"No matter what you say, Mandy, I'm not going to that god damn Halloween party!" Elise said dramatically as she sat on the bathroom floor while Mandy was in the shower next to her, washing her hair. "Parties aren't really my thing anymore.."

"Oh, come on!" Mandy whipped back the shower curtain and stared down at her friend with soap still running down her head. "Since when do you not like parties? You, Josh, Abbey, and I always found the best parties." She put the shower curtain back and continued to wash the soap out of her hair as Elise began to protest again.

"Yeah, well that was before Josh...yeah.." She mumbled again, staring down at her phone as the steam in the bathroom began to fog up her screen.

"Before he cheated on you?" Mandy piped back in making Elise feel a knot in her throat by those words. Elise and Josh had been dating for a little over a year before she found out he was seeing another girl behind her back. Elise was heartbroken, she thought this was the man of her dreams. But it turned out to just be another failed relationship on her end.

"Mandy, please. I don't want to go to a party. I know they'll both be there." She tossed her phone by the door and stared at it as it began fogging up again. After a few moments of silence, Mandy shut the water off and grabbed her towel off the rack, wrapping it around herself before stepping out of the shower.

"Seriously? You don't want to go because Josh and his bitch are going to be there? Grow up." She swung open the bathroom door and stepped out into the bedroom of her apartment, Elise following close behind. "Elise! This is your chance to go to this party and prove that you aren't a lonely hermit anymore!"

Elise felt her upper lip quiver as she glared at Mandy from behind, picking up her phone from the bathroom floor. "Look, I know you still hang out with Josh because he's your brother's best friend and all, but do you guys really say that about me? Especially you?" Mandy cocked an eyebrow at Elise as she let her towel drop to the floor, making Elise blink slowly away from her.

"I mean, we talk about you sometimes... He does ask how you are.."

"And you tell him I'm a lonely hermit?! Yeah, that's a confidence booster right there." Elise replied sarcastically, plopping onto her friend's bed face down.

"I'm a straight shooter, you know this! And plus if you want a confidence booster..." Mandy marched over to her closet and began rummaging through it before tossing something on the bed next to Elise. "Then suit up and come to the party with me in that."

Elise sat up and picked up the leather costume that was on the hanger. "You have got to be shitting me...I am not wearing this even if I wanted to go."

"Why the hell not? Catwoman is super sexy. You'd turn so many heads in that, Ellie." Elise stared down at the costume and sighed. It wasn't even the full-body suit like the regular Catwoman, it was the 'Halle Berry' version, which was sexy and incredible- but Elise felt as if she didn't have the body or the confidence to pull the outfit off.

"Come on, Ellie! Just go put it on and let me see you in it! I'll throw my costume on too so you can see." Elise laughed softly and stood up to go toward the bathroom that was still a bit steamy from the hot shower.

"Fine, only because I'm sick of seeing you in the nude right now." Mandy rolled her eyes and tossed the cat mask at Elise, making her almost drop everything as she disappeared into the bathroom.

After a few minutes of trying to figure out which hole to put her arms and body through and after fixing the slits in the costume, she looked at herself in the foggy mirror. "Hmm...maybe if everyone's vision is as blurry as this mirror, I might look decent." She said to herself before throwing on the cat mask. "Mandy? You ready?" Elise spoke as she opened the bathroom door, stepping out into the bathroom with the leather squeaking with each step she took.

Mandy felt like her jaw would've broken off from how far it dropped the moment she saw her best friend in that outfit. "Holy fuck, Ellie. You look amazing." Elise shrugged her off and shook her head before tugging on the top slightly.

"You're just saying that, but look at your costume!" She chuckled, seeing her friend dressed in a sexy mermaid outfit.

"No girl, listen. That costume hugs your body in all the right places. You will seriously turn heads tonight with that, sugar. Come on! Please come with me, don't make me be alone with Abbey, pleasseeee!" Mandy pleaded.

"She is literally your girlfriend, why wouldn't you want to be alone with her?" Mandy shrugged and adjust the top of her outfit over her chest.

"Abbey gets mean when she drinks if we're alone. Just please come! Don't make me beg on my knees because I will." Mandy stared at Elise with those big, brown puppy eyes and Elise shook her head in defeat.

"Fine, only because I want to keep you company. But I'm not wearing the gloves!" Mandy rolled her eyes and nudged Elise out of the way gently to head toward the bathroom to put makeup on.

"Yeah, and I'm totally sure it isn't because you also want to make Josh jealous. Totally. For sure." She laughed loudly behind Mandy and shrugged as they finished getting ready for the party.

