A/N: Things are certainly heating up.
Mmmm, we didn't see everybody in the last chapter, did we?
Beck stared at the ceiling, feeling very relaxed.
He looked over to Linda, who was snoozing.
The teen hopped out of the twin bed and quickly dressed.
The girl stirred at the sound of the door creaking open.
Beck looked back at her fondly and smiled before lightly closing the door.
"Okay," he muttered to himself. "Now where was the bathroom again?"
He passed the door to the master bedroom. There was a bathroom in there for sure but thought better of it. He remembered hearing that Jade was in there and it was probably the right call not to disturb her.
Beck continued on and sighed in relief when the glow of a nightlight emanated from an open door. In the darkness, the small green light revealed the edge of a sink.
He entered the bathroom, switched on the light which was forgiving in its brightness. It wasn't a harsh LED but a warm yellowish light.
Lifting the toilet seat, Beck relieved himself and made an audible wince.
The first pee after sex is the worst.
Finished, he flushed the toiled and put the seat back down. He then washed his hands and seeing nothing but the nice decorative towels hanging on the wall, dried his hands on his pants.
Beck held his stomach and gazed at the stairs.
He bounded down into the living room where Robbie was sitting up a little, gnawing on a piece of crust like a dog with a bone.
"Good movie?"
"Fuck!" the curly-haired boy jumped. "Oh, Beck. It's you. Where you been?"
Beck wasn't much to blush but moments like this he came close.
"You know what? Never mind," Robbie sighed. "Sorry I was a dick back there."
"It's cool, man" Beck said, slapping his friend's shoulder. "Seen Tori or Jade?"
Rob shook his head.
"Maybe they paired off, too. Everyone else seemed to."
"That's silly," he chuckled. Then Beck's face got serious. "Isn't it?"
Robbie just shrugged and returned to his movie. Now it was the start of Night of the Living Dead.
"I'll see you, man."
Beck left and walked past the door to the basement when he heard scratching.
He placed his ear close to the wooden door.
The scratching grew louder.
"Hey, Andre; you got a cat?"
"Beck?"
He turned around to see Jade and Tori.
"Where have you been?" asked Jade.
The goth then noticed his hair mussed and his shirt looking rather disheveled.
"You know what, never mind."
"Okay is there a full moon out tonight?" Beck asked.
"You're looking for Andre?" asked Tori.
"Yeah, have you seen him? Or Sofie?"
"Nope," Jade huffed. "Been looking for Tori's dad."
"What is going on?" Tori whispered to herself.
Tori took Jade's hand and dragged her away.
"Guess we're still looking," Jade said. "Later, loser."
"Don't go in the basement, Beck," Tori warned. "Andre said it's dangerous."
The girls left and Beck just stared at the door.
"Is anybody down there?" he called through the door.
Beck pounded on it but got no answer.
Then a faint voice came from the other side.
"Hello?"
He turned the knob, but the door wouldn't budge. Beck pushed and pushed on it.
Getting nowhere, he backed up to the wall and got a running start, bursting through the door.
Beck immediately lost his footing trying to stop so suddenly after charging through and tumbled down the narrow staircase.
He landed on his side against the cold concrete.
"Fuck!" he winced.
"Help me..."
The pain was intense but Beck managed to get him self to his feet, clutching his left arm.
"Sofie?"
"Yes, it's me Beck!" replied the disembodied voice. "I fell down the stairs and was trapped."
"Hold on," he limped through the dark basement. "Is there a light?"
"Right here."
The shaft of a metal flashlight collided with the back of his skull and Beck went down.
He groaned at the more recent injury and could still not make sense of his surroundings.
"Sofie, run! The killer's down here!"
"I know."
Out of the darkness, came a knife right into his stomach. Before the blade was even withdrawn, the hand turned it upwards. Now Beck was practically choking on his own blood, unable to scream.
Beck landed on his back as he bled. Then the flashlight was tossed his way, slamming on his chest. The beam was pointing upwards, revealing Ghostface.
His eyes widened.
The figured held up a knife, covered in blood. His blood.
In the other hand was a small white box.
The killer held it toward the mouth of the mask.
