Summer Slayings - Fun, Sun and MASSACRES

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Hey, my spookies. I hope
you're having a great Friday and you're ready

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for an enjoyable summer weekend. But
before we get into the heat of a

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good time, I think it's time
to get a little chilled to the bone.

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So I've taken it upon myself to
gather up five of the best summertime

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slayings Weekly Spooky has ever featured.
Oh, these stories are just as chilling

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as they are hot, and they're
cheaper than your air conditioning bill because they're

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free. So kick back right now
with a story of want and love and

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vengeful spirits. Courtesy of Charles Campbell
from Horror four twenty one. Make sure

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to check out his podcast and Horror
four twenty one. By the way,

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this one is creepy and a whole
lot of fun, and I feel like

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it really brings you to that summertime
feeling. So we'll be checking out the

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Spirit of Langley Pond after these quick
messages. The Spirit of Langley Pond by

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Charles Campbell, Summer nineteen eighty one. Elena Anne Sanders swam for all she

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was worth. She could hear the
echo of her mother's sentiment in her mind.

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Don't get into any trouble. Call
me if you need me to come

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get you. No questions asked.
Elena wished she had listened to her mother

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instead. It was nearly midnight and
she was swimming for her life to shore.

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Elena was beginning to think she was
going to make it. She was

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going to see her mother again.
The crack of a gunshot was the last

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sound Elena heard before the darkness of
the water claimed her. Langley Pond was

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going to be her grave. Summer
two thousand and twenty one, Langley Pond

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had changed quite a bit in the
last forty years, being billed as the

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largest pond in North America, it
was nearly the size of a lake.

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No longer were clay mudslides used as
makeshift boat ramps. Now there were full

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fledged, paved boat ramps descending into
the water. There were designated picnic areas

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spread around the shoreline, along with
a few cabins that were rented nearly every

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weekend. It was almost ten o'clock
at night and the humidity of the day

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still hung in the air. Brianna
Turner glanced at her cell phone. It

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was eighty two degrees ugh, I
can't believe how hot it is, Brianna

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said. She peeled a strand of
sweat stuck hair from her forehead and grinned

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at her boyfriend, Andy Spires.
Andy smiled back and said, yeah,

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it was over a hundred today.
Thought we might get a little relief by

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being near the water and all guess
not. At least we have the cabin

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with the window unit. That's a
plus. You're right, that's a plus,

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Brianna agreed. They both turned toward
the woods when they heard snapping twigs

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and shuffling feet. Hey, Frog, y'all catch anything, Andy asked when

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he saw Frog Spradley and his girl
of the week, Jenny Coggins cleared the

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tree line into their sight. Had
a few nibbles, but nothing big.

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Threw them all back, Frog said, Jenny smiled, but she didn't look

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all that happy to be trapsing through
the woods. Good thing we brought beanie

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weenies. Then, Andy said,
Jenny gave him the you can't be serious

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look, and Frog replied, damn
man, you are a lifesaver. Beany

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wheenies are the shit. I thought
I'd have to break out the Vienna sausages

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and saltine crackers. Hey, Jenny, you want to go in the cabin

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and cool off. Brianna asked yes, Jenny shouted it was hot. She

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was sticky, and if this excursion
with Frog taught her anything, she was

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definitely an inside girl. The boys
watched as the girls walked into the cabin.

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Okay, Frog, where'd you find
that one? Andy asked. Frog

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gave him a sneaky smile, and
sheepishly shrugged his shoulders. Come on,

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man, I don't recognize her.
She ain't one of your usual valley honeys.

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She's from Martinez. Frog whispered,
Why are you whispering? She can't

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hear us out here? What in
the world were you doing in Martinez?

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And how'd you get her? She
looks too sophisticated to be stomped around Langley

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p especially with you, the prince
of the valley. She don't know nothing

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about the valley, does she?
And he asked, well she does now.

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I told her about the spirit of
Langley Pond. Frog replied, you

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didn't, and she hasn't left screaming, not yet. Maybe it's because her

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phone died while we were fishing.
She seemed more interested in whatever was on

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Instagram or Facebook than catching a catfish
inside the cabin. Oh my god,

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that ac feels fantastic, Jenny said, and stuck her face in front of

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the window unit. It was turned
all the way up, and Jenny's sandy

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blonde hair blew behind her like she
was riding on the back of a motorcycle.

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Yeah, it's the only cabin out
here with one. Andy sprang for

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the extra sixty bucks, said it
would be worth it to sleep in comfort,

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and he ain't wrong. It's sticky
as hell outside. How long you

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and Frog been seeing each other?
Oh? Um, I just met him

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yesterday. Where are you from?
You ain't from the valley? Valley?

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What's the valley, Jenny asked,
You're in it, Brianna answered, and

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continued. You know that main road
you took to get here, the one

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that went through a bunch of little
bitty towns. Yeah, Jenny replied and

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turned to face Brianna. Brianna was
grinning and her brown eyes were gleaming.

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Jenny really paid attention to Brianna for
the first time, and she had this

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country girl pretty thing going for.
She looked like she could be fun in

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the sack, but could kick your
ass out of it if necessary. Well,

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that road is four twenty one and
four twenty one is the valley Rednecks

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for as far as the eye can
see. And you got yourself what we

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call a valley prince? That right? Why is he a valley? He's

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a Spradley and Spradley's have been around
the valley for as long as anybody can

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remember. Everybody calls him Frog.
I don't even know if that's his given

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name, but I know his daddy
was called Frog and his daddy's daddy was

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called Frog. They owned several businesses
in the valley. His brother Ricky owns

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Valley Video. His other brother,
Johnny, owns Spradley's fillin station in Langley.

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His sister Darnell Well, she owns
a beauty shop in Gloverville named Can

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you guess Spradley's Beauty Shop? Jenny
asked as she shrugged her shoulders. Yep,

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nailed it. So if you're from
the valley, you know who the

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Spradley's are. Oh, really,
that's good to know. So what do

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you know about this spirit he was
telling me about while we were fishing?

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He didn't tell you about the spirit
of Langley Pond. Please tell me he

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didn't try to scare you with that
story, Brianna suppressed a chuckle. He

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did, and it did freak me
out a bit. Is there any truth

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behind it? From what I've heard, these local legends start with a grain

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of truth somewhere, and that grain
grows and gets exaggerated over the years.

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That's kind of what I'm thinking.
Am I wrong? Should I be afraid

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of a ghost in the pond?
Jenny asked. Brianna smiled and motioned for

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Jenny to take a seat in the
living room. Yeah, I know about

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the grain that started the story.
It was something that really happened about forty

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years ago. It went something like
this summer nineteen eighty one. It was

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Friday morning and Elena bit her mother
farewell for the weekend. Her mother's voice

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issued a lifeline as Elena walked out
the door to meet her boyfriend, Dustin

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Hines. Don't get into any trouble, calm if you need me to come

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get you, no questions asked.
Elena told her mother not to worry and

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that she would be home on Sunday
night. Hey, babe, Dustin said.

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As Elena hopped into his Ford pickup. She leaned over and gave Dustin

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a quick kiss before she pounded the
dashboard, which meant it was time to

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burn rubber. Dustin pulled out of
the driveway and be lined to Belvedere Clearwater

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Road. Finally, Elena shouted she
was ready to have a weekend alone with

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Dustin. They had been talking about
it for the better part of six months.

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Elena leaned her head out of the
open window to feel the wind in

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her face. Hey babe, watch
out for telephone polls. You don't want

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to get your head knocked off.
Who would really put a damper on the

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weekend, Dustin said as he tugged
on Elena's arm. Okay, okay,

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I'm just excited, that's all I
know. It's just Langley Pond, Just

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Langley Pond, Just Langley Pond.
You know, it's the pride of the

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valley, Dustin said. He looked
at Elena with his blue eyes, and

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he could see her melt just a
little. You're lang it on a little

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thick there, ain't you. Everybody
knows Richardson's Lake is the pride of the

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valley, she said, enamored with
her. Man, I beg to differ.

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You can't put a boat on Richardson's
Lake, and I really don't know

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how they can call that tiny mud
puddle a lake anyway, Langley Pond should

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be a lake. I mean it's
as big as one. Speaking of boats,

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Elena interrupted, does your daddy still
have that John boat at Langley Pond?

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He does, Duston smiled trolling motor
in the back of the truck.

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Duston answered, sweet, Elena replied. The pair rode in silence for the

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next nine minutes. Elena hopped out
of the truck as soon as it rolled

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to a stop just inside the confines
of Langley Pond. I can't wait to

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jump in the water, Elena screamed
and shed her clothing as fast as she

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could, revealing her bathing suit underneath. Dang girl, you ain't gonna wait

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for me to put up the tent, Dustin asked the air. Elena was

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already splashing in the water. Dustin
set up the two person tent and pulled

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the trolling motor from the back of
the truck. Elena swam to shore when

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she saw the tent was all set
up and the trolling motor was attached to

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the John boat. Hey, babe, we're gonna do some night fishing.

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The bass should be poppin top water. Plugs tonight, Elena said, as

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she took a seat in the lawn
chair set outside the tent. I reckon,

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we can do that. Mama packed
up some ham sandwiches and the small

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cooler, and I got papsed in
the biggin. I love you, Dustin.

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Shut up. You do not want
me for my money, Duston joked.

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The couple eight sandwiches, drank beer, let their food and drink settle

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before they made clumsy love. In
the tent. Elena fell asleep with Dustin's

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arms wrapped around her. She woke
up five hours later alone. Dustin you

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outside, Elena asked, as she
rubbed her eyes and stretched. She shuffled

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out of the tent and heard the
frogs croaking their night tunes. The crickets

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returned to symphony of their own.
Dustin, where are you at? You

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know you can pee in front of
me, Elena shouted. She looked around

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and was comforted that the truck was
still parked in the same spot, so

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Dustin didn't decide to go on a
midnight snack run and leave her out here

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all alone. But he didn't answer
her, and that was a reason for

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concern until she saw the light from
the flashlight out in the middle of the

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pond. The John boat wasn't there, that sorry sack of potatoes. Elena

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shouted, Dustin, get your ass
back over here and pick me up.

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She hollered into the night toward the
light of the boat. The light flashed

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in her direction, but the boat
didn't move. Don't make me swim out

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there, Dustin, I swear I
will, and I'll make so much noise

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that no fish is gonna bite for
the rest of the night. Don't test

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me. Elena was leaving playful and
moving into pissed off. The light flashed

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in her direction once more, but
the boat still did not move. Okay,

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I'm coming. Elena slashed into the
pond and began swimming toward the boat.

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The boat still didn't move. The
longer she swam, the angrier she

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became. He better not dare ask
for sex the rest of the trip,

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is what she was thinking, Not
even a hand job. The light still

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shined like a beacon from a lonely
lighthouse. Elena was about thirty yards away

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from the John boat when she realized
something was very, very wrong. There

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was a figure standing in the center
of the boat, a figure that was

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a might bit shorter than her boyfriend. That was their john boat, but

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that wasn't dustin. Elena swam a
little closer to see if she could make

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out who it was standing in the
boat, and screamed in horror when she

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saw what the man was holding in
his left hand. It couldn't be real.

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It had to be some kind of
joke. Her mind was telling her

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someone was just pranking her. The
man in the boat swung his left arm

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up around and launched the severed head
of dustin hinds in Elena's direction. She

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waited what seemed like hours on the
sound of the splash, and when the

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sound came, Elena turned around and
swam for all she was worth. Elena

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felt as if bricks were weighing her
down. The burning in her lungs felt

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like she inhaled lit gasolene. She
could hear the echo of her mother's sentiment

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in her mind, don't get into
any trouble. Call me if you need

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me to come get you. No
questions asked. Elena wished that she had

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listened to her mother. Instead,
she was swimming for her life to shore.

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Elena was beginning to think she was
going to make it. She was

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going to see her mother again.
The crack of a gunshot was the last

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sound Elena heard before the darkness of
the water claimed her. Langley Pond was

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going to be her grave. Don't
go away weekly, Spooky will be right

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back. Summer two thousand and twenty
one. Jenny's face was flush when Brianna

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finished the story. Was that true
what you told me? She asked pretty

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much. I don't know if that's
exactly how the conversations went down, but

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the facts are. Elena and Dustin
went to Langley Pond. Dustin's head was

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chopped off. They found the body
in the boat, and Elena had been

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shot in the head. It took
them a while to find her body,

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though longer than it probably should have. They say her body was in the

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pond long enough for her spirit to
be trapped here. Some people say they

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can hear splashing around and hollering sometimes
me, I think it's just the bass

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having their late night snacks. They
can make quite a ruckuss when they are

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attacking frogs, lizards and whatnot.
I wouldn't let it scare you too much,

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though, Brianna finished and patted Jenny
on her hands. Did they ever

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catch the guy? That did it. Jenny asked, Well, that's the

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thing they did, That's how we
got this story that's been passed down for

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forty years. But he was shot
in the head with a long range rifle

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as he was escorted to the court
house. Let's just say the police didn't

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spend a lot of time looking for
the killer of Billie Jean Morris. From

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what's been passed down. A lot
of folks think it was set up that

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00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:30.400
way. The police can turn a
blind eye sometimes when it comes to Valley

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00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:36.319
justice, especially when it's a couple
of local kids that were killed, Kids

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00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:41.480
that everybody knew, kids that everybody
loved. There were some rumors that it

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was Elaine as daddy or even Dustin's
daddy. They were both avid hunters with

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rifles to do the job. They
weren't even questioned. I don't blame either

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00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.839
one of them. If they killed
Billy Jean, he deserved it, Brianna

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finished. Jenny looked at her in
all seriousness and said, what if Billy

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00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:06.000
Jean didn't kill them, what if
someone else did? And what if that

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00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:11.599
someone else is still around? Jenny
asked, clearly working herself up into something

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00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:15.880
that Brianna thought was silly. Calm
down, girl, it was Billy Jean.

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00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:18.839
I know it was Billy Jean.
It's a valley thing. He wouldn't

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00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:23.119
understand. Now, let's go see
what those boys are up to. Frog

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00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:27.079
was grinning from ear to ear as
he saw the girl's approach. Andy was

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00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:33.039
down in another PBR. I was
beginning to worry about you too. You

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00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:37.079
get your girl talk in, Frog
asked, as he grabbed his own PBR.

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00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:41.319
Yeah, something like that. Brianna
replied and winked at Jenny to let

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00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:47.640
her know it was okay. It
was just a stupid local legend. Nothing

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00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:52.400
to worry about, Frog. Are
we really having Beanie Weenies for dinner?

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00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:56.000
I mean, I'd rather go to
the store and grab some sandwich stuff.

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00:18:56.440 --> 00:18:59.680
Maybe Brianna and I could run to
the grocery store real quick. We'll get

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00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:03.079
a bag ice and some more of
that beer, y'all like. Frog was

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00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.799
all set to disagree and forced the
Beanie Weenie supper, but when the bee

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00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:12.079
word came up, he changed his
course of thinking. I think that'd be

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00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:15.680
okay. What do you think Andy? The girls can go get the sandwich

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00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:19.079
stuff in another case of beer.
I'll contribute ten bucks for the cause,

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00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:23.519
Frog said, and pulled a crinkled
bill from his well weathered leather wallet.

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00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:27.720
Yeah, I reckon, that'll be
okay, Brianna. Take her to the

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00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:30.960
bilow where Jimmy works. He'll let
you buy the beer with no id.

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00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:37.480
Brienna rolled her eyes at Andy like
she didn't already know that she had bought

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00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:41.960
beer at that bilo since she was
fourteen years old. The valley kids knew

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00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:45.400
where to go without being ripped off. There was always the quick shop option,

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00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:49.680
where the owner would only sell the
swill known as Milwaukee's Best for triple

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00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:55.119
the labeled price to desperate teens.
That's the only way he could get rid

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00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:56.920
of the crap, and he had
to carry it because it was such an

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00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:02.680
under the table moneymaker for him.
Anyway he can stick it to the government

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00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:06.559
and help raise the next generation of
valley rats, the better for his valley

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00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:11.039
pride and his pockets. Andy tossed
the truck keys to Brianna. Be careful,

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00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:15.039
babe, don't wreck my truck and
don't get caught with that beer.

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Brianna gave him another eye roll and
trotted to the driver's side. Jenny felt

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00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:23.599
a wave of relief when Brianna started
the engine and the cool lair from the

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00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:32.279
ac kissed her face. Andy Frog
said, with a wicked grin. Yeah,

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00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:36.480
I had Jenny going pretty good with
the spirit of Langley Pond. You

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00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:40.440
want to have some fun and scare
the girls when they get back, more

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00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:45.640
Jenny than Brianna. I know she's
tough to scare. I don't know,

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00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.000
man, that new girl might go
off the deep end. I mean,

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00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:52.319
you don't know her all that well, and it'll severely reduce your chances of

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00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:56.599
playing Hide the snake. If you
catch my drift, it'll be more like

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00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:02.640
a whack a mole. Andy replied
and smiled. I don't care, Frog

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00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:06.480
began. I don't think she's gonna
give it up anyway. May as well

249
00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:10.640
have some fun with her. She's
creeped out over the ghost of Elena Sanders.

250
00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:15.400
First, what did you have in
mind? And second, if Brianna

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00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:21.119
gets pissed, it's on you.
Andy replied. Look, while they're gone,

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00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:23.880
I'm gonna go to the edge of
the woods over yonder. Frog pointed

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00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.680
to the shoreline at his left.
You see that cluster of trees over there.

254
00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:33.359
Yeah, well, I'm gonna go
over there behind them, trees and

255
00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:37.119
start tossing some of the red bricks
that Ricky put over in that clearing into

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00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:40.799
the pond. He'll never miss him. He'd done forgot he put them out

257
00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:44.720
there, and check this out real
quick, give me a second. Frog

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00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.519
ran to his car and Andy could
hear him rustling before he came trotting back

259
00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:52.160
with a palm sized speaker. It's
a bluetooth, man, I'm going to

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00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:56.519
play some Halloween screams out of this
bad boy. It works right off my

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00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:02.000
phone. And while you're doing all
this shit, where am I supposed to

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00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:03.759
tell them? You are? Tell
them I went to the other side of

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00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:07.799
the pond to go giggin. Brianna
will believe that she knows how much I

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00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:14.000
love to go gigging, and when
she finds out that's a lie, then

265
00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:15.839
me and my right hand are going
to be best friends for the rest of

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00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:21.880
the trip. I don't think so, Andy replied, you have to take

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00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:23.759
the fun out of everything, man. Look, I will tell you that

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00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.319
I was going gigging and I'm going
to disappear for a little while. Then

269
00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:30.319
you won't be lying and you can
act like you're just as pissed as the

270
00:22:30.359 --> 00:22:33.960
girls. I suspect. I'll be
taking Jenny home after this stunt, and

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00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:38.519
you and Brianna will be all alone
in the cabin. Frog grinned and poked

272
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:42.519
his finger through the hole he made
with his other hand. A smile ran

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00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:47.839
across Andy's face. Now that sounds
like a better plan, my man.

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00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:52.160
I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing but the spirit of

275
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:57.359
Elena Ann Sanders splashing and screaming in
the water. That's the spirit, Frog

276
00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:07.319
replied, without realizing then darkness was
closing in on the valley when Andy saw

277
00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:11.960
the lights of his truck coming down
the path. They're back, he shouted,

278
00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:17.039
which sent frogs scurrying for the tree
line. Brienna and Jenny were still

279
00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:21.440
laughing from their conversation on the trip
back. Hey, girls, need a

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00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:26.799
hand, Andy walked toward them.
Where's Frog was the first question from Jenny's

281
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:30.720
lips, and Brienna already had her
doubting eyes looking around for the mischievous valley

282
00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:36.000
prince. He'll be back directly he
went Giggin on the other side of the

283
00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:41.000
pond. What's giggin, Jenny asked, thinking it was some made up thing

284
00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:45.880
by these valley people. He went
to kill his namesake. Brienna answered,

285
00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:49.680
giggin is when you basically take a
three prong metal spear and go stab frogs

286
00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:53.759
with him. Don't worry, though, Frog isn't killing them entirely for fun.

287
00:23:55.079 --> 00:23:57.799
He'll cut the legs off and fry
them up. You he's going to

288
00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:03.279
eat their legs. Jenny couldn't believe
what she was hearing. Yeah, I'll

289
00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:07.400
probably eat some too, Andy,
though he's not much on frog legs,

290
00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:11.200
are you, babe? Brianna asked, y'all can have that. If I

291
00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:14.960
eat a fried leg, it better
have belonged to a chicken. That's all

292
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.240
I'll say. Did he say when
he's coming back? Jenny asked, Well,

293
00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:23.200
with frog, you never can tell. If he starts sticking them left

294
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:26.039
and right, it might be a
while, But if he can't catch him

295
00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:30.279
then he might not be gone so
long. Is he good at catching them?

296
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:37.359
Jenny asked, best in the valley? Brianna replied oh. Jenny said

297
00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:40.880
she thought that was a hell of
a way to treat your date. Send

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00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:44.079
her off to get your beer while
you go kill frogs around the pond.

299
00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:47.680
Jenny made up her mind that Frog
would have to take her home as soon

300
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:52.079
as he got back. Here's your
beer, Brianna said, and pulled the

301
00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.720
case from the bed of the pickup. It's still cold. Jenny and I

302
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:57.880
are going to make ourselves a couple
of sandwiches. Do you want a ham

303
00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:02.319
and cheese? You know I do? Can you bring it back out here?

304
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:04.720
I'm going to start a fire in
the pit. It's eighty something to

305
00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:07.200
grease out, Andy, Do you
really want to make it any hotter?

306
00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:11.119
I like to see the people in
the flames, babe. I won't keep

307
00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:15.160
it lit all night. All righty, then go see your flame people.

308
00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:18.920
Come on, Jenny, I'm starving. The girls went into the cabin.

309
00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:23.640
Andy lit up the fire pit and
waited to hear the first splash. Brianna

310
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:27.119
came out ten minutes later with Andy
sam which wrapped in a paper towel.

311
00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:33.920
Did Frog really go gigging, Bran
asked? Andy truthfully answered, that's where

312
00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:37.839
he told me he was going.
But you never know with Frog. He

313
00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:41.000
added that just to cover his ass
for when the ship went down. All

314
00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:45.079
right, it's pretty dark out here. Now. You coming in soon?

315
00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:48.839
Yeah, I'll be in a little
bit. I was trying to wait on

316
00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:52.119
Frog to get back. I'm surprised
he didn't come running when he heard the

317
00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:56.319
beer truck, Andy said, already
thinking of how fake mad he was going

318
00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:00.519
to be with Frog when the prank
unfolded. Andy wondered if Frog would let

319
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:04.400
him get a punch in just to
completely exonerate himself from any involvement in his

320
00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:08.720
childish ploy. Just put that fire
out before you come in. We don't

321
00:26:08.759 --> 00:26:12.799
want to be the ones to burn
down the cabins. Roger that. Andy

322
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:18.279
smiled and pursed his lips for a
kiss. Brianna gave him a quick pack.

323
00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:22.319
Fifteen minutes passed and there was no
splash, no sound from the area

324
00:26:22.359 --> 00:26:26.759
in which Frog disappeared. Andy was
getting a little aunty as he stood from

325
00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:30.720
his chair, took another gulp of
PBR, and turned toward the cabin.

326
00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:36.759
He could see the outline of the
girls standing near the ac unit. Andy

327
00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:44.839
began walking toward the cabin when the
first splash finally came. Ah, so

328
00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:48.680
it begins, Andy thought to himself. The girls didn't hear it, or

329
00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.400
if they did, it wasn't enough
ruckas yet to make them come outside.

330
00:26:53.240 --> 00:27:00.240
Then there was a second splash,
much louder than the first. He saw

331
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:06.119
Brienna's head turn, but she didn't
come outside. I guess third times a

332
00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:10.839
charm is what Andy thought. The
third splash came, and it was much

333
00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:15.799
louder than the first two. This
time he saw Brienna move toward the door.

334
00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:25.839
Then came the scream. It was
loud, shrill, and brief,

335
00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:32.920
almost inhuman. It was a scream
of severe pain. Brienna came bursting out

336
00:27:32.920 --> 00:27:36.200
the door. All right, Andy, tell Frog to cut the shit.

