The chirps of birds and hums of other wildlife emanated noisily throughout the late October air of a certain forest just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. While it would normally be bereft of human life, this Halloween would see that trend broken at the hands of a certain pair of twins…
-000-
Cody Martin made sure for what had to be the seventh time in the last 30 minutes that his jacket was zipped up and that he had everything he packed. The taller and slightly younger of a pair of identical twins, he prided himself on being the more prepared of the pair between himself and his older, yet shorter brother, Zack.
As he kept pace with said brother, his own jacket casually slung over one shoulder, he thought it a miracle that he even brought it at all, even with someone there to practically make him.
He was about to ask where they were, and if he even knew (he could easily read the nervousness lurking underneath his brother's attempt to seem leader-like) when someone beat him to it.
"My feet hurt, Zack! Can't we just go back home and go trick-or-treating?"
The rather whiny voice came from a pale-skinned, plump, bespectacled boy with curly black hair. He was panting with his hands on his knees, this clearly having been the most exercise he'd seen in a good bit.
"For the last time, Woody, not yet! We need to see if the bodies are buried near here. Just a shoe, a scarf, any way to know if that killer's still out there…"
"Then we can go home, right?"
"Yes," he answered with an unearned confidence that only served to fill Cody with dread. "And we'll go home with a story to tell, with myself in particular having no doubt impressed a certain someone…"
The shorter twin trailed off hopefully, looking towards another (and the oldest) member of the group, one Maddie Fitzpatrick. She shook her head pityingly as she held back a smile. Really, anyone wanting to point out a relationship between the two would have taken one look at her long blonde hair and light skin and assumed she was the twins' older sister, which she honestly wouldn't have been too surprised at. Even with her hearing dulled by earbuds, though, she could tell what the poor lovesick boy was really going for at a glance.
"Not on your life, Sport."
Zack either didn't hear this obvious rejection or chose to ignore it as he turned back around. "Just you wait, Sweet Thang…"
"Uh…huh?"
The final kid in the group, a dark-toned boy, practically tackled the teenage girl off her feet in his state of pure fear, getting the attention of everyone else.
"G-Get us out of here! There are snakes out there. SNAKES!"
"E-Easy Marcus," she comforted rather awkwardly, barely even knowing the kid beyond him being related to some rapper or something. Either way, given how tight his grip was and how frightened he was, she had a feeling that like it or not, she was going to get to know him very well…
Ah, well, she thought. Still beats the alternative…
-000-
Said alternative, one London Tipton, was having quite the busy night herself back at the hotel named for her bloodline. After all, where most kids would actually dress hideously on purpose just to get candy (Ugh!), she was busy making the best of it.
She would absolutely wow the crowd with her newest designs by wearing one different set of them for every house she went to.
She knew she'd be modeling all night, and that it was going to be tiring work, but she knew that she'd have Maddie by her side, as always.
Even she made her final decisions from within her penthouse suite, though, the Asian teen couldn't help but worry just a little about her friend. She looked kind of…stiff and wooden lately.
-000-
Back in the woods, the kids' walk continued to go by with little disturbance. Actually, the lack of such had spanned for several minutes, really. By this time, the sun had long since gone completely down and they were relying on flashlights (cellular or otherwise) to keep going forward.
Anxiety got to the tallest twin, and he upped his ritualistic headcount of the group as natural sounds began to fade, only to be replaced by...
"Nothing." Maddie quivered, having long abandoned the use of her earbuds, was starting to see where the clingy boy next to him was coming from. "Why don't I hear any animals...?"
Zack didn't say anything at first.
"ZACK!"
The boy in question shushed the group, and then shined a light on a ripped-up scrap of clothing a foot or so in front of him. "I... I think we've found it."
"Great," Marcus squeaked, still unnerved. "Can we go home now, Zack?!"
"Sure. What time is it, about 8:00? We should still be early enough to make it back home before-"
"Guys! Look..." Maddie suddenly sounded beyond terrified. Everybody gathered around the candy counter girl's now snowy phone screen.
Cody instinctively took out both twins' phones only to get the same static sound and effect. "We... We've been hacked!"
What was worse, someone out there was absolutely giddy to let them know that despite the lack of noise, they were anything but alone.
"WE...SEE...YOU..."
-000-
Back with London…
Something was off, she could feel it. It wasn't related to the night itself, as all throughout it, she got the usual oohs, aahs, photo-ops, keys to the city, yet more invites to fashion shows, and a bunch of other stuff that she didn't even bother keeping track of.
That was for her personal assistant, Connie, to deal with.
As for her friend, Maddie had been giving her the usual shower of complements about her clothing, though weirdly enough, she had been using the same "it looks absolutely fabulous" line over and over again for the last several blocks.
On top of all that, there was a feeling building in her gut that she couldn't quite give a name to. It kept getting larger and larger still until a certain point during the night, where she whirled around to her in distress.
"Maddie! I feel really bad for some reason. How do I make it go away?!"
When what she thought was the Caucasian blonde didn't actually answer but instead kept saying the same thing over and over, like a tape recording, she resorted to shaking her violently, inadvertently discovering the truth...
She knew at once what to do and rushed to dial a certain phone number.
-000-
Back at her house, and in the comfort of her own room, a certain Hispanic young lady (or at least that was how she liked to think of herself) with light brown skin crowned by hair a few shades darker was rather rudely interrupted midway through a movie marathon she'd been immersed in the entire night. Nevertheless, she answered the call practically expecting it.
She cleared her throat to the side before answering. "What is it, Mistress Tipton?"
"You know darn well what it is! I need your help urgently. Maddie's petrified again!"
Consuela Rodriguez rolled her eyes over the phone, perfectly aware that her client wouldn't see the gesture. She tried to put on a fake smile and hoped it would carry into her subtly accented voice over the phone.
"Calm down... Breathe... That's it. Now then. Dearest London, look at her. Does she look 'off' to you...at all?"
"Uh, yeah! She's all stiff and made of cardboard and...oh."
"That's it. Did you try calling her?"
A minute of her obviously fumbling around to call Maddie and get back on the line ensued. "She won't pick up!"
Connie's eyes widened, and she let a few choice Spanish words slip through (away from the phone, of course). "C-Call Cody! Maybe he knows where she went off to!"
When the many emergency calls that followed yielded no results, she started eyeing the business suit in her wardrobe and thinking about how to wake her brother and explain this to him.
"Hold on, I'm coming over!"
-000-
Everyone in the forest fell completely silent, practically unwilling to so much as breathe, let alone speak. The group huddled back to back on a sort of fearful instinct, as if safety in numbers might help them against their unknown adversary. The bushy-haired boy's voice caught as he spoke.
"I-If this is some kind of trick, Zack..."
The shorter twin looked at his larger friend with wide, incredulous eyes. "Do you really think I could pull something like this off?"
The elder brother could immediately feel the circle of knowing glares on him even with the odd way that they were situated right now.
"Don't answer that."
"Chew him out later," Maddie scolded, getting things back on track. "Plan. Now!"
"Right." It didn't take the self-appointed leader long to come up with something. "Split up. Whoever's after us can't get us all at once that way. Maybe somebody can get away and get help."
It was about the best idea anyone could think of, so that was what they did.
-000-
Unfortunately for them, their efforts were futile. Whether it was Zack or Woody getting caught climbing up a tree (with the latter having...a predictable amount of success climbing it), Cody being caught behind one and being taken out by sleeping gas, or the pursuers taking advantage of Maddie tripping in her haste to flee to civilization. Marcus, suddenly feeling the "call of nature", got caught in a particularly bad position.
Regardless, the last thing any of them saw was a mysterious cloaked figure, each armed with a deadly weapon...
-000-
Eventually, a certain increasingly anxious heiress was bouncing on her heels waiting for "the help" to arrive. When they finally did, her mood flipped from fear to fury as she glared with her hands on her hips, at the riders on one of her father's spare limousines.
"And where have you been?!"
Immediately able to see where the situation was going, Connie put a hand on her brother, Rico, to keep him from possibly hopping out of the driver's seat and hurting her. That didn't stop him from giving her a piece of his mind using a mash-up of colorful language from 2 different ones and shutting her up, though.
