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It was October 31st, 9:30 PM. Everyone was getting ready for the school’s biggest halloween party of the year at the frat house. Kory was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup for her costume. The guys were already at the house party and were planning to meet her at the party by the snack table. After putting on the perfect winged liner, she threw the hood for her costume over her head and fixed her hair. The flowy sleeves on her costume fluttered softly as the cold air blew through her window. She fixed the smaller wings sticking out from the side of her hood and made sure the ears on top stood up. After doing her final checks, Kory started for the party.
The crisp fall air nimbly navigated a sea of college kids in their halloween best. The sky was fairly cloudy however. Something about tonight felt ominous, which was the perfect backdrop for Halloween. Or was it? The orange trees were starting to shed more of their leaves to prepare for the incoming winter. As Kory walked through campus to get to the frat house, there was a sudden chill. No, it wasn’t the gusty cold wind, it was something more sinister. Kory shrugged the strange feeling off and brushed some of her hair off to the side.
After a good fifteen minute walk, she finally arrived at the frat house. On the outside, it looked like just a normal suburban house, with the exception of the hoards of college kids and red solo cups littering the front lawn. During the day, it looked just like any other single family suburban home from a sitcom. The trees were decorated with fake webs and there were two massive skeletons dressed in shorts and t-shirts. Inside however was a stark difference to the calm and seemingly average outside. Inside there was music bumping and rattling every single wall of the house. It was impossible to tell where the music was coming from since it bounced and bumped off every wall.
The house was packed wall to wall with students dancing to rap music. On the second floor was the DJ and another set of partygoers. The floor was littered with red solo cups, candy wrappers, cigarette butts, crushed chips and plastic bags that held god knows what. The air was hazy with a mix of dry ice, cigarette smoke and weed. The room was dimly lit, even though there were disco lights and LED strips on at the exact same time. Elias and Damien were standing near the snack counter. Elias was chatting it up with another young man by the snack bar all while Damien gave the man a nasty side eye.
The young man was dressed as a scantily clad angel. His blue eyes were hypnotising, like with every glimmer a spell was being casted. His smile seemed to be the brightest and most glowing thing in the entire house. His short blond hair was a combination of messy and perfect at the same time. His body seemed like it was sculpted by the Greek gods themselves. He was hypnotising. The man fiddled with the choker on his neck while he kept his eyes fixated on Elias. Elias was captivated, but also uncomfortable. Damien gave him the man the most bitter stare humanly possible. He stared at him dead in his eyes with a bitter and cold stare.
“Look, Ivan,” Elias said, “I already said we’re not a thing. I thought we were just friends.”
Ivan grabbed Elias by his arm up the ruffled sleeve of his prince costume and ran his hand down. Elias pulled his arm away while Damien smacked Ivan’s hand. Ivan threw his hands up and stepped back with a cocky smile on his face.
“Alright, alright,” He said, "Whatever you say baby. Just know, if you change your mind-”
“Shut the fuck up!” Damien barked.
“Woah, easy there Damien.” Ivan said as he dug around in the pocket of his chaps “I was just saying, if you change your mind, I’ll be waiting. Just hit me up.”
Ivan handed Elias a crinkled paper with his phone number on it. Ivan walked away from them to go talk with some of his other friends who were dressed almost identically. Damien snatched the paper from his hand and dropped it into his cup before throwing it away. Kory ran up to Elias and Damien. Damien fixed the leg of his destroyed jeans. He was decked from head to toe in elaborate zombie makeup including multiple bite marks all over his body and bone sticking out from his hands. Ivan was off talking with his friends, but he never took his hand off the choker on his neck. After a few minutes, Ivan slipped off into the crowd alone. After Ivan slipped off, Kory heard a very familiar voice call out to her.
“Kory! Over here!” The voice cheerfully called
Kory’s best friend, Paige, was standing around with some of her friends with a solo cup in her hand. Paige was dressed as a marionette puppet in a mini skirt, a flowy jacket and a choker around her neck. Paige excitedly ran up to Kory and gave her a hug, but as she pulled away, she flinched. She placed her hand on her neck and tugged at the choker.
“Is everything ok?” Kory asked
“I’m fine,” Paige said cheerfully “this thing is just a little tight.”
