Hellhouse Rock

[MooCow*]

'When will you release me,' the girl asked the man, 'you know you must release me, or for God's sake please let them know I'm alright.'

'You know what I want,' the man replied calmly.

'But I can never give you that.'

'You could... you're just not trying hard enough,' the man said, becoming frustrated.

'Mr. Clegg, Fred, please, let me go and I will never say a word ab-...'

'I can't trust you anymore.'

'At least let me go outside, into the sunshine,' the girl pleaded with the man. But he ignored her, and with that he got up to leave.

'Goodbye Miranda.'

'No! Don't leave me here! Please what you're doing, this isn't love! You must understand that! You must understand that...'

But the man was gone, and once again the girl was alone, in the cellar that had been her prison for almost one month and counting.

***

Miranda Grey (Female Student No. 24) was angry. She was angry at herself for going on the school trip, she was angry at her school's administration for providing her and her classmates with such lax security on the plane, she was angry at her classmates for participating in such a wretched game, and most of all, she was angry at Mr. Danya and his totalitarian terrorist regime. If she could have, Miranda would have likely used her supplied weapon, a chinese fighter sword, to tear the bastard limb from limb. And that was saying something, because, being a Buddhist since the age of twelve, she severely believed in the sacredness of all living things. Mr. Danya however, she deduced, could not possibly have a soul, so killing him would scarcely be of the same calibre as killing say, an innocent buttefly, or god forbid another human being. Soul or not, she was willing to compromise her values in this case.

She had desperately hoped to- find a familiar face, a friend to spend her last days with, but so far, her search had been futile. Most of her friends were dead now... she had learned that through the announcements. It just made her hate those bastards more. Being the fighter that she was, Miranda did not plan on dying. If she had anything to say in the matter, she would live forever, or at least well into her ripe years.

If only she could find Eddie Serjeantson... sure they hadn't even really spoken since all that had happened the summer before their freshman year, but he was the only one that she had ever felt truly safe with. Not even her parents had given her the secure feeling that Eddie gave her whenever he was around. She had been searching for hours in vain, for anyone, Eddie or otherwise, a search which had all culminated in her arrival here, at the spot where she now stood, in front of the dilapited school building. If she had noticed the severed head only several feet away, obscured by the dense foliage she would have no doubt turned around and ran screaming in the opposite direction, but she did not, so instead Miranda made her was up the steps and through the open door.

The hall was devoid of life, but this had not always been so, the place looked as though a hurricane had hit it. Opening the door to her left, she screamed as three bodies toppled onto her, two of which lacked sizeable chunks of their heads, and whom she would have otherwise known to be Tayli Vreeland and Naoji Hideyoshi. She screamed in bloodcurdling agony. Where in the hell was her knight in shining armour? She scrambled out from underneath the only recognizable corpse, which she identified as the religous zealot, Uriel Hunter, and feebly attempted to retreat in the direction from which she had came.

[Cactus]

((Continued from: Walking into the House of Blood...))

As he was slammed into by a girl that he hadn't even known was there, Eddie Serjeantson couldn't help but take a step back. His muscular frame absorbed the blow and he was able to stay on his feet, but he assumed that was more than the other girl would be able to say. As he glanced into the room, his eyes grew wide at the sight of the three bodies lying on the ground. Quickly, he whipped out his pistol, aiming at the girl, whose face he wasn't able to see. Ever since he'd left Glenn and Marie, it had seemed that he hadn't run into very many people at all.

Perhaps the game's getting down to the wire, here...

It was a thought that he couldn't help but have - it was a thought that he actually almost hoped was true. As sick as it sounded, if the game ended, and he was the only one left standing, then he'd get to go home. This was something that definitely appealed to him, as he really hadn't been scarred all that much as of yet. As he pointed his pistol at the girl, he took a quick glance around the room to ensure that nobody else was around.

Eddie had been wandering for some time, and after leaving the Gazebo, he had wandered through the open field, and through an empty small house that looked as though people had been there recently. He hadn't, however, found anyone, and to him, that was probably just as well. He was better off sneaking around by himself, trying to figure out how to remove the collars. If he could do that, he could vanish from the island without a trace, get back to the mainland, and blow the whole operation wide open.

