HAPPY OCTOBER! Month of Chills and Thrills!

...The Hallows Presents...


Gruesome Killer in the Promised Land


The road was short once he got off the highway. He was at the top of the Pocono Mountains heading to the Promised Land Lodge and Resort. This rural route road took him through the slums of the mountains, the boondocks, hillbilly heaven, before the forest swallowed it up as it peaked at the top of the mountain. Calvin crossed over a tiny bridge dividing the lake, up the hill and he could finally see the Lodge.

Calvin got to his room and went to the Meet and Greet Dinner for the convention. He did not want to be here. He had never come to one of these alone before. Usually Lisa was here with him. How many nights he wished she was his wife instead of Natalie. Over ten years now, Calvin blamed Natalie for this empty bed in his room. He blamed himself for everything else. And worked hard to overcome the guilt that comes from his kids' eyes.

Perhaps this was good for him. Something kept him from inviting anyone else to come, and Calvin had a very big family. Why wouldn't he? He was rich and his last name was Carnegie. Calvin could have invited any of his cousins, nephews, or nieces. But instead he went alone, even when one of his oldest nephews lived not 20 miles away...in the mountains...

A conscious choice, Instead he went alone. And took this as a chance at a retreat from his entire life. Calvin went to the prestigious Kendrix Ballroom for a drink after dinner. Many of his colleagues were at the bar as well. None were there that he actually knew. It was to no surprise, he was the only agent who got enough awards to be invited in all the Connecticut branch. He sat down next to a beautiful woman in her forty's and ordered his drink. They talked the night away, but before falling to temptation she revealed to be married. As she walked out Calvin muttered, "Had to be a brunette."

Calvin was now the last one sitting at the bar in the ballroom. The bartender topped him off after that and they got to talking. Gibbons told him all about the history of this place as he held his bottle of whiskey.

It was a casino and ski resort in the fifty's; a luxurious mountain getaway for the rich and powerful. There was a big fire that destroyed the casino, after that Edgar Wallace Kendrix built this ballroom in its place. In the eighties the ski mountain shut down. Now all that is left is the hotel and scenic beauty. When Calvin asked him why the ski mountain shut down, Gibbons tried to not answer. It was not until late in the night, when they were both drunk and Calvin brought it up again.

"Turns out," Gibbons whispered, "Some of the locals are nut-job recluses. And at least once a year there was an incident the ski mountain had to cover up."

"Incident?" Calvin squinted.

"Kidnappings, assault, rape,...murder..."

"My lord."

"Some people..." Gibbons looked around, "...like myself...Believe the casino fire was just another incident."

"Did anything ever happen? Families informed? Did the Authorities find them?"

"They-"

"Time to close up Gibbons!" ordered the Ballroom Manager.

The manager escorted Calvin out and apologized for Gibbon's ghost stories. Calvin returned to his room and thought about his drive up here and what Gibbon's had said about the natives.

Maybe he should leave?

* * *

Calvin slept through the night and after finishing his morning meetings went to the pool for the afternoon. The indoor pool was beautiful. If there wasn't a hot tub, the over-chlorinated water would have been a problem. After another lonely dinner, Calvin joined his fellow agents in the ballroom for another night.

Gibbons was not there, but the brunette was back. This time in a very tight and very short red dress. He watched her get drunk and flirt with other agents all night. That is until he crossed paths with her outside the bathrooms.

"I see you found your wedding ring," Calvin commented resentfully.

"Yes.." she smiled, "...but I seem to have lost my panties."

Calvin put down his empty whiskey glass on a shelf and pressed her up against the wall. He slid his hand up her thigh and under that tight red dress. Calvin kissed her neck and pulled her skirt up. He turned her around and unbeknownst to them a stranger crossed the bridge into the Lodge. He dragged a sparking ax grinding against the road.

The valet saw him coming up the field when he finished parking a car. He approached him in the dark of the night and did not expect what was next. The ax was lifted and swung into the chest of the valet. He never got a look at his face. The only fortunate one.

The Gruesome Killer walked around the back of the hotel. He entered unnoticed by anyone, lurking in the hotel hallways like a shadow. He entered the kitchen and walked through. It was almost 3 in the morning. Most of the staff was off. The dishwasher put his jacket on and opened the door to the ax dragging killer. Before the dishwasher was carved out like a pumpkin he looked straight into the eyes of the Gruesome Killer.

Calvin finished with her in the bathroom of the ballroom. He did not have the guts to bring her back to his room or go back to hers. The Killer walked amongst them. She returned to her room and he returned to the bar. Who knows where the murderous fiend was. Just as he walked in the door, Gibbons was starting his shift. Calvin smiled and called out. Gibbons finished putting his smock on and waved. Calvin's smile twisted and was turned upside down. The ax of the killer swung out from behind the bar in the back of Gibbons while he was waving.

