Episode 25

Alaire didn't know whether to run or stay frozen. It couldn't see her, but it could hear her. It may have already heard her, and if not, it was going to walk right into her anyway. The monster was inches from her face, and she tried holding her breath while she panicked. It was the beast with the misshapen head that stalked them from Gerald's house. The sewers must be their home.
She had a second the make a decision. One. And yet her body and brain remained handicapped. The monster's head emerged from the tunnel, and if not for the removed skin and missing facial parts, their noses would've been touching. Those dark pits gazed into her eyes as doom approached.
From above, Dylan came flying downwards, his pocket knife in his good hand. Without either of them noticing, Dylan had moved atop the tunnel and jumped down in time to stab the monster through the mushy skull. The creature thrashed, sending him and Alaire tumbling backward, but the knife seemed to do the trick, for now. Its arms twitched as it fled the tunnel and bashed into a tree, and then another until it croaked and rolled onto its back.
"Nicely done..." Alaire said.
"Thanks," Dylan cradled his other arm, "What are those ugly things anyway... They look like something out of a horror movie."
"Indeed. Hopefully, there aren't any more surprises..."
"Think those people can hear us?" Dylan asked.
"Maybe... and perhaps more monsters, if there are any. I doubt that one is actually dead..."
Dylan pointed to her gun, "We'll be ready this time. Kill or not, we at least stopped it for a second."
Alaire nodded, and Dylan used his traveling voice, "HELLO! THIS WAY! WE'RE HERE! THE OPENING IS THIS WAY!"
"HERE! OVER HERE!" Alaire shouted, "I really don't want to go inside..."
"Me neither," Dylan checked on the incapacitated monster still twitching under a tree, "Man, it stinks..."
"Wait, I think I heard someone," Alaire said.
Through the dark and narrow tunnel, the faint voices responded. It was incoherent at first, but Alaire and Dylan started to hear the running of footsteps splashing through the blood and the voices shouting with excitement.

They crammed the exit at first until a girl with bubblegum pink hair was pushed through. The rest of her was covered head to toe in guts. Her face looked so miserable like she could spend the rest of the week crying in her room. After her, two more people followed - also completely saturated in red. One of the men had a tie and the other a D-backs t-shirt.
"Thank the lord!" the man in the baseball tee threw himself into the white snow, "We're out. We're really out. Hallelujah."
"Who are you?" the man in the tie asked, "You don't look like a rescue team. No offense."
"We're not, really," Alaire admitted, "But we did come with Detective Robinson. I'm Alaire... This is Dylan."
Dylan lazily lifted his good arm to wave.
"I'm Ryan, as I told you earlier," he spoke while whipping blood from his face, "I actually barely met these two myself. He's Ethan, and this is Genessee. Where is Gerald anyway?"
"We don't know..." Alaire said, "We lost him recently. Things aren't looking too good."
The five of them huddled together, standing next to the river of blood, as Alaire filled everyone in on the situation at hand.

"So Gerald is missing. Aaron could be dead or captured by snowmen. And you weren't even sure you'd find us, but you were all baited here by a mad man... am I doing ok?" Ryan listed.
"Yeah sounds close enough," Alaire said.
"So we're still screwed?" Ethan whined, "Hey... How did you kill that... awful thing?"
Dylan watched the creature like a hawk. It hadn't moved and still had the pocket knife lodged into its head.
"We aren't really sure if it's dead, so we should get away from it," Alaire said.
"Or kill it again!" Ethan looked appalled, "Double tap!"
Ryan nodded, "I like his idea." But neither Alaire nor Dylan moved. Dylan seemed entranced by the sleeping (or dying) monster. He didn't look away or even blink.
Alaire was tempted to nudge him, but someone got to him first.
Hidden in plain sight, a white hooded henchman jumped Dylan and pinned him to the ground, shoving his face into the cold wet ground. The same thing happened all of them. The wind was knocked out of Alaire's chest as she was forced onto her stomach. Strong arms pulled her own arms back, and she yelped in pain.
Her captor pressed his mouth against her ear so she could hear every word clearly.
"Sorry about our bargain."
Bargain?
"But you did choose to come here... Consider the deal off."
His voice changed at the end of his sentence. Alaire felt the familiar sense of dread and hopelessness consume her. An evil not visible, but tangible. The atmosphere was so sinister and thick with corruption that she could taste it on her tongue.

*****

"Aaron?" Gerald hissed.

Moments earlier, a tied up and beaten Aaron was tossed into Gerald's view; careful to not touch the symbol. These weren't normal wounds. The cuts in Aaron's face were black and inky. Most of his skin had turned an odd grayish color.

