What Lies Beyond Death

It had been 20 years. My efforts in the proficiency of which I completed contracts had brought me acclaim within Yevrox. The man who originally brought me to the organization had left me everything he had. He had the foresight to keep his most valuable items out of their reach. The Bartender had told me the location of his items as he respected his friends last wishes.

Jonas as he wanted me to call him had seen me as a remnant of his latent friend. And even though I barely knew either of them still provided comfort. After all he had helped me in more ways then one. So I continued the money and rather extensive armoury of weaponry dashing my original plan of meeting up with a supplier.

My right hand had been the recipient of neurological surgery. The silver card given to me by the man was apparently in such high regard that upon it being shown I was put agead every person within the lobby and taken to the operating room. The surgeon who was operating on a patient was startled by the front desk worker practically busting down the door. This resulted in a scalpel going into the knocked out patient who was in the middle of operation.

The surgeon was rightfully upset until the front desk worker showed the card. The surgeon then rushed the patient onto a gurney moving them to the corner of the room scalpel still butrowing into their stomach. As I was in shock the surgeon had asked what I required in such a manner that if I hadn't been witness to it I wouldn't believe that he had practically stabbed and left a man to die in his own operating room.

Upon telling him of my injury the surgeon took off my gloves pausing once seeing the symbol, but continuing his evaluation. I was guided to lay down and soon found myself no longer part of the waking world. Upon waking up I found my right hand had more feeling in it. Upon scanning the room I noticed that the patient who was originally operated on no where to be seen. With only a blood splatter on the floor where the gurney was last placed.

This surgeon after entering the room noticed my gaze and profusely apologized as if the stain was something I'd hold against him forever. When I tried to get up the surgeon advised against putting pressure on my right hand for a few days to make sure it heals correctly. They then handed me my jacket, gloves and presented me the card handling my possesions with utmost care.

Little did I know the man who brought me in was the owner of this little clinic. Little did I know the surgeon was someone he sponsored the education of as a favour and the surgeon basically ran the place in everything but name. But at the time I wasn't focused on that more-so on not getting a strike by failing the monthly quota.

I trained to get better at shooting with my left the man came to help frequently, but was sporadic in doing so. Eventually I was comftorable enough to go and complete my contract. My work payed off and the job went perfectly. The man whos name I then knew as Ben was happy for me and took me out to some shady, but delicious food served in some downtown alley resturant. Place was definitely used as an illegal gambling ring and other such activities, but damn was that steak good.

And I continued onward training and putting my skills to the test via trial through fire. I enjoyed my work more and had been amassing somewhat of a fortune due to the ever increasing price that came to hire my services as my fame increased. But I had one goal to try to get Ben out of whatever debt he owed. And before I could get enough money to pay it off he was executed. A group of people who bore Yevrox's symbol on their uniforms came in while Ben was having a drink.

I was at the job board searching for something as my fame hadn't yet had me drenched with requests. I noticed to late what was happening as one of the men took out a revolver aiming it at his head and started listing his "crimes". Ben looked them dead in the eyes unflinching and when they asked for his last words he looked at me and said "you tried kid." Before yanking the man with the handcannons arms towards him slamming his head on the table.

It was barely a second before the other four members took out their own sidearms and riddled him with bullets.

The bartender witnessing the whole event had clenched fists as he watched. I considered jumping in myself. God I wanted to. But what good would it do. Ben wanted to die he didn't even ahve the will remainig to do a contract. What good would being on the run do for him? I wanted to pay off his debt as a thank you, but I didn't intend to prematurely end my life to buy him an extra day or two.

And even now I still stand by that decision.

Although Ben died it wasn't as though the world would stop for me to gather myself. So I turned back and continued inspecting some contracts for a good job. And so life continued. The bartender after seemingly taking a week off informed me of Ben leaving everything not in his now empty Yevrox storage to me.

What came was quite a bit of money, favours from some surprisingly influential people, blackmail on those influential people along with many others and an entire armoury full of weapons. What I wondered most however was how Ben was able to someone get an APC and keep it hidden.

Eventually I came upon the documents telling of Bens debt and it was massive. Whatever Ben did was apparently worth 10,000,000,000$ . It didn't take a genius to know I wouldn't have been able to pay off his debt and Ben knew that. However what would be the most usefull thing I gained from Bens death would be ownership of the clinic the surgeon who operated on my hand worked at.

After testing all the weapons Ben had I replaced some of the guns I was currently using with them. And I continued with my contracts. My fame grew as I continued testing and improving my skills while taking increasing more dangerous jobs. I started getting hunted by other killers who wanted to make a name, or claim the bounty that was on my head after burning a politician alive on live television.

