“Who is that?!”
She had her eyes on the door when a rattling noise came from the sink. She leaned in slowly to look at the drain.
Something flew out of the pipes and into Abby’s face. She screamed and fell backward, ectoplasm dripping out of her nose and ears. She grabbed her stomach and vomited ectoplasm across the room.
Abby fell to the floor, just as the answering machine began to play her outgoing message. “Hello. You have reached the Ghostbusters hotline. Please leave your name, number, a description of your apparition, a description of what you were doing at the time of encountering the apparition, and a description of the actual encounter with said apparition—”
BEEP.
Erin was pacing in her apartment. She yelled into her phone, “Abby? Come on! Shorten that greeting. It’s Erin. Call me back. I think killing himself was just the next step in his plan!”
She looked at her TV. It said, ‘“Dinner with the Mayor” over the anchor’s head. Erin turned up the volume. The anchor said, “Mayor Bradley is meeting with the diplomats at Lotus Leaf on—”
She hung up the phone and dashed to the door.
Holtzmann and Patty returned to headquarters, carrying the takeout.
Patty called out to Abby, “We got you a cheesesteak, because we don’t want you picking off of ours. Come and get it.”
“Hey, Abby. You in there?” Holtzmann knocked on the bathroom door. “Abby? Everything all right?”
Abby came out. “Hey,” she said, a bit too casually.
“You okay?” Holtzmann squinted at her.
“I’m quite well,” Abby said.
“Well, good.” Holtzmann said, then she looked to Patty and shrugged. “Not our best back and forth.” She then noticed that Abby was standing by the proton packs, looking at them curiously.
Abby picked up a metal pipe that Holtzmann had found in a Dumpster. With speed and strength, she started beating the packs with the pipe. Parts were flying everywhere!
“What are you doing?” Holtzmann hurried over and grabbed Abby’s arms, making her drop the pipe.
Abby swept Holtzmann up by the throat and carried her to the window, crashing through the glass, and dangling her feet over the sidewalk below.
“You guys aren’t playing a game, are you?” Patty knocked Abby against the wall and grabbed Holtzmann’s hand. Abby attacked her as Patty struggled to pull Holtzmann back into the room.
Abby and Patty slammed each other back and forth as Patty tried to hold onto Holtzmann and fight off Abby at the same time. Finally, Patty managed to sweep Abby’s leg, knocking her down. Having gained the upper hand, Patty yanked Holtzmann back inside, then pinned Abby down, twisting her arm behind her and shouting, “Get out of my friend, evil spirit!”
Patty smacked Abby across the face as hard as she could.
The ghost of Rowan exploded out of Abby’s body. The windows shattered with an otherworldly sonic boom as he flew outside.
Abby looked around the room, which appeared to have been through a mighty battle, then felt her face. “OUCH!”
Patty smacked Abby across the face again.
“STOP! It’s me. What part of ‘ouch’ didn’t you understand?” Abby asked.
Patty backed off.
Kevin’s voice boomed from outside on the street. “Hey, guys! Check it out!”
Holtzmann and Patty went to the hole where the window once was and looked out as Abby struggled to her feet. Kevin was sitting on a junky motorcycle that was painted white with a Ghostbusters logo on the side. He was wearing a homemade jumpsuit, looking like one of them.
“I figure you’re going to need my help. I just need my own proton pack, if you could—”
Abby got to the window just in time to see Rowan’s ghost circling Kevin. “Kevin! Get inside!”
“I really don’t appreciate being yelled at like that—” He didn’t finish before Rowan’s ghost entered his body. Kevin looked down at his body as if seeing it for the first time.
“Thanks for the upgrade,” Kevin/Rowan said. “This will be very helpful.” With that, he revved up the motorcycle and peeled out, racing down the street.
“Oh, that’s not good,” Patty said as he rounded a corner and disappeared.
CHAPTER 14
Mayor Bradley was dining with Jennifer Lynch and several dignitaries at the Lotus Leaf restaurant. Jennifer spotted Erin running down the sidewalk.
