"Do what, Kev? Kev? Kevin?"Brian couldn't believe this,"Not again! NOT ANOTHER ONE! KEVIN!"
Nick placed his hands on Brian's shoulders,"He's gone Bri.." he was saying calmly,"Bri.. He's gone."
"No, no, he's here! We can find him! We can!"Brian had a funny brightness to his eyes, like he was losing it.
"Ok, ok, we can find him..."Nick said softly,"But, lets sit down first, before we look."
"Yeah,"Brian sat down hard letting his pack fall to the floor. Nick slid down beside him. Brian put his head down in his hands, he felt light headed. Kevin was gone! AJ was gone! Howie was gone! Who's next? He felt Nick's cool trembling hand on his back. Brian raised his head slowly, clearing it, "I'm ok... It looks like its just you and me, Frack.." Brian managed a weak smile,"Let me see if I can find my flashlight."
"Man, have I already said I hate this place?"Brian exclaimed,"I hate this place!" He and Nick had been wondering around the house for what seemed like an eternity. The figurines and paintings they passed seemed to be getting more grotesque and horrible as they went along,"Hey Nick, have we been down this hall yet?" Brian gave Nick's shoulders a small shake.
Nick was basically sleepwalking,"Hmmn?"
"Oh man, Nick! Listen, I know you're tired, I'm tired, and I know you probably don't feel good, but you gotta help me out here!" Brian said sounding desperate, his voice almost a whine.
Nick's sleepy blue eyes looked at Brian's long, weary face, then he looked down the hallway trying to wake up a bit and focus,"I don't think we've been down this hall yet."
Brian nodded, he appreciated Nick trying to participate, but he knew he really couldn't take what Nick said too seriously. He had been mostly asleep walking down the halls, and wouldn't have noticed if his own mother had been in one of them. They walked down the hall, hmmn... Nick had chosen well, Brian really didn't remember some of these ugly pictures.. He hustled Nick on down the hall with him. At the end of the hall there were double doors,"Good choice Nick!"
Nick murmured something unintelligible.
Brian cautiously approached the door, he was remembering the last time someone had gotten excited about a door. He put his ear to the door. He heard nothing going on inside. He stood a distance from the door and kicked it open. He grabbed Nick's arm and pulled him inside with him. Now where had Brian seen this room before.. It was the library they had explored when they first came in,"Nick look! It's the library!" Brian jostled Nick to wake him up again.
"Huh?... Oh hey, we've been in here!"Nick said, he yawned and shook his head as if trying to clear it,"Hey, if we're all the way back here, that means we're not too far from the front door!"
"Yeah,"Brian sounded excited.
"But.. But.. Wait... What if.. What if the crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie, AJ, and Kevin is there waiting for us!"Nick said,"We're lost."
Brian hadn't forgotten about that, though he wanted to. He didn't want to agree with that out loud, but he felt that way too. He walked around the library with Nick following closely behind him.
He heard something.
"Did you hear something?"Brian stopped suddenly.
"Man, Brian, I thought you had given up on that game! It's not funny,"Nick said sounding annoyed.
"No, it's not a game, I really heard something!"Brian said,"Shh.. Listen! You hear that?"
Nick was frozen in place, he did hear something! It was the sound of footsteps, tiny, running footsteps! He grabbed Brian's arm,"I hear it! Do you think it's them?"
"Yeah, it could be,"Brian said sounding excited,"Whoever it is, they're close."
"Wait, what if-if it's not them? What if it's another monster?"
"Either way they're still close, it's just the 'they', may not be the somebodies we want to see!"
Nick groaned,"So what do we do?" he let go of Brian's arm, and Brian was grateful. He had been cutting off his circulation.
"I don't know Nick,"Brian scratched his head, he looked around the library, and tensed as he heard the footsteps again,"I think it really might be them, and if it is, then they have to be looking for us! We should..."Brian was getting excited, he glanced to catch Nick's eye to see if he was as excited as he was, and saw that Nick had gone to sit at a wooden table and had laid his head down,"I should go check to see who's out there. You should stay here."
"What?! NO!"Nick was up in a flash, he grabbed onto Brian's tee-shirt,"There ain't no way I'm staying in here by myself, and you're not going anywhere in this place by yourself!"
"Nick, I'm only gonna go out for a few minutes. I won't go far,"Brian assured his trembling friend.
Nick looked panicked,"But what if the monster comes and he gets me, or you while you're out alone!"
Brian shook his head,"I'll be right back."
"That's what Kevin thought! And AJ! And Howie!" Nick was freaking out, and so close to his breaking point it was scary. He was hyperventilating, and he had broken out into a light sweat. Brian put an arm around him and
sat him back down,"Calm down Nick. You'll be fine here. I'll be back in a second. I just want to peep out and see. Here, take this.."Brian picked up a fireplace poker and handed it to Nick. Too bad there wasn't any wood to be found, he'd make a fire to finally thaw this kid out, "If anybody comes you know what to do with that. And yell for me, I'm not going far. Just sit here." Brian had made it all the way to the door before turning back one last time to remind Nick,"Stay here!"
