"Ron!" John yelled, scared to death because his lover was nowhere in sight. They had been on his trail but then he had just disappeared on them and now they couldn't find him again. "Ron!" His heart was just pounding away on the inside of his chest. Fuck he was so fucking terrified. "Ron! God damn it, this isn't funny!" He couldn't even keep the anger in his own voice. He could only imagine what had happened to Ron and none of it was good.
"We'll find him," Melina said, reaching out and trying to give John a comforting touch. It was tearing her apart to see him so worried out of his mind. "We'll find him, I promise."
John couldn't even really respond. He wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe her so fucking bad because he couldn't bear to think about anything happening to Ron but given the circumstances, how could anything be happening except for the worst possible scenario? How could she try to fool him into thinking everything was going to be alright when it really wasn't?
"Ron?" Bryan called out, taking a couple steps ahead but stopping when the lights began to flicker. "Oh fuck. That can't be good."
"Way to state the obvious," Melina muttered, grabbing on to both Bryan and John so they wouldn't get separated. But while Bryan squeezed her hand in return, John just let his hand dangle in hers. He could hear the sound of a bunch of voices whispering but he couldn't tell what the hell they were saying. "Anyone else hear that?" he asked nervously.
"Hear what?" Melina asked, her voice cracking in hysteria. "Hear what? I don't hear-"
"Sssshhh!" Bryan placed his hand over her mouth to make her be quiet. He swore her heard it too and once she fell silent he knew for sure that he was hearing it. What it was exactly though, remained a mystery to him-at first anyway. Rapidly though, the whispering started to get louder and louder and the words became more and more clear.
Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes ashes you all fall down.
Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes ashes you all fall down.
"You know, I've never liked that one to begin with," Melina said as she clung to Bryan and John even more. "But I like it even less now."
Eeeny meeny miney moe, we caught the nigger by his toe
"Whoa," Bryan said as John noticeably stiffened at those words. "Okay creepy voices, tone down the racism please!"
Melina blinked and shook her head. "You're scolding the creepy voice for racism? Really? You really think it gives a damn?"
"Probably not," Bryan admitted sheepishly. "But-
We got him real good didn't we?
Oh yes we got him good
String him up! String him up!
Let him burn! Let him burn!
"Oh God," John moaned, his legs getting so weak that he would have fallen over if Melina hadn't grabbed on to him even more to help hold him up. They were talking about Ron. He just knew it. He didn't know how he knew it but he did know it. "Oh God oh God." He closed his eyes and tried to will himself to wake up. This had to be a nightmare. A horrible fucking nightmare that he was going to wake up from any minute. "Wake up. Please wake up. Please wake up…"
Melina suddenly screamed and against his will, John's eyes opened and he screamed too at the sight before him. Ron's body was dangling upside down from the ceiling, literally hanging by his toes while his cold lifeless eyes stared blankly at them. "NO!" John screamed, lunging forward without realizing it and having to be restrained by Bryan and Melina.
He's so sad.
Boo hoo boo hoo.
You know what we do to men that love the coons now don't you?
"Oh my god, shut up!" Melina yelled angrily. She and Bryan were trying to drag John away but he wasn't going anywhere if he could help it. His feet were glued to the spot and all he could do was stare at Ron's body. "Shut up you fucking bastards!"
She's a mouthy little bitch.
Always a mouthy little bitch. You know what we do to whores like you you fucking cunt?
We lynch them! We lynch them all!
"I do not-SWEET JESUS!" Bryan just about jumped out of his skin as what he could only describe as mummies literally came out of the walls and began grabbing at all of them. He couldn't even count how many there were. He just had to start doing everything in his power to get out of their grasp. "Mother fucker!" He elbowed one in its withered face and then tried to also start shielding Melina, who was freaking out because the things kept grabbing her hair.
"Get it off, get it off!" she shrieked.
"I'm trying!" he yelled back. He elbowed the one that had her hair at that moment so hard that it's arm broke off with the hand still tangled in her hair. He winced as she screamed and just ripped the thing out in pure terror but there was no time to rest. "Come on!" He hugged her protectively and barreled through the small army that was descending upon them, surprised that he actually managed to get them through them without being stopped really-but the reason as to why became clear when John began to scream.
