Two years ago...
A bus containing eleven students and three faculty members cruised down the open highway. The students were just getting back from an incentive trip reserved only for the kids who had had perfect attendance the entire year, their Freshman year. They were being escorted by Mr. Myers, a sadistic math teacher and Ms. Voorhees, a mousy and work-obsessed librarian. The kids were chatting idly about the movie they had just seen.
"And that one guy was like, 'What did you just say?'"
"I know! And then that car exploded! It was awesome!"
The mindless banter from the teenagers was irritating Mr. Krueger, the bus driver, to no end. Eventually, he had had enough. He turned away from the road, hands off the steering wheel, to yell at the kids.
"ALRIGHT! NO ONE IS TO SAY ANOTHER WORD UNTIL WE GET BACK TO SCHOOL!" He turned back to face the road only a moment too late. The bus had swerved headlong into an oncoming car containing only one passenger. Mr. Krueger tried to move out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. The bus smashed into the car, sending it careening down the side of the road and into a nearby ditch. Mr. Krueger stopped the bus and went to inspect the damage. He called 911 on his cell phone and drove the bus away from the scene. Not another word was said about anything, not even between Mr. Myers and Ms. Voorhees.
Present day...
"Just one more minute..." Terran Murdock whispered under his breath. He was watching the classroom's clock in anxiety, fifty-two seconds, fifty-one seconds, fifty seconds... Each second seemed like an hour. The red hand moved slowly around the clock, passing each number hesitantly. It was the last day of school, and Mr. Myers had kept Terran and ten other students after for playing an "innocent" game of kickball in the class. Mr. Myers said to stay ten minutes after the bell rings, and the tenth minute was less than thirty-seconds away...
During that thirty seconds, Terran had to endure the insufferable ramblings of the two girls behind him.
"No way!" Jessica Peterson shouted. Jessica was your typical ditsy blond, and rumored to be the school slut.
"Yeah, way!" Courtney Freund responded, sounding excited. Courtney and Jessica were best friends, and have been since third grade. Courtney, again, was the stereotypical popular girl, but with a twist: she was a brunette, and it was natural!
Terran diverted his attention to the other people in the class. Travis Carter and Cody Miller were idly talking about the newest role-playing game they had downloaded off the Internet. Terran didn't even know why they tried to participate in the kickball game. They were the two biggest, literally in Travis's case, nerds in the whole school, and maybe even the planet. Maybe they were trying to recreate their self image for the next school year, or maybe they just wanted an excuse to practice their LARP skills.
In front of Cody and Travis was a group of three girls: Samantha "Sam" Altman, Meagan Fisher and Amber Dawes. Sam was a cute blond that Terran secretly harbored a crush on, but was never courageous enough to act upon it. Meagan was the daughter of a teacher at the school and was a total preppy, student body president type. Amber, unlike Courtney or Jessica, or even Sam, was not attractive in the least. One would call her "fugly," but she thought that everyone liked her and was her friend. The opposite was true.
Sitting next to Terran was his best friend, DJ Johnson, a wannabe gangster that could never get the persona just right. On the other side of him was Blake Burke, the football star who had been asked out by Amber numerous times, but for some odd reason, he always rejected her. Sitting all alone in the far corner was a girl dressed all in black, hair dyed black and black makeup, Nikki Stanley. She was the residential goth chick. She stayed behind because she felt, "Ending the school year was an example of man's hypocritical ways of always giving himself an undeserved sense of accomplishment," or something like that.
Mr. Myers sat on his swivel-chair behind his desk, watching smugly as the eleven students waited anxiously for the bell to ring. Terran glanced at the clock one last time. Three seconds, two seconds, one...
Terran sprung from his position in the desk with his backpack in his hand and bolted for the door. Several others crowded behind him. Terran reached his hand to freedom, to the end of his Junior year of high school, to the end of the tyrannical rule of Mr. Myers, until...
The lights suddenly flickered out. Terran stopped dead in his tracks. Not able to see anything, he couldn't open the door. And that's when it happened:
"AAAaaargh!" A blood curdling scream filled the deathly silent room. Many other voices screamed in reaction. One of the lights flickered back on, and before the class was the corpse of Mr. Myers.
"OH MY GOD!" Courtney and Jessica screamed in unison. Mr. Myers was laying on the ground, back up, with multiple stab wounds dotting his back. One of his fists was still firmly grasping his empty coffee cup. His lifeless eyes gazed ahead in a frozen expression of pain. A thin stream of blood seeped from his open mouth, filling the grooves of the linoleum.
"What happened?!" Terran exclaimed. He looked around and saw various looks of horror and disgust spread like butter across the vast canvas that were his classmate's faces. Except one person, however, looked rather amused.
"You think this is funny, goth girl?" Blake confronted Nikki with a menacing glare.
