Grilfer - Mortal Reaper

Chapter Five (Part One) - Lauren

Centuries later

It had been a long week for Lauren, trying to save as many people as she could and putting herself at the bottom of the list. This is something that she would often do, as her job and the people that she would interact with meant the most to her. Lauren was a charity worker, which meant long hours and a selfless nature but sometimes she had to take a step back, relax and enjoy herself.

It had been a few weeks since Lauren had been out on the town with her girlfriends and tonight was that night.

Time to let her hair down, have a few too many drinks and relax with her friends.

After a few hours of drinking and dancing, it was time to head home, get some rest and start the next day ready to help the people that needed it most.

Lauren began to walk down Main Street, towards the bus stop where she would catch the no.92 which was a handy bus as it stopped right outside her apartment block. Towards the end of the street there appeared to be a group of other drunk people, they had decided that they needed to try and knock some sense into each other. This sort of behaviour was something that went against Laurens nature, down at a molecular level. To avoid any unnecessary conflict, she turned off Main Street and began to walk down Croft Avenue.

The street was empty as it was now past midnight and most people were tucked up in their beds, warm and cosy, rather than wandering the streets in the cold swaying from one side of the street to the other.

Lauren was nearly half way down the street when she thought she could hear someone coming up behind her. Her heart rate elevating and panic beginning to set in, she went into flight mode and began running down the street. Fitness wasn't something that she had time for and within a few short minutes, she was out of breath and had to stop running.

Lauren looked behind her, there was no one there, the streets were as empty as the moment she stepped onto them. It must have been the drink paranoia kicking in. Lauren continued on her journey towards the bus stop, when one of the street lamps began to flicker on and off behind her. One light went out, then the next, then the next, the street becoming darker and darker with every passing moment. With a bit of air back in her lungs, Lauren began to run again. Every few metres another light would go out behind her, it was like they were following her.

Now at the end of the street, she had made it to Willow Lane. There was only this road to go until she would be back on Main Street and at the bus stop where there was sure to be a lot more people around. Turning onto Willow Lane the lights continued to go out behind her, one by one their brightness dimming.

Lauren couldn't run any longer, she had to stop. Plucking up the last piece of courage in her, she turned to face where the lights had been going out and whoever she could sense behind her.

Nothing, the street was empty, devoid of light but completely empty. All of sudden all the lights on the street behind her went out, she turned quickly back around to see what was going on. Her face was greeted by that of a creature, the only light that could be seen was the fires of Hell burning in his sockets. Lauren let out a loud scream, but it was too late. The creature grabbed her, dragging her to the side of the street, muffling any sound that she tried to make.

The creature began to chant and Lauren started to slip out of consciousness into a deep sleep on the pavement.

Grilfer was tall and thin due to the fact he had no skin or muscle to bulk him out, he was merely bones. His fingers like talons moving through the air like they were crawling, now rested over Lauren's head. Above her forehead a triangle was made with his long fingers and the incantation began

The young woman was wondering the streets in her dream. Where everything once populated, was no more. People lay on the streets, perished and unable to be helped. She moved from person to person, she knew them all but each of them was dead. Beginning to panic Lauren ran down the street through the piles of the dead, trying to make her way to somewhere other than this street. She made it to the end of the street, however it wasn't the end. She was back at the beginning.

Making her way slowly down the street again through the countless bodies, she turned to find a young woman still gasping for life on the floor. She ran over to her to see what she could do to help. Lauren fell backwards onto the ground, she realised who this person was. She was looking down at herself, the one person she would put last in a list of people to help, and here she was the only one left to save herself.

Plucking up some courage she approached the body on the floor but she was to late, the last breath had left her body. In a fit of panic, Lauren stood up and began to run down the street. As she reached the end, out of nowhere a man appeared in front of her. This man was one of the guys fighting that she was trying to avoid. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a knife and drove it through her chest, causing Lauren to fall to the ground. 

Blood starting to pour from the wound. She began to drag herself towards the side of the street. Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, she put her hand to her chest, it was covered in blood. She got to her knees and began to try and stand up but collapsed due to the amount of blood she was losing every time her heart tried to pump it around her body. She lay there on the curb, just like the version of her she had tried to help.

Lauren began to hyperventilate, struggling to get her breath. After just a few mins, she began to fade, the light behind her eyes was beginning to dim. She turned to the left and saw a person running towards her, help was coming. The person stopped in their tracks and fell to the ground, the life was beginning to leave her now. The figure got up and began to head over to Lauren, but before they reached her she passed away.

The next moment Lauren was standing at the end of the street again, surrounded by the dead bodies of people she once knew. In the distance she could see a woman lying on the floor still gasping for breath, she began to run over to her and suddenly stopped in her tracks. The woman on the floor was her, she was dying on the street in front of her own eyes.

To be continued...