Premature burial

On a rainy night, on the side of highway cops and paramedics are surrounding a crashed car.

Paramedic: "He probably crashed into that tree, as you can see the right side of the bumper is pinned to the tree. So the force of the crash made him hit his head on the steering wheel. But some things are strange here. The airbag didn't activate, the right side of the windshield has shattered. After pulling out the body, we identified some of the injuries. Head trauma because of the hit, they were signs of cardiac arrest and the strangest there were wounds around the abdomen."

Cop: "Bullet wounds?"

Paramedic: "Most likely."

Cop: "So, you're suspecting foul play here?"

Paramedic: "With the things happening around the city, I would say yes."

Cop: "Thanks for your help. So where will you take the body to?"

Paramedic: "There's a small morgue about fifteen minutes from here that will do an autopsy on him."

The paramedic leaves the cops side to help the other paramedic's transport the body. They bodybag the body and put it in the back of the ambulance and drive off.

Another car pulls onto the crash scene, out of it steps out a detective. He looks at the crash then wanders to the police officer nearby.

Detective: "So?"

Cop: "The usual. Those gangs probably did a hit and run. Do you think it was him?"

Detective: "Nah. Look's too rough, if it was him that car would be burning now."

The detective pulls out a pack of cigarettes.

Detective: "Every time we get closer to them something always happens. If we don't stop them, this will keep on happening."

The detective after lighting himself a cigarette offers one to the officer.

Detective: "Want one?"

Cop: "No thanks, I'm only Juul."

The detective looks at the officer dumbfounded then murmurs to himself "That's why we never get them!"

At the other part of the city, the paramedic's arrive at the morgue. One of them leaves the ambulance and enters the morgue. He comes to the reception.

Paramedic: "Hello! Is anybody here?"

The paramedic's voice echoes through the hall, with an answer echoing to him, "Yes?". As a teenager in his early twenties walks out.

Assistant: "Yes? What are you in for?"

Paramedic: "Were the paramedics that called in for dropping off a body."

Assistant: "Ah, the paramedics! I thought you would come tomorrow, well now that you came I need to do some paperwork."

The assistant walks to the reception table and takes out a piece of paper.

Assistant: "Got any info on the body?"

Paramedic: "Little. Name Michael Evito, an only child, both parents dead."

Assistant: "Anything more?"

Paramedic: "Probably in his late thirties, injuries to his head and abdomen, signs of cardiac arrest and it was deaned foul play."

Assistant: "Wait, you don't know his age but his name?"

Paramedic: "That's the strange thing it's like most of his info was erased or something. Well, since foul play is involved the police would like to have the details at its soonest if possible."

Assistant: "So, almost no info, foul play and the police want it done quick...

*sigh*

She is gonna have a field day with this. Go on bring him in."

The paramedic goes to the ambulance and retrieves the body with another paramedic. The assistant stands up and waits for the paramedics. They bring in the body with their stretcher. The assistant walks over to the body and opens the body bag. He inspects the body then closes the bag and turns to the paramedics.

Assistant: "Wait, I'm gonna get another stretcher."

The assistant walks to the back of the hall, after a bit of ruckus, he returns with a metal stretcher.

Assistant: "Okay, place it here."

After moving the body to the other stretcher, the paramedics leave. The assistant goes to the desk and takes a toe tag he then takes the body to the autopsy room.

The room is filled with dread and sounds of a keyboard typing.

Assistant: "Miss?"

The typing gets faster.

Assistant: "Miss? Are you here?"

The typing gets more furries and faster with the addition of mouse clicking.

The assistant now noticing the sound gets closer to the corner of the room where the only computer is.

Assistant: "Miss?"

Coroner: "You motherfucker! I'll let you know when I get ahold of your parents bodies I'll cut off your dad dick and stitch it to your mother vagina and in the report, I'll write down that he choked on her penis and I will write your dad gender as female because he's probably a bigger pussy than you. Stupid ass bitch. Fuck this and fuck lol!"

The room fills with silence.

The assistant quietly stammers out "Miss?"

Coroner: "What!"

Assistant: "We got a new body."

The coroner's eyes gleam with joy as she jumps up from her chair.

Coroner: "What're the details?"

Assistant: "You'll like this. The only thing we know about the body is his name, his injuries and that's it."

Coroner: "Interesting, quick get him on the table."

The assistant puts the body bag on the working table, unzips the bag.

Assistant: "It's a caucasian in his late thirties."

Coroner: "Name?"

Assistant: "Michael Evito, known relatives dead."

Coroner: "Injuries?"

She says it while putting on gloves.

Assistant: "They said that he had signs of cardiac arrest, he had dead injuries and bullet wounds in the abdomen maybe. They said there may be foul play involved."

