Halloween Fiction Cooperation: The tale of Thomas Braum.

[uncletor]

The two made it to the end of the hall before everything hit the fan.
The kid had just put his tag on the wall and had his Polaroid taken when they both heard the gun fire.
"Party time is over kid...Let's get you DOWNSTAIRS.."
"Elevator?????"
More gun fire. Automatic weapons this time.
"No. They'll be frozen. Here. Take this stairway. It'll lead downstairs..and take some time, but when you get down there, start crying and do that delivery story...it'll get you out..if there's smoke CRAWL across the floor.Keep down.."
The guard turned without another word and headed towards Thorndyke's office.
Throughout the building guards turned to monitors and saw a sight that made mouths go dry and eyes pop out like the coyote in the ROADRUNNER cartoons...the salesman..that doggone salesman...Everybody had seen him do his thing for months...maybe even years. Some of the guys were even used to laughing at him...the dopey travelling salesman with his health food...what a sad sack! Always the same. Always bummed out.
Now this same guy was going floor to floor, shooting people at point blank range and taking out the monitors..three floors were now blacked out and he was climbing the building, floor by floor. He would point a semi auto, squeeze the trigger...the guard would fly backwards or slide slowly down the wall..and he would move on..everybody was taken by surprize..why not??? Nobody really believed this would ever happen.
And the gun fire was still going.
The guard burst into Thorndykes office.
Thorndyke had the 12 guage cocked at him. Only the uniform kept him alive.
"WHAT IS THE COLOR OF THE DAY???" yelled Thorndyke.
"Harvest yellow..the situation code is a 14...you HAVE to use the ESCAPE POD down the hall..THEY WILL BE ON THIS FLOOR IN LESS THEN FIVE MINTUES.."
"THEY?????" Thorndykes worst, most paranoid nightmare was coming true.
"It must be a bunch of people ALL DRESSED THE SAME..." yelled back the guard.."There is NO WAY they could get through the floors that quick at the same time..Let's MOVE sir.."
On the nearest monitor, a guard fell backward like he had been hit in the gut with a two by four. It made up Thorndykes' mind.
"Okay, let's go.."
With a lot of effort the greedy tyrant moved out from behind his desk and got into a wheelchair.

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Britney had been right about one thing..she was almost as heavy as the whole Thorndyke building. Tommy sweated...really sweated as he pushed her in the chair down the hall.
"Okay, Mammy Promise says you have a way to get her kid out of the glass bottles."
Britney smiled and produced a sling shot. The kind that was sold in the back of Popular Science or Popular Mechanics. Rubber. Fired ball bearings. A hunting sling shot.
"Just open the door and fire off a few rounds. The compression will do the rest."
"Compression??"
Britney took a glup of air;"Thorndyke has stacked soul on top of soul on top of soul in those glass jars. Imagine a family stuck in a frige. Five, six, seven people. Imagine how CRAZY they would get if they didn't have to eat or go to the bathroom and had only themselves to look at and get mad at over all the years.
"Each jar has a dozen, maybe more people in them. All face to face. All crazy and mad and just itching to get out. Blow out one, two jars, and the spirit vapors escaping will do the rest. Simple physics."

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The sweat was pouring down Tommy's armpits and off his forehead.
"So where's the best palce to DO this???"
"Right underneath you. The whole floor underneath us is lined with them. Here. See the carpet that's over that sort of a trap door? Use this key..."
And sure as shooting, the key that Britney had passed to Tommy went into a brass keyhole in the floor and a whole trap door was able to be moved up. Tommy was amazed at how much people were willing to overlook and assumed were just part of fire regs, plumbing, or buildng plans.
The door lifted open and was so stiff it hung in mid air when Tommy stopped pushing it upwards.
A solid blast of heat knocked the boy backwards to his can..
The thick heavy air pinned Britney to the back of her chair..she was almost drinking the atmosphere now." Take about three shots...one right after another..don't try to aim..and DON'T expose your eyes to the opening..there's about to be a LOT of flying glass."

