Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > The MCR Tour Chronicles

Chapter One: Scarecrow

by padfoot_001 6 reviews

The boys are touring for the first time ever and are eager to explore the big bad world and get the best out of their road trip. But the have to wary of the places they stumble upon.

Category: My Chemical Romance - Rating: R - Genres: Angst,Horror,Humor - Characters: Bob Bryar,Frank Iero,Gerard Way,Mikey Way,Ray Toro - Published: 2008-10-25 - Updated: 2008-10-26 - 13603 words

2Original
Disclaimer: I don't own My Chem and I don't own Supernatural

WARNINGS: Each chapter of this story is based on the mentoned Suprnatural episode. The different characters create a slightly different story but the basic plot details are the same. Each chapter contains scenes of horror, violence and there is heavy swearing. If you didn't like the show, you probably wont like this.

Chapter One - Scarecrow

The crowd roared out his name over and over again. Guys and girls alike reached out to him just so they could touch him, make simple contact if only for a second or two.

There he stood with his brother and three best friends, on top of the world.

Ray started strumming his guitar; Mikey's base accompanied it well. Then, Bob's drumming added to the sweet melody right before Frank's reckless yet perfect rhythm. Gerard squeezed the microphone tightly before finally screaming into it.

Instantly, the whole place went wild.

Nothing could be heard but the roar of the crowd.

Tens of thousands of people clapped their hands as cameras flashed all around him. This is what he had dreamt of since he was a little boy; this was what he had always wanted.

They were huge, they were bigger then huge.

My Chemical Romance ruled the world!


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"Wake up!"

Gerard instantly jolted up right at the sound of someone shouting into his ear.

"Frank? What the fuck?" he moaned, clasping his head as the hangover he had been expecting hit him hard.

"What were you dreaming about sleepy head?" Frank asked in a raised voice.

A wicked smile spread across his face, he knew Gerard was hung-over, he knew his loud voice would only add to the pain and yet he did it anyway.

"Frank ... please, not so loud," he whined, wondering how the sun could be so fucking bright. It had been raining last night after all, least he thought it had.

Frank giggled before leaning forward in his seat, just far enough so he could reach in-between the driver and passenger seats to the volume knob of their vans stereo. He flicked his wrist and turned up the music so loud that Gerard was sure his brain was about to explode.

"You little ass-hole," Bob complained as he momentarily took his hands off the wheel to cover his ears. Mikey, who had been sleeping with his feet propped up on the dash board, glasses askew with a long line of drool coming out of his mouth, suddenly came to life at the loud noise. He flailed around like someone had just dropped a spider down his pants.

"Wasthefuks'gonon?" he cried, straightening his glasses as he spun around wildly to try and decipher what had just happened. "We there already? What’s happening?"

"No Mikes, nowhere fucking near where we're supposed to be yet. I just thought I'd get everyone psyched for our show tomorrow night," Frank yelled out over the excruciatingly loud music. He jumped around in his seat, head banging to the song.

Indeed, tomorrow night they had another show, not exactly the glamorous packed filled, full staged show that Gerard envisioned in his dreams, but a show nonetheless. Most of the time they played on a designated floor space which was usually on the same level as all the kids who watched them, if they were lucky they got to play at a place with a stage.

There was no glamour and there was no class. They would get completely covered in sweat, blood and alcohol and then they would cram themselves back into their smelly little eight seater van and travel miles and miles for the next performance.

Gerard didn't mind. It was dirty, messy work but someone had to do it. Sure, they didn't get paid much and when they did it was usually in booze and food, but he got to road trip with his brother and his friends whilst doing something he loved almost every night. That was rewarding enough.

But they still had a good day and a half of eating at shitty food stops and driving through nothing but desert before they got to take the stage again. Basically there was no fucking reason for Frank to wake them all up; he only wanted to do it because he was an annoying little shit!

Bob hastily turned the music down and Frank just sulked.

"Come on Bob! I'm fucking bored back here!"

"Well maybe if you hadn't of slept all fucking day yesterday you wouldn't have as much energy as you do today!" Ray complained from the back seat where he had been stretched out, absorbed in a music book.

It still amazed Gerard how Ray could just sit there and 'read' a music book. All it had in it was a bunch of notes and random chords and yet the guitarist would sit and study over it for hours and hours.

It was because they were all so different that they got along so well.

"Let’s go see a horror movie or something tonight," Mikey said, spinning around in the passenger seat so he could see if Frank and Gerard approved.

"Oh my god! Yes! Let's do it." Frank was the only one who could rival Mikey's enthusiasm at the simple things in life.

"No, no, no!" Ray shouted, finally abandoning his music book as he threw it onto the van floor angrily. "We have too much ground to cover and I want us to actually practice tonight."

Sometimes Gerard wondered if they would get any work done at all if Ray wasn't around. He was the one that kept them all focused, he was the one that got their lazy asses out of bed every night and attempted to sober them up enough so that they would make it onto the stage.

"What's there to practice? We've done the songs a thousand times before, it's easy as Toro," Frank intervened, clearly keen to get out of the van and eat some popcorn.

"That's the problem Frank! We need to get some new material, which means we have to practice together to get a sound!"

"We can do that tomorrow, whilst we're driving through more desert! Why can't we just have some fun tonight?"

"For the record, I'm one hundred and fifty percent on Frank's side with this one Ray," Mikey chimed in as Frank high-fived him and Ray just scowled.

"God, you're such fucking children! Why do I even bother? Frank you should know better, you've been in a band for years. Practice makes perfect everyone knows that!"

"WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE JUST SHUT UP!" Gerard finally shouted out over what was the beginning of Mikey and Frank's long protest at Ray's words.

He clasped at his head and groaned again. Hang-overs were a fucking bitch. The only thing worse was a van full of bickering morons.

"Just cause you drank too much - again!" Mikey shot at him, folding his arms across his chest as he pouted.

"Yeah," Frank added causing Gerard to simply go back to lying in silence. He didn't want to be involved, he just wanted to go back to sleep.

"I've fucking had enough of all of you," Bob chimed in from the drivers seat. "The only person that has the right to complain is me! I've been driving for fucking six days straight! Either it's someone else’s' turn or we do what I want to do tonight!"

Everyone quickly shut their mouths and sat back in their proper places. They had all learnt long ago not to mess with Bob. When the guy wasn't playing the drums or sleeping, he was usually off somewhere working out. His arms were at least three times the size of Frank's and seeing as though he was the only one that would be more then willing to put up a fight, when Bob said shut up everyone would shut up!

Bob evened Frank out. When he got too much, Bob would simply give him a shove or a knock over the head and the proud musician would simply sit down and settle down. He knew when he was outmanned. Bob outmanned him. Which was a good thing because no one else could ever outman Frank!

"Okay, so what do you want to do tonight then Bob?" Frank asked, the venom in his voice at being out done not going unnoticed.

"I want to fucking sleep. I'm tried. I say we stop off at the next town and stay the night. Toro can practice, you and Mikey can go to your stupid little movie, if there's a cinema, and Gerard can drink and - I dunno - sketch or something."

At Bob's words Mikey and Frank each exchanged excited glances at having gotten what they wanted. Ray mumbled a bunch of swear words under his breath, he hadn't exactly won, after all he would be working on his own again, no one would be there to help him. But secretly, Gerard knew he was pleased, after all, Ray worked best on his own. The man was a fucking genius.

Gerard knew that he would have been happy no matter what they did, so long as there was beer. He knew that lately his drinking habits had been getting worse and worse, but if he had to put it down to one thing, he knew that it had to be the small guitarist bouncing around to an invisible beat next to him.

Frank Iero was the cause of all his problems. But he wasn't going to go there, not yet. Explaining why Frank was such a problem was just too confusing and way to inappropriate at that point in time in their hectic lives.