"What? You don't? Don't you see? Karma. He stabbed so many people in the back, he was stabbed in the back."
"What are you talking about?" Jessica asked. She and Courtney were hugging each other for protection while Terran and DJ tried to open the classroom door, but it was now mysteriously locked from the outside.
"What goes around comes around, Blondie," Nikki answered. Jessica glared at her. Terran and DJ had given up on the door. The eleven faces went back to the body of Mr. Myers. Yes, he was the meanest teacher in America, but even he didn't deserve this. Slowly, the the teenagers began to put two and two together.
"You did it! You killed him!" Sam pointed an accusing finger at Nikki. Nikki rolled her eyes and then laughed.
"How could I? I was sitting at my desk while you animals were barraging through the door. Maybe during that confusion one of you did it." Blake tensed up and looked ready to punch her in the face.
"Whatever, let's just get out of here!" Courtney cried out in near tears. Terran, Blake and DJ had gone back to shaking the door open, to no avail.
"We're locked in," Terran announced after a while of jostling.
"What do we do now? I can't stay here with a dead body any longer!" Meagan was fanning herself, trying not to puke. "Maybe my dad's still here?"
DJ lunged for the phone, looked at the directory, found Meagan's dad's room number and dialed frantically. DJ waited a second, looked quizzically at the phone, dialed again, but nothing, not even a dial tone.
"The phone's not working...Oh crap!" DJ saw that the telephone wire was severed cleanly. Frustrated, he through the receiver across the room, nearly hitting Travis in the head. Cody walked up to the door, and looked at where the deadlock was positioned.
"Anyone got a credit card?" Cody asked. Instantaneously, Jessica produced three cards from her pocket.
"Much obliged, young miss." Cody bowed low as he took one of the cards. Courtney inaudibly mouthed "Loser," as Cody picked the lock. In good time, the door clicked open and the group burst into the hallway. Blake ran to the end of the hallway, arriving at the door leading outside, only to find it locked, too.
"Hey, nerd! Open this door!" He accented his command with a loud bang on the door. Cody scurried over to the door, card in hand.
"Um, this doesn't have doorknob, its a push-door, and it appears to have some sort of reinforced substance behind it..." Cody babbled on, with no one paying attention.
"In English, dork," Blake threatened.
"There's something metal blocking it from the outside." Cody arrogantly walked back to the others. Blake reluctantly followed, after eying the door one last time. There was a sheet of metal on the other side, and it was bolted down, tight.
"Ah the irony..." Nikki mused once again. Everyone shot her a dirty look as she explained. "America worships the quarterback. He doesn't have to work for anything, everyone opens the door for him, and now, somebody's denying him access. This is my kind of psycho!"
"Shut up, Nikki!" Terran shouted. Usually, Terran was laid-back, chill, but when the situation persists, he lets his emotions flare. "We need to work together to get out of here before that guy that got Mr. Myers gets us! We don't need you being a Negative Nancy saying everybody's gonna die, 'cuz they're not!" Nikki rolled her eyes, still smirking.
"So what we do?" DJ broke the awkward silence.
"We look and see if we can get help," Terran answered. "Anyone got a cell-phone?" Jessica pulled out her phone, but looked dismayed.
"The batteries are dead." A sullen mood drifted over the teenagers.
"Maybe we should split up and try to find someone?" Amber suggested.
"Don't you watch horror movies? That's the worst possible thing you could do!" Blake argued. No one could contradict that logic. If they were all together, it would be harder for the killer, or maybe killers to get them.
"Let's just see if there's anybody else at the school, and that they're alive." Travis said. It was odd, Travis hardly ever spoke. Yes he was the fat kid, and yes he was the biggest nerd ever, but everyone seemed to listen and obey him this one time. The ragtag group of teens walked down the hallway, passing doors, open and closed. The hallway was short, with only six classrooms on either side, one being room 213, inhabited only by the decomposing carcass of Mr. Myers. The halls were oddly silent. In the few open classrooms, the group only saw desks, no signs of life. The other doors were simply locked, from the inside, as they should be at the end of the day once the teachers leave.
The hallway ended, coming into a hub of the three hallways of the school and the front office. Terran pressed his face against the glass of the small window adorning the solid-oak and firmly locked door. The office was completely vacant, not even an ant scurried along the floor. Something did catch his eye, though. The clock above the door leading outside read 3:16, an hour and sixteen minutes after school was supposed to be let out. And an hour and six minutes after Mr. Myers was supposed to let them out. When Terran was staring at the clock in room 213, he distinctly remembered it reading 2:10.
"That bastard," Terran muttered under his breath.
"What is it?" Sam asked. Taking a breath, Terran explained.
"What time do you think it is?"
"About two-twenty. What does that—," Meagan began.
"Well, it's not. It's actually three-twenty. Mr. Myers set the clock back an hour, so we could be held back even longer than we should."
