There Was Blood

Chapter 9

We stopped at the somehow decent Six Twelve that looked empty. "Come on, let's look around." Doug insisted. Cait and I didn't really have a good memory of small food stores with gas stations.

The bench of cedar wood chipped away from each second time past. The arms were a curled pattern painted black with a little rust revealed. It seemed more and more like a ghost town than a thriving town. This game was eating away at the buildings and the people.

"Guys, this is our last day to find the rest of the keys. We better make it worth our while." Ruby claimed. We looked everywhere. But, the key was nowhere to be found. Not under the bench, not in the flakes of paint, not buried in the grass around the bench. Cait, Belle and I stamped our butts onto the sitting area.

"I think this game has whooped our behinds, don't you?" I asked, looking around at everyone. Ruby still searched around. She was a persistent one. Just like mom.

"We can't stop now. Don't you know what happens when the clock strikes midnight?" I perked my head up.

"No..."

"At midnight, everything resets. The notes, the keys, even the places where everything was. We can't keep them or go back to where we went because it won't be there next time. " Ruby spoke new news to me. Why hadn't I know this before? More importantly, how did she know?

"Well then what do we do?" Belle pitched in. I stood up confidently.

"We find the keys!" Suddenly, we started looking farther; to the trees, the front of the store, the gas station. Until I notice something suspicious. Everything was old and falling, except for the gold plate the quote fell on. It wasn't even screwed in all the way.

I pried my fingers behind the plate and pulled slightly. "Guys?" I called. Something shimmered in the crack. "Guys, I found the key!" There it was; a silver key with a fancy bow pattern. I shook I until a slip of paper fell out.

"This is your last clue. If you want to finish the plan, go back to where it all began." It read. Cait slapped her hands to her sides and slouched.

"Great, we don't know what beginning it's talking about. How is that helpful?" I rubbed my eyes, the sun was finally coming out to play.

"Maybe it's talking about the origins of The Hunter's Game." Doug thought. That was a great idea! However, no one knew the origins. "I guess that means we'll need to catch up at the library?"

"Finally something smart outta you." Cait hissed. I handed Cait the second key which she put in the big, brown boot. We made our way to the Jeep and headed to the public library.

Silence filled the car and so did tension. I tried to break it with some nice tunes, but when I switched on the radio, there was no music. Only the sounds of voices non stop chattering about the life or death game. So, my next action was talking. "So, uh, Ruby, remember your parents at all?"

"No, they died before I could really get to know them. And they were out a lot, especially during the game." That just proved more that she was my sister. Our mom was a doctor, and our dad was a mechanic, so they didn't have much time with us. "But, I kind of remember my sister taking care of us."

"Awww, she must be sweet."

"Nah, she was bossier." Brat! I needed to change the subject before I said too much.

"Anyway, Belle, are you sure Avery isn't onto us?" Belle swiftly peeked up from her thumb war with Doug. Then she nudged him off.

"Yeah, yeah, but if she does find us... we might not be alive for the last key."

"Good to know then." The jeep came to a halt when I made eye contact with the tall, book-filled building. I Hopped out first and indicated that we should step in. The place looked abandoned. I guess it would be a great hideout for anyone who wasn't willing to play since the library was known for being boring. I, on the other hand, lived for books. They gave me a world that took my mind off the pain of the game.

Everyone looked lost as if they hadn't seen books before. I raced to the section about The Hunter's Game because this was the town to have one of those. When I checked the section to where the origins could be, it was empty.

"Ok? Where is it?" Cait asked.

"I don't know it's supposed to be here." I checked one more time. Nothing. There wasn't even a book on the man who started this whole catastrophe.

"Well, that's inconvenient."