Halloween Hacker

"We've got to take out that launcher, or we're all sitting ducks!" said Chris.

"Over here!" Evie replied from an alleyway behind the building with the thugs on it. "I can sneak up on him. Here, boost me up."

"On it."

As little as Evie weighed, it was simple for Chris to boost her up onto his shoulders, getting her just high enough to clamber onto the roof. The two Keystone mercenaries had no idea what was coming until it was too late. The first was bent over his weapon, finishing up a reload, while the other was focused on the enemies below. Evie crouched low and approached, silently drawing her Bowie knife in the process. She then slit the first thug's throat without issue, causing his weapon to clatter to the ground and land at Chris's feet. This sound alerted the second thug, but all too late; Evie had already drawn a revolver and placed a bullet in his skull just as he turned to face her.

"I'm good!" Evie shouted to Chris.

"Nice work!"

Chris grabbed the grenade launcher that had fallen at his feet, cataloging it as a China Lake model. Best of all, the thug up top had just reloaded it, meaning he had a fresh four rounds at his disposal. As he turned the corner and took aim at the advancing Keystone mercenaries, Chris grinned and pulled the trigger, sending the two nearest thugs flying in the resulting explosion. He pumped the next shell into place and fired again, with similarly lethal results. By now, Evie had recovered the second grenade launcher and was joining in on the fun, sending Keystone's forces into a full retreat by the time they had emptied all their rounds.

This chaos gave the Children of Sodom the opening they needed. The stone warriors charged up the stairs towards the invaders, bashing any who came close to them with their shields. As the surviving Keystone mercenaries bunched up, the Children of Sodom closed in and began skewering them on their spears. The only thing more staggering than the viciousness of the bloodbath was how quickly it was all over.

"Damn," Chris whispered. "Don't mess with them."

"Chris, we've got a problem!" shouted Evie.

"Whatcha see up there?"

"Yosef and his team are heading into the city! I think they're trying to get to the tower!"

"Shit, we've gotta stop 'em!"

"Here, take my hand!"

Taking a running start, Chris did his best Joe DiMaggio impression and vaulted up the wall, grabbing Evie's hand at the apex of his jump. After he had scrambled onto the roof, the pair took off towards the other end of the city, leaping across rooftops to take the shortest route possible. As they drew closer to the last of Yosef's forces, they saw that they were encountering some resistance from the Children of Sodom. Still, with most of the stone warriors concentrated around the entrance to the city, Yosef and his top two lieutenants managed to slip past before the rest of his men fell.

"They've reached the tower!"

"Dammit," Chris muttered. "No way we can catch up to them."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance?" came a voice from behind them.

Chris and Evie turned and saw that Lot had caught up to them, but more notable was his means of transportation: he was traveling through the air on a floating slab of stone.

"Lot? How are you doing that?" Evie asked in awe.

"There is no time to explain. Quickly!" Once the humans were aboard, Lot directed the slab toward the massive tower. "It is a long story, but suffice to say that this ability of mine is an extension of what you saw earlier when my people transformed into their warrior forms."

"Whatever it is, I'm glad you can do it," Chris chuckled.

As soon as the trio arrived on the flat roof of the circular tower, they were set upon by Yosef's two remaining lieutenants. Chris managed to catch a glimpse of Yosef himself ducking into a small stone hut in the middle of the roof.

"Evie, Yosef's going for the Gomorrah! Get after him; we'll handle these goons!"

"Right!"

Chris took cover behind a large rock Lot had brought over for him and opened fire on the two thugs. Though they avoided harm for the moment, the suppressing fire was enough for Evie to slip past them to get to Yosef. Meanwhile, the two Keystone thugs prepared to double-team Chris, but found themselves skewered on a pair of jagged rocks. The two gasped their last breaths with looks of shocked horror on their faces.

"You will do no more murder today!" Lot growled.

At that moment, Evie arrived inside the stone hut, finding Yosef standing at a pedestal with a gemstone the size of a basketball in front of him. He stared at the object of his desire, obsessed with its pure white color and flawless texture. He knew his holy quest was at an end.

"Yosef, stop! You don't know what you're doing!" cried Evie.

Yosef snapped back to reality at hearing her voice. "Young Miss Granger? Your persistence surprises even me. You are like a mongrel with a bone, refusing to let it go and admit when your better has won."

