Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns the characters but I own the plot.

WARNING: There are graphic details within this one shot, so if you're under the age of 18 or have a weak stomach I strongly suggest you don't read it! Close the window and turn away from your computer, now.

Gone?

Good.

Anyways, on with the story.

Survival Instincts

I closed my eyes hoping it would make this ridiculous car journey home pass faster. I mean, who goes to a party an hour away and then drives home afterwards? Especially when the majority of your passengers are drunk.

"James?" I internally groaned as Lauren leaned forward, her hair spilling onto my shoulder as she looked at our driver expectantly. "How much longer?"

"Five minutes less than the last time you asked, Lauren." He sighed, his frustration evident. Well, to everyone but Lauren, that is.

"So how long is that?" She fell back onto the backseat in between Mike and Jessica, who both scowled at her. Personally, I think it was because she was sat in between them, than the fact she was sat there making noise and whining. Little did they know, she had actually been strategically placed there for the sole purpose of stopping them from making out. It looked like Tyler and Eric had either passed out or fallen asleep in the very back of the car. Either way, they weren't making noise, so who cared?

How James convinced his mom to let him use her seven seater I don't know, but it worked.

No one answered her question, which caused her to huff and fold her arms across her chest. If it got her to shut the hell up then I was all for it.

I rested my head on the headrest of my seat, blowing a breath out of my nose and looking out the window. I wishing I had brought my iPod with me to pass the time. I was going to originally bring it with me but I had reasoned with myself that it would most likely get lost at the party. Either that or stolen. So it was now sat on my bed, waiting for my return. That is if my brother hasn't helped himself to it again. Closing my eyes, I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep for the remainder of the drive, hoping I would be able to do so as long as everyone remained quiet. Sleeping on long journeys had never been a problem for me but sleeping with incessant chatter was.

Apparently, though, the car had other ideas as a loud bang sounded and the scar swerved slightly before James managed to regain control and pull over.

"What the hell was that?" Ah, Eric and Tyler had woken up. I turned to look at the both of them, laughing as I took in their shell-shocked expressions.

"Tire blew." James sighed, undoing his seatbelt. "Wanna help me, Ed?"

"Might as well." I sighed, following him and climbing out of the car. "Holy shit, its cold!"

"It's October. What the fuck do you expect, man?" James laughed, popping the trunk of the car. "Find the tire, man." He made his way around the car, finding which one had blown. He shouted and told me that it was the front driver's side tire.

"Alright, but you've got to get the other out of the car." He froze, not having anticipated that. "We can't change the tire with all that extra weight in the car." He shook his head, knowing I was right before turning around and moving to the side of the car, opening the door and yelling at the others to get out. "James?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's the tire?" I'd lifted up the bottom of the trunk, where the spare tire was usually stored. Where it should have been and found absolutely nothing. The jack was there and everything we needed was in there.

Well, everything except the tire.

"In the trunk, man." He came back around, stopping when he saw that there was no tire in there. "What the fuck? Why didn't she fucking tell me there was no spare?"

I sighed, closing my eyes as I heard the others whining about the cold as they climbed out of the car.

"Relax, man." Tyler had joined the two of us, shivering slightly. I didn't blame him, it was fucking freezing. The wind was really trying to attack us and I guess we were just lucky it wasn't raining. Now that would have made the night perfect.

What with it being Halloween and everything, right?

"We can just call a tow, right?" Eric suggested and we all nodded, conceding that we could get out of this on our own. We needed a tow to get us to the nearest town.

James pulled out his cell, cursing when he said that he had no reception. He looked at me and I pulled out mine, shaking my head, silently telling him I didn't have any either. He yelled out at the others who all took their out their phones, shouting that they didn't have anything either.

"So a tow is out of the question." He leaned against the car, shaking his head.

"Well, why don't we get back into the car to save us from freezing our nuts off – females members of the party excluded from the nuts bit of course." Tyler suggested and we all agreed. There was no point in us standing out in the cold and the wind when we had the chance to stay warm. "So . . ."

"What the hell do we do now?" I sighed, asking everyone's silent question as I turned in my seat to look at the rest of them. They all nodded, agreeing with my words.

"Well, there's nothing we can do." James ran his hands through his hair at his own words, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "I guess we just gotta wait."

"For what?" I looked at him, wondering what hell we were supposed to wait for. Maybe he wasn't as sober as I'd thought he was before we'd left the party. "What? You think that another car is just going to drive through here at . . . 2AM? James, you can't be serious."

"We drove through here, didn't we?" He shot back, staring straight back at me. "It's either that or we wait until it gets light out and we can walk until someone gets reception."

"Whatever." My parents were going to be pissed, that's for sure. There wasn't really much we could do about it though. It's not as if I could call my mom to let them know I would be home.

"I told you we should have stayed at the motel down the road from the party." Jessica mumbled and I knew exactly where this was going.

