CHAPTER 4
"We can't keep running around like this. We're tired as hell, we're not getting anywhere, and the calls just keep coming," said Ray to the other three Ghostbusters as they emerged from the wrecked entrance of the Shattner Apartment Complex in midtown Manhattan.
"Maybe if we could figure out in what direction Pinhead and his cronies have gone, we could figure out where he's trying to go and beat him there," suggested Winston.
"Good idea. We can retrace all our calls using my laptop and Ecto's CB," said Egon.
"In any case, let's head home and try to get a few winks," suggested Peter. "Rest will do this 'Buster some good."
"You said it, man," commented Winston.
On the way back to the firehouse, Egon hooked up his computer to the ambulance's CB and began reconstructing the path of the places they'd been during the evening as well as the addresses of the unanswered calls. The guys were quite startled to discover a path leading to New Jersey.
"Jersey? What does that freak with the dangerous acne want in Jersey?" asked Ray.
"Maybe he just wants to go home. Jersey's close enough to Hell, right?" quipped Peter.
"That's not funny, Venkman. Pinhead's path seems distinct, and I would wager that he becomes more powerful with each victim," replied Egon.
"Would it have something to do with any work you did while we were out of business?" asked Winston.
"I don't think it---A HA! I remember!" shot Egon. "During the few years when Ghostbusters disbanded, I found work as a practicing psychologist with Newark University and got an assignment at a local mental hospital on Long Island. There was one patient who told me a fantastic story about her psychopathic uncle. He was tried by a jury and executed. But he found a certain item and was able to come back from, Hell, I think she said."
"Did she tell you what the item was?" asked Ray, lighting up a cigarette.
"No, she didn't want to tell me. I didn't harass her about it. This Uncle Frank did not come back alone. He brought strange creatures with him that had an insatiable desire for suffering. 'The leader was ugly and had nails in his head' she told me. Over the three months she was in my care, she disclosed the rest of the story consisting of how Frank came back skinless and killed her father for his skin. She was able to trick the monsters into finding him and afterward she promptly closed the gateway," recalled Egon.
"I think we can guess what that item was," said Peter. "So where is she?"
Back at the firehouse, the Ghostbusters all caught a little blessed shut-eye. Afterward, they gathered around the large amber worktable in Egon's lab and formulated a strategy.
"Egon, Winston, you guys take Ecto-1 down to the Vineland Home for Girls and see if you can get Kirsty before Pinhead does. Ray and I will take his car and try to answer as many of the remaining calls as possible," said Peter.
A loud knocking on the iron doors of the firehouse interrupted their preparations. Ray and Peter dashed down the building's stairs to the main floor vehicle bay and their lockers. They swiftly retrieved their proton packs and aimed at the large iron doors. What if the Cenobite creations had sensed the supernatural energy within the containment unit and had come to feast? The guys were definitely not prepared for an army of the unearthly beings. Ray and Peter cautiously approached an iron door and opened it. Instead of an army of ugly freaks, there was just one man with a concerned look on his face.
"Ghostbusters? A security officer at the airport said that if anyone knew what was going on with monsters or demons it would most likely be you guys. My name is John Merchant and I can tell you what's going on if you'll listen. Things are very bad, and they're going to get worse unless I tell you what's happening!"
With strong cups of coffee the five men sat down around the cheap dining table in their second-story kitchen and listened intently as John began his fantastic story.
"Several generations ago, during the days of the French Revolution, there was a poor and lowly toy maker named Philippe LeMarchand. A wealthy aristocrat named Duleille, a man obsessed with black magic, commissioned Philippe to create a puzzle box unlike any other. Philippe was reluctant to begin upon reading the sinister instructions of the eccentric aristocrat concerning the toy. Still Philippe and his wife were almost penniless and working for a member of the aristocracy almost certainly meant wealth and recognition. And his wife was pregnant. There was little choice. He worked almost around the clock to complete the puzzle box, which he aptly named the Lament Configuration. He had no idea that the innocent little box of his had the power to open the doors to an otherworldly region and unleash demons with insatiable desires for suffering and chaos."
"The Cenobites, right?" asked Peter.
"So you've encountered them?" replied John.
"Louis and I managed to escape from them once already," stated Ray. We've dubbed their leader 'Pinhead' because of the nails sticking out of his pale cranium."
"Count yourselves lucky," responded John. "Very few live through their encounter with the Cenobites. Even fewer remain sane enough to tell about it."
"Our secretary Janine has been captured by the Cenobites and, as far as we know, is already in Hell," said Egon flatly, with only the faintest hint of dread.
"Not Hell... Labyrinth," corrected John. He drew blank stares from the four parapsychologists. "Labyrinth is a part of Hell, but it's a lot more chaotic, the tortures are beyond the worst physical abominations ever devised, and there is a way to open it into our world. Think of it this way: do you know anyone with a deformed limb? It is almost like Hell has a gimpy leg and Labyrinth is that gimpy leg. If the gateway stays open for more than two days, our world will begin to resemble Labyrinth and the creatures that live there will come here."
