I stood across from him.

I waited.

He made the first move.

He flicked a switch on the lightsaber hilt and it emitted a red blade.

He leaped at me and attempted to bring it down on my head.

I ignited my own green lightsaber and raised it in defense and blocked the strike. I then backed up and swung it at his right side. He blocked it and quickly moved to strike my head. I parried again and stepped back. We both stopped. Both of us ask the same question in our heads. Was it worth dying over this? The answer for both of us was... yes.

He jabbed at my stomach but I batted his blade away. I then did three attacks one after another. He deflected all of them. We continued hammering away at each other's defenses until he kicked me in the chest. I flew into a holo-table behind me. He performed the same move as he did at the beginning of our fight but this time, I only barely blocked it.

I pushed him backward and got up. He ran at me again and I used the force to send him back.

"Master!" I heard from the right.

I had little time to turn and see my padawan running into the room. He unleashed a blue lightsaber and took a stance. Makashi, the duelist form. I went to him and stood beside him taking my own form Vaapad. Our opponent then settled on Ataru and then leaped at us with a barrage of aggressive attacks. We defended ourselves to the best of our ability but my padawan had his right arm and leg severed from his body. No blood leaked out because the lightsaber burnt it all. He fell back and laid still.

I glared at my enemy. I then leaped and performed my own barrage of attacks but he blocked and tried to use an opening to stab me in the stomach. I barely blocked it again. I backed up and so did he. We stared at each other, I could feel the hate.

Oh, how the mighty can fall.

I threw my lightsaber at him. He deflected it and leaped at me just as he plunged the blade into my stomach I used the force to pull my lightsaber back and into him. We stared at each other. The surprise and pain on his face were almost too much to bear. He fell to the floor dead. I heard my fellow Jedi coming into the room as I fell to the floor and my vision went black.

The first bullet missed my head by an inch. I dove behind the closest piece of cover which was a concrete pillar that rose out of the ground. I drew my Walther P99 and I peeked out the right side of my cover and fired two shots. Both collided with his head and he dropped to the floor. Blood leaked from the right side of his face.

I peeked left but ducked back just as another guy shot an assault rifle at me. I took a deep breath and did a tactical roll out of my cover to a wood table that was flipped to act as a barricade. I peeked for only a few seconds and shot once. When I peeked again I saw the new guy was also dead. I ran to the guy I had just killed and took his gun. A nice M4A1 assault rifle with an EOTech scope, a red dot sight, and a foregrip.

I picked it up and grabbed the ammo from the guy's boy. I reloaded the gun and pushed forward to the next room.

It appeared to be a Library. I moved slowly and made sure not to get tunnel vision.

I knew I had a limited time to find the bomb and disarm it. I started going through the room until I found a briefcase. I opened it and saw a bomb. I pulled pliers from my pocket and snipped three wires and the bomb was deactivated. Another successful mission

Suzanna trembled as she held the wet cloth to Sam's neck. It wasn't helping. The blood was leaking through. She tried to make her breath steady but it wasn't working. Why wasn't Greg back? Was he okay? What was happening? And where was Danny?

She knew it was her fault, and she felt horrible! Sam was dying because of her!

All of a sudden the kitchen door opened and Danny rushed into the room. he had short blond hair and

"How did this even happen?" He asked.

"I- I don't know," Suzanna tried to respond. "I mean you were there! You saw what I saw!"

"I saw it," Danny said "But unlike popular opinion seeing does not mean believing."

Danny started unpacking the first aid kit he had gotten from the bathroom. Luckily he had gone to medical school and knew what he was doing.

Suzanna stepped back. Why was he doing this? She refused to be like him! But this was too far! Sam was close to dead and Greg might have been dead. She was done.

"Danny, I need to tell you something..."

"On a scale of one to ten how important is it?" He asked not even looking at her.

"Like an immediate one hundred." She replied.

"Can you tell me while I do this?" He asked

"Hopefully," Suzanna responded.

Suzanna told him everything that had happened that day. He kept stopping what he was doing for mere seconds before realizing that he should keep going. After Suzanna was done he was silent for a little while.

"That doesn't make sense," He finally said.

"Do you think it makes any more sense to me?" Suzanna asked.

"Ok, it's fine, we will get through this together," Danny said, "Look I found something when I was getting the first aid, I didn't think much of it at the time, but after what you said, I think it's the key to unlocking this mystery."

Suzanna nodded.

Option 1: Fire

Fire is an option because I have always loved fire. It's always been something I could stare at and watch dance for hours. I'd prefer it over a few wonders of the world!

Option 2: Flying

C'mon, everyone would love to fly!

Option 3: Super Speed

I would have super speed because I have always loved running. When I was ten, I was on a football team and when my coach would tell us to run, everyone but me would protest. I would ask for more. Running has always been something that makes me feel free.

Alignment: Hero

I think I would be a hero because I have always cared about the lives of the people around me. I have always wanted to defend those in need not harm them.

