Thread:Justjackbros/@comment-26348924-20150427092933/@comment-24238747-20150513190632

Chapter 7: Escape!

They all watched Rire and Casket standing ten feet up, wondering what could possibly happen next.

Rire looked terrible. He had a eye and lower jaw that was four shades of black and purple, and almost all of his bottom lip leaked blood. Casket smiled, looking at him.

"Did a number on your friend, huh?" Casket said. "He deserved it, if you ask me. The way he reacted earlier, geez, he was just...well, I digress." Nick squinted upwards. "You fiend," he spit. "Even if he's a bit much sometimes, it doesn't give you the right to treat him like...like...dirt!" The others nodded silently in agreement. Casket cackled. "You want him back? Sure...well, no! No. Not yet. You want to know where the other one is, right? Do you care about him at all? Disappointing." Suddenly, they were all reminded about Kevin's absence. "Where did you take him?" Jack shouted. The sudden loudness made Val jump. "Sorry," he whispered.

Casket clapped his hands. "So you do have concern. Well, great! This leads us to the next game. Take a look at your surroundings. Lights!" he said. He clapped once again, and two big lights in the room flashed on. It lit the room with a dim yellow. "This game," Casket explained. "I like to call 'Where's Kevy?' And no, he's not at the dry Chevy." Johnny snickered, to which Nick responded with a punch to the arm. Casket smiled at himself. "Um, anyway, you play 'Where's Kevy?' by looking around the room and finding what's left of him." 'What's left of him,' the words sent fear into the admins. Jack gulped down worry to ask a question, "This room is near empty. In what...shape can we find him?" he asked. Casket shrugged. "That's for me to know and you to find-"

Suddenly, Rire broke free of Casket's grip and threw a fist into his face. Casket squeaked with surprise and fell to the floor. Rire turned around to the gang. "To the right! He's to the right floor!" he yelled, voice raspy. Johnny snapped. "Quick! People, to the right and to the floor!" Rire leaned down to Casket's unconscious body and grabbed his trusty revolver and his two blood-stained knives. "Hey! Catch," Rire said. He carefully threw the two knives down. Nick and Jack reached for the knives. Nick caught it right at the handle and Val caught the other. She handed it to Jack, to which he replied, "Nah, you can keep it." She smiled. "Thanks Jackie!" she hopped off Jack, pecked him on the cheek and ran to the right of the room to search. Nick gasped, laughing. Jack stood in surprised bliss, touching the spot where she kissed him. Then he came to, and ran to the side of the room.

Johnny held two pistols in his hands as he followed the others. Rire, who was slugging Casket hard and consecutively finally punched him one last time and jumped from the balcony. He landed on the ground with a oddly soft thud. He followed the gang. They all stood at the right of the room, looking down at a box. The steel container had a number lock on it. "If only Micheal was here," Nick said. "He's a master at these kinda things." Jack turned around to see Rire. "Oh man, you look terrible. What did he do to you? And what happened to Kev?" he asked. Rire looked down. "Kevin and I ran into a dead end. We turned around to exit the room, but as soon as we opened the door, there he was. It was Casket, with a knife in hand. The last thing I remember is being dragged away..." he explained. Jack's eyebrows furrowed. "And...Kevin?"

Rire shrugged hopelessly. "I wish I knew. But after Casket beat me up, he thought I was knocked out and started dragging boxes of...something...into the big room you guys came into. He was talking to himself, something about Kevin being in the box. I sure hope he doesn't mean a part of Ke-" Rire was cut off by a loud gunshot behind him. Jack and Rire turned around to see Johnny aiming a smoking pistol at the metal box. Nick had his hands to his ears. "Dude!" he moaned. "Warn a brother when you fire that loud thing!" Val nodded. "Yeah, that kinda hurt..." Johnny looked up. "We've got bigger problems than a little pain to the ear, my friends. I shot the lock. See if it'll open now."

Nick walked over to the box and lifted the heavy lid, as the others watched. As soon as the box was open a few inches, the steel lid fell with a shut as Nick jumped back, shaking. "Guys..." he whispered. "Guys...." he repeated looking in horror at the box. Jack walked slowly over to the box and nudged Nick out of the way. "Here goes nothing..." Jack said, lifting up the lid. His first instinct was to scream, but instead he gulped back the feeling to puke and threw the lid up all the way. "It's Kevin's, alright," he said. The others walked over to it. Val squealed, gagging. Johnny turned away. Inside the box, there was a body part; the severed hand of Kevin.

Rire gasped. "No, no, no...no!" he said. "Jack," he muttered. "This isn't the only box Casket has...."

Jack realized it too. "Are you saying that there might be other, uh, remains of Kev in the other boxes you saw?" he said. Rire grimly nodded. "I'm gonna be sick," Jack muttered. Rire glanced up at the balcony. "Let's get out of here. Quickly, Casket will wake up any second now." Johnny looked around for another exit. "The only exit out of here is the balcony. How are we gonna get up there?" Rire walked over to Johnny. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a nail, a long rope, a granola bar and a key. "These things," he said. "I found them in Casket's pocket. They've got some importance...well, at least the rope and key are." Rire began to throw the nail and cereal bar to the ground when Johnny grabbed his arm. "No," he said. "If Casket had them with him, they have to be for something. Now, let's put that rope to good use."

Johnny attached the nail and rope together. After he was done, he tossed his home-made grappling hook to the edge of the overhanging balcony. The nail hooked onto the bar and Johnny began to climb up. Jack and the others watched as he climbed up. When Johnny was on top of the balcony, he looked down. "The rope isn't thick. Only one person climb up at a time," he said. The admins climbed up in order. First Rire, then Nick, followed by Jack and ending with Val. Once they were all up, the rope was nearly a string. They didn't bother to collect it again.

"Just as suspected, he's gone," Val said. Casket, who was supposed to be out cold, was gone. "He didn't even try to stop us. He just left." Rire started walking down the hallway from the balcony. "That's his game, Val. He doesn't want us to die. We need to move on." "Hold on, guys," Jack said. "It doesn't seem right. Remember that deal Casket proposed? He said he didn't want any of us dead. Why would he kill Kevin and put his bodyparts in boxes? It doesn't add up," he said. Nick put a hand of Jack's shoulder. "Jack, he's already went against his 'deal.' I don't think he'd mind stretching the terms a bit to dispatch a teen." Jack opened his mouth to speak, but somehow knew in the back of his mind that Nick was right. Or...was he?

Johnny stopped Rire from walking further. "Let me lead. You know, I'm the man with the duel pistols." Rire put his hands up, backing up. "Oh no, you're right, sorry." "Also, we travel as a group now. We're not going in twos again.

Jack and Val both whispered "Aw man..." at the same time.