CHAPTER ELEVEN: FOLLOW THE LEADER

Riley and Eli

Riley was lost. He was positive. He stopped walking to catch his breath and threw Eli off of his shoulder to rest him against a tree. He leaned over on his knees and looked at the frost covered ground beneath him.

He glanced up to look around and maybe hopefully recognize one of his surroundings like the stub of a tree. But there was no clue in sight that could've told Riley where he had ended up. Unfortunately Riley had never been out into these woods to party like other kids from school.

Riley would've bet fifty dollars each on Fitz and Bianca that they knew every twist and turn of this scary home to creatures of the night.

Riley's breath caught in his throat when he saw the footprints indented in the snow. They were leading off into the distance, and even though Riley's tracking senses were horrible, it didn't take much for him to see that the path the prints were leading to was way off of the path back to the van.

Maybe someone lives out here, Riley told himself. It was like a bright light bulb had appeared above his head when he thought those words. If someone else lived out here, he could get help for him and everyone else. No one needed to die like Clare or Drew tonight.

Riley didn't stick around to decipher his movements before he slung Eli back over his shoulder and began to crunch in the steps of whoever had been walking here before him. All he could do was hope that it was going to lead him somewhere.

He'd walked about a quarter of a mile when the silhouette of a house could be seen in the darkness of the forest. The porch light glowed to reveal the front of an old wooden house.

"This doesn't look creepy at all," he said under his breath.

Riley jumped into attack mode when he heard the sudden breath of someone nearby. But he let out a relieved sigh when he saw that Eli was waking up from the nearby tree.

"Riley?" he asked quietly, surprised by the curly haired boy who was helping hold him up. He pushed his hands away gently and rubbed the bruised side of his head where Riley had succeeded in knocking him unconscious.

Memories flashed through Eli's head like an old TV screen. He saw himself crying over Clare's murdered body, and then he saw Riley swinging back with the metal bar after he'd refused to stand up.

Eli went into panic mode within simple seconds. "What happened?"

Riley shushed the boy and covered his mouth with his palm. Eli frowned, and Riley pointed to the lit house behind them. He lowered his hand from Eli's face when he saw the understanding look in his eyes.

"Is he in there?" he hissed. Hatred shown in his green eyes when he thought of some psycho killing his Clare. He wanted to make whoever was doing this pay with their lives.

"I don't know," Riley replied in a soft tone. "But there's only one way to find out."

Riley began stepping towards the house, but Eli yanked him back by the sleeve of his Degrassi jacket. "Are you crazy?" he hissed at the curly haired boy. "The killer may be in there for all we know."

"Yeah," Riley said slowly, "or our help may be in there. We can't stand out here all night to find out. The others are still waiting for us."

Eli stood in silence and swallowed hard. He finally dropped his hand from Riley's sleeve and nodded in defeat. "Okay, but only if we get to sneak in. There's no way I'm barging into some creepy house like that."

Riley nodded in silent agreement before he and Eli began to crouch down and crunch around the other side of the house. They tried their best not to cause too much noise while Riley kicked in the window near the bottom of the house. Evidently it led into a basement.

Eli kicked the remaining shards of glass before he leaned down and crawled through the window. Riley followed close behind and landed with a soft thud behind him.

They both covered their noses when they saw their surroundings. "This explains the smell," Eli stated with a closed nose.

Riley nodded with a disgusted face at the hanging meat surrounding them. Both boys hoped that these meat parts didn't belong to any humans.

They were both still holding their noses when the sound of the basement door opening and closing stopped their thoughts. The heavy sound of boots were familiar to Eli, and he didn't waste any time in turning around and crawling up to the window.

He rolled through the snow and turned back to look at Riley on his stomach. Riley stood with his back to him while he backed away from the large and disfigured man.

"Riley," Eli hissed, "get out of there!"

Riley could only stand in pure shock of the gorilla-like man stepping towards him. And just like that, the man grabbed Riley by his neck and carried him through another door in the basement.

"Riley!" Eli screamed, scrambling to his feet. "RILEY!"

Adam and Fiona

"Did you hear that?" Fiona whispered.

"No," Adam said with a frown, "what was it?"

She shushed him and listened for the voice again.

"RILEY!"

"That sounded like-"

"Eli!" Adam finished for her. He grabbed her by her hand and took off in the direction of where the older boy's voice had come from.

Adam ran with her as fast as he could, but he came to an immediate stop when he saw the bloody figure of Clare lying on her side in the snow. The hatchet was buried deep in the side of her skull, and her eyes were still looking into space with no light.

"Oh god," Fiona sobbed. She covered her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut at the bloody sight of Clare. Blood stained the snow around her as well as it did most of her face.

Adam closed his eyes as well at the sight of his now dead good friend. Clare hadn't deserved to die like this. And neither had Drew. He felt so sorry for Eli. He'd probably experienced the scene with Riley.

Adam stayed silent while Fiona sobbed next to him with her face in her hands. He looked down at the ground and noticed the footprints leading to the left deep inside the forest.

"Fiona," he said, taking her hand, "I think Riley must've gone the wrong way with Eli."

She frowned and followed his line of vision to where the footprints led away from Clare's corpse.

"So this should lead us to Eli and Riley?" she asked in a soft voice.

Adam nodded and said, "Tell Holly J to get her ass down here."

Fiona wasted no time in getting her friend on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

Holly J, Fitz, and Bianca

"Where are they?" Bianca asked in an annoyed tone.

"Do you think something happened to them?" Fitz sounded worried as he stood near the cold waters nearby.

"No," Holly J told them, "I'm sure they just got lost."

"RILEY!"

Eli's scream for help interrupted the three teen's thoughts instantly. Bianca's eyes went wide at the shrill sound of Eli's voice. He sounded scared and almost helpless. Something had happened in the woods that none of them knew about yet.

"That was Eli," Fitz said in a low voice a few seconds after Eli's scream finished echoing.

Holly J nodded, and she quickly began walking back in the direction of the van where Fiona and Adam had been.

"Where are you going?" Bianca asked, trying her best to keep up with Holly J's hurried steps.

Fitz smirked from behind them and cocked the barrel of the shotgun before he ran after the two girls.

"To find Fiona and Adam," she stated simply. It wasn't long after she said those words that Fiona's voice crackled through her walkie-talkie.

"Fiona!" she exclaimed, pulling the communication device to her mouth. "Are you okay?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Fiona admitted. Both Holly J and Bianca could read in Fiona's voice that she'd been crying.

"Fiona, what's wrong?" Holly J asked after two seconds filled the only the drumming of their hearts.

"It's Clare," she finally sobbed. Everyone's hearts dropped as they anticipated her next words. "She's dead, Holly J!"

Holly J nodded with her eyes shut before exhaling and waiting for Fiona to continue. "We found Riley and Eli's footsteps. We're going to follow them and see if they lead us to Eli."

"Well could you wait for us?"

"I'll see you there, Holly J," was all Fiona said before she cut the line and left three teens in shocked silence.