A Message to Scott Cawthon: Reimagined

Chapter Thirteen

Will's legs were burning by the time they realised. "Guys!? Where's Baz!?"

Everyone had slowed to a halt and looked behind them at the shaded road. A gentle wind hissed through the trees as if to say, "He's not here." The adrenaline drained from Ryan's system and a powerful urge to cry came over him. He broke away from the group and began to sprint back towards the cabin. Rhys pulled him back.

"What are you doing!? I need to go and get him!" Ryan spat angrily, pulling his way out of the Scotsman's bear like grip.

"It's not going to help if we don't know what to do, Ryan!" Will replied for Rhys. "We need to think this through; carefully, but fast. Definitely think this through fast... uh..." the musician blinked a few times. "What the f*** are we supposed to do right now!?"

"We just need to go back and storm the cabin or something!"

"We're not the f***ing FBI, Ryan, how well do you think that's going to go?"

"W-well sitting here, a-and doing nothing won't help either!" Ryan stated, his fear making him stutter. "There's three of us and one of him."

"There were four of us before we all got tied up, Ryan!" Rhys said quietly.

"That was because he got us by surprise! If we go now, we can do the same to him! Right?"

"What, tie him up?"

"No! We..." Ryan sighed, realising how ridiculous his argument was sounding. Lewis was going to be expecting them, there was no doubt about it. He ran his hands through his hair. "We just can't leave Baz there though!"

"No one said we were leaving him! Jesus Christ, Ryan! We're going back for him, there's no doubt about that."

They waited in a momentary, thoughtful silence.

"It's not just Baz we need to worry about getting help to. Lewis needs..." An ambulance? The police? "...something. And we hardly look that good. Except for me of course!" Rhys said with an attempt of a smile as he tried to lighten the mood. "How is everyone actually feeling?"

"Is this really the time for that right now?"

"No, seriously. Guys, our friend technically just kidnapped us and held us hostage. What position does that put us in? How are we supposed to feel? What are we supposed to do!?"

Ryan looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. "I just... what happened? Was this literally about the game? 50/20 mode? How did he suddenly just snap?"

Will's face dawned on realisation. "It wasn't sudden," he whispered. His face washed over with a mask of fury. "It wasn't f***ing sudden! There were loads of signs beforehand!"

Rhys looked at the musician curiously. Ryan had a general idea of what was about to be said.

"Think about it! He wasn't eating, he either didn't fall asleep or fell asleep randomly, he kept becoming distant... we had the signs that something was wrong!" Will looked at Ryan. "That very first day, Ryan. You were right."

"Wait, what do you mean 'he was right'?"

"I thought something was wrong with him after the river ride..." Ryan explained, his voice trailing away. Rhys ignored the slight sense of betrayal at his two friend's secrecy.

"This is crazy..." Will murmured, holding the back of his head in concentration. "This is f***ing crazy..."

"Okay... we need help, Baz needs help, Lewis needs help. Does anyone have a phone on them?" he asked, despite how un-useful one would be. Will and Ryan shook their heads. "Okay, the closest place to us is the reception..."