A Halloween Tale

"I'm telling you, Starsk, I'm not going to get scared," Hutch said as he closed the car door and headed upstairs to his Venice home.

Starsky was behind him, "I'm tellin' you, Hutch, this place is…"

"You're not going to give up until I go to that haunted house with you, are you?"

"Nope."

"Okay, okay. Pick me up at eight," Hutch said as he unlocked the door and went inside.

"You mean it? You really mean it?"

"Yes, I mean it," Hutch said with a smile. He couldn't help but love the little boy that lived inside his partner and wanted so desperately to be let out sometimes.

"Thanks. I'll be here."

Starsky arrived promptly at eight. It was a perfect Halloween night. The skies were clear, there was a soft breeze blowing and the moon was full. Hutch put his jacket on and went downstairs. "Come on, Hutch," Starsky said aloud as he tapped his hands on the steering wheel. "Bout time," he said when Hutch opened the door and got inside.

"Let's get this over with," Hutch replied as he closed the car door.

As he started driving, Starsky glanced at Hutch, "You're gonna get scared."

"No, I'm not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Wanna bet?"

"You want bet that I'll get scared at a haunted house?"

"Yep."

"How much?"

"What?"

"How much do you want to bet?"

Starsky thought a minute and answered, "Twenty bucks."

"Not real confident are you? How about this? I will bet you fifty dollars that you get scared before I do."

"It's not fair, Hutch. I've been there already."

"So you don't want to bet?"

"Sure, I do. But I know what to expect and you're walking in there blind."

"I'll take my chances."

"Just so you know, it's pretty scary."

"Consider me warned."

Starsky pulled up in front of an old warehouse. "This is it."

"Starsk, there isn't anything here."

"Sure there is. It's right there," Starsky said pointing to the warehouse. He opened the door and got out. Hutch looked around and didn't appear to be impressed. There were no signs advertising a haunted house, there were no people or cars in the area. Starsky put his head inside the driver's window, "You're not backing out, are you?"

Hutch shook his head and opened the door, "No, I'm not backing out. But there's…"

Starsky didn't allow Hutch to finish his sentence, "This way," he said as he pointed to a side door. Starsky opened the door and said, "After you."

Hutch walked past Starsky and said, "Ewww, I'm scared already."

"You will be." Starsky followed Hutch inside and the door slammed shut behind them.

"Now what?"

As soon as Hutch said that, the lights went out. They were now standing in total darkness. Hutch thought he heard Starsky snicker. "Like that wasn't expected." The next thing Hutch knew he was face down on the ground with his hands being tied behind him. "This is a little extreme don't you think?" There was no answer.

"Hutch, get out of here if you can. This isn't…" Starsky went silent.

"Starsky? Starsky come on, this isn't funny." There was no response. Hutch struggled to free his hands but it was no use. Before two minutes passed, his hands and feet were tied, he was gagged and lying on a cement floor. The lights came on and he couldn't see Starsky anywhere. The lights went off again and a bag was placed over his head and tied around his neck.

Starsky found himself in a cold, pitch black room. He used his hands and searched every inch of the small room. He banged on the walls and the door. He yelled, "Hutch! Hutch!" He hollered until he couldn't make a sound. He leaned against a wall and whispered, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He slid slowly down the wall to the floor. He remained there a few moments before taking a deep breath and standing back up. "Come on, Starsky, get up, don't give up. You gotta find Hutch," he said aloud. He stood up and turned the door knob very slowly. To his surprise, the knob turned. Starsky opened the door just a sliver of a crack and allowed a little light through. He slowly opened it a little wider until he could see the first floor of the warehouse was one enormous room with an office at the far end. There were a bunch of tables that looked like they could have been used as part of a production line. He also saw several cardboard boxes. He opened the door all the way and stepped out into the main room. As soon as he did, the lights were replaced by a strobe light. "What the hell," he mumbled.

Starsky stood still a minute to adjust to the flashing lights. He saw images of someone coming after him. He took a swing at the figures but his fist only hit the air. "Hutch!" Starsky yelled. He ran toward the closest box he found. A black witch with a green face popped out of it and Starsky punched it only to find out it was made out of pillows. The next box he went to had a clown pop out at him. He jumped and walked right into a spider web. It was fake of course but the webbing was sticky and got all over Starsky. "Aw come on. This ain't funny," he complained as he removed the sticky stuff from his hands and face. He bumped into one of the tables and knocked it over. "Son of a bitch," he said as he rubbed his leg. "That's gonna leave a bruise." Starsky had enough of this game and knew it was time to end this nightmare. He made his way to the door but it was locked. Somehow it was bolted from the outside. There was only one window and it had bars on it.

"There's got to be a way out of here," he mumbled to himself. The strobe lights stopped and a disco ball was turned on. Now, Starsky saw a bunch of different colored lights going around and around so fast it made him dizzy and he fell down. He shut his eyes and took a few slow deep breaths. He slowly opened his eyes again and he was able to see a staircase on the other side of the room. And he saw Hutch! He was lying on the second floor. Starsky strained to focus but he was sure it was Hutch. "Hutch!" He yelled. "I'm comin, Buddy." When Starsky stood up, the lights went out. That wasn't going to stop him from getting to his partner. He slid one foot in front of the other with his hands in front of him. He banged into a table but finally made his way to the staircase. He had a death grip on the handrail and took each step one at a time. When he reached the top, the lights came back on and he could see Hutch just a few feet away. "Hutch," he whispered. Hutch wasn't moving. He was lying motionless and Starsky couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. Starsky carefully approached Hutch and put his hand on Hutch's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

Hutch felt his partner's hand on his shoulder and moaned, "Yeah. What happened?"