"Now then," the Hispanic girl pressed once he was done. "Do you have your phone on you?"
"Y-Yes."
"Let me see it." London obeyed with all the readiness of a punished toddler complete with a pout of sorts. Working quickly, she found the last known location of Maddie's phone: a wooded area found just outside of Boston.
"We're heading out. Where's your private helicopter?"
"Which one?"
"The one without all that obnoxious gold paint on it."
Before they took off, however, Connie gave the rich girl a single, expectant look.
She took the hint. "Sorry, I guess, Rino…"
"Rico." The male's eye twitched, but he didn't say anything more as they departed.
-000-
"YO! WAKE UP!"
This shout, along with the jarring blast of an air horn, was what woke Zack. Instinctively, he tried to move, only to realize he was tied to a chair. Looking around the room, he noticed that the room was pretty much empty aside from an intercom, with his only means of escape being a vent situated high above him.
Classic.
Problem was, anything that he could possibly use to cut himself free (including the Swiss Army Knife he kept on himself most of the time…just because) was confiscated.
Welp, he thought, guess there's only one thing to do…
"You know, if this is a prank, then you're gonna have to do a lot better than this. I've been in the Scouts. I can untie all these ropes in my sleep!"
"Nice try," a creepy snake like tone hissed over the intercom, much different than the booming voice he was woken up with. "We double and triple checked the ropes when we tied you guys up. There's no way you're getting out of that chair unless we let you, so HA!"
Any rising fear the older twin had been feeling was starting to fade as he wondered whether or not he'd heard those voices before. For some reason, he thought they sounded kind of…teenage.
"So… What happens if one of us needs to go to the bathroom?"
"The fat kid already tried that with us," the booming voice responded, pausing for just enough time for a moan of "Hurtful…" to be barely heard over the speaker. "A friend kindly escorted him over to the bathroom and back. We might be killers but we're not that cruel…"
"Okay, then…" he drew out the first word, trying to buy time to think as well as figure out how seriously he should take these guys. "What'd you do with my friends and brother?"
"See for yourself," said the deep voice, but a commotion followed. Apparently, they'd forgotten that there were no TVs or anything in their rooms.
"Get it out there, Freddy!"
"I'm only one person, Jason, and Michael is busy getting us the… Fine. But it won't be quick."
Well, at least he now knew their names…
Soon enough, though, Freddy, whose identity was neatly obscured by his hooded cloak, rolled into the room one of those old TVs that Zack usually took as a cue for nap time in class. Hooking it up to a nearby outlet and setting it up, he was soon shown how the others were coping.
-000-
Cody was tied up, apparently being forced to watch something that was happening outside the camera's view. Honestly, though, he looked a lot more bored and annoyed than anything else, yelling something at the TV.
He looked at Freddy. "Does this thing have sound?"
The figure just shrugged.
Another camera saw Maddie in some nondescript room out of a police procedural. She looked even more bored than his twin, looking up and counting something to herself (maybe the tiles on the ceiling?) like she did whenever she literally had nothing to do.
Woody and Marcus were the only ones who even looked uncomfortable, and that was for different reasons.
Marcus was the only one who seemed scared. He could only read lips a little bit, but even he could see that the African-American boy was begging for his life.
For his sake, Zack hoped that he hadn't let it slip that he still used a night light…
As for Woody, well, he seemed like he was truly being tortured. Just a few feet away from him sat an entire bucket full of Halloween candy. One could easily see him whimpering as he looked at the container longingly.
Zack felt particularly bad about this. If and when they ever got out of here, the big guy would get his candy haul for his trouble. Well, most of it, anyway…
-000-
Soon enough, London and the Rodriguez clan were flying just above the forest, but their search wasn't exactly fruitful…
"Nothing yet?" Rico called from the cockpit. He'd learned from one of his uncles how to fly just well enough to be able to do this but had auto-pilot to fall back on if anything went wrong. Right now, he was busy using the vehicle's spotlight to try and track everyone down.
"Nada," Connie noted, trying to take the tremble out of her voice enough to sound confident.
Really, she was fighting the urge to look down for the millionth time. Trying desperately to ignore how high up they were, she shut her eyes.
"Um…"
They snapped open to find London trying to choose her next words the way a child might.
"You… You didn't have to come, you know…" She withdrew a little into her designer coat as her eyes were strangely avoidant of her as well.
In any other situation, she would've laughed at the image she got of a diamond studded turtle, hiding her head from anyone who might see her.
This was the "London Tipton" that the media didn't get to see…that she wouldn't let anyone see.
…and also the side that happened to be the most likeable and, well, human.
"I… I wanted to, Hermanita." Connie forced an uneasy smile. "Your friends are mine, too."
The uneasy, yet pleasant silence was broken by Rico's authoritative voice.
"Bad news, you two. They're not showing up from what I can spot. We're gonna have to look ourselves."
"WHAT?!" The rich girl snapped as the aircraft landed, swiftly reverting back to her normal self. "I'm not going out in that gross woodsy place!"
Rico smirked coyly, causing the girl to unknowingly blush. It probably didn't help that she kept noticing how big and muscular he was from all the wrestling and weightlifting he did. "Fine, then. I'm sure all the rats and spiders scurrying around will make much better bodyguards than me. Let's go, Connie."
Crossing her arms, London sat down, unwilling to move.
Her silence was swiftly broken by her own screams as a spider hitched a ride on her arm, causing her to bolt from the helicopter and after her attendants.
-000-
After Freddy turned off the screen, he spoke again, trying his best to sound menacing.
"Now that you know the fate of your pathetic friends, prepare to meet yours..."
The twin watched the cloaked figure make a motion for the knife holstered on his belt, only for him to hesitate.
That's when he thought of his bindings, and an idea popped into his head. He put on his best challenging grin.
"You don't have the guts."
The killer grabbed the knife and walked up to his prey, weapon aimed for the jugular.
"You wanna bet?"
He didn't dare drop his grin. The last thing he needed was for this guy to pick up on his fear.
He could only hope it didn't show.
"Try it."
"Fine then." Just as the figure hesitated again, Zack moved to the side, getting just close enough for the blade to cut his left side free with...minimal damage.
One quick sucker punch later, he was using the dropped knife to help untangle his other side in time to get through the door that was still ajar before his assailant woke up.
He then stowed the weapon away in his pocket, adrenaline and determination to find his loved ones urging him onwards.
-000-
Rico kept in front of the girls and his flashlight in front of him. The second London appeared, he made her be quiet, for multiple reasons, not the least of which being…
SNAP! It was the sound of a branch breaking.
"That wasn't you, was it?" The teen asked to the Asian heiress before asking the same of his sister.
"Nope."
"No."
His voice became terse. "Stay close."
A bit further on, Rico caught a glimpse of a tiny glimmer of light amidst the trees. Instinct took over, making him dive to the ground with the girls in tow.
A few darts embedded themselves in the tree right beside where they landed.
The large teen put a hand on the rich girl's mouth to keep her from screaming in terror.
"Quiet. Now keep moving if you want to live." He began crawling on all fours, avoiding whatever creatures might crawl on him to the best of his ability. Connie and, in a strange fit of relative maturity, London followed.
-000-
As for Zack, he'd finally gotten a good look at just where they were: a massive ominous-looking underground building littered with hallways and rooms that one could easily get lost in.
Considering this place was run by a (questionable) trio of killers, maybe that was the point.
He didn't have too much time to slow down and think about it, though, because an old friend of his had apparently finally woke up and raised the alarm and gotten his buddies to come gunning for him.
Luckily for him, this place was so big that it naturally created a lot of hiding spaces.
At one point, Michael, the smallest of them, had just missed him hiding under a bench. Once the coast was clear, he contemplated his next move but was interrupted by a very familiar whimpering noise.
Marcus.
He inched his way up to the door that his friend was behind.
He tested the door, fully expecting it to be locked, only for it to open right in front of him.
The dark-skinned boy scrambled back with tear-streaked eyes upon hearing the door creak open.
