*This is the last “Halloween” Spooktacular story. These have been, these past four years, fun. However, they were essentially a TPC-oriented line. Last year’s edition didn’t even run at the old paper, which was fine. If you were keeping score, then the chapters were cheap parodies of the following horror greats: Dracula (2019); Wolfman / American Werewolf [in Covington] (2020), and; Night of the Living Dead (2021). Here follows a short rip-off of I Am Legend. Enjoy, and happy All Saints’ Eve!

The Omega Spooktacular

A Ghost Town in a Ghost State, Halloween Night, dark…

A cool wind blew down a deserted street. Hanging by a single, rusted chain, a sign swung precariously in the breeze. Another gust, and the marquee broke its mooring and fell to the sidewalk with a clatter. No one was around to hear the crash. No one would ever again read the words on the faded sign, once announcing proudly to the passing public the headquarters of a now long-defunct newspaper.

No children stalked the streets of this dead town. All streets were empty in the dead country. There were no howls in the darkness. There were no strange characters and no sirens. All was deathly quiet aside from the wind, the creaking of branches, and the occasional collapse of some former indicia of civilization. 

For all life and society and culture had ended. Suddenly, released from government bioweapons labs, there had come a dread pandemic. More suddenly came the war and the eventual waste. All was blasted to dust. 

For all he knew, the man on the second floor of the old newspaper office was the last man alive. He gazed out the window into emptiness. And he laughed softly at the thought he would soon pass into legend, an ancient memory without the benefit of reminiscence save the mindless retention of the cold, dead air. He then uttered the concluding intelligible words of humanity. Still, time marched on.

Fin.

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