It was nighttime. Overcast. Cool but not cold. Quiet except for the wind blowing through the treetops. Quiet except for the girl.

The girl was running, gasping, terrified.

She was young, she was pretty, she was blonde. She was wearing a prom dress.

She was running through a cemetery. At night.

Six terrible figures were watching from a nearby hill.

"You wanna take that one, Krueger?" asked the shortest. "She's your type, right?"

"Can't do it, Chuck," rasped the sweater-clad burn victim. "Gotta get 'em when they're asleep. You go ahead."

"On these short legs? I'd never catch up. What about you, Vlad?"

The pale nobleman shivered and wrapped himself up tighter in his cape. "Bleah, a blonde in a cemetery at night? Probably a Slayer. Go ahead, Voorhees."

"I'll pass," grumbled the giant in the hockey mask. "Goddamn virgins. I can smell 'em a mile away."

"You wanna take the shot, Doug?" asked Chuck.

"Hell no," said Doug, absentmindedly trying to scratch his nose around the maze of pins in his face. "What if this is a Lucy-S story? I'd get my head torn off. That's a waste of good suffering."

"You guys are a bunch of fucking pussies," said Myers. "I'll take care of this dumb damn broad!" And he bounded down the hill after the screaming girl.

"Stupid ass," said Voorhees.

"Yeah," said Krueger. "Gets a movie made with Rob Zombie, and he thinks he's a fucking rock star."



It's that time again. The nights are getting longer, there's a chill in the air, the leaves are turning. We're in the waning of the year, and it's the season for fear.

One of Everything2's longest running and most popular traditions is the annual scary story quest. We've had one every October since 2001 -- nine years in a row!

And we've been very fortunate -- all these years, and we've never yet had an unsuccessful Halloween quest. Every year, we get lots of scary stories -- most of them good, many of them excellent, and a select few that are certified classics -- as good as anything you'll ever find in any professional horror anthology.

So let's do it again. Write an original scary story. Write a horror-themed poem. Node a story that is in the public domain. Write a factual writeup that is about horror or scary stuff. Write a biography of a writer or actor closely associated with the horror genre. Create a review of a horror film or story. It can be any length and any topic -- as long as it's scary.

In a change from previous years, there will be no rewards associated with the quest. I don't have the ability to hand out the volumes of GPs or XPs that this quest has required in the past, and I'm reluctant to request an admin co-sponsor for the sole purpose of dispensing rewards at the end. The only rewards you'll have a chance to receive are XP from chings and upvotes... and of course, the pleasure of writing good horror.

However, I will again be picking my personal favorite quest writeups in a variety of genres and styles -- including fiction, poetry, humor, factuals, reviews, and a few surprise categories. Again, no rewards will be associated with this -- just simple bragging rights.

What's the runtime for the Quest? The entire month of October, plus November 1, server time. Halloween is too awesome to limit to just one day a year.

If you need inspiration, or if you just want to see some more of the scary stories that Everythingians have produced, check out our previous horror quests: I can make you howl. And vice versa. Let's get down to business., Everything Quests: Scary Stories, The Blood is the Life: A Frightful Halloween Quest, They Hunger For Nodes: An e2 Halloween Scary Story Quest, I Will Show You Fear in a Handful of Text: The 2005 Halloween Horrorquest, It's the Season for Graves Cracking: The 2006 Quest for Fear, The Poet and the Worm, The Night's Plutonian Shore: The 2007 Halloween Horrorquest and Necronodecon: The 2008 Halloween Horrorquest.

When you write a story for the Quest, just /msg me with the node title, then softlink your writeup to this node. I'll include a list of all the Quest participants below.

So start thinking horror, boils and ghouls. The clock just struck midnight, the fog is rising on the moors, and something in the house is whispering "GET OUT!" Let's scare each other.



The girl tripped twice over tombstones and was finally reduced to sobbing uncontrollably, crawling away from the steadily advancing killer in the white mask. Myers was enjoying this -- sure, it always seemed to go the same way, but you couldn't argue with results.

"Pl-Please!" she screamed. "Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Don't hurt me!"

"Bitch, please," Myers laughed, swinging his machete up. "I ain't here to hurt you. I'm just here to kill you!"

He brought the machete down, raised it, brought it down again, and again, and again. He only stopped when she started laughing at him.

"Bitch, please," she laughed around a mouthful of teeth grown sharp. "Get yourself a silver knife next time."

"I'll be damned," said Voorhees, as Myers' gurgling screams began to echo through the graveyard. "It's Larry Talbot's little girl!"

"Girl has grown up!" said Krueger. "And out!"

"And hairy," added Doug. "That's beyond my kink factor, man."

"Whoa, lookit that," Chuck winced. "I don't know if he wants to live without that organ."

"Just that one?" asked Voorhees. "He doesn't really have that many left by now..."

"Girl's definitely got a healthy appetite," said Doug.

"Yeah, this is totally a Lucy-S story," said Vlad. "I'm getting out of here before she realizes we're out here."



Fiction:
The Winter Story by BookReader
WE HAS QUESTIONS! by artman2003
If they come for us by Bitriot
Higher New York City Gazetteer by The Custodian
Proposition 13 by artman2003
The Detained by Serjeant's Muse
Destini's Pony by Jet-Poop
Witches are tricky. Ask the villagers. by Bitriot
Lower New York City Gazetteer by The Custodian
Gene Genie by drownzsurf
HC.SVNT.DRACONES by henry flower
Sea boy by snapdragonfly
Dead Meat by Rancid_Pickle
The Taxi by Rancid_Pickle
Enough of This Teacher! by Simulacron3
I Hate Sunday School by Rancid_Pickle
The Tanzanian Devil 2 by rootbeer277
The Tanzanian Devil 2 2/2 by rootbeer277
How to turn a kraken house into a kraken home by alex
broken field by originalzin
The most dangerous vampires were the ones who were bad at math by Pandeism Fish
party line by Rancid_Pickle
He had a life before he met you, you know by Rancid_Pickle

Poetry:
The Dark is Rising by Intentions
What the cows said by cassparadox
Satanic Zombie Cyborgs Meet the Unholy Girlfriend by Jet-Poop

Fact:
Borley Rectory by Jet-Poop
Horror: Gangrene by lizardinlaw
Zombie targets by Whittlesandvictuals
A true story of madness and revelation by FranzEcho
Horror: First ward, pediatrics by lizardinlaw
Call of Cthulhu by Jet-Poop
Horror: Stone face by lizardinlaw
October 30, 2009 by teleny
Horror Writers Association by Rancid_Pickle
Writer's Retreat by Rancid_Pickle

Reviews:
The Last House on the Left by Timeshredder
"Zombieland" review in October 9, 2009 by blackphoenix
Zombieland by Timeshredder
demon in my view by Glowing Fish
The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Jet-Poop
Paranormal Activity by Timeshredder
Plants vs. Zombies by hapax

Thanks, everyone! The quest is at an end!

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