Coroner: "Ohh, foul play. Hadn't had a murdered body in a long time. Ok, start writing this down."

She starts inspecting the body in detail.

Coroner: "White male, brown hair, brown eyes, there's a gash on his forehead, the skull doesn't seem cracked and now let's see the rest of the body."

She unzips the rest of the bag.

Coroner: "He was dressed in a suit, a muscular build, there's blood on the right side of the stomach and now let's have a closer look."

The coroner unbuttons his shirt revealing three puncture wounds on his stomach.

Coroner: "This will be an interesting autopsy. Now let's begin."

Soundly the sound of a phone ringing starts echoing through the room.

Coroner: "What now? I'll get this one, you'll clean the blood off and prepare it for the autopsy."

The coroner walks to her desk where the phone is ringing, while the assistant starts cleaning the body. The coroner begins talking. The assistant finishes cleaning the body and gets the tools ready. The coroner sighs.

Coroner: "Stop right there!"

The assistant stops wondering why and gives the coroner a questioning look.

Coroner: "I just finished talking to some people that claimed to be his relatives, they said they are gonna arrive soon to pick the body up for a funeral."

Assistant: "But the paramedics said there was foul play involved, how are we going to clear this up with the police?"

Coroner: "They said that it's all cleared up, all we have to is to patch up the body like it was a living person. If we do this we'll be paid quite a sum of money, so let's get this done quickly."

Assistant: "This is suspicious, is it?"

Coroner: "It is, but do you wanna argue with them or wanna get the money."

The assistant shrugs and starts helping the coroner in patching up the body. Cleaning the wounds, treating the head wound and bandaging the stomach wound. Cleaning the clothes and dressing the body.

Coroner: "Quiet a good job in it, now let's get him to the parking lot. There they should be waiting.

They moved the body to a stretcher, then headed to the parking lot where four men waited for them. They were dressed in black suits, behind them were two cars. A normal four-door car and a hearse.

They bring the body to them when one of them starts talking.

"Hello, sorry for the inconvenience but once we heard that Michael had passed away in a crash we couldn't wait for the funeral." He pauses for a minute.

"Ahh, sorry for not intruding myself. I'm Anthony, I'm Michael's brother in law. We have talked with the police and worked it out. So, please give us the body so we can cremate it."

Assistant: "But It said that he was…" Before he could finish the coroner elbows him to shut him up.

Coroner: "Ah, sorry he's mixing some thing's up. So you're cremating him?"

Anthony: "Yes, it was the best thing we could do on such short notice. Anyway, thanks for your help and have a good night."

Coroner: "It's ok and sorry for your loss."

Anthony: "Thanks." He then turns to his companies "Get the coffin" Then two of them go to the hearse and bring out a wooden coffin. They place it next to the stretcher, after placing the body in the coffin, one of them approaches the coroner and gives her an envelope ��That's your payment. Now let's go!" They store the coffin in the back of the hearse and get in their vehicles. The assistant and the coroner walk off to the morgue as the men drive away.

The coroner without facing her assistant says "Don't tell a single living soul about this!" The assistant quietly says "Yes…"

In the hearse, a single thud could be heard in the back.

"What was that?" asked the passenger, the driver answered, "It was probably a rock that hit us."

They continue to drive solemnly to thor destination in silence, while in the other car a conversation starts.

Anthony: "Is the grave ready?"

Passenger: "Yes, they called me and said it's dug and they left us some shovels to fill it in when we're done."

Anthony: "Great and to think that he would be in such a dirty way, makes me laugh."

Anthony chuckles to himself.

Passenger: "It was better for him to be killed than us to be killed by him. Sooner or later it was gonna happen."

Anthony: "Yes, it was, and to think that the Reaper would be buried by us. I think his soul will haunt us forever."

Passenger: "True that. So, what are we gonna do about those guys at the morgue?"

Anthony: "Easy, find them, kill them and burn them down with the morgue to make it look like an accident."

Passenger: "Sounds good."

After a few minutes of driving in silence the passenger pips up.

Passenger: "Turn there, the grave should be there."

The car turns, driving off the highway and the hearse follows. Arriving at a small clearing where under a tree a mound of dirt is piled on. By the dirt a hole with three shovels by it. They get out of their cars with Anthony looking around.

Anthony: "So, this is it?"

Passenger: "Yes. Hey, you two get the coffin and let's do this quickly!"

Anthony and his passenger go to the grave while the hearse drivers go to the back off the hearse and unload the coffin. While carrying the coffin to the grave a small pour of rain starts raining.

Anthony: "Ahh, for god sake. Hey, get her faster. Let's do this before it starts to rain like hell."

Driver: "Maybe if you helped us we could do this faster."

Anthony: "Fine, come help me."

