Every year the town of Janesville plays a huge game of tag on halloween night. This game of tag isn't like your typical game of tag. The rules are that you have a group of  6 people and your group must tag every single person in another group, the last group standing wins. Each group member must wear the same costume and another group can't have the same costume as you. There can be up to 20 groups playing in a game which makes 120 people playing tag. In order to participate in the game you have to be between the ages of 16-25 and sign your group up.The game starts by meeting just outside Gary's national park and once you hear the gunshot you must run into the woods and then the game begins.This Halloween a group of friends are excited to finally be able to participate in their first game of tag, but what they don't know is that this could be their last. 

                                                                                                    ~

"Kim! Anna! Come here there's something I want to show you guys!" Sierra closes the door behind her as she enters Anna's basement with excitement. Kim and Anna are sitting on the couch making out with their boyfriends. Sierra rolls her eyes and says, "Can you guys stop kissing for like ten seconds while I share this amazing news?" After a second they both pull away from their boyfriends and look up at her. "Oh hey Sierra what's up?" Anna says, sounding not interested at all. Sierra holds up a piece of paper for everyone to see. "Guess what this is?" she says excitedly. Kim's boyfriend, Adam, takes a guess and says, "Is it a job application, since your finally sixteen and you can get a job now." I roll my eyes and shake my head at him. "No, it's better, I signed us up for the tag game on halloween and this is the confirmation letter!" Kim and Anna look at each other and they scream in excitement then go over and hug Sierra. "OMG Sierra why didn't you tell us you signed up! This is going to be the best halloween ever!" Kim says getting exciting. Anna's boyfriend, Kevin, gets up and looks at the paper. "Wait, who exactly is on your team?" he says with concern. "It's me, Kim, Anna, you, Adam, and Liam," she says with excitement. "I never agreed to this Sierra." Kevin says with a bitter tone. "What's the problem, it will be fun." Kevin puts his hand through his hair and sighs. "I don't know man, don't you know a girl went missing during a game two years ago." Anna walks over to him and says, "Yea but they found her-." Kevin interrupts, "And she was tied up to a tree with a mask over her face and nothing on but her bra and underwear. Look, I'm not saying that I won't be on the team but I just wish you would have asked me first." Sierra nods her head. "Your right, I should have asked you about playing a game of tag in the woods, how insensitive of me," Sierra says sarcastically. Kevin  rolls his eyes and chuckles. "So what are we waiting for? let's plan our costume." Kim says while walking over to the couch. 

On Halloween night they all meet at Sierra's house to put together their costume. "Are we seriously dressing up as zombie's, I thought we all agreed to never be basic," Anna says as she starts to do her zombie makeup. "We didn't have many options, all the good costumes were taken by other groups," Sierra says while brushing her hair. Liam comes into the room where the girls are and says, "Are you guys almost ready, we want to leave before traffic." Liam is dressed up as a full fledged zombie and it looks real. His makeup makes him look pale and cold blooded while his clothes are ripped up and dirty. His hair is wild and there's fake blood running down his forehead. Sierra thinks he looks cute, in a non-creepy way. "Just give us another five minutes ok?" Anna says while pushing him out the door. "Sierra get your man," Anna says teasingly. Sierra rolls her eyes and starts on her makeup. "Liam is most defiantly not my man." Sierra has had a crush on Liam since the 6th grade and now that they're sophomores, there are other people interested in him. "But you want him to be right?" Kims says while putting on her combat boots. "No, we're just friends." Sierra says hesitantly. "Ok girl, keep telling yourself that, but one day you might regret it," Anna says in a sing song voice. "Anna's right, one day Liam might meet a girl and forget all about you," Kim says. Sierra just shakes her head in shame and goes back to doing her makeup. After everyone is ready they get into one car and start driving to the entrance of Gary's National park. "Who's excited? I'm excited," Anna says in a excited voice. "We just better win that first place prize, a trip for eight to Hawaii, we have to win guys," Adam says excitedly. Everyone agrees with him and as they get closer to the park, the more excited and nervous they get. They park in the parking lot and start walking to the entrance where they see a bunch of people standing on the large front lawn. There are a lot of different costumes like Disney characters, game characters, superheroes, villains and much more. Sierra and the others stand amongst the other groups and Sierra looks around. She's making a mental note of the perimeter just incase something crazy happens. Someone with a microphone gets up on a mini stage and starts to talk. "Hello everyone! Happy Halloween and Welcome to Janesville's Game Of Tag. The game will begin in about 15 minutes, so take this time to come up with a strategy and if you haven't already, come and get our survival kit for your group at the sign in table." After hearing this Sierra's group walks to the table across and the guy sitting there looks up at them. "Group name please," the guy says bored. Sierra speaks for the group, "Um, The Walking Dead." The guy looks at her and then the others with a judgmental look. "You don't look like the walking dead," he says sounding offended. "Look dude, we're zombies, which makes us the walking dead, we never said we we're dressing up as the characters of the show. So are you going to give us what we need or waste more of our time?" Adam looks him straight in the eye and wait for an answer. The guy behind the table reaches behind him and pulls out two medium sized backpacks. "These are your survival kits, they contain enough food and water for all of you, and they even have booby traps you can set up." Adam grabs the backpacks and gives one to Kim. "Wait, we can set booby traps?" Kevin asks surprised. The guy looks at him and nods his head. "You guys first timers?" The group doesn't say anything and the guy sighs. "The 'booby traps' is just some string and a net that you can trip and catch someone with. It's just to make the game go faster and it's not dangerous at all. Now since you guys are rookies to the game, I will give you some advice. Stay away from the trees that are big enough for people to hide behind and try not to make a lot of noise while your walking." The guy gives them two flashlights and two whistles. The group looks confused and the guy rolls his eyes. "These are for just in case you get lost once the game is over and you can't find your way back." Sierra nods her head and says, "Thank you." She smiles at him and as they walk away the guy yells behind them. "Good luck rookies...,Your going to need it." He whispers the last part as he watches them walk away.

