Andi was discovering that although she admired Death’s
concern and care in crafting individual passings in the same way that she might
admire, for example, a beautifully hand-built piece of furniture,
mass-production was the way to go when it came to liberating souls.
Especially since it seemed she didn’t even have to really do
that much more work to free several thousand people compared to one or
two. Honestly, she wondered why Death
was stressing so much and not just getting a sandwich now and then. This was a piece of cake.
After the stadium, she’d had to think a little bit about
where to go next. She knew she didn’t
want to be predictable. If she just went
from stadium to stadium, east to west, she figured there was a good chance
Death would figure it out pretty quick and just be waiting for her at the next
stadium.
She’d thought about the time she’d been in Florida and saw a
cruise ship tied up, with the never ending stream of passengers coming out.
Moments later she had her bike parked on the top deck of the
Caribbean Queen IV. And not too much
longer after that, the Caribbean Queen IV became a ghost ship. Within seconds, the souls were milling
about. Again, there were varied
reactions. Many of the passengers weren’t
too terribly upset at the realization that the afterlife was a cruise ship,
however, most of the crew were extremely distressed by this realization.
Andi didn’t linger to see the reactions, though. She suspected Death would be along soon, and
she was going to have to stay ahead of her.
She kicked the bike into gear, and tore down the shuffleboard court,
vanishing just as she reached the edge of the deck.
She reappeared and rolled the motorcycle to a gradual stop,
just outside Rob’s apartment. At first,
she wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing there. Then she realized that she wanted a partner
to help her with her mission. A
friend. And she was fairly sure that Rob
would be willing to join her.
Andi shut down the motor, put down the kickstand, and walked
into Rob’s building.
When she got in to Rob’s apartment, she found him watching
TV. A perfectly coiffed news anchor was
reporting that officials still had absolutely no idea what had happened at the
stadium to kill thirty thousand people, but that there was no reason to panic.
“Hey Rob,” Andi said.
Rob jumped, spilling his drink and cursing.
“What the?” Rob said.
“Oh. Hey, Andi. I was starting to think I’d just dreamed your
last visit. I was thinking it was just
stress or something.”
“No, you didn’t dream it,” Andi said. “How are you?
Did you graduate yet?”
“Not yet, I’ve got my last final exam tomorrow,” Rob said. “How are you?
What happened last time you visited?
You just vanished.”
“I’m great. Yeah, sorry
about that, just one of those things,” Andi said, and trailed off. “Look, uh, what are you planning to do after
you graduate?”
Rob looked at Andi a little funny, but he said, “Well,
probably get a job of some sort, find a girl, settle down, have a bunch of
kids. You know, the usual.”
“Right,” Andi said.
She thought for a moment.
She wanted Rob to help her out.
In order to do that, he was going to have to
die. She hadn’t had to kill anyone she knew
yet. She felt a little funny about
it. Kind of like it was wrong.
Her doubt cleared away, however, when she remembered that
she was rescuing Rob. And then she’d get to have her friend with
her, helping her out as she freed the rest of the world. It would be the two of them, bringing a new
dawn.
Andi smiled, and touched Rob’s shoulder.
“I think I’ve got something much better than that for you,”
Andi said.
Seconds later, Rob’s soul was there with her. He looked down at his body, and then at Andi. His mouth was working, jaw twitching a bit,
as he began to understand his situation and then tried to find the words to
express what he was thinking.
“What the fuck? It was my time to go already? What the hell did I die of? So far as I know, I was perfectly healthy,”
Rob said. He was starting to get a
little red in the face.
“No, it wasn’t ‘your time’, I just released you. For good behavior,” Andi said, and smiled.
“Released me for good behavior? Is this just a joke to you?” Rob said.
He sounded pretty pissed off. Andi hadn’t been expecting that, she’d been
expecting her friend Rob, who had been game for just about every sort of
mischief she’d been able to dream up, back when she was still alive, to be
excited for another big fun idea.
“What?” Andi said. “No, it’s not a joke. I want your help, Rob.”
“My help for what, exactly?” Rob said. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping Death,
anyway? Shouldn’t Death be here asking
me to help her out? Since when do
interns get assistants?”
Andi really hadn’t been expecting this. Then she remembered what Death had said about
everyone reacting differently to their passing, and that she should try to be
comforting and understanding. Rob needed
to feel rescued.
“Look, Rob, I’ve freed you.
I’d like you to come with and help me.
I’m not working for Death any more, I’ve gone out on my own. She was too old-fashioned and didn’t
understand the importance of efficiency.
There are so many people in the world, Rob, and she’s going around collecting
them all one or two at a time. That’s
old world thinking,” Andi said.
Rob was starting to look a little - well, actually, a lot -
freaked out now. He was looking at Andi
as if he’d never seen her before.
“You’ve freed me? One
death at a time is old world thinking?
What the hell are you talking about Andi?” Rob said.
“I’m talking about a whole new way, Rob. I’m talking about freeing everyone, rescuing
the entire world,” Andi said. “I’m
talking about making the world a better place.”
“By making everyone dead?” Rob said. He sounded utterly revolted by the idea. Then his expression changed, as he thought.
“Wait a minute,” Rob said.
“Wait a minute. Were you responsible for this?”
He gestured towards the television, which was showing
footage of the crews working to clear out the stadium. The anchor was repeating that there was no
word on what the cause of all the deaths had been.
Andi smiled, and said, “Yeah, that was me. See, my job is rescuing people…”
Rob interrupted her. “You
killed thirty thousand people because you think you’re rescuing them? Can you hear yourself? That’s just insanity. What happened to you Andi?”
This wasn’t going how Andi expected at all. Rob was supposed to say, “Wow, cool! OK, I’ll help you out,” not start questioning
her motives and sanity. It was kind of
disturbing. And annoying. She was inviting him on a grand adventure,
and he was insulting her offer.
“Fine,” Andi said. “If
you don’t want to be a part of this, you don’t have to be. I don’t need you anyway.”
“Well, good god damned thing, because I want absolutely no
part of this. You need to stop, Andi, before
you make things even worse,” Rob said.
Andi was already walking out of Rob’s apartment. She couldn’t believe her best friend had
turned his back on her. But, if she had
to work alone, then so be it. In time,
people would appreciate her vision.
Maybe they didn’t understand now, but they would.
“I’m not stopping,” she said.
