HALLOWEEN: WITCHING HOUR

Haddonfield Memorial Hospital 11:41 PM

The heat inside the hospital is intense but Harker's crew has managed to push back the flames so that Matthews's crew can get to work breaking down doors. Both crews are now halfway through the surgical wing, but progressing is beginning to become a problem as they push deeper into the hospital. The fire knocked out the electricity in the lower level and the hallways have filled with smoke and steam from the extinguished fire. In addition to the limited visibility, navigating the hallways is becoming more complicated as the crews get closer to the epicenter of the blast that started the fire. Sections of the ceiling have caved in and walls have crumbled creating small barriers in some parts of the lower level.

Harker lays down a final blast of water to a wrecked hallway and yells "Clear!" to Matthews. Matthews taps two of his firemen on the shoulder and motions for them to move to clear the wet hallway. The men move cautiously into the wreckage with their axes drawn. The taller of the two firemen points to a door and his partner acknowledges the order as he breaks off and begins to hack at it with his axe. The taller man continues to the far end of the hallway.

The Haddonfield Fire & Rescue handbook game-plan for clearing large scale fire situations like this one is to have men pair up and clear a small area separately and meet together at the middle point. The idea is that it gives those who are deeper into the burned area a chance to be rescued at the same time as those who are closest to the exits.

The taller man carefully squeezes under an I-beam that has partially collapsed out of the ceiling and is now lodged between the wall and the ceiling, creating a slash in the middle of the hallway. He makes his way to the last door in the hall and moves to chop through it then stops. The door is blown in half at an angle just above the handle and amazingly is still somehow attached to the hinges on the frame. The fireman grasps the door knob and jerks but the wrecked door doesn't budge. He looks to the ground and waves away some of the smoke so he can see clearly. He shines his flashlight on a large chunk of wood jammed between the bottom of the door and the other side of the hallway. The fireman tries to move the chunk but it's too heavy to lift. "Son of bitch." he mumbles into his mask.

He flicks his light up in the direction of his partner but the wall of smoke and steam obscures any chance of sight. "Al? Hey Al?" the fireman calls to his partner. "Yo Al!" The only response he gets is the sound of an axe thudding into wood. He turns back to the door and gives it another hard yank. Nothing. He raises his axe and throws a hard swipe into the upper hinge of the door. Just as he yanks it out he hears a groan from inside the room. The man jerks his head in the direction of the noise.

"Hello? Is someone alive in there?" He waits...something crashes over in the room! "Hold on buddy I'm coming!" The fireman furiously hacks away at the door hinge. One, two, three, four chops and the top hinge pops off. He jerks the door down with all his strength and the bottom hinge pops off and goes sailing into the hall behind him. He steps into the room and shines his flashlight into the smoke. Can't see shit in here. The fireman waves his hand around trying to dissipate the smoke and he spots a steel stool that has been knocked over. His flashlight traces a path on the floor around the stool when suddenly a blackened hand reaches out of the smoke and grasps his ankle!

****

Al delivers the final chop to the door he's whacking at and the pushes the door open. Smoke rushes out of the room filling the inside of his goggles and blinding him. He stumbles into the room trying to shake off the sting in his eyes and is thrown to the side by a great force! He lets out a yelp and drops his axe as his body is tossed into a charred cabinet. The destroyed cabinet disintegrates under his weight and he is buried under soot and burned wood. He shrugs off the debris and frantically scans the dark room. A thick wall of black smoke backlit by smoldering embers hides the contents of the room.

"What the hell was that!" Al yells into the darkness. "Who's there?" His fingers fumble on the ground and find his flashlight. He clicks on the light and brings it up searching the room. Suddenly the smoke curls away in a fantastic puff as the blade of his axe cuts through it and sinks into his skull.

****

The fireman reaches down and grasps the charred hand. "Oh my god." he breathes. "It's okay I'm here to help you." He waves smoke away and a still breathing body is revealed. The young man in front of him is badly burnt all the way up his right arm and some of his dark curly hair has been burned away as if someone shaved half the poor bastards head. A wheeze of pain floats from the lips of the burned man. The fireman shines his flashlight on the man's torso and spots his name tag, "Jimmy".

"You're gonna live Jimmy. You're gonna live." the fireman tells him as he gently moves the man's burned head to the side. "Al! I need you goddammit! I found a breather!" The fireman calls out to his partner. "Just hold on one second buddy." The fireman tells the burned man. He gets up and hurries to the door way, "Al-" He stops as a shape of a man comes out of the smoke in the hallway. "It's about time! Hurry I need you in here!" The fireman rushes back to the side of the burned man.

The shape enters the room behind the fireman and walks up behind him.

"He's unconscious! Get his legs we need to move him." The fireman tells who he thinks is his partner. The shape doesn't move from behind him.

"Come on man hur-" The fireman turns just in time to see the shape stabbing a shard of wood at his neck. The wood plunges into the fireman's throat and the force of the blow knocks him back against a charred table. The fireman grasps the shard of wood jutting from his neck as he falls to his knees. He tries to speak but blood fills his mouth. Why would Al do that? The thought floats through his mind. The fireman gasps his last breaths of life as the shape begins to remove his jacket.

****

As crews rush into the entrance of the hospital a man wearing a fireman's jacket, helmet, and face mask walks out carrying Jimmy's unconscious body. A life flight helicopter touches down in the parking lot and Grady and Linklater rush Dr. Loomis's body over to it and help to load him in. The shape avoids them and heads straight for an abandoned police cruiser, unnoticed. The shape lays the unconscious body of the burned man on the ground and enters the cruiser. As the tail lights drive off in the direction of Haddonfield, Dr. Loomis let's out a scream of pain in the helicopter.

"Michael!" Loomis cries out.

Linklater leans in and comforts him, "It's ok Sam, he's gone! He died in the fire. You're safe."

"Okay we're flying!" The pilot calls into the cabin.

Linklater and Grady back away as the life flight rises from the parking lot. Linklater watches the flight take off into the night but Grady's attention is on the hospital entrance, watching all the people running in and out of the burned-out area.

"Do you know that for a fact Doc?" Grady asks.

"Do I know what?" Linklater replies.

"That Michael Myers died in that fire?"

"What?" Linklater looks at Grady confused.

"Was his body recovered?" Grady presses him.

"Well no, but nobody could have survived that blast and those flames!" Linklater says defensively.

"Loomis and Strode did."

Linklater breaks eye contact with Grady and looks to the hospital entrance. He watches as fire, police, and now EMS crews flood in and out of the hospital. Out of the corner of his eye he catches the flashing lights of a lone police cruiser as it drives away from the scene.