Luckily, Katie decided not to bother herself with the laughter. In a flash she was back out of the woods with no intention of returning.
Or so she thought.
Katie suddenly felt the cell phone in her pocket vibrate.
She pulled the phone up where an "EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION" popped up. Katie read the notification:
"As of 9:00 a.m. today, we begin the 11th annual TICKLE PURGE pursuant to town council resolution 10(A). Stay in your homes if you do not wish to be the victim of the roving "Tickle Gangs." Anyone caught by this gangs can be legally held and tickle tortured by these gangs until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Police will not respond to those call within this timeframe."
The eerie siren suddenly broke through the sky. Katie gulped. She was much farther from home than she'd like to be.
Her hometown was dubbed "Tickletown USA" and carried this moniker proudly. A corrupt and sadistic town council administration had instituted the first "Tickle Purge" after several of the town counselors expressed interest in one.
As time went on the gangs were mostly made up of kids, teenagers and young adults. Most adults didn't bother with it.
The rules were simple:
- If you were caught by one of the various tickle gangs across the city, you were theirs until the next morning, unless you managed to escape.
- Anyone outside the home is fair game.
What made the Tickle Purge so deadly is that the deadliest of gangs were the ones you'd least suspect: elementary age kids.
The teenagers and young adults would normally target people their own age and rarely deviate. For little kids, this was the time for them to get revenge on anyone and everyone older than them.
And what was worse, was their pack mentality.
Teenagers and young adults worked mostly in groups of twos and threes.
The elementary aged kids had a size and strength disadvantage, so they were known to operate in groups of ten or more.
And they ALWAYS used traps.
Suddenly, a group of voices were heard coming up the street. Rather than risk being seen, Katie ducked into the woods she had just exited. A thick tree nearby provided perfect cover and would allow a greater view of the street.
Just as Katie reached a safe branch that would keep her stable and hidden, the voices came roaring past.
It was a horde of ten year olds on bikes. All of them had a "T" painted across their faces. This was how you identified who was taking part.....and who you had to run from.
This group stopped in the road near the tree where Katie was hiding. Two of the bigger kids, the leaders presumably, started to converse.
"Jason. Take half the group up and down this road. This is a main street so if anyone is gonna be caught out here it'll be on this road. Patrol down here every twenty minutes."
Jason nodded and the group split up.
Katie had a choice to make: risk going down the road for home or go deeper into the woods.
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