The House at the End of the Street

Chapter Seven: Death

I was running through the woods. It was dark, pitch black, like space without the stars. Footsteps behind me scared me the most. I tripped over a rock and started rolling down a hill.
"Gracie!?" I screamed, trying to see through the darkness.
"I'm right here!" Gracie said, running into me.
"Damn it!" Gracie said, still on the ground.
"We can't stop!" I said, getting up, grabbing her, and running into the woods.
I could hear footsteps behind us. They got louder and louder. I kept running until I was in a clearing, Gracie grasping my wrist so we wouldn't get separated. We turned our backs to each other and grabbed our weapons. I unsheathed my machete and Gracie grabbed her bow and an arrow, then readied it.
"Stand your ground, Gracie," I said, pushing myself against her.
"I'm not dying tonight," Gracie said.
"Make it two," I replied.
I could hear rustling all around us. Then, a black figure appeared in front of Gracie.
"Zack!" She screamed, shooting her bow and hitting the figure in the face.
"How do you keep getting headshots?" I asked, slashing the figure's face with my machete.
"Talent, I guess. The thing you don't have!" Gracie joked.
"You are right," I replied.
The figure grabbed my machete, but Gracie jumped onto the figure's back and started choking it with her bow. The figure let go of my machete and I slashed upwards again.
"Where do you think we could get breakfast today with Jack, Conner, and Jhett?" Gracie asked like we were in a normal situation.
"Waffle House would be good," I replied.
Gracie stopped choking the figure and I slashed it across the neck, decapitating it. It fell to the ground, dead.
"Let's head back. The sun is about to rise, so we won't walk in darkness," Gracie said, reassuring me.
"That's good," I said back.
We started walking back towards Ocean Springs. Life was different, but not much. More people have gone missing without a trace, and there is still no evidence of a serial killer. Many conspiracy theorists think it's aliens, but I know who is behind this, it's Salvullaz.
"Hey, Zack! What's up?" Mae asked.
We had just gone into the library to check up on the rest of the group, except Philip and Tristan. They were both one of the unlucky ones and went missing with the now twenty-four people missing.
"Any leads on where Philip or Tristan?" Gracie asked, sitting down.
We now spent most of our time at the library, since it's where most of the important information was. The librarian also went missing, so now we live in the library.
Downtown, which is where the library was, was still wrecked four days earlier.
"Any updates?" I asked, sitting down next to Gracie.
"It's Christmas eve and many people, mostly teenagers, are still missing from their households. What was worse, was that Carter and Charlie were never remembered, meaning the remember or forget system works in some kind of way. Unfortunately, we have yet to figure it out," Jhett said
"Thanks. Jack?" I asked.
"I got more information about Salvullaz. He is the devil. He created the underworld and is searching for kids. Salvullaz was asleep for exactly 5000 years before you woke him up," Jack finished.
"Alright. Thanks," I replied.
I grabbed a book about survival. I flipped through it, but it was useless.
"Damn it," Jhett said, trying to turn on the computer.
"What's wrong?" Gracie asked.
"Internet's down. So is the power," Jack said, trying to turn on another computer.
I threw the book across the room and walked outside. I was angry that our only way to get anyone's attention was gone.
"Zack, are you alright?" Gracie asked, following me outside.
"We've lost all power, Philip and Tristan are missing, and it doesn't help that Dade is still dead.
"It's fine, Zack. We'll survive. I promise," Gracie said, comforting me.
"How do you know that?" I replied, doubting myself.
"Just trust me," Gracie said, walking back inside.
Then, I felt another spiritually feeling rushing through my veins. It was coming from the School down the street. It was a YMCA School and was not used for many years. I walked towards it, my body moving by itself. I could feel my brain intercepting someone talking. It was Dade's voice going through my head.
"Hey, Zack," The voice said.
"Who the hell are you?!" I screamed.
"It's I, Dade. You know, the kid you KILLED. It is your fault I died," It said.
"No. It wasn't my fault you died!" I screamed.
I tried punching myself in the head, but it was useless. I could feel the voice start taking over my senses and my total body.
"You killed me. You cared more about trying to kill a demon than saving my life. You're a selfish asshole, Zack," The voice repeated over and over again.
"Get out of my damn head!" I kept screaming.
Gracie, Jhett, and Conner sprinted outside to see what was going on. Gracie grabbed me by the shoulders and checked me out.
"It's Dade! He's in my head talking to me!" I yelled out.
Gracie shook me, trying to bring me back to reality. Then, the voice played a vision in my head. It was right after Dade's plunge into the underworld. Dade was falling through the red hole and hit the ground. Salvullaz grabbed Dade by the hook he stuck into him and proceeded to stick him into the wall. There were all the missing people, including Philip and Tristan. Then, Dade's soul started to exit his body as a green mist.
The vision ended and I fell onto my face.
"Zack! Are you okay?!" Gracie screamed.
I woke up to Gracie and Jhett standing over me. I saw stars as Jhett helped me to my feet.
"He's in there. We need to kill him!" I screamed, trying to run into the school.
"Zack, no! He's going to kill you!" Jhett said, holding me back.
