(Cletus Kassidy and Carnage were created by Marvel studios. Other characters in this story were created by Nickelodeon)

Sally was walking home from a night of partying. She had quite a bit to drink so she was unable to walk or think straight.

Her best friend Stacy offered to give her a ride home, but she refused.

"It's fine. My apartment's only a few blocks from here. I can walk." She had told her.

Unfortunately for Sally, in her drunken state she had taken a few wrong turns and wound up lost in the dark alley ways of Great Lakes city.

"Was it this way? No. ok this street doesn't look familiar at all." She mumbled to herself. Then she heard the whistling. "One is the loneliest number"

She couldn't tell where it was coming from though.

"One is the loneliest number... ha ha..." Sally said in a drunken slur.

Then she saw a man standing under a streetlight, whistling that song.

"Shouldn't be out so late at night all by yourself." The man said. The man was average height with a fit yet trim build. He wore a white tank top and blue jeans. He had fiery red hair and blue eyes.

"Nice try dude." Sally said. "I may be drunk, but I'm not going to accept a ride from some strange man."

"I'm not in a car." The man said.

"Oh, well that's ok then." Sally laughed.

"Want me to walk you home." The man asked.

"Well so long as I'm not getting in a car with you," Sally said. "Sure. You're so nice. What was your name again?"

"Cletus." The man said. "Cletus Kassidy."

The two rounded a corner and Sally screamed her last scream before her blood was spilled on the sidewalk.

...

Taffy, a wannabe teen musician was sitting in great lakes city park. She was on a bench with her guitar trying to think of a good Halloween song, as it as the end of September almost October. It was late, the sky was full of stars and Taffy was all alone. Or so she thought.

She tried playing a few cords, but nothing seemed to feel right.

"Halloween is so hallow." She sang to herself. "Ugh, Halloween is so hallow? What the heck is that? Come on Taffy, you need to come up with an original song for the Halloween concert."

Then she heard the whistling.

"Well, that's a catchy beat." Taffy said to herself. She started playing her guitar to the beat of the whistling. "Hey wait, I know that song."

"One is the loneliest number that you ever know." Taffy started singing to herself. "Two can be as bad as one, it's the loneliest number since the number one..."

"Great song, but it kind of already exists." Taffy said to herself.

Then something slithered out of the bushes. A blood red tentacle slithered around Taffy's feet and rose up to look her in the eye.

Taffy cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Blood, red tentacle, slither in front of me." Taffy sang. "Blood red tentacle, what do you want from meeee.

Wait a minute. A blood red tentacle? That's not normal."

Taffy shrieked, dropped her guitar, and leapt off the bench.

"What are you? What do you want?" Taffy said.

Then a second tentacle rose up behind Taffy. Taffy shrieked again and fell back on her butt.

Taffy sat there for a few moments, frozen in fear. Then one of the Tentacles skewered Taffy through the stomach and erupted out her back. Taffy yelped in pain.

The end of the tentacle that was sticking out of the young girl's back grew a pair of teeth that dug into her body like a fishhook.

Taffy clawed at the ground as the tentacles pulled her towards a nearby bush, her nails digging into the grass. She let out a scream of terror before the second tentacle wrapped around her mouth. As she was dragged across the sidewalk her nails were pealed off as she clawed at the hard cement trying to get herself free.

Taffy was pulled into the bushes. She let out muffled screams of pain and struggled as claws and teeth began to rip and tear her flesh apart.

...

Ronnie Anne Santiago was a young middle school student living in Great Lakes City. She had black hair, dark skin, and brown eyes. She usually wore a purple hoodie with blue jean shorts.

She was walking home from school with her friend Sid Chang.

Sid was a spunky young half Asian American girl. She usually wore a blue long sleeve shirt with black shorts.

The two were deep into conversation and weren't paying attention to where they were walking. They rounded a corner and found themselves in a dark alley.

"Uh, Sid I think we took a wrong turn." Ronnie Anne said.

A look of shock appeared on the girl's faces when they realized they were surrounded by cats.

Great Lakes city had a problem with stray cats. The city had a lot of them, and they were vicious.

The cats huddled near the edges of the ally. Their hair standing on end and letting out angry growls. However, the cats didn't seem to be paying attention to the girls, but something else, something deeper in the alley, something unseen.

"Wait something seems different about these cats." Sid pointed out. Sid's mother was the owner of the city zoo, so she knew a thing or two about animals.

"Yeah, like they want to have us for dinner." Ronnie Anne said. "We should get out of here."

