"She's awake!" He heard a familiar voice cry. He opened his eyes and all he saw was dark.
"Taylor?" He asked.
"Troy! He's awake too!"
"Chad?" He asked. "Dude, what's going on? Why're the lights off?"
"I dunno, me and Tay woke up like this..."
"Where are we exactly?" Troy heard the voice next to him.
"Gabby? Where are you? I can't see you..." Troy said, feeling the ground next to him. Hmm, the floor was cold. Ice cold. He was barefoot. A metallic scent filled his nose. His head was pounding.
"Troy," Gabriella whispered. She reached out, too. Finally, her hand collided with his and they both pulled close to eachother. "Guys, where's everyone else?"
"I'm here!" They heard Kelsi's voice chirp innocently from across the room. "Looking for the lights," she added. "Someone's next to me, but they're not moving."
"Could be Jason," Taylor pointed out. "Or Zeke or Shar."
"Hey, um, Tay?" Gabriella questioned calmly. "Where the heck are you!?"
"Right here," Taylor replied, pulling out her cellphone and waving it in the air.
"What are you doing?" Troy asked.
"Trying to find everyone else," Chad answered for her, as he, too, pulled out his phone and began shining it as far as the light would reach.
"Do you guys smell that?" Kelsi asked.
"Blood," Gabriella answered.
"Oh my goodness, is someone dead?!" Taylor shrieked, jumping into Chad's arms.
"Doubt it," Troy responded. "Smell would be way stronger. Not enough blood lost to be dead...yet."
"What do you mean 'yet'?" Chad questioned, putting Taylor back on her feet.
"Could be dying," Gabriella said, shortly.
"Sick," Kelsi said, then her voice turned worriesome. "Could it be one of the gang?"
"Yes," Troy said, weakly.
"Chhhhhh...." A light appeared above Kelsi's head in the shape of a square. A t.v. turned on.
"Yes, because we wanted to watch t.v. at this moment," Taylor said, sarcastically.
A man with a doll-looking face appeared on the screen. "Hello, friends. Listen closely, if you want to make it out of this alive. I've known too many people who take life for gratned and whine and beg for more, as if they're lives suck. They don't appreciate life at the fullest, like you for example. This is a test. A test of life."
Gabriella looked at Troy nervously. What the hell?
"You have two hours to live, because at this moment, there is a poison bubbling through you veins. A have given you a drink that's made up of many posons. Four at the most. You must find the key to unlock the door first. Then, I'll give you your next instruction. If you live through this test, you win the game. If not, then it's game over. Remember, ex marks the spot."
"Okay..."Taylor said in a panicky voice.
"What do we do? What do we do?" Gabriella cried.
"We're gonna die!!" Chad yelped, running around and then slipping in something wet. "Aaah! I just fell in blood!"
Both the girls began screaming and Troy hugged Gabriella close. "Hey, hey!" He yelled. Everyone still continued screaming. "GUYS!" Every head snapped in his direction. "Tay, Chad, get you cellphones back out."
"But there's no serv-" Troy cut Taylor short.
"Just do it!" He snapped. They did as they were told. "Okay, he said 'ex marks the spot', so we're looking for some kind of ex."
"Wait!" Chad yelled. "I slipped in blood-"
"Yes, Chad we know-" Gabriella started.
"No, wait, just wait." Chad interrupted. "I think there was an ex on the ceiling when I looked up...I remember, when I fell, I looked up at the ceiling and there was a dark ex..." Chad brought his phone above his head and shined it on the ceiling. "Damn, now I can't see it..."
Just then, the lights flipped on. "Maybe you guys should try harder," Kelsi said, standing next to the switch. Everyone looked around. Sharpay was laying propped up against the wall with blood dribbling out of the corner of her mouth. Zeke had his head leaned on top of hers and his leg was bleeding. Bad. Jason was laying where Kelsi had been sitting earlier. They were all in a room that looked like a chamber/bathroom mix and there were two skeletons. Both of which, chained up.
"My guess is those two didn't pass the test..." Taylor said quietly.
