CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SWEET DREAMS
"What is it?" Anya asked softly. No one had an answer, and no one dared to take guess.
The group looked over each other carefully. There was fear in every person's eyes that was standing there in the Biology classroom.
Fiona stayed hidden behind Adam while tightly gripping his forearm. Adam was sure that there was going to be a handprint there by the time she pulled away.
But he didn't protest against her wicked grip. He knew the fear that she was feeling. He knew the fear that every person surrounding that stainless steel table was feeling.
Bianca and Fiona would know that type of fear as well. Holly J would've been able to relate, but she was off in New York with Declan for the Halloween weekend. She'd be flying back to Connecticut on Sunday morning and would probably never know a thing about KC's sudden need to avenge the father that Adam had killed.
"It's a monster," Adam choked. All eyes were glued to him as he pulled on the latex gloves that Bianca had fished out of the unlocked supply closet.
Wesley looked a little wary when Adam picked up the scalpel lying on the steel counter as well. After what Adam had said to him in the hallway while holding a gun, no one blamed Wesley for being a little cautious.
Adam rolled the animal over on its back and looked up at everyone's frightened faces. His eyes were on Wesley for a heartbeat too long before he gave his attention back to the monster.
He didn't even need to think it over before he brought the scalpel closer and sliced about an inch down its almost skin-like chest. He'd only been able to cut that much before Sadie covered her mouth.
"I'm gonna be sick," she muttered through her hands. She didn't wait any longer before running out of the classroom. Dave watched her with concerned eyes.
They were all certain that he was going to chase after his nauseated girlfriend. But instead he turned to look at a shaky Connor. He gulped when Dave looked him up and down.
"Could you go check on her for me? I hate to ask you, but she needs a friend more than a boyfriend right now."
Adam was watching the two friends when he felt Fiona step closer to him again. He glanced back at her worried expression and gripped her hand reassuringly.
"Everything will be okay," he said just loud enough for her to hear. She nodded and kissed his neck softly.
That was the worst lie that he'd ever gotten away with.
"Sure," Connor finally answered. Everyone looked back to Dave and Connor when he suddenly spoke, snapping them out of their own scary thoughts.
Suddenly Connor was looking at Adam. "Will you be here when we get back?"
"We'll wait as long as we have to," Adam assured, nodding once. The scalpel was still being gripped tightly in his gloved hand.
Connor quickly retreated from the Biology classroom to go look for Dave's lanky girlfriend. After the door slammed shut and Connor's loud footfalls were no longer heard, everyone was looking back at Adam again.
Fiona backed away from her boyfriend when he pulled his arm away to begin slicing down the middle of the monster again. Anya looked a little sick too, and she seemed to be doing her best not to run away with Sadie.
Black blood leaked from the wound Adam was giving the dead animal. It oozed down the sides of its body and left stains on the latex gloves Adam was wearing.
Finally he finished slicing the thing's entire middle open. And inside was…nothing. There was absolutely nothing inside. No internal organs. No intestines, no lungs, no liver, no pancreas, not even a heart.
"Why aren't there any organs?" Alli asked as she moved beside Adam. Bianca joined her and frowned. Everyone else stepped closer and crowded around to examine the insides of the creature.
"There's not even a heart," Jenna announced next to Wesley, who nodded and inched his face closer to the monster.
Everyone frowned at his odd move. His nostrils flared as he inhaled, trying to find a scent to the animal. "It doesn't smell at all. That's the really weird part."
Anya furrowed her brows and Fiona asked, "Well wouldn't that be because there aren't any organs?"
"But the blood would have some sort of smell whether it had organs or not," Bianca informed. She joined Wesley and sniffed the insides of the animal lying on the steel table.
Bianca frowned and slowly inched away from it. Adam looked her over and asked, "What is it, Bee?"
Fiona also gave a weird look when she noticed the look on Bianca's face. Her brown eyes rose from the strange animal to Adam's puzzled face.
"It smells like the basement where Gregory Deacon's son lived."
Adam's eyes grew wide, and Fiona looked confused. Neither one of them had ever told Fiona about how nor where they'd found Riley's hanging corpse.
"What is it?" Fiona asked while looking back and forth between Bianca and her boyfriend. Everyone looked just as confused and worried as Fiona did.
