The night had descended like a blanket, it's darkness enveloping all. Save for a few lights here and there, and one source of brilliant halation. That source was the Gambino Mansion. It was ablaze, and not from man-made lighting. It was on fire. The Halloween party had ended, and the various party attendees had went their seperate ways, trudging home through the cool night air.
Some went straight to their homes, others went to friends' houses to continue their festivities. Others decided to do some more trick or treating, collecting candy to give to the Spirit of Halloween, Jack.
One such person had just finished a round of collecting candies, and was hot on the trail of Jack, going across Barton Town, all the way over to Durem, and finally backtracking before heading back up to the Isle de Gambino.
And there they saw Jack, leaning against the wall of the Casino, whistling a dirge-like tune. It's melancholy strains filled the air with an aura of doom and gloom, perfect for a night like this. Smiling and clutching their candies, they approached Jack, eager to get their reward for their hard work.
But just then, Jack tipped over! Rushing towards him, the person looked down to see what was the matter, and barely held back a shout of terror and shock.
There was a small viridian leporine creature attached to the back of Jack's pumpkin head. It gnawed slowly, it's buck teeth digging deeper and deeper through his gourd as he started to drool mindlessly.
The person drew back in abject terror, and turned to run away. Only to see dozens of pairs of red eyes glowing malevolently in the night. They surrounded the person, and advanced slowly, menacingly. The person threw their candies at the creatures, hoping to distract them enough to get away.
But it didn't work. The creatures hopped ever closer, closing in on the person. They screamed, a loud and strident call in the near-silence of the late night. Nobody was around to hear it, though, and the person began to despair. Suddenly, one of the creatures leapt at them, it's teeth glinting in the low light as it sped straight for the person's head.
Another scream filled the air, but it stopped suddenly. Another person fell to the ground, another creature began it's meal.
Some time later, dawn was fast approaching. The creatures had continued their reign of terror, attacking wantonly as the night drew on. No one was safe; all were attacked. Even some of the scientists who had worked at Gambino's Mansion were victims; it appears their brains were highly desired by the creatures, which had been given the moniker of 'Grunnies'.
Huddled in a small out of the way home, several people discussed their options. They were nobody special, just lucky that they had survived the onslaught up until now. They knew they had to do something. They couldn't hide forever. One of them mentioned that maybe the sunlight would destroy the Grunnies, as if they were vampires.
With bated breath, they watched the slow incremental rise of the sun through a crack in the window they had boarded up so frantically just a few hours ago.
Eventually the sun rose high in the sky, it's orangish-yellow light bathing the land in it's warm embrace. But still the Grunnies hopped around, searching for new victims. The ones who had already caught their meals had already finished eating, and now seemed able to control their victims, sitting on top of their heads, their teeth still locked onto the victims' now empty skull.
The survivors drew back from the window, discouraged. It hadn't worked, the sunlight didn't bother the Grunnies at all. They discussed their options, and one of them remarked upon something that had stuck in their mind the night before.
"I remember one of the scientists having a bit too much to drink at Gambino's, remember? Well anyways, he had started shouting all sorts of stuff, so everyone assumed he was drunk and ignored him. Well I was paying attention. I thought he'd say something funny. Anyways, he had mentioned vials, or something. Maybe if we can get to the Mansion, we might be able to find something useful."
The others commented that with the clutch of Grunnies outside, making it to the Mansion would be impossible.
They thought for a while longer, and the third person spoke up. He had been relatively quiet the entire time, only speaking when it was necessary.
"I have a plan." He pulled several items from his pack, and told the others. They nodded, and everyone got to work.
Several long moments later, several screams erupted from the home where the survivors had been hiding. The Grunnies heard the noise, and several of them went to investigate. The door was only loosely on it's hinges, as if it had already been forced open.
Within, the three survivors were survivors no more. Each had a Grunny on their head, sitting there calmly. The three moved forward, showing no signs of emotion on their pallid faces.
Seeing other Grunny-controlled victims, the unattached Grunnies let them pass. After all, they couldn't share a brain.
The three new puppets walked onwards, never stopping or showing signs of life, at least not until they were on the side of Gambino's Mansion. There were no Grunnies here; it was as if they were afraid of something.
Surreptitiously, the three glanced around, making sure there were no Grunnies nearby. Nodding, they each pulled the KiKi Kitties off of their heads, the green paint still fresh, smearing their hair. They hurried inside the Mansion, or at least it's gutted remnants. The fire that had raged just the night before had already been put out, leaving the entire building empty, but not structurally sound. Carefully, the three made their way through the burnt out husk, nearly falling through a weak spot on the floor several times. After several hours, they managed to find one area that was especially undamaged, as if it had extra precautions. The door was an immense steel contraption, and it looked like it would normally be sealed with an electronic lock. There was no power in the Mansion, so the door was able to be pushed open with only a minimum of effort, and the three entered. Sure enough, there was row upon row of empty cages, easily enough to contain the plague of Grunnies. Apparantly they had been created here, by some nefarious means or other.
They walked past the now-empty cages, and found a group of desks and tables. The tables were cleared off, but the desks looked messy, as if they had been partially cleaned then left alone. Going through the drawers, there wasn't much of value at all.
The only promising object found was a single key, the kind that opened a safe.
They spread out along the walls, sure the safe would be hidden, most likely behind a painting. Sure enough it was, behind an enormous, garish picture of Johnny K. Gambino, smiling audaciously at the audience.
They threw the painting to the side, and slid the key into the lock. It twisted easily, and opened, revealing row upon row of vials. They withdrew as many as they could, and found a series of notes on usage. The notes informed them that this was the only antidote to the Grunny plague, and that the contents had to be drunk by the victims.
