Chapter 1
"Are we almost there, Lou-Ann?" Gomer grunted as he struggled up the staircase with a pile of boxes in his arms.
"Just a few more steps, Gomer. And my new apartment is right across the hall."
"Thank you again for comin' along, Duke," called Gomer over his shoulder. "Without your help, we'd be cartin' these boxes clear through to tomorrow mornin!"
"Aw, no problem, Gome," Duke replied from further down the staircase, "Figured I might as well after my date stood me up. No sense wasting the day away."
They set their loads down in front of Lou-Ann's new apartment while she fiddled with the lock.
"I'm sorry to put you boys through all this trouble," she said, "but after the landlord raised the rates at my old apartment, I just couldn't afford to stay there any longer."
"It's no problem, Lou-Ann," Gomer said, "Like Duke said, we're happy to help."
Lou-Ann shoved the door open and stepped into the empty room. The two Marines followed behind her, setting the boxes down as she directed. As they did, the wail of police sirens from the street filled the room.
"Golly," Gomer remarked, "There sure are a lot of police in town today, ain't there?"
"Probably looking for those bank robbers from the other day," Duke replied as he headed for the door to grab the next load of boxes. Gomer followed him back out onto the street.
"Well, I sure hope they catch the criminals. Nobody can get away with ill-gotten gains."
"Yeah, sure Gome," Duke muttered as he climbed into the moving truck. Just like the time before, he handed Gomer several boxes before grabbing a load himself. When they both held as much as they could carry, they headed back into the apartment complex.
"This place sure looks run down," Duke remarked as he noticed the dusty corners and peeling plaster on the walls.
"Maybe the owners just come across some hard luck lately," said Gomer.
"Yeah, maybe," Duke grumbled.
They paused at the top of the staircase to rest their backs for a moment. It was then that Gomer noticed a door at the end of the hallway that had been left half-open. The paint on the door was chipped and cracked, and a cobweb or two decorated the opening.
"Hey, Duke!" Gomer said, beckoning towards the door, "look at that!"
"Hmm?" Duke looked up from his contemplation.
"Oh, that's probably just a storage room, Gomer. Come on, let's get these boxes to—" He paused and turned back towards the door. "Hold on a second. If that were a storage room, why would they leave it open?"
He hurried towards the door and peered through the opening.
"It's a staircase. Hey, maybe it leads to a fourth floor."
Gomer, standing behind Duke's shoulder, shook his head.
"Duke, I don't know if we should be crawlin' around in there. We could get hurt, and besides, it's trespassin'."
"How's it trespassing? This is an apartment complex. Do you see any 'no trespassing' signs around?"
"Well, naw, but—"
"Then come on! Or are you scared?"
With that, Duke pushed the door open wider. It groaned on its hinges. When the opening was wide enough, he slipped through and tip-toed up the stairs. Gomer hesitated a moment before reluctantly following. They crept up the creaky wooden steps for what seemed like an eternity. The staircase opened out to a dark, musty, cobweb-filled attic. Dusty piles of boxes and strange odds-and-ends lined the walls. Old paintings leaned against rickety chairs. An open umbrella lay next to a pile of shovels and pickaxes. Gomer and Duke stepped lightly about the room, brushing aside low-hanging cobwebs and piles of loose insulation.
"Who would leave all this stuff up here?" Duke remarked.
"I don't know, but there sure is some nice stuff," Gomer replied, shifting through a pile of cardboard boxes.
"Why look here, it's a possum." Duke nearly jumped through the roof.
"A possum? A live possum?"
"Naw, it's stuffed. But it sure looks alive, don't it?"
As he spoke, Gomer pulled the stuffed opossum out from behind the boxes. The creature held a permanent snarl, its glassy eyes glaring out at nothing.
"Why would anybody keep a thing like that?" Duke snorted. While Gomer mused on this for a moment, a harsh grinding shriek sounded from the opposite side of the attic. Both Marines stiffened and stared at each other with plate-sized eyes.
"What was that?" asked Gomer.
"I don't know, but I think it came from behind those old bookshelves back there."
A chilly breeze blew through the room, followed by deep, guttural laughter. Behind the empty bookshelves, a white figure flittered past. The stuffed possum slipped out of Gomer's hand and hit the ground with a thump, but neither of them seemed to notice.
"Duke?" whispered Gomer.
"I think we'd better get out of here, Gome," Duke gulped.
The two of them made a beeline for the stairs, crashing into each other to escape as fast as possible. Bursting out onto the apartment floor, they slammed the door behind them and leaned against the wall to catch their breath. Gomer was the first to speak.
"What d'you suppose that was, Duke?"
"I don't know, but it wasn't human, that's for sure," Duke replied between gasps.
"Are you sayin' it was a spook? But that can't be no spook. There ain't no such thang as spooks, that's what Sheriff Andy told me."
"Well believe what you want, but else could it be?"
"Well, what are we gonna do?"
"Nothing. Let's just help Lou-Ann unload those boxes and get out of here."