Of Kings & Queens

We Were Doomed from the Start (The King is Dead)

Bob and Andy pulled open the heavy wooden door that lead down to the basement of Four Corners, which seemed to have gained weight since they last had to open it. Everyone had been down the stairs before, though Gerard hadn't gone as far as the others. He had only gone to the cells, though the kitchen wasn't far from them and was on the same level, if just a bit farther along. That was where they went first, getting food to eat for the day and allowing Gerard to rest. The bursts of adrenaline had worn him out, so he was much more tired than earlier.

"So, here's the kitchen, where we are now." Mikey had the brochure spread out and pointed to the bottom of the map, "This is at the end of the hall, as we know, but the message said that we need to go farther than this. That means there must be another way to go farther down, possibly in here, the cells, or just the hall. That means we'll have to split into groups the check everything while one stays behind."

"Why?" Ray asked.

"Simple. One, if a group gets caught somewhere, you won't be locked in because there isn't a lock on the door to the kitchen, so you can go after them. Two," Mikey gave a nod to Gerard, who was taking a nap on the table after eating a large meal, "Three, if Gervasius comes after us, you can get to us first and warn us. Underground, we have the advantage because, for some reason, ghost powers don't work too well down here."

"Then who's going to stay behind?" Pete asked.

"We'll need to draw straws, since I think it'd be safe enough for you guys to stay here if you and 'Trick wanted without getting hurt too much, Pete."

"Does uncooked spaghetti work?" Patrick went over to a random cabinet and took out a box of the item.

"Sure, but how did you know that was there?"

"I took a look around the first time we were in here." The FOB singer poured the box out onto the table.

"Let's break them into certain sizes for each group." Andy suggested, already doing so, "Some in half, some with only a small part of the end off, some really short, and some we don't break at all. Not including Gerard, there's only 8 of us, so that would make 4 groups if we split evenly."

"Good idea." Frank nodded, "One group with Gee and three searching the hall and cells. The group that stays here can also check the kitchen for a way down." They continued to split the pieces of spaghetti the best they could before allowing Joe to hold the pieces in his hand. They had mixed up the pieces so no one knew what they were getting before they began drawing. These were the results of the drawing: Patrick and Pete got long (stay behind), Mikey and Frank got half (search the hall), and Joe, Andy, Ray, and Bob got the half short and half long ones (search the cells).

"Stay safe." The bands cautioned each other as they prepared to leave, especially Pete and Patrick. Most were uneasy leaving their friends alone, being as they were the ones most wanted by Gervasius, but they trusted Montresor's words on how ghosts didn't do as well underground. Grabbing the torch they had left behind after entering the kitchen, Pete lit it again with his lighter (it had burned itself out) and off they went.

"I never thought we'd have to go through something like this again." Patrick muttered quietly after a few moments, trying not to wake Gerard.

"What do you mean?" Pete was already examining the floor and walls while Patrick stayed beside Gerard.

"The Youngblood Chronicles. Honestly, I'm glad what happened in those videos stayed fiction, but here..." Patrick swallowed nervously, "We can really die here, Pete. This isn't a video we're filming, this isn't Sixteen Candles or Youngblood Chronicles, there's no vampires or happy endings with Elton John. This is real life, and I'm scared of the consequences."