Chapter 84: Of the Creepy Sort

Believe it or not, this was supposed to be up over a month ago, but by the time I was done packing for my trip I realized I didn't have a whole lot of this chapter done, so I decided to work on it during my vacation. Long story short, the file got lost somehow (I'm not tech savvy, RIP me) so I had to rewrite the entire damn thing, which let me tell you really destroys your work ethic. And since I'm on vacation with VERY limited WiFi access, I didn't exactly have a whole lot of time to actually rewrite this. It was just an awful mess.

Anyway, there's a bit of action at the end- if you haven't noticed, recent chapters have been devoid of action due to character exploration/development, plus my desire for more witty banter (I love witty banter, not gonna lie). I'm trying to slowly fix that- I need to get the hang of writing action again, so the next few chapters will probably have more of that. Hopefully.

And yes, I used an old meme here. No, I do not regret it.

Anyway, on with the chapter!

Evan sighed as he sipped at his iced coffee, remembering that, once again, he ordered something with far too much sugar in it. He was drinking too many of these sugar comas recently, and his stepmother would have his head if she found out. Good thing she was at work and he at the park.

The day itself was overcast, the humidity low. A gentle breeze ruffled at the grass and played with the loose brown strands of hair that had escaped Evan's ponytail. It was a sort of calm before the storm, preluding the oppressive heat waves rolling in and destroying such tranquility.

All right, what are you moping about now? Erda asked, his normally fatherly tone annoyed.

If I tell you, will you give me some actually decent advice, or will you just tell me that I'll have to figure it out on my own?

Those often go hand in hand, you know.

Evan inwardly groaned. I know, I know.

But seriously, what's the problem? Erda's voice turned worried.

How come I can't control plants? I can control the earth just fine, so why not-?

Yeah, okay, let me cut you off here, the earth god said. You can't control plants because it's not just Earth's domain. It's Carter and Ben's too. This is a weakness all of my vessels had. You're not special in that regard.

So there's no way I can improve?

You can try, but there's no guarantee. Is this about that plant bomb?

…Yes.

Erda sighed, exasperated. Evan, that was something so alien and weird, I don't think anyone could have controlled it besides a High Breed. Even if you let me loose, I probably wouldn't have been able to do more than destroy it and probably damn the planet anyway. I don't know High Breed technology, so I couldn't have possibly found a peaceful solution to the problem.

…So, long story short, I shouldn't beat myself up over this?

Basically, yes. His voice perked up a little. But if you really want to better control some other aspects of your powers, I would definitely love to help. It's high time you started filling into your leadership position among the Slayers.

But I'm sixteen!

So?

Evan sighed. Can't I just be a kid?

And how long will you use that excuse?

For as long as I can. With that, he forced the mental wall between the two, effectively shutting the god out. Erda poked at the wall experimentally, but just as quickly left him alone. Evan sipped at his drink and leaned back into the park bench. He hated how Erda would act like a second father to him, lecturing him on his leadership skills and trying to get him to act more mature. He heard it enough at school and at home, he didn't need his secondary conscious added to the mix. At least Erda knew when to let things lie for the time being.

But still… didn't he have a point? Evan wasn't exactly as young as he used to be, he really couldn't use his age as an excuse for much longer. Sure, once he was in college everyone would expect him to do stupid things, but they'd also expect him to grow up even more quickly. It was a tenuous balance that he honestly wasn't sure he could manage. He shouldn't have to grow up so quickly, he just wanted a bit more fun for a little while longer. What was so wrong about that?

But still… could Evan work a bit more on his powers? He was pretty powerful as he was, but Erda wasn't wrong: there was, and always will be, room for improvement. It was like science in a way, always striving for perfection, fixing the kinks in the solution so that it would run smoothly. Any marked improvement in Evan's arsenal of powers definitely had to be worth it in the end.

