Part 5: Russian death Roulette

They were in their dining room, all seated around the dining table. Each chained to their chair, feet connected to the legs, and arms connected to the arms of the chair. The six friends and roommates had no idea what was happening. They all woke up in a dreamy state. All they could remember was returning the night before from the movies that they had gone to together.

There seemed to be a crossbow connected to a little machine in the middle of the circular table, but none of them knew what the machine did.

Chloe had been the first to wake up and realize the situation they were in, which was not good. She had to alert the others and see if any of them knew what to do. “What is all this?” she asked and watched as everyone shook their heads to say that no one knew.

Abruptly, a deep voice began to talk to them. “It’s time to play a game. My game is Russian death roulette. A surprise will come to each of you as each will have a turn. Hope you have fun, my precious toys.”

They all looked at each other in terror, for they realized at what seriousness this situation was that they were in, how much they wished not to be there.

“Guys, what are we going to do?” asked Chloe. She had no idea what they could do

He had an idea maybe, just maybe, “Does anybody have chains loose enough to get out of?” asked Noah.

They all began to shake and move their chains but had no luck. It was then that the crossbow started to move, rotating in a clockwise motion. The arrow had landed on Liam. The strongest of the group. He prayed he could handle whatever would be thrown his way and survive it.

“My precious boy, I see we have a fortunate man here today. If you can pick the correct button between the two, you will set everyone free. But if you choose the wrong one, someone will die. When you are ready, call out which color button you choose.” The voice said Menacingly.

Liam watched as a small pedestal with a red and green button rose from the floor next to him. As he examined the buttons, thinking what could possibly be the right button. The probability was 50/50, which he hated to think he would be that unlucky. He chose the green one because red always means something evil in his mind. He had to take a chance on one.

“Green,” Liam called out to the voice.

“An excellent choice, my precious boy. You have chosen for someone at this table to die,” said the deep voice.

“How is that possible. Green is always the right button!” Liam yelled. He could not believe that he picked the wrong one. This was unfair.

Little did he know that no matter what he said, the man behind this would not have let anyone go. The killer never allowed anyone free from his games. The crossbow began to rotate again, but this time it lands on the small and frail Sophia.

“My precious girl, you have been chosen by this lovely young man to die.”

At these words, Sophia begins to cry. She did not wish to die.

“No, you can’t kill her! That’s not fair. Take my life instead. She doesn’t deserve it,” Liam screamed. Hoping his plea makes a difference. He did not want to die either, but he liked Sofia and would do anything to protect her.

“Well, it seems we have a courageous precious boy here. Are you willing to give your life up for hers? Why?” The voice asks curiously.

“Because I love her,” Liam says.

The others around the table look at Liam, surprised by his revelation. No one knew about this.

“Well, who am I to stop true love?” the deep voice snickered.

The chains around both Sophia and Liam had been unlocked and fell to the floor. They did not understand how this man did it, nor did it seem to matter. They both ran to hug each other. They were glad to be able to move again.

“You two can go. Just go through the door on the right. That is the way out. I hope you have a great time spending the rest of your life together,” the deep voice mocked. He had no intentions of letting these two live a long life together but had another plan for them.

The others watched as Liam and Sophia walked to the door on the right and through it. The door slammed behind them and locked them into the room. They looked around to find that they were in another room.

Suddenly the rest of the group saw Liam and Sofia through a one-way mirror. As the two of them examined the room, they begin to hear a loud sound, like an engine starting. Unsure of what the sound was, they decide to ignore it, for they wanted to find the way out.

The group on the other end were watching Liam and Sofia look around the room. This did not look good.

Seconds later, a large saw came from the wall and sliced Sophia in half. A sheer scream came from her mouth right before she died. The group watching was horrified by the splatter of blood everywhere and the body parts fallen on the floor. This grabbed the attention of Liam.

As he looked at her dead body parts, he began to yell in agony. He could not believe this man could be this cruel. “You monster, we were supposed to be let go. You lied to us.”

Those were his last words. Another saw came from behind and cut his head clean off. The shocked faces of the rest of the group only made the killer smile. Now they should realize that no one would be getting out of there alive.

