Chapter One
October 30th, 7:34 PM
Fetching, indomitable Erin Steele breathed in a deep gust of the crisp autumn air, sighed to herself, and smiled. There was no doubt about it: fall was her favorite season, and Halloween, which was only a day away, was easily the best day of the year. It was a holiday practically made for her-- when else was it socially acceptable to run around town at night in a skin-tight costume and get into trouble?
Her friend and partner Margot, on the other hand, hated being scared. Even now, as she sat in the driver's seat of her car, squeezing into her spandex outfit, she looked somewhat nervous. She shook out her medium-length reddish-brown locks and glanced anxiously from the open window to the night sky, which was already filling with stars.
"It's cold..." she muttered, clicking her belt around her waist.
Erin giggled softly. "You doing okay, Margot?"
Margot turned to face her friend and frowned. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't believe I let you talk me into this."
"Oh, come on. You'll love it." Erin pulled her white boots over white socks. She pointed out the window at a sign for "FREE APPLE CIDER." "See?" she said. "Cider! Doesn't that sound good!"
Margot mumbled as she stretched her gloves down her hands. She could be such a party pooper, sometimes. Maybe the fact that they were well outside of the city had brought up old, bad memories: it seemed like every time the girls ventured into the country, they were tied up by horny hillbillies or left to die in creepy basements. They were city superheroines, through and through-- for some reason, the rural baddies always got the drop on them. But what could possible happen here, at "Randy's Corn Maze and Pumpkin Paradise"?
Erin knew the answer to that question wasn't so simple-- answering that question was, in fact, the reason why they were sitting in the corner of "Randy's" parking lot, far away from the other cars, getting suited up. Margot had read an article yesterday about how three girls had gone missing in the past week, all of whom had apparently made plans to visit the "Pumpkin Paradise." The police had investigated and, of course, found nothing. But something about the situation rubbed Erin the wrong way. Like the way Randy had said "I'm sure they're having a great time" when reporters had asked him if he had any idea where the girls had gone. Honestly: who said that?
In truth, it was probably nothing: just a weird superheroine hunch, the kind of which Erin occasionally, recklessly followed into all kinds of peril. But it was All Hallows Eve and the young women had nothing else to do. "Randy" could be the sort of fun, odd adventure that Erin craved.
"Hey Margot," Erin had asked. "You want to go to a Halloween Party?"
"Umm, sure," Margot had said. "But I don't have a costume."
Erin had nodded. "Oh, yes you do."
The two friends applied their masks as a finishing touch and got out of the car. To the average passer-by, they were only a pair of long-legged, ample-chested, perfectly-rounded partygoers in sexy disguises. But any villain they met would know immediately that these weren't just ordinary Halloween pleasure-seekers: they were the two most daring superheroines in the city-- the Blue Lynx and the Black Bobcat.
Erin pointed across the parking lot, past only a few other cars, toward a small wooden stand in front of a vast cornfield. A small, thin man sat behind the stand next to a sign for ADMISSION, illuminated only by a tiny electric torch.
"Let's go get a ticket," she said, with a chuckle.
She gestured at Margot and the two girls strutted through the pebbled lot. The small man watched them coming and eventually got to his feet.
"Why, hello ladies," he said, in an unassuming voice. "How may I help you?"
He was old and pock-marked, with wrinkles like black rivers in the stark lighting of his booth. In his straw hat and tucked in shirt, he seemed harmless, the sort of man you'd expect to run an operation like this. He also seemed fascinated by Erin's breasts: his eyes hadn't left them since they'd first made visual contact.
"So let him stare," Erin thought, placing her hands on her hips. "It might make him a little more pliable."
"Is the maze still open?" she asked, in a self-consciously embarrassing girlish voice. She looked briefly at Margot to see her roll her eyes.
"Well, honey, we actually close at sundown," he said. He licked his lips. "Though I think we might be able to make an exception for a... uh... sweet thing like yourself."
"Great," Margot said, opening one of the flaps of her belt, "What's the cost?" She clearly didn't appreciate the old man's innuendos.
The old man's eyes finally left Erin's chest, but only to settle on Margot's. "Oh, I think for you two darlings, it's free."
Margot groaned, but Erin, full of Halloween feeling, barely had to fake her excitement. "Wow!" she said. "That's great news!"
The old man laughed, bent over, and fiddled with a drawer. "I'm actually gonna give you a special ticket," he said. "Just because yer both so gosh-darn pretty." He rummaged through a pile of things, huffing and puffing. "What are those costumes supposed to be, anyway?"
"Oh, these?" Erin said, smoothing out the spandex on her sides. "We're the Blue Lynx and the Black Bobcat. You know. From the city?"
The old man turned up from his work and squinted at the superheroines. "Ohhhhh," he said. "Yeah. I've seen you two." He snorted. "On the TV. Wow. Y'all look just like em!"
"Thanks!" Erin said. She could see Margot tapping her toe.
The old man finally pulled a small roll of green tickets from a drawer and set it on the stand. "Couple of crime fighters," he mumbled. "Don't reckon y'all have heard about the so-called crimes here at Randy's?"
"Oh, you mean the missing girls?" Margot said, sternly.
The old man eye's shined. "That's right. Missing. As in, we had nothing to do with it."
Erin turned to Margot and raised her eyebrows. No, that wasn't suspicious at all...
"I don't know what the papers say in the city," the man continued, "But them girls came here and left. We got eye-ball witnesses that say so."
He ripped two tickets off of the roll and held them out to Erin. "So I wouldn't worry y'all's cute little heads about it."
Erin took the tickets and smiled at the man. "Don't worry about us, sir. We're just here to have fun."
"Good," the old man said, plopping back into his seat. He pointed behind the stand at the entrance to the corn maze. "You'll walk in and a gentleman will take yer tickets. Enjoy."
"Thank you!" Erin chirped, with faux-enthusiasm.
She walked past the stand toward the cornfield, practically feeling the old man's eyes bore into her perfectly sculpted buttocks. Margot looked back for a second and shuddered.
"I think it's safe to say that this place is creepy as shit," she whispered, walking alongside her partner.
Erin nodded. "I know. Isn't is great?"
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