There Was Blood

Chapter 8

I almost screamed, but my mouth was shielded by the hands of the girl with blue hair. "Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you." She assured me in a mellow whisper.

"Then, why are you here?" She lifted onto her feet and held out her hand for me. I resisted for a second but then took it. She guided me to the same vehicle that followed us, attacked us. "What's going on?" I added. She took out her weapons to which I backed away and popped my hands up. Then she dropped them onto the dirt.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to give you something important." Soon after, she reached deeper into the vehicle and took out a piece of paper. "Many know that when you find a key, it gives you a clue to the next key. But what they don't know it that the first one is a false clue. I found this in a red wine bottle." She handed me a small note that read; Take a gander, take a look at the crimes and the crooks. Stop and smell the pretty, pink roses. Chaos feeds those flowers.

"Why are you giving this to me? You can use it to find the other keys." I questioned.

"My teammate doesn't want the keys for what I want. She wants to use them to kill off the whole town a create a new one for her benefit. I want peace. And I know you can help because I know who you are." She looked at me with full, brown eyes. Her blue hair gave her a flattering light brown complexion. It really made her look pretty. "You're Ruby's sister, the one who wants to end The Hunter's game." This time her voice was a soft whisper as if people were listening in.

"I'm sorry, you must be mistaken. My sister was killed a couple years ago. I haven't seen her since." I laughed in utter disbelief.

"Allow me to introduce myself; I'm Annabelle Hewitt. And you must be Danielle Demetria. Ruby used to talk about you none stop until she accidentally spilled your plans to my partner, Avery. Then she brainwashed Ruby with beatings until she completely forgot about you." What this woman, Annabelle was saying, is that my sister, Ruby Gardenia Sage Demetria, had been alive while I was mourning her disappearance. My brain exploded in relief but was chased with fear as of where my brother could have actually been. I wonder where he is. I leaned closer to Annabelle.

"Annabelle, would you like to join my crew?" I inquired. She chimed and celebrated as quietly as she could. That would mean we now had 5 people all trying to save the town. This would be easier for me to complete this whole journey of the unknown. We slithered back to the campsite of blankets and sleeping bodies.

When the sun fluttered back into the sky, I heard a scream shattering my skull. Then footsteps stomped beside my ear. I opened my eyes to see Cait holding up her knife to Belle who held a gun. "Put the weapons down!" I shouted. "Guys, meet the new member of our crew who actually does want to be in our group; Annabelle." Belle slowly dropped her gun while Cait still gripped her knife.

"How do we know she isn't a rat? What if she is trying to find out our secrets?" Cait insisted.

"Because she told me something personal last night," I confessed.

"Oh yeah? What was it?" I looked over at Ruby who settled down on a rock, entertained by a worm.

"She gave me this." I pulled out the riddle from my pocket and projected it to the others.

"This makes no sense. I don't see how it's useful."

"The other riddle was a dead end. This is a real deal." Cait wasn't convinced. She had a feeling about the girl. I didn't know what was wrong.

"It's the bench next to the gas station at Six Twelve, the small food store. It has a quote about chaos on it. Avery doesn't know about it. I found it before I knew her." Belle added. Cait sighed. We started up the Jeep and gathered everything. Doug sat next to Ruby and Belle. It looked like Belle and Doug were really hitting it off. I whispered to myself, doubtingly, as I pulled the shift stick.

"Come on, Belle, please be right."