A Fate Worse than Death

Johnathan pulled up to the stadium in his car.  He got out and ran towards the woman whose name he’d seen on his mystical stone earlier.  She’d been targeted by a specter.  If the creature could be prevented from touching the target it had designated, in this case her, while she was alive, the creature would die.  If it was allowed to touch her while she was alive, it would claim her soul.

            Johnathan ran through the entrance to the stadium.  Through his enchanted sunglasses he could see the specter approaching its victim.  Johnathan rushed through the crowd towards the woman as the specter headed towards her.  As he ran, the crowd noticed him.  The woman turned, looked, and screamed.  Knife outstretched, Johnathan was barely able to dig his dagger into her throat before the specter could put its hand on her.  Blood spattered onto Johnathan’s sunglasses and mask.  The woman fell to the ground.  Having been prevented from absorbing its targeted soul, the specter faded away.  As it did, all of the souls it had collected until then were freed.

The entire crowd looked at Johnathan, eyes widened.  The band who they had gathered to see had ceased playing.  Johnathan looked out at the crowd while holding his blood-soaked knife.  He could see a few of them fiddling with their cell phones.  Johnathan needed to get away if he was going to get to the other targets in time to stop the rest of the specters.

He reached out into the crowd and grabbed a young boy.  As he did, the boy’s mother screamed.  Johnathan held the knife up to the boy’s throat.  “Out of my way,” he said, “or the kid gets it.”  Over the next several seconds, the crowd parted to make way for him to leave.  Johnathan walked away, carrying the child.  People would gasp as he passed by them.  The child was begging for his life.

“Please, please put me down.  Let me go,” the child said, crying.

“I’ll put you down when I don’t need you anymore,” Johnathan said.  Johnathan kept the child until he was outside the main auditorium.  He turned around.  Johnathan saw the boy’s mother running through the crowd towards him.  He held the knife closer to the boy’s throat.  The mother looked at Johnathan with pleading eyes.  Johnathan looked back with his own eyes obscured behind his glasses.  The woman fell to her knees, sobbing.  Johnathan continued towards the stadium’s exit.  He didn’t have very long before the next specter struck.

After exiting the stadium, Johnathan walked with the boy all the way out to his car.  Once he got there, he let the boy go.  Crying, the boy ran back towards the stadium.  Johnathan entered his car and sped away.  He needed to hurry to the next target.