U.S.F Campus, Florida, September, 2002

Chapter One

First Day

Mick Nielson pulled his classic Dodge Sedan into the parking spot near the dorms, it was a dirty looking car, but it was indeed a classic with a LOT of history behind it. It had a flat black paint job with white doors and a white hood and a police logo was barely visible through black spray paint and got out, looking around. He felt a little awkward being there, he was 26 and still in college, but it couldn’t be helped, he’d taken a break from school during his last year at Shadow Chasers, then… afterwards…

Mick was about to stop himself from going back to those thoughts when someone did that for him by interrupting them.

“Hi there! I’m Kurt Summers!” A friendly voice behind him said.

Mick blinked, slightly startled and turned to face the newcomer. He found himself looking at a guy who must have been a bit younger than him, but not by much. He had light auburn hair and green eyes, standing at about 5’10”, he came up to only Mick’s neck in height, but didn’t seem put off by his size difference. Kurt held his hand out to introduce himself.

“Hi, Mick Nielson.” He responded, shaking Kurt’s waiting hand. “Your accent sounds familiar, you from New Jersey?” He asked.

Kurt nodded twice. “Yeah, how’d you guess?” He asked. “You from there too?”

Mick nodded back. “Yeah, Redbank.” He explained.

“Oh wow, really? I’m originally from there too, I just moved here this year.” He told him, adjusting his back pack.

“Oh, I’ve lived her for about 6 years now.” He said. “I actually went to school here 2 years ago, but took a break from it for awhile.”

Kurt nodded. “Ah, yeah, I waited to go to school until we moved here, figured it’d be cheaper. Say listen, I’m headed to the registration area now to sign up for classes, what courses would you recommend?” He asked.

Mick raised an eyebrow. “You want MY opinion? Why?”

Kurt just shrugged. “Well you went to school here, so I figured you know your way around the place pretty well.”

“Well I was considering the Para-psychology course that Professor Lorentz is teaching and the Archeology course that Professor Ferguson is teaching.”

Kurt furrowed his brow. “Para-Psychology, eh? What is that exactly?”

Mick sighed. “I don’t know exactly, its got something to do with the study of the paranormal workings of the world or something like that.”

At that moment, Kurt’s ADD kicked in and he glanced over at Mick’s wheels. “Hey, nice car… Where’d you get it?” He asked.

Mick grinned as he looked at his vehicle. “Well I actually found it in pieces in a junkyard while I was in Chicago one summer and spent a year and a half fixing it up with a couple friends back in Redbank. Its an old Mount Prospect Police cruiser. All original parts except for a couple of the rods that were blown.” He explained, popping the hood.

Kurt examined the vehicle a moment. “How come you never got it painted? You just gonna leave the whole police look?” He said, chuckling.

Mick nodded. “Yeah, what happened was that I ran out of cash around the time we finished putting the car together and never got around to painting it, since then I kind of got used to it looking that way, so I’m gonna leave it. Something tells me it would want to look that way…”

Kurt gave him a funny look. “The car would want it that way?”

Mick looked at him like it was obvious. “Well of course, do you let someone else dress YOU?” He said as they both headed to the office to register.

Chapter Two

In The Classroom

The next day, Mick and Kurt shuffled into the auditorium-style room with the rest of the Para-Psychology class. They found two empty seats towards the center of the room and sat down, waiting as professor Lorentz looked over his notes while the class took their seats.

After a moment, Mick suddenly felt the presence of someone standing next to him and snapped out of his boredom-induced daze. He turned to find himself looking at two guys with very similar features, he guessed that they had some Spanish in them.

“Excuse me, but could we get through please?” The taller of the two asked. Mick pulled his seat in a bit to let them by and the taller one moved through like it was an annoyance to be bothered to speak.

The shorter of the two had a granola bar stuck in his teeth as he side-stepped through the cramped walkway and made his way to the seat next to who Mick guessed was his brother. The taller one wore glasses and had a very angled jaw-line. He had brown eyes and black hair as well, which added to Mick’s theory of their heritage. The other brother was shorter and had a wider face with a very protrusive forehead and a nose that looked like it has been squashed outward.

Just by that small encounter, Mick knew he didn’t like the one with the glasses already. He seemed to be really stuck-up. However, Mick didn’t want to be caught up in some stupid schoolyard bullshit, so he promptly forgot about the rude brothers and looked up at the front of the room to pay attention to the professor who had begun speaking.

Almost an hour and a half into his lecture, the professor brought up a subject that would later define the lives of the four boys sitting next to one another. “Now, as for the other side of paranormal investigation, I have to bring up probably the biggest contribution to the field… The Ghostbusters.” He said.

At the mention of this, Mick began to pay extra attention, he’d always liked to hear about them, in fact, their battle with Gozer was probably one of the first things he ever really listened to on the news as a child.

Three seats to his left, glasses boy scoffed at the mention of the Ghostbusters and raised his hand. The professor stopped his lecture and motioned to him. “Yes, Mr….?”

“Lucas, Damon Lucas, sir.” He responded, standing up.

Mick rolled his eyes. ‘Oh good, a child prodigy I bet…’ Mick thought. ‘No wonder he’s so stuck up, he thinks he’s a friggin genius…’ Mick shook his head in disgust, Kurt had a similar reaction next to him.

“Professor, weren’t the so-called Ghostbusters accused many times of being frauds and charlatans in their trade?” He asked, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

The professor waved his hand at him and shook his head. “Son, I was in New York as a student at Columbia University at the time of their tenure and I would frequently attend the lectures of those men, Dr. Spengler is a brilliant man and I absolutely refuse to believe that he would be associated with ANYTHING like a fraud or a scam. If it was just Dr. Venkman, that’d be another story…” He said firmly.

Damon rolled his eyes. “If you insist, sir, but I think that until I see it with my own two eyes, I cant believe it.” He said, sitting down.

The professor nodded. “Well that’s your prerogative, but I must ask that you don’t interrupt my lecture just to spout out your opinion. Your obviously a very bright young man, but stick to facts and not your opinions, as of now, the Ghostbusters are widely regarded as a FACTUAL science and I will teach it as such.” He said.

Damon shook his head as he watched the professor continue his lecture on the theory of positive and negatively charged ions being the key to Ghostbusting. He couldn’t believe they taught that kind of thing at a REAL university.

Mick and Kurt glared at the Lucas brothers. Kurt turned to Mick and whispered. “The other one hasn’t stopped stuffing his face the entire time we’ve been in class, the way he eats it’s a miracle he wasn’t 300 pounds.” He said.

Mick shook his head again, he already could tell this was going to be an interesting year… but what he didn’t know, was that he was completely wrong as to why…

At that moment outside, a huge crate was being unloaded from the back of a Fed-Ex truck, the two workers wheeled it into the main campus building and headed towards the commons garden. The crate was labeled “Overnight” and was from the manhattan museum of art. Inside the box was something very large, but what nobody knew, was that for the first time in a century… It was awakening.

To Be Continued…

PART 2

Chapter One

Rude Awakenings

Professor Ferguson approached the two workers as they dropped off the huge crate they had just delivered. “Is this the donated statue from the Manhattan Museum of Art?” He asked.

The workers looked at him stupidly, one, who was more than slightly overweight, was chewing tobacco and spit some on the otherwise clean sidewalk. “I don’t know, chief, I just know what it says on the crate, and it says ‘New York’.” He said simply, holding out a clip-board. “Sign here please.” He said.

Ferguson sighed, he hated the folks around here, they were all so… uneducated. He signed the form and handed it back to the mover. “Thank you.” He said dryly, wheeling the crate into place near small waterfall of the garden.

Ferguson gripped a crowbar tightly and tried with all his might to pry open the lid, but he was too short and couldn’t get enough leverage. Ferguson groaned in annoyance and looked around the commons area.

Mick balanced himself as he slid down the polished banister of the stairwell, landing slightly off-balance at the bottom. He looked back up and waited for Kurt to catch up. “God your slow. Maybe we should get you a shell to go with your turtle legs.” He said jokingly.

Kurt hopped the last two steps down and the two of them headed down into the commons area to grab some lunch before Archeology 3 started.

“You there! Excuse me!” a voice shouted. Mick turned to look and saw Professor Ferguson over by a huge crate, he waved the boys over to him.

“Yes professor?” Mick asked as they walked up.

“Sorry, this is a bit embarrassing, I’m not tall enough to open this crate, you think you could do it, my boy?” He asked, holding out the crowbar.

Mick shrugged, handing his books to Kurt and taking the crowbar. “Sure thing, I’ll give it a shot.” He said, sticking the crowbar into the opening. Mick pushed down on the crowbar as hard as he could and he heard the wood creak loudly. For a moment, it wouldn’t budge, but then, with a loud CRACK, the lid gave, popping open and releasing the internal locks. The sides of the crate fell open as well and Mick found himself nose-to-nose with a huge ugly gargoyle-like statue. “Jeez, what is this thing?” He asked, backing up to get a better look.

“This, my boy, is a statue from the Manhattan Museum of Art, its actually the last of its kind, this was one of a four piece set that was used to decorate the Shandor Building on Central Park West. The only reason it survived was because the museum had been restoring the collection at the time and this was the last one to go back. It was at the museum during the explosion that did all the damage to the building in 1983.” He explained.

Mick nodded. “The Ghostbusters’ battle with Gozer the Gozerian, right?” He asked, looking at he eyes of the dog-looking creature of stone in front of him. For some reason, Mick couldn’t shake the feeling it was looking at him.

“This thing is pretty creepy, what’s it doing here?” Kurt asked, wrinkling his face in displeasure.

Ferguson chuckled a bit, crossing his arms as he admired the dog. “Its going to go on top of the waterfall right here in the commons.” He explained.

Kurt rolled his eyes, “Figures.” He said, very annoyed. “Hey, I’m gonna go get in line before the rest of the classes get out, I’ll catch you later, Mick.” He said, saluting him.

Mick waved at him. “Peace out.” He said, unable to look away from the statue, there was something familiar about it… Mick shook his head and looked at Ferguson. “So professor, what’s in line for today’s lecture? We gonna be looking for the Ark of the Covenant anytime soon?” He asked, grinning.

Ferguson shook his head. “Mr. Nielson, right?” He asked, Mick nodded affirmatively. “Well I assure you, Archeology is most definitely a science, most of which is done in a lab, there’s no map to the buried treasure and X never, ever marks the spot.” He said, smiling back. “See you in class.” He said, heading off to his room.

Mick laughed slightly and turned as he walked away. “Sure professor… That speech there was from Indiana Jones by the way!” He shouted after him.

Ferguson turned and put a finger to his forehead. “Good catch, Nielson!” He said, turning and continuing on his way.

As Mick turned to head to the commons, the dog statue’s head very subtly turned to watch him go and if anyone had been nearby, they would have heard a low growling sound coming from deep inside the stone. It wanted blood, and tonight it would get it…

Chapter Two

Party Animals…

and Frat Boys Too

Max Turner was a 5^th year student at the university, he was 5’9”, with dark brown hair and light brown eyes and usually dressed in a sport coat with a button-up shirt and dress pants. Right now, however, he was wearing nothing but boxer shorts and hanging upside-down by his feet from the balcony of the Omega Kapa Beta house.

“Guys, this isn’t funny, I’m not even applying for membership!” He shouted angrily at them. Gathered on the balcony above him and on the front lawn below him, were 50 or so drunken frat boys all cheering and chanting “GEEK!” over and over. Max hung helplessly, the blood pounding in his ears as it pooled in his head. “Okay guys, enough is enough! Would you please let me down!?” He shouted again.

Suddenly, a loud echoing howl rang out over the campus, everyone heard it, no matter where they were, it was definitely canine-like, but sounded different, as if just its roar alone was pure unadulterated evil. The frat boys all turned in the direction it came from and instantly shut up.

Max turned his upside-down head towards the sound as well. “What in the hell…” He started, but didn’t have time to finish his thought, because without warning a large dark shape bounded out of the shadows and tore across the lawn towards the crowd of frat boys.

Everyone scattered, running and screaming in terror as they went, most of them ran into the house, but that ended when the dark creature smashed through the front window into the living room. A frat boy inside with a football player’s build watched in horror as the terror dog bounded across the room towards him. The boy slammed the door to the kitchen, but the terror dog crashed right through it, knocking the boy across the room like a rag doll.

When he landed, he saw the terror dog’s eyes glowing red as it stalked across the room towards him. The boy scrambled backwards to get away and he searched for something to defend himself with. He saw an empty beer keg and grabbed it just as the terror dog launched itself at him. He held it in front of his body and it slammed down on top of him, hard. The dog bit into the keg and ripped it out of the boy’s hands.

The boy screamed as the dog whipped the keg around in its jaw like a chew toy, but this gave him the chance he needed. The frat boy managed to get away from the dog and sprinted out the front door, slamming the front door behind him. The terror dog slammed into it a moment later, but the door only cracked partially, because it was a reinforced storm door for hurricanes. The dog howled again in frustration and turned, rushing out the back door and slamming right through the glass door on its way out.

The next day, a large crowd of people had gathered outside the Omega Kapa Beta house, among them, was Mick Nielson and Kurt Summers. From what the officers and paramedics had said, a jaguar had somehow wandered onto campus and attacked some students the night before.

Mick watched and laughed a bit as Max Turner stormed away from the house, where the officers had questioned him, Mick knew what had happened to Max because it wasn’t the first time. Even back during their first year Max was bullied by the frat boys. In fact… He was bullied by everyone. “Have a rough night Max!?” Mick shouted to him from behind the police line.

Max looked over at him and flipped him the bird. “Go to hell Nielson!” He shouted back, stomping off towards his dorm.

Mick and Kurt watched as the paramedics helped a frat boy with a football player’s build into the ambulance. He was mumbling incoherently, but Mick overheard some words involving “demon” and “dog”. For some reason, Mick thought of the new statue the school had gotten and had the nagging feeling that the howl everyone had heard last night wasn’t the sound a jaguar made…

To Be Continued…

PART 3

Chapter One

Planning

Three days had passed since the first sighting of the Terror Dog on campus, but nobody had put two and two together yet and linked it to the creepy statue in the commons.

Mick and Kurt were hanging out in the commons between classes, Mick was watching the statue intently, he knew the thing had to be what everyone had been seeing… But what could he do about it? Even with Shadow Chasers he hadn’t come across something like this before.

As he was deep in thought, the Lucas brothers came walking up to the table and sat down across from Mick.

Mick looked across the table at them and raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Can I help you?” He asked bitterly.

Damon took his glasses off and wiped them with a cleaning cloth. “Look, I know you don’t like us. I have news for you, we don’t like you two either.” He said, placing his glasses back onto his nose.

“If your trying to bury the hatchet, your not off to a good start.” Kurt said from the side of the table.

Mark looked over at him, tearing a chunk off the beef jerky he was snacking on. “Look, man, we’re not trying to make friends, we just think that statue in the commons needs to be stopped before it kills somebody.” He said.

Mick glanced over at the statue, which hadn’t moved, but its eyes seemed like they were watching the group. “So you figured it out too.” He said.

Damon nodded. “Yes, and we think we’ve devised a way to kill it. But its going to take us a week to build what we’re going to need to do it.” He explained.

Mick looked over at Kurt a moment, then back at the brothers. “What do you mean? We just need to find out what its weakness is. Most common stuff is silver, decapitating it, destroying the brain or heart. The more difficult ways are actually delving more into the demonology realm of extermination.” He said.

Damon shook his head. “This thing isn’t one of those monsters you hunted with Shadow Chasers.” Damon said. Mick’s eyes widened a bit in surprise, Damon nodded. “Yeah, I know all about your job with Shadow Chasers, I was a witness for one of those escapades in downtown. The point is, this isn’t going to be as easy as stabbing it in the heart or shooting it in the head. I know I’ve spoken out in class about how unlikely I believe ghost busting to be, however, based off the technology the Ghostbusters claim to have, I believe its possible for us to build a proton acceleration cannon. Now, we’ve been working on this thing since these events started, so based off my calculations…” He explained, pulling out his notes. “The cannon will have an extremely limited firing capability, it will require us to tap into the school’s power supply to make it work and it will take 5 minutes to power up for a single blast. We’re going to have to hit it with the first shot.” He explained.

