"Happy Halloween! 2" Chapter 2 (Part 1)

            Halloween is approaching quickly! Therefore, after considering the length of my latest short story, I decided to post the next part a few days early.  I still plan to post the final bit on Saturday, October 27th.  I am posting this part now to avoid putting a huge chunk of my work into my blog all at once.  Please take the time to read this piece, which is significant to the story (and possible sequels) and sets up for the epic final scene.  Thank you.

Chapter 2

                  Into the Mountain

The eight companions ascended the first of the foothills, and as they looked back, they saw the long stretch of road dwindling into the eastern horizon.  Jonathan led them, maintaining his balance with a walking stick he had found at the base of the hills, and holding Ms. Unicorn in the other hand.  Awana followed, holding onto the back of his shirt and occasionally glancing at her gauzed and bandaged knee.  Pumpkin was next in line, a yard behind her, carrying his sheathed weapon and struggling up the steep hillside.  Witch seemed to enjoy the journey, for once they had reached the foot of the hills she had whipped out a hovering broom, and having mounted it, she floated after Pumpkin a few feet off the ground.  Ghost huffed and puffed every step of the way, his head constantly sulking under the weight of travel.  Frankenstein’s monster took strides large enough for three of the group, and it did not appear that their miles of walking had made an effect on him.  Bat winged his way above the tall grass that rose from the earth, and Cat followed as best she could, sometimes getting off track when a tempting butterfly or bee wandered in sight.

Patches of dark trees blotted the rising landscape, rising up like ominous sentries forbidding further passage.  At first they were inconsistent and widely scattered; but as the friends neared the crest of the first hill, the trees clustered together and transformed the scenery from hills to rolling woodland.  The trees cast long shadows across the earth, shrouding the group in an unholy darkness even in the middle of the day.  Their hearts were heavy, not only because of the shadows, but also from being clueless as to the difficulty of the upcoming battle.  Jonathan was restless.  He gritted his teeth and tapped Ms. Unicorn.  He looked back and forth and gripped his walking stick with all his might.  For years he had daydreamed about embarking on some epic quest to conquer evil, but now that the dream was being fulfilled, he could only feel dread.  Arriving at the foothills, and being what was likely a short walk from the professor’s camp, brought an extra dose of reality to him.  He might have to kill someone before the day was over.

Once they reached the peak of the first hill, Bat rose above the trees and scouted out the mountain range to the west.  The Halloween friends sat on some boulders and peered out of the woods at the town far below.  Awana scooted close to Jonathan.  “So, Johnny boy,” she said, “any women in your life?”

“Good old Ms. Unicorn is always here for me,” he replied.  “She accepts me for who I am.”

“I accept you for who you are, too!” she exclaimed, hitting him lightly with her elbow.  “No one else has a shrine to you.  Believe me.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.  “What?”

“Oh, nothing.  But seriously, don’t you think I accept you for who you are?”

“Mostly.”

“What am I doing wrong?”

“Awana,” he muttered, bringing Ms. Unicorn close, “we’re on a journey.  We don’t have time for this.”

“Oh, but you have time for her, don’t you?” Awana gestured at the toy in his hands.  “You always have time for her.”

“Well, yeah,” said Jonathan matter-of-factly.  “Of course.  She’s my pride and joy.  On a rainy day, when I’m upset and curled up in a corner, holding myself for warmth, Ms. Unicorn helps me through it.”

“I could be the one to do that, if you just gave me the chance!” Awana was almost hysterical.  “I could be your Ms. Unicorn!”

Pumpkin smacked his palm against his face—er, himself.  He looked at Cat.  “Can you believe these two?”

“Meow,” said Cat.

“We’re close!” came a whiny screech from above.  Bat darted down between the colossal, golden leaves of fall.  “I saw some smoke rising up from what looked like tents a couple miles to the west.  It’s in a valley between the end of the foothills and the beginning of the mountains.”

“Then we shan’t linger here any longer than we need to, shall we, dearies?” Witch addressed the group.   “I say we chase down a moose, pluck three hairs from his hiney, squish a toad and collect the remains, extract the beak from an owl, gather the feces of a bear, and throw it all into a cauldron.  Then we add the brain juice of a skunk and two-thirds of a cup of water, stir, and chant the Ancient Occultist Creed of 794 over the concoction.  We put it all in a dozen vials, get on our flying brooms, and bomb Professor Apo’s camp into oblivion.”

“Yeah!” Awana cried, leaping off the boulder and running to her side.

“Or…” said Pumpkin, “we could play it sneaky and split into two groups.  One group can approach the camp from one side, while the other can edge the camp and approach from the opposite.  The first group can scout out the area by physically going into the camp and searching for the professor.  If they run into trouble, and are forced into battle, the second group can flank the enemies and take them by surprise.” Pumpkin jabbed the end of his sword into the earth and stood in a rather proud stance.

