This is a quick story I wrote one day after I read a bunch of Stephen King books and the Total Drama Island marathon. A word of caution, though: You may see you favorite TDI character die in here!
Two years ago...
A bus containing twenty-two students and two faculty members cruised down the open highway. The students were just getting back from an incentive trip reserved only for the kids who had perfect attendance that entire year, their Freshman year. They were being escorted by Mr. Myers, a sadistic math teacher and Ms. Voorhees, a mousy and work-obsessed librarian. The kids were chanting their favorite lines from the movie they just saw.
"And that one guy was like, 'What did you just say?'"
"I know! And then that car exploded! It was awesome!"
The mindless chatter from the teenagers was irritating Mr. Krueger, the bus driver, to no end. Eventually, he had had enough. He turned away from the road, hands off the steering wheel, to yell at the kids.
"ALRIGHT! NO ONE IS TO SAY ANOTHER WORD UNTIL WE GET BACK TO SCHOOL!" He turned back to face the road only a moment too late: The bus had swerved headlong into an oncoming car containing only one passenger. Mr. Krueger tried to move out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. The bus smashed headlong into the car, sending it careening down the side of the road and into a ditch. Mr. Kruger stopped the bus and went to inspect the damage. He called 911 and left the scene, not another word was said about anything, not even between Mr. Myers and Ms. Voorhees.
Present day...
"Just one more minute..." Geoff Murdock whispered under his breath. He was watching the clock in anxiety, fifty-two seconds, fifty-one seconds, fifty seconds... Each second seemed like an hour. The red hand moved slowly around the clock, passing each number hesitantly. It was the last day of school, and Mr. Myers had kept Geoff, and ten other students after for playing an "innocent" game of kickball in the class. Mr. Myers said to stay ten minutes after the bell rings, and the tenth minute was less than thirty-seconds away...
During that thirty seconds, Geoff had to endure the insufferable ramblings of the two girls behind him.
"No way!" Lindsay Peterson shouted. Lindsay was your typical ditsy blond, and rumored to be the school slut.
"Yeah, way!" Courtney Freud responded, sounding excited. Courtney and Lindsay were best friends, and have been since third grade. Courtney, again, was the stereotypical popular girl, but with a twist: she was a brunette, and it was natural!
Geoff diverted his attention to the other people in the class. Owen Johnson and Cody Miller were idly talking about the newest role-playing game they had downloaded off the Internet. Geoff didn't even know why they tried to play the game, they were the two biggest, literally in Owen's case, nerds in the whole school, or maybe even the planet. Maybe they were trying to recreate their self image for the next school year, or maybe they just wanted an excuse to practice their LARP skills.
In front of Cody and Owen was a group of three girls: Bridgette Hubbard, Heather Fisher and Beth Altman. Bridgette was a cute blond that Geoff had had a crush on, but was never courageous enough to act upon it. Heather was the daughter of a teacher at the school and was a total preppy, student body president type. Beth, unlike Courtney or Lindsay, or even Bridgette, was not attractive in the least. One would call her "fugly," but she thought that everyone liked her and was her friend.
Sitting next to Geoff was his best friend, DJ Torres, a wannabe gangster that could never get the persona just right. On the other side of him was Tyler Burke, the football star who had been asked out by Beth numerous times, but for someone odd reason, he always rejected her. Sitting all alone in the far corner was a girl dressed all in black, hair dyed black and black makeup, Gwen Hannigan. She was the residential goth chick, who stayed after because she felt, "Ending the school year was an example of man's hypocritical ways of always giving himself an undeserved sense of accomplishment," or something.
Mr. Myers sat on his swivel-chair behind his desk, watching smugly as the eleven students waited anxiously for the bell to ring. Geoff glanced at the clock one last time, three seconds, two seconds, one seconds...
Geoff sprung from his position in the desk with his backpack in his hand and bolted for the door, with several others behind him. Geoff reached his hand to freedom, to the end of his Junior year of high school, to the end of the tyrannical rule Mr. Myers, until...
Suddenly, the lights blew and flickered out. Geoff stopped dead in his tracks. Not able to see anything, he couldn't open the door. And that's when it happened:
"AAAaaargh!!" A blood curdling scream filled the deathly silent room. Many other voices screamed in reaction. One of the lights flickered on, and before the class was the corpse of Mr. Myers.
"OH MY GOD!" Courtney and Lindsay screamed in unison. Mr. Myers was laying on the ground, back up, with multiple stab wounds on his back. One of his fists was still firmly grasping his empty coffee cup. His lifeless eyes gazed ahead in a frozen expression of horror. A thin stream of blood seeped through his open mouth, filling the grooves of the linoleum beneath him.
"What happened to him?" Geoff exclaimed. He looked around and saw various looks of horror and disgust spread like butter across the vast canvas that were his classmate's faces. Except one person, however, looked rather bemused.