"I don't think people would like having their deformed legs called gimpy," said Winston. "But we get the idea."
"Upon delivery Philippe noticed strange otherworldly lights from within the Duleille Estate and looked in through a manor window to see a ritual of blood and pain, with his prized creation at the center of it all. He was particularly alarmed after watching an empty pink shell of skin – formerly belonging to a girl the mansion lord had killed in his kitchen - fill from within to become a beautiful brunette with crimson lips. Curious about what he'd seen, Philippe entered the mansion to investigate and never came out. Still, word of the wondrous Lament Configuration spread throughout Europe and soon everyone was contacting Philippe's widow for one. Stranger still, that same striking brunette, Angelique, came calling and offered to support her until her baby boy was grown up, provided that he would resume his late father's work. The widow had shadowed her late husband on his delivery and also witnessed some of the strange sights, and Philippe's death, from another mansion window. She recognized Angelique, but faced destitution and the wrath of the mysterious woman unless she agreed.
"The deal was made and when Stephan grew up, the young man fulfilled his familial obligation by making several copies of the Lament Configuration. Unlike his father, Stephan was poor at toy making, and most of the copies turned out useless. An enraged Angelique came back to the LeMarchand household while Stephan was away. He returned to find his lifeless mother completely skinless and a death note written across the kitchen wall in her blood. Terrified and grief-stricken, Stephan left his home in the middle of the night. He fled to England, was granted amnesty, and changed his family name to 'Merchant' in hopes of hiding from Angelique."
Peter, Ray, and Winston were staring at him, completely enthralled by his story. Egon was typing like a madman on his laptop, gathering every last detail. John continued:
"Stephan was a forefather of mine. The story I just told you began to be regarded as a fairy tale as the generations progressed. Yet there were ilk that dreamed of puzzle boxes and of doors to Hell. The dreams were more like impossible memories, like the Merchant blood was forever linked to that one event, and therefore cursed. I've had many such dreams. I have had very sexual encounters in my dreams with Angelique."
"But what does she have to do with Pinhead and the Cenobites?" asked Ray.
"Well, some of my elder kin have given me details about Angelique. She was a raven-haired beauty that loved to use seduction. She preferred the lingering mind-scarring pain of sexual betrayal. Contrast that with Pinhead, who is said to love the instant raw suffering of physical torture. It has been said that sometimes they are allies, sometimes enemies. Both seem to have the same ultimate goal of permanent relocation to our world. At times, both have been regarded as mere puppets of some greater evil. They seem to have certain rules that govern their actions."
"Where does that Pinhead dude come from, anyway?" asked Winston.
"I wonder that myself. All I know is that he seems to be the lead Cenobite."
"Does the name Kirsty Cotton mean anything to you? We think Pinhead's after her," said Peter.
"Dr. Spengler here can tell you all about her whacked-out encounters with that freak."
"Hmm. The legend says that in order for the puppet to gain control of his own strings he must kill both the opener and the closer before he takes his victims back to Hell," informed John. "I am the 'opener' as LeMarchand's descendant, and so she must be the 'closer.' And I hope whoever opened the box has found a good hiding spot--"
"Come to think of it," interrupted Ray, "Louis hasn't been with us since earlier this evening. He's our accountant and one of the people who opened the box. I just don't know how we could have lost track of him!"
"It's been a long night, Ray. We're all exhausted. He's probably found a good hiding spot somewhere," reassured Peter.
"So by attacking all those locations, I'll bet Pinhead's trying to build an invasion force," considered Winston. "We've been busy all night long cleaning up Pinhead's messes and destroying his creations with our weapons."
"I wouldn't put it past him," replied John. "He's done it before."
"If we should meet up with that freakish Pinhead or his closest minions, will our weaponry work on him?" asked Egon. "We have thus far encountered great difficulty dispatching his creations."
"No they won't. But my blood might. Until Pinhead has killed both Kirsty and I, my blood should be able to cripple him and his forces," replied John. "But I don't think you can get enough of it to do a lot of damage."
"Not alone, but we have these packs called Slime Blowers that spurt positively charged slime that will stun pure evil if connects with it. If we took a small vial of your blood and mixed it in with the slime, we might be able to create a weapon that could cripple the Cenobites," stated Ray.
"One more thing. What about the Lament Configuration?" asked John.
"We suspect that Pinhead has it. It was accidentally left at the scene of the disturbance when Louis and Janine attempted to escape," said Egon.
"Oh, great..." moaned John, "If he finds the other one and combines them, we won't be able to close the gate."
"You mean there're two?" asked Ray. "If we can find the other one before he does, he'll be led right to us!"
At that remark, everyone in the room gave Ray the evil eye. He shrank back sheepishly.
"Okay, here's the game plan, guys," said Peter. "Egon, you and Winston mix a batch of that blood-slime for the Blowers, take Ecto, and get to Vineland Home for Girls. Ray and I will suit up with the Packs and take his Civic back to Janine's Apartment to see what we can find there. It's clobberin' time!"