The Hunt

I ducked down below the shelf as I grabbed at the blood covering my leg. Ian squated next to me, holding his shoulder. The must of the air mixed with the ripeness of fresh blood, decomposing bodies, and the strange scent of their insanity.

It’ll be fun.

I let go of my leg and grabbed a thesaurus from the shelf. Ian grabbed me by the shoulder as footsteps neared. The clack of her boots stopped feet in front of us. I took a deep breath as my muscles tensed with adrenaline.

“Shannon?” Her soft voice bounced off the ceiling and circled us like moths around the last light of the night. “Why do you hide from me, Shannon?” The bookshelf creaked in front of us. “I thought we were finally becoming friends, Shannon.”

Come on Shan, it’s just a bunch of books in an old building.

“Boo.” I caught a glimpse of her toothy smile as the metal made contact with my arm. Pain flooded my arm, quickly replacing the blood. She pulled the reddened blade out as a high pitch chuckle slipped out of her mouth. 

I pulled the book up over my head as the knife came down again. I managed to block it as Ian grabbed my collar and pulled me out of her reach. My feet scrambled under me as she jumped off the bookshelf. Blood splatter covered her face.

What’s the worst that can happen?

“Come back, Shannon. You're my friend. We’re going to talk about girl things, Shannon, remember?”  Her puppy dog eyes begged me to return to her side.

I stepped back, looking between her, and the door on the other side of the building.

She erupted into full belly laughter as she started to tilt her head to the side. “Shannon?”

“Why are you doing this?” Ian's voice shook. 

She looked him in the eyes as she licked my blood off her lips. “Yummy.”

Monsters aren’t real. Nothing’s coming to get you.

“Oh, Shannon. You were right. He’s such a hunk.” She took a step towards us as she pulled the knife up to her mouth and ran her tongue down it, “I bet he tastes good too, Shannon.”

Ian pushed me behind him. “Just let us go!”

“Can I taste him, Shannon? Just the tiniest little bite, Shannon?” She took another step, lowering her head and squaring her body. 

“You need help Al?” A gruff voice emanated from the darkness.

“Don’t worry. I just want to play with my friends. I’ll finish my homework later.” She winked as she lurched towards us.

It’s just a quick ghost hunt. It’s not like anything will actually happen.

She pinned Ian against the side of another bookshelf. She held the knife up to his neck.

“Go! Leave!” 

“Shannon won’t leave you, isn’t that right Shannon? Shannon loves you.” She pushed the knife further into his neck.

I picked the thesaurus up from the ground and held it behind me as I limped back towards them. “Stop! Don’t hurt him!”

She pushed her body up against him as she looked over her shoulder. “Does this make you jealous, Shannon?”

I like her. I just want to impress her. Help me impress her, Shan.

I wacked the book against her head, knocking her to the ground. I grabbed Ian’s hand and pulled him past her. She slashed at my ankles as I passed. Ian grabbed my waist and shuffled us along as blood from his neck trickled down onto my shirt. 

I sucked in air as fire engulfed my legs. I looked behind us as Ian hurried our pace. She frowned at us as she got back to her feet.

“That wasn’t very nice, Shannon.” Her jaw tightened as she started sprinting towards us.

“Ian!” 

His bad shoulder swept my legs out as he sped up. “Nick! Rob! Help!”

I guess it's some sort of hidden door. Maybe there’s an exit on the other side.

Jamie sprung up next to us as we rounded a corner. He swung a chair as we passed, hitting her again. Ian set me down as he caught his breath. Sweat mixed with his blood.

Jamie wrapped an arm around me as he held up his new loot. “Come on. Keep moving.”

“You're alive?” I looked up at him as I hobbled alongside him.

Dried blood covered every crack and crevice on his face. “I guess.”

Ian caught up to us and pulled my other arm over his shoulder. “The back door was locked. There’s only the one entrance. We have to hide.”

“Hide where? There’s nowhere to hide! We have to fight.”

“We’re not going to win a fight!” 

“It didn’t work so good last time.” I motioned to his bloodied scalp.

“There’s two big differences now.“ He steered us towards the door.”One, they no longer have the element of surprise.” He pulled something out of his pocket. “Two, we have a weapon now.”

“Daddy!” Her cracked voice rang through the building. “They took my knife!”

I know a secret. He’s dead. My daddy bashed him over the head with a wine bottle. 

“Get them.”

Clouds of black swarmed the shelves. 

Nick leaped towards us with Rob at his heels. Ian put up a finger to silence them. He pointed towards the wall. 

Rob started to push at me. I swallowed back a whimper as my ankle flexed pulling at the bloodied flesh. He looked down at my legs before picking me up and fast walking towards the wall. The door was still guarded by two figures. They scanned the shelves ahead of them.

