Authors Forward: Story contains violence, gore, non-consent and incest. Just what any good horror story needs, right?
ALL CHARACTERS, LIVING OR UNDEAD, ARE 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.
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Johnny and Barbara were on their way to what would be the last Halloween party they, or anyone else, would ever attend. They just didn't know it yet.
Their best friends Tom and Judy held the party every year at their family cabin in the woods of upstate Pennsylvania. It was the perfect setting; away from civilization, set in a clearing surrounded by trees that created a canopy of stars above them. They could party around the bonfire, music playing loudly without fear of disturbing the neighbors. More often than not, if the alcohol was flowing freely enough, and the fall air wasn't too cold, several people would invariably lose their clothing and go skinny dipping in the small lake just behind the cabin.
Not Johnny and Barbara, of course. Or at least, not around each other, if it could be helped. Because who wanted to be naked around their sibling?
At 21, this would be Barbara's first Halloween where she could drink legally. Not that it had stopped her before, of course. Alcohol had become part of the equation long before most of the regular attendees were of age, but there was always someone who could get something.
Now, most of their friends were over 21, and the thrill of ill gotten booze had long since faded. Of course, there was also pot, but even that was far easier to obtain than it used to be. Occasionally, someone would bring something stronger, like cocaine or Xtacy, but neither of them messed with that kind of thing too often.
Barbara had tried X once and wound up having anal sex with a guy she'd just met, and while she didn't regret the experience, she'd decided once was enough, and didn't wanna risk that kind of thing again.
Last year, Johnny had done several lines of coke, and was flying high until he tried to have sex with his girlfriend in the lake and couldn't get it up.
He sometimes wondered if that was the beginning of the end of their relationship. She'd dumped him several months later.
Barbara too was currently single. She didn't have much hope of meeting a guy at the party; all the men she knew would be there were either taken, or just not her type. But she hoped maybe there'd be a few new faces to hopefully mingle with, possibly more than mingle with.
Johnny was having similar thoughts, and as they drove the winding backroads that lead to the cabin, the ride was mostly quiet, both their spirits dampened by the thought of attending what was usually a wild and crazy party single.
But he tried to keep his spirits up, because for him, Halloween was an extra special occasion. It also happened to be his 25th birthday.
His birthday parties had always been combined with Halloween long before the cabin tradition had started, and Johnny didn't mind. To him it was the best of both worlds.
Since both were flying solo, they hadn't really bothered to coordinate costumes.
Johnny had gone all out this year, wearing an almost screen accurate version of the outfit worn by Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, right down to the long, flowing browncoat he'd stumbled across in a thrift store. Johnny bore just enough of a passing resemblance to actor Nathan Fillion to pull it off, although if he was being honest, he wasn't nearly as handsome.
Barbara, who felt she was getting a little old for silly costumes, had kept it simple. She was dressed as a Sexy Nurse.
Johnny's eyes couldn't help but notice how short Barb's skirt was, or how it was riding up her fishnet covered thighs as she squirmed impatiently in the passenger seat.
"We're gonna be late. Again," Barbara complained.
"Well maybe if you didn't take so long doing your makeup and squeezing your boobs into that tiny outfit, we'd have gotten an earlier start," Johnny grumbled.
"Hey, it takes a while to look this slutty, and I had to tape my boobs because they kept popping out," said Barbara, sounding annoyed.
"T.M.I." said Johnny. He glanced over at her skimpy outfit. "Think you can keep those puppies contained til we get there?"
"Eyes on the rode, pervert," Barbara snapped.
They drove on in silence, except for the radio. Ever since they'd entered the woods, the Wi-Fi was sparse, and streaming music from their phones was next to impossible. That left the car radio, but the only station they could get was a local news channel that was just barely making its way through the static. Johnny had only kept it on as background noise, but now he turned it up to drown out the awkward silence.
An announcer's voice was crackling over the speakers.
"...comet passing through the Earth's atmosphere tonight, previously undetected by NASA until just outside Earth's orbit..."
The radio let loose a loud blast of static, causing Barbara to reach for the volume knob. "Hey, I was listening to that," objected Johnny, smacking her hand away.
He turned the volume back up, just in time to catch,
"...stress that the green glow is simply harmless, low level radiation, and will cause no lasting..."
Out of the corner of Johnny's eye, he saw it. "Barb! Look at that!" he shouted, pointing up and out the front windshield.
There was just enough space between the surrounding trees on either side of the road to see the comet trailing overhead, a bright green speck in the sky. The tail flowing behind it must have been...well, Johnny was no astronomer, but he knew it must be hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles long to leave such a long, visible streak in the dark night sky.
Waves of soft, glowing green energy radiated off the tail in waves, drifting then dissipating into the black.
"Watch out!" Barb cried, and Johnny's eyes went back to the road just in time to avoid the guardrail along the curve he was drifting towards. Righting the car with a jerk of the wheel, he got it under control just in time and continued driving, albeit at a much slower pace for the moment.
"Jesus, Johnny, you almost killed us! It's just a stupid comet. Pay attention to the road, will ya?"
Johnny thought about yelling back at Barb, took a deep breath, gripped the wheel, and let it go. She was right. The comet was cool looking, but not worth dying over.