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#  Hacking 'N' Slashing

By Gareth Curran

#  Copyright

Copyright © 2014 by Gareth Curran

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organisations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

#  For my hockey team, and my family

Table of Contents

Hacking 'N' Slashing

Copyright

For my hockey team, and my family

#  1

"How the hell are we going to survive?" Alan crouched down in front of the hockey goal, shaking his head from side to side in disbelief as he brought his hands up to cover his face. "Come on guys, you need to work harder!" he shouted at the team.

He wondered if there was any point in training today or even at all for that matter. The past three weeks had been almost unbearable for him. Being the captain and starting goalie of the local indoor hockey team, he had increased the training sessions from three times a week to five in hopes of getting his players both mentally and physically fit for the National tournament which happened to be starting in only a matter of days. And now, standing there in front of goal, a couple of days before they hit the road and headed off to the competition, he wondered if it was really worth it. He felt the team was no better off today than they were three weeks ago before he intensified the training sessions.

A shot whizzed high above his head, easily five feet above the crossbar of the goal he was protecting, and he didn't even move a muscle. Instead, he gave the player who shot the puck a cold, hard stare, and the young shooter went running back towards the centre of the court, his tail between his legs. He felt like calling it quits and packing it up right then and there. Instead, he turned around, casually jumped over the boards that separated the rink from the stands and retrieved the puck. Puck in hand, he brought his arm back and fired it back into the court, barely missing several players as they jumped out of the way of the deadly projectile.

"Don't take it so seriously man," a voice shouted from the grandstands high up to the left side of the court. Alan twisted his head and glanced up at the voice, and as he did, cursed under his breath once he saw who it was. Standing in the entrance of the huge recreational centre, wearing a tight yellow vest, short blue shorts and knee high socks was Vijay, a fellow member of the hockey team. Alan cursed again as he hopped back over the boards just as casually as he did a few seconds ago, and onto the court.

Before he was voted in as captain last year, Vijay had held the reins for the previous three. He was not very happy about being stripped of the captaincy. He was so angry with the decision that he missed all of last season, Alan's first as captain, citing 'personal reasons' for his absence. Despite holding each other in high regards, as well as working well as a team before the change of captaincy, the two have never gotten along since, and they have grown bitter and less fond of each other, more so on Vijay's half. Alan could never understand this as the team members were the ones who decided who the captain was.

"You're late," Alan yelled as Vijay made his way down the concrete steps and onto the large court.

Even though players had to run laps around the court for being late, Vijay simply walked up to the black equipment bag sitting near centre court, picked up a long white stick, and made his way towards the opposite end to where Alan was and started practicing with another player. It wasn't the first time he ignored the new rules Alan put in place to make the team a better one. As a matter of fact, he wondered if Vijay had ever followed them at all. Instead of saying something he knew he would regret later, he called for a short break and made his way to the side-lines for a drink. He removed his shiny red helmet from his head and threw it to the side, removed his gloves from his hands, and used the back of his left one to wipe the sweat off of his forehead. The weatherman on the channel one news said they were in for a very hot day, and it seemed as though he had gotten it right for once. Surprise surprise. After a couple of swipes at his head with his hand, he reached for one of the water bottles sitting near the team bag, removed the lid, then put it to his lips and took three long gulps, each one longer than the last. He took a deep breath before screwing the cap back on and tossing it back into the pile.

He wanted to pick each one up one by one and heave them across the court, but decided it was best that he didn't let his frustration and emotions get the better of him. Instead, his mind continued to annoyingly taunt him. Why had the team failed to show any signs of improvement under his captaincy? They had been playing games and practising several times a week for around six months under his reign, yet they did not seem to have gelled as well as he had expected them to. Doubt entered his mind for a fraction of a second, and a frown spread across his face. Could he really lead this team to victory?

"Why a sad face, boss?" A hand came crashing down onto his shoulder, startling him. Alan spun around to see Kaito standing there, grinning from ear to ear. He was a little shorter than Alan, maybe five foot nine inches tall, and a whole lot quicker too. Coming from Japan, his English was very limited, and the team had to speak slowly for him to understand. Alan had looked after him ever since he left Japan just under a year ago, and the two had hit it off almost instantly.

"Oh nothing, Kaito," Alan said. "It's just me thinking way too much about nothing."

Kaito nodded slowly, taking a few extra seconds to process everything. "It, it's not me is it?" he replied. His face mirrored Alan's own glumness face.

"What? No, no of course not!" Alan laughed. "You're one of the good guys. I've got nothing against you."

He put his arm around Kaito and rubbed his knuckles against the young guy's head. Kaito pushed him away softly.

"So, me is good player?" Kaito asked.

"I'm a good player," Alan corrected him. "And yes, you are. One of the best I've got. So stop worrying. That's my job."

Kaito grinned once again. "Ok, boss!" he shouted. "I'm good player. We will win competition together!"

Alan stopped and admired his happiness. His attitude was simply amazing and carefree. Maybe he should try thinking that way too for a change. How hard could it be to stay happy and look at the positives of the team? They high-fived.

"That's right Kaito. With you and me on the team, no one can beat us." Even though it sounded corny and stupid, Kaito looked like he enjoyed the statement, and he smiled from ear to ear. "Now let's get back to practice so that we can become unstoppable."

They high-fived once more, then Kaito ran off to talk with some other players. Smiling, Alan picked up his helmet and slapped it back onto his head. He started to walk back to his goalie position when something caught his eye and he turned to see what it was. It was Vijay, standing by himself at centre court, and he was staring straight at Alan with dark, sullen eyes.

It started to rain by the time Alan got home a little after seven o'clock. He had decided to get dinner at one of the local fast food outlets with a few of the other players after the training session. Two huge burgers with a side of fries were the usual for him, but with the tournament being only days away, he decided to skip on the fries as well as order a veggie burger instead to show his dedication and commitment to the team. Now in the safety of his own house, he ripped open a packet of chips, plonked down onto the sofa, and turned on the TV. Even though he lived in a small, two-bedroomed apartment in the city, he was the only one that occupied it. No girlfriend, no flatmate, and having neither suited him just fine. He was even happy with not having a cat or dog, not that a cat is much company to begin with. There was nothing and no one to get in his way or mess up his life, unlike a few of the guys from his team. It was hard enough to deal with them.

He settled down comfortably on his small, two-seater couch, the bag of chips riding the wave up and down of his slightly large stomach as he breathed in and out slowly. He scanned the channels for something good to watch while he ate but found that there was nothing on other than big-boobed bimbo reality 'stars' vying for love on eighty percent of the channels, so he turned it back off as quickly as he turned it on. Instead of watching TV, he sat back, relaxed, and listened to the rain pelt down onto the earth.

A few minutes passed by when someone banged loudly on his front door, startling him. He quickly got to his feet and made his way towards the door, a mere five metres from the living room. The rain had gotten heavier, beating the tin roof with an amazing amount of force, and it surprised him that someone would even come to his place in such terrible weather. When he got to the door, he took the latch off the hook and opened it. No one was there. A strong gust of wind and rain were the only things that greeted him at the doorstep. Alan took a small step outside and peered first to his left, and then to his right. He squinted hard and covered his eyes with his hands, trying to get a better look through the pelting rain. Still nothing. Nobody was in sight. He could have sworn that he heard someone knock. He was almost positive. Maybe it was just the wind and rain, or even the tall oak tree in the front yard smashing hard against the house. Whatever, or whoever it was, had stopped.

Looking around one final time, and then feeling relieved and safe once he did, Alan turned to head back inside, but suddenly stopped. That's when he saw it. A small, soaked white folded up piece of paper nailed at head height to his front door. He stood there, looking at it with a confused look as it took him a few seconds to realise that it was a note. He wondered if it had been there before he came home, but he knew it hadn't. He surely would have noticed it if it had. Suddenly feeling a sense of danger, he ripped the note down quickly, leaving a small bit of it hanging off the nail on the door, stepped back into his house and slammed the door shut behind him. He grabbed the latch and quickly fastened it back into place, then grabbed the key off the kitchen bench and locked the door. He peered through the peep hole and looked about hoping to notice something or someone, but there was nothing to be seen.

After shaking the door several times to make sure that it was securely locked, as well as checking that the latch was locked down twice, Alan walked over to the kitchen area and slumped down into one of the wooden chairs by the small card table that occupied one corner of the room. He unfolded the soggy piece of paper carefully so he did not rip it, and he noticed that his hands were trembling as he did so. He stopped and took a couple of breaths to calm himself before continuing. After hesitating with it a few times, he finally managed to open it, and his eyes first darted back and forth on the soggy page before they widened in horror. He now realised why he had felt so worried standing out on his front step moments ago. Four words were scribbled down on the note with a red marker. It shocked him so bad that the piece of paper slipped through his fingers and fluttered down onto the kitchen linoleum. The rain had caused the letters to run down the page, making it look like wet streaks of blood. He stared down at the note, and the note stared evilly back.

You're going to lose everything!

#  2

Alan arrived a little bit earlier to practice the next day to warm up before the rest of the team showed up. He had originally scheduled a day off for the team, but after yesterday's fiasco, decided to have one more training session before they hit the road the next day. He liked to arrive earlier than the other players most days as he felt it helped him to relax and clear his mind before taking charge of the team. It was almost like a sacred ritual or superstitious act the big time professional players do before they go out to play.

He was halfway through his second drill of hitting the ball against the wall and catching it with his glove when the first group of players started to make their way into the gymnasium. He couldn't help but notice the annoyed expressions on some of their faces, possibly from the fact that it was the second time they were in the building in less than twenty-four hours. A bigger, as well as probably more viable reason being it stopped them from getting drunk throughout the whole day. He counted five heads in the gymnasium which meant that another four players were still to come. As he had expected, Vijay was not one of the five that were there.

Alan glanced down at his black wrist watch, and it read eight fifty-five. Practice was meant to start at nine o'clock, and only half the team was there, suited up and ready to train. Thankfully for him, everyone that was standing around grumpily, waiting for practice to commence, were the players that were in the starting line-up.

David, the team's first-string left winger, was having a rather relaxed chat with Josh, the first-choice right winger. They were both standing near the scorer's table, with Josh leaning up against it, waiting for practice to start. David ran his hand through his short curly black hair as he explained a few of the plays they were going to run. He was a bit shorter than Josh and a lot skinnier too. He was known for his quick feet and silky, smooth passes, whereas Josh was known more for his powerful shots and trash-talking. Alan felt that they were a perfect match for any team once they got going. Sadly for him, it was not very often, so he was really counting on the two of them to step up and perform at the tournament.

Then there was Jason, the real star of the team. He was sitting down on the far side of the gear bag near David and Josh, headphones strapped to his head. He was listening to one of the latest rock songs, and he tapped his foot to the rhythm of the beat and banged his fingers against his thighs as if playing the drums. Despite being one of the shortest members on the team, he was the real deal, the natural, the whole package. Not only could he pass the puck better than David, or shoot it harder than Josh, he could also dance around any defender without even breaking a sweat. He was unstoppable, and Alan was glad to see him return this year. Without him, they would definitely be favourites for last place.

The only other players that were waiting around patiently for practice to start were Kaito and Haruki. Like Kaito, Haruki also came from Japan, and as they were recently promoted to the team's starting defensive line, they had come to be known as the Japanese defensive duo, or as Jason liked to put it, Double Dragon. Haruki was easily the biggest unit of the two, standing almost at seven feet, he hailed in comparison to Kaito who was a little less than six feet.

Despite having a decent starting line-up, it was the bench-warmers that worried Alan most. The starting five couldn't play every minute of every game, which meant he would have to rely on his four bench players. The same four players that had yet to show up for practice. He nervously looked down at his watch again and sighed when he saw that it was already a few minutes past nine, so he decided that they might as well start without them. He pulled a small, black whistle out of his pocket, put it between his lips and blew down on it hard. "Let's get this thing started," he shouted.

A quarter of an hour later, everyone except Vijay had arrived, and Alan didn't hesitate to send them on a few laps around the court for their tardiness. Brian, the oldest member on the team at the ripe old age of thirty-eight, was the first player to arrive late. He gave an excuse about his son being sick, even though he did not have one, so Alan made him run a couple extra laps. Steve and Greg, two of the other bench players, came shortly after. Steve was the fittest and fastest player on the team, and like Greg, who was not that much slower, felt that they deserved to be in the starting line-up. They were not too frilled to lose their starting positions to a couple of guys that hadn't even been in the team, let alone the country, for a year. It was a hard and fierce couple of months as the four defensemen battled it out for the two top spots, and in the end, Alan, who also worked as the team coach and selector, felt that Greg and Steve's performances over the last year had declined. He sat them all down and explained that he felt Kaito and Haruki had rightly deserved their spots in the starting line-up. Although Steve seemed to have accepted this and was happy with how the team was running, Greg still found the decision hard to swallow, and Alan had had more than one meeting with him to settle it. He even went as far as approaching every other member individually confidentially to get some feedback on who they felt should start, and the results were unanimous. He had made the right decision for the team.

As the training session was coming to an end, Alan stood at the foot of the goal and looked out over his team. He was smiling from ear to ear, and for once, he had a good feeling in his stomach. It was the first time in a long time that everything clicked. Passes were spot on and on a string, shots were coming thick and fast, and he was having a hard time keeping the puck out of the back of his net. Everything was going good, that was, until he noticed Vijay sitting in the stands. He was sitting near the entrance with his arms folded over his tiny chest, and he was looking Alan dead in the face.

Alan quickly called for a short five minute break, then made his way up the steps towards Vijay. The closer he got to him, the worse he felt, and his stomach tightened. Vijay continued to give him a cold, hard stare as he stopped and stood in front of him.

"Nice of you to show up," Alan said sarcastically. Vijay kept silent as he continued to stare him down. Since taking over as captain, Vijay had been nothing but trouble for Alan. He would never give one-hundred per cent in games or practice, he constantly showed up late for sessions, and he even decided to skip one of their home games without saying a word or giving a reason later on. Even though Alan slowly started to dislike Vijay as the year went on, he had a sense that the feeling was mutual. The only difference being that Vijay hated him from day one.

"You can't keep showing up late like this," Alan continued as he placed his arms on his hips. He was breathing slightly heavily from the training and from climbing up the steps. He tried to make his voice sound tough, but it ended up sounding more like a nervous whisper as it trembled slightly. He was never good at trying to sound hard, no matter how hard he tried. He realised that he started to slouch so he stood back up straight and continued, "Look, if you're going to keep coming late, just don't bother coming at all." That came out sounding a bit better he thought. "We don't need someone like you that brings the team down like this. Someone that does not give a rats ass about the team or his team mates."

He was hoping that his little speech would knock some sense into Vijay, and that maybe he would decide to pull his head in and give some effort and to care for the team. Now it was his turn to stay quiet and wait for a reply. It only took few seconds for Vijay to say something.

"I'm not going to the tournament."

The statement hit Alan harder than a heavyweight punch to the stomach. He wasn't expecting this sort of reaction from his lecture. Maybe he was a little too harsh?

Vijay stood up slowly and pulled his arms tighter across his chest, a sure sign of defence Alan read once. "And don't think your little rant just now has anything to do with it," he said. He rolled his eyes. "I hurt my leg yesterday." He pulled his pants up above his left leg, revealing a heavily bandaged knee.

"How'd you do th-"

"Playing tennis with a mate," he cut in. He said it so quickly that it was as if he was expecting Alan to ask such a question. "Fell over and hurt my knee. Cut it up pretty bad too." He dropped his pants back down his leg. "I can hardly run, let along walk. That's why it took me so long to get here."

Two hours late, and he drives to practice. As if a sore leg would be a good enough reason for that. If he had hit his head, then maybe that would be a valid excuse. In all reality, it looked as if he was looking for an excuse to miss the tournament. He would rather come up with this bullshit act than to tell Alan straight to his face, like a man, that he didn't want to participate. What a team player.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok?" he continued. "I know things between us have been," he paused for a moment, trying to think of the right word. "Things between us have been rough. I won't deny that. I promise that everything will be much better after the tournament. I'll do everything I can to make this team better. I'll take control." He smiled a fake smile and extended his right hand out in way of a peace offering.

The way he said that last sentence took Alan by surprise. The way he was acting startled him even more. Yesterday, he couldn't even stand being in the same room as him. Today, he's acting like they are the best of friends again. Talk about being two-faced. There must be a reason or explanation for it, possibly even a motive.

Without knowing what to say or do, Alan forced a smile on his face and accepted the offering. They looked each other in the eyes as they shook hands.

"You know, you could always come with us to this tournament," Alan said. They continued to hold hands until he took his back and put it into his pocket. He started to feel sorry for Vijay, the way he snapped at him only moments ago. He realised that the captain should always be the bigger man, and the way he had just spoken to him was unnecessary. "Not to play, of course," Alan motioned to Vijay's leg, "but more as a supporter. Cheer on the team, give some words of encouragement and what not. I think the team would really appreciate that."

The smile on Vijay's face quickly faded and he suddenly looked moody, as if he didn't like Alan's idea. "I don't think that would be good." Vijay replied. "I'd be doing more harm than good to the team. To be invited to join you guys when I hardly show up to practice, let alone to not even play in this tournament, could dampen my reputation more than it already is now," he continued to look Alan dead in the eye. "I'd rather start off fresh after the tournament. After everyone has an unforgettable time down there. I'm sure I would win them over easier that way," he said. He looked out over the team that were standing around on the court, waiting for Alan to return. His emotionless, blank stare made the hairs on Alan's neck stand up. "Now if you don't mind, I have to get going," he said. He moved about awkwardly for a couple of seconds. "Good luck with the next couple of days. You're definitely going to need it," he smirked. Not waiting for Alan to say anything, he turned around and limped out of the arena and back out into the car park. Alan watched him as he hopped into his beat-down red hatchback and drove off.

Alan turned back towards the court and stood there for a while, looking down at his team. His mind went over the things Vijay just said. Unforgettable? Win them over? Alan pondered over his choice of words. What exactly did he mean? Another daring question entered his mind, but he had no answer for it. What exactly was Vijay planning?

"Yo that's pretty sick," David said. "Who would do such a thing?" he asked Alan as he sat down in one of the small red booths at Ja Panino, the local burger joint that specialised in making Asian burgers and salads. It was their go-to place to hang out after practices as it was usually quiet and the waitresses gave them free fries every once in a while. David slid is tray across the table towards the window and scooted over to make room for the rest of the team that were waiting in line for their orders.

Alan plonked down opposite David, teriyaki chicken burger in hand. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, soft note and tossed it onto the table in front of him. It was in worse condition than it was the night before, despite using a hairdryer to dry it, however it was still readable. He slid the note over to David.

"Yo is that blood!" David said. His eyes went wide and he went into a coughing fit as he started to choke on a bite of his oriental beef with wasabi sauce burger. He heaved a few times and pounded his chest to help unblock his throat to get it all down.

"Woah, easy there," Jason laughed. He sat down next to David and dropped his food tray. An Indonesian beef styled salad swished about in a white round bowl. "A word of advice if I may? You gotta chew before you swallow," he slapped David hard on the back and threw his head back and laughed. "Unless you're my girlfriend, that is," he said. A huge grin spread across his face as he looked back between David and Alan eagerly, expecting them to laugh with him.

Alan rolled his eyes instead. At first, he didn't mind Jason's dirty mind, but now, he could hardly stand it. One time, he mentioned how hot his mum was. To her face. At his grandfather's funeral.

Josh and Steve grabbed their orders and sat down with the group. Steve's food tray was stacked with several two dollar mini pork burgers, and Josh had a beef rendang burger, the joint's 'number one burger all across town.'

Kaito, Haruki and Greg apologised to Alan for not being able to make it. Vijay of course was not to be heard from.

"I know how to chew," David replied. Colour started to return to his face and he gave Jason a cold stare. He took a deep breath and continued, "It was this that shocked me," he straightened out the crumpled letter and held it out in front of the group. The other's looked at him with confused expressions. "Alan found this nailed to his door last night."

A few jaws dropped, and a bit of chewed meat fell out of Josh's mouth.

"What is that?" Jason asked. He was the only one that didn't look shocked. "Some kind of stupid joke?" He snatched the note out of David's hands and looked at it closely. "And what do you mean, nailed to his front door?" he ran his finger along the top edge of the note that was ripped.

"Exactly that," David replied. "It was nailed to his door with a six inch nail."

"Literally?"

"Literally," David nodded his head up and down. "It's pretty twisted. Who would do such a thing?"

All eyes turned to Alan, but he simply stared back at them.

"I have no idea," he said glumly. He thought about the events that happened the night before and shuddered. Was someone out to get him, or was someone just playing a stupid prank? "All I know is that it's a pretty sick thing to do. I mean, I have a pretty big hole in my front door now, and that's going to cost a bit to get fixed. I have an inspection coming up soon too."

"Is it real blood?" Jason asked. He continued to stare at the note, looking at it at different angles as if doing so would give him the answer. He then ran his finger across the words and sniffed his finger, but the words were already dry.

"I don't know," Alan replied. "I really hope not. It looks more like paint or a dark red marker. Whatever it is, it's still a pretty damn sick and twisted thing to do."

"You don't have a secret wife that you have recently divorced have you?" Jason laughed. Again he grinned, thinking his joke was humorous. Nobody else laughed with him.

"Of course not." Alan glared at Jason who quickly stopped smiling and handed the note back to him. "Anyway," Alan continued, turning back to the group, "I have no idea what it is meant to mean," he continued. "I'm going to lose everything? Lose what? I have nothing valuable or anything worth losing in the first place."

"Maybe," Jason started, but quickly shut his mouth when everybody glared at him.

"Maybe it is a prank, or that they got the wrong house?" Josh asked. He sounded hopeful.

"I guess that's possible," Alan said, "but I don't think so. You have to be really stupid to do that to the wrong door. Anyway, I'm sure I have nothing to lose."

"You do have the tournament to lose," Brian said.

Everybody spun around and looked next to the table to see Brian standing there, towering over them. He had taken a long shower after practice, and had only just gotten to the fast food restaurant. Most of them had finished their food by then, so instead of ordering, he grabbed a seat from a nearby table and sank down into it.

"You scared the hell out of me!" Josh said. His eyes were wide and he clutched his chest. Brian grinned but quickly apologised once he realised that he was serious.

"What do you mean I have the tournament to lose?" Alan asked, raising one eye. He wanted to get talking about his note again because he was curious about what Brian had to say. Before Brian could answer, he started again. "That's a bit silly. I've got the tournament to lose? You do understand that I am not the only one out there trying to win? We are a team, and if one of us loses, we all lose. Simple as that."

A few of the players nodded in agreement. Alan handed the note to Brian so he could have a closer look.

"That is true," Brian responded. He looked at the note closely and carefully. He turned it around a couple of times to look at it from different angles as if doing so would give him the answer. He eventually looked up at Alan and smiled. "But you are leaving out one vital piece of information," he said. He tapped his head to try and get the rest of the group to think about what he said carefully. "One very important thing," he scanned the faces in the group that were sitting in front of him, and after a brief moment, sighed out loud when no one said anything. "It is true that we all lose," he continued when no one spoke up, "but you will lose something which is really important to only you." He squinted and looked straight at Alan as he tapped his head once again. He stared so hard that it looked like he was trying to telepathically tell him the answer.

Alan stared back with a dumbfounded look on his face. He thought that Brian looked like an idiot. He was about to tell him how silly he looked when the answer suddenly hit him like a Muay Thai kick to the face, and his mouth stood open, frozen with fear. Brian grinned cheekily once he saw that he understood. A cloud hung over Alan as soon as he realised what it was that Brian was hinting at. He wanted to say it, but he was still stuck, unable to process the thoughts that were racing through his mind. Finally, after what felt like forever, he finally found his voice.

"Captaincy," he stammered. "I'll lose my captaincy."

#  3

"Yo, hurry up!" David tooted the horn three times. He sat in the driver's seat of the team van, and his head was leaning out the window. He banged on the outside of the door hard and called out again, louder than the last. It was parked just outside of Alan's apartment, and team was running late. The rest of the squad was tightly packed in the vehicle like sardines in a hot tin can, and there was not much room left for Alan, let alone his baggage. The sun had started to rise, and the weather forecast had shown that it was going to be very hot day. If they didn't leave soon, then they were going to cook.

Alan quickly appeared in the doorway of his apartment and looked at the beat-up, old van. A frown spread across his face. "A little help?" he called out and threw his hands out in front of him. "I need to get all the equipment in the van, but don't all rush out and help at once."

The gang all groaned at once, and then started to exit the vehicle. Josh and Jason shoved each-other playfully as they got out and headed towards the apartment, and Steve, Greg and Brian quickly followed.

"You too," Alan said, looking at David.

"But I'm the driver," David grumbled, before getting out and slamming the door.

"And I'm the captain," Alan said. He smiled and patted David on the back as he went past.

Steve reappeared in the doorway holding a small black backpack, and he headed straight towards the van, swinging it back and forth between his hands.

"Be careful with that," Alan called out. He didn't like it when people were careless with his belongings. He could never understand why others could be so senseless for other people's property.

Steve opened the boot of the van and placed the bag gently on top of the other bags, then turned to look at Alan. A cheeky smirk spread across his face. "Happy?"

"Sure am," Alan replied, returning the smile, even though he wasn't. Before Steve could say anything else to try and annoy him, he quickly turned around and headed into his apartment.

It took them five minutes to gather up his stuff, pack it, and put it into the van with the rest of the bags. Finally, they were ready to leave. The group jumped back into the vehicle, all squashed up and even tighter than they were before. A few of the guys pushed and poked each other until they were comfortable, every man trying to gain just that extra millimetre of space. Steve eventually pulled the door back and jumped back out of the van and stood by it.

Alan stepped out of his apartment for the last time that morning and shut the door behind him. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a set of keys and locked the door, checking it twice to make sure it was locked. Before walking to the van, he looked up at the small, jagged hole that pierced the door, left there by the nasty letter and nail. His gut turned a couple of times before he finally peeled his eyes away from it, and slowly made his way towards the van. His mind continued to play out that night as he walked around the back of the van, slammed the boot shut, and then continued on to the passenger door. Instead he bumped into Steve who was standing in his way.

"You ready? Steve asked. He was staring hard at Alan, his hand up above his eyes to protect them from the sun. He kicked at the ground.

"I guess," Alan replied. He stopped and put his hands on his hips. "Are you?"

"I am," Steve said.

"Anything else?" Alan asked. He had stood there for a moment in the heat, waiting for Steve to say something.

Steve shifted uncomfortably and wiped at his brow. "Vijay was just here."

Alan's heart skipped a beat. "Here?" he pointed to the ground, unsure if he had just misheard him.

"Yes here," Steve replied, widening his arms and pointing at the ground. "He was here while you guys were in your apartment. He came out of nowhere just after I put your bag in the van. Scared the hell out of me."

Alan looked around the area. He looked up and down the street, but couldn't see anyone. "Well where is he now?"

"He's already gone," Steve said. He voice suddenly sounded slightly agitated. "I told him to piss off."

"Why."

"Because he is nothing but trouble. I saw you guys having a conversation in the stands the other day. I thought he was making up excuses and bad-mouthing the team. We don't need that stuff. If he thinks he is coming back after the tournament, he is in for a rude awakening."

Alan couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had enough trouble dealing with Vijay by himself, and now his players were getting involved. Things could get ugly.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Alan said quickly, trying to defuse the situation. He could see that Steve was starting to get annoyed. "I guess we should not think about him until after the tournament. Our primary focus should be on that," he put an arm around Steve's shoulder to try and calm him. "And please don't go saying anything to the others about this. We really need to concentrate on the tournament."

"Yeah I guess."

"Good. I promise I'll think of something once the competition is over."

Steve nodded his head slowly and then without saying anything, hopped back into the van. He jumped over Greg, who didn't appreciate it all that much with a groan, and then slid into the middle seat. Alan pulled the door shut then moved to the passenger seat door in the front. Pulling the door open, he hopped in and banged it shut once he sank into the leather seat.

"Easy!" Greg yelled. He was sitting behind the passenger seat, and the way Alan jumped into the front caused it to smack against his legs. He kicked the back of the seat out of frustration then rubbed his knees furiously, hoping that the pain would subside. The rest of the guys laughed.

David twisted side to side in the driver's seat, put on his seat belt, then turned the key in the ignition and started the van. The vehicle wheezed and groaned for several seconds before it finally started, black smoke puffing out of the exhaust as it roared to life. Again, the group laughed and cheered.

"Let's go captain!" Kaito shouted from the back of the van. He threw a couple of thumbs up which made Alan smile. David honked the horn, causing the two Japanese men to laugh even harder. Kaito suddenly started cheering loudly, surprising a few of the guys, and then everybody started laughing. Haruki started to sing in Japanese, and the rest of the group joined in, although what they were singing resembled anything but Japanese. Alan couldn't help but laugh at the chaos that was unfolding behind him as he and David grinned at each other.

"Let's get this party started!" David turned on his MP3 player and cranked the volume up to full blast, put the van in drive, and sped on out onto the open road.

