Orlando, Florida
July 3, 2019
Roughly 12:30am EST
They walk over the railroad tracks and into the deserted Deception Hill area. At once they spot the Masquerade Fast-querade coaster, the tall tower that marks the attraction known as the Disguise Drop and the second railroad station.
"I know that the place is abandoned and all and we shouldn't go on any of the attractions, but couldn't we at least try to use the coaster and have some fun?" Colby asks. "If I'm going to die, I'd rather die having fun!"
Brendan shoots the tiger cub a look.
"Point taken, message received, forget I asked," Colby grumbles.
"He's got a good point though," Jonne remarks.
Ross shakes his head. "Are you a moron? You're just asking for trouble!"
Brendan halts by the spot where Taylor Raddysh had been brutally killed earlier. And they can look across to where Mitch Hults died. The odd thing is that neither body is there anymore.
There is a strobing light anomaly that pulsates on the brick exterior, toward the middle section of the tower. It catches the eye of Tayler Thompson, who breaks from the line and runs for the Disguise Drop tower with a childish 'eeee'.
"Dammit, Tayler!" Brendan hisses out.
He skids to a halt at the base and looks up, seeing spiderwebs decorating the framing of a hole in the brick that acts as a window for the thrill riders. In fact there are a total of five windows, including one at the tip top (probably where the ride once halted for a scenic view of the park).
"Keep an eye on TT," Brendan orders. "Also, can anyone think of the next line for the poem. Obviously it'll be like 'Eight professional hockey players...something, something, something...and then there were seven.'"
Boris shrugs, tightly clenching onto Alex's hand.
Colby and Timo are looking toward TT.
Jonne and Ross share a look with one another.
TT's head cocks to one side as he stares at an unknown (well, known only to him) object to the side of him, before he takes off around the side of the giant tower. He vanishes out of sight, around the back of it.
"C'mon!!" Brendan shouts out.
They all rush forward as they can hear TT gasp, "OMG! You're the killer?!" Then there is a loud, ear-piercing scream and another gasp. The rest of the group whirls around the tower and finds TT lying in a pool of blood. He's been cut in half by a sword.
The sword just so happens to be laying a few feet from the body and right at the base of a rack full of other weapons.
Ross points at TT. "Look!" There is another piece of paper that is jammed into TT's clenched fist.
Jonne reaches down and plucks it out and unravels it to read to the others:
"Eight professional hockey players thought there was only little time to find the killer,
One was in the wrong place at the wrong time and then there were seven."
"Great...!?"
That doesn't help any...
Brendan spins around, trying to see if there is any other sign or maybe the perpetrator running away -- TT had definitely spotted the killer and knew who it was. He sees nothing but the eerily abandoned attractions and TT's body that lies in the middle of where the Masquerade Fast-querade coaster, Disguise Drop tower and railroad tracks are located in Deception Hill. (Yeah, deception is a perfect name for this area!)
"You know what?" Timo remarks, sitting on his haunches and swiftly licking a paw. "The asshole might as well just come for us. Pick us all off. There's no sense in sticking together, splitting up, trying to escape, escaping...NOTHING."
"Shhhh," Ross hisses. "We found the killer's weapon stash! Everyone grab one, at least now, if the bastard attacks us, we're armed. If someone can end up cutting the guy, then we'll be able to tell who the killer is and then we can attack and kill them. Then just make it until dawn, flag someone down and viola!"
Ross snatches up his weapon, a long and sharp, jagged dagger. He admires it, smirking at his own cleverness.
"Ross Colton, you're a genius!" Boris growls out.
Brendan nods, slapping Ross on the back.
"So? Shall we continue through the park?" Ross questions, plunging the sword in his grasp into the air like he is a military general announcing 'charge!'
Brendan snatches up a stick with a spiked ball on one end. "Yeah."
Boris picks up two medium-sized daggers.
Jonne choses a bow and arrow.
"You're choosing a bow and arrow?" Timo inquires.
"Yes, I am. Not all of us have deadly daggers attached to our hands, Wolverine. And plus, I'm better at shooting and using this than Katniss Everdean, Hawkeye and Green Arrow combined!"
Timo snorts. "Whatever you say, Finn."
Jonne plucks an arrow from his quiver and draws it in the bow, taking aim at Timo. It stays for a second, before it falls from place.
Timo blurts out laughing. Colby joins him.
"I-I did that on purpose," Jonne remarks. "I'm saving my real skill for an actual attack."
"So where to?" Brendan cuts in, changing the subject.
Jonne struggles to put the arrow back in the quiver, without taking the canister off and sticking the arrow back inside. So graceful.
"Let's head to Canada!" Alex says, putting his hands on his hips. "I think there might be some clues there! Plus, I've just been super curious about what the Canada-attraction looks like, even in its decaying state."
****
Did anyone guess Tayler Thompson as the potential killer in the end? If so, sorry, he isn't the killer either... :)
Time to make another guess (and feel free to comment guesses below) as we will soon move onto the next murder here!!
YOU ARE READING
And Then There Was One (2019)
Mystery / Thriller21 ice hockey players for the NHL, AHL and ECHL are either kidnapped by force or tricked into coming to the mysteriously abandoned "Masquerade Island" theme park. When they arrive, they learn that the host is nonexistent and that they've been abando...
