Oblivion's Kiss

Chapter Four: Trail

It was the old harbour terminal, and I was in here, once, during daylight. I barely made it past the gate when I made a U-turn for the streets. I didn’t even want to imagine what it was like in there at night… I also couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. I did a quick scan around me and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. 

I was so tempted to back up and run away, but then I heard the girl giggle and the creaking of a fence. She was way too young to die. I could not allow cowardice to get the better of me, so I waited until I heard them moving towards the entrance of the building when I followed. I did not expect to find a single light. 

Only pitch darkness, and I was just thinking how the hell I was going to kill it if I couldn’t see it when I was relieved to find a single dim light flickering inside the used to be receiving bay of 

the warehouse. 

The bright yellow paint, peeling in places on the wall made the large, vacant space a little sunnier, which from my point of view, made a huge difference. It was sort of comfort. If it was painted in a darker, more ominous shade, I probably would have lost all my courage altogether right there and then.

I slowly made my way down the long warehouse, diving from behind one large, yellow-and-black painted pillar, to the next, hiding from sight, until I was forced to stop behind the corner of the only red-painted wall, right around the corner from where they stopped. I was digging through my washed-out jeans pocket for my lighter when my head unwillingly jerked to my left. It was like instinct controlled it. 

I should have launched at the hunter right there and then when I had the opportunity, but I just kicked into panic mode when I realised that I myself, was being followed. 

It took a split second for me to look into the far darkness that stretched through the hidden part of the warehouse, where I spotted a tall silhouette leaning against a pillar, and when I turned my attention back to my side, I was met with a grey decaying face and hellish black pools for eyes. Everything after that happened so quickly, I barely had any chance to register what was actually happening. 

Because the moment the hunter closed its long, skeletal fingers around my throat, I heard the girl 

scream. I didn’t pay much attention to her, because for a moment, I was warped into another dimension, where death, corrosion and eternal oblivion took place. 

I could feel myself in death’s embrace, slipping, realizing this was what Julia had fallen in before her death when I got jerked out from that dark place and stumbled backwards against the wall. The hunter looked shell-shocked for a moment, and when my eyes dropped to its chest I realized why. It was impaled against the wall with a flaming arrow. 

I only had a few seconds to take it in when the hunter combusted into a howling mass 

of flames.