Party Games (15 page)

“Brendan!” I shouted. “I … I'm so glad it's you.”

He ran up to me, breathing hard. “Rachel, why did you run away? What are you doing here?”

“I … thought I saw someone,” I stammered. “Someone running really fast, and I thought—”

“You shouldn't ever leave the group,” Brendan said. He locked his eyes on mine. “You know you'll be safer if you stay with everyone.”

“Oh, Brendan,” I sighed. I threw my arms around him. “I'm so … frightened.” I pressed my face against his cheek.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. He held me tight and lowered his face to mine. We kissed. A long, sweet kiss. Sweet but desperate. As if we were trying to force away all the horror.

He ended the kiss and narrowed his eyes at me. He didn't say anything for a long moment. I could see there was something he wanted to say. Finally, he whispered, “You'll be safe, Rachel. You'll be safe from them.”

I blinked. “How do you know?”

He didn't answer. He leaned forward and kissed me again. I shut my eyes. I really did want the rest of the world to go away.

But we both pulled back when we heard the screams. Hoarse cries of horror, echoing down the hall.

A chill shook my body. I was still holding onto Brendan. I didn't want to let go.

But another outburst of screams made us pull apart. We both turned toward the sound.

“Please … not again,” I whispered. “Not another murder.”

 

26.

THE NEXT VICTIM

 

We followed the screams to a den near the front of the house. The room was in water colors, all blues and greens. Two green leather couches faced a big widescreen TV on one wall.

In the far corner, a small round table had been knocked on its side. In its place stood a low wooden ladder. Brendan and I pushed through the screaming, crying kids to get a better look.

“Nooooooo!” I slapped my hands to the sides of my face. My stomach churned. I struggled to keep my lunch down.

“Eric! Not Eric!” I wailed.

But yes. Eric Finn was draped upside down over the ladder. His head was bright purple, down near the floor. His arms drooped limply at his sides. His shoes were jammed between the two top rungs.

“The note! There's a note!” I cried.

Brendan stood frozen in horror. I grabbed the note off the bottom ladder rung and read it:

“Chutes and Ladders Isn't Always a Baby Game.”

I let out a shuddering cry. The sheet of paper fell from my hand and fluttered to the floor beside the ladder. Backing away, I thought I saw Eric's fingers twitch. “Is he still alive?” The words burst from my throat in a voice I didn't recognize. Brendan lurched forward and grabbed Eric's hand. He squeezed it. He shook his head. “Ice cold. But he hasn't been dead that long—has he?”

The room erupted in frightened voices and soft sobs.

Eric dead, too.

And who would be next?

I turned my gaze to the blue-green wallpaper. I couldn't bear to look at Eric hanging there upside down, his blond hair tumbling over his face. I couldn't believe I'd never hear his voice again. Never hear him make another joke.

Again, I was desperate to escape. I backed out of the room. I still had my hands pressed to my cheeks. My stomach churned like a washing machine in spin cycle.

Brendan was gently lifting Eric's body off the ladder. Huddled in small groups of two and three, everyone watched. No one moved to help him.

I backed to the door, my shoes scraping the soft carpet. I lowered my hands to my sides. I balled them into tight fists.

This can't be happening.

I stepped into the hall, backed away from the door, away from the horror—and someone grabbed me from behind.

Strong hands gripped my shoulders and pulled me into the hall.

I started to scream. But a hand slid roughly over my mouth. The palm pressed hard over my lips, silencing me.

I ducked and squirmed and tried to twist away. And as I fought, I realized:
It's me. I'm the next victim.

 

27.

THE FINAL CURTAIN

 

Struggling to free myself, I ducked my head and jerked my body forward with all my strength. The hands slid off me, and I stumbled into the wall.

Gasping for breath, I spun around. And stared at Mac Garland.

“Mac! What are you doing here?” I choked out.

He was breathing hard, too. His dark-blond hair fell over his forehead. He narrowed his metal-gray eyes at me.