Jessica and Lauren had wanted to stay at the small motel that was just down the road from the house the party was being held was. I would be lying if I hadn't agreed with them. It seemed ridiculous to me for us to drive an hour away for a party just to leave earlier than everyone else so we didn't get home too late. Fuck school in the morning, who really cared? I mean, it wasn't as though they could do much about it, if we weren't in, we weren't in. And from the looks of it, we weren't going to be in anyway.

The others had wanted to crash at the house but James and Eric had wanted to get home. James, obviously because he had his moms car and she would have murdered him if he didn't have it back by the time the school run came round in the morning.

Having six children is a bitch, am I right?

Eric just wanted to get back to his girlfriend, Angela. She couldn't come tonight as her mom had forced her to take her twin brothers trick-or-treating. She had wanted to come with us but there wasn't really any way she could have considering we were filled to the max as it was.

Not wanting to stick around for this argument, I opened the door, climbing out of the car.

"Where you going?" James shouted, ignoring Jessica as he looked at me, confused.

"Gotta take a leak." I shouted back before slamming the door shut.

We weren't that far away from a small wood, so that meant I could relieve myself with some level of privacy. Walking through the woods, I looked back making sure I could still see the car. The last thing I wanted was to lose the car and my friends and then spend hours wandering around trying to find them again.

And knowing me, that would happen.

I looked up after zipping up my jeans and noticed something that had escaped my attention before.

A light.

I looked back at the car before coming to the conclusions that if it helped us get the fuck out of here, and I could find my way back to the car without any trouble then what harm could a little investigating do?

I carefully made my way through the trees, towards the light, turning every so often to make sure I hadn't wandered so far that I had lost the car. Not something I wanted to do.

I came to the edge of the wood, a large grin spreading across my face as I saw a house standing about half a mile or so away from where I was at this very moment. There was a light shining from the top floor, so I came to the conclusion that there had to be someone living there, right? I mean, there wouldn't be an abandoned house with lights on in the middle of nowhere, would there?

Well, maybe in a horror movie, but this was reality. Things like that just don't happen in real life.

I turned around and raced back to the car, nearly falling over and landing on my face a couple of times before I came back to the car. I could hear them yelling on the inside. I could hear Jessica and Lauren practically screaming at the others that if we had stayed there, we wouldn't be in this mess now.

I thought I had been longer than I had.

I yanked open the door to find six scared looking teenagers staring back at me. I had to hold back a laugh at their expressions because honestly, they looked hilarious.

"Jesus, Edward!" James looked like he was having a heart attack. He glared at me for a moment before chuckling, shaking his head and letting out a breath. "We were about to send out a search party for you."

"Before or after you finished your argument?" I shot back as I climbed into the car.

The glare returned for a moment before he let it go. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Finding our way out of here." I grinned triumphantly as I warmed my hands up using one of the small heaters James still had running. At least, if we had to stay out here we had some warmth. It might drain the gas and the car battery but that was better than freezing to death, right? They all looked at me, confused. "Just on the other side of those woods, about half a mile away is a house. With lights."

"You serious?" James asked, a grin spreading across his face.

"As a heart attack." I replied, feeling incredibly smug about my discovering as the car erupted into cheers, including James wrapping an arm around my neck, shouting "Way to go, Eddie!" and planting a kiss on my forehead. I pushed away from him giving him a warning look. "First off, never do that again." He shrugged, grinning at me, obviously too happy to have a chance at getting back home tonight to care. "Now, let's go. I figure we can ask to borrow a phone, call a tow and then I can call my parents who can call yours."

I knew that calling my parents would be the safest bet seeing as they were the most understanding. James's mom would probably rip him a new one for busting the tire. But then again, if she had put a new spare in the car in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess.

We all climbed out of the car, wrapping our arms around ourselves, shivering slightly with the wind and everyone followed me towards where I had seen the light and consequentially, the house.

"I see it," Eric laughed as we neared the edge of the wood.

There was a narrow lane leading up to the house that was probably wide enough for one car to drive down. Judging from the state of the lane, I'd say it wasn't used very often, considering it was overgrown and unlevel. We had a hard time staying upright as we manoeuvred our way across the stray stones and flints in our path. It seemed that the others had sobered up pretty quickly as we walked, the cold air bringing them back to their senses.

It took us a little while, but we eventually made it to the front gate of the house. Actually, standing there in front of it, it looked kind of creepy.

"I'm not so sure about this anymore, you guys." Jessica said in a small voice. She was partially hiding behind Mike as she stared wide eyed at the building in front of us. I looked at Lauren to see that she was doing the same with Tyler. It was as if the two of them could read my mind in being wary of the house in front of us.

Standing right in front of it, I could see that there was more than just the top floor light on. There were dim lights on all across the house.

Well, I say house.

Mansion was more like it.

It looked like it could easily fit the entirety of our small home town into it. Seriously . . . no joke.

"Come on, you guys." Tyler pushed the gate open, causing all of us to flinch with the loud squeak that came from it. The thing needed oiling, desperately. Another clue showing us that there probably weren't many visitors to this place.

Can't think why.

