THERE WILL BE BLOOD || DANIEL MATTHEWS ||

VIII: THE NEEDLE PIT

I followed Amanda to the group clustered together in front of the door. Daniel helped Laura up and let her put her weight on his shoulder as they joined us. Addison was pushing against it.

"Why are we just standing here?" I was confused.

"It's the only door with a lock. But we can't get it open." Jonas explained.

"If it doesn't open it's a trap," Amanda stated.

"Lady, this whole house is a trap," Xavier retorted.

Xavier struggled to open the door, it being stuck on something. Finally Xaiver slammed his weight against the door. It slammed open with a twang, I caught something white flying across the room and I heard a ticking noise begin. Xavier went in first. Daniel put Laura down and told her that he would be right back. Grabbing his hand, I pulled him behind me as I followed Jonas and Addison into the room. It was dilapidated, that was for sure. The wooden floors were scratched up, the paint on the walls were discolored. Baby doll body parts were strung around the room. A single bed frame was sitting by the wall, the metal showing. There were blankets scattered. A single black, solid door was on the opposite side of the room. A timer counting down from four on it. My grip on Daniel loosened as I scanned my surroundings. Xavier rushed to the black door, clawing at it like a desperate animal as the rest of us looked at our environment warily.

"Now what?" Addison asked.

"Whatever it is, we have four minutes to do it," Jonas said, pointing at the timer. I let Daniel's hand go absentmindedly as I looked in the area towards the windows. I saw cots, and bed slippers. Jonas saw an envelope hanging on ropes, he opened it. It was a tape recorder. He pressed play.

"Hello, Xavier. I want to play a game. The game I want to play is very similar to the one that you've been playing as a drug dealer." I stared at Xaiver in fear and shock. A drug dealer. I mean, that made sense. It fits with his rough character. "The game of offering hope to the desperate for a price. I think we can agree that your situation is desperate. So I offer you hope. The price you pay is that you must crawl into the same pit of squalor you force your customers into."

Daniel looked at the blanket on the bed, and threw it off, "Oh my god." My eyebrows furrowed and I walked over to see what he was talking about. My eyes widened and I stepped back in fear.

"By entering this room...."

"Oh my god," I gagged.

"a timer has been started. When the timer expires, you will be locked in here forever.  Only in finding the key"

"Guys. Guys!" Daniel tried to get their attention.

"What?" Addison snapped.

I pointed, "Look."

"-before the timer runs out can you unlock it - and retrieve the antidote inside. I will give you just one hint as to where that key is."

Xavier grabbed the opposite side of the blanket, and pulled it off the bed, also seeing what Daniel and I saw. Needles. A pit full of needles. Contaminated, used needles. The worst thing in the world.

"I hate needles," I muttered.

"It will be like finding a needle in a haystack. Let the game begin."

I shook my hands, grossed out, "You have got to be shitting me. Not needles. Anything but needles." I rushed out, frantically.

Everyone stared at the pit, no one really knowing what to do next. No one was volunteering to go in.

    "Someone's going in there," Xavier sneered anxiously, "Someone's going fucking in there."