Four teenagers were walking door to door. They were well beyond city limits, but they knew they had to reach every potential voter they could. The cornfields on either side of them were already tall, and the houses at this point were sometimes a half mile apart. But, they knew they could make a difference.
Well, that, or they enjoyed the freedom of being out and about. Without the stresses of school, or sports, or family bullshit. They were just happy to be part of something that they really wanted to do. None of them really understood politics, but their guy spoke loud and loved an audience. He was charismatic. They didn’t understand much of what he was talking about, but he had a nice smile. He seemed intelligent and he used big words. But most importantly, he represented the side that their enemies couldn’t stand.
Curtis carried a pile of flyers that he made himself.
Emily carried pamphlets that advertised their guy. Her parents helped her with them.
Natalie did the talking. She was charismatic too, and had a beautiful smile.
Trent was prepared for the arguments of the doubters and the other siders.
Trent and Natalie were the more intelligent and charismatic of the group. Emily’s parents beamed with pride when she asked them to help her with the pamphlets that represented not just their daughter’s guy, but their guy as well.
He had a voice that was strong and loud, they always said.
Slam dunk on those republicans, they liked to say, and it always made Emily giggle at the thought of democrats and republicans engaged in a basketball game. She didn’t believe any of those men and women could play basketball very well.
They could see an opening in the cornfield on the right, which is the only side that seemed to have any houses, and they all had long, winding driveways. This one was no different. A gravel driveway welcomed them within the shade of trees on either side. They obliged cheerfully, the shade a bonus perk on this property.
As they neared, however, it turned out to be not so promising.
To the left, the remains of what once was a drive-in movie screen. The speakers hung to the ground from their holders. The screen itself was torn to pieces. A trailer that once acted as a concession stand still sat, but the multi-colored lights that once illuminated it were dead and vacant.
To the right, a farmhouse that had obviously endured an intense fire. It looked neglected altogether. The screen door in the front swung open and slammed shut every so often. It echoed in the emptiness of the country. Natalie decided to walk up to the farmhouse anyway, not because she was intent on finding out if anyone was there. No, it was obvious that no one lived there. She was curious now on what the farmhouse looked like on the inside. From outside the windows, of course. She cupped her hands and peered in one of the front windows. She could see a burned couch inside. The carpet was burned too. A television set from the nineties sat, big black burn marks up each side. She doubted that worked too. She looked beyond the front room, through the doorway that led to what she could only assume was a kitchen, its cabinets--
“See anything you like?” Emily said suddenly, and Natalie yelped, her heart jumping to her throat. Emily giggled and wrapped around Natalie before she could turn her anger towards her. She gave her chest a little squeeze and smiled at her.
“Really?” was all Natalie could manage, driving the point of her elbow into Emily’s stomach. Emily pretended to be struck by a huge body blow, doubling over obnoxiously, before standing upright and grinning at her girlfriend. Natalie rolled her eyes.
“Ursula Emily,” she said without amusement.
“Don’t call me that. I hate that.”
“Good for you.”
Natalie peered back in at the cabinets in the next room. Something caught her eye to the left. Shadows. Movement. Something. She gasped and jolted backwards, her head nearly connecting with Emily’s nose. Emily tripped over her own feet and landed hard on her butt.
“Hey!” she said angrily.
“Shut up,” Natalie whispered. “Someone’s in there.”
“Oh, bullshit. There’s no way--”
But then a thump from within.
“What was that?” Emily asked with urgency. The girls glanced over their shoulders. Trent and Curtis were exploring the concession stand. “Should we get them?”
“Fuck them, we can handle it. We don’t need a fuckin’ man to take care of us.”
“What do you need, exactly?” a voice said from the other side of the screen door. Natalie and Emily both screamed, but seemed relieved after their scare. Natalie gathered herself quickly, and she was on.
“Good afternoon, sir!” she said brightly. “We just wanted to see if we could take up a few moments of your time to talk about voting and maybe see if we can put up some flyers, or signs, on your property?”
It was hard to see the other side of the screen. The face on the other side seemed to smile.
“There are no gods here,” he said with a giggle.
“Oh, we respect that, sir!” By this time, the boys noticed they actually did have someone here they could reach out to, and began making their way towards the farmhouse. “We’re not promoting religion.”
“No laws here, either,” a female’s voice said from inside.
Natalie and Emily looked at each other with uncertainty. They hadn’t ever had anyone say that before.
“Oh! Well, that’s cool! We respect that too! Uh… May we come in?”
It was Emily’s turn to jab an elbow into her friend’s side.
“Are you crazy?” she hissed.
“Maybe,” Natalie said with a grin, licking Emily across the lips quickly before turning back to the screen door. But, they were already outside. Four of them.
“We’ll save you the trouble,” Daedalus said. Koznar stood directly behind him. Tempest and Pisces, the mysterious girl with the platinum blonde hair, stood on either side of him. They were a cast of horror creatures.
