Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Her

The rancid smell of death tears at his eyes, and he tightly clutches the handkerchief, pressing it firmly against his nose and mouth.

A radio crackles to life with a screech. “Bannister, answer me, god damn it!”

He raises the mouthpiece to his dry, pale lips. “I found her.”

“You what?”

“I said I FUCKING found her,” he replies, bolting out and emptying the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

“Is she…?”

“Y-Yeah, she’s dead. It looks like she’s been like this for weeks, probably the whole time we’ve been looking for her. The son of a bitch played us.”

“Give me your location and I’ll g—” The radio goes dead. He stares at it for a few moments, waiting for her to continue, but nothing happens.

“Sharon, everything okay?” he says into his mouthpiece. He waits for a reply, but only silence follows. “Sharon? What the fuck’s happening?”

“Hello, Charles,” a male voice says over the radio.

“X-X-Xander…”

“I’m touched you remember my voice. It has been a while, my old friend.”

“You’re the one behind all this?”

“You seem surprised. Surely, all the little clues I left for you were descriptive enough for you to know it was me. Or did I expect too much from an old dog like you?”

“I-I-I, I had an idea it was you, but I was hoping I was wrong. I was hoping you died in that shit-hole in Yugoslavia. You better not have hurt her!”

“Or what? You’ll make me pay?” Xander says, letting out a sarcastic laugh. “Don’t worry, she’s alive—for now—but I don’t know how much longer that will last.”

“What do you want, you piece of shit?”

“I want what everyone wants. I want to be loved, accepted, enjoyed. I want what you took from me all those years ago.”

“Debbie’s dead, Xander. She crossed the line, just like you did. It should’ve been you who ended up with a bullet in your head instead of her, I’ll give you that. But what you two did… there’s no going back from that!”

“Fuck you, Charles. We were doing God’s work, making this world better for everyone. Until you stuck your fucking nose in it.”

“You were killing innocent children, Xander. KIDS! You weren’t doing God’s work; you were losing your shit, and someone had to stop you. And that someone was me.”

“We were doing what God wanted, couldn’t you see that? The population was growing too fast. Someone needed to make the decisions for the betterment of all, and that someone was me and her, the new Adam and Eve, resetting the population so that it could begin again.”

“You’re fucking crazy. I should’ve made sure you were dead; I should’ve put a bullet in your head myself. But this time, I won’t make the same mistake. I’m going to find you, and I’m going to do what I should’ve done all those years ago,” he says, as he feels something cold press against the back of his head.

“You’re a sinner. The Lord has told me you must be cleansed from this world,” Xander says, pushing the barrel of the gun into Charles’ head.

“You’re fucking CRAZY! Can’t you see that? Can’t you see what you’re doing is wrong?”

Xander leans in and whispers in Charles’ ear, “I am he who was chosen. I am the master of ceremony. I am the cleaner of souls. I am—” A single gunshot interrupts his speech, and he lets out a gasp of air, his eyes staring forward into nothingness. Charles thrusts him away and turns around, locking eyes with him for the last few seconds of his life. Charles’ blood soaks into his shirt, escaping from the hole he shot into himself to get to Xander.

“You were never chosen,” Charles says, looking down upon the dying Xander, and unloads the rest of the clip into his head.