"You think this is funny, goth girl?" Tyler confronted Gwen with a menacing aura.
"What? You don't? Don't you see? Karma. He stabbed so many people in the back, he was stabbed in the back."
"What are you talking about?" Lindsay asked. She and Courtney were hugging each other in grief and for protection while Geoff and Tyler tried to open the classroom door, but it was now mysteriously locked, from the outside.
"What goes around comes around, Blondie," Gwen answered. Lindsay glared at her. Geoff and Tyler had given up on the door. The eleven faces went back to the body of Mr. Myers. Yes, he was the meanest teacher in America, but even he didn't deserve this. Slowly, the the teenagers began to put two and two together.
"You did it! You killed him!" Bridgette pointed an accusing finger at Gwen. Gwen rolled her eyes and then laughed.
"How could I? I was sitting at my desk while you animals were barraging through the door. Maybe during that confusion one of you did it." Tyler tensed up and looked ready to punch her in the face.
"Whatever, let's just get out of here!" Courtney was near in tears. Geoff, Tyler and DJ had gone back to shaking the door open, to no avail.
"We're locked in," Geoff announced after a while of jostling.
"What do we do now? I can't stay here with a dead body any longer!" Heather was fanning herself, trying not to puke. "Maybe my dad's still here?"
DJ lunged for the phone, looked at the directory, found Heather's dad's room number and dialed frantically. DJ waited a second, looked quizzically at the phone, dialed again, but nothing, not even a dial tone.
"The phone's not working...Oh crap!" DJ saw that the telephone wire was severed cleanly. Frustrated, he through the receiver across the room, nearly hitting Owen in the head. Cody walked up to the door, and looked at where the deadlock was.
"Anyone got a credit card?" Cody asked. Instantaneously, Courtney and Lindsay produced three cards each.
"Much obliged, young miss." Cody bowed low as he took one of the cards. Courtney inaudibly mouthed "Loser," as Cody picked the lock. In good time, the door clicked open and the group burst into the hallway. Tyler ran to the end of the hallway, arriving at the door leading outside, only to find it locked.
"Hey, nerd! Open this door!" He accented his command with a loud bang on the door. Cody scurried over to the door, card in hand.
"Um, this doesn't have doorknob, its a push-door, and it appears to have some sort of reinforced substance behind it..." Cody babbled on, with no one paying attention.
"In English, dork." Tyler threatened.
"There's something metal blocking it, from the outside." Cody arrogantly walked back to the others. Tyler reluctantly followed, after eying the door one last time. There was a sheet of metal on the other side, and it was bolted down, tight.
"Ah the irony..." Gwen mused once again. Everyone shot her a dirty look as she explained. "America worships the quarterback. He doesn't have to work for anything, everyone opens the door for him, and now, somebody's denying him access. This is my kind of psycho!"
"Shut up, Gwen!" Geoff shouted. Usually, Geoff was laid-back, chill, but when the situation persists, he lets his emotions flare. "We need to work together to get out of here before that guy that got Mr. Myers gets us! We don't need you being a Negative Nancy saying everybody's gonna die, 'cuz they're not!" Gwen rolled her eyes, still smirking.
"So what we do?" DJ broke the awkward silence.
"We look and see if we can get help. Anyone got a cell-phone?" Lindsay pulled out her phone, but looked dismayed.
"The batteries are dead." A sullen mood drifted over the teenagers.
"Maybe we should split up?" Beth suggested.
"Don't you watch horror movies? That's the worst thing you could possibly do!" Tyler yelled. No one could argue with that logic. If they were all together, it would be hard for the killer, or killers to get them.
"Let's just see if there's anybody else at the school, and that they're alive." Owen said. It was odd, Owen hardly ever spoke. Yes he was the fat kid, and yes he was the biggest nerd ever, but everyone seemed to listen and obey him. The ragtag group walked down the hallway, passing doors, open and closed. The hallway was short, with only six classrooms on either side, one being room 213, inhabited only by the decomposing carcass of Mr. Myers. The halls were oddly silent. In the few open classrooms, the group only saw desks, no signs of life. The other doors were simply locked, only from the inside, as they should be at the end of the day, after all the teachers ans staff had left...
The hallway ended, coming into a hub of the three hallways of the school and the front office. Geoff pressed his face against the glass of the small window adorning the solid-oak, and firmly locked door. The office was completely vacant, not even an ant scurried along the floor. Something caught his eye, though. The clock above the door leading outside read 3:16, an hour and sixteen minutes after school was supposed to be let out, and an hour and six minutes after Mr. Myers was supposed to let them out. When Geoff was staring at the clock in room 213, he distinctly remembered it reading 2:10.
"That bastard," Geoff muttered under his breath.
