Death's Hunt

Chapter 2

The only time Anga ever giggled was when she had some kind of big plan. And every single time it always involved me. It’s not that I mind doing her favours, it’s more of how big the favour is.
“Anga, before you even say one thing, what kind of haul are we talking about?” I grumbled while pinching the bridge of my nose.
“We’re talking about the kind that’s in the triple digits.”
“You’re targeting a building, aren’t you?” It’s not like I could see it, but I knew that she was smiling behind that mask.
“What else would it be?” she replied.
“Boat, plane, train – all those can hold souls in the triple digit category,” Vlagor listed.
“That was a rhetorical question,” I mumbled under my breath. It’s not that he’s an idiot, it’s just that Vlagor tends to take questions literally. “Anga, what kind of building is this exactly?”
She lifted a finger before running into the back room. I could hear things like drawers opening, bottles shaking, and other stuff being moved around. I had never been into the back room, but I was pretty sure that it was a mess back there, since for almost a century now, there has always been a steady racket emerging from that part of the building.  She might have been doing this for a very long time but compared to some of the other deaths like myself, Anga was much younger. Really the thing about deaths is that we’re the souls who will not lay ourselves to rest. Ever since life started, this is how it’s been. I don’t know why it happens, but it does. I try not to think about it.
Finally, all the clattering settled and Anga came back with two things: one was a pamphlet, and the other was a picture frame. She first placed the latter on the table – it depicted a hospital. Looking up from it, I stared at her incredulously.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I growled.
“Listen Kakrix, I know how you feel about…”
I cut her off, “I’ve told you: I don’t kill those who are already going to die!”
“You know that there’s a good portion of these lives which will live, right?” Anga stated.
“I don’t target these places!”
“Listen Kakrix, all three of us know that it’s not because you don’t want to kill someone who’s already going to die. It’s because you don’t want to do it to a kid.”
I stayed quiet for a few seconds. She was right. As much as I try to do my job, it’s always the young souls I have a hard time taking. I finally replied, “Why a hospital? You could easily get the same number of souls by doing it to an office building or a hotel.”
“Because of this,” she quickly said while putting the pamphlet on the counter. It wasn’t one of those flashy big pamphlets or anything like that, just a folded piece of paper with words written on it. The one thing that did catch my eye was its title: Soul Hunt.
“I am determined to win this year!” Anga told us while pointing at the piece of paper. Vlagor looked at her before listing the reasons why she never won.
“Well Anga, the reason you never won is because you never got the most souls, you always let your competition with Sheri get the best of you, and most of the years, you don’t even have the right number of teammates.”
“Yes, thank you for reminding me Vlagor,” Anga growled.
“But who knows, maybe you could win this year,” Vlagor said encouragingly.
“Listen, I have been practicing very hard for the past few years. I’ve been able to kill a lot of things all at once, and I’ll have you know that I’ve been very good at ignoring Sheri.”
“That last one is debatable,” I said looking at her skeptically.
“That’s only because she came inside MY establishment,” Anga stated defensively.
“Well, if that’s the case, then all you need to do is find three teammates who are willing to help you,” Vlagor laughed.
“I already got you two.”
I quickly unfurled my wings while slamming my hand on the counter, making myself look ten times bigger than I was. “WHAT?”
“Maybe you should let her explain before you get angry,” Vlagor calmly told me while placing his hands on my wings, trying to place them back to their resting state.
“Listen Kakrix, I know this is sudden and all of that, but both you and Vlagor are the best teammates I could have… you know?” I just glared at her from the other side of the counter. “Listen Kakrix, you do this for me and I promise I will never force you to have something to eat or drink here ever again. You’ll be able to just deposit your souls in peace and leave. If that is what you want.”
I put away my wings and began to relax. That offer was very tempting, I will admit. I tapped my fingers on the counter as I thought. Finally, I sighed in defeat. “Fine, I will do it,” I mumbled, “but you have to keep your promise.”
“All right Kakrix, you have yourself a deal” Anga stated with a tiny bit of triumph in her voice.
“But where exactly do you intend on finding your fourth and final teammate?” I asked.
“He is right. Besides myself and Kakrix, you don’t socialize with many of the other deaths outside of giving them their food and drinks,” Vlagor said.
“That’s where the hospital comes in,” Anga explained turning her attention back to the picture frame. “You see, I’ve heard from some very good sources that somewhere in this hospital there is a very, very restless soul. All we need to do is make it leave its mortal body.”
