an inconvenient flame, n. goode

Chapter Thirteen

Kenna's POV:

We waited a bit to see if things were all clear. That was far from the reality of it.

"It's the curse." I realized.

"No, it's, uh, it's just some psycho..." Nick tried.

"It's not just some psycho. It's Tommy Slater. Cindy's perfect boyfriend." I explained. "It's the witch. Sarah Fier."

"That's not real, Kenna."

"Nick, you have to believe me. I've been looking into this type of thing. Shadyside is cursed. Normal people have been turning into maniacs for years now. Please believe me."

The bell rang, giving the signal. "They're getting on the bus. We have to go!"

"What about Dylan?!"

"Kenna, I promised Dylan to keep you safe. I am getting you on that bus." He said as he forcefully grabbed my arm. We stopped in our tracks as banging came from the locked door. He was here.

    He smashed through the window and unlocked the door. We ducked back down and I was about ready to have a heart attack.

When all seemed clear, I was grabbed by my hair and dragged over the tables by what used to be Tommy. I kicked and screamed, but nothing would help. I was prepared to die until Nick took the fall and pushed me out of the way, driving the axe into the back of his thigh.

"Run!" He yelled.

    I bolted out of the cabin to the entrance of the camp, finding Ziggy once again. We were both disappointed to see the leaving bus, without us on it.

"Shit" I sighed.

    "Kenna, we need to go. Now!" Ziggy said as she hinted at Tommy walking towards us. We both held close to one another and headed for the mess hall. I wasn't ready to die tonight.

We hid in the kitchen, locking the door. Not that locks really mattered anymore. We learned that in the nature and science cabin.  We blasted music to drown out any other noises we could possible make and give away our location to the psycho.

It didn't take him long to enter the mess hall and break down the kitchen door. We waited in one of the dark corners. Ziggy held the knife. Thankfully, he walked right by us, by Ziggy walked towards him. What the fuck was she doing?! We were safe for now and she was challenging him. Oh my fucking god. Perfect timing too. The music came to a stop and the floorboards beneath her creaked. Tommy then turned around to face her. She was literally looking death in the face. She quickly plunged the knife into his chest, and even that didn't work. He knocked her over with a single punch before removing the blade from his chest. He threw her against a rack and began to choke her. Fuck. Now would be a good time for me to help. I grabbed a bag from the rack and strangled it tightly around his neck until he let go of her. We ran until we were cornered. When all seemed lost, Cindy came to our rescue, stabbing him repeatedly until it was over. He fell to the ground and Cindy rushed to our sides.

"Are you guys ok?" She panicked.

"We're fine." I answered as I looked over at Ziggy. She flashed me a thankful smile for saving her ass earlier. Cindy then wrapped her arms around Ziggy. Nice to see the siblings reunite, but I still didn't know where Dylan was or if he was even still alive. I hate to think he might be dead, but that was the harsh truth. Same for Nick. He saved me and I didn't even get to say goodbye.

"You smell like shit" Ziggy laughed.

"That's probably because I'm covered in it." Cindy explained and Ziggy quickly pulled away.

Our attention then darted over to the noise coming from the vent that Cindy had crawled out of. Please tell me we don't have to do this all over again.

    I grabbed the knife that Cindy had dropped and slowly crept over to the open vent. To my surprise, Alice emerged.

"Alice?"

"Hey kiddo. Mind giving me a hand?" I offered her my hand and helped her out of there. "Ok, careful, ok? This thing's like a million years old." She said as she hinted at her cross bag.

"I bought that bag a month ago." Cindy explained.

"I'm not talking about your stupid bag, genius. 'Blood will fall.' Satan's stone, ok? It was right there. All this time, buried under the moss, and I found it. I fucking found it."

I didn't need anything else to know what she was referring to. "Oh my god."

We all sat down at a table as Alice retracted the skeleton hand from her bag.

"What? What is it?" Ziggy asked.

Alice inhaled before saying, "It's Sarah Fier's lost hand." I couldn't believe this was actually happening. " 'Without her hand, her grip on the land holds firm. The curse will last until body and hand unite.' This led us to the hand bone. And if the legend is true, that means her body's still buried—"

"By the Hanging Tree" I finished.

"We can end this." Cindy realized.

"No more murders, no more curses, no more.." I got ahead of myself.

"...Pain" Ziggy added as she brought the hand closer to her. She gasped in fear as her blood trickled onto the bones. Oh shit.

"What's wrong?!" I asked her.

"My nose...I bled on the hand and...I think I just saw her. Sarah Fier."

We all shared a look before I said, "We need to do this now."

    When the time came, we were ready to go. Alice fought us about going, but she was in no shape to fight. Not with her broken ankle. When we had finally agreed on some terms, we were interrupted by Tommy as he slashed her to death. Ziggy and I screamed in horror as Cindy chopped off his head in anger. We couldn't stick around here anymore, we needed to bury this hand right fucking now. If we didn't...everyone will have died for nothing.

    Cindy, Ziggy, and I ran to the tree faster than ever. When the tree finally came into view, hope seemed closer than ever. "There it is! Go, go!" Cindy cheered. We began to dig in search of the body, but all we came across was a stone that read, "The witch forever lives."

My breath became caught in my throat. "Where's the body?"

"I don't know" Cindy mumbled.

"Cindy, where's the body?!" Ziggy cried.

I looked up to see four different killers walking towards us.

There was no way out.

Cindy stood us both up as she looked for a place for us to run, but it was no use. "What do you want, Sarah Fier?!" She grabbed the hand. "You want this? You can have it! Just let them live! Just let them live!" Then I saw it in her eyes, she knew what was going on. She grabbed the shovel and prepared to fight. "Ziggy, you bled on the bone. They're after you. Get ready to run."

"No, Cindy, no! No, Cindy!" Ziggy yelled as Cindy pulled both of us in a different direction. She threw us out of the way for her to fight Tommy. I did my best to hold onto Ziggy as she didn't want to lose her sister, but I lost her to another one of the killers.

"Run, Kenna!" She cried as she was stabbed.

I wanted to cry and my legs felt numb as I ran. I saw may last hope of survival being hacked to death and stabbed. I darted into the woods only to find my neck being slashed by the famous Ruby Lane. Her smirk grew as the blood trickled down my neck. I gasped for air as I fell to the ground. This was how I was to die?

Scared and alone.