He turned to look at the rest of us, waiting for us to follow. "We go in, ask to use the phone, depending on their answer, we either use it and then head back to the car or we just head back to the car and wait till morning. Simple."

We all looked at each other, coming to the conclusion of 'in and out in five minutes' without having to say a word. I think the creepy feeling this house seemed to emanate had reached everyone and none of us were particularly excited about having to go up to the door in search of a phone.

James took out his cell, checking for reception. I guess he was hoping there might be some here but he let out a breath, shaking his head before putting it back in his pocket. Still nothing.

Crap.

We made our way up the path towards the house before stepping onto the porch. It was dimly lit, a simple bulb resting in a holder just above the door. It only added to the unpleasant feeling of the house. We looked at each other, silently asking who was going to knock.

"Edward found the house." Eric suggested and I glared at him. Apparently, the others seemed to agree with his and had voted me to be the one to knock on the door.

I let out a breath as I reached out and grabbed the large knocker that rested on the door. It was heavy, probably made of iron or something like that and stiff, probably not having been used in a long time. I stood back, having bashed it against the door a couple of times.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door creaked open and a small face appeared. It was a girl. Not someone I expected to see in a place like this. I had been expecting an Igor type person to answer, or someone like that creepy guy in Rocky Horror. Not this small girl. She was tiny, pale, with bright blue eyes which widened upon seeing us standing there in front of her. She started to shake her head and open her mouth to say something but she stopped as a voice sounded behind her.

"My dear Mary Alice, let's not be rude." It was a dull and bored voice that echoed from behind the girl.

"Yes, Master Marcus." She said softly, her voice light and sounding like the ringing of small bells as she looked towards the ground as he made an appearance.

He was tall, towering over the girl at what seemed to be almost twice her size. It probably wasn't that much, but she was so tiny, especially with her head bowed the way it was. No wonder she looked frightened of him. His black hair was limp, thin and hung around his face, gently brushing his shoulders as he moved. He was pale, which was not uncommon for this area, but he looked gaunt, rather than just pale. It was as though someone had sucked the essence out of him. Weird. His eyes were lifeless as he looked at us, waiting for someone to say something.

Evidently, I had been nominated as speaker for the group as well.

"Hi," I said pathetically, wondering what the hell to say. "Um, our car broke down not far from here and we were wondering if it's not too much trouble, if you had a phone we could use to call a tow."

"But of course." He smiled at us. I was sure it was supposed to come off as a friendly smile but it came out as being incredibly creepy. It was a smile I didn't fully trust but I also didn't know if there was another house anywhere near here. We didn't have much choice. "Do come in." He waved at the girl, who looked at us wide-eyed, clearly confused and debating whether she should tell us to leave before slamming the door in our faces or whether to obey her master.

I hated that term. 'Master.' It sounded like she was his slave or something.

Well, from the way her head was bowed and her body language with him there, she might have been.

Evidently, her loyalty to him won out as she opened the door wider, allowing us to pass. She looked at the seven of us, her eyes panicked and her breathing slightly heavy as we passed her before she closed the door, the hollow thud echoing through the expansive entrance hall in front of us.

"Thanks for this," I said quietly, making sure I kept close to the others. "We can wait back at the car, so we won't be in your way for long."

"Nonsense," He turned around, looking at us with a shocked look on his face. "I'm not about to let you children back out in that." He gestured to the window and I saw that in the last few moments, it had started to rain. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

One hell of a creepy one, I thought and judging by the looks of the others, I'd say they were all thinking the same thing.

"I'm sure you're all pretty cold." He turned again, gesturing for us to follow him. "Why don't you all come in and warm up by the fire and I'll have Mary Alice make you some tea."

I looked at the others, who were watching me. I shrugged, not knowing what to do or say. Since when had I become the decision maker of the group? Normally, that was James's role.

Not really knowing what else to do we followed him into an extravagant looking sitting room, filled with armchairs and sofas, surrounding an enormous fireplace.

Not wanting to be rude, we sat down, feeling rather uncomfortable as he disappeared through the door he had led us through, stating he would be back in a few minutes. The young girl came back a few minutes later with a tray in her hands, placing it on the coffee table in front of us.

"You need to leave." She whispered harshly, looking behind her quickly before turning and staring straight at me. "Forget the phone, forget the wind. It's much more preferable to what you will find within these walls." She straightened up and started to leave the room. "Go. Now."

With that she turned and left the room, leaving us all a bit bewildered and not having one single clue about what to do.

"What the hell was that about?" Eric asked, looking towards where she had disappeared.

"I don't know." I shook my head, her words lingering in my ears. She had sounded desperate for us to leave. Scared for us, even. Why would she sound that way without justifiable cause? "But I think we should listen to her."

"Aw, is little Eddie getting scared?" Tyler laughed as I glared at him. He found my reaction even funnier. SO what if I was a little freaked out? I had every right to be, right?

"I agree with Edward, you guys." Lauren said quietly as she curled into Tyler's side. "This place gives me the creeps."

