All Hallows' Eve by Hal L. O'ween
The Tallow's had been looking forward to this weekend camping outing for about three months. The plan had been originally to go during the summer, but rethought that after they factored in mosquitoes and erratic weather fronts. After one night's discussion around dinner, they all agreed to go the first weekend in Autumn. They had originally planned on camping down by the river, but were told about a campsite through a friend of theirs. The campsite, called Fort of the Forest, lay about a day's journey up the side of Blackburn Mountain, one of the smaller peaks found within the Rockies.
With the fire made, the tents were set, and dinner eaten, they all decided to go on a small nature hike around the area, to familiarize themselves with the terrain. They'd heard that in the late 1800's, the area had been frequented by man a person hoping to strike it rich on gold. In fact, the ranger told them that quite a few gold mining shacks dotted the park, all of which, sadly enough, were off limits mainly due to the fact that they were probably no longer structurally sound.
As they made their way through the wooded path, they came across a small brook that grew deeper as they followed the trail. By the time they'd come across one of the gold-mining shacks, the river was about waist deep. They were a bit startled when they came up to a burly-looking man crouching over the ground with his back to new-comers. "I can hear you behind me. If you knew what's best for you, you will leave this mountain," the old man hoarsely called over his shoulder. "We appreciate the warning", Herb offered up hesitantly, "but my family and I are camping up here. We don't mean any harm." "You may not 'mean any harm', I don't care...leave now or suffer the consequences!" the man snapped. Quickly gathering his family together, they pushed onward down the trail. At the slightest word from either his wife or daughter, he hushed them.
About an hour later, the incident had been forgotten as the family began to see more and more signs of animal life. It was especially beautiful, definitely the kind of place they were looking to find. Time passed quickly by and daylight began to slowly descend over the trees, with the setting sun steeping the land in a golden glow. As they began to make their way back to their camp, a thick fog had rolled in from out of nowhere. As the fog thickened, everything became covered in dew. As it grew darker, it got increasingly cold, so cold they could begin to make out the outlines of their breath. Realizing that up ahead is where they'd ran into that rude man, they all stuck together.
Coming into the clearing, the man wasn't there. "So much the better" was the general consensus by the family as they pressed on. All of a sudden, some of the fog revealed grave stones all around them. There must have been well-over fifty of them. "Daddy", Jasmin whimpered, "I'm scared. I want to go back to camp...now." "We are honey. Daddy won't let anything happen to you. We're not that far. One we get there, we'll make some popcorn and play some games. Isn't that right?" She turned to look at her husband, but he had vanished.
Welling up with a tightness in her chest, Willow cried out, "Herb? Where are you?" She and Jasmin screamed this as they scanned the area. Stepping out of a tree, one hand behind his back and displaying an odd smile, Herb spoke," Dear....you really should have listened to the man." He pulled a hand axe from behind his back.
"Now relax, this will be painless. The both of you should be feeling quite sleepy right...about...."
Mother and daughter dropped to the forest floor.
"...now."
*
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Chapter 16
“Hippity Hoppity”
Adam Sifre and Splinker
Wayne, New Jersey, USA
Charlene remained flat on the ground, her back pressed against the outside wall of the Kansas Children’s Home, hidden by a gigantic holly bush. She did her best to ignore the thorny leaves scratching at the back of her neck and legs. The rule was no moving until the third Easter egg was thrown. She couldn’t see Eddie or the remaining children, but the occasional sound feet scraping on tarmac confirmed they were still on the roof. Wilbur, however, she could see just fine.
‘This whole thing is just… stupid.’
Wilbur stood about sixty feet away, just in front of the rusty swing set. He swayed back gently back and forth with what was left of his face turned up to the sky. Charlene had seen them do this kind of thing before. Eddie called it “tuning out,” but Charlene called it “Z” time. Partly because she thought this was the closest thing zombies did to sleeping; but mostly because she knew it drove Eddie crazy. Eddie always had to be right about everything.
‘He thinks being fourteen makes him king of the Home.’
It was Eddie’s idea to celebrate Easter with the egg hunt and to Charlene’s surprise the other kids didn’t say no. That’s not true. They liked the idea.’ Eddie would never have gotten away with it two weeks ago, but things had gone from “Night of the Living Dead” to “Lord of the Flies” since then and Eddie was no longer just a 14-year old jerk. Eddie was trouble.
Charlene sucked in her breath as the third and last “egg” bounced off of Wilbur’s leg and rolled just a few feet away. It was painted bright yellow with little blue circles.
“Shit.”
Wilbur remained in Z-time and paid it no mind. He’d been a short, chubby, mean man before. Now chunks of Wilbur were missing and Charlene guessed he weighed a few pounds less. Her eyes fixed on Wilbur’s hands. Fingernails kept growing on the undead and Wilbur was sporting some beauties. They must have been two inches long, all of them. Not a broken nail in the bunch. They looked like weapons.
Three eggs: One at Wilbur’s feet; the bright red egg on the grass by the tether ball pole (no ball of course) at the far end of the playground; the third, out of sight somewhere to the left. They weren’t real eggs. Eggs were a rarity at the orphanage even before the zombies. Now they were more precious than gold. These Easter Eggs were just painted rocks.