Now that they had the cure, all they had to do was find a way to utilize it. The day wore on, and they still weren't able to think of anything.
And I shall stop there, as I am already at over 1200 words.
Some went straight to their homes, others went to friends' houses to continue their festivities. Others decided to do some more trick or treating, collecting candy to give to the Spirit of Halloween, Jack.
One such person had just finished a round of collecting candies, and was hot on the trail of Jack, going across Barton Town, all the way over to Durem, and finally backtracking before heading back up to the Isle de Gambino.
And there they saw Jack, leaning against the wall of the Casino, whistling a dirge-like tune. It's melancholy strains filled the air with an aura of doom and gloom, perfect for a night like this. Smiling and clutching their candies, they approached Jack, eager to get their reward for their hard work.
But just then, Jack tipped over! Rushing towards him, the person looked down to see what was the matter, and barely held back a shout of terror and shock.
There was a small viridian leporine creature attached to the back of Jack's pumpkin head. It gnawed slowly, it's buck teeth digging deeper and deeper through his gourd as he started to drool mindlessly.
The person drew back in abject terror, and turned to run away. Only to see dozens of pairs of red eyes glowing malevolently in the night. They surrounded the person, and advanced slowly, menacingly. The person threw their candies at the creatures, hoping to distract them enough to get away.
But it didn't work. The creatures hopped ever closer, closing in on the person. They screamed, a loud and strident call in the near-silence of the late night. Nobody was around to hear it, though, and the person began to despair. Suddenly, one of the creatures leapt at them, it's teeth glinting in the low light as it sped straight for the person's head.
Another scream filled the air, but it stopped suddenly. Another person fell to the ground, another creature began it's meal.
Some time later, dawn was fast approaching. The creatures had continued their reign of terror, attacking wantonly as the night drew on. No one was safe; all were attacked. Even some of the scientists who had worked at Gambino's Mansion were victims; it appears their brains were highly desired by the creatures, which had been given the moniker of 'Grunnies'.
Huddled in a small out of the way home, several people discussed their options. They were nobody special, just lucky that they had survived the onslaught up until now. They knew they had to do something. They couldn't hide forever. One of them mentioned that maybe the sunlight would destroy the Grunnies, as if they were vampires.
With bated breath, they watched the slow incremental rise of the sun through a crack in the window they had boarded up so frantically just a few hours ago.
Eventually the sun rose high in the sky, it's orangish-yellow light bathing the land in it's warm embrace. But still the Grunnies hopped around, searching for new victims. The ones who had already caught their meals had already finished eating, and now seemed able to control their victims, sitting on top of their heads, their teeth still locked onto the victims' now empty skull.
The survivors drew back from the window, discouraged. It hadn't worked, the sunlight didn't bother the Grunnies at all. They discussed their options, and one of them remarked upon something that had stuck in their mind the night before.
"I remember one of the scientists having a bit too much to drink at Gambino's, remember? Well anyways, he had started shouting all sorts of stuff, so everyone assumed he was drunk and ignored him. Well I was paying attention. I thought he'd say something funny. Anyways, he had mentioned vials, or something. Maybe if we can get to the Mansion, we might be able to find something useful."
The others commented that with the clutch of Grunnies outside, making it to the Mansion would be impossible.
They thought for a while longer, and the third person spoke up. He had been relatively quiet the entire time, only speaking when it was necessary.
"I have a plan." He pulled several items from his pack, and told the others. They nodded, and everyone got to work.
Several long moments later, several screams erupted from the home where the survivors had been hiding. The Grunnies heard the noise, and several of them went to investigate. The door was only loosely on it's hinges, as if it had already been forced open.
Within, the three survivors were survivors no more. Each had a Grunny on their head, sitting there calmly. The three moved forward, showing no signs of emotion on their pallid faces.
Seeing other Grunny-controlled victims, the unattached Grunnies let them pass. After all, they couldn't share a brain.
The three new puppets walked onwards, never stopping or showing signs of life, at least not until they were on the side of Gambino's Mansion. There were no Grunnies here; it was as if they were afraid of something.
Surreptitiously, the three glanced around, making sure there were no Grunnies nearby. Nodding, they each pulled the KiKi Kitties off of their heads, the green paint still fresh, smearing their hair. They hurried inside the Mansion, or at least it's gutted remnants. The fire that had raged just the night before had already been put out, leaving the entire building empty, but not structurally sound. Carefully, the three made their way through the burnt out husk, nearly falling through a weak spot on the floor several times. After several hours, they managed to find one area that was especially undamaged, as if it had extra precautions. The door was an immense steel contraption, and it looked like it would normally be sealed with an electronic lock. There was no power in the Mansion, so the door was able to be pushed open with only a minimum of effort, and the three entered. Sure enough, there was row upon row of empty cages, easily enough to contain the plague of Grunnies. Apparantly they had been created here, by some nefarious means or other.
They walked past the now-empty cages, and found a group of desks and tables. The tables were cleared off, but the desks looked messy, as if they had been partially cleaned then left alone. Going through the drawers, there wasn't much of value at all.
The only promising object found was a single key, the kind that opened a safe.
They spread out along the walls, sure the safe would be hidden, most likely behind a painting. Sure enough it was, behind an enormous, garish picture of Johnny K. Gambino, smiling audaciously at the audience.
They threw the painting to the side, and slid the key into the lock. It twisted easily, and opened, revealing row upon row of vials. They withdrew as many as they could, and found a series of notes on usage. The notes informed them that this was the only antidote to the Grunny plague, and that the contents had to be drunk by the victims.
Now that they had the cure, all they had to do was find a way to utilize it. The day wore on, and they still weren't able to think of anything.
And I shall stop there, as I am already at over 1200 words.