“Oh boy, code red,” she told the mayor quietly.
“What is this woman doing?” the mayor asked.
“Maybe she just really likes this restaurant?” Jennifer suggested.
As soon as Erin was inside, she dashed over to Mayor Bradley and Jennifer. “You have to evacuate the city!”
“Don’t say that word. Never say that word,” the mayor whispered sharply. Then he acted as if he’d never seen Erin before. “Ma’am, I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Erin blurted, “It’s not over. It’s just beginning. I don’t know how he’s going to do it, but you gotta send every officer over to the Mercado and you have to shut down the power to the city.”
“I’m sorry, as you can see, the mayor is at dinner right now.” Jennifer shooed her away.
A large rumbling outside made everyone turn.
“It’s already starting,” Erin said. But when they looked, it was just a garbage Dumpster being wheeled by. “Oh. Okay, but it’s still starting, though.”
Two guards snagged Erin and began to drag her off.
“That took way too long,” the mayor said.
“No!” Erin shrieked, hanging onto Mayor Bradley’s table as the guards tried to pull her away. She wouldn’t budge.
“This is crazy,” Jennifer told Erin. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
“I . . . don’t . . . care!” Erin was hanging onto the table as the guards held up her feet. She was clutching the table so hard, it started dragging through the restaurant with her.
Finally, Erin let go and they chased her to the door, where she escaped, leaving the mayor and his guests stunned.
“Never a dull moment!” Mayor Bradley said with a forced laugh.
Kevin, possessed with Rowan’s ghost, approached the generator room at the Mercado Hotel. Two cops were on guard duty at the door.
One officer stopped him. “Hey, you can’t come back here.”
“Interesting. Is that so?” Kevin/Rowan punched one cop, then the other. They both dropped, unconscious.
“I should have worked out more when I was alive,” Kevin/Rowan said, flexing Kevin’s muscles.
He kicked open the door and entered the room.
Kevin/Rowan found the larger pieces of his machine and inspected them. He was pleased with Kevin’s strong body as he lifted the heavy parts easily.
“I definitely should have worked out more,” he said. Kevin’s body was just right for his plan.
He fit the pieces into the machine, then hit a switch. It fired up, filling the room with sparks and lightning.
Ka-boom!
The mirrors all exploded as paranormal lights and spirits rocketed into the world.
Erin was headed to the Mercado when suddenly the ground trembled. The people she passed looked worried. A loud boom echoed through the sky.
At headquarters, Holtzmann was hurriedly fixing the proton packs that Abby had broken while possessed.
“Are they ready?” Abby asked every few seconds. “We’ve got to get to the Mercado and save Kevin. As if he hasn’t been through enough already.”
Holtzmann was working as fast as she could. “If you weren’t so strong, you would have done much less damage to these.”
“I’m sorry I got possessed!” Abby said. “I guess I should have thought that through more.” She picked up the phone and dialed. “Erin! Where are you? Rowan took Kevin. We need your help!” She hung up and groaned. “What a surprise. Never there when you need her.”
Erin was running toward Times Square, but people and cars were all fleeing in
the opposite direction. The Mercado was still a ways in the distance. Above the building, red clouds gathered in the sky, turning the day into night. Ghosts poured out of the building, dispersing throughout Manhattan.
“I need my gear,” Erin said to herself. She ran to the curb and waved down a taxi.
“Where you going?” the driver asked.
“Chinatown.”
“Nah.”
Meanwhile, all around New York, ghosts were creating chaos.
A couple ran around a corner, screaming as a skeleton chased them.
A woman hurried into a subway station and found a stream of ghost rats.
In a coffee shop, patrons rushed to the window to see what was going on.
Professor Filmore was in that coffee shop. He looked over at the guy next to him. At first he didn’t register what he saw, but after a few moments, he realized it wasn’t a guy next to him. It was a ghost. Filmore screamed and ran out into the street.
Police, SWAT, and the National Guard gathered at the Mercado, weapons drawn. Large glowing cracks were forming in the sidewalk from underneath the building. Agents Hawkins and Rorke moved in with confidence.
