The twelve remaining teens and Stingray all crammed into one cabin. Miguel was pacing around the room, trying to figure out what the hell they were going to do. There was no way to leave and no way to call for help. The nearest town was at least ten to fifteen miles away and it would take hours and even then, the town seemed rundown when they had passed through it. Who even knew if they had phone reception? It seemed like there was nothing they could do except stay at the campsite and wait to be killed off one by one. There was just no way they could let that happen. There had to be something they could do, but even when they put all of their heads together, they were still at a loss of a solid plan. After an hour of trying to come up with something to do, the only logical and reasonable solution that wouldn't get them all killed was to attempt to walk into town. It was going to take at least three hours, but what other option did they have?

"So, who wants to walk into town and see if we can call for help?" Miguel asked. "There was a gas station right when we entered the town. Maybe if a few of us can walk up there we can ask to use their phone."

"Oh yeah, go to the creepy, rundown gas station that looks like it hasn't been in business for years and ask the owner for help," Tory said. "Real smart idea, Diaz."

"What do you suggest we do then, Tory?" Miguel asked. "Just stay cooped up in this cabin and do nothing? If the killer doesn't murder us, we can just die of starvation!"

"We're going to starve?" Nathaniel asked.

"No," Sam responded. "No one is going to starve."

"Sam's right. No one is going to starve," Miguel said. "We can't let that happen, but first we need to work on getting help. Any volunteers to walk into town?"

No one raised their hand or spoke up. They didn't dare to volunteer. If they were being honest, they were all too scared. They fear that the second they walked out that door, the killer would jump out at them and slaughter them one by one. It seemed unlikely to happen, but could anyone really blame them? Bert was already dead and their senseis probably were too. They had every right to not want to step foot out of the cabin.

"I'll go," Doug spoken up. "You know, since no one else wants to."

"Yeah," Mikey said. "Me too."

"Okay, anyone else?" Miguel asked.

"Why don't you go?" Tory asked. "Since you're so set on the idea."

"Are you kidding?" Miguel asked. "I'm the most level-headed one out of all of us. Someone has to stay here and man the fort."

Tory scoffed. "Man the fort? Are you kidding me right now?"

"Shut up!" Sam said, putting a stop to their argument before pointing to Doug and Mikey. "Someone else go to keep those two in check."

Doug and Mikey looked at her with an offended look on their faces. She did have a point though. They weren't exactly the most competent ones in the group and Doug wasn't sure about Mikey, but he had absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever. He'd be lost before he even left the campsite and he had been asleep the entire bus ride so he had no idea what gas station Miguel was even talking about.

"I can go," Robby said. "I remember where the gas station was."

"Great, anyone else?" Miguel asked, but no one else volunteered. "You three go then. Robby, make sure these idiots don't get themselves killed."

"You got it, Diaz," Robby said, standing up and walking towards the door.

Doug and Mikey followed after him. Robby took a deep breath before opening the door and walking out. He looked around outside the cabin to make sure the killer wasn't in sight before stepping off the porch. Doug and Mikey followed him and the three boys walked towards the exit of the campsite. They were still terrified to be leaving the group, but if they could find a way to call for help or get the hell out of here, then they were more than willing to take it. The remainder of the group that stayed behind waited for them to return and prayed that the trip wouldn't be a total waste of time.

It took three and a half hours to walk to the gas station. During those three hours, most of the group who remained in the cabin had fallen asleep. They had all started dozing off at one point. Even Miguel and Tory who were supposed to be keeping watch had fallen asleep. By the time the last person had closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep, the sky had already started to grow dark. Suddenly, there was a loud bang causing everyone to jolt awake. None of them moved. They were all too afraid to get up. What if that was the killer? There was no way they were about to open that door and invite whoever it was in. That was just asking to be murdered. The banging continued and then a voice could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Guys! Let me in!"

It was Robby. He sounded panicked and out of breath as if he had been running.

"Come on, guys! Please let me in!" Robby said, continuing to bang on the door.

Sam ran towards the door and started to unlock it, but Tory grabbed her arm and pulled her back before she could.

"Have you lost your mind?" Tory asked. "What if it's him?"

"It's not Robby," Sam said, continuing to unlock the door.

"You don't know that," Tory responded.

Sam rolled her eyes and continued to unlock the door. She opened it and the second Robby walked in, she closed it quickly behind him. Robby took a seat on one of the beds. He was breathing heavily and held his hand to his arm. When he moved it, everyone took notice of how his sleeve had been cut and was now covered in blood. A large gash was spread across his arm and was dripping a dark red. Robby winced in pain when he removed his hand and the cold air from the cabin hit it.

"Oh my god!" Sam exclaimed, rushing to his side. "Robby, what happened?"

Robby tried to catch his breath. "We made it to the gas station and Doug—he found the phone and tried to call the police, but the lines were dead and then Mikey found the gas station owner in the bathroom. He was dead—covered in blood just like the bus driver, but he had a cellphone. I tried—I tried to use it and managed to call 911, but the dumbass didn't charge his phone so it died on me halfway through."

"Here we go again with the damn clichés," Tory mumbled, rolling her eyes.

