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Family Fun Festival (Part 3)

“Frank, what’s happening?” Holly hissed in his ear.

“Shh, something doesn’t look right. We’re going to just stay here a minute and see what happens.”

“What doesn’t look right? Frank, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

Muffled pops reached the back of the store.

“Daddy, is that fireworks?” Chelsea asked.

Frank picked her up. “I don’t think so, honey. Let’s just stay here a minute. Okay?”

People toward the front of the store began screaming.

“Daddy, why are they yelling like that?” Lynn clung tight to Steve.

“Shh, everybody stay very quiet.” He pulled a wooden puzzle from the shelf to show to her.

“Where’s Uncle Ian?” Lynn whispered.

“Shh, everything is going to be alright. Shh.”

Nancy held Bradley close as she looked toward the front of the store. “Steve, someone is coming.”

A large man wearing a horrifying mask burst into their corner of the store. “Everybody out!.” He waved his pistol.

Kendra screamed and dove under a wooden play table.

“You, too! Come out, kid!” The leering, demonic face leaned down to look for her.

Ian jumped out from behind a shelf of puzzles and brought a baseball bat down on the monstrous head. The awful mask flew off as the man fell to the floor. Kendra was screaming in terror.

“Get rid of that thing.” Ivy said as she jammed a beanbag in the gunman’s mouth and tied it in with a dress-up scarf.

Ian tied his hands and feet with jump ropes. “Just a minute.” He said, tightening the knots.

Holly knelt down and reached under the table. “Kendra, honey, come out now. He can’t hurt you.”

Ian grabbed the mask by a plastic horn and draped it over the man’s gun. “Dump out his black bag and put it over his head.”

“Ew, Krampus? Seriously?” Ivy said as she put the black Santa bag over the guy’s head.

“All those guys with the black bags must have had masks in them.” Steve said, holding Lynn close.

“Where the heck are the cops? This is a travesty.” Frank clung tight to Chelsea.

Ian picked up the gun with the hideous mask and put them both on the top shelf for the police to collect. “I texted Bert before this guy came in.”

“Who’s Bert?” Ivy asked, looking toward the front of the store.

“A friend of ours. He’s a State Trooper.”

“Why didn’t you call 911?”

“They hadn’t done anything yet. I’m calling them now that we’ve got this jerk secured.”

Outside, the crew had waited until the prearranged time to put on their Krampus masks and fire shots into the night sky. Since the shots came from the perimeter of the crowd, people realized they were hemmed in.

A menacing voice came over the public address speakers. “Everybody stay right where you are. Get out your phones, your wallets and any jewelry you have on you. Do not resist. Put your valuables in the nearest bag and everyone will get home safe. Heroes will be shot, so don’t even think about it.”

The robbers in Krampus masks worked their way through the crowd, waving bags and brandishing guns.

Dustin looked around for his dad. Father Dave was down the block being accosted by a gun-toting Krampus. Dustin pulled a chocolate bar from his coat pocket and began chewing furiously.

“Yo! Pizza-face!” A nearby Krampus hollered. “We’re trying to conduct a robbery here! Huh? You can go back to stress eating after we’re done.”

Dustin drew in a deep breath and disappeared from sight.

“What the…?” The Krampus pointed his gun at where Dustin used to be.

Dustin enjoyed running as fast as he could, but it was very draining. Fortunately, it was easy to tell who was a bad guy in this crowd. The key problems he faced were bowling over civilians at speed and running out of energy before he had gotten all the…

‘Krampuses? Krampi? Man, whatever…’ He thought as he dashed through the crowded street, knocking over robbers as he went. It was going well until he was about halfway through the crew. ‘Crap, you had to know they’d start pulling triggers.’

People screamed and dove to the ground as the Krampus gang started firing wildly at whatever was knocking their compatriots to the ground.

Dustin pushed harder. Eric warned him not to go too fast, or he’d go through somebody and they’d burst like a water balloon. He didn’t want to have to explain why he was soaked in blood and guts when this was all over.

Now he was splitting his focus between knocking over bad guys and intercepting their stray gunfire. He could feel his energy dropping. ‘Still too many of them.’ Dustin thought as he spotted the candy cart outside of the toy store.

Kendra had her face buried in her mom’s shoulder when the gunfire started again.

“Oh my, Frank, what are they shooting at?” Holly said, jumping up.

“I don’t know, hon. Just stay down. Is everybody okay?”

“We’re good.” Steve held Lynn and wrapped an arm around Nancy and Bradley.

“I’m okay.” Ian said. “Ivy?”

“I’m good.” Ivy said. “Holly, where’s Kendra? Did she go back underneath?”

Kendra crept forward to get a view of the street through the front windows. Her eyes went wide as she saw another Krampus approaching the store. As he approached, a dark blue streak barreled through the Krampus. She rushed to the front window.

This other Krampus was flat out on the sidewalk and others around the street were being knocked down by the hurtling blue blur.

She ducked down as the masked robbers shot wildly at the phenomenon. Poking her head up, she saw the elf who had sold them the candy cowering behind his cart.

‘Oh, that poor guy, he must be so scared.’ She thought, watching the blue blur tear through the gang of robbers. Suddenly, Dustin was there beside the elf. His chest was heaving. Dustin looked very pale in contrast to his navy blue Victorian caroler jacket. ‘Blue?’

The elf opened up the back of the cart and handed Dustin a handful of penguin mints. He crammed them in his mouth like a little kid and chewed frantically.

‘Strange time for a sugar rush.’ Kendra thought as Dustin chewed and scanned the crowd. As he looked around, their eyes met. His acne was completely gone. That struck her as odd, since he had been tragically red and splotchy a short while ago.

He wiped chocolate from the corner of his mouth and winked at her before vanishing from sight.

“Kendra, honey. What are you doing?” Ian asked as he scooped her up and ran to the back of the store.