Chapter CI: Trick or Treat

31 Oct 1730 KST

Gangdong District, Seoul, South Korea

While the aliens and human factions clashed to the west in Gangnam District and beyond it was fairly quiet around the neighborhood where Jake and his friends were staying. Most of the area was in shambles and the aliens had little reason since the recent air campaign to suspect any undesirable activity originating from this area. Aside from a few hours on the day following the airstrikes when a skitter sweep came through Jake had seen even fewer of the aliens than he had become accustomed to before. With this calm after the storm came a newfound sense of comfort though none of them would ever feel as safe as they did prior to the attack.

As they had been counting down the days to pass the time it was known by these four survivors that the month of October, the first month of the alien invasion, was nearly over. One month down and things didn't appear to be getting any better with the world. In fact they seemed to be getting worse. If this was a movie some kind of last ditch heroic action by the remnants of humanity would have driven the aliens off the planet by now. Alien invasions weren't supposed to last this long; well, so much for B movie logic thought Jake. With the way things looked now it appeared that the aliens were here to stay. He didn't really think there was much hope for mankind. We weren't going to beat them but that didn't necessarily mean all hope was lost. The only real hope any of them had was that eventually the creatures would become more benevolent or at least totally ignorant of whatever tiny fraction of the human race escapes their purge so that they could come out of the shadows and try to live some kind of life on the fringes of a new alien society. The fact that the aliens could have been much more aggressive in scouring the Earth, certainly they demonstrated that capability the opening night, led Jake to believe that at some negligible level the existence of the human species could be tolerable to their conquerors. His duty was to make sure that he and his friends were included among that negligible number of human survivors.

They were well stocked so Jake did not have to go out and make any supply runs since the attack. Even Min-jung had been scared into rationing water, using a wet sponge and soap as opposed to a full on bath like before. She still wouldn't let herself get all filthy like Jake and to a significantly lesser degree Hyuna would. Food didn't really seem to be much of a problem either. They had a decent stash saved up and both Min-jung and Hyuna ate like a bird. Jake was forcing himself into a diet to spread out their supplies even longer so the only one really eating full meals was Do-yeon. A growing boy needs his nourishment and certainly he had not had to go without since he was brought into the hotel with his mother. With fewer skitters running about and no sign of the Imperial menace lately their ammo stores were in no urgent need of replenishment either, granted they weren't likely to find any bullets within a several hour walk from their home as all of the military and police gear scattered amongst the slain and abandoned had all been picked clean by various parties or destroyed.

The end of the month also meant something else to Jake, Halloween. It was one of his favorite holidays; he enjoyed it as a kid and continued to celebrate it into his teenage and adult years. He had fond memories of his parents driving him into town so that he and some other kids that went with them could go trick or treating. They would sometimes go to the haunted houses set up across the state line in Louisiana and would stay up watching scary and often laughable movies. Even now with the world in ashes Jake felt a tiny bit of excitement over it. His roommates however didn't share his excitement. As Halloween wasn't really a big deal in Korea, it was celebrated mostly by foreigners if at all, the significance of the date escaped Jake's roommates. He of course had told his stories to Hyuna who herself was familiar with the custom and thought it would be fun to do something. So after a couple hours of talking between the two of them about what exactly they could do since there were no other humans around they could trust. They decided that this year they would do something for Do-yeon. Back in the States Halloween was still more of kid's holiday than an excuse for adults to throw a party and get drunk unlike that other Celtic holiday which was all about the booze. Do-yeon himself had never heard of Halloween nor had he gone trick or treating or anything like that so Jake wanted to share a little of his own childhood with them; besides the kid needed to get out and do something, he had been cooped up in that room for almost a month. Furthermore the events of the day had played out perfectly into their plans. While the aliens' attention was wholly drawn elsewhere now was the perfect time to do it.

So during the day Jake and Hyuna made themselves costumes out of worn out clothing or scraps of fabric and bed sheets that they found. This was nothing new for Jake; having grown up poor all of his Halloween costumes were hand made from junk at home. He and Hyuna also snuck away to set up a haunted house in a nearby building. Min-jung hadn't suspected anything; she had simply assumed the pair were skipping off to make out or something. So when the time came for them to sell the idea to Min-jung she was more than a little shocked.