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The guard had an easier time with Thorndyke, but Thorndye wasn't from Mars and had a better chair.
There were a half dozen wheels on each side of Thorndykes' trransport system..the word CHAIR just didn't cut it...golf cart came closer.
"The escape pod' was merely another room at the end of the hall around a corner. The guard wheeled Thorndyke in.
The shooting was getting closer.
Thorndyke waddled over to a glass enclosed chair. One inside, it would be all over. The glass could withstand bullets. There was access to food, water, and the chair could be shot down an elevator slide that would deposit it through the roof of a waiting van in the basement as delicately as if it was an egg.
"Okay..." Even just walking a few feet winded the old coot. He punched in a code and sat down.
The guard started the hook up.
"Air"
"Check"
"Set up for elevator"
"Check"
"Turn on the preservation system."
"In a second..."
"The guard turned instead to a t.v. monitor computer bank and entered in a keyboard code.
All the screens went dead. The shooting stopped. With his back to Thorndyke, the guard pulled a mic over and opened it.
"Ladies and gentlemen..this has been a test of our new security system..I am PLEASED to inform you that you all passed with flying colors. Sorry to SCARE everybody, but it's the ONLY way to see just how GOOD it woudl work..Everybody take the rest of the night off. Go outside. Have the night off.."
Even from the penthouse escape pod, Thorndyke could hear the cheering. He thought he could hear everyone running out the front.
But he was't sure. His attention was taken up by the nearly flawless impersonation the guard had just done of him into the mic.
The guard knew what Thorndyke was thinking.
"It took me MONTHS of listening to old tapes of you to come with that. Irony: no one has HEARD you for REAL in years..I could have sounded like Bart Simpson for all these people would care.."
'...You..."
"...are here to kill you...yes.."
Thorndyke was out of the chair and pounding on the glass, but it too late even then.
The guard waved the key in front of him.
"Take it easy. You are about to die. The more you get excited...the faster it comes...and I LIED ...the elevator has NOT been set up. Oh, you still have FOOD and WATER...nosh away..but that's ALL..
"And now, lets' see how long you LAST without your life suppport system."
Thorndyke stared wide eyed. Then slowly sat down.

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Accounting and computer tech were making the biggest noise outside. The two departments were the most overworked and asked no questions when they heard they had the night off.
Two ladies from spread sheet analysis were doing the shimmy shimmy shake with a couple of guys in gorilla suits. Data Recall had found some Vampiras and were having a twist competition.
Thurston, however, was bugged.
He approached Kagi and asked to speak to him by name.
"Do I know you?? asked Kagi. The hayrides were in full swing. Two more bands had signed on, and a magician had even been 'on stage'..a lot of kids were still up, and this was their first exposure to good ol' frat rock. Some grade schoolers were even around throbbing up and down to the music.
"No, I but know you. You're really putting the squeeze on Thorndyke, and I need a third party observer for what I want to do next. I think we have to go in and see if he's okay. Care to help me form up a posse?"
Kagi put down his guitar and stared with no expression.
"Seriously. I think he must have had stroke or something. It happens you know..you get a stroke and your personality can CHANGE..my Mom became another person after her's..now, of course, I got NO time off for that, and what happens to HIM doesn't concern me..but there are BAD chemcials he keeps on site..real Haz-Mat stuff...if he gets STRANGE he could blow up the whole block..
"That man has never done a kind thing in his life, and hates Halloween right up there with Jack Chick..."
'WHO????"
Thurston smiled."An American I think you would find funny..he creates these religious pamphlet, black and white comic books you find in men's rooms, mail boxes, hotels, that kind of thing. REALLY over the edge. The guy hates Halloween and likes to tell people it was created by Satan himself...also says BEWITCHED was The Devils' favorite t.v. show.
"No..take my WORD for it..if he's giving us the night off, he's had a STROKE or SOMETHING..and..."
Kagi could feel it coming. That something else that always came up when ever someone over here said 'and' in that tone..
"And what???"
"I've worked as close to that monster as anyone. I don't think that was his voice. Last week or so he had a bit of a cold..sore throat..he should have been a bit more raspy..he might have been knocked off..
"And no..this was not just wishful thinking...."
Kagi enlisted Maddy and started off with Thurston towards the front door.
No one noticed a third party who had just clicked off a stop watch and had headed in as well.

