Evan is thumbing through the pages of the book, skimming the text for anything that could be useful later on. His attention lingers on a specific passage close to the ending which he then commits to memory. It's just as Andy described it.
"This was a normal town once. And we were normal people. Most of us worked in the plastics factory on the outskirts of town. Then there was an accident. Something escaped from the factory. A yellow gas. It floated over the town. So fast we didn't see it… didn't realize. And then, it was too late, and Dark Falls wasn't a normal town anymore. We were all dead, Jack. Dead and buried. But we couldn't rest. We couldn't sleep. Dark Falls was a town of living dead.""
Reading it, everything takes on a whole new meaning just knowing Monster Blood was to blame for the whole thing. It makes a sad story all that much worse. Evan closes the book and looks again at the haunting image of Dead House on the front then at the author. J.R. Benson. Evan wonders if somehow he could reach the author? He hadn't even heard of the guy before Andy mentioned him, but if he lived this experience, he might know what to do. Evan spends so much time thinking that he almost forgets he's back in gym class, and Ricky Beamer is currently waving a hand over his face. He's back in gym class. The gymnasium feels somehow smaller than usual. From what Evan has heard, it doubles as an auditorium for plays and such. Right now, the school's advertising try-outs for a production of The Phantom, as a larger poster of the titular character hangs on the wall outside.
"Earth to Ginger." Ricky says in a snarky voice. "I didn't think you read. Guess you're full of surprises, huh?"
"Sorry." Evan replies, deciding to ignore that last comment because hey, it wasn't exactly false. And because he's getting used to Ricky's teasing and odd sense of humor.
Right now, Ricky's wearing a red plaid jacket, torn jeans and a gray Nirvana tee to match his beanie. Somehow, his dark hair looks even longer, covering his eyes so as to make him look even more mysterious, and his long fingernails were painted a shade even darker, almost metallic. From his pocket, he unfolds a list of names. The handwriting is messy, but still legible.
"Here are our Creeps. That's what I call them, anyway, of everyone I believe has been brought to Dark Falls on account of Larry Dark's little revenge scheme." Ricky explains.
Evan nods, before the two are interrupted by the blowing of Ellen's whistle.
"Ross! Beamer! I'm having a class here." She snaps at the two.
Ricky just looks at her with those condescending eyes. "I'm just talking to my buddy over here. He needs help with his Math class." Ricky tells her.
He does this before wrapping a single arm around Evan so as it to make it look like they're all buddy-buddy and Evan is surprised at just the sheer strength Ricky has. Maybe it's a side-effect of having become a Creep, or maybe Evan needs to keep up the deadlifting.
Ellen just rolls her eyes and Evan can tell she's probably going to write them up or something. Not that he cares all that much. Soon there might not be a school, and no school meant no detention for him. That might be a good thing in an alternate reality, but here it's definitely not.
"Okay." Ricky says. "Obviously, there's the two of us. You're Dark's main target. Who would have thought?"
Evan gulps in response. Yeah, who WOULD have thought?
"Then we have Carly Beth Caldwell." Ricky says.
"You talked to her?" Evan asks.
"Yep. Caught her outside of school." Ricky replies. "I barely talked to Carly Beth for five minutes and I already love that girl and might die for her. Talk about a bad-ass. You could learn a thing or two from her."
"Okay, okay. I get it. Let's not get too extreme, Ricky. What about Carly Beth?" Evan asks.
He wishes Ricky would just get to the point and stop knocking him for five seconds.
"Well for one, she also suspected something strange was going on. Maybe even before we did. Said her mom was acting out of character and wanted to move to Dark Falls out of the blue." Ricky says.
"So that tracks." Evan replies. "Anything else?"
"She's all in on taking down Mr. Dark. I think that's the most important thing." Ricky tells him.
Evan nods. At least that's another ally for them. A mission like this is going to need as many people as possible.
"Good." Evan replies. "What about the others?"
"Here's an interesting one: Amy Kramer. The very same Amy Kramer playing ball over there." Ricky says.
He nods his head in Amy's direction. She is indeed playing ball, rather impressively, Evan has to admit. He's just surprised at the fact her name is on Ricky's list. How had Amy slipped under his nose like this? She certainly doesn't seem anything like himself or Ricky, but how exactly can Evan judge something like that? There's not really a certain "type" for this kind of thing, is there?
"You talk to her?" Evan asks.
"I thought you were going to. Isn't she in your English class? Do I have to do everything?" Ricky asks. It's part joking, part serious.
"Well, yeah, but you didn't exactly give me the list in advance." Evan replies.
"Right. My bad." Ricky says, actually admitting his own mistake, before he turns again to Amy. "Hey, Amy! Over here!" he shouts to her.
Still focused, Amy turns to glance at Ricky. She raises a curious eyebrow.
"Come on!" Ricky repeats, waving a hand that tells Amy to walk in their direction.
