Chapter 2: The Game of Red Rum, Part II
"What are you people talking about?" Heero shouted, the howling wind stopping just as suddenly as it came.
"The game, dear. Red Rum."
"R-Red rum?" Heero asked. 'Is this a damn joke?!'
"Don't you know what 'red rum' spells backwards?" The teenage girl asked, her hair, which had been tossed around by the wind, fell to her shoulders now.
Heero stared at her. 'What does this have to do with anything?' He found himself say the inner question aloud.
"It spells Murder!" The ten-year-old shouted, then gasped, eyes widened in fear as laughter filled the air.
The game was murder, and he was the first, having the game start. Then the game ended when they were all dead.
No exceptions.
Unless...those who didn't die went insane and died in the end; suicide. Much different from homicide, if that's a category involving poltergeist's actions and mischievous ways.
He hoped the others were all right and half-hoped they wouldn't try to open the doors and get stuck in this lunatics house. He wouldn't risk his life over theirs, not for the world...
They were getting frantic and hysteric outside just as the old woman inside the haunted place.
"Heero!" They heard screams fill the air from inside the house and this made her try to open the door. Even Duo resorted to firing at the door with his gun. It was no use; nothing would work. Duo ran away from the house into the field to find any other opening to the house.
"Call the others, Noin, Quatre, Wufei, Sally, Trowa, everyone!" She begged as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed all the people, telling them it was an emergency, gave them their location and hung up without explaining.
"Done." Duo panted, throwing the phone into his car.
"We have to get him out of there! It has to be haunted!" Relena cried, tears mingling with her growing fear for the reckless pilot of Wing Zero. He could fight, but not things that you couldn't shoot or hit. Supernatural business was something that they all had learned to steer clear from.
Bad experiences maybe. Ghosts haunted them; ghosts from the past in their minds, the most dangerous place in the whole universe. A human mind, so complicated and intricate. Unknown to even it's user and other men of science or knowledge seekers.
The final frontier not be discovered yet. An unknown mystery with mysterious wonders that can cause miracles at times.
"Since it's an emergency, they should be out here in twenty minutes." Duo shook his head. 'Will it be enough, obviously it's haunted, but I hope he's all right in there.' He whispered a silent prayer for his buddy.
Back in the house...
The air was thinning out and Heero's heartbeat grew erratic and his breath labored from the lack of oxygen in the room. He was taking short breaths, the others gulping the air like a fish out of water.
"Our best hope is to pair up as best a s we can." The older woman said, walking over to the old man for emotional support. She needed it, she looked like she was on the brink of hysteria.
"My name is Matilda." The teenager said, leaning down wearing her tank top, which was black. She wore dark blue jeans that were flared a lot at the bottom near her feet. "You can call me Mattie." She introduced herself.
Heero took her outstretched arm and got to his feet, not even wincing at his previously broken leg. "I'm Heero." He said with no emotion but caught the slightly redder tint to her face. He ignored this.
"Mattie," Another teenager named Tom said, a glare painted on his face. "You are going to be the first to die if you go with him. He's weak and won't be able to live in the most dangerous place on earth for more than a day." He said coldly, glaring at Heero, which looked more like a grin than what Heero gave him back. Shivering involuntarily, the effects scaring his wits,
"There is no more dangerous place in the world other than the human mind." Heero said coldly.
"What about battlefields?" He said snidely, not knowing Heero was a Gundam pilot, one of the most famous elite pilots in the world.
Heero glared at him harder this time, if that was even possible. "You have no idea what you speak of unless you are a soldier." He said carefully.
"And I suppose you are one?" He threw a punch in his direction, aimed for his head.
Heero felt like the punch was in slow motion. He easily caught the punch in his hands, Tom's arm shaking as he put more pressure on the punch which was stuck in the other man's hold.
"Who the hell are you?!" He growled angrily.
"I already told you," He glanced at Mattie who was amazed at how strong he was. Truly, she felt that he was someone she might want to spend her last days with before she died. "I'm Heero."
The boy's eyes widened at this. "Y-your that Gundam pilot!" He exclaimed, all the others looking at him with wide eyes. A gundam pilot here?! He instantly withdrew his arm with fright.
