Come one, come all, gather ‘round, bring the town!

The circus has come, and will not let you down!

The vile circus,

the blood,

the fear.

But above all… quite queer.

The peanuts are poo,

the donkey a tree.

But between you and me,

oh please, try to agree!

Can’t you see?

Don’t you know?

They’ll put on a show!

Can’t you hear? They will jeer, and they’ll shoo!

At you - they will boo, and will run.

For destroying a show, is more than you know.

Killer or hun - they resent you.

They present you:

as the crown of their show!

Chasing, biting, and clawing!

Just joking! Only poking.

For fun, my little hun, they pegged you with an apple! Oranges, and some fruit!

Limes? Not a one for their stupid crimes,

the show I must watch, as should you.

Painted, the clown's butt lies.

Crying, the child’s eyes,

has seen sights fit, not for the hitting of pies.

For this circus of madness, and filth and dirt,

can still be fun, to watch all get hurt!

The bearded lady has shaved her face.

The elephant man, is not such a disgrace.

Pass those poo peanuts!

Some caramel!

Not caramel?

Who cares?

Not as should be,

not peanuts, nor lemonade.

What was made, not an aid…

I see fizzy pee, and you would probably agree

NOT-

to drink fizzy pee with me!

At this crazy circus we so hated,

that which made this drink, and gyrated…

by the looks of it all… was dehydrated!

~Ramblings of a Drunken Fool, XXI

~Feldyn Goldchord, the Endless Bard

* * *

The cacophony of noises that assaulted the two boys, confused them more than the loud whooshing sound had, or the bright red moon, with its subsequent ruby glare that flooded everything beneath. It had been near silent, but now, in this sudden red darkness, the noises from every direction were hard to take in, let alone make sense of.

There was beeping and thumps of heavy machinery - like a large construction yard in a city. Someone was yodeling on a loud speaker. Random animal noises from all around them: elephants, tigers, monkeys, birds; and to Bryan’s horror, what sounded like dinosaurs. There were glass shattering sounds, gunshots, the breaking of waves on a shore, engines being revved, and instruments of all types being played.

And each sound seemed to be coming from a specific place. Like all of these things weren’t just randoms sounds, but were actually happening somewhere. Just so much was happening all at once, picking out the different sounds was mind-boggling. Not a deafening din, but a confusing one.

Bryan and Caleb were still standing speechless when they heard, then saw, a group of motorcycles heading towards them from down the hill. And the riders were... yipping?

Both teens hurried across the grassy shoulder of the road they were standing on, easily making it to the tree line in time to conceal themselves. Watching from the trees, both wished they had not looked. The men on the bikes were not men at all, but reality-defying caricatures of canine cartoon characters: big goofy eyes, long faces, tongues lolling, ranging from poodle, to wolf, to coyote. They weren’t cutesy-looking either.

“No shadows,” Caleb said as soon as they passed. It took Bryan a moment, then he noticed it too. He was so unsettled by the furries from hell, it didn’t even irritate him that Caleb noticed it first. Not to mention, Caleb was wrong. Or partially. This eerie red glow illuminated objects good as daylight. Better, actually. Yet nothing was casting shadows from it. The street light farther down the hill, and the lights on the motorcycles, were creating shadows. The red light was not.

“Were those… the Cutters?” Caleb asked, eyes still trained on the empty road in front of them. Bryan had seen the image on the back of their jackets. It was modern day obnoxious kids cartoon art of a dog holding cutting sheers, under the name ‘The Clippers’. “I have no fucking idea,” Bryan answered, a bit miffed his own voice sounded spacey and distant, though relieved there was no panic in it. Or in him. Yet.

There was a huge explosion from off to their left, in the hills, past Pazely's and the dance studio.

... Pazely!

“We gotta go back!” Caleb was out of the trees and in the road, running up the hill before Bryan had a chance to respond. “Get Pazely, then to the studio?” Bryan asked, easily at Caleb’s side in their uphill run. “Ally and them are too far to get to. Maybe they were lucky and already left,” Caleb hoped (Pointless)(Pray Caleb, ask for guidance and protection!) that for once the blonde had listened and was out of the area.

Imagine Ally’s entrails covering her walls!

They got out. If you refuse to pray, then focus on the here and now.

He also trusted Ally to be able to take care of herself. Didn’t stop him from being horribly worried about her. Pazely? She wasn’t exactly helpless, but was still such a little girl (Make her pussy bleed!)(Must you be so vile?!) at heart, she didn’t have the everyday survival skills to be alone. Would Pazely die? Never! Would she get caught, arrested, beaten (Bacon!), raped (RAPE!)(sigh), etcetera? Probably. Though she would take quite a few out before they got her. Caleb had no intention of putting her (penis) in any (assholes)(Caleb, for all our sakes, focus!) such situation. Memories and mind be damned, he just got her back!

Ream that little asshole till it creams!

‘Shut up!’ Caleb shouted in his mind.

Thank you. Promise I’ll find a way to get him out. Again, prayer, requesting the Spirit...

“We can run by Pazely’s since it’s not-” Caleb stopped mid-sentence. In front of them, as they rounded a bend, were what appeared to be naked, pink, hairless (like no eyebrows, or hair on their heads even) men, cartwheeling across the road. Not even cartwheeling exactly, arms and legs were held out in an X shape, wheeling along stiff and smooth as an actual wheel.

Ooo, shiny! Lick one.

Be careful, Caleb!

They would come out of the trees on both sides of the street, cartwheeling across until they vanished from sight into the opposite tree line. Caleb wasn’t sure if it was an endless stream of these individuals, or the same people going back and forth. “The fuck?” both boys mumbled, standing there staring. What else could you really say?

Just like when they both screamed “FUCK!” as two T. rex looking dinosaur things crashed from the trees to their right. Luckily, these giant lizard creatures that resembled a Tyrannosaurus (but with ram horns, Stegosaurus fins on their backs, and no arms at all) didn’t seem to even notice the scared shitless teenagers, making a beeline for the endlessly cartwheeling line of pink dudes.

Caleb and Bryan began to slowly walk backwards, hearts pounding a freezing acid fear, minds hardly able to take in what was happening.

When the giant lizard things reached the line of pink albinos, they began snapping them up and ripping them apart.

The stream of cartwheelers didn’t stop from either direction, yet the ones caught opened their mouths, shrieking the sounds of a dying rabbit, their blood yellow in the moonlight. One of the lizards leaned down, and extended a long snake tongue, to lap at some of the blood on the ground.

“W-w-w-w-w-w-we h-h-have to g-g-get to Pazely!” Caleb’s teeth were chattering so hard he sounded retarded. It wasn’t even cold anymore, in fact, it seemed to be quite warm.

You may want to run, numbnuts.

Pay attention!

The lizard licking up the blood had turned to consider the two when it heard Caleb’s voice. Opening its mouth to screech like a house cat. “Run,” Bryan said calmly, neither of the boys moving. The gigantic lizard started to walk towards them. “Run. Run. RUN!” That last ‘run’ kocking them both out of their fear paralysis. They turned and sprinted, quickly losing control in their downhill momentum.

Tripping, rolling and tumbling; their panicked downhill sprint more than a little foolish. Caleb’s heart was slamming, the cuts and bruises he was acquiring went unnoticed; expecting at any moment to feel hideous pain from being eaten alive.

Instead, he heard howling, hissing, and spitting. Caleb got to a knee, fell, then got his feet back under him. Terrified to look back, he did anyway, and saw yet another unexplainable sight. A pink saber-toothed tiger was attacking the dinosaur thing that was chasing him and Bryan.

Only a quick glance at his friend, and the two resumed their run downhill. Dammit! They had to get to Pazely! What other choice did they have right now other than retreat?!

Reaching the train tracks at the bottom of the hill without incident, the two males sprinted across. As they reached the other side, a train suddenly began to rush past behind them. Both cried out in surprise. The train (which had come out of literal nowhere) blared a horn that emanated a wail from a beyond the grave.

The jet black train was speeding faster than any train they had seen through here. It was also covered in unreal man-shaped creatures of nightmare.

Without a word to each other, they turned and continued their run into town. Their immediate intentions were simple: steal a car and get back to their friends. There was no ‘die trying’. They had to live. They had to get to Pazely. They had to find Reba, John, and Feldyn. Had to locate Stryker and Masque. Surely, whatever was happening, the others were still alive!

About a block from the intersection before C&D, an unfamiliar voice called out, “Caleb! Caleb, over here!” He had almost not registered it, his noisy mind distracted, pulse pounding in his ears. Stopping and looking around, Bryan also stopped, gasping, confusion on his face. “Caleb! Bryan!” the female voice called out again, and this time Bryan heard it.