Robby ignored her and continued talking. "And then out of nowhere, the killer just—he killed Mikey and he tried to kill me too, but I managed to get away and I tried to go find Doug, but he was already dead. I panicked and didn't know what else to do so I just ran..."

"I knew this stupid trip was a bad idea," Demetri said. "I never should have come. I could be sitting at home right now watching reruns of Doctor Who or—or at the comic book store buying a new comic—or baking cookies with my mom—"

"Demetri, just breathe, okay?" Miguel said to him.

"That's easy for you to say," Demetri said. "I mean, look at you! You're athletic and—and I'm not. I get winded walking up a flight of stairs—stairs! There's no way I'll ever be able to outrun a killer!"

"You're not going to have to outrun a killer, okay?" Miguel said, grabbing his shoulders. "I'm not going to let that happen. I promise."

Demetri nodded. "Okay, but if you let down, man...I will haunt you for the rest of your life."

"I bet you will," Miguel responded before directing his focus to the rest of the group. "Okay, someone find something to clean that cut up with and bandage it. We can't let it get infected."

"What are you now? Doctor Diaz?" Tory asked.

Miguel and the group ignored her as they searched the cabin for anything that they could use to help clean Robby's wound. Chris found a first aid kit and Sam used it to disinfect his arm, but there wasn't any gauze or anything to wrap around it. So, Hawk took the hachimaki he wore around his head and handed it to Sam. She looked down at it for a second before wrapping it around Robby's arm and tightening it. It wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but it worked and was the best thing they had.

"Any bright ideas now, Doctor Diaz?" Tory asked. "Since you seem to be the one taking charge here."

"Do you have a problem, Tory?" Miguel asked. "Because if you want to be the one to make sure that everyone stays safe and take charge, then be my guest."

"Make sure everyone stays safe? Is that what you're doing?" Tory asked. "Because last time I checked, Bert, Doug, and Mikey were dead and Robby was attacked. Is that your idea of keeping us safe?"

"If you think you can do better, then go ahead!" Miguel said to her.

They continued to argue back and forth until Aisha spoke, causing them to stop.

"Uh, guys...where's Stingray?" she asked.

The group looked around the room. Stingray was nowhere to be found. Mitch checked the bathroom, but he wasn't there. There was absolutely no sign of him anywhere.

"Great! Miguel lost Stingray," Mitch said.

"What?" Miguel asked. "I did not lose Stingray! Did anyone see him leave?"

Everyone shrugged. They had all fallen asleep. No one had seen him leave or was even aware that he was gone until Aisha said something.

"He must have left the cabin while we were sleeping," Nathaniel said.

"Why would he do that?" Chris asked. "He probably went and got himself killed!"

"Or it's him..." Mitch said.

Robby shook his head. "No, it can't be him. I don't mean to sound rude but, the killer—he was much skinnier than Stingray."

"Not to mention that he literally vomited when he saw the bus driver," Aisha pitched in.

"Then who the hell is it?" Mitch asked.

"It's probably just some random asshole who likes to murder teenagers for fun," Hawk said.

"Um, no. Haven't you ever seen a horror movie?" Tory asked. "There's got to be a motive. There's always some type of motive."

"Who the hell would have enough motive to want to kill us?" Sam asked.

"Our senseis?" Nathaniel suggested.

"You seriously think that our senseis brought us out here to murder us?" Sam asked, not believing that for a second.

"No way," Miguel responded. "This is supposed to be a bonding experience and they wouldn't do that."

"There's no better bonding experience than dying together," Hawk said.

"Damn, dude, that's dark," Chris responded.

"He does have a point though...just think about it," Tory said. "Where have they been this entire time? Nowhere to be found!"

"That doesn't mean anything. Maybe they're scared just like us and don't want to get murdered so they're hiding somewhere," Sam responded.

"Yeah, but don't you think they'd at least try to come look for us to make sure we're okay?" Demetri asked.

"Maybe they haven't come to look for us because they're already dead," Tory said.

No one wanted to believe that their senseis were dead. Sam and Robby didn't want to believe that their fathers were dead, but Tory was right. At this point, everyone had suspected that Daniel and Johnny were already dead. She just said what everyone else was too afraid to. They knew their senseis were dead and there was nothing they could do about it. They had no idea who the killer was and no idea what had happened to Stingray. For all they knew, he was dead just like Bert, Doug, Mikey, Daniel, and Johnny. They were dead and there was nothing they could do about it.

After the initial shock of their senseis (and fathers) being dead, the blame game had officially begun. Not a single person went un-accused and of course, every single person denied that it was them. They all swore that they were sleeping when Stingray had left the cabin and hadn't seen him leave. Tory tried to pick up on who was lying by the sound of their voice, but it was practically impossible. She had no doubt that it was someone in the group, but whoever it was did a good job of lying. There was no telling who it was and the blaming was only going to get worse as time went on. It would get worse and worse until the group had been dwindled down to six and even then, no one was safe from accusations or the knife of whoever it was that was killing their friends.

By the time nightfall came around the next day, the number of people dead would increase and the identity of the killer would become even harder to deduce. Everyone had an alibi and everyone had a reason, but the question is; who actually has enough guts to go through with it? Who is actually strong enough, daring enough, and brave enough to commit murder?

—

i already have this all planned out, but  any theories/suspicions on who the killer is?

i'd love to know what you think!

- emilia