Katie and Jason took their last remaining rope, Laurie and Duncan right behind them. None of them said a word as they walked out of 'Doom Tunnel' and started slowly heading in the direction the rope led them.
"This doesn't look…" Jason began. "Right?"
"Fuck!" Duncan exclaimed about a minute later, as they entered a pitch black tunnel which was clearly deeper underground. Jason's suspicions had again been proved correct. They were heading the wrong way. Laurie wanted to scream for real this time.
Myers has moved this rope on purpose! He wants to get us down here before he…
Again, she clamped down on it but this time doing so did not help her. Because that was when her worst fear became a reality.
"Do you hear that?" Katie breathed.
Laurie steeled herself and listened. When she heard what they did, she wanted to run and felt like she was going to faint at the same time.
Calm, steady breathing.
From behind a mask.
"Guys!" She hissed urgently. "Turn around, go back! I mean it, go back! Move!"
"Who's there?" Duncan asked, trying to sound commanding but failing. "Who the fuck are you?"
Michael Myers, his name's Michael Myers! "I mean it guys; we need to move and now!"
"Do you know something we don't?" Duncan turned to her now. "Are you t…"
Those were the last words of his life.
Katie and Laurie covered their mouths in horror as without warning, there it was. The pale, deathly white mask Laurie had feared all along, on the face of a tall man dressed in blue coveralls. She wanted to scream, but what was the point?
Michael Myers grabbed Duncan by the collar of his jacket and with one swipe of the huge knife in his other hand, cleanly slit the instructor's throat as easily as cutting a piece of meat. Duncan fell back, gargling in his own blood. Jason stood there in shock just as they did. Now, Laurie saw the thing she was most afraid of. Michael Myers was now looking straight at her, that cold, emotionless gaze. It was as if nothing that'd happened between them within Smith's Grove had ever happened. I love the evil fucker and he fucking knows it… he's playing with me for his own kicks…
Katie staggered and fell to her knees and Jason pulled her up roughly. RUN, KATIE! JUST FUCKING RUN! I'LL CATCH UP WITH YOU, I PROMISE BUT PLEASE, JUST FUCKING MOVE!"
Outrun Michael Myers? Good fucking luck with that!
Laurie glanced again at Katie's T-shirt. IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU! She didn't think this would extend to outrunning this man.
Now Myers turned to Jason, who to his credit put up at least a show of bravery. "You want to kill me next motherfucker? Huh? Yeah well fucking do it then you bastard! Just don't touch my woman!" Laurie saw it when the recognition crossed his face, saw the moment when he knew he was talking straight to Michael Myers. But again he held it together. "Killing your sister in 63 not enough for you Michael Myers? Acquired a taste for blood did you? You slitting Duncan's throat and Patrick's back there wasn't random was it? You heard that fucking stupid story they told us didn't you? You've got a fucking twisted sense of humour you Psychopath!"
Laurie could only stand there, unable to move or do anything, just as Katie couldn't. Myers lifted Jason clean off his feet and slammed him head first into the brick wall of the underground cave. His helmet protected his head but Laurie knew it wouldn't save him, Duncan was proof of that. Myers grabbed Jason's head despite the helmet and there was a loud unmistakable snap! Michael Myers had broken Jason's neck.
The young man slumped to the ground, dead even before he hit it. That was when Katie's restraint snapped.
"YOU FUCKING MOTHERFUCKING PSYCHOPATH!" She screamed at Myers, her voice on the edge of breaking its vocal cords. "THAT WAS MY FUCKING BOYFRIEND YOU PIECE OF SHIT! YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM! WHY? WHY, MICHAEL MYERS? FUCKING WHY? I HATE YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
That was when she hit the ground for a second time, sobbing uncontrollably. Laurie didn't dare move towards her; Myers was too close… Again as if on cue his eyes were on her, she could almost imagine his cruel, amused smirk from behind his mask. She didn't dare speak, just looked back into the killer's eyes and knew her turn could not be far away. Her turn to die.
Myers approached Jason then, picking up one of the discarded ropes. Glancing over despite herself, Laurie noticed it was the one attached to Katie's harness. No! Fuck no! Would he really be that… low? Oh of course he fucking would! This is Michael Myers!
