Title: Terror…

A/N: Er… this chapter is edited, so not all of the nice parts are mine. Well, thanks a lot to all who reviewed, and of course thanks a lot to my beta-reader. Well, hope you like this.

sLL":*shudders* Are you serious? Don't scare me! English workbooks after PMR? You must be joking. Actually, I don't think I deserve such high praises. Well, thanks anyway.

Devoted2Mitsui: Err… you have a computer in the basement? Thanks anyway.

Shirodachi: Just questioning, do you, did you read Phantom by Dean Koonzt?

Eliar Swiftfire: No! This isn't the end!

Chapter 4- Next Victim 

            'Uekusa, daijoubu ka?' Fujima asked. He nodded.

            'Arigatou,' he said to Sendo and Rukawa. Sendo smiled a little and nodded, trying to hide his fear. Rukawa, on the other hand, merely nodded without even looking at him.

            'It can't get us. Not in here,' he said, softly yet clearly. Rain continued tearing against the gym.

            'Nani?' Hasegawa asked. In reply, the four of them looked at Hanagata, Koshino, Maki, and Mitsui.

'So… Rukawa is the ear, while Mitsui is the brain.' Akagi whispered. He was staring at them, and he realized that they always looked to Hanagata, Koshino, Maki and Mitsui when they needed answers. Rukawa, Sendo, Fujima and Jin were always the one listening, fighting.

Kogure's head whipped towards the captain's direction, startled.

The rain continued to flail against them. Seconds ticked by.

'We've got something in common. Something that binds us together,' Hanagata's steady voice broke through the silence once more.

'Yeah… something it wants,' Koshino added.  

'And yet, something it cannot get if we use that as a common bond to hold us all together,' Maki said.

'Basketball.' The four of them, the 'brains' as Akagi labeled them, concluded, nodding together.

'As long as we stay in this gym, it cannot break the seal that holds us together,' Mitsui said.

'And that's what we have to do, stay in here, at least until morning.'

* * * * * * * *

I was so angry, I couldn't think properly, couldn't think straight.

Who do you think you are?!

Who are you?!

Why are you so strong?!

I saw the ravaged body of my newest victim, but did not feel hunger instantly. Those two, their insolence, trying to trick me. Foolishness.

But besides that I also felt confusion rising. It was a new feeling, a sick feeling.

I am the one!

I am the one who's supposed to win against you!

I am the one who will win against all of you!

I cursed them, loathed them, in the deepest parts of my existence. They will never succeed. Though they had rescued one, it was not the end. Certainly not the end.

You thought you won already…but I can see that all of you are scared.

Scared of death. Scared to death. And realizing their fear, I started feeling elated.

I had killed two out of three - I was still winning. My spirits arose, and I began to feast on my newest victim, hungrily, delightfully.

I will get what I want.

And send all of you to your deaths.

Hell awaits.

* * * * * * * *

            'Nani? Stay here until morning? Don't we need to bathe? What about school?' Sakuragi asked, stunned at Mitsui's suggestion.

            'What do want to do in school anyway? You don't have enough brains to be in class,' Ryota snapped at him.

            'Urusei! Stop it. We can't quarrel now, okay? We'll leave as soon as there's little light, that will leave us some time to bathe,' Mitsui said to his teammates. Rukawa resisted the strong urge to provoke Sakuragi with his 'do'aho.'

            'This is ridiculous! What can do such a thing? I mean… . You're telling me that we can't fight it with power, but we can protect ourselves with a bond? With basketball? For goodness sakes! That is crap!' Takasago commented, angrily. Maki sighed.

            'Look, can you all open your minds a little? Right now, we're battling with something inhuman. You can't fight it with logic! You can't even try! Don't you see?' Koshino said.

* * * * * * * *

I was delirious.

I won.

They can't see how powerful I am against them.

I cackled, evilly.

Oh, my poor  unimaginative basketball players.

Come to me. COME!

And feel my wrath. I was filled with malice. There was no place for confusion, not anymore.

* * * * * * * *

            'Can't fight it with logic? How old does he think we are? Imaginations won't bring us anywhere,' Shiozaki said to himself. Looking around he realized that though everyone didn't want to believe it, couldn't believe it, some of them already did. 

            'We're high school students, not elementary school kids!' he wanted to shout to those who believed.

            Suddenly…

* * * * * * * *

            *Bam!* The gym door was slid open with such force, reverberating loud enough to be heard over the rain when it reached the end.

Everyone jumped. Someone shrieked.

It was enough to send fear knotting in their chest. With their heartbeat quickening, they turned.

* * * * * * * *

Then he felt it! There was a kind of presence… it felt distinctly evil, and yet, its call was captivating. It called out in a pidgin, pathetic voice. A morbid fascination slowly formed in Shiozaki. Who was calling him? He seemed to remember a warning about not listening to it, but the voice was strong. The voice wanted him. Quietly, Shiozaki walked towards the door, hoping that he didn't attract anyone's attention. '

I'm coming.' He sent the thought out to whoever it was.

'Don't worry, I'm coming.' This time it came out in a whisper. When he reached the door, he yanked it open.

In the blink of an eye, Shiozaki disappeared.

Running.

He could feel someone pulling at him, running.

But then, it's not exactly running,' Shiozaki managed to tell himself even though his brain was already numb with fear and shock. He heard the door slam. It sounded very far away.