"Y-You! Don't kill me! Please... Z-Zack?"
"Who else?" He grinned, hiding his relief underneath a cocky façade before it softened into something more genuine. "Glad to see you too, buddy, but we need to go! They'll find us."
-000-
Woody wasn't far from their location, it turned out. He was harder to pick out because he was making less noise, but they managed to find him, nonetheless.
With him being tied up, the shorter twin had the unenviable task of cutting him free. Woody's eyes wandered over to the candy bucket he could now easily get to.
Zack saw this, but Marcus spoke up first with a desperate, disapproving look.
"Don't even think about it, Woody. You'll just slow us down and get us all killed."
The bigger kid looked down and away dejectedly. "Aww…"
"Don't worry," The blonde quietly reassured, patting him on his beefy shoulder. "I still owe you, remember? You can have all the candy you want if we survive. Now let's go. We gotta keep moving."
With that, the trio darted out of the room as quickly and quietly as they could…
-000-
The next half-hour for the trio in the woods was a terrifying game of hide and seek. When the three weren't ducking yet more darts, knives, and even gunfire that were aimed in their direction, they were narrowly avoiding disturbing the animals that would have given their position away.
Sadly, their luck wouldn't last forever.
While they were creeping around, a gunshot rang out that might have hit London if someone else hadn't jumped in the way instead.
"RICO!"
Connie's blood-curdling scream cleared the nearby birds away, and no doubt gave up their location to the killers, but she didn't care right then. With broken sobs, she instinctively leapt for her brother only to be forcefully pulled away by another pair of arms.
"Go!" The bodyguard shouted before he let his voice drop to a hurried whisper. "Now!"
With the young man's flashlight in her coat, London reluctantly dragged her assistant away kicking and screaming even as tears rolled down her own face...
-000-
As they continued to sneak through the labyrinth, Marcus' fear had given way to awe at the monumental task in front of them. "It's like this place goes on forever! How're we ever gonna find the others?!"
"Well, Zack did find us, didn't he? I'm pretty sure he's already figured out the rest." Woody pointed out, a smile of pure confidence in his friend lighting up his slightly rounded features.
"Uh, about that," the eldest twin started, suddenly unable to look at them as if some magnetic force was repelling him from doing so. "I kinda just got lucky. I started checking doors randomly until I happened to find you…"
"WHAT?!" Shouted the both of them, making Zack have to put his hands over their mouths so they didn't risk further alerting their pursuers. Forcing himself to focus once again, he thought and thought until he remembered…
He still had Freddy's knife.
Maybe…
"That's it! We need to lure one of them out. We'll jump him and take his cloak. Then we might be able to get access to whatever security cameras they're using."
Quickly, he got his friends up to speed on what he'd been shown and how he'd managed to escape.
"Whoa…" Both sets of eyes were mesmerized as they made their way to his torn sleeve and the scar underneath.
Zack would have gloated about it, but time was of the essence.
"So… Which one do we take, then?" Marcus asked.
The blonde crossed his arms. "The little guy's cloak's way too small for any of us to fit…"
"How about the big guy? I could maybe do that…"
That's…not a bad idea. Good going, Woodster!"
Taking in Zack's grin and pat on the back, he gave a more awkward, sheepish grin of his own back.
"Question," Marcus interrupted, holding a finger up. "That big guy, Jason. He had a really deep voice, didn't he? How's he gonna pull that off? I mean, Woody's kinda nasally, right?"
"Hurtful…"
Ignoring the comment, the shorter boy responded, "That's where you come in. I seem to recall you being able to do some pretty mean impressions…"
"I guess…but I'm not my dad. I'm not Big Little. I'm just… Marcus." He sighed deeply, showing his self-doubt.
"Look, I've seen you do your thing before. I know you got this, man. Maddie, Cody and both of us are counting on you." Zack was doing his best to shamelessly rip off one of his brother's pep talks. Man, did he sound cheesy…
"Besides, we're pretty much dead if you don't. No pressure…"
"Thanks, Woody…"
Zack didn't forget about the one left out, either. That one was personal. "As for our old pal, Freddy, well, I'm always up for Round 2!"
-000-
London hated every moment of this.
Not only was some psycho killer stalking them, but he might have actually...
Her mind couldn't even conceive of finishing that thought. It was just too much for her to even dare imagine.
Rico was fine. He was just too smart to let whoever that shooter guy was beat him. She had to believe that, so that's what she told herself.
In fact, that's what she told a still-hysterical Connie while rubbing her back (which was awkward to do while still running) and calling her that "Herman" word, so there was no going back on it.
What Rico had managed to do was keep their pursuers off their trail.
Eventually, they made it to a clearing where a single tree lay. It was Connie who first noticed something off, even in her compromised state.
"Why…why is that one tree just standing there, and…"
She tapped her foot on the ground, with said forest floor feeling a lot harder and more solid than it ought to.
"…why does the ground feel harder than it should?"
"Maybe…it's the kidnappers' super-secret lair?" the rich girl shrugged, hazarding a guess borne from one of a certain twin's comic books (that she under no circumstances never, ever read).
Connie mulled this idea over as she examined the tree. Enough fiddling with the bark eventually revealed…a keypad!
"You did it, London! For once, you were actually right!"
"I was? I was! Yay—"
The other girl cut her off as she finished hacking the keypad, allowing them access. Despite her feelings, she was unable to keep a small smile from creeping upon her face. Sometimes, her childlike glee was just that infectious! "You can do your little happy dance all you want when la familia is back together."
Stepping through the passageway in the hollowed-out tree, they went in…
-000-
It wouldn't take long before another pair of shadows fell over the spot where Rico's body lay. An average-sized man dressed head-to-toe in a familiar cloak kicked at the body.
"Seems pretty dead to me," he said in a biting Southern accent. "Want me to radio the brats, or do you?"
His double in everything but his slightly stockier build subtly shrugged. "Might as well do the honors, Gace."
The call was answered by the very-much freaking out Jason from inside the building's security office. "What?!"
"Watch how you talk to me, boy…" His words were slow and absolutely laced with lethal intent. The scary part was, all three of them, himself, Freddy, and Michael all knew that compared to Jeff, he was actually the nice one. "I'd hate to have to leave you with my friend because we got sick of your mouth."
Jason nearly dropped the radio and rushed to control it as well as his suddenly sweaty palms and shaking body.
"Y-You don't need to d-do that, sir…"
"I sure hope not," Gace whispered in a mock-sympathetic tone. "It'd be just too bad if Cujo had to make a meal of what's left of granny too. Anyway, where's the fresh meat?"
Forcing himself not to hurl, the bigger kidnapper went over his story one last time in his head, as telling this lunatic that his prey was on the verge of escaping wasn't exactly an option if he wanted to live.
"We've got 'em caught, sir…"
"You better…"
You know what? I'm thinking we should check on you. Make sure the job's getting done," Jeff said into the radio, both killers liking the suggestion more and more the more they thought about it.
The southern-sounding man let out a laugh which would disturb just about anyone but the partner he worked with. "Quite the idea, compadre!" He grabbed the radio himself. "We'll be down to check on you in a tick. Toodles!"
With that call ended, the two of them walked off, Gace even whistling a tune. In their eyes, things were just fine. The way Gace looked at it, at least, if those kids did what they were supposed to, they'd have some fresh kills to work with. If they didn't, well…
He looked at Jeff with a smirk that looked just a little off, with the crazed man returning the gesture.
They'd get some fresh kills anyway! It seemed like a win-win to him.
With an extra bit of pep in their step, they walked away towards their hideout, blissfully unaware of the subtlest of twitches coming from a supposedly dead body…
-000-
Back in the security room, Jason was sweating bullets and fighting the urge to wet himself as he desperately ran through his options. Those monsters were on their way, and once they got here and figured out the truth, everyone here would be dead!
Eventually, he came to what might've been an incredibly risky decision, one that might just kill them all anyway, but he still had to try...
Terrified, he dialed up Freddy as quickly as possible.
"Don't hurt them!"
"Huh?" All made-up voices and pretenses of sounding intimidating were gone. Things were very, very real now. Freddy could hear it in his friend's voice. "Wait. Don't tell me…!"