“Now have we learned a lesson today, my precious toys?” the deep voice asks, not expecting an answer.

They had faces of disgust and hatred for this man. None of them could believe what they have just witnessed. This also put them in fear of what would happen next.

“Go to hell, you bastard!” Noah yells out, tired of the shit he was being put through. None of them were terrible people, so why were they chosen for this horror to happen to them?

“My precious boy, language like that is very unnecessary,” the deep voice sneered.

They begin to struggle in their chains, trying to leave before they suffer the same fate as their friends. It was then the crossbow started to spin again. This time it landed on Brandon.

Brandon, the shiest of the group, closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. There was no voice, no noise, no nothing. The room sat still for a few minutes, and he peeked out, worrying.

Abruptly, a loud noise was coming from above them. It was now that they realized that there had been a trapdoor installed above each of them. The sound was coming from above Brandon. It sounded like something heavy was falling very quickly and hitting the side of something as it was coming down. Unsure of what the object could be, Brandon tightly closed his eyes and awaited his fate.

Then an anvil burst through the trap door, falling onto poor Brandon, killing him instantly. The body was smashed, and blood sprayed everywhere and on everyone. They could see the brain oozing out from under the anvil.  

Not too long after, the crossbow began to move again.

“Not again. When will this end? I think I have seen enough death today,” Noah cried out. He could not do this anymore. His stress level was over the roof, and he could even feel his heart beating as anxious he was.

After an agonizing wait for the crossbow to stop, it finally chooses Noah as its next victim.

“Finally, I have been waiting for this one,” the deep voice uttered in excitement. This boy annoyed him, and he would enjoy this death immensely.

Everyone waited for what death would happen now. Nothing happened.

It was not until Chloe saw the look of pain on Noah’s face. Noah had been injected with an unknown serum. His muscles and nerves were reacting badly to the injection, and he began to have spasms as the liquid burned his insides.

While Noah was slowly dying from the inside out, the crossbow decided to move again. It had landed on Nikki this time. Nikki began to scream and cry for help. She did not want to die. She had already witnessed most of her friends die in such horrible ways and was not eager to have her turn. Nikki quickly looked around for something to help her out of this situation when she noticed Noah’s body go limp and white stuff leak out of his mouth.

He was dead. The scene made her cry more frantically.

“Nikki, stop crying. It isn’t going to help!” Chloe said to her friend.

Soon they heard what sounded like the buzzing of bees. Nikki looked to her left, noticing that the sound came from where Liam and Sophia had been killed. She felt her chair begin to move forward, towards the door of the room. She looked behind her and saw her chair was on a track, pulling her inside the room. The door opened, and once inside, it slammed shut. Then thousands upon thousands of wasps were let into the room. They began to sting her over and over again. It did not help that she was allergic to bees and wasps. She slowly died from the stings, and her body went into an epileptic shock as she slowly suffocated from her allergic reaction.

Chloe watched as her last friend died in pain. She did not wish to know what would happen for her turn. All was horrifying. This man was a mad man, a crazy person, a monster from hell. She feared what would now happen to her.

Chloe was the last one. She dreaded what would happen when the crossbow moved again. It had to land on her. There were no other options. All she had left was to wait for her inevitable death that would come, praying that it was not too bad. Quick, she wanted it to be quick.

“My precious Chloe. Looks like you have made it past all of the rounds. That means you get to be set free,” taunted the deep voice.

The constraints on her arms and legs slowly unlocked and fell to the floor, allowing her to be free. Chloe took this time to run for the nearest door. As she grabbed the knob, she stopped herself and remembered what had taken place in the room on the other end of the door. This would not be a good way for her to go.

She stepped back and analyzed the area. The room was quite simple yet had plenty of things rigged everywhere, which made her think that this killer had to be some kind of engineer or mechanic to be able to do so much with technology. And the fact that this killer seemed to operate everything from somewhere not in this room only made her wonder even more.

She then noticed another door on the other side of the room. Walking to the door, she began to hear the rotation of the crossbow once more. When she heard this, she dashed to the other door. She attempted to open it, but it was locked. She looked at the crossbow and saw that it was facing her.