"What is it?" Bridgette asked. Taking a breath, Geoff explained.
"What time do you think it is?"
"About, two-twenty, what does that—," Heather began.
"Well, it's not. It's actually three-twenty. Mr. Myers set the clock back an hour, so we could be held back longer."
"Ha! Again, Karma! I don't see why you guys think that it's not ironic!" Gwen scoffed. Everyone had grown immune to Gwen's soliloquies about death and Karma.
"So that means nobody's here, huh?" Beth deduced.
Geoff stared at the floor and nodded, "Yeah, I guess we're alone."
"So how do we get out of here?" DJ asked.
"All of the doors have the sheet metal behind them, and even if we could charge Lindsay's phone, there wouldn't be any service in the building," Cody explained.
"We need to just stay here, alive, until someone comes." Bridgette's method of cheering up the mood was harshly dimmed by another quote of Gwen's.
"If someone comes. And who knows when that'll be?" Just as she finished, a dark clothed figure appeared out of sight of the group. The figure was wearing a clichéd scheme mask and a black sweater and slacks. It walked like easily, almost gracefully, as it approached from the east hall. DJ and Geoff were standing with their backs facing the figure. As the group yammered on, the figure stealthily approached the two best friends. Courtney stared, her eyes widening, her mouth dropping as the figure produced a clean and shiny meat cleaver from within the folds of their sweater.
"Courtney? What's wrong?" DJ asked. Courtney lifted her finger in sheer terror at the encroaching threat. Quizzical, DJ and Geoff turned to see the figure no more than three inches behind them. Geoff quickly bolted forward, DJ wasn't as lucky. In mid-gait, the figure thrust the blade into DJ's abdomen. The knife protruding from his body was drenched in blood and dripped onto the floor. DJ's face twisted as the knife was pulled from his body. The figure examined the meat cleaver closely as the frightened group separated and ran in opposite directions. DJ's lifeless mass fell to the floor with a resounding thud. Geoff, Bridgette and Beth escaped into the nearby north hall, where the library and the infamous room 213 were located. Courtney, Owen, Heather and Cody fled to the west hall where the science class rooms and the computer labs were. Gwen, Lindsay and Tyler ran behind the killer, into the east hall, composed entirely of normal classrooms. The dark figure stayed in the hub, and waited, waited for just the right moment...
--
Courtney, Owen, Heather and Cody entered the deserted west hallway with adrenaline flowing freely through their veins. Courtney and Cody managed to enter the open door that led to the computer lab and Heather and Owen hid in the Home Ec. room. Both groups slammed the doors behind them and automatically locked the doors.
"That was too close!" Heather said as her and Owen scoped out the Home Ec. class. Several counters and tables were spread throughout the room. Various appliances dotted the tops of each, form mixers to blenders, and toasters to waffle-makers. In the far corner, a huge industrial refrigerator was situated, the silver sheen coming off of it almost blinding the two teenagers. Heather walked over to the phone near the door, only to find the wire cut. Owen sat down in the middle of the room, wallowing in his own pity and mourning. Heather continued to dart around the room, making sure there was no way for the killer to get in.
"Poor DJ, poor DJ..." Owen kept repeating over and over again, clutching his knees and rocking back and forth. When everything was secure, Heather finally snapped.
"SHUT UP Owen!! Yes, he died, but we're still alive! And if we help each other, no more of us will be killed!" The sweet and innocent Heather that got straight A's since first grade, that was on every sport's team, that was the student body president was now hostile. The normally perfectly straightened jet-black hair was in a horrific disarray, covering her face. Her bright eyes were now fiery with fury. Owen stared aghast, and not another word was spoken between the two of them for quite some time.
Owen glanced out of the window and saw through the library window, and three people run in and lock the door behind them. Owen was relieved that he and Heather weren't the only survivors...
--
Geoff, Bridgette and Beth had made it into the library at the end of the north hall, right across from room 213. Geoff immediately locked the door behind the trio. The three panted audibly in sync with each other, gasping out the fear that had overtaken them. Geoff's knees slowly buckled and he slid down the side of the door until he was sitting with his legs bent up. He limply laid his hands on his knees and drooped his head down.
Beth knelt next to him and attempted to console him.
"Geoff, I'm sorry about DJ." Geoff was slightly repulsed by Beth, but for some reason, maybe pity, he humored her.
"Thanks, Beth."
Bridgette paced back and forth, walking through the shelves upon shelves of books, inspecting for anything out-of-the-ordinary, or deadly. What she found was both.
"OH MY GOD!" she screamed. From the door, Beth and Geoff ran to the non-fiction section and the aisle where Bridgette was standing, covering her eyes and crying.
