It's Halloween! A day of candy, costumes, and scares. Every year Thomas and friends dress in outfits and host a party with junk food and movie marathons. But this year Thomas wants to do something different. He told Minho and his friend had a roguish grin. They quickly stop at a store and buy equipment.
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They drive to Newt's house. Newt opens the door and his sweet smile drops to inquiring frown. "What's up guys?"
Minho and Thomas (both carrying armfuls of bags) met their friends in the TV room.
"Hey. These aren't the food deliveries," Gally joked in his usual cynical tone.
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Minho grinned and gives his best salesman act. Thomas opens the bags and dumps equipment on a table. "We're going ghost hunting!"
Gally blinked. "For real?"
"Seriously?!" Chuck paled.
Newt sighed. "We could just play Phasmophobia instead."
"That's not fun!" Minho protested. "We need something real, something exciting!"
"I'd rather not have a heart attack thanks."
Alby chuckled. "Scared of ghosts, Gally?"
Eyes wide, he shook his head. "Not me!"
"C'mon guys! We already bought the equipment!"
Newt rubbed his head. "Fine. We'll go."
Alby doesn't believe in the supernatural but he wants to see his friends happy. He decided to go ghost hunting with them.
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Sunset waned to nightfall. City lights vanish as they drive into unnerving darkness. Car lights and a GPS is their only guide. Its soothing hearing tires running over the road. A reporter on the radio discusses what the weather will be for the week.
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Gally looks out the window and sees tall grass and murky woodland. No signs of life. Apprehension clings onto everyone like hawk talons. Parking the car, everyone gets out and stands before the haunted asylum. A facility known as the Glade.
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The Glade was established over forty years ago. Scientists (now disbanded) would kidnap and experiment on criminals and travelers. Sinister coldness seems to emit from towering walls. The main building is surrounded by a maze. Blades of tall grass eerily wave in a light wind.
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Alby takes the first step onto the path. Newt followed then Thomas, Minho, and Chuck. Gally surveyed the landscape warily before running after his friends.
It takes two people to open a door. Though weathered by time the metal plate is still durable. A cloud of dust hits their faces. The maze walls are made of rust-proof metal and block out most of the starry sky. "You think something will chase us in here?"
"Minho, please. We just got here and I really don't want to think of terrifying monsters that could be lurking around the corner."
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Resting a hand on a wall they walked forward, their shoes crunching on earth. Flashlights and body cams only provide a few feet of light. "What do you think the maze was for?"
"Don't know."
"Hey, look!" Newt craned his neck back to see a painted sign on the wall. "Scorched? And that wall over there says Griever."
"Scorched? Griever? What do those mean?"
Alby's eyebrows furrowed. "Are those code names?"
"We're gonna die. We've walked into a deathtrap." Gally muttered.
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Eventually they find the center of the maze. Ominously the glade facility stands before them. Wind eerily whistles through broken windows. Vines, flowers, and plants reach out from the earth to grip the abandoned building revengefully.
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It's dark. The main entrance branches into four corridors.
"Four choices before them, the foolishly brave paranormal investigators stare ahead, wondering what evil forces they'll encounter in the old asylum…" Minho laughed evilly and his friends glared.
"Which way should we go?"
Alby shrugged. "Gally, Chuck, and I will go to the first hallway."
"We'll go to the last hallway."
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"Who gave Minho the spirit box?" Newt muttered and Thomas stifled a laugh.
Minho smiled. "Don't worry. My handsome voice will make all the ghosts peaceful."
They snorted skeptically. "I'm sure the ghosts would love a tea party with such a gentleman," Newt joked. "And talk about the latest gossip of the century."
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"Can you move something? Give us a sign that you're here."
Ahead of them a gurney violently shook and fell over.
"D-Did someone move that?" Newt asked, dropping his EMF reader.
"No," Thomas checked the camera. "We're all here. None of us could reach that. Nothing showed up on the night vision."
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"No way! A real ghost!" Minho cheered like a girl meeting boy band idols.
Newt glared at the gurney. "Maybe it's the wildlife. Rats, raccoons, or opossums. This asylum would be a perfect home for them."
"They are strong enough to push something over," Thomas nodded.
"Oh come on! There is a ghost." Minho walked back and forth. "Ghost? Ghooooossst! Are you angry? Can you tell us how you died?"