Fifteen minutes pass and the group has come up with a strategy to win. The plan is to split up and go to the opposite sides of the forest and set up traps. When they hear someone coming by they will come out from hiding and sneak up behind them and tag them. Since most groups will probably stay together, they have the advantage. The same person who was on stage earlier comes back up on stage and starts talking again. "Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the 10th annual Janesville Halloween Tag Game." The crowd claps and yells. "I can't believe it's been 10 years! I feel so old. I started this game with my friends in high school and it was just something to do on Halloween when we felt too old for trick or treating. Not once did I ever think it would turn into what it is now. I don't want to talk for a long time so I will make this short and sweet. You all know the rules because I made you read them before signing up, but I will go over the most important ones. There is absolutely no violence or anything illegal allowed and If I or anyone else helping me out finds out something illegal happened, we will find you and there will be consequences. Next is that once your group get's tag you must come back here and we will check your name off the list. Other than that have fun and may the odds be ever in your favor!" Everyone shouts in excitement and Sierra's group joins in with them. "Now remember everyone if we don't have a winner by midnight than the game is over and we have to call a draw then determine who the winner will be. Good luck!" A minute later a horn sounds and everyone starts to run towards the forest. They get ten minutes to hide or set up any traps and then the game begins. Sierra's group sticks to thier plan and split up. Sierra goes with Liam and Kevin while Adam, Anna, and kim go together. Once they get to opposite sides of the forest they pull out the survival kit and start setting up traps. Once their done with that they find some trees to hide behind and wait in silence. A few minutes later a horn sounds and Sierra whispers to herself, "let the games begin."