"Aaron!" Gerald tried, "Come on, man..."

Gerald watched as more people started coming into view. One of them was Alaire, although she was being carried like a sack of potatoes by a man in a marshmallow suit. 

"Well, shit," Gerald grumbled. There they were; the missing students. And Ryan. Gerald noted there were only two of the students left, and he cursed under his breath. Ryan, Alaire, Dylan, Genessee, and Ethan were forced to their knees in a line next to the unconscious Aaron. 

"Hello, detective. You did it," Professor Kellor revealed himself from behind the line of victims, "You found them. Congratulations."

"How?" 

"We already played the 'how' game earlier," Kellor sneered, "I'll leave that mystery to you, detective."
Professor Kellor was still a missing suspect, along with Taylor, since neither were pronounced dead. But by the look of things, it's a miracle Kellor was still alive. Gerald wasn't shy in observing his sunken face with disgust.
"Where's Maren?" Gerald asked.
"Oh, well," Kellor hummed, "I got a little bored while waiting for you. You took your sweet time getting here... I wondered what you were up to. Hopefully not telling anyone where you were going..."
"Where is she!"
"I can't be sure, but I'm certain her face is still hanging in my office."
Gerald took a sharp breath. He was bluffing, hopefully... he had to be! "Wait, wait, wait..." He scanned the other faces of the white clothed people, or the henchmen rather, and realized that not only had he found the few remaining victims, but some of the dead ones too.
"I love the look of surprise on your face. Every time," Kellor said, "It's amazing really - what our lord can do."
Everything looked in order for something terrible to occur. The symbol in the snow, the victims in a line, Gerald tied to a rock, and the old man stepping out of the shadows. Not to mention the murdered victims from the last case that Gerald himself found along with the police. Witchcraft.
The old man, the psychiatrist, lingered in the trees while waiting for everyone to arrive. This time when Gerald stared him down, the black figure on Thanatos followed him like a shadow.
"Shall we begin."

Episode 24

"That's impossible." Aaron glowered. But there was no denying that a badly mangled version of Professor Kellor was standing before him. It was difficult to determine if he was smiling at Aaron or not - it was amazing that he could speak at all.
"We told you," Professor Kellor said, "Thanatos makes us immortal."
"Yeah... after killing several people."
"Nothing in life is free, Aaron, especially something as precious as life. Do the math. Fifteen sacrifices in exchange for eternity... that's a bargain, really."
"You're disgusting," Aaron spat, "I'll make sure you really die this time." He lifted the gun in his hand.
"You still don't get it..." Kellor sighed, "How do you think we were able to get the clowns? Or the typical chainsaw henchmen, I suppose you'd remember best."
What was he on about?
The white clones were back, all of them closing in on him and Kellor. The last few retreating from their hiding spots in the trees. Aaron kept his eyes on all of them as they made a half circle around him. There were twelve of them.
Aaron could feel the blood draining from his face. The one closest to Professor Kellor started removing the white mask and revealed a woman with long red hair, and a chunk of her head blown.
"Oh no..." Aaron whispered, "Katie, no..."
One by one - the rest of the masks were removed. Aaron couldn't say he remembered them all, but he did recognize Jacob. Even Blake was among them. When Aaron was captured and endured the Thanato Project, at the very end, the last in their group was Katie, Jacob, Alaire, and Blake. There were three stuck in bathtubs, and one of them was Taylor...
"Remembering?" Kellor asked.
"What've you done to them?"
"It wasn't I... It was our god."
"They aren't even... themselves. And neither are you!"
Even though their faces were familiar, their eyes were pure white - no pupils and no colors. Their mortal injuries remained, so they looked more like zombies.
"So everyone in the Thanato Project was already dead..." Aaron spoke aloud. Then Alaire never actually killed anyone? He had to tell her, but first had to deal with the situation at hand.
"Where is Taylor," Aaron growled.
"Hmm?"
"Where. Is. Taylor!"
Kellor chuckled, "Have you ever heard of a Keres?"
Such a vague question, Aaron thought, but the name did ring a bell. He stayed silent, so Kellor continued, "Keres are female death spirits. Apparently. My lord decided it was time to let his family free. Of course, it's not easy giving an entity an entire body. He experimented for a long time, seeing how much of the human body needed to be removed for the Keres to be able to enter. First, it was the eyes, always the eyes," Kellor mulled, "You know, the eyes are the gateway to the soul and whatever."
"What?"
"But that wasn't enough," Kellor continued, "We also had to remove the shield, which essentially was the flesh. No skin, no eyes, and a body is finally vulnerable for the Keres to intrude."
"The monsters," Aaron said, "The skinless monsters? That was you?"
"Thanato," Kellor corrected.
Keep talking, Aaron thought, stall him. Aaron's mouth was dry as he tried his hardest not to look at the ghostly and, some, mangled faces. One guy was missing an arm and Spencer... Aaron grimaced. Spencer's death was the first and least pleasant. A few deep holes from the iron maiden were present on his face. The girl with the afro hair was swollen like a balloon. Andrew was there too! Aaron remembered all of them from his group, but couldn't enjoy this reunion knowing what they were.
"What does that have to do with my question?"
"It should be obvious," Kellor said, "Our first successful Keres was Taylor."
Aaron resisted the urge to gasp. The monster with the squished head wasn't a coincidence at all. That was actually her; a beast that can rip open a person's ribcage.
"The other one...?" Aaron asked.
"Other one?"
"You have more?"
Kellor grinned, "Soon to be plenty more. They're an amazing creation don't you think?"
"Manipulation."
All of them locked their eyes on Aaron, tension brewing.
"That's what you are," Aaron said, "Manipulations, black magic, foul creatures. Neither you or Thanatos can make anything. Devils only kill. So your magic tricks are bullshit and your monsters are an abomination."
"SILENCE!"
All of their mouths opened, but only one voice spoke from them. It was like Aaron predicted, none of them were actually back to life, or themselves. It was a strange form of possession. The dark entity was close, he could feel it in his heart.
"We talked to our friend about your cult Thanatos," Aaron mocked, "You know you're making fun of Greek mythology right? I know what you really are."
"Oh really..." the thirteen mouth's continued to move in unison, "What I am, is more than you, pathetic earth child."
"And yet you can't touch me," Aaron lifted one hand away from his gun, and slowly raised his middle finger, "So bite me, Satan's dog."
The group hissed in displeasure.
"You didn't forget our deal, did you?" Aaron smirked, "What exactly happens if you break it?"
Professor Kellor started to snicker, the voice still controlled by an unearthly source, "Funny that you put my word on such a high pedestal, when you've already witnessed my promise to these people."
Aaron paused. He hadn't thought of that. Devils were deceivers. He promised his slaves immortality to escape their fear of death, but really he's only possessed their bodies. What did that mean for him and Alaire then? Were they really protected at all?
That meant Alaire was in trouble too.

