I'm back! Backpacking was amazing and I actually completely forgot everything that I was planning on doing with the story, so let's all cross our fingers and hope that I didn't lose my touch while climbing mountains, big spooning brownie dough (which, no matter how good brownie dough is, is not fun when there's seven pounds of it), praying that our water chemicals worked and that we don't all get Guardia, and getting snowed on. And yes, it really did snow. I almost cried I was so upset.

Also, if I didn't respond to your review this weekend, I am so sorry! I think I did, but I'm not sure… Tell me if I forgot to! I got home at like seven and just crashed, I was so tired!

This chapter was supposed to have the chase scene in it, but I just couldn't make it fit right! The next chapter will have it at the beginning. I was very surprised at how many people thought that Jo was the killer. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but you'll know for sure who it really is with in the next three or four chapters. I also have a reason why he or she committed all of the murders. Do you have a reason?


Chapter Six

"Well, it has now been exactly one week since the entire Los Angeles area lost power, and things are not looking up for the residents. Reports continue to pour in about raping, looting, and killing all across the area, even in some of the nicest suburban areas. Fires continue to rage in not only the power plants, but also across the city, and the presence of the National Guard does not seem to have helped in the slightest."

"Yes, even though many of us wish we were some of the fabulous living in Hollywood, I don't think any of us envy them right now."


"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Jennifer whispered to herself, as she stumbled down the stairs from the third floor down to the second floor, nearly falling more than once on the way, "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god."

She stumbled over to the door to her apartment and pushed open the door that she had stupidly left unlocked while she was going upstairs to yell at her neighbor for making so much noise. She stumbled into the small living room and then into her bedroom.

"oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." She continued to whisper as she collapsed onto her bed and curled up into a small, shaking ball. "oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." She continued to whisper as she wrapped her hands in her hair and began to shake uncontrollably

"Taylor… oh my god." She whispered as the tears began to fall uncontrollably onto her bed sheets


Heather Merkel walked up the stairs that led to the fifth floor. Even though she had never really spent the time getting to know Taylor, she had been craving the company of another teen aged girl that didn't call her fat every few second (Elle), didn't go every where with someone who had the exact same name (the two remaining Jennifers), or wasn't trying to constantly win back the attention of her rather distant boyfriend (Jo).

Heather opened the doors that led to the fifth floor hallway, and stepped into the dimly lit hallway. Taylor's apartment was almost exactly in the middle of the hallway, and all of the dim and flickering lights were kind of starting to creep her out. It reminded her of almost every horror movie know to man kind, and this was usually the part where the crazy chain saw murderer would leap out from behind a corner to kill the main character or a really hot chick.

Well, I did eat a pretty big breakfast, so maybe that will keep me safe, Heather thought to herself desperately. Or maybe I should go get someone to come with me. I'll bet that the boys all have pretty big hockey sticks. But if I chickened out and got scared then I would never hear the end of it, she reminded herself.

It was too late. She had reached the door to Taylor's apartment.

She reached her hand up to knock, but when she did, the door swung open of its own accord. And then she saw the blood.


Logan and James first heard the screaming while they were trying to make breakfast for Katie.

"Oh my god." Katie said, "Do you think that it's the murderer?" she gasped

"Who knows? We'd better check it out, though." Said James, as Logan grabbed two hockey sticks and pulled a random hockey jersey (that just so happened to be Kendall's) over his head.

The two boys quickly ran up the stairs, too quickly to notice the blood stains on the floor between the fourth and fifth floor landings. As the two friends continued to run up the stairs, the screams got louder, but more gasping and breathless. As they opened the door and rounded the corner to the hallway, they saw none other than Heather, sitting on the floor gasping for breath, and staring at the open door in front of her. Logan and James rushed to her side.

"Heather, are you okay?" asked Logan as he grabbed her shoulders and looked at her

Heather's eyes were wide with fear, shock, and horror as she continued to gasp like Kendall had after they let him out of the suit case, only this time there was no joking involved. Especially after James turned away from Heather and looked through the open door that led into Taylor's apartment.

There was blood all over the floor, walls, and ceiling, and in the living room, he could just make out the legs of Taylor's body. He couldn't look any longer than a few seconds, though. It was just too horribly gruesome. There was blood everywhere. Already, the tears were beginning to form in his eyes and he just couldn't look anymore.


Kendall couldn't believe it. She was gone. Taylor… sweet, kind, understanding Taylor was gone. How could anyone have done that to her? She was so nice and… he had kissed her, he reminded himself. He had cheated on Jo with her. And Taylor had kissed him back. She had been that infamously spurned "other woman" that every girl (and guy, to some extent) dreads finding out about.

