9:59 p.m.
Deep in the bushes outside the Wallace house, a dark shape was shaking its head in disgust. Two hours and not a single sign of Her, and its other intended victims had all left the area, not to return.
There was only one rational thing left to do now; return to home base and wait for the chance to come again. After all, it still had all night to work with. And so, after a glance to make sure the authorities still hovering up the block weren't looking, it started creeping back through the bushes towards the one place in Haddonfield it still felt safe at.
10:24 p.m.
It was taking all of Laurie's self-control not to have a total nervous breakdown. As she strained with all her might against the straps holding her down, she was aware she was making deep, hyper breaths and sweating profusely. She didn't need any more of a motivation than the one hundred or so iron spikes hanging ominously above her, ready to come crashing down whenever the Shape deemed proper.
Time had slowed to a standstill in the stone-walled room that was the girls' prison, and the seconds ticked by with agonizing sloth. The silence was perhaps worst of all, broken only by the low cries of the four prisoners into their gags. Neither the Shape or its assistants had said a word at all, spending most of their time leaning against the wall, except for occasionally walking around to silently check that their hostages were still secured.
A loud thump rang out, shattering the silence. Laurie grimaced; Lynda had smacked her head against the glass front of the chamber she was imprisoned in for the fifth time in the last hour. Lifting her head, she took note that, despite this, Lynda had still made the most progress of anyone at getting loose; she'd managed to work one of her straitjacketed arms up over her chin and was trying to push it higher over her head as she twisted in tight circles. Still, it was clear to Laurie that it would take Lynda several hours to truly get free, and she doubted they had that much time to work with. And since none of the other girls were close to freeing themselves, their hopes were still slim for escape.
Thus, Laurie was now shifting her strategy to get the gag off her mouth. For the last ten minutes, she'd been rubbing her head back and forth on the table, trying to loosen the knot in the hope she could alert anybody who might happen to come by. It was hard work, however, and for the moment the gag remained as tight as ever. And every second that passed inched things closer to the time when the spikes would inevitably come crashing down on her.
"By now they've got to know we're missing," she thought, doubling her efforts, "Just get here quick, anyone, before it's too late...!"
10:56 p.m.
"And you know of nowhere else to look?" Samuel asked the Strodes as they pulled away from the Haddonfield Public Library.
"This is everywhere we know for sure Laurie goes regularly," Mr. Strode sighed, "I'm sorry, Mr. Smith, but this is the best we can do."
"Well, I suppose that's all you can ask for," Samuel grunted, wishing he could tell the Strodes something better; clearly, and not that surprisingly, the strain of the situation was starting to get to them. While he had gone into detail with the Strodes about Michael's escape from Smith's Grove the previous evening earlier in the hunt with them, he hadn't bothered to tell them what would have happened to Laurie in an unaltered timeline, in both the present and the future; he could tell they probably wouldn't be able to take it at the moment.
He abruptly wretched again and slumped forward onto the wheel. There was the blare of an air horn as he drifted into the opposite lane, into the path of an oncoming truck. "Watch it!" Mrs. Strode leaned over the seat and pulled the wheel hard to the right just in time, "What is with you!? You've been acting strange all night...!"
"I'm fine, really," Samuel took deep breaths, "As long as my colleague Dr. Loomis is fine, I should be all right as well."
"What's that got to do with anything?" Mr. Strode frowned. Samuel didn't answer, for they'd reached the Myers house. The other searchers were already there, and they didn't look that good themselves. "Just got the call," Sheriff Brackett looked almost faint as they approached, "Three more missing person reports. One of them's Annie. If anything happens..."
"It's OK, Lee," Mr. Strode patted him on the back, "We know what you're going through."
"Just where the hell are we supposed to look anymore!?" the sheriff punched the hood of his cruiser in disgust, "We've searched every inch of this damn town and got nothing!"
"Wait," the younger Loomis raised his hand, realization spreading on his face, "We haven't looked everywhere. We haven't looked here."
He pointed at the Myers house behind them. "Wait, what's that up there?" Mrs. Strode pointed to the right window on the top floor, where there was a brief flash of white that quickly faded to black.
