Hawk Hallow
Author: J.D. Oliva
Date: 2018-01-21 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Horror
Description: Welcome to the scariest haunted house on earth! Cody Burk’s family was looking for a fresh start after the death of his father. To simplify things, the family sold the Haunted Hallow, the town’s famous commercial haunted house to a new-comer called Roscoe Slater and his family. Unfortunately, things didn’t get better. Connor Burk and his group of friends have bullied Cody for the last time. Cody and his friends have built the perfect plan to embarrass his brother in front of the entire town of Hawk Hallow on Halloween. When their plan goes awry, Cody retreats to the one place he knows better t
Rights: All rights reserved (#3280097860226518)

Contents

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Author's Note

I

"They say on Halloween the dead walk among the living, searching for random souls to pull into the depths of Hell!"

“Be quiet, Phil,” Karyn said as she playfully pushed her boyfriend in the chest.

Phil chuckled as he pulled her in and stole a quick kiss. Phil took every opportunity to steal as many of Karyn's kisses as possible. Even after four months, he still couldn't believe she was with him. Neither could anyone else at Carter-Hallow High School. They were easily the least likely coupling in their senior class.

Karyn Holm and Phil Callaway stood in line at the Haunted Hallow, fingers intertwined, waiting for the line to finally start moving. Karyn was dressed in a tight, black outfit accented by a set of cat ears nestled in her blonde hair. Phil wore jean shorts, a neon-colored hat, wrist bands and a t-shirt that read ‘Rise Above Hate.’ Even looking at the googly-eyed pair, they didn't seem to fit. But neither cared what their friends thought. They'd catch up with them later at the Barn Dance, but it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. They had plenty of time. Like most kids in Hawk Hallow, Minnesota, they had to visit the Haunted Hallow. It wasn't just part of growing up in town, it was part of who they were.

Karyn was a five-foot three-inch cheerleader who moved to Hawk Hallow in the eighth grade after her father took a job as a medical sales rep at Hawk Hallow Area Hospital (HHAH). Her first year in town, she struggled to make friends, despite being very cute with a warm personality. Her mother chalked it up to people from small towns being guarded in their social circles. But things got better for Karyn after starting at Carter-Hallow the next fall. She made the cheer squad and was immediately thrust into the inner circle of her class' popular crowd. But she never forgot what it was like to be the outsider. Her warm personality quickly made her one of the most liked kids in the entire school. She had friends in all of the social cliques and could easily move between the cheerleaders, the honors kids, or even the strange, hippy kids that hung out in the back of the room. Everyone liked her, even those that tried not to had to admit that she was very genuine, a rarity in high school.

Three weeks ago, she was voted Homecoming Queen and had already been accepted to the University of Minnesota. Her senior year was shaping up to be everything she hoped.

Phil Callaway was born at HHAH and had spent his entire life in Hawk Hallow. He was a remarkably average, 5'10, 160 pounds with brown hair and eyes. A decent student with a GPA in the low 3.0's that if he weren't careful could slip into the high 2's. People often asked him if he was related to this person or that person. Phil figured it was because he was just so run of the mill. He was an avid fan of comic books and pro wrestling. Monday nights, when Wrestling was on TV and Wednesday afternoons- new comic book day, were like high holidays.

After high school, Phil was also planning on enrolling at the University of Minnesota next fall where he debated studying either creative writing or international business. He felt those were solid fall backs if he couldn't make it in the hardcore world of professional wrestling.

Despite being in the same grade for four years, the two of them had never met. Phil knew exactly who Karyn was and despite her ability to bounce between cliques, she had no idea who he was, until a Saturday evening that past June. Phil and his friends started their own backyard wrestling promotion. They held their events on the Davidson’s farm, where Phil and their son Jason had built a ring the year prior. Their shows became the thing to talk about around school. By the spring, they were averaging two hundred people per show. Phil was the promotion's star, with his surprising displays of athleticism and personality. He made a bigger impact on his peers in those small shows than he ever had walking the halls at Carter-Hallow.

It was on a cool Tuesday night in mid-June when Phil and Jason held another of their HHWF (Hawk Hallow Wrestling Federation) shows on the Davidson farm. Jason's sisters sold tickets, while the audience sat on hay bales arranged like stadium seats around the ring. Before the show started, Phil looked out on to the crowd.

"Dude, how many people are out there?" Phil asked.

"My sister says she sold two hundred and fourteen tickets."

Jason never looked out on to the crowd before the show. He was too busy getting into his character, the masked Puma. Looking at the faces made Jason nervous. But it only made Phil more excited. He wanted to get them all riled up and cheering. He was, after all, the babyface (good guy).

"Holy shit," Phil said.

"What?"

Phil stayed silent as he watched five girls he recognized from the halls walk in and take their seats in the front row.

"What is it?"

"It's the Yellow Jackets."

The Yellow Jackets were what everyone called the cheerleaders, named for the bright gold-colored coats they wore in winter months. Even in June, when they were dressed out of uniform, the nickname stuck.

"Who cares?" Jason said.

Phil cared. Not once had he considered the possibility that Karyn Holm would come to one of his shows. He had to make an impression. It was probably the only chance he'd get. Phil Callaway was far too shy to talk to Karyn Holm, but Kassius Klaw, his boisterous alter ego, would have her attention in no time.

As the opening chords of Led Zepplin's Immigrant Song echoed, Kassius made his way to the ring. He stepped into the ring and raised his hands toward the crowd and they greeted him with more of a polite applause than a thunderous ovation. It wasn't good enough. He grabbed the microphone from Andrea Davidson, who was pulling double duty as the ring announcer.

"Let me tell you something. For a month, I've been plotting and planning. I’ve been dreaming and scheming. Waiting to get my hands on the punk bitch that stole my title! So, Puma, get out here, it's time to whoop that ass!"

Within seconds, the crowd of now two hundred and forty-seven teenagers was laughing and chanting for Kassius Klaw to take out The Puma.  The Puma was of course a masked Jason Davidson.

The best friends, playing bitter enemies sized each other up and exchanged the various holds and moves they learned from hours of studying their heroes on YouTube. During the match, Kassius whispered, "throw me over the ropes" to Puma, who obliged by whipping his opponent across the ring as hard as possible. Kassius took the slight bit of momentum and with every bit of his limited athletic ability, jumped over the top rope and came crashing down onto the front row, right where Karyn Holm just happened to be sitting. Though he had no training whatsoever, Phil had seen enough wrestling in his life to know how to fall--or at least he believed he did-- and wound up with his head directly on Karyn's lap. She was startled at first. Her friends had talked her into coming, but she didn't expect to be part of the show.

"Where am I?" Kassius feigned being woozy.

He could tell she was too afraid to move, not sure what he was going to do next.

"Are you okay?" She whispered.

Kassius looked up toward her and shot her a quick wink. Karyn blushed, and would have smiled back, but Puma grabbed him by the hair and pulled him back into the ring. The match ended five minutes later after Kassius hit Puma with a pile driver, a remarkably dangerous move that had legitimately ended many real-life pro wrestling careers. Neither Phil nor Jason had any business trying a move like that, but the crowd's standing ovation told them it didn't matter.

There were two hundred-plus people on their feet cheering, but to Phil Callaway, there was only one.

After the show, Karyn stuck around while Phil and Jason cleaned up the farm. While they were sweeping up the garbage left by two hundred forty-seven people, Phil came up to Karyn.

"What did you think?" He asked.

Karyn chuckled and said, "It was a lot more fun than I expected."

"I'm Phil," he said extending his right hand.

"I thought your name was Kassius."

"Only in the ring," he smiled, almost embarrassed.

"I'm Karyn," she said.

"I know."

After two hours, they had shared their life stories with each other and planned to hang out together that Friday. Phil wanted to take her to the Hallowed Grounds, a thirties-styled movie theater that showed old monster movies on weekends with King Kong vs. Godzilla on its marquee. Never in a million years did she ever imagine going to a movie like that, but something about Phil made her interested enough to sit through seventy-five minutes of grown men in rubber suits throwing cardboard buildings at each other. Phil returned the favor a week later when he attended a youth cheerleading event watching Karyn's sister, Laurel, and the Hawk Hallow Young Rebels All-Star Cheer squad. How people could actually compete in cheerleading was beyond him, but seeing how excited Karyn was and how she cheered her little sister's team on reminded him of wrestling. Then he got it.

A week later, they cemented their status as a couple in the most traditional of teenage ways,

"Do you wanna go out with me?" Phil asked.

"Of course," she replied, as they sealed their pact with their first kiss.

When word got back that the captain of the cheerleading team was dating the quiet kid who wanted to be a pro wrestler, the community of Carter-Hallow was shocked. Phil had become something of a cult figure at school, and his shyness gave him a somewhat mysterious presence, but dating Karyn was something else.

As their senior year started, the two were inseparable. Phil started attending football games to watch Karyn perform. One Saturday a month, Karyn attended the HHWF show, always seated in the front row. To no one's surprise, Karyn was elected Homecoming Queen, while Phil proudly watched from the stands. Though his social status had improved, he still wasn't high enough up the ladder to be on the homecoming court himself. Not that he cared, he was still in disbelief that he was in love with the Homecoming Queen.  Not that he had shared that information with her. Yet. He was planning on telling her tonight at the Barn Dance. But first they'd hit the Hallow.

Phil had worked at the Hallow every fall since the eighth grade. Dressing in bloody rags and chasing people around a dimly lit hallway with a bladeless chainsaw was the perfect way to spend his weekends. But with this being his senior year and having a girlfriend--his first girlfriend--he decided not to volunteer this fall. At least, that's how he justified it to himself. The truth was, the Haunted Hallow came under new ownership this year. It was an easy decision not to return.

"I wanna go to the Hallow first," Karyn said when he picked her up that afternoon.

"I don't know. It's always the same old stuff," he said.

"For you. But I've never been there before."

"You've never been to the Haunted Hallow?"

"No, it's scary," she laughed. "C'mon, it'll be fun!"

“All right, now we have no choice."

Phil didn't even want to visit the Hallow this year, let alone work it.  He was surprised when Karyn said she wanted to go to the Hallow before the dance. He put up a little resistance at first, but then remembered his plans for the evening and what he was going to say to her. He wanted the night to be exactly what she wanted before telling her how he felt. He guessed that she would be more likely to return the sentiment if they'd had a good night together. Besides, it might be interesting to see what the new owner had done with the place.

As they progressed to the front of the line, Karyn squeezed his hand and held a nervous smile as they walked through the dimly lit entrance. Phil knew every corner of the Hallow better than anyone, and was taken slightly aback when they came up on what could only be called a spiraling light vortex. As the lights spun in clockwise rotation that made it hard to focus, Karyn's free hand grabbed Phil's shirt sleeve tight. She was getting scared and Phil loved it. Over the years, he saw countless girlfriends clutch their boyfriends in fear; it was fun to be on the other side of things for a change. Karyn was right, this was gonna be fun.

They exited the tunnel and found themselves in an empty hallway.

"Let's go this way," she said.

"We're supposed to turn right," Phil said back.

To Phil's surprise, there wasn't a place for them to turn right. The only path lead to the left.

"C'mon," she said pulling his hand toward her.

There never was an option to go left. But that was under the Burks. Now, there was clearly a second option. That was both intriguing and scary.

When the couple turned left into a room that Phil had never seen before, he clutched her just as tightly as she had him. The room looked like a decrepit church with thick, black stains that ran in jagged streaks down the dirty, beige walls. Broken pews lined the floors and led to the altar where a man was sitting in what looked sort of like the metal throne from that show Karyn watched on HBO. The man seated atop looked like a priest draped in a large, flowing robe. The closer they drew to the altar, the more they wondered if this was a man in costume or a dummy perched to draw their attention. Like Dorothy and the Scarecrow, they inched closer and closer until they were right in front of the throne. They stopped and stared at this priest/king. He wasn't moving. Or breathing.

As Phil drew closer, he was convinced it was just a dummy. Until its head snapped up and he grabbed Phil by the shirt and pulled him up so hard that it ripped their interlocked finger grip apart. Karyn fell forward and landed hard on the altar floor.

"Boo," the king said with a thick southern accent.

"You're not supposed to touch the customers. It's against the rules," Phil shot back.

When Phil worked at the Hallow that was Mr. Burk's number one rule. Never, ever grab the customers. But this shoddy looking king in black sunglasses, with his handlebar mustache, was doing just that.

"Is it really?" The king said back.

The king let Phil go and stood up from his throne. Phil immediately grabbed Karyn's hand and started to head out of the room.

"Now, now, now, where y'all think you're going," the King in Robes asked.

“We're gonna find your manager," Karyn said.

Her knees were already scraped up and bloody.

"But I'm right here," the king said again.

Phil wanted to start yelling at him, but something was happening. The room started to change shape. It almost seemed like the walls began to flow like water. Like in the tunnel, Phil couldn't focus his eyes. By the way Karyn grabbed his shirt, he could tell that she couldn't either. As many years as he'd worked in the Hallow, he knew what kind of tricks Mr. Burk could pull off. Much of it was like a work of art, but there was something different about this. It was far too real.

"Would y'all like to file a complaint?" The king asked.

The shape of the room contorted and bent around them, and neither Phil nor Karyn knew if they were leaning against the wall or crawling on the floor. Phil pulled himself toward the king and grabbed his leg. The king looked down and slid his sunglasses toward the bridge of his nose. A piercing blue light flooded the room, and neither of them could see what the king did next: which was good, because had Phil seen what the King in Robes did to Karyn, he would never forgive himself.

II

Cody Burk's cleats sank into the thick, black mud as he watched the center place his muck-covered fingers along the white laces of the ball. The Morrisonville Quarterback looked across the line and knew the five-foot-seven-inch linebacker would blitz as soon as he called "hike." It wasn't that Cody was bigger than the rest of the players on the brown and black stained fields at Hawk Hallow Middle School. He was average height, average weight, but Cody Burk might have been the most athletic kid on the field. But that wasn't what scared the Morrisonville Quarterback. It was the look on Cody's face. In that one glance, the Quarterback truly believed that Cody was going to hurt him. With the score 24-20, the Morrisonville Mighty Victors were behind late in the game, but were driving. Cody had blitzed into the backfield on each of the last two plays and though he never touched the Morrisonville Quarterback, he came close enough.

It was third down and thirteen yards to go from the Hawk Hallow twenty-five yard line. Someone had to make a play. This was Cody's chance to make that play and seal the victory.

"Hike!"

The center snapped the ball and just like the Quarterback expected, Cody blitzed. Before the center knew what happened, Cody was in the backfield looking for someone to hit. The Quarterback saw him coming and eyed up his receiver down the field. Cody beat the line of scrimmage and saw the Quarterback. He locked in, lowering his shoulder to charge. The Quarterback flinched. He saw Cody coming, but then he stopped. No one touched him or even tried to block him. Cody just stopped. The Quarterback took advantage. He let loose and heaved the ball down field, where his receiver caught it for the touchdown.

Final score: Morrisonville 26, Hawk Hallow 24.

Cody watched the Mighty Victors storm the field and carry the Quarterback on their shoulders. He had his chance, he could have been the hero, but he wasn't. They lost, again. The Hawks of Hawk Hallow were 0-3, and while he wished he could have blamed the offense for not scoring enough, Cody knew this one was all on him. He choked. Again.

"And we still suck."

Cody turned and found Nick Johnson carrying his helmet by the facemask. Nick and Cody met in kindergarten and referred to each other as "best friends" ten minutes later.

"I choked," Cody said.

"Yep. You did." Nick said.

“It just sucks," was all Cody could muster.

"Yeah, it does. But so do we, so it all levels out," Nick said before standing in line with his teammates and giving out the obligatory “good game” to Morrisonville.

Across the parking lot, Abi Ahmad and Lonnie Reece were trying to hang a big, yellow banner with the words "Harvest Dance" written across from the school sign. They were the kind of kids that Nick and Cody were afraid to become. They both had good grades and were involved in student government, which is why they were waiting for the rain to finally subside so they could hang the big advertisement for next week's Harvest Dance. They were nerds and neither one of them cared. Or at least that's what Abi thought. She was the typical type-A kind of kid that was always the first to answer a question in class. The kind of student who'd remind the teacher about a quiz. The kind of student who everyone knew was going to be a success in life. Even most of her teachers found her slightly annoying. But she was so sincere and adorable, in a girl-next-door kind of way, people tended to ignore her more annoying traits.

Lonnie was a heavyset and quiet kid who would much rather be at home with his Xbox, but joined student government to spend time with Abi. As the rain started to drive again, he regretted that decision. No girl was worth getting wet.

"What's up, ISIS?"

Abi heard a voice that made her skin crawl. One that she hadn't heard since last May. The same voice that followed her around the lunch table all through the seventh grade. The voice that tried to break her and make her cry so many times, but she was far too proud to ever give anyone--let alone this particular voice-- that much power. She turned around slowly, hoping it was someone else's voice that she was mishearing, but there was Tyler Tomczak and his small band of freshmen misfits.

"What are you guys doing back here? Shouldn't you be bugging high school kids?" She asked in a tone that tried to cover her fear.

"We are high school kids, Abi. This is an immigration check," he said with a smile that made her spine curl.

Tyler Tomczak was already sixteen years old and on his second trip through the eighth grade last year. He was tall and thin and at Carter-Hallow he wasn't much to look at, but to the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at Hawk Hallow Middle School he was a monster. He acted like one too. Tyler was flanked by four other freshmen, Cody's older brother, Connor Burk, among them. Dressed in scuzzy t-shirts and dirty jeans, these five were on the wrong path with the wrong guy leading their little clique. Tyler hadn't quite reached the level of burnout, but Abi was certain by his junior year he’d fill that role nicely.

"I was born here, you jerk,” she said slowly moving away from them.

"Then there's nothing to worry about, is there, Abs?"

Abs. His little pet name for her. Nothing made her angrier than hearing it come out of his mouth. Except when he started poking her in the stomach with his thumb and index finger every time he said it to her. This time was no different. Her mother went to the principal to try and do something about it, but even a suspension did little to stop Tyler's harassment.

"Stop it," she said gritting her teeth.

Abi was afraid of Tyler Tomczak, but she refused to allow him to see it. Tyler knew she was scared of him but got a sadistic kick out of watching her squirm and try to save face.

"C'mon, Abs. You should be a lot nicer considering you're a guest in our country," he said smiling.

"I said I was born here."

"Right, what's this?" Tyler said as he ripped the yellow sign from her hands.

"Give that back, Tyler!"

"What are you gonna do about it?" He asked.

Abi stood there seething. She wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face, but she worried he'd actually hit her back.

"What about you, fatboy? You wanna come get this thing?"

Abi looked over to Lonnie, who seemed to hope that he could just fade into the background without anyone noticing. Lonnie tried to talk but couldn't. Instead he just turned around and ran back toward the building. Abi just shook her head. It wasn't like Lonnie was going to do anything, but it was better than being alone with Tyler.

"Guess not," Tyler said laughing. So what’s this? Signs for some stupid dance?"

“The Harvest Dance isn't stupid," she said. "I'm sure it was important to you when you were in eighth grade. Both times."

"Daaammmnnn!" Tyler's peanut gallery erupted.

That sly, arrogant smirk was gone. Now Tyler's eyes were cold and piercing. He walked up to her and grabbed her by the wrist.

"That's not funny," he said pulling her wrist toward his chest.

Tyler was ready to take his little games to another level.

III

With their pads and helmet slung over their shoulders, Cody and Nick walked back to the locker room. Cody tried to shake off the sting. It wasn't failure, the Hawks had lost almost every game he played since they were in sixth grade. It was freezing. He was in a pressure situation and stopped moving. Again. The “choke” as Nick called it. It kept happening and Cody probably would have obsessed over it, if he didn't hear that grating voice.

"Hahaha! Yeah!"

"Connor," he whispered to himself.

Cody looked across the parking lot and saw his brother and friends over by the "Welcome to Hawk Hallow Middle School" sign.

"Shit, Tyler Tomczak. What's that douche-bag doing back here?" Nick asked.

"I hate that kid," Cody said.

Cody heard the way Tyler would talk about their mother in front of Connor. He never understood why his brother would allow him to tell those disgusting little jokes about their mother's underwear drawer.

Nick saw the look in Cody's eyes. It was the same look he had before blitzing the line twenty minutes ago. Before the choke, of course.

"Dude, you stick your nose in over there, and I guarantee it's gonna be nothing but trouble," Nick said.

"You're right," he said.

Cody hated his brother's friends, but knew that this wasn't a fight he needed to pick. He was about to open the locker room door, but for some reason he turned back toward the parking lot. Tyler had his hands on the girl that sat in the front row of his US History class. She looked all around, hoping to catch a glimpse at someone, anyone that could help her. She caught Cody and looked him right in the eye. He could tell she was scared. He didn't blame her. He was scared of Tyler too.

"What are you looking at, Little Burk?" Tyler shouted from across the parking lot.

"Now you've done it," Nick said.

The last thing Cody wanted was a fight. He might have grown a lot since last year but Tyler Tomczak was three years older than him, and way more physically mature. Not mentally, but physically. Still, that girl needed help and Cody started that long walk across the parking lot, even though he knew he'd regret it.

"You got something to say, little Burk?" Tyler asked.

"Tyler, c'mon, man. She's just a girl," Cody said.

"Is this your boyfriend, Abs?" He laughed.

"No," both Cody and Abi said in unison.

"Dude, just let her go," Cody said.

"Mind your business, Cody," Tyler said.

"Yeah, Cody, mind your business," Connor added.

"Shut up, loser," Cody said to his brother.

Cody may have been the younger brother, but he was an inch taller with a much more athletic build than Connor. This was a change that happened over summer break. One that Connor wasn't particularly happy about.

"Who you calling a loser?" Tyler said pushing Cody in the chest.

"C'mon, man. I don't wanna fight," Cody said looking toward the ground.

That wasn't entirely true. Cody spent many nights lying awake in his bed imagining the day he would whip Tyler to the floor and punch him over and over again until he made him cry. The same way he saw Tyler make Keegan Peters cry in the launch room last year. He wanted nothing more than to lay this bully out with the right cross his father taught him last year. But that wasn't going to happen. At least not today.

"Your mom's already paid for one funeral this year, Little Burk. Wanna make it two?"

Cody's mouth hung open. He couldn't believe what Tyler said. He expected Connor to say something, but instead his brother just sat there hanging his head in silence. The same way Cody's did just a second ago. Cody couldn't say anything either. He wanted to say something back. He really wanted to hit him, but this was Tyler Tomczak. All Cody was going get out of any of it was a beating.

"Cody! Connor! Time to go!" A voice shouted from across the parking lot. They all turned to find, a beautiful thirty something Asian woman with long black hair and a warm smile leaning out the driver's side window of her 2013 Jeep Liberty.

The boys all smiled. Except for her sons.

"Come on, boys! Time to go!" She shouted.

"Hey, Little Burk, my future wife is calling you."

The arrogant smirk returned to Tyler's face. Cody took a deep breath, reared back, and sent that fist flying right into Tyler's face. Just the way Dad taught him. Except that didn't happen. In reality, Cody hung his head and walked toward his Mom's car. Before opening the back passenger side door, Cody looked back toward that vile smile. The girl was gone. That was good. Cody choked again, but at least the girl got away. All it cost him was a little dignity. Not that there was much of that left anyway.

"Bye bye, Mrs. Burke," Tyler said. "See you soon, Cody."

As they pulled away, Cody looked back toward the group and saw Tyler licking the inside of his index and middle finger.

“I hate that guy," he whispered.

IV

The silence was more than Leah Burk could handle. She'd intentionally left the radio off so that the boys would have no choice but to talk to her, and each other, in the car. Same reason she didn't let them wear their headphones. She figured Cody wouldn't want to talk about what happened with Tyler, at least not in front of his older brother. Leah knew bullying when she saw it, and though it definitely mortified her boys, she wasn't going to let that psycho touch Cody. This summer had been rough enough for all of them and she wanted nothing more than to tell Connor he wasn't allowed to hang out with Tyler Tomczak anymore, but she knew how that would go over. She believed that her oldest was smart enough to know he was nothing but trouble. She had to believe that her boys would do the right thing. It's how they were raised.

Leah was born in Park Ridge, Illinois and grew up in nearby Schaumburg. She played a lot of sports as a child, and took to swimming, which led her to a college scholarship to Mankato State University in Minnesota. At a fraternity party her freshmen year, she met Mike Burk, a strong safety on the Maverick football team. They were married five years later.

It was such a typical suburban story that it bordered on cliché. It was exactly what Lo and Phoung Kim were hoping for when they escaped the Khmer Rouge in 1975. Keeping with tradition, they gave their first American-born child an American name and Phoung chose to name her first daughter after the nurse who stood by an immigrant couple fresh off the boat.

Leah grew up with so many horror stories from her parent's homeland that she was happy to have never visited, but sitting there in her still silent Jeep Liberty, she wondered if this might actually be worse. Connor had his head buried in his phone while Cody gazed out the window with that hundred-yard-stare that he’d developed. Neither one saying a word.

"So, what are you guys in the mood for tonight? Pizza? Tacos?" She asked.

Silence.

"Kentucky Fried Possum?"

Still nothing. They didn't even acknowledge their mom's bad joke.

"You know, it's the first week of September. We started work on the Haunted Hallow. I know the other kids really could use both of your help again this year," she said.

The Haunted Hallow. This was a tough subject for her to broach. When the Burk's moved to Hawk Hallow eight years ago, they inherited part of a hog farm that belonged to Mike's uncle. The family agreed to sell most of the land, but the plot that had the old barn and slaughterhouse Mike decided to keep. He originally wanted to move the family into the nearby farm house, but Leah didn't feel comfortable living so close to the slaughterhouse, even one that hadn't been in use since the 70's. Still, Mike didn't want to give up either building. That's when he had the idea to convert the old slaughterhouse into a commercial haunted house. They already owned the property, and Mike's love of old horror movies and magic shows pushed them to build the first Haunted Hallow. It made him one of the most popular people in town. It also gave the Burk's a nice secondary source of income. For the past eight years, the Burk family would chip in every August through October to put on what the Minneapolis Star Tribune called, "the best Haunted House in the state of Minnesota. Maybe the Midwest." Every year, the house got a little more extravagant, and the budget went a little higher. Mike began hiring a lot of temporary help to the point that he was employing a small army. An army who's only goal was to scare the daylights out of the people of Hawk Hallow. And they loved every minute of it.

That was before the accident. After the funeral, Leah planned to sell the Hallow, but then changed her mind, thinking that maybe this would be the way to bring her family back together. It was still a little less than two months from Halloween, but neither of them had spent a minute in the Hallow, which left Leah to deal with the entire monstrosity.

"I told you, I don't wanna," Cody finally said. His eyes still firmly locked outside the window.

"But you and your dad used to love--"

"I don't wanna do it anymore!"

The intensity in Cody's voice took her back a little. He hadn't yelled at her, but he was so authoritative that it scared her a touch.

"But--"

"God, Mom, how many times do we have to say no? We don't wanna work on the stupid haunted house! We're not goddamn kids anymore!" Connor finally chimed in.

Leah immediately turned to the backseat to verbally discipline her oldest.

"Connor Burk, watch the language, mister!" She yelled.

Leah turned around to shout and took her eyes off the road. It might have only been for a second, but she didn't see the gray 1987 Dodge Astrovan that ran the stop sign at Omega Road.

"You two need to stop acting like a couple little--"

BOOOOMMM!!!!

V

Darkness and silence surrounded them. Then the ringing filled Cody's ears. Light poured into his eyes. He couldn't hear anything but the ring. His head was still spacey. Everything moved in slow motion. He looked down and saw the seatbelt still firmly locking him into place. Turning his head up, he saw Mom and Connor. Both of them looked like they were okay. Maybe everything was going to be fine this time. Then he looked just a bit beyond his mother and brother and saw the heavy-set, middle-aged woman sprawled out on the pavement. Her eyes were open, and her vacant stare looked right through Cody. He'd never seen a dead body before. Sure, there was Dad, but by the time Cody and Connor saw him at the funeral home it didn't look anything like Mike Burk. Thinking, “that's not my dad in that box. It's just an empty body," made the funeral much easier. But sitting trapped inside the Jeep, unable to look away from those empty eyes was different.

The door opened, and an EMT started asking him questions. He still couldn't hear anything other than the ringing. He just nodded his head slowly at the EMT, all the while staring at the old lady. The EMT unhooked the belt and pulled him out. He probably could have stepped out on his own, but he just let him do his job. The EMT shined his light into Cody's eyes, and he instinctively turned away and caught a glimpse of the van driver. At first, he swore that he saw Dad lying there as dead as the old lady, his face tore up from the shattered glass. Cody blinked twice and saw the driver looked nothing like Dad. He was middle-aged with a hairline that receded in the front but hung below his ears in the back, and a greasy-looking handlebar mustache. The EMT stuck his index finger in Cody's face, motioning for him to follow it with his eyes. Cody obliged and caught a glimpse of the back of the van where he saw a boy who didn't look much older than he and Connor. He was wearing a pair of ratty jeans and an old, hemp poncho, but Cody couldn't see his eyes.

"Cody, I need you to follow my finger," the EMT said.

"Okay."

He could hear again. He still wasn't paying much attention to the EMT trying to treat him. He couldn't look away from the destroyed Astrovan. So much garbage had spilled out of the van, Cody wondered if they actually lived inside there. They killed a homeless family. His mother plowed straight into a homeless family because she had yelled at him and Connor. His selfishness killed somebody again.

This time, three different people.

He wasn't sure why, but the EMT was loading him into the ambulance. They were off to the hospital, all six of them. But Cody knew the family in the van would be heading to a much different floor.

VI

As the last ambulance left the site, the road crews and police were working to clean up the wreckage at the corner of Gable Point and Omega. The Jeep was in surprisingly good shape, having driven straight through the middle of the Astrovan, which was in shambles. The police were wrapping up their investigation when a paunchy, elderly man in a dirty trench coat stepped out of a rusty, mint green 1972 Dodge Coronet.

"Nasty looking accident. Everybody okay?" The old man asked.

"The folks in the Jeep all walked away. Seat belts," a beat cop answered.

The elderly man called himself Blake. He wore a set of wire-rimmed glasses that looked over thirty years old. The shirt under his trench coat was white at one time, but now looked yellow and dingy. Catching a whiff of him made the cop a little nauseous.