Evan sat up straight and eyed the forest section of the park. There were plenty of people out due to the likeability of the day, but no one was near the forest entry, opting to meander near the park benches and the nearby water fountain. As casually as he could, he stood up and strolled towards the mid-sized patch of trees, sipping at his drink nonchalantly. Quickly disappearing into the foliage, he made his way towards the center of the woods, glancing at the small wildflowers poking out of the grass.

He sat down and set his coffee aside. He had some work to do.

Roughly the same time

"So, why did Gwen refuse to come?"

"Said she'd be fifth wheeling."

Ben stared at Carter as he got the coffee and she paid the cashier. "How?"

"Isn't this technically a double date?"

He opened his mouth to refute the notion, but then noted that they were in a food court, inside the local mall, with Sam and Kevin acting at the secondary couple. "…huh."

"Yeah, this is a first for us, isn't it?" Carter said as they walked back to their table. "How long have we been together? Like, a couple months?"

"Something like that," Ben said vaguely, refusing to admit he had the date memorized and had long since calculated the amount of time they'd been dating.

"And we've never done something as mundane as a double date."

"And since when does mundane ever apply to us?"

"An excellent point, Mr. Tennyson," Carter said in a halfway decent British accent. Ben merely rolled his eyes good naturedly.

At the table, Sam and Kevin were glaring disgustedly at a nearby booth, where smacking sounds and groans could be heard just over the din of conversation. Ben and Carter, both refusing to look in that direction, merely handed out drinks and sat down across from each other. Studiously staring straight ahead, Ben asked, "So, what's got you two in such a state?"

Tearing her eyes away from the spectacle, Sam sighed. "Gross amounts of PDA."

Kevin, who was still staring, asked, "How are you not seeing this?"

"From the sound of it, I should probably stare at my boyfriend instead," Carter said, raising an eyebrow at Ben.

Ben sighed and procured a small pocket mirror out of thin air. "Yeah, I should too," he said as he flashed a flirtatious smile at his reflection.

Yanking the mirror from his hand, Carter tried and failed to glare at him and, through her giggles, asked, "Where did you even get this?"

Waving his fingers slightly, he merely said, "Magic." And then both burst into a fit of quiet laughter.

"Well, I'm glad you guys are enjoying yourselves," Sam sighed, giving them both an affectionate half smile. "Too much affection in public can sicken nearly anyone."

Kevin finally tore his gaze away and looked at the group. Grabbing his cup, he said, "I hate guys who're always talking about their girl. Dude, we get it, you're in love, we don't need to hear it." He punctuated the statement with a self-righteous sip.

Sam stared at him, an eyebrow raised slightly. "Oh really?"

"Really."

"So you prefer low-key stuff then?"

Kevin looked at her, confused. "We've been dating for a while. How do you not know this?"

Sam merely raised her eyebrow up further. Ben was snickering at his side. Carter smirked at him and got out her phone.

His eyes widened and he thrust his drink into Ben's hands. "No, no, don't you dare-!"

Sam shot out of her seat and suddenly grabbed him, forcing him into her arms bridal style. With an ungodly shriek Kevin tried to get out, twisting his much larger body away, but Sam had a death grip on him. She shot him one last triumphant, diabolical grin.

And then she ran around the food court, yelling at the top of her lungs, "EVERYONE LOOK AT BAE, HE'S SO CUTE! HE HAS A FACE AND OPINIONS!"

People were laughing, shaking their heads, while others were recording the spectacle. Sam was running in between the tables, somehow maneuvering Kevin with ease, still shouting that same line. Kevin had his face in his hands, and he was still half-heartedly struggling to get out of her grasp, but not even he could stop himself from chuckling at his own mortification. Carter and Ben merely laughed along with the rest of the crowd, enjoying the show.

"We are never letting him live this down," Ben whispered into Carter's ear so her phone wouldn't pick up on it.

"Never," she whispered back.

A few minutes later, Sam brought Kevin back. The boy still had his face in his hands, but that did little to hide the deep shade of crimson his face, neck, and ears were. Depositing him in his seat, Sam went back to hers and smugly reached for her coffee.

