Hell's Army

Chapter Eight- Babysitting Blues

Katie's heart pounded in her chest as her eyes tore up the ghostly little room.

Kevin was gone.

Her body shook uncontrollably. She was going to be sick. She couldn't do this. This wasn't something people like her were supposed to do. Her mind screamed at her to run, to hide, to do something, but her body was as stiff as a statue. She was trapped in a fortress of her own making.

Kevin was gone.

Something flashed in the corner of her eye, and she whipped round. A tiny, red light blinked beneath the black eyes of Kevin's bear. She snatched it up and tore its stomach open. Stuffing dribbled out and pattered to the floor. She reached in and pulled out a smooth, black device.

A camera.

They were watching her.

"Where's Kevin?" she whispered numbly into it. "What do you want?"

Suddenly, the fear was bubbling up inside her like a swelling, icy tide and bursting out the banks as she screamed, "Who the hell are you?!"

She threw the camera to the ground and crushed it with the heel of her shoe. Running into the corridor, she eased herself down the railing and into the lounge. As carefully as she could, she tiptoed across the floor, breath hitching, skin prickling in anticipation of something to come flinging out of the shadows and impale her on the spot. She reached the door, reached out to grab the handle-

A silver string glinted it in the moonlight.

It was a trap.

She couldn't get out.

Everything inside her screamed. Cold tears stuck to her face. The shadows slipped over something in the lounge, something small and silent and still as stone.

Kevin.

"Kevin," she whispered. The moonlight drifted over his glassy eyes, and for a second a little doll was staring back at her. "Come over to me, okay?" she pleaded quietly. "Very, very slowly. It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna get us out of here. Trust me."

Trust me, her mind begged. Please, please trust me.

His head tilted to the side, and he said in a voice as soft as a dove's feathers, "You're funny."

"What?" she whispered.

"I thought you'd be dead by now," he continued, magpie eyes glinting. "Thought the knife would have got you for sure."

Her blood ran cold. "No."

He giggled. "We're gonna have so much fun."

"No way," she said, willing it to be true. "There is no way in Hell you are doing this. You're just a kid."

"Tomorrow night," he murmured.

"What?"

"That's how long you have. I don't like spending too much time with my toys. Tick-tock, Katie."

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she screamed.

"Bye-bye," he whispered, and suddenly she wasn't looking at a little boy anymore. She was looking at an animal. He crept into the shadows, up the stairs and out of sight.

She forced herself to breath slowly, shakily. She had to get out. Nothing else mattered.

Something tapped her on the shoulder, and the adrenaline in her veins exploded. She spun round with fire in her heart, raised her fists to smash into their nose, eyes, anything, and a blonde man with a soft face and a cross hanging around his neck ducked.

"Whoa. Easy," he said.

"Who the hell are you?" she hissed.

"It's me," he said, looking confused. "Follows. We spoke on the phone?"

She whipped her head around, peeling her eyes through the darkness for Kevin. "How did you get in here?"

He glanced at her like he seriously doubted her mental capacity. "Through the door."

"But, you can't-" she whispered frantically. "The trap, it'd-"

"Look," he said soothingly. "How about we get you out of here, and then you can tell me all about this, okay?"

She curled her fingers around his arm like a vice, pulled him back. "Don't. Don't touch that door."

"Katie, it's fine. There's nothing wrong with the door. I just came in it a few seconds ago."

"The only reason you're still alive is because he wants you to be," she whispered.

He frowned. "Who's he?"

"Kevin."

"Who's Kevin?"

"The kid!" she almost screamed. "He's a psychopath-"

"Katie," Follows interrupted, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Just calm down. You're freaking yourself out. There's nothing wrong with Kevin. If we just-" He turned towards the door, and a flash streaked past Katie as a knife sliced through the air. She ran into Follows, and the two of them went crashing to the floor. The knife dug into the wall with a sickening crunch. Follows stared at it with wide eyes, chest heaving.

"You freaking sure about that?" she hissed.

He was frozen for a few seconds, stuck like a deer in headlights. Then he looked at her, and something changed.

"How long have you known Kevin?" he demanded. He wasn't the man on the phone anymore. He was a man on business.

"I just met him. I know his parents. I'm supposed to be looking after him for the weekend."

"I need to see him."

She raised an eyebrow. "You need to see the crazy child who's trying to kill us?"

"I might be able to..." He trailed off.

"Might be able to what?"

"I-"

The sound of something tearing blasted above them, and Katie looked up in time to see the chandelier crashing towards them. She grabbed Follows, wrenched him out of the way. It exploded into powdery glass fragments, littered the ground like snow.

"Thanks," Follows heaved.

"Don't mention it," she said through gritted teeth.

"I didn't step on anything. I didn't even move."

She looked into the blackness, knew that somewhere those glassy little eyes were looking right back at her. "It was him. He's watching us."

"So why'd he dropped the chandelier?" Follows asked.

She gave him a grim look and saw her own pale face bouncing off his wide eyes. "Because he's getting bored."