"It's starting to freak me out as well." Eric added, looking around. "I mean, where the hell is he?" I looked at my watch, seeing that it had been about twenty minutes since he had left us in here. Eric was right. Where was he? He said we could use his phone right? I looked at Mike and Jessica to find they were nodding along. They wanted out of here as well.

"Alright, who's for saying 'fuck the phone' and heading back to the car and waiting it out till morning"? James asked and we all nodded, abandoning the untouched tea that was still sitting on the coffee table. I don't think any of us really trusted this place.

We made our way through the house, quietly heading for the front door. We didn't want to make any noise that would alert the creepy due to our movement. All we needed was for him to investigate what we were doing. Not part of the plan.

We all practically ran towards the front door, all eager to get out of this house and James practically launched himself at it, grabbing the handle and yanking it. We all expected it to open. Yes we might have been met with cold wind and rain but, as the girl had said, that was preferable to being in here.

Nothing happened.

He tried a couple more times only to have the same result. The handle moved, but the door didn't.

"Um, you guys see any deadbolts or anything?" He asked as we looked to the top and bottom of the door and along the sides.

Nothing.

I grabbed the handle along with James and we both put all the strength we possessed into pulling that door open. It was a standard issue door handle and we didn't see any other locks, so it should have opened or at least moved, right?

It didn't budge a millimetre.

We looked at each other, confused before turning back to face the rest of the group. They had all gone pale, staring at us with wide eyes. I wasn't ashamed to say I was starting to panic a little and from the looks of the others, they were all right there with me. I had two thoughts running through the forefront of my mind and from the looks of the others, I was sure they were thinking along the same lines as me.

One) We should have listened to the girl sooner than we did.

Two) We were locked in.

"What the fuck do we do now?" James turned to look at all of us and I felt the dread rising in my stomach as I looked around.

"There's got to be another way out of here." I suggested and they all looked at me, clearly wondering what I was on. "What? We obviously can't use this door and there's no telling when Mr Loon-Who-Decides-To-Invite-Teenagers-Into-His-House-And-Then-Lock-Them-Inside is going to reappear. I really don't want to be around when he does. There has got to be another way in and out of this house. Do you really believe that this door is the only door in and out of a house of this size?"

They all nodded and we looked around, seeing that there were quite a few different directions we could take.

"Why don't we split up and try and find a way out of here?" Tyler suggested before Jessica gasped, shaking her head quickly. The look on her face was one of absolute terror. "What? That way we can find a way out quicker than we would if-"

"Have you never seen a horror movie?" Jessica snapped at Tyler in a harsh whisper. "If there's one thing you learn from those movies it's to never split up. That's how they pick you off."

"Jess, this isn't a horror movie." I said softly, trying to calm her down.

"It has that feel to it though, doesn't it?" She looked at me, her eyes wide with fear. "I mean, how often does some creepy old guy invite seven teenagers into his house on the pretence of letting them use his phone and then disappear? And that girl. What about what she said? That we should get out of here while we can? That doesn't sound good to me. Can't we just stay together? Please?"

Lauren was nodding along to everything Jess was saying and I looked at the guys. "It does make sense for us to stay together. I mean, even if we did split up," Jess made a little squeak at my words and I raised a hand to let her know it was okay, "if we split up and one of us finds a way out, how the hell are we going to let the others know? It's not like our cell phones are working. There's no damn reception."

"Alright," James ran his hands through his hair, cursing quietly. "We stay together. Which way do we go first?"

I looked around; hoping some kind of inspiration would come to me. "Well, the most logical place for a door to be would be at the back of the house, right?" They all nodded and I let out a breath. "To me, that way," I pointed towards a hallway that led directly away from the front door, "would seem like the most logical explanation."

After a moment or two, we started to move down the hallway, our steps measured and quiet. We had no idea what the hell was going on and why the creepy motherfucker had locked the front door so we couldn't get out. Maybe that was what he was trying to do.

Trap us.

But I couldn't think why.

What the hell did he have to gain from keeping us locked in here? Unless Jess was right and this was his sick and twisted version of an at home horror movie. There's not really someone sick enough in this world to terrorise and harm kids though, is there?

I fucking hoped not.

The hallway seemed to go on forever before we finally emerged into a room that seemed like a kitchen. I let out a breath when I saw a door on the other side of the room. Tyler made his way across the room, the rest of us in tow as he grabbed the door handle. He pulled on it and like the front door it didn't budge. He turned back to us, a look of defeat on his face. The door was a solid wooden door, no glass or anything in it, as you would expect from a kitchen door. There was no telling what kind of wood it was made out of but there were no doubts in my mind that it was thick. As he looked at us, the look on his face turned to one of confusion and I wondered what the hell he was looking at.

"Where's Mike?"

We all turned, looking for Mike and finding nothing. Jessica started whimpering and I couldn't help but wonder how she hadn't noticed he wasn't there. I looked at her and she shook her head.

"He was behind me." She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. I made my way out into the hallway to look for him. "Edward, don't!"

