The Nightmare Before Christmas
For The Love Of Death
Chapter Three: The Pumpkin Town
Inside, the crypt was as silent and cold as…well, death, actually. Wearing the hood, Kelly could see all the way down the stone stairway until it twisted off out of sight, everything shaded all tones of gray. It was as if the world had been sapped of color, and Kelly shivered, pulling the cloak tighter.
Something nudged the small of his back, and Kelly startled, whirling to find Mortis standing behind him in horse form.
"Don't jump so, it's only me," Mortis reprimanded, at which Kelly grimaced. "Now go on, I'll be right behind you."
The boy nodded, gulped, and began to descend into a darkness he could not see, Mortis' hooves silent behind him. Turning, curious, he found that Mortis fit easily in what he'd thought was a narrow passage. It took a few moments, though, to realize that the very walls themselves were actually moving to allow the Death Steed passage. Kelly shook his head and kept going; out of all the things that happened today, this wasn't very astounding.
As Kelly made his way further into the crypt he half expected the stairway to go on forever, but to his surprise, he only went about eight steps down before it leveled out and led straight back up again. There was nothing else; no dying stranger, no crouching monsters, no coffins, not even a secret passageway. It was completely anti-dramatic, and Kelly huffed irritably, vexed at having gotten all worked up over something so disappointingly pointless.
Frowning, he stomped up the other set of steps and shoved the door open.
"Well, that was the most worthless venture ever," he groused to himself. "Mortis are you sure this compass isn't broken?"
"Quite sure," Mortis replied smugly, and as Kelly took a good look around, he realized with growing anxiety that he wasn't in New York anymore. He was still in a graveyard, but somehow everything seemed…twisted. Literally, the tombstones jutted from the earth at odd angles, and the ground itself swirled up towards a curling hill, everything bathed in the light of a too huge moon. Kelly stared up at the pale orb uneasily, with the feeling that it was staring back, its face like a snarling jack-o-lantern…
"Where…are we?" he whispered, laying a timid hand on Mortis' withers, and the horse shook his head.
"I've never been here before."
Kelly glanced at the compass, which pointed through the cooked iron gates into a crooked town. Black, distorted buildings rose up like spires against an eternal night sky, the place lit with a strange glow that persisted even when Kelly temporarily—and cautiously—removed his hood.
Gripping the Death Scythe, Kelly made his way out of the cemetery and down the warped lane, scanning for danger for he felt that danger lurked everywhere here. Mortis was not overly concerned, being an immortal horse and all, but all those hidden watchers were a bit bothersome.
.xXx.
"Jack! Jack!" little Barrel shouted, running into Town Hall at top speed and slamming hard into the dais before he could stop. "Jack!"
"Barrel—What…?" said Jack, bewildered, as he stepped from the Mayor's office. Demos and the little official peered around the tall skull-demon as Lock panted and attempted to catch his breath.
"There's…a human…in Town…" the pretend skeleton gasped. "Vlad spotted him…just outside the graveyard…he says it's coming here!"
A stunned silence greeted this, but it did not last long.
"Mayor!" Jack barked, instantly taking command. "Get Vlad and the other vampires, they can travel the fastest. Have them bring everyone here as quietly as possible."
"O-of course Jack," the Mayor muttered, and scurried off to do as he was told.
"Barrel, fetch your siblings," Jack continued, and Barrel rushed out to find Lock and Shock. "Demos, stay here, I'm going to get the others."
"Dad, can't I—"
"No. Stay here."
With that Jack swept out with quick, long strides that carried him quickly across town and up the steps of his own home.
"Sally! Jeza! Romy!" he shouted as he wrenched open the door. Sally was in the kitchen, working on dinner, and looked up at his alarmed call. Her oldest son, Romulus, glanced from the book he'd been reading while Jeza peeked out from her bedroom door.
"Jack? What's wrong?" Sally asked, already worried at the look on her husband's face.
"I'll explain later," Jack replied tersely. "Get the kids and come with me. We're all gathering at Town Hall."
Without a word Sally and her children followed him outside, joining the group hurrying towards the Hall, many glancing back furtively as if they feared a monster were chasing them. Briefly, Sally wondered if Oogie Boogie was back.
"Dad, what's going on?" Romy asked, as they entered the Hall.
"There's a human in town," Jack announced once he was sure everyone was present. A collective gasp went up in surprise, and Jack waited for everyone to settle down before continuing. "I don't know how it got in, but we need to find out why it's here, and make it leave."
"It's only a boy, anyway," Cain, the head vampire, drawled in disinterest. "He won't give us trouble."