Three eggs, one tuned out zombie and a lot of open ground. ‘That’s not so bad. Easy peasy.’ But in the back of her mind, Charlene kept thinking: ‘Stupid.’ Stupid for opening her big mouth and showing Eddie up in front of the others. But not stupid for wanting to leave.
They couldn’t stay here forever. Wilbur might be the only zombie in the playground at the moment, but he wasn’t the only shambling neighbor – not by a long shot. Others came and went, and more seemed to be sticking around lately, some wandering in the visitor’s parking lot (getting more use after the apocalypse than before). At least they hadn’t seen any undead children lately. Charlene shuddered. The children were FAST. They didn’t shamble, they ran. Most of the undead orphans left with the group that had attacked the orphanage, including Emma. Charlene blinked away unshed tears and put Emma out of her mind for the moment.
Charlene wanted to leave, so of course Eddie wanted to.
“We have beds, food and the doors lock. We should stay and wait for help,” he’d insisted. Charlene wanted to smash his face in.
“We don’t have a lot of food. And every day more of those things pop up. If we leave now, we can be in Little Falls in three hours, maybe four. There’s a supermarket there. And police, probably.” She wasn’t sure about that last part, but she wanted to believe it. Had to believe it.
They argued until Eddie tumbled upon the idea of the egg hunt. If she could grab all three eggs and make it back to the dormitory, Eddie and the others would go. If she didn’t make it…
Charlene was horrified to hear herself saying “Deal!” although the shocked disbelief on Eddie’s pimply face almost made it worth it. Almost.
‘Stupid’.
“Let’s go!” Eddie’s voice from somewhere on the roof.
Before she could talk herself into living underneath the Holly tree, Charlene sprinted onto the playground.
More shouting from the roof behind her. Charlene sprinted to the tetherball pole, giving Wilbur a wide berth. She could see the front of him now. His collared shirt unbuttoned and stai
‘That’s intestine.’
She reached the grass at the far end of the playground and something bounced off the asphalt to her left.
“Almost!” Eddie hooted. “First one to hit her gets pudding with dinner tonight!”
Still running, she bent and snatched the red ‘egg’, shoved it into her pocket and started for the egg by Wilbur’s feet. With all the yelling – ‘what a douchebag’—she was terrified Wilbur would wake up. Wake up and start moving. Better to get the one by him now and then take her time looking for the last egg.
Wilbur stood, quiet as a lamb, 30 feet away.
“Easy peasy.”
Charlene circled a bit and approached from behind. She stopped a few feet from the egg. If Wilbur took it in what was left of his mind to start shambling, she wanted it to be now, with his backed turned to her, rather than with her bent over with her back turned to him.
More rocks landed around her, but she ignored them. They’d have to get pretty damn lucky to hit her from here.
“Hey. Wilbur. Hey.” Nothing.
She took a deep breath and went for the egg. She grabbed it easily and kept running. Then someone got lucky and Charlene fell to the ground like a sack of dirt.
*
It was full dark and Charlene wandered aimlessly, from swing set, to dormitory, the yellow rock still clutched in her hand. It was dark and she smelled food in the building. It smelled good. It smelled like Eddie.
She was so hungry.
And she was fast.
*
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Chapter 17
“Last Will and Testament”
Jiva Fang
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Leanna’s face is smiling and serene, nothing like the look she’d had when I killed her. Of course it’s kind of hard to achieve that damn passivity when someone is beating the shit out of you with a crowbar. Not that Leanna was ever a calm one then. If she was, she’d probably still be alive, but hey, that’s another story. Right now I just wanna know what the hell she’s doing staring at me from my cup of hot cocoa.
I’m sitting in one of those overpriced coffee shops. It’s getting hard to ride around without running into one of these damn stores. Even though I don’t drink the fancy stuff with the stupid names, I needed something hot, and cocoa was just about the only thing I recognized on the menu.
I’m getting distracted again, where was I? Oh yeah. Leanna’s in my cup. She did promise me she was gonna make me suffer but I was already suffering, that’s why I snuffed her.
Leanna’s been dead a good nine years so I figure maybe I’m just tired. I been on the road for days this time, and my head’s about as numb as my ass from riding that damn Hog. I really just wanna stir this cup of cocoa, but in the back of my mind I’m wondering --what if she’s still there when I’m done.
I’m not one to flip out over shit. You can’t be in my line of business if you’re high strung. So I figure I’ll just ask the right questions. I flag down a girl who’s walking by, wearing the store uniform.
“Hon, is it me or is there a face in my cocoa?”
The kid laughs for a quick second, (that laugh you give old folks who can’t find the power button on the computer) and then says to me, “Yeah, my brother Vinnie does that. He’s good, too bad we can’t afford art school.” She points at the kid behind the counter and I look over in time to see him playing in another cup with a coffee stirrer.
“Any idea who that’s supposed to be?”
The girl looks at my cup real hard and then shakes her head.
