			Rooms of Doom


It was not the typical warm Saturday afternoon in Lutherville.  The sun had attempted to burn off the thick morning fog and failed.  It now shone as a moon-like orb through the thick unnatural mist.  Steam rose off the scorched blacktop and swirled in the air.  It was suffocating and surrounded you like a hot wet blanket making it difficult to breathe.

Jake and his little brother Mikey walked slowly along the long, twisted country road counting their catch from Mr. Melville's pond.  Mikey had caught most of the fish.  Mikey always caught the most fish.  He always ran the fastest and always knew all the answers in school.  Parents were always telling their children, "Why can't you be more like Mikey!"

Mikey was very special, the perfect little boy, except for that unusual birthmark.  When he was born the doctor said it was nothing and that it would go away in a month or two, but it never did.  It only became more defined, more detailed, like it was slowly being burned into his skin as a sign...or a warning.  It looked like a four pointed star with an 'X' in the middle that seemed to turn as you watched, but it really didn't.  Though it was beautiful, it was equally scary.


		

As they rounded the bend past old Mrs. Hopkins house, a cool, eerie breeze greeted them.  The stifling air was gone for the moment.  Mikey had felt that strange breeze before.  He and a few of his friends would play in the trees around old Mrs. Hopkins house and strange things were continually happening.  There was an eight foot fence all around her house with heavy steel gates that were always locked.  She said it was to keep her 'pets' from getting away, but Mikey had never seen any dogs or cats.

Jake had told Mikey many times not to play around old Mrs. Hopkins house.  There was something about her that made him feel very uneasy. Jake had learned to trust his instincts 
when he was in the Marines.  There were many times overseas when all he had to rely on was his instincts.  Right now they were telling him loud and clear that old Mrs. Hopkins was trouble.  

Just like the day old Mrs. Hopkins got a glance of Mikey's birthmark.  She became very friendly to Mikey that day, too friendly.  She said Mikey's birthmark was a XENOSTAR, a cosmic symbol of the four basic elements; Earth, Air, Fire and Water.  Legend had it, old Mrs. Hopkins said, that a child would be born bearing the mark of the Xenostar, who would bridge the gap between the world of the living and the world of the dead!  

People paid little mind to what old Mrs. Hopkins said.  Everybody said she was crazy.  Some people believed she was a witch.  They even said her house was haunted.  It seemed that several people had died mysteriously during its construction many years ago.  There were supposed to be many different floors and hidden rooms, even a dungeon.  No one really knew for sure.  No one had ever been in her house.  Old Mrs. Hopkins really didn't like people all that much.  But she sure seemed to like Mikey.

On the way home Jake and Mikey picked up a bucket of fried chicken and several horror films for a little Saturday night entertainment.  16 pieces of chicken and four movies later, Jake was sound asleep, dead to the world so to speak.  As he slept, dreams of 'Maniac Mansion,' 'Satan's Offering', 'Horror Hotel' and 'Psycho Village' began to mix and mingle in Jake's tormented mind.  But Dreams without peace are Nightmares.  And Jake would have no peace tonight....

After a series of agonizing dreams, Jake suddenly awakens.  Confused and disoriented, he finds himself on the outside of old Mrs. Hopkins fence.   He's alone, standing in front of his pickup truck.  "This can't be happening," he thinks to himself.  He struggles to clear his head.  Is he still asleep?  Is this just a dream?  Just then he hears a scream.  Its Mikey!  The gates are locked and he can't get in.  Dream or reality, it doesn't matter.  He grabs his custom grip double barrel shot gun and with a strange and new-found power, leaps over the fence yelling, "I'm comin' for ya Mikey!"

As Jake approaches the foreboding house, he feels a cold deadly presence.  All those things old Mrs. Hopkins had said with such conviction were flying through Jake's brain.  "Was it true?" he thought.  "Was Mikey actually the Bridge between good and evil."  The idea was more than Jake could stand and it scared him to death.

A bone chilling dampness meets Jake as he reaches the front porch.  The sweet smell of dogwood is gone, replaced by the sickening stench of rotting flesh.  One zombie patrols the entrance.  There was no way around him, or should we say, around IT.  Just then another scream pierced the deadly silence.  Mikey is in danger and Jake wasn't about to be polite.  He levels both barrels and fires.  The zombie explodes into piles of bloody decaying meat.  It was unmistakably clear that it was time for Jake to clean house.

Jake cautiously moves into the front room, checking everywhere for his brother Mikey, firing countless times into the bodies of the walking dead.  There are sparkling Crystals everywhere.  The zombies use them.  They seem to focus the Crystal's glow to give them power, to keep them in the world of the living.  Jake picks up one crystal and feels an instant surge of strength.  The kind of strength he knows he will need to survive.  As the power of the Crystal surges through his body, Jake feels invincible.  He knows he must be unrelenting and grab every Crystal, if he ever wants to see Mikey again.



As doors are opened, stairways climbed and dark passages visited, Jake faces hazards unknown to mortal man.  Along his path are scores of decomposing adversaries.  Hordes of zombies stalk his every move ready to punch his brains out.  Countless witches fling razor sharp knives at his skull.  And this is only his First challenge.  

Once past the easy main house level, Jake enters the dark, stuffy attic, lit only by candles.  Here the air is warm and heavy, heavy with the smell of death.  The ever present zombies and witches are now joined by a very slimy creature.  Jake has to be very careful since this slime dissolves human flesh.  He must also watch out for large brown creatures walking on the ceiling because they could be deadly.  They're Tarantulas!

With all the garbage removed from the attic, Jake cautiously enters the basement.  Some of the tunnels are lined with sharp blades awaiting those foolish enough to attempt to pass through, but which one's safe?  If Jake didn't have enough to contend with, a new, frantic horror awaits him...Werewolves.  Unfortunately he must face these perils alone.

His search has led him to a secret room off the main house and Jake must now face a giant obstacle.  A big ugly GIANT lumbers toward him spewing flaming spikes.

Somehow Jake manages to defeat the giant (with a little help from about 20 double-odd-buck shotgun shells) and enters the Widow's Walk.  Ghosts and goblins abound as Jake desperately tries to make his way to the top.  To hamper his trip to the top is the continual flow of zombies, witches, slimmers and werewolves. 

As he plunges off the top of Widow's Walk, he has no way stop his fall as he enters the Well of Souls.  If you thought things might get a little easier for our hero, think again.  Just when Jake thought he had seen it all, out pops a FLAMING SKULL.  He must be careful, VERY CAREFUL!  Nothing seems to kill this demon!

By the skin of his teeth (and the hides of a few werewolves) Jake manages to survive another level of horror and pandemonium.  All he must do is find his way through the Maze of Dungeons.  Every type of monster and demon he has faced is here, waiting for him.  It can't get any worse than this can it?  CAN IT?

It certainly can!  All these almost impossible adversities are child's play compared to his final stand when Jake 'Faces Death.'  Mikey's life hangs in the balance as he floats high above in his Mystic Sphere prison.  Can Jake defeat all the beasts and demons of the nether world?  Will Mikey survive his unearthly prison? 		Only YOU will know!