Something felt off about Paige. She was usually super cheerful and peppy, but tonight felt strange. Something felt fake about her cheerfulness. It felt like she was trying to hide something.
“Your choker is so cute!” Kory said as she reached out to touch it
As Kory reached out to touch the choker, Paige flinched and shut her eyes as tight as possible.
“Are you sure this is comfortable for you? I can loosen it for you if you want.” Kory said with concern as she reached for the back of the choker.
Paige jolted away and put her hand on her neck.
“Woah.” Kory said
“I’m ok! Just a little jumpy.” Paige said awkwardly
“About what?”
“Well, I know how you get around this season.”
“I can see where you’re coming from, but I would never hurt you on purpose.”
“I know, but I know you can get kinda carried away with the whole scaring people”
“I’m not trying to scare you, I’m just worried you might choke yourself out by accident.”
“Let’s just move on from this,” Paige said awkwardly. “Besides, I’m gonna go refill at the snack table.”
Despite it being around midnight, over two hours since the party started, the party was still raging on. The music was so loud the walls could collapse at any second from the soundwaves. The pool table was crowded with people watching a group of frat boys dressed as cops and prisoners playing pool. The floor was covered with trash and drinks. Kory was partying it up as the night raged on. But there was also something strange. Ivan and Paige were standing in one of the frat guy’s bedrooms. It was one of the places that was empty. Paige took off her choker and laid it on the nightstand.
On her neck were a set of bitemarks. It looked like something had taken a massive bite out of her skin. The skin around the bite was pale and colorless. The skin looked like it was flaking away. There were yellow veins popping out of her neck from the bite and stretching across her neck. Paige sat down on the bed as Ivan took off his choker. Ivan had the same bitemark on his neck with the same yellow veins. Ivan looked in the mirror and put his hand by the bitemark.
He glanced at the clock on his phone.
“11:30.” Ivan said “I can feel it happening.”
Paige looked at her arm as the veins started turning yellow. Paige started feeling weak. Her heart felt like it was bouncing and running around her chest. She grabbed onto Ivan’s arm. Ivan’s skin started losing its color faster and faster. His skin went from flakey to scaly. Ivan’s pierced ears grew longer and pointier at the top. Ivan yanked his arm away from Paige.
Paige grabbed on to the wall to try and balance herself. Her skin grew paler and paler. Her eyes turned a golden shade of yellow. Paige hunched over in pain. She curled up as two strange bumps emerged from her back. The clock struck 11:45. Paige could feel herself breathing harder and harder. Tears started pouring from her face. She looked up to the ceiling and shut her eyes as tight as possible. Ivan swept his blond hair from out of his face and slicked it back. Right in the middle of his head was a scar. It went straight down from his forehead down to his eyebrows. The scar he tried to hide under his blond hair opened. As the scar opened, something strange appeared. It was an eyeball.
Paige’s shirt and jacket ripped open from her back. Paige screamed and moaned in agony. From her back emerged a pair of jet black wings. She could feel herself getting weaker and weaker. It felt like her soul was slowly crawling out over her body with every scream. She grabbed on to her long brunette hair and pulled. Her pale gray skin started cracking and peeling. The clock struck midnight. Paige stood up and scratched at the door with a strange set of claws. The claw marks dragged down the door and peeled away at the paint. Paige reached for the doorknob and twisted it. Her wings stood tall on her back. Ivan hooked himself on the back of Paige and her wings. Ivan sniffed the air, his pointy ears pointing right downstairs to where the party raged on.
Meanwhile, the party raged on as normal. Everyone was blissfully unaware about the horrors that happened upstairs. Everyone danced the night away like it was just another college party. And then it happened. Nobody knew who it was, but a young woman was on her way upstairs to meet with one of the frat guys in his room. As she was climbing up, something strange happened. The woman came tumbling down as Ivan lunged at her arm. He started chewing and gnawing at her arms as the woman underwent some horrific transformation. Her muscles started growing larger and larger. She started grunting and groaning as her yellow eyes started scanning the room.
The room erupted in panic. Everyone in the house bolted off every which way as the three creatures sprinted towards everyone. Elias grabbed Damien by the arm as the three sprinted off. Damien’s heart started racing faster and faster. He felt like he was about to pass out at any second from fear. He felt both clammy and hot at the same time. Elias started bolting to the front door just like everyone else. The muscular creature hoisted a pool table over its head and slammed it right in front of the door. The creature shoved a couch right in front of the overturned pool table.