Gerard was just confused, at least that's what he liked to tell himself. Confusion was fine, the day it became clarity was the day he would seriously get concerned. But that day wasn't there yet ... or was it?

"So? What you gonna sketch?" Frank asked, poking him in the ribs rather roughly. Gerard just rolled his eyes, wishing that Frank would settle down and go back to sleep.

"Dunno yet - Vampires sucking on your blood, or maybe werewolves scratching out your eyes," he said, batting Frank's still prying finger away from his now quite sensitive bones.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nice! Make sure you show me," Frank said quite cheerfully, despite the rather dark comment Gerard had just made.

And that was exactly how Frank and Gerard rolled. They got each other, inside and out. They both loved horror movies, they both loved comic books, they both loved music and they both loved to really put on a show when they performed. When Gerard said he would sketch Frank in a gory fashion, Frank got it for what it was supposed to be, a compliment. If Gerard drew you as a rotting corpse, it meant he secretly loved the fuck out of you.

Gerard drew Frank as a rotting corpse far too often.

"What do you recon the chances of us finding some hot babes to accompany us to the movies in this backwards state are?" Mikey asked, pushing his glasses up his nose as he turned to face Frank.

"Who knows Mikes, maybe we should go to the local bar before hand, might pick up a few there."

Both of them sat there discussing their, as yet, imaginary dates as Gerard inwardly scowled at them. It didn't bother him how many girls his brother slept with. It did however bother Gerard how many girls Frank slept with.

"What about you Gee? You up for finding some sexy chicks to take out tonight?" Frank said, perhaps sensing how withdrawn he had become and trying to include him.

Gerard didn't date.

Whilst the others would buy girls at bars a few drinks, maybe take them back to the van or whatever basement they were crashing in that night, Gerard simply didn't bother.

They didn't appeal to him, he had no patience for them. They were leaches, ready to grab a hold and suck you dry. It was lucky all Mikey and Frank were ever after was a one night stand, they had only ever come across one or two cling-ons who loved the band so much they wanted to tour with them and never let them go.

After that day, Frank and Mikey had made a secret pact, no groupies. They didn't sleep with fans, period.

Ray and Bob had girl friends back home, girl friends they spoke to every night. Mikey and Frank had whatever they could find at wherever they happened to be that particular day. Gerard, well he was just left alone.

Mikey would more then likely try to persuade him to make-out with one chick or other, if only to keep himself satisfied that Gerard too was having fun. A few times in the past he had taken one or two home, just to keep Mikey off his back.

They all knew Gerard didn't like to be alone, yet he wasn't willing to date. They were confused and that was probably why they always asked him, just to check if today was the day he would join in and pick up some randoms with them.

"Er - na. I'll probably be too busy, you know, sketching - writing some lyrics maybe - drinking," he said, running a hand through his hair out of nervousness.

He hated when Frank was the one to ask him if he was going to pick up that night. Mainly because Gerard didn't want Frank to want him to pick up.

"Food!" Frank suddenly shouted out, causing Gerard to tear his eyes away from the guy. He didn't even realise he had been staring, he never did.

Frank was pointing eagerly to a rather large take-away shop, just up-ahead, on the side of the road. It certainly stood out amongst all the desert that surrounded it.

"The place looks dead!" Bob whined.

No one really knew what it was, but Bob had a thing about eating or sleeping or doing anything anywhere that there wasn't other people around. Sure, everyone liked company but it was just Bob's thing. The place had to have at least a minimum of ten people in it before he would even dare venture in.

"Maybe we can ask them how far it is to the next town," Mikey suggested helpfully, probably just as eager for food as Frank was.

Those two could eat for days on end and never get full and never get any fatter. Gerard envied them for that.

"And if they have a cinema there," Frank added, grinning at Ray if only to get him fired up some more.

It turned out Ray needed a pee stop as well, so in the end the whole van voted that a break was necessary. Reluctantly, Bob pulled up in one of the many empty car spaces. The doors were flung open and they all piled out, making satisfied noises as they stretched their limbs and heard delicate little cracks.

"This place is spooky," Mikey proclaimed loudly. "I love it!"

"I don't. Hurry up and pee Toro, we'll be asking for some direction inside," Bob said, a heavy frown still lining his face.

Frank and Mikey were already pulling out come cash and running inside the building, their noses in the air, eagerly smelling all the different choices that they could have for a snack.

Gerard stuck a hand in his pocket, his fingers curling around the lighter that was rested in there. He didn't need food; he just needed a fucking smoke.

"I need to buy cigarettes," he stated rather simply. Bob just nodded his head and the two of them walked inside.

Bob was right, the place was fucking dead. A couple of typical looking road dwellers (a.k.a. truckies) sat around at the counter. They all looked up as the bell on the door went off as they walked in.

It was strange. There were three of them and not one truck in site.

Gerard sensed the urgency that flowed off Bob; he clearly didn't want to be there. Frank and Mikey had already ordered their food so Gerard just slipped his brother some money and asked him to get his smokes for him.

"There a town we can stay at somewhere close by?" Bob asked a young girl working at the register. She looked him up and down, popped her chewing gum and then smiled kindly at him.

The place was a typical American truck-stop. Gerard hated it, perhaps more then Bob at that moment because the larger man seemed to be enjoying his discussion with the young cashier quite a bit. Gerard just rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Look what we got," Mikey cried out happily as he waved a tub of nachos under Gerard's nose.

Frank was standing by the door, hunched over his own tub of the same food as though scared someone was going to come up and take it right from underneath his nose. He shoveled the corn chips in and glanced around at the truckies warily. Gerard half expected him to growl a warning at them.

The moment Mikey handed Gerard his precious cigarettes, he left Bob to question the register girl so that he could step outside and have a smoke with Frank. Mikey just stood there with them, inhaling the toxic fumes but not actually partaking in the actual smoking of them.

The three truckies that had been sitting at the counter soon came out to join them. They stood a good few feet away, lighting up their own cigarettes and watching them all out of the corner of their eye. When Bob finally came out they were all so relieved to get away from the prying eyes that they stood up simultaneously and headed for the van.

"So where's the nearest town?" Frank asked, not really looking all that interested in the answer as he got stuck back into his nachos.

"About two hours drive away. Sounds alright though, apparently the people are real nice," Bob said, stealing a nacho. Frank watched with sad eyes as Bob devoured it.

"Oh man, you know I hate towns like that," Mikey protested, shaking his head. "They're all 'howdy neighbour' and 'how's the kids' and 'lets have a typical American dinner tonight, we'll invite everyone in the whole town'. Makes me sick. T.V. families, the whole lot of them."

Gerard laughed at his brother. Somehow, over the years, they had both acquired a great dislike of places like that. Everyone there was always so fake. Gerard hated fake people.

"Well, I actually thought this place might be right up your alley," Bob continued as though Mikey had never spoken out.

"What makes you say that?" Gerard asked, suddenly becoming quite interested.

"Hot chick at the register said that every year on this exact date any one that goes through that town is never heard of again."

At Bob's words, Mikey, Gerard and Frank all stopped to stare.

A horror story, oh how they loved those. All three of them were hanging off Bob's every word, eager for more; it was as though he was telling some soothing bed time story. They lived for this kind of stuff.

"What else did she say?" Mikey questioned, his voice almost a whisper.

If anything, Mikey was the biggest sucker of the group. For years and years of his childhood he had believed that some sort of sprit visited him at night. Gerard believed him until one day Mikey changed his story and claimed that the spirit was actually a vampire in disguise.

Gerard couldn't quite figure out why or even how a vampire could disguise himself as a spirit and immediately proceeded to tease Mikey about how he liked to make up lame ghost stories. Yet, as he grew up, Mikey still had this odd obsession. Any horror movie they watched, no matter how fake, Mikey would spew out a few outstandingly explainable facts and they would all get far more into the movie.