"Ha! Again, Karma! I don't see why you guys think that it's not ironic!" Nikki scoffed. Everyone had grown immune to Nikki's soliloquies about death and Karma by now.
"So that means nobody's here, huh? We're all alone?" Amber deducted.
Terran stared at the floor and nodded. "Yeah, I guess we are."
"So how do we get out of here?" DJ asked.
"All of the doors have the sheet metal behind them. Even if we could charge Jessica's phone, there wouldn't be any service in this building," Cody explained.
"We need to just stay here, alive, until someone comes." Sam's method of cheering up the mood was harshly dimmed by another quote of Nikki's.
"If someone comes. And who knows when that'll be?" Just as she finished, a dark clothed figure appeared out of sight of the group. The figure was wearing a clichéd scheme mask and a black sweater and slacks. It walked easily, almost gracefully, as it approached from the east hall. DJ and Terran were standing with their backs facing the figure. As the group yammered on, the figure stealthily approached the two best friends. Courtney stared, her eyes widening, her mouth dropping as the figure produced a clean and shiny meat cleaver from within the folds of the sweater.
"Courtney? What's wrong?" DJ asked. Courtney lifted her finger in sheer terror at the encroaching threat. Quizzical, DJ and Terran turned to see the figure no more than three inches behind them. Terran quickly bolted forward. DJ wasn't as lucky. In mid-gait, the figure thrust the blade into DJ's abdomen. The knife protruded from his body and was drenched in blood. The blood dripped onto the floor audibly. DJ's face twisted as the knife was pulled from his body. The figure examined the meat cleaver closely as the frightened group separated and ran in opposite directions. DJ's lifeless mass fell to the floor with a resounding thud. Terran, Sam and Amber escaped into the nearby north hall, where the library and the infamous room 213 were located. Meagan, Travis, Courtney and Cody fled to the west hall where the science class rooms and the computer lab were. Nikki, Jessica and Blake ran behind the killer, into the east hall, composed entirely of normal classrooms. The dark figure stayed in the hub and waited, waited for just the right moment...
Meagan, Travis, Courtney and Cody entered the deserted west hallway with adrenaline flowing freely through their veins. Courtney and Cody managed to enter the open door that led to the computer lab and Meagan and Travis hid in the Home Economics room. Both groups slammed the doors behind them and locked them securely.
"That was too close!" Meagan said as her and Travis examined the Home Ec. class. Several counters and tables were spread throughout the room. Various appliances dotted the tops of each, from mixers and blenders, to toasters and waffle-makers. In the far corner, a huge industrial refrigerator was situated. The silver sheen coming off of it was almost blinding to the two teens. Meagan walked over to the phone near the door, only to find the wire cut also. Travis sat down in the middle of the room, wallowing in his own pity and mourning. Meagan continued to dart around the room, making sure there was no way for the killer to enter.
Travis kept repeating "Poor DJ, poor DJ..." over and over again, clutching his knees and rocking back and forth. When everything was secure, Meagan snapped.
"Shut UP, Travis! Yes, he died, but we're still alive! And if we help each other, no more of us will be killed!" The sweet and innocent Meagan that got straight A's since first grade, that was on every sports team, that was the student body president, was now hostile. The normally perfectly straightened jet-black hair was in a horrific disarray, covering her face. Her bright green eyes were now fiery with fury. Travis stared aghast at her. Not another word was spoken between the two of them for quite some time.
Travis glanced out of the window and saw through the library window. Three people ran inside the library and locked the door behind them. Travis was relieved that he and Meagan weren't the only survivors...
Terran, Sam and Amber had made it into the library at the end of the north hall, right across from room 213. Terran immediately locked the door behind the trio. The three panted in sync with each other, gasping out the fear that had overtaken them. Terran's knees slowly buckled and he slid down the door until he was sitting with his legs bent up. He limply laid his arms on his knees and drooped his head down.
Amber knelt next to him and attempted to console him.
"Terran, I'm sorry about DJ." Terran was slightly repulsed by Amber, but for some reason, maybe pity, he humored her.
"Thanks, Amber."
Sam paced back and forth, walking through the shelves upon shelves of books, inspecting for anything out-of-the-ordinary, or deadly. What she found was both.
"OH MY GOD!" she screamed. From the door, Amber and Terran ran to the non-fiction section and the aisle where Sam was standing, covering her eyes, and crying.