I motioned to a bookshelf the other way. Ian nodded as he wrapped an arm back around me and dragged me towards it. He let go of me as I sat down and scooted onto the hollow frame. Jamie squeezed in next to me as Nick, Rob, and Ian scanned other shelves, squeezing into any space they could.

“For God’s sake! Where did they go?”

And you know what? You’re next.

“Someone check the back door. Make sure it’s still locked. Don’t let them get away!”

I closed my eyes as I took deep quiet breaths. My pulse pounded against my head. A shoe scuffed the ground as it walked past us.

“Daddy, where are they?”

“We’ll find them sweetheart. They couldn’t have gotten out.”

“This was supposed to be my first solo kill!”

“I know baby. It’ll turn out just fine.” The voices started to move again.

“Everything would have been fine if it wasn’t for Shannon. If she didn’t hit me I wouldn’t have to go around that corner so fast and Jamie wouldn’t have hit me.” 

“Jamie? Which one was that?”

“The baseball player. I thought you killed him already, Daddy.” Their footsteps stopped a few bookshelves away.

“I let Drew do it this time. Jerome was supposed to call it and start the dissection.” 

I swallowed hard as I turned to Jamie. He took my hand and squeezed.

“Find Drew and Jerome. I want to know how our dead one came back to join the living.” The footsteps continued in the opposite direction.

I didn’t hear anything. It was probably just rats.

“Headmaster?”

“Have you found them?”

“Well, no, but-“

“Then why are you still talking to me and not looking for them?”

“Well I just had an idea.”

Ally’s dad grumbled something under his breath.

“We haven’t seen them in this main room.I just thought maybe they left this main room. They knew the other doors were locked and the windows down here were boarded up. It would attract too much attention to get one of those boards off.” 

“And?”

“There were a few windows upstairs that were unboarded.”

“What?” He growled.

“They might have noticed them on their way in.”

“Why weren’t they boarded up? I said all windows, not just the ones you felt like!”

“Jerome said-”

“You were looking for me?” Another voice chimed in.

There’s no one here. It was probably just your reflection or shadow or something.

“What happened?”

“The boy came too when I started. It’s a shame-”

“How would they get out. That was like the third floor.”

“There were two of you. You’re telling me a boy did all that damage against the two of you?”

“Well they say adrenaline is powerful. I mean it’s a miracle the girl made it as far as she did after you slashed her legs up.”

“No-”

“Still, three stories? A, go check the upstairs for broken windows. They’re not gonna jump through the window.”

“Then what? Did you walk away? Took a smoke break and lew Drew scuff you up a bit to save face on your incompetence?”

“There was so much blood over there. You must have got her good.” 

“It wasn’t the boy. Drew-”

“Shredded like cheese.”

“No duh! Have you turned on me?”

“Did you see her face when you licked the knife? It was priceless.”

“I would never-”

“Sir? Miss?”

“It was almost as good as that boys face when you stabbed through his hand.”

“How dare you! I am the Headmaster! I am a god! And you defy my orders? You take half measures to sabotage our family?”

“Miss?”

“God! I couldn’t take another second of his whining! You know he’s been mentioning his stupid paper cut for three days!”

“No!”

“I bet.”

“Sir?”

“After everything I’ve done for you? I took you into my home. My family! You were like a son to me! And this is how you repay me!”

“No!”

“I just wanted to give him something real to complain about.”

“I should kill you right now! Take your blood like you have tried to do to me!”

“The window-”

“I should have taken a photo. It was perfect.”

“Its-”

“I killed Drew!”

Did- Did she just stab you?

Silence engulfed the room once again. It hung in the air for an eternity.

“He got cold feet and turned on me. He tried to kill me. I had no choice. The boy slipped out while I was preoccupied.”

Jamie squeezed me harder.

“Sir?”

“What? What? What do you want?”

“One of the windows is smashed. I didn’t see blood but it’s dark out and there’s a tree right there.”

“Damn it!” A chair broke against the wall next to us. “Move out! Grab the body we do have and get to the vans.”

We won’t get caught. Who’s gonna tattle on us? A deer?

The room came alive again. Hoods came down revealing light flesh against their black backgrounds. They scattered like bugs, in seemingly mindless directions. Soon they were all out of site. None of us dared move. We sat back holding our wounds as we waited. Every creak of the old frame sent us on edge. Every gust of wind chilled us through to the bone.We waited for what seemed like forever, yet a blink of the eye as well. 

“Do you think they’re really gone?”

Ian’s voice finally interrupted the silence.

“Probably.”

Stop worrying. We’re all alone here. Well, except the ghosts.