But it wasn't like that… the part of his brain that had taken over the previous night outside of Taylor's apartment, things with Jo are, well, terrible and we all know it. You know that you would have dumped Jo for Taylor in a heartbeat if you had ever gotten the chance. Taylor wasn't being clingy and annoying. That's the only reason you ever started talking to her: Jo was being super clingy and annoying. So technically, this is all Jo's fault.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! The more rational and kinder part of his brain snapped, the only reason that Jo was being 'clingy' is because you were completely ignoring her. First it was the band, then it was the killer, and then it was Taylor. Maybe if you hadn't been ignoring her you two would still be going strong and you would have never kissed Taylor. This is really your fault, when you think about it. Yeah, that's right, the annoying, rational part of his brain challenged, I went there.

Kendall groaned. The stupid, annoying, rational part of his brain was right, no matter how much he tried to pretend that it wasn't. There was really no one to blame for this huge, complicated mess of feelings except for himself.

Stupid teenage boy hormones.


"Yes, but that still doesn't explain where Jennifer is!" screamed Jennifer at the top of her lungs

"Look, calm down. All we have to do is just organize a little search party, or something, and I am sure that we will find her. The gates are still stuck, which means she couldn't have left, so we all know that she has to be around the Palm Woods somewhere." Said Logan calmly

Most of the remaining teenagers of the Palm Woods had gathered in the back lobby to discuss the most recent events that had transpired (namely, the gruesome murder of Taylor). James still had the two hockey sticks that he had grabbed, Logan was still wearing Kendall's hockey Jersey, and Heather was still completely speechless.

"Why should we waste our time looking for her? She's probably already dead." Said the always cynical Elle Waldorf

Jennifer gasped at the possibility, while Logan took the option of glaring at her.

"Even if she is, we still need to find her." Said Logan sternly

Elle simply scoffed and rolled her eyes as Logan began to get into his plan for how they would search for the missing Jennifer.

"So, each of us should get a partner and then we'll go look for Jennifer in different areas. When we're done, we'll meet back here and see who found her. If the search goes past dark, though, everyone go home and we'll meet here tomorrow." Logan explained to the small group of teens that has gathered in the back lobby

"Wait, what if one of us is the killer? Than whoever is left with the killer might get killed!" protested a girl named Kaylee

"Then we would have discovered who the killer is." Remarked Elle sarcastically

"Look, Elle, cut it out!" snapped Kendall

Just as Elle was about to make a snappy and cruel response, Logan stepped in.

"Let's just get into pairs, okay?" he said


Everyone paired up reasonably fast, and in the end, only Jo, Heather, Elle, and the boys were left standing alone in the lobby.

"So, how about Kendall and I go together, James and Elle go together, and the rest of you can be a three some." Suggested Jo

James was more than willing to go with that option, but Elle was slightly less than enthusiastic about the proposed arrangements.

"How about Logan and I, and James, Carlos, and Heather go as a group of three." She suggested coolly

"Um… how about Kendall goes with you, and Jo and James go together?" suggested Logan awkwardly, not wanting to be around Elle for any longer than he had to

"Yes. That sounds perfect, Logan." Said Kendall quickly, grabbing Elle and pulling her towards the second floor that they were assigned to search. In his desperate (yet successful) attempt to get away from his girlfriend that he had just cheated on, he seemed to have forgotten that he was getting stuck with Elle.

"What is up with Kendall?" asked Jo, to no one particular. No one answered. She groaned, and pulled James off towards the pool area where they would go to search for the blonde Jennifer. Or, more likely, the Blonde Jennifer's body.


"Hey, Carlos, I'm going to go find Kendall and Elle. You and Heather are supposed to search the fourth floor, but she's looking kind of…" Logan gave a shrug in Heather's direction and Carlos saw exactly what he meant. Her face was a pale green color and she still had the same look of shock and horror that had been on her face earlier that morning.

"Should I drop her off at the apartment?" asked Carlos quietly

Logan nodded in agreement, and then took off towards the stairs to follow Kendall and Elle.


By the time Logan had caught up to Kendall and Elle, the two had already set each other off. From what Logan could gauge, Elle had said something about Kendall's singing and his hair, while Kendall had taken aim for Elle's roll in the movie version of "Wicked".

"Whoa, whoa, hey!" said Logan as he found the two arguing near the stairwell, "We've been at it for what? Five minutes? Let's just forget about it, okay?" he said as he stepped between the two pissed off teen agers.

"Just watch it, eyebrows!" snapped Elle using a new and slightly more creative nickname for Kendall, who glared at her in disgust

Logan groaned internally, preparing himself for Kendall's heated response that he knew was coming. It was going to be a long search.