“So you’ve eavesdropped on some conversation about the possibility of a restless soul waiting to become a death, being found in a hospital,” I bluntly recapped.
“Well, hmm… yes,” Anga admitted.
“Well,” I said getting up from the stool, “we better get to work.” I knew Anga was beaming underneath her mask. She ran into the backroom, more loud noises were heard, and she came back with a bell and hammer. I looked confused. “What are you…” but I hardly had the chance to let those few words out of my mouth before she began hitting the bell with her mallet and grabbed everyone’s attention.
“All right! Clear out of my bar!” she yelled. “This place is going to be closed for some time! Get all your things and clear out!”
A lot of deaths complained, but they knew it was useless to bicker with her, especially when it came to her bar. In only a few minutes, the place was empty with the exception of myself, Vlagor and Anga.
“All right, let’s get down to business,” she mumbled tossing the hammer and bell over her shoulder. There was a resounding crash indicating that something broke, but she didn’t seem to care.
“All right, you two, get ready,” she exclaimed while opening the back door. In the mortal world this would have been an emergency exit, but considering that we were very much immortal, this extra door had just become a convenient back door to the building. As we walked out, a constant blanket of mist and fog swirled around us while the leafless and dead trees stood crookedly amongst the grey dirt. Their pointed branches looked like black spears, giving off a threatening aura while Anga explained her plan.
“So Kakrix will fly me up to the roof where I can pump my gas into the ventilation system. All you two need to do is tear up any stragglers.” The fact that she said this in such a nonchalant manner sometimes worried me. Maybe being stuck in that bar for so long caused her to become a bit blood thirsty. When the fog finally cleared, we found ourselves close to the hospital, pictured in the photo.
“Well, here we are – Tokyo, Japan,” Anga announced.
“I must say, the place sure has changed since the last time I was here,” Vlagor chuckled.
“Last time you were here was World War II,” I mumbled. “The place was destroyed by the 1942 Tokyo Bombing, so of course it’s going to look different.”
“At least, he’s seen it,” Anga laughed, reminding me that in all of my existence I had only once gone to Japan.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I sighed as I shielded my eyes from the bright lights. I really didn’t like working in city environments. Too many things happening all at once. I much preferred doing my hunting in the countryside. I couldn’t help but squint at the colourful glow of the futuristic metropolitan as we got closer to the multistoried hospital. When we reached the entrance, I grabbed Anga by the waist and flew her up to the roof.
“All right, here are your vents,” I said grumpily pointing to the metal tubes protruding from the ceiling. She walked over to them and took off her mask, something she almost never did, revealing an incredibly wide mouth which spanned from one ear, cut across her face and ended at the other ear, giving her an almost permanent grin. She undid the hoses that were connecting her mask to the CO2 tank strapped to her back and pushed them into the vent. Almost instantly the gas was pulled into the air ducts, replacing the fresh air with something toxic.
I waited for about fifteen minutes before Anga pulled the hoses out of the air ducts, reinserted them in her mask and gave me the all-clear. I let my monster birds burst out of my back and form an enormous cloud above the hospital to signal to Vlagor that it was time for us to go to work. Almost as soon as all my partners were released, I heard a loud crash coming from the ground floor. I knew Vlagor had plowed his way through the doors instead of just opening them. I don’t think he has ever grasped the concept of subtlety. Turning toward the roof door, I pointed to it and in an instant my little friends disperse from above before gnawing through it, allowing me access to the stairwell. As I casually walked through each pristine white corridor, the monster birds came back with the souls of the deceased and dropped them in my bag. I knew for a fact that Anga was taking the souls on the floor beneath me while Vlagor was working his way up, probably busting down every door in the process. Everyone kept doing their job until we all met on the middle floor.
“Any of you got a restless soul?” Anga asked.
“I haven’t had any luck,” I mumbled.
“Nope,” Vlagor said.
“Neither have I,” Anga sighed.
“I knew that was just a rumour,” I growled.
“Let’s not be too hasty, Kakrix,” Vlagor objected. “We still have this floor to search.”
“All right. You two take the left, I will take the right,” I said. As they ran off, I snapped my fingers telling the flock to spread out and search. Of course, I wasn’t being lazy either. As I moved from room to room, I also grabbed the souls of those whom I found dead from Anga’s CO2 attack. As I made my way through each room, I eventually found myself standing in front of the door leading to the last room I had not checked. I opened the door and looked around. There was only one bed in there, and that’s when I saw it: a young girl and she was still alive.