"Was he a virgin?" Lestat, another vampire, asked hopefully. "Virgin blood tastes so much sweeter…"
"No," Vlad replied flatly, a hint of disappointment in his voice, while his brother Dorian nodded in silent agreement.
"No blood-sucking, whether or not he's a virgin," Jack ordered sternly, at which the vampires sullenly hissed. But they nodded in compliance, and filed out with the others to deal with the intruder. Whoever had dared enter their town would gravely regret it.
.xXx.
Kelly stared into the murky green waters of a rather morbid-looking fountain, sitting in what he surmised to be the middle of a very small and very creepy town. It was the kind of place you'd expect to see in a cheap horror flick, and Kelly kept glancing about in nervous anticipation, just waiting for some zombie to come shuffling around the corner…
He shook his head. Come on, Kelly, get a grip, he berated angrily. This is no time to be scaring the shit out of yourself. There's nothing…
But that thought died when he saw the first corpse stagger through a dark doorway and begin to slowly hobble in his direction. It was very small, just barely reaching his knees, but somehow that made it worse. Zombies were scary. Baby zombies were terrifying; there was just something so wrong about them. This one was rather fat, and it toddled in such an awful way, a grotesque mockery of all children. Someone had sewn its eyelids shut with what looked like black yarn, but it knew exactly where he was.
Kelly stood frozen, every muscle seizing as he stared in horror-stricken fascination at this appalling thing. Suddenly all the shadows were stirring, as unseen things writhed, and he started hearing the most terrible sounds. Scraping, growling, gnashing, clawing…and all at once the town came to life as things began to move.
Then something yanked at his cloak, and he looked down at the creature that had crawled from the fountain, something part fish and part human, with the teeth of sharks and huge pale eyes. Kelly stared at it for half a second before he lost himself completely and started screaming until his throat ran raw and his lungs caught fire. Wildly, he threw himself away from the kappa, but its grip was like iron and it held him fast. Again and again Kelly flailed and fought, while the little zombie drew closer and a hundred monsters pressed in from all sides.
"Master, calm down," Mortis ordered. "As long as you wear the cloak you can not be harmed." The horse was stamping and snorting, his ears flat against his skull in discomfort, but he wasn't too disturbed. The kappa wrenched at the cloak, and Kelly had to put out a hand to keep from falling into the water. Panting, trying not to panic again, he swung the scythe at the demon's head with a sharp cry. The kappa let him go and ducked under the blade right quick, letting out a gurgling snarl. Kelly jumped away and held the scythe up in what he hoped to be a threatening manner.
"Don't come any closer!" he shouted at the encroaching monsters. "I'll cut you!"
They paused a moment, eyeing the Death Scythe warily, and muttered softly to each other. Kelly glanced around, looking for a way out, but there was nowhere to run; he was surrounded on all sides. Then something latched unto his leg and he looked down to find the zombie boy, grinning up at him with a mouthful of rotten teeth. Kelly's flesh crawled, and he shoved at the thing with the scythe's handle, wanting it to let go but hesitating to actually hurt it. It was just a baby, after all.
The kappa chose that moment to spring from the fountain and seized him around the shoulders. With a shout Kelly ripped away, and felt the cloak come off in the kappa's hands while the bottom of his stomach dropped out. Everything went black. Without his hood it was if all the shadows came crawling back, and all the monsters were swallowed up. But they were still there, and he was left blind in the dark.
"Mortis…!" he called in alarm, when suddenly two skeletal hands closed over Kelly's relatively small fists from behind, and pinned him with his own weapon. His back was pressed against something hard and cold and he twisted, struggling to get a look at his attacker. But all he got was an impression of someone tall and white before it leaned down and nuzzled his ear.
"Don't move, little boy," it purred, sending shivers shooting down the Reaper's spine. Immediately Kelly stopped fighting, his heart thundering a tattoo against his ribcage, and he trembled against his captor. A sense of hopelessness settled in his stomach, and he sagged in defeat.
.xXx.
Jack watched from the shadows as the cloaked boy wandered into town, carrying a scythe and accompanied by a pale horse. He waved a hand when the boy paused by the fountain, the hooded face worriedly turning this way and that. Little Billy nodded up at the Pumpkin King, smiling as he toddled out towards the human, who froze upon seeing him.
When Undine grabbed his cloak the boy screamed—quite beautifully—and tried to run. That's when the rest of the townsfolk began to emerge, and the human's struggles took on a note of intoxicating panic. But then the boy turned and slashed at the water imp, forcing Undine to dodge away, and just in time. Jack saw the steel blade pass just over the kappa's head-fins, and a cold fear settled in his bones, right down to the marrow. He knew he'd seen that weapon before, but he couldn't remember where; all he knew was there was something bad about the scythe and they had to get it away from the kid fast.