He kept going without even waiting for his friend to connect the dots. "Tell them to hide. Apologize. Do whatever you gotta do. And FIND MICHAEL, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"
Now he was practically screaming into the speaker, nearly crazed from fear.
"I don't…"
His friend's misgivings faded into the background when he saw someone new on one of the hallway cameras.
"Is that London Tipton?"
-000-
"This place seems...like it goes on forever..."
The exhausted heiress and her assistant continued to search the maze that they found themselves immersed in, this time London taking the lead, much to the other girl's chagrin.
"You're ripping off my arm!"
The complaint was brushed off. "Who cares! Daddy can get somebody to make you a new one, easy!"
Before she could comment on how callous that statement was, Connie saw something or someone run by out of the corner of her eye. "WAIT!"
Forcing them both to a stop, Connie slowly inched back to the end of the previous intersection and raced to the door that she thought the person went through.
"What're you..."
"Cállate la boca."
London obeyed...likely because she had no idea what she just said and didn't know how to respond. Instead, she followed.
What the two found was strange, to say the least. In a room reminiscent of those used in police interrogations, a small boy in a cloak stood across from a blonde teenage girl who, despite the boy uncomfortably brandishing a small dagger, looked at him with a quizzical expression rather than a fearful one.
"MADDIE!"
She didn't get a word out herself, though, as she was too busy having the life practically choked out of her by the two speakers.
Once the hug broke up and the expressions of gratitude for each other's safety ended, Maddie noticed the dried tear streaks on both their faces.
Her thoughts must've been shown on her own face, as the two friends' expressions became much more somber, with Connie quietly mumbling her brother's name. When she asked why, Connie could barely fumble out the answer.
Unsure what she was supposed to say about something like this, she went with the easy choice. "I...I'm sorry, Connie."
Another noise interrupted the mood, but not in a good way. It was the sound of someone screaming.
It was a small voice, belonging to the boy in the room with them.
Stumbling back, he began to sob inconsolably. Trembling uncontrollably, his hood accidentally fell away, revealing the face of a pasty, ginger-haired, freckled boy that looked a good deal younger than the twins. Maddie and Connie moved to console him while the rich girl's eyes, while sad, were on something else…
The walkie-talkie on the ground next to him.
"What's that?" On a whim, she picked it up. "Hello… Is this thing on? HELLO!"
"Mich—Wait, are you London Tipton?!" His voice sounded absolutely starstruck for a moment before he snapped out of it. "N-Never mind! Go find somewhere to hide! Some bad people are coming be after you!"
"How bad?" Maddie asked loudly enough for the caller to hear.
He paid no mind to what seemed to be a new voice as his own began to crack and come in fits and starts. "These guys are killers! They got…Freddy's parents and…"
"That's enough," The blonde choked out curtly upon seeing sadness and tears fill the eyes and countenances of everyone involved, including the caller. "We'll…do that. Be safe…"
"Jason."
"Yeah."
When the signal finally cut out, she turned around and started talking about her end of the situation as quickly as possible.
They'd have to do their best to find everyone and get out of there before those killers got to them.
Connie finally spoke up. "But how do we get to everyone before..."
"We'll split up. Can you move, Mikey?"
The boy nods silently, fear in his eyes.
She looks at the other girls. "Do you guys have your ear thingys?"
They confirmed that they did by tapping the communication devices on their ears.
She carefully explained how London and Connie would go to find the others together while she took one of the earpieces and went on her own, being careful to stay hidden from sight, and that if it came down to it, they'd fight to get away.
Connie stared at her in awe along with her charge.
"I...I didn't know this side of you existed. Thank you, Maddie..."
"Well, desperation kinda does that to a girl," she forced herself to joke to break the tension a tad before quickly sobering back up. "But it's no problem, really..."
The candy counter girl debated thanking her for all she's done in regards to taking care of London, and the rich girl herself for being such a good friend when it counted, but all that sounded too much like a goodbye for her liking.
Way too much.
Instead, the group quickly embraced again and left to enact their plan.
-000-
Meanwhile, oblivious to all of this, the boys were still going room to room as stealthily as they could.
What even are half of these rooms?" Marcus asked as he stuck his head out of a room that looked like the inside of a literal barnyard.
"We don't have time to care," Zack urged. "Just keep looking."
After some time of dealing with similar duds (including circus and Christmas-themed rooms), they bumped into someone very familiar.
The shorter twin narrowed his eyes. "You."
But before he could pounce and tackle the cloaked figure to the ground, he took off his hood and raised his hands in surrender before saying the last thing any of them expected to hear in a voice that sounded far more…normal than expected.
"Don't! Please! I…I'm sorry for everything, but we need to run! There're KILLERS coming after all of us!"
All three, in unison, went, "Huh?"
The boy, a medium-toned teen around their age with brown hair that was scruffy, large, and spread out in a treelike pattern, continued to beg and plead as he looked around frantically. "I'll help you find your friends and get out of here. I'll do ANYTHING! We just need to go…"
As this breakdown was taking place, Zack, Woody, and Marcus exchanged looks. Should they believe him?
Sensing this debate, Freddy grabbed the shoulders of the one he stabbed and shook them causing the latter to wince before he backed off. "I know where that other guy who looks like you is…"
"My brother?"
"Yeah, yeah! I'll take you to where he's at. I pro…"
He waved him off. "We're cool. Let's go. You can explain on the way."
-000-
The real killers were the only ones taking things at a leisurely pace, taking their time to comb every area as they talked amongst themselves. They had started by scoping out the ground floor, including the mysteriously empty camera room. Gace being the more tech-savvy of the duo decided to check out the security footage, only to end up getting a static screen to go along with the fried and damaged equipment on display. He punched the wall in frustration.
"That fat PIG!"
Jeff chuckled with a strange mixture of good and dark humor. "Relax. This only makes the hunt more fun. I'm guessing those three are a…liability now?"
Calming down, his friend answered, a smile curling back on his lips. "Hmph, guess you're right. More lambs to the slaughter."
"Yup. And right now, I'm feeling like some roast pig. How about we get ourselves a jump-start on Thanksgiving?"
"You've always had a knack for cheering me up."
-000-
Cody had eventually given up on trying to follow along with the game shows on repeat and passed out in his chair.
His bladder was what woke him up and kept him that way. By the time he started to do a little dance in his restrained state, he was finally given his salvation in the form of someone opening the door.
"I don't care if you're going to kill me. Just let me go to the bathroom first…"
It was Jason. The guy was unhooded now, his corpulent build (considerably more so than Woody) highlighted by a chocolate- toned round face and a Mohawk of light blonde hair that seemed to be dyed that way. He looked like he had seen a ghost.
He took out a switchblade, causing the taller twin to flinch.
"I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm cutting you free. Sorry for everything."
The taller twin wasn't in the position to argue or care. He let him do so and pointed him to the nearest bathroom.
Thankfully, that door was one of the few that were properly labeled.
Once relief was attained, he met back up with the boy, looking at him with a mixture of distrust and concern at his hurried, frightened look.
"Start explaining."
-000-
Connie and London were having no real luck in their own search.
"I really hope we're not lost..."
"I hope so, too, Ms. Tipton."
"This place is really weird."
"I can't argue with that."
That was when Maddie called in.
"Any luck on your end?"
"Nope. Nothing."
Maddie sounded strangely nervous...
"¿Estás bien?"
"Y-Yeah..."
Before Connie could question the validity of that statement, they heard noises that put everyone on high alert.
-000-
POP! POP! POP!
Gace didn't waste any time getting off warning shots once they took the elevator down to the main floor.
He might not have quite had the taste for getting up close and personal with his prey like his partner did, but he did love it when they ran…
"A shame this place is so big," Jeff commented, uncovering his ears. "Their screams usually make for a decent game of Marco-Polo..."
"We'll go door to door, corner and bag 'em."
…and that's just what they did.
-000-
The first ones they were headed towards turned out to be Cody and Jason, who had little time to think up a plan.
Luckily for both of them, Jason had held onto his radio, and managed to contact the one that Freddy, and by proxy, Zack, Marcus and Woody, had.