337
00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:40.519
Jenny's freaking the hell out in there. She's afraid to come out. Frog,

338
00:27:41.079 --> 00:27:45.960
cut the shit. Brienna hollered in
the direction of the commotion. There

339
00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:55.000
were more splashes. They got louder
and closer, louder and closer. Then

340
00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:00.920
the second scream. It was so
loud. Andy was thinking that was one

341
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:03.920
hell of a speaker. Frog had
brought. Andy and Brianna heard running,

342
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:11.440
and it was coming toward them very
quickly. Frog emerged from the darkness and

343
00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:15.240
his face was white as a sheet. Frog, you son of a Brianna

344
00:28:15.319 --> 00:28:21.240
began and then stopped. Her heart
felt like it was going baboom out of

345
00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:26.079
her chest when she heard the next
scream. This was no bluetooth speaker.

346
00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:32.680
This was menacing and so full of
pain. Damn Frog, how are you

347
00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:37.559
doing that, Andy asked, still
not getting it, actually impressed with his

348
00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:44.160
friend's skill. It's not me,
Andy, it's a Lena and I pissed

349
00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:48.200
her off. Stop it, Frog, take me home. I'm done with

350
00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:52.279
this shit, Jenny yelled. Her
entire body was shaking. The poor girl

351
00:28:52.440 --> 00:28:56.519
was scared out of her mind.
I think we all need to leave,

352
00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:00.599
Andy said, as he realized his
buddy wasn't joking. Andy kept calm.

353
00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:06.480
Let's just go. We'll come clean
up our crap in the morning. There

354
00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:10.759
was another tremendous splash, and it
was closer than any of the others.

355
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:15.680
The rhythm was almost like thunder followed
by lightning. A few seconds after the

356
00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:22.519
splash, the screech came. It
was a sound of unmitigated pain. The

357
00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:27.519
four of them froze in place and
their mouths fell open, almost in unison

358
00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:33.759
at what they saw next. The
apparition of a Lena was floating above the

359
00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:38.480
water, just past the shoreline.
The front of her head was busted wide

360
00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:45.400
open, and her eyes were contorted
black pools that looked in opposite directions.

361
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:52.599
She fell into the water with a
loud cursed splash and slowly rose again.

362
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:59.160
Her mouth opened wide, and this
time the scream pierced them. The ear

363
00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:03.839
drums of all four of them were
on the verge of exploding in their skulls.

364
00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:07.640
Hands went to cover ears on instinct, but it didn't matter. This

365
00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:12.400
scream moved through flesh and bone,
through space and time. This was the

366
00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:19.480
scream of the dead, the dead
trapped in her watery grave. It was

367
00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:26.279
a macabre dance of the dead,
in which Elena was forever trapped. Jenny

368
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:30.799
was the first to speak when the
screaming stopped. She's not going to let

369
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.960
us leave. Brienna looked at Andy
and they felt the same apprehension that Jenny

370
00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:40.799
spoke aloud, but Andy simply said, let's get the hell out of here.

371
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:45.079
Andy and Brienna ran to the truck, while Frog and Jenny ran to

372
00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:49.799
Frog's mustang. Andy turned the key
and heard the clicking sound associated with a

373
00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:55.680
dead battery. Frog did the same. Jenny was shaking in her seat.

374
00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:00.640
Brienna was already thinking that they would
just book it to four twenty one on

375
00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:03.119
foot. It wasn't that far away, and once they were on that stretch

376
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:08.000
of road, they would be home
free. The wind suddenly picked up and

377
00:31:08.039 --> 00:31:12.920
the temperature dropped. The four of
them got out of the vehicles and moved

378
00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.880
closer to one another. Brianna wanted
to scream, wanted to tell them to

379
00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:22.200
run, but something in her gut
warned her that would be a big mistake.

380
00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:27.400
Jenny's lips were quivering with fear,
and Frog didn't look like a prince

381
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:33.440
at all. For the first time
in his life, Frog truly felt fear

382
00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:37.960
rush up his spine. The calmness
that Andy displayed just moments before was replaced

383
00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:44.119
with a feeling of despair. They
all felt like Brianna felt as if they

384
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:49.759
should run but couldn't. Not that
anyone or anything was stopping them, but

385
00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:56.480
it just felt like a very bad
idea. There was another screech, and

386
00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:00.079
the four of them turned toward the
pond. The apparition was floating above the

387
00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:05.720
water, just at the shoreline.
Her dark hair was flowing behind her,

388
00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:10.240
and she wasn't falling this time.
Her mouth was contorted as if she were

389
00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:16.359
about to release another screech, but
this time she didn't. The spirit of

390
00:32:16.359 --> 00:32:23.000
Elena looked directly at Frog with a
face of recognition. The spirit began shaking

391
00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:30.000
above the water. What the fuck? Frog, Andy whispered, I don't

392
00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:36.400
know, man, Frog whispered back, she's pointing at you, Jenny said,

393
00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:39.680
on the verge of sobbing. No, she's not. She's pointing at

394
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:44.000
us. She don't want us to
be here, and I think we should

395
00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:47.240
give her what she wants. Frog
whispered back. Andy, Jenny, and

396
00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:53.799
Brianna slowly stepped away from Frog.
Elena's spirit kept pointing to the Valley Prince.

397
00:32:54.759 --> 00:33:00.240
It was recognition and it wasn't coincidence. What the hell, man,

398
00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:04.319
What did I ever do to her? I don't know, man, but

399
00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:12.000
I wouldn't make any sudden movements if
I were you. Summer nineteen eighty one,

400
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:15.799
he had seen Elena come in his
store through the years. He longed

401
00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:21.640
for her, but she was taken. Dustin Hines was her man, and

402
00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:24.920
it didn't sit well with him,
not one bit. He heard it through

403
00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:29.799
the grape vine that they were going
to Langley Pond for a romantic getaway this

404
00:33:29.880 --> 00:33:35.440
weekend, and today was Friday.
Elena wouldn't give him the time of day,

405
00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:38.200
would barely utter a word when she
came in to pick out a movie.

406
00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:44.319
Sometimes Duston would be with her.
She would come in with her beautiful

407
00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:49.000
long black hair and perfect smile,
teasing him. Elena had to know that

408
00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:52.079
he was in love with her,
but she would come in with Dustin,

409
00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:58.799
flaunting her love for him and in
a sense, a disdain for Frog Spradley.

410
00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:04.079
He didn't understand why Valley Video was
going to be his outright. In

411
00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:07.840
another year, he would be a
reputable business owner. Frog was sure that

412
00:34:07.880 --> 00:34:13.760
the video rental business would be a
necessity for generations to come. But she

413
00:34:14.519 --> 00:34:19.760
would come and go, tease him, taunt him, show him what he

414
00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:23.840
can't have, show him who was
getting her love. This wasn't going to

415
00:34:23.880 --> 00:34:29.519
work for Frog. He would be
at that pond tonight, just like the

416
00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:36.800
song said, bang bang he shot
me down, Bang bang, I hit

417
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:44.000
the ground, bang bang that awful
sound bang bang, My baby shot me

418
00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:49.320
down. And that's exactly what Frog
would do. He would go to the

419
00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:52.800
pond. He would hear them making
love in the tent. He would take

420
00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:59.039
his machete and get Dustin to come
outside. While Elena was sleeping. He'd

421
00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:02.320
hack him up and chop off his
head. He'd take the john boat out

422
00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:07.440
late. He heard them talking about
their late night fishing trip. She would

423
00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:12.199
come out. She would see the
light. She would think that her lover

424
00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:16.360
was fishing without her. She'd see
the man that she scorned, see what

425
00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:22.119
she could have had. He would
toss the head of her betrothed. She

426
00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:27.079
would see him. All she had
to do was keep swimming to the boat,

427
00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:31.480
and she would have lived. But
she turned and swam away, afraid

428
00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:35.960
of the man that was truly meant
for her. He'd line her up with

429
00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.039
his deer rifle. Frog was a
dead shot. He wasn't going to miss.

430
00:35:40.760 --> 00:35:45.079
He'd let her feel as if she
may get away before the shot would

431
00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:50.960
zip through the back of her skull. It was pure luck that they pinned

432
00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:54.440
it on Billie Jean. He always
had a short fuse, and that was

433
00:35:54.480 --> 00:36:00.199
all very well and good. With
Frog. He'd find another love, one

434
00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:04.360
that would love him. They'd have
a baby boy, and he would keep

435
00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:07.920
the name of Frog alive. Frog
was the spitting image of his father and

436
00:36:08.079 --> 00:36:14.400
his grandfather. He'd grew up as
a valley prince. Frog Senior wouldn't think

437
00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:19.760
of Elena again until he took his
final breath in two thousand and fifteen,

438
00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:25.239
when the song floated through his mind
for the first time. Since that day.

439
00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:31.559
Bang bang, he shot me down. Bang bang, I hit the

440
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:39.960
ground, Bang bang that awful sound
bang bang, My baby shot me down.

441
00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:45.599
Frog died with his loved ones around
him and tears in his eyes.

442
00:36:46.480 --> 00:36:53.519
His family didn't know the tears weren't
for them, but for Elena, the

443
00:36:53.719 --> 00:37:06.280
spirit of Langley Pond Summer two thousand
and twenty one. The specter was transfixed

444
00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:12.039
on Frog, and he was in
turn locked onto her lifeless eyes. Her

445
00:37:12.079 --> 00:37:16.280
mouth curled in pain, and it
was as if she were the one seeing

446
00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:22.800
a ghost. Frog couldn't move.
It was as if he were stuck knees

447
00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:28.119
deep in mud, and the air
around him was infused with a coldness that

448
00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:34.480
chilled him to his soul. The
spirit of Langley Pond seemed to know him,

449
00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:37.480
and she didn't seem all that thrilled
that he was looking at her.

450
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:45.639
Oh my god, Brienna screamed in
Frog's direction, she knows you. Andy

451
00:37:45.719 --> 00:37:51.159
turned away from the ghost and saw
the angst in Frog's face before he said,

452
00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:57.639
that's impossible. There's no way she
knows Frog. The ghost floated closer

453
00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:01.639
to them and seemed to put her
feet on the ground. The entire shoreline

454
00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:07.440
got much colder, and the others
felt it. Everyone was stuck in their

455
00:38:07.480 --> 00:38:12.880
spot, afraid to make any sudden
movement. The four of them formed somewhat

456
00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:16.320
of a straight line, and they
all faced the spirit of Elena, but

457
00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:22.400
that spirit was only focused on one
of them, and she changed The life

458
00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:29.000
came back into her eyes. They
turned from black pools to light brown.

459
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:35.559
The distortion in her face also melted
away. The ghostly apparition that the four

460
00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:40.280
of them witnessed floating above the pond
changed into healed flesh and blood. She

461
00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:46.079
no longer floated, but walked toward
Frog. He managed to utter the first

462
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:52.039
words to break the silence. Hey, look, what do you want from

463
00:38:52.119 --> 00:38:58.639
us? The young woman smiled at
him and held out her hands. Frog

464
00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:01.559
wanted to believe this was just a
dream, that he had drank five too

465
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:07.159
many PBRs and would wake up any
minute, but he knew that he was

466
00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:14.119
in the here and now take my
hand. You were there, you killed

467
00:39:14.159 --> 00:39:20.159
my boyfriend, you chopped off his
head, and you shot me, Elena

468
00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:25.119
said, and continued, Take my
hand so I can leave this god forsaken

469
00:39:25.239 --> 00:39:31.400
place. Frog trembled. His brain
was trying to fight the overwhelming compulsion to

470
00:39:31.559 --> 00:39:37.400
grab Elena's hand. If he did, he thought it might be the last

471
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:45.159
thing that he ever did. Brianna
found her courage and spoke Elena. The

472
00:39:45.320 --> 00:39:49.679
girl turned to face her. He
couldn't have killed your boyfriend or you.

473
00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:55.199
Please just listen to me. Elena
placed her hands at her side and gave

474
00:39:55.239 --> 00:40:00.880
Brianna a sense of relief. She
was going to listen to good. Good.

475
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:06.800
Look. The year is two thousand
and twenty one. You were killed

476
00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:10.000
in nineteen eighty one by Billy Jean
Morris. It was in all the papers.

477
00:40:10.599 --> 00:40:14.599
My mama told me about it.
The whole town knew it was Billy

478
00:40:14.679 --> 00:40:17.599
Jean. He was shot dead,
Elena. They got the man that killed

479
00:40:17.599 --> 00:40:23.760
you and your boyfriend. Elena turned
her attention away from Frog for just a

480
00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:29.840
moment and walked to Brianna. Jenny
ran to Andy and stuck her head in

481
00:40:29.880 --> 00:40:32.119
the crook of his arm, like
she was trying to shield herself from seeing

482
00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:37.239
a kill in a horror movie.
Elena walked toward Brianna. She seemed to

483
00:40:37.239 --> 00:40:42.719
admire the beauty of the girl.
They were close to the same age.

484
00:40:43.159 --> 00:40:47.440
Billie Jean Morris did not kill me. Billy Jean Morris never talked to me.

485
00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:53.639
I know who I saw, and
it was his face, she said,

486
00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:59.760
and pointed back at Frog. Shit
woman, I wasn't even born yet.

487
00:41:00.239 --> 00:41:05.960
Please, Frog pleaded, It was
him, Elena said, and started

488
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:10.079
to turn away from Brienna. Brianna
lunged forward and grabbed Elena around her wrist.

489
00:41:12.079 --> 00:41:15.239
She was surprised that she didn't pass
through her. Brianna really had a

490
00:41:15.320 --> 00:41:21.559
grip on the young woman. Elena
spun around and Brianna's backwards hug like a

491
00:41:21.639 --> 00:41:27.360
slippery eel, and placed her hands
on Brianna's head. The memory of that

492
00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:32.519
night and her death filled Brianna's mind
in what felt like a wave of electricity.

493
00:41:36.440 --> 00:41:39.920
Brianna blinked rapidly. Andy pushed Jenny
away and started to run toward his

494
00:41:39.960 --> 00:41:46.679
girlfriend. No, Brihanna screamed,
stop. Andy stopped in his tracks.

495
00:41:47.159 --> 00:41:54.840
Elena looked into Brianna's eyes, looking
for understanding. You see it was him,

496
00:41:54.920 --> 00:42:00.599
You see that now right. Elena
broke Brianna's grip around her waist and

497
00:42:00.719 --> 00:42:06.039
turned back to Frog. What the
hell, man, I wasn't even on

498
00:42:06.079 --> 00:42:12.119
the planet. Then it was his
daddy, Brianna shouted. This made Elena

499
00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:15.679
pause. It is twenty twenty one. His daddy's name was Frog, and

500
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:20.960
his name is Frog. He looks
just like his daddy. He didn't have

501
00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:24.599
anything to do with it. Andy
rushed to his girlfriend's side, and Jenny

502
00:42:24.719 --> 00:42:29.960
was right behind him. The three
of them stood together. Frog was still

503
00:42:30.039 --> 00:42:35.039
frozen in place. Elena moved closer
to Frog. She could see the man

504
00:42:35.159 --> 00:42:38.760
that chopped off Dustin's head. She
could almost feel the bullet break open the

505
00:42:38.800 --> 00:42:44.239
back of her skull all over again. He put his hands out in front

506
00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:49.239
of him, hoping this would keep
her at arm's length. She touched his

507
00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:53.519
hand and it was colder than anything
he had ever felt in his young life.

508
00:42:54.119 --> 00:43:00.400
You have his blood, and a
penance has to be paid, Elena

509
00:43:00.519 --> 00:43:04.159
said, as she grabbed the Valley
prince by the hand. I will not

510
00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:08.239
stay here any longer. I was
waiting on him to return, and he

511
00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:14.719
never did, but his son will
do. You carry the blood of the

512
00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:20.000
man that killed me. You should
have never been born, Elena said,

513
00:43:20.400 --> 00:43:24.559
and pulled Frog closer to her.
Brienna and Andy started to run toward them.

514
00:43:25.079 --> 00:43:30.639
Jenny was a blubbering mess. To
save their friend, but it was

515
00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:34.920
too late. Elena had a firm
grip on both of Frog's arms, and

516
00:43:35.079 --> 00:43:39.440
she morphed back into the specter.
Frog was lifted straight up into the sky,

517
00:43:39.880 --> 00:43:45.639
his legs kicking and his lungs screaming
into the night. Brienna and Andy

518
00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:52.000
shouted Frog's name. As he disappeared
into the sky, his screams went silent.

519
00:43:52.599 --> 00:43:58.920
Andy and Brianna looked at one another, waiting for another sound, another

520
00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:04.840
sign of life from the valley prince. What they heard in the far distance

521
00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:15.840
of the pond was a splash,
a cackle, and then silence. The

522
00:44:15.960 --> 00:44:22.920
spirit of Elena Anne Sanders was now
free. It was replaced by the son

523
00:44:22.960 --> 00:44:28.880
of the man that killed her and
Dustin. This would be the penance that

524
00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:35.599
set her free. Brianna, Andy
and Jenny would never be able to explain

525
00:44:35.679 --> 00:44:40.360
what they witnessed. They just said
Frog went giggin and never came back.

526
00:44:42.719 --> 00:44:52.480
What else could they say? Are
you feeling cooled down enough yet? Well,

527
00:44:52.119 --> 00:44:58.400
there are still four more stories to
enjoy, and believe me, you'll

528
00:44:58.480 --> 00:45:02.119
enjoy them. This next one takes
us to a summer camp, an idyllic

529
00:45:02.280 --> 00:45:09.039
situation for any summer fun but also
kind of an ideal place to be hunted

530
00:45:09.840 --> 00:45:16.119
and murdered brutally. This one is
called Camp Dead and Buried and it's written

531
00:45:16.159 --> 00:45:21.039
by my good friend and collaborator,
John Oak Dalton. He has a film

532
00:45:21.119 --> 00:45:24.800
called Girl in the crawl Space available
right now for free to watch on two

533
00:45:24.880 --> 00:45:30.239
BTV. So make sure you check
out the Girl in the crawl Space on

534
00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:34.760
two BTV. And while you're at
it, go to Weekly Spooky dot com.

535
00:45:34.960 --> 00:45:38.079
Check out all of our back episodes, check out our Patreon, support

536
00:45:38.159 --> 00:45:42.199
us in any way you see fit, and be sure to appreciate it.

537
00:45:42.239 --> 00:45:46.519
But now it's time for Camp Dead
and Buried. After these quick words from

538
00:45:46.559 --> 00:46:08.360
our sponsors, Camp Dead and Buried
by John Oak Dalton. It was so

539
00:46:08.440 --> 00:46:13.960
hot, it was like the dead
ass middle of summer. But it was

540
00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:19.079
the last night of the year at
rickety old Camp Elderberry, which everyone called

541
00:46:19.480 --> 00:46:23.239
Camp Dead and Buried because it was
a boring place to spend your summer.

542
00:46:23.760 --> 00:46:29.840
The summer camp historically closed the Friday
before Labor Day weekend, and then the

543
00:46:29.960 --> 00:46:35.159
counselors were always allowed to stay on
for one long extended party, smoking any

544
00:46:35.239 --> 00:46:38.039
stash they had forgotten about and sleeping
with anybody they had had their eye on

545
00:46:38.119 --> 00:46:44.199
all summer and hadn't made it with
yet, but that was the sixties and

546
00:46:44.320 --> 00:46:50.199
seventies, and this was the Year
of Our Lord nineteen eighty a d And

547
00:46:50.320 --> 00:46:55.280
everybody needed to knuckle down and get
some shit done. So in Wampanoag cabin

548
00:46:55.760 --> 00:47:01.880
commonly called Wang Dang Sweet Poon Tang, and the senior female counselors were gathered

549
00:47:01.920 --> 00:47:07.880
to study for the babysitting test that
was always administered by Missus Blonner on the

550
00:47:07.880 --> 00:47:13.000
first day of school that following Tuesday. Missus Blonner was the homec teacher at

551
00:47:13.119 --> 00:47:17.559
virgil Gus Grisom Consolidated High School,
Home of the Rockets, and had been

552
00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:22.039
administering her own handwritten test on the
first day of the year since Jesus took

553
00:47:22.039 --> 00:47:27.760
a carpentry class. Parents came to
the school to get a mimeographed list of

554
00:47:27.760 --> 00:47:30.079
the girls who had passed the test. Parents came to the school to get

555
00:47:30.079 --> 00:47:35.679
a mimeographed list of the girls who
had passed the test, and that was

556
00:47:35.719 --> 00:47:38.400
the make or break list for the
plumb babysitting jobs for the school year.

557
00:47:38.960 --> 00:47:45.719
Ganilla Cassidy led the study group and
included all the senior counselors and some of

558
00:47:45.760 --> 00:47:49.840
the hotter junior ones that might be
in the crosshairs of the senior male counselors.

559
00:47:49.920 --> 00:47:53.440
This last weekend, she was called
Guns by everybody, a nickname she

560
00:47:53.559 --> 00:47:59.320
chose to embrace because she was a
badass, and also because she was named

561
00:47:59.320 --> 00:48:04.360
after Ganilla Hutton from Petticoat Junction,
and she would rather people forget that.

562
00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:09.440
Thankfully, everybody said she looked like
a teenage Linda Ronstad. It wasn't until

563
00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:15.760
nineteen seventy eight that missus Blondner found
out that her test had been circulating freely

564
00:48:15.840 --> 00:48:19.119
through the school for a couple of
decades. So she wrote a new one

565
00:48:19.199 --> 00:48:22.840
each year, and hard as she
tried, Guns could not get a copy,

566
00:48:23.400 --> 00:48:28.599
and that pretty much sucked for everybody. On the other side of the

567
00:48:28.679 --> 00:48:35.440
quadrangle that made up the counselor's cabins
was Wapahani Cabin commonly called Wipe your Heinee

568
00:48:35.519 --> 00:48:40.280
Cabin, where the junior mail counselors
and two visitors from the Junior Female Counselor's

569
00:48:40.280 --> 00:48:46.639
cabin La Jola, obviously called La
Jailbait. We're finishing up an epic summer

570
00:48:46.719 --> 00:48:53.679
long outcast swords quest with a picnic
table strewn with hex paper pencils, dice,

571
00:48:54.159 --> 00:49:00.599
and little lead figurines. They paced
themselves to finish up tonight for leaving

572
00:49:00.639 --> 00:49:05.719
Sunday Friday. The guys had wanted
to watch The Incredible Shrinking Man on Channel

573
00:49:05.760 --> 00:49:09.480
thirteen and the girls wanted to watch
El SID on Channel eight, but the

574
00:49:09.519 --> 00:49:15.679
girls were outvoted four to one.
Though halfway through that movie got boring and

575
00:49:15.719 --> 00:49:20.320
they all switched to el SID.
Later they saw The Avengers and then Bob

576
00:49:20.400 --> 00:49:23.840
Hope on Johnny Carson, and by
that time it was too late to start.

577
00:49:24.679 --> 00:49:30.800
Sebastian was the leader of the Junior
Counselors in every aspect, including being

578
00:49:30.840 --> 00:49:35.039
in charge of running outcast swords all
summer. His older brother, Marcus,

579
00:49:35.159 --> 00:49:38.440
called Keys, was the de facto
leader of the senior Counselors, and that

580
00:49:38.599 --> 00:49:44.679
helped. But the two brothers couldn't
have been more different. Sebastian was a

581
00:49:44.719 --> 00:49:49.039
short, lumpy, tan kid with
black, frizzy hair. He was called

582
00:49:49.079 --> 00:49:53.719
Black and Mexican and Hawaiian and Arab
and Samoan and a few other random things.

