Linda Vista Community Hospital

"Link?" Tia asked, turning around in time to see her friend pass out. She quickly dropped her flashlight. It clattered to the floor loudly, echoing down the long hallway. It shone directly on the unconscious girl. "Link!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, making her throat feel raw. She kneeled down, ready to help their friend when she noticed that she was having convulsions. Violent spasms shook her body as Tia started screaming again.

This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening... It was all just a nightmare. Just a nightmare. She wasn't in a hospital, she was in her bed at home. Her idiot brother was right next door, and she just couldn't wake up. Or it was all just a joke, something they had planned from the beginning to freak her out, yes? No. Of course not, not now. Link couldn't pull this off. Heck, only screwed up Hollywood, which each of them lived so close to could. And this wasn't Hollywood. It was real.

Real? Tia gasped at the thought, the realization, that it was real. All of this. Her friend, now bloody and dying (or dead), lay before her. The whites of her eyes was all that she could see. It was a terrible sight. Blood pooled around her, which could be seen from the light of the flashlight. It was bright red... And Tia was kneeling right in it. The liquid covered her jeans, causing her to let out a squeak of terror. Not a horror movie, not a movie, real. Everything was real. They were doomed, weren't they?

"May, we-" Tia turned to see a dead Andrew laying at the feet of a shocked MayLin. "Oh my gosh. What the-?" She was quickly cut off by something grabbing her hoodie and throwing it over her face. She screamed, trying to get it off of her. But the force held it tight, blinding her as she stumbled around. She tripped on Link's body, falling over her and hitting her head hard on the ground.

She groaned, sitting up and taking off her hoodie quickly. Tia tossed it aside, looking around and noticing that her flashlight had turned itself off, as had the one Andrew had had. It was dark. "May? We need to get out of here. Forget the asylum idea, we need to find Emmett and the others before they get-" She was cut off again by an entity throwing her back against the wall, towards the cabinets with the human remains. "No! Let me go!" she screamed, close to tears now. "Leave us alone. Go back to your room. Take your meds." An invisible male voice roared at her. She let out a small cry, then was released by the spirit and fell to the floor behind May.

Tia moaned, then started sobbing. "It can't be real. I'm dreaming. May, please tell me I'm dreaming. I want to leave." She wasn't typically one for emotional breakdowns, but right now she couldn't handle it. Ghosts were real. She was trapped in an abandoned, haunted hospital. At least two of her best friend were dead. The worst part was that her stupid decision from earlier to split up. If it wasn't for that, they would all be fine right now. They wouldn't have found anything, and they would all go home. No more ghosts, they would just be another fictional thing in horror movies and tv shows.

But they were real. They were here. and they wanted her dead. Now. Tia continued to cry, not realizing that May was still even there, or that she was covered in blood. Her body involuntarily shivered from the cold air down here, combined with the spirits of doctors and patients alike being near here. What had happened to these people? Why were they still here? Tia didn't know the answers to the questions as she desperately groped around for her flashlight. Life had thrown her into a horrible position right now, but it was only going to get worse.

Matt had searched through two drawers - well, searched through one, broken another, it was currently lying by his feet - and had moved onto the third when he heard a sound from behind him that sounded awfully like a door slamming. It didn't sound too far away either. Whipping around with an unidentifiable object still in his hand, Matt groaned when he saw yes, the door to his room had slammed shut and didn't look like it was moving any time soon. "Aw, come on!" Dropping the object, the boy moved over to the door just in time to hear Emmett's voice promising to get him out. "You'd better be quick about it! As much as I love being cooped up like one of the old patients here..." For a few moments Matt's fingers scrabbled against various parts of the door such as the old handle and the wood itself. Briefly, Matt wondered if he could kick through it, or at least put some piece of furniture to it, but after a few test kicks he had to give in and limp away. Sighing, he carefully adjusted the knife that was still tucked in his belt before sitting down on the bed, wincing at the creak. Well, all he could do for now was wait for Emmett or Kat to bust him out, if they were even out themselves. Which they must be. Not very heroic of him to sit here, no, and certainly more than a little embarassing, but what else could he do?

It was after a few minutes of waiting that Matt started to get slightly worried. Neither of his two friends out there had short term memory loss as far as he knew, so what they hell were they doing? If they were leaving him in here as a joke, it wasn't funny. Restless, Matt shot to his feet, starting to pace up and down. It was on his fifth time back towards the bed that Matt noticed something lurking behind the wardrobe that looked suspiciously like... a window? He wasted no time, heading over to the offending piece of furniture and starting to push it out of the way. It took a few goes, and an almost superhuman effort on his part - amazing what adrenaline can do to you - but Matt made it. God knows why the wardrobe had been in front of the window. Maybe the ex-patient didn't like sunlight or something. The window itself was useless, with only half the glass remaining. That was easily dealt with, thanks to a few pieces of wood being thrown through. Matt took a step forwards, but actually hesisitated - was this a good idea? They were on one of the higher floors, after all... but since when had Matt answered to logic? Imagine Emmett and Kat's faces if they opened the door to this room to find it empty, and then he appeared on the stairs nearby. A smirk grew on his face as he thought through this, which quickly developed into a grin as he hoisted himself up and carefully started to ease his leg through the window. And then another. Careeeeeeeefully edge his hips through... a blast of wind smacked Matt's face at that exact moment, causing him to close his eyes for a few moments. It was long enough for him to lose grip with one hand though, causing him to lose his sense of balence completly and wobble. Oh god, he was going to fall out of the window, he was going to fall from god knows what height! - which was when Matt felt a sharp tug on the back of his t-shirt and he fell backwards - into the room, straight onto his spine. Rolling over, groaning in thanks for whatever mysterious force had saved his life, Matt looked up to see, after all his efforts, the door had swung open. Typical...

