Haunt You

19. Holding On

     (3:26 AM)

"Alright guys..." Dan gulped and briefly Hahahahaha glanced at his friends, then flashing back at the Flaming Skull. "Let's not end up like those lads from the story."

"Agreed." They all nodded.

This was a "go with the flow" type of plan, otherwise known as improvisation to the band. No one knew when to lash out, nobody timed out when to use their skills, none of the guys anticipated what the Flaming Skull would do. Kyle swallowed at the crack of the spirit's bony knuckles, creepily moving as the situation intensified. That was when Will decided to take action. His hand gripped around the tweezers, and he lunged at the tall ghost, attempting to stab it. The bassist winced in horror as he felt a strong fist of smoke hit him directly in the stomach. His entire body felt weak and limp as he fell to the Flaming Skull's feet, moaning in agony of the burning pain he was feeling in his abdomen.

"WILL!" Woody cried, held back by Kyle before he could take a dumb action in revenge. He broke free and knelt to the wooden floor to aid his friend's pain.

"He's fine! Don't get distracted!" Dan told the drummer.

"How do you know he's fine?" The Skull finally spoke. His voice surprised the band, with the low grumble and coarseness intimidating the four mutated musicians.

     "Give us the damn proof!" Woody roared, getting up from the floor. "If Charlie really is dead, give us a picture or some proof that he's dead!"

     "Mate! Why'd you say that?!" Dan slapped the drummer in the arm. "If Charlie's alive, he'll go and kill him!"

     "SILENCE!" The Skull threw a massive ball of fire at Dan, hurling the singer into the wall. "YOU WILL ALL DIE."

     "Never!" Kyle hissed and blurred up to the demon.

     His heightened senses gave the upper hand, and being in a drastic situation triggered Kyle's body to contort into a bat's. Though, this time, the transformation was more disturbing than ever before, and right in front of the others' eyes, the keyboardist morphed into a man sized bat, with deadly fangs that prevented him from fully closing his mouth. Will looked up weakly and let out a gasp at the giant bat, with Woody already clinging to his body in fear. Dan watched in awe as his best friend screeched aggressively at the unfazed spirit, attempting to take a bite out of the Skull. Then the singer's eye widened in horror as his mate was swatted to the floor, a flaming cut inflicted on his upper chest.

"What the fuck did you do to him?!" Dan roared with a demonic voice.

"A simple spell that will spread flames along his weak and pathetic body until his skin is burned off to the bone," the ghost smirked, and bore his bony and rotting teeth. "Your friend's burning has already started," his flaming finger pointed past Dan's face and to Will.

"Holy shit! The skin on his hand is gone!" Woody cried and jumped off his friend. "Is that contagious?!"

"If only," the skull-head casually stared down at his non-existent nails. "I mean, since your half-skeleton friend here has bones open to air, he's already next to burn."

"WHAT???" Dan screamed and felt a warm sensation on his face, feeling his freckled skin slowly burn away from the flames. "WOODY! DO SOMETHING!!!"

"Like what?!" the drummer confusedly looked at all his band mates, collapsed on the flooring, flopping around from the extreme fires.

"Come here!" The flaming skull shouted and threw a massive ball of flames and smoke at the mutated football player.

Woody barely dodged in time, only to have another near-miss directed right at his face. This game was dangerous, one hit, and he would be saying goodbye to his pale skin. Everywhere he hid, the flames followed, every room he escaped and ran into, the Flaming Skull sped right after, hot on his trail. He shrieked at each ball that was hurled at him, not knowing what to do, nor how to react or call for help. Charlie was possibly gone, so he knew that was a useless source of safety, and all three of his friends were dying from severe burns. He felt like his mind was closing in, the smoke clogged his natural instincts, Woody felt as if he was going to black out from all the pressure.

Suddenly, he felt a tingly sensation in his feet, causing him to stare down and gasp. Are my shoes glowing??? The Plymouth native observed the faint green light that emitted from the football shoes, with heavy smoke and orange light of flames obscuring the true forest tone. He coughed and weakly stared up at the growing figure that cowered menacingly over him. A ball of fire began to slowly form in the demon's bony hand, slowly brightening up with monstrous flames of yellow and orange, with violent tones of red wrapped within. The Flaming Skull thrashed the flames at Woody, and on pure gut instinct, his leg swung back and kicked forward with an almighty force, sending the ball back, into the spirit himself.

"OI!!! THERE'S PEOPLE UNCONSCIOUS HERE!!!" a man yelled from downstairs. "Get three stretchers!!!"

No, no, no, no, no...not my friends...please don't die...Woody panicked and fled down the steps, unexpectedly into the arms of an alive and well Charlie Barnes.

"You're okay!" the musician dressed up as Starbucks cried and buried himself into the dusted and soot covered drummer.

"But they're still holding on to their lives," Woody worriedly pointed out. We have to get to the hospital, now.