==========================

Two hours of hair and makeup later, Mandy and Elise were heading out the front door to be greeted by Mandy's girlfriend, Abbey- who herself was also dressed like a sexy mermaid.

"Oh, another mermaid is joining us." Elise chuckled as Abbey scoffed at her.

"I'm a Siren, not a mermaid. Siren's are deadlier." She cheerfully said as she gave Mandy a greeting kiss before walking toward her car. Elise put her hands up and sighed knowing this was going to be a long night.

They drove for 15 minutes to the other side of town for the party. It was being hosted by an old classmate of theirs, Brandon Ruthers. He was the party animal in high school and even more outside of school. It was tradition to get drunk and idiotic at Brandon's every Halloween because his parents always took a 3-day getaway the day before. The tradition, Brandon had said, will stick until his parents decide to stop leaving for Halloween...or until he finally moves out. But we're all in our early 20's, and we don't see him moving out anytime soon.

Abbey pulled onto Brandon's street and somebody on the corner caught Elise's eye. It was someone dressed up kind of like a zombie with fake blood all over them, staggering up the street. She tapped Mandy's shoulder from the backseat as Abbey pulled up on a parking spot a few houses down from Brandon's. They chuckled as they stared at the guy that now began to stagger toward them.

"Damn, talk about dedication. I guess we'll see you inside!" Abbey chimed in, hooking arms with Mandy and Elise as they turned away from the partygoer. They all laughed a bit out of excitement and nervousness as they approached the house, the bumping music could be heard outside. As the girls stood in line to get inside, Elise began fiddling with her top again, trying to make sure nothing would pop out as they approached Brandon at the front door. She sighed to herself looking at her hands as she decided to wear the gloves with the outfit, and she already regretted that decision.

"Mandy and Abbey! Such beautiful mermaids that I wouldn't mind seeing taking a,, dip later tonight." Abbey's scoff could be heard from miles away, it seemed as Elise giggled behind them.

"If I rolled my eyes any harder Brandon, my spine would fall out of my ass." Abbey beamed as she stepped inside, Elise following behind the two of them- enjoying the fact she was kind of hidden underneath the Catwoman mask. Upon entering the party, there were people dancing, drinking, and nibbling away at the free food and booze set up. Elise had looked away for two seconds it seemed before she already lost Mandy and Abbey within the crowded living room.

"Awesome.." She mumbled to herself before walking into the kitchen. There was an array of costumes within the party, ranging from bodysuits, superheroes, to the inflatable costumes, and everything 'sexy' imaginable. Elise had poured herself a drink and leaned against the counter in the kitchen, watching the people amongst her dance and drink their night away. She was sipping on a beer when a girl in a white lolita dress with makeup done like a living doll walked by her with her phone against her ear. The girl stepped out into the backyard on her phone and Elise couldn't help but notice how cute and frilly the dress was. Turning her head back toward the party, Elise felt her heart in her stomach at who entered the party. Josh had come in with his new girl, Jessica, which had been the girl he cheated on Elise with. Elise rolled her eyes at their costumes, they did a couple Superman/woman outfit.

"Hey, check out Super Dick and Super Bitch." Mandy appeared out of nowhere, making Elise choke on her drink from laughing. She waved her away with her hands and set her up-down.

"Oh god, that's not even the worst costume here. Little Miss 'Living Doll' just went outside. God... She's the stuff made out of nightmares." Elise and Mandy went back and forth about partygoers before they realized Josh had begun walking toward the kitchen. "Stop it, they're heading this way." Elise cleared her throat and looked around the kitchen without making eye contact with Josh as he walked up to Mandy.

"Hey, Mandy! I'm glad you came out! You know Jessica, right?" Mandy smirked at Jessica and turned a little toward Josh, motioning with her eyes to look behind her. Josh glanced up and saw Elise in that Cat woman costume, nearly making his heart jump out of his throat. He had never seen Elise is something so revealing, or something that sexy before. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head and waved at Elise, who wasn't paying attention.

Elise had her gaze fixated on the girl outside she had just seen on the phone. The girl seemed like she was laying in the backyard on her side when she knew only moments before the girl was walking back and forth on her phone. She narrowed her eyes a bit and tried to focus on her, seeing something moving in the shadows just beyond where the back porch light reached. Elise glanced up and down and narrowed her eyes again to see what seemed like...blood on the back of her dress. She hadn't realized she was already reaching for the back doorknob when someone grabbed her wrist, making her jump and turn toward them.