“Nah but I’ll ask him. He usually does someone who’s in here.”
Some guy walks in the store right then and gives her the 'hurry up' face, so I figure I’ll let her get on with her life.
“Never mind, I’ll ask him myself.”
I pick the cup up and walk over to the counter. Vinnie is handing over a fancy-pants-achino or whatever, to a customer and I’ll be dammed if the face in the cup ain’t his homely ass wife. She’s standing there beaming at him like she seen the Mona Lisa in the mirror.
I gotta give him credit, the little Em-Effer has talent. I put my cup down in front of him so he can get a good look at it.
“This here’s a real good job, son.” I smile and he smiles back, a young kid, still got life in his eyes.
“Thanks Mister. Glad you like it.. but I didn’t want you to like it too much to drink it.”
“I just wanted to know who this was supposed to be, If I drank it I wernt sure you’d remember as good.”
The kid looked a little confused. He checked around the store right quick and then looked back to me.
“She’s not with you, sir? I thought I saw you come in together.”
“This lady is in the store?”
“She was right next to you in line. Kept looking at you real sweet like. That’s why I did it.”
“What’s your last name kid? So I can say I knew you when?”
“DiNetti.” The kid blushes, obviously he don’t get compliments often.
I tip Vinnie a couple of bucks and then sat back down with that damn cocoa. I stir it real good and real long until Leanna’s face is gone, then I drink that cocoa like it’s the last thing I’ll ever taste. It just might be.
I write myself two letters, right then. One of them is instructions on how to find my stash, all eighteen million dollars. I stick a key in that one. The other one is to my lawyer telling him if anything happens to me, he needs to mail out my first letter.
When I’m getting ready to leave Vinnie comes over to me.
“Hey mister, that lady?? She’s out there sitting on your Harley.”
I walk out the door and cross the street to the mailbox. I wish I could be around to see Vinnie get that letter. That kid deserves to go to art school. Leanna has never looked better than she did in that cup.
*
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Chapter 18
“The Sleeper”
Pamela Griffiths
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Jenny had only been eighteen years old for two months, she was now allowed to drink alcohol legally, she was really looking forward to the Halloween party with her friends. The party had been arranged by her best friend Christine, they were going to use the old barn at the bottom of her garden.
Christine's parents had agreed to it, they had arranged to out for the evening themselves. The girls and their partners would be able to enjoy the party without the worry and stress of keeping things tidy, they could clean up afterwards and not have too much pressure on.
'I can't wait, it's going to be a brill party' Christine was excited as they were arranging the decorations.
'Yeah, it'll be really cool, the others are bringing some booze as well so we can get rat arsed and no one will be there to tell us off' Jenny said as she swung from a wooden beam hanging a jack o lantern.
They had spent a whole week getting the barn ready for the party. Christine, Jenny and a few other friends had decorated the barn and turned it into an eerie, spooky place. They had managed to hang bunting from the wooden beams and there were a few skeletons hanging around too. They had put a table in the far corner of the barn which they would use as a bar.
A large pasting table was covered with plastic Halloween themed table covers ready to display the buffet food when the time came. They had set up the e
Jenny and her boyfriend Danny were invited; Christine had invited her boyfriend Steve too. There would be five couples attending the party, they were all friends. Christine had invited Stuart and Elli, Johnny and Gemma, Carl and Bella. The boys had decided it would be good if they could bring their own drinks and not have to rely on what the girls decided on. So they had pooled their resources and bought a few crates of lager to take to the party.
Christine and Jenny made lots of sandwiches and buffet finger food. They made some alcoholic punch in a large bowl. Everything was now ready for the party. It was Halloween and the party would begin at seven.
'Make sure you behave yourselves girls' Christine's mum told them.
'Come on Sandra' Christine's dad said as he ushered her towards the waiting taxi.
The girls waved them goodbye. It wouldn't be long now. They took the food out to the barn, let the party begin.
*
The sleeper was beginning to wake up, it was Halloween and it was time for him to come alive.
Once a year he would be let loose for a few hours, before having to return to his long sleep again.
Many, many years ago, the sleeper was hanged for raping the daughter of an old woman. The old woman unbeknown to him was a witch, she had put a curse on him just as he was hung from the gallows, the spit second before he died. His soul never went away and now he was doomed forever to the Halloween curse.
The sleeper was doomed to return every year on the 31st October, All Hallows Eve, to claim the souls of the young. He would stalk and suck out the life of at least one youngster; then he would return to his own private hell until the following year.
As the sleeper awoke, he relived the moment of his demise, he saw the gallows from years gone by and felt the noose around his neck, a hood was placed over his head. He could feel the noose tighten just before his light went out. He felt the drop and at that point he felt the curse enter his body. It was a jolt after the initial jolt of the drop, as his neck broke his spirit was whisked away and darkness enfolded him. His spirit was taken somewhere, but he didn't know where the witch had placed his soul in limbo. He was doomed for all eternity to return to earth once a year. He had no choice but to fulfill the curse that had been bestowed on him. He had no life and no death, his soul was forever taken by the curse.