So Four Serial Killers Walk into a House...

Disclaimer: This short story contains graphic descriptions of murder.

Night had fallen not too long ago, and all repairs to the car were finished today. Today—All Hallow’s Eve—is one night this town will never forget. It’s been seven years since Hudson’s Church was put into a state of fear, but only on this holiday because that’s when people get hurt. Hudson’s Church was never like other small towns because there was virtually no crime here. Sometimes the occasional teenager would joyride down the road in their parent’s car or something, but for the people who lived here, the town was perfect.

So perfect that it’s good enough for something sinister to happen. Something sinister like Penny and his friends. Penny is the stain on this community that thought it was so perfect before. He is the fear that runs across everyone’s minds and hearts when they’re deciding if it’s safe to take their families out. The shadows across the moon are his reflection, and the monster under their bed is his friend.

This town was the epitome of perfection before Penny moved here. Nothing bad ever happened. Everyone knew everyone, so word got around when the slightest thing occured. Like when that high school teacher started dating his student. That story made the front page for months before the teacher had to move. No one blamed him, though. Anyone would have left, too, if every piece of property they owned was getting vandalized and reputation destroyed.

“Let’s load up,” Bunny called from the open car door. The van was ready to go, as well as the supplies they would need for tonight’s event. It was always an event when the four of them got together, which was only one night of the year. Halloween night, when everyone was dressed up, no one would suspect a thing from the four men in their costumes.

Although, the group had rules for this game. The first is that they should never know each other’s identities. The guys show up already in costume and never took off their masks. That way, if one of them gets caught, then no one can turn in the others. The second rule follows the first one: never reveal real names. That is why Bunny is Bunny. He shows up every year in a pink bunny costume. A bit creepy, especially once it’s covered in all that blood.

Then there’s Penny’s right-hand man, Jason. You can guess what his costume is—that’s right, Friday the 13th. He fits the role better than the guy who played him in the movies. This Jason is huge, and the mask he got for the look is authentic. If anyone were walking down the street and looked up to see him, they would think the real Jason Vorhees came to life. Especially since he doesn’t say a word, except for in the group chat.

The third partner is Ghost—as in Ghostface from the Scream Franchise. Penny thought it was a clever idea because that’s still one of the most popular costumes. If anyone were to spot something, a witness saying the perpetrator was dressed like the Scream killer wouldn’t narrow down the suspect list.

And then there’s Penny, the clown. A killer clown, to be more precise. He’d always been fascinated by John Wayne Gacy, so when the opportunity for chaos arose, Penny wanted to play that fascination out. However, he still had to keep his identity secret, so he wore an IT mask over his head instead of using makeup. That’s where the group got the name Penny.

Nine years ago, Penny had moved to Hudson’s Church to try and run from the thoughts that plagued him every day. He thought maybe a change of scenery would help, but it was short-lived, and eventually, he realized the only way to make the thoughts stop was to act on them.

Penny had found an online chatroom, and that’s where he met the guys. It started out as four like-minded individuals in their own chatroom together. Then they discovered that they all lived in the same town. It wasn’t long before the guys decided to meet up and act on the impulses they were all experiencing.

The group came up with the rules, and then they planned everything out so that nothing would ever link back to them. It was nerve-wracking at first, but as time went on, the more successful they were and the more confident they became.

Jason was behind the wheel, staring ahead at the road. “Alright,” Penny said. “We are going to get in and out. No playing around and no wasting time—”

“And no witnesses,” Added Bucky.

“Exactly,” Penny agreed. Jason slowed the van and weaved through the neighborhood, avoiding the trick or treaters with their parents, who looked nervous about being out at night. Penny smiled under his mask. That’s because of them—the guys. Eight years ago, he started this group, and seven years since, the town has been watching their backs.

The van stopped in front of a house at the top of the hill, and everyone examined it. All four agreed on this house this year because it’s secluded and out of the way. It was Jason’s turn to do the surveillance for the property of choice, and he had said that it’s a middle-aged couple with no children, and they go to bed early.

Jason pulled around to the side to conceal the van with trees. The guys got out quietly and went around to the back. Ghost opened the door to reveal the kill kit. The black duffle bag consisted of anything they would need to do the job. Rope, duct tape, knives, hammers, and even an ax. Ghost picked the bag up and led the way to the front porch. The rest followed.