"Guys?" Matt stepped out into the hallway, face scrunched up in confusion as he continued slowly. The silence was starting to creep up on him, and Matt shuddered, removing the knife from his belt. Hey, it gave himself something to grip onto tightly for support... Matt frowned as he noticed and approached another door, one that he didn't think had been open before. "Guys? You in here-" Matt cut off as he bumped into Kat's back, quickly moving around her - and coming face to face with a boy he'd never seen before. Matt stared at the stranger for a few moments before his eyes slid down - and his heart jolted. Okay, so Emmett hadn't really liked Matt and vice versa, but seeing his broken body at his feet was a little more than unnerving. Slowly, Matt looked up at the boy, noticing he was holding a weapon. It didn't take a genius to figure this out, and it didn't take long for Matt to make a decision. "Go!" He yelled at Kat, diving forwards and easily tackling the boy to the ground. The implications - and possible side effects - of this attack would soon appear, but for now, all Matt cared about was getting Kat out and punishing this guy.

Devan looked frozen in place, his eyes glued to the room across the hall where the door creaked open and the dark-haired boy now stepped out.
"Guys?" He called for his two companions. Devan glanced from the blonde boy on the floor, who now had a red puddle forming around his head, to the redheaded girl still in the hall. The boy across the hall squinted in the darkness and moved forward, brushing past his remaining friend and stepping into the room to nearly walk right into his wild-haired adversary. As their eyes met, Devan followed his gaze downward where they both stared at the dead boy for a moment. He caught a slight jump in the boy's form as it appeared to sink in what had gone on.

Catching a glimpse of fury in the boy's eyes, Devan barely had time to start taking a step back. Just as his arm moved to raise his bloodied crowbar he felt an impact that knocked the breath out of him for another second, and next he knew he had hit the floor. Devan squirmed, maneuvering while he still had the chance before his opponent got a good grip on him. He managed to elbow the boy in the collar just under his throat; though adrenaline always lent a helping hand in making up for the brute strength Devan lacked, he couldn't be sure it would be enough to get him out of this hold. His opponent also had adrenaline on his side, after all, and had a heavier build to begin with - all the more reason for Devan to get out from under him sooner. He was not built for wrestling and didn't want to be in the small room for a fight, either... The sooner he could wriggle out of the boy's tackle, the sooner he could move out to the hall where he would have more space, more escape routes, and a potential hostage if the girl there had not been scared off yet.

Something shining in his adversary's belt caught his attention. Devan's dark eyes smoldered with their own anger, then. Having maintained his grip on his crowbar but knowing it would be of little use at this close range, he dropped it. The crowbar clanged against the tile floor as Devan's long arm reached around his opponent to grab for his stolen kitchen knife. If he could get his hands on that, he might not need to get out of the boy's grip after all.

May stared at the white powder in disgust. "What i-" she was cut off by Link's soft voice. "... May, I don't feel so hot.... What did you fi-" called the little brunette. "Tia maybe we should take a break..." she looked back at Link, who had collapsed to the ground. May was shocked, her eyes had increased to ten times their original size. "Link!" she shouted, as the brunette began to shake violently. "Don't touch her" May barely managed to whisper. Her memories flooded back to when her mom told her not to touch a seizure victim. But May highly doubted Link was having a seizure.

May continued to stand. Her legs felt numb and were disobeying her command to move. That's when she felt blood splash onto her pale face. Gasping in horror, May realized Link had been cut down her stomach. It reminded her somewhat of a Freddy Krueger movie... But this wasn't something she could fast forward through. May had to watch every moment of pain her friend had, until finally, her hazel eyes rolled back into her head and she was... dead.

May's eyes darted away from Link as she felt something collapse against her feet. It was Andrew, blue faced, staring up at her. Without time to shed a tear, she heard Tia scream. "Tia!" May shouted, staring at the blue-haired girl who was being picked up by a spirit. "Put her down!" came the deep voice of May's previous outbursts. But this time, May had heard it...

Tia continued to be held by the ghost when a low, intimidating growl came from the back of May's throat. Tia was released, falling behind May. "It can't be real. I'm dreaming. May, please tell me I'm dreaming. I want to leave." the blue-haired girl sobbed. May slid down to Tia. "This is real. It's all real." she said, staring into oblivion.

"Really?" Tia snapped sarcastically at May. "Let's go before we die." She slowly stood up, looking around. "I lost my flashlight, but let's go. Oh, and please tell me you heard your voice that time. You sounded like a demon dog. But thanks. A lot." She wasn't the best at thank yous, and now wasn't the time to give one. They needed to find the others before they all ended up like Andrew and Link. She grabbed May's hand and started running back down the long hallway blindly, towards the stairs. By now May's injury wasn't even in her head.

She had completely forgotten about the broken stair and fell through again. She let out a short yelp and let go of May, falling forward onto her face. Blood covered the stairs as she yanked her foot out of the gap in the bottom stair again. "Stupid wood. Matt! Kat! Emmett!" Tia began screaming as she started running up the stairs two at a time. She didn't even stop to see if her friend was coming.

