 It was hardly past seven that morning when the gravediggers saw the earth stir Fingers rotted in skeletal burst forth from the dirt and with force They pulled their bodies to freedom. It was happening all over the graveyard every grave Every square inch of dirt was overturned Soon there would be thousands so many more than the graveyard actually held a Horde of the undead stood before him The gravedigger watched with his shovel in hand He found himself Simultaneously horrified and fascinated The creatures stumbled about they moved with urgency, but their decrepit bodies only allowed for so much Yelling and screaming they started to coalesce near the center of the graveyard They were revolting damned souls Just as the gravedigger went to turn to flee a hand gripped his shoulder The grime soaked deep into his sleeve It leaked down his arm Behind him a man or what was left of him stared into the gravediggers eyes The corpse's face had long since lost its tissue, but it had eyes Returned anew to their sockets that showed nothing but fear The ghoul spoke to the gravedigger and the gravedigger listened Go it begged of him Please go What sort of madness was this what trickery of hell The gravedigger brought his shovel to bear and he swung it down on the corpse It was met with a revolting moist crunch The figure fell His fingers twitched and his skull leaked From behind three more figures came To ignore the gravedigger they bent to pick up the wounded husk at the gravediggers feet They dragged him on with all the strength they could muster They carried him like a wounded ally The third figure what had once been a woman perhaps Spoke to the gravedigger She pleaded Go Please Tell them The gravedigger couldn't move he wouldn't these fiends were no masters of him Why did they command him so for what purpose? Answers he demanded answers Why he asked the words falling out of his bearded face? Why aren't you in the ground? The ghoul didn't blink she simply told him the terrible truth Hell isn't safe anymore Those words the gravedigger couldn't even comprehend them What was the meaning of them hell safe? What kind of haven was the pit of eternal damnation? What are you talking about? Had she a tear to cry she would have let it fall Instead she had to use her trembling voice to convey her fears Lucifer is dead He killed him He Is coming The words held no meaning for the gravedigger For he had not been there he had not seen the horrors that even the denizens of hell itself could not describe Then from their graves Dark figures with eyes of flame and hatred came They moved like smoke and they filled the air with their sulfurous fumes The gravedigger watched as demons satans orchestrators of pain and suffering Began to assist the poor wandering souls below They started to stack atop each other One by one their bodies built the foundation A collective lamenting cascaded down the hills around The gravedigger saw them from every direction more hordes moved together More undead They lumbered forth with his cemetery in their sights Their hellish rendezvous The gravedigger was speechless the ghoul instructed him Go home to your family We'll need them too My he questioned the response My family The living the thing corrected her gaze skyward We'll need them too If we're to make it Make it where? The ghoul cried as she wandered forth Urgency flooded her words The gates We have to make it to the gates The gravedigger shook his head their aim was clear, but his teachings were concrete What's judged is judged He won't take you or any of us unworthy That stopped her if just for a moment She turned for he knew nothing We seek not redemption She said We damned seek to warn the righteous The honesty in the ghoul's voice brought a heavy weight to the gravedigger's stomach He couldn't stand the earth below and started to tremble The gravedigger fell to the dirt as his knees gave in and with his face to the ground He heard it There was a deep unbridled scream echoing below the surface A demented laugh The sound of a thousand hornet wings An insect feed It grew closer Climbing As he stood Bodies were flung atop each other as the demons and the forgotten built their tower to salvation Who is he the gravedigger asked it was his turn to plead But the corpses said nothing It didn't take much for the gravedigger to realize that they couldn't respond even if they wanted to They didn't know As the gravedigger ran home the ghoul uttered a final mantra under her breath The word still tasted so alien to her so vile and disgusting But it was all they had left God must know That he's coming