Author's Note:
We're back again! Time to answer some reviews!
Kyle Eaton: Parties in horror movies do tend to almost always lead to lots of massacres.
And now, back to the story.
Zoey's mother at first didn't want to let her go to what she thought was going to be a wild teenage party—especially after what had happened to Zoey earlier. But after making several assurances and promising to be back before it got too late, Zoey finally got permission to go.
That night, unlike the previous night, she actually got a good night's sleep. Maybe it was spending the entire day with Mike that put her at ease that the thing that attacked her, whatever it was, wasn't going to come back anytime soon.
And yet, as she progressed through her day the following morning, getting ready for the party, the words of the weird "psychic" child, Dawn, still echoed in her brain. She had accurately described the thing that had attacked her, but her descriptions about it being both large and small still troubled her. What could that have meant? And what did her words to Mike mean? Why did he have to beware what lies within?
As the sun began to set, Zoey pushed these thoughts aside as she waited for Mike outside his house. Today was not a day to be concerned about the dangers of the island. Today was a day meant for fun with the new friends she had made since coming here.
The one thing she was worried about was having to deal with Jo and her crew at the party. There was no doubt that they were invited, as they seemed to be the popular kids on the island. Would they treat Zoey's group the exact same way? Probably, Zoey thought glumly, but it shouldn't be too bad…right?
The door to Mike's house opened, and Mike stepped out. "Hey, Zoey," he said upon seeing her. "Ready?"
Zoey nodded. "I'm ready, Mike."
Mike tossed her helmet to her and the two got on his scooter. "Hold on tight," he warned. "This might get a little bumpy." Zoey didn't need any better excuse to wrap her arms around Mike's chest again.
The island looked strangely different in the fading light of the sun as the two drove towards Milton Manor. Yet despite the growing darkness and the fear of the creature coming after her again, Zoey felt strangely at peace. Maybe it was because she had a friend like Mike close to her.
They made it through the town and began driving up a winding dirt road in a hill. At the top of the hill, Zoey saw a huge mansion protected by a large iron gate. The gate doors were open, and there were already multiple cars parked outside of the mansion. Loud music could even be heard through some of the open windows.
"There it is," Mike announced. "Milton Manor."
Zoey had to admit that it looked impressive. The mansion was three stories tall and looked like it contained several dozen different rooms. It was easily four times the size of her own home at the moment. "Only one family lives here?" she asked in astonishment.
"Well, a few of the Miltons' housekeepers live here as well, but other than that, yeah," Mike confirmed. "The Miltons aren't exactly the nicest people, like I said, although Sam thinks there's still some good in Dakota."
As Mike pulled his scooter to a stop, Zoey saw the rest of Mike's friends nearby, talking to a huge, dark-skinned girl just outside the door. "Looks like Shawn's chatting it up with Jasmine," Mike commented as the two got off the scooter.
The tall girl, Jasmine, saw them approach. "G'day, Mike," she saw, tipping her hat to him. "And you must be Zoey," she said to Zoey, holding a hand out.
Zoey gulped slightly at the girl's massive size, but still shook her hand. "It's all right," Jasmine said upon seeing her hesitation. "People say I'm naturally intimidating. I don't know why."
"Maybe it's because you can punch a tree so hard that everything in it comes crashing to the ground?" Sam guessed.
Jasmine snorted in amusement, while Samey giggled slightly. Her giggles ceased when a large truck pulled into view, stopping outside the mansion.
"What the hell is this?" Jo got out of the truck, followed by Lightning and Amy. "What are you losers doing here? This is a private party."
"Cool your jets, Jo," Shawn said. "We got invitations."
Jo crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah right. Why would Dakota invite the biggest losers on the island?"
"Especially the ones that like to hang out with my pathetic excuse for a sister," Amy broke in.
"Maybe it's because Dakota actually likes us," Sam suggested.
Lightning burst out laughing. "Man, you are one crazy-ass dude if you think Dakota likes you."
Jasmine stepped in between the two groups. "Are we going to have a problem here, mates?" she asked. "Because I'd hate for a party like this to be ruined by petty squabbles."
Jo stared her down, not seemingly the least bit intimidated despite Jasmine's towering size over her. "Fine, whatever. Just stay out of our way if you value your kiwis." She pushed past the group, stalking up the steps and through the front door to the mansion.
"They'd better not cause any trouble tonight," Mike said. "I really don't want to have to deal with any of Jo's crap."