* * * * * * * *

'SHIT!' The thought echoed in Rukawa's mind. Trying to quell the primal fear that was beginning to rise in him, he turned his fearful eyes towards the door. Where the strong doors were once closed, was now the darkness outside, and the silvery sheet of rain that was lighted up by the moonlight. It was a peaceful sight, pretty almost, but he knew it was false. A trick.

Rukawa felt his stomach clench at the very sight of the rain.  

* * * * * * * *

Sendo heaved, his hands trembling.

'Something's happened.' They were all staring at the open door. There was nothing there, only a vast darkness that seemed to stretch for miles. Shoyo's gym faced the field, so there was nothing to see, except the stars and moon. It was still raining, and in the dim light that the gym cast out into the night, he saw that the sidewalk was wet.

He gasped.

Could it be…!?

His eyes swept over to Rukawa, and Sendo's fears came true. The rookie was staring, not at the open doors, but at everyone in the gym. Rukawa's eyes were moving quickly…searching. Yeah,  he wasn't staring, he was searching.

With a pounding heart, he too started looking, looking for the missing someone.

* * * * * * * *

Suddenly Yasuda felt the urge to say something, anything to his closest friend. He just wanted to make sure that the Shiozaki beside him was real. For unknown reasons he felt alone.

But even as he turned, he felt sorrow, and he saw that he couldn't find him. For some strange, twisted reason, he couldn't find Shiozaki. He wasn't in his original place, beside him.

'Shiozaki,' Rukawa was saying quietly. Everyone turned towards him, including Yasuda.

'It took Shiozaki,' he continued.

As if in confirmation, the screams, Shiozaki's screams could be heard. The bloodcurdling screams sent fear rippling all over them. Ayako sobbed. As if something had snapped in his mind, Yasuda let out his own cry of pain and grief, mingling with the screams coming from outside. The fading screams.

'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! SHIOZAKI, YOU CAN'T DO THIS!!! COME BACK!!! COME BACK!!!'

Mitsui went over to the Shohoku player, trying to calm him down, but his own tears gave him away.

'We were too careless…' Sendo said regretfully.

* * * * * * * *

            He could faintly hear Yasuda calling for him. Shiozaki squirmed. Whoever, whatever was gripping him was strong, and powerful. And it could run very fast.

'How can we move so fast? This thing doesn't even have legs!' his brain tried to yell. Now that the initial shock was wearing out, he felt terror, cold terror seeping into him.

Someone else was screaming, but he knew it wasn't his friend. The screams were coming from somewhere nearer. They were moving very fast, nearing the third-year's building.

            'How can we move so fast? This thing doesn't even have legs!' his heart screamed out.

            When they reached the third-year's building, the thing threw him, face down, on the floor. Shiozaki swallowed against a scream of pain which threatened to come out. He felt blood pouring out of his nose.  

            Shiozaki turned onto his back so that he was now facing it. And for the first and last time, Shiozaki saw IT. Saw it in its menacing, malign form, and what he saw then destroyed his sanity in one clawing stroke. But just before he became insane, he realized who was the other one screaming. Himself.

* * * * * * * *

Koshino, swallowing hard, closed the door. It took a lot of courage to do it.

'It couldn't get in, so how?' He mumbled to himself. He knew, felt that the thing can't come in, that was why they hadn't locked the door, but… how did he get it? Shiozaki… did he deny the fact…? Was that why it got him? Without answering his own questions, he walked to where the other six was, a corner of the gym.

A flash of lightning lighted up the dim part of the gym where they stood, and Hanagata saw that all of them were straining themselves. They were trying not to burst into hysterics the way Yasuda did.

            'It took one from every school, or at least tried to,' Hanagata said to the six people around him.  Mitsui was still trying his best to calm Yasuda, even though he himself was close to the border. The thunder that followed didn't drown out the Yasuda's cries, and Hanagata felt… sick. He wanted to feel sorry, sorry for Yasuda, as he would have felt in normal circumstances. But what the heck? This isn't a normal situation, and he felt sorry, terribly sorry for Shiozaki instead. He was sure that somewhere in his school, Shiozaki was being murdered with deliberate slowness, the murderer savoring on the fear he was causing Shiozaki.

            All around him, the seven of them showed no signs at all that they were agreeing with him, but he knew it. He felt it. They all did. A pause, where only Yasuda's cries and… the rain could be heard.

            'But then…why is it so fast? How did Hanagata-sempai and Kiyota managed outrun it when we couldn't even see its shadow before the door which was yanked so hard manage to reach its end?' Rukawa asked. All of them turned towards him, pondering on that question which had not crossed their minds.

And far away in Rukawa, Sendo, Fujima and Jin's head, they heard Shiozaki's last scream. The scream before he met his destiny… death.  

A/N: Again, I wish to thank all the reviewers. And just for your info, this is NOT a SenRu fic, if anyone gets that idea. Oh, and if I were to end this fic, I'll write something like completed. Really, thank you!!! See ya. Ya, one more, as I've stated before, I'm not really sure where this fic might go. I'm actually planning that the plot only lasts one night. Anyone think otherwise? Pls review. And BTW, when there was the *BAM* it was the door slammed OPEN, not close. I'm not really sure if doors in Japan can be slammed open but… well, if that had caused any confusion, I'm sorry.