"What is—OH MY GOD!" Terran knew why she screamed. In front of Sam were the bodies of Ms. Voorhees and Mr. Krueger, the school librarian and bus driver. Ms. Voorhees's limp body was in the exact position she was in every day. Her right arm was in the shelf, her knuckles white from clutching the biography of some dead poet. Her mousy hair was curled and styled to cover the majority of her face, only to be thwarted by the Steve Urkel-esque glasses she wore. Her throat was slit and blood flowed freely, pooling among the volumes of classic literature. She was kneeling in front of the the shelf and apparently was caught off guard. Mr. Krueger's body was sitting, his back against the book shelf. He was wearing his usual blue bus driver's uniform. His shirt was stained with grease and his huge belly was threatening to burst it open. He looked perfectly fine, except for the charred remains that were his head. Blood didn't flow from his neck, but ashes did. They were flying all about him and congregating on his lap.
"He must have done this after Mr. Myers," Sam said. Amber agreed and the two left the aisle. Terran stared at the corpses one last time before leaving. As he left the aisle, he heard a loud thud from outside, in the hallway.
"Sam? Amber? Did you hear that?" Terran asked to open space. He walked into the lobby and saw the girls looking out the small window on the door. Outside was figure, taunting them. It pretended to use its knife to shatter the window, only to bring it back at the last second. It made several obscene gesture with his free hand at all three of them.
"Just ignore him! Get away from the door!" Terran called out. Without thinking twice, the two girls ran away to join Terran behind the desk where Ms. Voorhees checked out books. The intimidating knocking lasted only a minute more before it stopped abruptly. Terran peeked out from under the desk and saw that the killer was gone, for now...
Courtney and Cody ran around frantically, trying to find a hiding place in the computer lab. Only four long tables were laid horizontally across the small room, each dotted with eight monitors connected to one tower. Courtney, as a last resort, ducked underneath one of the tables near the window and Cody did the same, only closer to the door. How did I end up with über nerd? she thought to herself as the nervous Cody bit his fingernails uncontrollably. Minutes passed, each more grueling than the last. Eventually, they heard a loud knock on the door.
"What was that?" Courtney inquired frantically.
"I don't know, but be quiet!" Cody whispered loudly. He put his index finger to his lips. The two turned away from the door, out of sight, out of mind, right? Wrong. The killer used his long knife blade to pick the lock open with a loud click! Courtney turned to see what it was, but it appeared the killer had fled. She turned back around and sighed. Cody hadn't noticed anything, however. Slowly, and silently, the killer reopened the door. The handle turned downwards, and the bulk of the door moved forward. The figure crept in and shut the door behind them, all silent enough to hear a pin drop. The killer saw the kneeling figures of Courtney and Cody and approached the most vulnerable.
With the blade sheathed, he stood behind Cody. In one foul swoop, the killer had Cody's mouth covered and his knife at his throat. Still not a sound alerted Courtney to the presence. The killer began to cleanly sever Cody's head from his body. Cody squirmed and tried to scream, but couldn't make a sound. After the killer was an inch through the flesh, the squirming stopped. The killer held Cody's head and examined it. It closed his painful eyes and shut the gaping mouth. Cody's body fell from its crouching position and made a sound.
"Shut up Cody! He might hear you!" With that, the killer rolled the head like a bowling ball right in front of Courtney. She screamed and stood up fast, knocking herself unconscious underneath the table. As her unmoving form laid there, the killer walked over and dragged her out from under the table. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open.
"What? Oh my...HELP! HELP!" Her cries went unanswered as the killer held her down on the floor. With one hand on her neck, the other lifted up one of the computer monitors.
"No, NO! PLEASE DON'T!" The killer held the monitor screen down over her hysterical face. Now in full-on tears, she pleaded one last time.
"Please, don't do it," she cried. She closed her eyes. In a single motion, the killer smashed the monitor over the face of the squirming girl beneath it. Soon, the squirming stopped and the killer walked away from his latest accomplishments...
"What was that?" Jessica asked. Her, Blake and Nikki were hiding in a bathroom stall in the east hall.
"Oh, probably just someone getting their just desserts," Nikki said dryly.
"Maybe we should check it out. Maybe we could save someone." Blake sounded hopeful, but Nikki saw past it.
"Yeah, or maybe we'll get there just in time to get butchered ourselves?"
"Whatever, I'm going!" Blake opened the stall door and walked out. The halls were completely empty, eerily empty. Blake's footsteps echoed throughout the deserted school. He walked down the hallway until he came to the spot where DJ's body was laying. Closing his eyes, he walked past the body. Blood was still pooling about his form and glimmered slightly in the dim light. As he walked past, he heard a moan coming from behind him.
"Hello? Who's there?"
"Blake..." The voice sounded familiar. It seemed like it was coming from the floor. Blake looked and saw DJ's arm twitch. He quickly knelt down and talked to DJ.
"DJ, you still alive, man?" Blake turned DJ's head to face him. DJ's eyes looked like he had been crying. Blood was coming out of his mouth, staining his teeth crimson.
"Not for long. I want you to kill me." DJ said it so strait-forward and matter-of-fact that Blake went into a brief state of shock. He couldn't just kill somebody he could save.