"What about the van?" Blake asked again.

"Not as lucky," he answered, already tired of the old man's questions.

"Looks like the van blew right through the stop sign. Oncoming traffic didn't have a sign."

"Can't talk about an investigation, Pops," the annoyed cop said.

"People in the van, let me guess, hillbilly guy in his 40's, teenager with an overbite, and a middle-aged woman with short, brown hair. Kinda matronly looking?"

Now the Cop was suspicious. This family wasn't from town and just happened to get into a horrific car accident that killed all three of them. Now a weird-looking old man showed up asking questions. Something wasn't right.

"What's it to you, Columbo?" He asked. "You with the Press or something?"

Blake paused for a moment and fidgeted with a Zippo lighter before placing it back in his coat pocket.

"Nope. Just passing through, Officer."

Blake started walking back to his Coronet and said,

"Thank you for your time, Sir."

VII

Aileen Dake was ready to clock out from her eight hour shift at Hawk Hallow Area Hospital when the call came. Car accident. Three victims, all pronounced D.O.A. Dr. Haskins asked her to stay and help and as an orderly she didn't have to, but Dr. Haskins was always such a nice guy she decided to stick around and help out. Aileen had been working as an orderly at Hawk Hallow Area Hospital for the past four years. It was a fairly routine career, which was exactly what she was looking for when she took the job. She always wanted to be a doctor, but didn't have the grades for medical school. She also didn't feel that she could handle the stress of working one-on-one with patients, which left nursing out of the question. But as an orderly, she was helping people without the pressures of practicing medicine or working directly with the patients. It was perfect for her.

Aileen lived in Hawk Hallow for most of her life. Her boring, average life. Every morning she was up at 7:15 AM and drove her red 2003 Toyota Corolla to the hospital, worked her ten-hour shift, then drove the Carolla back to her apartment just outside Town Square. Then she made dinner for her and her cats, Flotsam and Jetsam. She'd watch television for two hours every night and finished off her day by cracking open whatever book she found at the Hospital gift shop that week. That was her life every day for the past four years. With the exception of Friday night, when she would literally let her hair out from its tight bun and drive into the Cities to hit the bar scene with her younger sister, Kylie.

Kylie was always trying to get her to dress more alluring but Aileen was far too shy to take her glasses off, let alone dress like Kylie. Aileen was a pretty, young woman despite her best efforts to hide it. But that was only on weekends, and this was a Thursday afternoon.

Aileen had the heavy-set woman on the gurney and was pushing her into the morgue to join the rest of her family. She stopped to look at the body for a second. She normally wouldn't do that, but there was just something about this woman. Something very motherly. She didn't exactly remind Aileen of her own mother, but still, there was something about this woman. Aileen knew it was best to try not to think about the people that she wheeled into the morgue, but she let herself slip from time to time. She felt bad for this woman, but again, she died at the same time as her husband and son. There was something poetic to that. Now, they would all be together again. The thought made her happy.

She smiled down at the mother and was about to leave the morgue when the florescent lights began to flicker and hum. The buzzing whir that normally surrounded the cool room grew louder than she was comfortable hearing. It was time to go. The mother's eyelids popped open, and bright, blue light shot out from the sockets with an intensity that blinded Aileen.

She screamed, shielding her eyes. The humming grew louder. The fluorescent glass tubes popped, and the room went dark, except for the blue light still pouring from the mother's eyes. Aileen ran for the door, but the room started to warp and bend out of shape. Aileen couldn't keep her balance and fell to the floor. Her head spun as she tried to push herself back up to her feet. The shape of the room twisted, moving almost like the lava lamp her parents had in their bedroom. Reality itself lost its form before her. The floor ebbed and flowed beneath her like molten plastic. She pushed against the wall and finally pulled herself back up to her feet. When she looked back toward the body, it sat straight up and turned its undead head toward her. Those glowing eyes were locked on Aileen. The mother opened her mouth and let loose an unholy shriek that burst Aileen's eardrums. From its mouth emerged a small, blue orb that bounced around the room like an errant Ping-Pong ball. It paused in front of Aileen and started to change shape. For a moment, she paused in child-like wonderment as she watched it dance around her head. It stopped and started to tremble. The orb morphed into a twisted claw that bolted out and grabbed her face. The light-made talons clutched her head and forced itself into her mouth before crawling its way into her body. Then the orb was gone.

Aileen sat in silence. The room stopped moving. The body was resting exactly where she'd left it a few moments ago. Everything seemed fine. She felt normal. Maybe she imagined the whole thing? Maybe it was a side-effect left over from one of those Friday nights in the Cities. Maybe it was--

Something inside grabbed her by the spine and stood her up. Her body was straight and rigid. Though paralyzed in this position, she could feel movement inside her body. Her bones snapped and twisted out of place. The pain was unbearable. Her eyes looked down and saw her hand twist and snap out of shape, mutating into the same jagged claw that grabbed her head seconds earlier. Her spine bent at a harsh right angle. Her neck twisted around and for a second she saw the backside of her own legs. She screamed out for help, but her voice cracked and changed to match the sound the mother made as she rose.

Then she collapsed. Aileen laid motionless on the floor for just a moment before light burst out from behind her eyelids, which illuminated the room before finally dimming. Aileen opened her eyelids. Her brown eyes turned crystal blue. She smiled, but it was different than the grin that ran across her face a few moments ago. This smile was proud and devilish. Aileen Dake was gone, and Gillian Slater had found a brand new body.

VIII

"Wakey, wakey, sweetheart," Gillian said as she unzipped the first body bag. Roscoe Slater, the driver of the Astrovan, climbed out from the black bag. He arched his back toward the ceiling and let out a roar.

"Well now, look at you, Gillian. You're as pretty as a Ju-Ly afternoon," Roscoe said in his deep Southern twang.

"You think so, baby?"

"Ab-so-lootly, darlin'. You done real good this time," he said running his thumb under her chin.

He wandered the morgue, getting used to his new surroundings. Running his hand through his greasy, thinning hair, he nodded in approval. Roscoe was the leader of this makeshift brood. He had escaped from their home a long time ago and reached back through to find Gillian. Of course, that wasn't her name when Roscoe rescued her, but that's who she'd been for the past forty years or so.

He wore tight-fitting jeans accented by a large, gold belt buckle, black leather cowboy boots, and a tattered, gray Confederate Army issue coat. Whether he was that coat's original owner or just something he had picked up in his travels, Gillian wasn't sure. But she knew where he got the belt buckle. She had it made for him back in '83 when they were staying in Alabama. It was a cartoon-styled magic lamp set against the stars and bars. Roscoe loved it and carried it with him ever since.

"'Scuse me, can one of y'all get me outta this thing?"

Bo Slater was still inside his body bag. As usual, he felt like the forgotten Slater. Especially since he took the body of a teenage stoner back in '77. He often found himself playing the role of Roscoe and Gillian's child, which made sense as they were both holed up in middle-aged husks. Roscoe unzipped the bag and said, "Bo Slater, get your lazy ass up. It's time to go to work."

"Yes, sir."

It was a role he'd gotten used to playing, even if she knew he hated it. Bo was about 5'11 and very thin, with shaggy brown hair and a set of buck teeth that created a slight lisp in his voice. He brushed himself off and caught a look at the new Gillian and smiled. The way he smiled made her a tad uncomfortable. Though Bo wasn't really her son, he played the role for so long it was hard for her not to think of him that way. He liked her new body. Maybe too much.

"Now then, time to get serious. New town, new plan," Roscoe said. "And I'm getting hungry."

The Slater's were nomads who wandered the country in constant search of food. Roscoe wasn't the first of their kind to break through the bleed into man's world, but he was the first to figure out how to do it on his own. He was the first to come over free, unshackled to any object or master. The problem was, in this world they were in constant hunger and the only thing that could satisfy them were people. Hunting the humans made them a target, and while they were powerful and immortal, they had their weaknesses and were often slaves to their greedy nature. Roscoe saw many of their brethren chained or bound to inanimate objects, and that was if they were lucky. The rest were banished back to their home, neither of which interested them. They knew that survival meant feeding, but hunting was out of the question. So Roscoe changed the game. The Slater's weren't hunters. They were trappers. They would hole up in a town, set camp and lure a small handful of people in only to be gone a few days later, before the locals could figure out what happened. The plan worked and kept them fed and free. "Two of the three most important F's," as Roscoe would say.

"Now, this here's what I'm thinking," Roscoe said. "This morgue is good. It'll be a perfect little base camp to start out with."

"But, uh, Roscoe, ain't these already dead? How we supposed to eat 'em?" Bo asked.

Roscoe shook his head. Bo had no vision. That's why he was never going to take control of the family, no matter how much Gillian could see he wanted it.

"Bo, Bo, Bo. This here's a hospital. Hundreds of people coming in an' outta here every day," Roscoe said.

"But, baby, aren't they all sick?" Gillian asked.

Roscoe shook his head again. The look on his face told her enough. He was more disappointed with Gillian. He expected Bo to be short-sighted, but Gillian was supposed to be his right hand. She knew she should know better.

"The people that visit ain't. Hell, how many you think come down here every day? Every hour? How many people you think we could pull down here? The best part, when we're done, we just climb right inside them lockers and catch some sleep. I say we're here three days, tops. Then we hitch out on one of them ambulances, ditch it a couple towns over and catch a bus. Move along."

"What happens when one o' them people open up a locker we're sleepin' in?" Bo asked.

"Well, should that happen," he said. "Eat them," Roscoe annunciated to make sure he was clear.

IX

Cody spent six hours at Hawk Hollow Area Hospital. They checked him for injuries. They checked him for cuts, bruises, and bumps. They checked his eyes, and they checked his ears. After the huge, gray Astrovan slammed into the family's Jeep Liberty, the doctor's expected the Burk family to be in similar shape to the strangers that were thrown from the van, but they weren't. The medical staff at HHAH were surprised at how healthy Cody and his family were. Physically speaking, they were completely fine and left the hospital close to midnight. But that didn't change how Cody felt.

Cody finally got into his bed at a quarter to one. He was exhausted, but didn't sleep. Not that it was anything new. Over the past two months, he lay awake every night, tossing and turning. He'd told his mother that he couldn't sleep, but the truth was he was afraid to fall asleep. When he did allow himself to drift off, he imagined that he was on the street watching Dad's car spin into that tree. Tonight, things were different. Instead of Dad behind the wheel, he saw the old woman sprawled out on the street. It was the same scene as earlier, but the Jeep was gone. Cody walked by the mother and headed for the van. He tried to rip open the door and pull out the father and his boy. But when he finally threw the door open, the man was gone and Dad was there. Face against the wheel. Cody looked into the back and the boy was gone too. Instead there was Connor, face down in the back of the van. Cody wanted to run over and grab Connor and pull him out, but he couldn't move. He was frozen again.

"Help me, Cody," Dad said over and over.

Cody woke up three or four times that evening. A few months ago, he probably would have woken up screaming, but not tonight. Maybe he was getting used to the night terrors? Maybe he just felt like he deserved them? Either way, Cody slept terribly. Same as every other night, just with different nightmares.

The sun came up around 6:45. Cody thought about staying home from school that day. It was Friday and after what happened last night, Mom would have let him. It was a good reason. He was positive that's what Connor was going to do, which was enough to convince him to go to school.

Cody couldn't even look at himself in the bathroom mirror while brushing his teeth. He knew he had a small five-minute window before Mom would be down from her morning routine to have breakfast. She was going to ask him how he was doing and what he thought about what happened yesterday. He had no interest in that. The sooner he got out of the house, the better. Inhaling a couple granola bars on the bus would be good enough. She'd probably send a text asking where he was, easy enough to write school, and just ignore it.

Cody got on the bus and took his seat toward the back, a right earned by advancing from 6th grade, when he would have to sit up front, to 7th grade where he'd sit as far away from Connor and Tyler as possible, to 8th grade. He put on his headphones and drifted off into the haze that he'd been in since the accident. The first accident.

Cody stepped into Coach Pawley's US History class. There was that girl from yesterday. She smiled at him and he ignored her as he took his seat in the back of the room. Coach Pawley's class was usually one of his favorites. He and Coach Pawley got along well, but today he just didn't have it. Normally Coach would be all over him for not paying attention, but not today. Coach was giving him some slack. He vaguely heard something about the Louisiana Purchase before finally snapping back into reality.

"Cody!"

"Huh?"

Cody looked toward the front of the room and saw Coach holding a yellow hall pass in his hand.

"Pass to main office," Coach Pawley said.

"Okay," he said.

Cody picked his bag up and threw it over his shoulder. He grabbed the pass and walked out the door. Cody looked down at the yellow slip and saw he was to report from Mr. Pawley's class to Dr. Schultz's office. That was the school social worker. Great. Maybe he should have just stayed home today.

Cody knocked on Dr. Schultz's door.

"I got this pass," he said.

"Hey, Cody, c'mon in!"

Cody took a seat at the other side of the desk. It was only the third week of school but he'd already been in this office twice before. He was turning into that screwed up kid that everyone was always trying to reach. He hated feeling like a freak.

"What's going on, buddy?" Dr. Schultz asked.

Ian Schultz was in his early thirties and had been at Hawk Hallow Middle School for a few years. At least since Connor started going there. He was probably a nice guy in real life but at the other end of that desk, Cody thought he was a phony.

"Nothing," Cody said.

"I heard you were in a car accident yesterday. How you feeling, champ?"

"Fine."

"Are you sure?" The doctor asked.

"My mom called you, didn't she?"

"She did. She's a little worried about you."

"I'm fine," he said.

He wasn't, of course, but he wasn't telling him that.

"Okay. How'd the football game go?"

"We lost again. I had the chance to sack the quarterback on the last play but I choked."

"What do you mean choked? Were you scared?" Schultz asked.

"I dunno. I just froze. It's kinda what I do."

Neither of them said a word for the next minute. Cody could tell Schultz was trying to get him to open up, but he had no intention of doing that. At least, not to this phony.

“Cody, I need you to know that if you need to talk, I'm here. I think I can help you with the choking. Hawks are gonna need you later this year when we play Carterville."

"Okay. Thank you, sir."

The bell rang.

"Can I go now? I have lunch this period."

"Of course."

Dr. Schultz wrote him a new pass for some reason. Cody took the new yellow slip and stuck it in his pocket. He put his earbuds in and pulled his sweatshirt hood up over his head as he left the office. The day was half over and the headphones had helped, but he was going to have to leave them in his locker before lunch. Bringing them into the cafeteria was strictly forbidden and he didn't need the extra hassle.

"Hey, Cody!"

He turned around and found three boys and a girl walking passed his locker. He wasn't sure of their names, but had seen them around school.

"What up, Code Red?" One of the boys said.

"Oh, hey," he said back.

"Bye, Cody!" The girl said.

"See you in gym class," one of the other boys said.

"See you in gym, Cody! Maybe we can play with your hack-key sack?" Said Nick's mocking voice from behind.

"You wish you could play with my hack-key sack," Cody said back with a smile.

Nick could always make him smile. Even after what happened this summer, Nick would drop by the house and in just a few sentences, Cody would laugh.

"What a douche-bag," Nick said.

"Pretty much. Who was that guy anyway?"

"Who cares?"

"Don't get jealous cause somebody else was all over Cody, Nick."

Both Nick and Cody were surprised to hear a third voice. Usually, it was just the two of them. They turned around and saw Abi and Lonnie seated at a table. Cody hadn't noticed them before. Behind them was another huge, yellow banner that read, "Buy Harvest Dance Tickets Here!"

"Since you guys spend so much time together anyway, which one's buying the Harvest Dance tickets?" She asked, looking directly at Nick.

"We're not going together!" Nick said defensively.

Nick may have been Hawk Hallow Middle School's resident smart-ass, but Abi could always put him in his place with ease.

"But I guess if it came down to it, I'd rather go with Cody than you. I'd hate to lower my social standing," Nick said.

"I don't think that's even possible after what Joey Garcia's been saying," she said back.

"God, I keep telling everyone I just had an itch!"

She laughed. It was almost too easy. Even Lonnie cracked a smile.

"What are you laughing at, Chubbs?" Nick snapped back.

Cody laughed too.

"Ignore him, Lonnie," Cody finally said.

"So are you buying a ticket?" She asked.

He wanted to say no. He had a million other things that he would rather do than go to the Harvest Dance. He couldn't think of any, but he was sure they were there. This girl had already gotten him into enough trouble. Still, he couldn't seem to get the word out.

"Whuh...I, um...it's-jus, I, um--"

He choked again.

"Great! Tickets are just ten dollars!" Abi said with a huge smile that showed her braces.

Cody shrugged his shoulders and eeked out a simple, "Okay."

He pulled out his wallet and gave Abi the ten dollars. Cody nudged Nick, who responded by shooting him a look that said, "Seriously?" Cody nodded and Nick begrudgingly paid for his own ticket.

"Just one?" She asked with a sarcastic smirk.

"I'd ask you but pets aren't allowed," Nick said back.

“Good thing you didn't then. Getting rejected by your pets can be very traumatic to young children."

"Shut up, Abi," was all Nick could muster.

Abi turned to Cody, as if to ask who he might be taking to the Dance. Her look immediately made him uncomfortable. He grabbed his ticket and walked away, trying to avoid further eye contact. There was no telling what else she may convince him to do.

X

Leah Burk arrived late for work that morning. She planned to make breakfast for the boys, something she tried to do every morning since Mike died, but both of them left before she had the chance. She felt silly sitting at an empty table full of pancakes, sausage, and fresh fruit. Of course pancakes weren't going to make everything better. That wasn't her plan, she just wanted to mother her boys. She wasn't mad that they wouldn't let her, just frustrated that she couldn't think of anything else. These teenage years were going to be rough.

Leah showed up at Hawk Hallow Area Hospital at 9:45 am. Her shift was supposed to start at 9:00. Then yesterday happened. She'd already taken the day off but with nothing more than a table full of uneaten pancakes at home, why not go to work with people that actually needed her help. Even though she wasn't supposed to be at the hospital, they were more than happy to have her there, if for nothing else than for moral support. There was a time that she would have looked at it like charity, or pity. That time had passed. She was more than happy to be surrounded by friends.

"How you doing, sweetie?" Violet Reed asked.

"We're okay. I think?" She said.

"Are you sure?" Violet asked again.

Violet Reed had been at HHAH for over twenty years and had been a mentor to Leah since she first started working there fifteen years ago. She was slightly overweight, with hair a shade of red that didn't quite exist in nature, and glasses with thick, black frames that had been out of style so long that they were cool again.

"Dr. Palmer checked the boys out and said they're fine," she said.

"That's not what I meant, Leah. I meant are you okay.”

At the other end of the hallway, Mrs. Alice Richmond sat waiting. Her husband, Jerry, had come in a few hours earlier with what she assumed was a heart attack. She hadn't heard anything from the staff, so she just sat there, quietly praying for her husband. They had been together almost forty-five years, and the thought of life without Jerry was just too much for her.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Richmond," a voice said.

Alice picked her head up and found a doctor, or who she assumed to be a doctor. Dressed in green scrubs, he had a stethoscope draped around his neck, but something about him seemed a bit off. Maybe it was the way his thinning hair was slicked back and hung slightly below his ears? Maybe it was the handle-bar mustache? Something about him seemed more like the man who changed her oil rather than the one who operated on her husband's heart.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there, Doctor--"

"Slater. Dr. Slater, but please call me Roscoe."

The Doctor smiled and extended his hand to her. She shook his firm, strong hand and immediately felt guilty about letting her eyes pass judgment on such a decent man.

"I'm afraid we need to talk about your husband," he said with a concerned yet strongly confident look on his face.

"I don't know. Two car accidents in less than a year. I just think I need a little break," Leah said.

"What do you need from us, Leah? Seriously, what can we do to help you?"

Leah took a deep breath and shrugged. She was just about to say nothing when she remembered the millstone hanging around the family's neck.

"You could buy the Haunted Hallow off of me. I think twenty grand should do it!" She said.

They both laughed, knowing there was no way Violet could possibly afford, let alone want to run the town's top attraction. Unloading this monstrosity would certainly make things easier for them, though.

"I wish I could, honey," Violet said grabbing her hand.

"Me too," Leah said with a sigh.

"Dr. Slater?"

Alice Richmond was trying to get her doctor's attention. He was just about to tell her something about her husband's condition when he just stopped talking. It was almost like he was eavesdropping on the conversation the two nurses at the other end of the room were having. She looked around the room to see if there's something else going on she might have missed. There was just the man sitting in a chair, his head buried in the newspaper. The headline read, Pentagram Killer Claims Fourth Victim.

"Dr. Slater?" She asked again.

"Haunted Hallow?" He asked himself under his breath.

“Dr. Slater!" She finally raised her voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Richmond," he finally answered her back.

"You were saying something about my Jerry."

"Yes. Well, Mrs. Richmond, it isn't good."

She began to tear up, and Dr. Slater immediately grabbed her hand and stroked it gently. He was very comforting. She wished everyone at this hospital was as genuine as him.

"What happened to Jerry, Dr. Slater?" she asked.

"It really isn't something that we should talk about out here, Mrs. Richmond. Why don't you take a walk with me and we can talk?"

"Okay," she said without thinking about it.

He grabbed her by the hand and very carefully helped her out her chair. He kept a hold of her arm as he led her down the hallway.

"Such a good man," she said.

As the two wandered away, the man in the chair lowered his newspaper and pulled a Zippo lighter from the pocket of his tattered trench coat.

"You're getting sloppy, Roscoe," Blake said.

XI

Gillian Slater sat alone in the morgue running her new, thin fingers through her new, long, blonde hair. She was ready to change her name. Find a new body, choose a new name. It only made sense. A new body came with a new outlook, a change in attitude, a different station in life. This new body, this young, beautiful body changed everything.

She became Gillian Slater forty years ago. Before that she was a child, Audrey Lee Slater. She was Roscoe's little girl for thirty years. The daughter of Roscoe and Becky Slater. For three decades, they ran together across the backwoods of Louisiana, until an upstart preacher and his flock drove them out of Acadia Perish. Soon they wound up in Upstate New York. Becky never made it. The mirrors got her. She left Audrey and found Gillian, and became Roscoe's wife. She'd been Roscoe's wife and Bo's mother for forty years, and now things were different. Everything was going to be different. Of course, maybe now they'd finally be rid of the crazy, old man that had been following them the past thirty years.

Still, the change was scary. She didn't get a good look at the lady doctor before she leapt. But Gillian knew she was young and beautiful. She needed a new name. A beautiful name.

"Kyra," she said.

Kyra Lee Slater. It had a nice little ring to it. It was pretty. Surely as pretty as she was now. She was pretty now, wasn't she? Back when she was Gillian, it was easy to avoid the mirrors. Physically, she knew she was nothing special. She wasn't ugly, just so boring and average that she knew she wasn't missing anything by not looking. But now she wanted to know what she was missing.

Kyra looked down at her new soft hands and arms. She rubbed her hands on her young, thin legs. She just wanted to take a small peak. It wasn't like they were going to find her right away. Would it hurt all that much? Just a tiny little peak. Just to see what Kyra really looked like. She turned to her left and saw a small mirror at the end of the room. Why they even had a mirror in the morgue she wasn't sure. It didn't matter. She just needed to take a quick peak. Kyra very quietly walked across the room, making sure that neither Roscoe nor Bo were around to see what she was doing.

When Kyra reached the other side of the room, she paused. She needed a minute to prepare herself to make the leap. Not the leap. She did that yesterday afternoon. No, this time it was just going to be a little hop in front to take a quick look. She took a deep breath and slid to the side and found herself in front of the mirror. She was gorgeous. Long, curly, blonde hair. Big, shiny, blue eyes. Long luxurious legs. Tight, supple figure. She knew she was beautiful, but had no idea she was like this.

Kyra smiled and said, "I'm too good for them."

And she was. There was no way anyone would believe this creature would be with someone that looked like Roscoe. That was a sick joke. Then it occurred to her that maybe she didn't need them after all. Maybe she could do this job all by herself--

ERRRRRREEEEE!!!

Kyra covered her mouth. She recognized that sound. She'd been looking for too long. The reflection started to bend and ripple like the wind pushing against a pond. Then the walls around her started to tremble. Kyra couldn't move her body. They were coming for her. They were going to take her family. She turned away from the mirror and the room warped and melted beneath her feet. They were coming.

CRRRRAAAKKKK!

The back of Bo's hand smashed the mirror, shattering the glass on impact. Kyra looked down to the floor and saw her feet covered in tiny glass shards.

Bo caught her. Better him than them.

"What the hell're you thinking?" He asked.

"I just-- I just....," She was speechless.

"You know the rules, Gillian."

"Kyra," she corrected him.

"Kyra?"

"Kyra," she nodded.

Bo looked her up and down and started plotting.

"Well, I guess I can't blame you. Seeing as how you look now, Kyra."

He ran his index finger alongside her cheek. She didn't like the way he was looking at her. It made her very uncomfortable.

"Stop looking at me like that, Bo."

”Why? Can't I appreciate the new view too?"

"You ain't supposed to look at me like that," she said.

"Why not? Only Roscoe gets to play with new goods?"

The very thought of that made her sick.

"Shhh! He'll hear you!"

"So what, what's he gonna do?"

"You know exactly what he'll do!"

"Roscoe's old news. Look at him. He's old and scared," Bo said with a smile. "If Roscoe's so big and bad then why are we hiding down here, runnin' from some old man?"

He had a point. Maybe Roscoe was losing his edge a little. Still, she didn't like the idea of teaming up with Bo to do anything, let alone trying to pull one over on Roscoe. They were a family. She didn't even realize that he was holding her arm until she looked down and saw him slowly rubbing his thumb on the side of her arm.

"You should probably let me go," she finally said.

"Whatever," he said rolling his eyes. "I'm outta here."

Bo let her go and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"I'm a monster, Kyra," he said. "I'm gonna go do what monsters do."

XII

A blue 2013 Chevy Cobalt pulled up to the front entrance of Hawk Hallow Middle School. A new yellow banner read, "HARVEST DANCE TONIGHT!" Cody Burk and Nick Johnson exited the doors. Neither seemed very comfortable wearing a tie and slacks.

"You boys have a good time!" Ashley Johnson yelled out.

"Thanks, Mom," Nick said under his breath.

Cody immediately regretted this decision. He didn't go the last two years, but sixth and seventh graders rarely attended. The Harvest Dance was always more of an eighth grade event. The only reason he decided to go in the first place was because he couldn't find a way to say no to the girl from U.S. History. This might be the second mistake he made with her.

"What are you waiting for?" Nick asked.

"I don't wanna do this," Cody said.

"I swear to God. You're actually scared of girls."

Maybe Nick was right. Cody hadn't had a girlfriend yet. He knew that there were a few girls around school who were interested in him, but he didn't care. Maybe there was something wrong with him. Then again, Connor was a whole year older and he never had a girlfriend either. But considering how greasy his hair looked and how rarely he showered, he probably didn't even care.

The two walked under the yellow crate paper banner that served as a gate into another world. A world filled with loud, thumping bass, moving, purple lights and familiar faces wearing clothes that made them look like different people.

"I don't wanna be here," Cody said.

"Jesus. Just find a girl to dance with and have a little fun for a change."

"Funny you should mention that--,"

A voice came from behind them again. Cody turned and saw the girl sitting at the table. He knew her name was Abi. He caught it in class earlier that day. It looked like her and the kid who was helping her hang that banner when Tyler and them showed up were taking tickets.

"Since I was so busy planning everything, and selling the tickets, and finding the DJ, and decorating the gym, and that stuff, nobody asked me to the dance. Soooo, I'm totally free...if you wanted to dance," Abi said with a brace-faced smile.

Cody wanted to say no, but he couldn't. He didn't want to dance with her, or anyone else, but he didn't want to disappoint her. For some reason that was important to him.

"Wuh...I don...um, o-okay."

Cody looked over to the back corner of the gym and saw a heavyset guy with headphones behind a set of turntables. He was bobbing his head and having way more fun than a guy his age probably should around a bunch of middle schoolers. He punched a few keys on his laptop, and the loud thumping changed into a slow moving melody that he'd heard before on his Mom's car radio. Abi grabbed his hands and placed them on her hips and took hold of his shoulders. She started swaying back and forth, and Cody just followed along, not exactly sure of what he was supposed to do. Why was this so hard?

Outside of the school, a young man in a tattered, hemp poncho stood in front of the building and smiled. He was looking for trouble, and maybe this was the place to find it.

"Junior high. Like a goddamn buffet table," he said.

Bo Slater burst through the front doors, trying to look as intimidating as possible. Unfortunately, there was no one in the halls to scare. A disappointing start. Bo turned his head toward the music and purple light pouring out of the gym. With his hands in his pockets, he started whistling along as he headed toward the sound. He threw the doors open and saw over a hundred oblivious thirteen and fourteen-year-olds trapped in a confined room with him. It was almost too easy.

"Excuse me, um... d-do you have a ticket?"

Bo turned around and found a chubby, pale-skinned boy at the table.

"Huh?" Bo said.

"You, you need a ticket," the glass-clad boy said.

Bo looked the chunky little nerd up and down and sneered. The kid was terrified of him and he was going to have fun with it. He leaned in and opened his eyes as large as he could, letting just the slightest amount of blue light spill out. He wasn't going to kill this kid, where would the fun in that be? Still, watching him twitch and recoil in fear gave him a rush that he rarely felt following Roscoe's "always trap, never hunt" rule. That's when he saw a small sign behind the kid's head. He caught the top line and found it far more interesting than whatever he was doing with the kid. He quickly pulled the poster off the wall. It read,

THE HAUNTED HALLOW!

12TH ANNUAL HALLOWEEN HAUNTED HOUSE!

SCARY! FUN!

October 30-31!

"Well now, that could be fun," he said.

"And then we have student body elections in like three weeks. I'm running for vice-president again. I thought about running for president this year, but I just don't think I'm outgoing enough to be a president." Abi said.

They had been dancing for what felt like an hour. The dancing wasn't so bad, but the fact that she didn't stop talking was making it just go on and on. She was so annoying. Why did he even help her out in the first place?

"Do you know what I mean?" Abi asked.

"Uh huh," Cody said.