"What is—OH MY GOD!" Geoff knew why she screamed. In front of Bridgette, were the bodies of Ms. Voorhees and Mr. Kruger, the school librarian and bus driver. Ms. Voorhees limp body was in the exact position she was in day in and day out. Her right arm was in the shelf, her knuckles white from clutching the biography of some dead poet. Her mousy hair was curled and styled to cover the majority of her face, only to be thwarted by the Steve Urkel-esque glasses she wore. Her throat was slit and blood flowed freely. She was kneeling in front of the the shelf and apparently was caught off guard. Mr. Kruger was sitting, his back against the book shelf. He looked perfectly fine, except for the charred remains that were his head.
"He must have done this after Mr. Myers." Bridgette and Beth agreed and then left the aisle. Geoff stared at the corpses one last time before leaving. As he left the aisle, he heard a loud thud from outside, in the hallway.
"Bridgette? Beth? Did you hear that?" Geoff asked to open space. He walked into the lobby and saw Bridgette and Beth looking out the small window on the door. Outside was the mysterious figure, taunting them. It pretended to use its knife to shatter the window, only to bring it back at the last second.
"Just ignore him! Get away from the door!" Geoff called out. With out thinking twice, the two girls ran away to join Geoff behind the desk where you check out the sparsely used books. The intimidating knocking lasted only a minute more, until it stopped abruptly. Geoff peeked out from under the desk and saw that the killer was gone, for now...
--
Courtney and Cody ran around frantically, trying to find a hiding place in the computer lab. Only four long tables were laid horizontally across the small room, each dotted with eight monitors each. Courtney, as a last resort, ducked underneath one of the tables near the window and Cody did the same, only closer to the door. How did I end up with über nerd? she thought to herself as the nervous Cody bit his fingernails uncontrollably. Minutes passed, each more grueling than the last. Eventually, they heard a loud knock on the door.
"What was that?" Courtney inquired.
"I don't know, but be quiet!" Cody whispered and out his index finger to his lips. The two turned away from the door, out of sight, out of mind, right? Wrong. The killer used his long knife blade to pick the lock open with a loud click! Courtney turned to see what it was, but it appeared the killer had fled. She turned back around. Cody hadn't noticed a thing, however. Slowly, and silently, the killer opened the door. The handle turned downwards, and the bulk of the door moved forward. The figure crept in and shut the door behind themselves, all silent enough to hear a pen drop. The killer saw the kneeling figures of Courtney and Cody and approached the most vulnerable.
With the blade sheathed, he stood behind Cody. In one foul swoop, the killer had Cody's mouth covered and his knife at Cody's throat. Still not a sound alerted Courtney to the presence. The killer began to cleanly sever Cody's head from his neck. Cody squirmed and tried to scream, but to no avail. The killer held Cody's head and examined it. It closed his painful eyes and shut the gasping mouth. Cody's body fell from its crouching position and made an audible sound.
"Shut up Cody! He might hear you!" With that, the killer rolled the head right in front of Courtney. She screamed and stood up fast, knocking herself unconscious underneath the table. As her unmoving form laid there, the killer walked over and dragged her out from under the table, waking her up.
"What? Oh my...HELP HELP!!" Her cries went unanswered as the killer held her down on the floor. With one hand on her neck, the other lifted up one of the computer monitors.
"No, NO! PLEASE DON'T!" The killer held the monitor screen down over her hysterical face. Now in full-on tears, she pleaded one last time.
"Please, don't do it." In a single motion, the killer smashed the monitor over the face of the squirming girl beneath it. Soon, the squirming stopped and the killer walked away from his latest accomplishments...
--
"What was that?" Lindsay asked. Her, Tyler and Gwen were hiding in a bathroom stall in the east hall.
"Oh, probably just someone getting their just desserts," Gwen said.
"Maybe we should check it out, maybe we could save someone." Tyler sounded hopeful, but Gwen saw past it.
"Yeah, or maybe we'll get there just in time to get butchered ourselves?"
"Whatever, I'm going!" Tyler opened the stall door and walked out the door and left the girls' bathroom. The halls were completely empty, eerily empty. Tyler's footsteps echoed throughout the deserted school. He walked down the hallway until he came to the spot where DJ's body was laying. Closing his eyes, he walked past the body. As he did, he heard a moan coming from behind him.
"Hello? Who's there?"
"Tyler..." The voice sounded familiar. It seemed like it was coming from the floor. Tyler looked and saw DJ's arm twitch. He quickly knelt down and talked to DJ.
"DJ, you still alive, man?" Tyler turned DJ's head to face him. DJ's eyes looked like he was crying.
"Not for long. I want you to kill me." Tyler looked disbelieving. He couldn't just kill somebody he could save.
"No, I—I can't, I just, can't."