"Are you serious? Is this really a good idea?" cynically asked Min-jung

"Yeah. Don't worry; we'll make sure nothing happens to him. I'll take my carbine just in case." Jake replied.

"It'll be fun." Hyuna added.

"Ehh... I don't know, sounds a little reckless if you ask me." Min-jung hesitantly replied.

"I assure you it'll be fine. It'll be no more dangerous than hanging around here. After all the work we put into it just let us give it a go. First sign of trouble we'll be back here before you notice we're even gone. I promise." Jake assured her.

Jake and Hyuna eagerly waited for her response in silence.

"Ugh, alright. You can take Do-yeon to your silly little carnival hut. I'm coming with you though." Min-jung reluctantly agreed.

"That's fine. We'll hide all our gear and lock it up before we go." Jake replied.

"If so much as one hair on his head is harmed I will make you regret ever being born." Min-jung sternly warned them.

"Not one will be harmed or out of place." pledged Jake.

"You better be able to live up to that promise mister." Min-jung said as she stepped forward to Jake and poked him in the chest.

"I will. You have my word." Jake promised her.

And with that Jake and Hyuna ran back upstairs to put the finishing touches on what would be Hyuna's costume for the night. Meanwhile Do-yeon was overcome with excitement after overhearing the conversation between his mother and Jake. He had been a good boy and didn't interrupt thinking that good behavior would earn him some points with his mom in this regard. Now he didn't really understand what was going on he just knew that it was a chance for him to get to go outside and play. How Jake described their attempt to approximate Halloween festivities sounded interesting enough. Do-yeon was a boy with a very vivid imagination so with whatever they did he could make it fun.

Later that evening as the sun was setting Hyuna went ahead of them to set up leaving Jake and Min-jung to bring Do-yeon over about an hour later. While they waited they looked through the fabric and other materials left over from what he and Hyuna had made earlier to create a costume for Do-yeon. Given the time and material constraints along with Do-yeon's own personal preferences he went dressed up as a vampire. Jake had tried to coax him into going as a clown but Do-yeon hated clowns so that wasn't going to happen. It was a rather simple costume to make, a red vest over a black shirt and dress pants which they already had along with a black cape which was cut from scavenged silk curtains. He popped in some novelty fangs, powdered his face with his mother's makeup and presto! He was a vampire. Jake had dressed himself up as a robot, painting himself along with his body armor grey and drawing circuits and switches on his outfit. The costume doubled as camouflage against the dark grey and white urban backdrop of the ruined city. Min-jung of course thought the whole concept was stupid and didn't dress up at all. She was actually dressed down from the usual attire she wore. It was ironic to Jake that on the one night where caking on makeup and pretending to be something you're not was all the rage it was one of the few times he had ever seen Min-jung without makeup on. It was not a sight Jake was very accustomed to seeing; even in the current state of affairs Min-jung was very self-conscious about her appearance. In a strange way he preferred that she left the makeup off; he thought it made her look more human. She was still radiant; Min-jung's beauty was not solely a surface trait. The modesty of it now just made her seem more relatable to mere humans such as himself.

Once they were dressed they headed out, running a few minutes behind schedule. Darkness had fallen which would now give the haunted house Jake and Hyuna had created the proper atmosphere it was intended to convey. He also knew that the aliens were more active at night and took caution concerning that fact as well which is why they left when the night was fresh rather that during the depths of midnight. As he promised Jake took his carbine when they left. Min-jung took a 9mm K5 pistol with her and all three of them took flashlights. As fortune would have it the real world menace they feared would be drawn away from their fantasy for most of the night. The echoes of the conflict which held the invaders' focus in this region could be detected even from this distance. As they walked down the darkened streets they heard thunderous booms in the distance and flashes of light would from time to time light up the horizon. A battle was being waged beyond their field of vision to the west, the faint sounds of which could be heard in the background of an otherwise peaceful night. The light of the stars and moon was enough for them to see their way ahead so they did not turn on their flashlights lest it draw attention away from the fighting a couple districts down. Here it was calm and everyone wanted it to remain that way. Jake and his friends were not the ones to be fighting the aliens, apparently there were others doing that task for them. Tonight was supposed to be a break from all of that. There would still be aliens in the morning and they could fret about them but for now all they wanted were just a few hours in which they could relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of a holiday only one of them really cared to know existed.