Still recording, Carter zoomed in on Kevin. "So Kev, any final words?" she asked cheekily.

Peeking through his fingers, Kevin finally brought his hands down to reveal his too red face. He glared at Carter- and the camera- and gave a deep, long sigh. Accepting his fate, he turned back to his girlfriend and said, "Sam?"

"Hmm?"

"Bench press me."

Sam merely quirked an eyebrow and raised her cup over her mouth. "Got a thing for strong women?"

"I love a woman who can kick my ass," Kevin stated honestly.

She rolled up her sleeves and flexed, revealing smooth, hardened muscles. She smirked and winked at the camera.

"This is the best thing ever," Carter said, cutting off the video. She seemed entirely too pleased with herself.

"Oh my god, we need to get this online," Ben said breathlessly.

"I'm working on it," she said, tapping away at her phone.

"My horror at being the center of attention aside, what are we doing today?" Kevin asked, eyeing the crowd around him. They were no longer staring and pointing at them, the spectacle long since over.

"I thought we were just hanging out," Ben admitted, taking a sip of his iced tea. He was still not allowed to drink coffee (something which no one would give the reasons why, not even Gwen).

Sam winced, all traces of humor gone. "Not entirely."

Both boys looked at each other and immediately tensed. "What's going on?" Ben groaned.

"We're not entirely sure?" she admitted, frowning a bit. Carter just shrugged her shoulders as she sipped her coffee.

"Let me guess, the grownups are keeping you in the dark again?" Kevin asked blithely.

"Something like that," Carter said. "Given the recent attacks at HQ, everyone's still pretty shaky, so no one's been talking about any new missions."

"Which is why I had to do some hacking to understand what our next assignment is," Sam told them.

The boys stared at her. "You can hack?" Ben asked in disbelief.

"A little," she admitted. "I never exactly invested a whole lot of time with it- each database has its own different servers and firewalls that I could never keep them all straight, but I know enough to at least hack HQ's computer system."

Kevin gave her a fond smile. "You just keep surprising us."

"So, what'd you find out?" Ben interjected.

Carter's eyes narrowed. "Apparently there's a new group with a similar ideology as the Forever Knights."

Both boys groaned audibly. "Seriously?" Kevin said, rubbing at his temples.

"Unfortunately." Sam gave an understanding nod.

"How much of a threat are they?" Ben asked seriously.

Carter shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. They were founded a couple years ago, but they didn't gain any traction until recently. I don't even know if the British government knows about them."

Kevin blinked. "Are all xenophobes from England or something?"

"It does seem that way, given our track record," Ben added tiredly.

"Which is actually hilarious, seeing as how the now-defunct British Empire basically invaded every country that had even a hint of profit," Sam pointed out. "But going back to what we were talking about, there's not much information about this organization in the first place. We know they're based off the ideologies of Abraham Van Helsing-"

"You mean from Dracula?" Ben asked incredulously. "But that's just a story!"

"Vampires exist, remember?" Kevin said flatly.

"Okay, yeah, but Dracula?"

"The original Bram Stoker novel is a mix of fact and fiction," Carter explained. "From what I know, some old-timey vampire named Alucard decided to fuck with humans and gave Stoker a bunch of half-baked facts about his species. There's no way for the average human to know which fact is real or not."

"So, this group is basically going around trying to kill vampires using ideas from a storybook?" Ben surmised. He leaned back in his seat, visibly relaxed. "Well, why don't we just leave them be? Their group will implode by themselves when all the vampires they tried to kill come after them for revenge."

"Not if the Forever Knights get wind of them," Sam stated.

Rubbing at his temples, Kevin said, "Okay, but the Forever Knights act the same way as this Van Helsing group does. Chances are they'll both take each other out if we leave them be."

"But the Forever Knights have proven to be a threat," Carter told him somberly. "This Van Helsing group will probably turn out the same way."

"Or not, it's really up in the air at this point," Sam told him, cupping her cheek in her palm and leaning her elbow against the table. "I'm not even sure this organization has a stable name or not."

