Hannah, Joel, Trejean, Tammy, Enrique, Ava, and Bruce were driving down the forest road with the essentials piled in the back of Bruce’s mom’s minivan. They all said to their parents that they would be sleeping over at each other’s houses under adult supervision, but that wasn’t true. The place they had in mind would be out of the way, where they could make as much noise as they wanted without drawing unwanted attention. A place where no one would think about going, because of the stories they’ve heard over the years from scout masters, neighborhood bullies, and weird old recluses.
Finally reaching the rusted, wrought iron gate, Bruce got out of the driver’s seat to open them before continuing down the old overgrown road. When they arrived, they got out of the vehicle and gazed upon the decrepit Merchant House. The setting sun added an extra malicious affect to its almost foreboding and ancient visage. Whatever second thoughts they may have had were pushed to the back with friendly teasing and the prospect of having the best night of their lives so close to graduation. They mocked the manor and the stories about it while they unloaded the minivan and brought everything inside.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Tonight was going to be the night for Enrique. He and Ava had known each other since middle school, and he always had feelings for her, but he could never get a good bead on hers for him. He managed to convince her to skip studies just for the night to join the soiree. Originally it was planned to be just him, Ava, Trejean, and Tammy. It was a good thing Tammy got her bestie Hannah and Hannah’s on-and-off-again boyfriend Joel onboard, so the get-together wouldn’t feel too awkward with just the original four people. Bruce had the necessary transportation to take them all, so he made sure he was included too.
After arranging the sleeping bags, snacks, and sources of light, the manor was filled with the sound of music, opening bottles, weed-fueled coughs, games, and loose lips. As the evening progressed, Enrique and Ava got to talking with each other. Sometime later, he let slip his feelings for her, she replied in kind, soon taking one of the battery lanterns and a sleeping bag, leaving for one of the bedrooms upstairs. They fooled around for a bit on the bed, after they took off its dust cover and laid out the fully opened sleeping bag on top. Both began to undress, but they were both shy and thought it was a good idea to do it in separate rooms. Ava stayed in the bedroom, while Enrique went into the connected bathroom.
In there, he stripped down to his boxers. He sat on the lid of the toilet, as he pulled out a wrapped condom from one of the pockets of his pants and stared at it. He couldn’t believe that it was all happening, and a parade of worries started flooding his mind. His hands felt clammy, and his heart was stepping on the accelerator. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. At last calm after what felt like hours, he stepped out of the bathroom only to be greeted by an empty bed. His mind immediately began thinking she got bored and bailed – no – he was the butt of a prank, but that made even less sense. Then he saw that her shirt and pants were on the floor, before he realized the very large and very old dark red stains on the sheets they were making out on not long ago. She must’ve noticed it herself, freaked out and ran out of the room; that’s what likely happened. Hoping the night could still be salvaged, he threw his shirt and pants back on, took the lantern and left the bedroom.
As he was reaching the bottom of the stairs, it occurred to him that there was no sound of music playing, no conversations, nothing. He checked the living room where the party was, seeing torn sleeping bags, a smashed stereo, a crack in the large window, broken bottles, and strewn-about snacks, but no friends. He looked out the front door and saw that the van was still parked with no signs of any activity lately, meaning they didn’t leave so they must still be somewhere in the building. A bit uneased, he decided to continue looking around for them quietly to possibly see what was going on. Maybe, at least, find Bruce since he still probably had the keys.