"She said it's usually a couple. Man and a women, might be on a road-trip or something. Problem is, if they pass through this time of year, they never make it to their destinations," Bob continued, simply shrugging as though it was obvious the whole thing was bullshit.

"What happens to them? Do they get all hacked up? Are they found in pieces all scattered through the place?" Frank finally joined in, now shoveling the remainders of his nachos in his mouth as though it was popcorn and he was finally at a movie.

"What? No, sicko. They just go missing. You don't actually believe it do you? God you guys need to get out more."

With that, Bob rolled his eyes at them and jumped into the driver’s seat. By the time the rest of them all piled into the van, Ray was already fast asleep.

"Should we wake him and tell him the scary ghost story?" Frank asked, that chaotic glint flashing in his eyes.

Mikey was already leaning out the window with his hip-top, trying to get enough reception so that he could get 'Google' up on his phone and attempt to find any information about this so called mysterious town. If it was on the net, then by Mikey's standards it was one hundred and fifty percent real.

"Na, he'll probably get freaked out and make us turn around. I wanna see some dead bodies," Gerard said, suddenly feeling much more awake as he decided it was late enough in the day to crack open his first beer.

"They don't die Gee, they 'go missing'," Frank corrected him, using quotation fingers to exaggerate Bob's words. "Besides, it's not going to happen to us. Bob said couples, man and women. We're safe Gee, don't worry. There are only women aboard this train."

With that both Frank and Gerard burst into a fit of laughter as they both reached under the seat and pulled out the case of beer they always had under there. It was warm, but it was better then nothing.

"Speak for yourself Frank, I'm no fucking girl," Bob whined from the front seat as they continued to head towards their mysterious location.

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"Would you take a look at this place!" Frank exclaimed, nose pressed to the window as his breathing began to fog it up.

"Looks like 'Stars Hollow'," Mikey added. He moved closer and closer to his own window until his glasses clinked up against it. "You know, from 'Gilmore Girls'."

"I'm not even going to ask why the hell you watch that show," Frank added, shaking his head.

"The chicks are hot Frank! God, where have you been?" Mikey quickly defended himself. "What do you recon the odds are we'll find some hotties here Gee? Everyone looks like they're way passed their prime."

Sure enough, as Gerard stared out his own window he noticed the over abundance of old people. Once again, quite typical for these smaller towns. The young get out as soon as fucking possible before they die of boredom. The old are just so stubborn in their old ways that they refuse to leave. Stuck to rot in a dead town.

"What do you recon Mikes? Look like a bunch of killers to you or not?" Gerard asked his brother as they drove past an old couple who frowned deeply at them. It was clear these people didn't like strangers.

"Hell yeah. That one looks like Aunty Cass; remember how I told Mum she tried to poison my fruit juice. I still stand by that. Bunch of heartless murderers, all of them." Mikey nodded his head, satisfied that he was definitely right and no one could convince him other wise.

"Dude!" Frank shouted rather angrily as they drove past an old building. "That's just fucking great Bob! The cinema is closed for repairs! Now what the hell are we supposed to do?"

Sure enough, the building they were currently passing had an old rusty sign protruding from the wall that read 'Picture Theater', on one of the boarded up windows read another sign that said, 'Closed due to fire. Repairs in progress'.

Frank continued to mope until they finally pulled up at a tiny little Inn. It wasn't much, but it would do. They were tired of sleeping all over each other in a cramped van and they were all long over due for a shower. Before they even left the vehicle they all promised that they would leave first thing in the morning.

This town wasn't them, it was too fucking quiet.

"Er - we'd like a couple or rooms please," Ray asked the old lady at the front desk of the Inn. Her face broke into a kind smile as she flipped open one of her books.

"I've only got two I'm afraid. Two single beds in each one, so one of you may have to sleep on the couch," she explained, her eyes moving to each of them in turn.

"That's fine, much better then where we've been sleeping at the moment anyway," Ray explained, always one to make fine small talk.

Frank and Mikey walked around the entrance to the Inn, sticking their noses into any open doors, probably to try and locate where they could get food from.

When the old lady finally handed over the keys, they grabbed what little luggage they had and headed up the stairs to their rooms. A slight shiver ran up Gerard's spine as he ascended the stairs and something told him that the lady was watching him as he walked.

It crept the fuck out of him, to say the least.

"Bags not sleeping on the lounge!" Mikey shouted, as Frank made a sudden dive and stole one of the keys from Bob.

"Bags not either!" Frank exclaimed as he ran for the room number on the key he had stolen.

"Well, I paid for the fucking things, so I'm not sleeping on it either," Ray called after them, stamping his foot in frustration.

"And I drove and it was my idea to stop here, I get a bed," Bob stated as though the matter was settled. No body dared argue with him.

"Guess I get the lounge ... again," Gerard claimed feeling slightly bitter. He always got stuck with the lounge if there wasn't enough beds, he hated it.

"It's only cause you're usually too drunk to care where the hell you sleep, don't go making us feel bad," Mikey said, obviously feeling guilty as he tried to defend himself.

Gerard didn't bother getting into an argument with him, in his mind he had a plan to get Mikey so wasted that he would end up on the couch. It was a long shot, but if it meant they could all sit around getting pissed until one of them passed out then Gerard was fine by that.

Bob and Ray ended up in one room and locked it the moment they got inside claming that they wanted some practice time and they wanted some rest. If Gerard, Mikey and Frank felt like actually doing some work then they could knock and ask nicely to join in. If not, they didn't want to see them, pure and simple.

No one considered this to be harsh or in anyway unjustified. They spent seven days a week, twenty four hours a day in one another’s personal space, if all anyone asked was for one lousy night on their own, no body felt they had the right to complain.

"Are the beers cold yet? I'm getting thirsty," Frank called out after all three of them had showered and fully devoured the wrapped cookies that were placed on their pillows.

"We only put them in an hour ago Frank, there's no way they'll be cold enough. If you want one, just have one," Gerard instructed.

Frank complained for a moment or two, then, thinking better of it, he asked Gerard to pass him one. He handed one to Frank, one to Mikey and kept one for himself.

They sat there, sipping on their beers, trying to decide what they were going to do. It was only midday, it was only early and they were already out of things to do.

"Maybe we should just go in and practice for a bit, it'll keep Ray happy," Gerard suggested. He didn't really want to practice, after a couple of beers any work ethic he had been trying to have was usually thrown out the window.

"Guys, you've got to check this out!" Mikey finally said. The second they had entered the room he had jumped on the bed and pulled out his phone. Since then, he hadn't put it down.

"What is it?" Frank asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Together, Gerard and Frank moved to Mikey's bed so they could all get a closer look at what he was spending all his time on the phone for.

"You know that story Bob heard from the lady at the take-away shop? Turns out it's actually quite true. Look here," Mikey passed on his phone to Gerard rather enthusiastically.

Gerard took it and started reading the newspaper article that was pictured on the screen. Frank leaned in closer so that he could see the article as well. He rested his hand against Gerard's leg as he moved in closer and closer, getting more into the story with each line he read.

At that point Gerard was no longer paying attention to what was on the phone's screen, his eyes may have been glued to it, but his mind was trying to come to terms with the fact that Frank's hand was on his leg and how he was supposed to feel about that.

"Holly shit!" Frank exclaimed loudly causing Gerard to jump a little in fright and hastily move his leg away from Frank before he could touch it again.

"I - I know, crazy isn't it," Gerard quickly threw in. He didn't want either of them to know that he had been too focused on where Frank's hand was to actually read the article.

"Every year, on this exact day, one couple passes through and one couple never comes out. Whether they die or not nobody knows, but it seems a bit strange to me. Says in the article this has been going on for years, if they were alive, you think someone would have turned up by now."