"I think they're afraid of something." Sid said.

"Sid I've seen these cats chase Lalo down." Ronnie Anne said. "What could they be afraid of?" Lalo was Ronnie Anne's family dog, and he was a really big dog, the biggest dog in their apartment.

Just then the two girls heard someone whistling the song "One is the loneliest number"

"Ok this has horror movie death scene written all over it." Ronnie Anne said. The two girls sprinted as fast as they could away from the alley.

...

Ronnie Anne and Sid reached their apartment building, gasping for breath.

Ronnie Anne walked up to her apartment and ran into her mother Maria.

"Hey mom, I'm back from school." Ronnie Anne said.

"Ronnie Anne, I need to talk to you about something." Maria said.

Ronnie Anne and her brother Bobby sat on the couch as Maria told them the bad news.

News had broken that there was an accident in their old town of Royal Woods. Not much information was released, just that some buildings were destroyed and quite a few people were killed, and one of the avengers was involved. An investigation into what exactly happened, and why was being conducted. But no more information was released.

"Oh no, is Lori ok?" Bobby asked.

"What about Lincoln, is he ok?" Ronnie Anne added.

"Lori and Lincoln are both fine." Maria said. "That is actually what I want to talk about. The Louds are going to be staying here in this apartment building. There is a vacant apartment that they will be staying in across the hall from here. Apparently, their house was badly damaged, and they need a place to stay while it gets fixed."

...

"EEEEEEE! Lincoln's moving in!?!?" Sid cheered in excitement. Ronnie Anne had told Sid that Lincoln and his family was going to be staying in the building while the two were hanging out in the hallway.

"Not exactly." Ronnie Anne said. "he's just going to be staying here for a week or so while his house gets fixed."

"We have got to throw a party for him!" Sid said. "We should throw one of our famous rooftop slumber parties."

"Sure, but I don't know if he'll be in much of a party mood." Ronnie Anne said. "Apparently one of the Avengers was visiting Royal Woods and went psycho and destroyed a big chunk of the town. He might have PTSD or something."

"Which Avenger?" Sid asked.

"Captain Marvel I think." Ronnie Anne said.

"Oh, I would have guessed the green guy. Bulk right?" Sid said.

"Hulk actually." Ronnie Anne said.

"Is Captain Marvel really an alien?" Sid asked.

"How should I know? I don't work for S.H.E.I.L.D" Ronnie Anne said.

Most information about the Avengers and any other super humans was not public knowledge and highly classified. In the case of most super humans the general public didn't even know they exist. Except of course for the main Avengers who have become celebrities despite most of their actions being covered up and classified.

...

Maria answered the door to find the loud family on the other side.

"Rita, Lynn welcome." Maria greeted the parents. "I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you guys."

"To be honest most of the whole thing was a blur." Rita admitted. "I remember the house being destroyed, but I don't exactly remember how."

Maria looked at the family's 10 kids. "Are you guys missing someone? I thought you had 11."

The kids all looked at each other with concerned expressions.

"We uh... lost Lucy." Rita whispered to Maria. "Apparently she was in one of the buildings that exploded. Lincoln's been taking it really hard; he was pretty close to her."

"I'm really sorry." Maria said. "What did happen exactly? I heard there was some explosions, and an Avenger may have been involved. But they have released like zero information to the public."

"I... don't remember..." Rita said with a strained look on her face.

...

Maria opened the door to Ronnie Anne's room to find her doing some homework.

"Ronnie Anne, sweety Lincoln is here." Maria said.

"He is? Awesome." Ronnie Anne's face lit up with excitement.

"But I need to tell you something." Maria said. "Rita informed me that Lincoln's sister Lucy passed away recently, so be very gentle with him."

"Oh my gosh that's terrible!" Ronnie Anne said. "Was it from that accident on the news?"

"I think so. Rita didn't give me many details." Maria said. "I asked and she didn't seem to have much memory of what happened. Come to think of it, it was kind of creepy really. But try not to bring this up with Lincoln, he can be a very sensitive boy you know."

Later Ronnie Anne met with Lincoln in the hallway.

"Hey buddy." Ronnie Anne said with a smile before giving her friend a big hug. "It's so good to see you."

"Yeah, y-you too." Lincoln said softly.

After a bit of small talk Lincoln placed his hand on Ronnie Anne's shoulder.

"So, I know your mom told you about what happened to Lucy." Lincoln said.

"Uh, yeah sort of." Ronnie Anne said awkwardly. "I'm really sorry. I can't imagine what you must be going through."

