"Put some more muscle into it!" Samuel shouted to the rest of his group as they hammered away at the heavy concrete chamber door, "We're almost out of time!"

"Do you hear something?" heavy breathing had distracted the younger Loomis. Something was coming at them from behind. Something very powerful. "Hit the ground!" he yelled as the dark Shape that was the Michael of the present lunged forward toward them. Loomis's warning was heeded by all, and the Michael of the present sailed over everyone and slammed hard into the chamber door, cracking it open off its hinges. Everyone quickly rushed into the chamber. "Don't you dare!" Samuel shouted at the future Michael, who was pulling the spike bed's rope. He lunged at his once and future nemesis, too late to stop the spikes from falling…

Until Mr. Strode leaped forward like a man possessed and caught the spike bed in mid-descent. "Laurie, hold on, we'll get you out of here!" he told her, straining hard with the spike bed, which was too heavy for him to hold up for long. "Caroline, unlock her!"

Mrs. Strode rushed up and started fumbling around with the straps holding Laurie down. On the table, Laurie was able to shake the hood off her head. "Oh thank God you're here!" she sobbed to her parents once she'd slipped the now looser gag off again, "I was so scared! He was trying to…!"

"Hurry up, Caroline, it's slipping!" Mr. Strode called out through gritted teeth. The spikes were inching lower again despite his best efforts. His wife struggled with the last straps…

Neither of them noticing the Shape on the floor getting back up and drawing its knife. Slashing at Samuel on the floor and making a large gash on his shoulder, it advanced toward Mr. Strode, raising the knife high. Samuel grabbed Michael's legs at the last minute, causing him to fall. His blade, though, still made contact with Mr. Strode's leg. He groaned and released the bed of spikes just seconds after his wife had finished freeing their daughter and yanked her off the table. The spikes hit the table with such force that it was smashed clean in two. Laurie buried her face in her mother's chest…

Until she felt the Shape grab her and pull her away. "No, let me go!" she shrieked, trying to pry away from it. It put the knife to her throat and prepared to slash. At the last second, though, it was broadsided by…ANOTHER SHAPE? "What?" she gasped, shocked to see two similarly dressed people now rolling around the floor apparently trying to choke each other.

"Move to the side, young lady, to the side!" the younger Loomis could be heard shouting. She turned to see him waving at the now mostly submerged Lynda to move herself to the side inside the glass case. He then aimed his gun at the opposite side, prompting a wide-eyed Lynda to jerk as far away as possible. Loomis fired into the water torture cell, shattering it and sending all the water inside cascading all over the floor. A loud groan rang out to Laurie's left, where she saw Sheriff Brackett trying to choke out the older man, who had his hand on the switch to Annie's electric chair. It was in fact now this man let go of the switch under the pressure of the choke, but squirmed out of the sheriff's grasp when he tried to handcuff him and stumbled around the room. She followed him with her gaze...

...until her attention was distracted by both Shapes leaping to their feet. One them charged directly at Loomis, brandishing its knife. Loomis shot it out of his hand. "It's over, Michael; don't go for it again," he warned his patient. Michael dove for the knife anyway and lunged at him, but it was at this moment that the still hypnotized Klaus aimlessly wandered into the killer's path. Michael's blade thus ended up in the hunchback's hump, causing Klaus to emit a loud howl before slumping forward. Michael shoved the body toward Loomis and took off again, only to be hit in the side again by the other Michael. The two of them fell onto the coffin Janet was locked in, shattering it. Locked in chains, a terrified Janet rolled under a table and out of harm's way while both killers continued fighting with each other. Both Loomises observed the fight with raised eyebrows. "How are we supposed to know which is which!?" the younger version asked, worried.

"I can't help you there," the older one said, sounding frustrated, "We're just going to have to take a shot in the dark and hope it's the right one. Get it ready and take your pick."

The younger Loomis produced the destructive disc and rushed toward the brawling Michaels. One of them—he couldn't tell which one from where he was standing—snapped its fingers as it saw him approach, and the next thing the doctor knew, he was set upon by the equally hypnotized Dr. Clugg. The deranged magician punched him several times, knocking the disc away into a corner, and raised a surgical knife…

Then sank to the ground as three more gunshots tore into him. "Thanks," Loomis called to Sheriff Brackett, whose gun was smoking again.

"I could tell we need it with these guys," the sheriff, said, running over to the electric chair to release his daughter, "Need cuffs?"

"I've got all I need right here...around here somewhere...," Loomis got down on his knees and searched around for the disc. Finding it, he flicked the activation switch and ran back over to where the Michaels were fighting. "Pick right and the terror ends now before it even starts," he reminded himself mentally, "Pick wrong and he'll probably get away and kill again. I hate to do it this way, but eenie, meenie, meinie, MOE!"

