Fiction:"Lightning Demons" by AmandaKnox

Heavy rain at the break of dawn and the Ecto 1 is rushing through the streets, Kylie is driving and Eduardo half asleep in the passenger seat. Eduardo: "Half an hour before the end of our graveyard shift and we get called out at stupid O'clock in the morning in a thunderstorm" Kylie: "Urgh quit with your whining!" Eduardo just glances across, too tired to argue. A bolt of lightning suddenly hits the ground right in front of the car, they both scream as the Ecto 1 screeches and skids through puddles to a stop. They both take a deep breath. Kylie: "That was too close!" A flying creature swoops down over the windscreen. Eduardo: "What was that?" Kylie gets out of the Ecto 1, quickly views the area and takes aim, Eduardo opens the passenger door and stands to see the creatures swiftly rushing around above them, he runs round to the back of the car and opens the door to reach for his proton pack, the creatures are shooting lightning bolts all over the road, Kylie repeatedly dodges and shoots, missing them with every shot. Eduardo emerges from behind the Ecto 1 and blasts randomly at the sky, unable to see clearly as the blinding lights are flashing all around him. Eduardo looks up to see one of the ghosts hovering over his head, he screams and jumps out of the way just in time as a colossal bolt hits the ground where he stood. Eduardo sits with his back against the car where he fell, trying to catch his breath. Suddenly, Kylie begins to scream. Eduardo: "Huh?" Eduardo peers over the bonnet of the car to see Kylie engulfed in lightning, sparks flying from her as she falls to her knees. Eduardo: "KYLIE!" Eduardo blasts the ghost and holds it for as long as he can, trying to pull it in and keep his balance at the same time, but one beam is too weak to hold it alone, it wriggles free and flies to join the others as they head towards the next block. Eduardo runs over to Kylie, she lays on the floor, eyes closed, her hair is pure white. Eduardo: "Kylie?" He grabs her arms firmly and shakes her, panicking. Eduardo: "Wake up Kylie!" Kylie suddenly opens her eyes, she places her hands on the ground, pushes herself up slowly without saying a word and sits up on one knee, Eduardo smiles. Eduardo: "Oh man, I thought you were toast". Kylie says nothing, she stays on one knee, looking Eduardo in the eyes with a blank stare, Eduardo's smile begins to fall as he suspects something's not right. Kylie places her hand on Eduardo's leg, keeping her eyes fixed on his. Eduardo: "Huh?" Kylie's eyes begin to spark with tiny currents of electricity and releases powerful volts of electricity through Eduardo's leg. He throws himself back, screaming, he turns over, stumbles onto his feet and begins to run. Back at the firehouse day shift is starting, Roland and Garrett have just arrived for work in Roland's car. They pull up into the garage and Roland gets out. Roland: "Hmm the Ecto 1 isn't here, Kylie and Eduardo must be out on a call" Roland takes Garrett's wheelchair out of the trunk and opens the passenger door. Garrett: "And here we are missing all the fun" Roland: "Let's go see Egon, find out where they are, we might still be able to assist" Garrett and Roland emerge from the elevator and head into the lounge. Egon: "Glad you're here, Kylie and Eduardo are out on a call, I'll radio Eduardo and see where they are". As Egon was just about to pick up the radio when Eduardo bursts in through the doors, slams them shut, locks them and keeps his back firmly up against them, panting frantically. Garrett: "Looks like you've got it under control Eddie!" The door begins banging and shaking from the other side, Eduardo screams and jumps back. Garrett and Roland arm themselves, aiming towards the door. Garrett: "What ghouly have you brought home for us today?" Eduardo: "It's Kylie!" The Ghostbusters all lower their guns and look slowly towards Eduardo. Roland: "Erm, is it something you said or something you did?" Eduardo: "What? She's not angry, she's possessed! ...Or maybe both" A soft voice comes from behind the door. Kylie: "Eduardo..." Eduardo: "Erm... I'm not here!" The rest of the team glance at Eduardo, hoping he realises how stupid that sounded. Kylie: "Let me in Eduardo" Eduardo: "Go away" The doors fly open, sending Eduardo flying onto his back, a powerful gust of wind blasts through the open doors. The Ghostbusters shield their eyes while the wind is blowing towards them, the