The first thing that Drake was aware of was voices, they were distant but one was definitely familiar. He opened his eyes and looked around.
There was an x-ray viewing screen, the lighting was florescent. He looked to his right, there was an examination table, the type was familiar, it was an autopsy table.
He looked to his left. There was a second table.
He sat up and swiveled round to sit on the edge of the table trying to remember how he got there. Was his old friend playing a bad joke on him?
He could still hear Ducky's voice but he could not see him. Drake stood up, he felt strange like he was not awake, perhaps this was all just a dream.
The glass entrance doors of the autopsy lab slid open, Ducky, Gibbs & DiNozzo walked in.
"Ducky, what the devil am I doing here?" Drake asked.
Nobody responded. They did not even look at him.
"Hey come on people, what's going on here?" Drake asked. He felt like he should be mad but he was quite calm.
"Ok Ducky what do we know?" asked Gibbs
"Oh Jethro, he has only been here ten minutes other than the obvious time and cause of death there is nothing I can tell you." answered Ducky, his impatience barley disguised.
"Well, we'll leave you to it Ducky. Come on DiNozzo, let's see what Ziva has found." Gibbs turned on his heel and walked out of the lab with DiNozzo following in his wake.
"If you see Mr. Palmer, tell him I would like to see him here." Ducky shouted after Gibbs.
Ducky put on his greens and walked over to the table where Drake had been laying. "Well John, my old friend what have you been up to?"
"Oh thank god I thought you were going to ignore me Ducky." said Drake walking over to his friend.
It was only then that he realised that the table he got up from was occupied.
He was surprised and puzzled which became stunned and confused when Ducky pulled the sheet back to reveal Drake's own battered and burned body.
Drake stood and watched as his old friend performed an autopsy on his own body, he was expecting it to be more upsetting; he had always been a little bit squeamish about internal organs and the like. All he felt though was mild curiosity.
"COMMANDER JOHN DRAKE." The voice behind Drake was deep and resonant with a hollow and authoritative quality.
Drake turned around and was shocked by the sight that greeted him.
Standing there was a 7 ft tall robed figure holding a scythe. Its hands were skeletal; the face was a fleshless skull, two burning blue pin points of light flared in the eye sockets.
"I HAVE COME FOR YOU JOHN DRAKE."
"Oh? And who are you?" enquired Drake with more composure than he was expecting to possess under the circumstances.
In so far as it was possible for it to do so the skull's expression became one of surprise.
"I AM DEATH, I HAVE COME TO AID YOUR PASSING FROM THIS MORTAL COIL."
"Oh so what's next then?" asked Drake.
"THAT IS UP TO YOU. THE AFTER LIFE IS DEPENDANT UPON WHAT YOU EXPECT."
"Well personally I was not expecting to die quite yet. So if it is all the same to you I would quite like to go on living."
"OH DREARY ME, YOU'RE GOING TO BE DIFFICULT AREN'T YOU?" Deaths shoulders became more rounded and he lent on his scythe in the manner of an old man with a walking stick.
"YOU MAY CONTINUE TO EXIST ON THIS PLANE HOWEVER YOUR CORPOREAL FORM IS NO LONGER VIABLE SO YOU WILL BE A DISEMBODIED SPIRIT."
"Do you mean a ghost?" asked Drake "Only I don't believe in ghosts…. Is that going to be a problem?"
"NO, THAT IS NOT A PROBLEM, ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN GHOSTS THEY BELIEVE IN YOU."
"So will anybody be able to see me?" Drake asked trying to get to grips with the whole ‘dead' situation.
"AS A RULE THE LIVING WILL NOT SEE THE DEAD. THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, THOSE WHO HAVE SOME PSYCHIC ABILITY, CATS AND SOME OTHER ANIMALS MAY SEE YOU."
"So are there any rules of which I should be aware?" asked Drake as Death started to walk towards the autopsy lab doors.
Death looked over his shoulder and said "YOU SHOULD NOT SEEK REVENGE, THE DEAD MUST NOT KILL THE LIVING… IT SETS A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT." Death then walked through the closed doors and vanished.
Drake stood and considered his situation; his next move would require some thought.
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