Spring Break

Chapter 13: Hunting season

An unforeseen accident with the explosives caused the speakers to rupture, abruptly ending the music that had been reverberating throughout the house for hours. The cessation of the music created an eerie silence, punctuated only by the sounds of footsteps, distant cries, and the rustle of movement. It brought a heightened sense of awareness to all of us.
Wan, following Emely's direction, began to approach a person in the distance. However, our movements did not go unnoticed. One of the killers, perched on the first floor, heard us. They swiftly lifted their gaze and spotted us.
With a burst of adrenaline, they began sprinting up the stairs towards us, their agility on display as they performed parkour-like maneuvers along the stairwell. They leapt, landing directly in front of the person we had been following. We all start running the opposite direction.
As we ran, our yells echoed throughout the house. Reaching the top of the staircase, Cassidy tripped and tumbled down, causing a domino effect that sent us all crashing down the stairs. Only Emely and William, who had been trailing behind, managed to avoid the fall.
In the chaos, William quickly ushered Emely into a nearby room, separating them from the rest of us. They settled onto the cold floor.
"What!? Why are we here!?" Emely questioned, her voice echoing in the dark room. Despite the darkness, they could feel the slickness of blood on the floor.
"We can't run with your injured leg." William explained, his voice low and serious.
"Then go! Leave me here!" Emely protested.
"No! What the heck!?" William retorted. "I can't do that! Are you crazy!?"
"You have to survive! I won't make it out of here with my broken hand and my injured leg..." Emely broke down in tears.
William, at a loss for words, simply looked at her. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke, "Stay here. I will come back for you." His tone was gentle. "I need to help the others first, and then I will come for you. I promise."
Emely responded with a weak smile, before enveloping William in a hug. Slowly, William rose from the floor and exited the room, softly closing the door behind him.
Meanwhile, the rest of us were slowly regaining our footing. Just then, we noticed the killer jump from the third floor to the second, landing on the wooden banister. They brandished a gun, but before they could shoot, Aurora, reacting quickly, pushed them off the banister and onto the first floor. In the commotion, the killer managed to grab Aurora's hair, dragging her down with them.
They landed in a pile of lifeless bodies, the impact causing immense pain. As they slowly rose, they locked eyes. The killer, no longer armed with a gun, revealed an assortment of weapons that were strapped to their body. Just as they were about to reach for a weapon, Aurora quickly lit a lighter and sprayed hairspray, creating a massive fireball that scorched the killer and partially melted their mask.
Overcome by the pain, the killer fled. Aurora looked up to find all of us staring at her from the second floor. She flashed a triumphant smile, and we hurried down to join her.
Once we had all gathered on the first floor, Freddy turned to the person we were following and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Logan.." he responded.
Logan was well-known at our school for his intelligence and amiable nature. He was always eager to help others with their work. Almost everyone in our grade was familiar with each other, except for Freddy. I had never seen him at our school before.
While Freddy explained his plan to Logan, I approached William.
"Where is Emely!?" I demanded, my voice filled with concern.
"I hid her," he replied calmly.
"What!?" I responded in disbelief.
"Yeah, she could no longer walk so I hid her in a room. But I will come back for her, no worries," he assured me.
"Okay.." I managed to say, not entirely convinced.
Suddenly, Logan spoke up, "Guys, can you help me find this girl...Ninlya..?"
"Who is that...?" Cassidy asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.
"I've never heard about her," William admitted.
"Is she even from our grade?" I questioned.
"She's from a lower grade, and I came with her," Logan explained as we all huddled closer.
"Do you know where she is?" Freddy asked.
"I believe so...the last time I saw her was in the basement about 40 minutes ago before a killer separated us," Logan shared, his voice filled with worry. "I hope she's okay."
"Okay then, let's go find her!" Freddy declared. "We need more people anyway."
As we silently and cautiously made our way towards the basement, I found myself walking alongside Freddy.
"Uhm...Freddy...I have a question." I started.
"What is it, Shavier?" he replied, his attention focused on the path ahead.
"Well, uhm, why did you say yes to him when he asked to go look for someone but said no to me?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"He said he knew where they were, you didn't," he replied matter-of-factly.
"Oh.." I mumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I guess you're right."
"Mhm," he muttered, before slightly speeding up and leaving me behind.
We eventually reached the door to the basement. "Fun fact, one of the killers kicked me down these stairs," I announced, attempting to lighten the mood. No one responded, and we proceeded to descend into the basement.
Once we reached the bottom, the smell of death and dried blood was overpowering. I looked down and saw the dried blood from when the female killer had stabbed my hand.
We decided to split up in the basement to look for Ninlya. I found myself in a small cinema room. "Damn! this house has a whole fucking movie theater in here!" I exclaimed. As I was exploring the room, I noticed movement on one of the chairs. I quickly prepared my sticks for a potential attack.
To my surprise, it was Alexander, one of the school's main troublemakers and bullies. He was casually eating popcorn.
"Alex!?" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here!? And you're eating popcorn!?"
"Well, what else am I supposed to do? There are dead bodies everywhere and three killers on the hunt," he replied nonchalantly.
"I don't know! Maybe try to fight them off!?" I suggested, frustrated by his indifference.
"And how? They're good fighters and they're armed," he pointed out.
"That's why the others and I are gathering people together, so we can defeat them," I explained.
"Others? You're with more people?" he asked, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah," I confirmed. "Look, I hate you with my whole fucking soul, but...you should join us," I offered, swallowing my pride.
He chuckled before asking, "And why should I?"
"I don't know, maybe so we can have a picnic with the killers?" I responded sarcastically. My patience was running thin. "Are you joining us or not!?"
He seemed to ponder over it, clearly finding amusement in my annoyance. "Ugh! Whatever then!" I exclaimed, giving up. I turned to leave the cinema.
"Are you planning to kill them with those fucking sticks?" he called after me, laughing.
Ignoring his taunt, I left the cinema and returned to the basement. Suddenly, someone yelled, "I found her!"