Halloween Party (Fear Street Book 8)

Bobby and Marty, David thought.

He’d come all the way through the cemetery and now he wouldn’t get any farther. What could he do now? Somehow, he had to get help. But it was a very long walk back to town.

A flash of lightning illuminated the houses along this end of Fear Street, and David realized he could simply go to one of them and ask to use the phone. Never mind that half the houses were abandoned and the other ones were supposed to be haunted, or that it was so late.

This was an emergency.

He stood looking at the nearest houses a moment, then set out for the closest one—and was stopped by the roar of a motorcycle.

Bobby and Marty, both on Bobby’s motorcycle, came roaring out from behind the cemetery and stopped directly in his path.

“Going somewhere, David?” Bobby said.

“The party’s in the other direction,” added Marty. “We thought maybe you’d help us get back in.”

“Especially when you see what’ll happen if you don’t,” said Bobby.

Both boys’ words were slurred, and David realized they’d been drinking heavily—probably since they had crashed the party earlier.

“Come on, David,” said Marty nastily. “What do you say?”

Suddenly David had had enough. After everything that had happened, he wasn’t going to let himself be pushed around by a couple of bullies. A nagging voice in the back of his mind reminded him that Marty and Bobby might be murderers, but he dismissed it. They were too cowardly to do anything really terrible, he thought. Besides, he was too angry to think straight.

“Get out of my way!” David said angrily, and took another step toward the house across the street.

Bobby revved his engine. “Hey, cool your jets, man,” he said.

“David seems to have forgotten his manners,” Marty said. He had pulled the heavy chain out of his jacket, and, holding it menacingly, stepped off the bike.

“I don’t have time for this!” David said, furious. “Something terrible has happened!”

“Something even more terrible is about to happen,” said Marty, taking a step toward him. “To you.”

For the first time since Marty and Bobby had showed up, David began to be afraid of them. He realized they had been drinking too much to know what they were doing.

“All right, all right,” David said, backing up. “Take it easy.”

“Hey, what’s the matter, man?” said Marty. “Don’t feel so brave anymore?”

“Look,” said David, searching desperately for a way to escape, “I don’t have any problem with you guys. So why don’t you just go away and leave me alone?”

“No can do,” said Bobby, just behind Marty.

Both bikers were so intent on violence that David realized his only hope was to get away from them. He spun around and, slipping on the wet ground, dashed back into the graveyard.

Bobby and Marty were right behind him. They moved surprisingly quickly, considering how drunk they were.

David ran down a long path, a blur of tombstones flying by on either side of him. He was heading toward the wall and then the Fear Street woods.

“Ow!” He caught his foot on a root and went down in the mud.

He was just pulling himself to his feet when Bobby and Marty caught up to him.

“Hey, dude—wait up,” said Bobby drunkenly.

“You shouldn’t run away. It could be dangerous.” Marty cocked his arm and took a swing at David’s head. David easily ducked, but he slipped again and felt a sickening crack as his head hit the corner of a gravestone.

He saw a bright flash of light, and then everything went dim, as if someone had pulled a curtain down over his head.

Through the curtain, he could faintly hear Bobby’s and Marty’s voices. They seemed like figures in a faraway place.

“What’d you do?” said Bobby’s voice, sounding frightened.

“Nothing!” said Marty. “He slipped and hit his head.”

“He looks hurt bad,” said Bobby. “What if he dies?”

“Then we don’t want to be anywhere around here,” said Marty. “Come on, let’s move him out of sight.”

David knew they were talking about him, but somehow the words didn’t make any sense. He was very sleepy. He felt himself being dragged along the ground.

The light became dimmer and dimmer and then faded out completely.