With no time for greetings, all he could do is give a single order.
"Distract them. Do whatever you gotta do to stop them or at least slow them down, and whatever happens, don't let them find you."
He did the same once he switched frequencies to what turned out to be Michael, London, and Connie's device, who in turn told Maddie.
With said plan set, the two just barely managed to get into position before Gace poked the front of his rifle into the interior of their room.
"Come on out, kiddies… Daddy's home! Woo-hoo!"
The two kids were currently tucking themselves away just inside the swinging radius of the door so they couldn't be seen. Adding to the challenge of having to remain unseen and unheard was the bigger boy's girth forcing him to suck in his gut.
"Hmph. Almost fun already. Look, I know y'all are in there…"
The lights went on, forcing the two to readjust before having to endure two shots aimed at the other end of the room, clearly meant to draw them out.
They didn't dare move.
Cody and Jason were only able to breathe a sigh of relief what seemed an eternity later when their would-be killer finally gave up (for the moment) and walked away.
-000-
In the interim, the group had a few minutes to work out their next course of action.
"If he has a gun, we can't compete with that," Zack whispered. "But we can either wait for him to run out of ammo or get the gun away from him. That last option's risky, but…"
"Wait," his twin brother threw in. "What if there's a group of them? We need to know what we're dealing with." He forced down the fear he was feeling since there simply wasn't time for it.
"I'll get us a look."
Biting back the desire to argue, he just let out a "take care".
It was dangerous, but during a transition between empty rooms, Zack did manage to sneak a peek.
"Only two of 'em. One's definitely got a rifle, and the other's a fan of knives. Getting rid of those and knocking both of 'em out somehow might be our only shot at getting out of here alive."
-000-
Eventually, the murderous pair would decide to split up in order to cover more ground. A few discreet peeks out their whenever they weren't around allowed the kids to discover this.
Thankfully, whether it was them using the environment to their advantage, or simply getting lucky due to their enemies' massive egos, they narrowly managed to stay alive.
The majority of the group was so consumed with mere survival that they hadn't noticed Woody and Marcus whispering in the background.
Zack was caught off guard when the more cowardly of the boys shook his shoulder to get his attention during a lull in the looming threat.
"What?!"
"Uh, shouldn't we be moving around while we can? If we just sit here…"
He trailed off, nobody wanting to hear that sentence finished.
"You know, Marcus, if our lives weren't at stake, I'd hug you right now," the shorter brother whispered with a small grin, gratitude in his tone.
Freddy just looked confused. "Is that normal for you guys?"
"Really?!" The darker-toned boy asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Eh, probably not," Zack answered, "But still, good thinking!"
"Hey," the bespectacled friend complained quietly, "I helped him out with that plan, too…"
"Oh, yeah, uh… Good job too, then," was the offhanded response he got, leaving him to grumble something like "why does no one ever appreciate me" as he grumpily slinked back into hiding.
-000-
Eagerly, the next part of said plan was discreetly spread around the group whenever they could get an opening to communicate, but not without hearing a dire warning coming from outside…
"We can do this all night, Kiddies! You know, this reminds me of a particular hunt my friend and I went on not too long ago. It was an old campsite, really. Kids much like yourselves…"
Nobody had to be able to physically see Gace to just feel the malevolent glee just rolling off his every word.
"The first one we picked off was a good one. Hardly knew what hit 'em. He struggled and screamed, but a little 'persuasion' got him quiet quick, fast, and in a hurry." He made a show of loading his rifle, just for fun.
"It took 'em a mighty long time to figure it out, though. When they finally did, they split up to look for him, kinda like you folk." He smirked, seemingly expecting some kind of reaction. He got none.
"That's when things really got fun. We started picking them off, one after another... Sure, some of them tried to fight, others tried to hide, and some decided to just...lay there and die. Speaking of that last one, that's the thing. My friend here just hates cowards. Do you wanna do the honors and explain what you do about that, Jeff?"
"Gladly," Came the terrifying voice right next to him. "You see, I don't like cowards, but I do like 'autographing' my prey, so I take the liberty of using my pen here and doing just that. Messy work, I can tell you that much. But so very worth it..."
Even amidst their info sharing, genuine terror was palpable on everyone's face no matter what situation they were in. The one who took it the hardest, however, was Michael, who was busy sobbing as loudly as the other two girls dared allow for into London's expensive clothing as she and Connie tried their absolute best to comfort and quiet him, to no avail.
Perhaps he knew what was coming next.
As much as his potential victims might have wished for him to shut up, Gace just kept on talking.
"Just for kicks, I suppose, we let one of 'em alive for a few more hours, savoring all that fear of his. We did the honors in taking his phone so he couldn't call for help, either.
"He woke up with my partner's hands around his neck. We gave him just enough time to beg and plead for his miserable little life. Said he had a little brother. His name was Michael or something…"
The little ginger boy cried even harder, causing the rich girl to quietly shush him.
"We're not gonna let him get you."
For Connie, she was barely keeping her composure, it taking a quick (and unusually touchy-feely) hand squeeze from her friend's free hand to keep her from getting them all killed by her exposing herself.
"Ha! How's that for a seventh birthday present, Mikey! We gave him another one by letting him join us."
"It's too bad we can't leave loose ends," Jeff threw in, "We might've let him turn 8. Maybe I'll give him one of my homemade tattoos, just to sort of make up for it…"
By this point, all of the kids had learned who Mikey and his friends were, and amongst their horrible feelings, a fire of determination started to build.
There was no way those monsters would get away with this.
Gace finally finished up.
"Before I forget, my name's Gace and he's Jeff, and we'll be your executioners this evening. I hope you don't plan on getting any sleep tonight, kids, because if you do, you might not wake up."
-000-
The minutes passed by at an achingly slow pace as the kids figured out their next move. They needed to do so fast. The longer they took, the more fatigued they'd get.
"London, between you and Connie, which one of you is the better fighter?"
The heiress fumbled around for a second at the shorter twin's question. The two girls in the room shared a look. "Connie, I guess. Why?"
Zack couldn't suppress the sickening feeling in his stomach even as he tried to project confidence into his next statement. "We've...gotta use one of you as bait for us to be able to move. Lure them out."
Just when her boss moved to give her Michael, Connie cut her off.
"Don't." The young assistant had always crossed her arms whenever she had to put up with London's more ridiculous demands, but this time, there was a note of sadness to the act. She wasn't going to get her way this time.
"You're too valuable."
Normally, this would've massively inflated her already huge ego, but even London knew that she'd be a great person to take for ransom. It was one of the few things about her lot in life that she didn't like.
"But Daddy-"
"-probably wouldn't be able to save you in time. Besides, does it sound like they even care about Mr. Tipton's money?"
She shook her head.
"I... I'm going too."
Neither girl had spoken, nor had anyone else in the group, except for...
"M-Maddie?"
"I can put up a fight, too. I, uh, I've been taking self-defense classes."
"Since when?!" London hissed, only able to keep her voice down out of sheer self-preservation.
Since that time the hotel got robbed! If you two weren't there..."
"But... I don't want you to go..." She had left another part of that sentence unsaid...
I don't want to be alone.
Connie hugged the rich girl to the best of her ability. "Sorry, Hermanita, but we have to do this."
Before she finally broke eye contact and left, Connie gave her friend her earpiece and a certain look. A touch of petulance shined through the Asian girl's crushed demeanor.
"You better come back, 'cause I'm not telling him for you."
A small, sad smile formed on her lips before Consuela Rodriguez informed everyone matter-of-factly of what was going to happen and promptly left for what could very well be her final act.
-000-
Jeff, taking a break from the search, was playing around with his knife when he noticed it.
Movement. He smiled in a way that looked absolutely serpentine.
A tan-skinned girl, in broad daylight now, was beckoning him towards her. A challenge, perhaps?
With a single look of encouragement from Gace, he began his solo hunt.
-000-
It turned out that Gace wouldn't be far behind, for as soon as he broke eye contact with his partner-in-crime, he was rewarded with his own prey.