Cody looked over and saw Nick dancing with Carly Cortez. He was staring over at him and Abi. He almost looked mad. Maybe Carly was as annoying as Abi. He doubted it.

"What about you?" Abi asked.

"What about me?" Cody said.

"Ever think about running for class president?" She asked.

"Class president? Why would I do that?"

"You're smart, popular, athletic, and your family runs the Haunted Hallow. With all the friends you have, we-- I mean, you'd win easily. Then we could work, you know...together," she said.

The thought of putting himself out there like that and being in charge of anything was terrifying. Besides, why would anyone vote for him? This was a terrible idea, but it wasn't like he could tell her that.

"The only reason people talk to me is cause I'm good at sports."

Cody surprised himself. That was far more honesty than he was expecting.

"That's not true," she fired back.

The look on her face wasn't what he expected from a girl that clearly liked him. Normally, when a girl was trying to talk to him they just agreed with whatever he said. This girl just told him he was wrong, and she said it to him like he was stupid for even thinking it. What's with this girl anyway?

Cody's phone started vibrating.

"Hang on."

Cody pulled out his iPhone and saw the text:

"From Connor. Come outside now!!!!! Mom in trouble!!!!!"

"I gotta go!"

XIII

Roscoe had Alice Richmond's body slung over his shoulders as he burst open the doors to the morgue.

"Bo!" He said. "Bo Slater get your goddamn ass out here!"

Alice Richmond's carcass dropped to the floor as soon as Roscoe snapped her neck. It was easy. She would have followed Roscoe anywhere he asked, so long as he kept talking about her husband. Not that Roscoe had any clue who he was. It was just part of Roscoe’s near foolproof plan. This morgue idea was something unique. For all the years Roscoe had been playing the game, he'd never set up in a hospital. They'd only been in Hawk Hallow a few days, and Roscoe made sure the Family took their time before setting this trap. They made a much bigger scene entering town than he originally planned. Roscoe figured it was better to ease their way into things this time around. Especially with the Old Man probably looking for them already.

Kyra ran out from the back. Much to Roscoe's surprise, she was out of the nurse's scrubs. Instead, she was dressed in short shorts and a crop top, neither were very conducive to Minnesota in the fall. But looking at her, Roscoe understood exactly what she was thinking.

"Gillian?" He asked.

She shook her head and answered, "Kyra."

Roscoe nodded.

"Kyra, where is the boy?" He asked.

"He um... um he--" Kyra stuttered.

"Keeruh," he said, making sure to annunciate her new name.

"Where is he?"

Kyra twiddled her fingers trying to find the right thing to say. Roscoe dropped the old lady's body to the floor. He took three steps toward her, pushing them nose to nose. He towered over Kyra far more than he ever had Gillian. This change was good for him too.

"One more time. Where. Is. Bo?"

"He left."

Roscoe grabbed her by throat and lifted her up off the ground. His fingernails dug into her neck. Blood trickled onto his fingers, while the slightest amount of blue light started to seep out from her wounds.

"And how did you let that happen? Aren't you supposed to be in charge when I'm gone?" He whispered.

Kyra tried to speak but her windpipe was nearly shut. With tears streaming down her face, she finally said,

"I tried to...stop him.... but I couldn't."

"Couldn't or wouldn't? Maybe this new body of yours is making you think all kinds of craziness?"

Roscoe whipped Kyra to the floor where she landed next to Alice Richmond's body. She got the message.

“Maybe you ain't no damn good to this family after all. Maybe I should-- "

BWAAAAAAA!!!!!!

An alarm went off and a light in the ceiling started pulsating. Both Roscoe and Kyra started looking around trying to figure out what was happening.

Roscoe threw the morgue doors open and flames immediately pushed through, bathing the room in orange and red. The hospital was on fire.

"Blake!"

XIV

Cody ran out of the gym as fast as he could. He didn't notice, but Abi and Nick were right behind him.

"Connor! Connor!" He called out.

Nothing. He was walking circles around the parking lot trying to find his brother.

"Connor, where's Mom? What's going on?"

Still nothing. Then he stopped moving and started listening. There were whispers. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he wasn't alone.

"Connor?" He said with a hushed tone.

A fist came flying out from behind a bush and connected with Cody's nose. A second dropped him to the ground. He rolled to the side and saw five figures dressed in black run out from the bushes. Each of them sending kicks to Cody's chest and back. He started coughing and spitting up blood. It wasn't the kicks that hurt nearly as much as listening to them laugh the entire time. Cody rolled to his back and saw one of them pull off their hood. Tyler Tomczak looked into Cody's eyes.

"I warned you," he said before laying one more kick into Cody's stomach.

"That's enough, man! He's had enough."

Cody didn't need that one to pull his hood off to know who said that. He'd heard Connor's voice his whole life. Tyler leaned over and whispered, "This is what happens to little bitches tryin' to play hero."

Cody couldn't look Tyler in the eyes. It hurt too much. He rolled back over and looked toward the door. The gym had emptied. His entire class was watching. All of them too scared to move. They just sat there and watched. He looked to Nick. He knew Nick wanted to help but couldn't. What was he gonna do against all of them? Then he saw Abi, she had tears in her eyes.  Finally, Coach Pawley ran out from behind them.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

Again, he recognized Connor's voice. They were already running away. He also knew that they were going to get away with it. All of them, even his own brother.

XV

Bo Slater came to the junior high school expecting to raise a little hell and maybe find a little snack. What he didn't expect was to watch five teenagers mercilessly beat another one. As soon as the gym emptied, Bo followed the commotion out of sheer curiosity. He didn't plan to be this entertained.

SSSSSSKKKKKRRRRRREEEEEE!!!!!

The shriek was so loud and thunderous that it slightly buckled his knees. But the pitch was so high that none of the kids could hear it. That's what Roscoe liked. Only they could hear their call. Bo had to go back home, most likely in big trouble with Roscoe. Bo talked a good game, but the thought of actually standing up to Roscoe was terrifying. Bo took off in a sprint.

Watching all of the kids scatter, Bo figured his fun was over. He started walking toward Main Street, back to the hospital. That's when he saw the black pillow of smoke pushing up from the ground and into the air. This wasn't good.

The hospital was burning, though the Hawk Hallow Fire Department seemed to have most of it already under control. There were already hundreds of people lined up outside the building, watching firefighters keep the flames at bay. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be many, if any, fatalities. Roscoe and Kyra were off to the side, trying to blend in with the humans. Bo hated spending time with these human things. They were disgusting. But he was a little happy the hospital was on fire. It meant that any punishment from Roscoe was going to be delayed. If only temporarily.

"I heard Gill--Kyra's call. What happened?" He asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Old Man found us again," she answered.

"Coward never sticks around long enough to finish the job," Roscoe said. "Time to move on."

"Maybe not," Bo said. "I got an idea."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of yellow paper. Bo opened up the sheet and handed it to Roscoe. It was the cheaply made advertisement for the Haunted Hallow. Bo could see Roscoe putting together the same scenario he had earlier. Roscoe looked over to him and smiled. All would be forgiven. For now.

"Good work, son. Very good work," Roscoe said.

XVI

Cody couldn't sleep. His ribs hurt and no matter how many times he brushed his teeth he still couldn't get rid of that metallic blood taste. That wasn't what was keeping him up though. It was the look on everyone's face. Nobody laughed at him. They were terrified. No one, not even Nick, tried to help. He didn't blame them either. He tried to be a hero a couple days ago and look what happened to him.

He couldn't hide the beating from his mother. The nurse in her took over and kept the crying mother inside. She repeatedly asked him, "who did this?" And he was honest.

"A bunch of guys dressed in black. They had masks."

He thought about ratting them all out, especially Connor. Their mother would punish him severely. She'd threatened to send Connor to St. John's Military Academy a couple months ago. Maybe she'd follow through this time? Probably not. Besides, that wouldn't make Cody feel better. It certainly wouldn't do anything to Tyler Tomczak. No one was sure that he even had parents, let alone ones that would punish him. This was bigger than any punishment a parent could dish out. He wanted more. He wanted them to feel pain. He wanted them to suffer.

As he tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable spot in bed, his mind started to drift dark. He wished Tyler Tomczak was dead. Who would miss him? It was only a matter of time before he wound up in prison or killed in something stupid. Why couldn't justice just hurry up and give Tyler and them what they deserved? For what they did to him, they all deserved it, especially Connor.

Now that Cody thought about it, Connor was worse and deserved a bigger punishment than Tyler. Tyler was a piece of garbage and always had been. Everyone knew what kind of person he was. Maybe that's why no one was surprised. But Connor had no reason to do what he did. He knew Connor was raised better. That's what hurt the most. He wished their father were still alive to see what kind of person his oldest son had become, and then he thought about what that meant. For the first time, he was okay with his father being gone. It would have killed him to see Connor turn his back on his brother to impress a bunch of idiots.

No, they needed to be punished. They needed to learn a lesson. To see that just cause you're bigger and stronger doesn't give you the right to beat and humiliate people. They had to feel his pain. But what could he do?

XVII

Abi Ahmad's day started an hour before everyone else at Hawk Hallow Middle School. She was in Advanced Placement Geometry, a class that wasn't offered at the Middle School. Instead, Abi took the bus from her house on Claremont Avenue to Carter-Hallow High School in neighboring Cartersville, MN. After class, she took another bus to Hawk Hallow Middle School to begin the second part of her day back with kids her age. Last year, as a seventh-grader, the halls at Hawk Hallow were very intimidating. But after spending the past two months going back and forth between Carter-Hallow and Hawk Hallow, those halls were nothing. It made life a bit easier.

Abi finished out the rest of her day by acing a science test, turning in what she was certain was an A-paper in English, and staying relatively invisible in gym class. The only part of the day that stuck out was U.S. History. The class was normal, but Cody Burk wasn't there.  After what happened last night, she understood. Honestly, she felt guilty about the whole thing. Tyler Tomczak had been tormenting her since the sixth grade. She hated it, but after all that time she learned to deal with it. Seeing him take a beating for basically standing up for her was awful. Cody didn't deserve that. She wanted to apologize, but he wasn't there. She’d have to try again on Monday.

The bus ride home was uneventful. She opened the door of her parent's house on Claremont Avenue-- the nicest neighborhood in Hawk Hallow-- dropped off her book bag, and hugged her mother. It was Friday afternoon, but since she'd missed new comic book Wednesday with all the Harvest Dance craziness, she decided to ride the seven blocks to Town Square and visit Moondog's Comics to pick up her weekly pull. She was usually the only girl in the store, not that she cared.

Abi hopped on her bike, made the ride down Claremont Avenue, and turned right on Moore. She wasn't peddling very fast at first, but then something inside of her felt strange. She didn't know why, but it was like she was being followed. Her stomach quivered.

"There she is!" Said a voice from behind.

After that she was sure, they were behind her. Abi peddled faster trying to push past them.

"Ready, set.... ALLAHLALALALALALALALALALA!!!!!!"

Abi turned her and found Tyler Tomczak and his friends on their bikes closing in. Two of the riders drove up on her left and two more on her right, sandwiching her between. Both of them started to maneuver their bikes to the left, pushing Abi toward the curb.

"Look out! Suicide bomber!" Tyler Tomczak screamed out.

The kid on the left, Mike Shonan, slammed on his brakes and the rider on the right, Kevin Giantolli, made a sharp turn into Abi's front tire. The wheels collided, and Abi lost control of her bike, slamming into the curb. She flipped over the handlebars and landed hard on the pavement.

"Aww. Look at the little dot-head cry," Tyler Tomczak said aiming his phone.

They were filming her with their phones, making their own little found footage horror movie. Abi turned her head away from them. She wasn't crying but didn't want them to try any harder. She just cowered on the ground, wishing they would just disappear.

"Come on, Abs, give us a smile," Tyler said again.

Tyler got off his bike and kneeled down in front of her. He was still recording. He chuckled as he kept pointing his phone at her.

"Look at me, you terrorist bitch."

She turned and looked right him. A single tear run down her defiant face.

"There we go. Look what you made me do yesterday. That was all your fault. Now you both can cry about your little ouchies."

"I fucking hate you," she said.

"Good. You're supposed to hate the enemy."

Tyler got back on his bike and screamed out, "U.S.A!"

"U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" The freshmen chanted as they rode away.

Abi looked down and saw road rash on her hands and fresh rips in her jeans. She stumbled up to her feet and limped back toward her bike. The front wheel was bent like a taco shell. She fell back down and stayed on the ground for a while. Abi promised herself she'd never show her emotions in front of people like that, and she held back most of her tears. When she was sure they were all gone, Abi opened up and cried. Ever since they'd moved to Hawk Hallow, Abi tried so hard just to be nice and kind to everyone. She never said anything mean, she never made anyone feel bad about anything, and they still went out of their way to hurt her.

"Bullies," a voice from behind her said.

Abi turned back around and saw Cody leaning against a tree with his arms folded across his chest. His left eye was bruised; his lip was still fat, but he had a defiant look on his face that didn't seem to care about anything else.

"My brother and his friends. Just a bunch of bullies."

Cody walked over and grabbed hold of Abi's arm and pulled her up to her feet. Then he grabbed the bike and picked up the back tire.

"You take the front, I'll take the back," he said.

"Wouldn't it be nice if somebody embarrassed them for once?" Cody asked.

"I guess," Abi said.

"Wouldn't you like to be there when someone finally humiliated them?" Cody asked again.

"Yeah, I guess I would."

"Wouldn't you love to be the one who did it?" Cody asked.

Abi looked Cody in the eyes, trying to figure out where he was going. She saw something behind that swollen black eye. Whatever it was scared her. She also wanted to be a part of it.

XVIII

"It's a slaughterhouse!" Leah said with excitement.

Three hours earlier, she received a phone call from a man who'd just moved to Hawk Hallow. At first, she was confused as to why this person was calling. Then he mentioned buying the Haunted Hallow. The next six minutes were a whirlwind of calling in her absence to the head nurse at Hawk Hallow Area and making arrangements with the family accountant and lawyers in hopes of finally unloading this millstone. She hadn't seen much of the boys since the accident last week. She knew that her family needed her, but this stupid haunted house kept getting in the way. It was almost to the point where she would have given the potential buyer the Haunted Hallow for nothing if he was serious. Then she remembered how much her family had sunk into this pit over the last twelve years. She needed to get something for the place. Letting the buyer know that was a bad idea. But the quicker she was out of this business, the faster she could fix her family.

She met the buyer and his family on the property at 10 am and unlocked the doors. The goal was to wow them with what little the workers had finished.

"It used to be my uncle-in-law's pig farm. After he passed away, my husband sold off most of the land. Then out of the blue, he turned the old slaughterhouse into the Haunted Hallow. Mike ran it for twelve years. He was like a little kid running around trying to scare everybody," she added.

"I like the man already! Sounds like we'd been peas in a pod," the potential buyer said. "Ya see, I ran a few of these Haunted Houses back home in Alabama. But now that we've relocated, I figured this here'd be the perfect way to ingratiate ourselves to the community."

"I like the way you think, Mister...," she paused. "I'm sorry, I forget your name."

"That's a-okay, Miss Burk. It's Slater, but y'all can call me Roscoe," he said with a slimy smile. "This here's Kyra and Bo."

She hated to admit it, but this Mr. Slater and his children were every bit the stereotype she'd ever heard or seen about Southerners. Roscoe had greasy hair that could have been a mullet if it wasn't thinning up top. He had a huge, gold belt buckle. His children weren't dressed much better. The girl, Kyra, wore a tight, white tank top and daisy duke shorts. She should have been freezing in the cool sixty degree breeze. But if she was, she wasn't showing it. The boy, Bo, wore a filthy, green, poncho. His face had one of those half-assed teenage beards, all patchy and scraggly. When he smiled his buck-teeth stuck out and almost pointed right at her. They were creepy, but if they were serious about buying the Hallow, she was willing to do whatever it took to seal this deal.

"Pleasure to meet you, Roscoe," she said.

"Absolutely, Miss Burk," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, we'd love the grand tour!"

"Step right this way. Now, you've got to keep this in mind, we've only got one room really finished. It's only September and we're kind of short-staffed."

Leah led them into the first room, the one the customer would enter immediately after buying a ticket. It was a complete rip-off of a scene from Texas Chainsaw. A female mannequin was handcuffed to the dinner table with the stuffed psycho family abound. There were even lifeless mannequins, covered in bad-looking, fake blood. The whole thing was so clichéd.

"This sucks," Bo said.

"Y'all are on your best behavior. You hear?" Roscoe snapped back.

"The whole thing is kinda cornball," Kyra added.

They weren't wrong, but the last thing Leah wanted was to screw this deal up. She needed it.

"I said best behavior," Roscoe said, annunciating every word.

Roscoe had no intention of screwing up this deal either. The Family had a quick treat yesterday and were able to pull twenty grand out of the guy's bank account. It was nice, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to hold them over. The food, not the money. He damn well knew that would be plenty of money, especially considering the Burk woman's situation. If she was looking for more, he'd walk away. They were getting desperate for food, but that didn't mean he had to become a bad businessman. There was crazy and then there was stupid, and Roscoe was far from stupid.

When Leah Burk got out of her car, which he could tell was a rental, he almost blew their cover. He recognized her from the car accident. The coincidence scared him. What were the odds? He was ready to bail and run out of town, but when she didn't even flinch at his appearance, he knew she didn't recognize him. Maybe she wasn't that observant. Maybe this deal was going to be easier than he thought. But if he did buy this place, it was going to need a make-over. Sure it was going to be trap designed to lure children to their death, but it had to be at least a good-looking deathtrap. You've got to take some pride in your work.

"Boo!!!" A man wearing a paintball mask jumped out and screamed.

The three of them looked at each other and shrugged.

"Yep. Cornball," Bo said.

The man in the paintball mask stopped and pointed his index finger behind them. In unison, the Slaters turned around and saw a dark tunnel with lights spinning inside. It looked like a vortex had ripped open in the middle of this old building. Their attitude immediately changed.

"Well, that's pretty badass," Bo said.

"Come on," Roscoe said.

The three of them walked through the spiraling vortex, bombarded by light on all sides. It looked a little too familiar and for a moment, they forgot that this was nothing more than black fabric, paint, and some basic Christmas lights. It was an impressive, almost nauseating display. Roscoe liked the showmanship of it all, especially setting it up with a tired cliché. This was certainly something he was planning on keeping if they made the purchase.

They stepped out of the vortex and found themselves in a room with pulsating strobe lights and blaring heavy metal music. The music and lights made it hard for them to see what else was in that room. Roscoe saw a small, steel-cage and hanging from their legs on the very top bar, was a person in a misshapen ape mask. At first, it just swung back and forth, until it noticed them. With remarkable agility, it hopped from bar to bar, like a monkey, all while eying the three of them. It didn't seem human. Kyra cowered behind Roscoe, not wanting to look the Monkey-man in the eyes. She didn't see the second Monkey-man slowly creep up over her shoulder. It was far too loud to hear him breathing, but eventually she did feel the back-side of her neck moisten from the second Monkey-man's hot breath. She turned and found him behind her and screamed out. Roscoe instinctively reached into his coat pocket and gripped his Bowie knife, but then came to his senses and kept it sheathed. It was just a game.

Bo couldn't stop laughing. This kind of chaos was right up his alley. Roscoe knew that Bo already wanted to be one of the Monkeys. He didn't notice the first Monkey-man was now right behind him, hanging upside down, Spider-man-style. Bo turned back and jumped into the air.

This place was perfect and Roscoe knew it. The lights, the music, the masks, it was mayhem. But it was controlled. They knew these were locals, talented locals, but just regular people. There was no real danger,  though he had to admit, he was momentarily unnerved. Roscoe didn't get scared. But it was still all very safe. He never questioned whether or not anything was going to happen to him in there. The same way no one who walked through those halls would ever question whether or not anything could happen to them. At least, not until the Family got involved.

He looked at the cage and started imagining what he could do with it, when he noticed something that seemed set back far in the distance.  How big was this room? It was a man, squatting. He was wearing another mask. Roscoe assumed it was a Monkey mask but couldn't be sure. As the lights continued to pulsate, the man seemed to move from behind the cage to inside the cage to beyond the cage with each pulsation. But his body never moved. It just stayed in place, moving closer to Roscoe. With the final pulse, the creature was directly in front of him, staring him in the eye. It wasn't a monkey. It was one of them. One of his people. It screamed their cry in his face. After all these years, they finally found him. Roscoe reached back into his pocket and took hold of the grip. He wasn't leaving without a fight. Then the pulsation stopped, and the doors opened. It was gone. So were all the Monkey-men. Roscoe knew what he saw.

Of course that was the point of this room. It was a place where the senses were bombarded with light and sound. The brain shuts down, and the imagination takes control. That's what it had to be. There weren't any mirrors. They couldn't find him. He was positive. He had to be.

"Well, what do you think?" Leah said coming through the door.

Roscoe bobbed his head for a moment, collecting his thoughts.

"If you'd like, I could show you the Hell of Mirrors," Leah added.

"No, no," Roscoe said. "That won't be necessary."

"I guess that means--"

Roscoe watched her stumble around waiting to see what he was going to say. He always loved watching them struggle, of course this was a different kind of struggle. Still fun though.

"I'll give you fifteen grand," he said with a slithery smile.

XIX

"Do we seriously have to do this?" Read the text message.

Cody grabbed his phone and furiously tapped on the glass screen.

"Just come up the stairs," he wrote before hitting send.

A minute later, Nick Johnson popped his head through the floorboard entrance of the Burk family treehouse. He scanned the room and shrugged his shoulders.

"What's with the super-secret tree-fort meeting?" He asked.

"It's private."

Nick finally pulled himself into the treehouse that Mike Burk built ten years earlier. It was the place where the boys had their first outdoor adventures with their dad. It was where they would camp out together on those cool Minnesota summer nights. It's also where Cody stayed the first three nights after Mike's death. Connor hadn't been up there in years. It was the perfect location for what Cody had in mind.

"Why do we need to be in private?" Nick asked.

“We got a big problem. Tyler Tomczak."

"That ain't my problem. My name's Paul, and that's between y'all," Nick said.

"Well, Paul, it's all of our problem. Or did you forget about what Tyler did to you in the lunch room last year?”

"We're talking about the time he pulled Nick's pants down in the lunch room, right?" Asked a female voice coming from the floor entrance.

The boys turned to find Abi making her way through the door.

"Great, now she's here too! My conversion to Dweebilism is near complete," Nick said, making an unfunny joke.

"Resistance is futile," Abi added.

Cody looked over to Nick and said, "She's the only one willing to help. Everyone else is too scared."

Nick threw his hands up into the air and said, "Do you blame them? You're gonna get pummeled!"

“I don't know if you missed it, but I already got pummeled. I've been pummeled by my big brother since I was two and now that I'm bigger than him he's gotta get his idiot friends to do it for him. If we don't do something now, it's only gonna get worse when we get to high school. That stupid piece of shit is just gonna keep pushing us around and making us feel like garbage. I'm sick of his bullshit. I'm done, and I'm gonna do something about it," Cody said.

"Is that what you want? Just another fight?" Nick asked.

"Fight? You think this about a fight? I don't wanna fight him. I wanna humiliate him. I wanna watch him cry. I want him so embarrassed that he'll never be able to look at me like that ever again," Cody said.

Abi and Nick both raised an eyebrow and turned toward each other.

"We're not just talking about Tyler anymore, are we?" Abi asked.

They knew what Cody meant, but nobody said anything until Nick broke the uncomfortable moment.

"All right, what's the plan, Captain Crunch?"

Captain Crunch was the nickname Joey Garcia gave him that summer in football. When Coach Pawley named him team captain, the team could tell how seriously Cody took the position. He started barking out orders to the others and telling them they had to follow him because he was the captain.

"Whatever you say, Captain Crunch," Joey Garcia responded.

It wasn't unfunny or insulting, but Cody took it as if Joey had broken some sacred chain of command. Cody just took himself so seriously that when he tried to fight back, he couldn't find the words. This made the nickname all the more hilarious to the team. Being called Captain Crunch instantly diffused any situation.

"I don't know. That's why I asked her to come," Cody said meekly.

"You guys are so clueless," Abi said.

Abi opened her backpack and pulled out a large book. She opened it and unfolded a tapestry that more than tripled the original pamphlet's size. The boys gathered around the table and shocked to see that she brought a map of the city of Hawk Hallow. It was the first time either of them had seen a paper map.

"Tyler Tomczak and the Legion of Dorks spent last Halloween egging cars and trick-or-treaters around Town Square," she said pointing toward downtown.

"They got you didn't they?" Nick asked with a smirk.

"Shut up," she said. "I'm willing to bet there isn't an original idea between the five of them, so it's reason to think they'll probably be in the exact same place."

"And then what?" Nick asked.

Again, they were all silent. Nick's new job was apparently to ask questions, while Cody was still reeling from the Captain Crunch remark.

"We draw them in with a distraction," Abi spoke up. "So that they're all in one place, and then we turn it on them. But not just eggs, anything we can get our hands on. No matter how gross!"

"Interesting, but then what? Just sit back and wait for our beating?" Nick asked again. "Our beating, I should say. It's not like they're actually gonna hit a girl."

Abi looked to the floor. Cody looked Nick in the eye and slowly shook his head, as if to say, "Shut up."

"No," Abi paused for dramatic effect. "Thermopylae!"

Nick and Cody sat there staring at her, confused. Clearly, it didn't have the effect she wanted.

"Is that some kinda Muslim thing?" Nick asked again.

"No, the Battle of Thermopylae," Abi said.

Again, no one had any idea what she was talking about.

"300?"

"Is that the movie with the all the ripped dudes?" Nick asked.

"My brother loves that movie," Cody added.

Abi shook her head. She was surrounded by idiots or, at least, cultural illiterates. They really did need her.

"Let me explain," she placed the heels of her palms together shaping them like a V. "After we strike, we all pull back and retreat together. They'll be pissed off, and follow us. Then we funnel them all into one tight place. Then we escape. They look stupid, we avoid getting physical."

They were impressed. Cody knew bringing Abi in was a good idea, but this was much better than he was expecting.

"All right. Where do we funnel them? I can't think of any place we could seriously lose them," Abi asked.

"No, there's too much that can go wrong out in the open like that," Cody said. "I like the idea though. We should get them all trapped in one place first. Then strike. Then we can get away clean. They don't even have to know it was us."

"Great idea, but how can we get them all at one place, at the same time, and make that kinda move?" Nick asked again.

"The Hallow," Cody blurted out.

"The haunted house?" Abi asked.

"Yeah, it's perfect. I know every room. There's like a hundred secret turns. We can easily lose them in there."

"Yeah, but if you know it, doesn't Connor?" Nick asked.

"No, working on the Hallow was more a thing my dad and I did together."

"I thought your mom was trying to sell it?"

"She sold it yesterday. We should all get jobs there. If he runs it like my dad did, he'll put us in charge of building one room. We design something that traps them inside."

"That's down right evil. I like it," Nick said. "Abs?"

Abi punched Nick in the arm.

"Don't call me that!" She said. "I'm in."

Cody nodded and smiled.

"So, if this works and we get away with it, what happens after?" Nick asked more sincerely.

"What do you mean?" Cody asked.

"Eventually, Tyler and them are gonna catch us. There is gonna be a fight. I don't wanna get beat up. Maybe that makes me a little bitch or whatever, but I don't wanna get hurt."

"They won't touch you. Either of you. This is my idea. This is my plan. If my brother or any of those guys come looking to fight, I'll fight 'em. I don't care if I get beat up. All I need is to see that look on his face. All I need is to see him cry. It's worth a thousand beatings."

The three of them nodded in agreement. They were ready to go to war and even though they all probably knew there was no guarantee that Cody would be the only one at the end of a beating, they were willing to follow. Crunch may have been on a cereal box, but that didn't change the fact that he was a captain.

"I just need to get back in the family business."

XX

There were rumors floating for a while that Mrs. Burk was looking to dump the Haunted Hallow. Most of the employees had been working with the Burk family for years, and a lot of the kids in town saw working at the Hallow like a rite of passage. When Mike Burk, died they all wondered what would happen to the Hallow. Everyone was surprised when Leah went ahead with running things, pretending that everything was just fine. It was obvious that she didn't have her husband's passion, but when everyone heard that Leah sold the Hallow they wondered what would happen next. They heard the name 'Roscoe Slater,' some kind of small businessman from Alabama, but they had no idea what to expect.

As the Hallow employees gathered around the old barn waiting to meet their new boss, they couldn't help but wonder what Mr. Slater had in mind. What southern-style changes was he going to push? Would they even all have jobs by the time he was finished?

A 2015 Chevy Traverse pulled up to barn. It had Minnesota plates that read: “RCHMND." The car doors opened and out stepped a man with thinning, red hair and a handlebar mustache with a tattered, gray jacket. There was little doubt in any of their minds that this was him. Behind was a young woman with dirty blonde hair and shorts that were way too short for a Minnesota fall. There was something about her that looked familiar, but she didn't act like she knew any of them. Behind her was a weasly looking teenager with long buck-teeth and a filthy poncho. Was this the wealthy family that scooped up the Hallow so quick?

"Happy Halloween, y'all!"

Roscoe Slater spoke with a ton of exuberance as he walked up to the front of the barn near a makeshift podium. He was a peculiar looking man, but he carried himself with such bravado that he instantly had all of their attention.

"My name is Roscoe Slater. This here's Kyra and Bo. And as of 9:00 am Monday morning, I am the new owner of the legendary Haunted Hallow."

He paused and scanned the crowd. They still weren't sure what to make of him.

"With Halloween just about five weeks away, I know a lot of you are concerned about the Hallow's future. About your own future. I understand, you see this crazy, Southern family and y'all think to yourselves, 'who are these people?' Am I right? Well, let me tell you, I bought this place because it is literally the best haunted house I have ever seen. And yes, a lot of that has to do with the tremendous work the late Mr. Burk put into this place. I never met Mike Burk. I don't know the man nor do I know how he chose to run his business. But when my family and I walked through those hallways, we saw something. We saw something that I can honestly say I haven't felt in years. Something that shot through my veins like a bullet through butter. Something that made me feel more alive than I've felt in years. Fear. All three of us were legitimately scared and, believe me, that ain't easy. Now, Mike Burk might have been a good businessman, hell, judging by what I saw he was probably a genius. But Mike Burk wasn't in that Hallow when I walked through, at least, I hope not," he said with a smile.