"Please, I need to stop him!" I said back, eventually giving up and settling back.
Then, Mike came out of the door, clapping like he was an evil genius or something.
"Why the hell are you here, Mike?" Gracie asked, letting me go.
"Looks like you've fallen right into my trap. You are idiots, especially you, Zack. Philip is gone, so there's no use in fighting me," Mike said, pulling out a knife from his pocket.
Gracie grabbed his hand and twisted, almost breaking it. Mike threw the knife in the other hand, about to stab Gracie in the back. All of a sudden, Jack came from nowhere and stood behind Gracie, getting stabbed in the stomach instead of Gracie.
"Jack!" I yelled, running over and punching Mike in the face and knocking him over.
Jack fell to the ground, the knife still in his gut.
"I'm gonna have to pull it out, Jack. It's gonna hurt like hell, but you won't get an infection," I said, grasping the knife handle and pulling it out.
"Damn it!" Jack yelled.
Mike ran into the school and I followed with Jhett and Gracie. Mike ran through the halls like they were nothing. Mike ran and turned around and held us at knifepoint.
"Back away!" Mike screamed, walking backwards into a dead end.
"Drop the knife, Mike, and this doesn't have to get ugly," I said, unsheathing my machete and putting it out in front of me.
Mike tried to back away, but he only hit the dead end. Gracie, Jhett, and I started moving closer towards Mike.
"C'mon, Mike. This doesn't have to get ugly," Gracie said, moving forwards, but Mike slashed his knife, threatening her.
"I said, BACK AWAY!" Mike yelled.
Gracie and Jhett both backed away, but I held my ground. I moved closer to him, but Mike was able to shove me over into a locker and jump past Gracie and Jhett. I ducked and ran after Mike. Mike played football, and he was a fast person. I couldn't keep up anymore, then I threw my machete at him, hitting him in the leg and falling to the ground.
I slowed down and started walking towards him, picking up my machete that had hit him. I pushed the blade up against his throat, but not slicing it.
"You. Are. Screwed," I said, starting to push the machete closer into his neck.
Then, Mike kicked my legs, making me slip and falling onto my side. Mike got up and started staggering towards the exit of the school. At this point, Jhett and Gracie ran the other way into the GYM to stop Mike from escaping the school.
"Come here, asshole!" I screamed, trying to run towards him, but I had hit my knee too hard, bruising it.
I was able to catch up to Mike and shove him into a classroom. The name above the class was DeGeorge, a science teacher's room. Mike staggered to the back corner of the room with a stapler as a weapon.
"Zack, you're such a weakling. You're a disgrace to this universe!" Mike screamed, trying to get me to attack him. I knew his tricks though and stayed back.
"I've known that for a while," I responded, moving in closer to him, my blade facing him.
All of a sudden, a cold breeze filled up the room and a fully smokey black figure stood in the doorway, across the room from us.
"When will you learn..." The figure said, using some kind of telekinetic power and tossing a desk at me.
I ducked the flying object and Mike ran out the room, passing through the figure, disappearing.
"What the hell was that?" I yelled, running after Mike, limping from the pain of my knee.
I staggered out the door just to see Mike turn left to the entrance. I started limping faster to catch up with him. Then, Jhett comes from nowhere with a GOLF CART, smashing through the brick wall.
"Holy hell! How did the wall just break?!" Jhett yelled, helping me into the back of the cart.
Jhett started the cart up, but Mike was gone. The cart shot forwards into the main hallway of the school. I could see school supplies on the ground and other things, like backpacks and binders.
The cart smashed through the front of the school and hoped off. Then, Mike came from nowhere and punched me in the face, launching me across the cement road. Mike grabbed the knife I dropped and proceeded to walk over to me. He raised the knife, but I grabbed his wrist, the knife centimeters from my face.
"Just die!" Mike yelled, pushing the knife closer to my face.
Gracie came with her bow and started choking Mike with it. Mike stumbled backwards and I took my chance. I grabbed my machete from its pouch and unsheathed it.
"Wait! Wait! I'm only a messenger!" Mike pleaded, but I didn't believe him, especially when he was trying to kill us.
"You're a goddamn liar!" I said, slicing my machete against his neck, decapitating him.
"Woah! That was awesome!" Gracie said.
All three bullies of the school were now dead. Then, a figure appeared next to the treeline. It started clapping as Mike did earlier.
"Congratulations! You killed the last bad dude! You are heroes now, aren't you?" The figure said sarcastically.
I recognized the voice. I'd heard it before.
"Who are you?" Gracie asked. Jhett came running up to us and saw the figure there too.
"You seriously don't remember me? I was the first missing person. My posters are all across the country now," The voice said.
It hit me. It was Matt!
"Matt? Is that you?" Jhett asked, walking towards it.
"Well, looks like we meet again," Matt said, standing next to a tree.
"Is Salvullaz still possessing you?" Graice asked.
Matt didn't respond.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"I'm here to kill you, just so I don't have to deal with you later," Matt said, pulling out a machete, like mine.
Gracie and Jhett both pulled out their weapons, but they didn't attack Matt, knowing that I had to face him.
"Oh, It's on," I said, charging at Matt.