April Reigns (April Almighty Book 4)

by Tim Miller

  April was unmoved. This asshole, she thought had loved her, was there to care for and protect her, had killed her mother. She wanted to take hold of him now and make him cut his own throat, but she needed to hear the rest.

  “Go on,” she said. Mad Maxwell sat quietly at the head of the table. April kept an eye on him, but he was clearly enjoying himself.

  “Well, after that all was well. When you turned eighteen with no abilities I was relieved, I thought you were in the clear. Until you were abducted and after what I saw you do there in Browneye.”

  “So you told them.”

  “Not exactly. By the time we got home, they’d already heard about it. So they moved me from The Bureau over to Jericho, that’s why my job changed. They liked the report on what you did at Browneye, your ability to fight and use your skills. They wanted to see how you did against something more dangerous. So, I talked your friends into getting you on that trip to go through Happytown. I even paid for it.”

  “All my friends died there!” she yelled, pounding the table.

  “I know. I hoped they’d get away, but no. You cleaned house though. No one here expected you to survive, but you did. Then they sent Grant to come find you and bring you in. That didn’t go so well.”

  April had heard enough. She stood, letting her hate pour into her dad. He could read it immediately. If she could have killed him with her stare just then, she would have.

  “Excellent!” Mad Maxwell said as he stood clapping. “That was a beautiful performance Bobby! Will there be an encore?”

  “Fuck you,” Bobby said.

  “Fuck me? No, no. Wait! It’s time for a special guest! Oh my dear! Come join us please!”

  The door opened and in walked a clown. This wasn’t some guy in makeup but a real clown. April knew the difference. This clown though was a girl. She had long green hair pulled back into a pony tail. She had on a big red nose and a huge, permanent smile as her face stretched into an unnatural bright red grin. One of her eyes was missing, leaving a gaping black hole in her otherwise pale face. In her smile, you could see her teeth were razor sharp, all of them. April almost broke down once she recognized her. The clown was Isis.

  Chapter 21

  “Hey April!” Isis said. “Like my new look?”

  “Isis what did he do to you? My God.” April took a step back. She couldn’t believe her friend her only friend in the whole world had now been turned into one of those things.

  “He made me great! He did mess me up a little bit at first. But then he fixed me right up! Oh, and I don’t like Isis anymore. It sounds too human. Now I’m Icy Kate! Get it! I love it!”

  “Jesus,” April said. This couldn’t be happening. Just behind her, Mad Maxwell walked up and put a hand on her shoulder.

  “You know you could join us April. I won’t even make you a clown. Just come hang with us. I’ll even kill your dad for you, free of charge! Hahaha. Oh, don’t look so sad. You know you want to kill him. Maybe that’s it. I’ll just offer him up to you.”

  April just realized she was still holding the machete. Part of her wanted to drive it into her dad’s skull right now and be done with it. Another part of her wanted to lop Maxwell’s head off. She’d need to make a move at some point. No way was she joining two homicidal clowns, and no way was her dad walking out of here. If she did survive this mess, she would be completely alone.

  “Let’s go honey buns,” Mad Maxwell said. “I have work to do here. If you’re going to be with us I need to know. You can be my right hand girl!”

  “I thought I was your right hand girl?” Icy Kate said.

  “You’re my right hand Clown honey!”

  “Oh! Right! Yay me!” Icy Kate said jumping up and down. Her voice didn’t sound right, higher pitched but slower. Isis really was gone. Without thinking any further, April swung the machete and struck Mad Maxwell in the side of the head, knocking his hat off and sending him tumbling to the ground. From down the hall she heard explosion as a door exploded and the sound of men yelling. The police were here. It sounded like a SWAT team making entry. They were on this floor and would be in the room soon. April could just take control of them, but she didn’t want to risk killing police.

  Mad Maxwell fell to a knee as he tried to pull the machete out of his head. Icy Kate screamed and jumped on April who punched Icy in the face, but it had little effect. They rolled and struggled on the ground as April finally mounted her chest and began ground and pounding Icy like an MMA fighter. She felt Icy’s face start to give as she rained blows down on her, Icy bucked and screamed but April was holding her own.

  Still with the machete in his head, Maxwell lunged at April knocking her off Isis. April’s dad ran over to them, pulling a gun from the back of his pants and pointing it at Maxwell. April struggled to get out from under him as Icy lunged at April with her mouth open, sharp teeth exposed. April tried to turn her head as her arms were trapped under her own body. Icy bit into April’s neck and ripped out a huge chunk of flesh.

  Looking at April with the bloody smile, Icy spit April’s flesh from her mouth. April felt blood spraying her face and neck as she immediately grew dizzy. From behind her a gun shot rang out as she rolled over seeing her dad standing over her. He’d shot Mad Maxwell in the back of the head and now Icy was on him, but he was shooting her in the chest as Icy wrestled for the gun.

