The gorilla stopped. It stood near the opening to the foyer. All of Thelma but her dangling legs was blocked by the gorilla’s broad, hairy back.
‘Who are you?’ Doons demanded.
‘He’s my gorgeous hunk,’ said Thelma. ‘Bug off.’ In a softer voice, she said, ‘Come on, hon. Take me to your tree. Bet you’ve got a banana for me, huh?’
The gorilla carried her from the room.
Doons heard her husky laughter in the foyer.
‘Phil!’
‘She’s got what she wants. Why fight it?’
Marjorie hissed through her nose. ‘I’m seeing where they go.’
‘Oh, for …’ He stopped himself. If Marjorie followed the two, he would have a few minutes alone with Barbara. ‘Go ahead, if you want.’
She hurried on tiptoes toward the front of the room, back hunched, arms flapping like a crazed tightrope artist about to fall.
Doons winked at Barbara. She took a small step closer.
Marjorie stopped at the wall and peered around it.
Barbara patted Doons’s rump.
Marjorie looked back. She pointed upward.
‘They’re going upstairs?’
She nodded.
‘You gonna follow them?’
Shaking her head, she pointed at Doons.
‘You want me to follow them?’
She nodded and waved him forward.
He turned to Barbara. ‘Want to come along?’
‘Sure.’
They walked over to Marjorie. ‘You really want me to go upstairs?’
‘I’m worried, Phil. Heaven only knows who might be inside that suit.’ She turned her eyes to the two gorillas still suspended from the window bars. ‘Or in those.’
‘I guess we’d better all go up together. I’m warning you, though, Marjorie – Thelma’s gonna be plenty pissed if we interrupt her in the middle of a good … an intimate moment.’
‘We’ll be quiet.’
Doons grinned at Barbara. ‘My wife’s a closet voyeur.’
‘So am I.’
Doons led the way. He walked slowly up the stairs, lowering each foot with great care. In spite of his caution, every stair squeaked and groaned under his weight.
They were halfway to the top of the stairs when the front door swung open. Doons gripped the bannister and looked down. Aleshia Barnes, dressed in tights and a tutu, stood in the doorway grinning at them.
‘Trick-or-treat, everyone!’
Doons pressed a finger to his lips.
Eddie Ryker came in behind her, followed by a group of kids in costume. ‘Mr Doons?’ Eddie asked. ‘What’s going on?’
‘We just have to check on something. You kids go ahead and have fun.’
‘Anything we can help you with?’
Doons pictured the whole bunch walking in on Thelma as she lay on the floor rutting with the gorilla. ‘No,’ he said. ‘We’ll take care of it. You all go ahead and start the party. We’ll be down in a minute.’
35
Eric entered the house beside Beth, and saw the group on the stairway: Doons, Miss Major and a stranger. The unfamiliar woman wore bib overalls and a plaid shirt, like Doons. Probably his wife. Eric shook his head, astonished that the v.p. and teacher had both shown up. It was almost too good to be true.
‘Where’re they going?’ he asked.
‘Doing something upstairs,’ said Eddie.
‘Doing something?’ asked John the vampire, wriggling his eyebrows.
At the top of the stairway, the group turned left and disappeared.
‘Where’ll we put the guys’ clothes and stuff?’ asked Mary Lou.
‘We’ll think of something,’ said Aleshia. ‘Hang onto them for now. Come on.’
They followed Aleshia into the living room. ‘Holy shit,’ she muttered.
‘Wow,’ said Beth.
Eric stared, gaping at the rows of candles on the floor along each wall, at the pair of shaggy gorillas suspended from the window bars, at the crudely painted drawings.
The drawings fascinated Eric. He saw a witch riding her broomstick across the ceiling – the witch naked, the broomstick a rigid penis. On a wall stood a black-hooded headsman, his bloody ax held high. Farther down the wall, a group of naked women were gathered in a circle munching parts of a dismembered man.
Eric walked along the wall, looking closely.
‘Sick,’ Beth muttered. ‘Really sick.’
‘Yeah.’
He took a few more steps and saw the red-painted Devil sodomizing a woman.
‘My God,’ Beth said. She turned away. ‘Come on. Let’s stay with the others.’
