The Night Job (Part 1)

BOOM pitter patter pitter patter
A heavy rain pelts the rough asphalt, striking the black expanse over and over again, the sound of individual droplets slapping the pavement can just be made out over the dull roar from the torrential storm. A single figure clad in all black rushes through the streets, walls of water slam into the figures coat before sliding off and assimilating into the growing river of water that was once the city street. Storm drains up and down the street suck hundreds of gallons of water beneath the ground with a sound as unrelenting as the frequent booms and cracks of the storm that rages high above a city shrouded in darkness.

With each hurried step through the torrent of water, the Man's boots make loud sloshing noises that are drowned out immediately by the storm. The already bad visibility brought on by the storm is only amplified by the pitch black darkness of the night, any normal man would have to rely on the frequent lightning strikes for any hope at finding their way. Suddenly, the Man comes to a dead stop in the middle of the street, he can feel the night grow heavier, darker, longer. The sound of the pouring rain becomes muffled and the feeling of the water rushing past his legs slowly ebbs away.
"Here you are." The Man whispers
The hair on the Man's arms stands straight up as an unsettling presence makes itself known. A mix of lethargic and apathetic whispers slither through the blackness and into the Man's ears.
"Hes back again?"
"Doesn't he know that there's no use in trying?"
"Is he trying to kill us with fright leaving those dreadful scars out in the open?"
"We'll be stuck here forever anyway, so why not let him struggle in vain, it wont make a difference in the end."

The Man grits his teeth as his ears are bombarded with an onslaught of similarly depressing murmurs. The blackness pulls on his body, hanging onto him like tar, making even the simplest of movements taxing; still, the Man pushes through it, every step taking him farther away from the defeated whispers and closer to his destination. After a few minutes of slogging through the thick blackness, the Man bumps into something. By touch he can tell that it's a large rough surface that stretches for who knows how long into the darkness, He orientates himself so that he is parallel to the wall, and then, placing his hand on the wall he begins to walk forward until.
"Bingo." He whispers
His fingers have have found something that feels very smooth and just the slightest bit cold. He repositions him self once again, only this time to face the wall instead of follow it. Using both hands, he gropes across the smooth surface until his hand bumps into something hard jutting out of the smooth surface. Moving quickly, he grabs it with both hands and pulls until the section of the wall slowly moves outwards; he cracks a small smile, he had found his way in.

As soon as he steps into the space behind the door the atmosphere shifts dramatically, unlike the emptiness of what He decided to dub the Void, the place he was in now had an almost inviting feeling to it; as if welcoming him to take a look around. If this had been His first time here the stark contrast between the Void and this place would be enough to put him on edge, even if He couldn't put his finger on what was wrong. There was no guesswork needed anymore though, he already knew of the monsters that inhabited this space, and more importantly, he knew how to deal with them.

Even though He had prior knowledge about this place and the things that could be found here, he could never predict where he was going to end up when He got there. Although He knew what to look for to get here, the place the door deposited him was always different and thus made getting His bearings difficult. The last two times he had come here he had found himself in both a meat freezer and an empty diner. This time, He smelled the stench of cheap beer and fried food, from the room directly adjacent to the one he was in He heard a television with the volume turned up to maximum blaring a sports game, the announcer rapidly commentating on every second of the game; through sheer intuition, he deduced that he was probably in a sports bar.

After ascertaining where He was, the Man reached into his trench coat and took out a slender but sturdy wooden cane, and with a single smooth motion slapped it against the floor with a loud Thwack! The sound reverberates wildly around the room, bouncing off of any and all surfaces.
"Hmmm." He contemplated what he heard for a moment before nodding in a matter of fact manner
"Right, no sense staying here any longer than I have to." He declared before marching toward the doorway that led to the main area of the bar.
On a better day this may have been the type of noisy bar that He would go to to relax and forget stressful nature of his job after a long day of work, but right now, relax was the last thing on His mind. Ignoring the lukewarm beers and half eaten cheese burgers sitting idly on the counter, the Man makes his way to the front entrance of the bar, listening intently before slowly opening the door and stepping out onto the darkened street.

Without as much as a squeak, the door to the bar closes silently behind the man, leaving Him to stand on the cool, quiet, and empty sidewalk. The Man takes a deep breath, getting a feel for the air around him, the smell carried on the breeze, the taste it leaves on his tongue, the faint sound of two sets of footsteps, one heavy and one light moving quickly towards Him. With a few quick taps of his cane, the man quickly ducks into an alleyway to the left of the bar and blends into the shadows. After a few seconds an exhausted voice shatters the eerie silence.
"HELP ME! SOMEBODY PLEASE! HEL-" The voice is suddenly cut off and both sets of footsteps stop.
Quickly as he can, the Man dashes out from his hiding place in the alley way and runs towards where he last heard the voice. He knows hes close to where he heard the screams,
Tap Tap Tap
He skids to a halt near where the screaming stopped,
Tap Tap Tap
There! A nearby alleyway, that's the only place they could have gone,
Tap Tap Tap
The Man slowly walks into the dark, dingy alleyway, listening intently until he finds what Hes listening for; the sound of muffled cry's echo from somewhere deeper in the alley.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The smell assaults his nostrils long before he gets there, blood. He waits for a few moments, listening intently, straining his ears for any sign of a threat.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
He turns the corner into the small empty lot hidden deep within the dark alleyway, hidden away from any unnecessary attention, the perfect place for a murder. He doesn't need his sight to tell what happened here, the smell of blood coats the walls and pools on the ground, only a creature, no, a monster could do this to someone and then leave as if they had never been there at all. Fleeing the scene to go pray on another unsuspecting victim to kill in a similarly brutal fashion.

The Man clenched his fists, smashing his left hand into the wall to his left in frustration, causing his hand to begin to bleed. Blood flowed freely from the wound on his hand and trickled down his forearm, slipping off his arm and mixing with the pool of blood at his feet. His face contorts with anger and pain, before melting into a scornful smile. A chuckle escapes his throat, dying before it ever reaches his ears.
"This world is truly cruel!" The man turns towards the sky before turning back towards the corpse of the man he never knew.
"After all." The Man unclenched his fists, replacing the anger he had felt before with a sense of determination.
"Who better to find a killer than a detective?" He said, his words filled with a purpose he hadn't felt in a long time.
With those parting words, the man turns and walks out of the alley, each step bringing Him closer to avenging the man he would never get a chance to meet.
Drip. Tap. Drip. Tap.