"How much longer is it going to take?" Greg groaned as he kicked the back of Alan's chair. "It feels as if we have been driving all day," he pulled his window back as far as he could to let the cool breeze from outside hit his face. He took off the bright blue sweatband that was tightly wrapped around his head and placed it on his lap. He turned to Steve who was sitting next to him and noticed that beads of sweet was dripping down his bald head. He placed the back of his own hand across his own forehead and swiped it across, leaving a wet trail of sweat behind.

Just like the weatherman predicted, for the first time in history, it was boiling outside, and it felt even hotter in the small, cramped van. Everybody's enthusiasm had died off not long after they had left town, and the van continued to rumble on towards their destination in silence.

"Settle down back there," Alan said, unhappy that he had just been kicked a little too hard for his liking. He was also hot and bothered from the sweltering heat, just like the rest of the team, but he didn't let his emotions get the best of him. Instead, he picked up his David's smartphone and clicked it on. It came to life and a navigation system popped up, indicating that they had at least another hour on the road before they reach their motel. They had already been driving for the last two hours, and the rest of the team were not very happy to find out that they still had to be packed into the van for another hour once Alan told them.

"Who booked this motel anyway?" Josh groaned. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat between Steve and Jason, banging into them a few times before settling back down. "We should have just gone to one of the motels on the main road instead of taking this detour out in to the middle of nowhere."

A few heads turned to look out of the windows. Trees, hills, and empty pastures surrounded the van as it continued to roll on through the countryside. There was a lot of nature, and not much else. Only a handful of cars had passed them for the last thirty minutes of the journey, and other than the insects, birds, and the sound of the engine, it was dead quiet. The sun mocked them high in the sky as it continued to fry the vehicle.

"Alan and I booked the motel," Greg said, turning his body slightly so he could look over Steve and at Josh. "We got a pretty good deal on it."

"That's true," Alan said. He twisted his head around to look at the group. "It was a heck of a lot cheaper than any of the other places in town. As you know, we don't exactly have a lot of money to spend, so we need to save every dollar we can. We don't need to stay at one of those fancy motels in town, especially when we have a perfectly fine one out here for half the price."

The group slowly nodded their heads, even though they were unsure whether they agreed or not.

"It's fair enough that we got it real cheap, but how cheap?" Jason asked. "Like 'sorry we don't serve breakfast' cheap, or two dollar hooker, cockroaches in your bedspread cheap?"

The Japanese duo laughed hysterically at this question, but Alan didn't find it amusing.

"It's nothing like that," Alan replied. He sat and waited for the Japanese guys to stop laughing before he continued. "They do serve breakfast, I believe they have some sort of room service, and best of all, they even have a pool."

The group's eyes suddenly lit up and the Japanese men's jaws dropped. Brian's eyes glazed over as if that was the best news he had ever received. He, like the rest of the group, could not wait to get out of the heat and into the heavenly body of water. David put his foot down harder on the gas pedal and the van suddenly picked up speed. He turned to look at Alan.

"One hour?" David asked eagerly, and Alan hesitantly nodded. David simply grinned back and slammed his foot down even harder on the pedal. "Make that half an hour."

The van had amazingly reached the motel in twenty-eight minutes and thirty seconds, and more astonishingly, Alan thought, was that they had made it there in one piece. They came incredibly close to rolling the van when David swerved maniacally around one dead animal (Brian said it was a possum, Steve said it was a cat) in the middle of the road, and drifted dangerously around a corner faster than a driver in a high octane drifting movie. The van came to an abrupt stop just outside a small, run down looking building that had a broken neon light that read reception. David stopped the van and pulled out the key. Everybody let out a sigh of relieve and sunk back down into their seats, waiting for their heart rate to return to normal, happy to be alive. Nobody moved for a few moments as they all looked out towards the motel.

"This," Alan began, "isn't what the pictures on the website looked like," he scratched his head in confusion. "Are we sure we're at the right place?" He pulled a brochure from his pocket and studied it, looking back and forth between it and the motel outside.

"Sure are." Greg replied. He twisted around to look out the back window. He pointed to an old, beat up sign. "The Ravji Motel. The one and only. But I guess you're right, it definitely does not look like the same one in the photos.

"It looks like a bloody horror movie!" Josh exclaimed, almost sounding as if he was excited. "It looks just like that motel from Psycho, except for old Norman Bates' house on a hill," he ducked his head to try and look up over the motel, but there was nothing but empty blue skies. "Nup," he continued, "no sign of Norman or the house."

Everybody slowly started to exit the vehicle one by one, and the blast of heat hit each of them as they stepped out onto the dusty gravel. As the last one got out of the van, they all stretched their legs and looked up once again to the motel. Alan stood at the front of the group, getting a good look at the whole place, and he shook his head in disbelief at what he saw.

There were about fifteen rooms that they could see and they were all connected in a shape that resembled a horse shoe. Room one was directly opposite Room fifteen. In the middle sat a big grassy and dirt-filled patch of land that looked like it was meant to be a courtyard. A single, broken bench that looked like it had seen better days, sat isolated in the middle. He read on the website that there were twenty-five rooms, but there were only fifteen. He was about to say something when he saw a single wooden post, which had also seen better days, next to room one which read 'rooms 16 to 25 at rear of this block', but somebody had spray-painted over the bl in block and had written 'c' over it. The website also stated that the place was in tip-top condition and that it was well managed and looked after. Josh wasn't kidding when he said that it looked like the place belonged in a horror movie. Broken shingles hung down over several of the doors, paint was chipping around numerous doors and windows, and the wood was rotting on seventy percent of the outside of the rooms. It also looked as if nobody had mown the lawns for at least a month as tall, ugly brown weeds and horrible looking wildflower grew high on the patch of grass. They had been standing there for five minutes in shock, unsure of what to do or say, and there was not a single soul to be seen other than the ones that had exited the vehicle moments earlier. Alan turned to face the group.

"So, we're positive that this is the right place?" he asked. Disappointment was evident in his voice, and Greg laughed.

"Come on guys!" Greg spoke. "We're only here for the night. What could possibly go wrong?"

"We could catch aids," Jason said.

"We could get murdered by inbred hillbillies," Brian added.

"Mr Bates could kill us all," Josh chuckled.

"Oh get real," Greg shot back. "Look, we've already paid for this place well over a week ago, and there are no refunds. Besides, even if we could get a refund, I doubt we would be able to get to another motel and stay in such short notice. I just tried looking up other motels as well just in case we could get our money back, but I couldn't get reception on my phone. I think this place is too far out to get any."

Worried looks shot up over the faces of the group before they all reached into their pockets and dug out their phones. They all started clicking away furiously. A few of them held their phones up towards the sky as if doing so would suddenly make them work.

"What the hell?" Brian shouted. He was the first to peel his eyes away from his small electronic device. "No service? How on earth are we going to survive?" His arms dropped to his sides and he dropped his head. It looked as though the rest of the group wanted to do the same thing.

"You cannot be serious?" Alan asked with a shocked look on his face. He couldn't believe what he just heard, and he shook his head as if stunned. "We are only here for one night. One bloody night. I'm sure you will survive just fine," he walked over to Brian and put his arm around his shoulder. "I'm sure you'll manage. And the same goes to the rest of you," he held his arm out and pointed at each of the guys. "Anyway, they might have internet or wireless inside so you could always check out the net that way." He offered a smile but the rest of the group just frowned and rolled their eyes. He took another look around the area before giving up. "Yeah, I guess not too."

He took his arm back from Brian's shoulder and started to walk towards the small, run down building that claimed to be reception. As he neared it, he looked up and suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, frozen on the spot. He could hear voices from behind him but he couldn't make out the words were as his mind was heavily preoccupied with what was in front of him. His eyes, widened in horror, stayed locked on the door.

The door looked almost like any other door at the motel. Almost. It was beat-up just like the others, and it was mouldy and dirty just like the others. It was identical except for one alarming feature, a feature which suddenly brought images flashing back through Alan's mind. There was something stuck to it. Something small and white. Something small and white that just so happened to be stabbed to the door by a long, rusty nail.

#  4

Alan quickly spun around to face his team, and his expression indicated that he was not happy. Everybody quickly stopped what they were doing and looked nervously up towards him, each of them trying as hard as they could to avoid eye contact. He raised his arm over his shoulder and pointed towards the door. "Is that, is that what I think it is?" he said, his voice cracking with nerves. Some of the players tip-toed and looked around Alan to see what he was pointing at, and David gasped when he saw what it was.

"It can't be...." David trailed off, a flash of panic flashed across his face.

They all stood there in shock for a few moments not knowing what to do before Jason reluctantly walked up to the door and ripped down the piece of paper. It was folded in half so he opened it and silently read it. His head was down for a couple of seconds as he read the note, then it suddenly jerked up and his eyes were wide, filled with terror. He started trembling lightly and the note slipped from between his fingers and floated down to onto the dusty gravel.

"Well?" Alan asked alarmingly, stepping forward as he did so. It was the second note in as many days, and that really worried him. Who the hell was doing it? "What does it say?" he asked Jason, but he just stood there, shaking his head slowly from side to side. "Jason!"

Jason suddenly snapped out of it. He gradually lifted his head up and looked directly into Alan's eyes. "It says," he began, "that Brian owes me a twelve pack of beer if I pull off this prank!" he suddenly burst out laughing, and Brian, stepping up next to Alan, started laughing hysterically too. Alan's face turn red as his blood started to boil with anger. He was furious that they would do such a thing. The rest of the group stood there silently, not knowing whether they should join in the laughter or not.

"You guys are arseholes!" Alan shouted. "How could you do such a thing? So it was you that stuck that note on my door the other night too?"

It took Jason and Brian a couple of minutes to settle down. They slapped each other on the back and high fived each other several times as tears continued to stream down their faces. Eventually the excitement of the prank faded and they returned to being serious.

"Nah," Jason replied. "That wasn't us."

Alan gave him an evil stare, showing that he did not believe him for one second.

"Honest!" Jason held up his hands to protest his innocence. "It really wasn't us, although it would have been fun to have done it," he chuckled again but quickly stopped when he realised that Alan was not going to change his mood.

Alan walked towards Jason slowly, "If you do something like this again," he started, "I'll bloody murder you, and I'm not joking around," he gave Jason a hard shove, sending him stumbling backwards, and then he passed on and headed towards reception. He was in such a foul mood that he did not see the reception door swing open until the last second as a small, elderly man appeared in the doorway.

"What are you young boys doing?" the man spat angrily, his long, grey fuzzy hair swaying back and forth as wildly as the man himself, his dirty stained singlet dangling off his bony figure. "Crazy ass kids coming round err, making such noise thinking dey own der damn place," he twisted his arms high above his head and stamped his feet a few times like a crazy old man, and the group slowly stepped back a few feet, wondering if this psychotic man was going to attack them. "Whadda ya want?" he shouted. He slammed his hands down to his sides and tapped his right foot ferociously.

"We are he-" Alan's voice cracked and he could feel his face growing hot. "We're here to stay for the night," he continued, pacing his words so that he didn't stumble again. "I made a booking a little over a week ago."

He swallowed hard and waited for the old man to reply. The elderly man stood there, scratching his head as if collecting his thoughts.

"Are you dem hockey boys?" the crazy man asked, cocking his head to the side as his left eyebrow shot up along his forehead, and Alan shook his head cautiously. The old man continued to stare at the group long and hard with his crazy eyes. All of a sudden, he lifted his head back and started laughing like a hyena. "Well why didn't y'all say so!" he continued to laugh as he ran up to Alan, who almost fell over backwards from the sudden movement. He took Alan's hand and shook it long and hard. "Welcome, welcome!" A huge, toothy grin appeared on the man's face, and Alan had to turn his head to avoid the rotten stench that escaped from his mouth. "Please, please come in," the old man stepped aside and gestured towards the open door that led to the inside of the reception building. "We've been expecting you."

"Holy shit!" Jason exclaimed as he shut the motel door behind him and jumped down onto a small, ancient arm chair that sat vacant in the corner of the room. "That was fucking intense!" he laughed.

The rest of the group were spread out among the small motel room. They had just finished dealing with the motel owner, a crazy but friendly man who they all thought was some random lunatic. After a short discussion with the owner at reception, the group had left and gathered in one of the rooms. It looked like any ordinary motel room that contained a single bed, armchair and couch, a small dining table, and an even smaller TV. Currently the whole team was cramped into it, but far from being as cramped as they were in the van.

Steve spread himself out across the bed that sat in the corner, his lanky legs dangling off the end of it. Alan and David sat comfortably in another corner on the small sofa, and Jason continued to make himself comfortable on the armchair. Josh was standing by the small TV sitting opposite Alan and David, trying to get it to work, while the rest of the group were spaced out on the small bit of carpet in between them all. It seemed like everything was small about the room.

"What a creepy dude!" David agreed with Jason. "I thought he was going to bring out the rest of his hillbilly family and torture us with the way he was speaking and spitting everywhere."

A few people laughed and nodded their heads in agreement.

Alan stood up from his seat. "Come on guys," he said. "He's not that bad. Yes, he almost made me pooh my pants at the start, and I'll bet I'm not the only one," he laughed and looked around the room, but nobody made eye contact with him. "I guess he is actually a nice enough guy. Heck, he even upgraded our deal so that we each have our own rooms instead of bunking together, free of charge."

As if on cue, there was a loud knock at the door that startled a few of the guys. Alan shook his head then walked over and opened it. He was greeted by the old and now less scary man. He was grinning cheerfully and was holding a small box.

"Here are dem keys," the man spoke in a much more calm way from when they had first met him. He extended his arm and Alan took the wooden box out of his hand. "There's anoder key in der," he pointed towards the box. "It's der master key. It unlocks e'rything like dem toilets out back, der pool area an der reception."

"Why are you giving it to me?" Alan asked.

"Cuz I gots to go," the old man hiccupped. "I gots to leave early to get back home. You see, my wife hasn't been the best ol self lately, and I gots to take care'o er," his head dropped down to his chest, and Alan felt a little bit of pity for the old fellow.

"Wait, so you're leaving for the night?" Alan asked and the man nodded. "What if other people come here and want to stay here?"

The old man burst out laughing. "Ain't nobody comes out er anymore son!" The old man snorted. He wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "You lot er der first folk I seen all month! Folk that wanna stay here anyway. Sometimes get dem rascal kiddo's from town try'na steal me stuff! Udder den dat, I don't think anybody be coming er any time soon." He stepped backwards, away from the door. "I'll be back at ten tomorra, so I'll see youse den. If youse need anything, der's a phone in reception that youse can use. Just dun expect express pizza delivery," he laughed again and slapped his thigh. "I'll see you lot tomorrow." He turned away and started walking back from where he came.

Alan shut the door softly and shook his head. He walked to the sofa, threw himself back down, and opened the small box. He peered in and saw a whole bunch of keys. Figuring they were for the other rooms, he started passing them around to the group. He left his own key and the master key in the box and placed it next to him on the bedside table.

"So," Alan spoke, "what does everybody feel like doing?" He looked around the room and waited for someone to respond.

"What is there to do?" David asked as he punched Alan on the shoulder. "We're in the middle of nowhere and there aren't any shops around for at least another hour."

Everybody looked back and forth between Greg and Alan, the two that made the booking.

"Sorry guys," was all Greg could say.

"There is a bible in here," Jason said as he opened a set of drawers next to the bed and pulled out a battered looking book. He blew some dust off of it and held it up for the rest of the group to see. A lot of the players groaned and rolled their eyes, obvious that they were not that interested in hearing about the Lord.

"You can put that back now," Steve growled. "No one needs that junk." He folded his arms and puffed out his chest, evident that he was definitely not a believer or interested.

Before Jason could react, Alan sprung up from his seat and stepped in between the two. "How about we go and unload the van?" he asked, trying to release the tension that had just built up in the room. Jason and Steve continued to glare at each other, and Alan did not want any trouble. He knew that the two guys were not very close, and he also knew that Jason went to Church every week. He did not want things to get out of control. "And once we've done that, we can go check out the pool. How does that sound?"

The group was silent for a few moments. Eventually, Jason got up from his position and walked towards the door. "Fine with me," he muttered. He opened the door, walked through it and headed off towards the van to collect his stuff.

Alan sighed with relief. He was happy that Jason could act like a responsible adult and let the situation go, rather than make things difficult for them. He looked over at Steve, and it looked like he was starting to calm down. It wasn't long until the tournament started, and he needed to keep a lid on things. He decided against giving them a lecture and followed Jason out to the van. He stopped in the doorway, turned to face the room and gestured for the others to follow. As he stepped out of the room, the glaring sun instantly hit him and his body started to heat up. He put his left hand up above his eyes to stop the sun from hitting them. He thought about the pool, and he couldn't wait to finish unpacking the van and so he could jump into it.

Josh and Brian swept past him in a hurry, obviously just as eager to get out of the sun and unpacked, and he cursed himself for not getting David to bring the vehicle closer to their rooms. As he turned the corner, he noticed that Jason, Brian and Josh were just standing in front of the van. The side door was open and they were peering into it instead of reaching in and grabbing their stuff.

"What are you guys doing?" Alan started to jog slowly towards them. "Why aren't you getting your stuff? Don't you want to get into the pool as badly as I do?" He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and then wiped it against his shirt.

The three men turned slowly around and held their arms out towards Alan. Their hands were held out straight as if to warn him not to come any closer.

"Stay there," Brian said. He had a worried expression on his face, his eyes wide and the colour gone out of his cheeks. He continued to move closer to Alan with his arms stretched out.

Alan stopped abruptly and looked at the men. His stomach started to tumble again. "What's, what's going on?" he asked. He took one small, slow step forward, and then another, inching ever so slowly towards the vehicle. He brushed past Brian and was almost at the van.

The rest of the group had caught up to them by now and they too were looking just as confused.

"It's bad," was all Brian could say, his hands trembling slightly.

"Real bad," Josh added. His head dropped down to his chest and he shook it from side to side.

Alan pushed passed the three guys and looked into the van to see what they were so worried about. He grabbed a hold of the roof and leaned it, peering inside. He noticed it straight away. His bag lay on top of the others in the back. It was in the same position as how he had left it when they departed earlier that day. However, it was wide open now. He reached over, grabbed it by the strap, and pulled it towards him. As he did so, a handful of folded pieces of red stained paper fell out. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped in horror. He stuck his hand into the bag and pulled out a dozen more pieces of paper, which, like his hand, was covered in a dark, red liquid.

#  5

Alan staggered backwards out of the van and dropped the bag. Dust and dirt sprung up in a puff of smoke as it hit the ground, covering his lower body. He stood in fear, staring at his reddened hand. He looked in the bag again, and he suddenly felt very dizzy. How was it possible? It was exactly the same stuff that was on his door just a few nights ago. He staggered around for a few seconds in a dream-like state, and Josh had to hold him by the shoulders to stop him from falling over. He looked around and saw that the group of guys were staring at him with surprised looks on their faces.

"What the..." David started to say but he trailed off, too shaken to continue. Everybody continued to stare at Alan's hand.

"Who the hell did this?" Alan asked. His voice was high pitched and it looked as if he had just come out of a dream as he looked about, his eyes ravaged. He quickly spun his head and looked at Jason. "Did you do this?" he screamed. His eyes snapped open wide as he glared hard at him.

Jason took a few steps back. "That," he quickly said, pointing at Alan's bag, "was not me!" A bead of sweat quickly dripped down off his forehead and more instantly followed, more than likely from the intense stare Alan was giving him rather than the intense heat that was continuing to climb. "You gotta believe me. I seriously did not do it."

"You were the first one to reach the van. You could have easily done it then."

"I hadn't even opened the door before these two had arrived." He pointed a shaky finger towards Josh and Brian who were standing wide-eyed nearby. Alan shot them evil stares.

"It's true," Josh cracked. "He only just unlocked the vehicle when we arrived. There is no way he would have had the time to do such a thing." He looked to Brian, and Brian nodded his head quickly in agreement. Alan stopped glaring like a demon.

"Well," Alan began, "it must have been someone that sat in the back." He turned around to face the rest of the group. Everybody looked at one another.

"I know it wasn't me," Brian said, raising his hands. His voice was a little bit shaky, and it sounded like he was trying to keep calm. "And I am pretty certain that it wasn't Haruki or Kaito either. They have never played a prank on anyone in their life. Hell, if it was one of us, there would be red paint or dye on our hands too and not just yours, or there would be a small red container in the back seat."

Alan checked everywhere in the back of the van, between the seats and beneath, but he could not find anything. He also made the three guys that sat in the back show their hands and arms, but that resulted in finding out nothing too.

Alan scratched his head with his unstained hand and thought for a bit. "Since everybody here could not have done it, then who actually could?"

His question was met with silence for several minutes as everyone stood around looking at each other. A couple of guys whispered a few things to the person standing next to them, but were answered with a few shakes of the head. Other than that, they could not come to a conclusion.

"You were the last one to touch your bag, right?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it."

"Well let's retrace your steps then. You were the last one to be picked up, so your stuff was the last lot to be thrown into the van which means it was left on top. After you put it in the van, you climbed into the front and we drove off."

"Hang on," Haruki butted in. The group turned to him in surprise as they were not used to him speaking out loud very often. "Vijay was there to say goodbye."

"You're right!" Alan yelled, his index finger shooting up into the air. "He was there."

Steve's hand flew over his mouth and he let out a gasp. "Holy crap! I totally forgot." He shook his head from side to side in disbelief, annoyed that he could forget something that happened only hours ago.

Everybody was looking at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I was about to walk back into the flat when I saw him suddenly standing there," Steve said. He pointed to an area that was a couple of feet behind the vehicle. "It was almost as if he appeared out of thin air. He had his back to me, and he was looking into the back of the van. I only saw him because I thought I heard something and turned back to look."

"You don't think he did something?" Brian asked.

"Well it was hard to tell, but he could-"

"Yes!" Alan interrupted Steve abruptly. It looked as though he had suddenly found the answer they were looking for. "I think he did something to my bag while we were all in the room and while you had your back turned to him. I bet he was watching us the whole time, waiting for us to be away from the van so that he could do something sinister. And I sure as hell bet that he did not expect you to turn back and catch him in the act."

"I guess that makes sense," Steve said, scratching his head. "He did look rather surprised when I called out to him."

Alan's eyes lit up. "See!" he said. "It must have been him, otherwise he would not have looked so surprised and guilty. He must have dropped those notes and, I sure as hell hope that it is red paint or dye, into my bag. That sneaky son of a bitch." He stamped his foot hard into the earth as it started to dawn on him that Vijay had been playing tricks with him this whole time. "That's why he has been acting strange and saying weird things to me lately. He just wants to sabotage me and make me look bad in front of you all. Well I will tell you this," he was almost shouting. "When we get back, I am kicking him off the team once and for all. I never want to see him playing for this team again." Even though his blood was boiling with anger and rage, he couldn't help but smile, relieved that he had finally gained the courage to put Vijay in his place, and to tell him to go where the sun does not shine. His smile started to grow wider and his rage started to fade away, just like Vijay would after he meets him once they get back home. He suddenly laughed out loud. "Let's just get our stuff unpacked already. I'm bloody sweating in this heat, and I can't stand it. It's about time we go and check out this pool of theirs.

The group quickly unpacked the van.

"Well, this sure is one hell of a fuck up," Jason said as he stood by the edge of the pool. He had on his swimming trunks and was staring down into the water. He stepped back and looked at the others. "You wanna swim?" A few of the others crept slowly forward inch by inch to get a better look of the pool.

"I can't believe it," Josh muttered, shaking his head. "Wait until Alan gets out here. He's gonna freak!"

It didn't take long for Alan to exit his room wearing long swimming shorts and what looked to be a whole bottle of sunscreen. He was grinning happily as he made his way towards the pool, but stopped flat footed once he saw it, and his grin sunk faster than the Titanic. He swore for the second time in ten minutes. "You have got to be kidding me!" was all he could say as he walked up close to the pool and stared in amazement.

What should have been paradise in the form of a body of sparkling, crystal blue water turned out to be a nightmarishly murky colour of green and brown muck. Algae and rotten lily pads bobbed up and down on the surface, as if they were trying to escape the hazardous muck, and dead, brown leaves were clumped in bunches in between.

It was a simply horrendous scene, and Alan could look at it no more, so he turned around and walked off, obviously disgusted. The guys that were just as dumbfounded by the scene quickly followed behind.

Greg caught up, held him by the shoulder and stopped him. "Maybe we should just leave and find another place," he said. His eyes and tone showed that he was dead serious.

"We've already paid for this place, so we're just gonna have to make the most of it," Alan said. He was clearly not happy, but there was not much else they could do about it except carry on. "Besides, it's starting to get late." He checked his watch and it read three forty-five. He wiped his head with the towel that was wrapped around his neck. He looked up towards the sky. "It's going to get dark here pretty soon, so it's going to cool down in a while. I guess we can just wait it out."

"That's not the point," Greg shot back. "This place is a dump! Everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong."

"Well it can't get any worse than it already has. What else could possibly go wrong?" He waited for Greg to reply but he said nothing. "Exactly. There is nothing else that could make this day worse than it already is. The only way is up from here. We only need to survive through the night, how hard can that be?" he laughed, and Greg shrugged his shoulders sullenly. "We'll get through these troubled times." Alan grinned once more before walking back to his room, leaving the other guys standing on the grass in the middle.

He was staying in Room one because he secretly, yet embarrassingly felt that it showed that he was the number one guy on the team, and because he was captain, whatever he says, goes. David was in the adjacent room next to him with Jason and Josh being in the following two. Rooms five and six were left empty, with Haruki continuing in room seven. Kaito wanted to be close to Haruki so he was in room eight while the next two rooms stayed empty. Finally, Greg, Brian and Steve took rooms ten, eleven, and twelve, and the last three rooms stayed empty. The last ten rooms at the back were left alone, and as Alan looked out his back window, he could see them clearly lined up only ten metres away, not far from the pool area they had just come from.

He opened the window above his bed, and much to his delight, a cool breeze floated in, the sheer curtains dancing peacefully about. He walked around the bed and picked up his hockey stick that rested against the bedside table. Thankfully it was left in the team bag so it was one of his few belongings that had not been ruined by Vijay's little prank. He took a few hard swings in the room, careful to not hit anything, while imagining that Vijay was standing in front of him. Before he could really get into it, there was a knock at his door. He tossed the stick onto the bed, walked over to the door and opened it. Josh was standing there with a smile on his face and he was holding his own hockey stick.

"We're going to practice a few set moves and some shots, if you want to join us." Josh said. He slung his stick up over his shoulder. "There's nothing else to do around here, so a few of the guys felt that we might as well put our spare time to good use. We're doing it just on the other side of reception. There's a big concrete wall out there that we're using as a goal."

"Sure thing. I'll get my stuff." Alan grabbed his sweaty shirt that he had been wearing the whole day and put it on. It stuck to him like a wet towel as he pulled it down over his body. He then grabbed his helmet and stick and walked out of his room where Josh was waiting. As they made their way to the area, Josh asked if he was really going to talk to Vijay. "I'm not going to talk to him. I'm going to bloody shout and scream at him. It is totally unacceptable with what he did not only today with my bag, but also with what he did to my door. I could have him charged with all of this, and I plan on doing so." Alan looked like a man possessed as he spoke about Vijay, and Josh took a few steps away from him, just in case he did something he would regret later. When he saw that Josh was giving him a worried stare, he cooled down. "Come on," he laughed, "it's only Vijay I'm pissed off at."

"Yeah, I know," Josh replied. "I'm not worried or anything. By the way, you can borrow a shirt or two of mine if you want, since, you know..." he trailed off, not wanting to bring it back up.

"Thanks for that," Alan said, knowing exactly what he meant. "I'll keep that in mind."

They reached the reception building in quick time. They stopped talking and rounded the corner, arriving at the place Josh said they would be.

"Is this it?" Alan asked.

Brian, Steve and Jason were the only ones there. They were standing isolated from one another, sticks in hand, waiting for them to arrive. "Is anyone else coming?" Alan asked.

"Nah," Steve answered, kicking at the dirt. "They're all resting in their rooms. Bunch of pussies if you ask me," he laughed but no one else thought that his comment was very funny.

"You don't need to say things like that," Brian said, sounding slightly agitated.

Alan looked around at the guys and felt that them being there and wanting to practice was really good, even though it was only half of the team. Still, it was better than nothing. It wasn't like there was anything else they could do at the motel anyway.

"What are you waiting for?" Steve asked. He looked at Alan and pointed towards the concrete wall where they had drawn a goal onto it using some chalk they had found.

Alan put on his helmet, walked over to the wall and faced the guys. He crouched down into his usual goalie position and called for them to start taking shots.

Brian and Steve played defence while Jason and Josh played attack. They had only been playing for five minutes when trouble started. Jason was getting past Steve and Brian very easily, and they did not like it. It also did not help that Alan and the heat were beating down on them too.

Steve swiped his stick at Jason's legs hard as he got around him easily for the umpteenth time, sending Jason crashing to the ground as he shot the ball. After he got up, Jason turned back to Steve and scowled at him. The very next play, Brian collided heavily with Josh and they both fell to the ground in a heavy thud.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Jason said. He ran up to the two guys and pushed Steve away from him. Steve shoved him back as Josh and Brian got back up, dusting themselves off.

