Chapter 2 - The Trap
Sarah snapped her head toward the back of the chapel.
The heavy oak doors, usually propped open for mourners, were being slammed shut.
A man in a sharp black suit pulled a thick metal chain through the brass handles.
The loud clink of a padlock snapping closed echoed over the panicked screams of the crowd.
They were trapped inside.
Sarah’s heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Arthur struggled to climb out of the casket, his legs giving out as he hit the floor.
Sarah caught him by the shoulders, his body heavy and freezing cold to the touch.
Madison was crying now, hiding her face against Sarah’s burgundy shawl.
The man who had locked the doors turned around and reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a suppressed handgun, the black metal gleaming under the stained glass windows.
Panic turned into absolute hysteria.
People dove under pews, screaming for help and dialing useless numbers on their phones.
Sarah realized with a sickening drop in her stomach that all the cell phone signals had been jammed.
Arthur leaned heavily against her, his breathing shallow and rapid.
He pointed a trembling finger toward a narrow door behind the altar.
It was the priest’s private dressing room.
Sarah slung Arthur’s arm over her shoulder and dragged him forward, holding Madison’s hand tightly with her other hand.
A bullet shattered the wooden pulpit just inches from Sarah’s head.
Wood splinters rained down on them as they scrambled behind the heavy marble altar.
The gunman was moving methodically down the center aisle, pushing terrified mourners out of his way.
Sarah kicked open the door to the dressing room and shoved Arthur and Madison inside.
She slammed the door shut and locked the deadbolt just as heavy footsteps approached the other side.
Arthur slumped against the wall, clutching his chest.
He looked up at Sarah with an expression of pure dread.
He told her they needed to get to the tunnels beneath the church immediately.
Sarah asked him how he knew about the secret tunnels.
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Arthur coughed up a speck of dark blood and looked her dead in the eye.
He confessed that he was the one who built them.