"NO!" Melina turned back around and tried to go back to help John. Bryan tried to go back too because he felt horrible that he hadn't even realized that John wasn't with them until now but he stopped and grabbed Melina when he saw John's decapitated head flying up in the air. The mummies, who had only descended upon him seconds ago, had already done their job.
"NO!" Melina sobbed, shaking her head and sinking weakly into Bryan's arms. "No no no no…."
"Fuck fuck fuck!" There was no sense in trying to get her to run. She was just limp and terrified. So he did the sensible thing and scooped her into his arms in a wedding carry before bolting as fast as he could, not daring to look back and see if any of those things were chasing them.
…
Mary shivered as she hugged her legs to her chest and watched Lucy continue working her mojo on Eve's body. "You shouldn't do this," she said softly. "It's going to be bad."
Lucy laughed at that. "Yeah, I know. Why do you think I'm doing this?"
Mary shivered some more and shook her head. "Not bad for them. Bad for you. You don't know what you're doing."
Lucy didn't find that one so amusing. "Excuse me?" she snarled, turning around and taking a threatening step towards Mary. "What did you just say?"
Mary whimpered in fear. "Make her a zombie instead," she begged. "Zombies are scary. You know there are."
Lucy snorted before going the rest of the way over to Mary and slapping her across the face. "A zombie? You want me to make a pathetic zombie?" She shook her head in disbelief. "No no no, I don't need to make one of those again." She grabbed on to Mary's hair and yanked on it until she looked over at Eve. "You see that? Soon enough, she's going to be one of the greatest weapons I've ever used. So why don't you just keep your mouth shut and enjoy the carnage for once?"
Mary shook her head. No, she wouldn't ever enjoy all of this. She didn't want to hurt anyone. She just wanted all of this to stop.
"Fine, suit yourself." Lucy thrashed Mary to the ground violently and then walked back over to Eve. "I guess I'll just have to have fun for the both of us then."
…
"CONNOR!" To say James was going absolutely nuts would be a bit of an understatement. Cooper had never seen his father like this ever. The larger man was just screaming for his younger brother and running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Nobody could stop him either. Mark was trying but it just wasn't working. James was hysterical and he was going to stay that way. "CONNOR!" The restaurant doors had opened awhile ago but Connor and Sandy Claws were long gone, which had sent James into even more of a tizzy. They could have been absolutely anywhere at this point and Cooper was just as scared as James was about this whole situation. Connor was the baby. He had always been the baby. If people thought James buried Cooper, it was nothing compared to how Connor was treated. "CONNOR!"
"We'll find him," Mark said yet again, his voice not that convincing-or maybe James's hysteria was catching on to Cooper. "We're going to find him-"
"How do you know?" James snapped. "What if he's dead already?"
"Hey hey hey, he's NOT dead," Nattie said firmly.
"Yeah really," Phil agreed. As much as he hated the Lawsons, he couldn't help but feel kind of bad about this Connor situation. Yes the little bastard was annoying as fuck and he was utterly psychotic but the way he was had been beyond his control from birth and there was no way being chased by a giant demon Santa was going to be good for his mental health. "He's the one man wrecking crew. He's tough enough to-"
"That thing could have ripped him limb to limb by now." James wasn't even listening to them. He was too lost in his paranoia, which was running away from him. "It could have-"
"Dad shut up!" Cooper snapped, sounding much harsher than he meant to. He just couldn't stand to hear all the shit James was thinking because it had already gone through his own mind and it fucking terrified him. "We'll find him okay? Just shut the fuck up and help me look."
James nodded along, falling silent and obeying Cooper's order without question. The others all exchanged looks but just went with it because not only was finding Connor still numero uno, but they did not want James to start freaking out again by any means. It just was not a pretty look on him.
"Hello? Is anyone there? HELLO!"
"Was that…was that Cody?" Tiffany asked as they all stopped in their tracks at the sound of that yell.
"I think it was," Nattie said. "Why-"
"Oh who the hell knows," Glenn grumbled crankily. "Idiot probably went off looking for Ted so he could pine over him some more and got himself lost."
Phil frowned and shifted around uncomfortably. "That was kind of mean babe."
