Sam’s head rolled its eyes. “Sorry.”

“And?”

“Thank you.”

I nodded and grabbed the box. The tomb was right in the center of the otherwise plain graveyard. It had a big steel door, chained shut. The padlock was brand new, so I knew it was Billy’s doing. I blasted the lock with the silencer and pushed the door open. Daylight flooded into the crypt.

Inside, on a white stone block, was Sam’s headless body sitting like a guy waiting for the bus. It was slumped over, and the raggedy old suit it wore was covered with mud and dust. I took out Sam’s head and placed it next to the body, and then made the first in a series of big mistakes.

I touched the body.

The damn thing flipped out. It went completely fucking nuts, swinging its arms and running around the tomb like a spastic child on fire. It was out of control, running in circles. I tried to grab it but it was too much to handle. Sam screamed. I screamed back. The headless body decided to bolt out of the tomb, making a blind run for it.

“Careful! Don’t hurt my fucking body! Catch it!” Sam screamed.

“I’m trying! I’m trying!”

I chased the body all over the graveyard as it juked and hurdled headstones. How it knew where the obstacles were was anybody’s guess. I finally got pissed and ran at the thing full speed. I tackled it, then held it in a bear hug and hauled it back to the tomb. Once inside, I pinned it securely next to its head.

“Now burn the incantation!”

“I know what to do, Sam.”

“Burn it!”

I lit the parchment. As it burned, Sam’s head began to levitate as the lines of time and space sparked and smoked. By the time the small paper was ash, Sam and his body were reunited—all five foot four of his cranky ass.

“Man, I gotta piss like nobody’s business!”

“Hold it. We gotta get up to Griffith Park and see what’s happening up there.”

“I ain’t doing anything until I piss and get some food!”

Fine. We stopped at a burger joint on the way to the park. Sam drained himself and ate five hamburgers without taking a breath. After nearly choking to death, he was ready for action.

“Let’s go kill this little bastard,” Sam smiled. Every scar on his messed-up head moved like a thousand tiny grins.

I was about to pull away from the burger dump when suddenly everything went black. And I mean everything, including street lights and the sun. In the blink of an eye, total darkness—like an instant eclipse. Everything came to a halt and for one nanosecond, the world was silent. A beat later, I began hearing screams and car horns in the darkness. It was as black as a starless midnight sky. People were panicking.