"Yes, please. It's my last wish. Please just kill me, I can't live with the pain." DJ had started to cry again. Torn between two decisions, Tyler decided to do the noble thing and put DJ out of his misery. Tyler stood and walked over to a nearby fire extinguisher. He sighed as he pulled it off of its hook. He faintly heard DJ say, "Thank you," as he hit DJ in the head with the extinguisher. A metallic clang sang through the air, alerting a certain black-clad figure...
--
"Did you hear that?" Heather asked Owen. Owen sullenly nodded. "What do you think it was?"
"It sounded like someone hitting something with something metal."
"Well, what could those 'somethings' and 'someone' be? Maybe we could help them?"
"I think we should stay here. If it's the killer, we can't afford to be part of the body count."
"I guess you're right." Heather sat on one of the chairs to think about what they could do to help the others, while a certain someone anticipated their next big accomplishment...
--
Geoff and Bridgette had kept a look-out on the hallway from their vantage point that was the window on the door. Beth had wandered around the library like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. Her main motive was to try and see out of any of the other windows in the library. She looked out of the outside one and had a clear view of the Home Ec. room, but alas, its window was tinted on the outside. Beth walked to the last window in the room, the window looking out into the hub of the school. There she saw Tyler walking away, teary-eyed, carrying a bright red fire extinguisher from the motionless lump on the ground that was DJ. Beth happily knocked on the window. Tyler looked and ran to the window. A silent conversation ensued between the two. Beth told Tyler to come into the library with them, but Tyler was looking for Heather, Owen, Courtney and Cody. Beth agreed to help him. In sync, the two walked to the door leading into the library.
"Geoff, open the door," Beth called out. Geoff complied and in walked Tyler, looking forlorn.
"Hey! You guys are still here!" Tyler was faking happiness at the sight of the survivors, but Bridgette saw past it.
"Tyler, what happened?" she pressured. Tyler stammered a bit before answering.
"It was nothing. So have you seen anybody else?"
"No, how about you?" Geoff asked.
"Yeah, Lindsay and Gwen are safe in the east hall bathroom. Me and Beth were planning on going into the west hall to find the others."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if, you-know-who appears?" Bridgette asked.
"Well if he does, I have this!" Tyler flaunted the fire extinguisher by hitting the end of it in his hand threateningly.
"Maybe we should get Gwen and Lindsay too, so we know everyone is safe," Geoff suggested.
"Sounds like a plan. But remember: Be careful. You and Bridgette go get Gwen and Lindsay, 'kay?"
"Okay, let's go."
--
Geoff and Bridgette walked side by side through the hallways, passing DJ's remains. Geoff winced a little, but carried on. As they walked, Bridgette continually glanced over her shoulder and their surroundings to make sure no one was there. When they turned into the east hall, the power finally decided to go out, making it pitch-black.
"Perfect," Geoff muttered. Even more scared now, the duo eventually made it to the bathroom.
"Gwen? Lindsay?" Bridgette called. No answer. They searched the entire bathroom, even the boys' next door. No sign of the girls anywhere. Assuming the worst, Geoff and Bridgette left the bathroom in a sullen silence into the abyss that was the east hall.
Geoff walked closer to Bridgette, putting his arm around her shoulders and slowly bringing his face to meet hers. Surprised, Bridgette stopped walking. Geoff confidently pressed his lips against hers and was thrust into a world of pure ecstasy. He was finally accomplishing his life-long goal. What made the moment just that more spectacular, was Bridgette kissing him back. Almost half a minute of later, the two separated, gasping for air. The darkness they were in seemed to get a little brighter that moment.
"Bridgette, if we don't make it out of here alive, I want you to know I've always loved you."
"Oh, Geoff, I love you too!" In another act of spontaneity, they kissed again. In mid kiss, however, they heard a banging coming from inside a room near them. Geoff broke the kiss and listened more carefully. He walked down the hall about five more steps and opened a door that he remembered to be the janitor's closet. When it opened, a haggard and near-passed out Gwen fell out. She gasped and wheezed, trying desperately to catch her breath. When her lungs were full she spoke:
"Thank you guys. That guy locked me in there and he took Lindsay somewhere else. He said, 'She'll make the perfect disguise.'"
"Perfect disguise? What's that all about?" Bridgette wondered.
"I don't know, but we need to get back to the library. I hope Tyler and Beth are okay." Geoff reached behind Gwen and produced a flashlight. He shone the light straight forward, illuminating the hallway. When he was positive no one was there, he started walking.
"Come on, we can't be slow." And with that, Geoff, Bridgette and Gwen started heading back to the library.
--
Tyler and Beth arrived at the west hall in a cold sweat, constantly checking around them. At one point, Beth was actually walking backward, her back to his. Luckily for them, only the lights in the east hall went out, not the west or north. They first came to an empty science lab. The sinks and some of the dissecting scissors appeared to have bright-crimson blood on them, but nothing was in there. They walked a little bit further up the hall to the computer lab. The door was left open and it looked like one of the monitors had fallen down.