Looking off to their right, next to a building in the town’s lumber yard, Caleb saw a pretty teenage female leaning around the corner. Her straight black hair was loose as it hung just past her shoulders; eyes concerned, but not showing the fear you would expect.

“Hurry up you two, c’mon!” Rashelle urged. Despite it all, Caleb was flummoxed. Faced with the girl he was supposedly dating, the near and present horrible death all over the fuck, was momentarily overridden.

“Dude, move!” Bryan snapped, from where he now stood, next to Rashelle, on the other side of the chain link fence.

Trying to refocus his thoughts (yeah right), Caleb hurried over to the twelve foot fence, easily locating the broken part of it, and slid through. This was his hometown, after all. Rashelle and Bryan had run ahead some, alongside a building deeper into the lumber yard.

“Over here,” she said when he caught up to them, motioning to a large pile of wooden planks. Caleb was surprised to see some kind of tiny structure within the large pile of planks.

Rashelle ducked inside the short doorway, followed by the other two, and quickly closed the door behind them. She slid a huge board across it, effectively locking it from the inside. The only light was from the red glow, peaking in from outside. Neither Caleb nor Bryan had known this was here. How many times had they cut through the lumber yard, going right past this exact spot. never once noticing it?

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay,” the pale skinny girl said in a relieved whisper, throwing herself in Caleb’s arms and kissing him fiercely. His first kiss.

And he was epically disappointed.

He lightly pushed her back, “I’m glad you’re okay too.” He was also glad he sounded unshaken, and sincere. Bryan was probably loving this... “Why are you here, Rashelle? We need to get Pazely and get somewhere safe.” The unremembered girlfriend frowned in the red gloom, giving him a bemused expression. “You and your Pazely obsession. I thought you were over that, hon. Or was Ally the most recent?" She waved a hand, dismissing her musing, "doesn't matter. Pazely's fine. It's me you should worry about." Rashelle had a fake pouty tone in her voice. It was really obnoxious.

“We need to make sure she is okay,” Caleb urged, quietly. “I don’t abandon those I care about!” Rashelle didn’t flinch, “You abandoned me.” Caleb didn’t really know what to say to that. More so as she leaned in and put a hand on his groin and lightly squeezed. He assumed it was intended to be sexual, but he wasn’t really one that liked to be fondled. He wanted to do the fondling. Not to mention what she was doing was horribly uncomfortable.

Shit in her mouth!

'She’s my girlfriend, and doesn’t even know I hate this?'

Do not trust her.

Taking her hand and removing it, he resisted the urge to growl, “I am going back to get Pazely, like it or not. You can come with us, or you can stay here, and we will come back for you.” Releasing her wrist, Caleb moved towards the door. “What is wrong with you?” she pouted, moving to be in front of him.

All the crazy shit going on, and now he had this annoying girl (Punch the bitch in the face!) (I might agree for a change…) trying to tell him what to do? Fuck these damn voices! Was any of this even happening, or was it all in his head?

You ain’t ever gonna find out.

Focus on Christ, let him be your constant!

“I don’t even know you,” he said, louder than he meant to, at the girl blocking his way. Bryan put a hand on his shoulder, “Dude, calm yourse-” Caleb slapped his hand away. “People are in trouble! My friends, everyone!” He was seething. “Get over your stupid female jealousy, and get the fuck out of my way! NOW!” Without waiting for a response, he pushed Rashelle to the side, lifted the plank, and opening the door, he rushed out into the lumber yard.

* * *

Pazely grabbed a change of clothes, hurrying out of her room, where her mother had randomly come in and started chewing her out for no reason, going from Japanese to English so fast and random, the teen was having a hell of a time keeping up. Locking herself in the main upstairs bathroom, giving a sigh of relief when her mother’s bitching stopped. Jeeeeeeez! What was her freaking problem tonight?! Early menopause or something?!

Dimming the lights, and turning on the ceiling vent, Pazely began to strip off her clothes. She absolutely loved this bathroom! It was huge! The floor was tiled, and had several drains. The counter had four sinks, and a huge mirror on the wall, which went past the counter, and down to the floor in a full sized body mirror. One large shower stall, curtained off, and a bathtub large enough for at least five people. There were no toilets, however. She also loved that it had no windows, just vents. Being able to turn off all the lights and bathe with it pitch black was just one of those random quirky things Pazely loved to do.

She had no clue why her parents insisted on such a large bathroom. They may be of Japanese descent, but they were Americans. Meaning that bathing together never happened. Can you imagine how bad the legal system would flip out, a dad bathing with his teenage daughter? In fact, Pazely’s dad was insanely uptight about nudity. She wore a slightly too short of skirt, and from his reaction, you would think that the FBI was about to arrest them all at any moment.

Not that it ever stopped her from running around half-naked. Fuck her dad! That abusive, worthless DICK!

Pazely also had no siblings. Which she was both happy and sad about. Though she would never admit it -hardly even had to herself, a little sister would have been nice. As long as she was cute and not obnoxious.

Standing there naked, hair still up in twintails, looking in the mirror, she wondered if she could ever sneak Caleb in here with her. Her smile turned to a frown, remember running into Caleb's room. The most humiliating moment of her life. Caleb's dumb ass didn't make it much better. He got all weird, and wouldn't look at her, eventually explaining he thought he was hearing voices or something, and they were saying bad things about her. Yeah right. She swore, the excuses he came up with to avoid sexual situations... at least he didn't start talking about Jesus.

Guilt made her look away from the mirror -she had been posing quite lewdly- and mumble an apology to God. He understood. Caleb was right, after all, but good grief, everything else they did to no judgment, yet Caleb got all weird over sex. Her and Bryan had been positive Caleb and Ally were doing it for months. Neither said anything, because it didn't matter. Better Ally than Rashelle. Pazely wasn't even all that jealous. It wasn't like she was in love with him or anything. He was a good friend, and he was cute, and, well... why not do stuff with him, if he ever wanted to? Not sex, just... kissing and stuff. Voices in his head... pffft. It's called hormones. At least he liked her body enough to be cursed with the evil voices, when he saw it.

For a moment, she thought of Ally, and wondered if kissing her would be fun.

Shaking that last thought, cursing herself violently about how that was gross, and would never think it again, she stomped over to start filling the huge tub, and was taken completely off guard from a massive BOOM.

Pazely stood in silence, not wanting to go back out and deal with her mom to find out what happened, and figured if it was important there would be pounding on the bathroom door any moment. Probably a gas line blew up a neighbor or something. That happens, right? Far as she knew though, everyone in town was electric. Random crazy thunder? Or maybe...

Dammit, no way to relax without knowing for sure! Grabbing a towel, she went to the door- it was locked. From the outside.

The hell!? Pazely called for her mom. There was no reply. Yelling for her again, beginning to feel the first waves of panic, she heard something. Not even sure what, or if anything, her body still went cold.

Holding her breath, she listened... Was that... giggling? ... It was. And it sounded like her mother. “Mom?” Pazely whispered. With her ear almost against the door now, there was another sound.... definitely giggles, but... was that gagging? Choking? Like someone... drowning.

The giggling, drowning noises, got closer.

Backing away, Paze dropped her towel without realizing it. What was going on?! Now the giggling was right outside, broken by choking gurgles.

Something began scratching at the door.

And Pazely’s heart went cold when she heard the voice of her mother, father, the director at the asylum, and someone speaking in Latin, all in unison speak from the other side: “WhAt’S wRoNg My prEtTy DaughtEr? Are we… SICK!?” That last word surged adrenaline in her, like being startled awake in a nightmare. That disorienting moment of terror, when you wake with a start and a gasp.

Only, Pazely wasn’t dreaming. This was real.

She vomited on the floor

* * *

This evening was going from spectacularly bad to a lot worse for Officer Stricksent. He had seen Caleb and Bryan as he had sped past them, but couldn’t stop. Masque was dying, and carrying him through the tunnel to Reba would take too long, even with help. Instead, he was heading to a safe house John had told him about.

It was across the freeway, and into some logging roads. The location had weird instructions to get inside, but was supposed to be safe, contain weapons and medical supplies, and a way to contact John or Reba.

Not that it probably mattered anymore. Shortly after he had passed the boys, the night sky lit up bright red. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the weirdest or worst of his current situation.

Stryker's concern and frustration were interrupted as Masque’s limp form fluidly slid into the passenger seat, and into an upright seated position.

He was proud he didn’t scream.

“You have my thanks,” Masque droned. “Glad you’re okay!” Stryker replied in a near shout, then laughed unintentionally. The madness begins! “Okay is not the word I would use,” Masque grumbled. “Our problems seem to have complicated even more while I was unconscious,” he observed, looking out into the red night. They did not need the added complications of a blood moon. Masque now turned to look at Stryker, who was still staring straight ahead. “There is a demon on Earth worse than we had feared.”

