The story of a Death Inc Employee Part 1

Death Inc

Chapter 1

The Reaper and Documenter

The bonds of friendship

The door quickly swished up with a whoosh as a person entered through the door. The room was rather bare; there was a simple white bed with a white stool at the end of the bed. A single window illuminated the room, looking out on to what seemed to be endless white. The man threw his two bags on to the bed and sat down on to the bed. He had medium length brown hair that came down to his shoulders; he was wearing a black shirt with blue denim jeans. “So this is my room?” the man said with a big smile on his face as he looked around the room.

Suddenly the door swished open again, the man instantly jumped up to attention as he straightened his shirt and jeans. “It really isn’t necessary for you to stand to attention; you’re not in the army you know?” The other man said as he entered the room, the door closing behind him. “Oh sorry” The man said as he smiled nervously “Anyway, I am going to be your documenter” the other man said, he was wearing a white shirt, with navy blue trousers and a silver chequered tie. “A documenter?” The man asked “You don’t know what a documenter is?” The other man said with a surprised look on his face. The man stood still frightened desperately trying to remember his training, when suddenly it came back to him “I remember now, a documenter gives a Reaper their tasks and handles the finally stage of the processing of the soul” the man said with a sigh of relief as he began to slouch. “Yes that is correct” The man replied, “yeesh why do I have to get assigned to this guy anyway; it wasn’t even my fault in the first place” The man thought to him self damning his bad luck. He then searched through a bag that he was carrying and threw five large books on to the bed. “It appears that you need to do some more catching up, read these by the same time tomorrow. By the way my name is Gavreel it is a pleasure to meet you” Gavreel said as he turned around and exited the room. “Oh my name’s Ray!” Ray shouted just as the door slammed shut.

Ray stood there staring at the huge pile of book on his bed, “Aww man, how am I meant to read all of this by tomorrow, yeesh I didn’t think I would have to study again after I left the academy, what a pain” Ray said as he threw his bags off the bed and laid down. He picked up the first book and opened it up. “The rules of a Reaper” Ray said aloud reading the title of the book. “Rule 1: A Reaper must not interfere with either the world of the living or the world of the dead. Rule 2: A Reaper must not have contact with any individual of either world, unless it is one of the employee charges. Rule 3: A Reaper must not cause any harm or damage to either world, or individual unless it is one of the employee’s charges.” Ray said reading it in his head. He laid back and rested the book on to his face, “This is going to be a long day and night” Ray said as he closed his eyes.

The next day

Ray lay sprawled out across the bed with an open book covering his face, a soft snoring sound could be heard coming from underneath it. The door suddenly swished open as Gavreel entered the room “Good Morning!” Gavreel bellowed loudly on purpose. Ray instantly swung up propelling the book across the room and on to the floor, “huh?” Ray said softly as he wiped his hand across his face. Ray suddenly realised what was happening as he quickly jumped up out of bed with an embarrassed look on his face.

“Come, it is time to start your first day” Gavreel said as he stood in the door way waiting for Ray. “Really? I start work so soon” Ray replied as he started to rummage through his bags. “Ah here it is” Ray exclaimed as he removed a piece of clothing from the bag, it was a long black hooded coat. Ray whipped the coat around his shoulders and put his arms through the sleeves he then flipped the hood up over his head and stood there with his arms out stretched; the coat covered his entire body from head to toe. “Well how do I look?” Ray asked with a big smile on his face, “Yes very dapper, now can we please get going?” Gavreel replied gesturing towards the door. “Yes, fine” Ray replied obviously sulking.

As Ray left the room the door swished down behind him, he looked down the corridor in both directions but all he could see was a white corridor that seemed to stretch out endlessly in both directions. “Follow me” Gavreel said as he started to walk off down the corridor, Ray quickly jogged to catch up with him and then walked just behind him. “I didn’t notice it before but this corridor doesn’t seem to end.” Ray said as he continued to stare down the corridor desperately trying to see the end. “Huh, don’t be silly of course the corridor has an end. Although it probably doesn’t help that it is painted completely in white but then we would have people complaining about the colours but the cost of painting the entire building again would be astronomical. Anyway you will get used to it eventually or go insane either way.” Gavreel said as he came to a stop, a door suddenly open in the wall in front of him revealing an elevator.

