They had taken every precaution in the ceremonies that attended each burial. No one had been laid down without the prescribed prayers & every grave was supplied with at least a minimally protective marker. Even those who left no one behind didn’t go unattended; the groundskeepers made sure to leave everyone pancakes, eggs & flowers at all the appropriate holidays.

What no one had thought to watch was the pattern in which the graves were being laid out. One evening the final necessary tombstone had been placed & all that remained was for the specially graven bricks to be fit into the gap in the cemetery wall.

Crash, whoosh, & all at once the gate was wide open.