When Stryker didn’t answer, or even acknowledge he had spoken, Masque continued, “An imp whose strength defied reason, and almost killed me before you arrived.” Now Stryker replied, “That was an imp, huh? Didn’t seem so strong.”

Masque’s usually expressionless eyes looked quite obviously puzzled, “You… saw her?” Stryker nodded. “How did you escape? How did you even manage to avoid the lycanthropeire?” The cop grinned, “I kicked their asses, and got your ass out, that’s how!”

Like Masque would accept such lies! “You, an average human, would be dead in but a moment when faced with a demon great as that imp! Do not waste my time with your useless sense of humor!”

The blond man simply replied with a pointed thumb towards the backseat. Following it to look in the back, Masque partially understood. A large gun with angelic symbols carved into its side lie on the seat, next to some grenades.

The officer had fought, and escaped after all. Still, it was inconceivable he could damage, let alone defeat that imp, even with such weaponry. She had let them escape. But… to what end? Masque chose to keep that information to himself. Stryker had saved his life, and risked his own to do such. Which was something Masque could hardly fathom. A human had risked their life to save him. He would let Stryker have his victory for now. And he would also have his honest thanks. Later, when they regrouped with the others, they could discuss the reality of the situation.

Besides, Masque had his own shame, and more, to deal with.

“Impressive,” the shadowed one honestly complimented. Masque’s look surveyed the destruction of the (surprisingly still running) vehicle, “it must have been quite difficult. You have my deepest thanks.” The cop seemed awkward at the praise, saying nothing, with a casual shrug and smile.

Masque was the one whom should feel uncomfortable. When on the brink of death, of defeat, this human he even now judged unworthy in combat, Masque had begged his help. With the last of his strength before the darkness took him, he had ask Stryker for help. How... embarrassing. The terror of death had been so great in him, his feeble words may have been a cry, had he not been so beaten. Stryker had no way of knowing this, though that knowledge did not lessen the vampire's shame.

Why would he fear death? Had he not longed for it? Not Begged Christ to take him home, free him of the un-ending suffering? Of the starvation pains that felt to eat him alive?

The questions that rose, helped Masque to not fall too deep into his self pity. His curse, which prevented feeding, as well as dying of starvation, slowly ate away at his strength, require slumber to sustain him. In his last two battles, Masque had somehow pulled power from within himself, greater each time, that should not have been possible. Even now, he could not explain why he was already conscious, and healed. His power was not fully restored, though he could feel it regening. All of which, without feeding, was... impossible.

Breaking the silence, “Where are we going? When did the blood moon start?” Masque asked, for once not enjoying being alone with his thoughts. The questions were important. That imp would not simply allow them to escape. And with a blood moon in effect, the witch queen must be near. Masque was no longer doubting the Terror theory, after confronting that imp, and now witchcraft of this magnitude... They needed to regroup and prepare, find a way to weather the event, ward and shield themselves somewhere safe, lest they all die.

“If this red light is the blood moon, not long ago. Bigger problem right now though is, well… I don’t know where we are.” That last made Masque pause. How was that a bigger problem? “You… do not know where we are?” The hesitation in the vampire’s voice didn’t really instill confidence. “I was heading to a safe house John told me about. But… we should have been there forever ago. And for some reason this road, well, it just keeps on going!”

When Masque didn’t comment, Stryker mistook it as as confusion. “There’ve been no side streets, and we just keep going on and on, straight through the woods. I would say it was impossible, but, well…”

“Witchcraft. Stryker, stop the vehicle now,” Masque commanded, concern bordering fear in his tone.

The cop was about to comply, when he saw them in his rearview mirror. Motorcycles. A lot of them. “Uh, we may have another problem,” Stryker warned. He was right. Especially so, as suddenly, the road they had been driving down, and the trees alongside them, were just gone; the cruiser flying out into open air.

Well this was gonna suck!!!

* * *

Caleb hadn't gone far from the shack before freezing in place.

Off to his right, in the middle of the lumber yard, were five human skeletons. They were just standing there, each wearing a different colored jester’s hat. Their bones pink as the creepy, naked, cartwheeling dudes. It suddenly dawned on him that they probably weren’t pink, but just tinted from the red light. Or not.

With everything that had happened recently, skeletons weren't as frightening as they probably should have been. The fear welling up inside of him was from the chainsaws they held. When they all looked his way and started their chainsaws in one pull of the cord, Rashelle began to scream; her and Bryan had followed him out of the shack.

“Rashelle, where is your car?” Bryan asked her, taking her shoulders and ceasing her screaming. His eyes were harsh. He was pissed at Caleb for shoving her. You don’t show aggression levels like that with a female. The two exceptions being if it’s something like martial arts sparring, or defending someone’s -or your own- life. Bryan wasn’t a fool, a girl could kill you as easily as a man, and a woman could be as psychotic and homicidal as any male could. There were still distinct lines, and Caleb had crossed one.

Bryan was also irritated at feeling defensive of this self-entitled, stuck up, evil bitch. The only thing that frightened her was not being her. Meaning, she was only screaming to try to get Caleb’s sympathy. She was that much of a cunt. A word Brian did not use lightly.

To his further irritation, he suddenly understood why Caleb shoved her. It was a lot less dramatic than his own urge to punch her in the face... Judge not, he supposed.

“Over by C&D. I had parked there before everything turned red and those… bikers appeared,” she choked the word ‘bikers.’ Caleb heard her answer Bryan, where he stood, ready to fight. The skeletons were now swaggering infuriatingly slow and elaborately, towards them.

“We need to get to your car,” Bryan said to the girl they all hated, and Caleb looked around, seeing a potential to slow down the enemies. “Go back through the fence,” he told them. “Now!” Running a few steps to the side, without waiting for an answer, Caleb grabbed low on a huge pile of lumber and yanked out a piece, causing the entire stack to tumble down, making an effective barrier between them and the… monsters. Such a generic term, but what else should he call them? Bad guys? Things? Mobile objects?

BOO!

…

The sudden shout in his head caused him to start badly enough he tripped while turning to follow Bryan (who was already leading Rashelle back to the fence), and hit his shin (Hahahaha!) on a board. FUCK! That hurt like hell!

Reaching the fence, he heard what sounded like the skeletons taking their chainsaws to the wooden barrier he had created. Well, that wasn't very efficient. Never knew though, not a lot was making sense these days. For fuck sake, there were chainsaw-wielding skeletons in jester’s hats! Think about that for a moment. Or better yet, as Caleb decided, don’t. It was too stupid of a concept to ponder long.

Running down the sidewalk to the right, easily catching up to Bryan and Rashelle just before the four-way light, Caleb wondered where the people were. All this noise would wake the dead. And, apparently, shine their bones, arm them, and give them hats… What does that? Who does that?!

All three of them picked up their pace, as they ran down the road to C&D, and to Rashelle’s car. Her red, shiny sports car. Caleb knew next to nothing about cars, but he did know what he liked. 'I hate these types of cars', he thought as they reached the gas pumps, wondering again why he was dating this girl.

As Rashelle hurried to her car, Caleb noticed for the first time that she was wearing yoga pants, and had a nice butt. No, he would probably never stop getting distracted by girls, even in moments where he may be on the verge of dying any second, or losing his mind.

Caleb had stalled a bit to look at his girlfriend’s rear as she jogged ahead of him, and was just passing the front door of the mart, when the trash can (the kind with the ashtray on top, with four open sides under the canopy of butts, to toss your garbage) suddenly stood up on two stubby legs and slammed itself into the boy. The force was enough to send Caleb flailing backwards to the ground.

Um… what the hell?

Back on his own feet, Caleb tried to kick the advancing enemy (He also decided mobile object definitely fit this situation, but so did monster), and it countered by spinning viciously like a top. Caleb’s leg deflected off, sending him to the ground again. At least he was getting practice standing up quickly.

The little bastard continued to increase its spin, fast enough now to be drilling a rut in the asphalt. Bryan ran behind Caleb to flank the… trash can. Blindly backpedaling, trying to think of something, Caleb got quite close to the car, and Rashelle slammed her driver’s side door into the spinning enemy, sending it twirling off erratically, falling, then rolling under the covered gas pump area. Its tiny feet still kicked helplessly as Bryan tried to find a way to keep it down.

“Leave it and c’mon!” Caleb called, about to climb in the backseat of the car that Rashelle had now started. Then he saw it, too late to warn his friend. One of the gas nozzles, hose and all, was moving!

