by R. L. Stine
I took a deep breath, readying myself to run. And then I saw something in Mac’s eyes. He wasn’t watching me. His gaze went over my shoulder to something down the hall.
His expression changed. His eyes went wide with fear. And to my surprise, Mac swung away from me and took off, running in the other direction. Before I could utter a sound, he disappeared around a corner.
“Weird,” I said. My heart fluttered in my chest. I turned and gazed down the dark hall. I didn’t see anything. I used the wall to shove off and stumbled on shaky legs back to the den with the others.
“Brendan—” I gasped.
He spun around at my cry. “Rachel? Did you leave again?”
“I—I-I—” I stammered, picturing Mac, his eyes so wide and crazy.
Brendan didn’t give me a chance to say anything. “Follow me,” he said. “We need to regroup. Think about our next move.”
I glimpsed Eric’s body stretched out on the couch. His mouth had dropped open and his eyes were rolled up in his head.
A stab of sheer terror tightened my throat. I followed Brendan as he led everyone down the long hall, then down another. He kept his eyes straight ahead and took long, rapid strides as if desperate to get away from that room, from the sight of Eric so still and dead.
Brendan led us to a large room we hadn’t seen before. A blue curtain stretched along the back wall. Armchairs and couches faced the curtain. It was obviously a theater or a screening room.
Brendan motioned to the chairs and couches. “Take a seat, everyone. We need to talk.”
Kenny and Morgan dropped onto the couch near the back of the room. I slumped into a brown leather armchair at one side. Spider sat on the wide arm of my chair. “This can’t be happening,” he whispered. “Someone has to come and save us … before … before…” His voice trailed off.
I knew what he was going to say. Before we are all killed one by one.
Geena and April didn’t sit. They stood leaning tensely against one wall, their arms tightly crossed in front of their chests. Geena had been tensely chewing her bottom lip, and now a trickle of bright red blood ran down her chin.
Brendan stepped in front of the curtain and began to pace back and forth. Finally, he stopped and turned to us. “This was always a happy room for my family,” he said. “This is our little theater, where we used to put on plays when we were kids, and we had funny talent shows.”
He sighed. “A lot of good times in this room. But … I guess I could say this is the final curtain.”
He walked to the far end of the curtain. He grabbed a slender rope in both hands and began to pull it. And as he pulled, the curtains parted in the middle and slowly slid open.
Gasps of shock filled the room as we saw what was behind the curtain. And then the gasps turned to screams when we realized we were staring at three bodies.
The bodies of our friends. Patti, Kerry, and Eric. Face down. Piled in a heap on top of each other.
“How … how did they get here?” I cried, my voice hoarse with terror. “Who did this? Brendan—who moved them here?”
I tried to look away. But the horrifying sight held me as if in a trance.
Eric on the bottom. Kerry on top of him, his long legs bent at an odd angle. Patti sprawled face down on top of Kerry, arms hanging limply to the floor, her hair falling over her lifeless face.
“No … No…” I shook my head as if trying to shake away the sickening scene. “No…”
And as I stared, gripped in horror, the pile of bodies started to move.
28.
THE PARTY’S OVER
Patti moaned and slowly raised her head.
Kerry’s hands twitched. His big sneakers slid against the floor.
Eric turned his face toward us and blinked.
My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t breathe. I jumped to my feet.
No one screamed or cried out. No one made a sound.
I felt the blood pulsing at my temples. I pressed my hands to the sides of my face.
“The dead RISE!” Kerry groaned. “Awake! Awake!”
Patti pushed herself off Kerry’s back and stood up. She pushed her hair into place and adjusted her T-shirt.
Still on the floor, Eric grinned at us. “Did we fool you? Did you fall for it?”
Kerry stood up and stretched his long arms over his head. “How’d it go, Brendan?”
Finally, we found our voices. The room filled with screams of shock, mixed with happiness, mixed with anger.
I could feel my brain doing flip-flops. I had to shut my eyes for a moment.