"Y'all were," Roscoe said pointing his finger at the crowd. "It was your hard work, your creativity, your dedication to the craft of fear that terrified me. It was your efforts that sold me on this place. I can be honest with each and every one of you when I say that it is my honor and my pleasure to work beside you."

In near unison, the crowd of workers dropped their shoulders, and let out a cheer. Roscoe smiled at the crowd he'd won over with merely a few words.

"I don't wanna change a thing. I don't wanna fire anyone. I don't wanna move anyone from what they're doing now. What I see here is art, and artists should be allowed to paint. The only thing I want to add to this amazing canvas is my own family. I want my children to learn from you. I want them to be schooled in the art of fear."

"Now with that, let’s keep the wheels moving and let's keep the nightmares flowing. Let's go to work!"

The crowd cheered again as they headed to work inside the old slaughterhouse.

"Excuse me, sir."

Roscoe looked down and saw a boy with dark hair and a lean, athletic build. The boy had a face Roscoe had seen before, but the boy didn't seem to remember him. That was good.

"You must be a Burk," Roscoe said.

"Yeah, I'm Cody. My dad used to own this place."

"Ah, your momma drives a hard bargain, son. What can I do you for?"

"I miss, my dad," Cody said.

"I'm sorry, son. I remember losing my daddy. It wasn't a good day. Now, sometimes a building or a business can have some feeling attached to them, but letting go is important."

"Nah, that's not it. I worked on this place with my dad every fall since I was seven. I didn't wanna be here this year. Then Mom told me she sold it. It's like, now that we don't have it anymore, I wanna be here again."

"I'm sorry, son, but your mom and I made a deal--"

"No, no, I get it. I wanted to know if there was a job here for me,” Cody said.

"Are you telling me that the progeny of the master of fear himself wants to come work for me?" Roscoe asked with a smile,

"Huh?"

Roscoe's attempts at eloquent flattery went over the boy's head.

"Yeah, you got a job," Roscoe answered.

"Great! Thank you!"

The two of them shook hands. The boy looked down at Roscoe's hands and titled his head. Roscoe knew why.

"Our core temperature is slightly warmer than yours. It's a Southern thing," he said.

"Okay," Cody said, "Oh, would you mind if I brought two of my friends with me?"

"Are they also veterans of these hallowed halls?"

"No," Cody said.

"Well, in that case, I'm not sure--"

"We'll all work for free," Cody said.

"You're hired! The lot of you!" Roscoe said as he slapped Cody on the back.

"Thank, Mr. Slater, sir."

"It's my pleasure. Heck, I'm sure you could teach me a trick or too!"

XXI

Leah sat in the local Starbucks near Town Square, staring at her laptop. She should have been updating her resume, but instead she'd been running these 'worst case' scenarios through her head. Staring at Microsoft Word, she hoped that helpful, little paperclip would update her resume for her. He wasn't cooperating.

It had been more than two weeks since the fire at Hawk Hallow Area Hospital. Fortunately, there was only a handful of injuries. Clean-up crews worked to sweep away the charred debris. Investigators knew it was arson, but there was little evidence that pointed them toward a suspect. Though the hospital had suffered extensive damage, repairs started on HHAH on September 25th.

During the reconstruction, much of the hospital staff was out of work. After the fire, Leah didn't regret selling the Haunted Hallow. The fifteen thousand dollars would help the family get through the next couple months and would help ease the transition while Leah tried to find another job. There were a couple general practitioners in the area, but every out of work nurse in town would be fighting for those few opportunities. There were other hospitals in Minnesota but going to work in your hometown was a huge advantage, one she didn't want to lose. Word was that the hospital would reopen in the spring, but she hadn't heard anything from her union rep yet. With two teenage boys and the holidays fast approaching, that fifteen thousand dollars wouldn't last long. Maybe she should have hung on to the Hallow.

At first, giving up the Hallow seemed like an easy choice but now, she started to miss the place, and the extra income. Now she alternated between pacing in her house and touching up her resume at Starbucks while debating a career change, but to what? She was a nurse and had been for sixteen years. Maybe it was time for all of them to leave Hawk Hallow? The last year hadn't been kind to her family. The boys were not only drifting apart but were starting to dislike each other and not in the typical teenage sibling way. Maybe they needed a fresh start?

"Excuse me, Mrs. Burk."

A stocky, middle-aged man with wire-rimmed glasses took the seat across from her. His unshaven face was greasy, and it looked like he hadn't slept in days. A powerful whiff of body odor poured out from behind his wrinkled clothes, forcing her to gingerly cover her nose. She tried to be polite while saving herself from the stench. When he opened his mouth, she saw the black and brown spots dotted along his teeth and tongue. The hand covering her nose now had to hold the stomach acid inside her mouth.

"Can I help you?" She asked, trying not to breathe in the stench.

"Mrs. Burk, did you recently sell something called The Haunted Hallow to a man named Roscoe Slater?"

"I'm sorry but, do I know you?"

"No. My name is Blake, and I need you to answer a few questions for me."

Leah debated making a scene or calling the police, but decided against it. Something was wrong with this person, but maybe if she answered a few questions, he'd just leave her alone.

"What do you need to know, Mr. Blake?" She asked.

"It's not what I need to know, it's what you need to know. You sold your family business to a very dangerous man."

With her best sleight of hand, Leah kept eye contact while pulling her cellphone into her lap and very carefully hitting the numbers 911 while hovering her thumb over the send key. She should probably have hit the button right away, but she didn't. This Blake was a disgusting person, but she didn't know anything about Mr. Slater. She was so anxious to get rid of the Hallow that she sold it to the first person who made a significant offer without really doing any background check. Thinking about it now, that was a pretty stupid decision.

"How so?" She finally asked.

"We don't have the time to get into that now. You just have to trust me and understand what I'm saying," Blake said. "I need you to give me any and all information that you might have on Mr. Slater. I need to know how much he paid, and I'm going to need to see a copy of the check."

This was a little too much for her. She was about to hit the send button when she heard, "I'm sorry, sir, you're going to have to leave," the Starbucks manager said. "You're making a lot of the customers very uncomfortable."

Blake looked over toward her, hoping she'd vet him, but she didn't. Instead, Leah looked down to her feet.

”You're making a big mistake, Ms. Burk. A big mistake," Blake said as the assistant manager escorted him from the coffee shop.

“We're really sorry about that, Mrs. Burk," the manager said.

"That's okay. If that's the worst thing that happens to me, it'll be a pretty good day," she said with a smile.

XXII

3:15 pm. The 12th period bell rang and the building at Hawk Hallow Middle School emptied. Cody ran out of his math class to his locker. He grabbed two books and put them inside his bag, throwing it over his shoulder. He had places to go. Cody slammed the door of his locker.

"Where you going, Cody?"

“Oh, hey, Coach," he said.

Coach Pawley stood there with his arms crossed over his Hawks Football sweatshirt.

"You haven't been to practice in weeks. You're barely paying attention in class. Is everything okay at home?"

"Of course not. Things are terrible at home."

That's what Cody should have said. That would have been the most honest response. But that's not what Cody said.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just got a job."

"A job? Doing what?" Coach Pawley asked.

"I'm working at the Hallow."

"I thought your mom sold it?" Coach asked.

"She did, but that was before she lost her job at the hospital. We need all the money we can get right now," Cody said.

It bothered him a little at how easily lying came to him.

"How long have you been working there?"

"A few weeks," Cody said.

"If that's what's best for your family right now, I understand. I just want you to know I'm not mad at you for quitting."

"I didn't quit. I'm the best guy on the team. I just haven't been there lately," he said.

"You can't be the best guy on the team if you've missed four games. Our last game is tomorrow."

"Oh," Cody paused. "Can I play?"

"That wouldn't be fair to other guys on the team. I was thinking maybe you and Nick can come and cheer them on."

"Yeah, we gotta work."

Silence. Coach Pawley knew he was full of it. Cody wanted to play. He missed football a lot, but he had more important things to worry about these days. Besides, next year, all this would be behind him and he could play in high school. Football wasn't going anywhere. This was too important. Not that he could tell Coach Pawley that. Instead he, just stared down at his shoes waiting for Coach to go away.

"Okay, bud. You know where to find me if you need me."

"Yep."

"One last question, buddy. If you wanna quit, I understand. But can you look at yourself and say you tried as hard as you possibly could? If you can honestly say that to yourself, then there's nothing wrong with walking away. But if you can't, well maybe you should think things over."

"Okay, Coach."

Cody had clearance. He took off, running down the stairs and out the front door. He jumped on his bike and rode the six blocks down Gable Point to the Haunted Hallow.

Cody hit the brakes and hopped off the bike, running through the entrance. He took the first turn down the back hallways that linked all of the rooms together. The back hallway was the main branch that connected all the rooms. Unlike the front hallway that lead the customers through the maze, this one bypassed all the attractions, letting the employees move freely from room to room. Cody dashed down what his dad always called the 'back artery' and found their room. Mr. Slater allowed everyone working on the Hallow to have their own room. Most of them had to have their ideas run by him and, as long as he cleared it, they could pretty much do whatever they wanted. The only trick was that they couldn't see what anyone else was doing with theirs until the Hallow was finished. He said it would "enhance the horror" if even they didn't know all of its secrets. He never asked Cody what he was doing with his room. Maybe he just trusted that the former owner’s kid knew what he was doing?

"Hey, guys," Cody said as he walked in.

Nick and Abi had been there for close to a half an hour. Nick was painting the walls, while Abi was fashioning screws into the wooden ceiling that they'd made. At first look, their room wasn't much to behold. It was just a black box. No crazy lights, no blood, nothing special. At least at first glance. "Where you been?" Nick asked.

"Coach Pawley grabbed me after class. He wants us to come to the game tomorrow."

"Why?"

"To watch."

"Screw that," Nick said.

"That's pretty much what I told him," Cody nodded. "How’s the net coming?"

Abi looked down from her ladder and shrugged her shoulders.

"It's okay. I need to screw a few more eye-screws into the ceiling.

"Cool."

"What do we have here?"

The kids all stood at attention immediately. The boss had entered.

"Hello, Mister Slater," they said in unity.

In the three weeks that they'd been working at the Hallow, this was the first time that Roscoe visited their room. He seemed less than impressed.

"So, y'all painted the walls black...what else?"

"The ceiling is a little lower," Nick eeked out.

"And the ceiling is slightly lower. That should terrify anyone with extreme claustrophobia," Roscoe said. "Gotta be honest, kids, I'm disappointed."

"Sorry, we let you down, sir," Cody said.

"We've got ten days till Halloween and I gave you the benefit of the doubt cause of your pop, but I can't use this. I'm gonna have to let y'all go and try to salvage this room,"

"No wait, you can't do that!" Abi said, "Cody, show him!"

"Yeah, Cody show him!" Nick added.

Nick and Abi grabbed Roscoe's jacket and begged, while Cody stood there, not showing any emotion.

"There's nothing to show," he said.

"Show me what?" Roscoe asked.

"Nothing."

"You better show me something or I'm getting rid of all three of you."

Cody scrunched his face and sighed. He was beaten.

"Fine!" He finally said. "Abi, Nick, get in position."

All three of them went to different spots in the room. Roscoe was alone and shaking his head. The lights went out and the tight room was dark. Not bad, but the Hallow already had a dark room that was much scarier than this. Then the room was bathed in dark red light.

CRRRRREEEEEEKKKK

Roscoe looked up toward the sound of grinding metal.

THHUUMMMPPP  CLIK CLIK

The door into the room the shut and locked behind him.

CRRRRREEEEKKKKKK

Roscoe looked up toward the ceiling again.

SNNNNNAAAPPPP

A switch flipped and the ceiling came crashing down toward Roscoe's head. He tucked down and covered up with his arms. Hunched over, he ran to the exit and tried to push though, but walked right into a darkened wall. The exit was a fake. The collapsing ceiling came to a stop just above his head. Then a trap door in the middle of the ceiling opened and a net fell down, ensnaring Roscoe. He was trapped.

The regular lights came back on and the kids remerged.

"Very, very impressive," Roscoe said. "You built a literal drop ceiling!"

"Thank you, sir," Abi said.

"I knew you had something special, Cody," Roscoe said trying to pull his way free from the net. Cody nodded. He'd never been very comfortable with praise.

"One question: why the secret? Why not just tell me and be proud?"

Cody didn't know what to say. It was like he was choked up. Instead, he just shrugged his shoulders.

"We're still working the bugs out of it," Abi finally said. "One thing. The trap door and the net are a nice touch, but it's gonna take too long to pull the net back up and reset the room, every time someone comes in. Maybe rethink that part," Roscoe said. "We only gotta use it once," Nick said.

"Shut up," Cody finally said.

Realizing what he'd done, Nick covered his mouth with both hands.

"I swear, you're an idiot," Abi said under her breath.

"What does that mean?" Roscoe said.

He was on to them.

"Nothing, sir. You'll have to excuse Nick, he's a moron. It's not his fault, his mom took mushrooms when she was pregnant," Abi said.

"No, no, no, that's why y'all were being hush hush when I came here," Roscoe said. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing," both Nick and Abi said at the same time.

"Cody Burk, what are you up to?"

Cody scrunched his face again. He didn't want to tell their boss the truth, but if he didn't, they'd be fired any way. All that work they put in would be for nothing.

"Fine. The net and trap door are for a specific group of kids. We're gonna drop it on them."

"Then what?" Roscoe asked.

"We're gonna pelt them with dog shit and rotten eggs," Nick said.

"Are you kidding me?" Abi asked "Do you know when not to talk?"

"So, the entire reason you took a job with me had nothing to do with your dad or wanting to move on. It had everything to do with using my business to take a little revenge on some punks?"

"Yes, sir," Cody said.

Roscoe nodded for a moment while scanning the room. "The real problem with that is there's only one fake exit. If you've got a group of kids, you're gonna want them to scatter. That means you need at least two more fake exits," Roscoe said with smile. "You need to maximize the fear quotient. But I will give you credit on the locked doors. That's a great idea."

Roscoe patted Cody on the shoulder and walked through the proper exit, which was shielded next to the fake one. The three of them were alone in their trap.

"What the hell does 'maximize the fear quotient’ mean?" Nick asked.

XXIII

Halloween on a Saturday. One of the best sentences a kid can hear. A regular Halloween is a day of candy, costumes, and for some, low-level vandalism. A day that authority figures may not completely turn a blind eye to what happens, but they at least turn a more forgiving glance. But Halloween on a weekend? All bets were off. No school meant longer trick or treating for the little kids. No school night meant fewer restrictions on the indiscretions of the older kids. Everyone in town knew it. The Hawk Hallow police had their hands full with the Hospital arson, but they knew tonight teenagers would push their limits, and it was their job to make sure that push wouldn't go too far.

For Abi Ahmad, it was going to be the best Halloween of her life. Mostly because it would be the first time she'd ever participated in Halloween at all. When Abi was seven, she asked her father why she couldn't trick or treat with the other kids. Dr. Ahmad responded that they didn't need Halloween, they had Eid.

Eid al-Fitr, or the Feast of the Breaking Fast, is one of the most important holidays on the Muslim calendar. It marked the end of Ramadan, the holiest month of the year, a period of extended feasting. In the Ahmad's native Turkey, they celebrated the end of the feast by visiting the graves of beloved family members, and children were given gifts of chocolate, baklava and sometimes, money. As Abi got older, she understood why her father related the two holidays together. The Ahmad's weren't comfortable with Halloween's embracing of demonic mythology. It was easier for Dr. Ahmad to ignore the holiday, which worked because Abi never had any friends that wanted to trick or treat with her. Mrs. Ahmad always made sure that the family had a bowl of candy ready for children who didn't understand their family's stance. She knew that the family didn't have to go out of their way to stand out any more than they already did.

Abi's family moved to Hawk Hallow in the fifth grade.  It wasn't easy on the family as Dr. Ahmad worked at a hospital outside Minneapolis. The hour commute every day had become routine for him. But to his wife and daughter, who did the drive once a week to the mosque, it was awful. The Ahmad's were outsiders in the small, conservative town. They were the only Muslim family in either Hawk Hallow or Cartersville, which they told Abi made her special. She was smart enough to know that it made her a target.

"If they don't want to talk to you because of who you are, then you don't need those people in your life," Dr. Ahmad always said.

Abi knew her father was right, but it didn't make things easier. By the time she reached the eighth grade, it just became part of life. She didn't talk to many people at Hawk Hallow and didn't talk to anyone at Carter-Hallow. She was happy just to be a faceless person in the halls. She was finally starting to understand what her father meant. Her grades were perfect, and she had plenty of time to focus on them without any distractions, with the exception of student government. Until Tyler and his goons attacked her.

This year had to be different. This year Abi was playing a huge role in the events of Halloween. This year she had to be out on the town, though she knew better than to tell her parents she was the strategist in an intricate revenge plot.

Abi hadn't decided how she was going to break it to her father. With Halloween on a Saturday, maybe he wouldn't notice. In her garage, Abi stuffed a large duffle bag with contraband. Each piece wrapped in a brown paper bag, which Abi ignorantly thought made them look less conspicuous. Clad head-to-toe in black, she looked like a ninja, which is exactly how she planned on moving tonight.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dr. Ahmad asked.

Caught red-handed.

"Nowhere," Abi said, unable to look in her father's eyes.

"Aabish...."

"I was just gonna go hang out for a while," Abi said.

"Aabish, I've told you before, your mother and I don't want you participating in this barbaric holiday!"

On a normal day, Dr. Ahmad would have had a nice conversation with his daughter about why this was so important to him. But, after finally getting his transfer to Hawk Hallow Area Hospital a few months ago only to have it burn down, he wasn't in the best mood.

"But, Dad, I'm not gonna celebrate anything, I just want to hang out with my friends!"

"So, now you're lying to me?" He asked.

Abi wasn't sure if her father thought she was a liar because she was going to go out and trick or treat --she wasn't-- or if she was a liar because she said she was going out with friends. Like, the idea of her possibly having friends was so unbelievable. That was insulting.

"No, I'm not lying," Abi said in a tone that she'd never spoken to her father with before.

"Can't you see what this demon worshipping tradition is doing to your brain?"

Both of them realized how ridiculous that sounded. Neither of them was willing to address it. Instead, they just stared at each other, neither flinching. It was the first time Abi had challenged her father.

"Go to your room! Immediately!" Dr. Ahmad shouted.

Abi wanted to yell back but couldn't. She just couldn't yell at her father. She just stared, tears welling up in her eyes until she couldn't hold them back anymore. Abi burst out and ran back into their house and up to her room. She threw her door open and crashed onto her bed. She pushed her face into her pillow and tried to muffle the sound of her tears. Why couldn't her father understand how important today was? How important Abi was.

Abi tried to ignore the knock at the door.

"Are you okay, Aabish?" Her mother, Aabidah asked.

"No, Dad's trying to ruin everything!"

Aabidah hated seeing their only child hurt. She also understood that her husband had been worried about their family's culture. She walked through the door and sat on her bed, gently stroking Abi's hair.

"Your father's not trying to ruin anything. Our faith is very important to us," she said. "You don't need Halloween. We just celebrated Eid."

"No! You don't understand!"

If her mother was trying to calm her down, it was failing.

"This isn't about Halloween! We've been living here for four years, and now I finally have real friends. I don't want to change my religion. I just wanna be a normal kid for once," Abi said.

Aabidah got it. Like her husband, she embraced her religion, it wasn't always easy. Often they found themselves looked at as if they weren't real Americans. Her husband was much more confrontational than she was, but they both shared the same feelings. Part of it was the way she felt the family was always excluded. She hated that. She wanted Abi to be a normal kid. And now the only ones stopping her from being normal was them.

"Okay," she said.

"What do you mean okay?" Abi asked.

"Go have fun with your friends. I'll talk to your father."

Abi jumped up and embraced her mother, squeezing her as hard as she could saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She smiled and said, "But I need you to come with me first."

They entered her bedroom, and Abi took a seat on her bed. She wasn't sure what her mother was doing, but she seemed very serious. Aabidah opened up her jewelry box and pulled out a small object.

"This was your grandfather's ring. It's like the one the Prophet wore," she said. Abi grabbed the ring with her thumb and forefinger. It was silver and engraved with a crescent moon and star, a traditional Muslim symbol.

"I can't wear this," she said.

"I know. His father gave it to him before he left for America and he wore it 'til the day he died. I just want to you have it."

Abi had seen rings like this before, but not quite this impressive. Her grandfather had passed away a few years after she was born, and though she didn't like to admit it to her mother, Abi had no memory of him.

"He always said that no matter where he went or what kind of challenges he faced, he always reached out with his hand in faith."

Abi admired the ring for a moment.  It reminded her of the Green Lantern ring. She placed it on her index finger like him and gave it another look. She still had no idea what she was going to do with it, but if all she had to do to get her way was take the ring, that was an easy choice. She placed the ring in her front pocket and ran out of her room. It was a very sweet gesture from her mother and the ring itself was cool. She'd do a little more digging on the ring later. Abi had far more important things to do today.

XXIV

The Haunted Hallow was ready for business. Though they'd been open for more than a week, the zombie crew-- a nickname the works gave themselves years earlier-- saw those nights like dress rehearsal. Today was the big day. Today was Halloween. And with Halloween being on a Saturday, they were sure to be busy all day long and well into the night.

"Gather round, gather round," a voice bellowed out.

The band of twenty-three workers, dressed in blood-splattered gear gathered in the Holding. The Holding was where the customers would wait in line before entering the less-than-scary Texas Chainsaw Thanksgiving scene, a set-up designed to lower expectations. It always worked. The same slight misdirection that sold Roscoe on the Hallow.

"Let's go, bring it in," Roscoe said again.

While his employees dressed in fairly typical horror attire, Roscoe had finally taken off that grey Confederacy-era coat and replaced it with long, priests' robe and a pair of large, tinted aviator sunglasses. He was also carrying a small container of Kool-Aid. The Jim Jones reference was a little over-the-top, and completely lost on his employees.

"Happy Halloween, y'all!" He said to a loud ovation. "Now, I know we've only been together a short time, and I know the Slaters will never be the Burks. To be sure, I damn well know that we can never replace the genius that was Mike Burk, but on this most sacred night, I want you all to remember something. The Haunted Hallow is a family institution. That's what tonight is all about: family."

The crowd nodded, hanging on his every word.

"You've taken my family in and made it part of your own. And for that, I am eternally in your debt. So let's remember that tonight is about families having fun. I can promise y'all that my family is going to have a lot of fun."

Bo and Kyra smiled. She was dressed in a long, flowing, white robe that looked ethereal as it hung from her thin frame. Bo wore a green jumpsuit that looked like it came off a garbage collector. Not terribly out of the ordinary, until he pulled the World War I-era gas mask over his head.

"But most importantly, with that fun comes fear. They don't have fun unless they're scared. Our job is to make sure they have fun, so in order to do that, you have to be absolutely terrifying. Trust me, they'll love it. And remember, no matter how much they beg, no matter how much they scream, never, ever break character."

The zombie crew stood there staring at their leader. Their hearts raced. A few bounced in place, gearing themselves up for the best night of the year. This was different than it was under Mike Burk. There was something in the air that made everything feel a little more real, a little more exciting. No matter what happened tonight, things were going to be scary.

"Let’s get in there!" Roscoe said.

Abi's bike pulled up right as the zombie crew let out a roar. As they marched into the Hallow toward their stations, she chained her bike up to the fence on the outskirts of the property.

"Ms. Ah-mad! Ms. Ah-mad!" Roscoe called toward her.

Roscoe always butchered the pronunciation of her name, always hitting the hard “A” sound and following it up with 'mad' instead of saying 'mod.' He could tell she didn't like the way he said her name. Not that he cared in the slightest.

"You're late."

"I'm sorry, my dad was giving me a hard time with--"

"It doesn't matter. Where's Cody and the other one?" Roscoe asked.

"You mean Nick?"

”Yeah, whatever. Where are they?"

"I haven't seen them. They're probably inside," Abi said.

"You better text those boys or whatever you kids do. This is the big day! It's time to unleash!"

"It absolutely is, sir," Abi said with a smirk.

XXV

The trick-or-treaters hit the streets at 1:00pm, as per city ordinance. That was two hours earlier than they would have had on a regular school day. Two more hours to roam the city and fill their bags. It also gave the bag-snatchers two more hours to roam the town searching for easy targets to pick off. Tyler Tomczak was the most prolific bag-snatcher in town. Considering he was almost sixteen, he had five years under is belt.

Any time Cody didn't spend at the halowl, he watched his brother, Connor. Cody tried to figure his exact routine, when he would leave the house, where he'd meet up with his friends, what they would do together. It was like studying apes in the wild. Connor left the house shortly after 11am. Cody kept his distance following behind. Connor and Mike Shonan met up at Tyler's house shortly after 11:30.

Cody pulled out his binoculars and scoped out the Tomczak property. While riding out there, Cody expected to find a rundown shack just outside of town in unincorporated Hawk Hallow with a rusty chain-link fence and car parts scattered on the front lawn. That wasn't what he found at all.

Instead, he hopped a ten-foot iron fence that kept the gated community called Hallowed Hills, separate from the rest of town. Now on foot and running between the trees, Cody watched his brother and Mike Shonan ditch their bikes in front of a four car garage McMansion. Hallowed Hills was an old money part of town where a lot of the doctors from the HHAH worked. This couldn't be the right place. But as Kevin Giantolli and Johnny Parkin walked out of the garage with Tyler himself, Cody made the shocking discovery that Tyler was nothing more than a spoiled, little rich kid. No wonder he got away with so much over the years.

Cody watched them hop on their bikes and head off with Tyler leading the pack. Here were five complete jerks going off to steal candy from unsuspecting eight and nine year-olds. Tyler, whose parents, by the looks of his house, could afford anything he wanted, was going to steal from little kids. What a piece of garbage.

Cody ran back toward the big, iron fence where he stashed his bike. They had a big head start, but that didn't matter. They were heading toward Town Square in downtown Hawk Hallow. It was a collection of small shops, restaurants and condominiums built up along the train station. It was only an hour train ride from Town Square to the Cities. This, according to Abi's research, was where they'd start their menacing. She really was smart, and judging from her suggestions on their torture room, insanely creative. Hanging out with her was more fun than expected. Never mind that, time to focus.

Cody hopped on his bike and rode the twenty minutes from Hallowed Hills to Town Square. He found an unassuming dumpster and hid his bike behind it, just out of sight from Main Street. Cody took off his backpack and unzipped the top pouch. He pulled out a mask called a face tube. Like a tight fitting cowboy's bandana, it covered the bottom part of his face, from the nose down the neck. He pulled the mask down over his head. The skull design looked badass, he thought. He then pulled out a black hat with an orange H in the center and placed it on his head. Dressed in black from head to toe, with the skull mask and hat, Cody looked like an ANTIFA warrior.

He reached into the tote and pulled out a carton of eggs. He zipped up the bag and stashed it under the dumpster. He would come back for it later. After this, he needed to be a fast as possible and the backpack would just weigh him down. The eggs were at least three weeks old and smelled terrible. Cody loaded the front pouch of his hoodie with six eggs and carried two more in each hand. He took a deep breath and walked out on to Main Street.

There they were. Tyler, Connor, and the rest of the goons just standing around watching the endless packs of kids in costume shuffle by. They were whispering to each other, plotting. Their bikes were in the rack outside Doc's Drug Store at least one hundred feet from them. That was good. He was going to need the space. Tyler pointed across Town Square to a single kid. He was a little heavyset and dressed like the Flash. He was by himself at the moment. Whether the Chunky Flash was trick or treating alone or he had just lost his friends, Cody wasn't sure. Connor and Kevin Giantolli broke from the pack and started circling toward him from the back. They were going to get this poor kid who couldn't have been older than nine or ten.

"Bullies," Cody whispered.

Tyler closed in on the trick-or-treater with Shonan and Parkin behind him.

"Hey, fatass, what do you got in the bag?" Tyler said.

The Chunky Flash's eyes grew big as he looked around and realized he was surrounded. He didn't say a word.

Cody took a breath and headed for the inevitable conflict. His heart was racing and his palms were moist. If he wasn't wearing gloves, those eggs would have already hit the pavement.

"I said, what's in the bag, fatass?"

Again, the Chunky Flash didn't say a word. Giantolli snatched the bag form behind.

"Hey, give that back!" The Chunky Flash said.

Cody tightened his arm and got ready to let loose when suddenly, he froze. He wanted to throw that egg. It was all he'd thought about the last month. Every night before bed, he'd lie there awake, fantasizing about this moment, but now it was here and he couldn't move. It was like the blitz against Morrisonville again. He choked. He let his arm drop to his side and watched Tyler dangle the bag over the Chunky Flash's head. Why couldn't he do anything? Why was he content to just watch the same way everyone at the Harvest Dance just watched Tyler kick him in the ribs. The same way he just watched them push Abi off her bike. The same way he watched him torture a girl. Abi was a great person. She was smart and funny and that asshole hurt her. Cody squinted his eyes and without even thinking he threw the first egg.

The egg sailed for only a second before exploding against Tyler's head. He reached up and touched his hair, pulling back and looking at the broken yolk in his fingers. Tyler reached up and stumbled backwards, like he had been shot in the head. Another egg flew in the air and hit him in the nose. Tyler dropped to a knee and covered his face.

"Who the fuck is that?" Connor asked.

The warrior in black stood tall in the center of Main Street. The goons sat there waiting for Tyler to get up. He reached into his front pouch and threw the rest of the eggs. Then, the warrior extended his hand up to his face mask and pulled down.

"Burk!" Tyler screamed.

As the freshmen goons broke and headed toward him, Cody's valiant stand broke. His eyes grew large as the reality of what he'd just done set in. This was exactly what he planned, but that didn't make it any less scary. As they closed in, Cody took off back toward the dumpster where his bike was waiting for him. He jumped on and headed off down Gable Point Road.

"Shit, he's gone!" Shonan screamed.

"Get the bikes," Tyler said coldly. "I know exactly where he's going."

XXVI

Cody took the turn hard and almost lost control of his bike as it whipped around the corner. A few quick moves through Town Square gave him some distance as Tyler and his cronies started to catch up. Cody saw the Haunted Hallow just below the hill on Gable Point Road. He knew the line would stretch around the building, and he could use that to help create some more space.