Adam set the scalpel down beside the dead animal before pulling his latex gloves off and pulling Bianca away from the group. Fiona stayed with the others while the two friends spoke on the other side of the classroom.
"Are you sure?" he whispered with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Yes," she answered, "there's no way I could ever forget that smell. I thought it was weird from the moment we were in that basement chasing after Eli. It smelt like the disinfectant nurses wipe on your skin before they give you a shot."
Adam set his jaw while nodding and looking at the floor. "Then why didn't Wesley smell it while he was leaning over that thing?"
Bianca looked behind Adam at the whispering group. Fiona was watching them with suspicious eyes. She gave her attention back to Adam and said, "Wesley smelt it too. He just didn't think it was weird. The thought that came to his mind wasn't that disgusting basement or Riley's dead body hanging from the ceiling."
Adam swallowed hard at the mention of Riley and tried hard not to remember everything about that night ten months ago. He let Bianca continue.
"No, he probably thought about the disinfectant that the Biology teacher wipes on the tables everyday after every class. But there's a certain sour-like smell to the scent that only you or I would've been able to notice."
Adam nodded and finished, "Because we're the only ones who were down there that are still alive."
Bianca nodded sadly, knowing that Adam was probably thinking about Eli right now. She rested her hand on his shoulder and patted him gently.
"We're getting through this just like we got through that night ten months ago. I don't care how, but we're getting through this."
Adam looked at the angry specks in her eyes before she walked around him to face the crowd of students again. They all silenced themselves when they heard the loud footsteps of Bianca's high heeled boots.
Adam ignored Bianca and looked back at the door leading into the locked small room where extra supplies were stored. But he wasn't focused on any supplies. He was focused on Eli's sad face staring back at him behind the small rectangular window in the door.
His friend raised his hand slowly and waved at him with a friendly smirk. Tears welled up in Adam's eyes when he watched Eli and didn't wave back.
Eli looked worried about his friend and let his arm fall back to his side. The smirk on his face grew into a kinder one now as he waved again. Adam blinked once, and his friend was gone. Tears were rolling down his cheeks like a slow river.
It hurt more than anything to feel himself slowly going insane. He was completely losing his mind with every ticking second.
"We're leaving now. So grab what you need from here before we split," Bianca announced loudly, snapping Adam out of what he'd just seen.
"What about Connor and Sadie?" Dave asked. Wesley nodded beside him and added, "Yeah, we said that we'd wait for them."
Bianca opened her mouth to say something rude, but Adam stepped up next to her. "We'll go by the restroom if they don't get back by the time we leave."
He looked over at Bianca, whose eyes were glued to his tearstained face. "We'll need as many players as we can have."
Bianca watched him with her mouth open. He walked over to Fiona and pulled her off to the side and away from the terrorized group of teenagers.
Fiona barely had anytime to open her mouth before Adam had pulled her into a tight embrace. She blinked in surprise, but it didn't take long for her to ring her arms around him and return the hug.
She could practically feel Adam's radiating sadness while his shoulders shook beneath their tight hug.
Connor and Sadie
Bobby and Owen watched in satisfaction as their victims' pupils turned into small dots, and the rings of colors around their pupils disintegrated into white.
Owen slowly released Sadie from his grip, and Connor slowly rose up from his sitting position next to the lockers. Neither one of the poor classmates had been able to put up much of a fight against the two strong brutes.
They'd been silenced from any screaming or protesting as soon as the long snake-like tongue had met their brains.
They all looked over each other's blank and chalky pale features. Bobby was the only one who was showing the tiny and unnoticeable hint of a smirk.
Owen nodded once before all of them turned, and they began silently walking with each other from the scene of the hypnotizing crime that had just taken place.
Now all they had to do was wait for the next foolish victim to retreat from the group for any obscene reason.
None of the students remaining stood a chance against their players. Now they had the strong one, the devil, the wise one, and the schemer.
Who was left?
A/N: I think it should be easy enough to decide the four hypnotizers' "special" gifts.
Just to make sure, everyone did read "Corruption With Rage And Melancholy" before this one right? I hope you did.
It's kind of the prequel, and it explains a lot of things in this one.