AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’s the master of timing, so he should be proud.
He presses a button on his phone, and a mild, contained explosion happens at the top of the church tower. The bell groans and wines before it crashes through the rock. We watch it in real time, not needing a screen to see it plummet to the street.
People screech and dive away, but he timed it to be when no one was too close.
It crashes to the ground so hard that it splits the street on impact right in front of the church. Everyone slowly approaches the mess as the front of the church reveals the last message.
Never mock or harm the passionate, for they are the fiercest with their wrath.
—Victoria Evans
More screams. They sound so pretty.
I cock my head, watching the people scatter, everyone rushing into their homes to gather their belongings. Our plan is to break the record for total town evacuation.
We also have a plan for the stragglers. Tranquilizing darts are a last resort, but we have them in spades, along with a dump truck to toss the unconscious ones into.
Nothing will stop us from finishing this.
Today.
My father would love this horror movie, because the bad guy finally wins.
“Ready for phase two?” Jake asks me.
“Where are we at on heat signatures?”
He pops up his app, showing me all the dots still in town.
“Broadcast phase two. Let the ones hiding in their homes see the show that will push them over the edge.”
“Planned on it,” he tells me with a dark grin.
My attention turns to one of the two cemeteries, the one where my parents and brother are buried. This is the part I’ve been dreading, but it’s a necessary evil. Besides, I know my brother and father would want to be involved in any way possible. I’m probably creating the illusion in my head, but I’d like to believe that if my mother had lived to see the horrors that were bestowed on her family, she’d be equally onboard.
For she was a romantic.
“Now,” I say quietly.
Though it’s in the distance, I still see with perfect clarity as the tombstones start exploding one by one. A fire starts in front of the cemetery, zipping down the line that Jake laid out.
We can hear the screams as the headstones continue to explode, and Jake presses a button on his phone that releases shadows made by light boxes. They look like souls rising.
To a town so full of guilt and religion, it’ll be like a mini-apocalypse.
Every headstone there finally explodes, and the lines of the fire finish, spelling out two words.
We’re back!
No longer is it one flesh-and-blood killer. Their worst suspicions have just come true. The spirits buried in that cemetery are back to wreak havoc on everyone here.
Jake pulls up his heat signature app, seeing more and more dots leaving their homes, fleeing to their cars to drive the spiral out of town.
One road in. One road out.
He broadcasts the second graveyard, following the same suit, the fire sparking and forming more words as the headstones explode one at a time. I idly watch the deputies running around the town, trying their best to calm everyone and convince them they’re safe.
Spirits don’t exist, after all. But their eyes tell them another story as they see the shadows emerge from the cemetery, convinced the illusion is the truth.
