A Mission Cursed Tapes: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Another Mission Cursed Tapes: Part 4 Part 5 My Last Post
All this time, all this goddamn time, it was responsible for this. It was the one who…I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll pick up where I left off last. It was a gruelingly slow process, but we finally managed to repair that phone I found.
I didn’t know your blood could both boil and chill, but mine found a way. Even though the screen was still cracked, we could still use a cable to hook it up to Malcolm’s TV on mute of course. However, when we turned it on, we were met with a blast of static. That drove up the panic meter to full.
“Turn it off. Turn it off,” Dean urged, gritting through his teeth.
“It’s not working,” Malcolm replied, frantically hammering his thumb on the power button. “How is it even making static?”
It only got louder as if it sensed our fear. I was nearest to the window so I peeked through the blinds to see the creatures now lumbering in our direction.
“They’re coming this way,” I said.
I turned back to the others.
“Fuck this,” Mickey said and raised his gun.
That’s when the static began changing. As it did, my hands trembled almost like I instinctually knew what was about to appear.
“No, it can’t be,” I said.
“Zane, what’s wrong?” Stella asked.
The familiar image of a pink cobra-shaped cloud with ruby-red eyes greeted us on screen. When it did, the sounds of the monsters outside ceased. I glanced back outside and saw the creatures were hesitating. It was as though they were scavengers and some larger predator had awoken nearby. That’s how we knew it wasn’t merely a video on the screen.
“Ludus,” I said im a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
Its face changed into an expression vaguely resembling a smile.
“I see so the other player failed. No matter, as long as there are others, this game is not yet done.”
It’s eyes focused unsettlingly on me. I wanted to avert my gaze. Instead, I stood firm.
“Ludus,” I said in a breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding,
It must have heard the venom in my voice because it feigned offense.
“Zane, is that any way to speak to….An old friend?”
Those words made my legs feel like jelly. This thing apparently knew me. Despite the dryness now in my throat, I managed to force out a response.
“I consider you many things. A friend will never be one of them.”
“Is that so? That’s too bad. Perhaps I need to jog your memory.”
My vision suddenly began doubling. This was followed by the worst migraine I’ve ever had. It was like someone was power-drilling directly into my temple. Dean and Stella kept shouting my name, but they may as well have been miles away. Then I was barraged with a flash of images.
There was a statue by a lake of one black snake and one white snake intertwined. There was a maroon house with a treehouse in the front yard. Then I saw what I can only assume was a child’s room, judging by all the toys lying about. There were voices The last thing I got from that experience were two voices.
I couldn’t understand them because they were distorted and yet they were familiar to me. After that, everything went dark.
“Zane,” I faintly heard Dean yell, “Shit, he’s having some kind of seizure.”
He and Stella kept shouting my name, Ludus cackled and my vision returned. My rapid breathing slowed down and I could see again. Dean and Stella helped me up.
“I hope you had a pleasant nap, Zane,” Ludus said.
I was too weak to respond.
“Enough of this shit,” Mickey growled and raised his gun. “Tell us how to get out of this now.”
Somehow, I didn’t think Ludus was intimidated.
“That’s exactly what I was about to do. First, let me tell you all about the original player. He made a bet with me. If he won, his debts would be wiped away, but you already know how that turned out. A stipulation was that when the game started, something of his would go missing. In his case, it was the memory of our conversation.”
“So you cheated,” Stella said.
“I only initiate the game. Whatever that causes to happen is out of my control.”
“What exactly was this game?” Malcolm asks.
“A scavenger hunt of sorts, there were previously three items to find. Now there are four. Since your situation is less than ideal, nothing will be taken from you upon joining this game.”
“How generous of you,” I sarcastically replied, my strength slowly returning, “but it’s still pretty stacked against us with those things outside.”
“Fair enough, they shall be moved before we start. Let’s say, I scatter them in different areas. None will be near your current location. How does that sound?”
“If we win, will the people who vanished come back?”
Ludus thought for a moment.
“As I said, how a game behaves once it begins is out of my control. They might return. They might not. I tire of talking. Do you accept these terms or not?”
I looked at the others. Dean nodded.
“Fine, we’ll accept the challenge and beat you.”
Ludus chuckled.
“When did I say I would be the one you would be facing?”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
‘The other played against an underling of mine. I do hope you have fun with them. Before I go, I’ll say that you’ll know what you are looking for when you see it. The game will officially begin when you step outside. If you complete your task before it reaches this home you win and if you don’t, well, at least you tried.”
Malcolm’s TV shut off, leaving a strong air of apprehension over us.
“What now?” he asked.
“First, we need to survey where we need to go and what we have to work with,” Dean replied.
We took inventory while Mickey used his binoculars to see out the windows. For our weapons, we each only had a handful of special ammo. Considering, the odds, this would take careful treading. Mickey informed us that he noticed rays of light going to the clouds from four separate locations. We could only assume these were the items.