“Just remember, I’m the leader of this expedition,” Jonathan reminded them.  He slid down the side of the boulder and walked up to the group.  “Ultimately, what I say goes.  But until we actually reach the camp, we don’t even know what the area looks like.  We should wait to get there before we make a plan.”

“Just so you know, Johnny boy,” Pumpkin cut in sardonically, “anyone who calls himself a leader must listen to the opinions of those beneath him.  Arrogance is one of the first signs of bad leadership.”

“Then from what I’ve read and heard,” Jonathan retorted, “you must be the king of arrogance.”

The Halloween friends gasped, looking at Pumpkin.  The squash was silent for a few seconds, tapping his sheathed sword with one hand.  “What have you read? What do you mean? Kids don’t read.”

“Some do.  Writers do.”

The group gasped again.  “He’s just like Kory!” Bat whispered to Cat.  “Just like our master!”

“Jonathan’s not our master,” said Pumpkin.  “Jonathan didn’t create us.  We don’t need to follow him.  Not now, and not ever.”

“You’re right, Pumpkin,” Jonathan admitted.  Then he did something that surprised the group.  He knelt down before them and set Ms. Unicorn on the ground.  “I’m sorry if you thought I was trying to control you.  I’m not.  I just want to dress up in a stupid costume and get a major sugar rush tonight.  Won’t you please help me?”

Pumpkin gazed at his friends, whose countenances appeared to be resolved about something.  He then turned back to Jonathan.  “Well, we already vowed to help you.  We’re not going to go back on that promise.  But I have to tell you, that if I feel like you’re trying to control me and stop me from making my own decisions, I might have to rebel.”

“Fine.” Jonathan rose and smiled at everyone.  “Thank you.  You know, we were doing just fine before we got here.  But it felt like we were almost splitting up just now.  That’s not normal.  What happened?”

“I’m acquainted with many magics, my sweet,” Witch explained to him.  “And whatever Professor Apo is doing, it’s like magic…but much darker than anything I’ve known.”

“But he’s a professor, right?” asked Awana.  “It’s not like he’s a magician.  He’s a scientist.  And science isn’t dark magic.  It’s not capable of changing our feelings about each other.”

“Little one,” said Frankenstein’s monster, “the faculties of science would astound you.  Do not underestimate it.  Its capacity for good is no greater than its capacity for evil.  And this, I can well assure you, falls under the latter label.”

“Personal experience, I’m guessing?” Jonathan inquired.

“I thought you said that you read,” the monster answered.

It took them an hour to reach the camp.  Tan tents were mottled across a clearing in the trees, and a few smoking fire pits lay here and there.   Many of the golden leaves from nearby trees had fallen into the clearing, serving as a decorous, shining floor for the bivouac.  Jonathan was so inspired by this natural carpeting that he began to piece together ideas of how to give his room even more of a glimmer.  Ms. Unicorn seemed to read his thoughts, for she was getting a little excited, too.  Although the camp was spacious, and could potentially keep fifty people comfortably within its bounds, there was not a soul in sight.  In fact, it almost appeared as if a large group had fled hastily from the area, leaving behind most of its goods.  But if this had happened, where had they fled? The Halloween friends examined the area closely and noticed that, built into the steep side of a mountain situated at the western edge of the camp, was the mouth of a cave.  This mouth was shaped as a broad, upside-down  “V” and was decorated with diamonds.  Into the darkness beyond a road of diamond trailed and disappeared.  Professor Apo had to be in there, and others were with him.

Pumpkin looked at Jonathan.  “I get the feeling that his lab is in that cave.”

“Yeah.”

“We should send someone to scout it out, don’t you think?”

Jonathan sighed.  “I don’t know.  The entrance is so narrow.  The scout would probably have to travel far before seeing anything worthy of reporting.  By that time, he could be trapped—or worse.”

“I really think we should send a scout.”

“Pumpkin, just hold on!” Jonathan placed a hand on his head.  “Just let me think for a second.”

They sat there, on the outskirts of the camp, for some time while Jonathan considered every possible plan.  Pumpkin stood close to him, having a staring contest with the cave entrance.  Witch drew lines between the leaves, and she and Ghost began to play hopscotch.  Ghost was particularly terrible at it, probably because of his lack of legs.  Awana was doing some pretty intense stretches, releasing cries that could only be compared to those of some sort of dying land animal—perhaps a hyena, or an ostrich.  Frankenstein’s monster sat on a rock, deep in thought; he had one fist planted beneath his chin, and he stared off into nothingness.  Bat was practicing his diving attacks, flapping around trees and suddenly plunging toward the earth, only to snap back up an inch away from the ground.  Cat took a nap.