Kurt laughed out loud at this. “Your really serious?” He asked, shaking his head. “You want to build a laser cannon and shoot a gargoyle with it?”

Damon rolled his eyes and sighed. “Its not a laser cannon first of all, but yes, that exactly what I want to do.” He said, folding his hands in front of him.

Mick was already going over possibilities in his head and came to the conclusion that he either knew exactly where the necessary components were or had them stashed in his closet up in his dorm room. “Follow me, guys.” Mick said.

Chapter Two

Preparation

The group took the elevator up to Mick’s floor and followed him to his room, he unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping inside. The room was a definite reflection of Mick’s personality, most of the food articles were microwave-based, his computer was on and displayed a downloading message for god-knows what, the bed was unkempt and there were several horror movie posters adorning the walls.

“Well… This is exactly what I expected…” Mark said, stuffing another Twinkie into his mouth.

“You fantasize about what my room looks like? You’re a sick, sick man…” Mick said without even turning away from the closet. Before Mark could respond, Mick pulled a huge box out of the closet and set it down on the floor, digging through it.

Damon glanced into the closet and shook his head, the shelves were completely covered in spare parts and other various pieces of equipment that probably weren’t supposed to be there.

Mick pulled out several lithium batteries out of the box, set them aside, then pulled several circuit boards out, a gaggle of wiring and plugs and got to work.

Kurt watched as Mick and Mark worked on the random assortment of gear as they built the main focusing grid of the proton cannon while Damon was reading off the requirements from the notes he’d jotted down earlier.

When it was finished, Mick and Kurt lifted the generator off the floor and carried it heavily down the hall to the elevator, as they reached it, Damon began telling them what to do. “All we need to do from this point is attach this generator to the school’s existing laser and re-rout the power supply so that its feeding directly off the gym’s personal generator.” He said as the doors closed.

On the way down, Mick turned to him. “We’re gonna run it off the gym’s generator?” He asked.

Damon simply nodded. “Yes, it’s the only singular generator on campus that is large enough to withstand the power output we need.”

Kurt chuckled. “Spend a lot of time on the sidelines at gym, Lucas?” He asked.

Damon shot him a dirty look and continued to go into the un-necessary details of what they had to do, mostly to try to make the others forget that subject had been brought up.

Chapter Three

Beating the Clock

The unlikely team worked furiously on constructing the proton cannon, they needed to have it ready to go before the sun went down or else they’d be forced to wait until the next day, and by then someone could be dead.

Mick plugged in the power chord and stepped back. “Alright, power is live, guys. Everyone get clear of the cannon’s body and Mark, you flip the switch.” He said.

Mark looked over at him questioningly. “Excuse me?” He asked. “Why do I have to be the one who turns on the patch-together possibly deadly machine that could kill me?”

The whole group was silent for a moment, you could almost hear the clock ticking over the front door. Mick inhaled slowly, then stepped up, putting a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Because you’re a loser, Mark… Deal with it.” He said, giving him a slight push towards the cannon, then joining the others outside the doorway.

Mark gulped, moving to the cannon and reaching his hand out towards it. He shut his eyes, grabbing the power switch and slid his welding goggles over his eyes. Mark took one look at the others and mumbled a few curses, then he pulled the switch, jumping back immediately after doing so.

A dull loud hum resounded from the machine which quickly grew in bass until it rattled the windows as it powered up.

Mick, Kurt and Damon all emerged from the doorway and looked on from behind their goggles as the cannon’s tip began glowing from the energy charge. Mick nodded. “I knew it would work all along…” He said, the others couldn’t see it, but his eyes shifted nervously even as he said the words.

Chapter Four

The Hunt

The sun was almost fully set, only a few sparse rays of light broke over the horizon now, the students were all heading back to their dorms in a hurry, the school had been placed under curfew because of the recent attacks. Campus security and local animal control all moved out into the grounds, searching for anything unusual.

Mick and the others were assembled in the gymnasium, waiting for the howl that would signal it was time to begin. “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do…” Mick said, explaining the plan.

The layout of the gym was very simple, the main area of the gym had four entrances, one in the north side wall that was an emergency fire exit, the front door in the south wall, which led out to the ticket counter and concessions stand, and the locker room access doors on the west wall. The locker room doors led into a cross-shaped hallway, with an entrance door at the southern-most tip of the cross, the first of the locker rooms were located on the west arm of the cross and at the northern tip. The two halls that led into the gym was one attached to the northern tip and another which made up the eastern arm of the cross. The group had heavily barricaded all entrances and exits to the main room of the gym except one, they left the cross-shaped hallway door wide open, which would draw it into the southern tip, then Kurt would run to the northern tip doors and lock them, baiting the terror dog to run at those doors, then they had Mark waiting at the eastern arm door to bait the creature into the main gym by running, then Damon was waiting just inside the main room doors. When the dog ran in, he would run out, slam the door shut, locking it in. At that point, Mick would be manning weapon and Mark would run straight towards it to get the dog to head for it as well, then Mark would dodge behind the cannon, giving Mick a clear shot at the dog.

“Now you only have probably one shot at this, because the cannon takes 5 minutes to recharge after every shot, so make it a good one.” Damon said, making the final calibrations to the cannon.

Mick fake-saluted him. “Yes sir Mr. Boy-genius, sir.” He said, heading off to make sure all the proper doors were locked.

At the main building, Kurt hurried up to the commons area just in time to see it, the gargoyle statue shuddered. He prepared to run as the feet crackled and shattered, revealing grayish-brown skin underneath the stone, then the horns broke free and the eyes shone red. The Terror dog ripped free of it’s perch and leapt down off the waterfall, landing gracefully on the ground below.

“Hey pooch! Over here!!!” Kurt shouted, already moving back. Right when the dog looked in his direction, Kurt turned and sprinted towards the gym. He couldn’t tell if the dog was after him though, so he snuck a glance backwards… And nearly had his head taken off.

Kurt threw himself forwards as the terror dog sailed clean over his head and smashed into a tree. He swore once, then picked himself up and kept running, just managing to avoid being swiped off his feet by the terror dog’s enormous paw.

Mark peeked around the corner, looking at the south door of the building anxiously, they hadn’t even heard the terror dog howl yet and the sun had been down for almost two minutes already.

Mark leaned back around into his hiding spot and breathed steadily, pulling a piece of red-rope licorice out of his pocket and biting off a chunk.

Chapter Five

Dog-Catchers

Kurt blasted into the gym building, sprinting for all he was worth to the northern tip doors, behind him, he heard the dog’s talons on the linoleum and heard the slam of the entrance doors as Mick locked them and then sprinted to the main gym room to man the cannon.

The dog was taken off-guard by the slam of the doors behind it and turned to look, it gave Kurt the time he needed to reach the northern tip doors and slam them behind him, locking them tightly. The terror dog threw itself into the doors leading into the northern tip hallway, but they held fast. In the Eastern arm hallway, Mark could only watch in fascination and horror as the creature threw itself against the door viciously.

His focus quickly returned however, when the dog’s head snapped to the side and looked right at him. Mark began shouting loudly to keep its attention and sprinted down the hall to the gym. He passed through the doors into the vast space and aimed straight for the cannon, seeing Mick standing on the back, aiming it at the doors.

Damon saw Kurt run by and waited, his foot pressed on the door. The Terror Dog whipped by, bounding after his brother, so Damon kicked the door shut, locking it, then sprinted to the front doors, getting out of the main room and locking them as well.

The activity behind it alerted the dog that something wasn’t right and it skidded to a stop, turning to scan behind it. The dog howled in fury, its voice reverberating off the walls at a near-deafening volume.

More than that, it made everyone in the building’s blood instantly turn to ice and Mark was caught off-guard by the sudden adrenaline cut-off resulting from it. He was unable to stop himself from tripping over his own feet and sliding right across the floor into the cannon, knocking the barrel up just as Mick pulled the trigger. The proton blast sailed right over the dog’s head, blasting a scorch-mark into the gym wall and sending debris raining down.

The dog jumped, its attention turned back to Mick and Mark, who were now locked in the gym with it…

Mick snatched up the radio and yelled into it for Kurt’s attention. “We have a problem! Open the northern tip door, we need to get out of here!” He shouted, grabbing Mark and yanking him. They headed behind the bleachers to head for the locker room hallway doors on the opposite side of the gym.

The terror dog bounded across the floor, throwing itself into the bleachers furiously, swiping it’s paw through the openings, trying to claw their faces as they moved through. It cut them off every time they tried to get through, so Mick went back, telling Mark to stay there.

Mick hit the “Close” button on the bleacher controls and run through. “Mark! GO!” He shouted. The Terror dog howled in pain this time as the bleachers closed around it’s front leg, pinning it in place. The two men rushed through the closing bleachers and reached the locker doors just as the terror dog ripped the seating apart and pulled it’s injured appendage free.

Mick grabbed the handle to find that it was still locked… Damon and he pounded on the door helplessly, calling for Kurt as the Terror dog did a limped-run across the seating towards them. Right as it reached the edge and prepared to leap at them, the door burst open inwards and they fell into the hallway on top of Kurt.

Mark looked back, saw the dog leap and kicked the door shut right when it did, the dog smacked into the slamming door and was knocked back, stunned briefly. It sat on it’s hind-quarters, its head bobbing slightly as it growled at them.

Mick pushed the door all the way shut and locked it, turning to Kurt. “What the hell took you so long?! We nearly became Kibbles and Bits!” He asked.

Kurt rubbed his head painfully. “Well Mark didn’t run right away, so I had to brace the doors to keep them from breaking, then it slammed into them and knocked me out for a minute or so. I heard you guys pounding on the door when I woke up and figured something must have gone wrong.” He said.

“Well that’s an under-statement…” Mick said as they headed back down the hallway to come up with a new plan.

Chapter Six

Endgame

Damon watched through the concession room door crack as the cannon missed the dog, he cringed and turned away just as Mick and his brother fled the gym, trying to think of what do to next…

Mick, Mark and Kurt arrived in the concession room a moment later, arguing about something, but it didn’t matter, Mick had a plan. “Alright, here’s what we do, Damon, you stand by this door here, Kurt, you go by the east arm door, Mark, you get to the north tip door. When I give the signal, I want Damon to open his door and get the dog’s attention, then when it goes for him, he’ll slam his door and Kurt will open his next and so-on.” He explained. “everyone got it?”

The others nodded and headed to their positions, Mick circled around outside the gym building to the back door and pulled out his Shadow Chasers knife, equipped with a lock-pick. He radioed when he picked it. “Okay, go!” He said quietly. He heard the first door slam and opened his door quietly, moving into the gym and heading to the cannon right in front of the door.

Mick checked the readout, it needed another minute and 10 seconds to recharge. He looked up and saw Kurt’s door open. The dog spun around and ran at him, but he slammed the door quickly. The dog must have been getting more angry, because it dented Kurt’s door when it rammed into it.

Mick checked again, 50 seconds, Damon’s door flew open and he put his fingers in his mouth, letting out a shrill whistle to attract the dog. It ran at him and Damon slammed the door shut.

The readout was now at 30 seconds. “Damon, open your door again.” Mick said over the radio. A moment later, Damon did so, the dog rushed him, but he didn’t even let it get close, slamming the door again soon after.

Mick had it in his sights, but it had HIM in its sights too, the dog sprinted at him, roaring hungrily as it drew nearer. Mick watched the meter, counting with it. “3.…..2.…..1.…. Charged!” He shouted, slamming the trigger back. The effect was instantaneous, the dog was caught by the blast in mid-jump. The particle beam slammed into it’s chest and sent it flying back, caught in the beam’s pressure. Mick held it down and the dog was smashed into the opposite end of the gym, embedding it into the wall.

Mick held the button down as long as he could, but it quickly over heated, so he released it. The beam did not stop. Mick checked again, but the button had become stuck, Mick rolled his eyes and groaned. “It just never ends!” He said, jumping off the cannon as it’s internal components blew, making it jump slightly, then went dead.

Mick got off from where he’d fallen and looked across the room… at the gymnasium’s brand-new terror dog mascot sticking partially out of the wall.

The others came out of hiding and looked up at the statue as well. Kurt tilted his head to the side. “It’s a bit too gothic for my taste, but I’d say it works…”

Chapter Seven

A Farewell and a Hello

Three days later, the sun was shining and classes had resumed, campus security had shown up at the gym just in time to be no help at all, but their arrival meant the group got the deserved credit for the destruction of the dog. The four had become quite the hot topic on campus.

Mick Nielson trotted through the courtyard, meeting up with Kurt at the bus stop for the campus, Damon and Mark were there already. “So your really gonna leave?” Mick asked.

Kurt shrugged. “Yeah, man, no choice. Family issues up in Jersey.” Kurt said sadly.

Mick sighed. “Well its been… Educational, Kurt. Hope to see you again someday.” He said, holding out his hand.

Kurt laughed, shaking his hand. “You kidding? From the time I’ve met you, I’ve made enemies with two of the smartest people on campus, then joined together with them to fight a demon dog and nearly got my head bitten off twice doing it… of COURSE I’m gonna be coming back!” He said.

The four of them laughed, Kurt shook each of their hands as his bus arrived and he got on. They all waved as the bus pulled away and Mick couldn’t help but believe this wasn’t the last he’d see of Kurt Summers.

After the bus pulled out of the campus parking lot, Mick and the Lucas brothers stood there a moment, thinking. Mick turned to say something to them, but saw Max sitting on one of the planters behind the brothers, he had one hand in his backpack and another writing down things on his notepad. “What’s he up to?” He asked.

Max glanced at the stolen bluebook in his bag and then jotted down a few more answers on his paper, just as he looked back at the bluebook again, he felt someone standing next to him. Max looked up just in time to see Mick Nielson jump onto the planter and shout. “MAX! WHAT DO YOU GOT THERE!? PORNO!?”

Max’s face turned beat red and he yanked his backpack off the planter away from Mick. “NO! I most certainly do NOT have pornography in my bag!” He shouted angrily.

Little did he know that when he yanked the bag off the planter so roughly, it flung the bluebook out into the air, causing it to land right at the feet of Professor Ferguson, who had been walking by at that moment.

Ferguson picked it up and looked at the cover, it read: “Archiology 101” On the front and Ferguson glared over at Max. “Mr. Turner, you and I need to make a little trip to the Dean’s office, now.” He said, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and dragging him along.

Mick and the brothers just stared after him, Mick looked at the others. “What just happened there?” He asked, Damon and Mark could only shrug, Mark bit off a chunk of the beef jerky in his hand.

As he was lead away, Max turned furiously around. “YOU THREE ARE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS!!! I’LL GET YOU BACK! LUCAS, NIELSON, YOUR FINISHED!!!” Max declared.

The three friends stood there a moment, then busted out laughing, Mick dropped down onto the planter in a sitting position. “Wow… Somebody watched too many Saturday morning superhero shows…” He said.

With that, Mick Nielson, Damon Lucas and Mark Lucas all headed off to Para-psychology class together, Damon chatting on about the blueprints he’d found for the Ghostbusters equipment and how they could build it themselves. “I don’t know how practical it would be for us to have this equipment, but I think it would be an interesting Para-psychology project to undertake.” He said.

Mick shrugged. “Hey, I’m in.” He said, Mark nodded too, chewing like a cow on his beef Jerky as the three friends headed into class and closer to their destiny.

