My Best Friend [Goosebumps fanfic]

Puppet Master

Welcome to Horrorland Ep:10
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1879

A man walks through heavy mist on a battlefield. Staring wide eyes as guns fire and explosions are heard. He raises his pistol and fires at enemy soldiers. The enemy soldiers invade the trench.

"Move! Stay back!"

An enemy soldier comes up behind the man. Raising his rifle, he shoots him in the stomach. The man staggers and the enemy soldier goes to shoot again. "You're finished."

An explosion knocks the man, tossing him backward. He falls into a hidden cave. He grips the gunshot wound in his abdomen and struggles to stand. He falters and leans against a wall.

His chest heaves with every breath. He groans in pain, looking down as blood drips onto his combat boots. He clutches his stomach and doubles over. Slumping against the wall, he touches a substance on the stone wall and smells it.

He takes a lighter from his pocket, igniting the substance. Flams travel along a slick of oil, illuminating ancient carvings on the cave wall. The man stares at several rows of cryptic writing next to carved images of people lining the balcony's spire.

In a golden light, the symbols on the wall light up.

"Moori...Azana...Kanduu."

The man's eyes widen, and he whirls around and looks at his stomach. The blood on his boots travels back up his leg and reabsorbs into his wound. The gaping hold in his abdomen closes, and the skin returns to normal.

He turns sharply to stare at the ancient text.
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New York City 1885

A man in a tuxedo arrives at a carnival set up in a field. A banner at the main entrance reads, 'Mahar's Carnival of Wonders' he carries two suitcases and walks past carnival tents and a wooden stage, where a fiddle player sits on a stool. The man enters a tent next to the wooden stage.

Inside, a lantern glows on a workbench filled with parts for wooden puppets. An open coffin stands near the entrance of the tent. Carved wooden heads and other body parts fill shelves. The man wanders around the tent, scanning the wooden puppet body parts.

In another corner of the tent, broken-down coffins sit on another workbench filled with partially assembled puppets. A dark-haired man, wearing glasses and a flat cap, enters.