Bridgette's scream was still echoing in the cavernous room when the others spotted what had made her scream. The floor of the room was stained red with blood and there were wicked looking torture devices piled in the center of the room, but it was not these that had drawn Bridgette's attention. She was staring in horror at the object leaning against the nearest wall, and object that was actually a person, a person they hadn't seen since she had been taken ten days earlier.

"Oh God, Nikki." Bridgette breathed, barely containing her emotions. She and Gwen rushed into the room, hurrying over to their friend's side. Nikki was slumped against the wall, her weight resting on her knees. Her arms were stretched out on either side of her and were held to the wall by heavy chains which were connected to heavy iron shackles around her wrists. Her head was slumped forward, her hair concealing her face and she appeared to be dead.

Bridgette felt her heart constrict as she and Gwen knelt beside Nikki's motionless form. Shaking off her urge to scream Bridgette quickly checked for a pulse, eventually finding one, much to her and Gwen's relief. Nikki was alive, but she was unconscious and looked like she had been tortured. There were scrapes and cuts all over her arms, legs, and abdomen. Her breathing was shallow and uneven and it was obvious that she was severely dehydrated.

After a moment, Gwen gently placed her hand on Nikki's chin, lifting her head so they could get a better look at Nikki's face. Her face showed signs of torture as well, making Bridgette's blood surge with rage. There was a gruesome gash across Nikki's forehead and a livid bruise beneath her right eye. What had McLean done to her to leave her in such a state? Bridgette could think of many things McLean could have done, but none of them were pleasant, so she pushed the thoughts away.

At that moment Nikki's eyes fluttered open and she groaned, trying to focus on the two people in front of her. She muttered something incomprehensible, her eyes rolling in their sockets and then gasped, as if she was in pain.

"We've got to get these shackles off of her." Gwen said, desperation in her voice.

Bridgette nodded and turned to see Duncan and Cecily approaching. Both of them wore looks that were a mix of horror, disgust, and concern. It was strange seeing that mixture of emotions on Duncan's face, but Bridgette couldn't help agreeing with him. What they were witnessing was beyond description and they both knew McLean had to pay for this.

Deciding that notions of revenge were best left for later, Bridgette turned her attention back to Gwen and Nikki. Gwen was trying to pry the shackles off, with little success. "You guys mind helping me?" she asked, irritation in her voice now.

"Gwen, they're not going to come off that way." Bridgette said, her voice strained.

"Then how are we supposed to get her out?" Gwen demanded.

"We need a key." Cecily said. "Though I have no idea where one would be down here."

"Let's go look for one." Duncan suggested, motioning for Cecily to follow him. He looked at Bridgette and Gwen and continued, "You two try and keep her comfortable, we'll go find a key."

Bridgette nodded, and Duncan and Cecily disappeared into the shadows. Bridgette turned back to Gwen, who was cradling Nikki in her arms as best as she could, tears glistening in her eyes. "Damn that bastard." she said, her voice choked with emotion. "I'm going to kill him for this. I swear to God, I'm going to kill him."

"I know Gwen, I know." Bridgette said. "And I'm going to help you."

At that moment Nikki groaned again, drawing their attention. Her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out, making Bridgette and Gwen wince in horror as the possibilities flooded their minds. What if Nikki was unable to speak anymore? What if McLean had done something to her that had permanently taken away her ability to speak? As these thoughts raced through her mind Bridgette felt her desire to kill McLean strengthen yet again.

"I think she's trying to say something." Gwen said, glancing from Nikki to Bridgette. They leaned in closer then, straining to hear what Nikki was trying to tell them.

Finally Nikki managed to speak, her voice a hoarse, raw whisper. "Izzy." she gasped. "Izzy...she...she's...oh God."

"What about Izzy?" Gwen asked. "Do you know where she is Nik?"

Nikki nodded and pointed off in the direction Duncan and Cecily had walked. "Izzy...over there. She's...I think...dead. Can't remember...everything is..." Her voice trailed off into silence, leaving her gasping for air.

Bridgette and Gwen glanced at each other, concerned. Nikki's speech was incoherent, and they were struggling to understand what she was saying. She seemed to think Izzy was dead and that she was still in the room, but there were no signs of Izzy anywhere, not that either of them could see.

"This doesn't make sense." Bridgette said. "I see no signs that Izzy is here, or anyone else for that matter. So why does Nikki think she is?"

"She's delirious." Gwen answered. "Probably because she's dehydrated and half starved."

"That does seem likely." said Cecily as she and Duncan suddenly reappeared beside them.