THE END

"The Party Crashers"

CHAPTER ONE

Raising the Behemoth

One overcast foggy night, 2,000 miles away, off the coast of Florida, that something was not right with the world… Dark storm clouds gathered in one particular spot over the bay and lightning lit up the skies, striking the spot of activity over and over. After almost ten minutes of this, the sea someone seemed to unplug the storm and the seas were instantly calm again, for a time, nothing stirred except the calm bobbing of the waves. Suddenly, something rose up out of the sea, something huge and dark… It was a mast, of a gigantic ship, it appeared to be from the Colonial era, but was heavily beaten by water rot, time and the constantly moving ocean tides. There were numerous holes in the hull of the vessel and the sails were almost completely rotted away. The ship rose out of the ocean and floated across, or rather just ABOVE the water-line. A green mist covered the ship as figures began to appear onboard, figures that were as transparent as the fog that shrouded them. The ghostly crew moved slowly at first, making their way to their positions, preparing the ship to move, raising the main sail, which now seemed to have unexplainably regenerated, and catching the phantom winds that arose from nowhere. The wind did not disturb the waves around the ship, nor the markers the vessel passed by. The winds spirited the ship at a swift pace towards the place it formerly occupied years before… Downtown Tampa, Florida.

CHAPTER TWO

Terror From the High Seas Comes Home

It was noon on January 22^nd, the day of the Gasparilla parade, which was the day the people of Tampa celebrated the anniversary of when the former inhabitants of their city, namely thieves and scallywags, were driven out of town for good by the founders of Tampa. The party was in full swing, with the crowd eagerly awaiting the arrival of the reenactment pirate ship’s landfall…

Little did they know, that that time was closer than they thought. The reenactment crew was making final preparations for the ship to come out from behind the pier and sail into Tampa Harbor, when suddenly, one of the crew shouted that there was a ship coming up on their starboard side. The captain rushed over and looked back, they all saw it coming, it was a dark, moldy-looking pirate ship, it looked like the same time period that theirs was from. The captain was confused by this and turned to the first mate. “Did the city book two ships for today?” He asked. The first mate shrugged. “I don’t know, nobody said anything to me about it.” He said. The crew watched as the ship came up right alongside theirs. The captain stood up on the side railing and gazed through the morning fog, suddenly, the fog parted and what he saw horrified him… The ship’s cannons rolled out of their holes and opened fire on them. The first barrage ripped right through the hull, tearing off a good chunk of the ship. It quickly began filling with water and tipping to its side, falling onto the pier. The crew tried anything to get off the sinking ship, even jumping for the attacking vessel’s deck. The captain and a few others managed to make it, but they soon wished they hadn’t… The ghostly figures soon materialized and approached them, swords drawn…

Back on the mainland, the mayor was getting impatient, the ship was supposed to be coming up on land at that exact moment, but they hadn’t even heard from them yet… He was about to get angry, but suddenly, they all saw it pull around the side of the pier, heading towards the harbor, the crowd all erupted with applause and cheers as it drew nearer, but then they saw what it looked like… They also saw that it hovered above the water line too, the cheering and applause fell silent as the ship sped towards land, not slowing down. The crowd began to mill about nervously and some even started moving away. The ship reached the harbor port and continued moving, floating right up over the coastal wall and towards the downtown streets. The ship finally slowed down and came to a stop, just before passing the front line of buildings. Everyone, including the mayor was speechless as the giant ghost-ship hung above them. Nothing happened for what seemed like forever, then, on the sides of the ship, the cannon hatches began opening, the cannons poked out through the holes and fired, blowing away the adjacent floors of the buildings alongside the ship. The crowd now began to panic and flee in fear, suddenly, from inside the ship, the ghost crew flew up over the sides and careened after the onlookers, chasing them down and knocking them to the ground. They threw them into the air, into each other and even into walls. The mayor started panicking and his bodyguards moved him towards the nearest building for protection…

The calls started pouring in about three minutes later to the Ghostbusters HQ and the team sprung into action. Mick sprinted for the car, leaping through the window “Dukes of Hazzard” style and started it up. The others came running up a moment later and jumped in, Rita shouted the location to them as Mick gunned the engine and hauled ass out of the garage, veering sharply around the corner of the building and headed for downtown.

The ghost pirates saw the mayor and his security and instantly recognized the authority figure… the one they needed to beat to claim this place… Over 20 of them flew towards the mayor at full speed, the bodyguards fired their guns uselessly as the specters drew nearer and nearer. Suddenly, a siren rose up in the air, a very distinct siren, it was the Ghostbusters vehicle, speeding around the corner and skidding to a halt, Mark jumped up to the roof and crouched on one knee, he drew his Neutrona wand and blasted the nearest ghosts at point-blank range, knocking them aside, just as the ghosts reformed their line, the other Ghostbusters jumped out of the car and began pouring fire at the ghosts, sending them fleeing. The team rushed to the mayor’s side, Damon quickly scanned him to make sure none of the ghosts had reached him. “Mr. Mayor, it looks as though your going to be fine, but you need to get out of here right now, before they come back.” He said. The mayor nodded his head, his face white as the ghosts who’d just been attacking him. His bodyguards escorted him into the building and closed the doors behind them. The Ghostbusters turned back to the crowd and saw an image of chaos if there ever was one… All around the streets, ghosts sailed through the air, destroying whatever they touched, luckily, most of the people had fled already, but there were still some being tormented by the spirits, the Ghostbusters needed to act fast. They all rushed out into the street, blasting any and all ghosts nearby, Julie followed behind the group, loaded up with traps, she began laying them all out in a pattern up and down the street, the boys took off ahead, blasting ghosts to get their attention, soon, the entire crew had focused their attack on the Ghostbusters team. Mick looked up at the incoming swarm of pirate ghosts and yelled back to Julie. “Hurry it up! We don’t have much time!” He said, blasting ghosts left and right, the trio tried holding them off as long as they could, but the horde pushed closer to them as each second passed. “NOW!” Julie screamed over the roaring noise. The trio broke off firing and sprinted for where she was standing, the ghosts followed, now free from the restricting Proton beams, they moved much faster than the Ghostbusters. The team reached Julie’s position without a moment to lose, each of them stomped on a trap pedal, each pedal had been hotwired into several dozen traps, which Julie had been lining the street with. The ghosts recoiled in horror too late as the blinding flash of the caution doors snapping open engulfed them and they were all sucked in by the trap beams. The Ghostbusters looked away from the light as the crew disappeared into them. Mick was the first to look again, he slid the Ecto-goggles over his eyes and scanned the street for any remaining ghosts, he found none. The Ghostbusters all let out a cheer and high-five-d each other. “As a very great man once said… ‘We came, we saw, we kicked their ass!’” Mick shouted, blowing on the end of his Neutrona wand as though it was an old western six-shooter. The team made their way back towards the car when suddenly, Damon felt a buzzing sound from his belt, he looked down and saw that the PKE was picking up a massive level of Psychokinetic energy. Julie looked up at the pirate ship for a moment and suddenly, the phantom winds returned. “Guys! Look, its coming further into town!” She shouted, pointing. They all looked up and saw she was right, It had begun to move again.

CHAPTER THREE

Not Over Yet

Mick watched in horror as the cannons receded back into the hull, re-loading. “If that thing starts firing again, it’ll wipe out the whole city in no time flat!” He said, the team looked at each other and nodded. They knew they had to take that ship down. They all stepped out into the center of the street, directly in the ship’s path. It loomed over them like a giant and continued to move towards them. Behind the Ghostbusters, the crowds had returned, watching the team stare down the approaching Spectral ship. They all pulled out their Neutrona wands and activated them, they hummed to life, going to full power. The Ghostbusters raised their weapons and aimed at the ships front hull. They all opened fire at the same moment, targeting the same spot, the proton beams lanced forward, slamming into the hull with the force of a speeding locomotive, the ship shuddered under the force of the impact, but continued to move towards them! It had slowed slightly, but it continued to move steadily towards them. Damon yelled to the others over the roar of their packs. “We aren’t generating enough power!” He said. “We gotta hit it harder!” Mark squinted against the powerful glow of the beams. “How do we do that!?” He asked. Damon seemed to think for a moment, then turned to the others. “CROSS THE STREAMS!” He screamed, the others looked at him like he was insane. “What!?” Mick yelled questioningly. “THE PACKS CAN’T TAKE THAT AMOUNT OF ENERGY! THEY’LL LOSE CONTROL!” He said. Damon motioned to the approaching ship. “WOULD YOU RATHER LET THAT THING GET INTO THE CITY!?” He asked. Mick didn’t reply, he simply wrenched his wand to the left, blending it with Julie’s, she moved hers to the right and pushed into Mick’s. Mark pushed to the left as well, blending his stream with Mick’s and Damon pushed his in with all of them. The effect was instantaneous, they all heard the dull hum suddenly rise into a deafening roar, then into a screech. The Proton streams combined and formed one giant force, blasting into the ghost-pirate vessel with the force of direct tactical nuclear missile. Blasting the pirate ship backwards, the Ghostbusters felt the kick from the explosion and were sent flying through the air as well. The ship flew back 100 yards and slammed into the bay, capsizing immediately, the team was scattered across the street, Mick flew into the hood of a car, Julie landed on the sidewalk, Mark smacked into a store window just as the percussion from the blast blew it in and Damon slid right up the middle of the street. The blast soon faded and dead silence fell over Tampa…

The crowd struggled to see through the dust that had been kicked up by the explosion and they all made their way in to help the Ghostbusters. Several people helped each of them to their feet and back together, Mick had a fairly nasty cut on his head and his nose was bleeding. Julie had made it through with just a few cuts and bruises, Damon suffered road-rash on his arm from sliding up the street and Mark had some cuts from a little broken glass. However, they were alive. The entire crowd erupted into a tremendous applause, cheering and whistling for their heroes, as the weary warriors made their way back to the car, suddenly, out in the bay, the entire crowd watched in terror, as the ship righted itself on top of the water. It leaned to one side, but it was upright, the Ghostbusters stared at it in awe, they hadn’t done any damage to it at all…

CHAPTER FOUR

Saving the Day… Again…

The crowd screamed and ran for cover again as the pirate vessel suddenly raised its sails and headed back for the city once more. Damon turned to the others. “That ship has been collecting psycho-kinetic energy for over 300 years,” Damon said, pulling off his broken glasses. “There is no way we’ll be able to destroy it.” He said, then fell up against the car and slid to the ground. Mick leaned against the hood in despair and ran a hand through his hair nervously. Mark stood and watched the pirate ship steaming its way towards land for the second assault. There was no way they’d be able to pull off another attack like they had the first time… There had to be a way… Suddenly, Mick stood straight up and looked in the truck. “The slime blower!” He shouted. Damon looked up at him and blinked. “What about it?” He asked. Mick rushed to the back and opened the tail gate. “Its psycho-reactive right? It responds to the environment around it and even to peoples’ thoughts… What if we loaded the slime blower into one of the cannons on the OTHER ship and let the slime adapt to it? Then we fire the thing and BAM! We got ourselves a spectral cannon ball!” Damon jumped to his feet and rushed over to him, he stared at the Slime-blower thoughtfully, calculating it in his mind. “That actually could work!” He said, shutting the door. “Everyone! Saddle up! We gotta get a cannon!” Mick shouted, leaping into the driver seat and revving up the engine, the others jumped in just as he burned rubber for the pier…

Mick spun the car 180 degrees to a stop so that the back tail faced the sinking vessel. The Ghostbusters worked at lightning speed, rigging up a quick pulley system and hoisting one of the cannons off the deck of the ship. They managed to load it onto the roof of the Truck and latch it on tightly using a welding torch. Mick squirmed uncomfortably as Damon melted the roof of his baby. Julie and Mark wired the slime-blower to the back of the cannon’s tube and locked it firmly in place, so that the cannon resembled a giant super-soaker. “Okay, we only have one shot at this, so we gotta get the ship in pretty close…” He said, tossing his fried proton pack into the back of the truck with the others. “Ok, so how do we do that?” Julie asked. Mick glanced out to the pirate ship and tapped her on the shoulder. “We don’t have to… I think it wants us…” He said. The others all turned to look, sure enough, the ship had turned away from the city and was heading right for THEM. Suddenly, the green fog swept in again and shrouded it from view. “Blast it!” Damon shouted, hitting a pier support. “They know we’ve got something planned, they’ll wail on us all the way over here, keeping us disoriented, then they’ll get in close and wipe us out, but we wont even be able to fire accurately before its too late…” He said. Suddenly Mick had an idea, he looked down the pier towards the edge, where the pirate ship would come exactly parallel to the dock… Mick snatched the Ecto-goggles off Damon’s head and strapped them on, wordlessly heading for the truck. The others suddenly realized what he was planning and moved to grab him. “Look, I am the only one here who is driving this truck, so you can all just forget it!” He said, hopping into the driver seat. “But you might not make it.” Damon said. Mick scoffed at this. “Oh come on, you think I’d sacrifice my wheels just to save the world!? Please…” With that, he stomped on the accelerator and drove full-speed towards the end of the dock, sliding the Ecto-goggles over his eyes. Through the goggles, he could see the ghost cannon balls raining down on him all over the place, only with his extremely good driving ability was he able to avoid them. Once he had outrun the line of impacts, he pulled out the parking brace and jammed the wheel in place, then he wedged his boot under the dash, holding the gas pedal down. Mick climbed out the sunroof and onto the roof of the truck, manning the cannon. Through the goggles, he saw more cannon-fire coming at him, but they all sailed just over his head. He took aim on the spot where the cannon-fire was coming from and waited. The edge rushed to meet him swiftly, but he held his fire, suddenly, the ground ended, and the truck shot off the edge of the dock into the fog. Mick suddenly saw the ship clearly and fired the single shot. Right when he squeezed the firing mechanism, he then kicked off the back of the roof, flipping end-over-end and smacking into the water below…

From the start of the pier, the others watched as Mick fired off the cannon and disappeared from sight. The slime-coated cannon shot flew straight into the deck, shattering the main mast and plummeting right through the center, slicing it clean in half. The pirate vessel caved in, collapsing on itself, the fog drifted into the waves below along with what remained of the ship itself as it went down. The team sprinted to the end of the pier and looked down into the water below, it was littered with debris and rocks… They didn’t see Mick anywhere…

They all stood there for a moment, unable to believe that he was gone… then suddenly, from behind them they heard a voice. “What are you all lookin at?” The team jumped and spun around to see Mick climbing up the ladder on the side of the pier, he was soaking wet and even more bashed up than before, but he made it. He walked up to the edge and looked down, he saw the truck sinking slowly into the ocean below. “I can still save it!” He said moving to jump in again. The others grabbed him by the arms, stopping him, but he struggled against them. “No! No, really, I can get it!” He said, tugging against them. Julie slapped him in the back of the head and then he turned to the group. “What? I jus…” He said with a sigh, then he stopped struggling and started laughing. The others suddenly broke out into a relieved laughter too and then, the battered and bruised Ghostbusters all made their way back towards Downtown. Just as they all turned to leave, however, Mick turned and made a mad dash for the edge, but once again, the others managed to grab hold of him first “No seriously, I can just dive down, get inside and drive it out! Oh come on guys, don’t make me leave it down there…” He pleaded as they practically dragged him away from the pier, after they got a little distance between him and the edge, he finally stopped struggling, so they let him go. The entire walk back, Mick said nothing, mumbling incoherent things about ‘bloody hypocrites and their motor-cide’ This only added to the laughter that was building in them from the sheer relief of being alive and the fact that they’d stopped the pirate ghosts. It had been an overall good day…

