The Executioner of Horror Films

Part one.

*On behalf of Mark*

The shift was ... terrible. The sensory overload from spatial displacement was barely felt, the American Midwest seemed to be a monotonous landscape compared to the Gothic grandeur of the Swedish forests.

The sun was burning with tedious regularity, the air was saturated with the smell of dust and exhaust gases, and the whole district seemed ... that I had already seen it. It was like going on stage for a performance, which I have already seen countless times.

Now the system spoke in a barely audible whisper, almost no hum in the background, it was what I approved. She didn't give me any instructions; she just watched. As it should be. The directive was still the same: "Eliminate the anomaly".

There was an entity, something called Jeepers Creepers, a winged carnivorous monster that appeared every twenty-three years to feast on human flesh, and people in this world, as always, were in blissful ignorance.

I arrived in the middle of nowhere, on a piece of shade under a group of withered trees, I could see the endless tape of the highway stretching in front of me, and I was ready to start the performance. The air was hot, heavy, it was full of anticipation of upcoming events, I was looking forward to all the actors playing their roles.

The system provided a map on which the location of the bus, farmhouses and the location of the creature were marked, it was like I was reading the script, I already knew all the lines by heart. The creature was there, deep underground, in hibernation, and it was about to wake up, and its awakening would mark the beginning of the film.

I could feel it, it was a low hum of predatory hunger, a dark underwater current that was woven into the fabric of the world, it was like the world itself vibrated in anticipation. It was interesting to look at it, to finally face something that could potentially become a worthy opponent. The system was probably waiting for me to ruin everything, but it's wrong.

I moved into the shadows, my form shimmered between the physical and the metaphysical, I watched the world pass by. I've seen this movie before, when I was a man trapped in the illusion of mortal life. Back then I was a passive observer, a consumer of cheap thrills and fabricated horrors, but now I was an active participant in this production and was ready to change the ending.

The school bus, this slow-moving target, stood on the highway, filled with teenagers, not suspecting what was waiting for them, and it was almost ... poetic. They were characters from a story I already knew.

I watched the characters through my shadow, the basketball team, the cheerleaders, the driver, they all played a role in this confusing scenario, I made mental notes. They were predictable, their actions and reactions corresponded to the pattern of a hackneyed story, and they all seemed to follow the rules of this world, like a set of pawns in the game I was going to play.

Athletes, with their bravado, cheerleaders, with their petty rivalry, a nudle child, an eternal outcast, and a bus driver trying to figure it all out, and all of them were like that...

Lyudmi. So fragile. So predictable, it was all so boring.

They were going to run into a monster that I knew wasn't a real threat, but I didn't care, I just wanted to fight, I just wanted to test my abilities, that was all I could think of.

It was time to start the show, I was finally ready to play my role, not as a spectator, but as the main actor.

It wasn't because of fear; it was a challenge, an opportunity to test my strength against a worthy opponent, I didn't know how everything would turn out, but I didn't care. I wouldn't lose.

*On behalf of Scotty*

It was stuffy in the bus, there was a thick smell of teenage cheap cologne in the air. We were all excited after our big victory, the basketball team is at the top of the world, ready to celebrate our victory, we were all planning what we would do when we finally get to the city.

I planned to go to bars, celebrate our success and maybe find a girl, and I felt good, I felt alive, I felt invincible.

Cheerleaders did their usual things, giggled and gossiped, and the rest of the team just relaxed, exchanging jokes and stories, everything was fine in the world. The sun was burning mercilessly, but it wasn't a problem, we were all focused on what we were going to do when we finally got to the destination, we were a group of winners, and that was all that mattered.

The coach wasn't even on the bus, he was going to meet us at the hotel, and it was another reason to celebrate. The old coach won't be around for a while to shout at us, it was something we were all happy about. We were in our own world, we were the kings of the highway, and nothing could stop us.

The road was a long straight strip of asphalt stretching in front of us, and it seemed that we were going who knows where, and it was normal as long as we were all together, while we were all winning.

Then it happened.

It all started with a sound, a strange, throaty screeal that seemed to be coming from everywhere at the same time, from this the hair on my neck stood on end, I no longer felt invincible, and I was no longer feeling well. It was unnatural, it was something else, something wrong, something evil.

The bus driver, Betty, hit the brakes, throwing us all forward, and the joyful chatter of the bus was replaced by cries of shock and fear, and the laughter suddenly disappeared, replaced by the anticipation of the unknown, possible danger.