"Hello? Anyone in here?" Tyler whispered carefully. He walked to the front of the room. He turned and at the same time as Beth noticed Cody's decapitated body and Courtney's face smashed in with a computer monitor. After getting over the initial shock of the death of two more people, Beth had realized the motive of the killer.
"She's right...Gwen's right! Everyone was killed in an ironic way, Courtney was always worried about her looks and appearance, and had her face mutilated. Cody relied only on his smarts and brain, and he had his head cut off! Don't you see Tyler? Gwen was right!" Beth seemed to be in hysterics, halfway between laughing maniacally, and crying profusely.
"And DJ was always trying to be a gangster, but he was killed by a member of his own 'gang'...me..." The killer had planned for Tyler to kill DJ the whole time. But the question now was: How were the rest of them going to be killed? Beth and Tyler left the room to tell the others what they figured out, and fast...
--
Heather and Owen were going crazy. They had been in the Home Ec. room for what seemed like days. And it didn't help much to hear a scream here, or a slice there. After a long period of silence, Heather suspected them to be the only ones alive.
"Owen, do you think there's anyone left, besides us? Owen? OWEN!" Owen didn't answer at all. His hulking mass was still sitting in the same spot it had for hours, not moving an inch. "Owen, this isn't funny!" Heather approached Owen and looked at him. In his lap was a tube of Rocky Road ice cream he took from the freezer a long time ago. The frozen dairy had melted into a sauce-like consistency. On his chin, several dribbles of the ice cream ran from his mouth. His eyes stared ahead, never blinking. His mouth never twitched or anything.
"Owen?" Heather asked one last time. She touched him on the shoulder and his body fell over backwards. Wide-eyed, she put two fingers on his wrist and tried to find a pulse, to no avail.
"Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD!" she cried. Heather didn't know how he died, but he did. She ran around the room, sobbing intensely like a chicken with its head cut off. When she had calmed down enough, she looked at the ice cream he had been eating and sniffed it once. It smelled funny, like something she saw in science class, what was it called...CYANIDE! It was cyanide poisoning that killed Owen. She immediately left the tub where it was and ran out the door into the hallway, not caring what happened to her now...
--
Tyler and Beth ran down the hallway until they saw Heather running down the hall, crying.
"Heather! What happened?" Tyler asked. She ran up and hugged him for protection, soaking his shirt with tears, and his ears with sobs.
"He, he got Owen! He poisoned the ice-cream!" Heather explained.
"He always solved his problems with food, and then he was killed by it," Beth said, shaking her head.
"What? What do you mean?" Heather asked.
"Beth and I figured out the killer kills by ironically killing somebody because of a flaw they have, and we're trying to warn the others before the killer can get them."
"Where are the others, and who are the others?"
"Well, Geoff and Bridgette are still alive, and they went to get Lindsay and Gwen. Courtney, Cody, DJ, and Owen I guess, are all dead. Now hurry up, we need to get back to the library."
The group of three walked back into the hub and up into the north hall. When walking in the hub, however, Tyler didn't see DJ's body. He quickly shrugged it off and continued walking. The lights in that hall began to flicker and die out, too, just like the east hall. One by one, each section of the hall got darker. Eventually, they made it to the library, with Geoff, Bridgette and Gwen inside...
--
The rescue party had returned with Gwen to the library. As soon as they got in, the lights in the hall outside began to go out, one by one. Geoff locked the door again as the the girls checked the rest of the library for the killer. In the same aisle where Ms. Voorhees and Mr Kruger's bodies lay, several new bodies where there as well, all sitting cross legged in circle.
"GEOFF!" Bridgette screamed. Geoff hurried over and saw the horrific scene before them. Mr. Myers, Ms. Voorhees, Mr. Kruger, DJ, Owen, Courtney, Cody and one more unidentifiable body were all parts of a human sculpture of sorts. Mr. Myers had his hand, still clutching his coffee cup placed delicately in his lap. Ms. Voorhees was pulled out of the bookcase and the pool of blood had moved into her lap and her glasses were still perched on her nose. Mr. Kruger was still in the same position he was in before, sitting up with his back against the bookshelf with the ashes of his head scattered all over his body. DJ looked like he had been hit in the head with something large: a large dent was set perfectly into his temple, a perfect circle. Owen had much more melted ice cream covering his face and hair. Courtney's face was almost completely flat and dotted with jagged pieces of glass and plastic. Blood was unable to flow, and was building up behind her eyes, turning the whites beet-red. Cody's body sat almost perfect, with the exception of his severed head being held in the lifeless grip. The last was too hard to look at: it was in the form of a female human, yes, but it appeared to be skinned alive, bright red muscles showing over every inch and even a severed artery here and there, still spurting blood. What scared Geoff the most, however, was that the circle wasn't whole, there was still space for more bodies...