CHAPTER FIVE

Idols and Idiots

When the returned to the downtown area, they were greeted by a cheering crowd and a very grateful mayor. They were celebrated as heroes and given the key to the city, the mayor even wanted to have the Ghostbusters officially registered as civil servants, but the team respectfully denied, asking to remain as a private enterprise. They were granted this and paid in full for their services, (which ended up being a rather large bill, especially because their car had been destroyed) A few days passed and life returned to normal, the equipment was repaired and they had new uniforms made for themselves, everything was as it should be… well, Mick still had a grievance… “I still can’t believe they wouldn’t salvage my car…” He said a few days later, they were all gathered in the now empty garage of GBHQ, sorting through all the newly fixed equipment. As he continued to complain, the front door opened and a mail currier driver entered the building. He approached them and held out a form to Damon, “Sign here please.” he said, handing him an envelope as well. Damon signed for it and looked at the envelope curiously. “Hey, Mick, its for you.” He said, handing it to him. “What? Who’s it from?” He asked, looking at it. “Its from New York… Who do we know in…” He said, tearing open the folder, Mick pulled the paper out and opened it, reading the note aloud. “To the Ghostbusters of Tampa office… We commend you on your outstanding job well done in defending your city from the great threat it faced, it saddened us that we could not have been there to help, or at least seen it ourselves. All the best of luck in holding down the fort down South, your friends and co-employees… The Ghostbusters, New York Office.” He finished, folding it back up. “Wow, can you believe that?” Mark said in awe. “They actually sent us a letter!” He exclaimed. Mick felt something moving around in the envelope as he turned it, so he tipped it over, a set of keys slid into his palm. They had a custom made key-chain with the Ghostbusters logo on it! Mick looked up and saw the currier leaving and ran after him to ask him what the keys were for, but then he opened the front door… And there, parked in front of the building was the most beautiful vehicle he’d ever laid eyes on… It was an old white ‘59 Caddie Miller-Meteor, the official car of the Ghostbusters. Mick stumbled over to the car and dropped to his knees, running his hand delicately across the metal runners on the sides of the hood. The car had Florida Tags that read Ecto II. Ghostbusters decals had already been added onto the two front doors and the rear tail gate, loads of equipment attached to the roof for Ghost detecting and city-issue sirens and lights… Mick leaned against the car and just laid his head there, enthralled in its beauty… Suddenly, he jumped to his feet and looked at the strip of paper stuck in the wind-shield wipers. He snatched it and read it aloud as well. “P.S. if you are really going to be an official office of the Ghostbusters, you can’t be stuck without the wheels to match it…” He finished reading and folded the note, sticking it in his pocket. Suddenly, Rita hit the call alarm and Mick turned to the others, a huge grin on his face. “Anyone care to go for a ride?!” He asked. They all rushed inside, grabbing their packs and gear and then rushing back out, loading it into the back. The Ghostbusters all climbed into the car, Mick hit the lights, blaring that very distinct sounding siren and then hit the accelerator, the Ecto II sped off down the road and took the turn very quickly, squealing its tires as it went. Traffic parted as it tore down the roads headed to answer the call…

"A Bridge Too Short"

CHAPTER ONE

Attack of the Helping Hand

Mick Nielson grinned like a kid as the Ecto- 2 squealed around a sharp curve in downtown Tampa, the other Ghostbusters held on for dear life as the car rocketed down the street with lights blazing. They’d only gotten the ‘59 Caddie a few weeks ago as a gift from the original team of Ghostbusters and already Mick had replaced the engine and done a complete overhaul on the car in general. In the passenger seat, Damon Lucas struggled to hold onto his “oh-shit” handle, while keeping a firm grip on the Ecto-mounted PKE meter screen.

“Could you please slow down, just a bit Mick?!” He asked.

Mick simply grinned wider and glanced over at him.

“Yeah, probably…” With that, he pushed down harder on the accelerator and dodged in and out of traffic, barely missing cars on both sides of the road. In the back of the Ecto-2, Mark Lucas and Julie Madison had firmly locked themselves into place, bracing themselves against the seats and pressing their feet against the doors. Julie glared angrily at Mick in the rear-view mirror.

“You get a kick out of scaring the crap out of us don’t you?” She said angrily.

Mick didn’t respond, he simply took the next turn even more sharply than the last. Then, there ahead was their destination; the Hard Rock Casino and café. Mick slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel to the side, sliding the Ecto-2 perfectly in-line with the sidewalk curb. Smoke wafted up from the tires and the other Ghostbusters were frozen in place. Mark suddenly piped up from the back.

“Um… are we dead?” He asked, prying his fingers off the handles of the door.

“Nope, in fact…” Mick said, checking his watch. “We made excellent time too.”

A few moments later, the quartet was out of the Ecto-2 and strapping on their packs in preparation. The manager of the café came rushing out to greet them, having heard their less-than-subtle entrance.

“Thank god you’re here!” He said as they finished loading up. “It’s completely destroying everything!”

Damon stepped forward and activated his hand-held PKE meter. It beeped rapidly and the arms extended. “Hmm, it looks like we’re dealing with a class 4 pseudo-physical spirit.” He said.

Mark looked over his shoulder at the screen, then set the trap to the appropriate power level. The four of them headed in through the front doors, alert and ready for anything, they all drew their Neutrona wands from their backs and Mark pulled his from his side-holster, holding it up.

Mick motioned to the others. “Ok, everyone spread out and move towards the kitchen area.”

The call they’d received from the Hard Rock staff had told them the ghost had shown up in the kitchen and had started wrecking havoc in the entire establishment from there. Since the vast main room where the casino was located was completely empty, the only other place it could be was back in the kitchen. The Tampa Ghostbusters all fanned out and moved through the rows of slot machines towards the kitchen door. Already they could hear crashing noises and wet smacking sounds of fruit flying into walls.

Julie reached the pass-through window of the kitchen area first, she crouched low, then slowly stood up, peeking inside. She slowly surveyed the room, but couldn’t see anything except splattered food and the occasional dish flying by. She motioned to the others and mouthed the words. “It’s in there.”

The rest of the team moved forward, Mick slid the Ecto-Goggles over his eyes and moved to the kitchen door, peering in through the small circular window. The sounds had all stopped in the kitchen and nothing moved, all over the place Mick saw the “fingerprints” left behind by the ghost which were invisible to the naked eye, but no sign of the ghost itself. Mick turned to the others and whispered. “I don’t see anything!” He turned back to look again, but found himself staring at a severed hand! Mick recoiled, startled, but wasn’t quick enough, the hand leapt from the door window onto Mick’s face, tugging at the goggles. Mick grabbed wildly at the hand, panicking and dropped his Neutrona thrower in the process.

Mark raised his gun to fire, but Julie smacked it down. “Are you nuts? You’ll hit him!” She yelled, rushing forward to grab at the ghostly appendage.

Mick spewed muffled obscenities from under the palm of the hand, the Ecto Goggles were being jammed into his face and he couldn’t see anything, this lead to him tripping over a chair and falling face-first to the floor. The hand, seeing its chance, flew off Mick’s face and scurried across the floor towards the door, Damon was faster though, he ran sideways through the row of slot machines and cut it off, throwing a proton stream at it. The beam lanced forward and blew a hole in the floor directly in front of it. The hand let out a strange squeaking sound and jumped into the air, Mark rushed up behind it and pulled out his gun, blasting it in midair. Julie rushed in and threw another beam, grabbing it. Mick slid forward on his knees, passing right under Julie’s stream and opened fire as well, snagging the pesky palm.

Mark took his gun in one hand and with the other unhooked the trap from his belt. He slid it across the floor underneath the writhing hand and dropped the foot-pad to the floor. “Everyone look away, now!” he shouted, stomping on the pedal.

The four Tampa Ghostbusters looked away as the yellow and black caution doors popped open and the blinding white light poured from beneath. Mark lifted his foot off the pedal and a moment later, the trap doors snapped shut again, the box beeped twice cheerily. The Tampa Ghostbusters looked back at the smoking box on the floor and high five-d each-other.

CHAPTER TWO

Hell on the Sunshine Skyway

After dropping off the bill with the manager of the Casino, the Tampa Ghostbusters loaded up and headed off, cruising along this time rather than Mick pulling off death-defying maneuvers on the road. A few minutes later, the team was crossing the sunshine skyway bridge, talking about usual bullcrap that they usually discussed.

“No, you’re totally wrong, Lando Calrissian was totally responsible for destroying the second Death Star!” Mark shouted at Mick from the back seat. “No, no, no…” Mick argued from the driver seat. “Wedge Antilles actually fired the destroying shot, without HIM, the Falcon’s attack would have done absolutely no major damage to the core.” He said.

The argument continued for about another ten minutes, when suddenly, the road ahead of them suddenly exploded upwards, Mick slammed on the brakes, cursing loudly as debris flew out of the sky, slamming into the road near the car, Mick threw the vehicle into reverse and hit the accelerator, the Ecto-2 flew backwards, narrowly avoiding a large chunk of asphalt which slammed into the pavement ahead of them. Mick stopped the Ecto-2 and opened his door, hopping out onto his feet. Ahead of them, the breach in the road lifted up into the air, then collapsed out of sight. The others jumped out of the car as well and stared as a massive form rose up from the hole in the road ahead.

Mick’s eyes went wide and he ran a hand nervously through his hair. “Jeez… Are we in a Godzilla movie or something?!” He asked.

The huge creature pulled itself up onto the bridge and was easily 6 stories tall. It resembled a whale of sorts, in that it had a tail and a blowhole… but that’s where the resemblance stopped. It’s head looked like a sawfish’s with a long nose full of jagged spikes, it’s spinal column had a line of sharp spikes running all the way down to it’s tail fin. The “whale” floated up above the bridge and suddenly it’s neck bent sharply forward, it’s blowhole contracted and then opened wide, blasting Ectoplasm at the Ghostbusters with the force of a cannon shot.

Mick’s eyes went wide in shock. “HIT THE DECK!” He screamed to the others, and flopped onto the ground hard, the slime-spray barely missed his head. The others managed to duck in time as well because of his warning.

After dodging the ectoplasm, Mark tucked and rolled with his dive, rolling towards the rear door of the Ecto-2. He got up into a kneeling position and opened the door frantically, reaching out and grabbing his proton belt from inside.

The Whale’s head went back up again and it let out an unearthly screeching sound. The Ghostbusters plugged their ears in pain.

Damon waited out the vocal barrage and then snatched his hand-held PKE meter from his belt, calibrating it, he looked at the screen. “Ok, from what I see here… this thing is a class 7 meta-specter and is apparently pissed off about something!”

Mick pulled his proton pack out of the Ecto- 2 and slung it onto his back, snapping the belt. “I don’t really care what it is, lets just bag it and get outta here…” He said, drawing his Neutrona wand.

The others grabbed their gear and prepared for the battle, the four Ghostbusters moved into position on either side of the bridge and drew their weapons as well.

Damon slid the PKE meter into his left shoulder pocket and activated his thrower. “I suggest we try to draw it towards us and away from the main bridge supports, we might damage them if we miss.” He said to the others.

Mick gave the signal and the quartet opened fire on the creature, it roared in anger and swung its tail, smashing into the street again, knocking another chunk out of it. The huge mass of asphalt flew through the air tumbling end-over-end towards the west side of the bridge where Mick and Mark were standing.

“MOVE!” Mick shouted, deactivating his wand and leaping to the side. Mark followed along and rolled away, not inhibited by his pack. Mark cleared the impact area easily, but Mick just barely managed to avoid the flying debris by a foot. He struggled under the weight of his pack and got to his feet. “ok…” he said, panting. “Now I’m pissed… Your gonna be hair gel by the end of the day!” He said, opening fire again.

The whale roared again and rolled in the air, avoiding the proton beams, it lowered its head once again and it contracted.

Mark jumped to his feet and shouted to the others. “It’s gonna shoot again!” He warned, sprinting for the shelter of the median.

The whale’s blowhole grew to its full size again and blasted again, showering the fleeing pedestrians and cars in a layer of green ectoplasm.

The Ghostbusters moved for cover, Julie however wasn’t quick enough, she felt a huge glob of the slime slam into her back with the force of a boxer’s punch. Julie screamed and flew right over the Ecto- 2 and hit the guard wall of the bridge, she rolled over and managed to grab on with both hands.

The others rushed forward and Mick dumped his pack on the ground near the wall. “Grab my belt!” He shouted and vaulted over the wall.

Mark grabbed his belt and Damon grabbed his, Mick managed to grab Julie’s wrist just before she dropped. He clutched at her with both hands tightly. “PULL US UP! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PULL US UP!” He shouted, feeling not only Julie’s weight, but her pack’s as well.

CHAPTER THREE

Extra “Support”

Mark and Damon reached down deep and used all their might to pull their comrads up from certain death. When they were both safely on the street once again, the Ghostbusters regrouped to form a new plan.

“Ok… I’m out of ideas here…” Mick said, panting and trying to pull his pack back onto his back. “Damon, tell me you have SOMETHING that we can do.” He asked.

Damon thought for a moment, looking around the bridge thoughtfully. “Hmm… Well, we’ve seen that this creature is a semi-solid one, able to physically smash into things and break them, rather than passing through…” He started.

Mark’s eyes suddenly widened, “I get what your saying. Lets go for it.” He said, at that, Damon nodded and the two of them jumped up to go to work. Back behind the Ecto-2, Julie and Mick looked at each other dumbfounded. “Did I miss somethin’ there?” He asked, Julie just shrugged. “I don’t have the slightest….” Then she looked up where Damon had been staring and slapped herself in the head. “Oh! I GET IT!” She exclaimed. “Wait up guys!” She shouted and jumped up.

Mick groaned and ran after them all, still not having a clue what was going on. A moment later, Damon explained their plan and they all got into position, Mick in the car, Mark at the far end of the bridge, Damon and Julie on top of the Ecto-2 with guns drawn. “Ok, lets go Mick!” Damon shouted down to him.

Mick hit the gas and sent the car rocketing down the street towards the mutant whale, dodging past huge globs of green ectoplasm covering the street. The whale’s attention turned straight to the whizzing car and it bellowed angrily, firing more ectoplasm. Mick hollered for the others to hold on tight and spun the car around as fast as he safely could, stopping mere inches from where the slime impacted onto the street. Julie and Damon turned around towards their foe and fired their particle throwers, the beams lanced forward and hit it’s eye dead center, pissing the creature off thoroughly. Mick hit the pedal again and sent the car flying away from the monstrous whale. The ghostly mammal screeched angrily and gave chase, Mick glanced at it in the mirror and grinned. “Good boy… come on, get the toy car…” He said to himself, reducing his speed just a tad.

The monster, however, picked up speed and closed in on them quickly, Damon and Julie continued to take pot shots just to piss it off more. Mick waited until it was only about 30 feet away from the car and then slammed hard down on the brakes and watched the whale skim right by them, knocking the scanner dish off the roof.

The whale spun in the air and came about quickly, trying to get at them again, this movement however, caused it’s tail to get tangled up in the bridge support cables. The whale thrashed around and pulled hard on it, trying to get at the now stopped vehicle. Mark took this opportunity to open fire on the creature, nailing it in it’s soft underbelly, causing it to recoil and turn to face HIM now.

The whale’s head slammed into the center support cables and they wrapped around it’s big fat neck tightly, the whale screeched in fury, rolling thrashing and fighting to get free, this only caused it to become more tightly wrapped in the cables. Mick and the others hopped out of and off the car, Mick grabbing his equipment, ran to join the others, at once, they all fired on the trapped whale and it howled in pain.

Mark didn’t waste any time, he sprinted forward, still firing and slid a trap out underneath the mammoth spectre. “I sure as hell hope this thing will fit in there…” He said, stomping on the foot pedal. The four Ghostbusters shielded their eyes against the white light and when they looked back, the whale was gone. The closed Ghost trap shook violently, the doors even bulged out for a moment, the team readied their particle throwers to capture the escaping ghost, but it never came to that. The trap stopped moving after a moment and beeped twice cheerily, signaling that the trapping process was completed.

The Ghostbusters all headed back to their car, Mark carrying the smoking trap in one hand, trying to keep his face out of the billowing smoke. The team tossed their equipment into the back of the Ecto-2 and then Mark locked the trap into place in it’s storage container, stopping the smoke. “So how much do you think we should bill the city for this one?” Mick asked, opening the driver side door. Mark climbed into the rear jumper seat of the car and looked up at him. “Well I think this DEFINITELY qualifies us for hazard pay…” He said as Mick started up the engine and drove across the only un-destroyed lane of the bridge.