"Dude! I've been saying your name for five minutes now? Earth to Elise!" Mandy waved her hand in front of Elise's face. "Are you that drunk already?" She looked back out into the backyard, only to see the girl standing up on her feet, facing the door. Elise gave a half chuckle as she looked up at Josh who was intently staring her down. The moment they made eye contact, he immediately looked away as Elise then exchanged glances with Jessica, who shot daggers at her.

"Somebody wanted to say hello!" Mandy nudged me a little and I reluctantly stuck my hand out toward Jessica, smiling through a clenched jaw. She looked at Elise's hand and smirked, leaning up toward Josh to kiss him passionately before leaving the kitchen- not without giving Elise a death glare before flipping her off as she exited the kitchen. Elise couldn't explain the amount of anger she felt at that moment. She wanted nothing more than to just throw her arms around Josh and show that bitch who ran shit around her, but she couldn't. All she could do was stand there frozen while tears fell down her cheek.

"Elise, I'm sorry I didn't know you'd be here-" Elise put her hand up to Josh to cut him off before looking toward Mandy.

"I told you I didn't want to come. Give me Abbey's key's, I'm going to her car."

"Elise, please I-" Elise cut her friend off again.

"Just give me the fucking keys, Mandy." Mandy stood there dumbfounded and shrugged before shaking her head. Elise let out a sigh and tossed her plastic cup into the sink behind her before grabbing half a bottle of whiskey off the counter. "Fine, then fuck off." She snapped, pushing past people to get to the front door, only to hear a remark from Brandon as she stepped back out into the front yard.

"Aw, leaving so soon pussy-cat?" He meowed at her, making Elise flip him off as she continued walking toward Abbey's car with the bottle of whiskey in her other hand. At this point, Elise could only hope Abbey was stupid enough to leave her car unlocked during a Halloween party.

===============

Elise couldn't help but laugh through her tears as she pulled on Abbey's door handle and it opened with ease. She hopped in the backseat, per usual, and locked all of the doors as she threw her boots off and began to drink from the whiskey bottle. Reaching down to retrieve her phone from her purse, she began flipping through old pictures she still had on her phone of herself and Josh. More tears began to swell in her eyes as she took another sip of whiskey straight from the bottle. She was drowning in her own self-pity as she looked through those damn pictures. Out of anger and heartbreak, she threw her phone back into the trunk of Abbey's SUV and groaned loudly as she set the bottle of whiskey down in the seat. Elise pulled herself up over the backseats and searched for her phone in the mess of a trunk Abbey had.

While searching for her phone, Elise saw something out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she tilted her head to the side in confusion as the girl from the backyard was limping down the sidewalk. The girl looked sickly like she had way too much to drink as she was pale in the face and barely had her eyes open. Elise couldn't help but snort at the poor girl who was fucked up out of her mind. Elise began looking at her costume over and furrowed her eyebrows when she looked at her legs. They were muddy, bruised, and had blood running down them. Elise had the window cracked a bit, so she called out to the girl.

"Hey hon, are you alright?" The girl stopped in her tracks and began slowly looking all around her for the source of the noise. Something didn't sit right with Elise and as she put her hand on the door handle to open it, a guy came jogging down the street in a pirate costume.

"Katie! What the hell are you doing?" The guy gave a half laugh as he caught his breath. "I've been looking for you all night, where did you go?" He waited as she turned around slowly, letting out a low groan as she did. Elise observed him looking at the girl named Katie and felt a ping in her stomach when he gasped at the blood, knowing now that wasn't part of her costume.

"Katie are you okay? Did someone hurt you? Are you drunk??" The guy moved closer and the moment he touched her, Katie freaked out and immediately jumped on him. "Katie stop! You're hurting me, what the fuck?!" He screamed as Elise watched in horror the moment Katie bit down on his neck and ripped out a chunk of his flesh. Elise put her hand to her mouth to muffle her scream and stared in horror from the backseat as his screams filled the air. She cursed herself silently for leaving the window cracked because all she could hear was the sloshing sound of crunching bones and tendons snapping. The sound of approaching footsteps made Elise look around her as people with the same pale, deathly look approached Katie and the now..very dead guy on the sidewalk. There were around 6 or 7 of them surrounding his corpse as they would pick pieces of his flesh off and eat almost every part of him.

Elise hunched over in the backseat and vomited on the floorboard of the SUV, not realizing how loud she began to cough until she looked up to see the group of them standing to their feet. They all turned their attention toward the car making Elise's breath hitch in her throat.

"This can't be real, this can't be happening.." She whispered to herself as she slowly reached forward to lock the backdoors. Before they had a chance to take a step toward the car, all of their heads jerked quickly to the left and they took off in a sprint toward what Elise assumed, Brandon's party. She put her hands over her mouth and wanted to scream, but she bit hard into her hands to muffle her pain.

