Seeking

Jason Voorhees tingled with excitement. His prey was coming.

Previously as he prowled this rainy October night, he’d been bored. The elm woods surrounding him was as dark as a cave. Only rain dripping from overhead branches made a sound. Yet he roamed like a predator listening for a sound, a special sound. And then he heard it. A faint “shush” from one person to another. His heart leapt. They were coming!

They have no idea how much danger they were in. He savors how he is going to teach them the price of trespassing on his property.

Anticipating their screams when he leaps out of the darkness, machete held high, he pants. It will be so delicious.

Jason hears snickering. Outrageous! Perhaps this is just a spooky Halloween prank to them. To him, stalking people gives him power.

A light flashed on.

“Turn that off,“ demanded a loud male whisper.

“Branches are blocking the way,” a teenage girl whispered back. After a few seconds, the light went out. “This way.”

Jason stepped onto the path behind them, gripped his machete tight, and rushed toward the last person.

Snap!

Jason’s heavy work boot broke a brittle branch. Immediately he swerved off the path between two large honeysuckles.

“Who’s there?” a voice demanded switching on a light.

“I think it came from behind us,” said a young man.

“I want to go,” said a young woman. “This isn’t fun anymore.”

“Me too,” said a different girl.

Kyle crouched down. If he scared these teenagers too much with his Jason Voorhees stunt, it might result in a visit from the police to their house. That would be a disaster.

Kyle followed the couples back to their Ford Escape, parked a hundred yards down the road from the house. With relief, he heard them threatening each other not to say anything to anyone.

Entering the house through the back door, Gale called out, “Is everything all right?”

“It is now. I had to scare off more thrill seeking teenagers.”

Gale stopped in the doorway between the kitchen and mudroom. She frowned at him while he removed his hockey mask. “Kyle, I wish you’d take this assignment seriously.”

“I am. Why is it so wrong to have a little fun while I’m checking out perimeter alarms?” Kyle asked.

“I’m done talking about your flippant attitude,” Gale said. Turning her back on him, she continued, “Send your report about the incident. I’m going back to finish the data entry.”

###

It took Kyle two minutes to send an intruder report from his cell phone: Pull up the previous one, change the date, and hit send. Pushing back in his recliner and inserting earplugs, he pretended to be watching a lecture on ancient Mayan medicinal potions on his laptop. He was really watching YouTube videos. Humans may have no magic capabilities, but he found them highly entertaining.

Low-volume beeps began playing from both of their phones. Gale and Kyle looked at each other. “Busy night,” said Kyle. He tapped his laptop icon for the perimeter sensors. A quick review and he could see something had broken the infrared beam on the railroad track side of the house. “That’s odd. There’s just one trespasser this time,” he said. “Has that ever happen before?”

Over the past two years, Gale managed this location’s team of two. Kyle, newly assigned to the post, arrived fresh from training school a month ago. External security was one of his tasks.

“No,” she said. “Be alert. This trespasser may not be our typical Halloween thrill seeker.”

###

Dracula’s thirst was intense. Soon, oh, so soon, he would savor the rich, hot blood… Kyle couldn’t stay in character.

He was worried. No one had appeared between the tree line and the first-floor window. Where were they?

Lightning stabbed between his shoulder blades. He was on fire! As stiff as a telephone pole, he toppled forward. As quick as it came, the pain stopped.

A voice like distant thunder rumbled, “Don’t move or I’ll Taser you again.” His attacker illuminated Kyle with a flashlight. “You’re kind of big to be trick or treating, aren’t you buddy?”

“I’m having a Halloween party.”

The guy watched Kyle struggle to his feet. “That so? How come I’m not hearing music?” Waving his hand across the empty driveway, “And where are all the cars?”

“It hasn’t started yet,” Kyle said.

“Buddy, it’s after midnight. Kind a late, don’t you think?”

Kyle was stumped. While the guy waited for an answer, he tried to make him out, but it was too dark to see much more than that the guy was built like a pro wrestler.

“Okay, stop brainstorming you next lie. Let me ask a different question. What you got growing under those lights?”

“None of your business,” Kyle said.

The big man slapped him so hard, Kyle staggered.
“I was going to make nice, but you keep up your sass and I’m changing my mind. Now, I’m asking you again. You growing marijuana?”

“No,” said Kyle.

“Okay. You growing some magic mushrooms, maybe?”

Kyle froze. What? How? No. No way could a human know such fungi existed.

“Bingo!” the brute said. Giving Kyle a shove toward the house, he said, “Let’s go get us some. By the way, you got a Misses in there? Is she going to have a frying pan ready to wallop me?”

“I don’t know,” Kyle said. “Maybe.”

Reaching the front steps, Kyle stomped loudly on the first one. A shove prevented the rest of his intended stomps.

“Warning the little miss, are we?” the man asked, then laughed.

At the front door, one mighty stomp near the doorknob did the trick. Exploding inward, the door swung on its hinges and slammed into the parlor wall. Grabbing Kyle, he shoved him inside first.

A florescent ceiling light radiated brilliant blue light. Except for two floral patterned matching recliners, the parlor resembled a utilitarian home office with two cheap computer desks. There were no pictures, drapes, or carpet.

“What’s with the blue light?”

Kyle hesitated. What could he say that was believable? His assailant pulled his hand back to slap Kyle again.