Like some monster snake, it struck at Bryan, hitting him hard in the back of the head with the nozzle. He let out a loud grunt and fell face down across the enemy that was no longer kicking, like it had given up trying to right itself.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Caleb ran towards him, and the other pumps also came to life, and attacked. Rolling under a lashing hose, Caleb had to flatten himself to miss one twirling like you would twirl a grappling hook before throwing it, almost getting clipped in the head. He rolled along the ground as flat as he could, hearing the pumps chip and crack off the pavement they struck, over and over.

Still alive, Bryan had been lifted off the ground by the first gas hose, having wrapped itself around his right leg. Conscious but dazed, he hung upside down, and got a glimpse of more enemies approaching. “The skeletons are coming!” Bryan warned, and the hose slapped him into the underside of the canopy.

Having rolled free of the pump area, Caleb stood and turned to see all five of the skeletons in the street, spinning and pirouetted their way to him. Great, dancing jester skeletons with chainsaws, incoming.

Bryan had grabbed a support beam on the underside of the canopy when the hose tried to slap him into it again. With these impacts, the spinning, and being snapped around, his consciousness was barely holding on, and it was a miracle that he had yet to break his neck, or anything else. Even managing to get his legs around into between on the the hoses yanks. Let’s hear it for a dancer’s legs!

As the skeletons reached a crouched Caleb (who basically was just gritting his teeth and intending to keep dodging and magically survive), the living trash can was thrown like a bowling ball by one of the hoses, sailing through three of the skeletons, blasting them to pieces. The two remaining macabre jesters quit dancing and charged; chainsaws wielded in two hands, they power slashed at the teenager.

Continuing on with all he ever really got to do during fights, Caleb shoulder rolled under a chainsaw, smoothly back to his feet, and ran to one of the discarded -and still running- chainsaw dropped when the trashcan destroyed its wielder. Ignoring the jesters, he dodged past them and to the hose tugging Bryan’s leg- and severed it. Following up his first slash, and never stopping his stride, Caleb cut the other hoses on the same side, running out of reach of those remaining.

The two jesters ran after him, and the hoses not able to reach Caleb began to lash at the two skeletons, giving him all the time he needed to approach the pumps, and sever the remaining hoses; bone jesters too damaged to be a threat.

“Can we go now?” Rashelle asked, irritation on her face, and bitchiness in her voice. Bryan let go of the beam he held, and fell to the ground, hitting harder than expected, biting back a cry as pain shot through his leg, he allowed himself an extra few moments on the ground to remove the -dead?- hose pieced still tangled on it.

One of the T. rex type of creatures turned the corner at the four-way light and hissed at them loudly. It had no injuries, so it must be the one the pink (or white?) tiger hadn't been been fighting. Or was this yet another one? Pain or not, Bryan was up and in Rashelle’s car, unassisted, in a metaphorical flash. Caleb discarded the chainsaw, panicking a little, and ran behind the car to get in the back passenger’s side. “Go!” Caleb and Bryan shouted at Rashelle, as she had motionless in the seat, staring at the dinosaur that was now jogging towards them, yowling and hissing and spitting.

“Rashelle!” Caleb snapped, and she put it into reverse, speeding backwards across the small parking lot, almost hitting the building behind them. Back in drive, she floored it straight ahead, cutting close enough to the meowing lizard, she may have left some paint on it. The giant monster tripped in the attempt to avoid the car charging at it, the boys watching it stumble and fall, Rashelle driving straight through the four-way stop, instead of going left back towards the tracks

“Turn around, we need to head to Pazely’s!” Caleb ordered. “She’ll live, we need to hide,” was his girlfriend’s all too calm reply. That was not the answer Caleb wanted. Bryan should have seen it coming. When his friend made a decision, he didn’t argue or debate, one way or another he was going to do it.

Without another word, or a second of hesitation: Caleb opened the car door and jumped out. A brief tumble and then he was sprinting down a side road before Rashelle had even hit the breaks.

* * *

Stryker wanted to just go to sleep. If all this wasn’t unbelievable enough, now they were fucking flying?! The road may be completely gone, but the vehicle kept going straight ahead, some thousand plus feet from the valley floor.

“They still follow,” Masque informed, looking behind them. Well, that’s great. Apparently the motorcycles could fly too! And from the way they zigged and zagged and zoomed in Stryker’s rearview mirror, they could also maneuver well.

“Will this vehicle steer?” Masque asked, not a trace of his injuries remained. Turning the wheel a little to the left, the cruiser began to violently barrel roll, while still retaining its same forward trajectory. The spinning was so violent that Stryker was almost thrown from his seat. Thank God for seatbelts!

Trying to right them, they spun the other direction just as violent, then left again, his neck feeling like it broke on that last spin, and Stryker hoped he hadn’t just given himself whiplash. Instinctively, he hit the brake and the car quit rolling; diving straight down. “SHIT!” Stryker cried, and Masque had to agree. “The gas,” Masque suggested, calmly as he could, and even his world seemed to turn upside down as the car abruptly tipped its nose straight up, climbing fast as it had been falling. Kinetics intact, physics not so much.

Masque hated witchcraft.

“Nice call,” Francis gasped. “I got no clue how to right this thing,” he complained through clenched teeth, as they rocketed towards the red sky. He was afraid to even move. “Release the pedal,” Masque suggested. So the cop did, and the cruiser once again began to fly straight ahead, albeit crooked. “Release the steering wheel,” was the second suggestion, and doing so leveled them out. Stryker was shocked. “Hey, how’d you know that?” he asked, impressed. The vampire was now crouching on the hood. “Only so many control devices. It was process of elimination.”

About to ask what he was doing on the hood, Stryker heard an odd sound, and turned enough to look behind them, to the see the (Holy shit, what the fucking fuck are those?!) nightmarish cartoon dog bikers, quite close now, and shooting lasers at them, from who knows where on their bikes. They were bad shots, thankfully!

Masque, eyes again blazing, netherweave flourishing out from him in all directions, hopped from the hood to land on the closest speeding flying bike. Slashing with his left hand, netherweave wrapped around it like a blade, he severed the head from the dog-man driving (flying?) it. Quickly hopping to a second bike, he did the same. A black smoking pop, and he reappeared in the air between three other bikers, spinning a kick like a cyclone, knocking all three dog toons from their seats.

“Don’t just kill people, man!” Stryker called from the car as he watched, ducking a red laser bolt that shot through the headrest of the passenger’s seat. In a puff of black, Masque was again next to him in the vehicle, glaring. “People? Do they look like people to you? Should we just let these people kill us?” More lasers punched through the car, one hitting black smoke; the vampire shadowstepped out and in front of another flying bike, knocking the rider off with a kick to the chest, before shadowstepping back to the car, this time into the backseat.

“I mean, I know how they look, but those’re the Cutters, right? They got transformed somehow, didn't they?” Masque was so shocked at the insight from the officer he almost got hit with a laser. Stryker was right, these were humans, for some reason altered to look how they looked. Masque knew it was due to the blood moon, and more, he just wasn’t sure what the ‘and more’ was yet. Most humans would be terrified at experiencing something like this. Even Masque was concerned.

“People or not, would you shoot back in war? Or self-defense? Because I assure you, officer, they intend your death.” Stryker had to see the logic in that. “Will normal weapons work?” he asked, reaching for his untouched sidearm on his hip. “Indeed,” was the only answer given, as Masque shadowstepped back out of the vehicle.

This time he was aided by Stryker, unbuckled and leaning out the window, gun in both hands, having no need to steer. Four shots, but he dropped one furry with two bullets, hitting the big black poodle in the chest. The final biker shot one last laser through the car before Masque beheaded him. In another black puff, the ninja returned to the backseat of the vehicle.

Which was now plummeting in a plume of green smoke.

Masque grabbed the weapons in the back, and secured the officer in his other arm in almost one fluid motion. “Ah, hell no,” Stryker had time to complain, as Masque punched out the back window, and jumped (Not shadowstepped. No human could be taken through such, without being obliterated), cop under one arm, assault rifle and bandoleer in his other hand.

Slowing their descent as much as possible using his netherweave, Masque was glad Stryker was going with this, and not screaming or struggling. Dropping him would be… messy. Not knowing if his weave could hold long enough to lower them the entire distance, Masque had been descending fast. Almost too fast, he realized, when they hit the ground.

Having had the foresight to release -toss- the law enforcement officer before impact, just in case; Stryker managed to roll decently enough to not break anything. Masque’s own impact caused him no pain, though he did land with a bit of a thud, and needed to bend his knees. Another shame to add to his list.

"Are you alright, Stryker?" Masque asked, glow to his eyes fading, netherweave almost gone. “I’m okay," the cop answered, testing his movements, and wincing. "Hurts like a motherfuck, but I can walk.” He winced again. “Mostly.” Then, Stryker noticed something, “Hey, why ain’t anything red anymore?”

