BookMast3r: Ricky will just have to try again, I guess. And Franny, we'll just see.
Matt: Is it possible to be racist towards the dead? More like a serious case of Kinemortophobia.
A-Plus Cassiopeia: Ah come on, don't bash Franny. It's not her fault she's dead.
JustJustin: This "fight" may not pan out how you'd expect...
The group stood out in front of the library. It was late in the afternoon, and the library would be closing soon.
"So, what's the plan, Billy?" Josh asked.
Billy smiled and turned to the rest of the group. "Okay, I quickly but carefully formed a battle strategy," He explained to the group. "We go in, pretend everything's normal and stuff, and when the library closes and everyone leaves, we nab Mortman. Simple as that."
"He's a monster, Billy, what are we going to do?" Lindy asked, her hand on her hip.
"Will you stop with the negativities?" Billy snapped unexpectedly, startling the group. "My sister says we should work together on this. If we work together, we can beat Mortman. Understand?"
Everyone nodded.
"Good, now lets go," Billy said, trying to keep his calm. Before anyone could move, Sarah, who had briefly departed from the group, came running back, holding a camera.
"Hey, look at this," She said, holding it out to Billy, then turned to the rest of the group. "Does anyone recognize this?" She asked.
Greg's eyes widened in shock and horror. "That's the Evil Camera!" He shouted in shock. "Put that down, right now! That's dangerous!"
"I know that, which is why I'm being careful," Sarah reassured as she dangled the camera from her fingertips. 'I read your little book Greg. I know that if whoever's picture gets taken from this camera, bad luck befalls them."
"Which is why we should put it down," Shari said, siding next to Greg. "Someone could get hurt."
"Exactly, which is why I'm using it on Mr. Mortman," Sarah explained. "Once everyone leaves, I'll just snap a picture of him, and he'll be finished. Then we can work on more important matters. What do you say, Billy?"
All eyes turned on Billy. Immediately, he nodded. "That's a good plan, Ms. Maas," He congratulated. He turned back to the library. "We should get going. The library's going to be closed soon."
Quickly, the group took off down the street and towards the library. By now, there were fewer people there, with more leaving by the minute. So it was quite a surprise for the few people that were there when the dozens of children arrived in the library, especially when it was near closing time.
Mr. Mortman was especially perturbed. "Um, children, this library's closing soon," He said. The group seemingly paid him no mind and instead began to spread out around the library, only to regroup between the rows of bookshelves.
"Sit with people you don't like," Billy said. "Take a book and read. Don't look suspicious."
Obediently, the kids all took books from the shelves and took some seats around the library, careful to stay away from the other readers so they wouldn't notice that they were staying in after closing time.
Lizzy, Luke, Jillian, and Jackson all took seats at the same table. None of them really wanted to, but they all figured that was Billy's intentions.
For a few moments, the four just sat around, silently reading a book. After a while, though, Jillian stopped reading.
"Billy wants us to talk to each other," She said to the siblings.
Lizzy and Luke stopped reading and turned to stare at Jillian. "How do you know...never mind," Lizzy said, stopping herself when she remembered Jillian could read minds. She resumed reading.
"I know you're upset about the Horrorland incident," Jillian said. "But it wasn't our fault. It was the Menace."
Despite this, Lizzy and Luke continued to ignore her. Jillian groaned in annoyance.
Jackson decided to speak up. "We know why you're ignoring us," He said. "It's because you know you can't find a reason to blame us."
Lizzy stopped reading and lay down her book. She stared silently at the Gerard twins for a bit. Before anyone could say anything else, Billy appeared.
"The library's closing now," He whispered to them. "Get ready to fight."
As everyone waited, they heard the last readers exit the library. Then, they all began to move from their tables to find Mr. Mortman.
It wasn't long before they found him. He was in his office room, picking out flies to feed his turtle. He'd forgot to leave the door closed, but hadn't noticed any of the kids watching him from behind the bookshelves.
"There he is," Sarah said to Lucy. "How do we get him out of there? You knew him best."
Lucy paused for a bit, thinking hard, then simply stood out of her hiding spot. Ignoring some of the pleas from the rest of the hiding children, Lucy approached the office room of Mr. Mortman.
"Mortman," She called out, alerting him to her presence. The librarian let go of the fly.
"Miss Lucy Dark," He said, sounding a bit surprised. "It's closing hours. You should be going home."
Lucy stood defiantly in front of him. "I know that," She said. "But I'm not leaving."
Mr. Mortman stared at her uncertainly, then said, "Could you come in for a while. I need to talk to you."
Now Lucy felt a bit frightened. The last time she was invited to talk to Mr. Mortman, she nearly got killed. But at the same time, she knew the rest of the group was with her to protect her.
"Okay then," She said, and slowly moved into the office room.
Remaining carefully hidden, the rest of the group watched in awe as Sarah vanished inside Mr. Mortman's office room. "What is she doing?" Sarah asked Billy from behind the shelf, narrowing her eyes.
Billy shrugged. "I don't know, but this might be our chance," He whispered to her. "With Mortman's attention on Lucy, he won't be able to notice or react in time when we come in after him. This could be our opening."
He turned to the closest members of the group, and nodded silently to them. Understanding Billy's plan, the other kids nodded in return.
Billy turned to stare at the office door where Lucy had left, then turned to Sarah. "Get the camera ready," He instructed her. "We're going in."
Lucy took a seat in front of Mr. Mortman's desk. The librarian sat down in front of her.
For a moment, silence ensued. Then, Mr. Mortman finally said something.
"It's been quite some time. Miss Dark," He said, sighing. "I remember the last time we met each other."