"Easy!" Alan shouted out from under his mask. He didn't need anyone getting injured. Brian got up with a smirk on his face and Josh got up gingerly, rubbing his left leg. A thin line of blood trickled down his shin but he waved off any of Alan's concerns and carried on. A couple of plays later, Josh took a hard shot at Brian. The ball hit him on the stomach and he fell to the ground holding it and taking in deep breaths.

"That's enough!" Alan shouted. He stepped in between the two groups. Steve was saying something nasty to Jason, and Jason responded by saying something just as bad. It was starting to get out of control, so Alan pushed the guys back to separate them. "Cut it out guys. What are you, kids? I'm happy to see that you guys are taking it serious and are playing tough, but that's all I want to see. I don't want this nasty stuff sneaking in that could really hurt someone." Alan looked back and forth between the two groups, and they all seemed to slowly agree.

"Sorry about that," Josh said, stepping towards Brian, and he held out his hand, "I shouldn't have done that. You know how physical and heated I get." Brian accepted his apology and shook his hand.

Alan turned towards the other two. "You guys have anything to say?" He first looked at Steve, and then back to Jason.

Steve pointed his finger at Jason. "He should apologise to me."

"Ain't no way that's happening," Jason replied. He folded his arms across his chest and looked right at Steve. "I'm only sorry that you're not good enough to beat me one on one."

"Shove it up your ass," Steve snarled. "You're lucky I didn't hit you harder when I did just before."

Jason threw his stick to the ground and stepped forward, "So you did do it on purpose?"

Alan quickly jumped in between the two men to stop them from tearing at each other's throats out. "Just stop it you two! Jason, just go back to your room and cool down." He stood there, glaring at Jason, before slowly turning his head to look at Steve. "You do the same once he's left." The five men remained standing in their positions. They continued to stare long and hard at each other.

Brian glanced over at Josh who simply shrugged back. Eventually, Jason picked up his stick up from the ground and made his way around the corner of reception to go back to his room without saying anything.

Alan held the other guys back until he felt it was safe enough to let them follow. He hung back a bit and waited for them to leave. He knew that if he walked alongside the others, he might say something that he would end up regretting later.

A few minutes passed by, and Alan started to make his way back to his room. As he walked around the reception area and across the lawn, one of the motel doors to his right opened up quickly and Greg stepped out. Alan squinted to see what number was written on the door.

"What are you doing in Kaito's room?" Alan asked, walking towards slowly towards Greg.

Greg spun around quickly in surprise, his face full of shock. He clutched at his heart and bent over. "Jeez! You scared the living daylights out of me." He stood back up straight, taking in a few, slow breathes of air to calm himself.

"So what were you doing?" Alan asked again. He started to feel suspicious by the way Greg was acting. Why did he look so surprised?

"Oh, that?" he said, pointing towards the door. "I was just talking to Kaito."

"Really? About what? Steve said you guys were resting in your own rooms."

"Oh, nothing. Just random stuff. Girls, games, ya know, nothing important." Greg scratched his head and his eyes darted from side to side. He rubbed his round belly and continued. "Anyways, when's dinner?"

Alan raised one of his eyebrows in concern, feeling that Greg was acting rather suspicious. He suddenly changed the subject, and he is behaving as if he got caught red handed doing something he shouldn't have been doing. Despite the alarm bells ringing in his head, he felt that he better drop it. He didn't want the whole team fighting and arguing, especially if his suspicions came to nothing.

"Well?" Greg asked again, and Alan snapped out of his dark thoughts.

"Um, it shouldn't be too long," he lied. He hadn't even thought about dinner. "I'll go tell the rest of the guys to get ready and we can start it soon."

Before leaving the city, everybody decided that each person would bring a food item to share over dinner. Within a couple of days before they left, they almost had more meat than their local butchers, and more beer than a brewery. All of the food was put into a cooler at the bottom of the van in the back, and once they arrived at the motel, was emptied and the food was thrown into several of their room's fridges as there was too much food and drink for just one fridge.

Thankfully the website finally stuck to its word, as they found a small, rusty, albeit working barbeque hidden behind Steves' room near the reception building. The website did state that they had one of the finest BBQ's around, and the group was starting to wonder if the website hadn't been updated since the 70s. Even though it was nowhere near in good shape, with one of the small wheels breaking off once they pushed the thing, it would have to do.

Alan pulled it out and brought it around to the patch of grass in the centre of the hotel. Everybody came out of their rooms and gathered around as he brought it to life.

"Great," Greg grinned, standing next to Alan. "I'm bloody starving, and I could kill for a steak right about now."

"And then the hitchhiker goes, 'yes, but don't hit me that hard!'" Jason cracked up laughing as he told yet another dirty joke around the park bench. The rest of the guys smiled politely, despite finding his jokes anything but funny. Kaito and Haruki, on the other hand, couldn't get enough.

The group had gathered around the BBQ. They sat in chairs that they had brought out from their rooms, and each man had a plateful of food in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. They sat around telling jokes and talking about girls.

"All right, all right," Alan said, half laughing. "That's enough for tonight." He stood over the barbeque, turning several sausages and steaks so that they would not burn. The rest of the guys had already started eating, and he was down to cooking the last bits of meat. "Let's talk about strategies for the tournament."

"Oh boring!" Steve groaned. He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of alcohol from his bottle. The others were drinking alcohol too, and the supply, consisting of at least five dozen bottles, was not running out anytime soon. "Let's do something fun, like tell ghost stories."

"What are we, ten?" Brian asked, and Jason and Josh laughed. Steve grunted. "There's gotta be something more interesting to do than sit around the barbeque telling kiddie stories all night." He took a quick bite of his steak and swallowed it down before continuing. "We could play hide and seek."

Everybody laughed at him.

"How is that any more civilised or grown up than telling ghost stories?" Steve asked, amused by Brians suggestion. He flicked a bit of meat at Brian.

"Well," Brian started, but realised he couldn't think of anything to say. "I guess it's not. But at least it's a lot more fun than sitting around here telling shitty stories. Besides, it will be a lot scarier running around and hiding here in the dark." He motioned to their surroundings with his arms. "Like Josh said, it looks like a damn horror movie, and that's scary enough as it is." He shivered at the thought.

Everyone was looking at Brian, and they all looked intrigued by his idea. Alan felt that he did have a point. The location did have an eerie feeling to it, and that was during the day. Now that it was starting to get dark, shadows cast over everything, giving the motel an even more obscure feeling and vibe.

"I'm in!" Josh shouted. He stood up and dusted himself off from the crumbs and leftover meat that had fallen from his mouth and onto his pants. Out of the whole group, he was the one that loved everything and anything horror, and the thought of being in this situation, as well as the alcohol in his system, made him more than excited. "When are we doing this?"

"It's not that dark yet," Brian said. "I guess it will be pretty dark in half an hour or so."

"That gives us time to clean this place up and set up some ground rules," Alan said to everyone's disgust.

"Always with the rules," Greg laughed. "Always with the rules." He got up and carried his paper plate over to the trash and wiped off the remaining contents of beef and bones into it. The rest of the group finished what was on their plates and dumped the scraps into the rubbish bin too. A couple of the guys picked up the empty beer bottles and decided to have a basketball shooting competition, but Alan stopped them after the first one flew over their target and smashed onto the concrete.

"You better clean that mess up," Alan said as he glared at David. "If somebody cuts themselves on the shards, you better watch out."

David hurriedly picked up the shattered glass and dumped it into the bin and much to Alan's astonishment, did not cut himself in the process as there were so many pieces. The rest of the bottles clinked and clanked together as they too were tossed, from a safe distance, into the bin by Brian.

Smiling, Alan stood in front of the group and waited for them to settle down. Once that happened, he opened his mouth to speak, "All right guys, let's meet back at my room in thirty minutes so we can go over the rules. After that, we can start the game." A few of the guys rolled their eyes and Greg jokingly yawned. Alan decided to ignore all of them. "So just do what you want for the next half hour or so. Hang out together. Go back to your room alone. I don't care. All I know is I am going to go back to my room and rest, and if you ate like I did just now, I wouldn't be surprised if you do the same."

"Yeah, I'm starting to feel a bit tired," Jason said. He threw his arms above his head and yawned.

"I think I've had one too many of these," Greg added, looking down at the bottle in his hand. "I might go lie down for a bit."

The group scattered off their own rooms one by one, leaving he chairs and BBQ alone to rest in the dying sunlight.

By the time Alan got back to his room, he was suddenly very sleepy like the rest of the guys, but this was pretty common for him when he ate such a grand meal. However, he had never felt this tired, and he could hardly put one foot in front of the other. Once he entered his room, he made several attempts at putting his key into the keyhole, before finally achieving his goal and locking the door from the inside. He sluggishly moved over towards his bed, almost falling over his feet twice, before collapsing onto it. Something wasn't right, and he started to worry about his current state. He attempted to sit up, but his body didn't respond. He felt very dizzy and his right eye started to twitch uncontrollably. He started to panic even more, and a cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

Was it food poisoning? Even if it was, he was pretty certain that food poisoning didn't work that quick. He had gotten sick once before when he was little, but that kicked in a few hours after eating an old meal that ended up keeping him up for most of the weekend. He was even surer that what he was feeling was not the effects of food poison. His eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, and despite trying to stay awake out of fear of not knowing what would happen if he did fall asleep, it didn't take long for him to doze off. The last thing he heard before he fell unconscious was the sound of someone screaming from the outside of his room.

#  6

Alan sat up as quickly. His head was soaked in sweat, his hair plastered to the one side of his face that he had slept on, and he was burning up. His brain was pounding uncontrollably in his head behind his right eye as if somebody was drilling a hole from the inside out, so he closed it shut, praying that doing so would take the pain away. If anything, closing it made it feel even worse so he snapped it back open. He scanned the room that continued to spin around him and he felt very confused. He could not remember why he was sleeping. He looked over to the clock resting on the bedside table and it showed that it was a lot later than what it should have been. Before he got to his feet, he looked around the room again and his eyes fell on to his door.

His door that now stood wide open.

Even though his memory was still very cloudy and foggy, he was almost certain that he had locked it before falling ill and passing out. He continued to stare at, questioning himself as he forced his eyelids to stay open. It took him several attempts to find his feet as he was still feeling very groggy, but once he had, he slowly made his way across the carpet and to the door. Once there, he grabbed a hold of the frame to keep himself standing up straight, and peered out.

He wouldn't have been able to see anything had it not been for several dimly lit light bulbs that hung over several of the other motel doors. All of the fog lights that had lit up the place earlier during the BBQ had somehow gone out, so he stopped and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark before he cautiously stepped out.

By now, he was certain that he had locked the door, so he ducked back into his room to grab his hockey stick before venturing out into the near total darkness, and he did not feel very comfortable doing it in the state he was in. There was not a sound to be heard which made it that much more unbearable for him. Even the bugs and insects had hung up their boots and had called it a night.

Alan gazed around at the other rooms and wondered why he could not see activity in any of them, and not to mention, why they were all bathed in darkness. He pushed his body flat up against the rotted building on the outside of his room and silently crept towards the next room. Bits of rotten, mildewed wood scrapped off the motel wall and fell awkwardly into his hair and over his shoulders as he inched sideways to the next door. Once there, he tapped softly below the doorknob and whispered.

"David," he spoke as quietly as he could. "You in there?" He waited a few seconds, and when David didn't respond, he tried again, a little louder. He was met with the same result. Alan grabbed the door handle and went to peer through the keyhole when he turned the knob by accident and pushed it open. Caught by surprise, he went plummeting loudly into the room, and his heavy body tumbled nosily to the ground which in turn knocked over a small table in the process. The room was dark, other than the small amount of light that cast in through the door, and he momentarily struggled to see anything. His senses were still hazy, so he lay there, too stunned to move, waiting to see if anybody had heard or seen him make a scene.

As if on cue, he could hear a number of people approaching the open door as the sound of footsteps crunching over the cold gravel and rock hard dirt got louder and louder. Suddenly the room was bathed in darkness again as several bodies stood tightly together in the doorway.

"It's Alan!" a familiar voice screeched from the door. Alan heard him turn around and step back outside. "He's awake!"

Within seconds, half a dozen bodies hurriedly scraped into the room. Alan felt himself being picked up off the ground by a couple of them and placed softly onto the bed. He fell to one side and his body bounced harmlessly up and down. Someone else picked up his hockey stick that he had dropped in the commotion and placed it next to him.

Alan put his left hand to his temple and shook his skull from side to side, hoping that it would get rid of whatever it was that was blurring his vision thumping like a mad man in his head.

"You can't think clearly too, huh?" Brian asked. He walked up to him and held out his right hand. Alan groggily looked at it and saw that he was holding a couple of pills. "I felt like this a short while ago. Thankfully I brought this medicine with me. Cleared my head up in no time." Alan stared at the pills for a few seconds more before taking them out of Brian's hand. "Don't worry, they're pain killers. Somebody get a glass of water for him." Brian looked over his shoulder and someone ran out of the room. Moments later, they were back, holding a small plastic cup in their shaky hands. "Try not to spill it Steve," Brian said in a dark voice, a tone Alan had not heard from him before.

What exactly was going on?

Steve quickly walked over to Alan and handed him the cup. Their eyes met, and Alan could see that he was on the verge of breaking down. Before he could ask, Steve turned swiftly and moved back toward the door and into the group.

"Go on," Brian spoke again. "Take the pills. I promise that you will feel much better before long."

Alan felt his head nod up and down automatically as he dropped the pills onto his tongue and put the cup to his mouth. He tilted his head back and the water rushed into his parched mouth and down his dry throat. He usually had a problem taking medicine, but the pills flowed down his throat just as easily as the water had. He swallowed the last of the water before he tossed the cup to the side of the bed. Thoughts were running through his head, but one question stood out above the rest.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"Ah," Brian responded. "The million dollar question. Here's the thing," he placed his hand on Alan's shoulder and looked him dead in the eye, "we have no idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we don't know much. What we do know, however, is that all of us were knocked out for a good couple of hours."

A concerning look grew on Alan's face. "What, what do you mean?" He repeated himself. "We were knocked out? For how long?"

"Like I said, a couple of hours or so. Not long after we left the picnic area. What time do you reckon that was, Jason?" Brian looked back over his shoulder towards the young man, who answered by saying that it was roughly six forty-five. "It's now nine fifteen," Brian nodded his head in the direction of the alarm clock that stood ticking away on the table, and Alan saw that it read exactly that. "The rest of us woke up just over an hour ago I'd say, give or take ten minutes for one or two of us. We came to your room and had to smash the door open because it was locked and you weren't responding."

Alan knew that he had locked it before passing out, so he felt a bit more at ease to know that they were the ones that had left it wide open. He gave a little chuckle. "I panicked when I saw that the door was wide open because I knew I had locked it."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Brian laughed back. He scratched at a newly formed rash on his hand. "Andy and Josh were meant to stay in your room and wait for you until you woke up. Silly buggers must have gone off to join the search party."

Alan's head was starting to clear up considerably, and he was able to gather some of his thoughts. He looked at the faces that stood around the door, and noticed that not everybody was there. "Search party?"

"Yeah," Brian shifted uncomfortably where he stood, and he looked around at the others before turning back to Alan. "It's Kaito. He's missing."

"What do you mean missing?"

"He's not in his room. His door was unlocked and he wasn't inside. We checked all of the other rooms but he wasn't in any of them. Andy and Josh are still out there now, looking for him as we speak. We were also looking for him until we heard you crash here. Put the spooks up me," Brian laughed. "We came rushing over, assuming that it was Kaito, but hey, it was you." He shrugged his shoulders and put on a wry smile.

"You sound as if you're disappointed."

Brian took a step back. "What? No, no. It's not that. We knew that you were safe and sound in your room. It's just that I was so relieved to think that we had found Kaito. But like I said, when we arrived, well..." Brian broke off and looked down, almost ashamed to admit that he really was disappointed to find that it was Alan.

"Yeah, yeah. It was me. Anyway, let me get the story straight," he said, standing up and adjusting his wet shirt, "we were all magically knocked out for a few hours? Everyone eventually comes to at the same time, other than myself. Give or take a few people you said? Then you realise that Kaito is missing and you can't find him?" He looked around at the group, and they all nodded their heads sullenly as if they were moving in slow motion.

Haruki looked especially down, and Alan guessed it was because he was really close to Kaito. The two of them had hardly left each other's side since joining the team.

"Does anybody have the slightest idea what happened tonight? Anything at all?"

"Not at all," Brian said. He shook his head quickly from side to side.

"Well," Jason said. Everybody turned to look at him but he didn't say anything else.

"Well what?" Alan asked, stepping closer to the group. The thumping behind his eye was starting to slow down.

"Well, I sort of have an idea." Everybody focused their attention onto him. Jason adjusted his position and shook his shoulders. "One time I was out with a few guys at this club, you know, having a good time. We were partying quite hard, getting wasted and what not. Later in the night, I went to take a piss, and when I went to the toilet, I saw this guy trying to fuck this girl who looked out of her mind. She was hardly conscious at the time. The guy got spooked once he saw me and he bolted off out of the bar. I called an ambulance and they came to the rescue not long after. It turned out that the guy spiked the girls drink. No wonder she was out of her mind. Thankfully she was alright and he hadn't done anything to her when I arrived."

"That's pretty sick," Alan said, shaking his head. "Some people are pretty screwed up on this planet. But why are you telling us this story?"

Jason shifted again and looked around at the group. They were all waiting in anticipation for his answer. "I'll ask everybody one question, and I want you to put your hand up if your answer is no. Understand?"

Everybody nodded their heads slowly.

"How many of you did not drink alcohol at the BBQ?"

Nobody raised their hand.

Jason scratched his chin and tilted his head to one side. "That's exactly what I thought. The reason I told you that story is that we all had the same symptoms as the girl in the bar."

"Wait," Alan said, raising one eyebrow, "are you trying to tell us,"

"That we were drugged?" Brian interrupted.

"I'm pretty certain," Jason replied, nodding his head. "Almost all of us had similar reactions to the girl in the bar. I think all of us had a pretty big thumping headache, and most of us could not remember how we fell asleep, or should I say, how we were knocked unconscious."

Alan's drilling headache had shrivelled down dramatically, and it was no more than a soft tap, like a baby banging against its crib. "You sure about this?"

"As I said, I'm almost certain. I mean, what else could have knocked us all out at the same time?"

"Well if what you are saying is true, then that means somebody here could have done it?"

"Maybe Kaito did it," Greg said. He had been pretty quiet the whole time. "Maybe he is hiding in the bushes, laughing at our very actions right now. Just one big prank."

Alan shook his head. "It could be, but what are the chances? He has never played a prank on any of us the whole time he has been in the country. I highly doubt it was him."

"If he didn't do it, then that means he is truly missing and is lost out there somewhere. Do you think we should call the police?" Greg asked, looking around at the group.

"And tell them what?" David asked. He moved forward from the doorway and sat down quickly on the edge of the bed. He grabbed one of the pillows and placed it across his lap. "Tell them that we were having a good time, passed out, woke up, realised that we might have been drugged, and to top that all off, found that one of our friends is missing? I'm sure they get calls like this all the time from rowdy teenagers that can't handle their drink. I don't think they would wanna bother driving out all this way just for that. Besides, we still can't get reception on our phones." He pulled out his phone, flicked it on and displayed it to the group.

There was a flashing bar across the top that indicated that there was no reception.

Alan cringed. There was not much the police, or anyone else could do for that matter. They best they could hope for was to believe that Kaito would eventually turn up. Even if they did need to get hold of the police, they couldn't do so. Alan was about to admit it when he suddenly thought of something. "The old man's phone." he blurted out.

"Who?" Brian and David said, almost in unison.

"The old, creepy manager guy," Alan replied, standing up from his seat. His legs still felt a little bit wobbly, but his head had cleared right up. "Do you remember that he gave me a master key that unlocks everything? He mentioned that he had a phone in reception that we could use. We should try that."

The announcement instantly lit up the room.

David got up from the bed and stood next to Alan. "Good plan Alan, but once again, who are we going to call?"

Alan opened his mouth, but quickly closed it when he realised he didn't have an answer for that. "Ah,well," he mumbled, "good point."

The excitement was dowsed out before it could get anywhere.

"Thought so," David said. He sunk back down onto the bed and groaned. Silence swept over the group as they stood around wondering what to say or do next.

Before any of them could say something, a couple of screams pierced the silent night. A couple of the guys jumped with fright, and others widened their eyes in horror. They quickly spun around and looked out through the open door into the night, and Alan had to run quickly to the window to get a good look as he could not see past the bodies standing in the door. The screaming slowly got louder and louder and Alan squinted hard to see through the blackness of the night.

Suddenly a couple of bodies appeared around the corner of the motel, and as they got closer, it became obvious to who they were by the way their limbs moved as they ran. It was Steve and Josh, and they were running faster than the group had ever seen them run before.

And the look in their eyes.

The look Alan saw in their faces sent a shiver up his spine quicker than anything he has felt before. He had never seen someone's face look like that. The sheer terror that was glued to their faces, contorted and ugly, made him want to turn away and forget that he ever saw it.

The group, quickly realising how fast the two were coming, got out of the way, and Steve and Josh came bursting into the room. The two did not have time to react as they crashed into the bed and tumbled down onto it. Steve was so fast that he bounced off of it as if it were a trampoline and toppled down onto the ground with such force that the room shook. David had only just escaped certain death as he dodged away to the left.

It took a couple of seconds for the two terrified gentlemen to collect their limbs off the floor and bed. Once they did, they shakily stood back up, and Alan noticed that Steves's eyes were swollen, and that his eyes were watery as if he had just stopped crying.

"Oh boy oh boy oh boy," Steve stuttered. He was shaking uncontrollably. "Oh boy, this is bad." His head shook violently from side to side as he continued to mutter the same words over and over again.

Alan walked briskly over to the petrified man and placed his arms on his trembling shoulders. "What happened?" he asked.

"This is very, very bad. Oh boy," Steve replied, as if he was a broken record.

Alan turned his neck and looked at Josh who was standing inches away. He wasn't shaking, but the look in his eye showed that he was in just as much shock. "Josh, what the hell happened?"

Josh continued to stare into space before gradually turning to look at Alan. "It's Kaito," he said slowly. He stood there, looking Alan dead in the face, eyes widened in horror.

"What about him?"

Moments passed before Josh reacted. He slowly raised his arms, and Alan noticed that there was some kind of dark, red liquid on his hands. It didn't take him long to realise that it was blood.

"It's Kaito," Josh said again. "He, he's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Alan asked, even though he felt he knew what the answer was going to be.

"He's dead."

Gasps rang out around the room, and Brian fell to the floor in shock. The rest of the guys stood stunned in the room, jaws almost at the floor.

David turned slowly to Alan who gradually turned and looked back at him. "I guess now's a good time to call someone," he said.

#  7

Alan was halfway across the garden and on his way to the reception area when Greg caught up to him, placed his hand on his shoulder and pulled him around.

"What are you going to do?" Greg huffed, slightly out of breath. Alan had shot off out of the room so quickly that Greg had to run after him to catch up. "Are you going to phone the police?"

"Of course I am," Alan spoke, his voice trembling. His body trembled with just as much fear.

"Shouldn't we go look at the body first? What if he is still alive? What if they are pranking all of us?"

"They wouldn't take it this far, and I don't think that he is alive. You saw the look in their eyes when they came back. I've never seen somebody look so terrified." Alan looked off into the distance, thinking of the faces of Steve and Josh. It just wasn't normal.

"I still think we should see Kaito," Greg urged him.

Alan stood there for a while. His mind was a mess. Different thoughts were coming and going faster than he could process each of them. As he was about to say something, Haruki appeared from out of nowhere, causing himself and Greg to jump.

"I want to go see him," Haruki said, and Alan thought that he sounded more angry than upset. "Now. This must be a very bad joke." He stood his ground and stared hard at the two of them. Greg shrugged his shoulders and admitted that they really should go see their missing friend.

"Ok then," Alan finally responded, kicking at some dirt on the ground. "But we have to go back to the room and ask the others where he is."

Haruki nodded his head once quickly. Without saying another word, he headed back to the room, and Greg and Alan followed not far behind. Once they were back, Haruki stood tall and firm by the door and asked Steve where Kaito is.

"Ou, out by the..." Steve broke off, his words getting caught in his throat. He was still in shock and could hardly say a thing.

"I'll show you," Josh said. He stood up slowly from his the bed, and he had to use the bedside table to help himself to his feet. "It will be easier and quicker if I just went with you. But trust me, you ain't gonna like what you see." Without saying anything, Haruki stepped to one side of the door and gestured for Josh to lead the way. "If you say so." Josh gave a shrug of his shoulders and walked warily past the huge Japanese man and out the door. Haruki followed with Greg and Alan lagging behind again.

"How far is it?" Alan shouted as he struggled to keep up with the pace of the other three guys. He had fallen behind for the last couple of hundred metres or so and had jogged for the last thirty seconds to catch up. Josh was leading the party and Alan fell in beside him. They had gone past the first row of rooms where the team was staying, past the second lot of rooms, past the dirty swimming pool, and were now walking through high, uncut grass that stuck to their skin which also cut them if they moved fast enough. Each man had several little cuts along their legs.

"Not much further," Josh replied, his teary eyes looking straight ahead. He held a flashlight out in front of him, and the dim light cast eerie shadows all around that bounced off the odd tree that stood alone out in the wilderness. Alan shivered and scrunched his body closer to his core, wishing he had brought a jacket with him.

"It better not be," Haruki said. "I want to see him now."

They travelled for another minute or so in silence before Josh stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly spun his body around, looking out into the distance as he did so. He shone the light over a small bush and tall oak tree not far from where they were standing, then turned back to the small group and cast the flashlight over their faces. Greg stepped back in surprise and held his hand up over his face, protecting his eyes from the light.

"Are you guys sure you want to see him?" Josh questioned the guys, his voice suddenly monotonous. He had a grave look on his face.

"Where is he?" Haruki stepped up, only inches away from Joshs face. Alan thought he was so close that they would be able to smell each-others breathe.

"I'll tell you once you are sure you a ready to see him."

Alan's stomach tightened. He was not sure if he was really ready to see one of his teammates, spread out and lifeless on the cold surface of the Earth. What did a dead body even look like?

"I'm ready," Haruki spoke again, and he turned back to the other two. Greg nodded his head, not looking up from his shoes, and Alan considered his options before reluctantly saying he was ready.

"Alright then. He's over there." Josh waved his flashlight over towards the bush that he was looking at just moments earlier. "If it's ok with you guys, I think I'm just gonna stay right here. I can't go back to him."

Haruki was already half way to the bush before Josh had even finished his sentence. He walked at such a quick pace that he was already standing by the small shrub before Greg and Alan had started. By the time they had caught up, Haruki was bent over on his knees, vomiting heavily into the bush.

"Oh my God..." was all Alan could say once he saw it, and he felt like he too was going to be sick, but swallowed whatever it was that was trying to escape his body back down. He couldn't take his eyes off the gruesome scene that was displayed in front of him, and he pondered, for the first time in his life, just how much blood there really was in the human body. He was going to turn to Greg and say something, but he could not tear his eyes away from the bloody wreckage.

There lying only a few feet away from them was the body of Kaito. And by body, it really was only the body. A few feet away from the corpse was his decapitated head, which was now resting in a pool of dried, crusty, and very dark blood. His eyelids were still open and his lifeless eyes lolled to one side, as if they were looking down at the dirt. His once light brown hair was now a dark, dark red, and there were several slashes to his face. One wound was so deep against his cheek that you could see through it and into his mouth. The body was spread out as if it was making a snow angel in its own pool of dried blood, and there were heavy lacerations along his arms and legs, with trails of dried-up blood sweeping down like a frozen red waterfall flowing into a rosy lake.

Alan was finally able to drag his eyes away from the ghastly scene and look at Greg. The young man beside him had a petrified look on his face, and he had turned as white as a bed sheet. "What in the world..." he tried to speak but couldn't find the words.

Haruki had finally stopped vomiting and was now standing next to him. He pulled at his sleeve, raised it to his face and wiped the wet vomit away from his mouth. "Who or what could have possibly done this?" he asked, tears forming in his eyes. "Why would they do this, to Kaito of all people?" He started to cry. For a big, hearty man, he sounded like a little child who had just lost their ice cream when he cried.

"This isn't right," Greg finally spoke. He was shaking his head from side to side and clearly still in a state of shock. "This shit is sick." He turned wearily to face Alan. "We, we have to report this to the police."

Alan knew that he should have done that from the start, but knew it wasn't the best time to argue about it. "Let's go right now and call them," he said. He turned around and was about to walk off when Haruki stopped them.

"Wait!" Haruki shouted. "We, we can't just le-leave him here," He said in between sobs.

Alan stood there, thinking. He turned back to where Josh was standing and called out to him. "Josh! You have to come here and help bring the body back."

"Hell no!" Josh yelled and took a few steps back. "I ain't going back there. That shit is too horrible to look at."

"Show some respect! He is your friend. He would do the same for you if the roles were reversed."

Josh stood still as he looked down at his shoes. After a short moment, he finally looked up. "Fine. I'll help with the body, but I can't do anything with the... with his head." He slowly made his way over to the three guys. "I'll take his legs and someone take his upper body. Don't you even think of telling me to fireman's carry him." He stood grudgingly at Kaito's feet and waited for someone to go to his upper body. Greg eventually moved towards it, leaned down, and started to pick him up by the shoulders. Haruki picked up his head slowly. It took him few attempts to pull the head out of the dried up blood. Once he had it in his hands, he held it out in front of him with his arms fully extended. Greg and Josh finally picked up the body and waited.