"Demos see what you can do about that blade," he said, glancing at his son. "We can't have him cutting people up."
"Yes sir!" Demos replied, throwing a smart salute before he slipped out the door and melted into the gloom. Then Undine jumped up and tore the cloak away, revealing a very panic-stricken young man. He couldn't have been older than fifteen, with short wavy ginger hair and blue eyes. Dressed in a ripped shirt and loose pants, he stood his ground and brandished he scythe menacingly. But it was obvious he could no longer see, and Demos easily snuck up from behind.
Jack nodded grimly, drew himself up to his full height, and approached the human with eyes like flint. The blood drained from the boy's face at the sight of him, and he looked like he was about to faint in Demos' arms. The young Prince felt his bones rattle, the boy was shaking so hard, and he held him closer in an attempt to still the little human.
"How did you get here?" Jack demanded, standing imposingly over the child, his long arms crossed over his chest, jaw set angrily.
"I…I ca-came through a c-crypt in the ce-cemetery," the boy gasped, staring up at the Pumpkin King with wide eyes, his narrow chest heaving. There was something wrong about the boy, something beyond mere fright, and it hinted he had been through too much and was on the verge of a mental breakdown. It was in his eyes, in his voice, in the way his breathing came ragged and swift.
Unfortunately, Jack wouldn't notice the danger signs until it was too late.
.xXx.
Is this how it's going to end…? Kelly thought, tears already burning his eyes as the monster held him tight. First I'm shot, and now this…Someone up there must really hate me to want me dead this much.
Something was moving in the mist, and Kelly looked up to find a strange sight coming towards him. A walking skeleton, dressed in a black pin-stripe suit. It sharply reminded Kelly of Death, but this one was so ridiculously morbid he wasn't sure whether to scream or laugh.
"How did you get here?" the skeleton wanted to know, and through a fog Kelly heard himself answer, although he wasn't sure what he'd said. It was all just so insane, and Kelly wondered if he had not lost his mind long ago. Or he was dreaming and everything that had happened was all simply a horrible nightmare. All the grotesque things surrounding him on all sides were merely figments of his imagination…or perhaps he really had died and this was some twisted kind of hell. There was even a Satan, leering at him from the shadows and brandishing his pitch fork…
Kelly actually felt the snap as his mind finally went bye-bye, and he dissolved into a helpless fit of hysterics, giggling giddily at the absurdity of it all. The pin-striped skeleton pulled back in utter confusion, mystified at Kelly's unexpected reaction, and glanced at his comrades. They, however, were as baffled as he was, and eyed Kelly like one would a crazy person.
Well, if I'm going to die I'm not going down without a fight, he thought stubbornly, braced himself against his captor, brought up both feet, and kicked hard square into Pin Stripe's chest. The thing holding him let out a cry of surprise, reeling back as Kelly threw himself back, and they both toppled into the fountain. Kelly felt his head strike against the stone wall, and then he was underwater and everything went black.
.xXx.
"Demos!" Jack yelled, scrambling off the ground and rushing to the fountain's edge, cursing himself for being caught off guard. His hand plunged under water, searching, feeling, but he couldn't find anything and neither Demos nor the boy were coming up…
Then suddenly someone grabbed his arm, and Jack wrenched upward, pulling his youngest twin from the water. Demos sputtered and choked, struggling to regain his breath and pointing at the fountain.
"That kid…" he panted. "I lost him…Someone…"
"Make way, stand aside," ordered Lock, pushing to the front of the crowd and crouching upon the stone rim, thrusting his abnormally long tail down into the murky depths. He felt around for what seemed like hours, then grinned as he caught upon something and yanked, bringing up the boy. He was unconscious, but fortunately still breathing.
"Well, now what do we do with him?" the devil asked, taking the boy in his arms and turning to Jack. The Pumpkin King considered for a moment, and sighed.
"Jack…" Sally murmured softly.
"I know," he answered, wearily. "We'll put him up until he recovers. He can stay in one of the guest bedrooms…"
"No, he can sleep in my bed," Demos offered. "And call Dr. Finklestein, I think he hit his head so he might have a concussion."
"His name's Kelly," said the horse, completely undisturbed by the little mummy boy currently standing under him. Jack and the others stared at him in surprised intrigue—they hadn't really paid much attention to the animal before, but now they could see it was an imposing creature, and one that would fit in with their bizarre little bunch quite nicely if its emancipated and skeletal appearance had anything to do with it.
"Alright," said Jack, regaining himself. "Kelly, then. We'll figure out what to do with him when he wakes up."
To be continued…
Disclaimer: Disclaiming NBC, so you lawyers better recognize.
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW PLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or I won't write anymore! So there!
Cal
