I pushed a couple file cabinets in front of the door before they reached it. The windows for the security office were thicker than normal glass but they weren’t that reinforced. They would only hold for so long. The ghouls had the office surrounded now. The sheets began to shoot forward towards the glass. The force with which they hit was incredible. The bodies were used to move. The ghouls they didn’t use their arms or legs to attack. Attacking was all the sheets. The sheets were like parasites that had taken over the bodies. More of them joined the group from the back. A sea of white getting ready flood into the room and kill us. Steve was still unconscious. He wouldn’t be any use in this fight. Still, I hoped he woke up. I hoped he still had some fight left in him. I looked through all the drawers for anything I could use to defend myself. We had lost the pipes in the fight with the rotten ones. I hadn’t searched this room very well the first time through because I didn’t realize back then I would be fighting for my life. This time I tore it apart. The ghouls kept pounding away with the quick, piercing fabric attacks. The glass started to crack. The door began to dent. I pulled down the shelf in the back of the office. Workers uniforms and belongings went tumbling to the ground. I moved my foot and felt something hard. Something familiar. I moved some clothes out of the way and dug into a jacket pocket. I pulled out a good sized pocket knife.

The ghouls were nearly in. They would kill me or try and turn me into one of them. I was going to kill as many of them as I could. The lock on the door broke. The door budged, pushing the file cabinets back. The first ghoul entered. I ran up to it and stabbed at it wildly. The sheet began to go red but it was still coming. I forced the knife down towards its throat. I felt the knife go in. the sheet stiffened and then retracted into the body instantly. The body fell to the floor. I had found out how to put them down.

They all began to make the horrible gurgling sound. Then they all sped up. They rushed through the door. The first window broke. I began slashing wildly as the sheets fired towards me. I dodged their attacks the best I could. Some of them were hitting me though. My arms and shoulders welted and cut. My blood was on their sheets now too, not just theirs. One of them went to hover over Steve.

“Steve! Get Up!”

The second I took to call to him was enough of a distraction for them to get me. A sheet hit me in the shoulder and pinned me against the wall. Another one pinned my arm against the wall. I had the knife still in my hand but couldn’t move it. I was trapped. I had lost. One of the ghouls came up to me. Its sheet began to rise up. It was aiming for my mouth. I clenched my teeth. If they wanted in my mouth they were going to have to break through my teeth. The security screens began to turn on and off. The lights did the same. Flickering wildly. Everything froze. All the ghouls stopped. One of the security Screens stabilized while the others remained black. On the screen was a single recorder. It clicked on. The whispers came from it.

All the ghouls turned to face the screen. The whispers kept getting louder. I was able to make out what they were saying now.

“He belongs to someone else.”

“Leave now.”

The ghouls turned to face me again. The sheets began to rise once more. Then the whispers gave one last message.

“You were warned.”

The recorder clicked and stopped. I was staring at the screen. Then I heard the carving behind me. The wall was being carved. I couldn’t turn to see what was being carved but I already knew. I saw the ghouls sheets shift just enough for me to know they were looking at it too. I knew there was a grin behind me, accompanied by two eyes looking to torment.

A hand with razor sharp fingers burst through the wall. It went just past my head and grabbed onto the sheet that was pinning my shoulder to the wall. It ripped it out of the ghoul’s throat. The body crumpled to the ground. The sheet that was at my wrist retracted back. I moved out of the way. The ghouls were focused on something else now. The thing coming through the wall. Hellequin. The wall was torn apart. The grinning jester entered the security office. The ghouls all primed their sheets for attack, they tensed, then flew at him. Countless white blades flying at Hellequin. He grabbed them and ripped them from their bodies. Then he moved forward slashing and ripping through them. The office filled with blood and gore. Hellequin worked his way through the horde of ghouls. Dispatching them one by one. Then they were retreating. The ones in the hall stopped coming. They were going back to wherever they had come from. The screens came alive with the words that I had been fighting. This time they weren’t talking to me though. They had someone else to deal with.

“Some Stars Just Don’t Know When Their Time Is Done!”

His mouth didn’t move but the all voice came nonetheless.

“He’s mine.”

“You Don’t Get To Call The Shots Anymore! The Door Way To The Static Is About To Open And Bryce Is Being Looked At To Get A One Way Ticket To The Show!”

“Host. I will come to you and rip the words from your soul,” Hellequin said.

“You Are Welcome To Try!”

With that Hellequin looked at me. His face was scarred. His grin looked angry. He had been through his own hell. He had come out of it now looking for me. Something else wanted me though. The Host. For whatever reason I was the prize.

“I’ll be back for you Bryce. I’ll be back for your story. It will be the longest one of all.”

He turned back to the screen and impaled it with his claw. Then he was gone. Probably heading for a faceoff with The Host. Steve coughed and gagged. He was still alive. I went over to him hoping he would be able to move.