They’re alive?
This was all a joke? All unreal? All this horror?
Brendan nodded to the three ex-corpses. “Good job, dudes. Game over.”
“Brendan? What’s up?” Spider shouted. “‘Game over’?”
Brendan turned to face us. “You’ve all been playing my new party game,” he said. “I created it for this party. Know what I call it? Total Panic.”
Brendan grinned at us. He looked very pleased with himself.
No one reacted to the news. I think we were too stunned. I felt like I was in shock.
Brendan snickered. “Guys? Are you okay? Maybe my game was too good.”
I took a deep breath and finally found my voice. “Are you saying nothing that happened this afternoon was real?”
He nodded. “I planned everything. I wanted Total Panic to be the scariest party game ever.”
My confusion was lifting. I started to feel my chest tighten with anger. “Well, you scared us to death. We all thought—” He didn’t let me finish. He raised a hand to silence me.
“I planned everything,” he repeated. “I even planted the dead animals in your beds to get you in a frightened mood before the party.”
“It was you?” Geena cried.
“Well … Eric and Kerry helped me. All part of the game. I planned the three murders. I planned Randy hitting his head and the fake blood in the water. I planned the lights going out, the missing flashlights, the masked men breaking in on the security camera, the servants all leaving and taking the boat with them.”
“All a game?” Spider cried. “Are you kidding me? All a game?”
“Brendan—I don’t believe you!” Geena cried. “You told us Patti, Kerry, and Eric were dead. But—”
“It was all a game, Geena,” Brendan said. “Seriously. I was the only one to examine the bodies—remember? I was always the one who announced they were dead. I never gave anyone a chance to get up close to them.”
The room filled with angry murmurs and words of disbelief.
“As you can see, everyone is okay,” Brendan said. “Well … except for Eric. He’s always been a little weird.”
“Hey, aren’t you all happy to see me alive?” Eric cried.
“No way,” Spider said. “We liked you better as a corpse.”
That made everyone laugh, breaking the almost unbearable tension.
“It really was a game,” I blurted out. “All a game to frighten us to death.” My voice cracked. I felt so furious at Brendan for frightening me—and everyone—so badly.
“Brendan—you went too far!” Geena cried.
“It was too scary,” his cousin Morgan agreed. “Did you want to give us all heart attacks?”
Brendan snickered. “I didn’t want to put you in the hospital. I just wanted to see if I could really terrify you.”
“It’s not funny. It’s mean,” Geena said angrily.
“It’s sick,” April agreed. “Totally sick. You have a sick mind, Brendan.”
“I take that as a compliment,” Brendan said. “I guess my game worked.”
Everyone started talking at once, shouting at Brendan.
“You made us look like idiots.”
“This isn’t a party. We were just guinea pigs for your sick game.”
“You can’t play with people’s emotions like that. It’s totally cruel.”
“It’s sick, Brendan. You’re way sic
k.”
We were all so angry, it was like we forgot to be happy that our friends were actually still alive.
As the shouts and curses and angry words continued, I watched Brendan. His eyes flashed with excitement, and he kept a broad smile on his face. He was totally enjoying our reaction to his terrifying game.
I tried to figure out the answer to the one question that I couldn’t chase away: Is he some kind of creative genius, or is he a dangerous sicko?
I suddenly realized that Patti, Kerry, and Eric must have been planning this whole thing with Brendan that night in the back booth at Lefty’s, the night Brendan invited me to the party. That’s what they were talking about so intensely that night. They were planning the murder scenes, planning the whole thing.
And then a flash of anger made me grit my teeth. Was Brendan only pretending to like me? Was that a game, too?
I suddenly felt like a total fool.
Maybe everything was a game with Brendan. When he invited me to the party … when he chose me as his scavenger hunt partner … when he held me and kissed me.… All a game? All a joke to him?
My fists were clenched into such tight balls, my nails dug into my palm. I took a deep breath and tried to let the hot anger wash out of me.
