The plan to eradicate Xmas

Briarwood

The Rangers suddenly appeared near the entrance of a bookstore.

The group entered the shop just as a deal was being made between a 16-year-old Hispanic American girl wearing a nametag with "Alex" printed on it and a beautiful, pony-tailed brunette wearing a blue jumper, a V-neck/collared long-sleeve blouse, and a white blouse with black flat-soled shoes.

Alex directed her attention to the other customers. "Can I help you guys?" That was when she noticed Scott Calvin, "Oh, man! Are you...? No, it can't be! I mean...Oh, dude!" It was obvious from the wide-eyed look she gave Scott that Alex was filled with excitement, but the reasons were oblivious to Scott and the others.

Before they could ask what was up with her, Alex was already away from the front desk, heading into the back of the store. "What on earth was that all about?" Mick inquired, and the others shrugged their shoulders in response.

While waiting for Alex to return, Nadira turned to one of the many shelves in the store and plucked out an old book from it; she curiously gazed at the front cover and chuckled. "Hey, listen to this funny title." She then read the title out loud, "The Nick-Ron-Emocion." Nadira pondered over that title for a while. "Hmm...Must be Spanish. I've always wanted to learn that language!"

Mick watched as Nadira opened the book, having its cover face his direction. As soon as Mick glanced at it, he realized that Nadira had totally mispronounced its title. The book was not called "The Nick-Ron-Emocion" - it was "The Necronomicon" (a.k.a. "The Book of the Dead"). If Mick's history lessons served him well, whomever opened such a book would unleash unearthly horrors...and, unfortunately, Nadira just did.

"NADIRA! NO! CLOSE THAT BOOK!"

But it was too late; out of nowhere, a huge, hairy green hand reached out from the book and lunged at Nadira, causing her to drop it and reel back, screaming. She collapsed onto the same bookshelf that she plucked the book from and tilted it over, crashing into others that also collapsed. It created a loud noise that brought Alex back out from the rear of the store, along with the storeowner, Chip Thorn.

"What the hell happened in...?" Chip began, and then he spotted the opened Necronomicon on the floor with the green hairy hand still out and clawing on the floor, trying to attack anything that stood close to it; but everyone was standing as far away from it as possible. Chip stared at the book in shock, turning to Alex and asking, "Where did that one come from?"

"It arrived just last week," answered Alex. "Some guy with a freaky, out-of-date goatee came by with a whole box of them."

Chip turned to her and looked as white as a sheet. "A WHOLE BOX?"

All of the sudden, other copies of the Necronomicon emerged from the massive piles of boxes that fell from the collapsed shelves, each with different hairy green body parts: one had a head (complete with red eyes, yellow teeth, and nose with a large wart), another had a huge, barefooted leg, and two others had another leg and arm. The five copies of the Necronomicon then floated in midair and grouped together, emitting a haze of ghostly energy that generated the form of an eight-foot monster. Its head, sticking out from the Necronomicon that floated at the very top, roared at the frightened figures standing in the room. Its hands, sticking out from copies that floated at opposite sides of the ghostly haze, balled into fists. And its feet, sticking out from the copies that floated near the floor, began stomping forward.

Soon afterwards, more other copies of the Necronomicon grouped together and created six similar monsters, each stomping towards the mortals. Watching this supernatural occurrence take place, Alex shook her head and uttered, "This was so not in my job description!"

The group finally arrived at the upstairs area, which functioned as sort of like a reading area, complete with an antique wooden table and chairs, a few beanbag chairs at the corners of the room, a blue-carpeted floor, and two bookshelves that stood against opposite walls. There was also a large window at the end of the room with the neon sign outside blocking the view of the street corner, as well as any possible escape.