Chapter 10: Living the Nightmare

I woke up under the blanket next to Gabriel. I could only think that I might have gotten really tired while we talked on the roof and he put me to bed. With one eye barely open I could see he was watching me.

"Can I ask you something'?" I mumbled.

"Of course, anything you want."

"Is the real you as hot as this one?" I smiled.

He laughed and blushed a little, "Actually…promise to keep a secret?" he whispered.

I nodded then turned to look at him.

"This is who I was before I died. It's a liability for me to tell anyone this but I know I can trust you. But now….I now I know you think I'm hot." He had an evil looking grin on his face and grabbed me around the stomach, tickling me.

"Stop, Stop!" I whispered as loud as I could and tried to keep quiet.

He stopped and covered my mouth with his.

"Mmm, you're a good kisser," I complimented.

"Really? Thanks. Though I'd hate to spoil this moment, but we need to get going soon."

I frowned and fondled his foot with mine. "No, just a few more minutes? This is the happiest I've been since my death."

He pulled me close and kissed my head, "I'm glad you're happy Sierra."

Gabriel let us a lay there for a few more minutes but soon the others were ready and George helped me get the trashed look down. My hair was a little messed up looking and my shirt was torn and so were the jeans.

When I looked in the mirror I laughed at myself. "Looks scary George and freaky, but great."

"Yeah, that'll be fifty bucks please." She held out her hand in almost non joking manner.

I slapped it, "Bill me later," I laughed.

Mason and Daniel looked funny in their little blue jump suits that said county tree service. Mason was way too skinny for his and Daniel's was too baggy because of his height. Gabe's seemed to fit fine because he made sure the suit fit him when he grabbed it.

"Hmm, I think you've found your calling Gabe," I joked with him.

He laughed, "maybe so."

George and Roxy were laughing and poking fun at Mason and Daniel. Mason fought back with obscenities and Daniel was too busy looking at me disgusted to notice the two laughing. I knew it had to be at how George dressed me.

"Don't Daniel..." I said approaching him, "I'll be fine alright?" Dealing with him seemed close to having an older protective brother.

He nodded hesitantly, "I just don't wanna lose the only person that understands me," he said in a low voice so Mason wouldn't hear.

I felt my eyes tearing up, but I controlled myself. Daniel was sweet guy inside and I'll admit that I was glad he was there for me. But just like him I was scared as hell about seeing Brad again and being close to him.

Roxy was going to drive us there and drop us off before driving away. We just had to make sure Brad wasn't going to see us…so we were extra careful in that respect. I was going to be down the road a ways from the guys, pretending to cry and be upset. However it was a cold morning and I sat on the curb trembling my ass off, hoping he would show soon but at the same time dreading it.

"Damn, couldn't I have been pitiful look while wearing a jacket?" I complained to myself.

Then I started to get the feeling someone was watching me. I looked down for a moment and when I looked back up he was there, standing over me.

"What's wrong? They won't take you back now will they? Because you said yes to me and not them" a smirk appeared on his face.

I nodded looking away from him. "One of them attacked me...I didn't see who. I just wanna go home now," I mumbled.

Brad helped me up and rubbed my back, pulling me in to him. "It's alright Sierra, you know I'm here for you…I care about you, unlike the others. You can stay with me and I can help you overcome this, alright?"

I managed a smile and gave him a kiss on the cheek to assure I meant it, "Thank you Brad…thank you."

He didn't realize it but I was walking us in the direction of the park where the other three were waiting for us to arrive. When we turned around a corner I could see Gabriel supervising as Mason was cutting the branches and Daniel was feeding them into the machine.

My heart was beating faster in my chest and my palms were starting to sweat. After a quick look to Brad I checked to make sure he didn't notice anything.

"Uhm...hang on a second," I said as if I was feeling weak and sick to my stomach.

He jumped to my side and told me that I should take a seat on the curb or a bench at the park. I waved it off saying I'd be alright in a moment.

