Darkness fell on Empire City as Cole ran for his life. His only thought was of escape, of running. So he ran, feet pounding down the deserted streets, sloshing through puddles, sending little ripples of electricity across the water's surface. There was nothing left in him, no emotions to feel, no energy to produce even a single bolt of lightning. Rain poured from the sky drenching Cole to the bone, trickling down the back of his shirt.
He didn't know what he'd been thinking, assuming he could challenge so many Reapers... how stupid was he? As soon as he'd entered the historic section of town, they were everywhere. He thought he could hold them off, but there was just too many this time. He was going to die, he was so dead. It seemed like there would be no future for him after all...
Knights Bridge Road... where is it?
He knew most of the streets in town thanks to his job, but right now his sense of direction was sadly failing him. He wasn't sure why he was listening to what the unknown voice had told him. He wasn't sure if the voice wasn't just his brain messing with him. But he was willing to try anything at this point. He had no other choice.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
This was a suicide trip. Maybe that had been the voice's real plan all along, to lure him out here into an ambush. The Reapers would find him soon... they were hot on his trail. They would catch him, and then who knows what these lunatics would do to him? Drain him dry, use his powers for their own ends, or would they simply kill him like Kessler had done to Trish?
At the thought of Trish, the last ounce of fight left in him seemed to up and vanish. Trish was gone so what would it matter if they killed him? His steps slowed and he turned down an alleyway that was so narrow it was almost invisible in the dark. Blackness pressed in on him, he couldn't see a thing.
Trish is dead... I wish I were dead...
The man fell to his knees as fatigue took him, and he keeled over into a shallow, oily pool of rainwater. Cole didn't even try to get up, he just lay there and waited, completely spent. The sounds of many pounding feet reached his ears from his prone position. The reapers were close, they'd find him here any second now.
I can't do this anymore... just let them take me.
Ghosts drifted at the edges of his sight as he closed his eyes. The dead were here, they were coming to drag him straight to hell. And then hands, softer than he had been expecting, reached out from behind him and grasped his arm and began pulling him up... and up... a door slammed. Cole's eyes rolled up into his head as he blacked out.
/
Cole couldn't wake up. He was suspended in a dream world. Sometimes he could feel someone beside him. His eyes fought to keep themselves open. The light was too dim to see by but he could definitely sense there was somebody there with him. Were there ghosts here now too? He wasn't sure, but somewhere in his muddled thoughts, he felt safe. A hand brushed his forehead lightly, then felt the pulse in his wrist.
He heard the voice singing softly in the background of his thoughts. The voice had never sung to him before. It was a blessed relief from listening to the voices of the dead while he slept. Apparently the voice hadn't been trying to kill him, because the girl's voice was here now, comforting him... He heard the invisible girl whispering sweetly to him.
I'm so glad you're here now. I knew you'd come.