The moon was still blood red, as was the starless sky, yet the tint to the surroundings was gone. It was obvious it should be dark out, yet everything was easy to see. To Stryker, it felt like he was gifted with the ability to see in the dark, rather than there actually being enough light.

“You truly are handling this well, Stryker,” Masque complimented. The officer gave a humorless laugh, “Thanks, but truth be told, I plan on getting shitfaced and sleeping for a week when this is over. And quit including my name at the end of your sentences. It sounds weird.” Distracted, Masque gave a small nod of understanding, as he surveyed their surroundings on the valley floor.

“Do you believe we will survive?” he asked the blond man. “I don’t believe anything, I just know I’m not gonna roll over and die,” Stryker’s answer was good enough for the vampire. “Then you better run. I will do my best to keep them off of you. Find us shelter, or a place to fortify.”

Stryker stood there, looking stupid.

“Now! There are too many for me to fight all at once!” Still confused, he looked past Masque. And saw some right weird shit - mushrooms, big mushrooms you find in the woods, with little legs and tiny arms, and they were holding sticks. Pointy sticks. There had to be hundreds hundreds!

Then he noticed the rest. The area they stood on the valley floor was only lightly wooded. Which made it easy for the trees to be walking towards them unobstructed. Yup, full freaking trees, their trunks split apart to form large legs, branches connected and wrapped to make arms; quickly closing the distance. There were also large stones and boulders, ranging in size from basketball to you crushed my car, with legs kinda like a crab or spider, scurrying among the ocean of walking fungi.

He yelped and jumped to the side, a large purple mushroom had approached him, and stabbed him in the calf with basically a toothpick.

Deciding to take the advice given, Stryker turned (after kicking the stabbing little bastard into the distance!) and ran like hell back the way they had been coming from, before they bailed from the plummeting cop car, hopefully back towards town.

* * *

It scratched and giggled at the door. It, because that wasn’t her mom. Had it ever been her mom? Holding her breath, Pazely strained to listen, the sounds getting quieter, before going completely silent. Finding herself slowly approaching the door, Pazely didn't remember making the decision to move. Stopping where she was, this was when the noises from outside finally reached her ears. Her home was insulated too well to hear things clearly, but she didn't need to. Didn't want to.

This was one of those moments where something scary was supposed to happen, right? With a sense of dread, heart hammering, Pazely slowly turned to look behind her. As her eyes passed over the large mirror on the wall, she saw her mother’s bloated corpse reflected in it; rotten jaw fell open, and screamed in the voice of an infant. Dark water geysered from the sinks with enough force to reach the ceiling.

Pazely let out a scream of her own- the door burst inwards, the unseen force behind it, knocking her to the ground. The Asian woman stood in the doorway, smiling, looking exactly the same as when Paze had seen her last.

Then her mom threw her head back, and dozens of swampy-colored tentacles began pouring from her mouth, piling up like a mound of putrid spaghetti. Pazely couldn’t scream if she wanted to, no sound could describe the wrongness she felt inside. The pile of spaghetacles reached her mom's knees, then stopped coiling out. From her mother’s gaping mouth (held open still by the many tentacle strands, like the guide wires of a tent) two long, knobby-fingered hands began to emerge. Reaching out several feet before the knobby elbow joints appeared.

Pazely was frozen in place where was on the ground. She never just froze. 'What do I do?!'

Elbows bending, the thing rested its long-fingered orange-hands palms down on the floor, and began to push, trying to lift itself out of the woman, like she was a giant sausage skin tunnel from the abyss to Earth.

'Wh-wh-wh-why? What? … Monster? No weapons… H-h-h-how to… fight? I-I-I have to fight!'

A largely bulbous and hairy shoulder pushed free. Then the next one, before the head crowned, her mothers mouth gaping to an impossible extent. Entrails wrapped the monsters face, bowels boiling from its large eyes, writing plainly visible on s forehead. The words and symbols Pazely did not know, but the upside down crosses, she did. In that horrible moment, she clarified on what this thing was.

Demon!

Now she knew what to do. She knew how to defend herself. For someone that fought their fear by literally fighting, the overwhelming terror faded into a purposeful confidence.

“In Jesus’ name, GET OUT!” Pazely commanded in a shout that hurt her throat. The demon paused, smirk on its face. Keeping eye contact, she got to her feet, saying, "In Jesus name, get out of my house!" The demon, smirk growing into a grin, moved an arm, leaning closer to her.

And stopped. It's grin fading, a look of concern coming over it. Pazely, standing her ground, felt something. A chill through her body, and a presence. It was inside of her, but also, behind her, and beside her. Without any conscious choice of her own, she opened her mouth, and loudly ordered: "leave this place immediately, and do not return!"

Complete and utter terror came over the nightmare's face, and Pazely watched as it quickly panic-rewound back into her mother (whose head snapped around in a blur while she screamed in a male’s voice), and then few straight backwards off her feet, like she had been hit by a giant's fist, going through walls, and out of the house, vanishing into the trees.

Pazely could clearly see the red night beyond. The noises from outside were much clearer now, and were so weird, they made her feel like crying.

Everything right now made her feel like crying. The weight of it all. Of who had been with her. God had listened to her. Jesus had been there in that moment. Well, the Spirit. That meant he did still love her. That... her doubt... the things she had said.... he hadn't left her. Jesus had never left her. Not during any of it.

Emotions overwhelming, Pazely stood there naked, staring out the distant hole in her house. Was her mom dead? How long was it not her mom? She needed to pray. To thank God. And get dressed. She needed to find Caleb. Find her friends. Miss Reba.

So why was she just laughing and crying, legs shaking so bad it made her angry, the urge to pee so strong it hurt?

* * *

Bailing out of a car and running a couple blocks into a monster-infested town was bad enough, and the vile voice in his head was making it worse. The fucking thing wouldn't shut up, and was taking more focus to ignore it than before. If Caleb started to give it attention, he would be accepting it wasn't just his own bat-shit, and would be a further step into crazy. He needed to ignore them. To get a grip. To focus.

And it was just that lack of focus that failed to save the local dentist. Caleb saw the man run out on his front porch, gun in hand. He looked intoxicated, that much the boy had registered. What he (and the dentist) did not register, was the (WHOA!)(Oh dear.) hippopotamus next to the man’s front door. Until it decided to eat him.

Caleb would have warned him if he had the chance. But, confused or not, who just looks over to see someone coming out of their house, notices the hippo, and calls out a warning? When he thought of it, he guessed most people would have probably yelled something. He did croak out a moaned whimper of helpless despair, seeing a man he knew, being horrifically killed.

The dentist was still screaming as Caleb ran on. He could hear a lot more screaming in general now. The night did not seem so brilliantly red anymore either. And there were gunshots. Lots and lots of gunshots.

He needed a weapon. The dentist was no longer screaming. Caleb was not going back there to look for the discarded gun. A few blocks ahead of him, on Main Street, was a hardware store. It had some camping goods too. There had to be something there, right? They didn’t sell guns, but a machete would make him feel a lot better. Or a sledgehammer…

A toddler fell from a second story apartment window that he was jogging past, landing headfirst on the sidewalk. Neck twisted, one eye bulged, and her tongue lolled as she seized her traumatic death.

Caleb was dry heaving, stumbling a sprint fast as he could, blindly clearing streets, and having to brace himself with his hands after crossing Main Street, and running into the hardware store to stop himself. He needed the support of the building anyway, his heart slamming, and lungs burning. Leaning on the wall, coughing and gagging, shuffling hand over hand, he made his way towards the front doors.

When he reached them, it wasn’t too hard to brute force his way in. They were old reinforced double glass doors, that were now quite broken. The security lock and chain on the inside forced Caleb to have to squeeze through. He stood still, trying to ignore his mind screaming obscenities, and listened. Nothing. At least not yet, but he should still be on his guard. The way this night was going, if a zombie mutant plumber attacked him with a wrench in one of the aisles, he wouldn’t be surprised.

Or the wrench by itself…

The small hardware store remained deserted -and un-animated- as he got a backpack, camping supplies, two small camp axes, and a cheap machete. He hoped in the grand scheme of things that this wasn’t stealing. He knew it was, but with everyone sorta dying and getting eaten, Caleb wasn’t even sure if there was anyone left for it to belong to.

He was about to leave the store, instead ducking back inside, behind the service counter near the doors. He slowly peeked up, and out the window. A group of knights in shiny full plate armor and wearing sombreros, were marching down Main Street with assault rifles. As Caleb watched them pass to the left, one opened fire on something, and they charged ahead. He could no longer see them, but when the loud meowing and hissing joined the sounds of the knights, Caleb knew what they were fighting.

While the commando knights were distracted battling the meowing dinosaur, Caleb snuck out and to the right, hurrying to the little alley space between this building and the post office. Successfully cutting through the block, he came out in an ally across the street from C&D, facing towards Pazely’s again, and monster battle circumvented!