She frantically tried to open the door, banging and kicking the door, but it was no use. She took one more look at the crossbow.

The deep voice returned and uttered, “Oh wait, I forgot. My games don’t end…” he paused, “until everyone is dead.”

With these words, the crossbow shot the only arrow straight into Chloe’s heart. She fell to the floor in pain, unable to take normal breaths.

“You are the sickest scum on the earth,” she said as blood filled her lungs. Then she had to ask, “Why? Why us? Why this?”

“Thanks, precious, and you will never know,” smirked the deep voice.

Those are the last words Chloe heard before she died.

The killer looked at his handy work. This was truly fun. He knew the FBI would find this place, and he sent them the location. He loved this game he played with the FBI. They would never find him but know of him. He would become infamous. A huge grin came across his face at what he imagined when the world would learn about him, and he would become notoriously the best criminal in the world. Something he would live up for that was for sure.

Part 4: Mouse trap

Dawn was tied to something with a bag over her head. She did not understand why she was put there. She could not even remember being taken. She struggled and struggled to try to get out of this fix she was in but could not budge.

Suddenly a man said, “stop moving, and I’ll untie you.”

She stopped but feared what this person would do to her. Was he there to do something terrible to her? She would fight that much, she was sure. Finally, her hands were untied, and she pulled the bag off her head. She saw four guys staring at her. She gazed around at the men and then around the room. The room they were in had no way out but one way. Looking down this hallway, she could see weird things on the hallway walls that she did not understand what it was. Dawn approached the hallway, and one of the guys grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“Don’t try to go down that way. It’s rigged with traps. You can clearly see that by the walls, I don’t know what kind of traps, but I do know that it is probably dangerous,” he told her.

Dawn wished to understand why they were put there. It made no sense to her. She never did anything wrong in her life to deserve this. “Why are we here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows we are here either,” another guy uttered.

“Well, we can’t stay here forever. We will have to figure out how to get out of here,” Dawn said. She did think it was crazy to stay. They would starve to death. Yet trying to outsmart traps would not be easy. But she did think they could try something.

“And how do you suppose to get past the traps?” a third guy asked. He was not convinced that they would not all die if they tried.

Dawn thought a bit about it. There had to be a method. After some thought, she came up with an idea. She took her sock off and threw it in the hallway. Abruptly fire came out and burnt the sock to a crisp. “Well, now we know what the first trap is. Maybe we can figure a way around it,” she said. It did look like the fire was only straight on, which meant they might be able to go under it.

She did think that they could do this each time and figure how to get around the trap. Looking down the hallway, she could see outside, so the end was not far. There had to be like three of four traps total. She did not think there could be anymore.

As she began to step forward to try to go around the fire trap, a deep voice spoke, which stopped her in her tracks.

“Do be careful, my precious things. Not all is what it seems,” the deep voice uttered.

Dawn could not believe that some guy, the killer, was watching them. How else would he have known that she was walking toward the traps? And her next question would be why he said what he did to them? What was not like it seemed? This worried her.

“Fuck you,” one guy said to the mystery voice. “When I get out of here, I’ll come for you and see how you like it.”

“You should not aggravate the guy. He clearly is insane, and who knows what he will do to us if you make him angry,” another guy told him.

“I don’t care if I get him angry. This lunatic has no reason to do this to us,” the first guy said.

As if the second guy predicted it, the wall behind them began to move, pushing them forward towards the trap. Now they had no choice but to go through the traps.

“Now, see what you did,” a third guy uttered.

Dawn thought that these boys were being stupid. As always, she would be the problem solver. This was what she did her entire life; solve everyone’s problems. She would do it now again. She walked over to the first trap. Bending down low, she crawled her way to the next set trap. She stood up in the small space that was in between the traps. She was glad there was a space. This would give her time to figure out the next trap.

“Crawl, and you will be fine,” she told them as she looked around to see how this next trap was like, for someone had to figure these traps out, and she could not rely on anyone but herself.

The men, one at a time, started to crawl across to where she was.

The first guy reached Dawn and asked, “so what’s the plan with this one?”