“There was something odd about the last one, though,” he said. “It was moving.”
“That’s going to be a pain,” Stella said. “Is there anything else we should know?”
“See for yourself, Check the sky.”
Using Mickey’s binoculars, we saw something stirring far off on the other side of town. It almost seemed to be swimming among the storm clouds. Its size was incomprehensible and we were glad its true appearance was obscured. After some discussion, we decided the best course of action would be to split into different groups.
“Who’s going with who then?” I asked.
“Hang on,” Malcolm replied, “I want to come with you.”
This was surprising.
“Malcolm, I hate to be blunt, but we’re not even sure about our chances and we’ve been doing this kind of stuff for a long time. You’d be more of a liability than anything,” Dean said.
“I know the layout of this town better than any of you. I’ve been sneaking around before any of you arrived so I have a better understanding of those things’ behavior.”
He had a point.
“I don’t know how to use a gun, but I can run fast. If one of you covers me, I can help you out.”
“Could you give us a second to discuss things?” Stella asked.
“Sure.”
It took a lot of back and forth to settle on the decision to bring Malcolm along.
“Listen,” Dean said to him, “Since you know the layout of the town, are there any shortcuts you know of?”
“Yeah, a few, let me jot them down real quick.”
Once we each had a note of the routes we’d be following along with some supplies, we headed to the front door. Dean and Stella would be grouping up. Malcolm would be with me and Mickey would be going solo.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with one of us?” I asked.
“Don’t worry. I can be stealthy when I need to. Now, let’s move out.”
Stepping outside acted as a trigger for the thing in the sky on the other side of town. It began moving in our direction. Based on its speed, we estimated we only had about two hours to win. We wished each other good luck and then split up. I followed Malcolm.
“How many bullets do you have again?” he asked as we jogged.
“Eight in my gun and two fast loaders.”
“Is that regular or the special ammo you guys told me about?”
“Special, I have a lot of the regular kind too, but it doesn’t do much against them.”
Our destination was the local elementary school. Meanwhile, Dean and Stella were heading to the fountain with a statue of the town’s founder. Mickey was going to the movie theater. It took Malcolm and I half an hour just to reach the school. That was with shortcutting through the forest.
“Stay low,” he instructed as we got closer.
We used the trees as cover and soon reached the schoolyard.
“Oh no,” Malcolm murmured.
In front of the school were the creatures. There had to be at least a hundred and seeing them made my chest tighten.
“Do you think we can sneak around them?” I asked.
“No good, there is a tree that stretches to the roof, but we’d need to get past the clearing for the road to reach it.”
I looked around and then upward at the power lines which I noticed went past the school.
“Hey, Malcolm?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to hear a really stupid idea?”
The only good thing about our situation was that no electricity was circulating through the power lines.
“Did you say stupid?” Malcolm asked. “I think you meant insane.”
We were currently walking on the powerline with our arms held out for balance. This was the most nerve-racking thing I’ve ever done. Between the monsters below, how high we were up, and the fact it was pouring meant a single slip would be game over. Growing up, this sort of thing was a routine part of my training.
Unfortunately, there’s a limit to how much practice can teach a person. Dean has taught me that there’s no better educator than experience. Granted, that wasn’t the first time I’d been in this sort of predicament. The difference was I had to look out for someone who wasn’t nearly as experienced with this kind of thing.
A majority of balancing is mental. You have to keep your nerve. This was easier said than done especially under our given circumstances. Despite each step seeming like a mile, we eventually made it to the tree that connected to an upper classroom window.
“Hang on, is it even going to be unlocked?” I whispered, now scolding myself for not considering this sooner.
“Yeah, they tend not to bother locking them during the hotter months. I need to hurry up with this because I don’t know how long that branch will support my weight.”
Malcolm grabbed a knot in the tree and then hoisted himself over. There was a tense moment when it jounced and he managed to hold on. He shot me a thumbs-up and then knelt down. With a grunt of effort, he lifted the window. Risking a glance, I noticed some creatures were wandering toward our area.
“Come on,” Malcolm urged.
One step on the bough and we both heard a sharp crack. Instinct saved me then. I didn’t think. I just dove for the window, landing on a classroom floor.
“Shit, that was close. Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine. Close the window.”
I used a desk to pull myself to my feet. Outside, the creatures were gathered around the fallen limb as if expecting it to do something.
“Good thing they aren’t that bright,” Malcolm said.
“With their numbers, they don’t need to be.”
We went out into the hall and there we saw backpacks and books scattered all over the floor. Students were leaving and then fell victim to Ludus’s twisted game. Malcolm stopped and picked up one of the books. I saw it belonged to the Magic Treehouse series. I remember Dean got me a stack of those for my eighth birthday.