Machete in hand, Caleb was being cautious. His crazy brain on a rampage, his pulse almost as loud, he had to make sure not to run into something and get eaten!

Wanting to avoid C&D, Caleb headed along the sidewalk nearest to him, heading left, about a block away from the mart. Being able to see or not, this was Washington, there were a lot of trees. So when he cleared a couple of streets, and turned to see the side streets inaccessible due to thick webbing, he was startled. (SPIDERS! Get them off, get them off!) Caleb slapped at himself and shuddered, being convinced he was covered in spiders, the voice in his head laughed hysterically.

Calming down, and ignoring his cackling mind, he saw something move in the web. Oh shit. Knees slowly bending, blade at the ready, he braced for an assault. More movement… A spider… no… a cocoon. A person-sized cocoon! Someone is in there!

Fear forgotten, Caleb ran to the webbing, and the wriggling cocoon in front of him. Cutting into the top of it with his machete, he dropped the blade when he got a good crack (it was solid) and hand hold. Pulling it down and away, revealing gray hair, then a head. It was an old lady!

“Oh, thank Jesus!” she sobbed, when her face was freed. Caleb was pulling off the rest of the cocoon as fast as he could, quickly freeing her arms. “Is this real? Is this really happening?” she asked, leaning on his shoulder for support, while he freed her legs. She was in a nightgown. Her voice sounded more like a frightened little girl than an elderly woman.

Caleb didn’t know what to say, so he kept up his effort of removing her while she wept. After freeing her feet and she fell out on him, he heard the skittering. That was never a good sign, even in normal situations. Not that he could think of any normal situations involving skittering.

Easily lifting the frail old woman in his arms, Caleb ran with her, back across the street. “No! Jimmy!” the old woman screamed. “Jimmy is back there!” The way she was screaming, every monster in town was going to converge and eat them. Apparently, his only options were to go look for Jimmy, or kill this woman to shut her up. Those were the two options his noisy mind was giving him, anyway.

So, being the pathetic oblivious hero that he is, Caleb set the screaming old woman down in the grass, and turned to run back towards the monstrous wall of webbing. The old woman quit screaming, understanding his intent.

Approaching the web, he no longer heard the skittering. Great. Looking all over, he didn’t see any other cocoons at first. Following the wall of webbing to theft, there was an opening. Right inside were three cocoons. One quite large, two small.

Caleb cut into the biggest one first, hoping for an adult to assist with this mess. As he freed the man’s head, he wished it could have been anyone else. “Oh, please boy, you have to help me!” Horrence begged, his voice filled with panic. Caleb liked that sound in his voice. “What do you think I’m doing?” he growled at the old man. Freeing Horrence’s arms, Caleb realized, “Trixie! Where is Trixie?!” he looked at the two small cocoons. “That’s why I need your help!” Horrence almost wailed, beginning to rip free on his own.

Caleb heard the old woman crying for ‘Jimmy’ again. Knowing he had to hurry with all this noise, he cut hard and fast into the top of the adjacent cocoon, ripping the top open. But the girl he exposed was not Trixie. She began to sob and wail the moment her head was free. Caleb had the dark skinned little girl he had never seen before, free of the cocoon in a couple tugs of the shell, and was on to the next one.

Forgoing the blade altogether, he punched a hole in the top, ripping it open and revealing a very frightened, very quiet Trixie. “Trixie!” her grandfather cried, getting clear of the cocoon and scooping her into his large arms, shedding tears of relief. 'Well, that’s out of character,' Caleb thought, and picked up the small Filipina. Or at least she looked like it to him. He didn’t have time to make introductions, let alone ask nationality. He and Horrence ran out of this creepy spider pantry, carrying the girls, back towards where he had left the old woman. She again began screaming when Jimmy was not with them.

Kill this bitch, already!

'You’ve got to be kidding me…'

She is afraid and confused, Caleb.

Without warning or explanation after setting down the crying little girl, Caleb turned and ran back to the room he had just freed them from. He had left his machete in there like a dumbass. On his way, he noticed a small lump near where the old woman had been, which he hadn’t seen before. Jimmy? Heading over there before returning to his blade, Caleb brujte-forced the top open to see a toddler blinking at him. At least Jimmy wasn’t screaming.

“Watch out!” Horrence yelled from across the street, and Caleb looked up to see a spider the size of a bear crawling quickly down the webbing. It was Caleb’s turn to scream (albeit manly), falling backwards, away from the long chitinous legs and black bulbous body. It didn’t seem to notice him though, more interested in the snack already encased in its webbing.

When the spider climbed down enough for the little boy to see it, he finally began screaming, in the way only a child can, when faced with the worst of fears. The old woman, knowing what was coming, joined in with wails of her own.

Frozen in horror, Caleb wanted to close his eyes. He didn’t. The spider extended a long needle-like tube from its dripping mouth, stabbing it into the boy’s torso, who shrieked with hysterical horror and pain. “JIMMY!” The old woman was filled with adrenaline when she saw the spider begin to eat her grandchild, his screams changing to those of pure agony. Agony no one should feel, let alone a little fucking kid! She sprinted across the street before any could stop her.

This close, Caleb could also hear the awful slurping sounds, the insides sucked from the child’s small frame.

Crawling backwards on hands and butt, Caleb was dry heaving so hard that he couldn’t breathe. What got him focused and on his feet, was a second spider that had approached from the side, unnoticed. It jumped in a blur over Caleb, landing on the old woman. Using its weight to hold her down, she too began to be drank by a spider. Her screams were no lesser than her grandson’s.

The toddler quit screaming, death releasing him from his torment.

They had to get out of here! A car. They needed a car! Dammit, why hadn’t he just taken Rashelle’s? Scrambling to stay on his feet, but falling repeatedly, Caleb ran back to Horrence and the two little girls. Trixie and the other girl were holding each other. She must be a friend of Trixie's staying the night or a new neighbor or something. They were found beside each other, and looked around the same age.

“We need a car,” Caleb said, looking panicked. He then noticed the trunk of a parked car on the other side of one of the town’s many churches, half a block away from them and the webbing. Had that been there this entire time? He didn’t remember seeing it when he had run by. Without thinking, he scooped up both girls -awkwardly- into his arms, and started for the vehicle. A shockingly quiet Horrence followed (albeit lagging behind) after them to the red four-doored, almost new-looking car.

Caleb had no idea how to hot-wire something…

Trixie finally screamed.

Setting down both girls next to the vehicle, Caleb crouched, shielding them instinctively as he turned to see how many spiders were chasing them. The answer was none; what was coming after them wasn’t any better. Wasps, each easily as big as a football, swarming from the sky, heading in their direction.

“Get in the car!” Caleb shouted to the girls, and they did so through a miraculously unlocked back door. If they could only stay so lucky. The driver’s side was also unlocked, and Caleb got in fast. Horrence was gasping as he tried to hurry, struggling to make it the short disstance. “Horrence come o-” Caleb's words cut off when a wasp lanced down to land on the fat old man’s back, stinging furiously. He fell.

“Grampa!” Trixie screeched, more landing on the large man, several others smashing into the car, right as Caleb slammed his door shut. “You save my girl, Caleb! You save my girl!” Horrence wailed, covered completely by giant wasps. “NO!” Trix was screaming over and over, though she made no attempt to exit the car. The other girl was quiet, and unmoving, eyes staring straight ahead and fixed. Why did Trix give a crap about that abusive old piece of shit? For that matter, why was selfish, self-centered Horrence begging for his granddaughter to be saved and not to save him? It was hard to believe, the way he treated Trix, that he cared at all. Or her for him. "I love you Trixie," Horrences's final shout was almost unintelligible. Almost.

Unbelievable as the old mans actions were, what Caleb found the most unbelievable was, as he reached for the ignition, it had a set of keys already in it. The engine turned over effortlessly, and the tank was full. And, for the first time since all of this had started… for the first time in quite a while…. he began to thank Jesus, over and over again. Tears streamed from his eyes, listening to Trixie sob, he drove, zigzagging down open streets, taking them ever closer to the back way into Pazely’s neighborhood.

* * *

Stryker felt like he had been running forever, and still no shelter in sight. This was complete bullshit. All he had been doing was running like a motherfuck. There were a hell of a lot of rock crabs, mushrooms, and moving trees in this freaking valley! He felt useless and foolish. Yet he kept running.

Fighting wasn't an option, as he had no weapon. In fact, there was nothing left on his duty belt other than his cuffs, and some gloves. Where it all went, he hadn't a clue. Even his radio had been long since discarded.

And his nausea was getting horrible!

