I wasn't able to sleep for the remainder of the night. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, and formulating my plan.
As soon as the bell rang for breakfast I bolted out of bed and as soon as everyone had eaten, I called an emergency meeting in my room.
"BloodLust has asked me to meet him today at sunset."
Everyone stared at me, blinking. I reflected on how Lorraine had mentioned that she always believed Pietro had some good in him. BloodLust must still have a spark of Pietro Hernandez somewhere deep inside.
"There is still good in him," he declared.
Jared shook his head remorsefully. "Look, Gabe, we also thought he could be turned. It's impossible. He's twisted and evil."
I explained to them everything that he had told me about the Blood Orb, but I refrained from telling them about the vision. I shivered as I recalled it. The gloomy, vacant landscape. The colossal red sun in the sky.
"Look, I think the Blood Orb is corrupting him. Everything he does, he kills, and tortures, it isn't him."
Everyone exchanged odd glances except for Lorraine, who was gazing at the floor.
I continued "He's asked me to join him. I have a plan though, and if everything goes smoothly, we have nothing to worry about."
By afternoon, we split up and set out from the hotel to buy supplies.
By the time we all arrived back at the hotel, it was 5:00 PM.
Nakia was sitting on the bed sticking nails into a wooden baseball bat. I chuckled as I dropped the heavy shopping bag onto the carpet.
She looked up at me and raised her eyebrows. "So I'm assuming you have something better, huh?" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
I grinned and pulled out a chainsaw from the bag.
Nakia's jaw dropped.
"How did they even allow that inside the hotel?" she asked, grinning.
"You're forgetting that Jared works here..." I said.
At sunset, everyone gathered into Lorraine's room, and we discussed the plan.
"So, I'll approach BloodLust alone, and when I give the signal" I said. My voice trailed off.
"And then what?" Jared asked.
"And then... you'll see."
"Why can't you tell us?" Nakia sighed.
"If I tell you, It won't work" I replied. "Now, we need a way to get to Scream Park without being seen, and a place for the rest of you to hide."
Lorraine looked up. "I know just the thing," she smiled.
She led us out the room and to the top floor, in front of the elevator doors. A long rope was coiled up in her hand. We stood next to the door, as Jared pressed one of the elevator buttons. "You might have noticed... on this floor, there are two elevators. But on every other floor, there's only one."
Me, Ryan and Nakia exchanged confused looks.
"My father built this passageway from the elevator to Scream Park." explained Lorraine.
With a quiet, slithery sound, the sliding doors opened, and we leaned carefully into the doorway, and gasped.
As we stood in the doorway and peered into the elevator shaft, it was as if we were standing on the edge of an vertiginous cliff, looking down at the dizzying abyss below us. The shaft was more like a pit than a passageway, leading straight down into a blackness the likes of which was darker than a moonless night.
