8 Ghost In Town

"System, there are more than 250 people in this chat room. I assume you have some means to find their location, right?"

"Yes, by cross-referencing the IP address with the username, locating any individual in the chat is possible."

'IP address? Cross-reference?' When the system used such modern and technical-sounding terms, Dean realized that the system was rather confused. Unlike other systems, that specialized in being either technologically or supernaturally based, his system seemed to want it all.

While Dean was thinking such things the system continued, "The system expected the host to inquire about such matters, so the system has already confirmed all of the possible targets in a 100-mile radius."

'100 miles? The system sure is expecting a lot out of me.' If one takes into account that Dean still needed to purchase an ability, that would mean that the system expected him to somehow travel 100 miles, locate the target, and kill him all in one day. 'The system does remember that I'm a ghost right? Even if I still had my body, performing these feats would be miraculous for me.' With all of these concerns, Dean naturally told the system to pick the closest target.

"The closest target goes by the username CandyUncle and lives roughly 24 miles away from our current location."

"Okay, then let's go. You have the directions to get there right?"

"Yes, alongside the ability to access the chat room, the system also integrated several functions from the iPhone including GPS, a clock, call capacity, and various other features."

"Call capacity? System, are you trying to tell me that I can make calls to people that are still alive?!" Dean was ecstatic to hear this. If what the system was saying was true he'd be able to speak to his friends and family one more time. In fact, if it went as he'd planned he might be able to make the call so that no one would be able to tell that he'd made the call as a ghost. After all, an hour or two difference in his time of death wouldn't raise too many flags. Moreover, he'd been trying to ignore it, but the issue of his dead body rotting in here had been plaguing his mind. Only, as a ghost, he had no way to notify anyone, so the only thing he could do was wait and hope for his body to be discovered by someone.

"Yes, but the host must be warned that 1 Malice Point is spent for every minute that the host uses this feature."

"System, why are you so stingy?" Dean began to realize that the system was extremely miserly. In fact, he shouldn't be surprised considering that the system charged him merely to exist.

"Forget about it. After I take care of this CandyUNcle fellow, I'll spend 1 Malice Point to call the police if my body still hasn't been found by then. For now, let's get out of here."

*********************

Getting out of the dumpster was more difficult than expected. One would expect for it to be rather simple considering that Dean was able to phase waist-deep into the pile of trash with literally no effort, but when Dean tried to purposely phase through the dumpster wall he had to struggle for 5 minutes before he exceeded.

'If what the system said was true, it should become easier as I get more practice until then I'll just have to struggle a bit.' Now that he'd exited the dumpster, Dean decided to check the time.

"System, what time is is it right now?"

"Host, the time is 11:33 pm."

'11:33 pm huh? That means that it's only been around 2 hours since I died. It's amazing how fast things can change. It was just hours ago that I was complaining about my roommate and his girlfriend and now here I am, a ghost that must kill others to survive.' By the time Dean finished his inner existential ponderance, he realized that he'd left the alley and now stood on a sparsely populated street.

Maybe it was because there was a university nearby or maybe because it was a Friday night, but a surprising number of restaurants and businesses were still open despite the time nearing midnight. Occasionally, groups of various sizes would veer off and enter one of these places and occasionally groups would exit these places accompanied by the crisp sound laughter and joy.

'I wonder if I'll ever have that again?'

Glancing back at where it all began, he realized that the dark alley he'd taken as a short cut to Benny's remained the same as it'd always been. It was if the horrific events that had just transpired hadn't occurred. The alley remained unchanged, uncaring of the happenings within itself.

'I wonder if that's how the world works, where the many aspects of the human experience do little to affect the actual world around us? Maybe, those goth kids at the library were right when they said that everything was meaningless.'

Sighing to himself, Dean tossed these thoughts from his mind as he walked down the street.

Walking down the street as a ghost was a unique experience. In fact, if one didn't take into account that after nearly every third step he'd find himself sinking nearly knee-deep through the sidewalk, it could be considered the most fun he'd had in years.

After all, how often does one get the opportunity to wave their hands through someone or better yet just walk right through someone? At first, he'd been concerned that he might accidentally possess someone, but after the system told him that he'd have to buy this ability and that it wasn't either of the foundational abilities, he moved on to experimenting with his innate phasing ability. After tentatively waving his hand through several peoples' arms, he moved on to walking and eventually running right through people's bodies.

Sadly, Dean knew that he was in a race against the clock, so he quickly asked the system to display the GPS directions to the target's house.

Dean had no means of transportation, so he planned to run throughout the night to reach the targets house. After all, the way he saw it, a ghost didn't have biological needs so their stamina should be limitless like a zombie or any other undead creature.

'I never imagined that I'd be forced to run the equivalent of a marathon. After I deal with this fellow, I'll have to find some way to travel faster.'

'The system said that it had absorbed a lot of the functions from that fellow's iPhone so maybe I can call an Uber or something with a few malice points.'

"Well, time to go."