The two of them rush off to the coffin and help them carry it. They put the coffin next to the grave. After a few seconds of rest, they lower it in. Anthony lights a cigarette while the rest start filling in the grave.

Anthony: "Ain't it a bit shallow?"

Passenger: "That's the best we could do on such a really short notice."

Anthony: "Fine."

The finish filling it in. They all stand around looking at the filled-in grave. Then Anthony speaks up.

Anthony: "Anybody got any words before we go?"

The rest of them stand in silence.

Anthony: "Nobody? Really, fine. Michael or better to say Reaper as you were more known as that. You were one hell of a murderer's motherfucker. The most sought after hitman. You were more of a myth than truth, but still, any legend has to fall and now it was your turn."

Anthony takes the drag of his cigarette and throws the lit bud at the grave. The rain gets heavier and in the background, the sound of thunder starts cracking through the clouded skies.

Anthony: "Looks like a storm is coming, Let's get the fuck out of here!"

They all turn for their cars and begin walking to them, but in the mix of rain and thunder, a single thud could be heard. The hearse drivers are the first to notice because it is the same sound that they heard on the driveway. The thuds get stronger and faster, no longer mixing with the rain and thunder. The rest of them notice too.

They all get suspicions of the sound.

Anthony: "Hey, go check it out!"

Passenger: "Why me?"

Anthony: "Just go!"

The passenger goes to the grave while the rest of them stay put. The sound gets louder the closer he gets to the grave. When he comes at the foot off the grave the thudding stops. Anthony calls out.

Anthony: "What is it?"

Passenger: "Maybe there is a loose rock in the coffin, maybe?"

The cracking of lightning sparks out with a single loud thud in between. The passenger turns to the grave seeing that the earth around it begins to move. He steps back, a single hand shoots out then another with a giant wooden splinter. The passenger stands there mortified while seeing a person rise from the grave, and out of the grave he arose. Covered in rain and mud, clutching the splinter.

He looks at the sight and sees the man in front of him. He smirks in a devilish smile and gets out of the grave. The passenger not seeing that he has left the grave slowly starts backing off, the rest look in disbelief. He stands about half a metre away from him. He coughs and clears his throat before asking a single question?

"Got a ciggie, mate?"

Passenger: "A what?"

He rushes him clutching the splinter with both hands, The passenger tries to react but he is already at him. Plunging the splinter in the man's gut. He screams and so does the man, turning the splinter. He then in a swift motion pulls the splinter out and directs it into the man's eye. Twisting it a bit, then dropping the man's bleeding body on the muddy ground. The rest of the look shocked as the revenant that they conjured looks at his delightful prey.

One of the screams bloody murder, he then charges at them. He goes for the closets. Anthony in the hassle tries to pull his pistol out but slips on the mud. The third one runs for the hearse to get any kind of weapon.

The driver sees that the demon that killed one of them is charging him, he pulls out a switchblade. He had thought that when he got in the range he would do a preemptive strike, and so when he was a metre away he started swinging. But the Revenant saw right through that tactic, he passed the splinter to his right hand. When the man tried to swing at him, he stabbed the man's free hand with the splinter and sidestepped the man's swing. He grabs the man's hand and twists it so hard that an audible crack could be heard. He then knees the man's stomach, he kneels over and then he twists the man's arm so much that the knife is pointing at me. He turns the splinter that is still in the man's hand, while he is contracted on the pain he thrust the other one straight into his neck. After some blood gruelling, he falls over.

He surveys the remaining men. Seeing that the closest one being Anthony, that still is fumbling with his pistol. So he rushes him, the splinter in hand.

Anthony tries to point his pistol at him but it's too late because he has closed in. He strikes the wrist of the hand holding the pistol making him drop it. He then does a turning motion and kicks Anthony in the knee. He drops to the ground with the spectre looming over him.

Anthony: "What do you what?"

He stands over him, with the thunder in the background he just says.

"I just want a single ciggie, is that too hard to give?"

He pulls back the splinter and pierces the neck so hard that it goes through. Anthony begins gurgling and choking and his blood. But he just grasped the end of the splinter. He smirks while saying "All of this just for a ciggie, ehh." He then rips the splinter out, blood starts gushing out and he tries to stop the bleeding by gripping the wounds with his hands. In that same moment, he spins the splinter and stabs it right through the chine into the head. Anthony makes a gasping sound as the last light escapes his eyes and falls into the mud.

After a bit of ripping and tearing he pulls out the splinter, or at least what left of it. He looks at his path of destruction.

The last one stands by the hearse with a piece of rebar he found in the back of the car. Both of them notice each other and begin staring at each other, both of them locking eyes at each other. The last gangster stands in a defensive position. He again rushes at the gangster but now a little be more ducked to the ground. The gangster prepares a preemptive attack. Suddenly mud flies into his eyes. In the attempt to clean the mud, suddenly he starts feeling a sharp pain in the knee. Then a hand grabs his head and slams it against the car.