  The gunshots, yelling and screaming all sounded so far away. Her vision began to blur while watching her dad struggle with her former friend. Blood pooled around her and touched her cheek while matting her hair to the side of her face. Lying on the ground, the last thing she heard was someone yelling “Police!” and one more voice saying “She’s dead.”

  And then she was.

  Chapter 22

  Bobby Kennedy died that day. April died just minutes before. The police had stormed the conference room as Icy Kate also ripped into Bobby’s neck. As the cops showed up instead of killing them all, she busted through the window and jumped out. They thought for sure the fall had killed her, but there was no body to be found.

  Miraculously Mad Maxwell wasn’t dead. Despite the gunshot to the head, at his age, his skull was far stronger than most clowns. The bullet lodged in the base of his skull where it stayed. They finally got the machete out of his head as well. When the police came in, they managed to subdue him. It turned out he hadn’t killed everyone at Jericho. Many of the scientists were locked in a room on another floor. It would stand to reason Mad Maxwell would have needed them for whatever crazy project he had planned.

  The police agreed to turn Maxwell over to the Jericho staff. Jericho had sent in reinforcements from their California facility and they placed Mad Maxwell in a huge cube that looked as if it were made from glass. It was actually a compound developed by Jericho for the military. It acted as bulletproof glass, but was much thinner than regular bulletproof glass. This could withstand a rocket-propelled grenade, but was only two inches thick.

  Mad Maxwell sat on the floor in his new home, now just wearing hospital scrubs and looking at his reflection in the glass. He kept playing with and adjusting his hair, licking his hand and rubbing his hair again.

  “Damn that machete,” he said to himself. “Now my part just won’t look right.”

  ****

  Joey’s mom read him the story for at least the two hundredth time. The six-year-old loved scary stories. His mom didn’t so much, as they always gave him nightmares. Yet every night he’d insist on the same story. These days, he’d gotten used to it and the story was funny.

  Not to mention, he was getting to be a big boy. Big boys couldn’t worry about monsters under the bed or in the closet. That stuff wasn’t real. He couldn’t go running to mommy every time he heard a noise. Once she finished the story, she tucked him in and turned out the light. Joey closed his eyes and quickly began drifting off to sleep. It was Friday night and he had all weekend to play in the pool and catch up on his video games.

  As he drifted off to sleep, what he d
idn’t know was Icy Kate, the killer lady clown was in fact hiding under his bed. She held her breath so no one could hear a peep from her. Once he was gently snoring she slowly climbed out from under the bed and looked him over. You could say she smiled as she took in the sight of this harmless child resting peacefully before her, but that would only partially be true. These days she was always smiling.

  The End

  Exclusive sneak peek at Tim Miller’s next release

  My Brother’ Keeper

  Where is Bobby? Where is he? Simon frantically ran up and down the sidewalk outside his school. His brother always got off school and headed straight over to pick Simon up. He’d done that every day of the year so far, without fail. Every single day. Except today. Where could he be?

  “Bobby!” Simon screamed. “Bobby! Bobby where are you?”

  “What seems to be the problem?” Miss Henson asked. She was one of the teachers, but not his. Simon didn’t know which class she taught.

  “My brother Bobby isn’t here to walk me home. He walks me home every day! Something must be wrong. I’m really worried.”

  “Oh, I’m sure everything is fine. You only live a couple blocks away. You could be a big boy and go by yourself,” she suggested.

  “By myself? Mommy says to never go anywhere by myself.”

  “Maybe. You’re in first grade now Simon. You’re a big kid. It’s better than screaming for Bobby all afternoon.”

  What Simon hadn’t seen was the vice principal telling Miss Henson moments before to find a way to shut him up. This was the best she could come up with.

  “Ok. You think I’ll be ok?” he asked.

  “I’m sure you will. Now run along now. Your mom will be really proud of you.”

  He turned and pulled on his backpack straps as he ran across the street and headed down the sidewalk. After a block he was feeling pretty excited with himself. Maybe he’ll make it home on time to watch Power Rangers. That had always been his favorite show. He skipped along excited with the idea of playing with his toys while watching TV. His mind was so pre-occupied, he never saw the boys running up behind him.

  The shove hit him hard, knocking him flat on his face. His hands caught his fall but scraped themselves open on the pavement. He turned and began crying as he sat up.

  “That hurt! Why did you do that?” He screamed. There were three boys standing around him. He didn’t know who they were, but recognized them from school. They were all fifth graders. He didn’t know what he’d done to them, but they were looking awful angry.

  “Ow! That hurt! Hahaha!” One of them said as the others laughed. “What’s wrong retard? Where is your brother? He get sick of your shit too?”

  “Leave me alone! I’m just walking home!”

