IZZY

11:25 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT HALLWAY

-X-

"Okay, so Trent and I will go down door number—"

"Hell, no!" WOOT! Punk/Goth fight! "All that's going to do…" Yawn. Booooooooooooriiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Seriously, someone run around naked or something.

…

Hmm… Maybe I should…

"…Besides, I need to have a word with Duncan in private, anyway."

Hmm? Oh! Are we choosing teams? Cool! Me first! Me first!

"I-CALL-LESHAWNA!!" I shout.

…Everyone is looking at me. "What?" Wasn't that what we were doing? Choosing teams? Ha! Silly gooses… geese… whatever. But, if they want an explanation, fine. "I don't want to be the one to get in the way of Cody and Noah. No-sir-ee-bob. Third wheel never gets any attention. Besides! Cody's got a magnum. You should consider yourself lucky, scary lady."

Scary lady scowls at me. What? What did I do? "Fine!" Yes! She concedes! I win! I win! …What do I win?

…Oh, look! It's Noah! Did I win him? I hope not. He's with Cody, ain't he?

"…Dammit… I said I was coming, didn't I? Alright, now what's going on?"

"Come on, Elvis! Let's go!" punk dude says as he and Trent go through one of the numbered doors.

"…Well?"

Cody finally answers Noah's question. "We split up into groups." Awwww… Don't they make a cute couple?

"…And Trent and Gwen are separated… why?"

"I'd like to know that, too," scary lady says under her breath, but I heard it. I HEARD IT, I tells ya!

"Well, let's see…" Noah looks over to our group for some reason, and then looks at Cody. Aww! He's looking at Cody! Ha-HA-HA! I knew it. I knew it.

"…Alright, I guess I'm with your group, Izzy."

My eyes widen. "…Huh?" I have to say, this is quite a shocker.

Noah explains, "Cody and Gwen both have guns. Only Leshawna has a gun in your group. You need me more than they do."

"…But what about Co—"

"Dang, girl! Shut up!" Leshawna says.

"I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!!!"

-X-

11:27 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT "DOOR TWO" HALLWAY

-X-

"Okay, this one time at band camp—"

"Izzy…"

"—there was this pterodactyl that swooped in and—"

"Izzy!"

"—this dude crapped his pants. It smelled AWFUL! Anyway—"

"IIIIIIIZZYYYYYYYY!!"

"WWWWHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"SHUT UP!"

"…Geez, Noah! Who died and made YOU drama queen?"

"Ugh! …There better be a typewriter around here somewhere…"

I cackle at my own amusement. Noah's so funny when he's pissed off. "…Anyway, so after the pterodactyl appeared, a kaleidoscope fell from its mouth. It was so cool! I think it was some sort of sign, really… maybe to change my name… to Kaleidoscope! Yeah! Doesn't that sound awesome?"

"…"

"And you can call me E-Scope for short!"

"…Izzy—"

"E-scope."

"…E-Scope… shut up…"

"I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!!"

"…Whatever… Leshawna, how are you holding up?"

"I don't think it was a good idea for Chef Hatchet to give me a gun…"

"Good call. Same here…"

I continue to tell them my super-awesome stories all the way down to the end of the hall. …Wait… A dead-end? What a gyp!

"UGH!" Noah groans. "What the hell?! What do we do now?"

"Wait, check this out," Leshawna points to a large portrait of a blond man in a red military uniform. A really large portrait. As if it's a secret door.

…Hey! Maybe it is!

As I try to pry open the "door" with my bare hands (though I don't succeed… it must be bolted pretty tight!), Leshawna reads something on the wall. "Dedicated to Alfred Ashford, the last of the Ashford family. May his days be long and prosperous."

"Insert Star Trek pun here," Noah adds, and I cackle, still trying to pry open the "door."

"…Well, this isn't much help," Leshawna says. "…But what the heck is this?" She points down to something below the text on the plaque. There are four semi-circlular spaces.

"I think something is supposed to go here," Noah points out. He and Leshawna look around the hall, and I decide to as well, as I can't get the "door" open.

My eyes eventually land on something we all had missed before on our way to this area. Halfway through the hall, there is a decoration in the shape of a dragonfly. An idea forming in my head, I quickly grab it and head to the others. "Hey, check this out! The wings look like they could fit."

