Chapter Nine

Michael started walking purposefully down the hall toward the bedroom. Ben lunged forward and slammed the door shut, pulling the lock with trembling fingers and backing away just as a heavy fist pounded it from the other side.

"What're we gonna do?!" Katie cried, looking around the room for an escape route.

"The window!" Ben said. "Open the window!"

He ran to it and pulled the latch, yanking up and groaning. "It's jammed," he grunted. "Joey, help me out!"

Joey took a hold and pulled with all his strength, but even their combined efforts couldn't lift the window.

Meanwhile, Michael was pounding on the door with staggering blows that made it rattle on its hinges. Then, with the sound of splintering wood, he shoved the bloody knife through it, creating a small hole.

Ben looked wildly around the room and saw the chair by his desk. "Hand me that chair," he said, and Alice hastened to obey. Ben took it from her and threw it at the window. The glass shattered with a loud crash, and Ben said, "Okay, go on, get out!"

Michael pounded his fist on the door again, and the weakened barrier gave way, cracking under the force he rammed into it. One large, gnarled hand reached through the hole and groped around for the lock.

"Hurry!" Ben added, taking Katie's hand and helping her through the hole. She stepped out onto the porch roof, made it to the edge, and jumped off, landing in a roll and standing up. Joey aided Alice through, but she hesitated for a moment. "Joey…" she whimpered.

Michael's hand found the lock and twisted it. Ben looked around as he heard the door open. Michael Myers stood there, knife held at his side, ready to attack.

"Ben, run!" Joey cried, lurching away from Alice, who remained frozen in the broken window, and lunging for Ben's bookshelf. One by one he started hurling books at the shape, which paused and looked toward him, tilting its head slightly as it pondered.

Then it headed for Joey.

"Shit!" Joey backed away until he met the wall. Michael advanced on him, raising the knife.

"Look out!" Ben yelled.

The shape rammed the knife into Joey's chest.

Alice screamed, "JOEY!"

Joey's mouth was open in a silent scream. Michael withdrew the knife, and he slumped to the floor, his hands coming up to cover the wound as if to stem the flow of blood pouring from it. Alice was screaming, tears running down her face. Joey turned his head slightly to look at her and Ben, who stood motionless, watching with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Go," he choked, blood dribbling from his lips as he spat the word out with his last few breaths. "Go!"

Then he collapsed and went still.

The shape turned toward Ben.

Ben shoved a sobbing Alice out the window and tried to follow her, but Michael was upon him in a second, seizing his ankle as he pulled himself through. Gasping, Ben wrenched himself free, overbalanced, and fell. His knees hit the roof with a thud, and he rolled down the steep grade, broken glass cutting into his hands as he tried to use them to slow his progress. He rolled right off the porch overhang and fell to the ground below. He tried to tuck into a ball to minimize his impact, but he was too late. He landed heavily on his right foot and heard the ankle crack before agonizing pain shot up his leg, and he cried out, toppling onto all fours.

When he rolled over and looked up, he saw the awful white mask protruding from the broken window, staring down at them.

He tried to stand and managed to straighten, but the pain in his ankle was almost more than he could bear. "Are you okay?" Katie asked, hurrying over to help him.

"Fine, I'm fine," he said dismissively. "Come on, we've got to get help."

He glanced back up at the house behind him and saw that, to his horror, Michael had vanished from the window. "He's coming," he said. "Let's go!"

They turned and ran to the house next door, which was occupied by a middle-aged man Ben had never met. Ben was limping and dragging his injured ankle, and Katie was lagging behind to help him. Alice, her face streaked with tears, was the first to reach the porch and pounded on the door, shrieking, "Help! Somebody help us, please!"

Ben reached the door and joined in. "Hey! Open up! Open up, please! Hurry!"

He glanced back at the house and saw the front door open. Michael emerged, looking their way and starting toward them. Ben's heart hammered in his chest as he slammed his bleeding fists on the door repeatedly, yelling, "Open the door, please! He's coming! Help us, please! Someone! He's coming! Open the fucking door!"

The shape had now reached the fence that separated the two yards and was coming ever closer. The butcher knife glistened in the moonlight, slick with their friends' blood.

The porch light came on, and Ben looked wildly around at the window, where he saw the house's occupant peer out at them. "Help us, please!" Ben yelled.

He heard the lock click and the door opened. The three teens surged inside, and Ben slammed the door shut and locked it. The man who'd opened the door blinked in bewilderment and asked, "What the hell is this all about?"

By way of explanation, Ben merely gasped, "Michael Myers."

The man's face went pale. "What?"

"Michael Myers is out there!" Ben said.

The man stared at them, taking in their haggard, terrified, and (in Ben's case) bloodied appearance. "Young man, if this is some kind of joke—"

"Do I look like I'm fucking joking?!" Ben roared, throwing out his bleeding hands for him to see. "Michael Myers is outside right now and he's coming for us! So call the fucking police before—"

CRASH!

The foyer window shattered and Michael forced himself into the room. Ben swore and ushered the others further into the house, but the homeowner, eyes wide in shock and horror, just stared as the shape approached him. "NO!" Ben yelled, but too late. Michael swung his arm and plunged the knife up through the man's throat just under the chin, the blade shooting through his mouth and right on up into his brain. The man's eyes almost popped from their sockets as his body seized up and then went completely limp, blood trickling down from the fatal wound and spattering onto the floor.

Ben yelled, "Go! GO!" and followed Katie and Alice into the hall. Michael yanked the knife free and the man's body collapsed in a heap. Then the shape followed the three kids, his pace brisk but unhurried. The teens fell into the kitchen and slammed the door to the hall shut, locking it just as Michael reached it. They knew, though, that doors were not a problem for him, so they wasted no time in retreating out the back door and into the woods behind the house. Ben, using some last vestiges of sense, locked the door behind him before shutting it. Then they ran.

But they hadn't gone far before Ben pulled up, gasping, "I can't…can't go any further…" He reached down to rub his throbbing ankle, grimacing.

"Then what do we do? Where do we go?" Katie asked, looking fearfully back at the house they'd just fled.

Ben glanced up and saw that they were in his own backyard. The Myers house stood before them once again.

"Back inside," Ben answered. "Maybe we can find something to defend ourselves with."

No one could think of anything better, so they all hurried up to the back door. Ben, remembering that he'd locked it that afternoon, shoved his hand through the window, slicing his hand again but not caring. Reaching inside, he found the lock, twisted it, and opened the door, letting the others in before slamming it shut. The kitchen lights seemed warm and inviting after the darkness of the forest.

"There," Ben gasped, pointing to the wooden block by the stove that held all the knives. "Grab them."

Katie pulled out all the knives, which varied greatly in size, and passed them out. Alice didn't want to take hers. She was still sobbing over Joey's death. But Katie forced one into her hand, hissing, "Don't you dare give up now, Alice."

She then handed the largest knife to Ben. When he looked questioningly at it, she said, "It's you he's after, not us."

There was a beat. Then Ben nodded and accepted the proffered weapon. "Okay. We have to think logically. First, we need to call—"

The lights flickered and went out.

A/N: Only one chapter left! I hope you're enjoying it!