Chapter 4

“We really ought to be turning back,” said Danny who, at sixteen, was supposed to be the responsible adult, in charge of wrangling the younger kids.”

“Plee-eese,” whined six-year-old Mikey, who was wearing a Dracula costume. “Just a few more.”

“Don’t you have enough candy?” countered Danny.

“But I want some for Joanie too,” whined Mikey.

Joanie was Mikey’s new baby sister and Danny knew that candy was entirely inappropriate for her, but he didn’t have the heart to turn down such a heartfelt plea. “Okay, just a couple more,” he conceded.

“Hurray,” the rest of the kids chorused. Some of younger ones were getting tired, but the prospect of more candy gave them fresh impetus.

Jackie, short for Jacinda, who was dressed as a Princess, was the first to notice the party moving towards them. “Who the fuck are they?”

“Jackie, stop using the ‘F’ word or I’ll tell your mom,” Danny admonished the potty-mouthed seven-year-old, marvelling at how wrangling a bunch of kids had suddenly turned him into a boring old fart.

The party’s frontrunner stopped in front of the kids. “They’re no threat,” assessed a Defence Ensign. “They’re just a bunch of primate primitive younglings.”

All the kids heard was weird sloshing sounds, like waves impacting a sandy beach.

“Great costume, mister,” said Mikey. “Those tentacles are really cool. Did you make it yourself?”

“What are the strange sounds the younglings are making?” asked the Senior Commander about their primate-like noises.

“I think it’s a primitive form of communication, perhaps even a language. If we could learn what each sound means, we might even be able to communicate with them,” said the Science Ensign.

“What would be the purpose in that?” asked a Defence Junior Ensign. “They have nothing to teach us.”

Mikey was bored with all the sloshing sounds. “Trick or treat?” he called out.

The response was more sloshing. That annoyed Mikey so he gave the stranger a quick squirt of party foam.

“It’s attacking me, but I’m not hurt,” said the Defence Ensign, waving his tentacles furiously.

“Quick, surround them,” ordered the Defence Senior Ensign, and his subordinates quickly obeyed.

The Defence Ensign who had been squirted, picked up Mikey with his tentacles and lifted him high in the air. Mikey giggled with glee: this was way cooler than when he played airplanes with his dad. Then, when he was directly over the stranger, Mikey looked down and saw the danger, a large gaping maw. Mikey screamed for help but it was too late. The Defence Ensign dropped Mikey to his doom and the maw closed around him with a satisfying crunch.

Danny suddenly realised that something was very wrong and they were surrounded. He got out his phone and speed-dialled his dad, the Deputy Sheriff.

“Hi Junior,” said Daniel Senior when he answered his phone. “Haven’t you finished trick or treating yet?”

“Dad, listen, this is important. We’re being attacked by a bunch of weirdos and I think they’re eating the kids.”

“Very funny, Junior. You almost had me going there. What the fuck...”

Danny had been seized by an orange weirdo and lifted into the air. He pointed his phone down so his dad could see the gaping maw that meant his impending doom. “Bring everyone you’ve got, bring all the guns, call the army. Aaarrrggghhhh!”

Daniel Senior saw his son being engulfed by the orange weirdo then suddenly there was a loud crunch, the screen went black and his son’s screams were cut off. His son’s phone continued transmitting for a few seconds more then the weirdo’s digestive acids dissolved something vital and the call disconnected.

As Deputy Sheriff, Daniel Senior had the authority to declare a provisional Major Emergency and he wasted no time in doing so. Sheriff Embry arrived just as all the Deputies on duty were raiding the armoury for the big guns. “What’s going on?” he asked.

Daniel Senior showed the Sheriff his son’s phone call.

“Are you sure that’s for real?” Sheriff Embry asked.

“You know my boy, an old head on young shoulders. That’s why we trusted him to look after our neighbourhood trick or treaters.”

“Look, in the background, another of those things has got a young kid in its grasp,” observed the Sheriff. “What the hell are they?”

“And how do we kill them?” Daniel Senior responded grimly.

Even with lights flashing and sirens blaring, it tool the police way longer than it should have to reach Daniel Junior’s last GPS co-ordinates because of all the trick or treaters milling around the streets. They seemed to think the police cars were part of the festivities and Daniel Senior actually had to nudge some of them out of the way with his vehicle.