Sure enough, Myers wound the rope around the deceased man's neck and started hauling him upwards. Laurie knew what was about to happen and felt sick with terror. Myers was going to suspend Jason from the ceiling and Katie would be trapped, unable to move. Then? Then what? She wasn't sure she wanted to know. Michael Myers was one twisted fucker.
"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HIM!" Katie screamed, seemingly unaware of what was about to happen. Laurie couldn't tell her because her mouth just like her feet refused to move. "LEAVE HIM THE FUCK ALONE MYERS! HAVEN'T YOU ALREADY DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE? YOU'VE KILLED HIM AND YOU WON'T EVEN LET HIM REST IN PEACE?"
Laurie had to fight everything within her not to burst into hysterical laughter at these words. Michael Myers let someone rest in peace? Not fucking likely! He had to have his fun with them first! He was now looking straight at Katie, and Laurie could see the mocking, silent goading in his cold gaze. Just moving him out of the way, don't want him causing an obstacle in your escape now do you?
She felt sick. Myers secured Jason's rope to a bracket in the ceiling, she presumed for a lamp. Then Katie tried to move and realised what Myers had done. Laurie had been right and she was indeed trapped. "YOU FUCKING…" It seemed Katie had run out of words, steam or both. Jason's body prevented her from moving very far at all. Unless someone found her here deep underground, she would die a slow, horrible death. Laurie didn't know what to do, what she could do even. But it didn't matter, because that was when she found her feet finally able to move and she did the only thing she could. Her own survival mode kicked in and despite her earlier thoughts regarding Katie outrunning Myers in her stupid if I can do it so can you T-shirt, she now did exactly that. Not even looking back to see if she was being followed, pursued or even if Michael Myers was looking at her with that cruel gaze, she turned and began to run literally for her life.
…
It's too dark, it's too dark! Her mind screams this in a terrifying mantra, as if her terror has found its own voice. She stands there, the severed rope still linked to her harness and not daring to turn on her headlamp. What if he sees her? She could very well be next! Yet… Yet she loves the evil, twisted son of a bitch! How did I even let myself get into this? But she knows asking that question won't help her right now, she has no answer to give. Because the simple truth is, she doesn't know. She wasn't even stupid enough to try and kid herself it wasn't him. The cut ropes, so much blood… no it was him, of this she was certain. Eight of them had entered alive, how many would leave dead? I HAVE TO GET OUT, I HAVE TO GET OUT! But this mantra doesn't help any more than the first one did. She gives herself a mental shake. She doesn't have time to be terrified right now she can melt into a ball later, once she's back in the light, above and on safe ground. Against him? That won't happen! She sets off down the pitch black tunnel ahead of her, the cut rope trailing behind her. The huge caves are totally silent as she starts moving, still too afraid to turn on her headlamp.
When she'd virtually dragged Annie back through the tunnels to try and hopefully find the exit and wait for rescue, she wish she could've told her the truth. Letting slip that 'he's' had been a mistake. Now she'd confirmed Annie's and the others worst fears that someone was down there with them. Thank Christ she hadn't said his name. She'd hated lying to her friend, but if she'd told her the truth Annie really would've lost it. Not that she could blame her. That was when she heard it, impossible to tell whether it was distant or close by due to the echo. A safety whistle. She didn't have to think too hard to know who was blowing it, Katie. Her heart broke with sympathy and desperation to help the woman she'd only just met, but blowing her whistle would not help her in the slightest. It wouldn't bring rescue to her, but death. The poor bitch had just seen her boyfriend murdered in cold blood.
Now Laurie was alone, deep underground and now two people she knew of were dead. Duncan and Jason. When she'd spoken to Annie Jason had still been alive. Christ she hoped with all her heart she, Lynda and Paul were still together and Paul hadn't tried some stupid macho stunt to get them all out. Not against Michael Myers you won't.
She knew deep down what she was hoping for and couldn't deny it, not to herself. She was hoping Myers would pursue her and the others would be safe. Had that been his plan all along? "Fuck," she whispered aloud, hating how her heart both flipped yet crawled with terror at the thought. Fucking sort yourself out strode, twat! But of course it didn't help. For the very first time, Laurie Strode was beginning to heartily wish she'd never stepped through those doors 2 years ago.