There was a slight cool breeze in the air that night which lifted Do-yeon's cape up behind him. Pretending he was a superhero he ran ahead thinking that he could fly. Jake smiled and watched Do-yeon get a chance to be a kid again then looked over at Min-jung and saw her beaming at her son as well, but only for a second. Once she had noticed that Jake saw her actually enjoying herself she put on a stern face and called out to Do-yeon who had run a good block ahead of them now.

"Do-yeon! Don't run too far ahead ok!" she warned him.

Do-yeon stopped for a minute and let his mom catch up to him. Then he ran around in circles in front of her and jumped into the air and stomped down. He then continued running around being the great vampire champion or "Vampion" of all things good. From the way Do-yeon was playing he seemed to equate vampires and superman as being basically the same thing by Jake's reckoning.

"Are you sure you didn't want to be Superman instead of a vampire?" Jake asked.

"No, because Superman is an alien and aliens are jerks." Do-yeon replied.

Jake laughed heartily; it was true though, the invaders were jerks.

"Not all of them. I'm sure there's got to be some good aliens out there somewhere." Jake replied.

"If the good aliens are real then I hope they hurry up and chase the bad aliens away from here real soon!" Do-yeon told him.

"So do I." Jake replied.

"Until then, the Vampion is here to protect you!" Do-yeon declared as he ran forward and kicked a dead skitter lying against the side of a building in the head.

Jake and Min-jung walked side by side watching Do-yeon play in the street. So this is what it felt like to be a parent, Jake thought. In a way he had become attached to Do-yeon as if he was his own son. Do-yeon was probably the closest thing he would ever have to a child of his own. He would be overly arrogant to think his odds were good enough to survive long enough to meet the right girl, live a little together then settle down and have a child. None of that had the remotest possibility of happening. Still it was an experience that Jake got to have with Do-yeon, a box that would not be left unchecked when he died. Both Jake and Min-jung were filled with warm feelings seeing the young boy enjoy himself on a cool October night. Almost out of instinct Jake went to hold Min-jung's hand as they watched Do-yeon play. Thinking as little of it as Jake did Min-jung took hold of Jake's hand and the two of them walked hand in hand down the street and around the corner until they brought Do-yeon to the location of the haunted house. Jake stepped forward letting Min-jung's hand fall away from his and walked ahead of her and Do-yeon up to the door of a nondescript two story building.

"Here we are." Jake stated.

"Are you ready to witness the horrors that await you inside? Blah, blah-blah!" Jake greeted Do-yeon with his best corny Vincent Price impression, his posture full of the faux spooky stage presence and all.

"Bring it on! Vampion can take it!" Do-yeon asserted placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest.

The building which had once been a department store that had closed down months before the invasion had been mostly cleared out of any items of value so scavengers weren't likely to be lurking around here any more than the aliens would. From the outside it was unremarkable; all the signage had been taking down so it looked like just another condemned structure. Ironic, a building that had been rejected for use by people was rejected for demolition by the aliens. Jake slowly opened the door slowly, intentionally making it creak and allowed Do-yeon access inside. Do-yeon's eyes lit up with excitement as Jake bid him entry. He seemed a little hesitant at first. What lay beyond blackness inside was a false horror to make a mockery of the real horrors outside. By all measure it would be scarier to wait outside though in Do-yeon's little game there were real monsters inside. The kid did have an active imagination that was for sure and Jake thinking fast exploited it to heighten the experience for him. Jake egged Do-yeon on to go inside making all sorts of goofy faces and noises to try and scare him which instead only made him laugh. While he was doing so he had lifted his eyes just slightly to see Min-jung looking at him; not at him and Do-yeon but at him. Jake glanced inside the door and made the first step inside to show Do-yeon it was alright to do so. Do-yeon crept into the deep darkness beyond the door with an act of apprehension being still immersed in his own little fantasy world. Min-jung followed at a distance behind Do-yeon to give him space to have his fun but be close enough in case she was needed. When Min-jung passed Jake the two of them looked each other in the eyes and Jake wiggled his gun a little to show her that he was prepared for anything unexpected. Jake knew that even within his fake haunted house the potential for real terror could be lurking. Min-jung nodded to show her approval though she hadn't even been thinking to scold him for the possible risk.