583
00:49:54.320 --> 00:50:00.199
Marcus also was tan, but he
was tall and muscular and had long,

584
00:50:00.280 --> 00:50:05.159
curly blonde hair and a wedge of
beard cut square like King Tutt,

585
00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:09.280
he belonged wherever he wanted to land, and nobody ever asked him what he

586
00:50:09.480 --> 00:50:14.960
was. But their father was by
Rachel and their mother was white, and

587
00:50:15.039 --> 00:50:20.360
in rural Indiana, it was tricky
what it is? Little brother? Keys

588
00:50:20.400 --> 00:50:24.000
crowded the door of wipe your hinee
with the senior counselors. Hey man,

589
00:50:24.440 --> 00:50:30.000
Sebastian gave his brother a half wave. You guys going to come party with

590
00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:34.960
us or hang out here? Keys
asked, hang out here? Sebastian said,

591
00:50:35.519 --> 00:50:38.360
okay, just thought i'd check.
I'm going to get supplies out of

592
00:50:38.400 --> 00:50:44.639
the barracuda. Keys answered, is
it any surprise? Keys had a nineteen

593
00:50:44.719 --> 00:50:50.960
seventy Plymouth barracuda. Sebastian had a
nineteen sixty eight amc rambler his mom used

594
00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:55.559
to drive. While Sebastian's friends looked
either annoyed or terrified by the appearance of

595
00:50:55.679 --> 00:51:00.440
Keys and the older guys, Sebastian
knew that his mother had bestowed his blessing

596
00:51:00.800 --> 00:51:06.320
on their night of role playing.
Thus, the senior counselors would not come

597
00:51:06.320 --> 00:51:10.199
back in the dead of night for
wedgies, swirlies, or any other rights

598
00:51:10.199 --> 00:51:16.280
of passage as Sebastian's friends became the
senior counselors the following year. If the

599
00:51:16.360 --> 00:51:22.559
dilapidated old camp was still open in
nineteen eighty one. Either way, Keys

600
00:51:22.679 --> 00:51:27.800
was the loan holdout for going out
in style. There was one other person

601
00:51:27.920 --> 00:51:31.159
thinking about going out in style,
and that was the only adult left,

602
00:51:31.840 --> 00:51:38.679
the handyman, Mister Little Little lived
in basically a shed in the woods,

603
00:51:38.719 --> 00:51:44.360
and nobody saw him unless the shitter
backed up, and that was fine with

604
00:51:44.400 --> 00:51:47.719
everybody. He was the kind of
creep that could only get a job as

605
00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:52.400
a handyman at a broke down summer
camp. That night, Little was thinking

606
00:51:52.440 --> 00:51:58.280
about the Doom Pussy, those night
flights on B fifty sevens from Bin Howe

607
00:51:58.320 --> 00:52:02.880
Airbase in Dlaos and North Vietnam.
Those pilots wore a patch that said into

608
00:52:02.920 --> 00:52:07.320
the mouth of the Cat of Doom, and unless you flew a Canberra into

609
00:52:07.360 --> 00:52:12.840
that hell hole, you couldn't have
that patch. Little was also thinking it

610
00:52:12.880 --> 00:52:16.440
was hotter than any night in the
Nam, and the woods seemed awfully dark

611
00:52:16.480 --> 00:52:21.840
and close. The hooting of an
owl and the sounds of crickets began to

612
00:52:21.840 --> 00:52:27.519
be replaced in Little's mind with the
chattering of monkeys and the slithering of snakes

613
00:52:28.320 --> 00:52:32.239
and other jungle sounds. An M
sixty firing at a hundred rounds a minute

614
00:52:32.440 --> 00:52:37.039
could really clear the woods of Victor
Charlie. But all Little had was a

615
00:52:37.079 --> 00:52:43.159
Colt nineteen eleven pistol a South Vietnamese
officer had once owned, and it would

616
00:52:43.159 --> 00:52:46.760
have to do. He had a
Montagnard crossbow mounted on the wall that looked

617
00:52:46.800 --> 00:52:52.199
like a toy but was used by
the fiercest warriors Vietnam had ever seen.

618
00:52:52.159 --> 00:52:57.960
Thankfully, they hated the VC more
than anybody else and made the Ho Chee

619
00:52:57.960 --> 00:53:02.519
Men Trail a death trap. It
might be a good night to honor their

620
00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:14.320
memory. In the trunk of the
Barracuda keys, had a bong he had

621
00:53:14.360 --> 00:53:17.320
told his mom was a sculpture,
and a couple of cases of Falstaff he

622
00:53:17.400 --> 00:53:22.760
drove over to Ohio and bought Big
Red. Had a bottle of old Fitzgerald

623
00:53:22.760 --> 00:53:25.679
they hadn't managed to finish or in. Had a bottle of Galiano he had

624
00:53:25.719 --> 00:53:31.679
smuggled from home because his dad made
Harvey wallbangers and that was some fucking embarrassing

625
00:53:31.760 --> 00:53:37.599
shit, but they would probably drink
it anyway. Pete always had the good

626
00:53:37.639 --> 00:53:40.760
weed. He was called Havana because
he rolled his joints as fat as brought

627
00:53:40.800 --> 00:53:45.679
worsts. Keys went back to the
senior mail cabin, which was really called

628
00:53:45.880 --> 00:53:51.880
Firehawk cabin, and that was pretty
fucking cool. So they stayed with that.

629
00:53:52.760 --> 00:53:55.440
They had all this sweet stuff in
tow and decreed that they were putting

630
00:53:55.440 --> 00:54:00.760
on records. It was Keys record
player, so he got to choose.

631
00:54:00.440 --> 00:54:05.199
They had started calling him Keys when
they had gone to the drive in earlier

632
00:54:05.239 --> 00:54:09.599
that summer and saw three the hard
way. Jim Kelly was called mister Keys

633
00:54:09.639 --> 00:54:15.199
and that, and it wasn't so
much that Marcus looked like Jim Kelly,

634
00:54:15.280 --> 00:54:20.000
but instead it was more the attitude. If you were a biracial kid in

635
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:23.280
Indiana in nineteen eighty and you wanted
to rock out but also keep it righteous,

636
00:54:23.320 --> 00:54:30.199
your choices were limited. You had
Hendricks, Richie Havens, Thin Lizzie,

637
00:54:30.239 --> 00:54:35.800
of course, but number one for
Keys was Arthur Lee and Forever Changes.

638
00:54:36.559 --> 00:54:40.159
That was the first disc they were
spinning that night. Havana still wanted

639
00:54:40.199 --> 00:54:45.159
to argue whether Klatu was really the
Beatles again, but every single dude there

640
00:54:45.280 --> 00:54:50.920
was sweating down his ball, So
who gave a shit. The night before,

641
00:54:51.079 --> 00:54:53.880
which was the last night the kids
were all there, Keys had brought

642
00:54:53.960 --> 00:54:58.760
the record player down to the mess
hall and they had a disco for the

643
00:54:58.800 --> 00:55:04.920
young campers. Everybody was acting all
cool until Keys put on the Saturday Night

644
00:55:04.960 --> 00:55:08.519
Fever soundtrack and he and Guns went
out on the makeshift floor and did the

645
00:55:08.559 --> 00:55:14.079
hustle, the bus stop and the
electric slide, and since they were the

646
00:55:14.159 --> 00:55:17.119
couple of the summer, once they
did it, it was okay if everyone

647
00:55:17.159 --> 00:55:22.320
else got out and danced too.
Keys was still thinking about dancing with Guns

648
00:55:22.360 --> 00:55:25.360
when he lied to the others and
said he had to go take a piss.

649
00:55:27.199 --> 00:55:30.239
He was going to walk straight to
the Wang Dang Sweetpoon Tang cabin and

650
00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:34.599
see if he could scheme on getting
Guns to go down to the lake with

651
00:55:34.679 --> 00:55:38.480
him, the only cool spot left
in the whole fucking camp. He got

652
00:55:38.480 --> 00:55:43.199
close enough to see Guns through the
open window, and she looked up and

653
00:55:43.239 --> 00:55:47.119
saw him outside, and he knew
they were on the same wavelength. She

654
00:55:47.239 --> 00:55:51.920
said something to the other Foxes in
the room which he couldn't hear with the

655
00:55:52.000 --> 00:55:55.119
loud box fans running, that somebody
must have dragged back in from the Korean

656
00:55:55.119 --> 00:56:00.639
War or something. Then she met
him outside the door and took her hand,

657
00:56:00.960 --> 00:56:04.320
and they headed for the lake.
I told them I went to get

658
00:56:04.400 --> 00:56:09.519
Virginia slims, she said to Keys
outside. We've been hiding them behind the

659
00:56:09.639 --> 00:56:15.280
rain barrel since it hasn't rained for
a couple of weeks. Keys nodded his

660
00:56:15.320 --> 00:56:21.039
approval, and they followed the path
into the darkness. In Wipe Your Hiney

661
00:56:21.159 --> 00:56:24.800
Cabin, Sebastian was getting his own
vibe off of Melissa, another counselor who

662
00:56:24.800 --> 00:56:29.400
had gamed with them all summer,
but on the last night with the adults

663
00:56:29.480 --> 00:56:34.119
gone, returned to her truest form, rinsing her hair with purple kool aid

664
00:56:34.119 --> 00:56:37.960
and wearing a Rocket to Russia t
shirt. She copped off her older sister

665
00:56:38.079 --> 00:56:42.239
last night at the disco. She
was looking straight at him when his brother

666
00:56:42.280 --> 00:56:46.320
played kiss You All Over by Exile, and here she was looking at him

667
00:56:46.320 --> 00:56:52.400
again over a hand drawn map on
Hex's paper. Sebastian knew the tactics of

668
00:56:52.400 --> 00:56:55.320
how to slay a band of orcs, but not how to scheme on a

669
00:56:55.360 --> 00:57:00.519
purple haired angel, and would have
to channel his inner keys to figure it

670
00:57:00.559 --> 00:57:05.079
out. If he had any of
his brother and him at all. Meanwhile,

671
00:57:05.239 --> 00:57:07.599
Keys and Guns were getting it on
in the lake. It wasn't their

672
00:57:07.639 --> 00:57:12.880
first time, but they both thought
it might be their last. They went

673
00:57:12.920 --> 00:57:16.199
to schools in different towns anyway,
but tonight they were the couple of the

674
00:57:16.239 --> 00:57:22.599
summer and it was going to go
all night. Guns thought Keys was biting

675
00:57:22.639 --> 00:57:27.039
her on the neck a little,
which she wasn't that into, and then

676
00:57:27.840 --> 00:57:30.800
it hurt a lot, and she
was very surprised to look down and see

677
00:57:30.840 --> 00:57:37.159
a pointed arrowhead sticking a little bit
into her shoulder, but all the way

678
00:57:37.199 --> 00:57:42.199
through Key's chest. Keys eyes were
wide open, and he opened his mouth

679
00:57:42.239 --> 00:57:46.639
to say something to Guns, and
blood poured out. Guns screamed and pushed

680
00:57:46.719 --> 00:57:52.320
him away without thinking. Keys rolled
and floated on his stomach, and Guns

681
00:57:52.360 --> 00:57:55.599
could see the arrow pointing right at
the moon. There was a gust of

682
00:57:55.639 --> 00:58:00.719
air, and another arrow passed through
the wings of her hair and nipped at

683
00:58:00.760 --> 00:58:04.760
the top of her ear. Guns
screamed again and ducked her head under the

684
00:58:04.760 --> 00:58:07.719
water, her blood mixing with Keys
across the surface of the lake. She

685
00:58:07.840 --> 00:58:13.800
held her breath as long as she
could, and then a little longer.

686
00:58:14.519 --> 00:58:17.800
Little was cursing himself for not getting
two clean kills, and he was pretty

687
00:58:17.840 --> 00:58:22.360
sure the screaming was going to draw
out every Charlie within a few clicks,

688
00:58:22.960 --> 00:58:27.239
so he decided he needed to hump
it to the villa and conduct a zippo

689
00:58:27.360 --> 00:58:37.920
raid. It was time to burn
this place to the ground. Sebastian had

690
00:58:37.920 --> 00:58:42.679
set the last night's adventure in an
ice cave to sort of help with the

691
00:58:42.760 --> 00:58:46.159
heat, but it wasn't really working, and everyone was sweating through their clothes,

692
00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:50.719
down the back of their ears and
in the crook of their knees,

693
00:58:50.760 --> 00:58:54.519
and had their mouths open trying to
draw breath. When the first shouts came

694
00:58:54.599 --> 00:59:00.280
from outside, nobody had the strength
to stir for a moment. But though

695
00:59:00.320 --> 00:59:04.079
Sebastian was the de facto leader of
the cabin, it was Jeff, who

696
00:59:04.119 --> 00:59:08.079
had a one eyed fighter character called
Snake after Snake Pliskin, who was first

697
00:59:08.079 --> 00:59:14.679
out the door and thus got an
arrow from the Montagnard crossbow in the chest.

698
00:59:15.719 --> 00:59:20.719
Sebastian stepped back and peered around the
corner, one arm waving the other's

699
00:59:20.719 --> 00:59:24.039
back. He saw his brother's cabin
on fire, and he wondered about that

700
00:59:24.119 --> 00:59:29.599
bong for a minute. Then he
saw or In running away with flames licking

701
00:59:29.639 --> 00:59:32.400
his shirt, and Big Red lying
still on the ground with an arrow in

702
00:59:32.519 --> 00:59:37.679
his neck. Somehow, the record
player was still spinning and was blasting out

703
00:59:38.079 --> 00:59:45.880
Time has come today by the Chambers
brothers, and that in itself was pretty

704
00:59:45.920 --> 00:59:50.480
fucked up. Sebastian felt a stab
of fear when he didn't see his brother,

705
00:59:50.960 --> 00:59:54.440
but went into dungeon master mode.
He turned to the others out the

706
00:59:54.440 --> 01:00:00.119
back window. He commanded. The
others complied quickly while Sebastian watched, but

707
01:00:00.239 --> 01:00:05.679
Melissa turned and grabbed his arm,
and a different shock ran through Sebastian to

708
01:00:05.719 --> 01:00:09.679
his heart. Come on, she
yelled. The others dawdled for a moment

709
01:00:09.679 --> 01:00:14.400
at her cry, but then a
flaming arrow hit the doorframe and they all

710
01:00:14.440 --> 01:00:17.840
took off again. Sebastian looked into
her eyes and shook his head. I'm

711
01:00:17.880 --> 01:00:22.320
going to draw them off. You
book it for Gun's cabin. She'll help

712
01:00:22.360 --> 01:00:25.840
you. Before she said anything else, and before Sebastian could think too hard,

713
01:00:27.159 --> 01:00:30.199
he ran through the open cabin door
and started zigzagging, just like he

714
01:00:30.239 --> 01:00:34.679
did when his own character Wig laughed. The thief was under siege by those

715
01:00:34.679 --> 01:00:38.960
Elven archers and Rivendale okay, he
stole that eleven Archer's part from Lord of

716
01:00:38.960 --> 01:00:43.280
the Rings, but he was the
only one who had finished the whole trilogy,

717
01:00:43.280 --> 01:00:47.400
and everybody else couldn't get through done. Sebastian could hear arrows whistling around

718
01:00:47.519 --> 01:00:52.679
him, and that was fucking scary. But he saw the gravel road that

719
01:00:52.760 --> 01:00:58.239
led out to Highway three straight ahead. Suddenly Sebastian tripped and fell into a

720
01:00:58.320 --> 01:01:02.559
small hole. Some thing hurt real
bad, and Sebastian looked down and saw

721
01:01:02.559 --> 01:01:07.559
a sharpened spike sticking out of the
top of his foot. It smelled strongly

722
01:01:07.599 --> 01:01:14.159
of piss, and Sebastian remembered reading
that back in Vietnam, the viet Cong

723
01:01:14.199 --> 01:01:17.800
would set pungy stick traps and pee
on them to make sure the American soldiers

724
01:01:17.840 --> 01:01:22.920
got infections. No elven Archer had
ever pissed on a pungy stick. So

725
01:01:23.079 --> 01:01:30.400
suddenly Sebastian was out of his element
and realized he had fucked up. Meanwhile,

726
01:01:30.639 --> 01:01:34.559
Guns, swimming one handed, had
pulled keys to the rocky outcrop in

727
01:01:34.559 --> 01:01:38.119
the middle of the lake the kids
called thunder Island after the song. Guns

728
01:01:38.159 --> 01:01:42.320
liked the part of the song when
he sang about the girl being the color

729
01:01:42.400 --> 01:01:46.239
of the Indian summer. Guns realized
her mind was drifting and her scalp was

730
01:01:46.280 --> 01:01:50.800
bleeding, so she shook her head
to clear it, causing a lance of

731
01:01:50.840 --> 01:01:53.760
pain in a shower of blood.
She looked to the far off shore and

732
01:01:53.840 --> 01:01:59.360
saw the glow of a fire.
Keys didn't look good, but Guns thought

733
01:01:59.360 --> 01:02:02.599
it looked worse over there, so
with one last look at Keys, she

734
01:02:02.800 --> 01:02:08.960
dived back in and started stroking for
shore. Sebastian saw somebody walking towards him

735
01:02:08.960 --> 01:02:14.280
in the gloom, back lit by
fire, carrying a mother fucking bow and

736
01:02:14.440 --> 01:02:17.280
arrow. Sebastian pulled at his leg
as hard as he could, and his

737
01:02:17.360 --> 01:02:22.440
foot came off the pungy stick trap
and he puked all the peach, fago

738
01:02:22.480 --> 01:02:25.280
and corn chips he had consumed that
night, and in some ways that felt

739
01:02:25.320 --> 01:02:30.360
worse than anything. Sebastian tried to
run, but kind of hobbled more so,

740
01:02:31.159 --> 01:02:35.119
though thankfully he was in the tree
line in a few seconds, and

741
01:02:35.159 --> 01:02:40.119
the bang bang bang of a pistol
was close by, but also seemed thankfully

742
01:02:40.159 --> 01:02:45.239
far away. There was a pay
phone on Highway three, just a short

743
01:02:45.280 --> 01:02:49.320
distance past the gate that everybody used
to call parents back home. And that

744
01:02:49.440 --> 01:02:53.480
was all that was in Sebastian's mind
at that moment. Guns was running as

745
01:02:53.519 --> 01:02:57.679
hard as she could with her lungs
on fire and her arms and legs all

746
01:02:57.760 --> 01:03:00.559
rubbery, and almost didn't recognize Mali
So with her purple hair. When she

747
01:03:00.679 --> 01:03:06.199
ran into a handful of the junior
counselors crouching in the trees, Guns saw

748
01:03:06.239 --> 01:03:09.119
what they were seeing, which was
a bunch of flaming arrows hitting the side

749
01:03:09.119 --> 01:03:15.119
of the senior girl's cabin while her
friends screamed inside. The juniors had screams

750
01:03:15.199 --> 01:03:20.880
only, but the senior counselors had
glass windows and box fans. But tonight

751
01:03:21.559 --> 01:03:24.960
that was the worst possible thing.
So Guns grabbed a big chunk of wood

752
01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.440
off the ground and ran across the
open stretch between the trees and the cabin

753
01:03:29.719 --> 01:03:34.519
and threw that log right through the
window. She reached through and grabbed for

754
01:03:34.639 --> 01:03:37.360
Tammy, who was standing right there
frozen with her big cow eyes, and

755
01:03:37.480 --> 01:03:40.920
Guns knew she was never going to
be able to pass the babysitter test no

756
01:03:40.960 --> 01:03:46.239
matter how much she studied. Melissa
shouted Guns from right behind her, which

757
01:03:46.280 --> 01:03:51.480
surprised her that the younger counselor had
followed her up. There, she turned

758
01:03:51.960 --> 01:03:55.760
and saw mister Little coming around the
corner of the cabin, drawn by the

759
01:03:55.800 --> 01:04:00.280
sound of smashing glass. He had
a bow and arrow over his shoulder and

760
01:04:00.320 --> 01:04:04.880
a gun in his hand. The
first shot went wide and knocked Tammy back

761
01:04:04.920 --> 01:04:11.119
from the window. The second lifted
Melissa off her feet and into the darkness.

762
01:04:11.880 --> 01:04:15.199
Then guns saw the black eye of
the pistol looking right at her.

763
01:04:16.119 --> 01:04:19.920
Sebastian climbed over the gate when he
couldn't work the latch, and fell on

764
01:04:19.960 --> 01:04:25.920
the dirt on the other side.
Now he really was crawling, trailing blood.

765
01:04:26.320 --> 01:04:29.920
The light from the glass box with
the frosted Indiana Belle logo on the

766
01:04:29.960 --> 01:04:34.280
side. Dead ahead, Sebastian heard
before he saw the giant front end of

767
01:04:34.320 --> 01:04:40.639
a Chrysler Newport grumbling down the highway. The big car slowed and stopped,

768
01:04:40.840 --> 01:04:45.039
and Sebastian felt a flood of relief
wash over his jangling nerves. An old

769
01:04:45.079 --> 01:04:50.360
woman peered out of the passenger window. It's a colored boy, keep driving,

770
01:04:50.440 --> 01:04:57.239
Jasper, and the Newport kicked up
dirt and was gone. Of all

771
01:04:57.360 --> 01:05:02.119
the nights, thought Sebastian, and
kept crawling. It wasn't much farther.

772
01:05:02.920 --> 01:05:08.440
He worked the glass door of the
booth and fumbled the receiver while half steadying

773
01:05:08.519 --> 01:05:12.400
himself by the cord. He had
heard you didn't need a dime if you

774
01:05:12.440 --> 01:05:15.960
were calling the cops, but he'd
never tested it. It turned out to

775
01:05:16.000 --> 01:05:21.840
be true. Operator, I'm at
Camp Elderberry. That old place is still

776
01:05:21.880 --> 01:05:27.280
open. Yes, ma'am, it's
on fire and somebody is shooting the place

777
01:05:27.360 --> 01:05:30.719
up. Is this a practical joke, son, No, ma'am, it's

778
01:05:30.760 --> 01:05:35.840
real. We need cops and firemen
and a couple of ambulances. Calling the

779
01:05:35.840 --> 01:05:42.199
police is not a joke, My
brother, I don't know. Sebastian was

780
01:05:43.000 --> 01:05:47.400
really woozy. Now have you been
drinking? Son? Just peach fago.

781
01:05:48.519 --> 01:05:54.119
Sebastian dropped the phone and slumped to
the floor of the booth. Guns heard

782
01:05:54.119 --> 01:06:00.079
a click in the darkness. Mister
little very calmly reached into his pocket and

783
01:06:00.119 --> 01:06:05.360
started rummaging around, and Guns knew
he was just casually reloading like she wasn't

784
01:06:05.440 --> 01:06:11.800
standing there, so she got pissed
and picked a ragged shart of glass off

785
01:06:11.840 --> 01:06:15.639
of the ground and ran for him, swinging. When she saw the arc

786
01:06:15.679 --> 01:06:21.000
of bright crimson against the moonlight,
she knew mister Little recognized she was there

787
01:06:21.039 --> 01:06:26.519
after all. The glass cut her
palm, but cut mister Little worse,

788
01:06:27.000 --> 01:06:30.679
and he sat down hard on the
ground with blood coursing out of his throat,

789
01:06:30.920 --> 01:06:35.239
and Guns actually sat down next to
him because she was pretty tired herself.

790
01:06:36.079 --> 01:06:42.639
Neither Sebastian nor Guns heard the sirens
coming from way far off A couple

791
01:06:42.639 --> 01:06:46.320
of hours later, and Guns was
watching the camp burn. The VFD were

792
01:06:46.400 --> 01:06:50.519
sort of controlling it rather than stopping
it, but had heard the camp was

793
01:06:50.599 --> 01:06:56.119
probably going to close next year anyway, and at least now the owners could

794
01:06:56.480 --> 01:07:00.599
get some insurance off of it.
Guns and Sebastian were alive, and Melissa

795
01:07:00.800 --> 01:07:06.920
was pretty much alive, and Keys
was a little bit alive, but many

796
01:07:06.960 --> 01:07:16.079
others were completely dead, including thankfully, mister Little. Guns was sitting on

797
01:07:16.119 --> 01:07:21.039
the hood of an AMC Matador enforcer
that belonged to the county sheriff, trying

798
01:07:21.079 --> 01:07:26.440
to take it all in. The
sheriff offered her a Lucky Strike, which

799
01:07:27.000 --> 01:07:31.480
was her grandpa's brand, but she
was out of options. Did you ever

800
01:07:31.559 --> 01:07:36.760
go into his old shed, the
sheriff asked, God, No, nobody

801
01:07:36.800 --> 01:07:44.840
did, so. You didn't know
he was Biff Carter, No, sir,

802
01:07:45.119 --> 01:07:48.199
his name was mister Little. That
was his real name. He wrote

803
01:07:48.199 --> 01:07:55.760
paperbacks under the name Biff Carter,
those books about the Castigator. His shelves

804
01:07:55.760 --> 01:08:00.960
were full of them. Guns vaguely
remembered her dad had some of those around

805
01:08:00.039 --> 01:08:08.280
two. Isn't the character of Vietnam
veteran like mister Little. Yeah, then

806
01:08:08.320 --> 01:08:12.480
he comes back and fights the mafia
for a couple of books, then goes

807
01:08:12.559 --> 01:08:17.359
after whoever else is around after that, black panthers, hippies, whatever.