…
If Dr Samuel Loomis was surprised to have a 15 year old girl standing in front of him in Smith's Grove's reception, he didn't show it. Of course she'd known he wouldn't, he was too professional.
It hadn't been difficult persuading an 18 year old friend to go with her, as she needed an adult until she herself was 18. John hadn't needed much persuasion. He'd joked would she do it for sex, but the look she'd given him had soon silenced that idea. In the end he'd accepted fifty bucks per visit, which included driving her in his battered car.
Dr Loomis looked at her, his expression unreadable. "You want to visit Michael… Myers?" She knew what he was very probably thinking. Are you suicidal or crazy? But she just nodded once.
"Can I ask you why?" Dr Loomis asked.
She'd told him all this on the phone at least twice, but guessed he was just trying to protect her or something. "We're doing a study of serial killers at school," she answered. This was true, but wasn't the whole truth. In fact the whole truth was she was fascinated by the very thought of the silent, masked killer and wanted to meet him face to face for herself. The man who'd cold bloodedly killed his 17 year old sister at the age of just 6 himself.
Dr Loomis' gazed switched to John. "You are?"
"I'm a friend of Laurie's, she told me she wanted to visit him months ago." Dr Loomis took a breath. "ID please?"
John produced the same ID he'd shown the guards, containing both his picture and proof of his name and age. Laurie had told her parents she wanted to attend Smith's Grove for the same reason her study, and they'd signed a letter authorising this as long as she had an adult with her. She produced this now and showed the doctor.
Both could see Samuel Loomis did not want to allow this and despite herself Laurie felt a rush of respect for him. He was clearly damn good at his job and well trained.
"Follow me," he said simply after a moment's hesitation. John and Laurie did so and were led into a huge visitor's room, a huge pane of glass across the centre from one side to the other from floor to ceiling. She knew how this would work, Myers would be on the other side, completely unreachable and she could speak to him by means of two way audio and see him through a two way mirror. Glancing to her left, she saw two armed guards standing a little way away and shivered a little.
"You fucking owe me for this," John whispered. "Jesus Christ are you fucking insane?" I'm sitting over here; I don't want that cold psycho to even see me thanks very much! Maybe I will ask for that sex after all! Jesus!"
"Fuck off," Laurie mouthed back, just as they faintly heard a door slam from the vague direction of the other side of the glass. Then there was a click as the two way audio was activated and another door was heard slamming over the speaker built into the ceiling. Laurie knew the microphones were in the glass, walls, ceiling and even the floor. Her visit would be monitored, guards could see them and hear every word. Or in this case, every word she said.
A few seconds later, there it was. That calm, measured breathing as a patch of glass slid aside to reveal a window. She looked through it and there he was, Michael Myers himself. The killer's blank, expressionless and cold gaze was on her immediately and at just first contact she felt as if ice had slid into her stomach. This was madness. What the fuck was she doing? Maybe John was right after all and she was insane!
"H… Hello Mr. Myers," she started and mentally cursed. Fuck! Start on a stammer Strode, fucking amazing!
The 19 year old killer of course said nothing, his gaze unblinking, unmoving. Laurie didn't know how she found her voice again, but eventually located it hidden somewhere within her. "I'm doing a study of…" she swallowed. "Killers and I really wanted to meet you Sir. I… I want to understand why… why you did… what you did."
The killer's mouth twitched into a cruel smirk and now she did feel herself shiver. She could almost hear his mocking words even though he hadn't spoken a single one.
Because I haven't heard that before. You're not too young to die either.
She continued, willing her voice to remain steady. But under that cold, cruel gaze she wasn't sure how successful it was. "My name is Laurie Strode," she said softly, but loudly enough to be heard. "I really wanted to meet you, Mr. Myers." She wanted to tell him the real truth. That she knew what it was like to be tormented, bullied, unpopular, called weird, but of course she couldn't. Not yet anyway.
"What the fuck were you hoping to gain from that?" John demanded as they drove back home to Haddonfield two hours later. "Jesus girl what the fuck was that? I saw how he was smirking at you; he wants your blood on his fucking hands! You might have just put your name on his God damn kill list!" She simply looked at him unable or unwilling to answer, perhaps both. "Well?" He raised his voice.