"Beck, you're such a dumbass!" came through in Sofie's voice.
Then the voice changed dramatically.
"That's it for you."
With that the knife came down.
Gary logged into the LAPD digital database.
He now had access to street cameras, police body cams, highway cameras, and with the right subpoena, the security footage from private property.
But he was only granted access to the dashcam feed from ambulance #7316 on the evening of the double murder.
Gary wasn't certain when it occurred; the autopsy hadn't been performed yet as LA had a huge backlog.
David recalled arriving at the hospital around 10 p.m. This checks out from his eyewitness account of him leaving the archives about 15 minutes prior.
It was probably going to be uneventful but with nothing to go on, Gary was forced to begin the surveillance footage at 10 p.m.
Judging from the low light and the occasional passing white vehicle, it appeared to be parked in the bowels of the hospital.
He fast-forwarded the footage, keeping a very close eye on things for even the slightest change.
Then the sight of Leonard Hinkle, the driver who was slain, entered the frame and then vanished out of sight. After a couple of minutes, the camera shook. Then five more minutes passed before the headlights could be seen turning on and the ambulance was in motion.
It drove through the Hollywood area until making its way into a more rural area. Fifteen minutes have passed according to the time code.
It was then Gary saw it.
"There!"
Finally, something askew appeared.
The shape of a person laying on the road was illuminated by the headlights. The vehicle promptly stopped and after another inexplicable camera shake, a different man (revealed to be Terry Rawlings by the police report) ran out in front of the ambulance.
He looked to be checking on the apparent victim of a hit and run, or possibly a drunk?
Gary saw sudden rapid movement in the figure and in the blink of an eye, Terry turned back toward the camera with his hand around his throat. But it was futile; he was bleeding from the jugular like a stuffed pig.
"OH, FUCK!"
At that moment, the vehicle sped in reverse.
Alarmingly enough, the masked killer just stood there. They didn't even attempt to chase the ambulance.
More unexplained shakes and now the vehicle was disabled because it no longer moved after this.
Then the killer ambled out of frame and was gone.
Gary practically pressed his face to the computer monitor.
"Where'd he go?!"
The camera jostled once more, only this time the driver (Hinkle) dropped in and out of frame.
Gary slowed it down and played that bit back in slow motion.
Just as he thought, Hinkle was dead in that moment. Appeared to be stabbed in the eye.
The killer dressed in black resurfaced into view.
"There you are you maniac!"
The way they were moving, the killer looked to be seeing if the coast was clear but was unaware of the dashcam.
"That's right, that's right," Gary whispered to the figure from days ago who couldn't hear him. "Nobody's around. Take off the mask. Come on!"
Ghostface sauntered in and out of frame, almost like in a strange dance.
"Enough bullshitting, you fruitcake! Show me your face!"
In a flash, the hand came up and the white spooky mask was now in the killer's gloved hand.
But Ghostface's back was to the camera.
"Turn around! Turn around, you son of a bitch!"
The killer looked up at the sky, stretched and pivoted toward the dashcam as they made their way to the edge of the frame.
"SHIT!"
Gary backed up the footage and replayed the last couple of seconds slowly.
He then freeze-framed on the killer's facey face.
"Gotcha!"
Night of the Living Dead was now at the part where Ben was barricading the house.
Robbie was rapt with attention, refusing too blink if he could help it.
"Come on, Barbara! Help Ben out."
Still catatonic, Barbara was listening intently to the radio news.
Then the basement door opened and the other survivors emerged from the basement, to the pair's astonishment.
"That girl was screaming! You should know what a woman screaming sounds like!" Ben argued with the balding man.
"I know, right!" agreed Rob. "People are so unaware in horror movies."
Ghostface stalked from behind the couch, burning a hole in the back of Robbie's unsuspecting head.
The knife raised when a commotion came from the upstairs.
"Dad? Dad?"
Ghostface looked up and then back at Robbie and then looked back toward the second floor.
Gary was ecstatic when he cracked the mystery with that footage. He promptly dialed David but the phone went to voicemail.
Panic settled in and he grabbed his keys and darted to his car waiting outside.