Staggard breaths

Gosh, that's it!

I never saw the dang thing.

It sounded like it had bad lung problems.

No one believed me!

Every night I would hear it creak up the stairs.

I would hide under my blankets.

I told mom, dad, my sister, everyone!

They didn't see it I didn't see it so nobody believed it.

I decided I would see it.

When I heard the foot steps top at my door I chickened out.

I never saw it

But it

Saw

Me.

Part 1

WARNING! MAY HAVE EVENTS THAT WILL TRIGGER THOSE WHO ARE NOT FOND OF HORROR AND GORE!

July 6th, 1993

A bus pulled up to the North Forest Lake hotel. The building was four stories and was in the middle of an eerie wood. It was There were only two cars in the parking lot, but this was the only hotel for miles. The School Bus opened and nine College students, a teacher, and a bus driver came out. There were five female students, Jen who was a very popular girl, Mary a very shy yet pretty individual, Florence a very nerdy girl, Indigo, a very young and lively person, and Terra a very rockheaded girl. Of the four boys, there was Jack, who was a football player jock, Nick, Who was a classic jokester, Tyler, who was a bit of a bully, and Kyle, who always looked out for the underdog. The teacher was Professor Johnson and the bus driver was named Leroy. These students were celebrating a victory in a statewide science competition. They had come from a small community college in California and wanted to go into North Dakota and see what the rest of the country looked like.

They walked inside and the receptionist was watching an old romance story on a small TV on her desk.

“Hello ma’am,” Professor Johnson said, “May I get two suites, and two rooms with four beds, one with a pull-out couch?”

“No, we’re all sold out,” The woman said sarcastically, never looking away from the TV. She then opened a drawer and took out four key cards, she looked away from the screen for a second so that she could see what the room numbers were.

“Your rooms are rooms 208,307,408, and 414, 208 is four beds with no pullout, 307 is four beds with one pullout, and 408 and 414 are suites.”

“Thank you,” Professor Johnson said “How much is that,”

“Fifty-Eight dollars a night.” She said.

The professor was astonished by how cheap it was but didn’t complain. He handed over his credit card to the woman and she swiped it in a machine, then handed it back but when the professor grabbed onto the card the woman didn’t let go, she said “Tell whoever is staying in 307 to never I mean! Doesn’t matter if a five hundred dollar gift card ended up in there, never go into room 666!” She then released the card.

The professor was shocked at this exchange but brushed it off as just construction in that specific room.

“Boys!” The professor called “Your room 208.” He said handing the card to Kyle because he trusted him not to lose it the most. “Leroy, you in 414,” He said handing the card to Leroy. “Finally, Girls, you are in 307, the couch is a pullout and…”

“Dibs not…” Jen said.

The professor rolled his eyes and said “The receptionist says to not go into room 666.”

Jen’s eyes perked up from their bored state at the thought of a mystery.

“Why?” She asked.

“I assume construction.” The professor said.

Jen remained suspicious that there was something deeper, especially considering that 666 is the devil’s number.

Seeing her face, professor Johnson grew worried that Jen would sneak into the forbidden room so he said “and you will listen to that rule.”

“Fine,” Jen said with an exasperated sigh.

The professor handed the 307 keycards to Florence, then they all walked to the elevator. In the elevator, Jack tried to press floor two, but Jen stopped him and said “It’s not that late, let's all do something.”

Jack thought about that and said he was up for it. He then looked at the rest of the boys, Kyle shrugged his shoulders, showing he didn’t care, Nick, nodded always looking to do something fun and Tyler said sure very nonchalantly. Jen looked at the girls and Inigo was quick to agree, Mary also shrugged, and Terra said sure excitedly, however, Florence wanted to sleep.

It took until they all reached the third floor for Jen to convince Florence to agree, after Florence finally gave in Jen smiled at the rest. As they walked to room 307 Jen glanced to the side and saw room 666. The sign was old and made of dead and now rotting wood. The door was old fashion and the lights were off. Jen could feel that something was off about the room but she acted like she saw the room and looked happily at the rest of the group.

The group had a lot of relationships that might be helpful to announce. Kyle was dating Mary and Jen and Jack were also dating, Kyle and Jack were great friends and so were Mary and Jen, Jack introduced Kyle to Mary. Nick (as class clowns usually are) was loved by all of his peers except for Florence who often got sick of his interruptions in class. Tyler had eyes on Jen which naturally made Jack dislike him, and as the bully, he was not good friends with Kyle either. Florence was friends with Mary and Terra and Jen was close to Indigo which creates a weird and diverse friend group with the girls.

Continuing the story…

When they got to the room, Jen said "Isn't it weird that room 666 is on the third floor? And, not to mention, closer to the lower numbers on this floor?"

Mary shrugged and said, "I don't know, best not to think about it." However, she knew this advice came too late... Jen was already too curious for her good.

The boys and girls laughed together as they told stories about each other. This went on for a while until…

“I have an idea!” Jen said excitedly.