He snorted and turned on his heel to pair up with the younger boy who looked quite frightened.
"Um...Heero, so what do you say that we get going?" She asked sweetly.
"Fine." He said with no emotion and then crossed his arms, following her as the others went off in their own direction.
"What is it?!" Sally asked, running up the grassy field to a hysterical Relena and a fidgeting Duo who looked nervous. His gaze always fell to the house whenever the slightest noise was made.
"Yeah, what's the emergency?" Trowa asked with a little bit of aggravation. The call was completely out of the blue.
"Is something the matter?" Quatre asked with a lot of worry detected in his usually cheery voice.
"Miss Relena?" Noin asked with concern to the hysterical girl who collapsed on the ground, taking in deep breaths of air to calm herself.
Duo answered the question first: "Heero's stuck in the house."
Trowa found a glare consume all the confused feelings he had at this moment. "So? Is that why you called all of us out here?!" He growled dangerously low.
Duo glared at him back, a dead serious look in his eyes, all the playful glint deserted now. "Do you think we would call you for something so stupid as that?!" His eyes narrowed. "We can't get the door open and he might be dying in there!"
"Dying? Why would he be dying?"
Relena took this chance. "There was a chandelier. It fell out of the blue, nearly hitting me." They looked at her.
"Heero pushed me out of the way though, he broke his leg in return."
"Have you tried getting him out?" Trowa asked. "I don't understand what a chandelier has to do with anything."
"The house is haunted!" Duo exclaimed angrily.
"Haunted? There's no such thing!" Wufei snorted.
A cold gust of wind blew from across the hills from the house. Screams filled the air of a child and a young teenager. A few shots of a gun filled the air and all the people outside jerked their head to the house.
The doors were flung open as two people ran out, a young teenager with brunet hair with a kid in his arms, shielding the child with his body. Another gust blew and blood came splurging out of the teenager's body and the young child's. It was as if needles had been shot clear through their body all over the place, drenching them in their own blood.
The teenager fell on top of the child and the doors slammed shut, silence filling the air.
Trowa's eyes widened as everyones' did. "Okay, now I believe you!" Wufei shouted, running to check the pulses and see if they could save the two people.
Sally flipped the teenager over, his brunet bangs hiding his face. "I-is that H-Heero?" Relena asked with worry.
Sally brushed the bangs out of the way, feeling blood course onto her hands.
"No...it's someone else." She whispered with sadness. There was no pulse, showing he was dead on impact.
"Sally!" Wufei shouted, drawing the older woman from her thoughts to the younger boy. His mouth was leaking a stream of blood and he was frightened, blood pooling from his body by the ounces.
"D-don't let him die." His eyes softened. "Don't let him play red rum. They are after—H-Heer—backwards...red rum..." He was able to whisper, his eyes darkening as the life was slowly stolen from his small form. "Red rum for Heero last..." He let out in a breath.
One beat, then none. No more; never again in that small body would that child ever breathe in this world.
"They are going after Heero!" Relena let out in a hurried voice as she looked at the dark shadowed house.
"What's red rum?" Quatre pondered despite the dire situation they found themselves in.
"He said backwards." Trowa pointed out to the Arabian blonde.
Quatre's eyes widened as he found a patch of dirt and wrote red rum. He gasped and Trowa looked over his shoulder, not getting what was so...gasp worthy.
"He said it was a game." Quatre said slowly. "Red Rum spelled backwards." He looked at the house before falling to the ground, clenching the earth to fight a sensation of fear sweeping through his body. He looked up to his companions. "Red rum is the game of murder."
"They are going to kill Heero. They are going to murder him. Everyone is going to die." Sally said with wide eyes, receiving a glare from Noin when she looked at Relena to see how these words effected her.
Another chill came across the air as more screams; this time of an older woman who sounded like she was having hysteria's screamed, filling the chilling night air.
Heero and Mattie made their way along the old wooden creaking boards that seemed to threaten to give them away or to break under them.
Mattie's breath was heavy as she walked through the house, Heero with his gun at hand and her with a flashlight.