Calvin could see the tip of it peeking out his chest. The few others who were left in the ballroom screamed and ran out. Calvin tripped over a table as he ran. He tried to get out but he had to see this murderer's face. The Gruesome Killer turned around before Gibbon's corpse. Calvin could see everything.

He was draped in dark flannel and a down jacket almost torn to shreds. It was all covered in dried mud and blood, along with his steel-toe boots and black jeans. He dragged his ax and looked at Calvin. The last one still in the ballroom.

Calvin could now see his face.

The Gruesome Killer had a beard with a scar through it and his left eye, which looked fake. He also had a snub nose, like that of a pig's. Half of his face was mostly normal, except for the scarring. The other half looked like it was burnt or deformed somehow. It emerged from his weird pig-nose all across his cheek to his forehead and chin.

Calvin didn't think it was human. Why did it not speak?

He got to his feet as the Killer threw tables over to get to him. Calvin ran out of the ballroom and tried locking the glass doors. He ran up the stairs to call the cops as the glass doors were blown in. The stairs led directly to the lobby.


Calvin got to the front desk. "Call the police!" he yelled.

"We're trying, he must have cut the lines."

"What about cell phones?"

"You can try, but there is no service tower up here. That is why we do not offer wi-fi in the rooms."

"THERE IS A MURDERER ON HIS WAY UP HERE!"

"What are we suppose to do?" argued the graveyard shift front desk managers.

"We have to warn everyone!" demanded Calvin. "Pull the fire alarm!"

"Everyone is sleeping, sir."

"That would drench everything."

"This is crazy!" Calvin screamed as the ax came around the corner for his head. Calvin ducked out of the way just in time and crawled to safety. The two managers jumped out from behind the the front desk and escaped out of the lobby to their cars. Now it was just the Gruesome Killer and Calvin.

Calvin ran through the lobby. He had to choose where to go. Back downstairs, outside to the courtyard, or up to the rooms. He ran up the stairs, but not to the rooms. The Killer followed him and him alone. Calvin was beginning to take it personally.

The Gruesome Killer walked up the stairs. Calvin watched him from the fourth floor. The brunette female agent rushes out of her room with her luggage. She was no longer wearing the red dress.

"I'm getting the fuck out of here!"

"Wait! Don't!" The girl panics and shoves Calvin off of her, down the stairs. The fleeing female takes the old fashion elevator down. The Killer leaves the stairwell to stop the elevator. He opens the door and the girl is pinned in a box of death.

The Gruesome Killer hacks her to pieces with his ax.

Calvin wakes up to the gargling screams of the dying girl. He gets to his feet. His ankle is throbbing, he must have twisted it falling down the stairs. There was no time for that now. He had to rely on adrenaline to cover the pain of running on his ankle.

He got up the stairs, back to the top. He stood next to the spa. The clanking of the ax on every step brought him back to Calvin. But finally he had an idea to escape this madness and get back to his family.

Calvin brought the Gruesome Killer to the top observation deck of the Promised Land Lodge. When the killer got through the door to the outside, Calvin tried to slip by and lock the door. The psychopath dropped his ax and caught the door with both of his enormous hands. His arms and shoulders were over-towering the rest of his 6-foot-tall body as he squeezed the steel and pulled it open.

Calvin put all his weight into closing the door but it was useless. The killer was too strong. So he let go and pushed forward. The momentum shifted and threw the Gruesome Killer off balance. Calvin ran out and the freak giant got to his feet and chased him. The door closed behind them. Calvin closed his eyes as he heard the door lock itself upon closing.

He was now stuck out on the observation deck with the Gruesome Killer. He grabbed the railing and peered over. If only there was a way to get him over the ledge. Calvin ran back around to the door. There he was on the other side. In between them lay the ax. They both made a move for it. Calvin put his feet on it and then jumped on his shoulders as the Gruesome Killer bent down to pick it up. Calvin scraped at his neck and face to hold on. His fingers slipped as his deformed skin fell off.

It was make-up. Calvin fell back to the floor and the murderer turned around, standing over him. The moonlight caught his face. It was changed. The Gruesome Killer in the Promised Lands was a lie. He picked his ax back up. Calvin could not believe it. All this time, Calvin thought it was a monster. The Killer lifted the ax over his head. When really it was the only thing worse.

The ax came down like a sentencing gavel. Calvin took the blow to his chest. His heart was slit in two, his chest plate cracked in half. The Killer left the ax in his Uncle Calvin. He climbed over the edge of the observation deck and jumped off. The sun had risen. The bloodshed was finally over. Police lights pulled in under the morning dew.

The law was retrieved by the night managers...the only two who got away... They would later find out it was a massacre. The Gruesome Killings in the Promised Land did not just happen in the kitchen, ballroom, and observation deck. In each and every room, the guests were brutally ax murdered. The police looked everywhere for survivors but never found any. If they had showed up only 5 minutes earlier, Calvin would have been one.