"Guys! We need to leave!" she yelled again, making her way into the hallway and looking around. All of the halls looked the same, she hardly knew which room they had come in. She ran into a wall, then a broken bed frame in the hall. "Emmett! Matt! Kat!" Tia yelled again, hoping her friends were ok. Her eyes scanned the darkness for any sort of trouble, though she had a feeling the spirits weren't going to openly show themselves.

Right from when he hit puberty Matt knew he'd always want to have strength on his side, and he'd get it too. Yes, he did get a little more exercise and working out done than lifting a game controller or reaching up to the top cupboard, thank you very much. Not that he needed much of it here. The guy underneath him - the guy who'd just killed Emmett, Matt noted again with gritted teeth - was a scrawny little thing. Only thing he probably had going for him was his apparent skill with weapons. That said, he seemed to know what he was doing physically. The attack at his throat made Matt gasp slightly, releasing his hold on the boy slightly, but not for long. If anything, it gave him an extra boost, grabbing both the boy's arms and pinning him to the ground, digging his knee into the other's stomach as a bonus. Once again Matt caught sigh of Emmett's body in the corner of his eye, causing them to narrow. His thoughts finally flickered to the knife that was still tucked in his belt, and once he'd locked onto it, well, Matt could think of nothing else except removing this threat from the world.

God dammit, his opponent was a slippery little thing. Both their hands scrabbled against Matt's side and the handle of the knife as the two boys struggled to get it first, Matt having the harder job of leaning away to make sure the other guy didn't get the knife while trying to pin him down and get the knife himself as well. His hand closed around the handle a few times, and he even managed to slide it out one time, but his stupid opponent always managed to throw a spanner in the works. Just as he got a firm grip, however, Tia's voice startled him. "Emmett! Matt! Kat!"

"Tia, get out of here! Go, now!" Matt yelled behind him - dropping the knife in the process. Damn! His fingers scrabbled along the floor of the room to get it again and stab this bastard in the head or similar, but it didn't look like he was going to get there first. Instead, Matt sat up slightly, lunging for the crowbar that had just been used as a murder weapon. His hand closed around it, and in the same motion, he swung it down towards the boy's head, hard. Sadly, Matt missed, cracking one of the tiles slightly with a rather satisfying sound. However, it seemed to have pissed someone off, as Matt was suddenly picked up by something and flung across the room. "I told you to run." Groaning, Matt looked up from being crumpled against the wall to see the woman from earlier leaning over him, something he would have questioned had she not picked him up by his t-shirt and pinned him to the wall. While struggling against her, Matt looked at the doorway where his friends were. "Go! All of you, just go!"

In a flash Devan found his arms pinned. He glowered up at his adversary, yet despite the dark look in his eyes the wild-haired youth was grinning. Grinning! After having his weapons stolen, being caught red-handed, tackled to the floor, and now pinned by an opponent who appeared to have the upper hand, Devan Breaj was grinning. He couldn't help it. It's been said the line between terror and humor is paper-thin, and for Devan this was especially so. In the midst of a fight he could frequently be found with a cheshire smile plastered over his lips; attacking, being attacked... It didn't make any difference to him. Violence, maybe even the notion of toying with death, was Devan's greatest source of joy.

He watched his opponent's eyes shift downward, then. The thief must have recalled the knife just as Devan noticed it. The both of them struggled to lunge for the weapon, though the dark-haired boy simultaneously had to work to keep Devan pinned. Then Devan's eyes widened and his smile began to fade as his adversary finally appeared to gain grip on the knife... But suddenly, a female voice from outside the room called three names. Kat must have been the redhead in the hall. Which left Emmett and Matt - one he had killed, the other he was wrestling, but he couldn't know which was which, not that it mattered to Devan.
"Tia, get out of here! Go, now!" The dark-haired boy sat up just slightly to call back to the newcomer, and, more importantly, he dropped the knife he had strived so desperately to grasp. Though Devan, too, had been momentarily distracted by Tia's shouting, he recovered quicker and snatched up the knife as quick as a striking snake. He would have gone for his opponent just as quickly with it if he hadn't glimpsed the boy grabbing for his crowbar. The stupid kid was just determined to steal his things. Devan rolled swiftly sideways, a movement that looked practiced, and narrowly avoided the solid KKRGHK of floor tiles that could have been his skull.

Devan raised into a crouch and was prepared to strike forward with the knife, but looked up to find his opponent suddenly absent. His gaze shifted to find the boy pushed against the wall by the lady who had appeared earlier. Then he followed the boy's eyes to the hall.
"Go! All of you, just go!" Devan cast a final dark look at the other boy before standing and racing out into the hall. Another girl was present now, this one blue-haired: Tia. Her eyes were squinting through the darkness; not yet grasping the situation, she was vulnerable. He rushed for her - now that he had his knife, taking a hostage would be all the easier. Though Devan was no track star, he had long legs to get him places fast and, when necessary, enough endurance to make an efficient getaway or pursue a target. When he ran he became little more than a tall, dark blur.

Tia looked around, following Matt's voice to the room instead of listening to him. Kat was standing like a sitting duck in the hallway, as Tia pushed past her and looked in. The darkness seemed overwhelming right now. There was a sudden noise and she yelped, jumping into the air and covering her ears. It was then that she spotted a bloody looking lump on the floor, which was none other than her sweet crush Emmett.

