She should've just said no in the first place.
Every room she walked through made her think twice about the decisions she'd made before climbing through the window. Ell wasn't worried at first, but everything since then had started to creep her out.
For a start, this abandoned building didn't feel… Well, abandoned. In general, the interior looked shocking; Aunt Tilda's and Uncle Matthew's fashion senses didn't have to say anything. If they could've been here with her.
Sure, people must've snuck in before, but surely they couldn't have broken the office chairs, overturned and splintered the desks, shredded and stained old script papers… Well, they could've, but never in organized patterns of chaos.
On top of that, she was sure the brown and red splatter stains on the walls and floor weren't dreadful in the way Aunt Tilda would've said it. They were of varied lengths and shapes, most of them abstract.
But then there were the ones which looked far too detailed, with what looked like a zodiac circle of symbols and strange markings in the centre. Sometimes there were even shreds of cloth and partially melted candles knocked onto the floor…
"Bloody knew it was a bad idea," she muttered under her breath, "Bloody knew it. If I just stayed together with Jaxx and Ed, if I just stayed f-"
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhinnnnk…
"-ffffirm?"
What. The Hell. Was that?!
It took almost all her will to stand still and cover her phone's light as the noise came past again, but this time, the noise sounded different.
Arrrrgh…
Okay, it was fainter. Maybe from a room away now. Maybe she could get out and warn her brothers before it was too late.
But the first steps she took was towards the growling.
"What the fuck. Am I doing?" she whispered to herself, gently stepping closer to the origin of the sound, tiptoe by tiptoe.
God, she was grateful she hid the light and turned it off when the noise came past, but now she was doing this. At the rate she was going, Ell could've just saved herself the time and yelled out, 'look at me! I'm ready to be cooked and eaten alive!'
Man, wasn't she getting a lot of bad ideas tonight. Thanks in part to Jaxx with the first.
Peeking just around the edge of a doorframe, and with the faint moonlight illuminating the scene from the fractured windows, Ell could manage to make out a hunched figure standing amongst what looked like bones scattered about on the floor. They seemed to be wearing a long cloak - tattered and holey, with a hood falling to pieces thanks to…
Good God, were those horns on their head?
Holy shit. Just like the witness reports.
Yeaaah, based on the growling noises and mumbling along with those, if the figure was who she thought it was, they definitely weren't human.
An alien, perhaps? No, just in family stories. She was sure they didn't exist.
A zombie? No… It was mumbling. An undead infective corpse couldn't do it if the brain was damaged.
A monster? Generic-sounding. And yet…
ZZZZZ!
"Shit!"
Silently cursing whoever the hell had sent her a text at the worst moment, Ell darted back from the doorframe and started to slowly move away… Maybe if the creature was deaf-?
SHHHHHINNNK!
Nope!
She hated to admit it, but Ell was legitimately scared for her life.
She took every staircase, every jump-off point and pulled down every heavy object behind her to escape the creature as fast as her legs could take her. To her left now was a set of lockers to hide in, large enough to hide someone. To her right, more stairs headed to the ground floor.
Against instinct, she dove into a locker and quickly clicked the door shut before-
Shhhhhhhink-innnnk…
Ell didn't dare breathe.
BANG BANG BANG!
Please don't open her door…
SCKKKKKRRRRR…
Did that thing have claws?!
BANG!
Well… Ell was right about the horns - they just barely missed her head.
...Click, click. Click, click. Click, click… Shhhhhhhhhinnnnk…
Unless there was an actual goat alive and kicking in the building, she was sure the monster had hooved feet. Actually, it did make sense how they kept on her trail - goat legs were nimble as fuck over obstacles in their way.
Good fucking God, the kids weren't lying in their witness reports. This… Goat-man or whatever it was-
No, she couldn't think about it at the moment, she had to get out. But where were her brothers?
Ell relented to gently breathing through her nose, checking her phone as to what made her the mouse in this… Goat-and-mouse… Chase. On the lowest brightness possible, of course.
Goddamnit, why did fucking Jaxx have to text the group chat?
Actual Atom: Ready to leave?
Me: Whre r u?
Actual Atom: With Ed. Were in some kinda secret airport vault/bunker. Found old plane in here.
Well, that sounded promising. At least they were safe.
Me: How secure is it? Got a bank vault door or somthing?
Actual Atom: Yep, nothing Ed couldn't handle when opening it. Looks heavy-duty for the day.
Me: Don't leave that place, keep it open. Once Im inside, shut it and lcok it.
The Twin²: Why?