  “Yeah we see that retard. You gonna cry some more?”

  Simon looked around, trying to figure out what to do. He was having trouble catching his breath as he tried to stop from panicking. He knew a fit would be coming soon but these boys might just hurt him badly. Looking around, he jumped to his feet and began to run. The boys laughed some more as he ran away. Thinking he may be getting away he made the mistake of looking behind him. Two of the bigger boys were right behind him. One grabbed his back pack and flung him off the sidewalk and into a bush.

  Sticks and branches poked and scratched his face as blood ran down his cheeks. He rolled off the bush and onto the sidewalk. This time he shrugged out of his backpack as he tried to stand. Now he was getting angry. What would the Green Ranger do? He was Simon’s favorite. He never took a beating like this. He always fought back. Simon was part of the Ranger club online. Bobby had signed him up for it. He had the membership card and everything. It was time to stop running.

  Pumping his fist into the air, he screamed.

  “It’s morphin’ time!” As he ran at the nearest boy, swinging his leg up in an attempted karate kick. It landed but with no force behind it. He ran by each of them wildly throwing punches and kicks like he’d seen on TV. The boys just stood laughing before one of them had enough.

  “You want to do Karate? How’s this?” the boy said as he threw a roundhouse kick, nailing Simon in the side of the head. Simon went sprawling, landing on his side. His elbow went into his ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs. Immediately he went to scream as he couldn’t breathe. He lie on his back gasping for breath, eyes wide open looking up at the boys standing around him.

  “Aww, is someone having trouble breathing?” One of them asked.

  “Yeah, the tard can’t breathe!” they all laughed as Simon lie there gasping for air. Every single breath felt like it would be his last. The other boys didn’t care, One of them kicked his leg, which hurt, but he was unable to react.

  “He’s faking,” another said. “Come on! Knock it off!” he yelled “Get up!” But Simon could only take deep breaths. They got longer each time as his lungs began to refill with air. The boy bent down over him and slapped him in the face. The slap stung as the whole left side of his face began to throb. Simon let out a scream as he could now breathe. This time he couldn’t stop it. The screams became loud, long and frequent as his fit came on full force.

  The boys screamed for him to shut up while taking turns slapping him across the face. Simon managed to grab one of their hands and bite, latching on while screaming and growling. He continued screaming as he ran to another boy and punched him in the nuts. It only hurt the kid a little, but Simon was in a frenzy of screaming, crying and snarling as he spun about kicking and biting at anyone that came near him. Anyone passing by may have thought he was a feral child right out of the wilderness.

  One of the boys let out a scream as he fell to the ground. Simon turned and there was his brother Bobby. He’d punched the one boy and grabbed another by the shirt and punched him in the face. Blood sprayed from the boy’s nose as he fell to his knees. The other two boys took off running as Bobby kicked the one with the bloody nose in the stomach.

  “You like fucking with little kids?” Bobby said as he continued kicking. Now he was kicking the kid in the stomach and chest repeatedly before Simon ran over to him and hugged his leg.

  “Bobby! Bobby! You came to save me!”

  Bobby stopped and knelt down as Simon hugged him tight.

  “Why are you walking home? One of my teachers made me finish an assignment after school, so I hurried as fast as I could. I’m sorry buddy.”

  “The teacher told me I was a big boy and to walk home by myself. She said everything would be fine.”

  Bobby pulled away and looked at Simon. The boy’s face was streaked with blood, tears and scratches.

  “Yeah, fine all right. What teacher told you that?”

  “Miss Henson. She said I’d be fine? Then these boys jumped me. I tried to be like the Green Ranger and fight back, but they were too big.”

  “You did good buddy. You did real good.”

  “We need to hurry home. It comes on pretty soon. We can’t miss it!”

  Bobby nodded and picked up his brother, pulling him on his back piggy back style and took off at a dead run. Despite running as fast as his legs would carry him, he didn’t make it on time for Power Rangers. Bobby hoped their mom wouldn’t be home for the fit that was about to ensue.

  About the Author

  Tim Miller has dedicated his life to writing stories that will both scare readers and make them cringe.

  Over the years, Tim's writings have evolved into darker realms. He released his first horror novel, "The Hand of God" in 2011. Since then his books have become progressively more violent and gory. With the release of "Family Night" in 2013, Tim had moved into the world of extreme horror where he continues to push the boundaries of human suffering.

  Tim is now an international best seller as well. His book, "Hell, Texas" has recently ranked high on Amazon sales charts since its release in Germany under German publisher, Festa-Verlag.

  He continues to climb the sales charts with his April Almighty series, as well as his recent hits,
"Hacked" and "Lady Cannibal."

  Tim is very active on social media and loves interacting with his readers. You can find him at his website at http://timmiller.org

  Visit Tim’s Amazon Author page for all his latest releases.

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