Back at the firehouse almost an hour later, Damon was forced to build an entirely new containment unit, not as big as the original, as its purpose was to only hold one ghost, but big enough. “This whale ended up costing us all the cash the city paid us for cleaning him up.” Damon said, flipping the lever down. The light on the mini-ECU flashed green and Damon flipped the switch back up, pulling the trap back out and shutting the hatch.

THE END

"GLOBAL CONFLICT"

U.S.F. SHOWDOWN

CHAPTER ONE

The Show-Stopper

It was almost 2 o’clock by the time the actors had assembled back stage for their final showing of the “Extreme Ghostbusters” show at Universal Orlando. While they were saddened that Sony had decided to go ahead with their intent to shut down the Ghostbusters at universal, they were excited that they were getting to do one last show before their final bows and they wanted it to be a show to remember. They had no idea at the time, but it was a show that everyone would remember for a long, long time…

“I told you not to take the veteran’s expressway, man, we’re NEVER going to get there in time for the ceremony!” Mark Lucas shouted from the rear jumper seat of the newly revamped Ecto-2 as it flew down the expressway towards the Universal Theme Park. The car glistened in the sunlight with its new flat black paint job more reminiscent of the car’s hearse heritage and the roof equipment whirred and buzzed, constantly scanning for psycho-kinetic activity. The standard No-Ghost logo that represented all of Ghostbusters international was proudly adorning the doors of the ‘59 Caddie.

Mick Nielson, now and always the driver of the Ecto-2 rolled his eyes in annoyance. Well maybe if someone hadn’t suggested we bring promotional T-shirts at the LAST MINUTE, we would’ve been able to leave on time!” He shouted back at Mark. Julie Madison decided to squash the argument before it ended with them crashing and dying horribly. She simply reached over the seat back and flicked the siren and lights switch to the “on” position. “Just blow past everyone else and quit bitching!” She yelled in Mick’s ear, then sitting back down in the other jumper seat. Mick didn’t say anything else, he stomped on the gas pedal and pulled into the emergency vehicle lane, blasting by all the traffic on the road.

Back at the park, the manager of Universal Orlando was running around backstage frantically, yelling like he always did. Jonathan turner, who played “Green Jumpsuit Buster” in the show (Never liked the lack of having a name) sat back, lacing up his boots, shaking his head in disgust at the manager. Next to him, Kyle nudged him. “Don’t let him get to you, we wont have to deal with his crap much longer…” He said, rolling the sleeves on his black jumpsuit up.

A few minutes later it was time for the show, but the Tampa Ghostbusters still hadn’t shown up yet, Frank, the manager of the park was frantic, he didn’t know what he would do if the guests of honor didn’t show up. The entire closing ceremony would be ruined without them being there. He checked his watch to find that it was one minute till show-time, so he rushed back to the actors and waved his hands in the air. “Okay, look… We cant afford to wait any longer, the audience is already out there and we need to start the show, hopefully the Ghostbusters will show up.” Kyle looked at the others. “Well the Ghostbusters are already here…” He said, laughing, the others laughed as well, high-five-ing each other. “Cute mister, real cute. But just bare in mind that after today, you may not even be an employee of this park if you don’t pull off this last show right.” Frank said, un-amused. “Okay, now where is Justin at?” Frank asked, looking around.

Behind him, a figure in a white pinstripe suit stepped into view, combing his wild, light yellow hair outwards. “Right here, Frank, calm down.” He said, walking up to them. Frank spun around, nodding. “Okay good, everyone is in position… We’re ready to do this.” He said, switching on his headset. “Pete, go with the first sound cues, we’re ready to start.” He said, walking out to the control booth. As he left, the Ghostbusters headed out the opposite door to get the Universal Studios built Ecto-1 ready to drive up. Kyle opened the driver door and suddenly found himself flying backwards and pinned against the wall by an invisible force, a moment later, the rest of his team felt the same effects and then they all heard it… a laugh that was very unsettling, yet at the same time oddly familiar…

CHAPTER TWO

Chaos and Late Arrivals

The crowd looked on anxiously as the minutes ticket by without any sign of the show starting. Backstage, Frank was frantically pounding on the garage door, not getting any response from the actors who should have driven out in the Ectomobile three minutes before then.

Suddenly, the growl of an engine starting up came through the door and Frank sighed with relief. “You guys are so fired after this show, I swear-” he started, but without warning, the sound of tires screeching echoed out of the garage and the car came crashing through, tossing Frank aside like a rag doll with the shards of the door. The USF Ectomobile tore out of the garage, siren blaring and screeching around the corner into the main park area without slowing down.

At the drive entrance for utility vehicles, the Ecto-2 had arrived at the same instant, Mick showed their pass to the guard, signed an autograph for him, then they were allowed inside. “Okay, so what do we have to do, Damon?” Mick asked, zipping his jumpsuit all the way up to look a bit more presentable. Damon pulled out the slip of paper he’d written down their instructions on and read it aloud. “We will proceed directly from the check-in point to the vehicle garage, where the security there will tell us when our cue to enter the park will be. From there, we go inside, turn left, head to the New York section, pull up next to the other 2 cars and park.” Pushing his glasses back up as he finished.

Mick nodded, turning into the vehicle garage, right away, they knew something was wrong… The front door had been smashed through and the Ghostbusters actors were scattered around the room, unconscious.

Mick, Damon, Mark and Julie jumped out of the car and rushed to check if they were injured. Damon whipped out the PKE meter and scanned the actor in the green jumpsuit. “They seem to be in some sort of trance state from an outside force. I’m guessing that we’re dealing with a Class VII Meta-specter and…” He said, but found himself cut off by loud crashing sounds and screams. The Tampa Ghostbusters jumped up from their crouched positions and rushed to the door, looking out into the park just in time to see the USF Ectomobile come tearing around the corner of the downtown New York area and smash through a park bench, nearly slamming into a tree.

“Okay, I think we need to do something, right now.” Mick said, turning to head back to the car, but suddenly his eyes went wide and he sprinted forward into the park, running as fast as he possibly could push himself. The others didn’t know what he was doing at first, but then they saw the kid…

It was a young tourist girl, about 5 years old standing in the middle of the street crying, terrified from all the activity around her and she was frozen in place in fear. Little did she know, the USF Ectomobile was screaming down the studio lot street towards her.

Dodging around panicked park-goers, Mick snatched the girl up off the street and leaping over a trashcan moments before the Ectomobile crushed it under its tires. Mick turned in midair and landed hard on his back, blocking the girl from being harmed. The little girl was now screaming uncontrollably as her mother rushed up franticly terrified as well. “Get off the street, go in the gift shop and hide!” Mick shouted, getting painfully to his feet and limping back towards the garage. Suddenly, the Ecto-2 screeched to a stop in front of him, Mark leaned out the window, waving him forward. “Come on! Get in, quick!” He shouted.

“Who the hell said you could drive!?” He asked, yanking open the door and shoving him over to the passenger side. “How many times have we been over this?” He said, jamming the gear into reverse and screeching down the street, spinning the car halfway around, then shifting back into drive, turning all the way around and pursuing the USF Ectomobile down the Hollywood blvd. Section of the park, Mick flipped the siren and lights on and floored it, catching up to the out of control vehicle as quick as possible.

CHAPTER THREE

Trashing The Lot

Mark worked frantically in the back seat, strapping on his belt holster and thumbing on the activation switch for the proton pistol’s power pack. “Try to keep us steady!” He called out to Mick, who was trying to safely drive the vehicle through the streets of the theme park. Mark rolled down the window and leaned out, pulling the proton pistol from it’s holster and aiming it at the USF Ectomobile, veering from side to side on the street.

Mick peered through the back window of the Ecto in front of them, but still could not see a driver in the front seat. “Damon, this thing is giving off a reading on the PKE, right? Cause if the car is possessed, we’ll need to completely destroy it to stop it.” Mick said, jerking the wheel hard to the side to avoid a family crossing the road. Damon nodded, looking from the road to the PKE screen quickly. “Yes, its definitely a specter of some sort, I cant get a lock on it yet though, its still processing the data…” He said.

Just as the two vehicles tore past the “Back To The Future” ride, Mark opened fire on the Ectomobile, knocking a piece of prop equipment off the roof. “Damnit!” he said, leaning down. “Mick, you gotta get me closer, aiming this thing is hard enough standing still!” Mick flipped him off without taking his eyes off the road. “This isn’t exactly the easiest place to navigate at 70 miles an hour!” He shouted back. The Ectomobile in front of them suddenly roared into the entry line of the “Men In Black” ride, spinning around 180 degrees. Mick slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt right in front of the other car. “CLOSE ENOUGH!? SHOOT IT!!!” He shouted to Mark.

Mark gripped the proton pistol with both hands and let loose a beam right into the hood of the Ectomobile. It ripped a jagged line into the metal hood of the car, but somehow did not penetrate into the engine. “It’s not working guys! We need to hit it with ALL of our packs to punch through!” He yelled to the others.

Without warning, the Ectomobile reversed swiftly, smashing a hole through the front wall of the “MIB” gift-shop for the ride, then squealed it’s tires as it launched forward, aiming to smash into the Ecto-2.

Mick reacted faster however, stomping on the gas pedal and speeding forward just in time to avoid the Ectomobile as it zoomed harmlessly past the rear of the Caddie. Mick made a sharp turn and stomped on the gas hard, blasting off after the speeding vehicle as it entered the Amity Island zone of the park, smashing through the barricade around “Jaws” and shattering the shark model’s tail, sending it crashing towards the ground.

Mark’s eyes went wide as the shark toppled over, right over a group of tourists. He took aim and blasted it with full power, shattering it into small pieces that flew harmlessly over the tourists’ heads. The Ecto-2 sped past them, continuing to pursue the Ectomobile through the San Francisco zone and towards New York again.

Just as the USF car veered around the corner onto the main drag of the park, which would lead to the entrance, and after that… City Walk. Mick gritted his teeth and pressed down harder on the gas pedal. “Mark! When I hit the car, blast out the tires on one side!” He yelled, tugging on his seatbelt to make sure it was secure.

In the passenger seat, Damon’s eyes went wide and he did the same, holding on for dear life to the handles of the car. Julie braced herself against the opposite seat in the back and silently prayed that she wasn’t about to die. Mark, realizing what was about to happen, hooked his belt to the roof rack of the Ecto-2 so he wouldn’t fly off.

The Ecto-2 slammed into the back bumper of the USF vehicle, sending it spinning out of control, Mark, holding on for dear life as the Ecto-2 sailed by, let loose with a proton beam which lanced out and popped the right side tires of the Cadillac. Mick slammed on the breaks, spinning the car to the side before it slammed into the wall of the “Twister” ride. Mick looked quickly back as the Ectomobile skidded out of control and slammed into the statue in front of the New York Public Library.

CHAPTER FOUR

Showdown with the Show-Stopper

The Tampa GB’s jumped out of the car as fast as they could, Mark covering the crashed car as they donned their equipment. Mick, Damon and Julie snapped their packs on and pulled out their Neutrona wands, approaching the car.

Damon pulled the PKE meter from his shoulder pocket and activated it. The wings went straight out, beeping loudly. “Its still here… but the car isn’t what is reading as the PKE signature.” He said confusedly. Mick went up to the car and pulled the handle of the front door, kicking it open and aiming the thrower inside, finding nothing. “The car is empty!” He shouted to the others, who were searching the surrounding area.

Behind them, the crowd which had gathered for the show was beginning to reassemble, thinking the danger was averted. Damon watched as the PKE meter finished processing the data from earlier and read it off as it came up. “We’re definitely dealing with a Class VII Meta-specter guys… Obviously with possession powers and object manipulation. Not to mention…” He started, suddenly trailing off.

Mick looked over at him, waiting for the rest. “Not to mention what?” He asked. Damon’s arm dropped, letting the PKE meter fall to the ground as he turned towards them. “Daaaaaaaaa-oh! Daaaaaayyyyyyoooo!” Damon said, holding his arms up as a voice that was clearly not his own came out of his mouth. “Daylight come and me wan’ goooooo ‘ome.” He finished, dropping his head limply, then unclipping his pack and letting it drop to the ground.

“Damon, what the hell are you-” Mark started, but suddenly his eyes went wide and he unbuckled his pack, dropping it as well. “Come Mista’ Tali-man, Tali me bananas!” The same voice said as he and Damon began to dance the calypso. Mick was about to finish Mark’s statement, when suddenly he and Julie, not even realizing it, dropped their packs and jumped into line next to their comrads, singing backup. “Daylight come and me wan’ go home!” They sang in deep voices.

From that point, the Tampa Ghostbusters inexplicably broke out into a flawless performance of the song, complete with music which seemed to echo all around the street from nowhere. The on looking crowd watched, confused at what they were seeing, not knowing if it was a show or if there was something wrong, some people even started recording the event on their video cameras.

The Ghostbusters broke out into a calypso dance that rivaled even professionals in quality, getting to a big finish and then feeling themselves freeze as their arms went limp. Damon regained his vocal ability and looked at the others frantically. “The specter possessed us!” He shouted. Mick, who was frozen half bent to the side, VERY uncomfortably, looked over at him. “DUH! I think we could have figured that one out mister sssssssss…. Sandman! Bring me a dream!” He said, suddenly breaking back into song again. The others jumped in with him, singing barber-shop quartet style as Mick vocalized “Mr. Sandman”. Suddenly, from under the arch of the Library, a tall pale white figure with wild hair, wearing a white pinstripe suit emerged.

“Hello Florida!” Beetlejuice shouted as he began kick dancing down the steps. Right as he did, the GB’s went back to their limp frozen state and all looked at him amazedly. “I am your host for this Spook-tacular event this evening, I am the one and only ghost with the most!” He shouted to the crowd, who by this point, thought this was now all part of the show. Then revealed a slime-coated business card which read: “Beetleguise: Professional Bio-Exorcist”

“Listen up Mr. “Juice“, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you have already broken the laws laid down for the proper etiquette for living in our state as a Meta-Specter and if you don’t want the punishment to be more severe, I suggest you let us go right now!” Mick ordered. Damon, who was behind Beetlejuice, whispered to Mark. “What laws?” Mark tried to shrug, but quickly remembered his arms were completely useless, like the rest of him.

Beetlejuice let out an evil cackle as he two-stepped up the steps and around Mick. “Sorry there bud, cant do that for ya. So who are you guys anyway? I saw a bunch of other losers backstage dressed just like you when I got the car.” He asked them, poking at Mark’s head and making it bounce like a bobble-head doll. “We’re the Ghostbusters, mister Beetle-” He started, but that was as far as he got, because Beetlejuice waved his hand and let out an angry groan. “Nobody says the B-word, pal!” As he said this, Damon’s voice simply muted, even as his mouth continued to move. “Now then, time to continue on with the show! Hey folks! Who you gonna’ call!?” He yelled, putting a hand to his ear.

Behind him, the Tampa GB’s jumped into a line and punched their fists into the air. “Ghostbusters!” They shouted in unison, suddenly, their theme music began blasting and they all started dancing like Ray Parker Junior, singing the song as they strutted up and down the steps in tune with the music. Beetle juice hopped up onto the statue of the lion and started stomping his feet and clapping his hands over his head in unison as well. “Come on everybody! It’s showtime!” He shouted, getting the crowd to clap along.

CHAPTER FIVE

Stopping the Showstopper

“I cant take much more of this…” Mick thought inside his head as he slid down the library railing for the big finish along with the rest of the team. Damon was already trying to remember every last detail the PKE had given him before he dropped it and remembered something about most Meta-specters, they each have one thing that causes them to lose their powers, some word that was different for each one… But what word was Beetlejuice’s weakness?

Suddenly, the team struck a boy-band pose and froze again as the music to “Bye, Bye, Bye” began playing. Mick’s eyes went wide with horror. “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NOOO!!!” He screamed. Beetlejuice laughed insanely. “Oh yeah!” He shouted back. Mick tried to glare back at him, but unable to turn all the way around. “Damn you Beetlejuice!!!” He shouted. Suddenly, he clapped his hands over his ears and let out a groan again. “Not that word!” He demanded. Damon suddenly realized what he had to do.