"No, no, Carlos, I'll be fine. I'm sure. Let's just go, we're wasting a lot of time here." Said Heather adamantly as they walked past the second floor where Carlos had offered to take her back to the boy's apartment instead of having her search for the blonde Jennifer

"But Heather, you still seem pretty sick," Carlos said in a worried voice

"I'm fine Carlos. Now let's go. Every second we stand around talking is another second that the other Jennifer could be getting killed." Heather snapped as she walked up towards the fourth floor

"Alright, alright. I guess you don't look too sick anymore," Carlos agreed

Carlos looked at her closely. In all honesty, Heather did look sick. Her usually tanned skin had a greenish tint to it that gave off the accurate impression of nausea, her curly brown hair was limp and frizzled, her hands were still shaking, and Carlos had seen her vomit three times that morning. The only thing that remained the same was the look of annoyance and accusation in her dark blue eyes. That signature look happened to be directed at him at the moment.

"Good. Now let's go." She said in a voice that didn't quite fool Carlos


"James, why do you think that Kendall's been avoiding me?" said Jo in a soft, slightly upset voice

The question caught James off guard. From what he could see, the two of them had been going pretty strongly, especially since the Palm Woods prom. But, he did notice that Kendall hadn't been spending as much time as he used to around Jo lately. Even before the black out fiasco.

"I don't know. Losing his mom has been really hard on him, you know, and he's been busy, but I don't think he's been trying to avoid you. He probably didn't even realize that he wasn't spending a lot of time with you anymore. I mean, especially now with all of this shit that's been going down lately." Said James (surprisingly) thoughtfully

Jo nodded in understanding.

"I- I- Camille was the closest person that I ever lost. I- I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help him through this!" Jo sniffed

"What would you have wanted when you found out that Camille was gone?" asked James, desperate to help out the relationship of his best friend

"I just wanted a hug, you know. I- I don't know why, but I wanted a hug." Said Jo, after thinking for a minute

"Well, next time you see him give him a hug and the tell him that you want to spend more time together." Said James as if it was the most obvious thing in the world


"Hello? Jennifer? Are you there? It's Carlos and Heather!" Carlos called desperately for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. At this point, even he had to admit that hope was slim.

Heather sighed. This was the ninth apartment that they had searched on the fourth floor. Pretty soon they were just going to admit that she just wasn't there.

"Come on. We'd better go." Whispered Heather despondently

Just as Carlos was about to nod in agreement, they heard it. The sniffling sounds seemed to be coming from the back bedroom. The two teen agers looked at each other and ran straight to the bedroom and flung open the wooden door.

Laying curled up in the fetal position on the bed was blonde Jennifer. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot as her shaking hands grasped the large, baby blue pillow that she had wrapped her self around. Tear stains ran down her face and her hair was a mess. She seemed to be gazing at nothing.

"oh my god. Taylor…" she whispered as Carlos lifted her into his arms while Heather grasped her shaking hands.


Kendall was going to kill Elle. It was all about her, her, her, her, and, once again, her! All she seemed to be capable of was talking about herself, herself, and, take a guess, herself! If she didn't shut up about herself and what ever stupid movie she was going to be in soon, he was seriously going to snap and kill her. Besides, people probably wouldn't mind it if he did.

Logan seemed to notice his annoyance.

"Hey, how about you go find James and Jo and go with them." He suggested

As Kendall stomped off, Logan finally rounded on Elle.

"What's your problem, Elle? You don't have to treat him, or anyone else, for that matter, like shit all the time." he snapped

For once in her life, Elle Waldorf was caught off guard. She faltered for a second before responding.

"Look, just because I'm better doesn't-"

Logan cut her off.

"Just stop it, okay? You're not better than everyone else. If anything, you're worse. All you do is bring people down and make them feel terrible. I don't know why you do it, but it's getting old. So stop it. Try being nice, if you're even capable of it." He snapped harshly as he turned away from her.

Suddenly, he heard sniffing. He turned around and instantly felt terrible.

Elle Waldorf was crying. For real crying. Not her usual stage crying to get attention, but actual, legit crying. (A/N: I cannot believe I just said "legit" in a story… I was at camp way too long…)

"L- look, Elle you're probably a very nice person, you just need to-" Logan began in a desperate attempt to comfort the crying teen age girl

"oh, just stop it! I'm a bitch and I'll never be anything but a bitch, Logan. Admit it: you don't really think that I'm a nice person, no matter how deep you dig down!" Elle responded in a harshly cracked voice as she wiped the tears from her face

"Elle, there's a good person inside of everyone, okay?" Logan replied softly as he leaned down to kiss her cheek, "I'm going to go back down stairs and see if anyone found Jennifer. You stay safe, okay?" he instructed kindly

Elle blushed heavily as he hugged her and walked back to his apartment. Maybe there was still a bit of hope for her.


Okay, that was one long chapter. It's almost three thousand words, not counting A/Ns. I was going to put the chase scene in it, but it would have been way too long! It'll be at the beginning of the next chapter!

Please review! You owe me! (And it makes me happy!)