SSSC) The Feast


Stomping leaves under foot as she took the short cut across the now yellowing late autumn lawn purposely searching out the really big ones that had that loud snapping sound attached to the sizzling crunch. Stopping to grab a small bouquet of the crimson colored fall mums her Mom had planted along the fence line to tuck into her snarling, back teased and scrunched up vampire hair.

Nothing would spoil her favorite night of the year even her best friend Sammy not showing up to walk the 2 miles into town with her to the Halloween party. Pulling her thin vampire cape closer to her body as the wicked wind hit her from behind sending an erie chill up her spine.
As if orchestrated in the same moment the distant yet familiar sound of coyotes began to howl as if captured in a hunters trap. Mara hated to hear them sounding so frantic and always suspected that they were longing for a lost member of their pack or worse.

Putting the thought out her mind and stopping on the dirt covered gravel road to reach into her bag for a stick of juicy fruit gum the most frightening bone chilling scream came from down the lane towards the large area of thick old oak and elm trees. It was the only spot on the road that she dreaded walking through as the tops of the trees reached from either side to intermingle over head and even in the late afternoon it could create 350 feet of almost complete shadowy darkness.

It was well past twilight and she had forgotten to grab her flash light. Stepping up the pace Mara decided it must have been the wind.
Deciding to go ahead and grab her cell phone out as she discarded the now empty wrapper back into the bag.

Dialing her best friends number only felt more frustrating as it kicked straight over to voice mail. "Damn it!" Again the the howl of the distant coyotes --through the woods even closer this time. the phone began to ring to the tune of bad moon a rising by the doors.

"Hello?, "Hey squirt it's me, everything alright?" "Yeah sure why'd you ask?"""Well just a big sister thing probably but I thought I heard this loud scream a few minutes ago and just couldn't get it out of my mind."' Yeah I heard it too sis, but it was the coyotes that scared the crap out of me." "Where are you at? "By the Whistances barn almost."
"Oh you sure you want to walk all the way to town? When Mike gets here we could give you a ride to the party, were going right past there you know.""Well, I think I'll be ok,"the shrill high pitched sound of coyotes were on both sides of the road within feet of Mara. "Oh my God Jen! There surrounding me!" "Hang on Mara don't run, stay calm, I'm coming to get you.""Don't hang up yet Jen I need you.." click."If you would like to make a call please hang up and dial again, thank you".

Aawooooo the sound was now almost deafening, there must have been at least 20 on either side, the wind began to whisk the autumn leaves in torrents down upon her and the only thing she could do was to take the moment and start walking fast toward home.

Normally the dull yellow porch lights would have been turned on by now,a beacon in the night to guide her, a familiar comfort, but with her parents out for the evening, no one had bothered. Now only the deep rich cyan colors in the last of the fading shadows of the twilight were there as a reminder of her fear. No moon tonight so focusing on the northern star was her only semblance of direction. It was twinkling and seemed brighter than shed ever remembered it.

Heart pounding, and a sweet acrid taste of the hot dog she had quickly devoured before leaving the house threatened to force her to stop even now at the side of the road to rid herself of its foul flavor in her mouth.

Deciding that to be a bad idea she continued to stride forward now matching the pace of a slow jog. By the time Mara saw the metal roof top she broke into a full blown run for the front porch and through the door to the living room.

Ahhh she screamed as the house was filled with zombies that looked up from their gruesome meal of her sister who had been literally disemboweled by the small pack.

Turning to run toward the door one of the zombies spoke out in a voice identical to her now dead sister, " Oh come on Mara, I can take you to to town!" It then began laughing and rattling in a disgusting sort of slit throat guttural way.

Mara ran as fast as she could two steps at a time to escape the retched scene, and as she reached the last step she was grabbed by the leg by what she had read on ats was a 'crawler'. Luck was on her side as it was also missing one arm and half of its skull so she had the ability to make one quick almost bionic leap and narrowly escape its gaping broken slacked jaws.

Unable to go back into the house to get one of her fathers shot guns to defend her self she headed for the barn as some of the weapons they had suggested on the forum she could get out there. Not her first choice of course but what else could she do? This was a survival of the fittest situation and she intended to kick some zombie arse! Fear and excitement and probably shock had taken her adrenaline levels to a enlightened stage and she never felt more aware or alive before.

Crossing only in the shadows knowing that her only hope lied in the barn and with what she could make shift for hand to hand or in this case hand to head combat. Entering the barn was easy, too easy, better be cautious as she could almost hear the scary movie theme music playing in her head and knew to use her senses to the utmost.

Deciding it too dark in the barn to risk banging around for equipment and having a make shift plan to head straight for the tractor all the while grabbing pitch fork and any other deathly weapons she could find along the way, she flipped on the lights.

Surprise! Happy birthday Mara!!!

Her family and friends all came out laughing and clapping , her sister and the 'zombies' all came rushing in to pat her back and to congratulate her for surviving the surprise party prank.



[edit on 7-10-2007 by antar]

Wow what a prank they pulled on her! I'd be mad if my friends did that to me. LOL

I really like how you handled the phone conversation in this one.

I loved your story antar. Didn't know they still sell juicy fruit gum.
I was walking up a (really, really dark desert road towards the mountain and had packs of coyotes howling at me on both sides of the road. I stayed in the center of the gravel road and started singing REALLY LOUD!
"You got to walk that Lonesome Valley" maybe it wasn't great for my nerves, but the coyotes left! Think I hurt their ears.

Nice one antar, might have to try that out on my little sisters!!

mojo

Oh that would be cruel mojo! Although we do love to pull Halloween pranks round here too, We had a haunted house one time and it was just TOO scary for the kids even though they were in on it from the beginning. We only ended up with a few of the neighbor kids attending, but it was the best ever.

I just wanted to thank everyone that has taken the time to read my story. It was a lot of fun to write and it is one that even the kids can enjoy on Halloween night which was why it was written.

Happy Halloween to all
and to all A Very Scary Hallow's Eve!
Aawwooooo!

great story... full of suspense up to the very end. I thought your heroine was a goner for sure, but then "surprise" nice