Parents had been notified. The horses had been relocated. The Handlers' remaining funds were obtained by Will, and soon, the group of eleven were holing up in a house owned by the Handlers in the city. The house was two stories tall, in a homely neighborhood, and it was tan with dark orange roofing and shutters. Something that bothered Reed and Sarah , though, was the fact that the street was full of trees. They'd never see him coming. As a precaution, Reed and Sarah had memorized the number of trees surrounding the house, and each day and night they recounted.

One week had passed since the Handlers' deaths. There was no need to call the cops. They all knew who, or rather what, had done it. Will had buried the Handlers in a discreet place across the meadow. Words were said, though no one could find any comforting thoughts to share when they were all on some sort of unnatural hit list. So on this day, a Friday (though not the 13th, for the superstitious), Will had opened the fridge, and saw that food was nonexistent.

After waking everyone up, the ten pre-teens sat around the breakfast table, weary eyed and sleepy.

"Okay listen up everyone," Will started. "My Uncle Clarence will be coming to pick us up to go shopping. If you haven't noticed, supplies run fast when divided among eleven people. So here's what's gonna happen: Sarah, Reed, Molly, Alma, and Bailey'll stay home, while the rest of the girls will help me with shopping. This is only because Uncle Clarence's SUV can only hold so many people. We should be back around 2. Now get ready everyone."

With that, a line for the shower was formed. At around ten o'clock, Clarence Taggart had come along and picked up Will's group of supply runners, taking them to the nearest supermarket.

"Thirteen, fourteen…" Reed muttered softly.

"How many are there?" Sarah asked.

"Seventeen. Just like always," Reed responded.

"Think we're safe?"

"No."

Sarah walked towards the television, flipping on a horse show. Reed decided to join her on the couch, figuring that by distracting himself, he could relax more. Or get killed faster, but he wasn't sure which one was more likely. After a while, he spoke to Sarah.

"We need to start thinking about weaknesses. My guess is fire."

Sarah snorted lightly. "Isn't fire everyone's weakness?"

"What about an EMP? He can distort radio waves, maybe they can snap back at him," Reed reasoned.

"Are you sure we should be having this conversation?" Sarah asked, "After all, he could be bugging the house." She smirked at that.

"If he wanted the two of us dead, he would have done it already. And he would've killed you at first sight. I say water is his weakness," Reed persisted.

"And how do you suggest we exploit these weaknesses?" Sarah inquired.

"We get a Nerf gun, and light the bullets on fire. Sure it's dangerous, but drastic situations,"

"Call for drastic measures," Sarah frowned.

"Hopefully nothing that drastic," Bailey announced as he entered the room. "Will wants a report. Says he wants to know if any extra trees are around. Sounds dumb, but he told me to check with you."

Reed got up and walked to the window. He counted each tree carefully, until he reached eighteen. He frowned, thinking that maybe he miscounted. He started over. Eighteen again. Darn it. Again. Eighteen trees. Reed started to pale. Then he began searching the trees until he saw the telltale white face peeking among the branches.

Come on Reed…You know it's me…

"Bailey, tell Will we have a problem," Reed said nervously, running to the basement.

Sarah looked to the window, and saw it immediately. Sarah darted up, grabbing Bailey by the arm and dragging him downstairs too.

"Wait!" Bailey protested. "I should go back for Alma and Molly."

Reed and Sarah shared a look, and Reed conceded.

"Go," he said. Bailey ripped upstairs, and within a minute, both the Spanish and African-American girls had joined the group.

Now they were sitting on the basement floor, and Bailey desperately tried to contact Will. But the phone kept dropping out. Eventually, Reed got up and walked towards the furnace.

"What are you doing?" Alma asked.

"I'm preparing for the worst," Reed stated flatly.

"He thinks Slenderman's weakness is fire," Sarah supplied.

"Esta loco!" Alma exclaimed. "He'll blow us all to pieces!"

"If it comes to it," Reed said offhandedly.

"Well I'm not looking to becoming fish fry just yet," Molly said.

Suddenly, the phone rang. The pre-teens looked at each other, before Bailey answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey cous', what happened? The phones went out." It was Will. Everyone sighed, He had gone.

"We're fine, Will," Bailey assured. "Just get home soon."

"Well that's the problem cous'," Will explained. "Uncle Clarence isn't in his car, and he isn't in the store. I don't know where he could've gone."

Five stomachs hurdled.

"Will," Reed said, picking up the phone, "run!"

"Why should I-?" Will was cut off by Jenny screaming.

In the parking lot, Will and company were face to face with the beast himself. Jenny was strangled before going limp, and by the time Slenderman looked at Will and the others, the remaining five kids were thundering across the parking lot. Without hesitation, the group dashed across the road, and into a neighboring store parking lot. In the chaos, the group had discarded the bags.

The five kids burst into the store, Will and Nani heading for the back, and Chloe, Rebecca, and Sandra heading for the bathroom. The lights flickered on and off, with several workers screaming in terror across the store. Will shoved Nani into the freezer room before grabbing a butcher's cleaver. Not surprisingly, the owner of said cleaver was probably dead already.

Will and Nani huddled in a dark corner of the freezer, waiting out the danger. In the bathroom, Chloe was hyperventilating.

"Darn that Sarah! She's spelt all our dooms!" Chloe boomed.

Rebecca hurriedly shushed the Stilton twin, while Sandra sat in a stall, curled in the fetal position and sucking her thumb.

"Sandra, quit being such a baby!" Chloe snapped, but the brunette girl cried harder.

"Chloe shut up!" Rebecca whisper-yelled.

"You know something…"Chloe started, throwing her arms apart and shouting as loud as she could, "Just bring it Slender wuss! I dare you to,"

A burst of black entered the room, and Will and Nani heard the screams of their friends fill the empty store. After the screams had stopped, Will ventured out of the corner he was hiding in, Nani following close. Will looked in every aisle, every section, every department, before venturing towards the bathrooms.

Kicking open the door, Will ran inside. Rebecca was slumped against the wall, Chloe's face was planted in the sink, and Sandra was still in the stall, but her trachea had been sliced.

Nani looked at the mirror and yelled, causing Will to look at the reflective surface.

You Are Next

Those words were scratched into the mirror by a sharp finger. Fortunately, no blood had been splattered on the message. Will dropped his cleaver. He didn't know what they were facing, but he knew that they hadn't seen the last of Slenderman, and the next attack would undoubtedly prove more fatal than this one.