It was a Saturday Night of the Homecoming Dance in Sunshine High. All the students were there, dancing to the music played by the DJ. The snack bar was filled with a wide range of options, from local snacks to exquisite treats from foreign countries, including Italian fruit punch. The dances were crazy with many teenagers in the gymnasium dancing as the night was young, as well as they were.
Scott Smith, an 18-year-old student, was dancing the night away with Ashley Martinez as they were taking on the spotlight for the wildest dance in the gymnasium.
"This is great, Scott! I can't believe you agreed with me to this dance!" Ashley is dancing to the beat.
"Hey, what can I say? I guess I had a sudden change of heart!" Scott follows Ashley's dance moves.
"What up y'all! How are my two love birds doing?!" Dwayne surprised Ashley and Scott while carrying Isabelle on his shoulders
"Dwayne! We ain't dating, dude! What are you doing with Isabelle?"
"Well, I don't want my homecoming date to be run over by these reckless kids! I mean, damn, these kids have no control!"
"What do you expect, man? This is a homecoming dance, of course, these teens are going to get reckless."
"Including us?!" Dwayne questions Scott.
"Yeah, including us!" Ashley answers Dwayne's question.
"Sorry, we're late." Natalie approaches Scott and Ashley with Jim as her date.
"Natalie, Jim!" Scott hugged Natalie.
"What took y'all so long?"
"Sorry if we are late. Jim was overcalculating his attire just to impress me." Natalie giggled a bit.
"Natalie, don't you know how hard it is to impress a lady just by his attire. Men do not play with their looks, you know."
"Heh. Now I know why you are the nerd of Sunshine High." Natalie teases Jim.
"Hey!"
"Oh yeah! Almost everyone is here! But where are Bryan and Liam?" Ashley looked around her.
"Here!" Bryan and Liam approached the friend group while holding hands.
"Hi!" Ashley hugged both Bryan and Liam.
"Hey guys! Sorry that Liam and I are late. Liam accidentally had a problem with his car. Probably hit a pot hole or something."
"No worries! Natalie and Jim were also late. So no need to stress!" Ashley is in a very good mood.
"I'm happy that we are all here, that's what counts. Also, since coming to Sunshine High, I appreciate you guys for giving me a chance at this school. Without you guys, I probably don't know what I would do."
"No worries, Scott! It was so fun meeting you at our Precalculus class!" Ashley smiled.
"Same here! I'm glad I got to tutor you both for our quizzes that Mr. Cheung gives us. And with that, I guess we became friends." Jim smiled.
"Not going to lie, Ashley has been a huge cheerleader for our football team! I mean, she alone is better than all of the cheerleaders that we have. Since you are Ashley's best friend, I consider you a friend as well." Dwayne smiles with Isabelle on his back.
"I always love your poetry. I like how you express your anger and turn it into something good. I didn't realize how good you are as a poet myself." Natalie smiled.
"I'm also happy to meet you in PE. I can finally express my homosexuality thanks to you!" Bryan and Liam smiled.
With all of his friends smiling at him, Scott felt a bit disturbed.
"You know what, guys, I'm going to get some fruit punch. I'll be back." Scott ran to the snack bar.
"What the hell was that? My friends never gave me this kind of appreciation. I mean, it's great, but they didn't seem to be those kinds of people, especially with those smiles." Scott poured himself some fruit punch.
Suddenly, Scott would see Vanessa by herself in front of him, wearing a yellow dress. Swallowing his drink, Scott walked towards Vanessa.
"Vanessa! I'm glad you could make it!" Scott waved.
Instead, Vanessa was grabbed by a long, stretchy hand that pulled her out of the homecoming dance towards the hallway.
"Vanessa!" Scott ran after her.
Running out of the gymnasium, Scott sees the person he despises the most.
"John?" Scott sees him grabbing Vanessa.
"Well, if it isn't Scott Smith. Outcast of Sunshine High." John gives a creepy smile towards Scott.
"Let her go now!"