"That's enough for me," Sheriff Brackett reached through his cruiser window for his radio. "Attention all units, we've got a possible suspicious character here at the Myers house on Elm Street," he ordered his men, "I want all available personnel here in ten minutes to surround the house; I'm going in myself now."
He drew his flashlight and gun. "Everyone stay behind me," he instructed the others, leading the way towards the house.
"Right," both Loomises drew their own guns as well. The older one leaned towards the younger one and whispered softly, "You've still got it?"
The younger Loomis lifted the deadly disc from his pocket. "Good," his older self nodded, "Once we find him, get the mask off. If it's a younger Michael, put the disc on him where he can't brush it off, then run like hell."
"What're you two going on about?" Sheriff Brackett called back to them from the porch.
""Nothing," Samuel told him quickly, gesturing for his younger self to put the disc away again. Shrugging, the sheriff tugged on the doorknob, but it refused to open. Stepping back, he gave it a sharp kick. With the cracking of wood, the door collapsed inwards. The five adults cautiously entered the house. "Laurie?" Mrs. Strode called out loudly into the darkness.
"Shhh!" Loomis hissed at her, "If he is here, you might spook him if...what have we here?"
Over in the corner, lying against the wall, were Annie and Lynda's flashlights, still glowing brightly. Both Loomises picked them up. "It appears we weren't the first ones to try coming here," the younger one proclaimed, "I think..."
There came the sound of a door creaking from the second floor. Everyone fell silent and tensed up. "I'll check that out," Samuel whispered, inching towards the stairs, "Doctor, come with me. Sheriff, you and the Strodes look for secret panels. Yell if you see him."
The two Loomises slowly ascended the stairs. "His sister's room first?" the younger one inquired.
"Yes," Samuel nodded, "That sounds like the best ticket."
The door to Judith's room was partially closed when they reached it-certainly not how Loomis had left it when he and the sheriff had stopped by earlier. No sounds could be heard from within. Samuel flattened himself against the wall and raised his hand. Counting down from three with his fingers, he kicked the door all the way open-and then without warning spun around. "Down!" he shouted, firing off a shot. Loomis hit the deck just in time. He looked up to see a dark Shape fall to the floor behind him; it had been raising a knife above him. "How'd you know...!?" he stammered.
"Pin him down!" Samuel ordered, "And get his mask off, quick! We have to know!"
Loomis threw himself on top of Michael and strained to hold him down. "Hold still, Michael!" he ordered him, "This is for your own good!" He reached for the mask...
Only to have Michael slash his wrist with the knife. Loomis yelped in pain and rolled off him. Up the hall, Samuel howled in agony and clutched his own wrist. Michael leaped to his feet and raised the knife over his doctor again...
...and staggered as two more shots rang out. "Freeze it, mister!" Sheriff Brackett yelled, standing on the top step with his gun smoking, "Drop that knife right now and tell me where my daughter is!"
Michael instead pushed past Loomis and charged into Judith's room. The sheriff squeezed off five more shots at him before he dove out the window with a loud shattering of glass. "Great!" Brackett growled, slapping the railing in disgust, "There goes any chance we had of interrogating him!"
"You may get another chance," Loomis heaved himself to his feet, clutching his bleeding wrist, "He's not dead."
"What do you mean he's not dead!?" Sheriff Brackett was astounded at this prediction, "I definitely hit him four times, and no one can survive a fall from this height!"
"He can," Samuel hobbled towards them, leaning even heavier on his cane, "We'd better get back downstairs; he'll be back inside before we know it. And before he does return, let's keep looking for those young women; I have the distinct feeling our time-and theirs-is almost up."
Down in the chamber, Laurie's spirits rose as she heard voices in the house above. She started rubbing her head harder against the table. The gag was starting to loosen a bit, but she needed more time. In the meantime, she started crying out as loud as it would allow, hoping it would somehow attract the newcomers' attention.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the Shape glancing up at the ceiling as well. It shook its head, then snapped its fingers. Twisting her head to the left, she could just make out the old man and hunchback serving the Shape bending down and picking up something from the floor: gasoline cans, she realized a moment later. The Shape walked up to the coffin behind the operating table-inside which Janet could still be heard throwing herself around frantically-and pointed grimly at it. "Oh no!" Laurie realized with a cold shudder as the other two men began pouring the gasoline over the coffin, "He's going to start doing whatever he's been planning now!"
