There was a palpable shift in the air, it hummed like the bees, a dancing crescendo of fear that swam along the breeze. Honey could hear it like a dull lullaby gently whispered over her shoulder. She hadn't noticed them before, how many of them had clung to her coat and crawled up her cheek, the soft, fuzzy bodies of a hundred bees or more lovingly caressed to her warmth.

They didn't bother her and even if they had she'd have done nothing different.

Experience bred patience. Besides, this almost felt natural. Which was certainly a bizarre sentiment to have, as Honey didn't make a habit of being covered in this many bees.

'Do you understand now?'

The voice belonged to neither fog nor bogeyman, distant and far away like a memory she never had.

Honey turned her wrist over, watching the bees crawl along her knuckles and down the smooth shapes of the hook.

'Who you are.'

In all that time she hadn't much moved from her spot, still breathing heavy as if she'd run a five mile marathon in moon shoes.

David's body had been claimed sometime ago by the curl of spider like appendages made of shadow and mist. They left nothing behind but a black mark on the pavement, like it had never happened at all. And she could almost believe it didn't- if only the blood on her hook and shoes didn't betray such fairytales.

Her emotions were at odds, crossing blades as morality cut ribbons of guilt into her, while logic argued over a perfect phalanx that death was only temporary. This realm existed outside that of her own and as such was not confined to the rules of Honey's reality. It was one, big macabre Groundhog Day, repeating itself over and over again in perverse trials where killers stalked their prey and shed their blood to a web of black mist.

'What you are meant to be.'

Honey clutched her hook tightly.

If she wasn't in the proverbial shit then - she certainly was now. At least she'd solidified her place among the wolves.

'Say my name - become immortal.'

A pair of crows squawked and fluttered off. The Entity chuckled like thunder. The mist grew silent, as mist should be, and October regained its voice in the crisp bristling of trees. The street lamps buzzed and the generators rattled, golden spotlights cast bubbles of normality upon the world, as if she were still only just on her way home. Another ten minutes and she'd be flopping down on her bed with Netflix and a soda wondering why she couldn't fall asleep until four a.m.

A snap of twigs stole her attention from the distraction of her own self reflection. She straightened up and stared into the darkness. There wasn't much to see there past the parked cars and suburbian landscaping. Prickly bushes, crooked shade trees, picket fences, and jack-o-lanterns. The longer she looked, the more their silhouettes contorted into one another, until she wasn't even sure what she was looking at anymore.

"I can see you," Honey lied, unable to see anyone.

A howl echoed through the street, another victim, a man it sounded like, snatched up from hiding.

Out of reflex Honey turned to look, granting a moment's grace of safety for the other survivor crouched behind the bushes. The girl booked it, ran like her life depended on it, which it did, and left all manner of distress in her wake.

Honey whipped about and sprung into action. "Hey!" She shouted and gave chase, "oh my God, stop running, I'm super out of shape," she exclaimed, still breathless from her assault on the late David King.

This girl was much smaller than him, dark skin and tight curls, a flattering soft pink button up with not so flattering bloodstains.

She glanced back and squeaked a terrified sound, vaulting over the fence gate and stumbling along into the backyard.

Honey slowed to a halt at the gate. No way in Hell was she making it over that. She leaned over and fiddled with the latch until the door swung open, then continued on after the frightened girl.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said to the clang of the gate door closing.

"You killed him," sobbed the girl, "you killed David."

"Yeah, well, David was being a dick."

"That's fair," said the girl, "but I'm not stopping."

"What's your name?"

"Claudette," said the woman, disturbing a sleepy pair of crows, tremors running all down her body.

"Hi Claudette, I'm Honey."

They continued through the overgrown yards, weaving between fences and lawn ornaments. Claudette didn't let up, leaping another barrier and skirting around a corner. Honey had almost caught up to her at the corner, was just about in arm's reach when something hard came crashing down on her. She stumbled back in shock, recognizing a feebly crafted pallet all splinters and cheap paint. Her shoulder stung from the impact while her brain slowly tried to put together the sequence of events that had just befallen her.