"Relax, dude," Shawn told him. "This is going to be a great night; I can feel it."
The group walked up the stone steps and to the front door. When Brick opened it, they were met with an even louder blast of music, along with the sounds of laughter and the smell of fresh food.
Zoey felt her stomach growling at the smell. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until that moment.
"So, uh…what do we do now?" Samey asked nervously.
"Just mingle, I guess," Mike said. "And stay away from Jo's crew."
"That's pretty much a given," Brick commented as the group began to peel off from one another; Brick and Samey went off one way to explore, Sam and Cameron wandered up the winding staircase, B sauntered off on his own, and Shawn walked off with Jasmine.
Zoey found herself walking with Mike into a sitting room, where a bunch of other teens were hanging out. No one seemed to pay them the least bit of attention.
Zoey started to walk further in, but a loud shout startled her as someone stumbled into the room, covered in white powder. It was Max, the "evil" genius. "Revenge!" he yelled before getting into a sneezing fit. "Sidekick! Why didn't you protect my evil experiment from blowing up?!"
Scarlett came in behind him, looking annoyed. "I did. You caused it to blow up yourself."
"That's absurd! I am an evil genius! Evil doesn't cause things to blow up accidentally."
A fit of laughter came from a chubby blonde girl lying on a couch. "Oh, Max, you are funnier that a junebug caught in my granny's wig," she cried.
"Silence, imbecile!" Max yelled. "Evil doesn't do funny!"
That only made the girl laugh harder. "That's Sugar," Mike whispered in Zoey's ear. "She's not really that nice."
"She seems okay to me," Zoey said back.
"Just watch."
A dark-haired girl in what could only be described as a princess dress then said, "And there's nothing better than a song." She opened her mouth, presumably to sing, but Sugar thew a pillow at her face.
"I said no singing, Ella!" she yelled. "No one wants to hear your singing!"
"And there it is," Mike commented. "Don't ask me why, but Sugar hates Ella with a burning passion, and she's not afraid to let everyone know just how much she hates her."
Zoey winced. "Yikes."
"Oh dear!" Ella exclaimed, looking upset. "Sugar, what did I do to upset you?"
"You opened your gosh-dang mouth!" Sugar shot back, getting up and into Ella's face. "Now sit your ass down before I make you!"
"Oh dear!" Ella exclaimed again, sitting back down. Sugar nodded in approval, and sat down herself. As she did, a loud farting sound filled the room.
Sugar's eyes widened. "That was not me," she insisted. Then she shot her head towards a big guy standing nearby. "Beardo!"
Beardo put his hands to his mouth and made a guilty sounding sound effect.
"Wizard!" Sugar yelled.
A kid in a green robe and fake white beard hurried in. "Yes?"
"Punish that sound machine for making it seem like I farted again! Everyone knows pageant queens only fart if it's their talent!"
The kid pulled out a stick and aimed it at Beardo. "Fireball!" he screamed. Of course, nothing happened.
The kid shook the stick in confusion. "Curses! Why won't my spells work?"
"Maybe it's because you're not a real wizard, Leonard," Scarlett spoke up.
"Don't insult the wizard like that!" Sugar protested.
Leonard shook the stick again. "Perhaps there is a curse on this mansion! I must go stop it and gain my magic again!" He turned around and ran smack into a passing girl with poofy dark hair.
"Hey!" the girl yelled, bringing out a can of hair spray and spraying it into Leonard's face. "No touching the hair!"
Leonard cried out and stumbled back, coughing. "S-sorry, Anne Maria," he coughed.
Mike winced. "Yeah, I think this party's going to be a bit crazier than I thought. I'm going to go see what else there is and where everyone else went off to. Why don't you stay here and mingle? Maybe a few of these guys won't be completely weird."
"Are you sure?" Zoey asked.
Mike shrugged. "Just stay away from anyone too crazy." With that, he gave her hand a comforting squeeze before leaving the room.
Zoey shrugged, and then started moving around the room, trying to find someone to talk to. Unfortunately, this group of teenagers was certainly the weirdest bunch of kids she had ever seen.
The first one she tried to talk to, a big, muscular boy named Rodney, collapsed into a fit of strange rumblings the moment Zoey started talking to him, almost as if he had fallen instantly in love with her the moment she paid any attention to him—a theory that Zoey proved right when he tried to follow her away, only to be attracted to Scarlett.