I had become somewhat of a legend. People were paying so much money that I could probably buy an island, a yacht, hire a company to build a mansion, hire a private security detail and still have more money then I would know what to do with. However I was past my prime as I had turned 40 a few months ago. Unfortunately for everyone who ruffled the feathers of someone who was able to hire me I still did a damn good job. But permanent injuries built up through close calls and pure chance had definitely left their mark on my performance.

One that that hadn't worsened however were my instincts. And I was already feeling weird about my current job at the time. My instincts told me something was up and I followed them. I was showing more caution in everything I did then I ever had in the week I scouted out my targets location. I couldn't shake the feeling someone was watching me and it Never went away. I was more on edge as I ever had been on a job, and because of that I was going to call it. While my phone was ringing I felt off and swayed to the side as a Bang rang out followed by the ripping of flesh I had grown accustomed to hearing.

I found a hole in my shoulder as I was thrown backwards landing onto the floor. This wasn't the first time I was thrown down however and lessened the impact. Rolling to the side a heard the crackle of gunfire as a hellfire of bullets came through the wall of my apartment. Unholstering my sidearm I moved to an ambush position in my kitchen as I took out a shotgun and started wrapping up my wound. I reached further in and found myself holding three claymores as I activated and moved to position them at my front door, window and angled the third to cover the front door but allow the first one to go off.

There was a stash of at least 20 firebombs, but I didn't feel like cooking alive. I've had enough experience burning others to the point of being classified as ash to know that it was painful. I focused on the task at hand to prevent me from getting irratated and burning the motel to the ground. As I finished placing the claymores I focused on locating the snipers location, but keeping an eye on my immediate soroundings.

I was soon proven right in my claymore placements when a fully uniformed armoured man tried to throw a grenade through the window. Unfortunately for them these walls are very flimsy since this was a cheap motel with barely insulated, let alone free from termites, and a few shotgun blasts proved that. The ones stationed outside my door decided that now was a good time to breach. What they didn't account for was the first claymore that blew the first man to bits and turned the squad mates arm behind him into swiss cheese.

The sniper that I had been trying to locate revealed themselves after they wiffed a shot and clipped my left arm. Luckily they were across the street so as I started firing at them with my pistol I nailed their left arm. The sniper promptly ducked behind cover probably to bandage it up. Feeling like I was getting a hold of the situation I slowly manuevered around my kitchen counter as I constantly surveyed everything around me. What I hadn't expected however was the person with the mangled arm to suicide charge me with multiple unpinned grenades both in hand and anywhere he could put them.

They of course their legs were promptly eviscerated by the second claymore, but despite his injury he leaped at me grabbing onto me with a death grip. And as he was bleeding out he looked at me and said with a raspy weak voice. "You killed my father." Looking at him I felt no pity and replied. "Your certainly not the first, but you will be the last." A smile graced his lips at his successful revenge. However I had a smile too as all the enemys and people I pissed off came to bite me in the ass.

That was one of the reasons I never retired. Someone would come bother me. So what better way then to go out fighting. And as I made peace a split second bang went off before I found myself in what I presumed to be the afterlife.

I now found myself weightless in a black void with none of my senses with me. If anything this just proved that god probably didn't exist as I wasn't welcomed by god or any other ethereal being, and it honestly wasn't a surprise. However if there was one I didn't want to show up insane if some being did show up, and it wasn't like I had anything better to do, so I reminisced on my life.

I didn't know how long it had been and I had reminisced on my life so much that I could write an autobiography by memory. What's more I could view events I wouldn't even have know at the time they happened. The times I was drugged and kidnapped or just regular blackout drunk and had no right to knowing what I did. Turns out my tendencies come out when I'm intoxicated as I apparently burned down a pharmacy, 2 apartment conplexes and firebombed a police cruiser that tried to stop me with the officers still in it. That was only the beginning as I then proceeded to go on a pyromaniac rampage as entire city blocks went up in flames as I at some point got my hands on a flamethrower.

Explains why I was so hated by the French goverment so much though.

It was like watching a movie as if anything my life wasn't boring. At least for me as I'm certain people didn't have the patience to be scoping in on a targets window for hours on end waiting for the perfect shot. What was really interesting however is that I was able to view trings I couldn't possibly know. Turns out my manager for contracts had sold me out on multiple occasions. But they kept failing so spectacularly for the people he sold me out to that they had someone assasinate him.

The Bartender, Jonas as he asked me to call him after Bens death, had been pulling so many strings to get me successful that Yevrox would flay him alive publicly if they found out. Which probably explained his disappearance after I reached the peak of my career. What was the most interesting thing however was Yevrox itself.