The leaves rustle in the distance and Liam looks at Sierra and Kevin, giving them a signal to be alert and ready. The moon is shining bright and Sierra uses this to her advantage. The light from the moon is casting shadows in the forest and Sierra sees three shadows coming their way. She watches closely as someone trips over their trap and says, "Ahh, guys run it's a trap!" The other two people start to run but it's too late. Kevin and Liam stop them from getting away while Sierra runs over to the girl she trapped and tags her on the shoulder. "Tag, your it." She gives the girl on the ground a sly smile and helps her get untied from the string. "You guys are good but you only got half of our team, which means we're not out just yet." Sierra unties the string from the girls ankle and stands up. "That might be true, if we didn't already get them." The girl looks at Sierra and the others and then back at Sierra again. "What are you talking about?" She asks confused. Kevin walks over to them and pulls out a red headband with devil horns out the backpack. "I believe one of your teammates dropped this while I was chasing her, and after I tagged her I tried giving it back but she said to keep it. I think she was flirting with me, but too bad I have a girlfriend." The girl looks at Sierra's group and then looks at her team members. She grabs the headband from Kevin and picks up the backpack she dropped earlier. "Well I hope you guys had fun, but you won't last long." She walks away and her other two teammates walk after her. After they leave they set up the traps again and await their next victim. An hour has passed and Sierra, Kevin, and Liam has tagged four more groups, while Anna, Kim and Adam has tagged five groups. Since they spilt up, they have been keeping in contact by texting each other updates. "Hey, we haven't seen anyone in awhile, I should go look around," Sierra suggests. Liam looks at her and says, "You shouldn't go alone, I'll come with you, Kevin are you ok with staying here?" Kevin nods and gives them a thumbs up. "I'll defend the post, just don't get tagged." Liam nods his head and leads the way around their traps to the other side of the forest. They walk slowly and carefully to not make any loud noise. After a few minutes of walking they see a group of people dressed in vampire costumes huddled over something. Sierra hides behind a tree and Liam crouches behind a bush. Their only a few feet away and Sierra thinks she can distract them while Liam tags them. But before she can relay this information to Liam, she sees something unusual. From the distance she can hear muffled screams coming from whatever they're huddled over and Sierra moves to a different angle to see better. She sees someone with their hands and feet tied up with tape around their mouth. The next thing she sees happens so fast that it takes the breath out of her and she freezes. One of the people in the group holds up a knife over his head and stabs the person that's tied up and then the others start doing the same. Sierra is about to scream but something covers her mouth and she jumps in surprise while making a squeaking noise. Liam puts a finger over his mouth, telling her to hush. When she realizes it's Liam she takes a deep breath. They continue to watch as one of the vampires looks up in their direction and Liam grabs Sierra and pulls her close behind the tree. They are so close together that she can feel the heat from his body and hear his heart beating in a fast pace. After a minute or two the vampire group walks away in the other direction away from Sierra and Liam. When they are far enough Liam let's go of Sierra and she wishes for his touch again. "Liam, this is bad, really, really bad. They killed her, what the hell are we going to do," Sierra whispers scarcely. Liam looks over to where the body is and starts to walk over to it. "What are you doing? Liam!" Sierra whispers loudly. Liam looks at the body and recognizes the person immediately. He gasps and kneels down next to the person. "It's Sara West, from math class." He touches her neck and doesn't feel a pulse. "She's dead," Liam says quietly. Sierra covers her mouth in shock and tears start to roll down her face. "We have to leave the forest and report this, who knows what they will do next, we have to stop them." Sierra pulls out her phone and starts to dial Kevins number but she can't get a signal. "We have to go back to Kevin and then meet up with the others." Liam nods his head and they both walk quickly back to where they were. When they get back Kevin tells them that he tagged two more groups all by himself. "We have way bigger problems Kevin." When Sierra explains what happened Kevin's eyes go wide and he makes a shocked expression. "Kevin, their headed to the other side of the forest, where Anna and the other's are," Liam says worried. Kevin looks at Liam and Sierra and then pulls his phone out to call Anna. Before he can put in her number Sierra stops him. "Don't call her Kevin, what if they hear." Kevin looks at her and nods. "Your right, we need to hurry and get to them, I'll text her a warning." Liam grabs the backpack and they all start to walk to the other side of the forest. 