"Ow!" Honey winced, "did you - did you just drop a pallet on me?"

"You killed David," Claudette repeated from the other side, narrowing her gaze on the other woman and all her bees.

"Okay, well I guess we're even then."

"That is NOT even!"

"Chalk and cheese," Honey rubbed her shoulder, "we'll call it halfsies."

"What? No!" Claudette pointed, "that's not even close to half, you can't just - just say that. Like you didn't just - just kill him."

"Well…I did," Honey said with a playful grimace, "besides, it's not like I killed him dead. It was more of a temporary death, a diet killing - right?"

"That-that's not the point!"

Honey shifted around the pallet only to have Claudette clamber over to the other side, keeping herself well out of range of Honey's hook.

"Ok, this is just stupid," Honey said, trying to come back around one more time, just for Claudette to do the same old thing.

"Stop doing that!"

"And let you kill me," Claudette said, "No way."

Honey rolled her eyes, "I told you, I'm not going to kill you."

"Well," Claudette said, "what do you want then?"

"Kind of want to know what's going on. I keep getting little bits out of everyone, but like I told David, none of the guys I've met are big talkers. So it's been a lot of trial and error. Emphasis on error."

Claudette contemplated this for a long moment, then repeated her name very carefully, "Honey," she said, "like the bees? Is that why you're called that?" She pointed to the bees that crawled over Honey's neck and knuckles.

"No actually," Honey chuckled, "I would say coincidence, but I think my parents did it on purpose. Honey is my name."

"So what do they call you?" She asked, indicating with a sweeping gesture the villains that lurked within the Entity's realm.

'Say my name.'

This was it, she could reinvent herself right then and right now. She could pick a name, any name, could become a monster, just like the others, something these survivors could talk about around the campfire.

The Trapper, The Shape, The Ghostface. Classic titles, terrifying without even trying. It didn't have to be detailed, it didn't even have to be hers.

Did she even want that?

"If I tell you, are you going to run away?"

"I don't know," said Claudette, "that depends."

Honey sighed, "I guess then… they would call me - the Candyman."

"Candyman?" Claudette furrowed her brow, "I've heard that name before. It's a game, right. Like Bloody Mary?"

"Yeah, you say his name three times...or five, I don't remember, they usually have a rhyme, anyway, say his name a bunch of times in front of a mirror and he shows up to kill you. No clue why people would even play a game like that."

"He?"

"I'm not THE Candyman, I'm like … little 'the' Candyman. I'm a McKeever, Daniel Robitaille was my great grandfather. If I'm being honest, I think your spider friend up there got us a little mixed up."

"But the bees...David…"

"Yeah, all new territory here for me too."

Claudette squinted at her, "What about The Shape?"

"What about him? He's terrifying as all Hell."

Claudette giggled.

"David tried to get me to go be his lookout-"

"Oh no," said Claudette, "no, don't do that."

"That's what I said! He told me there's this rule that us, I guess, Killers can't attack one another."

"That's not true," Claudette said.

"I KNEW it!"

"Shh!"

"Sorry," Honey said and lowered her voice, "Anyway, I guess you kind of saw the fallout to that. We argued, he called me some names, I stabbed him in the back," she shrugged.

"You really...aren't a killer, are you?" Claudette asked with an inquisitive tilt of the chin.

"Nope."

Claudette took a moment to investigate her surroundings, carefully scrutinizing the shadows to assert her own safety in the moment, realizing she hadn't heard Bill for quite some time now.

"Ok," she said, "Real quick. From what I understand, this realm belongs to Her," she pointed up to the sky, "She brings us here, puts us in these trials to feed on our suffering. The more we suffer, the stronger she becomes, but the minute we stop serving a purpose we're dropped into some kind of … dark and empty place. Killers too."

"So," Honey asked, "why am I here?"

"I don't know," Claudette said sadly, "I'm really sorry, but I don't think She messed up."

"Which means I have to kill you then, don't I?"

"You have to at least try," Claudette admitted.

"You're going to run now aren't you?"

Claudette offered a small smile.