The lights shut off. The only thing that illuminates the mall is the black lights and the glow in the dark paint. I hear the bells jingle, indicating that someone or something has opened the door. They're inside the mall with us right now. Here we go...
Kate and I pair up and run for cover behind the Hanging Tree. We watch as the others split up and find cover near the entrance. I slip my sling off of my arm and throw it to the side. What's the worst thing that could happen without it? I pull my stitches? Besides, it will only restrict my movements.
The back doors creak open. Martin and Ziggy exit the back room together, sneaking behind a stand. I swallow nervously, keeping my breathing as quiet as possible. I hear footsteps come closer and closer to us. I turn to Kate. Hesitantly, she peeks her head out to see what's happening.
"Police! Hands up! Hands up!" I tug Kate back down. "The cops," she sharply whispers to me. "Goode isn't with them." I listen to Ziggy and Martin try to explain what's happening. Their voices overlap each other's, not making any coherent sense to me. "Martin?" "Yeah, yeah!" Martin affirms. "Are you kidding me?!" growls the officer.
"Stay down," I mouth to Kate, who nods her head. "Hey, freeze. Freeze!" Another officer finds Deena and Josh. "I got two more over here," he shouts to the other cop.
"Drop your weapon!" They're holding water guns. If he sees that as a weapon, then he should just wait until the killers get here. "Sir, sir, just plese let us explain!" Josh sputters.
Kate wants to get up and help them. I can see the look in her eyes. But she stays still, not moving a muscle. Very carefully, I peek my head out from the side to see what's happening. The officer is calling someone on his radio when suddenly, he's stabbed in the back. His body falls not long after his screaming stops, revealing Harry Rooker. The Milkman.
I cover my mouth to keep myself from gasping out loud. I want to look away, but I can't. Now it's Kate that pulls me back. "Get to the food court. Now!" she orders. I get up to run, but the sounds of gunshots bring me back down as I cover my ears. "Go! Go!" As soon as the gunfire ends, I dash my way to the food court. I climb over the counter of Primo's.
Simon and Sam struggle against their binding, trying to reach me. Their growling and grunting floods my brain with fears and worries. The sound of shoes coming into contact with the floor makes me jump.
"It's just me," whispers Deena. Simon and Sam both seem to struggle even more and roar even louder. She reaches into a duffel bag and pulls out a bottle of cologne. She gives herself multiple sprays and hands me the bottle. I spray myself about twice as many times as she did.
It smells like a boy's locker room, but at least it might cover up Deena and I's scent. "We got this. Keep cool," I whisper to myself. "What?" Deena says. "Nothing. I'm just talking to myself." I peek my head out to see Martin running over to us. He jumps up and slides over the counter, landing on his side. "I... got that crazy guy who killed the cop," he tells us as he winces. "Where's Kate, Josh, and Ziggy?" Deena demands, helping Martin up.
I see two people running right towards us. It's Kate and Josh, holding hands. "Here they are," I tell Deena. Ziggy is right behind them. All of them get behind the counter, staying in cover. "How many is that?" Deena whispers to Josh.
"I got one, Martin got the milkman," he explains. "I got Skull Mask, Ziggy got Nightwing," Kate nods. "Four. We have four," Ziggy adds. "What about Ruby Lane?" I question. Josh shakes his head. "I don't know. Look, we just need to keep an eye on-" "Y-y-yo!" Martin interrupts. We all stop talking. He turns to us gravely.
"Why'd it get so quiet?"
He's right. The sounds of the gates shaking have stopped. Even Simon and Sam have gone totally silent. Everybody peeks over the counter to see what the cause of this is.
We don't see the cause for ourselves, but we all know exactly what it is. "It's him," Ziggy breathes out. "You don't have to do this," Deena reassures. "Yes, I do." Ziggy turns away from us and climbs over the counter.
"Mount up," Deena says. One by one, we all get over the counter and very quietly split up to the gates containing the Shadyside killers. I hang onto the rope of the gate that holds the Milkman. Nick Goode steps carefully into the mall, jingling the bells hung up in front of the door. I can hardly believe it. We're really doing this.
He sees Ziggy standing in front of the Hanging Tree. He meets with her, face to face, after sixteen years.
"Ziggy," Nick speaks. "Nick," she softly whispers, hiding every inch of hate and betrayal she feels. "What are you doing here?" Nick asks. "Tag," says Ziggy. "You're it."
She pulls the rope beside her, pouring the bucket of blood on Nick's head. As she runs away, we all pull open the gates.
Wiping the blood out of his eyes, he looks around and realizes what is happening. He runs to Ziggy and grabs her, getting blood on her. "Deena! Y/N! Get them away from me!" he shouts. He points his gun to the killers approaching him. "If I die, she dies!"