“What is it?” Jack asked.

“We should play truth or dare.”

You and I both know where this goes. Because we both know, only one of them survived…

Part Two

“Sure!” Tyler said, always trying to impress Jen.

“I’m ok with that…” Jack said with a side glare at Tyler who pretended not to notice.

“I’m cool with it if you are,” Kyle said to Mary

Mary shrugged her shoulders and then silently mouthed ok to Kyle even though they all saw it.

“Sounds fun!” Indigo said.

Everyone but Florence agreed.

“No,” Florence said.

“Why?” Jen asked.

“You know I hate that game!” Florence said.

“But…” Jen started to say.

“No,” Florence said, “you talked me out of going to sleep and we agreed only thirty minutes.”

“So?” Jen asked.”

“That was an hour and a half ago!” Florence exclaimed.

“Fine.” Jen said, “But we are still playing!”

“Okay,” Florence agreed “I like to read before I go to sleep anyway.”

“Okay, who starts?”

“I will!” said Nick, “Truth or dare… Mary!”

Jen smiled a little bit as if things were going according to her plan.

“Why me?” Mary asked.

“Just answer the question,” Nick said impatiently.

“Fine… uh dare!”

“Ok I dare you to open the door and yell ‘Fire!’”

Mary was shocked for a second but then shook her head, got up, opened the door, and yelled fire. Loud enough that the whole floor could hear it. Nick snickered and Mary smiled.

“What?” Nick asked

“You forgot that the building is completely abandoned! No one heard me!” Mary said smiling.

“Oh come on!” Nick yelled. And everyone laughed.

“Ok Jen,” Mary said “Truth or dare?”

Jen smiled again and then thought for a second.

“Truth!”

“Oh come on!” Tyler said.

“Really?” Nick asked.

“Come on Jen! Live a little!” Indigo said

Jen rolled her eyes and was about to change her answer when Mary said,

“No, no, It’s ok! She fell into my trap.”

Everyone got curious.

“Have you ever liked Tyler?” Mary asked.

Tyler and Jack both looked at her expectingly.

“Well…” Jen said blushing a bit.

“Well…?” Tyler asked expectingly.

“Well, I guess a little bit when we first met,”

Jack and Tyler’s mouths opened in shock.

“But then I saw Jack auditioning for the football team and later saw Tyler bullying someone and I said ’do I want to date such a jerk instead of this guy and of course I chose Jack!”

Jack got happy again and Tyler slumped in a corner grumbling to himself.

“Now Mary…” Jen said

“Nope,” Mary said calmly.

“What do you mean ‘nope’?” Jen asked.

“You can’t ask someone who asked you,” Mary said.

“Come on, just one time!” Jen pleaded.

“Fine…” Mary said.

“I dare you…” Jen started “To go into room 666 with me!”

All mouths dropped.

“What?” Mary asked, awestruck.

“You heard what I said.”

Mary was shocked but then she closed her mouth, gritted her teeth, and said fine.

“Well if you’re going I’m going with you,” Kyle said.

Jack sighed, knowing his girlfriend was going and his best friend was going, he was trapped. “I guess me too then,” he said.

Tyler saw an opportunity and said, “I’ll come too!”

“If you guys are going, I am too!” said Indigo.

“Don’t leave me out…” Terra said.

“Or me!” said Nick.

Jen looked at Florence who had put down her book after what Jen had said and was now shocked at her friends being stupid enough to go too.

“You?” asked Jen.

“No, no way!” Florence said “You all are crazy!” she picked up her book and continued reading.

Jen shrugged at the others, her plan to have company in 666 was partly successful. She patted herself on the back for how well she played Truth or Dare.

So, eight of the nine students walked to room 666. Jen tried to open the door but it was locked.

She looked at the others who had seen that the door wouldn’t open and said “Now what?”

“Alow me…” Tyler said. He jiggled the door handle and then with a sharp, sudden, and strong movement, he broke the old lock and the door swung open.

“After you…” he said to Jen.

Jen rolled her eyes and walked in followed by Mary, Kyle, Nick, Indigo, then Terra. When Jack got to the door Tyler whispered “Prince Charming ain’t that strong now is he?”

Jack rolled his eyes and caught up to Jen who looked at him disappointedly. The room was empty except for an old stool, an old nightstand, and old two beds. As they kept exploring nothing exciting happened.

Kyle looked out the window and noticed that the room was like a wart sticking out of the side of the building. He called the others' attention to it, none of them had noticed it sticking out when they were on the bus. They all shrugged it off and continued looking around. Everything looked like it hadn’t been touched in ages, It was clean though. The wood creaked very loudly as they walked around. They tried to step softly which helped a little bit. Mary saw something sticking out of the bed and got closer to investigate when the floorboards under her broke and she started to fall.