She glared at Matt, her eyes seeming to be oblivious to Devan (despite the fact that he was clearly crazy and trying to kill her friend). "Matt! Why the-?" she was cut off by a thud as Matt hit the wall and the ghastly image of a lady appeared. Tia inhaled sharply, staring at the ghost. They were visible too?! She started breathing heavily, still oblivious to the second prescence in the room. All she knew was that she didn't want this ghost attacking her as well. She was already covered in blood and aching from being thrown against the wall. Her throat felt raw.

But if Matt hadn't killed Emmet, then who had? She looked around, noticing the crazed looking boy with a knife in hand... Looking straight at her. She longed to move, to get out of here before she died. But she couldn't leave her friends here. And she just plain couldn't move. The blue haired girl stood terrified, frozen in place and staring into the eyes of a man who was surely a serial killer. "No," she croaked out, unable to take her eyes off of him and teh ghost lady. Her brown eyes darted back and forth furiously between the two, confusion and fear written all over her pale face.

The blue-haired girl was frozen like a deer in the headlights with eyes just as wide. At first Devan darted right past her, fast enough to create a short breeze accompanied by the subtle, minty smell of the toothpaste in his hair. But as soon as he was past the girl he turned sharply around, hooking an arm around her chest and tucking a knife under her chin centimeters from her throat. With his height and her small frame, she made for an easily restrained hostage.

The spirit effortlessly pinning Devan's only remaining male opponent gazed out into the hall after him with a distant look, as if absently pondering where the wild-haired youth was going. She cast a faint Mona Lisa smile before vanishing and releasing the boy who had been in her hold.

Devan's dark eyes flickered between Kat and the boy - Matt, as Tia had called him. So Emmett was the one he had killed... He glanced briefly at the body but didn't dare move his gaze from his adversaries for too long. He took a few slow steps back toward the stairs, pulling his blue-haired hostage with him between his arm over her chest and the knife at her throat, all the while maintaining eye contact with either of the other two intruders.

The truth was, Devan was not so certain of his game plan now that he had a girl under his knife. Taking hostages was simply not his thing. There was nothing he wanted from these people. Was he supposed to push her away and make a run for the third floor to set up another ambush? No way - there was no way he could pass up this opportunity. Already the muscles in his fingers twitched restlessly, aching to drag the blade through his hostage's throat. His lids fluttered at the vision of blood pouring out of her neck, his heart skipping a beat at the thought as a normal teen's might upon a special someone crossing their mind. No, he would have to kill her before moving on, whether that was to go for a third victim or race upstairs to prepare for a second ambush.

Tia hardly could tell what was happening. The psycho looking boy had rushed past her, but now he was holding onto her with a fierce grip. The breath had been knocked out of her as she coughed and sputtered for air, finding a rather large knife hovering over her throat. Crap. This horror movie was becoming painfully real and terrifying. He was easily about a foot taller than her and quite possibly stronger, despite his how thin he was. She wasn't one to talk though, considering he had succeeded in fighting off Matt and killing Emmett.

She looked desperately to her friends for help, hoping one of them would save her from this crazy person. Matt was in a bit of a predicament at the moment, Kat was next to useless, and she wasn't sure if May had even gotten out of the basement yet. If not, then there was no way she could be of any help- unless she wanted to swear at him a bunch. "Guys," she croaked, hoping the knife wasn't about to be plunged into her throat. "I could use some help."

Tia started backing up with the boy, looking around for anything to use as a weapon. Her breathing was still heavy, and her heart still beating in her ears and skipping a beat each time she remembered the knife at her throat and the deaths of her friends. Nothing was bringing them back, and nothing seemed to be stopping this boy from doing whatever he wanted with her. And that was a huge problem. She didn't like being the damsel in distress. Heck, she was pretty sure she hated just about everything right now.

She looked at her hands, still covered in Link's blood. Everything was a giant mess. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice shaking a bit in anxiety. "We're just a bunch of stupid kids in a haunted hospital. We're not here to rob you. We were just looking for our friend." Something told Tia that just talking to him wouldn't make him let her go, but at least it was a few more seconds to live. Her eyes continued searching for anything she could grab and use against him, but there was nothing convenient around.

When Matt had headed home that night and got himself ready for their little adventure, he had certainly not expected to end up pinned to the wall by a ghost, in a room that contained the body of one of his friends. Nor did he expect to have to fight a weapon-wielding psycho killer who looked around their age. Gritting his teeth as he saw Tia enter the room - was no-one listening to him? Seriously?! - Matt struggled against the woman's hand, the ice-cold feeling it provided quickly spreading across his chest and making it very difficult to move. Making a noise in frustration, Matt tried a different tack, kicking out at the figure, but it did nothing. Nothing at all. Argh! Matt had never been in a fight where his physical strength did absolutly nothing to help his situation, and it was irritating to say the last.

And then suddenly Tia was looking between him and Emmett's body: the body with shock, Matt with... accusation? "What?! Are you nuts- TIA!" He had been about to defend himself, but as he saw the other boy rush towards his friend he suddenly became a lot more concerned about defending Tia. His struggles increased, but still the woman's grip held, so all the boy could do was watch Tia get rushed. Suddenly a knife was at the girl's throat, and everything got a whole lot worse.

