical compounds, separating the fridge and room chemicals with the freezer chemicals. He dropped a several freezer packs into the cooler with the freezer chemicals, and one with the others. That should keep them preserved for a while anyway. He picked up the two coolers and shut the door. He headed back down to his car placing the coolers into the back passenger seat. Ben got back into the car and headed back for his new apartment.

Parking behind the apartment, he grabbed the coolers and headed up to the apartment, opening the door and heading to the fridge. He put the dry chemicals in a cupboard keeping the fridge and freezer chemicals in their coolers, they should keep until he could find a place to put them, and if not, well, he could cut the losses, most of the more dangerous stuff didn't need to be refrigerated or frozen. He headed back down to his car and grabbed the backpack filled with his clothes. He grabbed a black t-shirt out of the bag and replaced the one he had on with it. Grabbing the pack, he locked his car and headed back up to the apartment. He placed his pack in one of the corners, sat on the sofa, and waited for the others to arrive.

 

[Generic_Username]

Spencer and Evey walked to the apartment in utter silence. The brutal suicide they had just witnessed left a mark on both of them. Spencer considered breaking the silence a couple of times, but opted against it.

"I stabbed myself. I was clearing up, and I tripped and just sort of fell onto a kitchen knife."

The words echoed in his head. He imagined the scene of Evey's death must have looked quite similar to the one they left behind. The cause of death. The bloody floor. Experiencing two similar deaths in the same day, one of them being her own, had to have been difficult.

As they walked, his thoughts drifted to the others. He wondered if they were already done with their jobs, or if they were even still alive. If Higgins, a man who was at least well into his fifties, had given them so much trouble, and even gone so far as to try to attack them with a letter opener, the rest of the "targets" had to have been at least as dangerous.

As they entered the apartment, Brendan was already there, along with some storage containers he didn't remember seeing before. Relieved to see someone else was still alive, but still too overwhelmed for pleasantries, Spencer almost didn't notice him. He wondered why Adrian wasn't at the apartment yet. He laid down on a bed, but sleep was out of the question. He stared at the ceiling, trying to get as much rest as he could before the next job.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

The blind rage Marcus felt at Mr. Marks attempt to kill him was enough to eclipse even the shock of what he had just witnessed.

"You son of a *****!" he shot at the whimpering, cowering wreck that he now saw before him. "I was going to let you live!"

He turned to Boss,

"You're going to have to stop saving my life like that, or I might start to think you're not so bad." He said with only partial sarcasm. "You want him alive for now? Fine. But when you're done with him, I'd like to do the honors."

Marcus picked the gun up off the desk, in was a .357 Magnum semi-automatic. Powerful, yet relatively compact. Marcus had never actually held a gun before, but he knew about them and he knew how they worked. There had been no practical reasoning behind this before; as his fellow students at school had often remarked whenever Marcus showed extensive knowledge of something he had shown no prior interest in, he 'just knew these things'. If this had been just a taster of what was to come, Marcus felt he was going to need all the firepower he could lay his hands on.