gust settles to a breeze and look up to see Kylie floating with white hair and her eyes generating sparks. Kylie begins to speak in a ghostly tone Kylie: "How bad mannered of you not to let me in" She raises her right hand and blasts the ceiling with electricity from her finger tips. The electric blast sets off the sprinklers, soaking the floor and forming large puddles of water. Kylie kneels down and moves her hand towards the puddle of water growing across the floor. Garrett lifts his proton gun and takes aim, he blasts Kylie's arm to stop her. Garrett: "Don't even think about it!" Roland: "The ghost isn't coming out! That's enough Garrett, it's not working and we don't want to hurt Kylie!" Garrett stops blasting and Kylie backs away, she turns away and quickly floats down the stairs and out the front door. Garrett: "After her!" Roland and Eduardo run down the stairs and jump into Roland's car to chase after Kylie. Roland struggles to keep up with Kylie in his car, they approach a traffic jam with no possible turning points. Eduardo: "Welcome to New York" Kylie disappears into the distance. Roland: "We lost her!" Eduardo: Kylie possessed and on the loose, there's a thought to lose sleep over" Roland: "By the way Eduardo, where's the Ecto 1?" Eduardo: "Err... when Kylie got zapped I had to leave it there and I ran back to the firehouse" Roland: "You what?" Eduardo: "No problemo, we can go get it now, I bet it's safe and sound" Back in the firehouse, Eduardo is parking the Ecto 1 back into the garage and Roland is walking in looking annoyed after parking his Mustang outside. Eduardo: "I don't know what you're so worked up for man, the car is fine, see?" Eduardo pats the wing mirror, knocking it clean off and catches it. Eduardo: (putting the mirror in Roland's hands) "Errm... Here you go" Roland gasps and stands in shock, holding the wing mirror in his hands. Back in the lounge, Egon is looking through his database for information on the ghosts with Garrett sitting close by and Eduardo slouched on the couch, but still concentrating. Roland walks in, wiping his hands on a rag, looking irritated Eduardo: (smirking) "Did you fix it?" Roland: "Yes. I fixed it!" Eduardo: "Jeez, it was just a joke" Garrett: "Err, hello! In case you guys had forgot, there is a demon that's taken control of Kylie and we need to figure out how to stop it" Eduardo: "How can you tell the difference?" Roland: "You're not funny" Egon: "That's enough, I've narrowed the options down to seven entities, Eduardo, as you were there it's up to you to identify it, I'll still need a sample for the best chance of finding out how to separate Kylie from the demon" Eduardo looks closely at the screen Eduardo: "The whole street was lit up like the fourth of July, it was hard to see, but they had spikes on the sides" Egon: "Was this the ghost?" Egon displays an image on the screen of the only one of the ghosts matching Eduardo's brief description. Eduardo: "That's them! That's the ghouly who barbecued Kylie" Egon: "Hmm. We're dealing with another kind of lightning demon" Roland: "More energy suckers?" Egon: "No, these demons create electric energy rather than consume it, they are more intelligent and organised than the lighting demons we've encountered before" Garrett: "Smart won't protect them from me" Egon: "They require a leader which they choose among humans" Roland: "In this case; Kylie" Garrett: "But when we zapped Kylie, nothing happened, any ideas how to solve this one, Egon?" Egon: "Afraid not, you'll have to try and get a closer look, see what you can bring back for me to study" Janine walks into the room Janine: "We have a call from the Broadway area, flying creatures shooting lighting at cars, good luck kids" Janine turns around and exits the room just as fast as she entered. The Ecto 1 arrives on the scene, people are running and screaming, creatures are flying and swooping all around, shooting bolts of lighting between cars and alleyways. The Ghostbusters emerge from the car promptly. Garrett: "Everybody get indoors! The Ghostbusters are here" They all begin to shoot at the demons, but they are too fast for the Ghsotbusters to keep up, they are too fast and lightning is flashing all around them. Roland: "I can't see!" Eduardo: "See? These things are impossible!" Garrett is trying to aim with precision Garrett: "Come on, come on!" A huge flash lights up the whole street with a blinding light and slowly fades out, everything