With no other choice, Sylvia started to push the Thomases away as gently as she could. Swinging her right arm into Morder's leg, she was able to knock him off balance. Morder stumbled back freeing her to move. The Thomases had all fallen down and began to stand back up without any tears or shrieks. They moved forward again in Sylvia's direction with their arms out ahead of them and mouths opened. Sylvia began to move on the backs of her elbows trying to slide away from them.
She needed to get away and fast, so she rolled over onto her left shoulder and crawled quickly on fours down towards the hallway. A Thomas had jumped onto her leg, but she quickly kicked him off with her other one. She threw out her hand and pulled herself into the hallway using the frame of the doorway. She then kicked off the walls to get back into the bathroom where she made it to her knees and slammed the door shut locking it. She sat down with her back to the door and tried to catch her breath.
On the other side she could hear little hands slamming against the door. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. There were still no messages or phone calls. She unlocked the screen, went to her call log and pressed send on Nathaniel's number. The phone began to ring and she held her breath hoping there would be an answer.
She felt something small brush against her butt, so she jumped forward. Her phone fell from her hands as she looked to see little fingers sliding under the door. Sylvia picked her phone up, stood, and moved to the toilet. She put the toilet cover down and took a seat. While this Halloween was the spookiest she had ever experienced, it was by far the worst as well.
She looked at her phone and saw that it was ringing. Nathaniel's name and picture were on the screen. She quickly accepted the call and brought the phone to her ear.
"Sylvia?! Are you o.k.?" asked Nathaniel.
"No, there are five Thomases now. And the neighbor from across the street is here. There's something very off about him, and he seems to be able to control the Thomases. He's freed them, and they're trying to bite me!"
"Slow down. I'm not understanding. Where did the other two Thomases come from?" Nathaniel asked.
"There was a trick-or-treater and a parent. They both got bitten, and now there are five," answered Sylvia.
"Ok, don't open the door anymore. Keep everyone inside," said Nathaniel.
"I wish I could do that. The neighbor is here. He kept trying to force me to eat his candy. And he's put the Thomases in a trance," said Sylvia.
"A trance? Where is the neighbor now?"
"He's in the house. I don't know where he is exactly. I've locked myself in the bathroom for now," answered Sylvia.
"Ok, I'm not sure what to tell you to do. There isn't enough information for me to figure this out. Text me your address. I'm going to do my best to track down Calliope and Tempopo."
"So you're coming to help?" asked Sylvia.
"Not right away. I'm going to break into the neighbor's house and see if I can't figure out what he's up to."
"I don't think that's a good idea. It could be booby trapped, or worse. I don't know if he's the only one who lives there," Sylvia said to him.
"Don't worry. I won't be alone. Whatever you do, don't let him leave the house. Keep him there."
"I'll do my best," replied Sylvia.
"And you're certain he lives right across the street? I don't want to break into the wrong house."
"You won't be able to miss it. He's got the brightest decorations on the street in front of it. Please hurry."
Sylvia hung up the phone and started to type the address of Anna and Matt's home on McFlintlock Road. She hit send and looked over to the door. The fingers were gone from underneath it, and everything was silent. She knew she'd have to go out and face Morder and the Thomases, but she wasn't sure how to go about it. Her Converse kick had hurt Morder, but poke did nothing at all.
It was all too much like her nightmares. She was battling Glittercheeks again in each of them. Only each night she dreamt of him her poke did nothing. She would wake up in a pool of sweat just after he tossed her into his mouth. While a chill would travel down her spine, she never quite experienced the icicle teeth digging into her.
She shook her head and got down on the floor. She crawled over to the door and pressed an ear against it. There was nothing to be heard through the wood of the door. She placed her head down on the ground and tried to look under the space between the door and the floor. She couldn't make anything out. Taking a deep breath, she slowly unlocked the door and opened it a crack. She leaned forward and listened.
In the living room away from her sight, Morder had the Thomases lined up and facing him. He stroked his chin and spoke softly to himself. "Something is wrong with the formula. They listen to my every beck and call as desired. But an army of toddlers will not suffice. However..."
Morder trailed off into a train of thought. The problem may not be that biting leads to replication. The problem may only be that the initial biter was a toddler. Morder began to devise a new plan. He needed a fresh subject. The last two people to come over to his house and try his candy were a father and his son in some green mask of a monster. Morder stood and watched them cross the street only to be bitten by a toddler and turned into exact replicas of that very toddler. Morder had to get back to his house and hand out more candy.
He made for the front door with the Thomases mindlessly following him. As he grabbed for the door he heard a voice behind him.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sylvia asked him.
"My dear mademoiselle," replied Morder as he slowly turned towards her. "I do believe our evening here is done. I must bid you an early adieu." With that, he clasped his hands once again and made that stupid look on his face. The Thomases all turned and in a frenzy ran straight at Sylvia.
She jumped over them and ran straight at Morder. His eyes widened in shock. Sylvia slammed her shoulder hard into him, and he fell back hard hitting into the door. Morder slid down and found himself on the floor looking up at Sylvia.