Mikey's eyes were wide with excitement. Gerard subtly kept a hold of the phone, trying to scan his eyes back over the article so he could actually read it this time. He wasn't sure how legitimate the story really was, after all, it was published on some horror fanatic’s website. Still, it appeared genuine enough and the people in the town certainly looked creepy enough to be involved in some sort of weird, ritualistic type killings.

Gerard found himself getting excited. Even though he knew that the chances of any of it actually being real were extremely slim, the beer helped his mind want to believe it, if only to pass the time.

"Right, let’s go check it out," Frank suddenly announced, startling them all by leaping up from the bed and pulling on his shoes.

"Check what out?" Gerard asked stupidly, unsure exactly what Frank meant. If he knew Frank, and he did, he knew he had some sort of glorious 'Ghost Buster's' type scenario playing out in his mind. Or maybe some bizarre 'Scobby Doo' fantasy where they would all go out and save the day.

He could actually imagine some of the old men in the town being found out and rambling on about how they would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for them meddling kids with their rock and roll music and beer.

"This Gee, lets like, check it out. We can be like spies or something. The lady at the front desk seemed nice enough; let’s ask her if she knows this last couple that supposedly went missing last year. Save that picture Mikes, we'll show her when we get down there."

Frank was so excited that there was no way either of them could settle him down and convince him just to stay in the room and have a few more drinks. There was mostly no chance of that happening because Mikey was already on his feet as well and, if possible, even more excited.

"Come on Gee, get up, grab a drink and let’s get the hell out of here," Mikey cried happily, bouncing around on one leg, trying to pull his shoe on.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

With that, they snuck past Bob and Ray's door, just so they wouldn't try and talk them all out of their little scheme, and walked down the stairs trying to contain themselves. When they got to the front desk there were two more people accompanying the old lady that had given them their room keys.

One was an older man, who was clearly her husband by the way they were so comfortable in each others space; and the other was a young girl probably about Mikey's age, Gerard guessed. She was obviously there daughter because, whilst she was doing light duties around the desk, it was clear by the way she was being spoken to so kindly that she was related.

"You boys find your rooms okay?" the lady asked, the moment she noticed they were quite loudly trying to figure out who was going to ask her about the missing couple.

"Er - yeah, just fine thanks," Mikey said, fumbling awkwardly with his phone. "Um, I have a quick question if that's okay. See, friends of ours passed through here a while ago and well, we were wondering if you had seen them at all. They would have had to stay somewhere; we figured this was probably the place."

Gerard had to admit, even he half believed his brothers lie. After all, who were they to judge, if they said they were friends of there’s, how could they prove any differently. The couple had been just another two passing through after all, nothing special about them.

The lady and man both stepped forward, taking the phone from Mikey, the girl Gerard had assumed was their daughter stopped going through the books on the desk and peered over the couples’ shoulders to get a look as well.

Then, the strange thing happened. They both looked at the phone, then at each other and then the man handed the phone back to Mikey and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, if they did pass through here I don't really remember them," the man said bluntly.

It was an all out fucking lie. They could all tell because immediately Frank's eyes widened and Mikey tried to contain an excited squeal. They were onto something. Who would have even guessed that they were going to stumble upon what could possibly be some sort of odd murder case?

"We've seen them, they did stay here!" the daughter suddenly spoke up, surprising them all. Her parents spun around to give her a look, but she continued anyway. "You remember don't you? He had this cool tattoo on his hand. They stayed for a night and then left the next day, what happened? Did they go missing?"

If this town did have some sort of murder ritual going on, the girl was definitely not in on it. A part of her seemed genuinely upset that the couple in the photo had actually gone missing. Mikey immediately stepped back into action.

"Yeah, they did. Last we heard they were passing through here, then nothing. They never made it to their next destination."

"Oh yes, you know, I think I may recognise them now. They did pass through here. Nice couple they were, man was a lawyer I believe, on his way to some court meet or other. I'm sorry to hear that news," the old man said, clearly knowing that he could no longer pretend not to recognise the pair.

Mikey continued up the lie for a few more minutes, even making up fake names for the couple and the names of two of their kids who were missing them dearly. Frank just rolled his eyes at Gerard; they both knew Mikey was getting carried away. He did that when he was drinking.

"Anyway, we were hoping you'd be able to point us into the direction that they headed off to," Gerard interrupted, saving his brother from getting more caught up in his own web of lies.

"They headed off to the one road that would get them back onto the interstate, I can point you in the same direction if you like," the man continued to explain, he honestly seemed quite eager to be rid of them. The lady just remained quite silent.

"Thanks for your help," Gerard said, taking in the mans directions as he gave them to him and making a mental note he was no doubt going to consciously rip up with the next few sips of beer.

"If we get to the bottom of this, little Timmy and Justin will be forever grateful," Mikey threw in, referring to the imaginary kids he had made up for the couple.

"You're a dead set moron, you know that right?" Frank stated when they were outside in the cool afternoon air and away from the creepy couple. "They seem a bit off to you?"

"Hell yeah! All bags full of crazy if you ask me. So we going to check the road out? Maybe we'll find their car or something ... Anyone else as excited as me?" Mikey rambled quite quickly as Frank pulled the spare key for the van out of his pocket.

"Who's drank the least?" Gerard asked, studying them all closely.

"It's a tiny country road with no one around. I'll be right," Frank said, rolling his eyes as he unlocked the car and jumped in.

"SHOT GUN!" Mikey shouted, rushing around to the other side of the car and climbing in next to Frank.

Sipping on his beer out of sheer annoyance, Gerard scrambled into the back. It was quite lonely sitting there all on his own and he was kind of glad it wasn't dark; he had this eerie feeling like something could just reach over the back seat and grab a hold of him.

Frank cranked the music up and they took off in the direction the strange old man had given them. Mikey couldn't sit still, it was a sheer sign he was overly excited. Gerard just watched Frank drive and continued to watch him as he wound down the window and lit up a cigarette.

Mentally he slapped himself for staring again and immediately he diverted his eyes to the long, lonely stretch of road as Mikey and Frank broke into song. Half way through the chorus, the music was cut off by a storm of fuzz.

"What the fuck?" Frank exclaimed, his cigarette dangling from his bottom lip as he spoke. Mikey stopped bouncing around immediately.

"What's wrong? Radio out of range?" Gerard questioned as he yawned. They were only about fifteen minutes from the Inn, but he was already falling asleep.

"It's not the radio Gee, it's a fucking CD," Frank said and for a moment Gerard thought he was joking. When Mikey and Frank both managed to keep a straight face he immediately joined in with their worry. The static continued.

"I'm pulling over," Frank explained, not bothering to put his blinker on as they hadn't passed another car the whole drive.

There was a moment of clarity on the CD player and then static again. Finally the stereo just went dead all together. Even though the light was still on and the song was apparently still playing, there was no more sound.

"Okay, I'll admit, that's creepy," Mikey said when Frank finally switched off the car and the stereo light went out completely.

"I think we're going to need more beer," Gerard stated simply, sipping on the remainders of his. Mikey and Frank nodded in agreement.

They shook the memory of the fuzzy CD out of their head and climbed out of the van. They were now in some sort of overgrown crop field, rain was lightly sprinkling down and there was even an odd sort of fog that circled all around them. It was spooky.

"No fucking way, check out this bad-ass looking dude," Frank called out, stamping out his cigarette as he ran off into the thick of the crops.

"Wait up Frank, don't go running off," Gerard called back, he hastily grabbed Mikey's arm and they ran after Frank. When the smaller man came back into view, Gerard let out a sigh of relief.

"Relax Gee, what did you think was going to happen?" Frank said, laughing slightly at his over reaction.