In fact, it was horrible enough that when he saw his patrol cruiser sitting undamaged a few dozen yards away on a hill, he thought he was hallucinating.

Stryker fell for no apparent reason. “Are you alright?” Masque asked, beside him. “I’m okay, I’m good.” Stryker pushed to shaky knees. He had a splitting headache now, and his joints felt like they were on fire. Masque glared into his eyes, “You are not okay, Officer Stricksent.”

An ancient evergreen made a racket, altering from it's shambling jog to a sprint, forcing Masque to leave the officer, and the much nearer enemies, to deal with the -literal- larger threat charging them. dodge, and sending the cop flying with a kick, that was more fling than impact.

With a deep breath of determination, Stryker forced himself to his feet and ran for the cruiser. He felt like he had late stage cancer, and a hangover, without a hint as to why. Didn't really matter, as he was dead for sure if he didn't get to safety.

By the time Stryker reached his vehicle, the loud sounds of a tree getting it's ass kicked had quit. Not that he bothered to look back to confirm it was Masque who had won. Win or lose, his patrol car was the immediate goal. At least... he had thought this was his patrol car. How it fell that far without blowing up or some shit, should have been impossible enough, but it was totally undamaged. Like, totally. Ready to just go with it at this point, Stryker got in the unlocked driver’s door. None of his shit was here, and the interior looked band new.

“Witchcraft,” Masque answered the unspoken question, after appearing in a silent puff of black smoke. The cop shrugged. Why not? “Is that why I’m fucking dying?” Stryker bitched, looking for keys. “No. You are dying from poison, not directly from witchcraft.”

“Poison?” he found a set in the visor. “Yes, poison. One of the animated fungi must have injured you. Remaining stationary, resting, would be best, until I can find help."

Stryker saw a skinny tree start up the base of the hill, wielding a telephone pole like a staff. Where the hell did it find a phone pole down here? His nose and left eye started to bleed when he laughed. “Nice to know, after running a marathon for my life!” He started up the vehicle. “And who needs to use their fucking feet? This is America, bitches! We drive!” Then, both he and Masque, sat still and silent, the engine noise replaced with a voice casually stating: "Vroom vroom, put put put," and the like.

“So, witchcraft, huh?” Stryker asked, trying to pretend the car thing wasn’t happening, driving down the hill as the talking car onomatopoeia’d itself. “Wait,” Stryker interrupted Masque before he could answer. He needed to ask a better phrased question, before something went to shit again, and he lost his chance. Or the car decided to take off for the fucking moon. At least they seemed to be in a clear enough area to drive without getting stuck.“Sum up as best as you can to me, the explanation of what the hell is currently happening.”

Running over some evil mushrooms, Stryker felt better as he drove. Well, not better, but not walking was helping. It was almost like each step, ran or walked, had been sapping him of health. At least driving, he was maintaining his health as it was.

For several seconds, Masque remained silent. Then he answered, “A witch has a blood moon ritual in effect. It allows for witchcraft under it to be more powerful. However, this level is unheard of, even for the which queen, whom i presume is behind it. I know not why the stars are gone, or how many crafts are currently effecting us, or how large of an area is effected." The vampire did not feel satisfied with that explanation, but it was the best he could do.

“A witch cast some kinda spell, to bring this shit to life that's trying to kill us?” Stryker asked calmly, navigating the bewitched car around a stack of inanimate rocks. “Shit man, why didn’t you say so? I grew up watching kid’s movies like anyone else, think I can understand that.” calm or not, the sarcasm was loud.

Across the valley floor they drove, dodging trees, and rocks, and boulders, Masque occasionally shadowstepping out to clear the way.

* * *

Pazely didn’t know how long she had been sitting in the corner of the shower. Still naked, she held her knees tightly to her chest, unwilling to hide her face; watching the curtain she had drawn. Expecting any second for some monster or demon to rip it down and kill her. Or worse. Having nothing else to do, she cried. As quietly as she could. And crying quietly was something this little Japanese girl was quite skilled at.

Her current situation and feelings were making her remember. Remember the worst time of her life.

Everyone was dead. They had to be. That is what she had thought, when her parents had shipped her away. Why else hadn’t any of them come to save her?

How she had cried and wailed. How she had shivered in fear. How she had silently begged God for Caleb to come break down that door with the dumb padding, and save her! She was terrified of being restrained like that. Even her mind had been tied down from those shots. The straps around her body held her immobile on her back in the tiny bed.

No one cared about her fear. She couldn’t MOVE! Why did no one care?! It was worse than death.

'Please, please, please let me move!!! Jesus, don't let them do this! Please, Jesus, please make them let me go!'

She had cried for so many nights… Even when her mind was also strapped down, her un blinkable eyes would cry on their own. Jesus never answered. Caleb never came to save her.

Eventually, after an eternity, she went… calm. She had accepted her living hell. She had broken… And it was bliss. Nothing mattered. Nothing. Why care, or fight, or struggle. If she just gave in, death would find her, and release her. But she didn't die. Instead, they unstrapped her, and gave her clothing. She was moved to a room. A real room. With a window, no pads on things, even a bathroom with a small shower and toilet. A toilet instead of the diapers she hadn't even known she had been in.

And Pazely would hide in that shower every night and cry. She would sob muscle wrenching hysterics, leaving the night’s silence undisturbed. If the people there ever knew she wasn’t numb, she had been positive they would return her to that bed.

Why she had been there, Pazely never figured out. The staff had never seemed to want anything from her. Well, anything except obedience, and lack of resistance. It was almost like their only goal was to leave her until her will broke, or she died.

But what had really broken was her heart.

One day, she thought she heard something, and looked out her window in the early morning hours. Nothing. Like how she would force herself to be and feel the rest of this day. Then she saw it. A hummingbird. Its wings buzzed fiercely, as it darted this way and then, watching her. It could hover, it could fly, always free to live it's life as it chose, migrating from flower to flower, feeder to feeder, accross the county.

That hummingbird was what had saved her life, deciding that day, no matter how silly it was, she too would fly! She would sprout wings that hummed like that tiny bird, and fly far, and free! No cage, no restraints, just the wind and the world! And if anyone tried to find her, she would hide deep in the forests, where no humans could go!

Pazely survived that place. Released as inexplicably as she had been incarcerated. Some random unnamed staff member had drove her home in a van. She had not known where she was being taken, windows blacked out so she couldn't see. It hadn't mattered to her. She was going to escape the moment she could.

When she recognized the area through the windshield, form where she sat in the back, Pazely knew then what was happening. why she was in her own clothes. They were taking her home.

And the only emotion she felt at that moment was anger. Pazely had no intention of ever speaking to her friends again. No, she would make a new life, pretending to be the perfect kid, with perfect new friends, until she was of age and could escape for good.

But then there was Stryker.

When they pulled up to her house, Stryker had been parked out front, and demanded to speak with her alone. He explained to how hard they tried to find her, and asked about what happened to her at that boarding school. Boarding school. She told him nothing, and said she was fine. He said she was lying. Stryker then informed her parents he would be taking her to see her friends. She hadn't wanted to. Wanted to object. Before she saw the tears in his eyes, and he hugged her tightly.

Love. she had forgotten how that felt.

He took her to his place first, where he had brand new clothes for her Miss Reba and Terra had given him, and let her clean up, before going to find the others. To find Caleb. And reawaken to herself.

After that day, things quickly went back to normal. Life was once again good. Until summer. In summer… everything started to get strange. Or more like… Caleb began to get strange. And from that, from just him changing, it affected all of their lives, like a ripple in a pond. Only much shittier, and more depressing. And... darker. More sinful, she would now say. Like they were all, bit by bit, sliding into the darkness, away from God.

Now, sitting in a shower, again crying silently... wasn't she home? The home she had longed to return to? Would this be where she died? She willed herself to move! She begged herself to quit crying! She had the will! She wanted to fly like that hummingbird! Hadn't she tried to fight that giant dog? Fear hadn't stopped her then! Hadn't she had the faith to stand when her demon mom was coming for her? Jesus had been with her and everything!

She had sworn to herself to never leave her friends in danger, ever! Especially after what she had been through! Why couldn’t she make herself help them!? Why couldn’t she do ANYTHING?! She was trying so fucking hard!!! But she was so afraid! WHY?! WHY NOW?!

A sound.

She held her breath.

There! Rattling. Oh no… it’s… close. She wouldn't freeze up again! She had to get up, and fight, no matter what she couldn't die cowering on-

“Pazely?” the voice was soft, and her heart skipped a beat. Her tears came again, but were now broken by laughter. She couldn't believe it. Caleb had come for her. He had actually come for her.

Able to hear her, he ran into the giant bathroom. She didn't even try to move, choking back her tears, a smile on her face, Pazely looked up at the friend she had waited so long for before. The boy, as much as she denied it to herself, she was in love with. Caleb quickly picked up her towel, draping it over her shoulders and wrapping her in a hug.