Quickly Kyle said, “It keeps us alert. We think better. It sets our biorhythms.”

“You guys are pretty fruity, aren’t you? Frigging new age-ers, right?”

Kyle didn’t know what the guy was talking about. “Yes, we’re frigging new age-ers.”

The man snorted a chuckle. “Whatever. Now let’s me and you go look at them magic mushrooms.”

###

On the fourth wall of the parlor, a red light glowed beneath a sky blue curtain which filled a wide archway. Kyle parted the curtain and entered.

The room was a surprise. Filled with rows of floor to ceiling shelving units, it resembled a library. But trays not books rested on each shelf. A glowing neon tube of ruby light was attached to the shelf above. Reaching up to the lights were hundreds of glistening, gray, wart covered hands.

“Those are creepy mushrooms. What do you do: eat them, smoke them, what?”

Kyle hesitated. “We suck the slime off the skin. “

“That’s gross.” The thug leaned in close to a tray. “What do the mushrooms do to you?”

Kyle said, “They will kill you.”

A powerful backhand sent Kyle staggering backward through the curtain to fall upon the polished wood of the blue room floor.

To ward off any more violence, Kyle held up both hands as the man stormed through the curtain.

Looming over Kyle, he said, “You’re really starting to annoy me.”

“We grow them for quads,” Kyle said.

The muscle bound man bent over and pulled Kyle to his feet by his costume’s tuxedo shirt.

Kyle spoke in a panic. “The chemical that produces the magic is for quad-spheres, not humans.”

“What’s a quad-sphere?”

“My people have brains divided into four parts, not two like humans. You know about prehistoric hominids, right? Like Neanderthals? Well, my people descend from homo ergaster.”

The man scowled. “Get to the mushrooms.”

“I am,” said Kyle. “Having four spheres has given us different capabilities than humans. One such is we get strong ESP abilities from the mushroom slime. To humans the slime is toxic.”

“Look,” said the thug, “I don’t believe you. What I do believe is you’re dealing drugs. Drugs are a cash business. So skip the mushrooms. I want all your cash.”

Kyle hesitated. Gail and he didn’t sell mushrooms. They were employees.

“Now!”

“It’s in that bottom drawer,” Kyle said, pointing to Gale’s desk.

Suddenly, the bully grabbed the sides of his head. His face twisted with pain. Growling, he fell to his knees. After five more seconds, his face went slack, and his arms fell to his sides. He remained kneeling without moving.

Gale entered from the growing room.

“Losing our touch, are we?” Kyle said flippantly, hoping to hide his relief at being rescued.

“Shut up,” said Gale. “He nearly fought me off. I should have sucked more slime.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“If you must know, I have a sensitivity to slime. It makes me barf.”

Kyle’s face reddened, and he looked toward the floor. “Sorry.” Looking at her again, he said, “I’ll do the mind wipe.”

“Don’t bother,” said Gale. “I did it once I broke through. He’ll remember spending the night drinking beer and watching TV at home. ”

Pulling the man’s wallet and car keys from his jeans, Kyle noted the driver’s license address. “You still got some magic left to levitate this gorilla?”

“No,” said Gale. “Get yourself dosed with magic and locate any warm engines nearby. There can’t be many this late. Bring the vehicle here, and levitate this creep into it. I need to lie down.” Heading toward the stairs, Gail added, “And take off that stupid vampire costume.”

“Gale, what I wear when responding to perimeter breaches is not the reason people trespass here. It’s the Halloween season. This spooky house is a magnet for teenagers. It happened last year, didn’t it? Once we’re into November, the thrill seekers stop coming, don’t they? I wasn’t here last year, so correct where I’m wrong.”

Gale silently glared at him.

His supposition confirmed, Kyle continued, “John Dillinger here was our first burglar, wasn’t he? And you know why? He figured out our colored lights were grow-lights. So give it a rest.”

“You’re being insubordinate,” said Gale. “Look, I’m really not feeling well. Whatever the reason is, this doofus is a genuine threat to our remaining concealed. He’s probably been thinking about our house for a while. So despite my mind wipe, he’ll eventually visit us again. After we harvest the current batch, the head office will move this operation to a new location.”

Kyle sighed, thinking about all the coming labor. “I think I’m going to develop an allergy to magic mushrooms.”

“Stop whining. The home office sends six harvesters to help us each year. Since we’re moving, rather than replanting, they’ll probably send a dozen workers. Happy?” asked Gale.

“Yes, and I apologize,” Kyle said. “I’ve been lucky. If teenagers ever see me in one, it’ll bring them like we’re holding a rock concert. We’d have to sell tickets.”

Gale surprised Kyle with a laugh. “You might work out yet.” Then she left.

Kyle approached the nearest tray of mushrooms. Snapping off a finger, he sucked it. Immediately, he could sense Gale in her bedroom. Magic swelled within him. It enhanced his five senses and awakened sleeping powers such as telepathy, speed of motion, and levitation.

Unlike Gale, he wasn’t allergic to slime. But all quads did have a saturation point, beyond which consuming more slime did nothing. Kyle’s point was untested. Magic mushrooms were expensive and rationed. The one finder during training for this deployment was all he’d ever had. He sucked another, and awareness with his surroundings became incredible. What the heck, he thought, moving to a different aisle to snap off a third finger, Gale will never know.

Word Count: 1997