*****

Gerald awoke, shivering uncontrollably. He was still outside in the cold, but his hands were bound to a large boulder where his back was pressed against. No one was around, but someone had been there with him. In the snow, in front of his legs, was a symbol drawn with maroon blood. Gerald knew too well what the symbol was from, he'd only seen the image a handful of times from his investigation with the cult case. A butterfly, skulls, the whole enchilada.

Placed in the center of the painted symbol was the artifact, the upside-down torch. 

"I thought virgin chicks were the preferred sheep for these rituals," Gerald spoke to no one. But someone answered. 

"A sense of humor to the end, most refreshing."

Gerald gulped. 

"Most men shriek, scream, cry even,. You'd be amazed. What humans are like when they crack."

"Who the hell are you?"

A man stepped out from behind the boulder imprisoning Gerald. He was older with wise wrinkles and almost kind eyes. Not exactly the image of pure evil Gerald was expecting.

"Wait. I do know you," Gerald said, "You're the psychiatrist, aren't you?"

The old man nodded, "I expected nothing less from the great detective."

"Why you? Why are you here?"

"I want you to guess. Use that intellect of yours."

Gerald grumbled but did as the old man said, and thought out every reason he could think of. Until he had a decent hypothesis, "You were Taylor's psychiatrist, but you were at work even before that. You were collecting these people, the thanatophobic ones. You were building your cult by using people's fears against them."

"I'm impressed." 

"But you aren't a psychiatrist at all, are you?"

"No."

"You're actually Thanato... Not in person, I've seen his ghost a couple times..." Gerald said, "But he is in you, isn't he?"

"I am part of many," the old man said, "But many of my hosts are rotting. Literally. I can only have one living host to keep me linked to this world."

Gerald observed his surroundings some more, before coming to another heavy conclusion.

"You're dying."

"Yes."

"Is that what this artifact is supposed to do... this ritual you've laid out for us," Gerald muttered, "You're going to be me now."

"Yes."

"Great..." 