"I dunno - I just - never mind, just show us what's got you all excited." Gerard felt extremely stupid for getting so worried. Still, when people go missing every year on the exact day they were in now, well, it could get anyone worried for their friends well-being.

"This scarecrow man, freakiest shit I've ever seen. Like I'm talking ten thousand times creepier then that 'Jeepers Creepers' piece of shit."

With those words, Mikey and Gerard looked at each other with raised eyebrows. They had to check it out!

Quickly, they approached Frank and sure enough they found themselves face to face with one of the darkest looking figures Gerard had ever seen outside of a movie. The thing almost looked like it was actually alive.

On closer inspection it appeared to be stuffed with straw, even though it looked big enough to fit an actual man inside. The hair, that wasn't concealed by the decayed bowler hat, looked so real that Gerard was almost afraid to reach up and touch it incase it was. The eyes were like giant empty sockets and over most of its face was a mask that bared a striking resemblance to the type doctors and nurses would wear only this one was metal. Whoever made the scarecrow was trying to keep more out then just pesky birds.

"Is it just me or does it look like its breathing?" Mikey asked.

"That's the fu-gliest thing I've ever seen!" Gerard exclaimed causing Frank to bend over as his high pitched laughter filled the air.

"Check out the hook! This guy means business," Frank said, recovering from his laughter and stepping closer to the scarecrow.

"Careful Frank," Gerard warned, stepping forward. Once again Frank snorted out a laugh.

"Dude, what are you, my mother? Quit worrying, it's not fucking real," Frank announced, ignoring Gerard and moving closer and closer to the stringed up man.

Gerard held his breath as Frank peered into one of the empty eye sockets. He felt Mikey tense next to him as though he to was waiting for the thing to just scream "BOO!" At that point, Gerard knew it was all he needed to be set him running off and screaming.

"Holly fuck!" Frank suddenly exclaimed, backing up slightly. Gerard and Mikey rushed to his side.

"W-what? What is it?" Gerard asked, placing a hand on Frank's shoulder causing him to jump slightly.

"Fuck Gee, don't do that man. Look at it's arm - right above the hand. Are you seeing that?"

Frank pointed towards the scarecrow and, despite their slight hesitance before, Mikey and Gerard slowly approached it.

There, on the strangely real looking bony arm of the scarecrow was the same tattoo that the man in the missing couple picture on Mikey's phone had.

It was exactly the fucking same!

--------------------------------------------------------------

"You guys are back?" the young girl, that had been working at the front desk of the Inn, said as Frank pulled up out the front of the place.

"Er - yeah ... we have a room here, so you're stuck with us," Frank explained. It didn't go unnoticed by Gerard that it seemed the girl had been expecting them not to return.

"Any luck on your friends?" she asked, giving one last look into the Inn before slowly approaching them Frank's open window.

"Not yet, we're working on it though," Mikey said, jumping into the conversation and practically crawling over Frank to call out to the girl from the window.

"Excuse us, where are our manners," Frank said as he wrestled to get Mikey our of his lap. "I'm Frank, this here is Mikey and in the back you have Gerard." Gerard gave a small wave when the girl looked curiously at him. Mikey reached over Frank to shake her hand.

Gerard just sighed at how pathetic Mikey and Frank were being. Sure, the girl was attractive and certainly nice enough, not to mention she was the only person they had seen that was remotely close to their age. Still, it was no reason for them to act like Neanderthals around her, even if they had had a few beers.

"I'm Natalie, nice to meet you. Sorry about my Aunt and Uncle before, so many people come through here that it's hard to keep track of all those faces," Natalie explained, clearly warming up to them.

"So they're not your parents then?" Frank asked before Gerard could.

"No, my parents died when I was a teenager. They took me in. I used to live in the city; bit of a change moving out here but everyone was so nice it was hard not to feel at home."

Frank mumbled something about 'Stedford Wives' and 'Brain Washing' and 'Creepy' but nothing loud enough for Natalie to hear. She definitely seemed out of place in the town, not as fake as everyone else.

"So, it's a good town then, nothing weird, strange or unusual going on?" Gerard finally piped up, sticking his head in-between Frank and Mikey to ask his question.

"Unfortunately nothing exciting, no." They all almost laughed at the response. "But it's strange you know, all the other towns around us have had all their crops dry up, the land is basically destroyed, they've had to sell houses or knock them down. We're the lucky ones, guess someone's watching out for us."

Gerard backed up into his seat, whilst Mikey and Frank continued trying to hit on Natalie. What she said sounded so familiar, he had seen this sort of thing in horror movies before. The typical sacrifice to some god or something a rather to help your own selfish needs. You want something good to happen; you've got to be willing to pay the sacrifice. Somehow, Gerard knew what was going on here. As hard as it was to believe, these people were sacrificing these couples to keep their land from going bad.

It was the only explanation, no matter how farfetched it seemed.

"Sorry guys, I've got to go, looks like we've got more customers," Natalie said, turning around as they all heard voices approaching the entrance to the Inn.

Sure enough, there were two people, laughing and hugging as they made their way to the entrance of what could most likely be untimely death. It was a young couple, the perfect victims.

"I thought you didn't have any rooms left," Gerard called to her, making Mikey and Frank stare at him in confusion, wondering what the hell they had missed that he hadn't.

"I'm sure my Aunt and Uncle will find room for them," Natalie said with a smile. Gerard was sure she meant it in a kind way, but he was certain her Aunt and Uncle were only offering it up for their own selfish needs.

"Dude, did I mess something? What do you know that we don't?" Frank asked, the moment Natalie left to escort the couple to the front desk.

Gerard tried his best to explain his suspicions to Mikey and Frank, honestly, he just felt like laughing half way through. It all sounded so ridiculous.

"Oh my god! Do we hear ourselves?" Mikey said, the hint of a laugh in his words. "We watch way too many horror movies, there's no way anybody could be that sick."

"Yeah, you're probably right. But it's a bit suspicious isn't it. I mean, why couldn't they make room for us in there? We're paying customers too, why do they get the special treatment?" Frank whined, clearly agreeing with Gerard.

Finally deciding that they were having too much fun with their whole detective routine to give up now, they snuck back up to their room to get more beer before going back to their van and camping out.

They figured if anything was going to happen to the couple that they would have to pass by them first and they were ready when they did.

---------------------------------------------------------

Night came quickly and the three of them found themselves fast asleep in the comfort of their van. That was until two voices woke them from their peaceful dreams. It was the voice of a guy and a girl.

The couple.

Instantly alert, Gerard reached forward and tapped on Frank's shoulder.

"Yeah what? I'm awake," Frank moaned, sounding slightly groggy.

"Frank they're leaving. Quick, call out to them or something," Gerard explained, pointing out the window to where the couple were standing.

Immediately obeying, Frank wound down his window and called out to them. The man stood in front of the women in a protective manner. At first Gerard thought they were going to run away for fear of being grabbed and pulled into the van, perhaps they to had heard stories. But apparently tiny Frank and his punk-like hair style and a van covered in band stickers didn't register as a threat because they came closer, though still keeping enough distance so as not to be grabbed suddenly.

"Er - where you guys headed so late at night?" Frank asked them, trying to sound as non-hostile as possible. It was hard when you had just been woken up.

"Just heading back to the interstate, the mechanic found a problem with our car and it took a little longer then expected. It's fixed now though, so we're off," the man said as his wife clutched tightly to his hand.

"This late at night? Why aren't you staying here? It's a nice place," Frank said, pointing back towards the hotel.

"Nice work Frank, try and get them to stay, it'll be safer," Gerard encouraged him quietly from the back seat.

"They've got no rooms left. The lady was nice enough to let us stay for dinner but as soon as our car got fixed we figured we'd better not burden them any further." This time it was the lady that spoke, it appeared she didn't think Frank to be much of a threat either. Or maybe she caught site of the curious skinny, bespectacled boy next to him and figured if they tried to attack even she could take them on.

