𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝚬 𝐒𝚬𝐂𝐑𝚬𝐓, ʲᵒʰⁿ ᵇ ʳᵒᵘᵗˡᵉᵈᵍᵉ

xix. i'd follow you anywhere

"we could, uh. . . move really slowly, maybe?" jj suggested.

"what?" holly said. "no, that's not gonna work."

"oh, shit," john b said as though he had an incredible epiphany. "let's throw a rock at it."

"what?" pope blurted.

"that's a really good idea. let the axe murderer know that we're here," kie scoffed. "pear better have your brain, briar, or i'll lose it."

"throw a rock at it?" pope said again in shock.

"you have a better idea?" john b asked.

"yeah," briar said. "like, a thousand."

"what about the breaker?" sarah suggested. briar's face lit as she remembered their childhood. "in the circuit box on the porch. we used to play hide-and-seek here as kids."

"and if rafe dared you, and you were brave enough, you'd go all the way up to the porch," briar added. "sarah and i have seen it. so has holly."

"no, no," john b shook his head. "you guys aren't going in the house alone."

"watch us," sarah snapped.

"crain chops people into pieces," jj warned. "i heard she has it out for pregnant people."

"no," holly stopped him. "you haven't."

"if you believe that," sarah continued. "but she's like what, 85?"

"yeah," holly nodded. "around that."

"she's probably barely still kicking," sarah reasoned. "the three of us? we can handle it."

"four of us," kie took holly's hand. "i'll come with you."

"we'll wait for your signal," pope agreed. "keep pear safe."

"okay, cool," sarah grabbed briar's hand and helped her up. john b caught his girlfriends hand.

"hey!" he said softly. "be safe."

"we will," briar smiled.

the four girls slowly made their way to mrs. crain's porch.

"she must have a generator plugged into the main power supply," sarah commented as they moved. kie panted as the moved up the steps.

"shh. . ." holly held her sort-of girlfriend close. kie squeezed her hand before letting go to open the breaker box.

"what?" briar said as it opened to a mess of wiring.

"where are the breakers?"sarah said with a huff. "no, no, no."

"shit," holly whispered looking up with her flashlight.

"it goes inside," sarah sighed.

"then so do we," briar steeled herself as kie creaked open the door. it was unlocked.

the girls looked around the old house, huddled close together. briar squeezed her sisters arm tightly as a floorboard creaked.

"oh, no!" briar gasped as a cat yowled and ran across the ground by her foot.

"hey," kie nodded up to the breaker line that continued inside.

"yeah. yeah," sarah nodded. "yeah."

briar grasped sarah's shoulder and whipped around at a creak behind them. she was terrified.

kie smiled in delight as her and holly found the breakers.

"oh," sarah smiled. "yes."

kie winced as the switch clicked loudly. briar held her breath and sarah's hand. the next switch sent all the lights off.