is suddenly quiet. Eduardo: "Are we dead?" Roland: "Look!" From fading smoke, Kylie begins to emerge, walking towards the Ghostbusters, but now she's wearing a white and pale blue dress with black lace around the bottom. The Ghostbusters gasp as they notice she's walking a few feet above the ground. Garrett: "Hey, you scrub up nicely, don't you agree Eddie?" Eduardo's voice shifts to a whimpery tone Eduardo: "I think she wants to kill me" Garrett: "Well, same as most nights of the week" Kylie suddenly floats forward, moving very quickly, Eduardo screams and begins to run. Garrett blasts Kylie before she manages to get past them, Roland shoots too. The streams are holding her, but no ghost emerges. She screams and struggles, pulling away from the beams. Roland: "We can't hold her, Eduardo, we need your proton beam too!" Eduardo just stands there, grasping his proton gun tightly. Garrett: "Eddie! Blast her now!" Kylie struggles free and flies away into the distance much faster than they could possibly run. Garrett: "Nice one, Eddie" The Ghostbusters get back into the Ecto 1, Roland starts the engine and begins to head back to the Firehouse when the radio sharply crackles Egon: "Ghostbusters, we have another call, disturbances in the scrapyard in the west side" Garrett: "Let me guess, lightning storm, flying demons, demonic goth chick terrorising lives?" Eduardo: "Hey, that's Kylie you're talking about" Garrett: "Woah, I'm sorry, didn't mean to insult your girlfriend" Eduardo: "Shut up roller boy" Egon: "I'm still here and yes it seems as though you are correct" Roland: "On our way, Egon" The Ghostbusters arrive at the scrapyard, the lightning demons are circling the yard, charging up bits of metal and throwing them across the site. Garrett powers up his proton pack Garrett: "Guess who's just joined the party, your worst nightmare" Eduardo: "You proud of that sentence?" Garrett: "Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed" The Ghostbusters fire their proton streams towards the ghosts. The ghosts swiftly fly around, again avoiding the proton beams Eduardo: "This is pointless, they're too fast!" Garrett: "Just keep blasting!" Roland: "I have to agree with Eduardo here Garrett, we haven't been able to hit a single one!" Kylie floats over from a pile of scrap metal Kylie: "You just don't learn" Garrett points his proton gun at Kylie Garrett: "Oh but we do" He blasts towards Kylie, but she flies out of the way Eduardo: "She's fast" Kylie appears behind them Kylie: "Stay out of my way or you'll be sorry" Garrett: "Ooh that sounds like a threat" Eduardo: "Err... Garrett" Kylie zaps a lightning bolt in their direction, they scream and dodge, landing on their sides Roland: "Nice one Garrett" Garrett glares at Roland then moves quickly towards Kylie Garrett: "Is that the best you've got?" Roland: "For Pete's sake Garrett!" Kylie moves closer and Garrett blasts, but she dodges again, picks up an old motorbike and throws it at Garrett, knocking him over Garrett: "That didn't go to plan" Eduardo: "You don't say" Kylie floats towards Eduardo and Roland with her eyes glowing with electricity and wind and debris blowing all around her Eduardo steps forward, forcing a serious expression onto his face Eduardo: "Kylie! It's Eduardo!" Kylie growls: "Eduardo" Eduardo: "I know you're in there!" Eduardo begins sweating and getting nervous Eduardo: "Erm.. We need you back!" Kylie begins laughing demonically, she walks up to him, sparks surrounding her hand as she moves it towards him Eduardo is frozen in fear, sweating more, he takes a small step back. Kylie suddenly stops, her hand is shaking as it's just inches away from his face, she hesitates for several seconds and pulls herself back. She floats backwards, turns her back to Eduardo and takes off, flying out of the junk yard. Garrett: "That was weird" Roland: "It's like she heard you and she managed to stop herself" Eduardo stares into the distance where Kylie disappeared Eduardo: "Well, we lost her again, back to the firehouse" The 3 Ghostbusters are back at the firehouse, all sitting in the lounge. Roland: "I don't know what else we can do, even if we did manage to hold Kylie in the proton beam, what next? We couldn't just keep her there" Egon: "My initial thought was that she's possibly being controlled remotely from another ectoplasmic source, but she has ectoplasmic properties, otherwise the streams wouldn't of held her as long as they