Work Text:
Laurie Strode knew fear.
She knew the bone deep chill of dread and horror, of death and hopelessness.
To her, fear came in the shape of a man wearing a white mask and wielding a kitchen knife. An unstoppable force, hellbent on terrorizing mind day and night.
To her, fear was Michael Myers. A concept so simple yet so abstract she couldn’t explain it to others.
When the Entity had taken her, she thought she’d be free of the fear, of Michael. It had thrown its own horrors at her, disfigured killers, horrendous trails and the concept of death not being permanent.
Laurie adapted.
She survived.
She learned.
Until one day, the Entity spat her and three others out into its almost mockingly poor version of Lampkin Lane. The fear started out slow as unease in her stomach. The police car in the street with its siren on offers a fake promise of comfort. There was nobody here who could save them but themselves.
She paused in front of the Myers’ house, watching the pumpkin lantern outside, the sign reading “STRODE REALTY”. The house where all her misery had its origin.
Slowly she scaled the stairs to the front door before poking her head inside. There was a generator nestled into the nook of the staircase. It was a small mercy that the interior of the house wasn’t as she remembered it.
Sitting down in front of the generator, Laurie gently pried off one of the metal plates on the side of the machine, opening it up to her. Laurie was no mechanic, hell – she had never repaired anything in her life before she got dumped here, but it didn’t discourage her from sticking her hands into the machine, feeling her way around. The other survivors had told her to just do what felt natural. The Entity seemingly had no real concept of how machinery worked, so simply touching it would slowly bring it back to life.
A scream, closer than Laurie would have liked, made her lean back and look out of the door opening, scouting for the source. She heard rapid footsteps and whimpering. Meg darted through the door, looking at Laurie, eyes wide with terror, clutching her midsection as blood dripped behind her.
“Run!” she breathed out, as she continued without slowing down. Laurie pressed her back against the generator as she heard the heavier, slower steps approach. There was no thunderous heartbeat in her ears, but she recognized those steps. Clasping her hands over her mouth, she felt the tears in her eyes.
When he stepped into the house, he stopped in the doorway, eyes seemingly trained on the blood trail Meg had left behind. He seemed to have all the time in the world as he stepped forward, the floor creaking beneath him. Laurie prayed he’d continue walking, that he’d continue his hunt for Meg, but he stopped right in front of her. He slowly turned his head, first noticing the generator halfway done and then Laurie, sitting on the floor, pacified with fear.
An eternity passed as they watched each other, frozen in time. Tears spilled down Laurie’s cheeks, her whimpers and sobs of fear muffled by her hands. Michael was as silent as ever, save for the heavy breathing coming from him.
Laurie Strode knew fear and fear knew Laurie Strode.
Michael broke the frozen silence, turning to face her entirely. He towered over her as he lifted the oversized kitchen knife in his grip.
In an attempt to dodge the incoming blow, Laurie threw herself to the side, grabbing onto stair railing and lifting herself up. She heard the knife connect with the generator, giving off a dull ‘thunk’. Michael recovered, grabbing her by the leg. She screamed and kicked him once, twice and then a third time before he let go with a groan. She scrambled, feeling the sharp edges of the stairs digging into her as she landed on the other side of the railing. She almost tripped over her own feet as she ran up the stairs.
Laurie caught herself before colliding with the wall at the end of the stairs, pushing herself off and towards an open window. She had no time to consider her options. Michael’s heavy steps were catching up to her, and even without looking back over her shoulder, she knew he had made it to the top of the stairs. She took a deep breath as she threw herself out of the window.
She felt weightless for a moment, free from her fears. She breathed out, looking down at the ground coming towards her both too slow and too fast. Laurie almost collapsed as she landed, getting out a pained groan. Courage from her little escaped filled her, making her look up at the window she had jumped from, only to see Michael simply standing there, watching her. She stuck out her tongue at him, making him cock his head slightly to the side.
It was the sound of a generator popping and then a second one followed close behind, that made both move. Laurie darted down the side of the house, to make it into the backyard. Michael, he left the window.
A third generator had popped, and Jake had been hooked twice by the time Laurie had found a new generator to work on. She had wiped her face with the back of her hands, transferring dirt to her face instead of dried tears.
She flinched when she heard Kate scream. She wanted to help the others, but she was afraid. Another scream followed when Kate was put on a hook. Laurie closed her eyes, choking back a sob. Withdrawing her hands from the generator, Laurie rested her head against it, eyes still closed and crying.
Michael was here too, he was going to torment her for however long eternity in this place was. Fear was never going to let her go. She’d have to die to him over and over and over again. She felt so useless. What could she possibly even do? She was no match for him. She couldn’t even outrun him.