"Did you find a key?" Gwen asked, staring at Duncan with a hopeful expression.

"Yes." Duncan replied, tossing her a large brass key.

"Did you find anything else?" Bridgette asked, as Gwen moved to unshackle Nikki.

"No, but I'm going to investigate some more." Duncan said. "It's a large room, so there may still be someone else down here."

"I'm gonna do some more investigating as well." said Cecily. "Gotta find the entrance to the other secret room."

"Why?" Bridgette asked. "What's so important about the other room?"

"Some of your friends could be in there." Cecily said, before turning and disappearing into the darkness, Duncan following her.

With the two of them off investigating Bridgette turned her attention back to Gwen and Nikki, who was still muttering incomprehensibly about Izzy. Now that she was unshackled Bridgette and Gwen were able to get a closer look at her injuries. In addition to the cuts and scrapes, her wrists were severely bruised and the skin was raw and swollen from ten days in the shackles. Her wrists also appeared to be broken, as though she had strained against the shackles repeatedly, though Bridgette wasn't sure, as she wasn't a doctor. There were also marks on Nikki's back and abdomen that looked like burns, as though she had been repeatedly jabbed with a hot poker. Again Bridgette felt her blood boil in anger as she examined her friend. And again, the question entered her mind, why was McLean doing this? There had to be a reason beyond him simply wanting revenge. If that was his only reason he'd just kill them all instead of bothering with these games. At least that's what Bridgette kept telling herself, though in truth she had no idea what went on inside McLean's diseased mind. For all she knew, torture gave McLean more satisfaction than just killing, but if that was true why hadn't he tortured Jen? Bridgette shook her head, pushing the thoughts away. She didn't have any answers and she was fairly certain she didn't want to know all of McLean's reasons anyway. She looked back at Gwen and Nikki, who had fallen silent again, but was still twitching as though she was reliving some horrible memory from the past ten days.

At that moment, they heard Duncan swear from somewhere across the room. Bridgette jumped to her feet and made her way over to him, the light of her flashlight falling on his face a moment later. "Duncan, what is is?" she asked, her tone tense.

"Nikki's not the only one here." Duncan answered, his tone strained.

"What do you mean?" Bridgette asked, confused now.

Duncan didn't answer, but shown the beam of his flashlight on the floor in front of them. There, laying in a putrid pile were the corpses of four people. Bridgette felt her throat constrict as she tried to stop herself from vomiting.

"Who are they?" she asked, after a moment of painful silence.

"I can't tell." Duncan said. "They've been dead for several days, five or six I'd guess, based on the level of decay. At least two are female, I can tell you that much for sure."

Bridgette nodded and knelt down to examine the bodies. It appeared Duncan was right about how long they had been dead, though Bridgette was no expert on the subject. However, a fair amount of decay had occurred and all four corpses were devoid of eyes, their faces sunken and hollow. It took Bridgette another minute or so before she recognized the necklace that still hung around the neck of one of the corpses. "This one is Tricia." she whispered, her voice choked with emotion. She moved on to the next corpse, quickly deducing that it was Chrissy. The third corpse was Sadie and the fourth was Noah. This took Bridgette and Duncan by surprise as they hadn't known Noah had been kidnapped.

"Shit." Duncan said. "I can't believe Noah is dead. I didn't even know he'd been taken."

"Yeah." Bridgette muttered, her voice hollow. "I can't believe he killed Sadie. Katie is going to be so devastated."

"Assuming she's still alive." Duncan muttered, not looking at Bridgette.

"Don't say that Duncan." Bridgette said, a note of pleading in her voice. "She could still be alive, they all could. We can't assume they're all dead or we'll lose all hope."

"I understand that." Duncan said. "But given the circumstances it seems unlikely that they're still alive."

"We found Nikki alive." Gwen pointed out, her voice making them jump. They hadn't heard her approaching and were caught off guard by her sudden appearance. She was supporting Nikki, with one arm and was looking at the corpses with a mixture of sorrow and rage.

"Yeah, okay, that's true, but that doesn't mean we'll find everyone else alive." Duncan said. "I mean we found Tricia, Chrissy, Sadie, and Noah dead, so what does that tell you about our odds?"

"It tells me they're not that great." Gwen admitted. "But you have to have faith Duncan. You have to keep believing that we'll find them alive, otherwise what the fuck is the point? If we've already given up hope, then why did we come here?"

Duncan didn't answer and for a moment the room was silent, save for the sounds of Cecily moving around in the far corner of the room.

"Cecily, what the fuck are you doing over there?" Duncan asked, his tone irritated.