Mary screamed as she fell but Kyle caught one of her arms and yelled to the others. Marry gasped as her feet were three stories above solid ground Jack, Jen, Terra, Nick, and Indago ran to help Kyle pull Marry up but Tyler froze. Jack and Jen got to Kyle first so Terra Nick and Indago were standing there as backup. Indigo saw Tyler just standing there… standing in shock and yelled.

“Gonna help dufus?!”

Tyler snapped back to reality and knelt next to them trying to find a way to help.

With the combined strength of Kyle Jack and Jen, they pulled Marry up.

Kyle hugged Marry and tried to soothe her, she was trembling and crying on Kyles’s shoulder.

“We should head back now…” Terra said.

They all hastily agreed.

It took over an hour for everyone to calm Marry down, no one could blame her though. Jen apologized a million times for putting Marry in danger like that, it took a while for Marry to be able to speak fully but when she could she forgave Jen and made every promise that they wouldn’t tell her parents because they all knew that that would stop that friendship immediately. The boys left for the night and the girls went to sleep. Jen woke up to a hand clamping over her mouth. She tried to scream but it was muffled, she saw the receptionist standing over her.

“Did you go into room 666?” The receptionist hissed, removing her hand so Jen could respond.

“What?” Jen asked.

“Did you go into room 666?!” The receptionist said louder.

“How do you know?”

“Because your bus driver is dead!”

Part Three

What we know, but Jen didn’t believe was that Leroy was truly dead. Jen had to run around the receptionist and up to the fourth floor and see the beaten and bloody body that was nothing more than a messy pulp. Poor Leroy was a great man but died brutally and painfully he did not deserve. Then Jen woke up the professor and the rest of the kids, they all met in the boys’ room to talk about what happened.

“What do you mean Leroy's dead?” Nick asked.

“I saw his dead body!” Jen cried, “He is dead!”

“How?” Florence started to say

“Because you all went to room 666!” The receptionist said.

“How does that correlate?” Tyler asked.

“You let it out!” The receptionist answered.

“Let what out?” Professor Johnson asked.

"It!” The receptionist said “Does it matter what it is? We won’t be alive to document it! There is no way to kill it! The government tried! It killed one hundred and forty-six fully trained soldiers in 1896!” It is unkillable!”

Everyone sat there, shocked expressions on their face. All of a sudden the ceiling started trembling.

The receptionist laughed and said “It’s here! There is no escape! It’s only a matter of who is next!”

Everything was quiet except for the laughs of the receptionist and the large footsteps above them. All of a sudden a hand broke through the ceiling and grabbed the receptionist, it brought her up and the sounds of bone-cracking filled the room.

“Run!” Professor Johnson said. Everyone ran to the door, went to the parking lot, and ran to the bus. Professor Johnson opened the door and the kids ran in. The professor jumped in the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition. He turned it but the car didn’t start. He opened the bus door and opened the hood. He came back in and said…

“The battery is gone! I’m gonna go find it!” He opened the glove department and took out a colt model 2000 and a box full of ammo. He loaded the gun and said, “Does anyone here know how to use this?”

Kyle raised so the professor gave the gun and the box to him.

“Do you know where the safety is?” Professor Johnson asked.

“Yes,” Kyle said trying to stay strong for Marry who was right next to him.

“I am going to go find the battery I will be back,” Johnson said.

Johnson ran out the door. He went around the side and under room 666. He went to the back of the building and looked around. He drew a Ruger P90 series and held it ready. He cautiously walked around the thick woods around the hotel. Until he found it. The battery. He put the gun in its holster and picked up the battery and ran to the bus.

Tyler saw him coming first he yelled to the others.

“The professor is back!”

They all ran to the front of the bus and saw Professor Johnson running toward them with the car battery. The students cheered him on when something flew out of the hotel and hit the professor in the chest. The item that hit him was a spear. That spear was now embedded into the professor's chest. He whispered his last words as blood rushed out of his body...

“So…close,”

Part Four

The students were all shocked at what they saw, The first one out of the bus was Jen, she opened the door and ran to the professor.

“Jen no!” Jack yelled and ran out after her, Kyle told Marry to stay there and followed with the gun ready. Terra followed him out and Indigo, Marry, Tyler, Nick, and Florence all watched from the bus. Too scared to move.

Jen reached the professor and was balling.

“Wake up!” She yelled “No, no, no, you can’t die now! Please!”

Jack knelt next to her and put one arm around her. “Jen, listen to me!” He said “I know you're sad! We all are but we need to go!”

Kyle had his gun pointed at the hotel, where the spear came from.

“It’s all my fault!” Jen cried, “Leroy, the receptionist, and now the professor!”

“Come on,” Jack said comfortingly. He took the battery from the now-dead professor and kept one arm around Jen’s shoulder they started running back to the bus but then everyone on the bus started running to the door. Indigo and Tyler got out of the bus and were helping Florence out when the bus started to rock. Kyle ran ahead of everyone and Terra ran back to the professor to grab his gun. The bus rocked again and started to tip over. Indigo and Tyler had gotten Florence out and Nick had stepped aside so that Marry could get out next when the bus got hit again and flipped over. Tyler had tried to save Indago from being crushed but his arm was shattered along with Indago’s whole body.