Ahead of them, the group had split up – half continuing toward the refreshment table, the other half veering to the left for a closer look at the gorillas.
‘God, you don’t think there’s anyone in those things?’ Sue Diamond squeezed the leg of the nearest one.
Mark Bailey pounded the leg with his helmet liner. ‘Nobody alive,’ he said, and laughed.
‘Very amusing.’
‘Looky here! Booze!’
‘All right!’
‘Better get some before Doons comes down.’
‘Fuck Doons.’
‘Thanks but no thanks.’
‘Look at this! Scotch, bourbon, vodka, gin. Jesus H. Christ, we can all tie one on.’
‘Man, I’d like to meet the guy that’s throwing this party. I’d like to shake his hand.’
‘I’d like to kiss him.’
‘You don’t know who the host is?’ asked a whispery voice from the rear.
Whirling around, Eric saw Elmer Cantwell lurch through the entryway and hobble forward.
‘It is I,’ he said. ‘Hop-Frog.’
‘Hey, well, it’s fantastic!’
‘I’m pleased that you’re pleased.’
‘I thought you were the hunchback of Notre Dame.’
‘Hop-Frog,’ he said, scurrying toward them. ‘Hop-Frog at your service.’
‘You sure know how to throw a party.’
They walked slowly down the hall, Doons in the lead with his candle, the two women close behind him. So far, they’d passed two doors. Both had been locked. Doons had rapped quietly on each with no response.
‘Should we try calling out?’ Marjorie whispered.
‘No,’ Doons said. He came to the door with a splintery hole hacked into it. Crouching slightly, he peered into the gap. A face appeared. He yelped and jumped back, bumping into Marjorie. She grabbed his arm.
‘Hey,’ a voice whispered from behind the door.
Doons took a deep, shaky breath. ‘Good Christ,’ he said. ‘You scared the …’
‘You’ve gotta get us out of here.’
‘What’re you doing in there?’
‘He nailed the door shut.’
‘Who?’
‘There’s a maniac in the house.’
‘Oh my goodness!’ Marjorie gasped.
‘I think he killed the real estate guy. Morley? This afternoon. He tried to get us. He has a gun.’
‘You on the level?’
‘Look, you’ve gotta help us get out of here.’
‘This is a joke, right? A Halloween prank?’
‘It’s no prank, damn it. Look, somebody went by here a minute ago. A woman. I heard her laughing. Thought she might be with the killer, so I kept down.’
‘That was Thelma.’
‘She’s with a guy?’
‘A gorilla.’
‘Shit! You may think this is funny, pal, but …’
‘A guy in a gorilla suit.’
‘You know him?’
‘Haven’t seen his face. He was here when we arrived.’
‘Oh Christ. Have you got a weapon?’
Doons shook his head.
‘You’d better take this.’
‘No!’ cried a woman behind the door. ‘It’s all we’ve got.’
‘It’s okay, honey.’
‘Harold!’
‘We
’ll be all right,’ he told her. Then a metal object was thrust through the hole in the door. A hatchet head. ‘Take it,’ he said, pushing the hatchet out.
Doons took it.
The face of the man reappeared. ‘That’s all the protection we had, mister. We’re counting on you.’
Doons nodded.
‘Go get the bastard.’
‘Maybe we’d better get you out, first, and …’
‘It’d take too long. If you want to save that lady’s skin …’
‘Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.’ Doons swung around. ‘One of you gals go for the boys. Get ’em up here quick.’
‘I’m staying with you,’ said Marjorie.
‘I’ll go.’
Barbara raced up the hall.
‘Excuse me,’ Eric said. ‘I need to find a bathroom. I’ll be right back.’
Nodding, Beth raised a glass of bourbon to her lips. She tasted it and shivered.
Elmer hobbled in front of Eric. ‘Enjoying the festivities?’
‘Yeah.’ Eric kept walking.
‘The fun has barely begun.’ He reached for Eric’s arm.
Eric sidestepped. ‘Don’t touch me.’
‘It’s my party. I touch whomever I please.’
‘It’s not your party, you liar. It’s my party. Mine! And I didn’t invite you.’