"Why the hell does it matter to you John? You'd have happily taken a shag for the fucking privilege! So why the fuck do you care?"
"BECAUSE BELIEVE IT OR NOT I CONSIDER YOU A FRIEND!" He'd stopped the engine at this point and rounded on her. They were parked in a rest stop. "BECAUSE YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THE DAMAGE THAT PSYCHOPATH COULD DO TO YOU! YOU WANT TO FUCKING DIE? IS THAT IT?" He took a breath, clearly trying to reign in his emotions. When he spoke again his voice was almost gentle. "Laurie, please. I do care about you; I don't understand why you'd wanted to visit… him! The guy's pure evil, even Dr Loomis says so! 'Nothing left,' he said, remember? 'I could see that what lived behind that boy's eyes was pure evil?' All he wants to do is keep him locked up! So why do you want to even know the fucker's name? If he got out of there he'd kill us both and you know it!"
She took a breath herself now. "I…" she hesitated; unsure she could tell him the truth. "What?" He asked, but gently this time.
"I…" she looked him straight in the eyes and reached for his hand. "Because I empathise with him to some degree," she spoke very quietly now. "Not for what he did, but because I know only too well what it's like to be unpopular, bullied, taunted, whatever. I don't have siblings so I can't relate to a brother or sister as he did, but… But you know as well as I do not many like me, I'm a study rather than social girl, I work before play and of course that makes people think you're a know it all, a snob or something." She was more grateful than she would or could ever tell him when he didn't release her hand.
"But there are those of us who care," he said softly. "I'm one of them and you know that. Right?"
She nodded. "Of course I do John," now she pulled him into a hug. "But that's just it. Those who do care are very few and… fuck! I guess I just want to show Mr. Myers that… that someone can care about him, even now."
John sighed. "I… I guess I can see that, but why you, Laurie? That's not your job. He's in that hospital for a reason and I'm sure someone shows him they care."
"You think?" Laurie looked at him in disbelief. "His parents want nothing to do with him, and in spite of what he's done they're still his parents! Something has to have happened for him to commit the crime in the first place, right?"
"But that's not your place to judge," John said still holding her close. "We don't know the circumstances; we don't know why he did it. You saw the way he looked at you and so did I. I'm telling you; he wants your blood on his hands, your name on his kill list. He's dangerous Laurie and you won't and can't change him. I don't think anyone can change a man like that. Even Dr Loomis has given up. So don't ask me to go back, please don't? It's a waste of your time Laurie and a total failure. Mr. Myers will kill as soon as look at you and you know it!"
"Are you saying you won't do it again?" She asked him quietly. "I really want to try, John."
There was a long, long silence before he spoke again. "Ah, fuck! No, I'm not. I'll take you if you really, really want me to, but please, please think about it. I'm sorry hon but I think you're being a little naïve. You really want to show Michael Myers someone cares? Might as well sign your death certificate now decades early!"
"I know you're very probably right," she admitted. "But please, I have to do this."
"But why Michael Myers?" He asked as he finally pulled out of the rest stop and back into traffic. "Why is he so important to you? You thinking of killing someone too?"
She smiled a little. "Fuck off! No of course not… I just… shit I don't know! There has to have been a reason he killed Judith and like I said I know what it is to be unliked and bullied. You telling me you really think he's had it easy in that hospital? I don't!"
"He's a killer, he deserves to be where he is. No he probably hasn't, but he killed his sister! If I killed Sharon don't you think I'd deserve hell?"
She couldn't resist a small grin. "Well no, Sharon can be a bit of a bitch sometimes."
John chuckled. "Good point. But seriously, she's still my sister and I… I don't think I could kill her, let alone in cold blood and then have no remorse, no feeling, nothing."
"But that's what I'm saying! Something must have happened right? No one just… snaps like that! She must have provoked him or done… something! I want to know what it was."
"You think Mr. Myers will tell you? Laurie you really are naïve. That's never going to happen. So if that's your ultimate aim, stop now!"