"Whew," He called out with a grin, "Looks like someone's finally given up."
The blonde locked eyes with him as if she were a deer in headlights before taking off running like one.
He simply laughed, loaded his gun, and leisurely strolled off to chase her.
-000-
The kids used the bought time to quickly switch rooms, with everyone going solo excluding the small group that would go with Mikey, for extra support. After a very short discussion, that lot fell to not only London, but Jason as well.
"Are you crazy?!" The twins harmonized the moment the dark-skinned blonde had made his choice.
"I'm not leaving him," he'd stated, fear and determination waging war inside the large kid's frame.
"But you… You're…" Cody trailed off, his natural inclination towards politeness keeping him from stating the obvious.
"Fat, I know," the boy finished before Zack could say it for him. "At least I can keep him safe and it'll be harder for them to um…you know, because of all the surface area."
The lone remaining girl shrugged a tiny bit. "Whatever. Let's go."
-000-
Meanwhile, in the forest, a certain someone was building up a head of steam as he ran through it.
He had to find that entrance…
-000-
To this day, Maddie remembered feeling so very helpless back when that robbery had happened. It was that feeling that had propelled her to take the steps that she needed to in order to defend herself.
That didn't mean she could outrun bullets, though.
It was a good thing he bought her act. She didn't want to know what would've happened if he didn't.
The first thing she did was make her way deeper into the mess of doors and corridors, ensuring she made as many random detours as possible, forcing the rising fear of her getting lost back.
She would have to trust that her friends would be able to find her.
This had the effect of fouling his aim at critical moments, making him miss his shots, but that wasn't her only objective.
Every now and again, she'd stop at a room to find an item, weapon, or anything else she could use to even the odds.
At one point, a room happened to have an old can of pepper spray lying around. A tiny test spray revealed that it still worked.
An idea came to her once she realized that this room's door locked from the outside. Dropping her spray next to her, she made sure Gace was following her and beat him inside.
"Heh, heh. And to think, I'm on my last few bullets..."
She kicked the door open in his face right when he was in range, stunning him just long enough for her to use the spray on him, sending him to the floor in an angry, pained, cursing heap.
She grabbed the gun away from him, aiming with all the confidence of someone...who'd only ever shot a gun a few times when she had reluctantly joined in on Mr. Tipton's hunting trips to babysit his daughter.
She eventually forced herself to fire, shooting him in the foot a couple of times and was out with the door locked behind her before her mind could hope to process what she'd just done. A static sound coming from her earpiece reminded her that her friends were waiting for her.
-000-
As for Connie, Jeff was much trickier for her to avoid. He didn't have the advantage of range, and he knew it. That's why he wound up taking a more covert approach.
Compared to Maddie, her game of hide and seek was mutual, him stealthily slipping from door to door trying to sneak up on her, and her doing the same to keep herself away.
Not having to worry about getting shot allowed for her to plan the best time for her to turn the tables on him.
The opportunity would present itself when she got to a room that the twins (Zack in particular) would absolutely love.
It was pretty much a skate shop filled to the brim with skateboarding memorabilia.
The Latina gazed in wonder for a bit before picking a place to hide as the expected footfalls closed in…
-000-
Jeff barged in mere minutes later.
"Come out, come out wherever you are…"
Slithering among rows and rows of helmets, boards, and knee pads, he perked up and struck whenever he saw movement.
"Over here…"
Jeff growled, looking around carefully. Where was that voice coming from?
He looked up and saw some posters, an old TV from the 90s, some mannequins…
His eyes locked on the latter, but he was a little too slow to catch on to the oddity of one in particular.
"RAAAAH!"
He was on the ground before he knew it, tackled by a very angry (and surprisingly strong) teenager. He managed to get close to killing her a couple of times in the rolling melee that ensued, but got his weapon forced out of his hands.
Frustrated, he then switched gears to trying to strangle her, which might have worked, if it weren't for one thing…
She could still use her lower body.
Once she got a good knee or two into his crotch, he was forced to loosen his grip. When one of his hands was in position, she bit down as hard as she could, making him grunt in pain.
Stumbling away, she would quickly find one the skateboards hanging on the wall, frantically slamming it on his head at full force until it broke and he blacked out.
Connie escaped as fast as she could powered by sheer adrenaline, but not before grabbing the knife he'd dropped, just to be safe…
-000-
Meanwhile, the rest of the group was left in the dark.
"Anything yet?" Cody had slipped into London's room in order to ask this. He had suggested shifting rooms every so often (turning out to be about 10 minutes) and they took it. His brother had thrown in his own two cents, which would see them talk a little bit during the transition, not only to keep them updated on were they all were and their individual situations, but to keep them awake and alert on top of it.
They needed to be if…
Cody shook his head, refusing to think about that.
"Uh, HELLO!"
The rich girl snapped him out of his thoughts, waving her hand in his face.
"Oh, uh, yeah? Sorry about that. What were you saying?"
A glint of annoyance appeared on her face for a split second before it gave way to genuine frustration and apprehension. "No. I haven't heard anything yet."
The smarter twin smiled tightly, hoping that his doubts weren't that obvious. Despite her lack of smarts when it came to the vast majority of things not fashion-related, she could read people surprisingly well…
"I'm sure she'll be okay. She knows how to take care of herself, just like you do."
A moment passed with her giving him a probing look.
"So you're scared too, huh?"
Case in point…
He looked away. "Yeah, but… I just have to believe that, you know? I'm not exactly a never-ending well of confidence like Zack."
She nodded sympathetically, unsure what else to say.
The silence lingered there for just a moment too long.
"I… I've probably been here too long. I should go," Cody stammered as he began to back out.
"Wait."
The blonde stopped moving. "Hm?"
The girl hesitated for a moment, visibly deliberating on her next words.
"Connie…thinks you're an extra special person and would want you to believe in her because she believes in you too!"
All of that was blurted out in a mess of words that left the blonde boy dumbfounded.
Flattered, but dumbfounded.
"Okay, then…" he forced an even more awkward smile as he slipped out the door.
-000-
Similar conversations marked the uneasy period that passed with no word on the girls' status. On a brighter note, they did learn a bit more about their new acquaintances.
It turned out that Jason had moved here a few years ago from Atlanta, Georgia, and was a huge fan of scary movies before all this happened. Now, he wasn't so sure. As for why the three were here in the first place, both himself and Freddy avoided answering this question…until Zack got the chance to corner the latter boy with it.
"You…don't want to know," The brown-haired boy looked around the room as if he'd rather be anywhere but there.
This only made his opposite more curious, and he pressed the question he had. "It's obvious that it's got something to do with those two creeps. Are… Are they making you guys help them?"
Unbidden tears began to form in Freddy's eyes, blurring his vision. He remembered… It.
The last time he'd seen his mother's hazel eyes. There wasn't that angry fire in them from what turned out to be their very last argument over his future. It was when they were filled with lifeless rigor while he had been forced to identify her lacerated corpse…
He didn't even like thinking about the state he'd found his father in not long afterwards.
"I'm sorry, Mommy and Daddy! Sorry..." These were among the words he was ceaselessly mumbling amidst his rapid sobs. All Zack could really do is sit by him and try to keep him quiet enough to not get them caught if those guys were still out there somewhere.
He wondered how people like his brother made this stuff seem so easy…
-000-
Soon enough, something disrupted the entire group's uneasy peace.
They were footsteps, but they sounded unfamiliar compared to those of the killers they had been used to and expecting by this point.
What was more, they sounded as if they were...limping?
It was also coming from back where they entered. No one was willing to check it out, not wanting to risk it being a ploy by the killers to get them into the open.
After a while of deliberation, It would fall to Jason and Zack to check it out.
Arming themselves with whatever piece of equipment they could get their hands on, they carefully crept out the door and into vulnerability.
The Caucasian blonde made it there first, but before he could try and break the metal chair over their injured assailant's head while he was looking the other way, he spoke up.
"You know, niño, if you want to sneak up on me, you might not want to do it in the middle of a brightly lit hallway, though I will credit you for bringing backup..."
"Rico?"
