Halloween 2021: Choose Your Spooky Outcome: Chapter 12
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While there is a risk of flying debris, you’re reasonably certain it’s less dangerous than a giant flaming scarecrow monster tearing up the support for the bleachers, or stomping on everyone after you get crushed halfway up a fence. Running for the end zone is the best idea you can spot in a bad situation, so you barrel forward with all you’re worth.
Determination is all well and good, however Mr. Scary has a substantial height advantage, those vast legs sending feet like anvils down as you run between them. It’s a bold maneuver that just barely succeeds, the burning wounds seem to have knocked Mr. Scary off-balance. On the plus side, you certainly have his attention as you spring for the end zone.
The drawback, however, is that the huge legs are also useful for closing distances. It takes Mr. Scary a few seconds to swing around and face you, but once the turn is done you can feel the ground shake as a chase begins. Dashing on, you try to dart and weave, taking advantage of your smaller size and mobility.
A claw from Mr. Scary digs a groove deep into the football field, which is a good thing because you’re pretty sure that attack would split a person clean through. More of the claws rain down, Mr. Scary is swinging whenever you change direction, trying to limit your dodging. Risking a glance up ahead, you catch sight of your goal and formulate what might, under the kindest of circumstances, be called a plan.
Putting everything you’ve got into one last push, you abandon the zig-zagging and fall into an all-out dash, running right for the end zone. Mr. Scary continues pursuit, letting the claws fall away as it races after you. Both of you hurry along the field, at last crossing into the end zone, where you run all the way to the other side.
Mr. Scary, being not only a burning scarecrow monster, but an enormous burning scarecrow monster, slams into the field goal posts headfirst, cracking off one-side of the equipment and tearing another chunk from the burned section of its head. The creature staggers back before landing on it’s rear, momentarily dazed by the unexpected blow.
The instant Mr. Scary is distracted, you’ve already whirled around, Pumpkin’s finale in your hands. Running right back past your pursuer, you pause only long enough to hurl the bomb into it’s lap, then bolt ahead once more. Exhaustion creeps into your lungs and legs, the earlier athletics making their toll known.
Although your pace slows, you continue running as fast as your body will allow. Mr. Scary is to your rear, but you can already picture how it will rise up once more, ready to continue the battle. Before it can do so, knocking the bomb off in the process, Pumpkin will set off the explosion. So all you can do is put as much possible distance between yourself and the device before-
BOOM!
A wave of force lifts you from the ground, hurling you forward. Swinging your arms, you fly through that air, hurtling past Victoria, who is standing at the forefront with a fearsome gaze in her eye. Before you can smash into the ground, strong arms snap you out up, Thad leaping forth to catch you at the perfect angle, letting you both land safely.
Waiting for the wave of heat and sound, you instead fell something else wash through you. Not quite tangible, it’s more a sense of a sense than anything so mundane as fire. You twist around to find Victoria staring at a dark field. Only the crackling remains of Mr. Scary can be seen, quickly eroding to ash. Scorches mar the grass, and a crater now marks the detonation point in the actual end zone, but otherwise there is no sign of the explosion.
“What… where?”
“I offered the flames invitation somewhere more hospitable, and they accepted.” Victoria says, stating it with the kind of certainty that could almost let you accept it as a real explanation.
“Bigger question, did we get the monster?” Thad asks, lowering you to the ground. Pumpkin and Jim are jogging over, and from behind them you hear the crowd murmuring.
“Oh god, my back, what the fuck am I doing trying to play football?”
“Does anyone have a wrap or an extra shirt? Not sure why I decided to turn this blouse into a mid-riff, but I’m having regrets.”
“I’m glad they got the scarecrow, what about that stork stealing all the noodles?”
That last one has you looking around in confusion, before remembering that whether your classmates are cured from whatever Mr. Scary did or not, they still ingested some of Jim’s specialty creations. Not even sudden magical mental maturing was enough to dull that kind of high.
By the time you’ve looked back, Victoria is nodding. “Based on what I can see of it’s energies, and the return of our classmates’ judgement, the guardian seems to have been very thoroughly purged. Pumpkin was correct, fire does an outstanding job.”
Together, the four of you stare at the burning form of the high school mascot, reflecting on the perils of the night, and perhaps the past in general. It lasts for almost an entire minute before Jim throws his hands up.
“Well, I’m bored. And it’s not even midnight yet, we wrapped shit up kind of early this year. Early enough that I bet we could still put these VIP Passes to use.”
“Fun as that sounds, we should really stick around here to make sure everyone is okay,” Thad suggests. “We can also dance and drink, have fun at the reunion like we’d planned. Assuming the party area isn’t totally trashed.”
Pumpkin and Jim share a brief glance before Pumpkin hurriedly offers up another option. “Or we could go grab some food and watch a midnight screening of something scary. You have those dine-in movie places in this world, right?”
You keep watching Mr. Scary, waiting for the nearly wrecked form to rise again, only for the head to fall away and crumble entirely. With the rest of the reunion heading back inside and Mr. Scary transforming into ash, there’s not much more to do out here. It’s been a long night, but you managed to keep everyone safe and still have some Halloween left to burn.
Time to decide how you want to use it.