Once Upon a Halloween (24 page)
"How'd she break her arm?"
"Bret's not sure."
"Bret's okay?"
"He called, didn't he?"
Jeff started sobbing. Sue held him more tightly. "It's all right, honey. It's all right. Everything's fine."
"Phyllis?"
"She's fine."
"Rhonda?"
"Who's Rhonda?"
"This other girl. She was with us."
"Far as I know, everyone's fine. Bret sounded... pretty excited. Come on, let's get out of here."
They let go of each other and Sue turned around. As she started down the stairs, she felt Jeff's hand settle on her shoulder.
"They're really okay?" he asked.
"If you can call a broken arm okay." Her eyes drifted sideways to the man at the bottom of the stairs. Glimpsing his genitals, she looked away fast. "What on earth happened here, honey?"
"I don't know. Something... really bad."
"I'll say."
"Another body upstairs."
Sue made a detour around the naked man, trying not to look at him again, but giving him one last glance anyway that made her feel a little sick and a little ashamed of herself.
Outside, Sue managed not to look at the dead man on the porch. She trotted down the stairs and hurried over to the driveway with Jeff holding on to her shoulder all the way.
Then he stopped her and turned her around and put his arms around her.
Sue's throat tightened.
"Are you
all right?" she asked.
"Are you
all right?" she asked.
"I... I was so scared. In the house. So many bodies. I thought I'd find
them
in there. I went hunting through every room upstairs and every time I opened a door or turned on a light... I thought I'd find Mandy or Bret. Their bodies."
them
in there. I went hunting through every room upstairs and every time I opened a door or turned on a light... I thought I'd find Mandy or Bret. Their bodies."
She stroked the back of his head. "Oh, honey."
"I found their bags. Their Halloween bags. Upstairs. In one of the bedrooms. Somebody'd been in them. Eating the candy. There were wrappers all over the floor... and on some dead guy who's up there."
"Are you sure they were
our
kids' bags?"
our
kids' bags?"
"Bret had his name on his. And Mandy was using that Macy's bag from The Cellar."
"That's right," Sue said, nodding. "Do you suppose they were up there?"
"I don't know, I don't know. Where
are
they?"
are
they?"
"I'm not entirely sure. Bret said he'd meet us at the hospital. Apparently, he was calling from the cemetery. He had a cell phone You should've heard him, honey. He was so excited. He said he'd saved everyone except Mandy and how he meant to save her but couldn't, and how a sharpshooter got to save her instead."
"What?"
Jeff stepped out of Sue's arms and held her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes as if he needed to
see
her to believe what she was saying.
"Well, apparently Mandy was saved by a SWAT sharpshooter."
"Holy shit."
Sue gave him a lopsided smile and shrugged. "That's what Bret said."
"Bret said 'Holy shit'?"
"No, no. About the sharpshooter."
"SWAT
showed up at the cemetery?"
"That's what it sounds like. According to Bret, it sounds like maybe a dozen or so kids got grabbed off the streets tonight and taken to the graveyard. A couple of older gals, too. Bret sounded like they were his good buddies, but I'd never heard of them."
"Shannon and Laura?"
"That's it. Yeah.
You've
heard of them?"
You've
heard of them?"
"Not before tonight. That's their house right there."
"Oh. Well. Maybe that explains the bodies."
"What the hell was going on?" Jeff asked.
Again, Sue shrugged. "Apparently, a bunch of nutjobs were planning to sacrifice the kids and everyone in some sort of midnight ritual."
"Like... Satanists or something?"
"Something. I don't know. Bret didn't seem to know, either."
"Holy shit," Jeff muttered again.
"Or
unholy
shit, as the case may be."
unholy
shit, as the case may be."
He almost smiled. "But everything's okay now? Except for Mandy's arm?"
"Some other kid got hurt pretty seriously, I guess. I don't know. It sounded like all sorts of crap hit the fan. But yeah, it's okay now. Cavalry arrived. Ambulances. The whole nine yards."
"Let's go see the kids," Jeff said.
"Good plan."
Holding hands, they walked down the driveway.
Sue turned her head. "So how did the trick or treating go?"
"Great. Up to a point."
"Next year, it's all of us or none of us."
"All of us."
"I should've gone with you tonight," Sue said. "If I'd been along, none of this would've happened."
Jeff chuckled. "Probably not."
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
They crept closer to the lights, then ducked behind a large marble tombstone and peered around its sides.
"What do you think happened?" Al asked.
Whitney turned around and sat down, her back against the slab. "The cops showed up, that's what."
Al sat down beside her, leaned back and stretched out his legs. "Guess we lucked out," he said.
"You can say that again."
"Guess we lucked out."
Whitney nudged him with her elbow.
He laughed softly.
"Dope," she said.
"Don't call we a dope. I'm the one figured we oughta stay away. I
knew
there was gonna be trouble."
knew
there was gonna be trouble."
"Only
you
wanted to come back and warn 'em. Talk about bonehead moves. Like they woulda
thanked
us for letting that bitch get away."
you
wanted to come back and warn 'em. Talk about bonehead moves. Like they woulda
thanked
us for letting that bitch get away."
"You think she's the one called the cops?"
"What do you think?"
"Maybe her boyfriend called 'em."
"Nah," Whitney said. "Nobody gets away from Eleanor. It was that bitch we went after."
Al sighed. "Guess no ceremony tonight."
"I figure it's bullshit anyway."
"Yeah, me too," Al said. "I'm gonna miss it, though. I mean, shit, what a rush, you know what I mean?"
"Just a glorified orgy."
"But all that blood," Al reminded her.
"Yeah. The blood."
"Nailing all those kids."
"Yeah."
"Shit. I'm
really
gonna miss it."
really
gonna miss it."
Whitney raised her hand in front of her face and pushed a button to activate her wristwatch light. "Still a couple of hours till midnight."
"So?"
"Plenty of time. Let's haul ass outa here, grab a couple of kids and have our
own
ceremony. Who needs the rest of 'em?"
own
ceremony. Who needs the rest of 'em?"
Al looked at her. "You
serious?"
serious?"
She reached over and patted his thigh. "Hell yes."
"What're we waiting for?"
Hunched over, the two robed figures rushed away from the tombstone and ran into the trees and the dark Halloween night.
***
And they all lived happily ever after.
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