Amy doesn't seem very interested, but compiles anyway. Of the two of them, she's the only one in proper attire for gym class- just a white tee with the number one on the front, pink shorts, and a pair of pink Converse shoes to match. Her brown hair, though it looks almost blonde under the lights above the gymnasium, is tied into a ponytail in the back.
"What do you want, Ricky?" Amy asks, crossing her arms as she does so.
Ricky seems amused at her contempt for him, because he flashes a toothy grin. Amy quickly turns her attention to Evan.
"You. Evan, right?" Amy asks. "I'm sorry Mrs. Maaargh lashed out at you like that this morning. That wasn't fair."
"It's okay." Evan replies.
Really, it's not okay, and Evan would rather just forget about the whole incident. Mrs. Maaargh had nearly bitten his head off, and he was just glad to have left that classroom alive and in one piece. Ellen doesn't look pleased that Amy, her star player, has just wandered off the court to Evan and Ricky, but maybe if Amy's by them, she'll start thinking all of this is much more important and therefore not worth getting too worried about.
"So, Amy." Ricky says. "When you were a kid.. did anything STRANGE happen to you? Like of the spooky sort?" he asks.
Amy looks at him, a bit confused, but Evan starts to wonder if she's hiding something after all, because she also looks embarrassed too.
"Like what? Like was my house haunted or something? Because no." Amy says bluntly and abruptly.
She starts walking away before Ricky stops her, placing a hand on her shoulder that she slaps away.
"Not just ghosts." Ricky says. "But well.. Interactions with cursed objects? Aliens? Lawn gnomes?"
"Evil ventriloquist dummies?" Evan butts in and asks.
"Yeah." Ricky agrees. "Evil dummies are a possibility too."
This time, Amy looks super uncomfortable. "What the hell do you know about that?" she asks.
Evan's shocked. He can't believe he managed to guess it right on the first try.
"Was his name Slappy?" Ricky asks.
"I don't want to talk about this." Amy says and starts walking away again.
"Amy, wait!" Evan urges her with every ounce of desperation. "You have to listen to us, please!"
"Why?" Amy snaps. "Why won't you two just leave me alone?"
"Because we think you have an important role to play in what's happening in Dark Falls. Just like us. The redhead most of all." Ricky tells her.
"Amy, last night, my friends and I were attacked by Slappy. He's here in Dark Falls." Evan tells her.
Amy shakes her head, be it out of denial or fear Evan isn't sure. But she's on the brink of tears already.
"That's impossible. I killed Slappy." Amy says. "He's dead."
"I wish that was true, but somehow, he keeps coming back. It's not the first time he died, and probably won't be the last, either." Evan explains.
Amy continues shaking her head as Evan tells her everything- how Mr. Dark had sent Slappy in search of the Monster Blood, and how that was just a distraction for Mrs. Maaargh to take the stuff.
"So that's why she was so mad at you?" Amy asks. "She was a monster the whole time?"
"Yep." Evan replies. "But it's too late, Mr. Dark now has his hands on the Monster Blood. Slappy told me he wants to enslave the whole world. He doesn't really care what Mr. Dark wants."
This last part seems to trigger a pained response from Amy, as if she's remembering something from the past.
"You know about him, don't you, Amy? What did he do?" Evan asks.
Amy bites her lip and look down. "I used to want to be a ventriloquist when I was a kid. My family did these stupid "talent nights" one day a week and my old dummy was just falling apart. His head fell off each time I did my routine. So one day, my dad brings home a new dummy for me to enjoy." Amy explains.
Evan imagined the visual of a dummy's head falling off and a chill ran down his spine. That would be unsettling, to say the least.
"Slappy?" Evan asks.
"Bingo. It wouldn't have been so bad had I not found this card in his pocket, but when I did, that's when things got really bad. The words on it brought Slappy to life and he immediately started causing chaos. He'd tell really nasty jokes during my routine, and my parents thought I was the one making them. Then he started wrecking things, like my sister's artwork. I knew Slappy was behind it, but my parents wanted to send me to the psych ward. Then Slappy revealed himself- he wanted to make me his slave for all eternity and would hurt my family if I didn't comply- and would just keep wrecking things until everyone thought I was crazy." Amy says.
As she does, Amy wipes tears away. Evan can tell this is a painful memory.
"But then we destroyed him. I thought it was done. You're saying he's back?" Amy asks.
"I'm afraid so. And because of what happened to you, you're on Mr. Dark's list of targets for revenge." Evan explains.
"I see." Amy says softly. "So what happened to you two?"
Evan and Ricky exchange awkward glances.
"Monster Blood." Evan says simply.
"I almost let an alien invasion happen." Ricky says.
Amy just stares at them blankly. "You guys are odd, you know that?"
Ricky just laughs and Evan can't help but join.
"Understatement of the day right there." Ricky says.
"I'll help you," Amy says. "I'm looking forward to killing that fucking dummy again."
"Great." Even says. "We strike tonight- we're going to the Dead House."