Gavreel and Ray stepped in and Gavreel leaned over and pressed a button, the elevator doors closed and the elevator started to ascend up the building. “So how long have you been a documenter?” Ray asked nervously unsure on how Gavreel would react to him asking personal questions. “For as long as I can remember, so I guess that would be around ten thousand years at least of course to be sure I would have to check my personnel file” Gavreel replied the entire time he just stood just staring at the elevator doors, Ray just stood there for a few seconds in shock “Wow that’s a really long time, what made you pick to be a documenter anyway?” Ray asked “I am not really a people person” Gavreel replied as the door opened in front of them.

Another long corridor stretched out before them lit by a long line of ceiling lights, however this time on either side of the corridor there were clear glass windows. Ray could see people working on the other side of the glass; they were all wearing the same ragged grey cloth which covered their bodies. They all had no hair on their bodies and tubes with some liquid were being pumped in to them. They were working on PC’s; the flashes of light from the multiple monitors that surround each one illuminated their features. “Who are they?” Ray asked as he exited the elevator and walked up to the glass. “hmm” Gavreel replied as he exited the elevator and looked at what Ray was staring at. “Oh them, we just call them drones” Gavreel replied as he continued to walk down the corridor before quickly stopping after realising that Ray was not following him. Ray was just standing there transfixed on the other side of the glass. “What is the matter, surely you learned about the drones in the academy?” Gavreel asked surprised by his reaction to the drones. “Yes drones, a soulless life, it’s main and only purpose is the calculating of a persons life. This is because they are in fact clones of the people that they calculate, this means that they are more able to accurately predict the life expectancy of their counterparts” Ray said turning round to Gavreel.

“Because they are clones they are tied to that person, they feel what that person feels but only the strongest of emotions and sensations, mainly pain due to this when their counterpart dies they to die. They spend their entire existence calculating when they will die experiencing nothing for them selves.” Ray said in a sombre tone before looking back through the glass. “Ray they can only be defined as a living in most basic of terms, they breathe, eat and move but in reality all they are is soulless husks. They lack even the most primitive of instincts if they were not feed through the IV’s they would starve to death with out even lifting a finger.” Gavreel replied putting his hand on Ray’s shoulder and gesturing for him to come along. “It just doesn’t seem right” Ray said turning away from the glass and starting to walk back down the corridor. “Wow that really seemed to affect him, most people either ignore them or simply accept it as a necessity but he really seemed to care. If it truly was compassion then maybe I have misjudged you Ray, maybe you really do have what it takes after all.” Gavreel thought to him self as the two walked down the corridor.

After a while they reached a door with a sign above it. “Dimension Portal Room” Ray said reading the sign aloud “Yes it is time for your first task in the world of the living” Gavreel said as the door opened up in front of them. Inside was a plain white room with a circular podium with stairs leading up to it, a terminal stood beside it with several flashing LED lights. Gavreel walked up to the terminal and started to press several buttons , suddenly blue lights shone down on to the podium and almost instantly a liquid object in a rectangular shape appeared on the podium. “Is that the portal?” Ray asked walking slowly towards it. “Yes it is, senior Reaperss can create these at will however trainees like yourself are restricted to using these portals for the time being. It is for your own safety more then anything else, there have been some rather unfortunate accidents in the past, anyway to use it all you have to do is simply step through it so go ahead.” Gavreel said as he walked around to the stairs just behind Ray. Ray started to walk forward and as he reached the portal he touched it with his finger. It was cool and felt like liquid gel, “Well here goes nothing” Ray said to him self as he closed his eyes and walked through the portal.