Curtis and Trent backed away slowly, but Koznar, the huge Jason Voorhees sized monster, pointed at them and silently motioned for them to stay. Tempest fell to his hands and knees and crawled to Curtis in unorthodox fashion, yanking one of his flyers out of his hand and taking it back to Daedalus for inspection. Daedalus looked at it for a long time before giggling to himself.
“We’ve seen him.”
“Okay…” Natalie said cautiously. “So you know who he is. Are you in favor of his beliefs?”
Tempest smiled, revealing a mouth full of blackened teeth, and spat. He snatched the flyer from Daedalus and shoved it at her.
“His beliefs don’t have a damn thing to do with what we’re going to do to him.”
Natalie eyed him with confusion. She glanced down at the flyer, which had before advertised their guy, Centurion, as a political candidate. But, it had changed. Now it was a missing person flyer. And Centurion was the missing person.
As if in response, she heard a voice crying out somewhere within the farmhouse, begging for help. She made a move, but Koznar and Pisces quickly blocked the screen door and all she could do was stand while Tempest spoke.
“Centurion,” he began. “It’s been a long time coming. He’s talked about me a few times, I believe. He’s halfway attempted to summon me and the Astro Creeps. The devil tempted him.”
“I’m sorry,” Natalie interjected, quietly but bravely, “but we don’t believe in the devil.”
Pisces and Koznar shared a sadistic grin and Pisces seemed to float closer to Natalie, and grabbed her by the throat.
“Bitch, I am the devil! Who you represent is but a weak, frail old man who has overstayed his welcome in the Global Coalition! Our tarantula, Tempest, is going to crawl all over his sanity, you best believe, and he’s going to paralyze him, before he feeds on him! And then you, and your mortal little friends here, and Centurion himself, will believe in the fucking devil!”
She released her grip, shoving her backwards and spitting on her. Tempest stepped forward, hands clasped in front of him with a calm smile.
“As I was saying, he’s… been asking for this. He wants this. Centurion defending against Tempest. He wants it, because he’s unaware of what I’m capable of. If he was, he wouldn’t want this. Not… one… bit.”
He grinned at them. They had no idea what he was talking about. They looked at each other in confusion, and fear.
“Just remember, as you’re posting your flyers and your pamphlets, and spouting your religion--it is a religion, whether you wish to believe it or not. Politics and religion are one and the same. People will die for either. So just remember, Centurion asked for this.”
A man’s screaming could be heard coming from deep inside the farmhouse once more. Tempest rolled his eyes and sighed.
“For fuck’s sake, Koznar, go feed him. The way he complains about the pain, I mean it drives me fuckin’ crazy. He doesn’t quite like it when he’s the one getting slam-dunked on.”
He winked good-naturedly at Emily and went to nudge her, but she backpedaled quickly away.
“Boom shaka-laka!”
Koznar disappeared back into the farmhouse. Daedalus and Pisces giggled at the four teenagers standing at their doorstep.
“Okay,” Curtis spoke up. “I think we oughta go.”
“You think you oughta?” Tempest mocked. “Kill, I oughta.”
He jolted forward and Curtis stumbled backwards.
“When you see Centurion, why don’t you send him a message for us?” Tempest hissed.
“You mean, he isn’t the one in--” Trent began.
“That’s none of your business! Now hear me well, my spooky little children.”
Tempest looked between the four of them.
“Centurion… Enjoy the first three days of Wrestlestock. I mean, thoroughly enjoy every moment, do whatever you’re interested in doing before day four, because once day four comes, your fun and enjoyment, like this championship reign, end. For a year and a half, I’ve been the face of the Chaos division. Here and now? At Wrestlestock twenty-twenty-one, the Astro Creeps become the faces of the Cross-Hemisphere division. We’ve no issue with Centurion opposing us in this position. We understand that it’s difficult to loosen your clutches on something you love. On a possession, you’ve grown to love. But if you’re in the Cross-Hemisphere division now? ...it’ll be like living in a haunted house. And you’ll be haunted, too. If that’s what you want… Well, who are we to tell you otherwise? On Day Four of Wrestlestock, Centurion, your championship, and your mind, are coming with us.”
Tempest and Daedalus and Pisces crept closer to the teenagers.
“You can leave now,” Daedalus said with a hateful smile, and they turned quickly and left. The driveway wasn’t there, though. Replacing it, a line of trees leading into the woods. They looked over their shoulders to see the Astro Creeps creeping closer once more, and took off running. Whatever was in those woods, they decided, was better than whatever these freaks were.
But, they were wrong. They were unaware what awaited them in the woods. Bear traps. Trip wires. Concealed holes in the ground that fell into a pit of home made wooden spikes. And wolves with crimson eyes.
“How did you manage that?” Pisces asked curiously.
“We’ll just say we owe the Dark Man a favor,” Daedalus answered with a giggle.