He grabbed the Michael on top, jerked him to his feet, and tossed the disc into his mouth. The Michael in question abruptly swallowed it in shock. "Get him outside and bar the door!" the older Loomis yelled at him, "Or we'll all go up with him!"

The younger Loomis dragged the now ready to blow Michael toward the door, taking full advantage of the fact his adversary was still in shock. "Everyone down!" he yelled as he tossed Michael outside the chamber and braced the door shut as best he could. Moments later, the sound of a huge explosion rocked the entire Myers house. Loomis dared to look outside once the blast had subsided. Only a few ashes remained visible to indicate someone had once been there. "Did it work?" he called to his future self.

"HELP!" came another cry before Samuel could answer. The other Michael, looking very much alive and well, had now cornered the entire Strode family against the far wall and was about to bring his knife down on Laurie again. Loomis ran toward him, but it was clear he wouldn't get there in time…

But it was then that the remaining Michael let out a loud howl—the first sound he'd made since Loomis had first known him—and dropped the knife. He staggered backwards, his hands on his temples, shaking wildly…

And then abruptly faded away into thin air, leaving no trace behind. "YES!" an ecstatic Samuel clapped his hands in sheer ecstasy from the far corner, "We chose the right one! He's been erased!"

"Erased?" a still shaking Mr. Strode asked as he and his family walked cautiously out of the corner, "Will somebody please tell me what happened just now? Where'd he go?"

"It doesn't matter," the younger Loomis put a joyous arm around him, "The important point is, he won't be coming back. He'll never bother your family or anyone else again." The doctor approached a sobbing Laurie. "He didn't hurt you too much, did he?" asked, putting a sympathetic arm around her.

Laurie shook her head. Of course, there was the throbbing pain in her arm from where the Shape had cut her, but she wasn't noticing that as much at the moment. All she was concerned about was the fact she was alive. She cried tears of relief into her parents' shoulders for a good three minutes while everyone else in the chamber was released. "Laurie," a still-shaking herself Janet hesitantly approached her after she'd been released, her face rife with visible sorrow, "I just want to say, thanks for trying to comfort me back there. It looks like I really misjudged you. I hope you can forgive me."

Laurie nodded firmly. I can always forgive, Janet," she told her with a small smile. Looking relieved, Janet extended a hand towards her. Laurie reached out and shook it. Perhaps, she supposed, she wasn't going to be as much of an outcast anymore.

She looked past Janet as her friends walked slowly towards the chamber door. "Annie, Lynda," she called softly to them, "I really appreciate you two coming to try and save me."

"Didn't we tell you we'd do anything for you last night, Laurie?" Annie asked her between her own tears. With a low whimper, she raced to Laurie and embraced her. "If anything had happened to you, Laurie, I don't know what I would have done..." she sobbed in deep relief.

"Same here. If that..." Laurie briefly stopped as Lynda, sobbing herself, hugged the two of them at once, "...if that guy had killed the two of you, I...my life wouldn't be the same without either of you. You two all right?"

"Scared, really scared, Laurie, but all right. And so glad to be alive," Annie moaned, "You?"

"The same. Lynda?"

"I'm fine, now," the blonde whimpered soberly.

"Thank god," Laurie nodded softly. Crying hard, the three of them continued to embrace each other tightly for a few more minutes. "Well, if you girls are all right, why don't we all just get out of here and get everyone to the hospital?" Sheriff Brackett finally broke the silence, putting an arm around his daughter and giving her a deep, relieved kiss, "I think we've all had enough excitement for one night."

"Amen to that," Mrs. Strode commented. One by one, everyone all filed out of the chamber. Samuel was the last to go. As he approached the door, he abruptly felt the need to no longer use his cane, so he let it clatter to the floor and found he could walk normally. Not only that, but he also found the scar tissue on his face disappearing after a quick touch. He smiled warmly, the first time in years he had done so.

"You went too far, Michael," he told the killer's ashes on the floor outside, "And it cost you. Now you no longer exist, and thus you never killed anyone past tonight. You failed our little game in the end."

He struck a match and ignited the ashes, apparently just for good measure. As they burned, he turned off the chamber lights and whistled as he walked up the stairs after everyone else. The future when he got back to it was going to be a much brighter place.

EPILOGUE: 20 YEARS LATER

"…and so, in conclusion, the moral of the story is that despite Reverend Dimmsdale's sins with Hester, the fact is that Roger Chillingworth, in the course of his actions, committed a greater sin," a grown Laurie Strode told her Haddonfield High literature class, "The abuse of a human soul. When you make revenge your only path, as he did, you have nothing else to live for."

She heard a low knock and saw a familiar face standing outside the classroom door just as the bell rang. "So, for Monday, start reading chapter one of The Crucible," she informed the students as they filed eagerly out of the classroom, "I want to get that all finished up by Christmas."

She leaned against the blackboard and waited until everyone had filed out before approaching her visitor. "Janet, it's good to see you again," she said, hugging the woman.