The world of the Living – Earth

Ray stumbled forward almost falling over, the busy sound of the city echoed around him. As he looked around him, he could see that he was in the middle of a busy square; people were pushing and shoving up around him. As he looked up he saw a big monument, “what is that?” Ray said as he stared at it. “They call it nelsons columns” Gavreel answered appearing behind him causing Ray to jump slightly with fright. “This is London, Earth, welcome to your first time in the world of the living. It must be pretty daunting for you” Gavreel said reading Ray reaction. “It sure is busy around here, how comes nobody has noticed us?” Ray asked as people pushed past him without raising an eyebrow. “Oh that is a simple matter; no ordinary living being can see us. Only those who you wish or the departed otherwise it would cause a panic. Anyway we don’t have time to sightsee we have work to do” Gavreel said holding out his arm, with a puff of white smoke suddenly a clipboard appeared. “Oh yes my first task” Ray said turning round to face Gavreel, as he tried to focus.

“Ah yes, what luck. The portal brought us pretty much straight to him, your charge is a middle age man who has just died from a cardiac arrest. He should be just over there, around that group of people” Gavreel said pointing in the general direction. Ray looked over and could see a huddle of panicked people near the far end of the square. “Ok let’s do this!” Ray shouted as he jumped in the air with excitement, as he landed Ray instantly ran off towards the group. As he arrived he could see a middle aged man lying on the floor with several people standing around him. “So what do I do now, carry his body back to Death Inc?” Ray asked puzzled. “Don’t be silly” Gavreel said as he finally caught up wheezing slightly. “There he is” Gavreel said pointing to a man shouting at the crowd but no one was paying him any attention.

“You idiots, I am here, here! Now can we please go to lunch?!” The man said shouting obviously frustrated that the group was ignoring him. “Umm excuse me” Ray said trying to get his attention, the man instantly stopped shouting as he realised that some one was talking to him. “You can see me, oh thank god. Can you please tell this group of brainless idiots that I am fine, it was just a bit of the old chest pain.” The man said pointing at the group. “I’m sorry but you’re dead and I’m here to take you Death Inc” Ray said with a chirpy smile on his face. Gavreel smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand, “you idiot you don’t do it like that!” Gavreel shouted at Ray.

“You don’t, then how do you it then?” Ray asked puzzled about what he was supposedly doing wrong. “You are meant to comfort the soul, and guide them on their way to crossing over to their new life. Not come right out and say your dead, imagine how you would react if you were in his situation” Gavreel said in a stern tone. “I suppose your right?” Ray replied still unsure, the entire time the man stood there getting angry over what was happening. “I am not dead! Now stopping joking around!” The man shouted his face bright read. “I’m afraid you are, look your body is right there, no getting around it you’re dead” Ray said pointing at his body still smiling. “He just doesn’t get it” Gavreel muttered to himself shaking his head, “This is going to end badly” Gavreel said looking at the man’s reaction. “Just shut up!” The man said as he clenched his fist, he then suddenly swung his arm around and smacked Ray in the jaw. Ray skidded along the ground landing on his back with a thump.

Ray looked up and saw the man breathing heavily, suddenly his jaw started to swell up with pain as he grabbed it. “That had to hurt” Gavreel thought laughing to himself, “What the? I thought I was immortal!” Ray shouted as he got back on his feet. “Yes you are immortal but you can still be damaged, lose limbs etc… you just can’t die that’s all” Gavreel said letting out a little bit of a laugh at the end. “Hey is this funny to you!” Ray shouted letting go of his jaw. “No not at all” Gavreel said making a straight face. “And you what’s the deal with hitting me! That really hurt!” Ray shouted at the man. “Just shut up, I have had enough of your jokes, I am not dead and I am not going to die yet either so just go away or will I have to knock some sense in to you!” The man shouted furiously.

“Well it appears like you don’t have much of a choice left, you will have to use force” Gavreel said. “Really use my fists to drag him along that seems a little extreme?” Ray said with a surprised look on his face. “No! Not your fists, your weapon!” Gavreel shouted at him surprised by his stupidity “Huh my weapon, oh you mean my soul weapon” Ray said smiling finally understanding what Gavreel was saying. “Yes, this soul will no longer come along quietly or peacefully. So you need to use your soul weapon to weaken the spirit in to a comatose state so they can be processed without incident” Gavreel said. “Okay got it” Ray said, “It’s just I never used my soul weapon before!” Ray said with a nervous smile unsure of Gavreel’s reaction. “What!” Gavreel shouted in disbelief causing Ray to gulp. “Well it wasn’t a necessary requirement to graduate at the academy” Ray started to explain before being cut off by Gavreel.