"We need to get out of here," Geoff said quietly. He took Bridgette's hand and led her to the front door where Gwen was letting in Tyler, Beth and Heather.
"Where are you going?" Tyler asked. Geoff darted past him.
"Anywhere away from this sick place." Without having to think about it, the other five followed like lemmings. Still clutching the flashlight from earlier, and Tyler still wielding the fire-extinguisher, the group walked down the north hall back to the now-vacant hub.
"Let's go inside the office," Gwen said. Bridgette and Heather agreed.
"I don't know..." Geoff said.
"Yeah, the killer could be hiding in there," Beth said.
"Or he could expect us to go in there," Tyler added.
"Maybe we shouldn't stay in the office..." Bridgette weighed the pros and cons in her head. Gwen stood her position firmly and Heather was torn between two sides.
"Um, I think I'll go with them, it's nothing personal, Gwen, I just think it will be better if we're in a big group."
"Whatever, Heather. Go on, go get yourself killed. Don't worry about me." Geoff, Bridgette, Beth, Tyler and Heather watched Gwen take a Barbie pin out of her hair and pick the lock. The door clicked open and Gwen walked inside. Just as she was safely inside, she turned and crossed her arms at the others.
"See nothing to worry ab—." Her sentence was cut short as a knife was thrust from the behind the door into the side of her ribcage. She looked down at the blade, and then desperately at the group before collapsing onto the ground, a bloody heap. Needless to say, the survivors ran, not in a specific direction, but just away. The arrived at the still-lighted west hall and all went into the science lab with the bloody sinks and dissecting scissors.
Geoff and Tyler barricaded the door with all of the chairs in the class, and even the teacher's desk. Heather looked out the window leading to the outside. Outside of this hell-hole, into freedom. She banged on the glass, but I didn't budge. She fell to her knees and began to cry. Bridgette went over to comfort her while Geoff and Tyler continued to block the door.
"It'll be okay, Heather," Bridgette tried to calm her down.
"No, it won't be Bridgette. We're never going to be able to get out of here. No one's coming to save us, and that killer just won't leave us alone. We're all going to die and there's nothing we can do about it. Just look at who we've tried to save: You and Geoff tried to get Lindsay and Gwen, and we still haven't found her, or her body I might add; DJ was killed right off the bat while everyone just watched; Tyler and Beth found Courtney and Cody dead; I was with Owen when he died! And then there are those stupid irony things Gwen and Beth kept talking about, like we're all being punished for something, I just want this all to be a bad dream..." Heather covered her face in her hands and shook her head.
Beth approached Heather. "Heather, I think you're right. I think we are being punished for all the bad qualities we have: Mr. Myers was a backstabber; DJ was a wannabe; Courtney was conceited; Cody relied on his brain too much; Ms. Voorhees never did anything but work; Mr. Kruger was a hot head, and had his head burned; Owen had an eating-disorder; and Lindsay always put up a shield, that's why she was skinned, to show people the inside of her. And I already no my flaw: I push Tyler too hard into going out with me. But I still think we can fight this! Heather, we just need to work together as a team."
Everyone, especially Heather, seemed moved by Beth's speech. Being a homely girl, she almost never got any positive attention. But now, all things living and not were focused on her. She blushed slightly before going back to helping Geoff and Tyler. With a newfound courage, the remaining five worked together to get the door completely barricaded.
Once everything was in place, they rotated who would watch the hallway from the window on the door. First up was Tyler. He watched uninterrupted, focusing every bit of himself to protecting the door. Not soon after he took the post, a figure walked past the door, a very attractive figure. It was a female, and almost resembled Lindsay, albeit a little more masculine. It had long blond hair, like Lindsay's, and was wearing clothes identical to Lindsay. It walked with its back facing the door, so Tyler couldn't tell for sure, until it turned around. His hopes were confirmed: Lindsay was still alive! He began to pull the chairs and desk away from the door.
"Tyler! What the hell are you doing?" Geoff screamed at him. Tyler ignored him and opened the door. He walked outside and hugged Lindsay from behind.
"You don't know how much I've missed you!" "Lindsay" remained silent and stationary.
"Lindsay? You okay?" Tyler turned "her" around to face him.
"I'm just fine, baby," "Lindsay" said. "Her" voice was much deeper, and threatening.
"Wait, what happened?" Tyler backed away cautiously.
"Oh, I just had some work done, you like?" The fake Lindsay twirled around once, and then brought bother of her hands to her face, and pulled. In her hands was the face of Lindsay, freshly skinned from its owner. Where the face used to be, was the face of an old classmate's of theirs: Chris MacClean, who was confirmed dead about two years ago in a car accident.
"Ch-Chris? How is that—," Tyler began. Chris walked over to him and planted a kiss on his cheeks.