"Tia!" Finally the woman pinning Matt to the wall disappeared and sweet, sweet warmth flooded his chest. He didn't stay still for too long to savour it, however, no matter how much he wanted to. Tia had been dragged off and, if they waited too long, well. Let's ask Emmett what'd happen, shall we? Matt sprang to his feet from where he had slumped against the wall, pushing past Kat and anyone else who may have dared to get in his way. Pausing for a brief second, he doubled back to pick up the abandoned crowbar before heading out into the hallway. "Tia! Where are you?!" Glancing around frantically, Matt eventually spotted two figures, hiding further down in the shadows. Taking a step forwards, he could easily see the blade of the knife glinting in what little light there was. Swallowing hard, Matt carefully took a step forwards. As much as he wanted to dive forwards and tackle this psycho again, he knew that wouldn't do much. Tia's life was at stake here. So Matt, hiding the crowbar behind his back for now, moved closer. "Look, she's not gonna hurt you. So you can move the knife away from her neck." Sighing inwardly, Matt took another careful step forwards, deciding to act upon what he had heard Tia say. "She's right, we're not here to rob you or anything stupid like that. We're just looking for our friend." A pause. "Let her go."

His hostage spoke up then, pleading quietly. Fear reduced her voice to a whine. Devan's eyes narrowed and he glanced to the blue-haired girl in his grip. The intruders purpose may not have been to rob him, but they took his weapons nonetheless. So they were kids... just perhaps not so stupid. But no amount of cleverness was going to get them out of here alive, between him and his apparent ghostly partners-in-crime.

Speaking of whom, with Matt out of the spirit's hold the boy dashed out of the room to join them in the hall. But he slowed upon taking in the situation Devan had created. He, too, tried to negotiate. But Devan didn't care about their intentions. They walked into this hospital and stepped right onto a silver platter, regardless of if they touched his things or planned on harming him.
"We're just looking for our friend," Matt continued. His concerned gaze was torn between Tia and her captor. "Let her go."
A cheshire grin played across Devan's lips, his teeth shining eerily in the darkness, at the mention of their friend. He envisioned the blonde upstairs pinned to the wall, and briefly he glanced to the trail of blood on the floor that had probably originated from the body.

"Cat." A female voice stated absently. Devan glanced back to notice a small blue-eyed girl a little ways behind him, closer to the stairs. She must have been following Tia.
"What?" The redheaded girl finally spoke up, calling back in answer to her name. Her voice cracked with anxiety - or perhaps from lack of use, considering she hadn't said a word in some time. Devan turned to look at Kat... just in time to see what the blue-eyed girl was really talking about.
"No," continued the small girl by the stairs. "I mean, a cat," she said softly, pointing across the room behind the redhead. Devan's gaze had already zeroed in on a brown feline striding silently across the hall. It had stopped to stare at the scene of teenagers, and now it made eye contact with Devan.

Devan's grip reflexively tensed on his hostage - but less in a threatening gesture and more as if he felt the need to cling to her for safety. His smile had dropped into a frown and his brows knitted. Devan's chest started to heave, his heavy breathing less from fatigue and more from a growing sense of panic. His dark eyes flitted anxiously between the intruders and the cat for a moment, a few seconds consumed by a silent, building tension.
His nervousness got the better of him, and suddenly the wild-haired youth shoved Tia forward with enough force to send her to the floor before turning sharply around and booking it for the stairs. The blue-eyed girl, however, stood unwittingly in his way. Devan rushed right into her, driving his knife upward into her chest without thinking about it. It was meant to be a quick kill, but he did not dash off as anticipated, eyes glued to the fatal wound he had created as blood began pouring out of it. He looked to be in a trance when the girl crumpled to the floor, though he maintained his grip on his knife so that when she fell the blade came out. He was left staring fixedly at the girl while the life left her eyes, focused on the blood now flooding her body.

After all this time being frozen in shock, Kat finally seized the moment. She raced forward past Matt and Tia to shove her shoulder into Devan's back. He stumbled forward but, torn from his trance, whipped around to stab at his redheaded adversary. Kat managed to move out of the way, but her arm was cut badly, making her drop her camera. Between the slash to her arm and the terrible sound of her camera hitting the floor, Kat was too distracted to avoid Devan's second assault, and in a flash followed the blue-eyed girl to the floor after Devan drove his knife into her collar.

Next Devan looked up with no further thought to the bodies at his feet, eyeing the cat down the hall. The feline's brown fur bristled to stand on end as if unnerved by the sudden double murder. With a last glance to his two remaining opponents, Devan finally scurried up the stairs to the third floor, ducking into what had been a kitchen. It was a longer room, so even if the two downstairs managed to guess right and follow him in here, it would give him ample space to fight in. But he wasn't worried - upon reaching the third floor, they were sure to first sight their friend Taylor on display at the end of the hall. That would buy him some time to find a back-up weapon or two in the kitchen...

Tia was shoved suddenly, landing painfully on the ground before being able to catch herself. Well, being on the floor was better than having the psychopath breathing in her ear and holding a knife to her throat. She had fallen at Matt's feet and scrambled to sit up. She was just in time to see May fall, her eyes still open in an odd state of calmness. It was unnerving and unnatural. She couldn't look away though. Kat soon joined May, Andrew, Link, and Emmett, her camera clattering to the floor loudly. She clutched her arm before being stabbed again. Her eyes remained open as well, seeing nothing anymore.

