Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 64

"Sneak in? Isn’t that trespassing?" Asher inquired.

Ignoring him, Rick decided to scan the wall of the cemetery for the best possible route to climb over.

"It won’t be if there’s nobody to complain. I mean, they are all dead anyway." He shrugged as his flashlight darted from one corner to another.

Before Asher could even open his mouth to say a word, Rick interrupted.

"Here. Let’s go."

"...."

Asher stared at the spot Rick was flashing his light toward with a dubious look on his face for a few moments.

Then he sighed in resignation.

There was no use arguing right now because, if he didn’t want to come, he wouldn’t have agreed to this adventure in the first place.

So, he simply walked forward.

Soon, he stood beside Rick as they both trailed their gazes upward, examining the scale of the wall they were about to climb.

The good thing was that the wall wasn’t even that tall to begin with.

So, without any further discussion or argument, they simply began climbing upward.

....

Jumping down from the wall of the cemetery, the two boys landed with almost feline grace.

Their footsteps against the ground were almost completely silent.

"Man... that was kind of easy," Rick commented as he silently dusted his palms while scanning the area around them.

The moment they landed inside, Asher could feel his skin crawling with each passing second, as if something was wrong with the air itself.

However, before he could even dare to understand what it was, he heard the clattering of teeth beside him.

Turning to look at Rick, he could see his friend pointing his flashlight ahead.

The not-so-bright light illuminated the quietly dark cemetery for only a few metres ahead.

From their position, they could see tons of gravestones littering the whole place, stretching as far as the light from their torchlights could reach.

A creepy, almost thick fog could be seen swirling just a few dozen inches above the gravestones.

Yet, it didn’t move.

The fog remained stagnant, hovering silently above the graves.

"Come on. You invited me here, so let’s go in."

Before Rick could retort at the last minute, Asher grabbed his hand and began pulling him forward with a subtle grin on his face.

The setting and atmosphere were almost creepy.

Yet, for some reason, Asher seemed excited.

They delved deeper into the cemetery with careful steps.

Soon, they found themselves in the middle of the stagnant fog.

A cold chill ran down the boys’ spines as they continued walking deeper.

The fog almost obscured the light from Rick’s torchlight.

Asher dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his own torchlight too, providing them with a little more visibility.

Rick’s heart could be heard pounding loudly in his ears with each passing moment.

The lights from their torchlights kept flashing over the gravestones.

Though names were written on them, Asher didn’t pay attention to any as he kept moving deeper and deeper.

The goal was to get Asher spooked, right?

Well, what better way to do that than to go even deeper?

So far, they hadn’t encountered the cabin of the cemetery caretaker, and they were relieved by that fact.

They wouldn’t want to be mistaken for a bunch of grave robbers.

The more they walked, the tighter the fog seemed to become around them.

From the tops of their spines downward, the boys felt a heavy chill, like that part of their bodies had been thrown into a freezer or something.

Yet, this didn’t deter them.

Until—

Sqwaaaaak—!

"Blood of Christ!" Rick yelped loudly.

He jumped in fright.

His head twisted and turned around as he searched the place for the source of the sudden sound that had just echoed through the air.

Since they arrived, the place had been as silent as a graveyard.

Well, they were in one, though.

Hence, the sudden sound from the bird had been enough to send Rick into a panic.

However, Asher was somewhat calmer.

Yes, the sound had spooked him a bit.

But his reaction wasn’t as exaggerated as Rick’s.

He was trying his best to calm his wildly beating heart, which had suddenly spiked in panic.

"Relax, it’s just a crow," Asher uttered quietly, sounding almost like he was trying to reassure himself rather than Rick.

His best friend gulped quietly while looking around.

His grip around the torchlight became tighter and firmer.

"Man, I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe we should just..." Rick gulped once more, refusing to move from his spot.

".... Go?" he completed in a hushed voice.

The corner of Asher’s mouth twitched as he looked at his friend.

"Oh? Scared now? Wasn’t it you who wanted to get me frightened? Now, you can’t even handle what you wanted to dish out? Tsk."

Rick shot him a furious glare.

"Well, mission failed. I will just have to find another way to get you frightened. For now, let’s leave."

As he said that, Rick turned around to leave.

But then—

Crunch—!

Something snapped loudly beneath his feet.

This caused him to recoil backward.

His torchlight instinctively flashed toward the ground—

Only to reveal that he had stepped on a brittle bone.

"Whew. Man, I almost wet my pants," Rick heaved a breath of relief.

"Come on, Asher. Let’s lea—"

The boy’s words froze in his throat as he turned around to look for his friend.

"...."

"Ba... thump..."

Asher was gone?

The boy was nowhere to be seen.

And for some reason, it felt like the fog had suddenly grown thicker—surrounding Rick like an impenetrable force of darkness.

It coiled around him with a chilling wrath that he couldn’t even begin to explain.

Sweat began forming across his temples as he kept staring at the spot where Asher had been standing just a moment ago.

Swallowing a huge gulp of saliva, Rick called out in a quiet, almost girly tone.

"Ash-Asher? Wh-Where are you?"

"...."

Alas!

Silence bounced back to Rick, whose breathing had almost become laboured from the fear of what was happening.

Suddenly—

Whooosh—!

Something rushed past Rick from behind.

The boy whirled around violently, his torchlight flashing wildly through the fog.

"Who-Who’s there?"

Even as he asked the question, his tone wavered as sweat began rolling down the sides of his temples.

Swoosh—!

Rick spun around again almost instantly as fear gripped him tighter than ever before.

Yet, nobody was there.

The fog was simply too thick for the light of his torchlight to pierce through.

"I-I-I’m warning you now! Sh-Show yourself! I-I know karate!" Rick stuttered as he kept looking ahead, his throat growing drier with each passing moment.

Then—

Cold sweat began rolling down his back as he felt a daunting presence directly behind him.

He didn’t know whether he was imagining it or not, but it felt like he could feel someone’s breath running down his neck.

He froze in shock.

Stiffly turning around, regardless of what he was about to see—

Then—

"BOOO!"

"Aaaaaah!"

Rick screamed like a little girl.

His hands flailed upward as the torchlight fell from his grip.

His hands immediately covered his face in fear as his legs gave out beneath him, causing him to fall to his knees.

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