A chance encounter

August 15th, 2040- Earth

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

9:15 Pm

-----------------------------

"Get the hell away from me! Someone Help!" A blood-curling scream pierced the night air. A woman screamed from the shadows of a side alley. Screams emerged from somewhere in the darkness of the street alley that James was passing on his way home from work.

James froze instantly at the sound of her hysterical shrieking for a brief moment before breaking into an all-out sprint. He wasn't rushing towards the sound of her screams. Rather, he was running as far away from the screaming as he could. James knew that whatever was happening to that woman was dangerous, and if he wanted to be safe, he should avoid danger at all costs. This was one of the many rules James had for life.

Whatever was happening with that woman, it was surely something that someone more capable than him could handle.

"Someone Please He-"

The woman's next scream for help stopped abruptly. His guilt for taking off and leaving her there was immense. He decided he would at least try to see what the issue was. This time James stopped sprinting down the sidewalk and pinned himself up against a brick wall. To make sure that you aren't attacked, sometimes it's nice to have a wall there, James thought. This was another of his many safety rules.

Looking left and right cautiously, James could see no one. Not a single person was on the road that day. However, A lack of pedestrians wasn't unusual to see, though, considering the current state of human interaction on the planet. Since 2025 the number of people who needed to go outside started to decline as technology improved steadily. Most jobs today were work from home. Jobs that required physical interaction like his were starting to become rare. People could purchase almost everything as long as you had earth credits to use in the Avalon Market system, an entirely virtual marketplace that encompassed every product you could even imagine. It had changed the world! Even the days of going to purchase a video game in person from a store were gone.

James assessed the situation. His chest was rising and falling behind his Gameblock employee T-shirt rapidly. Sweat quickly started to drip from his forehead, neck, back, and armpits. James glanced at the watch on his wrist, monitoring his heart rate.

"Please not now!" James whispered out loud

James' heart rate was currently flashing on the watch face at 184 beats per minute and continued rising. James refused to pass out again like last week when his bike had been stolen on his way home from work. The thief didn't even touch him. They just jumped out from the alley with a hammer in hand, and from the shock, James passed out just like that. When he had awoken, his wallet and phone had been stolen, but they conveniently left his Med-Watch IV on his wrist and his chain amulet necklace he received from his dad around his neck.

James believed that the thief must've been a kind one to leave these items behind. Considering the value of a Med Watch these days, he had to have been. Only the extremely wealthy had Med-watches nowadays, devices that monitored a client's health 24/7. James was extremely fortunate to have received one from his father for his birthday before he passed three years ago. His version - a fourth-generation, was slightly outdated but could still have the latest operating systems installed. His watch would go for around 750,000 Earth units at a pawn shop. He would use this expensive equipment to contact emergency services if needed. He hoped and prayed that he wouldn't need it.

He was trying to convince himself that maybe the scream was unwarranted and the woman was perfectly fine. After taking a deep breath, James continued to press himself up against the wall. Edging closer back to the alleyway entrance, James craned his head around the corner. James observed a figure clad in black hunched over a blonde woman's lifeless body. The figure looked massive to James, but he assumed it might just be the dark shadows or bad lighting.

That's when he heard it, sobbing.

"Please help.." the woman managed to get out faintly before becoming disturbingly silent.

Her gaze of fear was gone, the sobbing had stopped, but there was no longer life behind her eyes. The hunched figure was unmoving except for its right arm moving back and forth almost mechanically, plunging a large knife over and over into the woman's rib cage.

James gasped, and his blood ran cold. Painful pins and needles began to envelop his entire body. Despite all of his instincts telling him to run, He couldn't move. His legs felt like spaghetti, and so did his hands. His breathing became shallow and ragged, loud enough for someone in the alleyway to hear it. Loud enough for the figure to hear.

The figure slowly stood up without turning around.

"In all of my years of tasting human flesh and blood- I can say with almost certainty that prey overwhelmed with fear is the most delectable—bar none. The smell of yours is almost...erotic," The figure said with a sinister smile that seemingly reached from ear to ear.