"Yosef, you've got to listen to me," Evie pleaded, keeping her revolvers trained on him the entire time. "That stone... it's not a treasure, not like we thought it was. That thing is dangerous; it destroyed this entire city and changed its people forever!"

"Yes, I know," he whispered with a grin. "If it could have such effects in the hands of so primitive a people as the Sodomites, imagine the good it could do in the hands of a visionary like myself."

"A visionary?! Yosef, this is a power not meant for you or me! This power is beyond our abilities to comprehend! We are but mortals, Yosef!"

"Mere mortals?!" he scoffed. "Do you even realize what I am, child? I am God's reckoning! If the occupiers had not committed such great sins, God would not have sent a man like me to punish them! He would not have led me here to this source of unimaginable power and might! I know my destiny... and my destiny is to right the imbalance in this world!"

"Please don't..."

It was too late. Yosef reached forward and took the Gomorrah in his hands. Evie emptied her revolvers in an attempt to stop him, but a brilliant glow had enveloped him and swatted the bullets away like flies. As Yosef held the Gomorrah above his head, the stone began to shine bright red. Its light began to travel into Yosef's body, almost as if its power was being infused into his very being. A moment later, the hut was shattered by a mighty blast from the Gomorrah, throwing Evie onto her back.

"Evie!" Chris said, rushing to her side.

"I'm fine," she grunted, rising to her feet.

"Holy fuck," Chris gasped.

Before them now stood Yosef Ahmad, fully changed by the Gomorrah. His stone body stood well over twenty feet tall, taller even than the largest and strongest of the Children of Sodom. As Evie and Chris stood dumbfounded, all the remaining Children of Sodom climbed up the sides of the tower and began to swarm Yosef. Due to his massive size, Yosef defended with relative ease, though he almost dropped the Gomorrah in the process. Knowing his enemies would try to take it from him at any cost, Yosef decided on a desperation move and swallowed the gemstone in one gulp. A moment later, his neck and head began to glow in the same red light as the Gomorrah.

Much as Chris and Evie wanted to help, they were unable to get a clean shot on Yosef with the Children of Sodom assaulting him from all sides. Still, their efforts appeared to be in vain, as Yosef had little trouble slapping the warriors away with his massive arms. At one point, he even picked one of them up and tossed the warrior into a group of hostiles like a bowling ball. As he roared at his apparent success, Yosef was struck all of a sudden by a massive stalagmite from beneath his feet, causing him to fall onto his back.

"Return the Gomorrah, foul beast!" Lot bellowed.

Lot leapt high into the air, aided by his terrakenetic abilities, and plunged his spear into Yosef's throat. He pried as best he could in an attempt to dislodge the Gomorrah, but Yosef soon recovered and tossed Lot across the roof like a rag doll. Lot recovered in short order, showing remarkable endurance in spite of his age, and again attacked by hurling boulder after boulder from the nearby cavern wall. Still, Yosef was too big and too strong for such attacks to do much good, allowing him to close the distance between him and Lot. With a mighty swipe of his arm, Yosef slammed his fist into Lot's face, sending him flying once again. This time, Lot did not rise.

"Lot!" Evie gasped, rushing to his crumpled form. She took him in her arms, seeing the painful-looking cracks in his stone skin. "Come on, speak to me!"

"G... Gomorrah..."

"Yes, we'll get it back," Evie promised.

"No," Lot croaked. "You must... destroy it..."

"We can't! You'll die!"

"And so... will... he. Promise me... Evie..."

Evie hesitated, tears welling up in her eyes as she felt Lot grow weaker. "I... I promise, Lot. We'll destroy it."

"LOOK OUT!"

Evie's head jerked around at Chris's warning and saw Yosef preparing to crush the both of them under his fist. On instinct, she threw her body on top of Lot's in an attempt to protect him. But just as she expected to be crushed, the sound of Chris's shotgun made her ears ring, followed by a roar of pain from Yosef.

"Get away from them, you bastard!" Chris growled.

Evie turned and stood, seeing Yosef's hand smoking from Chris's attack. "Oh, my god."

"You ok?" Chris asked.

"Yeah. But how did you hurt him? All of Lot's people seemed barely affected at all by gunfire once they went into their warrior forms."

"It must be because Yosef has only just transformed," Chris offered. "The Children of Sodom have had centuries to train and perfect their new bodies, not to mention the generations of breeding to stabilize their molecular composition. Yosef hasn't had any of that."