"Chris? Who's Chris? I thought he died in that car crash a while ago, by being hit with a school bus being ridden by these twenty-something, snotty teenagers, eleven of which moved to California, and their two dimwit teachers!" Chris pulled a meat cleaver from Lindsay's skirt pocket and thrust into Tyler's chest, penetrating his heart. He pushed it all the way in, and then pulled it back out. Tyler fell to the ground, dead.
Meanwhile, in the classroom, Geoff, Bridgette, Beth and Heather watched the grueling events unfold. When Chris was done, he turned to face the others in the classroom.
"Now I think we understand each other, eh?" Chris walked toward the door as Geoff and Beth frantically piled the chairs back up, but not fast enough. Heather and Bridgette ran to the back of the class and tried to knock the window out with any blunt objects they could find. Chris was able to make it inside the class, however.
"Geoff, Beth, I think you might be trying to keep me out. I just wanna play..." Chris sliced right across Geoff and Beth, slightly slicing Geoff's arm, but mortally wounding Beth. A deep gash formed where the blade had landed straight across Beth's shoulders. Blood flowed freely from the wound. Beth gasped before falling onto the floor, defeated. Chris smiled at Geoff wickedly.
"Come on now, let the lady take all of it? How rude of you!" Chris taunted. He raised his knife one last time. Geoff ran over to help Bridgette and Heather break the window. Chris casually approached the three survivors. Geoff took a scalpel from a nearby table and pulled it on Chris.
"HA! Don't make laugh!" Chris tried to slice Geoff again across the neck. Geoff dodged at the last minute, letting the glass behind him take the blow. With a big crack now in the glass, Bridgette and Heather were able to break a sizable chunk out of the window, though still not big enough to get through. Geoff continued to occupy Chris' attention while Heather bolted out into the hallway and grabbed Tyler's discarded fire extinguisher. Bridgette tore more and more glass away, increasing the hole slightly, but still not enough. As Heather approached Chris from behind, Chris stopped in his tracks.
"You know the great thing about fighting near a window?" Chris smiled even wider. Geoff was confused beyond belief, but still listened to Chris. "You can always use it as a mirror." With that, Chris swing around and sliced Heather from the right hip, up to her left shoulder. She clutched herself and felt long and slimy things fall into her hands. Disgusted she looked down and saw she was holding her own entrails. She fell onto her knees and doubled over, crying. In her last breath on this earth, she apologized.
"I'm sorry, Geoff. I'm sorry I couldn't help." Her breathing slowly stopped and her entire life-force left her in a single, mass of blood and entrails. Her fire extinguisher rolled away to Beth's seemingly lifeless body. In a last effort, Bridgette banged on the glass, finally making a big enough hole to escape. She hurriedly hopped through it.
"Geoff! Come on!" she yelled from the other side. Geoff tried to get to the window, but was too preoccupied with Chris.
"Yeah Geoff, go with your girlfriend! I won't mind..." Chris lunged at Geoff, stabbing him in the shoulder. Geoff held onto his shoulder and winced in the pain of it all.
"GEOFF!" Bridgette screamed. Her eyes were welled to the brim with tears. Geoff moved closer and closer to the window, but Chris mirrored his every move. When Geoff was finally in front of the window, Chris had his knife ready to decapitate him.
"Any last words Geoffy-boy?" Chris teased. Behind him, a figure moved from a position on the floor, wielding a fire-extinguisher. The figure approached, limping slightly. Geoff smiled.
"Yeah, I do: Look out." Chris smirked and turned around just in time to see Beth hit him in the head with the fire-extinguisher. Dazed, Chris fell to the ground, unconscious. Geoff ran around and hugged Beth, both of their wounds burning at the slightest touch.
"YES!" Bridgette yelled from outside. Geoff glanced down at Chris' figure below him. Geoff sniffed once, and then spat on him. He led Beth and himself out of the window and into freedom. Beth limped along, but soon enough, they made it to the parking lot where two cop cars and an ambulance had arrived. One cop jumped out of his car and questioned the only three survivors.
"Are you kids okay? What happened in there?" They continued to walk in silence. Another cop tried to ask them the same questions, but the first cop shushed him.
"They've been through a lot, I can tell. Better leave them alone." Both cops led them into the ambulance. They quickly bandaged Geoff and Beth's leaking wounds and allowed Bridgette to ride with them to the hospital. The driver in the front seat put the sirens on and sped away from the school.
"So what happened to you guys?" he asked. His voice sounded familiar to Geoff, but he couldn't quite place it.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Geoff said. The driver adjusted the mirror, giving the group a perfect view of his face, of Chris MacClean's face.
"Try me."
So did you like it? Just to get this out there, I loved killing Heather! I know changed a bunch of the chracters personalities, but it is my story, so lay off! PLZ R&R!!