I heard them following me as I walked out, seeing nothing. Where the hell had he gone? "Mike?" I called, getting no answer. "Mike!" I ran my hands through my hair, not getting a response before I turned back to the others. "Nothing. He's gone."

"Shit." Yeah, Eric. Shit!

"What the fuck are we gonna do?" Lauren asked and I knew she was scared. She never swore. She might have been pissed drunk in the car on the way back but that was a rarity for Lauren. She wasn't the blonde bimbo everyone thought she was. She was incredibly intelligent for a matter of fact but for some reason, she played it down. I wasn't sure why and I sure as hell wasn't going to ask her now. She didn't really like to go out and get pissed with everyone else, preferring to stay in with her little sister, Molly. I think that it may come from the fact that she had never really known her mother and was trying to provide Molly with some kind of stable support system for her, considering her father was never around and her step-mother was a complete bitch.

That might have been why she was such an annoying drunk. Purely because she didn't drink very often. She must have had an extremely low tolerance for alcohol. Not that I blamed her, there were times when I couldn't stand the stuff as well. Not that I ever passed up the chance to go out but . . .

I digress.

"We gotta find Mike." James breathed and I nodded. I couldn't consciously get out of here, knowing that Mike was in this house somewhere. "It's kinda obvious that we're not going to be able to get through that door. Not without hurting ourselves and causing one hell of a racket, at least. So let's find Mike and try and find another way out of here."

As soon as the last words left my mouth, the entire room went black. Lauren and Jessica let out small screams and I felt someone – I'm presuming, or at least hoping, that it was Jessica – grab onto me. I heard someone make an 'oof' sound and guessed someone had walked into something.

"Jess?" I asked, putting my hand on the arm that was around my waist.

"Uh-huh." She whimpered and I felt her nodding into my chest.

I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to me. "It's alright. It's gonna be okay. Everyone alright?" I heard a couple of 'yeah' and a squeaky 'I'm alright' come from Lauren. "James?"

"Yup."

"Ty?"

"Here."

"Eric?"

Nothing.

"Eric!"

Silence.

Fuck! That must have been the 'oof' sound I heard. "Eric, answer me, man!"

"Eric!" James sounded slightly panicked and I pulled out my cell phone, using the background light to see everyone. James was standing close to Jessica and myself, while Tyler and Lauren had their arms wrapped around each other. Eric was nowhere to be seen.

I moved myself and Jessica, which was a feat in itself considering she was holding onto me so tightly to where Eric had been standing. He had been on the other side of the island to everyone else and there had to be something where he had been.

And there was something there.

Eric.

"Oh my God!" I breathed, pulling Jessica away from Eric but it was too late. She had seen him and let out this god-awful wail while Lauren screamed.

I had to swallow back the vomit that had gathered in the back of my throat upon seeing him. There was no doubt he was dead. He was lying on his back, his eyes wide open as a thin line of blood trickled from his mouth. The sharp end of a blade stuck out from the centre of his chest, covered in blood. He was gone.

"We have to get out of here." I said quickly, looking at the others. "Now."

They all nodded and we moved away from Eric's lifeless form and back down the way we had come. We ended back up in the entryway, wondering where the hell we could go from here.

"What the hell are we going to do?" James was panicked and stressed, his hair a mess from where he had run his hands through it. I could see that he was trying to hold himself together. I didn't know how I was managing to stay standing at this point. One of my best friends had been murdered and another friend was missing in a house housing said murderer. We had to get out of here.

Now.

"Does anyone have anything that can be used as a weapon?" I asked and everyone shook their heads.

"Oh!" Lauren rummaged through her purse quickly pulling out a spray can. "I have some Mace."

"Good girl." Ever the prepared one. "Right, keep that out." She nodded, clutching it to her. "Anything else?" No one had anything. All James had were his car keys and I don't think he planned on letting anyone get close enough for him to use them as a weapon.

"Those two doors were heavy duty. Who's to say the rest of them aren't the same?" James asked, staring at me as though I had all the answers.

"What about the windows?" I nodded towards the plated glass as an idea ran through my head. Tyler had grabbed his phone out of his pocket and was using it in the same way I was using mine. We both turned our phones towards the windows, seeing that it had stopped raining but the wind was still blowing a gale outside. "We could break them. Climb out that way."

James nodded and headed back into the sitting room where we had been before. We all followed him, not wanting to lose sight of him. He grabbed one of the lighter chairs and threw it at the window.

We all stared wide eyed as the chair that should have smashed the window with the force it was thrown at, did nothing but bounce off the glass.

"What the fuck?" He screamed, pounding on the glass with his fists. It did absolutely no good. What the hell was going on? There seemed to be no way out of this place. There had to be a way out. We just had to find it.

A movement behind me caught my eye and I turned, holding my phone out to try and see what it was. I heard them calling my name as I made my way towards the staircase that was just beside the entry to this room. I ran the light from my phone up the stairs, barely containing the scream of horror that built up in my throat as I lurched forward, unable to stop myself from throwing up this time.

