"Okay, okay!" said a grinning Dr. James Possible, waving his arms around for emphasis, while his wife Ann and their four friends, all clad in fine suits and evening gowns, were held rapt with his funny story.
"Okay, so there's Ann and I in our first apartment right after we get married, and she's making this HUGE spread for breakfast, see? And then as she walks out of the kitchen, Ann just DROPS the WHOLE breakfast platter, just loses EVERYTHING! And I'm looking down at the mess, and I say "Hey, I pretty much like bacon on everything...except for the FLOOR!"
James' corny "dad joke" got an unexpected chorus of wild laughter from their friends, so much so that even Ann was surprised.
"Remember THAT, Ann?" laughed James as he gently nudged her with his elbow.
"How could I forget?" she giggled. "You were calling me 'Mrs. Butterfingers' for days!"
James and Ann, along with James' old college friends from the Middleton Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Ramesh and Dr. Chen, along with both of their wives, sat at a large table at Chez Couteaux, a snazzy French restaurant in downtown Upperton renowned for its outstanding European cuisine (as well as its exorbitant prices.) They were deep into appetizers and cocktails as they reminisced about "the good old days", whilst catching up with each other over how all of their lives were currently going. Ray Charles' cheerful, upbeat "The Good Life" played at a pleasant level over the music system, as glasses clinked and conversation soared all throughout the packed eatery.
"This was a WONDERFUL idea, you two!" said Dr. Chen as he dipped a cube of French bread into a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. "What made you think of bringing us all HERE, tonight? I hope you've taken out a loan to pay for all of our meals!" Everyone laughed and laughed, though in truth, the fermented beverages were likely starting to go to their heads.
"Well, it's interesting!" said Ann, as she sipped delicately at her classic martini. "We actually WON six vouchers to this place, and we figured, why not invite the whole gang out for a night on the town!"
"You WON six vouchers to this place?" asked Dr. Ramesh's wife. "How on Earth did you manage THAT, Ann?"
"It's kind of funny, actually" continued Ann, "because just yesterday, someone came to the door and informed us that our household had been chosen at random by...hmmm, James, what was the name of the company that this person represented?"
"McDougall Industries!" answered James, as he popped a shrimp scampi into his mouth. "You know, the outfit run by the billionaire Maxwell McDougall, the odd duck who's almost never seen in public anymore?"
"Yes, that's the one!" said Ann. "Anyway, this person had mentioned that their organization had been giving out these freebies at random in an attempt to generate some business and publicity, but that these particular vouchers were ONLY good for tonight!"
"Only good for tonight?" asked Dr. Chen's wife with a puzzled expression. "That's a bit unusual that the vouchers would expire so soon..."
"Well, I'M not complaining!" exclaimed Dr. Ramesh with delight, as he pried open a clam from his bouillabaisse. "I've ALWAYS wanted to try bully-ya beh-...bool-yee-bhuz...bole...buh...bizzzz...arggggh, FISH SOUP!"
"It's alright!" laughed James, good-naturedly. "I can barely pronounce that dish myself, let alone spell it - and I'M a doctor!"
Everyone laughed uproariously all over again.
"Wow, he's really on a roll tonight!" thought Ann. "Maybe it's the scotch..."
Seconds later, James gleefully downed the last gulp of his Eddu Grey Rock before hailing the waitress for another.
"Yeah, that's probably it" mused Ann with a grin.
"I wonder what kind of publicity or business that McDougall Industries is trying to stir up by giving out free seven-course dinners at fancy establishments" said Chen's wife, her voice sounding a bit strained and troubled.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry TOO much about it, dear!" said Ramesh's wife as she sipped leisurely at her lemon drop. "After all, it sounds like they just couldn't wait to give them away!"
'I know, right?" laughed James. "It's almost as if SOMEONE just REALLY wanted us out of the house, tonight!"
Pitch, midnight black. As black as deep sleep.
Just seconds earlier, Kim, Ron and the twins had been plunged into total darkness as the electricity failed them, and all of the lights in the house had instantly died. Even the streetlamps outside must have given out, because not even a paltry speck of light could be detected through the front windows of the house - or ANYWHERE, for that matter.
After stumbling around in the inky shadow and bumping into each other whilst frantically calling out each other's names, Kim once again took control of the "spooky sitch" (as Ron called it), doing her best to ignore the gnawing sense of terror that was slowly growing inside of her.
"Okay, you guys. Here's what we're going to do" she said in a flat, quiet, business-like tone.
"Run around and scream?" asked Ron.
