Ghostbusters: Battle With The Slender Man

by MC David

Ten year old Oscar Barrett only wants to live his life like everyone else, but when he finds himself being stalked by the Slender Man, it becomes clear that there is only one group of people capable of keeping him alive, the Ghostbusters. Post-GB2, doesn't take from the cartoons. T for language and the usual Slender Man scares.

2. The Heart of The Ghostbusters

A/N: I apologize for the delay on this chapter, since the summer has ended more demanding issues have come up, limiting my free time (which I use mostly on a certain romantic endeavor) and thus, limiting my writing time. But by no means have I abandoned this story, I promise. You should also check out my friend and fellow author ElfDavis, who has recently started a pretty great fic. But enough of that, onto the chapter, haha.

2

Dana had held Oscar close to her on the couch for close to ten minutes, not daring to leave him for even a second, before a firm knock came onto the apartment door. Dana rushed to answer it, the door flung open; she didn't even check the peephole to see who it was. But In the doorway stood none other than Raymond Stantz. Dana had half expected to see all four Ghostbusters standing in the hallway, suited up with proton packs at the ready, but there was something comforting about it just being Ray, sporting plain clothes and a welcoming smile.

"Hey Dana," Ray said with a smile, but obviously trying to hide concern, "can I come in?" Dana nodded and gestured to Ray to come inside. He walked in slowly and Dana closed the door behind him. Dana gave Ray a surprisingly firm hug.

"Thank you so much for coming, Ray." Dana said, still hugging him.

"It's uh, no problem, Dana." Ray said, feeling somewhat awkward in the long embrace. "But I can't exactly be of any help if you don't uh, let me go." Dana let go, slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry, It's just-'' Dana started.

"It's been a rough night, I understand." Ray said understandingly, flashing a smile. He walked over to the couch where Oscar sat silently. "Hey there, buddy." Ray said to Oscar with genuine enthusiasm. "You were a just a toddler last time I saw ya, you've gotten so big man!" Oscar was silent. "How old are you, now? Ten? Eleven?"

"Ten." Oscar replied simply. Ray saw that Oscar was in no mood, so he turned to Dana.

"You mind if I take a look around, get some readings?" Ray asked, pulling out his handheld PKE meter.

"Of course you can." Dana replied. Ray held up the scanner, and almost instantly it made a whizzing noise as its wing-like components raised and lit up.

"Whoa!" Ray exclaimed half in surprise and half in childlike wonder.

"What is it?" Dana shot back, alarmed.

"This apartment is bursting with psycho-kinetic energy!" He replied, still looking down at the meter, surprised.

"Well is it still here?" Dana queried, as fear began to take a stronger hold of her.

"It looks like it's just residue, what's left from when it was here, but whatever this thing is, it has PKE coming out of its ears!" Ray answered, still unsure of whether he should be excited or distressed. "Whatever this thing is, it isn't your garden variety ghoul." Ray stated simply, it was really the only thing he was sure of.

While Ray and Dana talked, Oscar tried to piece together what was going on. He had no idea what PKE was, or why it was coming out of the faceless man's ears. Oscar was scared; he wanted to talk but knew that he could only blubber if he tried. Ray was a stranger to Oscar, as far as he could remember, but even Oscar felt the strange comforting feeling from Ray's presence, it made the fear more tolerable. He tried hard to think of something else, anything else, for a moment, it worked, he was somewhere else entirely, but for a moment he glanced around the room and saw the mouth of the hallway, in it stood the tall, faceless man, motionless; and although he had no eyes, Oscar could tell distinctly that the man was looking at him.

"Mom!" Oscar yelped, pointing towards the hallway. Dana and Ray's heads shot to the hallway, simultaneously the PKE meter whizzed faster and louder, the small glass screen cracked and sparks flew off the device. Instinctively, Ray let go of the PKE meter, it made a thud as it hit the floor. And almost immediately after, the man disappeared.

"Uh, Dana," Ray quivered, the childlike wonder gone from his voice, replaced with nervous fear, "I have sort of a hunch that, uh, you guys wouldn't be safe staying here tonight, you two can follow me downstairs to the Ecto-1 and we can go to the firehouse, you two can stay there until we sort this whole thing out."

"I like that plan." Dana responded very nervously. "I like that plan a lot." No more words were exchanged. Dana rushed to the couch, grabbed her shocked son in a hard embrace and led him quickly out the door.

They stuck to Ray as close as possible, running to the elevator. The elevator ride seemed to have lasted an eternity to all three of the horrified group. After an excruciatingly long ride from the 17th floor, the elevator finally halted at the ground floor. They darted quickly through the lobby and out the front door, where the Ecto-1 was parked directly in front. A certain amount of relief came over Ray, Dana, and Oscar as they left the building. The night air was cool but comfortable, and they all felt a little more at ease. Dana and Oscar climbed into the back, and Ray sat in the driver's seat. As the Ecto-1 drove away, Dana held Oscar close to her, relieved that no harm had come to her son that night.

"Dana?" Ray called to the back as he drove the car.

"Yes?" Dana responded.

"This may not be the best time, but uh, Peter doesn't actually know that the emergency call we got this evening was from you." Ray said with slight nervousness. Oscar was surprised to hear this. Although Ray was a relative stranger to Oscar Barrett, Peter Venkman was an individual he had heard a lot about.