In Cold Blood | Apply Fic

Chapter Fourteen: And Then There Were Fewer

For the first few moments, no one moves. They all feel confused about if the situation was natural or caused by the man hunting them. After a moment, Flynn releases Roselyn and stumbles over to the fireplace, unplugging the music iPod from the speaker. He turns on the flashlight, shining it around the room.

"I'm assuming that no one has their phone on them so we are so damn limited on light sources right now," Flynn scoffs. "So we either need to either go upstairs and everyone needs to get their phones or we go through the drawers in the kitchen and dining room for flashlights."

"Dining room and kitchen first," Rosalynn says. "That iPod is nowhere near enough light to get us through the house safely."

"What did we do with the flashlight I used to make sure Milo didn't have a concussion?" Roselyn asks.

"I think you took it into the kitchen when you and Flynn walked off then didn't bring it back," Sara offers.

"Then let's fucking go."

Roselyn turns and walks off, heading for the kitchen. Flynn immediately takes off after her. Rosalynn and Ethan are quick to follow. Sara takes one step towards where the group is headed but stops when she notices Milo not moving. She hesitates, staying behind to make sure Milo isn't alone.

"What's wrong?" Sara asks. "Why aren't we staying with the rest of the team?"

"I just- I don't like the idea that we're not alone up here. Yeah, I know I've been denying it but it's because I'm so fucking scared that we're being hunted down. Eli, Bubba, and Rory were hunted down and killed. I can't help but feel responsible for Eli and Rory. If I would have gone with Eli to get beers-"'

"You would've been attacked as well," Sara interrupts.

"And if I wouldn't have been a bitch and just came with you guys-"

"The man would have still found a way to get to him. Baby, there's nothing you could've done."

Sara reaches through the darkness, finding Milo's face. She pulls her into a kiss, trying to calm and distract her.

A beam of light cuts through the dark, blinding Sara and Milo as they pull away from each other.

"Come on, Love Birds," Ethan mocks. "We got shit to do."

He tosses a flashlight to them, Milo barely managing to catch it. The rest of the group comes into the room, debating their next step.

"So we now have three light sources. So what next?" Flynn asks.

"Well, how do we think that the power got shut off?" Roselyn asks. "Do we think the generator got killed or is there a fuse box that got tampered with?"

"Easy. Fuse box," Rosalynn offers. "I mean, come on. Flynn says it's a fifteen minute walk to the shed. You wouldn't walk to kill power then have fifteen minutes for your prey to strategize. You want panic. Luckily for us, we're kind of beyond all the initial jumpy, freakout stage."

"Someone needs to be that guy so I volunteer," Ethan sighs. "I think we need to split up and-"

"Are you a fucking moron, Ethan?" Rosalynn snaps. "I get that you're used to being the Big Man on Campus who's not scared of anything but no. We don't split up."

"Listen for two seconds before cutting me off. Three of us go into the basement, three of us go upstairs. Upstairs grabs cell phone in case the downstairs people can't get the power back on."

"So why don't we all go to try and turn the power back on, then if it doesn't work, we can all go to grab our cell phones," Sara suggests.