Noah rolls his eyes at me. "Um… If you haven't noticed, these four semi-circular spaces are SEPARATE from each…oth…er… Izzy, what the hell are you doing with that thing?"

I tug on one of the wings. It comes loose. "Aha! See? These come off." I remove the first wing and hand it to him. "Now put that into the wall."

Noah looks at me in shock. "…Wow. Izzy, I gotta hand it to you… only you are crazy enough to think of something like this." He inserts the first wing into one of the spaces. "…Oh, my God… They actually do fit."

"Now what kind of sick ticket…?" Leshawna begins, but doesn't finish, as I continue to remove the wings from the dragonfly-shaped decoration.

Once all four wings are inserted into the spaces, we are greeted with a soft melody, like a song from a music box. I rock my head back and forth to the beat. Hey, what can I say? It's catchy. Bum bah bum bah bum bah-nah-nah-nah-nah…

When the song stops, the portrait/door unlatches and slowly opens. I grin wickedly. "Yes! I knew that was a door!"

(We enter through the secret door…)

"A spiral staircase. How anticlimactic."

I cackle at Noah's cynicism. Man, he's such a sourpuss… but in a good way.

The kind of sourpussness you find attractive, I should say.

…

Er, that Cody would find attractive, I mean. Heehee…

"Izzy, are you—"

"E-Scope."

"…E-Scope, are you coming or what?"

"…Oh, whoops! Rescue mission. Right."

(Spiraling down the staircase like a downward spiral of despair…)

The hallway we are in is lit up by overhead fluorescent lights. There aren't many doors in this hallway—only three.

Leshawna speaks up first. "Yo, Noah, you got a watch?"

"Yeah."

"What time is it, boy?"

He checks. "…11:34."

"Thought it was gettin' close to noon. Man, you didn't pack any lunch, did you?"

I perk up at the thought of lunch. "Ooh! Ooh! Me, too! I could totally go for some koala burgers right now…"

"…Riiiiight…"

Pfft! Some people just don't get good cuisine.

"Well, where to first?" Leshawna asks.

"Might as well check out each door one-by-one," Noah replied. He checked the door closest to them. Locked. "Damn. Alright, let's check this one." He heads to the next door. It's locked too. "What the hell? I hope we can get further than this, damn it."

"…Wait, I just realized somethin'," Leshawna begins speaking as Noah makes his way to the third door. "If WE have to figure out these puzzles, doesn't that mean Courtney hasn't—"

"Aha!" Noah exclaims, interrupting Leshawna, which amuses me. She was starting to sound boring anyway. "This door's unlocked. Let's check it out."

"Ugh… never mind…"

(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"EEK!" Noah quickly shoots into the darkness of the room. Leshawna hits the light switch.

As the lights turn on, we spy a zombie on the floor, blood spilling from the bullet wounds in its maggot-infested face.

AWESOME!!

"Oh, thank God!" Noah shouts, and I am confused at first… until I see him sprinting toward another damn typewriter. Ugh… What is it with this guy and typing?

"Hey, what's this?"

I turn to Leshawna. "Hmm?"

"It's a key to something," Leshawna tells me, holding it up to my face. "Maybe it unlocks one of the doors out there."

"Hey, that's a great idea, Leshawna!" I praise.

"…So, what do y'all think, Iz… I mean, E-Scope? Do you think we really need to go through all these puzzles knowin' that prissy little C.I.T. couldn't have gone this way, or do we keep going in the hopes that she's coming toward us from another direction?"

Honestly, I didn't understand a word Leshawna just said. "Um… fishcakes?"

"…What?"

"The hedgehog seems to be enjoying them!"

"…Did you just make an obscure reference to something I probably don't know about?"

"Yes. Yes I did."

"VENTING HERE!!" That was from Noah.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Noah. You're just grumpy because you're separated from Cody."

He glares at me for a few seconds, and then continues typing.

Let's see what he's typing. (looks) "Die, Izzy, Die"? That's so mean! You know my name is E-Scope now…

-X-

For those of you who don't know, the obscure reference at the end of the chapter is to Robotnik's Tea Party, a popular YouTube Poop Music Video. I forgot the screen name of the person who made it, and I apologize for that. Just know that I do not own the video.