As we walked now he started to talk about the list of reapers he needed to kill today, saying he got them from Gabriel just last night. I went along with this and even asked a few questions about how he was able to do it without anyone seeing him. But now I knew better than to believe what he was saying since Gabriel was with me or Roxy last night. Brad went on to talk about his unique methods of dealing with reapers, such as catching reapers when they were most vulnerable and stalking them all day if that's what it took. Then he went on into more detail about how to make sure the reaper didn't get away once the process was started, he mentioned some drugs that paralyze muscles.

"There is a short time span that the removing of the organs will be most effective; because as long as the others are present the body will heal itself. My theory is that reaper's are able to heal themselves due to their blood. There is something in the blood I think that makes us so unique. If blood isn't getting to the brain, then parts can't be re-grown." Brad looked behind him when I took a while to answer.

"Wow, I would have never thought about that. You must be right…'cause it does sound logical." I complimented him.

He laughed, "I'm always right Sierra. Don't worry; you'll learn that soon once we spend out first day together."

My eyes glanced over at the boys as we moved closer to the truck. Luckily it was loud and distracting that he didn't really notice I was moving slower. I took a seat down on the curb near the truck and wiped my forehead.

"Are you alright?" He said once he turned around and saw me on the curb. Then he came over and looked down at me, waiting for me to feel well enough to move on. "Maybe I should take you home and let you rest a while till we go out. Would you like that?" he asked

The way he was talking to me made me feel like I was a child. "Yeah…I think I can make it there." I sat up from the curb and since he was so close to me it forced him to move backwards. Seeing the opportunity I went at him with my arms open as if to hug him, but quickly my arms went in and I pushed him back. However it wasn't enough to push him into the machine. I started to panic now as Brad's face turned furious. With his back to the wood chipper he started to lunge at me, but Daniel managed to pull him back and he fell into the wood chipper to meet his demise.

"Oh my god…" I covered my face and moved away screaming.

Mason moved to the bushes in order to throw up the breakfast he ate. So now I had to cover my ears as well because just hearing him throw up I knew would make me too. Daniel seemed unmoved by the disgusting sound as the chopper grounded his bones and was covered in blood and bone fragments. But Brad's blood managed to spatter over all of us. It was disgusting…and horrific compared to James' death in almost every way. This was a guy who obviously had some issues and killed a lot of people, but did he deserve to die like that? I don't know.

Then I simply fell to the ground screaming and crying as those that happened to be passing by called for the police and ran to the scene. Gabriel and Daniel were the ones holding themselves together enough to give statements to the police. They said that the man was delusional, a drifter that tripped and fell in before he had a chance to push him out of the way. I think since the report said he was a drifter, no one really dug below the surface, it just wasn't worth investigation, which is time and money the department didn't have.

Bloody and somewhat exhausted we all met back at George's apartment to give the good news. I was still shaking, but I covered it up with my pacing around the room. I could faintly hear them talking in the other room.

"Is she gonna be alright? That girlz been pacing since you've gotten back," Roxy sounded concerned.

"I don't know…if there was some other way I wouldn't have used her. But it was the only way to not raise suspicion and cause him to flee again," Gabriel remarked.

"She's a smart girl. She'll be fine," Daniel added.

I went into the room and everyone looked at me, waiting for me to say or do something. I didn't want to hear about Brad anymore.

"I'm going to go and get some sleep in my own bed."

Quickly the others agreed to my request and I didn't allow any of them to walk me there. I wanted to be alone; I wanted to just forget about reaping…about being dead and forgotten for just once.

Since my legs were so heavy from not being able to sleep much the night before I took the bus. When I got to our apartment I locked the door, closed all the blinds, got into my comfy clothes and passed out under the sheets before my nausea took over.

