“Nothing.” He couldn’t say anything else. It was too dangerous. He sat next to the girls.
“You locked the door, right?” Kaitlyn asked.
“As soon as you came in.”
DAY 11: THE LAST DAY
ALEX
“Holy shit! What the hell?!”
A sound woke Alex up. The room was bright and sunny. Kaitlyn was also wide awake, probably jolted by the same sound.
Screaming.
Hannah, who had been sleeping with her head on Kaitlyn’s lap, sat up and let out a yelp.
Shadow was already at the door.
They stared at each other, neither sure of what to do. But the screaming continued, followed by the sound of people running down the hall, heading for Kyle’s room.
Alex jumped to his feet and fumbled with the door. Once he got it open, he saw David in the hall with Jared and Steve. Steve looked upset and Jared was trying to restrain his laughter, though doing a poor job of it.
“Shut up!” Steve said, punching Jared in the shoulder.
“I’m sorry!” Jared laughed, “But, oh man! That was—”
“What the hell did you do that for?” Steve asked, rubbing blood off his face. A large, fresh scratch crossed his cheek.
“Come on, man!” Jared said, now with his hands on his knees, weak from laughing so hard. “It was just—”
“It was just what?” Nicole asked, storming out of the room, between the two older boys. “What the hell are you doing, Jared?”
“It was a joke!” Jared said, straightening. “It’s fine!”
“Not a fucking funny joke,” Steve muttered.
“It’s not a joke!” Nicole yelled. “What is wrong with you? What if he got hurt?”
“What?” Jared asked, laughing even harder. “The kid is like, what, five? How’s he gonna hurt—”
“Not Jack!” Nicole yelled, her nose almost touching his. “Kyle! What if Kyle got hurt?!”
When she pulled back, Jared’s expression was almost blank, and very unpleasant. It resembled the look Alex had seen right before he grinned and held him over the pit of mudmen.
“So what? Kyle? Who gives a shit? Kyle’s gone, Nicole. Are you telling me you don’t know that? Kyle went crazy and it’s just a matter of time before he comes out of that room and kills us all just like the fucking dead things out there.” He took a breath, trying to stare Nicole down. “He thinks he’s one of them, you know. He thinks he’s one of those things out there. And he’ll kill us—just like them.”
Nicole glared at him as he tried to hide his grin. “He’s five,” she said to Jared in a flat tone. “How’s he gonna hurt you?”
Jared’s nostrils flared. Alex could see him trying to find the perfect nasty thing to say in response. Or maybe he would just haul off and hit her.
He did neither.
“You’re right,” he said, taking a step back, hanging his head in what Alex knew was a phony display of shame. “You’re right. Kyle ... Kyle’s just a little kid. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s just sick or something, and ... and it worries me, you know? I get worried about stuff like that. He’s really the worst off of all of us, I think.” He turned away.
Jared looked right at Alex, hiding his grin from everyone else, as he continued, “‘Cause, he can’t take care of himself. Something could happen to him or Ryan. They’re both so ... helpless.”
Alex watched him walk away, terrified, but not for himself anymore. Terrified for what Jared was planning to do to Kyle and Ryan. He knew now that he had to tell someone what had happened with Jared and Steve; he couldn’t risk them doing something to anyone else. Since Kaitlyn was already suspicious, he decided it would be her.
Taking Shadow by the collar, he motioned to Kaitlyn to follow him back in the room they’d slept in. After locking the door, he told her everything that had happened the day before. The woods. The pit. The cat. Hannah’s dad. Her tears made him stop at that revelation.
“The only reason they didn’t kill me right then was that it would look weird if I wasn’t with them anymore,” he concluded.
“Oh, my God,” Kaitlyn said, shocked. “You have to tell Nicole!”
“I can’t!” Alex insisted. “If I could, I would. But Jared is always around her. Plus, I think she’s on his side.”
Kaitlyn looked at him in disbelief.
“She is! He was totally messing with Kyle earlier. If that was me, she woulda chased me right outta here. But when it was Jared and Steve? Nope. They barely even got yelled at. She’s totally falling for all their crap!”
“I think Nicole is smarter than that.”
“Well, whatever,” Alex said, shrugging it off. “I can’t tell her. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. They said they’d kill me and whoever else they wanted to if I told.” He walked to the door and unlocked it, hoping that removing this level of secrecy would end the conversation. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“If only you’d said that five minutes ago,” said a voice from outside as the door opened.
Steve walked in. Alex and Kaitlyn backed into the room. “Not smart, Alec.” He glared at them, flexing his hands as if he was getting ready to strangle them both right then and there.
After staring at each other in shock for a heartbeat, Alex and Kaitlyn nodded in silent recognition of their only option:
Run.
Alex managed to sneak right of the bigger boy after faking left, but Steve snagged Kaitlyn by the arm as she tried to squeeze past. Seeing the grin on Steve’s face as he looked down at her, Alex realized Kaitlyn was always the main target. His prey. Once again, horrible images of what Steve and Jared might do to her flashed into his mind.
With his fists balled at his sides,