Cody pushed his mountain bike as hard as his thirteen-year-old quads could handle. His thighs burned, but he knew that pain would be a gentle kiss compared to what Tyler Tomczak was going to do to him this time.

He whipped his bike left and headed straight for the line.

"What are you doing?" Someone shouted as Cody whipped by.

Tyler's bike charged straight toward the line. The crowd turned back and saw the pack of kids racing towards them. Cody aimed directly at a high school couple, a skinny, blonde haired guy, and his short, brunette girlfriend. His bike veered in and out of the line, nearly missing several pockets of teenagers and elementary school kids. It wasn't the scare the Hallow customers were looking for, but it did the job. They tried to keep pace, but couldn't maneuver quite as well as Cody and nearly collided with a group of fifth graders.

Cody's bike veered away from the line towards the back of the building. He hit the brakes hard and his back wheel skidded out. Cody lost control and rolled off the bike. He quickly popped up and didn't bother brushing himself off. He headed toward the back emergency door. The same door he propped open early that morning, but to his surprise, the door was locked. Not just locked from the inside, but wrapped in chains and with a giant padlock linking the whole thing together.

"What the Hell?" He said grabbing the padlock.

“You're fucking dead."

Cody turned and there was Tyler about twenty yards from him. Strangely, Tyler didn't sprint toward him. Instead he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Cody couldn't tell what was in Tyler's hands until he heard the flick. A switchblade popped up from its handle. He knew Tyler was crazy but he never thought this was possible.

"Now, I'm gonna kill you."

XXVII

Tyler Tomczak knew exactly where he was going. He knew the second Cody Burk took off on his bike. The remnants of rotten eggs stained his clothes and clumped in his hair, but at the moment he didn't care. It didn't matter how fast Cody pedaled or how well he hid, he was going to find him. None of that mattered. He was going to find Cody Burk and he was going to kill him. Not in a metaphorical way, like he was going to beat him up so bad that he was going to wish he was dead. Tyler already did that a few weeks ago. Cody thought he was some kind of hero sticking up for the terrorist girl and needed to be put in his place. Tyler thought that he'd taken care of that, but he was wrong. Cody Burk was beyond teaching a lesson, which was a shame because that only left one alternative. He was going to murder Cody Burk.

As Tyler looked to the side he noticed that Connor wasn't riding with them. That was probably better. He wasn't going to want to watch his little brother die and worse yet, there was a chance that Connor might try to stop him.  Tyler didn't want to do anything crazy. He didn't take the switchblade from his old man's dresser to stick it in his friend. Connor had always been a bro. Like the time he stole those bottles of vodka from his parent's basement. It wasn't like Connor's old man was gonna drink it, right? No, Connor was a bro, but still, if he tried to stop Tyler, he'd have no choice but to kill him too. Better to just focus on Cody.

He saw Cody take the sharp turn down Gable Point and he knew he was right. He was heading for the Hallow. Little Burk really thought he could hide there? How pathetic. But in truth, Tyler couldn't think of a better place to kill him than at their family's special, little house. It was kind of funny.

Tyler had been thinking about what killing somebody would be like for a while. His mom's cat, Garfield, was easy. The thing pissed all over his clothes and didn't give the little shit a second thought when he grabbed the legs and ripped. It screamed for awhile, but thinking back on how it tried to move without legs was funny. It got boring though, so he lifted his foot and stepped on Garfield's head. It was like stomping ketchup packets back in elementary school. Killing Garfield didn't bother him. It was easy and made him wonder if killing a person could be as simple. He often lay awake at night thinking about how he'd do it or who he'd get. At first, the thought of getting caught kept him from trying, but eventually he stopped caring. If he got away with it, cool. If not, so what? Minnesota didn't have the death penalty. He'd just go to jail. That wouldn't be so bad. It's not like he was loving life at Carter-Hallow anyway. Besides, if he ever felt like doing it again, he'd be in jail, the only people he'd kill were criminals. So in a way, he'd be doing society a favor. Now it just made sense and he couldn't find a reason not to kill Cody Burk.

Tyler and his friends pulled up next to the Hallow. The line was moving chaotically, like a kid just rode his bike through. He knew Cody wasn't inside.

"Where're we going?" Mike Shonan asked.

"He's in the back," Tyler said calmly. "Stay here."

"That little bitch is dead," Mike added.

Tyler laughed. Mike had no clue how right he was. Tyler led his group to the front of the line and stepped in front of the skinny guy and his girlfriend.

"Where do you think you're going?" the Skinny Guy asked.

Tyler turned back and got in the Skinny Guy's face. He reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out the switchblade. He flicked his wrist and the cold, sharpened steel shot out. Tyler brought the blade just under the Skinny Guy's eye.

"Wherever I want."

The Skinny Guy just shook his head. Tyler didn't want to kill this guy. He was just some dude from school. But still, he had a point to prove. Tyler put the blade back in his pocket and marched toward the back.

Tyler could tell the guys were a little startled that he actually pulled out the knife. They knew Tyler started carrying one, but none of them had ever seen him use it before.

Tyler walked to the back and there was Little Burk playing with the backdoor. His little plan didn't work. Tyler took out the blade and said, "Now, I'm gonna kill you."

Little Burk froze for a second. Maybe this would be easier than he thought. Tyler took two steps toward him but Cody took off in the other direction. That was stupid. He should have told Shonan or Parkin to go around the other way but he didn't. Oh well. Time to start running again. Tyler pocketed the blade and gave chase.

Cody ran back to the front and headed toward the line.

"Hey, there he is!" Parkin shouted.

Giantolli jumped in front and tried to grab Cody, but the eighth grader reared back and punched Giantolli right in the face, dropping him to the ground. Cody didn't even break stride, he kept running, pushing his way through the line and into the Haunted Hallow.

“Get up, let’s go!" Tyler shouted.

Parkin pulled Giantolli up and they followed their leader as he pushed through the line. They entered the Hallow and ran past a cheesy looking scene that looked like it came out of bad horror movie. But there was Cody at the other end of the room, running into a dark tunnel.

"Get over here, Little Burk!" Tyler shouted.

The more Cody ran, the angrier Tyler got.

XXVIII

Cody ran into the black room and shouted, "They're coming!"

Never in a million years did he think Tyler would pull out the switchblade. But Tyler had the chance to cut him in the back and he didn't. Maybe he choked too. Or maybe Tyler was just a fake bully trying to scare him. Well, it worked, but now Cody was in the Hallow. Now he was home. Cody stopped in the center of the black room to catch his breath. He should have taken his place, but he wanted Tyler to see him disappear.

"You little shit!"

Cody didn't even have to turn around to know Tyler was there, but he did anyway.

"Come get me," he said with a smile.

Tyler took off after him and Cody ran toward the exit and slipped through a black curtain. Tyler picked up speed and tried to follow him through the curtain but instead ran smack into the wall. His face hit with such force that it dropped him to the ground. The room was washed in red light.

"Holy shit, Tyler, you okay?" Shonan said.

"I'm fine!"

Tyler stood up and blood was pouring out from his nose.

CRRRRREEEEEEKKKK

The freshmen looked up the ceiling.

"What was that?" Parkin asked.

THHUUMMMPPP  CLIK CLIK

"What's going on?" Giantolli asked.

CRRRRREEEEKKKKKK

"It's just a trick. Find the goddamn door!" Tyler said.

"Uh, Tyler, there is no door," Shonan said.

"What?"

"The only door was the one inside and it's locked!"

"Why would they--"

SNNNNNAAAPPPP

They looked up and the ceiling snapped and rapidly dropped down toward their heads. The freshman all screamed before the falling ceiling stood just inches from their heads.

"Holy shit! That was awesome," Shonan said.

Then the trap door in the ceiling sprung open.  The net shot out a second later, ensnaring them all.

"What the fu--" Tyler said.

Before he could even finish speaking, the first egg hit him right in his still bleeding nose. Then the second. Finally, the third. Before they knew it, they were pelted from above by dozens of rotten eggs. Then the brown paper bags started falling from the ceiling. When the first one hit, the smell of dog feces filled the room. They covered their heads but the brown bombs kept dropping. Eventually, the freshmen freed themselves from the net, but that didn't stop the sound of laughter from filling their ears.

"Cody Burk, I swear to God, I'm going to kill you!"

"Then come find me."

Cody's voice echoed through the room.

"Hey Tyler, I found the door!" Parkin said.

Tyler turned and saw a door in the same place that his face smashed into a wall not two minutes earlier.

"We're not leaving here until I find that little shit."

XXIX

Tyler walked out of Cody Burk's torture room and walked down a long hallway. He had to take his time now. He ran into that room and straight into a trap. Burk had no doubt set the whole thing up. He probably even sent the Chunky Flash to get his attention. Now that Tyler thought about it, it was a little too convenient that Connor just happened to disappear right when he did. He was probably behind this too. So much for being a bro. Now he was gonna have to kill him too. No great loss.

The sound of a chainsaw filled the room. Some kid dressed like Leatherface jumped out from behind the walls and swung the chainsaw over his head. Tyler reared back and punched him square in the nose, dropping Leatherface to the floor. Tyler jumped on top and ripped the mask off the zombie crew member, whose nose was already bleeding.

"Where is Cody Burk?"

"I have no idea! This is just a game, man. What the fuck is your problem?" Leatherface asked.

Tyler thought about cutting him, but that was just a waste of time. Still, it felt good to break someone else's nose. He punched him one more time for good measure and saw the dark tunnel with light barely seeping through.

"In there," he pointed.

The four freshmen walked through the whirling vortex. Tyler was far too focused to notice the room spinning and the floor moving beneath him. He just made his way through and took the turn toward the right and found himself inside the strobe cage. The lights bounced around them. This room was too strong to ignore. He tried to maneuver past the obstacles and the other people in the cage. Then he noticed there weren't any other people in the cage. Except the monkey man who was bouncing up and down in the back of the room. With every pulse, the monkey drew closer. Tyler knew it was just another dork in a mask but reached into his pocket anyway. The monkey man bounced around the room, moving in tandem with the flashing lights. Tyler was getting tired of playing these games and if the monkey man tried anything with him, he was going to get cut. The lights flashed and the monkey was right in front of his face, but just before Tyler could pull out the blade, the monkey disappeared. All that was left was a white blur that moved in the background. Tyler was sure it was just a special effect. Some light making him think he saw a ghost or something.

The white blur ebbed and flowed through the room before settling just behind him. When he turned around, he didn't find a ghost, but a woman with dirty blonde hair wearing a long, silky, flowing gown that almost hung in mid-air. The girl was pretty, but a little trashy, the exact way he liked.

Tyler moved closer toward the girl, trying to get a solid look at her between pulsating strobe. Tyler looked down and realized she was hovering above the floor, her gown gently dancing in the air. She smiled his way and suddenly her eyes changed shape and blue light burst out from her pupils. This wasn't some special effect, and even if it was, Tyler had had it with the people of the Haunted Hallow. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the switchblade. Flicking his wrist, he drew the weapon and pointed. The ghostly girl laughed uncontrollably and with each barbed cackle her face was twisted and contorted. He lifted the knife into the air and tried to slice forward, but the harder he swung, the faster the room spun. Tyler dropped the weapon and tried to run back toward the door, but Kyra's fingers morphed into freakishly long talons that stretched across the room. Not knowing what else to do, he picked the knife back up and held it close to his body. Kyra smiled as her unearthly figure engulfed Tyler. She raised her jagged claw into the air and swiped down.

XXX

"Where are we?" Nick asked as he found himself face to face with himself.

"The Hell of Mirrors," Cody said.

"The Hell of Mirrors?" Abi parroted.

She turned her head and saw eight different versions of herself. The room wasn't just a regular old room filled with fun-sized mirrors. Instead the room was full of fake smoke and each mirror was accented by the neon lights that surround its border. Smoke and lights created a trippy scene that freaked out many kids over the years. It was Mike Burk's favorite room and from what Cody could tell, unlike the rest of the Hallow, it had been completely untouched. It was the same as he remembered.

"My dad got the name from some comic book," Cody said.

The three of them had their revenge and took the back secret hallways across the Hallow and headed for the Hell of Mirrors which was also where the nearest emergency exit was located. Mr. Slater had been really cool to them, but Cody had what he wanted, and the more time they stuck around the Hallow, the worse things would get. Especially for Nick and Abi, who the goons never saw. As far as anyone knew they had nothing to do with anything. As soon as they got out, they were scot free. Cody could deal with the consequences on his own.

Abi and Nick were both locked on their own reflections in the mirrors. The green lights and thick smoke didn't do much to enhance either of their reflections.

"This room sucks," Nick said.

Abi shrugged, as if to say, 'I kinda like it’.

"It's just a bunch of mirrors, guys," Cody said, not even bothering to look at his reflections.

"Why don't we just stay here?" Nick asked.

"Because, moron, a room with a bunch of mirrors is the worst possible place to hide," Abi said.

Cody walked over to the emergency exit and pushed. Nothing happened. Cody pushed again but the door wouldn't move. They were stuck in the Hell of Mirrors. It was almost the exact same trick they used on Tyler in their room.

"Uh, guys," Cody said. "I can't get the door open."

"What does that mean?" Nick asked.

"It means this emergency exit is locked. Probably locked from the outside."

"What makes you think that?" Abi asked.

"When I got here, I tried to sneak in through the back door but it was all chained up and padlocked."

"Who would do that?" She added.

"I dunno, Mr. Slater is always going on about how the fear has to be real. Maybe he locked all the doors so that no one could leave?"

"Why would he do that?" Abi asked again.

"I dunno, I am kinda scared," Cody said.

"But that's wrong. It's a violation of the fire code," Abi said.

"Oh no, it's violation of the fire code," Nick said with a mocking cartoon voice.

"She's right. This isn't good. It's scary, but not the good kinda scary," Cody said.

"What now, Captain Crunch?" Abi asked.

"You too?" Cody shook his head.

"For real, what do we do?" Nick added.

"There's another emergency exit in the back. We can try that."

"And if that one is locked too?" Abi asked.

"Then we gotta go through the whole Hallow and head to exit, like the customers. Gives Tyler another chance to get us." Cody paused for a second. "We should split up."

"Are you kidding me? Have you never seen a horror movie?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, I don't like that idea at all. We gotta stay together," Abi added.

"I just don't want you guys getting in trouble with me."

"We're in this too. We knew what we were doing," Abi said.

"Okay. Here we go."

The three of them tore themselves away from their twisted reflections as they fell in behind Cody, who led them through the Hell of Mirrors and out into the hallways of the Hallow. They knew Cody was in his element here, but they were surprised when he nonchalantly stepped over a blood-covered, blonde girl wearing cat ears strewn out on the floor. Nick and Abi stopped and stared at the collapsed body.

Cody turned back and said, "Relax, it's just a dummy."

Of course it was.

XXXI

Night fell across the state of Minnesota and the line at the Haunted Hallow started to flow into the streets. The crowd that, minutes earlier, was upset with a group of teenagers causing trouble had already made their way through the maze and came out the other side raving.

"Everything looked so real!" One girl said.

"Yeah, they grabbed a guy that was walking next to us and pulled him through a wall!" Cheered another.

The consensus was in, and the youth of Hawk Hallow wanted more of what Roscoe Slater had to offer. But the line was bigger than he expected. So big that they couldn't possibly keep pace with what the community wanted, let alone with what was really happening inside. Their inability to feed on everyone that walked through worked to their benefit as there were far more potential treats than they had expected. Not having to slaughter the entire populace made for a much longer feeding period than any of them were used to, not to mention how much cash lined Roscoe's pocket. He was so impressed he thought about taking this show on the road next Halloween.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step inside the legendary, revolutionary, and certainly never ordinary, Haunted Hallow!" Roscoe bellowed.

The crowd cheered as the man in the blood-stained clergy robes raised his arms, mocking Christ with his pose. He eyed up a group of third graders dressed as their favorite Justice Leaguer and lowered to one knee. Leaning in face to face with a pint-sized Batman, he sneered.

"Come, my babies! Come embrace your darkest fears inside these horrific chambers of doom!"

The little Batman was far from a brave avenger of the night. Roscoe watched the boy quiver and saw a small tear start to trickle down his face. Roscoe shot the boy a smile and a wink. He got the reaction he wanted. The boy was terrified before even entering the Hallow. Besides, it wasn't like Roscoe, or the family, were going to feed on children. They weren't filling and covering them up was far too much work. When a child goes missing, people immediately take notice. Their worst fears start to materialize and folks immediately spring into action. But when a teenager disappears, people are much less inclined to think about it. Teenagers are moody and are known to disappear for a few days.

It being Halloween, Roscoe figured he'd have a nice twenty-four-hour window before anyone really questioned what happened to these teenagers. By then, the family would be halfway to Albuquerque, on to their next site to set their next trap. But so long as they were still in Hawk Hallow, Roscoe continued to embrace his new role: carnival barker.

"Step through the halls of the Haunted Hallow. It's an experience you won't have time to forget!"

XXXII

"This is disgusting!"

Abi sneered as she tried to hold back the stomach bile forcing its way up her throat. While most rooms in the Hallow were dark or moody, this room was blindingly bright. White tiles covered the floor and walls, overhead lamps bounced piercing, bright light throughout the room. The abundance of white made sure everyone inside could see the fresh blood splattered against the tile and the rows of dead pigs hanging from the ceiling, dangling from sharp metal hooks.

"It's a meat locker," Cody said. "It's always been a meat locker. When my uncle died and gave us this old slaughterhouse, my dad was walking through here and was so grossed out here that he decided to build the Haunted Hallow. He didn't wanna change this room."

Abi looked at the chunks of severed pig remains hanging before her and tried not to be sick.

"He could have at least cleaned it up since then," she said.

"It's not real. It's foam rubber covered in corn syrup and food coloring," Cody said.

Nick poked at a hunk of pig torso hanging in front of him with his finger. This didn't feel like foam rubber.

"I don't think so, dude," he said.

"You can't have people walking around a real slaughterhouse. It's illegal. I think," Cody said, now starting to question it himself. "There's an emergency exit at the other end of the room. We just gotta get out of here before my brother and the idiots find us."

"Why the rush? This place is awesome," Nick said.

"Bunch of nasty looking pigs hanging around, you must feel right at home," Abi said.

Nick opened his mouth but couldn't find the right words.

"Shut up," was the best he could do.

"Good one," she said.

Cody chuckled. Seeing Nick at a loss for words was always entertaining, but what he didn't notice was the set of human legs dangling behind him. Abi did.

"Shit."

"What?" Cody asked.

Abi and Nick both covered their mouths and backed up until they were against the wall.

"What?" Cody asked again.

Abi put her finger to her lips and motioned to shush. She pointed behind Cody, who had seen enough cartoons to know that nothing good was behind him. Still, he followed suit, turning around as slow as possible and finding a set of legs swaying back and forth. He craned his neck a little higher and found the rest of the person. Tyler Tomczak was hanging high above with two large metal hooks tucked underneath his armpits. Other than his eyes being closed, nothing seemed out of sorts, but something was up.

Cody backed away from Tyler and rejoined the others.

"What's he doing?" Cody whispered.

"He's trying to pull one over on us," Nick said.

"I don't think so, Nick," Abi responded.

"Not this time, Tyler," Nick said as he creeped away from the group.

"What are you doing?" Cody whispered.

Nick ignored his friend's warning, as he slowly slinked around the room, trying move away from what he thought was Tyler's line of sight. Once he was sure that he couldn't be seen, Nick crept up on those dangling legs and very gently took hold of Tyler's jeans. He remembered that pantsing given to him in the hallways last year. He remembered hearing the kids chant "tightie whities" during gym class. Nick was going to return the favor.

"Wait a sec--" Abi tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Nick grabbed hold of those pant legs and pulled as hard as he could. The pants came down and so did the entire lower half of Tyler Tomczak's body. Less than a second later so did everything that was supposed to be kept inside Tyler's abdomen and chest. Blood and innards spilled out onto the floor and Nick looked down at his blood stained arms and backed up. Tyler's torso was still swaying back and forth between the hooks.

"Holy shit, you killed him!" Abi cried out.

"Nu-uh!Nu-uh, no I didn't!" Was all Nick could say.

Abi screamed, and Cody covered her mouth. She pointed up to the lights. In unison the boys all looked up and there were Mike Shonan, Kevin Giantolli, and Johnny Parkin. Their bodies strung up in the rafters between those harsh burning lights, way higher than anyone should have looked.

"Cody, please tell me this was another one of your dad's tricks," Abi asked, already knowing the answer.

Cody just shook his head as he frantically scanned the rafters, looking for something else. His eyes moved back and forth hoping with each turn of his head that what he was looking for would suddenly materialize.

Nick banged on the emergency exit door that Cody talked about, only to find it too, sealed off with another padlock and rust-covered chain. He pulled on the handle again and again, hoping in vain to pull off some amazing feat of strength. But nothing happened. They were trapped.

"We are dead! We are freaking dead!" Nick screamed, no longer caring if anyone heard him.

"Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Sam'i Allahu liman hamidah, Rabbana wa lakal hamd," Abi dropped to her knees and started praying.

Cody kept scanning the rafters, looking to confirm his fear.

"Where's Connor?" Cody asked under his breath.

"What?" Nick responded.

"He's not here," Cody's trembling voice said to himself.

Cody focused back on the moment and grabbed Abi by the shoulder, pulling her up to her feet. He then walked over to Nick, who was still banging on the door.

"Stop it," he said.

Nick ignored him and kept banging on the door, hoping to draw someone's attention.

"I said, stop it!"

Cody slapped Nick across the face. It worked, Nick stopped panicking.

"You've gotta keep it together," Cody said.

"Keep it together? I just ripped Tyler Tomczak's legs off! I literally can't keep it together!"

"Freaking out and screaming is just letting whoever did this know where we are," Cody said calmly.

"We have to stay calm and find the real exit. It's gonna be the only one open. We can do this and we can stay out of whoever's doing this' way. We just gotta keep calm and stay quiet."

"All right, I'm calm. Let's just get outta here," Nick said between deep breaths.

"Not yet," Cody added.

"What do you mean, not yet?!?!" Nick screamed again.

"Shhh!" Cody said, again trying to calm Nick down. "We've gotta find my brother first."

XXXIII

"Trick or treat!"

Leah Burk opened the door and found four adorable first graders dressed like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Each held out plastic bags, awaiting their candy.

"Hey, guys! Don't you look cute!" She said as she passed out peanut butter cups.

"Thank you, Mrs. Burk," the heroes-in-the-half-shell said in unison.

In a rush, they ran off her porch and toward the next house.

"Happy Halloween," she said closing the door behind.

Halloween was always a fun time around the house. While Mike spent each October 31st at the Hallow, it was her job to take the boys trick-or-treating. When they were too old to be trick-or-treating with Mom, it was her job to man the door, which was far and away the most important position to hold. She was not only keeper of the goods, but she was also in charge of making sure the house befell no tricks. Having never spent a November 1st cleaning up eggs and toilet paper meant she served the job well.

This year was different. With all the changes the family had gone through, she expected a rough Halloween, but things were stranger than she expected. She thought unloading the Hallow would make things simpler, and sure they were fifteen thousand dollars richer, but it wasn't making it any easier. The boys weren't speaking to each other, and her job at the hospital was up in the air. Maybe it was time to leave Hawk Hallow? She still had family in Illinois, maybe that was the best plan. Connor and Cody weren't going to like it, but with the kids Connor was hanging around lately, that was probably a better move. Cody's friends were all nice kids, but he was so moody lately. She wondered if maybe he was turning into a bad influence on them. The more she thought about it, the more she was certain that going to stay with Yay and Taa--Cambodian for Grandma and Grandpa-- for a while was the smart thing to do.

DING DONG

The doorbell rang, and Leah grabbed the bowl of candy. She opened the door and to her surprise, found a stocky, bald man. There was something familiar about him. Once the foul stench of B.O. hit her nose, she remembered their confrontation at Starbucks last month.

"Trick-or-treat, Ms. Burk," Blake said.

"Mr. Blake. I'm sorry, but I think you're a little too old for trick-or-treating," she said.

“Ms. Burk, I'm not here for jokes. You've made a grave mistake, and you need to come with me."

"I don't think so," Leah said.

She tried to slam the door shut, but Blake stuck his foot into the jam. He pushed his face into the opening and tried to force his way through the entry.

"You don't understand, Ms. Burk!"

"Get off my property or I'm going to call the police!"

"I don't think so."

Leah looked down and found the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun peeking through.

"Open the door," Blake said.

Leah stepped back and let the noxious-smelling man into her home. It was going to take weeks to wash the smell out of the place.

"The man you sold the Haunted Hallow to, Roscoe Slater, is a very dangerous individual."

Leah quietly took a seat on her couch, never breaking eye contact with Blake.

"I remember you said that before," she said.

"You don't understand, Mrs. Burk, your children may already be dead."

"What!"

Leah sprung up and was face to face with him. The smell almost knocked her back down.

"Like I said, you need to come with me. But I fear we may already be too late."

Leah had a terrible feeling about following him, but what choice did she have? There was a good chance that he was going to kill her if she followed him, but there was probably a better chance that he was going to kill her if she didn't follow him. She couldn’t see herself coming out ahead in either scenario. The thought of the boys coming home and finding her body sprawled out on the floor was something she couldn't handle.

"Okay, where are we going?”

XXXIV

Cody led his friends through the vortex. They weren't as impressed with the spiraling lights as they might have been a few minutes earlier. They stopped in a hallway between rooms while Nick raised his phone above his head.

"Nothing. I can't get a freaking signal anywhere!"

"Will you be quiet?!"

Abi raised her voice as high she could while keeping a whisper.

"Mi-mi-mi-mi," Nick whispered back.

"Knock it off. Abi's right, we have to stay quiet or else they're gonna find us," Cody said.

Abi heard it first. It started out with a small gasp. A wheezing sound seemed to come over each of their shoulders. Cody looked to his left expecting to see someone behind him, but there was nothing. Just the four of them. But the wheezing continued, growing more rapid and intense. They started moving in small circles trying to find the wheeze, which was drawing closer with every belated breath. Then it stopped.

Silence.

"Hehehe."

They turned back toward the vortex and found a single figure standing inside. A body cloaked in black. Its face covered by an expressionless, white mask. Light shined off the tip of a butcher knife it pulled out from its cloak and held high over its head. The wheezing started again as it pointed the weapon toward Abi.

"Hehehehe...."

It unleashed an unholy screech and then sprinted toward them, extending the blade toward Abi. The group dispersed, taking off in different directions. Abi broke left trying to outpace her attacker, while Nick hobbled his way to the right. They were all randomly bouncing about the room trying to keep their distance from the killer. Except for Cody, he just stood there staring at the maniac as it tried to catch Abi.

Cody gritted his teeth and cried out, "Where is my brother?"

It didn't break stride, so Cody lowered his shoulder and attacked. Just like he once did on the fields at Hawk Hallow Middle School, Cody drove his weight straight into its solar plexus. The assailant let loose a high pitch scream. Cody mounted its chest and threw his fist straight onto the expressionless face.

"Get him!" Nick yelled as he and Abi both jumped on top of the laid out predator.

"Tell me what you did to my brother," Cody said between body blows.

"Get off me, you little psychopath!" it said in a very feminine voice.

Cody tore the mask off and found a slightly overweight girl, who was just a few years older than them. It was Katie Murray, a girl that lived three houses down from Nick. They immediately dismounted and stood at attention.

Katie slowly pulled herself back up to her feet. Obviously in a lot of pain, she wiped the tears from her eyes and yelled,

"I haven't seen your stupid brother! I'm gonna go find Mr. Slater and--sniff--he's gonna throw your sorry butts out of here. Freaking jerk-offs."

She kept sobbing as she limped back through the vortex. Cody and Nick both hung their heads in shame.

"Sorry, Katie!" Abi shouted.

"I think I accidentally elbowed her in the boob," Nick whispered.

"Gross," Abi said in disgust.

Cody shook his head. He didn't care that he just tackled and attacked an innocent girl. Instead, he fumed.

"Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah, I just got to first base with a high school chick," Nick said.

"And you wonder why no girls talk to you," Abi said. "Grow up."

"No. It means the people working for the Hallow have no idea what happened to Tyler and them. We're stuck in here with a real serial killer and a bunch of dorks just pretending."

"Unfortunately, there's only one way we're going to know the difference," Abi said.

XXXV

Leah Burk calmly unlocked the doors of her 2015 Lincoln Town & Country rental van. Blake, the sawed-off shotgun hidden inside his wrinkled trench coat, opened the passenger door and took a seat. Leah turned the ignition and slowly pulled out of her driveway. She wanted to freak out, but couldn't. With everything the family had been through this year, her eating the barrel of a shotgun wasn't a step in the right direction. She just needed to keep calm and see this thing through.

"Why are you driving a rental car?" Blake asked, looking out the back window.

"We got into a car accident last month. We're still waiting for the insurance check."

"Accident…?”

Blake nodded. Leah remembered the old cartoons with the thought balloon showing the hamster in the wheel. His stench was nearly unbearable. Trapped in such a tight space, there wasn't much she could do. She tried breathing through her mouth to give her nose a break.

"Where are we going, Mr. Blake?" She asked, sounding like she had a cold.

"The Haunted Hallow. Hopefully, we can stop him before he kills anyone else."

Blake placed the shotgun directly between them, he gazed out the window with that thousand-yard stare. It uncomfortably reminded her of the same stare Cody started developing. Blake never looked over at Leah. He kept his focus down the road, barely moving at all.

"What did you mean when you said, my children were in danger? That's not something you tell a mother without an explanation," she said slowly.

Leah tried to get him to open up a little, but not too much. It wasn't like she wanted to know anything about this man. She just wanted to know whatever he knew about her children.

"I've spent the last forty years following the Slaters all over this country. I've watched them tear through jerk-water towns like this hundreds of times."

He didn't answer her question. Maybe he didn't know anything and lied to get her to follow him. But why?

"And you haven't called the police because?"

"Be serious, lady. Cops have better things to do than die," Blake said.

"I don't even know what that means."

"The Slaters, they're not human. We think they're some kind of military experiments cooked up by the Government during Vietnam, under the command of Colonel Roscoe Slater," Blake said.

