Original Scary Fiction
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The Shortcutby Brian Skinner
ai251@chebucto.ns.ca
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ai251/Stories.html
Halloween means trick-or-treating, or egging houses, to little kids. To university students Sean's age, it meant Halloween parties. This year the party was going to be at Brian's house, not too big, but enough friends and fun that Sean was excited. He had heard that there were going to be some girls there, so he was being extra careful to look his best. He was thankful that it was not going to be a costume party, you couldn't get a good look at the girls if they had make-up or masks on. Anyways, he was ready by the time Todd and Stacy arrived to walk to the party with him. IT wasn't too long a walk, but long enough to make them all wish the could have gotten a car that night from their parents.
As the started walking to the party, they were surrounded by little trick-or-treaters. Todd didn't like any of the youngsters getting near enough to them to cause some mischief. Todd was the youngest, only in grade 11 but had been friends with Brian and Sean for years. He was only going because they really wanted him too, he didn't like crowds or parties that much, too much noise and too many people. He decided to suggest that they take a shortcut through the graveyard to avoid the egg-pelting children. Stacy thought it would be cool, just like the movies, a great way to get into the Halloween mood. Sean wasn't sure, there weren't many lights in the graveyard, and you didn't know what kind of weirdoes would be their on Halloween night. Todd said that they were the kind of weirdoes people were going to find there, so hurry up.
Stacy started her way into the graveyard. She always liked a good walk, and exploring, and a graveyard on Halloween night seemed to be perfect for just that. She also wanted to get to the party quickly, they were already late, and she hadn't seen Brian often since university started. Anyways, she told the guys to follow her, since she was the oldest, she felt she should be in charge. Todd lagged to the back, and Sean was not too far from him. A full moon was overhead, and night shone with the stars clearly in view. To Stacy, winter didn't seem that far off, and she wished that she had brought a heavier coat with her. The moonlight shone off all the graves, creating an eerie scene. Stacy thought it all looked quite neat, Sean wanted to hurry up all the same. Suddenly, a whistling sound drifted around them.
"Cut that out Stacy.", said Sean.
"It's not me, I can't whistle that well, it's probably Todd.", explain Stacy, and she gave Todd her sternest glare.
"Oh, all right, it was me,", confessed Todd, "They always do it in the movies, so I thought I'd pull the old trick."
"Yeah, well in the movies, right after that, there's always a whistling sound that isn't coming from someone in the group.", Sean explained.
Right on cue, a whistling sound did start up. The three looked at each other, none of them were making that sound. The whistling continued, seemingly coming from nowhere, yet everywhere all that the same time. Slowly, it became a soft moaning sound, then became two voices, then three, eventually becoming a whole chorus of moans, everywhere. They were halfway across the graveyard now, and had begun to sprint. Stacy started to fall behind, and pleaded for the guys to wait up. Thankfully, they did, and kept to a tight pack. Their run, however, was halted when an eerie green glow emanated from the ground all over the graveyard. The three wanted to run, but were stuck dumb in horrid facination, feet seemingly glued tot he ground in fear.
Slowly, bit by bit, in the green glow, the dirt around the graves began to stir. A hand here, a foot there, slowly creeping out of the ground. Dirt clung to strips of skin, rotting on yellow bones. Eyeless stares of frightfully decayed faces, started to poke out and look straight into their souls. Insects crawled out of hanging jaws, peeped out of rotting husks of torsos. Fear, intense mind numbing fear, kept the three friends' feet still, but their stomachs turned. Sean retched at the sight, and the smells of the disturbed formal souls who's decaying corpse's now came free of their earthy final resting places. Stacy wanted to scream, but her mouth was so fiercely clamped shut in fear, that only a mummer escaped her lips. Survival instincts finally overran the fear, and the friends suddenly were able to run. However, as they tried to reach the gates that lead out of the graveyard, they were blocked with a wall of animated corpses. The monsters reached out for Todd, but Sean pulled him away just in the nick of time.