"They probably do have some backers though, so it's only a matter of time before the Knights and Helsing band together," Carter pointed out.

"But should we really worry about them now?" Kevin asked curiously. "We don't exactly have a lot of intel on them."

"Honestly? I'd rather have Cordelia and someone else take care of the problem," Sam said tiredly. "After everything we've gone through, I think we deserve a break this one time."

"And honestly? Who expects a bunch of teenagers to save the world?" Carter scoffed. "Just because we do it doesn't make it any less ludicrous."

Meanwhile

"SHOOT IT, SHOOT IT!"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?!"

"ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU!" Charlie glared at his two teammates and ran his fingers through his cropped dark hair. "Just how do you expect shooting a ghost will go down, anyway?" he asked more calmly.

"I don't know, but we can't let that thing keep haunting people," Jackson protested, his normally nervous eyes calm and steely.

"That, and these are silver bullets," Damian added. "Pretty sure they work on ghosts."

"Well, you're not wrong," Charlie muttered. "But we have a limited amount of weaponry-"

"Most of which is thirty times over what normal hunters have on them when they go on vacation," Damian said flatly.

"-and it's not like we can go to a church around here and order more of them made," he went on as if he hadn't just been rudely interrupted.

"Why the hell are we even in a graveyard anyway?" Jackson muttered under his breath. "Why the hell are we even in Wisconsin, the three of us hate cheese!"

"There's more to Wisconsin than cheese, Jackson!" Damian snapped.

"Both of you, shut up!" Charlie roared, his voice echoing between the gravestones. Even the ghost, a bitter businessman who was missing half his face and had supposedly eaten at least three small children since it died, seemed sheepish when faced with the young hunter's fury.

Charlie then drew a small pistol from his belt and, with expert precision, shot one bullet at the ghost. A hole appeared in its chest, and silvery blood pooled down its front. The businessman looked down, and then stared at the hunter in shock, before finally turned deathly white and simply bursting into glittery steam.

Charlie turned back to his teammates and glared. "Any more complaints?"

Both quickly shook their heads.

With a long-suffering sigh, he stood up and dusted off his pants. "Well, we're done with this job. Let's get out of here before any more spooks show up."

"Or vampires, I do not want to deal with them tonight," Jackson added, quickly following him.

"…yeah, dealing with a kid-eating ghost definitely puts you off your game," Damian admitted as he stood up and holstered his weaponry.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Never thought I'd hear the day when you of all people don't want to go vampire hunting."

He shrugged. "Hey, I'll admit it; some days I just don't want to deal with any bloodsucker bullshit. I can't be the only one."

"You're definitely not," Jackson agreed as they walked out of the graveyard. "But I'd rather take vampires over ghosts any day. At least vamps are predictable."

"Yeah, I mean, exsanguination is pretty much all a vampire does, but ghosts?" Damian shuddered. "Besides, who knew they can eat people?"

"I did," Charlie said flatly.

"Oh yeah, how?!"

"I read a lot of the past files."

"Pretty sure there weren't any files on kid-eating specters," Jackson said flatly.

"Well, there was this one case last month about a small house in Ireland," Charlie admitted. "The person who wrote it accidentally wrote the spook off as a hungry ghost, so I had to correct them."

"Pretty sure there wouldn't be a hungry ghost in Ireland of all places," Damian muttered as they finally walked up to the van. It was sleek and dark and still had that new car smell, when the air inside wasn't permeated with the scent of gunpowder and garlic.

"So, we packing it in for tonight?" Jackson wondered as they piled into the front, putting his hands on the steering wheel.

"I wouldn't mind a bit of relaxing," Charlie admitted as the engine purred to life. "I have some shows that I want to catch up on."

"Ooh, same here."

"Or we could drive around, see if there's a party happening," Damian said eagerly. "It's eleven, the night's just getting started."

"It's Thursday night," Jackson pointed out. "Doesn't matter if it's summer, no one's having a party tonight."

"Besides college students, and we'll stick out like sore thumbs at those keggers," Charlie added pointedly.