"You know, a gun won't do you any good in this game." She spoke carefully and lowly into the seemingly vacant house so far.
"I know, but it can probably help with some other things." Heero pointed out, not really caring what or what she didn't like.
"I don't think I quite understand."
"If you weren't a soldier, I didn't expect you to."
A sad smile crept over her face. "I see," She said. "A gun makes you feel more comfort when you have nothing else to rely on. Your self protection that you turn to."
Heero didn't say anything. He held a gun at almost all times, and he figured that she had that figured out. She was actually quite smart...
"I want you to have this." She whispered, dragging a strong metal chain across his neck, a cross at the end of it.
"They are after you in the end and it will go on and on, the cycle until one of the Sixth survives."
"The Sixth?"
"The last and final person to get killed in the game." She whispered, pulling him into an embrace. He stiffened his body but couldn't pull away, the area was too narrow. "Sadly, they don't just kill him or her," She whispered into his ear. "They torture and then kill the Sixth."
His eyes darkened and they reached a room as she let go of the embrace, the coldness of the room chilling her skin.
'That's so pleasant to know...'
Tom's point of view:
Man, was he pissed at that guy. Who the hell did he think he was pairing up with Mattie?! Well, the again...Mattie was the one to go ahead and pair with him. With or without his consent.
Did it matter?! He mentally berated himself as he shook his head angrily.
"Still mad with Mattie?" The young boy questioned. "I'm Travis by the way." He grinne,d but it was hiding som,ething..a dark secret.
Tom didn't answer.
"You know," The boy whispered into Tom's ear. "We are going to be the first to die." He told him seriously.
Tom's eyes widened as he muttered a finally prayer and picked the boy up and ran toward the door, the angry wind trying to push him back.
He wouldn't go down without a fight! He pushed and shoved his way towards the door. Flinging it open, he saw people! A large cry of 'Help' filled his lips, but died silently as hot searing pain cried out through his body.
Something was dripping all over him and he accepted the darkness.
He knew he was dead.
Travis' Point of View:
I knew we were all going to die. Everyone in the house would just as it had been for the seven generations (or seven decades) this had been going on.
Him and me were first. Tom, that guy, I knew I would pair up with him, but my silence seemed to unnerve him. Just a bit. Okay, maybe a lot.
When I told him, he looked at me with believing eyes. Maybe because when you now you are going to die, you accept it I suppose.
He grabbed me and rushed for the door, flinging it open in the process. I felt pain shoot through my body and felt my blood run with him, swirling in it's different colors to paint a blood red world.
Some people with blurred faces crossed my vision as I felt the extra dead weight of Tom being rolled off me. I had to warn them, somehow. Red Rum. It flashed through my eyes and mind, just as my short lived life.
So many things I wasn't able to try yet. I saw a girl, the girl who he had been with earlier. Heero, that Gundam pilot, the Sixth of this game. A look washed over her features, but I couldn't tell.
I accepted the looming darkness. I closed my eyes a final time, whispering out what I had to tell them before my departure.
I wasn't afraid of death, crazy as that may sound. Death is just...a place that people can go to. I hope mines heaven.
I knew I was dead, letting out that last breath and my vision gone long before. I suppose I lingered, seconds or so before I finally left. 'Please,' A voice chanted from deep in my soul. 'Let me go to heaven and see Mamma.' Tears fell down my face, though I made not a sound and they felt like nothing on my translucent cheeks.
He knew he was dead.
Author's note: Oh, another haunting story, which will probably be five chapters for each character, then...,muahah! I'll save the whole idea for later. I'm updating all my other work also, so check 'em out if you like my work. I was actually thinking of making a series of Haunting stories with the G-boys (mainly Relena and Heero, Heero stories 'cause he's my fav.)
I hope you all love this story, I promise it will get better! I got this sudden idea when thinking of Edgar Allen Poe (don't ask what I was thinking of since I myself can't remember). I love reviews, suggestions, flames rock though they make me sad (--) but anything is nice. I'll try to improve it if y'all want me too. Auf Weidersehen!
Mnemosyn