August 13, 2021
12:01 am
By now, many people had died. And several more are about to, as the number of calls Death-Cast makes today would rise higher and higher.
But all that didn't matter to him, because he wasn't here for the dead. He was here for the dying.
He didn't know how the sensors in his wrist worked. All he knew was that it could tell when someone was on the brink of death.
He checked the gadget. There were more than ten on the area he was walking on alone. In cities, it would be much more. And it would be constantly changing and ever dynamic, as people die every second.
But one red dot piqued his interest more than most. Not only was it close by, it was also beeping constantly. After a few minutes, it hadn't disappeared.
Whoever this person is was most tenacious indeed.
He sighed and decided that maybe it was best to visit this person, before they became much more of a nuisance to him and to others.
He deviated from the bright light and made his way past the several stone houses clustered by the river. He made sure that nobody saw him by blending in the total darkness.
Then, he turned a corner and saw that behind a house, was a boy laying on the grass. It lined up with the red dot on his sensor.
He approached the boy and assessed that he was definitely not even eighteen yet, but looked mature enough to pass for it, even through that blood and bruises.
He was coughing more blood and didn't even acknowledge the shadow that was looking over him. In fact, he was looking at the sky. He took one big breath and was about to close his eyes until. . .
"What a shame," he said to the bleeding boy.
"What? Huh?" he managed to say, despite the obvious pain. He finally looked at him. "Who. . .you?"
"Nobody in particular," he responded evenly.
He coughed in response.
He managed to get a better view of him. He was wearing a. . .dress? "Haven't you noticed yet? It's currently five minutes past midnight. Right now, Death-Cast is hard at work, bringing fear to perhaps millions of people, saying that they die today."
"Today?" His voice was raspy, broken. Blood sputtered out of his mouth. "I. . .didn't die? Why. . ?"
"I don't know," he answered. "But some mysteries are better left unsolved, right?" He chuckled.
There was a bit of silence between the both of them.
"Are you going to"--he coughed up more blood--"kill me? Ugh, everything hurts."
"I could, but I'm choosing not to. I. . .take pity in your situation. Because I was just like you once."
He forced out a laugh. "Ha! It's been a. . .pretty rough. . .day, I'll admit." Then, he paused. "Because you. . .were supposed to. . .die?"
He nodded. "Yeah. But someone picked me up and made me a better person and gave me a better life than I had before."
". . .'s good. . ."
"I could do the same for you. Voluntary, of course. If you refuse, I can blow your head off and frame it on the kids who beat you up and returned with a stolen cop's gun."
He snickered. "Sounds. . .like. . .something. . .I'd. . .read. . ."
"Or you could die by bleeding out, whatever. Remember, you have a choice. And either way, your current pain would be removed from you."
He considered it. "What. . .do. . .have. . .lose? I'll. . .take. . .it."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I would regret killing you."
"Gonna. . .die. . .you. . .nothing. . ."
He popped out some pills and gave one to the boy.
"What's. . ."
"An anasthetic pill," he said. "It should numb the pain for a while. Then. . ." He carried his bleeding body. "we can take you to the healing center."
"Huh. . ?"
"Welcome to the Post Mortem Agency, Matthew Payo." He began walking back the way he came, with a bleeding boy on a bridal carry. "We handle all the people who fail to meet. . .the deadline."
"Mhm. Cool. . ."
"After the healing center, we can begin training you how to kill."
The End?