“I am trying to figure out how it works so we can know what way to go,” she said.

“well, do it fast because that wall is not stopping,” he told her.

Why were men so impatient? It was not as if she did not try her best in figuring this out fast, but she just could not see what this trap was. She looked at the wall, there were silts on each side, but what would come out, she did not know.

As two others got to where she was at, it started to have not much room between the traps for them all to stand. Dawn worried about this. She turned and faced the last guy.

“Maybe you should wait just a bit. There is not enough room for all of us,” she told the last guy.

“I don’t think so. That wall behind me is moving. I’m not staying here,” he chose not to listen and started to crawl toward them.

As he crawled, almost to the end of the trap, abruptly, fire came out from the floor and burnt him to a crisp. Dawn watched this in horror as ashes floated down to the floor. This was what the mystery man meant by not everything was as it seemed. This made her worried that there was a second rig to all the traps, which meant they needed to be more vigilant.

“I can’t stay here. The wall is coming. I’m going to make a run for it,” one guy said. He feared what would happen if they did not.

“No, don’t, you won’t make it,” Dawn told the guy.

“And going slow, will it do any difference? I think that other guy who died may have survived if he just made a run for it. I have better chances than doing things your way,” the man said.

Another guy that was near could not believe his ears. It was not as if she knew there would be another part of the trap. And they did make it out mainly through the first trap. “You are stupid if you think you can run through these traps and survive. Have you ever watched a movie in your life or played a video game? Seriously, she did what she could, knowing what she did, and most of us made it through good enough. I’m sure she will be more careful this next time.” He would be following her. The way he saw it was whoever went first had more chances at dying and maybe the last one. He just had to stay in the middle. His odds were good.

“You just think that if she goes first, she will die first. You are such a coward,” the first guy said to the second.

“Don’t ever call me a coward,” the second guy pushed the first.

The first guy hit the second, but the second guy ducked, which made the first guy hit the third in the shoulder. The third guy twisted and stepped in the way of the trap. Both guys and Dawn stared at the third guy as he stepped backward, realizing where he was, had no time to do anything about it. Two swinging blades came out of the wall and sliced him in two. They watched as the man tumbled in three parts like he was a banana peel falling off the banana.

Dawn thought that could have been avoided. She could not believe these guys, and she would not die because they were idiots. “Now, you both need to behave, or I swear I’ll tell this killer just to kill us all,” she uttered in disbelief.

“No problem, I will listen,” the first guy said.

“Me too, I swear,” the second guy said. Watching the guy getting sliced looked painful. He did not wish to have that done on him.

Dawn looked at the blades that were slowing down. She did believe that this trap was done, and they could walk around the blades now. She looked behind her and could see that the wall had moved closer to them. It was almost to where they were. “Come on. I think this trap was done, so thank the guy for setting it. We can now walk freely around the blades.”

All three of them walked around the blades slowly. They were not taking any chances. They managed to walk to the next trap. Dawn looked at it, then looked toward the end of the hallway. She could see that there was only one more trap after this one to go through. She was so happy that they were almost done. She looked at the floor and noticed there were fake stones on the floor and wondered.

Dawn looked down at her feet, and she had no shoes and one sock. She needed a shoe. She gazed at the guys. They had shoes, she did not understand, but now was not the time for questions. “Give me a shoe,” she ordered.

The first guy did not even hesitate and gave her his shoe. She took the shoe then threw it on the stone. The shoe hit the stone, and the fake stone went down. Suddenly arrows shot from both sides of the wall. Now she knew what the next trap was.

“Don’t step on those stones,” she told them, and she started her journey carefully through the next trap. She walked all the way out of this trap and stopped right before the last trap. She turned and looked at the guys.

They were both being cautious. The first one reached where she was and was glad that he made it through. The second was being very careful, and he was almost out of it. Then he saw something change. He stopped.

“The stones are moving. What do I do?” he asked.

Dawn saw what he said. The stones were changing place and at random. She could not believe it. “You need to find a pattern if possible or just pray and step somewhere you believe won’t be a stone,” she did not know what else she could do or say to help him. “But you got to move. Eventually, a stone will pop where you are standing.”