“Do you think we’re going to be able to just walk in?” Penny asked, their steps clicking against the stairs.

“Hockey mask said they never lock their doors, remember?” Ghost replied as Jason gave him a side glance. Even without words, this dude still seemed to have an attitude. When the two made eye contact, Ghost shrugged and turned the knob. Just as Ghost had said, the door opened easily. A loud creak sounded, making everyone pause, but no one came to check and see who was at the door.

The guys filed in one by one. “Alright,” Penny said, taking charge. “Ghost, you stay down here and start ransacking the place as soon as you hear me give you the clear. Bunny, you check the basement to see if anything valuable is down there. Jason, you come with me.” Everyone nodded except for Jason, who just stood facing Penny as if waiting for him to make the first move. Ghost reached into the kill kit for his knife, and Bunny grabbed the ax. As for Penny, he took a metal baseball bat that was lying nearby.

Then the group went their separate ways. Penny headed upstairs with Jason right on his tail. As they neared the end of the hallway, two doors were closed in front of each other. Penny motioned for Jason to look inside the one on the left while he looked on the right. Jason opened the door a crack and peered in before turning toward Penny and shaking his head no. That meant it was his turn. Penny approached the door on the right and opened it slightly to see the older couple lying in their bed. The two quietly sneaked into the room.

Penny motioned for Jason to deal with the man while he managed the woman. Jason went around the side of the bed and waited for Penny’s queue. Approaching the woman, Penny hovered over her, holding the bat high and counting to three. One. Two. Three. On three, he brought the bat down, hitting her on the shoulder. Penny wasn’t trying to kill her in her sleep. He wanted her to wake up and realize what was happening.

The woman’s breath caught, and she opened her eyes. Her gaze found Penny, and she screamed, waking her husband. Jason placed his large hands on the man’s shoulders and held him down easily while Penny continued bludgeoning her until there was no head left. Each hit sounded a crack that echoed off the walls of the bedroom, and there was something about the noise mixing in with the screams of her husband that felt like music to Penny’s ears. Penny wondered for a moment if Jason felt the same way. It was always hard to tell since he never spoke.

Blood splattered across Penny’s costume and Jason’s mask, making him look even more legit. Her husband laid still and silent under Jason’s weight, staring at the mess next to him. When Penny had finished, he stood gazing at his handiwork. Then slowly looked toward the husband, who now realized it was his turn to lose his life.

The man immediately started fighting against Jason, who had released some of his grip on him. He rolled onto his now-dead wife and barely missed a hit from Penny’s bat when he landed on his feet and took off down the hall.

“Get him!” Penny yelled. Jason moved toward the door and disappeared down the hall. When he was gone, Penny looked around the room for anything valuable. He found a few diamond necklaces and a set of vintage-looking earrings. As he pocketed them, he wondered what was taking Jason so long.

Jason

Jason followed the husband silently through the house. He had disappeared, but Jason knew he would find the man and annihilate him. This was what Jason was good at and why he fits so well into the team, even though he didn’t speak to any other members. Jason opened a door and peered inside but didn’t see anything.

He continued to move silently. Another door opened, he peaked in, saw nothing, and kept moving. There was a noise coming from behind him, and Jason stopped. Then, a loud scream and footsteps came at him. Before Jason could turn around, the man bashed him against the side of his head with a stoker, causing him to fall forward on the floor.

Pain erupted from the side of Jason’s face, and he was pretty sure it cracked his hockey mask. He rubbed at it for a second before standing to face his future victim. “You killed my wife!” The man exclaimed in rage and sadness. Jason stayed silent, watching him through the pain now spreading across his eye.

“You’re not going to say anything?” The man almost sounded like he was pleading. Jason took a few steps forward, and the man hopped back quickly, raising the stoker. “Now, you stay back! I’m calling the police!” Jason didn’t stop, though. He kept moving toward the man, backing him up against the wall until the stoker was poking into his chest.

Then Jason wrapped his large hand around the stoker and looked the man in the eyes before ripping it out of the man’s hands. He flipped it around and rammed it through the man’s heart. There was a slight scream, and a little blood trickled from the side of his mouth. The man’s eyes were full of shock and fear with a bit of sadness before the whites disappeared, and there was nothing left but a lifeless corpse.

