Max was actually surprised to see his friend be the one to reach for the cupboard handle-his brief feeling of genuine pride in his friends bravery was immediately replaced by sheer terror. He had actually been so wrapped up in James just opening the door itself that he'd forgotten that there might be something on the other side. 

	The monster that had sprung out before them was actually just his neighbor in a mask howling and slashing about with a knife Max himself very much thought was real. Usually the braver of the two boys Max found himself frozen to the spot, his legs turning to lead as he could feel his eyes go wide. The adrenaline surged as Max watched the maniac's knife coming down in a motion that he believed would be the last thing he saw. 

	Then Scotty learned to fly. Atleast that's how it briefly looked from Max's point of view until, the way his body cleanly jerked backwards and up into the air reminding Max of something out of a play. The whole thing actually came close to making Max think this very well might be some elaborate joke-that was until the still masked Scottys flying body smashed violently into the wall above the now open cupboard. Dust and splinters reigned from above as Scotty's invisible wires were cut, his now limp body falling a good few feet to the floor in a violent heap followed by the sickening snap of what was probably a bone. Through all the chaos the fake monster mask had proven it was totally worth the money by not falling off in the slightest, although now instead of wild screams all Scotty uttered from behind the thin plastic was a low grunting moan of pain. 

	Before Max knew it he found his legs moveing on their own accord-instinctively he had turned around in an attempt to flee. Instead he was shocked to see another girl from town, and just like everyone in town Max recognized her face but in the adrenaline filled moment he couldn't quite remember her name. He didn't spend much time on trying to remember either, instead his attention had been quickly drawn to the creature behind the girl.

	At first Max thought it was another person dressed as a monster but quickly realized it was just the filthiest person he had ever seen. Adding to her disgusting appearance was the long greasy black hair that had begun to naturally turn into sick looking clumps. Size wise she was virtually a skeleton but that didn't make the feral look in her eyes any less frightening; Max might have found the jedi pose she was in funny had it not been for the fresh pile of Scotty on the floor. 

	Time seemed frozen for a moment as everyone stared at the strange looking girl who returned their looks with her own defiant look. Then she shattered the silence with what sounded like a whaling cry mixed with a hoarse scream [i][u]“GET OUT!”[/u][/i]

	At this point Max had hit his threshold for weirdness and found himself yelling the words his friend had been thinking moments before “Run away!” The words were obviously intended for, well, everyone-as well as a clear signal that Max himself had every intention of running. 

	Quickly making sure James was following Max took off in a dead sprint practically barreling through the shabby remnants of the front door upon reaching them and running down the porch he made his way into the street. Acting completely out of character due to the fear he didn't stop to talk to Molly or any of the other teenagers that had began cheering and booing upon their exit of the house, instead his mind being transfixed on the single idea of [u]RUN[/u]. Picking up his bike Max hopped on and started riding.

--

	About five minutes after speaking on the radio Brooks was greeted to his nightly show of watching Sheriff Carter try and squeeze his rather rotund frame out of the extremely small building-to Carter's credit though this night his large belly only knocked a single empty coffee cup from atop the front desk as he tried pass in between the Brook's work space and the filing cabinets. Truth was if he got much bigger he'd wind up a prisoner in his own police station. When he was finally clear of his last obstacle (the two “lobby” chairs), he stood in the doorway and turned back to face Brooks and said “Well I'll be seein ya tomorrow, boy. You try an stay out of trouble now. And make double sure not to be callin me tonight, it's me and the Mrs.'s anniversary.” With a spit in his cup and a tip of his hat he didn't wait for a reply, instead turning and heading out the door.

	A typical night in the Brimstone Police Department was rather uneventful-oftentimes the most exciting moment being the rare paper cut. That's why it was odd when the phone in the sheriff's office started ringing; technically the phone was for police business but more often than not it was used for Carter's personal calls. The fact that the phone in front of Brooks wasn't also ringing as a normal emergency call would made it seem even more like this was just a personal call Carter was going to miss.