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Tommy was crouched beside Britney's wheelchair, sucking back some oxygen from a canister she had brought.
He was trembling and didn't know if he was going to cry, scream, or throw up.
He knew he couldn't run.
Britney had told him to turn his head away when he fired off his sling shot.
Good advice, Britney..or whatever the Martian that LOOKED like Britney Spears was REALLY called..
He had taken a ball bearing and fired it point blank into the hold below the hallway floor...and just turned his head in time.
A gyser of broken glass shot out of the trap door and pelted the side of his face and ear. He could feel blood.
From down below, he could hear more glass breaking. Then the things came out.
The first was a transparent kid...maybe 15...or his shape, or his ghost..whatever the heck..it was a teenager you could see through like milk mixed with water..and the kid was hunched over, pulling his lower eye lids down towards his chin and screamng at the top of his lugs.
Tommy didn't think twice.
He shot off a round at the kid, which went right through him, like any good viewer NIGHT GALLERY or CHARMED could have TOLD him it would have done. The ball bearing went into the trap door and another gyser shot out.
This time it went into all directions. Some pieces embedded in the wallpaper.
Two more spooks. Ladies. Big noses. Bug eyes. Goiters. Big fat goiters the size of ball gloves that hung from their necks.
Tommy wanted to throw up.
The first yelled and yelled and slapped at the second. No words, just angry yells from the back of the throat. And she wouldn't quit. The second just took it and cried.
They were joined by a man in a white suit, string tie, and babbling a thousand miles and hour as his face vibrated and he shook.
Tommy watched him come close and stick his finger out and nearly lost it as the crazy man tried to tap his chest for emphasis...but the man in the white suit just passed through him. Tommy guessed ghosts could only hit each other...he breathed a sigh of relief..and ran right into his next problem.
Whatever was in those glass tanks with the ghosts to keep them in place stunk and was HOT..he could JUST keep his lungs going.
"Here!" yellled Britney over the increasing din as more and more ghosts started to shriek."It's a tank of oxygen...I was WORRIED this would happen. Just put the mask over your face and breath normally."
Tommy was on his hands and knees by now. But just for FUN decided to let ONE MORE BALL BEARING get fired into the pit..
He fired in the direction of the whole and covered his head with his arms.
This time, dozens of new ghosts came out of the door in the floor, as if they were riding the wave of chopped glass.
Thin women who shook and cried hysterically. Fat men in waistcoats who wouldn't stop laughing. Children in rags who stood very still and had their mouths hanging open. Some were missing limbs, eyes, most of their teeth. One or two seemed to have the skin flayed right off their faces.
Tommy took a long breath of oxygen and curled into the wheelchair and held on as tight as he could.
The ghost were pouring into the hallway..most floated through the ceiling...but where would they go after THAT???

[uncletor]

It was alreay starting.
"Who ARE you???" gasped Thorndyke.
"FORGET that.." the guard replied back. "You think I'm gonna tell you like that last scene in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST? If you can't pick me out from all the people you've rear ended in your life, that's YOUR problem..LET your life's ending have no meaning to YOU..it will to ME."
Thorndyke was losing weight like a ballon leaking air. His skin started to wrinkle and patches of it were alreay bubbling and popping open. The open sores let out a gassey vapor and sounded like Levis' being scratched by nails.
But there was no blood. Just that vapor.
The skin was wrinkling on itself, like plastic wrap that's being crumpled up to be thrown out in the trash.
"...how, then???..."
The guard only smiled."I'm not here to give you closure or meaning or help you to figure out how you could have made your system better. You trafficked in human souls and kept them captive and lived off their life esssence. All I'm doing is cutting off your supply line.
"You're living on your own time and own life and own soul. Really, it's nature just taking it's course."