Florence had narrowly gotten out and was trying to lift the bus to free Tyler when Kyle, Jen, Jack, and Terra got there. Jack, Kyle, and Terra, (who were the stronger people there) took over helping Tyler, Jen grabbed the Ruger P90 and was on the lookout.

Terra, Jack, and Kyle got Tyler's arm free but all of the bones in that arm had been shattered. Marry woke up to see the destroyed corpse of her friend Indago, bending in very unnatural ways. Marry was scarred by the image at first but then cried. She saw Nick and made sure he was alive. He was, just unconscious. Kyle heard Marry crying and ran to grab a large stick. He used this to break a window and rescue Marry and Nick. Four of the twelve people at the North Forest Lake hotel were killed in less than an hour.

Part Five

The students ran inside after mourning what happened to Indigo. After they got in the doors they hid in the supply closet to talk about what they were going to do.

“What is this thing?!” Florence yelled.

“Shut up!” Terra hissed quietly. “It might hear you!”

Florence was quiet after that comment.

“Whatever it is, it can knock over a school bus,” Kyle said.

“No duh idiot!” Tyler said.

“Not the time Tyler!” Marry said she still couldn’t believe what she saw when after the bus flipped and she was still inside. The wide-open eyes and the slightly parted lips of someone she had sat with and ate with for over a year now.

“This is your fault!” Tyler said with venom in his voice as he pointed at Jen.

Tears started to reemerge in Jen’s eyes because she knew that it was true.

“Hey!” Jack said, “Back off!”

“Back off?” Tyler said back getting into Jack's face “She got two men, an old woman, and a young college student who had so much to live for killed!”

“She didn’t know that this would happen!” Marry said

“Well, it happened,” Tyler said, “and this is still her fault!”

Tears were streaming down Jen’s face now.

“Oh well now she’s crying,” Tyler said, “she wants all of us to feel bad for her!”

“Back off now!” Jack said.

“Guy’s…” Florence said.

“Or what?” Tylor asked Jack.

“Guys!” Florence said in a panicky voice, “Nick’s breathing is slowing down!” she looked at them all “Like a lot!”

Jen knelt next to Nick and said “My mom’s a nurse, I’ll see if anything she has said stuck with me.”

“We need to get him out of here,” Kyle said.

“Yeah, but how are we going to do that?” Marry asked.

Florence looked at everyone like they were idiots.

“Why are you looking at us like that?” Marry asked.

“Because you guys are forgetting something.” She whispered.

“What?” Kyle Whispered back.

“The bus isn’t the only car in the lot!” She said, “Just the only one that can take us all out of here.”

“Your right!” Marry said, “there are other cars in the lot!”

“Wait,” Jen said, “There were two, isn’t that weird?”

“How is that weird?” Terra said.

“Because we have only seen one person outside of our group,” Jen explained “That means that there is someone else here!”

“You guys didn’t know that?” Florence asked.

“No! Why would we know that!” Tyler asked.

“Keep your voice down!” Terra said angrily.

“I guess I forgot you’re as dumb as a doornail,” Florence responded to Tyler “And by the way, Interesting way to get Jen to date you, blaming her for something you helped with.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, “Jen may have wanted us to go, but you opened the door.”

Tyler was quiet after that.

“Okay, I think we should leave,” Kyle said “Don’t want to stay in a single place for too long.”

“Makes sense,” Florence said, “Me, Tyler, Jen, and Mary will get Nick somewhere else, Jack, Kyle, and Terra, you guys should find whoever else is here, get some car keys and then one of us will bring Nick to the hospital and get help.”

“Why only one of us?” Kyle asked.

“That way whoever ends up staying will have a better chance at surviving,” Florence answered.

They all agreed and Kyle grabbed one of the guns and Jack and Terra left. Tyler picked up Nick with his one good arm.

Kyle, Terra, and Jack walked into the hotel halls and started to explore, looking for whoever else was there, and Tyler, Florence, Mary, and Jen (Mary was caring the second gun) took Nick to a room behind the receptionist counter where Jen found three walkie talkies.

“Here,” she said handing one to Florence “I’m going to bring one of these to Jack, Tyler, and Terra, I’ll be right back.”

Florence nodded approvingly and then started watching Nick make sure he was breathing fine.

Jen walked into the hallway and started looking for Jack, Terra, and Kyle. She went to the right side of the building and started looking in unlocked rooms and closets. As she made her way down one of the hallways she heard it. Large footsteps like the ones they heard just before the receptionist died. It was coming from the hallway she was about to go in, but she couldn’t tell if they were coming toward her or walking away from her. She wished she had the gun right then. She breathed in quietly and peeked around the corner and nothing was there. She was confused for a second. But forgot about her confusion when she saw an opened door. That must be where Jack, Kyle, and Terra went! She thought.