“Fine, to summon your soul weapon stick out one of your arms and close your eyes. Then imagine the shape of a weapon in your mind it doesn’t matter what as the weapon will take whatever shape your sub conscious makes it. It’s just to help you concentrate, now focus on it and slowly close your hand imagining that you are grasping on to the weapon” Gavreel said, Ray closed his eyes and stuck out his arms all the time the man was watching in confusion. Suddenly a puff of black smoke appeared around Ray’s hand, Ray opened his eyes and saw the smoke disperse revealing his weapon. It was a metal object, in the shape of a sword however the blade was a long chunky rectangle, and the handle had four sleek poles of metal around it surrounding the handle in the same shape of the blade.

“I did it!” Ray shouted with joy as he saw the weapon, “What is that?” Gavreel thought as he looked at it “It is one of the oddest things I have ever seen, but it is surprising that he managed to create something so complex most people just conjure traditional weapons like swords, axes although someone managed to conjure a gun once but this doesn’t even look like a weapon though” Gavreel continued to think when suddenly the weapon plummeted to the ground causing the pavement slab to shatter in to a thousand pieces causing dust to go everywhere. “Whoops” Ray said as he struggled to hold on to handle to stop it falling to the ground. “Ah what have you done?! You just broke the third rule!” Gavreel shouted in horror as he noticed that everybody had stopped and was looking at the broken pavement slab. “What happened”, “I don’t know it just seemed to explode?” several people were saying as they started to gather round. “What have you done?!” Gavreel shouted as he started to panic. “I’m sorry, but this is really heavy I couldn’t hold it” Ray said struggling to hold on to the weapon.

Suddenly the man punched Ray square in the face causing him to let go and stumble backwards. The handle smashed in to the pavement causing it too to shatter in to pieces, the people jumped backwards shocked. Gavreel just stood there “That’s it I’m finished, not a chance, I’m going to be fired” Gavreel said constantly muttering to himself. “That’s it I have had enough of your attitude” Ray shouted as he ran forward and leaned forward grasping the handle of his weapon. He pulled with all his strength and managed to pull the weapon off the ground, Ray roared as he managed to swing the weapon upwards slicing the man across the chest. However the man just stood there unharmed as he checked his chest. “What no way!” Ray said in disbelief, “it’s blunt too!” Gavreel shouted as he started to cry out of frustration.

“Fine!” Ray shouted as he quickly swung the weapon back down smashing it back down in to the man’s right shoulder with a crack. The man’s eyes rolled back as he fell to his knees before finally collapsing to the floor. The weapon suddenly disappeared in a puff of black smoke just before it hit the floor again causing Ray to stumble forward slightly. Ray started to smile before he grasped his back and shoulder in pain, “I think I just pulled my shoulder and back out, hehe” Ray said giggling. Gavreel just stood there as the ambulance finally arrived, “It’s over” he muttered to himself as he wiped away the tears when all of a sudden building next to them erupted in fire. A shockwave exploded from the building lifting Ray of his feet and sending him across the square and in to the monument with a crack. Fire and debris littered the street and everybody there lay either dead or injured, before Ray closed his eyes

“Ray, are you okay? Ray!” Gavreel said standing over him, Ray slowly opened his eyes as he saw a blurred vision of people running about and flashing lights and the sound of sirens was almost deafening. “Ray, are you okay!” Gavreel continued to shout in distress as Ray started to fully open his eyes. “Huh” Was all Ray could muster at the moment as his throat felt sore and rough. “Thank goodness your okay, don’t worry I have called for support. You just rest for now” Gavreel said obviously worried about him which made Ray smile slightly. “Ah here he is now” Gavreel said pointing at a man wearing the same coat as Ray, the only distinguishing feature Ray could see was a scar on his left hand, where a katana suddenly appeared with a puff of black smoke. “Let’s get you to the medical department” Gavreel said as he grabbed Ray lost consciousness once more.

End of Chapter 1

Please note this is a bonus story for my other story The Demon Hunter Chronicles