Her fear amplified even higher, however, when the Shape turned towards her and gave her yet another of its haunting looks. Then to her utter horror, it began pouring even more gasoline over her. Shaking violently, she watched as it dumped the rest of the can onto the spikes above her. It then walked out of sight behind the tombstone above her head, only to return with a flaming torch, which it used to light each individual spike. Satisfied at least for the moment, it gave her one more cold, blank stare before walking away again.
"Come on!" she begged the gag, jerking her head up and down, "Slip off, please!"
The sound of a valve of some kind being cranked made her look up again. The Shape was turning a wheel attached to the chamber Lynda was locked in. And water was now rapidly pouring in from the bottom. Panicked, Lynda was making sharp downward jerks to try and get her feet out of the stocks holding her upside-down, but Laurie knew she didn't have the time to make that work. She followed the Shape as it trudged over to the chair Annie was strapped to and picked up what were definitely electrodes from the back of the chair. Annie saw them coming and jerked her head as far away from the Shape as she could with a loud scream of terror into her gag. The Shape grabbed her hair and yanked her back towards itself so it could slip the electrodes snugly around her head. Annie flashed Laurie a look of pure, unadulterated terror just before the Shape pulled a black hood over her head. This galvanized Laurie to try harder with her own gag.
But she still froze up when the Shape approached her again. It snapped its fingers, and its associates began locking metallic barricades along the sides and ends of the table, effectively penning Laurie inside. The Shape leaned over the side and gave her one last emotionless look before slipping another hood over her head.
"He's going to release the spikes now!" she realized, "It's now or never!"
And fortunately, it was at that moment she felt the gag's knot starting to slip. She shook her head hard until she felt her mouth fall free. "HELP!" she screamed as loud as she possibly could, "SOMEBODY HELP US PLEASE!"
"Did you hear that!?" Mrs. Strode cried desperately to the sheriff and both doctors as they came charging down the stairs, "It's Laurie, right down...!"
"There, yes," Loomis had also heard the cries. He pointed to the closet door and kicked it in. "Through there," he noticed the big hole in the wall, "And we'd best hurry!."
The five of them pounded down the stairs behind the hole. "HELP!" Laurie was continuing to scream at the end of the tunnel, "PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP US! GET...OOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW! SOMEBODY...MMMMMMFFFFFF!"
Abruptly the would-be rescue party ran into the chamber's stone door. "How's this supposed to open!?" Sheriff Brackett shouted, pushing the door with all his might.
"I don't think it's meant to be opened!" Loomis started pushing himself, "But we have to try nonetheless! Everyone, put your weight into it!"
In a flash, Michael zipped across the chamber and delivered a harsh slashing to his sister's arm. He then reached under the hood and pulled the gag back over her mouth. But the damage had already been done. In a matter of seconds, he heard the thumping of footsteps coming down the stairs, followed by the thuds of the intruders trying to break the door in.
"They're too late," he thought with a dark smile. It was a hair disappointing that he couldn't wait until the symbolic midnight hour to carry out his sinister deeds, but no matter.
He snapped his fingers at Dr. Clugg, who put his hand on the switch that would activate the electric chair and incinerate the curly-haired girl. He repeated the gesture with Klaus, who took the torch Michael handed to him and raised it over the gas-soaked coffin the popular girl was locked in. Michael himself walked behind Judith's tombstone and took hold of the rope that would drop the burning spikes onto his sister. A loud thumping made him briefly look up to see the blonde throwing her entire body against the glass of the water torture cell in a frantic attempt to smash it as the water rapidly rose over her head. It wouldn't work, Michael knew; the glass was a whole lot thicker than that.
His sister was crying loudly. Michael was ready to ease her troubles once and for all. He started to pull the rope...