I stumbled back into the room, wiping my mouth, seeing four horror-stricken faces looking back at me. "Mike's dead." I whispered and Jessica let out a scream of horror.

I shook my head, knowing that I would never get the image out of my mind. He had been sat there, on the stairs, his eyes open and his blonde hair covered in blood that also ran down his front, staining his white t-shirt and jeans. There had been rope binding his wrists together in front of him while something else – wire, maybe – had been wrapped around his throat, cutting it wide open.

If I made it out of this alive, I was going to need a fuck-load of therapy.

"This is your fault!" Jessica screamed, launching herself at James, pounding his chest as she sobbed. He grabbed her hands as Tyler and Lauren made their way over to the two of them. "If you hadn't insist we drive home tonight, we wouldn't be in this mess. Eric and Mike would be alive . . . It's . . ."

"Sshh, Jess, it's no one's fault. The only one to blame is the fucking sicko that killed them." Tyler wrapped his arms around her as she leaned back into him, his voice soothing and calming her down.

There was no doubt that Jess loved Mike. They may have only been eighteen but what the two of them had was real. I often envied what they had but I knew that I was still young and still had my chance at finding love. After tonight, though, I wasn't sure about that.

Lauren screamed, looking right at me and I turned to see a knife raised right behind me. I slammed back into the body that was holding it, receiving an 'oof' in response. It didn't do much as he shoved me out of the way, pushing me to the ground. My head collided with something, I guessed it was the side of a table or something and I blacked out momentarily.

"Edward!" I heard Lauren's panicked voice above me as I heard a scuffle and Jessica scream. There was the sound of smashing china and I surmised that our cold cups of tea had gone everywhere.

Tyler was there in an instant, pulling me off the ground. I shook my head, glimpsing a dead Jessica underneath the fucker that had attacked me before James collided with me. He shoved me out into the hallway and we could only do one thing.

Run.

I don't know where we ran to but after a minute or two of heading down hallways and probably doing nothing more than getting ourselves lost in a house that this fucker knew like the back of his hand, we stopped.

"Ed?" James knelt in front of me as I slid down the wall, my head pounding. "Ed, look at me." It only went to show how much I didn't care about anything stupid anymore. I was letting him get away with calling me 'Ed'. I never did that. "How's the head?"

"I feel like I've been hit with a mallet." I groaned as he brushed his fingers against the area I had been hit. His fingers came down with blood spotted on them and I knew immediately that I was bleeding. "It's alright." I waved him off. "Head wounds always bleed a lot. It's not as bad as it looks." I had learned that from my father. He had always told me that a simple cut to the head could bleed masses but not actually be that damaging of a wound. I glanced at the others, noticing that Tyler and Lauren were holding onto each other tightly. "Jess?" He looked down and sighed, shaking his head. "Fuck."

"He's picking us off." Tyler whispered quietly and we looked at him. "Just like Jess fucking said he would."

I shook my head, the pounding easing a little. "Alright, let's go with Jess's horror movie analysis, considering this is what it appears to be turning into. There's one thing we've got to remember."

"What's that?" James asked looking back towards me.

"Don't go upstairs."

"Huh?" Lauren sounded confused and it didn't escape me why.

"Ever seen Scream?" From the light on Tyler's phone I could see them all nod. "Remember what Neve Campbell's character said about scary movies?" I looked at each of them, their faces blank. "She said that all horror movies are is some guy chasing people who run upstairs instead of out the front door. She has a point. If we run upstairs, he's got us trapped. At least if we stay on the ground floor, we have some chance at finding an exit. Upstairs, we're screwed."

"Right, no going upstairs." James echoed, sitting down in front of me. I saw him glance at his arm and I noticed he was bleeding. "It's fine. He just caught my arm. It'll be alright. We gotta move." He sighed, standing up and helping me to my feet. "We can't just sit here. He knows this place. We don't. We've got to keep moving."

"Alright. Well where the hell do we go?" I asked, wondering what the hell we were supposed to do now. He'd already killed three of us and the rest of us were sitting here like fucking ducks ready for him to shoot at.

"Maybe if we can find that girl, she can help us." Lauren whispered quietly, looking around as if he might be somewhere close. He could have been and we wouldn't fucking know it. "I mean, she warned us, didn't she? She told us to get out of here and now look what's happened."

"We just didn't fucking listen when we had the chance." I was angry at myself for not suggesting getting out of here in the first place. I was pissed for even suggesting we come and ask for help in this fucking creepy shithole. It was because of me that we were in this mess. If it hadn't been for my suggestion, we would still be sat in the car, pissed at each other and probably cold as hell but Mike, Eric and Jessica would still be alive.

"Don't!" James snarled and I saw he was looking at me with a look of anger on his face. "Don't fucking do that, Edward." Oops. I knew he was pissed when he used my full name. Normally it was Ed, or Eddie or something else that would aggravate me. "It's not your fault. None of us could have known that this was going to happen. None of us knew that something like this could happen. This is something you find in movies not in real life! Don't fucking blame yourself!"