As soon as the man’s soul left his body, a slight whoosh feeling went all over the house. Jason looked around, wondering if he’d imagined it. When he figured he must have, he turned to go let Penny know the job was done but came face to face with another Jason that looked exactly like him right down to the cracked hockey mask.

The other Jason lifted the cranked chainsaw, its growls exploding through the silence of the dark house, and brought it down. Jason had no time to react before it cut through his shoulder and down to his waist, and for the first time in seven years, the whole house heard him scream.

Bunny

Bunny had found the basement quickly and got to work examining everything inside. However, there wasn’t anything worth taking that would make the guys real cash. As he neared the far corner of the basement, he noticed a box. Maybe there was something inside that would make this trip worthwhile.

He opened it, and his breath caught. It was photographs of people—dead people; murdered in various ways. Bunny sifted through all the photos, then realized these photos were from their kills. Each one is a victim of one of the guys.

At the bottom of the box was a note that said, We’re coming for you. Just then, Bunny felt an odd whooshing sensation flow through him, and he stumbled back a little bit, still gripping the last photo. The whooshing disappeared, and there was silence all around, but only for a moment.

As soon as Bunny felt comfortable again, that’s when he heard it. A slight squeaking sound came from all the corners of the basement. Then another and another until there were so many squeaking sounds he’d lost count. They grew louder and louder until Bunny was cowering on the floor and covering his ears.

They stopped suddenly, and Bunny lifted his hands and looked around. A small animal moved from the corner and came toward him. Bunny looked closer and realized it was a bunny rabbit. Were they all rabbits? He reached his hand out to pet it, but they came as soon as he did. It was so many they could pass for an army. The rabbits ran toward him from all corners of the basement and tore his bunny costume with their teeth.

Their teeth were like talons, and they ripped through his flesh quickly. Bunny screamed and cried, trying to get away, but he couldn’t. There were too many of them. He watched as his blood soaked their soft furry mouths and the prints their paws made in the blood that puddled on the floor. They kept gnawing and clawing until Bunny lost consciousness. His last thoughts were of how he was being eaten alive by his favorite animal.

Ghost

Ghost was leaning against the wall, still waiting for Penny to give the queue to ransack the place. He was beginning to wonder what was taking so long when he heard a man yelling about how someone killed his wife. Then the man screamed, and there was silence. A soft whoosh went through the house, making Ghost freeze. He looked around as if he might see what it was, but there was nothing.

Ghost decided the man’s death was the queue that everything was ready to go, so he started knocking things over. The sound of a chainsaw erupted from upstairs, and Ghost heard a scream he didn’t recognize. Shortly after that, another scream sounded, loud and high-pitched. Then he heard wails from downstairs in the basement and froze in place.

The noises from upstairs stopped, but the loud squeaks and screams continued from the basement. “Bunny?” Ghost called, but there was no response. Then silence fell. Ghost tried calling for Bunny again but didn’t hear anything else. Then the phone rang. Ghost looked at it confused. He ignored it, but it kept ringing and ringing until he decided he needed to answer it.

“Hello?” Ghost said into the phone.

“Do you like scary movies?” The voice on the other end asked. Ghost was about to answer, but then someone came out of nowhere and rammed a knife into his back. Ghost screamed and turned to see himself. Well, not himself but another person in the Scream costume.

Ghost tried to run, but the other Ghostface grabbed him by the mask, which came right off. He tripped, and Ghostface pinned him down, stabbing him in his back over and over until his life left his body.

Penny

Penny waited quietly for Jason to get the job done. When he heard the man confront Jason, he moved to the door and peered out at the scene. Jason stabbed the man with the stoker, and Penny felt the whoosh go through him. He thought he’d imagined it but noticed Jason look around, too. Penny was about to walk into the hallway but stopped when he saw another Jason appear and drive a chainsaw through his friend.

Penny took a step back inside and closed the door softly, still shocked from the sight he had just seen. A shadow on the wall caught his eye, and he turned to see another clown holding a red balloon covering his face. Penny gulped and went to open the door and walk out, but the other Jason stood in the doorway, blocking his exit. Penny backed into the room and turned to see the real Pennywise move the balloon slowly away to reveal himself.

A large smile crept across the clown’s face before it morphed into a giant mouth with knives for teeth. His body stretched up and up until the mouth hovered right over Penny. He looked up at the demonic clown knowing his fate. Then everything disappeared, and karma took revenge on the four men, and they paid for all their sins.