She walked the door happily and opened it. Nothing was in the room. Then she saw another door open inside the room. This must be one of those rooms that are connected She thought. Then she felt a presence behind her. She spun around quickly and she saw huge hand inches from her body. It hit her with the force of a car and she went flying down the hall. She hit the wall and she fell into a sitting position. She was dazed but not unconscious. She tried to open her eyes but only saw a little bit. All she could tell was that whatever this was… it was huge. She tried to stand up but couldn’t all of a sudden, a gunshot rang out from behind the thing. It stopped and casually turn around to get hit in the head by a sledgehammer. It fell over and Jack, Terra, then Kyle rushed to her.

“Come on!” Jack said helping her up. She could barely hear him.

“It’s getting back up!” Kyle yelled, he let out three shots, all three collided but it didn’t seem to be fazed.

“Jen! Jen! What’s happening?” Florence said from the walkie-talkie.

Jack handed Jen to Terra and picked back up his sledgehammer. Tried to hit the thing again but it just caught the hammer and punched him. Jack went flying into the wall. Kyle unloaded a whole clip into the thing but it didn’t even slow down. Kyle helped Jack up and helped him limp away. The thing wasn’t running after them. It simply walked. It walked as if this wasn’t worth any effort.

“Jen! Jen!” Florence said from the walkie-talkie, but that was the last thing Jen heard. The sleepiness and darkness Jen had been fighting back overcame her and she fainted.

Part six

Jen woke up in a hotel room. It had one bed, a closet, and a door presumably leading to the bathroom. Jack, Kyle, and Terra were with her. When she woke up Jen was the first to see.

“She is awake…” Terra said quietly.

“Hey Jen, you okay?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, you?”

“As fine as I can be.”

Jen saw the walkie-talkies on a nightstand and said, “I came to give you guys one of those, Florence is still with Tyler and Nick and Marry so…”

“We know,” Kyle said “We’ve been talking to them.”

“Good,” Jen said “Did you find the other person that’s here?”

“No,” Terra said “Not even a sign of another person.”

“We have to keep looking,” Jen said “The only other backup is…”

“The receptionist's car,” Jack finished.

“Let's just pray that she didn’t have the keys on her,” Kyle said.

“Tell Florence to check if the keys are at the desk,” Terra said.

“Right…” Jack picked up a walkie-talkie and rose it to his mouth as he pressed the talk button. He said, “Hey Florence, you there?”

“Hey, it’s Marry, Florence and Tyler went to go find medical supplies. What do you need?”

“Can you check if the receptionist's keys are on the table?” Jen asked.

“Jen! You're awake! Oh, thank God! Uh yeah, I can do that!” Mary'svoice said “But is it a good idea to leave Nick alone? He is not doing so hot…”

“Just be fast,” Kyle said, “and, keep the walkie, I want to be able to check on you.”

They could hear Marry breath in deeply from the radio as if trying to muster up more courage. “Yeah, sure. Just do me a favor, and come help me if a monster attacks me, got it?”

“Trust me,” Kyle assured her “If you're in danger, I’ll be there.”

“Ok… wish me luck!” She let go of the button and the radio made a small beep sound.

“We should probably get moving,” Jack said. He helped Jen up and they all walked out the door. About thirty seconds after leaving Kyle called in to check on Marry. Nothing had happened. About a minute later Marry allied them back and said:

“They're not here, the only other place I could think of is…”

“They are on her.” Terra finished.

“Yeah, none of us want to see her now…”

“Yeah…” Jack said.

“Yeah, I better get back to Nick and…” They all heard a loud thump sound coming from the radio.

“Marry! Get out of there!” Kyle yelled into the walkie.

“What about Nick?” She asked frantically.

“We are coming to you right now!” Kyle said, “I and Jack can carry him!”

“What about Tyler and Florence?” Marry asked again.

Then they heard Florence yell “Get Nick! We need to leave, now!”

“We’re coming to you guys!” Jack yelled, “Hold on!”

Jack, Jen, Terra, and Kyle ran down two halls. When they turned into another one they almost ran right into Marry, Florence, and Tyler. Tyler and Marry were carrying a limp Nick and they all could hear and feel the large thumping footsteps.

“Here,” Jack said, “Give Nick to me!”

Tyler and Marry complied and they all ran down the halls and to a stairwell.

Kyle who was in the lead stopped and said “Up or down?”

“What do you mean down?” Tyler asked, “We’re on the first floor!”

“Well, apparently they have a basement!” Kyle said back.

“Up!” Florence yelled. “The basement is most likely a corner!”

“Right,” Kyle said before running up the stairs. They ran to the fifth floor (which was the top floor) and ran down the halls until Jack asked if they could stop. Jack was worn out. He had run through many halls of the first floor, up to five sets of stairs, and more through the fifth floor all while carrying one of his piers. The stomping sounds had stopped and when Florence and Kyle peeked around the corner, nothing was there. Kyle found a supply closet and opened it.