"But-"

"No." He glared at me and I knew better than to argue. Was he right? He had to have been. It wasn't as though I knew that some fucker would start to murder us as we ran around like headless chickens trying to find a way out.

This was all a game to him.

"Come on." He sighed, turning to face Lauren and Tyler. "You okay to walk?" I nodded, rubbing my head again. It had stopped bleeding, which was good, but I was sure I was a sight to behold. Or not, as the case may be.

We continued our way down the hallway, heading the direction we had been before we stopped, our cell phone lights helping us guide our way. How in the hell were we supposed to get out of here? We had been trapped in this house for about an hour now. My guess was it would start to get light soon. If that was the case, then we could find our way out a lot easier. Unfortunately, there weren't any windows in the part of the house we were in.

. . . . . .

"For fucks' sake!" James growled as we stopped again. We had been trying to find a way out of this maze for the last half an hour. It appeared that he was just toying with us now, letting us get lost in the house and then probably planning what his next move would be. Who would he go for next? Who would be the next to die? "There's got to be a way out of here!"

Lauren came to stand next to me, tears still streaming down her face as she stood there. Both James and Tyler leaned back on a wall as Tyler punched it from where he was standing, his head meeting the wood at the same time as his fist.

Their eyes widened in shock, as did mine as the wall gave way behind them, spinning and pulling the two of them back with it.

"James!" I screamed, launching myself at the wall as it clicked back into place. "James! Tyler!" I pounded on the wall, shouting their names as Lauren did the same thing. She was screaming and crying for the two of them. We didn't get an answer and I wasn't happy with that.

There had to be a way to get to them.

A light at the end of the hallway had us both turning and quieting as I pulled Lauren behind me. A door creaked and I saw that it was the small girl that had warned us before. She waved for us to follow her as she looked around, a scared expression on her face.

"Come on." Her voice was a harsh whisper as she stared at us. We both looked at each other before looking back at the wall where James and Tyler had disappeared. "Your friends are dead. Please, if you want to get out you must follow me."

What other choice did we have? There was a high chance we were going to die in here tonight but if this tiny girl could help us get out then what did we have to lose? I kept Lauren close to me as we followed her. She led us through a maze of hallways and walls, and I felt us walking down a sloping corridor.

"These are the only hallways my master doesn't know about. He won't be able to find you down here." She whispered and we came out into what I could only call the basement. There was a small window and she pointed to it. "That's the only unsecured outlet in the house. You'll both fit through. Now go."

"Come with us." Lauren said quickly and I agreed. She had helped us to get out. Or at least tried if we didn't get anywhere. "Please, don't stay here with him. Come with us."

"I . . . I can't. He's my master and-"

"He doesn't have to be." I argued alongside Lauren. "You don't have to have a master. Please, you've helped us. We can't leave here knowing that you could be in danger. Please, come with us."

"I can't." She shook her head, her blue eyes wide and sad. "But you have to go. Now."

She pushed us towards the window and I helped Lauren out. She climbed out easily and I stood up on the box that rested just under the window. I turned back to the girl who was waiting for us to get out before leaving. "Please. Come with us."

"I can't." She shook her head again. "Go. This is your only chance."

She turned back towards the exit and I sighed, pulling myself out of the window. I grabbed Lauren's hand and we ran as though the fires of Hell were licking at our heels, which I thought was amazing considering Lauren was wearing deathtraps for shoes. She hadn't stumbled once. We had almost reached the woods when there was something slightly off about what was around us. I knew that this was the way we had come because we had run down the lane.

I knew what was different as soon as something, or should I say someone, collided with me, forcing me to the ground. There was a pain in my side, but I did the best I could to ignore it as I screamed at Lauren to run before elbowing my attacker in what I hoped to be his face. I hoped that would hold him off for long enough so that the two of us could get some more distance between us.

I pulled myself out from under him, starting to get up before I felt a hand around my ankle, pulling me back down. I used my other leg to kick out at him, my foot not really meeting anything solid.

I let out a scream of agony as something forced its way through the skin and muscle of my calf. The grip on my ankle hadn't eased and I knew that this was it for me. I was going to die on the edge of possible freedom, as the rain started pouring and the sun was starting to come up.

He pulled me back towards him and I tried to pull myself out of his grasp but the pain in my leg was too much. It hurt too much to really fight back.

All of a sudden there was an almighty 'thwack' and the grip on my ankle almost disappeared, the hand hanging limply around me. Something had stopped him and I wondered what the fuck had caused it.

I turned to see the small, black-haired, blue-eyed girl standing there, glaring at her master before spitting on him. I saw that she was holding a shovel in her hands as she looked evilly at him. She was panting, a sign of exertion.

"Is your offer still open?" She asked, putting the shovel down and shoving his limp ass out of the way. She rolled him, making him slide down the slight incline next to us.