"You tried to eat me," Lucy recalled.
Mr. Mortman sighed again. "Yeah, I remember that," He said. "Then your parents ate me."
Lucy chuckled a bit, briefly forgetting the situation she was in. Then, she resumed her serious face. "What do you want me here for?"
"I need to say something," Mr. Mortman admitted. For a few moments, there was a pause. Then, he said, "I'm sorry. For everything."
Lucy stared at him in shock. That was the last thing she'd expected to hear from Mr. Mortman.
"You're...sorry?" She said, in disbelief. "Why?"
"Well, I realized while I was at this city that I liked being a librarian," Mr. Mortman said. "It's been my job for years before you were born. I don't think I ever want to give it up, especially after what happened with your parents."
Lucy stared at Mr. Mortman, still trying to process what she was hearing. But Mr. Mortman seemed entirely genuine.
"I hope you can-" Mr. Mortman started, but was cut off when the door was suddenly slammed open and a few children charged inside, Billy and Sarah at the lead. Lucy and Mr. Mortman jumped.
"Let's get him!" Billy shouted.
Lucy jumped out of her seat. 'Wait, no, you don't understand," She tried to explain. 'He's-"
"He could've killed you," Billy said, turning to face her. "We have him now. Moose, get her out of here before Mortman attacks her!"
Before Lucy could do anything, she was picked up by Moose and carried out of the room, leaving Mr. Mortman to face the group.
"Wait, you don't understand," He tried to explain, raising his hands in defense.
"Don't listen to him!" Sarah cried as she took aim with her camera. Before Mr. Mortman could even react, she snapped a picture of him.
The picture came out of the camera and materialized. Billy took it to see it as the photo appeared in front of him. As it did, Mr. Mortman's desk suddenly broke and landed on his leg, causing him to come crashing onto the ground in pain.
"Hah!" Billy said as he showed the photo to the rest of the group. It showed Mr. Mortman, trapped under his desk.
"Bring him out!" Billy ordered. Obediently, Kevin and Mindy ran up and grabbed Mr. Mortman, dragging him out from under the chair and out of his office room. Once he was out in the main part of the library, they released him.
Billy walked up towards him. "Mortman, consider your child-eating days over," He said triumphantly.
Sarah walked up to him. "Here, take this," She said, placing an object in Billy's hand. He looked down at the object in his hands, and his eyes widened in shock.
It was Grady's shotgun.
Mr. Mortman's eyes bulged out in horror. "No, please don't," He begged, lying on the ground, still injured.
"Shoot him," Sarah urged, aiming the barrel of the shotgun in Billy's hands towards Mr. Mortman. "Shoot him now."
Billy stared at the gun in uncertainty. He looked to Sarah. "I didn't plan this," He said. "We were just going to..."
"To do what, Billy?" Sarah asked, nudging him towards Mr. Mortman. "He's a monster! He's a danger to us all. He could've killed Lucy!"
"I wasn't!" Mr. Mortman said, still on the ground. "I swear I wasn't!"
"Don't listen to him!" Sarah said as she took hold of the shotgun herself. "He's just lying so he can get away with his life. I should know, I've ran into liars myself!"
"Shoot him," Kevin said. Pumping his fists, he chanted, "Shoot him! Shoot him!"
Ricky joined in, followed by Joe. Then Luke. Then Josh. Soon, half of the kids were chanting.
"Shoot him! Shoot him! Shoot him!"
Billy could feel his finger in the trigger of the shotgun. He turned to Sarah, silently urging him on. He could hear the group's chants behind him, urging him on. He looked down at Mr. Mortman, in genuine terror for his life. He began to lower the shotgun, unwilling to fire.
Sarah, noticing his hesitation, jerked the shotgun back towards Mr. Mortman and placed her own finger on the trigger.
The trigger was pulled. The group couldn't tell whether it was Billy or Sarah who pulled the trigger. All they saw was the bullet get fired from the barrel and rocket right towards Mr. Mortman's forehead.
Billy shut his eyes so he couldn't see the results of the gunfire, but he heard Mr. Mortman's gasp of pain, followed by a deathly quiet. No more begging. No more chanting. It was all silence.
Immediately, Billy threw down the shotgun and retreated out of library, ignoring the screams from the rest of the group. He pushed the door open and ran outside, where it was nighttime already. Then he continued running.
He didn't know when he would stop, or where he planned to go. But as he ran, he tripped and fell on the ground, coming to a stop on the rough pavement.
After a few moments, he got up onto his knees and stayed there, unsure of what to do next. He let a few tears stream down his cheeks, and he began to choke on his own sobs.
After a few minutes passed, he heard someone say, softly, "Billy."
He turned around to whoever had spoken. It was Sarah.
She had a disappointed frown on her face, and her arms were folded across her chest.
"Billy, what are you so upset about?" She asked, apathetically.
"You...I shot him," He choked out.
"He's a monster, Billy," Sarah said harshly. "He eats living things. He murders things. Lucy once nearly got eaten by him. She could've died tonight. And you're out here, crying for the monster?"
Billy wiped away his tears. Sarah shook her head.
"Billy, you're the leader of this group, aren't you?" Sarah went on. "If you can't make the tough choices, what kind of a leader are you?" With that, she turned and stormed off.
Once she was gone, Billy got to his feet and stared off in the direction she had left. He felt eyes on him and then turned around to see the rest of the group, outside, staring at him with blank expressions.
Slowly, they all left as well.
Soon, the only ones there were Billy and Sheena. She stared at Billy, a look of pity on her face.
"Billy-"
Billy didn't let her continue. Instead, he took off down the streets and into the night, heading towards his neighborhood, not saying a word.
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