Title: Can't Get Closer Than This

Disclaimer: I do not own.

Prologue

The cemetery backed up to a neighborhood. It wasn't something you saw everyday, but it didn't seem like anyone in the development cared about the tiny half acre of land that held the long dead. It was old, it had that cozy feel of a family plot, but the headstones varied too much for that. Along one side the row of houses backed up to it, since who would want to come out their front door and see headstones every morning, the other side held a drainage ditch. The land had been there much longer than the crop of houses that had gone up. The back though was all wilderness. An unsteady slope of land that ran beyond the neighborhood and into the small forest that surrounded it. A small stream of water ran through it, signaling that maybe the drainage ditch was cleverly placed in the natural creek's bed. The entrance to the cemetery was a small chain link gate that eased onto the main entrance of the neighborhood. The sign was a simple piece of wood with 'Zion Cemetery' painted neatly across it.

The small subdivision sat on the edge of two towns. It straddled the city limits half in one half in the other. If you sat outside and watched you would see maybe one patrol car slide around a corner, but that was a rare sight. The city limits were spread out and on a night like Halloween, the police were as well. Zion was the place to hold Halloween parties, every year some senior would send out invitations, and yet every year it never got broken up. It could be because the neighborhood was young, partiers. If you had beer, they wouldn't call the cops. Or it could be that from the road no one would ever know that there was a party raging in the dark. The only way you could tell was if you looked closely. A line of cars would start to pile up along all the roads in the neighborhood and costumed kids would slip through yards and brush out into the woods beyond the graveyard. One year a group of students had moved into the graveyard. It was legend that a boy leant against a tombstone to steady himself and passed out when he stepped on the grave. It could be because he was drunker than a skunk, but the tale kept the kids off the cemetery land. The dead had their own way of forcing you to respect them.

This year was no different. The invitation went out to all seniors. One thing about a small town that you have to appreciate was that even the outcasts got included in traditions. Of course there were other Halloween parties going on, but the largest by far was Zion. The one rule on the invitation was a costume. It was required. Anyone caught without a costume was asked to leave, asked being used loosely of course. Dragged out by a zombie football player who threatened to kick your ass if he saw you again was most likely the solution to a lack of costume. They took the tradition seriously.

It didn't matter what day Halloween fell on. Zion was on the Saturday before at the same time every year. On the day before if you stopped and listened to the conversations in the hallway everyone would be about costumes and how much fun the party would be. The stereotypical jock group already had the booze planned, and their girls had set all decorations in order. Everything was set.

A/N: This was originally going to be one fic. It grew. So pardon some of the coming chapters if they are a little short. Because they weren't supposed to be chapters. P.S. This is a real place. Its pretty badass.