"Absolutely." Lauren breathed as she collapsed next to me. The stupid girl hadn't run like I told her to. She had waited for me to follow her. She could have gotten herself killed.

"This is going to hurt." The girl said softly, pulling her over-shirt off, leaving her in nothing more than a tank top. She grasped the handle of the knife that was sticking out of the back of my leg before handing the shirt to Lauren. "When I pull this out, wrap this around his leg as tightly as you can." Lauren nodded, watching her every movement. When had Lauren gotten over her aversion to blood? Normally, it made her squeamish and ill. Desperate times, I guess.

She hadn't been kidding when she said it would hurt. When she pulled out that knife it hurt like a motherfucker and I made sure that they knew it as Lauren tied the shirt tightly around my leg.

"He could come to at any moment. We have to get out of here." She said quickly as she stood up and the two of the pulled me up off the ground.

It was clear that I wouldn't be using my leg at the moment but Lauren paused, picking up the knife and throwing it as far as she could. Which turned out to be pretty far. Who knew? She grabbed the shovel the girl had used, doing the same thing but twirling before launching it out across from her. It flew quite far and I knew never to mess with Lauren when it came to long distance aim. She obviously didn't want to chance him waking up and coming after us with either of those weapons. I didn't want to leave him alive but I couldn't stoop to the level of murdering someone. Surely he would be found when we got to the cops and they would deal with him.

She walked back over to us, looping one of my arms over her shoulder and helping to support my weight. The other girl did the same on my other side and some part of me registered that I should have felt slightly emasculated at that gesture but another, larger part of me was so relieved to be alive, I didn't care.

We hadn't gone very far when the pain in my side became too much. "Wait, stop." I breathed and they helped me to sit on the ground.

"Shit!" Lauren cursed quietly, pulling my jacket away from my side. My shirt was drenched in blood that none of us had noticed before now and I guessed I knew what the pain in my side was from. The fucker had stabbed me as he tackled me outside of the woods.

I knew where we were now and I knew that we weren't far from the car. We had a chance of making it there which meant that there was a chance someone could drive past and find us. I wasn't holding out much hope.

"We can't stay here." The girl said softly, brushing the hairs out of my face.

"What's your name, by the way?" I asked, sounding breathless to my own ears. The pain was becoming unbearable and I knew I would pass out before long. I just wanted to know her name before I did.

"Mary Alice." She smiled, glancing up at Lauren. "But the two of you can call me Alice."

"Edward." I smiled back, feeling slightly lightheaded. Blood loss. Not good.

"Lauren. We need to get him to a hospital." She said as she grabbed my arm and the two of them eased me up onto my feet. Well, foot.

It felt like an eternity before I heard Lauren laugh slightly nudging me gently. "There's the car." She sounded happy to see it. Who knew that we would get such enjoyment out of seeing James's mom's black seven seater? I sure as hell didn't.

We made it out onto the road and they helped me to sit down, leaning against the car.

"We made it." Lauren whispered, wrapping her arms around my shoulders, her lips pressed against my forehead. "We made it, Eddie." I could feel the hot tears running into my hair but I really didn't care. All I wanted at the moment was to sleep. I felt my eyes becoming heavy as my vision blurred. "Eddie?" She pulled away from me slightly, fear in her voice. "Edward?"

"A car!" Alice's panicked voice sounded as though it was further away than it should have been. Lauren placed me back against the car as she moved away from me.

"Help!" I could see the two of them waving their arms and dancing around in the road. "Help! Please!"

I closed my eyes, only aware of sounds happening around me. I heard the car stop and Lauren and Alice beg for whoever was inside to help me. I heard two doors open before one of them ordered for a 'Bella' to stay in the car in a gruff voice. It appeared that whoever Bella was, she didn't listen as four pairs of footsteps came around the car.

I was aware of someone kneeling down beside me, pressing their fingers to my throat before they brushed against under my nose and in front of my mouth briefly. I then felt a set of hands make their way underneath me, lifting me off the ground.

I heard a car door open and felt myself being lowered into it before the same gruff voice said that he'd let it slide this one time as two bodies slid their way underneath me, my head coming to rest in someone's lap as fingers ran through my hair. The same door slammed as another opened before closing again.

"This is Chief Swan." I heard the man say to nobody in particular. I heard the crackling of a radio and guessed that this must have been a police car we were in. We'd finally got lucky. "I've got a 421 headed out onto the highway and needing the nearest hospital alerting to incoming." There was a crackling over the radio again and some kind of response.

"It's okay, Eddie." I heard Lauren whisper in my ear gently as her fingers ran through my hair. "We're safe now. It's alright."

It was with those words that I was able to let go of consciousness and allow myself to fall into the black abyss that called to me.

. . . . . . . .

There's more to come.

You'll get the concluding chapter tomorrow. Find out what happens to Edward, Lauren and Alice when they get to the hospital.

Are they really safe?

Wait and see.

(Jeez, I sound like one of those crappy voice overs at the end of TV programmes, don't I?) Anyway, have a Happy Halloween!

See you tomorrow!