Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you are prepared for a fun one. I am more than ready to jump into the last prompt of the month so let’s set those timers and get started. Fifteen minutes and remember no stopping to edit, just write.
Apparently I couldn’t resist a zombie horde.
Friday, October 31st: If we can make it to the church we will be fine.
“If we can make it to the church, we will be fine,” Sean told the others. They all turned to look at the spire in the distance. Then as one they surged in its direction. There was no thought of helping others or going as a group. This was everyone running at their top speed.
Sean saw people who never moved above a walk leap headstones as though they were training for the Olympics. He was certain Mr. Peterson was going for gold the way he bounded across the uneven ground. Even with terror moving their steps, it was clear some were ill-prepared for the race. He heard huffing and puffing as people tried to breathe past both the panic and exertion.
The church grew closer. He could see now the doors were open wide and light was spilling out into the night. It looked golden, holy, safe. He sprinted forward, eyes fixed on the light. Their group funneled from wide and spread out, narrowing towards the funnel of the church door.
One by one they sped inside. Sean leaped the two steps from sidewalk to the space outside the door and was inside before he could fully grasp it. He slapped into the back pew, the rounded wood hitting his stomach and knocking the air out of him, stopping him in his tracks.
From the slit tilt of the pew he knew he wasn’t the only one to have run into it. He stepped out of the way and a moment later Deila slammed into the same spot. Ass he gasped for breath trying to calm his body down he saw Hank slam into the back of Delia, using her and the pew to stop himself. They both shifted away and moments later Stan hit the same spot.
Sean was slowly catching his breath and he moved back to the door. Stan was the last. Everyone was inside. He looked towards the tree line. They were still coming.
“We have to close the door,” he said. Frank shambled over to help him. They slammed the doors shut and Sean threw the dead bolt. He then moved away from the door. He knew this was sacred ground and the evil things could not enter, but he saw no reason to stand by the doors.
Deciding windows were also a bad idea, Sean moved to the center aisle, avoiding the tall windows. While the stained glass was lovely, at the moment he could only think about the weakness of glass and its ability to shatter.
He saw people at the front of the church, sitting like they were there for prayer. They hadn’t moved when the others arrived and were still even now. Sean frowned. He didn’t care how deeply people were praying, he would have expected their loud and unexpected entrance to have caused at least one head to turn.
‘And where is the clergyman?’ he thought. He wasn’t entirely sure what denomination this was but surely someone would be in charge. Someone would open the doors and turn on the lights even if there was no sermon. His eyes scanned the space. There was no one who looked official.
The supplicants remained stationary. Sean looked to the others. They were quiet now too, the strangeness sinking in. Many were still breathing heavily from the run, but all eyes were fixed on the unmoving people in the front pews.
Ten til Midnight 