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Maddy had left the girls playing when she went in, but they weren't on stage when the ghosts went through the roof.
Some rock band with a lead singer dressed up like Beetlejuice was doing THE TIME WARP when everyone heard and looked up all at once..
It was the noise of dozens of re materialized bodies passing through the top of the Thorndyke building, laughing and howling and screaming and crying as they floated up to the night sky.
The group stood speechless for a long moment..
Then started to cheer and applaud..
"That was the BEST special effects I have EVER seen.." one guy yelled, nearly weeping in admiration.
"Well...it's GOOD, I admit THAT..." his partner replied."But you should SEE what we can do in Ohio on a haunt. My pal Rex is FULL of stories..did I tell you he made zombie in a movie??? But you're right, you're right..this is REALLY GREAT STUFF..gotta ask REX how they would DO this.."

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Britney and Tommy were heading to the roof.
Everything was quiet again, but even Britney was still shook up.
"So...how long will it take for the Martians to come?" Tommy asked. He really didn't care. But anything to get his mind off those ghosts.
"Let's see..in your Earth time?...maybe five, six minutes.."
Tommy was stunned.
"Seriously. We mastered space and time thousands of years ago. Here. Hold this. Anyway...the average Martian lives a thousand years, give or take, and we are SENSITIVE..now...just push that button..second row..and then push ENTER..right..Now the way we got is the way some Earth people get after a while on the net..you can go and do anything computer wise, but you just don't WANT to or CARE anymore..why do ANYTHING when you can do EVERYTHING??? You run out of ideas..."
"So the guy who attacked us.."
"Was a mental defective..we should have picked it up, but important family..that sort of thing..we treat you guys here like you might look at some primative society..you don't want to RUIN it for them..and besides, we HEAR it ALL when you guys are on air..every radio, t.v, c.b radio, satellite, it just BOOMS in on us..and all at once..man, it takes YEARS to figure out how to isolate the stuff..like pulling onions off a pizza...but the pizza is floating and millions of miles long..
Tommy really didn't hear the last part..the ship was there. The thing was a long silver tube, just like H.G. Welles said.
Tom Cruise and Will Smith got out.
Both were wearing Star Fleet uniforms. By now, Tommy knew the drill.
"So what do you guys REALLY look like???"
Britney turned and had a look if deep sadness."We look just like the critters in the book WAR OF THE WORLDS. Check out the old Classics Illustrated comics, if you want a quick answer. But we're SENSITVE about EVERYTHING..and we know that you people think that someone on the outside who is ugly to you MUST be also ugly on the inside. So we would NEVER appear the way we REALLY are to you. Never. Your fear and revulsion would give us centuries of trauma."
"Britney here, will have to undergo a long time in treatment just to get over that ghost show from downstairs..."Will Smith knelt in front of her with something like a tri corder in his hand. "....it really shook her up."
Tom Cruise shook Tommy's hand and give him his best TOP GUN smile. "Thank you for helping her out...we appreciate it.."
And then they were gone.

[uncletor]

It had taken a long time to get here, so Lloyd was determined to enjoy every moment.
He had been the guard, and the salesman. He had also been a t.v repairman, security consultant, dry cleaner delivery man, vending machine repair man, you name it.
Lloyd had gone over every inch of the place while making his plans. Posing as men that people LOOK at, but never SEE. Re constructed the hallways in a warehouse to make the fake invasion on discs. Ah, those invasion scenes. He was so proud of the computer effects.
Figuring out how to tap into the closed circuit lines. Having bugs in the security locker room for the color of the day.
He looked up over his victory drink at Thorndyke.
The old man was flaking now...flaking off into small pieces and falling to the floor, like the spicey coating on chicken or an apple turnover left in too long..the air circulation system blew bits around that spiralled in the glass tube.
Some bits clung to the walls itself..like wheat chaff.
Kagi and Maddy and Thurston burst into the escape pod room and didn't get any further then looking at what was happening to Thorndyke in that tube.
"Here...have some diet Coke.." Lloyd offered."I have a whole case on ice. and this is THIRSTY work.."