What the zombies lacked in speed, they made up for in numbers. Stacy looked desperately for a way to safety, and saw a tool shed for the graveyard keepers. She shouted to the others to dash for it. Dodging limbs flailing, hands grabbing, they made it inside the sturdy wooden shed by a hair's width. Once inside, they bared the doors with a steel crow bar. Sean went to the corner and once again heaved, but there was nothing left in his stomach. Stacy sat on the cold ground, wanted to weep, but fear froze any tears she had. The banging against the door was deafening, the cries of the hungry dead bone chilling. The three feared that the zombies would break through at any moment. However, suddenly, the banging stopped. Silence met their ears. For the briefest of moments they thought the horror had come to an end. Suddenly, a hand burst from the floor and grabbed Todd's ankle. He yelled for help. Stacy came crashing down with a shovel and cut the hand off. More hands popped through, while the dismembered hand wriggled silently on the dirt floor. Each took a shovel and beat the hands down, but they kept coming.
They decided then and there that they had to try and make a run for it. They burst through the door into the faces of many, many zombies. They swung wildly with shovels, and metal bars, but the odds seemed too much against them. The moans of the undead attacked their ears, while rotting limbs and heads were cut off by the weapons. The more they cut down, the more there seemed to be. Sean was knocked down by a zombie, and several went down to him to feast on his flesh. Todd came and fought them off until Sean could regain his footing. Finally, there was a break in the line of zombies, and the three fought their way to it. Luck was finally on their side. So many zombies had surrounded the shed, that once past that barrier, the way to the gate only had a smattering of zombies. Then ran for all they were worth, fighting off the rotting limbs and gnashing teeth. Todd looked to the side, and saw a zombie feasting on the insides of what looked to be an unfortunate soul who must have been caught in the graveyard as well. Fighting down the bile raising in his throat, he fought on, more motivated than ever to get out of these blasted grounds. Just as it seemed they would make it free at last, one last zombie stepped in front of the gate...
Stacy froze, not moving an inch, she could only stare at the zombie that was coming towards them.
"Stacy, what's the matter? Come one, we need your help to get through!" exclaimed Todd desperately.
"It... the zombie... it is... was... my grandfather...", sobbed Stacy, "Grandpa, do you remember me?"
The zombie moved towards Stacy...
"Stacy, no!!!" yelled Sean.
The zombie came closer, it looked at Stacy, eyes rotting, it moved it's arm towards Stacy neck... it went to bite...
"No!!!", Stacy screamed.
As it seemed there was no hope, as Todd and Sean were trying to get zombies off of themselves, only to watch helplessly, a thumping sound was heard. The zombie fell to the ground, and Stacy scurried away. Brian stood behind it, eyes open in fear and terror, holding a solid branch in his hands. He grabbed Stacy, and yelled to Sean and Todd, and they escaped through the gates into the street. Luckily, the zombies were limited to haunting the graveyard for some reason, the four friend's hardly cared at the moment.
Brian explained to them why here was there. He had begun to worry why they were late, and had looked out for them. Knowing that Todd usually takes the graveyard route, he headed towards there. When he had arrived, he found an eerie glow coming from the graveyard, and screaming. He had gathered his courage (and a stout stick off a tree), and went in for a peek too see if his friends were inside in any danger. He had witness what was going to happen to Stacy, and acted on instinct with a rush of adrenaline. When he heard their tale, he paled even further, and couldn't believe their courage and how they had made it out alive. Brian took them back to his house, called the party off, and laid them down to rest. Sean was exhausted, his nerves shot, and fell into a fitful rest as soon as he laid down. Todd paced around nervously, still sick to his stomach over what had happened. Stacy laid against his shoulder, finally finding tears. Brian turned on the TV, trying to alleviate some of the tension that filled the room, while trying to comfort Stacy. Todd walked over, grabbed the controller, turned the TV off, and threw the controller down the hall.
"Umm...Todd...I know you have every right in the world to be upset, but I have to ask...what was that about?" ,asked Brian.
"Brian, after all that *censored*, I am not going to watch 'Night of The Living Dead'!", explained Todd.
fini