Blood runs from Anna's arm and she grabs it to stop the bleeding. She runs behind a bush and tries to calm her breathing. When she looks up from behind the bush she can see the guy dressed in a vampire costume walking around slowly while looking around him. He holds the knife beside him and his cloak is dragging on the ground. Anna, Kim, and Adam first saw the group of vampires when they were chasing after another group just outside of their traps. They saw them kill the entire group that was dressed up as skeletons. After that Anna and the others ran in the opposite direction and then bumped into another group that saw the same thing happening. So Anna, Kim, Adam and the group dressed as cowboys ran towards getting out of the forest, but eventually the vampire group found them and somehow everyone got split up running in different directions. A scream comes from the distance and the vampire looking for Anna runs towards it. Anna waits a few seconds until she can't see him anymore and then runs in the opposite direction. A minute later while Anna is running she bumps into someone hard and falls to the ground with an hmph. "Agh, what the-" When she looks up at who made her fall to the ground, her eyes widened and a feeling of hope and comfort comes over her. She get's up quickly and hugs Kevin so tight that he can barely breathe. "Oh my god, I thought I would never see you again, I was so scared Kevin," she whispers in his ear. "I was so worried about you Anna, thank god your okay," he whispers back in her ear. After they hug Anna hugs Sierra and Liam too. "Anna your arm, it's bleeding, what happened? Where's Kim and Adam?" Sierra says after they hug. "Im okay, it's okay; I got split up from Kim and Adam after those vampire guys tried to attack us and a group dressed as cowboys. Guys, they KILLED a group of skeletons this is not a game anymore people are dying!" Anna says quickly. "We know, me and Sierra saw them kill Sara West," Liam says. Anna looks at them and stumbles back a little, Kevin grabs her and pulls her close to him while she cries into his chest. "They've known each other since kindergarten and used to be best friends until they grew apart," Kevin says while looking at us. Sierra looks at Anna with pity but at the same time she's trying to come up with a plan. After a minute or two of just standing there Sierra says, "Guys, I have a plan." They all look at her with curious eyes. After Sierra explains herself Anna leads her to where she got separated from Kim and Adam which is towards where the scream was coming from. "Do you really think this will work, it's 2 against 3," Anna says as they walk. Sierra went through this in her head many times and although the vampires are stronger, she knows they aren't smart. They hear whispers coming from ahead and they stop walking. Sierra can see 3 of the vampires talking to each other on one side and then Kim and Adam tied up on the ground on the other side. Sierra looks at Anna, then back  at the vampires. Sierra nods to Anna and she nods back, after taking a deep breath Anna walks out from behind the tree and towards the Vampires. "Hey freaks! What do you think your doing to my friends!" Anna yells as she gets closer to them. They all turn around and look at Anna. "Run, run as fast as you can, run away from slender man," one of the vampires say. Chills run down Anna's back and fear creeps up her throat. She backs away slowly as two of the vampires walk slowly towards her. They pick up the pace and Anna turns around then runs toward where they just came from. Sierra finds a large rock and walks slowly towards the vampire that stood behind. He's back is turned towards her and she takes the rock then hits him in the head with it. The vampire falls to the ground with a thud, Sierra drops the rock and breathes heavily. "Sierra!" Kim whispers loudly. Sierra goes over to them and unties them. "What the hell is going on? Where's everyone else," Adam asks as he gets up from the ground. He than walks over to the guy that Sierra hits and then kicks him repeatedly. "Adam stop! He's knocked out," Kim says to him. he continues to kick him and Kim pulls him away. "He needs to be dead, he killed some of our classmates and other people too, he needs to be dead!" He yells the last part and Sierra tells him to shush. "Adam it's okay, we're going to catch these guys," Sierra says reassuringly. Kim looks at her confused, "How?" she asks. Sierra gives them a sneaky look, "I have a plan...now help me tie this guy up." They tie him up to a tree and put tape over his mouth. They then run towards Anna and the others. Anna runs as fast as her feet can take her and she only needs to run a few more feet before this is all over. All of a sudden three more of these vampires runs in front of her and she stops in her tracks. She breathes loudly as the vampires give her a mischievous look. "There's nowhere left to run little piggy, give up now and we'll spare your soul." Anna looks at them with horror and she can see Kevin's trap in the distance. If only she can get them a little bit closer, then they will be the ones giving up. She thinks fast but before she can act, Kevin yells to them. "Hey psychos! come and catch me if you can!" Anna looks at him with wide eyes. "Ready or not here we come!" The vampires say in unison. A vampire grabs Anna while the rest chase after Kevin. About a minute later a loud snap is heard and then grunts. Anna fights her way out of the vampire's grip and runs towards Kevin. The vampire runs after her and a second later Kevin hits him with a tree trunk and he hits the ground hard. Anna looks up and see's the rest of the vampires in a large net hanging from a tree. Anna smiles to herself and then looks at Kevin. "Who knew blood sucking demons could fall for such a simple trick," Anna says teasingly. Just then Sierra, Kim, and Adam come running towards them. They look up at the vampires they caught and they all laugh. "What are you laughing for? The jokes on you." One of the vampires say. Before Sierra can ask what they mean, Liam comes running up to them with the police and the leader of this tag game. They all look at the situation and the leader smiles at Sierra's group. "Congratulations, your group has won first place." Sierra and the others all look at each other with confused looks. "What do you mean we won, didn't Liam tell you what they did?" Sierra asks. The leader, named Mary, walks over to Sierra and puts a hand on her shoulder. "This was all a setup, there was never any real murders. We decided to make a twist to the game to make it more interesting. We had people volunteer to be killers or to be victims and whatever group was able to catch them or stop them, would be the winner. Isn't it brilliant?" Mary explains. Sierra and her group don't say anything and just stand there looking stunned. The police start to untie the vampires from the tree and help the guy that Kevin knocked out. "Hey, we're missing someone," one of the vampires say. Sierra looks at him and says, "Oh yeah, I knocked someone out and we tied him to a tree, it's about half a mile straight ahead." The vampires look at her and then start to walk away. "Come on, let's get you guys out of this forest, you must hate it now," Mary says. Sierra and the others follow her out the forest and back to where it all started. 

                                                                                                       ~

Happy Halloween Everyone and I hope you are having a spooktacular day! 

I wanted to make a short story because I wrote one last year and thought this could be a tradition where I write short story's just for halloween. 

I know this is not my best work but I don't usually write horror or scary stories. Even though I could have made it better, I tried and that's all that matters. 

Anyway, I hope you liked it and have a wonderful, spooky Halloween!! 

UPDATE WILL BE COMING SOON FOR BEAUTIFULLY INSANE!!!! 

VOTE. COMMENT. FOLLOW ME!!

Ps. If there are any grammar or spelling mistakes Im sorry, I didn't have time to edit. 

Love, Santana.