"Ok, let's head back," Alan spoke, and as they started back towards the motel, no one said a word.

"What the hell is that!?" Jason screamed and rushed out of Alan's room towards the four men who had arrived back. "You're bleeding!"

"It's not ours," Alan said quietly, looking down. "It's Kaito's."

Jason rushed up and put his hand on Alan's shoulder. He checked him out and then the other three guys who were also covered in blood. It did not take him long to register that it was not theirs. "Where's Kaito?" he asked.

"We've put him in his room," Alan answered. "I think it's best if no one goes in there." He started to lead the group back to his own room. "It's pretty gruesome. You don't want to see him."

Jason looked back at the others to see if he was serious, but no one said a word. Once they got back into the room, Alan shut the door and stood in front of it. The rest stayed standing, and Brian got up from the bed and stood with them. Steve stayed lying on the bed.

"He's still not all there," Brian said, gesturing towards Steve. "He was talking a little bit before, but I don't think we should bother him."

Steve just stared off into the distance, and it was clear that he was very lost. It looked as if he was muttering something softly, but nobody asked him what.

Alan nodded his head to show that he understood, and then began to speak. "Well, where to begin..." He put his hands in his pockets and stood silent for a minute. "There is no easy way of saying this, so I'm just going to come right out and say it. Kaito is dead."

The information hit the group harder than one of Jason's slap shots, and the room fell silent again. Nobody said anything for a few minutes. David dropped his head into his hands and Jason raised his head to the roof, trying not to make eye contact with anyone, murmuring a prayer. They finally understood that what Steve and Josh said earlier was in fact true.

"How?" Brian finally mustered. "How did he die?"

"Well, I believe that he was murdered." Once Alan muttered these words, everybody in the room that did not know instantly looked at him, and he felt embarrassingly awkward for breaking the news.

"This, this must be some kind of a sick joke?" Brian asked as he shook his head, clearly bemused by what he had just heard.

Alan shook his head from side to side quickly. "I wish it were. But sadly, I'm telling the truth." He looked back and forth between David, Jason, and Brian, the guys who had only just found out.

"What makes you think that? That he was, murdered?" Brian choked on his words.

Alan turned his gaze to Josh and Greg, urging them with his eyes to say something, but they just simply stared back, as if to say he was on his own with that one. Alan wondered if he should tell them the very gory details but decided against it.

"Well..." he began, but then stopped to think. How could he tell them? "There were cuts to his body that are pretty deep, and it looks as if he was attacked by some sort of sharp object." He decided that it was best for the remaining guys to not know all of the details, so he held back the information that his head was cut clean off. "His body is in a pretty horrific state, so I don't think anybody should go in and look at him."

No one moved or said anything for a while, and it seemed that nobody knew what to say.

After what felt like an eternity, David finally broke the silence, "So, what are we going to do now?"

"Well," Alan began again, "I'm going to go head back to the reception area and phone the police. As you said before, now is a good time as any to call somebody, and I think the police are the number one choice."

"I'll come with you," Josh said, moving awkwardly towards Alan. "I don't want to be left here, stuck in this room like this. It will do my head in."

"Alright then. Does anyone else want to come?" Jason shot his hand straight up into the air, and Haruki shook his head slowly from side to side.

"I'll stay here with Steve and Haruki," Brian said. "I'll keep them company and I'll send Greg for you if something happens or changes. You guys get to the phone as soon as possible."

Alan nodded his head and thanked him. He then turned to Josh and Jason. "Ok, you guys ready?"

"Uh, not really..." Jason said softly. "Didn't you say that you think Kaito was killed? If so, doesn't that mean that there is some kind of crazed madman roaming free out there? A crazed madman running free out there while he waits to catch his next victim? What if he is right outside this door, watching and listening to us this very second?" He raised his head and motioned towards the closed door.

Alan suddenly felt stupid as it dawned on him that Jason had a very valid point. If Kaito was murdered, then that really did mean that someone was out there, highly likely waiting for them. Any one of them could be the next to fall.

"That's true!" Greg gasped and his expression changed for the worst. He took a step backwards and crossed his arms across his chest to form an x. "There's no way I'm going out there alone to fetch you guys if something goes wrong back here."

Alan thought for a moment, realising that Greg also had a good argument. He did not want to risk his friend's lives, so sending one of them out there by themselves was almost a suicide mission. He looked around the room, but the right answers did not come to him. "Alright then. Change of plan. Jason, you stay here with Greg. In that case, if something does go wrong, you can go with him to fetch Josh and me. Obviously Steve is pretty messed up at the moment, so Haruki, although he isn't looking the best, can stay and keep Brian company in case you two need to make a move."

"I'm fine," Steve said quietly, "really." His voice was almost at a whisper and it was still as shaky as it was when he first got back. "You guys can go. I'll be fine."

"I don't think we can afford to take that risk," Alan replied. "You might feel better in a while and you might not. But for now, I think it's for the best that you rest and let the others look after you." He looked back around again at the group that were bunched in the room, and each of their faces was as gloomy as the person next to them. "So, are you guys happy with that? Josh and I will go, and you guys stay here?"

The others looked at each other, and one by one, they nodded in agreement that it sounded like a half decent plan. Either that or they did not have a better one to suggest.

"There is just one thing," Greg said, and Alan turned to look at him. "We're going to need weapons. Kaito's hea... arms were badly cut, so it looks as though whoever, or whatever it is out there has a decent sized weapon that can do some pretty decent damage. It could take any of us out at any time, so we need to be prepared for the worst."

"Sad thing is, is that we don't have any weapons," Jason said, standing up and walking over to the window and looking out of it. "Sure, we have a couple of hockey sticks lying around in our rooms, and a dozen or so beer bottles left over, not to mention the empty ones in the trash. Other than that, we've got nothing." He leaned over the table in front of the window and picked up Alan's hockey stick. He held it in his hands and over his shoulder like a baseball bat.

"We also have my cricket bat," David spoke. "But that's in the boot of the van."

"We can pick it up on the way to reception," Josh said. "Along with anything else that is worth taking from the van, although I doubt there will be anything of much use." He turned to Alan and smiled. "Shall we get going? I think now's as good a time as any."

Alan looked around at the group for a few moments before replying, "Yeah, I guess so." He continued to look at his team. He could see the panic, the worry, the urgency in their eyes. He was their leader, and they were counting on him to step up big. "First, we should gather a few sticks from the other rooms so that everybody can be armed, just in case. We don't want to go out there with no protection, as doing so would almost certainly get us killed. Greg, David, you should come with us too to gather up the sticks." He looked at the two guys. "You up for it?" he asked. He stood tall in front of them, and they reluctantly nodded their heads up and down.

"Strength in numbers I suppose," David whimpered.

For the next ten minutes, which felt like ten hours to Alan, the four of them moved in and out of the other rooms at a painstakingly slow pace. David and Greg went together down the left side, while Alan and Josh went down the other. Both groups, hands full with hockey sticks and other belongings, eventually came together in front of Kaito's room. They quickly decided against entering it as they knew about the horror on the other side and moved on.

While they were making their way back to the group, a couple of twigs snapped in the distance, sending a cold sharp shiver up Alan's back. He stopped, frozen on the spot.

"Did you hear," was all he could get out of his mouth before he realised that the rest of the group had sprinted off, already half way back to his room. He quickly followed without a second thought. Once back in the safety of the room, he slammed the door shut behind him and hastily locked it.

"My heart is pounding so hard, it feels like I'm going to have a heart attack," David said as he sunk to the floor in the corner of the room, clutching his stick against his chest. He continued to take long, deep breaths as he tried to bring his breathing under control.

Josh nodded his head in agreement as he clutched at his own heart, taking in long, deep breaths of his own, sweat dripping from his hair and onto the carpet.

"Thanks for leaving me for dead," Alan said. He stood in front of the door and folded his arms over his heaving chest which continued to move up and down rapidly. He looked down at the guys who had been with him moments ago and frowned.

"Uh, sorry about that boss," Greg said. He offered a wry smile and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess we panicked out there."

"Well maybe we should make some sort of rule?" Josh offered. "Like every man for himself." Alan gave him a hard stare. "Or, maybe we should move as a pack, and leave no man behind?" Alan's expression lightened. "We should probably go with that one."

Everybody nodded.

"What actually happened out there?" Brian asked, standing up from where he was sitting next to Steve. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing really," Alan replied. He handed a stick that he was carrying to Brian and moved around the room slowly. "We heard a noise out there and everybody got spooked."

"What sort of noise?"

"I'm not too sure, but I guess it was the crunching of leaves or twigs or something like that."

"And you all ran off because of that?" Brian grinned as he looked at the three men who had run off and left Alan behind. They all rolled their eyes and groaned, knowing that what they did was not good. "Come on guys..."

Alan looked around at the group. The guys who had come back with him had started to breathe normally again which was a good sign. They even cracked a couple of jokes which was an even better sign. He glanced over at Brian who had returned to Steve who was still sitting in the same spot before they left, and it looked as though he was starting to get a bit of colour back into his face. Haruki sat in silence on the couch and smiled up at Alan. He looked happy, but it was obvious by the look in his eyes that he was hurting. Alan decided that he would talk to him, but only after he got back from the van. He turned to look at Josh, who was having a laugh with Jason and Greg about who was the most scared out of the three of them, and cleared his throat.

"Ready to go again?" Alan asked.

"What?" Josh said, looking up in surprise.

"We have to go check out the van, remember?"

"Oh..." Josh looked down and tried to avoid making eye contact with him.

"What was it you said moments ago," Alan said when he didn't look back up, "now's as good a time as any?" He continued to stare at Josh as he waited.

He didn't have to wait very long.

"Fine," Josh answered, finally looking back at Alan. The pressure was too much to handle, and he felt really bad about leaving him behind a few minutes ago. He placed his hand against the floor and pushed himself up off the ground. He picked up his hockey stick and gripped it in his hands with such ferocity that his knuckles started to turn white. He strode up to Alan with new found confidence that came from out of nowhere, and stopped in front of him, only inches away. "Let's do this."

"After you," Alan said, stepping to one side and offering Josh the door. This seemed to hit Josh's confidence, as he took a step back.

"Uh, nah. Yo- you go first," Josh stuttered, taking another step back.

"Ok," Alan replied, trying as hard as he could not to grin as Josh turned from rock to jelly in the blink of an eye. He looked back at the group who were all now sitting in silence, gazing up at the two of them. "You guys just wait here and keep a look out. If anything goes wrong, you know what to do." The guys that were staying behind slowly nodded their heads to show that they understood. Alan pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it. He was hoping that there was at least one bar of reception on it so that he wouldn't have to go back out into the open, but an empty signal flashed on and off on the screen, almost as if it were making fun of him. He shoved it back into his pocket out of frustration.

"Let's go, let's go," Josh said from behind him. He was bouncing up and down vigorously, trying to contain his nerves but without much luck.

"Sure," Alan replied. He turned towards the door and opened it slowly. He peaked out as darkness flowed into the room, his eyes darting back and forth, urging his eyes to adjust to the dark. He gripped his own hockey stick in his left hand with as much force as he had seen Josh hold his just moments ago. Once he knew that nothing was going to greet him at the door, he slipped out and pushed his body up against the wall like he did when they went out earlier, and waited for Josh to do the same thing. Once Josh made his way out, Alan turned to see Brian shutting the door behind them. He gave a little thumbs up to Alan before silently closing it. The key turned in the door and made a little popping sound as it locked.

"So, what do we do first?" Josh whispered so quietly that he had to repeat it several times before Alan could finally understand what he had said.

"We should go around this side first," Alan motioned towards the motel rooms to his left with the nod of his head, "and follow it around until we get to the other side." He pointed to the room directly opposite them. "I'd rather go around with our backs against the wall than make a cut across the grass."

"I agree," Josh whispered twice. "We don't want The Cutter coming up from behind us."

"The Cutter?"

"You know, the person that offed Kaito."

"You're calling him The Cutter?" Alan asked, a bemused look on his face. Of all the names he could come up with, he chose The cutter?

"Yeah, why not? There were lots of cuts on the body, and we don't even know if the killer is a him, a her, or even an it."

"I think you watch too many horror movies. The Cutter? Really? Anyway," Alan shook his head and tried to change the subject, "let's just get on with the job."

Josh shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah alright, but I'm still gonna call whatever it is, The Cutter."

They were half way around the rooms when they heard a noise in the distance, and both men stopped dead in their tracks. Josh dropped to the floor, his body flat against the wooden floorboards, and Alan threw his body against the wall.

"What was that?!" Josh whispered in a panic. "More importantly, where was that!? Where did it come from?"

Alan scanned the area with his eyes wide open. His eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, so he could see a bit better than he could when he first came out. "I don't know," he replied, "but I can't see anything. Can you?"

"Not really," came Josh's shaky voice from behind him. "I can't really see anything. I think it came from behind those rooms though." He pointed back from where they had just come from. "Maybe it was one of the guys in your room."

"Yeah, maybe," Alan whispered back slowly. "We can't stop now though. Let's just keep going, but keep looking around yourself every couple of seconds just in case it comes out."

"In case The Cutter comes out?" Josh asked, and Alan shot him a dirty look. Josh held his hands up in defence. "Ok, ok. I won't say that around you anymore."

Alan didn't say anything back, but instead started moving forward again. Once they eventually got to the other side of where they wanted to get to, they stopped and looked around.

"Alright, the reception area isn't too far from here." Alan said. "We can see it from where we are now, and it looks pretty dark and deserted." He peered around the corner of the building they were crouched behind, and he could make out the small building standing isolated near the open road. "We will be out in the open for a short while," he continued, "so I think we should go back to back when we start to head over there."

"Good idea."

They waited for a couple of minutes to pass, checking to see if it was really safe to make the move from their current position to the reception building. Even though the two guys could almost see everything, and hear nothing. No bodies lurking in the shadows of the trees or around corners, and there were no footsteps or broken twigs to be heard. Even though they felt relatively safe, they still stalled for a while as they mustered up the courage to finally make the move.

"You ready?" Alan looked over his shoulder, and he could feel Josh nod his head. They were standing up straight, back to back with their hockey sticks firmly clasped in their hands, almost too tightly from the sheer thrill of the situation. Josh was shuffling back and forth on the spot, his feet scraping across the wooden boards beneath them. "Alright, let's do this."

On the count of three, the two men suddenly burst out of their hiding spot and quickly made their way towards the reception area. In just under twenty seconds, they had silently made their short trip over to the building, and were standing in front of the entrance.

So far so good.

"It's locked!" Josh said, trying to open the door forcefully without any luck.

Maybe not.

Of course it was locked Alan thought to himself. "Look out," he said as he pushed Josh to one side. He reached into his pocket and grabbed the set of keys that the old man had given to him shortly after they had arrived earlier in the day. The keys emerged from his pocket and dangled in his hand, clinging and clanging together noisily.

"Hurry," Josh whispered, bouncing up and down once again. "We have to get inside." Sweat had started to form on his face.

"You think I don't know that?" Alan shot back. He fumbled with the keys a few times in the dark before finding the right one and inserting it into the keyhole. He shoved the key in and turned, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he heard a little clicking sound once he turned it all the way around. Without hesitating, he pushed the door, but it didn't budge. He pushed it again, but he got the same result. He stood up and said nothing, too stunned for words.

"You fool," Josh said, grabbing the door handle, "you have to pull." And with those words, he twisted the knob and pulled towards him. As he did so, the door swung open without any resistance and a swoosh of cool wind flew out with it. He turned to Alan and gave a sly smirk. "Wasn't too hard."

Alan pushed past him and entered the small foyer, and Josh quickly followed before shutting the door behind him and locking it. Once inside the room, a strong odour of dirty damp mildew hit Alan's nostrils, so he raised his sleeve to his face and took several deep breathes into it. The small room was just as dark as outside, but he could still see, although not very well. A small shelf stood to one side that held several old, dusty maps and other tourist brochures that looked like they had been untouched from the moment the motel had been opened. A small mini fridge hummed away beside a couple of seats, and a giant pot plant sat on the other side. At the front stood the reception bench, and Alan had to slide across it to get to the back. Josh sat down on one of the seats and looked out the door.

"Can you see anything back there?" Josh whispered, a little louder than he did when they were outside knowing that they could afford to be a little noisier in the building.

"Not really," Alan responded. He was having a hard time seeing back behind the bench as it was even darker, so he placed his hands along the bench and everything that he could touch. The bench felt cool beneath his fingers as he slid them across, moving along several random items such as books, coasters, and an oddly small tissue box before finally touching the thing he was looking for. A small, squared shaped plastic phone. His eyes lit up once his hand fell upon it, and he almost shouted out to Josh before stopping himself.

"Josh!" he whispered excitedly. "I've found the phone!" Josh shot up from the seat he was in and jumped across the bench. He came up next to Alan and stood there, resting his hands on his shoulders. Alan turned to face Josh, a look of glee on his face. "This ends now." He grinned as he picked up the hand piece and placed it next to his ear. Seconds later, the grin dropped off his face quicker than a soccer player drops to the ground from a soft foul. Alarm bells went off in his head, and Josh's eyes went wide.

"Wh, what's wrong?" Josh finally stammered, looking straight into Alan's eyes.

The phone was trembling uncontrollably in his hands as he looked back at Josh. He didn't want to say the words that were running through his mind, but he had no choice.

"What!?" Josh asked again, almost screaming at him.

"It's, it's dead. The line is dead."

#  8

"What do you mean it's dead?" Josh shouted this time as he grabbed the phone out of Alan's hand and shoved it up against his own ear.

"There's no dial tone," Alan replied, and he started to tremble a little bit. "This is screwed up."

"What the hell!" Josh cursed, throwing the hand piece onto the bench with force, causing it to bounce off with a heavy thud and fly to the ground. It rebounded off the floor several times before coming to a sudden halt by the wall. Alan glared at him for making such a noise, but it was so dark that Josh didn't notice, or even care for that matter. "Now what are we going to do?"

"It could be unplugged! Quick, feel around for the cord and see if it's plugged in." Alan shot to his hands and knees and started feeling around, moving his hands rapidly over everything he could touch. Josh was doing the same thing around the bench without much luck.

"I can't see or feel anything," Josh whispered above him, clearly agitated. "Do you have anything?"

Alan was about to answer him when his hands feel on a small piece of wiring.

"Got something!" Alan whispered back. His fingertips ran across a cold, smooth wire, and he grasped it quickly in his hand. "I think this is the wire to the telephone." He followed the wire up towards the desk, and found that it indeed was connected to the phone. "It is!" he almost shouted. He started to run his hand back down the wire, hoping to reach the end so that he could plug it back into the wall. He had only just been going for a few seconds when he felt something strange. The wire suddenly stopped and it dropped from his fingertips. He searched the ground blindly for the wire before picking back up again. Holding it in both hands this time, he ran his left index finger across it until there was nothing left. He touched the end then gave a little gasp.

"What? What is it?" Josh asked.

"The wire's been cut. Whoever it is that killed Kaito has gone and cut this telephone wire." He threw the cut wire down in disgust and shook his head. Their only means of communicating with the outside world was now gone. "Obviously, this person doesn't want us to escape, and he is doing everything he can to keep it that way."

"Now what are we going to do?" Josh sulked.

Alan used his hands to push himself up off the floor and leaned against the counter. "There isn't much we can do now. We might just have to wait out the night."

"Well this sucks. Hopefully we can survive the rest of the night at this place."

Both men stood there in the dark, unsure of what to say.

Finally Josh spoke. "Well, do you know what time it is now? Hopefully it won't be long till the owner returns."

Alan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and turned it on. The light from the screen lit up his face, and his eyes flicked back and forth on the LCD display before widening with surprise. "It's only ten!?" he gasped. He thought back to what the owner said earlier in the day, and then started to count on his fingers. "We're going to be stuck here for at least ten more hours or so before he returns."

"Not to mention, when daylight hits too." Josh chipped in half-heartedly.

"Great, so we're going to be stranded at this motel with no way of communicating with the outside world, for at least ten hours, in total darkness. We're sitting ducks!"

"I guess we should just head back to your room and wait for day to come."

Alan just shrugged his shoulders. Admitting that there was nothing better they could do, he jumped back over the counter, knocking over a cup as he did so, and started to head for the exit when Josh stopped him.

"Hang on," Josh said, putting a hand on Alan's chest to stop him from walking on, almost pushing him backwards. "What about the van!"

Alan's jaw dropped and his dumbstruck face lit up. Of course the van! Why didn't he think of that before! He forgot that they were going to get some stuff out of the vehicle anyway in the first place. He slammed both of his palms down onto Josh's shoulders, causing him to cry out in pain.

"You genius!" Alan had to contain his excitement as he spoke. "That's how we are going to contact the police! What do you say we make a run for it right now?"

Josh paused for a moment. "Uh, yeah, sure. But we should make it as safe as possible for us so that we aren't left out in the open for too long."

"Of course," Alan replied, nodding his head in agreement. He was a little bit shocked that Josh would think he would have it any other way. If he felt that he would put any of the guys at risk, he would never agree to do it. He walked over towards the door and peered outside, squinting to try and get a better look and feel for the surroundings. He couldn't see much, but he also couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, which he felt was a good thing. He turned back to face Josh. "It looks pretty good out there. I think we should make our move now."

Josh opened his mouth and looked as if he was about to say something before hesitating awkwardly and closing it again. Instead, he just nodded his head.

Alan reached down to the floor and picked up his stick, gripping it tightly in both hands, and Josh did the same with his. They looked at each other and nodded their heads as their eyes met.

"You go first," Josh whispered, "and I'll be right behind you. Just head straight for the vehicle without stopping. If we do that then we should be alright."

Alan walked back to the door and rested his hand on the cool metal door handle. His heart had started to pick up speed, so he took slow, deep breathes to calm himself. It didn't work. Instead, it started to beat harder and faster. He peered out through the window once again to check if it was safe for them to leave the safety of the small building. After triple checking, as well as waiting for his heart beat to return to normal, he finally pulled down on the handle pushed the door away from him slowly. It opened without any problems, and the two men slipped out of the building quietly, shutting the door behind them peacefully.

The van was parked on the other side of the reception, so they had to walk around the building before they could even see it.

Alan slid his left hand along the smooth concrete wall to help guide him as he started to move toward the van. Once they rounded the corner, he stopped and squinted hard, trying to make out the vehicle in the dark. It took a couple of moments for his eyes to adjust before he could finally see it.

The big blue van stood deserted in the small empty car park near the road, a little over ten metres from the reception building and from where the two men were currently standing. Every window on the vehicle was covered in frost from the cold night, and dew covered the rest of the body.

"There she is," Alan said over his shoulder to Josh, talking about the van. "You ready to make a run for it?"

"Sure thing."

"Alright, follow my lead." Alan looked around, making sure they were safe. He gazed around the area and looked at every shadow, but he could see nothing strange. He held three of his fingers up, and then slowly dropped each one. When he dropped all three, he whispered loudly, "Let's go, let's go!"

Both men shot up off the ground from their crouched positions and bolted towards the vehicle, and within five seconds, they were up against it. Alan searched his pockets frantically with his hands before pulling out a key. It took him a few attempts to put it into the key hole as he was shaking badly, and then turned his wrist once he got it in. The van made several loud clicking sounds as the central locking system unlocked. Josh ran around the front of the van towards the passenger seat, and both men jumped in quickly and locked their doors. They sat in the cold leather seats, gasping for air. Even though they had only just run ten metres, they sat there, trying to catch their breaths as if they had run a marathon.

A small scraping sound came from the back, and both men spun around instantly, but there was nothing or no one. Just the vehicle playing tricks on them. They both turned back to the front and looked at each other.

"Quick, start it up," Josh said nervously. "I don't want to be here much longer."

Alan quickly put the key in the hole and twisted it. Both men sat there in silence, holding their breaths. They waited for the vehicle to kick into life, but it sputtered for two seconds before going dead. Alan tried it again, but the result was the same.

"Try it once more," Josh said, almost urging the vehicle to start. "It might be that it's too cold and needs a few attempts to warm up and work."

Alan tried to start the van three more times, but each time, it gave out and died as quickly as it started. He hit the steering wheel with force out of frustration and turned to face Josh. His face did not look happy.

"What is it?" Josh finally asked.

"It was him," Alan spoke in a low voice.

"Who?" Josh asked.

"Him."

"The Cutter?"

"Yup."

"You can't be serious?" Josh laughed.

"Let's go check the engine. Then you will understand what I mean," Alan said as he opened his door.

"Wait, wai-" was all Josh could get out of his mouth by the time Alan was out his door and in front of the van. Josh quickly hopped out of his seat and joined him. "Are you mental?" he almost screamed as he rushed up next to him. "We should never leave each other's side unless we are surely safe."

"We are," Alan said, not taking his eyes off the hood of the car. He could tell that Josh was shocked at what he just said. "Now, let's open the hood," he said quickly before Josh could say anything back.

Josh bent over and placed his fingers underneath the hood of the van and gave a little yelp before pulling his hands back. "The bloody thing's freezing!" Alan just gave him a stare so he put his hands back under the cold metal. He gave a few tugs upwards, but the hood didn't budge. He tried once more before giving up. "It's stuck. Probably frozen or something."

"I'll give you a hand with it," Alan said. He placed his hands beneath the front of the vehicle, and as he did so, a cold shiver ran up his back, causing him to momentarily stop. "Come on."

Josh returned his hands to the hood for the last time, and moments later, they were pulling it up with all of their might. After what felt like forever, the hood finally sprang up, and Alan tumbled backwards, lost his footing, and went crashing down to the cold bumpy gravel. He yelped in pain as he grazed his elbow.

"I don't believe this," Josh gasped from in front of the van. He took a step back and shook his head from side to side as he continued to stare at the front of the van.

Alan got back to his feet quickly, dusted himself off, and stood next to him. He looked down towards his elbow and noticed that a small trickle of blood ran down his arm. He wiped it away with the back of his hand.

"I guess you were right after all." Josh continued to shake his head, a look of disgust forming on his face. "It was The Cutter."

Alan peered down into the van, and even though it was almost pitch black, he could clearly see what Josh was talking about. He reached down towards the engine and pulled out several small metal objects and wires. He squinted as he brought the items closer to his face to inspect them.

"He's gone and cut these wires too," Alan said, looking down. "The bastard's gone and stuffed up the engine, just as I had imagined."

#  9

Josh and Alan stood still, almost as frozen to the ground as the hood of the car had felt just moments earlier. Josh moved his eyes from the inside of the hood to Alan, and then back to the vehicle. He shook his head for a while before looking back again at Alan. "We're never getting out of here, are we?" he asked.

Alan could tell by the tone of the young man's voice that he was starting to lose his nerve. Everything was going wrong for them, and he could not see any positives from any of it. Still, he had to keep them from going crazy. He tried to speak, to try and calm the guy, but nothing came out. There was not much he could say, and anything he did say would sound like bullshit.

"You're right," Alan finally admitted. "We aren't getting out of here. At least not for tonight anyway. We really only have one option, and that is to wait this night out and hope that nothing else happens to us."

He put an arm around Josh and noticed that his friend was shaking ever so slightly. Whether it was from the cold of the night, or the terror they were facing, Alan did not know, and he didn't want to stay around much longer to find out. The longer they were out in the open, the more vulnerable they were to be hunted down.

"We better get going," Alan whispered.

And with those words, the two boys set off back to the safety of the group in Alan's room.

The trip back to the room took them less than half the time it took them to get to the office. They had decided to make a run for it once they could see the light in the bedroom from around hundred metres out. Alan couldn't have felt happier once Brian unlocked the door, letting them back in, and the relief he felt once he collapsed to the carpet helped bring his breathing back under control. Josh had walked over to one of the corners of the room and stood there, looking at his feet. The rest of the group that were in the room were now wide eyed and alert, and they looked very eager to hear the news the two men had brought back with them.

"Well?" Brian asked. He quickly bolted the door, and double then triple checked it to make sure that it was securely locked. He walked over to where Alan had fallen to the ground and stopped to crouch down so that his face was only inches away from Alan's. "Please tell us that you have good news."

Alan's eyes darted back and forth between the men's faces in the room. Half of them had concerned smiles while the rest simply had hopeful looks. Alan's head moved back to face Brian's before he dropped it to his own chest. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Sorry?" Brian asked, as if he had misheard him. "You didn't just say what I think you said?"

Alan slowly nodded his head up and down.

"You're sorry?" Brian questioned him. "Sorry for what?"

Alan didn't answer. He couldn't bring himself to say anything.

Brian stood up quickly and walked over to Josh. "Why the hell is he sorry?" he demanded.

Josh looked up suddenly as if taken-aback by the sudden change of Brian's emotions. Before he could answer, Brian grabbed his collar and pulled him closer. The two of them were so close that they could taste each other's breath.

"Why is he sorry!" Brian asked. His eyes were wide open, and it looked like he was terrified of the news the two men had to share. The room suddenly fell dead silent as everybody turned to watch what Brian was going to do.

