Free Hellbound: The Tally Man by David McCaffrey Page B

him his death had been a grave mistake and one that many would now suffer for.
    He randomly approached a lady trying to get into her car, grabbing her by the hair. Swinging her around by her ponytail, Obadiah slammed her into the neighbouring car. As she slipped to the floor, she began screaming.
    Ignoring her cries, Obadiah leaned over and sliced the knife across her face, neatly popping her right eyeball and severing her nose in half. She squealed and grabbed for her face as he cut across her neck, her body going limp almost instantly.
    A couple ahead of her had already started their car having witnessed Obadiah’s actions and were accelerating away. He picked up the woman’s body as though weightless and threw it into the car’s oncoming path. The driver of the car swerved to avoid it, acting on instinct despite knowing that she was already dead. The front of the car crumpled as it ploughed in a parked Mercedes, the red automobile sliding sideways before striking the car next to it.
    In his dazed state, the driver didn’t notice Obadiah coming up beside his window, his hand holding a stone that was subsequently launched through it, striking the man in the face. Obadiah reached in and roughly pulled him through the shattered glass, its serration slicing a wound in the top of his head. The female passenger was slumped forwards, her head bleeding from the impact to the dashboard. Obadiah knew she was already dead.
    The knife in hand, he brought it up towards the man’s hands pitifully trying to protect his face, slicing the man’s fingers off neatly below the knuckle. Its journey continued on and came across his cheek, widening his mouth into a clown’s grin. Obadiah quickly stabbed it into the other side of his face, the muscles making a soft sound as they met resistance with the knife. His mouth severed wide, the man shuddered as he passed a final fluid-filled breath, losing his fight against Obadiah’s claim of his body.
    Obadiah paused for breath, considering his next move whilst surveying the panic that had ensured. Coupled with the buildings around him, cathedrals of shimmering glass and brick and shining with life in the bright sun, the whole situation was almost heavenly.
    Restoring his focus, he scanned the streets. He could see people, pitifully trying to barricade themselves inside shops and cars. Many souls were hurriedly trying to leave the location on foot, not looking back in case they caught his attention.
    Tightening his grip on the knife, he began to run towards the nearest pedestrian, gathering speed as the woman with the pram tried to flee Obadiah’s charge. He wasn’t interested in finesse or meticulous detail. He just wanted them to die. Their only crime being in his presence.
    The woman with the pram didn’t get very far as Obadiah bounded up with dancer-like precision, grabbing her by the throat from behind. Kicking the pram out of the way and ignoring the cries from within it, he brought the knife down in an overhead motion. It entered the woman’s stomach just below her sternum. Sliding to the floor, she tried futilely to hold her stomach and protect her head at the same time, failing to intercept the foot traveling to her face. Obadiah’s kick to her head shattered her skull. She tried to call out for someone to protect her baby from between the disjointed fragments that had once been her jaw. Obadiah’s final kick broke through her fragile latticework of ribs, puncturing her lungs in the process and forcing blood to explode from the wound in her abdomen. The pram remained stationary on the path. The newly orphaned baby continued to cry, sensing the fractured emotion in the air.
    A man altruistically charged Obadiah from his left side. Gesturing towards the pram with a bow, as though encouraging him to pursue it, Obadiah kicked it again, this time into the road, the baby’s screams rising with the sudden violence of movement. Twisting to the side as the man tried to shoulder-barge him,