They had apparently been sending hit squad at me periodically. I had somehow made myself a problem for the organization as I kept unintentionally messing up their plans without even knowing it. I liked to leave no loose ends and Yevrox had a very nasty habit of playing both sides. So when I went beyond and cleaned up making sure the enemy was theroughly dead including associates and those affiliated it ruffled some feathers in the organization.

What really had them come after me hard was when I killed one of the members on their wannabe shadow goverment. It was a mission in the Middle East where I was tasked to kill a bunch of insurgent leaders for a very large sum of money. Wanting to get on their call list I hunted down multiple insurgent leaders not on the list. And unfortunately for both me and Yevrox had killed quite a proven competent individual that get them quite a bit of money. And when I eliminate the cause a new problem can't crop up which means less issued contracts, which means less money for Yevrox.

But they couldn't just execute me like Ben, no. I was somewhat of a living legend and it wouldn't exactly inspire confidence to all affiliated to kill the most profitable and arguably best member in the organization.

Eventually however I ran out of things to think, comprehend.

so I waited

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

and waited

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

a̷͙̥̦̺̬͊n̶̖̯̯͔̙͈̗̝̎̀͊̾̎͘̕͜d̷̹͕̜͙̯͙̫͔̺̪̈̄̋͒̓͗̓̇̅̌̔̄ ̶̡̧̡̹͉̟͙̭̯̘͔̹̙̙͝w̷̹̻̮͔̹̜̞̙̍̊̈́͠ȃ̷̡͕͔͕͔̰͙̤͛̑̏̓̉ỉ̵̧̢̢̢̡̨̻̟̻̤̙̠̺̫̀̾̇̅͑̐̅̋̎̈t̶̢͖̣͖͕̩͍̃͗̏̃́̂̎͆̈́͐̐̏͒͠e̵͓̝̱̋̃̍̏̂̅̿͑̍̀̀̄̓͠ḑ̷̨̨̺̩̬̹̉͒̒̈́̀͐̀̚̕ ̵͇̟̜̽͛͐͐̐̎͒̕̕s̵̛̛̬̤̾̒̿̿̉̄̈̓͂͘ở̷̥̪͓̤̥̫̓̎̓͌̓̔̏͊͆͠m̴͍͈̖̹̱̪͇̝̓́͆̈́̋͂̃͑͌̇̽̆͑͝͝e̶̪̩̺͈͍̣̜͎̥̠͊̒̇̔̓̋̒́͊͗̊̿͘͝͝ ̵̹̃ṃ̵̬̯̞̫̖̠͖͑̓͗͒o̶̡̫̭̠̪͇̙̺̮̙̾͛͑̆̇̐͗̕͜r̶̢͎̺͓̫̝̞͓̩̻̙̾͒̈́̽̓̈́́̊ȩ̷̨̛͓͓̭̥̌͒́̌̃̓́̈́͘͝͝

.

.

.

.

.

.

I was brought out of my mindless almost soullessly drifting like state when an ethereal being on a golden thrown that shined with the light of a thousand suns appeared. I would've hissed in discomfort as my previously pitch black void was now illuminated by the power of a hundred subs now directed at my face. However not having any sort of mouth or limbs at all prevented that reality.

It spoke? More like boomed as their words rungs in my mind that no doubt would've caused me permanent hearing damage.

"You, mortal shall be reciving a choice as all do."

"You may either go to the great beyond and based on your effects on others and overall the world go to your faiths heaven or hell."

"Or you may decide to live anew and enter the cycle of life and take up a new vessel, but this is not all. Depending on your achievments you may be given gifts such as increased mental abilitys, or cursed with a weak body."

The being despite having no face gazed at me as I felt it's pressure buckle down on me. However I was not a fool or one to crack under pressure so I took my time. I was an atheist so I was at best going to be erased from existence, or at worst stuck in this void for all eternity. And even if I had believed in some religion I was involved in countless murders, assasinations, bombings and terrorist attacks that I would be placed in the deepest pits of whatever hell they had.

However what I would consider a standard successful job was something that would take teams months to plan out. My standards were high and I made sure to push myself to get it as high as can be. I had overcome impossible odds and if that didn't count for something I din't know what would.

As I made my choice the being nodded before seemingly flashing out of existence. Before I could asses what happened and look for oddities I found myself with a projection like image that said

[Initialize? Y/N D279 23H 59M 59s]

I imagined myself pressing the button and as I did so I felt woozy before I felt myself gain somewhat of a form. I promptly didn't care as I collapsed on whatever the floor of the void is and fell unconscious

Author note: Someway, somehow my lifes stabilized so expect some more frequent chapters.

(And for once I didn't contract the fucking plague when I finally decided to sit down and make this one. 2,976 words BTW rly wanted to get to the SCP universe in this one. But I hold quality over everything else and I gotta explain system functions, abilities and other stuff)