"Because there is nothing we can do!" Alan shouted.

Everybody in the room jumped at the sound of his voice, and they all turned their attention back to Alan. Brian let go of Josh's shirt and walked back to him. A frown appeared on his face.

"What do you mean?" Brian asked.

"What I mean is, there is nothing we can do to get out of here tonight," Alan answered.

"And why the hell not?"

"Because the Cu..." Alan looked up towards Josh, who still had his face down towards the floor. He instantly felt stupid for almost letting it slip that they had thought of naming the bad person The Cutter. "Because whoever it is that is doing all of this has gone and cut the telephone cables. There is no way we can contact anybody from outside the motel."

"For real?" David asked. He stood up from the couch he was sitting on and started pacing back and forth in the room. "This night is really turning ugly."

Alan nodded as he thought exactly that. The night had gotten very bad, and he would try his best to not let anything else happen to the group.

David suddenly stopped pacing and spun towards Alan. "What about the van?" he asked. Hope filled his face as it suddenly dawned on him. "We could drive away and get to the nearest town."

"No we can't," Alan cut in before he could get carried away. He shook his head from side to side, and as he did so, noticed the hopeful look slowly drain from David's face. "Whoever it is has gone and cut some wires under the hood of the van. There is no way we are getting that thing to work again tonight..."

"Do you mean the engine wires?" David asked.

"Stuffed if I know." Alan shrugged his shoulders. "The only thing I know is that we are not getting out of here by that van. The only thing I do know is that we are going to survive through the night."

"How do you even know that?" Brian asked. He walked over to the couch David had been sitting on and threw himself down onto it. His face was all twisted and ugly. "How can you be so sure that we are going to make it through the night?" He looked directly at Alan, his eyes burning deep. Alan did not really know for sure, but he had to at least try.

"You just have to trust me," Alan finally said. "And that goes for all of you." He stood up and walked over to the door. He picked up the carbon fibre hockey stick that was resting next to the dresser by the door and held it in his hands. The stick felt cool in his hands from the night, and he held it even tighter, as if doing so gave him the strength he needed. After a few moments, he turned to face the group who were all now staring at him. "Yes," he began, "the telephone lines are down, yes, we cannot get cell phone reception, and yes, the van has been sabotaged with, so we are unable to get out of here tonight. The only way we are getting out of here tonight is by making a run for it, and I highly doubt that anyone here, including myself, would want to do such a thing as the next town over is well over an hour away, and not to mention, would leave us out in the open for whoever it is out there to get to us. That only leaves us one option, which so just happens to also be the best option. We stay put and wait out the night. The good thing is we don't have to wait much longer until the old man gets back."

"But that's in ten hours or so," Greg said. He pointed to his cheap, plastic watch, and then lifted up his wrist so that Alan could see the digital numbers on the face of it.

"Only ten hours." Alan said. He tried to put stress on the word to make it sound like it was nothing, but he could see in the eyes of the others that it didn't work. "More like nine and a half. That's like one game of hockey. Before we know it, we will all be out of here faster than you can say blueberry pancakes."

"Blueberry pancakes," Brian muttered.

"Come on Brian," Alan glared at him. "We need to stay positive. There are eight of us in here, and only one of them out there. We outn-"

"How do you know The Cutter is only one person?" Josh asked, looking up.

"The what?" Brian asked, turning to face Josh. He had a look of bewilderment on his face.

"Never mind that," Alan chipped in before Josh could respond. "I'm fairly sure that it is only one person that is doing this, and even if it isn't, there are still eight people in here that could take on whoever it is out there. We are a group, and there is always safety in numbers. So again, we should stick together, stay in this room, and wait until we can get out safely." He looked around the room and eyed everyone slowly. It seemed as if no one had anything to say to this. "Well I guess that's the plan then." Alan stood up and walked over to the door. He turned the knob and pulled hard several times to make sure that it was locked. He then tried the chain, even though he could clearly see that it was latched on properly. He turned back around to face the group. They all stared back. Even Brian, who looked like he wanted to rip his head off, stared up at him.

"So we just wait out the night?" David asked. He raised one eyebrow and turned his head slightly to the left, looking as if he did not truly understand if Alan was serious.

"That's the plan," Alan replied, nodding his head.

"What are we going to do for the next ten hours?"

Alan was stumped. He had no idea what the plan was other than to just sit there and wait. He paced about the room, looking through drawers and trying the TV. Static was on every channel so he quickly turned it back off, and he was about to give up when he saw a small box sitting underneath the TV. He picked it up and turned back to the group, and a smile spread across his face. "Anybody wanna play cards?"

"Ha ha! That's the fifth game I have won in a row now," Jason said as he high-fived Josh who was sitting on the floor next to him. He threw down his pair of queens onto the other cards that sat on the carpet in front of him. Two of the five cards were kings, and another was a queen, meaning that Jason had just won with a full house. Greg let out a groan as he threw down a pair of kings, which showed that he had three kings. A very good hand, but not good enough. Steve rolled his eyes and Alan smirked as Jason pulled the big pile of winnings in the middle of the circle towards him. His stack of dollar notes and mini candy bars doubled in size, and it was now easily the biggest in the group.

Alan stood up from his position on the floor and stretched his legs. He had been sitting in the same position for the last half hour, and it had only been over an hour since he and Josh got back from their unsuccessful trip to the office. A few of them had decided to play poker, now much to Jason's delight as he was cleaning up the rest of the players. David was sitting quietly on the couch reading a sports magazine while Haruki was sitting next to him staring blankly at the television. The only person in the room who clearing wasn't enjoying themselves was Brian. He was sitting on the bed with his arms crossed, a huge frown on his face. His left leg was hanging off the bed, and he was swaying it swiftly back and forth. Alan decided to go over and talk to him and see what his problem was.

"What do you want?" Brian grunted as Alan plopped down next to him. David took a quick glance over towards them before quickly focusing back on his magazine.

"Woah, easy there," Alan said. He held his hands up in defence. "I only came over here to see why you are so uptight right now."

Brian stared blankly at Alan. "Are you serious?" he finally said and his face started to turn red. "The reason I am so uptight is that there is some madman out there running wild and free, and we are all stuck inside here like sorry little slaves, and it's driving me nuts!" He balled his hands into fists and punched the bed. He punched the bed with such fury that one of the pillows flew off it and landed harmlessly onto the floor.

"Take it easy Brian," Alan said. He put an arm on Brians shoulder to try and calm him down. "This isn't easy for any of us. We are all in quite a bit of shock, and none of us want to be here. Believe me."

"I know that. But I'm just sick of being stuck in this room. These walls are starting to drive me insane, and you guys are really starting to get on my nerves."

"Well sorry," Jason shouted. He looked at Brian and they both glared at each other.

"Guys," Alan said. He stood up and looked back and forth between the two men. "Don't start anything. Not now. We need to keep calm in this situation."

"There's no way I'm going to keep calm and sane in this situation for much longer," Brian said. He stood up with a growl and walked over to the door.

"Wait!" Alan shouted. Brian stopped short of the door but didn't look back. "Don't be so stupid. Going out there alone would be suicide. You don't know what you are getting yourself into."

After a few moments, Brian backed slowly away from the door and made his way back towards the bed. The room had fallen completely silent by now, and no one said a word for a long time.

"You know," Greg said, finally breaking the silence after what felt like an age, "he does have a good case."

Everybody turned to look at him, confused and curious faces on each of the men.

"What do you mean?" Alan asked.

"I don't know how long we can all stand being in this room with each other. A few of us are starting to get on each other's nerves, and the room is barely big enough to hold all of us as it is."

The room was rather small and cramped, and a couple of them had already made a few jarring remarks at one another over the last hour. It was clear that some of them were starting to lose their patience and nerve, and something needed to be done fast.

"Hear me out," Greg said. He threw the cards in his hands to the floor, stood up and rubbed his legs. "Why don't we all break up into groups and go to different rooms?"

"Are you crazy?" Alan said. His jaw almost hit the floor. "That has to be one of the stupidest ideas I have heard, and I have heard many. If we split up into groups, then there is a better chance of one of us dying. We might as well run out into the open and offer ourselves now if we are going to do that."

"If we stay in this room together, I think that we would tear each other apart anyway," Brian interrupted. "I'm willing to risk going to another room with someone else. At least that way, I would still have my sanity." He looked around the room, but no one else said anything.

"Don't be so foolish," Alan said. He was starting to lose his patience with this kind of stupidity. Were they so blind with rage that they could not see how crazy the idea was? "I doubt anyone would be willing to leave this room. Am I right?" He looked around at the faces in the room. A few of the guys looked away when he looked at them.

"Actually..." Steve spoke. He said it so quietly that everyone turned to him, surprised to hear him say something. "I am starting to get annoyed at a few people in this room." He glanced at Jason but then quickly looked away. "I think it would be good if we did split up for a while."

Alan stood there with his hands on his hips. First Brian, and now Steve. Surely no one else had the same idea?

"Well," Alan said, frustration starting to kick in, "does anybody else think that we should split up like this?" A frown spread across his face and he started to tap his foot impatiently.

Greg raised his hand. "I think it's a good idea." he muttered.

"Maybe we should..." Haruki started to say but Alan glared at him and he stopped.

"What about you guys?" Alan asked. He stared at David and Josh, who just simply shrugged their shoulders.

"If the guys want to go, then let them go," Jason said, a hint of anger in his voice. He was still sitting own in front of his big pile on the floor. He ripped open a mini chocolate bar and popped it into his mouth. "If they want to risk it, then so be it. Let them go."

"For once, I agree with Jason," Steve said.

"Even if you didn't want us to go, you couldn't stop us." Brian said. He stood up and stood inches away from Alan's face. "So you should just back off and let us go."

Alan started to sweat. Brian was a big guy. Much bigger than him, and he was already pissed off. Instead of saying anything, he stepped to the side and offered him the door. Brian grunted and walked towards it.

"Let's go guys," Brian called over his shoulder to the others. "Haruki, you come with me. Steve and Greg, you can go to one of your rooms."

The three other guys quickly gathered their stuff and made their way over towards the door. Brian unlocked the door and threw it wide open, unfazed by what could have been lurking on the other side. As Haruki lingered behind and walked past, Alan grabbed a hold of his arm and stopped him.

Haruki twisted to the side and looked at the hand that just latched onto him. The others stopped in front of the door and watched.

"You sure you want to do this?" Alan asked him, a serious look drawn on his face. "You don't have to do it. Just stay here with us." He tilted his head to one side and widened his eyes, almost as if pleading with Haruki to stay. He knew how much Haruki was hurting, and he didn't want him to leave with the others. He wanted him to stay so that he could protect him.

Haruki looked back into Alan's eyes. He then turned his head and looked at Brian who was standing peevishly in the doorway. He then looked back again to Alan. His eyes looked sorrowful as if he was still undecided on what to do.

"Haruki!" Brian shouted. "Hurry up. You with us or what?"

Haruki looked as if he was about to burst into tears. Finally, he shrugged Alan's hand off his arm and whispered sorry. He looked back at the guys who were spread around the room and muttered the same thing. Without saying anything more, he slowly followed Brian, Greg, and Steve out through the door and into the cold darkness of the night. All four men were gone quickly before anyone else could say anything. Not even a good-bye, or a see you later from the guys that had just deserted them.

Alan walked over to the door and shut it quickly. He fastened the latch and locked it with the key, and he left it resting in the keyhole as he walked over to the window. He pulled back the tattered curtains and glared out through the glass and the rest of the guys in the room walked over to join him. Haruki and Brian went into one room across the small courtyard, and Greg and Steve went into the adjoining room. They each said bye to one another before slamming their own doors shut.

"Take a good look," Alan said in a low voice. He closed the curtains and turned to face the others. "That could be the last time we see those guys alive." He shook his head from side to side slowly, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. "Let's just hope that we can all survive through the night."

#  10

"Now what?" David asked. He walked away from the window and fell down onto the couch. He looked up at the three other guys who were still standing by the window, unmoved. "We just wait it out like them?"

"That's all we can do I'm afraid," Alan replied. His face was quite grim, and once he realised this, tried to put on smile, even though it looked as fake as a strippers tits. "I guess it's just us four now." He scanned the room and eyed each man carefully. "As long as we keep our heads on our shoulders, we won't be having any problems. Four against one will be too much for the killer."

"I guess," Jason spoke. He too walked away from the window and sat down on the other end of the couch next to David. "But you said that Kaito was badly cut up, which tells me that whoever it is out there doing this has a pretty decent weapon that can do some pretty hefty damage."

It didn't occur to Alan that that was in fact true. He saw the damage the weapon had done to Kaito. For heaven's sake, the kid's head was cut clean off! The guys in the room started to eye each-other nervously, and Alan knew that he had to do something to settle the mood and calm the guys.

"The damage was not that bad," he lied. "Yes, there were a few cuts to the body here and there, but nothing too serious that would cut someone in half like a sword."

"Or a machete, like Jason from Friday the 13th," David chimed in, a little too enthusiastically.

Alan glared at David. "Or a machete," he responded. "It was more like cuts a bread and butter knife would make. Besides," Alan bent over to pick up his hockey stick, "we have these bad boys." He ran his hand over the blade of the stick and blew off some dirt and dust that had settled on it. Even though the stick and blade were made from fiberglass and wood, a clean swipe to the body could easily draw blood. There were already little red spots splattered all over his stick that looked like blood, but he quickly realised that it was from the incident earlier that day. "Four of us with these sticks can do a lot more damage than one guy with a shoddy little knife."

"Good point," David said. His eyes had widened as Alan went over the details. "Very good point indeed." He jumped up off the couch and fell onto the bed. He reached over to the far side with his arm and tried to grab something from underneath. After struggling for a few moments, he finally grabbed what he was looking for and pulled it out. It was his own hockey stick, and it was just as long and sturdy as Alan's. He looked it up and down and stopped at the blade to inspect it carefully. He eventually looked up when he noticed that the others were watching him. He turned his head to look at Alan. "Very, very good point."

"You guys have your sticks here?" Alan asked Josh and Jason. They both nodded their heads and pointed to the big team bag that sat open on the floor in the corner near the television set.

"Everything's in there," Jason answered without looking at the bag.

"Mine too," Josh added.

"Good," Alan said. He started to feel a tiny bit more secure about the whole situation, and it was the first time since waking up from possibly being drugged that he felt good. A sly smile crept up onto his face. "I guess that means that we are pretty much safe then." He walked over to the couch and sat down in the spot that David had just vacated moments ago. "We should relax and try and get some rest. It's been a very long night, and I think that we all need a bit of rest."

"I'm not going to argue with you on that," Josh said, "I'm happy to get some sleep, but shouldn't someone stay awake and keep watch?"

"I was getting to that," Alan replied, casting Josh a dark look before smiling again. "I think that two of us should try and sleep while the other two stay up just in case something happens."

His suggestion was met with a brief silence as they all thought about it, and Josh spoke after a short while.

"That sounds good," he said. He stroked his short stubble on his chin before continuing. "However, we have one small problem. Who is going to stay awake and who gets to sleep?"

"Any volunteers?" Alan asked, looking around the room.

Again there was silence, and it took a little while longer for someone to break it.

"I volunteer to sleep?" Jason said, trying to sound hopeful. A sly grin spread across his face as he looked at the others

"Nice try," Alan said, "but not good enough. We need two guys to volunteer to stay awake." He stared at Jason for a short moment and then continued when no one said anything. "If not, then we need to come up with some sort of game or test to decide on who stays up. Does anyone have an idea?"

Jason scratched his head as if doing so would give him the perfect idea, and Josh closed his eyes. Alan scanned the room, hoping that the answer would pop out and hit him in the face. He looked down at Jason who was still sitting in front of his winnings from the game earlier, and suddenly it did.

"I've got it!" Alan said a bit louder than he had meant it to be. The others all jumped in fright, bringing them back from their thoughts. Alan walked over to Jason and bent over. He reached for the playing cards that were scattered all across the floor and started to pick them up in bunches. Once he had done so, he stood back up and looked at the guys. "Cards!"

"Ye...yeah?" Jason asked, a little too stunned to say anything else. Josh and David had confused looks on their faces which showed that they had no idea what he was talking about.

"Listen to this," Alan said. "We each pick a card, and the two that match, have to stay up, and the other two that match gets to sleep."

"Nice!" David said. He stood up from the bed and walked over to Alan. He stood in front of him and reached down towards the deck of cards.

"Woah," Jason said. He too stood up from his position on the floor and walked over to Alan. "What do you mean by the cards that match? We haven't even decided on that."

"I dunno," Alan replied. He took the card back out of David's hand and slid it back into the deck. "How about the first two people to draw hearts, stays up and keeps watch?"

"Sounds good to me," Jason said. He snatched the cards out of Alan's hands. "But I think I would like to shuffle the cards and make it a fair game."

"Fine by me." Alan held up his hands defensively. He didn't want to have any trouble with the guys. He wasn't that good at shuffling himself, so he had no problem with letting Jason do it.

After shuffling the cards, Jason handed them to Josh and asked him to cut them. After cutting the deck several times carefully under the watchful eyes of the others, Josh gave the cards back to Alan.

"So we are all in agreement that the first two people to draw hearts will stay up and keep watch?" Alan asked. He looked around at the guys that were in close, tightly circled around him. They all nodded their heads slowly.

"Let's do this," Jason said, rubbing his hands against one another. He bounced up and down rapidly as he tried to contain his nerves. Even though he looked tired moments ago, he was full of energy because of the small competition.

"Who's first?" David asked. The look on his face said that he did not want to be it.

"Since you asked, I guess you can go first," Josh said, also noticing the look on his face. David shot him an evil glare, but the other two agreed.

"Fine!" David rolled his eyes.

Alan shoved his left arm that held the deck of cards in his hand out in front of David. He fanned the cards out with both hands and waited for David to pick.

"Here goes nothing," David said. He took a deep breath before placing his right hand over the cards. He finally picked one near the middle and quickly drew it up close to his face. He let out a sigh of relief as he turned the card around. It was the Ace of Spades. "Thank God for that!" he exclaimed, and let out a long swoosh of breath.

Jason cursed under his breath and then stepped up in front of Alan to pick a card. He turned to David and grabbed the one out of his hand and put it back into the middle of the deck. Josh took the deck out of Alan's hands and cut them again before returning them to Alan.

"Pick," Alan said. He fanned the cards out once again and held them out in front of Jason.

"I'll take this one," Jason replied. He chose one near the bottom of the pile and slid it up to his eyes so that he could see the face of it first. A faint smile spread across his face as he turned the card over to show the other guys. "Seven of spades. Looks like I'll be catching some z's." He threw the card at Alan and it whizzed past his head and to the floor. "Oops."

"Not so fast," Alan said. He bent over and picked up the card. "If we don't draw hearts, you'll have to go again."

"Don't think that's going to happen," Jason replied, grinning.

"We'll see." Alan returned the card to the deck and turned to Josh. "Looks like it's your turn." He pushed the deck out towards Josh and waited patiently for him to pick a card.

"Please don't be hearts," Josh repeated over and over as he closed his eyes and drew a card. "Please don't be hearts." he said. Once he pulled the card out of the deck, he slowly turned it over so that everybody could see it at once. The blood drained from his face as he saw that it was the three of hearts.

"Yes!" Jason said as he pumped the air. He turned to David and gave him a high five.

The card slipped out of Josh's trembling hand and floated peacefully to the floor. Alan bent over to pick it up and added it back to the deck. He handed the cards to Jason and told him to shuffle again.

"Looks like it's going to be you two staying up," Jason said, his grin plastered to his face. He finished shuffling the cards and spread them out between his two hands. He looked up at Alan. "Choose one."

Alan looked at Jason, then to the cards, and then back at Jason. He kept his eyes on his friend as he drew a card from the middle of the pack. He finally looked down at his hands and turned the card over, and a look of shock swept across his face. The eyes of the Jack of hearts stared right back at him.

"All right!" Jason laughed.

David slumped his shoulders and let out another deep, long breath. He wiped away some sweat from his forehead.

"I guess you were right after all," Alan said, finding it hard to believe that Jason was bang on target. He turned to Josh who had a grim look on his face as well. "It's going to be all good," he said to him, trying to cheer him up. "We don't have to go anywhere. We just have to stay awake and keep watch near the door."

"And while you do that," Jason said, getting the attention of the two guys, "David and I will be sleeping over here." He motioned towards the bed and couch. "So keep it down alright?"

"Whatever," Alan replied, sounding annoyed. "I'll wake you up in a couple of hours so that you guys can take over."

"Yeah, yeah," Jason replied. He yawned as he went to lie down on the bed. David went to join him but he kicked him away. "You sleep on the couch." David looked at him but didn't argue as he looked too tired and wary to do so. Jason pulled the top blanket off the bed and threw it to him.

"Thanks," David muttered. He slowly lied down on the couch and drew the blanket up across his chin.

Alan grabbed two seats near the couch and pulled them up next to the front door. He left a small amount of space between the door and the seats to feel a little bit safer. He didn't want it being kicked in only for him to be knocked out from the force. After placing it in a position he liked, he turned back towards Jason. "Three hours ok?" he said, more of a statement than a question. "I'll give you guys three hours before waking you, and I mean it."

"Sure thing boss," Jason replied. He stretched his arms high above his body and then placed them under his head. "And be quiet yeah? I mean it." Before Alan could reply, Jason spun around to face the wall and drifted off to sleep.

Josh sat down on one of the seats and Alan threw himself down onto the other. The seats were not all that comfortable, but it sure beat sitting on the floor for three straight hours. The two men sat in silence for a while before either of them said anything. Finally after what felt like three hours had past, Josh finally spoke up.

"So who do you think is doing all of this? Josh asked Alan.

Alan twisted his head to look at him. He had closed his eyes to rest, and was a little startled when Josh spoke. "What do you mean?"

"I mean who do you think killed Kaito? Who is doing this?"

"How the hell should I know?" Alan said. "It must be some crazed lunatic that stays out here in the wild, waiting for people like us to come and stay here."

"Hmm," Josh said. He was squinting his eyes as if in deep thought. "That is one possibility. But what if it was someone that we know? Like the owner of the motel. Sort of like that guy in the movie who kills travellers and dresses up in women's clothing."

"Are you serious?" Alan asked. His eyes were wide open with surprise. "Please tell me that you do not seriously think that the owner, although he did seem a little bit loopy, is capable of doing this to us? And you think he wears his mother's clothes too?"

"Nah, not the clothes part," Josh said, rolling his eyes. "But really, it could be him."

"Don't be so crazy. I know for fact that it isn't him."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Just because I can. Now stop being so stupid."

"Well," Josh continued, almost as if dismissing his own suggestion, "If you are so sure that it is not him, then how sure are you that it is not one of us?"

"Huh?"

"One of us," Josh replied, pointing to himself and speaking slightly louder. He spun his finger around in a circle to indicate the other guys in the room. "As in one of the group."

Alan sat there, too shocked to say anything. Did Josh really mean what he was saying? Or had he been so traumatised throughout the night that he was starting to lose his sanity?

"Don't look at me like that," Josh said, looking a little annoyed. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy or something."

"Sorry," Alan said, his face turning red. He hadn't meant to look at him with a crazed expression on his face. "But really? Come on. There is no one that anyone here could have done it."

"How can you be so sure?" Josh looked at him with a serious look on his face. "Think about it. Some pretty weird shit has been happening to us ever since we left. Hell, you even said that there was a death threat nailed to your door a few days ago!"

"That's true," Alan said. He scratched his head as a shiver ran down his spine. "But that was a few days ago and this is now. Two entirely dif-"

"Not entirely different events," Josh butted in. "Everything, other than that note, has happened over the past twenty-four hours. The red stuff in your bag, everybody suddenly passing out at once from the alcohol, which by the way was definitely tampered with, Kaito, the telephone, and the van. Half of this stuff could only have been set up back at home, like the red stuff in your bag, and the spiked alcohol bottles. Obviously the stuff like the telephone and van could only have been done after we had arrived. Coincidence that all of this just so happened to have fallen on the same night? I think not."

Alan thought about this for a moment. Josh did have a case, and a very strong one at that. He was starting to find it hard to believe that it was not someone that they knew. All the evidence that Josh just mentioned made it definitely sound as if it was one of them. What were the chances that whoever was doing this could be some random maniac that got lucky and had arrived at the motel the same day they arrived. Even though the odds were stacked against his team, Alan was not going to believe that one of his own was committing these horrible crimes.

"You know," Alan began, but as he did, a loud crashing sound came from outside not far from their door, causing the two men to stop dead in their slowly intensifying conversation. They stopped to listen as they could hear something banging away in the night.

"What the hell is that? Josh whispered.

"I have no idea, and I don't want to go out there and find out." Moments later, somebody pounded furiously on their door. The two men sitting on the couch jumped so high in their seats that they almost hit the roof. The knocking was so strong that it caused the whole room to shake, which then woke up the two sleeping men in the process.

"What the bloody hell's going on?" Jason asked, bolting up out of bed, now fully alert. His eyes were bloodshot and his short brown hair was in tangles. He stood up in a flash and found his hockey stick. David sat up on the couch, and he looked very dazed as if he did not know where he was for a moment. The banging continued on the other side of the door as hard as it did before, and David too jumped up to his feet, looking petrified.

"I have no idea," Alan answered. He was now to his feet too, and was backing slowly away from the door, his hockey stick firmly grasped in his hands. His eyes were wide open and he looked a little stunned. Josh followed his actions.

Whoever it was continued to pound the door, and the four men stood huddled closely together in the middle of the room. Suddenly there were muffled screams on the other side of the door, and the men all looked at each other. The person screamed again and continued to bang.

"Is that... is that Brian?" David asked the others. His right hand flew up to his mouth to stop him from screaming out.

"I, I think it is," Alan stammered, clearly perplexed at the thought of Brian standing out there. Why was here there all of a sudden? Alan ran to the door and looked out through the peephole, but it was so dark outside that he could not see much of anything other than dark shadows and blackness.

The muffled screams became a little bit more intelligible, and he could tell that it was Brian. It sounded just like his voice.

"Is it him?" David said. He looked as nervous as ever as he ran a hand through his black hair.

"I can't see anything, but I'm pretty certain it is," Alan answered. "Brian? Is that you?" He continued to stare out through the hole, trying to make out the shadows.

The banging suddenly stopped. "Of course it's me!" the voice shouted from the other side. "That's what I've been shouting for the past minute! Open the bloody door!"

"That's definitely him," Alan said as he looked back to the others. "Is anybody with you? I can't see a bloody thing."

David ran over to the window and drew back the curtains. He peered out to see if he could see anybody else. "I can't really see anything too."

"Nobody is with me," Brian replied, and then started to bang on the door again, his emotions clearly getting the better of him.

"Ok!" Alan said, going back to face the entrance. "I'm gonna open the door. Hold up." He took a deep breath, undid the latch on the door, and then twisted the key around until it made a click. David returned to where he was standing next to Josh and Jason, and the three of them grabbed their sticks and held them over their shoulders, ready to attack if they had to. Finally, Alan stepped to one side and swung open the door.

The men standing in the room let out a gasp in unison, and their faces twisted into horrible grimaces. They didn't move a muscle as they looked on in horror.

Standing in the doorway was Brian. His body, from head to toe, was covered in blood, and it looked as if he had bathed in blood while he was gone. It was so fresh that some of it was still running slowly down his left forearm and dripping onto the doorstep. His banging had caused a lot of it to splatter up against the wooden door, which now looked like it was half way through a red paint job. His face was so warped that it looked as if the lights were on in his head but no one was home. He just stared blankly ahead as he stood on the spot in the doorway, his right arm still in the air from knocking on the door.

Alan raised his own stick and shoved it under Brian's throat. "You've got some explaining to do." The stick was shaking ever so slightly in his hands. Here was Brian, standing bathed in blood on his doorstep. He had left with three people earlier that night, and now he had returned by himself. Something definitely was not right.

Brian continued to stare blankly ahead as if he in his own little world. Without looking at anyone, he began to speak, ever so softly. "It's Haruki." He spoke so quietly that Alan had almost missed it.

"What about Haruki?" Alan asked. Brian continued to stare off into the distance, so Alan nudged him hard on the chest with the stick. That brought him back again.

"What's wrong with Haruki?" he asked again, slightly agitated.

This time, Brian slowly turned his head to look Alan dead in the eye. "He's gone. The poor bugger's dead."

#  11

"What the hell do you mean he's dead?" Jason asked, a little too aggressively. Before anybody could react, he ran up to Brian and punched him square in the jaw. Brian staggered backwards and fell to the dirt a few feet from the entrance. "I'll bloody kill you!"

"Woah, easy!" Alan said as he grabbed Jason by the collar just as he was about to jump onto Brian, and pulled him back into the room.

"I told you!" Josh screamed, wide eyed. "I told you it was somebody here!"

Brian sat on the ground, his face in shock. His bloody hand rested against his jaw which looked like it was already starting to swell up. It looked as if the punch had brought him out of his own fantasy. "What are you talking about?" he said.

"You killed Kaito, and now you've gone and killed Haruki too!" Josh shouted.

"Wh, what?" Brian said. His wide, bloody eyes darted back and forth between the four men that stood over him. He started to scamper backwards, his hands digging into the cold earth. "You think I killed Kaito and Haruki?"