"Ugh, fine, movie night it is," Damian huffed, flopping against the passenger seat. Charlie and Jackson cheered, much to his consternation.

The drive itself was peaceful, with the moon hanging in the pitch black sky and the clouds drifting lazily across it. The little Wisconsin town acted as a sleepy hamlet, full of heavy-eyed inhabitants and sweet dreamers. Charlie was about to doze off himself, the purr of the car making him drowsy...

And then Jackson slammed on the brakes, nearly upending them. "HOLY CRAP WAS THAT A CHILD?!"

"What?! Where?!" Charlie demanded to know, nearly pushing Damian out of the car in his haste to get outside.

Feet slapping the asphalt, everyone stood outside in the chilly night air and looked around, only to find no child or animal on the road. Jackson breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god I didn't kill anyone."

Damian, who had a flashlight, looked up at him. "Uh, I think you failed a spot check there." He pointed down to the freshly made blood prints on the road, right in front of the car. Jackson made a strangled whining noise in the back of his throat.

Charlie eyed the blood, noting the shallow yet large puddles and how they were only on the road, not the van. The van didn't even look dented from the impact. "If there's blood here, why's the car fine?" he asked out loud.

The other two boys stopped and stared. "Ghosts," Damian stated.

Jackson nodded, face pale and resigned. "Figures."

"And naturally the trail leads up to that creepy abandoned hospital over there," Charlie continued wryly, leading his own flashing across the road to point at the small, boarded up clinic covered in soot and spray paint. "You know, I think I saw this particular building in a movie once," he noted.

"Wait, there's probably a hive in there, we're not equipped to deal with a hive," Jackson said rapidly, already walking towards the back of the van.

"We don't know if it's a hive yet!" Damian protested.

"We're just gonna do a quick sweep for any paranormal activity and get out of here," Charlie assured him. "If it's just regular ghosts, we'll deal with it. If it's a hive, we'll contact the Abraham Group and let them sort it out."

"I hope its normal ghosts, I hate leaving a job unfinished," Damian muttered as he and Charlie went to the back. It only took a few minutes to stock up- considering this was just a sweep, packing light was the only way to go, especially if they needed a quick escape plan.

Jackson was fiddling with a scanner, aiming the camera-like object at the tiny hospital. "Okay, I'm not really picking up any activity of any kind in there," he told them absentmindedly. "Not ghost, not vampire, not even human."

"So who made those blood trails? They look fresh." Damian wrinkled his nose when he looked at them again.

"I'm guessing whatever's in there went dormant just now," Charlie mused. And then, as one unit, all three of them approached the hospital.

"This has 'bad idea' written all over it," Jackson muttered sourly.

Sneaking into the hospital had been ludicrously easy- the door merely creaked open at the slightest touch. The inside was just as decrepit at the outside; dirt streaked the white tiled floor and soot covered the graying walls in a thin layer. Doors were missing from frames along with lightbulbs from the ceiling. Roll out beds and unbolted things were haphazardly spread out in the rooms if they weren't completely empty in the first place. There was a decaying, musty scent in the air that seemed to stick in their lungs when they breathed it in.

They creeped to the middle of the building, footsteps nearly silent as they quickly ducked into empty rooms to make sure they weren't secretly harboring anything supernatural. The wind suddenly picked up, creating a howl that made the hair on everyone's necks stand straight up. Moonlight pooled through the windows, but the light barely cut through the gloom of the hospital and only added to the haunting atmosphere.

In the middle of the building was a small cafeteria, if the little round tables were any indication. Like the rest of the building, it was old and falling apart, but there was much less soot and spray paint in there. Damian sighed wearily and threw himself into a chair. The wood groaned, showing its age and neglect, yet managed to keep upright despite the added weight.

"Well, so far this place just seems like another horror movie cliché," the young hunter groaned, running a hand through his dark hair. "I keep expecting some 3D special effect posing as a ghost to pop out and scare me."