Jonathan had almost settled on a course of action when they all jumped at a loud sound nearby.  Pumpkin abruptly screamed, “Leeroy Pumpkin!” and dashed out of their hiding spot.  He charged across the empty camp, and within moments he had disappeared beneath the cave entrance.  The Halloween friends immediately went after him, but Jonathan threw out one arm before them and yelled, “Stop! He made his choice, guys.  Maybe he’ll be successful and return to us with some useful information.  But one thing’s for sure: if we all run into the dark at once, frantically searching for him, we’re going to get slaughtered before we know what hit us.”

“But I didn’t know his first name is Leroy!” Ghost declared.

“It isn’t, my pretty,” said Witch.

The group mumbled and scattered among the leaves and foliage, each member finding a place to sit.  The next few minutes were tantalizing.  Every now and then, someone would get a wild look in his eye and wander clandestinely toward the entrance.  Jonathan would warn him of the danger, and the person would return to his spot.  They waited.  Soon the silence of the valley made the town’s silence earlier seem like a joke; the only noise was a light, shrill, and biting wind that seemed to carry with it ice from the mountains’ distant summits.  Leaves coiled around their ankles and barrel rolled across the glade until they were out of sight.  The longer they waited, the more clearly they could hear sounds from the foothills and farther into the mountains: the caws of crows perched in trees, struggling to stay warm; the crunch of tires against a nearby private road; the rustling of curious animals drawing close enough to see the strange company.  They were all filled with anxiety, but they all realized that remaining here was paramount to the group’s safety.

To ease some of the stress, they began to speak in hushed voices of things bearing little importance.  They talked about their favorite food, favorite breed of dog, favorite soap, and favorite hamburger commercial.  But as the minutes drew on, the conversation became more interesting.  They spoke of their various adventures, and it turned out that the Halloween friends had far more stories to tell than Jonathan and Awana.  Jonathan had read most of the stories, but it was refreshing to hear them from an actual character.  Bat explained how, had it not been for him and his connections to some friends of the sky, none of them would be there at that time.  A bear once found them in town and knocked them unconscious; he then dragged them into his cave and was presumably preparing to eat them.  They managed to escape with Ghost’s help, but ended up on a cliff with nowhere else to run.  Seeing birds high above them, with whom he was well acquainted, Bat called out and the winged wonders lifted them from their quandary.  Of course, they dropped the group in the back of a truck heading for Alaska, and shortly thereafter the companions had been trapped in their neighbor’s house; but at the end of the day, everyone was alive and well.

Their voices dwindled into little more than whispers, and then vanished completely.  Jonathan looked up between the branches and persistent autumn leaves and noticed that the sun had not moved since the last time he had looked at it.  They felt that hours had passed, but it had only been six or seven minutes since Pumpkin’s flight into the cave.  He was beginning to consider a new course of action.  Just as he was about to give the order for them to sneak out from their hiding spots, Pumpkin stormed out of the darkness, dropped his sword, and hopped into Jonathan’s arms.  He babbled incoherently about many things as he buried himself in the boy’s chest.  The group closed in around them, each person’s face fallen and pale with concern.  Jonathan held up his short friend and looked at him.

“Pumpkin,” he said, “Pumpkin, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s terrible!” screamed the squash.  “Terrible!”

“What is, dearie?” Witch asked.  “What’s terrible?”

“It’s a massacre in there!” he cried.  “It’s—they—I can’t explain it.  It has to be stopped.  You need to see it for yourselves.  Then you’ll understand.  Come on, come with me.”

He wriggled out of Jonathan’s arms and sprinted back toward the cave entrance, taking up his sword along the way.  Before Jonathan could stop them, the Halloween friends rushed from the area and into plain sight.  They had almost reached the cave when Awana came to the boy’s side and touched his shoulder.

“We can do this, Johnny boy,” she whispered.  “You can do this.  I believe in you.  Pumpkin looks up to you, though he might not like to admit it.  Why do you think he ran to you when he was afraid just now?”
            “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jonathan replied, his heart racing as he watched his friends disappear.  “What do you suggest we do?”

“I think we should go after them.”

“Yeah, ok, let’s do that.” He faced the cave and took a deep breath.  “For death and glory!”

“Well,” Awana said meekly, “let’s just say ‘for Halloween!’ for now.  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Right.”

“By the way, Johnny.” She gestured over her shoulder.  “Did you notice that he didn’t go with them?”

Jonathan turned back around and saw Frankenstein’s monster posed as he had been before, sitting thoughtfully on a rock.  He stared toward the diamond-encrusted doorway, but it was obvious that he did not plan to move.  Jonathan approached him and said, “Frankenstein’s monster, aren’t you coming? Don’t you care about your friends?”

“You know I do, Jonathan,” the creature responded.  “I love them as only a genuine heart may.  But as I reflect on the nature of our quest, I see that it can only result in battle and perhaps death.  I have killed before, young friend.  I have killed many times.  And I am not eager to do it again.  I will wait, and I will watch.  Rest assured, nothing will come to surprise you.  Now go.”