808
01:08:17.920 --> 01:08:26.039
But Little was never a Vietnam veteran. He always said. Guns trailed off

809
01:08:26.920 --> 01:08:30.600
the sheriff blue smoke and pointed at
his temple. There was a sheet and

810
01:08:30.680 --> 01:08:36.039
the typewriter. The publisher wanted a
new Biff Carter. He was getting fired

811
01:08:36.079 --> 01:08:44.039
off of his own creation. Guess
it was too much for him, especially

812
01:08:44.039 --> 01:08:49.119
on a hot night like this.
Guns nodded, but wasn't listening anymore.

813
01:08:49.880 --> 01:08:55.359
She was thinking. She was glad
Keys was alive. But it was one

814
01:08:55.439 --> 01:08:59.800
thing to have a mixed boyfriend over
the summer and another to have one during

815
01:08:59.800 --> 01:09:04.800
the school year. But she had
saved his life, probably and that meant

816
01:09:04.840 --> 01:09:12.199
something. Maybe she would bring him
to homecoming anyway, but they wouldn't go

817
01:09:12.279 --> 01:09:16.479
to the bonfire. She was going
to be sick of hot nights and fires

818
01:09:16.880 --> 01:09:30.399
and such for a very long time. Well, my friends, we've had

819
01:09:30.479 --> 01:09:36.479
ghosts seeking revenge and maniacs hunting us
for sport. So now how about we

820
01:09:36.600 --> 01:09:44.199
go in a more beastly direction with
this terror tale from David O'Hanlon, a

821
01:09:44.319 --> 01:09:50.239
regular Weekly Spooky contributor and the writer
of four Babysitter Massacre books, available now

822
01:09:50.720 --> 01:09:57.359
on Amazon, Kindle and Audible.
Just search Babysitter Massacre if you like a

823
01:09:57.359 --> 01:10:00.840
little splatter with your terror. But
now, my friends, it's time for

824
01:10:00.920 --> 01:10:05.000
us to head to Fagan County,
where they have quite the wolf problem.

825
01:10:05.439 --> 01:10:11.520
We'll see how that goes and more
after these quick words from our sponsors.

826
01:10:13.920 --> 01:10:21.199
The Wolf of Fagan County by David
O'Hannon. Maybe Whistler was a nice town

827
01:10:21.399 --> 01:10:27.680
once. It seemed that way until
the summer of eighty six. The old

828
01:10:27.680 --> 01:10:31.720
folks always whispered about certain places,
about the places you don't go, and

829
01:10:31.800 --> 01:10:38.279
the boogeyman that dwelled within. Everyone
in Fagan County knew a local ghost story.

830
01:10:39.079 --> 01:10:45.920
Back then, I loved to hear
those stories. Nowadays, not so

831
01:10:45.039 --> 01:10:50.319
much. My dad trucked crops from
the farms into the neighboring states of Louisiana

832
01:10:50.359 --> 01:10:56.000
and Mississippi. I didn't see much
of him. He left before dawn and

833
01:10:56.119 --> 01:11:00.960
got home after sunset. The day
before my thirteenth birthday, he took a

834
01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:04.640
load to Shreveport. I awoke to
a stack of used horror comics the next

835
01:11:04.680 --> 01:11:08.840
morning with a note that read,
you're old enough for the good ones,

836
01:11:08.880 --> 01:11:15.720
now, Soldier. I loved the
way those pages smelled After all these years,

837
01:11:15.720 --> 01:11:17.520
I still have a couple of them
in the suit cases I live out

838
01:11:17.520 --> 01:11:23.000
of. I'd read through the entire
bundle in a week. I flipped through

839
01:11:23.000 --> 01:11:26.399
them and found the one I'd enjoy
the most for a second visit. When

840
01:11:26.439 --> 01:11:30.880
my mother called from downstairs, Connie, come quick, she shouted. I

841
01:11:31.039 --> 01:11:35.560
hated when she called me that it
was bad enough being named Conrad. The

842
01:11:35.600 --> 01:11:40.800
effeminate nickname caught on with my friends
in second grade, and then with the

843
01:11:40.800 --> 01:11:45.319
rest of the student body by the
end of recess. Something sounded off in

844
01:11:45.359 --> 01:11:48.680
her voice. As I trudged down
the narrow staircase that descended into the kitchen.

845
01:11:49.680 --> 01:11:54.039
Mom was sitting at the table with
her elbows pressing into the vinyl top

846
01:11:54.720 --> 01:11:59.000
and her hands hiding her face.
My sister Lisa had her head down,

847
01:11:59.520 --> 01:12:04.880
shrouded in her arms, her body
convulsed as she bawled noisily inside. I

848
01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:10.159
held my breath all the way to
the table. No one spoke to me

849
01:12:10.199 --> 01:12:14.239
as I slid the chair away from
the edge and eased my way into it.

850
01:12:14.920 --> 01:12:19.159
Mom reached over and put her hand
on mine. Something terrible's happened,

851
01:12:19.960 --> 01:12:27.119
she whispered. Something terrible had happened
a few weeks ago too, and a

852
01:12:27.159 --> 01:12:30.319
few weeks before that. We'd discussed
both of those events as a family.

853
01:12:31.520 --> 01:12:36.359
No one was crying then. Sure
Mom had been shaken up by the discovery

854
01:12:36.399 --> 01:12:42.039
of the first body, but it
seemed like nothing to worry about. We

855
01:12:42.159 --> 01:12:45.239
all knew old man mcgara from around
town. He would pop out like a

856
01:12:45.279 --> 01:12:49.600
magician's rabbit to grump about what a
bunch of slack jawed hippie spaw and all

857
01:12:49.600 --> 01:12:54.239
the kids were whenever you least expected
it. The police said it was a

858
01:12:54.279 --> 01:12:58.159
heart attack that took him, and
that coyotes took to eating his remains.

859
01:12:59.000 --> 01:13:02.279
Grotesque and seemly as it were,
My folks delivered the news to my sister

860
01:13:02.359 --> 01:13:06.199
and me with just the facts,
and reminded us to stay away from the

861
01:13:06.199 --> 01:13:13.079
woods. Coyote's rarely attacked people,
but Dad said there's something different about any

862
01:13:13.119 --> 01:13:17.279
animal, including man, once they
got a taste for blood. The second

863
01:13:17.319 --> 01:13:23.000
time we were called to the table, it was clearly more bothersome. Mom

864
01:13:23.079 --> 01:13:26.960
wasn't handling it well, but she
remained calm as she told us about the

865
01:13:26.960 --> 01:13:31.239
bodies found along country Road sixty three. A couple of teens gone to make

866
01:13:31.279 --> 01:13:35.039
out, got cut up real bad. Chief Hardest he said it was just

867
01:13:35.079 --> 01:13:40.199
a freak occurrence, a crime of
opportunity, and that the killer was likely

868
01:13:40.439 --> 01:13:45.520
long gone. Our parents told us
to be home thirty minutes before sundown after

869
01:13:45.560 --> 01:13:50.840
that, and to never go anywhere
alone, just in case this time was

870
01:13:50.920 --> 01:13:57.840
different. Connie, she started tugging
at the silver locket dangling from her thin

871
01:13:57.960 --> 01:14:04.479
neck. Her voice trembled. It's
Brenda. My stomach nodded. Brenda Knoles

872
01:14:04.560 --> 01:14:10.199
had been Lisa's best friend since kindergarten. She'd babysat for me on a few

873
01:14:10.239 --> 01:14:14.479
occasions and came to eat dinner with
us every Wednesday. She was my first

874
01:14:14.479 --> 01:14:19.119
crush too. I sniffled, but
held back any other reaction until Mom could

875
01:14:19.159 --> 01:14:25.760
finish. Maybe it wasn't what I
thought. Maybe those old tales from the

876
01:14:25.760 --> 01:14:30.279
crypt comics were poisoning my imagination the
way Father Deane said they would at youth

877
01:14:30.399 --> 01:14:34.560
service. Maybe she was just moving
away. That would explain why they were

878
01:14:34.600 --> 01:14:41.960
so upset. Chief hardest he found
her this morning, Mom continued, Nope,

879
01:14:42.560 --> 01:14:46.399
it was exactly what I thought it
was. I don't remember the exact

880
01:14:46.479 --> 01:14:53.079
moment that I realized the killings were
exactly one month apart, but I do

881
01:14:53.319 --> 01:14:57.520
remember Lisa raising her face to stare
at Mom and then me in turn.

882
01:14:58.399 --> 01:15:01.640
Her lips quivered, and then she
stood up fast enough to knock the chair

883
01:15:01.640 --> 01:15:08.640
to the floor. She slammed her
fists onto the table and screamed that I'll

884
01:15:08.680 --> 01:15:24.199
never forget that look and those words. She was eaten. Lisa cried until

885
01:15:24.279 --> 01:15:28.199
she passed out. That night,
I watched the news with Mom to see

886
01:15:28.199 --> 01:15:32.439
if the police had anything to say. The station's newest reporter, Rex Willitts,

887
01:15:32.960 --> 01:15:36.680
looked like he'd been sick as he
raised the microphone close to his chin.

888
01:15:38.640 --> 01:15:43.000
His hand shook slightly, and his
trademark smile was nothing but a thin

889
01:15:43.159 --> 01:15:48.399
line of white teeth below his bushy
mustache. Rex nodded slowly and started his

890
01:15:48.439 --> 01:15:53.159
report. When the phone rang in
the kitchen and Mom went to answer,

891
01:15:54.439 --> 01:15:58.399
I'm here at the Ridley Funeral Home
in Fagan County to report on a grizzly,

892
01:15:58.600 --> 01:16:03.199
unimaginable crime. Rex started. He
swallowed hard. The body of fifteen

893
01:16:03.239 --> 01:16:08.640
year old Brenda Knoles was found just
before dawn this morning. Brenda had been

894
01:16:08.640 --> 01:16:13.039
babysitting for family friends the prior evening. She started the short walk to her

895
01:16:13.079 --> 01:16:16.760
home just before eleven PM. I
turned my attention to Mom's shouting in the

896
01:16:16.840 --> 01:16:21.680
kitchen. What do you mean two
days, Paul, she growled. It

897
01:16:21.720 --> 01:16:27.199
doesn't take two damn days to get
a mechanic. Dad's truck broke down.

898
01:16:27.760 --> 01:16:31.239
That happened a lot when he was
hauling rice to Shreveport. Only then though

899
01:16:32.039 --> 01:16:35.880
Mom noticed too. She had a
pretty good idea of what was going on.

900
01:16:36.760 --> 01:16:41.239
What about the kids, she wailed, You know what's going on here.

901
01:16:41.439 --> 01:16:45.119
You're leaving us alone, so you
Her voice became muffled, and I

902
01:16:45.159 --> 01:16:48.439
scooted closer to the television to hear
what Rex had to say. I heard

903
01:16:48.439 --> 01:16:54.279
the phone slam against the receiver several
times. And mom stomping up the steps.

904
01:16:55.720 --> 01:17:00.119
I've seen the body, my God
in heaven. I'll never see it

905
01:17:00.239 --> 01:17:03.479
now, Rex said. When movement
caught his attention, he snapped his fingers

906
01:17:03.479 --> 01:17:08.760
and pointed his cameraman in the direction
of the police chief. Other reporters rushed

907
01:17:08.760 --> 01:17:11.720
in around him. Rex elbowed one
of them out of his way and reached

908
01:17:11.720 --> 01:17:15.800
in with his mic. Don't you
buzzards of anything better to do? Chief,

909
01:17:15.840 --> 01:17:18.640
Hardest, he barked, A child's
dead, for Christ's sake, how

910
01:17:18.920 --> 01:17:24.199
Rex asked, how did she die? Violently? Hardest, he answered,

911
01:17:24.199 --> 01:17:28.760
in his low, gruff drawl.
Is this related to last month's double homicide?

912
01:17:28.960 --> 01:17:32.239
A woman asked, we don't have
conclusive evidence linking the two this early

913
01:17:32.279 --> 01:17:36.840
in the investigation. Hardest, he
said. His shoulders sagged. There are

914
01:17:38.800 --> 01:17:43.560
similarities. Were the other victims missing
flesh and muscle? Rex quizzed him,

915
01:17:43.800 --> 01:17:46.680
were there bite marks on them as
well? Hardest he glared at Rex,

916
01:17:47.000 --> 01:17:53.840
and then spoke with forced restraint.
At this time, I'm asking all residence

917
01:17:53.840 --> 01:17:58.119
of Whistler in the outlying areas to
stay indoors at night. The curfew is

918
01:17:58.199 --> 01:18:01.399
merely a request. However, the
whale of sirens cut the report short.

919
01:18:02.079 --> 01:18:08.079
We wouldn't find out until the morning
that they'd found another body. Crazy Dolores

920
01:18:08.119 --> 01:18:11.680
lived in a shack on the edge
of town. She sold herbal remedies and

921
01:18:11.720 --> 01:18:15.000
told fortunes for a dollar. No
one knew how long she'd been dead.

922
01:18:16.600 --> 01:18:20.960
I climbed into bed, but didn't
dare go to sleep. I opened a

923
01:18:20.960 --> 01:18:27.159
comic and thought about Dad. Maybe
the rig really broke down, but I

924
01:18:27.279 --> 01:18:30.920
didn't buy it. He was spending
time with some woman in a strange way

925
01:18:30.960 --> 01:18:35.800
that made me feel better. He
was more worried about getting laid than he

926
01:18:35.880 --> 01:18:40.560
was about the killer on the loose, so maybe it wasn't a big deal.

927
01:18:42.279 --> 01:18:45.760
My door creaked open, and Lisa
slipped through the gap. I laid

928
01:18:45.760 --> 01:18:50.479
the comic down. I didn't know
what to say. Sorry, your friend

929
01:18:50.520 --> 01:18:55.319
was brutally murdered and partially eaten.
Really didn't seem like it had helped the

930
01:18:55.359 --> 01:19:00.000
situation. Then again, we're going
to find Brenda's killers. Wasn't a winner

931
01:19:00.079 --> 01:19:02.760
either, But that's exactly what Lisa
said as she leaned on my dresser.

932
01:19:04.039 --> 01:19:08.560
I gawked at her and waited for
what felt like an eternity for her to

933
01:19:08.600 --> 01:19:14.840
say something else. Look Connie.
She started, then paused and chewed her

934
01:19:14.840 --> 01:19:18.079
bottom lip. Chief Hardesty is a
scumbag. He's going to pin all this

935
01:19:18.199 --> 01:19:21.800
on the first person that ain't Baptist
enough for him. Then the murderer is

936
01:19:21.840 --> 01:19:28.199
just going to drift away. I
was still too young to know how common

937
01:19:28.239 --> 01:19:31.479
that sort of thing was around there, or what kind of man Baxter Hardesty

938
01:19:31.600 --> 01:19:35.399
really was. I did want to
make sure that Brenda's killer got caught.

939
01:19:35.520 --> 01:19:42.520
However, the killings are about a
month apart, I said, hesitantly,

940
01:19:43.000 --> 01:19:47.279
unsure of exactly what I discovered.
I shrugged. What if the killer travels

941
01:19:47.560 --> 01:19:51.960
and just stops through here every few
weeks, or lives here and returns home

942
01:19:53.000 --> 01:19:57.800
once a month. Lisa offered,
Dad's friend Ted is a long haul driver.

943
01:19:58.319 --> 01:20:01.600
I remembered Ted tried to commence Dad
to work with him all the time.

944
01:20:02.479 --> 01:20:06.319
I also remembered Ted coming to my
birthday party. I shook my head.

945
01:20:08.000 --> 01:20:11.600
I'm pretty sure he's out of town
right now. I scratched the two

946
01:20:11.680 --> 01:20:16.159
recently sprouted hairs on my chin.
What about a delivery driver, Brown's only

947
01:20:16.199 --> 01:20:21.560
gets a few deliveries a month.
Lisa thought it over and nodded, Okay,

948
01:20:23.039 --> 01:20:26.960
we'll go by and see when they
got a delivery. Thinking the conversation

949
01:20:27.039 --> 01:20:30.720
was done, I lifted my comic. What is that, Connie, Lisa

950
01:20:30.800 --> 01:20:36.119
asked, shakily, what are you
reading? I closed the issue and looked

951
01:20:36.159 --> 01:20:41.720
down at the cover. Bright yellow
eyes stared up at me above the fangs

952
01:20:42.199 --> 01:20:46.520
dripping blood over a broken skull.
I looked up at my sister. I

953
01:20:46.640 --> 01:20:49.560
knew what she was thinking, and
I wanted to tell her that she was

954
01:20:49.640 --> 01:20:56.680
stupid. I wanted to, but
I didn't. The same thought hit me

955
01:20:56.800 --> 01:21:00.920
when I looked at those fierce yellow
orbs on the black cover. My stomach

956
01:21:00.960 --> 01:21:05.479
pitched as I thought about the recent
events. My eyes left the stare of

957
01:21:05.479 --> 01:21:11.760
the beast and met my sisters.
It's a werewolf, I finally said.

958
01:21:15.119 --> 01:21:19.399
We tried to put the notion back
into our imaginations where werewolves were supposed to

959
01:21:19.439 --> 01:21:25.199
stay. Lisa and I rode our
bikes to Brown's General Store just past noon.

960
01:21:25.840 --> 01:21:30.319
The curfew officially started at sundown and
was no longer a request, not

961
01:21:30.439 --> 01:21:34.119
that it mattered. The streets were
already deserted. The baseball cards sputtering in

962
01:21:34.159 --> 01:21:39.680
the bike spoke signaled the arrival of
Brad Breaker. Brad was between Lisa and

963
01:21:39.760 --> 01:21:43.399
myself and age, so we hung
out with both of us. He was

964
01:21:43.439 --> 01:21:47.600
the definition of cool with his acid
washed jeans and his torn middrift Bruce Springsteen

965
01:21:47.680 --> 01:21:54.560
t shirt. Brad could play guitar
and football. He was also muscular,

966
01:21:54.640 --> 01:21:59.000
with aquiline features and sandy blonde hair
that made him look like Patrick Swayzy and

967
01:21:59.079 --> 01:22:03.800
Red Dawn and made Lisa's brain stop
working. My mom spassed when I said

968
01:22:03.800 --> 01:22:08.199
I was leaving. Brad looked at
the grocery store and turned back to us.

969
01:22:08.720 --> 01:22:12.039
But you said it was an emergency. You won't get in trouble,

970
01:22:12.079 --> 01:22:16.840
will you, nah? Brad shrugged. My old man said experience builds character

971
01:22:17.479 --> 01:22:21.359
and that I needed to bring back
more foldiers. Lucky, this is our

972
01:22:21.399 --> 01:22:27.279
first stop, I said, so
why are we here? Lisa looked to

973
01:22:27.359 --> 01:22:30.000
me, telling him our theory would
have been the right thing to do,

974
01:22:30.119 --> 01:22:34.960
but she thought he was cute and
hoped I, being closer to the childish

975
01:22:34.960 --> 01:22:42.000
age to believe such things would do
it for I did not. We want

976
01:22:42.000 --> 01:22:45.039
to find Brenda's killer, I said, and waved at the street. Everyone's

977
01:22:45.039 --> 01:22:49.720
scared to death, but we want
to help. Why, Brad asked,

978
01:22:49.920 --> 01:22:54.039
I mean, why do you think
you can do it faster than the police.

979
01:22:54.800 --> 01:22:59.000
I removed the wrinkled, somewhat neatly
folded newspaper clippings and handed them to

980
01:22:59.159 --> 01:23:02.840
him. Mister mc ghara died and
his corpse was eaten by coyotes. That's

981
01:23:02.880 --> 01:23:06.680
what they say. Anyhow, there's
been a killing at the same time every

982
01:23:06.720 --> 01:23:12.199
month since. Each of those victims
was partially eaten as well, I said,

983
01:23:12.279 --> 01:23:15.640
rattling off the facts as quickly as
I could. I think the killer

984
01:23:15.640 --> 01:23:19.119
comes to town once a month.
We think the murderer might be a delivery

985
01:23:19.119 --> 01:23:23.199
person or a truck driver, so
we want to ask the Browns if they've

986
01:23:23.239 --> 01:23:29.319
gotten any shipments this week, Lisa
added gnarly. Brad nodded slowly. Let's

987
01:23:29.319 --> 01:23:33.279
get to work. The Browns deliveries
turned up bupkiss. We checked with every

988
01:23:33.319 --> 01:23:39.199
business in town for the same results. That theory was as dead as Brenda,

989
01:23:39.279 --> 01:23:45.279
which left us with only one other
possibility. A quarter till seven,

990
01:23:45.279 --> 01:23:47.760
we stopped by the ice cream shop
and got Sundays for a quick sugar rush

991
01:23:47.840 --> 01:23:54.279
before dinner. I debated sharing the
werewolf idea. I'd been trying to dismantle

992
01:23:54.319 --> 01:23:58.399
it as we asked around if it
was a werewolf? Why'd the killings start

993
01:23:58.439 --> 01:24:03.520
only recently? Was anyone acting differently
around town? Was anyone new? What

994
01:24:03.760 --> 01:24:08.920
made someone a werewolf? So many
questions, but none of them ruled out

995
01:24:08.960 --> 01:24:14.920
the possibility. What if it's stupid, Brad said, staring up at the

996
01:24:14.960 --> 01:24:19.920
now full moon. What if it's
a werewolf? Lisa choked and stared at

997
01:24:20.000 --> 01:24:24.840
me, wide eyed over puffed cheeks
full of banana split. I mean,

998
01:24:25.720 --> 01:24:29.880
my pops tells me to stay away
from Snyder Creek because some kids died back

999
01:24:29.880 --> 01:24:33.960
in the twenties. Everyone says that
was a monster. Why couldn't this be

1000
01:24:34.039 --> 01:24:39.520
one? Darn it? I snapped
my fingers and scooted my chair back with

1001
01:24:39.560 --> 01:24:43.680
a screech of steel feet against the
sidewalk. Why didn't I think of that?

1002
01:24:44.680 --> 01:24:48.920
Think of what? Lisa asked.
I've heard that story too, I

1003
01:24:49.039 --> 01:24:56.039
answered, the Snyder Creek ghoul.
They never found out what really happened,

1004
01:24:56.680 --> 01:24:59.640
Lisa, we need to go to
the library and see if we can find

1005
01:24:59.680 --> 01:25:03.079
any old papers about it. Not
a chance, Connie, She pointed at

1006
01:25:03.079 --> 01:25:08.800
the Sherbet skyline. We need to
get home before dark. It's a long

1007
01:25:08.920 --> 01:25:15.199
ride. The libraries probably already closed
anyway. Brad offered, the cops are

1008
01:25:15.239 --> 01:25:19.119
never going to believe us. Lisa
said, after tonight, he'll just be

1009
01:25:19.199 --> 01:25:24.479
a man. I reassured her.
We'll have a month to find out who

1010
01:25:24.520 --> 01:25:30.920
the werewolf is and prove it crap. Brad let his head hang most non

1011
01:25:30.960 --> 01:25:36.680
triumphant. What Lisa and I asked
in unison. I forgot the coffee.

1012
01:25:38.199 --> 01:25:41.720
He put a foot on a pedal. I'm going to hustle the Browns.

1013
01:25:42.239 --> 01:25:51.119
See you later, he wouldn't.
Brad's body wasn't found for six days.