The man began to step somewhere he thought would be safe. He was lucky. It was safe. And quickly gazed where he had been and she had been right, a stone appeared where he had been. He was glad he listened. He stepped again and slowly made it almost to the end. His last step was a fatal one. As he stepped, a stone appeared, and arrows shot him from both sides.

Dawn watched as the man fell to the floor, dead. She could not believe it they started with five people and now three were killed. She began to think that this game the mystery man played ensured that one died at each trap. She looked at the last guy. She did not wish to die, but the wall was coming, and if he had any brains, he figured it out as she did.

The guy stared at her, and he could read her mind. only one of them would survive this. “Go, I’ll take the dive, I guess,” he uttered. He did not wish to die, but he did not think they would have many choices, and he felt terrible to make her die for him.

“No, it’s okay. You can be the one to live,” she said. She quickly looked at the last trap. Nothing was there. She approached, took off her sock, and threw the sock into the trap. Lasers came on and sliced through the sock, leaving it to fall in shreds. As she saw this, she was unsure how to get across this trap.

The guy saw and figured out a method, and with the wall almost at their backs, they had no choice but to keep moving. “Go on your stomach, no lasers there, not that I saw,” the guy told her.

“Thanks,” Dawn said. “Let’s go together.” She took his hand, and they went on their stomachs and slowly moved across the trap.

She could see the end. She was glad to make it to the end. As she slowly moved off the trap, she signed in relief. The guy was just about to do the same when multiple lasers came out in a checked pattern, which went straight through him. It sliced him into bits and pieces.

His hand had been in hers, and she quickly let go of the hand that was now cut off from the rest of the man. She pushed herself away from the hand that was all that was left the whole of this man. She was terrified.

Slowly she stood up. She was out. She finally was out and survived. She looked and saw that she was right in front of the outside world. She could see the trees and plants and could smell the fresh air. She started to walk toward a tree and heard something.

“As I said, not everything is as it seems,” a deep voice said.

“I’m out there is nothing more you can do to me,” Dawn uttered in relief. She was out and free. And she was optimistic that this mystery guy was nowhere near this place. She could see the cameras in the trees as well as the cameras that were around the traps. She was no fool. She knew he watched at a safe location from there.

“Is that what you think, precious girl? You have no clue what I can do,” the deep voice expressed. As he watched this whole thing on his screens, he knew no one would survive this. He took his phone out and pressed a number. He watched her.

Suddenly Dawn felt weird. Something was wrong. “This is not fair. I made it out fair and square,” she uttered as her body began to shake. Slowly she fell to the ground.

“I don’t play fair, my precious,” the voice said as he watched her go into a seizure and foam at the mouth. The body went on for a few minutes then stopped. Dawn was dead. The killer smiled at her small attempt at avoiding her fate. He had injected all of them with a time-release poison. If only they all knew, no one ever survived him and his games.

A huge grin came across his face, onto his next game.

Part 3: Are you cold?

It was a typical day. Ashley arrived home, and her brothers were nowhere to be seen. She thought they may still be at work, would not be the first time they stayed to do extra hours. She went upstairs and began her schoolwork. After some time, she got hungry. She headed downstairs to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich, and drank some water.

As she got back upstairs, she felt herself losing consciousness, and soon enough, she passed out, collapsing at the top of the stairs.

Ashley woke up and to find herself in a very familiar room, yet she could feel something was different. She realized that it was her very own cellar. She could not see the difference, but she knew it was there, somewhere something was different.

She continued to look around and then noticed shadowy figures huddled together in the corner of the room. It took a moment, but she realized who the figures were. “Cameron? Josh?”

The two figures looked at her with fear and relief. “Ashley?” they said in unison.

“Ashley, how did you get down here?” one of the boys said.

She looked around the room, noticing that where the door was, now was cemented. She saw that there was no longer a door there. “I don’t know. It seems there is no way in or out,” Ashley said.

They all look around the room for an escape but to no avail. The room was completely closed off, which only made them all wonder how they got into the room in the first place.

Suddenly a deep voice echoed through the room. “Well, how are my precious toys doing today?” the deep voice said.

