Cole: The Complete Series

He was scared shitless to open this Pandora’s Box, but what choice did he have? God, this can’t be happening? Yet, somehow, it was. Cole gripped the phone with numb fingers and sent a text to Maddy’s cell: ‘I’m alone. Who are you? What have you done with Maddy?’

Minutes ticked by with no reply.

Cole opened the driver’s door and climbed out when it became hard to breathe inside the car. He took deep breaths of the chilly night air, but still felt like he was suffocating, like the world itself was closing in around him.

The cell buzzed, and Cole flinched hard. The phone slipped from his hand and struck the pavement with a hollow clack.

“Fuck.” Cole scooped it up, his hands shaking as he opened the text message.

‘Who am I? Here’s a clue.’

The cell buzzed again, and a link popped up. Cole stared at it, afraid of where it would take him. After a moment's glance at the link, he realized it was to a TV news site. Cole hesitated, then finally clicked it.

On the news site was a video of a reporter standing at the edge of a frozen lake, facing the camera. Behind him, further out, was a large hole in the ice as if something massive had broken through. The caption below the video read: Prison Bus Crash.

“The police have yet to speculate what caused the prison bus to crash into the lake,” the reporter said. “It’s possible the bus driver lost control on the icy roads, though the police haven’t ruled it an accidental crash. Why? Sources tell us that the bus was transporting death row inmates from Washington state to a penitentiary in eastern Idaho. Because the state of Washington abolished the death penalty in 2018, the inmates of death row were being transferred to the Idaho prison, where Capital Punishment has yet to be eliminated, to await their execution.”

Cole leaned against the car, confused about this clue. How did this video tell him who had taken Maddy?

“We were presented with a list of the inmates on the bus,” the reporter continued. “The prison bus has yet to be retrieved from the bottom of the lake, so it isn’t known yet if any of the inmates or guards escaped. As a precaution, statewide alerts and checkpoints have been put in place. Blood was found on the ice at the edge of the submersion spot, so there is speculation that at least one person made it out of the bus before it went down. Whether that person was a guard or an inmate—and whether they survived—is yet to be determined.”

Cole’s nerves wound up tight as he felt something coming from within the newscast. Something chilling… ominous.

The reporter touched his earpiece and paused for a moment, then spoke to the camera, his face distressed.

“The police have just authorized the news stations to broadcast the names and photos of the inmates due to a double murder in the town of Snowfield, along the eastern Idaho border. The perpetrator or perpetrators are suspected of being escaped inmates from the bus. It is undetermined if there was more than one attacker, though bloody footprints at the crime scene suggest two or three. If you live in the area, please pay close attention to the photos that will be shown onscreen and… be safe.”

Twelve photos appeared, each with the inmates’ names and nicknames below them. Cole remained confused by the point of this video—until he saw it.

The Mill Creek Mangler.

Cole’s blood froze in his veins.

Sources tell us that the bus was transporting death row inmates from Washington state to a penitentiary in eastern Idaho.

Washington state.

Cole trembled and zoomed in on the face of the inmate—and his name: Daniel Pruett.

“Huh!” Cole almost dropped the phone, but caught it before it slipped from his hand. “No… no.” His throat constricted, clenching tighter and tighter. “What… what the fuck. It-it’s not possible. It’s not fucking possible!” Cole cried and dropped the phone onto the hood as if it had suddenly turned white-hot. The cell rattled down the hood and fell to the ground in front of the vehicle. “You’re dead,” he choked. “You’re fucking dead!”

The phone vibrated against the pavement.

Cole went still, his breath catching and holding as every muscle in his body locked up.

It isn’t him—it isn’t! He isn’t the one who has Maddy. He isn’t!

Because if he was…

“No.” Cole shook his head violently, his vision blurring. “Not him. Not him.” Cole sank to the pavement, his back pressed against the driver’s door. This can’t be happening—this can’t fucking be happening! “I’m having a nightmare,” Cole whispered, voice shaking. He dropped his head in his hands, breath quick, erratic. “It’s just a fucking nightmare. Wake up.” He smacked his head. “Wake up. Wake up!”

The cell buzzed again.

Cole jumped, his back striking the car door. A throbbing pain settled in his temples as he crawled forward and picked up the phone. He fell against the front tire, clutching the cell in his hand. Tremors quivered through his body, heightening his nausea. He stared at the notification.

Maddy.

Cole drew his knees to his chest as dizziness overtook him.

Don’t look… don’t look.

But he had to—they had Maddy.

Cole swallowed past a hard lump in his throat and opened the messages.

‘Now you know who I am.’

‘Don’t ignore me, or I might get pissed… and take it out on the kid.’

“Fuck,” Cole choked as his terror mounted. His fingers shook as he quickly replied: ‘What do you want?’

‘To make you suffer.’

Chills ran down Cole’s spine. ‘Then take me and let Maddy go.’

‘That isn’t how you suffer.’

Cole trembled. ‘Then how?’

‘By watching those you love vanish… one by one… taken by a monster who will consume their flesh… bit by bit…’

‘I know them all.’

‘Maddy.’

‘Savannah.’

‘Abel.’

‘Gabe.’

“No!” Cole cried and lunged to his feet, stumbling across the alley. “No!” He threw his phone, smashing it against the stone wall of the building next door. “Nooo!!”