Sylvia moved closer and made to pin him down with a foot. Just then, she felt something touching the back of her leg. She turned around in time to see a Thomas trying to bite her. She kicked out harder than she meant to and the little boy was launched back landing awkwardly onto the stairs. Sylvia's hand went to her opened mouth as she realized what she had done. She moved forward to pick up and console the child.
Before she could even realize that the Thomas made no cry, another Thomas had jumped onto her from her left side. He lunged at her neck with an open mouth, but she was able to put her right hand on his forehead and hold him at bay. She walked over to the sofa, and shoved him off so that he landed bouncing on the cushions.
She turned back in time to see the other three coming at her in unison. She stepped around the table to give herself more distance from them, and looked over to see Morder standing. He again had his hand on the door. Springing into action, Sylvia stood up on the table, took one step forward and launched herself at the madman.
Sylvia again slammed into Morder, both parties hitting hard into the door and landing in a pile on the floor. Morder shook his head and rolled on top of her. He held her down and called the Thomases over. As they began to move quickly Sylvia rolled onto her left side. She slipped free of Morder's grasp and sent him toppling over onto the Thomases. She stood as fast as she could, and kicked Morder as hard as possible in the stomach. The man groaned and clenched his teeth as he looked up at her. She stomped down on his head with her foot hoping to knock him out. But Sylvia couldn't bring herself to hurt Morder and there was only enough force to irritate him.
A Thomas had made his way to his feet and crawled over Morder. Sylvia started to lift her foot, but Morder reached out and grabbed it. She put her foot back down not to lose balance. She started to pull her leg to try and force it free, but Morder's grip was too strong. She reached down and grabbed the Thomas coming at her by the hair. She bent over, picked him up, and threw him at the other Thomases knocking all of them over.
Sylvia bent over, grabbed Morder's hand and bit. He shrieked, let go of her leg, and slashed out with his other hand at her face. Sylvia stepped back into the side of the baby gate. She fell again but rolled so she could land face down onto her arms and stomach. She rolled back over and slammed the gate shut. At least now the Thomases could not get over the gate and at her.
Morder stood up. "I can see that you are going to be nothing but trouble. It is quite unfortunate you would not try a piece of my candy. I assure you that your fate would be better if you had," he said.
The Thomases all stood up in line and stared blankly at Sylvia. Morder stepped back and turned his head to the right looking at the door. He then turned to his left and disappeared out of Sylvia's view. She turned and ran back into the kitchen turning left to head for the hallway.
As Morder appeared around the corner she stopped hard and froze. He glared at her as he moved away from her. Sylvia noticed the side door that leads from the kitchen outside and moved into action. She ran at Morder, but he sidestepped her and let her fall. He moved into the kitchen and went to the knife block on the kitchen counter. He pulled a knife out and turned back to Sylvia.
"You are not capable of cutting this nonsense out, so now I have no choice but to cut you up!" He yelled.
Sylvia stood in time to grab Morder's hand as he made to stab her. As the two struggled, Morder moved closer until he was face to face with her. Sylvia lifted her knee up and caught Morder between his legs. Grunting again, he bent over and moved back. Sylvia still had hold of his hand with the knife. She twisted it, and Morder dropped the knife. He smacked her in the face with his free hand and moved back into the corner of the kitchen.
Morder turned to his left towards the kitchen sink and had his back facing Sylvia. He turned the water on moving the handle to the hot water. He grabbed the spray nozzle and turned firing water into Sylvia's face. It wasn't hot as he had expected, but his aim was good enough to blind Sylvia for the moment. As she made to wipe the water from her eyes, Morder turned into the dining room and stumbled towards the far gate that was closed.
Sylvia moved after him and dove grabbing his legs. He kicked out behind him. Sylvia's hands went up to protect her face from the blows. Morder took the opportunity to slide closer to the gate. On the other side the Thomases had become irritated and were now pressed against the gate. They were shaking it and the gate was starting to come loose from the doorway.
Morder made it over to the gate. Reaching up he tried to open it, but just as earlier in the night he had trouble unlocking it. Sylvia stood up, grabbed one of his legs and yanked back. He slid away from the gate as the grip of his fingers gave way. He turned in time to see Sylvia's leg slamming down straight into his face. This time she did not hold back. The front and back of his head felt searing pain as Syliva's foot and floor seemed to play ping pong with Morder's noggin.
Sylvia paused for a split second. She had annihilated a giant, evil snowman. She had never hurt another human being before. Even someone as wicked as Morder she found difficult to cause pain to. Morder took this moment to kick up. This time he caught Sylvia between the legs. While the pain certainly wasn't the same Morder had experienced, it did enough of the trick to bend Sylvia over. With both her hands covering her groin, and her hair hanging down, Morder reached up grabbing a fistful of her locks and yanked down.
Sylvia hit the ground on her forehead with a resounding thud. Her sight went blank for a moment, and when she regained it the room had begun to spin. She never noticed that the agitated toddlers had finally succeeded in toppling the gate over. They came at her in a frenzy and she couldn't fend them off. It all felt so unreal as five sets of teeth came biting down into her flesh. Sylvia called out pain and agony as she feared what the transformation would feel like. She curled up into a ball on the ground and began to cry. Morder had won. There was nothing she could do about it.