Just as he said it, Mick suddenly felt something cold and metal slam into his face, sending him flying down the steps, rolling twice before hitting the side of the statue. He touched his face and found a steel plate clamped over it.

Damon turned to the specter and shouted as loud as he could “BEETLEJUICE!”, as he did, Beetlejuice responded by hopping off the statue and waving his hands at all of them, their lips suddenly sealed together like putty, preventing them from speaking clear words. “No more of that crap!” He said, clearly annoyed now. Mick suddenly spotted his pack and looked up to see Beetlejuice not paying attention to him, so he dove forward, grabbing the lose Neutrona wand and letting lose with a beam, striking Beetlejuice in the spine.

Like lightning had struck him, Beetlejuice’s hair stood straight out and his eyeballs rolled wildly inside his skull. Letting out a scream, he launched into the air and rolled end-over-end, then landed squarely on his feet at the top of the steps, freezing Mick’s body once again. However, the damage had been done, because of the beam’s effect, he’d temporarily lost control over the rest of the team, giving Damon, Julie and Mark the chance they needed. “BEETLEJUICE!!!” They all shouted in unison.

Beetlejuice squealed like a little girl and turned to run, but Julie sprinted up the steps and tackled him before he reached the door of the library. Mark and Damon grabbed their packs, helping Mick to his feet, they all rushed up the steps just as Beetlejuice tossed Julie off him and busted through the doors of the library. Damon handed Julie her pack and they all rushed in after him.

Mick spotted him trying to hop the fence of the back-lot and fired a beam at him, heating the fence up to a burning temperature. Beetlejuice fell back down to the street and hit hard. The Ghostbusters all opened fire, blasting the ground next to him as he rolled out of the way. “I may not be able to possess you jerks, but I’m not completely helpless!” He shouted, concentrating hard and leaping inhumanly through the air over their heads onto the top of the library.

“Damon, you and Mark go back out front with the trap, Julie, you follow me!” Mick shouted, rushing for the ladder and locking his Neutrona wand onto his pack. They moved fast, cutting off Beetlejuice’s escape back into the park, but he was making a run for the New York rooftops.

Mick and Julie opened fire on him, knocking him to the ground briefly enough for them to catch up. Beetlejuice growled angrily. “You bunch of losers are dealing with a professional here!” He said, using his power to slam Julie and Mick dangerously close to the edge of the library roof. Mick saw Julie slip off the side and grabbed her, clinging to the edge of the roof to hold her up.

Beetlejuice came to the edge and saw Damon and Mark rushing out of the library, looking up at him. “Hey! Here’s a couple corpses as a parting gift!” Beetlejuice said, raising his boot to stomp on Mick’s hand. “NOW!” Mick yelled to Julie, who pulled out her thrower with one hand and let loose with a beam, shattering the chunk of roof Beetlejuice was standing on.

The Meta-Specter let out a howl of fear as he toppled off the roof with the chunk of building and Mark stomped on the trap pedal as he fell towards the ground. The beam from the trap caught Beetlejuice in mid-air as he fell. “This sucks!” He exclaimed furiously as he was sucked into the trap, trying to cling to the side desperately, but couldn’t fight it. Beetlejuice was sucked into the trap and it snapped shut, beeping twice cheerily.

CHAPTER SIX

End of an Era?

Mick and Julie managed to get down from the library safely and the Ghostbusters all descended the steps of the library, Mark holding up the smoking trap victoriously. The crowd exploded with cheers and applause as they all rushed forward to pat their “entertainers” on the backs for a job well done. Jonathan and Kyle watched from the side-lines as the Tampa Ghostbusters emerged with the smoking trap in hand. “Damn showoffs…” Kyle muttered, rubbing his injured shoulder.

As they both turned to leave, a district manager from Universal came rushing up to them, holding out his hand. “Hello, I’m Jake Fuller, head of this establishment and I wanted to catch you both before you left the lot.” He said, shaking their hands quickly. “Uh, Hi, I’m Jonathan and this is Kyle.” He said uneasily. “Well let me get straight to the point, after all this publicity with the Ghostbusters, the board of park operation and control has passed an executive decision to turn the Twister ride back into the Ghostbusters: “Spooktacular” show and we want all of your team to stay on as the chief characters of the show. Bare in mind, there wont be any more singing and dancing in the inside show, but we will also be bringing back the original version of the street show because Beetlejuice was involved.” He said.

Kyle and Jonathan stared at him in awe. “You mean we’d get to keep playing the Ghostbusters here?!” He asked. Jake nodded enthusiastically at them and held out his hand. “So are you interested?” He asked. Jake and Jonathan looked at each other and Kyle shook his hand firmly. “Damn right we do!” He said, then him and Kyle cheered loudly, jumping into the air as the Ghostbusters walked up.

Mick stopped next to them as they celebrated. “Hey, I hate to break up this moment, but we need to get the Beetle-meister back to the containment unit in Tampa, so could we go on with this ceremony?” He asked. A few minutes later, everyone was assembled out in front of the Ghostbusters USF firehouse and Jake presented them with the plaque, except now it was in celebration of the re-instatement of the Ghostbusters as a Universal Studios attraction.

Timeline: May, 2006

Chapter One

Misconceptions

The Ecto-2 screeching loudly around a corner in downtown Tampa, the car’s black paint job and emergency lights as usual attracted stares from the general public. They all knew who the Tampa Ghostbusters were, but they were used to seeing the white ambulance-looking vehicle, not the dark tone of the vehicles new Hearse-style look. Mick Nielson, team leader of Tampa District was behind the wheel as usual, next to him in the passenger seat was Julie Madison, who was catching some Z’s. After the last few days of non-stop work, she needed it, to be honest, so did Mick, not that it mattered.

He reached into his pocket and pulled his pack of cigarettes out and pulled one out with his teeth, reaching for his lighter. A hand snatched the cigarette out of his mouth, Mick turned and watched as Julie tossed it out the window. “Jesus Julie… Those things are getting almost as expensive as gas…” he said, complaining.

Julie didn’t even open her eyes in the passenger seat. “Well don’t smoke them around me and that wouldn’t happen…” She said, shifting in her seat to lean on the window.

Julie wasn’t asleep though, she peeked out the corner of her eye and made sure he wasn’t looking at her funny, Julie wouldn’t admit it, but since the team had formed, she’d become very close to Mick. The smoking thing wasn’t about her dislike of it, she just worried about him.

Mick turned right onto Bolton St. and backed the Ecto-2 into the firehouse garage, pressing the remote to shut the doors. Mick let his head fall onto the wheel a moment tiredly, turning the car off. “We’re here…” He said.

Next to him, Julie didn’t move. “Yeah, I know…” She said, drifting off to sleep. Mick did the same after a moment.

It seemed like an instant later, but in reality it was three hours later when Damon pounded on the window of the Ecto-2. Mick opened his eyes groggily and realized that he’d fallen back in his seat and Julie’s head was now resting on his shoulder.

Mick looked up at Damon, who had a look of absolute fury on his face. Mick was confused but then he realized how bad the situation looked, but Damon didn’t give him the chance to explain, he turned and stormed off in a huff, going up the stairs to his room.

Mick shook Julie to wake her up and she jumped, startled. “Wha? I wasn’t sleeping!” She insisted, wiping her eyes.

“We fell asleep in the car and I think Damon got the wrong idea…” He explained, getting out and shutting the door. “I think I’d better go talk to him.” Mick said. “Do me a favor and take the trap down to the E.C.U. while I do this.”

Julie nodded groggily, opening the tail-gate and pulling the smoking trap out, carrying it away from her face as she descended the steps with it.

Mick made his way up the steps and saw Damon fiddling with some piece of machinery at his desk. “Hey Damon, I don’t know what you thought was going on, but-” He started.

Damon slammed his screwdriver down and got up, shoving his chair backwards. “I don’t wanna hear it, Mick!” He said angrily. “I’m not an idiot, pal. You’ve always been good with women, I know that, but I also thought you were my friend!” He said furiously.

Mick was very confused. “Dude… I really don’t know what the problem is here,” He started. “I fell asleep in the car an-”

Damon just waved his hand at him, frowning. “Don’t even say anything, Mick… I don’t care.” He said, turning back to his work.

Mick looked at Damon a moment, opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it, heading out of the room and across the 2^nd floor to the rec room.

Mark was in there already, banging on the vending machine angrily trying to get a candy bar to drop. “Damn machine!” he shouted, kicking it.

Mick didn’t even seem to notice him, he just hopped over the back of the couch and sat down in a huff, turning on the television. “From Dusk Till Dawn” was on the screen and Mick rolled his eyes, changing the channel. “They got it so wrong they don’t even know it…” He said, flipping through the stations.

Chapter Two

Retaliation

The Ecto-2 screamed around the pull-through lane, screeching to a stop in front of the Hilton Hotel on Elm. A moment later, the Ghostbusters hurried through the front doors of the hotel, heading for the front desk.

The manager of the hotel met them before they got there, he was clearly frantic at the situation as he lead them to where the ghost was. “Hurry! It’s in the pool area and its destroying everything!” He said, waving his arms around over his head.

Mick slid the Ecto-Goggles onto his head and patted him on the shoulder, both to calm him down and to push the hysterical man away from him. “Calm down sir, we’re going to take care of it.” He said as he reached the door.

Behind him, Damon pulled out the PKE meter and began taking readings. The wings on the side stood out immediately, beeping steadily.

“Alright, what do we got Damon?” Mick asked, pulling out his thrower and activating it. The others followed suit, adjusting the power levels.

Damon didn’t respond, he just activated his thrower, still watching the PKE meter. Mick looked at him funny. “Damon?” He asked again.

Mark tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, what do we have here?” He asked.

Damon looked at his brother, then back at the PKE meter. “Looks like a Class III Full-Torso vaporous apparition.” He said to Mark, suddenly developing a voice.

Mick ground his teeth, rolling his eyes at Damon’s immaturity. He moved to the door, flanked by Julie and Mark as he did. Pushing the door open slowly, he peeked inside and saw the pool, the marker lines were cast about wildly and deck chairs had been flung into the water, twisted up and smashed. “No sighting yet, but its definitely in this room…” He said quietly, sliding the Ecto-Goggles over his eyes to scan for signatures.

Julie moved to the next hall and pointed. “Guys, there’s another way in over here, we should split up and move in from both directions.” She said.

Mick looked over at her through the goggles and nodded. “Good idea, you and Mark go in that way, me and Damon will go in this way.” He said.

Damon pushed by Mark before he could go over to Julie and followed her down the hall to the side entrance. Mick looked at Mark annoyed, but Mark just shrugged and readied himself.

Mick pulled his radio out and held it up, pressing the talk button. “Okay, on my mark…” He said, listening carefully. From inside the pool room, he heard a distinct grunt as another deck chair flew into the pool. “Move in.” He ordered, hooking the radio back onto his belt before kicking the door open as hard as he could.

The Ghostbusters rushed in at the same time, catching the ghoul off-guard as it hovered over the pool. Mark threw a beam at it, but the ghost dodged to the left, spinning in mid-air.

From the other side of the pool, Julie let loose with a Neutrona beam, nearly missing it. Both Mark and Julie moved their streams towards the ghost to catch it in the crossfire, but it was crafty, it dove straight down into the pool, avoiding their attack.

Julie ceased her attack as it disappeared into the water. “Damn…” She said.

Mick hurried to the other end of the pool, making it so that each of them were on opposite sides of the room. “Alright, we’re gonna turn the power levels low on the throwers and fire into the pool, when it heats up enough, that ghost isn’t going to wanna be down there anymore. When it comes up, Julie, I want you to flick your power levels up to high and snag it. The rest of us will follow suit and moved it over to Mark’s side, where he’ll catch it!” He ordered.

The others nodded, except for Damon, who looked like he wasn’t paying attention at all. Mick took notice of this. “Everyone got it?” He asked, looking right at Damon, who didn’t pay attention once again.

Mick wasn’t going to stand for this crap any longer. “Damon! I said-” He started, but suddenly, the ghost burst up from the water, swinging a deck chair through the air and flinging it right at Julie.

Here eyes went wide and she dove to the floor as the chair sailed right over her head, smashing into the wall and cracking the tile.

Mark and Mick blasted at it while Damon and Julie hurried to get away from the ghost.

Julie looked up and got a good look at the thing, it was horrible, its face was skeletal, with “skin” sunken into the bone as if its skull was sucking it’s flesh into it’s cheek bones. The creature’s head itself floated independently of the body, which was merely bone covered by ratty strips of clothing.

From across the pool, Mick shifted his beam upward as the ghost prepared to attack Julie and caught it dead center. “Mark, Damon, get it!” Mick shouted over the noise of the thrower.

Mark aimed carefully, one hand holding the thrower, the other ready with the trap and fired. His beam blasted the ghost and they both began pulling it towards Mark’s side of the pool deck, the ghost rolled and screamed angrily, flinging ectoplasm wildly, trying to get free.

Mick glanced away a moment and caught a glimpse of Damon just watching. “Damon, get it! When Mark has to throw the trap we’ll need another stream on it!” He shouted. Damon didn’t move.

Julie covered it and blasted another beam into the writhing ghost, keeping it completely contained now. Mark lessened his stream and slid the trap out as the ghost moved over the deck. The ghost tried once more to fly away, but the two full beams held it in place. “Alright, 3.…2.…1!” Mark shouted, stomping on the trap pedal.

As he did, Mick and Julie broke their streams off, Julie, Mark and Damon turned away to shield their eyes while Mick watched through the Ecto-Goggles, seeing the ghost get enveloped in the blinding white light from the trap, dissolve into ectoplasm and get sucked inside the box.

The trap beeped cheerily and Mark looked back, going over to check the gauge. Finding it was secure, he nodded to Mick and lifted the trap up by the chord as it started spewing smoke out.

They turned and headed for the door, but they saw Damon already on his way out.

Chapter Three

Escalation

After collecting the check from the management, the Ghostbusters headed out the front door through the collected crowd back to the waiting Ecto-2.

Mick shooed away a few teens that were getting way too close to touching the roof-rack equipment and tossed his pack onto the rack in the rear of the car. After Mark and Julie got into the car, Mick waited for Damon to put his pack away and then grabbed him by the shoulder, looking at him angrily.

“Mind telling me what the hell that was all about?” He asked. Damon didn’t react, he simply pushed his glasses up on his nose further.

“What do you mean? It was a successful bust.” He said emotionlessly.

Mick pointed at him, gritting his teeth furiously. “Don’t play around, man. Having a disagreement with me is one thing, but when it starts affecting the job and putting members of MY team in danger, then it becomes a problem.” He said.

Damon pulled away from him, fixing his uniform. “Well maybe you should take a page out of your own book and keep social life and work life separate.” He shot back.

Mick scoffed at his statement, slamming the tailgate of the Ecto-2. “You seem to be the only one having a problem with that around here, buddy.” He said, poking him in the chest.

Damon swatted the taller man’s hand away from him and pointed right back at him. “Look, enough of this playing around stuff, you know exactly what you did and that was LOW of you to do to me!” He shouted.

As this went on, the dispersing crowd, which had lost interest after the bust ended had begun to slowly come back to watch the argument.

Mick laughed loudly. “That’s a friggin laugh.” Mick said, shaking his head. “Look you brainiac little shit, this is getting REALLY friggin annoying. You never made a move on her, you GAVE UP on it when we got back from Rome and I NEVER TRIED HOOKING UP WITH JULIE IN THE FIRST PLACE!” Mick screamed at him.

From the back seat, Julie suddenly leaned out the window, hearing the fight now.

Damon pushed him angrily, trying to go past him. Mick resisted the urge to slug him in the face. “You’re a back-stabber, Nielson… You always have been.” He said, grinding his teeth. He hadn’t referred to Mick by only his last name since college when they’d been not too fond of one-another.

