Dangerous Collaboration

Down The Hall

Nate and Mat burst into the room where everyone was sitting.

"Look at his eyes!" Nate thrust Mat forward.

"What about them?" Mark asked.

"They're brown!" Nate exclaimed.

"Haven't they always been brown?" Felix asked.

"Are we missing something here?" Thomas asked. 

"When Mat was attacking me, his eyes were green!" Nate explained. "I-I don't know how, but something happened to make him do everything that he did."

"You really expect us to believe that?" Pam asked. "How do we know he didn't just put contacts in?"

"If I really was homicidal, why would I put contacts in?" Mat asked. "You all know me well enough. I don't even know what happened, but I wasn't in control. And how else would you explain my behaviour?" 

"Wait," Ken said. "You guys think, maybe he was possessed?"

"Whatever, it was, he was under the influence of something," Nate concluded. "We just don't know what, or how this could have happened."

"Food's ready," Sean said, poking his head into the room.

"Do you think you might have been poisoned?" Nate asked Mat as the others got up.

"Why would it only have been him though?" Signe asked. Apparently, she had heard them. "Unless he was targeted."

Nate and Mat froze. They looked at each other as they both considered that.

"Do you think you were targeted?" Nate asked. "I mean, it's definitely possible, but--"

"Who would want to target me?" Mat finished for him. 

Nate hesitated, then spoke again. "I don't know. But I have another question--was it personal? Or were you just the test subject?"

Mat let the words sink in, then gave a tiny nod. "And who's going to be next?"

Everyone was on edge that night. Nate and Mat had relayed their thoughts and conversation at the dinner table. Pentatonix went to bed, as did Pam, Liza, Ethan, and Thomas. Most of the remaining YouTubers sat in silence, except for Mat. He couldn't seem to sit still with all the questions floating around in his mind.

"It doesn't make sense," Mark said, breaking the silence.

"What part?" Jack muttered.

"Any of it, really," Felix answered for him. "The only thing I can think of is that he must have been possessed by something."

"But that doesn't explain the doors disappearing," Link put in. "How does that even happen?"

"I don't know," Amy said. "But we've got to figure this out before somebody else gets hurt."
  
 
 
Cristina startled awake at the sound of something down the hall.

"What the heck was that?!" She said out loud.

"You heard it too?" Nate sat up in bed.

They looked at each other in confusion as they listened for it again.  Then they heard it again. A chilling scream. And it came from down the hall.

They both got up quickly and bolted out of the room. Whoever it was screamed again, this time, more audibly. Nate and Cristina dashed down the hall, wondering what was really going on, but also more terrified than anything.

They nearly smacked right into Mark and Jack, who had also come to investigate.

"Who is it?" Nate asked, admittedly, a little scared.

"This is giving me some Deja Vu," Mark said.

Suddenly, another scream pierced the air, and Pam darted out of the room next to them. Her face was white with fear, and she stumbled right into Sean, almost completely unaware that he was there.

"Whoa! Where's the fire?" Jack asked, grabbing into Pam's wrists and trying to steady her.

"No fire, just--BLOOD!" Pam pulled herself away from Sean and looked back at the room from further down the hall.

"What are you--?"

Before Mark could finish, Liza emerged from the room that she and Pam were sharing. She looked stunned and disgusted--and she was covered in a red liquid. Pam was right; it was blood.

Cristina shrieked and stepped back. Nate let his mouth open in shock, and the other two guys stepped away as well. Liza just looked at the group and started to shake.

"What happened?" Nate asked.

"I don't know!" Liza forced out. "I was asleep--and then--then suddenly this stuff is being poured on me from our of nowhere-- and then-and then--"

She sounded a bit like a broken record the way she was repeating things.

"Where did it come from?" Cristina asked.

"More importantly--whose is it?!" Jack added. His face was looking a little green-- like he was going to throw up at any second.

"We need to make sure everyone is okay," Mark stated. "Jack, do you and Nate want to go check on all the guys?"

As Jack bolted, with Nate on his heels, Cristina said, "Pam and I will gather up the girls and make sure they're okay."

As the two of ran to some of the other girls, Mark stepped up to Liza, who was still frozen in place. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Within minutes, almost everyone was wide awake and sitting in the living room. Liza, now clean, sat on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest. Jack and Pam sat on the couch, as they waited for Nate and Cristina to come back. Everyone else sat in silence as Mark filled them in. The big questions were, "Who's blood was it?" and "Where did it come from?"

Nate and Cristina finally emerged into the room, but no one was with them.

"I couldn't find Kirsten," Cristina admitted.

"Scott, Mitch, Matt, and Kevin are also gone," Nate added.

"So basically, all of Pentatonix are MIA," Ken concluded.

"Yeah, basically," Nate said.

"Well, we need to find them!" Mark said. "I mean, what if it was their blood?!"

"That would explain why there was so much..." Pam murmured.

"I say we split up," Phil suggested.

"Phil!" Dan said. "That's a horrible idea! What if one of us is next?"

"That would mean that one of us is a killer," Bob said.

There was a stunned silence. His words sunk deep and triggered a fear that a few of them already had. No one wanted to believe him, but everyone was too paranoid to count out that it was a possibility.

The silence was suddenly broken by a faint melody. Heads shot up as everyone looked around for the source. It was a low voice; a bass. It was then accompanied by a harmony. A tenor maybe. Then a third voice; a female's. Finally, a fourth voice joined.A soprano, but not a female. It was with that fourth voice that everyone suddenly clued in.

A few people  got up and glanced outside. The song was coming from down the hall. And suddenly, the voices were matched to faces. Mitch was walking down the hall, head slumped to the side, but continuing to sing. Scott appeared at the other end. Kirstie appeared behind Mitch, and Mat appeared as if from nowhere, with Kevin wandering up behind Scott. Something was off about the way they walked.

Not to mention the fact that their eyes were glowing bright blue.