Enrique soon came upon Joel, who was standing still and facing away from him. Enrique called for Joel in a loud whisper with no response at first. He continued to do so as he approached closer until Joel loudly whispered back for him not to move any further. When he listened and stopped, Enrique was at a better angle to notice the fear on Joel’s face. Joel was staring at what his flashlight was shining on. At the end of the hallway was what looked like a big dog, but it was covered in seeping wounds and had skin and fur missing, with the face missing the largest share exposing nothing but snarling bone with two glimmering eyes. Joel told Enrique to back up as slowly as possible to the room at the far end behind them, just as two more of those dog-like creatures slinked out of the side rooms growling. The slow retreat seemed to work until the demonic canines charged barking and howling, which caused both teens to book it for the room. They could almost feel the things nipping at their heels when they reached the room and tried slamming the door shut. One of the dog monsters got part of its snapping jaws through the door. Enrique pushed the door as hard as he could, as Joel used his flashlight to beat the creature before it pulled out to allow the door shut fully.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Both boys started to barricade the entrance with anything they could lay their hands on while the mad barking and scratching continued from the other side. One teen reached for a stuffed, black trash bag in the corner of the room, when it suddenly started to violently shake. It was then they realized that it was sitting in a pool of blood, as pained, muffled noises emanated from it. Then they heard what sounded like the revving of an engine. They looked around as the revving slowly approached. Out of the darkness they saw him emerging with a wide, bloody, bare grin and a burlap sack covering everything from the nose up, except for tufts of hair protruding through ripped holes and the bleeding eyes through the eyeholes. In his hands was the true source of the sound: a chainsaw, which with one last yank of its pull cord, caused it to roar into action.
Enrique and Joel ran and ducked out of their predator’s swings, which led to them getting chased around the large table in the center of the room. The fiend stopped on the opposite side. They waited for his next move so they could run in accordance to keep their distance. After a moment, the madman began revving the chainsaw again, then started moving his way towards his two targets. He continued walking effortlessly as the table neatly passed through the upper thighs like a knife through butter. The boys panicked and ran for the exit, hastily tossing the objects barricading it, and swung open the door, completely forgetting about the awaiting dogs that immediately pounced on Joel. Enrique tried to kick the beasts off what was becoming a gurgling mass of flesh and blood, but the chainsaw man closed in on him and sliced his shoulder, forcing Enrique to run away with his pursuer in tow.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
From the closet where she hid, Hannah could hear a chainsaw and Enrique screaming as they rushed past the room where she was located. She stifled her cries as she clutched her empty candelabra, wondering where all the others could be. She wondered if they were doing any better, if any had turned, and why all of this was happening. She felt there was nothing she could do except wait it out, so she attempted to calm herself down by trying to focus on something else.
She turned and saw something…someone in the corner of the closet, motionless. Convulsing with dread, hoping that it was probably her fear-induced imagination, she pulled out her lighter. The rushing blood to her ears grew louder with each strike of the flint with the sparkwheel and fork. When she finally got a flame going, she started to scream but stopped herself so that it would only come out as sobbing whimpers as she backed away. It was Ava, in her underwear, bloodied with her eyes missing, her entire person covered in deep cuts and gaping wounds. As Hannah tried stopping herself from escalating her sounds of shock, cold, sharp hands burst from the darkness behind her, grasping and clawing to pull her into the bleak nothingness. She screamed and struggled, accidentally setting some old clothing on fire with her still lit lighter. She felt the slashes into her skin from the long, uncut fingernails. Hannah broke free from their clutches and burst out of the closet, crashing onto the floor crying aloud. She quickly turned to look towards the closet as a wave of laughter came at her from the darkness, which grew as the fire on the clothing burned out. Hannah clumsily jumped to her feet while attempting to run away.
She had just made it into the hallway when Trejean almost bumped into her, causing her to swing the candelabra at him and flee. Trejean followed her and tried getting her to stop. They both turned a corner before she then swung her candelabra at Trejean again and continued to do so as he was trying to calm her down out of reach, showing her that it was just him and he meant no harm. Hannah demanded that he confirm that he was not infected. Trejean was baffled but he tried complying the best he could guess, showing all the parts of him that could’ve possibly have been easily bitten if the zombie films he saw in the past taught him anything. Hannah told him to stop when she collected her senses and realized what she asked of him was impossible, since it seemed like it wasn’t that type of infection. This time, Trejean demanded to know what was going on. He only went outside to use the phone for several minutes prior to giving up on the bad cell reception, only to come back in to find everyone gone. After being asked about how he couldn’t hear all the screaming and other loud noises, he was adamant that he heard nothing, then asked what Hannah meant about “infected”.
They both turned their attention to the sound of scrapping steel across the floor. They saw a figure in the shadows dragging an axe behind him, blissfully whistling a melody. Trejean had no idea who it was, but Hannah knew. She grabbed Trejean and pulled him by the arm to get him to start running with her in the opposite direction.