"What the fuck do I do?! What do I do... do I leave? I can't leave Mandy... FUCK!" She panicked as she sat in the backseat, avoiding the puke on the floor. The moment she heard the blood-curdling screams, she knew she had to get the hell out of there. "The keys... FUCK! Mandy has the FUCKING keys!" Tears streamed down her face as she sat up on her knees and continuously looked in every direction. She looked down the street in the direction her house would be, which was a 15-minute drive.

"I can't run, not in this outfit... What if there are more of them out? I'll never fucking make it.." She spoke to herself, wiping the tears and makeup off her face. The sound of pounding on the car made Elise scream and jerk her body around, only to see Mandy pounding on the doors as Mandy fished the keys out. Elise jumped up and unlocked Mandy's door first as she saw people sprinting down the streets in every direction, screaming filling the air.

"Where the hell is Abbey?!" Elise screamed as Mandy jumped in the driver's side door. She shoved the key into the ignition and started it up.

"She's coming! Sh-she was right behind me!" They watched Abbey come down the sidewalk, one of those fucked up people behind her as she began screaming. As Elise reached over to unlock the passenger side door, Abbey was tackled to the ground and a group surrounded her right at that moment, eating every part of her they could get their hands on. "ABBEY!" Mandy screamed, opening the door but Elise pulled her back in by her arm.

"She's gone, Mandy! We have to go or that will be US! DRIVE MANDY!" Elise screamed as she climbed into the passenger seat. Mandy put the car into drive and sped off down the road, leaving the dismay and horror behind them.

"What the FUCK is going on, Lise?!" Mandy screeched as she took off down the neighborhood streets, watching people screaming and running for their lives. Elise couldn't help but stare as the groups of those..creatures continued to grow in numbers against everyone else. People were barging into houses, ripping people out of their own homes - tearing them to shreds. She couldn't believe what she was seeing with her own eyes... something straight out of a horror movie. Mandy slammed on her breaks, breaking Elise out of her daze.

Letting out a yelp, they both stared in front of the car, Mandy's headlights beaming at a small child covered in blood at the top of the hill.

"M-mandy.." Elise mumbled as the child began to turn around. "You need to go!"

"Lise that is a CHILD!" Her friend screamed back at her. Mandy looked in the rearview mirror, watching the group of the creatures approach the van.

"MANDY-" They crashed into the back window, leaving a large crack in the glass as the creatures began pounding on the windows and doors. The child in front of them hopped on the hood of Mandy's car, blood and flesh oozing from the child's mouth.

"DRIVE!" Elise screamed, throwing her leg over the drivers' side, pushing the gas pedal down to the ground. As the car began to pick up speed, the child lost its balance and flew off the front of the car, Mandy immediately running over him- sending her into a crying panic. Elise jerked her head around to stare out of the back window at the dwindling crowd - and the child looking up from the ground with a broken back.

"W-we need to go back to the apartment and lock ourselves in! This is insane!" Mandy cried hysterically as they continued out of the town.

"Mandy, these people are being torn out of their houses, this Is insane.. but we need to get the fuck out of here..." Elise spoke, looking at the dead bodies covering the streets, yards, and sidewalks with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Lise but-"

"MANDY!" Elise screamed, slamming her hands against the dashboard.

"Can you just fucking listen to me once in your goddamn life?!" Elise snapped, making Mandy let out a small wail as tears stained her face. She took a deep breath, letting the two of them sit in silence.

"We need to leave, and you need to accept this is really happening. We need to be smart, and not so frantic.. that's how we'll survive. We should fine if we get out of the town, Mandy.."

Mandy nodded in silent agreement and took a deep breath as well. She continued to drive out of the suburbs into the city, approaching a small bridge before reaching the highway ramp.

"Oh my..god.." Elise spoke, dumbfounded.

"L-lise..." Mandy said as they drove down the hill toward the bridge.

Smoke. Fires. Destroyed cars. Bodies, everywhere. Mandy approached the bridge with ease, maneuvering around the broken down cars that were left behind. Elise glanced all around them, even seeing the water underneath them had turned red.

"Jesus Christ.," Elise spoke, sinking back into her seat. "Drive faster..."

"You still think we just needed to get out of the town? Or the fucking state..?" Mandy asked with a shaken voice.

"How much gas do you have?" Elise asked in a monotone voice.

"Nearly a full tank..." She reluctantly replied.

"Good," As she stared out the window at the destruction and dismay that laid around them, Elise took another deep breath, "Because we're going to need it."