“Mac—you
hurt
me,” I cried. “Why are you here?” And then the words poured out like a gushing waterfall. “I saw you running. I knew it was you. What's going on? Tell me!”

He glanced up and down the long hall. “I'll explain later,” he said in a breathless whisper. “Hurry.”

“Hurry?” I cried. “What do you mean? What do you want, Mac? Answer my questions? What are you doing here? Did you follow me?”

“Later,” he repeated. He reached for me again, but I backed away. “Come with me, Rachel. I told you. I told you things were going down.”

“The murders? You
knew
about them last week?”

He didn't answer. He pushed the hair off his forehead with one hand. Then he burst forward and grabbed my hand. He tugged hard. “Let's go.”

“No! Let
go
of me!” I cried. “Let go! The murders, Mac. You knew about them?”

He scowled at me. He's a good-looking guy, but he's ugly when he's angry. “Shut up,” he snapped, glancing up and down the hall again. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Somebody—help me!” I tried to scream to the kids back in the den, but the words came out in a choked whisper.

“Don't be an idiot,” he rasped. “Shut up and come with me.
Now
. I have a canoe, Rachel. I can get you out of here.”

I spun free and took several steps back. “I … I'm not going anywhere with you. Answer my questions. What do you know about the murders?”

“We've got to hurry, Rachel. I'll explain later. There's no time.”

His chest was heaving up and down. He took rapid, wheezing breaths. I'd seen him angry before, but I'd never seen him this desperate.

“I'm not going with you,” I said. I gritted my teeth and tensed my whole body, preparing to make a run for it. Mac stood in the middle of the hall. I'd have to fake him out somehow to get past him.

Brendan and the others were still in the den down the hall. I knew I was just a few yards from safety.

“I'm warning you,” Mac said, his eye twitching. His face was red, in a rage. “I'm warning you. I know what's going down. Rachel—I'll get you out of here. But you've got to go now. Come on!”

I stared at him, thinking hard, frantically trying to plan a strategy.

If I dart to the left, maybe I can get him to move left. Then I'll throw him off-balance by running to the right.

I took a deep breath, readying myself to run. And then I saw something in Mac's eyes. He wasn't watching me. His gaze went over my shoulder to something down the hall.

His expression changed. His eyes went wide with fear. And to my surprise, Mac swung away from me and took off, running in the other direction. Before I could utter a sound, he disappeared around a corner.

“Weird,” I said. My heart fluttered in my chest. I turned and gazed down the dark hall. I didn't see anything. I used the wall to shove off and stumbled on shaky legs back to the den with the others.

“Brendan—” I gasped.

He spun around at my cry. “Rachel? Did you leave again?”

“I—I-I—” I stammered, picturing Mac, his eyes so wide and crazy.

Brendan didn't give me a chance to say anything. “Follow me,” he said. “We need to regroup. Think about our next move.”

I glimpsed Eric's body stretched out on the couch. His mouth had dropped open and his eyes were rolled up in his head.

A stab of sheer terror tightened my throat. I followed Brendan as he led everyone down the long hall, then down another. He kept his eyes straight ahead and took long, rapid strides as if desperate to get away from that room, from the sight of Eric so still and dead.

Brendan led us to a large room we hadn't seen before. A blue curtain stretched along the back wall. Armchairs and couches faced the curtain. It was obviously a theater or a screening room.

Brendan motioned to the chairs and couches. “Take a seat, everyone. We need to talk.”

Kenny and Morgan dropped onto the couch near the back of the room. I slumped into a brown leather armchair at one side. Spider sat on the wide arm of my chair. “This can't be happening,” he whispered. “Someone has to come and save us … before … before…” His voice trailed off.

I knew what he was going to say.
Before we are all killed one by one.

Geena and April didn't sit. They stood leaning tensely against one wall, their arms tightly crossed in front of their chests. Geena had been tensely chewing her bottom lip, and now a trickle of bright red blood ran down her chin.