"And it's good to see the most popular teacher in this old school holding up well," the grown Janet smiled at her. Her gratitude with Laurie for having comforted her during their ordeal twenty years prior had since led to the blossoming of a firm friendship over the years. Indeed, it had now been common for Janet to pop in on Laurie's classes at least once a year despite her heavy workload as a fundraiser for the Illinois Democratic Party in Springfield. "How many years have they voted you their favorite now?" she asked, examining some of the notations on the blackboard.

"Three," Laurie smiled, "It's good to know I'm making a positive impact on other people's lives."

"Well, if anyone was going to stay in this town and make it good, it was going to be you," Janet remarked, "The others are outside; we'd better go now if we want to reserve seats early for the reunion."

Laurie nodded. She had been looked forward to the Class of 1979's 20-year reunion ever since she'd received the letter about it in the mail. She placed several tests she still had to grade in her briefcase; she'd have to get them later. She followed an admittedly upbeat and bouncy Janet out Haddonfield High's front door, where two more familiar faces awaited her. "Lynda, Annie, welcome back," she happily hugged each of them in turn, "I'm glad you could make it."

"Hey, it wouldn't be a complete party if we weren't invited, would it?" Lynda asked mischievously. Her near drowning had had a profound effect on her, and immediately after leaving the hospital that fateful night, she'd sworn off alcohol, a vow she'd miraculously (to Laurie's point of view) managed to keep over the years. Although she'd barely scraped through college, she now had a reasonably steady paycheck as a secretary for a pharmaceuticals firm, she'd told Laurie often over the phone. She'd had three children so far, and from what Laurie could see now, a fourth was soon on the way. Annie had similarly sworn off cigarettes after the crisis. She'd been divorced from her first husband and had been laid off from a textile factory a few months back, and was now struggling as a waitress to support her son, who was now fourteen and itching for a career in the big leagues, until a better-paying job came along.

"You know, before we go," the latter commented, running a hand through her hair, "I was wondering if we could go back there, you know, just to bury the memories. It has been twenty years, after all."

"Now why would we want to go back there?" Janet frowned, "I mean, it's not even…"

"Actually, I think that's a good point," Laurie interceded, "I know what she means, and I'd like to lay some things to rest too."

And so, it was about ten minutes later when the four of them had pulled up in front of the Myers house. Or at least where it had once stood. Following the events of Halloween night 1978, it had been roped off and eventually, in 1983, demolished. A daycare center now stood in its place, with young children now playing on the front lawn, oblivious to the terrors that had once occurred there. But they weren't the only ones paying solemn tribute to what had once befallen them. Standing there watching the snow-white building that now stood there was a hunched-over figure with a cane. "Dr. Loomis?" Laurie seemed surprised to see him.

"Yes. The ever-popular Mrs. Strode, the pride of Haddonfield, I presume?" the doctor greeted her warmly. After the demise of Michael Myers twenty years ago, he had received a special commendation from the governor's office for "foresight and wisdom in a crisis." From what Laurie had heard, he had since aided around the country in efforts to stop other murderous masked maniacs over the years. "I had a feeling you'd all come," he told the women as he leaned on his cane and observed the children playing in front of them.

"That Mr. Smith guy couldn't come?" Lynda inquired.

"Oh, he was occupied at the moment," Loomis told her, a twinkle in his eye, "I told him I'd tell him everything, though. You know, when I think back on what happened here so long ago, the one thing that comes to mind is how easily it could have gone the other way."

"I've wondered that myself," Janet remarked, "I mean, the thought of death really woke me up to how short life is, and that we should live it to the best."

"Indeed," Loomis nodded, his gaze on Annie and Lynda, "We do only have one life to live. I've always felt it's best to take advantage of it, because you never do know when the end will come."

For a good ten minutes, the five of them stood there, letting the memories come back and soak in. "Well," Annie glanced her watch eventually, "That food's not going to wait forever. We'd best get going."

The woman started to walk off. Laurie hung back for a minute. "Dr, Loomis," she told the old man, "I've been thinking lately, what did set Michael Myers off? You never did tell me why he was after me in all these years."

"Why did he come after you?" Loomis thought this over for a moment. He smiled, "Well, your guess would be as good as mine. We never really found anything out ourselves. You never know with some people, my dear Mrs. Strode. Now why don't you go off and join your friends? From what I hear, you spend too much time in the classroom anyway."

"So everyone always tells me," Laurie laughed. Loomis' smile grew as he watched her bound off with her friends. He hadn't really wanted to tell her the whole story when she didn't need to know. Life was dark enough most of the time anyway, he figured. He watched the four women drive off, totally unaware of what their fates might have been had Michael won. He was glad these dark destinies had now never happened given that Michael had been erased from existence. He was still smiling as he trudged up the street away from the site of the Myers house and the bad memories that no longer had come to fruition, toward the downtown section of Haddonfield, once again decked out in splendor for Halloween.

THE END