And Then There Was One (2019)

Chapter 20 - Murder #5

"Yeah, I got it..." Brendan sighs again. "Let's just...take a vote on where to go? Maybe we can find a park map somewhere and then it'll be easier to decide?"

"Or we can wander around aimlessly...?" Jo grumbles. "Actually, I'd beg to be the next victim, so I don't have THAT around me anymore!" He nods at Vladdy. "You're twenty-fucking-six and you're scared of a little tape?!"

"Jo!!! You don't understand and you never will! We had love, you and I, but NO means NO and you were a jackass and a half! If you had a heart--"

"VLADISLAV, THAT'S ENOUGH!!" Brendan thunders out.

"Look, I vote we go back to the castle, I think there was a map in the center of it -- in that oval area we walked through earlier?" Brett puts his hands on his hips and throws his head up, proudly.

"No one wants to go back to Princessland, but you and the weak blond moron over here," Jo snarls at him. "I think most of us would prefer to find something with more...GRIT to it...more MANLINESS. You know?"

"Well, I wasn't asking you, Hostile Central!" Brett snaps back.

"You wanna fight, Howden? I'll drop you right here!" Jo roars, taking a threatening step at Brett.

"You come at it him and you'll be going through me, Drouin! Larkin learned the hard way not to MESS with ME!" Brayden growls out, protectively stepping before Brett and narrowing his darkening eyes to slits.

Brett puts his hand gingerly on Brayden's shoulder.

"Okay, well, unless you know this place like the back of your hand, Mr. Drouin, by all means suggest our next place. But I know you don't, so let's just go back to the castle, find the map and select a place. It's not like we're gonna spend all night there!"

TT yawns suddenly and nestles his face against Brayden's arm.

"Awwwwww, he's sleepyyyyy," Brett coos, clasping his hands together and putting them under one side of his face as he tilts it to the side with massive dreamy eyes. "Sooooo cuteeeeeee!"

Brayden smiles and pats him gently on the head.

"Don't fall for it, he'll stay up until 1am most times," Colby grumbles, clinging onto his shoulder still.

"If I has my nappy time, Coco," TT whispers out.

"Nappy," Brett echoes with a dreamy tone.

"Okay, to the castle NOW!" Brendan snaps, throwing his arm out before him in a directional gesture.

They pick their way back through Finland and Russia and back by the water flume ride, named by a giant welcoming thrill sign that reads: 'The Enchanting Plunge' and the broken Serpentine ride as well.

There is an eerie calm silence and darkness that fills the air as they make it back to the ramp, heading up it and back into the northeast tunnel of the Fairytale Fortress castle. The murals of the masks on the walls glow rather peculiarly along their way back to the oval-shaped area in the center of the grand construct.

As they are about to enter the room, the lanterns flicker and the torches extinguish, plunging the tunnel into a sinister darkness.

"STAY TOGETHER!! AND JUST WALK FORWARD! WE'RE ALMOST TO THE ROOM!!" Brendan voice shouts out.

"Brayden, where are you?? I can't see you...ow, did you just pinch me?!" Brett's voice calls out.

Then TT shrieks and yanks free from Brayden's hand. He charges forward into the oval room, spinning around to look back. Colby, fur spiking on end, gazes back in horror at the dark, noisy corridor.

"NO!!" someone shrieks out.

Then there is an ear-splitting agonized scream that follows as well as the sounds of a fight.

"Gallagher?!" Colby calls out. "Guys?"

After a few tense seconds, Brendan finally stumbles out, followed by Vladdy, Yanni and Ville. Otto, Alex, Boris and Roope follow and then Jo, Jonne, Timo and Ross. They all have a splatter of crimson on them and look mortified.

"BRAYDEN?!" Otto shouts out.

"BRETT?!" Vladdy calls out.

Brendan takes his phone out and turns the flashlight on high. He shines it right at the darkness and illuminates the entrance of the tunnel they'd come from. Lying on the ground, bleeding badly, are two bodies.

Brayden Point and Brett Howden.

They both have a dozen puncture wounds from a knife, which lies on the ground, mockingly and oozing with their warm blood still. Crimson on the walls. Crimson on the ground. Crimson everywhere. It's a mess!

Brayden, apparently still barely alive, but bleeding profusely and clearly dazed, turns his head to look at them, opening his mouth up. Gazing distantly in the direction almost past them, he chokes out, "Why would you do that...?" Then he slumps on the ground, bleeding out of his mouth and turning deathly pale.

"Oh. my. God. I'm done!" Vladdy shouts out and runs down another tunnel with Yanni at his heels.

"Vladdy, no!" Ville cries out, taking off after him.

Brendan, horrified, drops his phone on the ground and drops to his knees. Would any of them make it out alive...? What could they even do? Where could they go? Who was doing this to them? Why?

Vladdy skids to a halt, bursting out the front hallway of the castle. He finds himself looking down a half-mile-long red bricked pathway toward the spooky gated entrance of the park. A thick black thorny vine races through the bars, signalling no escape.

Yanni stands bravely at his heels and throws a roar of frustration and fury to the air. Maybe it would scare off the killer...maybe... He licks his chops and then sits loyally and nuzzles Vladdy's legs with a whine-whimper.

Vladdy pets him on the head, gulping nervously as he gives the tiger a quick scratch behind one of his ears. Then he drops down to him and hugs him around the neck. "Oh, Yanni, what are we going to do? I'm only 26 and I don't want to die!"

"It'll be butterflies, Vladdy," Yanni whispers back, licking him on the neck.

"Vlad..." Ville bursts out, finding the scene. He gasps and throws his hands over his mouth at once. Then he shouts out, clearly anxious and scared, "GALLAGHER, COME HERE NOW!! YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THIS?!"

The others race out to join them, finding the thorns sealing the entrance, as well as Vladdy hugging Yanni on the ground.

"Well, we're fucked and dead," Jo states. "KILL ME NEXT YOU ASSHOLE!!"

Brendan raises his arm up slowly and then brings a firm palmed slap to the back of Jo's head. "Like the killer really cares about your wishes. Maybe eventually you'll die...or maybe you ARE the killer...I'm not pointing fingers, but if I were, I'd point them right at you, Jo. Hab or not, teammate or not, I don't like you and never have."

With that, he storms back into the castle, glaring at Jo on the way. And as he does, a voice booms out through the park from the castle's loudspeakers:

"Sixteen professional hockey players learned they'd been taken to Orlando,

Two didn't want to stay there, so stabbed they were and then there were fourteen."

****

Did anyone guess Brett Howden (other than maybe Katt...) or Brayden Point as the potential killer in the end? If so, sorry, neither of them are the killer either... you should kinda know me and know that some are safe by now haha... :)

Time to make another guess (and feel free to comment guesses below) as we will soon move onto Murder #6 here!!