Every 30 Minutes

Chapter 5

9.13 pm, 30 October 2020

-Ella's POV-

My eyes scanned the room, looking for the other three and hoping that they are safe. "Climb!" Kristine yelled, heading for a ladder. Alex and I ran for the stairs, sprinting up as fast as possible. A loud sizzling sound erupted from the pool as hot oil spilled into the pool. Where the heck did it even come from?

Looking around, I spotted the monster, that was once my friend, heading straight for Daniel. I thought he was smarter than to be alone. "Daniel!" Alex yelled, distracting the monster for a while, allowing Daniel to sprint away. Suddenly, a hard, white hand landed on my shoulder, causing me to scream and punch whatever was behind me. My hand came into contact with a plastic face, causing the giant doll to fall to the ground. My knuckles turned red from the impact, causing me to shake it rapidly on instinct, as if it helps me.

"Your racket! Use it to fight!" Alex said, kicking a mannequin coming too close to us.

"I can't! My racket will break upon impact because these mannequins are too big and solid," I explained, not wanting to risk breaking my precious. He let out a groan, probably disappointed or something.

"Guys, we need to fight them as a group. If you see any lone person, ask them to join us," Daniel popped out of nowhere and surprised us, causing me to almost punch him in the face. "Chill."

"Sorry," I muttered, turning around to grab the victorian dress the mannequin had on, I swang my arms, causing it to topple over the railing and fall into the pool of raging fire. Beads of sweat formed on my head as the room started to heat up. I could not believe I had just experienced two extreme temperatures in a span of less than an hour.

"Erin!" someone yelled. I could identify that voice anytime. I turned to the direction of where the voice came from, spotting chad dangling over the railing with a hand holding on and another holding Erin, dangling high above the pool.

"Hold on Chad! Don't let go!" I yelled, sprinting towards them. My heart raced as my legs moved faster than they ever had. As I got a hold of Chad's wrist, I noticed how Erin was about to slip. I could hear the pounding against my ribs as I used all my strength to pull chad up. Daniel got hold of Chad's upper arm, pulling him up further. the only problem as that Erin was slipping even further down. She was barely hanging on, eyes, full of fear as she looked at me. I took hold of Chad's other arm as he was almost over. hoping I could speed up the process.

Finally, he was over, barely able to hold onto Erin. "Swing your other arm up so that you can hold on to me!" Daniel instructed. With the little bit of strength she has left, she swung, Daniel catching her. We pulled her up, Alex doing a good job protecting us against the raging plastic humans. "Thanks," Erin said, still shaken.

"Where's Matthew?" Daniel asked. Now that I think about it, Matthew is nowhere to be seen, when he would usually be with the two.

"I need some help guys," Alex said, backing up as mannequins cornered us. I fished out a hard covered book and started whacking away at them. Each one fell stiffly onto the floor but they were able to stand up quickly, ready to attack. I rushed down the stairs, hoping that they could not go down them.

I stood on the top of the stairs and looked back to see them coming after me. However, once I reached around the middle of the stairs, they tumbled down straight past me and onto the bottom, where they could not get up. My friends caught up and were panting heavily. We were all tired from fighting and running, but we could not stop. I scanned the room for anyone else in danger but everyone seemed to be doing fine. Even Hannah was surprisingly fighting well. The only problem was Matt still could not be found.