"I told you, I'm looking for the secret door to the other room." Cecily's voice answered, from deep within the gloom. There was another moment of silence, followed by Cecily's delighted squeal of, "Found it." This was followed by an ominous click and the sound of stone grinding on stone and then a blast of icy cold air hit them.

"What the fuck?" Duncan asked. "It's a fucking freezer." Before he could react further there was noise at the door through which they had entered. They all turned to see Chef and Coach Halder entering the room, both of them looking winded.

"Where have you two been?" Bridgette asked. "I screamed like fifteen minutes ago, what took you so long?"

"It's a big mansion Miss Wells." Chef answered. "And regarding that scream, what happened? Did you find something?"

"Yeah, we found Nikki, alive." Bridgette answered. "We also found Tricia, Chrissy, Sadie, and Noah, but they're all dead and have been for several days."

"Well shit." Chef muttered. "At least Nikki's alive. Any sign of anyone else?"

"None so far." Gwen answered, her tone grim. "Where are Owen and Ron?"

"They're on their way." Coach Halder answered. "They should be here in a few minutes."

Gwen nodded, just as Cecily's voice cut through the silence. "Oh God." she said, her voice choked with emotion. "Guys, you might want to come look at this."

"What is it Cecily?" Bridgette asked. "What did you find?"

"Just come look, please." Cecily said, a note of pleading in her voice.

Bridgette sighed and moved to stand beside Cecily, the others following her. "Okay, what is it?" she asked, once she was beside Cecily. Cecily just pointed into the second room, her eyes wide with horror. Bridgette followed Cecily's gaze and felt her whole body go numb as she noticed what Cecily was pointing at.

There, hanging from the ceiling by her neck, was Izzy, her body limp and lifeless. For a moment Bridgette simply stared at Izzy, her mind trying to process what she was seeing and then she let out a wail of sorrow so painful it made them all shudder. The rope around Izzy's neck trailed up over a large hook in the ceiling and then down to a large crank on the floor, around which the rope was tightly wound. Izzy's hair hung in front of her face, but Bridgette could tell her eyes were still open, their radiant green dulled by the milky film of death.

Bridgette felt movement beside her as Duncan and Chef entered the room. Chef stood beneath Izzy's body, while Duncan moved to the rope, drawing his knife as he did. With one swift motion he cut the rope, dropping Izzy's body into Chef's arms. Chef then laid her gently on the floor, just as Owen and Ron entered the first room, the sound of their footsteps making everyone except Chef turn. Owen could tell something wasn't right and he moved towards the second room, only to have Coach Halder stop him.

"No son, you don't want to see what's in there." Coach said, his tone full of sorrow.

"What happened?" Owen asked, trying to push past Coach. Coach Halder didn't answer and in that moment Owen knew what had happened. "Oh God, it's Izzy, isn't it?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"Let him in." Chef said from within the room. Coach obeyed, standing aside to let Owen in. Owen scrambled into the room, falling to his knees at the sight of Izzy's lifeless body. Chef had closed her eyes and removed the noose from around her neck, but it did little to hide the fact that she was dead. There were livid bruises ringing her neck and ice crystals coating her hair and face. Decay had not really set in yet, probably because she had been in a freezer.

"Oh Izzy." Owen sobbed, holding her cold, motionless body close, as if his touch could somehow revive her. "Oh Izzy, I am so sorry I wasn't able to save you. Know that I will avenge you, I swear on everything I am I will avenge you."

It was a sentiment they all shared now and for the next hour they simply sat in that room mourning the loss of Izzy, Tricia, Chrissy, Sadie, and Noah. At some point Duncan and Cecily made their way back upstairs, where Duncan called 911. A short time later he and Cecily returned with paramedics and police, who quickly moved to secure the scene. Nikki was taken away on a stretcher, an IV inserted into her arm to begin returning fluids to her system. Izzy and the others were placed in body bags and taken away as well, though Owen made sure to give Izzy one last kiss before her bag was zipped up, hiding her face from her friends. Bridgette and the others watched as their friends were taken away, all of them knowing that they now had only one course of action to follow. They had to kill McLean and Bridgette would see that it was done.

A/N: Well, there go people. Now you know what was in the room. I know, it sucks. They found Nikki alive, but whatever joy and relief that brought them was immediately dulled by the discoveries of the other bodies, especially Izzy. So yes, Izzy is dead and I know some of you aren't going to be happy about that, so I just want to remind you again to please don't direct your anger at me. I'm just the writer, so please direct your anger at McLean and Shane. If you don't, remember, you will be blocked. Thank you for understanding.