...Click-click, click-click, click-click… Shhhhhhhhhinnnnk…
Me: Found CK.
Bang.
Bang!
Click-BANG!
Ell almost couldn't believe she smashed the locker door in the face of the literal monster that was the Christmastime Killer as she made her escape down the stairs. She would've loved to see its face then, but running for her life was much more important now.
"Oh thank fuck," Ell panted, "There's the front doors, but where the hell is the vault?!"
Shhhhhhhhhhhhinn…
Shit shit shit-
"Ell! Over here!"
"Ed!"
To the right, set of downwards-stairs - okay, she wasn't dead yet!
Click-click click-click click-click-
"Come on come on- I gotcha!"
"Gah! Jaxx, shut the door!"
Creeeeeee-SLAM! Ka-click!
"Holy fuck, Ell! You scared me and Ed back there!"
"You fucking think, Jaxx? I just got chased by the goddamn Christmastime Killer himself because of your text!"
BANG BANG BANG! SCKKRRRRRR!
"…He's… Still pissed, isn't he. God that noise is awful..."
"You don't say, Oxford. Ow! My ears…"
"Ed, Jaxx, l-leave it- achoo!"
"Bless you! Sorry, the room's a bit dusty."
"It's fine- achoo! I'm glad it i- achoo!"
"What d'you mean?"
"Because, Oxford," Ed interjected, "Despite the Christmastime Killer being here- ow, ow ow, my ears, why won't he stop?! It means nobody but us has been here in recent years! We should be safe down here- Owwwwww!"
"Yea- achoo!"
Ell covered her nose and tried to steady her breathing before looking around the room, trying to block out the scratching and clawing noises outside which started to really grate her ears. She winced at Ed clutching his ears tight with both hands. Stuff like this was the worst and it hurt that she couldn't help him.
"An airport bunker vault?" She found her words again, quickly looking around.
"Yeah- owwww!" Ed managed, "There's the old plane and a bunch of spare parts, some big red metal arms and shit, an old van and a huge sleigh!"
"With a bunch of reindeer skeletons still stationed in front," Jaxx scoffed, "Not like they're gonna come to life and fly us out to fucking Santa Claus or something. But look, Ell, really? The fucking Christmastime Killer himself? Is this a joke?"
"You think I would've texted you 'CK' if I was fucking joking, Jaxx? The witness reports from the kids were accurate as all hell: horns, claws and all. Even down to the chains and sleigh bells. The only detail they were missing was that he was more of a goat than a person. A goat-man."
"You're fucking kidding."
"You wanna go out there for yourself?"
Jaxx's eyes widened as he took a step back from the door.
"That's what I thought."
"Owwww my ears- Hey guys," Ed interrupted, still in his pain, "What's with this crank near the wall?"
"Could be our way out of here," Ell shrugged, "Without that goat-man chasing-
Clunkclunkclunkclunkclunkclunkclunk.
"Well, I wasn't wrong. God, will this asshole ever stop?!"
The trio were now standing in front of the opened garage door, leading up to the snow outside. A gust of cool, fresh air wooshed in and Ell found herself breathing freely.
"Not bad," Jaxx nodded, "It does look quite steep- ow! Ell, watch where you're- what the fuck?"
Clatter clatter clatter clatter.
"Um, Jaxx?" Ell turned to look, "You were saying something about the reindeer earlier?"
Ell started to back away from the standing reindeer skeleton which headbutted her brother's arse - unaware that she was moving backwards towards the sleigh where the other waking deer were attached to.
"Oh shit, more of you?"
The bone-clattering deer nudged her into the sleigh's seat, as with Ed and Jaxx - with varying results.
Her twin immediately complied at the threat of a reindeer skeleton shoving its antlers on his arse cheeks, sitting to the left of his sister in the sleigh, still clutching his ears in pain. But, as for Jaxx…
"Ow! Fuck! Shit, goddammit! Fine then, fuck you, I'm on your stupid fucking sleigh!"
Looking in front of her, Ell watched the boney deer reorganise themselves into a riding pack, still attached by the leather reins which were probably centuries old. She held the loop hanging over in front of her off the sleigh edge-
BANG! BANG! SCKKRRR-
"Oh no!"
"You can't be fucking serious! How the fuck did he break in a hole?!"
From some sheer instinct, Ell raised the reins high over her head and brought them down with a loud CRACK!
By all illogical, impossible, incomprehensible means, the undead reindeer bucked, ran, and raised the giant sleigh out of the bunker- up into the moonlit skies of Christmas Eve.