Laurie got up abruptly, drying her eye again. She sniffled, turning around to face Lampkin Lane. Slowly she made her made towards Kate’s hook. Her heart ached, seeing the otherwise cheerful songbird hanging there, almost entirely limply. Small whimpers of pain escaped the woman. Laurie gently reached up, grabbing Kate under the armpits and lifted her off the hook.
Kate almost collapsed into Laurie’s arms. The babysitter gently cradled the other woman before guiding her away from the hook. She hoped, begged, somebody kept Michael occupied while she got Kate fixed up.
Crouching down behind a shed in the backyard of a yellow house, Laurie looked Kate over. The woman was bleeding from the hole in her shoulder and slashes across her back and arms. Laurie hesitated before taking off her once light blue dress shirt, revealing an equally dirty tank-top underneath.
“Just… sit still,” she mumbled to Kate, who simply nodded. Laurie started to tear the article of clothes into strips as fast as she could and bandage the worst of Kate’s injuries. A temporary fix was usually enough during the trials.
“Thank you, love,” Kate offered, grasping Laurie’s hand with a weak smile. A frown appeared on the songbird’s face when she noticed Laurie had been crying.
“Let’s find a generator,” Laurie said quickly before Kate could start to ask any questions. The woman simply nodded.
Laurie led them back to the generator she had been working on. Disappointment sank in her chest when she noticed the sparks flying from it. Kate patted her shoulder and offered her a reassuring smile.
“We will get it working in no time.”
It made Laurie feel slightly better as she sat down on the opposite side of the machine and they both got to work.
Laurie hissed when her finger got clipped in the generator, desperately pulling her hand out only to cause the machine to blow up into both her and Kate’s face.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Laurie mumbled frantically as she nursed her hurt finger.
“Don’t worry abo-“ Kate was interrupted, screaming, as she felt a hand upon her shoulder, pulling her away from the generator. Laurie screamed in horror to match her, face turning as pale as Michael’s mask.
“Let her go, Michael!” Laurie yelled, watching the taller man stalk off with Kate thrown over his shoulder, struggling to get free from his grasp. Laurie ran after them, the fear in her guts having transformed into something resembling a hopeless rage. “You let her go right now!”
Michael stopped mid-step, turning to look at Laurie before unceremoniously dropping Kate onto the ground. It made Laurie freeze, staring at Michael who stared back with those empty eyes. He raised his knife and stalked closer as Laurie quickly started to back away, her eyes desperately flickering to Kate who was lying in a pool of her own blood and Michael.
Then she ran.
Fear, rage and adrenaline fueled her as she ran through Lampkin Lane, narrowly ducking out of the way for Michael’s knife twice before it slashed her across the shoulder. The pain made her move faster, taking two steps at a time as she ran into a blue house.
She slid over a counter as she heard a fourth generator pop. Hopefully somebody had managed to help Kate up as well. Her eyes were glued to Michael who stood on the other side, the worn wooden counter acting as her only line of defense. He then stepped closer and vaulted it, making Laurie dart towards the staircase.
Unsurprisingly, he followed. Laurie almost thought the chase amused him.
She stopped briefly at the top of the stairs, catching her breath before heading into a room on her left. Thee was nothing in there but a locker. She took a breath before opening it up. She saw the row of hatchets in there before jumping in and closing the door behind her.
The sound of Michael’s footsteps made her cover her mouth. They both knew where she was hiding. She heard him slowly approach before stopping in front of the locker. He yanked the door open, stabbing the wood beside her head before grabbing her. Laurie screamed, almost halfway pulled out of the locker before grabbing one of the hatchets. It felt too heavy in her hand, like a foreign object not meant for her.
It didn’t stop her from trying to chop Michael’s arm. The sound he let out was pitiful. It almost made Laurie feel sorry for him – but only almost. The surprise of the attack was enough for Laurie to slip out of Michael’s grasp, running past him and almost falling down the stairs.
The last generator popped to life.
Laurie didn’t reach the bottom of the stairs before Michael’s knife slashed her again, sending her tumbling forward. She let out a sob as she tried crawl away, fingers finding no purchase on the hardwood floor as Michael bend down to grab her leg, dragging her with him. She screamed as he flipped her onto her back. He let go of her leg, before placing his foot on her chest.
The pain was excruciating. She desperately clawed at his pant leg as the air was squeezed out of her body. Tears prickled her eyes as she tried to kick him away, to do anything to get him to release the pressure on her chest. There was a sick cracking sound she felt vibrate through her body.
She gasped for air when he removed his foot before he stomped back down.