"Here you stand, in a bloody mess," Jason spat. "You said that Haruki is dead, and you're the one that was sharing a room with him. We saw you enter the room together. To me, that has murderer written all over it."

Brian looked very confused while Jason spoke, and then his face went back to looking crazed once he had finished. "No no no!" he said. He dropped his head into his hands and whimpered for a while before looking back up at the guys, tears running down his face. "You have got it all wrong. I went to go toilet in our room, and when I got back, Haruki was dead on the floor! I tried to bring him back, but there was nothing I could do." He raised his hands to his face and started to cry softly again into them.

"You really think that we would believe that story?" Jason laughed. He shook his head from side to side and spat down at the grass near Brian.

Brian looked up at him, tears rolling down his face. An hour ago, this guy looked like one of the toughest people you would not want to cross. Now, he looked like some sort of wounded puppy that didn't know what to do with himself.

"Why would I make that story up?" Brian asked through his tears. He wiped his face with the back of his bloodied hand and sniffed a couple of times. His cheek had started to turn purple from Jason's blow.

"So that we would feel bad for you and let you off," Jason replied. "And then you could kill us while we aren't looking."

"If I did kill him, why would I come knocking on your door to tell you? Better yet, why would I leave the body lying in the doorway?"

All four guys shot their heads up from Brian and looked over to the room where he was staying with Haruki. Even though it was very dark, they could see something large laying in the open passage leading into the room.

"No way..." Alan broke off. He squinted hard to try and see better. He could make out two legs lying open, one sticking out of the door.

"Why didn't you alert Steve and Greg?" Jason asked, getting everyone's attention again.

"I tried to, but they didn't answer. I couldn't even get into their room because the door was locked."

"Well that explains the banging that we heard a short while before he banged on our door," Josh said, looking at Alan.

"You could have killed them as well," Jason said. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Brian since looking at what they believed was Haruki's body in the doorway. His face showed that he still wanted to go after him.

"Knock their damn door down if you want. Search the whole motel. I didn't kill Kaito. I didn't kill Haruki. And I sure as hell didn't kill Steve and Greg and hide their bodies. I've done nothing wrong!"

"That's enough," Alan said. He placed a hand on Jason's shoulder and tried to calm him down. He looked over at Brian and couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. If he was telling the truth, then he had witnessed something no man should have to witness. He then twisted his head towards Josh and David. "Open up one of the rooms and chuck Brian in there. Make sure that he doesn't escape."

"Don't you believe me?" Brian cut off Alan. He slowly pulled himself up off the ground and stood up, favouring his left leg. He brushed some dirt and grass off his legs and looked up at the three guys.

"It's not that I don't believe you," Alan said, "but we just have to make sure that what you are saying is the truth." Jason cut him a very dark stare. "You two guard the room so that he can't make a run for it." He motioned for Josh and David to take Brian.

"You can't do this," Brian said. He took a few steps back as the two men advanced upon him slowly. "You bloody well can't do this to me."

"Brian," Alan said. He held his palms up and said it as calmly as he could to try and settle him. "If you try to resist, don't you think that it would look bad for you? Doesn't it give all of us the impression that you actually did do something bad? Do as we say, and it will make it easier for all of us."

Brian stopped moving backwards and looked at the two guys that were nearing him. He eventually looked down at his feet as if he suddenly realised that what Alan was saying was true. He looked back up and started walking towards them.

Alan nodded his head as he saw that Brian was about to give in. "Jason and I will go and investigate, and once we have all the facts, then we will decide on what to do. Josh and David will look after you while we are away." Alan gathered his hockey stick from the dirt next to his feet and held it in his hands. "If you are in fact telling the truth, and if someone is still out here, then we better be prepared." He tightened his grip on the hockey stick.

Brian reluctantly agreed and gave himself up to the two guys that were waiting in front of him. "The moment you realise that I'm innocent, you come and let me go." The two men grabbed him by the wrists and lead him peacefully to the room next to Alan's and he did not say anything else. The door was unlocked so they had no trouble entering it and leading Brian through. Alan and Jason stood metres away, watching them as they led Brian into the room. They closed the door behind them peacefully.

"So," Jason said as he turned to face Alan. "Shall we go?" he pointed towards the room where Brian had emerged from a short while ago. The room where Haruki's body was waiting for them.

"Sure. But first, you should go and grab your hockey stick."

"Nah, I don't need it," Jason replied. "I know Brian's the one that is doing all of this. I feel a lot more at ease now." He had a sly grin on his face, and it looked like he was starting to return to normal. Somehow after all they had been through, he was starting to look like his old self.

"Maybe," Alan said, eyeing him carefully. "But if he really is as innocent as he says he is, then I think that we should be ready for anything, so go and grab your stick. And I'm not asking you." His voice was a lot sterner, and Jason quickly went back to the room to get his stick. He returned seconds later holding it in his right hand.

"Shall we go now boss?" Jason said, imitating a little child. "I've got my toy now."

"Sure," Alan replied, looking at him as if he was some idiot. They started to make the trip across the small courtyard when Jason stopped in his tracks. Alan was still walking, but stopped a few metres ahead and turned around once he realised this.

"What's wrong?" Alan asked.

Jason pointed past Alan towards the rooms. His face was suddenly as white as a ghost. "It's just that." Alan turned around and looked at what he was pointing to. It was the body in the doorway. "I'm not sure if I am ready to see a dead body tonight. Especially a good friends of ours."

Alan felt like slapping him across the face for being so selfish. It wasn't as if he was happy to see all of these bodies. Nobody can be ready for such a thing. "That's fine," Alan lied. "I'll go check it out and you can stay here. I'll call you over once I've dealt to it." He felt that he had responsibilities since he was the captain, and he didn't want one of the few guys left that was sane to turn against him like the others had did earlier that night. "Just wait here."

"Cheers, boss," Jason said as he saluted him. It sounded like he meant it this time.

Alan walked over to the room where Haruki's body was sticking out of the doorway. As he made his way over, he noticed a large pool of dark blood that covered most of the ground around the body and doorway. He turned back towards Jason who was standing ten metres away from him and gave a little smile, even though he felt anything but happy at that stage. He turned back towards the room and continued to walk forward, ever so slowly. He eventually arrived at the door and peered inside. It was so dark that he couldn't see anything but the leg protruding out from the door. He tried for the light switch on the inside of the room but the lights refused to flick on. Maybe Brian had decided to kill the lights before he killed the kid. He pushed the door open a little wider so that the moon could cast some light down into the entrance of the room. He suddenly wished that he didn't, and his right hand flew up to his mouth as he tried to hold down his dinner.

Haruki's neck was cut wide open. It was so deep that his head lolled so far back that it looked as if it was only hanging on by a thread. There was a lot more blood than he could first see, and half of the carpet, which was originally a light yellow, was now a dark, wet red. The eyes were the worst part about the whole thing. They were wide open, and no matter where Alan moved his own head, it seemed as if the eyes were following his every movement.

Alan gagged a few more times as he continued to keep himself from throwing up all over the place. He felt sorry for his friend who lay dead before him. He did not deserve to die this way, or to die at all for that matter. If only he had tried harder to stop him from leaving the room, this would never have happened.

Before Alan got back up, something on Haruki's body caught his attention. He looked back down and noticed that there was some red liquid on Haruki's right sleeve that was a different shade of red to that of his blood. He bent down a little closer to inspect it, and let out a little gasp once he saw what it was. He was almost certain that it was the same type of dark liquid that he found in his own sports bag earlier that day, and the same stuff that was used to write the note on his door. Maybe it was Brian that played that nasty prank as well as murdered Haruki. He couldn't remember if he saw a similar red on Kaito's body, but he didn't want to go back and find out. Before he stood back up, he grabbed Haruki's leg, which felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, and moved it back into the room. Blood stained his hands as he did so, and he wiped what he could off onto the door before closing it, leaving the body to lie dead beyond it.

After wiping as much blood as he could off of his hands and onto the door, Alan slowly walked back over to Jason.

"So it really is him? Jason asked. He was a little on edge, hopping up and down, and he looked really worried.

Alan looked down towards his own feet and dropped his free hand into his pocket. "Yeah," he said. "It's Haruki, and it's not good at all. He's ended up just like Kaito, all though thankfully it isn't as bad."

"Isn't as bad? He is dead right?" Jason asked with concern.

"Yeah, he's dead alright. He's just not as cut up as Kaito was. Enough of that anyway." Alan tried to change the subject. "What's done is done. Let's move on and try to find Greg and Steve. Let's just hope that Brian hasn't gone and killed them both too.

The two of them went across the grass in silence as they walked towards the room next to where Haruki's body was lying. They stopped in front of the door and looked at one another. Without saying anything, Jason stepped up to the door and reached for the door knob. He twisted it right, and then left. He tried doing this for a couple of times before giving up and turning to Alan.

"Locked?" Alan asked.

"Sure is," he replied. "At least Brian was telling the truth about that." He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to one of the windows and peered in. He moved about as he tried to get a better look in.

"I do have," Alan began, but Jason cut him off.

"Hey!" Jason shouted. "I think I can see someone in there."

Alan quickly moved over to where Jason was, put his face up against the window, and looked in. The curtains were drawn back in the room, but it was so dark that it was hard to see anything, and he moved about like Jason as he tried to see through the reflection of his own face. Finally he could get a decent look into the room, and gasped when he saw something. There definitely was something lying on the carpet next to the bed, and it looked like they were not moving. Alan pulled something out of his pocket and held it up so that Jason could see it.

"Of course," Jason gasped. He slapped his forehead. It was the master key. "Unlock the door."

Alan walked back to the door quickly and placed the key in the keyhole. Thankfully there was no key in it on the other side, so it slid in without any trouble. He twisted it to the right and heard a soft click. Without hesitating, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. It was too dark to see anything straight away, so he waited for a few moments while his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Jason quickly followed and was at his side in no time.

"Do you think that's Greg?" Jason asked, pointing towards the big dark lump on the ground. It was still too dark to make anything out other than the bed and television.

"I guess so," Alan answered cautiously. He looked around the room, but couldn't make out anything else that could resemble another body. Both men moved quickly over towards the body and bent down over it.

"It's him," Jason said as he checked for a pulse on his neck. "And he's still alive." He put his head down against his chest to hear his heartbeat. "But it seems like only just."

"Thank goodness for that," Alan said. He was knelt down near Greg's legs, and he was inspecting the motionless body. His t-shirt was cut open, and there was a small gash on his chest, but it did not look too serious. He could also see that a large bump had formed on the young man's head as if someone had hit him with a blunt object. Alan stood up from his position and looked around the room "If this is Greg, then where is Steve?"

A sudden weak groan to the right of the two men made them jump, and they sprung up off the floor and spun quickly towards the noise to see what it was.

"It's coming from behind that door," Jason said, suddenly whispering. "I think it's the toilet. How come this room has an ensuite?"

"I have no idea," Alan replied, clearly puzzled by the fact that it seemed as if it was the only room that had an ensuite. "But I guess we are going to find out if it is."

They heard the noise again.

"It might be Steve," Alan said, and he ran towards the door and put his head up against it. He closed his eyes and tried to listen. "Steve?" he called, but it came out more like a question. Another groan came. "I think it is him," Alan said, looking at Jason. "I'm coming in." He turned back towards the door and spoke to it. "Move away from the door if you can."

He waited for a while as he heard Steve slowly scuffle about on the other side. He told Jason to go and tend to Greg before he placed his hand on the doorknob and pushed it open as softly as he could. "Steve?" he called as he stood in the doorway. It was even darker in the small bathroom, and it smelt like a rank, dirty public restroom. He could make out Steve sitting slumped up across the bath, holding his head. He quickly moved over to him and crouched down.

"I'm o.k," Steve said before Alan could ask. "But I've got a splitting headache."

"Looks like you have been cut too," Alan said, lifting up Steve's arm. He wore a light green t-shirt, and there was a small cut just below the sleeve. Dried up blood was caked around the wound.

"It doesn't hurt," Steve said. He briefly looked down towards the cut before looking at Alan. He said nothing.

"Do you know what happened?" Alan asked as their eyes locked. He had so many questions but didn't know where to start.

"Not really," Steve replied. "The last thing I do remember was taking a piss in the toilet here." He pointed towards the toilet to the right of him. "The next thing I know, I'm waking up on the floor with a massive headache."

Alan looked at his head and noticed that he had a bump just as big as Greg's in a similar position. Maybe Brian attacked them both but couldn't finish the job. Instead of jumping to conclusions, Alan said, "It looks like you might have banged your head on the toilet bowl. Do you remember anything before that? Do you think someone hit you from behind?"

"It's possible. I don't think I would have just fallen down face first by myself," Steve smiled. "I'm not that crazy."

"That's true," Alan said. How could anybody fall down like that? His heart started to beat faster as the evidence started to pile up against Brian. "Are you sure you don't remember anything?"

Steve thought for a few seconds before his face light up like a light bulb. "Actually!" he said, raising his left hand above his head. "I think I do remember something. Right before I fell down, I saw something in the mirror." He pointed over Alan's shoulder, and Alan turned to see what he was pointing at. "It looked like there was somebody else in the room, but I could swear that the door was locked and I didn't hear anybody come in."

Alan looked over towards the mirror. If Steve was taking a piss standing up, then he wouldn't have been able to see the door in the mirror. No wonder he didn't see the person until the last second. "Do you think it was Brian?" Alan asked.

"Brian?" Steve asked, looking bemused. He stopped to think for a moment. "I don't think it would have been Brian."

"How sure are you that it wasn't Brian?"

"Why are you so sure that it's him?" Steve asked.

Alan stopped for a moment. He finally decided that he should come clean about what happened in the next room. "Because Haruki was found dead in the room they were sharing a short while ago."

Steve let out a gasp and threw his hand to his mouth. His bloodshot, dirty eyes flew wide open and he looked very shocked. "First Kaito, and now Haruki?" he said, sounding very upset. He tried to say something but choked on his words and nothing came out.

"So now you see why I'm asking about Brian. So how certain are you?"

"Pre, pretty certain," Steve stammered. "The person in the mirror looked quite short. A lot smaller than Brian, that's for sure."

"What?" Alan asked, too stunned for any other words. Someone had gotten into Steve's room, and it wasn't Brian? If it really was somebody much smaller, then there was no one from the team that could match that description. There was nobody smaller than Jason on the team, and he was asleep in his own room the whole time. Maybe Brian was innocent after all, and that there really is a crazed lunatic running wild. "How short was this guy exactly?"

"The guy in the mirror was very short. This I am sure of," Steve said, thinking about it a bit more. "Definitely around Jason's height, possibly even smaller."

"Well I know for a fact that it cannot be Jason since he never left my sight the whole time you were gone. Maybe there really is someone here running wild."

"Possibly." Steve shrugged his shoulders and groaned as he rubbed the large bump on his head. He was about to say something else when he stopped and looked about the room. "Hold on, where's Greg?" he asked, suddenly nervous.

"He's out there with Jason," Alan said, pointing out the door and into the bigger room. "He was knocked out just like you. He has a pretty big cut on his chest, but it looks like he will make a quick recovery once he wakes up."

"You mean he's alive?" Steve asked, trying to look out the door.

"Yes. Jason is trying to fix him up now. Maybe we should go out there and check it out. Are you ok to move?"

"Ye,yeah," Steve answered. He touched the bump on his head again and grimaced even more. "It stings, but I'll survive. Other than this, I'm good to go."

Alan got up quickly and helped Steve to his feet. He briefly swayed back and forth before he regained his balance after he held on to the bathtub. The two then walked out of the small, dark bathroom and into the bedroom where Jason and Greg were sitting. Greg was now conscious, and they were both seated on the floor, resting up against the couch. Jason was talking to him softly, trying to keep him calm as he attempted to cover the wound on his chest. They both looked up as the two walked into the room.

"He ok?" Jason asked Alan as he turned around to look at them. He looked back at Greg and attended to his cut.

"Yeah," Alan said. "Other than a massive lump on his head, and an even bigger headache, he's fine. I think these guys got lucky."

Jason finished applying the makeshift bandages to Greg's body, and stepped back to admire his work. "Looks good. Do you think you can move?"

Greg threw up his thumbs. "Sure, but I think I'll need help getting up."

"On it," Alan said before anyone could ask. He bent down to Greg's left, and Josh stayed on the right. On the count of three, they helped pull him up off the ground and up onto his feet so that he was standing in between them. Greg placed his arms over the two men's shoulders, and cried out in pain as he did so.

"Shall we head back to your room?" Jason asked Alan. He got a little lower so that Greg could put his arm around him more easily.

"I think that's the best idea," Alan replied. He turned to Steve and looked him up and down. "You ok to walk back by yourself?" Steve nodded. "Do you mind gathering your stuff too?"

"Yeah, no worries," Steve said, and picked the sticks up off the bed before returning to where he stood seconds ago.

"Ok, let's head back," Alan said, and the four men slowly made their way out of the room and back towards Alan's room.

"Holy shit!" David gasped as the four guys arrived back at Alan's door. "You guys look awful." He was looking back and forth between Steve and Greg, and he couldn't take his eyes off of them.

"Shut up," Alan said, "and help us with the door."

David quickly walked over to Alan's door and unlocked it. He pushed the door open and stepped to the side.

"Are Brian and Josh still ok?" Alan asked as he walked past David and into his room. "They haven't tried to kill each other or anything?"

"No no no." David said defensively, holding up his hands. He waited by the door as Jason struggled to help Greg through it. "They have both been alright since you left."

"That's good to know," Alan said. He took Greg by the arm and led him to the couch where he helped him sit down. Greg gasped in pain as he fell down. The bandage on his chest had started to turn slightly red. "Just stay here and rest. David," Alan said, turning away from Greg and back to David, "Tell Josh and Brian to come back in here." David nodded without saying anything and left the room quickly. Minutes later, he reappeared with both Brian and Josh. Josh held him by the arm as they walked into the room, making sure that he could not escape. Once everybody was back in the room, Alan walked over to the door and locked it.

"Hey, where's Haruki?" Greg asked from the couch once he realised that the group had once again gotten smaller. His eyes were almost closed shut, and his left one was badly swollen in the light. He looked up at Brian and gasped once he saw he was covered in blood.

"About that," Alan said, looking down at his feet.

"He's been murdered," Brian blurted out, and Greg looked at him in surprise. "The poor bugger's been murdered and they all think I was the one that did it."

"Woah, easy Brian," Alan said. He rushed over to where he was standing and placed his hand on his blood stained shoulder. "Nobody thinks that." Brian gave Jason a quick look before returning his eyes back to Alan. "It might have looked like you could have done it," Alan said, emphasising the word could. "But I think it is safe to say that you didn't do it."

Jason cut Alan a cold stare, obviously shocked from what he just heard.

"I told you," Brian said. His eyes flashed over and it looked like a weight had just been lifted off his chest. He took a few deep breathes and looked up towards the ceiling.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked, suddenly agitated. He continued to start at Alan. He couldn't believe his ears.

"Steve said that he saw a small man right before he was attacked. I don't think that you could classify Brian as being a small man. Brian is one of the tallest guys here."

"How sure are you that he was small?" Jason asked, now focusing his attention on Steve. His right hand was clenched into a fist and his left hand was wrapped tightly around his stick.

"Uh, quite small," Steve answered, looking slightly worried. "I know for a fact that it couldn't have been Brian. I would have recognised his height and body."

"Then who do you think it is then?" Jason asked, sounding more annoyed by the second. "Who in this room do you think could have done it?"

Everyone stared at Steve as they held their breath, waiting for him to answer. Greg, David and Jason were the shortest of the bunch, and they all stood still, gazing intently at Steve.

Steve looked around slowly at each of the guys in the room. The others diverted their eyes away from his once he looked at them, afraid that he would say their name. "To be honest," Steve finally said, breaking the silence what seemed like forever, "I don't think it was anybody in this room."

Everybody let out a sigh of relief in unison, the three shortest guys letting out the longest of sighs.

"Well that's good to know," Jason said, rolling his eyes. He walked over to the bed and sat down on it. He loosened his grip on the stick.

"Not really," Josh said. He was standing next to Steve near the door. "Yes, it's good that it is nobody in this room, but that means that there is some little maniac out there somewhere, probably listening in on us right now." Once he said this, he shivered and moved away from the door, made his way over to the couch and sat down on the arm of it.

"Wait!" Steve shouted, causing everyone in the room to jump and turn their attention back to him. "I do remember one more thing. It's starting to come back. A short while before I went to the toilet in my room, I heard a noise from outside."

"What kind of noise?" Alan asked, inching closer towards Steve. It was news to him, and he was very eager to hear what his friend had to say.

"It's hard to say." He was looking up at the ceiling as if in deep thought, trying to think as hard as he could. He eventually looked back down at the guys, one eye bigger than the other. "But if I am not mistaken, I could have sworn that it sounded like an engine."

"A what?" Alan tilted his head forward the way someone would when they failed to hear what was said correctly.

"Like a car engine," Steve repeated himself a little bit slower so that he could be understood. "I'm pretty positive anyway."

"I never heard anything," Josh said, looking at Alan.

"Neither," Alan replied, a bemused look on his face. He and Josh were awake the whole time, and were not that far away from the guys in the other rooms. He turned his attention towards Greg. "Did you hear it?"

"To be honest, I can't really remember much." Greg pointed to the lump on his head which had now swelled up to the size of a large chicken egg. "This is throbbing like a son of a bitch."

"It sounded like it came from around the reception area," Steve said. "Possibly on the far side."

"Well that could explain why we didn't hear anything." Alan said, looking back towards Josh. If the noise had happened on the side closer to them, then they would have been able to hear it, and possibly even see something. But, if like Steve said, it happened on the far side, then there was no way they could have noticed anything.

"So there really is someone out there," David said glumly. He grabbed his hockey stick and pressed it against his chest.

"Which means that I'm innocent," Brian smiled, relief flooding into his eyes. Jason stared at him for a few seconds before giving up. "I told you."

"Don't be so sure," Jason snarled. Everybody turned to him in surprise. "Just because Steve said he heard something doesn't mean that it happened."

"I also saw someone much smaller than him," Steve interrupted, holding up one finger, as if doing so made it a fact.

"Just because he saw something else too, doesn't really mean it happened."

"If you're so sure that he is lying, then why don't you go out there and see for yourself?" Brian said.

Jason stared at him blankly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you say that Steve is just bullshitting. If you really think so, then go search the reception area and prove that there is nothing or no one there."

Jason puffed up his chest and stepped closer towards Brian, "Maybe I will. And when I find out that it is in fact one big lie, I'm gonna come back here and beat your ass."

Alan and Josh jumped in between the two men before they could go after each other, yet again, and David needed to help Josh restrain Brian.

"Go on then," Brian spat, his face as red as a devil's and he was breathing heavily. "Get going."

"I will," Jason shouted back. Josh and David eventually let go of him once he had calmed down. Without looking at anyone, he turned and headed for the door.

"Hold on," Alan said. He rushed up to Jason just as he reached the door, and placed his hand on Jason's forearm. "What are you doing?"

Jason looked at his arm, and then turned his neck to look up at Alan. "Are you stupid or something? I'm going to prove that all of this is bullshit. There is nobody here except us. I know for a fact that Brian is in on this somehow."

"Even if you think that, not all of us think that." Alan pointed to some of the other guys in the room. A few of them nodded while the rest looked away, not wanting to choose sides. "If there really is somebody out there, then it is best that some of us go with you."

Jason looked back over his shoulder towards the group. "Anybody coming?" he asked, but was met with silence. He looked back at Alan and shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, suits me anyway." He reached for the door but Alan slapped his hand away.

"I'll go with you then," Alan said, looking annoyed. He hoped that a few of the other guys would say something too as he did not want to be out there alone with Jason. It wasn't that he was afraid to be with Jason. It was more the fact that it was only two of them out there.

Josh got up and moved over to them. "In that case, I'll go too." His eyes darted back and forth between the two men, and Jason gave a small, half smile.

"David?" Alan looked over to where David was sitting.

"I would, but I think someone needs to take care of these guys." David motioned towards Steve and Greg. "Just in case."

Alan thought about this for a moment before nodding his head. "Fair enough." He looked at Greg and Steve. "You guys should try and rest. We'll be back soon anyway." He turned back to face Jason and Josh who were standing by the door, listening to the conversation. "Gather your sticks and then we will get going." He waited for the two to pick up their sticks before he wandered over to David and shook his hand and leaned in close. "Watch out for Brian," He cupped his hand around David's ear and whispered quietly into it, making sure that the others could not hear him. "We don't really know the truth until everything has been proven. Keep your distance, and keep your stick close by at all times until we return." He stood back up and looked down at David who looked back and nodded without saying anything.

"Shall we go?" Jason tapped his foot impatiently by the door.

Alan walked briskly over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. There two eyes locked. "Let's go."

#  12

"Where did he say he heard the noise?" Jason asked once they were outside the room. The three of them stood huddled in a close circle a few feet from the door.

"Over by reception," Josh said, tilting his head backwards in the direction where the small building was, even though they could not see it from where they stood.

Jason glanced over Josh's shoulder. "Alright then, let's head over." He started to walk past the beam that supported the awning above the door.

Alan hurried after him. "We still need to take caution," he said as he pulled on Jason's arm to stop him from walking any further. He was started to grow tired of Jason's pride bullshit. "Like I just said back in the room, we don't know anything for sure. There might not be a killer out here, and there might also be a killer out here. As long as there is the possibility that there is a killer out here, then we need to be a safe as we can be."

"I guess," Jason finally said. He drew a circle in the dirt with his right foot. "What do you suggest we do then?"

"Same thing as what Josh and I did earlier. We stay in the shadows with our backs against the walls, and we go as slow as we have to. We don't go trying to be the big hero and rush in when we feel like it. Got it?"

Jason stared at Alan for a short while. "Fine," He grunted. "But I'm going to lead the way."

"Fine by me," Alan said. He stepped to the side and held out his arm to let Jason pass him. "Go on then."

Jason cracked a smile and pushed past Josh and Alan with his hockey stick. He put the stick into his right hand, and then placed his left hand against the wooden wall of the motel building and looked back over his shoulder to Alan. "This good enough for you?"

"Close enough," Alan replied, and then slid his back up against the wall. Jason shook his head from side to side before twisting his head back to face in front of him.

The three of them slowly made their way forward. Jason kept an outstretched hand on the wall to his left while Alan and Josh followed slowly behind, trying to press their backs up against the wood as close as they could. Every once in a while, Jason would have to stop and wait as they caught up to him, and he grunted every time to show his frustration. Eventually, they rounded all of the rooms and made it to the very last one. Jason stopped them and peered around the corner.

"I see the reception area, but no car," Jason said a bit too loudly so that the two stragglers would hurry up.

"Of course you can't see a car," Josh hissed. He was a bit red in the face from having to crouch and walk the whole way. It was a lot harder to do then simply walk. "He said it was coming from the other side of the building."

Jason nodded his head slowly. "How does he know that anyway? That it came from the far side?"

"Because his bathroom is on the opposite side of these rooms." Alan knocked on the wall that his back was pressed up against. "That would also explain why we never heard anything from our room."

Jason shrugged then turned his attention back towards the reception area. "Well let's head over there now and have a look." He took his hand off the wall and started to walk over to the small reception building. Alan and Josh glanced at each other before peeling themselves off the same wall and chasing after him. By the time they caught up, Jason was already at the door to the building.

"Be careful," Josh said, shaking his head.

Without saying anything back, Jason crept over to the edge and placed his hands on it, before peering around the corner. He stood there for a few seconds, twisting his head in every direction before taking his hands off the building and looking back over his shoulder towards the two guys standing behind him. "Nothing. No car, no body, nothing. Just like what I said. Wait till I get my hands on Brian." He raised his stick in the air and slapped it down several times into his empty palm, an evil grin spread across his face.

Alan put his hands up in front of his chest and shook his head from side to side. "Hold on. You looked for, what, three seconds? It's totally dark out there and you can almost see nothing. I think we should get a better look before jumping to conclusions."

"It's only fair," Josh added, shrugging his shoulders.

"Whatever," Jason said, sounding annoyed. "Just make it quick so that we can get back." He brought the stick down one final time into his empty hand and then rested his body against the building.

Josh looked at Alan, and then to Jason. "Well?" he said, a quizzical expression appearing on his face. "I believe you said that you will lead the way." He stared hard at Jason.

"Alright then," Jason said. He pushed himself off the wall, slipped around the corner and disappeared from their sight.

"Now hold on," Alan snapped. He quickly pushed past Josh and moved around the corner to catch up to Jason. He turned the corner and came to a stop. It was totally black, and he had to squint to make out anything in front of him. "Jason?"

A voice came not far from in front of Alan. "Over here," Jason said, his voice sounding ghostly in the night.

Alan squinted harder as he could see something moving a couple of metres ahead of him. It was Jason waving his arm back and forth. Alan pulled out his phone and turned it on, and the screen lit up the area around him, casting eerie shadows all around. "That's better."

Jason stopped waving his arm and stood still. Josh walked past Alan and moved towards Jason, dragging his stick in the dirt behind him. Alan glanced at his phone and noticed that the small red light was blinking on the screen to notify that the battery was almost dead. He cursed under his breath.