"We'd better use it to our advantage, then," Evie replied, drawing her revolvers. "You go right, I'll go left."

As Yosef started to recover, Chris and Evie launched another assault on him from opposite directions. Any part of Yosef's body they hit seemed to bubble and melt into a mixture of mud and sand. Still, the effects were short-lived; Yosef managed to reform his body after a few moments.

"Shit! He's starting to figure himself out!" Evie realized.

"Wait, the columns!" Chris said, pointing to the numerous columns placed around the edge of the circular roof. "We can use them to do massive damage!"

"Good call!"

Chris began to fire off successive shots at Yosef from his pump-action shotgun, drawing the brute's attention while leading him to the edge of the tower. In the meantime, Evie remained in Yosef's blind spot, waiting for her chance to strike. Finally, when Yosef turned to place her directly between him and a nearby column, she fired four bullets into his back. Yosef roared in pain from the sneak attack and turned to face her, swiping on instinct to try and end Evie. She, of course, had anticipated this exact action, resulting in Yosef's attack hitting the column behind her instead. The top half of the column broke off in an instant, landing squarely on Yosef's head and knocking him to the ground in a daze. Unbeknownst to Evie, the remaining half of the column was also beginning to crumble.

At that moment, time seemed to slow to a halt for Chris. He saw it all, Yosef's crumpled form, the column about to fall, and Evie oblivious to the impending danger. His mind was running a mile a minute when another memory flashed into his brain, a crucial element of how the game was supposed to end. Chris was torn. If he continued with this course of action, there might be no coming back from it. There was no guarantee he would ever get home. But one look at Evie settled it. He loved her. He couldn't allow her to die, even if it meant sacrificing his own life. With a gulp and a deep breath, Chris began to sprint forward.

"EVIE!"

Faster than he had ever reacted in his life, Chris eyed the column to determine what direction it would fall while simultaneously pushing Evie in a safe direction. She grunted in surprise, landing hard on the ground a few feet away. Though she was annoyed at first, a loud thud a moment later caught her attention. Evie's eyes went wide with horror as she saw the column land on Chris before rolling off his body.

"Oh, god! CHRIS!" She ran to his side, seeing blood begin to flow from his mouth. "No, no, no, stay with me," Evie said, cradling his head in her arms.

"The... Gomorrah," Chris croaked through his injuries. "You've got to..."

"Chris..."

"Do... it..."

Even as tears welled up in her eyes, Evie knew Chris was right. This was their only chance; she couldn't afford to squander it. After kissing Chris's cheek, she stood and ran over to Yosef, still stunned from his previous blow. She soon noticed that Lot's spear remained lodged in Yosef's body. Now, however, a crack was forming in his throat, allowing the glow of the Gomorrah to peek through.

Gathering her courage, Evie climbed up onto Yosef's chest and took hold of Lot's spear, beginning to pry at the fissure with all her strength. It took a few seconds, but she was at last able to wrest the Gomorrah free. As she took it in her hands, Evie paused for a moment as something caught her eye. Instead of its usual red, the gemstone was glowing a brilliant blue. Evie was enraptured by its purity; it was easy to see how Yosef had so easily given himself over to it, but she had a far stronger spirit than him. She glanced over to where Lot lay on the ground and saw that his eyes were wide in shock at seeing the Gomorrah's color. The old chief gave a wry grin and nodded to her.

"I'm so sorry, Lot."

Evie could feel Yosef beginning to regain consciousness. Even after the damage she did with Lot's spear, the wound in Yosef's neck was already starting to close. She hadn't much time; it was now or never. Evie raised the Gomorrah over her head and threw it on the floor with all her might, shattering it into a thousand pieces. At that, Yosef's body lurched and began to fall apart, dissolving in a mess of sand and mud. Across the rooftop, the other Children of Sodom were experiencing a similar fate. Without the Gomorrah tying them together, they were nothing but lifeless earth. Soon, all that remained of them was a massive pile of sand and stone. Evie ran to Chris's side in a frenzy, hoping beyond hope he could still be saved.

"Chris! Goddammit, Chris, why would you do that?!" she said, tears streaming down her face.

Chris just smiled and took her hand in his. "It was... the only way."

"Bloody hell, you brave idiot."

"Jeremiah doesn't... survive the game..."

"But you're not Jeremiah!" she pleaded. "Come on, get up!"