…and there he was. The thickly built Hispanic was now sporting a bleeding hole in his sports jacket going through his chest and somehow, someway, was still going. How was he still alive?
"Who did you think it was?" He turned to the boy, who visibly shrank away from him, though the action was involuntary and something he'd never admit to aloud. "Before you ask," he quickly threw in, "I have a bulletproof vest on." He quickly flashed it. "Now give me the basics. Where is everyone?!"
The boy couldn't help but obey at the behest of such a demanding tone from someone he knew could easily snap him in half.
"It's like this…"
-000-
A quick explanation and rendezvous with almost everyone in the central hallway later, and he found himself staring down a much angrier Rico.
Nobody wanted to tell him.
"Where. Is. She?"
A guilty silence reigned for minutes on end before Cody, unable to take the heat anymore, stammered out an answer.
S-She volunteered as bait along with Maddie…so that we'd have time to move to different hiding places so we wouldn't get k-killed…"
The budding security guard got in the shorter boy's face with a snarl and an absolutely paralyzing glare.
"We're looking for Connie first. If she's dead, you're dead! Got it?!"
Zack gulped, but slowly nodded his affirmation as if he was avoiding making sudden movements in the presence of a giant bear…which, given his size, wasn't that far off from the truth.
"Good," the teen said darkly before turning his attention to the others. "Let's go. Cody, keep track of where we've been. I don't want to end up stuck in this God-forsaken place forever."
The group silently obeyed, Cody giving his twin a semi-sympathetic look in passing even though he was the one who got all of them into this in the first place…
-000-
Thankfully, their journey didn't take that long. The extra sets of hands all working together to rule out empty rooms made sure of that much.
Eventually, it was Woody that came across a door that looked as if it'd been shot through. It was the endpoint of a bizarre lineup of bullet casings that set everyone on edge.
Rico glared at him when he hesitated to open it.
"Alright, alright! I'll open it…" The bespectacled boy mumbled something he was eternally grateful that no one heard and did so, quick to stand to the side.
What they saw was an unconscious, weapon-less Gace.
Fearfully, Woody went back to close it again, only to be stopped by Rico's foot.
Walking in himself, the bodyguard promptly stomped on one of the murderer's hands.
Jason, who was closest to Michael, was forced to cover the little boy's eyes and comfort him.
Everyone else reflexively winced.
He hoisted the shooter up by his shirt collar as the man screamed and cursed, his useless, bloodied feet dangling.
"You are going to help us look for someone."
The gunman still grimaced, unwilling to show his interrogator any fear. "You're a long way from being dead like you should be. You're lucky blondie took my gun away…
Gace was secretly planning on using his remaining good hand to sucker punch the Latino while he kept talking, but his fist was caught as Rico switched grips to keep him held in an instant.
"Wrong answer."
Another agonized scream rang out from the man before he passed back out.
Hoisting him over his shoulder, he looked at the group again, who were in various states of being unnerved by the violent display they'd just witnessed.
"Have I ever told you how much you scare me sometimes?" London asked, eliciting agreeing nods all around.
"I'm simply doing my job, Ms. Tipton." There was a sarcastic bent to his voice, though his cold edge disappeared when he really paid attention to Michael for the first time.
Momentarily saddling the two larger boys with carrying the killer's body, he knelt before the now-separated ginger boy, gently hugging him in spite of his injury, speaking softly to him.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that."
Once the moment was over, Michael and the gunman switched handlers, and they kept moving, with everyone befuddled and looking at the rich girl. She put her hands up in defense.
"Hey, I didn't know!"
-000-
It was when Zack was ducking around the corner of yet another hallway later on that he found a rifle in his face.
He instinctively put his hands up, only to find the love of his life trembling behind the barrel.
"Z-Zack?!"
She dropped the weapon and embraced him.
"You know," the shorter twin quipped, love-struck. "If you wanted to do things this way, I know a place where—"
"Don't look too deep into this," she reminded him, cutting him off before he could make the moment weird.
The rest of the group caught up, having a brief reunion before continuing onwards to look for Connie.
-000-
Behind a certain door, however, someone finally stirred awake.
Snarling like an animal, he painfully dragged his broken body over to the other end of the skate shop. He viciously wiped the dried blood away from his eyes.
He'd have done the same with his teeth, but that would've taken way longer.
Besides, this way, he looked a lot more intimidating.
Regardless of looks, he continued to crawl with his usable appendages until he shoved open the door through sheer force of will. He didn't care about the pain, or even the lack of his main weapon, as he had but one mission in mind…
That girl was going to die, by any means necessary!
-000-
The man wouldn't have had to look far.
Connie was only a few doors down from the skate shop.
This served two purposes: she figured that she'd be easier to find, however little, if she stayed relatively close to where she was until the others could find her.
She looked at the knife she had pilfered.
If its most recent owner, or even worse, Gace, ever showed up, and it came to it, she would seize upon the opportunity to...do what needed to be done.
Just like her uncle taught both siblings so long ago...
She had heard banging coming from the direction of the skate shop and immediately knew who it was.
Reflexively, she reached for her ear and gritted her teeth, letting a few more choice words slip as she realized she had left her earpiece with London.
She was on her own for now and might just have to find the others herself…
-000-
Jeff silently fumed in the room he'd taken to hiding in. He'd check upon entry, and unfortunately for him, it was completely empty. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
He may have been furious, but he wasn't stupid.
He wouldn't be able to stalk his prey in his current state, and would have to stay hidden if he wanted his kill…
His thoughts trailed off as he heard a very familiar voice, or rather, a group of them.
"You're a real spoil sport, you know that?" came a male with a southern accent.
I can go for your arms next, old man," came a cold, unforgiving Spanish accent.
"I-I'd listen to him..." A nasally voice that sounded to him like fresh meat.
He then heard the cowering whimper of none other than little Mikey.
"Shut him up!"
A brief commotion ensued, and then his partner fell silent.
What to do here? Even if he weren't injured, he'd have a pretty difficult time killing all of them. Perhaps he could pick off the stragglers one by one?
No! He wanted to smash his fist against the wall. He'd just be outnumbered, and the Spanish guy didn't sound like he was interested in taking prisoners.
"Huh? What's that?"
Jeff perked up as if he'd had a hit of caffeine. They sounded close! Quickly, he tucked himself away into the most out of the way corner he could find. He hated himself for hiding away like the worms he used to hunt, but he didn't have much of an option but to do exactly that and live to add to his count another day.
"Does that look like…"
"…dried blood?!"
It was a very short time before the door was thrown open.
"Consuela!"
"Connie, are you in here?"
With an entire group of brats on his tail, he would inevitably get caught, no matter what he did from here. Especially since they were also looking for someone… Was it that girl?
He took a last look at his battered frame. He was pretty much half-dead already…
That's when the idea hit him.
Those high-school improv lessons would come in handy after all.
-000-
The group of preteens and teens would search in vain for their friend. When Rico grew frustrated and they were on the verge of walking out, Marcus stumbled upon something that felt oddly fleshy and soft.
His rather girlish screaming alerted the rest to the grisly sight of a lifeless Jeff.
On sight, Gace was put down and promptly rendered unconscious by the male fraternal twin. He took the rifle from Maddie and aimed it at the man, nothing but hatred in his eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?! Isn't he already dead?"
He didn't glance at the protesting blonde.
"Cody, check. Now."
The taller of the twins didn't dare hesitate at that tone and flew to do as told.
He didn't feel a pulse, and his heart rate only went down when he discovered that the man didn't seem to have one left.
"He's gone. Good riddance."
"Can't say I'll ever feel bad for him…"
"You hear that, Mikey? He can't hurt you anymore…"
Similar sentiments made their way around as everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
None of them noticed the slight smirk crossing the gunman's barely conscious face until it was long gone.
That sly dog.
-000-
Connie was well and truly lost.
She hadn't been tracking where she was going, though to be fair, sans her way with gadgets, she was pretty terrible with directions overall.
The adrenaline had long-since worn away and exhaustion and hunger were finally having their say…
"If only I could shut them up," she mouthed to no one in particular as she walked.
In her tired, increasingly desperate mind, she was actually considering calling out for her friends.
