And Then There Were None Novels & Stories

her feminine deep yet smooth voice bounced around the room filling up our attentive ears. "Someone here is the traitor and I'll be giving all of you just 48hours to surrender yourself. If I don't get a response from any of the seven of you then I'll advice you live the remaining hours of lives the way you wish and don't even think of acting smart cause I'll find you. You are all dismissed"

This year they had added a zombie theme. "I'll choose next," Ed whispered as we enter the big, old main door. "And you're right, Sel, I'll choose carousel or probably Ferris Wheel," I laughed and pushed him inside the lobby. I caught him holding Jane's hands, and as promised she did not let go. Their fingers interlaced as they walk the dark and dusty lobby. I smiled shaking my head. There were three doors to choose from, but before the three of us could talk about which door to open, zombies started appearing out of nowhere giving us all a fright, and we just started running and pushing the door.

" Now you listen to me and listen to me good, you'd better take your sorry ass and that thing, you claim is mine out of here. This better be the last time you show your filthy self here or else I will end you. ~~~ End of flashback ~~~ I'm here again, I'm back here again. I take a step back as the words play repeatedly in my mind, I feel my eyes well up as it sinks in that I am here, where I was humiliated and kicked out. I am back here as if nothing had happened and that is wrong. The ice cream slips from my hands when I'm hit with the memory of Mr Cullen, dragging me out and I landing on the ground. I almost lost the baby because of that.

The space where it was— Empty. Silent. Still. For a moment— No one speaks. No one moves. Then Matteo exhales. “…Did we just… actually win.” I don’t answer immediately. Because I’m watching. Because I’m waiting. Because something this complex— Doesn’t just end. Ezra steps forward slightly. “Aidan.” I shake my head. “Wait.” Seconds pass. Nothing happens. No signal. No movement. No return. The space remains empty. And slowly—

She wasn't watching a tragedy; she was watching her competition being deleted from the registry. Valerius clicked the watch. There was no explosion. No roar of fire. There was only a sudden, sickening thud, like a heavy vault door closing in a vacuum. The Null-Canon fired—a beam of non-existence the color of a dead television screen. It was a static-filled grey that didn't reflect light; it swallowed it. THIRTY-FIVE SECONDS.

> “You haven’t won” > “You’ve only bought time”. The screen went dark. And Damon knew— This was no longer war. This was obliteration.

I waited until it was close to midnight—I had three minutes to go. I started thinking back on my life, but it was too simple and plain. There didn't seem to be much to remember. My life had been a tragedy from the moment I was born. The minutes turned to seconds, and I slumped onto the table. I had my urn and photo beside me. Five, four, three, two, one… The countdown ended, and a dead silence descended upon me. The room went silent—even the sound of my breathing disappeared. At the same time, I heard the sound of the doorknob turning. Someone was back!

progressive-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,ul,ol,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pr-8"> _*]:min-w-0 gap-3 standard-markdown"> They buried an empty casket two days later. The service ran short. White tent, a grey sky threatening rain that never quite arrived, and a priest reading words that fell on people too distracted by their phones to absorb them. Damon stood in the front row with his hands clasped in front of him, his expression arranged into something that passed for grief from a reasonable distance. Killian stood slightly apart, which nobody commented on. Twins processed things differently. Everyone knew that. Nobody questioned it.

Someone else. Panicked. Terrified. "All units retreat!" The voice screamed. "Retreat immediately!" Gunfire echoed through the transmission. People shouting. Screaming. Then— A final sentence. "Oh God..." A pause. Pure terror. "It's killing everyone." Static exploded. The transmission died. Silence. Marco swallowed. Slowly. "What exactly is killing everyone?" Nobody answered. Because at that exact moment— The heavy footsteps stopped. Directly above them. And for the first time since entering the tunnel—

The end is seconds away. Nora’s fingers tighten slightly in mine as she looks around the room. The thin mattress in the corner. The chains bolted into the concrete wall. The photographs scattered across the floor. Women and girls. Each image taken closer than the last. The final photographs all taken here. The understanding reaches her without words. I feel the precise moment the body fails. The man’s chest rises once more. Then it stops. The silence that follows is different from the quiet of the living world. It is absolute.