The Skull Mask killer sneaks up behind him and stabs him, causing him to fall to the ground and let go of Ziggy. "Run! Ziggy, run!" I scream. The Milkman catches up to her, grabbing her the same way Nick grabbed her. "Your blood is on her! It's on Ziggy!" "Y/N," Deena calls out. "We have to cut ourselves." I sprint to the knife Ziggy dropped, leaving Deena behind.
I look in front of me. The Milkman has Ziggy pinned. The same goes for Nick and Skull Mask. If I don't act, Nick will die. But so will Ziggy.
I won't lose any of my friends. As deeply as I can, I cut into the same palm I cut into earlier. Both killers turn to me, sensing my blood.
As the blood pools on my hand, I shake some of it off. Red splashes on the ground in front of me. I look to the side of me. Nick is gone. A trail of blood leads my eyes to the back room doors. He runs inside, glancing to Deena and I. "He's getting away!" I yell. "Go! Go! We got him!" Josh shouts to us.
I firmly hold the knife in my hand and run as fast as I can. I look behind me. Deena is following after me... but so is Skull Mask. I reach the doors and rush inside as Martin knocks down Skull Mask with a chair.
My throat is dry, and my heart is pounding. The emergency alarm is blaring as the lights flicker on and off. Deena holds out her hand for the knife.
I place it in her hand. We begin to walk down the hallway. "I said that we had to cut ourselves. Plural," she mumbles to me. "There wasn't any time," I tell her. "Besides, it still worked." We turn the corner. It's a dead end. "The vent. That's where the cave is," she tells me. I don't question her. I easily pull off the covering. It's easy because Nick just ran down here.
Deena jumps in first. She gets on all fours and begins to crawl further inside. I strap on a head lamp and switch it on before getting in. I get on my knees and my dominant hand. I keep the palm I cut off of the ground, not wanting to hurt it anymore or get it dirty. The ground in front of me is hard dirt. Up ahead, it's pure stone.
Deena has her own head lamp as well. She crawls ahead of me, knowing that I'm right behind her. The path gets bigger and bigger up ahead until we don't have to crawl anymore. "Goode!" Deena shouts. We get further to where we can walk. "We know you're here! There's no point in hiding!" I yell. My voice echoes back and forth through the walls.
"Nick!" We're lead into a room of some sort. There's one wall that has plenty of rocks piled on top of each other. This must be where Ziggy fould Alice and Cindy at the outhouse.
The familiar sounds of grunting, both at different vocal ranges, echo behind me. My stomach drops. Deena hands me the knife. I turn around, knife in hand, keeping watch for Deena as we advance to a small wall. We both climb over it with ease. "Nick!" Deena yells once more. "Nick!" I repeat.
We reach another yet another tunnel. It makes me think that this place is nearly endless. "Nick!" "Solomon forged this place with nothing but words and stone!" Nick finally calls back. Deena and I stay quiet as we follow the sound of his voice. "Awakening this power from the depths of the Earth."
Deena looks down at her shoe at a sticky, gooey substance. "He extended his hand to the darkness for my family, for me!" I look ahead of us. A huge, pulsating vessel of some sort fills the center of this room. It must be the heart of this cave system. "Three hundred years it's lived, grown. We've cultivated it. We've sacrificed for it! And you think you can stop it?"
I listen for any more of Nick's monologue, but he has gone quiet. The noise of running gets closer to us. Until Sam and Simon have reached us. "Behind you!" I warn. Simon charges right for me, grabbing at my shirt collar. He slams me into the cold and hard ground, kicking the wind out of me and making me drop the knife. I don't even have time to yell out in pain before he's already on top of me and grabbing the knife.
I look around. Sam has Deena, hands wrapped around her throat. Simon's body weight holds me down, making me unable to help Deena. I gasp for air, desperate for anything or anyone that can help us. Simon pulls my hair, making my head follow along. My throat is exposed.
The blade of the knife begins to dig into the flesh on my neck. I throw an elbow to his ribs, making him let go. I kick him into the wall and quickly stand up. I grab him by the back of his head.
I'm so sorry for this... I bash his head into the hard stone, knocking him out. I whirl my head to Deena. Sam is laying down, unconscious beside her. Seems like Deena had the same idea. I grab her by the hands and help her to her feet. "The knife," she pants. "I got it." I hold it up to show her.
"Not for long." I whip my head around and see Nick Goode, in the flesh. I try to stab him, but he grabs my wrist as tightly as possible.