"I'm sure they could find you something. I mean, these roads ... it's really not safe this late at night," Frank pushed, sounding like some sort of obsessed weirdo. Gerard was sure the various vampire sketches on the side of the bus didn't help his cause any.

"I stopped being afraid of the dark along time ago. Thanks for your concern, but I'm sure we'll be just fine," the man said, grabbing his wife and leading her away.

"Damn it, now what?" Frank asked, spinning around to face Gerard as though expecting him to cough up some sort of brilliant plan.

"I don't fucking no. In my mind I expected them just to believe us and be done with it, I can't think of everything," he whined.

"Well, that's just fucking great. Ten bucks says they're dead, wave goodbye to the nice people," Frank said angrily, obviously not pleased he couldn't do more to help.

"Follow them!" Mikey piped up, pointing towards the retreating car. "Quick, follow them!"

With a lot of fumbling and a few mumbled swear words, Frank started up the car and sped off in the direction that the couple had taken. They caught up pretty quickly, it was clear they weren't very used to driving along these sorts of roads. Frank stayed just enough behind them so they could only just make out the red of their break lights. After all, they didn't want them to know they were following.

As they continued to drive, Frank turned the stereo back on; it had been switched off since their last trip. The CD blared out, the music quite clear once more.

Suddenly, the break lights up ahead slowed down and Frank found himself breaking so that they wouldn't get too close to the couple. Why were they stopping? Maybe they had noticed they were being followed.

"I'll bet the 'mechanic' back at the town did something to their car," Mikey said angrily.

"What makes you say that?" Gerard asked.

"Well, that's the same spot we started having stereo difficulties. That's where that fucking scarecrow is!" Mikey exclaimed. "Get closer Frank, I don't think they've spotted you yet."

As instructed, Frank got back onto the road and continued driving. The moment they passed by the couples car, the CD went fuzzy again. Gerard stared out the window, straining his eyes so he could get a better look at the car. It was empty. The couple weren't in it anymore.

"Shit, Frank pull over. We'll have to try and find them on foot," Gerard explained, signaling a good spot up ahead for Frank to stop.

"What? I'm not getting out if there's some crazy bastards on the loose looking to sacrifice people to a fucking scarecrow!" Frank shouted, his voice high-pitched no doubt from fear.

"Wow, I never thought I'd hear you say those words," Mikey said as he simply stared at Frank in amazement.

Somehow they managed to convince Frank to get out of the car, they didn't lock it up in case they needed to make a quick escape. If it was all just some stupid scheme to get them to leave their can unattended then someone would be seriously disappointed. All the van had was a few empty cans of beer and a bad smell. Whoever tried to nick it would die from the polluted air before them even made it to the next state.

"So, anyone remember the exact location of the stupid scarecrow?" Frank asked, lighting up a cigarette in shaky hands.

At that moment a high pitched scream filled the air and they all leapt into action. Running as fast as they could, they moved to the sound of a second scream, this one was from a man. As they ran, Frank's cigarette the only light they had, Gerard secretly prayed that they weren't too late.

Suddenly, through the dark, two terrified figures came rushing towards them. Immediately, Gerard, Mikey and Frank dug their heels into the soft dirt beneath them so that they could stop and see what had the couple so terrified. It didn't take them long to see.

"Our car - it's dead - something in the dark," the man shouted at them, clasping onto Gerard tightly.

"It's okay, we have our van, come on, we'll go there," Mikey said, consolidating the terrified women.

"What the fuck is that?" Frank shouted, pointing towards a dark figure that was coming towards them.

The moon seemed to shine through the thick crops and directly on a few of the shiniest parts of the figure in front of them. The metal mask glistened and so did the hook attached to the walking nightmares arm. It wasn't the old creepy couple from the Inn coming to sacrifice them all to the scarecrow; it was the fucking scarecrow itself.

"RUN!" someone yelled, Gerard wasn't even sure who, but they all obeyed.

Mikey led the way back to the van and they were forever grateful that Frank had decided to leave it unlocked because the second they got there everyone reached for the sliding door and leapt inside. Frank reached forward and slammed the door shut behind them all, but he really didn't need to bother for as they looked out the window, back towards the crops, the scarecrow was nowhere in site.

"Okay, just to be clear and so that I know I'm not fucking loosing my mind. We all saw the scarecrow, stuffing and all, coming towards us, right?" Frank asked, looking around him as though trying to decipher if everyone’s terrified looks were because they were afraid he was crazy or because they saw the same thing.

All anyone could do was just nod.

---------------------------------------------------

"Alright Mikes, tell me what you got?" Frank said, yawning loudly and rubbing at his tired eyes.

After fixing the couples car and making sure they were safely on their way back to the main road, Gerard, Mikey and Frank had pulled up just outside of town, where Mikey could get some good signal, and had connected to good old 'Google'.

Gerard had always been fascinated by horror movies and supernatural comic books, but never in his life did he believe that anything he saw or read was real. Until now of course. What they had all agreed they saw that night had been quite real.

"Okay, so from what I can figure, the scarecrow is like some Pagan God. In order to keep the land from getting ruined sacrifices have to be made, in this case a man and a women. One every cycle. The people in the town give them a last meal and then send them off to the slaughter, it's fucking sick!" Mikey finished, taking off his glasses for a second to pinch the top of his nose.

"Who would have thought those things could actually be real," Gerard said, slightly mystified and slightly horrified.

"If Pagan Gods and sacrifices are real, well what the fuck else is out there?" Frank asked. "Look it up Mikes, these weird bastards on the net that believe in all this shit might actually be onto something."

Mikey batted Frank's grabby hands away before cradling his phone as though nobody else could touch it but him. Frank crossed his arms and pouted, not impressed that Mikey wouldn't share.

"So, are we going to take it upon ourselves to kill this thing? Or do we just drive away? Or do we hire professionals? Are there professionals for this sort of thing?" Gerard scratched his head as his eyes threatened to close, his own questions exhausting him.

What was supposed to be a relaxing night at a nice, quite little Inn was now turning out to be an all nighter of crazy. It was early morning and the sun was just starting to come up, back at the Inn, Bob and Ray were no doubt sleeping soundly unaware of the chaos their base and rhythm guitarists and lead singer were trapped in.

"Well according to some online freaks we have to find out what Pagan God we're dealing with and then we can figure out a way to kill the bastard," Mikey continued, sighing as though frustrated with their whole predicament.

"How the hell are we going to find that out? No offense, but I flunked whatever fucking subject people studied killer Gods in." It was clear by Frank's tone that he was getting tired and cranky. One thing nobody in the band liked was tired and cranky Frank, he would argue with anyone over anything and everything. It was never pleasant.

"I'm actually online to one of Gerard's old friends now," Mikey said, proud that he was one step ahead.

"You are? Who?" Gerard asked, suddenly quite curious.

"Remember that guy that was like obsessed with your drawings. Went real crazy, thought you had actually seen zombies and werewolves, hence why you drew them so much," Mikey went on, causing memories to rush back to Gerard.

"Tim! I fucking remember him. Bloody creep wanted to take me witch hunting with him one night or some shit like that. I just thought he wanted to drive me out to some cemetery and violently kill me. What makes you think he'll know Mikes? And how the hell are you still in contact with him?"

Gerard shuddered at the memory of what was quite possible his first ever fan. The guy had stalked him for months on end, trying to get him to confess that he had in fact seen some supernatural being. Gerard was sure the kid would have needed a new pair of pants if Gerard ever told him what he had seen last night.