She was almost afraid to ask.

"We?"

"The Network. We hide in the shadows, speaking only through a series of codes on encrypted channels. We hide our messages in plain sight. Television commercials, print ads, billboards, even certain novels. But not the internet, that's far too dangerous. You never know when they could be listening."

He was crazier than she thought, and now she was stuck inside a car with him and his shotgun. And for all that crazy talk, he still hadn't answered her question.

"That bastard took the most honest and beautiful person I've ever known. He twisted and mutated her brain. By the time I finally got her away from him, she was too far gone. It looked like her, sounded like her, but it wasn't her. He took her from me, and I'm going to take everything from him."

"He killed your wife?" She asked.

Blake reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an old picture frame. Setting it on his lap, he gently stroked the corners. Leah didn't want to take her eyes off the road but couldn't help herself. There was a yellowing photograph of an overweight, middle-aged woman in glasses with her hands folded in her lap. While she wasn't smiling, Leah didn't have any reason to believe that she wasn't a nice lady. There was something very familiar about her face. The picture had to be over forty years old, but she was positive that she'd seen that face before.

"She was an angel. The center of my world. She was everything to me," Blake started to tear up. "She was my mother."

Mother. That's when it hit her. Leah knew where she had seen that face before. It was the face of the woman that was sprawled out on Gable Point Road last month. The mother of the family that died in the accident. She would never forget that image. It was burned into her memory. She didn't recognize her at first because the hair was different, and she wasn't wearing glasses, but Leah was certain that this was the same person in the photograph on Blake's lap.

"He needs to be stopped. Roscoe Slater's fighting a war and mankind is the enemy."

XXXVI

Nick followed behind Cody and Abi as they trekked through the darkened halls of the Hallow. He never put his cell phone away. He kept staring at the home screen, wondering why he couldn't catch anything close to a signal. Nick couldn't remember having such a tough time getting a signal while they worked down there all month. Why now? There was probably some science behind it. He was sure Abi could probably explain it to him, but then he would just get a long drawn out answer that he wouldn't care about or understand. His cellphone didn't work. That's all he needed to know. Still, he kept looking down at the screen, hoping something would change.

One thing changing that he wasn't a fan of was how close Abi was walking toward Cody. It was obvious to everyone that Abi was into Cody and Cody didn't care. Like most other things, girls just came easy to him. Nick understood why, he was athletic, good looking and brooded like he didn't care about anything. Being his best friend, Nick knew that it wasn't an act. Cody didn't care about the same things as most people their age. He was too wrapped up in his little pity party to care about anything. It annoyed Nick sometimes, but then he remembered that his best friend was pretty screwed up. When Mr. Burk died, Cody ran to his house and spent the better part of three days crying in Nick's bedroom. He wouldn't leave, he just wanted to stay there with Nick's family. The rest of the summer all Cody talked about was death. Even when he calmed down with the morbid talk, he still wasn't the same guy he grew up with anymore. Nick wasn't sure why no one else couldn't see it, especially Abi.

"What are you looking at?" She asked him.

"The Princess of Eternal Darkness!" Nick responded mockingly.

“What?"

"Nothing. You just look really stupid in that outfit," he said.

"You're such a dork," she said.

There was something about her that made him angry. Yes, she was smart but the fact that she had to act like she was so much smarter than everyone else annoyed him. So did her brown eyes, which weren't just regular brown, like his. They were almost this burning tinged shade of brown. That must have been it, her eyes were too brown. That's why they were annoying. It had nothing to do with how pretty they were. Still, it annoyed him how she just hung on Cody's every move. There were other people in the group too. What about him? He was a good dude. Everybody thought he was funny.  Probably because he wasn't broody enough for her. So what? She shouldn't think she was something special. She was a nerd. Whatever. Her loss anyway.

"Help! Help!"

A voice came screaming from behind them. A figure emerged from the shadows, sprinting toward them. His face was torn and bloody, his purple t-shirt soaked in red liquid that Nick hoped was just corn syrup. He stopped in front of them. His eyes were wide and erratic. The jagged scratches on his face oozed. He looked them up and down for a second before grabbing Cody and pulling them face to face.

"You have to get out of here now! There's this priest! He's a monster. He grabbed Karyn. She's dead! He killed her!"

"Calm down," Abi said, putting her hands on his shoulder.

He flinched and grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in close to him.

"You don't understand! He's a murderer, but he's not human! He changed into this demon with blue skin and sharp claws!"

"Phil?" Cody asked.

"Cody, you have to get out of here before he gets you too. Promise me you'll all leave! Promise me!"

"Yeah, man. No problem," Cody assured him.

"I gotta go! I have to find help! Don't let him get you too!" he shouted as he ran down the hall.

"What was that about?" Abi asked.

"That was Phil Callaway," Cody said.

"The wrestler guy?" Nick asked.

Nick heard his older brother Chris tell stories about the wrestling shows.

"Yeah. He works here. I almost believed him 'til he started talking about monsters."

"I don't know, man, those marks on his face--"

"It's just make-up, Nick. C'mon, he's just part of the show. We've gotta keep going," Cody said.

XXXVII

Leah sat there listening to Blake go on and on about secret military operations and government coups. She thought he'd mentioned something about Roscoe Slater and the Kennedy assassination, or something. She had stopped paying attention to the craziness and started thinking about her boys. They came up the hill on Jericho Avenue and saw the lines circling the Haunted Hallow. She was proud, maybe even a little jealous, seeing how much foot traffic was out there. She still wasn't sure what the deal was between Slater and Blake, but it looked like she sold the Hallow to the right person.

"Disgusting. Children lining up for their re-education from that mad man. Each of them is a potential soldier in this war."

"What does that mean?" Leah asked.

"You'll see."

Leah had no idea what that meant. She was beyond frustrated with the situation. Blake hadn't told her anything about her children and was starting to believe he was just a crazy person who didn't know anything about her boys. How was she going to get out of this?

"Where do you want me to park?" She asked.

"Park in the lot like a regular customer. We'll start reconnaissance from there."

"Okay."

Whatever the hell that meant.

Leah pulled into the lot and parked next to a red Toyota Camry. She saw the waves of kids from seven to seventeen scattered around the property. This would have made Mike happy.

She stepped out of the van and asked, "What do we do now, Mr. Blake?"

CLIK CLIK

"We find Roscoe," he said loading the shotgun.

"If that son of a bitch did anything to my boys," she said trying to gain Blake's trust.

Blake nodded at her as they started to walk toward the Hallow. To Leah's surprise they got in line with the rest of the customers. This wasn't what she expected. The two of them stood in silence as the line inched closer to the entrance. Leah looked over to Blake who was still hiding his shotgun inside that stinky coat. This situation was about to get a lot worse and she had no idea how to work her way out of it.

"Hey, hey, Mrs. Burk!"

Leah turned and found Dave Yarbrough, a senior at Carter-Hallow who worked at the Hallow every fall since he was in the seventh grade. Dave was a rail thin boy with red hair and deep pox scars from his bad acne. He wasn't the most attractive kid in the world, but he was very nice.

"Dave!"

Leah grabbed Dave and pulled him in for a tight hug.

"I need your help," she whispered.

Dave pulled back and looked at her strangely and then looked over to Blake. He seemed confused for a second before nodding.

"I know what you mean. Come with me."

Dave grabbed Leah by the hand and pulled her out of line. Blake followed closely behind. He led her up to the front of the line. Leah hoped that he was taking her to the office where she could talk to Mr. Slater or maybe even call the police. Dave stopped directly in front of the ticket counter and pointed to the ticket-taker.

"Hey, this here is Mrs. Burk. She's the reason we all have a job here and right now she needs us," Dave said.

Leah's heart started pumping harder. Her eyes moved down to Blake's trigger hand. His arm was tightening. This wasn't at all what she wanted.

"We're gonna let Mrs. Burk inside to check out the new Haunted Hallow. No charge!" Dave said. "Oh, and her new boyfriend."

Eww! Leah gagged at the thought of her being anything more than Blake's hostage.

Dave turned back and smiled like he was the world's toughest negotiator. Dave Yarbrough was a very sweet boy that was as dumb as a turnip.

"Absolutely!" The ticket-taker said.

Blake took her arm with his free hand. She didn't like the idea of him playing up this boyfriend thing. The door opened and for the first time, Leah stepped into the Haunted Hallow as a customer. She had no idea what to expect.

XXXVIII

Nick opened another door and stepped through into a vast warehouse. It was a huge, vacant room with a flipped over semi-truck in the center. There were dozens of shattered, wooden crates and more dismembered hog carcasses scattered. These ones were definitely made of foam rubber.

"Cody, I think I've been coming here for years, and I've never been in here," Nick said. "This is just an empty room. I mean, who thinks car crashes are scary?"

Cody stopped and turned and looked Nick right in the eyes.

"Sorry," Nick said under his breath.

"Seriously, what is with the pigs?" Abi asked.

"Why, you jealous?" Nick responded.

"That doesn't even make sense."

"You don't even make sense," Nick said again under his breath.

"There should be another exit over there."

Cody pointed to small door across the warehouse.

"Run out and call the cops."

"What about you?" Abi asked.

"I can't go anywhere without Connor."

She could see that there was no talking him out of anything. But she still wasn't sure he understood what was going on.

"Cody, you saw what happened to those guys back there. Connor might not--"

"Don't even finish that sentence."

"I'm just trying to say maybe--"

"No! He's still alive. I didn't see him back there with the rest of them. That means he's still here. He's gotta be here. If he isn't...it's my fault. I can't--"

Cody couldn't finish the sentence. Abi saw him struggling to hold back his emotions. She wanted to give him a hug, but she was afraid he wouldn't accept it.

"Bad news. This one's locked too," Nick said, cutting their tension. "We're stuck in here with God knows what."

"Not even God knows what we are!"

A screeching, female voice boomed throughout the warehouse. The floor trembled beneath them. Again, they turned in small circles, trying to find the owner of that shrill Southern twang.

"That's not a special effect, "Cody said.

"What the--"

Nick's sentence was cut off when Kyra Slater let loose another bellowing cry.

SKKKKRRRREEEEEEE

They dropped to their knees, covering their ears. Cody tried to keep his eyes open and saw Kyra walking barefoot on the concrete floor. Her white gown flowed like smoke trailing off behind. Once more, she let out an ear-piercing shriek that knocked them all over.

SSSSKKKRRRREEEEE

"Teehee," Kyra laughed.

Kyra went down to her hands and knees and crawled toward Cody. Her long fingers scaled his teenage frame. Cody tried to wiggle his way out but she perched herself on his chest. She seemed to enjoy teasing him. The power of her new body almost matched the power of her true form, especially with teenage boys. One more ear-splitting shriek stopped him from moving at all.

"What's a matter, baby? Your little ears hurtin'?" She asked.

Cody couldn't answer. Mostly because he couldn't hear what she was saying. Normally, the thought of a beautiful, blonde woman in a silky, white dress would have been something right out of his dreams. But this wasn't quite what he had in mind. She ran a long finger down his chest and smiled. Her fingers danced back up his chest and gently touched him on the nose.

"Boop."

Cody couldn't move. Paralyzed with fear, he still wasn't sure if she was part of the show or something worse. She raised her index finger above his head. Cody watched in amazement as the finger stretched out way longer than any normal person's finger should. It snapped, bending to a right angle and coming to a sharp, jagged point. This was definitely not part of the show.

Abi struggled to climb to her feet and saw what was happening to Cody. She looked around for something to hit the creature with but couldn't find anything. Abi ran over, grabbed Kyra by the hair, and ripped as hard as she could pull, releasing Cody. Kyra's eyes were glowing with an eerie, blue hue. She reached back and smacked Abi with the backside of her malformed hand.

Abi's body flew for a moment before hitting the cold concrete. She wiped the blood away from her mouth and looked back to Kyra, who spread her arms out and began floating in the air. Her hands snapped and twisted into claws, while her face melted to the shape of a demonic mask, as blue light poured out of her facial cavities.

Cody struggled back to his feet and lowered his shoulder again. He took off and tried to attack the ghostly creature with the same tackle that had aided him many times before. Her talons caught his legs and whipped him into an errant crate, shattering it on impact. Kyra then turned toward Nick, who had no intention of crawling back up to his feet. She floated over to him and wrapped her claws around his face and pulled him in close.

"Lookie, lookie at this chunky, little baby. I ain't had one of these in years. I wonder if they still taste like camel shit."

Cody pulled himself back up again, trying to shake off what was probably a nasty concussion. He looked down and found a broken two by four with two rusty nails sticking out. He grabbed the wooden stake like a baseball bat and swung for the fences like Mike Trout. The smack of lumber caught Kyra in the head, driving the bent nails deep into her face. Cody wrenched the plank and ripped it out of his Kyra's skull. A burst of bright blue light flooded out from the jagged tears in her face. She screeched even louder than before as her body cracked and contorted. Cody looked down at the suffering creature and gripped the two by four tighter.

"Where is my brother," he said.

She answered with a shrill wail.

SSSSKKKKKKRRRREEEEEEE

Cody had no idea what that screech meant. He lifted the splintered piece of wood and let loose one more time, driving the nails back into her body. He ripped it out again and heard the unholy wail. Pulling his weapon back, he slammed it against the creature's body again and again. The more times he struck, the more light fought to escape the torn husk of a body.

"What the hell is coming out of her?" Nick asked.

"Smokeless fire!" Abi whispered in terror.

Kyra rose up and used her own claws to rip away the rest of the body she'd stolen only a month ago. Her true form was loose. A blue creature made from long, ragged bones that had a difficult time keeping their twisted shape. She slinked along the ground like plasma, twitching and wailing the entire time.

"Dammit! Y'all just ruined my brand new body!" Kyra's garbled voice echoed through her hollow shell. "I was beautiful! Beautiful!"

Abi felt dizzy. The room spun, and the walls started to bleed and sag out of shape. The entire world was moving with her, formless, like water. The floor turned to quicksand, and she began to sink.

The Kyra creature crawled on the floor, quickly needing to find another host. It spotted Abi, still sinking into the shapeless floor.

"I guesshhh thisshh one'll do jusssht fiiiiiine," her voice was breaking.

"Stay away from me!" Abi cried.

The creature spider-crawled over to Abi. Trapped in this bent world, she couldn't move. Wrapping its claws around Abi's leg, Kyra started pulling her in, ready to take possession of a new host.

Struggling to keep his balance, Cody swung the two by four one more time, striking Kyra in the back. With the improvised weapon protruding, it released Abi and started uncontrollably shirking and convulsing. Its arms changed direction and now pointed toward its back as it struggled to pull out the piece of wood. The creature stopped moving. It turned and stared into its own reflection in the side mirror of the flipped over semi-truck. The Kyra creature shrieked again and propelled itself up into the air, hanging there for a moment before finally exploding with a thunderous flash of light and wind that shook everything in the warehouse. Like the fallout from a nuclear blast, the force had knocked them over and out of consciousness.

Silence.

Nothing stirred for a few minutes. Cody blinked a few times. His ears rang the same way they did after the accident. He was dizzy and a little nauseous. He thought about lying there and just letting that creature take him and be done with everything. Then he thought of Christmas five years ago. He was eight and Connor was ten. They rushed down the stairs and found two brand new bikes wrapped in shiny red and green paper. Even though it was the middle of winter, the boys ran outside to ride their new bikes. Of course, Cody hit a patch of ice and fell. Connor helped him back to his feet and gave his baby brother a hug. That was a long time ago.

“Are you okay?"

Cody looked over and saw Abi. It wasn't the happy childhood memory from a few seconds earlier, but it was nice to see nonetheless.

"I think so."

The creature was gone, and the world around them seemed solid again. Nick was the first to get back to his feet. He looked himself over, making sure his hands and fingers were still intact. He gazed around the warehouse seeing if they were still alone. When he was sure they were, he exhaled. It was a sigh so loud and dramatic that it sounded like he'd been holding his breath for minutes. Though, he may have been.

"What. The Fuck. Was That?" He asked.

They helped each other back to their feet and shared an awkward smile. Cody looked to his feet and saw the two by four. He grabbed hold of the broken board and proudly lifted it up. In that moment, he might as well have been holding Excalibur. He looked over it, knowing he'd just vanquished a translucent Mordred.

"I have no freaking clue," Cody said. "Some kinda skanky-looking banshee?"

"I think it was a vampire," Nick said.

"Don't be stupid. Vampires aren't made of blue...stuff," Cody added.

"Oh, but I suppose Skanky Banshees are?"

"She was a Djinn," Abi said.

"A what?" Cody asked

"You mean a genie? Like in Aladdin?" Nick asked.

"Sorta. In my religion, we have these demons. They're kinda like angels, but they don't have like a shape or anything. They're made of smokeless fire."

"What the hell is smokeless fire?" Nick asked.

"I'd say that's a pretty good description of whatever that thing was," Cody said.

"It's where the genie stories came from. When the Djinn refused to bow down before Allah, they were punished and made to walk between worlds unless they were trapped by a person. They're like living, evil magic."

"But we killed it, right?" Cody asked.

"Maybe."

“If that didn't kill her, where did she go?" Nick added.

"Are there more of them?" Cody piled on.

"Why are they here?" It came back around to Nick.

"I don't know!" Abi said. "Five minutes ago, I thought it was just a story."

"Abi, in your religion, how do people kill Djinns?" Cody asked very seriously.

"That's the thing. You can't kill a Djinn."

"Then what did we just do?" Cody asked.

"We might have made things worse," Abi said.

XXXIX

A group of fifth-graders ran screaming through the Texas Chainsaw Thanksgiving display. Each one clad in different Avengers outfits. Ironman outpaced the rest of the team, breezing past both Captain America and Thor. The sound of the chainsaw came roaring from behind. The assailant's face was covered by a World War I-era gas mask, hiding his features from the shrieking heroes. He swung the chainsaw wildly over his head, flailing about like Leatherface himself, only with a missing blade. He was just part of the show, even if this wasn't supposed to be his role. The fifth graders ran screaming into another room.

Bo Slater pulled his mask off and took a deep breath, not that he needed to breathe, it was a habit he'd picked up over the years. Sometimes pretending to be human was so consuming that he often forgot how not to be human.

Bo smiled as he licked the edges of his protruding buck teeth. It had been a few days since the Slater's opened their version of the Haunted Hallow and to his surprise, he hadn't killed anyone yet. He was having far too much fun in the chaos. It was always the chase that excited him more than the act. Sure, he had to eat eventually. Though, Kyra had killed more than enough people tonight to make up for anything that Bo hadn't accomplished on his own. Still, he did have to eat, but not this little league. There was no fun in eating kids. Small meals that brought on far too many questions, Roscoe was right about that. It was one of the few things that he was ever right about, as far as Bo was concerned.

Roscoe pulled Bo from home about thirty years ago. He had only been with the family a short time, in comparison to other members. It had been probably fifteen years since they tried pulling someone else over from their home. After Gus Slater died, an old timer who played Bo's uncle for a few years during their days wandering across West Texas, Bo asked if they were going to pull anymore over. Roscoe shot it down. He didn't want anyone else. He didn't need anyone else. That's what it was always about: what Roscoe wanted. They traveled where he wanted. They hatched plans that Roscoe thought up. They took as many family members as Roscoe thought they needed. The whole Slater clan was built to meet Roscoe’s desires. It was his right. Roscoe figured out how to come over into the human world. He wasn't the first, but he was one of the few to make the jump without being enslaved to any human. Bo had been here long enough to hear the stories of his people bound to chains, lamps, and other types of inanimate objects that ancient wizards used to entrap their kind. Bo knew they didn't belong here. Their bodies didn't hold up in this place, but back home they were slaves. Eternal creatures forged in the birth of existence, subservient to a real monster. That's why so many were willing to be slaves in this world. It's what their kind knew. Back home, they had no purpose, just existence. Roscoe figured out how to jump from their world to here. He knew how to bind themselves to people, using their bodies like the old wizards used chains and lamps. It was his plan. The only problem was, it was a boring plan. They travel around the country, pretending to be stereotypical Southerners, make a few kills and move on. You run into problems, jump into a new body. It was simple. Maybe too simple. At least they were free.

But why were there only three of them here? Why wouldn't Roscoe pull hundreds, even thousands of them over here where they could run wild? Where they could be free. Where they could rule. Bo knew the answer. Roscoe didn't want to do that. This world was Roscoe's playground and the only ones who could come over were whoever could help him get what he wanted. Roscoe set the pace for everything and made every decision. The only reason they were even in the Hallow was because Bo had figured out that if he was ever going to do something he wanted to do, he was going to have to convince the boss the whole thing was Roscoe's idea. Bo had the whole plan the moment he saw that yellow poster in the junior high, but there was no way Roscoe was going to go for it, unless Bo set enough breadcrumbs for him to follow. Roscoe was so arrogant he never considered anyone else could think on his level. Whatever. Roscoe was in charge and when you no longer served his purpose, you were gone. What gone meant, Bo wasn't sure. He didn't think his people could die, not in the same way that the humans did.

That's what they did. Their schemes, their plans, didn't matter. These fleshy beings, these things, these people were just food. If they killed them, so what, they were going to die eventually. Wasn't it better that they died feeding the immortals rather than just dropping dead because their shells were so weak? If they saw it from Bo's perspective, they'd get it. He saw how the humans treated animals and insects, creatures beneath them. They didn't value life, outside their own. They certainly didn't value freedom. They were exactly like the Slaters, just on a lower rung. They were toys for them to play with, and Bo was having a lot of fun. But he wasn't feeding. Not yet. Playing with his food was the only way Bo could really rebel against Roscoe without getting himself in trouble.

But he knew his time was coming. Bo was getting frustrated with the endless cycle and was voicing his displeasure more and more. It wasn't like he was trying to fight against Roscoe. That would be stupid. He was far too strong and understood what he could do with his body much better than either him or Kyra. Bo knew his usefulness was running out. So did Kyra, who spent forty plus years as a heavyset middle-aged Gillian. Now she reinvented herself as a hot, little blonde. Pretty damn smart on her part. If Bo was as brave as he liked to think, he'd jump into a new body and start doing his own thing. Rebelling against Roscoe was a scary thought. Who knew what he was really capable of doing. Scary as he was, the threat of an angry Roscoe was nothing compared to the thought of the Byzantine, and that's what was waiting for him back home.

SKKKRRREEEEE

Bo knew Kyra's cry. He'd heard it many times over the years, including just after he found that yellow poster that led them here. Bo perked his ears up, trying to locate the scream's source. Something sounded different. Her sound echoed and was much flatter than normal. It wasn't rumbling throughout the building like usual. Her voice was distant, trapped. That's when Bo knew where she was. There was a small mirror mounted on the wall behind him. Mirrors. It always sounded so corny. They couldn't look into a mirror for any extended period of time. It was like shining a flashlight directly into the center of the glass pane. The light would bounce back and forth from source to surface, and could be blinding to a human eye. Inside these fleshy husks, they were creatures of pure light and energy. Bounce that back and forth thousands times over and you create a force that bends time and space, reality breaks down. The mirror reflects something that should not be there in the first place. It was a violation of nature and the fabric of reality. That's how Roscoe figured out how to jump over in the first place. The mirrors reveal too much, especially to the people back home. There's a chance you could be pulled back through if you lost your shell. That's how each family member who was no longer with them met their end. It wasn't hard for Bo to fill in the blanks. He only had a minute before they started looking for him.

"What the hell did you do?"

Bo didn't look directly into the mirror, just in its general direction, but that was enough. He saw her, right in the center of the glass. There was Kyra in all her true glory. A blue shapeless mass of broken light moving like liquid behind the reflection.

"HEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!! SKKKKKKRRRRREEEE!!!"

Bo tried not to look into the mirror. Instead, he watched the corners of the room bleed into the air, melting before him. He quickly threw the gas mask back on his head, hoping it would help contain any energy that might spill out from him. His eyes peered down one last time and saw pink, orange, and purple shapes engulfing the blue that was Kyra. He saw the lights, the other Djinn back home, sink into her blue form and rip it to shreds. Bo turned back and closed his eyes. He waited a moment until he was sure that they were gone. Again, what gone meant, he still wasn't sure.

"I told that stupid bitch to stop looking at mirrors."

He revved up the chainsaw and went back to work.

XL

Blake entered the Slater Compound at twenty hundred hours and started his mission. This was his best chance to take down the Colonel and solidify The Network's position. The only question was what to do with the Burk woman. It was obvious that she wasn’t working directly with Col. Slater, but in doing business with the enemy, she had unwittingly become an enemy agent herself. Enemy agents needed to be dealt with.

Blake saw a scene ripped from Texas Chainsaw. A bunch of mannequins dressed in grotesque clothes covered in streaks of dyed-red corn syrup. He'd seen much worse in his day though it probably scared the civilians pretty good. They had weak stomachs.

"Okay, Mr. Blake, we're in the Hallow. I've done everything you've asked. Please, tell me what you know about my children."

"Mrs. Burk, you are not the authority here. I am! And until I say otherwise, you will follow my orders!"

"Listen to yourself, you're just a nutcase with a gun. I made a huge mistake taking you here. I'm not going anywhere else. We're done. If you're actually gonna shoot me in front of all these people, go ahead."

The Burk woman had outlived her usefulness. Time to move on. Blake pulled the shotgun from his coat. Her eyes grew wide. She didn't take him seriously. No one ever took him seriously.

"Mr. Slater!" She cried out.

Instinctively, Blake turned and aimed. Nothing.

Blake turned back and saw her running down a dark hallway. She knew too much. If she got away and told others about The Network, Project Cicada would be jeopardized.  Blake took off after her. She needed to go.

Blake turned and saw the vortex tunnel. The spinning lights reminded him of the LSD training program he'd endured during his training with The Network. Those were scary days, and the thought of going through them again was too terrifying for him to reconcile, but the mission needed him. Blake closed his eyes and walked through the tunnel. If he bumped into another patron inside, so what?

Blake came out the other end and slowly opened his eyes. The room was dark and almost empty, except for the cage at the other end. The strobing lights pounded away. This was a much worse place. He tried to get his balance but couldn't. He collapsed to the floor in a heap. Turning his head to the right, he saw something. Some kind of ape hanging from its feet, dangling from the bars of the cage. It rolled off and landed on all fours. Blake froze, his legs locked up underneath him. The ape creature tilted its head, trying to figure out what Blake was doing. He started fidgeting his hands inside the trench coat. The ape must have felt threatened because it charged forward, galloping toward its prey. This is exactly what he had been trained to handle.

"Stop moving," Blake said.

The ape creature didn't listen.

BLAM BLAM

Blake pulled himself up to his feet. The shotgun trembled in his hand. Doing his duty never got any easier. The body wasn't moving. Blake saw what happened to other members of the Slater Clan over the years. This was different. The body wasn't moving. He walked over to the monkey's carcass and poked it with the muzzle of the shotgun. This wasn't one of them. He kneeled beside its head and looked into the monkey's face when he realized he was looking at plastic and foam latex. He pulled the mask off and was taken aback when he saw the face of a girl no older than seventeen. Brunette hair draped across her forehead. Blake swept it away and looked into her empty green eyes. She wasn't one of them. Not yet. She didn't put up the fight Slaters normally did. Roscoe must not have finished her training. He did a good thing, stopping her before she had the chance to evolve into Colonel Dracula’s (a nickname one of The Network boys gave Roscoe years earlier) military-grade killing machines. Still, what a shame. Blake took out his Zippo lighter and placed the flame against the girl's costume. Within seconds, she was a Viking funeral.

"You were cute," Blake said. "I'm sure you would have made a wonderful mother."

XLI

Covered in egg yolk and brown streaks that he convinced himself were just a little mud, Connor Burk spent the last two hours wandering around Hawk Hallow. A month earlier, he watched Tyler Tomczak beat up his little brother. At the time, it seemed funny. Cody was getting way too cocky, and someone needed to put him back in his place. Tyler decided that he was going to be the man to do it. Cody needed that beating, and since his little brother was now bigger than him, he couldn't be the one to hand it out. A bitter pill to swallow for any older brother. When he got home that night, he fully expected to be in trouble with their mother. The grounding was going to happen. Something was getting taken away. Maybe his phone, something like that, but it would be all worth it just to see Cody humbled a bit. Only that didn't happen. Cody never said anything about the beating. He never mentioned that Connor had pretended that their mom was in trouble in a text. He never mentioned how his friends pelted Cody with punches and dog crap. Cody just came home and went to bed.

At first, that just made Connor angry. All the time they put into planning this attack and Cody didn't even care that he'd been humiliated in front of all his friends. Those were the exact words that Connor had said to himself, 'humiliated in front of his friends’.

That didn't feel right. When Tyler was planning this whole thing, he kept saying, "We'll show him, we'll make him feel the way they made us feel!" Connor never quite knew what that meant. He'd been friends with Tyler since the seventh grade, and no one ever made them feel humiliated. That's why Connor started hanging out with him. Tyler was older than them, sure, but he was also bigger, stronger, and he didn't take crap from anybody. Hanging out with him made Connor feel safe. No one would have ever done to Connor what they did to Cody. That would have been suicide. Tyler would have killed them.

High school was different. Tyler wasn't nearly the biggest or the strongest kid there. No one went out of their way to make them feel like outsiders, but no one made them feel welcomed either. They were just kind of the there. It didn't bother Connor. He was always just another face hanging out by the lockers. But Tyler didn't like it at all. He couldn't stand being a nobody. That's why they started going back to the middle school and causing trouble. Back there, he was somebody. Back there, he ran the show. When they went back, they were shocked to find out that everyone was talking about Cody Burk, his little brother. He was athletic, popular, and didn't seem to care. He had the chance to take Tyler's place as the monster in the halls, but he didn't. Instead, he just walked around feeling sorry for himself. Yes, their dad died and everybody did feel sorry for them, but Cody carried it differently. He was so quiet, just pretending that he wasn't something special. It pissed Connor off so much to see his brother getting all that attention and ignoring it. The same way he used pretend that he wasn't Dad's favorite.

After the accident, Connor cried for two straight days, but Cody didn't. Not a single tear. All anyone asked about for two weeks was why Cody didn't cry after Dad died? Everyone was so concerned, asking what's wrong with Cody? What about him? Even though he wasn't Dad's favorite, Connor loved him. He cried for days, but nobody cared. They only worried about Cody. How fair is that?

