Chapter 29: The Correct Way to Play Hide and Seek
Thunder rumbled above the Connor house, and the scent of blood in the living room grew thicker. Bee licked her lips, her once gentle eyes now gleaming with fanatical light.
"Come on, little Lily," Bee slowly walked toward the stairs, the ice pick in her hand still dripping blood. "How about we play a game?"
Max, Allison, and Sonja followed behind her, all three with eerie smiles on their faces, like three beasts that had caught the scent of blood.
Lily tilted her head, clutching the teddy bear in her arms even tighter. Her voice was still childlike and incredibly innocent: "What game?"
"Hide-and-seek." Bee stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her. "You hide, we seek. If we find you..."
She raised the ice pick in her hand, which glinted coldly in the dim light.
"Then the game's over."
Lily blinked, then suddenly giggled: "Okay, okay! I love hide-and-seek!"
She hopped down the stairs, her movements as light as a kitten.
The four adults immediately surrounded her, but Lily showed no fear. Instead, she clapped her small hands excitedly.
"But," her voice suddenly became a little strange, "I think the rules of this game need to change."
As soon as she finished speaking, all the lights in the living room suddenly went out.
In the darkness, only the lightning outside the window occasionally illuminated the room, making the faces of the four fanatics flicker between light and shadow.
"You count to ten, then come find me." Lily's voice echoed in the darkness, but her exact location was impossible to pinpoint. "But be careful—in this house, I'm not the only one playing this game."
"What do you mean?" Allison nervously looked around.
Her answer was a soft laugh, coming from all directions, as if the entire house was laughing.
"One, two, three..." Lily began to count, her voice sometimes near, sometimes far, making it impossible to tell where she was.
Bee gritted her teeth and gestured to the other three. They split up, fumbling their way in different directions.
"Four, five, six..."
Max felt his way along the wall, heading toward the kitchen. His breathing became rapid, and sweat began to bead on his forehead. Why did he feel so uneasy when it was four adults against one little girl?
"Seven, eight, nine..."
Sonja pushed open the door to the basement. The stairs stretched downward into darkness, like the mouth of some giant beast. She clutched the knife in her hand, descending step by step.
"Ten!"
The countdown ended, but eerily, the house suddenly became terrifyingly quiet. No footsteps, no breathing—even the thunder seemed to have been swallowed by something.
Bee stood in the center of the living room, her heart pounding. She looked around and suddenly realized that the corpse that had been on the floor was gone.
The bloodstains on the carpet remained, but the body had vanished without a trace.
"Max?" she called out in a low voice.
No response.
"Allison? Sonja?"
Still a deathly silence.
Bee felt a chill shoot up her spine. She realized that she might have underestimated this seemingly harmless little girl.
Meanwhile, at Camp Crystal Lake.
Edward lay on the narrow bed in the cabin, listening to the gradually quieting campfire party outside. Carrie had already returned to the girls' cabin, and the other guys had all crawled into their sleeping bags, ready to end this uneventful day.
But Edward couldn't sleep.
It wasn't because the bed was too hard, or because of his roommate's snoring. It was because of an inexplicable feeling, like a block of ice pressed against his back, making him uncomfortable all over.
A strange smell permeated the air—rotten, damp, with a faint hint of rust.
"Is it finally starting?" Edward murmured softly to himself, a smile of anticipation curving his lips.
He quietly sat up, confirmed that his roommates were all sound asleep, then silently climbed out of bed.
From his system space, he retrieved the two familiar pistols—Ebony and Ivory. The gun barrels gleamed coldly in the moonlight, feeling familiar and reassuring in his hands.
Pushing open the cabin door, the night breeze carried the scent of the lake. The camp was quiet, with only faint lights still on in a few distant counselor cabins.
Edward didn't walk toward those lights. Instead, he turned and walked toward the lake. His gut told him that tonight's star wouldn't be waiting for him in those cabins.
When he reached the lakeside, the moon was obscured by dark clouds, and everything plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Then, he heard it.
"Ahhh—!"
A shrill scream came from the direction of the counselor cabins, shattering the night's silence, followed by another, and then a third.
The screams abruptly stopped, as if forcibly cut off by something.
Edward turned around and looked at those cabins. The light in one of them suddenly went out, then the second, then the third.
Darkness spread like a plague, quickly engulfing the entire administration area.
"CRASH—!"
A door was violently kicked open, and a tall figure emerged from the darkness.
Even from dozens of yards away, Edward could clearly see that iconic silhouette—tall, massive, and that classic hockey mask.
Jason Voorhees.
The legendary Crystal Lake Killer had finally made his appearance.
Jason dragged a huge machete in his hand, its blade still dripping blood. He slowly turned his head, his mask looking particularly menacing in the darkness.
Then, he saw Edward.
Of course, Edward was also looking at Jason.
The two stared at each other across the distance, the tension in the air so thick it was almost solid.
Edward raised his two guns and grinned: "Hey, big guy. I hear you like playing games with teenagers?"
Jason didn't answer. He just raised the machete in his hand.
"Alright, looks like you're the strong, silent type." Edward flexed his wrist. "Then let's just get started. The rules are simple—whoever catches the other first wins."
He winked provocatively at Jason: "But I gotta warn you, the loser might have a bit of... an unpleasant experience."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jason moved.
This seemingly clumsy giant burst out with astonishing speed, almost instantly closing the distance to the lakeside, his machete whistling through the air straight for Edward's head.
Edward was ready, leaning back and narrowly avoiding the fatal blow. The blade grazed past the tip of his nose, bringing with it a cold gust of wind.
"Good speed!" Edward flipped up, his two guns firing simultaneously.
Silver bullets tore through the night sky, but Jason's reaction was equally swift. He raised his machete, and the bullets sparked as they hit the blade.
Edward didn't stop, turning and running. Not out of fear, but to lead this "game" to a more open area.
Jason followed close behind, each step leaving deep imprints in the ground. His speed was impossibly fast, and the machete in his hand was wielded with brutal force.
The two, one chasing and one fleeing, passed through the woods, crossed a stream, and finally arrived at a clearing on the back hill of the camp.
Here, the moonlight shone through the clouds, providing a perfect stage for the upcoming showdown.
Edward stopped, turning to face the killer. They were only thirty feet apart, their breathing clearly audible.
"Now," Edward licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with excitement, "let's play something really interesting."
At the Connor house, the game continued.
Bee cautiously felt her way through the darkness. She had lost contact with her three companions. This house, which she thought she knew inside and out, now seemed to have become a giant maze.
The hallway seemed to have grown longer, and the layout of the rooms was different from what she remembered. Most eerily, she kept hearing soft footsteps behind her, but each time she turned around, she saw nothing.
"Lily?" she called out tentatively. "The game can end now. We don't want to hurt you, we just..."
"Just want my blood?" Lily's voice came from above.
Bee snapped her head up, but only saw the dark ceiling.
"You know, Miss Bee," Lily's voice continued, seeming to come from all directions, "I'm actually really grateful to you guys."
"Grateful?"
"Mm-hmm. Usually, Master always tells me not to mess around, says I should be a good girl. But tonight's different. Tonight..."
The voice paused, then became filled with malice:
"Tonight, I can let loose and have some real fun."
As soon as she finished speaking, Bee suddenly heard screams from upstairs. It was Max's voice! This was followed by the sound of a heavy object falling, and then silence.
Bee's hands began to tremble. She realized that the rules of this game weren't what they had thought from the beginning.
They weren't the hunters.
They were the prey.
And that seemingly harmless little girl was the real predator.
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P*atreon/DarkFoxx (30+ advanced chapters)