“Never again am I not coming for you, do you understand me? Never ever again!” At those words, she buried her face in his chest, clenching two fistfuls of his shirt, and wailed.

Caleb held her tightly, and did his best to not start crying too. He was also trying to make sure nothing showed up to eat them, while listening for the girls in the car. He pet Pazely’s hair, and kissed the top of her head occasionally, as she sobbed and sobbed.

Had she really been that scared? He had no idea…

I would say you failed amazingly.

'Had I failed to save her when she needed me?'

Caleb…

After a few minutes, she had calmed down, and Caleb was worried she lost consciousness. Screams from outside, close enough to be a concern, followed by a horrendously loud and exaggerated farting sound. That, um… yeah, he wasn’t going to even ponder that. The screams had not been the girls in the car, at least.

“What’s going on?” the motionless Pazely asked, with her face still on his chest. Caleb wished he had an answer for her. “I don’t know. But I’m hoping when the sun comes up, this will all go away. I hate to say this since you’re so scared-” Pazely pushed out of his arms and stood, closing her towel around herself. Legs shaking visibly, “Wh-wh-who’s scared? I was just happy you were alive!”

Grinning larger than he meant to, from seeing what he was also not meant to, Caleb also stood up, “Good. Because Trixie and one of her friends are outside, waiting, so we need to hurry.” He walked to the bathroom door and looked out, seeing nothing, turned back to look at Pazely again. “Are you planning on going naked?”

The joke was on him, as she just smirked, “Maybe I am. Got a problem with that?” She then marched her past him and down the hall to her room. He was so dumping that obnoxious Rashelle.

Walking out to look around more, and out the hole in the house, he wasn't sure if he should ask about her parents or not. The fact she hadn't brought it up, meant it was probably not a good idea.

Pazely screeched, and Caleb was at her door before he registered it. Not worried about walking in on her changing, he was shocked at what he did see.

Paze loved figurines of characters from her favorite anime and games. She had amassed dozens that she housed on shelves lining her room. More than all the rest of them combined could even dream of getting. Caleb had like five… the damn things were hard to come by, especially when he had like zero funds ever. Though having a lot of figures was a bad thing right now, since they all had come to life, and were attacking her.

Luckily, the toys had all the strength such a tiny object should. Didn’t stop them from climbing in her hair, biting her ankles, and throwing knickknacks at her. Caleb swept most of them away with one kick. “No!” Pazely yelled, looked horrified, barely managing to rip a magical girl figure from her hair. “It was hard to collect these, don’t hurt them!” Caleb batted away the angry action figures, trying to break as few as possible, while he and Paze made it out of her room, closing the door.

She had managed to put on panties, black leggings, and a black sports bra, as well as putting her hair back in twintails, before getting jumped. Not exactly the perfect battle attire. At least she looked good. If not a bit inappropriate.

“Now where do we go?” she asked, the toys clacking against the wooden door. “Reba's,” Caleb answered calmly. “Getting there may prove to be a bit of a bitch. Hope the dance studio is okay.” Pazely was confused for a moment, then remembered the only way he knew of to get to the church-like-base in the mountain involved going to the studio. Which was better than the hike through the woods that had originally taken them there. Pazely wasn't sure she could find it that way again anyway. Or how they had in the first place. Was rather stupid, thinking about it now.

Heading down the stairs, Pazely grabbed her thin windbreaker with their dance studio name and emblem on it, from where it hung by the front door, and stepped into a pair of sandals, before going outside. The teens hurried over to the car Caleb had parked near some shrubs by the road. Trix crushed Pazely in a hug as she climbed in the back with the two kids. “Never leave us out here again,” the darker skinned girl (he really should ask her name...) told Caleb as he got in. In retrospect, leaving the kids in a locked car in the middle of hell night may have been a bit of a poor choice. But hey, they lived, so it worked out, right?

You are fucking retarded.

Your priority is to get all of you to safety!

“Sorry, I’m kinda failing this whole being the adult thing,” he apologized, and suddenly stopped the car, staring at a monstrous pile of shit (literally) blocking the street the way they had come. The other way was blocked by vehicles, as it had been when they arrived. “How did- OH!” Caleb cried out in surprise, when a tentacle from a giant octopus on top of Pazely’s house, set a screaming, middle-aged man down in the road by the shit pile

Two ponies and a zebra ran over to him, and ripped the man to pieces, consuming him bones and all. Immediately after, they starting power shitting, creating mounds of ejected turds, large as the equines themselves; reinforcing the wall of poo, that was blocking their only exit.

Caleb and Pazely shouted, “Holy shit!” no pun intended, at the entire scene. “Never leave us out here again,” the girl who's name he did not know, repeated. Caleb didn’t delay further, putting the car in reverse and hitting the gas, only to be held in place by a large purple tentacle of the giant octopus.

The girls screaming bloody murder, drowned out Caleb's own verbalized terror. Where did that thing come from, anyway?! It wasn’t there when he had gone in the house!

The ponies and zebra, that had been leaving the road, turned to look at them. Everyone in the car went silent, but it was too late. More zebras -and a donkey- came from the yards along the street, and joined the group that was walking towards the immobilized automobile, yipping like a pack of hyenas.

What was he supposed to do? The tentacle covered the doors, there was no way to get out in time! What to do, what to do?!

A large bulldozer, covered in Christmas lights, glitter and sparkly things, blasted through the wall of shit. Racing at them head on, it knocked aside the freaky little ponies. Continuing directly at their car, it slammed into it, freeing them from the tentacle, and pushing them backwards down the street. Trixie and her friend screamed again, as the car was shoved until out of reach of the octopus.

The bedazzled-bulldozer stopped, and faster than it should have been able to, backed up, then pulled alongside them. The tinted armored door opened, and Bryan leaned down far enough for them to see. “Let’s go!” he called, motioning to get in, and be quick about it.

None of them hesitated, picking the tank on wheels instead of their pop-can, and climbed up into the cool bulldozer. The inside had three rows of leather seats, air conditioning and a mini bar. Um… why not at this point, right?

Quickly turning around, Bryan sped back the way they had come, barely missing getting grabbed by another tentacle. “Do I even want to know?” Caleb asked him, referring to not only how this thing was defying physics, but why he was covered in dirt. “Do I?” Bryan replied calmly, running down two bulls with snake tails, and some road cones with legs.

“Where are we going then?” Caleb asked next. “Unfortunately, to Rashelle’s.” Pazely groaned at Bryan's answer. “Why there?” she complained. Was a valid question. “Because the studio is gone, and the shack was destroyed, the tunnel inaccessible,” Bryan told her. “I convinced Rashelle I would get Caleb, and she let me use her mom's van. I stopped at the studio first, and found it leveled. Miss Terra is alive, so I had her take the van I was driving back to Rashelle's. She wanted to stay and help, but I, um, convinced her not to. The road was mostly clear going up the hill, I'm sure she's fine. This bulldozer was parked at the studio. Seemed appropriate, so I headed here next, being closest.”

Caleb was speechless. Was this all for real?

Bryan cleared the suburbs, and turned towards the freeway overpass. “Honestly, I don't know where else we would go," he said unprompted. "I know I said I checked the tunnel, but that was only because I was already at the studio, and was hoping..." he stopped there, needing to twist some metal; slamming through cars parked in the road. Caleb didn’t ask what he meant, for after clearing the parked cars, and onto the overpass, he was shocked at the sight of the freeway. It was completely packed, bumper to bumper as far as he could see, with abandoned vehicles.

“We can wait till morning and hike Reba's like you guys did before,” Caleb suggested fin ally suggested, as they continued on, assuming Bryan’s concern was navigating the woods during this insane night. “It’s not that, man. I think it was destroyed too.” Caleb nor Pazely even bothered to show surprise anymore. In fact, they didn’t even inquire. They just sat in silence.

After a while, and on the road going into the mountains to Rashelle's property, they came to a clearing that overlooked Castle Rock, and the steep drop-off on their right. “Remember that huge explosion we heard when this started?” Bryan asked Caleb. He nodded. “I think it was Reba and John's place,” Bryan pointed out Caleb’s window, coming to a stop.

In the woods, exactly where you would guess the hideout would be… was billowing a large column of smoke. Too large for anything, or anyone, to still be there.

Pazely began to softly cry, and Bryan continued driving, the group falling to their own thoughts.

Their lives were gone. Their home destroyed, or soon to be. Surely there would be survivors. There had to be. But what of their friends? Had Ally and Gigi left before this started? Were Reba and John okay? What happened to Stryker and Masque? And what of the half-elf? What of Feldyn?

Where the hell was everybody?!