CHAPTER SEVEN "but this Ethan . . . wasn't afraid."
EVERYONE FOLLOWED AFTER Gale Weathers. Juliet didn't know how she'd gotten there, with Ethan trailing beside her and the others walking in front of them, the policeman being the only person to step into stroll behind them. She hated it - hated the feeling of being watched and hunted and scared and alone. All they needed was for one person to walk away, then they'd be dead, never to be seen again.
The alleyway they were walking down was littered with broken beer bottles and painted with graffiti. The only reason she told herself to suck it up and keep on walking was the boy beside her and the people before her. They were all in the same boat, being targets of an apathetic psycho killer. So, really, she wasn't alone.
"Jason and Greg were little Atlantan rich boys. They used fake names to rent this place," Gale announced as the group weaved between overly large trash bins and piles of concrete rubble.
"How did you find it?" Kirby asked with a raised brow, stepping closer to the older woman. Gale turned around with a smirk.
"It's called investigative journalism for a reason," she mocked.
"Do you know why they did it?" Ethan asked from the back of the group. Juliet turned to him in question, eyes staring up at his face. Only by a small glance did she miss the harsh look the detective behind them was giving the two. "Most of the killers had a motive but . . . they were just a couple of film students."
"Exactly," Gale said with a click of her fingers. Juliet grinned once acknowledging his continuation of confusion, pressing her shoulder lightly into his own.
"Think about it, Dree," she smiled, causing him to look down at her with wide eyes. "Film students . . . film?" He just continued to look at her, brows drawn close. "They wanted to finish the film, obviously."
"What film?" He asked, even more confused than he was seconds ago. The girl sighed.
"You know . . . Richie Kirsch's film, the guy at Woodsboro- you know what, nevermind," she said with a shake of her head, deciding to ignore his confusion for the rest of the day. "I'll tell you later."
Meanwhile, Gale had finally found the door. She pushed it open uneasily, moving further into the darkness of the space in search of a light. The others followed close behind her, being engulfed in the shadows in almost an instant.
"This is freaky," Juliet shivered, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to push away her malaise. Ethan, from beside her, looked around with wide eyes before following the sound of her voice, reaching out in her direction in search of her empty palm. He found their fingers, squeezing it once. That was how she knew who it was.
"What is this place? What's with all the security?" Sam asked further ahead of the two, trying to grasp any shapes in the darkness of the warehouse. Finally, after a few more beats of silence, Gale had found the lights, and suddenly, Juliet wanted to run.
All around her were visions of last night, masks and costumes of the previous killers staring into her soul. She was running, sprinting, down the streets of New York, the knife angled for her heart. One more step and she'd be gone, forever, but then she was back, in the theatre, with her hand in Ethan's, Quinn and Anika gone. Quinn and Annie, gone forever.
She shuffled closer to the boy, her shoulder pressing against his. He looked down at her, taking in her flickering eyes and downturned lips with concern, before taking a deep breath and ignoring his thoughts. He was only Ethan, the same shy, dorky boy people ignored in the hallways of college, but this Ethan, the Ethan running from a psycho killer hunting his very friends, wasn't afraid. Plus, he thought she needed something, a distraction - and she did.
He averted his eyes to one of the statues before the group while his arm wrapped around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him in her need for comfort. She gazed up with confusion, her softened eyes staring into his cheek, but he only looked down with a consoling smile. So, she smiled back and settled into the crevice his arm had created, her head resting against his shoulder.
"It's a shrine," Gale Weathers mumbled as she flicked a button, allowing the black curtains surrounding the theatre stage to part. Ethan held back a groan as even more cloaked figures were revealed, feeling the girl beneath his arm tense up once more as her head shifted away from his own.
"They've got the whole goddamn franchise," Mindy tutted as she walked through the museum-like aisles, glancing over every piece of memorabilia.
"You've all been through so much," detective Bailey said as he walked past the two standing in the doorway, one too frightened to move any further. However, she sucked it up once more and took a step forward, Ethan's arm falling right off her shoulder. Quickly, she reached out and grabbed onto his hand to drag him forward with her, the boy following behind with a hopeless smile.
"Hey, how'd they get this stuff? I mean, isn't this evidence?" Tara asked as she scanned the aisles beside her sister, Ethan and Juliet a few metres behind her.
"Well, cops like money, and evidence can get lost pretty easily," Gale shrugged before turning around to face Bailey and Kirby. "Present company excluded of course."
"Not excluded," Juliet whispered with a roll of her eyes, Ethan only just catching it with a raise of his brows.
"Don't trust them, huh?" He asked as he lightly nudged her with his shoulder, causing her to look up at him with a slight shrug.
"I mean, do you? Yeah, actually, who do you trust?" The blonde asked, her eyes moving from the display of Stu Macher to his face. She dropped his hand as she crossed her arms warily, her feet rolling from the balls to the heels as she patiently awaited his reply.
"You," he smiled.
"Yeah, but who else?" She teased with a hint of a laugh. She tried to ignore the feeling of heat rising to her cheeks, but secretly, the boy couldn't keep his eyes from it. It gave him just a sliver of hope.
"I mean, Chad, because he lives with me. Um . . . I don't know, maybe Tara and Sam, and Mindy I guess- just you guys," he gathered after stuttering away, eyes shifting to the background before resting back on Juliet.
"Not even Gale?" She asked with wide eyes, an amused smile toying with her lips. He breathed out a laugh, his lips turning up to the roof.
"What if she's like, I don't know, crazy? I mean, she could totally be crazy, I can see it," he nodded with furrowed brows, more trying to convince himself. She fakely rolled her eyes with a laugh before grabbing his hand once more, dragging him back towards the others.
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