Episode 23

Alaire's jeans, now moist from trudging through the snow, stuck to her skinny legs and numbed her skin. The gunshots finally stopped, and it took every effort for her to not turn around. We just have to wait this out, she reminded herself.
Gerald, the still missing detective, tipped off one of his friends from the police force about their whereabouts just before arriving. It was a plan B of sorts - assuming that everything wasn't going to go as smoothly as they hoped. Might as well catch the villains if they were going to die anyway. 
"Rrrgh," Dylan groaned. His arm looked bent out of shape.
"Can you keep going?" Alaire asked.
"Yeah," Dylan nodded, "Well, I'm definitely not going to fall behind. No thank you."
"Good."
"When is help coming?" he asked.
"I don't know..." Alaire confessed, "Hopefully soon. Keep an eye out for the detective or any signs of..."
"What?"
Finally, something that wasn't snow or tree roots appeared in their path. It looked like a short metal pipe sticking out of the ground. At first, it didn't appear too significant, until Alaire and Dylan heard something coming from inside the pipe.
Alaire pressed her ear against the opening and waited. Voices echoed from the other side, although it sounded like they were far away, deep into the ground.
"There's people..." Alaire breathed, "No... the victims. The other missing students! HELLO!"
She wasn't sure it would work or not, but the shouting from down the pipe got more excited. Their volume grew as if they were getting closer.
"HELLO!" Alaire called again. Dylan had a deeper voice that carried much farther than her own, "HEY!"
"... help! Help us!"
"Oh my gosh," Alaire beamed, "We found them!"
"Yeah, but how do we get them out?" Dylan started kicking away the piles of snow, "We need a shovel, and my arm is pretty useless."
Alaire scooped the snow surrounding the pipe, throwing it behind her. How badly she wanted someone to find them back when she was trapped in the Thanato Project. She knew exactly what these kids were going through. Even though her hands turned blue, she continued digging, while Dyaln continued to help (sort of) with his legs.
Her fingers found the earth as dirt burrowed into her nails, "No..."
"See," Dylan's face blushed from the cold, "We need a shovel."
"Even then," Alaire pondered, "We don't know if it will get us inside, or them out."
"Please, help!"
Their voices were sounding clearer every second. This gave Alaire an idea.
"Hello!" she said.
"Yes! We're here! Help!"
"Ok... um. What do you see down there? Is there any sign of an opening?"
"I think we would've used it by now..." a male voice said. Another voice called up, "I think we're in some kind of sewage system! There's not much around us right now. Just tunnels!"
Tunnels. That meant there had to be an opening somewhere.
"Is Detective Robinson with you?"
Alaire's eyes widened, "Yes! He... he was."
"I'm his partner, Ryan Nelson!" the voice sounded ecstatic, "Tell him we're here!"
Dylan and Alaire shared a painful glance. Right now, she wanted to worry about finding the exit to these sewers, "We're going to find a way to get you out!"
"How are we going to do that?" Dylan said in a hushed tone.
"I don't know."
They searched the surrounding area for anything suspicious, but they were bombarded with more white snow. Frustrated, Alaire picked up a large stick and started dragging it behind her as she walked down a tree infested path.
"Follow me, but don't step on my trail," Alaire said, "I want to be able to find this pipe again if we have to."
They were so close now, Alaire thought. It was frustrating having terrorized people just beneath them with no way to get them out. She peered over her shoulder every few steps to check on her trail the stick was making. Dylan was getting progressively slower - Alaire imagined from the adrenaline wearing off. He grit his teeth and continued anyway, of which she was grateful. Being alone would suck.
Something began to stink. It gave Alaire hope, remembering the victims were trapped in a sewer, so perhaps they were getting closer to an opening. The smell didn't remind her so much of sewage, though. The scent was thick and heavy with rust.
The two approached a clearing and were baffled by what they saw.  In the opposite direction of where the cabin was located was a small lake. Unfrozen.
"Sick!" Dylan spat.
The body of water wasn't clear, but red. The smell of rust was actually the blood - a whole pond's worth. Fresh blood trickling down a creek formed in the ice, along with a hint of steam from the top.
"What the crap is this?" Dylan asked.
"Maybe... an entrance?" Alaire followed the creek until it came to an end.
A tunnel, big enough for humans to squeeze through. The warm blood spilled from the tunnel's exit.
"Yes!" Alaire gasped, "That has to be where they are!"
"And you're happy about this?" Dylan mumbled, still distraught with the gory pond.
She was too excited to argue. Her legs were crouched as she readied to enter the tunnel, when a not very welcoming sound greeted her. Chills ran down her spine, and she froze in place.
Not too far from the exit was one of the monsters. The gurgling throat noises confirmed it. Though dark inside the tunnel, as it crawled closer towards Alaire, it's hideous features were brought to light. It's hot and rancid breath blew against her face. She closed her eyes.