- What the hell was that? I heard someone screaming, and I felt my own heart pounding, I start to sweat, but not from the heat, but from fear.

Then we saw it. A dark silhouette in the sky, a creature that was too big to be a bird, but too unnatural to be anything else, all this was too surreal. He flew to us, his shape was a terrifying mixture of bones, flesh and wings that seemed too big for his body, it was like something from a bad dream.

I saw it coming, I saw it approaching, I wanted to be brave, I wanted to be strong, I wanted to take responsibility, but I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think, and all I could do was watch it approach us.

He swept over the bus, his shadow swallowed us, and we all screamed, the horror reached a maximum, the bus was filled with the sounds of pure, genuine panic, I could see the fear in their eyes, I could feel fear in my own heart.

He landed on the roof of the bus with a sickening knock, the metal groaned under his weight, and now we could feel it, this otherworldly creature was only a few feet above us, his mere presence made the air heavier.

I jumped to my feet, my muscles tensed up, my thoughts were feverishly thinking, I felt my own sense of fear, I was no longer a basketball star, I was just a frightened child, I wanted to hide. I grabbed the closest thing I could find, a metal baseball bat, and lifted it above my head, trying to look brave, trying to look like I was in control of everything, but I was just pretending.

The ceiling above us began to collapse, the metal moaned and twisted, we all screamed, I was ready to accept my own death. The creature followed us, and we couldn't help it, we were all going to die at hell on cakes.

The bus plunged into darkness when a big hole formed in the roof, and the grotesque leathery claw stretched down, I realized that it was it. We ran into a monster, and we couldn't help it.

*On behalf of Jack*

Dust swirled around my truck, covering the dry, cracked ground with a sandy veil. The sun was hell like a hammer, falling on flat, barren fields, a heavy smell of dry grass and a faint aroma of diesel fuel hung in the air. It was a harsh, inexorable land, a place where the weak did not last long, and I was strong.

I drove on, my knuckles turned white on the steering wheel, my eyes looked at the horizon, and my heart tightened with grief and rage, the constant reminder of what I had lost, and the constant need for revenge that burned in my soul.

The memory of my son Billy was still fresh in my memory, his face, full of life and joy, has now become just a ghost that haunted me in the hours of wakefulness and sleepless nights, and all this because of that monster.

I wasn't going to let him take away innocent people, I wasn't going to let him destroy other families, I wasn't going to let him continue the reign of terror, and it was a promise I made to my son. This time I wasn't going to set him.

I drove past the old church, its white paint peeled off under the ruthless sun, testifying to the neglect that the region faced, the desolation it had to face, the emptiness of this region corresponded to the emptiness of my soul.

Then I saw a school bus moving slowly along the highway in the distance. It was just a small spot on the horizon, I knew it was about to become a target.

A cold knot of fear has formed in my stomach. I knew it, I could feel it, that familiar feeling of fear that I learned so well, I knew that the creature would be there, and it was going to demand another sacrifice, it was going to pop with another innocent soul, I must be ready.

I pressed the accelerator, the engine roared, I realized that I had to get there as soon as I could. The landscape around me blurred, the trees and fields were just a multi-colored stroke, I felt the anticipation rising in my veins, I was ready to finally face the monster that took everything from me.

I turned the corner, and that's when I saw it. The bus was stopped on the side of the road, I saw a creature, a dark figure in the sky, its shape is grotesque and unnatural, and it circled over the bus like a vulture waiting for its victim. I could see it, that monster that took my son, and I could see that he was going to take even more innocent souls.

Rage, pure and genuine, overwhelmed me, I hit the brakes, the tires squealed on the asphalt, I jumped out of the truck with a shotgun in my hands, it was as if I was no longer a person, but a power of retribution.

I watched the creature land on the bus, its claws tore metal, I heard screams, frightened screams of these poor children, and the sound of their fear ignited the fire in my soul. It captivated them, I knew it, it stole their lives, and it all happened again. It was similar to what happened to my boy, and I wasn't going to let it happen again.

My shotgun was loaded, I lifted it to my shoulder, my eyes focused on the dark silhouette of the creature, I was ready to pour my rage on the monster that took my son away from me.

I was going to show this monster what revenge is, I was going to show him what fatherly love and rage are capable of, I was going to make him pay for it.