That night Connor sat in his room waiting for Cody to burst in and try to fight him. Connor couldn't wait. He knew Cody thought he could beat him up now that he'd grown so much, but Connor was ready. He was going to fight dirty, if that's what it took to win. But Cody never came into Connor's room. But why would he? Connor already got Tyler to beat his brother up for him. Even though that wasn't how it happened, that's how people were going to think of it. Connor couldn't fight his little brother, so he got his sixteen-year-old friend to fight for him.

"I'm pathetic," he finally said.

Connor couldn't sleep that night. He kept replaying the scenario in his head. Watching Tyler's fists drop onto Cody's face over and over again. In his head, Connor kept screaming for Tyler to stop, but Tyler wouldn't stop. He just kept raining those fists down on his brother. Only, that's not what happened. In real life, Connor laughed the entire time.

That morning, Connor wanted to apologize. He knew why he kept laughing, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself. Connor was jealous. Jealous that Cody was Dad's favorite. Jealous that Cody was becoming such an athlete. Jealous that Cody was mature enough to realize that popularity was stupid. It was embarrassing to admit that, but at the same time, he felt relieved. He needed to apologize for what happened. It might not have been his plan, but he didn't do anything to stop it. Connor needed to fix things, but when he went into Cody's room, he was already gone.

"No worries, I'll catch him tonight," he thought.

When Connor got to school, he sat in the cafeteria and listened to Tyler tell the tale all over again. He listened but didn't laugh. He heard the words of a bully and it made him angry. It made him even angrier to realize that he was now one too.

"What's the matter, Burk?" Tyler asked.

"What's the matter is you're a piece of shit! I should beat your worthless ass right here and embarrass you in front of all of your friends!"

That's what Connor wanted to say.

"Nothing, man," is what he actually said.

Connor just wasn't brave enough to stand up to his friend. He was a coward and a bully. That's what he'd turned himself into by hanging out with these guys. Looking around, he started to figure out that his friends weren't great people. But what was he going to do? Join the football team and get his brains beat in to try and be like his little brother? That was stupid. These were his friends, and this was just the kind of guy he was now. He didn't have to like himself, but there wasn't much he could do to change it.

Over the next few weeks, nothing changed. He still wanted to apologize to his brother, but Cody didn't seem to care. If Cody didn't care, why should he? It was just a joke. Though, each time he hung out with Tyler and the boys, he found himself having less and less fun. Yeah, they were smoking more weed than they used too, but at least Tyler would shut up for a while. It was worth it just for that alone.

The plan for Halloween was more of the same. Wake up, go to Tyler's, smoke a little, go into town, do some bag snatching, and probably smoke a little more later. Maybe watch a horror movie at Tyler's house on Netflix. Why not? It wasn't like any of them were going to the Barn Dance that night. The plan went out the window when a flying egg smashed against the side of his head. Then everything made sense. The eggs, the black outfits. Tyler was so angry that he tore off after Cody and his friends. But Connor didn't care.

Cody went to such extreme lengths to get his revenge that Connor couldn't help but laugh. They certainly deserved what they got, and probably a lot worse. Connor had no urge to rush off and try to fight his brother. The fact that Cody actually showed this much emotion and retaliated made Connor happy. Maybe they weren't all that different. Maybe this meant that they could finally stop pretending the other didn't exist. That was getting old. Everything about all of this was getting old. It's funny that sometimes, all it takes is a bag of shit to the face to wake you up.

Connor watched his friends ride off. Ten minutes ago, he would have followed them into battle without a thought. Now, he just shrugged and said, "Whatever."

Connor wandered around town watching little kids trick or treat with their friends, and even smaller kids trick or treat with their families. He remembered when his dad dressed them up as the Stooges. At six and seven, the boys had no idea what he was going for, but it was fun. He missed those days.

Connor walked back home. He didn't feel like hanging out with anyone. He wasn't sure what he felt like doing. Maybe he was just going to tell Mom the whole story. She'd find it pretty funny. But when he got home, he found the front door wide open. Mom never kept doors unlocked, let alone wide open. He walked in and saw the glass bowl that his late Grandmother had given his parents as a wedding gift, shattered on the floor.

Something happened. Something bad. But who....

"Tyler," he said.

Was he crazy enough to take his anger toward Cody out on their mom? It terrified Connor, but he knew the answer to that question, especially considering that he'd ditched his supposed best friend rather than go into another war.

Connor stepped out of the house and saw a group of people standing at the intersection of Grant and Douglas pointing to the sky. Connor jogged over to the group.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Look," a girl pointed to the sky.

Thick black smoke billowed up in the distance.

"What's over there?" She asked.

”Whatever it is, ain't gonna be there for long," another added.

Connor knew exactly what was burning in the distance.

"The Hallow."

Connor ran back to the front yard and grabbed his bike. He hopped on and started pedaling harder than he'd ever moved in his life.

"Tyler, what did you do?"

XLII

Roscoe leaned back in his leather work chair and stretched out his arms. The first thing he noticed after purchasing the Haunted Hallow from the Burk's was that every room had a small webcam hidden the ceiling. No doubt, Mike Burk had bought them as a simple security feature. Made sense. But to Roscoe it was something more. The webcams gave him a full, unadulterated view of the chaos that he'd manufactured. Over the years, the Slaters worked a variety of different angles in their trapping. He made a small mental checklist of the most effective scenarios. He wasn't much a fan of repeating himself, but in this plywood labyrinth, he was able to open up his little fear treasure chest and set a stage far grander than what he ever imagined. Mike Burk was a genius at building and maintaining a haunted house. The inner workings and maze-like nature of the Hallow were brilliant, but Roscoe added a new dimension.

He was a propitiator of fear. It was more than his business. It was his life. Here in the Hallow, not only was he able to create his grand masterpiece, a chessboard where his family could run wild and feed, but he was able to take his skills and teach his new minions. The kids working for him were fantastic. That was something Roscoe didn't anticipate. It was a surprise how much he enjoyed passing a lifetime of fear on to these new students, even if they couldn't execute his techniques perfectly. Not that it mattered, they were only employing fear for fun. The Slaters needed fear to survive. But he never expected these kids to be as sadistic and creative as his own.

Watching Bo and Kyra tear through the Hallow, he knew that they saw what he saw. A chance to let loose and use their favorite, most-honed hunting skills. They needed fear to survive but damned if they weren't having the best time. If only he found this calling earlier he could have planned a road show. Gone on the ‘terror tour’. He was already building business strategies in his mind. It could work. They didn't have to eat that often. One or two kids per town then move along. He was surprised how much the cheerleader girl filled him up, but he was always far easier to satiate than his kids. Especially Kyra. He was going to have to warn her about going too far later. The last thing he wanted was too many kids missing. They didn't need any more people asking questions. The one he had following them was trouble enough.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Um, Roscoe, can we talk for a minute?"

Roscoe sighed and turned away from his bank of computer screens. He saw Bo, looking down to the floor, avoiding eye contact and fidgeting with his gas mask. Whatever he had to say wasn't good.

"Shouldn't you be out there, raising Cain with your sister?" He asked.

"That's, um, that's the problem, Roscoe. It's Kyra she's--uh--sh--she's gone."

“What do you mean, 'gone’?” He asked with gritted teeth.

Bo struggled to find the right words, but eventually he spit out,

"I didn't mean to, but I kinda caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror, just a little one. Real quick like."

"You know better than that!"

Roscoe popped up from his chair and walked over to his adoptive son. He knew that Bo often forgot that he was more than a head taller and often used this to remind Bo of his position in the family. Roscoe was trying to hold back his frustration, but looking into Bo's eyes, he knew he wasn't doing a great job.

"I know, I know, but that's where I saw her," Bo paused. "You know, the real her."

He knew what Bo meant.

"She was with them. They were probably taking her to the Byzantine."

Roscoe stroked his greasy goatee with his thumb and index finger. This was a problem.

"Not good. Not good at all," Roscoe said trying to cover his own fear.

It wasn't the first time he'd lost a family member, but it had been awhile. At least more than twenty years. He was going to have to figure--

BLAMM

Both Roscoe and Bo dropped to the floor as the shotgun rang out.

"Blake!"

XLIII

After a minute on the floor, Roscoe and Bo picked themselves up and slowly moved toward Roscoe's wall of monitors. They hunched over the screens and saw Blake in the Monkey cage.

"That crazy son of a bitch just shot some kid in the chest!" Bo said.

"Damn, just when I thought we finally got a good thing going," Roscoe lamented. "Oh well. Time to move on."

"No way!"

Bo grabbed Roscoe by the sleeves of his priest's robe. "What if he's the one that got Kyra?"

"Wouldn't be the first time he got one of us," Roscoe said.

After all the time that they spent together, Roscoe didn't even care that she was gone.

Bo pulled on Roscoe's sleeve and said, "I'm tired of running from that piece of shit!"

"Your sister got sloppy. She knew the rules, and now she's gone. We don't move, we're gonna follow her."

Roscoe turned to leave the room when Bo grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him in close so that the two of them were now standing face to face. At first, Roscoe was taken aback at Bo's sudden thirst for independence. Roscoe's eyes widened as he reached out and grabbed Bo's neck with his thick, vice-like hands. Bo showed just a moment's weakness, but it was all Roscoe needed. With his other hand, Roscoe turned off the monitor creating a black, reflective surface.

"I say, it's time to go, but if Kyra's lack of presence is so important to you, maybe you should go find her," Roscoe said.

Squeezing Bo by the throat, Roscoe whipped him around the room. He threw Bo up against the walls, then drove his head into the dark screen. Roscoe pinned Bo's face against the glass, forcing him to stare at his own reflection. At once, the world started to bend.

"What are you doing? They're gonna find both of us!” Bo cried.

“Nope, just you, little Beauregard."

Beauregard. It's what Roscoe always called him when he was in trouble. Bo felt the glass starting to puddle. His face began sliding through, back into their home world. In seconds, they'd be there to pull him through the other end and then Bo's days would be over. Then Roscoe would be all alone. There was no way Bo was ever going to let Roscoe have free reign over Earth by himself. Especially, with what the Byzantine was going to do to him.

"I'm -- I'm sorry," Bo struggled, "I'm sorry, sir."

Roscoe pulled Bo's head away from the monitor and pushed him into the wall, breaking all of the panels of drywall behind them. He looked up at Roscoe, who towered over him. The Boss was always good at making himself look so damn intimidating.

"Like I said, time to go. Abracadabra," Roscoe said before turning his back and walking away.

Abracadabra was a particular escape plan, one that would only be used in case of emergency. It was basically code for 'every man for themselves’. The family would split up and meet at some truck stop down the road. There was one fifteen miles north off of Interstate 94 that Roscoe had flagged as an Abracadabra point before they got into town.

Though Bo was sitting in a pile of broken drywall and two-by-fours, Abracadabra was the best news he'd heard since losing Kyra. The minute Blake showed up, Bo should have known Roscoe would call Abracadabra. He shouldn't have even mentioned going after Blake. Roscoe never confronted Blake, not once, despite the fact that the old man had taken out at least three family members. It could have been more since Blake had been trailing them since before Bo joined the family. He never could understand why Roscoe was so afraid of him, especially since he had so much more control over his body than any of the other Slaters. What made Blake so scary? He was a little fat-guy who liked to start fires. Though to be fair, Blake didn't have the courage to face Roscoe either. Sure, he picked off a couple of them over the years, but never the man himself. Both of them were a couple of sissies.

Seeing as they were now in Abracadabra, what was stopping Bo from taking out the fat, sack of shit by himself? Roscoe was already out the door, and they weren't planning to meet up for hours. Bo had some time to kill before meeting up with Roscoe later. Besides, it had been awhile since he'd eaten. Bo pulled himself up and brushed off the crushed pieces of drywall. Thick, white dust filled the air around him. He threw his gas mask back on, more for aesthetics than anything, and went back to find Blake.

He wandered through the back hallways, which were restricted to Hallow employees only. The back hall allowed them to roam free away from the customer's eyes. The halls were no bigger than a few feet across and finding your way through in the dark took some time. The back hall was more maze-like than the Hallow itself. But they were perfect for sneaking up on people, which served the Slaters well, for both business and pleasure. Bo spent more time in the back halls than either Roscoe or Kyra. Roscoe wouldn't lower himself to sneaking up on people, mind games were more his forte. Kyra preferred just to come out and attack, subtlety wasn't her thing. Bo was different. This game was much more suited to what he did, and he learned every shift and turn, knowing how to get into each room as quickly and as quietly as possible. Roscoe thought of himself as a trapper. That was too small time for Bo's imagination. He was a stalker, and these halls were the Serengeti.

"Anybody notice how quiet it's gotten," said a girl's voice from behind a wall.

Bo recognized the voice but couldn't place from where. He peered around a blind corner and saw a collection of kids. A girl and two boys dressed in black. He didn't recognize her, but her voice was familiar. Maybe they worked here?

"Uh, maybe you missed that really loud bang that shook the walls? Or the giant, blue monster-ghost-thing?" One of the boys asked mockingly.

Blue monster-ghost-thing? Did he mean Kyra?

Another boy answered, "She's got a point, Nick. Ever since that bang, everything's been different. Like nobody's here anymore."

This boy, there was something about that one. Yes, that's it. The boy from the dance, the one that took the beating. Was Kyra trying to possess one of their bodies? Did they see Blake trying to kill her?

"Maybe everybody got out?" The first boy asked.

"Or maybe they're all dead." The first boy screamed.

"Stop it, Nick!" The girl yelled.

"Oh, like that's not possible! Do you know how lucky we are that thing didn't kill us before we killed her?"

Killed her? There's no way these little turds stopped Kyra. How could they? She was the most vicious of them all.

"We didn't kill her. We stopped her. Whatever that thing was wasn't a person and there's no body, so she isn't dead," said the girl.

But she was wrong. These kids did kill her. Somehow Kyra's body was damaged, and let her true self loose. That's when they found her. These kids may not have done it themselves, but they caused it. She was dead because of them.

"Fine whatever, I just wanna get outta here. Who knows how many more of them are running around here."

"Exactly, so let's find my brother."

It was time to even the game. Bo emerged from behind a fake wall and said,

"Y'all looking for your brother? That's real funny cause, I can't seem to find my sister. Maybe you seen her?"

XLIV

"Looks kinda like a big ol' ball of blue fire? Maybe y'all seen her?"

Bo ripped the gas mask off his face. He smiled and revealed a set of gnarled buck teeth glowing blue.

"Uh oh," Nick said starting to peddle back.

Bo walked over to what looked like a circuit breaker and opened a small metal door on the wall.

"I guess you have," he said before pushing a tiny, nondescript-looking button.

CLIK CLIK

The sound of grinding gears filled the small room. The kids looked around trying to figure out what was happening.

"What was that?" Abi finally asked, fearing the answer.

"It's a compactor," Cody said. "Run!"

The kids all took off for the only exit out of the room. Cody knew the walls weren't going to crush them. They weren't nearly strong enough. What they would do is cut off any possible escape. His dad had designed the compactor to trap people inside of a room with the workers, who would usually wield a chainsaw or something and chase the customers around the room. It was one of Mike Burk's fiendishly brilliant ideas. Like most of the Hallow's innovations, it was one he probably never figured would be used to actually hurt someone.

"Squee! Squee! Run little piggies!" Bo shouted toward them.

As the walls pinched in, Bo took to all fours as he chased them through the compactor like a coyote running down its prey. Cody was the first to pull through, followed by Nick, with Abi moving behind. As the doors started to close, Abi's feet twisted and she fell to the floor. Bo sprang up into the air like a jungle cat and knocked Abi to the floor.

"Abi!" Nick cried out as the door shut.

"Help me push against the wall! Try to get it back open!" Cody said.

Bo flipped Abi over so her back was against the floor and mounted her like an MMA fighter preparing to ground-and-pound. Bo perched on top of Abi's chest, putting all his weight forward. He leaned in close and opened his jaw far wider than any human possibly could. Drool hung from two bright blue fangs.

"Help me!" Abi screamed.

"Squee! Looks like this little piggy should've stayed home. Now she's just gonna go wee wee wee all over herself!"

"Get off of me!" Abi yelled as she wildly swung her arms back and forth.

"Squee! Squee! C'mon, little piggy!"

Bo struggled to hold Abi down as she flailed around, trying to free herself. Abi mustered up every little bit of strength she could and threw her right fist toward Bo's face. The creature just laughed.

"Hahahaha! Ain't she a cutie," Bo's voice trembled. "Ahhh!"

Bo jumped off her immediately.

"What was that?" He said.

Abi saw smoke coming from his leg. Something burned him. She looked down to her pant leg and saw something glowing inside her right pocket. She reached in and pulled it out. Opening her hand she saw the silver ring with the star and crescent moon. Her grandfather's ring.

"Rrrrraaaaahhh!"

Bo charged back toward her. Instinctively, she put the ring on and reared her fist back again. This time, she connected with the monster's forehead. Again, the punch wasn't very hard, but Bo screamed out in pain. His body snapped and contorted around as he started mutating into his true self. A long blue snout, with its own set of jagged buck teeth pushed out from inside of Bo's human face. It continued to writhe in pain as hot, white light sizzled from a crescent moon-shaped wound. Bo convulsed on the floor, grabbing his head, almost like it was trying to keep the light inside of him. He cried out in a dialect no human ears had heard in centuries. Abi quickly scooted back, not sure what she'd done.

"It burns! Owww, it burns!"

The Bo Djinn screamed with a warble that was nearly unrecognizable.

She banged on the door and yelled, "Open the door!"

Finally, Cody and Nick were able to push the door open enough for Abi to slink through to the other side.

"What happened?" Nick asked.

Before anyone could answer, Bo's face shot through the barely open crack in the door, the wound still burning in center of its head. Blue claws and jagged teeth lunged for them, trying to grab anything.

"What's that on his head?" Nick asked.

"Abi, what did you do?" Cody yelled.

The monster burst through the door. They were trapped. There was nowhere to hide now.

"Buuurrrrnnnsss!"

Bo swayed back and forth, not actually attacking. Again, the room started to bend and morph out of shape. Nick fell to the floor and threw up. Abi tried to keep her conciseness as they tried to pull Nick and her back to their feet. Cody stood tall watching the being who might have attacked his brother. Though he could barely stand, he approached the weakened creature who still cried in pain and asked,

"Where is my brother?"

The Djinn turned back to Cody. He saw the white moon still smoldering in its forehead.

It smiled and said, "Abracadabra."

Shrieking louder than anything they'd ever heard before, it took off and erupted through the emergency exit. The force blew the door off its hinges. The kids watched as the creature ran off into the night, the horizon bending and twisting with every step the creature took.

"What are those things?" Nick asked.

"I told you, they're Djinn," Abi answered confidently.

She looked down to her ring and pretended to understand what happened.

"What'd you do to him?" Cody asked.

“I punched him in the face."

"Wow. Apparently Abi's a badass," Nick said. "Who knew?"

Cody looked out the hole ripped through the emergency exit. He saw that the chains around the door handle were still in place, but with the door off its hinges, their escape became much easier.

"Get outta here. Now," Cody said. "Call the cops. Call the FBI. Just get outta here."

"Don't gotta tell me twice," Nick said on his way out the door.

Abi grabbed Cody's hand and tried to lead him out with the rest of them, but he pulled it back. He didn't want to at first. Her touching his hand was the nicest he’d felt since getting punched in the face by Tyler Tomczak two weeks ago. But he couldn't go with her. At least, not yet.

"You're coming with us," she said.

"I can't. Not till I find Connor."

"Cody, we've been through this place. You see what's happening. Connor might not--"

"Do not say that! He's here, I just need to find him," Cody said.

He knew that she was probably right. There was no way he could ever face his mother again if anything happened to Connor. Especially if it was his fault, and he knew this entire disaster was entirely his fault.

"Then I'm not leaving. I'll help you."

"No, you're not. Nick!" Cody shouted and Nick grabbed her by the arm and pulled her through the exit.

She tried to fight them off, but couldn't. She knew Connor was dead, and now Cody was going to die inside the Hallow. They already escaped twice. Even if he did make it back how could he possibly be the same? She wanted to tear up, but there was no way she was going to show that much emotion in front of them. Not in front of Nick anyway.

"Cody!" Abi shouted.

Cody turned back and Abi tossed something to him. He caught it, opened his hand, and found the silver ring. Cody looked back to her and smiled. She smiled back, both worried this might be the last time they saw each other. He put the ring in his pocket and headed back into the Hallow.

"Don't worry, he'll be okay," Nick said. "He's the toughest guy I know."

"I know," Abi said, lying to herself.

"Does anybody have cell service--"

Nick stopped mid-sentence and dropped his phone. Abi looked up and saw the ceiling of the Haunted Hallow up in flames. In the commotion, they didn't notice the fire. In minutes the entire Haunted Hallow would burn to the ground with Cody still inside.

XLV

Connor hit the brakes and the back tire of his bike skidded out. He couldn't believe it, the entire roof of the Haunted Hallow was on fire. People were pouring out of the building.

"Tyler, what the hell did you do?" He asked.

Connor jumped off his bike and ran toward the burning building. Outside the entrance, ushering people out was, Dave Yarbrough. Connor had known Dave for years. He ran up and grabbed Dave by the shirt.

"Dave!"

"Connor! What are you doing here?" Dave asked.

"Did my mom come here?"

"Yeah, her and her boyfriend were here about twenty minutes ago."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah, the chubby guy with the glasses," Dave said.

"What are you talking about? My mom doesn't have a boyfriend." Connor said. "Does she?"

"I dunno, man. They came in together."

Connor thought about it for a second and couldn't come up with any ideas. Mom had no reason to be here, let alone with someone else.

"Twenty minutes?" He asked. "Where is she now?"

"I don't know. I didn't see her come out."

Connor looked up and saw the fire spread. The sound of the fire trucks and paramedics on their way echoed in the air. Connor had no choice. He grabbed the front door and tried to pull.

"What are you doing?" Dave asked.

"You said my mom was inside!"

"I said I didn't see her come out! That doesn't mean she's still in there!"

"Doesn't matter."

Connor shoved Dave in the chest as hard as he could. He might not have been as strong or as athletic as his brother, but Dave Yarbrough was maybe one hundred thirty pounds. One good push was enough to send Dave into the wall and gave Connor enough separation to rush into the Hallow.

Connor ran through the Texas Chainsaw scene and right through the vortex. He completely ignored the smoke already filling the rooms. The right turn that would have led to the strobed monkey cage was on fire. Connor fell to the floor. He quickly picked himself up and ran to the left. He found himself inside of a room that looked like a decrepit church. He wasn't alone.

"Mrs. Burk! You need to stop hiding and face the consequences of your actions. Project Cicada needs to be completed."

The man was short and fat with glasses. He matched Dave's description. Connor never saw this man in his life. How did he know his mother? He wanted to say something until he noticed the shotgun in his hand. Connor ducked behind a turned over pew. This wasn't a room that his father built. This was something new. What had he gotten himself into?

"Pssst."

Connor heard something. Without trying to draw any unnecessary attention, he quietly turned his head from right to left, but didn't see anything. Just the crazy man babbling about some government conspiracy.

"Pssst!"

It was louder this time. It wasn’t until he looked to his right and beyond another stack of overturned pews that he saw a slight separation in the wall. His dad designed several false walls over the years that lead to the back hallways. This might have been a secret entrance to one of them, but with it being a new room, he wasn't sure.

"Pssst," the voice said for a third time.

A female hand emerged through the wall and motioned him to come toward the secret entrance.

"Mom?" He whispered.

Leah peaked her head through the dark entrance and mouthed the words, ‘this way’ to her son. Connor turned back toward the fat man, who was walking toward the exit. Was this guy crazy enough to stay inside of a burning building?

Hunched over, Connor crept over toward the back hall entrance.

BOOOOM

The pew he hid behind exploded and Connor hit the floor. He picked his head up and saw the fat man running toward him, aiming the shotgun.

CLIK CLIK

"Connor let’s go!" Leah shouted.

Connor jumped and ran the extra few steps to the back hall. Leah closed the false door behind them.

"Let’s go!" She shouted.

BOOOOM

The false door exploded and Leah screamed. Connor grabbed her by the hand and they ran through the maze-like darkened halls. Blake was closing in, but the passages were so narrow and the turns so tight it slowed him down.

BOOOOOM

Another shot, but this one was nowhere near them. Then they heard him fall over.

"Dammit!" He shouted.

Connor pulled his mother's hand, essentially dragging her through the maze. It had been a few years since he was back there himself, but the years he spent running those halls with his little brother served him well. He knew every turn and quickly found his way back to the entrance.

"Oh my God, what was that?!" Dave shouted.

"There's some psycho with a shotgun inside there!" Leah shouted back.

Connor grabbed his mother and pulled her in tighter than he probably had since his father passed that summer. They shared a few quick tears as she kissed his forehead.

"Mom, please tell me that guy isn't your boyfriend," he said.

She laughed at the thought and wiped away an errant tear.

"Connor!"

He turned back and saw his brother's friend, Nick. With him was the Muslim girl that he helped push off her bike a couple weeks ago. Looking back on that, he felt like an asshole. Still holding his Mom's hand he walked them away from the flaming Hallow.

"What are you doing out here?" Abi asked.

"I got home, and I saw what they did to my house. Then with the smoke in the air, I kind of put two and two together."

Connor lowered his mother to the ground allowing her to rest a bit.

"But how did you get out of the Hallow without them seeing you?" Nick asked.

"What? Why would I be in the Hallow?"

"You weren't in there with Tyler and them, were you?" Abi asked.

"No. I thought the whole thing was kinda funny," Connor paused.

He knew something was wrong. "Where are they?"

Abi and Nick looked at each other and immediately looked down to the floor. Something was very wrong.

"Where's Cody?" Leah asked.

"Connor, we're in a lot of trouble," Abi said nervously.

"You got no idea, little girl."

All of them turned back toward the Hallow. The roof of the Hallow was completely ablaze. Standing between them and the burning building was Roscoe Slater.

XLVI

"There's a very dangerous man around here, and I think he's looking to hurt all of you," Roscoe said with a smile and extending his hand toward the group.

"Mr. Slater?" Leah said trying to regain her composure.

"That's right, Ms. Burk," he said.

"Who are you and how do you know my mom?" Connor asked.

"I'm Roscoe Slater. I'm the gentleman who bought this here house from your mother. Unfortunately, it looks like my past is trying to catch up with me."

Roscoe kneeled down before Leah and gently took hold of her hand.

"On account of all this fire, I'm guessing y'all've met Blake?"

"Is that the guy that broke into our house, Mom?" Connor asked.

"Yes, he's insane. That's the maniac that tried to kill us."

Roscoe stood up and helped Connor get Leah back to her feet. He was very careful to put her arm around her son's shoulder.

"Why is a crazy person who likes to start fires after Mr. Slater?" Nick asked Abi in a whisper trying to make sure that Roscoe couldn't hear him.

"I know exactly why," Abi said.

"Dammit! I'm real sorry, Ms. Burk. Just follow me and I'll make sure to take real good care of y'all."

"No, don't go with him! He's one of them!" Nick shouted.

"One of them?" Roscoe responded.

"He's a Djinn!" Abi shouted.

"A what?" Roscoe asked again, even more perplexed.

Abi and Nick grabbed hold of Leah and Connor, pulling them with as they tried to run away.

Roscoe put his hands up into the air and tried to calm the situation down.

"Now hold on a sec. I don't know what these youngins is talking 'bout, but I can promise you I ain't no--"

CLIK CLIK BOOOOM

The four of them dropped to their knees and instinctively covered their heads. Abi was the first to open her eyes and look up. A frustrated Roscoe stood in the same place, his lip curled in a slightly annoyed manner as he looked down at the giant hole blown through the center of his chest. Blue energy swirled around the gaping wound creating a window through the middle of his body. Roscoe shook his head, remarkably disappointed.

"Dammit," he sighed.

Blake emerged from behind, clutching the still smoking shotgun. He cocked it again and took aim at Roscoe's head.

CLIK CLIK

"This is Colonel Roscoe Slater. He's the rogue leader of an underground military project. He takes people and brainwashes them into becoming perfect killing machines. They set up camp and destroy small towns like this. I've just destroyed his reconditioning site," Blake said.

"Colonel?" Roscoe asked.

"What the hell is that?" Connor finally asked.

Roscoe sighed again and said,

"Blake, you have to be the dumbest son of bitch I have ever met. This whole little fantasy of yours is over. Do you hear me?!?" Roscoe shouted. "Did you know that I kept this body in perfect shape for over a hundred-fifty years? A hundred and fifty years! And look what you did!"

They were paralyzed in a strange state of fear and confusion. Roscoe turned to face Blake and grabbed hold of the muzzle of the gun, yanking it out of his hand. Roscoe carelessly tossed the gun over his shoulder without breaking his stare.

"Do you know why I've let you stay alive all these years when it would have been so simple to rip your damn face off and chew on your greasy skin? Do you know why I let you burn all those podunk, little shitholes to the ground?"

Roscoe's right hand grabbed Blake by the lapels of his tattered trench coat.

"You're my spare."

His left hand twisted and snapped into a barbed claw that shot out and clasped around Blake's head and began to squeeze.

"In case of emergency...break...Blake!"

White light shot out from Roscoe's eyes and his right hand snapped and mutated into a gnarled spike that drove straight into Blake's midsection. The atmosphere warped around them. The night's black sky bled over on to the brown earth. Roscoe and Blake's bodies contorted and twisted as they merged like liquids flowing into each other. Roscoe pushed his Djinn-self into Blake's body the same way Kyra stole poor Aileen Dake's body.

BOOOM

The buck shot struck the coagulated Roscoe/Blake mass.

BOOOOM

Another shot separated the two. Blake's body took most of the abuse. His eyes were empty and vacant. Leah, still struggling to maintain her balance, took aim again, this time at what was left of Roscoe.

CLIK CLIK BOOOOM

Roscoe turned his mutated half-human, half-Djinn head toward her and shrieked. Leah walked toward him and unloaded again, pushing Roscoe further toward the Hallow, now a scorching pyre, with flames pushing up to the sky. She unloaded three more times, each shot driving Roscoe further and further into the fire until he could finally take no more and ran inside the hearth.

"Mrs. Burk, stop!" Nick said, trying to pull the gun away from her.