“Let us out of here, you crazy bastard!” Josh yelled toward the open space, to no one in particular. It was weird to think someone somewhere was listening and maybe watching them. He could not understand why this monster would do this to them.

“Oh, you’re hilarious. I’m not crazy, just pure evil. Now, you may not have noticed yet, but you are both chained to the ground, and my precious young lady here is also tied to the ground in the opposing corner to you. So you won’t be able to reach each other,” the voice said with humor in its words. The killer did enjoy playing games.

Now Ashley looked, she noticed a massive chain on her leg that connected to the floor. She could not believe this was happening to her brothers and her. She wanted to know why. “What do you want with us? Ashley asked.

“Oh, my precious one, you will see in due time,” said the voice.

After some time passed and the voice was no longer heard of, they all thought the person behind this was no longer listening or watching them. They did not know why this person was doing this to them. However, at this point, that did not matter. All that mattered was getting out of there.

“Ashley, how close can you get to us?” Cameron asked. He had an idea that he prayed paid off.

Ashley walked a few steps toward them but was held back around seven feet by the chain. Cameron and Josh stood up to walk toward her, but their chains also withhold them back. There were about five feet in between them and their sister.

“Cameron, Josh, what are we going to do? I can’t even get close enough to you guys to get a hug. I’m so scared,” Ashley exclaimed. This was unfair for this to happen to them. “We shouldn’t be in this situation. Whatever this situation is anyway.” She feared that this might be the end for her brothers and her. She did not wish it to be this way.

Josh reached his hand toward Ashley, and she did the same. Their hands barely touched. “It’ll be okay, Ashley. We will find a way out of here,” Josh said, trying to make Ashley feel better. However, he did not see how they would ever escape this.

“How will we get out!? The only way out of this damned cellar was the door heading upstairs to the kitchen, but it was sealed up by rock-hard cement! Do you have some super-human strength that can break through cement? No? That’s what I thought. We are doomed,” Ashley uttered. She had no hopes left in her. She knew there was only one way out of there, and she was sure it was by death.

“Ashley, don’t yell at Josh. It won’t make this situation any better. We just need to keep calm and come up with a plan on getting out,” Cameron told her. He did not have much hope either, but he was the oldest and had to think of something. At least he could try to be the hopeful one there.

“Oh, shut it, Cameron. There is no way out. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be in my corner,” Ashley said. She wanted to pout and be in her misery. She knew there was no way out of this mess, and she was aware that her brothers knew this too.

She walked over to the corner she was chained to and sat facing the wall, not wanting to see her brothers right then. No one could help them. They were doomed and hated this fact.

A few minutes later, the deep voice returned. “What a wonderful performance. I always love it when they don’t get along. How are my guests enjoying their stay?” the voice asked. He had other plans for these three.

“Go to hell,” Ashley said. She did not wish to deal with this person she did not know nor had the balls to show his face.

“Oh, that’s not very nice. Guess what? It’s playtime,” the deep voice told them.

“What do you mean playtime? Do we look like babies?” Josh exclaimed. He also was beginning to become frustrated at this unknown man who kept them locked up. Why could the man not show himself? Was he afraid that they would try to kill him? Josh would, too, if he ever saw this man that held them hostage. He would enjoy killing the man.

“Oh no, no, no, my precious boy. You all seem very grown-up indeed. It’s time to answer a question. If you answer the question correctly, good for you, but it will be time to have some fun if you get it wrong. My kind of fun,” the deep voice paused. “What instrument can you play but not hold? You have five minutes to come up with the correct answer. If you fail to do so, there will be consequences,” said the deep voice. “Your time has already started. I would get to it if I were you.”

They begin to think to themselves. Ashley thought she might have come up with the answer and decided to blurt it out instead of consulting her brothers.  “Your voice,” Ashley uttered.

“Bravo, precious girl, that is the right answer,” the voice paused. Little did they know that no one ever escaped him. “that was quite fun, but you still get a consequence.” Then he pressed a button on his phone.

The room began to fill up with ice-cold water.

“Wait, that isn’t fair. She got it right fair and square,” Cameron said. What was the matter with this guy?

