The chapters will get longer from here, don't worry. I think the last one was the shortest, this one second shortest. Also, this next scene is one of the most graphic there's going to be. In my opinion, it isn't too bad, but just a warning.

Tommy was mauled almost beyond recognition. He was completely covered in blood, and he lay in a pool of dark red. His shirt was torn, with multiple slash marks in his stomach and chest. His face was worse; one eye was completely gone and there was a large slash wound going through the empty socket. His face still held a look of terror on it. His right arm was cut off at the elbow, and the other was bent in a very unnatural way. The most disturbing thing though, had to be that most of his insides were no longer inside.

Isabella couldn't stop the tears from sliding down her cheeks. Even if she hadn't known the boy as well as her friends, it was horrible what had happened to him. She still refused to look. Phineas squeezed her hand and found that he couldn't take his eyes of his dead friend. It was one of those things that you didn't want to look at, but found yourself unable to look away. Baljeet backed slowly away behind the others, Irving looked on the verge of throwing up, and Buford was visibly pale, and looked almost at breaking point. Ferb forced himself to take a deep breathe, and then knelt down to examine Tommy.

Phineas didn't know how his brother could possibly keep his cool while looking over their friend, but the green-haired boy managed to do a full examination to try to figure out what the ultimate cause of death had been.

"These wounds are fresh," he mumbled.

"What was that?" asked Phineas. Ferb stood up and wiped the blood off of his hands.

"I said the wounds are fresh," he repeated. "Most of them anyways. Those slash marks on his chest were made within the last hour, and they were what caused him to die."

"But he went missing a year ago," said Phineas. "How could he have stayed alive in here for that long?"

"I don't know," answered his step-brother. "But somehow he managed to stay alive until today."

"Can we get out of here?" Isabella asked quietly. Phineas was about to agree when he noticed something.

"There's a note underneath him," he said. Ferb knelt down again and pulled a bloody piece of paper out from underneath Tommy. It was barely readable, but he managed to decipher it and read it aloud.

"Dear whoever finds this,

If there's anyone else in here to read this, I'm sorry that you were unlucky enough to wander inside. I hope you didn't come in looking for me. Anyways, I don't have much time to write, because it could come back at any second. I've been in here long enough to know the secrets. To get out, you must wait until midnight. At midnight, the door will open for two minutes. The front door only. If you try to get out any other way, it will stop you, and it might kill you. But it will try to stop you from leaving. It doesn't want you to escape. It wants to kill you. If you don't know what it is, it's a monster. Like something right out of a horror movie. It's probably what caused the fire a hundred years ago. If you can find the front door by midnight, it will come, and it will try to kill you. There is only one way to defeat it. You need light. It's dark in here because it needs dark to survive. The only light you will find is whatever you brought with you. If you have a flashlight, keep it close. If you see it, shine the light on it and run. That's the only way. You can't fight it, you can only get away. Find light, and at midnight, find the front door. Shine the light on it and run. Never come back. If you get out the front door, it can't hurt you. I don't think it can leave.

You may have noticed that the rooms move. This is so that you can't find the front door. If you do manage to find the door, don't let it out of your sight. That's the only way to keep yourself from moving. If you've already moved, then all you can do is keep walking until you find the door. DO NOT try to get out any other way, or you will die. Good luck.

Tommy."

Ferb finished reading the note and everyone paused to think about it. If what Tommy said was true, they were screwed. They had lost the flashlight, and they had lost the door.

"How can there be a monster?" asked Baljeet. Phineas shook his head helplessly.

"I just don't know," he said. "But Tommy wouldn't lie about something like this. That means that what he said is true. We need to find Django quickly, and then find the door and get out."

"We don't even know where we are though," said Isabella.

"Then we just keep walking. We'll find it eventually."

Ferb put the note in his pocket and stepped carefully around Tommy. The other followed, leaving the dead body lying there. Isabella was sure that she would have thrown up by now if it hadn't been for Phineas' hand still in hers. She took deep breaths, forcing herself not to look back.

The kids continued walking, shaken by what they had just witnessed, but even more determined to escape. The next door they came to looked older than the last one, with a rusty handle. Ferb reached to open it, and it stuck for a moment. He pushed against the wood and it opened. This room had more in it then the last one; several chairs placed randomly around, a desk with stack of paper, and a couple shelves with a few old books. An open window was on the far side, much like the last one, except this one was not boarded up, and there was no glass in it whatsoever. Phineas walked carefully towards it, being careful not to get too close while still getting a good look outside.

"I think we're still on the second floor," he told everyone. "We're facing the back lawn."

The lawn was simply a huge field with dead grass and the occasional bush. Phineas backed away from the window and looked around the room. He noticed the blood stains on the walls, some looking distinctly like hand prints.

"Tommy must have been in here," he said softly, his mind going back to his friend. He shook his head to clear it and watched his friends. Ferb and Irving were going through the papers on the desk, looking for any that weren't blank. Buford was sitting in one of the chairs, leaning back with his eyes closed, trying to look bored. Baljeet stood nervously by the door, making sure that it stayed open. Isabella stayed next to Phineas, and he felt her hand shaking slightly.

"You okay?" he asked, knowing perfectly way that she couldn't be after what had happened. To confirm that fact she shook her head, not meeting his eyes yet.

"We're going to get out of here," he told her, trying to comfort her.

"How do you know that?" she asked him quietly, looking up and meeting his eyes. Phineas looked back at her, seeing that she was more terrified than she was showing on the outside.

"I know that because I'm not going to let what happened to Tommy happen to anyone else," he said. "No matter what it takes, I'm going to get you out of here. I'm going to get us all out."

Isabella tried to take comfort from his words. She knew that he would do all that he could to save them. But even though she believed in him, it still seemed impossible. Still, she didn't say so, instead just nodding slightly.

"Thanks," she whispered. Phineas gave her a small smile.

Everyone met in the middle of the room, going over what they would do now.

"We couldn't find anything useful in here," said Ferb. "We should just keep moving."

"If we keep going, we should eventually find the door," Baljeet added.

"Then let's go," said Phineas. He and Isabella led the way back to the door. When they stepped outside, it seemed as if they hadn't moved, although there was no way to tell. They started down the hall in the same direction they had been going for, on the lookout for doors, or anything else for that matter.

Okay, not much of a cliff-hanger here. Whatever. Next chapter is when the REAL action starts.