Suzanne ran back to the bus. Goosebumps covered her back, and she felt an insistent tingle in her midsection that made her glance back over her shoulder. The town house’s door stood open and empty. The white monster hadn’t followed her out.

A group of people were milling around outside the bus, arguing with Marvin, the driver, who had also left the vehicle. They looked up as they saw her running towards them.

"There’s a," she got out, and had to stop for a moment to catch her breath. "There’s someone in that building!" she managed. Everyone was looking at her, but said nothing. "I don’t know, a man or maybe a woman, I couldn’t tell. They were wearing some sort of costume. It looks like a store mannequin." Some of the passengers looked at each other, then toward the nearby row of townhouses.

"What sent you running? Did they try to attack you?" Marvin asked, his heavy brow furrowed.

"Nn-no, not really, but…", she stopped to gather her thoughts. "I kept asking how to get out of here, but they didn’t reply. I got pissed off and joked that I wanted a Thanksgiving dinner, and they just pulled a whole fried turkey out of thin air in less than a minute!" The group was staring at her now, some chuckling and shaking their heads. Marvin raised an eyebrow, and the expression on his face took on an edge of concern.

"Hun, are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I’m alright, I’m not crazy, OK?" she said, with some anger creeping into her voice. "It’s still in there. If you don’t believe me, go back there with me and check it out yourself!" She crossed her arms. Marvin considered, then nodded.

"Wait. I’ll be right back," he said and boarded the bus again. Suzanne stood outside the door and watched him rummage around somewhere under the dashboard. He picked up a little black satchel and took something out of it. She saw a gleam of blackened metal. A handgun, she realized. Marvin quickly inspected the semiautomatic pistol (probably checking if it’s loaded, she thought) and stuffed the thing down the front of his pants, covering the bulge with his shirt afterwards. "Let’s go," he said. The rest of the group looked undecided as to what to do. An Asian kid, who appeared to be around twenty years old, took a step forward."You want to come too, son?" Marvin asked him.

"Yeah, I’ll go," he said, and gave a short, awkward grin before his face returned to a slightly worried expression. Marvin nodded. The trio set off toward the townhouse.