RAMPAGE

Chapter 4

The sun had begun to lower in the school soon after the final bell rang for school. Students poured into the streets and began walking home with friends, some used the bushes behind the school as a shortcut to make it home. Those that did weren't so lucky that afternoon as Jeremy was waiting with baseball bats, golf clubs and even a bear trap that his father used when he went hunting. Cameron and James, however, didn't use the shortcut today, instead, they crossed the street holding hands talking about the party like nearly everybody else around them.

"Do you think they'll like it?" James asked.

"I don't care." Cameron replied, "I'm just happy that you're happy."

"Thank you." James looked down at Cameron's hand, holding his own tighter.

"They've gotten used to me, haven't they?" James said softly. God, he really hope they had.

Cameron gave him a goofy grin. "They have" he lifted his other hand and brushed James' hair away from his eyes.

"You would." James laughed, he reached out and brushed back Cameron's hair. "I love you."

"I love you too." Cameron leaned up and kissed James's lips. They kissed for a few seconds and then broke apart. "Should we get going?"

"Yeah, let's go," James said as they walked off towards their house.

The couple walked along the sidewalk talking quietly, their hands never once leaving each other as they walked. Cameron had an AirPod in his left ear because James was on his right talking to him about the party. They still hadn't decided officially on a costume but they promised each other they'd do something special. James stopped and Cameron came to a sudden stop beside his boyfriend, he frowned and looked at James who was looking into someone's yard. Cameron followed his gaze and looked up at a large tree that was hanging over the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

"Jesus Christ".

Hanging from the tree was a white dog, its legs had been bound together and its eyes had been torn from its skull. The fur was now red, blood was dripping freshly from its parted lips. It hadn't been there long. The dog hung limply in the tree, its tongue was poking out of the side of its mouth and a deep wound had been cut into its stomach.

"What the hell!" Cameron screamed.

"Cameron!" James called out to him, he grabbed his boyfriend's hand and they hurried away through the street.

Cameron was visibly shaken up seeing that. He adored animals and seeing that somebody had killed one made him sick to his stomach. James wrapped his arm around Cameron's shoulder as they made their way to the bus stop, "It wasn't your fault."

"I know." Cameron said, "It's just..."

"Just what?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"There was blood everywhere," Cameron whispered.

"There are some sick fucking people out there, Cam," James said.

He sat beside Cameron and watched as a police cruiser when driving past with the sirens on. They watched the police car turn a corner and go out of sight.

"Who would fucking do that to a dog?" Cameron asked as he looked at James. "Let's just get home for this party". Jeremy stood beside a blue ute in the distance watching his handy work, he dumped several bodies in the forest and returned to the streets to see the concerned neighbours trying to get the dog down from the tree where he left it. He was surprised nobody had actually caught him suspending the dog in midair. Turning his head to the right slightly he saw two boys talking at the bus stop, they must have seen the dog and taken off. He smirked at them and then stepped out of view when one of them looked up at him and frowned, like a ghost, he was gone quickly. Jeremy knew people would begin to investigate the houses, people hadn't gone to work today, and people never made it to school. People were dead all across town, but he knew there was so much more to do. He was just getting started.

Virginia state railways' offices were pretty close to where James and Cameron lived. Sitting behind the desk was Amanda Tilley, a pleasant-looking woman in her mid-twenties, modest in height and a little bit plump but not in a bad way. She sat in front of her desk typing away on the computer when she looked up and saw James and Cameron across the street walking home, she saw them holding hands and smiled to herself and then went back to typing. The afternoon had been extremely quiet, all she had left was to sign for the shipment in the loading dock then she'd be closing up for the day. Lifting her eyes up she saw two police officers walking quickly up the street, to her eyes, it didn't look good. She finished up what she had to do then quickly shut down her computer, grabbed her purse then quickly made her way over to the window facing the street to where officers Donald and Mason stopped. It was a small town, she knew who they were.

"Everything okay, officers?" Amanda asked.

"Yes ma'am" one replied.

"Did you need anything?" asked Amanda.

"No ma'am, we just wanted to speak to a young boy we saw running up the street" replied the first officer then paused. "We've had some crazy things happening today".

Amanda frowned with confusion. "There hasn't been any boy running up this way today, I would have seen. Should I be worried?"

"No ma'am."

"Are you sure officer?" she was starting to get an eerie feeling about this whole conversation. Something didn't seem right.

"Yes ma'am."

"Well if you say so" she laughed nervously. "I gotta go sign for this shipment then I guess I better be getting home" she waved goodbye and stepped in and closed the door before she walked across the office and through the staff-only door. The officers saw her body from outside as she went into a room and then went out of sight. They turned and walked off, they swore they saw a boy running off this way.

Amanda entered the loading dock and looked around.

"Roy? Are you still here?"

Nothing but silence came back to her. Slowly she walked around.

"Where are you?"

The cold air gripped her throat. She was scared, very scared. It took her 5 minutes to realise that Roy was not in the office at all. She began to panic, she couldn't let anyone see her freaking out like that. People thought she had anxiety and OCD. She was a freak like that. She walked across the loading dock and stepped down the steps and strolled across the concrete loading zone, resting behind a stack of pallets clutching his throat with blood oozing from between his fingers was Roy, his eyes were weak as he tried to open his mouth to speak but he couldn't. Amanda froze when she saw his body. She stepped back slightly and lifted her hands up and covered her mouth as she released a powerful scream that echoed across the loading dock. Roy gurgled on his own blood as his left hand reached for Amanda.

"Oh god!" Her voice boomed.

She prayed the officers on the street could hear her screaming out.

In a panic Amanda turned and ran across the dock, she climbed the metal stairs and went up onto the landing and ran towards the office entrance. She cried out as she tugged on the door that wouldn't seem to budge, tears flooded down her cheeks as she bashed against the door. She turned around and went pale and pushed her body up against the door so her back was flat when Jeremy came charging at her holding a fire axe. His eyes were full of rage and terror, his teeth were gritted and his knuckles were wrapped so tightly around the axe they were white. He swung it over his shoulder and it struck Amanda in the neck, her eyes went wide and her mouth parted as a fountain of blood sprayed upwards. Jeremy lifted his foot up and shoved her back and removed the axe from her body. She moved quickly away from him, her hands were at her neck clutching the deep wound. Jeremy was shocked that she was still going. He turned around with a psychotic look on his face and removed a nine-inch hunting knife, his heart was pounding with anger and exhilaration. He waited for her to turn and ran at her, slashing at her as he went. She laid in a pool of her own blood and knew she wouldn't last much longer when he was done with her. Jeremy knelt over her body and began stabbing her in the back over and over again, blood sprayed across the landing as he tore the knife from her back and then dug it back into her. He yelled as he stabbed her, his mind raced with impure thoughts, the things he wanted to do.

That was 14 souls taken before the day had turned to night.