"Watch Ron run around and scream?" asked Tim.
"Watch you flip out while Ron runs around and screams?" asked Jim.
"NO!" she asserted. "We are ALL going to remain cool, calm and collected...RIGHT, Ron?"
"Y-you betcha', KP!...*pant* *gasp* *gulp*"
"Now", continued Kim, "We are going to carefully walk back down the stairs, go out the front door, get into my car, and drive to the police station. Nothing more. Nothing less. Do you understand?"
"Hey, can we still get ice cream?" asked Jim. "It's right down the block from the cop shop, anyway."
"I just said NOTHING MORE, didn't I?" repeated Kim.
"Yeah, it's only around 7:30" said Tim. "We can still make it!"
Kim threw up her hands and sighed in defeat.
"...I am NEVER having children." she said.
"Awww, don't be so hard on em', KP!" said Ron, his own fear subsiding just a bit (her voice seemed to have a calming effect on him during the worst of times). "We were both this age, once!"
"We COULDN'T have been THIS obnoxious, though", she answered. "At the very least, I respected my elders at that age."
"Elders? Yeah, you ARE pretty old now, Kim!" laughed Jim.
"Bet you've already GOT kids since you're so OLD...you AND Ron!" said Tim.
The terrible twosome laughed themselves silly in the dark while Kim and Ron blushed like mad, though thankfully neither of them could see each other.
A sudden, urgent thought cut through Ron's flustered emotions like a hot knife through butter, his irrational sense of fear finally taking a backseat to logic and reason.
"Hey", he began, frowning and stroking his chin as if he were Sherlock Holmes, "who do you think sent that three-word warning to Wade? KIM...DANGER...TONIGHT. Sounds like SOMEONE'S looking out for you, KP."
"Beats me" answered Kim, wearily, as she leaned heavily against the wall. "Everything that's happened over the past hour has been so absurdly over-the-top, I'm starting to wonder if this is all just an elaborate prank!"
"Courtesy of WHO, though?" asked Ron, now scratching both his chin AND his head. "Bonnie? NAW. Drakken? NAW. Shego? NAW..."
"Freddie Krueger?" suggested Tim, with something like glee.
"Or Jason Voorhees?" added Jim.
Ron went silent.
"Guys, stop it!" shouted Kim, as the twins began to giggle maniacally. Trying to keep Ron calm was like putting out a five-alarm fire with a squirtgun, and all these little turds were doing was throwing diesel fuel onto the flames.
"We...need...help..." said Ron, meekly, from somewhere in the dark. "We need help REALLY bad..."
Kim sighed.
"Look, you guys" said Kim in a more relaxed, understanding tone as she stood up straight, "I'm SURE that Wade's gotten a hold of the police by now, and if we all pile into my car and take off right now, maybe we'll meet them halfway...hey, speak of the devil!"
"Pretty please, don't mention 'devil'..." squeaked Ron.
"No, listen!" said Kim. They listened. Far off in the distance, they could faintly make out the sound of slowly approaching police sirens.
FINALLY. Help was on the way.
"There! You see?" said Kim, as a pleasant grin began to spread across her face, a cool, soothing wave of relief washing away her burning sense of terror.
"It's just like I said!" she continued, as she placed her hands on her hips, while starting to feel just a bit overconfident, "all we have to do is remain cool, calm and collected and everything will be alright! And besides, Ron, you and I are tight with the Middleton police force! They said that if we were EVER in trouble, they'd show up on the double, no if's, and's, or but's..."
"Ummm..." said Ron, worriedly, "h-how come it doesn't sound like they're getting any closer?"
"Huh?" she asked in surprise. "Well, they MUST be getting closer, Ron! It's not like they're just going to park their police cruisers somewhere and just run the sirens!"
"Naw, he's right, Kim" said Tim.
"Yeah" said Jim. "They still sound pretty far away, and it's been over a minute."
"...Wh-what?!" cried Kim, that horrible sense of foreboding beginning to creep up her spine all over again. She cupped her left ear and listened hard, the shrill, mournful blaring still crossing the dark night air.
The sirens continued to wail, faintly. They wailed on.
And then, just like the lights, they went out.
Once again, the dreadful silence.
A few moments passed. And then a few moments more.
Something inside Kim's psyche rattled loose, snapped and finally just came off completely.
"What the HELL is going ON, tonight?!" shouted Kim, no longer caring in the slightest if their hypothetical serial killer heard them or not, her face reddening in anger and frustration, not that the others could even see it.