"No, I—I can't. I just, can't."
"Yes, please. It's my last wish. Please just kill me, I can't live with the pain." DJ had started to cry again. With every word that came out of his mouth, gushes of blood came with it. Torn between two decisions, Blake decided to do the noble thing and put DJ out of his misery. Blake stood and walked over to a nearby fire extinguisher. He sighed as he pulled it off of its hook. Holding the fire extinguisher in his hands, he examined DJ one last time. Blake's knuckles grew white as he strengthened his grip. Blake knelt back down next to DJ and raised the extinguisher over his head. He faintly heard DJ mumble, "Thank you," as he hit him in the head with the extinguisher. A metallic clang sang through the air, alerting a certain black-clad figure...
"Did you hear that?" Meagan asked Travis. Travis sullenly nodded. "What do you think it was?"
"It sounded like someone hitting something with something metal," Travis said.
"Well, what could those 'somethings' and 'someone' be? Maybe we could help them!"
"I think we should stay here. If it's the killer, we can't afford to be part of the body count."
"I guess you're right." Meagan sat on one of the chairs to think about what they could do to help the others, while a certain someone anticipated their next big move...
Terran and Sam had kept a look-out on the hallway from their vantage point that was the window on the door. Amber had wandered around the library like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. Her main motive was to try and see out of any of the other windows in the library. She looked out of one and had a clear view of the Home Ec. room. Alas, its window was tinted. Amber walked to the last window in the room, the window looking out into the hallway. There she saw Blake walking away, teary-eyed, carrying a bright red fire extinguisher from the motionless lump on the ground that was DJ. Amber happily knocked on the window. Blake looked and ran to the window. A silent conversation ensued between the two. Amber told Blake to come into the library with them, but Blake was looking for Meagan, Travis, Courtney and Cody. Amber agreed to help him. In sync, the two walked to the door leading into the library.
"Terran, open the door!" Amber called out. Terran complied and in walked Blake, looking forlorn.
"Hey! You guys are still here!" Blake was in a pseudo-euphoria at the sight of the survivors, but Sam knew better than to believe the emotions presented on the outside of a person.
"Blake, what happened?" she pressed. Blake stammered a bit before answering.
"I—It was nothing. So have you seen anybody else?"
"No, how about you?" Terran asked.
"Yeah, Jessica and Nikki are safe in the east hall bathroom. Me and Amber were planning on going into the west hall to find the others."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if, you-know-who appears?" Sam asked.
"Well if he does, I have this!" Blake flaunted the fire extinguisher by hitting the end of it in his hand threateningly.
"Maybe we should get Nikki and Jessica, too, so we know everyone is safe," Terran suggested.
"Sounds like a plan. But remember: Be careful. You and Sam go get Nikki and Jessica, 'kay?"
"Okay, let's go."
Terran and Sam walked side by side through the hallways, passing DJ's remains. Terran winced a little, but carried on into the abyss. As they walked, Sam continually glanced over her shoulder and their surroundings to make sure no one was there. When they turned into the east hall, the power finally decided to go out, making it pitch-black.
"Perfect," Terran muttered. Even more scared now, the duo eventually made it to the bathroom.
"Nikki? Jessica?" Sam called out. No answer. They searched the entire bathroom, even the boys' next door. No sign of the girls anywhere. Assuming the worst, Terran and Sam left the bathroom in a sullen silence into the black, abysmal east hall.
Terran walked closer to Sam, putting his arm around her shoulders and slowly bringing his face to meet hers. She was the most beautiful person in the world right now. Her gorgeous blond hair framed her perfect face. Her exuberant green eyes were shining like emeralds even in the darkness. Sam felt Terran's gaze pressing on and she stopped walking. She turned her head slightly and met Terran's eyesight. Terran confidently pressed his lips against hers and was thrust into a world of pure ecstasy. Sam placed her hands on his shoulders as he moved his hands to her waist, not daring to go lower. Terran was finally accomplishing his life-long goal. What made the moment just that more spectacular was Sam kissing him back. Almost half a minute later, the two separated, gasping for air. The darkness they were in seemed to get a little brighter that moment.
"Sam, if we don't make it out of here alive, I want you to know I've always loved you."
"Oh, Terran, I love you too!" In another act of spontaneity, they kissed again. In mid kiss, however, they heard a banging coming from inside a room near them. Terran broke the kiss and listened more intently. He walked down the hall about five more steps and opened a door that he remembered to be the janitor's closet. When it opened, a haggard and near-passed out Nikki fell out. She gasped and wheezed, trying desperately to catch her breath. When her lungs were full she spoke:
"Thank you, you guys. That guy locked me in there and he took Jessica somewhere else. He said, 'She'll make the perfect disguise.'"
"'Perfect disguise'? What's that all about?" Sam thought aloud.