“Don’t worry! Everything is going to be okay!” Hawkins told the crowd, then into a headset, he said, “Bring it out.”
A big military truck rumbled through the street with a giant proton cannon attached.
Two police officers approached Hawkins.
“What is that thing? Do you guys know what you’re doing?” one asked.
“You’ve tested this thing, right?” The other wanted to know.
Rorke pushed them away. “Stand back, friend. We’ve got a city to save.”
Agent Hawkins fired the cannon. The beam hit the building. The cracks from underneath the building grew. The building shone brighter. The cannon was making things worse.
Kevin/Rowan floated down onto a ledge and raised his arms. He was glowing.
“Dear brave men of the protection services industry, thank you for coming to my party, but instead of fighting . . . I would like to see you dance.” With that, the Bee Gees’ song, “You Should Be Dancing,” began to play.
Shining blurs of light shot out of Kevin/Rowan’s hands down at the troops. Hawkins and Rorke were standing in front and were hit with the first rays of the blast.
The cops and soldiers all jolted as the blurs absorbed into their chests.
Kevin/Rowan stood in a disco pose.
They all took the same pose.
When Kevin/Rowan started disco dancing, everyone joined in—all under his control.
Hawkins and Rorke were powerless as they boogied to the beat.
CHAPTER 15
The Ecto-1 peeled out of Ghostbusters’ headquarters at top speed. In the distance, the Mercado building was glowing. Massive supernatural clouds roiled above it.
Ecto-1 drove along, dodging people fleeing down the street.
Patty grabbed the intercom. “Respect the siren, please.”
The crowd didn’t care. They swarmed past Ecto-1, blocking their way.
“Hey! We’re trying to save you, so get out of the way!” Patty told them.
The crowd started to thin, but now pretzel and hot dog carts blocked the way. The three Ghostbusters leaped out of the Ecto-1 to help move them aside, only to discover Slimer, a squat green ghost, was inside one of the carts eating hot dogs.
“Whoa!” Abby said as the ghost jumped into the Ecto-1 and stole their car. He wasn’t a good driver, hitting anything and anyone in the way.
“Well . . . I guess we’re walking,” Abby said with a shrug.
Patty, Holtzmann, and Abby power-walked up a New York street, passing people running in the other direction.
In the distance they saw a huge crowd of ghosts watching a parade, but it wasn’t a modern parade—it was an eerie parade from the 1920s. Balloons that looked like weird cats, strange insects, and a disturbing Pinocchio floated above the parade route. An odd Santa and a creepy elf balloon came into view.
“People had a much higher tolerance for creepy back then,” Patty noted.
“Still, at least a parade is something happy. Keep them busy and in a good mood,” Abby said, but she spoke too soon. A beat later, the balloons turned toward the Ghostbusters and started chasing them.
“Pop some balloons! Now!” Abby shouted.
The Ghostbusters started firing, exploding some and popping holes in others so they flew away. A giant Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man balloon was hit. He crashed down on them, smothering the Ghostbusters under his belly.
“I can’t reach the trigger,” Abby huffed.
“This isn’t exactly how I pictured my death,” Holtzmann gasped.
“Smothered by a class six possession with temporal displacement?” Abby asked her.
“Oh, it’s class six? No, never mind,” Holtzmann said.
Suddenly, the Stay-Puft Man burst into a shower of shredded balloon.
When the dust settled, it was clear that Erin had arrived and come to their rescue.
“Proton guns are all well and good,” she said. “But sometimes you just need a little help from the Swiss Army.” She raised her pocket knife.
“Oh, there you are,” Holtzmann said as Erin smiled at Abby.
“Couldn’t let you have all the fun,” Erin replied.
Abby smiled back. “Okay, let’s go save this city and get our receptionist back.”
Kevin/Rowan was perched on the ledge of the Mercado. He saw that the Ghostbusters were on their way.
“Here they come,” he said out loud. “Let’s give them a proper New York welcome, shall we?”
Red clouds swirled above the building. The soldiers and army stood frozen on the sidewalk and in the street.