"He'll know because this is exactly the kind of shit he's into. And I dunno, I added him on MSN years ago, I just thought it was funny how much he crept you out," Mikey explained, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"You had a stalker Gee? How come I never knew anything about it?" Frank asked, whilst Mikey tapped away on his phone, his forehead crinkled in concentration.

"Well, you never asked," Gerard said, shrugging his shoulders.

There was an odd expression on Frank's face, one that Gerard couldn't even begin to read. If he didn't know any better it almost looked like jealousy, perhaps a little resentment. He had no idea, nor did he have time to figure it out because at that moment Mikey let out an excited cry.

"Gotcha!" he shouted, clapping his hands.

"What have you got? You find out how to kill it? Please tell me it's easy," Frank said, that look previously painted on his face completely gone.

"Sure did. Apparently there's some sort of tree that the spirit of the God is linked to. We find the tree and we burn it to the ground, the fucking scarecrow is toast!" Mikey said, slamming his hand on the dashboard for effect. "Oh and by the way Gee, Tim says hi and that he really, really wants to see you again."

Gerard let out a small chocking sound as his breath seemed to catch in his throat at those words. Frank simply shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Mikey looked utterly triumphant at having made his brother uncomfortable.

"We've got that son of a bitch now, lets go," Frank said, joining in with Mikey's excitement.

"Okay, hold your fucking horses, just, I seriously got to pee first," Gerard jumped in before Frank could start the car. If they went on another trip along the bumpy country road, he knew his bladder wouldn't last.

"Hurry up then," Mikey said impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah, give us a sec."

Gerard jumped from the car and headed for the bushes. He was aware of Frank and Mikey watching him from the window, probably just to make sure he was safe, but either way, he didn't like being watched when he took a piss.

Going deeper into the bushes, he found a spot he was satisfied was further enough away.

Undoing his fly he let loose and sighed as his bladder finally emptied itself out. It was at that moment he heard the sound of leaves crunching under somebody’s feet and it sounded like it was coming from somewhere right beside him.

He looked all around cautiously but couldn't see anything. He hated Frank and Mikey at that point because if it was them playing some sort of mean trick on him they should have known better, especially after last nights events.

Finishing up, he shook, tucked and zipped back up.

Then, turning around to head back to the van, he suddenly found himself face to face with the man that owned the Inn and he had a shot gun in his hands.

Before Gerard could say or do anything the back of the shotgun the man was carrying was lifted up and then brought down forcefully onto Gerard's face.

Immediately the darkness enveloped him.

--------------------------------------------------

"Either this is the worst fucking hang over ever or I really did get hit in the face," Gerard announced to no one in particular as he finally woke up from what seemed to be infinite darkness.

"Please, please, why are you doing this?" a female voice called out hysterically from his side.

Something registered in Gerard's head. This was bad. Whatever happening was bad, very bad.

Turning his weary eyes sideways he saw Natalie from the Inn. Tears were running down her face and for some reason he knew he had to comfort her. He tried to wrap his arms around her, but they wouldn't budge!

Looking up, Gerard saw that his hands were tied to a rope, so were Natalie’s, that rope was tied tightly around a tree they were currently leaning against.

Gerard recognised where they were, they were in the crops, they were near the scarecrow!

"Fucking hell," he moaned, trying to remember how the hell his stupidity had ended him up as a ritualistic sacrifice.

"G-Gerard isn't it?" Natalie stuttered out between sobs.

"Yeah, that's right." He pulled downwards with all the strength he could muster, desperate to break the ropes. There was no way he was going to help the people of this town live out another year, he had to break himself, and Natalie, free.

"Are we going to die?" she asked, her chest heaving as she tried to contain her fear.

"Well, put it this way, I don't really want to, so for now I'll stay in denial and answer no! We just have to find away to cut through these ropes," he said, only half paying attention to what he was actually saying, he was more concerned with how they were going to escape.

"Stop squirming kid," the older man from the Inn said as he stepped into view. "There's no way you can get out of this one."

Immediately, at the site of her Uncle, Natalie went into a fit of hysterics.

"Why? Why would you do this to me? I'm your family," she cried out, it was clear she was going to be no help in his escape.

"Natalie, we had to. You don't understand. The land will die, in turn we'll all die, this needs to be done. If there was anyone else I would gladly sacrifice them instead, but as it is we're already late, we've run out of options," Natalie’s Uncle said, softening slightly as he stroked the girls hair.

She turned away from him and he stood, staring at her sadly before finally turning and walking away.

"Wait! What about that last meal we're supposed to get?" Gerard called out after him, eager to buy some time or at least get something good before dying. "You could at least get me one last beer? A cigarette maybe?"

When his footsteps had died away Natalie’s cries faded to a gentle sob. Neither of them spoke, Gerard was too busy still trying to think of away out.

"Please tell me you have a plan," Natalie whispered from his side.

"Er - give me a few moments. They kind of caught me off guard with this one."

They sat in silence, chained up to the tree. Eventually day became night and Gerard began to panic. He didn't know much about this sort of thing, but only bad stuff seemed to happen at night. Something told him he was running out of time. The town’s people had them now, one boy, one girl, that we’re going to get brutally butchered by the scarecrow!

Instantly he remembered they had a show that night. He could just imagine the guys trying to explain to Brian how they had run into a real life scarecrow which was brutally slaughtering people to death. He wondered if the guys were even looking for him, why weren't they there? Didn't they care? Or where they in some sort of horrible trouble as well?

"We're running out of time," Natalie announced from his side.

"Thank you for that update Natalie, I'm well aware," he said angrily. Growling in frustration he lifted his butt slightly off the ground as he tried to put all of his weight onto the rope at his wrists.

He could feel the rope cutting and burning his flesh and still he held on. When he couldn't take it anymore, he let himself fall back onto the ground. Glancing up at the rope he was disappointed when he noticed that he had made little progress. It wasn't even frayed.

"Is it working?" Natalie asked, trying to look up at the rope.

"Sort of," he lied, more to himself then to her. He needed to keep up that sense of hope.

There was a few more moments of silence in which Gerard gave up trying to free himself and instead tried to wriggle his head around to see if the scarecrow had moved from it's perch. He couldn't see anything.

At that moment he was just down right pissed off because he was going to die and he couldn't even see when it was going to happen.

"Can you see the scarecrow?" he asked Natalie, she wriggled around a bit to until she finally just shook her head.

"What scarecrow? I don't see any," she said, staring at him in confusion.

It was at that moment that Gerard heard footsteps coming towards them. His heart rate quickened, Natalie’s sobbing started again.

That was it, they were done for, he would skewer their hearts and they would be dead in seconds, he wouldn't even have his friends by his side. He shut his eyes, he prepared for the worst and...

"Gee? Oh my god! Gee, are you alright?"

Immediately Frank came into Gerard's line of vision, a huge smile on his face as he hugged him rather awkwardly, he was strapped to a tree after all. Hastily Frank flipped out a small pocket knife and began cutting away at their ropes.

"I'm so sorry we didn't come sooner. The fucking sheriff of the town was looking for us; they already had Bob and Ray in lock up! You should have seen them; they were so confused, especially when we had to explain about the Pagan God shit. Ray still doesn't believe it but he was willing to trust our insanity long enough to come rescue you. Took us forever to bust them out, I'm just glad we made it back in time."

Finally Gerard and Natalie were free as Frank cut through the last few pieces of rope.

"Frank, the scarecrow’s gone, we've got to get the hell out of here. Forget burning the stupid tree, we'll come back and do it in the morning," Gerard quickly said as he took Frank's hand and was lifted to his feet. "Where's everyone else?"

"We had to split up to look for you, we've got a meeting spot, come on, we've got to get there quick," Frank said, his eyes wide with excitement despite how serious a predicament they found themselves in.

Natalie was deathly quiet as they ran through the crops, ears listening out for any sound of the scarecrows heavy breathing or footsteps.