The wild haired boy suddenly fled, leaving Tia, Matt, and the bodies in the hallway. She turned to look at the small cat, but it quickly scampered off into an empty room. She cringed as she heard a sharp 'me-ooow' and then the small thing being flung out of the room. It hit the wall with a thud, then fell to the floor. Dead. How many deaths had she even witnessed by now? 2-Link and Andrew. 4-Kat and May. 5-The cat. Emmett didn't exactly count, considering she hadn't seen him die. She was quite thankful for that.

The blue haired teen looked up at Matt, then crawled forward to retrieve Kat's beloved camera. She looked at it, amazed that it was still working... somehow. The recording light was still on, as she pointed the camera towards the two bodies. "W-w-e j-jus-t witnessed." She inhaled deeply, trying to be rational. But nothing was now. "Two murders" She faced teh camera towards herself, waving and smiling weakly. "A crazy guy, stabbed them." She turned the camera back to them, turning away from the sight of the blood and emptiness.

Facing the camera towards Matt, Tia sighed. "We're the only ones left. Well, there was a cat. But something killed it." She stood up, walking over to Matt. "If anybody finds this, maybe they'll catch him," she told him. It was only hope speaking now, since something told her they wouldn't even get out of here alive. They were stuck on the second floor, a serial killer above them and who knew what below them. Ghosts, that's what was waiting below them. Stupid, paranormal entities waiting to kill them. "What do we do?" Tia asked, her voice high and wavering. They had three main options. 1, get the heck out of there. 2, follow the killer upstairs. Or 3, get lost inside the giant hospital until daylight when investigators would find their rotting bodies. Option 1 and 2 sounded the best to her.

Matt stood there for a few moments, completely frozen in shock before he noticed Tia and leant down to help her up. "Are you okay?" He asked, rather worried. That psycho could have done anything to her in the time she'd been gone. Deliberatly, Matt steered them both around gently so they didn't have to face the two bodies. Well, three, if you counted the cat. "Damn. I was gonna get that cat to help us... he seemed to be scared of it." His tone was meant to be lighthearted, but his voice was shaking too much to pull it off. Then he frowned, picking up on something. "'We're the only ones left?' What happened to Link and Andrew-" Wait, he could guess exactly what had happened to them. "Oh." Slowly, Matt closed his eyes, hanging his head and running a hand through his hair. As he did so he realised he was still holding the crowbar, and he tucked it into his belt like he had done with the knife earlier. It was more than a little awkward, but this wasn't a time to be worrying about comfort.

Nodding at Tia's words, Matt glanced between the room and the video camera. "Yeah, we need to keep that. God knows what else Kat managed to get on there." A small jolt went through Matt at Kat's name, especially when he realised he was talking in the past tense about her already. Oh, Kat... but he couldn't focus on the past right now. Right now he had to focus on getting him and Tia safely out of there. Ha-de-haha. "Right. Well. Um... this may sound obvious, but we need to get out of here." But which was the best way? "I say we try heading straight downstairs and out. That way, we'd avoid the psycho, but that's close to the basement which will probably be full of ghosts... jumping out the window isn't good... argh!" Matt felt anger rise up and had the sense to move away from Tia, punching the ancient wall a few times in frustration. Better the hospital got it than Tia's face. "I don't know! I don't know!" He rested his head against the wall he had just beaten up, taking several deep breaths before turning back to Tia. "All I can think of is that we go up to the next floor, cross over and go downstairs as soon as we can. It'll be longer, and we have a chance of running into that guy again, but it'll take us away from the basement entrance and hopefully to a better exit place." A pause. "Plus, I'd rather fight a solid human being than a ghost."

Tia listened to Matt's idea and considered it. It was a nice blend of her own options. "Alright. Uh, you can go first," she said, partly because she had just noticed the crowbar he'd been holding on to. It was mainly because she was terrified at the idea of walking blindly into a situation with a killer. "Maybe we could take the cat's body with us?" she suggested, feeling stupid for not having picked up on that before. She wasn't the best at handling stressful situations. She tended to panic and have a small heart attack before thinking clearly again.

"Oh, and I lost my flashlight down stairs," she stated. it looked like they might be going into this in the dark, which made her all the more anxious. She started twirling strands of her hair as she followed Matt down the hall. Oh gosh, we're gonna die, we're gonna die, she thought.

"Great. Thanks." Matt said sarcastically, although he was grinning if only to try and lighten the mood. It didn't really work too well, hence why the grin wobbled and faded after a short moment or two. Try again. Somehow, Matt managed a laugh at Tia's comment about the cat, whether it had been a serious suggestion or not. "Dunno, I don't really want to carry a cat's body around with me. Besides, if he's clever enough to kill most of us up, I'm sure he'll pick up on it not breathing, never mind whether he's scared of it or not." With that cheery thought in mind, Matt's - tightly gripping the crowbar like his life depended on it, which it might - he started moving forwards, heading for the dim shape at the end off the hall that looked like a flight of stairs.. "Is there a light on that video camera? Or something than can be used as one? As stealthy as going around in the dark may be..." He trailed off, knowing he didn't need to finish his sentence to explain what he was talking about.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the two made it to the end of the hallway and to the flight of stairs without incident. Although Matt couldn't say he liked the silence very much. Biting his lip, Matt slowly raised his foot and put it on the first stair, wincing as a rather loud creeeeeeeeeeak echoed through the hall. "...Bugger." Refraining from whispering more swear words to himself, Matt continued up the stairs, treading as lightly as he could until he reached the top. No going back now...