Brendan stepped in front of the curtain and began to pace back and forth. Finally, he stopped and turned to us. “This was always a happy room for my family,” he said. “This is our little theater, where we used to put on plays when we were kids, and we had funny talent shows.”

He sighed. “A lot of good times in this room. But … I guess I could say this is the final curtain.”

He walked to the far end of the curtain. He grabbed a slender rope in both hands and began to pull it. And as he pulled, the curtains parted in the middle and slowly slid open.

Gasps of shock filled the room as we saw what was behind the curtain. And then the gasps turned to screams when we realized we were staring at three bodies.

The bodies of our friends. Patti, Kerry, and Eric. Face down. Piled in a heap on top of each other.

“How … how did they get here?” I cried, my voice hoarse with terror. “Who did this? Brendan—who moved them here?”

I tried to look away. But the horrifying sight held me as if in a trance.

Eric on the bottom. Kerry on top of him, his long legs bent at an odd angle. Patti sprawled face down on top of Kerry, arms hanging limply to the floor, her hair falling over her lifeless face.

“No … No…” I shook my head as if trying to shake away the sickening scene. “No…”

And as I stared, gripped in horror, the pile of bodies started to move.

 

28.

THE PARTY'S OVER

 

Patti moaned and slowly raised her head.

Kerry's hands twitched. His big sneakers slid against the floor.

Eric turned his face toward us and blinked.

My heart skipped a beat. I couldn't breathe. I jumped to my feet.

No one screamed or cried out. No one made a sound.

I felt the blood pulsing at my temples. I pressed my hands to the sides of my face.

“The dead RISE!” Kerry groaned. “Awake! Awake!”

Patti pushed herself off Kerry's back and stood up. She pushed her hair into place and adjusted her T-shirt.

Still on the floor, Eric grinned at us. “Did we fool you? Did you fall for it?”

Kerry stood up and stretched his long arms over his head. “How'd it go, Brendan?”

Finally, we found our voices. The room filled with screams of shock, mixed with happiness, mixed with anger.

I could feel my brain doing flip-flops. I had to shut my eyes for a moment.

They're alive?

This was all a joke? All unreal? All this horror?

Brendan nodded to the three ex-corpses. “Good job, dudes. Game over.”

“Brendan? What's up?” Spider shouted. “‘Game over'?”

Brendan turned to face us. “You've all been playing my new party game,” he said. “I created it for this party. Know what I call it? Total Panic.”

Brendan grinned at us. He looked very pleased with himself.

No one reacted to the news. I think we were too stunned. I felt like I was in shock.

Brendan snickered. “Guys? Are you okay? Maybe my game was
too
good.”

I took a deep breath and finally found my voice. “Are you saying nothing that happened this afternoon was real?”

He nodded. “I planned everything. I wanted Total Panic to be the scariest party game ever.”

My confusion was lifting. I started to feel my chest tighten with anger. “Well, you scared us to death. We all thought—” He didn't let me finish. He raised a hand to silence me.

“I planned everything,” he repeated. “I even planted the dead animals in your beds to get you in a frightened mood before the party.”

“It was
you
?” Geena cried.

“Well … Eric and Kerry helped me. All part of the game. I planned the three murders. I planned Randy hitting his head and the fake blood in the water. I planned the lights going out, the missing flashlights, the masked men breaking in on the security camera, the servants all leaving and taking the boat with them.”

“All a game?” Spider cried. “Are you
kidding
me? All a game?”

“Brendan—I don't believe you!” Geena cried. “You told us Patti, Kerry, and Eric were dead. But—”

“It was all a game, Geena,” Brendan said. “Seriously. I was the only one to examine the bodies—remember? I was always the one who announced they were dead. I never gave anyone a chance to get up close to them.”

The room filled with angry murmurs and words of disbelief.

“As you can see, everyone is okay,” Brendan said. “Well … except for Eric. He's always been a little weird.”

“Hey, aren't you all happy to see me alive?” Eric cried.

“No way,” Spider said. “We liked you better as a corpse.”