"Gee! Thank fuck you're alright!" a voice shouted as they reached a clearing somewhere amongst the thick crops.

It was Mikey who reached him first and he threw his arms around Gerard and held on tightly. Bob and Ray showed up moments later, puffing and panting as they looked around at everyone in utter confusion.

"Okay, so is this the part where you tell us this has all been one great big joke?" Ray asked, staring at Gerard as though he was about to pull out a fog horn and a clown wig and start jumping around.

"No joke, there's really a killer scarecrow. Now can we please just get the fuck to the car!" Frank complained, bounding around on the spot as though he had to pee.

No body needed telling twice and immediately they all began racing in the direction of the van.

Gerard moved fast, he hadn't ran that much in years and he secretly promised to cut down on smoking, just so if this ever happened again, he would have more stamina.

Apparently he was thinking too hard on smoking and running out of breath because he misjudged the tree root he had been about to jump over and his ankle got caught causing him to tumble to the ground.

"Fuck!" he shouted, heart beating fast as somehow he knew that the scarecrow from hell was close by.

"Come on Gee, up, up, up," Frank instructed, appearing by his side in seconds and tugging at his arm.

With Franks help Gerard was lifted onto his feet and he took a few steps away from Frank to make sure he could still walk on his slightly twisted foot.

Straight away he knew stepping away from his friend was a mistake, before he could cry out a warning, the scarecrow was behind Frank, lifting his hook, it glistened in the moon before coming down and slicing through Frank's shoulder.

"Frank! No!" Gerard cried out, rushing to his friend. Frank let out a horrible cry, as the hook was roughly pulled out of him, before clutching at his bleeding wound with trembling hands.

It was then that there was a gunshot and a bullet hit the cursed scarecrow. It didn't kill it, it merely knocked it off balance for a few measly seconds, but it was enough.

Fueled with adrenalin, Gerard swooped in and grabbed Frank. He was a little rougher then he had intended to be and Frank whimpered with every movement, but he had him, he was safe and that was all that mattered.

The scarecrow's heavy footsteps came after them, they got faster and faster, panic struck Gerard hard and fast but he forged ahead, if anything, just to save Frank.

The van was insight, Bob was standing inside the sliding door with the shut gun raised and aimed over both their heads, he fired another shot only this one appeared to do nothing as the chasing footsteps didn't even falter.

"FUCK!" Gerard cried out as with one last push he and Frank dove into the van. "Shut the door, shut the fucking door!"

"Calm down Gee, he's gone. It's alright, he's fucking gone," Mikey said, trying to calm him and everyone else down at the same time.

True to his word, when Gerard sat in the sanctuary of the van and looked around their surroundings, the scarecrow was gone. They had parked right at the edge of the crop field, just like last time, it appeared the so called God couldn't venture beyond that point.

"It was real! I can't believe you were fucking telling the truth!" Ray exclaimed, apparently in shock.

"Makes you wonder what else we've been telling the truth about all these years don't it?" Mikey said with a half-smile.

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As soon as the sun came up the next day, Natalie showed Gerard, Bob and Mikey to the one tree that her Aunt and Uncle took the most care of. Somehow, without even really knowing how, Gerard just knew it was the tree they had to burn. They handed the matches over to Natalie and let her do the owners.

"So what are your plans now?" Gerard asked her as the tree burnt down in front of them. In the distance, he was sure he could hear the scarecrow cry out in pain, but he was convinced it was his imagination.

"I'm going back to the city. No more small towns for me. Think I'm going to stay away from any other relatives I come across to," she said, wiping at the hint of a tear in the corner of her eye.

They drove Natalie to the closest big city, there they put Frank in the hospital to have his shoulder wound taken care of whilst they dropped her at the nearest bus stop. She thanked them over and over again for saving her life and then boarded the bus and was on her way.

Gerard was almost sad to see her go, after all, they had nearly died together, that makes you appreciate a persons company.

After calling Brian to clarify the events of the past few days, the tour manager just sounded even more worried. After threatening to have them locked up in a mental institution, Ray took the phone. The moment he explained to Brian what he had seen, the man was no longer skeptical.

"Holy shit on a stick, that's just too crazy for words! But if you say it happened Ray, then I believe you," he said before asking how Frank was doing and if he would be able to play at a show that night.

Somehow, Gerard wasn't even sure how, they did make it to the show.

There was a great sense of purpose and direction in their performance that night, Gerard even drank a little less then usual. Their CD was based on their obsession with horror movies, now the idea that everything they sung out could be potentially real was floating amongst them. It kind of felt good to sing about it all.

"Alright, whose going to help me change this bandage?" Frank asked, wincing as he lifted himself up and into the van. His performance that night had been stiff, but they had all been amazed that he could play at all.

Gerard, still feeling guilty about tripping and causing Frank to get skewered in the first place, offered to help. They didn't bother getting a hotel after the show, they all agreed they would much rather stay in the sanctuary of their van.

Bob was driving once again, Ray had called shotgun and was already sticking CD after CD in the stereo trying to show Bob a certain sound he wanted to go for in their next song. Mikey was stretched out in the middle seat, I-pod in his ears, fast asleep within minutes of their road trip. Gerard and Frank were in the back, attempting to change Frank's bloody bandage both slightly tipsy.

"Sit still Frank, we have to put this disinfectant stuff on first," Gerard said, trying to pour said stuff on the bandage whilst the van jumped around almost as much as Frank did.

"I can't help it, it stings, all the air and shit are getting into it," he sulked, cracking his knuckles as though it would relieve some of the pain.

"Just hold still, I'm almost done." With that, Gerard tried not to look at the horrible gaping hole in Frank's shoulder as he placed the new bandage with the disinfectant on.

"That's not so bad, I thought it would sting more," Frank said, shrugging slightly as Gerard continued to do up the bandage. When his shoulder was finally all wrapped up, Frank's facial expression changed completely and he let out a terrible cry of pain.

"Ah shit! I take it all fucking back! It kills! Oh fuck it stings so fucking bad," he cried, gripping his shoulder and kicking the chair Mikey was sleeping in as though trying to relieve some of the pain by making him suffer as well. Mikey merely snorted in his sleep but didn't awaken; he was dead to the world.

"Alright, calm down, it'll stop if you just keep it still," Gerard said, trying to be helpful.

When Frank wouldn't sit still, he reached out his hands and gently put some pressure on his friends shoulder. Frank cried out again but with Gerard's hands there rather then his own, he slowly began to settle down.

"Fucking cursed scarecrows. Who gives a scarecrow a fucking hook anyway!" he mumbled as Gerard continued to rub his hand gently along Frank's arm as the pain slowly died away.

When Frank finally quitted down all together, there was silence for a few moments before a row of goose bumps seemed to emerge all along the arm that Gerard was still caressing. Immediately Frank stirred a little uncomfortably as he cleared his throat and wriggled his arm away from Gerard's hands.

Gerard mentally kicked himself. Just like with his staring, he had lost site of when too much was enough. He had crossed a line, fuck, how long was he touching Frank for?

"Er - thanks Gee, feels good now," Frank said, shooting him a suspicious look before shuffling over to his side of the seat a little more.

"Yeah, no probs," he said, also shifting to his side of the seat more.

An awkward silence rose up between them, interrupted only by Mikey's snores. The only time it broke was when Gerard finally just let exhaustion take over and he drifted off into sleep at last.

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AN: Hi all. I know it's another story. LOL! I just had to do this one though cause I love the show so much and well I wanted an old school My chem fic. So it's Bullets My Chem only with Bob basically cause he like so totally rocks, he he. If there is a certain Supernatural episode (Season 1,2 and 3 only please) that you want to see the guys experience please give me the name and I will gladly do it. Not every episode will be included xxxxxxx
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