"I still can't see any vehicle," Jason said. He did a slow three-sixty degree turn to look around in every direction.

"It's still too bloody dark," Alan replied. "We have to look more closely at the surroundings."

Alan shone his phone around the area so that he could get a better look at the environment. A small grove of trees and bushes stood bunched together a few metres away from the road only ten metres from where they stood. A smaller car park than the one where they parked the van on the other side lay creepily deserted in front of them. The back side of the motel rooms, where Haruki's body lay dead in one of them, was hanging in the shadows to the left of the three men. Past the rooms and car park stood several tall oak trees, swaying lightly in the night sky, which lead deeper into a forest.

"I'll have a look over by the road," Josh said, pointing over Alan's shoulder.

"I'll go look around those rooms," Jason pointed lazily towards the back of the motel rooms and started to head over to them without waiting for the others to say something.

"I guess I'll have a look around the car park," Alan muttered to himself. "I want you both to call out every ten seconds or so so that we know that one of us is not in trouble."

The three of them took off into their own direction, clapping or honking once as they did.

Alan walked slowly over towards the car park. It was a small one that could fit ten or so vehicles. He walked to the centre of it and peered around. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than a trash can that had toppled over and spewed out its contents onto the dirty ground. He peered over to where Josh was walking around by the road, and he could barely make him out in the dark. It seemed as though he was looking back over his shoulder every two seconds or while he looked to his left and right. Alan glanced over to Jason who was scanning the rooms individually. So far, they had found nothing, and a small knot tightened in Alan's stomach as it started to dawn on him that Brian might actually be the killer, and he was alone in the room with David and the other two defenceless, wounded guys. They continued to look for another couple of minutes, moving up and down in their own area.

"Can you see anything?" Alan shouted out loudly so that he could get both of the guy's attention. He looked over to where Josh was crouched on his knees that was looking at something.

Josh got back up and turned around. "Nothing over here," He said, waving his arms around in every direction.

Alan turned away and looked over at Jason. "How about you?"

"Nothing but rubbish," Jason grunted. He slowly walked back to Alan in the parking lot. Josh dusted himself off and walked back over to him too.

"Well, I guess you were right," Alan sighed as he looked straight at Jason. "It seems as though Brian really did do it. It is pretty hard to think otherwise. We better get back now in case the others are in danger. We should keep him locked up in one of the rooms until the old man returns in the morning."

"You think it's safe to run back?" Jason smirked. He slapped his hockey stick across the ground, sending specks of dust and dirt flying everywhere.

"I think it would be best that we do," Alan replied. He gave one last look around the area and was about to head off with the two others when something caught his eye. "Hey Josh."

Josh had already started to walk back with Jason when he stopped and turned. "Yeah?"

"You did check over by those bushes, right?" he pointed to the small gathering of trees not far from the road where Josh was searching moments ago.

"Uh, yeah?" Josh replied, scratching his head.

"Then can you explain what that thing shiny thing is hidden in them?"

Josh shot his head over towards the bushes and squinted. "Yeah, now that I think of it, I didn't actually look that far."

Alan gave him a cold, hard stare. "You idiot. I think we should go check it out."

Jason and Josh walked back to Alan, and then the three of them slowly walked over to the bushes. The wind was blowing the branches softly side to side, and something that looked a lot like metal shone between the leaves in the moonlight.

"What do you think it is?" Josh asked as they inched closer towards it.

The three of them were only metres away now, and they stopped, afraid to get any closer. After a while, they started to inch nearer, their hearts beating faster as they drew closer.

Alan squinted hard as he tried to focus on the object. "It looks like the rear end of a car," he said, stopping abruptly in his place. The two others stopped a few paces ahead of him, and turned to look at his shocked face. Without thinking, Alan rushed forward and past the two guys towards the green shrubbery. He stopped right in front of it and peered down. Jason and Josh caught up, standing on either side of him.

"Is that..." Jason broke off.

"I think it is..." Josh was lost for words.

Alan walked the extra couple of feet and reached down. He grabbed at the branches and leaves and pulled them back with force, snapping several of them off in the process. He threw what was in his hands down onto the dirty ground and gasped when he looked at what he had just revealed.

"It is a car," Alan stammered. He walked around the side, bent down and leaned over the open driver's window. He reached in and grabbed something before standing up straight. He held his hand out so that the other guys could see it. His hand was covered in a red liquid, and streaks of it ran down his arm and dripped onto the leaves. "It's Vijay's car," he choked while he stared in horror at his arm. "And I think he is the killer."

#  13

"Vijay?" Jason said, stunned. He took a step back and put his hand over his mouth and shook his head from side to side.

"Vijay's the one that has been doing all of this?" Josh said, as he too shook his head from side to side in utter disbelief. "Why?"

"It's because of me," Alan said darkly. "He wants all of this for himself. The team, the captaincy, the glory."

Jason's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious?"

"Oh but I can," Alan replied. "He has hated me ever since I became captain. He despised me from the very beginning and now he is getting his revenge by trying to destroy all of us."

"The sick bastard," Josh said, continuing to shake his head.

"So that's who Steve saw in the mirror," Alan gasped as he suddenly realised who the small person was that he saw. "He said that he saw someone smaller, and there aren't many people that are much smaller than Vijay. I guess that means Brian really is innocent."

Jason looked down at his feet and shifted uncomfortably. "I guess so," he finally admitted, totally deflated.

"Let's get back to the room and warm the others," Alan said. "The sooner they know the better."

Jason and Josh nodded their heads, and the three of them headed off to Alan's room as quickly as they could.

"What do you mean Vijay's here?" David jumped off Alan's bed and walked up to where he was standing in the open doorway. His eyes were wide open and he looked stunned once he heard the news.

"We found his car out front," Jason said as he pushed his way past Alan in the doorway and walked over to the couch where Brian was sitting. "It's definitely him." He dropped down onto it, placed his arm around Brian and said sorry. He finally Brian turned away.

"Well what now?" David asked. He looked depressed. Even though the rest of the team were not too close to Vijay, David was, and he couldn't believe that his friend was the one that was doing the killings.

"I say we go look for him," Brian said. He shrugged Jason's hand off his shoulder coldly and stood up. "Now that we know it is Vijay, there is no need to be afraid. There are seven of us, and only one of him."

"Plus we are much bigger than he is" Jason chimed in. "He should be no match for us."

Alan stood by the door, thinking. "Well, I guess you do have a point. I think that we should come up with a plan to nail this son of a bitch."

"What do you suggest?" Brian asked, moving in closer towards Alan. He had hunger in his eyes, and it looked like he wanted to do something about it.

"Well," Alan began to speak but then stopped. He looked around the room and noticed that every pair of eyes was on him. Everybody was not looking at him, but up to him. He was their leader, and they were waiting eagerly to hear what he had to say. "Well, we could go round the rooms and search them one by one."

"That's a great idea," Jason said, jumping up from the couch.

"Sounds good to me," Brian added. He and Jason were now standing side by side in front of the couch, and Jason put his arm back onto Brian's shoulder. This time he didn't swipe it away.

Alan looked at them and smiled, the first time he genuinely smiled all night. It was good that the two of them could get along so quickly knowing what they had been through not even an hour ago. "We should split up and look around, probably in pairs. And if possible, turn on every light in each room so that it lights up the area. It will be much harder for him to hide when there aren't many shadows around. Sounds good?"

David got up from where he was and walked over to Alan and shook his hand, a huge grin plastered on his face. "Thank you."

"So who should go with whom?" Greg asked. He looked a lot better than before, and he had desire in his eyes to do something.

Alan looked around the room and noticed that the guys were already in groups. "You go with Steve," he said to Greg, "And you two go together, if you can handle it?" he was looking at Jason and Brian.

"Yeah, I think we're cool," Brian said, turning to look at Jason. "You all good?" he held out his hand. "Truce?"

Jason grasped it quicker than Brian could extend his arm. "Truce. And no hard feelings."

"So that's that," Alan said. "I guess that leaves us three." He looked at Josh and David who were not far from him. "You happy with that?"

"For sure," both men said together.

Alan turned back to face his team. He looked at each guy, and he knew in his heart that they were going to follow him no matter what. "Right, so you and Greg should go look out around the back." Alan looked at Steve as he spoke, and pointed to the window beyond the bed. "There are only a few rooms out back there, so it shouldn't take you that long." Alan turned towards Brian and Jason. "You two look on this side of the motel up until half way around." He pointed around him with his index finger to indicate the rooms where they were. "Maybe start with number one over there. Josh, David and I will start over by reception and make our way back until we run into each other near the middle." He stood there and waited to see if anyone had any questions for him.

"When are we going to do this?" David asked.

"Now's as good a time as any," Jason said, imitating David.

"You got that right," Alan said, his voice suddenly sounding deeper and louder. The way the team was looking at him had given him a huge confidence boost that he felt ten times taller and bigger. You can't demand respect, but earn it, and the way they were acting told him that he had earned it. Adrenaline ran through his veins faster than a race horse. "Let's strike now, hard and fast. Let's sweep through the rooms as quick as we can and catch him on the back foot."

"Yes," Steve said. He pumped his fist high in the air hard. Alan's speech was getting his team excited and ready. "Let's do this."

Alan stepped to the side of the door and held his arm out, gesturing for the others to go. "Grab your stuff and get out there. Meet back here in ten minutes."

The rest of the group scampered around the room, grabbing their sticks and other things in a quick hurry. They were high-fiving each other as they past one another, trying to pump themselves up and rid the little nerves they had left. After a couple of minutes, they were all out the door, walking off into their designated area.

Alan stood by the door and fist-bumped each member as they walked through it. "Good luck." Once the other groups were out, he turned back to face the two that were left with him. "Ready?"

"Let's go," David said. And with that, the three of them walked out of the room and headed off towards reception, and Alan slammed the door shut behind him with authority.

"He's not in here," Josh said, re-emerging from the doorway to the reception, and David followed a few steps behind. The two of them had carefully looked throughout the small reception building, searching every inch of every corner until they were satisfied that Vijay was not in there. They had made sure all the windows were tightly shut, and Alan locked the door once they stepped out into the night.

"He shouldn't be able get in here without smashing a window," Alan said. He took the key out of the hole and dropped it back into his pocket. "If he does, we should be able to hear him."

The three men walked in silence to the last room that was connected to the rest of the motel rooms which was their next room to search. A light went on in one of the rooms across the courtyard from where they were standing, and shadows moved about from within the room.

"Must be Brian and Jason over there," Josh said. He nodded his head in the direction he was looking and the other two turned their heads to see. Silhouettes moved about within the room.

"I guess so," Alan said. He turned away and walked up to the door leading to room seventeen. He turned the handle and pushed, but the door was locked. He pulled the key out of his pocket and placed it into the keyhole. He turned the key until it made a click, and then he pushed it wide open. It swung inwards and made a big thud as it hit the wall on the inside, and then swung back out towards Alan, who grabbed it before it slammed back shut.

The three of them walked briskly into the room and headed off into different directions. Josh flicked the light on before he moved off, and the room suddenly exploded into light. Alan walked over to the bed and dropped to his knees to look under it, and Josh headed off towards the dark bathroom, the door already open. He disappeared, and then reappeared moments later with a smile on his face.

"Anything?" Alan asked. He put his hands on the bed and pushed himself up off the floor. David looked behind the curtains and was standing near the door.

"Nothing." Josh answered, shutting the door behind him. "Looks like he isn't here. Who knew this room at a bathroom?

"It seems as all of the rooms down this side do," Alan replied.

"That sucks. I guess we should have gotten to these rooms first. Oh well. Should we move onto the next room?"

"Sure," Alan replied. He walked out of the room to the outside and waited for the others to follow him. He looked over to the other side and saw that Brian and Jason were coming out too. "Hey," he shouted, "You see anything out of the ordinary?"

The two froze in their tracks when they heard Alan shout. They twisted around and looked across the grass towards him. They had gripped their sticks even tighter.

"Nothing," Brian shouted back. "We're gonna move onto the next room and keep going."

"Alright," Alan shouted. "Give us a call if you see anything."

"Will do." Brian threw a thumbs up, and then continued to move onto the next room.

Josh appeared next to Alan. "I think we should do the same."

"Yeah, let's get going," Alan said, and the three of them moved on to room sixteen. He was about to open the door when he stopped abruptly, and Josh almost walked into him. He looked down at the floor and saw a big red stain.

"What's the matter?" David asked, trailing behind.

Alan slowly turned around to face the two. "This is the room that Haruki is in," he said grimly. "I don't know if you two should come in."

"Hell no," Josh said, taking a step back. "I don't want to go in there. I've seen enough to last me a lifetime."

Alan looked at David. "How about you?"

"Maybe I don't want to go, too," David spoke in a low voice.

"That's fine. I'll do it myself. You two wait here in case I need you to come in." Alan stepped back up to the door and placed his hand on the handle. He reached into his pocket and was about to grab the key when the door crept open slowly. He jumped back quickly which in turn caused the other two to jump.

"What's the matter?" David asked. He sounded alarmed and he clutched the stick in both of his hands tightly.

Alan didn't take his eyes off the door. "I, I'm sure that I locked it earlier, but now it's unlocked."

Josh glanced towards the door that stood slightly ajar. "Are you sure you locked it earlier?"

"I'm pretty sure," Alan replied. He looked at Josh who simply stared blankly back at him. "Like eighty percent..." Doubt started to creep into his voice.

"If you are not sure, then don't stress too much over it. Just get in and out of there as quick as you can. Knowing Haruki's body is in there freaks me out."

"Are you coming with me?" Alan asked. He sounded hopeful.

"No chance," Josh replied. He took a step backwards and waved his left index finger from side to side. "But we will stand on either side of the door, ready to come in if you call out."

Alan was about to protest, but then gave up. He didn't need to beg for his team to help. He needed to lead from the front. "Fine." He turned away and moved back towards the door. Without stopping or thinking, he pushed the door open in one quick motion. Like the previous room, the door flew open and crashed against the interior wall before swinging shakily back towards him. He stopped it with one hand and was about to step inside when a strong, horrible stench hit his nose. His free hand flew up to his nose, and he squeezed it tight to stop the smell from entering his body. He looked down at his feet and saw Haruki's body, his legs contorted badly.

"What the fuck is that smell?" Josh said. He was standing with his back to the wall outside, and he was covering his nose and mouth with his hands. David was gagging slightly on the other side of the door.

"It's Haruki," Alan said through clenched teeth. The smell was nauseating. He grabbed his shirt by the collar and pulled it up over his nose. "I don't think you guys should look." He walked into the room and flicked the light switch by the door, but it didn't turn on. "The lights are out in here," he said over his shoulder. He swung his stick up and rested it against his left shoulder as he walked around the room, making sure to check every corner. He pushed the bathroom door open with the end of his stick and peered in from a distance. Realising that there was no one in there, he turned around and made his way back outside, stepping over Haruki as carefully as he could. He glanced down at the body and his stomach tightened. It looked as though it was starting to turn an ugly shade of blue and purple between the dried up dark blood, and the lack of light from the room gave it an even ghastlier look. It took him a few seconds to drag his eyes away from the body, and once he did, he moved carefully over it, making sure not to touch it. He finally stepped out of the room and then closed the door slowly behind him. He pulled his shirt down from his nose and took in a deep breath of the cool, fresh air.

"Nothing?" Josh asked Alan. He still had his fingers squeezed tightly over his nose.

"Nothing," Alan replied. He took a few more breaths, happy to be out of the musky room and in the cool night. "And you can take your hands away from your nose. It's not that bad anymore."

Josh dropped his hand and sniffed the air softly, then deeply a second time.

"Shall we move on?" David asked.

Alan turned to face him. "I think so. Lights didn't work in that room so there's nothing we can do about it. I just hope that the rest of the lights work in the other rooms." He turned to Josh, who was now taking in deep breathes of air in a crazy manner. "Ready to move on, or should we leave you here so you can continue your weird antics?"

Josh stopped sniffing the air and faced Alan. "Yeah, I'm ready," he said. His cheeks started to turn red from embarrassment.

"Alright," Alan said. He turned his body so that he could see both guys at the same time. He opened his mouth and was about to speak when he stopped and looked across the yard. Three of the rooms across the courtyard were lit up from the inside, and the three doors stood wide open.

"Strange..." Alan muttered.

"What is?" Josh asked. He turned his attention to where Alan was looking and peered over towards where Jason and Greg were.

"The doors are open and the lights are on, but I can't see anybody moving around in there."

"Really?" David said. He put his hands above his eyes and looked, trying to concentrate on the rooms.

"Yeah, I don't see anything," Alan replied. "Maybe I should call out," Alan cupped his hands around his mouth and took a big breath.

"Wait!" Josh cried. He raised his left hand sharply and pointed to where they were looking. "Over there, by the first room."

Brian and Jason walked around the side of the building and across the face of the first room. They were walking quickly, and they looked like they were deep in a pretty intense conversation from where the three of them were standing. Before anyone could do anything, the two of them disappeared into the second room and slammed the door. Their shadows danced back and forth across the drawn curtains of the room.

"What was that all about?" Josh asked. His finger was still in the air.

"I have no idea," Alan answered. They stood there for a few more seconds, not saying anything.

"Well," David said, a little too loud, causing Alan and Josh to flinch, "should we move on?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Alan said. "We can find out what that was all about when we eventually cross paths." He hurried over to where David was standing, and Josh soon followed. They moved to the door of the next room and Alan turned his head towards his group. "Let's hurry this up. Whatever those two were doing over there couldn't have been good. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can ask what they were doing." Josh and David stood in silence, nodding their heads. Alan grabbed the key from his pocket and put it in the keyhole and twisted his wrist. There was a click, and Alan looked back up to his friends. "Let's do this."

"Right, so he isn't in this room either." Alan got up off his knees and strode over to where David was standing by the bed. It was the sixth room they had searched, and there was still no sign of Vijay. The three of them stood in a triangle in the centre of the room.

"Do you think we are going to find him?" Josh asked. He was looking straight at Alan, and his face showed that he was starting to lose hope.

"I'm positive that we will," Alan answered. He tried to make his voice sound positive to cheer up his friend. "It's not a matter of if, but more of when."

"Let's get on to the next room," David said. His stick was swinging peacefully in his hand by his waist, and he was bouncing up and down softly, eager to move on.

With a smile, Alan said, "Let's go," and walked past Josh and out through the door. He stepped to the side and waited for the others to walk out before moving onto the next door. He looked around and noticed that something wasn't right. He paused as he scanned the area.

"What's wrong this time?" Josh asked. He was standing in the doorway.

Alan stayed silent for a few moments as he continued to look around. He wrapped his hands tightly around his stick and looked back over his shoulder. "I don't think Jason and Brian are there."

"Why do you think that?" David asked. He sounded bored.

"Because everything still looks the same as it was five minutes ago."

Josh and David twisted around and looked across the patch of grass. The same three rooms were lit up, and the middle room's door was still closed.

"Well that can't be good," David said, his eyes widening. He quickly raised his stick over his shoulder and held it like a baseball bat. "What should we do?"

"Let's just head back to my room and wait for Steve and Greg to return," Alan said. He started to sound nervous so he tried to keep himself together since the others were counting on him.

"What if they don't return?" Josh asked. He leaned back and pressed his back up against the rotted wall as he waited for Alan to answer.

"It's just a risk that we are going to have to take. I say we make a run for it now around the rest of the rooms so we can hide in the shadows on the way back." He pointed to his right and then moved his arm around, signalling the way they should move. "Ready to go?" The other two nodded their heads in silence. "Don't stop, and don't look back. Just go go go."

Alan turned his back on his two friends and started to pace around the motel rooms as he headed back towards his own. They rounded the corner and made their way straight past the next five rooms before turning the next corner onto the home stretch. They finally reached his door without running into any trouble, and Alan pushed the door open wide and snuck in.

"Jason!" Alan gasped as he stepped into the room and almost fell over Jason who was standing on the other side of the door.

Jason, eyes wide from surprise, jumped high and swung his stick around at Alan, only stopping inches from his face. "Alan!"

The two embraced in a hug. Sweat had started to form at their brows.

"I thought you guys were in trouble," Alan said, breathing a sigh of relief. He had come very close to attacking Jason before he realised who it was. He looked around the room and saw that he was alone. He stepped back and pushed him away. "Where's Brian?" he said through gritted teeth.

"I have no idea," Jason said, putting his hands up in front of him to calm Alan. "We heard a noise coming from the back of one of the rooms, so we went to investigate. The next thing I know, I'm running back to your room in a sweaty panic. I decided to wait here for you guys to return."

Alan eyed him carefully, as if he didn't fully trust his word. "I saw both of you come back a short while ago."

Jason's left eye twitched slightly. "As I said, we heard a noise. Well, several noises actually. We checked it out twice, and the second time we checked, he went missing. You have to believe me."

"I just wish that we could believe you." Josh said. He stepped past Alan and stopped in front of Jason, only inches from his face. They continued to stare each other down. "Please don't tell us that you took care of Brian. He was innocent the whole time."

"I know that now," Jason snapped. He opened his mouth to continue but nothing came out. He took a few steps backwards. "Hang on, wasn't David with you?"

"What do you mean?" Alan asked. He looked bemused by his question.

Jason pointed over their shoulders. "Where is he then?"

"What..." Alan spun around and looked behind him. There was nothing there except the empty doorway. His jaw dropped and he ran outside. He paced around just outside the room, looking frantically in every direction. He couldn't see him. David was gone.

#  14

"David!" Alan shouted. He stood in the doorway as he continued to look out into the night.

Josh appeared in the doorway next to him and peered out, squinting hard across the darkness. "Where is he?"

"The hell do I know?" Alan said. "He was behind you when we came back." He looked all around in the darkness again, but couldn't make out much other than the small area filled by light that lit up the outside of the rooms they had entered earlier. He couldn't see David anywhere at all.

"I thought he was," Josh began, almost pleading for forgiveness, "but I guess he wasn't. I didn't hear anything either."

Alan pushed Josh into the room, entered, and slammed the door shut. His eyes were wide and it looked like panic was starting to creep up from his body and out of him. "Well there's nothing we can do about him now," he said. He sounded really frustrated, and he kicked about at the floor. He realised he was getting crazy stares from the other two guys, so he slowed his breathing before continuing. "How could I have been so stupid? We should have looked out for one another. I guess we just have to wait until Steve and Greg return."

"If they return," Josh said. He looked down towards his feet and dropped his stick to the floor.

Alan cut him a cold stare but he never looked back up. "Don't think like that. We have to stay positive about this whole situation. Once they get back, we can go looking for him and Brian."

"How long will that be?" He continued to stare at the floor.

"They shouldn't be too long," Alan replied. "I told them to meet us back here in ten minutes. That was about..." He pulled out his cell phone to look at the time, but the device had run flat. "Damn it. Well I guess it has been about fifteen minutes or so since we left. Maybe they have David or Brian with them."

"Here's hoping."

The three of them stood there for the next couple of minutes in silence, unsure of what to say or do to try and cheer each other up. Josh never took his eyes off the floor, and Jason stood awkwardly, one arm wrapped around his body, the other clinging to the stick in his hand, swaying lazily by his side. Alan closed his eyes and tried to think of something. He was the captain, and he felt like this was his entire fault since it was Vijay doing this to them. He had to come up with another plan.

There was a loud knock at the door, and each guy cocked their head towards it in unison.

"Who is it?" Alan called out. His voice was shaky as he tried to contain his nerves, and he cursed himself under his breath for sounding so wimpy.

"It's Steve!" the voice called from the other side of the door. It sounded so petrified that it was hard to tell if it really was Steve. "Don't attack me, but I'm coming in now."

The door handle twisted and the three guys held their breaths. They each drew their sticks high above their heads and got ready. The door opened slowly, and Steve stuck his head in. They slowly blew out and dropped their arms, thankful that it really was Steve.

"See, it's only me." Steve pushed the door slightly harder, and he stepped inside quickly and then shut it again. He was alone.

"Where the hell's Greg?" Alan asked. He was starting to wonder what the odds were that one person from each party would go missing.

"About that..." Steve broke off.

"Please don't tell us that he's missing too?" Josh gasped. He swallowed deeply.

"Yeah, he is..." Steve said. His eyes were hollow and sad. Then he suddenly shot his glance at Alan. "Wait, what do you mean by too?"

"Look around you," Alan said. He spread his arms wide and moved them around the room. "How many of us are in here?"

Steve quickly counted the people in the room. "Hold on, where's-"

"David and Brian?" Alan interrupted him. "Both missing too."

"How is that even possible?" Steve asked, clearly bewildered, and he shook his head from side to side in disbelief. "How can one person from each group go missing?"

"I have no idea, but that is pretty damn strange to happen don't you think?" Alan said. "How did you get lost from Greg?"

Steve hesitated for the slightest second before answering. "Well," he began, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, "we were looking through the rooms back there when he saw something near the pool area." He was speaking so quietly that the other three had to lean in close just to hear him. "We decided to have a look, but we found nothing. On the way back to the room, I turned around to say something, but he was gone. Almost as if he had just vanished into the night. Poof!"

"That sounds exactly like what happened to us," Jason said, shaking his head. "It really is as if they have simply vanished off the face of the earth."

"What if it is some evil spirit doing all of this?" Josh said, his eyes growing bigger and bigger as he considered the possibility.

"Don't be so stupid," Alan said. There are no such things. It has to be Vijay. We found his car, and the red stuff which ties it back to all of my stuff being tampered with. I guess he is really good at what he really does," Alan grunted, hating that he admitted that Vijay was good at something, even if it was something terrible. "We have to go back out there right now and find the others. Vijay has played around with us for far too long, and we really need to end it right now. If us four go together, and make sure that we can be seen at all times, then he won't be able to take one of us." He lifted his stick high in the air and slammed it down hard across the carpet. "I've had enough of this bullshit."

"Do we go now?" Josh asked. He looked a little taken aback by the sudden speech of Alan's.

"Damn right," Alan replied. The adrenaline had started to run through his veins again, and he was feeling pumped up. He had to settle this with Vijay once and for all. It was one or the other. Kill or be killed. He walked over to the door and turned so that he could see them all at once. "Are you guys ready to go?" All three men nodded their heads up and down like bobble heads. "Right then," Alan said, stepping to the side and opening the door for the umpteenth time that night, "Let's get out of here."

The three guys looked at each other for a few moments, and then one by one, Josh at the front, Steve in the middle, and Brian at the rear, they walked out of the room and stood out on the wooden floorboards, waiting for Alan's next move. Alan too stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. He decided to leave the light on as he locked the door.

"So, what now?' Josh asked once they were all outside.

"Hmm," Alan said. He scratched his chin as he realised that he didn't exactly have a plan. He thought for a moment, but his mind remained empty. "What do you guys suggest?" he finally asked.

Josh's eyes flashed wide open. "I think that we should continue to go around the rest of the rooms here so that we can count them out."

"Good thinking," Alan replied. A small smile spread across his face. "Maybe we should continue from where Jason and Brian left off earlier since they haven't done many rooms."

The four men walked side by side carefully a few rooms down from where Alan's was. They reached the third room within a minute, where they then formed a tight circle. Light shone through the window and out at where they were standing.

"So you guys last checked this room right?" Alan asked Jason, and he nodded his head. The guys looked through the window and door, and saw that no one was inside. "Let's move on to the next room and continue from there."

After the tenth room had been searched, and Vijay still hadn't been found, the four of them stepped out of the room and back out into the cool night. It had been twenty minutes since they had started, and they were taking their time and double-checking each and every room to make certain that he was not hiding in any of them.

"Do you guys think that he will be in any of these rooms?" Jason asked. His excitement was starting to wear out, and he was starting to look tired.

"I have no idea," Alan said, sounding slightly annoyed by his lack of commitment, "but we have to make sure that he isn't in any of them." Alan looked at Jason, waiting for him to say something back, but he never did.

They started to move towards the next room when Steve stopped and held the others back.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked, sounding alarmed. He held his stick high in the air.

"I don't think anything is wrong, but didn't you and Alan say that you checked out the last six or so rooms?"

Alan turned to face Steve from the front. "Yeah, so?"

"Well why didn't you turn on the light in that room?" he pointed over to one of the rooms on the far side of the motel near the reception block.

The group looked over to where Steve was pointing, and saw that the third room in was the only room out of the six that didn't have a light turned on.

"That's because there was no power on in that room. Either that or the light was broken."

"So why did you leave the door open if you can't see in there?"

"What do you mean?" Alan asked. "I did lock the door. For your information, Haruki's body is-"

"No," Steve cut him off sharply. "Look. The door is clearly open."

Alan turned away from Steve and looked over to the room. He squinted hard and saw that the door was slightly ajar.

"I don't believe it," Josh gasped. "You locked the door when we were over there before."

Alan stood frozen to the ground, too speechless to say anything. He knew for a fact that he had locked the door after he left it when Josh and David were with him. He looked at Josh, who looked back just as stunned.

"Sho, should we go check it out?" Josh said. His eyes were wide open and he was starting to shake slightly.

"I, I guess we should," Alan stuttered. He looked at the other two guys. "You ok to skip these rooms and check it out?"

"Yeah, sure," Jason said watchfully as he raised his eyebrows. He hadn't taken his eyes off the room, as if expecting something to pop out at any moment. Steve just nodded his head sullenly.