Eric bumped up against me, a toothy grin on his face. “Rachel, were you scared?”
“Terrified,” I said. “We all were. Brendan’s game was sadistic and mean.”
Eric grinned. “I thought it was a hoot. When he told us his plan, I split a gut laughing. Brendan is a mad genius.”
“I’m not so sure,” I said. “But I … I’m glad to see you’re alive.”
Eric wrapped his beefy arms around me. “Rachel, I didn’t know you cared.”
“Don’t get crazy,” I said, pushing him away. “I’m glad you’re alive, but I’m never going to speak to you again.”
Brendan was waving his arms, trying to get everyone quiet. “Relax, guys. Come on. Everybody chill.”
“You owe us all an apology,” someone said. “I’m going to have nightmares for a year.”
Brendan’s two cousins glared at him angrily. “Does Uncle Oliver know about this game?” Morgan asked.
“You should have told us about it. We’re family,” Kenny said, shaking his head.
Brendan shrugged in reply. “Okay, I hear you. I hear you,” he shouted over the angry voices. “You can all chill now. I … I wanted to give you an exciting night. You know. A game you’ll remember.”
“You guys have no sense of humor!” Eric cried. “Admit it. It was a blast.”
“Murder isn’t a game, Eric,” Spider said.
The grumbling and angry shouts continued.
Brendan waved his arms again, trying for silence. “Come on, guys. Just let it go. Relax. The staff will be back in an hour or two with the boat. If you want to leave then, fine. No problem.”
He blinked. “Oh, wait. I have one more surprise.” He glanced at me. He shouted toward the door. “Are you guys there?”
We all turned to see Randy stride into the room, his white admiral’s cap tilted over his head. “Surprise!” he shouted.
He was followed by a young woman. She was dressed in an old-fashioned high-necked blouse and long gray skirt. She carried a white-haired wig in her hands.
It took me a few seconds to realize I was staring at Victoria Fear.
Brendan put his arm around her waist and led her over to us. He grinned at me. “My cousin Karen played the part of Victoria Fear,” he said. “Rachel, I guess Karen did a good job. She made you believe in ghosts, right?”
I suddenly couldn’t breathe. My chest felt about to explode. Was it anger? Or embarrassment?
“I apologize, Rachel,” Brendan said. “You weren’t supposed to be the only one to see Karen. Everyone was supposed to discover her. But you ran into her room on your own.”
“Sorry I scared you,” Karen said to me. She shrugged. “I didn’t want to do it. But Brendan can be very persuasive. He told me it was all part of a play.”
I slowly unclenched my fists. “Brendan, I’m never speaking to you again,” I murmured.
He made a pouty face. “It was just a game, Rachel.”
I opened my mouth to tell him it was a mean trick, not a game. But there was a noise at the door. I saw Brendan’s mouth drop open before I turned to the door.
Two men strode quickly into the room. They wore black sweaters and pants under khaki hunting jackets. Their faces were covered by black ski masks. They gripped hunting rifles in their right hands as they moved toward us.
I gave a cry of surprise. A tense hush fell over the room.
The masked men held their rifles in front of them in one hand, threatening us.
“Okay, everyone!” one of them boomed. “Sad news. The party’s over.”
29.
THE GAME CHANGES
One masked man was tall, broad-chested, and powerful-looking. He had bright blue eyes that glowed beneath the mask. His partner was shorter, a little pudgy. His safari jacket was stretched across his waist.
They both peered at us through the eye slits cut into their masks. They were dressed identically, except the blue-eyed man wore tall, dark-stained hunting boots while the other had black sneakers.
They waved their hunting rifles in front of them, showing them off, showing us we shouldn’t try to make a move against them. Or a move toward the door.
My mind spinning, I dropped into the armchair beside Spider.
“That’s right. Stay calm. Nobody move,” Blue Eyes said. He had a hoarse, raspy voice.