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"Blood…"
"Wait. Did you hear th-"
They stand around Minho, dread clear on their faces.
"Scorch."
"Scorch? Isn't that one of the signs on the maze?"
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The EMF shrieked. Only two lights are on but the noise startled them. "Which way?"
Newt waved the EMF, testing directions before deciding to go down another hallway. "This leads to the lounge room."
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"I'm getting a reading!" Newt stared terrified at the EMF. All lights are on. In the lounge are game tables, sofas, chairs, vending machines, and two TVs. Minho raised the spirit box shakily. "Ghost. Are you-"
"Hurt. Pain. Sacrificed."
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Blaring sound. Lights flickered. Everything with glass exploded. Newt dropped the EMF and Thomas gurgled as some invisible force latched onto his throat.
"Thomas!"
He's dragged as the spirit box screamed.
"Experiment. Life. Scorched."
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Newt screams as he's thrown at a TV. Glass fragments entrench into his skin. Stunned, he collapses onto the floor. Minho desperately looked around for anything that could help. Good thing he bought some talismans –if they were real or a scam he doesn't know but he hopes they work.
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Tossing one at Thomas he is able to escape the violent spirit. He runs into the door with his shoulder but it's locked. He looks for a chair while Minho lifts Newt into his arms. Bam! Clang! Crunch! The chair is destroyed but the door swings open. Thomas and Minho sprint as fast as they can from the terrifying ghost.
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"Spirit. Yo. Gonna say anything?"
"Maybe we'll see more than one ghost," Chuck said. "A lot of people died here."
"From what exactly?"
"What's this?" Alby reads old paperwork on a table.
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"Glade experiments of 1964. Glade experiments of 1972." Alby shook his head. "Wow. The scientists were trying to give people superpowers."
"Seriously? What kind of sci-fi klunk is that?" Gally asked.
"They experimented on people to get them tolerant to elements like fire, water, or ice. Even poison. Some inmates died of a toxin called Griever, which made them look like zombies." Alby read more pages. "A riot happened one year and a man got trampled after a Griever experiment."
The EMF machine screamed.
"Do we have to track the ghost?"
Gally grinned. "Why? Afraid of ghosts Alby?"
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Pools of blood on weathered tile lead them to a lab. The door is open.
"Is the ghost in there?"
Chuck nodded, looking at the room through night vision. "There's a bunch of white lights."
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Gally retched. "Smells like death."
"The EMF reader isn't working."
"Try the spirit box?"
"Spirit. Why did you bring us here? Is this where the scientists experimented on patients?"
"Darkness."
Alby, Chuck, and Gally are surprised.
"Griever. Poison. Scream. Griever. Poison."
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"Guys?" Chuck points up. Blood pours from the ceiling. A see-through figure appears behind Gally. He turns around and stares terrified at a pair of dark eyes. The ghost is pale but their veins are darker than death.
"Run!"
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Gally, Chuck, and Alby sprint down the hall. "Watch out!" Syringes and surgical tools whistle as they fly at them. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Both groups meet at the main entrance, briefly glancing at each other in horror before going into the maze.
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Guts burning and lungs heaving, nobody stopped running. Thomas and Minho throw open the doors and everyone jumps into the car. Thomas starts the engine. Frantic and violent lights restlessly curl around the vehicle. Just as the lights attacked, the car veered and drives down the road away from the Glade.
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Cheerful city lights are muted by fear. Would the ghosts follow them here? Everyone slumped in their seats and stare at nothing. "Did you guys see any ghosts?" Alby asked.
Newt groaned and clutched his side. Glass gleams from being buried in Minho's knees. Thomas had purple fingerprints on his throat. Alby smiled halfheartedly. "Guess we're not the only ones."
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Alby told them about how they found information about Glade, and how some of the patients died. Silence cloaks the atmosphere again.
Minho looks at Gally with a mischievous grin. "You screamed like a girl?"
Gally glared at him. "Shut it shuckface! At least I'm not full of glass."
He chuckled. "Yeah. It hurts."
Thomas looks back at his friends. "Hospital?"
"Hospital."
Minho frowned as he felt glass crack noisily. "Let's not go ghost hunting again."
"Yeah, next year it'll just be another movie marathon."