1014
01:25:53.319 --> 01:25:56.520
Worst of all, strange as it
sounds to say, it like a bad

1015
01:25:56.600 --> 01:26:00.640
thing, he didn't get eaten.
It would be a while before Lisa drew

1016
01:26:00.680 --> 01:26:05.680
a startling conclusion from the fact the
curfew started an hour earlier. After that,

1017
01:26:06.239 --> 01:26:11.600
a citizen's patrol was organized as well. It wasn't much more than a

1018
01:26:11.640 --> 01:26:15.319
dozen yokels with spotlights and guns driving
the paved roads. However, they wouldn't

1019
01:26:15.359 --> 01:26:19.840
go down the miles of gravel paths
where there weren't any street lights to keep

1020
01:26:19.880 --> 01:26:25.880
them safe. They didn't find the
werewolf either. All they accomplished was shooting

1021
01:26:25.880 --> 01:26:30.560
a drifter who was busking at the
Crispy Chicken truck stop chief hardest. He

1022
01:26:30.680 --> 01:26:33.640
tried to pin the murders on that
poor soul, like Lisa had suspected he

1023
01:26:33.720 --> 01:26:39.359
would. No one was buying it. By that point, Dad had decided

1024
01:26:39.399 --> 01:26:43.079
that between the new woman and a
monster running roughshot back home, he had

1025
01:26:43.119 --> 01:26:46.560
all the reason he needed to move
to Louisiana. He came while we were

1026
01:26:46.560 --> 01:26:53.520
asleep to collect his things. We
spent every day tracking down information and investigating

1027
01:26:53.520 --> 01:26:57.640
whatever absurd idea came to us.
It was two nights before the next full

1028
01:26:57.640 --> 01:27:04.239
moon when Lisa told me her troublesome
theory. He didn't eat Brad because he

1029
01:27:04.319 --> 01:27:11.039
was warning us, she said somberly
across the table. The local library had

1030
01:27:11.199 --> 01:27:15.720
few books on lecanthropy. We'd been
reading them every night and comparing them to

1031
01:27:15.760 --> 01:27:19.399
the two clippings we had from nineteen
twenty six when the Snyder Creek ghoul had

1032
01:27:19.399 --> 01:27:24.520
struck. I put the piece of
paper I was using as a bookmark between

1033
01:27:24.520 --> 01:27:29.640
the pages of the tomb and closed
it. What do you mean, I

1034
01:27:29.760 --> 01:27:34.920
whispered. We were asking around about
delivery schedules, about people from out of

1035
01:27:34.960 --> 01:27:41.720
town. She shook her head.
The wolf isn't a stranger. We know

1036
01:27:41.880 --> 01:27:45.720
him and he heard us talking.
He wants us to leave him alone.

1037
01:27:46.960 --> 01:27:50.680
I checked my watch and reached under
the table, wrestling with a zipper from

1038
01:27:50.680 --> 01:27:56.039
my fanny pack. Then he shouldn't
have killed our friends, I growled.

1039
01:27:56.359 --> 01:27:59.800
I pulled my prize and said it
where Lisa could see with a heavy thump.

1040
01:28:00.439 --> 01:28:04.239
Her eyes widened at the sight of
cold blue steel. Dad forgot it

1041
01:28:04.279 --> 01:28:09.199
when he packed, I told her, and lifted the Saint Christopher medallion our

1042
01:28:09.239 --> 01:28:14.000
aunt had given me for my birthday. I've got this and six silver dollars.

1043
01:28:14.560 --> 01:28:17.560
We can make two or three bullets
with that. We don't know how

1044
01:28:17.560 --> 01:28:24.000
to make bullets, Otto Dickens does, I pointed out. We have time

1045
01:28:24.000 --> 01:28:27.199
to get to his store and back
home if we go right now. We're

1046
01:28:27.199 --> 01:28:30.520
not hunting this damned thing, Connie. Lisa stood quickly and looked around at

1047
01:28:30.520 --> 01:28:35.479
the mostly empty library. She lowered
her voice. We should stop this.

1048
01:28:36.560 --> 01:28:41.000
If he killed Brad to scare us
off, then he knows who we are.

1049
01:28:41.560 --> 01:28:46.199
We need the bullets regardless. Her
face twisted with contempt. She knew

1050
01:28:46.239 --> 01:28:50.840
I was right and scooped her backpack
before heading to the exit. We rowed

1051
01:28:50.880 --> 01:28:55.680
our bikes to the fork in the
road left to our house or right to

1052
01:28:55.720 --> 01:29:00.199
otto Dickens gun shop. Lisa didn't
speak as she leaned pulled her Schwin down

1053
01:29:00.239 --> 01:29:06.640
the right hand street. I smiled
softly and followed. Most families in Whistler

1054
01:29:06.680 --> 01:29:12.800
had lived no further away than the
county line for generations. Otto just seemed

1055
01:29:12.840 --> 01:29:17.399
to appear one day. Despite what
you might have heard about southern hospitality,

1056
01:29:17.439 --> 01:29:23.920
it doesn't apply to strangers. Otto
had an uncanny ability with firearms. However,

1057
01:29:24.600 --> 01:29:29.760
small towns of rural Arkansas might have
hated strangers, but they certainly loved

1058
01:29:29.800 --> 01:29:32.920
their guns. Otto was soon a
welcomed member of the community and set up

1059
01:29:32.920 --> 01:29:36.199
a shop on the far side of
town, a couple of miles past the

1060
01:29:36.239 --> 01:29:43.000
old cemetery. The tarnished bell over
the door announced our arrival with whatever the

1061
01:29:43.039 --> 01:29:46.159
hell a bell's version of us smoker's
cough is. Otto looked up from the

1062
01:29:46.199 --> 01:29:51.399
reloading station, his face twisted with
curiosity as two teens entered his tiny store.

1063
01:29:53.119 --> 01:29:56.800
A long scar parted his wild white
beard. On the left side of

1064
01:29:56.800 --> 01:30:00.720
his face. He held up the
cartridge he was working on between his thumb

1065
01:30:00.720 --> 01:30:05.239
and index finger. Best goddamn rifle
round in history, he said in a

1066
01:30:05.359 --> 01:30:11.840
voice that sent a shiver racing up
my spine. Forty five seventy I kept

1067
01:30:11.840 --> 01:30:15.680
a chopped down Winchester in this caliber
for clearing tunnels. Can't hear much of

1068
01:30:15.720 --> 01:30:19.960
shit anymore as a result, but
it could turn old Victor Charlie inside out

1069
01:30:19.960 --> 01:30:26.520
in those confined spaces. You ever
shot a man? Lisa and I exchanged

1070
01:30:26.640 --> 01:30:31.640
bewildered glances. How many kids could
say? Yes? Didn't think so?

1071
01:30:32.439 --> 01:30:39.640
Otto deposited the finished cartridge into a
cardboard box beside him. Well, what

1072
01:30:39.760 --> 01:30:43.720
can I help you with? Then? Too early for hunting, not where

1073
01:30:43.720 --> 01:30:46.399
we're hunting, I said, Lisa. Elbowed me in the ribs and cleared

1074
01:30:46.399 --> 01:30:50.680
her throat. You can make bullets, right, reckon? I can.

1075
01:30:51.159 --> 01:30:55.520
Lisa held out her hand and I
gave her the items from my Fannie pack.

1076
01:30:56.039 --> 01:31:00.760
Otto left his stool and prowled to
her. He bounced thes and pendant

1077
01:31:00.800 --> 01:31:03.319
in his palm. His amber eyes
darted from one of us to the other

1078
01:31:03.359 --> 01:31:09.640
before he snorted, you want silver
bullets. He set the materials on his

1079
01:31:09.720 --> 01:31:15.039
counter and shook his head. That's
a shit idea. Silver's too dense.

1080
01:31:15.600 --> 01:31:19.119
It won't take the rifling unless you
plan on shooting at a barn. You

1081
01:31:19.159 --> 01:31:25.399
won't be hitting nothing from more than
a few feet muzzle velocity with nose dive

1082
01:31:25.479 --> 01:31:30.119
too, because the round is heavier
than your powder load. You won't mushroom

1083
01:31:30.119 --> 01:31:34.199
either. They'll go clean in and
clean out shot shells. That's what you

1084
01:31:34.239 --> 01:31:39.159
need if you're looking to use silver. Lisa looked at me, completely lost

1085
01:31:39.199 --> 01:31:44.880
in the gunsmith's lesson in ballistic science. I didn't understand it either. We

1086
01:31:44.960 --> 01:31:49.000
don't have a shotgun, I finally
said. We have a Chief Special thirty

1087
01:31:49.000 --> 01:31:56.039
eight, a snub nose shooting silver
bullets auto burst with boisterous laughter. Hell,

1088
01:31:56.439 --> 01:32:00.279
you kids might as well slather yourselves
in barbecue sauce and yell here,

1089
01:32:00.319 --> 01:32:04.039
puppy, if you plan on fighting
a werewolf with that setup. My jaw

1090
01:32:04.159 --> 01:32:08.520
fell open, and I quickly glanced
to my sister to find her in the

1091
01:32:08.600 --> 01:32:13.039
same state. Otto put a hand
on each of our shoulders. I hadn't

1092
01:32:13.079 --> 01:32:16.319
noticed before, but three of his
fingers were missing from the one resting on

1093
01:32:16.479 --> 01:32:23.640
me. He hunkered slightly to look
us in the eyes. Don't look surprised.

1094
01:32:24.279 --> 01:32:28.840
Ain't much else you could be doing
with silver bullets. He went behind

1095
01:32:28.840 --> 01:32:32.399
the counter and pulled a sawed off
shotgun from beneath the register. My eyes

1096
01:32:32.479 --> 01:32:38.079
drifted to the black tape wrapped around
the walnut stock and the rough scratches where

1097
01:32:38.079 --> 01:32:42.840
a serial number had once been reckon. You can borrow this one, going

1098
01:32:42.880 --> 01:32:46.960
to take about an hour. On
the shells. You believe us, I

1099
01:32:47.079 --> 01:32:54.119
asked lots of things in this world
we pretend not to believe in. No

1100
01:32:54.279 --> 01:32:59.840
more, pretend weren't real in the
first place. He absently rubbed the scar

1101
01:33:00.000 --> 01:33:04.600
on his cheek with the nubs of
his fingers. We pretend until they start

1102
01:33:04.640 --> 01:33:13.319
eating us. The sun was just
an orange Razors slash. By the time

1103
01:33:13.359 --> 01:33:16.159
we got home, we dropped our
bikes in the yard and ran inside.

1104
01:33:16.680 --> 01:33:21.680
The shotgun mostly fit inside Lisa's backpack
so we could sneak it past mom.

1105
01:33:21.840 --> 01:33:26.000
Not that it mattered. All the
lights were off and she wasn't waiting for

1106
01:33:26.079 --> 01:33:29.920
us like normal. I headed for
the living room while she stashed the gun

1107
01:33:30.319 --> 01:33:34.840
and changed clothes. How are you
soldier, A gruff, ragged voice asked

1108
01:33:34.880 --> 01:33:40.199
from a darkened corner. The hairs
prickled on the back of my neck at

1109
01:33:40.199 --> 01:33:45.520
my dad's pet name for me.
He stepped out of the shadows. He

1110
01:33:45.640 --> 01:33:53.159
looked different and naked as he gracefully
scaled the back of the couch and perched

1111
01:33:53.159 --> 01:33:57.479
on the cushion. The weak glow
of the mail ordered torch lamps shimmered on

1112
01:33:57.520 --> 01:34:02.520
the sweat slick hairs growing longer,
his tight flesh. His elongated nails scratched

1113
01:34:02.560 --> 01:34:08.000
at the thick orange fabric of the
sofa. You can catch a lot from

1114
01:34:08.039 --> 01:34:14.359
horrors, he said. He spoke
slowly, like each word was new to

1115
01:34:14.439 --> 01:34:18.840
him. Long strands of drool slung
from his mouth as he flexed his jaw

1116
01:34:19.119 --> 01:34:28.000
with a series of loud, painful
pops. Your ma knew tried to fix

1117
01:34:28.079 --> 01:34:33.039
it with crazy dolores. His obsidian
eyes focused on the coffee table. I

1118
01:34:33.079 --> 01:34:38.399
saw a mom's locket sitting there next
to the half full ashtray, still wet

1119
01:34:38.439 --> 01:34:44.840
with blood. It's not just the
bite, he grumbled, his words becoming

1120
01:34:44.920 --> 01:34:51.840
deeper and more human. It's like
the clap I brought it home made her.

1121
01:34:53.640 --> 01:35:00.479
Mister McGarrell was accident. He shifted
on the cushion. Things moved inside

1122
01:35:00.520 --> 01:35:04.079
his body, bones and muscles realigning, and he whined like a dog in

1123
01:35:04.119 --> 01:35:09.720
a sticker bush. He sprang over
the table and landed inches from me.

1124
01:35:10.600 --> 01:35:15.399
His nose twitched as he took in
my scent. His lips didn't touch anymore

1125
01:35:15.439 --> 01:35:20.680
as the fangs locked together. Stiff
fur covered his once chubby cheeks. She

1126
01:35:20.880 --> 01:35:27.840
couldn't control. He growled. His
teeth snapped in front of me. I

1127
01:35:28.039 --> 01:35:36.760
can join pack, become come with
me, soldier. I quivered with fear,

1128
01:35:38.359 --> 01:35:44.079
with hurt, with anger. I
never suspected my parents. I needed

1129
01:35:44.119 --> 01:35:47.680
answers. Lisa screamed and broke me
out of his hypnotic gaze. His hand

1130
01:35:47.760 --> 01:35:51.880
clamped over my mouth. He watched
the stairs, waiting for Lisa to come

1131
01:35:51.920 --> 01:35:57.359
down. I eased my hand to
the fanny pack, wiggling my fingers to

1132
01:35:57.439 --> 01:36:03.600
stretch the zipper without the noise.
Connie, Lisa called Dad, sniffed the

1133
01:36:03.640 --> 01:36:09.000
air. I watched his pointed ear
twitch. He whipped his head back around

1134
01:36:09.039 --> 01:36:13.399
to me, and his eyes widened
as the barrel pressed against his chest.

1135
01:36:13.439 --> 01:36:16.960
The thirty eight was louder than I
remembered. The bullets weren't silver, but

1136
01:36:17.159 --> 01:36:21.079
they did the trick. He fell
backwards and crashed through the table. I

1137
01:36:21.239 --> 01:36:25.000
fired the rest of them into his
face. While he was down. He

1138
01:36:25.159 --> 01:36:28.840
screamed and pained behind me while I
darted for the stairs. I slammed into

1139
01:36:28.880 --> 01:36:31.479
Lisa, who was clutching the shotgun. I think there's two of em.

1140
01:36:31.880 --> 01:36:35.319
I wasn't listening. I jerked the
weapon from her hands and went to finish

1141
01:36:35.399 --> 01:36:43.359
Dad off, Only he wasn't there. Two bloody bullets rolled in the debris

1142
01:36:43.439 --> 01:36:46.720
of the coffee table. A shadow
fell over me from the kitchen. I

1143
01:36:46.840 --> 01:36:50.720
threw myself to the floor, narrowly
dodging the swipe of my father's claws.

1144
01:36:51.079 --> 01:36:55.680
I rolled onto my back, and
he looked more monstrous than before. His

1145
01:36:55.800 --> 01:37:00.560
face had contorted into a snout.
The front window shattered, shartling me.

1146
01:37:00.680 --> 01:37:04.680
My finger tensed on the trigger,
and the silver buckshot tore through Dad's thigh,

1147
01:37:04.880 --> 01:37:10.079
obliterating the wood paneling beyond. I
clambered up the stairs, and Lisa

1148
01:37:10.159 --> 01:37:13.720
pulled me to my feet by my
collar. We ran into our parents' bedroom

1149
01:37:13.800 --> 01:37:16.520
and slammed the door behind us.
I screamed when I saw the body on

1150
01:37:16.560 --> 01:37:23.880
the bed. It was Mom,
but just barely. Her features were still

1151
01:37:23.880 --> 01:37:27.680
deformed, her body still covered in
the bristly fur of her new form,

1152
01:37:28.119 --> 01:37:31.520
and her head hung from the gnawed
throat by a few remaining strands of muscle.

1153
01:37:32.119 --> 01:37:38.039
Everything Dad tried to tell me.
Suddenly made sense. His new girlfriend

1154
01:37:38.079 --> 01:37:43.359
turned him, and he turned mom. That's how the werewolf knew we were

1155
01:37:43.399 --> 01:37:50.560
snooping. Mom was doing the killing
while Dad joined his new pack in Louisiana.

1156
01:37:50.880 --> 01:37:56.520
I vomited at the foot of the
bed. What's happening, Lisa asked

1157
01:37:57.079 --> 01:38:01.119
downstairs. Sounded like a dog fight, narls, yips of pain, furious

1158
01:38:01.119 --> 01:38:05.000
barks, things breaking. I threw
the door open and whipped around the corner

1159
01:38:05.000 --> 01:38:10.439
with the shotgun raised and ready.
Dad pounced onto the stairs. Blood gushed

1160
01:38:10.439 --> 01:38:13.600
from wounds, and he bared his
fangs as he crawled up the steps toward

1161
01:38:13.680 --> 01:38:18.920
me. I pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened. I remembered duck hunting with

1162
01:38:19.000 --> 01:38:25.359
him, and then my own folly. I hadn't chambered another round. He

1163
01:38:25.520 --> 01:38:30.319
drew closer as I racked the slide, but it was too late. His

1164
01:38:30.439 --> 01:38:34.319
claws opened deep furrows in my thigh
and I toppled backwards. Then the other

1165
01:38:34.359 --> 01:38:39.039
wolf came into view. It grabbed
my father's legs and pulled him down the

1166
01:38:39.039 --> 01:38:44.159
steps before mounting his back. The
beast howled victoriously and glared at me with

1167
01:38:44.239 --> 01:38:49.119
amber eyes set in white fur.
The monster clamped its fully formed jaws down

1168
01:38:49.159 --> 01:38:54.159
on the back of Dad's neck.
I heard the wet snap of the spine

1169
01:38:54.439 --> 01:38:58.760
as it shook its head from side
to side. I stared at the long

1170
01:38:58.880 --> 01:39:03.760
scar part its fur, at the
claws digging into its prey, and the

1171
01:39:03.800 --> 01:39:09.479
missing fingers beside them. I pressed
the barrel of the shotgun to the back

1172
01:39:09.520 --> 01:39:15.479
of my father's skull and fired.
The white wolf slunk away. Brain matter

1173
01:39:15.520 --> 01:39:18.520
and pieces of skull clung to its
fur. I pumped the shotgun again,

1174
01:39:19.880 --> 01:39:30.920
and then the beast was gone.
By mourning, the bodies had fully reverted

1175
01:39:30.960 --> 01:39:34.920
to their human forms. Chief Hardest
he didn't question anything. Dad was the

1176
01:39:35.000 --> 01:39:41.399
killer and Mom was just a victim. We let him run with that story.

1177
01:39:41.520 --> 01:39:45.119
Before our aunt could come and pick
us up, we needed to take

1178
01:39:45.159 --> 01:39:48.880
care of one more thing. We
rode our bikes to Otto Dickens's shop and

1179
01:39:48.920 --> 01:39:54.840
found him assembling a pistol at his
counter reckon. The police seized that gun.

1180
01:39:55.439 --> 01:40:00.760
He said, simply, yeah,
I answered, s, I guess.

1181
01:40:00.800 --> 01:40:05.239
I set my mother's locket on the
counter and looked at the gunsmith questioningly.

1182
01:40:06.640 --> 01:40:11.800
Wolf's bain. He licked his lips. It helps when you're young,

1183
01:40:12.319 --> 01:40:15.239
When the moon is still your master. He finished the pistol he was working

1184
01:40:15.279 --> 01:40:18.920
on and slipped it into a messenger
bag. He pushed the kid over to

1185
01:40:19.079 --> 01:40:24.319
me. I haven't killed anyone in
a long time. In case you were

1186
01:40:24.399 --> 01:40:29.840
wondering, he told us, what
do we do now? Lisa asked,

1187
01:40:30.399 --> 01:40:33.960
different breeds of wolf the world over. My kind don't have a pack here.

1188
01:40:34.680 --> 01:40:39.880
He pointed at the gauze around my
leg. Your old man's kind,

1189
01:40:40.000 --> 01:40:45.159
does you took from them? They'll
take from you. A wolf never forgets.

1190
01:40:46.680 --> 01:40:49.840
You're just rabbits now, and there's
nothing left to do for a scared

1191
01:40:49.880 --> 01:40:57.359
bunny but to run. We took
the bag Atto prepared for us and left

1192
01:40:57.399 --> 01:41:00.720
his shop. We didn't go back
to the house and wait for our aunt,

1193
01:41:00.720 --> 01:41:05.279
though, We rode our bikes to
the outskirts of Fagan County and hitched

1194
01:41:05.279 --> 01:41:10.279
a ride at the Crispy Chicken.
They caught up with us in Saint Louis

1195
01:41:10.359 --> 01:41:15.119
three years later. I buried Lisa
behind the city park. I rest in

1196
01:41:15.199 --> 01:41:19.760
one place until I hear the bays
of the pack on those bright moonlit nights,

1197
01:41:20.720 --> 01:41:27.560
and then I disappear onto another stretch
of asphalt, always moving, always

1198
01:41:27.600 --> 01:41:33.640
staying ahead. Of the wolves,
always ready to remind them that rabbits have

1199
01:41:33.880 --> 01:41:45.800
teeth too. All right, after
having that hair raising terror thrown at us,

1200
01:41:45.279 --> 01:41:48.520
maybe it's time to get away from
it all. Oh no, not

1201
01:41:48.600 --> 01:41:53.920
anymore camping, that's for sure.
In fact, let's just ride off all

1202
01:41:54.079 --> 01:41:59.279
kinds of Americana travel and recreation.
Yeah, let's get away from that.

1203
01:41:59.600 --> 01:42:03.000
How about instead we go on a
nice long road trip, yeah, to

1204
01:42:03.159 --> 01:42:13.479
some faraway place where things couldn't possibly
go wrong, or maybe they're already very,

1205
01:42:13.640 --> 01:42:16.520
very wrong. Because this story is
from Keith Tomlin, one of my

1206
01:42:16.560 --> 01:42:21.520
favorite contributors and good friends to the
show, and it's called Bed and Breakfast

1207
01:42:23.479 --> 01:42:27.960
and Zombies. So remember this is
the most important meal of your day,

1208
01:42:28.439 --> 01:42:40.680
and we'll get to it after this. Bed Breakfast and Zombies by Keith Tomlin.

1209
01:42:43.359 --> 01:42:46.359
Jake sighed loudly as he stared out
the second story window of the Bed

1210
01:42:46.359 --> 01:42:49.800
and Breakfast that he and his father
had been staying at for the last few

1211
01:42:49.880 --> 01:42:55.880
days. This sucks, he thought, should have gone to Grandpa's with mom.

1212
01:42:56.920 --> 01:43:00.000
His family was on a rare vacation, taking a trip from Chicago to

1213
01:43:00.039 --> 01:43:03.600
New York City to visit his mom's
parents. It was the four of them,

1214
01:43:03.880 --> 01:43:08.560
Jake, his little sister Sarah,
his father Edward, and his mother

1215
01:43:08.800 --> 01:43:14.199
Karen, all jammed into a twelve
year old Volvo wagon. Jake remembered when

1216
01:43:14.199 --> 01:43:17.800
his father, during breakfast a few
days ago, could barely contain his excitement.

1217
01:43:18.399 --> 01:43:23.279
Kids. I was looking over my
papers last night, he said,

1218
01:43:23.399 --> 01:43:27.560
pointing to a huge stack of papers
that he poured over every moment that he

1219
01:43:27.600 --> 01:43:31.760
wasn't driving, and I found something
exciting. He looked wide eyed at both

1220
01:43:31.840 --> 01:43:35.640
of his children. Sarah was using
all of her concentration to draw on a

1221
01:43:35.720 --> 01:43:40.680
coloring page that doubled as the kid's
men you saw. Edward focused on his

1222
01:43:40.720 --> 01:43:45.880
eleven year old son Jake. How
would you like to look for some witches?

1223
01:43:45.560 --> 01:43:49.479
Jake was swept away with his dad's
excitement. They dropped the others off

1224
01:43:49.479 --> 01:43:53.800
at his grandfather's house and jumped back
on the road to a small town in

1225
01:43:53.840 --> 01:43:58.840
New York called Stones Creek. Jake
wondered what they needed to hunt witches?