“Alright,” Florence said. “Jack, Tyler, and Terra will stay with Nick,” She turned to the rest of her peers “The rest of us will go find this other guy.”

“No,” Jack said, “I can’t let Jen go without me, I have to protect her.”

Jen knew that Jack didn’t think that she could protect herself, she knew that Jack always wanted to protect the people he loved. That was one of the reasons she loved him so much.

“Jack,” Kyle said, “Do you trust me?”

“Of course!” Jack said between struggling breaths.

“I will make sure Jen doesn’t get hurt,” Kyle promised.

Jack breathed in. “Ok fine,” He managed.

“Let's go…” Florence said. Jen gave Jack one of the walkie-talkies and Kyle and Florence had the other two. They started to explore the fifth floor. The rooms were all vacant. When they walked farther down they saw a shadow of a man pass by.

“That was way too small to be the thing we saw,” Kyle said to Jen “That must be the person!”

They followed where the shadow had gone until they arrived at a door. This door was weird. It had windows next to it and was made out of metal. Through the window, they saw a man. He walked into the room in a way that made him look official.

“Hey!” Marry yelled to him.

He turned, seeming scared by the sudden noise. He hurriedly ran to the windows and brought down large metal-like shaders.

“Hey!” Kyle yelled. He tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. They stared in shock for a while before regrouping trying to think about who this man was, and why he ignored them.

Part Seven

When Kyle, Jen, Florence, and Marry returned Jack and Terra were standing outside of the closet on the lookout.

“Jen!” Jack yelled. He ran to Jen and hugged her. “A few more minutes and I would have gone out there to find you!”

“He would have gone sooner if I hadn’t convinced him otherwise,” Terra said.

“Did you find them?” Jack asked.

The other four were silent for a second before Marry said:

“Let's go in with the others, everyone needs to hear this.”

Jack and Terra exchanged glances and walked into the supply closet. The others followed them.

“What happened?” Tyler asked.

“We found him…” Jen started.

“Good!” Jack said. “Where is he.”

“In a room hiding.” Kyle said, “The room looks like he was prepared for something like this.”

“Yeah,” Florence added, “He had one-way glass shaders.”

“How could you tell?” Terra asked.

“It didn’t look like anything else,” Florence responded.

“What are we going to do?” Tyler asked, “Nick is dead weight, he could get us all killed!”

“We’re not going to just abandon him!” Jen said.

“I wasn’t saying we should!” Tyler said, “But we do need to get him somewhere where we won’t have to worry about him.”

“There is one more car in the parking lot…” Marry said.

“Yeah!” Florence said, “We should check if the receptionist left her keys on her desk!”

“I already looked,” Marry said, “The only other place they could be is…”

“If they’re on her…” Tyler finished the sentence.

“We need to get them,” Jen said “We need to get Nick out of here.”

“Alright,” Jack said.

“Let's do this,” Kyle said.

“She should be on the third floor in room 308,” Florence told them.

“Right,” Terra said “Let’s just get this over with.”

They all went downstairs, Kyle carrying Nick this time until they got to the third floor. It took Florence's knowledge and Terra, Jack, Tyler (With his only good arm), and Kyles's combined strength to open the door without the keycard and once they did, they all regretted it.

“Like I said,” Terra said, “Let’s get this over with.”

The receptionist died in a very similar way to Indigo, her body bending in very unnatural ways. Her mouth was open wide sprawled on the floor as if she were thrown like a ragdoll. Jack walked up to her and reached in one of her front pockets. His face was pale. He took the keys out of the pocket and said: “Let’s get out of here…”

They all left the room and went downstairs to the first floor where a problem presented itself…

“Who’s gonna drive Nick?” Marry asked.

Everyone stopped for a second.

“Tyler is,” Florence answered “I mean he broke his arm, you guys need to give him some credit for how well he’s holding it together for what happened to him.”

Kyle thought for a second, then nodded at his arch-nemesis respectfully. Jack did the same.

“Just one problem,” Tyler said, “I can’t drive one-handed.”

“Perfect,” Florence muttered under her breath.

“Okay then, who drives Tyler and Nick to the hospital?” Jen said.

No one raised their hands. They didn’t want to leave their friends behind.

“Nobody’s going to think you’re a coward if you say that you will do it,” Jack said.

Everyone was silent. Everyone wanted to survive, but they couldn’t take the chance from their friends.

“Fine,” Florence said, She walked to the small vase and picked it up. She dumped the contents on the floor and brought them to them. “Whoever the open side lands on drives Nick and Tyler to the hospital.”

Everyone nodded and formed a circle. Florence spun the vase. It landed on Terra.

“Ok,” Jen said, “Terra, get them and our help.”

“I-,” Terra started “I don’t have to go,”

“Go,” Kyle said, “We will be fine.”

Terra nodded. Kyle and Jack brought Nick to the car and put him in the passenger seat. Tyler got into the back and Terra got in the driver's seat. Terra rolled down the window.