“I didn’t want this,” Malcolm said.
“What do you mean?”
During our stay at his house, we talked a lot. It wasn’t about anything important, more things to keep ourselves distracted. Now, it seemed that he wanted to open up more.
“I always wished people would just leave me alone. Maybe that’s why I was the only one it missed.”
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best at comforting someone. Maybe it’s because I’ve been through so much shit it’s made me emotionally numb in some areas. I’ll try, though and I’ll listen.
“I’ve been doing this sort of thing for over a decade now. Sometimes things like this just happen. Whatever the reason you survived, don’t let it go to waste.”
“You’re right.”
With a sigh, Malcolm put the book down.
“I didn’t want people around, but I still wanted them around. Sorry, that probably doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, I get exactly what you mean.”
Locating the item in question didn’t take long on account of the glow it gave off. It turned out to be a flask that we found sitting on the principal’s desk.
“I take it he wasn’t too fond of his job,” I quipped.
“From what I heard, he always had a bit of a drinking problem, but his job certainly didn’t help.”
Malcolm went into the office and was about to grab the flask. Another thing I learned growing up was to trust your gut.
“Wait,” I called out.
He stopped.
“Is something wrong?”
“Doesn’t this seem a little too easy?”
He looked at the flask and then back to me.
“What do you propose we do then?”
“Let’s search around first for something that might help us.”
Doing so gave us a pair of car keys.
“That could work,” I said.
I made sure my gun was ready and then signaled to Malcolm.
“Here’s goes nothing,” he told me and grabbed the flask.
The resulting noise could have woken the dead. It was like someone hooked up an airhorn to the world’s largest megaphone. It didn’t take long for the noise of shattering glass to reach us. Leaving the principal’s office, we made sure to stay low.
“They’re probably coming in from the front and back entrances. There’s another exit on the basement level.”
Malcolm once again led the way with me ready to give him cover. By the time we reached the door connecting to the basement, we could already hear them in the connecting halls. We descended the stairs and then booked it to the exit. Before we went out, we looked out the window to survey the area. The creatures wandering about outside meant we’d need to come up with a plan fast.
“I’ll draw their attention and you find the car the keys go to. Got it?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ll try to hurry up with that.”
“Alright, count of three we head out.”
“Okay. I’m ready when you are.”
We pressed our shoulders against the double doors.
“One…Two…Three!”
Pushing them open, our plan was to beeline for the car. Unfortunately, we were met with a horde of those monsters.
“Get the car started. I’ll hold them off,” I shouted, then fired at them.
Most of them took the bait and focused on me. Unfortunately, some were still going for Malcolm. Aiming from that distance was already hard enough. The rain on top of that meant I may as well have been firing blindfolded. I figured if I aimed high and fanned my shots, I could hit some of them without putting Malcolm in the line of fire.
Luckily, this worked and I saw them crumple to the ground. However, with the horde after me, I couldn’t protect him for long. They followed me in a circle around the building. I wasn’t running for long, but I was straining just to stay ahead of them.
I considered squeezing off a few shots behind me and decided against it. The last thing I needed was to not be able to see where I was going. My lungs felt like they were going to burst at any moment. That’s when Malcolm pulled ahead of me and put down the back windows. One of the monster’s hands nearly got me and I had to duck to avoid its swipe.
In a last burst of speed, I dove into the backseat.
“Floor it,” I screamed.
One of them tried jumping in after me and managed to grab my leg as the car was moving. Cursing, I fired directly into its head, making it let go and causing its lifeless body to roll on the road.
“Hey, I don’t see the other lights. Does that mean the others succeeded?” Malcolm asked.
“I’ll check.”
One of the supplies we bought was our radios. I turned it on and spoke into it, informing the others we had the object we were looking for. Dean and Stella responded right away followed by Mickey.
“We got ours too. It was a silver dollar someone threw in the fountain,” Dean said.
“Are you still there?” I asked.
“No, we’ve barricaded ourselves in a nearby store,” Stella answered. “I don’t know how much longer we could hold them off.”
Malcolm and I gave each other worried looks before I responded.
“And what about you Mickey?”
“I found mine and it’s one of those old film reels and right now I’m holed up in a projection booth. If they find me, I’ll go down fighting.”
This meant it was up to us to find the fourth item. That thing in the sky was already over us. We knew we didn’t have long until it reached Maclolm’s house.
“Okay, everyone hold on a little while loner,” I said, “We’re going to finish this!”
We drove to the light of the fourth item. According to Malcolm, it was currently coming from the park.
“What could it be?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but if it’s moving we might have another fight on our hands.”
That was the understatement of the century. When we got to the park, they were there and their numbers made what we faced at the school feel like child’s play, no pun intended.
“How are we going to get past them?”Malcolm asked.
“Can’t we just drive around them?”
He considered this and shrugged.