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Tommy took the stairs and walked past the escape pod room unseen. His nose crinkled as he smelt what seemd to be some sort of stew cooking away...whatever it was, it had stayed on the stove too long.
Some sort of party or something was going on...especially on the first floor. Security was singing along to Dave Edmunds, Creature from the Black Lagoon. The bands were taking a break, so it was recorded music for a while ..pretty obscure, too...you'd almost have to have ELVIRA'S HAUNTED HITS to have heard it..but it WAS a cool song.
A conga line stretched about a half block down the street.
An orange VW pulled up. Tommy was impressed. Talk about the ultimate halloweenmobile!! The lady behind the wheel sprang out and got into the line...and started to dance down the street..."..alllll he wanted was a laaaaaady.."
Tommy smiled. Whatever.
He snagged a cold Coke and sat down to have a slug. Nobody cared. Come to think of it, neither did Tommy. The night was over for him now..he was just waiting for Mammy Promise, then head home.
And then, there she was..sitting beside him and smiling.
Mammy Promise had tears in her eyes and said:"I want you to meet my son..."

[uncletor]

Thorndkye was sweating by now...but the sweat wasn't clear...it was cloudy as it ran down parts of his neck and back..and evaporated almost on contact with the air...
Kagi wheeled at the door to the escape pod opening behind him.
A lady in a cat suit came in and brushed past the trio, headed straight over to LLoyd.
Lloyd seemed only slightly happier to see her then the other three. He didn't seem to know her, just to be admiring the outift.
The Cat Lady took Lloyds' head in her hands and softly said:" I want you to relax. I want you to tense and relax your arm and let your face relax, just turn to liquid. Now, start counting backwards...you are not going to die of cancer. You are healthy as a horse..and married..to me.."
Thorndyke was trembling...attempting to stand up...
Tommy would have recognized the lady as Miss Fleming from just down the street. She was Snorky's daughter..the first love of Lloyd's life..the girl he had kissed upstairs in the costume shop.
"Okay, just sleep...sleep.." she softly said, then turned to the group of three in the room with her.
"A man, a town, a people, have a right to self defense. Thorndyke was greedy and brutal."
Nobody said she was wrong.
"Lloyd couldn't TAKE it anymore. He had gotten in touch with me and we figured out the old creep was doing some far out stuff to stay alive..or whatever what he did that passed for a life was...We fell in love all over again, and got married, but you could feel it in the back of his mind..even when we kissed...he KNEW his Dad had been a clean kill...out there in the restaurant...but WHAT about the others???
"Well, that GOT to him..and he had to try and nail the guy...just take him off his soul support, life sucking machines..maybe it WAS all <deleted>..but right now, it all looks pretty convincing. He wanted to do it without worrying about Thorndyke coming after me, so I hypnotised him to forget he was married and to convice him he was terminal.
"C'mon..help me take him downstairs. He deserves a drink for this.."
Kagi was helping when he turned to take one last look at the chair in the glass tube.
He wished he hadn't.
Once, when he first came to America, he had seen a leg of fried chicken fall off the bone. Now something very close to that was happening to Thorndyke...and the bones that were left were as white as any he had seen in those old prospector movies, where the vultures circled around white white cow skulls...