did. But there must be some way of separating her body from the entity" Garrett: "We need to figure something out soon, we're down one Ghostbuster and she's electrocuting the city!" Egon: "Until we get another call informing us of her whereabouts I suggest you all get some rest, this may be a long chase" Eduardo and Roland curl up on either end of the couch and Garrett shifts himself over to the arm chair. They all watch some DIY program TV with the lights dimmed and one by one they all begin to drift off. Eduardo slightly opens his eyes and sees a familiar silhouette sitting on the coffee table, unfortunately Eduardo's brain is still mostly asleep and he mumbles while he turns onto his back with his eyes closed. Eduardo: "Kylie, move out the way of the TV" As Eduardo's brain catches up to the situation he quickly sits up Eduardo: "Huh? Guys, wake up!" Roland: "Wha... what is it?" Eduardo: "Kylie! She was sitting right there!" Garrett: "You sure you weren't just dreaming about her, Eddie?" Eduardo: "Yeah right" Roland looks over the back of the sofa as he sits up and sees Kylie standing at the back of the room Roland: "It's no dream. There's Kylie!" Garrett shifts himself back onto his wheelchair and arms himself. Kylie steps a little closer and flying demons raise from the floor into sight. Kylie rushes towards the other 3 Ghostbusters and they all blast her just before she manages to reach them. Garrett: "We've got her!" Kylie throws a bolt of lightning, throwing Garrett against the wall, his chair falls onto it's side and he rubs his shoulder Garrett: "I really need to start putting the brakes on" Kylie floats towards Garrett, electric sparks flying from her hand, she moves her hand closer to his face. Roland and Eduardo release proton streams onto Kylie to stop her. Kylie turns towards Roland and eduardo, she raises her arms in the air and the flying demons begin to surround her, with her back facing Garrett. Garrett has a clear view of a large lump moving on Kylie's upper back. Garrett: "I've got it!" Garrett aims for the fleshy blue bulge he sees protruding from the back, top of Kylie's dress and blasts, Kylie lets off a stereo screech. Garrett: "It's on her back, I've got it!" Roland and Eduardo blast the lighting demons as best they can, but still can't catch them. Roland: "Of course, it's possessing her externally and we've only been blasting her from the front, we've just been hitting Kylie!" Eduardo: "Man is she gonna be ticked!" Egon runs into the lounge Egon: "What's all the commotion?" Eduardo: "We're a little busy here Egon!" Roland: "Garrett has the creature in his beam, if we can get Kylie in our's we can pull her this way and separate the two!" Roland and Eduardo blast Kylie one more time to pull her from the creature. Kylie falls to the floor and the ghost squirms in Garrett's proton beam, Eduardo blasts the ghost too, pulling it in towards them. Roland grabs the ghost trap from the desk and opens it in his hands and holds it up towards the ghost. The beam from the trap surrounds the lighting demon and draws it in as it squeals. They turn around to see the lightning demons still hovering, the Ghostbusters scream as the ghosts open their jaws and move swiftly forward, they suddenly spark and disappear into thin air. All: "Phew" Egon takes hold of the ghost trap Egon: "Nicely done Ghostbusters" Kylie awakes and sits up groaning, she goes to rub her head and sends a spark of static electricity through her hair Kylie: "OW! What the...?" Kylie still has white hair and the 3 guys just stare at her blankly. Garrett whispers to the other guys Garrett: "Don't say a word..." Kylie: "Who's dress is this?" Roland: "Erm..." Kylie: "Did someone undress me?!" Garrett: "No..." Kylie storms into the bathroom, the guys just stand there in silence feeling awkward. Kylie screams and runs out of the bathroom Kylie: "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR?" Egon: "The lightning demons you challenged earlier made you their leader..." Eduardo nudges Egon Eduardo: "I'd wait for her to calm down first if I were you" Kylie: "Does anybody wanna tell me what's going on here?" Egon looks at Kylie's hair Egon: "Hmmm, it's only white down to the roots, it'll grow back" Kylie looks around, hoping that somebody will explain, but nothing Kylie: "UURGHH!" She storms out of the room Garrett: "Where you going?" Kylie: "To get some hair dye!"

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