Brian was gone after that.
Nick sat and shivered, he wanted to go home. Home is a place where monsters aren't real. He wanted to get in his nice warm bed, with a cup of nice hot chocolate, and go to sleep. He wanted everybody to be back and ok, and for him not to be alone. This place was dark and it made funny noises. Nick began to hum to himself and shuffle his feet. There was a sound near him.
This place made funny noises. Nick sat stiffer and stiffer as he listened. One noise was especially disturbing, and it sounded like it was in the room with him. Someone, or something was here. Nick rose to his feet slowly, he held his poker in a battle position,"Who's.. Who's there?"he asked timidly. He really, really, hoped no one would answer him. And if someone did answer, he sincerely hoped it wasn't the crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie, A.J., and Kevin, and was planning on eating a Nick sandwich next!
"I've already told you I'm not very good for eating. And I'm pretty sure you're full from eating Howie and Kevin.. I mean, no offense to AJ, but you probably used him to pick your teeth. Don't be a pig, I know you want to keep your trim figure..." Nick heard more rustling noises, ok, I don't care what Brian said. He said he wasn't going far, I can meet up with him easy. Nick scanned for the exit, but then...
"Nicky.."someone whispered.
"Yeah..."Nick looked around, then his eyes enlarged as he realized something in the room had spoken to him,"Bri? Is that you?"
"Nicky.."came the hiss again.
"Kev?"Nick picked up his poker and he began to creep around the room. He really was looking for the way out now. He felt positive he could find Brian himself. Maybe he had found somebody.
"Nickolas.."
"Kevin? Kev, if this is you, I am in no mood for playing games!"Nick said heatedly, he spun around to see a figure clad in darkness. It was tall and slim. An odd light shined on the man. He was turned to the side. He looked like something out of a Dickens's novel, he wore a mint colored, long coated suit, with a vest, and a fedora. He looked as if he could have just stepped out of a carriage. He wore thin wire framed glasses. Very suave and sophisticated, and also very familiar. Nick lowered his poker.
"Kevin?"He asked uncertainly, but then he squinted and looked again,"Kev!" He dropped his poker with a clatter to the floor. He was overjoyed, he ran up to Kevin, who thought they had lost forever. "Brian just went looking for you! Have you been here the whole time? I'm glad you're ok!"Nick was going to hug Kevin but he stopped cold. Kevin didn't move or speak to Nick, instead he stayed positioned in that same odd angle that only revealed half of him.
"Kev... You are ok aren't you?"Nick asked, now starting to lose some of his enthusiasm towards finding Kevin.. Or rather Kevin finding him.
"Yes, of course I'm ok Nickolas, why wouldn't I be?" Kevin spoke with an accent. He smiled slowly, a smile that only showed on one side of his face... but then he began to turn. He was turning to show the rest of his face. And oh no Nick did not need to see that! The other side of Kevin's face was all green and scaly. His hand..."Kevin what happened?"Nick asked quietly, fighting back a gag and backtracking at the same time, his hand! Looks at his hand! It was moldy and...
"Nickolas... Why do you walk away from me..?"Kevin asked with an odd accent.
"Because you're all green and scaly and you're talking like that guy on Masterpiece theatre! "Nick backed straight up into a bookcase, he gasped. The shelves rattled.
"But Nickolas, there's no need to run... Come to me... He will have you too. Resistance is futile, join me, join us.."
"Man!"Nick took off running he wove in and out of bookcases going under tables and chairs. He broke clear across the library. "I can lose him!" he thought to himself. He ran around a suit of armor. He cursed himself venomously for dropping that poker! Kevin's gone coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs! He also needed some lotion for that skin problem of his. Shoot not even lotion, a whole dermatology research center! Nick heard a sound behind him,"Kevin?" He turned just in time to see the very poker he had dropped being brought down on his head. The world went black.
"Man, I didn't find anybody!"Brian complained crashing into the library looking disappointed,"Nick? Nicky? Hey wake up kid! I hope you had a good nap... Nicky? Nick? Oh man, don't play this! I told you to stay right here!"Brian didn't see Nick anywhere. His breath began to come quicker. He began to look around the library, he couldn't be hard to find. In the condition he was in, he undoubtably had passed out somewhere. No Nick... Brian sank to his knees, how could he have left him? Brian blamed himself... Nick was just a kid! Brian wanted to cry, because now he was all alone. Brian stood after a while and he began to walk around and nearly tripped and broke his neck over something. He caught himself before he fell. What did he trip on? Brian shined his flashlight on the object on the floor. It was the poker he had given to Nick. There was something on the other side of it. Brian picked the poker up, it felt warm in his grasp. Nick couldn't have been gone too long, the handle was still warm! Brian was excited but then as he turned the poker over his excitement turned to dread... On the other side of the poker was blood... Red blood.