"I don't know, but we need to get back to the library. I hope Blake and Amber are okay." Terran reached behind Nikki into the closet and produced a flashlight. The light shone straight forward, illuminating the hallway. When he was positive no one was there, he started walking.
"Come on, we can't be slow." Terran, Sam and Nikki started heading back to the library.
Blake and Amber arrived at the west hall in a cold sweat, constantly checking around them. At one point, Amber was actually walking backward, her back to Blake's. Luckily for them, only the lights in the east hall went out, not the west or north. They first came to an empty science lab. The sinks and some of the dissecting scissors appeared to have bright crimson blood on them, but no one was in there. They walked a little bit further up the hall to the computer lab. The door was left open and it looked like one of the monitors had fallen down.
"Hello? Anyone in here?" Blake whispered carefully. He walked to the front of the room. He turned and at the same time as Amber, noticed Cody's decapitated body and Courtney's face smashed with a computer monitor. After getting over the initial shock of the death of two more people, Amber had realized the modus operandi of the killer.
"Sh—She's right...Nikki's right! Everyone was killed in an ironic way! Courtney was always worried about her looks and appearance, and had her face mutilated. Cody relied only on his smarts and brains, and he had his head cut off! Don't you see Blake? Nikki was right!" Amber seemed to be in hysterics, halfway between laughing maniacally, and crying profusely.
"And DJ was always trying to be a gangster, but he was killed by a member of his own gang...me..." The killer had planned for Blake to kill DJ the whole time. But the question was how were the rest of them going to be killed? Amber and Blake left the room to tell the others what they figured out, and fast...
Meagan and Travis were going crazy. They had been in the Home Ec. room for what seemed like days. And it didn't help much to hear a scream here, or a slice there. After a long period of silence, Meagan suspected them to be the only ones alive.
"Travis, do you think there's anyone left, besides us? Travis? TRAVIS!" Travis didn't answer. His hulking mass was still sitting in the same spot it had for hours, not moving an inch. "Travis, this isn't funny!" Meagan approached Travis and looked at him. In his lap wasthe tub of Rocky Road ice cream he had taken from the freezer a long time ago. The frozen dairy had melted into a sauce-like consistency. On his chin, several dribbles of the ice cream ran from his mouth. His eyes stared ahead, never blinking. His mouth never twitched.
"Travis?" Meagan asked one last time. She touched him on the shoulder and his body fell over backwards. Wide-eyed, she put two fingers on his wrist and tried to find a pulse.
"Oh my God, oh my God, OH MY GOD!" she cried. Meagan didn't know how he died, but he did. She ran around the room, sobbing intensely like a chicken with its head cut off. When she had calmed down enough, she looked at the ice cream he had been eating and sniffed it once. It smelled funny, like something she saw in science class. What was it called...CYANIDE! It was cyanide poisoning that killed Travis! She immediately left the tub where it was and ran out the door into the hallway, not caring what happened to her now...
Blake and Amber ran down the hallway until they saw Meagan running down the hall, crying.
"Meagan! What happened?" Blake asked. She ran up and hugged him for protection. She drowned his shirt with tears, and his ears with sobs.
"He, he got Travis! He poisoned the ice-cream!" Meagan explained.
"He always solved his problems with food, and then he was killed by it," Amber said, shaking her head.
"What? What do you mean?" Meagan asked.
"Amber figured out the killer kills by ironically killing somebody because of a flaw they have, and we're trying to warn the others before the killer can get them."
"Where are the others, and who are the others?"
"Well, Terran and Sam are still alive, and they went to get Jessica and Nikki. Courtney, Cody, DJ, and Travis, I guess, are all dead. Now hurry up, we need to get back to the library."
The trio walked back into the hub and up in the north hall. When walking in the hub, however, Blake didn't see DJ's body. He quickly shrugged it off and continued walking. The lights in that hall began to flicker and die out, too, just like the east hall. One by one, each section of the hall got darker. Eventually, they made it to the library with Terran, Sam and Nikki inside...
The rescue party had returned with Nikki to the library. As soon as they got in, the lights in the hall outside began to go out, one by one. Terran locked the door again as the the girls checked the rest of the library for the killer. In the same aisle where Ms. Voorhees's and Mr. Krueger's bodies lay, several new bodies were there as well.