“Fuck!” Damien shouted
“We need to break from the crowd!” Elias shouted
Elias grabbed Damien and Kory and the three of them sprinted upstairs. It seemed like every second someone was getting bitten. Every second someone transformed into some strange and hideous creature. Fangs, wings, peeled skin, beady yellow eyes, they all looked the same yet different at the same time. After the three of them sprinted upstairs, they locked themselves in the closest bedroom. Damien’s face was pale as he sat with his back against the bed.
“It happened.” He said
“What happened? What the hell is going on?” Kory asked
“You know that story about the senior who saw those weird creatures at the annual camping trip?” Damien asked
“Yeah.” Kory said nervously
“That’s them. Those are the creatures.” Damien said
“We need to stay calm.” Elias said “We can’t survive if we’re running around like this.”
“We gotta find out how to get out of here.” Damien said “We’re essentially in a ticking death trap right now. Sooner or later everyone in here is gonna turn into creatures.”
“Well how did they get in here?” Elias asked
“Someone must’ve been infected before.” Damien said “Every year, all the infected skinwalkers have to eat a certain amount of flesh and blood to maintain their human side. On Halloween, they reset and have to fill up for the year.”
“What happens if they don’t eat enough?” Elias asked
“They get stuck like that until they eat enough.” Damien said “But every year they transform earlier and earlier in the year.”
The sound of mumbled, yet piercing screams and panicked footsteps echoed from downstairs. The sounds of agonizing screams and moans echoed off the walls of the house. For once, the sounds of agony were louder than the music.
“We gotta high tail it outta here.” Kory said
“How?” Damien asked, “The door’s blocked.”
“We can get out by the roof.” Kory said
“The roof!?” Damien asked
“Yeah, there's an escape through the roof.” She said
“How?” He asked
“The guys do it all the time at pool parties. We just need to get into the attic and then pop the trap door open.” Kory said confidently
“Are you sure this is gonna work?” Damien asked
“I don’t know, but this is our only shot out.” Kory said
“Sounds like a plan, but things could get dangerous really quick.” Elias said
Damien held the prop grappling hook for his Batman costume “This isn’t gonna kill them, but it’ll starve them off.”
Elias and Kory rummaged through the frat boy’s bedroom for anything they could use as a weapon. After some frantic rummaging, Elias was able to grab a baseball bat from out of the guy’s closet and a few dumbbells. Kory and Damien were able to scrounge up a few beer bottles that were kicked under the door during the chaos. The downstairs of the party roared with grunts and growls from the creatures. Elias handed Kory and Damien a few dumbbells. Damien grabbed the doorknob tightly.
“On the count of three.” Damien said quietly “1… 2… 3.”
Damien threw the door open. Lucky for them, there were two skinwalkers waiting to try and strike them. The door swung open right towards the skinwalkers. The knob of the door swung right in the middle of the stomach of one of the skinwalkers. The hit knocked all the wind out of her as she fell backwards. The second skinwalker was whacked in the head and stumbled backward. The two skinwalkers growled in rage and started towards them.
Kory immediately jumped into battle before the guys could start. She threw a bottle right at the skinwalkers. It struck one of them right in their head and shattered. The glass cut the top of his forehead as yellow liquid dripped from it. The liquid dripped down his forehead to his eyes. The skinwalker wiped the yellow blood from his brow like sweat.
He sprinted forward as Elias swung the baseball bat right at him. The bat struck Elias right in the stomach and sent him backward. The skinwalker barrelled right into a group of three other skinwalkers. The skinwalkers were knocked out all over the ground, completely helpless. They grunted and groaned in agony as they tried to get up. Kory signaled for the rest of the gang to follow her as she bolted down the hall. The rest of the gang followed right behind her while Damien kept his eyes on the skinwalker pile.