“Yes, she may have gotten it right, but that doesn’t matter. No one escapes me. No one gets away, alive,” the deep voice told them.

Ashley looked at the water below her and realized it rose at a gradual pace. She did not think it would hurt them much. “Ha, you are so stupid. How do you suppose this water will hurt us? It is barely above my foot,” Ashley said.

“Oh, my precious child, you have yet to see how dangerous water can be,” the voice said.

Then the water began to pour in at a faster pace.

“Great, look what you did, Ashley. The water is coming in faster,” Josh said. He did not know why his sister reacted like this. If she did not piss off the guy, maybe they could have talked the guy into letting them go.

“Hey, it’s not my fault!” she told her brothers.

“Yes, it is. You called the guy stupid and questioned the water. Why do you have to be like that? Can’t you just shut up about stuff for once?” Josh says. He did blame his sister for this. Now they would drown, and it was all his sister’s fault.

“Guys, calm down. This is seriously not the time for one of your pointless arguments,” Cameron said. He was assessing the area and the water, trying to figure out what they could do. He could feel the coldness of the water.

He did not care about what his older brother said. He may be older, but not by much, being that they were twins. Josh did believe that he was smarter. He should have never come back there with his brother to take care of their sister. He should have listened to himself those years before. “Shut up, Cameron. You are the reason we are in this mess. If you had just let Ashley move in with Grandma after mom and dad died, then we could have stayed in Miami but no. You had to make us come back. We had a good life there. We had a future there,” Josh uttered.

Ashley looked at them, and the mention of their mom and dad brought tears to her eyes. Their parents died on a ski trip years ago. Because of an avalanche, the power went out for three days, and the guests were stuck in the lodge. Her parents were among those who did not survive it. When they finally got to the lodge to attempt a rescue, they had found most of the guests had froze to death. Ashley was only ten at the time. Her brothers, who were in college in Miami, stopped their schooling and came home to take care of her.

This was all her fault, Ashley thought. After she stopped thinking of her parents, she noticed that it had been getting freezing in the room. Colder than normal. She could see her breath in the cold air around her. The water that had been on the ground was starting to freeze. No, she thought. She could not die this way. She could not have the same fate as her parents.

“Cameron, Josh, he is trying to freeze us to death,” she told them.

Cameron and Josh had just now noticed the coldness of the air and water around their ankles. Carmon concentrated on getting out. He did not perceive the loss of feeling he had in his feet. Josh was so angry that he did not feel it either. Both of their feet were under the water. Now, their feet seemed to be stuck because of a top layer of ice.

“Ashley, keep your feet out from under the ice,” Cameron said. It was all he could think to do. He tried, but he and his brother were stuck.

Ashley looked down, but it was too late. Her feet were stuck, and the air seemed to be getting colder by the minute. It was as if the guy did something to this room to make it a freezer. No, it was colder than a freezer. This would not be good. “It’s too late. They are stuck,” Ashley uttered. She could feel her legs freezing, her arms and fingers going numb. She was unsure how long any of them had.

Ashley began to get very cold and had now lost the feeling in her legs and arms. She could feel the stiffness in her body as the coldness was settling in. She looked over at her brothers and noticed that they are no longer moving.

“Cameron? Josh? Are you guys okay?” she asked, but no answer. “Cameron?! Josh?! Guys?! Please don’t leave me.” Ashley had realized that her brothers were dead. With her last few minutes of life, she cursed at the person behind her brother’s death. The iciness took over her body and slowly froze her like it did her brothers.

“Don’t worry, my precious. You will join your brothers,” the voice once again echoes through the room.

With what little strength she had left, she wanted answers. “Why are you doing this? Why me? Why my family? What is wrong with you?” Ashley asked as she felt herself losing the battle for her life. Slowly she was falling into the cold depths of death.

“This is my favorite game,” the voice said, not that she would ever understand what goes through his head.

Ashley heard this last thing before she closed her eyes and became a human popsicle like her brothers. 

The killer watched through the screen, seeing the work that he did. It was marvelous, he thought to himself. He could barely wait for his next set. What would he do next? He had so many thoughts on that.