"Jake." Min-jung said followed by a few moments of silence where the two of them focused more on each other than on Do-yeon who had started to wander off into the darkness.

"I just want to say thank you for doing this for him. He hasn't really had a chance to let loose and have fun since it all happened." Min-jung said.

"Don't mention it. It's just as fun for me as it is for him." Jake said, blushing a little.

He then turned to look for Do-yeon. "Hey kid, where you at?" Jake asked.

"Right over here." Do-yeon said clicking on his flashlight to reveal his location.

Once everyone was inside Jake closed the door and shut out the ambient starlight from outside. Once immersed in pitch darkness Jake and Min-jung too turned on their flashlights. Around the empty display racks and shelves there were cobwebs made of pulled cotton and thread replete with spiders made of thin wire and construction paper. Jake led the way making up some ghost story as they went along. Jake pointed out some inflatable clowns smeared with tomato sauce and actual alien blood. Do-yeon was freaked out at the sight, not at the blood, but at the fact they were clowns. Jake then led him through a dense mesh of cobwebs towards the stairwell with had three ghosts made of bedsheets and a skeleton made of paper mache to greet Do-yeon when he arrived.

After passing through the cobwebs of pulled cotton and thread they went upstairs where more paper mache specters and cardboard ghouls awaited Do-yeon's discovery. The phony paper ghosts and skeletons didn't frighten Do-yeon in the least. He thought they were funny.

"Scared yet?" Jake asked.

"Ha ha, nope." Do-yeon boasted.

"As long as there aren't any more clowns nothing's going to faze him." Min-jung remarked.

"There aren't any more clowns are there?" Do-yeon asked.

"You just have to wait and see." Jake replied.

Seeing the light beams and hearing Do-yeon's voice nearby Hyuna knew that was her cue to action. She first used a rope and pulley system to move paper bats along a route which crossed Do-yeon's path. She then did the same thing for a few ghosts fabricated from cloth and streamers. After that she herself would become the next attraction. Hyuna who was dressed up as a zombie groaned and growled before emerging from the darkness behind Do-yeon. The groaning zombie sounds were as much to let Min-jung and Jake know it was her and not to shoot as they were for the effect on Do-yeon. Hyuna had managed to startle Do-yeon when she appeared, sending him running into his mother's arms. Once she saw Do-yeon running scared she giggled and stopped the act.

"It's just me. Don't be afraid, it'll be alright." Hyuna said, somewhat apologetically as Do-yeon seemed actually afraid.

"You must have made a really good zombie there." Jake remarked.

"I wasn't scared. I was just messing with you." Do-yeon said stepping away from his mother and pretending to not be afraid.

Jake and Hyuna chuckled. "That's right macho man, the Vampion isn't afraid of anything is he?" Jake asked him.

"Right!" Do-yeon declared.

Fear was perfectly normal in this day and age; in fact it was rather healthy to be afraid, and afraid of just about everything at that. Fear kept you alive so long as the fear didn't rule you. Do-yeon pretending it didn't exist was cute though. So they continued on with the remaining attractions upstairs, more cutesy craft ghouls, ghosts and gremlins, nothing to truly be afraid of but fun nonetheless. From then on Hyuna accompanied them as they visited the remaining attractions that had been set up.

"You ready for the really creepy part?" Jake asked.

"Show me what you got." Do-yeon replied.

They went back downstairs and that's when the attractions went from cute and artsy to flat out gory and gruesome. The first thing Do-yeon saw were real alien guts hanging from a clothing rack and smeared onto the floor. Next as they went around a corner they had a skitter with its skin flayed open and nailed against the wall. The internal soft skinned creature inside had been peeled away from its outer skin, revealing much of the underlying muscle tissue and dangled down from above. On the ground several severed skitter arms were fastened to the floor to emulate zombies rising from the graves. Do-yeon wasn't afraid of these things any more than he was of a smiley faced ghost made from a sheet. They were more unsettling to the adults in attendance than to the child.