Elmer chuckled and rolled his eyes. ‘My mistake.’
‘Damn right.’ Eric shoved him aside, and hurried by.
He left the living room.
Miss Major came running down the stairs. ‘Quick! Get all the guys! We need help!’
‘Fuck you,’ he said.
‘Eric!’
He stepped to the front door, and removed a padlock from his pants pocket.
‘Eric! What’re you doing!’
The latch was where he’d been told it would be, where he’d seen it as he entered. He flipped it over the metal hoop on the doorframe, and snapped the padlock into place.
‘Eric!’
‘Nobody leaves.’
Miss Major gazed at him, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open. Then she ran into the living room. ‘Help!’ she cried out. ‘Everyone! Upstairs!’
Doons blew out his candle and slid it into a pocket of his overalls. The hatchet was slippery in his wet hand. He reached for the doorknob, and slowly turned it.
This door was not locked.
He suddenly felt as if he would lose control of his bowels. He clamped his buttocks together and clenched his sphincter. He took a deep breath. Then he pushed the door open.
Marjorie screamed.
Doons stared. His sphincter let go. He began to whimper.
He saw naked corpses on the floor, some lying on their backs, others sitting with their backs to the far wall. Mutilated. A couple of small boys. A man he didn’t recognize. Glendon Morley. An old woman with red pulp where her face should be. Two younger women. One was Thelma. She lay near the door, her torso slit open, a lighted candle imbedded in the coils of her exposed guts, another in her mouth, another protruding from between her legs. Every corpse held a candle in its mouth. Each woman had one in her vagina.
The gorilla stepped out from behind the door.
Still screaming, Marjorie ran up the hall.
Doons swung the hatchet, missed the gorilla by a yard, and ran.
36
Karen Bennett saw them walking along the shoulder of Oakhurst Road. Nate wore a big shirt. His legs were bare below its hanging tails. Bill wore pants, but no shirt. He hugged his chest as he walked.
She stopped beside them, leaned across the passenger seat, and rolled down the window. ‘How about a lift?’
‘Miss Bennett?’ Bill asked.
‘None other.’ She unlocked the back door. The boys ran to it and climbed in.
‘Ah, warmth,’ Nate said.
Bill sighed.
‘Can I take you fellows home?’
‘We’re going to the Sherwood house.’
‘We’re gonna fix their asses.’
‘Besides, they’ve got our stuff.’
‘Where’d you get the clothes?’
‘Offa the scarecrow. Christ, I think my dick’s got frostbite.’
‘Nate!’ Bill snapped.
‘So sorry.’
‘Did you come back just for us?’ Bill asked.
‘Couldn’t leave you out in the cold, bare-ass and bleeding.’
Nate laughed. ‘Hey, you’re a decent lady. Who’d ever think you’re a teacher?’
‘Anyway, I got rid of Carlson, the s.o.b., and decided to come looking for you.’
‘Did you call the cops?’
She shook her bead. ‘They would’ve been tough on you guys. I figured you’d been through enough without that.’
‘Hey hey hey!’
‘You really want me to take you to the Sherwood house?’
‘Damn right.’
‘Dressed like that?’
‘It’s nothing they haven’t already seen, the shit-eaters.’
‘Nate.’
‘Sorry. Hey Miss Bennett, you wouldn’t have a tire iron in your trunk?’
‘I may be decent, but I’m not about to provide you with a deadly weapon.’ She started driving. ‘I’ll go in with you, though. Maybe we can get back your things without resorting to …’
‘You better not,’ Nate said. ‘What we’re gonna do to those piss-buckets won’t be fit for a lady’s eyes.’
37
Eric stayed near the front door, and watched the others start up the stairs. They all had candles. They made him think of a peasant mob in a Frankenstein movie.
Doons and his wife rushed down the stairs toward the group. ‘Move it!’ Doons yelled. ‘Move it! There’s a killer! Bodies! Oh my God, the bodies! Get down!’
He looked over his shoulder and gasped.
Eric looked. He saw a gorilla in the darkness at the top of the stairs.
