Amateur Detective Files On Paranormal Encounters

A Failures End

Huff! Huff! Huff!

Grant ran desperately, his heart pounding wildly in his chest like an out-of-control locomotive. His legs felt like lead as they slammed heavily on the dusty ground, while his hands swung limply by his side, completely lacking any strength in them to swing.

Greedily sucking air into his lungs, Grant’s lungs felt like they were on fire as he gulped down one labored breath after another while trying his best not to collapse and fall unconscious on the ground.

He needed to get away!

No, he had to get away!

He couldn’t fall yet... not when those monsters were still chasing behind him.

Grant ran forward, one laborious step after another; sweat, like a rushing flood soaking through his clothes from the top of his head, entered his eyes, their saltiness stinging bitterly as a well of regret filled up within him.

Why? Why? Why have things turned out like this?

How did I end up in this situation?

What crime have I committed that I would be punished and tormented like this, and why did I ever listen to that fraud in the first place?

Why... somebody, anybody, answer me—why!

While he ran, Grant lamented his unfortunate fate that had led him into this situation in the first place.

As his legs grew weaker and his body protested heavily against the abuse he was putting it through, Grant seemed to hear the groans of the zombies getting closer, and he could already envision what his end would be like when he was eventually caught up to by them.

The pain of flesh being ripped apart by dull teeth, and skin and muscles being scraped away by frenzied fingers with jagged nails until only bone remained, seemed to linger in Grant's mind like a twisted promise of the suffering he was about to face, building up a sickening anticipation within him.

With this anticipation came the memories of certain events that had landed him here in the first place.

...

In the real world, Grant was an overachiever, a relatively successful one at that, with certain accomplishments to his name.

In his youth, Grant was the type of person to run for President of the student council in college while also serving as the professor's class assistant.

At the same time, he never forgot to exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle while maintaining an amiable relationship with his fellow students and colleagues.

In his work life, he was the proactive type who always accomplished tasks ahead of schedule and was promoted quickly by management, becoming moderately successful at an early age.

All his life, due to his efforts and dedication to his work, he’d barely faced any setbacks. Everything was smooth sailing for him, and he had found fulfillment very early in life.

Yet, without experiencing much hardship in his life, when the time came for him to weather a terrible storm, Grant found himself lacking the necessary skills required to navigate through the difficulties he was facing.

People like Grant who were very successful at a young age usually had three outcomes in their future lives.

It was either they continued finding success after success without facing any serious failures, or they encountered problems that forced them to adapt and reorient themselves before overcoming those problems and succeeding again.

Or, they fail to adapt and end up losing everything with no chance to recover ever again.

Grant was the third type who fell down when the wind was no longer in his sails and so found himself capsizing under the turbulence of the waves.

That is why, when a chance presented itself for Grant to recover his glory, he had immediately jumped onto the opportunity at the very first instant, regardless of the risk.

Grant remembered it quite clearly—the day he first met that fraud...

...

It was not long ago when it happened; it had only been a few days ago. Grant was walking on the street, feeling dejected for having struck out at another job.

It had been the third job in two weeks that he had been kicked out of, simply because someone young and more talented had come along to replace him.

Tired and frustrated, Grant had simply been wandering aimlessly when he had suddenly bumped into another person on the street and had almost fallen to the ground; but the briefcase he carried in his hand fell to the ground and burst open upon contact, spilling all its content into the street.

Frustrated, Grant had a great urge to curse at the person he had bumped into but managed to stifle it on time because he knew it was his fault.

So, wanting to remain civil, Grant had quickly thrown an apology at the person before hastily bending down to pack up his belongings.

But as he was doing this, a hand suddenly reached out for one of the documents that had fallen on the ground.

Quickly noticing what the document was, Grant had rushed forward to retrieve it, but he was too late. The owner of the hand had already retreated with the document and was already reading through it.

So furious and ashamed, Grant sprang upward and reached out to snatch the document back from the person.

The reason Grant reacted so emotionally was because of the content of the document... it was his termination letter from the company he had just been fired from, and like a stain to his pride, Grant didn’t want anybody seeing it and knowing what had happened to him.

Naturally, after snatching the letter back, Grant was about to curse at the other person for his rudeness when the person had suddenly asked him a single question: “Would you like a job?”

The moment that question was asked was the true start of Grant’s plight, and one thing Grant wished for right now was that if given the chance to answer that question once again, he only wanted to say one thing in return...

“Fuck off, you fraud!”

...

Grant was abruptly pulled away from his memory by the sound of something growling very loudly in his ear.

When Grant turned back to see what it was, he felt his heart almost leap out of his chest as he saw the face of a zombie staying very close to his head, its mouth open in a frightful manner, teeth bared and arms open wide like it was about to capture and take a bite out of him.

Arrgh!

Grant screamed out loud, his body becoming paralyzed by fear with both his feet locking up and unable to move, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground, sealing his fate once and for all.

That moment was the single most fearful moment in all of Grant’s life.

As he was surrounded by zombies and feeling their hands on his body, Grant imagined that he would be devoured clean in seconds; and yet, Grant refused to give up.

He struggled intensely, trying to get up and crawl away, but the zombie’s claws were as strong as a vice, and Grant could not break free.

No matter how he kicked and punched and fought, Grant was helpless against the horde of zombies, so he screamed.

Ahhhhhh!

Grant screamed and screamed until his voice was hoarse.

He screamed until he could no longer feel his throat and the little light that he’d relied on to see all this while was almost nonexistent.

Even when his scream could no longer be heard amidst the growls of the zombies, Grant continued screaming until he could scream no more.

Finally, even when he heard that loud familiar ticking sound of Duncan’s broken watch drawing closer, Grant could no longer muster the strength to scream again, and the light in his eyes finally gave way to darkness which consumed him until there was nothing but silence.