"Terran!" Sam screamed. Terran hurried over and saw the horrific scene before them. Mr. Myers, Ms. Voorhees, Mr. Krueger, DJ, Travis, Courtney, Cody and one more unidentifiable body were all parts of a human sculpture of sorts. Mr. Myers had his hand, still clutching his coffee cup placed delicately in his hand. Ms. Voorhees was pulled out of the bookcase and the pool of blood had moved into her lap and her glasses were still perched precariously on her nose. Mr. Krueger was still in the same position he was in before. DJ looked like he had been hit in the head with something hard: a large round dent was set perfectly into his temple. Travis had much more melted ice cream covering his face and hair. His lips had turned blue and his eyes were glazed over. Courtney's face was almost completely flat and dotted with jagged pieces of glass and plastic. Blood was unable to flow and was building up behind her eyes, turning the whites beet-red. Cody's body sat almost perfect, with the exception of his severed head being held in his lifeless grip. The last body was too hard to look at: It was in the form of a human female, yes, but it appeared to be skinned alive. Bright red muscles showed over every inch and a severed artery was still spurting blood. What scared Terran the most, however, was that the circle wasn't whole. There was still space for six more bodies...
"We need to get out of here," Terran said quietly. He took Sam's hand and led her to the front door where Nikki was letting in Blake, Amber and Meagan.
"Where are you going?" Blake asked. Terran darted past him.
"Anywhere away from this sick place." Without having to think about it, the other five followed like lemmings. Terran still clutched the flashlight from earlier and Blake was still wielding the fire-extinguisher. The group walked down the north hall back to the now-vacant hub.
"Let's go inside the office," Nikki said. Sam and Meagan firmly agreed.
"I don't know..." Terran said.
"Yeah, the killer could be hiding in there," Amber said.
"Or he could expect us to go in there," Blake added.
"Maybe we shouldn't stay in the office..." Sam weighed the pros and cons in her head. Nikki stood her position firmly and Meagan was torn between the two sides.
"Um, I think I'll go with them, it's nothing personal, Nikki, I just think it will be better if we're in a big group."
"Whatever, Meagan. Go on, go get yourself killed. Don't worry about me." Terran, Sam, Amber, Blake and Meagan watched Nikki take a Barbie pin out of her hair and pick the lock. The door clicked open and Nikki walked inside. Just as she was safely inside, she turned and crossed her arms across her chest.
"See nothing to worry ab—." Her sentence was cut short as a knife was thrust from behind the door into the side of her ribcage. She looked down at the blade, and then desperately at the group before collapsing onto the ground, a bloody heap. Needless to say, the survivors ran, not in a specific direction, but just away...
The group arrived at the still-lighted west hall and all went into the science lab with the bloody sinks and dissecting scissors. Terran and Blake barricaded the door with all of the chairs in the class, and even the teacher's desk. Meagan looked out the window leading to the outside. Outside of this hell-hole, into freedom. She banged on the glass, but it didn't budge. She fell to her knees and began to cry. Sam went over to comfort her while Terran and Blake continued to block the door.
"It'll be okay, Meagan," Sam tried to calm her down.
"No, it won't be, Sam. We're never going to be able to get out of here. No one's coming to save us and that killer just won't leave us alone. We're all going to die and there's nothing we can do about it. Just look at who we've tried to save: You and Terran tried to get Jessica and Nikki, and we still haven't found her, or her body I might add; DJ was killed right off the bat while everyone just watched; Blake and Amber found Courtney and Cody dead; I was with Travis when he died! And then there are those stupid irony things Nikki and Amber kept talking about, like we're all being punished for something. I just want this all to be a bad dream..." Meagan covered her face in her hands and shook her head.
Amber approached Meagan. "Meagan, I think you're right. I think we are being punished for all the bad qualities we have: Mr. Myers was a backstabber; DJ was a wannabe; Courtney was conceited; Cody relied on his brain too much; Ms. Voorhees never did anything but work; Mr. Krueger was a hot head, and had his head burned; Travis had an eating-disorder. And I already no my flaw: I push people too hard. But I still think we can fight this, Meagan! We just need to work together, as a team."
Everyone, especially Meagan, seemed moved by Amber's speech. Being a homely girl, she almost never got any positive attention. But now, all things living and not were focused on her. She blushed slightly before going back to helping Terran and Blake. With a newfound courage, the remaining five worked together to get the door completely barricaded.
Once everything was in place, they rotated who would watch the hallway from the window on the door. First up was Blake. He watched uninterrupted, focusing every bit of himself to protecting the door. Not soon after he took the post, a figure walked past the door, a very attractive figure. It was a female, and almost resembled Jessica, albeit a little more masculine. It had long blond hair, like Jessica's, and was wearing clothes identical to Jessica's. It walked with its back facing the door, so Blake couldn't tell for sure, until it turned around. His hopes were confirmed: Jessica was still alive! He began to pull the chairs and desk away from the door.
"Blake! What the hell are you doing?" Terran screamed at him. Blake ignored him and opened the door. He walked outside and hugged Jessica from behind.
"You don't know how much I've missed you!" "Jessica" remained silent and stationary.
"Jessica? You okay?" Blake turned "her" around to face him.
"I'm just fine, baby," "Jessica" said. "Her" voice was much deeper, and threatening.
"Wait, what happened?" Blake backed away cautiously.