"Well, I thought it was a good idea," Tia mumbled to herself as the proceeded down the hall and up the stairs. All was quiet. Too quiet for there to be safety. Where the heck did Mr. Psychopath go? There couldn't be that many hiding spots in an old hospital with ghosts now, could there? "Should we check every room or just dart to the end of the hall? I vote for checking every room." Without waiting for an answer, Tia started forward, having only the small red recording light to guide her. She wasn't about to break their only hope of having this guy caught and these events explained.

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed suddenly, jumping back from the second door to the right. She quickly shut the door and looked apologetically at Matt, though she doubted he could see her. "Don't go in that room. I think the spirits or that guy killed a hobo a few days ago." She gulped, trying to get the horrible picture of the rotting corpse out of her mind.

In the next room, she found a little girl spirit smiling up at her, causing her to scream again. Tia was really starting to question her own plan, but she found it better than being ambushed by the guy. She looked at Matt. "Sorry, there's just a lot of stuff behind closed doors, ya know? If I scream again feel free to just continue on without me." She kept working her way down the hall, turning around every now and then to see if Matt was coming or if anybody was following them. She got a sense of dread each time, but found that there was nothing but doors and possibly more winding hallways behind her. She was about halfway down the hall now, running back and forth like a maniac and peeking into each room before checking the next.

"Tia, you just hit the nail on the head. It's an old, rotting building, of course there's hiding spots." Okay, so Matt was basing his judgement on playing video games that involved abandoned buildings such as this one, but still. "Wha- Tia, no..." But it was too late: his companion had started checking every room. Damn. Matt resisted the urge to facepalm, continuing down the hallway with the crowbar still raised in front of him. It was so dark, all he could see of it was a wavy grey blob. Wavy? Gritting his teeth, Matt stilled his hands, turning around and watching Tia dart inbetween doors. "God! Tia, don't do that! Not only was it fucking scary, but what about the psycho?!" He hissed, shaking his head. It was then that a completly new feeling hit him, triggered by the corpse:

Guilt.

Out of his group of friends, Tia was the only one left. Well, there was still a chance they could find Taylor, but... the odds weren't great. And why had this all happened in the first place? Because of him. He had dared Taylor to go into the hospital, which in turn had triggered this search party, which in turn... had led to the deaths of most of the others. It was just beginning to sink in now. He couldn't make fun of Andrew any more, couldn't tease Kat about getting a level up on her, couldn't flirt and mess around with Link or May anymore... was this karma? If so, it was pretty sick. Before Matt could start cursing at... something, he turned his attention to Tia. "Don't tempt me." He teased, walking ahead of her as she darted inbetween doors. He still couldn't get the thoughts out of his head, though...

It was then that Matt noticed something. To be exact, he noticed a dark shape on the wall at the end of the hallway. Everything inside Matt was screaming at him to ignore it, to turn around and get him and Tia out of there at the speed of light. But eventually curiousity won out, and he walked slowly down the hallway... before looking up to see what it was.

Taylor.

Tia ignored Matt's comments. He could go die if he wanted to, but she was gonna live. Him screaming at her really wasn't helping her increasing stress levels, as she was nearly jumping out of her skin already. Room to room, room to room, room to room... that was all she needed to focus on. Make it out alive, room to room, room to room... Wait, where was Matt? "Matt?" she hissed, looking around. She looked at the camera, trying to figure out if there was a night mode on this thing. No wait, it seemed to be on already. Oh gosh, she was losing her mind now wasn't she? Everything was dark, when she could have just used the camera to see what was around her better.

"Ma-"the blue haired girl cut herself off as she gaped at the sight before her. It seemed that the end of a hall always brought danger. Or a dead friend hanging on the wall. She aimed the camera at the body, though she could hardly look at it herself. So this entire search had been useless, absolutely useless. They didn't need to come, didn't need to have a little search and rescue.

Taylor was dead. Link was dead. Andrew, May, and Kat were all gone. All grisly murdered by something sinister, insidious. Wow, life really sucked right now. "Let's just get out of here," Tia said, knowing that Matt would agree with her. She looked around for the way out, but couldn't stop thinking about her poor friend. It was hard to tell what led where, as the hospital was like a giant labyrinth.

Devan scurried hastily around behind the counter, scanning over every surface and opening every cupboard and cabinet. The kitchen was not turning out as promising as he had hoped. There was a frying pan, but that was too close range. Silverware could too easily be turned against him. There were not a lot of long, blunt objects that wouldn't break at their first impact to make a good substitute for his crow bar...

A creaking from the stairs made him freeze, and he stepped closer to the counter to crouch behind it, listening. He heard the girl talking. The two were upstairs now, so he would have to more carefully monitor his stealth.

Next he heard quick footsteps followed by a number of Tia's screams. His eyes narrowed - were the spirits stealing his kill? But then a small, red light appeared by the door. Devan ducked reflexively; it was doubtful he would be seen in the darkness, but he wasn't going to take chances. More rapid footsteps. The girl must have been checking every room, though clearly not very thoroughly.

A few footsteps and exchanged words later there was a sudden silence. Devan peered up from behind the counter. What were they doing now? Cautiously, he stood from crouching and stepped nearer to the door, slowly peeking out from it. He squinted. They had reached the end of the hall... He could see the screen of the camera Tia had. So they had found their friend, after all. A small smile played across his lips. He had expected more gasps, more screaming, but it was just the two of them and he was far from an expert on grief anyway.