“I suppose it’s worth a shot.”
We had to drive through the fence in order to get into the park. More of the creatures were inside.
“Of course, they’re here too,” Malcolm breathed. “How many bullets do you have left?”
I checked and cursed under my breath.
“Half in the revolver and another fast loader so twelve in total. Do you see what we need to find?”
“No, I-”
Malcolm coked his head. Confused, I leaned forward to check what he was seeing and saw a cat running on the grass with a bright aura surrounding it.
“That’s not what I was expecting,” I said.
“This is horseshit. There’s no way we’ll grab it in time.”
There were some gas station bags in the principal’s car. I reached into them.
“What are you doing?”
“Seeing if there’s something in here that can save us.”
My hand grasped something that made me gasp.
“What is it?” Malcolm asked, concerned.
I pulled out a half-full bag of beef jerky.
“Hell yeah,” Malcolm laughed, looking back at me. “We got this in the-“
“Look out,” I shouted, pointing.
It was too late. We crashed into a tree, causing the windshield to shatter, Malcolm to hit his head on the steering wheel and me to lurch forward and bump my head against the dashboard. Groaning we tumbled out of the car, the bag of beef jerky still in my hand.
“Shit, we were so close,” I said.
The monsters were headed for ours, ready to do, I don’t even want to think about what, to us.
“I’m sorry,” Malcolm told me. “I fucked it up for all of us.”
The jerky fell out of the bag and onto my chest. At that moment, there was a meow near us. We glanced over. The cat was trotting over. It climbed onto me and picked up a piece of jerky in its mouth.
The creatures were nearly on us when a flash of light washed over us. In the sky, the entity was becoming more visible.
“Close your eyes,” I ordered as I was squeezing mine shut.
There was this sound like moving concrete and then we no longer heard the rain. We opened our eyes to find our attackers along with the rain gone. We sat up and tossed aside our coats.
“Does this mean we won?” Malcolm asked.
It seemed that way, but there was only one way to find out. I turned on my radio again.
“Everyone, are you alright? What do you see?”
For a brief while there was no response, and then Dean, Stella, and Mickey told us the people in town were back.
“We won,” Malcolm exclaimed, laughing again. “We fucking won.”
He fist-pumped and winced.
“I’m happy too, but we might want to take it easy.”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Hey, look there’s people here too.”
Right away, we could tell something was off. The main reason being we were by a crashed car in the middle of the park and none of them were the least bit curious. My radio crackled and I answered.
“Hey, there’s something off about-“
“Is this prize not what you were expecting?”
Ludus’s snide voice came from the speaker. My grip tightened.
“What did you do?”
“Me? Nothing, it’s simply what the game chose to give you.”
Malcolm snatched the radio from my hand.
“No, we beat your stupid game fair and square so you put these people back the way they were now,” he screamed.
Ludus only laughed. For a moment I thought Malcolm was going to smash the radio. While I would have preferred it if he didn’t, it would’ve been understandable if he did.
“The circumstances of this contest were unusual which meant the prize of it was bound to be as well. However, if you really want to fix everything you can always issue another challenge.”
Malcolm drew in a breath and then shut off the radio. Over the next few hours, we contacted HQ. They sent some people over and the town was put under quarantine. Medics checked on us and thankfully our injuries were minimal. As the others were explaining what happened, I talked with Malcolm.
“Do you think you guys will be able to help these people?”
“We can try. Are you planning on staying here?”
Malcolm thought for a moment and shook his head.
“No, there’s not anything left for me here. I want to start somewhere fresh.”
I smiled.
“Best of luck.”
We shook hands and parted ways. I watched him leave.
“You seem to be taking everything well,” Dean said as he came up behind me.
“Hey, we have to celebrate the small victories when we can, right?”
“Good point, come on. HQ is giving us a lift back to our state’s airport.”
“What about Stella?”
“She said she’ll drive. Oh, and she told me to tell you she hasn’t forgotten about the puppy.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course, she didn’t.
“I’ll get back to her about that after I talk with Brice and Sheila.”
Dean patted my shoulder.
“Good man.”
There was another meow and I felt something brush against my leg. The cat was back.
“I think he likes you.”
On his tag was the name Herbie. It’s been over four hours since then. During the trip back I typed this all out. I’m home now and Herbie is with me. It’s a shame about his original owner, whoever they were.
Still, I suppose it is a nice change of pace and he seems friendly enough. I want to show him to Sheila and Brice. Speaking of, I sent them a text letting them know I’m back. I know I’ll have a hell of a lot of explaining to do tomorrow. For now, I’m going to enjoy my own bed for the first time in a month.
Hopefully, my dreams will be Ludus-free. This is Zane, signing out.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/17dpgoh/the_cursed_contest_tapes_part_6_trick_r_treat/ (At least Ludus knows how to be festive apparently.)