Chapter 8
The Hunt Begins
Kim went straight to the room she shared with Ron shortly after they had gone back into the house, she planned to change into her mission clothes, which she had brought with her, Ron had followed her up as well, saying that he was going to change too,
"You got your clothes, and I got mine." Ron said, replying to the raised eyebrow that Kim gave him.
Kim slipped into the bathroom, while Ron changed in the bedroom, when Kim stepped out of the bathroom, she realized what Ron had been talking about,
"Why did you change into that?" she asked.
Ron was standing in front of her, wearing the most unusual outfit she had ever seen on him. He was wearing black jeans. A black sleeveless T-shirt, and a black leather biker's jacket, on his feet, were black biker boots.
"Time to kick some ass, right?" Ron asked, Kim nodded,
"This is my ass kicking outfit, so let's get busy." Ron replied.
Kim shook her head, and followed Ron out of the room, their bags in hand, they were going to Ron's car, which had been parked in the back, near the old garage, there, they were going to put their bags into the trunk, and get ready to leave, once the threat of the killer was gone.
They walked up to the car, and found the others with their bags in hand, waiting for Ron, who had the only set of keys.
"Let's load up." Ron said, opening the trunk, and throwing his a bag into it, Kim followed suit, and soon, the others placed their bags in the trunk. Once the trunk had been loaded, Ron closed it with a loud snap,
"Time to go to work." Bonnie said, cracking her knuckles,
"Let's do it." Josh agreed, his face was set in a menacing snarl that made the hairs on the back of Kim's neck stand up.
"You all know what this means, right?" Kim asked, everyone, except Ron, nodded. Ron had already known what the next four hours would entail, and he wasn't about to back out now.
"Let's bag this fuck." Alan Platt said, that was enough to send the group back into the house. As soon as everyone except Bonnie, Tara, and Monique were out of earshot, Ron reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out his car keys,
"K.P., there's something I need you to do for me," he said, placing the keys into Kim's hand, "if I don't make it out–,"
"Don't talk that way, Ron, we're going to make it out alive, don't scare me like this." Kim said, the fright in her face noticeable,
"Listen to me, Kim, if I don't make it, I want you to get into my car, and get the fuck out of here." Ron said, looking at Kim with an intensity that she had never seen before,
"Ron, you're scaring your girlfriend." Kim said, looking at Ron,
"I mean it, Kim," Ron said, "we can't really count on the three we let out to bring back help, so it leaves us to tell the world what happened here, if one of us should survive, I want it to be you, so promise me that you'll bail, with anyone that remains, if anything should happen to me."
"I promise, Ron." Kim said, the tears flowing freely down her face. She understood what Ron was saying, if Ron were to lock eyes on the killer first, he was going to fight him to the death.
"Uh, K," Bonnie said, as she watched Ron head for the rear door of the house, "what was that all about?"
"If he sees this freak first, he plans to fight him, until one, or the other is dead." Kim answered, Bonnie's eyes became as big as side plates,
"He can't be serious?!" she said, her voice rising with suppressed fear.
"Very serious, and there's no way I can talk him out of it, Bonnie." Kim replied,
"You've got to, Kim, you just got to, if anyone can talk some sense into him, it's you." Tara said, echoing Bonnie's last statement,
"Sorry, Tara," Kim said, "all sense talking options denied."
"Didn't you see the look on his face," Monique said, looking over at the two cheerleaders, "Ron's beyond talking to, he's seen the bodies of six of his fellow classmates, and a fair few were friends of his, he's taking this personally."
"TOO personally, if you ask me." Bonnie said, following the others back to the house.
The group was walking down the third floor hallway, looking for hidden entrances, it was halfway down it, that they finally hit paydirt,
"Score one for the Ronman. Booyah!" Ron said, pushing the secret door aside, and walking down the dimly lit hall, as with the last passageway he had taken, the area had been thrown into total darkness when the door closed.
"Ron, lets get a little light on the subject." Kim said, cuing Ron to get the penlight out of whatever pocket he stashed it in. It didn't take long for Ron to pick up on this thought, he had already reached into a pocket of the jacket he was wearing, and pulled out the small flashlight, throwing out a bright beam of light in front of them.
"Any idea where this goes?" Josh asked the two teenagers in front of him,
"No." Kim said,
"But we plan to find out." Ron finished.
Josh had to admit, Kim and Ron knew each other better than they knew themselves, being able to finish each other's sentences like that, and not already have it planned, that was something.
