Thomas the Doubter
by Patrick Hurley When the ground burst open and released all the fiends of Hell, humanity did not fare well. Within three days, every person still alive had surrendered to their new diabolic overlords. With one notable exception. Thomas Drutchery was a recluse who lived in a basement flat in the middle of England. He’d been trolling a cryptid enthusiasts forum when the Apocalypse began. Truth be told, aside from his power flickering once or twice, he barely noticed. Thomas’s only noteworthy trait was his skepticism. As a child, after discovering the truth about Father Christmas, a tearful young Thomas had vowed from that day forth never to be tricked by anything again. During the Apocalypse, whenever Thomas came across articles reporting on how Beezlebub had risen or that a mother had sacrificed her daughters to Pazuzu, he’d respond with an all-caps “FAKE.” If doubt were a religion and pedantic questioning a form of worship, Thomas Drutchery would have been the most devout man aliv