Gabriella and Troy stood up and walked over to Zeke and Sharpay first. Gabriella knelt beside Zeke and examined his leg. "Definately broken," she murmered, incoherently. Then, she moved toward Sharpay. "Cut on her lip, but otherwise she's fine..." She told her friends, checking their pulses. "Yep, they still have a pulse."
Taylor let out a sigh and Troy grinned. "I thought we'd lost them," He said.
"Me too," Chad agreed, as Gabriella went over to Jason. She checked his pulse first. Then, looked for any blood or bruises or cuts. Nothing.
"Okay, as odd as this seems, Pay and Zeke are hurt, but nothing happened to Jason..." Gabriella drifted off, deep in thought.
"Wait, where's Ryan?" Kelsi asked. Everyone took another glance around. "Maybe nothing happened to him. Maybe he's-oh my gosh!" She pointed to the middle of the room.
So, that's where Chad had slipped. In that big pool of blood in the floor. The puddle that was surrounding none other than...Ryan.
"Ryan!" Taylor screeched, running over to him. She searched for his pulse. Nothing. "i think...I th-think he's d-dead."
"No," Gabriella whispered and she began sobbing. "N-no, it's no-not tr-true." Sharpay moaned at the sound of Gabriella's sobbing.
"Shar?" Troy asked, moving towards her figure. Zeke stirred when Sharpay moaned again. Sharpay's eyes flicked open and Zeke's did as well.
Sharpay squinted and put her hand up, blocking the bright light form her eyes. "What's going on?" Gabriella and Chad started to explain, but Troy cut them off.
"There's no time." He said, pointing to his watch. They had an hour and forty-five minutes.
"Right, sorry, I just..." Gabriella whimpered.
"No, it's okay, baby. I know you're just worried about you're friends. We can explain while we're looking." Troy said, hugging her. Sharpay glanced at Ryan's body on the floor.
"What the-" Sharpay exclaimed.
"Shh," Chad said.
"Don't tell me to shush, you asshole! That's my broth-"
"It's not real," Kelsi interrupted.
"What?" Everyone asked. Kelsi flipped the "body" over. It was a dummy. The face was all messed up.
"But, no, that's Ryan's clothes and his hat..." Sharpay whispered.
"Yeah," Zeke agreed. "That's what he was wearing at the party."
"You sure?" Gabriella asked.
"Positive," Sharpay said honestly. Chad nodded toward the "ex" on the ceiling. Which, wasn't really an ex, just a splatter of...blood. Jason grunted and everyone looked in his direction as he stood up and walked over, cunfused.
"Gosh!" Gabriella cried out, breaking free from Troy's grasp. "We're never gonna get out!"
"Don't talk like that," Zeke said, after hearing the full story from Taylor.
"Does it look like we're really gonna live right at this moment?" Troy asked, defending Gabriella.
"Okay," Chad said. "We're all a little freaked out and panicked, but the only way we can get out is by doing this together, am I right?" Everyone nodded their head. "Good, now, let's get this thing going."
Sharpay and Taylor walked over to a urinal and Sharpay realized there was an ex on the toilet. "Oh, no way! I am not digging in that thing!"
"Fine," Taylor huffed, "Then I will."
"You do that," Sharpay said, as Taylor stuck her hand inside.
"Gotcha!" She sang, ripping her hand out from the toilet. There was a shiny silver key in her hand. "Guys! Over here!" The gang headed over.
"What d'ya find?" Troy asked.
"A key."
"YES!" Chad cheered, pumping his fist in the air. They walked over to the wooden door and Gabriella took the key and inserted it into the keyhole.
"Alright..." Troy said, uneasily. Gabriella's hand hovered over the door knob.
"What if it's a trap?" Jason asked, as if she'd read Troy's mind.
"Yeah," Kesi agreed. "You know the part in scary movies where someone does something really, really stupid and everyonw hates them for it?" The gang nodded. "I think this is it."
"It's a risk I'm willing to take," Chad said, yanking the door open. Everyone else stepped back a few steps. The door swung open and...
A\N: OOH, CLIFFY! LOL. WHAT DID YOU THINK? REVIEW! PUSH THE BUTTON! PUSH IT!!