“Yeah. The party is over,” the pudgy one repeated.
To my surprise, Brendan suddenly began to walk toward the two men. And as he walked, he burst out laughing.
He stepped between the two masked men. He shook Blue Eyes’ hand, then turned and slapped knuckles with the other intruder. “You guys were late,” he said. “I almost forgot about you.”
Brendan turned to us. “These guys are part of my Panic game. One last scare. I promise this is the end of it.”
He turned back to the masked men. “Take off your masks, dudes. We can all party now until the boat returns.”
The men didn’t budge. They eyed each other. The tall one shifted his rifle to the other hand.
“Come on, dudes. Take off the masks. Let everyone see your faces,” Brendan urged.
The two men remained standing tensely. They exchanged glances again. Neither one spoke.
Brendan reached for the pudgy man’s mask. The man grabbed Brendan by the front of his shirt—and gave him a hard shove that sent him stumbling backward.
Both men raised their hunting rifles, as if waiting for Brendan’s next move.
“Hey—!” Brendan cried. His eyes went from one masked man to the other. “Wait. Who are you?” His voice trembled. “You’re not the actors I hired. I … I don’t know you. Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“Brendan, how stupid do you think we are?” Kenny shouted.
“Yeah. You punked us before. But you’re not going to punk us again.”
“Stop it, Brendan,” Geena said angrily. “Enough is enough. The game is over.”
Brendan kept his eyes on the two masked men. “I … I’m not kidding,” he stammered. “Who are you guys? This … this isn’t part of the game. I swear.”
The two men shifted their weight, hunting rifles cradled in their arms.
“You’re not going to scare us again,” Geena insisted. “So just give us a break, Brendan.”
He raised his right hand. “I swear this isn’t a game. I really don’t know who these guys are.”
“You’re totally sick.”
“Give it up. Let’s go home.”
“Come on, no more games.”
The tall masked man moved quickly. “You think this is a game?” he rasped.
He swung around hard—and slammed the rifle butt into Brendan’s stomach.
Brendan’s eyes bulged. He let out a low g
roan, grabbed his stomach, and fell to his knees. Still gripping his stomach, Brendan began to vomit and choke.
The gunman shifted his rifle. Then he backhanded Brendan’s cousin Karen. Gave her a vicious slap that made her drop the wig and stagger back into Eric and Spider. They held onto her, helping her catch her balance. She started to cry. The left side of her face flared bright red.
“Get up!” the gunman screamed. “Get up!” He raised the rifle over Brendan, threatening to slam the butt down on the back of his neck.
Brendan, choking, vomit staining his chin, forced himself to his feet.
“Anyone still think this is a game?” the gunman boomed.
A hush fell over the room. No one moved.
The shorter gunman moved toward us menacingly. “Shut up and stay shut up,” he growled.
“You think this is a game?” his partner rasped in his hoarse voice. “This is a game you already lost.” His blue eyes were wild beneath the black mask.
“Wh-what do you want?” Brendan stammered, wiping his chin with his sleeve. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“I thought you were supposed to be a smart guy,” the chubby one snarled. “I guess you’re not that smart.”
“Just tell me,” Brendan pleaded. “What are you doing here? Where are the actors I hired? What do you want?”
“You,” the gunman answered.
“You … want me?” Brendan’s voice rose in surprise. “I … I…”
The gunman gave him another hard shove. “Enough questions, idiot. We have to deal with your guests first.”
I studied the taller one. Suddenly, I had this weird feeling that I knew him. Something about those bright blue eyes and his croaky voice. I struggled to remember. I’d seen him somewhere before. But where?
I didn’t have time to think about it. The two masked men turned away from Brendan to face us. The pudgy one waved his rifle toward the door. “Let’s move, everyone,” he barked. “Into the hall. Now.”
“You never told us about this part,” Eric protested to Brendan. “You said the game would end when we came back in the room, and then everyone could party.”
Brendan opened his mouth to answer but no sound came out.
