Chapter 12

"The Virgin Target"

I couldn't believe what I was seeing that a young woman was attacked here at Six Flags New Orleans. In a way, it made me think of Daphne and the fact that she was now being targeted by a demented Reverend's spirit. My question was why a reporter would be targeted in the first place when in reality she was doing her job bringing news to the people of New Orleans. In a way, I couldn't help but think to myself, what if Daphne was in this situation had "Coast to Coast" still been on the air? So much was going through my mind and I had a feeling that this reporter, if she was a woman, was targeted for a very specific reason. There was something in the air about a particular type of spirit that these crazed ghosts needed for their own gain.

"Mr. Nunley," I asked, trying to keep myself from going ape. "What were you even doing here?"

"Fred," Daphne said, trying to get me to back down to which I stopped her with a flick of my wrist.

"Doing a story on the disappearances," cried Tim as Fred pushed him against the wall of an abandoned gift shop. "Our manager wanted us to do a story here."

Sighing, I backed away at the answer given to me. Now, being a former cameraman for Daphne's show, I knew the dangers that came with being in the television news field.

"We…we were just finishing up," Tim explained, pulling himself away from being cornered. "Finishing up this story when this…wacko clown came out of the shadows and attacked us."

"Like, wacko clown?" Shaggy whimpered, nervously looking at Scooby Doo. "Where's Tim Curry when you need him?"

"Shaggy please," I countered to him, looking back to give him a silencing look before turning back to Tim. "Talk, Tim. What happened here?"

Stepping forward, Tim looked me right in the eye like a child about to be reprimanded.

"He…he came out of the shadows, right over there."

Tim pointed in the direction to where Velma and Shaggy were scouting for clues in the Looney Tunes Adventures area.

"Over there?" Beau asked. "Did you hear any sudden movements?"

"No, we didn't hear any footprints, nothing. The clown came out from behind one of those buildings and he was accompanied…by two winged freaks."

Now it was starting to add up. The winged freaks were brought up again and it seemed that they were the winged soldiers of this clown, whoever he was.

"Did you catch the clown's name?"

"He called himself Jocco the Jester."

"There's an attraction named after Jocco the Jester along with a gift shop and a cafe," answered Beau. "I came here on the weekends before Katrina hit."

I then turned my attention to the direction that Tim directed us to and I began to get a strange feeling that the attacks in general were coming from that particular area.

"He…he pushed me out of the way and threw himself on top of Ellen," Tim said. "I tried to help, but the winged freaks held me back while he continued messing around with her. He was intending to kill her and…"

But Tim couldn't finish what he was saying and pulled himself away with an embarrassing look on his face.

"He…was trying to…trying to…when the cops came in and scared him away."

I took another deep sigh and from the sounds of it, this Jocco fellow was trying to do something that even I couldn't think about.

"Beau!" Agent Gordon called and she came forward holding what appeared to be a black piece of clothing in her gloved hand. "I found this right by the Orpheum Theater."

The sight of the article of clothing caused Tim to turn away in shame.

"Take it away from me, man!" he cried, tears forming in his eyes. "Take it away!"

"What is it?" Shaggy asked.

"It's her skirt!" Tim replied, his voice getting choked up. "He ripped it off of her along with pieces of her blouse. He would have done more to her had the cops not shown up!"

"Here's some strands of a white blouse, Agent Gordon," said a technician, handing the pieces of clothing to Agent Gordon. By then, the rain started to fall and having heard quite enough, I knew that we needed to end this as quickly as possible. I then turned my attention to Daphne, Scooby and Shaggy.

"Fred, what is it?" Daphne asked.

"Are we going back to the hotel? We're hungry, right Scoob?" remarked Shaggy to which Scooby heartily agreed.

"No!" I declared. "We're going to end this tonight, right now! I want this entire theme park covered and I don't care or give a damn if it takes all night! Shaggy, Scooby, you cover the area in the direction that you were in this afternoon. Daphne, you and I cover the DC Comics area. If he has any escape plans…then he will not escape, not him, not his winged men and especially not Reverend Kane!"

As I finished the sentence, a loud thunderclap was heard over the area and that was the sign that the battle was about to begin to end these attacks once and for all.

"Fred," Beau said. "We'll do anything you say to get our hands on this guy, this Jocco character!"

"Thank you, Beau," I said as the rain started to fall. "I want whatever best cops you have available. If we get Jocco the Jester, then this nightmare will be over!"

"And what if we don't?" Shaggy asked, already biting into his fingernails.

"Then may God help us all," I sighed as the wind started to pick up, furthering adding tension to the scene and as a second thunderclap sounded, the final showdown was about to begin where secrets would be revealed and terror would strike in more ways than one!

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