Chapter 7: Swoosh

Derek nervously went to check it out.

"What is it?" Kikko asked, scared to death.

"I don't know," Derek sighed. He jumped a little to see what was on the roof.

"There's nothing there," he finished.

"But, we heard something," I said, while he walked back in.

We sat in silence.
"It's so cold in here," Ashley said.

"We could light a fire," Michael suggested.

"And burn Carmen?" Kikko gasped.

"Eh…"
"I'm guessing we should," I sighed.

"I'll do it," Michael said, standing up.

He got the lighter, which I don't know how he knew where it was, and lit the fireplace, turning the gas on and placing the fire on Carmen's body.

She lit, and we just sat, while she was burnt.

Ashley stood up. "I'm gonna go check and see if their back."
When she went to the door, we heard a giant swooshing sound, followed by Ashley's scream.

"KEVIN!" she cried.

We ran to the window, and sure enough, saw Kevin's dead body hung from a tree a couple of feet away.

"Kross was trying to distract us," I sighed.

"Then where's Kyle?!" Ashley said, taking a gasp of air in.

"We can't just stay here!" Selena said.

"We should look for him. If Kross left him to die, we could have saved him, not realizing it," Derek said.

"But what if he comes back?!" Ashley asked.

"We'll split up," Michael suggested.

"I'm staying," Kikko rolled her eyes.

It ended up as me, Ashley, and Derek go while Michael, Kikko, and Selena stayed.
We walked out, not expecting anything. We took the east trail, hoping to get to the police department quicker.

"Have any of us even seen the police department?" Ashley asked.

"No," I admitted.

"So how has Selena seen it or even know it was still active?" Derek asked.

"I have 3 main suspects," Ashley said. "Selena, Michael, and…you, Derek."
"Why me?"
"Well, I don't know. But if you kill me, I'll laugh," Ashley said.

"I think it's not Selena, or Kyle or Kikko," I put in.

"Hey!" Derek said pointing. "There's the police station!"
We ran inside, and sure enough, found Kyle, laying, bleeding.

"Kyle!" Ashley wallowed. "Can you hear me?"
He choked some blood. "Leave…"
"Why? We need to help you!" I said.

"I still have the ring," Ashley said, and bent down and kissed his cheek.

He smiled, and coughed again.

"We'll help you," Derek said.

"No, it's not safe…he's here…"
I gasped. "Kross?"
He nodded, choking.
"Come on, Buddy. The library is about a half-mile away. We can make it."
"Ashley," I said. "Could you help us carry him?"
"Ashley?" Derek asked, looking around.

Kyle nodded. "Kross took her."
"We'll find her," I promised him.

It was more important to help get Kyle back, then go off and look for Ashley.

When we took him outside, we found a note on the ground.

"Look for her, look for her, as fast as you can, because before sunrise, and she's not with you, it'll be the end." Derek read.

"Oh, my God," Kyle spat more blood.

"Come on," I said, lifting Kyle's head, while Derek had his feet.
A couple moments later, we returned to the library.

"Kyle!" Selena gasped.

"Where's Ash?" Kikko asked.

"Well…Kross took her," Derek said.

"1 of you probably did this to Kyle, and hid Ashley!" Michael said.

"No, no," Kyle said. "They helped me."
"We have to remember that one of us is the killer," Selena sighed.

"Let's go over who killed who," Kikko said.

"Daisy was killed by Ted," I confirmed. "So was Michelle."
"And Kross killed Carmen, and James, and Nick," Derek added.

"So was Julie and Kevin," Michael added.

"Well, not Julie," I said, with a shiver running down my spine. "Someone else, one of us, shot her."
"And you're a killer," Kikko added, glancing at me.

"But I only killed Ted," I reminded.
"True," Derek said.

"And we can be able to tell who was where when people where killed, if we think about it," Kyle said.

"Weren't we all back at the hotel when Julie was shot?" Selena asked.

"Besides me," I sighed. "But you know I didn't. I didn't have a gun."
"Michael did!" Kikko gasped.

"Yeah, er, but I dropped it at one point," Michael said, putting his hands up in defense.

"So where were you when it happened?" Kyle asked.

"Honestly, I was…I felt bloated, so…yeah…." Michael trailed off.

"Oh…ok then…" I sighed.

Selena went to put some of her water on her scarf, raping it around his wound.

"Let's go look for Ashley," he said, with confidence.

"We should split up," Michael said.

"Yeah, some stay here, some go look," I said.

"I'm staying," Selena said.

"Same," I added.

"I'll look," Derek said.

It ended up that me, Michael, and Selena where staying, while Derek, Kyle (he forced us to let him go), and Kikko going to look for Ashley.

I didn't know that the slaughters would get worse and worse as we continued living.