The next girl she tried to talk to was a girl in a pink sweater named Staci, but she could hardly get a few words out before she startled rambling about her great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather who invented parties and married her great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, the inventor of the balloon. Zoey slowly edged away from her before she could talk any more.
Finally, she found two people that seemed actually normal, and managed to strike up a conversation with them. "You're actually training to be in the Olympics?" she asked.
The girl, Sky, nodded. "It's been my dream to compete in the Olympics."
"There's no one better suited for going to the Olympics than Sky," the boy, Dave, added. "Even though there's a lot of weird germs there from other countries—"
"Dave," Sky interrupted, "What did I say about going into one of your neat freak rants?"
Dave hung his head slightly. "Sorry, Sky."
"Sorry about him," Sky said to Zoey. "He's a bit of a germaphobe."
"Uh, yeah, I noticed," Zoey said in agreement.
"But anyway," Dave said, "I'm totally supportive of Sky and her dream—even if it drove us apart for a while."
"What happened?" Zoey asked.
"Oh, I kind of pushed him aside a bit to focus more on my routine and he thought we were breaking up—it was a big misunderstanding," Sky said quickly. "But we talked it over and worked it all out, so we're fine."
"Yeah. Totally fine," Dave said in agreement.
Zoey's stomach rumbled again. "Where's the food?" she asked.
"In the kitchen." Sky pointed in the direction of the kitchen.
"Thanks." Zoey got up and headed into the kitchen. Seeing the piles of sandwiches, hot dogs, and other various foods, she decided to just grab a plate and start helping herself.
A loud crunch suddenly brought her attention to the corner of the room. "Enjoying yourself?" the dirty looking boy asked, taking another bite from his apple.
Zoey struggled to speak, but all she could manage to say was, "Who are you?"
The boy took another bite of his apple. "Name's Scott. And you're that new girl that I've heard about."
Zoey was instantly on edge. "I know exactly who you are."
Scott let out a small laugh. "I'm sure you've heard all about how I'm a piece of scum. And a lot of what you've heard is probably true. But I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me."
He took a step forward; Zoey instinctively took a step back from him. "Woah, woah, take it easy," he said, flashing a smile. "Just wanted to talk."
"I've got nothing to say to you," Zoey said. She remembered what Mike said about Scott being a manipulative creep. She wanted to spend as little time as possible with him.
"Wait!" Scott said as she turned to go. "Just give me a chance, okay? I'm not a bad guy."
"It's going to take a lot more than words to convince me," Zoey said back to him, grabbing a small amount of food before heading for the door.
"I heard about your little accident."
Zoey turned back to face him. "I wouldn't call what happened an accident," she said. "And I'm trying to forget about what happened."
Scott smiled. "You shouldn't," he warned, taking another bite of his apple. "After all, that thing is still out there."
Zoey felt a chill run down her spine. The boy smiled at her. "Enjoy the party." With that, he left the kitchen through another door.
Zoey stared at the door he had just gone out. Then a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She jumped in fright and whirled around.
"Sorry, sorry!" Mike said. "Didn't mean to startle you. Sky said you were getting food."
Zoey didn't answer, still trying to calm her racing heart.
"Zoey? Is everything okay?"
She briefly looked back at the door that Scott had left through. "Yeah," she said after a moment, managing a smile. "Everything's great."
Alive: Amy, Anne Maria, B, Beardo, Brick, Cameron, Dakota, Dawn, Dave, Ella, Ezekiel, Jasmine, Jo, Lightning, Max, Mike, Rodney, Sam, Samey, Scarlett, Scott, Shawn, Sky, Sugar, Topher, Zoey
Dead: No one (for now)
A longer chapter than usual, but I had to at least introduce all the remaining characters that haven't been introduced yet. The only character that I have yet to introduce into the story is Dakota, and you can certainly expect to see her in the next chapter. Also, as a side note, while I didn't mention him in this chapter, Topher is at the party as well. So that means everyone's in place for the murders to start.
And when do the start? Why, the next chapter! Yes, after all these chapters of waiting, the characters are finally going to start getting picked off one by one! There's still time left to check out the poll on my profile and predict which characters are going to make it out of this alive!
Anywho, that's all from me. Make sure you hit that favorite/follow button to stay informed on future updates, and don't forget to drop a review to let me know how I'm doing. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, reminding you that the bill always comes due. Ciao!