by Jacob Rayne
As this thought registered, the gas-masked man’s gun spat fire. The gun’s report was much louder than Mark would have imagined.
A man fell, his forehead spraying blood which spattered over the people behind him.
The crowd scattered, some of them heading for the stairs. Others headed for the staff room.
A second gas-masked man emerged from the staff room. His muzzle flashes lit up the anguished faces of the people nearest to him, then they dropped, riddled with oozing bullet holes, into the pool of blood that was already spreading across the floor.
Most of the crowd was keeping low now, except for a group near Mark and Rick in the corner, who stood peeking through gaps in the hanging garments.
Mark saw the gunman blast a path to the drunken man in the blue cap. Bodies fell as his gun tore holes in their flesh and liberated thick gouts of gore. He fought his way to the man in the blue cap and started struggling with him.
The drunken man gave as good as he got and broke from his attacker’s hold.
‘Little help,’ the gunman shouted. His voice was muffled by the mask and sounded alien.
The second man came out of the staff room. His path cleared as the remaining bodies scattered. He stepped over the carpet of bleeding bodies and grabbed at the man in the blue cap.
The drunken man managed to evade the clutches of both assassins. They struggled for almost a minute, then the second gunman pulled out a black device that looked like an electric razor.
He pressed it hard to the back of the drunken man’s neck. Sparks lit up the room and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
The drunken man’s legs buckled. The two men took an arm each and started dragging him towards the staff room.
A woman moved in front of them, blocking their path.
‘This isn’t right,’ she pouted, folding her flabby arms across her chest. ‘Leave him alone.’
The gas-masked man didn’t reply, just used his free hand to raise his gun and blow a ragged hole in her belly. As she landed on the floor in a bloody heap, his booted foot slammed into her face and cut off her screams as her teeth crashed together with a sickening crack that echoed round the store.
The rest of the customers took the hint and stayed out of the way.
The three men disappeared into the staff room.
Mark saw his chance and started towards the stairs, but his path was blocked by a fat woman. She wouldn’t get out of his way and he lacked the strength to shift her bulk.
In the end this turned out to be for the best; a pair of gas-masked men appeared at the top of the stairs and began firing down into the mass of customers.
A third gas-masked man came from the staff room, wielding a huge machine gun. Bullets thudded into customers and clothing alike.
A man who had started running towards the staircase was trapped in two lines of fire. He twitched like a puppet with an epileptic master, blood spewing from his many wounds.
He danced for an age then fell to the floor.
The gunmen were merciless; gunning down anyone in their path without hesitation.
Mark saw the top of a little boy’s head erupt in a cloud of blood. Then his world was spinning and he realised he was falling.
As he hit the ground, he realised he hadn’t been shot but a crushing weight pinned him to the floor.
It took him another few seconds to realise that the obese woman had fallen upon him.
A quick glance revealed this to be the case. Her glassy stare seemed to bore into him.
Blood poured out of her mouth and the bullet wounds in her chest, spreading across the floor towards him in a gleaming pool. In a second it would be touching him.
He had cringed at the thought of it, but the warm, sticky feel of the blood was even worse than he’d imagined. Something fell onto his face, mercifully hiding her dead stare.
He panicked and fought back the urge to scream.
Play dead and we might make it out of here, he thought.
He realised that the old woman had pulled down one of the racks of clothing as she fell. The clothes were covering him and most of her.
He tried to move as carefully as he could, but decided it didn’t matter; the maelstrom of bullets and screams was still raging around the store.
Pulling the tracksuit bottoms away from his face, he scanned for Rick, spotting him on the other side of the fat woman. He was on his back, unmoving, his legs trapped by the heavy metal clothes rack.
The gunfire cut off so suddenly that Mark thought he had gone deaf, but then there was a piercing scream that proved this belief to be folly.
A gunshot came a split-second later, silencing the cry.
From his limited field of vision he saw one of the soldiers coming down the stairs. Maybe it was the effects of terror-induced adrenaline, but the barrels of the shotgun he held looked just about big enough for Mark to crawl into.
The gunman strolled round the store, kicking the bodies. He continued on when the first two didn’t move.
Not so the third body, that of a middle-aged man, who, when kicked, rolled over, his hands clasped to a gushing wound in his leg.