"Same here," Jackson admitted. "And I'm still not picking up on any signs on activity. Maybe we should call it a night?"

"But you remember the bloodstains we found," Charlie reminded them. "There's definitely something here."

"Whatever it is can't be bothered with us apparently," Damian said flatly. He gave a huff. "Maybe we should just leave it to some other newbie team? You have to admit, this isn't something us professionals need to deal with."

Charlie scoffed. "Oh right, like we're professionals."

"You know what I mean."

Jackson held up a small black orb that neatly fit inside his palm. "Let's find a few entrances to the basement and throw a couple of these in. They'll let us know if there's any activity down there, and we'll decide what to do then." He shrugged. "I mean, if we're discussing common horror movie tropes, then the basement is most likely where the hive is gonna hide, but I'd rather not face them, you know?"

"Excellent thinking there, Jackson," Charlie told him, relieved. "If things go well, we'll be able to call it a night."

Damian groaned loudly and threw his head back dramatically. "You just had to jinx us, didn't you?"

"Oh, shut up."

Jackson stood up, his fingers tapping at the sphere in his hands, forcing it to light up. With a satisfied smile he held it up, opening his mouth to tell the others he was ready, but then the beams from the flashlights flickered.

"Oh shit," Charlie muttered as blood curling screams suddenly rang out from all around them.

Jackson gave a cry as he slapped his hands over his ears, the orb falling to the floor. It clattered and rolled around, but the noise was lost underneath the escalating screams. They bounced off the walls, growing higher and higher in pitch, plaster breaking free from the walls, tables shaking, glass cracking-

And then it stopped.

Ears ringing, all three boys unpeeled their hands from their heads and looked at each other. Charlie and Jackson exchanged pale glances. Damian swallowed audibly. "What-?"

Another scream, this time from behind him. He whirled around in time to see a black-gray thing leap at him, too-sharp fangs hanging out a yawning maw, knife-like claws aimed at his throat. Damian instantly leaned back and fell to the floor, using his feet to hit the monster in the stomach and kick it away from him. Jackson and Charlie went sideways, hitting the floor as the creature crashed into the tables behind them, slowly skidding to a stop among the wreckage.

Damian was the first up, his gun drawn. "The hell is that thing?!"

"The scanners still aren't picking up any paranormal activity!" Jackson yelled out, putting away his scanner.

"Well, it's obviously wrong!" Damian snapped.

"It's getting up!" Charlie announced, his voice raw. The creature stood on too long legs, its equally too long arms ending with spindly clawed fingers. Its skin was gray, its body clad in a dirt-encrusted torn up black suit. It was completely hairless and lacking a nose, and flesh covered its eyes and mouth, creating a smooth mask-like face.

But then the skin where its mouth was supposed to be stretched, the flesh audibly ripping apart to reveal a pitch-black mouth lined with sharp, rotted teeth. And then it screamed that blood-curling scream, its pitch echoing throughout the room and down the hallways.

Damian shot it in the chest once, twice, creating fist-sized holes in its torso. Black blood dribbled onto the floor, but the monster still stood, shrieking that awful scream before a third shot to the head finally silenced it. The body slumped forward before twisting slightly to the left, and then it simply dropped to the floor with a meaty thud.

A beat of silence, ragged breathing loud in the cavernous cafeteria.

And then: "Guys, the rest of the hive is coming," Jackson realized, his eyes growing large.

But it was too late to run- creatures spilled from the hallways, climbing onto tables and tearing apart chairs in their haste to circle their prey- thirty in all, by the count of it. Charlie could feel Damian tense and Jackson shake slightly, and he was suddenly reminded that they had packed light for some idiotic reason. And then Jackson handed them both something.

"Earplugs," he said, voice quavering. With that the boys shoved the orange foam into their ears and brought out their weapons, standing back to back to back.

The first monster leaped at Jackson, saliva dripping from its fangs. Taking a short breath, Jackson quickly shot it once in the head, blood and rotting gray matter spilling out onto the floor. And then he blinked, and the rest of the horde was upon them.

