Azrael

On a deserted highway in the southwest of the United States, a black Dodge Challenger raced fiercely without any intention of slowing down despite all the twists and turns of the road ahead. Not too far away, behind the wheel of an electric blue Mini Cooper a young woman was singing her heart off to Firework by Katy Perry celebrating her newfound freedom and her upcoming 21st birthday in two days. She was determined to spend the ninth day of June in a majestic pool in a lavish Las Vegas hotel. She finally saved enough money to leave her deadbeat parents who did nothing except work, drink beer and go to church. Sadly, she didn’t know that her freedom was going to be cut very short. As she screamed her lungs out to the lyrics “ you are original, cannot be replaced . . . “ she failed to see the black muscle car that appeared out of nowhere and was now right behind her. As she ignored the car that was now driving right next to her, she waved her arm theatrically with the song. .. “ if you only knew what the future holds” and before her eyes, hiding behind the cheap sunglasses, could see a flicker of light, a trigger was pulled and a bullet flying at around 2900 feet per second shattered the driver window, burned her hair, created a circular hole, pushed tissue out of the way before it had a chance to rip, exited the other side of her cranium and continued flying before finally landing into the body of the passenger door. The young lady, or Kayla Reed as the police will identify her three hours later died instantly. In the distance, the black Challenger kept driving without a hint of stopping. 

A week later, a random driver called the Utah police to report a burnt car off of highway 70 heading eastbound toward Green River. Upon inspection of the car, the police was unable to find the VIN as it was wiped out from the body structure and the engine itself was missing. They finally called in an expert who tried to use the brackets and whatever was left from the powertrain to narrow down the list of a possible car. Other parts of the investigation led them to nothing. Whoever burnt this car made sure it was near impossible to find anything about it. Three weeks later, the expert was able to narrow it down to either a Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, or a Ford mustang. No connection was ever made with the murder case of Kayla Reed which was 756 miles away. 

Three months from the tragic death of Kayla Reed, and approximately 2,210 miles east the body of Alyssa Shaw was found in a steep and rocky terrain about fifty feet down from the famous summit of McAfee Knob. The 23 years old young lady was planning to hike to the top with her boyfriend to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately a night of drinking at Stellina’s meant that Chad couldn’t get up with her despite her endless warnings. Armed with anger and sadness she decided to embark on the four miles hike to the top by herself. By 4:16 AM she arrived to the VA 311 parking lot across the street from the trailhead. She was happy to see that the parking lot was empty except for one car parked. She took our her small blue backpack, put her hair up in a ponytail and did couple of stretches before starting. By 6:30 she was at the top of the summit and walked around to find the best spot to watch the sunrise. Even though it was dawn and sunrise was 18 minutes away, Alyssa did not see the man in a black hoodie lurking and brooding in the shadows of a tree few feet away. It is unclear if it would have been any difference in her fate if she did. Eighteen selfies and 4 instagram stories later, Alyssa texted Chad to tell him that she made it. 

About to see the sunrise alone. 

She added a sad face and then deleted it. She thought for a minute and then decided to use all caps and typed: JERK

That was the last thing she said to him. That was the last thing she did, because while she was hunched over her phone, the man behind her got up and walked deliberately towards her and waited for a few second before he shoved her off the cliff before returning to his seat under the tree. 

By the time Chad woke up at 10:41 AM and checked his phone Alyssa was long dead. The guilt that he will have for the rest of his life however was about to be born.

The case was closed as a suicide. 

For the next 60 months, 38 murders will happen in 28 states and thousands of miles apart. No one detective will be able to make a connection between those murders because there will be none. Each murder will be unique in its own way. Some of these murders will be planned and some will be impromptu as in the case of Alyssa. At the end of 60 months, the murders will stop. 

Six months after the last murder occurs, a You Tube video that will show up on multiple well-established accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers will go viral before it gets shut down by YouTube and several government agencies. By the time it is removed, it will have reached two hundred million views. 

The video begins with a camera on a table facing a very bare kitchen. There is a teapot on the stove whistling. A person wearing jeans and a blue plaid shirt shows up from the left of the screen and walks toward the stove. You cannot see anything past his shoulder blades. He picks up the teapot and fills a mug with the boiling water. He then takes the mug and walks off sight for a second then his arms shows up with mug in hand again then places it in front of the camera. He sits down facing the camera this time yet still cannot see past his chest. He begins talking immediately as he sips his hot drink sporadically. Just like a classic villain, his voice is altered. 

“My name is not important to you. This is not a hoax or a joke, although they might report it as such. I wanted to let you know that your life is precious and you will not have much of these precious moments if our paths crossed. How can you avoid that? You cannot. I am everywhere and nowhere. For several months now I have been on a path of destruction killing many of you a long the way. Every murder that goes unsolved, that belongs to me. You belong to me. So get your life in order. Be a little nicer to each other. Be mindful and grateful. And tonight, hug your family a little closer because you never know if you will be next.” 

Every police station around the country gets bombarded with calls almost immediately. All the major networks begin their frenzy coverage and begin labeling him as Azrael, the Angel of death. The FBI starts an investigation. Homeland Security starts an investigation. Politicians make empty statements with empty threats and after an exact seven months hiatus, the murders restart. This time it is a double homicide of two African American teenagers at a mall in the city of Riverside, Illinois. It will appear that they shot each other in the bathroom. Several witnesses will corroborate the theory as the teenagers were seen arguing with each other loudly in several locations around the mall and even while walking to the bathroom. One witness will mention that they have bumped into a gentleman without even apologizing. He will joke that he guesses they didn’t watch that crazy video. The case will be closed and once more without a connection to any of the other murders. 

Azrael, as he became to be called, laughs as he closes the newspaper. He places it in the seat next to him in his car and picks up an old AAA map of the US. He crosses out the city of Chicago and throws the map back to him. He turns the car on, and begins driving. After a few miles, he takes the I-90 East exit. The map next to him shows a circle around the District of Columbia.