Preston and Shay sprinted from the haunted building. They could hear the ghost wolves howling behind them. The wide open parking lot offered no places to hide, and the wolves were closing in.
Preston looked over his shoulder, but he lacked discipline, and tripped over a speed bump. He hit the ground face-first, and his backpack full of checks flew over his head and off of the one shoulder he carried it over, 90's-style. It clattered to a stop several Preston-distances away from him. Preston rolled onto his back to see his pursuers approach, but he was already surrounded
"We've got you now, human!" growled the closest wolf.
"I'm too rich to die!" sobbed Preston.
"You're rich? Well, why didn't you say so?" growled the second closest wolf.
"Why would we kill someone who was rich?" growled the third closest wolf, who was approaching, and was nearly the second closest wolf.
"You'll let me go, then?" asked Preston, looking at the second closest wolf, who had circled around to the other side of him, leaving Preston unable to accurately rank the distances of the various wolves.
The closest wolf, who was, until recently, the 9th closest wolf, lunged out and bit him on the leg.
"Ow!" yelled Preston.
"Stop that!" growled the 5th closest wolf, who Preston hadn't noticed before, but who was unmistakably closer to him than the 4th closest wolf.
"I'll give you money to leave me alone!" said Preston.
"It's a deal!" growled the 3rd closest wolf, approaching from Preston's right.
But Preston couldn't reach his backpack from here! It looked like it was curtains for him!
"HYEAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" screamed Shay, as she leapt out from behind a car. She delivered a flying knee straight to the 4th closest wolf's brain. These ghost wolves didn't have skeletons, so there was nothing to protect their fragile brains, and so wolf after wolf dropped dead to Shay's furious knee strikes.
"You saved me!" cried Preston. Shay shook the ghost wolf blood from her hands, and threw him the backpack.
"Let's get out of here, you hot friend!" said Shay, since the police had told them they couldn't date anymore. This is canon.
They ran toward the safe part of town, and took a shortcut through a playground. Preston was noticing how fun the swings looked, when he tripped again, and accidentally bought a bounce house, inflated it, and got stuck in it. Shay jumped in after him.
It was fun and safe, but soon, Preston was worried that it was stifling his creativity, and he wanted to get out. Preston tried to find his way out, but the bounce house was more complicated than he had thought, and he lacked discipline.
"I can't get out!" yelled Preston.
"Don't worry, I'll save us… AGAIN." said Shay. She tried bouncing differently, but it didn't work, and she was stuck in the bounce house too.
Like lightning hitting a weather balloon, Preston's mind was filled with an idea. If he could use his money, he might just be able to...YES. He returned the bouncy house and used the store credit to buy a bouncy castle. Every castle needs a king, a position which defaulted to Preston, the only male resident. Now that he was king, he was in control! Preston bounced to the wall, grabbed it with both hands, and ripped it to shreds. Like a balloon being untied and released, the bouncy castle deflated and flew off, away from them.
"You owe me one, friend!" said Preston.
"I'll save you from some ghost wolves in the past, then!" said Shay, and she did.
"Thanks!" said Preston. They had a good thing going.
His close scrapes with death had scared him, and he knew he needed to plan ahead for if something truly bad happened to him. It was time for some… Fiscal Responsibility!
AN: What a cliffhanger!