The twins snickered.
"Y'know, Kim" said Ron, quietly and slyly, "a certain someone just told me that everything was gonna be alright-"
"SCREW ALRIGHT! I was wrong, OKAY?!" she shouted. "Everything has just GONE TO HELL tonight!"
She wound up and punched the wall with a roar of vexation. "AAAAARGGGGHHH!"
"She's losing it" giggled Tim.
Kim's ears perked up, her hearing sharpened with her eyesight dormant. "What was that?" she snapped.
"Yep. DEFINITELY losing it" continued Jim.
"I am NOT losing it..." she growled, like a rabid pitbull. "I am STILL IN CONTROL!" she screamed.
"Yeah, sure thing...CHRIS!" laughed Tim.
"...HUH?" inquired Kim, as Jim joined in laughing with his brother.
"...Chris?" asked Kim, feeling very confused. "Who's Chris? What on EARTH are you guys on about?
"OKAY" said Ron in a deeply serious tone, sounding remarkably like Kim's own father. "When this is all over, Kim, you and I are gonna sit down and watch 'Adventures in Babysitting' from beginning to end, because you REALLY need to take in more movies! Honestly, KP, sometimes I really worry about you!"
"Y-yeah...I'm starting to worry about me, too" said Kim, smiling crazily as her left eye began to twitch.
"Hey, it's cool, it's cool KP, we all go a little psycho sometimes!" answered Ron, as he reached out in the dark and tried to grab hold of Kim's hand, though he only succeeded in accidentally smacking Jim upside the head.
"Ow! Dude, Ron!" he cried out.
"It's just that...uggghhhh, it's just that..." stammered Kim, wearily.
"Yeah?" asked Ron, listening sympathetically.
"It's just that between the bumps in the night, the lights going out, our communications being cut off, and the friggin' POLICE just DISAPPEARING, I think we'd all be safer in the Bermuda Triangle-"
*HISSSSSSSSSSS*
Kim, Ron, Tim and Jim all froze like statues, their blood turned to ice, their jaws on the floor, their breath ceasing completely.
Just what on EARTH was in their house with them?
Within their four minds, with their built-in '"fight-or-flight" responses just inches from springing into action, the four of them were beginning to question whether or not the unwelcome guest of theirs was even human.
Or maybe...if there was more than one...
Ever so slowly, Kim pivoted her neck to the left, now facing the general direction of the unexplainable sound.
*HISSSSSSSSSSS*
Closer, now.
A hateful, venomous hissing sound was coming from down the hall, near the opened window.
They waited, in dead silence, the pulsing fear within them feeling like absolute torture of the worst kind.
*HISSSSSSSSSSS*
This time, right behind them.
And that's what finally pushed the crew over the edge.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" all four of them screamed in unison.
In an instant, they had reached the first floor, practically FLYING down the stairs at mach-3 as their blazing imaginations forced their adrenaline production into overdrive, their bloodstreams practically on fire with it.
Ron flung the front door open (despite his terror, he still tried to put Kim and her brothers' well-being before his own) and ordered everyone out. "Go, go, go, go, GOOOOOOO!" he howled, his voice cracking as he frantically ushered them out into the night. "Flee! FLEE FOR YOUR LIIIIIIIIIVES!"
He followed after them down the porch, tripping over his own feet and falling flat on his face into Mrs. Possible's flower garden with a goofy sounding *WHUMP*
"This...is...NOT...my...evening..." he growled in frustration as he looked up, a mixture of pink flower petals, landscaping bark and fertilizer mottled over his face. He felt two strong, but gentle hands grasp him by the arm and the shoulder, as Kim quickly pulled him up from the mess and back to his feet. She then concernedly brushed the debris and plant matter from Ron's face and shirt front as his crestfallen expression slowly morphed into a smile.
"I feel like Biff when he crashed into the manure truck" he laughed.
"What movie was that?" asked Kim, innocently. "Independence Day?"
Ron's smile vanished. He looked horrified.
"I'm kidding, I'm KIDDING!" laughed Kim. "I know that scene was from 'Back to the Future'...but not from 'number 4', of course!"
He felt all warm and fuzzy inside.
"You...KP...are the BEST thing that ever happened to me" said Ron, as he drew her in for a smooch.
"Yeah, uh, can this mushy stuff wait?" asked Tim, his voice sharp with annoyance.
"Yeah, there's still weird stuff goin' on out here!" continued Jim.
?
Kim and Ron looked out at their darkened surroundings, and that was when they noticed all the fog.