Yeah, that'll be awesome...

Until then, though, the Sarge figured he had bigger problems to deal with, and he continued to point the gun at the unknown girl.

"Okay, I've got to admit, I didn't see you coming and I'm sorry for basically bodychecking you across the room, but frankly, I can't take any chances. Get up slowly, and if you've got a weapon, drop it on the ground. And I mean SLOWLY, as in molasses. You got me?"

[MooCow*]

Hearing the voice, Miranda breathed for the first time since she'd come across the three bodies.

"Eddie Serjeantson," she said cooley, "I should have known it was you. You never did know how to treat a lady did you? Now please point that gun elsewhere, or I might have to consider you deadly and kick your ass."

She hoped that even in light of the situation Eddie would find some comic relief in this exchange. She secretly thanked God that she had found him.

[Cactus]

Wow, what an awfully sarcastic little b...

Eddie couldn't help but blink in surprise. Who the hell was she to be telling him that he didn't know how to treat a woman? And kick his ass? I'm SO much bigger than her, what the hell is she on, crack?

Eddie looked at the other girl. The darkness obscured her face so he couldn't tell who it was, but she had to be crazy. Then again, how did she know who he was...?

And then it hit him. It was, of all people to run into here, his ex-girlfriend, Miranda Grey. The two hadn't last spoken on the best of terms, as things had been quite awkward for Eddie once she'd published that ol' diary of hers. Grimacing, he lowered his weapon a little.

"Miranda...fuck sakes...of all the people to run into..."

He sighed. THIS was going to get interesting.

[MooCow*]

She watched him with a rye, obnoxious look. Many would have thought her stupid, but Miranda knew (or thought she knew) how far she could push Eddie. She knew he wouldn't blow her face off... at least unless she gave him no other choice. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Miranda took a step forwards. She was glad to have found him of all people, but was just as glad to play hard to get.

"Now if you'll kindly get the hell out of my way darling, I'll get the hell out of yours."

As she passed him she looked back and then paused at the door and pretended to think, "you know it's dangerous out there Eddie. I implore, no omit that, I insist, come with me and I will protect you."

[Cactus]

Eddie couldn't help but laugh out loud, the booming laugh of his seeming somewhat odd and out of place amongst the corpses and blood that seemed to litter the schoolhouse. His face turned a little red, and he couldn't help but double over in laughter. Finally, he pulled himself up and looked at the girl in front of him.

"You're going to protect me? Save me from all those spooky kids out there with shotguns and rifles? Well shit, hun, why didn't you tell me you had super-powers?"

Eddie chuckled again.

"If it's company you want, I suppose I COULD let you tag along with me...yet I was under the impression that if i ran into you out here, you'd probably shoot me rather than team up..."

[MooCow*]

"Eddie," she continued, "it's alright, I know you're scared. You don't have to be scared any more baby, I'm 104 lbs. of pure fighting machine and I won't let anyone harm a hair on your head. You can cut the faux macho protector act."

She smiled as him mischieviously.

"Seriously though, can we get the hell outta here." The bodies were making her feel quite queasy.

[Cactus]

Eddie took a long sniff of the air and grimaced as he realized that the bodies were certainly beginning to smell. Nodding to Miranda, he guestured with his hand to the door.

"Yeah, let's get the hell out of here. Any thoughts on where you'd like to go?"

[MooCow*]

"No clue," Miranda said, responding to Eddie's question.

"You've probably know the island better than I do at the moment... just take me anywhere but here... please."

[Cactus]

Eddie shrugged his shoulders, and looked around the area a little. Thinking for a moment, he guestured to the east with his head.

"I think we should head this way. From what I remember about the island, there's a waterfall, a gazebo, a well, and some things like that. Might be good to stop and replenish our water."

He looked at Miranda.

"What'dya say, huh?"

((Continued in: Arrival))

[MooCow*]

"Waterfall huh?" Miranda looked sceptical. "Well... okay, but if we run into trouble along the way, remember it was your genius idea to head there ... and if it turns out to be the most prime of positions we could have selected, you should kindly recall that I made no objections... now shall we?"