…
But of course she hadn't. For the next two years she'd visited Myers once a month, in during his cold, unflinching gaze despite John's more and more desperate pleas with her that she was making her own coffin. But to his credit, he didn't break his promise to her and after a while, stopped charging her for the visit and did it for free. "Just in case you're dead next week," he'd joked feebly, but she knew he was serious.
"Don't worry," she smiled reassuringly at him. "That won't happen."
…
How could I have been so fucking naïve? She thinks now as she stands in the pitch black tunnel. Fuck! Fuck! John was right! Stupid, Naïve, 15 year old kid thinking I knew better! I just hope he attends my funeral and doesn't shout I told you so when my coffin's carried in. That is, if they even find my body…
Casting the little light she'd dared shine forward, she continued moving. She had to admit she had absolutely no idea where she was. Maybe she'd end up like the insane husband, crawling and then killing herself out of madness. STOP THAT! JUST FUCKING STOP! IF YOU LET YOUR MIND GO THAT WAY YOU WILL GO FUCKING INSANE STRODE! JUST KEEP MOVING, THAT'S ALL YOU CAN DO! Maybe you'll get lucky and Myers will remember your name just long enough for you to speak! After all, miracles do happen! Maybe he won't kill you painfully, he'll do it quickly. Ok, if I believe that maybe I'm already going fucking insane!
…
"Mr. Myers, I need to tell you something."
16 and 6 months old Laurie stood beside the glass she'd visited countless times and glanced over at John still sitting well back. She still couldn't blame him even this far down the line. Truth be told she loved him for doing this for her, he really was a true friend, maybe the only one she had apart from Lynda and Annie. Paul was only friends with her as Annie's boyfriend, she knew he wouldn't hang out with her otherwise and she wasn't stupid enough to think or believe differently.
"While I don't know why… what happened did happen," she was speaking quietly but knew Myers would and could hear her. "But I want to tell you this Mr. Myers. I know what it's like being unpopular, taunted, hated. I don't know what… she did to cause you to do as you did, but I just want you to know that someone cares about you and that someone is me." She had never used his first name, always 'Mr. Myers.' She didn't dare call him 'Michael' and wasn't herself even sure why. After all, if John was right and he wanted to kill her, what difference did it make what she called him?
"I get taunted at school all the time," she continued, still in the same hushed tones. Maybe because she didn't want anyone else to hear? She wasn't sure. "I'm hated because I'm work not play, I don't socialise, focusing entirely on my studies. You do that and you're slated for the school bullies. That's why I have come here so much in the last almost two years. Because I wanted you to know that you're not alone, I… I get it."
All the time she was saying this, she didn't dare look at his face, all too certain and afraid she'd see that mocking smirk. Oh really? I've got a perfect way out for you. Death. But when she was done she looked back at him and his expression was its usual blank, emotionless. This time though for one of only very few, their eyes locked. Laurie Strode held Michael Myers' eye contact and didn't look away or blink. She wanted to show him maybe even just through eye contact that she'd meant every single word she'd said to him. The only thing she couldn't tell him were the two facts she still couldn't get her own head around never mind telling anyone else least of all Myers.
When had her feelings started to change? From caring to… She didn't even know it herself, but they had. Laurie loved Michael Myers and she didn't even know why.
She had been drawn to him during her many visits and could not explain it even to herself. His silence? The look in his eyes? The intensity of his gaze? Would his kiss be that intense? She'd wondered many nights in her bed. Would he hold me that tightly without trying to kill me? Would he…
Would he make love to me with that same intensity?
Needless to say she hadn't told anyone about these thoughts, the last one made her ashamed but also she couldn't deny turned her on. She felt that now familiar flicker of desire in her stomach whenever she thought of what it would be like. The killer's strong body against hers, his lips hungrily upon hers, his cock deep inside her…
She didn't have to be told by anyone that she'd be taking this to her grave. This was one secret she couldn't share, not even with John. Even now she felt guilty about how she'd lied to Annie and Lynda for the last two years, telling them she was going with her parents to visit a faraway relative. They of course didn't know the truth either. But then they hardly cared what Laurie did, just like everyone else. She hated lying to her only two real friends John aside, but she knew she had no choice. She didn't want to risk losing them because if she did, maybe she really would want Myers to kill again, his next victim being her just as John had said it would be.
