Sam Walker and the Grim Reaper Services (ONC 2021)

11 - The Death Perception

The next couple days passed in a blur to Sam. His days were spent at class and Caffeinated, his nights following leads. The Grim Reaper was able to definitively eliminate Professor Anderson as a suspect, leaving the boys with only the emo club.

Only problem was, it turned out ULD didn't actually have an emo club.

When Sam attempted to search the club on the school's website, he found nothing. The emo club was not an official ULD club, which meant that it was just a group of kids who met in the basement of the student union to listen to music, which on its own sounded creepy. There was no way to find out who was in the club.

Cate had tracked down the group of kids Sam had run into at Black Coffee Café and had gotten their names, but that, also, had brought nothing. All of them had intact records and had never been to the other three campuses where Slit-Gag had struck, meaning that Jake's murder was the only one they could be involved with.

The picture of Matthew Richardson still haunted Sam. He knew he'd seen that kid somewhere but he just couldn't place where. It was probably at Caffeinated, or from one of his classes, but his brain kept insisting it was important to figure out exactly where he knew him from.

As the sun began to rise Wednesday morning, the day before Halloween, Sam yawned as he leaned against the back of the couch. He was beginning to miss the luxury of sleep, since the past couple days he'd had to work through the night, surviving on Cate's black coffee as he, Raj, and Marcus tried to find anything that could identify Slit-Gag. The stuff worked, managing to refresh his body and provide him with energy, but still. Sam was sore and stiff and wanted to actually sleep.

Marcus and Raj had also been doing their part. Marcus had asked around at other clubs that met in the basement of the student union around the same time as the emo club did and had staked out their meeting room, but no one showed up, not even on Tuesday evening at seven. Raj had theorized that they had found a new meeting place, since their old one had been compromised by Jake's murder. "And if they are involved," he'd added. "That would definitely be a priority."

Now, as Sam stretched, he heard low murmurs behind him. Twisting in his seat, he saw Cate and the Grim Reaper standing in the kitchen, having an intense discussion.

"This isn't good," the Grim Reaper was saying. "With Richardson dead, they're giving her more victims."

"It won't end with him," Cate agreed. "Especially if they do draw her out, for real. We have to make sure he can't offer the sacrifice tomorrow night, when she can draw on more power. Her shadows are growing more and more restless."

"Who are you talking about?" Sam asked, causing both siblings to jump.

"No one," the Grim Reaper said quickly.

Sam stood up, setting his laptop aside. "I know you're talking about a 'she.' Care to explain?"

"Sam," Cate said quietly. "There are some things you need to know, and others that it won't help you to know. This is one of the latter. Trust us to handle it."

Sam glanced from Cate to the Grim Reaper. "Does this have anything to do with that group you mentioned earlier? The one you heard was monitoring me?"

The look the siblings exchanged said enough.

"Who is this group?" Sam asked, crossing his arms. "Perhaps they can give us a lead."

"Trust me, we already thought of that," the Grim Reaper said. "What we can get out of them, we already have."

"But we've made progress with the DBI," Cate chipped in, clearly changing the subject. "If we're lucky, we'll have Selena out by this afternoon."

"How'd you manage that?" Sam asked. "Last you said, the DBI were still pretty convinced Selena was their killer."