"Oh, I just had some work done, you like?" The fake Jessica twirled around once, and then brought both of her hands to her face, and pulled. In her hands was the face of Jessica, freshly skinned from its owner. Where the face used to be, was the face of an old classmate of theirs: Chris Friedrich, who was confirmed dead about two years ago.
"Ch-Chris? How is that—," Blake began. Chris walked over to him and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Chris? Who's Chris? I thought he died in that car crash a while ago by being hit with a school bus being ridden by these eleven, snotty teenagers and their two dimwit teachers!" Chris pulled a meat cleaver from Jessica's skirt pocket and thrust it into Blake's chest, penetrating his heart. He pushed it all the way in, and then pulled it back out. Blake fell to the ground, dead.
Meanwhile, in the classroom, Terran, Sam, Amber and Meagan watched the grueling events unfold. When Chris was done, he turned to face the others in the classroom.
"Now I think we understand each other, eh?" Chris walked toward the door as Terran and Amber frantically piled the chairs back up, but not fast enough. Meagan and Sam ran to the back of the class and tried to knock the window out with any blunt objects they could find. Chris was able to make it inside the classroom, however.
"Terran, Amber, I think you might be trying to keep me out. I just wanna play..." Chris sliced right across Terran and Amber, slightly cutting Terran's arm, but critically wounding Amber. A deep gash formed where the blade had landed straight across Amber's shoulders. Blood flowed freely from the wound. Amber gasped before falling onto the floor, defeated. Chris smiled at Terran wickedly.
"Come on now, let the lady take all of it? How rude of you!" Chris taunted. He raised his knife one last time. Terran ran over to help Sam and Meagan break the window. Chris casually approached the three survivors. Terran took a scalpel from a nearby table and pulled it on Chris.
"HA! Don't make laugh!" Chris tried to slice Terran again across the neck. Terran dodged at the last minute, letting the glass behind him take the blow. With a big crack now in the glass, Sam and Meagan were able to break a sizable chunk out of the window, though still not big enough to get through. Terran continued to occupy Chris' attention while Meagan bolted out into the hallway and grabbed Blake's discarded fire extinguisher. Sam tore more and more glass away, increasing the hole slightly, but still not enough. As Meagan approached from behind, Chris stopped moving.
"You know the great thing about fighting near a window?" Chris smiled even wider. Terran was confused beyond belief, but still listened to Chris. "You can always use it as a mirror." Chris swung around and sliced Meagan from the right hip, up to her left shoulder. She clutched herself and felt long and slimy things fall into her hands. Disgusted, she looked down and saw she was holding her own entrails. She fell onto her knees and doubled over crying. In her last breath on this earth, she apologized.
"I'm sorry, Terran. I'm sorry I couldn't help." Her breathing slowly stopped and her entire life-force left her in a single mass of blood and guts. The fire extinguisher rolled away to Amber's seemingly lifeless body. In a last effort, Sam banged on the glass, finally making a big enough hole to escape. She hurriedly hopped through.
"Terran! Come on!" she yelled from the other side. Terran tried to get to the window, but was too preoccupied with Chris.
"Yeah Terran, go with your girlfriend! I won't mind..." Chris lunged at Terran, stabbing him in the shoulder. Terran held onto his shoulder and winced in the pain.
"Terran!" Sam screamed. Her eyes were welled to the brim with tears. Terran moved closer and closer to the window, but Chris mirrored his every move. When Terran was finally in front of the hole in the window, Chris had his knife ready to decapitate him.
"Any last words Terry-boy?" Chris teased. Behind him, a figure moved from a position on the floor, wielding a fire-extinguisher. The figure approached, limping slightly. Terran smiled.
"Yeah, I do: Look out." Chris frowned and turned around just in time to see Amber hit him in the head with the fire-extinguisher. Dazed, Chris fell to the ground, unconscious. Terran ran around and hugged Amber, both of their wounds burning at the slightest touch.
"YES!" Sam yelled from outside. Terran glanced down at Chris' figure below him. Terran sniffed once and then spat on him. He led Amber and himself out of the window and into freedom. Soon enough, they made it to the parking lot where two cop cars and an ambulance had arrived. One cop jumped out of his car and questioned the only three survivors.
"Are you kids okay? What happened in there?" They continued to walk in silence. The second cop tried to ask them the same questions, but the first cop shushed him.
"They've been through a lot. Better leave them alone." Both cops led them into the ambulance. They quickly bandaged Terran and Amber's leaking wounds and allowed Sam to ride with them to the hospital. The driver in the front seat put the sirens on and sped away from the school.
"So what happened to you guys?" he asked. His voice sounded familiar to Terran, but he couldn't quite place it.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Terran said. The driver adjusted the mirror, giving the group a perfect view of his face, of Chris Friedrich's face.
"Try me."