“Look Damon, I respect you, you’re my friend, you should know me better than this.” Mick said, trying to cool the situation down, but Damon would have none of it.

Damon’s eyes narrowed furiously. “You’ve just been using me and my brother all this time to get YOURSELF ahead… You’re a pathetic excuse for a scientist and a person in general.

At that, Mick didn’t even TRY to resist slugging him in the jaw. Damon was knocked back and held his jaw in pain. Mick hadn’t hit him as hard as he could, but it was a good hit nonetheless. Damon’s glasses skittered across the ground away from him and the crowd gasped.

Mick looked down at the man who’d been his friend and co-worker for over 2 years now and he already felt bad for his actions. It was too late now though, what happened had happened.

Damon didn’t respond, he looked down at the floor a moment, grabbing his glasses and putting them back on. Then, he looked up at Mick and promptly delivered a kick right to his gut.

Mick gasped as the wind left him and he stumbled backwards. Damon got to his feet and glared at him. “I regret nothing that I said, asshole.” He said, swearing was something Damon did not often do.

Mick suddenly lunged forward, thrusting his shoulder into Damon’s chest and chopping at his knees with his palms. Damon crashed down again and they began pummeling each other with punches.

Mark and Julie bounded out of the car and rushed to the two fighters, pulling them away from each other.

Mark yanked Damon away from Mick and Julie did the same to Mick. “GUYS! What the hell are you doing!?” He demanded.

Mick didn’t say a word, he moved around the car and got into the driver side door starting it up. Mark looked at his brother, trying to calm him down. “Look, just get in the car and lets get out of here, this isn’t the time or the place.” He said.

Damon pushed past his brother and got into the back seat, slamming the door violently. Mark and Julie both got in as well, Mark glared at Mick through the windshield as he made his way around the car, but Mick just shook his head.

Chapter Four

Acceleration

A week passed, Mick and Damon continuously avoided each other the entire time, eventually Damon just stopped showing up for work entirely. Julie asked Mark at one point where he was and Mark said that Damon “Just doesn’t care about the job anymore.”

Mick, who was filling out the paperwork for their last bust, slammed down the clipboard on Rita’s desk and storming away. Julie and Mark watched as he got into the Ecto-2, slamming the door and drove off.

By the time Mick returned to the firehouse, it was nighttime. A steady rain had started falling as he pulled into the garage. Mick could see Rita behind her desk on the phone as usual, he got out of the car, slamming the door behind him.

Rita looked up at Mick and whispered into the phone. “I gotta call you back…” She said, hanging up the receiver. “Hey Mick, I heard what happened…” She said.

Mick just shook his head. “I really doubt it, you may have heard what mister brain-boy THINKS happened, but not the truth.” He said angrily. Mick looked around a moment and then turned back to Rita. “Where is everyone?” He asked.

Rita shrugged. “I don’t know, Mark and Damon took off an hour after you did and Julie left about 20 minutes ago.”

Mick threw his hands up. “So nobody is gonna be on night-shift?!” He asked angrily.

Rita just shrugged again. “I don’t know Mick, I just work here…” She said.

Mick sighed. “Sorry, I’m just a bit frustrated. You can go home now if you like, your shift ended a half hour ago.” He said.

Rita thought a moment and shook her head, smiling. “Nah, Its alright, you look like you need some company.” Rita said, smiling. “Plus, I could use the overtime.” She said, laughing a bit.

Mick rolled his eyes and headed upstairs. “I’m changing into clean clothes, I’ve been wearing these since yesterday and I smell like a foot.” He said.

Rita crunched her face up. “Too much info, Mick…” She said, returning to her magazine.

At that moment, the Lucas brothers shoved the doors open roughly and stormed into the building. Rita looked up. “Hi guys.” She said.

Damon slapped a manila folder down in front of her. “Rita, you’d better decide who you want running this company, because things are about to go bad around here…” He said, turning and heading out the door again, kicking the Ecto-2’s door on the way out.

Mick slid down the fire-pole in a fresh uniform just in time to see the front door close. “Was that Mark and Damon?” He asked, pulling a chair up to her desk.

Rita nodded. “Yeah, and they didn’t look happy.” She said.

Mick shrugged. “What else is new…” He said, looking at the folder. “What’s this?”

Rita pushed the folder to him. “They gave it to me, I don’t know what it is.” She explained.

Mick picked up the folder and opened it, reading. After about five lines in, Mick’s eyes widened. “Those sonsabitches…” He said.

Rita tried to see over the top of the folder. “What? What is it?” She asked.

Mick tightened his jaw, frowning at the paper. “The E.P.A. is going to suspend our company activities…” He said, closing the folder.

Rita frowned too, confused. “But they can’t, our equipment is safe.” She said.

“Yeah, but Damon is quitting the company and he’s making a claim that I don’t have the capacity to maintain it without him and his brother. So of course, the EPA is moving on us.” He said, letting his head drop.

“But you DO know how to run the stuff” She said. Mick didn’t respond. “Mick? Don’t you?”

He didn’t say anything and Rita knew… They were screwed.

Chapter Five

The Dream Ends

Three weeks after receiving the inspection notice, Mick Nielson, Julie Madison, Mark Lucas, Damon Lucas and Rita Wilson all stood outside the firehouse, watching as a crew took down the Tampa District No-Ghost logo from the building.

“Well I hope you guys are happy… There was no reason for this.” Mick said, sadly. The brothers ignored him, watching the crew put the sign inside the garage, then proceeded to board up the garage doors.

When it was done, the EPA agent came over to the Lucas brothers and held out the agreement of cease and desist issued. They both signed it and Mick shook his head, highly depressed. As soon as it was done, the Lucas brothers took one last look at Mick, Julie and Rita.

Mick flipped them the bird before they turned and walked off, heading to their car. Mark put a hand on Damon’s shoulder as they did. Mick shook his head. “If those two weren’t brothers, I’d say they were gay… I already think Mark is.” He said.

Rita sighed, looking at the ground. “Well… I think I’m gonna head on home, gotta look for a new job.” She said.

Mick looked at her sadly. “I’m really sorry Rita, I wish there was something I could do.” He told her.

Rita shrugged, struggling to smile. “Hey, no biggie… Nothing we could do about it.”

The three stood in silence for a moment, looking at the now shut down firehouse, not wanting it to be any more difficult, Mick, Rita and Julie hugged, Rita, waving goodbye to them as she headed slowly off up the sidewalk.

Mick turned slowly and went to the car, the door logos painted over with crappy black paint and all the equipment removed from the roof. Julie watched him go. “So what’re you going to be doing now?” She asked him.

Mick shrugged. I don’t know… Probably going back to my old job at Shadow Chasers… How about you?” He asked.

“I’m going back to school, finish getting my science degrees.” She said.

Mick nodded, leaning against the door. “You know… Damon liked you.” He said. “He told me before we all went to Rome, but he never got the guts to tell you himself I guess. That’s why he did this to the company.” Mick said.

Julie looked down at the sidewalk a moment, she couldn’t believe it, but somehow it made sense, Damon had always acted funny around her… But it didn’t matter now. It was too late for everything.

“Well I just thought you needed to know. I guess I’ll see you around.” He said, opening the door to the Cadillac. “Good luck with school.”

Julie nodded as he got in the car. “Yeah, good luck with… Whatever Shadow Chasers does…” She said.

Mick nodded. “Thanks, I’ll need it… Bye Julie.” He said, starting the engine and pulling away from the firehouse.

Julie watched the black Cadillac pull away and tears formed in her eyes. She wiped them away and turned, heading off towards her car, wondering why all this had to happen…

Mick steered the car around the corner, the firehouse passed out of sight behind him. He had to keep it under the speed limit for the first time since he’d become a Ghostbuster. Mick pounded the wheel angrily, Ghostbusters was the best thing that had ever happened to him and now it was all over… There was nothing left for him now except returning to the group that had caused him to nearly lose himself to depression, he didn’t want to go back to that… And now Valek might be back…

Mick put that out of his head, but it kept nagging, by the time he reached his empty apartment it was still lodged in his head. Snickers, his Springer Spaniel greeted him happily as he walked in and sat down, scratching behind her ears. Mick sat there in the dark, watching the sun slowly sink past the Gulf horizon… Almost as though his life was sharing the same kind of experience… It truly was…

THE END

COMING SOON: "We're Back!" parts 1 and 2

CHAPTER ONE

Tampa Florida, 11:00 PM,

Ghostbusters Tampa Division HQ

Mick bolted awake in his cot, cold sweat clinging to his forehead. He was catching a quick nap before it was time to clock in for Night Shift duty when the dream hit him, even though he knew he was awake now, somehow he still heard the screams of agony from his long-dead team-mates on Shadow Chasers… Killed in the line of duty… killed by Valek.

That last fight flashed before Mick’s eyes like it was still going on, he’d managed to stake Valek right through the chest with a wooden fence post, then knocked a support beam out and sent the roof caving in, the sunlight shining in and frying Valek… At least that’s what he’d THOUGHT happened.

Recently, someone had been invading the Ghostbusters International corporate website claiming to be Valek and searching for Shadow Chasers, which Mick was no longer part of. The rest of the company of course refused to help him, but through the registry, Valek found out Mick was now CEO of Ghostbusters: Tampa and immediately set out to get his revenge, popping up on the message boards and threatening the various members he came in contact with.

Mick shook the memories from his head and got up from his cot, crossing the hall into the rec room and keeping his movements quiet so as not to wake up Julie, who was catching a nap in her room down the hall. Mick yawned and rubbed his eyes, heading over to the fridge in the corner and grabbing some root beer.

Since it was obvious he wouldn’t be getting any sleep this evening, Mick went over to the computer and turned it on, clicking over to the corporate site to see if any of the others were around, Nightsquad was online sometimes at night…

When the site map came up, it showed that there was a new post in the Franchise Section, so Mick clicked on it, finding that it was in HIS franchise’s area. Mick read the newest post and nearly dropped the root beer bottle to the floor, staring wide-eyed at the screen. The post was from Valek and read:

“I will not ask again... Unless my demands are met fully, I will release the T-Virus into several large cities in Florida. If they are STILL not met at that point... I will release samples in a major city every 2 weeks. This is your last chance Ghostbusters.

Happy hunting…”

Mick’s grip tightened into a fist and he slammed it down on the desk top, he paused only to post an apology for his idiotic mistakes.

The message finished loading to the site’s board moments after Mick was out of the desk chair and sliding down the fire-pole. His feet hit the ground and he quickly moved to his locker, opening it up and pulling out his Ghostbusters uniform. He quickly zipped it up and turned towards the Ecto-2, grabbing the keys from his pocket.

Just as he opened the door however, Julie came walking down the steps. “Mick, what the hell is going on? It’s almost Midnight.” She asked.

Mick looked up at his team-mate and shook his head. “Sorry Julie, I didn’t mean to wake you up, I have to go take care of something…” He said.

Julie reached the bottom of the steps and crossed her arms. “Its about that Valek guy isn’t it? You haven’t said more than two words in the last few days and when you have, its always about him…”

Mick sighed, looking down at the floor and putting one foot up onto the door-frame of the Ecto-2. “I know, but if I end this tonight I can lay all of it to rest, no more nightmares, no more threats against my friends.” He said.

Julie nodded. “Alright then, I guess there’s no need to discuss it anymore.” She said, turning away from him.

“Look I’m glad you understand-” He started, but then he realized that she wasn’t heading back upstairs, she was going to her locker. “Julie, absolutely not.” He said.

Julie didn’t stop at his words, she simply opened the locker door, pulled out her uniform, zipped it up and got into the passenger side door. “Like I said Mick, there’s no discussing It, but your stupid if you think you have ANY chance of getting out of this firehouse without me.” She said, crossing her arms again.

Mick sighed once more, climbing reluctantly into the driver side door. “Your more stubborn than I am, you know that?” Mick said as he pressed the garage door button.

As the Ecto-2 pulled quickly out of the garage and turned onto the street, Rita came out of the rest room and saw the garage door shut, she shrugged and went back over to her desk, picking up the new issue of Cosmo and leaning back in her chair.

CHAPTER TWO

Onarga Illinois, Midnight

Ghostbusters Onarga HQ

Kevin Kemarly stared blankly at his computer screen as he mindlessly hunt-and-pecked his way through the last section of their latest case-file. He’d been at it for over 3 hours already and was starting to get fed up.

After another 10 minutes, Kevin just saved and X’d off on the document, deciding to take break from the boring side of Ghost-busting for awhile. He instead clicked over to the GBI website to see if there was any interesting updates or important news from home office.

Kevin was slightly depressed to find that there was nothing new on the main site, but there was a new post in the Tampa Division franchise section. Kevin clicked on it and read the newer posts. One was from that Valek asshole that had been bugging the company, but he was talking about unleashing the T-Virus on people… Kevin’s half-asleep mind suddenly became very focused at the mention of that and he read on.

He read Mick’s post and was slightly relieved that someone was already on the task of stopping Valek… Kevin DID have family in Florida after-all… Then he got to the most recent post, from Rita Wilson, the secretary of GB:TD.

“Hello guys, I'm Rita, I do the receptionist work for Tampa District, I dont know what the hell to do so I had to come to you guys, the team took off in the car awhile ago and I tried contacting them, but I cant get ahold of them. They've been gone for a few hours already and haven’t called in, then a few minutes ago the GPS locator on the Ecto-2 went dead. Our Nightsquad team hasn’t shown up for their shift yet and I'm here all alone at the firehouse, I don’t know what to do!”

Kevin’s brain whizzed quickly, trying to get a handle on the situation, but he hadn’t dealt with anything like this before… Even “end of the world” scenarios were different than this… Kevin racked his brain for everything he knew about vampires (which was quite a small amount of info) and put it down in a post to help out the obviously panicked woman.

He told her to remain calm, lock the place up and get herself a proton pack to defend herself with if the time came. Kevin posted his comment and woke up the others on the team, giving them a quick rundown on the situation as it was. “So… I don’t know, get some gear prepped to move out.” Kevin said, heading back to the computer.

Ryan looked at the equipment, then back at Kevin, who was walking away. “What the hell are we gonna do? They’re in FLORIDA, man!” He shouted after his team-leader.

Kevin threw his hands up, not stopping. “I don’t know, okay?! Just get the stuff ready, we might be taking a trip!” He said, refreshing the board…

CHAPTER THREE

Tampa, Florida

Rita had followed Kevin’s advice, inputting the proper setting on the proton pack and locking herself in the main garage behind her desk. Kurt of course wasn’t answering his phone and trying to contact Jerry was like shooting at a fly with a shotgun.

The phone rang and Rita jumped, scared of the sudden noise and snatched the receiver up. “KURT!?” She shouted, but was only greeted by silence. She could hear sounds in the background, but nothing that she could make out, then she heard breathing for a moment before the line clicked and the dial-tone sounded.

Rita slammed the phone down angrily, that was the third one tonight and she REALLY wasn’t in the damn mood… Suddenly outside, she saw flashing lights and joy overflowed from her. Rita dashed over to the window and looked for what she thought would be the Ecto-2... But she was only half-right.

Rita watched as a squad car parked in front of the building, followed by a tow-truck with what looked like a black vehicle on the back. She opened the door, keeping the neutrona thrower just out of sight as two uniformed police officers approached. “Scuse me ma’am, are you a Ghostbuster?” He asked.

Rita took her eyes off the car for a moment, then looked at the officers. “No, I’m the receptionist though, what’s going on?” She asked.

The officer sighed and looked at her. “Ma’am, we found the uh… vehicle of the team up at Pine Island and from the looks of it… I don’t think it had too good of a night.” He said.

Rita’s heart sank and she dropped the pack, rushing out to the tow truck. Her eyes went wide as she got close to the Ecto and saw it clearly…

The windshield had a hole smashed in it, the body was dented in several places, most of the roof equipment had been torn off and the headlights had been smashed… The most disturbing thing however wasn’t the damage… there was a symbol spray-painted on the hood that looked very similar to a V and on the fender next to it read: “See you soon, GBI”.