1226
01:43:59.479 --> 01:44:03.680
Do we need garlic or maybe silver
bullets? What Jake didn't know and soon

1227
01:44:03.720 --> 01:44:09.840
found out, was the only things
they needed was the local library and long

1228
01:44:09.920 --> 01:44:15.520
walks in an old graveyard across the
street from the grinning cat, inn,

1229
01:44:15.319 --> 01:44:20.560
the bed and breakfast at which they
would be staying. Jake was bored,

1230
01:44:20.920 --> 01:44:26.600
he sighed louder. This time I
heard you the first time, his dad

1231
01:44:26.600 --> 01:44:30.800
said, without looking up from the
papers he copied from the library. When

1232
01:44:30.880 --> 01:44:34.119
he finished the page, he finally
looked at Jake, removing his unlit pipe

1233
01:44:34.159 --> 01:44:39.239
from his mouth and pointed at Jake
with it. Why don't you go outside

1234
01:44:39.239 --> 01:44:43.560
and play, he said, gesturing
to the door with his pipe. But

1235
01:44:43.880 --> 01:44:48.239
Dad, I'm bored, Jake said, his shoulders slumping forward. Look,

1236
01:44:48.720 --> 01:44:51.720
once I get through these pages,
we can take a walk. You can

1237
01:44:51.800 --> 01:44:56.720
either go outside and play until then, or sit there quietly and read a

1238
01:44:56.760 --> 01:45:01.039
book. His dad gave him one
last stern look before turning his attention back

1239
01:45:01.199 --> 01:45:06.159
to his stack of papers. Read
a book, Jake thought, Why is

1240
01:45:06.199 --> 01:45:11.680
it always books with him? Jake
didn't want books. He wanted fun and

1241
01:45:11.800 --> 01:45:15.479
adventure. Suppressing another sigh, he
turned his attention back to the window.

1242
01:45:16.119 --> 01:45:19.720
He was surprised to see a car
on the road. He had only seen

1243
01:45:19.880 --> 01:45:26.239
one other car all day. He
was even more surprised and excited to see

1244
01:45:26.279 --> 01:45:30.520
that the car started to slow down. Dad, Dad, Dad, Jake

1245
01:45:30.600 --> 01:45:33.239
said quickly as he had always done
when he grew excited. There's a car

1246
01:45:33.279 --> 01:45:38.800
turning into the parking lot. Really, that's interesting, his dad mumbled.

1247
01:45:39.359 --> 01:45:43.119
Jake watched intently as the car glided
to a stop in front of the inn.

1248
01:45:43.479 --> 01:45:45.560
The driver, a huge, bulky
man, got out and opened the

1249
01:45:45.600 --> 01:45:49.319
rear door. A well dressed man
stepped out of the back seat of the

1250
01:45:49.399 --> 01:45:54.880
car, quickly followed by a young
boy who looked around Jake's age. Da,

1251
01:45:55.279 --> 01:45:58.640
Da, Dad, Dad, Jake
said, getting louder with each word.

1252
01:45:59.039 --> 01:46:00.399
They have a kid. Can I
go down and meet him? Come

1253
01:46:00.439 --> 01:46:04.279
on, Dad, can I?
Jack started jumping back and forth from one

1254
01:46:04.319 --> 01:46:08.720
foot to the other. Okay,
hang on, his dad said, taking

1255
01:46:08.720 --> 01:46:12.520
off his glasses and rubbing the bridge
of his nose. All right, I

1256
01:46:12.560 --> 01:46:15.000
guess I'm done here for now.
I don't want you scaring the poor child

1257
01:46:15.000 --> 01:46:20.760
with your enthusiasm. Edward set the
stack of papers aside. Let's go downstairs

1258
01:46:20.760 --> 01:46:26.199
and greet the new arrivals. The
door to the Grinning Cat Inn flew open,

1259
01:46:26.319 --> 01:46:30.319
and the large man entered. He
scanned the room before stepping aside,

1260
01:46:30.560 --> 01:46:34.920
allowing the well dressed man to enter. The reception room was lined with cedar

1261
01:46:35.000 --> 01:46:40.359
panels, and had a counter that
ran along one wall. A large staircase

1262
01:46:40.439 --> 01:46:44.800
leading up was right across from the
front door. Two other doorways led to

1263
01:46:44.840 --> 01:46:47.279
a dining room in a large den
with a roaring fire in the fireplace.

1264
01:46:47.680 --> 01:46:51.520
Upon hearing the door, the owner
of the end, mister Jarvison, a

1265
01:46:51.640 --> 01:46:56.760
tall, thin elderly man, moved
to the counter. Good evening. He

1266
01:46:56.960 --> 01:47:00.720
may I help you, asked mister
Jarvison. Well dressed man walked over to

1267
01:47:00.760 --> 01:47:05.720
the counter and with a thick Slavic
accent, said, I am Count Dmitri

1268
01:47:05.960 --> 01:47:12.760
Romanova. I have reservation for two
rooms. Yes, of course, your

1269
01:47:12.840 --> 01:47:16.600
rooms are ready. Mister, How
should I address you? Mister Jarvison asked,

1270
01:47:17.079 --> 01:47:21.520
Please, you may call me Count
Romanova, said the count. The

1271
01:47:21.520 --> 01:47:27.319
title is largely symbolic at this point, but he shrugged. We do have

1272
01:47:27.399 --> 01:47:30.279
our protocols. Yes, sir,
I will show you to your rooms,

1273
01:47:30.520 --> 01:47:35.159
mister Jarvison said, half bowing.
Count Romanova waved him off. Ivan,

1274
01:47:35.319 --> 01:47:40.000
my men, servant, will look
to the rooms and luggage. I wish

1275
01:47:40.079 --> 01:47:44.319
to relax by the fire, he
said, pointing towards the den. He

1276
01:47:44.439 --> 01:47:47.479
then looked at Ivan, who nodded
and gestured to mister Jarvison to lead the

1277
01:47:47.520 --> 01:47:53.239
way up the stairs. The Count
turned towards the door and called out come

1278
01:47:53.359 --> 01:47:58.800
Nikolay, let's rest before dinner.
A small framed child around ten years old

1279
01:47:58.960 --> 01:48:02.359
entered the inn. He silently followed
his father into the den. Edward and

1280
01:48:02.439 --> 01:48:06.239
Jake had depressed themselves against the wall
to allow Ivan to pass them on the

1281
01:48:06.279 --> 01:48:11.479
stairway. Jake stared at the large
man, shocked at the sheer size of

1282
01:48:11.560 --> 01:48:15.000
him. Ivan stopped and turned,
glaring at Jake, who quickly turned and

1283
01:48:15.079 --> 01:48:19.039
ran to catch up with his father. Twenty minutes later, Jake was standing

1284
01:48:19.079 --> 01:48:24.199
outside with Nikolay, trying to find
a way to end the awkward silence that

1285
01:48:24.319 --> 01:48:27.880
hung over them. It took his
dad a few minutes to convince the count

1286
01:48:27.920 --> 01:48:30.760
to allow his son outside to play, and now Jake was wishing that his

1287
01:48:30.880 --> 01:48:38.520
father had failed. So Jake said, do you like to play ball?

1288
01:48:39.359 --> 01:48:44.520
Sorry? I do not know this
game ball? Nikolay replied in broken English.

1289
01:48:44.640 --> 01:48:46.880
No, ball is not a game. Well, it's part of a

1290
01:48:46.920 --> 01:48:51.079
game. Jake thought that over for
a few seconds. Never mind, do

1291
01:48:51.159 --> 01:48:57.239
you want to play hide and seek? Jake said, hopefully, hide and

1292
01:48:57.359 --> 01:49:01.359
seek? What do we hide?
Nikola I asked, no, Jake said,

1293
01:49:01.399 --> 01:49:06.039
frustrated, you go hide and I
try to find you. Nikola,

1294
01:49:06.079 --> 01:49:12.079
I asked, we are to be
friends, correct, Jake nodded. Then

1295
01:49:12.399 --> 01:49:16.399
why would I hide from you?
Nikola? I asked, France should trust

1296
01:49:16.439 --> 01:49:20.960
each other and not need to hide. Huh, I never thought of it

1297
01:49:21.039 --> 01:49:27.680
that way, Jake said, Okay, well we could. Jake was stumped.

1298
01:49:27.880 --> 01:49:30.000
He racked his brain for something to
do, and his face lit up

1299
01:49:30.039 --> 01:49:35.399
when he finally thought of something that
no kid could possibly resist. Do you

1300
01:49:35.439 --> 01:49:41.319
want to see something scary? Jake
teased with a big grin. The young

1301
01:49:41.439 --> 01:49:46.840
foreign boy nodded slowly. Edward leaned
forward over the overstuffed chair, tapping his

1302
01:49:46.960 --> 01:49:51.079
pipe on the stone of the fireplace
and sweeping the ashes into the fire.

1303
01:49:53.239 --> 01:49:57.800
What brings you to this little corner
of nowhere, Count Edward asked, leaning

1304
01:49:57.840 --> 01:50:01.920
back and refilling his pipe. He
looked to apologetically at mister Jarvison. Sorry,

1305
01:50:02.279 --> 01:50:08.359
no offense, none taken. This
is a small town, very small,

1306
01:50:08.680 --> 01:50:13.760
mister Jarvison agreed. The Count took
another puff on his cigar and slowly

1307
01:50:13.840 --> 01:50:18.239
let the smoke escape his mouth.
I came to America on a diplomatic trip,

1308
01:50:18.680 --> 01:50:24.840
but I wanted to take some time
to visit the relatives. Mister Jarvison

1309
01:50:24.920 --> 01:50:30.239
sat up beaming, you have relations
living here. Count Romanov slowly shook his

1310
01:50:30.279 --> 01:50:36.119
head living No, sorry, I
used the wrong word. I have.

1311
01:50:38.079 --> 01:50:41.479
He waved his hand in the air, causing ash to fall onto the arm

1312
01:50:41.479 --> 01:50:46.720
of his chair. Ancestors here in
cemetery. He pointed toward the graveyard.

1313
01:50:48.039 --> 01:50:53.199
Jake led Nikolay across the street and
into the old graveyard. They walked through

1314
01:50:53.239 --> 01:50:57.119
the old gravestones, many of which
were so weathered that you couldn't read the

1315
01:50:57.159 --> 01:51:00.479
words engraved upon them. Jake spent
many hours here the last few days,

1316
01:51:00.520 --> 01:51:05.159
walking the overgrown paths between the graves
with his father. This place held little

1317
01:51:05.199 --> 01:51:10.760
interest for Jake, except for an
ancient crypt that they were now approaching.

1318
01:51:11.279 --> 01:51:15.720
It was a small stone building with
vines growing up the walls toward the tiled

1319
01:51:15.800 --> 01:51:19.800
roof. The most striking feature of
this building was that along each wall there

1320
01:51:19.800 --> 01:51:24.279
were a pair of statues that looked
like they were emerging out of the stone

1321
01:51:24.359 --> 01:51:29.760
surface. Each statue was of a
creature with a bald head, pointy ears,

1322
01:51:30.119 --> 01:51:33.600
and a mouth with a razor sharp
teeth. His dad said they were

1323
01:51:33.680 --> 01:51:40.239
ghouls, undead creatures that feast on
the flesh of the living. What do

1324
01:51:40.279 --> 01:51:44.239
you think, Jake asked. As
they approached the crypt, He snuck a

1325
01:51:44.279 --> 01:51:48.720
sideways glance, hoping to have scared
the other boy, but instead he looked

1326
01:51:48.760 --> 01:51:55.159
amazed. The smaller boy slowly walked
around the building, admiring each statue in

1327
01:51:55.239 --> 01:51:59.319
turn. He then walked along each
wall, running his hand along the stone

1328
01:51:59.399 --> 01:52:03.560
surface as he went. Nikolay turned
to Jake and asked, where is the

1329
01:52:03.600 --> 01:52:09.439
door? Yeah, my dad wondered
the same thing. Weird, huh,

1330
01:52:09.560 --> 01:52:14.520
Jake replied. Nikolay continued to walk
around the building, examining each wall as

1331
01:52:14.560 --> 01:52:17.600
he went. He finally stopped and
waved at Jake, pointing at a brick

1332
01:52:17.640 --> 01:52:23.039
in the wall. Jake walked over
and bent close to discover that there were

1333
01:52:23.119 --> 01:52:28.520
drawings etched into this brick, drawings
his dad would have called runs. The

1334
01:52:28.600 --> 01:52:32.600
more he looked, the more they
seemed to shimmer. He began tracing them

1335
01:52:32.600 --> 01:52:36.439
with his finger, and he swore
he felt them start to grow hot.

1336
01:52:38.399 --> 01:52:42.119
Jake took a step back to ask
Nikolay if he had spotted any other bricks

1337
01:52:42.159 --> 01:52:45.399
like this. When his head started
to buzz. The buzzing turned into a

1338
01:52:45.479 --> 01:52:50.800
voice deep inside his head. The
voice began whispering six words, over and

1339
01:52:51.000 --> 01:52:57.520
over again, six words that he
did not understand. These words got louder

1340
01:52:57.640 --> 01:53:00.640
and louder, until finally they burst
from his lips in a booming voice.

1341
01:53:01.840 --> 01:53:09.520
Costos secrita pre do malum a pierre
ostium. Jake was unable to stop himself

1342
01:53:09.520 --> 01:53:15.520
from chanting. Costo secrita preodo malum
a pierre ostium. Jake heard a low

1343
01:53:15.640 --> 01:53:20.680
hum coming from the wall in front
of him. Costos secrita preto malum a

1344
01:53:20.800 --> 01:53:28.279
pierre ostium. The rounds started to
glow brightly. Costo secreta preodo malum a

1345
01:53:28.399 --> 01:53:33.760
pierre astium. Jake's voice roared,
and the wall opened. The count tossed

1346
01:53:33.800 --> 01:53:39.359
the remains of his cigar into the
fireplace and looked over at Edward. What

1347
01:53:39.560 --> 01:53:44.359
brings you here? Edward leaned forward
excitedly, as if he had been waiting

1348
01:53:44.399 --> 01:53:47.720
to answer that question all evening.
Well, in my day job, I'm

1349
01:53:47.760 --> 01:53:53.039
a history professor at the University of
Chicago, but my real passion is writing

1350
01:53:53.079 --> 01:53:58.239
about the occult, magic and the
supernatural. He took a puff off of

1351
01:53:58.239 --> 01:54:01.760
his pipe and continued, I was
researching the Salem witch trials, trying to

1352
01:54:01.800 --> 01:54:05.279
see if I could bring anything new
to the table. When I uncovered a

1353
01:54:05.319 --> 01:54:12.159
series of correspondence between two sisters,
both witches. One sadly was convicted of

1354
01:54:12.159 --> 01:54:15.680
witchcraft and perished in Salem, he
shook his head. The other one wrote

1355
01:54:15.680 --> 01:54:23.560
about her coven moving here to help
protect witches against persecution. Most intriguing,

1356
01:54:23.800 --> 01:54:28.159
said the count. Did they say
how they would protect the witches? I

1357
01:54:28.239 --> 01:54:31.800
haven't found many details on that,
Edward said, sounding annoyed, except that

1358
01:54:31.880 --> 01:54:40.000
it involved the undead. Mister Jarvison
looked around uneasily. The secret door in

1359
01:54:40.039 --> 01:54:44.800
the crypt's wall swung open, revealing
an empty room except for a steep staircase

1360
01:54:44.880 --> 01:54:47.960
leading down. The air smelled stale
and musty, and there was an eerie

1361
01:54:48.000 --> 01:54:53.560
silence. Jake looked at Nikolay,
who stared back, wide eyed. Both

1362
01:54:53.640 --> 01:54:58.119
boys started forward, Jake and the
lead. The staircase ended in a stone

1363
01:54:58.159 --> 01:55:02.720
door. Jake pushed against until the
door finally screeched open. The sound reverberated

1364
01:55:02.720 --> 01:55:08.479
throughout the entire structure, sending chills
down Jake's spine. The room, it

1365
01:55:08.560 --> 01:55:13.560
revealed, was dark, the light
from outside barely penetrating several feet. Jake

1366
01:55:13.640 --> 01:55:17.159
hesitantly stepped forward, and flames shot
around the room. As a dozen torches

1367
01:55:17.199 --> 01:55:23.279
flared to life. They revealed a
large circular room with a dozen stone doors

1368
01:55:23.319 --> 01:55:27.680
around the perimeter. The floor was
made of white marble with black marble inlays,

1369
01:55:27.920 --> 01:55:31.239
creating a large pentagram. In the
center of the pentagram stood an altar

1370
01:55:31.439 --> 01:55:38.279
with a large leather bound book sitting
atop it. Wow, Jake exclaimed as

1371
01:55:38.279 --> 01:55:41.840
he took in the sight. He
looked back to check on Nikolay, who

1372
01:55:41.920 --> 01:55:45.319
was a few steps behind him.
Jake slowly moved forward, fascinated by the

1373
01:55:45.359 --> 01:55:49.199
book. Almost without realizing it,
he was standing in front of the altar,

1374
01:55:49.520 --> 01:55:54.560
staring down at the large tome.
He looked back and Nikolay was standing

1375
01:55:54.560 --> 01:55:57.760
at the edge of the pentagram with
one foot raised, as if he was

1376
01:55:57.800 --> 01:56:01.199
trying to decide if he wanted to
cross over it or not. Jake turned

1377
01:56:01.239 --> 01:56:05.159
back and reached out to touch the
book. The room exploded in white light,

1378
01:56:05.199 --> 01:56:09.760
and Jake was blinded as he heard
Nikolay cry out in pain. A

1379
01:56:09.800 --> 01:56:13.880
series of loud thumps shook the ground
as the stone doors fell open. He

1380
01:56:13.920 --> 01:56:17.720
looked up and saw black shapes moving
behind each doorway. Jake turned and started

1381
01:56:17.720 --> 01:56:20.800
to run toward the stairs. Nikolay
was on the ground at the edge of

1382
01:56:20.800 --> 01:56:26.159
the pentagram, withering in pain.
As Jake paused to help Nikolay, he

1383
01:56:26.279 --> 01:56:30.840
glanced around the room. In each
of the dozen doorways, a walking corpse

1384
01:56:30.880 --> 01:56:36.359
emerged, each dressed in filthy,
flowing white robes. Their skin was leathery

1385
01:56:36.439 --> 01:56:41.800
and taunt across their faces and hands. As they emerged from the darkness,

1386
01:56:41.960 --> 01:56:45.119
they raised their hands as if they
had were searching for something, sniffing almost

1387
01:56:45.199 --> 01:56:50.039
like dogs. Jake could hear the
wet rattles of them inhaling deeply. The

1388
01:56:50.119 --> 01:56:54.880
creatures didn't look like the ones from
the movies, but he knew what they

1389
01:56:54.920 --> 01:57:01.119
were zombies. Jake stood there,
paralyzed with until the nearest zombie suddenly caught

1390
01:57:01.159 --> 01:57:04.560
the scent of something in the air
and whipped its head around to stare at

1391
01:57:04.560 --> 01:57:10.239
the two boys. A roun carved
into each of their foreheads began to glow

1392
01:57:10.279 --> 01:57:14.960
as they opened their mouths and moaned. Jake pulled Nikolay up and pushed him

1393
01:57:14.960 --> 01:57:18.880
towards the stairs. Without taking another
look behind him, He ran, are

1394
01:57:18.960 --> 01:57:25.039
there any of these witches? Steal
around. The count asked, that's what

1395
01:57:25.159 --> 01:57:29.199
I've been trying to find out.
I believe that most of the original settlers

1396
01:57:29.239 --> 01:57:32.560
were witches. I've been looking at
the genealogy records, and as far as

1397
01:57:32.560 --> 01:57:36.479
I can tell, the last of
their living relatives perished in a fire back

1398
01:57:36.520 --> 01:57:42.279
in the late nineteen fifties. Edward
said somberly, Yes, that was an

1399
01:57:42.319 --> 01:57:46.520
awful thing. Mister Jarvison mused,
My family lived a few counties over when

1400
01:57:46.520 --> 01:57:50.039
it happened. I was just a
young child, but I still remember the

1401
01:57:50.079 --> 01:57:55.840
news accounts very sad. Most of
the town was attending some kind of meeting

1402
01:57:55.880 --> 01:58:01.520
at the town hall when it caught
on fire. Refuse survived. All three

1403
01:58:01.520 --> 01:58:08.079
men fell silent. The two children
burst from the crypt, sounds of heavy

1404
01:58:08.119 --> 01:58:12.199
footsteps echoing from the darkness behind them. Jake paused a moment to try to

1405
01:58:12.199 --> 01:58:15.880
get his bearings. The sun was
going down and he was a bit confused

1406
01:58:15.920 --> 01:58:18.720
on how to get back to the
inn. Nikolay had kept running straight into

1407
01:58:18.720 --> 01:58:24.560
the overgrown brush that had overtaken this
part of the cemetery. Upon hearing footsteps

1408
01:58:24.560 --> 01:58:28.319
at the top of the stairs behind
him, Jake quickly followed, Why did

1409
01:58:28.359 --> 01:58:31.319
he have to run this way,
Jake wondered, as a sticker bush tugged

1410
01:58:31.319 --> 01:58:35.319
at his clothes. He finally gave
a great pull and fell back into a

1411
01:58:35.359 --> 01:58:39.800
clearing. Getting up, he saw
that he was at the stone path that

1412
01:58:39.920 --> 01:58:45.399
followed the ten foot tall stone wall
that surrounded the cemetery. Jake recognized some

1413
01:58:45.439 --> 01:58:48.279
of the tall monuments, and he
knew where he was. Jake turned toward

1414
01:58:48.319 --> 01:58:53.039
the right and ran along the path. After a few minutes of running,

1415
01:58:53.119 --> 01:58:56.840
Jake heard a scream coming from ahead
of him. They must have got Nikolay,

1416
01:58:57.000 --> 01:59:00.920
Jake thought. He began to run
faster. The Count broke the silence

1417
01:59:00.920 --> 01:59:06.600
suddenly, did you hear a noise? Something He's not right? The other

1418
01:59:06.640 --> 01:59:11.560
two men shook their heads, looking
around the room. Ivan, the Count

1419
01:59:11.560 --> 01:59:15.439
said quietly. The large man stepped
forward out of the shadows, quiet as

1420
01:59:15.439 --> 01:59:21.760
a mouse, golcheck on Nikolay.
Ivan nodded and glided off. Something he's

1421
01:59:21.840 --> 01:59:28.079
not right, Count Romanova repeated himself, looking out the window into the growing

1422
01:59:28.159 --> 01:59:31.479
darkness. Jake ran faster than he'd
ever ran in his life. As the

1423
01:59:31.520 --> 01:59:34.920
path turned toward the entrance, he
tripped on a tree route and was sent

1424
01:59:35.000 --> 01:59:40.600
flying. He hit the ground hard
and rolled a few times before landing against

1425
01:59:40.640 --> 01:59:45.319
a small tree. However, when
he looked up, he realized that it

1426
01:59:45.359 --> 01:59:48.600
wasn't a tree, it was the
legs of a large zombie. The undead

1427
01:59:48.600 --> 01:59:56.520
creature looked down at him and surprisingly
turned away and shambled on. Jake was

1428
01:59:56.600 --> 02:00:00.239
stunned, but flew back into action
when he heard Nikolay cry out again,

1429
02:00:00.560 --> 02:00:04.840
this time very close. Jake looked
around and saw Nikolay standing at the entrance

1430
02:00:04.840 --> 02:00:09.640
of the cemetery in the middle of
a ring of five zombies. One had

1431
02:00:09.680 --> 02:00:13.119
grabbed him by the arm and was
lifting him up while the others reached out

1432
02:00:13.159 --> 02:00:16.359
for him, the rounds glowing brightly
on their forehead. Jake picked up a

1433
02:00:16.439 --> 02:00:20.159
rotting tree branch for a weapon and
started to move to help Nikolay. He

1434
02:00:20.279 --> 02:00:25.359
stopped when he saw a huge shape
come out of the darkness. He sighed

1435
02:00:25.359 --> 02:00:30.199
with relief when he realized it was
Ivan, but the look of murderous rage

1436
02:00:30.199 --> 02:00:32.239
on the big man's face almost scared
him as much as the zombies did.