"Yeah, well it's been that kind of a day." Glenn opened up the door nearest to him in order to see if Connor was in there and a whole hoard of mice ran out of there. Phil and Tiffany both screamed at the top of their lungs and he scrambled up to Glenn's back for safety while Tiffany jumped up on to Mark, who just stared at her incredulously.
"Oh…sorry." She got off him and clung to Nattie instead. Cooper shook his head, knowing this was not the best time but he had to say something. A young blonde girl clinging to a guy famous for banging blonde chicks behind his dad's back? Yeah, something had to be done to lighten the mood."
"Just so you know, he either impregnated you, or you've got herpes. Either way, go to the doctor."
Mark gave him an irritated look. "Really Cooper? Really?"
"Yes Miz, really. Now shut up and find my brother."
…
Cody looked around nervously, unsure about as to how the hell he had gotten there in the first place. One minute he had been in the lobby with the others and the next he had been in a random hotel room that he now couldn't get out of. "Let me out!" he yelled, pounding on the door even though it had been proven that was doing absolutely no good to do so. "Hey! Is someone out there? Come on now, this isn't funny?"
No answer. Not surprising. Cursing in frustration he kicked the door before resting his forehead against it so he could try to contemplate his next move. He hadn't been separated from the others for nothing. At least he didn't think so. Either way though, he knew he didn't like it. It just could not mean anything good.
A loud gasp sounded throughout the room and he spun around to find Maryse and Ted on the bed, the French Canadian woman frantically riding his former boyfriend. He blinked, unable to believe what he was seeing because neither one of them had been in the room with him when he had arrived…or had they? He didn't know. He didn't fucking know anything anymore.
"Oooh Teddy," Maryse moaned, grinding into him and placing one of her hands on his chest. "Fuck me harder. Make me scream Teddy."
Cody balled up his fists and tried to swallow down the bile that had risen up to his throat. That fucking bitch. She was always rubbing Ted in his face like he was some kind of trophy fuck. She didn't care about him the way he did. He loved Ted. He genuinely loved him and it fucking pained him to see him get used like this.
So why don't you just do something about it instead of just standing there like a fucking idiot?
Cody jumped slightly and looked around. "Who said that?" he asked. "Who's there?"
We did. We said it. Great, there was another voice now. How wonderful.
"And who are we exactly?"
We live here.
We've been trapped here for so long
We are the hate that brews inside the Dark One.
We serve our master and do her bidding.
"So…you're with Lucy?" Cody had to turn away from Maryse and Ted because he couldn't concentrate on these freaky voices while watching them.
The voices just laughed. Enough about us silly boy. Let's focus on you and you're love.
"Can you just tell her to let us go?" He didn't want to focus on himself. That just was not on his list of things to do at the moment. "Come on, we'll give her something nice if she does."
We could try but why would we do that before we could help you?
"Help me? What do you mean help me?"
Well we've noticed that you're desperately in love with this Ted fellow.
It's quite pathetic really.
Yes but SHE'S worse.
Oh yes, she's much worse. This is what happened the night before the madness started. We just saved this image for you so you could observe the scene for yourself.
Cody shook his head. "Look, I don't know what you heard, but I'm not into-"
"Tell me you love me more than Cody," Maryse ordered, grabbing Ted's hands and placing them above his head so she could pin them down. "Tell me you love me more than that little nerd."
"You fucking bitch!" Cody growled, taking a step toward the bed when she and Ted both disappeared on her. "No! Put her back so I can get her!"
Why go after the echo when you can go after the real thing?
She's poisoning him you know. Keeping him from coming back to you with lies and deceit. Only you can save him.
"How though?" he asked, looking all around the room to see if he could figure out the source of the voices. "How do I do that?"
Oh we know a way. A very very special way.
All you have to do is accept our help and then the boy is yours.
Cody froze for a moment and thought about it. Common sense would have told him that this was not on the level but not only did he not have much common sense, but these things had played on his one major weakness. The way he missed Ted was unbearable to deal with anymore and he had to do something if Maryse was fucking with Ted's mind as well as his heart. "Okay," he agreed.
Okay what?
Ask nicely boy.
"Please…help me get rid of her.
The voice laughed.
It will be-
Our pleasure.