"I may as well tell you my name before I savor you. It is the very least I could do. You see, I'm a gentleman as well as a connoisseur of flesh."

The figure turned around and slowly walked toward James, licking the knife clean as he did.

"My name is simply Lazar."

Lazar stopped and squinted his eyes, bared the upper and lower row of his sharp jagged teeth in a wild smile, clasped his hands behind his back, and bowed to James, who at this moment still hadn't moved.

"This women's blood tastes of viruses and diseases- plus she tried to put up a fight. That would ruin anyone's appetite. I hope you won't put up a fight, will you? I'm quite hungry."

James could do nothing but stand there and stare in horror at this man, who, as he approached, appeared to be visibly bigger and bigger. As the man came closer into the light, he realized that this man must've at least been 8 feet tall. Weirdly enough, James' first thought was who must've tailored this man's suit. The giant man was dressed from head to toe in what appeared to be a Tom Le'ord suit that fit him quite well. The fact that Lazar had not stopped smiling and baring his teeth, coupled with the fact that apparently, he was about to be savored, made this situation even more terrifying, but James could not turn away from Lazar's eyes. It was as if he were in a trance. James had not blinked once while speaking to James.

"You smell so damn good. I bet your blood tastes just as good," Lazar said as he began to shudder with glee.

There was a strange pull to Lazar's gaze that James couldn't break away from. Lazar's sinister unflinching eyes were now pitch black. James was unsure if his severe anxiety or something else had frozen him at this moment. Strangely the closer Lazar got, the weaker James felt. His vision became blurry, and he felt extremely lightheaded. He was certain that his heart would burst any second by how hard it was pounding in his chest. The only thing keeping him from passing out was the sheer adrenaline and fear.

"Heart rate rising rapidly, Executing Emergency Measures," a robotic voice spoke out from James' wrist.

A screen popped up in front of James' face, an attractive redheaded woman with glasses reading a clipboard came into view.

"So let's see who we have here..James Brave...16 years of age..long history of anxiety and panic attacks... " The young girl said coldly, disinterested.

"The ambulance is on their way. My name is nurse Amy, and I'm here to inform you that you are having a panic attack, your vitals are rapidly reaching dangerous levels..." the woman trailed off as she finally looked up from her clipboard to see James' face.

She was quite accustomed to patients being in less than favorable conditions when she spoke to them during an emergency measure, but the look on this young man's face was one of true horror. She felt as if this young man were looking straight through her. Curious, She flipped her screen around to see what held this young man's gaze and instantly regretted it. Lazar filled the screen with a horrific face. A middle-aged man's face but seemingly distorted. Despite the top of his head being covered with an expensive-looking black top hat with a red brim, his eyes were much too large for his head, and he had a grin much too enormous for a mouth. An uncomfortably large smile curled up to the ends of said face.

"I do not like to be interrupted," Lazar said, still smiling with ferocity.

"Maybe I can taste your organs too?"

The woman screamed, and before James could say a word, the screen disappeared. The watch was now flashing a bright red and blue color and speaking in a robotic voice again. Sirens began to go off from the watch.

"Danger, Danger" the robot voice repeated.

James wanted to say or do anything but was rooted to the sidewalk by immense fear and strange energy. His mouth was, parched and he felt his consciousness slipping away. The only thing he could do was fight his body from passing out and focus on the sound of the sirens.

Lazar ignored these annoying sounds, took his knife, and ran the smooth edge against James's face. Upon doing so, Lazar sniffed their air and immediately stood up and away from James.

"You soiled yourself. That won't do. It would be disgusting to consume you now. I will have to remember your face ... James Brave. I'll be back to enjoy you another time," Lazar said in a disappointing tone.

Lazar did an about-face and took off down the alleyway in the opposite direction at astonishing speed.

As soon as Lazar was out of sight, James fell forward onto the sidewalk as all of his willpower to stand up dissipated. As the ambulance vehicles approached, he lost consciousness, thinking about hot nurses and that maybe that burrito he had for lunch saved him.

"Did this kid shit himself?" Said one of the EMTs as they lifted James' unconscious body into the back of the vehicle.