"Now that monster can burn in there by itself!”

"You don't understand, Cody's still inside!" Abi said.

"What?" Leah screamed.

"We all thought Connor was inside. Cody is still trying to find him," Abi said.

Connor heard what she said. Cody was trapped inside of a burning building with a monster and the whole reason he was there was because he was looking for him. If only he'd stood up to Tyler and stopped him before they jumped Cody. If only he had stood up to him back when Tyler insulted their dad. If only he'd stopped Tyler from harassing Abi in the first place. He had a million opportunities to stand up to a kid he knew was dangerous, but he didn't. His little brother did. His little brother stayed in a burning building filled with terrifying creatures to find him. Connor never felt lower, so he started running.

"Connor, where are you going?" Leah asked.

He didn't even respond. He just ran into the fire. He knew it was exactly what Cody would do for him.

XLVII

Cody jogged through the back halls, trying to stay away from the commotion, still looking for Connor. But the Hallow was empty. Everyone was gone. There were no workers, no kids, no blue-light-monsters with southern accents. He was alone, but he knew he couldn't be. Connor still had to be somewhere inside. He didn't want to consider what Abi tried to bring up that Connor had met the same fate as Tyler and the rest of his friends. The more he traveled from room to room, the more he was convinced his brother was still alive. The way those things hung those bodies from meat hooks, if Connor was dead, not only would they have displayed him like a gruesome trophy, but they would have made sure everyone saw it. He searched every room in the Hallow, except the Monkey cage. It was always Cody's least favorite room and, of course, it was the one he was going to check last.

The closer Cody got to the Monkey cage, the harder it was to breathe. There were plenty of smoke machines in the Hallow, but this was so much thicker. Cody slid through a false wall into the Monkey cage and found a body on the floor completely engulfed in fire. The flames spread up the walls. This wasn't one of the special effects tricks his dad used. This was a dead body on fire. Connor's dead body on fire. Cody had done it again. All this death and destruction, his father's dreams literally up in smoke, his dead brother, all because Cody had to have his little revenge scheme. All for a little joke. How hilarious.

It was too soon to cry, and though Cody thought he probably deserved to get swallowed up in the smoke and fire, he couldn't do that to his Mom. He was probably going to jail for all of this, and he deserved it. He had to make it through this alive so that he could be adequately punished in this life, since he was pretty sure there wasn't a next one. Though the existence of those Djinn did make him question that.

The quickest exit was through the vortex and out the front door, but it was already burning. The next quickest way out was through the back hall and out from the Hell of Mirrors, which was the last stop in the maze. As the fire got closer, he took one last look at his brother's burning body and wished things would have been different. He wished they could play WWE Wrestling in the basement together like they used to before all of this stupid social stuff became so important. He said goodbye and turned down the back hall, running at full speed back to the Hell of Mirrors.

Normally, it would only take him about a minute and half to run the course through the back hall. Tonight, with the twists and turns and the difficulty finding his breath through the smoke, it was taking way too long. Cody turned to the Hell of Mirrors and was surprised that fire hadn't reached there yet. The smoke was already here though, and it circled its way around Cody's misshapen reflections and the neon lights surrounding the mirrors. He didn't like looking at his normal reflection, let alone these twisted versions, which all seem to stare back at him with accusing eyes.

"Back to where you started, huh, boy?"

A voice with a heavy southern accent boomed through the room. Cody knew exactly where this was going. There was another one of them in the Hell with him. Of course it was Mr. Slater.  He crept backward not sure which way to go. His mind was playing tricks on him. Each reflection was showing him a bizarre, twisted version of himself. He caught a glimpse of a reflection that showed an older, battle scarred version of himself. He turned his head to the left and then right, seeing repeated the reflections and scratches on his face, he looked a bit like Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. Dad would have been proud.

"Oh, Cody, Cody, Cody. I have had my eye on you for a long time, my boy."

Cody turned left and banged into a mirror. Only it wasn't his reflection behind the glass, but the man with the handlebar mustache. The one from the Astrovan that hit their car all of those weeks ago. That too was Roscoe Slater. This time, white energy crackled like electricity from his empty eye sockets.

"Ever since I saw you in that little soccer-mom mobile, I had a feeling you were special. I just didn't know how special 'til I saw what you did with that room of yours. It was impressive. Maybe even a little inspiring."

Cody turned again and found another reflection confronting him. Roscoe's face half-mutated into one of those monsters.

"I'm not special. I just want to find my brother," Cody said.

"No, you don't! Not anymore."

Another, even more mutated face barked at him from behind another pane of reflective glass. The sight of this mutated face shocked Cody to the floor. He was surrounded by countless reflections staring back at him. Each of them was Roscoe, but different in shape and size. Each devolving Roscoe's human form further and further. Cody looked across the row of mirrors and saw the final reflection of the one, true Roscoe Slater. A demonic, blue beast preached on all fours moving toward him.

"Maybe when it all hit the fan, you did, but now, knowing the building's on fire and crawlin' with monsters. Nah!"

Cody froze in place as the horde of mutated Djinn-men moved toward him. It was like he was blitzing the line of scrimmage again. He couldn't move. He was terrified. As the images closed in on him, he still wasn't completely sure which one was the real Roscoe.

"That ain't the truth. You know he's dead. Just like his friends. Just like your friends."

"No, they're safe. I just saw them," Cody responded.

"You sure 'bout that? Look what you did here, Cody-bear. This is a death trap. You lured all of those kids here. You planned it all. You helped build it. All of them are dead. And they weren't pretty deaths either. They all suffered and screamed for us, Cody. All cursing you for leading them here. But that's what you really wanted, isn't it? I know what they did to you. You told me the whole story. And your mama, she told me all about how scared she was about what's been happening to you."

He knew everything that Cody had been thinking. This whole thing was his fault again. Just like his father's car accident. He couldn't take it anymore. Cody pulled himself up to his feet and tried to run away but instead he ran smack into something. After hitting the floor again, he looked up and found Roscoe standing before him, looking like a normal person-- except for the gaping hole in his chest. Cody sat up and leaned against a mirror. The room began to warp out of shape. The mirrors shook and looked more like pools of water than panes of glass. He couldn't focus on anything.

"You're already a killer, Cody," Roscoe said. "I'm just gonna make you a better one."

Cody's eyes rolled behind his head. His body went limp. Roscoe reached out to grab hold of him, but his body slipped through the liquiform mirror and fell far out of Roscoe's sight. Cody was gone, and Roscoe stood up and unleashed a hellish scream far more terrifying than anything Bo or Kyra could ever muster. Roscoe knew exactly where he'd fallen.

XLVIII

When Cody finally came to he felt the hard ground on his face. It didn't feel like dirt or grass, more like smooth rocks. He opened his eyes but couldn't see. He ran his hands along the ground and pushed himself back up to his feet. The last thing he remembered was being in the Hell of Mirrors. This definitely wasn't that. Maybe he'd gone outside, but he couldn't remember how. Cody wiped his eyes and wondered if maybe those were burnt in the fire. Maybe he was blind? He squinted tightly, trying to focus into the distance. Finally, he saw something. A small array of lights, red, blue, yellow, and orange dotted the land and scurried about in the distance. They looked almost like multi-colored fire flies dancing in the distance. He hadn't lost his sight, but it seemed like the world had lost the sun. Cody looked up to the sky and couldn't find the moon. Or the stars. Unsure of what was going on, he started walking toward the moving lights, hoping that they were cars or some sort of transportation that could take him home.

The closer Cody moved toward the lights, which were still way off in the distance, the more he could make of his surroundings. It was vacant. There were no trees or plants. No grass on the ground. No people. No sound other than the din of his shuffling feet and stunted breath. It reminded him of pictures of the Mars landscape his father showed him on the Internet the day before he died. Maybe that's where he was. Maybe he was on Mars.

Then it finally hit him. The reason he didn't remember leaving the burning Haunted Hallow was because he hadn't. Instead he died inside the Hell of Mirrors. He must have passed out from smoke inhalation and never woke up. So this was what was awaiting everyone on the other side? It turns out, there was an afterlife, but there wasn't much to it. He never bought into the Sunday school stories of Heaven and Hell. That always bothered his mother, but the afterlife, this afterlife, was very different from what they were selling him in church. Though this was one of the times Cody wished he was wrong. Seeing the people from his life here, like his dad and his friends, and especially Connor would have been nice. It would have been great to apologize to them all in person. Instead, he was trapped on a vacant plain with no one or nothing around. If this was what the rest of existence was going to be like, it wasn't going to be a lot of fun. But then again, after what he did, this was probably the best that could have happened to him. It was certainly a lot better than the versions of Hell he had heard about his whole life. He kept moving toward the lights, hoping whatever was illuminating them could help answer some questions.

Cody walked on the desolate trail for what felt like hours before finding himself inside of what felt like some kind of forest. There were hundreds of dead trees scattered about the rocky space. He must have been getting closer because the lights intensified, illuminating the scene with a strange rainbow-like effect. Cody stopped to look at the trees. Maybe they'd help explain some things. Cody spent his childhood playing in the woods near Hawk Hallow. While he was by no means a tree expert, he knew what bark felt like and when he ran his hands along the trunk he felt something more like hollow rock than wood. He'd heard of a petrified forest, but had never seen one before. Is that what this was? He looked up and noticed that none of the trees had more than two branches, and none were very long. Cody turned again and found himself face to face with another of those creatures from the Hallow. Instinctively, he jumped back and hid behind another tree.

This was a terrible hiding place, but he couldn't think of anything better. He waited about thirty seconds before moving. It wasn't a long time to wait, but from what he'd seen of these Djinn, it was more than enough time for them to attack. He waited another few seconds before peering out around the corner and seeing that nothing moved. He stared for a moment, trying to keep himself hidden behind the petrified tree, waiting for it to do something, but it didn't. It just stayed still like a rock or a tree. Cody took two steps back and looked up at the tree he was hiding behind, and there, staring back at him, was another Djinn face. These weren't petrified trees at all. These were Djinn, just like the Slaters. Only these were frozen in place like statues. Though they couldn't move and lacked that eerie glow, but they were definitely the same creatures that he'd seen too many times that night. He knocked on the hardened carcass and heard a hollow thump inside. The Slaters all glowed like blue lanterns while these were just stumps, or empty shells more accurately. Is this what Djinn looked like when they died? As the light around him grew more intense and bright, Cody stepped back and noticed that the entire forest was something of a Djinn graveyard with carcasses that stretched out for miles. The empty husks were kind of like headstones that marked where these creatures died.

He remembered the blinding flash of light that knocked them all to the floor inside the warehouse. Was the Girl-Djinn that attacked them here? Maybe this is where they went when they died. Made sense. One of the old folks at Dad's funeral said something like "the light had gone out of him." Cody hated that phrase. It sounded so corny. But here, the light had literally gone out of these creatures leaving a bunch of grotesque rocks. But why here? What was the significance of this place? Did they die naturally or was their light taken from them?

As Cody felt up a few more of the empty shells and studied their twisted faces, he figured this was probably where they came from, their home world. If this was their world that he had somehow fallen into, maybe the reason it was so dark was because their bodies gave off so much light they didn't need a sun. But if there was no sun, then was he even in the universe? And if the Djinn were the only source of light in this world, why was it getting so much brighter?

Cody looked out on to the horizon and saw an enormous light-mass moving toward him. He squinted at its overpowering intensity. Trying to focus deeper, he saw thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Djinn racing ahead. They all looked similar to the Slaters with their twisted bodies and deformed heads. But unlike the Slaters, who were all blue, these Djinn were a mixture of bright, primary colors shimmering against the dark, empty abyss behind them. What were they racing toward? Cody had no clue, but it was smarter to be out of sight if they got any closer. As he tried to hide from the great, glowing migration, a thunderous boom echoed through the space. In unison, the creatures called out with a collective, ear-piercing scream. Cody dropped to the ground and covered his ears. He knew exactly where they were heading. There was someone in their world who didn't belong, and they were coming to take care of it. Looking around this desolate tomb, Cody had a decent idea of what they were going to do when they found him. He had to run, now. But where could he go? How could he escape when he had no idea how he got there in the first place?

Cody looked deeper into the Djinn collective as it closed in on him. Off in the distance, something was moving behind the horde. It wasn't lagging behind them, like it couldn't keep pace. Instead, it was as if these creatures were emanating from the giant mass, heralding its approach. A gigantic red and black mountain of a being moved behind the Djinn hive. Raising its head to the sky, it turned toward Cody. Its face was more pronounced and different from the Djinn. Its enormous bat-like wings spread out, eclipsing any light the creatures produced. This demonic presence was their god and looking into its face, Cody knew exactly who was approaching. He had died. This was the afterlife, and as soon as the Djinn found him, he'd burn in Hell.

XLIX

Cody stood next to the petrified Djinn husks and awaited his fate. This is what he deserved after everything he'd done. He was a killer, just like Roscoe said. He took a deep breath, ready to accept his fate. The sky above his head ripped open and white light flooded the Petrified Forest. A thin, gnarled, blue claw reached out from the other side and grabbed Cody by the shoulder. He tried to run away but before he could take a step, the claw pulled him through the freshly torn portal. The journey back through reminded him of the light-spiral vortex his dad built. It was almost identical.  Before Cody could feel his way through space and time, he saw the Hell of Mirrors, but this view wasn't what he expected. It was like being underwater and looking up at the people surrounding the lake. The claw pulled Cody through what looked like a pool of water. He emerged and looked back, seeing that he wasn't pulled from any water, but through one of the mirrors. He looked into the glass, but instead of his reflection, he saw a window back into the dark Djinn world.

Roscoe threw Cody to the ground. He assumed it was Roscoe. He couldn't tell because his former boss' Djinn form couldn't keep its shape. Its limbs kept breaking and regrowing and breaking again with every step. This creature didn't belong here. The same way Cody didn't belong in their world. The flames had pushed their way into the Hell of Mirrors now. Cody felt like he'd been gone for hours, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes.

"I know what you are," Cody said.

"You got no clue, boy," Roscoe said.

His voice was more garbled then before he slipped through the mirror.

"Where you were, ain't what you thought it was and who you saw, ain't who you think you saw. They're both much worse."

Cody tried to run to the emergency exit but forgot about the padlock and chain. Again, Roscoe's long talons smacked Cody across the chest and broke on impact. Roscoe's bones were brittle but it was enough to knock him back to the floor. The creature was getting weaker.

"Weeee ain't got much tiiiime," he said. "They gonna be here sssssssoooon."

Cody tried again to crawl away, this time toward the fire. If where he was much worse than the afterlife, he'd rather take his chances with the flames.

"Nope," Roscoe said. "Letsss make this quick."

Roscoe's claw clutched Cody's head and white light poured from his eyes and mouth. Cody wanted to fight back but again he was frozen in place. He couldn't move, but he could feel something moving inside his body. His arms began to twist and snap out of place. He felt something pushing his insides around, trying to move things that needed to stay in place to keep him alive. It didn't need to keep him alive. It just wanted the shell.

"Just give up, boy. Your time is gone," Roscoe's voice said inside Cody's head.

The pain was intense, and Cody thought about just letting go. But then he thought of Dad. Then Mom. Then Connor. Even Nick and Abi. He smiled when he thought of her. He thought about the real reason he quit football and why he was always afraid to fight back. It was just easier to quit when it was hard, but he was done quitting.  He didn't deserve life, but he wasn't just going to let Roscoe take his body and ruin thousands of other lives with his face. He cried out for help and Roscoe laughed inside his brain. He looked into the mirrors and saw the glass ripple and rumble like ocean waves. Cody screamed and with every bit of fight he had left inside, he tried to push Roscoe out.

"Stop fighting!" Roscoe shouted in his head.

Cody felt Roscoe pushing back. He was keeping him at bay somehow, so he just keep pushing. One of Roscoe's talons gripped Cody's leg tightly but Roscoe let go and screamed out.

The pain slipped. Roscoe let go of his leg, but still held his neck. The gripped loosened just enough. Cody looked down and saw an orange ember glowing in his left pocket. He reached in and pulled out Abi's ring. Cody put the ring on and grabbed the talon that was still clutching his neck. Roscoe screamed out and backed away. The crescent moon glowed in the center of the ring. Cody struggled to get to his feet. Roscoe's attack had taken more out of him than he realized, but at least Roscoe wasn't inside him anymore.

"Yoooou neeeeed mooorrrre than rag-head maaaaagic, boy."

Roscoe started to crawl back toward him. Exhausted, Cody took a deep breath and squeezed his hand as he pointed the ring toward the creature. This was it. One more shot. If he failed so be it. Roscoe's talon stretched out and grabbed Cody's foot. Cody raised his arm high into the air and with every last bit of strength he had left, drove his fist down. The orange, glowing ring severed the jagged talon from the rest of Roscoe's body.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" The demon cried out.

The mirrors started to change shape again. From the center, the glass bulged out and reached toward them. The mirror bent and wobbled, it was like someone was pushing on the glass from the other side but couldn't get through. Only Roscoe knew the secret of traveling through the glass. The mirrors stopped moving. A claw shot toward them from beyond the mirror and grabbed them. Another claw reached out from another mirror and grabbed Roscoe's leg. Then another and another. Soon eight more claws emerged, each from a different mirror, but none of them looked like the normal Djinn hand. Instead, they looked like the Djinn claws wearing reflective gloves, like the glass itself had turned against Roscoe. More and more hands reached out from the reflections, each taking hold of Roscoe, pulling him away from Cody. Soon another set of hands reached out and grabbed Cody and started pulling him in the opposite direction. Roscoe's left talon was cut in half by a reflective claw that swiped down like a samurai sword. His right talon, which Cody had already severed, was pulled through another mirror. Little by little, the mirrors tore Roscoe apart, slicing and dicing him into small chunks of bright blue, fleshy goo that were sucked back into the Hell of Mirrors.

"I ain't going anywhere," Cody heard Roscoe say inside his head.

A mirrored blade shot out from beyond the mirrors and severed Roscoe's head from what was left of his body. The white light in Roscoe's eyes dimmed. Then he heard the sound of the Djinn cry out in pain for a moment before fading away in his mind. Cody watched the blade pool back into the mirror and saw his own reflection. Though it couldn't have been what he saw, Cody swore that in that moment, it wasn't his own reflection staring back at him, but his father's. Dad smiled and winked before the image faded away and Cody was left with his own battered reflection.

Roscoe was gone, and the mirrors were just glass. Again, it was only Cody and the wall of flames that surrounded him. Cody knew Roscoe lied to him about his friends. They were safe, and with the djinn back behind the mirror, it was all over. No more Tyler, no more monsters, no more dark worlds with giant demons. There was nothing left to fight. He thought about just going to sleep.

Then he remembered what Coach Pawley said about it being okay to quit if you've absolutely given everything you had. It was totally not true for football. But today, in the Hell of Mirrors, this was absolutely everything he had to give. He was ready to give in. He could barely breathe and was about to close his eyes when he saw the silhouette move toward him.

"Come on! We gotta go."

He recognized the voice. He focused his eyes and saw Connor, safe and alive.

"Connor? I'm so sorry," Cody said.

"Me too, buddy." Connor said.

Connor lifted his brother up off the ground, slung Cody's arm over his shoulder, and helped carry him out of the burning Hell of Mirrors.

L

As the burning Hallow lit up the night sky, Connor and Cody pushed their way out the same back door that Cody failed to open three and a half hours earlier. The fire department cut the padlock and chains when they heard Connor banging on the emergency exit. Leah ran over to her boys and grabbed them. The family embraced each other and shared a hug. Something they should have done months ago.

"Are you okay, baby?" Leah asked Cody.

He hated being called baby, but the last ten minutes changed his outlook on many things. Being Mom's baby wasn't so bad.

"I'm okay, Mom," Cody said. "Thanks, Connor."

"You were in there for me. You probably wouldn't have even gone in there if I had stopped Tyler from being such an ass."

"No, man, this whole thing was all my fault. Look at the Hallow. Dad would be so disappointed in me."

"No, I sold the Hallow to that monster. This whole thing is all my fault," Leah said.

"Are you guys freaking serious?"

The three confused Burks turned back and looked at Nick.

"I didn't say anything. She did," Nick pointed at Abi.

"Damn right, I did," Abi said. "Cody, you stood up to a bunch of bullies, sorry Connor."

Connor shrugged. She was right.

Cody smiled and pulled the silver ring off his finger and tossed it back to her.

"What is this thing?" He asked.

"It was my grandpa's. He always reached out with his hand in faith."

Cody had no idea what that meant, but Abi seemed convinced of something. He wanted to ask her more questions about the ring, but it didn't matter. They were alive.

"Thank you," was all Cody said.

"It's cool. We're all just so lucky," she said.

"Some of us weren't so lucky," Connor added.

He was right, Tyler was gone. So were the rest of Connor's friends. They weren't good people, but they were still his friends. Plus, there was that girl on fire in the Monkey cage. She didn't deserve any of this. Who knows how many people Blake and the Slaters killed since they came to Hawk Hallow?

"But we were," Nick said softly.

Abi's eyes welled up slightly. She ran up to Cody and grabbed him, hugging him tight. His first instinct was to push her away, but he couldn't. He didn't want to, hugging a pretty girl was much better than...well, anything was better than the alternative. As she hugged him, he smelled her hair. It was nice. Better than the burning wood smell in the air. They looked into each other’s eyes and like so many other teenagers had done at the Halloween Barn Dance over the years, shared their first kiss. Normally doing that in front of your friends and mother might be awkward. Tonight was an understandable exception.

"Dude, you would not believe what happened out here. It was literally the craziest thing you ever saw!" Nick said trying to stop the young couple.

"I bet it isn't," Cody said back.

LI

Cody Burk slept for the first time in weeks, but it wasn't a good, sound sleep. Instead, he thrashed about with visions of the Djinn world and its demonic overlord haunting him. He woke up in a cold sweat and fell back asleep only to hear Roscoe's voice still echoing in his head. The process repeated itself for hours until Cody decided it was enough. He looked at the clock, it was a quarter after six on All Saints Day. He didn't get out his bed. He just laid there, reflecting on the night. That wasn't too comforting either. As they were all leaving, everyone seemed in good spirits, all things considered. His friends all seemed happier, stronger. He supposed it had something to do with the near death experiences. Cody didn't feel that way. He was pretty happy about things with Abi. They hadn't made anything official yet. But that wasn't where his thoughts were.

The others saw a small, but messed up glimpse of what the Slaters really were, especially what Abi told him happened with Roscoe and that Blake guy. But Cody had a much different view of things. He didn't tell anyone about what Roscoe did to him. He was pretty sure Connor didn't see it either or else he would have said something about the mirrors cutting the monster to shreds. Cody was the only one who saw that, not to mention he may have been the only person ever to see where they came from. But was that even real? Maybe Roscoe was just playing games? Maybe Roscoe made him think about those things while he was trying to break Cody's mind. Maybe it was just a trick. Maybe it was only the beginning.

Cody got up and went to the bathroom where his accusatory reflection met him. The bathroom mirror made him uncomfortable. Could they still see him from the other side? Cody wanted to smash the glass and any other mirror that he'd ever look at, but he didn't. He just left the bathroom.

In the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a can of Mountain Dew. He was still tired but wasn't ready to sleep. The excessive caffeine would help. Something was gnawing in the back of his head. The thought that maybe Roscoe was still there, waiting for him or some other poor bastard to take a wrong step and lose their body. Maybe that whole thing was just an elaborate charade and Roscoe never planned on taking Cody's body at all. Maybe that was the real game Roscoe was playing. There were too many questions rumbling in his mind. He needed answers.

Cody threw his shoes on and ran to the garage. He went to jump on his bike but then remembered that he never brought it home. They all left their bikes at the Hallow and got rides home from the police instead. They each spent a good hour giving their statements. They agreed not to mention anything about the Slater's, or at least what they really were. It was easier to point to Blake and put the whole thing on him. The cops thought that he might've been the source of the Hospital fire. It worked. The truth wouldn't set anyone free. It would probably have them all committed.

Cody took a deep breath and started jogging to the Hallow, or where the Hallow was before last night. The morning was cool with a thick, wet fog hanging over the town. After about half a mile, his lungs started to burn. Cody hadn't done anything athletic since playing in the Morrisonville game, and his cardiovascular conditioning wasn't what it was back then. He kept pushing forward, the taste of sweat and his clearing sinus felt good. The best he felt in a while. With each step, he seemed to leave a little more behind, and with each deep breath he felt a little more alive.

When he reached Jericho Avenue he paused and looked out at the charred remains of what was Great-Uncle Pete's farm. Dad would have been sad. This place was special to him. He wanted it to be special to the family, but the Hallow was his thing. Maybe it was better that it was gone. He saw what happened when someone else took over. Maybe the Hallow was better off with Dad.

Cody walked around the property and saw the city had already put out a cleanup crew. The case was pretty cut and dry, as far as anyone else knew. Probably just easier to clean up and move on. The town had been through a lot too.

Near the black, skeletal frame of the Hallow he found Connor. He was just sitting there, staring at the crew as they swept away the last remnants of their dad's work.

"What are you doing here?" Cody asked.

"I couldn't sleep," he answered. "You?"

"I don't wanna go to sleep for a while."

"I get that."

Cody took a seat next to his brother and joined him in a solid two minutes of silence. It was nice not to have to say anything or explain anything. The two of them just sat until Connor finally broke the silence.

"I keep thinking about Dad."

"Like how?"

"The two of you spent all that time working on this place. I wish I'd been there too," Connor said.

"Last year, I was putting more time into football than being here with Dad. It's one of the reasons I started playing. I felt like I just needed to get away a little."

"Man, we're jerks."

"Kinda," Cody said.

"I miss him," Connor said.

"Me too."

"I should be dead," Connor finally said. "I should have followed you guys here, and I should've died with Tyler."

"I thought you did," Cody said.

He waited a minute before adding, "I'm sorry about what happened to your friends."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am--"

"No. Don't be. If he'd have caught you here, he would've hurt you."

"Better him than Roscoe," Cody said, not sure which was worse.

"Maybe, maybe not. I know Tyler was a piece of shit, but he was my friend. They were all my friends, and they're all gone."

"He was a piece of shit."

"I know. I was afraid of him," Connor confessed. "I was afraid he was gonna hurt Mom. I saw our house trashed, and the first thought that went through my head was that my best friend is gonna kill my mom? How messed up is that?"

"I'm not gonna lie, that's pretty messed up."

"Right? Still, we go back to school tomorrow, and I'm gonna be the guy with no friends. I always figured it's better to have piece of shit friends than no friends."

"You could always hang out with me and my friends."

Connor started laughing, "Yeah, right."

The two of them hadn't been close in years. Cody got why his brother would laugh at the suggestion.

"Seriously, we'll all be at Carter next year. This stupid stuff won't matter anymore."

"No, it'll be a whole new bunch of stupid stuff," Connor said. "Then again, those guys aren't so bad. That Nick kid is pretty funny."

Cody nodded. Nick was funny, a little annoying but funny.

"Besides, in a couple years, that Abi is gonna be hot!" Connor said with a wink.

That wasn't funny. Of course, judging from the smile on Connor's face, maybe it was a little. Cody feigned a chuckle as they got back up to his feet.

"Race you home?" He asked.

"You might be bigger than me, but there's no way you're faster than me," Connor said as he wiped the wet grass from his bottom.

"Am so!"

"Are not!"

"Not a freakin' chance-- go!" Connor shouted as he took off.

"Hey, you cheater! That's not fair!" Cody shouted back as he took off after his brother.

A heavy-set grounds crew member with a long, thick beard looked over and watched the Burks race away from the Hallow. He chuckled as he looked back down at the wreckage in front of him. While sweeping away a pile of rubble, something caught his eye. The crewman bent over and pushed away a bit of the blacked debris. He found a fairly intact mirror with a strange, blue hue. He looked deeper into the glass and a small set of white eyes appeared in the reflection and peered around the corner.

"Hey, you got something over there?" The foreman shouted.

The Djinn locked eyes with the crewman. Both seem surprised and weren't sure what to make of the other. Just as the creature was about to let out an ear-wrenching shriek, the crewman grabbed hold of his ball-peen hammer and drove it straight down, pounding the glass into nothingness.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! Did you find something?"

The crewman stood up and smiled to his foremen, revealing an abnormal set of buck teeth. "Nope. Not a thing," he said.

"All right. Let's get back to work."

"Yes, sir," he said.

The Crewman shook his head and sighed. He pulled back his orange hardhat and wiped the sweat from the crescent moon-shaped scar on his brow.

"Abracadabra," he whispered with a smile.

THE END

Author's Note

Before we go into anything, I want to say thank you for reading this book. What makes that so cool, at least to me, is that this wasn’t supposed to be a book. This was supposed to be a comic book miniseries. My brother and I conceived the idea of the story (a group of kids trapped in a haunted house with a family of vampires) way back in 2011. In 2014, we had an offer from a comic publisher but unfortunately, our artist, Matt Jordan passed away from a staph infection. It was terrible. I didn’t feel right going forward with this as
a comic without Matt with us. The thought of another artist interpreting Matt’s designs just seemed wrong.

After a few months, I decided to rework the story and try my hand as a novelist. It took awhile, but here we are! So, as part of a thank you for checking out this book, I’ve included this dropbox link.

In this dropbox folder, you’ll find all of the scripts, character sketches and finished art from the unfinished Hawk Hallow Comic Miniseries. It’s fun to see just how much the story and the characters have evolved and changed since their inception. Also included in that Dropbox is the audio commentary track that details the story behind the creation of this novel. The audio commentary track is a thing that I’ve always done in comics and was something I thought could be a cool way to look behind the scenes of Hawk Hallow. The commentary track turned out to be a little raw, as far as how honest and inside I got with the creation of this world. I’ve also gone through a ton of life changes since Matt passed away. I miss my friend, and I hope he’s proud of what we were able to do with this story. Please give it a lesson.

If you enjoyed the world of Hawk Hallow, please check out my new book, BLOODSHOT, available at Amazon. If you’re into comics, please check out DELUGE on Comixology. If you dig my stuff please consider signing up for my Advanced Reader Team and help shape the work. Being part of The Team really helps ensure that the best possible product is created.

Thank you guys again for walking through the Djinnisphere!

Be on the lookout for HAWK HALLOW: HOMECOMING coming soon!