1437
02:00:32.800 --> 02:00:36.800
Ivan waded into the middle of the
group of zombies with a ferocity that Jake

1438
02:00:36.840 --> 02:00:42.279
had never seen before. Ivan tossed
the zombies aside like they were rag dolls,

1439
02:00:42.520 --> 02:00:45.159
striking them with thunderous blows that didn't
seem to do any real damage to

1440
02:00:45.159 --> 02:00:49.199
them. When a creature was knocked
down, they would rise back up and

1441
02:00:49.239 --> 02:00:54.600
continue their assault. When three more
zombies stumbled into view, Ivan pushed the

1442
02:00:54.600 --> 02:00:58.399
two nearest ones down, picked up
Nikolay, and ran back toward the end.

1443
02:00:58.800 --> 02:01:01.960
Seeing Ivan disappear into the blackness jolted
Jake into action, and he ran

1444
02:01:02.079 --> 02:01:06.800
after them. The door to the
end crashed open, and Ivan charged inside,

1445
02:01:06.880 --> 02:01:11.800
still carrying Nikolay. Ivan's suit was
torn and his face and arms were

1446
02:01:11.800 --> 02:01:15.359
covered with scratches. Jake ran in
after them and slammed the door shut,

1447
02:01:15.399 --> 02:01:21.640
locking it. Dad zombies, Jake
yelled what Edward said, leaping to his

1448
02:01:21.720 --> 02:01:27.680
feet. Right then, the window
behind Edward exploded inward. Undead hands clawed

1449
02:01:27.680 --> 02:01:30.319
at the window sill, trying to
pull themselves into the room. Another window

1450
02:01:30.359 --> 02:01:34.000
was smashed, and loud thumping shook
the front door as the dead tried to

1451
02:01:34.000 --> 02:01:39.760
break it down. Oh my,
what is going on? Yelled it terrified

1452
02:01:39.800 --> 02:01:43.960
mister Jarvison. Ivan ran to hold
the front door as Edward grabbed a lamp

1453
02:01:44.000 --> 02:01:46.359
and started hitting at the arms,
reaching into the den. They could hear

1454
02:01:46.399 --> 02:01:50.920
glass breaking in the other rooms of
the house. Mister Jarvison finally snapped and

1455
02:01:51.039 --> 02:01:55.159
ran out of the den. He
let out a terrified scream as a zombie

1456
02:01:55.199 --> 02:01:58.720
lurched out of the dining room in
the reception area. It ignored mister Jarvison

1457
02:01:58.960 --> 02:02:02.079
as it shambled towards the Count,
the run on its forehead glowing brighter with

1458
02:02:02.119 --> 02:02:06.359
each step. The runs. Edward
yelled, pointing at the glowing brand on

1459
02:02:06.399 --> 02:02:12.840
the zombie's forehead. Some powerful magic
created these things. Can you stop them?

1460
02:02:13.079 --> 02:02:15.880
Jake said, fearing the answer,
not without knowing the spell used to

1461
02:02:15.880 --> 02:02:19.359
animate them. Edward yelled back.
Using the lamp he had to push a

1462
02:02:19.479 --> 02:02:25.640
zombie off the window sill. Jake
the book, Nikolai yelled, trying to

1463
02:02:25.640 --> 02:02:28.640
help his father, who was struggling
with the zombie from the dining room.

1464
02:02:29.239 --> 02:02:31.399
Yeah, Dad, there's some kind
of spell book or something in that weird

1465
02:02:31.479 --> 02:02:35.439
crypt in the graveyard, Jake said
to his father. That may be our

1466
02:02:35.439 --> 02:02:39.720
only chance. Edward chopback. Count. We need to get to that crypt

1467
02:02:39.880 --> 02:02:43.039
now, he yelled. The Count, who was holding his own against the

1468
02:02:43.119 --> 02:02:46.359
zombie, yelled out Ivan to me, we need to get to the graveyard.

1469
02:02:46.560 --> 02:02:50.760
Ivan rushed over and tossed the zombie
attacking the count aside through a broken

1470
02:02:50.760 --> 02:02:55.520
window. Just as Ivan turned back
to the front door, it burst open

1471
02:02:55.560 --> 02:03:00.399
and three more zombies began to stumble
in. Ivan ran and leapt knocking back

1472
02:03:00.439 --> 02:03:04.640
outside. Go go, yelled Edward
as everyone ran toward the front door.

1473
02:03:05.159 --> 02:03:09.439
The next ten minutes seemed like a
nightmare. To Jake. Ivan was an

1474
02:03:09.520 --> 02:03:13.359
unstoppable tank, running through the dark, knocking over any creature in his way.

1475
02:03:13.600 --> 02:03:15.399
The rest of the group followed in
his wake, trying to keep up.

1476
02:03:15.680 --> 02:03:18.960
Once in the graveyard, Edward pointed
the way to the crypt. The

1477
02:03:19.079 --> 02:03:23.880
small party entered the crypt and ran
down the stairs to the large marble room.

1478
02:03:24.239 --> 02:03:27.039
Edward ran over to the book on
the altar. Ivan stood with his

1479
02:03:27.079 --> 02:03:30.119
back pressed up against the door,
waiting for any sign of the undead creatures.

1480
02:03:30.439 --> 02:03:33.159
The Count and his son stood just
off to the side of Ivan,

1481
02:03:33.439 --> 02:03:38.760
backs to the wall. Something felt
off to Jake, but he didn't know

1482
02:03:38.800 --> 02:03:42.760
what it was. He watched his
dad quickly flip through the book, Struggling

1483
02:03:42.760 --> 02:03:45.399
to understand the words on the pages. Jake tried to connect the pieces.

1484
02:03:45.840 --> 02:03:50.840
There was something he couldn't put together. Wait, I think I got it,

1485
02:03:51.079 --> 02:03:55.520
Edward said, almost to himself.
He began reading the words from the

1486
02:03:55.520 --> 02:03:59.760
book in a loud, booming voice. The undead began pounding on the door,

1487
02:03:59.800 --> 02:04:03.319
and Ivan, muscles bulging struggled to
keep the door shut. The ground

1488
02:04:03.319 --> 02:04:08.000
began to shake, and a wind
started to rip through the chamber. Howls

1489
02:04:08.000 --> 02:04:12.479
of anger and pain roared from behind
the door. As the undead intensified their

1490
02:04:12.479 --> 02:04:17.319
attack. Something finally clicked in Jake's
mind. The zombies ignored me and mister

1491
02:04:17.439 --> 02:04:23.439
Jarvison. The runs grew brighter when
they got closer to the Count and his

1492
02:04:23.600 --> 02:04:29.279
son, Dad. Stop, the
zombies aren't after us, there after them,

1493
02:04:29.680 --> 02:04:32.000
Jake yelled, pointing at the Count, who looked back at Jake with

1494
02:04:32.039 --> 02:04:38.279
a wide grin. Edward showed no
sign of hearing his son. He kept

1495
02:04:38.359 --> 02:04:41.560
chanting, and as he chanted,
his voice grew even louder, and the

1496
02:04:41.600 --> 02:04:45.359
tremors became more powerful. When Edward
reached the end of the spell, the

1497
02:04:45.439 --> 02:04:48.720
black marble of the pentagram burst into
flames. The pounding on the door ceased

1498
02:04:48.840 --> 02:04:55.479
as a silence descended over the room. Edward leaned against the altar. Exhausted,

1499
02:04:55.800 --> 02:05:00.319
Ivan opened the door, and only
empty robes littered the floor. No

1500
02:05:00.520 --> 02:05:03.600
sign of the zombies. Jake started
to run to his father, when the

1501
02:05:03.600 --> 02:05:09.600
ground began to vibrate. The white
marble floors started to crack as clawed hands

1502
02:05:09.640 --> 02:05:15.479
began digging their way out of the
ground. What, Jake exclaimed, More

1503
02:05:15.560 --> 02:05:20.680
zombies? Oh no, the Count
remarked, these are the relatives I spoke

1504
02:05:20.720 --> 02:05:27.560
of earlier, my ancestors. The
Count laughed as he began to change.

1505
02:05:27.800 --> 02:05:31.199
His face elongated, while his teeth
grew sharp. His hair disappeared, while

1506
02:05:31.199 --> 02:05:35.479
his ears grew larger and more pointed. He became one of the creatures from

1507
02:05:35.479 --> 02:05:41.640
the statues on the outside of the
crypt. He became a ghoul. Ivan

1508
02:05:41.680 --> 02:05:46.239
and Nikolay also began to revert to
their true selves. Those meddling witches kept

1509
02:05:46.279 --> 02:05:50.560
my family in prison for hundreds of
years. When we discovered them, we

1510
02:05:50.680 --> 02:05:56.840
took our revenge and burned them all. But we needed someone pure of heart

1511
02:05:56.920 --> 02:06:02.199
to open the crypt, someone one
like your son, said the Count,

1512
02:06:02.319 --> 02:06:08.760
running his tongue over his razor sharp
teeth. We also needed another fool to

1513
02:06:08.920 --> 02:06:14.840
undo the spell of protection and destroy
those pesky, undead guardians of theirs,

1514
02:06:14.880 --> 02:06:18.159
he said, gesturing back towards the
white robes. He took a bit of

1515
02:06:18.199 --> 02:06:23.840
planning, but we were finally able
to forge those leathers to draw you here.

1516
02:06:24.800 --> 02:06:29.279
Dozens of ghouls were slowly extracting themselves
from the ground, their shining eyes

1517
02:06:29.359 --> 02:06:34.039
looking hungrily at Jake and Edward.
I do hope you will join us for

1518
02:06:34.279 --> 02:06:43.720
dinner, the count bellowed, laughing. Okay, so maybe I told a

1519
02:06:43.840 --> 02:06:48.079
little tiny fib and that is that
we were done with camping. Oh no,

1520
02:06:48.239 --> 02:06:55.840
I think we need to finish on
a big and maybe explosive note as

1521
02:06:55.840 --> 02:07:00.279
we head back to summer camp,
this time courtesy of our good friend David

1522
02:07:00.279 --> 02:07:04.600
O'Hanlon. Again, this one is
all about summer fun, being a kid

1523
02:07:05.119 --> 02:07:13.399
and mad scientists experiments. And believe
me, there's so much more to your

1524
02:07:13.520 --> 02:07:18.880
summer slayication. Don't worry, it's
even better than that pun. So get

1525
02:07:18.920 --> 02:07:24.960
comfortable as we wrap up this compilation
with one more story of summertime fear.

1526
02:07:25.760 --> 02:07:29.960
But first we're going to go to
a quick word from our sponsors, and

1527
02:07:30.039 --> 02:07:47.279
then the fear will begin. Summer
Slayication by David O'Hanlon. The plan is

1528
02:07:47.319 --> 02:07:51.399
simple, Henry Stout said around the
butt of his cigarette. We take the

1529
02:07:51.439 --> 02:07:56.680
canoes across the lake and into the
Cypress Maze, and then it's just a

1530
02:07:56.720 --> 02:08:01.920
short hike to the Miniwinian bunkhouses.
If we get lost, Lance Calaveris snatched

1531
02:08:01.920 --> 02:08:07.760
the smoke from Henry's mouth. It's
called the maze for a reason. Henry

1532
02:08:07.800 --> 02:08:11.640
scratched the patch of bristly hair he
called his beard. I've done the maze

1533
02:08:11.680 --> 02:08:16.640
three times. I can get us
through. Henry was on his fourth stay

1534
02:08:16.680 --> 02:08:20.840
at the Living Grace Rehabilitation camp for
youth offenders. The thirteen week camp was

1535
02:08:20.880 --> 02:08:26.439
developed by Pastor Frank Appendecker to put
kids on the straight and narrow through Christ.

1536
02:08:26.880 --> 02:08:31.159
If that didn't work, the former
Marine Corps drill instructor had more inventive

1537
02:08:31.159 --> 02:08:35.520
ways to grind the little pukes into
productive members of society. The Cypress Maze

1538
02:08:35.720 --> 02:08:39.279
was the final test for all the
teens that entered the program. If they

1539
02:08:39.319 --> 02:08:43.760
failed, they completed their sentences in
a juvenile detention center. It was a

1540
02:08:43.800 --> 02:08:50.520
one time deal. Normally, Father
O, as the delinquents called him,

1541
02:08:50.800 --> 02:08:54.159
took a special interest in Henry and
brought him back every time he reoffended.

1542
02:08:54.439 --> 02:08:58.960
He saw Henry as the camp's one
and only failure. Henry saw the camp

1543
02:09:00.079 --> 02:09:05.319
as a grueling but welcomed Reprieve from
his home, a dilapidated trailer park outside

1544
02:09:05.359 --> 02:09:11.119
of Russellville called the Green Mile.
Yeah, you've done the maze, Lance

1545
02:09:11.199 --> 02:09:16.399
said, but not at night.
Then stay here. Henry threw his hands

1546
02:09:16.399 --> 02:09:20.439
in the air. Maybe Father Roh
will let you polish the pews for morning

1547
02:09:20.479 --> 02:09:24.960
service. The rest of us are
going to the many Winnions, and then

1548
02:09:24.159 --> 02:09:31.039
we'll see Ted Vang cut both his
hands to his chest as if cradling breasts.

1549
02:09:31.079 --> 02:09:35.079
Seriously, Ted Dexter Brown shook his
head with those glasses. You can

1550
02:09:35.119 --> 02:09:39.680
see them from here. Too many
trees in the way. Ted adjusted his

1551
02:09:39.760 --> 02:09:46.079
glasses over his plump cheeks. Ted's
right, Henry smirked. The Senior House

1552
02:09:46.159 --> 02:09:50.159
is responsible for bed checks and lockdown, so they hit the showers last.

1553
02:09:50.720 --> 02:09:54.800
That's when we'll strike. We throw
the bombs through the windows and they'll all

1554
02:09:54.840 --> 02:09:58.680
come out running. Dexter held up
the polaroid camera, and I'll get the

1555
02:09:58.720 --> 02:10:01.920
foe to make sure we all get
a good look and don't miss out on

1556
02:10:03.000 --> 02:10:07.359
anything. What about the counselors,
Jimmy O'Reilly, always the pragmatist, asked

1557
02:10:07.840 --> 02:10:13.199
they're going to come running two.
These babies aren't exactly subtle. Jimmy tossed

1558
02:10:13.199 --> 02:10:16.920
one of the devices between his hands. It wasn't much bigger than a thermis,

1559
02:10:18.239 --> 02:10:22.800
with a main body of paper mache
over chicken wire with four thinner cardboard

1560
02:10:22.880 --> 02:10:26.239
tubes attached to the sides. A
waterproof fuse snaked from the top of all

1561
02:10:26.239 --> 02:10:30.720
four and came together in a braid
with that of the main device. The

1562
02:10:30.920 --> 02:10:35.039
entire package was wrapped in black electrical
tape for easy concealment on the moonless night.

1563
02:10:35.560 --> 02:10:41.600
Jimmy's unsettling interest in things that went
boom were what landed him in the

1564
02:10:41.720 --> 02:10:46.000
camp. Spaz will take care of
that, Henry reassured them. Marco Spaz

1565
02:10:46.119 --> 02:10:50.760
Reynolds tugged at the ends of his
shaggy mane and rocked in place, giggling,

1566
02:10:52.600 --> 02:10:54.479
Yeah, yeah, I got something
to keep those pesky counselors out of

1567
02:10:54.479 --> 02:11:01.520
our business. Father Oh handpicked all
the campers. He wanted to challenge himself

1568
02:11:01.520 --> 02:11:05.840
as much as the youth's, whether
it be Henry's seeming inability to rehabilitate Ted's

1569
02:11:05.840 --> 02:11:13.039
obesity, Dexter's unwillingness to apply his
genius IQ Jimmy's authority issues or Lance's temper.

1570
02:11:13.359 --> 02:11:18.880
Each of the sixteens offered him a
chance to prove his faith. Spaz

1571
02:11:18.159 --> 02:11:22.119
was no different. He grew up
in a Satanic cult that were currently all

1572
02:11:22.159 --> 02:11:28.319
facing charges of kidnapping and cannibalism.
There was no evidence that Spaz had been

1573
02:11:28.359 --> 02:11:31.960
involved in the Colts crimes, but
it didn't matter. He was still a

1574
02:11:31.000 --> 02:11:35.720
devout, devil worshiper. The raised
flesh of a pentagram branded on his forehead

1575
02:11:35.760 --> 02:11:41.159
made Spaz a poster child for the
program. If Father Oh could reform him.

1576
02:11:41.960 --> 02:11:46.600
Okay, Lance said, let's stop
talking about it and get moving.

1577
02:11:46.079 --> 02:11:52.239
He grabbed one of Jimmy's devices.
No one gets hurt, right, maybe

1578
02:11:52.319 --> 02:11:56.840
their feelings, Jimmy shrugged. It's
all smoke and sparks in some little pops,

1579
02:11:56.880 --> 02:12:01.199
just enough to make them think there's
a fire. The six boys made

1580
02:12:01.239 --> 02:12:05.640
their way to the door of the
cabin and Dexter poked his head out first.

1581
02:12:05.359 --> 02:12:11.239
The pastor's cabin was dark in the
distance, opposite the oppressive structures of

1582
02:12:11.279 --> 02:12:15.880
the obstacle course. Dexter nodded the
all clear, and they eased through the

1583
02:12:15.920 --> 02:12:20.560
screen door, one after the other, careful not to let the rusted spring

1584
02:12:20.920 --> 02:12:26.119
slam it shut. The rubber band
of Ted's sling shot twanged softly, followed

1585
02:12:26.119 --> 02:12:31.000
by the unavoidable pop of a light
bulb shattering. Jimmy stretched his neck to

1586
02:12:31.039 --> 02:12:33.800
watch over the bush for Father Oh's
lamp to come on. When it didn't,

1587
02:12:35.039 --> 02:12:39.640
he tapped Head's shoulder. The portly
Mongolian fired another stone at the second

1588
02:12:39.680 --> 02:12:43.560
light. Positioned over the rack of
canoes, shards tinkled off the fiberglass bodies

1589
02:12:43.560 --> 02:12:48.920
of the little boats. The boys
sprinted across the open lot and quickly loosed

1590
02:12:48.000 --> 02:12:52.880
three of the canoes. They carried
them overhead, just like the pastor made

1591
02:12:52.920 --> 02:12:56.159
them on their morning marches. The
boats hit water, and the teens paddled

1592
02:12:56.399 --> 02:13:01.359
gently into the lake. On the
other side of the lake, the lovely

1593
02:13:01.439 --> 02:13:05.960
ladies of the Mini Winnie on Girl's
Retreat would be working diligently to finish their

1594
02:13:07.079 --> 02:13:11.760
nightly duties. Then they would head
to the showers. Their bare flesh was

1595
02:13:11.760 --> 02:13:16.640
a siren's song sang between the horrid
cries of frogs, crickets, and cicadas.

1596
02:13:16.039 --> 02:13:20.880
The six boys increased their rowing without
saying a word. They were at

1597
02:13:20.880 --> 02:13:24.479
the mercy of their loins, which
spurred them faster into the low fog that

1598
02:13:24.560 --> 02:13:30.399
shrouded the mouth of the Cypress maze. Spaz held the narrow trunk of a

1599
02:13:30.479 --> 02:13:35.840
smaller cypress to keep the canoe still
as Jimmy urinated over the aft. Henry

1600
02:13:35.840 --> 02:13:39.520
and Ted shared the lead boat and
panned their flashlights around wildly. Lance and

1601
02:13:39.600 --> 02:13:43.960
Dexter rowed past them and deeper into
the maze. Glad you know the way,

1602
02:13:45.000 --> 02:13:48.119
Henry, Lance said, This is
the right way. Henry responded,

1603
02:13:48.479 --> 02:13:52.640
I marked the trees the last time
I went through the stupid thing. We

1604
02:13:52.760 --> 02:13:54.840
already made it to the second marker, which means the third should be right

1605
02:13:56.439 --> 02:14:00.359
here. That's the halfway point.
You've been looking for the mark for twenty

1606
02:14:00.359 --> 02:14:03.319
minutes. Dexter reminded him. The
girls will already be dried off by the

1607
02:14:03.319 --> 02:14:07.560
time we get there. They'll still
be naked, though, Ted reassured them

1608
02:14:07.600 --> 02:14:13.000
all. A sudden splash broke up
their debate and was immediately followed by a

1609
02:14:13.000 --> 02:14:16.560
profane cry and another dynamic entrance into
the marsh. The fourteens turned their lights

1610
02:14:16.560 --> 02:14:20.640
in the direction of the commotion.
The red bottom of the canoe was facing

1611
02:14:20.720 --> 02:14:22.920
up and rocking in the turbulence.
The lights danced over the surface of the

1612
02:14:22.920 --> 02:14:28.319
water and converged on the face down
body that drifted away from the boat lazily.

1613
02:14:28.680 --> 02:14:31.439
Oh damn. Dexter went to work
with his oar, rowing them backwards.

1614
02:14:31.800 --> 02:14:35.880
Hold on, Jimmy, we're coming. The canoe must have come down

1615
02:14:35.920 --> 02:14:39.119
on him when it flipped. Lance
rode harder and panned his head mounted light

1616
02:14:39.159 --> 02:14:45.479
wildly. Where's Spaz get him out
of the water. Henry twisted in his

1617
02:14:45.560 --> 02:14:48.600
seat. There's gaiters out there.
Why are we out here in the dark?

1618
02:14:48.640 --> 02:14:52.439
If there's gaiters, Ted gripped his
oar like a spear and gazed at

1619
02:14:52.479 --> 02:14:58.159
the black void around them. They
hunt at night, Lots of things hunt

1620
02:14:58.199 --> 02:15:01.399
at night. The bank of how
Eligen lights illuminated the teens and everything in

1621
02:15:01.439 --> 02:15:05.880
a sixty footpath. Dexter pulled Jimmy's
unconscious body across the canoe. Behind the

1622
02:15:05.920 --> 02:15:11.399
glare of the bulbs. A silhouette
stalked across the deck of a camouflaged airboat.

1623
02:15:11.840 --> 02:15:15.840
The form of some strange malevolence moved
behind him and slipped over the side,

1624
02:15:15.960 --> 02:15:20.000
disappearing into the water. Ted stood
quickly, swinging the paddle over his

1625
02:15:20.079 --> 02:15:24.119
shoulder like a club. Who are
you? Ted took a step back,

1626
02:15:24.279 --> 02:15:28.720
rocking the boat hard. Henry leaned
forward to the other side to steady them.

1627
02:15:28.199 --> 02:15:31.720
Get out of here. Mister,
our counselor's out here with us.

1628
02:15:31.560 --> 02:15:37.600
The good pastor is sound asleep.
The shadowy figure said, don't struggle too

1629
02:15:37.680 --> 02:15:43.479
much. I don't want you hurting
yourself. Something broke the surface beside Lance

1630
02:15:43.520 --> 02:15:48.520
and Dexter. A pair of malform
green brown appendages reached up and twisted in

1631
02:15:48.600 --> 02:15:54.119
Jimmy's clothing. His body slipped back
into the marsh. Dexter and Lance grabbed

1632
02:15:54.119 --> 02:15:58.680
his legs and struggled to pull him
back in. The tug of war intensified

1633
02:15:58.720 --> 02:16:03.520
with the heavy rocking of the Jimmy's
legs were completely submerged, then up to

1634
02:16:03.600 --> 02:16:07.640
his rib cage. Suddenly the boys
were airborne. They popped their heads above

1635
02:16:07.640 --> 02:16:11.760
the filthy water, coughing and rubbing
their eyes clear. Jimmy bobbed beside them.

1636
02:16:11.880 --> 02:16:16.479
They reached for him in unison.
They screamed that way too, when

1637
02:16:16.479 --> 02:16:20.920
the bisected body of their bunk mate
tipped over and sank into the abyss.