The gunman roughly shoved the gun into the man’s face and pulled the trigger.
The blast seemed to echo round the shop.
As the man continued his macabre patrol, Mark prayed that he would just leave their corner alone. After all, his fat neighbour and Rick were both as still as corpses. With any luck he’d pass them by.
Mark watched the man blast two more survivors at close range, raising plumes of blood as the shells punched holes in their terrified faces. Mercifully, the clothing draped over his face hid his anguish from the killers.
The gunman glanced round in Mark’s direction, but then turned back towards the staff room and kicked a few more bodies, none of which moved.
Mark started to feel like he might be alright, but then he saw Rick’s eyes open. He watched his friend look down at his legs, then his mouth opened in a scream as he saw the dead fat woman lying mere inches away in a dark lake of blood.
He watched, helpless, as the gas-masked executioner’s head snapped round and glanced in Rick’s direction.
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Praise for Jacob Rayne:
The Lazarus Contagion
‘I found myself constantly terrified but unable to put the book down because I needed to find out what he had in store for me next’.
‘This book is written in such a way that before you know it half the story has gone by in a haze of terror and gore’.
‘He infused horror with sci fi this go round and man oh man was it a success’.
‘I know when I pick up a Jacob Rayne book I will not be disappointed, he has a gift for the macabre and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. So buckle your seat belts because The Lazarus Contagion is the wildest of rides’.
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00PR8FM26
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PR8FM26
Becoming…
‘I can honestly say that this book has done something that no other book has done in a very long time -
It scared me. It gave me nightmares.’
‘We were plunged into the action from the getgo and it did not let up until the final explosive page’.
‘Up there with Richard Laymon for cringes!’
‘As soon as I read the prologue, I could feel my blood starting to chill. I knew I was in for something special.
I was wholly invested before I even read the first chapter.
Speaking of wholly, and the first chapter… HOLY SHIT – what a first chapter!’
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00L5T9WG8
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L5T9WG8
Sunshine
‘Scared me to death’.
‘A non-stop adrenaline surge’.
‘Starts on page one and literally doesn’t stop until the end’.
‘Taps right into your nightmare gene’.
‘So heinous I had trouble sleeping’.
‘Brutal, disturbing and horrific’.
‘So visceral it’s harrowing’.
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HRK2D5G
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HRK2D5G
Flesh Harvest
‘A high-octane, high-energy gorefest’.
‘Rayne can craft a riveting and macabre scene with such alacrity that it plays out as if you’re watching a movie’.
‘Enough to leave you terrified of barns for the rest of your life. Seriously chilling’.
‘Creepy and gut wrenching’.
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HRJ35A4
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HRJ35A4
Walk in the Park
‘Pure horror at its finest’.
‘This author delivers fast paced horrendous fiction to fuel the darkest imaginations’.
‘Gives you chills because it COULD happen’.
‘Jacob Rayne managed once again to wring out of me so many emotions while reading this book’.
‘This is another enjoyable, blood-soaked short story by this promising horror writer’.
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JU7LAVM
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JU7LAVM
Digital Children
‘I couldn’t manage to put it down until it was finished’.
‘A truly macabre tale which will disturb you on many levels’.
‘Absolutely terrifying’.
‘The concept presented in this eerie tale is beyond belief’.
‘Rayne's deft foreshadowing sends chills up and down the reader's spine’.
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IPK6E9I
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IPK6E9I
Perpetual Darkness
‘All four stories, though very different, spare the reader nothing and deliver majestically on the traditional fare expected by horror enthusiasts. Whether it's homicidal gore, psychologically tense situations that have you saying to yourself, "Don't do it", or simple, good old fashioned, mortal dread, Jacob Rayne serves it up on all fronts.’
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KC0QYC6
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KC0QYC6
About Jacob
Repeated viewings of The Shining as a child have left Jacob with a love of the dark and the disturbing that really comes to life in his writing.
He works to a soundtrack of blisteringly heavy music, and, like his beloved metal, his writing is brutal, uncompromising and intense.
You can find Jacob on Facebook (Jacob Rayne)
Twitter (@jacob_rayne)
Website: www.jacobrayne.wordpress.com
E-mail [email protected]
And sign up for monthly (ish!) newsletter at http://eepurl.com/bciffz