The rickety floorboards creaked with each step. The smell of weed and alcohol lingered through the air and clung to the walls. The house seemed normal for the party, except for one thing. Dead silence. The only thing stronger than the smell of weed and alcohol was the dead silence that hung in the air. Except for the rickety floorboards, there was nothing. Damien already feared the worst case scenario. Everyone was infected. Elias gripped tightly to his baseball bat like his life depended on it. The gang huddled together tightly, so tight they could hear their own heartbeats and breaths. Damien clutched onto the dumbbell, ready to send it rolling right at any skinwalkers crawling through.
A sharp chill crawled down everyone’s back. It felt like someone was staring them down. It felt like something was watching them. Damien kept his head on a swivel to scan for any skinwalkers.
“I think we lost them.” Elias said
“Thank god!” Kory said with a smile as she dug around her pocket for some candy “I need something to take the edge off.”
“Don’t get too excited, we still need to get up to the attic.” Damien said
“I think the stairs are down this way.” She said as she pointed down the hall.
There was a strange sound that sounded like clicking and croaking. It sounded like a frog got stuck in a grandfather clock. There was no telling where the sound was coming from. Maybe it was from right above them, maybe it was from the stairs, maybe it was right behind them. Nobody knew.
“What the hell is that sound?” Damien shuttered
“It’s probably that old grandfather clock in the attic.” Kory said “The guys get creeped out by it too.”
The ticking sound got louder and louder as the gang crept closer and closer. It seemed like every second the ticking sound got louder and louder. Something felt off about the sound. Something about the sound felt off. It sounded like something else. Something more sinister. Sounded like something twisted. The gang kept creeping closer to the stairs. All of a sudden, it stopped. After a good five minutes, there was a strange shadow cast across the wall.
It looked like another person, but it looked different. The ears on the human looked strange. They looked like elf ears. Maybe it was a survivor. Maybe someone had survived the rampage of the creatures. Maybe there was someone that survived the mayhem. The person walked closer as the shadow grew smaller as the person walked closer. They could just faintly make out what the person looked like. He had curly hair and looked pretty skinny. He looked like he hadn't eaten in months, years even. The man walked down the hall until his shadow finally looked more human and less giant.
“Over here! We know a way out!” Kory called towards the man.
The man’s elf ears pointed right towards them. The man threw his head back. He started making strange sounds. The sounds were familiar. He was clicking and croaking. The man turned the corner. The gang finally got a good view of his face. The man wasn’t a man at all. His scaly gray skin gave it all away. He was a skinwalker.
From behind him, five skinwalkers emerged. Two of them bolted towards the gang. Elias bolted down the hall as the other two tried to follow behind him. Kory kicked a blond skinwalker in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her. The second skinwalker however was luckier. He lunged at her arm and pierced her skin with his claws. Kory yanked away as fast as she could. As she pulled herself away, the claws left a massive gash on her arm. The blood gushed from her arm like a waterfall.
Kory swung a beer bottle right at the creature’s face as she kicked him between the legs. He groaned in agony and fell backwards with his hands over his crotch. Just as he was recovering and slowly standing up, something came barreling towards him. The creature was smart enough to know to jump over the dumbbell, the others behind him weren’t as clever. A flock of skinwalkers got bowled over by rogue the dumbbell and got slammed into the corner.
Damien went crazy throwing beer bottle after beer bottle at the skinwalkers. The bottles shattered against the skinwalkers like snowballs. The skinwalkers tried their hardest to ignore the glass and push forward, but the glass shards stuck right into their feet and arms. The yellow ooze dripped from their body. The elf eared skinwalker had massive shards of glass sticking out of his arms and legs, but despite that, he zeroed in on Kory. The elf eared skinwalker started lapping up the blood on the floor like a dog. The elf eared skinwalker looked Kory dead in the eyes and licked his lips. Just as the skinwalker ducked his head down to take a bite out of Kory’s arm, something hit him.
Elias swung his baseball bat right at the skinwalker’s head. He swung the bat right at the skinwalker’s head and at his throat. The skinwalker stretched his claws out to try and scratch Elias, but he slammed his head with the bat again. The skinwalker fell over and scratched off the fabric off Elias’ costume. After that, everyone sprinted down the hall to find the trap door. At the dead end of the hallway, Kory looked up and jumped to pull the trap door down. The ladder tumbled down from out the attic and hit the floor with a thud. Despite her arm gashed open and bleeding, Kory was the first one up the ladder. Elias and Damien followed right behind her and the three of them pulled the ladder up and shut the trapped door.