"Why would I? She is my date for the homecoming dance. Laura will forever be with me, no matter what."
"That's not Laura, you bastard! That's Vanessa. How would you make her your date if you don't even know her full name!"
"Wait a minute? This isn't Laura? Then who must this woman be?"
John grabbed Vanessa by the throat, strangling her.
"Vanessa?!" Scott was in shock.
"LET HER GO NOW!" Scott shouted.
"Too late, Scott! You said this woman isn't Laura, so I'll do her the favor and kill her quickly, knowing that she isn't my girlfriend."
"No, don't!"
"Too bad."
John snapped Vanessa's neck with a single grip from his hand.
Killing Vanessa, she would fall to the ground like a rag doll with her eyes in a blank state.
"NOOOOOOO!!" Scott ran towards Vanessa.
Crying, Scott couldn't believe his eyes.
"Why. WHY!" Scott shouted at John.
"Can't you see. That woman isn't my sweet Laura, and she tried to impersonate her. So I did myself the favor and killed her since she tried to pretend to be her. And I thank you for telling me that just now. So it isn't my fault she died, but instead your fault." John kneelt down towards Scott's ear.
"And now I know who isn't part of my fairy tale, I killed everyone whom I don't know at all."
Scott slowly turned his head to John. "Don't tell me."
"You shouldn't have left your friends behind, Scott." John smiles at Scott.
With much panic, Scott ran back towards the Homecoming Dance. But when going inside the gymnasium, it was something that would give him lifetime trauma.
[Everyone at the Homecoming Dance was dead]
Blood was splattered on the walls and the student's corpse; most of the students were gutted out or went through severe cuts, and the DJ's hands were decapitated, leaving his dead body lying on the DJ board.
What scared Scott was that his friends were also dead on top of other students' bodies.
Bryan and Liam's necks were both snapped, Isabelle and Dwayne's guts were cut open, and Jim and Natalie had both of their heads decapitated.
"Oh God! No!" Scott ran towards his friends.
"S-Scott." Ashley tried to raise his voice at him.
"Ashley! Scott ran towards her impaled body.
"Ashley, please get up." Scott cried.
"Scott, please save them," Ashley said in a low tone.
"What?"
"Save...…..them." Ashley then died on the spot.
"Ashley." Scott is holding Ashley's weak pulse hand.
"Oh, this doesn't look good. You helped everyone become who they are, but instead are just making things worse for others. I did this to make people truly happy, but you are just making things worse, giving these people terrible lives to live in." John appears behind Scott.
"But don't worry, Scott." John brought out his pocket knife.
[I'm going to make you the outcast that you are]
John stabs Scott from behind.
[NOOOOOOO]
Scott then woke up from a horrible nightmare.
Waking up, Scott woke up in a two-bed motel room with Agent Dan still sleeping, as it was only 3 AM.
"It was just a nightmare." Scott got out of his bed to take a walk outside the motel.
It was still his spring break, but instead of heading to the beach or movies with friends, Scott and his friends were separated by the US Military surrounding the town of Sunshine Valley to secure the terrorist who crashed a passenger plane in the state of Iowa, as well as the growing disappearance happening near Sunshine Valley. Although half of Spring Break is over, the sun has never risen since the Military has surrounded the town, leaving the weather in cloudy and rainy conditions.
Walking down the stairs from his motel room, Scott approached a vending machine that had some Cheetos in it and cost a dollar and twenty-five cents.
Feeling in a bad mood from his nightmare, Scott brought his wallet and inserted the money to get his Cheetos. However, the machine decided to break down, leaving his chips stuck in the vending machine.
"Damn it. DAMN IT!" Scott punched the glass window of the vending machine to the point where it cracked the glass.
Full of anger and sadness, Scott collapsed to the ground in despair, knowing that his friends are in danger and a chance that John will come back to the town to kill his friends.
"I can't save them. I'm hopeless. No wonder Dad left me and Mom." Scott crying.