“I will send help as soon as I can,” Terra stated.

“Go,” Jen said “Get help.”

Terra nodded. She started the car, it worked fine she pulled out of the parking spot and drove away.

~

“T-Terra?” Nick asked.

“Your awake!” Terra yelled.

“Where are we?” Nick asked.

“We’re going to get help,” Tyler said.

Nick looked behind him and saw Tyler's arm. “Whoa!” Man, what happened to your arm?”

“When the bus fell over it crushed my arm,” Tyler said, “You missed a lot of action.”

“Look out!” Terra yelled.

Something hit the car and Nick flew through the windshield Tyler hit the door opposite of him and was knocked out immediately. Terra was breathing heavily

“Nick!” She yelled She looked and saw Tyler uncautious. She opened the door and dragged herself out. Something huge grabbed her. IT was the thing that had tried to kill her, Kyle, Jen, and Jack. It lifted her choking her. It seemed smart but evil. It knew the extent it could hurt a human before killing it. It choked her until she almost past out then broke her neck with one hand.

Part Eight

After Terra left with Tyler and Nick, Jack wanted to figure out the mystery of the man in that room. So, Jack, Jen, and Marry went back to the top floor and found the entrance to the room while Kyle and Florence went exploring so that they would know the hotel better.

“Guys! Something's wrong!” Kyle said from a walkie-talkie in Marry's pocket.

“What is it?” Mary said after taking the radio out of her pocket and pushing the button.

“Florence and I heard a crash, like a car crash. It could be more people coming here or…”

“Terra…” Jen finished.

“Yeah, Florence and I are going to go check it out alright? If you need us, just radio me.”

“Got it,” Jack said.

“I’ll tell you guys what we find.”

“I hope Terra, Nick, and Tyler are okay,” Mary said.

“We all do.” Jen agreed.

They got to the room and Jack walked up to the large metal door.

“Guys,” Kyle said through the radio.

“Whatsup man?” Jack asked as Marry pressed the button.

“It's worse than we thought,”

Jen put her hands to her mouth knowing the rundown of what Kyle was about to say.

“Terra and Nick didn’t make it. Tyler is alive but even more banged up than before.”

Jack, Jen, and Marry just stood there then Marry sat down on the floor.

“Why is this happening?” Marry cried.

Jen knelt next to her and put her arm on Marry’s shoulders. She was silent. Pondering the same question that Marry had asked out loud.

Jack just stood there. They all started to realize that they hadn’t fully processed what had happened to Indigo, Professor Johnson, Leroy, and now Nick and Terra.

“It’s here!” Kyle yelled from the walkie then a gunshot came through, “Florence, just run! I’ll help Tyler! Go!”

“Get out of there!” Marry yelled to the walkie-talkie.

“We have to get to them!” Jack yelled. Jen took out the gun that was in her pocket and they all got up and ran to the entrance of the hotel. When they got there they saw Florence and Kyle helping Tyler and the thing was gaining on them. Notice that I have not described what the thing looks like. I don’t know what it looks like. I got some good looks at the thing when I was stuck there but it’s like I can’t see it in my mind. Almost like I never saw it at all. Anyway, on with the story.

“Screw keys!” Jen said. She went to the last car there and punched the window. It cracked but did not break. She hit it again and shattered the whole window. She reached inside and opened the car door.

“What are you doing?” Marry asked.

“Hot wiring the car!” She responded.

Jen knew a lot about cars because her dad was a mechanic. She knew what made it tick. So she successfully hot-wired the car and got in. She closed the door and drove into the thing. She smashed it against a tree and yelled, “That's for Leroy!” She reversed and hit it again yelling “That’s for the professor!” again “That's for Indigo!” She pulled back and drove forward again but this time it put its hands out and stopped it.

“Jen!” Kyle yelled. He shot twice at the thing hitting it in the arm and chest. It was unfazed. It flipped the car on its back. Jen’s back slammed against the roof because she didn’t put on her seat belt. Her back was killing her and her leg hurt. Crawled out of the car's shattered window. She looked to the side and saw it. It watched her like it was studying her. She tried to crawl away but it just walked toward her with long strides. She tried to go faster but her leg was broken making it harder. Then Tyler came into her line of sight with a large branch and hit it.

“Run!” He yelled. Kyle wrapped his arm under Jen’s arm and helped her stand.

“Tyler!” Jen yelled.

“Go!” Tyler yelled back. He swung again but it caught the branch. It easily pulled it from Tyler's hand and hit him. Tyler went flying through the air and hit the ground going completely still.

“No!” Jen yelled.

“Let’s go!” Kyle yelled. Jack had come and was helping him. After about thirty seconds Jack just picked her up and they ran.

For the people who read my series "The North Forest Lake Hotel" You may have realized I have not been posting chapters for that recently. The problem is I am having a case of writers block. If you read this I just ask that if you read the rest of the series and tell me what you think should happen next. Thank!