I bolted away from the grave in a blind panic. I didn't know what I was thinking would happen, the Gravekeeper wasn't confined to the graveyard. But the animal part of my brain was done with this spooky shit. I barely made it halfway to the gate before a whisper in my ear froze every muscle in my body.

"Ever since time immemorial mankind has looked to the stars with wonder…" The Gravekeeper said, unlocking a backdoor it had written in my wetware. I felt my mind open and cold fingers pull at my being. I was no longer in control.

The words made no sense. Did it mean a star like the sun? Why would someone look at the sun? Had it picked that phrase just to confuse me?

"Please, stay a while." Said my mouth as I turned and walked back toward the freshly dug grave. I tried to fight it but my feet were moving on their own. I said the words to activate my ability but nothing happened this time. The Gravekeeper was learning.

Fuck. This was bad. This was so bad. Why was this happening? I was a copy but I was still a living breathing hund. Gravekeepers were supposed to protect the living. They were the clean up crew, the maggots that consumed the rotting wetware of the dead. That was the only reason they were allowed to exist.

"Yes, but while your body is living the original Braverhund is dead. Therefore categorically you fall within my domain." My mouth said. "And you are quite a prize to be had. I have much use for you, lost one."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

So that was it. The Gravekeeper would hollow me out and use me like a puppet. Of course, logically if I could prove that I was alive it would have to let me go.

"That is an interesting thought." My mouth said, my body still walking toward the grave. I was close now and I could see the rainwater pooling at the bottom. "Perhaps we will have a friendly wager. But if you lose, you're mine forever."

Yes! I thought. Dear God, yes!

"If you can free the grim from its servitude I'll let you go. But until then you're going into the grave for safe keeping." My mouth said.

That wasn't good. I didn't like the sound of that. And where the fuck was Gershwin?

"He's occupied. Now, down you go." My mouth said as I crawled into the grave and laid down. It was wet and cold. I could feel the mud seeping into my clothes as I lay there, the rain still pouring down on me. I realized then that there was a time limit on our wager. The Gravekeeper didn't have to kill me, all it had to do was wait for me to drown.

I felt some small measure of control come back to me as the water began to rise. I could breathe voluntarily and interface with the net, but everything else was locked out. I looked at the muddy walls of the grave and imagined them collapsing and smothering me. I could almost taste the dirt in my mouth already.

"Well, it's all up to you now." The Gravekeeper whispered through the radio. "I guess you had best get busy working or get busy dying. It makes no difference to me."

I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself. My instructor had told me once that in a gunfight you had the rest of your life to find your target. Well, I had the rest of my life to free the grim. However long that might be.