𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒔 • 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 [2]

23•

The eight of us stood outside the Holloway's house and I cleared my throat before stepping forward to ring the doorbell, my mind filling with all the horrible thoughts of what we might find. When there was no answer I started to ring the bell repeatedly and impatiently, jerking back when the door slammed open on its own. "Thanks El." I sighed as I followed Nancy and Jonathan inside.

"Tom? Heather?" Nancy called, only to receive no reply.

"Jesus it's freezing." Max whispered, rubbing her hands over her arms as we walked through the house.

"Do you guys smell that?" Nancy suddenly said. I inhaled deeply and pulled a face as the aroma practically singed the inside of my nostrils. We continued down a corridor and stopped in our tracks at the scene before us. "Oh, oh God. More chemicals."

I stepped forward and picked up a half empty bottle. All the chemicals were spilled out and had eroded the surface that they were lying on. "Shots anyone?" I said dryly.

"You think they're guzzling this shit?" Jonathan asked as he picked up another bottle.

"Yeah, either that," Nancy answered, "or they just went on one hell of a cleaning spree."

"But Will didn't eat any chemicals last year," Max frowned, "did you?"

"Nope." Will shook his head. "This is something new."

"Mr. Clarke," Mike spoke, "fifth grade. Posit. What happens when you mix chemicals together?"

"Shit I remember that, you get a new substance." I nodded.

"Well, what if they're making something?" Mike asked as he stared at us with wide eyes.

"In themselves?" Max questioned, "I mean, come on. If you drink this crap it'll kill you."

"Yeah, if you're human." Lucas said.

"We should keep going." I mumbled to Nancy.

"Okay, this way." She motioned through a door and the two of us slowly entered the dining room. I glanced at the table, at where Billy sat just a few days before, before shaking my head and going over to Nancy.

"What is it?" I frowned before kneeling down beside her. There was a wine bottle lying in the middle of the floor and it had a dark, red smear on the label. "Is that-"

"Blood." Nancy finished as she diverted my vision and pointed to a small stain on the floor. "Yesterday. Tom had a bandage on his forehead."

I slowly picked up the wine bottle and examined the stain. "They attacked them."
I couldn't even be bothered to mask the sadness in my voice as I got to my feet. The others were gathered around us and I waited for Nancy to get up, but she was just staring straight ahead. "Nance?" I frowned, following her line of vision.

I let out a deep sigh as I slowly started to edge towards the door that was ajar. The creepy feeling in the pit of my stomach intensified as I tightly gripped the door knob. If this was a trap by the mind fucker, then I was so fucked. I stole a glance at the group before making a face and swinging the door open, only to reveal another door.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." I mumbled as I quickly swung open the second door. The others were behind me now as we entered what appeared to be a garage, making a circle formation once we noticed a piece of rope on the ground.

Jonathan knelt down and held the rope in his hand. "They must have tied them," he said, "they must have taken them somewhere."

"Mrs. Driscoll," Nancy spoke, "she kept saying...'I have to go back'...what if the flaying, it's taking place somewhere else? There must be a place where all this started, right? A source."

"Somewhere he didn't want me to see." El added.

"Right, so if we find the source," I continued, "we can stop the bastard- or at least stop it from spreading, or doing whatever the shit he's doing with those chemicals."

"Yeah, but we don't know where it is." Max pointed out, causing me to sigh.

"Well," Will said, a mischievous look in his eye, "if Mrs. Driscoll wants to go back so badly then, why don't we let her."