1638
02:16:22.359 --> 02:16:26.159
Dexter watched in horror as Ted and
Henry were knocked into the marsh. A

1639
02:16:26.279 --> 02:16:31.279
net sailed from the airboat over them, and something beneath the surface gathered it,

1640
02:16:31.600 --> 02:16:35.680
dragging it back to the man hiding
behind the lights. Lance disappeared with

1641
02:16:35.680 --> 02:16:39.399
a quick splash. Dexter swam as
hard as he could. He didn't care

1642
02:16:39.440 --> 02:16:41.639
if he was swimming toward Camp or
the Mississippi, just so long as he

1643
02:16:41.680 --> 02:16:46.920
was swimming anywhere that wasn't the Cypress
maze. Something snagged his shirt. He

1644
02:16:46.040 --> 02:16:50.760
felt the barbs dragging through his flesh, but forced himself onward. Then he

1645
02:16:50.840 --> 02:16:58.559
was under water, and he wasn't
alone. The house sat on a tiny

1646
02:16:58.600 --> 02:17:03.079
island in the back of the bayou, away from prying eyes. Sawgrass obscured

1647
02:17:03.120 --> 02:17:07.879
the boundaries where land met swamp,
and the tiny dock at which the airboat

1648
02:17:07.959 --> 02:17:13.000
rocked sedately. The ramshackle three story
was built shortly after the Civil War and

1649
02:17:13.079 --> 02:17:16.280
abandoned for almost as long. Portions
of the roof sagged, and others had

1650
02:17:16.319 --> 02:17:20.639
collapsed long before and were patched with
tarps. Glass was long gone from the

1651
02:17:20.639 --> 02:17:24.639
windows, and the breeze whistled across
the edges of the century old shards that

1652
02:17:24.719 --> 02:17:31.280
remained. Two rusted water tanks had
been converted to hold gasoline for the generators,

1653
02:17:31.399 --> 02:17:35.440
and three windmills provided the rest of
his electricity. The owner stretched his

1654
02:17:35.520 --> 02:17:41.120
aching limbs. The isolated home was
the perfect location for the laboratory and the

1655
02:17:41.120 --> 02:17:45.639
clandestine aims of his research. It
was not so easy on his ailing body,

1656
02:17:45.799 --> 02:17:50.280
however. He wrung his arthritic hands
and worked the blue nitrile gloves over

1657
02:17:50.319 --> 02:17:54.280
them with a pair of sharp snaps. He checked his reflection in a grimy

1658
02:17:54.319 --> 02:17:58.559
mirror. Its surface shook with the
constant rumbling of the generators. He'd forgotten

1659
02:17:58.600 --> 02:18:03.600
surgical masks on his last trek into
town, not that it would matter once

1660
02:18:03.639 --> 02:18:07.360
the procedure was complete. He adjusted
the paper cap over the few remaining patches

1661
02:18:07.600 --> 02:18:11.479
of vomit, yellow hair, and
the unfortunate results of the last treatment.

1662
02:18:13.159 --> 02:18:18.360
He would succeed soon. It was
a shame the one boy was torn in

1663
02:18:18.399 --> 02:18:22.399
half, but science came with losses. No one cared how many monkeys got

1664
02:18:22.479 --> 02:18:28.200
vivisected in the name of medical advancement. Teenage boys were just as abundant and

1665
02:18:28.360 --> 02:18:33.399
equally expendable. One of them was
advancing at an exponential rate already. The

1666
02:18:33.520 --> 02:18:37.680
previous summer's campers were failures, but
they did get him closer to his goals,

1667
02:18:37.959 --> 02:18:41.959
and he was certain that this was
his year. He wiggled a tooth

1668
02:18:41.959 --> 02:18:45.760
in its socket with his tongue.
It clacked off the floorboards next to his

1669
02:18:45.840 --> 02:18:48.959
feet. If he didn't succeed this
year, there wouldn't be enough left of

1670
02:18:50.040 --> 02:18:54.799
him for another harvest. He patted
up the stairs, feeling each step rattling

1671
02:18:54.799 --> 02:19:00.000
his fragile bones. The boy in
the suspension tube was showing amazing cellular response.

1672
02:19:00.639 --> 02:19:03.399
The other had not been so compatible. The doctor watched two of his

1673
02:19:03.479 --> 02:19:07.440
previous failures, dragging the corpse to
the window to push it over the sill.

1674
02:19:07.920 --> 02:19:11.959
A splash let him know they'd made
their shot. The two creatures slapped

1675
02:19:11.959 --> 02:19:18.360
each other's backs wildly and screeched with
excitement. Baboons were so easily pleased,

1676
02:19:18.639 --> 02:19:22.959
even ones that weren't entirely monkey anymore. The three remaining teens awaited their first

1677
02:19:24.040 --> 02:19:28.799
rounds of injections on the reclined gurneys
that served as surgical tables. The chubby

1678
02:19:28.840 --> 02:19:33.000
Asian boy was sobbing, while the
other two observed the room quietly. The

1679
02:19:33.040 --> 02:19:39.360
doctor found their calm unsettling and busied
himself with turning up the isotope saturation of

1680
02:19:39.399 --> 02:19:43.600
the suspension tube. The disfigured team
floated in the irradiated solution beneath the glow

1681
02:19:43.639 --> 02:19:48.559
of ultra violet lamps that shimmered between
the lily pads floating at the top of

1682
02:19:48.559 --> 02:19:52.840
the tube. The doctor tapped the
glass until the boy's eyes opened. You

1683
02:19:54.280 --> 02:19:58.799
are a marvelous creature, the doctor
said. His two servants bounded closer to

1684
02:20:00.799 --> 02:20:05.159
leaves pressed through their green gray hairs, with coiling vines dangling from their aged

1685
02:20:05.159 --> 02:20:09.959
faces like unkempt beards. They were
his first successes and his only companions,

1686
02:20:11.520 --> 02:20:16.200
the doctor padded their heads. Go
feed your siblings. They may not be

1687
02:20:16.360 --> 02:20:22.319
necessary after tonight. He leaned in
and kissed the suspension tube. We may

1688
02:20:22.399 --> 02:20:28.680
finally have what we need. Frank
Oppendecker dragged the inflatable boat onto the island's

1689
02:20:28.680 --> 02:20:33.639
shore. His boys were missing,
and there were two places they could go

1690
02:20:33.120 --> 02:20:37.319
with no disturbances at the mini Winyan
camp. That only left the creepy house

1691
02:20:37.360 --> 02:20:41.120
in the middle of the swamp.
Something splashed behind him, and he cocked

1692
02:20:41.120 --> 02:20:46.600
the shotguns slide to remind the mysterious
owner to stay away. It did.

1693
02:20:46.520 --> 02:20:50.239
Father Oh crept through the house,
thankful for the drone of the generators.

1694
02:20:50.239 --> 02:20:54.840
Masking his creaking ascent to the second
floor. He pressed the walnut stock of

1695
02:20:54.879 --> 02:20:58.879
his weapon tight into his shoulder and
swiveled around the doorway into the lab.

1696
02:21:00.680 --> 02:21:03.479
Three of his campers were strapped down. Another man stood with the back of

1697
02:21:03.520 --> 02:21:07.559
a filthy lab coat, turned toward
Father Oh. He inched into the room,

1698
02:21:07.680 --> 02:21:13.440
scanning the abundance of shadows left by
the inadequate illumination of the strands of

1699
02:21:13.520 --> 02:21:18.680
Christmas lights overhead. Lance's face stretched
into a smile as he saw the pastor

1700
02:21:18.760 --> 02:21:22.559
coming in to save them. He
quickly wiped the look away before the doctor

1701
02:21:22.600 --> 02:21:28.639
could see it. Where are the
others, Fathero asked. The doctor turned

1702
02:21:28.879 --> 02:21:33.200
slowly. Warped earth and tendrils stretched
from corrupted flesh and wiggled in the air.

1703
02:21:33.440 --> 02:21:37.399
Beneath the lab coat was nothing but
liver spots and deep purple veins,

1704
02:21:37.479 --> 02:21:43.319
broken up by the abominations of the
doctor's self experimentation. Tiny leaves sprang where

1705
02:21:43.360 --> 02:21:48.360
normal men grew hair, and bright
red flowers opened to sniff the air.

1706
02:21:48.959 --> 02:21:54.840
You never come to visit anymore,
Frances. The doctor ambled closer to Father

1707
02:21:54.959 --> 02:21:58.399
Oh with his arms outstretched. I
mean it, Dad, you can't take

1708
02:21:58.440 --> 02:22:03.200
all of them. Frank lowered his
weapon. I thought your experiments were running

1709
02:22:03.200 --> 02:22:07.360
a muck again. I should have
known it was your gluttonous zeal for this

1710
02:22:07.479 --> 02:22:13.680
blasphemous perversion. Dad. Dexter tried
to sit up, but the straps binding

1711
02:22:13.760 --> 02:22:18.760
him to the table just turned it
into an awkward twitch. Father, Oh

1712
02:22:18.799 --> 02:22:24.079
what's he talking about? The pastor
ignored him. The doctor pinched the embroidered

1713
02:22:24.120 --> 02:22:28.680
pocket of his coat and wiggled it
in the direction of Dexter. Doctor Werner

1714
02:22:28.760 --> 02:22:33.040
Upendecker. I'm sorry. I should
have introduced myself sooner. Werner turned to

1715
02:22:33.079 --> 02:22:39.440
his son. Does it make life
easier? Francis going through it blindly accepting

1716
02:22:39.520 --> 02:22:43.719
magic instead of reaching for obtainable knowledge
in the realms of science. Save me

1717
02:22:43.760 --> 02:22:48.600
the Thanksgiving disappointment debate. Dad cut
them loose. He jerked a thumb toward

1718
02:22:48.639 --> 02:22:52.399
the suspension tube. You can keep
that one, but these three are going

1719
02:22:52.399 --> 02:22:56.920
with me. Where are the other
two dead? I'm afraid, and you're

1720
02:22:56.959 --> 02:23:01.559
not taking my subjects. I'm too
close time, Francis. I've destroyed my

1721
02:23:01.639 --> 02:23:05.840
cancers, though with unfortunate side effects. These hooligans that you brought me will

1722
02:23:05.879 --> 02:23:09.559
take the procedure to a level that
will end all human suffering. Human,

1723
02:23:11.040 --> 02:23:13.639
Lance grunted, Humans don't grow lilies
on their skin, you nut job.

1724
02:23:13.760 --> 02:23:20.000
You're not human, and our ancestors
were not apes. Warner turned and the

1725
02:23:20.040 --> 02:23:24.920
woody tendrils reached out to caress Lance's
face. They were more, and so

1726
02:23:24.959 --> 02:23:28.639
shall we be. I am no
longer just a man. Warner twisted away,

1727
02:23:28.920 --> 02:23:33.440
letting the appendages scratch Lance's cheeks.
As he made his way to the

1728
02:23:33.479 --> 02:23:37.479
tube, he slapped the glass.
Evolution is an undeniable reality, and I

1729
02:23:37.879 --> 02:23:41.719
have harnessed it. Human and plant
will come together to create a human that

1730
02:23:41.840 --> 02:23:48.000
never ages and is immune to all
of our horrible diseases, meat and veggies

1731
02:23:48.040 --> 02:23:52.319
all in one dish. Dexter said, sounds pretty crazy to me, don't

1732
02:23:52.360 --> 02:23:56.799
you think so? Ted? Ted
cried louder in response. I think he

1733
02:23:56.879 --> 02:24:01.120
agrees. Lance said, I'm not
screwing around father. Oh raised the shotgun

1734
02:24:01.120 --> 02:24:05.079
to his hip. I'm taking the
boys back with me. I knew you'd

1735
02:24:05.120 --> 02:24:09.959
say that. Werner smiled as best
he could with so few teeth remaining.

1736
02:24:09.600 --> 02:24:15.920
You should have paid more attention.
In school's sun, Plants communicate with pheromones.

1737
02:24:16.440 --> 02:24:18.600
The floor collapsed under him, and
the shotgun boomed as he fell through,

1738
02:24:18.840 --> 02:24:22.319
the shrieks of the two baboons mingled
with Father Roe's screams until they were

1739
02:24:22.360 --> 02:24:26.600
the only sound remaining. Lance stared
at the mad scientist, clutching the tight

1740
02:24:26.680 --> 02:24:31.559
cluster of buckshot holes in his abdomen
before he toppled over. Werner's face splashed

1741
02:24:31.559 --> 02:24:35.319
into the pool of water streaming from
the holes in the blood splattered suspension to

1742
02:24:35.799 --> 02:24:39.840
the glass spider webbed around them.
Fissures raced along the surface until the weight

1743
02:24:39.840 --> 02:24:43.920
of the fluid tore the pieces away
in a fantastic crash of falling glass and

1744
02:24:45.000 --> 02:24:48.399
rushing water. He struggled to get
a hand free of the straps while the

1745
02:24:48.440 --> 02:24:54.079
mad scientists screamed at the disaster success. Lance quickly undid the buckles across his

1746
02:24:54.200 --> 02:24:58.120
torso and proceeded to free Dexter.
They worked in tandem to release Ted,

1747
02:24:58.159 --> 02:25:03.479
who immediately curled into a fetal pos
want to wake up now, he cried,

1748
02:25:03.760 --> 02:25:05.200
I'm sorry, I tried to look
at the girls. I just want

1749
02:25:05.200 --> 02:25:09.200
to wake up. We don't have
time for this. Lance slapped Ted's cheek

1750
02:25:09.239 --> 02:25:13.760
with no result aside from a raised
hand print. Come on ted. We

1751
02:25:13.799 --> 02:25:18.239
have to run now, better idea. Dexter kicked the brakes on the gurney's

1752
02:25:18.239 --> 02:25:20.760
wheels. That works, now,
let's get out of here. They pushed

1753
02:25:20.760 --> 02:25:24.159
ted toward the doorway as fast as
the rusted, squealing wheels would roll.

1754
02:25:24.440 --> 02:25:28.079
One of the plant monkeys sprang through
the hole in the floor and blocked their

1755
02:25:28.120 --> 02:25:33.000
path. Its mossy covered lips peeled
away from piercing fangs. Lance slid like

1756
02:25:33.079 --> 02:25:37.440
he was stealing homebase, and kicked
it back into the hole. The creature's

1757
02:25:37.520 --> 02:25:41.000
terrified shriek was replaced with Lance's own
as gnarled, root like fangs dug into

1758
02:25:41.000 --> 02:25:46.280
his leg. The second beast emerged
from broken floorboards. Tiny buds bloomed among

1759
02:25:46.280 --> 02:25:52.040
its stiff hairs, revealing snapping floral
mouths full of adhesive fuchsia fingers. Even

1760
02:25:52.079 --> 02:25:56.399
the plant based parts of the monstrosity
hungered for flesh. It launched itself out

1761
02:25:56.399 --> 02:26:00.799
of the hole and straddled him.
The creature tried to pulp Lance's skull and

1762
02:26:00.920 --> 02:26:03.280
narrowly missed. Dexter seized it by
the thick coat of its back, only

1763
02:26:03.319 --> 02:26:07.840
to be attacked by the miniature mouths
hiding there. The plants tore into his

1764
02:26:07.879 --> 02:26:11.879
hands and held him tight while the
Baboon's jaws snapped inches from Lance's throat.

1765
02:26:11.280 --> 02:26:16.680
A horrible chaotic orchestra of howls,
shrieks, and unintelligible shouting played below their

1766
02:26:16.680 --> 02:26:22.120
battle. I'm sorry, guys,
Ted Vang rolled from his stretcher and darted

1767
02:26:22.120 --> 02:26:26.520
for the window. I just wanted
to see boobs. The towering green form

1768
02:26:26.639 --> 02:26:31.799
lumbered across his path. Twisting vines
of inching long thorns hung like living dreadlocks

1769
02:26:31.799 --> 02:26:35.360
around its verdant face. Scales of
barks sprouted along the angular jaw, and

1770
02:26:35.799 --> 02:26:41.479
in the center of the thing's forehead
was the raised lines of a pentagram.

1771
02:26:41.040 --> 02:26:46.440
Ted held his arms up defensively.
Spaz is that you It's Ted. We're

1772
02:26:46.520 --> 02:26:54.040
friends, right, Bud right,
Spaz hissed, before his new hair ensnared

1773
02:26:54.040 --> 02:26:58.799
the portly camper. Spaz's chest opened
with a sticky slurp, and he jerked

1774
02:26:58.879 --> 02:27:03.559
Ted into the maw head first.
Spaz snapped around to the remaining campers as

1775
02:27:03.559 --> 02:27:07.159
they fought with the baboon. He
stomped toward the fray. Things just got

1776
02:27:07.200 --> 02:27:11.200
worse. Dexter slammed a knee into
the monkey's tailbone and tore a hand free.

1777
02:27:11.559 --> 02:27:15.799
Lance held the creature's jaws apart,
with his face caught between them.

1778
02:27:16.200 --> 02:27:20.760
Not from down here, they haven't
kill this stupid thing. Spaz's foot connected

1779
02:27:20.760 --> 02:27:24.639
with dexter and sent him in the
abomination, thudding into the wall. Shit.

1780
02:27:24.120 --> 02:27:28.479
Lance stared up at Spaz. Things
just got worse. Lance rolled away

1781
02:27:28.479 --> 02:27:31.840
as the thorns scoured the floor in
a vain effort to seize him. He

1782
02:27:31.959 --> 02:27:37.079
pulled the gurney between him and Spaz. Ted's legs kicked soundlessly as his head

1783
02:27:37.079 --> 02:27:43.200
and torso dissolved inside Spaz's new form. The man Plant's lips contorted in malevolent

1784
02:27:43.319 --> 02:27:48.319
joy. I've always enjoyed the taste
of human it growled. Yeah, well,

1785
02:27:48.600 --> 02:27:52.639
I've always hated vegetables. Lance grabbed
Ted's leg and jumped down the hole.

1786
02:27:54.040 --> 02:27:56.120
Spaz caught himself on the broken boards, and Lance dangled from the leg

1787
02:27:56.159 --> 02:28:01.440
of his slowly digesting fellow camper.
The first was a demolition site. The

1788
02:28:01.520 --> 02:28:05.799
busted cages lined the walls. Malformed
freaks ran a muck, tearing apart the

1789
02:28:05.879 --> 02:28:09.840
home and each other. Father,
oh what was left of him, limped

1790
02:28:09.840 --> 02:28:13.840
through the madness, freeing more of
the doctor's failed experiments. Lance dropped the

1791
02:28:13.879 --> 02:28:16.559
rest of the distance and picked himself
up with a groan. Something that might

1792
02:28:16.600 --> 02:28:20.959
have been a raccoon snarled at him, and he booted it across the room.

1793
02:28:20.079 --> 02:28:26.280
Its mossy body bounced next to Fathero's
shotgun. Spaz came crashing down beside

1794
02:28:26.319 --> 02:28:28.719
him, with Dexter on his back. The team winked at Lance and then

1795
02:28:28.799 --> 02:28:33.280
jumped off the writhing beast. Let's
get out of here, Dexter said,

1796
02:28:33.399 --> 02:28:37.520
as he ran for the door.
Detour first. Lance dashed for the weapon

1797
02:28:37.719 --> 02:28:41.200
and joined him on the front porch. They watched some of the creatures swim

1798
02:28:41.200 --> 02:28:45.600
away from the tiny island. Others
simply disappeared beneath the placid surface of the

1799
02:28:45.639 --> 02:28:50.760
swamp. Lance twisted and saw the
oblong, rust covered tanks next to the

1800
02:28:50.799 --> 02:28:54.600
house. He raised the shotgun and
fired it until it clicked on the empty

1801
02:28:54.680 --> 02:29:00.959
chamber. Gasolene spurted from the wounds, but the tanks didn't explode. Dexter

1802
02:29:01.120 --> 02:29:05.239
raised an eyebrow and shrugged. It's
the thought that counts. It always works

1803
02:29:05.239 --> 02:29:09.280
in the movies. Lance pointed at
the airboat. Let's go. The two

1804
02:29:09.319 --> 02:29:13.319
teens untied from the mooring and turned
on the motor, watching the oversized fans

1805
02:29:13.319 --> 02:29:18.040
spin without any sort of guard.
The doctor cared as much for safety as

1806
02:29:18.079 --> 02:29:20.799
he did for medical ethics, it
seemed. Dexter laughed and held up a

1807
02:29:20.840 --> 02:29:26.520
plastic box with big block letters emergency
signal kit. Lance took the case and

1808
02:29:26.600 --> 02:29:31.479
opened it quickly, finding the flaregun
inside. Drew an excited whoop from him.

1809
02:29:31.959 --> 02:29:35.319
But it blows up now, Dexter
said. He moved them away from

1810
02:29:35.319 --> 02:29:37.559
the dock gently. As he got
the hang of the controls. The boat

1811
02:29:37.639 --> 02:29:41.159
rocked hard, and the boy spun
to see Spas climbing over the side to

1812
02:29:41.239 --> 02:29:45.719
join them. Dexter jumped from the
controls and body checked him before he could

1813
02:29:45.719 --> 02:29:48.639
get his balance. The fan blades
caught the vines and diced them. Lance

1814
02:29:48.639 --> 02:29:54.440
and Dexter exchanged glances. Dexter ducked
under Spaz's swinging fist and dropped to the

1815
02:29:54.479 --> 02:29:58.360
deck behind him. Let's toss this
salad, Dexter shouted. Lance jumped over

1816
02:29:58.360 --> 02:30:01.799
the steering ca I mean kicked Spas
with both feet, sending him careening over

1817
02:30:01.799 --> 02:30:07.399
the prone Dexter and into the fan. Spaz's mulch remains sprayed behind the boat

1818
02:30:07.600 --> 02:30:11.840
as his body passed through the oversized
food processor. With ease, let's toss

1819
02:30:11.879 --> 02:30:16.520
this salad. That was the best
you could come up with, Lance laughed.

1820
02:30:16.920 --> 02:30:20.600
Dexter scooped the flare gun and slapped
it against Lance's palm. Shut up

1821
02:30:20.600 --> 02:30:24.559
and burn the house down. Already
gladly, Lance sat up and fired at

1822
02:30:24.600 --> 02:30:28.920
the tanks. They watched the fire
spread through the tall grass. It moved

1823
02:30:28.959 --> 02:30:33.040
placidly until it met the dried,
ancient timber of the house. The structure

1824
02:30:33.120 --> 02:30:37.479
flared like a matchhead, spreading its
light across the black water. Somewhere in

1825
02:30:37.520 --> 02:30:43.479
the swamp, A baboon cried out
as it watched its home burn. Think

1826
02:30:43.520 --> 02:30:48.719
the girls have taken a shower yet, Lance asked. Probably. Dexter turned

1827
02:30:48.719 --> 02:30:54.920
the steering wheel. Can't hurt to
double check. The fuel tanks exploded behind

1828
02:30:54.959 --> 02:30:58.399
them, but they didn't bother.
Looking back, Dexter sped up, maneuvering

1829
02:30:58.399 --> 02:31:03.680
through the by The experiments were loose, but at least the doctor wouldn't be

1830
02:31:03.719 --> 02:31:09.040
making anymore. They would tell the
authorities what happened. Eventually, there were

1831
02:31:09.079 --> 02:31:13.079
more pressing matters to attend to.
First, they smiled through the blood and

1832
02:31:13.159 --> 02:31:22.239
grime and aimed the boat toward the
Cypress maze. Well, my friends,

1833
02:31:22.239 --> 02:31:26.239
this special compilation has run its course, and I'm thankful so much that you

1834
02:31:26.239 --> 02:31:31.559
would sit down and listen to these
with me. So please make sure you

1835
02:31:31.600 --> 02:31:35.959
come back next Wednesday for another brand
new terrifying tale. And I want to

1836
02:31:35.959 --> 02:31:41.479
say an extra special thank you to
our Patreon backers, and in particular our

1837
02:31:41.520 --> 02:31:46.040
Patreon podcast boosters, folks who pay
just a little bit more to hear their

1838
02:31:46.120 --> 02:31:50.440
names on the program, and they
are bobbletopia dot com, Megan Hua,

1839
02:31:50.639 --> 02:31:54.680
Julia Kersh, Brent mccallaugh, Steve
King, Karen we Met, Jack Kerr,

1840
02:31:54.920 --> 02:31:58.200
and Craig Cohen. If you want
to join the ninety folks who were

1841
02:31:58.200 --> 02:32:03.000
hanging out with us over on Patreon, just go to Weekly Spooky dot com,

1842
02:32:03.399 --> 02:32:07.159
click on Patreon and pledge whatever you
can afford per month and get bonus

1843
02:32:07.200 --> 02:32:11.840
episodes, more content than you could
shake a stick at, and so much

1844
02:32:11.879 --> 02:32:13.319
more. But now it's time for
me to get out of here, so

1845
02:32:13.399 --> 02:32:18.079
for myself, my executive producer,
Rob Fields, my producer Dan Wilder,

1846
02:32:18.120 --> 02:32:24.319
and our composer Ray Maadis, I
will talk at you next time. Stay cool,