"Look," Lincoln sighed. "I don't want you to treat me any different ok."

"Can I ask what happened?" Ronnie Anne said.

Lincoln looked at the ground for a few moments of defining silence.

"No." He finally said. "I don't want to talk about it. She's in a better place now... I just." Tears began to fill his eyes.

Ronnie Anne gave him another hug.

...

"So, you remember Sid." Ronnie Anne said, as she and Lincoln approached Sid in front of the park.

"Hey Lincoln. It's so good to see you." Sid smiled.

"Uh whatever you do, don't mention L U C Y." Ronnie Anne whispered to Sid.

"What? Lucy? Why wouldn't I mention Lucy? What's wrong with Lucy?" Sid asked.

Lincoln scowled at Sid.

"Was it something I said?" Sid asked with a shrug.

"I'll tell you later." Ronnie Anne said.

"Hey what happened here?" Lincoln asked, just noticing the abundance of cops in the park as well as police tape marking off a section of the park.

"Oh, I have no idea." Sid said.

"Maybe we shouldn't be here." Ronnie Anne said.

Lincoln continued looking at the crime scene for a short moment.

The three of them agreed to go to the skate park instead. There they met with Ronnie Anne's other friends Nicky, a tall blond girl who always wore a blue hoodie with her hood up allowing a few tuffs of her blond hair to poke through. Casey, a short African American boy in a red hoodie and baseball cap worn backwards. Sameer, a short boy with thick eyebrows and wild brown hair. And Laird, a nerdy ginger with thick glasses.

The group hung out at the skate park until it was lunch time when they all decided to go to the local burger joint, Burger Blast.

"Seriously Linc, A salad?" Ronnie Anne said as they were eating their meal at the restaurant. While the rest of the group had all ordered big greasy burgers stuffed with meat, grease, and all sorts of stuff that your doctor would advice against yet were the biggest draw of a fast-food place like Burger Blast. Lincoln on the other hand had ordered a simple salad topped with some fruit and ranch dressing.

As nice as Lincoln was, he was never the kind of young boy who would become a vegan, or even a vegetarian.

"What, a guy can't make a healthy choice for once?" Lincoln said, in an almost irritated tone.

"Well Lame-o," Ronnie Anne mocked. "If you wanted to be healthy, why did you decide to drown your salad in ranch, and wash it down with an extra-large mountain dew?"

She was right about one thing. Lincoln's salad had more ranch dressing than actual salad, and he had gotten a large soda. It didn't seem that he was just trying to be "Healthy" and as stated before, Lincoln Loud was never the vegetarian type.

Granted, piling a salad with ranch, and washing it down with a tub of soda was in no way odd behavior for an 11 yar old boy. Ronnie Anne and her friends had done the same thing many times. However, Lincoln had been acting distant all day, and something about him just felt off.

"Look. I have had enough meet to last a lifetime recently." Lincoln said, before stuffing his face with ranch-soaked veggies and taking a big gulp of soda.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it." Lincoln replied.

...

Before they all went back home, Sid suggested that they have one of there "famous rooftop slumber parties." At the Santiago apartment building to welcome Lincoln to Great Lakes city.

Ronnie Anne and her friends set up tents on the roof of the building. They set up a table with snacks and one of those fake firepits with plastic flames. For obvious reasons they were not allowed to start a fire on the roof of the apartment building.

They had brought up a microwave to cook the marshmallows for smores in the absence of a real fireplace.

"You guys want me to help you with this?" Lincoln asked.

"No thanks, you're our guest." Ronnie Anne said. "Sid can help you set up a tent."

"HA! Help me set up a tent?" Lincoln said. "I don't want to sound rude, but I have more camping experience than any of you. I live in Royal Woods, next to an actual forest. Plus, my grandfather owns an actual camp site." Lincoln set up his own tent with ease. "So, any of you city folk need help with your tents?"

"Wow, that's impressive." Sid said.

"Uh, yes please." Said Laird. Who was tangled in his failed attempt at a tent.

"Hey Lincoln, you want a smore?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Uh yeah but... don't put any chocolate in it ok." Lincoln said as he helped Laird with his tent.

"You don't like chocolate?" Laird said.

"Uh... no not really." Lincoln said.

A look of confusion washed over Ronnie Anne's face.

"Ok that's weird." Ronnie Anne whispered to Sid. "Lincoln loves chocolate! His whole family does."

"So, what's first?" Lincoln asked after everyone's tents were set up.