At first I was plagued by nightmares. Bloody rivers and high pitched screams…then I was suddenly transported back to my funeral. Thomas was leading me to my casket, but when I peered inside I saw my eyes open, looking straight at me. My entire chest was opened up and inside I was empty. When I looked back up to Thomas it wasn't him anymore but Brad…he laughed at me madly.

I woke up with the sheets and the blanket on the floor. The room was dark, and after a quick peek behind the curtains I discovered it was night time. My head ached from sleeping all day, so I stumbled into the kitchen to find something to relieve it. I noticed Daniel was coming out of the bathroom.

"How you holding up? You left the front door unlocked you know that?" Daniel poured me something to drink as I reached for the meds.

"No I didn't. I swear I locked it Daniel, even the deadbolt." I put the pills in my mouth and swallowed them with a glass of water.

Daniel raised a brow, "You must have been tired. Just make sure you don't do it again alright? We can't afford someone coming in and taking all our stuff."

I sat down thinking back…he was wrong, I know I locked that door when I came in. Quickly I shrugged the thought off when I began to wonder if things were going back to normal. Which left the question about Gabriel, was he going to move me? Maybe Daniel knew.

"Did Gabe say anything while I was asleep?" I asked

"Uhh, no he didn't. He left back to headquarters a few hours ago. He just said to tell you thanks for your help and to take care." He shrugged, "I think he was in a hurry to get back."

"So he didn't say anything about reassigning me?" I felt the color leaving my face, was he giving me the slip? Had he made a false promise to me?

"No…had he before?" Daniel seemed to have no idea what I was talking about.

"Damn…"I sighed and rested my head down on the counter. "I think he fooled me Daniel. He promised he could get me transferred to a different division. Gabe said he'd suggest it to the council or whatever…but wouldn't you think he'd let me know when or take me with him?" I couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this. "I just can't take all this carnage anymore."

I could tell he felt bad. "I don't know Sierra, maybe that's why he was in a hurry? I'm sure he wouldn't leave you hanging after what he did for him."

Silently I nodded looking up to see the time.

"We're going to meet the others in an hour alright? But if you wanna stay behind that's up to you." Daniel then looked to his phone that was vibrating on the counter. "Uhmm. Sierra.." He was speechless as he handed over the phone to me.

Looking at the screen it was a picture message…it was of a guy with his organs and brain removed. When I looked at the sender it was George and the text said 'emergency meeting asap'.

"What do you think this is about?" I started shaking, "It's not possible…he's freakn' gone and scattered, there is no way it's him. We made sure didn't we? "

Daniel rubbed my shoulder, "Yeah we did. Maybe it's an old body; you never know…they might have just found it."

"Yeah...yeah...it must be that." I started to feel better now because Daniel had to be right. This was just an old body…nothing to be concerned about. "Why don't you go on ahead and I'll catch up. I need a shower really bad."

Daniel gave me a smile and left the apartment, but not before locking it from the outside.

I went into the bathroom and started to run the water in order for it to get hot. As that was going on I went back into my room mindlessly, almost robotic as I bent down to retrieve a shirt and pair of jeans from the floor. Walking into the bathroom I dumped them into the hot water...turning it red as the blood began to leave the fabric into the water. I took the time to wash them as best I could...then showered.

I hanged up the clothes to dry as I got dressed and went into my closet once again. Turning on the light a shadow was casted upon a box towards the back of the closet. I reached out for it and took a seat on the carpet as I opened the lid. There in neat little ziplock bags were a brain, a heart, lungs, a liver….just viewable on the top in the box.

An evil smile cracked through my smirk. No...It wasn't Brad at all…it was me, just as he desired I would take his place. But I…Sierra, will never know the truth of the killer I had become.

Upon hearing a noise I returned the box to the back of the closet and went back to the bathroom. When I looked into the mirror I paused from brushing my hair.

"That's strange…I don't remember taking a shower." I finished drying my hair and left the apartment to meet the others, still nervous about the mysterious reaper's body found.