"I don't know, but we'd better get outta here. Can you walk?" Starsky asked.

Hutch moved his legs and tried to stand up. "Yeah give me a hand, will ya?"

"Yeah." Starsky Hutch to his feet. Hutch's foot gave out and he started to fall. "I got ya?"

"Ow. That hurts. I think it's broken, Starsk," Hutch said as he reached for Starsky.

"We gotta make it down the stairs." He helped Hutch to the rail and placed his hand on it. "Hold this on the way down," Starsky said as he got on the other side of Hutch and put his arm around Hutch's waist. "I got you. I won't let you fall."

"Starsk, I gotta ask you something."

"Sure, Buddy." They started making their way down the stairs. "Just hop. I got ya. I ain't gonna let you fall."

"You didn't plan this, did you?" Hutch hoped down the first step.

"No. I don't know what's going on. When I was here last night, there were a bunch of creepy stuff but not this."

"I didn't think so. Somebody's after US."

"I figured that out on my own, Sherlock."

"I don't suppose you have your gun."

"Nope. You?"

"No."

"What happened to you?"

"I was tied up, blindfolded and gagged for about ten minutes. I was moved to small room then someone untied my hands. The door wasn't locked but when I opened it, I was knocked out. The next thing I remember was you standing over me. What about you?" They were almost all the way down the stairs now.

"Two steps to go, we're almost there. I was playing with a witch made out of pillows and a clown."

"What?"

"I'll explain later." They stepped onto the floor and started toward the door.

"Starsk, do you think it's that easy? I mean, is the door going to open?"

"It was locked earlier, but…shit, I don't know but we gotta try."

They heard a loud noise coming from outside the building. "What the hell was that?" Starsky asked. He helped Hutch half run, half skip to the wall beside the front door.

"I don't know, but it sounded like a gun shot."

The lights went out again and they found themselves in total darkness. They heard what sounded like the front door open and saw a small light. "Someone's here," Starsky whispered.

"I can see that," Hutch whispered back. There was a short pause while Hutch thought about their next course of action. "Starsk, I got an idea."

"Good, cause I'm all out of ideas."

"I'm going to call out and when I do I want…"

"You want me to jump them when they come over, right?"

"Right."

"I don't know, Hutch. What if they're big? What if there's more than one of them?"

"Starsk, just do it."

"Okay, yeah. Got it." Starsky moved a few feet away.

"Hey, you dummies looking for me? I'm over here."

The light moved very quickly toward Hutch. When the shadowy figure was close enough, Starsky made his move. He jumped on the man forcing them both to fall. The flashlight fell and Hutch scrambled to grab it. Starsky was struggling with the man and received a punch to the left side of his jaw. Hutch shined the light on the assailant and Starsky landed a left hook hard enough to knock the man out.

Starsky sat next to the man gasping for breath. "You okay, Partner?" Hutch asked him.

Still out of breath, Starsky answered, "Yeah." He shined the light at the man's face. "Who the hell is he?"

"No clue," Hutch answered.

The lights came on and they could hear sirens rapidly approaching. Starsky found some rope and tied the man up. "Sounds like the cavalry is on the way. Stay here, I'm gonna check it out." He quickly searched the man and found his gun. He handed the gun to Hutch, "Take this. I'll be right back."

"Be careful."

Starsky ran to the door and was surprised to see Huggy getting out of a Captain Dobey's car. "Starsk, are you and Blonde Blintz alright?"

"Yeah. We got one in there tied up. Hutch may have broken his foot. How'd you know?" Starsky looked totally bewildered.

"I got a call about this place about an hour ago. I remembered you sayin' you were bringing Hutch here tonight."

An ambulance was called for Hutch then Captain Dobey and Huggy followed Starsky inside the warehouse.

When Starsky was finally allowed to see Hutch in the hospital, he handed him a fifty dollar bill. "What's that for?" Hutch asked.

"Don't you remember the bet? I gotta tell you, Pal, that scared the hell out of me."

Hutch put his hand up palm outward refusing to take the money. "Naw, you keep it. I think we're even on that bet. Say, any ID on him?"

"Not yet, but Dobey's working on it."

A week later the detectives were called into the Captain's office. "Have a seat boys."

Starsky and Hutch sat down. "What is it, Captain?" Hutch asked. Starsky took Hutch's crutches and leaned them against the desk.

"I finally got an ID on the suspect that almost killed you Halloween night."

Their eyes became larger. "Who is he?" They asked simultaneously.

"Either of you ever hear of Eric Cushing?" Starsky and Hutch glanced at each other and shook their heads no. "Do you remember that incident a few months ago where you were locked up inside that mental ward?"

"Vividly," Starsky answered.

"You mean that man, is one of those men?" Captain Dobey nodded.

"How'd you figure that out? I thought there were no prints," Starsky asked.

"We found one print but couldn't match it to anyone until now."

"So, who's his partner?"

"He's not saying and I doubt he ever will," Captain Dobey replied.

Somewhere in a not-too-distant city, Stan had his arm around a young man's shoulder. "I will introduce you to some wonderful games, Aaron."

Note: You will understand the ending more if you read The Experiments. Starsky and Hutch are held captive by Eric and Stan for social experiments.