On the one hand, that would leave her exposed if the two nutcases wandering around were still out there.
On the other hand, her rumbling stomach was making a convincing argument.
As were her slowing steps…
…and the crushing reality that she might just die alone in this endless underground prison if she didn't meet up with someone.
Coming to the decision that it would be better to risk begging a serial killer for some food as a last request rather than have the certainty of simply starving to death, she started wearing out her voice calling pretty much everyone she knew until she couldn't do so anymore and her mounting fears got the better of her.
Deciding to have the meltdown that she couldn't hold back any longer in the middle of the hallway she was in, she started sobbing quietly, trying to make her last thoughts good ones, while at the same time wishing that her brother, Cody, or anyone else was here to at least comfort her…
-000-
Back with the kids, Zack was glaring daggers at the dangling figure of Gace. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why the man had that twisted grin on his face for the last while…
"What are you planning?" He asked just low enough for the two alone to hear amidst the indistinct chatter of the rest.
"Nothing. Or maybe, I'm thinking about how I'm gonna blow those brains of yours out…"
"Fat chance. It's not like you're gonna do anything with feet you can't use and one good hand."
He didn't let up. "You'd be surprised how creative me and my partner can be when we set our minds to it."
"Yeah, well, your partner's dead, so it doesn't matter anyway."
"You just keep telling yourselves that," the man said cryptically, following it up with something that froze Zack's blood. "Besides, I ought to thank you for this little hunt. None of it would have been possible without you."
The air seemed to freeze, and the twin suddenly felt like he got hit by a truck.
He'd caused all of this! If they had just gone trick-or-treating like usual…
Gace got the reaction he was looking for, it seemed, and he kept on pushing.
"Maybe I should pay you guys another visit when I heal up. Identical twin boys would be a pretty rare find, and a good edition to my kill count…"
"Shut up."
"Just saying," the southerner's gaze shifted over to Cody, who was talking with Jason. "Looks pretty skittish. Think he's a screamer—"
He was swiftly silenced by a punch to the face by Zack, followed by another, and then another. The only thing stopping him from beating the gunman to a bloody pulp, in fact, was the army of teens available to hold him back.
Rico was about to comment on this little outburst when he heard something faint that made him shush everyone.
London opened her mouth to complain, only to hear the faint shouting he was talking about. Before Rico or anyone else could so much as turn around, the rich girl took off in the direction of the voice, feverishly shouting Connie's name.
"Stupid girl," Rico mumbled to himself before taking off in the same direction with the rest of the party lagging behind.
-000-
Drifting in and out of consciousness, a weakened Connie suddenly felt like she was floating.
Voices? These didn't sound like Abuelito…
They sounded much younger…
She soon felt the strong arms of someone whose touch she could never mistake.
Her protector.
Her hero.
Her Rico.
A smile formed on her lips, her mind faintly getting the message that somehow, everything would be okay from now on…
-000-
It was while they were making their way back that London brought up something that everyone had forgotten…
"Wait a minute. Where are our phones?!"
"Oh, those are up in the security room," Freddy remarked casually, and kind of unnervingly so, prompting the twins to harmonize…
"You took them, didn't you?"
"Hey, you were out cold. It wasn't hard. We didn't exactly have a choice, given the circumstances." He glared at the killer's lifeless form in Jacob and Woody's struggling grip. "Besides, I had to hide them from those creeps…"
Gace suddenly perked back up. "Creep? I'll have you know that I'm—"
BAM!
"…going back to sleep," Zack finished, shaking off his hand.
The Asian girl rolled her eyes. "Anyway, we better get them and be out of there soon. I have a pedicure at 10:00 tomorrow."
Rico was aghast. "You're kidding, right? You're thinking about that with everything we've been through tonight?!"
"You're right! I need the entire spa treatment, not just the pedi…"
She took in all the blank stares surrounding her and looked back in confusion.
"What? I could pay for you guys, too. My treat."
Everyone could live with that.
-000-
Once they got back into the main hall, they made a quick pit stop in the security room a floor above the maze to get their devices, and then finally left. It was a tight fit in the Tipton helicopter this time, but it wasn't like anyone cared…
They'd catch some sleep as Rico dropped a now tied-up Gace at the police station before taking everyone to the hospital.
-000-
A couple of days later…
One of the many Tipton Resort and Spa locations on the Eastern Seaboard had been reserved by the heiress herself for her private party. The group was more relaxed than they'd been in the past 48 hours, especially the new arrivals…
"Ah, this is the life!" Jason exclaimed as most of the guys were getting their massages while the girls were busy with pedicures.
"How do you guys ever get tired of this stuff?" Freddy quipped, trying to keep his curly brown locks from sopping up the sweat from his lightly bronzed face.
"You'd be surprised what you can get used to, given enough exposure…" Cody commented from his cot across from them.
"Hey, I'm not fighting it," Rico said from his cot. "It's just one of the perks of the job. Isn't that right, Squirt?"
Michael, despite his age, was getting a massage himself. He was happy, but his attention was fixated more on the arcade outside the spa.
"Can I go, please?!"
"After your massage, little one."
He kept to himself the details of the Tiptons' deal with the Witness Protection Program for now, so as not to put a damper on this day. They all needed this.
His begging and childlike wonder continued for quite some time, eventually causing the group to burst out in laughter.
Even a strangely silent Zack, despite his best efforts to mope around, couldn't help but crack a smile at the display.
His twin was aware of this, so he decided to confront him as soon as they were done.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Zack couldn't bring himself to look at his mirror image. "None of your business."
The smart twin raised an eyebrow. "That kind of answer makes it my business. What is it?"
He didn't answer, hoping to simply wait Cody out.
No such luck. He still sat there expecting a response.
He mumbled something indistinguishable, but Cody deciphered it with ease.
"You didn't kill us, Zack. You couldn't have known those lunatics were waiting for us…"
"…but we shouldn't have even been there in the first place," the shorter twin admitted, mainly to keep Cody from lecturing him.
"That's true," he affirmed in what had to be the most parental tone imaginable. Neither of them spoke, but due to many past instances of false apologies, he was able to deduce the meaning of Zack's truly contrite look without needing to extract an apology from him.
"I forgive you, though. I'm sure, in time, the others will come around, too, if they haven't already…"
He smiled warmly and quickly bro-hugged his brother, who surprisingly didn't bother fighting it.
"Also, I'm not sure why, but I feel the need to thank you for sticking up for me, so there you go."
A real smile found its way on Zack's face too, only for it to melt into a look of confusion as he sniffed the air.
"Codes, do you smell something…?"
-000-
The smell wafted throughout the room, distracting Woody midway through his long-awaited tub of candy.
"Something cooking?"
Marcus noticed it, too. "Definitely something cooking,"
Connie had her sunglasses on, reading a book, when she smelled it. She didn't even bother looking up from it.
"Huh. Catering must be really good at their jobs…"
"Can't wait," Maddie agreed, following the smell to…
…London tanning and the grayish fumes rolling off of her and her mirror.
"London… Y-You're..."
The Asian girl let down the sunglasses and turned to her. "What?"
"You're smoking hot!" Jason called from his side.
"Tell me something I don't know," she rattled off before going back to her business.
"No, seriously, you're burning up!" The blonde and Hispanic screamed simultaneously. "Rico, agua. Ahora!"
On instinct, the chauffeur did as instructed, there in a few minutes with a bucket.
"Out of the way!"
Rico did the deed, and one splash of freezing cold water later stood a shivering, infuriated young socialite.
The security guard couldn't suppress his laughter.
"Well, you did need to cool off."
"You're lucky you're handsome and so good at your job." she mumbled to herself before saying aloud, "I'll be in the shower. Don't bother me!"
With that, she stormed off, leaving some bewildered workers in her wake.
-000-
On a road somewhere in Boston…
A man drove furiously, not because he was late to an appointment or other trivial matter, but because of something much worse.
He had a knife at his throat.
"Keep driving," the assailant in the passenger's seat ordered, sounding threatening even in his beaten, haggard state.
I will have my revenge, and no one's going to stop me!
-END-
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