"This is awesome!" Do-yeon exclaimed.

"Vampion versus the space mutants!" Do-yeon said smacking the head of a skitter which had been propped up and positioned as if it was coming out of the men's dressing room with one arm reaching out to grab a passerby.

The next feature was a severed mech arm coming out of a restroom holding a mannequin in its grasp. Do-yeon was amazed by this as he had never seen one of the mechs up close before. He ran up, felt and closely examined it even if it was just a blown off arm Jake had discovered nearby following the bombardment. Friendly fire, Jake had assumed, regardless it made a good prop. They then passed a mannequin covered in guts impaling a skitter's corpse with a sharped broomstick and then they got to the really scary part. Do-yeon yelped and jumped back when he saw a pair of mannequins dressed up as clowns, one of which was holding a butcher knife soaked in alien blood.

"Clowns!" he screamed.

He then bumped into something behind him and wheeled around to see an inflatable clown lying on its stomach with six skitter legs attached to its body to make it a clown-spider.

"Crawly clowns!" Do-yeon yelped and backpedaled into Jake.

Jake and Hyuna laughed at the sight. After all of their most horrific creations didn't irk him one bit it was the crawly clown that scared the snot out of the boy.

"There's a whole nest of crawly clowns over in the toy department." Jake whispered to Do-yeon.

"Nuh uh, we are not going there." Do-yeon replied eliciting more giggles from Hyuna and Jake.

Min-jung looked over the crawly clown, it had rainbow colored felt for drool, the characteristic red ball for a nose and two honker horns for ears coming out of a rainbow afro wig. There were even oversized shoes placed on the skitter feet attached to the crawly clown.

"You two have a messed up sense of humor." Min-jung remarked.

"Don't we?" Hyuna said happily while inadvertently putting her arm around Jake's waist and leaning into him.

"Is there anything else?" Min-jung asked.

"Not unless he wants to see the crawly clown nest, that's it." Jake replied.

"No, no, no, no, no! No crawly clowns!" Do-yeon insisted.

"Just clowns?" Hyuna asked.

"No clowns." Do-yeon replied.

"Then it looks like we're heading home." Min-jung said.

They started to make their way to the door they had come in.

"Oh wait!" Jake said stopping by a scarecrow before they left. "We forgot about this guy." Jake mentioned.

While Do-yeon walked up to the scarecrow Hyuna snuck around the back of the scarecrow and cranked an apparatus they had built to make a pair of gloved hands on sticks dump a bucket of assorted candy on top of Do-yeon.

"That's the closest we can come to trick or treating since it's just the four of us. Happy Halloween kid." Jake said while Do-yeon picked up the candy and small toys off the ground and put them into his bag.

After he had gathered his fill the four of them left and headed back home. It was a pleasant break from reality for all of them but like all good things it had to end. Little more than two blocks from the run down department store they encountered an unwelcome stranger who was also out prowling the neighborhood this Halloween. A skitter jumped out from around the corner and landed at arm's length in front of Jake. Hyuna backed up against the wall while Min-jung shrieked in fright for the first time tonight. Do-yeon quietly shrank back into his mother's arms as Jake instinctively shot the skitter in the face. At such close range the gunshot burst open the front of the creature's face like a balloon though the bullets did not pierce through the back of the skitter's head. The dark alien blood spattered out all over Jake's face and clothing. The skitter collapsed into a pile in front of Jake while Do-yeon started crying as Min-jung held him tightly against her. Hyuna got off the wall and looked around behind them as Jake cleared the corner with stiff movements, being fully alert and aware.

"It looks like it was out here on its own." Jake said.

He slung his gun over his back and dragged the skitter's body into a nearby building to hide it. Hyuna assisted him though her strength didn't really contribute much to the cause. When they were done they came back outside and found Do-yeon shaken up but good enough to go on.

"You ready to go kid? We got to get back home before any more of those things show up ok?" Jake knelt down and said to Do-yeon.

"Vampion's not afraid right?" Jake encouraged him.

Do-yeon nodded and let go of his mother. They all then made their way quickly yet carefully back home without any further incidents. One was enough and they all got through it without a scratch. It was still a good night, after all what is Halloween without a good scare?