Kevin/Rowan appeared on the screens all around Times Square.
“Ah, there they are.” His tone was mocking. “The Ghostbusters. All dressed up and nowhere to bust. I’ll tell you what. I can help you out. Oh, and nice not knowing you.”
The buildings and modern electronic billboards began to melt away, revealing Times Square of the past. The scariest ghosts of the 1970s were all gathered there, ready to attack.
“I’ve never been good in a fight,” Erin admitted.
“Well, you’d better get good at it.” Abby adjusted her pack. “Power up!”
The Ghostbusters switched on their proton packs just as the ghost army rushed at them. The Ghostbusters did what they could to hold them back. They shot proton streams in every direction, throwing ghosts into other ghosts and knocking them around.
A ghost rushed at Abby as she held off another ghost with her beam. She used the proton wand to smash the rushing ghost in the face, an explosion of ectoplasm bursting out of him.
Patty threw proton grenades, sending several ghosts flying in another explosion of ectoplasm.
Holtzmann hit a trigger on her proton pack. Two smaller proton pistols popped out. She began firing with dual-hand precision. At Patty’s look, she said, “Just a little bonus I gave myself. I’ll whip you up a set if we manage to not die right now.”
That seemed fair. Patty blew a ghost backward like a bowling ball into other ghosts. They scattered. It seemed like the ghosts were becoming afraid of the Ghostbusters.
“All right!” Abby said. “Anybody else want a piece of this? Bring it on!”
“Okay, amp it down, tiger,” Erin told her. “Miles to go.”
Abby nodded and then headed off, looking tough and mighty, toward the entryway to the Mercado. The ghosts moved aside to let Erin, Holtzmann, and Patty through. The first battle had been won.
The Ghostbusters walked through the lines of cops and the National Guard, who were now disco statues.
“Seems odd,” Abby remarked. Then it got weirder as Slimer, the ghost driver, sped past them in Ecto-1. A lot of other ghosts were piled into the car, singing and yelling like it was a party.
“Well, at least somebody’s having a good time,” Abby said as the car sped away.
&
nbsp; The doors to the Mercado building were locked. Erin noticed a glowing crack in the ground that originated from the basement.
“All right.” Abby raised her wand. “Stay back.” She was about to blow open the doors, when they opened by themselves. The Ghostbusters entered cautiously.
The lobby was covered with ectoplasm. In the center was a huge swirling whirlpool of energy.
“All right,” Abby said. “Let’s get down to the basement. We’ll start by turning off his little science experiment.”
They were about to go downstairs when a huge piano slid out and blocked their way.
Kevin/Rowan appeared on a balcony. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his chest glowed. He was pale, with sleepless circles under his eyes, which made him extra creepy.
“Kevin?” Abby asked.
“Is that what this thing’s name is?” Rowan’s voice boomed from inside the body. “He seemed more like a Chet to me.” He looked at the Ghostbusters. “I see there’s five of you now.”
Abby and Erin looked at each other. Then they realized he was counting a confused tenant from the building who was standing next to them.
“Who are you?” Erin asked.
“I was napping. I just came down to get my mail.”
Erin was nice about pointing the way out, while Abby shouted, “Get out of here!”
Screaming, the tenant fled out the front door.
Patty shrugged. “Probably should’ve given him a heads up as to what’s out there.”
“Well, you’ve had a long journey,” Kevin/Rowan told the Ghostbusters. “You look winded. Have a seat.” Chairs slid up behind them.
Holtzmann sat down, but the chair slid away from her just before she made contact. She fell to the floor. Kevin/Rowan chuckled.
“I appreciate the joke,” Holtzmann said. “It’s a classic.”
“I have to compliment you,” Kevin/Rowan told them. “I am surprised you made it this far. You’re intelligent, courageous, and I’m impressed. I’m willing to let you remain as my companions.”
“And I’m willing to beat you up,” Abby said with a snort.
“I saw your grandmother on the other side,” Kevin/Rowan told her. “I kicked her in the face.”
Ghostbusters Movie Novelization Page 7