Charlie stabbed a monster in the shoulder and shot it in the mouth with his free hand, getting blood all over his face. Throwing the body at another monster to his right, he aimed the barrel of his gun at the monster to his left, taking it out instantly before stabbing the leftover creature right in the forehead as it rushed at him. Placing his boot on the torso, Charlie calmly slid the knife out of its head and continued his onslaught.

Damian was faring the same, a growing manic grin on his face as he shot at the creatures. He mouthed the number of each kill, only needing one bullet to take out each monster. When he pulled the trigger and only got a clicking noise, his grin turned into a smirk as he whipped out a machete and sliced off the head of an incoming inhuman. Blood landed in his hair and dribbled down his face, but he paid it no mind as he kicked the head at another monster, sending it skidding backwards onto the floor.

Jackson had merely groaned in resignation at that point and had stabbed a wooden stake into the mouth of an inhuman, blood and saliva staining his long sleeve. He then threw the body at another monster, somehow managing to break its neck at the same time. It was a short-lived victory however, because in the next moment Jackson had to shoot twice at the same monster, once in the shoulder, the other the cheek because it was moving too fast and he had been distracted.

Jackson was still distracted, because he noticed that the monsters were only rushing at them a few at a time now. They had thrown themselves at the hunters before, but now were hanging back? Were these things actually intelligent?

Jackson had shot the arm off another monster when they suddenly ran backwards away from them. They began circling around them, too-long limbs creating spidery caricatures as they prowled. Their mouths were open, red tongues flicking between decomposed teeth. Jackson quickly took out his earplugs and frowned. The other boys followed suit.

Panting, Damian wiped some blood from his forehead. "What're they waiting for?"

"For their second wind," Charlie answered ominously. "Guys, I really don't want to keep doing this."

"I think I have something," Jackson whispered, his hand creeping towards the back of his belt. "A smoke screen- you've been warned."

The other two boys braced for it. Jackson managed a triumphant little smirk and shouted, "Hey uglies!" Two of the monsters jerked upwards, staring at him. He flung the grenade, the metal shell bouncing across the tiles towards the two. Both monsters looked down at it, then at him, and finally at each other as gray smoke erupted from their feet.

Shrieking, the creatures closed their mouths and backed away. The rest of their kin suddenly flew in and out of the growing fog, screaming and grunting as they ran around in a confused mess. Charlie nodded at Damian, and the three quickly ran out of the room, practically flying through the hallways before reaching the outside.

Gulping cool night air, Jackson cried out, "We are never doing that again!"

"You know we will!" Damian said brightly as they ran away.

"I hate you so much right now, Damian," Charlie muttered under his breath. Out loud he cried, "Drive, just fucking drive!"

As they clamored into the van and drove away, all of them a sweaty, bloodstained, shaking mess, Jackson said, "No, seriously, we can't do this again, most of that hive is dead."

"Because we're awesome!" Damian crowed.

"What were those things anyway?" Charlie muttered. "They looked like something from a creepypasta."

"Who cares?" Jackson snapped. "Let's just go to the motel. We'll file the goddamn report tomorrow."

Damian grumbled something under his breath but acquiesced easily. The car quickly rolled down towards the freeway and away from the hospital, the screaming having long since died down. Bodies of fallen monstrosities littered the floor of the rundown cafeteria.

A clacking sound was heard, high heels walking down the hallways. A woman in a business suit strolled into the cavernous room, stepping over bodies that were quickly fizzling out in bright, pixelated light. She quickly surveyed the carnage, brushing a lock of dyed brown hair away from her face.

Her painted red lips curled into a smile. "I can't believe they fell for it," she said disbelievingly.

The last bit with Damian and his cohorts was to show that while they're actually pretty good at fighting the supernatural, they're still way in over their heads- especially since it's obvious they're being played with. Not to mention they don't even want to know what the hell they just fought. Granted, they're tired, but they're still not curious enough. In any fiction show, that kind of negligence would cost them.

So, thoughts anyone?