“This way!” Kory pointed down to the other side of the attic.
“We can’t go yet,” Elias said as he grabbed Kory’s arm “You’re bleeding way too much.”
Elias reached in his backpack and pulled out a small first aid kit with some antiseptic. He wrapped the gash up with the sleeve of his costume and held it together with some tape. The three of them could hear the sea of skinwalkers groaning and grunting from under them. The attic seemed almost strangely normal. Something about the normalcy felt strangely eerie. It felt almost like something was seconds away from going horribly wrong.
The dusty smell was a pleasant break from the omnipresent smell of weed and booze. There was one window at the other end of the attic, which gave it a faint glow from the streetlights. The floor was littered with dust and mouse droppings. A few cobwebs dangled from the corners of the room. There was a huge old grandfather clock in the corner of the room that was slowly ticking eerily. The clock’s shadow was cast across the wall like an eerie creature. Other than the slowly ticking clock, there was nothing but silence.
After everyone reached the trapped door, Damien stood on top of a crate and fiddled with the knob. The door was jammed shut. Something sticky was all over the knob where it would usually turn with ease.
“Elias, I need something to wipe this off.” Damien said
Elias ripped off a piece of his sleeves and handed it to Damien. He fiddled around with the piece of fabric as he tried to wipe off every drop of sticky gunk. After a while, the knob finally turned smoothly enough to twist fully. Damien pulled on the door knob and the trapped door popped open. The fresh cold air rushed into the dark attic. The glow of the moonlight and streetlights poured into the room. Damien jumped from the box and hoisted himself up. He was on top of the roof.
Damien looked out from the roof. His heart started racing. The roof sounded rickety and creaky, like at any second it would collapse on him. He felt like he was seconds away from throwing up. The world seemed so small from on top of the roof. It made him feel sick. He sat down to stop himself from getting too scared.
Kory and Elias followed right behind him. The second Kory popped up from the trapped door, Damien grabbed onto her arm as tight as possible. Maybe it was the cold air, maybe it was the looming threat of death three floors beneath them, maybe it was the thought of being twenty feet away from the ground. Whatever it was, there was a sharp chill climbing up Damien’s spine. His heart raced a thousand miles a minute. He kept his gaze down at the tiled roof to avoid looking at the long fall down.
“Alright,” Kory said as she took a deep breath “on the count of three, we’re gonna jump.”
“Woah, woah, woah, woah.” Damien said as he took a step back “Are you sure we jump here? I can pull the rope off my grappling hook and we can tie it to something.”
“We can’t do that. There's nothing stable enough to anchor ourselves on.” Elias said
“It’s just a quick jump. It’s not that scary, I’ve done crazier stuff at much higher heights.” Kory said flippantly
Damien looked at Elias nervously. He tightly grabbed onto his arm and curled up tightly. Elias looked at Damien warmly. Elias held his hand tightly and looked at him with a comforting smile.
“Kory, you jump first.” Elias said “This jump is pretty risky, you can jump down first and we’ll watch you.”
Elias whispered into Damien’s ears “Stick close to me.”
Elias threw his arms around Damien’s body and held him tightly against his chest. Damien could hear Elias’ heart beat. Elias could feel his feet being lifted off the roof. The cold air rushed around him swiftly. His heart started racing faster and faster by the millisecond. Damien couldn’t see a single thing. All of a sudden Damien bumped against Elias’ chest and the ground with a thump. Even though the fall was only one second long, to Damien it felt like he jumped from a thousand foot cliff. Damien pulled himself away from Elias’ chest and looked around. He took a deep and heavy breath.
Elias stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants. Elias looked through the window from a distance as the skinwalkers bumped each other like a deathly moshpit. A three eyed skinwalker banged on the glass and scratched his claws against it. As the creature kept banging on the glass, it shattered into thousands of pieces. The creature clicked and croaked loudly as he crawled through the window. The creature stared Elias dead in the eyes.
She smiled at him with a crooked smile. Her teeth were caked with dried blood. She licked her teeth and flashed his claws. Her yellow rotting claws were filthy and caked with blood and flesh. Her gray skin peeled like paint from her boney face. The creature’s golden eyes fixated on Elias.
Elias looked at the creature in fear.
“Run.”