Doons shoved his wife. She bumped into Aleshia, and Aleshia stumbled backwards against Eddie. They both fell into those below them. Doons, holding a hatchet high, made his way down through the sprawling teenagers. He pulled his wife along behind him. At the foot of the stairs, he shoved Eric aside and lunged for the door. He gripped the knob, twisted it, jerked. The door hit the latch and banged shut. ‘A lock! Who locked the fuckin’ door!’
‘Eric,’ said Miss Major.
Doons swung around. ‘Bastard! Give me the key!’
Eric shook his head. ‘Nobody leaves.’
Doons raised the hatchet. A shot blasted through the shouting. A hole appeared in Doons’s forehead and a red mass splashed the door. Screams erupted. He fell.
Dropping beside him, Eric grabbed the hatchet. He leaped to his feet.
Mark Bailey reached for him. A shot sent his helmet liner spinning away, and he dropped.
Eric looked at the stairs. The gorilla stood in darkness at the top, the furry suit half off and hanging around his legs. He wore a stained uniform. He held a revolver in both hands. He fired. Eddie Ryker’s throat opened.
He fired. The Indian clutched his chest and tumbled backwards.
John the vampire ran past Eric, cape fluttering. A shot exploded. His head jerked forward and he fell sprawling.
The girls kept screaming and wailing. Except for Aleshia. She shouted, ‘Run! Run!’ She rushed past Eric, and up the hallway beside the stairs. Beth followed her. Then Miss Major, and Mary Lou, and finally Sue Diamond. Only Mrs Doons remained. She lay on the floor, holding her dead husband.
The gorilla kicked free of his suit and came down the stairs, loading his revolver.
‘Use the hatchet,’ he said, his voice muffled by the black gorilla head. ‘Finish her.’
‘Dad,’ Eric muttered. ‘Dad, you … you weren’t supposed to … you killed them!’
‘They’re your enemies.’
‘You weren’t supposed to kill them!’
‘Give me that.’ He snatched the hatchet away from Eric. He went to Mrs Doons.
 
; ‘No!’ Eric cried.
‘Shut up.’
Mrs Doons didn’t look up. He split the back of her head.
‘Let’s get the others.’
‘No.’
He holstered the revolver, and clutched a lapel of Eric’s jacket. ‘Don’t snivel and whine. It’s their night to snivel and whine. It’s their night to pay for all the times they pissed on you.’
The side of the hatchet head pressed against Eric’s pants, rubbed his penis.
‘We’re gonna fuck ’em. You want to fuck ’em, don’t you? We’re gonna fuck ’em all, and chop ’em up.’
Eric felt himself getting hard. ‘I don’t want to kill them.’
‘Want ’em to tell? Wanta go to prison? I been there, been fourteen years – long as you been alive, almost. Know how I got there? Somebody told. Out in California. I slit her open but she didn’t die like the others, and she told. Can’t let ’em tell. Gotta chop ’em up.’
The hatchet went away. A hand touched him through his pants.
‘First we’re gonna fuck ’em.’
Eric stared at the face of the gorilla. The hand stroked the length of his erection.
‘You’ll like that, won’t you?’
Eric nodded.
‘When we’re done, I’ve got a surprise for you. The best surprise of all.’
‘Okay.’
He took a flashlight from his pocket. ‘Come on.’
‘Elmer,’ groaned a low, quiet voice.
Elmer, under the table in the main room, curled closer to the transister radio. It was a large radio, but too small to conceal all of him. He tucked his legs against his belly.
‘Elmer?’ the voice called. It sounded weak.
He trembled.
He’d thought he was alone in the big, candlelit room.
‘Elmer, help me.’
My God, he thought. The gorilla! The voice came from one of the hanging gorillas! He wanted to scurry from under the table and run. But where could he run to? That little shit Eric had padlocked the front door. The rear door, if he could find it, was probably also locked.
To find it, he would have to wander through the dark house. The gorilla with the pistol was out there.
‘Elmer.’ The voice was stronger now. ‘Get out from under the goddamn table and help me.’
The voice, though muffled, sounded vaguely familiar.
Elmer got to his hands and knees. He crawled out from under the table, and gazed up at the nearest gorilla. Its thick, hairy legs were swinging. The other gorilla remained motionless.