Free Nightmare City by Andrew Klavan

that what your brother would’ve told you? Have courage.”
    Tom thought he heard a faint tone of mockery in the man’s voice, but he told himself he must be mistaken. He picked up the bat again. He reached out slowly. He unlocked the door. He opened it.
    The hall was in shadow. There was a faint mist trailing across the doorway. But there were no monsters—not as far as he could see, at any rate.
    Slowly, cautiously, he stepped over the threshold, leaving the bedroom behind him. He stepped out into the hall and stood in the darkness.
    Just then there was another lightning flash. The silver-white light shot through the hall—and Tom saw the creatures. The malevolents were waiting for him, a crowd of them in the darkness to his right and his left. Drool was dripping from their eager mouths. Their eyes were bright with hunger.
    The man had lied to him—but then Tom had already known that, hadn’t he? Deep down, he had known the man was lying all along. He had been so desperate to believe him he had pushed down the knowledge, but it was always there. Now he saw the truth—but it was too late.
    The thunder crashed and the beasts rushed at him,swarmed over him, their claws tearing at him, their teeth ripping into his flesh.
    The last thing Tom heard in his agony was the voice of the man on the computer. The man was laughing.

11.
    T om cried out in pain and terror—and he opened his eyes.
    Immediately, relief flooded through him. The nightmare was over. The monsters were gone.
    He was in heaven again, just as before.
    Just as before, he was standing on the brink of the vast and peaceful parkland with its stunningly green grass and its blindingly white Greek temples. The sky was a cloudlessblue again. The light was golden, and the flower beds planted here and there were more colorful than any he had ever seen.
    He looked around him in wonder. What a beautiful place it was! It was as if he had dreamed about it and now he had come here for real. Those monsters in the hallway—the malevolents—they must have killed him. He must be dead now—dead and gone to heaven. That was the only way he could make sense of it.
    Some things were different here this time, he noticed. There weren’t as many people as there had been before. There were only a few now, a few men and women standing here and there. He particularly noticed this one guy again—the lanky young guy with long dirty blond hair. He was exactly where he’d been the last time. He hadn’t moved from his spot in front of one of the temples. His thin, hungry face with its sunken cheeks and darkly ringed eyes was still turning this way and that nervously, as if he were lost and wanted to ask directions but couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.
    Whatever , Tom thought. The important thing, after being trapped in that horror movie of a house, was how beautiful this place was, how peaceful. No fog. No bizarre voices. No monsters. Maybe the Lying Man in the computer wasn’t such a bad guy after all. Maybe the lie he had told to coax Tom out of his room had been well-intentioned. Sure, therehad been moments of terror and agony when he’d stepped out into that hall and the malevolents attacked him. But now he was here. In this peaceful place. So maybe the man in the computer was right to lie. Maybe things were going to be okay after all.
    Tom took a hesitant step forward. A wonderful thought had come into his mind. It was the same thought that had come to him last time, just before the phone had rung and brought him back to his bedroom. He thought: If this is heaven, then Burt must be here . He would be able to see Burt. He would be able to talk to Burt again. Burt would know what was going on. Burt would have the answers.
    What would Tom give—what wouldn’t he give—for the chance to hang out with Burt even one more time?
    A smile began to play at the corners of Tom’s lips as he started searching the faces of the people in the garden. But at the same time, he became