[uncletor]

Tommy walked over to a young man standing dazed by himself. He could see the holes in his white shirt where he had been shot dead during that last bank robbery.
It made Tommy shudder.
The young man couldn't shake Tommy's hand, and drew away when Tommy approached.
"Just give me LOTS of room..I was in a bottle ALL BY MYSELF...it's been years...contact with others is hard for me to accomplish..but oddly enough, this amount of space ALSO is hard for me. Mr Thorndyke wanted to draw on my pain a lot..savored it like a fine wine."
Mammy Promise was crying and wanting to hug her son, but could wait. They had a long time.
"Okay...here are the stones back that can accomplish just about anything you want in life...what do you want?"
"Not TOO much money..that as bad as not enough..just enough so I don't have to worry...make the other one stop me from getting TOO comfortable..so that I don't get stale. Make one help me remember what a GROOVE it is just to be alive on this rock. Let me and my family live a long time, and my folks be happy. You know, what Halloween is supposed to do, if you do it right. And no double whammy TWILIGHT ZONE endings because of what I wished for."
Mammy Promise laughed.
"So how come he kept your son in a seperate jar?"
"He was REALLY angry at us. We were giving away a lot of the bank money to the poor and hungry. Just like Robin Hood. He hated that. Another year or two, we could have overthrown him."
Tommy's cel went off.
"Hey son, it's getting late...where ARE you??"
Dad.
"Downtown..they had a cool party down here this year."
"Yeah, they say on t.v. that the special effects were amazing. Hey, come home, okay? And don't forget to stop by your uncle's on the way.."
Tommy grinned. His uncle. Right. The guy told stories every year and gave out free apple cider and burgers to the neighbour kids. They'd sit down in the back yard and the evil dude would either do Stevenson's BOTTLE IMP or THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. His uncle's grandfather had told the bottle story, his gramma Dr. Caligari.
Yeah, had to get there.
He set out.
Lloyd was hugging Miss Fleming in her cat suit like he hadn't seen her in months...must have been a tough week on the road for the guy. That was nice..still loving each other after alll these years. Cool.
The Asian auto guy was jamming with the ladies rock and roll band that was lead by the female minister. Kept calling her is 'American style girlfriend", and the lady minister would laugh. Tommy figured out it must have been HER the audience was confusing with Britney Spears.
Geez, didn't ANYBODY remember old groups?? His Mom played the Go-Go's now and then..
But LORD the rubbish and <deleted> on the street...Hey! He found an unopened box of LUCKY ELEPHANT POPCORN. Dad's fave brand. Pink and good to eat.
He made it to Uncle's house. Tom Anderson was sleeping head down on the table..he could hear him snoring. Dr. Strange was out too, head back on the chair. Uncle COULD go on...
Spooky had made it down from the bed and breakfast and was drinking a tall cold one with her gal pals in the kitchen. Talking to Pennywise and Duchess..all were laughing and rubbing Penny's gut..spring baby, he had heard.
"...he's out back..." She whispered over her shoulder.
The back yard had some tikki torches and they cast a glow on Uncle's face..the kids were wide eyed and huddling into each other.
Dr. Caligari.
Only three murders or so, but it's the STYLE, THE CONTENT, not the body count. You go through the story with the evil mad scientist/witch doctor and carnival owner coming to town, the friend getting killed, the girl to be killed but the zombie changing it's mind and TAKING her instead...and chasing the zombie..what did they call them back then??SOMNAMBULISTS...and you close in on Dr. Caligari, find out he runs the local asylum and was corrupted when a zombie turned up one day..and then that CRAZY ending..which always surprizes you..
Tommy leaned his head against the wall behind him and smiled. Nightmares for some of these kids tonight. No doubt. Mothers would call the next morning VERY irrate. The kids would wake up and SEE Dr. Caligari in the room with them and wet the bed, and what the HECK did he THINK he was DOING telling SUCH a STORY LATE AT NIGHT??? The VERY IDEA..

He wished he could see the looks of AWE on the kids faces when someday they discovered this was a scene-for-scene recounting of a silent movie with some of the FREAKIEST sets he had ever seen in any movie, any time period..Uncle's gramma had seen it as a teenager and told it to him. Uncle saw it in film class and sat there STUNNED. It was a surprize that hit him like a depth charge at the time.
Uncle swore he could hear her chuckle from the great beyond.
But thats' the way it was with Halloween. It could go for you or against you. There always had to be a bit of an edge to it..

And in the morning, the world would somehow be a little bit fresher.