-Natalie's POV-
The nurses had to send us home. Supposedly we were being disruptive to other patients, nurses, and doctors and they were getting complaints. Well, excuse me if I'm being a little too loud, but my parents were in a deadly car crash and are recovering, my sister was murdered and I just found out that she was pregnant, and we are being hunted down by two psychopaths (though one claims she's changed...pfft, that's like me saying Anthony and Kalel are going to get back together sometime soon). Oh, and not to mention the lack of sympathy I received from my friends and my boyfriend! Everyone mourned over the death of Anthony's girlfriend, but Rachael wasn't just his girlfriend, she was my sister. No one seems to think that's important though...
-Anthony's POV-
We said our goodbyes to Natalie and Rachael and Shane's parents as we were escorted out of the hospital. We were shoved outside into the freezing cold without our coats. They were all in the waiting room.
We all had to wait as Ian got the car out of the parking garage. The ten of us had to do the whole rotation thing again to get everyone back, but this time I got the first trip with Natalie and Shane. The entire ride, Natalie had a scowl on her face and stared out the frosted car window. She refused to make any eye contact or be involved in our conversations the entire way back. Not even with Ian.
When we got back to the house, we were locked out. So we had to go through the garage and use the spare keys. After getting inside, I realized that the whole atmosphere was different now that Rachael...wasn't...here.
The pictures on the shelves and tables of Ian, Natalie, Rachael and I that we sent her mom and dad were haunting. The image of Rachael smiling at me as she started to bleed out burned my thoughts. I couldn't even remember her when she was better, I just saw her bloody smile everywhere.
"Hey, Anthony? Do you happen to know where the wood is for a fire?" Shane asked me, snapping me out of the daze I was in, looking at old pictures.
"Uh..." I stuttered, "I don't..."
"They're outside under the blue tarp! On the side of the house!" Natalie answered from wherever she escaped to.
"Thanks!" Shane said before walking back outside.
About forty-five minutes later, a fire was started in the fire place (though it smoked out the house because the vents were closed, so we had to open all of the windows on the first floor), dinner was almost ready, and everyone was back here.
I was looking over the stove while Natalie and Lisa went to do something in the big room. Something to do with helping Ian and Shane with something? I don't know... I wasn't paying much attention to anything. All I could think about was Rachael. She and I were going to be parents... That's all I've ever wanted since I met Kalel. Her and I tried and tried...but it never...worked.
I sighed and started pacing back and forth. Then all of a sudden, I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye. I moved over to the kitchen window and saw something, or should I saw someone, trudging through the snow agilely. They were holding something, something large, but I couldn't make it out.
"Guys...?" I croaked as I backed away to warn everyone, "Guys!"
Before I made it into the room where everyone was gathered, I heard the shattering of glass followed by girly shrieks. I rushed into the room and slowed down when I saw what happened. It was just like Food Battle 2011. Ian was on the floor, sitting, shot with an arrow, and behind him was the announcer guy. The only difference was 1) I didn't shoot the arrow from my rainbow lollipop, 2) people were rushing to their aid, and 3) this wasn't fake.
"When did you get here?" Ian asked, struggling to looked over his shoulder at the announcer guy. I noticed that his gray t-shirt was starting to stain a dark crimson color around where the arrow was.
"I...I was going to announce you as the winner for...for Food Battle 2023," He stammered.
Ian's eyebrow rose, "How? We didn't even do Food Battle yet!"
The announcer guy sat up a little, "Wait...you didn't do Food Battle?" Both Ian and I shook our heads no, "Oh...then I don't know why I'm...I'm...I'm..." His voice trailed off as his head dropped to the side and the microphone rolled out of his hand and onto the carpet. A second later, Ian's eyes fluttered shut and his head dropped too.
No, I though, No no no no no no NO. This cannot be happening.
The sound of pots boiling over was the only noise that filled the house after Ian's death. I cupped my hands over my mouth and turned away from the sight of my dead best friend.
Natalie screamed in despair as she buried herself into Toby's open arms, "What do those bitches have against me!?!" She cried into her hands, "They kill my sister and now the kill my boyfriend!" She paused for a second, sobbing as quietly as she could. I wanted to mention that the same thing happened to me (just that Rach was my girlfriend and Ian was my best friend), but I was afraid that Nat would just flip out on me.
"What did I do to them?" She continued ranting, "I was nice to them! Rachael was the one who hated people! WHY!?!" She fell to the floor, hunched over and crying into her hands. Lisa came to her side and wrapped her arm around Nat's shaking back.
"Okay, Anthony, we need to leave. Before more people get killed!" Jovenshire yelled at me, "I don't want to lose any more of my friends!"
"We can't, Joven!" Joey screamed at him, "It'll be futile to run..."
"Hey," Sohinki walked over to Ian and snatched the note off of the long arrow. He unfolded it and gulped, "Two down, eight to go. Kisses, K," He read aloud to us.
"Wait...but there's ten of us left," Toby stated, walking over to Sohinki and getting a look at the note for himself.
"Ooh, Toby can count!" I remarked sarcastically, waving my hands in the air.
Natalie looked up from her wet palms and glared at me. She stood up and walked over, "We lost two very important people, and you dare to make fun of Toby? Toby is amazing. He's the best person in the world! And you want to make fun of him!?!" I just stared at her, not showing any signs that she intimidated me.
She rolled her eyes and turned away from me, "Let me see that fucking note," She snatched it out of Toby's hands and examined it.
"Okay...it says that there's two down. That's Rachael and...and Ian," She wiped away the single tear that fell from her eye, "And there's eight to go. There's ten of us. So that means..." She gulped, "Only two of us are safe from their wrath."
"So," Shane broke the tension in the room, "The only question is: Who's it going to be?"