"Anyone got any scary stories?" Ronnie Anne asked, heading to the "fire".

"Boy do I ever." Lincoln mumbled under his breath.

"So, you got a story?" Sid said as she walked past him.

"What? No, no I don't." Lincoln said.

The group started to gather around the fake fire.

"Well, what happened to you guys back in Royal Woods?" Casey asked.

"I really don't want to talk about it." Lincoln said.

"Yeah, I heard your sister died or something?" Sameer said.

"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" Lincoln snapped back.

"Guys, he doesn't want to talk about it." Ronnie Anne said. "We shouldn't force him to talk about things that make him feel uncomfortable. That would just be cruel."

"Thank you." Lincoln said, before sheepishly sitting down with his arms crossed, looking at his own feet.

...

"But then he realized his sister had turned into a werewolf!" Sameer said, finishing his so-called scary story. "and then she..."

"Uh, I'm confused." Lincoln said. "So, the girl was turned into a were wolf after being attacked by a regular wolf?"

"Uh, yeah I guess." Sameer said.

"But being bitten by a wolf won't turn you into a werewolf." Lincoln said. "My friend Rusty got bit by a wolf last summer. And the only thing that happened to him was that he needed to get a rabies shot."

"Ok, then she got attacked by another werewolf." Sameer said.

"So, there's two werewolves now?" Sid asked.

"Sameer, I don't want to sound rude but..." Lincoln said. "Don't you think the whole werewolves and vampires thing is kind of played out?"

"Yeah, werewolves are kind of lame these days." Casey agreed.

"It was pretty scary to me." Laird said hiding under his blanket, his whole-body trembling.

"Don't worry Laird." Ronnie Anne said. "There's no such thing as werewolves."

"So, you guys want something a little more real eh." Sid said. "Well, I got a story, and it's 100% real."

"Oh really?" Ronnie Anne crossed her arms.

"Most supposedly real stories I've heard turn out to be urban legends." Lincoln pointed out.

"Well have you heard the story of Cletus Kassidy?" Sid asked, holding a flashlight under her face.

"Well, that's gotta be the most hick name ever." Ronnie Anne said.

"Go on, tell us about this Cletus guy." Lincoln encouraged.

"Well, as a kid. Cletus was abused by his mom, dad, and even his grandma." Sid started. "Until one day, Cletus decided enough is enough. So, he pushed his grandmother down the stairs. His grandmother was very old and frail, so the fall killed her almost immediately as every bone in her body was broken.

Then he made his way into his bathroom while his mom was taking a shower. He threw a hairdryer in the bathtub, electrocuting her to death.

Then he slit his father's throat while he slept."

The rest of the group listened intently.

Sid continued. "After that he was taken to an orphanage where he was picked on by the other kids.

One day he decided to ask out a girl he really liked."

"Well, that's nice." Laird said.

"But she rejected him and laughed in his face." Sid said. "So, he pushed her in front of an oncoming truck, and she was flattened on the pavement."

Laird shrieked.

"Then he burned down the orphanage he was staying at." Sid explained. "Killing everyone inside. And as he grew, his path of carnage only continued. No one knows how many people he killed before he was finally caught. He was charged with 11 counts of murder but claimed he's killed dozens more.

He was sentenced to death by lethal injection."

"Well at least he's gone now." Laird said.

"But just before they could execute him, he escaped." Sid said.

"How?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"No one knows exactly." Sid said. "But some claim he transformed into a terrifying monster."

"Ugh, he didn't turn into a werewolf, did he?" Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes.

"Um... no." Sid said. "It was some other monster."

"He transformed?" Lincoln perked up with much more interest than he was showing before. "Did he by any chance turn into a giant black tar monster with big claws, teeth, and a white spider symbol on his chest?"

"Maybe?" Sid said in a confused voice. "But that is very specific."

"Oh, would you look at that. Cletus Kassidy is real." Ronne Anne said as she googled the serial killer on her phone. "Doesn't say anything about turning into a monster. But he was convicted of lot of murders, he's still alive, and his whereabouts are unknown. Damn he really does look like a Cletus."

Suddenly the air was filled with a bone chilling animalistic roar.

"What the hell was that?" Niki said.

"No, please, not again." Lincoln said under his breath.

"Was it a werewolf?" Laird asked.

"No way." Sameer said. "Werewolves don't roar, they howl."

"I... I think that was a symbiote." Lincoln said.

The sound of thunder cracked in the distance and clouds began to roll in.

"A what?" Ronnie Ann said.