While their attention was diverted, Devan crept across the hall silently. He paused in another doorway to be sure the two weren't turning around, and then moved another room closer. He gripped his knife. He would have to go for Matt first - the boy was the greater threat, considering he was both strong and armed. The wild-haired youth recognized Matt had the upper hand, though he couldn't be sure Matt recognized it; a long range weapon had the advantage when one's opponent had only a short range weapon. With the crow bar, Matt could simultaneously keep Devan's knife at bay and get in a few hits if he was quick enough.

Devan was parallel with Tia when she turned around, but she did not seem to notice him between the dark and his stillness. He wasn't sure he could slink through her peripheral vision unnoticed but he would have to try; the longer he stayed put out in the open, the more likely one of the two would spot him with whatever night vision they had mustered by now. Devan took a few more very slow, silent steps along the wall until he was nearly parallel with Matt... and finally lunged, tearing into a short sprint to close the five feet or so between them. Knife at the ready, his aim was to shove the blade up into the boy's heart as he had done to the blue-eyed girl to make a quick kill before going for Tia.

"Y-yeah." Matt replied to Tia, more than a little shaken at the sight of his best friend's body nailed to the wall. He stayed there probably longer than he should have, staring up at Taylor's face, before shaking himself and looking away. He didn't turn around just yet though. "This whole thing was pointless." He said, more to himself than Tia and feeling his heart sink as he said it. "I dragged you all in here for nothing, after I sent Taylor in here for a dare. A stupid, stupid dare." The hand holding the crowbar twitched, and for a moment he was tempted to smash it off something, whether that be the wall or his head. Not Tia, though, definitly not Tia. For one, he wasn't insane - yet - and, if he was too late to save the others, he could still redeem himself and get one person out of here alive. But what about himself? Nah. As much as Matt wanted to live and get out of this hell, at this moment in time he was hating himself so much for what he believed he'd done that he was starting to believe that, hey, if he ended up dying, he deserved it.

It was then that Matt was shaken out of his rather depressing thoughts by the sounds of footsteps; ones that were moving closer rather quickly. Well, unless one of the people downstairs had survived after all, Matt had a fairly good idea who it was. Not to say that he liked it. Gritting his teeth, Matt whipped around, his arm reaching out and pushing Tia to the side to get her out of the firing range. A small patch of light caught the blade of the knife Matt suddenly realised his opponent hand, and his gaze switched to watching it immidiately. Thoughts rushing through his head, Matt tested the weight of the crowbar in his hand. He could swing it down and try to knock the knife out of the psycho's hands, but that could take too long - long enough for him to get stabbed somewhere fatal. It was then that Matt remembered with a jolt how May had been killed. A knife jabbed upwards into her heart. Quick and easy. Of course, Matt couldn't know that the same thing was trying to be pulled here, but he imagined that his opponent would want to kill him off quickly... after all, he would have won their little fight back there if the ghosts of the hospital hadn't stepped in.

Thinking through all of this very fast, Matt reacting, gripping the crowbar and moving it upwards so it crossed his chest. Matt couldn't help but flinch as the tip of the knife hit the metal, grazing against it perilously close to his chest. If he'd misjudged that, he could have been dead right there and then. Swallowing hard at the thought, Matt put his entire weight behind the crowbar and pushed the smaller boy and the knife away from him, before swinging the crowbar down when he was sure the boy wasn't going to lunge forwards and stab him. His intention had been to smash the crowbar into the boy's hip, but he misjudged it yet again and ended up hitting his side.

Realizing he had been spotted seconds from his target, Devan flinched at the impact of his knife hitting the crowbar; had he had the time, he would have decided against advancing and moved back to avoid the crowbar altogether. Now that he had lost his element of surprise, the close range he was at with Matt made him nervous. When Matt started pushing him away, Devan stumbled back none too reluctantly, but did not retrieve his footing in time to avoid the whack in the ribs. The wild-haired youth staggered sideways; the hit didn't pain him in the least but it had knocked him further off balance. After only haphazardly regaining his footing, Devan immediately ducked and scurried to avoid any follow-up hits of the crowbar, simultaneously darting closer to try a swipe at Matt's side. It would be nothing lethal, but, unlike him, Matt felt pain, so Devan felt sure a good cut would at the least hinder his adversary. If luck was on his side, the boy would be distracted enough that he could get in a second and perhaps more solid injury... He wasn't optimistic, but it wasn't that important. If Devan had to wear down his opponent only bit by bit, that was fine by him. He could savor a slower kill, after all.

Tia thought she felt a breath of air on the back of her neck, but knew it was just Matt. If something wanted to hurt her, they would have already done it as far as she was concerned. She felt a sudden push on her back, sending her forward into a closet sort of room. The camera tumbled to the floor. She scrambled after it into the deep shadows of the room, then turned to look back at Matt. Though the light was dim, and nearly non-existent at this point, Tia could clearly make out the shapes of Matt and Devan. Oh crap.

At least Matt had a crowbar. She flinched at the sound of metal hitting something else. "Matt!" she yelled, picking up the camera and rushing forward. The door slammed suddenly, locking her in the small room with who knows what. "Matt!" she yelled, banging on the door. She wanted him to kick Devan's sorry butt, but she also liked you know, not to be trapped somewhere with angry and lost spirits. Tia spun around, looking for any signs of ghosts. She could still hear the boys fighting outside.