It's Halloween night, and I decide that the two of us need to have some fun. Emma has been pretty much cooped up since the articles started coming out about the murders. She's had calls – and visits – from some in the police department hierarchy, not at all pleased with her illumination of their failures.

Her stories have ignited something of a firestorm in the city – and the police are the ones taking most of the heat. Which they're not happy about. The people are upset – as they should be – and are demanding answers. Answers the force doesn’t seem to have right now.

There's no question that Emma kicked a hornet's nest, and it's been nerve-racking and stressful ever since. She hasn't wanted to go out, preferring to stay indoors, and avoid all the shit flying around. All in all, I think she's handled it pretty well so far.

It took some doing, but I convinced her to come out and have some fun tonight.

We walk through the gates, and I pull her closer to me. She’s worried about being out in the open with Hawkins running around, but I think she feels safe with me by her side. Besides, it's a very public place, and if he's as smart as Emma believes he is, he won't do a damn thing.

Costumed actors in ghoulish and scary costumes roam the park, jumping out and scaring passers-by. Emma is tense at first, and practically screams when a guy in a werewolf costume pops up out of nowhere. It's a scene that repeats several times as we walked through the park.

“Want something to drink?” I ask.

“Sure,” she says.

We go to one of the refreshment trailers, and I order us a couple of lemonades. I hand her one, and we head out again. I'm looking around at the various haunted mazes, eager to go through a few of them. I've always loved Halloween. There's nothing better than a good scare – though, judging by the look on Emma's face, I think she might disagree with me right about now.

“What do you think?” I ask. “Should we do Mummy's Tomb or Vampire's Nest?”

She looks up at me and gives me a small smile. “I'm sorry,” she says. “I'm just –”

“I know,” I say. “But you have nothing to worry about. I'm here with you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. And besides, Hawkins isn't dumb enough to try anything in public. Trust me on that.”

She nods, but I can see she's not entirely convinced.

“You really love Halloween, don't you?” she asks.

I nod. “Always have,” I say. “How did you know?”

“You have this goofy-ass grin on your face,” she teases. “You've had it since we got into the park. You almost look like a child.”

I laugh. “Halloween is for me what Christmas is to others.”

“Well, I don't want to spoil your Christmas, so let's go check out Mummy's Tomb.”

“That's the spirit.”

With my arm around her, she loosens up and relaxes – but only a little bit. She's still edgy and on guard. But, at least she's trying. I appreciate it and can't fault her for not quite having the same level of enthusiasm as I do. After all, I'm not the one being threatened by a serial killer. If I were I'd probably be pretty tense too.

But, she's trying. She screams and laughs during the Mummy’s Tomb, and we emerge through the doors on the other side, unscathed, and laughing.

“That was terrible,” she says. “So cheesy!”

“I know, that's what makes it great, isn't it?”

She shakes her head. “No way. I want a haunted house to be scary,” she laughs. “I don't want to see a guy wrapped up in toilet paper running around pretending to be a mummy.”

I can't help but laugh, because it's true. “Okay, you have a point there.”

We make it through several other mazes, and her mood seems to lighten more with each one. She's laughing a lot more often and seems to be having an enjoyable time. Which I'm glad to see. That's the point of tonight.

It's getting late, and we're both pretty tired, so we decide to call it a night. She leans against me, with her head on my shoulder, as we walk through the parking lot, toward the car.

“Thank you,” she says. “For this.”

“Of course,” I say. “You needed a night out to blow off some steam.”

She nods. “I did,” she says. “And I appreciate you taking care of me.”

I laugh. “This wasn't taking care of you,” I say. “This was as much for me as for you. I'm the child here, remember?”

She looks at me, holding my gaze with her own. Her expression is serious, though not exactly grim. More – weary.

“You take such good care of me,” she says. “I appreciate it.”

“It's no less than you do for me.”

I place a gentle kiss on the top of her head, and she nuzzles even closer to me. I see them before we reach the car and start to tense. Perhaps, sensing my unease, Emma straightens up.

“What's going on?” she whispers.

“Just, stay behind me,” I say.

“It's not –”

“No,” I say and shake my head.

Two men. One white, one black. Big, strong. Clean cut. Physically imposing. And with the unmistakable air of off-duty cops. The two of them leaning against my car, drinking beers. The black guy taps the white guy on the shoulder when he sees us, and both men stand up, tossing their cans to the ground, effectively blocking the way to my car.

“This is the bitch causing all kinds of problems for us,” the white guy sneers. “Says we don't do our jobs.”

“Says we suck at our jobs,” the black guy scoffs.

“Yeah, this bitch is creating a lot of problems for our man Hawkins,” white guy says. “Guy's never done a damn thing wrong. He does everything for this city, and this bitch is gonna fuck up his reputation to sell a few papers.”

“Total bitch, man,” the other guy says. “Total bitch.”

They're carrying on this dialogue between each other like it's scripted and rehearsed. Emma and I have no part in their little play, so, I guess we're just supposed to stand there and listen. Yeah, I'm not really interested in what they have to say though.

“Get out of the way,” I say. “You're blocking my car.”

“That's too bad,” says the white guy.

“What do you want?” I ask.

“For the bitch to –”

“If you refer to her as a bitch one more time, I'm going to beat your ass,” I threaten, my voice low and cold.

The two men laugh, playfully slapping each other in the arm. “You believe the balls on this guy?” the black guy says.

“Balls of steel, man,” replies the white cop.

“Just stating a fact,” I say. “Move. Now.”

The white cop spits at the ground in front of me. “Hey, tell me something football boy. I heard rumors that you were higher than a fuckin' kite when you took the hit that ended your career. That true?”

“Last chance,” I say, feeling the adrenaline and anger racing through my body in equal measure. “Get out of the way, or I'm going to beat your asses.”

“Brice, let's just call the cops,” Emma whispers from behind me, her voice colored with stark fear.

“Bitch, we are the cops –”

He never finishes that statement because I bury my fist in his face. The black guy's head snaps back violently when my fist makes contact. He falls backward, landing on the ground in a heap. Clutching his nose, he rolls over, crying out and moaning as blood oozes out from between his fingers.

The white cop is in motion before his buddy hits the pavement. He's fast, I'll give him that. He darts in and throws a blow that grazes my cheek, but I'd already moved enough that it's mostly a miss. He's a little off balance though, so I seize the initiative.

Grabbing him by the hair, I spin him around, and slam him headfirst into the tailgate of an SUV. He howls in pain and clutches his head, but he's still struggling and fighting. Still gripping his hair, I pull his head back and punch him hard in the face. His nose breaks, the blood flows, and he cries out loud – just like his buddy still rolling around on the ground.

I look over at Em, who's staring back at me with wide, terrified eyes. She's clutching her hands to her chest, and any sense of the good time and sense of relaxation from earlier has vanished. Right out the window. These fuckers ruined a good night with their bullshit.

“Are they –”

I shake my head. “They’ll be fine. The two of them will have one hell of a headache tomorrow, though.”

I put my arm around her waist and usher her to the car. She's looking at me with awe and gratitude in her eyes.

“That's twice you've saved me now.”

I shrug. “What can I say? You keep life exciting.”

She presses her lips to mine, and climbs into the car. I close the door and look at the two men on the ground.

I point to them and nod. “That'd be a great Halloween get-up.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

I climb behind the wheel of my car, start it up, and get us out of there. I'm beyond pissed that those two jackasses ruined my favorite night of the year.