The four of them made their way towards Haruki's door slowly, looking over each-other's shoulders as they did. Alan and Josh walked side by side ahead of Jason and Steve who were a few paces behind. They rounded the corner carefully and stopped one room short of their destination. The wind had started to pick up, and a light breeze was blowing through the trees overhead, causing the shadows to flicker and dance eerily over the motel. Alan started again and stopped inches from the door that was slightly open. He turned to the group.

"Steve, you go over there," He pointed to a spot a few metres in front of the door, "and Jason, you go over there." He moved his hand to the other side of the door where David had been waiting before he went missing. He turned his neck to look at Josh. "You go to where you were before." He pointed to the other side of the door closest to where they were standing and Josh nodded his head, understanding what he meant. "I'll push the door open with my stick. You guys look from your position and see if you can see anything from inside the room."

Josh, Jason, and Steve all moved off to their positions without protest. Steve moved several feet away from in front of the door and onto the grass. He positioned himself carefully; legs spread apart, and then raised his stick up high over his shoulder. He shifted nervously and looked over it several times. Jason snuck around Steve and went up to the other side of the door. He too raised his stick over his shoulder and waited. Josh pressed himself up against the wall and waited for his captain to make his move.

Alan stood a few feet away from in front of the door. He looked around at the other guys and nodded his head to each of them, showing that he was about to begin. He moved closer to the door as quickly and quietly as he could and extended his arm forward. The stick made a little tap as it pressed against the door. He continued to press softly against the door as it started to open wider and wider at a slow pace. The gap was big enough to see well enough into the room, so Alan stopped pushing and peered in, and let out a shrill gasp once he did. His hand flew up to his mouth when he looked down at the carpet.

"Haruki," he stammered. "He, he's gone!"

#  15

Josh twisted his neck and stuck his head in through the door and looked down at the floor. There was nothing there except a big, dark pool of dried up crusty blood. "What the hell?" He drew his hand up across his face and pinched his nose.

Alan stumbled into the room, and the rest quickly followed, and they made sure not to step on the blood as they all piled in.

"He, he was right there," Alan said, pointing a trembling finger at the bloodstain that covered most of the carpet.

"Well he sure as hell isn't here now," Josh said. He looked around the room to see if he could see Haruki anywhere.

"You think?" Alan said sharply. He covered his nose as the smell still lingered, stronger than ever now.

"Where could it have gone?" Josh asked. "The body I mean," he corrected himself once he received a few dirty stares. "It's not like a body can just get up and move on its own."

Alan's eyes grew wide. He suddenly knew what it was. "It must be Vijay! It has to be."

"How did he get in here?" Josh asked. "You locked the door when we left. I even saw you do it."

"Maybe he broke the lock on the door." Alan went to the door and tried the handle a few times. The handle moved up and down without any trouble. He bent over and looked in the keyhole carefully before returning to where he stood a few seconds ago, a grim look on his face. "There is nothing wrong with it. It hasn't been broken or tampered with."

"I think I know how he got in," Steve said. He walked past the group and moved over towards the bed. He pulled back the curtains above it and revealed a broken window. "I saw the curtains fluttering lightly in the wind," he said. "I thought maybe it was open."

Alan walked over to him and looked down. Shades of glass littered the bed so he took extra caution as he examined the window. "Oh."

"He must have gotten through the window and then dragged the body out through the front door, because I doubt that he could carry somebody well over twice his size through that small window."

"I guess this means that he could be anywhere," Jason sighed. "Even if we do turn on all the lights in the rooms and lock the doors, he could break through a back window and hide in one of them."

"Don't be so negative," Alan said. He was starting to get tired of the negativity the group was starting to display. "It just means that we have to draw every curtain in each room, and not just from the front windows. He will have a much harder time hiding if we can see right through the rooms."

"Well what do we do now?" Steve asked. He picked up a piece of glass and played with it in his hands before tossing it lightly back onto the bed.

"We just have to keep going I suppose. The quicker we find him, the better." He pulled out his phone and clicked it on but the battery was still dead. "Does anybody have the time?"

Josh looked at his wristwatch. "Two forty-two."

"That means we have to wait at least another four hours until the old man comes. We have to get going right away."

Alan walked quickly out of the room, and the other three followed soon after. They searched the rest of the rooms in quick succession. They then doubled back and returned to the rooms they had already searched to pull back all of the curtains. They could clearly see into most of the rooms once they were done, and it would be hard for Vijay to hide anywhere without them seeing it. They were about to leave the room they were in when Jason stopped in the doorway and turned back to look at the others.

"Hang on, which room did you put Kaito in?" he asked.

His question was met with blank faces. Suddenly, Alan's jaw dropped. "Kaito! We put him in this room." He spun around and looked in every direction of the room, but there was nobody there except the four of them. "We put him on the bed here." He threw his arms to the bed where splashes of dried up blood covered the duvet. There was no sign of the body.

"I thought so," Jason said, scratching his chin. He cocked one eyebrow up. "But where is... Don't tell me Vijay has taken him too?"

"It has to be..." Josh broke off. His eyes were glazed over and it looked like he was in a different place in his head.

"My God..." Alan said. He shook his head from side to side. "I knew that Vijay was evil, but I never knew that he was this evil."

"You don't think he has gone and killed the other two?" Steve asked. He was staring at Alan, his face blank, his eyes empty. Completely emotionless. He had been through enough.

"I really don't know. But after this, we might just have to fear for the worst." He turned away from the bed and looked at the others. His insides were doing summersaults and he wanted to cry out loud, but he knew that he had to keep calm and finish the task at hand. "Let's get out of here and search the back side of the motel. We'll search the pool area first, and then go back over the rooms Steve and Greg went through. Any questions?

The three others stood silent, looking at one another, but no one said anything. Without speaking again, Alan picked up his stick and walked out of the room. Josh quickly followed while the other two stayed behind. Eventually they left too.

All four men walked back past Haruki's room, past the rest of the other rooms they had searched, past the reception block, and rounded the corner into the car park. It was a lot darker on this side of the motel, and Alan stopped them.

"Be careful," he whispered over his shoulder, not looking back. "He could be watching our every movement right now. Make sure that at least one of us can see each other at all times." Without waiting for any of the others to say something, he started walking quickly forward along the rows of the rooms, Josh striding just as swiftly by his side. He looked over his shoulder twice to make sure that Brian and Steve were still there, and he noticed that he held his breathe both times as he did so. They reached the outside corner of the motel and stopped. Alan turned and crouched down, almost on his knees, as he faced the other two. The gravel crunched loudly as the others dropped to their knees.

"So what now?" Steve whispered, leaning in closely so that the others could just hear him.

Alan threw his head backwards. "We should check out the pool area over there first. Then we move on to the rows of rooms further on up there." He shifted his head and nodded a few times in the other direction.

"Sounds good." Steve nodded his head up and down slowly.

Josh peered off into the distance where the pool area was. He squinted as he looked up towards the sky. "Hey, do you think power is still running to those floodlights?"

The others twisted their necks and gazed over to where Josh was looking. It was dark, but the moon high in the night shone down, illuminating four small light poles swaying peacefully in the dark sky.

"Let's hope so," Alan said. "They would cast a pretty decent light over this area if they do. It'd really help us out big time. We should move now and see."

Alan placed one hand on the dirty ground and pushed himself up off it and dusted off his pants. He waited for the others to do the same thing before they gradually walked over to the pool area. They eventually reached the fence that cut them off from the pool, and they stopped and looked around.

"Can you see a light switch anywhere?" Alan asked, looking around the area. "I can hardly see anything."

The four of them looked around in the dark, trying to see anything that resembled a light switch. Thankfully the moon was bright enough for them to make out a lot of their surroundings, but only just if they were close enough to something.

"That might be it over on that pole," Josh said after they had been searching for a while. He pointed to the light pole closest to the gate where they were standing. He pushed the gate open, and it creaked loudly in the night as he held it open for the others to walk through. The edge of the pool stood a few metres away from where they were standing.

"Wait," Josh said. He stood by the gate, still holding it open with his left hand. The others stopped walking towards the pole and turned around.

"What?" Alan asked.

Josh put a single finger up on his right hand and cocked his head to one side. "Can you hear that?"

Alan froze on the spot and held his breath. It took a couple of seconds for his ears to register the noise. It was a faint scratching sound. "Where's it coming from?"

"Over there, on the other side of the pool," Jason whispered. He tried to be as quiet as possible.

"Quick, turn on the lights," Josh gasped. He hadn't moved a muscle since he heard the noise. "It could be Vijay!"

Alan quickly ran over to the pole and threw his hand over the button and pushed it hard. He waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. He pushed the button again.

"You have to turn the dial first," Jason urged him on. He was now standing next to Alan.

Alan looked down the pole and noticed that there was a small lever. He turned it until it made a clicking sound, and then he pressed the button again.

The light hit the group like a flash bang grenade, and they all threw their arms up to cover their eyes, and a few of them cried out in surprise as the light blinded them. They each rubbed their eyes furiously as it took several moments for their eyes to return to normal from the blinding light, and they stumbled around in a daze. Finally, they looked over to where the noise was coming from and gasped out loud.

"Greg!" Josh cried.

Greg was bobbing up and down on the diving board on the far side of the pool. He was strapped down tightly, lying prone with his legs sticking out at the end. His mouth was taped shut, and blood trickled down his dirty, bloodied face. A long, shiny silver blade was taped inches from his throat. Steve started to walk towards him when his eyes went wide and he started to shake his head from side to side in a furious manner.

"Stop!" Alan called out to Steve.

Steve spun around to look at Alan, tears rolling down his face. "I have to help him." He turned back and started to walk faster towards his friend. Greg thrashed about more wildly, causing the board to bob up and down with so much force that he was almost touching the water each time the board swung down.

"Hold on," Alan cried out again, but it was too late.

Steve continued to walk quickly towards his friend, eyes wide as he went to help his him, but then he suddenly stopped. He looked down at his leg and noticed that he had walked into a wire. He had walked too far, causing the wire to snap, and he looked up at his friend just in time to see the knife cut across his throat.

A spray of bright red blood sprayed out of the open wound in Greg's throat as the shiny blade slashed across it, and his eyes bulged wide open. The blood continued to spray out as he thrashed about on the board, his legs jerking uncontrollably as his life was being sucked out of him. As the seconds passed, his body started to move slower and slower, and within seconds, it came eventually came to a stop. His head rolled to one side, his eyes still open, as blood trickled out of his mouth and onto the board.

"Greg!" Alan cried out. He sprinted off past Steve, who was still stuck, frozen in his position, and raced over to his dead friend. He rounded the corner and slipped on a wet spot before reaching the diving board. He called out a couple of times and placed his hand on Greg's neck, and then he dropped his head to his chest.

"Is he ok?" Josh asked. He was still standing with his hand on the gate, his eyes wide in terror. Jason moved over to him slowly and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Alan eventually looked up, tears rolling down his face. "He's gone."

#  16

Alan pushed himself up off the ground and turned to the others. His hands were covered in blood, and he tried to wipe it off on his pants without much luck. He walked over to where Steve was standing and grabbed him by the collar. "I told you to stop." he grunted, inches away from his face. Jason left Josh's side and ran up to Alan and pulled him away.

"He didn't know," Jason shouted. "He didn't know."

"I, I only wanted to help..." Steve said. Tears started to roll down his cheeks and drop to the lino.

The anger in Alan's eyes subsided and he shook his head, as if snapping out of some evil trance. "Sorry," he whispered, looking at Steve and then down towards his feet. He needed to get a hold of himself. He had to lead by example.

"What should we do with Greg?" Josh asked. He finally left the gate and was standing with the other three, eyes on Greg the whole time.

"Nothing," Alan said. "We have to find Vijay first and deal with him before we do anything else."

Steve started. "But-"

"No buts," Alan cut him off. "He's dead and there is nothing we can do. Besides, if we leave him there, Vijay can't do anything with the body because it is tied down pretty securely. I think we should just go and search the rest of the rooms."

Steve began to protest but stopped, realising that Alan wasn't going to give in. "Fine," he sighed. He continued to look at his dead friend bobbing up and down.

Josh grabbed Steve by the arm and pulled him towards him. "Just leave it, ok? We need to keep clear headed and allow Alan to do whatever he wants us to do."

Alan overheard this and smiled, but didn't say anything. It was good that at least one of them had his back and believed in him. Still smiling, he walked off and over to the gate and turned back to the pool. "I guess he isn't around here. These lights are pretty damn bright, and there are no real places where he could hide, unless he his hiding under this sludge." He pointed towards the pool that contained dark brown sludgy water. "I highly doubt he is. Let's go." He held the gate open and stood next to it and waited for the others to go and walk through it.

Steve was the first to walk by, and he refused to look at Alan as he did so, and Jason and Josh walked through side by side. They took their time as they looked back at Greg several times, shaking their heads every time they did. Their eyes were sorrowful as they passed Alan. As they stepped out of the pool area, Steve was leaning on his stick, waiting for them.

"We should walk this way," Alan said, pointing to a small gap between the pool fence and the row of motel rooms further up to the left. He let go of the gate and it swung back and forth nosily on its hinges until it came to a peaceful stop.

"Sweet," Steve said. He waited for Alan and the others to walk past before he got off his stick and joined them. It was a tight squeeze to get through the gap, but they all made it comfortably and then started walking off towards the small block of motel rooms further up in the short distance. "Hold on." Steve called at the back of the pack.

Alan stopped, muttered something under his breath, and then turned to face him. "What?"

"The second room's light is off."

"And?"

"I left them all on before I lost Greg and went back to your room."

Alan turned back and looked towards the row of rooms. Four out of the five had lights on, casting an eerie yellow glow to shine out through the windows and light up the small space on the outside.

"I think we should check it out first," Josh said. He was standing right behind Alan.

"Maybe." Alan didn't sound convinced. "But it might be another trap. He could have set up all kinds of traps around here. He wants us to go there and fall for it."

"What if David is tied up in there?" Jason asked. "And the moment we open the door, another wire triggers and cuts him in two."

Alan rubbed his chin as he thought about the possibility. They had just walked into a trap at the pool, so they had to take extra precautions. "Good point. We should be certain that there is nothing wrong with the room before we go in."

"How?" Josh asked.

"We have to be very careful," Alan said. He was standing on the spot, eyes closed, deep in thought. "We have to make sure that it is safe to advance."

"What we did at Haruki's room was good. If we all space out and have a good look at different angles, we would be able to see if there is something wrong."

"Good thinking," Alan said. He opened his eyes and nodded his head as he thought the same thing. "We should do that." He started to walk towards the block of rooms, and the others quickly followed behind. He walked straight up to the door and placed a foot on the threshold and waited for the others to arrive. The door was shut and the curtains drawn, so they had no way of knowing what was on the other side.

"That can't be good," Josh said. He walked up next to Alan and placed his sleeve over his nose. "It smells just as bad as it did at Haruki's."

"You're quite right. Alan sniffed the air. A strange, smelly odour lingered in the air that made it hard to breathe for the guys. Steve swiped back and forth with his hand in front of his nose and Jason gagged.

"You don't think..." Josh said through his shirt. He was looking at Alan as he said it.

"It just might be," Alan replied, nodding his head as he knew what he meant. He stepped back and so did the others. They stood in front of him. "It might get a little bit nasty once we open this door. Haruki and Kaito's bodies might be in there." He turned around to look at the door, then twisted back to look at the group. "Just be prepared for the very worst. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Handle what exactly?" Jason raised a curious eyebrow.

"Dead bodies," Alan said darkly. "Chopped up bodies even."

Jason gulped and his eyes grew wide. "Um, well, I guess I can handle that. After all, I just saw Greg get murdered." His shoulders sagged and he looked down at the ground.

Alan nodded his head then turned to face the door again. "Well that settles it then." He eyed the rotting, wooden oak door in front of him carefully. His heart was racing and he really did not want to do it, but knew he had to. "Let's go see what Vijay has planned for us."

Josh moved over to the left side of the door, and Jason moved over to the right. Steve held back a few paces, stick raised, ready to strike if called upon. He looked around himself twice and shivered, as if somebody was eyeing him from behind. Alan walked the extra couple of feet towards the door and stood still in front of it. He glanced over to Josh on his left, nodded, and then to Jason on his right, and winked. He looked back, and Steve threw a quick thumbs up. They were ready. A knot formed in his stomach. He was not sure if he was really ready to find out what was about to meet him on the other side of the door, but knew he had no choice. He took a few long, deep breaths, and then placed his hand on the door. It was cool from the night and he shivered from touching it. He ran his hand down to the handle, placed it over it, and pushed it down ever so slightly until it made a clicking sound. He squeezed his eyes tight and grimaced, waiting for whatever it was to happen, but nothing did. He opened his eyes slowly and realised that it was the bolt coming out of the strike plate and not another trap. He exhaled and looked at Jason who also had a worried look on his face. He returned his attention to the door and pushed it slightly open. The horrible stench grew stronger as the smell waffled slowly out of the room and into his nostrils, and he covered his nose with his free hand to stop himself from gagging. He peered into the room, but it was pitch black so he couldn't see anything. He ran his hand up along the side of the door, feeling for a wire or anything that could set off a trigger, but he found nothing. He stopped and turned to Josh.

"Anything?" Josh whispered. He held his stick even higher than before, getting ready to swing it down.

"Nothing," Alan replied. "I don't think this room has been booby-trapped. Well the door hasn't anyway. But I do think Haruki is in there."

"I thought the same thing," Josh muttered through his hand that covered his mouth and nose. "I can hardly breathe out here."

"Yeah, it doesn't smell very good. Could possibly be even worse, given how long it's been. Anyway," he turned back to the door, "I'll try and feel for a light switch. That will really help us out." He placed his hand on the inside of the room and moved it about on the wall. He continued to do so for a few more seconds until he felt his hand move over a small, plastic box. "Found it." He ran his index finger over the switch and flicked it down. Bright light burst into the room, and he squinted as he looked through the small gap between the door and wall. He couldn't see anything so he pushed the door open a little more, and then eventually all the way. He stepped over the threshold warily and into the room, and as he did, his jaw dropped once he looked around. He choked on his words. "My God..."

Kaito's body was hanging upside down by his legs from one of the ceiling beams, and his decapitated head lay peacefully on the couch underneath, tiny specks of blood everywhere. Haruki's body was spread out like a starfish on the floor, his head pulled back to greet those that entered like an exotic animal killed in Africa to look like a rug. David's body was tied up on the bed, mouth tapped shut, and his eyes were wide in terror. He was still alive, but only just, as blood continued to trickle out of an open wound in his stomach.

"David," Alan muttered. He was in shock, and he couldn't move. Josh and Jason entered the room and stood behind him. Jason took one look at the room and ran back outside to vomit on the footpath. He returned a minute later, but was unable to move once he got back. Alan was about to walk over to David when he stopped and looked in the opposite corner. There was a chair facing the wall, and the top of someone's head poked out above the backrest. The colour of the hair was black, and Alan instantly knew who it was.

Jason tore his eyes from Kaito's swaying body and looked at where Alan was staring. "Is that..."

"Vijay!" Alan screamed. He ran forward and lunged at the chair, blood running hot through his veins. "I'm gonna fucking kill you!" He brought his hands down onto the chair and pulled it around so that it faced him. He brought one hand back, ready to punch Vijay in the face when he stopped mid-blow, and his jaw dropped and he let out a scream.

Vijay's empty eye sockets stared right back at Alan. His mouth was hanging open, and his tongue stuck out of it to one side. One side of his jaw was missing, ripped right out of his head, and dried up blood caked his face and his shirt. He was dead, and it looked as if he had been for a long time.

Alan turned around to look at his group, and saw, just in time, as Steve raised his stick high into the air, his face like a madman, and brought it down over Jason's head. There was a loud crack as the blade hit bone, and Jason let out a shrill cry as he was hit. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the floor. He was already out before he hit the ground. Josh, wide eyed and in shock, tried to jump out of the way, but Steve caught him on the cheek with his next swing, and he too, like Jason, went crashing to the ground.

"You!" was all Brian could get out of his mouth as he was smacked in the head like the others. He was hit with such force that he flew backwards and hit his head on the edge of the bed, falling unconscious.

Steve breathed heavily as he looked down at his feet where the men had fallen, and he grinned at the destruction he had just created in a matter of seconds. He raised his stick to his face and looked down at the shiny, sticky blood that was smeared across it. He continued to gaze at it before flicking his eyes at Alan. They were dark, evil and demon-like.

Alan was trembling uncontrollably, and he was finding it hard to stand up. Finally he spoke. "It was you all along."

#  17

Steve threw his head back and let out a long, spooky high pitched laugh, sounding like a total madman. He brought his head back down and stared at hard at Alan, his eyes piercing Alan's like hot lead.

"How, how could you?" Alan finally said. He continued to tremble as he backed up against the wall and he had to support himself with the television set to stop him from falling over.

Steve let out another laugh and before cutting it off suddenly. He inched closer and closer towards Alan. "How could I?" he laughed. "How could I? The real question is, how could you?"

"Me?" Alan questioned. A puzzled look appeared on his face. "What do you mean?" He shook his head from side to side. Steve really had gone nuts.

"You threw me out and left me to rot on the side lines," Steve snarled."

"What..."

"Don't act like you don't know!" Steve picked up his stick and swung it at Kaito's head on the couch. It bounced violently a couple of times before coming to a sudden stop in the corner. "You let these fuckers into the team and left your own out." He pointed his bloodied stick between Haruki and Kaito.

Alan's eyes scrunched almost closed. "Are you telling me that you did all of this," he threw his arms around the room, "because I benched you?"

"Exactly!" Steve roared. He took another step closer towards Alan. They were only a few feet away from each other. "This team meant the whole world to me. I loved the team, and I loved the game. Ever since you let these guys start, you never once looked at using me again. I was our best player for years. I worked hard for so many years, and all of those hard yards were wasted on a couple of useless imports." He bashed the head a couple of more times. "It, it's ruined me as a person..." He gazed off into space as he smiled crazily. He looked sorry for himself.

Alan put his hands up in front of his body to try and calm him. He did not want to end up like the rest of the guys in the room. He had to think of something. "So you did everything to us?"

"Everything." Steve snapped out of his daydream and glared at Alan. An evil grin spread across his face. "Right from the very start with the note on your door. Then I dumped the paint in your bag when I helped you with your stuff." He curled his index and middle fingers in front of his chest as he said helped. "Did you like the taste of that beer we had earlier tonight? Rohypnol isn't cheap to come by." He smirked. "I thought I had put enough in your bottle to kill you, but obviously it didn't work."

"You are sick," Alan said in disbelief. He couldn't believe the words that were coming out of Steve's mouth. He couldn't believe that he had trusted him this whole time. He thought back to earlier in the day before they had left for their trip. "Did Vijay even show up today?"

Steve clapped his hands slowly, patronising Alan. "Look at the big brains on Alan." He continued to clap. "I didn't realise how easy it would be to fool you guys. Did anybody else see Vijay earlier today?"

"No..."

"That's because he was already dead!" Steve laughed. "I made sure to stay out by the van by myself while everybody was in your place. That way I could make up the story of him being there."

"Then how did he get here?" Alan pointed towards the body of Vijay.

"It was simple," he said, looking down at his stick. "I killed him yesterday and drove out here to dump the car and body. I almost didn't make it back in time."

Alan shook his head from side to side again and he wanted to vomit. "You really did do everything? Then how did you get Haruki?"

Steve threw his head back a third time and let out a huge, hearty laugh. "Seriously? Are you that stupid? I thought you were much smarter than that." He shook his head, clearly disappointed. "I knocked Greg out in my room while he wasn't looking. Then I knocked Brian out when Haruki saw me. We struggled for a bit before I eventually killed him with a couple of strikes with this beauty." He beamed as he looked down at his stick. "I thought about killing Brian too when I realised that it would look very bad for him, so I let him live. I had to knock myself on the head pretty hard to produce this shiner," he pointed to the large lump on his head, "but it was worth it."

"You're a monster," Alan spat. "And you are totally deluded."

"You ruined my life," Steve snarled. "So I decided to ruin yours. When I am done with you tonight, it's going to look like you killed everybody, and I'm going to be the lone, innocent survivor who stopped your killing spree. Hell, you even did me a favour by putting your hands all over Greg out there."

"You won't get away with this."

"Oh, but I will. Once I kill you, I'll put your fingerprints all over the other bodies, and when that old fuck of a manager returns in the morning, he'll see me passed out by the van. I'll be a national fucking hero. I can see it now, young man survives hacking 'n' slashing killer." He flashed his evil, ugly grin, and saliva dripped from his mouth and onto the dirty carpet. "I'm done talking now. Shall we get this over and done with?" He crept closer to Alan and raised his stick high into the air and brought it down towards Alan's head, not waiting for him to reply.

Alan ducked under the blow and threw himself to the floor. Steve's swing hit the window where Alan was standing milliseconds ago, and glass shattered and flew everywhere. Alan looked up at Steve and stuck his stick in front of his face just as his enemy's stick went flying down. There was a loud bang as the sticks clashed, and Alan's flew out of his hands. Steve raised his stick high into the air again, readying himself to make the final blow, but Alan kicked him in the midsection, causing him to stumble backwards and nearly fall over Vijay's cold, limp body. It gave Alan enough time to stand back up and gather his stick just as Steve came flying back to take another swipe. Again, he missed.

"Fucking die already!" Steve screamed. Spit and drizzle foamed at his mouth and his shirt clung to his body from his sweat. He closed his eyes and swung his stick as hard as he could at Alan.

There was a loud crack as the sticks collided, and Alan's stick shattered into a million pieces. He held onto two tiny pieces of what was left of his stick in his hands. He looked at his hands and then quickly back at Steve. He started to walk backwards as Steve advanced on him, but he tripped over something and fell to the floor. He continued to back up as far as he could until he hit the wall, and he cried out in pain as his hands crept over several small pieces of broken shards of glass.

"Well well well," Steve said. He stopped short of Alan and smiled like a lunatic. "It's about time you die." He wiped the spit and drizzle away from his mouth with the back of his free hand. "Any last requests?"

Alan looked around the room frantically, searching for something to help him, but nothing was in reach. Defeated, he finally looked back at Steve. "Just wait." He held up one shaky finger and Steve laughed, mocking him. "Give me ten seconds."

Steve sighed, then held up his hand and started counting slowly. "...six, seven, eight, eight and a half, nine..." He raised his stick over his head for the last time and spat at Alan. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"So am I," Alan said, and a grin spread across his face. His eyes lit up and Steve stopped, his hands still raised in the air. He had a confused look on his face.

"Ahh!" Josh screamed as he swung his stick into the back of Steve's head. Steve let out a loud, sharp cry as the stick connected with the back of his skull, and he dropped his own stick and brought his hands up to his head. Josh shoved Steve forward with all of his might before collapsing back to the floor.

Steve went flying forward and Alan moved out of the way, just in time as Steve flew face first into the window. A large, sharp shade of glass sticking out of the window frame pierced through his chin and all the way up into his brain. His body went into a spasm and he made several gurgling noises as he eventually succumbed to slow and painful death.

Josh and Alan continued to watch him from their positions on the floor in silence until his body stopped moving and came to a final, dead stop.

"Fuck you," Josh spat at Steve's lifeless body as he stood up, shuffled over to Alan, and then collapsed on top of him. He groaned out as he fell. "That guy ready did some damage to my jaw." Blood continued to trickle out of his mouth.

"Just as well it's only your jaw," Alan said, half smiling, one eye closed. "Otherwise we both would have been dead."

"Don't forget me," David said, still tied down to the bed. The blood flow from his wound continued to seep out but at a much slower pace, and he coughed several times.

Alan pulled himself up off the ground, helped Josh to his feet, and then stumbled over to David. "I thought you were dead. Josh, grab that blanket and press it up against that cut." Josh picked up the sheet that had fallen to the floor and pressed it up against the wound to stop the blood flow. Alan wrestled with the rope and eventually got him free, and David's arms dropped to the floor. He looked knackered.

"I don't think Jason made it," Josh said, peering over his shoulder to Jason as he continued to apply pressure to David's stomach.

Alan also turned his attention to Jason, who was lying motionless on the floor, covered in a pool of his own blood. There was a huge gash to his head, and bits of his brain were tangled in his hair. He turned and looked back at Steve's body. "You son of a bitch."

"It looks like Brian is gone too..."

Brian lay dead still next to the bed, his wound clearly visible in his head from where he hit it when he fell. He rested in a huge pool of blood.

"What do we do now?" David asked. He was starting to lose consciousness, but it looked as if he was going to survive.

Alan looked over at Steve's body and out into the sky. The sun was starting to rise, as it did very early where they were, and the shadows started to disappear. A couple of birds started to sing in the distance and several insects started to buzz. A single tear ran down his face as he thought about everybody they had lost that night, his eyes glazed over. He stood up in front of the two guys, his team, or what was left of it, and he took a deep breath. "There's nothing we can do except wait. Wait to heal. Wait to forget. But most importantly," he looked around the room once more. It looked like a horrible, bloody nightmare, a nightmare that he was dying to get out of. "We have to wait until we can get the fucking hell out of here."

120

Joseph Curran