"Too late... I'm sorry... Evie..."

"No!"

"I've gotta go..."

She sniffled. "Then, take me with you. All I want is you; I don't give a fucking shit about these adventures anymore! Chris, I... I love you."

This brought a goofy grin to his face. "Love you... too..."

Evie didn't know what else to do. She could feel Chris growing weaker with every passing moment. With a heavy sigh, she knelt over him and leaned down, touching her lips to his forehead. Chris breathed surprisingly easy at feeling her kiss; real or not, Evie's touch was special. A moment later, he felt the last of his strength leave his body and his consciousness fade to black.

*****

"Unh... wha?"

Chris's eyes fluttered open, his head throbbing in pain. As he began to sit up, he saw that he was back in his apartment, having apparently fallen asleep on his sofa. On the TV screen, the ending credits to Evie Granger: Survivor were rolling.

"What the hell? Did I dream it? Damn, it all seemed so real."

Chris stood and paced around his empty apartment for a few minutes, recalling his adventure with Evie and wondering if it had really been a dream. After popping a Tylenol to quell his headache, he inspected his PS4, finding everything as it had been earlier in the evening. Even his PlayStation VR was still hooked up to the system. He gave a heavy sigh and decided it had to have been a crazy dream. Chris then picked up the box for the Evie Granger: Survivor game, seeing the heroic depiction of Evie on the cover.

"Evie Granger, you're one of a kind."

Chris glanced at the clock and saw it was just past eight o'clock in the morning. A quick look out the window confirmed that last night's storm had passed. The sun shone bright over the horizon, though there was still some residual debris from the night before. After grabbing his keys, Chris headed out to the store for a resupply of food. On the way down the hallway, he noticed that boxes were stacked outside the empty apartment across the hall from his.

"Huh, someone must be moving in."

Once downstairs, he saw a couple of high school kids sitting on the sidewalk. They still had their Halloween masks and were comparing their pillowcases full of candy with glee. Chris guessed they had hit three or four neighborhoods throughout the evening with the size of their hauls, even with the storm to delay them. After giving them a quick wave, he headed to his car.

The grocery store was as uneventful as could be expected for early on a Sunday morning; virtually everybody was either still in bed or headed to church. Chris did find some amusement from the employees though. As it was the day after Halloween, they were all hurriedly putting up Christmas decorations a full two months ahead of time.

"Ah, American consumerism at its best," Chris chuckled to himself.

Once his business was concluded, Chris headed for home. His grocery run was a relatively large one, as he had been at work for a week straight, requiring him to throw some things out. By the time he had finished shopping, returned home, and put everything away, it was midmorning. He had noticed on his way up that the boxes outside the neighboring apartment were gone. Tempted as he was to knock on the door and see who it was, he figured it was still too early for that. Besides, Chris just wasn't extroverted enough to blindly introduce himself to a stranger like that. Instead, he settled in at his computer and perused social media and news blogs for a while. Then, about an hour later, he heard a knock at his door.

"Hi!" came a female voice from the other side of the door. "I just moved in across the hall and wanted to introduce myself!"

Damn, she sounds cute, Chris thought to himself, detecting a foreign accent of some sort, though he couldn't place exactly what kind.

"Just a sec," he called out. After straightening out his shirt and brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes, he opened the door and said, "Hey, welcome to the... complex?"

Chris Samson couldn't believe his eyes. Before him stood a young woman that he could have sworn he'd only met in a dream. She was tall, slender, and athletic with the most gorgeous pair of brown eyes he had ever seen in his life. Her black hair was cut into a chin-length bob, contrasting beautifully with her lightly tanned skin and red tank top. Chris knew who she was, but it defied all logic in the universe.

"Hey, Chris," she said with her sultry Australian accent.

"Evie?!"

In a flash, Evie leapt into Chris's arms, planting a passionate kiss on his lips. They embraced for what felt like years, never once questioning how this situation came to pass. The feel of each other's touch was more than enough to override such logical thoughts. At last, she released him and touched back down onto her own two feet.

"Um... holy fucking shit!" said Chris. "What... HOW?!"

"I don't know!" Evie replied through a delighted giggle. "One second, I'm holding your dead body back in Sodom, the next, I wake up in the passenger seat of a moving truck. The driver tells me we're almost to my new apartment."

"New apartment? But how did you even get here?" he wondered.