Seeing a pond that was close to the motel room, Scott walked towards the pond, watching his depressive reflection of a man with baggy eyes and messy, long hair.
Suddenly, it started to rain. The rain was heavy on Scott's hair and jacket to the point where it was instantly wet. However, Scott wouldn't mind as he didn't care for his being. He would be there for hours until the morning rose.
It was 8 AM, and Agent Dan's alarm clock rang. Hitting the snooze button, Agent Dan rose from his bed, getting ready for the day.
"Alright, Scott, you ready for another day of training?" Agent Dan turned his head to Scott's bed.
However, Scott wasn't in his bed.
"Scott?" Agent Dan looked around their motel room.
Dan would look around the bed, the bathroom, and then outside, looking for Scott's whereabouts. Looking around the motel, Agent Dan finally found Scott, but in a wet condition, while seeing his reflection in the pond.
"Scott." Agent Dan is feeling bad for Scott.
Heading back to the motel room, Dan put on his suit and brought his umbrella outside to cover himself from the rain.
Walking towards Scott, Dan could see him very soaked with his hair fully drenched and shivering.
"Scott." Agent Dan, using his umbrella, reached out to Scott.
However, Scott hasn't said anything.
"I know things had been hard, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over this. We had no control over the US military to come in and surround the town. I know you want to return home, but for now, we have no choice but to lie low. Luckily, I have unlimited vouchers since I am an FBI agent."
Scott was still not in a talking mood.
"Scott, the reason why I haven't returned to D.C. is that I know why you hated John so much, and the FBI headquarters needed to hear about it."
Scott then turned around.
"There had been many things I hadn't told you about John, and it's just that I didn't want to ruin the moment between you and Vanessa, seeing that Vanessa was already traumatized to the point where I didn't want to mention this." Agent Dan took out his phone.
Dan would go into his camera roll to show the pictures from his investigation.
Showing the pictures, it seemed to show people who were imprisoned in the sewers, with many feeding on others by cannibalism, and mostly those who are malnourished.
Scott couldn't believe his eyes seeing the people who were suffering in the sewers.
"When did this happen?" Scott spoke in a quiet voice.
"It was when you were taking Vanessa to the Hospital. When I was investigating John's mansion, not only did I manage to collect some files, but managed to get this from his basement."
[He was imprisoning the true residents of Sunshine Valley]
"It makes sense now," Scott spoke to himself, remembering last summer.
Suddenly, Scott grabbed Dan by the collar.
"Why the Hell didn't you say anything about this to them!?!" Scott is in an angry mood.
"Because they wouldn't believe me! I'm just an amateur FBI Agent whom the chief won't even believe. He thought this was a class D mission, but seemed to underestimate the situation!"
Scott then let go of Agent Dan.
"Scott. I understand you're angry. I'm angry too. The chief doubts that I'm able to handle this situation, but little does he know that I was able to get this much evidence to prove that this 'terrorist' is John's doing. So Scott, there's still hope to get back to Sunshine Valley. We can still save your friends and end this lockdown. So please, keep your chin up." Agent Dan held his hand for a handshake.
"You're right. Let's get to the bottom of this and put John in his place." Scott shook Agent Dan's hand.
"But how are we going to get back to Sunshine Valley? The entrance is barricaded."
"Hold on, Scott. We need to investigate something else; we need to find one more piece of evidence to prove that John is the 'terrorist.'"
"What do you mean? I thought we had the evidence already."
"I'm not talking about what happened in the town. I'm talking about the plane. I'm making a big guess, but I think John might be the cause of the plane crash."
"What? You must be watching too many superhero movies or something. How can John crash a plane? He's just a kid like me."
"If we have a nearby VHS tape around, then I think your mind will change a lot about John. For now, let's try to head to the plane crash incident. We need some more evidence where the FBI can approve that John is the 'terrorist.'"
"Alright." Scott got under Agent Dan's umbrella.
Scott went back to the motel to dry himself up to start their new investigation before heading back to the town of Sunshine Valley.