“One last room, if we don’t find anything then what do we do?” Johnny asked, sliding the key into the door.
“I don’t know.”
Johnny pushed the door open and there was Robby tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Rayna ran across the room to him. She fell to her knees, brought out her knife, and exposed the blade in one swift motion. She began to cut the ropes that bound Robby’s hand.
“Oh my god, Robby are you okay?” Rayna stammered.
“I think so.”
“Do you know who it is? Who the killer is?” Johnny asked, as he crossed the room. Rayna broke through the ropes on his wrists and moved to his ankles. Robby brought his hands in front of him and began to massage his raw wrists.
“Well, I never got a real good look at whoever it was. It was dark you know.”
“Any clue as to who it was anyway?” Rayna asked, as she made one last pull against the ropes.
“Well, from the sound of their voice,” Robby stood up gingerly, testing his feet, “I’d say it is...”
“Yes, Mr. Takac, who is it?” McCaid appeared at the door holding a bloody knife.
“M-m, McCaid,” Rayna said disbelievingly.
“Boy, you are a quick one, aren’t you Miss Marie or should I say Miss Hanolin.” McCaid took a few steps toward them and they cowered back. “Still carrying that knife, are you? Seven years is quite a long time to still be paraniod, don’t you think?”
“But why? I don’t understand.”
“Oh don’t worry, dear. I didn’t expect you to.”
“Why did you leave all those pictures, if you didn’t want me to understand?”
“Oh, I was just fucking with your head. It’s more fun that way.” Suddenly Marco appeared in the doorway and slammed a vase down on McCaid’s head, knocking him to the floor.
“Come on. Come on! Don’t just stand there, run,” he shouted at the three, who stood petrified.
They took off running and followed Marco all the way down into the office. They stood just inside the door, trying to catch their breath.
“Where di you come from?” Rayna asked between breaths.
“While we were searching the fourth floor, I watched McCaid go sown the stairs. I followed him to the first floor, where he set up that tape player. Then he went up to the second floor and I think he killed mama. When the tape stopped he waited for you guys to pass, and then followed you upstairs.”
“What tape player, what do you mean mama, and why aren’t you out of breath?” Robby was very confused, having missed all the recent transpirings.
“He played a song for some reason, the maid is my mother, and soccer.”
“Soccer?” Robby repeated.
“Yes, I play soccer.”
“We can’t just hide in here. He has the keys, he could just open the door,” Rayna said.
“No, he can’t. There is only one set of keys to the office and I have them,” Marco said, producing a key ring.
“Well, I still don’t think it’s such a good idea. I think we should go back upstairs and kill him, or at the very least tie him up,” Rayna said, scanning the room for anything that could help them.
“Maybe you’re right, after all he does have a gun,” Marco conceded.
Rayna spotted exactly what they needed on a table in the corner of the room.
“Does anyone know how to use this?” she asked pointing to the CB radio.
“Yeah, I do,” Marco said.
“Good. Find another cop, preferabley one with a 4x4, and get them up here. I have a sneaking suspision that there is no back up. Lie if you have to, we’ll cover later.” Rayna turned around to see Robby and Johnny whispering to each other.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Johnny asked, surveying Robby with a concerned look on his face.
“Yeah, I ‘m fine. Just a little shaken up, that’s all.”
“Did you even see him when you went into the room?”
“No, the only thing I could figure is that he snuck up behind me.”
“Probably.” They stared at one another for a moment, Marco’s chatter was the only sound breaking the awkward silence. “I’m glad you’re okay, Robby.” Johnny and Robby hugged one another and Rayna just barely heard them whisper I love you’s.
Rayna walked over to them once they let go.
“Oh god Robby, I was so scared I would never find you,” she whispered.
“Come here,” Robby said affectionately, pulling her into a hug and kissing her on the top of the head. “I’m here now and I’m okay.” Rayna squeezed him tighter, trying to make sure he was really there.
“All right, there’s someone else coming but they may not make it until after sunrise,” Marco said, walking up behind them.
“Sunrise?” Rayna sighed.
“Yeah, with sun they have less of a chance of hitting black ice and running off the road.” Marco shrugged, there was nothing more he could do.
“Thanks Marco. Come on we need to get McCaid or we may not make it until sunrise,” Rayna commanded.
The four survivors left the room and ran all the way up to the fifth floor. They entered the room but McCaid wasn’t on the floor.
“Shit!” Rayna kicked the wall. “Where the hell did he go?”
“Oh don’t worry, I didn’t go far,” McCaid smirked, walking fom the bathroom. He pointed his gun at them, “Move away from the door, please.” They slowly circled the room, switching places with McCaid. “Much better. Now Rayna, I do know you have that knife, but it really won’t help much against a gun.”
“McCaid, why are you doing this?” Rayn asked, stalling for time.
“You still don’t understand. She still doesn’t fucking understand. Steven McCaid. Doesn’t that name ring a bell at all?” he stared at her in disbelief.
Rayna shook her head.
“Of course not, you can’t expect someone to remember the name of a person they killed in cold blood, now can you?”
“But, but, I killed you,” Rayna stammered.
“It’s not me, you half wit,” McCaid rolled his eyes. “You killed my father, I’m Steven McCaid, Jr.”
“Rayna, what does he mean, you killed his father?” Robby asked, as he, Johnny, and Marco backed away from her.
“You don’t understand, it’s not like that,” Rayna said shakily.
“Oh my god, you mean to tell me that she didn’t tell you?” All three shook their heads no. “You really didn’t tell them?”
“It’s not exactly something I enjoy repeating.”
“Yeah, well, the guilty never want to tell their story, now do they?” he looked at Rayna in mock sympathy. “Well, here’s your chance, I’ll wait. Go ahead tell them. They deserve to know why they’re going to be killed.”
Rayna knew that she could use the story to stall, but she pretended like she wasn’t going to for even more time.
“Oh come on, they really want to know. ‘What does he mean you killed his father?’ Scary thought, huh,” McCaid said, turning his attention to the guys. “You may be trapped in a room with two murderers.”
“All right, all right, stop it. I’ll tell it. I’ll tell it.”
“Go ahead, let’s all have a seat. This should be interesting,” McCaid gave Rayna an evil grin. They all sat in an uneasy circle.
“I had just turned 17 and was at the end of my junior year in high school. My best friend in the whole wide world was Jen Murphy. We were young, optimistic, the world was our oyster. We both got good grades in school and partied all weekend. Our futures were so bright we had to wear shades, so to speak. There was one week keft of school and Jen’s parents were going on a two week long cruise. To make them feel safer about Jen and to make sure Jen wasn’t lonely, they decided that I should spend the two weeks living with Jen at her house. We loved the plan. I mean this was our one chance to party like crazy for the end of the school year...”
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