"Is it my imagination, or is this tunnel getting smaller?" Bonnie asked, now crouching to keep her head from scraping the rafters,
"Not your imagination, Bonnie." Ron said, he was nearly bent over double,
"What's going on here?" Josh gasped, he was having a hard time breathing, his lanky form bent over at an odd angle,
"I found a door," Tara said, standing to one side of the tunnel, she had opened a small door, just big enough for everyone to squeeze through without trouble.
When the last person, Brick Flagg, had been pulled out of the doorway, the group looked around, they were in a large, high-ceilinged room, the hammerbeam rafters gave it the feeling of an ancient castle, while the foreboding air made it difficult for any of them to contain their fear, the only one that seemed to conceal his emotions successfully from the group, was Ron.
"Bon diggity, if it isn't for the fact that a crazed killer was after us, I'd actually stop and admire the way this room was constructed." he said, looking around it with a matter-of-fact air about him,
"Ron, everyone in this room is in a complete fit of the crazies at the moment, and you want to talk about the construction of the room?" Bonnie said,
"Wait a minute," Kim said, a thought occurring to her, "Ron, where did you and Brick put the bodies?"
"In the room . . . next . . . to . . . this . . . passage." Ron said, the reality of the situation grabbing him by the short and curlies.
"Uh-oh," Brick said, reality hitting him like a runaway freight train,
"Okay, what's going on." Bonnie asked, looking at the three teenagers in the lead,
"Think about it, Bonnie," Kim said, talking to Bonnie like a mother, telling some overexcited two year old, that one plus one equals two, "isn't it kind of suspicious that Ron and Brick find the bodies on the third floor, when we had seen them earlier in the day, outside?"
"Come to think of it," Bonnie said, looking at Kim, "you're right, how did those bodies get up here without us seeing them being dragged through the house?"
"That's right. She can be taught!" Ron said, looking back at Bonnie,
"Okay, so I'm a little slow on the uptake, here." Bonnie said, fixing Ron with one of her patented death glares,
"You're slipping, Bonnie." Ron said, smiling back at the bronzed beauty.
The group of teenagers made their slow way around the room, hoping to find some kind of doorway, when an unearthly howling filled the room,
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Brick shouted,
"I have no idea, but it didn't sound human." Kim replied, looking around, she couldn't have been further from the truth.
At that moment, the wall on the other side of the room burst open, and standing before the crowd of teens, was an abomination the likes of which, they had never seen before, and will most likely, never get out of their heads.
It was definitely human, it's long, lanky body was covered in torn clothes, that looked as though they were ready for the rag bin, it was wearing no shoes on its feet, and its eyes were sunk deep into the sockets, the skin was so white, it looked like it hadn't seen the sun in centuries, the monster let out another banshee-like wail, and proceeded to the nearest teenager,
"HOLY SHIT?!" Brick shouted, noticing, too late, that he was the target. Before he could move, he was lifted from his feet, and thrown into the wall opposite, where he slid down the wall, and moved no more,
"All right, motherfucker, it's my turn." Josh said, running full pelt toward the intruder, only to meet the same fate as Brick.
Kim was horror struck at the carnage that lay before her, Bonnie, who was standing beside her, was so scared, she couldn't move, then Ron's voice caught her attention,
"I got a little something for ya over here, boy, come and get it." he said, he was holding onto a kitana of sorts, but this one seemed to glow with a bright blue light.
"Where did you get that?" Kim asked, looking at the sword in Ron's hand,
"Had it for a while, K.P., I'm surprised that you didn't see me slip it into my bag." Ron replied, now dropping into a battle stance.
The beast came headlong after Ron, but Ron was ready for him, taking a huge swipe at his abdomen, The Lotus Blade found its mark, the killer doubled over, howling in pain,
"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" said Brick, who, like Josh, had regained his bearings, and was standing at the opposite end of the room.
"Well put." Ron said, running for the door they had come into, and back out into the third floor hallway.
"Where to now?" Kim asked, but her question was never answered. As she turned around, she saw Ron come off the ground, and what appeared to be the end of a sword sticking out of his hip,
"Time to bail." Kim said, grabbing Bonnie, and running for the main staircase, she looked back one last time, to see Ron flying off the end of the long Claymore that was in the killers hands, Ron landed in front of Kim, his face was white, his breathing was raspy, his pants were torn, and there was a gaping hole that penetrated through his right hip,
"Help me up." he said, looking over at Brick, who helped Ron to his feet,
"You okay, Ron?" Josh asked,
"I've had worse." Ron replied,
"Can you walk?" Brick asked,
"If you get out of my way, I'll fucking run." Ron said, limping down the stairs, it was clear to Kim, that the sword had done some damage to Ron's right leg.
"Where to now?" Bonnie asked,
"Outta here." Kim said, running down the stairs, a bloodied Brick, Josh, and Ron, following after her.