Unbound

Chapter 4

Hayden scrolled through the notifications on his phone, but he couldn't keep up.

"Wtf?!! Is dis??" Said Hellboy007.

"Nope, nope, nooooooooope!" Astroglyder21 said.

"Where's this church? I want to go there!" Optimus12 commented.

RoseTyler07 said, "Great, Jesus is back. There goes the gays."

To this, SeanPan replied, "Someone get this homophobic bitch out of here, we're Christians we love everyone."

Hayden groaned as the comments kept rolling in, making it almost impossible to get to the actual stream on their YouTube channel. Then the comments began to change.

"Who's this chick?"

"Dunno, but I'd do her."

"Hell yeah!"

Hayden frowned. Who was still in the church? Everyone had either left or was on their way out the doors. Except for Benjamin, of course. And then the notifications stopped popping up. He tapped the screen and tried to scroll up and down. Nothing. "Dammit," he muttered. "Dad, where's your laptop?"

"Is this really the time?" Pastor Tim asked as he navigated out of the parking lot, honking when someone ran in front of the huge SUV. People were fleeing the church and jamming up the exits—a few had already caused accidents by running out into traffic.

"Something's going on back there," Hayden said.

"Aside from the fucking skeletons?" his dad yelled, maneuvering around a woman carrying her child down the middle of the parking lot.

"It's in his bag," Simon said. He reached to his feet—Pastor Tim always just threw his bag into the back seat—and came up with the slim notebook.

Hayden grabbed it and opened it, sighing with relief when it immediately powered up and showed a full battery. He expected it to be dead, knowing his dad. The SUV shimmied as Pastor Tim hopped the curb, squeezed through two light poles, and shot out into the street. They tipped for a second, and Hayden was certain they were going to roll, but the right side of the truck slammed back down onto the street and they were off.

"Lord be with them," Pastor Tim said. It was so automatic, so much a habit, that Hayden almost laughed.

Instead, he ignored the irony and tapped in his dad's password. A huge cross with a depiction of Jesus on it glared out at him. Beside him, Simon sighed. Hayden could relate. He quickly connected to the truck's Wi-Fi network and signed into their private server, where they could monitor the live feed from church services.

"Oh no," Simon groaned.

"What?" Hayden asked, even as he bent closer to peer into the monitor. The image was of the stage with the baptismal doors busted open, one laying on the floor near where the pulpit had stood before Jesus destroyed it. And then he saw her—she stood on the steps leading up to the stage.

She stood statue-still for a moment, eyes coolly surveying the emptying church. Her skin was a vibrant red, as if she'd been dipped into scalding water, but slowly the red faded and paled. She really did look like a statue then, with ivory flesh and hard, sharp contours that reminded Hayden of the women his dad usually hired as personal trainers. Sculpted was the word. Hayden was sure that if he could see her in person, he'd be able to watch the blood flowing in her veins. The woman turned in a slow circle, cocking her head when she came in line with the open baptismal. Her back to the camera, Hayden took notice of the rest of her body for the first time—aside from dark red hair that spilled down to her waist, she was completely and totally naked. She climbed a step, bringing more of her form into view.