Unable to escape my wrist from him, he peels away my fingers from the knife until he's the one holding it. He stabs into my gut. Though it's covered by books, the edge of the knife still makes it in and slices into my stomach.
I hiss in pain as he twists it further into my gut until I've fallen to one knee. He finally pulls it out and pushes me away as Deena rushes into him.
I'm okay... It hurts a lot, but I'm okay... I'm okay. He didn't cut that deep.
He slams Deena against the wall, knife in her side. "Let her go!" I spit, reaching for Deena. "Shut the fuck up! I'm not done with you." Nick throws her to the ground and kicks my right shoulder. Hard. I shout out in pain as I feel blood soak my shirt. My stitches...
He returns to Deena, holding the knife to her neck. "You're gonna be famous," he remarks. "Shadyside's peices of shit makes the front page! Local dyke and drug dealer slay their lovers, friends, brother." Deena lets out a scream, struggling against him. I shakily stand up despite my roaring shoulder pain. "And they're gonna give me a fucking medal." I hook my arm around his neck, putting him into a chokehold.
"Suck it, pig."
While he's disarmed, Deena grabs his hand and places it on the Heart.
Nick freezes in place, eyes wide open and unable to take his hand away from it. I let go of him, hands shaking with anger. "We fucking got you now," I laugh, darkly. He rips his hand away from the Heart. He darts around, looking for Deena and I. We're right in front of him, yet he can't see us. Is this what that Heart does? Does it make you see things? Or rather not see things?
He flees to a tunnel, but immediately turns back in fear. He runs right past us, trying to reach another tunnel. The sight he sees blocks his way through. He tries the next one, the one next to that one until he finally stops in front of Deena and I.
Deena stabs him right in the eye. Deep. Blood drips from his eye socket as if it were a tear. She pulls out the knife, letting Nick Goode collapse to the ground. Dead.
The sounds of sloshing behind me grab my attention. The Heart is melting, sinking back into the ground where it hopefully never can be found again. I immediately rush to Simon's unconscious body. "Simon," I whisper. I touch his face, gently trying to shake him awake. "Simon. Can you hear me?" He slowly stirs awake, opening his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes. "Y/N?" he mumbles. He slowly sits up.
All of my emotions seem to burst inside of me. Happy tears fall down my cheeks. "Hey, don't cry. I'm here now," he says, wrapping me in his arms. "You're okay, right?" I bury my face in his shoulder. "Who cares?" he says. "You were fucking possessed, Simon! Of course I fucking care," I cry out.
"You smell good," he quips. I chuckle and pull away from his embrace and rip away all of the books taped to my body. "You're hurt," he gasps, lightly brushing his fingers across the cut on my stomach. "Speak for yourself," I joke. "You have, like, three concussions."
He smiles. Something I haven't seen him do in a while. I place both of my hands on his face and pull his lips into mine. The most passionate, emotional kiss I have ever given Simon. "I'm so glad you're back," I cry.
"Hey, Y/N," Sam's voice calls out to me. I turn around. My own smile grows bigger. Sam is back, too. "Let's get outta here," Deena says to us. I wipe away the tears on my face. "I think the exit's somewhere this way."
"We're just gonna ignore that?" Simon speaks up, pointing to Nick Goode's dead body. I shrug my shoulders. "I guess so. Come on." I grab his hand. His warm hand. We interlock our fingers and hold on tight as if it were the last time.
Deena and Sam lead us through one of the tunnels. As we go crawl deeper, I notice that the engraving on the ground is fading away. Disappearing. Just like the Heart. I crawl inside the room and stand up. I look around at the stones surrounding us. Carvings of names. The names of all of the souls the Goodes gave to the Devil.
Cyrus Miller, Harry Rooker, Ruby Lane, Thomas Slater...
Samantha Fraser and Simon Kalivoda.
Before I can point it out to anyone, all of the names disappear. As if they were never there in the first place. We crawl into another tunnel, not mentioning it ever again.
Eventually, we're able to stand. The stone ground leads to stairs. This must be it. Deena opens the door. One by one, we enter. It's an actual room. With carpet, bookshelves, chairs, a TV... decoration. This must be Nick Goode's house. "What in the fuck?" Deena exclaims, eyebrows furrowing.
"This guy's really into goats," Simon points out. He's right. Heads of goats seem to be mounted everywhere. From this room to the hallway, there is a goat. From the hallway to the living room, a goat awaits us.
We exit the front door, revealing the sunny sky in Sunnyvale. It's morning, already. "My mom's gonna be pissed," I mutter under my breath. Just then, a car from across the street pulls out of its driveway.
A truck runs right into the car, crashing the car into the grass. We all look at each other in shock. "We really did it, huh?"