Tears formed in Rita’s eyes as she feared the worst. She rushed back to the officers and headed back inside. “Please, come into the garage and lock the door behind you. I have to do something…” She said.

CHAPTER FOUR

Onarga, Illinois

Kevin saw a new response from Rita and clicked on it, horrified to find out that not only was the team still missing… But the police had found the Ecto-2 badly smashed up and a message stating that he was coming for the rest of them soon.

“Ryan!” Kevin shouted as he jumped to his feet and headed upstairs to get him. “Things just took another turn for the worse, we may be moving out sooner than I thought, just thought I’d let you know.” He said.

Ryan was seated on the couch in front of the television and waved half-heartedly in response. It wasn’t that Ryan was uncaring, he just didn’t over-react to things. As Kevin walked away, Ryan shook his head, eating a Dorito, sighing. “Only on Thursdays… I swear to god…” He said.

CHAPTER FIVE

Tampa, Florida

Kurt Summers’ car came tearing around the corner leading to the firehouse and he parked it in the alley next door, quickly hopping out and running up to the front door.

He knocked on it anxiously until Rita opened it for him, then questions began flying out of his mouth.

“Calm down Kurt.” Rita said. “The officers found the Ecto-2 up at Pine Island and there was a bunch of stuff destroyed up there too. Apparently they also found one of our traps up there and its full, but they didn’t wanna touch it, because they don’t know how it works.” She explained.

“Alright, so when Jerry gets here, me and him are going to Pine Island to get the trap and we’ll bring it back here. You in contact with GBI about this?” He asked, going to the computer.

“Yeah, Kevin from Onarga has been helping me out this whole time.”

Kurt nodded, starting to type on the board. “Good, glad you’ve had someone helping you out, my phone has been acting retarded on me the last few days…” He said, entering his post and getting up quickly.

Kurt threw on his uniform quickly and zipped it up. “Alright, since the Ecto-2 is out of commission, I’m gonna take the Ecto-2a and pick up Jerry.”

CHAPTER SIX

Tampa, Florida

Four Hours Later

Jerry “No relation” Lewis leaned out the window of the Ecto-2a and fired his proton pistol at the vampire clawing its way across the roof. The beam of solar energy sailed by it’s shoulder, singing it. The creature roared in pain, nearly slipping off.

The Vampire hissed angrily and snatched at the Proton Pistol, trying to knock it out of Jerry’s grip. Kurt watched in the mirror and jerked the wheel to the side, knocking the vampire down on the roof, giving Jerry his chance.

Jerry aimed and blasted the vampire with a bolt of energy straight in the chest, vaporizing it instantly. After making sure there was no more pursuing them, Jerry got back inside the truck and rolled his window up. “Jeez man… If I’d known the job was like THIS all the time…” He said.

Kurt cut him off. “Look cuz, I warned you before you got into this that it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Jerry held up a hand. “You didn’t let me finish, I was going to say… I’d have signed up MUCH sooner.”

The Ecto-2a pulled into the garage and the two Ghostbusters got out, going to the back and removing the trap they’d retrieved from Pine Island. Rita came rushing up to them, then noticed the blood on their uniforms. “What happened?”

Kurt shook his head. “Of course it was a trap, just like Kevin suggested… We ended up having to plow through a bunch of those zombie-things that Valek was talking about and we vaporized a couple of his vampire cronies on the way here.”

Rita covered her mouth in frustration, shaking her head. “So what do we do with the trap now?” She asked.

Kurt looked down at the trap, its light blinking to signify that it was loaded. “I…. Don’t know.” He said simply, nodding.

Behind him, Jerry collapsed against the hood, groaning.

A few hours later, one of the officers approached Kurt as he was conversing with the others at GBI about what was going on. Chace from Central Georgia had gotten involved and they were getting in contact with Vincent Belmont, who was probably the best person to contact when dealing with vampires.

The officer tapped Kurt on the shoulder, getting his attention. “Scuse me Mr. Summers, a witness just came forward saying he saw what happened to your team mates at Pine Island, but he wants to talk to the Ghostbusters about it. You okay with talkin’ to this guy?” He asked.

Kurt nodded, reporting the new development to GBI before following the cop. He and Jerry headed to the police station to get the full story finally…

CHAPTER SEVEN

Official Reports from GBI.com:

Rita Wilson-

Kevin Kemarly-

Kurt Summers-

Kevin Kemarly-

Kurt Summers-

Kevin Kemarly-

Kurt Summers-

Kevin Kemarly-

Valek-

Kevin Kemarly-

Valek-

This is what greeted Vincent Belmont as he checked his messages on the GBI board. Things had apparently gone very bad very quickly and he would need to step into the ring now before it got any worse…

Vincent Belmont-

VALEK-

Vincent glared at the computer screen and shook his head angrily, turning to look at his wife Jill. “It would seem that this Valek character is quite serious about his intentions.” He said.

Jill approached him and looked past him at the screen. “Well I just don’t want another T-Virus outbreak happening on us. I think I’ve had quite enough of that for one lifetime.” She said.

“Well I suggest we take steps to get the anti-virus to it quickly. Not only that, but we should try to find Valek before he has the chance to use the virus at all... One thing is for sure though, this thing isn’t going to end well…”

Last Firehouse on the Left

The Ecto-2 rolled up the road and pulled into the driveway of the building the Tampa Ghostbusters would be calling home from now on. The old firehouse was great, but it just didn’t have the space requirements the new team would be needing. Mick didn’t like it one bit of course, because they’d been living in the old firehouse since the team formed and now that they said goodbye to it, he wasn’t a happy camper.

Mick glared through the windshield at the building in front of them and turned to Heather in the passenger seat. “Look, I know I keep saying it, but I REALLY don’t think we should sell the old firehouse… Its just not right.” He said.

Heather rolled her eyes at their noble leader, he’d been saying the same thing since they left the firehouse and it didn’t look like he’d be shutting up about it anytime soon. “Okay look Mick… If we don’t like this place we’ll give up on the moving idea, okay?” She asked.

Mick nodded angrily, getting out of the Ecto-2. “Alright, lets get this over with then…” He said, heading up to the front door with her. When they reached it, Mick knocked on the door a few times, but was surprised when the door simply opened at his touch. He leaned in and looked around the dark, dusty interior of the firehouse. “Hello? Someone there?” He asked, looking for the realtor.

Heather entered the building and searched along the wall for a light switch. “I wonder where the guy is? He said be here by 9...” She said, finding the switch.

The instant she flipped it on, light illuminated the room dimly and Mick looked over at her… But saw something BEHIND her. In the corner of the room stood a small child with pale skin, a dirty, bruised face and stringy raggedy hair. Mick’s jaw dropped and he pointed at the little girl, taking a step forward. “Heather there’s…” He started, but he blinked and she was gone.

Heather turned to look at where he was pointing, then looked at Mick again with a confused look on her face. “Uh… You okay?” She asked.

Mick shook his head, still pointing and staring at the corner. “There was a little girl there!” He shouted, now getting angry.

Heather rolled her eyes again. “Mick, I’m a ghostbuster for god’s sake! The whole ‘this place is haunted’ angle isn’t going to scare me off buying the place just so you can hang onto some old firehouse that we cant stay in anymore.” She said, proceeding through the garage to the stairs.

Mick stammered, trying to find another word, but that was a sight he wasn’t likely to soon forget. “I saw… but…” He stuttered out, before following her to the steps. “I seriously saw her though!” He finally spit out.

Heather stopped and turned, pulling the PKE meter from her belt. “Lets take a look then, Nielson…” She said, turning it on.

The wings on the sides of the meter began flashing and rose up fully almost instantly, Mick pointed, his eyes going wide. “See! I’m not as nuts as everyone thinks!” He said.

Heather furrowed her brow thoughtfully. “That’s odd… You may be right about-” She started, but suddenly the stair she was standing on crunched underneath her and Heather plummeted through the hole, landing on top of some boxes in the basement.

Mick gasped and rushed to the hole, peering down into the darkness. “Holy crap, Heather, you okay!?” He shouted down to her, his voice echoing.

Heather coughed once, dusting herself off as she stood up. “Yeah, don’t worry about… me?” She said, looking around for the first time.

In the darkness around her she saw dozens of children, all around the same age. They stared at her with piercing gazes from the shadows and her mouth opened in shock. “Oh my god…” She said, backing up towards the stairs.

Upstairs, Mick hurried out to the Ecto-2, grabbing his proton pack and a ghost trap and sliding a pair of Ecto-goggles on before heading down the stairs after Heather.

Mick peered through the lenses at the illuminated darkness around him and drew his thrower, stepping silently through the mess that had been formed in the room. Suddenly, he heard a strange beeping sound and for some reason he knew the sound from somewhere else.. Before he could nail it down though, a table lifted into the air and flew across the room straight at him.

Mick jumped in surprise and let loose a stream, shattering the wooden furniture in half. All around him, forms began appearing in the darkness and approaching. “I think we’re gonna need a bigger trap…” He said to himself, preparing to fight.

Suddenly a loud ‘BANG!’ resounded from the back of the basement and the figures, which had all begun to look like children, disappeared into the shadows again with horrified expressions on their faces.

Mick could hear footsteps approaching and aimed at their direction, preparing to fire. Suddenly he realized that when they came in, the staircase had been on the opposite side of the room… He was facing the wrong way…

Something heavy slammed into the back of his skull, sending Mick stumbling forward and cursing loudly as he spun around. Before him stood the ghost of an older woman with all black clothes and a long pointy black hat on her head.

Mick arched an eyebrow. “Oh gimme a break… A WITCH!?” He said to nobody, before firing another beam. The witch blasted Mick with lighting and sent him sprawling backwards, sliding him into one of the house pillars. As soon as Mick was down, she hovered over the ground towards him and grabbed him by his uniform collar, lifting him into the air and back-handed him across the face, sending the Ecto-Goggles flying.

From behind him, Mick heard a ‘click’ and then the sound of metal skittering across the floor. He looked down and saw a small canister with black and yellow stripes on it. His eyes went wide and he stuck the thrower into the witch, pulled the trigger and was blasted away from her.

A moment later, the proton grenade blew up and the witch howled in pain as her ectoplasm was stunned by the blast. Mick turned and saw Heather standing there, now wearing her proton pistol belt. She helped him to his feet and they moved in to finish off the witch. She had other ideas though…

The witch stretched out her hands and objects around the room began to float into the air, zooming right at Mick and Heather as they approached.

Mick pulled Heather out of the way of a large wooden crate as it sailed by and slammed into the wall, then blasted another as it came at him. “We gotta trap her quick, this isn’t gonna work for very long!” He shouted, blasting another one, the debris from it flying into them.

Heather dodged behind a pillar just as a wrench flew at her, hitting the pillar with a ‘pang!’ instead of her face. Then there was a lot of banging in the room that was getting closer. Mick stole a glance back at the stairs and Jerry Lewis came trotting down, looking around the dark basement.

“Mick? Heather? What the hell are you guys doing down-” He started, but suddenly a metal trash can flew through the air and smashed into Jerry’s shoulder, knocking him aside.

The witch turned to him and closed in to finish him off, but Mick took advantage of her distraction and popped out of hiding, blasting her in the back with his thrower, she howled in pain and twisted, breaking free of the beam before it could lock her in. Heather tried to react in time, but her beam missed as the witch zoomed right at Mick.

The witch passed right through Mick, sending him sprawling to the floor in a heap and covering him in slime in the process… Heather and Jerry rushed over to him and Jerry looked down at his slime-covered friend. “House hunting troubles pal?” He asked.

Mick looked up at him and groaned. “Just help me up… We gotta catch her before she gets away.” He said as his teammates helped him to his feet. The trio hurried up the stairs and bounded through the front door.

They hurried to the road just in time to see the witch, now riding a spectral broom, zooming in and out of traffic and causing near collisions. “Everyone in the car!” Mick shouted, tossing his pack into the rear gate.

The three Ghostbusters hopped into the Ecto-2 and Mick flipped the lights and the siren on, screeching out of the parking lot and kicking up a cloud of dust from the un-swept parking area. The Ecto zoomed down the road after the glowing green wench, Mick dodged left and right to avoid the cars that had stopped after nearly colliding with the witch. In the back, Heather was latched onto the ‘oh shit’ handle and wedged her knee into Jerry’s seat.

Jerry was flung to the left as Mick swerved and groaned as his head hit the window. “Easy Mick!” He shouted.

Mick jerked the wheel to the right after the witch, who was now headed into a wooded area. “Would you rather we lost her?” He asked, as cars veered off the road to get out of their way.

“No, but I’d rather we get there alive!” He shouted back. The witch dodged to the left, down a dirt road and Mick screeched around the corner, just barely avoiding a wooden fence post with the back of the huge Cadillac. Mick looked out the windshield and realized they’d entered an old graveyard, but he also realized the witch was now hovering over the road in front of them and she launched a fireball at them.

“HOLY CRAP!” He shouted, veering off the road and nearly flattening a headstone as he slammed on the breaks, finally bringing the car to a halt.

Another fireball rocked the ground right next to the car as Mick jumped out, staying low as he rushed to the rear gate. Jerry, who was on the same side of the car as the witch, wasn’t about to open his door, so he scrambled over the seat and dove to the storage area, grabbing his pack and struggling to shoulder it on as he crawled out the driver side rear door.

Heather was already out and had donned her proton pistol belt. “Mick, you gotta get her off me long enough to throw the trap out!” She shouted over the noise of the bolts shooting at them.

Mick nodded, then tapped Jerry on the shoulder as he shut the door and took cover. “Jerry, you go around the front of the car, I’ll go around the rear, we both hit her with beams at the same time. Even if it doesn’t snag her it’ll force her back.” He said.

Jerry nodded. “Got it boss.” He said, hurrying to the front. As the witch continued her attack, Mick waited until she went to charge another fire spell. Jerry was knocked back in his crouched position and glared over at Mick. “No rush or anything pal, there’s only a witch trying to BARBEQUE US!” He shouted angrily.

Mick clenched his teeth and nodded. “NOW!” He yelled, popping up in unison with Jerry and they both fired their packs up, launching beams at the old hag.

She was taken off-guard and the broom was snagged by the beams, throwing the witch off it.

Heather slid across the hood of the Ecto-2, trap in one hand and pistol in the other, aiming at the stunned witch. All three Ghostbusters fired at the same time, snagging the witch in their streams.

Mick looked over at Heather. “Trap!” He shouted. She moved forward, setting it down, because she couldn’t roll it across dirt.

As soon as she was clear, Heather donned the Ecto-goggles and looked at the others. “Alright on three! One…. Two…. Three!” She shouted, stomping on the pedal and popping the trap open. The witch was caught in the blinding white light and she struggled to get free, but the trio upped the power in their throwers and Heather counted down. “Closing it… NOW!” She shouted over the roar of the packs and released the pedal.

Another flash of light came up and the witch was sucked into the box, the yellow/black caution doors snapping shut and the trap beeped twice cheerily, signaling it was secure.

Heather went over and checked the gauge, giving them a thumbs-up. “Got her.” She said, picking up the trap as it began to smoke. As the three headed away from the trapping area, they heard the sound of children’s laughter fading away.

Mick raised an eyebrow, looking around. “You guys hear that right? Somehow that’s both reassuring and very creepy at the same time…” He said.

Jerry picked up something off the ground and held it up. “Well, one for the vaults.” He said, showing the others the witch’s black hat as they all climbed back into the car and drove off.

As Heather unloaded the trap into the E.C.U., Mick headed into the “relics” room of the basement, which was becoming VERY cluttered… He dropped the hat into a box in between the Necronomicon and Satanicus’ sunglasses before walking out and locking the door behind him. As he passed by Heather he sighed. “I suppose your right… We do need more space.”

The Next day, the Tampa Ghostbusters were unpacking at their new firehouse.

THE END

Happy (belated) Halloween!