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twenty-four

KAYDEN WATCHED IN HORROR AS THE DOOR TO THE DARK ROOM BURST OPEN AGAIN, AND KYLE STROLLED BACK INTO THE ROOM, HIS FACE CONTORTED IN RAGE. Before Kayden could do anything, Kyle had undone the ropes wound tightly around her wrists and positioned a knife at her throat. He jerked her back in the direction of the door, towards the outside, and as Kayden tried as best as she could to look around at her surroundings, she realized with a jolt where they were.

They were in the cabin in the woods where the horrible double slaying had happened a couple of years before, rocking the town of Slayden to its core. Kayden looked wildly around as Kyle shoved her out the front door, knocking her to her knees and pressing the blade of the knife into her neck.

She tried as best as she could to look up, and she heard Aiden let out a shout of, "No!"

"Everyone get the fuck inside," Kyle hissed next to her ear. "Or I swear, I will slit her throat."

There was a silence as Kayden shakily swallowed, and then she heard the sound of footsteps shuffling towards the cabin. Feet went unsteadily by her, and her heart jolted when Aiden said through tightly clenched teeth, "I'm going to fucking kill you."

She could practically hear Kyle smirking. "Are you?"

There was a moment of silence, and Kayden knew Aiden was keeping himself in check from boiling over because of the knife closely positioned to kill her. She waited, holding her breath, before he turned and stormed inside as well. The last person came up, and Kayden recognized Jackson's voice as he said, "One of them got away."

"What?" Kyle asked, his fingers digging into Kayden's shoulder blades. "Who?"

"A girl," Jackson said. "The girl who's girlfriend I tore apart. She ran through the woods the second I came outside, and she got away before I could do anything."

Kyle was silent before he yanked Kayden to her feet and threw her inside, snarling to Jackson, "Well, let's get this shit over with then."

Kayden's palms knocked against the floor, and she heard Gen shriek as Jackson slammed the door closed. Surely they could fight them- there were only two of them, after all.

But as she raised her head off the ground, she saw with horror that Hudson was being held up by Milo, a gash on the side of his head that had obviously been done to him in the forest. Reed had backed Gen into a corner and was shielding her, his body as close to her own as possible without crushing her as he tensed, waiting for something, anything to happen.

"Well," Kyle said, brushing off his hands as if they'd just finished a tennis match and were going to get drinks. "This worked out exactly according to plan- besides one minor detail."

His gaze came to rest on Aiden, who looked awful. His knuckles were bleeding, and his mouth twisted into a glower as Kyle said softly, "Maybe two."

He slipped his hands around Kayden, lifting her to her feet as he practically threw her at Jackson, who's rough palms came to rest on the sides of her face as he forced her head up to look at Kyle, who came to a stop in front of Aiden.

Aiden's voice was low and flat, sounding like a completely different version of his own. "I would break your fucking neck in half if you didn't have the one thing I care about being thrown around before me, you sick fuck."

Kyle laughed, looking around at the terrified teenagers. "Really? I don't think you understand who you're dealing with here, O'Conner."

He took a step back, and he looked around at Casey, who was clutching Holland's hand. "It's a shame. Rivers was so close to joining us too."