AN: Two things you should know: I don't own anybody but myself and this isn't the last chapter.

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"Jack!" Ned's voice echoed throughout the house. Jack's head snapped up and he would have sworn that needles of adrenaline were actually pushing themselves out of his arms and legs. No. Of course Ned had no idea about what had happened. He couldn't know. He was well, wherever he was. Wasn't he supposed to be going after Annie? Jack decided not to answer, opting instead to creep up the stairs as quietly as possible.

"JACK!"

Jack squeezed his eyes shut and started walking faster. If Ned came after him, he'd be out of the game before he could even squeak out a plea for mercy. His foot found the last stair and he took off running down the hallway. "Whoa," said Carey, shoving Jack backward as they collided. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Haven't you heard your dad yelling for me?"

"Yeah," Carey said slowly. "So?"

"So I'm next on his list."

"Oh. That sucks," he replied noncommittally.

"Uh, yeah. Well, I'm gonna go hide some more."

"Come on, what good will that do? Face him like a man!"

Jack's brow furrowed as he considered this advice. "Hey, you're just trying to eliminate me without having to do any dirty work, aren't you?"

Carey just smiled.

"Look, why don't we form a little alliance? Is your dad the only player left?"

"I guess so."

"So what do you say, you and me, we team up to take out your dad and then deal with each other later?"

"Mm, I don't think so. I don't really need any help. This whole game thing it's kind of asinine, really. I think I'm just gonna head on out to the bus or something and wait for you guys."

"Well, where's my mom?"

Carey shrugged. "I don't know, man, she just took off."

"But you said your dad was the only player left," Jack reminded him suspiciously.

"Did I?"

Jack finally caught on and began formulating a plan for running away. "Okay, look, I--"

Carey took this moment to lunge forward, catching Jack off-guard. He knocked Jack down with a quick hard blow to the solar plexus and began to drag him toward the stairs for a final send-off.

"JACK!" Ned shouted again from somewhere below.

Carey looked up, momentarily distracted. Then, darkness.

He woke up some time later, sprawled out on the floor in a windowless room with a solitary light bulb swinging from the ceiling. He opened his eyes slowly, taking a moment to let the pain spreading across the back of his head truly register and wash through him. He gripped the offending region and swore quietly. Once his vision came into focus, he looked around the room, squinting in the dim light. There was Jack, slumped against a corner. He stood up and headed for the door, intent on revenge. He had expected to find it locked, so he attacked the hinges instead. Jack grunted and groaned. "Get up," Carey commanded. "Help me with this."

"Oh, now you want help?"

"It's just as good for you as it is for me," Carey pointed out. Jack couldn't argue with that, and began to work on the lower hinge. Finally they succeeded in pushing the door down. Carey headed out first, quietly, listening hard for any clues to the locations of the remaining players, whoever they might be. But they were uncooperative, if they were out there. He couldn't be sure, but he thought they had just broken out of a room toward the back of the main floor. He headed toward the front door, with Jack following stealthily. Sure enough, the front door was standing wide open and there was Ned, laid out next to Irene. They stood in the hallway and contemplated the scene for a moment.

"What happened?" Carey wondered.

Jack was about to answer when he was grabbed roughly from behind and dragged into a bedroom. The door slammed and locked behind him, and Carey shook the doorknob and pounded on the door.

"What?" Molly asked from inside.

"Let me in!"

"No."

"Come on, there's no way you can do it," he said.

"Why don't you go outside and look for Annie?" she suggested sweetly.

"Okay. Wait. No. Hey, that's not nice."

"Oh, shut up. We're busy."

"Come on, I can help you," he replied urgently. "Then we'll win!"

"We?"

"Oh, Molly. I'm hurt."

"Hey, you're the one who started this," she reminded him. "I was all ready to team up, and you betrayed that. I'm not falling for it again. Now, go away."

He backed off. There was really no point in trying to get in there; one or the other would emerge victorious, and then he could take down the winner. He exaggeratedly stomped his feet a few times to indicate that he'd left the area. Then he leaned against the wall and waited.

But he didn't have to wait for long. The door flew open in a matter of seconds and Jack attempted to get past him, but Carey, propelled by the advantage of the surprise factor, grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him back into the bedroom. "See?" Carey said. "I can be helpful. I've changed."

"All right," Jack interrupted, attempting to negotiate. "What do we do now?"

Neither Molly nor Carey responded. Then Carey remembered something: "Hey, so what happened to my mom out there? And Dad?"

"Your mom went outside to check on Annie, but as soon as she went outside she just fell over."

"How do you know?"

"Well, I was, uh, I was with her."

"Why were you with her? Why wouldn't she have just taken you down while she could?"

"I was, you know, helping her. I showed her where Annie was."

"Why were you helping her?" Carey asked, advancing on Jack.

"She would have been a powerful ally."

"Uh huh."

"Hey, man. Back off." Jack backed toward the wall with his hands in a surrendering position. Carey, needless to say, did not heed his advice.

"You're awfully nervous all of a sudden, aren't you?"

"Maybe you're just projecting," Jack replied, narrowing his eyes. He stopped and folded his arms across his chest.

"What does that mean?"

"What do you think it means?"

"If I knew," Carey pointed out, "I wouldn't have--"

"Hey," Molly said suddenly. "Shut up. Do you smell that?"

Carey and Jack paused. Then: "It's smoke. Isn't it?"

"Jesus, she actually did it," Jack marveled.

"What?"

"Nothing. But I think we'd better get out of here."

"Aren't you forgetting something? Apparently going outside isn't too beneficial to one's health either," Molly pointed out.

"I'd rather die by falling over than burning to death in this house," Jack said logically.

"Well, the porch would eventually burn too," said Carey.

"Then we'll have to trust Annie, won't we?"

Silence.

"Because we don't have another choice, anyway," Jack said. So they headed for the front door in a tight group, none wanting to allow the others to lead.

"Hey, wait," Carey said, stopping suddenly. "What if this is a trick?"

"I think we're past that now," said Molly. She grabbed both of their hands and charged for the door, but Jack pulled back at the last second. "What is it?"

"Clu's still in there," Jack said.

"Isn't he-"

"I don't know. It doesn't matter." He and Carey exchanged a look and headed back down the hall. "You go ahead," Jack shouted back to her. "We've got him."

Molly stepped toward the threshold, took a deep breath, and walked outside.

When Annie came upon the scene a few minutes later, she found six bodies on the porch and the back half of the house on fire. "Hey, he actually did it," she marveled. But there was little time to waste. Even Annie could figure out that the fire would soon spread. She dragged each of her friends a safer distance from the house, except for Ned. She tried mightily, but he just wouldn't move. So he made it down the front stairs, and that was all. But the others were sprawled out around the front yard.

Annie searched Irene for her phone and didn't find it, so, having no other option, she headed up the hill to the dirt road that led to the house. She took a last worried look toward the house and her friends and noticed a solitary young figure walking into the house, having finally succeeded in breaking her sister's curse. The door slammed behind her as the fire raged on. Annie smiled and started walking toward town.