The whole act went according to his pre-planned attack. That just being to throw mud in his eyes.

He now stands above the last gangster which is writhing in pain on the ground. He grabs his head again and bashes it against the car mirror, then the car window, then just at the car door. After a minute of bashing on the ground laid a bloody pulp that's left of ahead, but still alive. So he picks up the rebar that the man has dropped and does in the final hit.

So he stood there, surrounded by death and destruction. He then searched the closest body for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. After finding one he lights it and has a big drag. He watches the rainy sky, the rain cleaning his face of the mud a bit. He takes another big drag and puts it out. He goes from body to body looting everything he could find, he finds the car keys to the other car, a bit of money and the pistol. Before leaving he fiddles with the lighter, making it spew gas nonstop. He then piles the bodies in the hearse, then opens the cover for the fuel tank.

He stands by the car for a moment and says "Goodbye mate's" and throws the light lighter in the tank. He walks off to the other car. A small fire erupts from the tank, gradually getting bigger until an explosion erupts. The fire slowly dies down as the downpour gets hard. The fire somewhat warms him as he watches it burn. When the fire is almost out he turns and gets in the other car. Sitting at the steering wheel, he looks dazed, a lingering headache intensifies with flashes of images and people. The people he never met, those palaces he never went to, events he never experienced. The images appear more rapidly and with them a sharp pain. Every single one of them has a single combining factor. A woman. The last thing the fleshes is her saying "Honey?" With that, all of the pain vanishes and he sits solemnly for a minute.

"Who am I?" he asks himself while looking at his hands. He begins rummaging through his pockets only to find the things that he looted.

He begins thinking about what to do next when a phone starts ringing in the glove compartment. He opens it to find a single phone in there, he inspects the phone and the caller. It was a random number so he answered.

"Oi?!"

"Hello, Michael"

Michael: "Who is this?"

"I'm here to help you."

Michael: "How?"

"By tracking down those you wanted you dead."

Michael: "That would be great if I knew why they wanted me dead, but now I don't know who I was."

"Wait, you don't know who you are?"

Michael: "yep."

"Shit this makes things more complicated. Looks like we have to meet sooner than I expected.

Michael: "What kind of meeting?"

"Let's say a business meeting. If you know where the "Good old way" diner is located."

Michael: "Maybe?"

"That's good enough. I'll meet you there tomorrow at three. When you come in on the right side by the window. Goodbye."

Michael: "Wait!"

He hung up, now he only knew his name. So an arranged meeting was planned. He knew the location and the time but not the man's name and face.

He thought it was better than nothing, and so he drove off. The driving cleared his head a bit, but it also made it clear that the fatigue he has been fighting the whole time has caught up to him. His arms are getting me loose, his vision is getting more blurry and the feel of sleepiness is getting over him. He spots a gas station with a parking lot. He drives in and parks, leaning the car seat a bit, he then dozes off.

Waking up around noon, he leaves the car, does a bit of stretching and goes to the gas station. The gas station was half full. It had a small fast food area and a shop area. He goes for the closest freezer and grabs five ice espressos, bringing it to the register he also picks up a pack of gum. The cashier rings it up and he pays in a twenty saying "Keep the change."

He leaves, at the front door he drinks the espressos in a single go except one. While going to the car he takes a piece of gum. Getting back in the car, he drives off back on the highway.

"It's around one now, to get to the city centre it's gonna take maybe an hour and to find the diner for about half an hour. Enough time to stake it out." He thought to himself.

So he drove to the city, drove around the city, drove to the centre, looking for the diner, until he remembered that he had GPS on his phone. With the GPS guiding him he finds the diner. With around twenty minutes to spare. He parks the car on the other side of the street and watches the diner for ten minutes, seeing if anybody suspect would walk in or is at the corner window. So he decided to fuck it, drinks his last ice espressos and goes in.

He enters the diner, it is an old school diner with the smell of coffee in the air.

The diner is lightly filled. So he turns right and goes to the corner. The table is empty, but a piece of paper lies on the table with the only words written on them "Behind you." So he turns around, seeing another piece of paper stuck to a patron at the bar. The paper has only the word "Up" and so, he looks up in disbelief. But again he sees another piece of paper with the word "Down". So he looks at the ground and sees in his disappointment another piece of paper with the words "Turn around".

He is now quite annoyed, turns around just to see a man in the back, eating a hamburger with a slice of pineapple in between. The man takes a bite and looks up and sees him standing the, he playfully waves.

After the whole shtick is done he looks at the man in sheer annoyance and proclaimed "What the fuck!"